An Introduction to Yoga

This book contains a series of four lectures given by the author to prepare and facilitate the study and practice of the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali, the celebrated founder of this philosophical school, also known as Raja Yoga or Sovereign Yoga. Through aphorisms, there is taught the practice and development of Concentration, Meditation and Contemplation or Samadhi. With the clarity that is peculiar to him, with his deep knowledge of Yoga and with the collaboration of the remarkable Sanskritist dr. Bhagavan Dâs, Annie Besant explains the exact meaning of the Sanskrit technical terms used in the text; the four fundamental states of consciousness that can be defined by Yoga, the basic duality of man's nature, which makes possible the full and effective exercise of the yogic dynamic; its relations with other philosophical systems in India and, finally, the excellent result to which Yoga can lead its dedicated and persevering practitioner, who will discover in it the greatest of the Sciences of the Soul.