Yogin

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In contemporary English yogin is an alternative rendering for the word yogi, a human being who is committed to the practise of yoga, usually in the more authentic sense of one who is bound by a code of moral conduct and restraint (including celibacy) with a view to the realization of moksa (liberation). Both words tend to conjure up the stereotypical image of a semi-naked Indian ascetic with long hair but throughout the East, the words are often used to describe Buddhist monks or any lay person who is devoted to meditation. Yogins or Yogis in that sense are not necessarily fully enlightened as the following definition from the Nuttall encyclopedia suggests.

"Among the Hindus, a Yogan is one who has achieved his yoga, over whom nothing perishable has any longer power, for whom the laws of nature no longer exist, who is emancipated from this life, so that death even will add nothing to his bliss, it being his final deliverance or Nirvana, as the Buddhists would say."


This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopaedia.