1. Yoga

2. The Bhagavad Gita

3. Tantra

The term yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, ‘to control’, ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’.

Yoga is the means whereby the mind and senses can be restrained, the limited, empirical self or ego can be transcended and the self’s true identity eventually experienced.

The text which is most significant in the yoga tradition is Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, which was composed sometime between 100 BCE and 500 CE, contains aphorisms on classical yoga, called the ‘eight-limbed’ (ashtanga) or ‘the best’ (raja) yoga.

The Yoga Sutra represents a codification of yoga ideas and practices which had been developing for many centuries.

Patanjali gives a succinct definition of yoga in the second aphorism: ‘yoga is the cessation of mental activities’.

Hathayoga or ‘yoga of force’, develops a system of elaborate and difficult postures accompanied by breathing techniques.

Hathayoga as a complete system was developed from about the ninth century CE by the Nath sect, which traces its origins to a saint, Matsyendranatha, revered also in Buddhism, and his disciple Gorakhnath (between the ninth and thirteenth centuries CE).

The purpose of hathayoga is the realization of liberation during life through cultivating a body made perfect or divine in the ‘fire’ of yoga.

Two well-known classifications of yoga in India. (1) Mantrayoga (2) Layayoga (3) Hathayoga (4)

Rajayoga (1) Karmayoga (2) Bhaktiyoga (3) Jnanayoga

(pronounced as Gyanayoga)

The famous Bhagavad Gita, the ‘Song of the Lord’, dated to not before the second century BCE, and may have been inserted into the Mahabharata.

Some scholars, however, think that it was composed as part of the text.

On the eve of the great battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas, Arjuna is faced with a moral dilemma.

There is a conflict within Arjuna between his duty-as a warrior and son of Pandu-to fight, and the ideal of non-violence (ahimsa), espoused by the renouncer traditions.

In response to his deep misgivings, Krishna exhorts him to go to battle, for not to do so would be unmanly and dishonorable.

Arjuna, however, rejects this argument and refuses to fight, so Krishna gives two further reasons for Arjuna’s involvement in the battle.

Firstly, the soul cannot be killed, it ‘is not killed nor does it kill’.

The second, more significant, reason, and the one which convinces Arjuna to fight, is that it is Arjuna’s own duty and responsibility as a warrior to do battle.

One of the most important messages that the text conveys is the necessity of performing one’s appropriate duty, yet performing these actions with detachment.

The Gita expounds the idea that there are various paths to liberation, an idea which has been developed in modern Hinduism.

The path of action (karmayoga), which is detachment from the fruits of action or ritual action, is emphasized as a way of reconciling worldly commitment with liberation.

Also the path of devotion (bhaktiyoga) as a way of salvation, and even women and low castes can achieve liberation in this way.

Also the path of knowledge (jnanayoga) which refers to knowledge of the absolute (brahman).

The term tantra is derived from the Sanskrit root tan, ‘to expand’.

The Tantras cannot be dated before 600 CE at the very earliest, most were probably composed from the eighth century onwards.

The bulk of Tantras were produced from 800-1200 CE.

There are Hindu (Shaiva, Shakta, Vaishnava) Tantras as well as Buddhist and Jain Tantras.

Some Tantras are notorious for their erotic and antinomian elements, e.g. ritual sex, the consumption of alcohol and meat offered to ferocious deities.

The most developed form of Tantra is said to be Kapalika-Yogini cult.

The Tantras are concerned with sadhana (practice), which involves initiation, ritual, and yoga.

The tantric way can also be summarized as purification of the body through its symbolic destruction.

The Tantras are concerned with the attaining of magical powers as well as liberation.

The Tantras are also concerned with possession and exorcism.

The body is divine and contains the cosmic hierarchy within it (microcosm-macrocosm correspondence).

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