Rāja yoga

Rāja yoga (/ˈrɑːdʒə ˈjoʊɡə/) is a term with a variety of meanings depending on the context. In Sanskrit texts Raja yoga refers to the goal of yoga (which is usually samadhi) and not a method of attaining it. The term also became a modern retronym, when in the 19th-century Swami Vivekananda equated raja yoga with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Since then, Rāja yoga has variously referred to as "royal yoga", "royal union", "sahaj marg", "classical yoga", and "aṣṭānga yoga".

Rāja (Sanskrit: राज) means "chief, best of its kind" or "king". Rāja yoga thus refers to "chief, best of yoga".

The historical use of the term Rāja yoga is found in other contexts, quite different than its modern usage. In ancient and medieval Sanskrit texts, it meant the highest state of yoga practice (one reaching samadhi).Hatha Yoga Pradipika, for example, refers to Hathayoga as one of the ways to achieve Rāja yoga.

The first known use of the phrase "Rāja yoga" occurs in a 16th-century commentary on a specific step in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. The Hindu scholar Dattatreya, in his medieval era Tantric work named "Yogaśāstra", explains in 334 shlokas, principles of four yoga: Mantra yoga, Hatha yoga, Laya yoga and Raja yoga.Alain Daniélou states that Rāja yoga was, in the historic literature of Hinduism, one of five known methods of yoga, with the other four being Hatha yoga, Mantra yoga, Laya yoga and Shiva yoga. Daniélou translates it as "Royal way to reintegration of Self with Universal Self (Brahman)".

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