hatha yoga and Ayurveda

[Guest guest]

I would to explore this comment somewhat further. Is there any

significant scriptual evidence that hatha yoga was a spiritual

technique of ancient India, i.e. as ancient and venerable as the

practices of Ayurveda? It seems to me that many of the practices

originate from Goraksha (c. 9-10 th cent CE), which is comparatively

late when we consider the age of many -textual- sources of India

knowledge (esp. in Ayurveda, e.g. Charaka, Sushruta, Kashyapa, Bhela

etc.).

 

My only point is that India culture offers an enormous number of

methods to spiritual realization, and that hatha yoga (and the chakra

system) were never major components of this tradition and appear to

have evolved relatively later. Some texts such as the Laghu Yoga

Vasishtha (c. 10 th cent CE) indicate that the only reward of hatha

yoga is "pain" (Feuerstein, in Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga, p. 118).

I have spent some time studying the chakras and they are all based on

primarily medieval texts, although some basic components are hinted at

in the Vedas. If anything hatha yoga was a minor esoteric tradition

that was clearly rejected or unsupported by many schools of India

philosophy, but evolved into being a dominant expression of India

spiritual thinking in the later centuries, much like vegetarianism.

While these are valid paths they have come define Indian spirituality

and to some extent Ayurvedic medicine, but I think that they do not

indicate the sophistication, depth and variety of the various spiritual

traditions available.

 

The thing that all of you seem to be saying is that yoga is NOT of form

of exercise, and while its fine to believe this personally, for MOST

people taking yoga it is a kind of meditative exercise. A yoga class

in Mumbai or LA is probably a long distance away from the esoteric

teachings of a tantric master in some remote location in the Himalayas.

My original comments address this basic fact. Ayurveda recommends

vyayama or 'exercise' as part of the dinacharya 'daily regimen,' but

says nothing about the practice of hatha yoga. Thus from an Ayurvedic

perspective hatha yoga is not necessary to maintain physical health,

and was never integrated with hatha yoga to the same degree that it is

nowadays.

Caldecott

phyto

http://www.wrc.net/phyto

[Guest guest]

well said.

Durgesh Mankikar,MD