By
Sri Swami Chidananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1976
Second Edition: 1991
(3,000 copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 1999
Website: http://www.divinelifesociety.org/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
ISBN 81-7052-081-9
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttaranchal,
Himalayas, India.
Contents
Peace be unto all beings!
Adorations unto the Almighty Lord! Homage unto the great Sage Patanjali,
the ancient expounder of the science of Raja Yoga! Salutations to Worshipful
Master Gurudev Sivananda at whose Feet this book is offered in reverence
and devotion!
I am happy to give this brief Preface to this little book on the subject
of Raja Yoga edited by Sri Swami Vimalananda, who has been a devoted
helper to me in innumerable ways over the past more than two decades.
The matter in this book comprises a series of class lectures given in
Beirut (Lebanon) at the Yoga Shanti Niketan where I had been invited
by the Founder-Director, Mrs. Louisa Raaff, known to her student circles
as Mother Shanta and Mother Swami Lalitanandaji, who generously helped
towards this trip. I went to Beirut and stayed for six weeks in the
spring of 1973 fulfilling a programme of a series of class lectures,
Satsangas, meditation sessions and public engagements. Two other friends
who took great interest in my visit and were very helpful to me are
Sri Omar Mansaur and Jean Pierre Sara, both spiritual seekers taking
keen interest in Yoga practice and meditation. To these wonderful persons
I owe a debt of gratitude and take this opportunity of recording it
here.
I must also mention the young student, Panos Tsakalian of the American
University at Beirut who arranged lectures at the University.
These lectures have been given in very simple language avoiding technical
terms as far as possible. They are easy to understand as they were originally
addressed to a group of persons who were strangers to Indian philosophical
thoughts and the subject of Yoga-Darshana. It was a new subject and
the field was unfamiliar to their thought-form. As such, these talks
were necessarily made simple for them to grasp. An orderly sequence
was attempted at the time of their delivery. Therefore, this arrangement
makes the present volume something in the nature of a primary text-book
on Patanjali Yoga. Hence it is felt that it may be of some value to
beginners and would help them to get a preliminary knowledge of Ashtanga
Yoga.
Whatever is helpful and of any value in this volume belongs to Maharshi
Patanjali, to whom I pay homage. Any discrepancies and shortcomings
the reader may find belong to me. The entire project was undertaken
in the spirit of Guru-Seva to Worshipful Master Swami Sivanandaji.
My many grateful thanks to each and everyone who has made this volume
possible.
Swami Chidananda
\
First Lecture
Beloved Immortal Souls! Radiant Children of Light! Greetings to you
all in the name of Yoga. Yoga, the ancient science of India, is the
common heritage of humanity, though evolved in the East, though practised
and expounded in India. This science of attaining universal consciousness
is the common wealth of mankind. It is a science that goes beyond the
barrier of any particular faith or religion, system or theology, and
takes on the nature of spiritual process that is capable of being worked
out within the interior of human consciousness irrespective of the personality.
This consciousness, shines as the universal common denominator, as the
common factor in all life. It runs as a subtle invisible cosmic link
in all life, just as a thread runs as the common inner support through
a necklace of beads of variegated colours, shapes and appearances, holding
them all together, unifying them into one object, a necklace. Here is
this Sutra or a thread, a unity within diversity.
Consciousness or the spiritual essence is similarly the unifying factor
that underlies all forms in this universe that are apparent as different
objects to our superficial, physical gaze. All such objects hold, within
their apparent diversity, this inner Unity of Consciousness. The spirit
within is the universal common denominator underlying all forms of existence,
but it has become involved in mental processes, and through them got
caught up within the meshes of sensual and physical nature.
Yoga presents a system of liberating the spiritual essence from this
involvement, this entanglement in mental and physical processes. It
achieves the effect of restoring the spiritual consciousness to its
pristine state, its untrammelled, pure original state. The thesis of
Yoga based upon the direct experience of those who became its expounders,
is that your true nature, your real and essential nature, is pure bliss.
It is pure peace. It is Ananda and Santi. Not sorrow. Not misery. Not
grief. Not restlessness. Not agitation. Not tears. But peace and joy.
Thus Raja Yoga is a scientific method of liberating the consciousness
from the bondage of mind, senses and matter. It does not come into clash
with any set of dogma or any specific religious belief. For, in the
ultimate context, if you try to analyse religion to its gross roots,
you will discover that all religions have as their ultimate aim, showing
to the individual the path beyond sorrow, the way to supreme blessedness.
Call it divine felicity, call it eternal beatitude, call it salvation,
emancipation, liberation—the term which you use does not matter;
the aim or the ultimate objective of religion remains the same. If you
try to grasp the central essence of religion, the central spirit behind
all the elaborate rituals and ceremonials, you will find that it is
to bring man to God. And this Reality or this Cosmic Being called God
denotes a state of perfection that transcends the imperfect experiences
of this finite earth-life, that transcends sorrow and suffering. It
denotes a positive state of perfect joy and peace.
Yoga therefore is a system, a science, a practice. Though it had its
origin in India, though it was systematised by a people who professed
the Vedic religion which we call Hinduism, Yoga is beyond religion and
occupies a place in the spiritual life of man which is the common meeting
ground of all humanity and has come down to us in this 20th century
as a part of the universal heritage of mankind.
The Nature Of The World
Yoga, by itself, is a term that implies the bringing to an end man’s
involvement in sorrow and suffering. The life of man here in this universe
is characterised by experiences which he does not like, experiences
which are painful, experiences which he seeks to avoid but discovers
by the time he approaches the end of his life that they are unavoidable.
These are part and parcel of what we call earthly life here. Pain, sorrows
and sufferings of various kinds seem inevitable and yet man all over
the world tries to avoid suffering and sorrow, pain and misery, and
tries to obtain, somehow or the other, a state of joy, of happiness.
In this, man fails. He has failed in this ever since the dawn of creation.
Not so much because this state of absolute transcending of sorrow and
experience of absolute bliss does not exist, but merely because he searches
for it in the wrong direction. He looks for it in the outer world, in
objects. And no wonder he fails to find the perfect and absolute experience
of joy there, because finite things, changeful things, perishable things,
imperfect in their very nature, have a beginning and an end; they are
conditioned in time and space. These things naturally cannot give perfect
experience, because these things are fragmentary. Everything is relative.
Everything is one of a pair of opposites. And our relationship, our
contact, with all things is also short-lived. All coming together ends
in going apart, and over and above this, that very instrument through
which man has to relate himself to all things here is characterised
by much imperfection.
What is that instrument through which man relates himself to this external
world? The body with the five senses is that instrument. And that primary
instrument through which the dweller within has to contact and perceive
this phenomenal world is itself defective. It has a birth and ultimately
goes to extermination in death; all the five senses through which it
perceives the universe gradually fail when disease comes and gradually
destroys them. If disease does not destroy them, the natural process
in old age makes them weaker. Eye-sight weakens, hearing fails, limbs
become feeble, and all the senses gradually grow cold. Thus the body
suffers its natural characteristics of birth, growth, change, disease,
old age, decay and death. Numerous other factors also torment this body—factors
beyond the control of man—you have natural calamities like earthquakes
epidemic and famine. Then war, revolution, wicked people, malarious
mosquitoes, yellow fever, consumption, T.B., cancer, venereal disease,
dysentery, cholera ad infinitum. Then there are natural calamities
like the fury of the elements, cold wave, heat wave, drought, either
too much rain or no rain, typhoons, hurricanes and blizzards.
Then there are those other afflictions which are man-made and also
coming from various kinds of creatures and as though these miseries
are not enough, from within one’s own nature there arise factors
that torment and destroy the peace of the human individual. Anger, hatred,
jealousy, envy, frustration, disappointment, failure to achieve one’s
objective, fierce passion in the form of lust and greed—these fires
in the human being inflame his mind, torment his heart and disturb his
peace. How much of the ills of man come from his own inner psyche! The
various agitating conditions upon which he has no control, the various
cravings, desires, ambitions and urges which constantly keep the mind
in a state of turmoil—a little of this inner inferno has been perceived
and touched upon by Western psychologists.
So, elements beyond one’s control, other forms of life outside
oneself and factors within oneself—all these afflict man in addition
to the inevitable fate of the body. Thus, real happiness or joy seems
to be an ever-receding horizon and its contrary seems to be an all-too-immediate
ever-present reality; and thus, man’s quest for escaping, avoiding
or overcoming pain and suffering and entering into a state of joy seems
to be a wild-goose chase, seems to be a futile pursuit doomed to failure.
And hopeless seems the quest of man for happiness. It is precisely in
this area of man’s aspiration, in this area of life’s quest
that the science of Yoga becomes relevant to all of us. It becomes very
significant and meaningful and very important, for it emphatically declares
that despite the deplorable fact that sorrow is the nature of this temporary
earthly existence, the destiny of man is supreme joy. That is the thesis
of Yoga. That is the emphatic declaration of Yoga. Man is made for the
attainment of supreme joy and this supreme joy or perfect state of bliss
is not to be a post-mortem attainment, is not to be an after-death state
of being, but it is something that is capable of being attained here
and now. And if man would claim his birth-right, it is within the reach
of every human individual to attain to this perfect experience right
here, even while dwelling in this body, in this very life.
The Purpose Of Yoga
The purpose of Yoga is to try to restore to man his pristine state
of perfect bliss; and this it does by liberating the human individual
from his involvement in body, senses and mind. This involvement itself
is the prime cause for keeping him away from itself, is the greatest
obstacle to his attainment of that experience which the Yoga science
says lies right here, present at this moment. To become liberated from
the bondage of pain, thus bringing to an end the union of man’s
nature with pain, is Yoga. How is this cessation of pain brought about
by uniting the consciousness with that which is of the nature of Bliss?
And that factor which is of the nature of pure bliss is called the Self;
is called Brahman; is called God; is called Allah; is called Isvara,
the Thing-In-Itself, Ahuramazda. It is the Deity. It is the Universal
Soul, the Cosmic Reality, the Eternal Divine Principle which is the
Alpha and Omega of all beings, which is the origin and fulfilment of
this and all that exist. To bring into a state of oneness with it, relate
yourself to it and achieve a perfection of relationship with it, is
Yoga. And to achieve this end, you will have to carefully withdraw your
involvement in the passing, the finite, the limited, the non-eternal.
This is a condition, is a prerequisite. Yoga teaches both—how to
sever your connection to the non-eternal and how to enter into that
connection to the eternal, the all-perfect, the infinite. Yoga teaches
that both these aspects are two in one, that is, uniting yourself with
the Divine and thus attaining the Bliss which you seek in vain in finite,
earthly objects. That is Yoga. That is the purpose of Yoga. The process
of Yoga is the turning away from that which is characterised by sorrow,
by pain and which is perishable, destructible in its nature.
The Fourfold Path
This process of turning away from the finite, from the imperfect, the
temporary, the passing and entering into a conscious connection with
the Eternal, with the Divine, sums up the process of Yoga. How this
can be done? Is there only one way or are there many ways? The answer
to this is both. There is only one way, and there are many ways. And
why this dual answer? There is only one way in the sense that all Yoga
is movement towards the Divine, movement towards the Infinite, movement
of the personal towards the Impersonal, of the individual towards the
Universal, movement of man towards God. So, there is only one Yoga.
But then, this movement can be accomplished through several levels of
the human personality. This Godward movement, movement towards the Divine
may be initiated and carried out through one of other, or, one or more
of the powers, of the capacities, of the faculties that you possess.
And depending upon which one of the faculty you make use of as a medium
for bringing about Godward movement, movement towards the Reality, depending
upon that faculty Yoga assumes a particular pattern and derives a particular
name.
If you do this movement through philosophical speculation, you make
use of your intellect and your power of reasoning as the medium of attaining
the knowledge and experience of that Reality by diverting your consciousness
as expressed through intelligence. Then you are a philosopher and the
Yoga becomes what is known as Jnana Yoga, Jnana Yoga of the Vedanta
Philosophy. And, instead of the intellect, if you make use of your feeling,
your love potential, your ability to love, to exercise affection, devotion,
sentimental and emotional aspect—this potential as your medium,
then it becomes what is known as the Yoga of devotion or the path of
love or Bhakti Yoga. And if you make use of the power of your thought,
power of the mind, will to urge your entire inner being to resolutely
move towards God or the Universal Consciousness, determined that you
will not allow your mind to be divested or distracted in any way, then
you become a Raja Yogin or the mystic who treads the path of contemplation,
concentration and meditation. But in all these methods, though they
make use of one or the other faculties that you are endowed with, they
seek to work out the self-same process, the one identical movement.
Therefore, Yoga is one in spite of being different according to the
medium of your movement.
Why this movement? The single reason that God did not create man from
the assembly line. God did not create him as a stereo-type. There are
diverse temperaments. There is diverse nature, and also, some time diverse
inclinations. One is inclined towards a particular path; even one’s
nature has a balance of all these three ingredients in equal proportion,
mind and will, intellect and rationality, devotion and love. Yet, by
one’s inclination one may have a tendency towards one particular
path. To suit all temperaments, all capacities and different tastes,
diverse forms of a single, identical approach have been evolved in the
ancient land of Yoga, without doing violence or altering the central
fact of the spiritual essence, meeting needs arriving out of the diversity
of human nature and taste. And among various paths, three main paths
are just now mentioned. Approach through the intellect and rationality
is Jnana Yoga, approach through devotion and love is Bhakti Yoga, and
approach through mind and will is Raja Yoga.
In India, these different paths are based upon certain original source
scriptures, certain definite authority, scriptures that were brought
into being by those who had experienced the Reality. They were people
who had not only experienced the Reality, but had become established
in that Reality Consciousness permanently. So, they were adepts, they
were perfect beings, the Masters of Wisdom. And they have left for the
benefit of posterity, their Wisdom and hints about the methods in brief
aphorisms. They are just hints and pointers. These aphoristic teachings
have a certain logical unity. So, they formed one successive logical
field of utterances making up one whole system. Therefore, they are
called Sutras. Sutra is a thread that tied together, linked together.
So they are not haphazard. These great Sutras are the Brahma Sutras,
the most authoritative of all sources of aphorisms for the Vedantin
or Jnana Yogin, the one who follows the path of knowledge; and the Bhakti
Sutras of two great sages, Narada and Sandilya, the basic authority
source for the expounding of the path of devotional philosophy.
The Nature Of The Mind
And then, the Yoga Sutras of the great sage Patanjali, which expound
the system of mental discipline and the technique to turn the mind away
from the passing phenomenon and to direct it towards the permanent reality.
And it is these Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that we are concerned with.
As I mentioned, the central thesis is the Yogic vision of man, Yogic
knowledge of man’s reality. Though apparently a physical creature
and a mental personality, man is in reality a spiritual entity. That
spiritual entity is of the nature of Perfection and Peace. It is the
mental personality that keeps depriving the individual of an experience
of one’s real spiritual Reality. That spiritual Reality which is
of the nature of pure Bliss is veiled over by the mind-stuff; and the
mind-stuff being constantly in a state of unceasing activity, holds
the consciousness of man in its grip. Thus, the human individual is
ever conscious of himself as one or other of the moods of the mind and
never conscious of himself as he always is apart from the mind, because
of his constantly being involved in the ceaseless activity of the mind.
So, the consciousness of human individual is either that ‘I am
thinking’, ‘I am feeling’, ‘I am seeing’, ‘I
am hearing’, ‘I am tasting’, ‘I am touching’,
‘I am smelling’, or ‘I am sleeping’, ‘I am
remembering’, ‘I am disapproved’, or ‘I am dissatisfied’,
‘I am in need’, ‘I am hungry’, ‘I am humiliated’—in
this way, one is always aware of oneself as being something or other
in relation to the mind and never apart from this involvement in the
mind. This is the problem. And the sage Patanjali shows the way up,
tackling the mind successfully in the light of his deep knowledge of
the mind.
Now, the European modern psychologists also have entered into the study
of the mind. They also have discovered the vagaries of the mind, different
states of the mind that give rise to lot of imbalance and disturbance
and which make man miserable and ultimately even bring about physical
symptoms, give rise to various physical struggling to prescribe various
methods of trying to free himself from these conditions based upon their
knowledge of this human interior mind and its vagaries; but with what
results! More psychological tests, more psychologists, more psychoanalysts,
more psychiatrists, but more psychoses and more complexes. These have
not solved any problem, but have only expounded man’s knowledge
of the problems. So everyone knows now that there is this complex, there
is that complex, there is this obsession. Man is not anywhere near to
a solution. What may be the reason for this? It is Patanjali who will
tell you. Because, all those solutions that the psychologists are trying
to formulate and find out, prescribe and work out, still lie within
the realm of the mind. The main thing has not been achieved. If there
are a hundred problems of a prisoner inside a jail, and the superintendent
of a jail or the minister of prisoners or the jail-wardens thought out
various solutions for the problems of the prisoner, but all are within
the four walls of the jail. So, the prisoner is still a prisoner. He
continues to be a prisoner. So you may just treat the trouble just like
the modern medication. If there is an ear-trouble, he puts some antibiotics
and suppresses it there. It is only shifting the pain or changing its
outer shape and it only takes on a different appearance. In the same
way, all essence of psychology to correct psychological ills within
the framework of the mind, has its fate. Because, the prime cause of
all these problems, of all these states, is the mind. Unless and until
you formulate a method which will try to take you beyond the mind, as
long as the mind and its limitation exist, mind-reactions exist. It
will always manifest its nature. There is no stopping it.
The Psychology Of Yoga
The Yoga of Patanjali formulated a means by which the sum total of
the very nature of the mind was checked. Mind in all its various manifestations
was mastered through a set of disciplines, a system of disciplines by
which he arrived at a state of mind-transcendence. He had the advantage
over the Western psychologists. In the entire study of modern Western
psychology, specially the modern psychology as started by recent psychologists,
you will find that the genesis of this science is based upon the study
and observation of an imbalanced mind. It was morbid psychology actually.
The study itself arose from this morbid, abnormal mind. Whereas in the
case of Patanjali and the ancient seers, they took for their study,
not the abnormal mind, they took for their study not even the human
mind, not even the mind which has already become individualised in the
human personality, already become conditioned by the human personality
and assumed a finite shape, but they made their study of the mind-principle
as such, the original mind-principle, the cosmic mind-principle as such.
So, they went into a study of the mind-stuff as it was. It is here that
you have to go into the cosmology, coming into the projection of this
manifest universe, evolved from the Unmanifest. So, among many things
that were evolved, grosser things like the five elements—the earth,
fire, air, water, ether—and the five different kinds of forces
in nature took the form of the universe, and the mind-stuff, the universal
mind-principle. As such, they entered into a study of mind in itself,
the mind-principle as it was originally, not when it became a human
mind, the finite mind, conditioned by personality. No. So they have
this advantage—studying the mind as it was. They discovered certain
basic features of the nature of the mind, and based upon this knowledge
of the nature of mind, they formulated a system of overcoming it, mastering
it. Basing the studies of this knowledge, they evolved a system of Yoga.
Firstly, that the mind-stuff by itself is centrifugal. It always goes
out. Its tendency is extroverted, Bahirmukhatva. It is its first nature.
Secondly, the inveterate nature of the mind-stuff is to get hold of
name and form, of some objects. It cannot be by itself. It has always
to assume the name and form of some object. This second inveterate nature
of the mind is called objectification. They call it in Sanskrit as Vishayakara
Vritti. It always takes the form or Akara of Vishaya or something. It
has always to think of something. And the third inveterate tendency
which Patanjali tells about the mind is that it does not stay content
to assume the form of one thing and keep on to it. It has the inveterate
tendency of constantly wanting to move from one thing to another. It
cannot stick to one object, and so, Nanatva, multifariousness, the tendency
of constantly jumping from one object to another. So, these are the
three basic tendencies of the mind, outgoing tendencies of the mind.
They are objectification, multiplicity and multifariousness. No wonder,
endowed with these tendencies in the mind, you are totally deprived
from the experience of the Self. Why? These three contradict the basic
nature of your true reality, of the Self within. Because, the Self is
the very innermost centre of your being from which the mind constantly
draws the consciousness away, out.
Secondly, the Self is not an object of perception. It is the perceiver
of all that is perceived. It is the Seer of all things that are seen.
It is the Supreme Subject. It is that, that which is connoted by ‘I’,
not of this or that, the very opposite of multifariousness. Mind, therefore,
catching the consciousness of our human interior draws it forth outside.
It revolves it in objects and scatters it among the many. Thus it effectively
prevents the consciousness from moving within and resting in its original
state as the unaffected, untouched, impartial Seer and finding its oneness,
a total freedom and liberation from all distraction. So, this is the
problem. Raja Yoga gives you this, stage by stage, methods of transforming
the nature of the mind, and overcoming it. You see this duality. The
Self is the innermost from within. The Self is the Supreme Subject and
the Seer, and It is of the nature of non-dual consciousness. Mind is
ever going outside, ever objectifying itself, thinking in terms of things
and ever scattering itself amongst the countless objects of this universe.
What are the disciplines and how Patanjali moves towards the successive
solutions of these problems. It is a beautiful subject. We will take
it up Monday night.
What are the various ways in which the mind manifests its activity
of the outgoing nature? How to overcome them? What is the method or
the discipline according to Patanjali? What are the obstacles to these
methods? What are the different solutions to these obstacles? How to
counter these obstacles and successfully enter into the state of Self-experience?
That will be our subject of consideration for Monday evening.
Second Lecture
Beloved Immortal Soul! Radiant Atman! Greetings to you all again in
the name of my holy Master Swami Sivananda. We had the first talk on
Friday and this is the second talk. Before I make a review of what ground
we covered on Friday, I would once again like to tell you that the specific
motive with which I am speaking to you, the objective with which I give
these classes, is not so much to provide you with an academic knowledge
of the subject. That also, of course, you will acquire during the course
of these talks. But, much more than that academic knowledge, you gain
the greater purpose. The more important approach with which these talks
are given, is that they may be able to help you fight now in overcoming
some of the difficulties and problems you have in your life, in your
own efforts to bring about a certain harmony and balance and equipoise
within your own personality, in your efforts at acquiring certain degree
of self-governance, certain degree of control over your own inner being,
mind, its thoughts, its desires and its various tendencies, so that
to that degree and extent to which you will apply the knowledge you
will get during these talks, to that degree and extent, your life may
become enriched, your life may gain something in terms of more clear
understanding of what is going on within you. You may also be put into
possession of certain fundamental truths, lacking the knowledge of which
the individual is bound to come to grief again and again, is bound to
be caught in the net of sorrow, suffering and grief, and gaining the
knowledge of which one could definitely, to an appreciable degree, liberate
oneself from avoidable suffering and grief. It won’t be either
an exaggeration or a frivolous statement, if one said that to some extent,
in some way, Raja Yoga enables the person to be one’s own psychiatrist,
enables the person to one’s own psychological counsellor, so that
he need not have to go to some one else to help him to overcome his
problems. You become capable of helping yourself to overcome many of
your problems. Because, the key of overcoming problems is understanding
the problems. As long as you do not understand a problem in its proper
light, you are confused. But once you understand, it becomes simple,
it becomes clear. You are no longer confused. Your way is clear. You
know what to do. This is the value of Raja Yoga. And more than anything
else, the specific intention here is to put into your hands or into
your possession certain facts, certain new information and basic knowledge
about the inner dimension of your being. You can be helped here and
now. It is pragmatic. It is practical.
The immediate intention of giving these talks is that you may be put
into possession of a clear understanding of many of the new unclear
areas of your own interior being, your mind and its activity. Therefore,
I wish also that you will listen and try to attend to these talks in
the same approach, looking it at the same angle—in what way it
is going to help me? In what way I can make use of this knowledge? In
what way I can apply it in my life immediately? Not merely have the
satisfaction of feeling that now I know what Raja Yoga is, I have had
an exposition of Patanjali’s Raja Yoga Sutras, and so, I have got
some knowledge about the higher Yoga, not Hatha Yoga, but the inner
Yoga. Now, it is not merely to give you this satisfaction, but more
to provide you with a knowledge that can be applied immediately, and
an understanding which will be of immense pragmatic value, and over
and above that, to give you an academic knowledge of what this science
tells you and what Yoga is. In this consideration, last time, we briefly
touched upon some of the broad aspects of Yoga itself. What is the meaning
of Yoga? What is the purpose of Yoga? What is the process of Yoga? How
does it help man?
Yoga, The Essence Of World’s Religions
Yoga is the fundamental Universal essence of the world’s religions,
isolated from its specific framework and presented in the most general
terms so as to be acceptable to human beings all over the world, no
matter what the religious belief or what particular faith one belongs
to. Yoga does this by going to the innermost spiritual depth of man
and by-passing the rituals and ceremonials, superstructure of practical
religion. It has formulated and presented a method by which the spirit
of the human individual can liberate itself from its involvement in
matter and in the material world of sense-objects, its involvement in
mind and the interplay of the mind-activities. The spirit is restored
back to the pure experience of its Self in its positive, untouched state.
We saw how the basic thesis of Yoga is that this innermost spiritual
nature of yours is of the nature of Bliss, is of the nature of absolute,
perfect joy. Once you are united into the pure experience of your pristine
real nature, you are in a state of Bliss. All religions have as their
ultimate aim, giving to man this highest experience of perfect Bliss.
They call it beatitude, felicity; call it salvation, call it God-experience,
call it heaven.
The aim of all religions is to show man the path beyond sorrow and
pain, and to show him the way to Bliss, to show him the way to supreme
Blessedness, a perfect experience of absolute joy. They are described
variously in different theological terms and scriptural languages. But
there is an essence of the aim of religion, and Yoga has merely done
this great service to mankind and systematically taking him through
certain definite processes. Whereas the religions have tried to give
it in a generic way, Yoga has scientifically systematised these processes
of going beyond sorrow and entering into a state of absolute perfection,
Bliss. Yoga liberates our inner spiritual Consciousness from its bondage
to the outer sense-world and restores it to its pristine state. This
true Self-experience, Raja Yoga emphatically declares, based upon the
personal experience of Seers. It emphatically declares that this Self
is of the nature of absolute Bliss.
Yoga Is The Path To Bliss
Yoga is the path to Bliss. It is the essence of all religions, because
the fundamental aim of all religions is to take man beyond sorrow to
a state of supreme blessedness, of beatitude and perfection. Thus Yoga
is a quest after the Eternal, the Permanent, the Infinite. That which
hampers man’s effort to move towards this Bliss, is his involvement
in the non-eternal, in the finite world of objects, in the impermanent,
involvement in mind and body, in the way of experiencing Self-consciousness;
and therefore, Yoga is the process of turning away from the non-eternal
and diverting of the personality potential of consciousness towards
the Eternal.
How Yoga does it? We saw that it takes the help of whatever powers
that are available to you, the power to feel, the power to think and
reason, and the power to concentrate or the power to fix your mind upon
a particular object. When you invoke the power of reasoning and make
that the channel of your movement towards the Eternal, then you are
a Jnana Yogin, you are a philosopher, man of wisdom. When you make use
of the power to feel and try to divert your consciousness through devotion,
love for God, then you are a Bhakti Yogin or the follower of the path
of devotion and love. When you invoke the power of the mind to think
intensely, to focus itself steadily upon that one Reality and enter
into a state of absorption in that continuous, unbroken, focusing your
mind, fixing your mind there, then you become the follower of meditation.
This is Raja Yoga.
Study Of The Human Mind
Western psychologists studied the human mind, the individualised mind
of man. Whereas the formulators of Yoga Science based their science
upon their knowledge of their mind as such, as one of the cosmic principle,
mind as one of the factors that became manifested during the course
of cosmic projection. When the Unmanifest becomes manifested, It assumed
innumerable names and forms. One of the factors that came into manifestation
is the mind-principle. That was the state in which it was studied, and
based upon a knowledge of the mind-principle as such, we saw among other
things, that the mind principle is characterised by the outgoing tendency,
the objectifying tendency and multifariousness, constant fritting from
one object to another. It never remains upon any single object. We saw
how the inevitable tendency of the mind-stuff was the direct contradiction
of the Self. Self is the innermost reality, whereas the mind is outgoing
in its tendency.
The Task Before Yoga
The Self is of the nature of Supreme Bliss. It is not an object of
conception. It is the Subject. Therefore, the constant objectifying
tendency of the mind came in the way of the subject dwelling upon the
Self—going back to its own inner pristine nature, original nature,
original state of Consciousness, subjective state of Consciousness.
The constant dispersal of the mind amongst the many, the multifarious
objects, was the contradiction of Self-experience. Because, the Self
is of the nature of non-dual Consciousness. It is one. It is the Universal
Principle. It unifies all lives into one, homogeneous, non-dual oneness,
unity. Fragmentation is the tendency of the mind. So, total reversal
of the mind-nature in its constant manifestation in these activities,
externalised modes of activities, constant objectification, constant
assuming of names and forms, dwelling and acting in terms of names and
forms, this oscillation and fickleness, has to be totally countered.
They have to be overcome. They have to be blazed by the opposite. The
mind has to be turned inward, and trained to remain as a subject, and
also has to be made to focus itself upon one and not the many. This
is the task before Yoga. As long as this state is not achieved, it is
not possible to experience the Self. Because, when consciousness is
involved in mental activity, it moves away from the Self, and consciousness
involved in mental activity, itself becomes the basis of your earth-experience,
your various mental states.
When the consciousness is thus involved in mental activities, you have
joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. Because, then you are caught in duality.
The mind swings always from one object to the other. It is impossible
to avoid it, as long as your consciousness is caught and held up within
the mind-frame. Mind-activity and mind cannot be separated. Mind is
what the mind does. When mind ceases to act, there is no mind. For,
the entire range of human experiences is a question of activity of the
mind. The moment the mental activity ceases, all activities come to
an end. Therefore, they say there is no mind apart from thought. It
is something which you have to reflect and try to grasp the subtle meaning
of it. How do you know that when thoughts totally cease, there is no
mind? Again, how do you know that when there is no mind, there is no
experience?
Mind And Thought Are Inseparable
Both these questions are answered for you everyday, but you have not
cared to perceive the answer. You have not cared to realise the significance
of this answer. Is it possible for the mind to cease these activities,
and if the activities cease, how do you know that all experiences also
are put an end to? The answer to this comes to you not from outside
but it springs up from within your own personal experience. This answer
keeps on recurring to the human individual regularly, unfailingly in
the cycle of 24 hours. And this deepest personal experience brings home
to you the truth that mind is not apart from thought. There is no mind
apart from thought. And by the cessation of thought for the time being,
you overcome all experience, you cancel all experience. This experience
is given to each human individual, every time during the total cessation
of all his mental activity. You go into a state of deep sleep every
night all the days of your life. When you enter into deep sleep, mental
activity ceases so completely, to such an extent that even your self-awareness
is no longer there. Your awareness of the universe, the world outside,
is no longer there. You have no problems. You have no problems of either
love or hatred. You have no problems either of anxiety or tension. You
have no problems either of fear or worry. You have no problems either
of bondage or any restrictions of your personal liberty. Because, the
whole universe is cancelled, totally faded out of your experience, faded
out of your consciousness, the moment you enter into deep sleep state.
Because, that deep sleep state is characterised by the cessation of
active thought.
The mind assumes the thought of nothingness. So the universe is annihilated
and therefore, all experiences that come to the human being normally
from the objects of the universe, from people, from sense-objects, are
cancelled. Neither are you aware of yourself. You don’t know whether
you are a man sleeping or a woman sleeping. You don’t know whether
you are a child sleeping or an old person sleeping. You have no consciousness
of human personality either; whether you are a god sleeping or a human
being sleeping, you don’t know. There is a total silence. Is this
condition consciously brought about? The unfortunate thing is that it
is not consciously brought about. Some mysterious force pushes you into
it, and the same mysterious force pushes you out of it again into the
conflict of life.
The second defect in this wonderful state into which you go is that
though it immediately liberates you from all worries, fear, anxiety,
tension, love and hatred, passion and all these things, when you come
out of this state the next day, you are no better than what you were
before you went into it. You come back the same person with the same
attitudes, with the same ignorance, with the same folly. You are no
wiser, no better. Therefore, you are once again subjected to the same
torments of all the past previous days and the future. That is the defect
of this state. The science of yoga tells you clearly that this is also
a mental condition.
The Value Of Sleep
Sleep also is a mental condition. Sleep also is one of the states of
the mind, a state of entering into the holding on to the thought of
nothingness. Otherwise, it would be perfect. If you are transformed
into that condition, when you wake up, you wake up as a sage or a seer
or a person of wisdom or illumination. Then it would be grand. But the
value of this state is; that it answers your two questions. When thought
ceases, mind is no longer present. Because, if the mind is present then
you must be able to see the whole world. When the mind is active, it
functions through the five senses. It hears, sees, tastes, touches and
smells, and perceives the external universe. If the mind is active and
present, you can say ‘I am’. In sleep you do not say ‘I
am’. Even the awareness of one’s own self is annihilated.
It is not there. Therefore, mind is absent when it ceases to function.
When thoughts come to an end, mind is absent. It resurrects in the morning.
But during the temporary state of sleep, there is a temporary annihilation
of the mind. It sinks, it sets. There cannot be any mind apart from
thought. There is no perception when thought-activity of the mind is
annihilated or ceases to be. This is one answer you get and this answer
gives you knowledge of your mind. And the second answer is that when
thus with the cessation of thought, mind ceases to be, experience ceases,
you are liberated from all experience. But that liberation is not permanent.
That is the only flaw. But this valuable knowledge of the mind is gained,
mind is not apart from thought. When thought ceases, all experiences
are cancelled and this leaves the working ground for the practices of
Yoga.
Mental Activity Hides Your Real Nature
If we can consciously overcome the activity of the mind and control
it, master it and totally subdue it then we can rest in a permanent
state where all experiences are overcome. They are negated, and in that
state of a conscious cessation of mental processes, you can attain to
a state of perfect peace, perfect rest, perfect silence. Thus when the
state of absolute silence of the mind is attained, whatever is beyond
the mind becomes manifest. It now prevails in a field of your experience.
Consciousness becomes characterised not by the experience of mental
state, but consciousness becomes characterised by the experience of
the Self, your true Self. For, there is nothing to obstruct. There is
nothing to bar it or prevent it. When consciousness is characterised
by mental activity, this mental activity becomes, as it were, like a
cloud in front of the sun. Sun is there. When the cloud comes in front
of it, it cannot be seen. Light goes away. Shadow comes. Or, upon the
surface of an absolutely placid lake, you can see the bottom, the pebbles
at the bottom clearly. But, if the surface is agitated, if it is made
into ripples, then you cannot perceive clearly the bed of the lake.
In the same way, the inner basis of your being is your Self. That is
the Reality. That is of the nature of peace and joy. But, if that which
is covering it, if it is in a state of constant agitation, activity,
the substratum cannot be seen clearly. It appears to be agitated also,
because of its association with the covering medium, the mind. Mind
is the agitator of the surface of the lake of human consciousness and
this consciousness is a part of the Divine Consciousness and it is of
the nature of Bliss. So, they entered into It through the study of different
ways in which mind-activity is constantly kept up.
The Dynamics Of The Mind
What is this mind dynamism? They perceive that this mind dynamism,
constantly characterised in the waking state of the human individual
consciousness is basically, fundamentally fivefold. The moment you open
your eyes, you see things. I put my hand; I immediately know cold or
hot, whether it is soft or rough. The moment I open my eyes I see this
wall whether it is grey, green, yellow, red or blue. The moment I listen,
immediately I know, I begin to have knowledge whether I am hearing a
motor car passing or a jet plane passing or some one speaking or a bird
is cooing or leaves are shaking in the breeze. Mind is constantly, all
the 24 hours, every moment of its waking consciousness, knowing things
by seeing, by hearing, by tasting, by feeling and by smelling. So, this
process of knowledge through perception is one of the inveterate continuous
activities of the mind. This is simple. Later on, it is more complex
also.
Secondly, another activity of the mind is wrong knowledge, perverted
knowledge. This is also a knowledge, but you see it in a wrong way.
You mistake a friend for an enemy, or mistake an enemy for a friend.
It gives rise to various things. It gives rise to fright and wrong reaction.
You mistake this external universe for something very permanent. You
mistake it to be a likely source of your happiness. ‘I will be
happy if I get this object’. ‘O, I am alone’. ‘I
am unmarried’. ‘I have no companion’. ‘If only I
have a nice partner, if I fall in love and had a wife, if I fall in
love and had a husband, then I will be happy’. So think man and
woman. And then tries to get the happiness which is lacking by going
after objects. But, ultimately fails. My thought was one thing, but
the fact is another thing. So marriage ends in divorce. ‘I have
no children. So I don’t have happiness. All have children’.
You go after children. You want children. You try to go to a doctor,
consult some one and try to get blessings of a saint. And when the children
come, perhaps they become the cause of great unhappiness, great anxiety,
great sorrow. This is the case with every object.
There is delusion. We mistake impermanent things for permanent ones
and go after them, and then when they come to an end, we are plunged
in sorrow. It is like children getting delighted when you go to a fair
and you get them a big balloon. They laugh, they rejoice, and after
some time, when the balloon bursts, they start weeping. In the same
way, the impermanent and the transitory are taken to be permanent and
vainly one hopes for happiness from the impermanent. When it is suddenly
destroyed, then happiness turns into misery. Because, you made a primary
error, and that primary error was a perverted knowledge, wrong knowledge.
Perception was not correct, was wrong knowledge. So, taking the unreal
for the reality, and making one’s life a complete quest for happiness,
will end in unhappiness.
Pleasure Mistaken For Happiness
Delusion is also a process of the mind. And this delusion is very peculiar.
Without using the intelligence, without stopping to enquire, investigate
and analyse, we take for granted certain things and make it the basis
of our activity, and then we find ourselves in a very pitiable situation.
How? We mistake pain for pleasure. If you go deeply into an analysis
of this universe, you will suddenly discover that there is not one vestige
of happiness or pleasure in this universe. Not even as a mustard seed.
This entire universe, this outer phenomenal world contains not one vestige
of real happiness. Analysis makes this perfectly clear to you. Pleasure
is one thing, and happiness or joy is totally a different thing. The
human being concludes wrongly, through delusion, that pleasure is the
same as happiness or joy, and tries to be happy by attaining pleasure,
but finds that pleasure does not bring joy. After all, what is pleasure?
Pleasure is enjoyment of sense-object through one of the five senses,
and all such experience which covers the entire range of so-called human
experience, will be discovered to be mere gross, physical, biological
phenomenon, biological process. If you analyse all experiences of sense-objects,
they are either coming into contact of the eye with an object of sight,
or coming into contact of the ear with an object of sound, or coming
into contact of the sense of touch with a physical object or coming
into contact of tongue, the sense of taste, with an object of taste,
or coming into contact of the nose with an object of smell.
These go to make up the sense-experience of the human individual in
this universe. Analyse this. What is this? This coming into contact
with one or another of your five senses with its respective object,
is purely an animal process. It is something duplicated in the life
of every animal. This coming into contact of your sense with its respective
object—when it comes into contact what happens? A certain message
is sent from the sensory organ of yours to that particular sensory field
through one terminal of a nerve network system. When you touch an object,
a tactile nerve works and that conveys from counter sensory nerve an
impulse into its respective brain centre and in the brain centre a certain
irritation is created, a certain stimulation is there; and you perceive
that I have touched something. If that particular nerve network is not
functioning, it will mean nothing to you. This irritation, this stimulation
brought about in that particular brain centre is interpreted by the
mind in a particular way. Why? Due to previous memory. These senses
have gone through previously these sense-experiences and so, in your
computer of the mind they live. When the mind says ‘yes’,
we call it pleasure, a pleasant sensation. If the mind says ‘no’
and rejects it, it is a painful sensation. That is pain. So with everything.
If your eyes come into contact with some shape, form or colour, light
rays are reflected on the retina, and the ocular nerve, optic nerve
takes it to the respective brain centre of sight and immediately that
brain centre is stimulated or there is a certain irritation in the brain
centre and the mind which is the feeler of all these various stimulations
interprets it either positively or negatively, ‘yes’ or ‘no’,
and these can change also.
If at a particular period in your life, you like something, mind always
says ‘yes’ to it. When later on, due to some bitter experience,
you saw the evil effects of that, and that which you liked one time,
you began to like no longer. Then the pattern of the mind and reaction
became different. That which said ‘yes’ formerly, now says
‘no’. That which was pleasurable before, now becomes painful.
You don’t want it. You don’t want to accept it. So, it is
all a question of how your mind is conditioned, and thus the sum total
of all objective experience of man, when analysed is proved to be nothing
but a pure biological process of conveying of some sense-contact through
a particular network of nerves to a specific centre in the brain and
creating in the brain centre a certain stimulation which is purely objective
depending upon some object. It cannot be joy. It cannot be a conscious
subjective experience. It is not a state of mind at all. It is only
a certain reaction in the mind to a certain external stimulant. And,
therefore, to call it joy is a delusion. Call it pleasure and not joy.
Pleasure is not happiness. Pleasure is a mere biological process. It
is a gross sense-experience. But, humanity has been under this delusion
so long, that it has become part of its spontaneous nature, has become
natural. Take for granted that you have many objects and you possess
them. If you feel you are secure and think they can make you happy,
there cannot be a greater mistake. But this mistake is universal. It
is taken to be correct, and man still obstinately, blindly pursues sense-experience
in his quest after happiness. And the result is, it is predestined to
fail.
Because, joy or happiness is at a higher level of your being. It is
a state of Consciousness. It is a state of the mind. It is not a biological
or a physical process. It has nothing to do with the nervous system.
It has nothing to do with the brain. On the contrary, if you go deeply
into an analysis you will recognise that the moment you give up this
sense-urge, this continuous hunting after sense-experience, you suddenly
begin to find that you have that joy, that happiness which hitherto
you never had. So, the very giving up of this feverish pursuit after
sense-experience becomes the condition, the prerequisite for coming
into a state of contentment, joy and happiness. Even this so-called
deluded concept of pleasure, if it is further expounded, if you try
to analyse this experience, it will become clear to you that even this
temporary sensation that is labelled pleasant for the time being, which
is bringing you to a state of so-called happiness, is really no positive
experience at all. It is only a temporary cessation of some type of
pain.
For example, a person goes into a restaurant and has his lunch. He
enjoys the lunch. He enjoys the dishes. He says it is a wonderful lunch.
It gave him pleasure. But what was the actual state? What is the actual
structure or anatomy of this experience he just had? He was hungry.
And this hunger bothered him. It was a demand of a physical nature for
food and it made him restless. Hunger was an uncomfortable experience,
and as it began to grow and continued, he became restless. So, he did
not want to continue it, prolong it. He could not tolerate it, and therefore
he wished to put an end to this painful condition of hunger and the
taking of the lunch brought about a cessation of the pain. How long?
Till hunger starts once again, may be in the evening. So, the interval
between two states of painful experience, when filled by a temporary
stoppage of that state by some process, you label that process pleasure.
You are shivering in the cold, you get caught in the rain. Then some
one invites you, takes away your coat, puts your legs in the basin of
hot water, and gives you a hot cup of coffee. Now you put yourself in
a warm blanket and you think you are enjoying a very comfortable state.
But it is only that painful condition in which you were a moment before
that has been cancelled by this, and that cessation of pain you take
for positive experience. It is not positive experience at all. So those
who have entered into an analysis of all sense-experience reach this
discovery that what man labels as pleasure is nothing but an interval
between two states of painful experience, just an intrigue interval.
This is delusion. But the mind is constantly in this delusion.
And the fourth activity of the mind is, as we have just now seen, in
sleep. That is also an obstacle. Because in the state of sleep, there
is a total extinction of consciousness temporarily, and the Self is
not realised. You are not aware of the bliss and joy of the Self. That
is its defect. Otherwise, it is a perfect experience. If you try to
evaluate it in terms of waking consciousness, sleep is a wonderful state,
because it liberates you from everything. A beggar also attains the
same state as an emperor or a multimillionaire attains. One who is poor,
a beggar, nothing to eat—if he goes into deep sleep state, he is
no different in experience than a multimillionaire who has gone into
deep sleep state. But here, there is no awareness of the Self. It is
the fourth mood or it is the fourth state the mind-activities assume.
The fifth state is the most bothersome of all. The constant perception
of things is the process of knowledge; perverted knowledge is mistaking
things temporary for the permanent, etc.; delusion is mistaking pain
for pleasure, and thinking that if I possess things, I will be satisfied;
and then sleep—these are the four activities which we have already
seen.
The last activity is memory. Impressions of past experience are constantly
coming into your mind. You can never overcome the past. You can never
master the past. Constantly come thoughts of the past memories of previous
experiences, whose impressions have already found lodged in your mind.
They are constantly coming into your mind. And this is the fifth activity.
All these five activities have to be overcome. You must be able to master
your memory. You must be able to overcome sleep. You must be able to
remove delusion. You must be able to convert perverted knowledge into
right knowledge and you must be able to check and get into your control
the ceaseless activity of perception and knowledge in the mind. Why?
Because, it is directed to external world, towards the many. Therefore,
it becomes an obstacle to go inward and rest upon the One, wherein alone
lies fullness, wherein alone lies true satisfaction, wherein alone lies
true happiness, wherein alone lies true experience of Bliss, wherein
alone lies the true peace and which is to be had within yourself and
not outside. Therefore, to overcome these activities, we have to find
out the practices.
Dispassion And Withdrawal
First of all, Patanjali gives the practice in two words briefly and
then he goes on to elaborate their details. He says this overcoming
can be done firstly by developing dispassion towards all things, seen
or unseen, all experiences which you see before you, which you have
already undergone and which you might not have experienced but you have
heard about them from others. Give up completely craving, desire and
thirst for all experiences, seen as well as heard. Then you must constantly
practise driving the mind, taking the mind inward, turning it away from
outer sense-perception, and making it fixed upon the one inner objective.
Why is this? Why did not Patanjali say merely continuous application
and practice, that is the way to overcome the mind. Why did he tag into
it dispassion or ceasing to thirst or desire after sense-experience?
Because this is something which does not appeal to men. They ask: can
we not practise Yoga and at the same time have our dancing and drinking
and other pleasures also?
It is simple. If something has caught fire, you call the Fire Brigade
and they are doing everything to put the fire down by pouring water.
Then, when they are trying to put the fire out, logically, you cannot
expect them to succeed if you are putting some petrol, oil and other
things back into the fire. You have to withdraw all combustible material
nearby. You must try to take them away. The fuel has to be withdrawn
and you must make an attempt to extinguish the fire. If you make the
attempt to extinguish the fire, and at the same time, go on supplying
fresh material for burning, then you are working against yourself. So,
as you are trying to overcome the propensity of the mind sense-ward,
towards pleasures, towards sense-experience, you will have to help this
process by withdrawing the fuel, not go on adding to the fire of craving
fresh and fresh sense-enjoyment. Because, unfortunately, the mind is
such an intricate and mysterious thing, the moment you provide it with
a sense-experience, immediately it makes a photographic impression of
the sensation, a lightning impression of the sense-experience, and this
immediate, instantaneous impression becomes the basis of a further movement
towards the self-same experience, just as the grooves that are in a
gramophone record or an invisible impression created in a tape. Every
sound that has been put into it has the power and the capacity to recreate
the same sound at given condition. In the same way, every impression
that finds enlodgement within the mind has the power, just as a seed
has a power to recreate the entire tree out of itself. These impressions
are not merely inert or static. They are alive. They are dynamic. They
create in the mind a tendency towards the self-same experience. Therein
lies the need to be careful regarding them. If you go on continuing
sense-experience, you go on putting new impressions and the mind will
always be in a state of sense-oriented activity. Because, these impressions
are constantly being freshly put in. So, while you are trying to annihilate
the experience already created, you have to simultaneously put a stop
for the inflow of fresh experiences, fresh impressions which are called
‘Samskaras’ in Sanskrit.
So, this putting a stop to fresh experiences and impressions is called
Vairagya or turning away from a passionate longing for sense-experience,
a craving for sense-experience, a thirsting after sense experience,
and it is called dispassion. So, simultaneously, there should be an
effort and practice to concentrate, turn the mind inward, at the same
time, withdraw the senses from the sense-objects, withdraw the mind
from the senses and withdraw yourself even from the mind. There should
be then three-way (triple) withdrawal. As far as possible, let not the
senses go towards the sense-objects.
Secondly, even if the senses are amidst sense-objects, let not the
mind go towards sense-objects in order to enjoy it or experience it.
And even if sometimes, the mind through force of habit goes, you separate
from it and say: “No, now I am in quest of something greater, something
infinitely grand. So I will not go for the passing petty. I will not
go for the little. I want that which is complete, the whole and that
will give me eternal satisfaction. Therefore, I refuse to link myself
with the mind and move towards the senses and go towards the objects.”
You withdraw yourself from the mind and the senses.
In this way, Patanjali formulates a ceaseless turning away from desire,
turning away from sense-objects and sense-experience. A ceaseless pursuit
of practice with regularity, with persistence and with intensity is
required. The means employed also should be intense. In this way, if
you persist in this practice continuously, with keen interest, you will
attain success.
You have to be interested in yourself. I cannot be interested and give
you highest welfare. Someone else cannot be interested to give you highest
joy. You have to be interested in yourself. Therefore, with keen interest,
you persist in this effort and continuously carry on over a long period
of time. Success is certain. That is the declaration of Yoga in and
through Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Today, in as much as last night, I conclude my talk. We will take up
the different means suggested for succeeding in the attempt to overcome
the mental activities in the form of right knowledge through perception,
wrong knowledge or perverted knowledge, delusion about the real state
of things, sleep and memory. In what way one can succeed through different
practices, and one can attain a peaceful and serene state of mind? That
we will take up next time.
Third Lecture
Radiant Immortal Atman! Beloved seekers after the Divine!
To refresh your memories, I shall just very briefly sum up in a very
few sentences the ground covered last Monday. Continuing from the very
first talk on Friday, the 13th April, we considered initially, the very
basic nature of the mind-principle which was seen to be outgoing in
its nature. We later observed that how this outward movement of the
mind-stuff was responsible for man’s involvement in matter, soul’s
involvement, enmeshing itself in fluctuating and unstable, universal
process which we call the world.
After this, we saw how this involvement is phenomenal in the changeful,
the passing and the perishable. This involvement has alienated the pure
Consciousness from its original centre, or in other words from its pristine
state of experience of peace and joy. We also saw how all human experience
is due to this activity which on one side involved you in the phenomenon
and simultaneously deprived you of self-experience. This mental activity
was seen to be the very basic of all human experiences. We try to bring
home, this central fact of philosophy, by drawing attention to the universally
observed experience of the human being, each day, day after day, throughout
life, namely, the disappearance of the world, disappearance of all things
seen, with the cessation of mind-activity every night when you enter
into deep sleep. So, this is a universally uncontradicted experience
of human beings throughout their life.
But the deep significance of it has never been pondered. No one paid
attention to it. No one pays attention to the sun. He rises every morning.
One of the grandest, beautiful and sublime things, but no one has got
an eye for it. Taking for granted, in the same way, this vital experience
brings you this startling truth that the world-experience is no other
than mental activity. It has no other basis than mental activity. If
there is mental activity, world is before you. The moment mental activity
ceases completely, world also disappears, your own body disappears,
your identity also disappears. When you are in deep sleep, you don’t
know whether you are a human being or an animal, male or female, old
or young, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, Occidental or Oriental.
All awareness of one’s own being in the relative sense of the term,
is totally merged and drowned. The universe and yourself both disappear
and you experience this annihilation of yourself and recognition. Simultaneously,
you also experience that from that moment of your emerging into waking
state, some faculty of your mind restarting again its activities, and
from that moment the reality of the world stands before you. You also
attain once again your self-awareness. So, with the mind, the world
and your ego-consciousness rise and set. When the mind sinks in the
oblivion of sleep, your own ego-consciousness also sinks and sets and
the world also sinks.
And with the rising again of mental activity once again, the world
emerges before you, stands before you. You perceive it. You are also
aware of yourself. So, this very significant personality of being was
pondered. Universal experience of all human beings throughout life vividly
brings out before us the fact that the basis of all human experience,
all phenomenal perceptions, is mental activity. And therefore, involvement
in this experience, in this phenomenal perception, being the factors
that deprived you of Self-realisation or Self-awareness, naturally mind-activity
seems to be the basis of your involvement. In that basis of your involvement,
or in other words, in the basis of your Samsara is the root-cause for
the non-perception of the Self within. This activity manifests itself
in the form of various perceptual processes; and the subdual of these
perceptual processes was, therefore, defined as Yoga.
Chittavritti (mental modifications) manifests itself in the form of
waves of perceptive processes. In our previous class, we saw how these
perceptual processes take various forms. Every moment, we are gaining
this knowledge, direct knowledge by seeing through the eyes, by smelling
through the nose, by hearing through the ears, by tasting through the
tongue and by touching through the hands. So in this way, we keep on
gathering knowledge of the universe around us, direct knowledge through
sense-perception.
Secondly, we have perverted, wrong perception also. What the eye sees
is not always correct. We receive wrongly-perverted knowledge. Perverted
knowledge is mistaking one thing for another thing, mistaking pleasure
for happiness, mistaking the very source of pain, i.e., sense-objects
which constantly keep the mind in agitation. We think, we will find
pleasure in them. We think we will find happiness in them. So, our idea
is that if we obtain things and possess them and experience them, we
will be happy. Because, we don’t have things, we do not possess
them and we cannot experience them, we are unhappy. This is the peculiar
idea of the mind, wrong emotion of the mind. In the Bhagavad-Gita, the
entire range of such experiences brought about by a particular sense-organ
coming into contact with its respective sense-object, is depicted beautifully.
All such experiences brought about by contact of the senses with sense-objects
were characterised by Lord Krishna, the great teacher of Gita, as the
source of pain.
“O Arjuna, all these experiences, pleasurable experiences brought
about by the contact of the senses with their respective sense-objects—these
experiences are the sources of pain. The wise do not take delight in
such pleasurable experiences. Because, they know that in the beginning
they give a little satisfaction, later on they bring about pain, they
bring about sorrow, bring about misery. Therefore, the wise shun them.
They recognise such experiences to be ultimately the cause of pain,
sorrow and suffering. Therefore, they do not take delight in it.”
Thus, Krishna characterised all pleasurable experiences brought about
by contacting sense-objects as pain, not pleasure.
But yet, by and large, the vast majority of human beings have the idea
that we shall be happy if we manage to obtain objects of our desire.
So, this is perverted knowledge, contradicting all human experience.
But man refuses to learn. Mind will not allow him to learn. Again and
again, he is disillusioned and he thinks: “May be next time, I
will obtain happiness.” Even when it is painful, he says always
‘next time’, and the Guru of Swami Vivekananda, the great
sage of Dakshinesvar, Sri Ramakrishna has described this in a quaint
village analogy.
The Parable Of A Camel
Even now, in certain parts of India, where the climate is not so cold,
camels are used as draft animals. They draw carts, take loads and transport
goods. May be not so prevalent as in Arabia, but still it is there.
Observing their habits, Sri Ramakrishna said: “Such is the nature
of the vast majority of human beings; again and again, they go towards
sense-objects, expecting happiness and joy from them. Instead of happiness
and joy, they only get pain and suffering. But still, such is the nature
of man that in spite of being disillusioned again and again, he goes
towards these objects.” And, he described: “In deserts these
camels go and nibble thorny plants (in most of the deserts, the plants
are thorny) and thorns prick their lips and even injure them, and they
even cause bleeding but yet the camels do not leave these plants. Though
bleeding, they still persist in eating these plants.” He says such
is the nature of man. He gets suffering when he runs after perishable
objects and yet he will persist in going after these. It is perverted
knowledge. Delusion is taking appearances for reality, being unable
to perceive reality behind appearances due to lack of discrimination,
lack of proper enquiry. This is another mood in which the mind is constantly
operating, expressing itself active.
The State Of Sleep
The fourth is sleep state. That is also a mood of the mind. It is a
Vritti. When you are tired from all this continuous process of perceiving
the world, coming into contact with it, moving with people, reacting
to environment and situation, when you are tired, then a time comes
when the mind does not want it and the mind wants to go into a state
which is characterised by the absence of these perceptions. So, when
there is in the mind the desire to be free from mental processes, it
is said that the mind catches on to a desire or thought of nothing.
So, this Vritti is the spontaneous, innate desire of the mind to hold
on to nothingness, hold on to a thoughtless state. When the desire comes,
the tired personality wants to sleep.
Memory
The fifth mood with which the mind operates, is the activity of the
mind which expresses itself, manifests itself as your knowing in the
form of memory, all past things inside. Specially, the memory troubles
a great deal either when you are alone or not engaged, not actively
occupied. When your mind is not directed and is doing nothing, then
what happens is, you brood over the past. The past things start coming
into the mind and they cause distraction. You have all heard the expression
‘wool-gathering’, and especially is this mentioned here. Quite
apart from the universal habit of wool-gathering or brooding over the
past, it is very very bad with you, because, it creates various moods
in the mind. If you have been hurt by people or things, then resentment
comes, or it takes you over things which have been painful to you, which
have been sorrowful—partings, deaths, bereavements, failures—then
you go into a sorrowful state. Even otherwise, you go into a state of
dejection, when the mind dwells upon all that you desired but could
not obtain. Your failures, your frustrations make your mind dejected.
So, various mental moods are thrown up by unnecessary and avoidable
memory.
Therefore, the masters always instruct or advise spiritual seekers
never to be without some occupation. Therefore, keep yourself engaged.
If you cannot meditate or study or worship, then do some physical exercise,
gardening, service to the poor and the sick. Some sort of occupation
should always be there. Mind should never be without occupation or activity.
Otherwise, it falls back into unnecessary dwelling upon the past and
then have all its negative reactions upon the mind. The specific period
when memory becomes a most troublesome activity of the mind is, when
you want to meditate, when you close the avenue of senses and sit at
one place. Don’t go here and there, close your eyes and fix your
mind on the object of your concentration. There is no distraction from
the outer world because you have closed yourself from the outer world.
But then, the submerged impressions of the previous experiences in the
form of memory work great havoc in the mind. These are the five moods
that Vrittis express themselves. That is, mind-modifications actively
fill the mind and these, therefore, are the different moods and activities
of the mind which you have to tackle, which you have to deal with. You
have to try to bring it into your control, subdue and master. So, it
is very much the area in which the student of Raja Yoga is concerned.
For over coming these little modifications, success in concentration
is very essential; and the means suggested by Patanjali Maharshi are
twofold. Here, we have a very interesting, noteworthy parallel to the
Gita. Identical words are used and they are ‘Abhyasa’ and
‘Vairagya’ (practice and dispassion).
Abhyasa And Vairagya (Practice And Dispassion)
In our previous lecture, we concluded briefly upon practice and dispassion.
Practice, you all can understand. Nothing comes unless we practise.
While in the process of subduing and effacing the mind-impressions which
have already been gathered, if you are constantly running after sense-pleasures
and putting into the mind more and more impressions, then it will be
a never-ending process. Here you are trying to wipe them out, keeping
up the perennial supply of new impressions to your mind. I gave you
the analogy of how to put out a fire—while you are trying to put
the fire out, at the same time you will have to withdraw the fuel. Instead
of that, while you try to put out the fire, if you go on putting more
combustible materials into the fire, then you are fighting against yourself.
You will not be able to succeed in it. In the same way, if you want
to put out the blaze of the constant mental activity and various modifications,
while you are engaged in doing it, you must also wisely see that you
don’t add fresh fuel to this mental activity. So, the need to support
the practice by self-control, dispassion (non-attachment), turning away
from cravings for the passing things. This is a twofold inseparable
Sadhana, Vairagya and Abhyasa (non-attachment or dispassion and constant
practice).
Patanjali has a word to say about how practice shall be, if it should
be successful. The practice should be over a long period of time, carried
on continuously in an unbroken way, with keen interest in it. You must
evince keen interest. You should not do Sadhana (practice) by fits.
You start vigorous Sadhana for a few weeks, but afterwards something
happens; for two or three days no Sadhana, you could not do anything
and then you give it up for two or three months, then nothing. Then,
you read some magazine or listen to some inspired talk; again take up,
barely for some time. This kind of Sadhana is no good. Even if you do
little, do it continuously, without break. Unfailing regularity is important.
Patanjali Yoga Sutras say that practice becomes steady and successful,
if it is over a long period of time, continuously. The practice should
be unbroken and carried on for a long period of time. You should have
a keen interest and your Sadhana should be supported by Vairagya (dispassion).
Then alone you will attain success.
This was a method also suggested by Lord Krishna in the Gita, when
He instructed Arjuna, on the process of Yoga, in the sixth chapter.
After listening to the Sadhana or spiritual practice outlined by Lord
Krishna, Arjuna says: “It is very nice for you to describe it,
but I think it is of no use to me, because I believe that the mind is
so absolutely uncontrollable, so completely full of Rajas that one may
very well be able to control the wind, the waves of the sea, but not
the mind. It is impossible. So, what is the use of describing Yoga to
me!” When Arjuna responds in this way, in a very negative way to
Lord Krishna’s description of Yoga, Krishna gives a very significant
reply. He does not contradict Arjuna. He doesn’t say mind is very
easy to control.
We have many teachers who say this. They may be shrewd psychologists,
I admit. May be, they don’t want to frighten people, likely seekers,
saying that the mind is very, very difficult to control, right from
the beginning. So, if you say it is very easy, at least man starts.
But overdoing this also is unfair. Because, with much eagerness and
with much expectation, some of the seekers will come, they will do the
techniques for some time, after some time they get spectacular effect
to some extent, and afterwards there they get stuck. Nothing further
comes out of it. They lose all faith. They will never afterwards take
it up. They will say: “We have only been duped, nothing can come
out of it.” So, via media is better. Be realistic. The mind
is very difficult to control. It is not an easy joke. At the same time,
it is possible if you regularly practise. Don’t be discouraged.
It is possible. Many have succeeded. Go on practising without giving
it up. And one day you will reach the Goal. In this way, it is better
not to conceal the fact. But do not give frightening exaggeration. If
you hear the statements of some masters of Yoga in India about the mind,
you will never practise Yoga. You will give it up.
It is easier to drink the ocean in the palm of your hand, it is easier
to fly in the air, it is easier to pierce a diamond with a filament
of a flower, it is easy to catch hold and restrain a mad elephant with
a spider’s web it is easier to make the fire burn downward, it
is easier to catch hold of a lion or a tiger and milk it, but it is
not easy to control the mind. All these can be done. But it is not an
easy task to bring the mind under your control. Such are the ways or
words in which they describe the super-human task of controlling the
mind, but yet at the same time, they never said it is impossible—precisely
as the great Master Krishna says. He agrees with Arjuna: “Yes,
Arjuna! You are right. Difficult it is to control the mind. I agree,
but you are wrong when you say that it is impossible to control the
mind. I firmly assure you, and emphatically declare that it is possible
for you to control the mind.” And uses precisely the same words
of Patanjali.
The Different Grades Of Concentration
He says: ‘By regular practice and through dispassion.’ How
practice has to be? How dispassion has to be? It should be based upon
discrimination, not merely an emotional upsurge, not merely a sentiment.
By hearing some fiery sermon, immediately you conceive dispassion—‘No,
I will give up everything, I will shave off my hair.’ You go to
extremes, just upon an emotional upsurge. Seeing the cinema of the life
of St. Francis of Assisi or some other saint, immediately next day,
you start wanting to give up everything. Extremes should not be done.
All extremes should be avoided. Dispassion becomes the outcome of reflecting
upon the real nature of the world or enquiring the real nature of things
and by association with the seekers and Sadhakas, and your own gradual
understanding. Then, that dispassion becomes real. Now, the result of
such concentration will ultimately be the study of the mind, having
known its nature, having known the connection between world-experience
and mental activity. Thus understanding the basis of Yoga, launch yourself
upon the practice with dispassion and continued practice and concentration
in the mind, subduing all the mental activities. If through such application,
you succeed in attaining progressive states of concentration, what happens
to you. What all the different states of concentration you reach? And
what is the consequence of it? What experience you gain?—become
the subject of Patanjali.
In the next few Sutras Patanjali says that these states of inner concentration
which the seeker obtains are supported by dispassion, when he carries
on his practice vigorously with keen interest. The states are classified
into varieties and he commences by giving us the description of one
variety of this intense inner concentration, a state which he characterises
or terms as Samadhi—trance. And one kind of this type of intense,
inner concentration, trance, is what is known as the Cognitive Trance.
It is by concentrating on one object, cognising one object and concentrating
upon it, various inner experiences are brought about. You reach various
states of inner concentration. One state is when you concentrate upon
the object as it appears to you. So it can be upon any object. You concentrate
inwards, a consideration as the object presents itself to your mind
through the different senses. For instance, the table, I can see it,
at the same time I can touch it. Two senses are involved in my perception
of a table. More than two senses also can be involved, three or four
senses also can be involved. When a person eats a thing, it comes into
contact with the lips, tongue and palate. So there is a contact and
at the same time, you taste it and the aroma of it also is experienced.
In this way, as an object presents itself to your mind, you concentrate
upon it and gain an intense state of unified thought focused upon that
object. All other thoughts are kept away. So, you get absorbed in the
focusing and that intense state of absorption in concentrating upon
an object as it presents itself to you, is the first state where you
try to gain knowledge of all aspects of that thing. What it is to you?
How it presents itself? How it appears to you? So, it is accompanied
by a philosophical enquiry, or an examination of that object from all
angles, from all aspects.
Then, this same concentration can now switch on into another dimension.
Start focusing upon the inner implications of that object, the very
essence of the object, instead of the object as it presents itself to
you to the senses, the object as you are understanding. You go deeper
into the very essence, the very nature of the object. What it is useful
for? How it came into being? What is its place in the universe, in what
way you are related to it and in what way it is related to you—concentration
on an object in depth, the subtler and inner aspect of it, the essence
of the thing, not in its appearance. Here, there is discrimination between
the outer appearance of the object and the subtle inner nature of the
object. This concentration, this state is accompanied by discrimination,
Vichara. Vichara is subtler and inner. It is more meditative in its
nature.
Thirdly, the concentration which you thus carry on, may move now from
the object to the very process of perceiving and concentrating upon
the object. So, now the concentration actually moves into the area of
the mind itself. Who is doing this perception? Who is doing this focusing?
Who is doing this concentration or examination of the object? The mind.
So, this mind-process, perceptual process of the mind, becomes now the
object of your concentration. And as you were absorbed in the object,
you now begin to focus the attention upon the process of being focused
upon the object, upon the process of being absorbed in the object. So
the mental process becomes the object of your concentration. More subtle,
more inward, and gradually turning towards the subject, in its depth.
Concentration is much deeper and your being is freed from the bondage
of the object. Now, this concentration frees you from the impact of
the object or your reaction to it, your feelings towards it. Therefore,
this sense of being forced from the objective world to the Cognitive
Perception gives you a sense of elation, a sense of joy. Every kind
of freedom, every step you move towards a liberated state, is always
characterised by enhanced joy. So, in this state of concentration where
the mind is taken away from the shackles of an object for its support
and moves into the area of activity itself, the object of attention,
it is accompanied by a subtler feeling of joy. This concentration is
accompanied not by examination of the details of an object, not even
by an entering into discrimination or enquiry into the real nature of
an object, but by a feeling of joy.
The fourth form of the intense inner concentration takes you inward
from even the observation of the mental perception, and focuses your
attention on yourself, as distinct from the mental perceptional process,
from the inner essence of the object to which it was directed to, and
even from the appearance of the object itself. So, the object is given
up and even the essential nature, subtle nature of the object is given
up and even the concentration or focusing yourself upon the perceptual
process is given up. You focus your attention merely upon you who are
the seer of those things, you who are the subject, who are carrying
on this process. You remain aware as the subject, as distinct from even
the perceptual process and the object originally concentrated upon.
Here, it is the innermost state, you are aware of yourself only as the
seeing subject, the meditator, but then this ‘I’ upon which
the mind is now focused, is not yet the universal Consciousness. It
is not the pure Consciousness. Yet it is the individualised consciousness.
These are the four ways or the four aspects which concentration upon
an object can take. Intensified state of consciousness is a distinct
progress in the practice of Yoga. It is a great deal of progress in
concentration. It is successful concentration.
Now apart from this, there is another state of deep, intense concentration
inward, where no object is your focal point. The focal point is entirely
inside. The mind is completely tuned within and there is an absence
of any object in the focal point of your attention and thought-flow.
The mind contact in its inner submerged state, that alone is there in
the field of your attention. That is the Chitta, the subconscious. The
various Samskaras alone remain. There is no outer object as a focal
point, but only the inner content of the mind. This is much more subtle,
much more inner. When the mind is absorbed into itself, it is called
the higher process. The other state of concentration is far more subtler,
inward and subjective and has nothing as its objective, rather has the
inner mind content only, by keeping out all objective thoughts through
the checking of thought-waves by continuous non-attachment or dispassion
in the true spiritual aspirant. How this inner state of intense concentration
is achieved? How does one achieve progress in two types of concentration
upon an object, in its four aspects, and concentration upon no object
but upon the mind, upon the inner content of the mind itself? By faith.
Faith Brings Progress
First of all, the aspirant must have intense faith in the Yoga he practises
and the goal to which he is moving, and in the validity of the process
which he is adapting. Faith grows and develops by associating with similar
seekers. If we associate with people of other types, hedonists, materialists,
people who have no faith in the higher life or anything, whatever little
faith you have, you would lose it. Therefore, you must carefully protect
this spiritual Samskara. It becomes necessary to avoid the company of
those who scoff at these things or make fun of these things. For, they
have no belief in these. Therefore, the spiritual aspirant has to be
selective. He should mix only with seekers. A spiritual aspirant has
to be selective in choosing his company. He must try to move among such
company who have similar ideal and aspiration, who are also moving towards
the self-same experience, believing in the goal which he believes in
and who have faith in the higher values of life. The more faith you
have, the greater energy you get in your pursuit and your practice is
backed up by energy. If you want to do vigorous practice, then have
intense faith. The degree of faith decides the intensity of your practice.
You must read books which bring out the experiences of other seekers
who have trodden the path, covered this area and attained the goal.
And this testimony increases your faith. Company of holy people, meeting
saints actually, reading the lives of saints, Yogic Masters who have
trodden the path and attained illumination. There you find the sublime
character of their personal life and their experiences. At the same
time, if you can get the opportunity of coming into direct contact with
people who are rooted in that experience, that is of course, the best
of all things. The company of seekers of your own sort and your energetic
practices with faith will gradually bring about certain stability in
your mind. Gradually the dissipated and distracted mind which was scattered
among multifarious things, begins to get ingathered. So, gradually the
mind now gets the tendency of not wanting to get distracted, it would
give attention only to things which are necessary and not to unnecessary
things.
Miscellaneous thoughts now gradually become distasteful to the mind.
So the mind get
