Richard Jewell, College Writing Specialist

This version of the ancient Hindu Yoga Sutras restores author Patanjali's practical advice, nature metaphors, and kindness. It also shows his reliance on the Rig Veda and his deep agreements, attested by recent scholarship, with Buddhist scriptures.
This version also was developed from over sixty years of meditation and scholarly research. It makes use of eighteen premier English translations, and of Sanskrit dictionaries, especially of words from the Rig Veda, and of Indo-European root meanings.

5thGospel.org: A New Age Novel of Jesus

Based on the Works of Edgar Cayce and Contemporary Alternative Biblical Scholarship.

This novel assumes Jesus was raised by Essenes; traveled to Egypt, Persia, and India during

his "lost years"; and offered a "Way" that included both Western and Eastern methods of experiencing spirituality.

"Poems, Prayers, & Lenten Meditations" (Forthcoming 2027)

A variety of New Age, Eastern, and Western Writings about Spirituality

Meditation Biography

Richard Jewell has practiced meditation since 1962 as a young teenager, driving his father's tractor up and down long fields. In those rows of corn and soybeans, he learned to hold an image in his mind and let other pictures and words come to it--a practice he later learned is a method in Hindu jnana yoga.

In his mid-teens, he began studying and practicing several Christian, New Age, and Buddhist meditation techniques. In college, after studying Hindu philosophy and religion for two terms under Dr. V. Madhusudan Reddy, a visiting professor, he began practicing the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo Ghose, an Indian saint, scholar, and revolutionary war hero.

He has continued these practices through the present, while also researching and experimenting with a variety of other methods in Hinduism, Christianity, New Age meditation, Buddhism, and Judaism. After retirement, he began writing books about meditation. His current projects are to finish his translation and commentary of the Yoga Sutras, above; to complete a major revision of his novel about Jesus of Nazareth, also above; and to write a guide for those experiencing strong cosmic-energy and kundalini experiences.

Richard also started a once-per-month email message in January 2025. As of September 2026, it has about 4000 list members. Each month, he writes about 600 words on a meditation subject Western or Eastern, ancient or modern, and spiritual and scientific. Subscribers are anonymous, their addresses hidden, and they may unsubscribe at any time. To join, email richard at jewell dot net. Since 2017, he also has been writing a mix of Eastern- and Western-based spiritual poems; and, for the large downtown-Minneapolis Plymouth Congregational Church (which was highly active in aiding immigrants during the winter 2026 ICE invasion), where he is a member of its Spiritual Formation Board, he writes one or more pages in its yearly "Lenten Meditations" collection. He also recently organized the church's annual retreat on "The Wisdom Teachings of Mary Magdalene and Jesus."

Contact: Richard@Jewell.net

Natural URL: https://richardjewell.org