Raja-Yoga

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Raja-Yoga

 

by Swami Vivekananda

 

All our knowledge is based upon experience. What we call inferential

knowledge, in which we go from the less to the more general, or from

the general to the particular, has experience as its basis. In what

are called the exact sciences, people easily find the truth, because

it appeals to the particular experiences of every human being. The

scientist does not tell you to believe in anything, but he has

certain results, which come from his own experiences, and reasoning

on them when he asks us to believe in his conclusions, he appeals to

some universal experience of humanity. In every exact science there

is a basis which is common to all humanity, so that we can at once

see the truth or the fallacy of the conclusions drawn there from.

Now, the question is: Has religion any such basis or not? I shall

have to answer the question both in the affirmative and in the

negative.

 

Religion, as it is generally taught all over the world, is said to be

based upon faith and belief, and, in most cases, consists only of

different sets of theories, and that is the reason why we find all

religions quarrelling with one another. These theories, again, are

based upon belief. One man says there is a great Being sitting above

the clouds and governing the whole universe, and he asks me to

believe that solely on the authority of his assertion. In the same

way, I may have my own ideas, which I am asking others to believe,

and if they ask a reason, I cannot give them any. This is why

religion and metaphysical philosophy have a bad name nowadays. Every

educated man seems to say, " Oh, these religions are only bundles of

theories without any standard to judge them by, each man preaching

his own pet ideas. " Nevertheless, there is a basis of universal

belief in religion, governing all the different theories and all the

varying ideas of different sects in different countries. Going to

their basis we find that they also are based upon universal

experiences.

 

In the first place, if you analyze all the various religions of the

world, you will find that these are divided into two classes, those

with a book and those without a book. Those with a book are the

strongest, and have the largest number of followers. Those without

books have mostly died out, and the few new ones have very small

followings. Yet, in all of them we find one consensus of opinion,

that the truths they teach are the results of the experiences of

particular persons. The Christian asks you to believe in his

religion, to believe in Christ and to believe in him as the

incarnation of God, to believe in a God, in a soul, and in a better

state of that soul. If I ask him for reason, he says he believes in

them. But if you go to the fountain-head of Christianity, you will

find that it is based upon experience. Christ said he saw God; the

disciples said they felt God; and so forth. Similarly, in Buddhism,

it is Buddha's experience. He experienced certain truths, saw them,

came in contact with them, and preached them to the world. So with

the Hindus. In their books the writers, who are called Rishis, or

sages, declare they experienced certain truths, and these they

preach. Thus it is clear that all the religions of the world have

been built upon that one universal and adamantine foundation of all

our knowledge--direct experience. The teachers all saw God; they all

saw their own souls, they saw their future, they saw their eternity,

and what they saw they preached. Only there is this difference that

by most of these religions especially in modern times, a peculiar

claim is made, namely, that these experiences are impossible at the

present day; they were only possible with a few men, who were the

first founders of the religions that subsequently bore their names.

At the present time these experiences have become obsolete, and,

therefore, we have now to take religion on belief. This I entirely

deny. If there has been one experience in this world in any

particular branch of knowledge, it absolutely follows that that

experience has been possible millions of times before, and will be

repeated eternally. Uniformity is the rigorous law of nature; what

once happened can happen always.

 

The teachers of the science of Yoga, therefore, declare that religion

is not only based upon the experience of ancient times, but that no

man can be religious until he has the same perceptions himself. Yoga

is the science which teaches us how to get these perceptions. It is

not much use to talk about religion until one has felt it. Is there

so much disturbance, so much fighting and quarrelling in the name of

God? There has been more bloodshed in the name of God than for any

other cause, because people never went to the fountain-head; they

were content only to give a mental assent to the customs of their

forefathers, and wanted others to do the same. What right has a man

to say he has a soul if he does not feel it, or that there is a God

if he does not see Him? If there is a God we must see Him, if there

is a soul we must perceive it; otherwise it is better not to believe.

It is better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite. The modern

idea, on the one hand, with the " learned " is that religion and

metaphysics and all search after a Supreme Being are futile; on the

other hand, with the semi-educated, the idea seems to be that these

things really have no basis; their only value consists in the fact

that they furnish strong motive powers for doing good to the world.

If men believe in a God, they may become good, and moral, and so make

good citizens. We cannot blame them for holding such ideas, seeing

that all the teaching these men get is simply to believe in an

eternal rigmarole of words, without any substance behind them. They

are asked to live upon words; can they do it? If they could, I should

not have the least regard for human nature. Man wants truth, wants to

experience truth for himself; when he has grasped it, realised it,

felt it within his heart of hearts, then alone, declare the Vedas,

would all doubts vanish, all darkness be scattered, and all

crookedness be made straight. " Ye children of immortality, even those

who live in the highest sphere, the way is found; there is a way out

of all this darkness, and that is by perceiving Him who is beyond all

darkness; there is no other way. "

 

The science of Raja-Yoga proposes to put before humanity a practical

and scientifically worked out method of reaching this truth. In the

first place, every science must have its own method of investigation.

If you want to become an astronomer and sit down and cry " Astronomy!

Astronomy! " it will never come to you. The same with chemistry. A

certain method must be followed. You must go to a laboratory, take

different substances, mix them up, compound them, experiment with

them, and out of that will come a knowledge of chemistry. If you want

to be an astronomer, you must go to an observatory, take a telescope,

study the stars and planets, and then you will become an astronomer.

Each science must have its own methods. I could preach you thousands

of sermons, but they would not make you religious, until you

practiced the method. These are the truths of the sages of all

countries, of all ages, of men pure and unselfish, who had no motive

but to do good to the world. They all declare that they have found

some truth higher than what the senses can bring to us, and they

invite verification. They ask us to take up the method and practice

honestly, and then, if we do not find this higher truth, we will have

the right to say there is no truth in the claim, but before we have

done that, we are not rational in denying the truth of their

assertions. So we must work faithfully, using the prescribed methods,

and light will come.

 

In acquiring knowledge we make use of generalizations, and

generalization is based upon observation. We first observe facts,

then generalize, and then draw conclusions or principles. The

knowledge of the mind, of the internal nature of man, of thought, can

never be had until we have first the power of observing the facts

that are gong on within. It is comparatively easy to observe facts in

the external world, for many instruments have been invented for the

purpose, but in the internal world we have no instrument to help us.

Yet we know we must observe in order to have a real science. Without

a proper analysis, any science will be hopeless--mere theorising. And

that is why all the psychologists have bebeen quarrelling among

themselves since the beginning of time, except those few who found

out the means of observation.

 

The science of Raja-Yoga, in the first place, proposes to give us

such a means of observing the internal states. The instrument is the

mind itself. The power of attention, when properly guided, and

directed towards the internal world, will analyse the mind, and

illumine facts for us. The powers of the mind are like rays of light

dissipated; when they are concentrated, they illumine. This is our

only means of knowledge. Everyone is using it, both in the external

and the internal world; but, for the psychologist, the same minute

observation has to be directed to the internal world, which the

scientific man directs to the external; and this requires a great

deal of practice. From our childhood upwards we have been taught only

to pay attention to things external, but never to things internal;

hence most of us have nearly lost the faculty of observing the

internal mechanism. To turn the mind, as it were, inside, stop it

from going outside, and then to concentrate all its powers, and throw

them upon the mind itself, in order that it may know its own nature,

analyse itself, is very hard work. Yet that is the only way to

anything which will be a scientific approach to the subject.

 

What is the use of such knowledge? In the first place, knowledge

itself is the highest reward of knowledge, and secondly, there is

also utility in it. It will take away all our misery. When by

analysing his own mind, man comes face to face, as it were, with

something which is never destroyed, something which is, by its own

nature, eternally pure and perfect, he will no more be miserable, no

more unhappy. All misery comes from fear, from unsatisfied desire.

Man will find that he never dies, and then he will have no more fear

of death. When he knows that he is perfect, he will have no more vain

desires, and both these causes being absent, there will be no more

misery--there will be perfect bliss, even while in this body.

 

There is only one method by which to attain this knowledge, that

which is called concentration. The chemist in his laboratory

concentrates all the energies of his mind into one focus, and throws

them upon the materials he is analysing, and so finds out their

secrets. The astronomer concentrates all the energies of his mind and

projects them through his telescope upon the skies; and the stars,

the sun, and the moon, give up their secrets to him. The more I can

concentrate my thoughts on the matter on which I am talking to you,

the more light I can throw upon you. You are listening to me, and the

more you concentrate your thoughts, the more clearly you will grasp

what I have to say.

 

How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the

concentration of the powers of the mind? The world is ready to give

up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the

necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come through

concentration. There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The

more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one

point; that is the secret.

 

It is easy to concentrate the mind on external things, the mind

naturally goes outwards; but not so in the case of religion, or

psychology, or metaphysics, where the subject and the object, are

one. The object is internal, the mind itself is the object, and it is

necessary to study the mind itself--mind studying mind. We know that

there is the power of the mind called reflection. I am talking to

you. At the same time I am standing aside, as it were, a second

person, and knowing and hearing what I am talking. You work and think

at the same time, while a portion of your mind stands by and sees

what you are thinking. The powers of the mind should be concentrated

and turned back upon itself, and as the darkest places reveal their

secrets before the penetrating rays of the sun, so will this

concentrated mind penetrate its own innermost secrets. Thus will we

come to the basis of belief, the real genuine religion. We will

perceive for ourselves whether we have souls, whether life is of five

minutes or of eternity, whether there is a God in the universe or

none. It will all be revealed to us. This is what Raja-Yoga proposes

to teach. The goal of all its teaching is how to concentrate the

minds, then, how to discover the innermost recesses of our own minds,

then, how to generalise their contents and form our own conclusions

from them. It, therefore, never asks the question what our religion

is, whether we are Deists or Atheists, whether Christians, Jews, or

Buddhists. We are human beings; that is sufficient. Every human being

has the right and the power to seek for religion. Every human being

has the right to ask the reason, why, and to have his question

answered by himself, if he only takes the trouble.

 

So far, then, we see that in the study of this Raja-Yoga no faith or

belief is necessary. Believe nothing until you find it out for

yourself; that is what it teaches us. Truth requires no prop to make

it stand. Do you mean to say that the facts of our awakened state

require any dreams or imaginings to prove them? Certainly not. This

study of Raja-Yoga takes a long time and constant practice. A part of

this practice is physical, but in the main it is mental. As we

proceed we shall find how intimately the mind is connected with the

body. If we believe that the mind is simply a finer part of the body,

and that mind acts upon the body, then it stands to reason that the

body must react upon the mind. If the body is sick, the mind becomes

sick also. If the body is healthy, the mind remains healthy and

strong. When one is angry, the mind becomes disturbed. Similarly when

the mind is disturbed, the body also becomes disturbed. With the

majority of mankind the mind is greatly under the control of the

body, their mind being very little developed. The vast mass of

humanity is very little removed from the animals. Not only so, but in

many instances, the power of control in them is little higher than

that of the lower animals. We have very little command of our minds.

Therefore to bring that command about, to get that control over body

and mind, we must take certain physical helps. When the body is

sufficiently controlled, we can attempt the manipulation of the mind.

By manipulating the mind, we shall be able to bring it under our

control, make it work as we like, and compel it to concentrate its

powers as we desire.

 

According to the Raja-Yogi, the external world is but the gross form

of the internal, or subtle. The finer is always the cause, the

grosser the effect. So the external world is the effect, the internal

the cause. In the same way external forces are simply the grosser

parts, of which the internal forces are the finer. The man who has

discovered and learned how to manipulate the internal forces will get

the whole of nature under his control. The Yogi proposes to himself

no less a task than to master the whole universe, to control the

whole of nature. He wants to arrive at the point where what we

call " nature's laws " will have no influence over him, where he will

be able to get beyond them all. He will be master of the whole of

nature, internal and external. The progress and civilisation of the

human race simply mean controlling this nature. Different races take

to different processes of controlling nature. Just as in the same

society some individuals want to control the external nature, and

others the internal, so, among races, some want to control the

external nature, and others the internal. Some say that by

controlling internal nature we control everything. Others that by

controlling external nature we control everything. Carried to the

extreme both are right, because in nature there is no such division

as internal or external. These are fictitious limitations that never

existed. The externalists and the internalists are destined to meet

at the same point, when both reach the extreme of their knowledge.

Just as a physicist, when he pushes his knowledge to its limits,

finds it melting away into metaphysics, so a metaphysician will find

that what he calls mind and matter are but apparent distinctions, the

reality being One.

 

The end and aim of all science is to find the unity, the One out of

which the manifold is being manufactured, that One existing as many.

Raja-Yoga proposes to start from the internal world, to study

internal nature, and through that, control the whole--both internal

and external. It is a very old attempt. India has been its special

stronghold, but it was also attempted by other nations. In Western

countries it was regarded as mysticism and people who wanted to

practise it were either burned or killed as witches and sorcerers. In

India, for various reasons, it fell into the hands of persons who

destroyed ninety per cent of the knowledge, and tried to make a great

secret of the remainder. In modern times many so-called teachers have

arisen in the West worse than those of India, because the latter knew

something, while these modern exponents know nothing.

 

Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of Yoga

should be at once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In

religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens

you, have nothing to do with it. Mystery-mongering weakens the human

brain. It has well-nigh destroyed Yoga--one of the grandest of

sciences. From the time it was discovered, more than four thousand

years ago, Yoga was perfectly delineated, formulated, and preached in

India. It is a striking fact that the more modern the commentator the

greater the mistakes he makes, while the more ancient the writer the

more rational he is. Most of the modern writers talk of all sorts of

mystery. Thus Yoga fell into the hands of a few persons who made it a

secret, instead of letting the full blaze of daylight and reason fall

upon it. They did so that they might have the powers to themselves.

 

In the first place, there is no mystery in what I teach. What little

I know I will tell you. So far as I can reason it out I will do so,

but as to what I do not know I will simply tell you what the books

say. It is wrong to believe blindly. You must exercise your own

reason and judgment; you must practise, and see whether these things

happen or not. Just as you would take up any other science, exactly

in the same manner you should take up this science for study. There

is neither mystery nor danger in it. So far as it is true, it ought

to be preached in the public streets, in broad daylight. Any attempt

to mystify these things is productive of great danger.

 

Before proceeding further, I will tell you a little of the Sankhya

philosophy, upon which the whole of Raja-Yoga is based. According to

the Sankhya philosophy, the genesis of perception is as follows: the

affections of external objects are carried by the outer instruments

to their respective brain centres or organs, the organs carry the

affections to the mind, the mind to the determinative faculty, from

this the Purusha (the soul) receives them, when perception results.

Next he gives the order back, as it were, to the motor centres to do

the needful. With the exception of the Purusha all of these are

material, but the mind is much finer matter than the external

instruments. That material of which the mind is composed goes also to

form the subtle matter called the Tanmatras. These become gross and

make the external matter. That is the psychology of the Sankhya. So

that between the intellect and the grosser matter outside there is

only a difference in degree. The Purusha is the only thing which is

immaterial. The mind is an instrument, as it were, in the hands of

the soul, through which the soul catches external objects. The mind

is constantly changing and vacillating, and can, when perfected,

either attach itself to several organs, to one, or to none. For

instance, if I hear the clock with great attention, I will not,

perhaps, see anything although my eyes may be open, showing that the

mind was not attached to the seeing organ, while it was to the

hearing organ. But the perfected mind can be attached to all the

organs simultaneously. It has the reflexive power of looking back

into its own depths. This reflexive power is what the Yogi wants to

attain; by concentrating the powers of the mind, and turning them

inward, he seeks to know what is happening inside. There is in this

no question of mere belief; it is the analysis arrived at by certain

philosophers. Modern physiologists tell us that the eyes are not the

organ of vision, but that the organ is in one of the nerve centres of

the brain, and so with all the senses; they also tell us that these

centres are formed of the same material as the brain itself. The

Sankhyas also tell us the same thing. The former is a statement on

the physical side, and the latter on the psychological side; yet both

are the same. Our field of research lies beyond this.

 

The Yogi proposed to attain that fine state of perception in which he

can perceive all the different mental states. There must be mental

perception of all of them. One can perceive how the sensation is

traveling, how the mind is receiving it, how it is going to the

determinative faculty, and how this gives it to the Purusha. As each

science requires certain preparations and has its own method, which

must be followed before it could be understood, even so in Raja-Yoga.

 

Certain regulations as to food are necessary; we must use that food

which brings us the purest mind. If you go into a menagerie, you will

find this demonstrated at once. You see the elephants, huge animals,

but calm and gentle; and if you go towards the cages of the lions and

tigers, you find them restless, showing how much difference has been

made by food. All the forces that are working in this body have been

produced out of food; we see that every day. If you begin to fast,

first your body will get weak, the physical forces will suffer; then,

after a few days, the mental forces will suffer also. First, memory

will fail. Then comes a point, when you are not able to think, much

less to pursue any course of reasoning. We have, therefore, to take

care what sort of food we eat at the beginning, and when we have got

strength enough, when our practice is well advanced, we need not be

so careful in this respect. While the plant is growing it must be

hedged round, lest it be injured; but when it becomes a tree, the

hedges are taken away. It is strong enough to withstand all assaults.

 

A Yogi must avoid the two extremes of luxury and austerity. He must

not fast, nor torture his flesh. He who does so, says the Gita,

cannot be a Yogi: He who fasts, he who keeps awake, he who sleeps

much, he who works too much, he who does no work, none of these can

be a Yogi (Gita, VI, 16).

 

Raja-Yoga II

 

THE FIRST STEPS - Swami Vivekananda

 

Raja-Yoga is divided into eight steps. The first is Yama--non-

killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving of

any gifts. Next is Niyama--cleanliness, contentment, austerity,

study, and self-surrender to God. Then comes Asana, or posture;

Pranayama, or control of Prana; Pratyahara, or restraint of the

senses from their objects; Dharana, or fixing the mind on a spot;

Dhyana, or meditation; and Samadhi, or superconsciousness. The Yama

and Niyama, as we see, are moral trainings; without these as the

basis no practice of Yoga will succeed. As these two become

established, the Yogi will begin to realise the fruits of his

practice; without these it will never bear fruit. A Yogi must not

think of injuring anyone, by thought, word, or deed. Mercy shall not

be for men alone, but shall go beyond, and embrace the whole world.

 

The next step is Asana, posture. A series of exercises, physical and

mental, is to be gone through every day, until certain higher states

are reached. Therefore it is quite necessary that we should find a

posture in which we can remain long. That posture which is the

easiest for one should be the one chosen. For thinking, a certain

posture may be very easy for one man, while to another it may be very

difficult. We will find later on that during the study of these

psychological matters a good deal of activity goes on in the body.

Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New

sorts of vibrations will begin, the whole constitution will be

remodelled, as it were. But the main part of the activity will lie

along the spinal column, so that the one thing necessary for the

posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the

three parts--the chest, neck, and head--in a straight line. Let the

whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have

an easy natural posture, with the spine straight. You will easily see

that you cannot think very high thoughts with the chest in. This

portion of the Yoga is a little similar to the Hatha-Yoga which deals

entirely with the physical body, its aim being to make the physical

body very strong. We have nothing to do with it here, because its

practices are very difficult, and cannot be learned in a day, and,

after all, do not lead to much spiritual growth. Many of these

practices you will find in Delsarte and other teachers, such as

placing the body in different postures, but the object in these is

physical, not psychological. There is not one muscle in the body over

which a man cannot establish a perfect control. The heart can be made

to stop or go on at his bidding, and each part of the organism can be

similarly controlled.

 

The result of this branch of Yoga is to make men live long; health is

the chief idea, the one goal of the Hatha-Yogi. He is determined not

to fall sick, and he never does. He lives long; a hundred years is

nothing to him; he is quite young and fresh when he is 150, without

one hair turned grey. But that is all. A banyan tree lives sometimes

5000 years, but it is a banyan tree and nothing more. So, if a man

lives long, he is only a healthy animal. One or two ordinary lessons

of the Hatha-Yogis are very useful. For instance, some of you will

find it a good thing for headaches to drink cold water through the

nose as soon as you get up in the morning; the whole day your brain

will be nice and cool, and you will never catch cold. It is very easy

to do; put your nose into the water, draw it up through the nostrils

and make a pump action in the throat.

 

After one has learned to have a firm erect seat, one has to perform,

according to certain schools, a practice called the purifying of the

nerves. This part has been rejected by some as not belonging to Raja-

Yoga, but as so great an authority as the commentator Shankaracharya

advises it, I think fit that it should be mentioned, and I will quote

his own directions from his commentary on the Shvethashvatara

Upanishad: " The mind whose dross has been cleared away by Pranayama,

becomes fixed in Brahman; therefore Pranayama is declared. First the

nerves are to be purified, then comes the power to practise

Pranayama. Stopping the right nostril with the thumb, through the

left nostril fill in air, according to capacity; then, without any

interval, throw the air out through the right nostril, closing the

left one. Again inhaling through the right nostril eject through the

left, according to capacity; practising this three or five times at

four hours of the day, before dawn, during midday, in the evening,

and at midnight, in fifteen days or a month purity of the nerves is

attained; then begins Pranayama. "

 

Practice is absolutely necessary. You may sit down and listen to me

by the hour every day, but if you do not practise, you will not get

one step further. It all depends on practice. We never understand

these things until we experience them. We will have to see and feel

them for ourselves. Simply listening to explanations and theories

will not do. There are several obstructions to practice. The first

obstruction is an unhealthy body: if the body is not in a fit state,

the practice will be obstructed. Therefore we have to keep the body

in good health; we have to take care of what we eat and drink, and

what we do. Always use a mental effort, what is usually

called " Christian Science, " to keep the body strong. That is all--

nothing further of the body. We must not forget that health is only a

means to an end. If health were the end, we would be like animals;

animals rarely become unhealthy.

 

The second obstruction is doubt; we always feel doubtful about things

we do not see. Man cannot live upon words, however he may try. So,

doubt comes to us as to whether there is any truth in these things or

not; even the best of us will doubt sometimes. With practice, within

a few days, a little glimpse will come, enough to give one

encouragement and hope. As a certain commentator on Yoga philosophy

says, " When one proof is obtained, however little that may be, it

will give us faith in the whole teaching of Yoga. " For instance,

after the first few months of practice, you will begin to find you

can read another's thoughts; they will come to you in picture form.

Perhaps you will hear something happening at a long distance, when

you concentrate your mind with a wish to hear. These glimpses will

come, by little bits at first, but enough to give you faith, and

strength, and hope. For instance, if you concentrate your thoughts on

the tip of your nose, in a few days you will begin to smell most

beautiful fragrance, which will be enough to show you that there are

certain mental perceptions that can be made obvious without the

contact of physical objects. But we must always remember that these

are only the means; the aim, the end, the goal, of all this training

is liberation of the soul. Absolute control of nature, and nothing

short of it, must be the goal. We must be the masters, and not the

slaves of nature; neither body nor mind must be our master, nor must

we forget that the body is mine, and not I the body's.

 

A god and a demon went to learn about the Self from a great sage.

They studied with him for a long time. At last the sage told

them, " You yourselves are the Being you are seeking. " Both of them

thought that their bodies were the Self. They went back to their

people quite satisfied and said, " We have learned everything that was

to be learned; eat, drink,and be merry; we are the Self; there is

nothing beyond us. " The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded; so

he never inquired any further, but was perfectly contented with the

idea that he was God, that by the Self was meant the body. The god

had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking: I,

this body, am Brahman: so keep it strong and in health, and well

dressed, and give it all sorts of enjoyments. But, in a few days, he

found out that that could not be the meaning of the sage, their

master; there must be something higher. So he came back and

said, " Sir, did you teach me that this body was the Self? If so, I

see all bodies die; the Self cannot die. " The sage said, " Find it

out; thou art That. " Then the god thought that the vital forces which

work the body were what the sage meant. But, after a time, he found

that if he ate, these vital forces remained strong, but, if he

starved, they became weak. The god then went back to the sage and

said, " Sir, do you mean that the vital forces are the Self? " The sage

said, " Find out for yourself; thou art That. " The god returned home

once more, thinking that it was the mind, perhaps, that was the Self.

But in a short while he saw that thoughts were so various, now good,

again bad; the mind was too changeable to be the Self. He went back

to the sage and said, " Sir, I do not think that the mind is the Self;

did you mean that? " " No, " replied the sage, " thou art That; find out

for yourself. " The god went home, and at last found that he was the

Self, beyond all thought, one without birth or death, whom the sword

cannot pierce or the fire burn, whom the air cannot dry or the water

melt, the beginningless and endless, the immovable, the intangible,

the omniscient, the omnipotent Being; that It was neither the body

nor the mind, but beyond them all. So he was satisfied; but the poor

demon did not get the truth, owing to his fondness for the body.

 

This world has a good many of these demonic natures, but there are

some gods too. If one proposes to teach any science to increase the

power of sense-enjoyment, one finds multitudes ready for it. If one

undertakes to show the supreme goal, one finds few to listen to him.

Very few have the power to grasp the higher, fewer still the patience

to attain to it. But there are a few also who know that even if the

body can be made to live for a thousand years, the result in the end

will be the same. When the forces that hold it together go away, the

body must fall. No man was ever born who could stop his body one

moment from changing. Body is the name of a series of changes. " As in

a river the masses of water are changing before you every moment, and

new masses are coming, yet taking similar form, so is it with this

body. " Yet the body must be kept strong and healthy. It is the best

instrument we have.

 

This human body is the greatest body in the universe, and a human

being the greatest being. Man is higher than all animals, than all

angels; none is greater than man. Even the Devas (gods) will have to

come down again and attain to salvation through a human body. Man

alone attains to perfection, not even the Devas. According to the

Jews and Mohammedans, God created man after creating the angels and

everything else, and after creating man He asked the angels to come

and salute him, and all did so except Iblis; so God cursed him and he

became Satan. Behind this allegory is the great truth that this human

birth is the greatest birth we can have. The lower creation, the

animal, is dull, and manufactured mostly out of Tamas. Animals cannot

have any high thoughts; nor can the angels, or Devas, attain to

direct freedom without human birth. In human society, in the same

way, too much wealth or too much poverty is a great impediment to the

higher development of the soul. It is from the middle classes that

the great ones of the world come. Here the forces are very equally

adjusted and balanced.

 

Returning to our subject, we come next to Pranayama, controlling the

breathing. What has that to do with concentrating the powers of the

mind? Breath is like the fly-wheel of this machine, the body. In a

big engine you find the fly-wheel first moving, and that motion is

conveyed to finer and finer machinery until the most delicate and

finest mechanism in the machine is in motion. The breath is that fly-

wheel, supplying and regulating the motive power to everything in

this body.

 

There was once a minister to a great king. He fell into disgrace. The

king, as a punishment, ordered him to be shut up in the top of a very

high tower. This was done, and the minister was left there to perish.

He had a faithful wife, however, who came to the tower at night and

called to her husband at the top to know what she could do to help

him. He told her to return to the tower the following night and bring

with her a long rope, some stout twine, pack thread, silken thread, a

beetle, and a little honey. Wondering much, the good wife obeyed her

husband, and brought him the desired articles. The husband directed

her to attach the silken thread firmly to the beetle, then to smear

its horns with a drop of honey, and to set it free on the wall of the

tower, with its head pointing upwards. She obeyed all these

instructions, and the beetle started on its long journey. Smelling

the honey ahead it slowly crept onwards, in the hope of reaching the

honey, until at last it reached to top of the tower, when the

minister grasped the beetle, and got possession of the silken thread.

He told his wife to tie the other end to the pack thread, and after

he had drawn up the pack thread, he repeated the process with the

stout twine, and lastly with the rope. Then the rest was easy. The

minister descended from the tower by means of the rope, and made his

escape. In this body of ours the breath motion is the " silken

thread " ; by laying hold of and learning to control it we grasp the

pack thread of the nerve currents, and from these the stout twine of

our thoughts, and lastly the rope of Prana, controlling which we

reach freedom.

 

We do not know anything about our own bodies; we cannot know. At best

we can take a dead body, and cut it in pieces, and there are some who

can take a live animal and cut it in pieces in order to see what is

inside the body. Still, that has nothing to do with our own bodies.

We know very little about them. Why do we not? Because our attention

is not discriminating enough to catch the very fine movements that

are going on within. We can know of them only when the mind becomes

more subtle and enters, as it were, deeper into the body. To get the

subtle perception we have to begin with the grosser perceptions. We

have to get hold of that which is setting the whole engine in motion.

That is the Prana, the most obvious manifestation of which is the

breath. Then, along with the breath, we shall slowly enter the body,

which will enable us to find out about the subtle forces, the nerve

currents that are moving all over the body. As soon as we perceive

and learn to feel them, we shall begin to get control over them, and

over the body. The mind is also set in motion by these different

nerve currents, so at last we shall reach the state of perfect

control over the body and the mind, making both our servants.

Knowledge is power. We have to get this power. So we must begin at

the beginning, with Pranayama, restraining the Prana. This Pranayama

is a long subject, and will take several lessons to illustrate it

thoroughly. We shall take it part by part.

 

We shall gradually see the reasons for each exercise and what forces

in the body are set in motion. All these things will come to us, but

it requires constant practice, and the proof will come by practice.

No amount of reasoning which I can give you will be proof to you,

until you have demonstrated it for yourselves. As soon as you begin

to feel these currents in motion all over you, doubts will vanish,

but it requires hard practice every day. You must practise at least

twice every day, and the best times are towards the morning and the

evening. When night passes into day, and day into night, a state of

relative calmness ensues. The early morning and the early evening are

the two periods of calmness. Your body will have a like tendency to

become calm at those times. We should take advantage of that natural

condition and begin then to practise. Make it a rule not to eat until

you have practised; if you do this, the sheer force of hunger will

break your laziness. In India they teach children never to eat until

they have practised or worshipped, and it becomes natural to them

after a time; a boy will not feel hungry until he has bathed and

practised.

 

Those of you who can afford it will do better to have a room for this

practice alone. Do not sleep in that room, it must be kept holy. You

must not enter the room until you have bathed, and are perfectly

clean in body and mind. Place flowers in that room always; they are

the best surroundings for a Yogi; also pictures that are pleasing.

Burn incense morning and evening. Have no quarrelling, nor anger, nor

unholy thought in that room. Only allow those persons to enter it who

are of the same thought as you. Then gradually there will be an

atmosphere of holiness in the room, so that when you are miserable,

sorrowful, doubtful, or your mind is disturbed, the very fact of

entering that room will make you calm. This was the idea of the

temple and the church, and in some temples and churches you will find

it even now, but in the majority of them the very idea has been lost.

The idea is that by keeping holy vibrations there the place becomes

and remains illumined. Those who cannot afford to have a room set

apart can practise anywhere they like. Sit in a straight posture, and

the first thing to do is to send a current of holy thought to all

creation. Mentally repeat, " Let all beings be happy; let all beings

be peaceful; let all beings be blissful. " So do to the east, south,

north and west. The more you do that the better you will feel

yourself. You will find at last that the easiest way to make

ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest

way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy. After

doing that, those who believe in God should pray--not for money, not

for health, nor for heaven; pray for knowledge and light; every other

prayer is selfish. Then the next thing to do is to think of your own

body, and see that it is strong and healthy; it is the best

instrument you have. Think of it as being as strong as adamant, and

that with the help of this body you will cross the ocean of life.

Freedom is never to be reached by the weak. Throw away all weakness.

Tell your body that it is strong, tell your mind that it is strong,

and have unbounded faith and hope in yourself.

 

Raja-Yoga III

 

PRANA - Swami Vivekananda

 

Pranayama is not, as many think, something about breath; breath

indeed has very little to do with it, if anything. Breathing is only

one of the many exercises through which we get to the real Pranayama.

Pranayama means the control of Prana. According to the philosophers

of India, the whole universe is composed of two materials, one of

which they call Akasha. It is the omnipresent, all-penetrating

existence. Everything that has form, everything that is the result of

combination, is evolved out of this Akasha. It is the Akasha that

becomes the air, that becomes the liquids, that becomes the solids;

it is the Akasha that becomes the sun, the earth, the moon, the

stars, the comets; it is the Akasha that becomes the human body, the

animal body, the plants, every form that we see, everything that can

be sensed, everything that exists. It cannot be perceived; it is so

subtle that it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen

when it has become gross, has taken form. At the beginning of

creation there is only this Akasha. At the end of the cycle the

solids, the liquids, and the gases all melt into the Akasha again,

and the next creation similarly proceeds out of this Akasha.

 

By what power is this Akasha manufactured into this universe? By the

power of Prana. Just as Akasha is the infinite, omnipresent material

of this universe, so is this Prana the infinite, omnipresent

manifesting power of this universe. At the beginning and at the end

of a cycle everything becomes Akasha, and all the forces that are in

the universe resolve back into the Prana; in the next cycle, out of

this Prana is evolved everything that we call energy, everything that

we call force. It is the Prana that is manifesting as motion; it is

the Prana that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. It is the

Prana that is manifesting as the actions of the body, as the nerve

currents, as thought force. From thought down to the lowest force,

everything is but the manifestation of Prana. The sum total of all

forces in the universe, mental or physical, when resolved back to

their original state, is called Prana. " When there was neither aught

nor naught, when darkness was covering darkness, what existed them?

That Akasha existed without motion. " The physical motion of the Prana

was stopped, but it existed all the same.

 

At the end of a cycle the energies now displayed in the universe

quiet down and become potential. At the beginning of the next cycle

they start up, strike upon the Akasha, and out of the Akasha evolve

these various forms, and as the Akasha changes, this Prana changes

also into all these manifestations of energy. The knowledge and

control of this Prana is really what is meant by Pranayama.

 

This opens to us the door to almost unlimited power. Suppose, for

instance, a man understood the Prana perfectly, and could control it,

what power on earth would not be his? He would be able to move the

sun and stars out of their places, to control everything in the

universe, from the atoms to the biggest suns, because he would

control the Prana. This is the end and aim of Pranayama. When the

Yogi becomes perfect, there will be nothing in nature not under his

control. If he orders the gods or the souls of the departed to come,

they will come at his bidding. All the forces of nature will obey him

as slaves. When the ignorant see these powers of the Yogi, they call

them the miracles. One peculiarity of the Hindu mind is that it

always inquires for the last possible generalisation, leaving the

details to be worked out afterwards. The question is raised in the

Vedas, " What is that, knowing which, we shall know everything? " Thus,

all books, and all philosophies that have been written, have been

only to prove that by knowing which everything is known. If a man

wants to know this universe bit by bit he must know every individual

grain of sand, which means infinite time; he cannot know all of them.

Then how can knowledge be? How is it possible for a man to be all-

knowing through particulars? The Yogis say that behind this

particular manifestation there is a generalisation. Behind all

particular ideas stands a generalised, an abstract principle; grasp

it, and you have grasped everything. Just as this whole universe has

been generalised in the Vedas into that One Absolute Existence, and

he who has grasped that Existence has grasped the whole universe, so

all forces have been generalised into this Prana, and he who has

grasped the Prana has grasped all the forces of the universe, mental

or physical. He who has controlled the Prana has controlled his own

mind, and all the minds that exist. He who has controlled the Prana

has controlled his body, and all the bodies that exist, because the

Prana is the generalised manifestation of force.

 

How to control the Prana is the one idea of Pranayama. All the

trainings and exercises in this regard are for that one end. Each man

must begin where he stands, must learn how to control the things that

are nearest to him. This body is very near to us, nearer than

anything in the external universe, and this mind is the nearest of

all. The Prana which is working this mind and body is the nearest to

us of all the Prana in this universe. This little wave of the Prana

which represents our own energies, mental and physical, is the

nearest to us of all the waves of the infinite ocean of Prana. If we

can succeed in controlling that little wave, then alone we can hope

to control the whole of Prana. The Yogi who has done this gains

perfection; no longer is he under any power. He becomes almost

almighty, almost all-knowing. We see sects in every country who have

attempted this control of Prana. In this country there are Mind-

healers, Faith-healers, Spiritualists, Christian Scientists,

Hypnotists, etc., and if we examine these different bodies, we shall

find at the back of each this control of the Prana, whether they know

it or not. If you boil all their theories down, the residuum will be

that. It is the one and the same force they are manipulating, only

unknowingly. They have stumbled on the discovery of a force and are

using it unconsciously without knowing its nature, but it is the same

as the Yogi uses, and which comes from Prana.

 

The Prana is the vital force in every being. Thought is the finest

and highest action of Prana. Thought, again, as we see, is not all.

There is also what we call instinct or unconscious thought, the

lowest plane of action. If a mosquito stings us, our hand will strike

it automatically, instinctively. This is one expression of thought.

All reflex actions of the body belong to this plane of thought. There

is again the other plane of thought, the conscious. I reason, I

judge, I think, I see the pros and cons of certain things, yet that

is not all. We know that reason is limited. Reason can go only to a

certain extent, beyond that it cannot reach. The circle within which

it runs is very very limited indeed. Yet at the same time, we find

facts rush into this circle. Like the coming of comets certain things

come into this circle; it is certain they come from outside the

limit, although our reason cannot go beyond. The causes of the

phenomena intruding themselves in this small limit are outside of

this limit. The mind can exist on a still higher plane, the

superconscious. When the mind has attained to that state, which is

called Samadhi--perfect concentration, superconsciousness--it goes

beyond the limits of reason, and comes face to face with facts which

no instinct or reason can ever know. All manipulations of the subtle

forces of the body, the different manifestations of Prana, if

trained, give a push to the mind, help it to go up higher, and become

superconscious, from where it acts.

 

In this universe there is one continuous substance on every plane of

existence. Physically this universe is one: there is no difference

between the sun and you. The scientist will tell you it is only a

fiction to say the contrary. There is no real difference between the

table and me; the table is one point in the mass of matter, and I

another point. Each form represents, as it were, one whirlpool in the

infinite ocean of matter, of which not one is constant. Just as in a

rushing stream there may be millions of whirlpools, the water in each

of which is different every moment, turning round and round for a few

seconds, and then passing out, replaced by a fresh quantity, so the

whole universe is one constantly changing mass of matter, in which

all forms of existence are so many whirlpools. A mass of matter

enters into one whirlpool, say a human body, stays there for a

period, becomes changed, and goes out into another, say an animal

body this time, from which again after a few years, it enters into

another whirlpool, called a lump of mineral. It is a constant change.

Not one body is constant. There is no such thing as my body, or your

body, except in words. Of the one huge mass of matter, one point is

called a moon, another a sun, another a man, another the earth,

another a plant, another a mineral. Not one is constant, but

everything is changing, matter eternally concreting and

disintegrating. So it is with the mind. Matter is represented by the

ether; when the action of Prana is most subtle, this very ether, in

the finer state of vibration, will represent the mind, and there it

will be still one unbroken mass. If you can simply get to that subtle

vibration, you will see and feel that the whole universe is composed

of subtle vibrations. Sometimes certain drugs have the power to take

us, while as yet in the senses, to that condition. Many of you may

remember the celebrated experiment of Sir Humphrey Davy, when the

laughing gas overpowered him--how, during the lecture, he remained

motionless, stupefied and, after that, he said that the whole

universe was made up of ideas. For the time being, as it were, the

gross vibrations had ceased, and only the subtle vibrations which he

called ideas, were present to him. He could only see the subtle

vibrations round him; everything had become thought; the whole

universe was an ocean of thought, he and everyone else had become

little thought whirlpools.

 

Thus, even in the universe of thought we find unity, and at last,

when we get to the Self, we know that that Self can only be One.

Beyond the vibrations of matter in its gross and subtle aspects,

beyond motion there is but One. Even in manifested motion there is

only unity. These facts can no more be denied. Modern physics also

has demonstrated that the sum total of the energies in the universe

is the same throughout. It has also been proved that this sum total

of energy exists in two forms. It becomes potential, toned down, and

calmed, and next it comes out manifested as all these various forces;

again it goes back to the quiet state, and again it manifests. Thus

it goes on evolving and involving through eternity. The control of

this Prana, as before stated, is what is called Pranayama.

 

The most obvious manifestation of this Prana in the human body is the

motion of the lungs. If that stops, as a rule all the other

manifestations of force in the body will immediately stop. But there

are persons who can train themselves in such a manner that the body

will live on, even when this motion has stopped. There are some

persons who can bury themselves for days, and yet live without

breathing. To reach the subtle we must take the help of the grosser,

and so, slowly travel towards the most subtle until we gain our

point. Pranayama really means controlling this motion of the lungs,

and this motion is associated with the breath. Not that breath is

producing it; on the contrary it is producing breath. This motion

draws in the air by pump action. The Prana is moving the lungs, the

movement of the lungs draws in the air. So Pranayama is not

breathing, but controlling that muscular power which moves the lungs.

That muscular power which goes out through the nerves to the muscles

and from them to the lungs, making them move in a certain manner, is

the Prana, which we have to control in the practice of Pranayama.

When the Prana has become controlled, then we shall immediately find

that all the other actions of the Prana in the body will slowly come

under control. I myself have seen men who have controlled almost

every muscle of the body; and why not? If I have control over certain

muscles, why not over every muscle and nerve of the body? What

impossibility is there? At present the control is lost, and the

motion has become automatic. We cannot move our ears at will, but we

know that animals can. We have not that power because we do not

exercise it. This is what is called atavism.

 

Again, we know that motion which has become latent can be brought

back to manifestation. By hard work and practice certain motions of

the body which are most dormant can be brought back under perfect

control. Reasoning thus we find there is no impossibility, but, on

the other hand, every probability that each part of the body can be

brought under perfect control. This the Yogi does through Pranayama.

Perhaps some of you have read that in Pranayama, when drawing in the

breath, you must fill your whole body with Prana. In the English

translations Prana is given as breath, and you are inclined to ask

how that is to be done. The fault is with the translator. Every part

of the body can be filled with Prana, this vital force, and when you

are able to do that, you can control the whole body. All the sickness

and misery felt in the body will be perfectly controlled; not only

so, you will be able to control another's body. Everything is

infectious in this world, good or bad. If your body be in a certain

state of tension, it will have a tendency to produce the same tension

in others. If you are strong and healthy, those that live near you

will also have the tendency to become strong and healthy, but if you

are sick and weak, those around you will have the tendency to become

the same. In the case of one man trying to heal another, the first

idea is simply transferring his own health to the other. This is the

primitive sort of healing. Consciously or unconsciously, health can

be transmitted. A very strong man, living with a weak man, will make

him a little stronger, whether he knows it or not. When consciously

done, it becomes quicker and better in its action. Next come those

cases in which a man may not be very healthy himself, yet we know

that he can bring health to another. The first man, in such a case,

has a little more control over the Prana, and can rouse, for the time

being, his Prana, as it were, to a certain state of vibration, and

transmit it to another person.

 

There have been cases where this process has been carried on at a

distance, but in reality there is no distance in the sense of a

break. Where is the distance that has a break? Is there any break

between you and the sun? It is a continuous mass of matter, the sun

being one part, and you another. Is there a break between one part of

a river and another? Then why cannot any force travel? There is no

reason against it. Cases of healing from a distance are perfectly

true. The Prana can be transmitted to a very great distance; but to

one genuine case, there are hundreds of frauds. This process of

healing is not so easy as it is thought to be. In the most ordinary

cases of such healing you will find that the healers simply take

advantage of the naturally healthy state of the human body. An

allopath comes and treats cholera patients, and gives them his

medicines. The homoeopath comes and gives his medicines, and cures

perhaps more than the allopath does, because the homoeopath does not

disturb his patients, but allows nature to deal with them. The Faith-

healer cures more still, because he brings the strength of his mind

to bear, and rouses, through faith, the dormant Prana of the patient.

 

There is a mistake constantly made by Faith-healers: they think that

faith directly heals a man. But faith alone does not cover all the

ground. There are diseases where the worst symptoms are that the

patient never thinks that he has that disease. That tremendous faith

of the patient is itself one symptom of the disease, and usually

indicates that he will die quickly. In such cases the principle that

faith cures does not apply. If it were faith alone that cured, these

patients also would be cured. It is by the Prana that real curing

comes. The pure man, who has controlled the Prana, has the power of

bringing it into a certain state of vibration, which can be conveyed

to others, arousing in them a similar vibration. You see that in

everyday actions. I am talking to you. What am I trying to do? I am,

so to say, bringing my mind to a certain state of vibration, and the

more I succeed in bringing it to that state, the more you will be

affected by what I say. All of you know that the day I am more

enthusiastic, the more you enjoy the lecture; and when I am less

enthusiastic, you feel lack of interest.

 

The gigantic will-powers of the world, the world-movers, can bring

their Prana into a high state of vibration, and it is so great and

powerful that it catches others in a moment, and thousands are drawn

towards them, and half the world think as they do. Great prophets of

the world had the most wonderful control of the Prana, which gave

them tremendous will-power; they had brought their Prana to the

highest state of motion, and this is what gave them power to sway the

world. All manifestations of power arise from this control. Men may

not know the secret, but this is the one explanation. Sometimes in

your own body the supply of Prana gravitates more or less to one

part; the balance is disturbed, and when the balance of Prana is

disturbed, what we call disease is produced. To take away the

superfluous Prana, or to supply the Prana that is wanting, will be

curing the disease. That again is Pranayama--to learn when there is

more or less Prana in one part of the body than there should be. The

feelings will become so subtle that the mind will feel that there is

less Prana in the toe or the finger than there should be, and will

possess the power to supply it. These are among the various functions

of Pranayama. They have to be learned slowly and gradually, and as

you see, the whole scope of Raja-Yoga is really to teach the control

and direction in different planes of the Prana. When a man has

concentrated his energies, he masters the Prana that is in his body.

When a man is meditating, he is also concentrating the Prana.

 

In an ocean there are huge waves, like mountains, then smaller waves,

and still smaller, down to little bubbles, but back of all these is

the infinite ocean. The bubble is connected with the infinite ocean

at one end, and the huge wave at the other end. So, one may be a

gigantic man, and another a little bubble, but each is connected with

that infinite ocean of energy, which is the common birthright of

every animal that exists. Wherever there is life, the storehouse of

infinite energy is behind it. Starting as some fungus, some very

minute, microscopic bubble, and all the time drawing from that

infinite storehouse of energy, a form is changed slowly and steadily

until in course of time it becomes a plant, then an animal, then man,

ultimately God. This is attained through millions of aeons, but what

is time? An increase of speed, an increase of struggle, is able to

bridge the gulf of time. That which naturally takes a long time to

accomplish can be shortened by the intensity of the action, says the

Yogi. A man may go on slowly drawing in this energy from the infinite

mass that exists in the universe, and, perhaps, he will require a

hundred thousand years to become a Deva, and then, perhaps, five

hundred thousand years to become still higher, and, perhaps, five

millions of years to become perfect. Given rapid growth, the time

will be lessened. Why is it not possible, with sufficient effort, to

reach this very perfection in six months or six years? There is no

limit. Reason shows that. If an engine, with a certain amount of

coal, runs two miles an hour, it will run the distance in less time

with a greater supply of coal. Similarly, why shall not the soul, by

intensifying its action, attain perfection in this very life? All

beings will at last attain to that goal, we know. But who cares to

wait all these millions of aeons? Why not reach it immediately, in

this body even, in this human form? Why shall I not get that infinite

knowledge, infinite power, now?

 

The ideal of the Yogi, the whole science of Yoga, is directed to the

end of teaching men how, by intensifying the power of assimilation,

to shorten the time for reaching perfection, instead of slowly

advancing from point to point and waiting until the whole human race

has become perfect. All the great prophets, saints, and seers of the

world--what did they do? In one span of life they lived the whole

life of humanity, traversed the whole length of time that it takes

ordinary humanity to come to perfection. In one life they perfect

themselves; they have no thought for anything else, never live a

moment for any other idea, and thus the way is shortened for them.

This is what is meant by concentration, intensifying the power of

assimilation, thus shortening the time. Raja-Yoga is the science

which teaches us how to gain the power of concentration.

 

What has Pranayama to do with spiritualism? Spiritualism is also a

manifestation of Pranayama. If it be true that the departed spirits

exist, only we cannot see them, it is quite probable that there may

be hundreds and millions of them about us we can neither see, feel,

nor touch. We may be continually passing and repassing through their

bodies, and they do not see or feel us. It is a circle within a

circle, universe within universe. We have five senses, and we

represent Prana in a certain state of vibration. All beings in the

same state of vibration will see one another, but if there are beings

who represent Prana in a higher state of vibration, they will not be

seen. We may increase the intensity of a light until we cannot see it

at all, but there may be beings with eyes so powerful that they can

see such light. Again, if its vibrations are very low, we do not see

a light, but there are animals that may see it, as cats and owls. Our

range of vision is only one plane of the vibrations of this Prana.

Take this atmosphere, for instance; it is piled up layer on layer,

but the layers nearer to the earth are denser than those above, and

as you go higher the atmosphere become finer and finer. Or take the

case of the ocean; as you go deeper and deeper the pressure of the

water increases, and animals which live at the bottom of the sea can

never come up, or they will be broken into pieces.

 

Think of the universe as an ocean of ether, consisting of layer after

layer of varying degrees of vibration under the action of Prana; away

from the centre the vibrations are less, nearer to it they become

quicker and quicker; one order of vibration makes one plane. Then

suppose these ranges of vibrations are cut into planes, so many

millions of miles one set of vibration, and then so many millions of

miles another still higher set of vibration, and so on. It is,

therefore, probable, that those who live on the plane of a certain

state of vibration will have the power of recognising one another,

but will not recognise those above them. Yet, just as by the

telescope and the microscope we can increase the scope of our vision,

similarly we can by Yoga bring ourselves to the state of vibration of

another plane, and thus enable ourselves to see what is going on

there. Suppose this room is full of beings whom we do not see. They

represent Prana in a certain state of vibration while we represent

another. Suppose they represent a quick one, and we the opposite.

Prana is the material of which they are composed, as well as we. All

are parts of the same ocean of Prana, they differ only in their rate

of vibration. If I can bring myself to the quick vibration, this

plane will immediately change for me: I shall not see you any more;

you vanish and they appear. Some of you, perhaps, know this to be

true. All this bringing of the mind into a higher state of vibration

is included in one word in Yoga--Samadhi. All these states of higher

vibration, superconscious vibrations of the mind, are grouped in that

one word, Samadhi, and the lower states of Samadhi give us visions of

these beings. The highest grade of Samadhi is when we see the real

thing, when we see the material out of which the whole of these

grades of beings are composed, and that one lump of clay being known,

we know all the clay in the universe.

 

Thus we see that Pranayama includes all that is true of spiritualism

even. Similarly, you will find that wherever any sect or body of

people is trying to search out anything occult and mystical, or

hidden, what they are doing is really this Yoga, this attempt to

control the Prana. You will find that wherever there is any

extraordinary display of power, it is the manifestation of this

Prana. Even the physical sciences can be included in Pranayama. What

moves the steam engine? Prana, acting through the steam. What are all

these phenomena of electricity and so forth but Prana? What is

physical science? The science of Pranayama, by external means. Prana,

manifesting itself as mental power, can only be controlled by mental

means. That part of Pranayama which attempts to control the physical

manifestations of the Prana by physical means is called physical

science, and that part which tries to control the manifestation of

the Prana as mental force by mental means is called Raja-Yoga.

 

Raja-Yoga IV

 

THE PSYCHIC PRANA - Swami Vivekananda

 

According to the Yogis, there are two nerve currents in the spinal

column, called Pingala and Ida, and a hollow canal called Sushumna

running through the spinal cord. At the lower end of the hollow canal

is what the Yogis call the " Lotus of the Kundalini " . They describe it

as triangular in form in which, in the symbolical language of the

Yogis, there is a power called the Kundalini, coiled up. When that

Kundalini awakes, it tries to force a passage through this hollow

canal, and as it rises step by step, as it were, layer after layer of

the mind becomes open and all the different visions and wonderful

powers come to the Yogi. When it reaches the brain, the Yogi is

perfectly detached from the body and mind; the soul finds itself

free. We know that the spinal cord is composed in a peculiar manner.

If we take the figure eight horizontally, there are two parts which

are connected in the middle. Suppose you add eight after eight, piled

one on top of the other, that will represent the spinal cord. The

left is the Ida, the right Pingala, and that hollow canal which runs

through the centre of the spinal cord is the Sushumna. Where the

spinal cord ends in some of the lumbar vertebrae, a fine fibre issues

downwards, and the canal runs up even within that fibre, only much

finer. The canal is closed at the lower end, which is situated near

what is called the sacral plexus, which, according to modern

physiology, is triangular in form. The different plexuses that have

their centres in the spinal canal can very well stand for the

different " lotuses " of the Yogi.

 

The Yogi conceives of several centres, beginning with the Muladhara,

the basic, and ending with the Sahasrara, the thousand-petalled lotus

in the brain. So, if we take these different plexuses as representing

these lotuses, the idea of the Yogi can be understood very easily in

the language of modern physiology. We know there are two sorts of

actions in these nerve currents, one afferent, the other efferent;

one sensory and the other motor; one centripetal, and the other

centrifugal. One carries the sensations to the brain, and the other

from the brain to the outer body. These vibrations are all connected

with the brain in the long run. Several other facts we have to

remember, in order to clear the way for the explanation which is to

come. This spinal cord, at the brain, ends in a sort of bulb, in the

medulla, which is not attached to the brain, but floats in a fluid in

the brain, so that if there be a blow on the head the force of that

blow will be dissipated in the fluid, and will not hurt the bulb.

This is an important fact to remember. Secondly, we have also to know

that, of all the centres, we have particularly to remember three, the

Muladhara (the basic), the Sahasrara (the thousand-petalled lotus of

the brain) and the Manipura (the lotus of the navel).

 

Next we shall take one fact from physics. We all hear of electricity

and various other forces connected with it. What electricity is no

one knows, but so far as it is known, it is a sort of motion. There

are various other motions in the universe; what is the difference

between them and electricity? Suppose this table moves--that the

molecules which compose this table are moving in different

directions; if they are all made to move in the same direction, it

will be through electricity. Electric motion makes the molecules of a

body move in the same direction. If all the air molecules in a room

are made to move in the same direction, it will make a gigantic

battery of electricity of the room. Another point from physiology we

must remember, that the centre which regulates the respiratory

system, the breathing system, has a sort of controlling action over

the system of nerve currents.

 

Now we shall see why breathing is practised. In the first place, from

rhythmical breathing comes a tendency of all the molecules in the

body to move in the same direction. When mind changes into will, the

nerve currents change into a motion similar to electricity, because

the nerves have been proved to show polarity under the action of

electric currents. This shows that when the will is transformed into

the nerve currents, it is changed into something like electricity.

When all the motions of the body have become perfectly rhythmical,

the body has, as it were, become a gigantic battery of will. This

tremendous will is exactly what the Yogi wants. This is, therefore, a

physiological explanation of the breathing exercise. It tends to

bring a rhythmic action in the body, and helps us, through the

respiratory centre, to control the other centres. The aim of

Pranayama here is to rouse the coiled-up power in the Muladhara,

called the Kundalini.

 

Everything that we see, or imagine, or dream, we have to perceive in

space. This is the ordinary space, called the Mahakasha, or elemental

space. When a Yogi reads the thoughts of other men, or perceives

supersensuous objects, he sees them in another sort of space called

the Chittakasha, the mental space. When perception has become

objectless, and the soul shines in its own nature, it is called the

Chidakasha, or knowledge space. When the Kundalini is aroused, and

enters the canal of the Sushumna, all the perceptions are in the

mental space. When it has reached that end of the canal which opens

out into the brain, the objectless perception is in the knowledge

space. Taking the analogy of electricity, we find that man can send a

current only along a wire 2 but nature requires no wires to send her

tremendous currents.This proves that the wire is not really

necessary, but that only our inability to dispense with it compels us

to use it.

 

Similarly, all the sensations and motions of the body are being sent

into the brain, and sent out of it, through these wires of nerve

fibres. The columns of sensory and motor fibres in the spinal cord

are the Ida and Pingala of the Yogis. They are the main channels

through which the afferent and efferent currents travel. But why

should not the mind send news without any wire, or react without any

wire? We see this is done in nature. The Yogi says, if you can do

that, you have got rid of the bondage of matter. How to do it? If you

can make the current pass through the Sushumna, the canal in the

middle of the spinal column, you have solved the problem. The mind

has made this network of the nervous system, and has to break it, so

that no wires will be required to work through. Then alone will all

knowledge come to us--no more bondage of body; that is why it is so

important that we should get control of that Sushumna. If we can send

the mental current through the hollow canal without any nerve fibres

to act as wires, the Yogi says, the problem is solved, and he also

says it can be done.

 

This Sushumna is in ordinary persons closed up at the lower

extremity; no action comes through it. The Yogi proposes a practice

by which it can be opened, and the nerve currents made to travel

through. When a sensation is carried to a centre, the centre reacts.

This reaction, in the case of automatic centres, is followed by

motion; in the case of conscious centres it is followed first by

perception, and secondly by motion. All perception is the reaction to

action from outside. How, then, do perceptions in dreams arise? There

is then no action from outside. The sensory motions, therefore, are

coiled up somewhere. For instance, I see a city; the perception of

that city is from the reaction to the sensations brought from outside

objects comprising that city. That is to say, a certain motion in the

brain molecules has been set up by the motion in the incarrying

nerves, which again are set in motion by external objects in the

city. Now, even after a long time I can remember the city. This

memory is exactly the same phenomenon, only it is in a milder form.

But whence is the action that sets up even the milder form of similar

vibrations in the brain? Not certainly from the primary sensations.

Therefore it must be that the sensations are coiled up somewhere, and

they, by their acting, bring out the mild reaction which we call

dream perception.

 

Now the centre where all these residual sensations are, as it were,

stored up, is called the Muladhara, the root receptacle, and the

coiled-up energy of action is Kundalini, " the coiled up " . It is very

probable that the residual motor energy is also stored up in the same

centre, as, after deep study or meditation on external objects, the

part of the body where the Muladhara centre is situated (probably the

sacral plexus) gets heated. Now, if this coiled-up energy be roused

and made active, and then consciously made to travel up the Sushumna

canal, as it acts upon centre after centre, a tremendous reaction

will set in. When a minute portion of energy travels along a nerve

fibre and causes reaction from centres, the perception is either

dream or imagination. But when by the power of long internal

meditation the vast mass of energy stored up travels along the

Sushumna, and strikes the centres, the reaction is tremendous,

immensely superior to the reaction of dream or imagination, immensely

more intense that the reaction of sense-perception. It is

supersensuous perception. And when it reaches the metropolis of all

sensations, the brain, the whole brain, as it were, reacts, and the

result is the full blaze of illumination, the perception of the Self.

As this Kundalini force travels from centre to centre, layer after

layer of the mind, as it were, opens up, and this universe is

perceived by the Yogi in its fine, or causal form. Then alone the

causes of this universe, both as sensation and reaction, are known as

they are, and hence comes all knowledge. The causes being known, the

knowledge of the effects is sure to follow.

 

Thus the rousing of the Kundalini is the one and only way to

attaining Divine Wisdom, superconscious perception, realisation of

the spirit. The rousing may come in various ways, through love for

God, through the mercy of perfected sages, or through the power of

the analytic will of the philosopher. Wherever there was any

manifestation of what is ordinarily called supernatural power or

wisdom, there a little current of Kundalini must have found its way

into the Sushumna. Only, in the vast majority of such cases, people

had ignorantly stumbled on some practice which set free a minute

portion of the coiled-up Kundalini. All worship, consciously or

unconsciously, leads to this end. The man who thinks that he is

receiving response to his prayers does not know that the fulfillment

comes from his own nature, that he has succeeded by the mental

attitude of prayer in waking up a bit of this infinite power which is

coiled up within himself. What, thus, men ignorantly worship under

various names, through fear and tribulation, the Yogi declares to the

world to be the real power coiled up in every being, the mother of

eternal happiness, if we but know how to approach her. And Raja-Yoga

is the science of religion, the rationale of all worship, all

prayers, forms, ceremonies, and miracles.

 

Raja-Yoga V

 

THE CONTROL OF PSYCHIC PRANA - Swami Vivekananda

 

We have now to deal with the exercises in Pranayama. We have seen

that the first step, according to the Yogis, is to control the motion

of the lungs. What we want to do is to feel the finer motions that

are going on in the body. Our minds have become externalised, and

have lost sight of the fine motions inside. If we can begin to feel

them, we can begin to control them. These nerve currents go on all

over the body, bringing life and vitality to every muscle, but we do

not feel them. The Yogi says we can learn to do so. How? By taking up

and controlling the motion of the lungs; when we have done that for a

sufficient length of time, we shall be able to control the finer

emotions.

 

We now come to the exercises in Pranayama. Sit upright; the body must

be kept straight. The spinal cord, although not attached to the

vertebral column, is yet inside of it. If you sit crookedly you

disturb this spinal cord, so let it be free. Any time that you sit

crookedly and try to meditate you do yourself an injury. The three

parts of the body, the chest, the neck, and the head, must be always

held straight in one line. You will find that by a little practice

this will come to you as easy as breathing. The second thing is to

get control of the nerves. We have said that the nerve centre that

controls the respiratory organs has a sort of controlling effect on

the other nerves, and rhythmical breathing is, therefore, necessary.

The breathing that we generally use should not be called breathing at

all. It is very irregular. Then there are some natural differences of

breathing between men and women.The first lesson is just to breathe

in a measured way, in and out. That will harmonise the system. When

you have practised this for some time, you will do well to join to it

the repetition of some word as " Om, " or any other sacred word. In

India we use certain symbolical words instead of counting one, two,

three, four. That is why I advise you to join the mental repetition

of the " Om, " or some other sacred word to the Pranayama. Let the word

flow in and out with the breath, rhythmically, harmoniously, and you

will find the whole body is becoming rhythmical. Then you will learn

what rest is. Compared with it, sleep is not rest. Once this rest

comes the most tired nerves will be calmed down, and you will find

that you have never before really rested.

 

The first effect of this practice is perceived in the change of

expression of one's face; harsh lines disappear; with calm thought

calmness comes over the face. Next comes beautiful voice. I never saw

a Yogi with a croaking voice. These signs come after a few months'

practice. After practising the above mentioned breathing for a few

days, you should take up a higher one. Slowly fill the lungs with

breath through the Ida, the left nostril, and at the same time

concentrate the mind on the nerve current. You are, as it were,

sending the nerve current down the spinal column, and striking

violently on the last plexus, the basic lotus which is triangular in

form, the seat of the Kundalini. Then hold the current there for some

time. Imagine that you are slowly drawing that nerve current with the

breath through the other side, the Pingala, then slowly throw it out

through the right nostril. This you will find a little difficult to

practise. The easiest way is to stop the right nostril with the

thumb, and then slowly draw in the breath through the left; then

close both nostrils with thumb and forefinger, and imagine that you

are sending that current down, and striking the base of the Sushumna;

then take the thumb off, and let the breath out through the right

nostril. Next inhale slowly through that nostril, keeping the other

closed by the forefinger, then close both, as before. The way the

Hindus practise this would be very difficult for this country,

because they do it from their childhood, and their lungs are prepared

for it. Here it is well to begin with four seconds, and slowly

increase. Draw in four seconds, hold in sixteen seconds, then throw

out in eight seconds. This makes one Pranayama. At the same time

think of the basic lotus, triangular in form; concentrate the mind on

that centre. The imagination can help you a great deal. The next

breathing is slowly drawing the breath in, and then immediately

throwing it out slowly, and then stopping the breath out, using the

same numbers. The only difference is that in the first case the

breath was held in, and in the second, held out. This last is the

easier one. The breathing in which you hold the breath in the lungs

must not be practised too much. Do it only four times in the morning,

and four times in the evening. Then you can slowly increase the time

and number. You will find that you have the power to do so, and that

you take pleasure in it. So very carefully and cautiously increase as

you feel that you have the power, to six instead of four. It may

injure you if you practise it irregularly.

 

Of the three processes for the purification of the nerves, described

above, the first and the last are neither difficult nor dangerous.

The more you practise the first one the calmer you will be. Just

think of " Om, " and you can practise even while you are sitting at

your work. You will be all the better for it. Some day, if you

practise hard, the Kundalini will be aroused. For those who practise

once or twice a day, just a little calmness of the body and mind will

come, and beautiful voice; only for those who can go on further with

it will Kundalini be aroused, and the whole of nature will begin to

change, and the book of knowledge will open. No more will you need to

go to books for knowledge; your own mind will have become your book,

containing infinite knowledge. I have already spoken of the Ida and

Pingala currents, flowing through either side of the spinal column,

and also of the Sushumna, the passage through the centre of the

spinal cord. These three are present in every animal; whatever being

has a spinal column has these three lines of action. But the Yogis

claim that in an ordinary man the Sushumna is closed; its action is

not evident while that of the other two is carrying power to

different parts of the body.

 

The Yogi alone has the Sushumna open. When this Sushumna current

opens, and begins to rise, we get beyond the senses, our minds become

supersensuous, superconscious--we get beyond even the intellect,

where reasoning cannot reach. To open that Sushumna is the prime

object of the Yogi. According to him, along this Sushumna are ranged

these centres, or, in more figurative language, these lotuses, as

they are called. The lowest one is at the lower end of the spinal

cord, and is called Muladhara, the next higher is called

Svadhishthana, the third Manipura, the fourth Anahata, the fifth

Vishuddha, the sixth Ajna and the last, which is in the brain, is the

Sahasrara, or " the thousand-petalled " . Of these we have to take

cognition just now of two centres only, the lowest, the Muladhara,

and the highest, the Sahasrara. All energy has to be taken up from

its seat in the Muladhara and brought to the Sahasrara. The Yogis

claim that of all the energies that are in the human body the highest

is what they call " Ojas " . Now this Ojas is stored up in the brain,

and the more Ojas is in a man's head, the more powerful he is, the

more intellectual, the more spiritually strong. One man may speak

beautiful language and beautiful thoughts, but they do not impress

people; another man speaks neither beautiful language nor beautiful

thoughts, yet his words charm. Every movement of his is powerful.

That is the power of Ojas.

 

Now in every man there is more or less of this Ojas stored up. All

the forces that are working in the body in their highest become Ojas.

You must remember that it is only a question of transformation. The

same force which is working outside as electricity or magnetism will

become changed into inner force; the same forces that are working as

muscular energy will be changed into Ojas. The Yogis say that that

part of the human energy which is expressed as sex energy, in sexual

thought, when checked and controlled, easily becomes changed into

Ojas, and as the Muladhara guides these, the Yogi pays particular

attention to that centre. He tries to take up all his sexual energy

and convert it into Ojas. It is only the chaste man or woman who can

make the Ojas rise and store it in the brain; that is why chastity

has always been considered the highest virtue. A man feels that if he

is unchaste, spirituality goes away, he loses mental vigour and moral

stamina. That is why in all the religious orders in the world which

have produced spiritual giants you will always find absolute chastity

insisted upon. That is why the monks came into existence, giving up

marriage. There must be perfect chastity in thought, word, and deed;

without it the practice of Raja-Yoga is dangerous, and may lead to

insanity. If people practise Raja-Yoga and at the same time lead an

impure life, how can they expect to become Yogis?

 

Raja-Yoga VI

 

PRATYAHARA AND DHARANA - Swami Vivekananda

 

The next step is called Pratyahara. What is this? You know how

perceptions come. First of all there are the external instruments,

then the internal organs acting in the body through the brain

centres, and there is the mind. When these come together and attach

themselves to some external object, then we perceive it. At the same

time it is a very difficult thing to concentrate the mind and attach

it to one organ only; the mind is a slave.

 

We hear " Be good, " and " Be good, " and " Be good, " taught all over the

world. There is hardly a child, born in any country in the world, who

has not been told, " Do not steal, " " Do not tell a lie, " but nobody

tells the child how he can help doing them. Talking will not help

him. Why should he not become a thief? We do not teach him how not to

steal; we simply tell him, " Do not steal. " Only when we teach him to

control his mind do we really help him. All actions, internal and

external, occur when the mind joins itself to certain centres, called

the organs. Willingly or unwillingly it is drawn to join itself to

the centres, and that is why people do foolish deeds and feel

miserable, which, if the mind were under control, they would not do.

What would be the result of controlling the mind? It then would not

join itself to the centres of perception, and, naturally, feeling and

willing would be under control. It is clear so far. Is it possible?

It is perfectly possible. You see it in modern times; the faith-

healers teach people to deny misery and pain and evil. Their

philosophy is rather roundabout, but it is a part of Yoga upon which

they have somehow stumbled. Where they succeed in making a person

throw off suffering by denying it, they really use a part of

Pratyahara, as they make the mind of the person strong enough to

ignore the senses. The hypnotists in a similar manner, by their

suggestion, excite in the patient a sort of morbid Pratyahara for the

time being. The so-called hypnotic suggestion can only act upon a

weak mind. And until the operator, by means of fixed gaze or

otherwise, has succeeded in putting the mind of the subject in a sort

of passive, morbid condition, his suggestions never work.

 

Now the control of the centres which is established in a hypnotic

patient or the patient of faith-healing, by the operator, for a time,

is reprehensible, because it leads to ultimate ruin. It is not really

controlling the brain centres by the power of one's own will, but is,

as it were, stunning the patient's mind for a time by sudden blows

which another's will delivers to it. It is not checking by means of

reins and muscular strength the mad career of a fiery team, but

rather by asking another to deliver heavy blows on the heads of the

horses, to stun them for a time into gentleness. At each one of these

processes the man operated upon loses a part of his mental energies,

till at last, the mind, instead of gaining the power of perfect

control, becomes a shapeless, powerless mass, and the only goal of

the patient is the lunatic asylum.

 

Every attempt at control which is not voluntary, not with the

controller's own mind, is not only disastrous, but it defeats the

end. The goal of each soul is freedom, mastery--freedom from the

slavery of matter and thought, mastery of external and internal

nature. Instead of leading towards that, every will-current from

another, in whatever form it comes, either as direct control of

organs, or as forcing to control them while under a morbid condition,

only rivets one link more to the already existing heavy chain of

bondage of past thoughts, past superstitions. Therefore, beware how

you allow yourselves to be acted upon by others. Beware how you

unknowingly bring another to ruin. True, some succeed in doing good

to many for a time, by giving a new trend to their propensities, but

at the same time, they bring ruin to millions by the unconscious

suggestions they throw around, rousing in men and women that morbid,

passive, hypnotic condition which makes them almost soulless at last.

Whosoever, therefore, asks any one to believe blindly, or drags

people behind him by the controlling power of his superior will, does

an injury to humanity, though he may not intend it.

 

Therefore use your own minds, control body and mind yourselves,

remember that until you are a diseased person, no extraneous will can

work upon you; avoid everyone, however great and good he may be, who

asks you to believe blindly. All over the world there have been

dancing and jumping and howling sects, who spread like infection when

they begin to sing and dance and preach; they also are a sort of

hypnotists. They exercise a singular control for the time being over

sensitive persons, alas! often, in the long run, to degenerate whole

races. Ay, it is healthier for the individual or the race to remain

wicked than be made apparently good by such morbid extraneous

control. One's heart sinks to think of the amount of injury done to

humanity by such irresponsible yet well-meaning religious fanatics.

They little know that the minds which attain to sudden spiritual

upheaval under their suggestions, with music and prayers, are simply

making themselves passive, morbid, and powerless, and opening

themselves to any other suggestion, be it ever so evil. Little do

these ignorant, deluded persons dream that whilst they are

congratulating themselves upon their miraculous power to transform

human hearts, which power they think was poured upon them by some

Being above the clouds, they are sowing the seeds of future decay, of

crime, of lunacy, and of death. Therefore, beware of everything that

take away your freedom. Know that it is dangerous, and avoid it by

all the means in your power.

 

He who has succeeded in attaching or detaching his mind to or from

the centres at will has succeeded in Pratyahara, which

means, " gathering towards, " checking the outgoing powers of the mind,

freeing it from the thraldom of the senses. When we can do this, we

shall really possess character; then alone we shall have taken a long

step towards freedom; before that we are mere machines.

 

How hard it is to control the mind! Well has it been compared to the

maddened monkey. There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as

all monkeys are. As if that were not enough some one made him drink

freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a

scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about

for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than

ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language

can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The

human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature;

then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its

turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the

scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the

demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all

importance. How hard to control such a mind!

 

The first lesson, then, is to sit for some time and let the mind run

on. The mind is bubbling up all the time. It is like that monkey

jumping about. Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply wait

and watch. Knowledge is power, says the proverb, and that is true.

Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it. Give it

the rein; many hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be

astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts. But

you will find that each day the mind's vagaries are becoming less and

less violent, that each day it is becoming calmer. In the first few

months you will find that the mind will have a great many thoughts,

later you will find that they have somewhat decreased, and in a few

more months they will be fewer and fewer, until at last the mind will

be under perfect control; but we must patiently practise every day.

As soon as the steam is turned on, the engine must run; as soon as

things are before us we must perceive; so a man, to prove that he is

not a machine, must demonstrate that he is under the control of

nothing. This controlling of the mind, and not allowing it to join

itself to the centres, is Pratyahara. How is this practised? It is a

tremendous work, not to be done in a day. Only after a patient,

continuous struggle for years can we succeed.

 

After you have practised Pratyahara for a time, take the next step,

the Dharana, holding the mind to certain points. What is meant by

holding the mind to certain points? Forcing the mind to feel certain

parts of the body to the exclusion of others. For instance, try to

feel only the hand, to the exclusion of other parts of the body. When

the Chitta, or mind-stuff, is confined and limited to a certain place

it is Dharana. This Dharana is of various sorts, and along with it,

it is better to have a little play of the imagination. For instance,

the mind should be made to think of one point in the heart. That is

very difficult; an easier way is to imagine a lotus there. That lotus

is full of light, effulgent light. Put the mind there. Or think of

the lotus in the brain as full of light, or of the different centres

in the Sushumna mentioned before.

 

The Yogi must always practise. He should try to live alone; the

companionship of different sorts of people distracts the mind; he

should not speak much, because to speak distracts the mind; not work

much, because too much work distracts the mind; the mind cannot be

controlled after a whole day's hard work. One observing the above

rules becomes a Yogi. Such is the power of Yoga that even the least

of it will bring a great amount of benefit. It will not hurt anyone,

but will benefit everyone.

 

First of all, it will tone down nervous excitement, bring calmness,

enable us to see things more clearly. The temperament will be better,

and the health will be better. Sound health will be one of the first

signs, and a beautiful voice. Defects in the voice will be changed.

This will be among the first of the many effects that will come.

Those who practise hard will get many other signs. Sometimes there

will be sounds, as a peal of bells heard at a distance, commingling,

and falling on the ear as one continuous sound. Sometimes things will

be seen, little specks of light floating and becoming bigger and

bigger; and when these things come, know that you are progressing

fast.

 

Those who want to be Yogis, and practise hard, must take care of

their diet at first. But for those who want only a little practice

for everyday business sort of life, let them not eat too much;

otherwise they may eat whatever they please. For those who want to

make rapid progress, and to practise hard, a strict diet is

absolutely necessary. They will find it advantageous to live only on

milk and cereals for some months. As the organisation becomes finer

and finer, it will be found in the beginning that the least

irregularity throws one out of balance. One bit of food more or less

will disturb the whole system, until one gets perfect control, and

then one will be able to eat whatever one likes.

 

When one begins to concentrate, the dropping of a pin will seem like

a thunderbolt going through the brain. As the organs get finer, the

perceptions get finer. These are the stages through which we have to

pass, and all those who persevere will succeed. Give up all

argumentation and other distractions. Is there anything in dry

intellectual jargon? It only throws the mind off its balance and

disturbs it. Things of subtler planes have to be realised. Will

talking do that? So give up all vain talk. Read only those books

which have been written by persons who have had realisation.

 

Be like the pearl oyster. There is a pretty Indian fable to the

effect that if it rains when the star Svati is in the ascendant, and

a drop of rain falls into an oyster, that drop becomes a pearl. The

oysters know this, so they come to the surface when that star shines,

and wait to catch the precious raindrop. When a drop falls into them,

quickly the oysters close their shells and dive down to the bottom of

the sea, there to patiently develop the drop into the pearl. We

should be like that. First hear, then understand, and then, leaving

all distractions, shut your minds to outside influences, and devote

yourselves to developing the truth within you. There is the danger of

frittering away your energies by taking up an idea only for its

novelty, and then giving it up for another that is newer. Take one

thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen

the end, do not give it up. He who can become mad with an idea, he

alone sees light. Those that only take a nibble here and a nibble

there will never attain anything. They may titillate their nerves for

a moment, but there it will end. They will be slaves in the hands of

nature, and will never get beyond the senses.

 

Those who really want to be Yogis must give up, once for all, this

nibbling at things. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life--

think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles,

nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave

every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the

way great spiritual giants are produced. Others are mere talking

machines. If we really want to be blessed, and make others blessed,

we must go deeper. The first step is not to disturb the mind, not to

associate with persons whose ideas are disturbing. All of you know

that certain persons, certain places, certain foods, repel you. Avoid

them; and those who want to go to the highest, must avoid all

company, good or bad. Practise hard; whether you live or die does not

matter. You have to plunge in and work, without thinking of the

result. If you are brave enough, in six months you will be a perfect

Yogi. But those who take up just a bit of it and a little of

everything else make no progress. It is of no use simply to take a

course of lessons. To those who are full of Tamas, ignorant and dull--

those whose minds never get fixed on any idea, who only crave for

something to amuse them--religion and philosophy are simply objects

of entertainment. These are the unpersevering. They hear a talk,

think it very nice, and then go home and forget all about it. To

succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. " I

will drink the ocean, " says the persevering soul, " at my will

mountains will crumble up. " Have that sort of energy, that sort of

will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.

 

Raja-Yoga VII

 

DHYANA AND SAMADHI - Swami Vivekananda

 

We have taken a cursory view of the different steps in Raja-Yoga,

except the finer ones, the training in concentration, which is the

goal, to which Raja-Yoga will lead us. We see, as human beings, that

all our knowledge which is called rational is referred to

consciousness. My consciousness of this table, and of your presence,

makes me know that the table and you are here. At the same time,

there is a very great part of my existence of which I am not

conscious. All the different organs inside the body, the different

parts of the brain--nobody is conscious of these.

 

When I eat food, I do it consciously; when I assimilate it, I do it

unconsciously. When the food is manufactured into blood, it is done

unconsciously. When out of the blood all the different parts of my

body are strengthened, it is done unconsciously. And yet it is I who

am doing all this; there cannot be twenty people in this one body.

How do I know that I do it, and nobody else? It may be urged that my

business is only in eating and assimilating the food, and that

strengthening the body by the food is done for me by somebody else.

That cannot be, because it can be demonstrated that almost every

action of which we are now unconscious can be brought up to the plane

of consciousness. The heart is beating apparently without our

control. None of us here can control the heart; it goes on its own

way. But by practice men can bring even the heart under control,

until it will just beat at will, slowly, or quickly, or almost stop.

Nearly every part of the body can be brought under control. What does

this show? That the functions which are beneath consciousness are

also performed by us, only we are doing it unconsciously. We have,

then, two planes in which the human mind works. First is the

conscious plane, in which all work is always accompanied with the

feeling of egoism. Next comes the unconscious plane, where all work

is unaccompanied by the feeling of egoism. That part of mind-work

which is unaccompanied with the feeling of egoism is unconscious

work, and that part which is accompanied with the feeling of egoism

is conscious work. In the lower animals this unconscious work is

called instinct. In higher animals, and in the highest of all

animals, man, what is called conscious work prevails.

 

But it does not end here. There is a still higher plane upon which

the mind can work. It can go beyond consciousness. Just as

unconscious work is beneath consciousness, so there is another work

which is above consciousness, and which also is not accompanied with

the feeling of egoism. The feeling of egoism is only on the middle

plane. When the mind is above or below that line, there is no feeling

of " I " , and yet the mind works. When the mind goes beyond this line

of self-consciousness, it is called Samadhi or superconsciousness.

How, for instance, do we know that a man in Samadhi has not gone

below consciousness, has not degenerated instead of going higher? In

both cases the works are unaccompanied with egoism. The answer is, by

the effects, by the results of the work, we know that which is below,

and that which is above. When a man goes into deep sleep, he enters a

plane beneath consciousness. He works the body all the time, he

breathes, he moves the body, perhaps, in his sleep, without any

accompanying feeling of ego; he is unconscious, and when he returns

from his sleep, he is the same man who went into it. The sum total of

the knowledge which he had before he went into the sleep remains the

same; it does not increase at all. No enlightenment comes. But when a

man goes into Samadhi, if he goes into it a fool, he comes out a

sage.

 

What makes the difference? From one state a man comes out the very

same man that he went in, and from another state the man comes out

enlightened, a sage, a prophet, a saint, his whole character changed,

his life changed, illumined. These are the two effects. Now the

effects being different, the causes must be different. As this

illumination with which a man comes back from Samadhi is much higher

than can be got from unconsciousness, or much higher than can be got

by reasoning in a conscious state, it must, therefore, be

superconsciousness, and Samadhi is called the superconscious state.

 

This, in short, is the idea of Samadhi. What is its application? The

application is here. The field of reason, or of the conscious

workings of the mind, is narrow and limited. There is a little circle

within which human reason must move. It cannot go beyond. Every

attempt to go beyond is impossible, yet it is beyond this circle of

reason that there lies all that humanity holds most dear. All these

questions, whether there is an immortal soul, whether there is a God,

whether there is any supreme intelligence guiding this universe or

not, are beyond the field of reason. Reason can never answer these

questions. What does reason say? It says, " I am agnostic; I do not

know either yea or nay. " Yet these questions are so important to us.

Without a proper answer to them, human life will be purposeless. All

our ethical theories, all our moral attitudes, all that is good and

great in human nature, have been moulded upon answers that have come

from beyond the circle. It is very important, therefore, that we

should have answers to these questions. If life is only a short play,

if the universe is only a " fortuitous combination of atoms, " then why

should I do good to another? Why should there be mercy, justice, or

fellow-feeling? The best thing for this world would be to make hay

while the sun shines, each man for himself. If there is no hope, why

should I love my brother, and not cut his throat? If there is nothing

beyond, if there is no freedom, but only rigorous dead laws, I should

only try to make myself happy here. You will find people saying

nowadays that they have utilitarian grounds as the basis of morality.

What is this basis? Procuring the greatest amount of happiness to the

greatest number. Why should I do this? Why should I not produce the

greatest unhappiness to the greatest number, if that serves my

purpose? How will utilitarians answer this question? How do you know

what is right, or what is wrong? I am impelled by my desire for

happiness, and I fulfil it, and it is in my nature; I know nothing

beyond. I have these desires, and must fulfil them; why should you

complain? Whence come all these truths about human life, about

morality, about the immortal soul, about God, about love and

sympathy, about being good, and, above all, about being unselfish?

 

All ethics, all human action and all human thought, hang upon this

one idea of unselfishness. The whole idea of human life can be put

into that one word, unselfishness. Why should we be unselfish? Where

is the necessity, the force, the power, of my being unselfish? You

call yourself a rational man, a utilitarian; but if you do not show

me a reason for utility, I say you are irrational. Show me the reason

why I should not be selfish. To ask one to be unselfish may be good

as poetry, but poetry is not reason. Show me a reason. Why shall I be

unselfish, and why be good? Because Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so say so

does not weigh with me. Where is the utility of my being unselfish?

My utility is to be selfish if utility means the greatest amount of

happiness. What is the answer? The utilitarian can never give it. The

answer is that this world is only one drop in an infinite ocean, one

link in an infinite chain. Where did those that preached

unselfishness, and taught it to the human race, get this idea? We

know it is not instinctive; the animals, which have instinct, do not

know it. Neither is it reason; reason does not know anything about

these ideas. Whence then did they come?

 

We find, in studying history, one fact held in common by all the

great teachers of religion the world ever had. They all claim to have

got their truths from beyond, only many of them did not know where

they got them from. For instance, one would say that an angel came

down in the form of a human being, with wings, and said to

him, " Hear, O man, this is the message. " Another says that a Deva, a

bright being, appeared to him. A third says he dreamed that his

ancestor came and told him certain things. He did not know anything

beyond that. But this is common that all claim that this knowledge

has come to them from beyond, not through their reasoning power. What

does the science of Yoga teach? It teaches that they were right in

claiming that all this knowledge came to them from beyond reasoning,

but that it came from within themselves.

 

The Yogi teaches that the mind itself has a higher state of

existence, beyond reason, a superconscious state, and when the mind

gets to that higher state, then this knowledge, beyond reasoning,

comes to man. Metaphysical and transcendental knowledge comes to that

man. This state of going beyond reason, transcending ordinary human

nature, may sometimes come by chance to a man who does not understand

its science; he, as it were, stumbles upon it. When he stumbles upon

it, he generally interprets it as coming from outside. So this

explains why an inspiration, or transcendental knowledge, may be the

same in different countries, but in one country it will seem to come

through an angel, and in another through a Deva, and in a third

through God. What does it mean? It means that the mind brought the

knowledge by its own nature, and that the finding of the knowledge

was interpreted according to the belief and education of the person

through whom it came. The real fact is that these various men, as it

were, stumbled upon this superconscious state.

 

The Yogi says there is a great danger in stumbling upon this state.

In a good many cases there is the danger of the brain being deranged,

and, as a rule, you will find that all those men, however great they

were, who had stumbled upon this superconscious state without

understanding it, groped in the dark, and generally had, along with

their knowledge, some quaint superstition. They opened themselves to

hallucinations. Mohammed claimed that the Angel Gabriel came to him

in a cave one day and took him on the heavenly horse, Harak, and he

visited the heavens. But with all that, Mohammed spoke some wonderful

truths. If you read the Koran, you find the most wonderful truths

mixed with superstitions. How will you explain it? That man was

inspired, no doubt, but that inspiration was, as it were, stumbled

upon. He was not a trained Yogi, and did not know the reason of what

he was doing. Think of the good Mohammed did to the world, and think

of the great evil that has been done through his fanaticism! Think of

the millions massacred through his teachings, mothers bereft of their

children, children made orphans, whole countries destroyed, millions

upon millions of people killed!

 

So we see this danger by studying the lives of great teachers like

Mohammed and others. Yet we find, at the same time, that they were

all inspired. Whenever a prophet got into the superconscious state by

heightening his emotional nature, he brought away from it not only

some truths, but some fanaticism also, some superstition which

injured the world as much as the greatness of the teaching helped. To

get any reason out of the mass incongruity we call human life, we

have to transcend our reason, but we must do it scientifically,

slowly, by regular practice, and we must cast off all superstition.

We must take up the study of the superconscious state just as any

other science. On reason we must have to lay our foundation, we must

follow reason as far as it leads, and when reason fails, reason

itself will show us the way to the highest plane. When you hear a man

say, " I am inspired, " and then talk irrationally, reject it. Why?

Because these three states--instinct, reason, and superconsciousness,

or the unconscious, conscious, and superconscious states--belong to

one and the same mind. There are not three minds in one man, but one

state of it develops into the others. Instinct develops into reason,

and reason into the transcendental consciousness; therefore, not one

of the states contradicts the others. Real inspiration never

contradicts reason, but fulfills it. Just as you find the great

prophets saying, " I come not to destroy but to fulfil, " so

inspiration always comes to fulfil reason, and is in harmony with it.

 

All the different steps in Yoga are intended to bring us

scientifically to the superconscious state, or Samadhi. Furthermore,

this is a most vital point to understand, that inspiration is as much

in every man's nature as it was in that of the ancient prophets.

These prophets were not unique; they were men as you or I. They were

great Yogis. They had gained this superconsciousness, and you and I

can get the same. They were not peculiar people. The very fact that

one man ever reached that state, proves that it is possible for every

man to do so. Not only is it possible, but every man must,

eventually, get to that state, and that is religion. Experience is

the only teacher we have. We may talk and reason all our lives, but

we shall not understand a word of truth, until we experience it

ourselves. You cannot hope to make a man a surgeon by simply giving

him a few books. You cannot satisfy my curiosity to see a country by

showing me a map; I must have actual experience. Maps can only create

curiosity in us to get more perfect knowledge. Beyond that, they have

no value whatever. Clinging to books only degenerates the human mind.

Was there ever a more horrible blasphemy than the statement that all

the knowledge of God is confined to this or that book? How dare men

call God infinite, and yet try to compress Him within the covers of a

little book! Millions of people have been killed because they did not

believe what the books said, because they would not see all the

knowledge of God within the covers of a book. Of course this killing

and murdering has gone by, but the world is still tremendously bound

up in a belief in books.

 

In order to reach the superconscious state in a scientific manner it

is necessary to pass through the various steps of Raja-Yoga I have

been teaching. After Pratyahara and Dharana, we come to Dhyana,

meditation. When the mind has been trained to remain fixed on a

certain internal or external location, there comes to it the power of

flowing in an unbroken current, as it were, towards that point. This

state is called Dhyana. When one has so intensified the power of

Dhyana as to be able to reject the external part of perception and

remain meditating only on the internal part, the meaning, that state

is called Samadhi. The three--Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi--together,

are called Samyama. That is, if the mind can first concentrate upon

an object, and then is able to continue in that concentration for a

length of time, and then, by continued concentration, to dwell only

on the internal part of the perception of which the object was the

effect, everything comes under the control of such a mind.

 

This meditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as

there is desire, no real happiness can come. It is only the

contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings to us real

enjoyment and happiness. The animal has its happiness in the senses,

the man in his intellect, and the god in spiritual contemplation. It

is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state

that the world really becomes beautiful. To him who desires nothing,

and does not mix himself up with them, the manifold changes of nature

are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.

 

These ideas have to be understood in Dhyana, or meditation. We hear a

sound. First, there is the external vibration; second, the nerve

motion that carries it to the mind; third, the reaction from the

mind, along with which flashes the knowledge of the object which was

the external cause of these different changes from the ethereal

vibrations to the mental reactions. These three are called in Yoga,

Shabda (sound), Artha (meaning), and Jnana (knowledge). In the

language of physics and physiology they are called the ethereal

vibration, the motion in the nerve and brain, and the mental

reaction. Now these, though distinct processes, have become mixed up

in such a fashion as to become quite indistinct. In fact, we cannot

now perceive any of these, we only perceive their combined effect,

what we call the external object. Every act of perception includes

these three, and there is no reason why we should not be able to

distinguish them.

 

When, by the previous preparations, it becomes strong and controlled,

and has the power of finer perception, the mind should be employed in

meditation. This meditation must begin with gross objects and slowly

rise to finer and finer, until it becomes objectless. The mind should

first be employed in perceiving the external causes of sensations,

then the internal motions, and then its own reaction. When it has

succeeded in perceiving the external causes of sensations by

themselves, the mind will acquire the power of perceiving all fine

material existences, all fine bodies and forms. When it can succeed

in perceiving the motions inside by themselves, it will gain the

control of all mental waves, in itself or in others, even before they

have translated themselves into physical energy; and when he will be

able to perceive the mental reaction by itself, the Yogi will acquire

the knowledge of everything, as every sensible object, and every

thought is the result of this reaction. Then will he have seen the

very foundations of his mind, and it will be under his perfect

control. Different powers will come to the Yogi, and if he yields to

the temptations of any one of these, the road to his further progress

will be barred. Such is the evil of running after enjoyments. But if

he is strong enough to reject even these miraculous powers, he will

attain to the goal of Yoga, the complete suppression of the waves in

the ocean of the mind. Then the glory of the soul, undisturbed by the

distractions of the mind, or motions of the body, will shine in its

full effulgence; and the Yogi will find himself as he is and as he

always was, the essence of knowledge, the immortal, the all-

pervading.

 

Samadhi is the property of every human being--nay, every animal. From

the lowest animal to the highest angel, some time or other, each one

will have to come to that state, and then, and then alone, will real

religion begin for him. Until then we only struggle towards that

stage. There is no difference now between us and those who have no

religion, because we have no experience. What is concentration good

for, save to bring us to this experience? Each one of the steps to

attain Samadhi has been reasoned out, properly adjusted,

scientifically organised, and, when faithfully practised, will surely

lead us to the desired end. Then will all sorrows cease, all miseries

vanish; the seeds for actions will be burnt, and the soul will be

free for ever.

 

Raja-Yoga VIII

 

RAJA-YOGA IN BRIEF - Swami Vivekananda

 

The following is a summary of Raja-Yoga freely translated from the

Kurma-Purana. The fire of Yoga burns the cage of sin that is around a

man. Knowledge becomes purified and Nirvana is directly obtained.

From Yoga comes knowledge; knowledge again helps the Yogi. He who

combines in himself both Yoga and knowledge, with him the Lord is

pleased. Those that practise Mahayoga, either once a day, or twice a

day, or thrice, or always, know them to be gods. Yoga is divided into

two parts. One is called Abhava, and the other, Mahayoga. Where one's

self is meditated upon as zero, and bereft of quality, that is called

Abhava. That in which one sees the self as full of bliss and bereft

of all impurities, and one with God, is called Mahayoga. The Yogi, by

each one, realises his Self. The other Yogas that we read and hear

of, do not deserve to be ranked with the excellent Mahayoga in which

the Yogi finds himself and the whole universe as God. This is the

highest of all Yogas.

 

Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and

Samadhi are the steps in Raja-Yoga, of which non-injury,

truthfulness, non-covetousness, chastity, not receiving anything from

another are called Yama. This purifies the mind, the Chitta. Never

producing pain by thought, word, and deed, in any living being, is

what is called Ahimsa, non-injury. There is no virtue higher than non-

injury. There is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by this

attitude of non-offensiveness, to all creation. By truth we attain

fruits of work. Through truth everything is attained. In truth

everything is established. Relating facts as they are--this is truth.

Not taking others' goods by stealth or by force, is called Astya, non-

covetousness. Chastity in thought, word, and deed, always, and in

all conditions, is what is called Brahmacharya. Not receiving any

present from anybody, even when one is suffering terribly, is what is

called Aparigraha. The idea is, when a man receives a gift from

another, his heart becomes impure, he becomes low, he loses his

independence, he becomes bound and attached.

 

The following are helps to success in Yoga and are called Niyama or

regular habits and observances; Tapas, austerity; Svadhyaya, study;

Santosha, contentment; Shaucha, purity; Ishvara-pranidhana,

worshipping God. Fasting, or in other ways controlling the body, is

called physical Tapas. Repeating the Vedas and other Mantras, by

which the Sattva material in the body is purified, is called study,

Svadhyaya. There are three sorts of repetitions of these Mantras. One

is called the verbal, another semi-verbal, and the third mental. The

verbal or audible is the lowest, and the inaudible is the highest of

all. The repetition which is loud is the verbal; the next one is

where only the lips move, but no sound is heard. The inaudible

repetition of the Mantra, accompanied with the thinking of its

meaning, is called the " mental repetition, " and is the highest. The

sages have said that there are two sorts of purification, external

and internal. The purification of the body by water, earth, or other

materials is the external purification, as bathing etc. Purification

of the mind by truth, and by all the other virtues, is what is called

internal purification. Both are necessary. It is not sufficient that

a man should be internally pure and externally dirty. When both are

not attainable the internal purity is the better, but no one will be

a Yogi until he has both. Worship of God is by praise, by thought, by

devotion.

 

We have spoken about Yama and Niyama. The next is Asana (posture).

The only thing to understand about it is leaving the body free,

holding the chest, shoulders, and head straight. Then comes

Pranayama. Prana means the vital forces in one's own body, Ayama

means controlling them. There are three sorts of Pranayama, the very

simple, the middle, and the very high. Pranayama is divided into

three parts: filling, restraining, and emptying. When you begin with

twelve seconds it is the lowest Pranayama; when you begin with twenty-

four seconds it is the middle Pranayama; that Pranayama is the best

which begins with thirty-six seconds. In the lowest kind of Pranayama

there is perspiration, in the medium kind, quivering of the body, and

in the highest Pranayama levitation of the body and influx of great

bliss. There is a Mantra called the Gayatri. It is a very holy verse

of the Vedas. " We meditate on the glory of that Being who has

produced this universe; may He enlighten our minds. " Om is joined to

it at the beginning and the end. In one Pranayama repeat three

Gayatris. In all books they speak of Pranayama being divided into

Rechaka (rejecting or exhaling), Puraka (inhaling), and Kumbhaka

(restraining, stationary). The Indriyas, the organs of the senses,

are acting outwards and coming in contact with external objects.

Bringing them under the control of the will is what is called

Pratyahara or gathering towards oneself. Fixing the mind on the lotus

of the heart, or on the centre of the head, is what is called

Dharana. Limited to one spot, making that spot the base, a particular

kind of mental waves rises; these are not swallowed up by other kinds

of waves, but by degrees become prominent, while all the others

recede and finally disappear. Next the multiplicity of these waves

gives place to unity and one wave only is left in the mind. This is

Dhyana, meditation. When no basis is necessary, when the whole of the

mind has become one wave, one-formedness, it is called Samadhi.

Bereft of all help from places and centres, only the meaning of the

thought is present. If the mind can be fixed on the centre for twelve

seconds it will be a Dharana, twelve such Dharanas will be a Dhyana,

and twelve such Dhyanas will be a Samadhi.

 

Where there is fire, or in water or on ground which is strewn with

dry leaves, where there are many ant-hills, where there are wild

animals, or danger, where four streets meet, where there is too much

noise, where there are many wicked persons, Yoga must not be

practised. This applies more particularly to India. Do not practise

when the body feels very lazy or ill, or when the mind is very

miserable and sorrowful. Go to a place which is well hidden, and

where people do not come to disturb you. Do not choose dirty places.

Rather choose beautiful scenery, or a room in your own house which is

beautiful. When you practise, first salute all the ancient Yogis, and

your own Guru, and God, and then begin.

 

Dhyana is spoken of, and a few examples are given of what to meditate

upon. Sit straight, and look at the tip of your nose. Later on we

shall come to know how that concentrates the mind, how by controlling

the two optic nerves one advances a long way towards the control of

the arc of reaction, and so to the control of the will. Here are a

few specimens of meditation. Imagine a lotus upon the top of the

head, several inches up, with virtue as its centre, and knowledge as

its stalk. The eight petals of the lotus are the eight powers of the

Yogi. Inside, the stamens and pistils are renunciation. If the Yogi

refuses the external powers he will come to salvation. So the eight

petals of the lotus are the eight powers, but the internal stamens

and pistils are extreme renunciation, the renunciation of all these

powers. Inside of that lotus think of the Golden One, the Almighty,

the Intangible, He whose name is Om, the Inexpressible, surrounded

with effulgent light. Meditate on that. Another meditation is given.

Think of a space in your heart, and in the midst of that space think

that a flame is burning. Think of that flame as your own soul and

inside the flame is another effulgent light, and that is the Soul of

your soul, God. Meditate upon that in the heart. Chastity, non-

injury, forgiving even the greatest enemy, truth, faith in the Lord,

these are all different Vrittis. Be not afraid if you are not perfect

in all of these; work, they will come. He who has given up all

attachment, all fear, and all anger, he whose whole soul has gone

unto the Lord, he who has taken refuge in the Lord, whose heart has

become purified, with whatsoever desire he comes to the Lord, He will

grant that to him. Therefore worship Him through knowledge, love, or

renunciation.

 

" He who hates none, who is the friend of all, who is merciful to all,

who has nothing of his own, who is free from egoism, who is even-

minded in pain and pleasure, who is forbearing, who is always

satisfied, who works always in Yoga, whose self has become

controlled, whose will is firm, whose mind and intellect are given up

unto Me, such a one is My beloved Bhakta. From whom comes no

disturbance, who cannot be disturbed by others, who is free from joy,

anger, fear, and anxiety, such a one is My beloved. He who does not

depend on anything, who is pure and active, who does not care whether

good comes or evil, and never becomes miserable, who has given up all

efforts for himself; who is the same in praise or in blame, with a

silent, thoughtful mind, blessed with what little comes in his way,

homeless, for the whole world is his home, and who is steady in his

ideas, such a one is My beloved Bhakta. " Such alone become Yogis.

 

There was a great god-sage called Narada. Just as there are sages

among mankind, great Yogis, so there are great Yogis among the gods.

Narada was a good Yogi, and very great. He travelled everywhere. One

day he was passing through a forest, and saw a man who had been

meditating until the white ants had built a huge mound round his body-

-so long had he been sitting in that position. He said to

Narada, " Where are you going? " Narada replied, " I am going to

heaven. " " Then ask God when He will be merciful to me; when I shall

attain freedom. " Further on Narada saw another man. He was jumping

about, singing, dancing, and said, " Oh, Narada, where are you going? "

His voice and his gestures were wild. Narada said, " I am going to

heaven. " " Then, ask when I shall be free. " Narada went on. In the

course of time he came again by the same road, and there was the man

who had been meditating with the ant-hill round him. He said, " Oh,

Narada, did you ask the Lord about me? " " Oh, yes. " " What did He

say? " " The Lord told me that you would attain freedom in four more

births. " Then the man began to weep and wail, and said, " I have

meditated until an ant-hill has grown around me, and I have four more

births yet! " Narada went to the other man. " Did you ask my

question? " " Oh, yes. Do you see this tamarind tree? I have to tell

you that as many leaves as there are on that tree, so many times, you

shall be born, and then you shall attain freedom. " The man began to

dance for joy, and said, " I shall have freedom after such a short

time! " A voice came, " My child, you will have freedom this minute. "

That was the reward for his perseverance. He was ready to work

through all those births, nothing discouraged him. But the first man

felt that even four more births were too long. Only perseverance,

like that of the man who was willing to wait aeons brings about the

highest result.