Friday, May 24, 2019

Friday Book Report: Inside the Yoga Sutras



I began a 200-hour yoga teacher training course about a year and a half ago, but did not complete it because I got to have a hysterectomy instead.  I did get to keep the books, and the extra books I got because I am that kind of student.  I am working my way through those books.  Inside the Yoga Sutras by Reverend Jaganath Carrera is one of them.

It was a slog.

I understand that translation is difficult and I’ve been told that translating Sanskrit is particularly complex due to the way words interact with each other to change meaning.  Maybe so, but isn’t the job of the translator to make something more or less intelligible to the reader?  Especially if there is plenty of room for commentary, and the commentary is actually what the book is for?

I am sure I am hampered in my understanding by the unfortunate fact that I’m a white chick raised in a different spiritual tradition.  I don’t mean to imply that there is not something in the sutras worth finding; just that I’m not finding it in this particular commentary/translation.  It may be that I’m not ready to hear what this version has to say and I need the easy reader version for now.

It’ll be on the studio shelf if anyone wants to borrow it.

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