Issue 66

The Sanskrit word yoga means both union with the divine and the means to attain that union. Over the millennia, many kinds of spiritual discipline evolved and were called yogas.

Swami Vivekananda codified these numerous paths and practices under four headings, corresponding to basic personality types: for the emotional, Bhakti-Yoga, the Yoga of Devotion; for the active, Karma-Yoga, the Yoga of Unselfish Work; for the intellectual, Jnana-Yoga, the Yoga of Discriminating Knowledge; and for the meditative, Raja-Yoga, the Yoga of Mind-Control.

In this issue of American Vedantist, we highlight each of these approaches in turn. They are not meant to be exclusive, and our individual paths often combine elements from two or more of the four. As Vivekananda said, “by one, or more, or all of these … be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.”

Articles

In Praise of Bhakti
by William Page

Sanatsujatiya: A Little-Known Gem Of Jnana-Yoga
by Russell Frank Atkinson

From Karma To Karma-Yoga
by John Schlenck

Raja-Yoga: The Hero’s Journey
by Edith D. Tipple

Interview

Prison Ministry by the Sarada-Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Association In Oregon
by Joan Elisabeth Shack

Opinion

Opinion: What Do Swami Vivekananda And Che Guevara Have In Common?
by Sister Jayanti

Poems

The Great Silence
by Edith D. Tipple

Turn My Mind
by Cliff Johnson

Reviews

Indian Philosophy: An Introduction by M. Ram Murty
Review by Steven F. Walker

Realizing God: Lectures on Vedanta by Swami Prabhavananda
Review by Cliff Johnson

Celebrating Swami Vivekananda: Essays for the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda by Swami Tathagatananda
Review by Stephen David Mauldin