The Study and Practice of Yoga
An Exposition of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
by Swami Krishnananda
TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME I
Part 1: The Samadhi Pada
- The Aim of Yoga
- The Foundation of the Discipline in Yoga Practice
- A Broad Outline of the Stages of Yoga
- Individuality and Consciousness
- The Practice of Being Alone
- Spiritual Life is Positive, Not Punitive
- Initial Steps In Yoga Practice
- The Principle of Self-Affirmation
- Perception and Reality
- Self-Control: The Alpha and Omega of Yoga
- The Integrality of the Higher Self
- Sublimation – A Way to Reshuffle Thought
- Defence Mechanisms of the Mind
- The Indivisibility of All Things
- Consonance with the Essential Make-up of Things
- The Inseparability of Notions and the Mind
- Objectivity is Experience Finally
- The Dual Process of Withdrawal and Contemplation
- Returning to Pure Subjectivity
- The World and Our World
- Returning to Our True Nature
- Practice of Yoga: The Life and Goal of Our Existence
- Internal Relationship of All Things
- Affiliation With Larger Wholes
- Sadhana – Intensifying a Lighted Flame
- The Gunas of Prakriti
- Problems are a State of Mind
- Bringing About Whole-Souled Dedication
- The Play of the Gunas
- The Cause of Bondage
- Intense Aspiration
- Our Concept of God
- What Divine Love Is
- Surrender to God
- The Recitation of Mantra
- The Rise of Obstacles in Yoga Practice
- Preventing the Fall in Yoga
- Impediments in Concentration and Meditation
- Concentrating the Mind on One Reality
- Re-Educating the Mind
- Becoming Harmonious with All
- How Feelings and Sensation Work
- Harmonising Subject and Object
- Assimilating the Object
- Piercing the Structure of the Object
- The Barrier of Space and Time
- The Rise from Savitarka to Nirvitarka
- Encountering Troubles and Opposition
- The Rise to Savichara and Nirvichara
- The States of Sanada and Sasmita
- Sat-Chit-Ananda or God-Consciousness
VOLUME II
Part 2: The Sadhana Pada
- Yoga Practice: A Series of Positive Steps
- A Very Important Sadhana
- Practice Without Remission of Effort
- The Cause of Bondage
- Lack of Knowledge is the Cause of Suffering
- The Four Manifestations of Ignorance
- Pursuit of Pleasure is Invocation of Pain
- The Self-Preservation Instinct
- Tracing the Ultimate Cause of Any Experience
- How the Law of Karma Operates
- The Perception of Pleasure and Pain
- The Cause of Unhappiness
- Disentanglement is Freedom
- Karma, Prakriti and the Gunas
- Understanding the Nature of Objects
- Consciousness is Being
- Cultivating Discriminative Understanding
- Understanding World-Consciousness
- The Seven Stages of Perfection
- The Eight Limbs or Stages of Yoga
- The Prepratory Disciplines of Yama and Niyama
- Negative Check and Positive Approach
- The Principles of Yama and Niyama
- Self-Control, Study and Devotion to God
- Asana is Fixity of Position
- The Importance of Asana and Pranyama
- Kumbhaka and Concentration of Mind
- The Inclination of the Mind for Concentration
- Pratyahara: The Return of Energy
- The Application of Pratyahara
Part 3: The Vibhuti Pada
- The Effect of Dharana or Concentrating the Mind
- Choosing an Object for Concentration
- The Need for Caution When Stirring Inner Potencies
- The Interrelatedness of All Things
- The Hurdle of the Ego in Yoga Practice
- Absorbing Space and Time Into Consciousness
- Samyana: The Union of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi
- The Levels of Concentration
- Generating the Mood for Yoga
- The Integrating Force
- The Working of Nature's Law
- Removing the Ego with the Process of Samyama
- Understanding the Structure of Things
- Liberation is the Only Aim of Yoga
- Powers that Accrue in the Practice of Samyama
- Sublimation of Object-Consciousness
- The Transformation from Human to Divine
Part 4: The Kaivalya Pada
- The Entry of the Eternal into the Individual
- The Exhausion of All Karmas
- The Wheel of Karma
- Avoiding Karma That Has Not Yet Germinated
- Putting an End to Rebirth
- The Double Activity in Mental Cognition
- Absorption Into Universal Subjectivity
- The Dual Pull of Purusha and Objects
- The Bestowal of a Divine Gift
- Infinity Coming Back to Itself
- The Condition Prior to Final Absorption
- Recapitulation and Conclusion