Nathamuni's Yoga Rahasya

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Nathamuni, a ninth century yogi and Vaisnavite saint, was an extra- ordinary person who revolutionized many customs prevailing at his time. Among his most important contributions was a text on yoga called the Yoga Rahasya. The title itself means "Secrets of yoga" and true to its name, this wonderful masterpiece offers many deep insights into the use, and applications of yoga.

Unfortunately this text was lost a few decades after he died and for many years, it was merely a historical fact that the text had once existed. There was no trace of this book until a very strange experience that happened to one of his direct descendants T Krishnamacharya, brought back to life, this great classic.

Regarded as one of the most influential yogi-s of modern times, T Krishnamacharya received the teachings of Yoga Rahasya as a young boy, in a strange situation in a town called Alvar Tirunagari Oil the banks of the river Tamraparani. This town hosts one of the most holy Vishnu temples and a very old tamarind tree, under which Nathamuni himself is supposed to have had the vision of his teacher Nammalvar, who taught him the secrets of yoga.

The revival of this great text brings to life the great yoga teachings of Nathamuni, and provides us valuable information on how to utilize the different tools that yoga offers to deal with different situations. This work formed an important source of reference for T Krishnamacharya's teaching, and has touched many people directly or indirectly.

I mportant concepts discussed in this classical text include:

* Importance of yoga for women

* Yoga for pregnancy

* Yoga for different stages of life

* Yoga as a therapeutic tool

When my father initiated me to the Yoga Rahasya in 1963, I had no idea that he had received the lost text, and that he was also a descendant of the author, Sri Nathamuni. Every day, he would recite the verses orally and would ask me to repeat them twice. Only later, did he explain to me the meaning of the text. Eventually he wrote the whole text in his own handwriting.

Looking back, it occurs to me that I did not take this text seriously enough, until I came to know through my father's explanations of other texts, such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedanta Sutra, how great Nathamuni was.

I consider it a great blessing to have this opportunity of presenting the Yoga Rahasya in Sanskrit, along with the English translations based on my father's explanations. I know this is not a word to word translation and it is my request that any errors may please be condoned.

I offer this work as a Guru Daksina.