Concept of yoga according to yoga upanisads a critical study

INTRODUCTION

(A) Upanisads and Yoga-Upanisads.

The last part of the Vedas is known as the Upansads, The Upamsad is

the path of knowledge of the Vedas. Upanisads are an important source of

Indian Philosophy. Indian philosophy, particularly. the philosophy of

Upanisads tries to transcend the world appearance as ephemeral, painful

illusory and posits something beyond becoming, beyond temporality. The

Upanisadie sages typically rejected the idea that the brahmanical rituals

inherited from Vedic and early post-Were times had the potency to lead to

enlightenment. though they generally conceded that external rites had their

proper place in religious life. They turned unanimously to meditative

practice, or inner worship (ignisand), as the chief means of obtaining

transcendental knowledge of the Self (arman), and internalized the Vedic

rituals in the form of intense contemplation, or meditation. The knowledge

of Aiman for them was the basis for becoming one or communion with the

Brahman.

The Upuntwod's express the restlessness and the striving nature of the

human mind to grasp the true nature of Reality. But Indian philosophies

often remind us that we must not judge the self merely from a logical point

of view-that is, by seeking the causes that have determined the present

state of thing. Here also lies the explanation of the paradoxical teleology

of creation, which fetters the human soul and at the same time urges it on

to liberation, We find scattered throughout the Uparigods certain hints for

the practical realization of the Self by means of Yoga. They are the,