What makes the difference? From one state a man comes out the very same man that went in, and out of another state the man becomes enlightened, a sage, a prophet, a saint, his whole character changed, his life changed, illumined. These are the two effects. Now the effects being different, the causes must be different. As this illumination, with which a man comes back from Samadhi, is much higher than can be got from unconsciousness, or much higher than can be got by reasoning in a conscious state, it must therefore be super- consciousness, and Samadhi is called the super-conscious state.
This, in short, is the idea of Samadhi. What is its application? The application is here. The field of reason, or of the conscious workings of the mind, is narrow and limited. There is a little circle within which human reason will have to move. It cannot go beyond it. Every attempt to go beyond is impossible, yet it is beyond this circle of reason that lies all that humanity holds most dear. All these questions, whether there is an immortal soul, whether there is a God, whether there is any supreme intelligence guiding this universe, are beyond the field of reason. Reason can never answer these questions. What does reason say? It says, “I am agnostic; I do not know either yea or nay.” Yet these questions are important to us. Without a proper answer to them, human life will be impossible. All our ethical theories, all our moral attitudes, all that is good and great in human nature, has been moulded upon answers that have 64 RAJA YOGA 64 RAJA YOGA come from beyond that circle. It is very important, therefore, that we should have answers to these questions; without such answers human life will be impossible. If life is only a little five minutes’ thing, if the universe is only a “fortuitous combination of atoms,” then why should I do good to another? Why should there be mercy, justice, or fellow feeling? The best thing for this world would be to make hay while the sun shines, each man for himself. If there is no hope, why should 1 love my brother, and not cut his throat? If there is nothing beyond, if there is no freedom, but only rigorous dead laws, I should only try to make myself happy here. You will find people saying, nowa- days, that they have utilitarian grounds as the basis of all morality. What is this basis? Procuring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number. Why should I do this? Why should I not produce the greatest unhappiness to the greatest number, if that serves my purpose? How will utilitarians answer this question? How do you know what is right, or what is wrong? I am impelled by my desire for happiness and I fulfil it, and it is in my nature; I know nothing beyond. I have these desires, and must fulfil them; why should you complain? Whence come all these truths about human life, about morality, about the immortal soul, about God, about love and sympathy, about being good, and, above all, about being unselfish?
All ethics, all human action, and all human thought, hang upon this one idea of unselfishness; the whole idea of human life can be put in that one word, unselfishness. Why should we be unselfish? Where is the necessity, the force, the power, of my being unselfish? Why should I be? You call yourself a rational man, a utilitarian, but, if you do not show me a reason, I say you are irrational. Show me the reason why I should not be selfish, why I should not be like a brute, DHYANA AND SAMADHI 65 acting without reason? It may be good as poetry, but poetry is not reason. Show me a reason. Why shall I be unselfish, and why be good? Because Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so says so does not weigh with me. Where is the utility of my being unselfish? My utility is to be selfish, if utility means the greatest amount of happiness. I may get the greatest amount of happiness by cheating and robbing others. What is the answer? The utilitarian can never give it. The answer is that this world is only one drop in an infinite ocean, one link in an infinite chain. Where did those that preached unselfishness, and taught it to the human race, get this idea? We know it is not instinctive; the animals, which have instinct, do not know it. Neither is it reason; reason does not know anything about these ideas? Whence did they come?
We find, in studying history, one fact held in common by all the great teachers of religion the world ever had; they all claim to have got these truths from beyond, only many of them did not know what they were getting. For instance, one would say that an angel came down in the form of a human being, with wings, and said to him, “Hear, oh man, this is the message.” Another says that a Deva, a bright being, appeared to him. Another says he dreamed that his ancestor came and told him all these things. He did not know anything beyond that. But this thing is common, that all claim either that they say angels, or heard the voice of God, or saw some wonderful vision. All claim that this knowledge came to them from beyond, not through their reasoning power. What does the science of Yoga teach? It teaches that they were right in claiming that this knowledge came to them from beyond reasoning, but that it came from within themselves.
The Yogi teaches that the mind itself has a higher state of existence, beyond reason, a super-conscious state, and when 66 RAJA YOGA the mind gets to that higher state, then this knowledge, beyond reasoing, comes to a man, metaphysical knowledge, beyond all physical knowledge. Metaphysical and transcendental knowledge comes to that man, and this state of going beyond reason, transcending ordinary human nature, sometimes may come by chance to a man who does not understand its science; he, as it were, stumbles into it. When he stumbles into it, he generally interprets it as from outside. So this explains why an inspiration, or this transcendental knowledge, may be the same in different countries, but in one country it will seem to come through an angel, and in another through a Dev a, and in another through God. What does it mean? It means that the mind brought the knowledge by its own nature, and that the finding of the knowledge was interpreted according to the beliefs and education of the person through whom it came. The real fact is that these various men, as it were, stumbled into this super-conscious state.
The Yogi says there is a great danger in stumbling into this state. In a good many cases there is the danger of the brain being destroyed, and, as a rule, you will find that all those men, however great they were, who have stumbled into this super-conscious state, without understanding it, grope in the dark, and generally have, along with their knowledge, some quaint superstition. They open themselves to hallucination. Mohammed claimed that the Angel Gabriel came to him in a cave one day and took him on the heavenly horse, Harak, and he visited the heavens. But, with all that, Mohammed spoke some wonderful truths. If you read the Qur’an, you find the most wonderful truths mixed with these superstitions. How will you explain it? That man was inspired, no doubt, but that inspiration was, as it were, stumbled upon. He was not a trained Yogi, and did not know DHYANA AND SAMADHI 67 the reason of what he was doing. Think of the good Mohammed did to the world, and think of the great evil that has been done through his fanaticism! Think of the millions massacred through his teachings, mothers bereft of their children, children made orphans, whole countries destroyed, millions upon millions of people killed!
So we see in studying the lives of all these great teachers that there was this danger. Yet we find, at the same time, that they were all inspired. Somehow or other they got into this super-conscious state, only whenever a prophet got into that state by simple force of emotion, just by heightening his emotional nature, he brought away from that state some truths, but also some fanaticism, some superstition which injured the world as much as the greatness of the teaching did good. To get any reason out of this mass of incongruity we call human life we have to transcend our reason, but we must do it scientifically, slowly, by regular practice, and we must cast off all superstition. We must take it up just as any other science, reason we must have to lay our foundation, we must follow reason as far as it leads, and when reason fails, reason itself will show us the way to the highest plane. So whenever we hear a man say “I am inspired,” and then talk the most irrational nonsense, simply reject it. Why? Because these three states of the mind — instinct, reason, and super-consciousness, or the unconscious, conscious, and super-conscious states — belong to one and the same mind. There are not three minds in one man, but one develops into the other. Instinct develops into reason, and reason into the transcendental consciousness; therefore one never contradicts the other. So, whenever you meet with wild statements which contradict human reason and common sense, reject them without any fear, because the real inspiration will never contradict, but will fulfil. Just as you 68 RAJA YOGA find the great prophets saying, “I come not to destroy but to fulfil,” so this inspiration always comes to fulfil reason, and is in direct harmony with reason, and whenever it contradicts reason you must know that it is not inspiration.
All the different steps in Yoga are intended to bring us scientifically to the super-conscious state, or Samadhi. Furthermore, this is a most vital point to understand that inspiration is as much in every man’s nature as it way in the ancient prophets. These prophets were not unique; they were just the same as you or I. They were great Yogis. They had gained this superconsciousness, and you and 1 can get the same. They were not peculiar people. The very fact that one man ever reached that state will prove that it is possible for every man to do so. Not only is it possible, but every man must, eventually, get to that state, and that is religion. Experience is the only teacher we have. We may talk and reason all our lives, without ever understanding a word of truth, until we experience it ourselves. You cannot hope to make a man a surgeon by simply giving him a few books. You cannot satisfy my curiousity to see a country by showing me a map; I must have actual experience. Maps can only create a little curiousity in us to get more perfect knowledge. Beyond that, they have no value whatever. All clinging to books only degenerates the human mind. Was there ever a more horrible blasphemy than to say that all the knowledge of God is confined in this or that book? How dare men call God infinite, and yet try to compress Him into the covers of a little book! Millions of people have been killed because they did not believe what the books say, because they would not see all the knowledge of God within the covers of a book. Of course this killing and murdering has gone by, but the world is still tremendously bound up by a belief in books.
DHYANA AND SAMADHI 69 In order to reach the super-conscious state in a scientific manner we have to pass through these various steps that I have been teaching you in Raja Yoga. After Pratyahara and Dharana, which I taught you in the last lecture, we come to Dhyana, meditation. When the mind has been trained to remain fixed on a certain internal or external location, there comes to it the power of, as it were, flowing in an unbroken current towards that point. This state is called Dhyana. When this power of Dhyana has been so much intensified as to be able to reject the external part of perception, and remain meditating only on the internal part, the meaning, that state is called Samadhi. The three — Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi — together are called Samyama. That is, if the mind can first concentrate upon an object, and then is able to contiune in that concentration for a length of time, and then, by continued concentration, to dwell only on the internal part of the perception of which the object was the effect, everything comes under the control of such a mind.
This meditative state is the highest state of existence. So long as there is desire no real happiness can come. It is only the contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings us to real enjoyment and happiness. The animal has its happiness in the senses, the man in his intellect, and the God in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world has really become beautiful. To him who desires nothing, and does not mix himslf up with them, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.
These ideas have to be understood in Dhyana, or meditation. We hear a sound. First there is the external vibration, second, the nerve motion that carries it to the mind, third, the reaction from the mind, along with which flashes the knowledge of theobject which was the external 70 RAJA YOGA cause of these different changes from the ethereal vibrations to the mental reaction. These three are called in Yoga, Sabdha (sound), Artha (meaning), and Jndna (knowledge). In the language of physiology there are called the ethereal vibration, the motion in the nerve and brain, and the mental reaction. Now these, though distinct processes, have become mixed up in such a fashion as to become quite indistinct. In fact, we cannot now perceive any of these causes; we only perceive the effect of these three, which effect we call the external object. Every act of perception includes these three, and there is no reason why we should not be able to distinguish between them.
When, by the previous preparations, the mind becomes strong and controlled, and the power of finer perception has been attained, then the mind should be employed in meditation. This meditation must begin with gross objects and slowly rise to finer, then to finer and finer, until it has become objectless. The mind should first be employed in perceiving the external causes of sensations, then the internal motions, and then the reaction of the mind. Whenit has succeeded in perceiving the external causes of sensations by themxelves it will acquire the power of perceiving all fine material existence, all fine bodies and forms. When it can succeed in perceiving the motions inside, by themselves, it will gain the control of all mental waves, in itself or in others, even before they have translated themselves into physical forces; and when he will be able to perceive the mental reaction by itself the Yogi will acquire the knowledge of everything, as every sensible object, and every thought, is the result of this reaction. Then will he have seen, as it were, the very foundations of his mind, and it will be under his perfect control. Different powers will come to the Yogi, and if he yields to the temptations of any one of these the road to DHYANA AND SAMADHI 7i his further progress will be barred. Such is the evil of running after enjoyments. But, if he is strong enough to reject even these miraculous powers, he will attain to the goal of Yoga, the complete suppression of the waves in the ocean of th emind; then the glory of the soul, untrammelled by the distrations of the mind, or the motions of his body, will shine in its full effulgence. And the Yogi will find himself as he is and as he always was, the essence of knowledge, the immortal, the all-pervading.
Samadhi is the property of every human being — nay, every animal. From the lowest animal to the highest angelic being, some time or other each one will have to come to that state, and then, and then alone, will religion begin for him. And all this time, what are we doing? We are only struggling towards that stage’ there is no no difference between us and those who have no religion, because we have had no experience. What is concentration good for, save to bring us to this experience? Each one of the steps to attain this Samadhi has been reasoned out, properly adjusted, scientifically organised, and, when faithfully practised, will surely lead us to the desired end. Then will all sorrows cease, all miseries; the seeds of actions will be burned, and the soul will be free for ever.
CHAPTER VIII.
RAJA YOGA IN BRIEF.
This is a summary of Raja Yoga freely translated from the Kurma Purana.
The fire of Yoga burns the cage of sin that is around a man. Knowledge becomes purified, and Nirvana is directly obtained. From Yoga comes knowledge, knowledge again helps the Yogi. He who is a compound of both Yoga and knowledge, with him the Lord is pleased. Those that practice Mahayoga, either once a day, or twice a day, or thrice, or always, know them to be gods. Yoga is divided into two parts. One is called the Abhava, and the other Mahayoga. Where one’s self is meditated on as zero, and bereft of quality, that is called Abhava; the Yogi, by each one, realises his Self. That in which one sees the Self as full of bliss and bereft of all impurities, and one with God, is called Mahayoga. The other Yogas that we read and hear of, do not deserve one particle of this great Brahmayoga, in which the Yogi finds himself and the whole universe as God himself. This is the highest of all Yogas.
These are the steps in Raja Yoga. Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dhdrand, Dhyana, and Samadhi, of which, non-injuring anybody, truthfulness, non- covetousness, chastity, not receiving anything from another, are called Yama; it purifies themind, the China. By thought, word, and deed, always, and in every living being, not producing pain is what is called Ahimsa, non-injuring. There is no virtue higher than this non-injuring. There is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by this attitude of non-offensiveness to all creation. By truth we attain to 72 RAJA YOGA IN BRIEF 73 work. Through truth everything is attained; in truth everything is established. Relating facts as they are; this is truth. Not taking others’ goods by stealth or by force is called Asteyam, non-covetousness. Chastity in thought, word, and deed, always, and in all conditions, is what is called Brahmacharya. Not receiving any present from anybody, even when one is suffering terribly, is what is called Aparigraha. When a man receives a gift from another man, the theory is that his heart becomes impure, he becomes low, he loses his independence, he becomes bound and attached. The following are helps to success in Yoga. Niyama, regular habits and observances; Tapas, austerity; Sradhydya, study; Santela, contentment; Saucham, purity; Isvara pranidhana, worshipping God. Fasting, or in other ways controlling the body, is called the physical Tapas.
Repeating the Vedas, and other Mantrams, by which the Sattva material in the body is purifies, is called study, Sradhyaya. There are three sorts of repetions of these Mantrams. One is called the verbal, another semi-verbal, and the third mental. The verbal or audible is the lowest, and the inaudible is the highest of all. The repetition which is so loud that anybody can hear it is the verbal; the next one is where only the organs begin to vibrate, but no sound is heard; another man sitting near cannot hear what is being said. That in which there is no sound, only mental repetition of the Mantram, at the same time thinking its meaning, is called the “mental muttering” and is the highest. The sages have said that there are two sorts of purification, external and internal. The purification for the body is by water, earth, or other materials; the external purification, as by bathing, etc. Purification of the mind by truth, and by all the other virtues, is what is called internal purification. Both are necessary. It is not sufficient that a man should be internally pure and 74 RAJA YOGA externally dirty. When both are not attainable the internal purity is the better, but no one will be a Yogi until he has both. Worship is by praise, by memory, by having devotion to God.
We have spoken about Yama and Niyama: next comes Pranayama. Prana means the vital forces in one’s own body, Yama means controlling them. There are three sorts of Pranayama, the very simple, the middle, and the very high. The whole of Pranayama is divided into two parts; one is called filling, and the other is called emptying. When you begin with twelve seconds it is the lowest Pranayama; when you begin with twenty-four seconds it is the middle Pranayama', that Pranayama is the best which begins with thirty-six seconds. That Pranayama in which there is first perspiration, then vibration of the body, and then rising from the seat and joining of the man’s soul with great bliss is the very highest Pranayama. There is a Mantram called the Gayatri. It is a very holy verse of the Vedas. “We meditate on the glory of that Being who has produced this universe; may He enlighten our minds.” Then Om is joined to it, at the beginning and end. In one Pranayama repeat three Gayatris. In all books they speak of Pranayama being divided into Rechaka (rejecting or exhaling), Puraka (inhaling), and Kumbhaka (restraining, stationary). The Indriyas, the organs of the senses, are acting outwards and coming in contact with external objects. Bringing them under the control of the will is what is called Pratyahara; gathering towards oneself is the literal translation.
Fixing the mind on the lotus of heart, or on the centre of the head, is what is called Dharana. When remaining in one place, making one place as the base, where the waves of the mind rise up, without being touched by the other waves — when all other waves have stopped — and one wave only RAJA YOGA IN BRIEF 75 rises in the mind, that is called Dhyana, meditation. When no basis is necessary, when the whole of the mind has become one wave, “one-formedness,” it is called Samadhi. Bereft of all help from places and centres, only the meaning of the thing is presesnt. If the mind can be fixed on one centre for twelve second it will be a Dharana, twelve such Dhdrands will be a Dhyana, and twelve such Dhyanas will be a Samadhi. The next is Asana (posture). The only thing to understand is to hold the body straight, leaving the body free, with the chest, shoulders, and head straight. Where there is fire, or in water, or on ground which is strewn with dry leaves, or where there are wild animals, where four streets meet, or where there is too much noise, or too much fear, or too many ant hills, where there are many wicked persons, Yoga must not be practiced in such places. This applies more particularly to India. When the body feels very lazy do not practice, or when the mind is very miserable and sorrowful, or when the body is ill. God to a place which is well hidden, and where people do not come to disturb you. As soon as you do not want people to know what you are doing all the curiousity in the world will be awakened, but, if you go into the street and want people to know what you are doing, they will not care. Do not choose dirty places. Rather choose beautiful scenery, or a room in your own house which is beautiful. When you practice, first salute all the ancient Yogis, and your own Guru, and God, and then begin.
Dhyana is spoken of, and a few examples are given of what to meditate upon. Sit straight, and look at the tip of your nose. Later on we will come to know how that concentrates the mind, how by controlling the two optic nerves one advances a long way towards the control of the arc of reaction, and so to the control of the will. These are a 76 RAJA YOGA few specimens of meditation. Imagine a lotus upon the top of the head, several inches up, and virtue as its centre, the stalk as knowledge. The eight petals of the lotus are the eight powers of the Yogi. Inside, the stamens and pistils are renunciation. If the Yogi refuses the external powers he will come to salvation. So the eight petals of the lotus are the eight powers, but the internal stamens and pistils are the extreme renunciation, the renunciation of all these. Inside of that lotus think of the Golden One, the Almighty, the Intangible, He whose name is Om, the Inexpressible, surrounded with effulgent light. Meditate on that. Another meditation is given. Think ofa space in your heard, and in the midst of that space think that a flame is burning. Think of that flame as your own soul, and inside that flame is another space, effulgent, and that is the Soul of your soul, God. Meditate upon that in the heart. Chastity, non- injuring, pardoning everyone, even the greatest enemy, truth, faith in the Lord, these are all different Vrittis. Be not afraid if you are not perfect in all of these; work, and the others will come. He who has given up all attachment, all fear, and all anger, he whose whole soul has gone unto the Lord, he who has taken refuge in the Lord, whose hart has become purified, with whatsoever desire he comes to the Lord He will grant that to him. Therefore worship Him through knowledge, or worship Him through love, or worship Him through renunciation.
“He is my beloved worshipper, he is my beloved Bhakta, who is not jealous of any being, who is the friend of all, who is merciful to all, who has nothing of his own, whose egotism is lost: he who is always satisfied; he who works always in Yoga, whose self has become controlled, whose will is firm, whose mind and whose intelligence are given up unto me, know that he is my beloved Bhakta. From whom RAJA YOGA IN BRIEF 77 comes no disturbance, who never becomes the cause of disturbance to others, he who has given up excessive joy, grief, and fear, and anxiety. Such a one is my beloved. He who does not depend on anything, pure, active, giving up all, who does not care whether good comes or evil, never becomes miserable; he who is the same in praise or in blame, with a silent, thoughtful,ind, blessed with what little comes in his way, homeless, he who has no home, the whole world is his home, steady in his ideas, such a one becomes a Yogi.” There was a great god-sage called Narada. Just as there are sages among mankind, great Yogis, so there are great Yogis among the gods. Narada was a good Yogi, and very great. He travelled everywhere, and one day he was passing through a forest, and he saw a man who had been meditating until the white ants had built a huge mound round his body, he had been sitting in that position so long. He said to Narada, “Where are you going?” Narada replied, “I am going to heaven.” “Then ask God when He will be merciful to me; when I will attain freedom.” Further on Narada saw another man. He was jumping about, singing, dancing, and said, “Oh, Narada, where are you going?” His voice and his gestures were wild. Narada said, “I am going to heaven.” “Then, ask when I will be free.” So Narada went on. In the course of time he came again by the same road, and there was the man who had been meditating till the anti-hills had grown round him. He said “Oh, Narada, did you ask the Lord about me?” “Oh, yes.” “What did He say?” “The Lord told me that you would attain freedom in four more births.” Then the man began to weep and wail, and said, “I have meditated until an ant-hill has been raised around me, and I have four more birth yet!” Narada went to the other man. “Did you ask my question?” “Oh, yes. Do you see this tamarind tree? I have to tell you that as many leaves as 78 RAJA YOGA there are on that tree, so many times you will be born, and then you will attain freedom.” Then the man began to dance for joy, and said, “I will have freedom after such a short time.” A voice came, “My child, you will have freedom this minute.” That was the reward for his perseverance. He was ready to work through all those births, nothing discouraged him. But the first man felt that even four more births must be too long. Only perseverance like that of the man who was willing to wait aims will bring about the highest result.
PATANJALI S YOGA APHORISMS INTRODUCTION.