a long line of yoga dilettantes

If Hegel is deserving of some praise for his Teutonic blessing of Indian philosophy, and the Yoga Sutra specifically, as worthy of admission onto the stage of the history of “true” philosophy, he must nonetheless be faulted on another account. Here I am speaking of the ease with which he established himself as an expert on Yoga philosophy on the basis of his reading of Colebrooke’s short 1823 study. With no reading ability in Sanskrit and no access to the primary source material he was interpreting, he nonetheless felt himself authorized to pontificate on the (in)validity of Yoga philosophy as philosophy. As we will see, he was but the first in a long line of dilettantes, both Western and Indian, who have interpreted the Yoga Sutra on the basis of little or no understanding as means to furthering their own agendas.

tiantai self-recontextualization

linked mentions for "a long line of yoga dilettantes":

1. Clippings from “The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: a Biography” by David Gordon White

   A comprehensive guide into Hindu texts in the beginning of the Chapter 2 Ramachandra Chaudhari became Mahatma Ramchandraji Maharaj, cosharer of the