Introduction

In every human heart there is a metaphysical quest to discover what lies behind appearances. Each one, in his own or her own way, tries to pierce the mystery of life. And what led to the writing of this book is somehow the story of such an existential quest. It is the genesis of this book that I should like to recount briefly in the introduction, with a feeling of overwhelming gratitude to the great beings who are constantly guiding us in the process of unfolding.

The quest started during my five-year stay in India where I was to visit some of the ancient holy places of the land that gave birth to Yoga and to come in contact with some of the great living masters of our century. In those days, when I visited the shrines and temples or when I spent some time in the presence of an enlightened being, I would always have the same experience: I would feel different, more joyful and much lighter and have a greater and easier propensity to meditate. At first, I did not pay too much attention to this phenomenon but, as time went by, I became more and more attracted by these energy-laden places and I attributed this feeling of inner harmony to my happiness to be in surroundings, which, in a way, allowed me to dedicate myself totally to the study of Yoga that I had started some years before when I was still in Europe.

It is at that time that I was brought into the presence of Sree Ananda Mayi Ma, on Holi Purnima, in Brindavan, the holy town of Krishna, on the banks of the Jamuna River. This blessed encounter changed my entire outlook and this darshan of an enlightened being was to be the first of a long series of meetings with the great saint of Bengal. Rarely did I put questions to Ma, as I intuitively felt that the moments in Her presence were so sacred and were such a rare experience in a lifetime that they were best savoured in a state of silent communion with this beautiful incarnation of the Divine mother. Moreover, the first darshan is like the Sa note of the Indian musical scale. All the following darshans are but permutations and combinations of the notes. One practises one’s sadhana like a musical scale, invariably coming back to the fundamental note. And no two scales are ever the same. It was in Brindavan again that two years later, again on Holi Purnima, I was initiated directly by Her. As Sree Ananda Mayi Ma followed the ancient tradition of the Hindu itinerant monks, She would never stay in any one holy place for long but would travel all over the Indian sub-continent, guided by Her inner intuition. By the time I was blessed to meet Her, more than twenty ‘ashrams’ or places of retreat had been built in the most sacred places of Hinduism, as Kurukshetra, Brindavan, Benares, Haridwar, Poona or Almora to receive Her and Her devotees.

During my frequent visits to Her, I started to feel a great sense of harmony in and around me. It was as if Her being and the atmosphere surrounding it would create a vibratory field of such intensity that Her devotees would easily be attracted and elevated to a higher plane when they found themselves in Her physical presence. Gradually, I realized that this inner experience, which would come to me spontaneously in the presence of Ma, could also be felt, although with lesser intensity, in ancient temples, by a sacred river, in the Himalayas or in ancient places of pilgrimage. Could it be possible that in some privileged places, the cosmic and telluric energy configurations were such that we were spontaneously and effortlessly in harmony with ourselves and with the universe, even for a brief moment only? Could it be that the devotion of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visited these places had left something in the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the creation of an invisible presence?

With that question in my mind and more, an interesting experience happened when I was invited to take part in a pilgrimage to Kedarnath. At first sight, Kedarnath is an almost inaccessible hamlet in a narrow Himalayan valley close to the border of Tibet. For a spiritual seeker, however, Kedarnath is hallowed by the aura of its famous Shiva temple. My expectations were high because I had heard that the temple was one of the most powerful places of worship in northern India and well worth the hard eight-hour-long climb on foot or on horseback. So, I was greatly disappointed when the feeling of inner harmony I had experienced in the temples in the plains did not manifest itself here. I therefore resigned myself to leaving the barren, lunar landscape of Kedarnath without having been fulfilled by one of my cherished experiences. It was to happen later, though, at a few hours’ distance from the Shiva shrine, when on a pony’s back I was calmly returning to the lush and inviting slopes of the Himalayan foothills. As the first green bushes and lovely wild flowers started to appear on the mountain path, I suddenly felt the ‘vibration of Shiva’ spreading like a very slender cobweb from my heart throughout my body to my immediate surroundings, to the mountains encircling me, then, to the deep valley waiting in the distance and beyond.

To experience the ether enveloping the earth was a feeling of total bliss. It was an extraordinary moment of truth: its extreme subtlety was its great power and I realized that it had in a way transformed me. From that time on, I knew an entirely fascinating world was opening up for me, the world of cosmic and telluric vibrations which can be directly experienced by all human beings in special circumstances: we have the possibility, in certain privileged places and at some chosen moments, to disentangle ourselves from our standardized, programmed cerebral worlds and to be absorbed in a powerful supramental current which is felt in highly charged spiritual places or in the presence of spiritually evolved beings.

At that time, I was also blessed to be studying the Bhagavad-Gita and some of the major Upanishads under the guidance of Professor Gaurinath Shastri who was then the Vice-Chancellor of the Benares Sanskrit University and was an ardent devotee of Sree Ananda Mayi Ma. His duties would often take him to some of the remotest, oldest and most authentic places of Hindu India and sometimes I accompanied him, which enabled me to continue my silent and discreet quest. I now started realizing that the vibrations differed from one holy place to another. Each holy place had its own colour, its own quality and intensity of vibration. Moreover, the particular nature of the vibration would also manifest itself in the shape and the geometrical configuration of the temple and in the emotions expressed in the sculptures of the deities. This vibration, with its particular colour and intensity, could even be noticed in the facial expression of the assembled devotees and in the tone and modulation of the priests’ chanting.

But, whether it was the shattering vibration of Shiva as a destroyer in the Mahakala temple at Ujjain or the vibration of Krishna as the benevolent sustainer of creation in Brindavan or, still, the many-facetted vibrations of the Mother Goddess in the Shakti shrines I visited, the effect was almost invariably the same: the vibrations produced an inner transformation followed by a profound state of harmony. Undoubtedly, the ancients had chosen certain particular places for their spiritual practices because they had a clear understanding of the relationship between our earth and the cosmos and they had experienced in themselves the kind of inner transformation such privileged places could produce in them.

As I was progressing in my quest, I was reminded of what I read years ago in some Yoga books: that a state of psychophysical balance was obtained through regulated breathing, concentration of the mind and devotion of the heart. Could it be possible that in some privileged places, the cosmic and telluric energy configurations were such that we were spontaneously and effortlessly in harmony with the universe and with ourselves even for a very brief moment only? Could it be that the devotion of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visited these places had left something in the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the creation of an invisible presence?

The time had come for me to intensify the inner aspects of the quest and to delve deeper in the yogic practices. There is a profound truth in the saying ‘one does not soar alone’. On my return from India, I was to meet Yogacharya Janakiraman in Rome. Thenceforth, I continued on my yogic journey, under his instructions: what was to become a strong and abiding relationship until he left his body. Sri Janakiraman had been a long-time devotee of Bhagavan Satya Sai Baba and I, too, had felt the transforming touch of Bhagavan. Our providential encounter was to become the starting point of this book.

With his wealth of knowledge and experience in the different branches of Yoga, his scientific bend of mind, his enlightened vision and his total devotion to the Divine, Sri Janakiraman patiently guided me further in the sadhana of the Yoga of Light. The more I practised, the more I realized how the inner power of Yoga became apparent and effective when the three planes of energy, the physical, psychic and spiritual, were harmoniously integrated. The book SOLAR YOGA is the expression of this learning process. It has been written with the intention of introducing newcomers to Solar Yoga and of helping persons who already practise Yoga to apply the solar vibrations gradually and scientifically to their daily yogic session and ultimately experience a state of peace and harmony.

The book has been written on the assumption that the practice of Yoga should form a part of our daily lives with profound implications for the world in which we live. Yoga is a universal technique that enables us to acquire an insight into the true nature of things by direct experience. Like any other science, Yoga has an experimental basis and has been practised in India for many centuries for maintaining good health and achieving inner balance and enlightenment. Yoga provides an answer to the problems of today and may become the way of life of tomorrow, provided the practical application of the yogic techniques accompanies the knowledge of their philosophical background in a manner that is suited to the environment in which we live. This fundamental principle is reflected in the two parts of the book.

Part One is of a conceptual nature and sets out the methodological principles on which the yogic practices of Part Two are based. Chapter One gives a description of the essence, antiquity and authenticity of Solar Yoga. It also explains how this ancient discipline has been adapted to the needs of our lives. Chapter Two studies the ‘asanas’ or basic postures, placing particular emphasis on the different sheaths of energy and the spiritual aspect of the postures. The section on the method Yogacharya Janakiraman and I have developed is of particular importance to understanding all the interrelated elements of the practice of Solar Yoga. Chapter Three gives a detailed background to the conscious-breathing techniques or ‘pranayamas’ and includes a study of the physiology of breathing followed by a description of the main features of the body’s energy pattern. Chapter Four is based on a thorough study of the solar vibrations or ‘mantras’ according to original Sanskrit texts.

Part Two is of a practical nature and describes a selected number of classical Yoga practices (asanas, pranayamas, bandhas, kriyas, mudras and mantras) in a novel manner, integrating the use of solar sound vibrations with that of postures and breathing and energy techniques at the physical, psychic and spiritual levels. The study of each pranayama, bandha, kriya and mudra highlights some important features of each practice. The section concludes with a twelve-week programme. In the present edition, a final chapter has been devoted to the solar meditation so that practitioners may be able to design a full session of Solar Yoga.

Everyone can enjoy this book because it describes practices of Solar Yoga that give vitality, longevity, mental peace and spiritual illumination. It is the fervent hope of the authors, therefore, that this book will not simply adorn bookshelves, but will be fully used by the readers for their daily practice of Yoga.