Demystifying Patanjali The Yoga Sutras

What happens as we grow spiritually? Is there a step-by-step process that everyone goes through—all spiritual seekers, including those of any or no religious persuasion—as they gradually work their way upward, until they achieve the highest state of Self-realization? About 2200 years ago, a great spiritual master of India named Patanjali described this process, and presented humanity with a clear-cut, step-by-step outline of how all truth seekers and saints achieve divine union. He called this universal inner experience and process “yoga” or “union.” His collection of profound aphorisms—a true world scripture—has been dubbed Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Unfortunately, since that time many scholarly translators with little or no spiritual realization have written commentaries on Patanjali's writings that have succeeded only in burying his pithy insights in convoluted phrases like “becomes assimilated with transformations” and “the object alone shines without deliberation.” How can any reader understand Patanjali's original meaning when he or she has to wade through such bewildering terminology? Thankfully, a great modern yoga master—Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the classic Autobiography of a Yogi—has cut through the scholarly debris and resurrected Patanjali's original teachings and revelations. Now, in Demystifying Patanjali, Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple of Yogananda, shares his guru's crystal clear and easy-to-grasp explanations of Patanjali's aphorisms. As Kriyananda writes in his introduction, “My Guru personally shared with me some of his most important insights into these sutras. During the three and a half years I lived with him, he also went with me at great length into the basic teachings of yoga. “I was able, moreover, to ask my Guru personally about many of the subjects covered by Patanjali. His explanations have lingered with me, and have been a priceless help in the [writing of this book].”

Bhakti is a remarkable feature and tendency of human existence having to do with one's devoted involvement with a person, object, deity, or a creative project. Bhakti and Philosophy aims to trace the larger meanings and roles of bhakti as it historically emerged in some of the well-known thought systems of India, such as Vedanta and Buddhism.

Kriyas are the constructive actions we contribute to our total wellness and enlightnment, as well as the transformative actions which spontaneously occur within us as the spiritual growth is experienced. Yoga can be defined as ` procedure , as practice

From the fall of Rome to the Renaissance almost nothing new was discovered. Man looked back to the great learning of classical civilization for inspiration: admiring their thinkers and architects but incapable of equaling them. In turn, those ancients looked back further, to a previous “Golden Age.†Why did civilization fall and then rise again? In 1920, the Indian Yogi Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic “Autobiography of a Yogi†, came to the United States with the answer. With his message of simple living and high thinking, he became the most popular speaker in the country. This short book deals with Yogananda and the New Age he described: Dwapara Yuga.

The Yogasutra is one of the most important works of Indian culture. The present book is an attempt of interpretation of the Yogasutras based on some special criteria adopted by the authros: (1) To use the traditional commentaries as auxiliaries, not as guides, with prudence and freedom, (2) To interpret those Sutras, in which Patanjali analyzes real phenomena, as what they actually are: descriptions of facts of experience. To such an end the authors have tried to have a clear idea of the phenomena to which Patanjali refers, and in this task they have found extremely useful the descriptions of their mystical experiences by Yogis of India and Christian mystics. The book includes the Sanskrit text of the Sutras and an English translation by the authors.

Instructor Swami Omkari Devananda presents a compilation of teachings that have been part of the Shambhava School of Yoga for years. Hatha yoga is beneficial in two ways. It improves the health of every bodily system and spiritually speaking, helps with the process of opening within and achieving a state of deep awareness. Each of the fivechapters offer a different levelof postures starting with the easiest and gradually increasing in difficulty. Each section has poses, meditation exercises, breathing exercises and daily gratitude practices.There are also specific recomendations for beginners, practitioners, teachers, and meditators, and those who are in recovery or need to recondition their bodies. Beautiful, full-color photos accompany each pose. Beginners to instructors will find yogic inspiration in these pages.

Human life requires a myriad of tools to manifest its full potential. In Mastery of the True Self -- The discipline of Love through Sadhana, Aradhana, and Prabhupati, you will learn how discipline can support you in your journey of self-manifestation and self-realization as a unique human being. Discipline becomes a tool for self-evaluation, self-acceptance, and self-projection. A tool that can produce substantial, predictable, and repeatable changes in your physiological systems and in your consciousness. Learning to view yourselves under the lens of discipline helps you to unveil those things that keep you from being truly who you are and living a conscious, healthy, and happy life. Understanding discipline is a prelude to exploring Sadhana, Aradhana, and Prabupati -- the three facets of the path towards your highest Self. In this study, Sadhana Singh invites us to delve deeper into the reasons why the human being, already perfect in creation, needs discipline to experience the true Self and be able to live life freely, with love and happiness. In this perspective, we expose ourselves to constant training in order to make our expression more effective, our communication more sophisticated and our true essence express itself. Led by Sadhana Singh's writings and experience, we come to understand that developing ourselves is a form of spiritual training that provides us with a clear and complete perception of ourselves, of our own personal circumstantial reality, and of our Infinite Reality. Mastery of the True Self: The Disciple of Love through Sadhana, Aradhana, and Prabhupati explores bit by bit the elementary parts of the gradual process of building a solid foundation for igniting our awareness and manifesting our true highest Self.

Tells how a devout young boy from a small village in the south of India grew to be the spiritual leader of many people around the world.

The inspiring story of a young man's quest for God and self-realisation through Babaji's Kriya Yoga. Marshall Govindan is the author of "Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition" and a long-time disciple of Babaji, the immortal Himalayan Yogi. From early years of seeking, through ascetic trials in India and Sri Lanka, filled with adventure and difficulties, the author shares a rare story with unusual candour and courage. His inspiring story provides rare insights into a little-known world.