This first volume of Astadala Yogamala is’ a unique book. It is part of a large project being undertaken to gather all the material in the form of lectures, articles, interviews, question & answer sessions, and teaching courses that have been given by Yogacarya B.K.S. Iyengar.
The works have undergone extensive editing all of which has been overseen by B.K.S. lyengar, bringing the wealth of his extensive experience to the subject.
This volume, as well as all the future volumes, will be of immense value to all students and practitioners of Yoga.
This second volume of Astadala Yogamala is the vision of Yogacarya B.K.S. Iyengar. It contains the distillation of thought born from his long standing sadhana.
"The very heart of my teaching has been an attempt to demonstrate in the most practical and useful way how any perfected part of yoga contains the essence of every other aspect, the macrocosm inside the microcosm or the universal couched within the particular, like the genetic code which lies in the DNA of each of our cells."
This third volume of Aatadala Yogamala contains not only the matured intellectual vision of Yogacarya B.K.S. Iyengar, but takes the sadhaka into the interiou parts of the consciousness to savour the true essence of life force the Seer.
The volume is a ‘Yogic cornucopia’ of Subjects which will be of interest to the discerning reader, ranging from therapeutics to ayurveda to academics and sports, practice (sadhana) and the teaching of yoga as art, science and way of life.
The three brothers, Ravana, Kumbhakarana and Vibhisana, with different aims in life, together determined to practise meditation.
Kumbhakarana’s meditation was tamasic and inert in nature, making him lazy and sleepy; though having a strong body, he remained empty within. Ravana’s meditation was rajasic, filled with sensual and psychologic ambitions. Vibhisana’s meditation possessed the qualities of satvic guna; perfect physical firmness, emotional clarity and intellectual wisdom, along with a pure intention and total surrender.
From the meditation of the three brothers we can learn a lot. From Ravana and Kumbhakarana we learn to sublimate the ego, discarding both laziness and ambition; through Vibhisana to cultivate humbleness and virtuosity, and surrender ourselves to the Paramatma, that being the highest quality of dhyana. In dhyana alone an inner order of rhythm to peace, sets in.
Today many people jump to meditation, but they end up with Kumbhakarana’s inert state of emptiness, or they become egoistic and full of intellectual pride like Ravana.
Vibhisana never declared his devotion or his meditation. He personified bhakti and dhyana. He totally surrendered to Sri Rama, giving up all ties. He is the example for us to aspire for meditation.
I am confident that the discipline of yoga plays a major role for those who work for peace and joy, not only in themselves, but also for society. Being one of them, it is my duty to continue, at least with my pupils, to show what inner peace is.
This fifth volume of Astadala Yogamala contains a great treasure house of material compiled from interviews taken with Yogacharya B. K. S. Iyengar.
Like an explorer, who enters a dark cave and penetrates its depth with a beam of light, the torchlight of each interview iIIumines a section of the cave revealing the Gem of Wisdom, lying luminescent in the depth of the ardent, unceasing and devoted sadhana of Shri B. K. S: Iyengar.
This, the sixth volume of Astadala Yogamala continues to reveal the great wisdom housed in the treasure trove of the interviews of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar.
It provides education for the sadhaka to accomplish an inner transformation freeing him from sensual pleasures, and making him move towards the Soul, where untainted wisdom illuminates the practitioner from within purifying his actions.
As you progress in your practice, the cloud of afflications and obstacles in life interfere less and less. They disperse revealing the glory of the Soul’s eternity.
This seventh volume of Astadala Yogamala presents to the reader the revealed insight and experienced understanding brought to light in response to questions asked of Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar over the years.
At times the questions express doubts of the questioner, at other times it is their thirst for knowledge. Sometimes a provoking challenge and sometimes a cry for clarity. The answers represented here nourish, alleviate and respond to personal queries as well as address the vast topic of yoga universally.
This volume is like a deep well; one can draw water from its surface and quench one’s thirst, or one can, with effort, break the surface of the water and plunge into its depth where the cool waters are constantly fed from an inexhaustible stream of distilled knowledge that can come only from one who has totally immersed himself in the ocean of wisdom.
This eighth and final volume of Astadala Yogamala brings the reader to the culmination of the entire project The author Yogacarya B.K.S. Iyengar has guided us carefully through the maze and intricacies of an apparently unsurmountable subject that is the terrain of yoga knowledge.
He has shone rays of light into every conceivable aspect of yoga sadhana, elucidating this difficult subject succinctly and with lucidity. Guruji (Yogacarya B.K.S. Iyengar) calls and encourages us to climb to the apex of the subject so that the reader may see for themselves its vastness, its purity and its brilliance.
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