The Bhakti-yoga Handbook
A Guide for Beginning the Essentials of Devotional Yoga
This book is a guide for anyone who wants to begin the practice of bhakti-yoga in a practical and effective way. This supplies the information, the principles, the regular activities or sadhana, and how to have the right attitude in applying ourselves to attain success on the path of bhakti-yoga, which is uniting with God through love and devotion.
This outlines a general schedule for our daily spiritual activities and a typical morning program as found in most Krishna temples that are centered around devotional yoga. In this way, you will find the explanations on how to begin our day and set our mind, what meditations to do, which spiritual texts are best to study, and how we can make most everything we do as part of bhakti-yoga. All of these can be adjusted in a way that can be practiced and applied by anyone by anyone regardless of whether you are in a temple ashrama or in your own home or apartment.
Such topics include:
The secret of bhakti-yoga and its potency in this day and age,
The essential morning practice, the best time for meditation,
The standard songs and mantras that we can use, as applied in most Krishna temples,
Understanding the basics of the Vedic spiritual philosophy, such as karma, reincarnation, the Vedic description of the soul, etc.,
How Vedic culture is still as relevant today as ever,
Who is Sri Krishna,
How to chant the Hare Krishna mantra,
Standards for temple etiquette,
The nine processes of bhakti-yoga, a variety of activities from which anyone can utilize,
How to make our career a part of the yoga process,
How to turn our cooking into bhakti-yoga,
How to set up a home altar or temple room, depending on what standard you wish to establish,
How to take care of deities in our home, if we have Them,
How to perform the basic ceremonies like arati,
How to take care of the Tulasi plant if you have one,
And the spiritual results you can expect to attain through this yoga.
All of the basics and effective applications to get started and continue with your practice of bhakti-yoga is supplied so you can progress in a steady way, from beginner to advanced.
