Yoga in cyberspace? The web pages of yoga studios in Turku/Åbo

In this article, I will offer some comments on the websites of the nine yoga schools which are active in the city of Turku/Åbo at the present moment (see sources for the links). This work is part of a larger, ongoing research project on yoga in this city within the PCCR or Post Secular Society and a Changing Religious Landscape Centre of Excellence research project at the Department of Comparative Religion, Åbo Akademi University

Defiled and deified: profane and sacred bodies in Caitanya Vaisnava theology

It is well known that there is no dearth of stereotypes when it comes to religion and the body. Christianity is a body-negative religion, Judaism is body-positive, ascetic practices automatically lead to a negative view of the body, and Eastern religions are more positive towards the body than Christianity. Such truisms are of little value. Still, they are voiced often enough to warrant occasional replies. In this article one instance is highlighted, from within the Hindu tradition, that offers an interesting take on how the conception of the body may vary greatly within one and the same religious tradition. Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism, also known as Bengali or Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, is the devotional movement of Kṛṣṇa-bhakti begun by Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (1486–1533) in Bengal, India. Kṛṣṇadāsa’s work may be used as an entrance into the theology of Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism. What, then, does Kṛṣṇadāsa have to say about the body? The body may be anything, from an obstacle to divine service, to its instrument, both in this life and the next. It is also an object of worship—in fact, by far most of the instances of words in Sanskrit or Bengali indicating body in the texts of Kṛṣṇadāsa refer to the forms of Caitanya and Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, that are described with loving, painstaking detail. The differences between these types of bodies may or may not be apparent to an outsider, and indeed, the body need not be physical at all. This example from the Hindu tradition, highlights some of the complexities inherent in terms such as ‘the body’, or ‘body-negative spirituality’

The branding, marketing and embodied practice of contemporary yoga

Editorial for the special issue on The Branding, Marketing and Embodied Practice of Contemporary Yog

Bhaktivedanta Swami’s rhetoric of violence

This article puts a part of Bhaktivedanta Swami’s rhetoric of violence into a larger context that has previously been neglected: that of early- to mid-twentieth century Bengali politics. The author also pinpoints some other factors behind them, such as his literal reading of the Gaudiya Vaishnava scriptures and his flair for drama. In this, the author has not tried to exonerate Bhaktivedanta Swami for his more radically politically incorrect opinions. There is no reason why in the 1970s even an Indian could believe, for example, that Hitler killed Jews because they financed his enemies. Rather, the author tries to begin broadening the picture of Bhaktivedanta Swami by looking at him as a product both of his spiritual predecessors and of his more worldly background. Seeing Bhaktivedanta Swami not only as the great ‘transcendental’ founder-acharya of ISKCON, but also as an elderly gentle­ man, at times erring on relative, human issues, is a viewpoint shared by many ISKCON intellectuals today. For some apologists within the movement, however, taking this path is seen as exceedingly risky, and they fight it vehemently, claiming that the entire future of the movement hinges on being faithful to all the words of its founder