Kailash Journal

From the Foreword by Graham Schweig, PhD (author of Bhagavad Gita: The Beloved Lord's Secret Love Song): In this book, we are invited to join a Yoga master in the daily events and practical details involved in a yatra, or pilgrimage--a rigorous and austere journey to Mount Kailash, the mountain that manifests the divine presence of Shiva. In his own words and photographs, Swami Satchidananda recorded his journey to this great pilgrimage site. He undertook his pilgrimage in the earlier part of the 20th century, when, at age 44, he was already an accomplished yogi. While many books have been compiled from transcripts of Swami Satchidananda's talks, Kailash Journal is the only one that he actually wrote during his lifetime. It is virtually untouched and unedited. And it is a diary that so clearly reveals the dedicated mood and attractive personality of this very special soul, as he brings us with him by means of his generous descriptions and photographic depictions of this journey. His simple but poignant and sober language sweetly expresses the spiritual sentiments and reflections that he had along the way. Sri Swamiji takes the reader on a journey into his own profound meditation on what he embraces so deeply within his heart, the ultimate destination of all meditation. Sri Swamiji poetically describes this deepest level of meditation as an "incomparable pleasure," as expressed in the following eloquent words: ". . . . that supreme joy of being alive and awake in a garden filled with divine blessings, where one can sit in the shade of His holy feet and drink from the eternal spring of divine love." This journal conveys the profound experiences of a pilgrim who goes to the very depths of his own spiritual-religious tradition, who seeks the very heart of what he practices as a yogi. Moreover, his journey demonstrates that, as pilgrims on the path of Yoga, we do not merely immerse ourselves in Yoga; rather, it is the power of Yoga itself that absorbs us. Yoga is a force independent of our own efforts.