13. The Polytheistic yoga or Sarva Devopásana. This consists of the adoration of a plurality of deities in the mythology by every Hindu, though every one has a special divinity of whom he is the votary for his particular meditation. The later upanishads have promulgated the worship of several forms of Vishnu and Siva (Web. I. Lit. p. 161); and the Tantras have given the dhyánas or forms of meditation of a vast member of deities in their various forms and images (Ibid. p. 236).
14. The Atheistic or Niríswara yoga. The Atheistic yoga is found in the niriswara or hylo-theistic system of Kapila, who transmitted his faith “in nothing” to the Buddhists and Jains, who having no God to adore, worship themselves, in sedate and silent meditation. (Monier Williams, Hindu Wisdom p. 97).
15. The Theistic or Ástikya yoga. The Theistic yoga system of Patanjala: otherwise called the seswara yoga, was ingrafted on the old atheistic system of Sánkhya with a belief in the Iswara. It is this system to which the name yoga specially belongs. (Weber’s Ind. Lit. pp. 238 and 252).
16. The Practical Yoga Sádhana. “The yoga system,” says Weber, “developed itself in course of time in outward practices of penance and mortifications, whereby absorption in the Supreme Being was sought to be obtained. We discover its early traces in the Epics and specially in the Atharva upanishads.” (Ind. Lit. p. 239). The practical yoga Sádhana is now practised by every devotee in the service of his respective divinity.
17. The devotional or Sannyása yoga. The devotional side of the yoga is noticed in the instance of Janaka in the Mahábhárata, and of Yájnavalkhya in the Brihadáranyaka in the practice of their devotions in domestic life. These examples may have given a powerful impetus to the yogis in the succeeding ages, to the practice of secluded yoga in ascetism and abandonment of the world, and its concerns called Sannyása as in the case of Chaitanya and others.
18. The Speculative Dhyána yoga. It had its rise in the first or earliest class of Upanishads, when the minds of the Rishis were employed in speculations about their future state and immortality, and about the nature and attributes of the Supreme Being.
19. The Ceremonial or Kriyá yoga. This commenced with the second class or medieval upanishads, which gave the means and stages, whereby men may even in this world attain complete union with the Átma (Web. I. Lit. p. 156). The yogáchara of Manu relates to the daily ceremonies of house-keepers, and the Kriyá yoga of the Puránas treats about pilgrimages and pious acts of religion.
20. The Pseudo or Bhákta yoga. The pure yoga being perverted by the mimicry of false pretenders to sanctity and holiness, have assumed all those degenerate forms which are commonly to be seen in the mendicant Fakirs, strolling about with mock shows to earn a livelihood from the imposed vulgar. These being the most conspicuous have infused a wrong notion of yoga into the minds of foreigners.
21. The Bhakti yoga. The Bhakti yoga first appears in the Swetáswatara Upanishad where the Bhakti element of faith shoots forth to light (Web. Ind. Lit. pp. 252 and 238). It indicates acquaintance with the corresponding doctrine of Christianity. The Bhágavad Gítá lays special stress upon faith in the Supreme Being. It is the united opinion of the majority of European scholars, that the Hindu Bhakti is derived from the faith (fides) of Christian Theology. It has taken the place of श्रद्धा or belief among all sects, and has been introduced of late in the Brahma Samájas with other Vaishnava practices.
The other topics of Prof. Monier Williams being irrelevant to our subject, are left out from being treated in the present dissertation.