Charlotta Osterberg
When I was 23-years old I moved from Finland to Mumbai with the intention to work with an NGO for three months. However, life had other plans for me and I settled in India for almost 10 years. During a challenging period when I was looking for something meaningful to do in the city, I attended my first yoga class, primarily just to have something to keep myself busy with. I never knew this would become my fulltime passion. Following this one class, I immersed myself in four years of practice and study of yoga.
What I learned during these years, apart from physical postures, was that traditional yoga is a philosophy, not a form of exercise, and further, that the relationship between yoga and religion is complicated. I will say a few words about the philosophy and the scriptures before returning to my experience in Mumbai.
Yoga and religion in the sutras
Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy – also sometimes referred to as Hindu philosophy. Yoga philosophy is derived from Samkhya philosophy, which is atheistic in nature and thus does not acknowledge the idea of a god. Peculiarly, the Patanjali Yoga Sutra – the “bible of yoga” as I like to call it, mentions the word Ishvara a few times. This gives rise to the question whether yoga is a theistic version of Samkhya philosophy.
The word Ishvara stems from the Sanskrit root Ish, which means “to govern”, but it also includes “the capacity to impart grace”. The term Ishvara can refer to a supreme god, or a local deity (Ishta-deva).
Ishvara is mentioned for example in sutra 1.23, wherein Patanjali gives us a shortcut to liberation (samadhi). Instead of persistent practice and non-attachment, the slow and steady path towards liberation, Patanjali gives an option and states Ishvara pranidhana va. Depending on how we interpret this sutra, god can be ascribed the status of a supreme controller, or not.
Va simply means “or” since the sutra is providing an alternative to what has been previously mentioned. Pranidhana literally means, “putting something down, or “placing something nearby”. Commonly it is understood as “surrender”. “Ishvara Pranidhana” can therefore be interpreted as “complete surrender to God”, or more literally “placing oneself by God.”
If we interpret the word pranidhana in this way, god is given a somewhat similar meaning to that of a god in various religions. When a yoga disciple places himself/herself in full humility at the disposal of Ishvara, then Ishvara is entwined towards the disciple and imparts his grace onto him/her. The success of the yoga disciple depends upon the mercy of god.
However, pranidhana is also sometimes translated as “deep meditation”, and the sentence then means “meditation on god” (instead of surrender to god). If we are meditating on the concept of god, and through our individual meditative practice reach enlightenment, god is given a more symbolic status. God is not necessarily separate from ourselves, or someone giving us blessings, but a symbol used for our single-pointed concentration that will lead us towards liberation. This translation lets yoga keep a somewhat more secular nature. However, it doesn’t change the fact that god is mentioned.
The words Ishvar Pranidhana also figures as one of the five Niyamas in sutra 2.23. saucha, santosha, tapa, swadhyaya, ishvara pranidhana. A niyama is an obligation that needs to be followed at all times by a yoga disciple. The five niyamas according to Patanjali are: purity, contentment, austerity, self-study, and surrender to god/meditation upon god. We can find very similar ideals in other Indian philosophies and religions, such as Jainism.
If we understand the concept of Ishvara Pranidhana as surrender to God, and consider it an obligation, then Ishvara should figure in all the activities you perform. It should color the disciple’s activities throughout the day, everyday.
Perhaps it is fair to say that some religious elements can be found in important yoga texts. What about the role of religion in everyday yoga practice? My practice of yoga in Mumbai also suggests that yoga intermingles with religion.
Yoga in Mumbai
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tatsaviturvareṇyaṃ
bhargo devasyadhīmahi
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt…
During my yoga teachers training we started every day in the classroom with the verse written above. For those who do not recognize it, it is the Gayatree mantra, a highly revered mantra from the Rig Veda, dedicated to Savitr, the sun deity. It is cited widely in Vedic and post-Vedic texts, and classical Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita. Our daily prayer didn´t end here, we continued with the shanti mantra for peace, taken from Brihadaranyaka Upanishads. There were also other times when we recited different verses from text belonging to the Hindu tradition.
To deepen my knowledge about yogic postures, I also attended Iyengar yoga regularly, which always started with the invocation to Patanjali. Translated to English it goes something like this: Salutation to the noblest sage, Patanjali, who gave us yoga for serenity of mind, grammar for purity of speech, and medicine for the health of the body. I prostrate before Patanjali, whose upper body has a human form, whose arms hold a conch and disk, and who is crowned by a thousand headed cobra, O incarnation of Adisesa, my salutations to thee. One of my Iyengar yoga teachers who was a Muslim started the class without reciting this mantra, while all my Hindu teachers did.
Reciting prayers, chanting mantras, and learning about the mythological figures represented in the form of various yoga asanas, was for a long time an integral part of my yoga practice. Doing yoga without praying first felt not only incomplete, but also disrespectful. Practicing asanas without thinking about their connection to mythology felt shallow. This was the only form of yoga that I knew, because I had only ever practiced yoga in traditional institutions in Mumbai.
Outside of my yoga practice in India (primarily Mumbai), I have now engaged with yoga in Finland, Norway, and Indonesia. Out of these four countries in total – two in northern Europe and two in South Asia – the practice of yoga in India, and Mumbai specifically, was a significantly different experience from the others. While Bali is a primarily Hindu dominated area, the yoga classes there were much like what I have experienced in the `Christian West´. Whether the focus was on physical postures or mental relaxation, little was said that one could construe as religious.
Upon moving to Bergen, my yoga practice became completely void of any apparent religious – or spiritual – ingredients. The focus shifted from honoring the sun god by reciting all the different Sanskrit names during my suryanamaskar practice, to only thinking about how to best lengthen my muscles. Yoga ceased to be a spiritual practice for me, and became a method to heal my back pain after studying. I will conclude by saying that both forms of yoga have been useful for me in my personal journey. My spiritual yoga practice in Mumbai kept me grounded during challenging times, whereas the physical yoga classes that I attend in Bergen keep me mobile.
Finally, the discussion between yoga and religions gives rise to a multitude of complex questions, such as “what is religion”, “what is the difference between spirituality and religion” and “is Hinduism a religion”. Irrespective of where we wish to draw the lines and how we custom our definitions, my personal experiences suggest that yoga dances with religion at least to some degree in Mumbai, whereas it appears to be stripped almost completely of any elements related to religion, or Hindu traditions, in Norway.
Charlotta Osterberg holds a Diploma in Yogic Education, as well as a Diploma in Yogic Therapy, Natural Living and Naturopathy. She has also completed her Masters Degree in Yoga Philosophy. Since 2015 she has been researching roadside shrines in Mumbai as a PhD Candidate at the University of Bergen, Norway.
Holy Mumbai 