A HANDBOOK OF THEORY, PRACTICE, AND APPLICATION Rammutrti S. Mishra, M.D. (Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati) Foreword by John White Introduction by Paul Brunton Drawings by Oscar Weinland and Nandini (Lindsay Hutchinson Berté) «D> HARMONY BOOKS/NEW YORKDedicated to my Teacher Bhagawan Bodhisattwa Copyright © MCMLIX by Rammurti S. Mishra, M.A., M.D. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Published by Harmony Books, a division of Crown Publishers Inc, 201 East 50th Street, New York, New York 10022 Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mishra, Rammurti S. Fundamentals of yoga. 1. Yoga 1 Title. BISZ.YOMS 1987 181/45 86-18460 ISBN 0-517-56422-X (pbk.) 1098765452 1987 EditionACKNOWLEDGMENTS While Yoga is a disciplined, soul-searching path that one must travel alone, I now realize with wonderment and gratitude that it is impossible for me to measure, express, or phrase the thanks I owe my many dear friends in the United States who have made this publication possible. Yoga is many thousands of years old, but the encourage- ment and enthusiasm of today's American Yoga students inspired this restatement of the age-old truth in today’s language against the contemporary scene. I am especially grateful to The Reverend Dr. Paul Brunton for his gracious introduction of me to Western readers and for reading this book in manuscript. The gentle and wise Dr. Brunton has definitely inherited the mantle of his guru, the great Ramana Maharshi. I am also deeply grateful to my many friends and stu- dents of the Yoga Society of New York, Inc., the Yoga Society of Dayton (Ohio), Inc., and the Columbus Yoga Society, Inc., for their faithful co-operation in arranging publishing details, and to Miss Ruth Rohpeter for her generous typing of the manuscript. I wish to thank The CIBA Pharmaceutical Products, Inc., for their courteous permission to use the wonderful artistry of Dr. Frank H. Netter from the CIBA collection of medical illustrations. The line drawings from these and the other original plates are the talented work of my gifted student, Oscar Weinland. To Page Newton, my youngest student, I am indebted for his careful execution of the glossary, index, and translit- eration. RAMMURTI S. MISHRA