The Yogas of Patanjali

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Three hundred years after Buddha came another great genius in the history of India, Patanjali, the founder of the sixteen Yogas. To understand the Yogas, all the sixteen Yogas, not just one or two of them, we must go back to the original purity and simplicity of Patanjali.

Patanjali was a great admirer of Buddha, and the ancient Dharma made a great impression upon him. To Patanjali, the wheel represented Union—union with everything; union with the cosmos, union with the universe, with Nature, with ourselves—complete union. This is the true meaning of Yoga, the establishment of union with all the forces of the outer cosmos and all the forces of the inner cosmos.

Meditating on the wheel of Buddha, Patanjali created his sixteen Yogas. He saw the perimeter of the wheel divided, into eight sections, and he saw eight spokes going toward the centre. The eight sections of the outer perimeter of the wheel became the eight outer Yogas representing all the forces of visible Nature, and eight spokes leading toward the centre became the eight inner Yogas, symbolising the forces of the unseen cosmos. According to Patanjali, if one part of the wheel is taken away, the whole wheel will collapse. Only by treading all the spokes of the wheel simultaneously can man reach the centre of the wheel, where total union with air the inner and outer cosmos exists. The Yogas must be practiced all together in the right balance. This is the vital fact neglected in the 20th century by both the Eastern and Western Yogis.

The 14th century Indian poet-saint, Kabir, said of the difficulty of translating the mysteries of the infinite, “It is like a dumb person who tastes a sweet thing—how shall it be explained?” And yet Patanjali accomplished that impossible feat by choosing as his symbol of the Union with the Infinite at the centre of the wheel, a beautiful white swan, and these words, “Yoga is the effortless silence of the eternal white journey.” With this beautiful sentence, the sixteen spoked wheel of Buddha became the sixteen petalled lotus of Patanjali, traversed by the silently gliding white swan of Yogas.

The eight outer petals of the lotus are eight Yogas which concentrate on things we can see, things which are in Nature. For example, Ha Yoga, Union through the Sun. The first disciples of Patanjali, the earliest Yogis, knew the tremendous energy flowing to us at all times from the sun, but in moderation, knowing that this is one of the most powerful forms of energy in existence, and one to be respected. Their bodies not only absorbed the health giving properties of the sun’s rays, but also the fire of life, and vitality that is inherent in the sun. And so they achieved Union through the Sun, Ha Yoga.

Shat Yoga is Union through Water. In ancient India water played a very important role, beginning with one of their most sacred symbols, the holy river Ganges, where they performed their ritual exercises. They believed there was a heavenly Ganges as well as an earthly Ganges, and that somewhere far away the two Ganges met. When they entered into the river and performed the Holy Ganges movements of their ritual exercises, they were looking toward the unknown mystic point of union where the earthly Ganges meets the heavenly Ganges. Through gradual training, a little bit more each day, they were able to do this devotional exercise endlessly, hour after hour, until they completely lost awareness of their senses. In this state of mind they considered that they had accomplished full mystic Union through Water, Shat Yoga.

After Shat Yoga comes Pranayama Yoga, Union through the Air. According to the ancient concept of Patanjali, the air is charged with energy, cosmic energy, and a very basic aspect of Yoga is breathing, to establish union with this cosmic energy in the air that surrounds us. When it enters the lungs, the bloodstream picks it up, and thus the whole body is vitalised by this cosmic energy, this being the famous “Pranaisation” theory of Patanjali. In the last two thousand years, all kinds of breathing techniques have appeared, being the label “Yoga breathing”. But none of them can compare to the wonderful purity and simplicity of the original teachings of Patanjali. He taught his disciples to walk on gentle slopes, such as the foothills of the Himalayas. From ancient drawings and scriptures, it is possible to reconstruct exactly what he meant by a gentle slope. It would be a 22° slope, a half a 45° angle. According to Patanjali, walking frequently on such a gentle slope automatically establishes the right way of breathing, not too fast, not too deep, nor too shallow. Too fast and too deep breathing creates an absolutely unnecessary strain on the lungs and on the whole body, causing dizziness and even fainting. Too shallow breathing, when we use only part of the capacity of the lungs, deprives the bloodstream of the vital energy that exists in the air. Walking on gentle slopes, exposing the body to pure, fresh air, internally and externally, creates perfect Union through the Air, The Pranayama Yoga of Patanjali.

Sattwic Yoga is Union through Food. According to Patanjali we should eat only foods which are produced by Nature, foods the earth gives us in their natural state. When Patanjali and his followers ate from fruits of the trees, and the herbs of the earth, they expressed in this way their part in the great Union of all things in Nature, acknowledging the fact that when man lives in harmony with Nature, Nature will give him, in the form of food, and other energies, all he needs to progress infinitely on the path of his individual evolution.

The most challenging of the outer Yogas is Laya Yoga, Union through Man. This was the practice of establishing union with ourselves, to know ourselves, and by different practices to stimulate ourselves into higher and higher degrees of individual evolution to put it in a 20th century way, to realise our potentialities. According to Patanjali, it is not enough to have potential, we must transform our potentialities into realities, utilising more and more of our hidden abilities and talents. This is the central principle of Laya Yoga, Union through Man, utilising all the energies in the human body to be able to create higher and higher expression of the divine creative fire which sleeps in all men.

Laya-Krya Yoga is Union through Earth. The ancient Yogis considered the earth as a source of energy, producing as it does all living things, trees, plants, foods, all green living things. They recognised a basic unity between the energy that exists in all living things, and that energy within themselves. They were vegetarians, surrounded by vegetation of all kinds. The energy they obtained from the vegetation around them they considered as energy entering into their bodies. The same generating force which generates energy on the face of the earth is also in the human body, the power to be able to generate new life. The ancient Yogis were able to transform this generating energy into regenerating energy. And they believed that the seal of this energy was the spine. Instead of using this energy in sexual life, as laymen did, these very early Yogis transformed this energy, called “Kundalini”, into regenerating powers to regenerate their organisms. This was the main principle in Laya-Krya Yoga, Union through Earth, earthly energy and sexual energy.

Hatha Yoga is Union through Health. This is the Yoga that is generally taught in the West, sometimes erroneously, and which led people to believe that it is the only Yoga. Originally Hatha Yoga was a kind of doctrine of Patanjali, a few basic rules to maintain walking on gentle slopes to achieve perfect breathing, simple bathing in creeks and rivers, moderate exposure to sun, and so on. The intricate and complex exercises that most people connect with Yoga today were actually the work of much later disciples, after the death of the master, and had little to do with the original purity and simplicity of Patanjali’s rules on how to live in a perfectly healthy way. This was the real Hatha Yoga.

Mantra Yoga, the Yoga through Joy, is the cohesive binding force of the outer Yogas. Because if we can establish union with all things, then we will be in a state of permanent joy, having sources of energy and harmony, and knowledge from all things. The early Yogis considered this continuous state of Joy as one aspect of Union. To achieve, express and sustain this feeling of Joy, a word, or Mantra was pronounced within. However the word did not create the Joy, but Joy—Joyful union with all the visible and invisible forces of nature and the universe—created the word, just as music first exists whole and complete within the composer before it is put down on paper.

The inner petals of the lotus of the Yogas represent the forces of the invisible inner world. We cannot see them as we can the forces of Nature, we know only their manifestations.

One of these inner petals is the Union through Power, Prakriti Yoga. Patanjali considered that there is power, sources of power and energy from everything around us. This power should, and can be acquired and utilised.

Prakriti Yoga is the message to use all sources of energy within and around us.

Bhakti Yoga is the Union through Love. Patanjali emphasised individual and cosmic unity with all living beings, and according to him, love is the cohesive force which holds everything together. We should always consider the universal solidarity of life and think of all things as our brothers. Patanjali said that whenever we help anything outside ourself, whether it be a person, an animal, a tree or flower, we help ourselves, because we are one with all—“Tat Tvam Asi”. We are one with the wholeness, the totality of life. The totality of life which is expressed by love and unity and harmony with ail living things is Bhakti Yoga, Union through Love.

Jnana Yoga is Union through Wisdom. This union is very important one because according to Patanjali, the perfection of the body is the only tool to achieve perfection of the mind. To acquire the wisdom of all ages, to put into practice in our daily life, is the Union through Wisdom, Jnana Yoga.

Chakra Yoga is the Yoga through Preservation. Chakras are centres in the body which absorb different energies from all things, creating union with them. These mystical centres hold the key to our contact with ever higher levels of awareness; they are in a sense the accumulators of these different energies, and, according to Patanjali, we should carefully preserve them.

Raja Yoga, Union through Creation, is the absolute dominion over the senses, so that we can create any sensation we desire. Through the practice of Raja Yoga, any sensation, heat, cold, can be felt, music can be heard, paintings and landscape can be seen, flowers can be smelled. Raja Yoga is the absolute mastery of the senses.

Satya Yoga is the Union through Eternal life. Patanjali was greatly impressed by the philosophy of Buddha, who described so beautifully the bridge that must be created, the Parinirvana, between ourselves and the Cosmic Ocean of Life and Thought. Patanjali used this idea to create Satya Yoga, the highest and greatest Yoga, that of our own Union with Eternal Life.

Union through Work is Karma Yoga. According to Patanjali, work is essential for our well-being and for our individual evolution, representing in tangible form and inner desire to progress on the inner path of the Yogas. In ancient times the disciples of Patanjali, the first Yogis, were always busy doing useful work in society. They were not sitting on nails somewhere, nor were they continuously absorbed in sterile meditation. The original purity and simplicity of Yoga involved deeds and actions, Karma Yoga. By doing good deeds, by helping others, spiritually and physically, they knew theywere creating good Karma. Karma means the iron law of cause and effect. Whatever we do in the present will affect irrevocably our future. Our present deeds determine our future, and this is Karma Yoga, Union through Work.

The last of the Yogas is Samadhi Yoga, Union through Peace. In this Yoga are blended and uplifted all the sixteen Yogas. For without peace, both within and without ourselves there can be no Union, which is the true meaning of Yoga. The undisturbed peace of mind, that which the ancient Greek philosophers called “Ataraxia”, is the pinnacle of achievement of this Yoga. But again it cannot be attained in lonely isolation. This true peace, Samadhi, can only be reached if at each step up the ladder one turns to help another reach the same rung. In this way all mankind eventually reaches the eternal Peace of Union with the Infinite.

This is the complete general view of the sixteen Yogas of Patanjali, the last fruitful period of the classic philosophy of India. It is a philosophy which acquires meaning only insomuch as it is lived as a complete program of creative living for a fuller and more meaningful life. The true meaning of the Yogas cannot be found in the one-sided techniques practiced today in both the East and West, but only by returning to the original purity and simplicity of the founder and creator of the sixteen Yogas, Patanjali.