100 books like Maya

The most insightful guide to the best-known text about yoga philosophy. Among other things, it explains why yoga isn't all about "eight limbs", since the main technique is one-pointed focus and physical contortions are later inventions. Patañjali’s pithy one-liners are hard to interpret without more context. Instead of filling in the gaps to fit modern assumptions, Bryant draws on traditional commentaries to clarify meanings. 

Perhaps the most relevant traditional text to a modern practitioner, presenting yoga as a way to act wisely in everyday life. Its teachings are accessibly conveyed by an accurate translation, interspersed with commentary that breaks up the text into manageable sections. Although its title means “God’s song,” it describes the divine in a variety of ways, from the fruits of meditation to loving kindness. Sutton’s clear explanations allow for a range of interpretations. 

A compendium of extracts from yogic texts, exploring how practices vary in different traditions, and how they developed over 2,000 years. Encyclopaedically written, with detailed notes, its well-structured format makes it easy to dip into. Each chapter covers one part of practice, from definitions of yoga to specific techniques, with introductory essays providing an overview. An essential reference guide.

Reflections on a quest to find truth as a wandering mystic. Agehananda (whose name means "homeless bliss") was born in Austria and posted to India in World War II. He later joined an order of yogis and travelled the country asking awkward questions. This got him into trouble, and he wound up renouncing monastic life to become an academic in upstate New York. This book recounts a spiritual journey that’s also sharply intellectual. A mind-expanding read.

This book provides a historical overview of yoga philosophy and psychology and is a great introduction to the study of yoga. It was originally written in French by Mircea Eliade, who became the dean of Religious Studies all over the world, for decades training graduate students at the University of Chicago. The book is now a little dated on certain topics such as tantra and the yogic practices of Buddhism. Nevertheless, it stands as the preëminent classic in the field of yoga studies. It has a bouncy but elegant style and has been a favorite in the courses I have taught on yoga at the University of Texas at Austin.

While a student in India in his early twenties, Eliade had an affair with the daughter of his Sanskrit teacher, the renowned and august scholar, Surendranath Dasgupta. There is apparently a novel by Eliade in Romanian about this and another… show more.

Katherine Russel Rich, who had spent 20 years as a magazine editor (and just as long as a cancer survivor: recounted brilliantly in her first book, The Red Devil: To Hell with Cancer—and Back), started studying Hindi because she needed a new language to describe her life during the messy process of remaking herself as an artistic rather than commercial writer. Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake in Another Language is a memoir of the year she spent in the ancient city of Udaipur, where she lived with a local family and attended a Hindi language school. 

This personal story is combined with fascinating information about second-language acquisition, as well as the profiles of various Americans and Europeans who made a home in India as a teacher, aid-worker, scholar, spiritual seeker, or in the case of one memorable character, a fortune/husband seeker. At times hilarious, other times heartbreaking, this is… show more.

A major part of upgrading your health involves upgrading your thinking, and that is what I learned from this book. My eyes were opened to common thought patterns that were holding me back and provided significant boosts to my mindset and ability to remain objective in the face of stress and emotion.

I truly loved this book and the deep insights.

I’m convinced that anyone working in the field of yoga needs to read this book. Singleton offers a sweeping overview of yoga history, and it’s never boring or dull. Instead, it’s riveting. His historical overview helps readers understand how key yogis and yoginis shaped modern yoga, and he shows that cultural movements in India helped yoga become what it is in our modern world. I was amazed to discover some of the fascinating roots of yoga, including how much gymnastics and physical movement culture from India and Europe influenced modern poses. It’s a book that reinvigorated my love for teaching yoga and being a part of the beautiful culture of yoga. 

This book opened my mind to the possibility of spiritual superpowers and the wealth of wisdom that lives in the ancient spiritual traditions of the world.

A little on the dense side, this amazing book blew my mind as I felt like I was transported in time to study at the feet of great masters. I was amazed by stories of miracles and incredible gifts of consciousness that had otherwise seemed only the stuff of movies and fiction.

The images were so compelling to me that I could not stop reading it. It felt like a course in deep metaphysics. And it was all a way of sharing the life story of a master teacher I truly admire and want to know everything about.

I have to say, on top of all this, it felt familiar, easy, and like a beautiful world to immerse in.

I love beautiful things and have been able to share beautiful things with my students with the help of Martha Selby’s translations and discussions of love poetry in three languages: Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil.

This book explores the subtle joys and sorrows of love–love shared and love thwarted, love enduring and love grown stale, love that is playful and love that is cruel. The women’s voices, in particular, leap off the page. Readers are invited to feel the ways that these ancient poems still resonate, as well as to discern the specificity and distinctiveness of these Indian conceptions.