Swami Satyananda Saraswati - 14 July

Meditations

from the Tantras

With kind regards, and prem

Meditations
from the Tantras

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Yoga Publications Trust, Munger, Bihar, India

YOGA PUBLICATIONS TRUST

Meditations from the Tantras

Meditations from the Tantras is a clear and comprehensive book on meditation for beginners. The general aim is to show the possibilities open to the practitioner of meditation, the preparation that is necessary, as well as practical methods to attain meditative experiences. Featuring fundamental pratyahara (sensory withdrawal) practices such as Antar Mouna and introductions to other meditation techniques such as Satyananda Yoga Nidra, ajapa japa, trataka, the kriyas and the different forms of mantra practice, this book provides an essential foundation for all advanced meditation practices.

Included are class transcripts of the practices as originally taught by Swami Satyananda Saraswati.

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 1974, 1983, 2018

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 a practice book and it is not to be used for teaching oneself or others. All yoga training is to be learned and practised under the competent guidance of a person well versed in the practice. It is the responsibility of the practitioner to choose the teacher and the manner in which the classes are being conducted. Bihar School of Yoga is not responsible in any way for the individuals choice.

Published by Bihar School of Yoga

First published 1974

Reprinted 1975, 1977, 1981

Second edition 1983

Reprinted 1992, 2000

Published by Yoga Publications Trust

Reprinted 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012

First digital edition 2018

ISBN (print):978-81-85787-11-4

ISBN (digital):978-93-84753-65-8

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.

DEDICATION

To all those who descended and then left, both known and unknown, who have created, developed and mastered the tantric and yogic sciences, thereby giving to mankind the gift of light, the tools which can aid in the task of human evolution.

It is with our deepest yet still most humble appreciation that we are naming a few of the greats who are known to us, and whose teachings have made the practices in this book available to all of us today.

Lords Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in their various forms, the gurus of the ages such as Vashishtha, Vyasa and Shankaracharya, the nine nathas, eighty-four siddhas and sixty-four yoginis, to Abraham, Moses and the compilers of the Kabbala, to Jesus, the Essenes and the Christian saints, Mohammed and the Sufis, the mystical Mayans, Zoroaster, Mahavira, Lord Buddha, Padmasambhava, Guru Nanak, Babaji, Kabir, Tulsidas, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Patanjali, the bhairavas and bhairavis, kaulas, aghoris and avadhootas, the great white brotherhood, siddha tantrics like Ramprasad, Sarvananda, Vamakshepa, Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, Tailang Swami, Sai Baba (Shirdi), Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswara, Swami Yogananda, John Woodroffe, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Nityananda, Meher Baba, Ramana Maharishi and Paramguru Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh.

Tantra is an ancient science dealing with many different systems for increasing the speed of human evolution. It predates all of the worlds existing religions, and provides the esoteric basis on which many of these religions were later based. Tantra provides practical techniques applicable by men and women of every temperament and spiritual level, and aims at turning every action of life into an act of sadhana, or spiritual practice. A few thousand years after its creation, tantra was wedded with the philosophy of Vedanta by the Aryans to form the system of yoga which is quite popular today. It is the aim of this book to provide a practical glimpse into the most important meditation techniques which have their original basis in tantra, so that they may be practised in their original and correct form.

The practices included in this book are based in tantra, though many of them have been forgotten for thousands of years. The task of rediscovering them and putting them in a form which can be understood and practised by people of this age has been done solely by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, as his personal contribution to a civilization searching for a deeper understanding of the basis of life. We hope the world may gain a little and that humanity may advance, even if only a small step, through the publication of these techniques, many of which have never been written down or published in their practicable forms.

Contents

This book was written because the writer feels that the majority of mankind is searching for happiness, yet very few seem to find anything that approaches contentment in their lives. People look to television, cinema, sports and so on for happiness, but though it might come for a short time, any lasting happiness seems to elude them. People seek power, status and material possessions. In return most people suffer from fear, hatred, insecurity, ulcers, heart attacks, mental disturbances, etc.

Yet the way, the path towards contentment in life and a positive, exuberant attitude towards life is simple, so simple, in fact, that people never try or even think of trying it. The answer is to raise your awareness, to dive deep into the infinite depths of the mind. It is here that you will find a peace that will transcend all other types of peace that you have experienced. When you know your deeper mind, all the pettiness and conflict will cease to be important. You will still live in the world and do your work, interact with other people, but you will feel a continual state of contentment. You will be in contact with that which has meaning, and which is not concerned with the superficialities that most people tangle themselves with.

It is the way ones mind works that is important, the way ones mind interprets outside phenomena as well as the information that is already stored in the mind. One sees people living in squalid conditions, yet they seem to be very happy, though not always. The answer lies in their mind, in the way their mind responds to outside events as well as to itself. So we say to you: change your mind, increase your awareness of the deeper workings of your mind, and happiness will come of itself. The method to attain happiness and contentment is to meditate.

Man has evolved much during the last few thousand years. He has evolved from a nomadic being, concerned only with obtaining the necessities of basic existence and controlled completely by the vicissitudes of nature, to his present condition where nature is beginning to be the servant of man. Man is now able to devote a large proportion of his life to things outside earning a living. The process of evolution is a continuous movement of the disordered to the ordered, the unrefined to the refined and the gross to the subtle. With the majority of mankind this has occurred on the physical and mental planes and can of course continue in its present direction through the rapidly changing sophistication of science and technology. But this is not the only alternative and is not the only path on which man can tread. People today are finding that their values are lopsided, that something is missing from their lives.