The Royal Path-Practical Lessons on Yoga

by Swami Rama

MALAYALAM 153 (19 B/w Thoughout Illustrations)**Contents and Sample Pages**

Genres: Religion, Hinduism, Spirituality

Paperback

First published January 28, 1979

About the author

Swāmī Rāma was born Brij Kiśore Dhasmana or Brij Kiśore Kumar,to a northern Indian Brahmin family in a small village called Toli in the Garhwal Himalayas. From an early age he was raised in the Himalayas by his master Bengali Baba and, under the guidance of his master, traveled from temple to temple and studied with a variety of Himalayan saints and sages, including his grandmaster, who was living in a remote region of Tibet. From 1949 to 1952 he held the prestigious position of Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham in South India. After returning to his master in 1952 and practising further for many years in the Himalayan caves, Swami Rama was encouraged by his teacher to go to the West, where he spent a considerable portion of his life teaching, specifically in the United States and Europe.
He is especially notable as one of the first yogis to allow himself to be studied by Western scientists.
Swami Rama authored several books in which he describes the path he took to becoming a yogi and lays out the philosophy and benefits behind practices such as meditation. One of the common themes expressed in such books as "Enlightenment Without God" and "Living with the Himalayan Masters" is the ability of any person to achieve peace without the need for a structured religion. He was critical of the tendency for yogis to use supernatural feats to demonstrate their enlightenment, arguing that these only demonstrated the ability to perform a feat.

Reviews

[Thompson McDaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.” And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.” So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice

[Bookalicious · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this for a yoga teacher training and was thoroughly disappointed. This book is full of pseudoscience even going as far as claiming people can get over severe medical ailments simply by partaking in yoga. This is a very dangerous idea to plant into susceptible minds. It could literally kill someone. I prefer to refrain from medication as much as possible, however some instances unfortunately do require medication.

Swami Rama has a bad habit of making precarious claims without providing any reasoning as to how they would be possible. The reader is simply advised to take the words as true because yoga is oh such an ancient and wise practice. (Insert eyeroll.) Longevity of a belief does not equate to truth.

There were a couple of really odd Ayurvedic practices included as well. Cleaning of the nasal channels through irrigation has been scientifically proven to work. If you’re feeling stuffy, it would be a productive method of relief. Swallowing gauze to cleanse the digestive system however does not seem like an advisable practice. There was also mention of over hydrating and then intentionally purging. Again, not a good time for your body.

There were a few musings on morality that I found advisable, but these were pretty much common sense and lacked any profoundness. Pranayama is a beneficial practice that is covered briefly in this book, but you could easily read about that elsewhere.

Not only did I not learn anything new, but I also felt a deep embarrassment of the misguided advice that soils the otherwise beneficial practice of yoga. As much as I love yoga, there’s a lot to be questioned and disliked about certain aspects. This book embodies exactly what I dislike.

[Kyle Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. Decent overview of meditation, yoga, breath work, and the Himalayan tradition

[Roxanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yesterday I finished up with this month's assigned reading: The Royal Path: Practical Lessons on Yoga, by Swami Rama. This slim volume is a guide to Ashtanga Yoga: "ashtanga" means "eight", so "ashtanga yoga" is the "eightfold path" of classical yoga described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. The eight steps of the path are as follows:

1. yama: moral restraints
2. niyama: moral practices
3. asana: posture
4. pranayama: control of the breath
5. pratyahara: withdrawal and control of the senses
6. dharana: concentration
7. dhyana: meditation
8. samadhi: superconscious meditation or enlightenment

Rama explicates each step on the eightfold path, providing a chapter for almost every step (yamas and niyamas are covered together in one chapter). He does include some description of yoga postures (asana), and some helpful photos, but this is only a portion of what Rama covers; he spends much more time on morality, breath, prana energy, concentration, meditation, and the mind.

For the most part, I really enjoyed what Rama had to say, and I found that reading this book deepened my reading of the Yoga Sutras. There were a few areas, though, where this book fell a little flat for me.

First, Rama's prose can be dated at times. The original book was published in 1979, and Rama's writing is surprisingly gendered. Here's an example:

The central teaching of yoga is that man's true nature is divine, perfect, and infinite. He is unaware of this divinity because he falsely identifies himself with his body, mind, and the objects of the external world. (2-3)

The sentiment here is interesting and well worth discussion, but his phrasing makes me cringe: man's true nature? He falsely identifies himself? I thought we got away from that sort of rhetoric years ago, even before the 1970s when this was written, and even so, I would have thought that the Himalayan Institute would have updated this in the new editions published in 1996 and 1998. Clearly Rama is talking about not man but humanity, not male yogis only but any yoga practitioner, but it still feels exclusionary to me, and the whole book is written like this. I did not feel like I personally was included in Rama's definition of a yogi except for the parts where he specifically discusses women. This could be easily corrected in future editions, and I hope the Himalayan Institute does so.

Another thing that bothered me is that Rama fully believes that any disease can be cured with the mind. I know full well that the mind has astonishing powers for healing, but at one point he says, "If unwanted and undesirable thoughts are controlled, all diseases will vanish" (94). Really? Rama's sentiment has some value, because we've all heard stories about people who were able, through prayer or positive thinking or holistic measures, to cure themselves. But not everything can be cured that way. What's more, to say that diseases can be cured by positive thoughts could lead to blaming the patient for not getting better or for getting sick in the first place. That one line on page 94 bothered me so much that I had to shut the book for a day.

Similarly, Rama will talk about how meditation has been known and practiced in the Western world for generations, but most of Western society wasn't ready for it, so all our Western saints practiced meditation in secret, as if there's a big esoteric cover-up going on. Yes, St. Teresa of Avila communed with God, and what she practiced may have been a form of meditation, but was she practicing techniques passed down in secret from Indian gurus? I think probably not. Hinduism and Buddhism are strong and powerful traditions, but there are many paths. When Rama made claims like this, I couldn't help reading it skeptically.

I'm describing the things that I found troublesome in the book, but really these things are pretty minor in comparison to what Rama does achieve, which is a strong book and a good guide to the practice of yoga. It's definitely a worthwhile read and I plan to return to it in the future as I progress through the sutras and work more on meditation.