Sri Jabala Darsana Upanishad

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The Upanishads; which are the end portions of Vedas re storehouses of Jnana. However, there are a few Upanishads which exclusively deal with Yoga. Sri Jabala Darsana Upanishad is one among the twenty Yoga Upanishads available to us. In this Upanishad, Asthanga Yoga is explained with reference to the Vedic tradition. Lord Dattatreya teaches the secrets of Yoga to his disciple named Sankriti.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Maharshi and the Asthanga Yoga as explained in this Upanishad differ in many respects from each other. Yoga Sutras are influenced by Buddhist thought whereas Sri Jabala Darsana Upanishad leans towards the Vedic tradition more and more.

It is by the grace of Lord Dattatreya that we could publish this treatise on Yoga from our Panchawati Publications.

Sri Satya Narayana Sarma is a devotee of the Divine Mother. He is a multi faceted personality proficient in Yoga, Tantra, Vedanta, Indian Astrology, Spiritual poetry, prose, Singing and Martial arts. He is the founder of Panchawati Spiritual Foundation based in India and USA and motivates thousands of people to walk in the path of Sadhana. In his other books, The secret of Sri Vidya', 'Hidden meanings of Lalita Sahasranama', 'Vijnana Bhairava Tantra', The science of Yoga according to Lord Dattatreya' considered as treasure mines by the sadhakas, he explains the essence of the Vedas, Tantras and the Upanishads in a simple manner.

Among the one hundred and eight Upanishads, we have about twenty Upanishads which deal exclusively with yoga. Jabala Darsana Upanishad is one among them. We know that the Upanishads are attached to the Vedas. Following this convention, this Upanishad is found attached to the Sama Veda. Going by the antiquity of the Sama Veda, we can clearly understand the antiquity of this Upanishad. Similarly, Lord Dattatreya who finds mention in this book, is also a very ancient sage.

The subject of this Upanishad is the philosophy of yoga. Yoga Sutras of Sage Patanjali are very well known in the world. The path of Sage Patanjali is called Ashtanga Yoga or the Yoga of Eight limbs. Similarly, the path shown by Lord Dattatreya in this Upanishad is also called as Ashtanga Yoga. However, both these methods differ in many respects with each other.

Sage Patanjali specified five steps each in yama and niyama whereas Lord Dattatreya describes ten steps in each. Unlike the Yoga Sutras which contains echoes of Buddhist thought, the twenty commandments given by Lord Dattatreya seem to lean more towards the Vedic tradition. Sage Patanjali defined asana as sthira sukhamasanam whereas Lord Dattatreya described nine important asanas borrowed from the Hatha Yoga tradition. Among them, a few strengthen the body and others help the seeker in his practice of meditation.