Between Sound and Silence in Early Yoga

Meditation on "Om" at Death

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3975166
AutoresFinnian M M Gerety (0000-0002-1521-1797, John Brown University, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume60
Fascículo3
Páginas209-244
Data de publicação2021-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHistory of Religions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0018-2710 • E-ISSN: 1545-6935
EditoraUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/711944
OpenAlexW3157776783
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas26

This article examines the history of yoga with attention to mantras and sacred sound. It argues that meditation on the syllable “om” at the moment of death, which is central to the construction of early yoga, has roots in a much older technique from Vedic sacrifice called the “yoking” (yukti). In this rite, the practitioner employs a contemplative praxis with om in order to ascend to the sun and attain immortality. Sacrifice thus furnishes an ancient link in the chain of Indian soteriologies associated with om, death, and solar ascent—a genealogy that extends from the Vedas up through foundational yogic discourses. By examining the interplay between sound and silence in contemplative practices around the sacred syllable, this article aims to explain how om first became integral to early yoga, to emphasize the importance of mantra meditation in the formation of yogic traditions, and to invite a reappraisal of the role of Brahmans in the formation of early yoga

Aesthetics · Art · Contemplation · Hinduism · Literature · Mantra · Meditation · Ritualization · Sacrifice · Silence · Sociology · Theology · Vedas · Anthropology · History · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Study and Philosophy of Religion