Vedic Origin
Vedas state that "Hiranyagarbha yogas yananyahvaktapuratanah”, meaning no one before Hiranyagarbha has talked about yoga before. The exponent of yoga started from the golden womb, that which is preserved and was never discussed or talked about before.
In the Matsya Purana one of the eighteen major Puranas (Mahapurana), and among the oldest and better preserved in the Puranic genre of Sanskrit literature - Sloka (2.25-30) gives an account of initial creation. After Mahāprālaya, the great dissolution of the Universe, there was darkness everywhere. Everything was in a state of sleep. There was noth ing, either moving or static. Then Swayambhu, the self-manifested being arose, which is a form beyond senses. It created the primordial waters first and established the seed of creation into it.
The seed turned into a golden womb, Hiraṇyagarbha. Then Swayambhu (the self-manifested being) entered the egg. This would infer a self-manifested awareness or pure consciousness. When brahman or pure consciousness entered this womb of light, Purusha and Prakriti emerged giving birth to the gunas or the nature of reality/universe.
We understand from these texts that Hiranyagarbha is equated as pure consciousness, and was the first to present yoga.
The roots of yoga can be traced back to the Vedic millennia, wherein pre-classi cal texts like The Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita, and The Yoga Vasistha, mention the term yoga in different contexts. we find no references to Sage Patanjali in Upanishads like Katha Upa nishads which is said to be one of the Yoga Shastras or in any other Yoga Upa nishads of that period.
To be continued.....
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