OM Yoga UK - August 2017

W

hat does this even mean? Simply put, non-dual

implies only one. Dualism implies two. These

terms are used philosophically to describe a

conceptual worldview.

For example Samkhya, which is one of the

six philosophical schools or ‘Darshanas’ of Hinduism, purports that

the world is made up of two different entities, Purusha, which is the

masculine, unmanifest, omnipresent, intangible, consciousness that

permeates everything and Prakriti which is feminine, nature and all

that is manifest. The world is the cosmic dance of these two entities.

Without Purusha, Prakriti would be inert matter, and without Prakriti,

Purusha would not be aware of his own reflection. Patanjali was a

proponent of this school of thinking. His Yoga Sutras reflect this

Samkyha view of the world. Christianity is another example of a

dualistic philosophy. In Christianity it is generally thought that God

and Man are two distinct entities. Man can strive to become more

saintly, but Man never becomes God.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, written around 200 CE make up what

is known as classical yoga. Prior to the Sutras is an era known as

pre-classical yoga. This refers to the concept of yoga revealed in the

Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita, texts that may predate the sutras

by up to 1,000 years.

Pre-classical yoga proposes a non-dual reality where the

substratum of everything is one and the same: one consciousness,

one unchanging, unlimited awareness. In this way of thinking the

personal soul or Atman is non-separate from Brahma (cosmic

consciousness). The ‘Darshana’ or philosophical school born out of

the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita is known as Advaita Vedanta

Is yoga a dualistic or non-dualistic philosophy? By Vidya Heisel

om spirit

One

or

two

or non-dualism. According to Vedanta the world of appearances may

seem to be dualistic in nature but it is only Mithya, apparent reality.

This illusion is caused by Maya, which is another name for Prakriti.

Maya veils our eyes with a beautiful magic show, which causes us to

believe that this world is real, whereas it is in fact only a beautiful,

ignorant dream. The only thing that is real is Satyam, awareness

itself, from which everything else arises.

Post-classical yoga, which begins around 400 years after the

era of Classical yoga is also non-dual in thinking. This includes the

branch of yoga called Tantra and its offspring, Hatha Yoga. Tantra

first arose in the fourth century. An important tenet in Tantra, is

that everything, even the seemingly mundane, is sacred, because it

is all non-separate from an overarching consciousness from which

everything originates.

So is yoga a dualistic or non-dualistic philosophy? The answer

depends on which era of yoga you are referring to. However,

since yoga has been around from between 3,000-5,000 years and

only 400 of those years were ascribed to dualistic Classical yoga

philosophy, it is true to say that a major part of yoga philosophy is

non-dual.

There is a well-known statement in Sanskrit, taken from the

Chandogya Upanishad which is ‘Tat tvam asi’, which means ‘Thou Art

That’, which is a renowned non-dual expression of the relationship

between the individual and the absolute.

Vidya Heisel is director of Frog Lotus Yoga international Yoga

Teacher Training (froglotusyogainternational.com) and Suryalila

Retreat Centre in southern Spain (suryalila.com)