Books

There comes a time, when one is able to stand aside and gaze with silent awe, and with a profoundly grateful heart, at the beauty of the mysterious grace that has coloured and shaped every moment of life. Today is such a time. On this day, at the height of summer, we end our humble endeavour to tell the tale of how two very great men sanctified the land of Greece with a cornucopia of gifts and graces. This tale is told in two books; one describing the visits to Greece by Swami Satyananda—our guru, and the other the visits by his successor—Swami Niranjanananda. As I finish reading them, a feeling of overwhelming praise and thanks fills my soul and heart. What words can one find to adequately express appropriate gratitude, not only for that which they have given to me personally, but also for what they have so freely and selflessly given to an entire nation and its people? Swami Satyananda told us many times: “The law of the Lord is love; the language of the Lord is silence.” It is impossible for me to find the words to express the intensity of my feelings of gratitude to our guru, either on behalf of myself, or on behalf of the many Greek people who have been blessed to experience the presence and grace of both spiritual masters. I pray that the brevity of my words may allow the silence in my heart to reach the silence in the heart of my guru, whose law is always and only— love.

There comes a time, when one is able to stand aside and gaze with silent awe, and with a profoundly grateful heart, at the beauty of the mysterious grace that has coloured and shaped every moment of life. Today is such a time. On this day, at the height of summer, we end our humble endeavour to tell the tale of how two very great men sanctified the land of Greece with a cornucopia of gifts and graces. This tale is told in two books; one describing the visits to Greece by Swami Satyananda—our guru, and the other the visits by his successor—Swami Niranjanananda. As I finish reading them, a feeling of overwhelming praise and thanks fills my soul and heart. What words can one find to adequately express appropriate gratitude, not only for that which they have given to me personally, but also for what they have so freely and selflessly given to an entire nation and its people? Swami Satyananda told us many times: “The law of the Lord is love; the language of the Lord is silence.” It is impossible for me to find the words to express the intensity of my feelings of gratitude to our guru, either on behalf of myself, or on behalf of the many Greek people who have been blessed to experience the presence and grace of both spiritual masters. I pray that the brevity of my words may allow the silence in my heart to reach the silence in the heart of my guru, whose law is always and only— love.

In April 2013, Swami Sivananda’s 18 ITIES and the Practice of Pratyahara was the topic of a series of talks given at Ganga Darshan by Swami Sivamurti, Acharya Satyanandashram Hellas, Greece. The 18 ITIES are eighteen positive qualities or virtues. The practice of these qualities leads the aspirant towards living a divine life. Swami Satyananda Saraswati made the practices of pratyahara the hallmark of Satyananda Yoga-Bihar Yoga. Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati further developed pratyahara by making it a practice to be lived and experienced twenty-four hours a day. He emphasizes a yogic lifestyle, and therefore, brings the practice of the 18 ITIES back to the fore as an integral part of his teaching. Swami Sivamurti presented these two lifestyle-oriented practices. Each quality is described in detail along with relevant stories and anecdotes to give a rich appreciation of the underlying concept. She then relates each quality to a stage of pratyahara, allowing the aspirant to systematically work with these concepts as a sadhana to be lived and experienced in everyday situations. These lectures motivate and guide the aspirant not only to practice yoga but to live yoga.

A collection of sayings, by Swami Sivamurti Saraswati, on the Guru-Disciple relationship, published during the celebrations of Guru Poornima 2012, in Satyanandashram Hellas. We offer our respect to the tradition of our gurus, who are our inspirers.

This book is a response to the many requests from both Greek and foreign aspirants to produce a book of Swami Sivamurti's recent articles in various yoga periodicals. Swami Sivamurti is regarded as one of the main exponents of Satyananda yoga in Europe, and is admired for her ability to present the eternal truths of yoga and sannyasa in a way that is easy for the modern mind to grasp and understand. The articles in this book first appeared in the 'Paiania Yoga Journal' which was a project begun during the Sannyasa Training Course of 1995 and continued until the summer of the following year. 'The Indweller of the Heart' is an article of mosaics of moments captured at one of her yearly visits to our Guru's akhara in India. It was first published by Sivananda Math, Munger, India in 'Yoga' March 1998, Year 9, Issue 2. The articles 'Yoga, mind and meditation' and 'Tension: the toxin of the mind' were adapted from a lecture and workshop given at two of Athens' universities. The final article, 'Yoga, science and consciousness' was a talk given in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1999 at a symposium on the brain and consciousness, organized by the European Centre for Peace and Development of the United Nations University for Peace. 'Yoga and pregnancy' appears for the first time in this book. This book and all of Swami Sivamurti’s books that will follow, aim to contribute in the spreading of our Guru’s mission ‘to curry the message of yoga from shore to shore and from door to door’.