Paper short abstract:

The paper presents texts and rituals of the Sāṃkhya-Yoga system of religious thought as practiced in a living Sāṃkhya-Yoga tradition in north India. The singing of hymns is the most important form of lay meditation in this tradition, and the paper analyzes this yogic textual and ritual practice.

Paper long abstract:

The paper presents yogic textual and ritual practices of the Sāṃkhya-Yoga system of religious thought in a living Sāṃkhya-Yoga tradition in north India. Sāṃkhya-Yoga is the tradition of Sāṃkhya associated with the Yogaśāstra (Yogasūtra and the Bhāṣya) tradition. Yoga is in this tradition defined as samādhi, concentration, the focus is on meditation, not āsanas. The most important form of lay meditation, although not meditation in the technical sense of dhyāna, is singing of hymns. The paper analyzes the texts and the rituals associated with this yoga practice. The singing of the hymns takes place early in the morning and the exact same hymns are sung every day for a life time. When at home the devotees sing these hymns alone in the morning daily, even husband and wife recite them separately, but in the Maṭh they are sung together in the temple. The hymns describe the Sāṃkhya-Yoga teaching, the philosophy of renunciation, salvific liberation, and devotion to Īśvara. The paper analyzes this yogic textual and ritual practice.