The Psychology of Transformation in Yoga

The Psychology of Transformation in Yoga

This is a book I wrote some years ago that has never been published in English. The main idea of this book is that the six Dharshana – that are called the six main philosophy’s of ancient India – are actually practical methods of transformation. This book focuses on the Samkhya Dharshana and a Vedantic interpretation.

It is always hard to write self promoting texts on my books. When you consider that I began to meditate 40 years ago I see that the first 20 years are spent building the ego with "spiritual practices" and the feeling that I am special because I have renounced the world to look for enlightenment; and the next 20 years are spent being humble and just living the teaching that I was so lucky to get in India. Therefore, it is very difficult to write something "self" promoting about this book, because it is the opposite of the book’s presentation.

Still it is a simple book that is very hard to understand. Profound concepts that are presented simply. Ideas that form the basis of all Indian sciences, yet are not understood. All of you could benefit to read and study the book - does that sound arrogant? Can be, still I have yet to meet a teacher of Ayurveda or Yoga in Europe or the USA that understands the concepts presented in this book correctly. That does not means that there aren’t teachers - but I certainly have not met them. Just the concept of Pranayama as "control of the breath" is such a major misunderstanding. Or the concept of Dosha in Ayurveda as controlling the mind - simply wrong as Dosha is manifesting after Manas and cannot modify it. So many errors in the West and here is a book that explains everything clearly......

And...... yes take a risk, buy one and support a starving writter.

Various versions have been floating around for free that I have posted on this website over the years. But - naturally - things change and visions change and living what is written the in the book has of course changed my view on things a bit. This means some details have changed and you should buy this revised version if you have read it already.

If interested the book can be bought by clicking here:

Peace to everyone,
Atreya

The Psychology of Transformation in Yoga
Contents
0. Introduction
1. My Introduction to Samkhya and the Psychology of Transformation
2. An Experiential Approach to Transformation
3. Consciousness and Matter in Latent States
Purusha – Latent Consciousness
Prakriti – Latent Matter
Concept of Dualism vs. Monism
Principle of Prana
4. The Manifestation – Downward Movement of Consciousness
Mahat – The Cosmic Mind
Ahamkara – The Sense of I
Buddhi – The Individual Intellect
Manas – The Individual Mind
Tanmatras – Matter in Subtle Form
The Five States of Matter
The Five Forms of Reception
The Five Forms of Expression
The Twenty Attributes of Nature
5. The Right and Wrong Use of the Manifestation
Karma
6. Liberation – the Upward Movement
7. The Yogic Method of Transformation
8. Vedic Astrology as a Method of Transformation
9. The Ayurvedic Method of Transformation
10. The Application of Samkhya in Daily life
The Psychology of Transformation as Yoga

Copyright © 2015 Atreya Smith