Overview
Raja yoga (Sanskrit: rāja yoga) is a term that, in classical Sanskrit literature, denoted both the goal of yoga and a method to attain it. Within these textual traditions, the expression carried connotations of an inward, contemplative discipline aimed at the realisation of higher states of consciousness.
The term gained wider currency in the modern era through Swami Vivekananda, who used it as the title and theme of his 1896 book Raja Yoga. In that work, Vivekananda offered his interpretation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, presenting Raja yoga as a systematic path of meditation and mental discipline. His exposition contributed significantly to the way the term came to be understood among modern audiences.
Since Vivekananda's reinterpretation, Raja yoga has been associated with, and at times equated to, several other designations. These include ashtanga yoga (the "eight-limbed" path described in the Yoga Sutras), royal yoga, royal union, sahaja marg, and classical yoga. The variety of labels reflects the manner in which different teachers, schools and commentators have positioned the practice within broader yogic traditions.
As a category, Raja yoga is generally distinguished from other streams of yoga by its emphasis on meditative absorption and the cultivation of the mind, drawing on the framework set out in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Its identification with classical yoga in modern discourse owes much to the Sanskrit textual heritage and to the interpretive lineage popularised in the late nineteenth century.