Adi Sankara's Yoga Taravali: English Translation and Commentary by T.K.V. Desikachar and Kausthub Desikachar

By Phil Catalfo

Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram; www.kym.org.

The son and grandson, respectively, of the 20th-century yoga master T. Krishnamacharya, T.K.V. Desikachar and Kausthub Desikachar have issued a handsome edition of this lesser-known text by—or, at least, attributed to—the legendary eighth-century Vedanta and yoga master Sankara. Krishnamacharya considered it "one of the best poems on the message of yoga" and taught the text to his son decades ago. There are 29 slokas (verses) that discuss yogic practices (such as the bandhas) and advanced spiritual experiences (the different states of samadhi, or "union"); each is presented in Sanskrit (in Devanagari script), in a Romanized transliteration, and in an English translation, followed by the Desikachars' commentary on the verse.

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