The Importance of Yoga Philosophy with Dr. Shyam Ranganathan

Summary: Having a responsible and respectful yoga practice involves having an understanding of the importance of the philosophy. Dr. Shyam Ranganathan joins us to share his expertise and insight on philosophy, compassion, colonization, and...

Show Notes

Summary:

Having a responsible and respectful yoga practice involves having an understanding of the importance of the philosophy. Dr. Shyam Ranganathan joins us to share his expertise and insight on philosophy, compassion, colonization, and more. Shyam is a researcher, author, translator, scholar, and teacher of philosophy. He's the author of two scholarly books, the editor of two volumes, translator of one philosophical text with commentary and the author of numerous papers in philosophy. He's also the member of the department of philosophy in York center for Asian research at York university.

Topics:

[2:20] Why yoga philosophy is so important

[4:29] What Shyam considers the main focus of yoga

[5:33] Thoughts on sovereignty

“So when you act, you're acting with greater, greater clarity and less confusion about why you're doing what you're doing, that makes a huge difference with respect to any type of activity”

[9:00] Yoga as a disciplined practice

[12:55] Shyam on his translation of the sutras

[16:59] Differences in South Asia and the Western traditions

[18:01] How Shyam approaches those who challenge his teachings

[20:00] Egos and arguments

“We can either treat everything as an autobiographical fact, in which case we understand everything in terms of how we see the world; or we understand ourselves as responsible for organizing and relating to the things that we can contemplate and think about…that's yoga.”

[23:53] Taking responsibility for our thoughts

[25:13] Having grace through yoga

[27:13] Interpretation VS explication

[36:55] Dropping into others’ lived experiences

“I shouldn't need to be you to see it. I should be able to see it from where I am. So then the question is, if it's real and I'm not seeing it, what's stopping me?”

[42:08] Developing compassion through yoga

[50:56] Do you need facts to make decisions?

[57:13] Shyam’s thoughts on colonization of yoga

Connect with Shyam:

kriya@yogaphilosophy.com
yogaphilosophy.com

https://www.instagram.com/yogaphilosophy_com/

Shyam’s Books (affiliate links)

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra (Penguin Classics)

https://amzn.to/3cezYWH

Ethics and the History of Indian Philosophy

https://amzn.to/3ceAaVV

Hinduism (Investigating Philosophy of Religion)