Significance of Indian Yoga

Notes and References

' It is believed that in its original condition Veda was one, but it was Rishi Vyasa who divided it into collections, Samhitas, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda. The antiquity of the Veda has been a subject of discussion and dispute. But it is acknowledged that it is the oldest available record in the world.

'2-Rig Veda (7?VJ, X.67.1.

3 The Angirasa legend and the conquest or recovery of the Sun and the Dawn are frequent subjects of allusion in the hymns of the Rig Veda. See in particular, 1.62; VI. 17.3; Vtl.90.4; VII.98.6; see also VI.60.2;

VI.44.22; VI.62.11; 1.93.4; IV.50.4-5; Vl.73.1; VI.66.8; VI.54.5-6.

4 RV.V11.60.5.

5 RV, 1.164.47.

6 WJV.3.4.

7 RV,111\2.7;V11.66.3.

8 RV, 1.77.1. 9 RV,V.2.[.

10 RV,111.25.1.

11 RV, 1.70.2.

12 RV, 1.66.1.

13 RV, 1.23.14.

14 RV, VII.49. 15"Rv.IV.58..

16 Cf.1.1.8, where Agni is described as increasing in his own home, sve dame.

17 RV,1.1.5.

18 RV, 1.154.4; tridhatu can be understood as triple Infinite, which is in the Upanishads called Sachchidananda.

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19 RV, IV.50; Brihaspati becomes Brahma in the Puranic tradition.

20 RV, 1.154.

21 RV, 1.170.1; Compare the description of the Supreme in the Kena Upanishad, and Katha Upanishad.

22 RV, 1.71.2.

23 RV, 1.72.9.

24 RV. 1V.l. 17-18. 25 Rv,1v.2.19

26 Katha Upanishad 3.1.14.

27 Ibid. 2.1.23; Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.3. 28 katha Upanishad 2.1.24. 29 Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.4.

30 katha Upanishad 2.1.1-13.

31 Mandukya Upunishad 3-7.

32 See Kaivalya Upanishad I.

33Isha Upanishad 5.

34 Ibid.8.

35 Kena Upanishad 11.1. 2.

36 See Shwashwatara Upanishad V.20. See also VI. 1,7,8,11: "It is the might of the Godhead in the world that turns the wheel of Brahman. Him one must know, the supreme lord of all lords, the supreme Godhead above all Godheads. Supreme too is his Shakti and manifold the natural working of her knowledge and her force. One Godhead, occult in all beings, the inner self of all beings, the all-pervading, absolute without qualities, the overseer of all actions, the witness, the knower."

37 That Permanent, which is inexpressible and indefinable, can be described in the only expressive term, Sachchidananda, the object of the highest sheath, kosha, anandamaya kosha in us, to use the term of the Taittiriya Upanishad.

38 Katha Upanishad 2.3.7-8. 39 Ibid. 1.3.5,7.

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40 Ibid. 1.2.5,6.

41 Isha Upanishad 11,14.

42 Ibid. 6.

43 Ibid. 7.

44 Kena Upanishad III. 1.

45 Ibid. IV. 1.

46 Ibid. IV.2-6.

47 Ibid. 11.1.

48 Ibid. 11.4.

49 Ibid. IV.4.

50 Ibid. IV.5, 6.

51 Ibid. 1.2.

52 Which means, probably, the brilliant action of our aspiring faculties, of Agni, Vayu and Indra.

53 Isha Upanishad 15, 16.

54 Taittiriya Upanishad, Brahmanandavalli Chapter 9.

55 Kena Upanishad IV.6.

56 Ibid., 11.5; Compare also, Isha Upanishad, 2, where it states: "Doing verily works in this world one should wish to live a hundred years. Thus it is in thee and not otherwise than this; action cleaves not to a man." See also verse 14, where it states: "(He) by Birth enjoys immortality." meaning that it is not merely in featureless inactive Brahman that one attains to immortality, but it is by Birth, in the very process of becoming, that one enjoys immortality.

57 Ibid. IV.8, 9.

58 Sri Aurobindo, The Upanishads, Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (SABCL), 1971, Pondicherry, Vol. 12, pp.226-7.

59 There are more than two hundred Upanishads, but most important of them are twelve in number. They are: Brihadaranyaka, Chhandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Kena, Katha, Isha, Mundaka, Prashna, Mandukya, and Shwetashwatara.

60 Bhagavad Gita, II. 54,72.

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61 Ibid. n.62,63.

62 Ibid. n.47.

63 Ibid. VH.4,5; XV.16,17,18.

64 Ibid. 11.49. 65 Ibid. 11.61.

66 Ibid. IV.33.

67 Ibid. III.9.

68 Ibid. IV.24. 69 Ibid. IV.26,27.

70 [bid. VII.2.

71 Ibid. VII.4,5.

72 Ibid. XV. 16-18.

73 Ibid. XV.7: "An eternal portion of Myself becomes the Jiva in the world of the Jivas".

74 Ibid.X.l.

75 Ibid. X.7,8,9.

76 Ibid. X.10,11.

77 Ibid. XVIII.56.

78 Ibid. XVIII.65,66.

79 Tantra" has been used in various senses in the Sanskrit literature. Apte has given 31 meanings in his Sanskrit-English dictionary. Tantra is so-called because it gives a body of "acts", which are required for the realisation of the highest. Tantra is so-called also because it provides the means or methods of realising the supreme objective. Madhavacharya has said that tantra is that by which, once propounded, is extended and spread the benefit of many: Tanyate vistaryate bahunam upakarah yena sakrit pravartitena tat tantram. Among the agamas, those which are called Shaktagamas, are particularly called Tantra. In Agamatattvavilasa, there is a list of 64 tantras. According to some, the original number of books relating to tantras was more than one lakh. Some Tantra books belong to the period of 1st century B.C.

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80 These six chakras are: muladhara, svadhishthana, nabbi or manipura, hrit or anahata, vishuddha, and ajna. Brahmarandhra or sahasrara is at the top of the skull. 81 We may remember that the Isha Upanishad had already declared its dictum, tena tyaktena bhunjithah, "by that renounced, thou shouldst enjoy."

82 Sri Aurobindo: The Synthesis of Yoga, SABCL, 1971, Pondicherry, Vol.20, p.2.

83 Ibid. Letters on Yoga, Vol.22, pp.100-01.

84 Ibid. The Synthesis of Yoga, Vol.20, p.36.

85 Ibid. The Synthesis of Yoga, Vol.21, p.583.

86 Ibid. p.586.

87 Ibid. p.587.

88 Ibid. The Life Divine, Vol.18, p. 148.

89 Ibid. p. 149.

90 Ibid. p.320.

91 Ibid. The Supramental Manifestation Upon Earth, Vol.16, p.41-2.

92 Ibid. The Life Divine, Vol.19, p.891.

93 The Mother was born in Paris on 21st February, 1878. She had spiritual experiences from childhood, but she received the first explanation of her experiences from Max Theon, a powerful personality of extraordinary occult capacities. She also learnt occultism from him at Tiemcen in Algeria. In 1914, she came from Paris and met Sri Aurobindo. In 1920, she came to Pondicherry once again and remained there for good. She worked with Sri Aurobindo for the accomplishment of the supramental yoga. After the passing of Sri Aurobindo in 1950, she established International University Centre in the name of Sri Aurobindo, and in 1968, she founded Auroville. From 1958 to 1973, she discovered the Great Path to a new species and to a new world in the life of Matter. Her works, numbering more than 30 volumes, include 13 volumes of "Mother's Agenda."

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