SESSION #5: Vivekananda
We have reviewed a long timeline in previous sessions:
- The " ORIGINS ": Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (5th century) - which merits further study and a journey from the 5th to the 19th century... A busy time...
- A " RESURECTION ": Vivekananda: East meets West (Neo-Vedantism & Spiritism - Theosophy): the junction between a new history of Hinduism and Western Spiritism
The high mass of this resurrection: 1893 Parliament of Religions, Chicago
- The beautiful GROWTH and REVERSAL: Following in Vivekananda's footsteps, a variety of characters continued the journey into this new "cultic milieu".
1900 - 1940 Yogananda, Krishnamacharya, Swami Vishnudevananda (Sivananda), ...
1940 - 1960: proliferation of yoga masters, who heavily included bodywork.
60s: from the Beatles to the worldwide expansion of yoga-gym
To today: yoga issues & the oppressive, productivist modern society of even India's prime minister - Narendra Modi; often described as national-populist, anti-Muslim and xenophobic.
Small transition
A podcast I recommend as a complement to our last session: Very bad yoga
Preparation
Introduction
By way of introduction, I've tried my hand at a little video exercise. I hope you enjoy it...
10 min, I promise...
Vivekananda's journey
Lalita Kaplish, in a beautiful short history of modern yoga, full of beautiful photos and drawings, gives a very useful summary of Vivekananda's journey.
In reading mode, then, a slightly more informative version.
Click here
The speech
Remember that Vivekananda is a son of his century, studied with the English the sciences of the time and adjusts his discourse perfectly. This is not the way of the Vedas ;).
I recommend you listen to it in parts:
0' - 10': introduction and reincarnation
10' - 19: from Samsara (the hell of cause & effect) to Bliss & devotion
19' - end: Science, the defense of iconography, and the idyosynchrasy of religions.
Vivekananda's emptiness
Hagiographic" version.
Search
Choose a yoga teacher who has caught your eye and try to find out about his or her lineage: which masters, which teachers?
Then see if you land on one of the characters of our beautiful timeline.
And the Christmas gift: "I don't have enough money" Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training" - Myth #3
