Swami Vishnu-Devananda (1927–1993) was one of the most famous students and successors of the famous guru Swami Sivananda from Rishikesh. A native of the southern Indian state of Kerala, in 1947, he, a young Indian army officer, came to Sivananda's ashram and received initiation from him into the spiritual order of Saraswati, becoming a sannyasin and devoting his entire subsequent life to spreading the teachings of Yoga and Vedanta. He studied hatha yoga and the scriptures under the guidance of his guru, and in 1957, with the parting words “people are waiting,” Sivananda sent. - him to the West. Vishnu-Devananda founded his first ashram in Canada in 1961. Thanks to him, Sivananda Yoga and Vedanta centers appeared all over the world. Swami went into mahasamadhi in 1993, in Uttarkashi (Himalayas), sitting in the lotus position. The book discusses in detail the traditional, correct practice of mantras (japa yoga), as well as techniques for understanding and controlling the mind. Raja, hatha, karma, kundalini, japa and mantra yoga are all discussed here in the context of the classic scripture - the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The book contains mantras of the main Deities of the Hindu pantheon, used in the practice of Yoga and spiritual development. This book by Swami Vishnu-Devananda belongs to the “golden fund” of authoritative works on hatha yoga written in the 20th century.