Is Yoga Religion?

Before I dwell on the million dollar question, here are some interesting facts about Yoga.

The practice of yoga has existed since 3000 BCE and traces its roots to the Indus valley civilization in South Asia. Yoga was first introduced in the United States in 1863 but it wasn’t until the 1930s that it slowly became part of American mainstream culture. Moreover, the series of physical and mental exercises that yoga practitioners perform gained even more significance today as people from all around the world deal with the stress and anxiety that came with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The yoga industry is worth over $117.2bn worldwide and expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.4%! And that’s just studios, once you account for retreats, clothing, mats, blocks, and other accessories, the global yoga market size is well over $338bn.

If one is asking: are the yoga asanas or postures a part of hindu religious practices? The answer is no as commonsense tells us that no one in their right mind bend and twist their bodies to conduct religious rites. Sri Prabhupada, the founder of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) calls the postures "childish". In other words, if one wants to grow spiritually and attaining liberation is the goal, the yoga postures can't help with the exception of prana yama or breathing exercises.

Why is prana yama an exception? Sage Patnajali, who is universally recognized as the father of yoga, didn't enunciate prana yama. He felt it was of no use. To elaborate, "prana" in Sanskrit means the force that keeps the life the ability to act. It is not mere oxygen, but everything that we call intelligent activity or "chaitanya". Therefore, some ancient sages felt breathing exercises like pooraka, kumbhaka, etc. that regulate the flow of air into the lungs and body by inhalation and holding breath give the practitioner energy for spiritual practices.

In another interpretation of prana, we humans are supposed to have five major air pathways in the body called: pana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. Except for udana, the four pathways keep the body in a healthy condition or simply alive. The udana is a special force that is supposed to play an important role when the soul ultimately leaves the body.

Sage Patanjali relied on an ancient philosophy called "sankhya" that was also elucidated in Bhagavad Gita. In Sanskrit "sankhya" means a number. The sankhya adherents believe there are only soul (purusha) and nature (prakruti) in the world. The prakruti is made of 24 entities: 5 bhootas (water, air, fire, earth, sky that can be called gross elements); 5 tanmatras (the 5 invisible bhootas such as in molecules and atoms); 5 gnana indriyas or senses (eye, nose, tongue, ear, skin); 5 karma indriyas (hand, leg, mouth, anus, genitals); 4 antah karanas (intelligence or budhi, mind or manas, memory or chitta, ego or ahamkara).

The prakruti has 3 gunas called sattva, rajas and tamas. It is believed that under the influence of the purusha (soul), the prakruti is energized. Depending on the various combinations of the gunas, the prakruti reacts and the soul experiences the result. So the sattva guna manifests as calm, considerate, and thoughtful. The rajas guna is seen as activity or performance of karma. The tamas guna is indolence or inertness.

Thus far, there is no implication of any religion. Sage Patanjali says the purusha (soul) is either bound to prakruti or independent of it when liberated. Patanjali yoga is all about how to liberate the soul by practicing the various guidelines he had prescribed. The ultimate state to be achieved is called "samadhi" whereby the soul is freed from further rebirth. So where does the soul go? It is here other philosophers come in and propose "Iswara" or God as the final resting place of the liberated soul. This is their definition of yoga or union which is to say the final merger of the soul with Iswara. Once there is the mention of God, the yogis or practitioners of yoga are inspired to perform religious rituals and spread their religious beliefs which is usually hinduism. But it is not necessary as per the sankhya philosophers and Sage Patanjali who built his theory based on the sankhya foundation.

Does it mean Sage Patanjali is an atheist? Strictly atheists are called "charuvakas" in India. They use logical instruments like deduction and induction to confirm a hypothesis. They use 3 pramanas or standards: pratyaksha (sensory experience), anumana (inference) and apta vakya (an established fact). As mentioned, Sage Patanjali is a follower of sankhya philosophy that doesn't go hand in hand with charuvaka philosophy. The fact that in Bhagavad Gita, sankhya is endorsed as the proper metaphysics to understand and investigate the world, shows that it has all the elements of charuvaka, additionally the prakruti made of gunas.