The roots of the living tradition of Ashtanga Yoga

The tradition of Ashtanga Yoga is a living one. It goes back from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Sri Tirumali Krishnamacharya, to Patanjali and Vamana Rishi. At its source you will find Lord Vishnu.

The way Sri K. Pattabhi Jois teaches Ashtanga Yoga today is exactly the way he learned it from his guru Krishnamacharya. Pattabhi Jois met Krishnamacharya in 1927, studied with him for over 25 years and learned Ashtanga Yoga during this time.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

Pattabhi Jois wrote a small book, called "Yoga Mala" (Mala = garland), about Ashtanga Yoga from 1958 to 1960. It was published in India in 1962, by one of his students, a coffee planter from Coorg. The first English translation was published in 1999 by Eddie Stern, an senior student of Pattabhi Jois, in the United States. It is still available. This book was finished long before the first western student (the Belgian Andre van Lysbeth) came to Pattabhi Jois in 1964. So the book contains a very pure and authentic Ashtaga Yoga.
(Yoga Mala)

If you follow the Ashtanga Yoga tradition one step further back from Pattabhi Jois, you come to Sri Tirumali Krishnamacharya. This great sage and yogi travelled to the Himalayas around 1916 to learn Yoga. There he met his guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari, and spent seven and a half years living with him, learning the Ashtanga Yoga system. In that time he learned (beyond some other scriptures) the "Yoga Karunta" by heart. This ancient manuscript is the basis on which the Asana -, Vinyasa - and Bhanda - System of Ashtanga Yoga is founded. He also learned the Yoga Sutra, which ise the spiritual and philosophical foundation of Ashtanga Yoga.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

After Krishnamacharya left his guru around 1924, he began searching for the Yoga Karunta. After a great deal of effort he finally tracked down a copy at the Calcutta University library. Unfortunately, soon after he found it, the book got badly damaged by ants and Krishnamarchaya wasn't able to preserve it. So it may be impossible to verify its authenticity. "Karunta" means "groups" and it is said that its text contained the exact groupings of Asana. Everything about Vinyasa, Bhanda, Drishti, Asana and the whole six sequences as they are taught up to now was contained within this manuscript. The "Yoga Karunta" thus forms the foundation of the practical part of Ashtanga Yoga.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

The "Yoga Karunta" is attributed to the sage Vamana Rishi. He is said to have come to earth when Ashtanga Yoga was forgotten, and a sage was needed to bring it back to mankind. Vamana Rishi incarnated for this task and learned the whole Ashtanga Yoga system from lord Vishnu while in the womb of his mother. After the normal time of pregnancy was over, Vamana was still not finished with his learning. According to legend, he refused to be born until he had finished his studies of Ashtanga Yoga.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)

The "Yoga Sutras" are not hard to find. They are available in many translations and commentaries. According to Western research the "Yoga Sutras" were written between 400 and 200 B.C.. Hindu mythology dates them much earlier, about 10 000 B.C.. The "Yoga Sutra" is the primary text of the science of classical yoga, in which the author, Patanjali, collated and systematized the existing techniques and knowledge of Yoga. The Yoga Sutras definie Yoga as: "yogash citta-vrtti-nirodha", which means: "Yoga is calmness of waves in the mind." Only with a calm mind can the true nature of being be experienced. To achieve this aim, the path described in the Yoga Sutras is made up at eight limbs:
Yama (moral observance)
Niyama (inner integrity)
Asana (postures)
Pranayama (breath control)
Pratyahara (sensory withdrawal)
Dharana (concentration)
Dhyana (meditation)
Samadhi (contemplation)
This eight limb way to a calm mind gave Ashtanga Yoga its name. (Ashta = Eight; Anga = limb; Yoga = Calmness of waves in the mind)
(Yoga Sutras)

Patanjali, the author of the "Yoga Sutras" is said to have been incarnation of Adisesa, the serpent protecting Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu sleeps on him in the ocean of being. Patanjali was born to a woman named Gonica, a very sinecures yogini. As she was offering her prayer to the Sun God Surya, a small snake appeared in her hands and took human form. It asked Gonica to accept Patanjali as her son. She followed its wish and named him Patanjali, a discription of the way he was born; "fallen prayer" (Pata = fallen; anjali = prayer).
(a quite common Hindu tale)

But the roots of the Vinyasa System of Ashtanga Yoga can be found much earlier. They reach back to the first written documents of mankind - the Vedas.
There are four Vedas: The Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvanaveda. Two contain hints about the Asthanga Vinyasa Yoga practice and to the Vinyasa system.
The first to be written was the Rigveda, which is believed to date back to 8000 BC. Yajurveda came a bit later, but is still a very ancient text. In both you can find explanations of moving and breathing, especially in Suryanamaskara. The physical and spiritual benefits are also detailed.
In Yajurveda there is a mantra called Aruna Mantra, which puts the Vinyasa Count for Suryanamaskara A at nine.
In the Maha Saura Mantra of Rigveda the Vinyasa count of Suryanamskara B is numbered through to seventeen - just as it is now.
(reported from Pattabhi Jois, February 2004)