These lectures are intended to give an outline of Yoga, in order to
prepare the student to take up, for practical purposes, the _Sūṭras of
Paṭañjali_, the chief treatise on Yoga. I have on hand, with my friend
Bhagavān Ḍās as collaborateur, a translation of these Sūṭras, with
Vyāsa’s commentary, and a further commentary and elucidation written in
the light of Theosophy. To prepare the student for the mastering of
that more difficult task, these lectures were designed; hence the many
references to Paṭañjali. They may, however, also serve to give to the
ordinary lay reader some idea of the Science of sciences, and perhaps
to allure a few towards its study.