The Study and Practice of Yoga (Vol 2)

by Swami Krishnananda

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Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are aphoristic prescriptions in the form of pithy one-liners for leading the mind into deeper states of absorption in the state of Samadhi, where the individual merges with the absolute. A tranquil mind is a pre-requisite for attaining the higher states of awareness and the Yoga Sutras are a graduated manual for the achievement of this goal. The aphorisms in their original form can not be understood easily. Swami Krishnananda's commentary is easy to decipher and reader friendly, lucid style probes into the aphorisms and lays before seekers the approach to understanding the mind and it s machinations, and how the hurdles that make meditation difficult can be overcome.

The rendition and style in which this has been made possible is a tribute to Swamiji s love for truth. This series of two volumes is an all encompassing spiritual guide. The teachings are progressive in content and begin where most seekers find themselves when spiritual aspiration dawns and the need for higher understanding are felt. Their reader is led gradually through the different aspects of practice and mind management.

Volume I, which covers the Samadhi Pada, the first of the four sections of the Yoga Sutras and provides a good introduction and in-depth understanding of the philosophy and practice of yoga including the levels of consciousness that are attained, has been printed first. Volume II covers the Sadhana Pada and Kaivalya Pada which go into further detail about the practice of yoga using the aphoristic rungs of Patanjali Yoga sutras as a veritable stairway on the path of the ascent of the spirit. Nothing is left unsaid as Swamiji brings the teachings together in two volumes as a complete treatise on this spiritual path.

Table of Contents:

1. Yoga Practice: A Series of Positive Steps
2. A Very Important Sadhana
3. Practice Without Remission of Effort
4. The Cause of Bondage
5. Lack of Knowledge is the Cause of Suffering
6. The Four Manifestations of Ignorance
7. Pursuit of Pleasure is Invocation of Pain
8. The Self-Preservation Instinct
9. Tracing the Ultimate Cause of Any Experience
10. How the Law of Karma Operates
11. The Perception of Pleasure and Pain
12. The Cause of Unhappiness
13. Disentanglement is Freedom
14. Karma, Prakriti and the Gunas
15. Understanding the Nature of Objects
16. Consciousness is Being
17. The Cause of Experience
18. Understanding World-Consciousness
19. The Seven Stages of Perfection
20. The Eight Limbs or Stages of Yoga
21. The Preparatory Disciplines
22. Negative Check and Positive Approach
23. The Principles of Yama and Niyama
24. Self-Control, Study and Devotion to God
25. Asana is Fixity of Position
26. The Importance of Asana and Pranayama
27. Kumbhaka and Concentration of Mind
28. The Inclination of the Mind for Concentration
29. Pratyahara: The Return of Energy
30. The Application of Pratyahara
31. The Effect of Dharana or Concentration of Mind
32. Choosing an Object for Concentration
33. The Need for Caution when Stirring Inner Potencies
34. The Interrelatedness of All Things
35. The Hurdle of the Ego in Yoga Practice
36. Absorbing Space and Time into Consciousness
37. Samyama: The Union of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi
38. The Levels of Concentration
39. Generating the Mood for Yoga
40. The Integrating Force
41. The Working of Nature's Law
42. Removing the Ego with the Process of Samyama
43. Understanding the Structure of Things
44. Liberation is the Only Aim of Yoga
45. Powers that Accrue in the Practice of Samyama
46. Sublimation of Object-Consciousness
47. The Transformation from Human to Divine
48. The Entry of the Eternal into the Individual
49. The Exhaustion of All Karmas
50. The Wheel of Karma
51. Avoiding Karma That Has Not Yet Germinated
52. Putting an End to Rebirth
53. The Double Activity in Mental Cognition
54. Absorption into Universal Subjectivity 
55. The Dual Pull of Purusha and Objects
56. The Bestowal of a Divine Gift
57. Infinity Coming Back To Itself
58. The Condition Prior to Final Absorption
59. Recapitulation and Conclusion.

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.