Department of Philosophy, Lucknow University, Lucknow, India.
Online published on 18 February, 2012.
Yoga is a word having great prestige value. The word yoga is derived from the root ‘yuj’ which means ‘to bind together’. The very earliest indication of the existence of some form of yoga practice in India comes from the pre Vedic ‘Harappan Culture’. The word yoga is used many times in four Vedas and the ilhistration and extension of yoga is found in Upnishads. Yoga practice found place in both Orthodox and Heterodox systems of Indian Philosophy. Contemporary Indian Philosophers also paid attention on yoga practice in their ideas and writings. The main stream of yoga practice is found in Yoga Darshan of Patanjali in Indian Philosophy. ‘Astanga Yoga’ (The eight fold path of Yoga) of Patanjali has eight systematic parts - Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharana, Dhyan and Samadhi. We can found yoga practice in the writings of three main contemporary Indian philosophers, they are - Swami Vivekananda, Maharishi Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi. Today yoga is used as alternate lo medicine and main emphasis is on Asana and Pranayam but the theoretical aspect of yoga is more valuable because it opens the path of practical yoga. So we can not ignore the theoretical aspect of yoga and it is not good to bound yoga in the hmitalion of Asana and Pranayam only, because yoga practice is formed mainly to control mind.
