Beads of Sermons (Set of 7 Books)

About the Book

This book is an English rendering of Yogiraj Shri Yogeshwaranand 27 discourses, delivered on various occasions, on Yoga in its historical perspective and on human life and its complexities. They embody the wisdom that our sages of yoga preached and Maharaj ji has explained it in simple and easily understood language.

What Maharaj ji has expounded in these discourses are eternal truths which are as much relevant today as they were in ancient times. The great merit of these discourses is that they contain advice which can be easily put into practice by people without any change or break in their work-a-day life.

This book should prove an invaluable guide for all those who are spiritually inclined and aspire to give meaning and content to their life and strive to invest it with peace and happiness.

About the Author

Yogiraj Brahmarshi Shri Yogeshwaranand Paramahans, formerly known as Brahmachari Vyas Dev ji, left his home at a tender age of fourteen in search of knowledge and self-realisation. The young Brahmachari spent the early years of his life in the study of Sanskrit and mastering the scriptural lore. He then, followed the path of ancient rishis of the Himalayas and practised the most difficult tapasya and yogic sadhana while continuing the search of real guru who could lead him to the final goal. He came across a number of ascetics about whom one reads only in the scriptures but his search came to an end only when he met Avadhoot Swami Atmanand ji, who had then returned from Tibet.

By constant and dedicated practice of meditation he experienced various types of Samadhis, some of them lasting for several weeks which culminated in his gaining knowledge of self-realisation, origin and dissolution of cosmos and the goal of human existence. The esoteric knowledge which used to pass from guru to disciple through personal relationship and which sometimes required not only a whole lifetime but several lives, has now been set down, at the behest of his guru, in his books.

Volume VII

Preface

In this seventh part of the lecture series, his holiness Shri Gurdev Swami Yogeshwarananda Saraswati, has put forth 27 lectures from his lotus like mouth which has been divided into two parts for the convenience of the Sadhakas aspirants and for saving the treatise from becoming too extensive. Here those subjects have been given more importance that are predominantly related to the life of a house holder (grhasta). The stage of a house-holder viz the grhastashrama is not restricted to being a place for merely experiencing worldly joys and sorrows but shouldbecome the temple for acquiring philosophical learning, wherein the aspirant experiences the truths of life and considers those to help promote his sadhana(aspiration) and not to obstruct it. The problems of life give people the strength for the sadhana, generate detachment and handling and facinf the difficulties inspire him to perform sadhana. Therefore the aspirants who are house-holders(grhasta) should not consider themselves unworthy for yoga or tatvagyan(knowledge of the ultimate principle). If they carry on their life thinking themselves to be pursuers of the path of spirituality, then this knowledge is for them also.

We hope this treatise will guide the wise aspirant on the right path like a beacon; this alone is our intent.

Introduction

In this seventh part of the lecture-series, there are 27 lectures on various subjects, filled with great essence and profound scholarship. Man is afflicted with faults and therefore there is no progress in his sadhana. What are these faults. What are the means of removing them? This has been discribed in the first sermon. Disease makes the body old and weak but the body of the aspirant should be endowed with excellent health as a means of accomplishing the four sumrnom bonnums of life(purusharthas) is described in the secound sermonllecture. What is the position of atma (soul) and paramatma(supreme being) are situated in the body and cosmos is discussed in the third and fourth sermons. People have several illusions and misconceptions regarding birth. Where does the soul go after death; how does birth occur; what are the effects of samskaras, how is man affected by samskaras and what goes out from the body at the time of death? All this has been described from the fifth to the tenth sermons.

What are the means neccessary to set the mind at peace, which are those obstacles which snatch away the peace of mind and make the mind fickle, what is the solution to remove those obstacle, what is the use of action (karma) in life, can man contemplate liberation despite bound by actions? All this can be seen in the accomplishment of Karmayoga. In samadhi yoga one can know about the transformation of mind and body due to knowledge(guas) (dhyana) and supper consciousness (samadhi); what the aspirant becomes due to this and how should the sadhana of the aspirant be like. Man is replete with love and devotion. He needs the grace of the lord for staying away from faults and forwarding off obstacles. How should one worship him(the lord) what is devotion, what is love, what is truth, how should these be incorporated in one's life, can be read in the sermons on devotion of God and the nature of devotion. The magnitude of change that worshipping God and the Brahman brings in ones life is described in the Prayer to the Lord.

The focus of all these sermons is on making life perfect. Without perfection in life there can never be progress in one's sadhana. Limitations and faults make man hollow. Sadhana is the only thing that fills up this hollow and makes man feel complete. It is then that man experiences the proximity with God. It is the very aim if sadhana to make life complete, removing emptiness and filling it with the grace of lord and Godliness. This only is libration from the bondage of life and this can be accomplished by man even while following his duties as a house-holder.

Contents Volume I