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In the Western world it is not considered very important to use our hearts. I
think underneath we would all like to be more able to love, and be loved, but we have
learned to use our heads. We have been educated, not only in our educational system,
but also in our society – as a whole cultural way of proceeding – to use our heads. It
has brought us a certain degree of material success, but it has not succeeded in giving
us the happiness, the peace, the consciousness and the love that we all want.
The teaching of Natural Yoga, the way of natural union with God, which I
learned from my spiritual teacher Master Kripalvananda, is a method of opening your
heart, of surrender. This is not to say that knowledge is a bad thing, because it is not.
But it is not enough. For that matter, just to open your heart is not enough either. But
we are so much further ahead in our heads than in our hearts that what we need to
learn is to open that heart and surrender.
But surrender to what? If we just surrender, will we not be done in and
overrun by life, by other people‟s neuroses if not our own? Therefore in Natural Yoga
one surrenders to the Truth. Another name for the Truth is God, and another name for
God is the Absolute. Another name for the Absolute is Perfection, and another name
for Perfection is Truth. And if you have never experienced any of those things, other
than intellectually or in books, then it makes it difficult to know what all that is about.
This is what Natural Yoga is all about – surrender to God.

This book is meant above all for someone whose primary goal is to be completely
liberated from illusion, united with one’s true self, and totally open in one’s heart to the true
self of each other individual. It is also meant for someone whose primary goal is to be
successful in life – more honest, healthy, creative, wealthy, and loving. Which of these two
separate goals is one’s primary one determines how one reads this book and how one
approaches the practices it describes.
The approach of a reader who seeks a successful life is to learn selected techniques
from the book and practice them until he or she becomes a master at using the will to focus
the attention and channel the energy of life. The mental stillness and physical ability thus
achieved allow such a master to fulfill his or her ethical desires in life. However, the mental
stillness produced through this willful approach is not complete. This is because the life
energy

Dieses Buch ist vor allem für jemanden gedacht, dessen vorrangiges Ziel es ist, völlig
von der Illusion befreit zu sein, vereint mit dem wahren Selbst und total offen im Herzen
gegenüber dem wahren Selbst eines jeden anderen Individuums. Ausserdem ist es für
jemanden gedacht, dessen hauptsächliches Ziel es ist, erfolgreich im Leben zu sein, d.h.
ehrlicher, gesünder, kreativer, reicher und liebender. Wie man das Buch liest und wie
man dabei an die darin beschriebenen Praktiken herangeht wird davon bestimmt sein,
welches von diesen beiden unterschiedlichen Zielen das Hauptziel von einem ist.
Die Herangehensweise desjenigen Lesers, der ein erfolgreiches Leben sucht wäre es,
ausgewählte Techniken aus diesem Buch zu lernen und zu praktizieren, bis er oder sie
zu einem Meister dabei geworden ist, den Willen dazu zu benutzen, die Aufmerksamkeit
zu konzentrieren und zu richten, und die Energie des Lebens zu kanalisieren, zu lenken.
Eine auf diese Art und Weise erreichte geistige Stille oder Unbewegtheit und körperliche
Fähigkeit erlauben es solch einem Meister dann, ein ethisches, gesundes, kreatives,
erfolgreiches und angenehmes Leben zu führen. Doch eine durch diese willensmässige
Herangehensweise erzeugte geistige Unbewegtheit ist nicht völlig stabil.

Swāmī Kripālvānanda has devoted his whole life to the determined quest for truth
and liberation. Maintaining a rigourous discipline for the past twenty-eight years,
he has spent ten hours a day in meditation while keeping silence for the last
eighteen years. Having mastered all previous stages of yoga, he has finally
reached the highest transcendental state of nirvikalpa samādhi. Through his
progress in meditation, he has rediscovered the ancient eight-fold path of yoga.
Upon meeting Swāmī Kripālvānanda, Beloved Bāpujī (Dear Father) as he is
affectionately called, or studying his life, one is immediately struck by the
truthfulness, fearlessness, and long-suffering compassion of a man who has
overcome great obstacles. He is a sensitive devotee who has had to make great
efforts at discipline and detachment.

Yoga, meditation and sādhanā (spiritual practice) are practically synonymous
terms. By properly understanding their meanings, forms, uses and purposes,
there is every possibility of resolving a seeker’s problems about spiritual
progress.
Wise men and women have identified the path of worldly pleasures as the path of
bhoga (pleasure-seeking) and the path of spiritual elevation as the one of yoga
(union with God). The former path is meant for the worldly person aspiring for
material well-being and the latter one is meant for the renunciate aspiring for
spiritual well-being.
Only that person who has detached himself from all worldly concerns is capable
of treading the path of yoga.

The main objective of meditation is to bring steadiness to the mind, which being
very sensitive, usually remains disturbed. A disturbed mind is not capable of
finding a solution to any problem. On the contrary, it may even confuse the
problem further. A person with a disturbed mind makes little or no sense of his
situation and embraces failure everywhere.
Whether one is male or female, young or old, rich or poor, learned or foolish,
devotee or atheist, ascetic or undisciplined, righteous or sinful, he is invariably in
need of mental peace. That is why one always makes every possible effort to
attain it. A person who does not have mental peace knows full well that the main
cause for their unrest is his desires. These desires, however, are usually so
strong that in spite of such awareness on his part, he is unable to give them up.

A renunciate seeker, one who desires liberation would prefer to meditate in a
solitary place like the peak of a mountain, a cave, or a river bank. Practice of
meditation becomes steadfast with less effort if one meditates in a place which
has natural beauty and is very quiet and suitable in all seasons.
How can one imagine the existence of flies or mosquitoes in such places?
Even if such a place is available, one will have to leave it or reject it if one finds
difficulty in procuring food and bare necessities. Finding no such difficulty, one
should establish a small hut there, keeping only the minimum requirement of
things.
If, by chance, more than one seeker is inhabiting that place it is all the better
because they will have the opportunity to discuss scriptures and exchange their
experiences with each other.

What is known as śaktipāta in Tantra is called anugraha (grace) of God or guru in
the Bhakti and Yoga paths. An able guru can give śaktipāta to many aspirants at a
time if he or she so desires. Traditionally, śaktipāta is given to only the deserving
ones. This does not mean that those who are unfit or who are not qualified as
‘deserving ones’ will not receive the benefits of the guru’s grace or śaktipāta. The
guru’s grace is very generous, and like the rain, it falls equally on all. However,
according to their degree of fitness, some aspirants derive its benefits quickly and
completely, while others are benefited slowly and to a lesser extent.
Rain nourishes the seeds of the banyan tree and an okra plant equally. The okra
plant grows, but it will never become as big as a banyan tree, no matter how much
nourishment it receives. Likewise, the river may flow uniformly over a jug, a water
pot and a barrel, but each will be filled with water according to its capacity. This
natural limit of capacity or ability is called adhikāra (fitness).

To better understand what happens immediately after receiving śaktipāta initiation,
the personal narratives of recipients of śaktipāta will be presented.1 The various
kinds of gross and subtle manifestations which take place in the body and mind of
the seekers can be classified into four broad categories as follows:
(1) Perception of light, various colors and different figures.
(2) Visual perception (darśana) of Gods, Goddesses or scenes of nature.
(3) Expression of inner sentiments through laughter, crying, chanting of mantras,
singing, roaring, etc.
(4) Various physical activities such as trembling, swaying, āsanas and mudrās.
Under each category the seekers’ experiences will be narrated in their own words
and a scientific explanation of the subtle processes underlying the seekers’
manifestations will be made.

One could liken yoga to a temple comprised of eight floors, of which the yamas and
niyamas would constitute the basement and ground floors, asanas, pranayama,
pratyahara, dharana and dhyana would constitute the first, second, third, fourth and fifth
floors respectively. The sixth floor would be savikalpa samadhi, and nirvikalpa samadhi
would be the seventh floor.
Worldly seekers as well as renunciate seekers enter this temple of yoga in order to reach
the highest floor. But seekers with worldly desires cannot reach the sixth and the seventh
floors because their desires do not permit them to progress. They may have to be satisfied
with the experiences of the lower stages such as tandra (yogic drowsiness), nidra (yogic
sleep), and murcha (yogic swoon). However, the sages lead them towards the fourth and
fifth floors and encourage them to make all possible efforts to reach them.