In this landmark book, first published in English in 1958, renowned scholar of religion Mircea Eliade lays the groundwork for a Western understanding of Yoga. Drawing on years of study and experience in India, Eliade provides a comprehensive survey of Yoga in theory and practice from its earliest antecedents in the Vedas through the twentieth century.

A new introduction by David Gordon White provides invaluable insight into Eliade's life and work, highlighting the key moments in Eliade's academic and spiritual education, as well as the personal experiences that shaped his worldview. Yoga is not only one of Eliade's most important books, it is also his most personal--the only one to analyze a religious tradition that he had truly lived.

Translation of Le yoga: immortalite et liberte.

"This is . . . a book that will . . . whet the appetite of your intellect. It also offers the reader so much more insight into the tenets of yoga than the multitude of self-help books on meditation and how-to-do-yoga will ever give. In Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, Eliade analyzes in detail a religion and tradition that for years was his lifestyle. Get ready for some massive reading."---Minna Forsell, Metaspychology Online Reviews