Who the first yogi really was is lost in the sands of time, but when we learn the history of Yoga the roots can be traced as long as 5000 years back. The earliest reference to Yoga was found when archeological excavations where made in the Indus valley – the most powerful and influential civilization in the early antique period. This sophisticated culture developed around the Indus river and the long gone Sarasvati river in northern India, on the border towards Pakistan.
Archeological findings from two of the largest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, revealed (among other things) a portrait of a human being or god meditating in what looks like a Yoga posture. The Rig-Veda work, that describes different Yoga methods, is believed to be derived from the Inus-Sarasvati people and has been dated to 3000 to 5000 B.C.
Yoga as we know it today, is thus the result of a complex evolution that has been going on for at least 5000 years. However, according to most scholars, Yoga can’t be recognized as a complete and complex tradition before about 500 B.C.
Vedic Yoga
The oldest written records of Indian culture and yogic activities is found in the Vedas, which are a compilation of hymns and rituals over 3000 years old. The Vedic Yoga, also known as Archaic Yoga, revolves around the thought of reuniting the visible material world with the invisible spiritual world by sacrificing certain things. In order to practise these rather long rituals successfully it was necessary to be able to focus the mind to a very hight level. This inner focus as a means to enhance the sensory and human ability is the root of all Yoga.
The Vedic teachings at this point where not reserved for an religious elite, but was instead transmitted to the people by Vedic prophets, called Rishis, who had gained insight in the origin of life and it’s existence. The hymns of these prophets witness of strong intuition, wisdom and knowledge about human beings that can inspire new levels of understanding even for the people of today.
Pre-classical Yoga
This period in Yoga history spans about 2000 years, until year 200. The most central Yoga literature from this period are the Upanishades – a collection of texts revolving around meta-physical speculation – and are just like the Vedas considered as enigmatic revelations. As opposed to the public rituals of the Vedic period, the Upanishades where secret scriptures.
Some of these 200 Gnostic texts are directly related to Yoga and are about the complete connectedness of all things. Yoga was now slowly finding it’s form. As Yoga and it’s secret teachings spread from teacher to student, or from guru to yogi, the concept of an individual system of thought began to take shape.
The Bhagavad Gita, that is the most well known and popular work among all Hindi and Yogic literature was written during this period (about 500 B.C.). It is a beautiful story of a conversation between the god of Hinduism, Krishna, and a prince named Arjuna. The plot, ironically enough, takes place on a battlefield. This location is often interpreted as a metaphor for the many distractions present in our turbulent world. Prince Arjuna had put himself in a difficult position, where he must fight parts of his family and friends.
Symbolically speaking, this frustration conveys that prince Arjuna wanted some advice on how to fight the bonds that tie him to the material world, in order to set himself and his soul free. Krishna explained that it was Arjuna’s destiny and task to face this situation. He then moved on to explaining to Arjuna how he could emerge from the battle victorious, by outlining a detailed yogic path for the prince to follow; Through devotion (bhakti Yoga), a keen mind (jnana Yoga) and by giving up the ego (karma Yoga), spiritual freedom (moksha) could be attained.
Needless to say, the Bhagavad Gita is a complex work, and is meant to be studied, pondered upon and then studied some more. It is interesting reading in order to learn the history of Yoga though.
Learn more about Yoga history [http://www.yoga-central.net/The_history_of_Yoga.html] on Michael Hawkins’ web site. If you want to learn more about Yoga “in plain English” and from a beginners perspective, you can check out his No Nonsense guide to Yoga [http://www.yoga-central.net/guide/].
