Religiousness in Yoga Study Guide: Chapter Thirteen Theory

TKV Desikachar teaching at Gaunts House

‘Religiousness in Yoga: Lectures on Theory and Practice’ by the University Press of America,
a transcript of recordings of a one month Yoga Programme in Colgate University in 1976, published in 1980.

Unlike the later redacted edition, re-published in 1995 as the ‘Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice’, it captures the evolution of the retreat with the days lectures and Q & A dialogues as they alternated between ‘lectures on the principles and purposes of Yoga and discussions related to the practice of Yoga with special reference to the postures and the breathing techniques’.

TKV Desikachar, in his forward to the original version wrote:

“These lectures and discussions, printed words put before persons I might never meet,
are but reflections of that deeper result that grew out of a living face-to-face encounter.
Coming to learn of Yoga only through reading leaves much to be desired.
Yet, something worthwhile about Yoga might be shared through the medium of the printed word.”

A chapter by chapter Study guide is offered below with added verse and word cross-references where possible to support a a deeper linking with the teachings within these lectures and Q & A sessions.

Chapter Thirteen Theory: Antaraṅga Sādhana, Saṃyama and Kaivalya Pages 179-194

1. Review of Chapter Eleven Theory P179-181

2. Dhyãna P181-182

  • Dhyāna is result of practice
  • All techniques are to prepare for Dhyāna

3. Question on Draṣṭṛ P182

4. Question on Pratyāhāra P182-183

5. Question on Dhyãna P183

  • In Dhyāna there is the feeling ‘I’ am involved

6. Question on Samādhi P183-186

7. Question on comparing Dhyãna and Samãdhi P186-187

8. Question on the aid of a teacher P187

  • I feel it is better to have some personal guidance

9. Question on Puruṣa and Prakṛti P187-188

  • Puruṣa sees the object through the mind
  • In a state of Samādhi that ‘I’ is almost non-existant

10. Question on the body as an object in Dhyãna P188

11. Question on a state of Samādhi in Āsana P189

12. Question on learning and Dhāraṇā, Dhyãna and Samādhi P189-190

13. Question on ultimate goal of Yoga to be in Samādhi all the time P190-191

  • Ultimate goal to always observe correctly

14. Question on state of Samādhi and being in the world P190

15. Question on Kaivalya happening suddenly P191-192

  • With Kaivalya gradually something happens that we do not control

16. Question on Kaivalya being a break or something gradual P192

17. Question on how Dhyãna comes about P193

18. Preview of Chapter Fifteen on Antarāyāḥ P194

Follow this link for a Downloadable PDF version of the Chapter Thirteen Study Guide

Follow this Link for Downloadable PDF’s of all the Previous Chapters

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