ABSTRACT
This chapter turns to the work of Henry Thomas Colebrooke, whose exposition of the Yoga Sūtras served as a gateway for European readers interested in Patañjali’s ideas. One person who found Colebrooke’s account unsatisfying was Wilhelm von Humboldt, as Humboldt thought that Colebrooke was mistaken in limiting the concept of Yoga to the work of Patañjali. The true meaning of Yoga, Humboldt argued, lies in the Bhagavad Gītā. The chapter works through Humboldt’s positive assessment of the Bhagavad Gītā, showing why he wanted to claim that its metaphysics is pantheistic, on the one hand, without reducing to nihilism, on the other hand. For Humboldt, the Bhagavad Gītā illustrates an Indian system of philosophy that upholds a concept of freedom.
