ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Murty evaluates Mircea Eliade's thesis that there are similarities and differences between Yoga and psychoanalysis, between Yogic insight and other types of intuition, between samādhi and hypnosis, Haṭha Yoga and athletics, and Yoga and Shamanism. Murty argues that in the Yoga philosophy, the subconscious is not merely libido; “it is the source of egoistic intentions and acts.” Yoga teaches various techniques of controlling the subconscious through asceticism and other practices which could unify the various states of consciousness. He agrees with Eliade in saying that samādhi is not just a state of trance, but a “trans-consciousness where freedom is experienced, and the knowledge of unity and bliss is recovered.” Hatha Yoga is not just athletics but attempts to transmute the human body into a divine body as a means to achieve its goal. The Shamanic practice of trying to abandon one's body and go through spiritual journeys in trance is not found in Yoga. Eliade according to Murty presents an unparalleled account of Yoga and its relationship to Vedāntism–Brāhminism, Tantra and aboriginal faiths in India. Eliade's account, however, does not question whether the objectives Yoga aims at are desirable or possible.
