Swami Satyananda Saraswati - Sure Ways to Self-Realization

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Sure Ways to
Self-Realization

With kind regards, and prem

Sure Ways to
Self-Realization

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India

Y OGA P UBLICATIONS T RUST

Sure Ways to Self-Realization

Sure Ways to Self-Realization is a practical and informative text on systems of meditation from cultures all over the world. To assist todays seekers to find a suitable path back to the source, the real self, and to find stability of mind in a rapidly changing world, Swami Satyananda Saraswati describes the path of meditation, the obstacles confronting the practitioner and the means to overcome them.

Both theory and practical instructions for a vast range of age-old meditation practices are presented, including yogic techniques such as antar mouna, yoga nidra and ajapa japa, as well as meditations from ancient Egypt and Greece, the Celtic and Taoist traditions, Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, Sufism and alchemy. Moving meditations as well as meditation techniques for children and for the dying are included.

Sure Ways to Self-Realization is suitable for all levels from beginners to advanced and is an ideal reference book for yoga teachers.

Many sannyasins have selflessly contributed to the compiling, editing and publishing of this text. To one and all, yoga aspirants extend their gratitude for bringing this information to them.

Bihar School of Yoga 1980, 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from Yoga Publications Trust.

The terms Satyananda Yoga and Bihar Yoga are registered trademarks owned by International Yoga Fellowship Movement (IYFM). The use of the same in this book is with permission and should not in any way be taken as affecting the validity of the marks.

The purpose of this book is to provide relevant information regarding yoga practice; it is not to be used for teaching oneself or others. All yoga training and learning should be done under the guidance of an experienced, competent teacher, not from the book alone.

Published by Bihar School of Yoga

First edition 1980

Reprinted 1983

Published by Yoga Publications Trust

Reprinted 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2013

First digital edition 2016

ISBN (print): 978-81-85787-41-1

ISBN eMOBI: 978-93-84753-50-4

ISBN ePUB: 978-93-84753-51-1

Publisher and distributor: Yoga Publications Trust, Ganga Darshan, Munger, Bihar, India.

Website: www.biharyoga.net

Dedication

In humility we offer this dedication to
Swami Sivananda Saraswati, who initiated
Swami Satyananda Saraswati into the secrets of yoga.

Contents

Many years ago, great psychologists predicted that the present technological revolution would create many new psychological problems for humanity. Their predictions have come true. Throughout the whole world human beings have become burdened with tension and anxiety. They have lost their peace of mind.

The advent of machinery has given men and women more leisure time than at any other time in the history of humankind. Yet they do not know how to use this spare time most beneficially. They spend their free time in nerve-exciting amusements, through which they try to forget themselves. Their mental problems accumulate as each day passes. They are assailed by problems of many forms family problems, economic problems, worries regarding health, jealousies, hatreds, sorrows, fears and so on, and all these influences make the mind continually restless. Modern civilization has placed all sorts of comforts and amusements before the individual, but unfortunately he has lost his appetite for them. His mind is troubled, tormented and tense, and this sickness of the mind prevents him from having a positive, healthy and balanced attitude towards life.

There was a time in Indian history when the same crisis occurred. It was at a time when humankind had reached a peak of material prosperity and education. People then were in the same situation as people are today; as their wealth increased their mental tensions increased by the same degree. At that time a great sage, by the name of Kapila, looked at the prevailing situation and propounded the system of Samkhya yoga. It was formulated with the express purpose of giving happiness to the neurotic and confused people of that time.

Later, during the period of Buddha, Rishi Patanjali modified Kapilas philosophy and presented it in the form of the Yoga Sutras . In these sutras, yoga is defined as the science of mental control, and of control over all the dimensions of personality and different patterns of behaviour. Although the civilizations at the time of Kapila and Patanjali were very different to the civilization of today, the human mind has not changed very much, if at all. Therefore, although yoga and meditation practices were developed many, many years ago, their techniques can nevertheless be of immense value in helping modern men and women to find stability in this tumultuous world.

Unfortunately, in the east, people have been concerned with the inner individual life, but they have not managed to harmonize their lives. If one looks at the way people are living in eastern countries, it is obvious that they are as miserable there as in the west. Individuals are not capable of living in harmony with themselves, and collectively are not able to live in love and friendship, peace and co-operation with each other.

In the west, people have been led to believe that material things bring happiness and without them they would be unhappy, and consequently they are. But by looking at the lives of the great saints and founders of the world religions, we have proof that the individual can become happy without material possessions.

So it seems that regardless of whether one lives in an affluent country, or a poverty-stricken country, a scientifically and technologically advanced country, or a primitive one, people feel that there is something missing from their lives. It is, therefore, logical to assume that man needs to find a way of bringing about inner and outer change simultaneously; not isolating the inner from the outer, not asking the individual to turn away from his daily life, responsibilities and social commitments, and retire to the mountains, the caves or monasteries.

Likewise the individual cannot neglect his/her inner life and seek only to change the social, economic and political structure, for changing the outer world does not change the individual to any great degree. It does not change ones relationship with money, with possessions, with ownership, nor ones attitude towards ambition, competitiveness, ones desire to assert, to own and possess, to dominate, to compare oneself with others. By trying to change the outer at the cost of the inner, to change the collective at the cost of the individual, an imbalance in society results.

Efforts have been made to change the structures and values of society and life, but not being certain of the results, people have been waiting for others to show them the way. They are waiting for leaders, for guides. Everyone is waiting for the they and excluding themselves from the they.

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