Swami Nishchalananda was with his teacher, Swami Satyananda, for 14 years both at Munger, Bihar, and various other ashrams around India.
In that time he studied many of the classic texts of Vedanta and Tantra, and indeed wrote several new books in the name of his teacher (see ‘Books‘ on this website). Here are some discourses and commentaries on some of those classic texts
Select a post from the list below to read or listen
A message from Swami Nishchalananda
Dear Friends,Despite these troubled times, I hope you are well. A year ago, I delivered a series of teachings and meditations on the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra, organised by Chitra Lekha in Sweden and recorded by Narada (Tony Sugden). Recently, Narada has put these recordings on my blog as a series…
Keep reading
Vigyana Bhairava Tantra – continued
The next two sessions in the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra series are now live. Subscribers to the series can find them in the subscription section on the main menu or the link on the front page, or by clicking on the link below. The sessions are in depth explorations of some…
Keep reading
Vigyana Bhairava Tantra – The Practices
As the editor of this blog, I’ve gone through all the archived recordings of Swamiji’s teachings on the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra from around 20 years ago. In terms of audio clarity and the breadth of content, the recent series that Swamiji did via Zoom is the best that I’ve found…
Keep reading
Vigyana Bhairava Tantra – Introduction
A series of recordings on the Kashmir Shaivism text ‘Vigyana Bhairava Tantra’, taken from a series of talks and practical lessons given by Swami Nishchalananda from 2002 through to the present time. To start the series, here is an introductory recording from Swami Nishchalananda, putting the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra (VBT)…
Keep reading
The Vigyana Bhairava Tantra in context.
A series of recordings taken from some of Swami Nishchalananda’s discourses on the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra, will be coming to the blog very soon. We decided it would be useful to explain a bit about how the concepts and practices fit into the landscape of Yoga and Tantra as practiced…
Keep reading
Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga (the Eightfold Path) and Yama and Niyama
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali give eight steps on the path of exploring Yoga most deeply. The first two steps are often described as ‘rules of conduct’ for the practitioner.Another in the series of 2004 discourses from Mandala Yoga Ashram in Wales, by the Founder Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati. Raja Yoga,…
Keep reading
Mandukya Upanishad (5)
The fifth and final recording in the series given at Mandala Yoga Ashram in 2002 In this final recording, Swamiji explores further the concept of ‘Archetypes’. It’s not just in Yoga or Advaita that such a concept occurs. Philosophical and scientific thinkers have also proposed that there is some kind…
Keep reading
Mandukya Upanishad (4)
The fourth in the series of five sessions on the Mandukya Upanishad given at Mandala Yoga Ashram in 2002. Here we continue further with the text from the third verse. Continuing verse three, Swamiji talks of the four quarters represented by the A, U and M of AUM and the…
Keep reading
The Bhagavad Gita, in depth.
Some twenty-plus years ago…… …….. Swami Nishchalananda conducted a Masterclass on the Bhagavad Gita. The ten days of translation and analysis of the deeper meaning of the text were recorded, then forgotten; the recordings consigned to a cupboard along with hundreds of other recorded minidiscs. Finally those hundreds of discs…
Keep reading
Mandukya Upanishad (3)
The third in the series of five sessions on the Mandukya Upanishad given at Mandala Yoga Ashram in 2002. Here we continue the text from the third verse. In verse two we saw the author dividing existence into four parts. Now in verse three he talks of the first quarter…
Keep reading
From the Whole, the Whole is Taken, yet the Whole Remains.
Om PurnamadahaPurnamidamPurnatPurnamudachyatePurnasyaPurnamadayaPurnamiwa WashishyateOm Shanti Shanti Shantih This Sanskrit Chant appears as the Shanti Path (Invocation of Peace) at the beginning of one of the great Upanishads, the Ishavasya, also called the Isha Upanishad.. You could call it a great statement of Advaita (non-dualism). It could also be regarded in a…
Keep reading
Mandukya Upanishad (1)
The first of a series of five sessions, given by Swami Nishchalananda at Mandala Yoga Ashram in May 2002. This first recording is mostly preamble; setting the scene before actually looking at the Upanishad verse by verse. The Mandukya Upanishad comes from the Atharvaveda (one of the four Vedas).It’s only…
Keep reading
Mandukya Upanishad (2)
Second in the series of five sessions on the Mandukya Upanishad given at Mandala Yoga Ashram in 2002. The first session was introducing the Upanishad, here Swami Nishchalananda introduces his commentary on the text starting from verse 1. Be in touch with the inner space…. within that space thoughts, feelings,…
Keep reading
The Whispered Wisdom of the Upanishads
A guest post by Spandan (Michael McCann)
This post first appeared on Michael’s Facebook page ‘The Yoga Well’ and is reproduced here with his kind permission.
Keep reading
Portal to Consciousness (4)
The final part of the second series on the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra, given online to the Sheffield School of Yoga. Swamiji begins by noting that we seem to have ‘deified’ thinking; The practices of Yoga and Tantra, certainly as laid out in the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra, may cause us to…
Keep reading
Portal to Consciousness (1)
Part one of a further series of seminars on the Vigyana Bhairava Tantra given to the Sheffield School of Yoga by Swami Nishchalananda. The session starts with Dharana number 72 from the text Vigyana Bhairava Tantra. ‘Maya, or cosmic delusion, deludes us by means of the five Kanchukas. Consider and…
Keep reading
Swami Nishchalananda 