Answering a
challenge to formulate the goal of yoga in a single page, I can start by saying
that it won’t even take me a page.
Yoga has many meanings and the first reports on yogis were as miracle-workers. However, the very first recorded definition of yoga, in the Katha Upanishad, has nothing to do with paranormal powers. It describes yoga as “silencing the mind, shutting out all thoughts”. A similar definition is given in the synthesis by Patanjali, the Yoga Sutra: “Yoga is the stopping of the modifications of the mind.” Some technical explanation about the preparations may then be given, but the definition itself is very simple: emptying the mind. Not too easy (“next week, don’t think of a monkey”), but certainly simple, like the zero among the numbers.
Yoga has many meanings and the first reports on yogis were as miracle-workers. However, the very first recorded definition of yoga, in the Katha Upanishad, has nothing to do with paranormal powers. It describes yoga as “silencing the mind, shutting out all thoughts”. A similar definition is given in the synthesis by Patanjali, the Yoga Sutra: “Yoga is the stopping of the modifications of the mind.” Some technical explanation about the preparations may then be given, but the definition itself is very simple: emptying the mind. Not too easy (“next week, don’t think of a monkey”), but certainly simple, like the zero among the numbers.
No goal need be defined. Silence is just silence, it is not in the service of anything else: "What's the use? No use! I just sit."
The conjunction
with the doctrine of reincarnation (which also exists in cultures that don’t
know of yoga), central to Jainism and Buddhism, is now generally believed east
of the Indus, and also among Western yoga practitioners. It says that the goal
of yoga is the stopping of the wheel of reincarnations. Possibly this is based
on empirically-gained knowledge of the reincarnation cycle by practising
yogis. The Buddha claimed to know all his incarnations, but accomplished yogis
I know, report never to have had such experiences. At any rate, reincarnation
is a separate doctrine not necessary for the notion and practice of yoga.
The conjunction
with the doctrine of kundalini (energy lying coiled at the base of the spine
which can be awakened and raised to the crown) is even younger, and was unknown
to the first yoga writers. Here again, kundalini exists separately from yoga:
it has been reported to rise in non-yogis, spontaneously or under the influence
of drugs, and is known in cultures that don’t know yoga, such as those of the
San (Bushmen), who dance to create a “warm feeling in the back”, or the
Australian Aboriginals. In China, it was applied in a meditational practice,
the “microcosmic orbit” where energy is led up the spine by the attention and the
breath. I suspect that “kundalini yoga” came about as a variation on this
Chinese practice, but am still looking for more relevant information. At any
rate, yoga can be understood without reference to kundalini.
In China, a
practice of yoga (meditation) existed in parallel with the yoga outlined in the
Upanishads and the ensuing Indian tradition. Zhuangzi speaks of “turning your
eyes and ears inwards”, “shutting out your own thinking” and “remaining silent”.
His simple definition is “sit and forget”. So, let’s cut out all the crap, all
the visions and “spiritual experiences”, and focus on this demanding but very
straightforward practice: emptying the mind.
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