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SVASTI -Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah
Age of Rituals and Tantra Impact (13th Century - 19th century)
The four centuries after Hemacandra and before Yaśovijaya, i.e. from 13th to 16th century, can be considered as a dark age of Jaina Yoga. In this period Jaina Yoga, which was originally spiritual in nature, was completely shoved into the background and Tantra along with its rituals became prime. The ultimate goal of yogic realization became the worldly achievements instead of being emancipation. Thus the spiritual goal was completely forgotten and material welfare took its place. Though in these centuries some commentaries of Jaina canonical and other works have been written, the dominating feature of this age was the works on Tantra, mantra and rituals which were written in large numbers by the Jaina ācāryas.
The spiritual nature of Jaina Yoga was revived by Yaśovijaya (17th century). He wrote commentaries on the Yoga works of Haribhadra along with some original Yoga works such as Adhyātmasāra, Jñānasāra, Adhyātmopanișad, and also a commentary on Patañjali's Yogasutra. Another spiritual Jaina thinker of this age was Anandaghana, who also revived the Jaina spirituality and Yoga Sādhanā through his Padas and songs written in praise of the 24 Tīrthamkaras. The works of Yaśovijaya and Anandaghana are fully influenced by Haribhadra. Yet some impact of Patañjali, Rāja-Yoga and Hatha-Yoga can also be seen on them. Modern age (20ch century)
So far as modern age is concerned we have tremendous changes and developments in the practice of Jaina Yoga. In this age the attraction of common men towards Yoga and meditation is much developed as a way for tension-relaxation. It was a chance that Shri S.N. Goyanka returned to India from Burma and revived the old Vipassana meditation of Buddhism in India, which was in early times also practiced in Jainism. Ācārya Mahāprajña for the first time learned it from Goyankaji and on the basis of his own knowledge of Jaina scriptures and Patañjali's Yogasutra rearranged this method of meditation in the name of Preksha-dhyana. Preksha meditation is the dominating feature of Jaina Yoga of our age. Though some other ācāryas of different Jaina sects tried to evolve their own method of meditation and Yoga, in them nothing is new, except a blend of Preksha and Vipassana. Here it is to be noted that Preksha meditation of our age is also a blend of Vipassana of Buddhism and Patañjali's Astānga Yoga and Hatha Yoga with some modern psychological concepts.
To summarize the present essay we can say that in the first phase, i.e. before Mahavira, Jaina Yoga and meditational methods were in vogue. But we could not differentiate it from the early Sramanic trends, due to the absence of literary and other evidences. In the second phase, i.e. the Jaina canonical period, except prānāyāma,the
