The Essence of Yoga

A collection of classic essays by two highly regarded scholars on the development of yoga and its rapport with other religious traditions. Georg Feuerstein, one of the world's foremost scholars of yoga, and Jeanine Miller, long recognized for her insightful commentaries on the RgVeda, here pool their considerable talents in a look at the development of yogic thought across the ages and its similarities with the Christian mysticism of Meister Eckhart. Two of their essays included here, one concerning the essence of yoga and the other looking at the meaning of suffering in yoga, have long been singled out by indologists for correcting prevalent misconceptions and providing a conceptual framework for many of the subsequent studies in that field. The reprinting of these important essays in The Essence of Yoga gives new readers a chance to share some of the authors' earliest insights into yoga and their deep conviction that these discoveries are of the highest significance for a proper understanding of the human condition.

Abbreviations Preface 1 The Essence of Yoga 2 Some Notes on Rgvedic Interpretation (J. Miller and G. Feuerstein) 3 The Hymn of Creation. A Philosophical Interpretation (J. Miller) 4 The Meaning of Suffering in Yoga (G. Feuerstein) 5 Forerunners of Yoga: The Kesin Hymn (J. Miller) 6 The Heart of Rgvedic Religion: Agni, Flame Divine (J. Miller) 7 Meister Eckehart - Mystic or Yogin? (G. Feuerstein) Appendix Diagram I: The ontological elements of Patanjalayoga Diagram II: The stages of enstasis (samadhi) according to the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali Index