The Six Branches of Yoga
Yoga has been around in the eastern world for centuries, and the classical techniques of yoga go back to about five thousand years ago. If you are interested in going in for practicing yoga, you should have an overall idea about the various branches of yoga.
There are six branches of yoga, namely Hatha, Bhakti, Karma, Raja, Tantra and Jnana. Hatha, which is the most popular branch of yoga, is actually the physical part of yoga or the yoga which involves postures or asanas. The Hatha yoga is thus basically composed of ‘asanas ‘ are the physical postures which yoga practitioners have to do, ‘pranayama’ or breathing techniques, and meditation. Hatha joins the body and soul and make the body healthy, and helps to keep the mind free from stress and anxiety.
Bhakti is the yoga of devotion, involving the heart and faith. This branch of yoga permits the yogis to discern the actual humanity in all people and makes them able to see everything from all aspects, thus enabling them to endure, love and accept everything and everyone peacefully. Bhakti yoga teaches its practitioners how to devote themselves completely to god, and teaches them that all creatures are created by the Almighty and that appreciating other creatures and life itself is an act of devotion to god.
Karma yoga is the branch of yoga which considers that a person’s current state is a result of his past state, i.e. whatever the person’s situation is in this life is a consequence of his previous life, and whatever he will do in this life will determine his condition in his next life.
It deals with service and involves action’s energy. Karma yoga teaches yogis that they should ignore all negative aspects of their life and focus on doing good things and thinking good thoughts. It teaches that if lead a virtuous life in this life, then you will have a happy life in the next life.
Raja is the ‘king of yogas’ as ‘raja’ means ‘royal’. It’s based on the eight limbs of yoga and involves meditation. It teaches that the universe exists for the self, and this leads to self-esteem and reverence for your fellow creatures.
Tantra yoga is based on understanding of Mantra (mystic syllables) and Tattva (truth). Tantra yogis feel an increased awareness regardless of whether they’re awake or asleep. However, only those who are chaste, brave, devoted, loyal to his guru, true, trusty, honest, and be humane and have love for the whole universe can be practitioners of Tantra yoga.
Jnana yoga involves the mind as it is concerned with knowledge and wisdom. It improves the yogi’s cleverness and astuteness.
After reading about the six branches of yoga, you should be able to decide which yoga is suitable for you. You can sign up for a yoga class, or get a yoga DVD, a book, or a videotape and practice it at home. There are also yoga instructions available on the internet which you can search for.
Yoga In The West
Yoga as a concept was introduced in the West a long time ago. It is only now that more and more Americans are taking it more seriously than they ever did before.
Yoga as a way of life is catching on fast with the Westerners as more and more people familiarize themselves with the truth behind this centuries-old Indian practice.
It was towards the end of the eighteenth century that Western scholars began to understand how closely related the Indian languages are with their European counterparts. The study of such an interconnectedness that ensued introduced them to the concept of yoga as it was present in the Indian sacred texts.
A breakthrough came when Englishman Charles Wilkins pioneered the translation of Sanskrit text of The Bhagvad Gita to English. It was also the efforts of American statesman Alexander Hamilton who closely studies the Indian culture, tradition, languages and even delivered a lecture in Paris about India in the year 1802-03.
By the nineteenth century, the knowledge of yoga was spreading among the Westerners who were involved closely with the study of Indian texts. They were able to trace the development of the concept from its source, now that English translations of the texts were available to them. Notable in this field and worthy of mention are the efforts of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson who made the above mentioned possible.
Also, during the same time, a strain of the though processes behind yoga also began to be felt in the works of the American and European Romantics.
However, as is commonly known, and earlier mentioned, yoga has become a way of life with many Westerners. It has not only been incorporated in the daily lives of people, but also in their way of thinking.
This knowledge of yoga as a concept came into the popular consciousness of westerners through several instances of cross-fertilization due to close interaction between the two cultures.
Swami Vivekananda’s, an Indian intellectual, contribution to making Indian culture familiar to the West is notable. His address at Chicago in 1893 to the World’s Parliament of Religions is perhaps the most important event that helped India to reach out to the world. Indian guru Parmahansa Yogananda I another important figure who made yoga popular in the West, through his teachings, the Self-Realization Fellowship that he set up, and through his own autobiography.
Other figures worthy of mention are B.K.S. Iyengar (founder of Iyengar Yoga), Swami Rama (the Himalayan Institute), Swami Satchidananda (Integral Yoga), and Swami Vishnu-devananda (Sivananda Yoga).
