In India and abroad yoga seems to be different things to different people, with the result the original and pure yoga as expounded by the great sage Patanjali two thousand years ago actually has become drained, diluted, remote, shallow, unreachable and unrecognizable. The path of True Yoga actually leads one out of darkness into the light; and it is a perpetual journey into the mysteries of life. It takes up and leads us unfailingly and unerringly to the heights of greater splendour and glory where perfect peace, harmony and wisdom reign supreme.
But this goal of yoga can only be reached through a regenerated, spiritual mind; a mind which is pure, subtle and sensitive. Needless to say, this yoga is missing now. It is misunderstood, misconceived into something by various names, gymnastics, fakirism, beauty culture and therapy, health science, sex therapy, medi - tation technique and so on. Against this backdrop, the essays are framed on the basis of the first two sections, namely, Samadhi Pada and Sadhana Pada of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
These are originally condensed talks delivered at Sri Aurobindo Society, Tirupati. In preparing these essays, the writer has drawn both upon his own experience and the Yoga Sutras. Ultimately, the only pure yoga is in living, constantly purifying oneself, leading to the discov - ering of oneself. The reader will find it useful and perhaps even illuminating to dispel certain misconceptions.
