Who was the First Yogi?
Normally today lot of people associate with Lord Shiva as the First Yogi or the first Teacher of Yoga. This is very much the case because a lot of the Yoga traditions today has come from the Yoga Tradition of Maschyendranatha.
Mascheyndranatha’s Tradition comes down from Lord Shiva himself where Lord Shiva is supposed to have presented the teachings of “Shiva Samhita” to his consort Parvati and Maschendranatha was listening to this conversation in the form of a fish and Shiva blessed him and made him the first teacher of the Hathayoga tradition which is called the Natha Tradition. This tradition has been a very important tradition to bring the teachings of Hathayoga to modern times. Also relevant is the Advaita School of Vedanta that also talked about some
Yoga practices primarily through Acaryas like Sivananda and his successors. Advaita philosophy also comes down from a very ancient Acarya called “Sankaracharya” who lived in the 8th — 9th Centuries who was an important devotee of Lord Shiva. All of these teachers and students acknowledge Lord Shiva as the First Teacher of Yoga. But there also exists the Yoga tradition from the Vaishnava School comes from the Nathamuni and Nammalwar and they acknowledge Lord Visnu as the First Teacher of Yoga. In fact, even in the Hathayogapradipika the Commentator Brahmananda comments that when the Author writes “Adinatha” in the first verses it could represent either Lord Shiva or Lord Visnu depending on the tradition they follow.
Now what is important is we acknowledge the ancestry that we follow in our teachings but it is not important in the politics of whether this is better or that is better. For those who follow the Shiva Tradition Lord Shiva is considered as the First Teacher of Yoga and for those who follow the Vaisnava Tradition Lord Visnu is considered as the First Teacher of Yoga.
Most importantly we have to acknowledge our own teachers because it is through them that we embrace the teachings of Yoga into our life and follow it to improve ourselves in this spiritual path.
Author: Dr. Kausthub Desikachar
Website: http://kausthub.com/