The essence of yoga: A contribution to the psychohistory of Indian civilisation

by Georg Feuerstein

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.

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Georg A. Feuerstein was an Indologist and, according to his associate Ken Wilber, among the foremost Westerns scholar-practitioners of yoga. After doing his postgraduate research at Durham University in England, he moved to the United States, eventually settling in Canada with his wife and sometime co-author Brenda.

Reviews

[Philemon - · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georg Feuerstein wrote a good dozen books on yoga. This volume's title essay, "The Essence of Yoga," provides a seemingly masterful summary of yogic philosophy that appears to agree with Sri Aurobindo's The Synthesis of Yoga. Except for one, the remaining essays are highly technical literary commentaries. The last essay compares Meister Eckhart's "mysticism" with yoga theory and practice.