S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 6 1 Daniel Simpson The subject of yoga is vast, but there are limits to what can be said about it. No attempt to define it can cover all aspects. However, there’s a general consensus in texts that the mean - ing of yoga is a meditative state beyond the mind. Or in other words, to paraphrase Patañjali: “ Sit down and shut up! ” I should probably do that. It seems a lot simpler. There’s not much to add. If we fast-forward a thousand years from the Yoga Sūtras to the fifteenth centuryHathapradīpikā (1:66), it says talking about yoga won’t help you succeed at it. To be honest, succeeding at yoga in traditional terms sounds radically different to modern priorities. It’s not about postures that look good on Instagram – more like renouncing worldly life. We often hear about Patañjali’s yoga in terms of its objec - tive of stilling the mind . Yet the ultimate goal (as explained inYoga Sūtras1:16, 2:25, 4:34) is detachment from matter , which sounds disembodied, or basically deadly. Again, the Hathapradīpikā (4:107) says something similar: “ The yogi who is completely released from all states and free of all thoughts remains as if dead. He is liberated. Here there is no doubt .” Unsurprisingly, we don’t hear that message in modern marketing. It’s hard to sell people workshops on spiritual suicide. Of course, there’s no need to interpret such things literal - ly – or to go all the way like an Iron Age ascetic. A few verses later, there’s a subtler description ( Hathapradīpikā4:109): “ The yogi in samādhi knows neither smell, nor taste, nor form, nor touch, nor sound, nor himself, nor others .” About the author Daniel Simpsonobtained his MA degree from the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies. He teaches courses on the history and philosophy of yoga at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, at Triyoga in London and online. Daniel authored a practical guidebook to yoga philosophyThe Truth of Yoga (in print). He is available at danielsimpson.info@gmail.com.
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