The Essence of Yoga

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

Georg Feuerstein was a widely respected yoga scholar, who wrote a number of books on yoga and related topics, including Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy, Enlightened Sexuality, The Philosophy of Classical Yoga, Lucid Waking, and The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: A New Translation and Commentary. Jeanine Miller, author of The Vedas and Vision of Cosmic Order in the Vedas, resides in France.

"Feuerstein's voice is sane and solid, careful and compassionate, and yet he always sheds new light and understanding on even the most mundane of topics."

Ken Wilber, author of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality 

"Feuerstein and Miller are long recognized as authorities on the yogic tradition. For any scholar of Yoga or the Christian mysticism of Meister Eckhart, this book is a boon."

Bodhi Tree

YOGA

“The Essence of Yoga pulsates with judicious quotes and diagrams.”
--Library Journal

“A casual reader will be caught by the applicability of ideas he may have thought were impenetrable; a serious reader will experience excitement at seeing esoteric ideas come alive in etymologies and contextual studies of the Vedas and the Yoga classics.”
--Beyond Reality

“In Georg Feuerstein we have an extremely important and valuable voice for the perennial philosophy.”
--Ken Wilber, author of The Spectrum of Consciousness and Sex, Ecology, Spirituality

“Jeanine Miller is one of the scholars today who applies more than just a methodological empathy in order to study the Vedas. She explodes old views.”
--Prof. Raimundo Panniker, author of The Vedic Experience

Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., 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 to offer a deeper glimpse into the development of Yogic thought across the ages and its similarities with the Christian mysticism of Meister Eckhart. Two of the essays included--one concerning the essence of Yoga and the other looking at the meaning of suffering in Yoga--have long been singled out by Yoga researchers for correcting prevalent misconceptions and providing a conceptual framework for many of the subsequent studies in that field. This volume of important essays gives new readers the opportunity to share some of the authors’ earliest insights into Vedic and Classical Yoga, as well as their deep conviction that this ancient tradition is of the highest significance for a proper understanding of the human condition.

Among the thirty books to GEORG FEUERSTEIN’s credit are Lucid Waking, The Philosophy of Classical Yoga, The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, Living Yoga, and The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga. He is the director of the Yoga Research Center in California. JEANINE MILLER is the author of The Vedas and The Vision of Cosmic Order in the Vedas and was a longtime associate of the British Museum. She now resides in France.