The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c32.s9: § 9. Yoga Practices
The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c32.s9
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§ 9. Yoga Practices
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The ritual, as has been seen, both in the case of magic and of the sacrifice, is full of elements which appear systematized in the later Yoga philosophy and practice. But it would be a mistake to exaggerate the degree of correspondence, and in point of fact much that is later characteristic and essential is lacking in the earlier Vedic literature.⁷ In special hardly any trace can be found of the importance later attaching to elaborate regulation of the breath, despite the fact that the division of the breaths or vital airs as five is early. The suggestion that the term *çuṣma* is a word with ecstatic implications is wholly implausible. The inducing of perspiration as a part of the Dīkṣā and as a means of exciting ecstasy is clear, but it does not appear as a distinct or important rite as with the Scythians of Herodotos or the aborigines of North America or Australia. Nor do we find any clear reference to the various sitting postures familiar to the later Yoga, for it is absurd to believe that the sense 'altar', if it ever really belongs to the obscure term Dhiṣaṇā, owes its origin to the fact that by his posture at the place of sacrifice the priest beholds the might (*dhiṣaṇā*) of the gods. The mysterious Uttānapad of the Rigveda⁸ as a cosmic power cannot with any plausibility be deemed to yield a proof of the practice of assuming the position of an embryo in the womb as a means of attaining mystic rebirth. That silence and solitude were conducive to ecstasy is, curiously enough, little referred to, and the dirt of both person and garments of the later Yogin is recognized only in a few hints.⁹ There is more evidence of fasting, and the hymn of Lopāmudrā and Agastya in the Rigveda¹⁰ appears, despite its obscurity, to express the two kindred ideas of the magic potency engendered by continence on the one hand, and on the other of the cosmic importance of the rite of generation, both doctrines of the later system.¹ The idea of a mystic union between the god and the worshipper, which finds its highest development in the Çakti cults of Bengal, appears wholly unknown to Vedic literature,² and dancing as a means of producing ecstasy is never mentioned, though the gods as dancers may be a relic of the conception. The songs, and their musical accompaniments, together with the ritual exclamations which are preserved in the Song-books of the Sāmaveda, may have served a similar purpose; sound may often have accomplished results of spiritual excitement irrespective of the words, and the term Vipra, used of the poet, seems to suggest the trembling or quaking of divine inspiration.³
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⁷ J. W. Hauer (*Die Anfänge der Yogapraxis im alten Indien*, pp. 9–65) adduces all available evidence, but most of it is obviously without value.
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⁸ x. 72.
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⁹ RV. x. 136. 2.
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¹⁰ i. 179.
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¹ Haṭhayogapradīpikā, i. 61 ff.; iii. 83 ff.
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² RV. i. 164. 15 cannot thus be explained.
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³ Cf. Vates; Carnoy, *Les Indo-Européens*, p. 213; Paton, *Spiritism*, pp. 82 ff.
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More important than these facts is the striking description of the Muni found in one late Rigveda hymn.⁴ He differs entirely from the Brahman student or the man undergoing consecration, for his ecstasy is not connected either with the sacrifice or with any of the rites ancillary to it or to the entry of the youth into the full life of the community. His mortal body men see, but he himself fares on the path of the Apsarases, the Gandharvas, the beasts of the wild, he dwells in the east and the western ocean, the steed of Vāta, the friend of Vāyu, inspired by the gods. He knows secret desires, he is the dearest friend, he supports Agni and both the worlds, he is the heaven and the light, and his ecstasy, it seems, is due to a potent draught which, with Rudra, he drinks from a goblet, perhaps a reference to the use of some poison to produce exhilaration or hypnosis.⁵ His hair is long, his soiled garments are of yellow hue.
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⁴ x. 136. Cf. Arbman, *Rudra*, pp. 297 ff.
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⁵ Cf. AV. ii. 27 (*pātā*); 30 (*çamī*); 4. 5 (*çaṇa*, hemp).
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This description is curiously isolated in the Rigveda and later, not unnaturally, since this aspect of religious life does not fall within the normal outlook of our texts. In the Atharvaveda,⁶ however, we find the curious and enigmatical figure of the Vrātya, exalted into a cosmic power, and therefore of obscure origin. It has been suggested that we are to find in him the type of Yogin, produced in the eastern lands under the aegis of the Kṣatriyas, who wandered about the country, received with friendship in the courts, bringing prosperity in his train by reason of his ecstatic practices, in which a part was taken by the hetaera, who is made part of his retinue, and the Māgadha whose loud cries doubtless played a part in his rites. The suggestion is ingenious, but unfortunately it lacks any probative value. The references to the year long standing of the Vrātya and his other actions are too indistinct to enable us to discern with any certainty the outlines of an ancient seeker after ecstatic trances, and the elaboration of his retinue, though it may be paralleled in other lands,⁷ is strange to Indian usage.
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⁶ xv.
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⁷ Apuleius, *Metam.* viii. 27 f. is cited by Hauer (*op. cit.*, p. 177).
Linked texts (3)
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
- Haṭhapradīpikā — Svātmārāma, Sanskrit
- Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit