YOGA AS SCIENCE.doc (original) (raw)

The subject of yoga is of major importance in Swami Vivekananda’s teaching, in terms of its presence throughout his whole work, in terms of the originality of his presentation of the subject, and, finally, in terms of the amount of time and energy he devoted to it. Its tremendous and special importance to the West hinges on the fact that, despite the development in the West over the past 400 years or so of a rather fine perennial and mystical philosophy, we have failed to develop methods to make it living, dynamic and powerful enough to be the backbone of our culture. How to do that, I believe, is the question of the hour; and to my mind, much of the burgeoning New Age movement is motivated by the search for ways and means to actually experience what Spirit or higher states of consciousness really is. No doubt the search of the New Agers is muddled and confused and at times downright ludicrous and indecent; but behind it there is a tremendous earnestness that deserves to be treated with respect and a genuine effort to provide workable solutions to the spiritual problems of contemporary society.

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