Editing Yogi (section)

=== Textual references ===

{{Further|Yoga Vasistha|Yoga Yajnavalkya|Yoga-kundalini Upanishad|Yogasutra}}

The earliest evidence of yogis and their spiritual tradition, states [[Karel Werner]],<ref name=karelwernerkesinrv>{{cite journal |first=Karel |last=Werner |author-link=Karel Werner |date=1977 |title=Yoga and the Ṛg Veda: An Interpretation of the Keśin Hymn (RV 10, 136) |journal=Religious Studies |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=289–302 |doi=10.1017/S0034412500010076 |s2cid=170592174 |quote=The Yogis of Vedic times left little evidence of their existence, practices and achievements. And such evidence as has survived in the Vedas is scanty and indirect. Nevertheless, the existence of accomplished Yogis in Vedic times cannot be doubted.}}</ref> is found in the [[Keśin]] hymn 10.136 of the [[Rigveda]],{{refn|group=note|Sanskrit Original: ([https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.१३६ Wikisource] of the Keśin hymn); Rigveda 10.136, 2nd millennium BCE}} though with the terminology of [[Rudra]] who evolved into [[Shiva]] worshipped as the lord of Yoga in later Hinduism.<ref name="karelwernerkesinrv" /> The Hindu scripture Rigveda uses words of admiration for the Yogis, whom it refers to as Keśin, and describes them as follows (abridged):<ref name="karelwernerkesinrv" />

{{Quote|
Carrying within oneself fire and poison, heaven and earth, ranging from enthusiasm and creativity to depression and agony, from the heights of spiritual bliss to the heaviness of earth-bound labor. This is true of man in general and the [Vedic] Keśin in particular, but the latter has mastered and transformed these contrary forces and is a visible embodiment of accomplished spirituality. He is said to be light and enlightenment itself. The Keśin does not live a normal life of convention. His hair and beard grow longer, he spends long periods of time in absorption, musing and meditating and therefore he is called "sage" (muni). They wear clothes made of yellow rags fluttering in the wind, or perhaps more likely, they go naked, clad only in the yellow dust of the Indian soil. But their personalities are not bound to earth, for they follow the path of the mysterious wind when the gods enter them. He is someone lost in thoughts: he is miles away.
|Karel Werner (1977)|"Yoga and the Ṛg Veda: An Interpretation of the [[Keśin Hymn]]"<ref name="karelwernerkesinrv"/>}}

The term yogin appears in ''Katyayana Shrauta-sutra'' and chapter 6 of Maitri Upanishad, where the implied context and meaning is "a follower of the Yoga system, a contemplative saint".<ref>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche yogin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607113955/https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche |date=7 June 2019 }}, ''Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary'' (2008 revision), Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany</ref>

The term sometimes refers to a person who belongs to the Natha tradition.{{sfn|White|2012|p=8-9}} They usually belong to [[Shaivism|Shaiva]] tradition, but some Natha belong to the [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] tradition.<ref name="lorenzenmunozx" /> In both cases, states David Lorenzen, they practice yoga and their principal god tends to be [[Nirguna]], that is a god that is without form and semi-[[Monism|monistic]],<ref name="lorenzenmunozx" /> influenced in the medieval era by the [[Advaita Vedanta]] school of Hinduism, [[Madhyamaka]] school of Buddhism, as well as Tantra and Yogic practices.<ref>David Lorenzen (2004), ''Religious Movements in South Asia, 600–1800'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195664485}}, pp. 310–311</ref><ref>David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz (2012), ''Yogi Heroes and Poets: Histories and Legends of the Naths'', SUNY Press, {{ISBN|978-1438438900}}, pp. 24–25</ref>

[[File:Yogini, South India, Tamil Nadu, Kaveripakkam, 10th century AD, granite - Arthur M. Sackler Gallery - DSC05990.JPG|thumb|upright|A 10th-century Yogini statue from Tamil Nadu, India. She is seated in an [[asana]], and her eyes are closed in meditative state.]]

The Yoga-Bhashya (400 CE),{{sfn|Rosen|2012|p=72}} the oldest extant commentary on the Yoga-Sutra offers the following fourfold classification of yogis:{{sfn|Feuerstein|2000|p=343}}<ref>SH Aranya (1983), ''Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali'', SUNY Press, {{ISBN|978-0873957281}}, pp. 334–337</ref>

# Prathama-kalpika (neophyte/beginner, devotional)  
# Madhu-bhumika (one who has begun to enjoy the spiritual pursuits without effort)
# Prajna-jyoti (the advanced practitioner who knows spiritual concepts)
# Atikranta- bhavaniya (those who have attained what can be taught, achieved [[siddha]]s, and are on their personal path to ultimate insights)