History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A History of Modern Yoga This page intentionally left blank A History of Modern Yoga Patanjali and Western Esotericism Elizabeth De Michelis continuum Front cover photograph: by Andrea Rollefson, Ascent magazine, Fall 2001. The photo, shot in New York, USA, depicts a typical Modern Postural Yoga Class. Back cover illustration: Add. Ms. 24099. Reproduced by permission of The British Library. Khecari-mudrd, lit. "Space-walking seal": An advanced yogic practice in which the tongue is thrust upwards. This mudrd pierces the knot of Rudra (rudra granthi) in the central channel (susumnd nddi) causing the medi- tator to experience union (samddhi) and taste the nectar of immortality. This leads to a state in which one roams in the inner spiritual sky (Grimes 1996: 166). Continuum The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. First published 2004 by Continuum First paperback edition 2005 © Elizabeth De Michelis 2005 Reprinted 2006, 2008 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-8264-8772-8 (paperback) Typeset by YHT Ltd, London Printed on acid-free paper and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall Contents List of figures and tables x Acknowledgements xii List of abbreviations xv Introduction 1 What is Modern Yoga? 1 Modern Yoga scholarship 6 Some notes on terminology 7 Esoteric myopia 9 Description of contents 12 PART I: THE PREHISTORY OF MODERN YOGA 1. Roots of Modern Yoga 19 "Esotericism" as academic field of research 19 The worldview of Western esotericism 21 (1 to 6): Basic characteristics of esotericism 21 (1) Correspondences 21 (2) Living nature 22 (3) Imagination and mediations 22 (4) Experience of transmutation 23 (5) The praxis of concordance 23 (6) Transmission 23 (7) Reformation "Spiritualism" 24 (8) Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thought 25 Esotericism in classical and modern Hinduism 27 v A HISTORY OF MODERN YOGA Mysticism, cult and sect 31 From mysticism to cultic milieu 34 New Age religion vs. New Age movement 35 Classical Hinduism vs. modern Hindu elaborations 36 The beginnings of Neo-Hinduism 38 Esoteric East-West cross-influences in historical perspective 40 The Brahmo Samaj and the occultization of Neo-Vedanta 45 2. The religious foundations of Modern Yoga 51 The turning point between classical Hinduism and Neo-Vedanta: Rammohan Roy's Neo-Vedantic Enlightenment 52 Neo-Vedantic Enlightenment to Neo-Vedantic Romanticism 56 Tagore's intellectual background 57 Tagore's doctrinal and ritual innovations 58 Intuitional epistemology 59 Evolutionary spirituality 59 "Scientific religion" 62 Initiation 64 From Neo-Vedantic Romanticism to Neo-Vedantic "spiritualism" 67 The Eastern outreaches of Western esotericism 68 India responds as 'esoteric Other' 71 Sen as charismatic Neo-Vedantic leader 74 Sen's religious career 77 The influence of American Transcendentalism 80 Sen's proto Modern Yoga 83 3. Vivekananda and the emergence of Neo-Vedantic occultism 91 Vivekananda: spiritual hero or esoteric seeker? 92 Vivekananda's esoteric biography I: India 93 Childhood 93 Schooling 94 Brahmo 97 Freemason 100 Ramakrishna and Vivekananda 100 Ramakrishna's spiritual transmission 104 After Ramakrishna 108 vi CONTENTS Vivekananda's esoteric biography II: the West 110 Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions 110 Vivekananda's assimilation of Western occultism 112 Harmonial Religion: Metaphysical beliefs and mesmerism 114 The demand for "occult" practices at the end of the nineteenth century 116 Vivekananda's 'turn West' 119 Vivekananda's '4 yogas' model 123 4. "God-realization" and "Self-realization" in Neo-Vedanta 127 Pervasiveness of Vivekananda's Neo-Vedantic influences 127 Centrality of the "realization" theme 128 Ultimate aims: Vedantic and Neo-Vedantic 129 Classical interpretations of dtma- and brahmajndna 130 Early attempts at translation and contextualization: Rammohan Roy 133 Subsequent attempts at translation and contextualization by Brahmo leaders and others 135 Ramakrishna and his interpreters: the elaboration of a sampraddya 140 PART II: MODERN YOGA THEORY AND PRACTICE 5. Vivekananda's Raja Yoga (1896): Modern Yoga formulated 149 Raja Yoga: style, structure and overall contents 149 An emanationist cosmology 153 Three gunas vs. two evolutes 155 Vivekananda's Naturphilosophie 156 The Prdna Model 159 Prdna as vitalistic element 160 Prdna as healing agent 163 Prdndydma as healing technique 165 Samddhi as psychological "superconsciousness" 168 The Samddhi Model 168 The influence of Metaphysical beliefs 169 The influence of Functionalist psychology 171 vii A HISTORY OF MODERN YOGA Psychological proprioception as practice 173 The Neo-Advaitic component 175 Yogic experience in classical Vedanta 176 The Yoga Sutras: a rdjayoga textbook? 178 6. Twentieth-century developments of Modern Yoga 181 Alternative medicine and New Age religiosity 183 New Age healing... 184 ... and personal growth 185 Towards a typology of Modern Yoga 187 The development of Modern Postural Yoga: 1950s to date 190 Popularization: 1950s to mid-1970s 191 Consolidation: mid-1970s to late 1980s 192 Acculturation: late 1980s to date 193 The lyengar School of Modern Postural Yoga 194 B. K. S. lyengar: his life and work 195 Popularization 198 Consolidation 200 Acculturation 205 7. Theory and practice of lyengar Yoga 208 lyengar's Modern Yoga trilogy 208 Light on Yoga (1966): the Popularization period 210 MPY practice as psychosomatic self-help 211 MPY theory in Light on Yoga 218 Two specific aspects of Modern Yoga theory 219 Neo-Veddntic ethics 220 The concept of 'self-improvement' 221 "Self-realization": a chameleonic concept 223 Light on Prdndyama (1981): the Consolidation period 224 Fully-fledged Neo-Hathayoga 225 MPY theory and practice in Light on Prdndyama: the consolidation of the Prdna Model 230 Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (1993): the Acculturation period 236 The Samddhi Model in lyengar's Neo-Hathayoga 236 The Neo-Visistadvaita synthesis 243 viii CONTENTS 8. Conclusion: Modern Postural Yoga as healing ritual of secular religion 248 MPY in everyday life 248 The MPY practice session 251 MPY as healing ritual of secular religion 252 (i) The separation phase (introductory quietening time in MPY) 252 (ii) The transition phase (MPY practice proper) 254 (iii) The incorporation phase (final relaxation in MPY) 257 Bibliography 261 Index 275 ix List of Figures and Tables Figures Figure 1: Plaque at the entrance of the Yoga Institute; Santa Cruz, Bombay, India xvii Figure 2: Rammohan Roy, c. 1832. Portrait by H. P. Briggs (1791-1844) 41 Figure 3: Debendranath Tagore at age 45 48 Figure 4: Keshubchandra Sen in 1859 76 Figure 5: Keshubchandra Sen at prayer 85 Figure 6: Keshubchandra Sen at Simla, 1883 88 Figure 7: Swami Vivekananda at the Chicago Parliament of Religions, September 1893 95 Figure 8: Swami Vivekananda in London, December 1896 98 Figure 9: Swami Vivekananda in Madras, February 1897 102 Figure 10: Frontispiece of the 1896 edition of Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga 152 Figure 11: Reproduction of pages 330-1 from B. K. S. lyengar's Light on Yoga 213 Figure 12: Reproduction of pages 332-3 from B. K. S. lyengar's Light on Yoga 215 Figure 13: Reproduction of pages 74-5 from B. K. S. lyengar's Light on Prdndyama 228 Figure 14: Reproduction of pages 104-5 from B. K. S. lyengar's Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 240 X LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Tables Table 1: Developments in modern Hinduism 37 Table 2: Ideological developments of Neo-Vedanta in the Brahmo Samaj 46 Table 3: Typology of Modern Yoga 188 xi Acknowledgements Over the years I have received much encouragement and support, both academic and otherwise, from many different quarters. I wish first of all to thank all my family for their ongoing, manifold contributions to this project, and for unfailingly being there when I needed them. My mother, brother, sister and paternal aunts have been especially close as I was going through the period of research that led to the writing of this book: their support - material, practical, emotional, intellectual and beyond - has been truly invaluable. I am sorry that my father died years before this project was completed. As he was interested in Modern Yoga in his youth, I am sure he would have enjoyed reading this book. I am grateful to the Modern Yoga schools and practitioners that helped me and made me feel welcome during my periods of research and fieldwork in Europe and in India. This applies particularly, though in no way exclusively, to the lyengar School of Yoga and to the British Wheel of Yoga. I would like to extend personal thanks to Mr B. K. S. lyengar for his life's work in the field of yoga, and to all of the staff at the Ramamani lyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune for their patience and support during my period of work there. Closer to home, I would like to acknowledge Sasha Ferryman for reliably guiding me through the practical intricacies and simpli- cities of lyengar Yoga in Cambridge. I also wish to acknowledge the British Wheel of Yoga for providing stimulating teaching and training during earlier phases of my research. This institution's hard work and its commitment to the cultivation of yoga are widely recognized in British Modern Yoga circles and abroad. My friend and teacher Mrs Velta Wilson, herself a founding member of the British Wheel of xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Yoga, deserves special mention in this context: I wish to thank her warmly for her counsel and support throughout the years.