Easing Into The Bhagavad Gita And Patanjali S Yoga Sutras

This simple introduction to both the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is a gentle way to ease into these ancient texts. Crafted for use in Hatha Yoga studios, teacher training programs and experiential classroom venues, students will find the language of the book friendly and engaging while teachers will find a rich offering of dialogue-encouraging questions and activities to enrich the learning experience. Enlivened by original poetic commentaries and fleshed out with real world applications of these teachings, Easing into the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras provides an excellent starting point for the study of Indian philosophy. Kim holds a master's degree in comparative religion and has been a meditation, qigong and yoga instructor for twenty years. Her other non-fiction books include: A Little Book of Wholeness and Prayer: an eight week meditation companion and At Matthew's Knee: A poetic commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.

Join comparative religion scholar Kim Beyer on a journey through the ten great ideas of the India's beloved classic, the Bhagavad Gita. The books outlines the major themes, provides an original capping poem, and includes five questions to promote group discussion or journal cues. Other books in Easing Into series that focus on India include Easing into the Dhammapada, Easing into the Mahabharata, Easing into the Ramayana, and Easing into Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

Easing into Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is the fifth book in the growing "Easing Into Collection". Previously part of "Easing into the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras", this is a newly edited and updated short introduction, with new responsive poetry. The work features a walk-through the "books" of the sutra to help define the core meaning of this rich piece of literature. Each chapter poses five questions designed to stimulate group discussion or journal writing, making the work useful in both community settings and for home-based comparative religion study while not overwhelming the curious comparative religion beginner. Ten original poetic responses, turned to the "right brained" understanding of the scripture round out this offering, creating ready-made invocations or closing words. Books in the series also include Easing into the Dhammapada, Easing into the Gospel of Thomas, and Easing into the Bhagavad Gita.

Yoga refers to an assortment of mental, physical, and spiritual disciplines and practices originating from India. One of the six schools of Indian philosophy, it contains a wide range of schools, practices, and goals in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. “Yoga Sastra” is an 1897 work by Indian Sanskrit and mathematics scholar Srisa Chandra Vasu (1861 – 1918) that explores the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with special reference to Swami Vivekananda's Yoga philosophy. Contents include: “The Sankhya System”, “The Great Aim of Hindu Philosophy”, “Yoga Satra”, “The Eight Accessories of Yoga”, “Samyama”, “The Characteristics of the Hindu Mind”, “Examination of the Yoga Sutras”, “The True Yoga Sastra”, “Disbelief in Occult Powers”, “Efforts to Acquire true Knowledge”, “The True Bhakti Yoga”, etc. This fascinating volume is not to be missed by yoga enthusiasts and those with a particular interest in vintage books on the subject. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on yoga.

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].”

"The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are in themselves exceedingly brief, less than ten pages of large type in the original. Yet they contain the essence of practical wisdom, set forth in admirable order and detail. ... "Patanjali has in mind the spiritual man, to be born from the psychical. His purpose is, to set in order the practical means for the unveiling and regeneration, and to indicate the fruit, the glory and the power, of that new birth."-Charles JohnstonThe Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are the foundational work of all Yoga practice. They contain the essence of practical wisdom, set forth in admirable order and detail. Patanjali succeeds in showing the student that spirituality is not unscientific or vague, but is an exact science. He teaches us that enlightenment is not something unattainable or solely for the elect; we can begin walking the path now. Johnston's translation of the Yoga Sutras evolved through three distinct stages. It was first published as serialized articles in the Theosophical Quarterly between 1909 and 1911. The text was then compiled and printed in book form in 1912, with only a few slight modifications. Following this, Johnston revisited the text of both his translation and commentary, as he notes in a review-article:"I must not fail," he says "to express my feeling of indebtedness to Dr. [Haughton] Woods, for a closer understanding of a number of technical points, which I hope to take advantage of, in revising the version of the Sutras I have alluded to."Following this reflection, several notices appeared in the Theosophical Quarterly announcing Johnston's continuing work of revision, until a second revised edition was published in the summer of 1917. It is this version that is presently reproduced verbatim, but with an adjustment in formatting-providing the translation itself, in whole, prior to the commentary-the addition of this foreword, and of additional notes.Charles Johnston (1867-1931) was steeped in the wisdom of eastern traditions, having translated also the ten Principle Upanishads of the Vedanta, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao Teh King of Lao Tse, and the Crest-Jewel of Wisdom of Sankaracharya. Johnston brings his in-depth understanding of the Vedanta to reveal the core meaning of Patanjali's sutras: the birth of the Spiritual Man.

A practical training method, and not merely a text of revelation and worship – such is the true status of the ancient Sanskrit text Bhagavad Gītā. The special contribution of the Gītā is yoga, practical methods for expanding individual consciousness to realise the Supreme Self. This book presents the Gītā yoga in the light of explanations by Śan ̇kara, the great seventh-century Indian philosopher and yogin, and Hari Prasad Shastri, who taught in Britain from 1929 till his death in 1956. The Gītā is directed in the first instance at the vigorously active, with responsibilities in the world. The actual practices of yoga are given for meeting the shock of the world-energies in the form of illusions, fear, greed, and anger. The whole basis of Gītā yoga is confirmation through experiment, not mere exhortation. This highly significant book presents the Gītā as a training manual for spiritual practice. Trevor Leggett studied Vedānta and the traditional Yoga of the Self for over sixty years and for eighteen years he was a pupil of Hari Prasad Shastri. Trevor Leggett published translations and transcriptions from both Sanskrit and Japanese including 'The Complete Commentary by Śaṅkara on the Yoga Sūtras' and 'Zen and the Ways'. In 1987 the All-Japan Buddhist Association gave him a Literary Award for his translations and in 1990 he was invited to speak on his Śaṅkara translations to the three day International Seminar on Śaṅkara held at New Delhi. Trevor Leggett studied Judo and Zen in Japan. He achieved sixth dan in Judo from the Kodokan and he was one of Great Britain's leading teachers of Judo. For twenty years he was head of the BBC's Japanese Service until his retirement in 1970. He died on 2nd August 2000. Trevor Leggett's other books on Yoga and Zen include 'Encounters in Yoga and Zen', 'Lotus Lake, Dragon Pool', 'The Chapter of the Self ', 'Jewels from the Indra Net', 'A First Zen Reader,' 'A Second Zen Reader (The Tiger's Cave)', 'The Spirit of Budo', 'The Dragon Mask', 'Samurai Zen (The Warrior Koans)', and 'Three Ages of Zen'. He is also the author of 'Japanese Chess, the game of Shogi'. Realisation of the Supreme Self THE BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ YOGA-S Realisation of the Supreme Self THE BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ YOGA-S As the Sun, shining alone, illumines the whole world, So the Field-owner illumines the whole Field. Gītā XIII.33 Trevor Leggett Trevor Leggett

After the publication of Yatharth Geeta, which is a commentary on "Srimad Bhagavad Gita", the devotees requested the revered Swami Ji to throw light on Patanjali's Yog Darshan too because yog is related with self - realisation. It cannot be perceived on material grounds. The revered Maharaj Shree is a Mahapurush who has passed through all the stages of Yog. The present work is the collection of what Maharaj Shree delivered in his preaching. Patañjali divided his Yoga Sutras into four chapters or books (Sanskrit pada), containing in all 196 aphorisms, divided as follows: Samadhi Pada (51 sutras). Samadhi refers to a blissful state where the yogi is absorbed into the One. Samadhi is the main technique the yogin learns by which to dive into the depths of the mind to achieve Kaivalya. The author describes yoga and then the nature and the means to attaining samādhi. This chapter contains the famous definitional verse: "Yogaś citta-vritti-nirodhaḥ" ("Yoga is the restraint of mental modifications").] Sadhana Pada (55 sutras). Sadhana is the Sanskrit word for "practice" or "discipline". Here the author outlines two forms of Yoga: Kriya Yoga (Action Yoga) and Ashtanga Yoga (Eightfold or Eightlimbed Yoga). Kriya Yoga is closely related to Karma Yoga, which is also expounded in Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita, where Arjuna is encouraged by Krishna to act without attachment to the results or fruit of action and activity. It is the yoga of selfless action and service. Aṣṭāṅga Yoga describes the eight limbs that together constitute Rāja Yoga. Vibhuti Pada (56 sutras). Vibhuti is the Sanskrit word for "power" or "manifestation". 'Supra-normal powers' (Sanskrit: siddhi) are acquired by the practice of yoga. Combined simultaneous practice of Dhāraṇā, Dhyana and Samādhi is referred to as Samyama, and is considered a tool of achieving various perfections, or Siddhis. The temptation of these powers should be avoided and the attention should be fixed only on liberation. The purpose of using samadhi is not to gain siddhis but to achieve Kaivalya. Siddhis are but distractions from Kaivalaya and are to be discouraged. Siddhis are but maya, or illusion. Kaivalya Pada (34 sutras). Kaivalya literally means "isolation", but as used in the Sutras stands for emancipation or liberation and is used interchangeably with moksha (liberation), which is the goal of yoga. The Kaivalya Pada describes the process of liberation and the reality of the transcendental ego. By going through this commentary one can understand what Yog is but the real perception of Yog is possible only after practical pursuit of Yogic - Sadhana. With Tap, Swadhyaya, Ishwar - Pranidhan and chanting of Om, the real Sadhana starts. By their practice, the Avidhya and Kleshas got removed and the self starts transmitting beneficial vistas. In their light alone the Yogic - maxims written by Maharishi Patanjali can be truly comprehended. Yog is direct perception, no oral or written words can explain it. Practical pursuits alone can make the comprehension of Yog - Darshan possible.