Dear colleagues—
I’d like to draw your attention to the new issue of
History of Religions (vol. 60, no. 3 February 2021), which features my article
“Between Sound and Silence in Early Yoga: Meditation on ‘Om’ at Death.” Pushing back against Johannes Bronkhorst’s contention that Brahmans played no role in the formation of early yoga, this article examines a mantra-based contemplative praxis that was central to Brahmanical constructions of yoga from the late Veda up through Patañjali and beyond. I hope my contribution will be of interest to list-members—especially in light of the upcoming online symposium at the University of Alberta on Bronkhorst’s Greater Magadha hypothesis.
Yours,
Finnian
Abstract
This article examines the history of yoga with attention to mantras and sacred sound. It argues that meditation on the syllable “om” at the moment of death, which is central to the construction of early yoga, has roots in a much older technique from Vedic sacrifice called the “yoking” (yukti). In this rite, the practitioner employs a contemplative praxis with om in order to ascend to the sun and attain immortality. Sacrifice thus furnishes an ancient link in the chain of Indian soteriologies associated with om, death, and solar ascent—a genealogy that extends from the Vedas up through foundational yogic discourses. By examining the interplay between sound and silence in contemplative practices around the sacred syllable, this article aims to explain how om first became integral to early yoga, to emphasize the importance of mantra meditation in the formation of yogic traditions, and to invite a reappraisal of the role of Brahmans in the formation of early yoga.
Finnian M.M. GeretyVisiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
[Affiliated] Faculty of Contemplative Studies and Center for Contemporary South Asia
Brown University