Yoga Before Religion | The Original Science of Union

Long before any organized religion, there was the science of yoga. It is the study of how the mind, body, and spirit are connected. The term yoga derives from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to yoke. It is a practice that requires discipline, consistency, and full presence to observe personal experience in a meditative state. Human beings observed this relationship before temples or doctrines were established.

Its earliest textual appearances occur in the Rig Veda (c. 1500–1200 BCE), where yuj refers to disciplined joining of human awareness with a higher organizing principle. By the period of the Upanishads (c. 800–500 BCE), yogic practices such as breath regulation, sensory restraint, and self-inquiry were defined. Texts like the Katha Upanishad describe the mind as an instrument that controls the senses, reflecting an early psychological understanding of attention, control, and perception.

The Bhagavad Gita (c. 400–200 BCE) broadened the science of yoga to include paths of disciplined action (karma), knowledge (jnana), and devotion (bhakti). Yoga was framed as being fully engaged with life. Later, the steps to yoga were systematized in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (c. 200 BCE–200 CE), which consolidated earlier teachings into a concise structure of mental discipline. Patanjali’s definition - yoga chitta-vritti-nirodha - defines yoga as the cessation of mind stuff through direct practice of meditation, without reference to belief, worship, or external authority.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (14th–16th centuries CE) detailed physical and energetic methods designed to regulate physiology to achieve mental clarity and meditative stability. Over time, yoga was adapted by Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sufi traditions, yet it retained its roots. Its emphasis remained on observation, regulation, and experiential verification through personal practice, not doctrine.

Yoga, through the centuries, remained a disciplined technique for examining and regulating human experience. Rather than a system of belief, it functioned as an applied science of mental regulation and physiology. Its continuity across cultures and religions reflects not doctrinal transmission, but repeated verification through practice.

References

Rig Veda (c. 1500–1200 BCE) – earliest use of yuj, to join or yoke (Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, The Whole U)

Upanishads (c. 800–500 BCE) – breath and self-inquiry as early yoga (Hindu American Foundation, The Whole U)

Bhagavad Gita (c. 400–200 BCE) – karma, jnana, and bhakti yoga as universal disciplines

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (c. 200 BCE–200 CE) – foundational text on mental discipline (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Hatha Yoga Pradipika (14th–16th centuries CE) – classical text on physical and energetic yoga (Wikipedia)

Feuerstein, Georg. The Yoga Tradition, 1998

Eliade, Mircea. Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, 1958

The Christian Century, “Is Yoga Religious?”, 2011