At the same time we find will, and think we can direct our will everywhere. At every step these contradictory ideas are coming to us. We have to believe that we are free, yet at every moment we find we are not free. If one idea is a delusion, the other is also a delusion, because both stand upon the same basis — consciousness. The Yogi says both are true; that we are bound so far as intelligence goes, that we are free as far as the soul is concerned. It is the real RAJA YOGA nature of man, the Soul, the Purusa, which is beyond all law of causation. Its freedom is percolating through layers and layers of matter, in various forms of intelligence, and mind, and all these things. It is its light which is shining through all. Intelligence has no light of its own. Each organ has a particular centre in the brain; it is not that all the organs have one centre; each organ is separate. Why do all these perceptions harmonise, and where do they get their unity? If it were in the brain there would be one centre only for the eyes, the nose, the ears, while we know for certain that there are different centres for each. But a man can see and hear at the same time, so a unity must be back of intelligence. Intelligence is eternally connected with the brain, but behind even intelligence stands the Purusa, the unit, where all these different sensations and perceptions join and become one. Soul itself is the centre where all the different organs converge and become unified, and that Soul is free, and it is its freedom that tells you every moment that you are free. But you mistake, and mingle that freedom every moment with intelligence and mind. You try to attribute that freedom to the intelligence, and immediately find that intelligence is not free; you attribute that freedom to the body, and immediately nature tells you that you are again mistaken. That is why there is this mingled sense of freedom and bondage at the same time. The Yogi analyses both what is free and what is bound, and his ignorance vanishes. He finds that the Purusa is free, is the essence of that knowledge which, coming through the Buddhi, becomes intelligence, and, as such, is bound.
2 1. The nature of the experience is for him.
Nature has no light of its own. As long as the Purusa is present in it, it appears light, but the light is borrowed; just YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II 145 as the moon’s light is reflected. All the manifestations of nature are caused by this nature itself, according to the Yogis', but nature has no purpose in view, except to free the Purusa.
22. Though destroyed for him whose goal has been gained, yet is not destroyed, being common to others.
The whole idea of this nature is to make the Soul know that it is entirely separate from nature, and when the Soul knows this, nature has no more attractions for it. But the whole of nature vanishes only for that man who has become free. There will always remain an infinite number of others, for whom nature will go on working.
23. Junction is the cause of the realisation of the nature of both the powers, the experienced and its Lord.
According to this aphorism, when this Soul comes into conjunction with nature, both the power of the Soul and the power of nature become manifest in this conjunction, and all these manifestations are thrown out. Ignorance is the cause of this conjunction. We see every day that the cause of our pain or pleasure is always our joining ourselves with the body. If I were perfectly certain that I am not this body, I should take no notice of heat and cold, or anything of the kind. This body is a combination. It is only a fiction to say that I have one body, you another, and the sun another. The whole universe is one ocean of matter, and you are the name of a little particle, and I of another, and the sun of another. We know that this matter is continuously changing, what is RAJA YOGA forming the sun one day, the next day may form the matter of our bodies.
24. Ignorance is its cause.
Through ignorance we have joined ourselves with a particular body, and thus opened ourselves to misery. This idea of body is a simple superstition. It is superstition that makes us happy or unhappy. It is superstition caused by ignorance that makes us feel heat and cold, pain and pleasure. It is our business to rise above this superstition, and the Yogi shows us how we can do this. It has been demonstrated that, under certain mental conditions, a man may be burned, yet, while that condition lasts, he will feel no pain. The difficulty is that this sudden upheaval of the mind comes like a whirlwind one minute, and goes away the next. If, however, we attain it scientifically, through Yoga, we shall permanently attain to that separation of Self from the body.
25. There being absence of that (ignorance) there is absence of junction, which is the thing- to-be-avoided; that is the independence of the seer.
According to this Yoga philosophy it is through ignorance that the Soul has been joined with nature and the idea is to get rid of nature’s control over us. That is the goal of all religions. Each Soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or by philosophy, by one, or more, or all of these — and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II M7 secondary details. The Yogi tries to reach this goal through psychic control. Until we can free ourselves from nature we are slaves; as she dictates so we must go. The Yogi claims that he who controls mind controls matter also. The internal nature is much higher that the external, and much more difficult to grapple with, much more difficult to control; therefore he who has conquered the internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his servant. Raja Yoga propounds the methods of gaining this control. Higher forces than we know in physical nature will have to be subdued. This body is just the external crust of the mind. They are not two different things; they are just as the oyster and its shell. They are but two aspects of one thing; the internal substance of the oyster is taking up matter from outside, and manufacturing the shell. In the same way these internal fine forces which are called mind take up gross matter from outside, and from that manufacture this external shell, or body. If then, we have control of the internal, it is very easy to have control of the external. Then again, these forces are not different. It is not that some forces are physical, and some mental; the physical forces are but the gross manifestations of the fine forces, just as the physical world is but the gross manifestation of the fine world.
26. The means of destruction of ignorance is unbroken practice of discrimination.
This is the real goal of practice — discrimination between the real and unreal, knowing that the Purusa is not nature, that it is neither matter nor mind, and that because it is not nature, it cannot possibly change. It is only nature which changes, combining, and recombining, dissolving continually. When through constant practice we begin to discriminate, RAJA YOGA ignorance will vanish, and the Purusa will begin to shine in its real nature, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.
27. His knowledge is of the sevenfold highest ground.
When this knowledge comes, it will come, as it were, in seven grades, one after the other, and when one of these has begun we may know that we are getting knowledge. The first to appear will be that we have known what is to be known. The mind will cease to be dissatisfied. While we are aware of thirsting after knowledge we begin to seek here and there, wherever we think we can get some truth, and, failing to find it we become dissatisfied and seek in a fresh direction. All search is vain, until we begin to perceive that knowledge is within ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help ourselves. When we begin to practice the power of discrimination, the first sign that we are getting near truth will be that that dissatisfied state will vanish. We shall feel quite sure that we have found the truth, and that it cannot be anything else but the truth. Then we may know that the sun is rising, that the morning is breaking for us, and, taking courage, we must persevere until the goal is reached. The second grade will be that all pains will be gone. It will be impossible for anything in the universe, physical, mental, or spiritual, to give us pain. The third will be that we shall get full knowledge, that omniscience will be ours. Next will come what is called freedom of the China. We shall realise that all these difficulties and struggles have fallen off from us. All these vacillations of the mind, when the mind cannot be controlled, have failed down, just as a stone falls from the mountain top into the valley and never comes up again. The next will be that this China itself will YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II 149 realise that it melts away into its causes whenever we so desire. Lastly we shall find that we are established in our Self, that we have been alone throughout the universe, neither body nor mind was ever connected with us, much less joined to us. They were working their own way, and we, through ignorance, joined ourselves to them. But we have been alone, omnipotent, omnipresent, ever blessed; our own Self was so pure and perfect that we required none else. We required none else to make us happy, for we are happiness itself. We shall find that this knowledge does not depend on anything else; throughout the universe there can be nothing that will not become effulgent before our knowledge. This will be the last state, and the Yogi will become peaceful and calm, never to feel any more pain, never to be again deluded, never to touch misery. He knows he is ever blessed, ever perfect, almighty.
28. By the practice of the different parts of Yoga the impurities being destroyed knowledge becomes effulgent, up to discrimination.
Now comes the practical knowledge. What we have just been speaking about is much higher. It is way above our heads, but it is the ideal. It is first necessary to obtain physical and mental control. Then the realisation will become steady in that ideal. The ideal being known, what remains is to practise the method of reaching it.
29. Yama, Niyama, Asana, Prandydma, Pratya- hara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, are the limbs of Yoga.
RAJA YOGA continence, and non-receiving, are called Yama.
A man who wants to be a perfect Yogi must give up the sex idea. The Soul has no sex; why should it degrade itself with sex ideas? Later we shall understand better why these ideas must be given up. Receiving is just as bad as stealing; receiving gifts from others. Whoever receives gifts, his mind is acted on by the mind of the giver, so that the man who receives gifts becomes degenerated. Receiving gifts destroys the independence of the mind, and makes us mere slaves. Therefore, receive nothing.
31. These, unbroken by time, place, purpose, and caste, are (universal) great vows.
These practices, non-killing, non-stealing, chastity, and non- receiving, are to be practiced by every man, woman and child, by every soul, irrespective of nation, country or position.
32. Internal and external purification, content- ment, mortification, study, and worship of God, are the Niyamas.
External purification is keeping the body pure; a dirty man will never become a Yogi. There must be internal purification also. That is obtained by the first-named virtues. Of course internal purity is of greater value that external, but both are necessary, and external purity, without internal, is of no good.
33. To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to Yoga contrary thoughts will be brought.
YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II 151 This is the way to practice all these virtues that have been stated, by holding thoughts of an opposite character in the mind. When the idea of stealing comes, non-stealing should be thought of. When the idea of receiving gifts comes, replace it by a contrary thought.
34. The obstructions to Yoga are killing etc., whether committed, caused, or approved; either through avarice, or anger, or ignorance; whether slight, middling, or great, and result is innumerable ignorances and miseries. This is (the method of) thinking the contrary.
If I tell I lie, or cause another to tell a lie, or approve of another doing so, it is equally sinful. If it is a very mild lie, it is still a lie. Every vicious thought will rebound, every thought of hatred which you have thought, in a cave even, is stored up, and will one day come back to you with tremendous power in the form of some misery here. If you project all sorts of hatred and jealousy, they will rebound on you with compound interest. No power can avert them; when once you have put them in motion you will have to bear them. Remembering this, will prevent you from doing wicked things.
35. Non-killing being established, in his presence all emnities cease (in others).
If a man gets the idea of non-injuring others, before him even animals which are by their nature ferocious will become peaceful. The tiger and the lamb will play together before that Yogi and will not hurt each other. When you have come to that state, then alone you will understand that you have become firmly established in non-injuring.
RAJA YOGA 36. By the establishment of truthfulness the Yogi gets the power of attaining for himself and others the fruits of work without the works.
When this power of truth will be established with you, then even in dream you will never tell an untruth, in thought, word or deed; whatever you say will be truth. You may say to a man “Be blessed,” and that man will be blessed. If a man is diseased, and you say to him, “Be thou cured,” he will be cured immediately.
37. By the establishment of non-stealing all wealth comes to the Yogi.
The more you fly from nature the more she follows you, and if you do not care for her at all she becomes your slave.
38. By the establishment of continence energy is gained.
The chaste brain has tremendous energy, gigantic will power, without that there can be no mental strength. All men of gigantic brains are very continent. It gives wonderful control over mankind. Leaders of men have been very continent, and this is what gave them power. Therefore the Yogi must be continent.
39. When he is fixed in non-receiving he gets the memory of past life.
When the Yogi does not receive presents from others he does not become beholden to others, but becomes independent and free, and his mind becomes pure, because with every gift he receives all the evils of the giver, and they come and lay coating after coating on his mind, until it is hidden under all YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II 153 sorts of coverings of evil. If he does not receive the mind becomes pure, and the first thing it gets is memory of past life. Then alone the Yogi becomes perfectly fixed in his ideal, because he sees that he has been coming and going so many times, and he becomes determined that this time he will be free, that he will no more come and go, and be the slave of Nature.
40. Internal and external cleanliness being established, arises disgust for one’s own body, and non-intercourse with other bodies.
When there is real purification of the body, external and internal, there arises neglect of the body, and all this idea of keeping it nice will vanish. What others call the most beautiful face to the Yogi will appear to be an animal’s face, if there is not intelligence behind it. What the world will call a very common face he will call heavenly, if that spirit shines behind it. This thirst after body is the great bane of human life. So, when this purity is established, the first sign will be that you do not care to think you are a body. It is only when purity comes that we get rid of this body idea.
41. There also arises purification of the Sattva, cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of the organs, and fitness for the realisation of the Self.
By this practice the Sattva material will prevail, and the mind will become concentrated and cheerful. The first sign that you are become religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When a man is gloomy that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion. A pleasurable feeling is the nature of the Sattva. Everything is pleasurable to the Sattvika man, and RAJA YOGA RAJA YOGA when this comes, know that you are progressing in Yoga. All pain is caused by Tamas, so you must get rid of that; moroseness is one of the results of Tamas. The strong, the well-knit, the young, the healthy, the daring alone are fit to be Yogis. To the Yogi everything is bliss, every human face that he sees brings cheerfulness to him. That is the sign of a virtuous man. Misery is caused by sin, and by no other cause. What business have you with clouded faces; it is terrible. If you have a clouded face do not go out that day, shut yourself up in your room. What right have you to carry this disease out into the world? When your mind has become controlled you will have control over the whole body; instead of being a slave to the machine, the machine will be your slave. Instead of this machine being able to drag the soul down it will be its greatest helpmate.
42. From contentment comes superlative happiness.
43. The result of mortification is bringing powers to the organs and the body, by destroying the impurity.
The results of mortification are seen immediately sometimes by heightened powers of vision, and so on, hearing things at a distance, etc.
44. By repetition of the mantram comes the realisation of the intended deity.
The higher the beings that you want to get the harder is the practice.
45. By sacrificing all to Isvara comes Samadhi.
By resignation to the Lord, Samadhi becomes perfect.
YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II 155 46. Posture is that which is firm and pleasant.
Now comes Asana, posture. Until you can get a firm seat you cannot practice the breathing and other exercises. The seat being firm means that you do not feel the body at all; then alone it has become firm. But, in the ordinary way, you will find that as soon as you sit for a few minutes all sorts of disturbances come into the body; but when you have got beyond the idea of a concrete body you will lose all sense of the body. You will feel neither pleasure nor pain. And when you take your body up again it will feel so rested; it is the only perfect rest that you can give to the body. When you have succeeded in conquering the body and keeping it firm, your practice will remain firm, but while you are disturbed by the body your nerves become disturbed, and you cannot concentrate the mind. We can make the seat firm by thinking of the infinite. We cannot think of the Absolute Infinite, but we can think of the infinite sky.
47. By slight effort and meditating on the un- limited (posture becomes firm and pleasant).
Light and darkness, pleasure and pain, will not then disturb you.
48. Seat being conquered, the dualities do not obstruct.
The dualities are good and bad, heat and cold, and all the pairs of opposites.
49. Controlling the motion of the exhalation and the inhalation follows after this.
When the posture has been conquered, then this motion is to be broken and controlled, and thus we come to Pranayama; RAJA YOGA the controlling of the vital forces of the body. Prana is not breath, though it is usually so translated. It is the sum-total of the cosmic energy. It is the energy that is in each obdy, and its most apparent manifestation is the motion of the lungs. This motion is caused by Prana drawing in the breath, and is what we seek to control in Pranayama. We begin by controlling the breaht, as the easiest way of getting control of the Prana.
50. Its modifications are either external or internal, or motionless, regulated by place, time, and number, either long or short.
The three sorts of motion of this Pranayama are, one by which we draw the breath in, another by which we throw it out, and the third action is when the breath is held in the lungs, or stopped from entering the lungs. These, again, are varied by place and time. By place is meant that the Prana is held to some particular part of the body. By time is meant ho wlong the Prana should be confined to a certain place, and so we are told how many seconds to keep on motion, and how many seconds to keep another. The result of this Pranayama is Udghata, awakening the Kundalini.
51. The fourth is restraining the Prana by directing it either to the external or internal objects.
This is the fourth sort of Pranayama. Prana can be directed either inside or outside.
52. From that, the covering to the light of the Chitta is attenuated.
YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II 157 The Chitta has, by its own nature, all knowledge. It is made of Sattva particles, but is covered by Rajas and Tamas particles, and by Prdndydma this covering is removed.
53. The mind becomes fit for Dharana.
After this covering has been removed we are able to concentrate the mind.
54. The drawing in of the organs is by their giving up their own objects and taking the form of the mind-stuff.
These organs are separate states of the mind-stuff. I see a book; the form is not in the book, it is in the mind. Something is outside which calls that form up. The real form is in the Chitta. These organs are identifying themselves with, and taking the forms of whatever comes to them. If you can restrain the mind-stuff from taking these forms the mind will remain calm. This is called Pratydhdra. Thence arises supreme control of the organs.
When the Yogi has succeeded in preventing the organs from taking the forms of external objects, and in making them remain one with the mind- stuff, then comes perfect control of the organs, and when the orgns are perfectly under control, every muscle and nerve will be under control, because the organs are the centres of all the senstations, and of all actions. These organs are divided into organs of work and organs of sensation. When the organs are controlled the Yogi can control all feeling and doing; the whole of the body will be under his control. Then alone one begins to feel joy in being born; then one can truthfully say, “Blessed am I that I was born. “ When that control of the organs is obtained, we feel how wonderful this body really is.
CHAPTER III.
THE CHAPTER OF POWERS We have now come to the chapter which is called the Chapter of Powers.
1. Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular object.
Dharana (concentration) is when the mind holds on to some object, either in the body, or outside the body, and keeps itself in that state.
2. An unbroken flow of knowledge to that object is Dhyana.
The mind tries to think of one object, to hold itself to one particular spot, as the top of the head, the heart, etc., and if the mind succeeds in receiving the sensations only through that part of the body, and through no other part, that would be Dharana, and when the mind succeeds in keeping itself in that state for some time it is called Dhyana (meditation).
3. When that, giving up all forms, reflects only the meaning, it is Samadhi.
That is, when in meditation all forms are given up. Suppose I were meditating on a book, and that I have gradually succeeded in concentrating the mind on it, and perceiving only the internal sensations, the meaning, unexpressed in any form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi.
4. (These) three (when practised) in regard to one object is Samyama.
YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS When a man can direct his mind to any particular object and fix it there, and then keep it there for a long time, separating the object from the internal part, this is Samyama; or Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, one following the other, and making one. The form of the thing has vanished, and only its meaning remains in the mind.
5. By the conquest of that comes light of knowledge.
When one has succeeded in making this Samyama, all powers come under his control. This is the great instrument of the Yogi. The object of knowledge are infinite, and they are divided into the gross, grosser, grossest, and the fine, finer, finest, and so on. This Samyama should be first applied to gross things, when when you begin to get knowledge of the gross, slowly, by stages, it should be brought to finer things.
6. That should be employed in stages.
This is a note of warning not to attempt to go too fast.
7. These three are nearer than those that precede.
Before these we had the Pranayama, the Asana, the Yama and Niyama; these are external parts of these three — Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. Yet these latter even are external to the seedless Samadhi. When a man has attained to them he may attain to omniscience and omnipresence, but that would not be salvation. These three would not make the mind Nirvikalpa, changeless, but would leave the seeds for getting bodies again; only when the seeds are, as the Yogi says, “fried,” do they lose the possibility of producing further plants. These powers cannot fry the seed.
i6o RAJA YOGA 8. But even they are external to the seedless (Samadhi).
Compared with that seedless Samadhi, therefore, even these are external. We have not yet reached the real Samadhi, the highest, but to a lower stage, in which this universe still exists as we see it, and in which are all these power.
9. By the suppression of the disturbed modi- fications of the mind, and by the rise of modifications of control, the mind is said to attain the controlling modifications — fol- lowing the controlling powers of the mind.
That is to say, in this first state of Samadhi, the modi- fications of the mind have been controlled, but not perfectly, because if they were, there would be no modifications. If there is a modification which impels the mind to rush out through the senses, and the Yogi tries to control it, that very control itself will be a modification. One wave will be checked by another wave, so it will not be real Samadhi, when all the waves have subsided, as control itself will be a wave. Yet this lower Samadhi is very much nearer to the higher Samadhi than when the mind comes bubbling out.
10. Its flow becomes steady by habit.
The flow of this continuous control of the mind becomes steady when practices day after day and the mind obtains the faculty of constant concentration.
1 1. Taking in all sorts of objects and concentrating upon one object, these two powers being destroyed and manifested YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS respectively, the Chitta gets the modifi- cation called Samadhi.
The mind is taking up various objects, running into all sorts of things and then there is a higher state of the mind, when it takes up one object and excludes all others. Samadhi is the result of that.
12. The one-pointedness of the Chitta is when it grasps in one, the past and present.
How are we to know that the mind has become concentrated? Because time will vanish. The more time vanishes the more concentrated we are. In common life we see that when were are interested in a book we do not note the time at all, and when we leave the book we are often surprised to find how many hours have passed. All time will have the tendency to come and stand in the one present. So the definition is given, when the past and present come and stand in one, the more concentrated the mind.
1 3. By this is explained the threefold transformations of form, time and state, in fine or gross matter, and in the organs.
By this the threefold changes in the mind-stuff as to form, time, and state are explained. The mind-stuff is changing into Vrttis, this is change as to form. To be able to hold the changes to the present time is change as to time. To be able to make the mind- stuff go to the past forms giving up the present even, is change as to state. The concentrations taught in the preceding aphorisms were to give the Yogi a voluntary control over the transformations of his mind-stuff which alone will enable him to make the Samyama before named.
RAJA YOGA RAJA YOGA 14. That which is acted upon by transformations, either past, present or yet to be manifested, is the qualified.
That is to say, the qualified is the substance which is being acted upon by time and by the Samskdras, and getting changed and being manifested all the time.
15. The succession of changes is the cause of manifold evolution.
16. By making Sarny ama on the three sorts of changes comes the knowledge of past and future.
We must not lose sight of the first definition of Samyama. When the mind has attained to that state when it identifies itself with the internal impression of the object, leaving the external, and when, by long practice, that is retained by the mind, and the mind can get into that state in a moment, that is Samyama. If a man in that state wants to know the past and future he has to make a Samyama on the changes in the Samskdras. Some are working now at present, some have worked out, and some are waiting to work; so by making a Samyama on these he knows the past and future.
1 7. By making Samyama on word, meaning, and knowledge, which are ordinarily confused, comes the knowledge of all animal sounds.
The word represents the external cause, the meaning represents the internal vibration that travels to the brain through the channels of the Indriyas, conveying the external impression to the mind, and knowledge represents the YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS reaction of the mind, with which comes perception. These three confused, make our sense objects. Suppose I hear a word; there is first the external vibration, next the internal sensation carried to the mind by the organ of hearing, then the mind reacts, and I know the word. The word I know is a mixture of the three, vibration, sensation, and reaction. Ordinarily these three are inseperable; but by practice the Yogi can separate them. When a man has attained to this, if he makes a Samyama on any sound, he understands the meaning which that sound was intended to express, whether it was made by man or by any other animal.
18. By perceiving the impressions, knowledge of past life.
Each experience that we have comes in the form of a wave in the China, and this subsides and becomes finer and finer, but is never lost. It remains there in minute form, and if we can bring this wave up again, it becomes memory. So, if the Yogi can make a Samyama on these past impressions in the mind, he will begin to remember all his past lives.
1 9. By making Samyama on the signs in another’s both knowledge of that mind comes.