Tradition
Yoga (philosophy)
Overview
Yoga philosophy is one of the six major important schools of Hindu philosophy, though it is only at the end of the first millennium CE that Yoga is mentioned as a separate school of thought in Indian texts, distinct from Samkhya. Ancient, medieval and modern literature often simply call Yoga philosophy "Yoga". A systematic collection of Yoga concepts is found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a key text which has influenced all other schools of Indian philosophy.
The metaphysics of Yoga is Samkhya's dualism, in which the universe is conceptualized as composed of two realities: Puruṣa (witness-consciousness) and Prakṛti (nature). Jiva (a living being) is considered as a state in which puruṣa is bonded to Prakṛti in some form, in various permutations and combinations of various elements, senses, feelings, activity and mind. During the state of imbalance or ignorance, one or more constituents overwhelm the others, creating a form of bondage. The end of this bondage is called liberation, or mokṣa, by both the Yoga and Samkhya schools of Hinduism, and can be attained by insight and self-restraint.
The ethical theory of Yoga philosophy is based on Yamas and Niyama, as well as elements of the Guṇa theory of Samkhya. The epistemology of Yoga philosophy, like the Sāmkhya school, relies on three of six Pramanas as the means of gaining reliable knowledge. These include Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference) and Sabda (Āptavacana, word/testimony of reliable sources). Yoga philosophy differs from the closely related non-theistic/atheistic Samkhya school by incorporating the concept of a "personal, yet essentially inactive, deity" or "personal god" (Ishvara).
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
Bad Karma is worked out in that state and then the souls come back to earth and get another chance. This human form is the great chance. It is called the _karmic_ body, in which we decide our fate. We are running in a huge circle, and this is the point in the circle which determines the future. So a human body is considered the greatest body there is; man is greater than the gods. Even they return to human birth.
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
The chapter “THE HIGHEST IDEAL OF JNÂNA YOGA” is titled for Yoga; states what Yoga is.
All the different steps in yoga are intended to bring us scientifically to the superconscious state or samâdhi.... Just as unconscious work is beneath consciousness, so there is another work which is above consciousness, and which, also, is not accompanied with the feeling of egoism....
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
States what Yoga is; names Yoga several times.
Ignatius Loyola's spiritual exercises must have produced this result in innumerable devotees. But the most venerable ascetic system, and the one whose results have the most voluminous experimental corroboration is undoubtedly the Yoga system in Hindustan. From time immemorial, by Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, or whatever code of practice it might be, Hindu aspirants to perfection have trained themselves, month…
William James, Memories and Studies
Names Yoga several times.
Philosophers who discussed Yoga (philosophy)
Related ideas
- Brahma Sutras
- Hemachandra
- Hinduism
- Carvaka
- Samadhi
- Jainism
- Satya
- Soteriology
- Non-possession
- Saṃsāra
- Moksha
- Nyāya Sūtras
- Rama
- Āstika and nāstika
- Brahman
- Vedanta
- Patanjali
- Haribhadra
- Bhāskara (Bhedabheda Vedanta)
- Ahimsa
- Mahayana
- Purusha
- Advaita Vedanta
- Hindu philosophy
Place in the tradition
Part of Indian philosophy.