Book Review

How to lead a Spiritual life
–  By SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA

A life without spiritual sadhana is a dreary waste. A life with spiritual sadhana is wise living-a life that will lead to Blessedness. The combination, the blending together, the harmonising, the combining of an active inner spiritual life with an active outer secular life, fulfilling of legitimate duties and obligations-unavoidable, inevitable actions-this combining of the spiritual with the secular, the Divine with the earthly was SWAMI CHIDANANDAJI’s special mission. And to that end He gave us one aspect of His teachings in the form of the 20 Important Spiritual Instructions. These instructions comprise a harmonising of the outer and the inner, the emphasising of the inner and practising of the teachings of the ancient sages and seers of the Upanishads, practising of the teachings of all the saints who through the centuries have graced and blessed Bharatavarsha by their ideal life and teachings. This practice, together with the normal life is SWAMI CHIDANANDAJI’s special teaching to the world, and summing up, the practical 20 Important Spiritual Instructions give us the key to Blessedness even while living in the world and through the world itself.
– Price $9.99

Essentials of the Higher Values of Life – A series of lectures on Vedanta given to students at the Yoga
–  By SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA

This book is a compilation from the lectures to the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy students given by Sri Swami Chidanandaji. These inspiring discourses provide very valuable guidance not only to Yoga-Vedanta students, but also to all the sincere discriminating men and women.

This inspiring book throws useful light on higher values of spiritual life and gives guidance for spiritual Sadhana.
– Price $9.99

Life and Teachings of Lord Jesus
– By SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA

Every year, millions of people all over the world celebrate the Holy Christmas. There are festivities and joyous celebrations, a lot of merry-making. People rejoice that Lord Jesus took birth in our midst about two thousand years ago.

It is certainly an event over which all humanity ought to be proud and jubilant. But it is essential, too, to realise that Lord Jesus had a message to deliver. He laid with his own life and blood, a path for mankind to tread. It is essential that mankind should, in the midst of the joyous celebration of the Holy Event of the Birth of Jesus, reflect on the glorious life of the Lord over His Message. For, in it lies the key to world peace and brotherhood.
– Price $ 9.99

The Philosophy, Psychology and Practice of Yoga
– By SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA

Of the many Yoga paths leading to God or the Supreme Reality, four are more commonly known. These are Karma Yoga or the Path of Selfless Service, Bhakti Yoga or the Path of Devotion, Raja Yoga or the Path of Mind Control and Jnana Yoga or the Path of Intellectual Analysis. Even among these, Raja Yoga is popularly known as just “Yoga”; and similarly, Jnana Yoga is known as just “Vedanta”.

Of the four paths, again, Raja Yoga is the one which is the most scientifically organised. It is also known as Ashtanga Yoga or the Yoga of Eight Steps, each step or rung leading in logical progression to the next one. Raja Yoga is the ladder connecting our phenomenal existence with the Great Noumenon and we have to ascend this ladder step by step with great care and circumspection. No step can be ignored or bypassed except at one’s own peril. Progress is assured provided the rules of the game are adhered to. And violation of the rules is bound to cause its own peril. Such is Raja Yoga propounded by that ancient sage Patanjali in the form of Sutras or terse aphorisms collectively known as Yoga Darshana.

Yoga Darshana is a difficult text, difficult to understand straightaway even by those with a good knowledge of Sanskrit. So Maharshi Vyasa wrote a commentary on Yoga Darshana, and subsequently, one Vachaspati Mishra wrote a more elaborate Gloss explaining the full meaning of Sage Vyasa’s Commentary. All these Sanskrit texts will still be Greek and Latin to the modern man unfamiliar with that ancient language.

So we brought out in 1982 a series of discourses given in English by Swami Krishnanandaji on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras under the title, Yoga as a Universal Science. It was very well received by the public thirsting for a knowledge of the deeper implications of the great science of Yoga. We have great pleasure now to bring out this companion volume on the same subject of Ashtanga Yoga by Swami Chidanandaji. The present volume contains the edited version of a series of lectures given by Sri Swamiji to the Third Batch of trainees who underwent the Three Months’ Course run by the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy of the Divine Life Society. In the hands of Swami Chidanandaji, the Yoga Darshana comes to new life as a vibrant, living guide to spiritual practice. And Swamiji has delved deep into all the most essential aspects of Yoga Sadhana, and in doing so, has beautifully maintained logical sequence. And the whole volume reflects his earnest desire and longing that spiritual seekers should put to use this marvellous science of Yoga for furthering their spiritual advancement.
– Price $12.95

Easy Steps to Yoga
– By Sri Swami Sivananda

Yoga is right living. This definition may appear to be simple, but really it is very significant, for the meaning of right living is very wide. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj explains in an easy and homely style the basic principles that a beginner in Yoga has to understand and follow. These Easy Steps to Yoga are laid out with a special view to enable the novice to ascend without much difficulty the heights of spiritual attainment. Ethical and moral discipline forms the foundation of Yoga. Sri Swamiji has beautifully brought together all the fundamentals: good conduct, non-attachment, dispassion, unselfish work, sense-control, meditation and knowledge to form a connected piece of complete information on the practice of Yoga, beginning with bodily health and training, and ending in Self-knowledge. We bring out the sixth edition of this precious volume for the edification of students, both in the East and the West, who have no acquaintance with the technicalities involved in the subject, but are eager to have an adequate grasp of the main guiding principles in living a life of wisdom arising out of divine discontent.
 – Price $10.95