niyama

niyama is Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti recenters the mind on Bhagavan. So each of the niyama practices are designed to help us cultivate a mind that is more focused on Bhagavan. The niyama practices are:

• saucha. cleanliness in body, mind, and surroundings and treating all of these as a temple for the divine to dwell in.
• santosha. contentment with what we have and are given. Everything is a gift from the divine and we should be grateful for it.
• tapas. austerity, routine, and discipline. Living a monastic life even if a householder.
• svadhyaya. self-study and study of the prasthana-traya (Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, and Brahma Sutras) to understand the nature of reality.
• ishvarapranidhana. surrender and devotion to the divine by putting the Narada Bhakti Sutras into practice.

Bhakti, true bhakti doesn't seem to come easy to a person of a rational bend. It requires a full surrender that is not natural for the ego. Our minds, used to the industrial age are centered around rationality and surrendering to the heart of hearts is not something that comes naturally. So the niyama practices are there to help us cultivate the mindset of surrender and devotion.

Lastly, the Bhakti path is better understood through the teachings of various teachers. The lineages of teachers I picked have by influenced by Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Sivananda. So the teachings I follow are from these lineages. The reasons for this is that many of the swamis in these lineages were from rational, Westernized backgrounds and so their teachings are more accessible to someone like myself who was raised in the West. Second, a lot of them were skeptics when they started so their teachings are more focused on the practical aspects of Bhakti and not just the theoretical aspects.

• Sri Ramakrishna. Devotion and Bhakti. The teachings of Sri Ramakrishna create a basis of devotion through Bhakti with a focus on experiential. The Sri Sri Ramakrishna Katamrita provides a basis for the harmony of the four yogas through Ramakrishna's Vigyana Vedanta. This creates a spiritual foundation for the practice of the four yogas.
  • Swami Vivekananda. Strength, Courage and Karma. Vivekananda's teachings provide a basis for Ramakrishna's teachings to the modern world. The reformulation is focused on minds that are largely based around Englightenment values. His teachings are amazing reading for people like myself who are Indian and understand the cultural context of Bhakti, but grew up in the West so have a preference for logic and reason which Vivekananda provides. Further, Vivekananda provides a remasuclation of Karma Yoga that is focused on strength and action.
    • Sri Aurobindo. Integral Yoga. I don't know when I will get to the teachings of Sri Aurobindo but in many ways Aurobindo is the Jnana Yogi of the Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda lineage.
      • Hedgewar. While not a disciple of Sri Aurobindo the ideas that he had were implemented by Hedgewar through the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). So it is important to understand the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda to understand the teachings of Hedgewar and the RSS.
    • Swami Sivananda Saraswati. Synthesis of the Four Yogas. Sivananda is an amazing and prolific writer who has provided writings on every yoga. He provides practical instructions on how to practice the four yogas as opposed to keeping them relatively theoretical. His practical instructions are what I use as a basis for my practice. While not directly a disciple of Swami Vivekananda the Yogas are definitely influenced by the teachings of Vivekananda and Ramakrishna.
      • Swami Satyananda Saraswati. Hatha and Systematic Practice. Satyananda takes the teachings of Sivananda and provides a systematic approach to the practice of hatha yoga while incorporating the other yogas. While Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda warned against hatha yoga as it take you into the body as opposed to transcendence. However, I do think that asana are useful while keeping caution around pranayama and mudras. I primarily use Satyananda's teachings for the practice of asana and largely ignore some of the Bhakti and guru aspects of his teachings. This is especially so as there are sexual scandals around Satyananda and his lineage, but I do think his teachings on hatha yoga are useful.
      • Swami Chinmayananda . Jnana and Vedanta. Chinmayananda provide a practical basis for Advaita Vedanta. A basis for the practice of Jnana Yoga in terms of Adi Shankaracharya's Advaita Vedanta. Further, Chinmayananda's writings are light in terms of how he explains the teachings of Advaita Vedanta making difficult concepts easier to understand. As I read it his teachings are intellectually rigorous while Ramakrishna and Vivkananda's teachings are more experiential.
        • Swami Dayananda Saraswati (Arsha Vidya). A disciple of Chinmayananda who provides a more traditional and orthodox approach to Advaita Vedanta. While Chinmayananda provides a more modern approach to Vedanta, Dayananda provides a more traditional approach. In a sense it is an evolution to go from Chinmayananda to Dayananda.

Study

Bhaja Govindam

The basis of niyama is how we interact with the world and what we seek to pursue. In that regard Adi Shankaracharya's Bhaja Govindam should be the basis of that pursuit. saucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya, and ishvarapranidhana are all practices that are extensions of the teachings of Bhaja Govindam.

Hinduism

• Hinduism
  • Hinduism and Its Uniqueness by Swami Dayananda Saraswati(Arsha Vidya)
  • Do All Religions Have the Same Goal? by Swami Dayananda Saraswati(Arsha Vidya)
  • Hinduism by Chinmayananda
  • All About Hinduism by Swami Sivananda
  • Hindu Gods and Goddesses by Swami Sivananda
  • Unity of Religions by Swami Sivananda
  • God Exists by Swami Sivananda
  • God-Realisation by Swami Sivananda
• Guru
  • The True Teacher by Swami Dayananda Saraswati(Arsha Vidya)
  • Gurupurnima by Swami Dayananda Saraswati(Arsha Vidya)
  • Guru-Bhakti Yoga by Swami Sivananda
  • Guru Tattva by Swami Sivananda