This book offers new insights into the age-old discipline of Solar Yoga. It treats a carefully selected number of classical Yoga practices in a novel manner, integrating the use of sound vibrations with that of postures and breathing techniques at the physical, psychic and spiritual levels. Because of its clear and methodical approach, SOLAR YOGA can be enjoyed by everyone. New students will find the book a valuable and well-illustrated guide for their practice. Yoga teachers will be able to use it as a handy reference manual and the general reader will find it a synthesis of the philosophical background to the solar method and a comprehensive description of its application to every day life.

Yogacharya Janakiraman, a long-time devotee of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba, was a recognized authority on Yoga who, for some years, combined the teaching of this discipline with his profession as an aeronautical engineer in Bangalore, India before moving to Europe. In 1986, he founded the International Aditya Yoga Association with Caroline Rosso Cicogna in Trieste, Italy. An accomplished devotional singer and a Yoga therapist, he trained Yoga teachers who are disseminating his method in Australia, India and Europe.

Caroline Rosso Cicogna, a disciple of Sree Ananda Mayee Ma, is a simultaneous interpreter by profession. She lived many years in India and came in contact with some of the great living Masters of Yoga in India and underwent a thorough training in the disciplines she writes about in this book. In Italy, she taught Yoga with Sri Janakiraman at their centre in Trieste. She is now living in Nice, France where she dedicates her sadhana to Matri Yoga.

Preface

Salutations and adorations to surya Narayana, the Sun God. The sun is a visible manifestation of the Divine. It is the sustainer of life. It is the giver of life. There wouldn't be any form of life on this earth planet without the sun. The sun is the source of all forms of life on this earth.

My salutations to Lord Shiva, the all auspicious one who is the expounder of Surya Yoga.

Every man or woman in this world wants happiness. Nobody wants pain. No one needs to teach anyone to seek happiness. It is the innate, inherent Svabhava (nature) of everyone to seek happiness. Ananda (Bliss) is the embodiment of one's own nature.

Fulfilment of desires cannot bring true peace of mind. Just as fuel when poured over the fire aggravates it, so also worldly enjoyment intensifies desires and makes the mind all the more restless. Fulfilment of desires will only bring disappointment. Disappointment comes because the object of one's imagination, when obtained, always falls short of all possible expectations.

Yoga teaches the way to withdraw the mind from the objects of the world and to remove desire from the mind. But, before commencing the higher practices of Yoga, it is very important that one should have a sound body and mind. Without health, one cannot achieve anything in this world. Therefore, health is an essential factor for all achievements in this world whether they are secular or spiritual.

The book SOLAR YOGA is the combined effort of Yogacharya Janakiraman and Sister Caroline. The book is divided in three sections. The first section contains a complete description of the essence, the history and the practices of Solar Yoga. The second section offers a detailed study of twenty-five classical Asanas or Yoga postures. The third section presents a thorough discussion of the practice of Pranayama or the art of breathing.

Each subject is dealt with in great detail. It is a handbook for every Yoga seeker. The entire book makes very interesting study. The explanations are given in such a way that even a lay student can easily understand and practice on his own.

Seekers in the West who are interested in Yogic practices naturally start reading every type of book on Hatha Yoga and similar subjects. Sometimes these books are confusing and can even be unintelligible. More often, they have been written by persons whose aim would be only to show off their learning rather than teach real Yoga. At times, some of the books have nothing to do with Yoga.

The difference between such books and SOLAR YOGA is that its authors, Sri Janakiraman and Sister Caroline are themselves first-rate seekers. Whatever they have dealt with in their book is the result of their years of practice of Yoga and application in teaching. They themselves found immense benefit and they were not content to have the benefit for themselves alone. They sought to share their experience and knowledge with fellow seekers. It is with this aim that this book has been written.

In it, Sister Caroline has taken great care in giving detailed and illustrated instructions regarding the technique of the postures so that the reader may follow them with great ease.

I have known Sister Caroline for many years. She herself is a genuine seeker in the path of Yoga. She came in contact with great saints and sages of India and is spiritually bound to Sree Ananda Mayee Ma of sacred and hallowed memory. I am sure that many will be benefited by the study of this book and I hope that it will enjoy a wide circulation.

May God bless you all with radiant health, long life, happiness and contentment.

Foreword

First, some thoughts on Religion and Science.

As a practicing Muslim, I believe in the spiritual message of the Holy Koran. As a scientist, I believe in the truth of the manifestations of nature. The Holy Koran emphasizes the necessity for reflection on the laws of nature, with examples drawn from cosmology, physics and biology. I recall the words of Einstein, the most famous scientist of our century. The most beautiful experience we can have is of the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion, which stands at the cradle of true science. Whoever does not know it, and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery, even if mixed with fear, that engendered relgion.:

The Abrahamic religions claim to provide a meaning to the mystery of life and death. These religions speak of a Lord, who not only created natural law and the universe in His glory, but also created us, the human beings in His own image, endowing them not only with speech but also with spiritual life and spiritual longings. The second aspect is of the Lord who answers prayers, when one turns to Him in distress. The third is of the Lord who, in the eyes of the mystic and the Sufi, personifies eternal beauty and is to be adored for this. The fourth is of the Lord who endows some humans, the prophets, and His chosen saints, with divinely inspired knowledge through revelations. The sages and mystics had revelations of the divine truths.

Second, some thoughts about the authors of this book whom I know personally.

Sri Janakiraman is known to me not only as a person with a scientific and technological background, but also as a spiritua being who has excelled in the art of teaching Yoga in a true spirit of sharing his knowledge with ardent seekers. And, his soul finds an even more intense expression when he can dedicate himself to devotional singing in praise of the divine.

Caroline Rosso Cicogna, who has created the Aditya International Yoga Center along with Sri Janakiraman in Trieste, is a freelance simultaneous interpreter at the United Nations. She is a knowledgeable and sensitive Yoga teacher who has spent many years of her life in India, studying the cultural and philosophical background of the yogic practices.

I give my hearty and sincere good wishes to the authors and to their Aditya Yoga Center.