Yoga Also for the Godless by Sri M.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Penguin India

One common philosophical question regarding yoga is to what degree it is, in itself, religious. This has been argued by various sects from within Yoga, with some seeing Yoga without belief as oxymoronic and others arguing that the metaphysics of Yoga is essentially Samkhya (an atheistic philosophy.) Outsiders to Yoga have also had their say, as with the Roman Catholic Church telling its practitioners that the practice of Yoga is incongruent with that of Catholicism.

This book’s author takes on the question by examining what yoga is according to historic texts, specifically the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and then considering whether the practice that is laid out necessitates a belief in a deity, deities, or the supernatural. As one can tell from the title, Sri M (born Mumtaz Ali) argues that belief in divinity is not essential to the practice of Yoga.

Those who’ve read various commentaries on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras will find this book at best familiar and at worst just another set of Sutra commentaries. Sri M’s book is not just Yoga Sutra commentaries, but that does take up a fair amount of the page space. The early chapters focus more on the thesis question.

If you’re interested in the question of whether Yoga is inherently theistic, this is a fine book to investigate. It’s a quick read and draws heavily on sutras and scriptures (and, thus, is not just the author’s opinion.)

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