A Brief History of Yoga

Date

Notes

4^th century B.C.

Alexander the Great visited India and met with a group of yogis.

< 1,000 B.C.

Figurines dug up by archaeologists in India prove that Yoga postures were being practised there long before 1,000 B.C.

< 1,000 B.C.

Insights into medicine were already possessed in India in 1,000 B.C.

< 1,000 B.C.

The Vedas (the oldest books from India) reach the conclusion that there is only one God known by many names.  For example, Rig-Veda 1: 164.46: ‘They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agne; then he is the beautiful-winged heavenly Garutma:  that which is One, the wise call it in divers manners: they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan’.  It is the metaphysical core of Yoga, a Sanskrit word which means union, harmony, oneness.

The end of the Vedas

The Upanishads (the Vedas culminate in the Vedanta – the end of the Veda) set out the first definitions of Yoga;  Katha Upanishad, V1, 10, 11: ‘When all the senses are stilled, when the mind is at rest, when the intellect wavers not – then, say the Wise, is reached the highest state’.  This calm of the senses and the mind has been defined as Yoga.

Around the same time as the Vedas

The Ayurveda (another ancient work) confirmed the insights into medicine already possessed in India in 1,000 B.C.

Around 250 B.C. (sic)

Patanjali writes his Yogic Sutras.

Around same time as the Sutras

Some basic books compiled in Sanskrit describing the yogic postures.  The best known being ‘Hatha-Yoga Pradipika’ by Swatmarana.  Indian legend has it that the god Shiva demonstrated 84,000 postures in order to show the physical exercises and of these, about 84 are in common use today.

First century A.D.

Six main Hindu philosophies:

1.     Samkhya

2.     Yoga

3.     Nyaya

4.     Vaisheshika

5.     Mimamsa

6.     Vedanta

The unification of the various levels of human experience: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual.  The Samkhya is essentially a dualistic philosophy, culminating in the ascendancy of the soul over the body, of spirit over matter.

1051 – 1135 A.D.

Milarepa; a great practical Tibetan yogi (more similar to a modern day ‘social worker’).

First few centuries of A.D.

Goraksanatha lived during this time. (Said to have been the founder of Hatha Yoga in its present form.)

Around 1292

Marco Polo interrogated some yogis on his way back from China via India.

1836 – 1885

Shi Ramakrishna.  Pronounced a reincarnation of the Ultimate Reality after many austerities and visions.  Ramakrishna remarked: ‘Well, I’m glad it’s not a disease’.

Ramakrishna proved that transcendental experiences may be had not only by following the Vedic religion but also by following the gospel of Christ or Mohammed.

1893

Swami Vivekananda (formerly known as Naren; the disciple of Ramakrishna) represented India at the Parliament of Religions held at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  His main theme; the universality of religious truth.

The Arrival of Yoga in the Western World?

1895/6

Vivekananda lectured in New York on Raja Yoga.

1897

The February edition of The Strand Magazine reported that Bava Lachman Das had exhibited postures at the Westminster Aquarium: ‘Strange and seemingly impossible feats, contorting his arms and legs into most grotesque and unnatural positions’.

End of 19^th century

Yoga was flourishing in India, Europe and America.

1902

Vivekananda died.

1910

Sri Aurobindo, born Calcutta, 1872 – 1950) believed he had discovered the secret of eternal life.  He founded an ashram in the old French town of Pondicherry.  In 1926 he retired completely into spiritual seclusion and in 1967 there were 1,500 residents at the ashram.

1920

Paramahamsa Yogananda (born India 1893) founded the Self-Realisation Fellowship in LA teaching Kriya Yoga to the West by lectures and correspondence.  He tells us ‘Outward fragility has a mental origin; in a vicious circle the habit-bound body thwarts the mind’. Autobiography of a Yogi, 1946

1924

Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (born India 1888 – 1989) Studied under Rama Mohana and set up a yoga school in the palace of the Maharaja of Mysore.  He was a healer, Sanskrit scholar and yoga teacher.  He is credited with being the instigator of the resurgence of Hatha Yoga.  He taught Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar and Indra Devi.

1929

J. Krishnamurti, born Madras 1891, a Raja Yogi.  Dissolves the Order of the Star (set up by his tutor, Dr Annie Besant in 1910) after declining the honour of being the new messiah.  He is focussed on what we are as against whey we try to become, want to be, think we ought to be, etc.

1934

Kovoor T. Behanan did a Ph.D. at Yale University on the verifiable effects of Yoga on the human system.  His results are published in ‘Yoga, a Scientific Evaluation’, New York, Dover Publications, 1937, 59.

1936

Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh (born Southern India 1887 – 1963) Filled with a strong desire for spiritual growth, he went to India where he found his guru in Rishikesh.  After ten years of austerities he founded the Divine Life Society in 1936.  He trained many outstanding yogis and directed them to take yoga beyond the shores of India.  Amongst them, making significant contributions to the West are:

Swami Vishnudevananda

Swami Venkatasananda

Swami Satyananda

Swami Satchidananda

Swami Radha

Sivananda’s main teachings are summarised in 6 words: ‘Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise’.

Late 1930s

Michael Volin joined Indra Devi to create the first Yoga school in China

1939

Indra Devi born and brought up by the Baltic Sea.  Gave up meat after listening to Krishnamurti speak in Holland in 1926.  She met Gandhi and Tagore in India, opened a yoga studio in Shanghai and taught Yoga for 7+ years.

1940

Dr Theos Bernard (born ? – 1947) published a book ‘Land of a Thousand Buddhas’, having done a Ph.D. with a thesis on Tantric Yoga.  He had restored himself to health with Hatha Yoga which he learnt in America and studied deeply in India and Tibet.

1948

Krishna Pattabhi Jois (born 1915 – 2009)  He learned from Krishnamacharya for ten years then later developed his own system, Ashtanga Yoga (a combination of synchronized breath with a progressive series of postures, producing internal heat and sweat that detoxifies the body.  Western students included:

Madonna

Sting

Gwyneth Paltrow

1953 +

Selvarajan Yesudian (born India ? – ) Gave the blessing of Yoga to Europe after growing up a very sick boy and being cured by Yoga.  He established himself in Switzerland.

1955

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born India 1917 – 2008) Introduced Transcendental Meditation technique (TM), based on the repetition of a mantra.  He started worldwide tours in 1958 and celebrities such as:

The Beatles

The Rolling Stones

The Beach Boys

Jane Fonda

Shirley MacLaine

Maharishi published: ‘Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation and Commentary.’

1963

B.K.S. Iyengar (born 1918 India – ) Met the violinist Yehudi Menuhin and was invited to introduce yoga in England and Europe.  His method places emphasis on precision, body alignment, strength and flexibility.  Named one of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2004.

1964

Swami Satyananda Saraswati (born Bihar 1923 – 2009) founded the International Yoga Fellowship.

1972

Swami Satchidananda (born 1914 – 2002) At the insistence of his American students, he moved to the US and founded Yogaville, in Virginia, the first integral Yoga Institute.  His motto was: “Truth is One, Paths are Many.”  He dedicated his life to peace, individual and universal, and unity and harmony amongst all people.

Andre Van Lysebeth (born 1919 Europe – 2004) was considered the foremost European Tantric author and teacher.  Founder and President of the Belgian Yoga Federation.