ABSTRACT

Mircea Eliade wrote extensively about the centrality of light as the constant religious image appearing throughout the many traditions he studied from around the world over a period of decades. In reading the Yoga S≠tra, the core text of the tradition that defined Eliade as a leading scholar of the history of religions, themes of light and luminosity pervade the text, peering out in each of the book’s four sections. This essay will follow Patañjali’s treatment of light, lightness, and clarity as a constant root metaphor for the process of yogic attainment. In the process, I will be responding to the theme question of this book: Can yoga, as a philosophical system, be seen as providing an avenue for active engagement with the world without abrograting its goal of stilling the mind? Can nirodha and kaivalyam be seen as compatible with an ongoing relationship with the fluctuations of the mind?