Comments on: Albert Einstein As Yoga Sage

By: Bob Weisenberg

Bob Weisenberg — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:53:00 +0000

OH is that fascinating, Tobye. Please let me know what you learn. I’ve got the Issaacson biography, but haven’t started it yet.

By: yogi Tobye

yogi Tobye — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:16:35 +0000

I’m trying to find the source, but I read somewhere that Einstein was actually very much a yogi. He hung out with some serious yoga headz back in the day and studied quite a lot of yoga philosophy…

By: YogaforCynics

YogaforCynics — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:15:58 +0000

Oh yeah, I have this cheap mass market paperback of the Upanishads that was published in the 70′s …which has parts that I find kinda trippy, and some great lines like “what is within is also without and what is without is also within”…but, overall, I find it hard to get anything out of it but that old time religion…so, will certainly check out the Easwaran one…

By: Bob Weisenberg

Bob Weisenberg — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:26:49 +0000

YfC, I particularly recommend the Eknath Easwaran Upanishads http://bit.ly/71S82V for you. He was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature in India before coming to the U.S.

By: YogaforCynics

YogaforCynics — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:12:59 +0000

Oh, and yeah, I get what you mean by “instant metaphorization”…though there are certain metaphors (particularly the big one: “God”) I have mountains of troubles with…

By: YogaforCynics

YogaforCynics — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:08:50 +0000

I actually have read Desikachar’s, which I found a lot more palatable than Swami Satchidinanda’s…though I didn’t exactly swoom over it…will have to look at it again to say anything more than that…and haven’t read the Gita in quite some time (though I did enjoy Ram Dass’s book…which kind of offered a whole potpourri of interpretations all at once, ranging from stuff that really resonated with me to the most utterly out-to-lunch and/or fundamentalist…whatever…honestly, if he’d been sitting next to me, I’d've been tempted to smack him upside the head when he repeated the old canard (and calling card of every corrupt abusive guru, bishop ,or cult leader) that, once someone’s reached enlightenment, he can do whatever he wants…).

By: Bob Weisenberg

Bob Weisenberg — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:44:09 +0000

YogaforCynics, No problem. I’m glad I asked. We love your rants. Don’t filter them too much!

As for the ancient Yoga texts, the right translation and modern commentary are essential to avoiding the “dogmatic religious language”. See my recommendations at RECOMMENDED READING http://wp.me/PlUox-F

It’s also critical to develop the skill I’ll call “instant metaphorization” of the text. (Knowing you, you probably get that without further explanation.)

By: YogaforCynics

YogaforCynics — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:19:41 +0000

Bob,
No, I didn’t think that’s what you were doing, and I apologize if my comment came off as if I did think that, or like I was criticizing or trying to start an argument with you (and, actually, looking at it again, I can certainly see how you’d read it that way…oops…many of my blog posts start as thoughtless, pissed off rants as well, which is why I edit and rewrite endlessly in order to get that mellow, stream of a good-hearted consciousness kind of tone I’ve become known for…). Actually, I don’t think I disagree with anything in your post…though, as far as the ancient yoga texts go, I’d say I don’t know if I agree or disagree (for now I’ll say that I’d like to read them in a way that corresponds with what you’ve written here…but have trouble getting past what seems to me like a lot of dogmatic religious language).
Other than that, I just kind of springboarded off of your post to express irritation at what others have written or said on the subject (plus I was already really irritated by something completely unrelated I’d just read…creating what might be called a karmic snowball…though I certainly wouldn’t use a term like that).
Anyway, sorry again for the unloading my angst in your general direction, particularly since I really liked this post.

By: Bob Weisenberg

Bob Weisenberg — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:07:03 +0000

YogaforCynics. Since you use the term “many who misappropriate Einstein”, it’s not clear whether you think I am doing so or not.

So for now, I’ll just say I don’t see anything in your comment that is inconsistent with the ancient Yoga texts. Before I try to go further, tell me, do you?

(I don’t see anywhere in my blog where I mention or even imply “literal-minded spiritual belief system” or “immortality of the individual” or “ethics” or “superhuman authority” or “positive attitudes”)

By: YogaforCynics

YogaforCynics — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:40:09 +0000

Good quotes…though, in terms of “Einstein spirituality” it should be mentioned that, contrary to the many who misappropriate Einstein (and physics in general) for their spiritual agendas, his “true religiousness” had little in common with any literal minded spiritual belief-system, as he also made clear: “I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it”…just as the word “positive,” as used in physics, has absolutely nothing to do with with way it’s used in discussing “positive attitudes,” nor does Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle have anything to do with looking at things in a “positive” or “negative” way…