PATH TO BLESSEDNESS
Quintessence of the Ashtanga Yoga Of Sage, Maharshi Patanjali.
By
SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
Second Edition: 1991
(3,000 copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 1999WWW site: http://www.dlshq.org/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
ISBN 81-7052-086-1
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.
CONTENTS
- Author’s Preface
- Introduction
- Yama
- Niyama
- Asana
- Pranayama
- Pratyahara
- Practice Of Concentration
- Dhyana
- Samadhi
- Everlasting Bliss
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
OM SHANTIH! Peace be unto you all.
The matter contained in this book with the title, “PATH TO BLESSEDNESS” is a simple exposition of the inner Science of Self-realisation through the path of self-subdual, mind-control, concentration and meditation. It is all about the now well-known Yoga-Aphorisms of the great sage and teacher of India known as Maharshi PATANJALI who taught about five thousand years ago and left for humanity the quintessence of the Yoga-Science in his short, terse and meaning-filled Sutras or brief aphorisms. The Sutras being so very concise and pithy, their full meaning is not easily understood at first reading. They have to be explained. The great sage Maharshi Veda-Vyasa, the author of the eighteen classical Puranas, did this for us by writing his Commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga-Aphorisms. Much later on, a very learned disciple and seeker Vachaspaty Mishra wrote a more elaborate Gloss explaining the full meaning of sage Vyasa’s commentary. The present lessons in this book are based upon the teachings given in the above-mentioned Yoga-Texts.
Why have I given these lessons? What is the purpose of my doing so? This entire book constitutes a sincere attempt to serve earnest seekers after spiritual Truth and to spread a Great Wisdom that is likely to be of benefit to mankind. This task was gladly undertaken many years back upon the express wish and direction of my Holy Master Swami Sivananda Gurudev. At his feet I place this work humbly as an offering in gratefulness to him and in thankfulness for his having induced me to serve the seekers of this present 20th Century. The Holy Master Swami Sivananda, himself a great Yoga-teacher known all over the world, instructed me to give these lessons at the time when he established the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy in his Ashram at Rishikesh and commenced daily classes under the auspices of the above Academy. The said lessons were very carefully recorded in shorthand script and are now made available in this book after recorrection, revising, arranging and fresh editing. For this my grateful thanks to Sri Swami Keshavananda, who has given his valuable time, earnest attention and willing labour to this task.
The word Yoga has generally come to denote the path of meditation or Dhyana dealt with in the science of Raja Yoga. This is the ancient science of inner discipline, training and perfection of the mind so as to make it a fit and efficient instrument for the right practice of effective and successful Meditation. This path or system is most liked by the occidental seeker because it is scientific in its approach and very systematic in its structure. Also it transcends all religious dogma and presents itself to you as an unbiased non-sectarian scientific spiritual discipline as distinct from any religious ritual or practice. As such it constitutes a method and technique available to people of any part of the world without disturbing their faith or practice of their religion.
There is one Universal Spirit addressed variously as Jehovah, Allah, Ahura Mazda, Almighty Father-in-Heaven, Brahman, the Tao or Thing-in-Itself or GOD. This is the Universal Spirit, adored and worshipped in temple, synagogue, church, mosque, fire-temple and all places of worship. This is the Universal Spirit glorified and praised in all the scriptures like the Vedas, the Talmud and the Torah, in Bible, Quoran, Zend-Avesta, etc. This Universal Being is the object of the meditation of the meditator in the path of Raja Yoga. Meditation upon this All-Perfect Universal Being raises one beyond the plane of mind and intellect and takes the seeker into a plane of superconsciousness wherein he is liberated from the bondage to Matter and freed from all mortal afflictions of this empirical earth-existence. This is the goal of Raja Yoga. The path is purity of character and conduct, cleansing of one’s nature physically and mentally, self-restraint, devotion, harmonising one’s vital sheaths, withdrawal, concentration and meditation. It is thus a path wherein we find incorporated the Universal principles and features of the essential spiritual disciplines that elevate the seeker into God-experience. I wish one and all of the readers this supreme experience. I pray for their ultimate success in their spiritual life and Sadhana. Success comes through continuous earnest striving. Therefore, O Seekers, strive diligently upon the path of Yoga and you will surely reach the goal without fail.
It is hoped that this little book will be of help and benefit to all sincere seekers.
It belongs to Holy Gurudev Sivananda and it belongs to you. Homage unto the Holy Master.
Swami Chidananda
Introduction
The Two Paths—The Pleasant And The Good
Seekers after the great Truth, the supreme Reality, have spent their lives in seclusion, meditation, penance and spiritual practices and have ultimately attained the light of Realisation, and thus illumined they have broadcast this light of God-consciousness, the path that leads beyond sorrow and bestows upon us the gift of immortal, eternal bliss and infinite knowledge, the greatest attainment of man. We have to strive to attain the knowledge, knowing which all things become known. To obtain that great fruit of human existence, obtaining which one knows that there is nothing greater to be attained is the grandeur and glory of human life. In order that we may fulfil this object of human life, we have to acquire Mumukshutva—the thirst for the knowledge of the Eternal and to translate this knowledge into an active quest—so that we may realise the great aim as tangible experience in the depth of our consciousness. We have to acquire the fundamental knowledge of the various practices upon the path of Yoga, the path of knowledge according to Vedantins, the Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali according to the Mystics, the path of devotion or love as expounded by Narada or Sandilya in their Bhakti Sutras, and the path of attaining Truth through worshipful, dedicated activity, i.e., the path of Karma Yoga, the Gita-Dharma expounded by Lord Krishna in the Srimad Bhagavadgita. The seekers have to turn their faces away from the Preyo-Marga (“Preyas” means that which is pleasant to the senses and the mind. Hence “Preyo-Marga” means the path that leads in the direction of the pleasing sensations of body and mind.), which satisfies only the sensual nature of man, which is not his real nature and which does not ultimately lead to one’s eternal welfare, and they have to make up their minds to take to the Sreyo-Marga (The word “Sreyas” has just the diametrically opposite connotation to the word “Preyas”. Thus “Sreyo-Marga” is the way leading to one’s ultimate good and not to an immediate pleasant condition of senses and the mind.), which is the difficult path of light, which is not the sensual one, which needs sense-control, mastery of the mind, Viveka and Vairagya and which leads to our real and lasting welfare. That which may be unpleasant in the beginning, but which leads to eternal welfare, is the path of Sreyas. A beautiful distinction between the two paths, Sreyas and Preyas, has been given in the inspiring Kathopanishad, where Nachiketas boldly rejects that which is pleasant and takes the difficult path which ultimately leads him to blessedness. So we have to be seekers following the Sreyo-Marga, and also we should have the unique good fortune of a safe shelter at the feet of a Mahapurusha, a great Soul who has scaled the highest peaks of inner spiritual realisation and is established in the Consciousness of God-vision, in the Consciousness of the Highest Truth.
Goal Of Human Life
Three things are very difficult to obtain in this mortal world—birth as a human being, desire for liberation and association with the wise ones—and they are obtained only through the blessings and grace of God. Of the three, human birth is a very precious gift that has been put first and foremost. It is that state of existence where alone the Jiva (individual soul) becomes endowed with intellect and the extremely rare faculty of discrimination—Nitya-Anitya-Vastu-Viveka. Therefore, human birth is put down as a very rare gift of God. Having got a human birth, if you do not have a yearning to attain that state which will bestow upon you eternal bliss and immortality, it means that you do not utilise this human birth to any purpose at all. Then your existence becomes patterned as of the animals. Eating, drinking, sleeping and enjoyment of sensual pleasure are common to both man and animals, but that which distinguishes man is his idealism, his earnest desire for attaining something higher than mere material existence. We know that there is a higher thing to be attained and we have also a keen desire to become free from the imperfections of this physical life. Then comes association with the wise. Even after getting the first two—human birth and desire for liberation—our life becomes clouded in an illusion, and in unfruitful endeavour, because we do not know what is right endeavour which is given only to that blessed man, who has the third gift—association with the wise—which obviates the obstacles on the path. If we surrender ourselves unto the wise preceptor he would show us the path. He would be able to give us inspiration, enthusiasm and courage, when temptations beset us on the path. Those who have been endowed with all these three blessings require a fourth also, viz., a mind which says “All right”. There is no devil except the uncontrolled mind of man. It is the representative of Maya, Mara or Ahriman—something that stands as an obstacle in the path of God-realisation. So the mind should be propitious. You may have Devakripa (grace of the deities), Gurukripa (grace of the Guru) and Sastrakripa (grace of the scriptures), but without the co-operation of the mind success cannot be ensured.
Spiritual Progress And God-Realisation
We have to progress day by day towards the highest ideal and therefore, it is a very blessed day and a very auspicious occasion, when we start regular Sadhana upon the theory and practice of meditation in all its aspects and spiritualise all our activities. We do meditation in the morning and evening, but during our activities and dealings with others in the day, we show petty-mindedness and selfishness. This obstructs our Sadhana and nullifies the benefit of our meditation. Penelope, the wife of Ulyses, had during her husband’s absence many suitors, but she did not want to become the wife of any one of them. She was a faithful and loyal lady. She therefore told her suitors that she was preparing a robe and until it was finished, she would not accept anyone. They agreed. Every day she went on knitting and at night she used to undo all the work she had done during the day. This continued till Ulyses appeared. A similar thing should not happen in our life. Whatever we might have practised in the morning and evening, to that we should not add an undivine element. If during our actions we forget our essence, if we are harsh, if we criticise, if we are dishonest—all these things will undo whatever Sadhana we have done in the hours of meditation. Therefore, our external physical life and activity, our speech and actions have closely to keep up and further the spirit of our meditation, worship and Sadhana. In order to do this, it is very essential that we not only confine our Sadhana to a few quiet hours, but we should also divinise all our actions during the day. All our actions should express our real, inner nature. They should all become spiritualised. It is this divinisation of all activities that is taught in Karma Yoga. Everyone must know this, whether he is a Dhyana Yogi, Bhakti Yogi or a Vedantin. Karma Yoga is very difficult. You can have a very ideal Bhava when you are alone; but when you come into clash with hard realities in the world of diversities, to keep up harmony, to express only divinity, selflessness, is a hard job. But it is worth the while, because it will make other Yogas fruitful. The man who lives an ideal life, full of self-sacrifice, full of sweetness—one Mala of Japa that he does is equal to ten thousand Malas done by other people, because his nature is purified by divine activity. But if your nature is full of Kama and Krodha, even if you do meditation, as the field is not prepared, it will not be fruitful. One wonders: “Why am I not progressing?” Because you are contradicting your Sadhana in your active life. An aspirant must be wise. He should know where the pot is leaking. Otherwise when the pot is leaking, you will be trying to fill it. It is useless. First you must know where the pot is leaking. For this, you have to know the art of Karma Yoga.
You must have a practical knowledge of these things. Once a king had three skulls, and he asked his court-Pandit as to which of them was the best. The Pandit passed a rod through one ear of the first skull, and the rod came out of the other ear. In the second skull, the rod when inserted through one ear, came out of the mouth. In the third skull the rod, which was inserted through one ear, went right into the heart. The court-Pandit said that the third skull was the best. The first skull represents that type of people who hear words of wisdom through one ear and without assimilating them leave them through the other ear and forget about them. The second skull represents those people who after receiving wisdom, are anxious to teach it to others, but do not practise it themselves. The third skull represents the best type of aspirants who, after hearing wisdom, keep it in their hearts and try to practise it in their everyday life. So, I would request you all to be like the third skull, cherishing and practising whatever you may learn from the wise.
The Pranava or OM is repeated to recall to ourselves our real nature. It is to remind us what we essentially are. We think we are this body, this mind or this Prana. The Pranava reminds us what we really are. Om is eternal, unfathomable Peace, Light of lights, Knowledge, Satchidananda, Nitya Suddha and Nitya Buddha. That is what we really are. But the indescribable illusion of the Lord, called Maya, has made us forget our real nature. We therefore say that we have pain, when the body has pain. When the mind has no peace, we think that we are depressed. It is due to wrong identification with the body and the mind. Therefore, in order to enable us to realise the true nature of the Self and to be established in the Atmic consciousness there are different Yogas. The ultimate purpose of all Yogas, of all spiritual struggles, is the realisation of the true Atmic consciousness which is full of bliss. So Om reminds us what is the ultimate experience to be gained. Experience of Om is the ultimate fruit of Yoga, and to constantly keep us reminded of this goal, we always repeat Om, which gives us elation. Even though for ages you may be under illusion, at the touch of Truth you will be filled with elation. That is the grandeur of the perception of Truth.
The secret of Yoga is not merely Tyaga (renunciation) of Bhoga (pleasures), but it is the attainment of Mahabhoga, Bhoga of Bhogas. A Yogi knows that if all the pleasures of the three worlds are heaped together on one side and on the other side an infinitesimal speck of that Supreme Bliss of the Atman is kept, the latter will far outweigh the former.
The man who does Tyaga of sense-pleasures for the sake of Yoga is indeed a clever man. It is like throwing away a counterfeit coin for getting gold. He knows that he is throwing away nothing, and what he is going to attain is something unique. So, Yoga is primarily an attempt to achieve the Supreme Bliss. That is one definition of Yoga from a particular point of view, and we have other definitions also. There are positive and negative definitions. A child is watching the mother sewing. It sees the mother putting a thimble on the finger. “Why are you putting the thimble?”, the child asks. Then the mother explains that it is put on in order that if the needle happens to prick the finger accidentally, it may not cause pain or bleeding. We try to apply that to Yoga also. And a little more elaborately I will tell you. Far, far back, beyond history, there was felt an ancient need for man at the beginning of creation. What was that? It is very emphatically given in the life of Buddha. The whole of his philosophy is Nirvana. He found all people suffering. Therefore, in order to fulfil a need, he strove. Even so, long ago the ancients went through the human life itself and found that all life is full of defects, full of pains and this started an agitation in their mind. They enquired: “Is there any way of getting over these imperfections and limitations? And is there any way of going beyond these sorrows and tribulations?” They found that ultimately the body is subjected to six kinds of variations. It has birth, growth, then change, disease, decay, and ultimately death. When human life is bound by birth and death, in between these two terminals, there is this suspension of life. So in this uncertain life of man what little pleasure he can get from objects is obstructed by disease, change and decay. Is there any method of getting rid of this imperfect earthly life? The ancients were very practical people. Even now the true Hindu is a very practical man. Though he is charged as an impractical unrealist, it is an interesting fact that he is very practical, when he thinks that a thing is worth striving for, he is prepared to sacrifice his very life for it. The Hindu found that the external life is not worthwhile, and so he was prepared to give it up. People thought that he was a dreamer. Is there a method of getting rid of the imperfections of the world? The practical mind of the Hindu at once began to make researches. By persistent effort, he ultimately plunged into the very depth of human thought and experience and came face to face with Truth beyond sensual experience. Beyond all sorrow and limitations, beyond all bounds, and getting That he dived into an ecstatic experience of Supreme Bliss. So, from the heights of his experience he gave the call to the mortal world: “In brief I will tell you that path which will lead you to eternal welfare. I shall teach you that path which will lead you beyond sorrow”.
From an observation and close study of human life and the vexations, pains and afflictions that beset it, there arose an urge in our ancients to find out a path that would make them transcend them. They felt an extreme urge to find out an unblemished life and as an answer to this human want came Yoga, the practical method to take you beyond sorrow, and bestow upon you perennial bliss. It effects Sarvaduhkha-Nivritti and Paramananda-Prapti—the removal of all sorrows and the attainment of the greatest bliss—not mere Ananda, but Paramananda, Supreme bliss. So, Yoga came as a consequence of a deep want felt by man, when he realised the sorrow of existence and felt the need for a path that would lead him beyond sorrow, beyond all imperfections, all limitations and impurities and this material, physical existence and would bestow upon him the fruit of higher consciousness where he would experience infinity, peace and eternal life of perfection.
Viewed in this way, the other questions become automatically answered. Why should we study Yoga at all? Who will not like to be completely free from all imperfections and vexing bondages of this material existence? Who will not want to enjoy supreme bliss and ecstasy? If anyone does not want it, he is a fool. He is a blind fool who wastes away his life. He is a man to be pitied. He sets his eyes like an owl and says: “I do not want light”. When there is a method to go beyond sorrow, rejecting it is not a sign of wisdom. “Oh, what a surprise! In this mortal world rejecting nectar, people consume poison!”—that is what a wise man will feel if rejecting Yoga one takes to Bhoga. So, this is the importance of Yoga. It takes one beyond sorrow and bestows upon him perennial bliss, the experience of Atmic consciousness whose nature is bliss.
Even a little bit of knowledge of Yoga bestows upon us great inner strength because man finds his centre. So, it is the great way of life—path which fulfils the main purpose of human existence. As such, everyone must be interested in Yoga, because all people want to get rid of sorrow and want to get peace and bliss.
Fundamental Concept Of Yoga
As already stated, Yoga came into being as an answer to human need, when through experiences in life, the ancients found out that human life here is limited and it is not full. It is Apurna. There is always some sense of want in the human mind, some sense of incompleteness which man wishes to fulfil. The satisfaction which the human being derives from external physical objects by means of his senses, the eyes, ears, sense of taste, sense of touch and the sense of smell; is accompanied by much pain and sorrow. First and foremost, the hankering is there. As long as desire is not fulfilled a person has no peace of mind, and then exertion starts in order to fulfil that desire. If the exertion ends in failure, he is disappointed. If some one crosses him when he is exerting to fulfil a desire, he gets angry. If any other man has got that which he has not got then jealousy comes. After an object has been acquired through much exertion and overcoming all obstacles, fear starts in his mind that the object may get out of his hand. Then the anxiety to keep the object safe arises. Anxiety and fear—when these two are there, no peace can be there. After these exertions, fear and anxiety, if the object goes out of his hand, sorrow comes. If once the mind gets attached to an object, immediately desire starts. Exertion, anxiety, fear, disappointment, sorrow—all these follow. The mind never gets rest. The very nature of the mind is desire. Constantly thoughts come and they are at once helped by imagination, and imagination takes the form of a desire. Then will-power comes into play. It gives orders to the various organs—the hands, feet, etc.,—to fulfil the desire. From memory thought comes, and thought at once with the help of imagination takes the form of a desire. And, once the desire is there, the mind is at once at work: ‘How can I fulfil it?’ Now the ‘I’ or self-arrogating principle comes there. Then the determining faculty appears. Then action, exertion, anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety and disappointment follow. Disappointment comes because in imagination our conception of an object is one thing, but when we actually get it we find that it falls far short of our expectation. The reality is different from our conception of it. This is the case with ninety-nine per cent of our experiences. Conception is one thing and the actual experience is another thing. And at the end we realise that all names and forms are perishable and all relationships are temporary. When the objects leave us, or we leave the objects at the time of our death, we experience sorrow. We must try to get beyond sorrow through getting rid of our desire for sense-objects by subduing the Indriyas. How to subdue the Indriyas and how to free ourselves from the tyranny of the mind is taught in Yoga. Yoga is the method to enable us to go beyond the experience of sorrow, anxiety and disappointment and to take us to the highest spiritual experience.
Let us see what are the fundamentals of Yoga, why it is that the mind goes towards objects and why desire is the nature of the mind. Is it possible to stop the process of the mind? These are the next considerations. The ancients tried to find out what was possible for man to do with this thing called ‘mind’, through which so much sorrow, and other limited experiences result. How did they set about doing it? What is the fundamental thing that is being worked out through Yoga? Here we have to consider the state of the human being. They found that human being is a curious mixture of three ingredients. We all know what we are. We think. We make use of our intelligence, reasoning and logic. Man is a rational being. So we know ourselves as human beings who can think, co-ordinate experiences, infer, and come to fresh conclusions, and who are endowed with intelligence. But then there are times when certain urges get hold of us, and we immediately forget all about our intelligence and logic and we become very much like an animal. When there is a violent fit of anger or jealousy, we behave like any other animal. It shows that there is in the composition of every human being some part which is subhuman, unrefined and absolutely animalistic, though through centuries of refinement, man has evolved and due to mass-evolution of the race the subhuman part has been to some extent subdued.
When a man is under the grip of a violent fit of anger, he may go and murder a person, which no man in his normal human consciousness would do. Then after sometime he himself is aghast and thinks: “Could I do such a thing?” When the human faculty or human restraint is blown off, then the subhuman element takes full control of the personality. This happens to everyone. And our ancients found out that this is also a fundamental part of man, but it is only suppressed in some human beings. Where the race has not evolved, this element is very active even now. Take the case of the aboriginals in Africa. They are just like animals, though they are in human form. This portion of the human personality is called, in theosophical language, the lower self. In Tantric language they call it ‘Pasu’, and in Vedantic parlance they call it ‘Asuddha Manas’ or impure mind, which is characterised by Mala, the animal characteristics. This Asuddha Manas is there in every person, sometimes under control and sometimes not under control. All the while we have to remember that the real man is not the body, mind or the intellect. Actually man is a Spiritual entity. He is immortal in essence, full of pure Existence, Knowledge and Bliss. That is the true nature of man—Satchidananda. His real nature is not like a piece of stone. He knows: “I am that I am”. The bliss of Self-awareness is the fact of man’s being. Being-Consciousness-Bliss is the definition of the real Self of you all. But this consciousness is covered by the mind and the senses, and man says: “I am doing this, I am full of sorrow, I rejoice”. He identifies himself with the body and the mind.
Man is constituted of three ingredients. There is his essential divine nature; then there is the animal nature full of Tamas, darkness and bestial qualities, and in between these two there is the human nature. Sometimes, when he is in the company of saints, pure feelings come. At other times, when he goes into bad company, bad feelings come to him and he feels like getting out of the place. Man is tossed about between his pure self and impure self. There is on the one side the pull of his higher divine self, and on the other side, the pull of his lower, animalistic self. His own bad habits, friends, environments, etc., tend to keep him on a lower state. So, the fundamental problem before Yoga is to somehow or other enable man to liquidate his lower self, the animalistic and gross nature. Every time the human element says: “I must go up”, and the lower self pulls him down. Purification is the purpose of Yoga, so that there may be no bar for the Divine Consciousness to manifest itself. The Divine Consciousness is experienced when the mind is purified. When the mind is fully purified, we can partake of that wonderful experience of the ever-blissful Self, which is our true essential nature. They call it Svarupa, which means “one’s own nature”. This being the problem, it stands to reason, that Raja Yoga must also work out the process of eliminating the impure side of man and training the human self to rise up to the Divine Consciousness and all Yogas do the same thing in different ways.
According to Vedanta, Mala, Vikshepa and Avarana are the three obstacles that hold the Jiva in bondage. Anger, hatred, jealousy, selfishness and passion are impurities of man, and these centre round his identification with the body. So, the first thing is the removal of the gross, physical personality. The second obstacle is Vikshepa, or oscillation of the mind. The mind is never able to concentrate on or stick to any single point or idea. The mind always flits from one thing to another one. Now it is in Canada, now in Germany, now in America. This flitting nature of the mind is called Vikshepa. So, Yoga-Sastras say that if you want to purify your lower nature, you must also get rid of the Vikshepa, and even if that is done, there is the primal delusion, the veil, the Avarana, on account of which you think that you are the physical body. That subtle illusion or wrong notion, called Avidya which hides the true nature of the ultimate Reality is called Avarana. Anything that hides is Avarana.
Patanjali said: “If you want spiritual progress, first and foremost, purify your nature and remove all the undesirable qualities.” So, as the very first step in Raja Yoga, he laid down the cultivation of all virtues. The aspirant must become the very model of virtue, perfect Sadachara. This is the basis over which all the superstructure is to be built. How many virtues are there? If you read Swami Sivanandaji’s books, you will find hundreds of virtues, which are to be developed by the aspirant. Sage Patanjali solved the problem in a very intuitive way. He selected five fundamental virtues which are the parent and the prolific source of all goodness. If you become firmly established in these five fundamental virtues, all other virtues will come to you by themselves. If you capture the commander of an army, the whole army is at your disposal. So he said: “Cultivate the five fundamental virtues. Become perfect in them. Then your entire nature will become virtuous. That is the power of these virtues.”
Cultivation of these five fundamental virtues constitutes the first step of Ashtanga Yoga. They are called Yama. Of them the first is Ahimsa, harmlessness. Never hurt any creature, not even an ant, not even a plant—not only physically, never even think of hurting anyone. Never cause sorrow, never cause any loss and never cause any injury to anyone. Never dream of causing any fear or any sorrow to any living creature. This one virtue is enough to make a man perfectly virtuous, a saint. The second is Satya or truthfulness. Be perfectly established in truth. Even life may go, but do not go against truth. Do not subscribe to falsehood. Do not do an action that contradicts truth. Do not think one thing, speak another thing and do a third thing. Then comes Brahmacharya or purity in motive, speech and action. It is chastity from the point of view of ladies. The fourth is Asteya or non-stealing. Never try to take that which belongs to others. Never covet your neighbour’s wealth. Never deprive another man of what rightly belongs to him. If all nations stick to this, where is the need for quarrels and wars! The last is Aparigraha or non-receiving of articles of luxury. Do not receive any thing from others that is conducive to luxury.
Thus the first step of Raja Yoga aims to make the individual perfectly virtuous. Harmlessness, truthfulness, purity, non-stealing and non-receiving of that which is conducive to luxury—these form the fivefold virtues to be cultivated by the seeker in the first stage of Raja Yoga. A life of universal love and selfless service will establish him on the pattern of saintly life which will serve as the foundation for the building up of the later stages of Raja Yoga.
Yogic Analysis Of The Inner Man
Man is defined as a rational animal. That part of him endowed with the power of reasoning forms his human nature and this is the centre of his personality. Urging him to a higher state of consciousness is his essential, ever pure, ever perfect, divine nature which is unborn, undecaying, imperishable, of the nature of immortal existence, which is his real being, and which continues even after the cessation of the functioning of the mind. When one life-span comes to an end at the dissolution of the physical body, all mental processes of the individual come to an end and all sensory processes based upon the thought-process also come to an end. We find that even after one’s mind ceases to operate, the consciousness, the real part of the human being continues to be and spiritual researches by sages of intuition have revealed that this unit of consciousness continues to travel along a chain, link by link. Human incarnation being a link in the chain, all doubts regarding the continuity of consciousness after the dissolution of the body and cessation of the mental process were set aside conclusively in two ways. The memory of previous birth in an individual was found active and the data or facts given in connection with his previous existence were put to test and proved to be correct in every minute detail. In the West, the continuity of consciousness has been proved by certain research-workers upon a somewhat lower scale, who were able to contact personalities after the dissolution of their physical bodies. Among some of the foremost figures who established the continuity of consciousness we might mention Sir Oliver Lodge, etc. They were very well-known figures in Western literature and amongst Western thinkers. This essential part of man is defined as a thing ever calling him higher up towards noble aspirations, towards struggle for the attainment of a higher consciousness in which he will be established in an experience where sorrows cannot touch him and pains of the physical and mental sheaths cease to be. A state of continuous bliss characterises that experience. At the same time we find that on the other side of the central human, rational nature there is the grosser aspect of his being, the brutal, animalistic aspect, made up of the low appetites, the lower sensual passions and the impure urges that form a part of every human being.
The world-process is the evolution from the lower stages of being to the higher levels. Indian thought holds that as the individual unit of consciousness passes through lower stages of existence, the impress of each stage is left in the depth of consciousness and this forms the constitution of his animalistic nature or his impure, grosser being. Thus each level of existence leaves within him some trace of the characteristics of that stage of gross existence. In the animal stage, the predominant characteristic is instinct which is present in the form of urges over which the being has no control. They are not guided by rational thought and therefore these elements go to form the lower part of the being. The animal is subdued and suppressed in the consciousness and the divine yet to be awakened and it is yet latent, not patent. In between them is the human nature, ever active, dynamic, expressing itself in various modes in the life of the individual, but swayed between the animal and the divine nature. Every being is forcibly drawn towards the suppressed yet active animal nature. Animal nature is active in various degrees in each human being, whereas the divine has not started to be active. It is sleeping and not yet awakened. So, the individual is constantly drawn towards the animal nature.
Human life is a struggle between the undivine nature of the individual and the power of reasoning which says: “I think this is not worthy of me. As a human being I should not do it”. These considerations are kept active by the human reason. How? By the force of early training. In the child-stage he is trained by the elders to avoid doing certain things and to be ashamed of doing certain other things. Early training and family heritage play an important part. Suppose he is born in an educated, cultured family; naturally, his instincts are more refined. The reason offers lesser restraints to those who are born in an uncivilised family, very backward, unlettered class. Even though they are endowed with reason, it does not operate in the same degree as it does in the case of a man, born in a civilised, cultured family. Early training, heritage, and later on his previous Samskaras begin to operate.
Samskara means impression left over by every past experience. Life is progression and in each birth man goes on learning things and drawing lessons from experience. All these lessons are there in the form of subtle impressions in the human being. It may be a liability or it may be an asset in the form of impressions carried over from experiences and activities in a previous birth, and these impressions begin to operate with the ego or individuality which begins to function in a human being after a certain age.
In one’s childhood individuality does not function. Normally, it is only after a certain age that children begin to manifest their individuality, and when they do so, the impressions of their previous births begin to work. They also begin to play a part in the reasoning of man directly, induce him to take to certain actions and to avoid certain others. Then we have the restraint of a civilised society. People say: “Do not do this”. Certain things are disallowed. Certain things are looked upon as something to be abhorred. These influences go to make up the rational part of man and it is a struggle between these factors and the lower urges that makes up the conflict in every individual. The factors of self-respect, decency, etc., begin to operate in a man and they act to a certain extent as a restraint against the urges of his grosser animalistic nature. And supposing he comes into contact with the higher mind, begins to hear words of wisdom, comes into contact with elevating literature and hears more and more about divine things, then his intellect begins to be educated. The power of restraint over the lower self becomes stronger and establishes him more and more upon human nature. And he becomes a man of self-restraint, self-discipline, a man who has mastery over his lower appetites and urges. In society, the factor of fear also does act to some extent as a bar upon the mind’s lower appetites. Suppose a man acts badly, he will be punished by the society. So, fear of punishment is there. In the higher planes of evolution the fear is not from the world, but is from punishment of Universal Law. All these things go to make him steadily fixed to the human level and act as a check upon the too frequent manifestation of the urges of the lower, grosser, impure, animalistic part of the human being.
And then, of course, there are occasional clashes. Suddenly, certain moments come in the life of every human being, when he or she begins to ponder over his or her life: “Have I lived to any purpose? What is the meaning of all this? After all one day I shall have to go out of this scene at a moment’s notice”. Then he or she feels a sense of dissatisfaction upon the type of life that he or she has been leading and a call comes from some high source. There is an urge for betterment, for rising higher up and for experiencing something which is not merely mundane, gross or physical. At those times man becomes a philosopher and tries to rise above his sensual life. But again in the whirl of his daily activities he forgets the real purpose of his life. Once again moments come in his life when he questions: “Is there a higher purpose in life?” It is indicative of the presence of a higher nature in the being which is capable of being experienced and realised. It is to enable man to take advantage of this upward wave and rise up from the normal humdrum activities of this physical world that all God-men constantly keep on urging him, saying: “What are you doing here? How long will you slumber?” They try to rouse again and again the sleeping, essential divine nature in the human being. Thus analysing the threefold nature of man we find that in the process of Yoga, the fundamental work it has to achieve is the annihilation or elimination of the lower, animalistic nature of man and the sublimation of his human consciousness into a higher divine consciousness where he goes beyond the body and mind and is established in the perennial, glorious experience of his blissful, true Self—his essential nature—the Truth that shines in the innermost chamber of his consciousness. If this is the process, then all Yogas, however much they may differ in their external modes, are necessary to work out this self-same process.
Now we will try to consider how the different Yogas actually work out this one central process and in what way they set about doing this. We find that man expresses himself through his speech and actions. Whether a man is good or bad and whether his life is good or bad, can be known only from his speech and actions. When a man is very animalistic and impure, he does atrocious acts. All his actions are impure, sinful, harmful. He brings pain, sorrow and destruction to others. In his speech he is harsh and brings about disgrace upon people. He insults and causes pain to people. Thus through harsh, cruel and wrong words and actions the Asuric nature of man manifests itself in the human plane. All manifestation is through action and speech. But, the Yogins and Seers of the past tried to go beyond the actions and the speech of man. They said: “These speeches and actions are more in the form of manifestations of something deep inward and we should therefore first of all know whence they spring forth.”
Trying to trace the actions and speech to their source, they found that they were rooted in thoughts. It is only what man thought and felt in the mind that becomes later on expressed in the form of speech and action. Speech and action, though of tremendous import in the external world, work havoc or wonderful good upon the external field of human life; they are nothing but the outward symptoms of an inner power and this power is the power of thought. The wise devoted their full attention and all their wisdom and found that they were confronted with a very mysterious and complicated array of factors in their mind. All those arose in their mind; and therefore a study of man’s mind is the most important work of Yoga.
Analysis of man’s mind, minute research into the various aspects of the being of man, how the mind acts, what are its various moods, what is its essential constituent—all these form the subject-matter of Yoga. They found that mind thinks due to various factors and its manifestations also depend upon various factors. Now, actions and speeches were traced to their geneses. “Why is it that a certain type of thoughts comes in a mind and not another type of thoughts? What is the thing that sustains thought?” They began to make deeper and deeper research and came to marvellous discoveries. What were they? They found that thought was not totally haphazard. I will give you some very easy examples which will reveal to you some laws that operate in the realm of each one’s mind. What are these laws?
For instance, if you see a doctor, immediately the thoughts of dispensary, hospital and medicine come. If you see a soldier in military-uniform, the thoughts of warfare, tanks, guns, soldiers charging—all these things come to your mind. If you see a lawyer, the thoughts of courts, judge, sentence and jail—all these come. There are two things involved in this process. One is we find out a law that any object perceived by the avenue of any one of the five senses immediately sets up a train of thoughts which is of the same nature as the object perceived. One thought sets about raising in the mind other thoughts associated with it. It is called the law of association. And this law even dispenses with the necessity of having an object present before your eye for setting up a thought. Just from memory you think of something. Immediately that also sets into motion a train of thoughts associated with the object conjured up in the mind through memory. The wise thus found that the law of association is there operating in the realm of mind and directing our thoughts.
Another very interesting law was also found out. They found that mind has got a peculiar, I may call it, a very dangerous and nasty habit. It is a headache for all seekers. It has got this pernicious habit of making a lightning record of whatever sense-contact that a human being makes. In passing you may speak some words, see some persons or you may undergo some experience and immediately a lightning record leaves a Samskara. Why it is very important to the Yogi is due to the very peculiar nature of the Samskara. Samskara is not merely a dead-line drawn upon a canvas, but it is a live record. I shall explain to you what a live record means. There is a photographic record. Anything that comes across a sensitive plate, immediately creates an image on it and it is kept for ever; but that is only a dead impression. That image which a photographic plate has taken upon itself cannot come and talk to you. But then, this Samskara is an impression taken by the mind which has got in itself the capacity to once again recreate in the individual the entire experience which originally caused it. It is a very important aspect of the nature of a Samskara that gets into the human mind through any chance contact or activity or experience that the individual happens to go through.
Each Samskara has inherent in it the capacity to once again recreate that very experience which originally caused it. You will understand it perfectly if I tell you an analogy in our external life. Out of a big tree we get a small seed as a product of that tree. The tree is vast but the seed is very small. But what then is the tremendous capacity of the seed, even though it looks so small? It has got inherent in itself the ability or the power to once again recreate in all fullness and in all details the entire tree which originally brought it about. Given proper conditions and favourable factors for it to spring into dynamism, this little seed can once again recreate in entirety all details of the tree which was the cause for its coming into being. Thus it is with Samskara.
Supposing someone gives you something to taste. The actual taste is only over an area of two or three inches on the tongue. Before the thing comes in contact with your tongue there is no taste. You experience the taste only as long as the thing is on your tongue. Yet this little experience is immediately captured and kept in the mind as a Samskara. Supposing you happen to pass through that particular city or town where ten years ago you happened to taste that thing, then the memory comes: “In 1945 I ate this thing, and I ate in that particular locality”. Suppose you are sitting somewhere. Once you think of it, you begin to imagine how beautiful it was and how it melted in your mouth. This starts a sensory reaction and this imagination immediately makes the Samskara take the form of a desire.
First the Samskara lies as a Vasana and the Vasana rises as a Vritti and mentally the whole process is recreated. This process of recreation through the power of imagination crystallises as a desire. And once desire arises, man at once tries to fulfil it. He becomes a slave of that desire. If a desire comes, trying to fulfil it is the nature of the human being. Immediately the ego-sense says: “I must take it”. The ego also identifies itself with the desire. But if the ego has the higher discriminative part, instead of identifying with desire, it tries to identify itself with the higher discriminative faculty viz., the Buddhi which says: “I do not want this”. But normally the ego is not endowed with the faculty of discrimination and it identifies itself with desire and gives orders to the various senses. Immediately you look into the telephone directory and see the number of the shop where you can purchase the things you want. If you succeed in finding the number, you at once place an order over the phone. If you cannot find the number of the shop, you get a taxi and go to the shop, sit there, order for the dish and taste it. The experience is once again recreated. This experience leaves another Samskara or intensifies your old Samskara.
Samskara is very dynamic. We must note the importance of being very careful not to take in any new Samskara. The process of Yoga demands the frying of Samskaras. Put a seed in a frying pan and roast it over the fire. Supposing you sow the seed in the soil. It will not sprout forth, because the life-principle has been completely roasted out. So is the case in Samadhi wherein Samskaras are fried out. I am talking to you about only one Samskara which is so very powerful, whereas there are countless thousands of Samskaras. Everyday from morning till night we go on accumulating sense-experiences, whether we are aware of it or not. Everything that we experience is turned into a Samskara. Every moment of our waking life, we go on acquiring Samskaras. Therefore, the wise say that it is impossible to kill all the Samskaras one by one. If you drop an atom bomb, thousands of people will be killed simultaneously. Similarly the weapon they gave is Samadhi, the experience of superconsciousness, which they say, will fry once for all, all Samskaras, so that they cannot recreate the experiences which originally created them. The frying of the Samskaras is the method of the Yogins, and this is brought about by intense meditation and with the annihilation of the Samskaras, man is freed from bondage. This is the process of Yoga. This was one of the discoveries which the Yogins and Seers of yore made in the research of the mind. The whole of Raja Yoga can be said to be “the method of frying the Samskaras of the mind”.
We have to touch upon some more general points which relate to the mind, and their role in keeping of this phenomenal illusion. We shall see how the mind holds down the consciousness to this limited individual sphere, and one more law of thought, and also the anatomy of thought, how it works and how it crystallises. It is a very important thing. We must know that thoughts do not merely dwell in the mind concerning themselves with the inwardness of man only, for they have definitely a powerful and substantial effect on his outward life in all his spheres. In all spheres of his activities they become crystallised as tangible parts in his personality. Not only that, persisted in, they have got even the power to become objectified externals, as certain different conditions and certain definite experiences. So, it is necessary that we should be careful about our thoughts.
We must know what to think and how to think. We may know what is good to think; but we may not be able to hold on to that thought. Some other thought which we do not want may yet persist in coming and occupying our consciousness. This is a common experience and a universal law for people who have not begun to realise that they are something different from their thoughts. If they want they can be masters and can propel the thoughts in any direction they wish. Man should know the truth and feel himself: “I am one thing and thought is another thing which is not part of my essential nature; it is something that I can move and it is not always necessary that I should continue to be moved by it”. Until and unless man becomes aware of this truth he is always led by his thoughts. At present it is not you who propel thought, but it is thought that propels you. Therefore, we shall try to understand in what way thought operates inside and in what way it affects man’s life also.
The third point is unity of Sadhana. We have found that the root-cause of all this bondage to the lower, grosser, animalistic part of man’s nature is wrong thought,—thought which persists in conforming itself to the lower nature,—and we have found out how thoughts based upon these primary negative qualities of desire, anger, passion, avariciousness, selfishness, jealousy and attachment, keep up the structure of man’s lower nature and having gone to the root of thought, we have seen how our ancients found out that the first concern of Yoga is to gain complete control over thought and bring about a complete transformation in the nature of man. If the mind is in a state of allegiance to the lower self, then it will not be able to play its part in raising our consciousness from the lower to the higher, but if it is allied to the Self, then it becomes an effective and proper channel for the rise of consciousness from the lower level to the subtle spiritual level; and therefore, they made a study of the mind and its mysteries.
The transformation of the mind is the prime concern of Yoga, and we have found that if this transformation from the impure to the pure, from the finite to the infinite and from the gross to the subtle and spiritual has to be brought about, then all Yogas must of necessity work out at least an identical process in the very essence. Now, therefore, we will see how unity of Sadhana is present in the four Yogas which apparently in their outward form seem to be diverse.
According to the theory of Vedanta the prime cause for this individual existence is Ajnana or Mula Avidya or root-ignorance. The very first form this root-ignorance takes is the feeling of duality in the non-dual Supreme Consciousness which is characterised by absolute unity. Then comes the feeling, due to ignorance, that ‘I am separate and the world is separate’. This duality comes due to what is known as Adhyasa or superimposition, and wrong identification.
The consciousness instead of identifying itself with the Cosmic, the Infinite, identifies itself with the individual limited body. This is the first manifestation of Avidya. ‘I am this body’, ‘I am this mind’, ‘I am this feeling’, ‘I am this thought’,—is a series of identifications rooted in the first primal error that ‘I am a separate thing’. This first dual notion sets in its train a whole set of wrong Adhyasa and then due to this the error of superimposition. You superimpose upon pure Consciousness various forms, and various characteristics which are not there as its essential nature, and therefore, the whole phenomena of Jagat (world) spring up.
First there is Ajnana, then arises duality and then wrong identification with body, mind, etc. And this ignorance is based upon mind’s wrong thought and therefore, the process of right thought is given out as the powerful entity to reverse the process. Swami Vivekananda has referred to it in terms of modern hypnotism. He said that the ‘being’ has hypnotised itself into the wrong thought that he is a body. You have to stamp out this hypnotism. He says that Vedanta is strong dehypnotisation through right thoughts and right discrimination. You should dehypnotise and this is the correct method. The whole of Vedantic Sadhana is based upon right Vichara. To do Vichara you must know the correct discriminatory process. You must first of all learn what is Reality. Then only you can think on the lines which will take you to the Reality. So, they first of all prescribed the listening to the nature of Truth. This, as you know, is part of Vedanta.
One has to go on discriminating and holding on to the correct current of thought and Vedanta provides you the frame-work through which you have to make your thought currents flow towards Truth. You do this actual work in Manana and at the extreme climax of Manana, you have got deep meditation. You have various kinds of supermental states of consciousness known as Samadhi. You have got Savitarka Samadhi, Nirvitarka Samadhi, etc. When all mental processes come to an end you have the highest Advaita or Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Then you are once for all freed from the thraldom of ignorance. When the mind stops functioning, there can be no wrong experience. This is the inner process of Vedantic Sadhana. Instead of identifying yourself with this physical personality you identify yourself with the infinite, formless, supreme Truth in your innermost being.
But this thought also manifests itself in various other phases. Thought when expressed as emotion, gives rise to various wrong attachments, Moha, affections, love directed towards the perishable objects and love towards one’s own body and those associated with one’s own life. This Moha is another factor which binds the Consciousness to the limited nature of wrong feeling and emotion. Due to Moha ‘mineness’ comes—feelings such as ‘my house’, ‘my child’, ‘my property’, etc. Therefore, the wise have another method for countering this aspect of the mind’s wrong manifestation—wrong emotions, wrong ties and wrong affections. For that, they evolved a process of detachment and attachment—detachment of the entire emotional aspect of one’s personality from worldly objects and attachment to some perfect divine personality. This is at the basis of the conception of Bhakti and Ishta.
Instead of wrongly being attached, through emotion and feeling, to a number of perishable things in this world, purify your emotion, have Vairagya and attach yourself to some divine, all-perfect personality, through your entire emotional power. Let all your love be centred upon the perfect divine ideal, a divine personality. This is another process of purifying the mind and feelings by slowly weaning away the mind from the external objects of the world and keeping it completely fixed on the all-pervading divine personality. This divine personality, which a devotee chooses is known as Ishta-Devata.
Those-who have got a single ideal as for instance, in Christian world, do not conceive of the Supreme Reality in various aspects. They have got only one aspect, the Father in Heaven, and the vast majority of Christians are Bhaktas. They are lovers of the Lord. Even in such people who have got a single Istha Devata you will find that the urge of the human nature is irresistible. They like to love Christ as the ever-perfect bridegroom; some offer their adorations as Christ on the cross and they like to take upon themselves in sufferings He underwent. Some would like to love Lord Jesus in the arm of Mary and they are not so much attached towards the adult Jesus. Even so some would like Jesus as their Master as He lived and moved amidst the world with his disciples. Therefore, the various aspects of the one Divinity attract the love of different devotees even in the self-same religion according to their temperament and inclination.
Just like that, in order to give an unlimited scope for the transformation of man from the lower to the higher level, Hinduism has given an infinite number of manifestations and Bhavas, emotional attitudes. We are now concerned with the approach to the mind purely upon the emotional side, and therefore, the wise have given different Bhavas to enable a smooth switch over from the attachment to the human, to the transcendental, divine. If your love to the Lord, is like the love of a parent towards a child it is called Vatsalya. There are other Bhavas: Sakhya Bhava—you can love the Lord as your own friend. Arjuna had that Bhava, and Uddhava also had that kind of love. Or, the love of a layman and devoted servant can also be transformed into divine ideal—say, the servant-master aspect. All the affection in the field of emotion and feeling in the mind can be transformed into divine love through this technique called Bhakti Yoga.
There is another thing; mind also appears in man as various complexes. Different people have got different complexes brought about by association with various things. Suppose you are associated with a beautiful body, you have then got the feeling: “I am very handsome” and you feel a sense of superiority. Suppose you are associated with wealth, you feel: “I am a rich man” and you look upon with contempt those who are not having wealth. Suppose you are associated with a lot of information, suppose you are a lecturer or a professor, this also brings about a superiority complex and you feel: “I can teach others”. If you know music, if you know boxing,—anything you know, at once gets crystallised as Abhimana. You may have a superiority complex of birth, wealth, learning, strength, beauty, influence, high post—all these are called Abhimana. It is a most terrible bondage for the being, for all these complexes have got their direct connection with the body. Therefore, you can never get out of the bondage of Abhimana.
Vedanta goes to the very root and destroys the body-idea itself, but for those who are not prepared to go to the highest Vedanta, and who are caught up in these whole host of Abhimana, the method is to crush all these. How? By becoming absolutely humble. Throw away all these ideas and feel yourself one with the commonest, the simplest and the humblest. The process of reducing oneself to the commonest, humblest and simplest, is completely giving up all Abhimana. This is done through a wonderful technique called Karma Yoga. A Karma Yogi should never take work from others. He must wash his own clothes and sweep his own room. He must not be ashamed to carry heavy loads. Feel that you are nothing. If you want to remove Abhimana, you must do all things which the lower mind does not like to do. So Karma Yoga is the war declared against Abhimana. If an old woman is not able to take a bundle, a Karma Yogi will immediately go and take that bundle. An ordinary man will not do it due to Abhimana. He will not salute another first. Constantly rub the Abhimana.
Gandhiji was a super Karma Yogin. He said that whoever went to Wardha, for the first three months, should take up the duty of cleaning the latrines. In India the lowest work is considered to be the cleaning of latrines and it is that class called untouchables who are given that job. If you touch them, you should wash yourself. Even in America people of high society will not mix with lower class of society. There is a barrier due to social strata and wealth. It is also fairly high in England. Do a task which you think lowers your dignity, because to make yourself a cipher, you should reduce all superiority complexes. It makes you simple, humble and gentle and it expands your heart. It makes you feel oneness with all kinds of people. That is the preparation for the expansion of consciousness into the still higher stage, and in a purified mind the Sattvic thoughts of divinity come. Some people hold that Karma Yoga is itself an independent Yoga, while others think that it is only an auxiliary Yoga.
In Raja Yoga, Sage Patanjali has said, you have to counteract Ajnana by Vichara. You try to root out each one of these deep-rooted complexes by completely trying to humble yourself through Karma Yoga or motiveless service. Service is always considered to be a lesser man’s work for the higher man. Therefore, do the lesser man’s work, simple, dedicated, motiveless service. Christ showed it in a wonderful manner. He washed the feet of his disciples just before the last supper. Patanjali has also said: “The mind attaches itself to wrong and perishable objects; why not therefore completely stop this mischievous fellow?” We have to completely stop him working. Then what can he do? Therefore, switch off the main switch at the power house. All the vagaries of the mind will come to a stop.
Vritti-Nirodha
Every process of thought has its root in the activity of the mind. Because the mind is active there arise feelings, emotions and all types of wrong perceptions. Therefore, stop the activity of the mind. I have told you what the very first manifestation of the active mind is. A ripple arises in the mind-lake. Afterwards imagination arises and then desire. The first and foremost thing is a mere idea. That is the simplest projection in the mind-stuff, simple thinking devoid of any bias. It is only when imagination and egoism are attached to the idea, the whole process arises. Idea as such has no power. If you go and attach yourself to it, it will become an effective mischief-maker. The wise have said: “Completely inhibit all ideas. Do not allow even a single ripple to manifest itself in the mind-lake. Make it absolutely calm, without a single Vritti. Stop the primal manifestation of the mind itself”. Therefore, the first Sutra of Sage Patanjali is Yogas-Chitta-Vritti-Nirodhah—Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications of the mind.
When the mental processes are completely stopped, the superconsciousness is given a chance to manifest itself. The favourable condition necessary for the manifestation of the higher consciousness is absolute stillness of the mind. So when the highest consciousness arises in Samadhi, all Vasanas are fried. This analogy is taken out of the experience in the physical world. Every seed is a potential tree. But if you fry the seed and then put it in good soil and water it, it will not germinate. Yoga says that Vasana is fried in the fire of knowledge. Sage Patanjali went to the very root of Adhyasa. He said, stop this mischief-maker once for all. And Raja Yoga gives the technique of completely stopping the activity of the mind. Therefore, you find that all these Yogas attempt to tackle the mind in its different aspects—different aspects which hold down the individual consciousness firmly to this wrong lower self. And these different aspects are suited to different people in whom some one or other aspect is predominant. Swami Sivanandaji has said that you should not be lop-sided. As you do Raja Yoga, you should keep up the other Yogas also as accessories. Swamiji advocates the synthesis of Yogas. You should have all Yogas, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. You will find this unity of Sadhana very beneficial. All the various Yogas try to work out the same process of transformation of the mind from a state of nescience resulting in wrong identification, activity and emotion, to a higher state. The approaches are different in respect of the different individuals in whom some aspect or the other is predominant.
Every thought that is entertained gains strength and creates in the mind a tendency for the repetition of that thought. If you think a thought, the natural tendency of the mind is to think it again. Any thought deliberately held in the mind at once demands repetition, and whatever thoughts you think they tend to become manifest as actions. If you hold a compassionate thought, it somehow or other makes you do a compassionate deed. If you hold a sensual, gluttonous thought, it forces you to perform a sensual, gluttonous activity. An angry thought will want you to do a harsh action, and a passionate thought will force you to do a passionate action. Any thought tends to make the individual perform a corresponding type of action. This is the second thing you have to understand.
Action once done also tends to repeat itself. That is the habit of action. Actions if repeated become a habit in man. Unconsciously you begin to follow that particular type of action. Habit is the third phase which takes place by holding to a particular type of thought, and by your habits your character becomes affected. Character moulds your destiny. Thus, from thoughts arise actions, from actions habits, from habits character, and from character destiny. So you see the importance of holding to the right type of thought. You should carefully remove all thoughts that are inimical to progress and inner unfoldment.
Yoga Sadhana
Mind is the arch enemy of the unfoldment of spiritual consciousness. It is the mind that acts as the greatest barrier in its various aspects, as craving, Vikshepa or unsteadiness, etc. If the mind is absolutely steady, the light of the Atman gets itself fully reflected. Ahamkara, the self-arrogating little personality never allows us to realise our essential nature. The process of remembrance (Smriti) is also a great obstacle. Avichara Buddhi along with the above various aspects of the mind taken together is a great slayer of the Atman. The Atmic consciousness is not allowed to manifest itself. There is an irresistible tendency for thought to become translated into action and every action becomes a habit in the nature of man, and when habits are constantly indulged in they become part and parcel of his nature.
All behaviour of man is based upon character. Every Karma becomes fruitful seed for reaction later on. As he lives, he builds up the whole superstructure of Karma which becomes his destiny. So we find how the thought of man governs his destiny and also the importance of selected thought, right thinking and the avoidance of wrong thinking. We also find how in the science of Raja Yoga, the ultimate technique is aimed at the stoppage of all functions that are the root activity of the mind. But already we are in the grip of its wide ramifications in the form of likes, dislikes, imaginations, fancies and thoughts. Therefore, before we proceed to the root, we have to destroy these ramifications. Suppose you want to give battle to a lion; first of all you have to travel in the jungle and ultimately come to its den. Chittavritti is the den of the lion of the mind and you have first to cut all its manifestations in the form of jealousy, Kama, hatred, etc., and the whole host of wrong actions which are caused by wrong thoughts have to be corrected. It is a process of narrowing down the range of our attack until we come to the target.
In order to cut the mental functions in its extrovert far-flung manifestations, Sage Patanjali took up the exposition of Raja Yoga and did it in a very scientific and methodical way. Apart from man’s nature as a rational being with a gross lower self pulling him downwards, there is his essential spiritual nature, and in between, we have the Buddhiyukta Manushya, one who is capable of thinking being endowed with a mind. So in the centre is the being endowed with thinking capacity as distinguished from the world of subhuman species which cannot think.
Apart from the result of the study of man in his essential nature, Sage Patanjali made a study of man as he is actually composed and he arrived at the above conclusion. He made the study of the universal man, not a Hindu or a Mohammedan, but the man constituted as he is all over, when he is created upon earth and will continue to be till the last day of his existence. He found out that, first and foremost, he is of the nature of pure Existence essentially. Man is the Spirit essentially. He is a spiritual entity, and this is evident to everyone who thinks. The ultimate principle in man is his Being. No one can imagine his own non-being, for if you have to imagine your own non-being, there must be an imaginer to imagine that, and therefore, the imaginer is the ultimate Being. The ultimate undying principle of man is Being. He IS. I exist. I am pure Existence, pure Being, Kevala Sat, and this essential portion of man is the fundamental part of his personality. Patanjali then found that this fundamental fact is somewhere inside, whereas the first thing that appears to man when he sees another man is his physical being.
Our experience of a human being is only a certain shape, appearance and features. So Patanjali said, there is the physical, gross sheath of man. That is one aspect of man and within this there is the thinking man. There is the mental aspect of being, the mental sheath. Ideation occurs, thoughts come, and the being begins to think and out of the thought the body is made to act in order to give expression to the thought. The entire life of man is an expression of his thoughts, and these expressions are in the form of various actions, and so there is the thinking man. He said that in between these there is a link. Between the thinking man and the acting man there is the power to act. There is a peculiar invisible, internal electricity, as it were, which makes a man act. This power which animates the human being, without which all the senses will be absolutely incapable of any activity, is Prana Sakti. The eye sees through the power of Prana. The ear hears through the power of Prana. The tongue speaks through the power of Prana.
At the time of death when the Prana is withdrawn, the process of departure commences. Death means the flying away of the Prana from the body. So actually we are all moving and talking corpses only. When the Prana goes away, we will become absolutely immobile, because the Prana is moving the body, is acting, eating, enjoying, etc. All this is due to Prana Sakti. This is the third aspect of man, and behind it as the mover of all, is the pure Self, ‘I am’. But a peculiar confusion has occurred. You have got yourself identified with the mind, and you have thought yourself to be part and parcel of the mind, though in rare moments unconsciously you assert your unattached, witness-nature. When you say, ‘My mind is restless’, you unconsciously admit you are one and the mind is something which you possess. So you are different from mind when you make such statements as: “My mind is restless”, “I cannot control my mind”, etc. These are the spontaneous expressions of your real nature. So, physical body-sheath, vital Pranic sheath and the mental sheath—these three aspects of the being are temporary, passing, superficial and the non-essential aspects of the being, and the essential aspect is Being itself. You are yourself the pure Existence, unborn, eternal and ancient—Ajo Nityah Sasvatoyam Puranah. Long before the mind manifested itself You were. The study of man as he is in reality, as a centre of pure Being covered up by mind-sheath, Pranic sheath and the grossest physical body-sheath, made by Patanjali, discloses a graded method. It is a very well-thought out and a very scientifically invented method.
Raja Yoga
Now, how many Yogas are there? There are infinite number of Yogas. Anything that frees you from sorrow and gives you real bliss is Yoga. There are various practices but essentially Yoga is one, and the several practices are there in order to suit people of different capacities and tendencies. In order to suit the different temperaments and aptitudes, the ancients have prescribed different paths. These paths are not antagonistic to one another. This is the first thing to be born in mind, and consequently all these paths ultimately work out a self-same process. You may get the number ten by adding three and seven, or four and six, or five and five, or in some other way. The resulting number ten is the same. Even so, the process of Yoga may apparently differ on the surface, yet inwardly the central process, which they work is one and the same. And what is that central process? The wise say there is a veil which hides the Reality. It is called Maya in relation to the Cosmic Being, Isvara, and it is called Avarana in relation to the Jiva or individual soul. The individual soul gets circumscribed in an individual consciousness. When this veil is removed, it realises its identity with the Supreme Soul. To remove this veil is the purpose of Yoga. Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga do the same thing. They take a particular aspect of man and through that enable the Jiva to realise its identity with the Supreme Soul.
Man is endowed with intellect, emotion and the mystic faculty of introspection, and the Yoga that suits a particular person is in measure to that particular faculty which is predominant in his nature. If the intellect is predominant, the path of knowledge or Jnana Yoga is resorted to by that seeker. If emotion is the predominating faculty, the approach to the Reality is made through Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion. If the occult faculty of introspection is predominant, then Raja Yoga is made use of. Raja Yoga is also called Dhyana Yoga. Karma Yoga is common to all. Whether you are a Jnana Yogi or Dhyana Yogi or Bhakti Yogi, Karma Yoga is necessary. The secret of working in this world without getting attached to the fruits of action is Karma Yoga. Anasakti (non-attachment) is the secret of Karma Yoga. It is Anasakta (unattached) Karma that releases you from all bondages.
Raja Yoga is for those who are of mystic and inward temperament. How do we proceed in it? In Raja Yoga there are eight distinct stages. Therefore it is called Ashtanga Yoga. Ashta means eight and Anga means limb. In Jnana Yoga, in the beginning there is a stage where the Sadhaka should acquire the necessary qualifications, the Sadhana-Chatushtaya, the fourfold qualifications—discrimination, dispassion, the sixfold virtues such as control of mind, control of senses, endurance, etc., and lastly a keen and intense longing for liberation. Equipped with these qualifications you have to approach a Guru and hear from his lips the nature of Reality. This hearing is called Sravana. Then you should reflect over what you have heard. This is called Manana. Then you should ceaselessly contemplate on that. This is Nididhyasana. Just as there are these steps in Jnana Yoga, in Raja Yoga there are eight steps or limbs. Hence it is called Ashtanga Yoga. It is also called Patanjali Yoga, because Patanjali was the Sage who expounded this Yoga. Raja Yoga is the most scientific and logical of all Yogas. Hence the term ‘Yoga’ generally refers to Raja Yoga. Yoga Darsana means Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali. By tradition it is called Raja Yoga. In fact all paths have to culminate in meditation. Because of the great importance it attaches to meditation, Raja Yoga is also known as Dhyana Yoga.
The eight limbs of Raja Yoga are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Out of these, Yama, Niyama, Asana and Pranayama are the preliminary stages. The Yoga proper starts from Pratyahara or abstraction of the mind and the senses. Yama is the cultivation of certain virtues. Niyama is the following of certain daily observances. Asana is the acquisition of perfect steadiness of pose and Pranayama is the discipline, control and regulation of our gross physical breath, which is connected with the inner subtle nerve-currents. Pratyahara is the withdrawal of senses and mind from the external objects of this universe, and Dharana is the fixing of the mind on the object of meditation. Dhyana is mastery over Dharana, and continuous, unbroken fixing of the mind on the object of meditation. Dharana is sporadic, but when you have attained mastery over Dharana, you are able to fix your mind upon the object of meditation steadily for a long time. In the depths of meditation, you transcend the lower, physical consciousness and you experience the highest superconsciousness. This is called Samadhi.
Here, you should make a distinction between the Asana of Hatha Yoga and the Asana of Raja Yoga. The Asanas in Raja Yoga are not the Asanas (of which there are about eighty-four lakhs) taught in Hatha Yoga. The Asana in Raja Yoga means any one steady pose which is required for the practice of contemplation. The purpose of the Asanas taught in Hatha Yoga is different. In Raja Yoga the definition of Asana is Sthirasukham-asanam—holding of the body in a steady and comfortable pose. Any comfortable pose in which you can keep the body steady for a long period of time is Asana. It is laid down that if a Yogi has to take up Pranayama, Pratyahara, etc., certainly he should be able to sit in a steady pose at least for three hours. Thus, we have to distinguish the Asana in Raja Yoga from the Asana in Hatha Yoga.
Raja Yoga helps us first to control the gross, physical body, and then step by step it leads us on to the control of subtler sheaths—the Pranic sheath, the mental sheath, the intellectual sheath and the bliss-sheath—and takes us to the eternal, ever-perfect Self which is beyond all these sheaths.
Thus the approach is made starting from the most external, the physical body and proceeding to subtler and subtler bodies, and so, Raja Yoga is a very scientific and logical method of inner purification and self-perfection.
Yama
Sage Patanjali first tackled the body which is most external. You find that the external gross physical manifestation of the mind is in the form of the activities of the body. Therefore he says, “All right, I have to remove the impurities of the mind. For that first of all, let me try to close up the effects. Let me suppress the symptoms”. He says that the cause is kept up by the play of the symptoms. The functions of the mind are fattened more and more when you give expressions to them in the form of actions. The real thing is to control the mind, yet the wise experience of Patanjali during his meditations was that actions also react upon thought. Every time you act, you strengthen the thought. Thoughts gain momentum when they are taken up to their logical conclusion—external act. At least stop its grossest physical manifestation. Of course, the perfectionist would at once raise the objection that there is no use of suppressing action and that the actual thing is to change your mind.
But it is not so easy a job. Directly controlling the mind is very difficult. Mind does whatever it wants to do. Whatever fancy it takes, it is made into action. First of all put a number of checks. Where it tries to manifest itself as activity say ‘No’. Declare a war against the mind in its most external manifestations. The various resolves and vows which appear to be foolish for the unthinking man who says that transformation of the mind is real Yoga, may not be useful for one who has transcended the stage; but we cannot afford to disregard them in the initial stages. We who are on the threshold should know that these things are as important as the next stages. Supposing there is a ladder where the rungs are so placed that you cannot just manage to avoid any rung. If you say that you do not want the first rung, you will always be on the ground.
The mind is very deceptive. It will bring in subtle excuses. It will bring philosophy: “I have passed that stage in my previous lives. It does not matter if I take five cups of tea and go on eating meat”. One who says like this is a slave to his tongue. He cannot give up eating meat. What is giving up of meat? It means you assert your mastery over your mind. If you say: “I will get up at 4 a.m. and take bath in cold water”, it all means a continuous process of again and again asserting the superiority of your spiritual nature over the pull of your unreal lower nature. You cannot all of a sudden separate your higher spiritual nature and the lower material nature. In order to separate them, you have to observe spiritual vows. But one must remember that giving up certain things that you like alone is not Yoga, but such practices are important for the attainment of real Yoga. Therefore, Sage Patanjali said, “First of all put a check on your external nature”. At least control your physical actions, if you cannot control your desires all of a sudden.
Everyone knows that the physical action has got the greatest effect on mind. You can go on thinking about certain indulgence, but the shock that is given back on the psyche by actually putting into action the indulgence is the greatest. The shock through an imagination is not so very great as the shock given to the psyche by the actual action. Action becomes a concrete part of man’s memory and agitates him much more than mere thinking, fancying or imagining. Therefore, Patanjali said, first of all purify every activity and put a check on all of them. How to do it? He said, take certain vows and conform your conduct to certain universal laws. What are they? They constitute the Yamas. Take up a vow that I shall act according to the laws of truth, non-injury, non-covetousness, non-stealing, etc.
There are five Yamas. Why only five, why not ten? Why not some other number? This is also based upon wisdom and experience. He found that if the five fundamental universal laws are made to prevail in your life, then all the other lesser good qualifies will come to you of their own accord. He calls these five fundamental virtues as universal vows, i.e., vows which should be observed under all conditions, at all places and at all times. They are Ahimsa (non-injury), Satya (truth), Brahmacharya (celibacy), Asteya (non-stealing) and Aparigraha (non-covetousness). The resolutions taken and the aspirants’ struggle to observe these vows will be found to have their effect of putting a stop to almost all wrong activity of human being. All unrighteous actions are due to either falsehood, dishonesty, cunningness or due to greed, impurity, lust, passions, or due to cruel nature, harming others, or causing loss to others. In this way, all the actions of a bad or wicked man will be found to pertain to one or other of these evil qualities—falsehood, cruelty, lust, greed and the tendency to deprive others of what belongs to them. So this is the conclusion of Patanjali. He asks the aspirants to stop all external manifestations of evil thoughts in the mind, evil motives and evil feelings, and see that their actions are made to conform to these five great universal laws of love, truth, purity, absence of greed and non-stealing. In these, he first laid the foundation for bringing about a thorough transformation of the lower nature of the mind, and freeing it from its outermost manifestations. From the circumference he goes to the centre.
We have found how external discipline is very necessary, because it has got a very great influence on the mind. If evil thoughts arise in the mind, the duty would be to inhibit the actions which come as their result. You know if a particular muscle is not exercised, it shrinks and becomes atrophied. Just like that, the physical action of the mind becomes atrophied. So a habit is formed. If a thought comes, the mind goes to the action constantly checking the senses, and this habit acts as a sort of Nirodha. Nirodha means something that checks. You make use of the pernicious nature of mind itself to counteract it. Counter the bad actions by good actions. This is Yama. This is the first stage in the attack directed against the lower mind for subduing it.
Ahimsa
The first of the Yamas or restraints is the practice of Ahimsa or non-injury. Two important points are to be borne in mind in this connection. Firstly, note that Ahimsa is not just non-killing, but, it means non-injury, indicating thereby that it is entire abstinence from causing any pain or harm whatsoever to any creature. The second point is that Yamas constitute universal vows. They are not conditioned or limited by class, time, place, circumstance, etc. The earnest aspirant should adhere strictly to them at any cost at all times. Their practice is not to be regarded as occasional or as a matter of desirable policy, but they are to become all-important principles dominating your life.
What is the special importance of Ahimsa in spiritual life? Why is it given the first place in Yamas? What are its true implication and significance? To understand this, you consider for a moment what is the meaning and purpose of spiritual life and Sadhana. Sadhana is the process of transforming the imperfect, limited human personality into the original unlimited splendour of perfect Divinity. Man has a lower animal nature, a human nature and the latent essential Divine nature which is his true Self. Spiritual life is the conquest and subdual of the animal nature and the sublimation of the human into the Divine nature.
Now in the light of the above, consider what is the chief characteristic of the brutal animal? It is ferociousness and cruelty. Therefore, the very first step in the conquest of the lower animalistic self in man is the eradication of this base, horrible propensity. Even the most civilised, most cultured, educated, refined and polished of people have this trait in them. Ladies, too! Even the so-called high class or aristocratic folks have this streak of sadism in them. Harshness and ill-treatment towards children by parents, servants by masters, daughters-in-law by mothers-in-law, wives by callous husbands, etc., are universally prevalent in modern society. Anger is the form and medium it expresses itself through. Therefore, Ahimsa or the vow to abstain from causing the least pain in thought, word or deed is prescribed by Maharshi Patanjali as the best and most efficacious means of eradicating this animal propensity from the nature of the aspirant.
Besides, the attainment of Divinity means the development and manifestation of the Godly nature. Daivi-Sampat or Divya Svabhava is to be cultivated. God is love. Love perfectly and entirely excludes all giving of pain or doing of harm. Thus violence and cruelty are totally incompatible with love. Santam, Sivam, Subham is the nature of the Divine Being and hence Ahimsa came to be regarded as the highest of virtues—“Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah”. Hence it is given the first place among the five items under Yama in Raja Yoga.
To turn away a beggar with a harsh refusal from your door is breach of Ahimsa. To thoughtlessly disappoint a person after giving him a definite promise and hope about some matter, is breach of Ahimsa. Slighting or showing deliberate discourtesy to a person before others is wanton cruelty. All harsh and rude speech is Himsa. To make another commit harm or even approve of another’s cruel action is breach of Ahimsa. To fail to relieve another’s pain or even to neglect to go to the help of a person in distress, too, is a sort of Himsa. It is the sin of omission. Wounding the feelings of others by gesture, expression, tone of voice and unkind words must be given up entirely if you are earnest in the practice of Ahimsa and really serious about your Sadhana and if you truly and sincerely want quick progress and attainment of eternal bliss and Kaivalya. What you practise, do it perfectly. Become embodiments of the divine quality of Ahimsa.
Satyam
The second of the universal vows, which Maharshi Patanjali lays down for the seeker to practise is the strict observance of Satyam or truthfulness. You have to be absolutely truthful, if you want to progress towards God, who is Truth. To realise the Truth, one must live in truth. One must grow into the very same form of Truth. Not a partial, but a perfect and comprehensive adherence to truth is, therefore, the second element in forming the foundation of the Sadhaka’s life.
As it has already been pointed out previously (in connection with Ahimsa), likewise here, too, you have to remember that these items of Yama have to be followed in a special sense by the Sadhaka or the seeker after Truth and not in a general Vyavaharic way. To the Sadhaka it is something more than a moral or ethical matter. It is important in a specially significant spiritual way. God or the Atman is the Supreme Sat. Everything other than That, is phenomenon, Asat. To follow truth thus implies the turning away from this Samsara which is Asat and expressing our firm allegiance to Divinity, the real Sat or Supreme Truth. Remember that God is Truth and through truth God can be realised. The practice of truth is the conscious and actual living of the prayer: “Asato Ma Sat Gamaya—From the unreal lead me to the Real”.
Truth is the law of the entire universe. All things follow this divine law. Each element is true to its nature. Each force in this universe is true to its nature. Each planet is true to its allotted course. Without this, the universe would lapse into chaos. If fire were to give up its heat or burning property, water were to discard its fluidity and coolness, and wind were to stop moving, then think what the fate of the creation would be! Truth, therefore, is the sustaining factor behind all. It is the very core and essence of Dharma which is the foundation of spiritual Sadhana and Divine Life. Hence it is that truth is regarded as superior to a thousand Asvamedha Yajnas. Truth outweighs even the study and knowledge of the Vedas. Being perfectly truthful is, therefore, the most important qualification of a Yogi and Sadhaka.
You should realise fully the extreme importance of this item of Yama. Never swerve from truth. Have no compromise with half-truth. Many forms of falsification and so-called harmless untruth have become part and parcel of present-day social life. Long usage and convention cannot make untruth a virtue. An earnest seeker who aspires to attain eternal bliss and immortal life should have nothing to do with untruth in any form whatsoever. Flattery is a form of untruth. You do not mean what you utter but shamelessly utter it just to obtain the favour of the other person. Exaggeration is another form of falsehood you indulge in just to create sensation and gain importance. Duplicity and diplomacy are other despicable sins against Satya. Be sincere and straight forward. Be open-hearted. If a truth be unpleasant or likely to pain or hurt another, then gently change the topic or just lovingly keep silent. Ahimsa must form part of truth. Doing dishonest actions must be strictly avoided. Hypocritical conduct, receiving bribes and rumour-mongering are all gross breaches of truth. The way to overcome and eradicate these is by earnest searching of your conscience. Have daily self-introspection and self-analysis. Find out the falsehood in your nature and behaviour. Endeavour to eliminate it. Pray to the Lord for strength in this important Sadhana. Make a firm resolution. You will succeed. You will soon be established in truth.
Truth is like blazing fire. Through truth alone will you be perfectly purified of all taints of the lower nature. Truth is to the aspirant what strength is to a strong man or a Sandow. It is a great armour to protect you against the temptations of the world. You can conquer the whole world by truth alone. If one is perfectly established in truth, whatever he utters will unfailingly turn out to be true. What he thinks also will at once take place. Truth will gradually transform your life into divinity. It is the bestower of Immortality and Bliss.
Live in truth. Be a personification of Satyam. Be true in thought, speech and action. ‘Being truthful’ means stating a thing as it is, or expressing a thing as it is. The real implication of truth is, therefore, being what you really are. It is manifesting your real essential inner nature, namely, Divinity or Sat-Chit-Ananda or Santam, Sivam, Subham, Sundaram. It does not consist in merely refraining from falsehood, but in expressing your true nature as described above, in thought, word and deed. To be false to your real Svabhava or Svarupa is a breach of truth.
O Sadhaka! You are pure Divine Spirit. To be pure, to be spiritual is to be true. To be undivine, to be impure or unspiritual is to be false. Your whole being, your entire conduct and every aspect of your life must manifest only the true Atmic nature. Truth denotes the practising of all the Daivi-Sampat as described in the Bhagavadgita.
O aspirants! If you are really earnest about Sadhana, if you want quick progress in spiritual life and if you are eager to attain the Goal of life, then stick to truth at any cost.
Brahmacharya
We shall now consider a very important item of the Raja Yogic Yama, viz., Brahmacharya or celibacy. Of the numerous laws of the spiritual path, this occupies a unique place of a very special importance and significance. The reason is that it provides the force or the motive power for the seeker’s ascent into higher planes. Brahmacharya makes spiritual unfoldment possible. It is to the Yogi what electricity is to an electric lift or electric train. Without it, the Sadhaka cannot progress at all or rise up in the Yoga-Marga or the path of Yoga.
Any movement or activity requires some force or power to animate and propel it. A subtler and superior sort of activity needs a correspondingly subtler and superior force to energise it. Spiritual Sadhana is the highest and greatest form of struggle the human being engages in. It requires tremendous energy and an abundance of nerve-power of a high order. This Sakti is acquired through the earnest practice of Brahmacharya. Warfare with the turbulent senses and the treacherous mind can be successfully carried on only with the strength born out of perfect continence. Therefore, great stress is laid on this virtue in every Yoga, to all seekers, wherever they are, and whichever religion they might profess.
How does Brahmacharya bestow this super-force? It does so through a fourfold process. There is in man a storehouse of mysterious energy. This animates his entire being. This energy resident in the human being manifests itself in two aspects. The gross aspect is in the form of sensual force, continuously expressing itself through the restless Indriyas. The subtle aspect is spiritual in nature and tends to raise you into higher planes of consciousness. At its lowest it is carnal passion or lust and at its highest it is Ojas-Sakti, the radiant energy that feeds the intense flame of deep meditation of the advanced seeker and Yogi. Brahmacharya aims at and achieves the refinement of the physical vital energy and its sublimation into spiritual Ojas-Sakti. Thus to the wise spiritual aspirant Brahmacharya or continence or celibacy is not a matter of suppression or repression, but is a positive, dynamic convertive process.
The process is, therefore, a fourfold one of controlling the animal energy, conserving it, then diverting it into higher channels and finally converting it into something altogether superphysical, i.e., into divine Ojas.
Your energy leaks away continuously through the senses that are slaves to craving. This wastage must be stopped. Self-restraint or Dama or Indriya-Nigraha is indispensable to Brahmacharya. Thus to the seeker, Brahmacharya does not merely mean the control over the sexual impulse, but implies perfect restraint over every sense of his in order to achieve the conquest of lust. It is comprehensive Dama. The spirit of Brahmacharya must pervade your entire life and all your actions.
The power gained as you progress in celibate life must be carefully conserved. You have to safeguard it as a precious treasure. The earnest seeker would rather lose his life than lose his Brahmacharya. You can conserve it through ceaseless vigilance and sincere Vichara every moment of your life. Safeguard yourself against the error of foolishly imagining that you have succeeded in getting rid of lust by the mere fact of having lived a single life for a number of years or experiencing a little feeling of serenity or purity.
Sex-energy or lust is the most deep-rooted instinct in man. It is the oldest of factors that have gone into the constitution of the human being. Right up from the earliest stage of evolution through the ages, the instinctive urge for reproduction and multiplication has been kept up by the power of lust. Thus, despite all efforts at controlling and conserving the power, it tries to manifest itself forcibly and overwhelm the Sadhaka. Herein arises the need to intelligently divert the energy by suitable devices into pure channels. Asanas, Pranayama, Mudras, Kriyas, active Seva and pure activity of all kinds help to divert it inward and flow upward. To keep the mind constantly engaged in Sadhana is one of the great secrets of Brahmacharya.
Gradually this energy is converted into pure spiritual energy. It is transmuted through Sadhana. The result of this sublimation is Ojas-Sakti by which the Sadhaka is enabled to do Dharana, Dhyana and enter into deep Samadhi or Bliss-state of Superconsciousness.
You can now realise the supreme importance of Brahmacharya. The spiritual aspirant, who carelessly neglects this all-important Yama never progresses in spiritual life, Sadhana is impossible without Brahmacharya which expresses itself as perfect purity in thought, word and deed. Every thought, feeling and sentiment of the aspirant must be as pure as crystal. His character must be spotless. Even the least or the slightest trace of sensuality ought not to taint the nature of the Brahmachari. You should be inspired by a positive passion for purity. There must be the burning desire to be spotlessly pure. Even the idea of lust should never enter the mind. This should be the standard that the aspirant should strive to attain.
The conventional conception of Brahmacharya is misleading. In common parlance, Brahmacharya has come to mean bachelorhood. The question is frequently asked: “Are you married or are you a Brahmachari?” This is the degraded plight of our culture at the present day. The glory and the grandeur of the Brahmacharya-ideal have been forgotten. A true Brahmachari is a veritable God upon earth. This is why great ones like Sri Suka, Bhishma, Hanuman and Lakshmana are remembered and worshipped even to this day. Brahmacharya is not mere bachelorhood. To the spiritual aspirant it is deeply significant. It is a virtue that follows from truth. Absolute purity is essentially a quality of divinity. Your real nature is Divine. If we are to be true to our nature and to our Self and manifest this truth, then at every moment of our being, in every breath, thought, speech and action, we should consciously and deliberately strive to manifest this grand aspect of our inner nature, namely, the perfection of purity. Thus alone will you be able to get established in Brahmacharya in its real sense. Such Brahmacharya will lead to Brahma-Sakshatkara or the realisation of the Absolute.
Asteya
In the foregoing paragraphs you have got a clear idea of three important virtues that constitute the Raja Yogic Yama. A fourth restraint belonging to this group is abstinence from pilfering habit. It is termed Asteya or non-stealing or avoidance of theft. It may seem somewhat surprising that such an injunction is laid down at all. Who would suppose that stealing could be a common weakness? But, for Sage Patanjali to have laid down this restraint, there must have been sufficient reason. This is a widespread evil. How universally prevalent this defect is will become apparent presently, when we consider the different forms this trait assumes in the human character.
Every action by which you appropriate to yourself more than what is actually necessary for yourself, is from strict ethical and spiritual standards a kind of theft really. To eat more than what is actually necessary is considered to be theft. Wanton waste is theft, for thereby you deprive another of something that may be of use to him. Hoarding wealth is theft. Extravagance of any kind, luxury, spending merely for show or to keep up false prestige—all these constitute theft judged from the standpoint of true Asteya. Simple and plain living is the best way of observing Asteya.
Modern civilisation has introduced countless avenues of spending money pleasantly. Right from childhood the youngsters of today want pocket-money for purchases and entertainments. Petty pilfering from the father’s pocket or elder brother’s pocket for smoking, cinema, cycle-ride, cricket-match, etc., is a common feature. To take away something without the knowledge of others, is applauded as something ‘very clever’ in schoolboy circles. It is treated as a ‘good joke’. Later on as college boys, it is uncommon for youths to dash past the ticket-collector at the railway station barrier muttering a non-challenging ‘pass’ or ‘season-ticket’ when there is in reality neither the one nor the other. For a party of collegians to have a good feed at a restaurant and confuse the poor waiter in totalling up the bill is not at all considered in the light of a theft that it really is, but passed off as a huge joke.
The average man in society has no qualms of conscience in passing off a dud-coin in a transaction or coolly pocketing the excess change that a shop-keeper might unwittingly have given. One does not hesitate to obtain a permit for sugar or some coupons for petrol by bribing. Rationed articles are obtained “black” and the dealer turns away a number of poor card-holders on some false pretext. Well-to-do passengers manage to get away their pet dogs without proper railway ticket and also pass off excess luggage by ‘arrangements’. In this way the modern man is made. All these actions constitute theft. Every stealthy action which you wish to do and yet conceal from the gaze of others is an offence against Asteya. One who truly believes in the all-pervasive presence of the Almighty Being will never commit anything that savours of stealth or appropriation.
Most of average man’s actions are the outcome of selfishness and greed. The senses hanker after numerous things. You have a great many desires. You keenly wish to obtain many things for yourself. When you cannot get them all and satisfy many of your wants you try to get them somehow or other by sly and improper means. All such acquisition is equal to theft. One should be satisfied with what one gets through perfectly honest and truthful means. One should not desire to possess anything that does not rightfully belong to him. Such a desire itself is the seed of theft. Breach of Asteya is the direct result of your inability to control the craving for sense-enjoyment. When you have powerful Indriyas the uncontrolled mind wants many things; then the pilfering nature enters the mind. Therefore, the real cause of theft is too many desires and undisciplined senses. Desires and sense-cravings blind the ethical sense and blunt the conscience. To abstain from theft of any kind, you must curb your desires, discipline the Indriyas and control the mind.
Aparigraha
The fifth item under Yama is Aparigraha. It is non-receiving of articles of luxury. Only take that much as is necessary for your living—simple living and not sensuous indulgence. Of course, the standard of life differs from person to person. For instance a prince’s interpretation of Aparigraha will be something different from that of a peasant. The peasant is accustomed to take simple food, perhaps four Rottis and some Dal. And if a prince also says, “I will also take four Rottis and Dal alone”, he will get dysentery. So you must use common-sense in determining what is necessary for your living and what is luxury for you. A man living in the tropics may not need a coat. But to a man living in the frigid zones, Aparigraha means not keeping more than the minimum number of coats. If he refuses to wear coats thinking that they are a luxury, he will surely die. So, you must know in what circumstances God has placed you and know the meaning of Aparigraha.
Stern necessities of life only are to be accepted. Gandhiji in one place said that he who eats more than what he requires is a thief, for he deprives another man of what he needs. One should not keep or try to get in possession anything beyond the very necessaries of life. Gifts from others affect the receiver. As people are extremely selfish, they make presents with various motives. The mind of the receiver becomes impure by receiving gifts. A student of Yoga should, therefore, avoid gifts. Aparigraha removes anxiety to preserve, fear of loss, sorrow in loss, hatred, anger, untruthfulness, stealing, attachment, disappointment, agitation of mind, restlessness, cares and worries. It gives peace, contentment and satisfaction.
Niyama
We have seen in the previous pages how important is the purification wrought in Yama, the first stage of the eightfold Yoga expounded by Maharshi Patanjali. Practice of Yama purifies one’s nature and establishes him in Sadachara or perfect goodness. Goodness may be enough for success in Vyavaharic life. But here in spiritual life the seeker is of a distinct type, who has set for himself a unique aim altogether lofty and different from the common idealism of the ordinary run of man who knows only the external world, who has got value only for the things present in the world and whose activities are directed towards the attainment of the objects of the world. The worldly man has his gaze outward, whereas the seeker through his discriminating faculty, his intellect, has been convinced that all the vast range of phenomena is temporary and passing. For a short while, they play on the stage of life and vanish. He says that anything impermanent can never give eternal satisfaction. The pleasure which you draw from a perishable object has to cease when the object perishes. When the object is there pleasure comes and when the object goes pleasure also comes to an end. Sorrow is experienced when your pleasure-centre is removed. The perishable things of this world cannot give you eternal satisfaction. But the seeker is after eternal satisfaction—not the apparent satisfaction which ultimately leads to dissatisfaction but the attainment of something which will bestow fullness. His aim is the highest consciousness of the infinite plenitude where there is no more desire, no more want, and therefore, no more sorrow. Having set himself for that attainment, he thinks that mere goodness is not enough. It may be all right for a man for whom the worldly life is his all. To rise above dualities and to have the experience of that eternal absolute state and to have Atmic consciousness—for that he is striving and therefore he has to proceed further, not being satisfied with a mere virtuous life. All people may adore him and follow him, but he has to rise higher. Therefore, in addition to becoming saintly and moral, he seeks to become spiritual also. His life has to rise from Sadachara to spirituality. That is his aim, and therefore, the second, Niyama, is prescribed, which consists of some observances that will lead you further in the spiritual path.
We have found that Sage Patanjali has based his approach on a very scientific study of the composition of man. He has made the study of the universal man completely devoid of any association of culture or caste or creed or religion—man as he is, as God created him and put him on the terrestrial plane. He made a study in that way and found that man is a centre of consciousness, knowledge and existence, and this central fact of man’s being is covered over by three very distinct sheaths. The first is the grossest physical covering, the body, the most perishable, and the second is the mental sheath which thinks, and from which ideas come and feelings are generated. The whole worth of the life of man is kept up by the activity of the mental man, and the liaison officer connecting the mental man and the physical man, the peculiar force, the animating energy which enables the ideas of the mind to become translated into action, is the intermediate sheath called the Pranamaya Kosa or vital sheath.
So the physical body, the energy-body and the mental body—within these treble layers the essential man is caught up, who is of the nature of pure Being. He feels himself “I am” and this existence principle is asserted and expressed through the ego-consciousness which is the thing that expresses the centre of man’s consciousness. When as an individual human being he feels, he knows his ‘be-ness’, because he feels ‘I am’, and therefore when he proceeds to approach the problem of getting at the root of human consciousness, the wrong thought of this body, ‘I am this body’, ‘I am this person’, ‘this is the world’—this wrong thought is kept up by the mind. In approaching the mind’s transformation, he scientifically proceeds from the grossest plane to the subtler until he reaches his essential nature or Svarupa. The ultimate approach to Svarupa is done through deep meditation to the total exclusion of all other ideas. Mind becomes the very form of that supreme Consciousness. By meditating on Satchidananda, ‘I exist’, ‘I am Light’, ‘I am Bliss’, ‘I am Knowledge’, the mind becomes completely absorbed in that idea. That is given for the awakening of intuition in man, which enables him to know his real nature as he is, which alone brings him face to face with the Truth. That is the ultimate last stage.
The approach starts from the body; and in this scientific approach Sage Patanjali first took the external-most aspect of the body in the form of actions. At least control the actions, transform them and turn them to be good. Do not do bad, harsh, destructive acts. So to change the actions, a systematic training to remove from one’s nature all the evil tendencies and to replace them by noble, divine qualities, was the very first step of this scientific approach of Patanjali to the problem of Yoga, so that the aspirant will give up his evil nature. That step is called Yama in which we have found included the five fundamental virtues, Ahimsa, Satyam, Brahmacharya, Asteya and Aparigraha—non-injury, truthfulness, celibacy, non-stealing and non-covetousness.
Now we proceed to Niyama—certain observances to be included as part and parcel of one’s daily routine. It consists of Saucha (internal and external purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity), Svadhyaya (study of scriptures) and Isvarapranidhana (self-surrender to the Lord). The purpose behind this Niyama is to channelise one’s life Godward.
Saucha
The first of the Niyamas is the practice of Saucha, cleanliness, both external and internal. In the beginning, the condition of the body has got a considerable effect on the mind. Therefore, you have to keep the body in a state of sanctity, so that the mind also may reflect this quality of the body. The body should be purified internally also. You should take pure food. If you eat dirty flesh of pig, your mind will also become dirty.
Our ancients have divided things into three qualities—Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. The diet of an aspirant should be Sattvic. Why? Here also it is based upon the experience and discovery of certain laws. All people know that diet has got a direct effect upon the body. The quality of the food immediately affects the body. If you eat very heating things, you may get dysentery, or your eyes may be affected. If you eat things which will produce wind, you may suffer from rheumatism. In extreme type of food, the effect is immediate. If you drink intoxicating liquor, the mind will at once go out of control. There are some foods whose effects are gradual. The quality of the food accumulates in the system and the nature of the mind begins to reflect that quality. So it is more dangerous, because it is insidious, whereas liquor etc., act immediately. So we have to take into account the classification of food into Sattva, Rajas and Tamas and see that the internal purity is maintained by Sattvic food.
Do not take into the body all sorts of impure things, without thinking whether they are pure or impure. Why? Here also there is an important law. ‘Sound mind in a sound body’ is a well-known adage. There is another saying, ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’. We, in our lowest stage, are body-bound and however much we may invoke the highest Vedantic thoughts, the primary thought is: “I am this body”. As long as this body-consciousness is the dominant factor in our life, so long we have to see that the effect that the body has upon the mind is always positive, elevating and purifying. So the influence of the body upon mind is emphasised. Therefore, keep the body clean, then the mind will also become clean. When things that are not pure for the mind come, automatically the mind should feel a sort of repugnance. That is external and internal cleanliness. Of course, throughout Yoga one must use one’s commonsense. You must not take the principles of cleanliness into a fad. Commonsense should always be used. Otherwise eccentricity will be the result. The Sadhaka should always be sane.
And now another reason. What is the effect of controlling your actions without minding what the mind thinks? “Let the mind think what it wills. I will not allow it to goad me into action.” What is the meaning of it? There is a saying amongst villagers that as long as a tiger or a wild animal has not tasted human blood, until then, it always fears man. It never kills him. It may attack cows, goats, sheep, but it does not attack a man. But, they say, once it tastes human blood then it becomes a man-eater. Thereafter it always attacks man and never leaves him. There is a story.
A man brought up a cub and it grew into a tiger. It was absolutely tame, because it was only fed upon the food which the master gave. He had never given it raw flesh. Once when the master was sitting on an easy-chair and reading the newspaper, he went asleep and playfully the tiger began to lick the finger of the master. The licking was so strong that little by little the skin was punctured and blood began to ooze from the finger-tips. When the blood began to ooze, it got a taste which it never had before. The master woke up and found that it was drinking the blood and he shouted. After that he found a change in the pet, and it had a peculiar look and within a few days it had to be shot. The mind is more than a thousand tigers, and once a particular action is indulged in, it becomes an inveterate addict to that action. Addiction to action comes in a split second to the mind. Therefore, you have to follow strict rules, regarding habits of living. They are not to be dismissed as being unimportant or superfluous. They are important parts of Yoga.
Santosha
Then comes Santosha. This conception is rather difficult to be properly understood. Santosha means a habit of contentment and cheerfulness. This is a virtue which is very highly lauded. Contentment is a continued feast. It is said that a king was always so much full of worry, troubles and anxiety about his kingdom and his duties as a king that he said, if he could find one man who is absolutely cheerful, he would pay anything to that man and bring him. He sent some messengers to find out a really happy man. The messengers went in search of such a man. They found a shepherd who was always singing as though he was full of happiness, and he was brought to the king. He said: “I am satisfied with two loaves of bread a day. I do not want anything more”. The secret of his happiness was he was contented with what little he got. This contentment is a very great virtue. It is very difficult to understand what contentment is. Some argue that contentment would put a stop to all progress and that only when man has got greater and greater ambitions, he will be goaded to do further actions and make further progress. But what is progress? Progress in worldly matters will only bind us more and more. This world is a mere valueless husk to be rejected, and therefore, such progress is a virtue which has got no value in the eye of a seeker. For him the sense of value is different. The seeker says that in the pleasures of the world does not lie the realisation of his true nature. The grandeur of Self-realisation cannot be found in all the pleasures of the world put together. The answer given by Nachiketas in the Kathopanishad gives us the true sense of value. What is worthwhile and what is not worthwhile, we should know. “Is it permanent; is it lasting?”—that was the question that Nachiketas put. He said: “I do not want that which lasts for two days and then passes away. I want that which is eternal”. That is the criterion which the seeker takes and when he does so, all the pleasures of the world fail. Everything is perishable. He said: “Reject the whole thing; let it go to hell. I do not want it.” This is the seeker’s attitude. Whatever God has given you be absolutely contented with that. “Why God has given me this kind of nose?” Never entertain such thoughts. Take a keen joy in having what you have.
You always brood over what you have not got and what other persons have got. It is the greatest trick of the mind to keep you in sorrow. A territory chieftain thinks that he should become a king. A king wants to become an emperor and an emperor wants to conquer the whole world. The beggarliness of the mind can never be satisfied. The world ruler thinks that he must become the lord of the heaven, and if he becomes the lord of the heaven, Indra, then he will think something else. So, from the highest Brahma, who is the lord of creation, there is only dissatisfaction. But a man who is wearing rags, if he is contented, is happy. So be contented in whatever position He has placed you. Whatever be your abilities, whatever be your talents, whatever wealth you have got, whatever daily needs you get, be contented with them. Then you have got the key to all happiness and peace.
One more important thing. When you get contentment all rivalry goes away. Otherwise you will think: “That man has got that, I have not got that”. This jealousy is there. But when contentment is there, you are happy. The spirit of rivalry disappears. Out of rivalry comes jealousy, envy, competition, hostility. If you cannot get what another has got, you at least try to deprive him of what he has got and bring him to your own level. Human jealousy is such that if you cannot rise to another man’s level, you want to pull him down to your level. You make some bad reports about him. So all these things come due to absence of contentment. Contentment gives a wonderful purifying effect to the mind. Mind is rid of hostility and pettiness and this action which contentment has upon the mind tends to purify the mind. Have serenity which is the essential prerequisite for contentment.
This contentment should not be applied in your Sadhana. There you must have infinite discontent. You should not be content with your devotion, or with your love for the Lord, your development of mercy, etc. You should feel: “I am still imperfect. Where is my devotion?” You should always compare yourself with the great souls who have gone through the agony of separation from the Lord, like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramalingaswamy and others. Their agony made it impossible for the Lord to deny them His Darsan. So in the spiritual field, you should have discontent for your attainments.
Tapas
What is Tapas? There are so many conceptions, some ignorant and absurd. Some people think that if you stand with one leg raised or one hand raised, that is Tapas. Standing in cold water in winter, standing on one’s head, burying oneself in earth—these are considered to be various forms of Tapas. But what is actual T