Johannes Bronkhorst - The Psychology of Yoga

Both classical Yoga and the Buddhist practices that influenced it were concerned with a psychological transformation of the practitioner. Psychology and neuroscience have recently discovered that irreversible psychological transformations can result from what is called memory reconsolidation: in both humans and in other animals the emotional aspects of memories can be permanently modified during a short period (but only during that short period) after the reactivation of those memories; those emotional aspects (unlike the memories themselves) are henceforth erased. To my knowledge, no attempt has yet been made to understand the processes described in the relevant early texts in the light of this new discovery. And yet, certain passages lend themselves most readily to such an interpretation. My lecture will show this.

My findings are, and can only be, preliminary. Hopefully they will illustrate that an awareness of recent scientific developments may be helpful and occasionally necessary for the interpretation of ancient texts.

Johannes Bronkhorst is Emeritus Professor in Sanskrit at the University of Lausanne. His work so far has been on the history of Indian thought and the psychology of religion.