Yoga: Philosophy, Religion, Literature

Yoga: Philosophy, Religion, Literature is a Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies course taught by Alan Hodder.

This course requires instructor permission.

Course Description
In recent years, yoga has achieved unprecedented popularity in American culture as witnessed by the countless yoga classes, institutes, and clinics springing up around the country. Yet to a large degree, the "yoga" encountered in such venues reflects but one aspect of the classical system of yoga?namely, physical postures?and neglects other crucial features of a complex 3,000 year-old tradition that has manifested itself variously over the centuries in the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh religious communities. Classically, the purpose of yoga was primarily spiritual?to achieve liberation, enlightenment, or union with god, and only secondarily material and physical. The purpose of this class will be to introduce students to the rich philosophical, religious, and literary heritage of the yoga tradition, from Vedic times to the contemporary period. Among the sources to be considered will be the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, selected Puranas and Tantras, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Yoga-vasishtha, and several modern commentaries and scholarly analyses of the yoga tradition. To enrich understanding of this tradition the course will also incorporate some basic instruction in classical Sanskrit, the primary language of the yoga tradition.