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Ian Whicher is a professor in religion at the University of Manitoba. His interests include the religious and philosophical thought of India, Hinduism, the Yoga Tradition. He is the author of The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga (SUNY 1998).
This paper challenges interpretations of Yoga that have misrepresented Patanjali's philosophical outlook as being radically dualistic, isolationistic, and world-denying. Drawing from classical texts, it will be argued that Yoga is a balanced integration of the spiritual and material dimensions of life/self. Yoga does not advocate the abandonment or condemnation of the world but rather supports a stance that enables one to live more fully in the world without being enslaved by worldly identification. Yoga can be seen thus to incorporate a clarity of awareness with the integrity of being and action.