Performing the Yogasutra: Towards a Methodology for Studying Recitation in Modern Hatha Yoga

“In the following I will explore various methodological approaches to studying recitation and chant, with particular focus on recitation of the Yogasutra in the context of modern yoga and the schools often grouped under the heading of Viniyoga. Viniyoga are the teachings and practices primarily associated with the South Indian Brahmin Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) and his son T.K.V. Desikachar (b. 1938). Although the epithet has lately been abandoned by Desikachar it is still in use by many of his students. For our purposes, suffice it to say that I take “Viniyoga” to be an appropriate name for a family of schools descending from Krishnamacharya and Desikachar, which are growing rapidly in popularity. It is one of the styles of modern yoga in which the use of the Yogasutra (YS) is of central importance, being employed as a constant reference for practices and various forms of intellectual guidance. In Viniyoga, the YS is recited using techniques of Vedic chant common in the South Indian environment, which considerably elevates the status of the YS vis-à-vis the Vedas.(1) The historical background to this has to do with Krishnamacharya’s and Desikachar’s own affiliation with Sri Vaisnavism. Traditionally, this form av devotionalism (the lineage being traced to Nathamuni, claimed ancestor by Krishnamacharya, via Ramanuja to Vedantadesika) has neither regarded YS as being of central importance, nor has it engaged with practices typically associated as a whole with the YS, i.e. Patañjali’s “Ashtanga Yoga”, or eightfold practice. On many accounts, then, are we witnessing innovation, both in terms of the role played by reciting YS (using Vedic chanting techniques), as well as the way in which the devotionalism of Sri Vaisnavism (i.e. bhakti-yoga) is coupled with an unprecedented emphasis on practicing Ashtanga Yoga (Nevrin 2005), and then as influenced by the developments of Hatha Yoga, i.e. extended use of postures (asana) and breath control (pranayama). Also, the use of chant and recitation is apparently becoming more and more common in contemporary religious settings, and thus a theoretical and methodological framework would perhaps prove useful to other contexts and studies than my own…”