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Life and teachings of Swami Vishnudevananda in audio files

Be part of a wonderful project of making this precious material available to all!

Swami Vishnudevananda’s life was dedicated to teaching Yoga. His classes, lectures and satsangs were carried by great sincerity and inspiration. The atmosphere was charged with authoritative first hand knowledge, which addressed the essential points in a very straightforward and clear way. Swamiji’s presence emanated a special blend of discipline and humour, which deeply touched the lives of thousands of people. Thanks to the untiring volunteer work done at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Camp Headquarters in Val Morin, Canada, over 3000 recordings have now been transferred from cassette tapes to mp3-format. This impressive archive constitutes a most precious legacy of Swami Vishnudevananda, this great pioneer of Yoga of the 20th century, who served his students by actually living with them.

‘Listen and take notes’ – Karma Yoga Project

Preparing the audio archive of Swami Vishnudevananda’s lectures.

It is the wish of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres to make this treasure of knowledge and inspiration progressively available to students all over the world. For this we need your help:

  1. Send an e-mail to sita(at)sivananda.net
  2. Receive an Internet link to download one demonstration mp3/lecture file and submit your details if you would like to participate.
  3. You will receive by e-mail a recording for evaluation.
  4. Listen to the recording and define the content by selecting, for each 10 minutes of the recording, 5–10 keywords from an online evaluation form.

We have already put the first audio files online (see link below), but many more are awaiting review. Your help is greatly appreciated.


Extracts of the wide scope of topics which are addressed in recordings as early as 1969:

Yoga lectures

  • Ashtanga – the eight steps of Yoga
  • Mission of Yoga in world
  • Meditative States
  • Karma and Reincarnation
  • Power of Thought
  • Vedanta Philosophy
  • The three Bodies
  • The three Gunas
  • Three States of Consciousness
  • Kundalini
  • Life after Death
  • Yoga and Ayurveda
  • Brain and Swara Yoga
  • Bhakti Yoga and Chanting 

Yoga and health

  • Yoga Experience vs. Drug Experience
  • Exercise Physiology
  • Proper breathing
  • Yoga and Disease Prevention
  • Postural Alignment
  • Relaxation and Meditation
  • Mobilisation of Joints
  • Diet and Muscle development
  • Stress Management
  • Benefits of Asanas
  • Effects of Yoga on Children

Satsang topics

  • Pleasure, Pain and Bliss
  • Life is pre-planned
  • Who am I?
  • Sannyasa – renunciation

Commentaries on scriptures

  • Bhagavad Gita
  • Raja Yoga Sutras
  • Srimad Bhagavatam

Symposia and peace missions

  • True World Order Convention
  • God, Man and Psychic Discovery
  • Festival of Inner Light – Siva and Shakti
  • Global Village Peace Festival
  • Facing the Future
  • All India Tour
  • Delhi and Bombay press conferences

Most recordings have been taken at the Sivananda Ashrams in Val Morin, Woodbourne (NY), Grass Valley (California) and Nassau (Bahamas). Very precious lectures have also been recorded on tour in the following places: Berlin, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Cracow, Geneva,  Houston, Ireland, London, Los Angeles, Madras, Madrid, Montevideo, Montreal, Munich, New York, Paris, Prague, Puerto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Santiago de Chile, Tel Aviv, Trivandrum, Vienna, Warsaw, Washington, etc. For non-English-speaking students especially, the lectures in non-English-speaking countries with consecutive translation into the local language will be of great value.