Re: [INDOLOGY] Yama/niyama in PÄ Å›upata and Yoga

[Elliot Stern]

Vācaspatimiśra, generally understood to favor Śiva, acknowledges that adherents of the Pātañjalayogaśāstram consider Viṣṇu to be their īśvara. He says, in concluding his comment on ādividvānnirmāṇacittamadhiṣṭhāya kāruṇyādbhagavānparamarṣirāsurāya jijñāsamānāya tantraṃ provāca (yogabhāṣyam to yogasūtram 1.25):

 sa eveśvara ādividvānkapilo viṣṇurna<:> svayambhūriti bhāvaḥ~| svāyambhuvānāṃ tvīśvara iti bhāvaḥ~|

James Haughton Woods translates this as: [The reply would be that] this same Īśvara, the First Knower, the Self-existent Vishnu [is] Kapila. "But [He is] the Īśvara of those descended from the Self-existent." This is the point.
  
Note that Vācaspati frequently refers to adherents of the Pātañjalayogaśāstram as svāyambhuvaḥ (for example, in nyāyakaṇikā).

Elliot M. Stern
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> On 27 Apr  2016, at 05:28, Dr. T. Ganesan <ganesan at ifpindia.org> wrote:
> 
> 
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> On 26 April 2016 at 20:52, Seth Powell < <mailto:sethpowell at g.harvard.edu>sethpowell at g.harvard.edu <mailto:sethpowell at g.harvard.edu>> wrote:
>> The īśvāra-praṇidhāna of the PYŚ, for example, often takes on a more sectarian flavor in the later texts, such as śaṅkara-pūjanaṃ in the Śivayogadīpikā.  
> 
> My observation on this point is:
> Sankarapuujanam need be taken as 'a sectarian flavour'. For, Isvara denotes only Siva as we find in all the Upanishads and other texts; Svetasvataropanishad repeats this word denoting Siva many times and it can not be interpreted in any other way.
> 
> As Kalidasa says in the invocatory verse of his drama, Vikramorvasiyam,
>     vedānteṣu yamāhurekapuruṣaṃ vyāpya sthitaṃ rodasī /
> 
>     yasminnīśvara ityananyaviṣayaḥ śabdo yathārthākṣaraḥ /
> 
> 
> Isvara denotes only Siva from the early period. Kalidasa is of the firm view that the entire Vedanta corpus (vedānteṣu) proclaims Siva to be the highest Reality (puruṣa) that pervades all the universe.  Kalidasa and Patanjali definitely belong to very early period. Thus by īśvāra-praṇidhāna it is fully plausible and also possible,  that Patanjali meant only worship of Siva. And, worshipping a supreme God need not be interpreted as ''sectarian''. One cannot ''worship'' a supreme reality which is nirguna.
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> 
> Ganesan
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> 
> On 26-04-2016 21:53, Rafal Kleczek wrote:
>> Thank you very much for your observations. I have not been aware of the variations on the concept of yama/niyama in Puranas and later Yogic texts, it is most interesting.
>> The subject of difference in "niyama" regulations for ascetics at different stages in Kauṇḍinya's theory is quite interesting. Kauṇḍinya himself considers it a peculiar trait of the system, or scripture ("tantra"). At the same time, a similar differentiation of niyama rules seems to be accepted by some early Naiyāyikas, who otherwise seem to follow quite closely the theory of Patañjali (with regard to the practice of Yoga).
>> Even though it seems true, that Nyāya came under influence of Pāśupata authors at some point, this idea of differentiation of niyamas is hinted at even in Vātsyāyana's Bhāṣya--which was written too early to speak about Pāśupata influence, I think. Hence the search for other possible sources of this peculiar variation.
>> With best wishes,
>> Rafal
>> 
>> On 26 April 2016 at 20:52, Seth Powell <sethpowell at g.harvard.edu <mailto:sethpowell at g.harvard.edu>> wrote:
>> Dear Rafal, 
>> 
>> Later medieval tantric and Haṭhayoga treatises sometimes include both 10 yamas and 10 niyamas. For example, Chapter 25 of the Śāradātilakatantra, the Śivayogadīpikā, Yogayajñāvalkya, and many others — and here, I imagine, particularly for the Śaiva texts, they might be drawing from the earlier Pāśupata yoga traditions.
>> 
>> As always, across these yoga texts and traditions, there is fluidity and malleability, but they seem to all draw from a shared yama-niyama palette, if you will. The īśvāra-praṇidhāna of the PYŚ, for example, often takes on a more sectarian flavor in the later texts, such as śaṅkara-pūjanaṃ in the Śivayogadīpikā.  
>> 
>> Yet, often the medieval yoga texts appear to explicitly omit them, such as Svātmārāma’s Haṭhapradīpikā (although a later 10-chapter version of this text does include yamas and niyamas), and thus we are left to speculate on their optionality. Perhaps they were left to be filled in by a guru, or elsewhere from a sectarian tradition, or were in fact left out of yogic praxis entirely (although I doubt this). But I think it’s safe to say if they are included in a prescriptive yoga text, they were not considered optional for that author, but rather par for the course. This is most clear in the PYŚ and its commentaries, as Prof. Bryant astutely notes, but I think also holds for the later medieval texts as well.
>> 
>> Best wishes,
>> 
>> Seth 
>> 
>> ---
>> 
>> Seth D. Powell
>> Doctoral Student
>> Committee on the Study of Religion
>> Harvard University
>> 
>> ATG Student Consultant
>> Academic Technology Group (ATG)
>> Harvard University Information Technology
>> 
>> p 707 494 4721
>> e  <mailto:sethpowell at g.harvard.edu>sethpowell at g.harvard.edu <mailto:sethpowell at g.harvard.edu>
>> 
>> 
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>> 
>>> On Apr 26, 2016, at 8:02 AM,  <mailto:edbryant at rci.rutgers.edu>edbryant at rci.rutgers.edu <mailto:edbryant at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> 1. Are there other traditions which consider yama regulations to be
>>>> permanent, and niyamas to be subject to change, depending on time, place,
>>>> etc.? Is it a common understanding of the division between yama and niyama
>>>> among philosophers of Yoga, or in other branches of Åšaivism?
>>> 
>>> I don't recall reading this in any YS commentary. It probably comes from
>>> the idea that it is after the yama verse that Patanjali stresses (with
>>> uncharacteristic emphasis, one might add, both in terms of his own overall
>>> tone, and in terms of the sutra penchant for non-repetition or
>>> redundancy), that they are inviolable (i.e. he chose not to state this
>>> after the niyama verse which follows the yama verse). However, 3 of the
>>> niyamas are listed under kriya yoga in the opening verse of chapter 2, so,
>>> given they are repeated again in the astanga section there is no sense in
>>> the YS tradition that they are optional.
>>> 
>>>> 2. Are there other traditions accepting ten yama regulations?
>>> 
>>> The Bhagavata Purana has 10 yamas.  If the Pasupata texts have 10, I would
>>> probably search the Siva, Skandha or Linga puranas for precedents.
>>> 
>>> With best wishes,  Edwin Bryant.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
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