Commentaries around
“How does Vedānta differ from Yoga?
In brief, we can say that the purpose of Yoga is to change the state of mind,
so that it is less muddy.
In this effort, God may help.
The purpose of Vedānta is to become God…..
At an ideological level, Vedānta rejects Yoga’s idea of God as something potentially helpful,
beside that point it likewise rejects whatever is said in Yoga that does not take one toward God.
However, the Vedānta Sūtra does emphasise the importance of sitting properly for meditation and the Bhagavad Gītā speaks of the need for proper breathing.
All the Śāstra, in fact, accept the physical discipline of Yoga.”
– TKV Desikachar Chennai July 1981
“There are also fundamental differences between Yoga and Vedānta.
And, if at all we can link them, it is as follows:
Yoga is a means towards Vedānta for those who are interested.
Vedānta involves a lot of enquiry and reflection, and also demands the development of Bhakti,
and, for both the mind and for the individual, Yoga is the means towards Bhakti.
Also, Vedānta is Jñāna Mārga, and a state of mind that is necessary for Jñāna can only come through the practice of Aṣṭāṅga.”
– TKV Desikachar from lectures on ‘The Yoga of T Krishnamacharya’,
given at Zinal, Switzerland 1981.
“There are many texts on Yoga and Yoga is found in one form or another in the Upaniṣat. Yoga for them is the means to realise God and OM is the key to that process. So many Upaniṣad mention OM because most Upaniṣat are involved with Vedānta or the movement towards God.”
– TKV Desikachar “The use and abuse of OM”, Lecture on September 5th 1983 in Zinal, Switzerland
“Although Krishnamacharya came from a strict Indian tradition,
he liberated the restrictions.
He segregated his personal beliefs from his teaching
and his interest in the different texts on Yoga and Vedānta.
It isn’t necessary to be a Hindu to practice Yoga,
the Hindu text, the Brahma Sūtra refute Yoga.
In the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali God is not emphasised.
Hindus have taken advantage of Yoga,
Brahmin rituals use Yoga breathing,
even if it is only symbolic and they use Mantra.
Krishnamacharya didn’t mix the different teachings,
he didn’t start a class with prayers when he worked with foreigners.”
– From study notes with TKV Desikachar England 1992
“I unintentionally mixed the Vedic tradition, teaching about God’s pre-eminence,
with Yoga, whose goal and intention are different.
Yoga regards the mind principally, this is absolutely universal.
In the Yoga system, Īśvara, the principle of perfection,
is nothing but a means to attain mental clarity,
and still, it is a means among others!
Things are very different in the Vedic culture, for which God only matters.
The Brahma Sūtra understood it perfectly, since they exclude Yoga from the ways of salvation,
because it does not give the Lord the first priority.
One must be aware of the image conveyed by Yoga,
when it is confused with Vedic chanting, and of the image of the Veda,
when Vedic chanting is confused with Yoga.”
– Extract from an interview with TKV Desikachar on Vedic Chanting
“Therefore one must be clear when one speaks about Yoga:
as far as we are concerned, we refer mainly to Patañjali’s Yoga.
Otherwise, quoting various texts,
one can justify almost anything in the name of Yoga.
Patañjali’s Yoga is obviously the most open, universal
and the most clearly distinct from Vedānta, which is a school in itself.”
– Extract from an interview with TKV Desikachar on Vedic Chanting
“My belief in Yoga is not
dependant on a belief in God,
whereas in Vedānta it is.”
– TKV Desikachar Introduction
to the Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2001
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