39. Lubomír Ondračka | Yogic and Tantric Bodies

In this episode we speak with Lubomír Ondračka about his research
on conceptions of the body within yogic and tantric traditions.
We first discuss his background in chemical engineering and
studying Indology in the Czech Republic, and how his interest in
alchemy led him to India and the study of the Nāth yogis. We
discuss the various scholarly categories of the 'yogic body',
'tantric body', and the so-called 'subtle body' and weigh in on
their usefulness, as well as their components such as the cakras,
ādhāras, granthis, kuṇḍalaṇī, and more. We conclude the
conversation with a  preview of Ondračka's upcoming online
course, YS 124 | The Yogic Body.

Speaker Bio


Dr. Lubomír Ondračka is a publisher, independent researcher and
external lecturer at the Department of Philosophy and Religious
Studies, Charles University in Prague. He studied mathematical
modeling, nuclear physics, religious studies and Indology.
Although basically trained as a philologist (using material in
Sanskrit and both medieval and modern Bengali and Hindi), his
research is enriched by an anthropological perspective based on
his long stays in India (a total of seven years between
1996–2019). His research interests include the history of yoga
(especially haṭhayoga), tantrism, death and dying rituals in
Indian religions, and the culture and religion of Bengal.

His recent publications related to yoga include an encyclopedic
survey of haṭhayoga, an analysis of a Middle Bengali text on
tantric yoga entitled “The Garland of Bones”, a comprehensive
annotated bibliography of haṭhayoga for the Oxford Bibliographies
project, and a forthcoming overview of medieval yoga literature
written for the Oxford Handbook of Hindu Literature. Also
relevant to this course is his study “Transformation of the Body
through the Mastery of the Elements in Tantric Sources”, soon to
appear online first in the Oxford Handbook of Tantric
Studies. 



Links


YS 124 | The Yogic Body

https://cuni.academia.edu/LubomirOndracka