Customer Reviews

A Yoga Dictionary of Basic Sanskrit Terms

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Do you think that a "dictionary" of Sanskrit must needs be a heavy and scholarly read? I thought so too, but I was so, so wrong! This brief exegesis of Hindu spiritual terminology--focusing on the language of Yoga-Sankhya-Vedanta--is a light, easy, and incredibly informative read. (You will find there is no Devanagari script here--the words are all transliterated phonetically into English. The emphasis is not on linguistics but on understanding the concepts behind the words.) When I dipped in, I found it was so alluring, that I promptly read it straight through from cover to cover, and that with casual ease over a few days. This is the first time I have **ever** found a "reference" book on any subject that could be read consecutively from beginning to end, and that most advantageously. Not only that, but the concepts, which could easily be buried under a veil of occultic-cum-spiritual jargon, or layers of linguistic niceties are, on the contrary, rendered with the most dazzling simplicity and clarity, in a way directly accessible to an intelligent, modern seeker. The author seems to possess not only a deep mastery of the range of Hindu spiritual thought pertaining to Yoga, but a gift of rendering it as clear as day for others. Reading this book was as pleasant as taking a walk in the park on a fresh Spring day. An amazing small gem of a book!

This is an excellent Sanskrit reference book. It is clear and consise, but not lacking in explanation. The definitions are not to technical and esoteric. They are clear, simple and to the point. The printing in the book is very clear, making for easy reading. I would recommend this book to students of yoga and Indian philosphy to gain an understanding of basic Sanskrit terms.

So far this book has been a great reference for an aspiring yogi. I was on the fence about getting more serious about the practice, but this book lends a great way to ease yourself into the study. I highly recommend it.

I was looking for a book that would give the Sanskrit for yoga poses (Warrior One, Warrior Two, Down Dog, etc.) and maybe some related terms like different kinds of breathing. What would have been even better would be a thumbnail picture of the pose.

This book does have the names of a few poses but does not contain many of the most common, mostly it has what appear to me as random terms like "A celestial woman born of Kashyapa...", the term for "Colon cleansing."

A quick Internet search yields: Virabhadrasana I = Warrior I. Virabhadrasana is not listed in the book, I did read through the book and never found a term for Warrior anything pose.

Even if the book did have the terms I was looking for the book is ordered by Sanskrit name not by English word so you have to sequentially search through the book to try and find a name for a pose or any other term. That's backwards of the way you write a translation book. The book does have an English word section but it just has a definition of mystical terms i.e. "Absolute" but without equivalent Sanskrit term.

The only value of this book for me is to help prevent others from making the mistake, of buying this book, that I did.

I cannot understand why the other reviews are positive.

If you are looking for a simple dictionary on sanskrit terms, this is it. The price is also reasonable.