Paper short abstract:

The paper explores ascetic technologies within the raja yoga-pedagogy of the Swedish Theosophical Society (Point Loma) during the first decades of the 20th century.

Paper long abstract:

During the first years of the 20th century adherents of the Theosophical Society (Point Loma) developed a system of pedagogy which they called raja yoga. Only tangentially connected to historical yoga-traditions, raja yoga was presented as a way of teaching that would reform contemporary forms of education and serve as an antidote to the social ills of the period. Raja yoga-education combined traditional subjects like math and history with a heavy focus on arts, crafts and exercise. Raja yoga also emphasized ascetic practices presented as a strategy for controlling or destroying the lower self, which was understand as the source of each individuals’ selfish desires and bodily passions. The paper focuses on the Swedish reception of raja yoga and how the ascetic aspects of the system was conceived and sometimes practiced by members of the Theosophical Society in early 20th century Sweden.