Page 260 - Adhiyoga Purana

An elder yogācārya on originality and rigor
Padmashree Yogacharya Sadashiv Nimbalkar, Director of Yoga Vidya Niketan, welcomes the “pioneer work” of Adhiyoga. He notes the unusual bilingual sutra format—English sutras paired with Sanskrit translations—and recognizes the book as guide, manual, and textbook that “covers all aspects of human life.” Beginning with Happiness and moving through goals, body-mind-spirit, Īśvara and Prakṛti, health, fitness, rest, practices, prāṇāyāma, meditation, spiritual disciplines, he calls the system scientifically designed and praises its originality and clarity—expectations he says are natural from an IIT-trained aerospace engineer turned yogi.
Psychology, lifestyle, and the “Amṛta-kalaśa”
Dr. Vidya Jayant Damle, Applied Psychologist and founder of Indrayani School for Mentally Challenged, describes Adhiyoga as an “Amrita-Kalasha”—a pot that never empties. Each reading yields new findings. She emphasizes the lifestyle dimension—practical methods for contentment; clear explanations of diet-exercise-rest; a modern psychological lens on learning, emotion, attention, cognition, intelligence, memory; and the deep tie between nutrition and mind. For her, the work is not clever writing but the systematic statement of prolonged study and experience, integrating nutrition, health science, philosophy, social science, psychology, and the spiritual goal of liberation.
A clinician’s map through today’s life
Padmashree Dr. Sharad Moreshwar Hardikar, Professor Emeritus of Orthopaedics and Director of Hardikar Hospital, reads Adhiyoga as a clinician. He sees yoga as the art and science of living, traditionally rigorous yet today often diluted. In this climate, Kulkarni “truly mastered the ancient science” and produced sutras that preserve essence while meeting modern demands. Hardikar walks chapter by chapter: personal goals (2.3); practical openness with course corrections (3.4); lucid treatment of mind faculties (mānas, buddhi, citta, smṛti, ahaṅkāra) and karma-siddhānta (4.2, 4.5); Sāṅkhya foundations (5.1–5.4); Īśvara explained via Gītā and Patanjali; and the applications students need now—health, fitness, rest, exercise— including the warning that “more may not be better” in Haṭha practice (9.1–9.10). He highlights the meditation pathway (13.1–13.9) and the synthesis of karma, rāja, jñāna, bhakti—usually combined in real yogis. Verdict: innovative and authoritative, fit for newcomers and dedicated practitioners alike.
A Sanskritist’s review of aims and method
Dr. Ganesh Umakant Thite—Retd. HOD of Sanskrit & Prakrit, University of Pune; former Hon. Curator, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute—calls Adhiyoga a unique and original contribution that absorbs classical concentration and exercise yet adds modern psychology and physiology, emphasizes music and the arts, and aims ultimately at social harmony and balanced individual life (contrasted with classical yoga’s singular focus on mokṣa). He also provided the Sanskrit sutras, lending the work philological weight.
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