Yoga’s Forgotten Foundation
Twenty Timeless Keys to Your Divine Destiny
By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
A must-read for serious yoga practitioners, meditators and anyone deeply involved with transformative spiritual life, Yoga’s Forgotten Foundation delves into the integrated approach to yoga as taught by the great masters of India. It is a cogent reminder to those who want to start at the end of the spiritual path that there is an essential beginning, the neglect of which portends failure and disappointment. In 224 pages, with full-color Indian art, it explores the traditional foundation of yoga, twenty little-known guidelines on personal ethics, self-control and religious practice, called the yamas and niyamas.
The yamas and niyamas have been preserved through the centuries as the first and second stage of the eight-staged practice of yoga. They provide the essential foundation to support our yoga practice so that attainments in higher consciousness can be sustained.
The modern exponent of hatha yoga B.K.S. Iyengar cautioned, “Practice of asanas without the backing of yama and niyama is mere acrobatics. Yama and niyama control the yogi’s passions and emotions and keep him in harmony with his fellow man.”
The book begins with a forward by the author’s spiritual successor, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, and takes the reader step by step through noninjury, truthfulness, nonstealing, sexual purity, patience, contentment and other facets of virtue. Grounded in a traditional Hindu point of view, yet admirably relevant to us all, the book discusses some of the toughest issues and challenges of modern life, including promiscuity, domestic abuse, child-rearing, overeating, gambling, vegetarianism, violence, injustice and pornography–relating them all to progress on the yoga path. It also explores the essential practices, including charity, worship, chanting mantras, austerity and scriptural study.
224 pages, full color, ISBN 0-945497-91-1
