Yama-niyama Dictionary

The word Yoga comes from the root Yuj which means to join. Yoga is restraint of the activities of the mind, and is the union of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul.

Hiranyagarbha is the founder of the Yoga system. The Yoga founded by Patanjali Maharshi is a branch or supplement of the Sankhya. It has its own charm for students of a mystic temperament and of a contemplative type. It claims greater orthodoxy than the Sankhya proper by directly acknowledging the existence of a Supreme Being (Isvara).

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Yoga: Hindu Philosophy - The Yoga

Kriya Yoga: The Path of Kriya Yoga

The Kriya Path is: Attaining eternal Tranquility by practice of Pranayam and continuing meditations on the Formless, i.e. Tranquility.

Increasing the practice of Kriya, doing all works without expectations for the results thereof, the path aims at achieving Tranquility, observing everything which is revealed in Yonimudra (Beatific Inner Revelation Kriya), and terminating all desired expectations, renouncing every desire before it originates, being freed from all thoughts.

Read more here: » Kriya Yoga: The Path of Kriya Yoga

Brahmacharya is very very essential Even in dreams you must be free from lustful thoughts. It requires long practice and careful watch over the mind and Indriyas. Foolish people hastily jump up to the higher courses in Yoga in vain without having this important item which is very useful for spiritual Sadhana.

From "Kundalini Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Yoga: Hints On Yoga

Ethics as a Means to Yoga.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Yoga: Yoga of Right Conduct

The very root and core of all moral discipline is mental purification through refraining from all evil action and the active practice of virtue. Do good at all times. Ahimsa, Satya and Brahmacharya symbolise the three processes of avoiding sin, sticking to virtue and Self-purification.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Hindu Ethics: Ethical Culture Or The Process Of Purification

Yoga is the art of uniting the individual soul with the Supreme Soul, of uniting the Kundalini Sakti lying dormant in the Muladhara Chakra with Siva in the Sahasrara Chakra. By convention, all practices that help the attainment of this goal are also called Yoga.

From "Kundalini Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Yoga: Yoga And Its Consummation

A poem about life and death.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami_Sivananda.

Read more here: » Poem about life: What is real life?