The Art and Science of Raja Yoga (Philosophy, Meditation, Postures, Diet, Breathing, Routines and Health) (An old and Rare Book)

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Item Code: NAC752
Author: Swami Kriyananda
Publisher: Ananda Sangha Publications, Gurgaon
Edition: 2002
ISBN: 9788189430290
Pages: 480 (Illustrated in B/W)
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 9.4 Inch X 7.4 Inch
Weight 710 gm
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Fully insured
Shipped to 153 countries
Shipped to 153 countries
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More than 1M+ customers worldwide
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100% Made in India
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23 years in business
Book Description
Back of the Book

The Art and Science of Raja Yoga contains fourteen lessons in which the original yoga science emerges in all of its glory—a proven system for realizing one’s spiritual destiny. This is the most comprehensive course on yoga and meditation offered today, giving the yoga student a profound and intimate understanding of how to apply these age-old teachings on a practical, as well as spiritual, day-to-day level in this modern age.

Over 450 pages of text and photos give you a complete and detailed presentation of hatha yoga (yoga postures), yoga philosophy, affirmations, meditation, and breathing techniques. Also included are suggestions for daily yoga routines, helpful information on diet and alternative healing techniques- Apply these teachings and techniques in your daily life and you will attain your highest soul potential: true happiness, inner peace, and the dynamic joy of your soul. “I’ve studied many books in hopes of finding one that would change my life, showing me how to be a happy, contented person. This book has been the one. It has taught me how to access peace from within my Self It is a manual I will study again and again for its depthless teachings.”
P.B., Dallas, TX

“The lessons themselves are so rich that I learn something new every time I read them.”
KM., Ojai, CA

“I must say the results are more than I expected. My friends say I’m glowing. I seem to have almost limitless energy.”
P.O., Dundee, FL

“Christ said ‘you will know truth by the fruit that it bears.’ The Fourteen Steps to Higher Awareness is a writing of Truth. The fruits of incorporating the teachings of Yogananda into my life have been physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.”
C.S., Fresno, CA

“The depth of knowledge I’ve gained is exactly what I was seeking. Since I started the teachings, I have noticed a significant difference in the quality of my life. I feel more relaxed, more at peace, and sometimes find myself smiling with a joy that bubbles from inside.”

 

Foreword

In The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, the original yoga science emerges in all of its glory—a proven system for realizing our spiritual destiny. The practice of raja yoga awakens us to our deepest reality of oneness with the Infinite. The key word here is practice. As a spiritual science, yoga is unique in that it encourages us to test the truth of its principles, not simply to believe. Using the many tools yoga gives us, we can determine first-hand whether it does in fact live up to its glorious promise. The “proof” comes in our growing experience of the love, joy, calmness, and courage of our soul nature. Yoga is thus empowering. It gives us the teachings, the tools, and the validation of our own deepening experience of the Divine to speed us on our inner journey to God.

The Art and Science of Raja Yoga was my first systematic introduction to yoga. Twenty-one years later, I am deeply grateful for this course and the opportunity to recommend it to others. Swami Kriyananda is a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi. Yogananda, the first yoga master to live and teach in the West, brought with him the authentic, original yoga science of ancient India. For more than 50 years, Kriyananda has devoted his life to sharing these same teachings. The joyful enthusiasm with which he does so is a compelling invitation to yoga’s inner journey.

The Art and Science of Raja Yoga give us the balanced, comprehensive approach of raja yoga, which is also known as the “royal” yoga. The course is organized around seven topics— Philosophy, Meditation, Postures, Breathing, Routines, Healing Principles and Techniques, and Diet. It also includes in-depth discussions of the paths of karma, bhakti, and gyana yoga. Kriyananda excels in showing the interdependence of these seemingly separate areas and how all of them, when correctly approached, further our spiritual progress.

The main purpose of yoga postures, for example, sometimes thought to bestow only physical benefits, is to prepare the body and mind for meditation. Affirmations, visualizations, breathing exercises, healing techniques, the different paths of yoga, and, to a certain extent, diet are similarly helpful. What unites these various areas is raja yoga’s inward, spiritual focus, which achieves its fullest expression in the practice of meditation. Meditation, as taught in The Art and Science of Raja Yoga, gives us direct access to the inner world of Spirit. In the truest possible sense, meditation is yoga’s laboratory and the primary means by which we test the truth of its teachings.

To prepare for the practice of meditation, the course offers numerous preliminary exercises that help us make the transition from the outer world of activity to the inner world of stillness. We learn how to let go of worries, physical and mental tension, and to focus the mind—skills that are helpful not only for meditation but equally in our daily lives. The meditation techniques of ancient India, presented by Kriyananda in step-by-step detail, turn out to be indispensable for quieting the mind, drawing it inward, and redirecting our awareness to the centers of spiritual awakening in the brain. Proper meditation, one soon discovers, is neither mechanical nor passive, but requires deep concentration and sustained, dynamic energy.

Meditation requires also what Kriyananda calls a “complete revolution” in “what are commonly looked upon as normal human attitudes.” He explains: “The competitive drive, for instance, implies an assumption that success must always be exclusive, even to the extent of being determined by other people’s failures. . . . Such an attitude will thwart the most earnest of efforts to progress in meditation, for it will pit one against the universe instead of harmonizing him with it. Right attitude is essential to right meditation.”

The “right attitudes” referred to by Kriyananda are the universal moral principles of yoga, the yamas (the don’ts) and niyamas (the do’s). One of the best known of these is ahimsa, or non-injury, popularized by the protest movements of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Ahimsa’s proscriptions are directed not only against harmful actions, but also the harm caused by negative thoughts. The reasons go the heart of yoga. Kriyananda writes:

“The first step in the development of right attitude is to learn to see others not as rivals, but as friends. . . . The goal of yoga is to realize the oneness of all life. If I am willing to hurt the life in me as it is expressed in another human being, then I am affirming an error that is diametrically opposed to the realization I am seeking to attain. It is necessary if I would truly realize the oneness of all things, for me to live also in a way as constantly to affirm this oneness—by my kindness toward all beings, by compassion, by universal love.”

To experience the deeper states of meditation where Spirit resides, we must first put ourselves on its wavelength. Kriyananda advises that at the start of each meditation, we send out waves of forgiveness from the heart to those we may need to forgive. This helps us to resolve conscious and subconscious feelings of anger that draw the mind outward, and to relate to the people involved with more kindness and understanding. By affirming love for all beings, we open ourselves to the gentle vibrations of divine love. Increasingly, as we practice the yamas and niyamas, in our daily lives and as part of our meditation, our journey to the Divine becomes not only a search for love but also its expression.

We are encouraged, also, to view yoga’s moral principles as directional, their perfection as the end not the beginning of the journey. We can gain considerably in peace of mind and inner strength long before we actually perfect our attitudes. India’s great scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, offers the comforting reassurance that “even a little practice of this inward religion will save you from dire fears and colossal suffering.”

Another subject thoroughly covered in this comprehensive course and equally basic to an understanding of yoga is energy. Matter in its essence is energy. Even the human body is not what it seems. Though superficially composed of flesh and bones, on a deeper level of reality it is composed of energy. Western scientists uncovered this truth only in the last century, but it has been known to the yoga tradition for thousands of years. According to Indian scriptures, the Earth repeatedly goes through cycles of higher and lower levels of spiritual understanding. Yoga originated in a higher age when ordinary people could grasp truths that modern science is only now discovering.

Countless vortices of energy make up our deeper reality. When these vortices work together in harmony we are healthy, happy, and life affirming. If we are unwell, depressed, or life negating, it is primarily because our energy is low, or because these vortices are out of sync with one another. The Art and Science of Raja Yoga gives us many ways to strengthen this energy and bring it into harmony—breathing exercises, healing techniques, yoga postures, affirmations, visualizations. Meditation, however, is the most powerful. Through meditation we become more sensitively aware of the body’s subtle energies and increasingly able to harmonize and redirect this energy.

Until we are well along on yoga’s inner journey, Kriyananda advises that we be careful about our “energy environment.” As Paramhansa Yogananda said, “Environment is stronger than will power.” Everything we do influences our energy. An environment of positive people, uplifting music, ‘inspiring books and wholesome movies can greatly aid our spiritual efforts. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true.

Yoga’s more esoteric subjects, such as the chakras, the role of a guru, and astrology (which evolved as an extension of yoga) are also clarified in The Art and Science of Raja Yoga. The chakras are simply the body’s energy centers, whirling spheres that distribute energy to various bodily areas. When our energy is uplifted, we tap into the spiritualizing influence of the higher chakras. Contrary to popular opinion, the influence of a guru is inward, not outward. The guru’s energy (and that of any highly advanced spiritual teacher) is concentrated in the higher chakras.

Just as a strong magnet can strengthen a weak one, so also does the guru magnetically strengthen and uplift the energy of those who are receptive. Astrology’s stars and planets are best understood as outer symbols of the shifting patterns of our inner energy. Through the practice of yoga, we can lessen the impact of the heavenly bodies by redirecting the inner energy that relates to their movements. We can, that is, outwit the stars!

Yoga means “union.” Through diligent practice, raja yoga helps us to achieve unity within ourselves on ever- deeper levels, first by bringing body, mind and soul into harmony, and then by expanding our sense of self to include all life and creation. “No man is an island,” wrote John Donne; life is an interconnected reality. But inner harmony and universal kinship are not the end of our journey. Life has given us one destiny only—union with God. Through yoga we gradually learn to see beyond our bodies and personalities to the underlying energy and beyond that energy to the divine consciousness that produced us all. The faithful practice of raja yoga brings a deepening attunement with that consciousness and ultimately, the realization that we are, and always have been, one with the Infinite.

 

Suggestions for Study

We’d like to offer you a few helpful suggestions as you begin your study of these materials:
1) Study the lessons at your own pace. Originally these fourteen lessons were mailed out one at a time, every two weeks for twenty-eight weeks. You may find that two weeks is just about the right amount of time to spend on each lesson. Perhaps you’ll want to go faster! But slower might be better, in order to have time to really savor the depths of these teachings, and, more importantly, to start actually doing them. In a way, The Art and Science of Raja Yoga is a lifetime study. You can re-read the book, or parts of it, repeatedly, whenever you want to re-inspire yourself to go more deeply into your yoga and meditation practices. The course can also be used as a reference book; you’ll find a comprehensive index at the end.

2) Unlike intellectual study, this course can offer you a whole new approach to living, if you give it focused attention, and then put it into actual practice. Getting a real experience of yoga and meditation will teach you much more than just reading about it.

3) Practice some of the exercises and meditation techniques daily. There are several audiotapes we can send you to help guide you. You may need to begin your day a little earlier and end your evening activities sooner to be able to integrate these practices into your daily life. But don’t set unrealistic goals for yourself or discourage yourself by trying to do too much, too fast. Even S or 10 minutes a day of meditation will help you very much. You can build up the length of your practice as you begin to enjoy it more and more.

4) Use caution with the yoga postures, especially the more advanced ones; there are some you may want to avoid if they cause you unusual pain or discomfort or if you are pregnant or have severe health challenges of some sort. Listen to your body and be sure to check with a qualified yoga teacher if you have any concerns about body safety—we can help you with this by phone, letter, or e-mail.

5) If you can set aside more time, once each week, to do more yoga and meditation—perhaps on weekends—it will help your daily practices very much!

6) Try keeping a spiritual journal of your thoughts about particular parts of the lessons that ate meaningful to you, or ways in which you are experiencing spiritual growth.

7) Let us know where you live, and we’ll try to find an Ananda group near you, or at least, perhaps, another person who is also taking the Ananda Course. A “study partner” can be most helpful. Meditating or practicing yoga regularly with others, particularly people who have been at it for longer than you have, is a very valuable thing to do!

 

Contents

 

  Foreword 13
  Suggestion for Study 17
  Author’s Prefatory Note 19
  Step 1 – The History of Yoga  
  I. Philosophy: The History of Yoga 23
  II. Yoga Postures: Special Guidelines Sasamgasana, Bhujangasana, Utkatasana 30
  III. Breathing: Savasana 35
  IV. Routine 37
  V. Healing: Insomnia, Part One 38
  VI. Diet: Insomnia, Part Two 40
  VII. Meditation 41
  Step 2 – The Paths of Yoga  
  I. Philosophy: The Paths of Yoga 45
  II. Yoga Postures: Basic Principles and Practices, Vrikasana, Chandrasana, Trikonasana, Paschimotanasana, Halasana 52
  III. Breathing 61
  IV. Routine 63
  V. Healing: Integration vs. Disintegration 64
  VI. Diet 67
  VII. Meditation 69
  Step 3 – Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga: The Eightfold Path  
  I. Philosophy: Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga: The Eightfold Path 75
  II. Yoga Postures: Savasana, Paschimotanasana 80
  III. Breathing: Full Yogic Breath 83
  IV. Routine 86
  V. Healing: Hypertension and Nervousness 87
  VI. Diet 89
  VII. Meditation 92
  Step 4 – Yama  
  I. Philosophy: Yama 99
  II. Yoga Postures: Vrikasana, Padahastasana, the Backward Bend, Janushirasana, Dhanurasana 111
  III. Breathing: Sitkari 117
  IV. Routine 118
  V. Healing: Chronic Fatigue 119
  VI. Diet 121
  VII. Meditation 123
  Step 5 - Niyama  
  I. Philosophy: Niyama 129
  II. Yoga Postures: Ardha-Dhanurasana, the “V” Pose, Karnapirasana, Chakrasana, Simhasana 136
  III. Breathing: The Alternate Breath 145
  IV. Routine 147
  V. Healing: Respiration Troubles 148
  VI. Diet: Fasting 151
  VII. Meditation: Super consciousness 153
  Step 6 – Life is a Battlefield  
  I. Philosophy: Life is a Battlefield 159
  II. Yoga Postures: Pavanamuktasana, Uddiyana Bandha, Ardha-Mayurasana, Vajrasana 163
  III. Breathing 169
  IV. Routing 171
  V. Healing: Stomach Disorders 174
  VI. Diet 177
  VII. Meditation: Raising the Inner Energy 181
  Step 7 – Affirmations, Part 1  
  I. Philosophy: Affirmations, Part 1 187
  II. Yoga Postures: Sasamgasana, Supta-Vajrasana, Viparita Karani 194
  III. Breathing 200
  IV. Routine 202
  V. Healing: Weight Problems 203
  VI. Diet 205
  VII. Meditation: Meditation on the Elements 208
  Step 8 – Affirmations, Part 2  
  I. Philosophy: Affirmations, Part 2 219
  II. Yoga Postures: Sitting Poses – Siddhasana, Padmasana, Ardha-Padmasana, Sukhasana 227
  III. Breathing 236
  IV. Routing 238
  V. Healing 239
  VI. Diet 241
  VII. Meditation: Prayer, Chanting, Japa, and Mantra 243
  Step 9 – Energy and Energization  
  I. Philosophy: Energy and Energization 255
  II. Yoga Postures: Supta-Vajrasana, Ardha-Salabhasana, Ardha-Matsyendrasana, Akarshana Dhanurasana, Garudasana 264
  III. Breathing: Kapalabhati Pranayama 271
  IV. Routine 273
  V. Healing: Circulation and the Blood 274
  VI. Diet: Simplicity in all Things 275
  VII. Meditation: Concentration 278
  Step 10 – Magnetism  
  I. Philosophy: Magnetism 289
  II. Yoga Postures: Parvatasana, Salabhasana, Matsyasana, Yoga Mudra, Dhanurasana 299
  III. Breathing 306
  IV. Routine 307
  V. Healing: Sex Problems 308
  VI. Diet 312
  VII. Meditation: A. Hong-Sau Outline 315
  B. Magnetism 319
  Step 11 – Guru  
  I. Philosophy: Guru 323
  II. Yoga Postures: The Inverted Poses Sarvangasana, Sethu Bandhasana, Sirshasana 328
  III. Breathing: Sitali Pranayama 336
  IV. Routine 338
  V. Healing: Headaches 339
  VI. Diet 342
  VII. Meditation 345
  Step 12 – The Anatomy of Yoga, Part 1  
  I. Philosophy: The Anatomy of Yoga, Part 1 351
  II. Yoga Postures: Advanced Poses – Nauli, Mayurasana 362
  III. Breathing: Surya Bedha Pranayama 365
  IV. Routine 367
  V. Healing: The Eyes, Ears, and Teeth 369
  VI. Diet 372
  VII. Meditation: Attitude 376
  Step 13 – The Anatomy of Yoga, Part 2  
  I. Philosophy: The Anatomy of Yoga, Part 2 387
  II. Yoga Postures: Kechari Mudra, Aswini Mudra, Jalandhara Bandha, Jivha Bandha 405
  III. Breathing: Jalandhara Bandha, Ujjayi Pranayama 408
  IV. Routine 410
  V. Healing: The Legs and Feet 411
  VI. Diet 413
  VII. Meditation: Attitude (continued) 415
  Step 14 – The Yogic Scheme of Life  
  I. Philosophy: The Yogic Scheme of Life 423
  II. Yoga Postures 437
  III. Breathing 440
  IV. Routine 441
  V. Healing 442
  VI. Diet: Diet for Meditation 447
  VII. Meditation: Signs of Spiritual Progress 449
  A Farewell to the Student 455
  About the Author 456
  Index 457
  An Overview by Subject Matter 469

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