Holy Science (Introduction and Study)
Holy Science (Introduction and Study)
Holy Science (Introduction and Study)
Editions
As one reads in the foreword of the 1920 Edition,
Sri Yukteswar published the chapters of The
Holy Science first in various segments in his
Sadhusambad journal. This is how the journals
looked like:
Later, in 1920, they were privately printed as a
book (the one published here) by Atul Chandra
Chowdhary, who is mentioned in Autobiography
of a Yogi as one of Masters [Sri Yukteswars]
chelas in Calcutta. He was the Secretary of Sri Yukteswars
organization Sadhusabha. The book was called Kaivalya
Darsanam, translated as Exposition of Final Truth.
Still later, in 1949, The Holy Science was printed by SRF,
slightly edited (Bengali terms were now presented in Sanskrit,
for example kal became kala etc.; grammar was corrected; the
introduction was modified). Yogananda wrote a foreword for
that edition, in which he mentions that Sri Yukteswar expounds
the Sankhya philosophy along with quotes from Revelation.
(Sankhya is one of the six darshanas, Vedic philosophies). It is
interesting that Yogananda focuses on these two, as Sri
Yukteswar discusses not only Indias Sankhya (as we will see),
nor only Revelation from the Bible: there are numerous quotes
from the New Testament, words of Jesus. It might be, however,
that Sankhya and Revelation are the most striking features in the
book.
For the 1962 edition the Sanskrit sutras were translated into
English, an obvious necessity for Western readers.
This is how the 1974 Edition looked like:
Vedanta
All Upanishads are Vendanta. The ancient Taittiriya Upanishad
(II,7) explains the 5 Koshas (Pancha Kosha), a concept which
Sri Yukteswar picks up in his The Holy Science (I,14).
Sri Yukteswar also discusses the three bodies (causal, astral,
material), a Vedanta teaching.
The very first three Sutras of The Holy Science are pure
Vedanta: how Parambrahma (God) is everything, causes
everything; later (I,15,16) Sri Yukteswar explains that the
created world is maya, illusion, unreal; and that the mystical