The Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville library established in 1989 to serve the Yogaville community and ashram residents has some 20,000 holdings in all material types including: books, periodicals voice & video recordings. The library, officially called Vidya Bhavan (Abode of learning), provides a quiet, peaceful place for study. It is open 6 days a week and is available to all our guests, and program participants. We have books in some 30 languages including: French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi, Sanskrit and Tamil etc.. While having books on all subjects we specialize in books on religions and spiritual practices.
The Story of the Yogaville Library
Sometimes things happen in the most unusual way. This is the story of how the Yogaville library came to be.
The Story of Sastri
After 19 years of some very intense and challenging work the master archive of all Swami Satchidananda’s satsangs is complete.
We are especially rich in the areas of Hinduism & Buddhism as well as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikh, Native American, and all other religions – (see partial listing below). It is an extensive collection worthy of graduate level scholarly study. These include: the complete Pali Cannon in Pali, a complete set of Tibetan Buddhist scripture in the facsimile from the original palm-leaf writings, all the Hindu Puranas, many editions of the Ramayana but our most extensive is the Tamil collection which has no equal anyplace outside of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India.
There is also a complete collection of Sri Swami Sivananda’s writings; a collection of over 400 books, including some of the very earliest dating back to the 1930’s. In addition to this we also have extensive collections in: Hindu astrology, & Western art and art history. We invite scholars, graduate students in Buddhism, SE Asian Studies and Tamil to come research and study as special guests.
Our chief Librarian, Swami Murugananda, who single-handedly created the library, cataloged and classified the entire collection is here to serve you in finding books on whatever subject you are interested in researching.
Click a subject below to view a list of available books:
Library News:
The library has undergone a major transformation in the last year. Many books had to be let go to make room for its function as a classroom cum library. It is quite beautiful. There is a new carpet, comfortable chairs, drapes & plants and places for you to get connected. We still have a public computer that has the catalogue and allows you to get on line. It is a peaceful relaxing place for reading and study. Come see, enjoy.
We have recently acquired a nice collection of vintage Tricycle magazine. This is a publication dedicated to Buddhist studies. Here are a random selection of articles: Enlightenment; Is it Possible in This Lifetime; Dharma Behind Bars: Paradox of Freedom; The Hippie’s Monk: Lama Yeshe; Dignity of Restraint; Riddle of Desire; Finding Joy in Your Practice; Finding Patience; Living With the Devil – A Buddhist take on good & evil; The Future of Religion and many more. You can come read them here.
New Books
- Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu
- This Light in Oneself: True Meditation by Krishnamurti
- Inward Revolution: Bringing About Radical Change in the World by Krishnamurti
- Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
- Open Heart, An: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life by HH the Dalia Lama
- Meeting The Buddha: On Pilgrimage In Buddhist India by Aitken, Molly E
- Food for the Soul: Vegetarianism & Yoga Traditions by Rosen, Steven J
- Genius of the Transcendent: Mystical Writings of Jakob Boehme by Birkel, Michael
- Thousand Names of the Divine Mother Dhammapada by Fronsdal, Gil
- Yoga Spandakarika: The Sacred Texts at the Origins of Tantra by Odier, Daniel
- Yoga for the West by Rawlinson, Ian
For Those with Little Dust: Pointers on the Teachings of Ramana Maharshi by Osborne, A - Wake up & Roar by Papaji