With knowledge he cracked open the shell of that egg, the mundane world: he realized the Three Knowledges, the Six Superknowledges, and the Four Analytical Knowledges. From conditioned existence, with its gain and greed, fame and honor, he had turned away.

“The Story of Shrona Koti-Karna,” The Heavenly Exploits: Buddhist Biographies from the Divyavadana (Clay Sanskrit Library)

“I exchange my life for words. Weak, uncertain currency.”

– Anna Kamienska (via proustitute, orig. aurai)

This article offers an interesting take on yoga’s origins. 

Though in the bigger picture, I don’t think the debunking invalidates anything. Even if the author’s claims are 100% accurate in a scholarly sense, is it not possible for a practice to be co-created across cultures and to have value for its practitioners? There are any number of things we do that transcend the myths of origin that some choose to assign to them.

Note: a comparable but infinitely better written and more nuanced article in the TLS recently, too, by the always-brilliant Hinduist Wendy Doniger.