FUNDAMENTALS OF THE YOGA SYSTEM OF PATANJALI

[Guest guest]

FUNDAMENTALS OF THE YOGA SYSTEM OF PATANJALI

 

It is difficult to believe that the implications of the

teachings of Patanjali can be easily grasped even by the highest

academic intellect, because it is nothing but intricate practice that

is being taught in this system. It is not merely a theory, not a

doctrine or a faith or a religion that is propounded in these famous

aphorisms. It is a technique of practice or conduct in personal life

which is supposed to go into the very roots and vitals of the system

and bring about a thorough transformation of the various patterns of

manifestation of the individual organism. The system of Patanjali is

an utter realism in the sense that it does not go beyond the ken of

immediate experience or perception at any stage of practice. It

avoids any kind of extreme idealism or theory or dogma and concerns

itself only with those aspects and features of experience in human

life which are part and parcel of one's practical existence.

 

In this practice, not one step is missed. Not one step is ever

taken into consideration if it had not become a practical content of

one's day-to-day experience. Thus it is that we can very safely call

this a scientific method of approach to life. It is scientific

because it is the most systematic approach to life and it is the most

inclusive of all the approaches. It includes all possible aspects of

human nature. It starts from the lowest type of experience and

aspires to reach the highest possible existence. It is a very

graduated technique and it is a system of living that can be applied

to every human being.

 

The Yoga system is an impersonal approach of a psychological

character and it may be said to be nothing but psychology applied to

practical life, or one may say, it is applied psychology going deeper

into the roots of human nature, not exhausting its researches on the

conscious level merely as the Western psychologists are prone to do.

The levels of human personality are the objects of research here and

therefore Yoga is not only psychology and psycho-analysis but also

the theory of perception of things. It is also a philosophy, a

metaphysics, and it is at the same time an ethical and moral goal,—it

is the highest spiritual philosophy. So you have in it everything that

any system of thought can regard as the essential of a teaching on the

Higher Life.

 

It is not possible to understand this system unless one has some

acquaintance with psychology, because, it is a system of psychological

analysis and synthesis. It analyses threadbare every fibre of human

nature and personality and also synthesises these analysed parts into

an organic whole. What it does exactly is the isolating of the parts

of human nature for the purpose of arranging them once again into a

new pattern altogether,—a necessity that arises on account of the

fact that the existing pattern is a chaotic one. The parts or aspects

of human nature as they operate in normal or ordinary life are

disorganised patterns, a kind of confusion and a muddle, which is the

reason why people are unable to think dispassionately, impersonally

and thoroughly. Patanjali's system adopts a diagnostic system of

analysis. It pulls apart every aspect of human nature into its

minutest components. For this purpose, it lets nature be reduced to

the minimum essentials to be analysed, until you find it is not

possible to analyse further, exactly as in medical science. And then

the constructive aspect of the system begins.

 

What is the condition in which one is now at this given moment

of time, and what is the reason for the prevalence of this condition?

The prevalence of any particular state is due to the character of a

particular pattern of the arrangement of the parts of the personality

as it appears on the surface. Is it a satisfactory pattern, is the

question. Well, the answer is simple. It is not a satisfactory one;

otherwise there would have been no sorrow, no aspiration to achieve

something more than what we have already. That we are restless and

hope to achieve something more than what we have at present is an

indication that our present system of living is inadequate,

incomplete and therefore not satisfactory. This is the stand which

the Yoga system, as a psychology, takes, and tries to reorganise this

system into a proper form or shape which can reflect in its perfection

the character of Reality. The sufferings of human life, the sorrows

through which we pass and the shortcomings that we see in our

personal lives are an indication that the present pattern of our

psychological set-up is incapable of reflecting the character of

Reality.

 

The Real is a perfect whole; it is an invisible completeness;

and what we seek in life is perfection or completeness, because

Reality is a well-ordered completeness. When this ordered system of

completeness or perfection is reflected in the psychological

condition of human nature at any given moment of time, then there is

a feeling of satisfaction, joy, a sense of freedom and a feeling that

we have achieved something worthwhile in life. But the absence of this

feeling is an indication, again, that the nature of Reality has not

been reflected in our system, which means that the medium of

reflection is not properly constructed. So the Yoga system of

Patanjali endeavours to prepare the individual for the reception of

the nature of Reality into one's system, so that life becomes an

ordered whole not only personally or individually but also in all its

manifestations such as social life, political life, etc.

 

The Yoga system, therefore, is a universal science; it is not an

individual practice that one adopts privately in one's room for one's

own salvation. There is always a misconception born of a

short-sighted notion of the purpose of the practice of Yoga, due to

which many people wrongly think that the practice of Yoga is a system

of an individual salvation. It is not. Though the preparatory

techniques are individual in the sense that it is 'you' or 'I' that

have to make the preparation for the ideal on hand, yet, the aim is

not personal. The preparation may appear to be personal or

individual, because everyone is to be prepared in a specific manner,

according to one's endowments, but the purpose is something more than

the individual organism or thought- pattern. The aim of this practice

is a growth, gradually, into universality, which is the mother even

of the individual natures or personalities that are visible in

practical life. We are persons, individuals, not apparently related

to one another. That is the reason for the prevalence of selfishness

in human life. But, that we are really unrelated to one another is

not a fact. There is an interconnectedness among individuals, which

is hidden behind their visible disparity, and which is the reflection

of the universal in their personal and social lives.

 

The universal need not necessarily be the absolute universal

always. When we speak of the universal from the point of view of the

system of Yoga according to Patanjali, the universal is any

comprehensive state which immediately supersedes any given condition

of psychological life. When there is a vision of the presence of a

more inclusive state psychologically, socially and spiritually, one

is supposed to be aware of the presence of a universal transcending

one's individual existence. And when the next higher state of

universality is envisaged, that becomes a part of one's practical

experience. These are actually the stages of practice known as

Samapattis, sometimes known as Samadhis,—acquirements or

achievements. We have very strange terms used in the Sutras of

Patanjali such as the words, Vitarka, Vichara, Ananda, Asmita, etc.,

all which refer to the various gradations of the manifestation of the

universal in individual experience wherein and by which the individual

becomes gradually universalised, stage by stage. So it is from this

point of view that the Yoga system of Patanjali is a realistic

system. It does not abrogate from its approach any ideal of life or

any perceivable object of experience.

 

The psychological analysis preparatory for this is something

very important and that is the most difficult part of the practice.

The parts of human nature, which is essentially psychological, are

known as Klesas, or afflictions. The term Klesa is used by Patanjali

to designate a particular psychological function merely because of

the fact that every psychological function is an 'affliction' of the

individual. It is an unnatural state of affairs; it is something not

real. It is an apparent manifestation which is supposed to be

overcome, transcended, as a sort of disease. The reason why every

psychological function is regarded as a Klesa is because the function

of the mind or the psychological organism as it is seen in normal life

is motivated by factors which are incompatible with the nature of

Reality.

 

The very act of perception of an object cannot be regarded as a

contact with real objects, because these realities which are invested

with the forms which one sees with one's eyes, due to which one

regards them as realities, are only apparent formations or

configurations which are presented before the eyes due to the

operation of powers or forces invisible to the naked eyes. The human

system cannot, therefore, grasp the real cause behind the appearance

of these objects. You see many things in front of you and there is

usually no reason to believe that there is something wrong with these

perceptions, which are called normal perceptions. But, what you call

'normal' perception need not necessarily be a 'real' perception from

the point of view of Yoga at least. It is not 'real' because it is

'subject to transcendence'. The definition of Reality is that it is

that which is not subject to transcendence by any kind of experience.

If any experience is subject to contradiction by another type of

experience at any time in the future, we cannot call that experience

real. Now, can we say that our experiences in the waking state are

not subject to contradiction? No one can say that. We do not know

what experiences we passed through in our previous lives. Where are

our relatives and possessions that we held as dear in our past

existences? What happened to them? No one thinks of these things,

because to think of them would be a horror. Reality would look like a

horror to a person sunk in ignorance.

 

Ignorance (Avidya) is the breeding ground of all the sorrows of

mankind, due to which there is attachment to immediate perception.

There is Raga and Dvesha, attraction and repulsion. There is like for

those experiences which are regarded as desirable, and a natural

dislike for those experiences which are the opposite of or different

from the types of experience which we regard as desirable to the

present state of the mind. That which we call desirable, pleasant,

beautiful, etc. is that arrangement of things which is compatible

with the arrangement of the mind in the present set-up of current

affairs. The condition of the mind at any moment of time is the

outcome or effect of those forces, invisible of course, which have

become responsible for the manifestation of the personality in this

physical existence,—one's bodily organism, way of thinking and social

relationship,-—Jati, Ayu and Bhoga. All these experiences which we

take as the only reality today are a fraction or a kind of link in

the long chain of development through which the individual has to

pass, which development or process is usually called the evolution of

the individual. We are completely oblivious of this long chain. We do

not know the previous link and we do not know the future link also.

We are stuck up in the present link only. This present link is the

vast life which we are living today. All what you see,—this world,

the sun, moon, stars, the stellar system, etc.—is only one link in a

long chain of development, which is the evolution of the universe

towards a realisation that is totally outside the vision of the mind

at the present moment.

 

So, the loves and hatreds, the likes and dislikes, the

attachments and their opposites, which characterise the experiences

in our present life are caused by ignorance, or Avidya. What is

Avidya? It is an ignorance of the true nature of things. The fact is

that the present life, the so-called wonderful, vast life, is a small

fraction of a vaster existence, which presses itself forward every

moment for manifesting itself in higher degrees of intensity, the

pressure being called the 'nisus' or the urge for evolution. The

reason why you are dissatisfied with anything and everything in life

at all times, is the presence of this urge of the universe behind

you. Can you find one satisfied person in the world? No. The

satisfaction does not come because the things that are provided for

by this physical existence, this vast universe, this world, to the

individual nature at this time cannot satisfy that invisible

something, which has reference to the present shape of the individual

which is mistaken for the total reality. We are making the gross error

of imagining that our present physical or social existence is the only

reality conceivable, though it is only one form that is taken by the

infinite possibilities which are hidden in the bosoms of Nature, and

which are going to be manifested one day or the other, in the future,

during the different levels of evolution yet to be passed through, and

the inability to grasp the relevance of these future possibilities to

the present state of affairs is what is called Avidya or ignorance.

 

We are unable to connect ourselves with the true state of

things. The inability to understand or grasp the relation between

appearance and Reality is called ignorance. This is the cause of our

present experience, Klesa, etc. These difficulties which are wholly

psychological have to be obviated root and branch; this is the

purpose of Yoga. The very root of the disease has to be dug out and

brought to the surface of consciousness and one has to be made

perfectly healthy so that the total reality can be reflected in the

personality. That condition in which Reality gets reflected in one's

personality is called the Jivanmukti state; that is the liberated

state. Towards this end the Yoga technique endeavours to bring

forward the various sides of human nature in its vital connections

with the different aspects of Reality manifest as this cosmos.

 

The Klesas or the psychological functions which we are expected

to arrange in a new order altogether for the purpose of harmonising

them with the existing nature of things,—this endeavour is, in short,

the preparation necessary for the practice of Yoga! The various stages

mentioned in the system of Patanjali— Yama, Niyama, Asana, etc.—are

the gradational processes of establishing communion or harmony with

the immediate atmosphere present around oneself. The social

atmosphere, the physical body, the Pranas within, the senses that

operate inside, the mind that thinks, the intellect that understands

and the Spirit that is all- pervading—with all these layers of being

we have to set ourselves in tune. Thus, the Yoga System of Patanjali

is a graduated technique of setting oneself in tune with the various

degrees of the manifestation of Reality. So it is a very satisfactory

system, because it takes into consideration every degree of

manifestation of Reality, even the worst, the lowest and the grossest

of shapes; and from that it rises upward, taking that as its stand,

towards the great Absolute.

[Guest guest]

OM Seshadri

 

Another excellent post. It presents the Raja Yoga of Patanjali in

very clear terms.

 

You mention psychology quite a lot in this post. In this context,

'psychology' to me means the habitual ways that we respond to

our perceptions of our world. Some of these habits develop out

of the operation of the Gunas; some out of the Kleshas; some

out of the operation of our limited and distorting senses; some

out of the conditioning of we receive from birth from parents,

school, country, religion, peers, workplace, etc; and some from

the effects of the karma of past lives.

 

Our first task is to develop self-awareness, an awareness of

these habitual ways of thinking and reacting. This is Viveka and

Vairagya. Our next task is to keep pushing past these obstacles

that veil our perception of Reality. We discard those that keep us

from Brahman and we keep those that take us closer to

Brahman. This process of discarding impediments and moving

closer to Brahman is Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. We might

either overcome these obstacles or simply leave them behind.

We might transform or transcend the obstacles.

 

You are correct that Patanjali presents a science of being in the

sense that the system he presents 'works' every time for

everyone. It does not 'work' at the same rate for all because

people have different karmic influences that need to be

addressed. But the process is the same for all and the final

result, Moksha. is the same for all.

 

Patanjali's Raja Yoga system is also a personal sadhana for all.

It requires one to practice it with diligence, curiousity,

fearlessness, serenity and humility every second of one's time

on earth. Patanjali's Raja Yoga system is elegant but also

difficult to apply not only because of its rigorous nature and its

demands that we be completely honest about ourselves but also

because it requires us to give up Raga, those little things that we

like to savour in our daily life and to embrace Dvesha, those

things we resist daily.

 

Raja Yoga may be difficult for many to practice but the result is

Moksha, Satchidananda.

 

The key is to not get discouraged. Simply recognize that you have

made choices that take you further away from Moksha, try to

understand why you made those choices and resolve to do

better the next time, the next second. No guilt. The practice of

Ahimsa starts with being kind to yourself, practicing non-injury

toward yourself.

 

OM Namah Sivaya

 

Omprem

 

 

 

 

 

 

, "Seshadri" <dksesh@h...> wrote:

> FUNDAMENTALS OF THE YOGA SYSTEM OF PATANJALI

>

> It is difficult to believe that the implications of the teachings

of Patanjali can be easily grasped even by the highest academic

intellect, because it is nothing but intricate practice that is being

taught in this system. It is not merely a theory, not a doctrine or a

faith or a religion that is propounded in these famous

aphorisms. It is a technique of practice or conduct in personal

life which is supposed to go into the very roots and vitals of the

system and bring about a thorough transformation of the various

patterns of manifestation of the individual organism. The system

of Patanjali is an utter realism in the sense that it does not go

beyond the ken of immediate experience or perception at any

stage of practice. It avoids any kind of extreme idealism or theory

or dogma and concerns itself only with those aspects and

features of experience in human life which are part and parcel of

one's practical existence.

>

> In this practice, not one step is missed. Not one step is

ever taken into consideration if it had not become a practical

content of one's day-to-day experience. Thus it is that we can very

safely call this a scientific method of approach to life. It is

scientific because it is the most systematic approach to life and

it is the most inclusive of all the approaches. It includes all

possible aspects of human nature. It starts from the lowest type

of experience and aspires to reach the highest possible

existence. It is a very graduated technique and it is a system of

living that can be applied to every human being.

>

> The Yoga system is an impersonal approach of a

psychological character and it may be said to be nothing but

psychology applied to practical life, or one may say, it is applied

psychology going deeper into the roots of human nature, not

exhausting its researches on the conscious level merely as the

Western psychologists are prone to do. The levels of human

personality are the objects of research here and therefore Yoga

is not only psychology and psycho-analysis but also the theory of

perception of things. It is also a philosophy, a metaphysics, and

it is at the same time an ethical and moral goal,-it is the highest

spiritual philosophy. So you have in it everything that any system

of thought can regard as the essential of a teaching on the

Higher Life.

>

> It is not possible to understand this system unless one has

some acquaintance with psychology, because, it is a system of

psychological analysis and synthesis. It analyses threadbare

every fibre of human nature and personality and also

synthesises these analysed parts into an organic whole. What it

does exactly is the isolating of the parts of human nature for the

purpose of arranging them once again into a new pattern

altogether,-a necessity that arises on account of the fact that the

existing pattern is a chaotic one. The parts or aspects of human

nature as they operate in normal or ordinary life are

disorganised patterns, a kind of confusion and a muddle, which

is the reason why people are unable to think dispassionately,

impersonally and thoroughly. Patanjali's system adopts a

diagnostic system of analysis. It pulls apart every aspect of

human nature into its minutest components. For this purpose, it

lets nature be reduced to the minimum essentials to be

analysed, until you find it is not possible to analyse further,

exactly as in medical science. And then the constructive aspect

of the system begins.

>

> What is the condition in which one is now at this given

moment of time, and what is the reason for the prevalence of this

condition? The prevalence of any particular state is due to the

character of a particular pattern of the arrangement of the parts of

the personality as it appears on the surface. Is it a satisfactory

pattern, is the question. Well, the answer is simple. It is not a

satisfactory one; otherwise there would have been no sorrow, no

aspiration to achieve something more than what we have

already. That we are restless and hope to achieve something

more than what we have at present is an indication that our

present system of living is inadequate, incomplete and therefore

not satisfactory. This is the stand which the Yoga system, as a

psychology, takes, and tries to reorganise this system into a

proper form or shape which can reflect in its perfection the

character of Reality. The sufferings of human life, the sorrows

through which we pass and the shortcomings that we see in our

personal lives are an indication that the present pattern of our

psychological set-up is incapable of reflecting the character of

Reality.

>

> The Real is a perfect whole; it is an invisible completeness;

and what we seek in life is perfection or completeness, because

Reality is a well-ordered completeness. When this ordered

system of completeness or perfection is reflected in the

psychological condition of human nature at any given moment of

time, then there is a feeling of satisfaction, joy, a sense of

freedom and a feeling that we have achieved something

worthwhile in life. But the absence of this feeling is an indication,

again, that the nature of Reality has not been reflected in our

system, which means that the medium of reflection is not

properly constructed. So the Yoga system of Patanjali

endeavours to prepare the individual for the reception of the

nature of Reality into one's system, so that life becomes an

ordered whole not only personally or individually but also in all its

manifestations such as social life, political life, etc.

>

> The Yoga system, therefore, is a universal science; it is not

an individual practice that one adopts privately in one's room for

one's own salvation. There is always a misconception born of a

short-sighted notion of the purpose of the practice of Yoga, due

to which many people wrongly think that the practice of Yoga is a

system of an individual salvation. It is not. Though the

preparatory techniques are individual in the sense that it is 'you'

or 'I' that have to make the preparation for the ideal on hand, yet,

the aim is not personal. The preparation may appear to be

personal or individual, because everyone is to be prepared in a

specific manner, according to one's endowments, but the

purpose is something more than the individual organism or

thought- pattern. The aim of this practice is a growth, gradually,

into universality, which is the mother even of the individual

natures or personalities that are visible in practical life. We are

persons, individuals, not apparently related to one another. That

is the reason for the prevalence of selfishness in human life.

But, that we are really unrelated to one another is not a fact.

There is an interconnectedness among individuals, which is

hidden behind their visible disparity, and which is the reflection

of the universal in their personal and social lives.

>

> The universal need not necessarily be the absolute

universal always. When we speak of the universal from the point

of view of the system of Yoga according to Patanjali, the

universal is any comprehensive state which immediately

supersedes any given condition of psychological life. When there

is a vision of the presence of a more inclusive state

psychologically, socially and spiritually, one is supposed to be

aware of the presence of a universal transcending one's

individual existence. And when the next higher state of

universality is envisaged, that becomes a part of one's practical

experience. These are actually the stages of practice known as

Samapattis, sometimes known as Samadhis,-acquirements or

achievements. We have very strange terms used in the Sutras of

Patanjali such as the words, Vitarka, Vichara, Ananda, Asmita,

etc., all which refer to the various gradations of the manifestation

of the universal in individual experience wherein and by which

the individual becomes gradually universalised, stage by stage.

So it is from this point of view that the Yoga system of Patanjali is

a realistic system. It does not abrogate from its approach any

ideal of life or any perceivable object of experience.

>

> The psychological analysis preparatory for this is

something very important and that is the most difficult part of the

practice. The parts of human nature, which is essentially

psychological, are known as Klesas, or afflictions. The term

Klesa is used by Patanjali to designate a particular

psychological function merely because of the fact that every

psychological function is an 'affliction' of the individual. It is an

unnatural state of affairs; it is something not real. It is an

apparent manifestation which is supposed to be overcome,

transcended, as a sort of disease. The reason why every

psychological function is regarded as a Klesa is because the

function of the mind or the psychological organism as it is seen

in normal life is motivated by factors which are incompatible with

the nature of Reality.

>

> The very act of perception of an object cannot be regarded

as a contact with real objects, because these realities which are

invested with the forms which one sees with one's eyes, due to

which one regards them as realities, are only apparent

formations or configurations which are presented before the

eyes due to the operation of powers or forces invisible to the

naked eyes. The human system cannot, therefore, grasp the real

cause behind the appearance of these objects. You see many

things in front of you and there is usually no reason to believe

that there is something wrong with these perceptions, which are

called normal perceptions. But, what you call 'normal' perception

need not necessarily be a 'real' perception from the point of view

of Yoga at least. It is not 'real' because it is 'subject to

transcendence'. The definition of Reality is that it is that which is

not subject to transcendence by any kind of experience. If any

experience is subject to contradiction by another type of

experience at any time in the future, we cannot call that

experience real. Now, can we say that our experiences in the

waking state are not subject to contradiction? No one can say

that. We do not know what experiences we passed through in

our previous lives. Where are our relatives and possessions that

we held as dear in our past existences? What happened to

them? No one thinks of these things, because to think of them

would be a horror. Reality would look like a horror to a person

sunk in ignorance.

>

> Ignorance (Avidya) is the breeding ground of all the sorrows

of mankind, due to which there is attachment to immediate

perception. There is Raga and Dvesha, attraction and repulsion.

There is like for those experiences which are regarded as

desirable, and a natural dislike for those experiences which are

the opposite of or different from the types of experience which we

regard as desirable to the present state of the mind. That which

we call desirable, pleasant, beautiful, etc. is that arrangement of

things which is compatible with the arrangement of the mind in

the present set-up of current affairs. The condition of the mind at

any moment of time is the outcome or effect of those forces,

invisible of course, which have become responsible for the

manifestation of the personality in this physical existence,-one's

bodily organism, way of thinking and social relationship,--Jati,

Ayu and Bhoga. All these experiences which we take as the only

reality today are a fraction or a kind of link in the long chain of

development through which the individual has to pass, which

development or process is usually called the evolution of the

individual. We are completely oblivious of this long chain. We do

not know the previous link and we do not know the future link

also. We are stuck up in the present link only. This present link is

the vast life which we are living today. All what you see,-this

world, the sun, moon, stars, the stellar system, etc.-is only one

link in a long chain of development, which is the evolution of the

universe towards a realisation that is totally outside the vision of

the mind at the present moment.

>

> So, the loves and hatreds, the likes and dislikes, the

attachments and their opposites, which characterise the

experiences in our present life are caused by ignorance, or

Avidya. What is Avidya? It is an ignorance of the true nature of

things. The fact is that the present life, the so-called wonderful,

vast life, is a small fraction of a vaster existence, which presses

itself forward every moment for manifesting itself in higher

degrees of intensity, the pressure being called the 'nisus' or the

urge for evolution. The reason why you are dissatisfied with

anything and everything in life at all times, is the presence of this

urge of the universe behind you. Can you find one satisfied

person in the world? No. The satisfaction does not come

because the things that are provided for by this physical

existence, this vast universe, this world, to the individual nature

at this time cannot satisfy that invisible something, which has

reference to the present shape of the individual which is

mistaken for the total reality. We are making the gross error of

imagining that our present physical or social existence is the

only reality conceivable, though it is only one form that is taken by

the infinite possibilities which are hidden in the bosoms of

Nature, and which are going to be manifested one day or the

other, in the future, during the different levels of evolution yet to

be passed through, and the inability to grasp the relevance of

these future possibilities to the present state of affairs is what is

called Avidya or ignorance.

>

> We are unable to connect ourselves with the true state of

things. The inability to understand or grasp the relation between

appearance and Reality is called ignorance. This is the cause of

our present experience, Klesa, etc. These difficulties which are

wholly psychological have to be obviated root and branch; this is

the purpose of Yoga. The very root of the disease has to be dug

out and brought to the surface of consciousness and one has to

be made perfectly healthy so that the total reality can be reflected

in the personality. That condition in which Reality gets reflected

in one's personality is called the Jivanmukti state; that is the

liberated state. Towards this end the Yoga technique

endeavours to bring forward the various sides of human nature

in its vital connections with the different aspects of Reality

manifest as this cosmos.

>

> The Klesas or the psychological functions which we are

expected to arrange in a new order altogether for the purpose of

harmonising them with the existing nature of things,-this

endeavour is, in short, the preparation necessary for the practice

of Yoga! The various stages mentioned in the system of

Patanjali- Yama, Niyama, Asana, etc.-are the gradational

processes of establishing communion or harmony with the

immediate atmosphere present around oneself. The social

atmosphere, the physical body, the Pranas within, the senses

that operate inside, the mind that thinks, the intellect that

understands and the Spirit that is all- pervading-with all these

layers of being we have to set ourselves in tune. Thus, the Yoga

System of Patanjali is a graduated technique of setting oneself

in tune with the various degrees of the manifestation of Reality.

So it is a very satisfactory system, because it takes into

consideration every degree of manifestation of Reality, even the

worst, the lowest and the grossest of shapes; and from that it

rises upward, taking that as its stand, towards the great

Absolute.