By Elliott Goldberg | In his book, The Path of Modern Yoga, Elliott Goldberg shows how Yoga was transformed from a sacred practice into a health and fitness regime for middle-class Indians in the early 20th century and then gradually transformed over the...
Sage Uddalaka instructed his son Svetaketu: “Food when consumed, becomes threefold. The gross particles become the excrement, the middling ones flesh, and the fine ones the mind.” My child, when curd is churned, its fine particles which rise upwards form butter. Thus,...
Dr. David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri), a regular contributor to Integral Yoga Magazine, is one of the few westerners recognized in India as a Vedacharya or teacher of Vedic wisdom. In this interview, he clearly illustrates the relationship between Yoga and...
Work is worship. Work is meditation. Serve all with intense love without any idea of agency and without expectation of fruits or reward. You will realise God. Service of humanity is service of God. Work elevates when done in the right spirit without attachment or...
Patanjali’s Yoga system is written in sutras. A sutra is a terse verse. It is an aphoristic saying. It is pregnant with deep, hidden significance. Rishis of yore have expressed philosophical ideas and their realization in the form of sutras only. It is very difficult...
Raja Yoga is the king of Yogas. It is concerned directly with the mind. The Yogi sits at ease, watches the mind and silences the bubbling thoughts. The Yogi stills the mind, restrains the thought-waves and enters into the thoughtless state or asamprajnata samadhi....
INTRODUCTION Sadhana is purifying and steadying the mind and fixing it on the Lord. Without Sadhana you cannot attain the Sadhya or the object of meditation i.e., the Supreme Being, the abode of Immortality and Bliss. Japa is an important Sadhana. Make a resolve "I...
WHAT IS JAPA ? Repetition of any Mantra or Name of the Lord is known as Japa. Japa is an important Anga of Yoga. It is a spiritual food for the hungry soul. Japa is the rod in the hand of the blind Sadhakas (aspirants) to plod on the road to Realization. Japa is the...
Hatha Yoga relates to the restraint of breath (pranayama), asanas, bandhas and mudras. “Ha” and “tha” mean the union of the sun and the moon, union of prana and apana vayus. “Hatha” means any tenacious practice till the object or end is achieved. Hatha Yoga is...
Life has become very complex these days. The struggle for existence is very acute and keen. A great deal of constant mental and physical strain is imposed on humanity by its daily work and unhealthy mode of life. Action produces movements and these in turn cause...
Written in 1935, Sri Swami Sivananda’s book, classic book, The Science of Pranayama, is available for free download as a PDF and it is also available in hard copy from Integral Yoga Distribution or from the Divine Life Society of Rishikesh who generously has made the...
Behind the names and forms, there is the universal life or immanent God. Try to feel the reality underneath the forms. Scorn not the tiny creatures or the undeveloped beings. The same life that throbs or pulsates in you is throbbing in all creatures. Realize your...
"Karma Yoga is the selfless devotion of all inner as well as the outer activities as a Sacrifice to the Lord of all works, offered to the eternal as Master of all the soul’s energies and austerities." —Bhagavad Gita Right Attitude It’s not what you do that counts,...
There is no greater Yoga than Karma Yoga. From morning to evening you are doing some action, so everything can be Karma Yoga. Everything should be yogic, from the minute you start brushing your teeth to the minute you go to bed. For Karma Yoga there is no time limit,...
The identity of the Supreme Self and the jiva or reflected self is established through the statement of the Upanishad “Tat Tvam Asi”—“That Thou Art.” Self-realization or direct intuitive perception of the Supreme Self is necessary for attaining freedom and perfection....
Gurudev Sivanandaji used to tease the so-called Vedantins and Jnana Yogis at the ashram. They would say, “Aham Brahmasmi, I am that Supreme Brahman.” Occasionally, Gurudev would touch a jnani’s arm with a little piece of stinging nettle. That person would jump up,...