about TLAYT

Trevor Leggett Adhyatma Yoga Trust

Trevor Leggett studied Vedanta and the traditional Yoga of the Self for over sixty years until his death and for eighteen years was a pupil of Hari Prasad Shastri (1882-1956). Trevor lived for a number of years in Japan where he learnt Japanese and studied Judo and Zen.
He was the first foreigner to hold 6th Dan from the Kodokan in Tokyo and he held 4th Dan in Shogi, the Japanese version of chess.
From 1946 until his retirement in 1970 he was head of the Japanese Service of the BBC. In 1985 he received the award of the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese Government in recognition of his services to Japanese culture and in 1989 he was invited to give a paper on ‘The Complete Commentary by Shankara on the Yoga Sutras’ to the International Seminar on Shankara held in New Delhi.
Trevor Leggett was the author and translator of remarkable and penetrating books on Yoga, Zen, Judo and Shogi. He wrote on the basis of experience rather than mere academic theory. He was a real Adhyatma Yogi and always exhorted others to intensify their practice. For many years he gave talks and wrote articles on how a person might gain direct experience themselves.

The copyright to all of his works was left to TLAYT in his will and the Trust has steadily worked, to bring them all back in print at affordable prices both in high quality softback editions and in a number of cases as eBooks and audiobooks.
Trevor Leggett made provision in his will for the establishment of a charitable trust to promote the knowledge of Adhyatma Yoga, Vedanta, Buddhism, Zen, Judo and Shogi. He died on 2nd August 2000 in his 86th year and on 8th March 2001 TLAYT was formed and subsequently registered with the Charity Commission (No: 1086172).

Our Podcasts

Our parent site, tlayt.org, may appear bewildering to a newcomer. It reflects Trevor’s creative output and so covers many classes of interest, including Yoga, Zen, Judo and Shogi (Japanese chess), but, as yet, we have no recommended pathway through it.

This podcast site exists to do something slightly different – to broadcast focused lectures and stories given and written by Trevor Leggett. We aim to provide these frequently and regularly.

We hope this site will enable people to contact us (TLAYT) to find the answers to any questions that arise from episodes of the podcasts and stories. Please use our contact form to get information about upcoming stories, podcasts and newsletters. You can also use the contact form to receive answers to any questions you may have.

Trevor Leggett drew both his inspiration and his knowledge of the traditions of Yoga and Zen from his Teacher, Dr Hari Prasad Shastri. Dr Shastri was a God-Realized teacher with a spiritual lineage stretching back to the ancient sages of India. These teachings are pure and powerful; and can speak directly to the psyche of an individual . They can change lives.

The Vedas, the Upanishads and many other spiritual texts were traditionally communicated by voice rather than in written form. There are good reasons for this, some of which may appear obvious – and some which go deeper.

We welcome you to join a journey guided by the teachings that Trevor Leggett communicated to us. Ultimately your guide will be yourself and your inner light, which can be considered a manifestation of God.

Peter Anthony Monk said he had a partnership with God. His music, mainly in the form of a Japanese flute, can be heard as an accompaniment to Trevor’s stories in his two albums ‘Encounters in Yoga and Zen’ and ‘Lotus Lake, Dragon Pool’ which we will serialise on this site.

What will be covered

The Topics we may be addressing will, either directly or indirectly, be those included in Trevor Leggett’s book, ‘Realization of the Supreme Self’, which is his interpretation and working experience of the Bhagavad Gita.

They will include: Yoga-s of the Gītā,  Arjuna’s Disbelief, Action , Knowledge , Meditation,  Yoga-Power,  Glories , Face to Face, Devotion , The Field and the knower of the Field, The Guṇa-s,  One and Many, Passion-Struggle, Faith , Worship, Gift, Austerity, Śaṅkara on Gītā Practice, The Two Paths, Sankara’s Presentation of the Gītā Paths, Illusion, Interpretation, Outline of Practice, Independence, Worship for Sceptics, Line of Light, Karma-Yoga Action, Samādhi, Purity of Being (Sattva-śuddhi), Knowledge, Samnyāsa, Throwing Off Action, Knowledge-stance, Jñāna-niṣṭhā, Freedom, Free-in-Life, The Experimental Basis, Mistakes, The Four Vocations, Uprush, Human Nature, The Spiritual Teacher, Rebirth, Play