This episode focuses on the idea of liberation in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (Patanjala-yoga-shastra). We touch a little on how Patanjali's system inherits key aspects from the Upanishads, and then focus on the first four sutras of chapter one, which constitute what is known as the classical definition of yoga. From these foundational sutras, it is possible to get a solid sense of how Patanjali frames a simple definition of Yoga, the nature of the problem of ignorance that Yoga intends to address, and the nature of the liberated state. Crucially, the discussion lends nuance - in a surprising way - to the common notion that Yoga - as "union" - is the desired end of our practices.
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This episode focuses on the idea of liberation in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (Patanjala-yoga-shastra). We touch a little on how Patanjali's system inherits key aspects from the Upanishads, and then focus on the first four sutras of chapter one, which constitute what is known as the classical definition of yoga. From these foundational sutras, it is possible to get a solid sense of how Patanjali frames a simple definition of Yoga, the nature of the problem of ignorance that Yoga intends to address, and the nature of the liberated state. Crucially, the discussion lends nuance - in a surprising way - to the common notion that Yoga - as "union" - is the desired end of our practices.
This episode investigates the idea that human beings manifest an essential nature defined by the ancient Yoga tradition. We suggest that the modern world has mistaken this nature and that we have been educated incorrectly as a result. This in turn has made it much more difficult to experience meaning, which we need in the same way we need things like food and water, breath, and love. We trace the plausibility of these ideas from both Eastern and Western sources: from ancient models of the soul in the Taittiriya Upanishad, which identifies our essential essence as bliss (Ananda), to the work of Dr. John Vervaeke of the University of Toronto’s Cognitive Psychology department. What if loss of meaning means loss of contact with our essence?
Lost Ways of Knowing
This episode focuses on the idea of liberation in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (Patanjala-yoga-shastra). We touch a little on how Patanjali's system inherits key aspects from the Upanishads, and then focus on the first four sutras of chapter one, which constitute what is known as the classical definition of yoga. From these foundational sutras, it is possible to get a solid sense of how Patanjali frames a simple definition of Yoga, the nature of the problem of ignorance that Yoga intends to address, and the nature of the liberated state. Crucially, the discussion lends nuance - in a surprising way - to the common notion that Yoga - as "union" - is the desired end of our practices.
