History
The Yoga we know today, was developed as a part of the Tantric Civilization which existed in India & all parts of the world more than 10,000 years ago. In archaeological excavations made in the Indus Valley at Harappa & Mohenjodharo, now in modern Pakistan, many statues have been found depicting deities resembling Lord Shiva – Parvati performing various asanas & practicing meditation. These ruins were once dwelling place of people who lived in pre-vedic age before the Aryan Civilization started to flourish in the Indus Subcontinents.
Adiyogi – The First Yogi
In the yogic culture, Shiva is not known as a god, but as the Adiyogi or the first yogi – The originator of yoga. He was the one who first put this seed into human mind. According to the yogic law, over 15,000 years ago, Shiva attained to his full enlightenment and abandoned himself in an intense ecstatic dance upon Himalayas known as ‘Tandava’. When his ecstasy allowed him some movement, he danced wildly, when it became beyond movement, he became utterly still.
Shiva is widely considered to be the symbol or embodiment of supreme consciousness & Parvati (His first disciple) represents supreme knowledge, will and action, responsible for all creation. This force or energy is also known as ‘Kundalini Shakti’ the cosmic force which lies dormant in all beings. Out of love and compassion for her children, she imparted her secret knowledge of liberation in the form of ‘Tantra’. The techniques of yoga have their source in tantra where the two cannot be separated, just as consciousness, Shiva cannot be separated from the energy – Shakti. Tantra is a combination of the two words – ‘tanoti’ means ‘expansion’ and ‘trayati’ means ‘liberation’. Therefore, it is a science of expanding the consciousness and liberating the energy.
Adiyogi to Adiguru
On a full moon day, after eighty-four years of sadhana, when the solstice had shifted from the summer solstice to the winter solstice – which in this tradition is known as Dakshinayana – the Adiyogi looked at these seven people and saw that they had become shining receptacles of knowing. They were absolutely ripe to receive. He could not ignore them anymore. They grabbed his attention.
He watched them closely for the next few days and when the next full moon rose, he decided to become a Guru. The Adiyogi transformed himself into the Adi Guru; the first Guru was born on that day which is today known as Guru Purnima. On the banks of Kanti Sarovar, a lake that lies a few kilometres above Kedarnath, he turned South to shed his grace upon the human race, and the transmission of the yogic science to these seven people began. The yogic science is not about a yoga class that you go through about how to bend your body – which every new born infant knows – or how to hold your breath – which every unborn infant knows. This is the science of understanding the mechanics of the entire human system. After many years, when the transmission was complete, it produced seven fully enlightened beings – the seven celebrated sages who are today known as the Saptarishis, and are worshipped and admired in Indian culture. Shiva put different aspects of yoga into each of these seven people, and these aspects became the seven basic forms of yoga. Even today, yoga has maintained these seven distinct forms.
The Saptarishis were sent in seven different directions to different parts of the world to carry this dimension with which a human being can evolve beyond his present limitations and compulsions. They became the limbs of Shiva, taking the knowing and technology of how a human being can exist here as the Creator himself, to the world.