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| FAQs Q. What do you do? A. We are dedicated to publishing excellent and affordable books about Yoga. Q. Why were you started? A. Most books on Yoga are not very good. Books published in the West tend to be highly repetitive introductory works churned out by publishers attempting to cash in on Yoga’s current popularity. Books published in India are often reprints of books originally published many decades ago, full of all kinds of errors, and only sporadically available. Our books have none of these shortcomings. Q. When were you started? A. Our first title went on sale in 2002. Q. Why “YogaVidya.com”? A. Yoga you know, and .com you know. Vidya is a Sanskrit word meaning wisdom, knowledge, lore, or science. So YogaVidya.com is the place to discover the wisdom of Yoga. Q. Why “Read the Originals”? A. Our books take you straight to the source. They’re authoritative. Q. Can I have a free sample? A. Yes! Free samples are available here. You can also read what Dasgupta wrote about Yoga practice, Yoga meditation, the Gita and Yoga, and a second, longer piece on Yoga practice. We also have what Danielou wrote about the technique of Yoga, the object and method of Hatha Yoga, yama and niyama, asanas, bandhas and mudras, purificatory acts, pranayama, pratyahara; dharana, dhyana, and samadhi; chakras and kundalini; and the siddhis. Q. I liked the sample. Where can I buy the whole book? A. Your options are laid out right here. Q. I liked the whole book. Where can I share my opinion of it? A. Write a review for an online bookstore. Q. I would like to write a book for you. How do I go about it? A. Go to Submissions. Q. How do I contact you? A. Go here. Q. Are you connected with anybody else? A. No. We are completely independent of any commercial, governmental, educational, or religious institutions. Q. Are you a university press? A. No. We have the same rigorous standards (higher actually), but our books are for the intelligent public, as well as for specialists. Q. Are you a self-publisher? A. No. The founder translated the first book himself just to get the ball rolling. All subsequent titles will be written or translated by others. Q. Why don’t your hardcovers have dust jackets? A. A dust jacket would add well over three dollars to the price of the book. The hardcovers are bound in a durable 100%-cotton-fabric, acrylic-filled cover, so they don’t really need extra protection. Also note that online booksellers tend to show the paperback’s colorful cover image on the hardcover’s page, but the hardcovers are blue with a gold-stamped spine. Q. Are all your books printed on acid-free paper? A. Yes. The paper used in our books meets the requirements of the American National Standards Institute/National Information Standards Organization Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. The paper is also uncoated, has a low brightness rating, and is elemental chlorine free—all environmentally friendly traits. Q. Why are you a commercial venture? A. It takes money (and time, and expertise, and technology) to publish books. Getting money from readers (instead of a school, a temple, or a government) gives us complete editorial independence—and gives you the assurance that you’re getting the real stuff. Q. Are you doing this for the money? A. If we were doing this for the money, we would do things quite differently. First, we would charge more for each book. Second, we would dumb the books down to reach a wider audience. Third, we would invent and trademark some “new” kind of Yoga. Fourth, this new Yoga would require many levels of initiation—and very expensive initiation fees. In fact, maybe tithing would be in order. And a pyramid scheme . . . See how different what we’re doing is? Just great books at good prices. Q. Why do you publish secret knowledge? A. An excellent question. Here are four reasons why: 1) Because the cat is already out of the bag. Tens of millions of people around the world are currently practicing some form of Yoga. (And if you think about it a moment, you may conclude that this knowledge was being propagated centuries and millennia ago. Otherwise, why would the classical authors attempt to enjoin its dissemination?) 2) Everyone’s knowledge is incomplete. YogaVidya.com exists to deepen people’s knowledge of the tradition. For those who are suited to this practice, it is important to have this knowledge available. 3) Even when this knowledge is publicly available, those who are not ready will not visit this site; if they visit, they will not read; if they read, they will not practice; if they practice, they will not stick with it. Thus it remains hidden even when in full view. 4) Open knowledge is robust and alive and growing; secret knowledge is fragile and fragmented and will eventually die. For Yoga to grow in a healthy, aware, informed manner, its practitioners need high-quality information. |
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