Yoga între magic și mistic
Yoga between the magical and the mystical

Hermeneutical reflection and religious experience in the first Eliade

Summary/Abstract: The present paper addresses a frequently-asked question concerning the problematic relation between personal belief and scholarship in such fields as the History of Religions by focusing on Eliade’s early life and writings (1921–1936), specifically on his work on Yoga. Eliade’s interest in Yoga, of course, showcases his own personal spiritual quest. But it is also informed by his earlier readings and reflections on two polar aspects of the religious experience: the magical and the mystical. For Eliade these two categories provide not only a key to unlocking the conceptual and pragmatic dimensions of Yoga, but also the impetus for charting a systematic theory of religion. The last major expression of these early ideas can be seen in Yoga: Essai sur les origines de la mystique indienne (1936). Subsequently, Eliade’s thought on Yoga and religion develops along different lines, reaching its full expression in works published in Paris after 1945. In his later books on Yoga – Techniques du Yoga (1948), Le Yoga: Immortalité et liberté (1954) – the two-fold schema of the magical and the mystical no longer play a key hermeneutical role. Nonetheless, understanding this early phase of his work is crucial if we are to provide a comprehensive account of the development of his thought on Yoga. This early phase of his scholarly career and experiential transformation, marked by his trip to India, is also very important in order to understand the further developments of his ideas on History of Religions, as well as to evince the ground on which Eliade built his own – never confessed – private religious belief.

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