The Radiance Sutras: 112 Gateways to the Yoga of Wonder and Delight (English and Sanskrit Edition)

It is difficult to express how wonderful and transformative this book is for me. I have been a fan of Lorin Roche and the Radiance Sutras for years, and find this new edition with more Sanskrit and more specific meditation guidance/practices to be even more useful and helpful than the wonderful previous versions. I keep this book by my bedside and actually had to buy another copy because I would haul it to yoga classes to read during Savassana or as an inspirational quote and then want to read it at home and it would still be in the car or elsewhere. That is how much I love this book! Why do I love it so much... This is evocative poetry for the soul. It reminds me of Rumi Poetry or Mary Oliver. Somehow it conveys the transcendent experience that is so hard to put into words. It is a meditation guidebook disguised as poetry. It also has ancient traditional roots which I like very much, but Lorin has translated the information from the Sanskrit is such a way that it seems completely fresh and relevant for everyday life. This book relates yoga philosophy and our daily life in a beautiful and effortless way. I have been in person with Lorin Roche, and that idea of meditation being natural, enjoyable, and effortless is part and parcel of his approach to meditation. This book gives more than 112 gateways or methods or ways in to meditation. It is a matter of exploring and finding one that resonates for you and then reading it, mulling it over, doing as it suggests. Your meditation practice could be sitting in nature, or going for a walk, or watching the play of light on your bedroom wall. Anything that captures your attention and makes your soul sing, is the method for you. Lorin's approach to meditation is so accessible for each person. He empowers each of us to find the way of meditating that works for us individually. This resource is so rich, it can continue giving you inspiration for years. I think it would be a great companion with some of his previous meditation books as well if you are wanting to understand more about meditation and develop a deeper or more consistent meditation practice. This book supports you in that, because it is such a joy to read it you want to pick it up every day. I believe so much in this approach to meditaiton that I gave a copy of the book as a gift to all of the people attending Yoga Teacher Training with me. We are using it to learn some Sanskrit, and to also give us beautiful and well explained pathways into meditation. So many people feel that meditation is intimidating. Lorin Roche gives us a sweet smooth path into our own inner worlds. I feel that this book is a gift to the world, and especially to yoga teachers who are interested in finding out more about meditation at their own pace and in their own way. This book will be a reliable companion on your journey. It has been for me and the people who I have shared it with. Lezlie Ward

I'm actually a mathematician, and there are so many math books I have fallen in love with over the years... but I am also a yogi and I read a lot of spiritual books too. This is my absolute favorite of all the books I have! From the very start, I could tell that Lorin has made the language of this book so precise, and so beautiful, that this book was going to be a very very special one. I could read his poems over and over... but his own words outside of the 112 gateways are just as amazing! This is a translation of an amazing perceived conversation between two gods, one masculine, one feminine, that is so reminiscent of our true divine nature. In this conversation, the masculine aspect gives 112 "gateways" or meditations to the feminine aspect which may enable the reader to find the divine spark within. Lorin has spent literally decades doing true justice to the original Sanskrit in translating it to English. He feels the Sanskrit very deeply, like onomatopoeia; it has become like second nature to him to understand the meaning of the Sanskrit words from their very sound. In conjunction with the traditional definitions of these words, of which he is a master as well, he was able to truly get to the heart of what the Sanskrit is saying and express it in profound English verses. He has a beautiful explanation and guided meditation practice for each of the 112 "gateways" in the end that I sometimes find even more help or more beautiful than the "gateway" itself. This is due to the decades Lorin has spent interviewing people about their meditation practice and getting to know the deep truth about what people actually need, rather than just referring to ancient texts. He truly is an incredible expert on meditation, perhaps the greatest expert living today due to his experience with not just teaching the ancient knowledge but doing his own research on how people actually meditate, what can help, and what can hurt. Obviously, I simply cannot recommend the book enough....

I’m a retired university instructor in world religions, and I’ve been a Tantrika for decades. This book is one of the essentials in my library.

Thank you Dr. Roche for bringing this book to light! After 40 years of discipline as a kriya yogi disciple of P. Yogananda, I must admit that the inclusiveness represented in these sutras is astoundingly refreshing and helpful. I am very aware that these sutras include the lynchpin kriyas hundreds of years before Babaji introduced them to Sri Shyama Charan Lahiri. Sutra 7 gives the equivalent of first kriya, and sutra 155b gives the equivalent of the foundational kriya mantra 'hong sau.' Until I read these I had been 'accusing' my guru P. Yogananda of giving out kriya indiscriminantly in his 1925 Yogoda or Tissue-Will System of Physical Perfection. YOGODA or Tissue-Will System of Physical Perfection: Including 3 Chapters on Concentration and Meditation Techniques by Swami Yogananda (2016-04-19) Perhaps instead he was giving Sutra 7 as a breathing mantra but without attributing it to its source. Phil Goldberg The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru speaks of Yogananda as "democratizing kriya" and I will leave him to defend that assertion, but perhaps we may now see Yogananda as attempting to bring India's entire spiritual legacy to the West (and not just that of Babaji's kriya). Never-the-less let me emphasize that in finding these sutras to be brilliantly refreshing I also find them soulfully solacing and curative. I also see that in your earlier graduate work you research the issue of the dangers of meditation. Thank you for that. Sri M of Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master: A Yogi's Autobiography and Journey Continues: A Sequel To Apprenticed To A Himalayan Master fame is about the only other Master I know that gives examples of the psychosis that can and fairly predictably will ensue at the highest reaches of meditation prior to nirvikalpa samadhi. In any case I thank you for your excellent work!

This book is my most gifted present ever. I have had my copy for over 10 years and I keep it in my nightstand. You can simply open the book in any page and will find inspiration and ancient teachings to connect with the senses and the divine within. Dr. Lorin Roche, spent most of his life working on the wisdom contained in this book. A must have for anyone to meditate more instinctively.

Many reviews here will tell you that this is not the original Vijnanabhairava. While this is true enough, you can use this volume as a companion to the original translated by Jaideva Singh. When I compare the original sutra's translation against its counterpart in The Radiance Sutras I find them to be in complete harmony. Each night, I've worked my way through the Vijnanabhairava and the Radiance Sutras one sutra at a time and contemplated the meaning of what I'd read then did the exercise each sutra described. I found each one to be jewel and each demonstrated how the manifested universe has embedded in it, and in each of us, what I can only describe as 'lifehacks for awakening'. Each one of these 112 sutras can lead the practitioner to an awakening and each one is based on some observation of phenomena built into your very own being. Awakening is available within! No other equipment or further purchases required. For instance, one sutra is based on the built-in repetition of a mantra we all say thousands of times every day as we breathe, but never with awareness. Powerful stuff here. Knowing of my interest in nondual philosophies, a friend of mine introduced me to Kashmir Shaivism and first recommended the Vijnanabhairava to me several years ago. I first bought the Jaideva Singh translation and found that on the flyleaf the reader is advised to first get a philosophical grounding by reading the Siva Sutras (translation also available by Jaideva Singh). I took that advice and am glad I did. I would say that understanding the basics of the Siva Sutras should be considered prerequisite to tackling this practice. I was, frankly, stuck in getting an ever deeper understanding of the Siva Sutras - a book I could seriously spend the rest of my life studying all on its own...yes, it's that deep - when I discovered the Radiance Sutras. Its discovery prompted me to break out of my study of the Siva Sutras to attempt the practices of the Vijnanabhairava. The experience - and the Radiance Sutras' contribution to that experience - has been very enriching. So my advice - echoing the flyleaf of the Jaideva Singh's translation of the Vijnanabhairava - is to read the Siva Sutras first, then do the practices here next.

I use this book at least daily! If you have ever been inspired by Hafiz, Rumi, or for that matter Shakespeare or Milton, then The Radiance Sutras is a must acquire and use daily. Lorin Roche, PhD. has achieved a playful and enlightening balance true to Sanskrit with multiple layers of meanings, mischievous double entendres, and inspiring if not ecstatic imagery. The fact that this Master Meditation Teacher turns the translation of the Vedic source material into a daily practice that anyone can follow, if a true gift of Love. The Sutras are richly beautiful and Lorin is simply radiant! Read them out loud. Dance them. Meditate on them. Chant them. Pick a phrase and make it your own song. Imitate them and write your own Sutras. This book is a treasure chest of ecstatic joy and awe inspiring moments. Open it and enter the vastness of infinite Love.

My favorite book! Highly recommended. It’s such a beautiful interpretation of ancient wisdom written in the most poetic ecstatic way! Meditation tools that open the doors within.

Very beautiful book. Truly a piece of art.

This is such a beautiful book. It's laid out well and is perfect for reading before meditation or bedtime. Makes an excellent addition to begin or end a yoga class. It is also fantastic for just flipping open to any page for random inspiration or upliftment.

A wonderful way to see life. A perspective of life, our breath and silence that shows your where you are missing that juice or zest of life. If you want to see the world like Rumi then this shows you exactly what you’re missing from your daily experiences. The ecstasy of the pause between breaths, the hum of the space that touches our skin, the blissful sound of silence. What a way to see the world?!?!!!

Beautiful

Fantástico el libro !!!