Chapter 1.6 - From Ācārya Tulsi to Modern Times

In Jain literature we find yoga works, which are of secondary sources, written by modern scholars. These works are either in Hindi or English language. Their brief introduction is presented here.

1. Muni Nathmal wrote a text namely ‘Jain Yoga’. It is published by Adarsha Sahitya Samgh, Churu, 1978. It describes the Jain Yoga in a new way.

2. Jain Yoga: Siddhānta aur Sādhanā is the composition published by Atma Gyanpitha, Punjab in 1983 1st edition. This work is the thoroughly revised and enlarged edition of text ‘Jain Agamo me Aṣtāṅga Yoga.’ It is written by Atmaramji Mahārāja in an aphoristic manner. It discusses the yoga tradition on the basis of Jain canonical literature. It compares tradition of yoga in Jainism with the Yogasūtra of sage Patañjali. It contains foreword written by Atmaramji Mahārāja himself. The present work namely Jain Yoga: Siddhānta aur Sādhanāis chiefly edited by Amar Muni.

This work is divided in three parts. They are:

1. Yoga Ki Saiddhāntika Vivecanā
2. Adhyātma Yoga Sādhanā
3. Prāṇa Sādhanā

This text has tried to explore each and every aspect of yoga in general and Jain Yoga in particular. We may call this text “a source book of Jain Yoga.”

3. Jain Sāhitya kā Bṛhad Itihāsa is written by Mohanalal Mehata and H. R. Kapadia and Published by Parshvanath Vidhyashram Shodh Sansthan, Varanasi, 1991, 1st edn. 1968. Its 4th volume, from 227-266 pages, contains a list of texts which deal with yoga and adhyātma. This list enumerates more than fifty treatises with all bibliographical details. Every referred text of this list is explained with details related to its author, language, how much verses does it contain, its edition etc. It also gives gist of content of every text in a very comprehensive manner.

4. Dige Arhatdas Bandoba wrote “Jaina Yoga KāĀlochanātmaka Adhyayana. It is published by Sohanalal Jaindharma Pracharak Samiti, Amritsar, 1981. Third chapter (pages–37-53) of this book deals with literature on Jain Yoga. Books referred in this chapter more or less give similar information which is given in Jain Sāhitya Kā Bṛhad Itihāsa. However, this chapter also mentions R. Williams work “Jain Yoga”. The number of books referred, are fewer in this chapter than in the book Jain Sāhitya Kā Bṛhad Itihāsa.

Moreover, at the end of the chapter author has given a list of those books which are not available to us and also whose authors” names are unknown to us. The second list of eleven books have their authors name, but unfortunately no other details. The books referred in both these lists are also mentioned in Jinaratnakośa part-1, page-5-6, and vol-4, page-264, 321, 22, 251 of Jain Sāhitya Kā Bṛhad Itihāsa.

5. Anand, Aruna: Pātañjalayoga Evaṃ Jainayoga Kā Tulanāmaka Adhyayana, pages-7 to 14 discuss about Jain Yoga literature. Literature pertaining to Yoga in Jainism has been divided into three parts. The first is āgama yuga (6th century. B.C. to 7th Century. A.D.), the second madhya yuga (8th century. A.D. to 14th Century. A.D.) the third and last part is arvācīnayuga (15th century A.D. to today’s time.) In these three parts author has tried to cover almost every important treatise of Jain Yoga tradition. This discussion helps us to understand Yoga tradition in Jainism starting from āgamayuga till today’s time.

6. Tatia, Nathmal: Jaina Meditation, Citta Samādhi: Jaina Yoga, Jain Vishva Bharati, Ladnun, 1986, 1st edn. The second chapter (pages–7 to 19) of this book gives us a very brief account of yoga in Jain tradition. It quotes some very important and remarkable verses from treatises that contain elaborate instructions in self-meditation and concentration of mind. In the third chapter, namely ‘Jain ParamparāMe Yoga’ of this text Tatia has presented 73 padas of 29thAdhyayana of Uttarādhyayanasūtra and divided them into 19 gucchakas. These 73 padas starts with saṃvega and nirveda and ends in Śaileśī and akarmakatā. Tatia thinks that these 73 padas narrate the path of spiritual journey where saṃvega and nirveda are roots and achievement of akarmaka state is the ultimate fruit. These 73 padas present the Jain path of spirituality in a collected and systematic form.

7. Muni Rakeshkumar: Jaina Yoga Kī Paraṃparā edited by Muni Mahendrakumar, Tulsi Adhyatma Needam, 1982. The second chapter (prakhaṇḍa –as it is said in the book) entitiles ‘Jaina Yoga Ke Viśiṣṭa Grantha–Ek Paricaya.’ It contains elaborate discussion on eight selected treatises of Jain Yoga tradition. It is interesting to note that out of these eight treatises four are Haribhadrasūri’s works. This fact forces us to recognize the valuable and incredible contribution of Haribhadrasūri to Jain Yoga tradition.

8. Shastri, Suvrat Muni: Yogabindu Ke Pariprekśya Me Jaina Yoga SādhanāKāSamikśātmaka Adhyayana, Shree Atmajnanapitha, Bhatinda, Punjab, 1991. From pages 26 to 31 a few remarkable treatises of Jain Yoga tradition have been referred by the author. However, author stops at Yogaśāstra of Hemandrācārya and no post 12th century A.D. treatise pertaining to Yoga in Jainism has been mentioned by the author.