ThePhilosophy of Classical Yoga

This is the first comprehensive and systematic analytical study of the major philosophical concepts of classical yoga. The book consists of a series of detailed discussions of the key concepts used by Patanjali in his Yoga-Sutra to describe and explain the enigma of human existence and to point a way beyond the perpetual motion of the wheel of becoming. Feuerstein's study differs from previous ones in that it seeks to free Patanjali's aphoristic statements from the accretions of later interpretations; instead, the author places the Sutra in its original context and sees it as the source of the whole edifice of classical yoga and not just as a summary of previous developments. This book will be of interest to comparative religionists, Indologists, and practitioners of yoga who wish to deepen their understanding of its philosophical basis.Georg Feuerstein wrote a number of books on yoga and related topics, including Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy, Wholeness or Transcendence?, The Yoga-Sutra of Patañjali: A New Translation and Commentary, and the award-winning Encyclopedic Dictionary of Yoga. An acknowledged yoga scholar of international stature, he was a founding member of the Indian Academy of Yoga, Benares Hindu University, a member of the advisory council of the Center for Studies in Science and Spirituality in San Francisco, and a contributing editor of Yoga Journal.
Foreword by Professor Corrado Pensa

Preface

I The Concept of God (isvara)

II The Self (purusa)

III The Structure of the World (prakrti)

IV The Concept of Emancipation

V Psychological Concepts
1 Citta
2 Vrtti and parinama
3 Klesa, klista-aklista
4 Samskara, vasana, asaya
5 Nirodha
6 Pratyaya

VI Practice Concepts
1 Abhyasa and vairagya
2 Pratyahara, dharana, dhyana
3 Samprajnata-samadhi
4 Asamprajnata-samadhi
5 Dharma-megha-samadhi
6 Samyama and the siddhis

VII Patanjala Yoga and Classical Samkhya

Notes

Publications Cited

Index"This is certainly one of the most profound and original contributions to the understanding of classical yoga.""An all too rare combination of sound scholarship, common sense and personal experience. Feuerstein's views, born of a long acquaintance with the original texts and tested against a large critical reading, are both fresh and mature, and he at last emerges from the role of skillful adaptor to be given his rightful place among the great masters of philosophy.""Provides us with a highly original overall picture of classical yoga...The other great merit of this work is that it never loses sight of the psycho-integrative and experiential matrix of a great many key concepts of classical yoga."