The Mystery of Yoga
The history of yoga is an intriguing mix of ancient text, mythology, legend, mystery and rumour that spans many centuries. There are many documents and writings on the subject. Yoga is a philosophy or a way of life. It is not a religion, although it can be a spiritual practice, depending on individual taste. Here is a brief account, as I understand it, based on my past eight years of study.
Yoga can be directly linked back to Lord Vishnu, a major god in Hinduism and Indian mythology. Vishnu is thought of as the preserver and protector of the universe and is symbolized by a human body with four arms.
As the preserver of all things, Vishnu upholds universal laws, takes part in worldly business and ensures that all is well. When all is well within the universe, he sleeps while floating along the cosmic ocean. The universe is said to unfold from Vishnu's dream. When there is discord, Vishnu either mounts his vehicle, Garuda, and battles with the forces of chaos, or he sends one of his ten Avatars (or incarnations) to save the world. Three of his most well known incarnations are Rama, Krishna and Buddha. The full list of ten Avatars is as follows:
1. The fish Matsya
2. The turtle Kurma
3. The boar Varaha
4. The man-lion Narasimha
5. The dwarf Vamana
6. The warrior-priest Parashurama
7. The prince Rama
8. The cowherd Krishna
9. The sage Buddha-Mayamoha
10. The horseman Kalki
According to legend, Vamana, the fifth incarnation, is said to have come to earth when Ashtanga Yoga was forgotten and a sage was needed to bring it back to mankind. Vamana Rishi incarnated for this task and learned the whole Ashtanga Yoga system from lord Vishnu while in the womb of his mother. After the length of pregnancy passed, Vamana was still not finished with his learning. He refused to be born until he had finished his studies of Ashtanga Yoga.
The Yoga Karunta is attributed to this sage, Vamana Rishi. Allegedly, these original ancient texts, that describe the yoga we know today, were recorded in a palm-leaf manuscript called the Yoga Korunta. (Korunta means groupings). According to Sri K. Pattabi Jois, student of Sri T. Krishnamacharya, the Yoga Korunta is said to have contained lists of many different groupings of asanas, as well as highly original teachings on vinyasa, drishti, bandhas, mudras, and philosophy. No copy of the Yoga Korunta exists today and there is no hard evidence that such a document ever existed.
Continuing with legend, Sri T. Krishnamacharya, born in India in 1888, had studied the Ashtanga Yoga of the Yoga Korunta for seven and a half years, with his guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari. There are rumours that Krishnamacharya learned the Ashtanga Yoga system by heart from the teachings of Brahmachari and Brahmachari told him about the existence of the Yoga Korunta and through vigorous searching, Krishnamacharya then found a copy of the Yoga Korunta in a Calcutta library. Another version of the legend holds that Bramachari had the Yoga Karunta. Rergardless, it was apparently written on leaves and ants ate it destroying it beyond repair.
Little is known about Brahmachari. He is said to have lived in a remote cave in Tibet with his family. It is not clear how he came to learn asana and pranayama, although some findings tell of him learning from his father. It is said that he was a strict authoritarian teacher who emphazised the teachings of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (written approx. 200 BC). Brahmachari is also said to have been one of the last Hatha yoga masters remaining at that time. One story states that Krishnamacharya was recommended to go to him when a fellow university student saw him practicing asanas.
There is another important ancient text called the Yoga Rahasya that is rumoured to exist, although no one ever saw it either. It is this text that apparently was brought to Krishnamacharya in a dream from his yogi ancestor, Nathamuni, a ninth century south Indian saint who had been dead for one thousand years. Upon waking, Krishnamacharya then recorded these teachings in detail.
It is based on these texts that the yoga we know here in North America today is known as the yoga of Krishnamacharya. The Eight Limbed Ashtanga Yoga system came from the Yoga Korunta and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, as empasized by Krishnamacharya in his teachings. Krishnamacharya took no credit for any of the teachings. He believed that yoga belonged to God. Krishnamacharya attributed all of his ideas to either God or his guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari.
Krishnamacharya’s teachings continue to be spread throughout India and the world by his students, and their students, and so on. Four of his five world-renowned students are still living and spreading the teachings of yoga to this day, They are: his son TKV Desikachar; BKS Iyengar of Iyengar Yoga; K Pattabhi Jois of Ashtanga Yoga; and AG Mohan of Swastha Yoga. Russian born Indra Devi, who was the first Western woman to study yoga in India, has since passed on. For those unfamiliar with yoga, these teachers initiated the most widely practiced systems of hatha yoga in the West today.