Yoga From Confusion to Clarity (Set of Five Volumes)

Foreword

I feel honored to write a foreword to the present publication on yoga which, to be sure, is the most scholarly work on yoga published so far. Its novelty as well as profundity lies in tracing other root of yoga right in the Vedas which hardly any other scholar so far has dared to go to inches search for the root. Of any other scholar has to refer to any Vedic mantra in this regard that has been done only with reference to such mantras which have happened to be quoted in the Upanishads. It goes to the credit of such a profound scholar of Veda as Professor Satya Prakash Singh to have adduced so much insight from the foremost scriptural creation of mankind in regard to the beginning of this pre-eminently intuition-based discipline as yoga. Tracing the root of yoga in the Vedas has automatically resolved a number of points of confusion in regard to the nature of the discipline, such as the involvement of dualistic or non-dualistic metaphysics in its fabric. So is the case with the authors’ basing their treatment of yoga on the ontological primacy of consciousness which in spite of having been presumed b each and every practitioner of yoga, has seldom been put forward so consistently and convincingly by any other author on yoga world over so far.

The volumes as asana, sat karma, pratyaharam Dhahran, dhyana and Samadhi too are refreshing and highly instructive. The pictorial representations in these as well as in earlier both the volumes are marvelous. They are highly suggestive of the content they have been designed to represent. The coordination between the textual and the expository matter is perfect. Each statements supported by relevant textual evidence. While ht first two volumes of the series are highly illuminative to the frontline scholar of the discipline, the remaining three are as much instructive to students of yoga at large. I am, therefore of the considered view that this series of volumes on yoga must necessarily be acquired by each and every educational institution and library in the country and closely be gone through by each and every scholar as well as student of yoga whosever.

About the Author

Professor Satya Prakash Singh is a renowned Vedic and Yogic Scholar as well as practicing Yogi. He is a Ph. D. of the Banaras Hindu University and D. litt. Of the Alilgarh Muslim University. A former Chairman of eh Department of Sanskrit and Dean, Faculty of Arts, Aliigarh Muslim University, he is presently working as an Editorial Fellow in the Centre for Studies in Civilisations, New Delhi. He has also been Director of Dharam Hindu International Centre of Indic Research Centre Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratisthan under Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in New Delhi. He is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards including Ganganath Jha Award of the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, Rajaji Literary Award of Bharatiya Visdya Bhavan , Bombay, Banabhatta Puraskara of Sanskrit Academy, Uttar Pradesh, besides President of India’s Award of Scholar of Eminence. His publications’ include: 1. Sri Aurobindo and Whitehead d on the Nature of God 2. Sri Aurobindo, Jung and Vedic Yoga 3. Upanisadic Symbolism. 4. Vedic Symbolism 5. Life and Vision of Vedic Seers Vol. I visvamtira, vol. II. Dirghatamas 6. Vedic Vision of Consciousness and Reality 7. History of Yoga.

Yogi Mukesh is and accomplished yogin besides being deeply grounded in the study of yogic literature of a variety of shades including Vedic, Tantric, Saiva, Vaisnava and Buddhist. He has been initiated in yoga practically by a reputed yogin while living in his company for quite some time in a sacred cave in western Uttar Pradesh. He is an extensively travelled scholar and sadhaka both externally and internally having devoted considerable time of his life in several countries of the world as well as in the yogin’s cave.

Information about all books

Yoga: From Confusion to Clarity is a refreshing series of five volumes entitles as follows:

Vol 1. Foundation of Yoga

Vol 2. Psychology of Yoga

Vol 3. Asana

Vol 4. Sat Karma, Mudra, Pranayama and Pratyahara

Vol 5. Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi

The first volume is based on the novel findings of the authors of the elements of yoga in the Vedic Samhitas as well as in the Upanishads and has developed the view that it is these elements which gradually in course of time have taken the shape of various system of Yoga such as jnana-yoga , bhakti-yoga, karma-yoga, dhyana-yoga, mantra-yoga and hatha-yoga, etc. The second volume has put forward the view of consciousness as the most fundamental reality getting concretized into matter only secondarily. The entire psychology of yoga, according to it, is based on this basic postulate opening up thus the possibility of transformation in the nature of mankind as a whole as well as in that of the individual through the discipline of yoga. The last three volumes show the way to such a transformation via various kind as of yogic practices such as asana, sat karma, Mudra, praayaama, pratyahar, dahrana, dhyana and Samadhi. All these ingredients of yoga as well as its basic postulates have been discussed here clearly and authentically having been based on the textual verity on the one hand and scientific possibility on the other.

(About the Book (Vol 1)

Here is an attempt to trace the origin of Yoga back to the Veda millennia before the advent of Patanjali with his Yoga-sutra which ordinarily is mistaken to be the earliest source-book o the discipline. By tracing the origins of so important a disciplines as Yoga to that end this work not only presents a corrective of an error of so abysmal order but also brings to the fore the discipline in its pristine purity and abundance which resulted in the elevation of Angiras, Visvamitra, Vasistha, etc., to seer hood. The mystery of the Veda at such an early stage of the human history gets cracked here through the trace of yoga to that antiquity. Besides showing sure indications opt the discipline in the Vedic Samhita, it discloses the secret yogic practices of some of the most important seers of the Vedic age. If the method of prananusandhana as developed by Angiras has resulted in the way of access to pure consciousness through control of the vital, that of nadanusandhana as epitomized by the female seers Angiras has led to descent of Vedic mantas on the seers with all their exquisite wealth of wisdom, knowledge and aesthetic values. While the chapter on Yogic Motifs in Indus Seals confirms the literary evidence adduced here by archaeological verity, the Critique of Patanjali brings to the fore the seminal points of departure of him from the royal road of Yoga, raja-yoga, built up by the seers. Thus, if one wants to understand the secret of Spirituality in India along with the infallible way to it, one is sure to find this publication most refreshing and rewarding.

As the book is designed to confirm to course contents of Yoga, it will be of great use to graduates, post grag8uates, diploma, degree and research students of Yoga and the teachers alike.

(About The Book (Vol 2)

While the first volume of the Foundation of Yoga deals with the historical side of the foundation, the present one concerns itself with the psychological which has been discerned in the form of consciousness. Just as matter is the basic stuff physical sciences have to deal with, consciousness serves as the basic stuff of the science of spirit known as Yoga. Any yogic practice apart from deep understanding of the nature of consciousness is, thus, doomed to end in an exercise in futility. This is what has been brought to the fore by Vedic seers and Upanisadic sages practically by diving deep into consciousness and declaring it as the source of everything in the world including matter itself. As such, what modern psychologists have declared as sub-conscious and unconscious, is only a covert form of consciousness. What has been recounted in the Veda as war between gods and demons is, thus, reducible to the seer’s entry into these covert layers of consciousness and facing the odds. Search of one’s identity in the pure consciousness is liberation and immortality while one’s identification with the physical is bondage and mortality. The Mahdmrtyunjaya mantra epitomizes this secret at its best. All this has been brought out here closely and cogently on the evidence of the galaxy of Vedic seers and Upanisadic sages with a view to recreate the real psychological foundation of Yoga which otherwise is being tossed around today like a kite snapped off its string. As such, the volume is expected to prove an authentic passage to entry into the citadel of yoga and experience the felicity lying await within. It will be helpful in clearing the cobweb of misunderstanding about it formed in course of millennia and will benefit everyone including yoga teachers, practitioners, researchers and students who are doing graduation, post-graduation and Ph.D. in Yoga.

(About The Book (Vol 3)

One, who has established control over the asanas, conquers the three worlds. Practice of asanas removes diseases and brings stability and health to the body. This volume discusses various kinds of asana, both gross and subtle with suitable pictorial illustrations, textual references and scientific notes on their effects on the body and the mind from both hygienic and yogic viewpoints. Combination of textual account with the modern physiological analysis is sure to be helpful in the understanding of the proper mode of these postures which otherwise are likely to cause damage to the body and disturbance to the mind instead of bringing succor to both of them. It also discusses preparatory asanas for beginners as well as asanas for advanced practitioners. Practice of these asanas is so described that it prepares one for inner journey. The book is designed to confirm to the course contents of Yoga, and we hope that it will benefit everyone including Yoga teachers, practitioners, researchers and students who are doing diploma, graduation, post-graduation, and Ph.D.

(About The Book (Vol 4)

This volume deals with what are known in yogic parlance as sat karma, mudra, pranayama, pratyahara. Sat karma is purificatory of the body. It includes what are known as neti, dhauti, vasti, nauli, etc. These devices of purification of the body on the yogic line have been discussed in hatha-yogic treatises of the medieval age and are highly useful in the redemption of the body from various kinds of diseases. So is the case with the mudras and bandhas which, however, being purificatory of the body are highly useful in leading to concentration of the mind. While pranayama in the course of yogic sadhana is self-evident as prana and consciousness are closely interrelated. Various kinds of pranayama have been deliberated upon in the volume apart from several others that have remained generally unknown so far. It also discusses precaution and safety during the practice of pranayama. Pratyahara is that method in which the sense organs follow the sense-mind on the image held within so that they can get sensations from within thereby leading to the dissolution of the sensations of sense-organs in the sense-mind and finally it gets dissolved in the consciousness or the Self. All these ingredients of yoga as well its basic postulates have been discussed clearly and authentically having based on the textual verity on the one hand and scientific possibility on the other. The book is designed to confirm to the course contents of Yoga and will be of great use to graduates, post graduates, diploma, research students and teachers of Yoga and the practitioners alike.

About The Book (Vol 5)

This volume discusses the three next steps of Yoga known as dharana, dhyana and samadhi. They represent the crux of the. process of yogic sadhana. In view of the extreme subtlety of these steps, this volume successful coverage of these steps through relevant texts dealing with this part of the sadhana. With this end in view, selections have been made from such yogic texts bearing as the Upanisads, Bhagavadgita, Vijnabhairava, Malinivijayottaratantra, etc. which have been adduced here along with their English translation and necessary notes wherever required for clarification.

It also includes and discusses the Epistemology of Yoga as well as a digest of the entire process and method of the sadhana put together succinctly and in a graded manner under A Tractatus of Yoga. The formulations made here are for summarising the entire range of the sadhana in as brief a form as possible. These formulations have been made somewhat on the pattern of the classical authors of the sutra-from of literature dealing with subjects of utmost technical bearing requiring close attention of the reader. A significant difference in the process of formulation of the tractatus here from that of the ancient Sanskrit authors of the sutras lies in the fact that while surra preceded their expositions made sometimes by the sutrakaras themselves and mostly by other exponents of them quite subsequently, here the formulations only follow the detailed exposition meant particularly to serve as a digest of the entire stuff along with all the difficulties involved in its coverage, understanding and practical application. All these ingredients of yoga as well its basic postulates have been discussed clearly and authentically having based on the textual verity on the one hand and scientific possibility on the other.

All these ingredients of yoga as well its basic postulates have been discussed clearly and authentically having based on the textual verity on the one hand and scientific possibility on the other. The book is designed to confirm to the course contents of Yoga and we hope that it will be of great use to graduates, post graduates, diploma, research students, teachers of Yoga and general practitioners alike.