An Introduction to Yoga

Annie Besant

Foreword

These lectures[FN#1: Delivered at the 32nd Anniversary of the

Theosophical Society held at Benares, on Dec. 27th, 28th, 29th,

and 30th, 1907.] are intended to give an outline of Yoga, in

order to prepare the student to take up, for practical purposes,

the Yoga sutras of Patanjali, the chief treatise on Yoga. I have

on hand, with my friend Bhagavan Das as collaborateur, a

translation of these Sutras, with Vyasa's commentary, and a

further commentary and elucidation written in the light of

Theosophy.[FN#2: These have never been finished or printed.] To

prepare the student for the mastering of that more difficult

task, these lectures were designed; hence the many references to

Patanjali. They may, however, also serve to give to the ordinary

lay reader some idea of the Science of sciences, and perhaps to

allure a few towards its study.

Annie Besant

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