Jaina Origin of the Yoga

Sanjay Sonawani

Yoga is thought to be first elaborated in the Upanishads. They are considered to be the last parts of the Vedas. There has been a debate about whether Upanishads can be a logical extension of Vedic thought. In a close examination, the spiritual realms the Upanishads delve into are poles apart from the philosophy and rituals that have been propounded by the Vedas, thus connecting them both could be a grave mistake of the students.

The indelible influence of the Samana philosophy can be seen on the ancient Upanishads. Before the word "Brahma" appeared in the Upanishads, the word "Yaksha" (यक्ष which means mysterious radiance.) was used as a synonym for Brahma. Moreover, the word Brahman (ब्रह्मन) in the Upanishads is neither related to the word Brahman (ब्राह्मण) nor to the Vedic word "Brahma" (ब्रह्म). The Vedic word Brahma comes in the sense of mantra (chant), while in the Upanishads it comes in the sense of the cause of creation. Different philosophies use different terminological meanings for the same word. Hence, finding similar terms applied in different streams with different connotations doesn’t help us to lead us to a single source. Upanishad philosophies too, thus, cannot be connected with the Vedas since both stand opposite to each other though the big claim has been made that the Upanishads are end part of the Vedas and thus called Vedanta cannot be true, though this impression has hyped us.

The term “Yoga” also has different connotations to explain physical or spiritual activities and their aims. In textual form, the term ‘yuj” appears in the Vedas as a process of yoking horses to a chariot. This simply describes an action, essential to ready a chariot for travel. It has nothing to do with the usual meaning we take for the term Yoga. Yoga has over forty different meanings about a hundred synonyms as given in the dictionaries.

The spiritual usage of this word first appears in a late Taittiriya Upanishad, which especially elaborates on the necessity of meditation and Brahmvidya, to remove the cause which leads to recourse to Karmas. The Yoga term is used here as uniting self with blissful self. This is an expansion of the meaning of the original term “Yoga” in the form of the metaphor associated with karma and rebirth. The time of Taittiriya Upanishad is estimated by different scholars to be the first half of the first million BC. According to Patrick Olivelle, the Taittiriya Upanishad was composed in a pre-Buddhistic period, possibly 6^th to 5^th BCE. We find further expansion of the term in Shvetashvatar and Maitri Upanishads which are dated by the scholars to be about fifth to second century BCE.

If we take a dip in the philosophical views of the Vedic Aryans in the Vedas, a very contradictory picture appears. Unlike the Upanishads, the Vedic world is centered on sacrificial fire rituals offering oblations to a pantheon of the major to minor gods to receive their blessings to get victories in the wars or the material wealth. Though at some places the Rigveda, such as in verses 5.82.7, 6.44.8, 9.113.4, 10.133.6, and 10.190.1, and hymn Hymn 10.117 mentions core ethical values but there is an absence of spiritual ideology. The word Yoga appearing in the Rigveda just means yoking horses to the chariots. There is no spiritual connotation associated with this word. The term Atma is used to address the self and not as an eternal entity governing the self.

Vedics couldn’t have been authors of the Yoga in the absence of the term Atma and clear understanding that the Atma is cause of the life and that the soul is immortal. This is the basic doctrine of Yoga (originally Vratas), which is absent from the Vedas.

For example, term Atma appears in the Rigveda in 10.168.4. “ आत्मा देवानां भुवनस्य गर्भो यथाव॒शं चरति देवा एषः । घोषा॒ इदस्य शृण्विरे॒ न रूपं तस्मै॒ वात॑य ह॒विषा॑ विधेम ॥“ To which Wilson translates as “The soul of the gods, the germ of the world, this divinity moves according to his plural asure; his voices are heard, his form is not (seen); let us worship that Vata with oblations. Nutritious life-sustaining (waters); Rudra, have compassion upon the food which has four feet.” Here vayu is treated as the soul of the gods which should be worshipped with oblations to get the food. The term is not used in the same sense as being used or considered in the Yoga philosophy schools and Yoga’s progenitor The Samana tradition. Vata (wind), though couldn't be seen, it can be heard and sensed as said in this verse implying that the Vedic Aryans had a very vague idea of the Atma concept.

Rigveda is supposed to have been composed around 1500 BC. Most of the part of Rigveda was composed in ancient Iran and the remaining part was composed when the Vedic Aryans arrived in the Indian subcontinent. The new deities and the community like Shudra first appear in the tenth mandala of Rigveda because of the geographical movement of the Vedic Aryans. They seem to have got introduced to the ritualistic and spiritual practices of the local ascetics during their initial phase of stay and gradually learned more from them as they advanced towards the Kuru-Panchal region to which they named as Aryavarta. Till then Vedic Aryans held hostile views towards the Vratyas belonging to Samana tradition. But as some groups moved further in the Magadha region, which was avoided by them in the early phase, this group had intimate contacts with the Vratyas which changed their worldviews and limitations of the philosophy they possessed earlier. The impact of this newly acquired previously unknown knowledge is reflected in the Atharv Veda and Upanishads.

The early stage of the Vrata alias Yoga

In the absence of written records, from archeological proof and logical guesswork, we can infer the earliest stage of the Vrata (Yoga). Though today, Yoga has been branched in many schools with different connotations, originally, in a primordial state, it must have been used to unite physical and spiritual activity that could provide mental bliss. Indians have been idolatrous since time immemorial. The term Puja does not appear in the bulk of the Vedas as it was not their ritualistic practice ever. The external journey was thought to be insufficient to eliminate miseries or moral problems, the necessity of the inner journey must have been felt by the early thinkers who started practicing Vrata’s as a new ritual in a crude form. Yoga was known to the Samana (equanimity) thinkers as Vrata (vow) which was used to purify the soul. This was the beginning of modern yoga.

In Indus civilization, we find some seals that depict the males seated in Yogic positions. Though there are multiple speculations, we cannot get an idea from the seating position what was the purpose of the depictions. We have no idea in the absence of the written record, whether the seating person in certain Asana poses was to gain supernatural powers or had spiritual ambition. Yet, we can get a clear idea that the specific seating or standing positions which are basic requirements of Yoga had emerged long before the time of the Vedas came into existence. The early yoga and the philosophy behind it must have formalized over a million years before the composition of the Vedas had begun.

When Vedic Aryans arrived in India, indigenous folk religion was thriving. Vedic Aryans borrowed freely many local deities adorning Vedic characteristics. At the same time, the Samana culture of thinkers and ascetics was flourishing almost everywhere. The ultimate aim of these thinkers was to win over the bad qualities of the mind, thus, the movement was also named Jina, victors over inner disorders and to see the world with equanimity, thus called Samana. The ultimate aim of yoga, though divided into many sects, remains the same as was determined by the ancestors. The spiritual quests of ascetics had invented means to attain ultimate bliss; Vrata (Yoga) was one, though they might have decided on spiritual destinations differently. The thinkers who thought of the equanimity of all living beings caused a cultural movement that is known to us as Samana culture. The Samana thinkers of the past, as we can guess from their fundamental philosophy, were not interested in mundane pleasures, instead, they strived to get answers to the questions, such as what is the meaning of life, whether there is a creator or not, what are the sorrow and how to get rid of them and how to solve ethical problems faced by the world thus acquiring true knowledge by defeating the inner foes to become Jina. (Bhagavati Sutra, 4.160)

Occult practices (Tantrashastra) of folk religion could have helped emerge this practice which primarily was meant to gain supernatural powers to command the netherworld by chanting mysterious verses. In all probability the syllable Om could have been invented by them for the sound created an aura of mysticism. We should not forget that the Om syllable is absent from Vedic literature. In a later course, the sound of Om might have gotten the attention of all those who followed the spiritual path by giving it fantastic meaning, which originally may not have been intended. New goals must have been set by the early thinkers to use vratas for a wider application, such as to attain salvation that is Moksha or Nirvana, which was never part of Vedic doctrine, neither Puja nor Yoga in the modern sense.

It is clear from Rigveda that the Vedics came across new identities like the Yatis, the Vratyas, the Munis, and the Keshis. (10.136.1-2) when they arrived in the Indian sub-continent around 1200 and 1000 BC. Vratyakanda of Atharvaveda clearly shows how the mystic Vratyas had impressed the Vedic Aryans who settled in the region of Magadha, which Vedic Aryans delving in the Aryavarta region despised in the early phase and had expressed conflicting views about them. But the Vedic Aryans who later on moved towards Magadha, had closer acquaintance with the Vratyas (who followed different vratas) they learned many aspects of their philosophy forcing them to abandon the previously held by them. It changed their perspective to look at the world.

The fifteenth chapter (kanda) of the Atharvaveda is the 'Vratyakanda', in which the Vratyas are glorified. In the ninth and tenth verses of this Kanda, it is said that a Vratya who is favorable to the assembly, committee, army, and Sura, goes as a guest to the king, that the king should respect a Vratya as superior to himself. The Vratyas of the Atharvaveda are self-conscious vratins (yogis) and a different type of sacrifice performer in which Soma was not involved. Sacrifice here seems to have been used as a simile for spiritual and mystic activity. Vratya is also called 'Mahadev' in Atharvaveda. Vratya and Yogi are synonymous for both required to renounce the world and hence were respected the most. Likewise, the yati and keshis could be the individuals following different types of vratas or vows to attain spiritual powers. The meaning of the term Vrata cannot be taken in a modern sense though it still needs some observance but does not cover all the aspects that originally were meant.

However, an association of the Vrata (Yoga) and Tapa with the above-mentioned identities is undeniable. The term Rishi was used for only those who composed or recited Vedic Richa’s (verses). Muni is a person who observes silence. Both terms are not the same as assumed.

Initially the Vedics couldn’t grasp the spirituality associated with their (yati, vratya, keshi etc.) seemingly strange practices, still they were awestruck. Though they have expressed their respect towards them by fitting them in Vedic phrasings still they used the word Vata (invisible wind) for Atma.

केश्यग्निं केशी विषं केशी बिभर्ति रोदसी । केशी विश्वं स्वर्दृशे केशीदं ज्योतिरुच्यते ॥१॥
मुनयो वातरशनाः पिशङ्गा वसते मला । वातस्यानु ध्राजिं यन्ति यद्देवासो अविक्षत ॥२॥

(ऋ. १०.१३६.१-२) 

“1. HE with the long loose locks supports Agni, and moisture, heaven, and earth:
He is all sky to look upon: he with long hair is called this light.
2 The Munis, girdled with the wind, wear garments soiled of yellow hue. They, following the wind's swift course, go where the Gods have gone before. (Trans. by Griffith)

To the Vedic, at their initial stage of understanding the meaning of the Atma, they associated the soul with the wind, invisible but that could be sensed, quite contrary to what the term actually meant to Indian Samanic thinkers. The idea Vedics took was obviously fantastic grafting it in the Vedic sense in the absence of alternative terminology. It normally happens that while borrowing ideas or concepts, people often tend to use their own terminologies while attempting to fit new concepts in their environment. Vedic Aryans settled in Magadha and applied their word “Yuj” as “yoga” to explain the phenomena of attaching the individual soul to the universal self. However, the understanding of the Samanik thinkers was that the cosmic soul and individual soul were one and the same.  

The provenance of any concept thus gets blurred by applying a new term for the original which has a different meaning. This often creates confusion in the minds of the students of the later generations, making them unsure of what really transpired in the past. Yoga term became obviously the victim of this tendency.

Vrata was a synonym for equanimity to Indian Samanic thinkers, as they never thought to connect something with something in duality as they thought of oneness between the cosmic soul and the self to which they gave the term Moksha, i.e. emancipation from the perpetual cycle of birth and death. To achieve this one needed to perform Vratas i.e. spiritual practices. Though physical postures were thought to be essential for beginners, they were never thought to be an essential part of spirituality.

When Upanishada says “Aham Brahmasmi” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4. 10), it clearly echoes Samanik thought. When inner foes are defeated, the person's soul dissolves in the supreme cosmic entity, thus, such a person is called Jina.  Brahma here is the cosmic soul. Here yoking (yoga) does not carry the proper meaning that is intended by the original term “Vrata”.  

Vedics too, as always in the quest for mundane pleasures, praying to their abstract deities through the Fire Sacrificial rituals, began to understand that outer efforts were not sufficient to attain supreme fulfillment and eternal bliss; they started following age-old Samanic principles, adding self-innovated elements, and advocating it in a new garb under the title of the Yoga, avoiding the original term “Vrata” because they might be comfortable with this term. Yoga, as a spiritual means to attain emancipation, entered the Vedic stream in such a manner. Controlling the mind and yoking the mind with the divine has a fundamental contrast.

Patanjali of Yogsutra stresses upon restraints on chitta, vrutti, i.e. “Yoga is the control (nirodhah, regulation, channeling, mastery, integration, coordination, stilling, quieting, setting aside) of the modifications (gross and subtle thought patterns) of the mind field.” (Patanjali Yogsutra 1.2) This nothing has to do with yoking. In fact, Patanjali is repeating Jain philosophy which principally asks for restraints on the thoughts and actions (Karma) that bring disorder. Originally, Jaina's thoughts go far ahead, which asks for not just restraints but winning over the disorder. Vedic people, what we can understand from their philosophy as appears in the Vedas, were hedonists; their prayers to their abstract gods were for the victories in the wars and for the wealth. They strived to live as long as a hundred years. The term “Atma” does not appear in the Vedas in the same sense that is fundamentally considered in the Samana terminology. In the absence of this term, the term Yoga is left with no meaning. This only means that Yoga in the modern sense is a later development in the Vedic stream of philosophy.

We are aware of the fact that to reach a certain destination, there is a beginning, which always is uncertain and filled with difficulties, and crude understandings as one proceeds the vision clears gradually, and when one reaches the ultimate goal the vision is clear. The Samana tradition began with a feeling of equanimity between all the souls which gradually reached towards the oneness which meant salvation from the karmic cycle. Yoga could put this goal before the seekers because there was a solid background built by the Samanic tradition.

The Yoga in Jaina tradition

As the meaning of Jaina is ‘The victor over inner disorders”, it can explain the provenance of the Yoga. The Jaina tradition credits the first Tirthankara as an inventor of Yoga. Rishabhnatha has proven to be a historical figure and his time is estimated between 3000 and 2700 BC. In the absence of other comparative sources, it can be safely stated that the Samana movement began with Rishabhnatha which branched later in many philosophical schools giving different philosophical dimensions resulting in several sects.

I have explained that the Yoga term was accepted by overall philosophical sects, the original term was “vrata” (vows), and the people who strictly followed the Vrata practice were used to be called Vratyas.  From the descriptions, we understand that the Vratyas were mendicants who had renounced the world owing to their vows. Jaina ideology fundamentally stands on the concept of Vratas (Vows), such as Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya (non-stealing), celibacy, and non-possessions at the very initial stage. Vrata was the foundation of the alternative term Yoga since it too essentially needed restraints on human tendencies. Patanjali also adds these five mahavratas of Jainism as yamas in his Yogsutra.  In the later course of the time the term, Vratya for yogi was defamed owing to the supremacist tendency of the Vedics, who tried hard to take credit for the novel concepts that didn’t belong to them. Thus, by the third century BC, the alternate term Yoga acquired fame though the basics of yoga remained the same, i.e., Vratas.

In fact, Yama those are Vratas or vows is the first limb of the Yoga as described by Patanjali. Niyama is the second limb that involves supporting vows (vratas) and then only comes asanas (bodily postures).

The fifth Jain Agama “Bhagavati Sutra” Lord Mahavira’s teachings have been recorded and were committed to writing in 466 AD during the last Jaina council held at Vallabhi. Till then the text was preserved by oral tradition. In this sutra, Lord Mahavira explains to Somila that his lifestyle is of six types, 1. Tapas, 2. Niyama, 3. Sanyama, 4.svadhyaya, 5. Dhyana, and 6. Avashyaka (observance of essential duties (vratas) with self-awareness.).  (Sudharma Swami’s Bhagavati Sutra, Vol.1, Translated by K.C. Lalwani, pub. Jain Bhavan, Calcutta, 1999).

Patanjali has co-related these essentials in Yogsutra under different names under title Niyamas. Saucha (शौच) means mental purity to Jainas but Patanjali stresses on bodily purity. Though Jainas had accepted Asana (bodily posture) as one of the limbs of Yoga, under the title Kayaklesh-tapa, and the sixth kind of external tapas, Patanjali treats asanas as sadhana. Thus various limbs of Yoga as discussed in Yogasutra have been elaborated under different titles and with different perspectives. Yogsutra can be said a further expansion of the Jaina or Samana way of meditation as a means to get salvation.

The Provenance of the Yoga system belonging to Samanas or Jains is obvious for the gradual progressiveness that can be tracked in Jaina canons. The Jain yoga was centered on a fourfold path of emancipation, 1. Right faith, 2. Right knowledge, 3. Right conduct, and 4. Right austerity.  Although the paths under different heads have been applied by other schools also in later times, the fundamentals never changed. Yoga originally meant Vrata to the Jainas or the masters of the samana movement. Vrata obviously was the earliest term for yoga since Vrata needed certain observances that became key foundations of the Yoga philosophy as described later by Patanjali. Vratyas, described by early Vedic Aryans, were the Yogis of those times whose practice was new to them. Vrata was always an individual effort to attain enlightenment for emancipation; it had nothing to with yoking self with the outer supreme force. In the earliest part of Jain philosophy yoga meant a process through which the impulses of karma adhered to and hence occluded the luminosity of the soul. However, according to Christopher Key Chapple  “Responding to a shift in cultural usage of this term that probably arose during the later Upanisads, Jaina thinkers began to describe their religious practice in light of new definitions of Yoga as referring to techniques employed to achieve a state of mental quiescence.” (Yoga in Jainism, Edited by Christopher Key Chapple, pub.-Routledge, 2016, page 10)

This only means that though the terminologies changed over time original essence remained the same even in Upanishads.  This is why the samanic impact over the Upanishads is quite obvious though the Upanishads have used alternate terminologies under Vedic influence. 

Equanimity was and is the foundation of the Vrata or Yoga, the soul of the Saman (समण) tradition. The word Saman in the Prakrit language means “One who looks at everything with equanimity”. The Bhagavati Aradhana (Gatha 70, Vijayodaya Tika) defines the word Saman as “Samano” “Samano” samanasya bhavo samanan,  quchipadpynugata ragadweshata samata samanna sabdenochyate.” This means that the spirit of the Saman is equality. Samanna is equanimity which does not hold grudges against anything. Hargobind Seth’s Prakrit Dictionary also gives the meaning of Saman as "one who sees all beings with equal vision". It was obvious that the Saman tradition though first felt equality in all beings later developed the thought towards equanimity with the cosmic soul. It was the progressive nature of the thought which is not traceable in the Vedic stream.

Who was Patanjali?

Patanjali is credited with the codification of Yoga. He is a legendary person whose origins are shrouded in various mythical stories of his origin and time. He is often called the father of modern yoga. Also, there are heavily fought debates about whether Patanjali of the Yogsutras and Patanjali of Mahabhashya are one and the same or they are different personalities of different times. The time estimated for Patanjali by different scholars ranges from the second century BC to the fourth century AD. In my opinion, the Sutra style was invented after the third century AD and since Yogsutra is written in the Sutra style it only could have been written during the third to the fifth century. Umaswati of the Jain stream codified the Jaina Yoga under the title “Tattvarth Sutra” during this time. Though we have very little to go we safely can say that Umaswati’s Samana thought must have influenced Patanjali. Umaswati begins his text with a statement "Right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct constitute the path to liberation", the key philosophy of Samanism.

Patanjali, despite all the legends associated with him, is in unison related to the Naga cult and Shaivait tradition. This only means that he was not from the Vedic tradition. The Yoga he expounds is the accumulation and proposition of the Samanik Vrata or Yoga. He gives importance to the Vratas, calling the mahavratas or supreme vows. In Shaivait tradition also the Vratas find a significant place.

Sagarmal Jain states in his article published in the book “Yoga in Jainism” edited by Christopher Chappel that the ‘Samatva’ yoga is the principal concept underlining Jainism. To Jains, it is the first and foremost duty of both the monks and householders. Yoga to Jaina is the observance of equanimity, viewing all living beings as one. And to me, this is the objective of Vrata or yoga. Vedic system, on the contrary, is based on inequality by classifying human society in diminishing order, thus denying the very principle of equality.

Philosophically, the meanings of yoga can be taken individually differently, and goals also can be set individually, asanas, dhyana, or dharana can be practiced differently, but the goal remains the same, equanimity with the cosmic self. To achieve this one needs to follow vratas which were explained by the Jaina, the founders of the Samana movement…a movement of equanimity. The Vedic groups that settled in the Magadha region borrowed the concept, but as can be seen, the Vedic Aryans who were settled in Aryavarta never applied the principle of equanimity in social life. The Atharv Veda and Upanishads emerged in the Magadha region, and not in Aryavarta can be seen through the annals of history. However, the Vedic Aryans settled in Magadha too could never touch the fundamental philosophy propounded by the ancient Jains.  

To conclude the above article, the following points must be stressed-

1.       Vrata was the original name of the Yoga and those who followed the path of Vrata were called Vratya’s.

2.       Samana, an ancient Indian tradition of equanimity was the founder of the Vrata alias Yoga system.

3.       Jaina, being progenitors of the samana (Equanimity) tradition can be credited with the foundation of Yoga.

4.       The Vedic stream adapted the Vrata tradition from the Vratyas in the form of yoga and propagated it, though they couldn’t erase its origin.

5.       Patanjali belonged to the non-Vedic Shaivait stream and he used all the previous streams to codify Yoga in his treaty ‘Yogsutra’ between the third to fifth century AD., just around the time when Umaswati composed his treaty “Tatvarth Sutra” on Jain Philosophy in sutra style.

6.       The Vedic community has nothing to do with the foundation of yoga as fundamental tenets of the term yoga go contrary to Vedic philosophy. It cannot have been evolved from the Vedic tenets.         

 

-Sanjay Sonawani