We live at a critical time in history, with the uncertainties of war, physical insecurity, and job loss. Technology has shrunk the world, creating new challenges and opportunities, and we are at the threshold of the age of knowledge. But although science has explained most of the outer world, it still lacks the answer to the mystery of the spirit. Meanwhile, out of the necessity to conform to the rhythms of machines that surround us, our lives have be-come mechanical, causing alienation and despair.
In our hearts we are convinced of a higher truth, but there is a disconnect between this promise of knowledge and the humdrum reality of our everyday lives. It is this disharmony, that is making us increasingly ill. We are falling prey to new diseases, physically and psychologically. These are signals to us: stop a minute and look around, take charge of your life, know yourself, seek the mystery of your being.
This is where Yoga comes. in, because it is the discipline that puts us in touch with our spirit. Many readers perhaps take Yoga to mean physical exercises (asanas) but that is only a small part of it. The asanas and the mastery of the body is preparation for the mastery of the mind. The objective of Yoga is the union of the body and the spirit — freedom, compassion and harmony. Yoga is part of the larger tradition of the Veda that is concerned with self-knowledge. The Vedas — probably the most ancient books of our species which have been pre-served — tell us that ignorance is behind the belief that we are only our physical selves, when in fact we are spiritual beings capable of experiencing the most wonderful happiness that is not limited by time or space.
The Vedas tell of deep connections linking the outer and the inner worlds and all beings. We are part of the web of creation not only in the biological sense, but in a deeper spiritual sense. We are here for a specific reason; each one of us has unique destiny. It is when we fail to reach our promise that we suffer from physical and mental pain. There is an old struggle between faith and knowledge. Faith is a counterfoil to the idea of gnosis, which is that knowledge is possible through the psychological functions of thinking, sensation, and feeling. Certainly, Yoga also requires faith. But it is not the faith of dogma, but rather the faith in the certainty of self-transformation, the proof of which the Yogic practitioner finds in daily life. The conscious mind is like the tip of the iceberg; below it lies the unconscious mind which is infinitely more complex. The conscious mind is the rational self and the un-conscious mind is the irrational self. According to Yoga, the mind is like an inverted tree: the conscious mind has access to just the flowers and the leaves but beyond it lies the mighty trunk and it extends as far as one can imagine. The struggle between the conscious and the unconscious, or knowledge and faith, has taken many forms. Gnosticism, or the search for such higher knowledge, went into decline in the West long ago, but modern science has adopted many key elements of it, and now Yoga brings it back in all its glory and power for the benefit of modern man.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
Asana (106)
Bhakti Yoga (23)
Biography (50)
Hatha Yoga (100)
Kaivalyadhama (56)
Karma Yoga (33)
Kriya Yoga (90)
Kundalini Yoga (62)
Massage (2)
Meditation (360)
Patanjali (152)
Pranayama (72)
Women (31)
Yoga for Children (12)
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