Upayoga: 20 definitions
Introduction:
Upayoga means something in Jainism, Prakrit, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Buddhism, Pali, Marathi, Hindi. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
Alternative spellings of this word include Upyog.
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
1) Upayoga (उपयोग) refers to “concentrated attention” or “concentrated attention” and is explained as “the expression of the activity of the soul through jñāna and darśana, knowledge and perception”.—According to chapter 1.1 of Hemacandra’s 11th century Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra, upayoga (“concentrated attention”) resulted in clairvoyant knowledge and the recalling of one’s former birth (like a day that occurred yesterday).
2) Upayogā (उपयोगा) is the wife of Amṛtasvara: the messenger of king Vijayaparvata from Padminī, according to the Jain Ramayana and chapter 7.5 [The kidnapping of Sītā].—Accordingly, as Kulabhūṣaṇa related to Rāma: “There was a king, Vijayaparvata, in the town Padminī. He had a messenger, Amṛtasvara, and the messenger had a wife, Upayogā, and two sons, Udita and Mudita. There was a friend of the messenger, a Brāhman, Vasubhūti; and Upayogā was in love with him and wished to kill Amṛtasvara. [...]”.
Upayoga (उपयोग, “manifestation”).—What is meant by consciousness? To know, to feel misery and pleasure, to see and to hear are some of the manifestations (upayoga) of consciousness.
1) Upayoga (उपयोग, “sentience”).—according to the 2nd-century Tattvārthasūtra 2.8-9, “functional consciousness/ sentience (upayoga) is the differentia (distinguishing characteristic) of the soul”.—What is the meaning of upayoga (sentience or functional consciousness)? The disposition due to which the soul sees and knows is called upayoga. What is the difference between sentience and soul? Sentience is an attribute and soul is the owner of the attribute. Who can have sentience? Only jīva, which is sentient, can have sentience.
There are two types of sentience namely knowledge (jñāna) and intuition (darśana). Why there is no ‘telepathic-intuition’? This is so as telepathy is preceded by mind-based knowledge and mind based knowledge is its intuition.
2) Upayoga (उपयोग, “manifestation”) refers to a defining factor of “psychic sense” (bhāvendriya), according to the 2nd-century Tattvārthasūtra 2.18. Activities of the soul involved in cognizing an object of knowledge are called manifestation (upayoga). Attaining completion (labdhi) and its manifestation (upayoga) is called psychic sense organ (bhāvendriya).
What is the difference between attainment (labdhi) and manifestation (upayoga)? Attainment is the capability to cognize and manifestation is the use of that capability to cognize the object. What is the difference between manifestation and yoga (activities of mind, body and speech)? Manifestation is the inclination of knowledge while yoga is the tendency of mind, body and speech.
How many types of manifestation (upayoga) are there? There are three types of manifestation namely inauspicious, auspicious and pure.
Upayoga (उपयोग) refers to “enjoyment”, according to the 11th century Jñānārṇava, a treatise on Jain Yoga in roughly 2200 Sanskrit verses composed by Śubhacandra.—Accordingly, “This corporeal body is produced from a mass of atoms. An embodied soul has the nature of enjoyment (upayoga-ātmaka), is beyond the senses [and] consists of knowing. Why do the stupid, afflicted by the planet of [their] birth, not perceive the difference [between the body and the self] which is recognised everywhere in the occurrence of birth and death.”.

Jainism is an Indian religion of Dharma whose doctrine revolves around harmlessness (ahimsa) towards every living being. The two major branches (Digambara and Svetambara) of Jainism stimulate self-control (or, shramana, ‘self-reliance’) and spiritual development through a path of peace for the soul to progess to the ultimate goal.
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
upayoga : (m.) connection; employment; application.
Upayoga, (fr. upa + yuj) connection, combination; employment, application J. VI, 432 (nagare upayogaṃ netvā for use in the town? v. l. upabhogaṃ). Usually in cpd. °vacana as tt. g. meaning either combined or condensed expression, ellipsis SnA 386; KhA 236; PvA. 73, 135; or the Acc. case, which is frequently substituted for the foll. cases: sāmi-vacana SnA 127; PvA. 102; bhumma° SnA 140; KhA 116; karaṇa° SnA 148; sampadāna° J. V, 214; SnA 317; itthambhūta° SnA 441; nissakka° J. V, 498. (Page 145)

Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.
Marathi-English dictionary
upayōga (उपयोग).—m (S) Use or usefulness; adaptedness or helpfulness to any end or purpose. 2 Need of; demand or occasion for.
upayōga (उपयोग).—m Use. Demand for. Need of.
Marathi is an Indo-European language having over 70 million native speakers people in (predominantly) Maharashtra India. Marathi, like many other Indo-Aryan languages, evolved from early forms of Prakrit, which itself is a subset of Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages of the world.
Sanskrit dictionary
Upayoga (उपयोग).—
1) Employment, use, application, service; ओषधान्नविहाराणामुपयोगः सुखावहः (oṣadhānnavihārāṇāmupayogaḥ sukhāvahaḥ) Madh. N. उपयोगं गम् (upayogaṃ gam) or व्रज् (vraj) to be used or employed, serve; व्रजन्ति (vrajanti) ... अनङ्गलेखक्रिययोपयोगम् (anaṅgalekhakriyayopayogam) Kumārasambhava 1.7.
2) Administration of medicines, or their preparation.
3) Fitness, suitableness, propriety.
4) Contact, proximity.
5) Any act contributing to the fulfilment of a desired object.
6) Good conduct, observing established customs.
7) Food; गते च दुर्वाससि सोऽम्बरीषो द्विजोपयोगातिपवित्रमाहरत् (gate ca durvāsasi so'mbarīṣo dvijopayogātipavitramāharat) Bhāgavata 9.5.24.
Derivable forms: upayogaḥ (उपयोगः).
Upayoga (उपयोग).—m.
(-gaḥ) 1. Good conduct, observing established practices. 2. Any act tending to effect a desired object. 3. Fitness, suitableness. 4. Service, utility. 5. Use, application. 6. Contact, proximity. 7. Adminstration of medicines. 8. Preparation of them. E. upa before yuj to join, ghañ aff.
Upayoga (उपयोग).—i. e. upa-yuj + a, m. Employment, use, [Kumārasaṃbhava, (ed. Stenzler.)] 1, 7.
Upayoga (उपयोग).—[masculine] employment, application; use, enjoyment.
1) Upayoga (उपयोग):—[=upa-yoga] [from upa-yuj] m. employment, use, application, [Mahābhārata; Suśruta; Prabodha-candrodaya]
2) [v.s. ...] (upayogaṃ-√gam or √vraj, to be employed, [Kumāra-sambhava; Śārṅgadhara])
3) [v.s. ...] enjoyment, consuming, taking, [Suśruta]
4) [v.s. ...] any act tending to a desired object
5) [v.s. ...] an engagement, compact, agreement, [Pāṇini 1-4, 29]
6) [v.s. ...] use, fitness
7) [v.s. ...] acquisition (of knowledge), [Gautama-dharma-śāstra vii, 1]
8) [v.s. ...] good conduct, observing established practices, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
9) [v.s. ...] calculation (°gaṃ √kṛ ‘to calculate’), [Hemacandra’s Pariśiṣṭaparvan]
Upayoga (उपयोग):—[upa-yoga] (gaḥ) 1. m. Good conduct; fitness, use, application.
[Sanskrit to German]
Upayoga (उपयोग) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Uvaoga.
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
Hindi dictionary
Upayoga (उपयोग) [Also spelled upyog]:—(nm) use, utilisation/utility; exploitation; ~[karttā] a usufructuary; consumer.
...
Kannada-English dictionary
Upayōga (ಉಪಯೋಗ):—
1) [noun] the act of using or the state of being used; use; utilisation.
2) [noun] the quality or property of being useful; usefulness; utility.
3) [noun] benefit derived from using a thing.
4) [noun] a way of applying or method of applying or using; specific use; application.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Upayoga (उपयोग):—n. use; utilization; application;
Nepali is the primary language of the Nepalese people counting almost 20 million native speakers. The country of Nepal is situated in the Himalaya mountain range to the north of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches: Yuja, Yoga, Upa, Na.
Starts with: Upayogabahuvacana, Upayogagamanupaga, Upayogaladdha, Upayoganiddesa, Upayoganiddittha, Upayogaphala, Upayogappapavatti, Upayogasamstha, Upayogastra, Upayogatmaka, Upayogattha, Upayogatthajotanattha, Upayogavacana, Upayogavacananiddesa, Upayogavacanavara, Upayogekavacana, Upayogupasevana, Upayokam, Upayokappatu.
Full-text (+17): Anupayoga, Nirupayoga, Upayoganiddittha, Missepayogakarana, Upayogagamanupaga, Upayogaphala, Upayogattha, Upayogin, Upayogaladdha, Aupayaugika, Upayogavacana, Upyog, Simanta-upayoga, Niyamitaupayoga, Upayogabahuvacana, Upayogekavacana, Darshanopayoga, Jnanopayoga, Upega, Uvaoga.
Relevant text
Search found 40 books and stories containing Upayoga, Upayōga, Upa-yoga, Upa-yuja-na, Upa-yuja-ṇa; (plurals include: Upayogas, Upayōgas, yogas, nas, ṇas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Gommatsara by Acharya Nemichandra (by Bai Bahadur J. L. Jaini)
Part 6 - The contents of Gommatasara (Introduction) < [Introduction (volume 1)]
Chapter 20 - The concept of Upayoga (Conscious-Attentiveness) < [Volume 1 - Jiva-kanda (the soul)]
Introductory verses < [Volume 1 - Jiva-kanda (the soul)]
International Research Journal of Ayurveda and Yoga
The Impact of Isha Yoga Practices on Mental and Physical Well-being < [Vol. 7 No. 11: Nov (2024)]
Study Of Ashtaharavidhivisheshayatana: A Review < [Vol. 3 No. 12: Dec (2020)]
Imperative Secretes Of Comestibles In Ayurveda W.S.R. To Ashta Ahara Vidhi... < [Vol. 3 No. 12: Dec (2020)]
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 702 < [English-Gujarati-Hindi (1 volume)]
Page 323 < [English-Gujarati-Hindi (1 volume)]
Page 510 < [English-Gujarati-Hindi (1 volume)]
Tattvartha Sutra (with commentary) (by Vijay K. Jain)
Verse 2.18 - The psychical-sense (bhāvendriya) < [Chapter 2 - Category of the Living]
Verse 2.9 - Two kinds of cognition (upayoga) < [Chapter 2 - Category of the Living]
Verse 2.8 - Cognition is the mark of the soul < [Chapter 2 - Category of the Living]
Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences
Effect of Yoga on Mental Health: An Overview < [Vol. 9 No. 11 (2024)]
A critical review on Pravicharana Sneha < [Vol. 9 No. 12 (2024)]
Aahar Vidhi Vidhan Shastrokta Vivaran < [Vol. 5 No. 02 (2020)]
A study of the philosophy of Jainism (by Deepa Baruah)
Chapter IV.a - The nature of the Self (Jīva) in Jaina philosophy < [Chapter IV - The concept of Self]
Chapter II.c - Classification of Pramāṇa < [Chapter II - Jaina theory of Knowledge]
Chapter III.a - The Nature Of Substance (Dravya) < [Chapter III - Categories]