The medieval vernacular (non-Sanskrit) traditions of yoga represent an aspect of Hinduism that to date has received much less scholarly attention than classical and contemporary Hinduism. Gordan Djurdjevic here brings together a representative selection of medieval Hindi poetry attributed to the legendary guru Gorakhnath. Gorakhnath is famed as the founder of the influential order of the Nath yogis, who are credited with the development of hatha yoga. The poetry gathered in the collection, known as The Sayings of Gorakh Bani, reflects this worldview. Its major thematic concerns relate to the practice of yoga, engagement with the various chakras within the body, and the attempts to reverse the flow of seminal fluid, by which process yogis believe the state of immortality may be reached. These often-enigmatic texts on the one hand provide a criticism of religious authority based on bookish knowledge, while on the other hand they celebrate yogic engagement with the subtle body and its centers of occult energy and miraculous powers. Sayings of Gorakhnath offers translations or the complete sabad and pad sections from the Gorakh Bani, the two largest sections in the collection. Some additional texts from the collection are also provided. Translations are preceded by an introduction and accompanied by notes, which contextualize and elucidate the subject matter.

About the Author
Gordan Djurdjevic holds a PhD from the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is co-editor, with Henrik Bogdan, of the collection of critical essays Occultism in a Global Perspective; and the author of Masters of Magical Powers, and India and the Occult. Djurdjevic teaches as a Sessional Instructor in the Department of Humanities at Simon Fraser University.

Reviews
This annotated English translation of the Gorakh Ban-&i unlocks the world of the subtle body and yogic philosophy that has been influencing people, ideas, and social structures for centuries. This is a world that would remain closed to a vast majority of people had the Sayings of Gorakhnat-&h not so clearly and compellingly brought these challenging verses to the attention of the wider public. * CHRISTINE MARREWA-KARWOSKI, The Journal of Religion *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199977673
Author Gordan Djurdjevic
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 246mm * 160mm * 18mm