The twin words Concentration and Meditation form the inner core of the practice of Yoga. It is the key to the door of Inner Illumination and constitutes the central pivot round which all Sadhana in the spiritual field revolves. Dharma and Dhyana are the Yoga proper, leading to the consummation,Samadhi and Sakshatkara or Realization. Revered Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj gives in this compact and exhaustive treatise on the great subject a thorough-going exposition of the intricacies of "Concentration and Meditation", in a manner only a Master on the path would be able to do. Intensely practical, the work is an imperative to seekers and students on the Sadhana-Marga. Literature on this subject being very rare, special effort has been made to bring out the present edition. The popularity of the book is such that it has run into thirteen reprints since it was first published in the year 1945.
Swami Sivananda Saraswati (September 8, 1887—July 14, 1963) was a Hindu spiritual teacher and a well known proponent of Sivananda Yoga and Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He studied medicine and served in Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism. He lived most of the later part of his life near Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh.
He is the founder of The Divine Life Society (1936), Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy (1948) and author of over 200 books on yoga, vedanta and a variety of other subjects. He established Sivananda Ashram, the location of the headquarters of The Divine Life Society (DLS), on the bank of the Ganges at Shivanandanagar, at a distance of 3 kilometres from Rishikesh.
Sivananda Yoga, the yoga form propagated by him, are now spread in many parts of the world through Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, but these centres are not affiliated with Swami Sivananda's original ashrams which are run by the Divine Life Society.