Yoga: History of Ideas and Views
author Аndriy Safronov.
The first edition is January 2021.
Panchatantra
Since verbal science has no final end, Since life is short, and obstacles impend, Let central facts be picked and firmly fixed, As swans extract the milk with water mixed
translation by Arthur w. Ryder
Greetings to the reader
This book does not come as systematic exposition of Yoga teaching, because systematic exposition of Yoga is not possible. Only he who knows very little about this Tradition may think yoga to be integral, logically consistent and monolithic system. But the truth is – it is not. If we compare yoga to a tree it would be banyan: the tree that does not have a main stem, each of its branches striking its own roots that germinate and in their turn intertwine oddly to procreate further branches. So that the astonished traveler can no longer understand whether it is one tree in front of him, or if it is a forest.
Over the years of its existence – them been thousands – yoga has changed. And it continues to. Yoga is full of contradictory ideas because for a practitioner any idea is just another degree of freedom, a tool relevant at particular stage of the Path. Yoga is not always logical, because rationality is just a paradigm that retreats in the shadow when facing the Transcendent. And yet yoga is an integrated Tradition. And I hope I shall manage to show this to the readers of the book.
Over the history of Yoga there have been thousands of ideas and concepts developed to foster the practice. Many of them have passed to other traditions and teachings. So I would like to unfold the precious profusion of these ideas for the reader to get him amazed by their exquisiteness and depth. Moreover, I would like to make these ideas clear and vibrant to the extent the reader could use them in his practice.
This book is different from typical books on yoga because many of its ideas are either little known, or unpopular, or not politically correct. Maybe they distance real yoga quite far from the habitual commonplace visions of it (fitness-like, related to New Age or religion). And if upon reading this book you suddenly find yoga to be way more than something you thought it were, this shall mean I’ve attained my goal.
Andriy Safronov
Primary sources of yoga, which became the basis of the book.
1. Abhidharmakośa.
2. Abhidharmakośabhāṣya.
4. Akulavīratantra.
5. Amanaskayoga.
6. Amarakośa.
7. Amṛtabindopaniṣad.
8. Amṛtanādopaniṣad.
9. Amṛtasiddhi.
11. Ānandalaharī.
12. Aparokṣānubhūti.
13. Arthaśāstra.
14. Ātmopaniṣad.
15. Atharvaveda.
16. Binduyoga.
17. Bodhapañcadaśikā.
19. Brahmopaniṣad.
18. Brahmānucintanam.
20. Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad.
21. Bhagavadgītā.
22. Bhāgavatapurāṇa.
23. Bhairavastava.
24. Vajrabhairavatantra.
25. Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra.
26. Vajrolīyoga.
27. Vaiśeṣikasūtra.
28. Vākyapadiya.
29. Vedāntasārasaṃgraha.
30. Brahmasūtra.
31. Vivekamārtaṇḍa.
32. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi.
34. Vikramacarita.
35. Viṣṇupurāṇa.
36. Visuddhimagga.
37. Vṛtti.
38. Yogabhāṣya
39. Garuḍapurāṇa.
40. Gītagovinda.
41. Gorakṣajogaśāstra Śrī Gaṅgādhara.
42. Gorakṣapaddhati.
43. Guhyasamājatantra.
44. Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā.
45. Dattātreyayogaśāstra.
46. Devībhāgavatapurāṇa.
47. Devīmāhātmyam.
48. Devyupaniṣad.
49. Dehasthadevatācakrastotra. (author Abhinavagupta).
50. Jñānakārikā.
51. Jñānārṇavatantra.
52. Jñānasaṇkalinītantra.
53. Durgāstōtram.
54. Dhammapada.
55. Dharmacakrapravartanasūtra (pali).
56. Dhātupāṭha.
57. Dhvanyāloka.
58. Dhyānabindūpaniṣad.
59. Īśopaniṣad.
60. Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā (author Utpaladeva).
61. Yogabīja (author Gorakshanath).
62. Yogabhāṣyavivaraṇa (author Shankara).
63. Yogavārttika (author Vijnyana-bhikshu).
64. Yogavāsiṣṭha (author Gaupada or Shankara).
65. Yogaviṣaya (author Matsiendranath).
66. Yogadṛṣṭisamuccayavyākhyā (author Haribhadra).
67. Yogakuṇḍalinyupaniṣad.
68. Yogarasāyana (author Brahmananda).
69. Yogasārasaṃgraha (author Vijnyana-bhikshu).
70. Yogasiddhāntacandrikā(author Narayana-tirtha).
71. Yogasudhākara.
73. Yogatārāvalī (Shankara).
74. Yogatattvopaniṣad.
75. Yogacandrikā (Anantadeva).
76. Yogacintāmaṇi (Shivananda).
77. Yoginītantra.
78. Yonistotram.
79. Yonitantra.
80. Yuktidīpikā (Vachaspati Mishra).
81. Кaivalyopaniṣad.
82. Kālacakratantra.
83. Kālīvilāsatantra.
84. Kālikāpurāṇa.
85. Kalisaṇṭāraṇopaniṣad.
86. Kāmagīta (a fragment of the Mahabharata).
87. Kāmakalāvilāsatantra.
88. Kāmākhyatantra.
89. Kāmasūtra (Vatsyayana Mallanaga).
90. Kathāsaritsāgara (Somadeva).
91. Kaṭhopaniṣad (with the commentaries of Sankara, Ramananda, Rangaramanuja).
92. Kaulajñānanirṇaya.
93. Kaularahasya.
94. Kaulopaniṣad.
95. Kauṣītākyupaniṣad.
96. Kenopaniṣad.
97. Kubjikāmatatantra.
98. Kulānandatantra.
99. Kulārṇavatantra.
100. Kumārasaṃbhava (Kalidasa)
101. Kuṇḍalinītantra.
102. Khecarīvidyā.
103. Kṣurikopaniṣad.
104. Layayogasaṃhitā.
105. Lalitavistara.
106. Laṅkāvatārasūtra.
107. Maitrāyaṇoupaniṣad.
108. Mālinīvijayottaratantra.
109. Paurūravasamanasijasūtra.
110. Gauḍapādakārikā.
111. Māndūkyopaniṣad.
112. Manmathasaṃhitāyām.
113. Manusmṛti.
114. Mahābhārata.
115. Mahānirvānatantra (pali).
116. Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna-sutta (pali).
117. Mokṣadharma (a part of the Mahabharata).
118. Mṛgendratantra.
119. Muktikopaniṣad.
120. Muṇḍakopaniṣad.
121. Nādabindopaniṣad.
122. Nārāyaṇopaniṣad.
123. Nātyaśāstra.
126. Nirālambopaniṣad.
127. Nirukta.
128. Niruttaratantra.
129. Nyāyabhāṣya (Vatsyayana).
130. Nyāyasūtra (Akshapada).
131. Paramahaṃsopaniṣad.
132. Parāpraveśikā.
133. Parātriṃśikātattvavivaraṇa (Abhinavagupta).
134. Pātañjaladarśana.
135. Pātañjaladarśanam.
136. Pāśupatasūtra )with comentary of Kaundinya).
137. Prāṇatoṣiṇītantra.
138. Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya.
139. Praśnopaniṣad.
140. Praśnottaramālikā.
141. Rājamārtāṇḍa.
142. Rāmāyaṇa (Valmiki).
143. Ṛgveda.
144. Saṅgītaratnākara.
145. Sāṃkhyakārikā.
146. Sāṃkhyakārikābhāṣya (Gaudapada).
147. Sāṃkhyapravacanabhāṣya (author Vijnyana-bhikshu)..
148. Sāṃkhyapravacanasūtra .
149. Sāṃkhyasūtrāṇi.
150. Sarvadarśanasaṃgraha.
151. Sarvasāropaniṣad.
152. Satipaṭṭhānasutta.
153. Saundaryalaharī.
154. Svachandatantra.
155. Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati (Gorakshanath).
156. Skandapurāṇa.
157. Spandakārikā (Vasugupta).
158. Spandapradīpikā.
159. Taittirīyopaniṣad.
160. Tantrāloka (Abhanavagupta).
161. Tantrasadbhāva.
162. Tantrālokasāra (Abhanavagupta).
163. Tārātantra.
164. Tattvavaiśāradi (commetary of the Yoga Sutra).
165. Tattvakaumudī (Vachaspati Mishra).
166. Tattvārthasūtra (Uma-svati).
168. Tirukkuṟaḷ (Tiruvalluvar).
169. Toḍalatantra.
170. Haṃsopaniṣad.
171. Haṭhayogapradīpikā (Swatmarama, and commentary Jyotsna by Brahmananda).
172. Haṭharatnāvalī (Shrinivasa).
173. Hevajratantra.
174. Сakrakaumudī (Badarinath).
175. Carakasaṃhitā.
176. Gyuzhi (tibetian).
177. Chāndogyopaniṣad.
178. Śaktavijñāna.
179. Śāṇḍilyopaniṣad.
180. Śāradātilakatantra.
181. Subhāṣitatriśati (Bhartrihari).
182. Śatapathabrāhmaṇa.
183. Ṣaṭkarmadīpikā.
184. Ṣaṭsāhasrasaṃhitā.
185. Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa (Purnananda).
186. Śvetāśvataropaniṣad.
187. Śivadṛṣṭi (Somananda).
188. Śivayogadīpikā (Sadashiva).
189. Śivasaṃhitā.
190. Śivasvarodaya.
191. Śivasūtravimarśinī (Kshemaraja).
192. Śivasūtra (Bhaskara).
193. Yajurveda.
194. Yatipañcaka (Shankara).