Thus the rousing of the Kundalini is the one and only way to attaining Divine Wisdom, and super-consious perception, the realisation of the spirit. It 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 is any manifestation of what is ordinarily called supernatural power or wisdom, there must have been a little current of Kundalini which found its way into the Susumna. Only, in the vast majority of such cases of supernaturalism, they had ignorantly stumbled on to 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 responses to his prayers does not know that the fulfilment came only from his own nature, that he has succeeded by the mental attitude of prayer in waking up a bit of the infinite power which is coiled up within himself. Whom, thus, men ignorantly worship under various names, through fear and tribulation, the Yogi declares to the world to THE PSYCHIC PRANA 47 be the real power coiled up in every being, the mother of eternal happiness, if we know how to approach her. And Raja Yoga is the science of religion, the rationale of all worship, all prayers, forms, ceremonies and miracles.
CHAPTER V.
THE CONTROL OF PSYCHIC PRANA.
We have now to deal with the exercises in Pranayama. We have seen that the first step will be, according to the Yogis, 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 finer motions inside. If we can begin to feel them, we can begin to control them. These nerve currents are going on all over the body, bringing life and vitality to every muscles, but we do not feel them. The Yogi says we can learn to do so. How? By taking up and controlling all those motions of the Prana beginning with the motion of the lungs, and when we have done that for a sufficient length of time we shall also be able to control the finer motions.
We now come to the exercises in Pranayama. Sit upright; the body must be kept straight. The spinal cord, although it is inside the vertabral column, is not attached to 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 are doing yourself an injury. The three parts of the body must be always held straight, the chest, the neck, and the head, in one line. You will find that by a little practice this will come to you just as breathing. The second thing is to get control of the nerves. We have seen that the nerve centre that controls the respiratory organs, has a sort of controlling effect on the other neves, 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.
48 THE CONTROL OF PSYCHIC PRANA 49 The first lesson is just to breathe in a measured way, in and out. That will harmonise the system. When you have practices this for some time you will do well to join the repetition of some word to it, as “Om,” or any other sacred word, and let the word flow in and out with the breath, rhythmically, harmoniously, and you will feel the whole body is become rhythmical. Then you will learn what rest is. Sleep is not rest, comparatively. Once this rest has come the most tired nerves will be calmed down, and you will find that you have never really rested. In India we use certain symbolical words instead one, two, three, four. That is why I advise you to join the mental repetition of the “ Om,” or other sacred word to the Prdndydma.
The first effect of this practice will be that the face will change; harsh lines will disappear; with this calm though calmness will come over the face. Next, beautiful voice will come. I never saw a Yogi with a croaking voice. These sighns will come after a few months’ pracitce. After practising this first breathing for a few days, you 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 that 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, then slowly throw it out through the right nostril. This you will find a little difficult to practice. 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 Susumnd; then take the 50 RAJA YOGA 50 RAJA YOGA thumb off, and let the breath out through the right nostril. Next inhale slowly though that nostril, keeping the other closed by the forefinger, then close both, as before. The way the Hindus practice 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 being 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 triangle, 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. The 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 practice it irregularly.
Of the three processes, the purification of the nerves, the retaining the breath inside and keeping the breath outside, the first and the last are neither difficult nor dangerous. The more you practice the first one the calmer you will be. Just think of “Dm,” and you can practice even while you are sitting at your work. You will be all the the better for it. One day, if you practise hard the Kundalini will be aroused. For those who practice 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 this THE CONTROL OF PSYCHIC PRANA 5i Kundalini be aroused, and the whole of this nature will begin to change, and the book of knowledge will be open. No more will you need to go to books for knowledge; your own mind will have become your book, containing infinite knowledge. 1 have already spoken of the Ida and Pingala currents, flowing through either side of the spinal column, also of the Susumnd, the passage through the centre of the spinal cord. These three are present in every animal; whatever has a spinal column has these three lines of action, but the Yogis claim that in ordinary mankind the Susumnd is closed, that action there is not evident, while in the other two it is evident, carrying power to different parts of the body.
The Yogi alone has the Susumnd open. When this Susumnd current opens, and thought begins to rise through it, we get beyond the senses, our minds become supersensuous, superconscious, we get beyond even the intellect, and where reasoning cannot reach. To open that Susumnd is the prime object of the Yogi. According to him. along this Susumnd are ranged these centres of distribution, or, in more figurative language, these lotuses as they are called. The lowest one is at the lowest end of the spinal cord, and is called Mulddhara, the next one is called Svadhisthana, the next Manipura, the next Anahata, the next Visuddha, the next Ajna, and the last, which is in the brain, is the Sahasrdra, or “the thousand petalled.” Of these we have to take cognition just now of only two centres, the lowest, the Mulddhara, and the highest, the Sahasrdra. The lowest one is where all energy becomes stored up, and that energy has to be taken up from there and brought to the last one, the brain. The Yogis claim that of all the energies that the human body comprises the highest is what they call “Ojas.” Now this Ojas is stored up in the brain, and the more the Ojas is in a man’s head, the more powerful he is, the more 52 RAJA YOGA 52 RAJA YOGA intellectual, the more spiritually strong will that man be. This is the action of Ojas. 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. That is the power of Ojas coming out. Every movement coming from him will be powerful.
Now in all mankind there is more or less of this Ojas stored up. And all the forces that are working in this body, in their highest form, 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 functions, sexual thought, and so on, when checked and controlled, easily becomes changed into Ojas, and as this lowest centre is the one which guides all these functions, therefore the Yogi pays particular attention to that centre. He tries to take up all this sexual energy and convert it into Ojas. It is only the chaste man or woman who can make the Ojas rise and become stored in the brain, and that is why chastity has always been considered the highest virtue, because man feels that if he is unchaste, spirituality goes away, he loses mental vigour, and strong moral stamina. That is why in all of the religious orders in the world that have produced spiritual giants you will always find this intense 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 practice Raja Yoga and at the same time lead an impure life, how can they expect to become Yogisl CHAPTER VI.
PRATYAHARA AND DHARANA.
The next step is called Pratydhara. 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 thing, then we perceive that thing. 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 it. Talking will never do it. 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, which centres are 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 misery, 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 into which they have somehow stumbled. In 53 54 RAJA YOGA 53 54 RAJA YOGA those cases where they succeed in making a person throw off suffering by denything it they have really taught a part of Pratydhdra, as they have made the mind of the person taught strong enough to refuse to take up the record of the senses. The hypnotists in a similar manner, by their suggestion, excite in the patient a sort of morbid Pratydhdra for the time being. The so-called hypnotic suggestion can only act upon a diseased body and a clouded 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, for a time, is utterly 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, and, 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 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 to men, either as direct control of my organs, or as forcing me to control them while under a morbid condition, only PRATYAHARA AND DHARANA 55 rivets one link more to the already existing heavy chain of bondage of past thoughts, past superstition. Therefore, beware how you allow yourselves to be acted upon by others. Beware how you unknowingly lead 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 hypnotic suggestions they throw around, rousing in men and woman that morbid, passive, hypnotic condition which makes them almost soulless at last. Whosoever, therefore, asks anyone to believe blindly, or drags mankind behind him through controlling it by his superior will is an injurer to humanity, though he may not have intended 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, and avoid everyone, however great and good he may be, who asks you to blindly believe. All over the world there have been dancing, and jumping, and howling sects who spread like infections when they begin to sing and dance and preach; they also come under this heading. They exercise a singular control for the time being over sensitive persons, alas, often, in the long run, to degenerate whole races. Aye, it is healthier for the individual or the race to remain wicked than to 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 irresponsbile, 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 those ignorant, deluded persons dream that whilst they are congratulating themselves upon 56 RAJA YOGA 56 RAJA YOGA their miraculous power to transform human hearts, which power they think was poured upon them by some Being above the cloud, they are sowing the seeds of some future decay, of crime, of lunacy, and of death. Therefore, beware of everything that takes away your freedom. Know that it in 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 really possess a character, then alone shall we have made 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, someone 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 jealously of others whose desires meet with fulfilment, and last of all the demon of pride takes possession of 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 PRATYAHARA AND DHARANA 57 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 full length of the reins; many most 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 thousand thoughts, later you will find that it is toned down to perhaps seven hundred, and after a few more months it will have fewer and fewer, until at last it will be under perfect control, but we must patiently practice every day. As soon as the stream is turned on the engine must run, and 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 themind, and not allowing it to join itself to the centres, is Pratyahara. How is this practices. It is a long work, not to be done in a day. Only after a patient, continous struggle for years can we succeed.
The next lesson depends on this. After you have practiced the 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, this is called 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 58 RAJA YOGA the mind there. Or think of the lotus in the brain as full of light, or of the different centres in the Susumna mentioned before.
The Yogi must always practice. He should try to live alone; the companionship of different sorts of people distracts his mind; he should not speak much because to speak distracts the mind; nor work much, because too much work distracts the mind; the mind cannot be controlled after a whole day’s hard work. One with such a determination becomes a Yogi. Such is the power of good that even the least done 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 practice 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 very fast. Those who want to be Yogis, and practice very hard, must take a little care of their diet at first. Those who want to make very rapid progress, if they can live on milk alone for some months, and cereals, will find it an advantage. But for those who want only a little practice for every day business sort of life, let them not eat too much, but otherwise they may eat whatever they please.
For those who want to make faster progress, and to practice hard, a strict diet is absolutely necessary. As the organisation becomes finer and finer, at first you will find PRATYAHARA AND DHARANA 59 that the least things throws you out of balance. One bit of food more or less will disturb the whole system, and then you will be able to eat whatever you like. You will find that when you are beginning to concentrate, the dropping of a pin will seem like a thunderbolt going through your brain. The organs get finer, and 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 this dry intellectual jargon? It only throws the mind off its balance and disturbs it. These things 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 will become a pearl. The oysters know this, so they come to the surface when that star shines, and wait to catch the precious rain-drop. When one falls into the shell, quickly the oyster closes it and dives 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 our minds to outside influences, and devote ourselves to developing the truth within us. There is the danger of frittering away our 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 ou have seen the end, do not give it up. He who can become mad upon an idea, he alone will see light. Those that only take a nibble here and there will never attain anything. They may tittilate 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.
6o RAJA YOGA 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; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, 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 giant are produced. Others are mere talking machines. If we really want to be blessed, and make others blessed, we must go deeper, and, for the first step, do not disturb the mind, and do not 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. Practice hard; whether you live or die it 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, for others, those who take up just a bit of it, a little of everything, they get no higher. It is of no use to simply take a course of lessons. Those who are full of Tamas, ignorant and dull, those whose minds never get fixed on any idea, who only crave for something to entertain them — religion and philosophy are simply entertainments to them. They come to religion as to an entertainment, and get that little bit 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.
CHAPTER VII.
DHYANA AND SAMADHI.
We have finished a cursory review of the different steps in Raja Yoga, except the finer ones, the training in concentration, which is the aim, 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. I am conscious of this table, 1 am conscious of your presence, and so forth, and that makes me know that you are here, and that the table is here, and things I see, feel andhear, 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, the brain itself; nobody is conscious of these things.
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 made, it is done unconsciously; and yet it is I who am doing this; there cannot be twenty people in one body. How do I know that I do it, and nobody else? It may be urged that my business is only in eating the food, and assimilating the food, and that manufacturing the body out of food is done for me by someone else. That cannot be, because it can be demonstrated that almost every action of which we are unconscious now can be again brought up to the plane of consciousness. The heart is beating apparently without our control; we none of us here can control the heart; it goes onits own way. But by practice men can bring even the heart under control, until it will just beat at will, slowly, or 61 62 RAJA YOGA 61 62 RAJA YOGA quickly, or almost stop. Nearly every part of the body can be brought under control. What does this show? That these things which are beneath consciousness are also worked by us, only we are doing it unconsciously. We have, then, two planes in which the human mind is working. First is the conscious plane; that is to say that sort of work which is always accompanied with the feeling of egoism. That part of mind-work which is unaccompanied with 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 animals, man, the second part, that which is accompanied with the feeling of egoism, prevails, and is called conscious work.
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 super-consciousness. It is above consciousness. How, for instance, do we know that a man in Samadhi has not gone below his consciousness, has not degenerated, instead of going higher? In both cases the works are unaccompanied by 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 DHYANA AND SAMADHI 63 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 hap before he went into the sleep remains the same; it has not increased at all. No enlightenment has come. But if a man goes into Samadhi, if he goes into it a fool, he comes out a sage.