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" , "
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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)