The Tradition of Yoga

Human beings have the privilege of acquiring knowledge and consequently, passing it on to the next generation. This privilege is available only to human beings, which is how all the different branches of knowledge have evolved.

- Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Human beings have the privilege of acquiring knowledge and consequently, passing it on to the next generation. This privilege is available only to human beings, which is how all the different branches of knowledge have evolved. Electronics did not evolve in one day, not by one person, nor in one lifetime. It required the effort of a couple of centuries. One person did not do medicine and its inventions in one human lifetime, nor in one generation. It took years and years, maybe a millennium, to arrive at where we are today. In the same way, if you take any branch of knowledge, any science or philosophy or art, they all have taken generations to develop the way they are now. There has been a tradition of medicine, physics, sociology, psychology and mathematics.

Lord Krishna began the fourth chapter by saying:

imam vivasvate yogam
proktavan aham avyayam
vivasvan manave praha
manur iksvakave ‘bravit (BG 4.1)

evam parampara-praptam
imam rajarsayo viduh
sa kaleneha mahata
yogo nastah parantapa (BG 4. 2)

Lord Krishna told Arjuna, “This tradition of yoga has been there from time immemorial. I taught this to Vivasvan. Vivasvan taught this yoga to Manu, and from Manu to