age Dramas from Brindavan (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1981).
Yasodhara Ashram Society See RADHA,
SWA M I SHIVANANDA.
Yayati See DEVAYANI AND YAYAT I.
yoga (yogi, yogini)
Yoga is an ancient Hindu practice and belief
system that aims at releasing the adept from the
bonds of the endless cycle of birth and rebirth.
The word yoga is derived from the root yuj, “to
yoke,” probably because the early practice con-
centrated on restraining or “yoking in” the senses.
Later the name was also seen as a metaphor for
“linking” or “yoking to” God or the divine.
The earliest form of yoga may have been the
Jain yoga (c. 900 B.C.E.), which involved severe
sensual denial and restraint (see JAINISM). To free
the soul from birth and rebirth Jains felt it was
necessary to restrain the senses completely so as to
be beyond both “love” and “hate,” or more accu-
rately, beyond any positive or negative emotion.
The early Jain monks and TIRTHANKARAS (perfected
beings) would train themselves to ignore the body
completely and to train the mind to ignore even
the strongest positive and negative stimuli. The
details of these ancient Jain practices are lost to
us. Jain yoga today is focused more on restraining
oneself to prevent injury to any living being, which
was always a concern in that tradition.
An element of worldly denial has always been
part of all yoga, and even today yogis can be found
who perform extreme feats of restraint. Yoga of
this sort is ultimately about controlling all bodily
functions, so that even the autonomic nervous
system can be under the adept’s control. When
SWA M I RAMA first traveled to the United States in
the 1970s, he demonstrated such control by stop-
ping his heart completely for more than a minute
while being attached to a heart monitor.
The BUDDHA’s yoga (c. 600 B.C.E.) was created
specifically to counter the earlier push toward
complete bodily denial. He declared that mental
control was the final object of yoga and did not
need to be accomplished by hurting the body.
Central to his yoga were watching of the breath
and observing of the sensations of the body.
The UPANISHADS (c. 900–300 B.C.E.) do not dis-
cuss yoga per se, but they point toward a mental
practice that aims to realize the unity of one’s own
self with the ultimate Self. This yoga is known
as JNANA YOGA, sometimes called “the Yoga of
Knowledge.” Nothing is said about postures and
only one Upanishad speaks of sitting in a quiet
place to meditate. A form of MEDITATION, however,
seems to have been central to this type of yoga. A
number of passages in the Upanishads imply both
bodily denial and attention to the breath.
The BHAGAVAD GITA (c. 200 B.C.E.) makes the
first mention of a yoga that uses focus on God as
the central practice (in the later YOGA SUTRA, a
focus on God is an adjunct practice to the central
disciplines). The yoga developed in the Bhaga-
vad Gita was called “devotional yoga,” or BHAKTI
YOGA. One focused one’s mind in the same yogic
way as in other practices, but one used God as a
focus point for all consciousness. Nowadays the
chanting of the Gita itself or other texts will be
part of the practice.
The Bhagavad Gita also contains the earliest
reference to KARMA YOGA—in which the focus is
on good conduct in the world. One acts in a dis-
interested way without regard to the fruits of one’s
actions. This makes everyday life a form of yoga.
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI considered this
the most important yoga; he wrote extensively
about this practice.
The ASHTANGA (eight-limbed) YOGA of PATA N-
JALI (c. second century C.E.) involved a sitting
yoga, sometimes called raja yoga, which focused
on breathing. As one observed the breath, one
developed ways of concentrating the mind and
eventually controlling the mind. ASANAS, or pos-
tures, are well developed in today’s versions ofyoga 511 J