Yoga and Māyā in the Bhāgavata-purāṇa

Among Purānic literature, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa has been most influential, both in intellectual circles and in popular Hinduism. The Bhāgavata offers a unique form of yoga that is indebted to earlier texts, such as the Mahābhārata and Patañjali’s Yoga-sūtra, but is nevertheless distinct from them in an important way—the Bhāgavata blends its characteristic emotional bhakti with the otherwise staid practice of yoga. This paper argues that the shift from the normative bhakti of the Mahābhārata to the emotional bhakti of the Bhāgavata is made possible primarily through the concept of yoga-māyā. The paper examines the relationship between yoga, the yogī, yoga-māyā, and yogeśvara in the two texts, and shows that without māyā, the intensity of the emotional yoga between the devotee and Kṛṣṇa found in the Bhāgavata cannot take place. While non-dualist Vedānta philosophy often sees māyā as a negative force, this paper argues the Bhāgavata affirms just the opposite – the devotee’s place under the veil of māyā is a desirable situation as it allows for the experience of intimate love.

Gopal Gupta is currently pursuing a D.Phil. in Hindu Studies at the University of Oxford.