The Gita For All

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I have not intended any commentary or attempted an exhaustive analysis on the philosophy or the teachings of the Gita after the manner of the philosophers and scholars of India and the world. This book has just come up strangely from a small Sanskrit text which I carried with me during my visit to the erstwhile USSR in the summer of 1989, where, to my knowledge and understanding, talking about God or religion would have been an offense. I was not even confident enough there while sharing in a closed room the unsuppressed enthusiasm of a Tajik gentleman Hakim Shah who wondered if people would someday move in the streets of Dushanbe, the Capital of Tajikistan (A Republic of the then USSR), chanting 'Hare Krishna'. It was, therefore, not a surprise to me that I was asked to put down the Message of the Gita on Yoga in Everyday Life' for the local newspapers after lecturing on different aspects of Yoga at the 'Iroda' Yoga Centre there. It was during the course of these lectures that I was required to give a detailed background of the Indian Yoga system and the Practices advocated by various exponents of it through the ages. I believe, a quotation from an article published in 'Communist Tajikistan' (a Russian daily of Tajikistan) would be of quite some interest for the readers.

"YOGA is one of the six systems of Indian philosophy. According to these ancient systems and theories, Indian seers of past have tried to explain the purpose of life, the world and the overall design of God and nature. Yoga, among them, lays much greater emphasis on human capabilities. According to it, it is not important whether there is God or not, but it is desirable that a man realizes his potential in accordance with his conception of Godhood. The founder of this science was Patanjali whose theory has been propounded in his famous work Yogadarshana (The Science of Yoga). Yogadarshana explains in detail that there are eight steps of yoga practice. They are Yama (mental discipline), Niyama (adherence to certain rules), Asana (physical postures). Pranayama (breathing exercises). Pratyahara (making mind introspective), Dharana (contemplation). Dhyana (mediation) and Samadhi (realization). In brief, physical and mental preparation is necessary for one to tread the higher paths of Yoga.

**Contents and Sample Pages**