Yoga Philosophy

Scholars of religion, it turns out, often have profound religious experiences reading and interpreting the texts they critically study, and these events have consequences for the methods and models they develop, the conclusions they come to, and even for the traditions they study.

The scholar-practitioner approaches her object of study by privileging the synergy of knowledge and experience.

In this issue, the contributors argue for the acceptance and integration into scholarly life of what has otherwise been deemed controversial by the reigning epistemology of modern industrialized culture.

Working with Indra’s net is a practice that develops character and builds capacity and resilience.

Līlā means, among other things, “sport,” “play” and “pastime.” Often translated as “divine play,” līlā signifies a number of theological and metaphysical ideas that pertain to the spontaneous playfulness of the absolute or supreme being.

Rivers are sacred because they carry you toward the source, yet contain the source— water—themselves. They are a metaphor for life. They describe the journey from birth to death. They wash away everything that has been, making new ground for growth.

Jagar comes from the Sanskrit root, jāgṛ, which means “to go on burning, to be awake, to be watchful and to awaken.” It refers to the first state of consciousness described in the Māṇḍukya Upaniṣad—waking (jāgrat). It’s distinguished from the two other states of the conscious mind—dreaming and deep sleep—by the quality of consciousness experienced.

A yantra is a meditative ritual device used in South Asian Tantric traditions. It is a blueprint of energy of a specific field of consciousness. Although yantras are sometimes described as representing a deity, each yantra is more than a symbol. A yantra is a literal matrix of divine consciousness.