YOGA. - The term Y. denotes “concentrated meditation,” pushed to the point of hypnotic ecstasy as a means of achieving the absolute isolation of the soul from matter and, with it, mukti, the “liberation” from samsāra, the migration of souls (v. KARMAN). “One must avoid a new pain,” that is, a new life, because “everything, for the wise man, is pain.”
These aphorisms belong to the Yoga-sūtras of Patañjali (2nd cent. B.C.?), who systematized an ancient ascetic discipline already partially known to the author of the Kaṭha-upaniṣad, I, 8; II, 10-11. Patañjali’s treatise comprises 194 brief aphorisms, divided into 4 pāda or parts dealing respectively with 1) mental concentration, 2) the means of attaining it, 3) supernatural powers, and 4) isolation. To give Y. a theoretical foundation, Patañjali adopted the metaphysics of Sāṅkhya, “the philosophy of number,” except for the denial of God, characteristic of that system. Hence Sāṅkhya, in this form, is also called Nirīśvara-s., “S. without God,” while Y. is called Śeśvara-s., “S. with God.” Yet the Lord (Īśvara) of Y. neither created nor governs the world, which is karman (v.). He is a sui generis soul, eternal and omniscient, who, out of compassion, aids men in attaining liberation. Hence devotion to the Lord and meditation on the mystery of his name, Om, are considered means conducive to facilitating the practice of Y. Y. is defined in the Y.-sūtras I, 2 as the arrest of the functions of the organ of thought (citta). Once this goal is thus determined, one would expect the means to achieve it to be specified. This occurs only in the II and III parts of the work (II, 28-55; III, 1-55). It is not possible to expound the laborious procedure in full; a brief outline must suffice. The isolation of the “spirit (puruṣa)” is achieved gradually through eight limbs (aṅga) of Yoga: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi. The last three, included under the common designation sannyama, “dwelling,” form the heart and essence of Y. After stipulating that the yogin, “follower of Y.,” must maintain an irreproachable moral conduct, the text advises one who sets out to meditate to assume a stable and comfortable posture (āsana). The Y.-sūtras do not specify it, but commentators state that the text refers to the three most common ways of sitting: comfortable, auspicious, and lotus-like. Haṭha-yoga or “rigorous Y.,” on the other hand, dwells at length on 32 postures, some of them verging on the acrobatic. This is followed by exercises in breath regulation (prāṇāyāma) as a means of calming the restlessness of thought, and finally the withdrawal of the organs of sense from their objects (pratyāhāra). At this point, the organ of thought, cut off from the external world, turns its activity inward and, through sannyama, intuitively distinguishes soul from matter. This “discriminative knowledge (viveka)” brings about the detachment of the organ of thought (citta) from the spirit (puruṣa), which remains isolated “in its own form,” though temporarily devoid of consciousness. The “yogic sleep (yoganidrā),” which may today be termed hypnotic, that overtakes the yogin at the moment of liberation is the consequence of this detachment. It is a pan-Indian belief that “liberation in life,” attained by the followers of a given philosophical-religious system through the means it prescribes, is definitive and irrevocable. The liberated one continues to live to reap the fruit of deeds previously performed, and when he dies, the spirit not only remains isolated but is eternally free from the pain of existence. By applying samyama to various cases, the yogin can perform wonders: he can divine another’s thoughts, travel through the air, render himself invisible. The Y.-sūtras, III, 16-55, list these miraculous powers at length; yet further on the same text warns that the magical powers (siddhi) arouse pride and attachment to the world, hindering liberation. He who aims at the supreme goal must be detached and hence indifferent even to the siddh