Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The Perfection of Yoga by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

I have just finished reading a small book by Swami Prabhupada. It is perfect for those who are practising yoga but want to know what lies beyond the physical aspect of that ancient practice.
This book expounds on the mystical as well as the metaphysical. Yoga is actually more than just wrapping your legs around your neck. It is slightly more complex than a series of breathing techniques.
The swami has kindly illustrated his points about this marvellous subject by using simple words. Afterall, is it not true that simplicity is the result of profound thought?
I find myself achieving a deeper understanding of yoga after digesting the book's contents. If you will pardon me but some of the written explanations seem amazingly similar to a few tomes on spirituality that I have read.
So is there then a link between yoga and God? According to the swami, yes. I believe so, too. Yoga afterall is the route to sublime meditation.
When one embarks on this journey into the inner self, there lies only one path and it goes straight to the heart of the matter. I wish there is a simpler way of explaining the whole scheme of things but since I am too a novice with regard to matters that touches on transcendantel meditation, I guess that will do.
It is actually not quite relief to learn that a great yoga master like the writer has come up with a treatise on such a popular subject.
The world is so much richer from his distilled wisdom from a lifetime of learning and meditation. Very often, we find that the greatest of teachings are also the simplest to understand and absorb.
There are several coloured pictures on several pages of this book. The pictures are that of various Hindu gods that are held in high esteem by worshippers. They lend a deeper visual understanding of the subjects discussed by the swami.
Personally, I love books that do not run into hundreds of pages because I know the writer is not long-winded. People who can say important things in fewer pages than expected are normally quite intelligent and are better teachers than most of us think.
As an old boss of mine once told me: "If you can tell a story in 15 paragraphs and make everyone understand you, then you have achieved much, and there's little I can teach you hereafter."
Having said that, I urge all those who are reading this to get a copy of this book and digest its words of wisdom with great enthusiasm. We are just actors and actresses on this world's theatrical stage. We merely enter and exit but during that short span of time which we all call life, let's learn as much as possible from all those who are willing to sacrifice their time to teach us.