Towards a Hermeneutic of Yoga in Modern Times: A Comparative Study of Practice and Detachment in Hinduism and Christianity

Abstract

This dissertation contributes to a scholarly understanding of Yoga in modern times by considering the dialectical tension between life-affirming goals in Yoga (health, balance, well-being) and the world-renouncing asceticism of the classical text, Patañjali’s Yogasūtras. In particular, I focus on the teaching tradition of the 19th century guru Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and the prominent teachers who learned from him, K. Pattabhi Jois, BKS Iyengar, and TKV Desikachar. Through a study of the classical text, historical commentators, recent scholarship, and modern teachers, I advance an understanding of the structure and general rubric of the Yogasūtras as a text that emphasizes process, the attainment of accomplishment/power, and ultimately the need for detachment from power. I further contend that this rubric may provide an insightful means for interpreting the Yogasūtras as an authoritative and informative text for Yoga in modern times. The teaching tradition of Krishnamacharya is notable for its effort to revive Yoga and the Yogasūtras within India and for an international audience. However, the core concept of detachment, while prominent throughout the Yogasūtras, appears to be at odds with the modern tradition, which emphasizes attachment oriented goals like health and well-being. Thus, I introduce a comparative study of detachment in the work of the 18th century Jesuit, Jean Pierre de Caussade, in order to further consider the dialectic between detachment, action, and love. The practice of Comparative Theology is perhaps most effective at creating a new light with which the individual can freshly examine her own tradition. The comparison between Caussade, Krishnamacharya, and the Yogasūtras highlights the role of devotion in relation to detachment and offers particular challenges and points for further consideration for the on-going tradition of Yoga in modern times.