One cannot really trace the origin of Yoga to a certain time. There are as many opinions about when it exactly began as there are scholars. An evidence of the practice of Yoga that is frequently referred to is an archeological finding in the Indus Valley that dates back to 3000 BC. Other evidences go as far as 8000 years back. Some indologists mistakenly regard Yoga as a relatively recent offshot of the Vedas. It depends widely on the outlook, on what one thinks Yoga actually is. If we regard it as a process that results from introspection, it could be said that it originated with the emergence of men itself in some distant stone age. Following this line of thought, the essence of Yoga lies covert in the nature of human beings and is inspired by an inner experience of the Atman. In terms of the concept of Brahma Cakra (the cycle of creation from Supreme Conciousness to matter and ultimate return to the Supreme Consciousness), it is a method to accelerate the process of Pratisaincara, the effort to become one with cosmic consciousness. Different mystics have in all times and all around the world strived for this union with the Supreme. As such it is entirely cross-cultural. The intuitive science of Yoga is like a road map to bliss, that was developed by seers of many ages to broaden the otherwise difficult and narrow path for ordinary people. So wherever in human history one comes across a cult of introversion of the mind, one can in the above sense speak of Yoga. The Egyptians Pharaoh's rule of many thousands of years was for example doubtlessly built upon a fundamental knowledge of psychic energy and an extended consciousness that was familiar with phenomenas such as prana and kundalini. Similar examples are found in Mexico in the old Maya, Olmek and Zapotek cultures as well as with Hopi Indians in North America, where sculptures and paintings reveal practices related to the cakras. Another illustrative example are the druids of the ancient Celtic culture, which stretched from southern Germany through France over Great Britain and what today is Ireland. Great leaders, who possessed practical and spiritual knowledge and knew how to awaken latent powers in their kinsmen occur in various cultures. Just as all human beings share the evolutionary stages of linguistic expression for the most part, until in the fifth cakra the idea which is common to all takes the form of language in the process of vocalization, all these rudimentary forms of 'Yoga' have a common basis, even if they developed isolated and uninfluenced from one another. The tantric tendency in human beings brought about different forms to deal with the inner world and developed its symbols and rites according to relative cultural and physiological factors. Shrii Shrii A'nandamu'rti said that Yoga, which is the paramount factor in spiritual practices, is itself based on Tantra and "Tantra is one and only one. It is based on one sentiment, one idea." In India this inward contemplation seems to have crystallized and Yoga reached an exquisite maturity. The circumstances were more convenient to systematize the intuitional practices to the fullest and most comprehensible extent than anywhere else in the world. The repeated advent of Taraka Brahma on the Indian subcontinent speaks for itself.

It was 7000 years ago that the foundation of systematized Tantra was laid down by Lord Shiva, the 'King of Yoga' and 'Father of the Indian or some say, human civilization'. He integrated and modified the previously scattered elements and introduced the concept of Dharma. Shri Krishna followed these teachings up some 3500 years later. During his Mahabharata campaign around 1300 BC he added a social dimension by trying to unify the scattered Indian kingdoms. Around the same time Maharsi Kapil created his Samkhya, the oldest school of philosophy in the world. His concepts and terminologies became the basis of a scientific development of eastern thought. Kapil did not believe in Paramatman or god but accepted the Vedas, which were compiled after a long oral tradition and edited by his contemporary Dvaipayana Vyasa, who is also considered to be the author of the original Mahabharata epic. While Yoga is clearly tantric, it also came to influence the vedic civilization. The first detailed elaboratives in Hindu texts date back to 1500 B.C., but the word itself occurred already in the much older Rg Veda, which was started to be composed around 15 000 years ago. The vedic period was followed by the so called pre-classical Yoga, which was marked by the creation of the Upanishads, whose 200 scriptures describe the inner vision of reality and further explain the teachings of the Vedas with less external ritualism. In this period falls the Bhagavad Giita, the oldest known Yoga scripture, which incorporates the doctrines found in the Upanishads and has not ceased to inspire the lives of thousands of people. In fact Wilhelm von Humbolt, Hermann Hesse, Rudolf Steiner and Arthur Schopenhauer shared along with many others the conviction that the Bhagavat Giita is one if not the finest and deepest work of literature in the world, with the most genuine philosophy, seemingly voicing Lord Krishna himself. Shortly before the Bhagavat Giita, Buddha started teaching the importance of meditation and to some extent also the practise of physical postures. The study of Yoga inspired Siddharta Gautama to found Buddhism. From that time Yoga shares characteristics not only with so called Hinduism but with Buddhism and Jainism as well.

The term classical period of Yoga is usually associated with the compilation of the Yoga Sutra by Patanjali in the second century. In a way it would be more precise to state that classical Yoga started 5ooo years earlier with Shiva, since all of Patanjalis eight limbs that form Astaunga-Yoga, except the explicit formulation of the moral postulates of Yama and Niyama, can be traced back to Shiva. Patanjali continued in the tradition of Samkhya but openly believed in an omniscient God and corrected some basic defects. His approach was very psychological and displayed a brilliant intellect but Shrii Shrii Anandamurti marks that it failed to demarcate the relation between Jiva and Ishvara, the microcosm and the macrocosm. Though very good instructions that are still valuable today were given, it remained a dull and dry school of yogic discipline. It drew a definite distinction between Purusa and Prakrti, the two aspects of Brahma. This dualistic view of existence never out-rooted the non-dualistic traditions of the earlier Vedas, Tantras and the Giita that still existed alongside, and was eventually rejected.

Another misconception was propounded by the great intellectual Shankacharya who lived around the eighth century and the Uttar Mimamsa school of philosophy, which stated that only Brahma is real and the universe is false. This doctrine of Mayavada views the world as an illusion and has considerably harmed the Indian subcontinent. Hatha Yoga first appeared in the 9th. or 10th. century. Its principles arose from Tantra and incorporated elements of Buddhism, alchemy and Shaivism. It was a marginal sect during the post-classical period and became famous with the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in the 14th. century, which is considered to be one of the fundamental treatises on Yoga. In the 1920's it was strongly promoted by the lifelong work of T. Krishnamacharya. It illustrates different forms of asanas, pranayamas, mudras and bandhas and has doubtlessly considerably contributed to the yogic tradition. Hatha Yoga's focus on purely physical exercises and its fascination with magic powers however, led to its heretic image and divorced it to some extent of Yoga's original spiritual purpose.Through all distortions as well as through religious crisis and assaults such as the intruding Islam and foreign suppression, runs the sub-current of the tantric Yoga of Shiva's time. The fact that Yoga became suffused into modern secular life shows that it has stood the test of time. Although it is an offspring of Indian tradition and shares its terminology with Hindu Belief systems, it has gained universal applicability. This is reflected in the Sanskrit-coined term 'Yoga' which has almost become synonymous to men's endeavour for mystical union.

A keystone to the understanding of how Yoga spread around the globe is the history of the reception of Yoga in the West. From the very outset one finds similarities in Indian and Greek philosophy, religion, medicine and astrology, since both share the same indoeuropean root of ancestral origin. Shri shri Anandamurti's remark that Shiva had visited the alps 7000 years ago should also be born in mind. The Dionysus cult of ancient Greece bears tantric marks and already Platon and Aristotle payed homage to the East in their writings. Before Alexander the Great's conquest however, contacts between the Occident and the Far East were rare. But starting with the Hellenistic period from the third century B.C. India and Greece came more and more into one another's perspective, people were traveling back and forth and in roman times the trade started to flourish. A prominent pilgrim might have been Jesus. Evidence makes it seem likely that he spend the time between his 12th. and 30th. year in India and encountered Tantra. Pythagoras paradigms seems to be influenced by Tantra as well, the question is merely whether or not directly. Indian ideas have also found their way into late Neoplatonism, as it is known that Plotin had a great affinity to India and maybe even received initiation by an Indian teacher. One should on the other hand also consider in how far classical Yoga was influenced by the contact with occidental analytic intellect. In sculptures and Indian artwork such an influence of European antiquity is for example clearly discernible. The emergence of the Christian Church halted this mutual exchange and during the middle ages the Islamic world formed an additional barrier between Europe and India. Islamic Sufis in turn were certainly inspired by Yoga. Already around 1000 CE the scholar Al Biruni translated the Yogasutras into Arabic. Sufis were particularly fond of pranayama techniques and at times even adapted the tantric concept of the cakras. As there were contacts between Islamic and christian mystics, one can take an indirect influence of indigenous practices on medieval Europe for granted. The resemblance of the work of the mystic monk Meister Eckhart who lived in the 13th. century with Shankacharya and buddhist traditions is an example of such indirect influence. It is also obvious in Hesychasm of the eastern church, whose practices consist of yogic elements. It is also commonly known that alchemy was not about making gold and that its processes were a western form of Yoga. Gnosticism with its valuation of the feminine also shares features that are prominent in tantrism. The Jewish mystic tradition of the Kabbala may have been influenced in a similar indirect way. Spinoza's philosophy from the 17th. century with its deep pantheism and determined ethics, is such a unique and complex account of spiritual seeking, that a street was named after him in Ananda Nagar. His views are quite compatible with Ananda Marga's. It is however difficult to research in how far the medieval philosophers were influenced, because whatever was loaned and inspired by Yoga was not declared as such. The reception occurred anonymous and without footnotes with further indications.

A closer look at the reception of Yoga into the West reveals that one can speak of the western discovery of Yoga as well as of the entry of the East into the West. On one hand we find curious Europeans intruding into India, studying and translating scriptures or writing travel accounts. From the time the British East India company was founded in 1600, this discovery became more and more pervasive. In 1785 the Bhagavat Giita was first translated into English and around the same time the Germans discovered the beauty of the Sanskrit language and the mystery of the Vedas for themselves. Johann W. Hauer was the first to study the history of the Vedas and translated the Yogasutras. In 18th. century German idealism, writers and thinkers such as Hegel, Goethe, Schiller and Kant drew a lot of inspiration from Asian teachings and embraced hinduistic concepts in a very positive manner. In 1818 Sanskrit was institutionalized in German universities and it is in these years that indeology emerged. The history, language, culture and religion of the Indian subcontinent were academically studied. Text sources and scriptures became more and more accessible and general awareness towards India was raised, but many times the interpretation of Indian history was biased. Indologists in their vanity even claimed that indological scholarship of Indians themselves is unscientific. There are also many examples of Western appropriations of eastern teachings. The theosophist society is a prominent one. In 1880 Madame Blavatski published "Isis unveiled and the secret doctrine". She presented assimilated yogic ideas in the context of her own occult paradigm and at the same time warned practitioners of the dangers of Yoga asanas, which she considered demonic. On the other hand we come across Indian Yogis reaching out to the world. In 1893 Swami Vivekananda spoke passionately about Raja Yoga at the first Parliament of World Religions in Chicago and founded the New York Vedanta society in 1899. J. Krishnamurti (1930-1986) popularized his eloquent Jinana' Yoga and Paramahansa Yogananda touched thousands of hearts with his 'Autobiography of a Yogi'. By the 1960 there were many Indian teachers who expounded on Yoga such as Maharsi Mahesh and Swami Sivananda. One finds New-age gurus and movements such as the Ramakrishna mission, Hare Krishna, Brahma Kumaris actively propagating their ideals. The voluntary absorption of Yoga goes hand in hand with this missionary spirit, but never with fanatic zeal, sword and forceful indoctrination. That is why a look into statistics does not reveal high numbers of converts. Nevertheless millions of hearts have been touched. Anandamurtiji (1921-1990) has also played a significant role in socializing Tantra Yoga. His original contributions in spiritual world and intellectual world still remain to be explored. His magnum opus "Ananda Sutram" is indeed a brilliant treatise on Yoga Cosmology,Yoga Psychology and a Social Philosophy based on tantra.

Nowadays Yoga is proliferating as never before and has segmented into people's awareness in manifold forms. There are an estimated 30,000,000 regular practitioners worldwide, thousands of books and schools, hundreds of groups and organizations, magazines and Internet sides and an army of more or less self-declared teachers. What was the field of study of a few orientalists and later a movement merely for health and vegetarianism, has become a trend that is crossing boundaries of culture and language. Interestingly it has attracted mainly women, although traditionally Yogis tended to be men. Of approximately 3,000,000 practitioners in Germany 80% are female. It has adjusted to the west, blended with aerobics, gymnastic and the fitness movement and taken different forms, like American Power Yoga. But besides this enthusiastic assimilation of yogic elements into today's pop culture, it is widely met with scepticism on the academic level. Although in universities it has reached beyond indology and philosophy and has become a subject in psychology, medicine, comparative religious studies, sports and to some extend the sciences as well, one still encounters the complex of euro-centrism that insists on distinction and an air of superiority. The influence of eastern thought on occidental antiquity is for example a very sensitive topic, that many scholars would prefer to belittle if not to deny. The ancient cultures tend to be seen as isolated edifices which developed apart from mutual interaction and communication with other civilizations. While trade relationships are fool-proven and cannot be argued under the table, there is caution and reservation to admit philosophical exchange. Even C.G Jung who was rspectfully fascinated and deeply interested in eastern philosophy took meticulous care to differentiate his approach from indegenous eastern ones. His own psychology was widely inspired by concepts such as cakras and kundalini, but he held that a European could never really become a Yogi. His concern was how western psychology could benefit by contrasting itself in the light of exotic concepts, how eventually the West would develop an own form of Yoga based on Christianity. Up to this day the intellectual temptation to treat Yoga as an object of analytic study often disregards its nature of direct subjective experience. In addition to this suspicion comes the at times hostile atmosphere between religions, which blocks elements of perennial spirituality to flow freely from one belief to another. Yoga tends to be identified with Hinduism and thus as something foreign and alien that is not compatible to the christian Occident. The proliferation of Yoga goes along with profanation. A similar transformation is happening to the mystic Jewish Kabbala. In the past it was an esoteric tradition in which only the sincerest aspirants were initiated. One had to be a male Jew of at least 40 years of age. Today it is marketed as an exoteric lifestyle that is offered from the New-age Kabbala centre in New York City to millions of people irrespective of faith, gender or age. Traditional, classical and orthodox schools are embarrassed and terrified to see their sacred teaching compromised into a popular mass trend. There are movie stars and singers publicly exhibiting this distortion of Kabbala. A good example is Madonna, since she is equally fond of Poweryoga. Many mystic traditions that were well preserved and restricted for the worthy in the past are heaved out of their respective religious background and become part of the global pop culture. This breaking with the roots is positive in the sense that it loses dogmas and simplifies ancient doctrines to modern standards and in this way benefit a wider spectrum of people. One the other hand however, often the very backbone is sold and neglected and the teaching becomes a mere mirage of the original lore. It is of no more avail to the true spiritualist who seeks after more than health, beauty and a superficial gratification to his deeper longings. Besides many do-it-yourself marketed forms of Yoga, there are a considerable number of schools and groups that are sincere and offer valuable assistance on the spiritual journey. But the question is how many of the thousands of paths that are trodden today actually lead to the final goal of unification. Because if they don't, they do not serve the very purpose of Yoga. Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji stated that through mere Hatha Yoga liberation cannot be achieved. Without devotion it becomes a dry discipline practised behind walls. Modern-lifestyle trends tend to idolize certain elements of Yoga like asanas or pranayama beyond recognition. It is a sort of mystification. People attend a class, a workshop or a whole retreat with breathless expectation and afterwards resume their previous patterns of life. Yoga cannot sprout if the soil of an individual's life is not fertilized with adequate guidance and an authentic cult of practise. In Ananda Marga no practice is singled out and given paramount importance. Yoga is nothing particularly special, but as natural as eating and working. Rather than to supplement something to one's life, the whole life itself takes a form of Yoga and is organically included into a higher order. Instead of being highlighted beyond context, its spirit is projected into all walks of life.

The speciality of Ananda Marga lies in the broadness of its manifold activities, its vast spectrum of various departments. It is not a particular feature that might be absent in other traditions or a specially well developed aspect of the practice in itself. Ananda Marga has absorbed features of Raja Yoga, the five Puranic schools and Hatha Yoga. It drew inspiration from the Tantras as well as the Vedas. Shrii Shrii Anandamurtiji has rediscovered the teaching of Shiva and Krishna that had almost been obliterated in the course of time and added His own genuine touch to it. The speciality is in the blending, combination and adjustment to the present age. It is in how the different limbs are situated in an integrated whole. Ananda Marga unifies a diversity of human beings with different backgrounds in education, wealth and culture from all over the world into one universal family in the tradition of Shiva Gotra and synthesises their combined efforts to establish a society true to its name and goads them towards a singular goal.