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Yoga Yajnavalkya
The Yoga Yajnavalkya (Sanskrit: योगयाज्ञवल्क्य, Yoga-Yājñavalkya) is a classical Hindu yoga text in the Sanskrit language. The text is written in the form of a male-female dialogue between the sage Yajnavalkya and Gargi. The text consists of 12 chapters and contains 504 verses.
The text was influential in the development and practice of the yoga traditions of India before the 12th century.
Contents
About
The actual author of Yoga Yajnavalkya text was probably someone who lived many centuries after the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya, and is unknown. Ian Whicher, a professor of Religion at the University of Manitoba, writes that the author of Yoga Yajnavalkya may be an ancient Yajnavalkya, but this Yajnavalkya is not to be confused with the Vedic-era Yajnavalkya "who is revered in Hinduism for Brihadaranyaka Upanishad"
Period
Several versions of the Yoga Yajnavalkya manuscripts are known. The earliest published manuscript of Yoga Yajnavalkya was discovered in Bengal in 1893. Since then, other manuscripts have been discovered with differing numbers of verses. The text published by Divanji in 1954, for example, has over 500 verses, while the manuscript translated by Krishnamacharya and Desikachar, writers and teachers of yoga books, has 460 verses.
Chapters
- The text opens with reverence and introduction for Yajnavalkya and Gargi, and then gives its purpose: "to disclose the nature of yoga".
- In verses 10 to 19, Gargi remarks that yoga has been called the best karma, and asks Yajnavalkya to explain yoga to her.
- Yajnavalkya agrees, but first attributes his knowledge to the Hindu god Brahma who taught him this jnana (knowledge) and karma (works)
