योगः- Yoga
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Blog author Jayaraman Mahadevan
योगः- Yoga
Etymology
युज्+ घञ् = योगः
yuj+ ghañ = yogaḥ
- To the root here is yuj
- the suffix is ghañ
Grammatically we see three Roots yuj in the dhātupāṭha.[1] They are
Yuj samādhi – to concentrate, to focus, to abstain from
senses
Yuj yoga – to join, to
bind to restrain, to unite, to apply, to combine
Yuj saṃyamana – to
restrain, to control, to bind
The suffix ghañ is added to indicate bhava -the act- as per the rule 3.3.18 of Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini
Based on this the derivative statement would then be युज्यते इति योगः - yujyate iti yogaḥ - the act of concentration, the act of joining or the act of controlling.
Lexicon
The following is the entry in amarakośa on Yoga -
योगः सन्नहनोपायध्यानसङ्गतियुक्तिषु॥
yogaḥ sannahanopāyadhyānasaṅgatiyuktiṣu..3. 3. 22. 2. 1
The term Yoga means – armour, means, dhyāna, relation/union, junction
Textual occurrences
Yogasūtra
The Yogasutra uses the word Yoga in 7 occasions.
Just Yoga
In just one occasion the word Yoga is used independently
· योगः चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः - yogaḥ cittavṛttinirodhaḥ ॥ 1.2 ॥ - This is where Yoga is defined as the restrain/cessation of the activities of the mind.
Compound word
In three occasions the word Yoga is used as part of compound word -
· Yogānuśāsana - अथ योगानुशासनम् - atha yogānuśāsanam ॥ 1.1 ॥ - the teaching of Yoga following prior teaching
· Kriyāyoga - तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः
tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ ॥ 2.1 ॥ - the Yoga of action
· Yogāṅga - योगाङ्गानुष्ठानादशुद्धिक्षये ज्ञानदीप्तिराविवेकख्यातेः
yogāṅgānuṣṭhānādaśuddhikṣaye jñānadīptirāvivekakhyāteḥ ॥ 2.28 ॥ - the limbs of Yoga
With prefixes –
There are three forms where prefixes are added to the term Yoga. They are
· saṁyoga - ..स्वरूपोपलब्धिहेतुः संयोगः…svarūpopalabdhihetuḥ saṁyogaḥ ॥ 2.23 ॥ तदभावात्संयोगाभावो हानं …tadabhāvātsaṁyogābhāvo hānaṁ …॥ 25 ॥ - conjunction
· samprayoga - स्वाध्यायादिष्टदेवतासंप्रयोगः - svādhyāyādiṣṭadevatāsaṁprayogaḥ ॥ 44॥ - this word has been given various meanings by various traditional commentators – conversation, direct vision, direct appearance (of the personal deity)
· Viniyoga - तस्य भूमिषु विनियोगः - tasya bhūmiṣu viniyogaḥ ॥ 6 ॥ - channelization
Bhagavadgītā
In this text references are plenty with regard to the usage of the term. Excepting in chapters 1 and 17 in all other chapters in about 94 verses, the term Yoga or the derivate of the term or the compound in which Yoga is a component term or the term Yoga with a suffix is found.
The chapter wise distribution of the term Yoga in the above mentioned various forms is given below
Chapter 2 – Verses 39,45,48,49,50,53 (6)
Chapter 3 – Verses 3,7 (2)
Chapter 4 – Verses 1,2,3,25,27, 28,38, 41,42 (9)
Chapter 5 – Verses 1,2,4,5,67,11,14,21,24 (9)
Chapter 6 – Verses 1-4, 8,10,12, 15-17, 19,20, 23, 27-29, 31-33, 36,37, 41-47 (28)
Chapter 7 – Verses 1, 25 (2)
Chapter 8 – Verses 8,10,12, 14, 23, 25,27,28 (8)
Chapter 9 – verses 5,22,28 (3)
Chapter 10 - Verses 7,10,17,18 (4)
Chapter 11 – Verses 4,8,9,47 (4)
Chapter 12 - Verses 1,6,11,12,14 (5)
Chapter 13 – Verses 10, 24,26 (3)
Chapter 14 – verse 26 (1)
Chapter 15 – Verse 1(1)
Chapter 16 – Verse 1 (1)
Chapter 18 – 33, 38, 52, 57, 75,78 (6)
As can be noted from the above 6th chapter contains the highest number of references (28) to the term Yoga and chapter 14-16 have least references to the term.
The following 37 are the unique terms connected with Yoga that appear in the text. Though there may be multiple appearances of the same term, the first appearance of the term alone is indicated –
Yoga (2.25), Yogastha (2.48), Budhiyoga (2.49), jñānayoga, karmayoga, yogī (3.3), ātmasaṃyamayogāgni (4.27), yogayajña (4.28), yogasaṃsiddhi (4.38), yogasaṃnyastakarmā (4.41), sāṅkhyayogau (5.4), ayogataḥ, yogayukta (5.6), phalasaṃyoga (5.14), brahmayoga (5.21), yogārūḍha (6.3), yogasevā (6.20), duḥkhasaṃyogaviyoga, yogasaṃjñita (6.23), yogayuktātmā (6.29), buddhisaṃyoga (6.43), yogabhraṣṭa (6.47), yogamāyā (7.25), yogabala (8.10), yogadhāraṇa (8.12), yogakṣema (9.22), saṃnyāsayoga (9.28), yogeśvara (11.4), ātmayoga (11.47), yogavittama (12.1), madyoga (12.11), abhyāsayoga (12.12), kṣetrakṣetrajñasaṃyoga (13.26), bhaktiyoga (14.26), jñānayogavyavasthiti(16.1), viṣayendriyasaṃyoga (18.38), dhyānayogapara (18.52).
The elaboration of meanings of these terms is outside the scope of this article. This will be attempted in another write up.
Apart from this it is well known that Yoga is defined in this texts in three occasions
· समत्त्वं योग उच्यते - samattvaṃ yoga ucyate – Yoga is stated as equanimity
· योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् - yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam – Yoga is skill in actions
· तं विद्यात् दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम् - taṃ vidyāt duḥkhasaṃyogaviyogaṃ yogasaṃjñitam – Know that to be termed as Yoga which is the disconnection of the connection with suffering
Haṭhayogapradīpikā
Just like Bhagavadgītā , here also we find numerous references to the term term Yoga and its derivative terms and also compound terms in which the word Yoga is also a component. To be precise – there are 97 such references.
In the four chapters of the text in the following verses the term Yoga in its various forms occurs - one or more times –
Chapter 1 – 1-4, 6, 9, 10-16, 1, 22, 40, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, 63, 64, 65, 67
Chapter 2 – 1-4, 16, 23, 47, 48, 54 -56, 68, 75-77
Chapter 3 – 1, 26, 38, 44, 45, 51, 55, 61, 64, 69, 76, 83, 88, 89, 91, 94, 95, 99, 101 -105, 107, 115, 119, 120, 121, 124, 126
Chapter 4 – 3, 5, 8, 11, 12, 20, 31, 37, 39, 49, 67,69, 71, 72, 77-81, 83, 93, 95, 103, 107-109, 111, 113.
One can find various combinations of the term yoga in this text. Some of them are unique. They appear for one or more times. Those various coinages connected with Yoga in the text is given below with the references of their occurrence for first time in the text (there are 22 such terms connected to the word Yoga) –
haṭhayoga (1.1), yogī, rājayoga (1.2), aśeṣayoga (1.10), yogamaṭha (1.13), yoga (1.14), yogavit (1.22), yogipuṅgava (1.52), siddhayogī (1.54), yogīndra (1.55), yogaparāyaṇa (1.57), sarvayoga (1.64), yogasiddhi (1.65), abhyāsayoga (2.54), yoginīcakra (2.55), yogatantra (3.1), yogavit(3.44), yogokta (3.3), yogataḥ (4.5), pūrvayoga(4.39), yoganidritaḥ (4.49), yogavān (4.71)
Observations
Thus it can be seen that this exercise of
tracing the lexical, etymological and textual occurrences of the term has
yielded rich inputs and sumptuous food for thought and study. Unlike for other terms the meaning and context of each of the occurrence has not been discussed as it would become too elaborate. It is hoped that the references given here themselves will help unravel the various shades of meaning of the term for a diligent scholar.
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