Afleveringen
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What if the text known as the Yoga Sūtra never existed – at least not to start with? Philipp Maas is a scholar of Patañjali’s yoga, whose work suggests its teachings were originally transmitted as part of a larger philosophical text with explanations.
We discuss how this accompanying commentary (bhāṣya) interprets the sūtras, and reflect on the broader significance of studying history for modern practitioners. We also consider the distance in time and space between yogic texts and their uses today. Among other topics, our conversation explores:
* The evidence for Philipp’s conclusions on Patañjali
* What studying another culture reveals about our own
* Whether scholars of yoga ought to practise its methods
* The risks of colonising history for political purposes
* Recent critical comments by Shyam Ranganathan
You can find out more about Philipp’s research at academia.edu, where his work is downloadable (free registration needed). This recent overview is a helpful place to start. It covers much of what we discuss, including several layers of commentary.
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What do Heinrich Himmler and Mohandas Gandhi have in common? Both were inspired by the Bhagavad Gītā. As Dorothy Figueira explains, what they found in it were mental projections. So Gandhi saw promotion of non-violence, while Himmler thought it justified killing for an avatar of God called Adolf Hitler.
These interpretations – among many others – are the subject of Dorothy’s recent book, The Afterlives of the Bhagavad Gītā. As a scholar of religion and comparative literature, she shows how modern translations are often more revealing of their authors’ ideas than the texts they engage with.
With the Gītā, there are so many readings that it’s difficult to summarise where they diverge. Our conversation discusses the “decadence”, as Dorothy terms it, of Western seekers such as Allen Ginsberg. She contrasts this with meticulous colonial scholars and use of the Gītā by Indian nationalists. Detached from commentaries, it proved politically malleable, serving to justify many positions.
Some of the most shocking continue to resonate. The Nazi Gītā is resurgent online, via the writings of a European woman known as “Savitri Devi”. Although Dorothy laments these distortions, her general advice is to accept the existence of multiple readings, and to explore them open-mindedly to counteract dogma. She works as a professor at the University of Georgia.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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A shift in focus for the podcast this week to discuss a new book by Richard Seymour. Subtitled “The Downfall of Liberal Civilization”, Disaster Nationalism investigates “a struggle for our collective soul”, along with the psychology of far-right movements.
As Richard warns, these can take many forms – including the perversion of liberal and leftist agendas into authoritarianism. “There is a fascist temptation for everyone,” he writes: “we all have our jackboots.” Rather than focusing on charismatic leaders, as if defeating them might solve the problem, he highlights the trends and tendencies that they exploit, and in the process suggests how to counter them.
Richard used to blog as “lenin”, so we start by discussing his political perspective, then explore other topics from living with purpose to the limits of materialism. He’s the author of multiple books, and a co-founder of Salvage, “a bi-annual journal of revolutionary arts and letters”, which “recognises that the catastrophe is already upon us and that the decisive struggle is over what to do with the remains.”
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🧘♂️ N.B. the Truth of Yoga course starts this week and there's still time to join us.
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Is prāṇāyāma the same thing as breath-work? Both labels are commonly used to teach similar techniques. They’re also increasingly hard to distinguish, because of ongoing changes in methods and objectives. This conversation with Isabel Tew examines the overlaps as well as distinctions between modern systems.
Isabel started with yoga, which made her curious about prāṇāyāma – a much older form of practice than sequences of postures. However, she’s also explored modern breath-work, and some of its teachings are part of her Breath Cards (published on October 29), which present daily “practices for calm, clarity and renewal”.
Together, we reflect on a shift in yogic priorities towards well-being, as opposed to ancient goals of renouncing the world. That helps to blur boundaries between East and West, leading teachers of yoga to draw inspiration from non-yogic sources (for historical details, see this recent article by Magdalena Kraler).
As we discuss, most contemporary approaches focus on healing in some way which has parallels with earlier frameworks of transcending suffering. For an accessible overview of prāṇāyāma history, try this talk at truthofyoga.com.
🧘♂️ N.B. there's still join me for The Truth of Yoga online course, which runs live in November.
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This is a different sort of podcast, featuring interviews I did half my life ago. I originally planned to make a radio documentary, but the audio wound up on MiniDiscs gathering dust.
In 2001, I was a foreign correspondent searching for answers. I hoped I might find some in India at the world’s biggest gathering – the Mahā Kumbha Melā, where the Ganges meets the Yamuna. I talked to a wide range of people, asking Westerners what had inspired their journeys Eastward.
Looking back, I’ve made one myself – from drug-fuelled confusion to writing a book about yoga philosophy, and a career as a teacher. My younger self had other ideas – he tried to emulate the Melā by staging a festival on Big War Island in Belgrade. However, listening to these chats, I can hear a few echoes of what was to come – plus repeated indications of much still to learn…
The first conversation is with Scott McNamara, an American disciple of the yogi “Pilot Baba”. The second is with Susan Shumsky, who learned to meditate with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, then turned to “New Thought” – better known today as “manifesting” – whose positive psychology infuses modern yoga.
I’m still unsure about the documentary prospects – not least since I don’t work in radio, or know where to start. I also have mixed feelings about the discussions, as the podcast explains. If you have any thoughts in response, please get in touch!
🧘♂️ For more about yogic traditions, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com.
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What might it look like to live in a world that combines ancient wisdom with newer ideas about sustainable development? In his recent book Politics of Being, the social scientist Thomas Legrand explores the potential for shifts in perspective that could help us to face converging challenges.
At the heart of his vision is an inner transformation, rejecting a paradigm that fuels separation while awakening values that promote collective consciousness. Although this is rooted in a spiritual worldview, Thomas says it’s more about human ideals of freedom, virtue, truth and understanding – plus peace, love and happiness.
We discuss how his agenda for action goes beyond the personal by looking at life in relational terms. Recognising interconnection leads to more holistic policies, which Thomas describes using real-life examples. However, we also reflect on obstacles to change – from entrenched vested interests to the underlying craving that drives an economy addicted to growth.
Click here to download an excerpt from Politics of Being, or find out more via social media (he’s on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn). Thomas also writes a Substack newsletter, and currently works with the Conscious Food Systems Alliance, convened by the United Nations Development Programme.
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* Last call for The Path of Knowledge! We start on Sun, Sep 29 – join us here *
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Why is “light” used as a metaphor for “good”, while “dark” means “bad”? How does that blind us and what might we do about it? As Mariana Alessandri writes in Night Vision, difficult feelings such as anger, sorrow, grief, depression and anxiety can be sources of knowledge, so we need to embrace them as part of humanity.
Her book is not a gloom manifesto. Instead, it seeks to clarify why we feel bad about feeling bad. This is an outcome of social pressure to look on the bright side, so telling each other “don’t worry, be happy” causes shame. As a philosopher, Mariana explains that the problem has ancient roots, which are entangled with positive thinking. She also highlights alternative sources with more helpful messages.
Our conversation explores practicalities, including how to strike a balance between acceptance and change – both individually and as a society. We touch on overlaps with yoga, such as the fusion of older ideas with Western “New Thought” (whose original “mind cure” shapes modern-day “manifesting”). And we consider ways of seeing beyond dark and light to more diverse perspectives.
Night Vision is out now in paperback, ebook and audio – it’s engagingly written, but with scholarly rigour. For a taste of Mariana’s work, try this New York Times essay on the children’s TV host Fred Rogers, whose “belief that we should validate emotions, not suppress them, is wisdom for all ages”.
🎓 Join me online for The Path of Knowledge, a year-long immersion in yogic traditions, relating ancient wisdom to modern priorities.
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How did Westerners first get involved with Eastern teachers, and is the age of the guru now over? In his latest book, The Nirvana Express, Mick Brown presents a colourful cast of seekers, writers, mystics, tricksters and chancers – he reveals people’s flaws without obscuring the sincerity of spiritual quests.
Alongside portraits of better-known subjects, from Vivekananda and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to Rajneesh, Mick notes the influence of Western occultists, and early interest in Ramana Maharshi – an exemplary sage who inspired The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham and A Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton.
Our conversation explores the significance of these stories, alongside others from an earlier book, The Spiritual Tourist, which recounts Mick’s engagement with mystical teachers. In his day job, he works as a journalist – reporting in detail on guru abuses – so we talk about the value of critical thinking, while considering the merits of genuine teachers, who can only awaken what's found in oneself.
🎓 Join me online for The Path of Knowledge, a year-long immersion in yogic traditions, relating ancient wisdom to modern priorities.
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How does someone heal an addictive mind? Matthew Hahn is a co-founder of Recovery Dharma, which uses Buddhist methods to overcome addictions. He also contributes to the Boundless Freedom Project, teaching mindfulness, ethics and compassion to people in prison and on their return to the outside world.
Our conversation explores how Buddhist principles and practices empower those in recovery to find inner wisdom. We consider how this differs from “12 step” approaches, which enlist the help of God, while noting the importance of community to both. Another part of Matthew’s work is to advocate for changes in carceral policy that make transformation more widely accessible.
These commitments grew out of his experiences, both as an addict and convicted felon. Matthew has been sober since 2005, but his earlier escapades earned him ten years in prison. That story is worth a whole podcast in itself (see this episode of How to Human for a fuller exploration). Put simply, his life turned around after stealing a safe, and his response to what he found inside reduced his sentence.
Matthew describes his own recovery in this essay, included in the second edition of Recovery Dharma, which is available for free download here. He posts on Instagram, TikTok and X / Twitter with the handle @hahnscratch.
🎓 Join me online for The Path of Knowledge, a year-long immersion in yogic traditions, relating ancient wisdom to modern priorities.
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What can we learn from over 2,000 years of fascination with the East? Chris Harding explores this question in The Light of Asia – a book that shares its title with a poem about the Buddha from the nineteenth century. His focus is on characters whose personal engagement with Asian traditions shaped Western perceptions.
Our conversation reflects on the impact of efforts to reconcile different viewpoints. Does one way of seeing predominate? What guards against cherry-picking? Among many other topics, we also consider:
* The early influence of Jesuits in spreading ideas
* Alan Watts as a priest, blurring multiple boundaries
* Bede Griffiths and inter-religious experiments in India
* The importance of community to spiritual practice
* What it might mean to “decolonise philosophy”
Chris is a cultural historian at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in modern India and Japan. He contributes regularly to the BBC, and a range of publications, including Aeon and Unherd. He is also the author of IlluminAsia.
🕉️ Join me online for The Path of Knowledge, a year-long immersion in yogic traditions, relating ancient wisdom to modern priorities.
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Does yoga really mean union? As Zoë Slatoff explains in this fascinating chat about philosophy and Sanskrit, the simplest answer is probably “sometimes”…
Zoë’s PhD explores how yoga became entangled with non-dual Vedānta, blurring distinctions between the two systems. One important catalyst was the popularity of physical practice, whose aims were framed in terms of oneness. So gnostic teachers adapted its methods, which were slowly combined with Patañjali’s yoga.
We discuss how this happened through the prism of a text the studied (called the Aparokṣānubhūti, on which more here). And since Zoë is also the author of a Sanskrit textbook for yoga practitioners, we talk about the challenges – as well as the pleasures – of learning the language. Even just a little bit can make a big difference.
Zoë has practised yoga since the 1990s, teaching it for much of that time. She's now a professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and offers online courses in Sanskrit via the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
🕉️ For a year-long immersion in yogic traditions, relating ancient wisdom to modern priorities, join me online for The Path of Knowledge.
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Who are we really, beyond our ideas about ourselves and the world? After more than half a century as a Buddhist practitioner, Kamalashila (Anthony Matthews) reflects on his life and impending death – he was recently told he had four months to live.
As he wrote back in April: “What is happening to me happens to everyone and it will happen to you, so think about that too and practice some dharma.” Our conversation explores what this means from a range of perspectives, drawing inspiration from a lifetime of inquiry. Among many other topics, we discuss:
* His early experience of insight through LSD
* Encountering Buddhism and meeting his teacher
* The benefits of celibacy and living off-grid as a hermit
* Some of the drawbacks to “Western Buddhism”
* Fear of death, and how to alleviate it
In passing, we mention an essay by Kamalashila (“My Dharma Life”, posted here), and criticisms of his teacher, Sangharakshita (on which more here). There’s an overview of Triratna, formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, on his website. And if you’ve never heard of Suella Braverman, here’s some context.
🕉️ To explore yogic wisdom in depth, join me online for The Path of Knowledge.
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What makes people wary of getting immersed in the Bhagavad Gītā? To start with, it’s set in a war zone, where God issues edicts to kill and upholds social hierarchy. Yet its message is also inspiring, making yoga compatible with everyday life, and developing a loving awareness that sees all beings equally.
This podcast with Hari-kirtana das explores his new book on the Gītā’s teachings, which is subtitled A Guide to Exploring Timeless Principles of Transcendental Knowledge and Integrating Them Into Your Life. As we discuss, how we interpret the text depends on our worldview. Although it features a personal God, is devotion mandatory?
In addressing this question, we consider distinctions between subjective experience and objective facts, and the extent to which religion is compatible with different ways of seeing. We also talk about historical misconduct in devotional lineages, and how the Gītā counteracts misguided thinking.
Finally, we ask whether some of its passages might need ignoring – instead of trying to update them with more palatable readings – or whether cherry-picking undermines the text. For more from Hari-kirtana, follow him on Instagram or YouTube.
🤿 To dive deeper into a hybrid of practical insight and critical thinking, join me online for The Path of Knowledge, a year-long immersion in yogic ideas.
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What makes for good translations from an old language? For Suhas Mahesh and Anusha Rao – co-editors of How to Love in Sanskrit – it's “a game of compromise”. Rather than fixating on “excessive attention to irrelevant detail”, they focus instead on making words come alive. So a female lament from 2,000 years ago becomes: “Dear God, make him hang out with other women more. He does not seem to realise what a catch I am.”
This is a rich conversation about life in general, not just linguistics. We talk about why monks write love poems, the pitfalls of marrying academics, and all sorts of other topics, including:
* What to look for when choosing translations.
* The extent to which Sanskrit is a living language.
* Where to find advice on love beyond the Kāma Sūtra.
* Whether some ancient words are untranslatable.
* Why Rumi quotes are rarely what they seem.
Indian readers can buy the book here – or try here if you’re in the U.K., or here in the U.S. You can also email Suhas here and Anusha here if you have any suggestions for future translations – they’re already at work on the next compilation.
🤩 If you'd like to get immersed in yogic traditions from a modern perspective, join me for a course called The Path of Knowledge (early bird rates end June 15).
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Which qualities might help us to thrive In a turbulent world? For Elizabeth Oldfield – who hosts a podcast called The Sacred – the key is to prioritise values that bring us together and strengthen relationships.
"I want to be growing into faith, hope and love – not out of them," she explains in this discussion about her new book, titled Fully Alive. Its framework for moulding one's character might sound surprising – the seven deadly sins. However, as Elizabeth clarifies, the point is to rethink "sins" as unhelpful tendencies blocking connection, which leads to a focus on developing their opposites.
Our conversation explores a number of overlaps with yoga philosophy, as well as other traditions of timeless wisdom. To consider these parallels in more depth, join me for an online course at truthofyoga.com.
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What was haṭha yoga before it meant postures?
As the scholar Jason Birch explains, medieval yogis used a three-part sequence of physical methods to raise vital energy and empty their minds (video here). Their ultimate goal was transcendence of death.
Our conversation discusses Jason’s book, The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Gorakṣanātha: The Genesis of Haṭha and Rājayoga. We also explore other questions, including:
• What might practitioners learn from this system, and other recent findings?
• Is haṭha yoga needed for liberating insights? What does it mean to become immortal?
• Are the subtle components of yogic anatomy always involved? Do different approaches reach similar goals?
• Is academic work informed by practice, or are the two separate?
🔗 You can read Jason's publications at academia.edu, or via The Luminescent, which he co-founded with Jacqueline Hargreaves.
🎓 For more on the history of haṭha, as well as immersions in texts and traditions, join me for an online course at truthofyoga.com.
🤩 To support Ancient Futures, please consider subscribing or buy me a coffee... All donations are greatly appreciated!
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What does it mean to “study” yoga, rather than “practise”? The two aren’t mutually exclusive, explains Amy Landry, who’s hosting a series of online discussions on how to combine them. The Study Yoga summit runs live from April 29 to May 3, with replays available. There are more than a dozen contributors – one of whom is me – and the interviews are shaped by Amy’s extensive experience as a teacher and practitioner of yoga and other Indian disciplines, including classical dance and Āyurveda.
Amy also hosts a podcast called Living in Alignment, which weaves together wisdom for everyday life based on yogic inquiry. We talk about this and her forthcoming book, as well as the transformative power of knowledge in various forms – from scholarly research to experiential insight. Join me to explore these themes in an online immersion in early Upaniṣads. It runs live from April 29 to May 26, with Q&As on Sundays.
To support Ancient Futures, please consider subscribing or buy me a coffee... All donations are greatly appreciated!
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When John Donne wrote “no man is an island”, his alternative was to be “involved in mankind”. Francesca Ferrando has broader ideas. As a philosopher and “leading voice in the field of posthuman studies”, Francesca's aim is to get us to think in terms of life.
The Art of Being Posthuman – Francesca's new book – is a string of meditations about how to do this. Our conversation considers connections with Indian traditions, and in the process discusses (among other topics):
* Why life is diverse, non-hierarchical and interdependent
* Why humanity is more about relationships than individuals
* Why people can’t say what they want, or how much is enough
* How it helps to embrace the maxim: “my life is my work of art”
* Whether life is a game, and if so how to play it successfully
To explore some of the overlaps between "posthuman" thinking and yogic traditions, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com. An Upaniṣads immersion starts on April 29.
And if you'd like to support the podcast, please consider subscribing or buy me a coffee... All donations are greatly appreciated!
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A different sort of podcast this week – the recording of a panel at the Oxford Literary Festival. The topic is "Religion and Animal Welfare", based on a book by the former chief executive in Compassion in World Farming, Joyce D’Silva.
I shared some yogic perspectives on non-harming, speaking between Amir Khan – a wildlife advocate, broadcaster and Muslim – and the former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton.
I’ve since become a signatory of the CIWF Vision for Fair Food and Farming, which I recommend reading. We also talked about the Charter for Compassion – see here for more details.
To explore how yogic traditions relate to modern life, and alleviate suffering, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com. And if you'd like to support the podcast, please consider subscribing or buy me a coffee... All donations are greatly appreciated!
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Yoga philosophy deals with three kinds of pain. These relate to ourselves, to how we interact with others, and to powerful forces beyond our control. This podcast engages with all of them, and highlights communal approaches to healing.
Matthew Green works as an editor for DeSmog, an investigative website. He also writes Resonant World, a newsletter about collective trauma, and Toxic Workplace Survival Guy, which offers advice on how to navigate challenging office environments.
We talk about his transition from working in war zones to seeing how the world is a toxic environment, shaped by traumatised people and inhuman pressures. We also discuss a few remedies – including meditation and psychedelics, and other modalities used to treat trauma.
To explore how yogic traditions relate to modern life, and alleviate suffering, join me for a course at truthofyoga.com. And if you'd like to support the podcast, please consider subscribing or buy me a coffee... All donations are greatly appreciated!
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