these domains. An example is pr ̄aÓnay ̄ ̄ama, control of subtle vital energy
achieved by regulating the gross physical action of the breath, which is
practiced to help establish the conditions necessary for meditative con-
sciousness. Etymological analysis of both English and Sanskrit terms cor-
roborates the claim that health and holiness have common ground. The
modern English word ‘holy’ descends from the Indo-European root
√kailo-,whole. A descendent of kailois the Old English h ̄al, meaning
‘whole.’ ‘Holy’ and ‘health’ are both derived from hal ̄.^97 The word
‘salvation,’ derived from the Latin salus, meaning both ‘healthy’ and
‘whole,’ also suggests the idea of healing from the afflictions of the
human condition.^98
The contrast of vy ̄adhiand sam ̄adhi, divergent in respect of integra-
tion, invokes Yoga’s meaning of yoking, that is, unifying and integrating.
Integration is a concept derivative of the concept of wholeness: to inte-
grate is to make something whole by bringing its parts into functional re-
lation. A primary form of integration in Yoga refers to a state of con-
sciousness integrated in the respect that it manifests pure awareness,
silent and still, without the awareness-fragmenting distractions of the
vÓrttis, or ‘turnings’ of mental activity. The first five components of Yoga
can help one achieve brief instants of this non-fragmented and integrated
concentration in Yoga’s sixth component, dh ̄araÓna ̄ or concentration.
When the state of concentration is sustained, one is in meditation,
dhyana ̄. In sam ̄adhi, integration of consciousness is complete: the mind’s
potential activities are wholly integrated in one-pointed meditative ‘con-
sciousness of consciousness’ [YS 3.3; 3.11–12].
The perspective of ‘holism’ considers entities and systems as com-
posed of, and functioning within, integrated and mutually influential
subsystems, rather than as isolated concatenations of separate parts.
What is the sense of ‘whole’ in the context of the holy? The holy is be-
yond the limitations of the human state and the mundane world. The re-
lated term ‘sacred’ descends from the Latin verb sacrare ̄ , from the Indo-
European root √ sak-, ‘to sanctify’^99 and suggests purification and
dedication.^100 ‘Sacred’ connotes that which is pure. In Yoga, purity is the
determinant of the sacred. Yoga endeavors to increase purity in body and
mental life, attitude and action. To the extent that these are pure, the Self
as consciousness may manifest itself. In medical theory, purity is the con-
ceptual category opposite of pathogenicity. Purity in the sense of physical
asepsis is a primary concern of medical science, and in the domain of reli-
gion, purity is a criterion for distinguishing between the sacred and the
profane.
classical yoga as a religious therapeutic 135