Christopher Key Chapple 
Yoga and the Luminous [PDF ebook] 
Patañjali’s Spiritual Path to Freedom

Winner of the 2008 Rajinder and Jyoti Gandhi Book Award for Excellence in Dharma Studies presented by Taksha Institute



In
Yoga and the Luminous, a book that emerges from more than thirty years of practice, study, and reflection, Christopher Key Chapple addresses the need for an accessible explanation of Yoga’s difficult philosophy and its applications in daily life. Yoga practice takes an individual on an inward journey, and through Yoga, one enters a rarefied state of consciousness, a transparency and luminosity described by its great philosopher Patañjali as being ‘like a clear jewel.’ Exploring Yoga through the prism of practice, Chapple begins with a historical overview of the many Yogic traditions in Indian religions. He continues with Yoga practice and the philosophy of Sāṃkhya, and then, in step-by-step fashion, he brings the reader to an understanding of the ethics of Yoga, the role of movement and breath, and the processes of concentration and meditation. Finally, building on the root metaphor of luminosity and light, Chapple explains the applications of Yoga in daily life.




Yoga and the Luminous also includes a word-by-word translation of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra, the foundational text of Yoga philosophy and a system of ethical practice and bodily purification. The translation is accompanied by an analysis that traces key ideas through the text, such as the reversal of mental and sensory outflows and the theme of spiritual discernment. Chapple also gives special attention to the feminine in the description of Yoga practices.

Table of Content

Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

1. The Yoga Tradition

I. The Practice of Yoga

2. Sāmkhya Philosophy and Yoga Practice

3 Precepts and Vows in Yoga and Jainism

4. Imitation of Animals in Yoga Tradition: Taming the Sacred Wild through Āsana Practice

5. Patañjali on Meditation: Undoing the Thinking Self

II. Yoga and Liberation

6. Luminosity and Yoga

7. Living Liberation in Sāmkhya and Yoga

III. Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra

8.Approaching the Yoga Sūtra

9. The Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali: Continuous Text and Translation

10. Translation Methodology and Grammatical Analysis

11. “Samādhi pāda”

12. “Sādhana pāda”

13. “Vibhūti pāda”

14. “Kaivalya pāda”

IV. Interpreting Yoga

15. Reading Patañjali without Vyāsa

16. The Use of the Feminie Gender in Patañjali’s Description of Yogic Practices

17. Contemporary Expressions of Yoga

Notes
References
Index of Sanskrit Terms
Index

About the author

Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University. He is the author or editor of many books, including
Reconciling Yogas: Haribhadra’s Collection of Views on Yoga and
Ecological Prospects: Scientific, Religious, and Aesthetic Perspectives, both also published by SUNY Press.