5. Resume (of third chapter)

The yogic thoughts can be seen from the vedic literature also. So, as a part of the vedas the upaniṣads also elaborately reflect yoga in different manner. The Upaniṣads treat yoga as conscious internal research or an effort to attain true knowledge of reality. It emphasizes the meditation and concentration which reveal power. The word yoga first found technically in the Taittirīyopaniṣad; and besides that Kaṭhopaniṣad and Maitrāyaṇīyopaniṣad also treat it as the same. Almost all the major upaniṣads describe yoga to its possible extent. The upaniṣad commonly reflect yogic concepts like aṣṭāṅgas, jīva, Īśvara, mokṣa etc..

Along with these aṣṭāṅgas are enumerated elaborately in most of all major upaniṣads. The upaniṣads connect yamas and niyamas with the day to day life of the common people They pave the way for the ordinary people to adopt and practise the essential values like ahiṃsā, satya, asteya, tapas, svādhyāya etc. throughout their lives. They enrich the people with an awareness of values and open the doors for them and lead them to the ways of self-realization. Among these ways the foremost is regarded as yoga. The upaniṣads describe how to practise yoga systematically and how the yamas and niyamas are provided for this purpose. Through the gradual practice of ahiṃsā onwards till

īśvarapraṇidhāna one can make essential changes in his life. By practising yamas and niyamas one can remove his external doṣas and make himself eligible for the saguṇopāsana. For saguṇopāsana there are different methods and practices like prāṇāyāma by which one can restrain his indriyas and acquire concentration. This concentration leads him to the attainment of samādhi or realization. In this state one is lost hold his self and attains union with the Paramātmā or attains paramagati. Here the major upaniṣads are provided like a guide that explains the systematic ways to become a yogi. They admit that yoga is a right way of knowledge to the attainment of realization. It underlines that no one can attain mokṣa without the practice of yoga. However, yogic reflections have a great role in the later upaniṣads rather than in the major upaniṣads. These later upaniṣads belong to a group of 20 minor upaniṣads which enumerate yogic concepts elaborately; and they are called Yogopaniṣads. This group exhibits the yogic influence of the upaniṣads greatly and it will be discussed in the following chapter.