Center Sivanda Yoga - The Sivananda Companion to Meditation: How to Master the Mind and Achieve Transcendence

How to Master the Mind
and Achieve Transcendence

THE SIVANANDA YOGA VEDANTA CENTER

A Fireside Book
Published by Simon & Schuster
New York London Toronto Sydney

FIRESIDE
Rockefeller Center
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Copyright 2003 by Gaia Books Limited and Gaia Media

Text copyright 2003 by The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

F IRESIDE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc
www.SimonandSchuster.com

For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798 or business@simonandschuster.com

Designed by Bridget Morley

Printed and bound in China by Imago

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

ISBN 0-7432-4611-X
eISBN 978-1-451-60386-6

SECTION I
STARTING OUT

CHAPTER ONE
THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATIONA TWELVE-STEP GUIDE

CHAPTER TWO
THE YOGIC LIFESTYLE

CHAPTER THREE
CONCENTRATION

CHAPTER FOUR
THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING

CHAPTER FIVE
MANTRAS, WORDS OF POWER

CHAPTER SIX
THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF MEDITATION

SECTION II
AS YOU ADVANCE

CHAPTER SEVEN
DEVOTIONAL AND VEDANTIC MEDITATION

CHAPTER EIGHT
THE ART OF RIGHT LIVING

CHAPTER NINE
SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE

CHAPTER TEN
CHALLENGES TO MEDITATION

CHAPTER ELEVEN
AS THE PRACTICE DEEPENS

CHAPTER TWELVE
THE EXPANDED VISION

To Swami Vishnu-devananda and to the Acharyas of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres (Executive Board Members) for their support and encouragement in writing this book

Through regular meditation, the mind becomes clear and the motives pure.

The subconscious mind releases hidden knowledge that allows a better understanding of oneself and our relationship to the world.

The limited personality slowly dissolves into an expanded consciousness.

Ultimately, the super-conscious or intuitive forces are released, leading to a life of wisdom and peace.

SWAMI VISHNU-DEVANANDA

Facing page: Swami Vishnu-devananda in meditation Title page: dawn view of the lake at the Sivananda Yoga Dhanwantari Ashram in Kerala, South India

Meditation is at the core of the practice of yoga. It is both its main tool and its ultimate destination. This book presents a classical approach to the yogic path of meditation, which is called raja yoga. This knowledge dates from very ancient times and has been handed down from generation to generation through an unbroken lineage of teachers and students. The purpose of this book is to stimulate the readers interest in the timeless practice of meditation and connect the reader with a time-tested spiritual tradition, probably the oldest one in the world.

The science of raja yoga is vast and complex. The knowledge in this book is based on the classical raja yoga tradition presented in the light of the direct experience of one of the great yoga masters of modern times, Swami Sivananda, and of one of his direct students, Swami Vishnu-devananda. Both of these teachers dedicated their lives to making yoga accessible to all. They present the intricate science of yoga in simple words, making it come alive through examples, stories, and anecdotes taken from daily life. They make it clear, straightforward, and resolutely practical. At the same time, they have never allowed the teachings to be diluted. Swami Vishnu-devananda, who was sent by his Master in the late 1950s to teach yoga to the West, fought all his life to preserve the purity and depth of the yogic knowledge he had received from his teacher in the Himalayas. A combination of simplicity and authenticity is the genius of these two great teachers and explains the great success of their teachings in both the East and the West.

The following short account of the lifes work of Swami Vishnu-devananda will hopefully convey the spirit in which he undertook the mission imparted to him by his teacher. In 1957 Swami Sivananda told him: Go to the West. People are waiting. With this single instruction, a ten rupee note in his pocket, and no support other than his tremendous faith in his teacher and his indomitable willpower, Swami Vishnu-devananda left Swami Sivanandas ashram (retreat centre) in Rishikesh, North India, and started a long journey that took him to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, and finally to the West. Everywhere he spread the knowledge of yoga, touching many people through his enthusiasm and boundless energy.

He arrived in San Francisco in the autumn of 1957 and explained to a suspicious immigration officer that he was coming to the United States of America to teach yoga. The official finally let him in after the young yogi had made an impressive demonstration of the full locust (an advanced yoga posture) on his desk! This was the beginning of a story that lasted thirty-five years, during which Swami Vishnu-devananda founded the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, one of the largest yoga organizations in the world with over forty yoga centres and ashrams worldwide. In 1959 he wrote The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, which has sold over a million copies and remains a classic today. In 1969 he founded the True World Order, an international organization whose aim is to promote world peace and mutual understanding between nations, religions, and cultures. Swami Vishnu-devananda learned how to pilot a small plane and undertook numerous peace missions, flying over the worlds trouble-spots at the risk of his life, dropping flowers and leaflets for peace over war zones and disputed borders. His peace flights took him to Belfast, Suez, and West Pakistan in 1971, and in 1983 he flew over the Berlin Wall from west to east.

Group meditation at the Sivananda Yoga Dhanwantari Ashram in Kerala, South India. Group meditation confers a more powerful impact on the meditator than meditating alone.

In 1969 Swami Vishnu-devananda started the first yoga teachers training course ever taught in the West. Since then, many thousands of teachers have been trained. In 1979 he wrote his second book Meditation and Mantras, aiming to dispel the confusion that has arisen around the topic of meditation. Into this book he poured all his knowledge of the ancient science of meditation, mantras, and the four classical paths of yoga: jnana yoga (the yoga of knowledge), bhakti yoga (the yoga of universal love), raja yoga (the yoga of self-mastery), and karma yoga (the yoga of selfless action).

Swami Vishnu-devananda left his body in 1993 in India, after an extraordinary and eventful life lived for the total service of his mission: spreading the knowledge of yoga in the West and reviving it in its country of origin. The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres around the world continue his work and dedicate themselves to teaching yoga in the same spirit of purity and simplicity.