Yoga as a Universal Science

by Swami Krishnananda

The present volume is the outcome of a series of extempore lectures given by the Swami Krishnanda to the Fourth Batch of trainees under the three months' Yoga Course run by the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy of the Divine Life Society. The verbatim transcription of Swamiji's taped lectures has been subjected to minimum, essential editing so as to leave the free flow of Swamiji's discourses unimpaired. It is hoped that the present volume will be received by the world of spiritual seekers.

Table of Contents:

• Publisher's preface
• God, Man and the Universe
• Man's Separation from God
• The Mind and Its Functions
• Preliminary Instructions on Yoga Practice
• Obstacles in Yoga Practice and How to Overcome Them
• The Psychology of Yoga
• Worship of Isvara
• Getting in Tune with the Universe
• The Yamas - Our Attitude to the People Around Us
• Brahmacharya - An Outlook of Consciousness
• Individual Disciplining of One's Own Self
• Yogasana and Pranayama
• Management and Conquest of Desires
• Concentration - Its Significance and Value
• Meditation - Theory and Practice
• Meditation - Theory and Practice
• Empiricality and Transcendentality
• Merging in the Bosom of the Creator
• Epilogue.

About the Author:

Swami Krishnananda was born on the 25th of April, 1922 into a highly religious and orthodox Brahmin family, and was given the name Subbaraya. At an early age, he had become very well versed in the Sanskrit language and its sacred texts. The longing for seclusion pulled him to Rishikesh, where he arrived in the summer of 1944 and met Swami Sivananda, who initiated the young Subbaraya into Sannyasa on the sacred day of Makara Sankranti, the 14th of January, 1946, and gave him the name Swami Krishnananda.

Swami Krishnananda is a highly respected philosophical writer, especially on metaphysics, psychology and sociology. Swamiji's books are known the world over as excellent presentations of answers to the daily questions that arise in the day-to-day confrontations of a human being. Swami Krishnananda was the General Secretary of The Divine Life Society from 1961 until 2001. Swamiji was a direct disciple of His Holiness Swami Sivananda, founder of this Institution. Swamiji attained Mahasamadhi in 2001.