Some books cannot be summarized. Even if some attention is paid to the details, the summary would not reflect the sheer linguistic skills of the scholars, their attitude towards the subject, the depth of their knowledge and of the "life" they bring to "dry philosophy" in their essays. One such set of scholarly essays is compiled in a book called "The Essence of Yoga", by Georg Feuerstein and Jeanine Miller. It seems the book was first published in 1971. It contains seven essays, some by Feuerstein, some by Miller, and one written jointly. These writers can provide more appropriate translations (given the context) of many Sanskrit words compared to what others in the field have provided and also have a devotee's love for their subject, which enables them to accept that many of the Vedic rishis were probably people of considerable spiritual experience and understanding, just as many of the saints in the Christian tradition are known to have been. All this cannot be captured by a simpleton like the present author whose use of language has been restricted mainly to logical analyses and social communication essential for survival. Nevertheless, I here try to bring out a few key themes in their essays - especially those points which immediately caught my attention. At one level, this may just be a way to spend a Saturday, but at another level, it is motivated by the same creative fire which drives achievement in the market economy. The outer and the inner fire are basically the same; the grosser and the subtler fire are essentially one, and according to these scholars, when the rishis/rishikaas talked of the one, they typically implied the other too. This is to be expected - when we are constantly involved in an endeavor, our other communication typically keeps coming back to that one central idea. We mean to convey both ideas even though the metaphor is something external or different from the central idea. So was it with those sages. Grave mistakes of interpretation can be avoided by simply keeping this in mind when reading some of the ancient texts.
A brief listing of the contents of the book is as follows.
Essay 1: The Essence of Yoga
Here, the eight-fold path of Patanjali has been outlined with short explanations. As in other essays, the explanations are backed by numerous quotations and original thoughts.
Essay 2: Some Notes on RigVedic Interpretation
Criticizes some early modern translations and interpretations as being too literal and therefore often missing the main point (any deeper meanings). Agrees more with the likes of Sri Aurobindo, who also argued against the same.
Essay 3: The Hymn of Creation
Translation and detailed commentary on the famous "Naasadeeya Sukta" of the RigVeda.
Essay 4: The Meaning of Suffering in Yoga
Explains the idea that separative tendencies (forgetting the Universal One) lead to "non-meritorious" action which makes for repetitive cycles of birth and death. Also the nature of this sorrow and the root cause - the identification of the seer with seen.
Essay 5: Forerunners of Yoga: The Kesin Hymn
Translation and commentary on the "Kesin Hymn" of the RigVeda. The sadhus mentioned in the Kesi hymn seem to be accomplished masters who lived more like the ascetic (renunciate) yogis of later periods.
Essay 6: The Heart of RigVedic Religion: Agni, Flame Divine
Mentions at least 3 forms of Agni (fire) in the Rigveda, bringing out the deep symbolism prevelant throughout the Vedas with numerous examples. This needs to be acknowledged and kept in mind to arrive at any reasonable interpretation of many of the hymns. Early modern translators / commentators often got it completely wrong because they refused to look beyond the literal meaning.
Essay 7: Meister Eckehart - Mystic or Yogin?
Brings out parallels between the teachings of Meister Eckehart and advanced teachings of Yoga and Vedanta. In the process, makes some memorable remarks about yoga too.
Today, I take up only the first 2 of the essays and also do not attempt to summmarize the entire commentary. Only a few bullet points are added about those parts which appealed most to me.
1. The Essence of Yoga
(a) Mentions Jean Gebser's views on the evolution of human consciousness, according to which, man's consciousness passed through four mutations. The archaic level was where the soul was almost asleep. Next was the phase of magical consciousness, in which man perceived some aspects of nature more than he does today, while other aspects were perceived less, compared with today's consciousness. Next came mythical consciousness and finally today we are in the "mental" mutation phase. Gebser also mentions a fifth - integral consciousness. The main point is that man's capabilities and perception of nature was in some aspects more in the earlier phases - and legends about his fall from paradise ages ago refer to these mutations, whereby some aspects directly experienced then, were lost as society evolved. While some of these "powers" are not given prominence in Yoga, these changes were a prime motivation behind man's religious experiments. The "lost paradise" that man has been trying to win back - though not in the old fashion when the links to the heavens were unconscious - has its roots in some actual experiences and changes that man witnessed over the course of his evolution.
(b) Although yoga is used and discussed often in the context of psychotherapy and physiotherapy, it is interesting to note that the yogic texts mostly require the practitioner to be of sound mind and body to start with. Thus, these yoga texts were not intended mainly for these purposes. Rather, the purpose was to help the holistic development of the already healthy man, with each step "de-humanizing" the personality a bit more, to allow the "divine" personality to manifest and flourish in its place.
(c) The eight members (limbs) of Patanjali's Yoga are then described. Their brief descriptions are as follows.
Yama - ethical precepts regulating social life
Niyama - ethical precepts with regard to the inner (individual) life
Aasana - bodiy posture
Praanayaama - control of life energy
Pratyaahaara - withdrawal of the senses from the outer world
Dhaaranaa - 'binding' of the mind, usually translated by concentration
Dhyaana - [concentrated] reflection, usually called meditation
Samaadhi - 'unification', best rendered as enstasis.
Now within niyamas, we have 5 precepts, one of which is "tapa", typically translated as "penances" or ascetic exercises. Here the authors mention that they would like to propose another classification of the eight limbs, in which all the following members (Asana to Samadhi) could be classified within "tapas". Given several books where this word has been used to describe austerities in general, clearly, there is a case for what they say. In fact, all yoga, all ascetic practices are often clubbed together under the banner of "tapash-charyaa" when people use that term these days. Hence the authors' proposal is not wrong, going by that meaning. However, tapas also has a slightly limited meaning, mentioned in the celebrated Vyaasa-commentary (this is said to be a different Vyasa, not the author of the Mahabharata) and also mentioned by Sri Sri Swami Yukteshwar Giri, guru of Paramahansa Yogananda. Tapas, in this literature, refers to tolerating "dwandwa" (dualities), where dualities have been explained by examples like heat and cold, hunger (fasting), vows of silence, etc. The scholars who have quoted from innumerable texts - including the Vyaasa commentary - have also mentioned this limited meaning in their discussion. If this limited meaning is used, then clearly, the later limbs (Asana to Samadhi) are not necessarily included fully under tapas. Yet they propose their alternative classification, as if it is not clear that it simply depends upon what meaning of "tapas" we use. Could it possibly be that they overlooked the fact that the entire discussion revolves around this small detail - regarding how broadly we define tapas? Possibly, but I offer a different explanation. With the meaning of "tapas" having become so wide these days, readers would naturally have a tendency to forget the smaller meaning - "tolerance of the dualities". This is not an acceptable state of affairs because tolerance of the opposites can be such an essential "tool" in the practitioners' toolkit that it needs to be highlighted and brought to the fore in public memory. By pretending that the matter is bigger than a mere play upon which meaning we use, and by exhorting readers to decide on the classification by looking at the references themselves, the scholars have attempted to highlight the importance of this "tolerance of dualities", because they understand and believe in its special place throughout yogic practice. This ties in well with their very reverent approach to the text and to the Vedic literature in general too.
(d) In explaining the term "Ishwar" or "God" in the text, they make it amply clear that the philosophical discussions on the exact nature of God mentioned in the text are more side-issues than of great importancce. One must remember that in yoga, the practical experience was the goal, not how beautifully the cosmology behind the practice was presented to the intellectual. Although people have made a big deal of the "dualism" in Patanjali's book (purusha and Ishwar being different inasmuch as Ishwar has special characteristics), this is not really the purport of the book. Even self-realized Vedantic (Advaitic) teachers maintain that multiplicity is retained in the Universal One, only the separative consciousness is abandoned. Therefore, portraying yoga as being essentially dualistic seems like a misinterpretation. (Here, we should keep in mind that according to Shrimat Swami Hariharaananda Aaranya, the Shvetaashwatara Upanishad is known to belong to the ancient yogic tradition, and anyone who has read a translation cannot but agree that the Shvetashwatara is a wholly Advaitic text. The portrayal of all yoga as being dualistic therefore does seem to be a misinterpretation, in the ultimate analysis.)
2. Some Notes on Rigvedic Interpretation
(a) Early modern western (and in a few cases, eastern) commentators were too literal. Only recently, with Jean Herbert, do we see the beginning of an endeavor to understand the Vedas with the help of modern Hindu sages and seers, which is essential given that innumerable sources point to the rishis being people of immense spiritual realization and understanding. Ignoring the Indian tradition and stopping at literal meanings of words was also fueled by a prejudice - in academic scholars - regarding the capabilities of primitive man. This is reflected in the case of a drawing made by an Australian aboriginal in which the head of a man was drawn without a mouth. Scholars attributed this to the non-sophistication of the artist - rather than accepting that the artist could sketch as well as anyone else, but did not draw the mouth due to some notion of aesthetic beauty. The same prejudice, say Feuerstein and Miller, can be seen in many translations and interpretations of the Vedas. Some of the western commentators seem to have accepted the "seer" status of many Christian saints, when writing about the Christian scriptures, but never showed the willingness to accept that the same is said of several vedic rishis. It is heartening to see that these trends are now beginning to decline.
(b) Psychologists like Jung have helped cure some of this prejudice by teaching that myth is a necesary stage between conscious and unconscious cognition and that ancient myths are a revelation of divine life in man. Here, let us recall Paramahansa Yogananda's comment that although epics may be consistent at several levels, it is the psychological interpretation of the epics which was considered to be the most important in his circles (e.g., his guru and guru' guru). Clearly, vedic rishis would also
have used symbols and myths to express some truths which they "saw". Let us also recall that Yaska's Nirukta is a commentary on the Nighantu, in which sage Paraashar compiled the several different meanings that the Vedic rishis attributed to any single word (say, "go") in the vedas. Why would the Nighantu / Nirukta be an essential part of any vedic study, if the words carried only their "usual" meanings in most cases? Clearly, not only do words have different meanings in different contexts, but more than one meaning (say material and spiritual) was often conveyed by the rishis in the same verse. Yes, the scholars agree that all rishis might not have attained to the same exalted state and that many of the 1,028 hymns (adding up to a total of more than 10,000 verses) in the Rigveda do seem to be purely mundane verses with no additional symbolic interpretation but this still does not mean that there aren't "enough" verses with a clear spiritual / deeper symbolism. Even in the simpler verses, say the authors, when describing the most mundane of things like throwing dice, an ethical undertone is clearly visible in the verses throughout the Vedas. It is time to approach the subject accepting the exalted states of realization where the rishis came from, and the authors hope to prove, using the numerous examples in the literature, that such interpretations fit the Vedic verses rather well.
Sadanand Tutakne
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