The science of yoga unifies the diverse paths of religious belief

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Among the world's spiritual teachings, yoga offers the most precise and

scientific descriptions and psychophysiological techniques pertaining to the

ascent of the soul to God. However, the same basic experiences of ascension,

presented in less specific terminology or cloaked in metaphor, are to be found

in the experiences and writings of God-realized saints of every religion.

 

Evelyn Underhill, in 'Mysticism' (Part 1, Chapter 4), wrote: " It is one of the

many indirect testimonies to the objective reality of mysticism that the stages

of this road, the psychology of the spiritual ascent, as described to us by

different schools of contemplatives, always present practically the same

sequence of states. The 'school for saints' has never found it necessary to

bring its curriculum up to date.

 

" The psychologist finds little difficulty, for instance, in reconciling the

'Degrees of Orison' described by St. Teresa--Recollection, Quiet, Union,

Ecstasy, Rapt, the 'Pain of God,' and the Spiritual Marriage of the soul--with

the four forms of contemplation enumerated by Hugh of St. Victor, or the Sufi's

'Seven Stages' of the soul's ascent to God, which begin in adoration and end in

spiritual marriage. Though each wayfarer may choose different landmarks, it is

clear from their comparison that the road is one. "

 

The science of yoga unifies the diverse paths of religious belief

 

(p.379) Belief, faith, in themselves are only bypaths. Yoga, " divine union, " is

the consummate path; it is both the way to attain God-realization and the

universal experience of that attainment. Travelers to New York from different

parts of the country, for example, will journey along different routes. But when

they reach New York, they will all see the same things. Every true religion

leads to God, but some paths take a longer time while others are shorter. No

matter what God-ordained religion one follows, its beliefs will merge in one and

the same common experience of God. Yoga is the unifying path that is followed by

all religionists as they make the final approach to God. Before one can reach

God, there has to be the " repentance " that turns the consciousness from delusive

matter to the kingdom of God within. (p.380) This withdrawal retires the life

force and mind inward to rise through the spiritualizing centers of the spine to

the supreme states of divine realization. The final union with God and the

stages involved in this union are universal. That is yoga, the science of

religion. Divergent bypaths will meet on the highway of God; and that highway is

through the spine--the way to transcend body consciousness and enter the

infinite divine kingdom.[1]

 

Religionists may argue, " My faith is better than yours. " They are like the blind

men who fought about descriptions of the elephant they had been washing. One had

been washing the trunk, so he said that the elephant was like a snake. One said

the elephant was like a pillar; he had been washing the leg. Another said the

elephant was like a wall; he had been washing the massive sides. The man washing

the tusks proclaimed confidently that the beast was no more than two pieces of

bone. The man washing the tail was sure all were wrong, for the elephant was a

rope leading high up toward heaven! Then the driver said, " Friends, you are all

right and you are all wrong. " Because each blind man had been washing a part of

the elephant, they were all partly right; but they were also wrong because the

part was not the whole.

 

The purpose of religion, of life itself, is to find God. Man will not be able to

rest until he reaches that Goal, because all the forces of the universe will

seem to conspire to entrap him in his karma until he heeds the gospel of

repentance and realizes that " the kingdom of God is at hand " --within himself in

the here and now.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 22, pg. 379-380

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Note:

 

[1] Among the world's spiritual teachings, yoga offers the most precise and

scientific descriptions and psychophysiological techniques pertaining to the

ascent of the soul to God. However, the same basic experiences of ascension,

presented in less specific terminology or cloaked in metaphor, are to be found

in the experiences and writings of God-realized saints of every religion.

 

Evelyn Underhill, in 'Mysticism' (Part 1, Chapter 4), wrote: " It is one of the

many indirect testimonies to the objective reality of mysticism that the stages

of this road, the psychology of the spiritual ascent, as described to us by

different schools of contemplatives, always present practically the same

sequence of states. The 'school for saints' has never found it necessary to

bring its curriculum up to date.

 

" The psychologist finds little difficulty, for instance, in reconciling the

'Degrees of Orison' described by St. Teresa--Recollection, Quiet, Union,

Ecstasy, Rapt, the 'Pain of God,' and the Spiritual Marriage of the soul--with

the four forms of contemplation enumerated by Hugh of St. Victor, or the Sufi's

'Seven Stages' of the soul's ascent to God, which begin in adoration and end in

spiritual marriage. Though each wayfarer may choose different landmarks, it is

clear from their comparison that the road is one. "