Dennis LittrellYoga: Sacred and Profane: (Beyond Hatha Yoga)

I found Dennis via one of his outstanding reviews last week. And so those reviews led me to this, his book. So far I believe this to be one of THE best books I have ever read. And boy I have read lots. So 5 stars Dennis and thank you for the book and the way you write.

This is a must-read book for anyone who wishes to advance their understanding and practice of yoga beyond aesthetic gymnastic poses and the cult of the body-beautiful. The author helpfully discusses the pros and cons of various schools of yoga within their traditional context as means of transcendence.Unfortunately the author sells himself and the reader somewhat short by summarily dismissing the work of B. S. Rajneesh (later also known as Osho). It is accepted perhaps even expected that an objective observer might entertain some reservations regarding Rajneesh's Cult of Neo- Sannyasins. However, is it reasonable for a published author to arrive at hostile conclusions regarding the value and relevance of a body of work on the basis of familiarity with one book and a sixty minute television documentary?If for instance the author had taken the time and trouble to read Rajneesh's Ten Volume Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Yoga: The Alpha and Omega) then he might not have left his readers with the impression that Samadhi (with or without seed) is the ultimate goal of Yoga. Kaivalya is in fact the destination of the Yogi and Samadhi and the other seven limbs of Ashtanga Yoga are the means to get there.The author might have gathered as much from a deeper understanding of Aleister Crowley's written work on Yoga wherein Crowley suggests that there may come a time when Samadhi is no part of the business of being a mystic...To be fair the Ten Volumes of "Yoga the Alpha and the Omega" are nowadays hard to find and expensive to purchase but "The Book of Secrets" is a lucid exposition by Rajneesh of Tantric Lore and it is still widely available. It is regrettable that the author did not access these classics of Eastern Esotericism before going into print with his own thoughts regarding these two distinct means of attainment.In sum the Buddha himself did not realise Nirvana despite countless occurrences of Samadhi. It is not likely that the Buddha would have been able to teach for decades after realising Nirvana if his final enlightenment depended upon remaining blissed-out in Samadhi whilst sitting in Padmasana.Finally, if I may offer an all too imperfect analogy: let us imagine that Yama, Niyama, Pranayama and Pratyahara represent an aircraft's runway for take-off and let us assume that Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi represent the flight of this aircraft then Kaivalya represents the landing-strip.