Monday, December 20, 2021

Vedic meditative practices and roots of Yogic tradition


What is well known to most students of Indian history is that the ancient Harappan or Sarasvatī-Sindhu civilization in north-western India had many seals depicting typical meditative Yogic postures. Such Yogic postures are also encountered in depictions from early historic period. However, many skeptics still doubt on these postures as being Yogic. Some do accept these were indeed Yogic depictions, but states that Yoga was originally a non-Vedic tradition adopted by the Vedic Aryans who moved into India and settled in former Harappan regions after the fall of Harappan civilization. Meanwhile, many modern authors have gone as far as saying Yogic tradition has no religion at all!

This post is a humble attempt to trace Yogic elements in early Vedic texts.

To start with, the concept and practice of Tapas is an important part of Vedic culture . The Sanskrit term Tapas literally means 'heat' and can refer to the 'heat' represented by severe austerity which involved meditative practices.  Ṛg Veda 10.129.3 informs us that the whole universe was manifested from the Tapas of the absolute Creator. Tapas referring to heat is obviously also associated closely with Agni or sacred fire, for e.g. Ṛg Veda  6.5.4. Being associated with fire, it is also connected to Yajña or ancient Vedic rituals which use fire. 

Breathing practices centered around Prāṇa i.e. the vital life force represented by breathing is associated with kindling Agni or the sacrificial fire used in Vedic rituals as stated in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 2.2.2.15. Jaiminīya Brāhmaņa 1.14 also similarly describe meditative breathing practice associated with an internal form of Yajña. There are also various other references in Vedic ritual texts where control of Prāṇa is spoken about. So we can assume that the some of the Vedic rites involved breathing techniques which are also associated with Yogic meditative practices.

In the early Upaniṣad-s also we encounter various mentions of meditative practices. For example Cāndogya Upaniṣad 8.6.6 mentions the mystical meditative doctrine in which the inner force which is located deep within the heart is raised up through the subtle arteries called as nāḍī-s into top of the head to attain immortality. Similar descriptions can be found in other Upaniṣad-s  like Kaṭha Upaniṣad 6.16, Praśna Upaniṣad 3.6, Br̥hadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.1.19 etc. Another description from Taittirīya Upaniṣad 1.6.1-2 also mentions about inner force residing within the heart and attaining union with Brahman by opening the passage located in top of the head. 

Although direct details of specific meditative postures are not there in early Vedic texts, it is possible that these meditative techniques obviously involved some sort of postures. Early Buddhist and Jain texts also mention specific meditative postures. For example Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta of the early Buddhist Pali cannon mentions various techniques of meditation and also about cross legged posture which is the most commonly used meditative posture. Kalpa Sūtra of the Jains also mentions about Mahavira attaining enlightenment after undergoing severe meditation in a specific posture in which the heels are joined together. So both Buddhist and Jain traditions, dated variously from around 600-400 BCE, acknowledge the existence of various meditative postures and techniques.

 Broadly, we can call these as part of what we perceive as  early versions of Yogic practices. The control of Prāṇa represented by breathing which is associated with certain Vedic rites  is obviously similar to the Yogic meditative practices revolving around control of breathing and the mystical Vedic doctrine, which talks about rising inner force into top of the head through subtle nāḍī-s or arteries, is an obvious precursor to the later Yogic Kuṇḍalinī doctrine, the only differences being the Vedic doctrine states that the inner force is located within the heart instead of in the bottom of spine as in Kuṇḍalinī doctrine, and no direct mention is made of major Cakra-s associated with Kuṇḍalinī. 

Thus, like all other mainstream Āstika Hindu sects  (i.e. those sects which accepts authority of Veda-s), Yogic meditative practices too has its foundations in Vedic culture, which was later codified by sages like Patañjali. 

Further meditative postures and techniques kept on developing in later times. Even then, the foundation of these practices can be traced to Vedic texts.

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