HISTORY FOR YOGINS AND YOGINIS

In Yoga, theory and practice, as well as left rain and right rain, go hand in
hand so to spea!" St#dy $s%&dhy&ya' is in fact an i(portant aspect of (any
ranches and schools of Yoga" This is another way in which Yoga)s alanced
approach shows itself"
If yo# want to !now where so(ething is going, it is good to !now where it
ca(e fro(" *To e ignorant of what happened efore one was orn,+ said
,icero pointedly in his Orator, *is to re(ain e%er a child"+ History pro%ides
conte-t and (eaning, and Yoga is no e-ception to this r#le" If yo# are fond of
history, yo#)ll en.oy what follows" /any of the facts and ideas presented here
ha%e not yet fo#nd their way into the te-too!s or e%en into (ost Yoga
oo!s" 0e p#t yo# in to#ch with the leading edge of !nowledge in this area" If
yo# are not a history #1, well, perhaps we can te(pt yo# to s#spend yo#r
preferences for a few (in#tes and read on anyway"
TH2 ORIGIN OF YOGA
Despite (ore than a cent#ry of research, we still don)t !now (#ch ao#t the
earliest eginnings of Yoga" 0e do !now, tho#gh, that it originated in India
3,444 or (ore years ago" 5ntil recently, (any 0estern scholars tho#ght that
Yoga originated (#ch later, (aye aro#nd 344 6",", which is the ti(e of
Ga#ta(a the 6#ddha, the ill#strio#s fo#nder of 6#ddhis(" 6#t then, in the
early 7894s, archeologists s#rprised the world with the disco%ery of the so:
called Ind#s ci%ili;ation<a c#lt#re that we now !now e-tended o%er an area
of ro#ghly =44,444 s>#are (iles $the si;e of Te-as and Ohio co(ined'" This
was in fact the largest ci%ili;ation in early anti>#ity" In the r#ins of the ig
cities of /ohen.o Daro and Harappa, e-ca%ators fo#nd depictions engra%ed
on soapstone seals that strongly rese(le yogi:li!e ?g#res" /any other ?nds
show the a(a;ing contin#ity etween that ci%ili;ation and later Hind# society
and c#lt#re"