Book Review: "A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Sep 2017

A review of A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism by Elizabeth De Michelis.

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Book Review: "A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism

Journal of Hindu Esotericism" Harold Coward 0 Recommended Citation 0 Coward, Harold (2005) "Book Review: "A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism" , " - 54 Book Reviews and the bhaktas are all longing for the grace of the Lord Siva. . Another curious term used by the authors here in the Saiva context is sorcery or black magic. They find a Sanskrit term "abhicara" for it and the Kanta Purnaa text refers to it as "velvi" (p.88). . The use of the term "sorcery" with all its negative connotations in the context of the Daruvana episode is rather misleading. The traditional understanding of the yogic powers which are creative and Siva's creative power to transform all obstacles are not sorcery. It is not clear why the authors hesitate to call it "miraculous power", a term well known in the religious literature of the world. Sorcery, witchcraft and "pillicunyam" (Tamil equivalent), terms which would sound very odd in the Judeo-Christian context, have their own logic and ontology, as the authors point out (p.90). But then what they describe after that is the creative process of phenomenal existence and the formation of the individual consciousness. Yet one wonders how this analysis fits into the visit of Siva to the pine forest. It may be true that the Saiva theologians' conceptual world is rigid, static, strangely idealistic. But then they are not used to interacting with process theologians. Perhaps an initiation into process theism might bring some fresh thinking to the Saiva worldview. However the standard objections of the Christian theologians to this approach will hold good also for the Saivaunderstanding of the divine. A statement like this: Siva "though omniscient, there are many things he does not know - everything that has to do with non-sentient phenomena for example," (p.200) would also imply a limited understanding of God's transcendence. The authors' effort to get at this Daruvana episode by way of process theism requires careful study and theological insight. I hope this publication invites Saivite thinkers to respond to this type of theological interpretation and look at their own tradition from a new angle, even if they do not accept it fully. Such an intercultural exchange would be fruitful to both sides of the dialogue. Otherwise the Siva episodes will remain mere stories in calendar art and repeated with usual cliches without enriching the tradition. Anand Amaladass Chennai '!I, A History o fModern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism. Elizabeth De Michelis. New York: Continuum, 2004, xvii + 282 pp. IN his important book, The Limits of Scripture, Anantanand Rambachan distinguishes between Sankara and Vivekananda on the authority of the Vedas and its relationship to anubhava or personal experience. Now in her A History of Modern Yoga, De Michelis shows how a similar distinction obtains between Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Vivekananda's Raja Yoga. Further, she demonstrates how this reinterpretation of Yoga by Vivekananda depends on Keshubchandra Sen's earlier "revivalistic reinterpretation" of Yoga (p. 84) and how Vivekananda's Raja Yoga is foundational for the various developments of Modern Yoga which take place in the " English-speaking world during the twentieth century. A historical analysis and "Typology of Modern Yoga" is developed, and as a criterion example of Modern Yoga, a detailed ,case study of the theory and practice oflyengar Yoga is offered. All of this is most helpful in allowing one to sort out and understand the plethora of Modern Yoga schools, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Vol. 18 [2005], Art. 15 movements and gurus which have arisen in India, UK and America since Vivekananda's appearance at the Chicago Parliament of Religions in 1893. Unexpected connections with Theosophy, Mesmerism, New Age Religion, the Psychology of William James, Krishnamurti and others are revealed in this fine piece of careful scholarly analysis. In the end the relationship between Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Modem Yoga is shown to be increasingly remote. Rather than Patanjali's mental emphasis grounded in Sankhya metaphysics, much Modem Yoga, is shown to focus on physical practices (yogic poses or asanas and yogic breathing or pranayama) with a neo-Vedanta kind of individual "self-realization" or anubhava experience being emphasized. Indeed, concludes De Michelis, "Within the conceptual universe of Modem' Yoga, the Sutras find themselves demoted to representing only a very limited range of (usually occultized) hathayogic practices" (p.180). The book begins by tracing the historical and intellectual roots of Modem Yoga through the Western philosophical and Christian influences upon Rammohun Roy, Debendranath Tagore and Keshubchandra Sen as foundational for Vivekananda and his reinterpretation of Patanjali's Yoga. This forms Part I of the book and depends to a large extent on the earlier studies of scholars such as Knof, Halbfass and Rambachan. Part II shows how (...truncated)


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Harold Coward. Book Review: "A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism, Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, 2018, Volume 18, Issue 1,