Joy Aditya
I’m Joy Aditya, the founder and writer behind Knowgens, an independent platform that explores Yoga beyond the physical practice.
My interest in Yoga did not begin with an academic study of ancient texts. It began much more simply—with curiosity about the body, breathing, health, and eventually the deeper ideas behind Yoga.
As a child, I was drawn to football. Through playing, I became increasingly interested in breathing, physical endurance, and how the body responds to movement. Around the age of 20, I began paying greater attention to building a healthier body and understanding how different practices affect physical and mental well-being.
Over time, that curiosity developed into something much broader.
I began looking beyond Yoga as a collection of physical postures and became increasingly interested in its history, philosophy, texts, teachers, traditions, and evolution across different periods of Indian history.
That journey eventually led to the creation of Knowgens.
Why I Created Knowgens
Yoga is often presented today as a modern system of exercise, stretching, flexibility, or wellness.
Those aspects can certainly be part of someone’s experience of Yoga, but they represent only a portion of a much larger and more complicated tradition.
The deeper I explored Yoga, the more I became interested in questions such as:
- Where did Yoga come from?
- How did its ideas develop over time?
- What do the earliest sources actually say?
- How did Yoga change across different historical periods?
- What is found in the classical texts?
- Which ideas belong to specific traditions or lineages?
- What is historically supported, and what is traditional or mythological?
- How did modern Yoga become what it is today?
Knowgens was created to explore these questions.
The goal is not to reduce Yoga to a single definition, but to examine its many layers and help readers understand how they developed.
How I Approach Yoga
I write about Yoga as a student of its texts and practice traditions, not as someone who has reached the end of the subject.
Yoga has developed across centuries, cultures, teachers, texts, and philosophical traditions. There are also areas where historical evidence is incomplete or where scholars and traditions interpret the same subject differently.
I believe those differences should be acknowledged rather than hidden.
When researching an article, I try to distinguish between:
Historical evidence — what available sources and scholarship can reasonably support.
Traditional accounts — ideas preserved within particular Yoga or Indian philosophical traditions.
Mythological narratives — stories that carry religious, symbolic, or cultural significance but should not automatically be presented as historical fact.
Modern interpretations — ideas that have developed through later teachers, scholarship, popular culture, or contemporary Yoga.
This distinction is important because respecting a tradition does not require presenting every traditional claim as historical fact.
Likewise, questioning a historical claim does not require dismissing the cultural or spiritual meaning it may hold.
Research and Sources
Knowgens aims to approach Yoga through careful research and responsible writing.
Depending on the subject, I consult sources such as:
- Classical Yoga and Indian philosophical texts
- Scholarly books and academic research
- Historical studies
- University publications
- Reputable translations and commentaries
- Primary and historical sources where available
- Research from established scholars and institutions
When sources disagree, I try to make that disagreement clear.
When evidence is uncertain, I would rather say “we don’t know” than present an attractive theory as established history.
This is particularly important when discussing subjects that are surrounded by popular claims, simplified timelines, or modern interpretations.
What I Am — and What I Am Not
I want to be transparent about my background.
I am not a medical or clinical professional, and I do not provide medical or therapeutic advice through Knowgens.
I also do not present myself as an academic authority in Sanskrit, religious studies, Indology, or the history of Indian philosophy.
I am an independent writer and researcher who continues to study and learn.
My role is not to tell readers that I possess the final answer to every question about Yoga.
My role is to research, examine sources, learn from established scholarship, and share what I discover as clearly and responsibly as possible.
Where specialist knowledge is necessary, I believe qualified scholars and professionals should be given the appropriate authority.
Why Transparency Matters
There is already a great deal of information about Yoga online.
Some of it is carefully researched. Some of it combines historical evidence with traditional belief. Some of it repeats claims without examining their origins.
Knowgens aims to make those distinctions easier to see.
I also believe readers deserve to know how the content they are reading was produced.
Some visual material on Knowgens may be created with artificial intelligence. AI tools may also occasionally assist with brainstorming, outlining, or language refinement.
However, AI is not treated as a source of evidence.
Historical and factual claims are researched and reviewed by a human before publication, and information generated by AI is not accepted simply because it sounds convincing.
For more information, see the Editorial Policy and Disclaimer.
My Philosophy as a Writer
I don’t believe that writing about an ancient tradition requires pretending to know everything about it.
In fact, the opposite is often more valuable.
The more one studies Yoga, the more complicated its history becomes.
There are multiple traditions, competing interpretations, changing terminology, lost or incomplete sources, different translations, and centuries of development.
That complexity is not a problem to hide.
It is part of what makes Yoga worth studying.
My approach is therefore simple:
Read carefully.
Research widely.
Respect the tradition.
Question assumptions.
Separate evidence from interpretation.
Acknowledge uncertainty.
Keep learning.
The Purpose of Knowgens
Knowgens is ultimately an attempt to create the kind of resource I would have wanted while beginning this journey myself—a place where Yoga can be explored beyond the surface.
A place to learn about its history.
To understand its philosophy.
To encounter its texts.
To explore its traditions.
To question popular assumptions.
And to appreciate how something that has developed over centuries continues to influence the modern world.
I don’t claim to provide the final word on Yoga.
I am still learning.
Knowgens is part of that learning journey—and I hope it can become part of yours too.
— Joy Aditya
Founder & Writer, Knowgens
Exploring Yoga through history, philosophy, texts, and traditions.