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Jain philosophical texts and it has been in free vogue from pre-Mahāvira times?. We have noted above that the efforts of the Sāṁkhya sādhakas and also the efforts of Gitā helped to widen the status and significance of Yoga; ever since that time, all the śāstras dealing with spiritual discipline based on the Sāṁkhya metaphysics came to be known as the Yoga-śāstras. Even those which were supposed to have existed before the Pătañjala Yoga-śāstra’ were also called the Yoga-śāstras. Although the term Samvara, so well known and common to the Jain tradition and the word Yoga, so commenly prevalent in the Yoga-śāstras have similar meaning and connotations, the words Yoga and Yoga-śāstra, at
1.
The metaphysics and ethics accepted by Mahāvira were handed down from Pārsvanātha. Cf, Cära Tirthamkara, p. 136.
2. Bankarácārya in his refutation of Yoga-darśana (Brahmasūtra-bhāșya)
writes: "Yogaśāstre'pi 'atha tattyadarśanābhyupāyo yoga'iti samyagdarśanābhyupāyatvena yogo'ngikriyate/" Now the sūtra 'atha tattvadarśanābhyupāyo yogah' is not to be found in the Yoga-sūtra that is available to us. Patañjala Yoga-śāstra commences with-atha yogānuśásanam.' Hence it is quite probable that the Yoga-śāstra referred to by Sankarācārya may be one different from the Patañjala Šāstra. Väcaspati does not enlighten us directly on the above quotation found in the Brahma-sūtra; but he expresses a similar thought by saying 'ata eve Yogaśāstram vyutpädayitā'ha sma bhagavan Vārşaganyah... /' Thus be mentions Vārşaganya as the originator of Yoga-Sāstra. Similarly, according to the twelfth chapter of the Ahirbudhnya-samhitā the Yoga-śāstra of Hiranyagarbha which existed before Pätañjala Yoga-śāstra was divided into two parts or sambitās. For details see. Hinda Tattvajñāna no Itihasa' Part I, p. 112-114.
3. The term Samvara, in Jainism, is defined as 'İsravanirodhah' the
control or restraint of Asrava. Now the term Asrava is defined as kāyavārmanaḥkarma yogah / sa ásravaḥ/' that is, the activity (yoga) of the body, speech and mind is Asraya. Thus the term Samvara comes to mean the restraint (nirodha) of the activity of the body, speech and mind. Similarly, the term Yoga is defined in the Yogasütras as cittavịttinirodhaḥ' the restraint of mental activity or modification. Thus both the terms Samvara and Yoga signify restraint, but while in the former the restraint is of Asraya -- the threefold activity, in the latter it is only of mental activity (cittayrtti). From this it can easily be seen that there is no essential
difference between the two; for, the activity of the body and that Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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