Swami Prahladananda explains that the great spiritual masters like Sri Sri Bhagavan do not insist on any particular spiritual path for their students. They fuse all the paths together - be it the path of devotion (bhakti yoga), the path of action (karma yoga), the path of knowledge (jnana yoga), or the path of yoga and meditation (raja yoga). The great masters try to bring their students to the light in a way that is best suited for the students. In IVS, Bhagavan teaches meditation, selfless service, discrimination, and devotion. An aspirant will find everything they need. Even musician devotees get to use their musical talents as a spiritual sadhana. The great thing about realization, Swami Prahladananda explains, is that when an aspirant attains it, no matter what path they originally took to get there, they will automatically come to know about all the other paths. They will get the knowledge about all of them. It all comes together at the end. Biography of Swami Prahladananda...

Raja Yoga, also called ashtanga yoga, has as its goal the attainment of liberation (moksha) through samadhi. In ancient ancient India, there was no such concept of liberation. It was a brahmanical religion with people striving to get to heaven. Then a rishi named Kapil Muni came and brought Sankhya Yoga to the people that contained the concept of liberation. After Kapil Muni, came the saint Patanjali. He codified the path to liberation through the path of Raja Yoga and called it Ashtanga Yoga because it was divided into eight-limbs, or parts. Raja Yoga is a path of self-control. It aims to bring the mind back in by meditating on the truth. But such self-control in meditation is not possible in the beginning, therefore Raja Yoga outlines eight steps to prepare the yogi for this. They are: (1) Yama (Self control), (2) Niyama (discipline), (3) Asana (postures), (4) Pranayama (controlling the breath and vital energies), (5) Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), (6) Dharana (concentrat...

Sri Sri Bhagavan narrates the early part of the Buddha's spiritual life, who upon coming out of His sheltered palace, for the first time saw the worldly realities of old age, illness and death. What made the Buddha different was that He wanted to find a way to overcome these sorrows, to put an end to them. Bhagavan explains that "Buddha" or "Bodha" means total knowledge. Bhagavan draws a comparison to our contemporary life, including His own, pointing out that these struggles are very much present in our lives today as well. We should become aware of them, and their inevitability; try not to shun them, but face them .