Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom: A Week Inside a Yoga Ashram

by John Ittner

Overview

The insiders guide to Hindu spiritual life.

Ashram is the general term for a study center, retreat house, or monastic community in Hinduism, the millennia-old religious tradition of India. Ashrams of various kinds are now found throughout North America, and are popular venues for spiritual retreats, workshops, and classes.

Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom takes you into a typical week of retreat inside an ashram to demystify the ashram experience and show you what to expect from your own visit. You will experience all the elements of a typical day and week, including:

• The colorful puja, or worship services
• Meditation practices and yoga classes
• Classes on Hindu scriptures
• Chanting and music
• Satsang: an informal talk with the ashrams guru
• Work practice
• and much more.

You'll also meet some of the people who visit ashrams to hear their reasons for going there, as well as the spiritual benefits they derive from the experience. Also included are a helpful glossary, a list of books for further reading, and a directory to ashrams in North America that will enable you to locate one near you and set up your own visit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781893361522
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	09/01/2002
Series:	A Week Inside Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	2.36(w) x 3.54(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

John Ittner is a freelance journalist and writer whose articles have appeared in Yoga Life and other publications. A longtime news editor for the New York Post, he has studied yoga and Vedanta (Hindu philosophy) for many years, at ashrams both in the United States and in India. He completed his teacher training at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram in Kerala, India, and presently teaches at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in New York City.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Acknowledgments	xiii
	Introduction	3
1	A Place for Grace	7
2	Complete Immersion	21
3	Standing on Your Own Head	37
4	Food for Thought	57
5	Free Time at the Ashram	72
6	From Mind Control to Meditation	88
7	Work Is Worship	107
8	Seven Days in Paradise: A Journal	125
Appendix A	A Directory of Ashrams	149
Appendix B	Recommended Reading	153
	Glossary	155
	About SkyLight Paths	163

Editorial Reviews

This installment in SkyLight Paths' "Week Inside" series opens the doors of an ashram, introducing a community of yoga practitioners as taught by venerable Indian guru Swami Sivananda. The author is himself a yoga teacher, freelance journalist and veteran of the New York Post, who offers testimony from his experience of the healing and cleansing power of yoga practice. As serious students know, yoga is the Sanskrit word for "yoke," implying discipline. The sets of postures that many Americans know as yoga are only one part of a comprehensive system of mind-body training, which Ittner outlines by explaining key concepts and activities that characterize yoga practice. Chapters explore different aspects of the disciplined life, including diet and work, making for an appropriately holistic approach. The personal frame of reference and Ittner's everyday-guy voice (with a discernible New York accent) are the greatest virtues of the book, offering you-can-do-it-too encouragement to curious beginners who don't know asana (yoga posture) from ahimsa (the principle of non-harming). These and other commonly used Sanskrit terms are defined in a helpful glossary. The reading list is a little short; there are plenty more doors offering access to this vast spiritual mine. On the whole, however, the book is a competent, friendly introduction to a complex and ancient spiritual tradition that was exotic to Americans little more than 100 years ago. (Nov.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

A journalist and yoga instructor, Ittner casually engages the reader in stories of his many adventures visiting yoga ashrams in both the United States and abroad, treating the reader to what feels like an enjoyable dinner conversation with a friend. He flows from topic to topic and ashram to ashram, with transitions that are sometimes so seamless that readers may forget where he has taken them, though they will feel light and relaxed from the journey. Like other titles in the "A Week Inside" series, this volume serves as a handbook for spiritual retreat. Ittner gives details about each aspect of the typical ashram day, including meditation, chanting, spiritual talks, asana (posture) classes, work, free time, and eating. He ends the book with his personal, day-to-day journal of one particular week spent in an ashram in the Bahamas. The short glossary, selected bibliography, and directory of ashrams will help those who would like to pursue the experience further. Recommended for all libraries with religious or spiritual collections.-Annette Haines, Univ. of Michigan Lib., Ann Arbor

Library Journal