Suppose each man has particular signs on his body, which differentiate him from others; when the Yogi makes a Samyama on these signs peculiar to a certain man he knows the nature of the mind of that person.
20. But not its contents, that not being the object of the Samyama.
RAJA YOGA He would not know the contents of the mind by making a Samyama on the body. There would be required a twofold Samyama, first on the signs in the body, and then on the mind itself. The Yogi would then know everything that is in that mind, past, present, and future.
2 1. By making Samyama on the form of the body the power of perceiving forms being obstructed, the power of manifestation in the eye being separated, the YogV s body becomes unseen.
A Yogi standing in the midst of this room can apparently vanish. He does not really vanish, but he will not be seen by anyone. The form and the body are, as it were, separated. You must remember that this can only be done when the Yogi has attained to that power of concentration when form and the thing formed have been separated. Then he makes a Samyama on that, and the power to perceive forms is obstructed, because the power of perceiving forms comes from the junction of form and the thing formed.
22. By this the disappearance or concealment of words which are being spoken is also explained.
23. Karma is of two kinds, soon to be fructified, and late to be fructified. By making Samyama on that, or by the signs called Aristha, portents, the Yogis know the exact time of separation from their bodies.
When the Yogi makes a Samyama on his own Karma, upon those impressions in his mind which are now working, and YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS those which are just waiting to work, he knows exactly by those that are waiting when his body will fall. He knows when he will die, at what hour, even at what minute. The Hindus think very much of that knowledge or consciousness of the nearness of death, because it is taught in the Gita that the thoughts at the moment of departure are great powers in determining the next life.
24. By making Sarny ama on friendship, etc., various strength comes.
25. By making Sarny ama on the strength of the elephant, etc., that strength comes to the Yogi.
When a Yogi has attained to this Samyama and wants strength, he makes a Samyama on the strength of the elephant, and gets it. Infinite energy is at the disposal of everyone, if he only knows how to get it. The Yogi has discovered the science of getting it.
26. By making Samyama on that effulgent light comes the knowledge of the fine, the obstructed, and the remote.
When the Yogi makes Samyama on that effulgent light in the heart he sees things which are very remote, things, for instance, that are happening in a distant place, and which are obstructed by mountain barriers and also things which are very fine.
27. By making Samyama on the sun, (comes) the knowledge of the world.
28. On the moon, (comes) the knowledge of the cluster of stars.
RAJA YOGA 29. On the pole star (comes) the knowledge of the motions of the stars.
30. On the navel circle (comes) the knowledge of the constitution of the body.
31. On the hollow of the throat (comes) cessation of hunger.
When a man is very hungry, if he can make Samyama on the pit of the throat hunger ceases.
32. On the nerve called Kurma (comes) fixity of the body.
When he is practising the body is not disturbed.
33. On the light emanating from the top of the head sight of the Siddhas.
The Siddhas are beings who are a little above ghosts. When the Yogi concentrates his mind on the sop of his head he will see these Siddhas. The word Siddha does not refer to those men who have become free — a sense in which it is often used.
34. Or by the power of Pratibha all knowledge.
All these can come without any Samyama to the man who has the power of Pratibha (enlightenment from purity). This is when a man has risen to a high state of Pratibha; then he has that great light. All things are apparent to him. Everything comes to him naturally, without making Samyama on anything.
35. In the heart, knowledge of minds.
YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS 36. Enjoyment comes by the non-discri- mination of the very distant soul and Sattva.
Its actions are for another; Samyama on this gives knowledge of the Purusa.
This power of non-attachment acquired through purity gives the Yogi the enlightenment called Pratibhd.
37. From that arises the knowledge of hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, and smelling, belonging to Pratibhd.
38. These are obstacles to Samadhi; but they are powers in the worldly state.
If the Yogi knows all these enjoyments of the world it comes by the junction of the Purusa and the mind. If he wants to make Samyama on this, that they are two different things, nature and soul, he gets knowledge of the Purusa. From that arises discrimination. When he has got that discrimination he gets the Pratibhd, the light of supreme genius. These powers, however, are obstructions to the attainment of the highest goal, the knowledge of the pure Self, and freedom; these are, as it were, to be met in the way, and if the Yogi rejects them, he attains the highest. If he is tempted to acquire these, his farther progress is barred.
39. When the cause of bondage has become loosened, the Yogi, by his knowledge of manifestation through the organs, enters another’s body.
The Yogi can enter a dead body, and make it get up and move, even while he himself is working in another body. Or he can enter a living body, and hold that man’s mind and RAJA YOGA organs in check, and for the time being act through the body of that man. That is done by the Yogi coming to this discrimination of Purusa and nature. If he wants to enter another’s body he makes a Samyama on that body and enters it, because, not only is his Soul omnipresent, but his mind also, according to the Yogi. It is one bit of the universal mind. Now, however, it can only work through the nerve currents in this body, but when the Yogi has loosened himself from these nerve currents, he will be able to work through other things.
40. By conquering the current called Udana the Yogi does not sink in water, or in swamps, and he can walk on thorns.
Udana is the name of the nerve current that governs the lungs, and all the upper parts of the body, and when he is master of it he becomes light in weight. He cannot sink in water; he can walk on thorns and sword baldes, and stand in fire, and so on.
41. By the conquest of the current Samaria he is surrounded by blaze.
Whenever he likes light flashes from his body.
42. By making Samyama on the relation between the ear and the Akasa comes divine hearing.
There is the Akasa, the ether, and the instrument, the ear. By making Samyama on them the Yogi gets divine hearing; he hears everything. Anything spoken or sounded miles away he can here.
YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS 43. By making Sarny ama on the relation between the Akasa and the body the Yogi becoming light as cotton wool goes through the skies.
This Akasa is the material of this body; it is only Akasa in a certain form that has become the body. If the Yogi makes Samyama on this Akasa material of his body, it acquires the lightness of Akasa, and can go anywhere through the air.
44. By making Samyama on the real modifications of the mind, which are outside, called great disembodiness, comes disappearance of the covering to light.
The mind in its foolishness thinks that it is working in this body. Why should I be bound by one system of nerves, and put the Ego only in one body, if the mind is omnipresent? There is no reason why I should. The Yogi wants to feel the Ego wherever he likes. When he has succeeded in that all covering to light goes away, and all darkness and ignorance vanish. Everything appear to him to be full of knowledge.
45. By making Samyama on the elements, beginning with the gross, and ending with the superfine, comes mastery of the elements.
The Yogi make Samyama on the elements, first on the gross, and then on the finer states. This Samyama is taken up more by a sect of the Buddhists. They take a lump of clay, and make Samyama on that, and gradually they begin to see the fine materials of which is is composed, and when they have known all the fine materials in it, they get power over that RAJA YOGA element. So with all the elements, the Yogi can conquer them all.
46. From that comes minuteness, and the rest of the powers, “glorification of the body,” and indestructibleness of the bodily qualities.
This means that the Yogi has attained the eight powers. He can make himsef as light as a particle, he can make himself huge, as heavy as the earth, or as light as the air; he will rule everything he wants, he will conquer everything he wants, alion will sit at his feet like a lamb, and all his desires be fulfilled at will.
47. The glorifications of the body are beauty, complexion, strength, adamantine hardness.
The body becomes indestructible; fire cannot injure it. Nothing can injure it. Nothing can destroy it until the Yogi wishes. “Breaking the rod of time he lives in this universe with his body.” In the Vedas it is written that for that man there is no more disease, death or pain.
48. By making Sarny ama on the objectivity, knowledge and egoism of the organs, by gradation comes the conquest of the organs.
In perception of external objects the organs leave their place in the mind and go towards the object; that is followed by knowledge and egoism. When the Yogi makes Samyama on these by gradation he conquers the organs. Take up anything that you see or feel, a book, for instance, and first con- centrate the mind on the thing itself. Then on the knowledge that it is in the form of a book, and then the Ego that sees the book. By that practice all the organs will be conquers.
YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS 49. From that comes glorified mind, power of the organs independently of the body, and conquest of nature.
Just as by the conquest of the elements comes glorified body, so from the conquest of the mind will come glorified mind.
50. By making Sarny ama on the Sattva, to him who has discriminated between the intellect and the Purusa comes omnipresence and omniscience.
When we have conquered nature, and realised the difference between the Purusa and nature, that the Purusa is indestructible, pure and perfect, when the Yogi has realised this, then comes omnipotence and omniscience.
51. By giving up even these comes the destruction of the very seed of evil; he attains Kaivalya.
He attains aloneness, independence. Then that man is free. When he gives up even the ideas of omnipotence and omniscience, there will be entire rejection of enjoyment, of the temptations from celestial beings. When the Yogi has seen all these wonderful powers, and rejected them, he reaches the goal. What are all these powers? Simply manifestations. They areno better than dreams. Even omnipotence is a dream. It depends on the mind. So long as there is a mind it can be understood, but the goal is beyond even the mind.
52. The Yog! should not feel allured or flattered by the overtures of celestial beings, for fear of evil again.
RAJA YOGA There are other dangers too; gods and other beings come to tempt the Yogi. They do not want anyone to be perfectly free. They are jealous, just as we are, and worse than we sometimes. They are very much afraid of losing their places. Those Yogis who do not reach perfection die and become gods; leaving the direct road they go into one of the side streets, and get these powers. Then again they have to be born; but he who is strong enough to withstand these temptations, and go straight to the goal, becomes free.
53. By making Sarny ama on a particle of time and its multiples comes discrimination.
How are we to avoid all these things, these Devas, and heavens, and powers? By discrimination, by knowing good from evil. Therefore a Samyama is given by which the power of discrimination can be strengthened. This is by making Samyama on a particle of time.
54. Those which cannot be differentiated by species, sign and place, even they will be discriminated by the above Samyama.
The misery that we suffer comes from ignorance, from non- discrimination between the real and the unreal. We all take the bad for the good, the dream for the reality. Soul is the only reality, and we have forgotten it. Body is an unreal dream, and we think we are all bodies. This non-discrimination is the cause of misery, and it is caused by ignorance. When discrimination comes it brings strength, and then alone can we avoid all these various ideas of body, heavens, and gods and Devas. This ignorance arises through differentiating by species, sign or place. For instance, take a cow. The cow is differentiated from the dog, as species. Even with the cows YOGA APHORISMS: POWERS alone how do we make the distinction between one cow and another? By signs. If two objects are exactly similar they can be distinguished if they are in different places. When objects are so mixed up that even these differentia will not help us, the power of discrimination acquired by the above- mentioned practice will give us the ability to distinguish them. The highest philosophy of the Yogi is based upon this fact, that the Purusa is pure and perfect, and is the only “simple” that exists in this universe. The body and mind are compounds, and yet we are ever identifying ourselves with them. That is the great mistake that the distinction has been lost. When this power of discrimination has been attained, man sees that everything in this world, mental and physical, is a compound, and, as such, cannot be the Purusa.
55. The saving knowledge is that knowledge of discrimination which covers all objects, all means.
Saving, because the knowledge takes the Yogi across the ocean of birth and death. The whole of Prakriti in all its states, subtle and gross, is within the grasp of this knowledge. There is no succession in perfection by this knowledge: it takes in all things simultaneously, at a glance.
55. By the similarity of purity between the Sattva and the Purusa comes Kaivalya.
When the soul realises that it depends on nothing in the universe, from gods to the lowest atom, that it is called Kaivalya (isolation) and perfection. It is attained when this mixture of purity and impurity called mind has been made as pure as the Purusa Itself; then the Sattva, the mind, reflects only the unqualified essence of purity, which is the Purusa CHAPTER IV.
INDEPENDENCE i. The Siddhis (powers) are attained by birth, chemical means, power of words, mortification or concentration.
Sometimes a man is born with the Siddhis, powers, of course from the exercise of powers he had in his previous birth. In this birth he is born, as it were, to enjoy the fruits of them. It is said of Kapila, the great father of the Sankhya Philosophy, that he was a born Siddha, which means, literally, a man who has attained to success.
The Yogis claim that these powers can be gained by chemical means. All of you know that chemistry originally began as alchemy; men went in search of the philsopher’s stone, and elixirs of life, and so forth. In Inidia there was a sect called the Rdsayanas. Their idea was that ideality, knowledge, spirituality and religion, were all very right, but that the body was the only instrument by which to attain to all these. If the body broke now and then it would take so much more time to attain to the goal. For instance, a man wants to practice Yoga, or wants to become spiritual. Before he has advanced very far he dies. Then he takes another body and begins again, then dies, and so on, and in this way much time will be lost in dying and in being born again. If the body could be made strong and perfect, so that it would get rid of birth and death, we should have so much more time to become spiritual. So these Rdsayanas say, first make the body very strong, and they claim that this body can be made immortal. The idea is that if the mind is YOGA APHORISMS: INDEPENDENCE manufacturing the body, and if it be true that each mind is only one particular outlet to that infinite energy, and that there is no limit to each particular outlet getting any amount of power from outside, why is it impossible that we should keep our bodies all the time? We shall have to manufacture all the bodies that we shall ever have. As soon as this body dies we shall have to manufacture another. If we can do that why cannot we do it just here and no, without getting out? The theory is perfectly correct. If it is possible that we live after death, and make other bodies, why is it impossible that we should have the power of making bodies here, without entirely dissolving this body, simply changing it continually? They also thought that in mercury and in sulphur was hidden the most wonderful power, and that by certain preparations of these a man could keep the body as long as he liked. Others believed that certain drugs could bring powers, such as flying through the air, etc. Many of the most wonderful medicines of the present day we owe to the Rasayamas, notably the use of metals in medicine. Certain sects of Yogis claim that many of their principal teachers are still living in their old bodies. Patanjali, the great authority on Yoga, does not deny this.
The power of words. There are certain sacred words called Mantrams, which have power, when repeated under proper conditions, to produce these extraordinary powers. We are living in the midst of such a mass of miracles, day and night, that we do not think anything of them. There is no limit to man’s power, the power of words and the power of mind.
Mortification. You will find that in every religion mortifications and asceticisms have been practised. In these religious conceptions the Hindus always go to the extremes. You will find men standing with their hands up all their lives, until their hands wither and die. Men sleep standing, RAJA YOGA day and night, until their feet swell, and, if they live, the legs become so stiff in this position that they can no more bend them, but have to stand all their lives. I once saw a man who had raised his hands in this way, and I asked him how it felt when he did it first. He said it was awful torture. It was such torture that he had to go to a river and put himself in water, and that allayed the pain for a little. After a month he did not suffer much. Through such practices powers ( Siddhis ) can be attained.
Concentration. The concentration is Samadhi, and that is Yoga proper; that is the principle theme of this science, and it is the highest means. The preceding ones are only secondary, and we cannot attain to the highest through them. Samadhi is the means through which we can gain anything and everything, mental, moral or spiritual.
2. The change into another species is by the filling in of nature.
Patanjali has advanced the proposition that these powers come by first, sometimes by chemical means, or they may be got by mortification and he has admitted that this body can be kept for any length of time. Now he goes on to state what is the cause of the change of the body into another species, which he says is by the filling in of nature. In the next aphorism he will explain this.
3. Good deeds, etc., are not the direct causes in the transformation of nature, but they act as breakers of obstacles to the evolutions of nature, as a farmer breaks the obstacles to the course of water, which then runs down by its own nature.
YOGA APHORISMS: INDEPENDENCE When a farmer is irrigating his field the water is already in the canals, only there are gates which keep the water in. The farmer opens these gates, and the water flows in by itself, by the law of gravitation. So, all human progress and power are already in everything; this perfection is every man’s nature, only it is barred in and prevented from taking its proper course. If anyone can take the bar off in rushes nature. Then the man attains the powers which are his already. Those we called wicked become saints, as soon as the bar is broken and nature rushes in. It is nature that is driving us towards perfection, and eventually she will bring everyone there. All these practices and struggles to become religious are only negative work to take off the bars, and open the doors to that perfection which is our birthright, our nature.
To-day the evolution theories of the Yogis will be better understood in the light of modern research. And yet the theory of the Yogis is a better explanation. The two causes of evolution advanced by the moderns, viz., sexual selection and survival of the fittest, are inadequate. Suppose human knowledge to have advanced to much as to eliminate competition, both from the function of acquiring physical sustenance and of acquiring a mate. Then, according to the moderns, human progress will stop and the race will die. And the result of this theory is to furnish every oppressor with an argument to calm the qualms of conscience, and men are not lacking, who, posing as philosophers, want to kill out all wicked and incompetent persons (they are, of course, the only judges of competency), and thus preserve the human race! But the great ancient evolutionist, Patanjali, declares that the true secret of evolution is the manifestation of the perfection which is already in every being; that this perfection has been barred, and the infinite tide behind it is struggling to express itself. These stmggles and compet- RAJA YOGA RAJA YOGA itions are but the results of our ignorance, because we do not know the proper way to unlock the gate and let the water in. This infinite tide behind must express itself, and it is the cause of all manifestation, not competition for life, or sex gratification, which are only momentary, unnecessary, extraneous effects, caused by ignorance. Even when all competition has ceased this perfect nature behind will make us go forward until every one has become perfect. Therefore there is no reason to believe that competition is necessary to progress. In the animal the man was suppressed, but, as soon as the door was opened, out rushed man. So, in man there is the potential god, kept in by the locks and bars of ignorance. When knowledge breaks these bars the god becomes manifest.
4. From egoism alone proceed the created minds.
The theory of Karma is that we suffer for our good or bad deeds, and the whole scope of philosophy is to approach the glory of man. All the Scriptures sing the glory of man, of the soul, and then, with the same breath, they preach this Karma. A good deed brings such a result, and a bad deed such a result, but, if the soul can be acted upon by a good or a bad deed it amounts to nothing. Bad deeds put a bart to the manifestation of our nature, of the Purusa, and good deeds take the obstacles off, and its glory becomes manifest. But the Purusa itself is never changed. Whatever you do never destroys your own glory, your own nature, because the soul cannot be acted upon by anything, only a veil is spread before it, hiding its perfection.
YOGA APHORISMS: INDEPENDENCE 5. Though the activities of the different created minds are various, the one original mind is the controller of them all.
These different minds, which will act in these different bodies, are called made-minds, and the bodies made-bodies; that is, manufactured bodies and minds. Matter and mind are like two inexhaustible storehouses. When you have become a Yogi you have learned the secret of their control. It was yours all the time, but you had forgotten it. When you become a Yogi you recollect it. Then you can do anything with it, manipulate it any way you like. The material out of which that manufactured mind is created is the very same material which is used as the macrocosm. It is not that mind is one thing and matter another, but they are different existences of the same thing. Asmita, egoism, is the material, the fine state of existence out of which these made- minds and made-bodies of the Yogi will be manufactured. Therefore, when the Yogi has found the secret of these energies of nautre he can manufacture any number of bodies, or minds, but they will all be manufactures out of the substance known as egoism.
6. Among the various Chittas that which is attained by Samadhi is desireless.
Among all the various minds that we see in various men, only that mind which has attained to Samadhi, perfect concentration, is the highest. A man who has attained certain powers through medicines, or through words, or through mortifications, still has desires, but that man who has attained to Samadhi through concentration is alone free from all desires.
i8o RAJA YOGA 7. Works are neither black nor white for the Yogis', for others they are threefold, black, white, and mixed.
When the Yogi has attained to that state of perfection, the actions of that man, and the Karma produced by those actions, will not bind him, because he did not desire them. He just works on: he works to do good, and he does good, but does not care for the result, and it will not come to him. But for ordinary men, who have not attained to that highest state, works are of three kind, black (evil actions), white (good actions), and mixed.
8. From these threefold works are manifested in each state only those desires (which are) fitting to that state alone. (The others are held in abeyance for the time being.)
Suppose I have made the three kinds of Karma, good, bad, and mixed; and suppose 1 die and become a god in heaven; the desires in a god body are not the same as the desires in a human body. The god body neither eats nor drinks; what becomes of my past unworked Karmas, which produce as their effect the desire to eat and drink? Where would these Karmas go when I became a god? The answer is that desires can only manifest themselves in proper environments. Only those desires will come out for which the environment is fitted; the rest will remain stored up. In this life we have many godly desires, many human desires, many animal desires. If I take a god body, only the god desires will come up, because for them the environments are suitable. And if I take an animal body, only the animal desires will come up, and the god desires will wait. What does that show? That YOGA APHORISMS: INDEPENDENCE 181 by means of environment we can check these desires. Only that Karma which is suited to and fitted for the environments will come out. These proves that the power of environment is the great check to control even Karma itself.
9. There is connectiveness in desire, even though separated by speices, space and time, there being identifi-cation of memory and impressions.
Experiences becoming fine become impressions; impressions revivified become memory. The word memory here includes unconscious co-ordination of past experience, reduced to impressions, with present conscious action. In each body the group of impressions acquired in a similar body only will become the cause of action in that body. The experiences of dissimilar bodies will be held in abeyance. Each body will act as if it were a descendant of a series of bodies of that species only; thus, consecutiveness of desires will not be broken.
10. Thirst for happiness being eternal desires are without beginning.
All experience is preceded by desire for becoming happy. There was no beginning of experience, as each fresh experience is built upon the tendency generated by past experience; therefore desire is without beginning.
11. Being held together by cause, effect, support, and objects, in the absence of these is its absence.
These desires are held together by cause and effect; if a desire has been raised it does not die without producing its RAJA YOGA effect. Then again, the mind-stuff is the great storehouse, the support of all past desires, reduced to Samskdra form; until they have worked themselves out they will not die. Moreover, so long as the senses receive the external objects fresh desires will arise. If it be possible to get rid of these, then alone desires will vanish.
12. The past and future exist in their own nature, qualities having different ways.
1 3. They are manifested or fine, being of the nature of the Gunas.
The Gunas are the three substances, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, whose gross state is the sensible universe. Past and future arise from the different modes of manifestation of these Gunas.
14. The unity in things is from the unity in changes. Though there are three substances their changes being co-ordinated all objects have their unity.
15. The object being the same, perception and desire vary according to the various minds.
16. Things are known or unknown to the mind, being de-pendent on the colouring which they give to the mind.
1 7. The states of the mind are always known because the lord of the mind is unchangeable.
The whole gist of this theory is that the universe is both mental and material. And both the mental and material worlds are in a continuous state of flux. What is this book?
YOGA APHORISMS: INDEPENDENCE It is a combination of molecules in constant change. One lot is going out, and another coming in; it is a whirlpool, but what makes the unity? What makes it the same book? The changes are rhythmical; in harmonious order they are sending impressions to my mind, and these pieced together make a continuous picture, although they parts are continuously changing. Mind itself is continuously changing. The mind and body are like two layers in the same substance, moving at different rates of speed. Relatively, one being slower and the other quicker, we can distinguish between the two motions. For instance, a train is moving, and another carriage is moving slowly alongside it. It is possible to find the motion of both these, to a certain extent. But still something else is necessary. Motion can only be perceived when there is something else which is not moving. But when two or three things are relatively moving, we first perceive the motion of the faster one, and then that of the slower ones. How is the mind to perceive? It is also in a flux. Therefore another thing is necessary which moves more slowly, then you must get to something in which the motion is still slower, and so on, and you will find no end. Therefore logic compels you to stop somewhere. You must complete the series by knowing something which never changes. Behind this never ending chain of motion is the Purusa, the changeless, the colourless, the pure. All these impressions are merely reflected upon it, as rays of light from a camera are reflected upon a white sheet, painting hundreds of pictures on it, without in any way tarnishing the sheet.
18. Mind is not self-luminous, being an object.
Tremendous power is manifested everywhere in nature, but yet something tells us that it is not self-luminous, not RAJA YOGA essentially intelligent. The Purusa alone is self-luminous, and gives its light to everything. It is its power that is percolating through all matter and force.
19. From its being unable to cognise two things at the same time.
If the mind were self-luminous it would be able to cognise everything at the same time, which it cannot. If you pay deep attention to one thing you lose another. If the mind were self-luminous there would be no limit to the impressions it could receive. The Purusa can cognise all in one moment; therefore the Purusa is self-luminous, and the mind is not.
20. Another cognising mind being assumed there will be no end to such assumptions and confusion of memory.
Let us suppose that there is another mind which cognises the first, there will have to be something which cognises that, and so there will be no end to it. It will result in confusion of memory, there will be no storehouse of memory.
2 1. The essence of knowledge (the Purusa ) being un-changeable, when the mind takes its form, it becomes conscious.
Patanjali says this to make it more clear that knowledge is not a quality of the Purusa. When the mind comes near the Purusa it is reflected, as it were, upon the mind, and the mind, for the time being, becomes knowing and seems as if it were itself the Purusa.