Yoga philosophy is one of the six major important schools of Hindu philosophy,Maurice Phillips (Published as Max Muller collection), The Evolution of Hinduism, , PhD. Thesis awarded by University of Berne, Switzerland, page 8 though it is only at the end of the first millennium CE that Yoga is mentioned as a separate school of thought in Indian texts, distinct from Samkhya.David Lawrence (2014), in The Bloomsbury Companion to Hindu Studies (Editor: Jessica Frazier), Bloomsbury Academic, , pages 137-150 Ancient, medieval and modern literature often simply call Yoga philosophy "Yoga".Knut Jacobsen (2008), Theory and Practice of Yoga, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 100-101, 333-340Mikel Burley (2012), Classical Samkhya and Yoga – An Indian Metaphysics of Experience, Routledge, , pages 43-46 and Introduction chapter A systematic collection of Yoga concepts is found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a key text which has influenced all other schools of Indian philosophy.Mikel Burley (2012), Classical Samkhya and Yoga – An Indian Metaphysics of Experience, Routledge, , pages 20-29Roy Perrett, Indian Ethics: Classical traditions and contemporary challenges, Volume 1 (Editor: P Bilimoria et al), Ashgate, , pages 149-158
The metaphysics of Yoga is Samkhya's dualism, in which the universe is conceptualized as composed of two realities: Puruṣa (witness-consciousness) and Prakṛti (nature). Jiva (a living being) is considered as a state in which puruṣa is bonded to Prakṛti in some form, in various permutations and combinations of various elements, senses, feelings, activity and mind.Samkhya – Hinduism Encyclopædia Britannica (2014) During the state of imbalance or ignorance, one or more constituents overwhelm the others, creating a form of bondage. The end of this bondage is called liberation, or mokṣa, by both the Yoga and Samkhya schools of Hinduism, and can be attained by insight and self-restraint.Yoga Vasistha 6.1.12-13
The ethical theory of Yoga philosophy is based on Yamas and Niyama, as well as elements of the Guṇa theory of Samkhya. The epistemology of Yoga philosophy, like the Sāmkhya school, relies on three of six Pramanas as the means of gaining reliable knowledge.John A. Grimes, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, State University of New York Press, , page 238 These include Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference) and Sabda (Āptavacana, word/testimony of reliable sources).* Eliott Deutsche (2000), in Philosophy of Religion : Indian Philosophy Vol 4 (Editor: Roy Perrett), Routledge, , pages 245-248; John A. Grimes, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, State University of New York Press, , page 238 Yoga philosophy differs from the closely related non-theistic/atheistic Samkhya school by incorporating the concept of a "personal, yet essentially inactive, deity" or "personal god" (Ishvara).Mikel Burley (2012), Classical Samkhya and Yoga – An Indian Metaphysics of Experience, Routledge, , page 39-41Lloyd Pflueger, Person Purity and Power in Yogasutra, in Theory and Practice of Yoga (Editor: Knut Jacobsen), Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 38-39Kovoor T. Behanan (2002), Yoga: Its Scientific Basis, Dover, , pages 56-58
History
Yoga as a separate school of thought is mentioned in Indian texts from the end of the 1st millennium CE. A collection of practices and some ideas of the Yoga school of Hinduism is found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. After its circulation in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, many Indian scholars reviewed it, then published their Bhāṣya (notes and commentary) on it. The commentary by Vyasa may have been written by Patanjali himself, forming an integrated text called the Pātañjalayogaśāstra ("The Treatise on Yoga of Patañjali"). Yoga as a separate school of philosophy has been included as one of the six orthodox schools in medieval era Indian texts; the other schools are Samkhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Jessica Frazier (2014), in The Bloomsbury Companion to Hindu Studies (Editor: Jessica Frazier), Bloomsbury Academic, , pages 24-25 According to Bryant,
There are numerous parallels in the concepts in the Samkhya school of Hinduism, Yoga and various strands of Buddhism, particularly from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century AD, notes Larson. From the Samkhya school of Hinduism, the Yoga Sutras adopt the "reflective discernment" (adhyavasaya) of prakrti and purusa (dualism), its metaphysical rationalism, as well its three epistemic methods to gaining reliable knowledge. From the Buddhist practice of nirodhasamadhi, argues Larson, the Yoga Sutras adopt the pursuit of an altered state of awareness, but unlike Buddhism, which believes that there is no fixed self, Yoga is physicalist like Samkhya in believing that each individual has a self and soul. The third concept that the Yoga Sutras synthesize into its philosophy is the ancient ascetic traditions of isolation, meditation and introspection.
Metaphysics
Comparison to Samkhya
Yoga-philosophy is Samkhya. In both, the foundational concepts include two realities: Purusha and Prakriti. The Purusha is defined as that reality which is pure consciousness and is untouched by thoughts or qualities. The Prakriti is the empirical, phenomenal reality which includes matter and also mind, sensory organs and the sense of identity (self, soul). A living being is held in both schools to be the union of matter and mind. The Yoga school differs from the Samkhya school in its views on the ontology of Purusha, on axiology and on soteriology.Roy Perrett (2007), Samkhya-Yoga Ethics, Indian Ethics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Challenges (Editors: Purusottama Bilimoria et al), Volume 1, , p. 151Mikel Burley (2012), Classical Samkhya and Yoga – An Indian Metaphysics of Experience, Routledge, , pp. 31-46
The metaphysics of Yoga-Samkhya is a form of dualism. It considers consciousness and matter, self/soul and body as two different realities.
The Samkhya-Yoga system espouses dualism between consciousness and matter by postulating two "irreducible, innate and independent realities: Purusha and Prakriti. While the Prakriti is a single entity, the Samkhya-Yoga schools admit a plurality of the Puruṣas in this world. Unintelligent, unmanifest, uncaused, ever-active, imperceptible and eternal Prakriti is alone the final source of the world of objects. The Puruṣa is considered as the conscious principle, a passive enjoyer (bhokta) and the Prakriti is the enjoyed (bhogya). Samkhya-Yoga believes that the Puruṣa cannot be regarded as the source of inanimate world, because an intelligent principle cannot transform itself into the unconscious world. This metaphysics is a pluralistic spiritualism, a form of realism built on the foundation of dualism.
Yoga-philosophy adopts the theory of Guṇa from Samkhya. Guṇas theory states that three gunas (innate tendency, attributes) are present in different proportions in all beings, and these three are sattva guna (goodness, constructive, harmonious), rajas guna (passion, active, confused), and tamas guna (darkness, destructive, chaotic).Alban Widgery (1930), The principles of Hindu Ethics, International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 40, No. 2, pages 234-237James G. Lochtefeld, Guna, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, Vol. 1, Rosen Publishing, , page 265 These three are present in every being but in different proportions, and the fundamental nature and psychological dispositions of beings is a consequence of the relative proportion of these three gunas. When sattva guna predominates an individual, the qualities of lucidity, wisdom, constructiveness, harmonious, and peacefulness manifest themselves; when rajas is predominant, attachment, craving, passion-driven activity and restlessness manifest; and when tamas predominates in an individual, ignorance, delusion, destructive behavior, lethargy, and suffering manifests. The guṇas theory underpins the philosophy of mind in Yoga school of Hinduism.
The early scholars of Yoga philosophy, posit that the Puruṣa (consciousness) by its nature is sattva (constructive), while Prakriti (matter) by its nature is tamas (chaotic). They further posit that individuals at birth have buddhi (intelligence, sattvic). As life progresses and churns this buddhi, it creates asmita or ahamkara (ego, rajasic). When ego in turn is churned by life, manas (temper, mood, tamasic) is produced. Together, buddhi, ahamkara and manas interact and constitute citta (mind) in Yoga school of Hinduism. Unrestrained modification of citta causes suffering. A way of life that empowers one to become ever more aware of one's consciousness and spirituality innate in buddhi, is the path to one's highest potential and a more serene, content, liberated life. Patanjali's Yoga sutra begins, in verse 2 of Book 1, by defining Yoga as "restraining the Citta from Vrittis."
Soteriology
Yoga school of Hinduism holds that ignorance is the cause of suffering and saṁsāra. Liberation, like many other schools, is removal of ignorance, which is achieved through discriminative discernment, knowledge and self-awareness. The Yoga Sūtras is Yoga school's treatise on how to accomplish this. Samādhi is the state where lucid awareness develops, state Yoga scholars, and this is how one starts the process of becoming aware of Purusa and true Self. It further claims that this awareness is eternal, and once this awareness is achieved, a person cannot ever cease being aware; this is moksha, the soteriological goal in Hinduism.
Book 3 of Patanjali's Yogasutra is dedicated to the three last limbs of ashtangha yoga, together called sanyama in verses III.4 to III.5, and calls it the technology for "discerning principle" and mastery of citta and self-knowledge.The Yoga-darsana: The sutras of Patanjali with the Bhasya of Vyasa – Book 3 GN Jha (Translator); Harvard University Archives, pages 94-95Gregor Maehle (2007), Ashtanga Yoga: Practice & Philosophy, , pages 237-238 In verse III.12, the Yogasutras state that this discerning principle then empowers one to perfect sant (tranquility) and udita (reason) in one's mind and spirit, through intentness. This leads to one's ability to discern the difference between sabda (word), artha (meaning) and pratyaya (understanding), and this ability empowers one to compassionately comprehend the cry/speech of all living beings.The Yoga-darsana: The sutras of Patanjali with the Bhasya of Vyasa – Book 3 GN Jha (Translator); Harvard University Archives, pages 108-126The Yoga Philosophy TR Tatya (Translator), with Bhojaraja commentary; Harvard University Archives, pages 108-109 Once a yogi reaches this state of sanyama, it leads to unusual powers, intuition, self-knowledge, freedoms and kaivalya, the soteriological goal of the yogi.
The benefits of Yoga philosophy of Hinduism are then summarized in verses III.46 to III.55 of Yogasutras, stating that the first five limbs leads to bodily perfections such as beauty, loveliness, strength and toughness; while the last three limbs through sanyama leads to mind and psychological perfections of perceptiveness, one's nature, mastery over egoism, discriminative knowledge of purity, self and soul.The Yoga-darsana: The sutras of Patanjali with the Bhasya of Vyasa – Book 3 GN Jha (Translator); Harvard University Archives, pages 127-134The Yoga Philosophy TR Tatya (Translator), with Bhojaraja commentary; Harvard University Archives, pages 132-139 This knowledge once reached is irreversible, states Yogasutra's Book IV.
God in Yoga school of Hinduism
Yoga philosophy allows the concept of God, unlike the closely related Samkhya school of Hinduism which is non-theistic. Hindu scholars such as the 8th century Adi Sankara, as well many modern academic scholars describe the Yoga school as "Samkya school with God."