A Brief History of Yoga: Part III

The World Renouncers

The ritualism that defined the Vedic Age was fostered and developed within the confines of an agrarian society. However, by 500 BCE, an urban culture was developing along the Ganges River and major kingdoms would soon follow.

With urbanization, the traditional agrarian lifestyle began to deteriorate. Rather than a focus on pastoralism, Vedic society began to gravitate toward trade initiatives and enterprise. With the development of kingdoms, trade routes were secured and roads constructed. With trade came increased communication with cultures that had hitherto been foreign to the Aryans. This advance in communication led to increased contact with nomadic groups of people who practiced asceticism, or abstinence from worldly pleasures. While these groups may have existed many centuries prior to 500 BCE, this period of time would see their influence on world affairs grow substantially.

The massive influence that these ascetic world renouncers had can be largely attributed to an increase in bureaucracy within Vedic society that created more rigid patterns of socialization. This rigidity was becoming most apparent in the caste system, which limited an individual’s life path to very specific movements. It was generally assumed that only those born into the Brahmin class could truly understand and practice the original Vedic teachings. This however meant that the majority of Vedic society, the lower three castes, would be hopeless to achieve true understanding without the help of the Brahmins.

This rigidity of Vedic society would eventually spur a generation of seekers to follow the path of world renunciation. The institution of world renunciation offered the renouncer an escape route from worldly suffering, as well as from worldly responsibilities. Thus the renouncer was able to dedicate all of their time to the pursuit of self-knowledge, which was far more appealing than spending a lifetime confined to a path that was decided for them, rather than by them.

The Study of the Self

From about 800 to 400 BCE renunciation became a major trend in India. This phenomenon, and the groups of individuals who organized around the shared philosophy of renunciation, is now referred to as the Sramanism by scholars.

All Sramana groups rejected the Veda as revelation and thus radically turned against orthodox, brahmanical teaching. In these new ascetic ideologies, spiritual salvation could not be attained due to birth in a particular caste, but rather only by insight into the nature of existence.

While each individual renunciate might have have interpreted their experiences differently than another, they all generally agreed that life was characterized by suffering, and that the only way to free one’s Self from this endless cycle of suffering was by virtue of self-knowledge.

The ideology of sramana traditions can best be summed up as an emphasis on knowledge rather than action. This knowledge was achieved first by detachment from the social world and later by the practice of celibacy, poverty and mental training. The purpose of all these efforts was the cultivation of altered states of consciousness which would eventually culminate in the blissful mystical experience of final enlightenment.

The emphasis on a more personal spiritual experience is reflected not only in the practice of internalized meditation but also in the idea of a direct transmission of teachings from teacher to disciple.

While many gurus, or experts in self-study, emerged between 800 to 400 BCE, two in particular seemed to reach a level of mastery that was so apparent that disciples couldn’t help but follow, as if attracted by a magnet. While almost all the peoples of the modern world are well aware of the Buddha and the impact he has left in the wake of his existence, few seem to know of Mahavira, a sage who was teaching during the time of the enlightenment of Siddhartha, the boy who would become Buddha.

Next week we will discuss the life and teachings of Mahavira.

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References

Flood, Gavin (2001). An Introduction to Hinduism. UK: Cambridge University Press

Images used in this Post

Sadhus photo courtesy of Flickr user MUCSURAK published under the CC license.

Country Roads photo courtesy of Flickr user Swami Stream published under the CC license.

Sunlight through redwood forest photo courtesy of Flickr user phault published under the CC license.

Turning the Wheel of the Dharma photo courtesy of Flickr user Akuppa published under the CC license.