Yoga [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONIn this presentation of yogic thought and practice I have endeavoured to maintain the entire background of classical literature on the subject. Therefore the reader will find a sprinkling of Sanskrit words, which are original terms of specific and technical value. These words, however, are presented mostly in brackets, so that they may be ignored by the general reader without any loss to his complete understanding of the subject. Their presence in the brackets will show the Sanskrit scholar and specialist exactly what is being referred to in the English rendering in each case. For the reader who wishes to understand these words as the basis of a vocabulary of yoga for future classical study we have provided a glossary, to which he can easily refer until they have become familiar.Our reason for maintaining the classical background should be clear. There were in the old days in India strata of society which provided for men and families dedicated to religion and philosophy, and thus able to study and practise these without such distractions as we have in modern living. These groups gave themselves to this study in a definitely scientific and factual manner, with application in practice and pragmatic consideration of results. Yoga thus grew up as applied religion, and at the same time the science of intro-spectional psychology - introspectional meaning not retreat from factual experience, but direct inspection of the contents of the mind, yet not ignoring the application of the knowledge so gained to the body and the environment.I have endeavoured to cover practically the entire range of classical literature on the subject, which is by no means a dead literature but mainly a collection of textbooks which are fully in use and highly regarded by the present-day yogis in India -whether those who give their full time to the subject, or those exceedingly numerous persons in all walks of life who set aside a little special time for it every day and allow its motives and its gains to permeate the rest of their time. While thus presenting the subject in the classical manner, I have also consciously and unconsciously woven into it my great familiarity over decades with those who actually practise yoga and regard it as the most important part of their lives, both in personal practice and in social application. I have also related it to modern psychological knowledge.