Yoga - A Brief Historic Perspective

Some of the earliest traces of Yoga take us as farsystem.Yet taking refuge in a belief system or faith
back as 7000 years ago. Some scholars evenhas its limitations.
theorise that yoga evolved from shamanic rituals thatIt will not prevent people from going to war with one
took place during the Stone Age. In the Holyanother, in fact, quite the contrary, some of the
Scriptures of the Hindu Religion, or Bhagavad Gita,most persistent conflicts that are raging to this very
Lord Krishna refers to Kryia Yoga twice. Theseday are rooted in disputes around belief systems.
scriptures are estimated to have been written moreThis explains why Yoga evolved to distance itself
than 3000 years ago.from religion and modern Yoga as it is known today
A French Archaeologist discovered and excavated acannot be seen as a belief system or religion.
Neolithic (7000 BC) settlement in Mehrgarth, Pakistan,The first actual teachings of Yoga are to be found in
between 1974 and 1986. To quote Ahmad Hasanthe Vedas, which are ancient texts recorded by the
Dani, a Professor of archeology,Indus-Sarasvati civilization. The Vedas are reputed
"Discoveries at Mehrgarh changed the entire conceptbeing the oldest scripture in the world and could be
of the Indus civilization". This is because culturaldescribed as a compilation of hymns that commends
similarities were found between Mehrgarh, which wasa high power. They contain the first known
a Neolithic settlement and Modern Hinduism.descriptions of rituals aimed at going beyond the
The shamanistic culture of Mergarh tends to showlimitations of the mind in order to provoke divine
that it influenced Hindu ideals, symbols and rituals ofrevelation. They are referred to as Pre-classical Yoga.
the present. Ancient shamanism and early Yoga hadThe classical period of Yoga was introduced by the
so much similarity for the reason both wanted to goworks of Master Patanjali who wrote his now
beyond the human condition. Figurines found at theuniversally famous Sutras. Scholar believe in general
Mehrgarth excavation site depict Yoga posturesthat this must have happened around 200 B.C. Sutras
which are still in use today.could be described in modern terms as "mind boggling
Shamanism's primary goal was to heal the membersexpressions of truth", or aphorisms. It is rumored
who were in their community and at the same timethat if one understands all the Sutras, divine
act as religious mediators. Archaic Yoga had the samerevelation follows by default. There are several
objectives as it was community oriented and it aimedhundred Sutras.
to determine the order of things through senses andThis brief historic perspective of yoga is not
inner vision, which then could be applied to daily living.complete if it stops at the classical stage of yoga. At
As time went on, Yoga has progressed and hasthe turn of the millennium, yoga spread in different
concentrated on the inner experience. Yogis thenforms. Theory states this occurred because of the
started focusing on how to attain individualneed for standardization. Many different schools of
enlightenment.yoga came into existence of which many continue to
It is widely accepted today that many religions haveexist in our day and age, think of Hatha or Tantra
their actual roots in shamanism, of which we knowYoga, for example, or Kriya Yoga.
that it tried to act as a conduit between the knownIn his autobiography, Paramahansa Yogananda
and the unknown. Shamanism could be seen as theexplains that he was the second master to have
belief system of people who lived during the Stonebeen given the task of making yoga known to
Age. Life on earth has always been challenging. Evenwestern civilization. The first was Swami
in modern times many people go hungry even thoughVivekananda, the sanskrit term "swami" could be
there is the technology to go into space.translated as "master", who went to America in the
This suffering is not easy to witness and anlate nineteenth century. In more recent decades,
individual's helplessness in regards to his own sufferingyoga has greatly and swiftly evolved. From being an
and that of others remains extremely difficult tooccult science only accessible to the brahmin caste of
reconcile. This could be one of the many reasons theIndia it has become a mainstream activity that can
vast majority of humans living on earth have takenserve the purpose of helping every living individual
refuge in some or other form of faith or beliefevolve beyond maya.