34 min listen
Rapturous Focus and Extraordinary Powers: Breathing Life into the Third Book of the Yoga Sutras
FromThe Emerald
Rapturous Focus and Extraordinary Powers: Breathing Life into the Third Book of the Yoga Sutras
FromThe Emerald
ratings:
Length:
67 minutes
Released:
May 19, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
The third book of the Patañjali yoga sutras, the Vibhūti Pāda, is often skipped over in modern yoga teacher trainings. Why? Its descriptions of supernatural powers — of yogis who can shrink to the size of an atom, fly, and read minds — can cause cognitive dissonance or discomfort in the modern mind. Yet right in the heart of this discussion of the extraordinary powers is an animate, rapturous vision that is concurrent with the experience of human ritual culture dating back in an unbroken line to the Paleolithic. This is, in fact, the animist chapter of the yoga sutras, which is precisely why it's ignored. Today on the podcast, we look at the rapturous vision of the Vibhūti Pāda, which arrived at a time when the old ways of trance and animal powers were butting up against new doctrines of transcendence. With source references as diverse as Italian scholar Roberto Calasso and the Wu-Tang Clan, we can safely say this is like no other commentary on the yoga sutras that you've ever heard. And if it ruffles a few scholarly feathers, so be it. Enjoy. Support the show
Released:
May 19, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (85)
The Case of the Man Who Grew Horns: Imagination as a Driving Force of the Human Experience by The Emerald