Hiranyagarbha, First Yogi?

I was asked repeated over the years about the origin of yoga. Who was its original teacher?

Generally people say that Shiva is the one who first did yoga. According to the Puranas, Shiva was the first person to do yoga in earnest, so much so that the supernatural people, who along with himself were responsible for divesting this creation, got impatient and began creating because Shiva who remained in a transcendental focus and was unresponsive to the need for generating living beings.

However today on the date of October 27, 2017, the deity Brahma inspired into my mind that I should inform that the person who began yoga was himself. The question arises as to how could that be, because this is not widely known. It is not accepted generally. Shiva is the one who is given the credit.

The Brahma deity solved this dilemma by explaining that his name is listed in the Vedas as Hiranyagarbha, even though that name is also used to pin-point one or more of the Vishnu entities, particularly the Garbhodakashayi Vishnu.

Brahma said that he is the Hiranyagarbha who was the author of yoga, being self-inspired to do it from within by an influence which came from Vishnu. Initially when he was afraid of the supernatural chaos, he was told to do tapa which he understood to be introspection. He was the only manifested deity-person existing within the creation then. Thus he was undoubtedly the first person to do dharana-dhyana-samadhi yoga, samyama (Patanjali’s terms for meditation).

This concludes the matter as to who was the first yogi in the creative space which evolved into what we are located in right now.

For those who want it, his gayatri mantra is:

ॐ वेदात्मनाय विद्महे

हिरण्यगर्भाय धीमही

तन्नो ब्रह्मा प्रचोदयट्

oṃ vedātmanāya vidmahe

hiraṇyagarbhāya dhīmahī

tanno brahmā pracodayaṭ

This mantra means recognition of and outreach to Vedatma, the Vedas in person, who is otherwise known as Hiranyagarbha, the golden (hiranya) womb (garbha). He should inspire us with his insight.