YOGA AND AESTHETIC PHILOSOPHY.



Aesthetic philosophy is the study of sensuous experience, how we judge beauty, and how this affects our understanding of reality. 


"The term 'aesthetics,' which comes from the Greek word aesthesis ('perception,' was created in the middle of the eighteenth century by the German philosopher Alexander Baumgarten. 

He intended 'the science of sensory knowledge,' yet the word was rapidly restricted to a specific area of sensory knowledge and regarded as 'the science of sensory beauty.'" Cooper, 1997, p. 1. 

Aesthetic appreciation, which is based on sensory processing, is critical for how physical yoga is used to discern material reality, but it also has implications for understanding the transcendent. 

The aesthetics of current physical yoga practice are examined here by comparing and contrasting two primary technical approaches: one that works with approximation stillness and the other that tries to achieve continuous fluid movement. 


The possibilities and propositions of yoga, which are founded on stillness, are well-represented in the literary canon, yet the exact strategies for achieving them are unclear. 


There is also a lot of literature on the nature of "activity," which has an impact on how yogic movement might be done. 


Stillness is often connected with asana and movement with vinyasa in contemporary yoga, and these words will be used interchangeably throughout to indicate which of these techniques is being explored. 


The historical concepts of yoga are undeniably essential, yet they may become an impediment to the live growth of yoga's practices and philosophy if they are examined without caution. 

Ancient writings' aphoristic form promotes interpretation, but these interpretations seem to be based on the idea that the serious issues yoga presents have already been fully resolved. 



Physical yoga discoveries are a necessary and ongoing search for new perspectives, informed by fresh and provocative information and subject to constant modification. 


This philosophical perspective provides the writers' experiences and understanding of yoga practice and teaching (since the 1970s). 


It presents a theory to explain these sensations and investigates them via a range of aesthetic and historical reflections on the nature of reality (later chapters give ways and strategies to research it). 

The mystical, old, and complicated philosophic traditions associated to yoga are rife with speculation and remain unsolved. 


Rather than abandoning the teachings of earlier generations of yogis, the aesthetic philosophy is a method of making sense of this intriguing argument from a contemporary, Western, scientific viewpoint.




References & Further Reading: 



Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja, Sri Srimad and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Pure Bhakti: Bhajana-rahasya, 2nd Edition. New Delhi: Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, 2015.

Birch, Jason. “The proliferation of asana-s in late-medieval yoga texts.” In Yoga and transformation historical and contemporary perspectives, edited by Karl Baier, Philipp A. Maas, and Karin Preisendanz, 101–180. Vienna: Vienna University Press, 2018.

Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. The dance of Siva: essays on Indian art and culture.
New York: Dover, 1985.

Cooper, David E. “Introduction.” In Aesthetics: the classic readings, edited by David E. Cooper, 1–10. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.

Eliade, Mircea. Yoga immortality and freedom, translated by Willard R. Trask. 
Princeton: Bollingen Foundation, Princeton University Press, 1958.

Herbermann, Charles, ed. “The Absolute.” In Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1913.

Jakubczak, Marzenna. “The purpose of non-theistic devotion in the classical Indian tradition of Sāmkhya-Yoga.” Argument, vol. 4 (January, 2014): 55–68.

Jaspers, Karl. The origin and goal of history, translated by Michael Bullock. London: Routledge, 1955.

Johnson, Williams J., translator. The Bhagavad Gita. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Lewis-Williams, David and David Pearce. Inside the neolithic mind. London: Thames and Hudson, 2005.

Mallinson, James and Mark Singleton. Roots of yoga. New York: Penguin Books, 2017.

McGilchrist, Iain. The master and his emissary: the divided brain and the making of the Western world. New Haven: Yale, 2009.

Rama, Swami. The science of breath. Delhi: The Himalayan Institute Press, 1979.

Rama, Swami. Sacred journey: living purposefully and dying gracefully. Delhi: Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, 2002.

Rees, Martin. Our cosmic habitat. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Sinh, Pancham. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika: Sanskrit text with English translation. New 
Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1915.

Sinha, Phulgenda. The Gita as it was: rediscovering the original Bhagavad Gita. LaSalle: Open Court, 1986.

Stark, Rodney and William Sims Bainbridge. The future of religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

Tarnas, Richard. The passion of the Western mind: understanding the ideas that have shaped our world view. London: Pimlico, 1991.

Vasu, Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra, translators. Siva Samhita. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1914–15.