Swami Venkatesananda

VOWELS:
a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	ṛ	ṝ	ḷ	e	ai	o	au	ṁ	ḥ

CONSONANTS:
gutturals:	k	kh	g	gh	ṅ
palatals:	c	ch	j	jh	ñ
cerebrals:	ṭ	ṭh	ḍ	ḍh	ṇ
dentals:	t	th	d	dh	n
labials:	p	ph	b	bh	m
semi-vowels:	y	r	l	v
sibilants:	s as in sun ś palatal sibilant ṣ cerebral sibilant – as in shun
aspirate:	h

The above scheme does not facilitate the pronunciation of the syllable jña which occurs often in the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha as also in yoga literature (jñāna means knowledge). The j is not really pronounced as j but almost as g. It is followed by the ñ which partakes of the character of the guttural and the palatal n. Added to all this there is also a suggestion of y before the appropriate vowel completes the syllable.

Sātvic, rājasic and tāmasic are anglicised adjective forms of satva, rajas and tamas. Many common nouns have also been anglicised by addition of ‘s’ for plural.

One verse from the relevant chapter is given in transliteration. This verse is ‘freely’ translated and written in bold in the body of the story on the same page.

On each page is given a faithful summary of the chapter selected for the day. Every effort has been made not to ignore any important teaching. Only non-essential repetition has been omitted.

Note On Gender Pronouns

Swami Venkatesananda spoke equally to both men and women, and his use of the masculine pronouns ‘he’ and ‘him’ does not exclude the feminine. It is, in fact, shorthand for ’human being’! He did not feel it necessary to distinguish between male and female, and the editor has continued the tradition in this publication.