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A
N
I
N
T
R
O
D
U
C
T
I
O
N
TO
Y
O
GA
FOUR L ECTURES DEL IVERED AT T HE3
2
ND
ANNIVERSARY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL
SOC
IE
TY,
HELD AT BE NARES,
ON D
E
C
.
27
T
H
,
2
8
T
H
,
2
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3O
T
H
,
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907
B
Y
A
N
NI
E B
E
S
ANT
S
EC
O
N
D
E
D
I
TIO
N
)
T
HE
OSOPHICAL PU
B
LISH
IN
G
H
O
U
S
E
ADYAR,
M
ADR
AS,
IN
D
IA
B
ENARES,
INDIA;
C
HI
C
AGO
,
U
. s
.
A.
T
.
P
.
L
O
ND
O
N1
9
1
8
P
r
8
2
6 O
M
D
A
L
E
A
V
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CONTENTS
P
AGE
L
ECTURE I . THE NATURE OE YOGA
l
.
T
h
e
Mean
ing oftheU
niverse l
2
.
TheU
nfolding of Consciousness 4
3
.
TheO
nenes
s oftheS elf 7
4
.
The
uick
ening ofthe P
rocess
ofS
el
fU
n
f
oldment5
.
Y
og
a is a Science6
.
Man aD
uality7
.
State
s ofMind8
.
S
ama
d
hi9
. TheL iteratu
re ofY
og
a1
0
. SomeDe
finition
s1
1
.
G
o
d
W
ithoutandG
o
d
W
ithin
1
2
. Chang
e
s of Consc
iousn
ess a
n
d
V
ib
rationsofMatter
1
3
. Mind1
4
.
Stag
es of Mindl
5
.
Inward andO
u
tward
-tu
rned Consciou
sne
ss1
6
.
TheCloud
1
0
14s
18
2
1
2
5
3
2
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v
i CONTE
NTS
L
E
CTURE II . SCHOOL S 0 F THOUGHT 4 7
l
. TheR
elationofYo
g
a
t
o
IndianP
hilo
sop
hie
s 5 02
. Mind 7 0
3 . TheMe
nta
l Bo
dy 7
3
4
.
Mind andSelf 76
L
ECTURE III.
YOGAA
S
S
CIENCE8
1
1
. Methods ofY
oga 8 22
. TotheSe
lf
b
y
theSelf
3
.
TotheSelf through theN ot-Self 89
4
.
Y
o
g
a andMorality 915
. Comp
o
sition of State
s of theMnd 9 76 .
Plea
sure andP
ain 103
L E
CTURE
I
V
.
Y
OGAA
s
P
RA
CTICE
11
4
1 . Inhibition of Sta
te
sO
f
MindMeditation
W
ith andW
ithout Seed3
. TheU s
e
of Mant
ras4
.
A
tte
ntion
O
bstaclest o Yoga6
.
Cap
acities forY
og
a7
. Forthg
oing
andR et
urning8
.
Purifi
cat
ion of Bodie
s9 .
Dwellers ontheThreshold
10
1
1
.
TheE
n
d
1
5
7
11
5
1
20
12
7
1
2
8
1
3
1
13
2
1
3
8
146
1
4
9
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F
O
RE
WO
RD
T
H
E
S
E
l
e
c
t
ur
e
s
a
r
e
in
te
n
d
e
d t
o
g
ive an out
l
in
e
O
i
Y
o
g
a
,
i
n o
r
d
e
r
to
p
r
e
p
a
r
e t
h
e
st
u
d
e
n
t
t
o
t
a
k
e
u
p
,
f
o
r
p
r
ac
ticalp
ur
p
o
s
es
,
t
h
e
Sz
l
g
m
s
o
f
P
a
t
a
fi
j
al
i
,
t
h
e chie
ft re
a
t
is
e
o
n
Yo
g
a
.
I
ha
v
e o
n hand,
withmy
frie
n
d
Bh
a
g
a
v
a
n
D
a
s
a
s co
l
l
a
b
or
a
t
e
u
r,
a
t
r
a
n
s
l
at
io
n
o
f
thes
e S
u
t
ras
,
withVy
a
sa
s
com
me
n
t
a
r
y,
a
n
d
a further comment
a
ry a
n
d
e
l
uc
ida
t
io
n
writ
t
e
n
in
t
h
e
lig
hto
f
T
he
o
S
o
p
hy
.
T
o
p
r
e
p
a
r
e
t
h
e s
t
u
d
e
n
t
f
o
r
t
h
e
m
a
ste
ring
o
f that more difficultt
ask
,
t
he
se
l
e
ct
u
r
es
we
r
e
de
sig
n
ed
;
henc
e t
h
e m
an
y
re
fe
r
e
n
ce
s
t
o P
a
t
a
fi
j
a
li
.
Theyma
y
,
h
o
w
e
ve
r
,
a
ls
o se
r
v
e
t
o
g
ive to
t
h
e
o
r
d
in
a
r
yl
a
y
re
a
de
r
so
m
e idea oft
h
e
S
c
ie
n
ce
Ofs
c
ie
n
ces
,
a
n
d
p
e
rhap
s
t
o a
l
l
u
r
e
a
f
e
w to
wa
r
d
s i
ts
st
udy.
A
NN
I
E
BESA
N
T
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L
ECTURE I
THE NATURE OF YOGA
B
ROTHERS
In this first discourse we shall concernourselves with the gaining of a general idea
O
f
the
subject of Yoga,
seeking its place innature,
i
t
s
own charac
ter,
itsObject in human evolution.
T
H
E
M
EAN ING OF THEU NIVERSE
Le t u s ,
first of all,
ask ourselves,
looking at
the world around us,
what it is that the history
of the world signifies. Whenwe read history,
what does the history tell us It seems tob
e
a
moving panorama O f people and events
,
but iti
s
r
eally only a dance of shadows the pe
oplear
e
s
hadows,
not realities,
t
he kings and statesmen,
t
h
e
minister
s and armies; and the ev
ents
theba
ttles
and revolutions,
th e rises and fallso
f
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State
sare the most shadow-l ike dance of all.
Even if the historian tries to go deeper,
if he
d
eals wi th economic conditions,
with social
organisations,
with the study of the tendencies
of the currents o f thought,
even then he is in
the midst o f shadows,
the illusory shadows cast
by unseen realities.
This world is fullo f formsthat are ill usory
,
a
n
d the values are all wrong,
the proportions are o ut o f fo c us .
The things
which a m an of the world thinks valuable,
a
Spiritual manmust cast aside as worthless.
The
diamonds of the world, with their glare andglitter in the rays of the outside s
un
,
are mere
fragments O
f broken glass to thema
n
o
f knowledge
.
The crown oi theK in g,
the sceptre of
th eEmperor,
the triumph of earthly power,
are
less than nothing to the man who has had oneglimpse
o
f the maj esty of the Self.
W
h
at1
8
,
then,
reali
What istruly valuable O ur answer
will be very different from the answer given by
them a
n of the world.
The universe exists for the sake o
f the
Self.
Not for what the outerw orld can give,
not for control over the objects of desires,
not
for the sake even of beaut
yo r pleasure,
doesthe
Great Architect plan and build His worlds.
Heha
s
filled themw
ith Objects,
beautiful and
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THE NATURE OF YOGA 3
pleasure-giving.
The great arch o f the sky
above, the mountains with snow-
clad peaks,
t
h
e
valleys soft with verdure and fragrant with
blossoms,
the oceans with their vast depths,
their surface now calm as a lake,
now tossing
in furythey all exist,
not for theObjects them
selves, but for their value to the Self.
N0 t forthemsel
v
es because they are anything in them
selves,
but that the purpose of theSelf may be
served,
and his manifestations made possible.
The world,
with all its beauty,
its happiness and
s
n
fi
e
r
i
n
g
, its joys and pains, is planned with theutmost ingenuity
,
in order that the powers of the
Self may beShown forth in manifestation.
From
thefire-mist totheLOGOS,
all exists for the sake of
the Self . The lowestgrain of dust,
the mightiest
D
eva in his heavenly regions, the plant thatgrows o ut of sight in t he nook of a mountain
,
the star that shines aloft overus
all these exist
in order that the fragments Of the o n
e
Self,
embodied in countless forms,
may realise their
own identity,
and manifest the powersOf theSelf through the matter that envelops them
.
There is but oneSelf in the lowliest dust and
the loftiestD
eva. Mamams
h
a
,
My portion,
a portion O f My Self,
says ShriK
r
s
h
n
a
,
are
all theseJ ivat
m
a
s
,
all these livingSpirits.
For
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4
INTRODUCTION T o YOGA
them the universe exists for them thesun shines,
andt
h
e
waves roll,
and the winds blow,
and therain falls,
that theSelf may know himself as mani
f
es
te
d
in matter,
as embodied inthe universe.
THE
U
NFOL
DING 0
E
C
ONSCIOUSNE
SS
O
ne
of tho s
e pregnant and significant ideas
which Theosophy scatters so lavishly aroundi
s
thisthat the same scale is repeated over and
ov
er agai n,
the same succession of events in
larger or smaller cycles. If you understandonecycle
,
you understand t he Whole.
Th e same
laws
by which a solar systemi s builded go to
the building up o f the system o f man.
Th e
la
ws by which the Self unfoldshi
s powers in
the u niverse,
from thefire-mist upt o theLOGOS,
are t
h
e
same laws of consciousness which repeat
themselves i n the universe o f man.
If y o u
understand them in the one ,
you can equally
understand them in the other.
Grasp them in
the small,
and the large i s revea
led t
o
you.
Grasp them in the large,
and the smallbe
comes
intelligible to you.
The great u nfolding from the stone to the
God goe
s on through millions of years
, thro
ughs
ec
n
s
of time.
But theI
l
o
n
g
unfolding
that
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T
H
E
NATURE OF YOGA 5
takes place i n the universe,
takes pl a
ce in a
s
horter time-
cycle within the lim
it of humanity,and this in a cycle so brief that it seems as
nothing beside the longer o
n
e
.
Within a still
briefer cycle a similar unfolding takes plac
e in
the individualrapidly,
swiftly,
with all the
force o f its past behind it.
These forces thatmanifest and unveil themselves in evolution are
cumulative in their power.
Embodied in th e
stone,
in the mineral world,
they grow and put
out a li ttle moreof
strength,
and in them ineral
world accom
plish their unfolding. Then theybecome
t oo
strong for the mineral,
and pres
so
n
into the vegetable world.
There they unfold
more and more of their divinity,
until theyb
e
come too mighty for the vegetable,
and become
Expanding within and gaining experience
s from
the animal,
they againoverflow the limits of the
animal,
and appeara
s
the human.
In the human
being they still grow and ac
cumulatew ith ever
increasing force,
and exert greater pressure
against the barrier;
and then outO
f
the human,
they press into the super-human.
Th
is las
t
process of evolut
ion is called Yoga.
Coming t o the individual,
the man o
f our
own globeh as behind him his long evoluti
on in)
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6 INTRODUC
TION T
o Y
OGA
other chains than oursthis same evolution
through mineral to vegetable,
through vegetableto animal,
through animalt o
man,
a
nd the
nfrom
o
ur last dwelling
-place in the lunar o
r
b
o
n to
this terrene globe that we call the earth.
Our
evolution here has all the forceof
the last evo
l
u
t
i
o
n in it, and hence, when we come to thisshortest cycle of evolution which is called Yoga
,
the man has behind him the whole of the forces
accumulated in his human evolution,
and it is
the accumulation o
f
these forces which enables
h
i
m
to make the passageso rapidly . We mustconnect o ur Yoga with the evolution of con
s
c
i
o
u
sn
ess
everywhere,
else we shall not under
stand it at all;
for the laws of evolution of con
sc
i
o
u
s
n
e
s
s
in a universe are exactly the same as
the laws of Yoga,
and the principles wherebyconsciousness unfolds itself in the great evolution
o
f humanity are the same principles that we take
in Yoga and deliberately applyt o the more rapid
unfolding o f
o
u
r
own consciousness. SO that
Yoga,
when it is definitely begun,
i
s not an ew
thing,
as some peopl
e imagine.
The whole evolution is one ini ts essence. The
s
uccession is the same,
the sequences identical.
Whether you are thinking o
f
the unfolding ofc
ons
ciousness
in t h e u niverse,
or in the human
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THE NATURE or YOGA 7
race,
or in the individual,
you can study the
laws of the whole, a n d i n Yoga you learn toapply those same laws to your own consciousness
rationally and definitely.
All the laws are one,
however differentintheir stages of manifestation.
If you look at Yoga in this light,
then this
Yoga, which seemed so aliena nd so faro ff, willbegin to wear a familiar face
,
and come to you
in a garb not wholly strange.
As you study th e
unfolding of consciousness,
an d the correspond
ing evolution of form,
it will not seems o strange
that from man you should pass on to super-man,transcending the barrier of humanity
,
andfinding
yourself in the region where divinity becomes
more manifest.
T
H
E
O
NEN ESS o r THE SEL F
Th
e Self in you is the same as the Sel f
Universal.
Whatever powers are manifested
throughout the world,
those powers exist in
germ,
in l atency,
in you.
He,
the Supreme,
does not evolve.
In Him there are no addi
tions
or subtractions.
His portions,
theJivatma
s
,
are
as Himself,
and they o nly unfoldtheir powers
in matt
eras
conditions around them dr
aw
thosepowers forth . If you realise the unity oft
h
e
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8
INTRODUCTION T o YOGA
Self amid the diversities o
f theNot-Self,
then
Yoga will not seem an impossible thing t
o
you.
THE
UICKENING O F THEP
ROCESS o
r
SE
L
E
U
NFOLDMENT
Educated andt houghtful men and women you
already are already you have climb ed up that
l
on
g
l
a
dd
e
r whichseparatesthepresent outerform
o
f th eD
eity in you from His form in the dust.
Th
e manifestedD
eity sleeps in the mineraland thestone
.
He becomes more an d more unfolded in
vegetables and animals,
and lastly in man He has
r
eached what appears as His culminationt o
ordi
nary men.
Having done so much,
shall younot
do more With the consciousness so faru nfolded
do
e s it seem I mpossible that it should unfold in
the future into the divine
Asy
o
u realise that the laws ofthe evolutionof
form ando
f the unfolding of consciousness in the
universe and man a
re
the same,
an dthat it is
through these laws that the Yogi bringso
u
t
h
i
s
h
idden powers,
then you will under
stand also
t hat it is not
necessary to go into the mountain
o
r
into the desert, to hide yourself in a cave ora forest
,
in order that the unionwitht
he
Se
lf
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THE NATUREo
r YOGA 9
m
a
y
be obtainedHe
who is within you and
without you.
Sometimes for a special purposes
e
clusion may be useful.
Itmay be well attimes
to retire temporarily from the busy haunts of
men.
But in the universe planned byI
shvara,
in order that the powers of the Self mayb
e
brought out
t
h
ere is your best field for Yoga,planned with D ivine wisdom
a
n
d
sagacity.
The world is meant for the unfolding oftheSelf:
why shouldy
o
u then seek to run away from it
Loo
k at Shri K r
s
h
n
a
Himself in that great
U
p
a
n
i
s
h
a
t
of Yoga, the B hagavad
-
G
Z
t
fi
. Hes
poke it out o n a battlefield,
and not on
a moun
tain pe
ak.
He spoke it to aKs
h
a
t
t
r
y
a ready
to fight,
and not to a Brahmana quietly retire
d
from the world.
TheK uruks
h
e
t
r
a of the world
is the field of Yoga . They who cannot face theworld have not the strength to face thediffi
c
ult
i
es
of Yoga practice.
If the outer world out
wearies your powers,
ho w do you expect to
conquer the difficulties of the inner life If you
cannot climb overthe little troubles of the world,
how can you hope to climb over the difficulties
that a Yog i has
to scale Those men blunder,
who think that running away from the world is
the road to victory,
and that peace canbe foundonly in certain localities.
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1
0 INTRODUCTION To Y
O
GA
A
s a matte
r of fact,
you have practised Yoga
unconsc
iously in the past, ev
en before yourSelfconsciousness had separated itself,
was aware
of itself,
a
n
d
knew itselft
o bed
i
fi
e
r
e
nt
,
in tem
p
o
r
a
r
y
matters at least,
from all the others that
surround it.
And that is the first idea that you
should tak
e up and hold firmly Yogai s only aquickened process
o f
the ordinary unfolding of
consciousness.
Yoga may th en b e de fine d as the rational
application of the laws of the unfolding of con
s
c
i
o
u
s
n
es
s in anindividual case Thatis what ismeant by the methods of Yoga
.
You study the
laws of the unfolding of consciousness int
h
e uni
verse,
you then apply themt
o
a Special case
and that casei s your o
w
n
.
You ca
nnot apply
them to another. They must be self-applied.
That i s the de finite principle to grasp.
Sowe
must add one more wo r
d t
o our de finition:
Yoga is the rational application of the laws of
the unfolding of consciousness,
self-applied in an
individual case.
Y
OGA
I
s A SCIENCE
Next:
Yoga is a science.
That is the secondthing to grasp
.
Yoga is
a science,
a
n
d nota
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12
INTRODUCTION To YOGA
which nature is evolving forms around us,
a
n
d
yet he does in a few years what naturet
a
kes
,
perhaps,
hundreds o f thousands of yearst o
do.
An d h o w By applying human inte
lligence to
choose the laws that serve him,
andt o
neutralise
the laws that hinder.
He brings th
e
divine
intelligenc e i n m an to utilise the divine powersin nature
,
that are workingf or
general rather
than for particular ends.
Take the breeder of pigeons.
Out of the blue
rock pigeon he develops the pouter,
or
t
h
e
fantail he choosesc ut, generation after generation
,
the forms that Show most strongly the
peculiarity that he wishes to develop.
He mates
such birds together,
ta
kes every favouring
circumstance into consideration,
and selects
again and again,
and so o n and o n,
till t he
peculiarity thathe
wantsto establishh as be
come
a well-marked feature.
R
emove his controlling
intelligence,
leave the birdst o themselves,
and
they revert to the ancestral type.
Ortake the caseo
f
the gardener. Out of the
wild roseof
the hedge has been evolved every rose
of
the gar
den.
Many-pet
alled roses are but the
re
sulto
f
the scientific culture of thefive-petalled
rose o
f th e hedge -
row, the wild product o
f
nature.
A gardener
who choos
es the poll en
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THE NATUREo
r YOGA 13
fr
om
one plant and places it on the carpelsO
f
anotheri s
simply doing deliberately whati
s
donee
very day by the bee and thefly
.
But he
chooses
his
plants
,
and he chooses those that
have the qualities he wants intensified,
and from
thos
e again he choo ses those that show the
desired qualities still more clea
rly, until heh asproduced aflower so different from the or
i
ginal
s
t
ock that only by tracing it b ack can you tell
the stock whence it sprang.
So is it in the application of the laws o
f
psychology that we call Yoga. Systematisedknowledge of the unfolding of consciousness
applied t
o the individualised self,
that is Yoga.
A
s
I have just said,
it is by the world that con
sc
io
u
sne
ss has been unfolded,
and the world is
admirably planned by theLOGOS forthis unfolding of consciousness
;
hence the would-be
Yogi,
choosing outhi s objects and applying his laws,
finds in the world exactly the things he wants
to make h is practice of Yoga a real ,
a vital
thing,
a quickening process for the knowledge
of th e Self.
There are many laws.
You can
choose those which you require,
you can evade
those you do not require,
you can utilise those
you need,
and thus you can bring ab
out the
r
esult that nature,
without that application
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14
INTRODUCTION T o Y OGA
o
f human intelligence,
cannot so
swiftly
c
fi
e
c
t
.
Take it,
then,
that Yoga is within your reach,
within your powers,
and that even some oft
h
e
lower practices of Yoga,
some o
f the simpler
a
pplicationso f the laws of the unfoldingo f
c
on
s
c
i
o
u
s
n
e
s
s to yourself, will benefit you in thi
s
world as well a s in all others.
Fory
ou
a
r
e
really merely quickening your growth,
your
unfolding,
taking advantage of the powersnature
puts within your hands,
and deliberatelye
l
i
mi
n
ating the conditions which wouldnot help youinyour work
,
but rather hinder your march forward.
Ify
o
u
se
e
it in that light,
it seemst
o me that
Yoga will be to you a far more real,
practical
thing,
than i t i s wheny
ou merely read some
fragments about it t aken fromS am
s
k
r
t
books,
and often mistranslated into English,
andy
o
u
will begin to feel that to be
a Yogi i s not
necessaril
y a thing for a life faro
fi
,
an incarna
tion far removed from the present one
.
M
A
N
AD
UAL
ITY
Someo
f
the terms used inYoga are necessarily
t
o
b
e
known.
F
o
r
Yoga takes man for a specialpurpose and studies him for a speciale nd,
and,
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T
H
E
NATUREo
r YOGA 1
5
therefore,
only troubles itself about two great
facts regarding man,
Mind and Body.
First, hei
s
a Unit,
a Unit of consciousness.
That is a
po
int to be de finitely graspe d. There is only
one of him in each s et of envelopes,
and some
times the Theosophist has to revise his ideas
about man when he b egins this practicalline
.
Theosophy,
quite us
efully and righ
tly,
f
o
r the understanding of the humanc o
n
s
t
it
u
tion,
divides man into many parts and pieces.
We talk of physical,
astral,
mental,
etc . Or
we talk about S
t
h
fi
l
a Sharira,S
fi
k
s
h
m
a
Sharira,
K
aranaSharira,
and so on.
Sometimes
we divide man intoAnnamay
a
k
os
h
a
,
Pra
nam
a
y
a
k
o
sh
a
,
M
a
no
m
a
y
a
kosh
a
,
etc.
We divide
ma
n
into so many pieces,
in order to studyhi
m
thoroughly, that we can hardly find the manbecause of the pieces. This is
,
so to say,
f
o
r
the study of human anatomy and physiology.
But Yoga is pr actical and psychological.
I
am n o t complaining of the various subdivisions
of other systems. They are necessary for thepurpose of those systems
.
But Yoga,
for its
practical purposes,
considers man simply as a
dualityMind and Body,
aUnit of consciousne
ss
in a set of envelopes.
This isnot the duality of
the Self and theNo
t
-Self.
For in Yoga,
Self
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1
6
INTRODUCTION To YOGA
i
ncludes consciousnessp
l
us such matter a
s
it
c
a
nnot distinguish from i tself,
andNot-
Selfi
s
o
nlyt
h
e
matter
it canput aside.
Manis
not pureSelf,
pure consciousness
,
Sam
v
i
t
.
Th a t i s an abstraction.
In the concr
e
te
unive
rse
there are always the Self and his
sheaths, however tenuous the latter may be, sothat a unit of consciousness is inseparable fro
m
matter,
a n d a Jivat
m
a orMona
d,
is inv
ariably
c
o
ns
ciousnessp
l
u
s matter.
In order that this may comeou
t clearly,
two
terms are used in Yoga as constituting manPr
a
na and Pradhana,
life-breath and matter.
PT
a
n
a
is n
o
t
only the life-breaths of the bod
y,
but the totality of the life-forceso f the universe,
or,
in other words,
the life-side of the universe.
I am Prana,
saysIndra. Prana here meansthe totality of the life-forces
.
They are takenas
consciousness,
mind.
Prad
hana is the term use
d
for matter.
Body,
or the Opposite of mi
nd,
meansfo
r the Yogi in practice,
so much of the
a
ppropriated matter of the outer world as hei s
able to put away from himself,
to distinguish
fr
om his ownc
onsciousness
.
This
divis
ion is very significant and useful,
if
y
o
u
can ca
tc
h clearly hold of the root idea.
Of
c
ours
e,
loo
king
at t he thing fr
om be
ginningt o
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THE
NATURE OF YOGA 1 7
end,
you will see Prana,
the gr eat Life,
the
great Self, always present in all, and youwillsee the envelope
s,
the bodies,
the sheaths,
prese
nt
at thedi fie
r
e
n
t
stages,
takingd ifierent
forms;
but from
the standpoint of Yogic practice,
that
is called Pra
na,
or Self,
with which the man
identifies himself for the time, including everysheath of matter from which the man is unable
t
o separate himself in consciousness.
That unit,
to the Yogi is the Self,
sot hat it is a changing
quantity.
As he drops off one sheath aftera
n
O
ther and says : That is not myself, he i
s
coming nearer and nearertoh is highest point,
to consciousness in a single film,
in a single
atom of matter,
a Monad.
For all practica
l pur
pos
eso
f Yoga,
the man,
the working,
conscious
man,
is so much of him as he cannot separate
from the matter enclosing him,
or with which
h e i s c
onnected.
Only that is body which the
man is able to put aside and say Thisis not
I,
butm
ine.
We find we have a whole series
of terms in Yoga which may be repeated over
and over again.
All the states of mind exist on
e
very plane,
saysV
ya
ss
,
and this way of dealing
with man enables the same significant words,
as
w
e
shall see i n a moment, to be used overa
n
d
o
ver again,
with an ev
er subtler connotation2
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1
8
INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
they all become relative,
and are equally true at
e
ach stageo f evolution.
No w i t i s quite clear that,
so fara
s
many of
u
s
are concerned,
the physicalbO
d
y
is
the only
thing of which we can say It isnot myself
so that,
inthe practice of Yoga at first,
for you,
all the words that wouldbe used in it to describethe states of co nsciousness
,
the stat
es of mind,
would deal with the waking consciousne s s i n
t
h
e
bodyas
the lowest state,
and,
rising upfr
om
that,
all the words would be relative ter
ms
,
implying a dist i nct and recognisable state of
the mind in relation to that which is the lowest.
In order to know how you shall beginto apply
to yourselves the various terms used to describe
the states of mind,
you must carefully analyse
yourown consciousness,
and find outh ow much
of it is
really consciousness,
andh ow muchis
matter so clos
ely appropriated thaty
o
u cannot
sep
arate
it from yourself.
STATES OFM
IND
Let us takei t In detail. Four states of con
s
c
i
o
u
s
n
es
s
are spokeno famongstu
s
.
W
aking,
o
r
Jagrat
th e d
ream
consciousness, orS
v
a
p
n
a
the deep Slee
p consciousness,
o
r
S
u
s
hu
p
t
i
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2
0
IN
TRODUCTION TOY
O
G
A
conditions of each world. But the same words
are repeated inth ebookso
f
Yoga with a differentcontext.
There the di fficulty occurs ,
i f we
have not learned their
relative nature.
S
v
a
p
n
a
i
s
not the same for all,
n
or isS
o
S
h
u
p
t
i
the same
f
o
r every one.
Above all, the word Samad
hi, tobe explainedin a moment
,
is used indifiere
n
t
ways and in
different senses. How then are we to findo
ur
way in this apparent tangle By knowing the
state which i s the starting point,
and then the
sequence will always be the same. Allo f youare familiar with the waking consciousness
in
the physical body.
Yo
u can find four states
even in that ify
o
u analyse it,
and a simil
ar
sequ
ence o f
the stateso f the mind is found on
every plane.
H
o
w
to di stinguish them,
then Let us take
the waking consciousness,
and tryt o see the four
states i n that.
Suppose I takeup
a book and
read it.
I read the words my eyes are related
to the outer phys
ical consciousness. That i s
theJa
grat
state.
I go beh ind the wordst o the
meaning of the words.
Ihave passed from the
waking stat
e of the physica
l plane into the
S
v
a
p
n
a stateo
f
waking consciousness, that seesthro
u
gh the outer fo r
m,
seeking the inner life.
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T
H
E
NATURE
OF YOGA 2 1
I pas
s from this to the mind of the writer here
t h e mi
nd touches the mi
nd; it is the wakingconsciousness in its S
u
s
h
u
p
t
i state.
I
f I pass
from this contact and enter the very mindo f
the writer,
and live in that mans en I
ha
ve reached theT
uriya state of the w ag
co
nsciousness.
Take another illustration.
Ilook at my wa
tch
I a
m
inJagrat
.
I close my eyesand make an
image o f the watch
;
I am in S vap
n
a
.
I call
together many ideas of many watches,
and reach
the ideal watch; I am in S
u
s
h
u
p
t
i
. I passt othe idea of time in the abstract Iam in
T
uriya.
But all these are stages
in the physical plane
consciousne
ss Ihave not left the body.
In this way,
you can make stateso
f mind
intelligible and real,
instead of mere words.
SAMAD
HI
Some other impo
rtant words which recur from
time to time in the Y
o
g
a
S
ti
g
m
a
,
needtob e
understood,
though there areno exactE nglish
equivalents.
A
S they must be used t o avoid
clumsy circumlocutions,
it is necessaryt
o
explain
them.
It is said Yoga is Samadhi.
Samad
hi
is a state i n which the consciousness i s .
so
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2
2 INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
dissociate
d from
th ebody that the latter
re
mains
insensible. It is a state of trance,
inwhich the
mind is fully self-consciou
s,
though the body is
insensitive,
and from which the mind
returns to
the body with the experiences it has had in the
super-physical state,
remembering them when
again immersed in the physical brain.
Samadhifor any one perso n i s r e l
ative to his waking
consciousness
,
but implies insens
itiveness of the
body.
If an ordinary person throws himself into
tr
ance and is
active on
the astral plane,
his
Samadh i i s on the astral. Ifh is consciousnessis f
u
nctioning in them ental plane,
hi
s Sam
a
dhii
s
there.
Th e man wh o c anso withdraw from
the body as
to
leave it insensitive,
while h is
mind is
fully self-c
onscious,
can practise
The phraseYoga i s Samadhi covers fac
ts
o
f the highest significance and greatestinstruc
tion.
Suppose you are only able to reach the
astral world wheny
o
u
are asleep,
your con
s
c
i
o
u
s
n
ess
there i s,
as
we have seen,
in the
Sva
p
n
a
state.
But as y
o
u slowly unfold your
powe
rs,
the astral form s begin to intrude upon
your waking physical consciousness,
untilthey
a
ppe
ar as d
istinctly a
s
dophysical forms
,
an
d
thusbe
c
omeObjects
ofyourwakingco
nso
l
o
usn
e
ss
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T
HE NATURE
o
r
YOGA 23
T
h
e astral world then,
for you,
no l
onger
be
longs to theS
v
a
p
na
consciousness,
but tot
h
e
Jagrat
you have taken two worlds within thescopeo f yourJagra
t
conscious
nessthe physica
l
and the astral worlds
and the mental world is
inyourS vap
n
a consciousnes
s.
Your bodyi
s
then the physical and the astral bodies takentog
ether. As you go on,
the menta
l planebegin
s
similarly to intrude itself,
and the physica
l,
astr
al
and mental all come within your waking cons
ci
o
u
s
n
ess
;
all these are,
then,
your
J
agrat
world.
These three worlds form but one world to youtheir three corresponding bodies but onebody
,
that perceives and acts.
The three bodies ofV
the ordinary manhave become one body for the
Yo
gi.
If under these conditions you want to
s
ee only one world at a time, you must fix youratt
e
ntion on it,
and thus focus it.
You can,
in
that state of enlarged
waking,
concentrate
your
attention on the physical and see it then the
a
st
ral and mental will appear haz y.
So you
can focus your attention On the astral andse
e
it;
then the physical and the mental,
beingo ut
of focus,
will appea
rdim
.
You will easily under
s
ta
n
d this,
if you rememberthat,
in this hall,
I
may focus my sight in the middle of the hall,
when the pillars on bo
th sides will appear
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24 INTRODUCTION To
YO
GA
indistinctly.
Or I may concentrate my attention
o
n
a pillar and see it distinctly, but I then seeyou only vaguely at the same time .
It is a
change o
f focus,
n
o
t
a change of body.
R
e
member that all which you can put a sidea
s not
yourself is the body of the Yogi,
and hence,
as
y
o
u go higher, the lower bodies form but a Singlebody
,
and the consciousness in that sheath of
matter which it still cannot throw away,
that
becomes the man.
Yoga is Samadhi.
It is thep
ower to with
draw from all that you know as body, and toconcentrate yourself within
.
That is Samadhi.N
O
ordinary mean
s will then call youb ac
k
t
o
th e world thaty
o
u have left.
1 This will also
explain to you the phrase inT he
S
e
cr
e
t
Do
c
t
ri
ne
that the Adept begins his Samadhi o n thea
t
m
i
c
plane.
When a Jivanmukta enters into
Sama
d
hi,
He begins it o n the at
m
i
c
plane.
All planes below the at
m
i
c are one plane for
Him.
He begins His Samadhi o n a planet
o
which the mere man cannot rise.
He begins
it on the a
t
mic plane,
and thence rises
stage by stage t o the higher cosmic planes.
1
A
n Ind
ia
n Yo
g
i in
Samad
hi,
d
is
c
o
vered
i
n a
forest byso
m
e
ign
ora
n
t
and
br
u
ta
lE n
glis
hmen
,
w
a
s
so v
io
l
ent
ly illused that he returnedt o his tortured body , onlyt o leavei ta
g
ai
n
at on
c
eby
death.
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THE NATURE
OF YOGA 2 5
The s
ame word,
Sama
dhi,
i s used to describe
the states o
f
the consciousness,
whether it riseabove the physical into the astral,
as inthe self
induced tranc eo
f
an ordinary man,
or,
as in the
c ase o f aJ
i
v
anm
uk
t
a
,
when,
the consciousness
be
ing already centred in the fifth,
o
r a
t
m
i
c
,
plane, it rises t o the higher planes of a largerworld
.
TH
E LITERATUREor Y
OGA
Unfortunately for non S
a
m
s
k
r
t
knowingp
eople,
the literat
ure o
f Yoga is not largely
available in English.
The general teachings of
Yoga are t
o
be found in theU
p
am
s
h
a
i
s
,
and
theB hag
a
r
a
d
-
G
i
fi
i those,
in many translations,
a
r
e within your reach,
but they are general,
notspecial
;
they give you the main principles,
but do
not tell you about the methods in any detailed
way. Even in the
B
h
a
g
ac
a
d
-
G
i
g
c
i
,
while you
are toldt
o make sacrifices
,
to
becom
ei
n
difi
e
r
e
n
t
,
an d so on,
it i s all o
f
the nature of moral
precept,
absolutely necessary indeed,
but still
not tellingy
o
u howt o
reach the conditions put
before you. The special literature o f
Yogai s,
fi
rst of all,
many of the minorU
p
an
i
s
h
a
t
s
,
thehundred-and-eight as they are called.
Few of
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2
6
INTRODUCTION To YOG
A
th
ese are translated.
1 Thencomest
h
e
enorm
ous
mass of literature called theT
an
g
-
as
.
The
s
ebooks have an evil significance inthe ord
inary
English ear,
but not quite rightly.
TheT
an
y
a
s
are very useful books ,
very valuable a
n
d
instructive;
all occult science is t
o
be foundin
them.
But they are divisible into three classes:those that deal with white
m
agic,
thos
e tha
t
deal with black magic,
and those that deal with
what we may call greym
agic,
a mixture of the
two. Now magic is the word which covers
the methods of deliberately bringing abouts
uper-normal physical states,
by the action of
the will.
A high tension o f the nerves,
brought on by
anxiety or disease,
leads to o rdinary hysteria
,
emotional and foolish . A Similarly high tension,
brought ab out by the will ,
renders am
a
n
s
ensitiv
et
o
super-physical vibrations.
Going to
sleeph
a
s
no significance,
but going intoSamadhiis
a priceless power.
The process i s lar
gely the
s
ame,
b ut o ne i s d u e t o ordinary conditions,
the other to.
the actionof thetrained will.
The
1
D
r
. O
tt
o
S
c
hr
a
der,
Director o f the Ad
yarL ibra
ry,
isnow
en
g
a
g
ed
o
n t
hes
e,
a
n
d
i
s busy with t he
labor
iou
sta
sko
f
c
ons
t
ru
c
t
in
g
a
c
rit
ic
a
lt ext,
to be follo
wed by a
c
o
mp
lete
translation, copiously annotated.
A
great boon will havebeen
besto
wed
on
a
l
l int
erested in Samskr
t litera
ture,
whent
his wo
r
k i
s
co
mp
leted.
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8 INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
body.
Knowing the one helps you to know the
other,
and the teacher who has been through itall can place his pupilo n the right path b
u
t
if
you take up these words,
which are all physical,
and do n ot know t
o
W
hat the physical word is
applied,
then you will only become very confus
ed,
and may injure yourselves.
For instance, ino
n
e
o
f the sutras it says that if you meditateon
a certain part of the tonguey
o
u will obtain
astral sight. That means that if youm editate
o
n the pituitary body,
just over this part of the
tongue, astral sigh t will be opened. The parti
onlar word u se d to refer to a c entre has a
correspondence in the physical body,
and the
word is often applied to the physical organs
when the other ism
eant.
This is what isC
alled
a blind ,
and it is intendedt o keep the people
away from dangerous practices in the books that
are published;
people may meditate o n that
parto
f their tongues all their livesw ithout any
thing coming o
f
it but if they think upon the
corresponding centre in the body,
a good deal- much harmmay comeo f it Meditate on
th e n av
el it is also said .
This means the
solar plexus,
f
o
r
there is a close co nnection
between th etw
o
.
Butt
o
meditate on that is toincur the danger
o
f a serious nervous disorder,
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THE NATU
RE OF YOGA 29
almost impossible to cure.
All who know how
many people in India suf
fer through thesepractices,
ill understood,
recognise that it is not
w ise
to plunge into them without some onet
o
tell you what they mean,
and what may be
safely practised and what not . The other part
of the Yoga l iterature is a small book calledT
h
e
S
fit
m
s o
f
P
a
t
afi
j
a
l
i
.
Thati s available,
but
I am afraidthat few are able tom
ake much of
it by themselves.
In the first place,
to elucidate
the S
fi
t
r
a
s
,
which are simply headings,
therei
s
a great deal o f commentary inS
a
m
s
k
r
t
, onlypar
t
ially translated. And even the oommen
taries have this peculiarity,
that all the most
difficult words are merely repeated,
notexplained,
so
that the student is not much enlightened.
SOME DE
FINITIONS
There are a few words,
constantly recurring,
which need brief de finitions,
inordert
o
avoid
confusion;
they are unfolding ,
evolution,
spirituality,
psychism,
yoga,
and mysticism.
Unfolding always refers to consciousness,
evolution to forms. Evolution,
according to
Herbert Spencer,
is the homogeneousbecoming
the heterogeneous,
the simple becoming complex.
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0
I
NTRODUCTIONTO
Y
OG
A
But there isno growth and nop
e
r
f
e
c
t
i
o
n
in
g
for
Spirit,
f
o
r
consciousness;
i t i s a l l t h ere andalways,
and all that can happen to iti sto
turn
i
tself outwards instead of remaining turned
inwards.
The God in y
o
u cannot evolve,
b ut H e may Show forth His powers through
matter that He has appropriated for the purpo
s
e,
and the matt
er evo
lves to serve Him.
He
Himself o nly manifests what He is.
And on
that,
many a s aying of the great Mystics may
comet
o
your mind: Become,
saysS.
Ambrose,
what you are
paradoxical phrase, butoneth
a
t s u m s u p a g r e at truth: become in outer
manifestation that which you are in inner
reality.
That is the object of the wholep
r
oc
es
s
o
f
Yoga .
Sp
irituality is the realisation of the One.
Psychism is the manifestation of intelligence
through any material vehicl e.1
Yoga is the seeking of union by thein
te
l
l
e
c
t
,
a science Mysticism is the seekin
g of
the same union by emotion.2
1
S
e
e
L
o
n
d
on
L
e
c
tu
r
es o
f
19
0
7
.
S
p
iritua
lit
y a
n
d
2
T
h
e
wo
rd yog
a
m
a
y
,
o
f
co
urse,
be rig
htlyus
edo
f
a
l
l
u
n
ion
wit
ht
h
e S
elf,
whatevert he road taken
I
a
m
u
sin
g
i
t here i n the narrower s ense , as peculiarly connectedw itht
h
e
i
nt
ellig
en
c
e,
as
a
science,
herein follow ing
P
a
t
a
fi
j
al
i.
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THE NATU RE OF YOGA 3 1
See the Mystic.
He fixesh
is mind o n th e
object o
f
devotion; he loses se
lf-
consciousn
ess
,
and pas
ses into a rapture o
f love and ador
a
ti
on,
leaving all external ideas
,
wrapped in the
object of his love,
and a great surge of emotion
sweeps him up toGod.
He doesnot know how
he h as reached that lofty state.
He is co nscious only of God andhi slov e for Him
.
Here
is the raptureo
f theMystic,
the triumpho
f
t
h
e
Saint.
The Yogi does not work like that.
Step
a
f
ter step, he realises what he i s doing. Heworks by science and not by emotion
,
s
o
that
any who do n ot carefor science,
finding it dull
and dry,
are not at pres
ent unfolding that part
of their nature which will find its best help i n
the practiceo f Yoga . The Yogi mayu se devotion as a means
.
This comeso ut
very plainly
in P at
a
fi
j
ali
.
He h as given many means
whereby Yoga may be followed,
and,
curi
o
u
s
l
y
devotion toI shvara is one o
f several
means.
There com
es out the spirit o f the scienti
fi
c
thinker. Devotiont
o
I
shvara is not forh
i
m
an end in itself,
but a means t
o
an endthe
concentratio n o f t h e mind.
You see
there at
once the difierence of spirit.
Devotion t o
I
shvara is the path of theMystic.
He atta
ins
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3
2 INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
communion by that . Devotion toI
shvara as a
m
eanso
f
concentrating the mind is the scientifi
cway i n which the Yogi regards devotion. N
o
n
umber of words would have brought out the
diff
erenceo f Spirit between Yoga andMysticism
as
well a
s
this.
The one looksu
pon devotion
toI
shvara as a way of reaching the Beloved;the other looks upon it as a means of reaching
c
oncentratio
n.
T
o
the Mystic,
God in Himself
is the Object of search,
delight in Him is the
r
eason f
o
r
approaching Him,
union with Him in
consciousness is his goal ; but t o the Yogi,fix
i
ng the attention onG od is merely ane
fi
e
c
ti
ve
w
a
y
of concentrating the mind.
In t h e o n e ,
devotion is used toObtain an end;
in the other,
God is seen as the end,
andi s rea
ched directly
by rapture.
GO
D
W
ITHOUT ANDG
OD
W
ITHIN
Now that leads us to th e next p o
int,
the
relation of God without toG od with
in.
To the
Yogi,
who is the very type of Hindu
thought,
there isno definite proof ofGod save thewitness
of theS
elf within to His existence,
and his idea
of fi
nding the proof o
f
Godi s
that you shoulds
trip away from your consciousnessallli m
i
tations
,
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THE NATURE
O
F
YOGA 33
and thus reach the stage where you have
pure consciousness
save a veil of the thi nnirvani c matter.
Then you kno
w that Go di s,
Soy
o
u
read in theU
p
a
n
ish
a
t
:
Whose only
pro
of i s the witnesso
f the Self.
This is very
difi
e
r
e
nt
from wester
n methods ofthought,
which
try to demonstrateG
o
d by a process of argument
.
The Hinduwill tell you that you cannotdemonstrate God by any argument or reasoning
Hei
s
above and beyond reasoning,
and although
the reason may guide you o n the way,
it will
not prove t o demonstration thatG od is. Theonly
w
a
y
you can knowH im is by diving into
yourself.
There you will findH im
,
and know
that H e i s w i thout as well as within you;
and
Yoga is a system that enables you to get rid of
everything from consciousness that is not God,save that one veil of the nirvanic atom
,
and so
t
o
know that God is ,
with an unshakable
certainty of conviction.
To the Hind u
that
inner conviction i s the only thing worthy to be
calle
d Fai th,
and this gives you the reason why
faith is said to be beyond reason,
ands o is often
confused with credulity.
Faithi s beyond reason,
because it isthe testimony of theSelfto himself,
that conviction of existence as Self,
of which
reas
onis onlyone
of the outer manifestations,
and3
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3
4
INTRODUCTION To YOGA
the only true faith is that inner conviction,
which
no argument can either strengthen or weaken
,
of the innermost Self o fy
o
u
,
that of which alone
you are e
n
t
i
r
e
l
v
sure. It is the aim of Yoga to
enable you to reach that Self constantly,
not by
a sudden glimpse o f intuition,
)
but steadily,
unshakably, and unchangeably, and when thatSelf is reached
,
then thequestion IS
there a
G
o
d
i
can never again come into the human
mind.
CHANGES OFC ONSCIOUSNESS AND VIBRATIONSO
F MATTER
Now it is necessary to understand something
about that consciousnessw
hich is your Self,
and
about the matter which is the envelope of cons
c
i
o
u
s
n
e
s
s
,
b
u
t
which the Self soOften identifies
with himself.
The great characteristic of con
s
c
i
o
us
n
e
s
s
is change,
with a foundation of cer
ta
inty that itis.
The consciousnesso f existenc
e
never changes,
but beyond this a ll is change,
a
n
d
only by the changes does consciousness
become Self-consciousness. Consciousnessis
an
ever-changing thing,
circling round one idea
that never changes
Self-
existence.
Thec
o
n
s
c
iou
s
n
e
ss
itself is not changedby any change
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36
INTRODUCTION T o YOGA
to a change in c onsciousness .
There is n
o
change in consciousness,
howev
e
r
su
b
t
l
e
,
thathas not appropr
iated to it a vibration in matter
there i
s
no vibration,
in matter,
however swift
o
r
delicate,
which has not correlate d t o i t a
c
ertain change in consciousness. That is
the
first great work of the LOGOS, which the Hindusc
rI
p
t
ur
e
s
trace out in the building of the atom,
the T
a
n
ma
t
ra
,
the measure of That,
the
measure of consciousness. He whoi s conscious
nes
s im
poses on His material the answer to
every change in consciousness, and that is aninfinite number of vibrations. So that between
the Self and i ts sheaths there is this invariable
relation:
the change in consciousness and
the
V
ibration of matter,
andvice versa. That makes
it possible for the Self to know theNot-self .
These correspondences are utilised
inR
aj a
Yoga and Hatha Yoga,
theK ingly Yogaand
the Yoga ofR
esolve. TheR aj a Yoga seekst
o
control
the changes i n consciousness,
and by
this control to rule the material vehicles.
The
Hatha Yoga seeks to control t he vibrations
of matter,
and by th is c o ntrol to evoke the
desired changes in consc
iousness. The weak
point in Hatha Yoga is that actiono
n
this
linec
annot reach beyond t h e astralplane,
and the
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THE NATURE OF YOGA 3 7
great strainimposed on the comparatively intract
able matter of the physi
cal plane s
ometimesleads to atrophyo f
the very organs,
the activity
of which is necessary for e
fi
e
c
t
i
n
g
the changes
in consciousness thatwould be useful.
The Hatha
Yogi gains control over the bodily organs with
which the waking cons ciousness no longer concerns itself
,
having relinquished them to its
lower part,
the su
b
-consc
iousness This i s
often usefulas
regards the prevention of disease,
but serves no higher purpose.
When he begins
t
o work on the brain centres, connected withordinary consciousness
,
and s till more when he
touchesthose connected with the super-conscious
ness,
he enters a dangerous region,
and is more
likely to paralyse thant
o
evolve.
That relation alone it is which makes mattercognisable the change inthe thinker is answered
by a change outs
ide,
and his answer to it,
and
the change in i t that he makes by his answer,
re-arrange againth e m atter o
f the body which
is h is envelope.
Hence the rhythmic changes
in matter are rightly called it
s cognisability.
Matte
r may be known by consciousness,
because
of this unchanging relation between the two
sides of the m
anifested LOGOS who is o ne,and the Se
lf bec
omes aware of changes
within.
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8 INTRODUCTION To YOGA
Himself,
and thus oft
h
o
S
e o
f the external worlds
to which those changes are related.
What ism
ind
From the yogics
t
a
n
d
p
o
m
t
it is
simply the individualised consciousness, thewhole
of it,
the whole of your consciousness including
your activitieswhich the western psychologist
puts outside mind.
Only on the basis of eastern
psychology is Yoga possible .
How shallw e
describe this individualised consciousness Firstit is aware of things
.
Becoming awareo
f them,
it desires them.
D
esiring them,
it triest o attain
them . So we have the three aspects of co n
s
o
l
o
u
s
n
es
s
intelligence,
desire,
activity.
Ont he
physical plane, activityp
redominates,
althoughdesire and thought are present
.
On the astral
plane,
desire predominates,
and thought and
activity are subject to
desire.
On the mental
plane,
intelligence is
the dominant note,
desire
and activ
ity are subj ect to it.
Go to the buddhic
plane,
and cognition,
as
pure reason,
p
r
e
d
o
m
in
ates,
a
nd
s
o
on.
Each qualityi s present all the
time,
but one predominates.
So with the matter
that belongs to them.
In
your combination
s
ofm
atter you get rhythmic,
active,
or stable
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THE NATURE
OF YO
GA 3 9
ones
;
and accordi
n g t o t h e c o mbinations of
matter in your bodies will be the condi
tions ofthe activity of the whole of these in conscious
ness.
To practise Yoga you must build your
bodi
es of the rhythmic combinations,
with
activity and inertia less apparent.
The Yogi
wantst o make his body match his mind.
STAGES o
r
M
IND
The mindh as five stages,
P
a
t
a
fi
j
al
i tells us,
andV
y
a
s
a comments that these stages of mindare on every plane The first stage is the
stage in which the mind is flung about,
the
K
s
h
i
p
t
a
stage;
i t i s t h e b u tterfly mind,
t
h
e
early stage of humanity,
or,
in man,
the mind of
the child, darting constantly from one objectt o
another.
I
t
corresponds to ac
tivity on t he
physical plane.
The next is the confused stage,
M
fi
d
ha
,
equivalent to the stage of the youth,
swayed by emotions,
bewildered by them;
he
begins to feel he is ignorant
a
state beyond
thefickle
n
ess
of the childa
characteristic
state,
corresponding to activity in t h e ast r al
world. Then com
es the state of preoccupation,
or infatuation,
V
i
k
s
h
i
p
t
a
,
the state
of the man
possessed by an idea
love,
ambition,
or wh
at
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40 INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
not.
He is no longer a confused youth,
but a
man with a clear aim, a n d an idea pos
sesse
shim . It may be either the fixed idea of the
madman,
or the fixed idea which makes the
heroo r the saint;
buti n
any case h e is possesse
d
by the idea.
Theq
ualityo
f
the idea,
its
trutho
r falsehood, makes the difference between themaniac and
t
h
e
martyr.
Maniac or martyr,
he is under the spell of a
fixed idea. N
o
reasoninga
vails ag
ainst it . If
he has assured himself that he 1
8
made of glass,
no amount o f argument will convince him to thecontrary
.
He will always regard himself as
being a s b r i ttle a
s
glass.
That is a fixed idea
which is false.
But there is a fixed idea which
makes the hero and the martyr.
For some great
truth dearer than l ife is everything thrownaside. He is possessed by it
,
dominate
d by it,
and he goest
o
death gladly f
or
it.
That state
i
s said to be approaching Yoga,
fo
r such a man
is becoming concentrat
ed,
even if only po ssessed
byo
n
e
idea.
This stage corresponds
to activity
on the lower mental plane.
Where them an
possesses the idea,
instead o f being possessed
by it,
that on
e
-pointed state of th e mind ,
called E
k
a
g
r
a
t
a
in S
a
m
s
k
r
t
, is the fourths
tag
e.
He is a matureman
ready for the true
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THE NATURE or YOGA 4 1
life.
When the man has gone through life domin
ated
byo n
e
idea, then hei
s
approachin
g Yogahe is getting rido f the gripo
f thew orld,
and is
b
eyond its allurements.
But when he possesses
that which before possessedh
im
,
then he hasb e
comefit for Yoga,
and begins thetraining which
makes his progress rapid.
Th is s tage corres
p
o
n
d
s to a
ctivity o
n
the higher mental plane.
O
u
t of this fourth stage,
or
E
k
a
g
ra
t
a
,
arises
the fifth s tage,
Nirud
d
ha
o
r
Self- controlled.
When the mannot
only possesses one idea,
but,
rising above all ideas, chooses ash e wills, takesor doe
s
not take accordingtothe illumined Will,
then he is Sel
f-controlled,
and can effectively
practise Yoga.
This stage corresponds to
activity o n the buddhic plane.
In the third stage, Vikship
t
a
,
where he is possessed by the idea
,
he is learning viveka,
o
r dis
crimination be
tween the outer and the inner,
the
real and the unreal.
When he has learnedthe
lesson of viveka,
then he advances a stage for
ward and inE
k
a
g
ra
t
a
he chooseso
n
e
idea,
the
inner life and as he fixes his mindo
n
that idea
he learns v airag
y
a
,
or dispassion.
He rises
above the desire top
ossess objects of enjoyment,
belon
ging either t
o
this or any other world.
Th en he a dvances towards the fifth sta
ge,
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2
INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
S
elf-c
ontrolled. Inorder to reach that he must
pr
actiset
h
e
six endowments
, theS
hat
s
a
m
p
a
tt
i
.
These six endowments have to do with the Will
aspect o f consc
iousness,
as the other two,
viveka
andvairag
y
a
,
have to do with theC
ognitionand
Activity aspectso f
it.
By a study of your o wnm
ind, you canfind
out how far you are ready tobeginthe definite
practiceo f Yoga.
Examine your mind inorder
to recognise these stages in yourselves.
If
y
o
u
are in either of the two early stages,
you arenot
ready for Yoga. The child andthe youth arenot ready to become Yogis
,
nor is the pre
occupied man.
But if you find yourself pos
sessed by a single thought,
you are nearly
ready for Yoga it leads to the next stage of
one-p
ointedness,
where you can choose your idea
,
and cling to it of your own will.
Shorti s
the step from that to the complete control,
which
can inhibit all motions of the mind.
Having
reached that stage,
it is comparatively easyt
o
pass
into Samadhi.
INW
ARD AN
D
O
UTW
ARD T URNEDC
ONSCIOUSNESS
Sama
dhi is of two kinds :
one turne
d outward,
one turned inward.
The outward-turned
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44 INTRODUCTION T
O
YOGA
into a sheath not yet recognis
ed as a sheath.
I
t
i
s
then for a.
while conscious only of itself andnot o f the ou
ter world.
Then comesth e clo u
d,
the dawning sense again o f
an outer,
ad
i
m
sensing of some thing o ther than itself;
that
againis followed bythe functioning of the higher
Sheath and the recognition of the objectsof thenext higher pla
n
e,
corresponding to that sheath.
H enc e the comple te cycle is S
a
m
p
r
a
j
fi
a
t
a
Sam adhi,
A
s
am
p
ra
j
fia
ta
Samadhi,
Megha
cloud)
,
and then the S
am
p
r
a
j
fia
t
a
Sama
dhi of the next
plane, and soon.
TH
E
C
LOUD
This termin full,
D
harma-Megha,
cloud of
righteousness,
or o
f
religion
is o
ne
which is
very scantily explained by the commentators.
In fa
ct,
the only explanation they give is that
all th e m ans past karma o f good gathers over
him, and pours down uponhim
a raino
f
blessing.
Let us see if we cannot find someth ing
more than this meagre interpretation.
The term cloud is very often used in the
mystic literatureo f the West the Clou d on the
Mount,
the Cloud on the Sanctuary,
theCloud on the
M
ercy-Seat,
are expressions
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THE NATUREO
F YOGA 4 5
familiar to the student . And the experience
which they indicate is famili
arto allMystics ini
ts
lower phases,
an dt o some init
s
fulness.
In
its lower phases,
it is the experience just noted,
where the wi thdrawal of the consciousness
into a sheath n o t y e t recogniseda s a sheath is
followed by the beginning of the functioning ofthat sheath
,
the first indication of which is the
dim sensing of an outer. You feelas
though
surrounded by a dense mist,
conscious that you
are not alone,
but unable to see. Be still;
be
patient ; wait . Let your consciousness be in theattitude of suspense. Presently the cloud will
thin,
an dfirstin glimpses,
then in its full beauty,
the vision of a higher plane will dawno n
your
entranced sight . This entrance into a higher
plane will repeat itself again and again, until,your
c
onsciousness centredo n the buddhic plane,
and i ts splendours having disappeared as your
consciousness withdraws evenfromthat exquisite
sheath,
you find yourselfi n the true cloud,
the
cloud on the sanctuary,
the cloud that veils the
Holiest,
that hides the vision of the Self.
Then
comes what seems to be the draining away of the
very life,
th e l e tting go of the last hold on the
tangible,
thehang
i
n
g
i
n a void,
the horror of great
darkness,
loneliness unspeakable.
E
ndure,
endure.
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INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
Every thing must go.
Nothingo
u
t
of the Eter
nal can helpyo
u
.
God only shines out in th
e
s
t
i
ll
n
e
ss
y
a
s says the Hebrew:
Be still,
and
know that I am God. In that silence aV
oice
shall be heard,
the voiceo f th e Self.
In that
stillness a Life shall be felt,
the lifeo
f th e Self.
In that void a F ulness shall be revealed, thefulness
o
f the Self.
In th at darkness a Light
Shall be seen,
the glory of the Self.
The cloud
shall vanish,
and the Shining of the Self shall
be made manifest.
That which was a glimps
e
o
f a far-off majesty shall become a perpetualrealisation
,
an d,
k
n
owI
n
g
theSelf and your unity
with it,
you Shall enter into th e Peace that
be
longs to theSelf alone.
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L ECTU
R
E
I
I
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
B
ROTHERS
In studying psychology,
any one who is
acquainted with theS
a
m
s
k
r
t
tongue must know
h
o
w
valuable that lan g
uage is for precise and
scientific dealing with the subject.
The Sams
k
rt
,
o
r
the well -made,
the constructed,
the
built together,
tongue,
is one that lends itself
better than . any other to the elucidation o f
psychological difficulties. Over and over again,
by the mere form of a word, a hint is given, an explanation or relation is suggested
.
The language
is constructed in a fashion which enables a large
number of meanings to be connoted by a single
word,
sothat you may trace all allied idea
s,
o
r
truths, or facts,
by this verbal connection,
whenyou are speaking or using
S
a
m
s
k
r
t
. It has a
limite
dnumber of important roots,
and then an
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48
INTRODUCTION To
YOGA
immense number o
f words constructed on those
roots.
N
ow
therooto
f the word yoga is a word that
means,
t
o
join y
u
j
,
and that root appears
in many languages,
such as the Englisho
f
course,
through the Latin,
wherein you get
j
u
g
a
r
e
,
j
a
n
g
e
r
o
,
t
o join
and o ut of that anumber ofEnglish words are derived
,
and will at
once suggest themselves to you j unction,
con
junction,
disjunction,
and s o on.
The English
word yoke,
again,
i
s derived from this same
S
a
m
s
k
r
t
root, sothat all through thevariouswords,o
r thoughts,
or facts,
connected with this one root,
you are ablet
o
gather the meaning of the word
Yoga,
and to see how much thatwor
d coversi n
the ordinary processes of the mind,
and how Sug
g
e
s
t
i
ve many of the words connected with it are,acting
,
so to speak,
as signposts to direct you
along the road tothe meaning. In other tongues,
a
s
in French,
we have a word likera
p
p
o
rt
,
u
s
ed
constantly in English being on ra
p
p
or
t
a
French expression,
but so anglicised that itis
continua
lly heard amongst ourselve
s.
And that
te
rm,
in some ways,
is the closest to the meaning
of theS
a
m
s
k
rt word Yoga to be I n relation
to to be connected with to enter into
to merge
in andso on: all these ideas are
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SCHOOLS o
r THOUGHT 4 9
classified
together under the one head ofYoga.
When you fi
nd Shri
K
r
s
h
n
a
saying that Yogais equilibrium,
in the S
a
m
s
k
rt
He is saying a
perfectly obvious th ing,
becauseYoga implies
balance,
yoking,
and theS
am
s
kr
t
of equilibrium
isS
a
m
a
g
v
a
,
togetherness so that it is a pe
rfectly
simple, straightforward statement, not connotinganything very deep
,
but merely expressing one
o
f
the fundamental meanings of the word
He is using.
And so with another word,
a word
used in the commentary on the sutra I quoted
last week, which conveys to the Hindua perfectlystraightforward meaning: Yoga is Samadhi
.
To an only English-knowing person that does
not convey any very definite idea eachword
needs explanation. To aS amskr
t
-knowing man
the two words are obviously related to one another.F
o
r the wordYoga,
we have seen,
means yoked
together,
and Samadhi isderived from the root
d
h
a to place,
with the prepositionssam
and6
,
meaning completely together S
amadhi,
there
fore,
literally means fully placing together,
andits etymologi
c
al equivalent inEnglish would beto compose
com
=
s
a
m
;
p
o
sit
a
=
p
l
a
ce
)
.
Samadhi
therefore means compo
sing the mind,
collecting
it together,
checking all distractions.
Thus by
philological,
as wella
s
by practical,
investigation
4
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50
INTRODUCTION TO7 YOG
A
t
h
e
t
w
o
wordsYoga andS amadhiareinsepara
bly
link
ed together.
And whenV
y
a
s
a
,
the comment.
a
tor
,
says Yoga 1 8 the composed mind,
hei
s
conve
ying a clear and significant ideaas
to
wha
t
is impliedinYoga.
AlthoughS amadhi has come
t
o
mean,
by a natu ral se quence o f idea
s,
the
trance-
state which results from perfect composure,its original meaning shouldn ot be lost sight
o
f
.
Thus,
in explaining Yoga,
o
n
e isOfte