RAJA YOGA

Rja yoga is a term with a variety of meanings depending on the context. In Sanskrit texts Raja
yoga refers to the goal of yoga (which is usually samadhi) and not a method of attaining it.The
term also became a modern retronym, when in the 19th-century Swami Vivekananda equated
raja yoga with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.Since then, Rja yoga has variously referred to as
"royal yoga", "royal union", "sahaj marg", "classical yoga", and "as t nga yoga"

Etymology and usage

Rja (Sanskrit: ) means "chief, best of its kind" or "king". Rja yoga thus refers to "chief, best
of yoga".
The historical use of the term Rja yoga is found in other contexts, quite different than its
modern usage. In ancient and medieval Sanskrit texts, it meant the highest state of yoga practice
(one reaching samadhi). Hatha Yoga Pradipika, for example, refers to Hathayoga as one of the
ways to achieve Rja yoga.
The first known use of the phrase "Rja yoga" occurs in a 16th-century commentary on a specific
step in the Yoga Stras of Patajali.The Hindu scholar Dattatreya, in his medieval era Tantric
work named "Yogastra", explains in 334 shlokas, principles of four yoga: Mantra yoga, Hatha
yoga, Laya yoga and Raja yoga. Alain Danilou states that Rja yoga was, in the historic
literature of Hinduism, one of five known methods of yoga, with the other four being Hatha
yoga, Mantra yoga, Laya yoga and Shiva yoga.Danilou translates it as "Royal way to
reintegration of Self with Universal Self (Brahman)".
The term became a modern retronym when in the 19th-century Swami Vivekananda equated raja
yoga with the Yoga Stras of Patajali. This sense of meaning is different from Hatha Yoga
Pradpik, a text of the Natha sampradaya,where it is a different practice. Similarly, Brahma
Kumaris, a recent religious movement, teaches "Rja yoga" that has very little to do with either
the precepts of Hatha Yoga or Patajali's Yoga Stras. Modern interpretations and literature that
discusses Raja yoga often credit Patajali's Yogastras as its textual source, but many neither
adopt the teachings nor the philosophical foundations of the Yoga school of Hinduism.This
mixing of concepts has led to confusion in understanding historical and modern Indian literature
on Yoga.

History
Raja yoga as samadhi
Main article: Samadhi
The Shaiva Yoga text, Amanaska, dated to be from the 12th century CE or earlier, is a dialogue
between Vamadeva and deity Shiva. In the second chapter, the text mentions Raja yoga, and
explains why it is called so. It states that it is so named because it enables the yogin to reach the
illustrious king within oneself, the supreme Self.Raja yoga is declared as the goal and a state
of samadhi, where one experiences nothing but the bliss of the undisturbed, the natural state of
calm, serenity, peace, communion within and contentment.
The Raja yoga goal and state is synonymous with various terms, such
as Amanaska, Unmani and Sahaj.The Hatha Yoga Pradipika(literally, Little Lamp of Hatha Yoga)
asserts this as follows,
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Raja yoga, samadhi, unmani, manonmani, amaratva, laya, tatva, sunya, asunya, parama pada,
amanaska, advaita, niralamba, niranjana, jivanmukti, sahaja and turiya denote the same state of
being.
Just as with salt dissolved in water becomes one with it, so the union
of Atman and Manas (mind) is denominated samadhi,
When the breath becomes exhausted, and mind becomes Praliyate (still, reabsorbed), they fuse
into union called samadhi.
This equality, this oneness of the two, the living self and the absolute self, when
all Sankalpa (desire, cravings) end is called samadhi.
Hath Yoga Pradipika, 4.3 - 4.7,

Raja yoga as a type of yoga

Some medieval era Indian texts on Yoga list Rajayoga as one of many types of yoga.For
example, the Sarvanga yoga pradipik, a Braj-bhashya commentary by Sundardas, from the
17th-century, teach three tetrads of Yogas. The first group is Bhakti yoga, Mantra yoga, Laya
yoga, and Carcha yoga; the second group is Hatha yoga, Raja yoga, Laksha yoga, and Astanga
yoga; the third is Samkhya yoga, Jana yoga, Brahma yoga, and Advaita yoga. Of these twelve,
Sundardas states that Rajayoga is the best yoga.
Raja yoga as yoga system of Patanjali
Main article: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Patajali statue (traditional form indicating Kundalini or incarnation of Shesha)

Raja yoga is a modern retronym introduced by Swami Vivekananda when he equated raja yoga
with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. After its circulation in the first half of 1st millennium CE,
many Indian scholars reviewed it, then published their Bhs ya (notes and commentary) on it,
which together form a canon of texts called the Ptajalayogastra ("The Treatise on Yoga of
Patajali").
According to Axel Michaels, the Yoga Sutras are built upon fragments of texts and traditions
from ancient India.According to Feuerstein, the Yoga Sutras are a condensation of two different
traditions, namely "eight limb yoga" (ashtanga yoga) and action yoga (kriya yoga). The kriya
yoga part is contained in chapter 1, chapter 2 verse 1-27, chapter 3 except verse 54, and chapter
4. The "eight limb yoga" is described in chapter 2 verse 28-55, and chapter 3 verse 3 and 54.
There are numerous parallels in the concepts in ancient Samkhya, Yoga and Abhidharma schools
of thought, particularly from 2nd century BCE to 1st century AD, notes Larson.Patanjali's Yoga
Sutras may be a synthesis of these three traditions. From Samkhya school of Hinduism, Yoga
Sutras adopt the "reflective discernment" (adhyavasaya) of prakrti and purusa (dualism), its
metaphysical rationalism, as well its three epistemicmethods to gaining reliable knowledge.From
Abhidharma Buddhism's idea of nirodhasamadhi, suggests Larson, Yoga Sutras adopt the pursuit
of altered state of awareness, but unlike Buddhism which believes that there is neither self nor
soul, Yoga is physicalist and realist like Samkhya in believing that each individual has a self and
soul.The third concept Yoga Sutras synthesize into its philosophy is the ancient ascetic traditions
of isolation, meditation and introspection, as well as the yoga ideas from the 1st millennium BCE
Indian texts such as Katha Upanishad, Shvetashvatara Upanishad and Maitri Upanishad.
Islamic period
In early 11th century, the Persian scholar Al Biruni visited India, lived with Hindus for 16 years,
and with their help translated several significant Sanskrit works into Arabic and Persian
languages. One of these was Patanjali's Yogasutras.Along with generally accurate translations, Al
Biruni's text has significant differences than Yogasutra manuscripts discovered in India, during
the 19th century. Al Biruni's record has helped modern scholars establish that
Patanjali's Yogasutras manuscript existed in India in many versions, each with multiple
commentaries by Hindu scholars. Some of these versions and commentaries have been lost or yet
to be found.[18] Al Biruni's translation preserved many of the core themes of Yoga philosophy of
Hinduism, but certain sutras and analytical commentaries were restated making it more
consistent with Islamic monotheistic theology. Al Biruni's version of Yoga Sutras reached Persia
and Arabian peninsula by about 1050 AD.
In Indian historical timeline, marking with the arrival of Islam in India in twelfth century, further
development and literature on Yoga philosophy of Hinduism went into decline. By the sixteenth
century, Patanjali's Yoga philosophy was nearly extinct.Yoga was preserved
by sadhus (ascetics, sannyasis) of India. Some of the Hindu yoga elements were adopted
by Sufi sect of Muslims in India. The Sufi Muslims at times adopted and protected the Yoga
tradition of Hindus during the Islamic rule of India, and at other times helped the persecution and
violence against those Hindus. The Mughal Emperor Akbar, known for his synergetic tolerance,
was attracted to and patronized Yoga philosophy of Hinduism