yoga

the sound of yoga:
a soul entering
the unmanifest

Swami Niranjananandaji

The following small books, collections, and an incomplete autobiographical book are from recorded discourses by my sadguru, Swami Niranjananandaji. His longest series is 100 discourses on the Bhagavad Gita. The materials are available on their own web page and as pdf. Also included in the yoga download folder are two of my renderings, bhakti raga and the avadhoota gita.

Over many years Ellen Weber and Joel Shindler diligently transcribed the taped discourses by Swamiji. I edited them and then Joel and Swamiji corrected any errors before I prepared the layout for publication in our circle’s small magazine, Echo. The discourses in selected collections are the product of these transcriptions.

   Swami Niranjananandaji was born in Bangalore, India, on September 28,1925, and raised in a pious Brahmin household in the company of holy men. He came under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna when he was about 14.
   He also comes from a family steeped in the arts of dance, music and drama; his father was a great singer of devotional music. Swamiji studied under great masters of music and later studied Indian dance. He formed his own school of Fine Arts in 1946.
   In 1952 he came into contact with Sri Sivananda who initiated him and guided his practice thereafter. In the 1957 he was introduced to the Mother at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram; she asked him to stay. He spent the year of 1959-1960 there. In 1962 he became a monk under the guidance of Sri Sivananda and later founded an ashram in the High Himalayas where he resided for 9 years. In 1973, he began a world tour taking him through parts of Africa, Europe and North America. He continues to teach according to his realization from his practices.
   Swamiji moved from the San Francisco Bay area to Lompoc in the yearly eighties; he has a wife and two daughters. He has been active in his community, particularly with school related issues, issues dealing with the poor and the issue of pesticide drift.

He says:
   “All religions are one as all of them talk of one God. All beings are equal and independent evolving in one’s own way — at one’s own pace. Love all. Realize the brother-hood of man. Have faith in God and confidence in yourself. Hear everyone, but follow the inner voice that has been trying to guide you throughout the life without mistaking it for the mental voice — You are bound to reach the highest realm of Truth by your efforts plus His Grace.”