Its history goes back to the pre-Vedic era. The four Vedas are the oldest texts of India. Yoga has been found mentioned in the Vedas, which implies that its history is older than the Vedas. In those days, it was a help for spiritual elevation. In reviewing previous yoga treatises, yogic (technical) kriyas were used for personal improvement and not for health improvement.
Yoga is practiced worldwide now. It is used as a physical exercise system. To combat psychosomatic diseases such as stress, depression, hypertension, and other health-related disorders, yogic kriyas are used. In ranking websites, yoga is a subcategory in the Health and Fitness category. It is clear that this has become a topic related to health. But it’s not a health issue. Its dimension is more. To understand this dimension and get the most benefit from Yogic kriyas, you must learn it from the perspective of ancient yoga treatises. For this, one must learn classical yoga treatises.
The gurus of ancient India taught yoga without accepting any consideration or with a little attention that was affordable for students of that time. A small amount for the student has been approved by the gurus. The amount or Guru Thatchana (the amount donated by the student) was decided by the student and not by the gurus. Money was not the motive at that time.
The Guru-Sysya system (Teacher Discipleship) has been altered now. It has become a lucrative business nowadays. Yoga has been institutionalized, which was not the case before. The head of the institute is the guru, and he will never pass on the knowledge he has. It will employ teachers who partially master the subject. Students will not have all the necessary expertise. As a result, the experience has been entrusted to someone who will not pass it on for one reason or another.
Yoga treatises are at the root of all yoga. The modern guru chooses one or more techniques from the ancient yoga treatises and modifies it slightly to give it a new name. He will use this name for a patent. This is how there are so many yoga brands and institutes that market these brands. Knowledge belongs to wise men of old and yoga institutes sell it as their product.
If you are ready to make an effort to acquire this knowledge by learning these ancient treatises, you can avoid these intermediaries. No contemporary guru draws his experience from his research. If at all he does some research, these results are related to the benefits of doing a kriya of the past time. There are various yoga techniques available in the scriptures. Life is not enough for all to learn and practice. By learning them through the scriptures, we could understand them, identify them with the available yoga marks, and practice some of them that suit us. Therefore, the study of the scriptures is necessary for anyone planning to practice yoga.
We now know clearly that the study of yogic scriptures will bring us two significant advantages, which are:
• We can understand yoga in a broader dimension to achieve comprehensive benefits.
• We learn yoga directly from the scriptures without an intermediary.