Buddhist and Sánkhya yogas. It must be remembered that Buddhism and its yoga are but offshoots of Sánkhya yoga, and sprung from the same place the Kapila Vástu.
XII. Different Aspects of Yoga.
Varieties of yoga. The Yoga system will be found, what Monier Williams says of Hinduism at large, “to present its spiritual and material aspects, its esoteric and exoteric, its subjective and objective, its pure and impure sides to the observer.” “It is,” he says, “at once vulgarly pantheistic, severely monotheistic, grossly polytheistic and coldly atheistic. It has a side for the practical and another for the devotional and another for the speculative.” Again says he; “Those, who rest in ceremonial observances, find it all satisfying; those, who deny the efficacy of works and make faith the one thing needful, need not wander from its pale; those, who delight in meditating on the nature of God and man, the relation of matter and spirit, the mystery of separate existence and the origin of evil, may here indulge their love of speculation.” (Introduction to Indian Wisdom p. xxvii.)
We shall treat of these seriatim, by way of notes to or interpretation of the above, as applying to the different modes of yoga practised by these several orders of sectarians.
1. Spiritual yoga. अध्यात्म योगः । That the earliest form of yoga was purely spiritual, is evident from the Upanishads, the Vedánta doctrines of Vyása and all works on the knowledge of the soul (adhyátma Vidyá). “All the early Upanishads”, says Weber, “teach the doctrine of atmá-spirit, and the later ones deal with yoga meditation to attain complete union with átmá or the Supreme Spirit.” Web. Ind. Lit. p. 156. “The átmá soul or self and the supreme spirit (paramátmá) of which all other souls partake, is the spiritual object of meditation (yoga).” Max Müller’s A. S. Lit. p. 20. Yajnavalkya says; आत्माबारे द्रष्टब्य ओतब्य मन्तब्य निदिध्यासितब्यः ।
“The Divine Spirit is to be seen, heard, perceived and meditated upon &c.” If we see, hear, perceive and know Him, then this whole universe is known to us. A. S. Lit. p. 23. Again, “Whosoever looks for Brahmahood elsewhere than in the Divine Spirit, should be abandoned. Whosoever looks for Kshatra power elsewhere than in the Divine Spirit, should be abandoned. This Brahmahood, this Kshatra power, this world, these gods, these beings, this universe, all is Divine Spirit.” Ibid. The meaning of the last passage is evidently that, the spirit of God pervades the whole, and not that these are God; for that would be pantheism and materialism; whereas the Sruti says that, “God is to be worshipped in spirit and not in any material object.” आत्मा आत्मन्येबोपासितव्यः ।
2. The Materialistic yoga. सांख्य बा प्राकृतिक योगः । The materialistic side of the yoga, or what is called the Prákritika yoga, was propounded at first in the Sánkhya yoga system, and thence taken up in the Puránas and Tantras, which set up a primeval matter as the basis of the universe, and the purusha or animal soul as evolved out of it, and subsisting in matter. Weber’s Ind. Lit. p. 235.
Of Matter—Prakriti. Here, the avyakta—matter is reckoned as prior to the purusha or animal soul; whereas in the Vedánta the purusha or primeval soul is considered as prior to the avyakta-matter. The Sánkhya, therefore, recognizes the adoration of matter as its yoga, and its founder Kapila was a yogi of this kind. Later materialists meditate on the material principles and agencies as the causes of all, as in the Vidyanmoda Taranginí; प्रकृतिस्तेमहत्तत्वं सम्बर्द्धयतुसर्ब्बदा ।
Of Spirit—Purusha. These agencies were first viewed as concentrated in a male form, as in the persons of Buddha, Jina and Siva, as described in the Kumára Sambhava आत्मानमात्मन्यबलोकदन्तः; and when in the female figure of Prakriti or nature personified, otherwise called Saktirupá or the personification of energy, as in the Devi máhátmya; या देबी सर्ब्बभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता &c. They were afterwards viewed in the five elements panchabhúta, which formed the elemental worship of the ancients, either singly or conjointly as in the pancha-bháutiká upásaná, described in the Sarva darsana sangraha.
Nature worship in eight forms. The materialistic or nature worship was at last diversified into eight forms called ashta múrti, consisting of earth, water, fire, air, sky, sun, moon, and the sacrificial priest, which were believed to be so many forms of God Ísa, and forming the objects of his meditation also. The eight forms are summed up in the lines; जलं सूर्य्योमहीबह्णिः बायुराकाशमेबच । दीक्षितोब्राह्मणः सोमः इत्यष्टौ तनवः स्मृताः । or as it is more commonly read in Bengal, क्षितिर्जलं तथा तेजो वायुराकाशमेव च । याज्ञिकार्कस्तथा चन्द्रो मूर्तिरष्टौहरस्यच । That they were forms of Ísa is thus expressed by Kálidása in the Raghu-vansa; अवेहि मां किङ्करमष्ट मूर्तेः । कुम्भोद्भबो नाम निकुम्भमित्रं; and that they were meditated upon by him as expressed by the same in his Kumára Sambhava;