The Seven Sages

[Carl-Richard]

Note: claims about prehistorical events are highly speculative.

I was reading about prehistoric civilizations and started to think about the origins of the Yogic tradition. The claims about Adiyogi/Shiva, "the first Yogi", stem from Vedic religion with roots in ancient Indian culture of the early mesolithic period (~15000 years ago). You could probably dig and find a more specific origin.

Regardless, I found an interesting connection between Vedic culture and Greek culture: The Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

 

The Seven Sages in Vedic culture (the Saptarishis).

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The Saptarishi (from Sanskrit: सप्तर्षि (saptarṣī), a Sanskrit dvigu meaning "seven sages"; Sapta or Saptan - cognate with Latin Septem - seven, Rishi - sage(s)) are the seven rishis in ancient India, who are extolled at many places in the Vedas and other Hindu literature. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, though later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and Upanisads do so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saptarishi

 

Sadhguru's description of the Vedic mytho-history of Adiyogi's transmission of enlightenment to the Seven Sages:

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After many years, when the transmission was complete, it produced seven fully enlightened beings – the seven celebrated sages who are today known as the Saptarishis, and are worshipped and admired in Indian culture. Shiva put different aspects of yoga into each of these seven people, and these aspects became the seven basic forms of yoga. Even today, yoga has maintained these seven distinct forms.

Transmission of the yogic sciences to the seven rishis

The Saptarishis were sent in seven different directions to different parts of the world to carry this dimension with which a human being can evolve beyond his present limitations and compulsions. They became the limbs of Shiva, taking the knowing and technology of how a human being can exist here as the Creator himself, to the world. Time has ravaged many things, but when the cultures of those lands are carefully looked at, small strands of these people’s work can be seen, still alive. It has taken on various colors and forms, and has changed its complexion in a million different ways, but these strands can still be seen. 

https://isha.sadhguru.org/yoga/history-of-yoga/the-first-yogi-adiyogi/

 

The Seven Sages in Greek culture:

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The Seven Sages (of Greece) or Seven Wise Men (Greek: οἱ ἑπτὰ σοφοί hoi hepta sophoi) was the title given by classical Greek tradition to seven philosophers, statesmen, and law-givers of the 6th century BC who were renowned for their wisdom.

(...)

Later tradition ascribed to each sage a pithy saying of his own, but ancient as well as modern scholars have doubted the legitimacy of such ascriptions. A compilation of 147 maxims, inscribed at Delphi, was preserved by the fifth century AD scholar Stobaeus as "Sayings of the Seven Sages," but "the actual authorship of the...maxims set up on the Delphian temple may be left uncertain. Most likely they were popular proverbs, which tended later to be attributed to particular sages."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sages_of_Greece

 

Three of the Delphic maxims of the Seven Sages at The Temple of Apollo:

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Inscribed on a column in the pronaos (the porch before the temple’s cella), according to ancient writers, were three of the Delphic maxims of the Seven Sages: ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣEΑΥΤΟΝ (KNOW THYSELF), ΜΗΔΕΝ ΑΓΑΝ (NOTHING IN EXCESS), and ΕΓΓΥΑ, ΠΑΡΑ ΔΑΤΗ (SURETY BRINGS RUIN) as well as the enigmatic Delphic symbol “Ε”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Apollo_(Delphi)

 

"Know thyself", "Nothing in excess" and "Surety brings ruin" surely sounds like something a mystic would say, no?  Maybe the Seven Sages at The Temple of Apollo were indeed the Saptharisis? (Does it really matter? Not really )

If anyone likes digging, I would be really interested in finding out more about the specific origins of Yogic culture (e.g. exact/early civilizations)