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Table of Contents NOTE FROM THE EDITOR ...... 3 INTRODUCTION ...... 4 AN OVERVIEW OF THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE ...... 5 THE FIRST STEPS ...... 9 LIBERATION CAN BE ATTAINED BY ALL ...... 10 HELPING OTHERS ...... 12 YOGIC INQUIRY: “WHO AM I?” ...... 13 THE NATURE OF THE MIND ...... 14 YAMA ...... 15 NIYAMA ...... 18 ASANA – POSTURE ...... 20 PRANA ...... 21 UNDERSTANDING PRANAYAMA ...... 22 INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE & PROOF OF HIGHER REALMS & WHY BREATH CONTROL WORKS ...... 28 HOW TO PERFORM PRANAYAMA ...... 34 THE CONTROL OF PSYCHIC PRANA ...... 35 PREPARING TO MEDITATE ...... 37 RAJA YOGA: A CONCLUSION ...... 40

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NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

It has been a great honor to work directly with the writings of these spiritual figures and put together this exposition on the path of jnana yoga which focuses on clear thinking, wisdom, meditation and intuition.

Yoga is an individual pursuit. Yoga means union, to yoke with, to connect and reconnect. Yoga is the process, the daily effort, to consciously return to our innate feeling of wholeness, or connectedness with existence. It is a human pursuit and deeper than any belief system. It is the common quest for peace of mind and heart which ultimately underlies all activity.

Each of us has a unique journey to undertake because each of us has unique experiences and circumstances, both inwardly and outwardly. At the same time the basic principles of yoga can be codified for we all have emotions, thoughts and intuition, the structure of which is common to all human beings. Just as we all have the basic same digestive tract with our unique food choices, so too our commonly structured minds and hearts are filled with unique content.

This compliation is structured around the sage Patanjali’s codification of yoga which is thousands of years old. He equates the aspects of yoga to a tree with eight limbs. Raja Yoga written by Swami Vivekananda at the beginning of the 19th century was his commentary on Patanjali’s writings.

The writings I have drawn from reference a wide range of Indian texts. It is offered to the reader to explore these source materials and enjoy countless hours of spiritual reading.

This compilation was created for private use, for the purpose of non-profit education. Sale or reproduction of this work is prohibited under international copyright laws.

A bibliography of works is cited on the last page.

Sujantra McKeever April 2013 San Diego, CA

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INTRODUCTION

There are three major paths, or roads, of spirituality: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Jnana is the path of knowledge or wisdom. Within Jnana Yoga there is a special branch called Raja Yoga or the Royal Road, on which one runs the fastest. You can call it a shortcut. It deals with tremendous aspiration, eagerness and constant dedication. A mystic follows the path of Raja Yoga. A mystic is not someone who is vague, or who lives in the moon-world, even though, unfortunately, people identify a mystic as such. A mystic is a seeker who, with dynamic energy, wants to discover the Truth in the fastest way, through intuition-power. Using the third eye, he will see the Truth faster than anything, faster than a bullet. But if an individual wants to have that kind of weapon, then naturally he has to give up everything that is undivine in him. Everything that is divine, he will accept and try to cultivate in his life. A mystic is he who wants to see the Truth, as soon as possible, in the most illumining and fulfilling way. A mystic is not someone who spurns everything practical. But here in the West and in India also, people do not pay attention to the mystic. They simply say, "He is not practical. He cares only for God; he does not care for the world. He is only looking at the sun, looking at the moon, looking at the hills. He is not for this world." But a real mystic is he who wants to see the divine mystery in everything, in nature and in human beings. He wants to go to the essence, to the Source, faster than any human being dares to imagine. This is a real mystic. (Chinmoy)

− Sri Chinmoy

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AN OVERVIEW OF THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE

QUINTESSENCE OF INSTRUCTION (Upadesa Saram)

A number of Rishis were living with their wives in a forest Ashram practicing Karma Yoga (karma yoga – the yoga of action) in the form of rituals and sacrifices as laid down in the Vedas, convinced that in this way and this way alone could they attain Liberation. Lord Siva decided to give them a lesson and convince them of their error. He visited them in the form of a sadhu accompanied by Vishnu in the form of a beautiful maiden. All the Rishis fell for the maiden, while their wives became enamored of the Sadhu. This enraged the Rishis who, by their thaumaturgic powers, created an elephant and a tiger to attack and destroy Siva. Siva, however, easily slew both and taking the elephant’s skin as a robe, he wrapped the tiger’s skin about his shoulders. The Rishis then perceived that they had met with one infinitely more powerful than themselves. Falling at Siva’s feet, they asked him to give them the correct teaching, as they now realized that their powers were only superficial. Bhagavan was requested to write a poem giving Lord Siva’s instructions, which is as follows:

1. Karma must ever yield its proper fruit, For thus it is ordained by God, Himself, Supreme Creator. Then is Karma God? No, for it is itself insentient.

2. Of Karma the results must pass away, Yet leaves seeds which in their turn will sprout And throw the actor back into the floor Of Karma’s ocean. Karma cannot save.

3. But acts performed without attachment’s urge And solely for the service of the Lord Will cleanse the mind and indicate the way Which leads at length unto the final goal.

4. Worship, reciting of God’s Holy Name, And meditation, mainly are performed By body, voice and mind, and they excel Each other in the order here set down.

5. If we but recognize this Universe Of eightfold form as from of God, Himself, And serve in adoration all the world, This is of God most excellent worship.

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6. Constant repeating of the Holy Name Is more than praise, at length the voice will sink To silent repetition in the Heart, And in this way is meditation learnt.

7. Better than meditation that recurs In broken fits and starts is that which is A steady ceaseless flow, like to the course Of falling oil or a perennial stream.

8. Worship of God is in no way distinct From him who worships, or in other words Thinking that “He is I”, is better far Than any other kind of worshipping.

9. To rest in the Real Being, that transcends Our every thought, by reason of the strength Of our devotion to some thing conceived; This of supreme devotion is the truth.

10. To be absorbed again into one’s Source It Karma, Bhakti, Yoga, Jnana, all These things in truth. Or put in other words Good works, Devotion, Union, Gnosis, too.

11. As by the fowler birds are caught in nets So by the holding of the breath within The mind can be restrained. This a device That will effect absorption of the mind.

12. For mind and life expressed in thought and act, That is with thought and action as their function, Diverge and branch like two boughs of tree, But both of them spring from one single stem.

13. Suppression of the mind in two ways comes, Absorption and extinction; mind absorbed Will live again, but mind which is destroyed Will never more revive, for it is dead.

14. When, by the means of restraint of the breath, The mind has been controlled, then make it flow Along a single current, that achieved Its form will then entirely disappear.

15. For the Great Sage for whom all form of mind Has disappeared and who is ever one With the Reality, there is no Karma more. For He, indeed, the True Self has become. 6

16. When mind has given the sense-objects up Which are external and has drawn within, And has perceived its own refulgent form, Then verily along True Gnosis is.

17. When pondering with constant vigilance Upon the actual nature of the mind One finds that there is no such thing as mind; This, of a truth, is the straight course for all.

18. The mind is nothing but a lot of thought, If all these many thoughts ‘tis the thought ‘I’ That is the root. So we can see by that The mind in truth is only the thought ‘I’.

19. Whence, therefore, does this ‘I-thought’ have its birth? With vigilant and ever active mind Seek this, and crestfallen the ‘I’ becomes. The search itself, the quest of Wisdom is.

20. This search pursued till ‘I’ has disappeared There now vibrates the ‘I-I’ all alone, The quest is finished, there’s no more to seek, For this is really the Infinite Self.

21. This is eternally the true import Of the term ‘I’. For in the deepest sleep We do not cease to be. We still exist Even though here there is no sense of ‘I’.

22. As I am pure Existence, I am not The body nor the senses, mind nor life, Nor even ignorance, for all these things Are quite insentient and so unreal.

23. As there is not a second consciousness To know Existence, it must follow that Existence is itself that consciousness; So I myself am that same consciousness.

24. In their real nature as Existence both Creatures and the Creator are the same, The Unique Principle. In attributes And knowledge only is a difference found.

25. Realization of the Self alone, Eliminating all its attributes; Is God-Realization of a truth, 7

As it is He that shines forth as the Self.

26. To be the Self that is to know the Self, As there is no duality in Self. This is Thanmaya-Nistha, or the state Of absolutely being That in truth.

- Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi (Maharshi)

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THE FIRST STEPS

Raja Yoga is divided into eight steps. The first is Yama, ethical observances, such as: non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving of any gifts. Next is Niyama, personal observances, including: cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study, and self-surrender to God. Then comes Asana, or posture; Pranayama, or control of Prana; Pratyahara, or restraint of the senses from their objects; Dharana, or fixing the mind on a spot; Dyana, meditation; and Samadhi, or superconsciousness. The Yama and Niyama, as we see, are moral trainings; without these as the basis, no practice of Yoga will succeed. As these two become established, the Yogi will begin to realize the fruits of his practice; without these it will never bear fruit. A Yogi must not think of injuring anyone, by thought, word, or deed. Mercy shall not be for men alone, but shall go beyond, and embrace the whole world.

“Give up all desire for enjoyment in earth or heaven. Control the organs of the senses and control the mind. Bear every misery without even knowing that you are miserable. Think of nothing but liberation. Have faith in Guru, in his teachings, and in the surety that you can get free. Say 'soham, soham' whatever comes. Tell yourself this even in eating, walking, suffering; tell the mind this incessantly, - that what we see never existed, - that there is only 'I'. Flash, - the dream will break!”

− Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

“God and the Guru will only show the way to release; they will not by themselves take the soul to the state of release.”

− Ramana Maharshi (Maharshi)

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LIBERATION CAN BE ATTAINED BY ALL

“A devotee who can call on God while living a householder's life is a hero indeed. God thinks: 'He who has renounced the world for My sake will surely pray to Me; he must serve Me. Is there anything very remarkable about it? People will cry shame on him if he fails to do so. But he is blessed indeed who prays to Me in the midst of his worldly duties. He is trying to find Me, overcoming a great obstacle – pushing away, as it were, a huge block of stone weighing a ton. Such a man is a real hero.' “Live in the world like an ant. The world contains a mixture of truth and untruth, sugar and sand. Be an ant and take the sugar. “Again, the world is a mixture of milk and water, the bliss of God-Consciousness and the pleasure of sense enjoyment. Be a swan and drink the milk, leaving the water aside. “Live in the world like a waterfowl. The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off. Live in the world like a mudfish. The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny. “The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.”

− Sri Ramakrishna (Teacher of Swami Vivekananda) (Ramakrishna)

YUDISHTHIRA AND BHEESHMA DISCUSS THE PATH TO SAMADHI

In the great Hindu epic, The Mahabharata, two warriors fight alongside one another in a war, Yudishthira and Bheeshma. Bheeshma was an archer and warrior of unparalleled talent and courage and Yudishthira eventually became king of his people, the Pandavas. Upon Bheeshma’s death, he conversed with Yudisthira about liberation and non-attachment. An excerpt is below:

Yudishthira: “What are the attributes that are necessary for a man if he wants to be free from attachment and attain emancipation?”

Bheeshma: “The man fit for emancipation has passed far beyond the ken of the world of the senses. Hunger and thirst do not bother him nor is he affected by other states of the physical body. His mind is untrammeled by wrath, cupidity and error. Folly never makes him forget himself. To such a man, a hovel build of bamboo and reeds is the same as the palace of a king. Pleasure and pain do not touch him since he is fully conscious of their birth in delusion. To him, the world is just the consequence of the five primal elements combining all together. This truth is always present in his mind when he looks on the world. Pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, are equal in his eyes. Fear is not in him nor is there place for anxiety in his heart. He knows fully well that king after king possessed of great power and greater glory abode in this world for a while and then have departed. All things of this earth are transitory: that is the first truth he has realized. Experience of the world and true knowledge have waked in him the truth about the world, and he views everything as unsubstantial. Equipped as he is with so much wisdom, a man attains emancipation where he is: whether in domestic life or in the forest.”

Yudishthira: “Your statement intrigues me. Without abandoning domesticity, without adopting life in the forest, how can man attain emancipation?” 10

Bheeshma: “A king need not give up his kingdom at all for attaining emancipation. You should be free of all attachment. If you are unmoved by companionship of any kind, if you can fix your thoughts on the Eternal Brahman, you can be emancipated. Renunciation is the key-note for this path. It is the highest means. Renunciation follows where knowledge guides the mind. Knowledge leads the mind towards yoga and through yoga man attains to the Brahmic state. A man leading domestic life can certainly attain emancipation if he can claim to have acquired Yama and Niyama equal to a Sannyasin.”

− The Mahabharata (Buck)

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HELPING OTHERS

Q: Why does not Bhagavan go about and preach the Truth to the people at large? Ramana Maharshi: How do you know I am not doing it? Does preaching consist in mounting a platform and haranguing the people around? Preaching is simple communication of knowledge; it can really be done in silence only. What do you think of a man who listens to a sermon for an hour and goes away without having been impressed by it so as to change his life? Compare him with another, who sits in a holy presence and goes away after sometime with his outlook on life totally changed. Which is the better, to preach loudly without effect or to sit silently sending out inner force? Again, how does speech arise? There is abstract knowledge, whence arises the ego, which in turn gives rise to thought, and thought to the spoken word. So the word is the great-grandson of the original source. If the word can produce effect, judge for yourself, how much more powerful must be the preaching through silence! But people do not understand this simple, bare truth, the truth of their everyday, ever-present, eternal experience. This truth is that of the Self. Is there anyone unaware of the Self? But they do not like even to hear of this truth, whereas they are eager to know what lies beyond, about heaven, hell and reincarnation. Q: Does my Realization help others? Ramana Maharshi: Yes, and it is the best help that you can possibly render to others. Those who have discovered great truths have done so in the still depths of the Self. But really there are no `others' to be helped. For, the Realized Being sees only the Self, just as the goldsmith sees only the gold while valuing it in various jewels made of gold. When you identify yourself with the body, name and form are there. But when you transcend the body-consciousness, the `others' also disappear. The Realized one does not see the world as different from Himself.

Q: Would it not be better if the saints mix with others? Ramana Maharshi: There are no `others' to mix with. The Self is the only Reality.

Q: Should I not try to help the suffering world? Ramana Maharshi: The Power that created you has created the world as well. If it can take care of you, it can similarly take care of the world also … if God has created the world; it is His business to look after it, not yours. (Maharshi, Who Am I?)

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YOGIC INQUIRY: “WHO AM I?”

Question: What is the difference between inquiry and meditation?

Ramana Maharshi: Inquiry consists in retaining the mind in the Self. Meditation consists in thinking that one’s self is Brahman, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.

Question: What is the means for constantly holding on to the thought ‘Who am I?’

Ramana Maharshi: When other thoughts arise, one should not pursue them, but should inquire ‘To whom do they arise?’ It does not matter how many thoughts arise. As each thought arises, one should inquire with diligence, ‘To whom has this thought arisen?’. The answer that would emerge would be ‘To me’. Thereupon if one inquires ‘Who am I?’, the mind will go back to its source; and the thought that arose will become quiescent. With repeated practice in this manner, the mind will develop the skill to stay in its source. When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the sense- organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the Heart, the names and forms disappear. Not letting the mind go out, but retaining it in the Heart is what is called ‘inwardness’ (antarmukha). Letting the mind go out of the Heart is known as ‘externalization’ (bahirmukha). Thus, when the mind stays in the Heart, the ‘I’ which is the source of all thoughts will go, and the Self which ever exists will shine. Whatever one does, one should do without the egoity ‘I’. If one acts in that way, all will appear as of the nature of Siva (God).

- Ramana Maharshi (Maharshi, Who Am I?)

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THE NATURE OF THE MIND

Question: What is the nature of the mind?

Ramana Maharshi: What is called 'mind', is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Self does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines), the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue). What is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exits only in dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (jiva).

− Ramana Maharshi

Happiness is the very nature of the Self; happiness and the Self are not different. There is no happiness in any object of the world. We imagine through our ignorance that we derive happiness from objects. When the mind goes out, it experiences misery. In truth, when its desires are fulfilled, it returns to its own place and enjoys the happiness that is the Self. Similarly, in the states of sleep, samadhi, and fainting, and when the object desired is obtained or the object disliked is removed, the mind becomes inward-turned, and enjoys pure Self-Happiness. Thus the mind moves without rest, alternately going out of the Self and returning to it.

− Ramana Maharshi (Maharshi, Who Am I?)

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YAMA

The first limb of yoga is called Yama and it describes the ethical disciplines necessary for every yogi. These principles are for the morality of the collective and the individual. Non-injury, truthfulness, non-covetousness, chastity, not receiving anything from another are described under the heading of Yama.. These observances purify the mind, the Chitta. Never producing pain by thought, word, and deed, in any living being, is what is called Ahimsa, non-injury. There is no virtue higher than non-injury. There is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by this attitude of non- offensiveness, to all creation. By truth we attain fruits of 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 Asteya, 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. The idea is, when a man receives a gift from another, his heart becomes impure, he becomes low, he loses his independence, he becomes bound and attached.

- Swami Vivekananda

These, unbroken by time, place, purpose, and caste rules, are (universal) great vows. These practices – non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, chastity, and non-receiving – are to be practiced by every man, woman, and child; by every soul, irrespective of nation, country, or position.

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

WHAT IS BRAHMACHARYA AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Brahmacharya is a life of celibacy, religious study and self-restraint.

Question: Will the practice of brahmacharya which is followed in conformity with the (four) orders of life (asramas) be a means of knowledge?

As the various means of knowledge, such as control of senses, etc., are included in brahmacharya, the virtuous practices duly followed by those who belong to the order of students (brahmacharins), are very helpful for their improvement.

- Ramana Maharshi

A man who wants to be a perfect Yogi must give up the sex idea. The soul has no sex: why should it degrade itself with sex ideas? Later on we shall understand better why these ideas must be given up. The mind of the man who receives gifts is acted on by the mind of the giver, so the receiver is likely to become degenerated. Receiving gifts is prone to destroy the independence of the mind, and make us slavish. Therefore, receive no gifts. (Ramanasramam)

STUDENT DISCIPLINE: THE PURE AND IMPURE MIND

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Question: What are the marks of an earnest disciple (sadsisya)?

An intense longing for the removal of sorrow and attainment of joy and an intense aversion for all kinds of mundane pleasure.

- Ramana Maharshi (Maharshi, Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi)

To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to Yoga, contrary thoughts should be brought. That is the way to practice the virtues that have been stated. For instance, when a big wave of anger has come into the mind, how are we to control that? Just by raising an opposing wave. Think of love. Sometimes a mother is very angry with her husband, and while in that state, the baby comes in, and she kisses the baby; the old wave dies out and a new wave arises, love for the child. That suppresses the other one. Love is opposite to anger. Similarly, when the idea of stealing comes, non-stealing should be thought of; when the idea of receiving gifts comes, replace it by a contrary thought.

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

The obstructions to Yoga are killing, falsehood, etc., whether committed, caused, or approved; either through avarice, or anger, or ignorance; whether slight, middling, or great; and they result in infinite ignorance and misery. This is (the method of) thinking the contrary.

If I tell a lie, or cause another to tell one, or approve of another of doing so, it is equally sinful. If it is a very mild lie, still it is a lie. Every vicious thought will rebound, every thought of hatred which you may have thought, in a cave even, is stored up, and will one day come back to you with tremendous power in the form of some misery here. If you project hatred and jealousy, they will rebound on you with compound interest. No power can avert them; when once you have put them in motion, you will have to bear them. Remembering this will prevent you from doing wicked things.

Question: What is pure mind and what is impure mind?

When the indefinable power of Brahman separates itself from Brahman and, in union with the reflection of consciousness (chidabhasa) assumes various forms, it is called the impure mind. When it becomes free from the reflection of consciousness (abhasa), through discrimination, it is called the pure mind. Its state of union with the Brahman is its apprehension of the Brahman. The energy which is accompanied by the reflection of consciousness is called the impure mind and its state of separation from Brahman is its non-apprehension of Brahman.

- Ramana Maharshi (Ramanasramam)

AHIMSA

Non-killing being established, in his presence all enmities cease (in others).

If a man gets the ideal of non-injuring others, before him even animals which are by their nature ferocious will become peaceful. The tiger and the lamb will play together before that Yogi. When you have come to that state, then alone you will understand that you have become firmly established in non-injuring.

By the establishment of truthfulness, the Yogi gets the power of attaining, for himself and others, 16 the fruits of work without the works.

When this power of truth will be established within you, then even in a dream you will never tell an untruth. You will be true in thought, word, and deed. Whatever you say will be truth. You may say to a man, “Be blessed”, and that man will be blessed. If a man is diseased, and you say to him, “Be thou cured”, he will be cured immediately.

ASTEYA

By the establishment of non-stealing, all wealth comes to the Yogi.

The more you fly from nature, the more she follows you; and if you do not care for her at all, she becomes your slave.

By the establishment of continence, energy is gained.

The chaste brain has tremendous energy and gigantic will-power. Without chastity, there can be no spiritual strength. Continence gives wonderful control over mankind. The spiritual leaders of men have been very continent, and this is what gave them power. Therefore, the Yogi must be continent.

The same force which is working outside as electricity or magnetism, will become changed into inner force; the same force that is working as muscular energy will be changed into Ojas (ojas – energy of the nervous system transformed into a spiritual current). The Yogis say that, that part of the human energy which is expressed as sex energy, in sexual thought; when checked and controlled, easily becomes changed into Ojas, and as the Muladhara (muladhara – the root chakra at the base of the spine) guides these, the Yogi pays particular attention to that center. He tries to take up all this sexual energy and convert it to Ojas. It is only the chaste man or woman who can make the Ojas rise and store it in the brain; that is why chastity has always been considered the highest virtue. A man feels that if he is unchaste; spirituality goes away, he loses mental vigor and moral stamina. That is why in all the religious orders in the world which have been produced by spiritual giants; you will always find absolute 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 Yogis?

When he is fixed in non-receiving, he gets the memory of past life.

When a man does not receive presents, he does not become beholden to others, but remains independent and free. His mind becomes pure. With every gift, he is likely to receive the evils of the giver. If he does not receive, the mind is purified, and the first power it gets is memory of past life. Then alone the Yogi becomes perfectly fixed in his ideal. He sees that he has been coming and going many times, so he becomes determined that this time he will be free, that he will no more come and go and be the slave of Nature.

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

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NIYAMA

The following are helps to success in Yoga and are called Niyama or regular habits and observances; Tapas, austerity; Svadhyaya, study; Santosha, contentment; Shaucha, purity; Ishvarapranidhana, worshiping God. Fasting, or in other ways controlling the body, is called physical Tapas. Repeating the Vedas and other Mantras, by which the Sattva material in the body is purified, is called study, Svadhyaya. There are three sorts of repetitions of these Mantras. 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 loud is the verbal; the next one is where only the lips move, but no sound is heard. The inaudible repetition of the Mantra, accompanied with the thinking of its meaning, is called the “mental repetition”, and is the highest. The sages have said that there are two sorts of purification, external and internal. The purification of the body by water, earth, or other materials is the external purification, as 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 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 of God is by praise, by thought, by devotion.

Internal and external purification, contentment, mortification, study, and worship of God are the Niyamas. External purification is keeping the body pure; a dirty man will never be a Yogi. There must be internal purification also. That is obtained by the virtues named in I.33. Of course, internal purity is of greater value than external, but both are necessary, and external purity, without internal, is of no good.

Internal and external cleanliness being established, arises disgust for one’s own body, and non- intercourse with others.

When there is real purification of the body, external and internal, there arises neglect of the body, and the idea of keeping it nice vanishes. A face which others call most beautiful will appear to the Yogi as merely animal, if there is no intelligence behind it. What the world calls a very common face, he regards as heavenly, if the spirit shines behind it. This thirst after body is the great bane of human life. So, the first sign of the establishment of purity is that you do not care to think you are a body. It is only when purity comes that we get rid of the body idea.

There also arises purification of the Sattva, cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of the organs, and fitness for the realization of the Self.

By the practice of cleanliness, the Sattva material prevails and the mind becomes concentrated and cheerful. The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When a man is gloomy, that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion. A pleasurable feeling is the nature of the Sattva. Everything is pleasurable to the Sattvika man, and when this comes, know that you are progressing in Yoga. All pain is caused by Tamas, so you must get rid of that; moroseness is one of the results of Tamas. The strong, the well-knit, the young, the healthy, the daring alone are fit to be Yogis. To the Yogi everything is bliss; every human face that he sees brings cheerfulness to him. That is the sign of a virtuous man. Misery is caused by sin, and by no other cause. What business have you with clouded faces? It is terrible. If you have a clouded face, do not go out that day; shut yourself up in your room. What right have you to carry this disease out into the world? When your mind has become controlled, you have control over the whole body; instead of being a slave to this machine, the machine is your 18 slave. Instead of this machine being able to drag the soul down, it becomes its greatest helpmate.

From contentment comes superlative happiness.

The result of mortification is bringing powers to the organs and the body, by destroying the impurity.

The results of mortification are seen immediately, sometimes by heightened power of vision, hearing things at a distance, and so on.

By the repetition of the Mantra comes the realization of the intended deity.

The higher the beings that you want to get, the harder is the practice.

By sacrificing all to Ishvara (Ishvara – the individual’s conception of God), comes Samadhi.

By resignation to the Lord, Samadhi becomes perfect.

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

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ASANA – POSTURE

We have spoken about Yama and Niyama. The next is Asana (posture). A series of exercises, physical and mental, is to be gone through every day, until certain higher states are reached. Therefore it is quite necessary that we should find a posture in which we can remain long. That posture which is the easiest for one should be the one chosen. For thinking, a certain posture may be very easy for one man, while to another it may be very difficult. We will find later on that during the study of these psychological matters a good deal of activity goes on in the body. Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibrations will begin; the whole constitution will be remodeled as it were. But the main part of the activity will lie along the spinal column, so that the one thing necessary for the posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts — the chest, neck, and head — in a straight line. Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have an easy natural posture with the spine straight. You will easily see that you cannot think very high thoughts with the chest in.

By lessening the natural tendency (for restlessness) and meditating on the unlimited, posture becomes firm and pleasant.

We can make the seat firm by thinking of the infinite. We cannot think of the Absolute Infinite, but we can think of the infinite sky.

Seat being conquered, the dualities do not obstruct.

The dualities, good and bad, heat and cold, and all the pairs of opposites, will not then disturb you.

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

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PRANA

AN OVERVIEW

MIND is the principal agent of the lower or phenomenal consciousness; vital force or the life- breath, speech and the five senses of knowledge are the instruments of the mind. Prana, the life-force in the nervous system, is indeed the one main instrument of our mental consciousness; for it is that by which the mind receives the contacts of the physical world through the organs of knowledge, sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste, and reacts upon its object by speech and the other four organs of action; all these senses are dependent upon the nervous Life-force for their functioning. The Upanishad therefore begins by a query as to the final source or control of the activities of the Mind, Life-Force, Speech, Senses. The question is, kena, by whom or what? In the ancient conception of the universe our material existence is formed from the five elemental states of Matter, the ethereal, aerial, fiery, liquid and solid; everything that has to do with our material existence is called the elemental, adhibhuta. In this material there move non-material powers manifesting through the Mind-Force and Life-Force that work upon Matter, and these are called Gods or Devas; everything that has to do with the working of the non-material in us is called adhidaiva, that which pertains to the Gods. But above the non-material powers, containing them, greater than they is the Self or Spirit, atman, and everything that has to do with this highest existence in us is called the spiritual, adhyatma. For the purpose of the Upanishads the adhidaiva is the subtle in us; it is that which is represented by Mind and Life as opposed to gross Matter; for in Mind and Life we have the characteristic action of the Gods. The Upanishad is not concerned with the elemental, the adhibhuta; it is concerned with the relation between the subtle existence and the spiritual, the adhidaiva and adhyatma. But the Mind, the Life, the speech, the senses are governed by cosmic powers, by Gods, by Indra, Vayu, Agni. Are these subtle cosmic powers the beginning of existence, the true movers of mind and life, or is there some superior unifying force, one in itself behind them all? By whom or what is the mind missioned and sent on its errand so that it falls on its object like an arrow shot by a skilful archer at its predetermined mark, like a messenger, an envoy sent by his master to a fixed place for a fixed object? What is it within us or without us that sends forth the mind on its errand? What guides it to its object? Then there is the Life-force, the Prana, that works in our vital being and nervous system. The Upanishad speaks of it as the first or supreme Breath; elsewhere in the sacred writings it is spoken of as the chief Breath or the Breath of the mouth, mukhya, asanya; it is that which carries in it the Word, the creative expression. In the body of man there are said to be five workings of the life-force called the five Pranas. One specially termed Prana moves in the upper part of the body and is pre-eminently the breath of life, because it brings the universal Life-force into the physical system and gives it there to be distributed. A second in the lower part of the trunk, termed Apana, is the breath of death; for it gives away the vital force out of the body. A third, the Samana, regulates the interchange of these two forces at their meeting-place, equalizes them and is the most important agent in maintaining the equilibrium of the vital forces and their functions. A fourth, the Vyana, pervasive, distributes the vital energies throughout the body. A fifth, the Udana, moves upward from the body to the crown of the head and is a regular channel of communication between the physical life and the greater life of the spirit. None of these are the first or supreme Breath, although the Prana most nearly represents it; the 21

Breath to which so much importance is given in the Upanishads, is the pure life-force itself, — first, because all the others are secondary to it, born from it and only exist as its special functions. It is imaged in the Veda as the Horse; its various energies are the forces that draw the chariots of the Gods. The Vedic image is recalled by the choice of the terms employed in the Upanishad, yukta, yoked, praiti, goes forward, as a horse driven by the charioteer advances in its path. Who then has yoked this Life-force to the many workings of existence, or by what power superior to itself does it move forward in its paths? For it is not primal, self-existent or its own agent. We are conscious of a power behind which guides, drives, controls, uses it. The force of the vital breath enables us to bring up and speed outward from the body this speech that we use to express, to throw out into a world of action and new-creation the willings and thought- formations of the mind. It is propelled by Vayu, the life-breath; it is formed by Agni, the secret will- force and fiery shaping energy in the mind and body. But these are the agents. Who or what is the secret Power that is behind them, the master of the word that men speak, its real former and the origin of that which expresses itself? The ear hears the sound, the eye sees the form; but hearing and vision are particular operations of the life-force in us used by the mind in order to put itself into communication with the world in which the mental being dwells and to interpret it in the forms of sense. The life-force shapes them, the mind uses them, but something other than the life-force and the mind enables them to shape and to use their objects and their instruments. What God sets eye and ear to their workings? Not Surya, the God of light, not Ether and his regions; for these are only conditions of vision and hearing. The Gods combine, each bringing his contribution, the operations of the physical world that we observe as of the mental world that is our means of observation; but the whole universal action is one, not a sum of fortuitous atoms; it is one, arranged in its parts, combined in its multiple functionings by virtue of a single conscient existence which can never be constructed or put together (aorta) but is anterior to all these workings. The Gods work only by this Power anterior to themselves, live only by its life, think only by its thought act only for its purposes. We look into ourselves and all things and become aware of it there, an "I", an "Is", a Self, which is other, firmer, vaster than any separate or individual being. But since it is not anything that the mind can make its object or the senses throw into form for the mind, what then is it — or who? What absolute Spirit? What one, supreme and eternal Godhead? Ko devah. -Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo)

UNDERSTANDING PRANAYAMA Next we shall take one fact from physics. We all hear of electricity and various other forces connected with it. What electricity is no one knows, but so far as it is known, it is a sort of motion. There are various other motions in the universe; what is the difference between them and electricity? Suppose this table moves — that the molecules which compose this table are moving in different directions; if they are all made to move in the same direction, it will be through electricity. Electric motion makes the molecules of a body move in the same direction. If all the air molecules in a room are made to move in the same direction, it will make a gigantic battery of electricity of the room. Another point from physiology we must remember, that the center which regulates the respiratory system, the breathing system, has a sort of controlling action over the system of nerve currents. Now we shall see why breathing is practiced. In the first place, from rhythmical breathing 22 comes a tendency of all the molecules in the body to move in the same direction. When mind changes into will, the nerve currents change into a motion similar to electricity, because the nerves have been proved to show polarity under the action of electric currents. This shows that when the will is transformed into the nerve currents, it is changed into something like electricity. When all the motions of the body have become perfectly rhythmical, the body has, as it were, become a gigantic battery of will. This tremendous will is exactly what the Yogi wants. This is, therefore, a physiological explanation of the breathing exercise. It tends to bring a rhythmic action in the body, and helps us, through the respiratory center, to control the other centers. The aim of Pranayama here is to rouse the coiled-up power in the Muladhara, called the Kundalini. Everything that we see, or imagine, or dream, we have to perceive in space. This is the ordinary space, called the Mahakasha, or elemental space. When a Yogi reads the thoughts of other men, or perceives supersensuous objects he sees them in another sort of space called the Chittakasha, the mental space. When perception has become objectless, and the soul shines in its own nature, it is called the Chidakasha, or knowledge space. When the Kundalini is aroused, and enters the canal of the Sushumna, all the perceptions are in the mental space. When it has reached that end of the canal which opens out into the brain, the objectless perception is in the knowledge space. Taking the analogy of electricity, we find that man can send a current only along a wire*, but nature requires no wires to send her tremendous currents. This proves that the wire is not really necessary, but that only our inability to dispense with it compels us to use it. Similarly, all the sensations and motions of the body are being sent into the brain, and sent out of it, through these wires of nerve fibers. The columns of sensory and motor fibers in the spinal cord are the Ida and Pingala of the Yogis. They are the main channels through which the afferent and efferent currents travel. But why should not the mind send news without any wire, or react without any wire? We see this is done in nature. The Yogi says, if you can do that, you have got rid of the bondage of matter. How to do it? If you can make the current pass through the Sushumna, the canal in the middle of the spinal column, you have solved the problem. The mind has made this network of the nervous system, and has to break it, so that no wires will be required to work through. Then alone will all knowledge come to us — no more bondage of body; that is why it is so important that we should get control of that Sushumna. If we can send the mental current through the hollow canal without any nerve fibers to act as wires, the Yogi says, the problem is solved, and he also says it can be done. This Sushumna is in ordinary persons closed up at the lower extremity; no action comes through it. The Yogi proposes a practice by which it can be opened, and the nerve currents made to travel through. When a sensation is carried to a center, the center reacts. This reaction, in the case of automatic centers, is followed by motion; in the case of conscious centers it is followed first by perception, and secondly by motion. All perception is the reaction to action from outside. How, then, do perceptions in dreams arise? There is then no action from outside. The sensory motions, therefore, are coiled up somewhere. For instance, I see a city; the perception of that city is from the reaction to the sensations brought from outside objects comprising that city. That is to say, a certain motion in the brain molecules has been set up by the motion in the in-carrying nerves, which again are set in motion by external objects in the city. Now, even after a long time I can remember the city. This memory is exactly the same phenomenon, only it is in a milder form. But whence is the action that sets up even the milder form of similar vibrations in the brain? Not certainly from the primary sensations. Therefore it must be that the sensations are coiled up somewhere, and they, by their acting, bring out the mild reaction which we call dream perception. Now the center where all these residual sensations are, as it were, stored up, is called the Muladhara, the root receptacle, and the coiled-up energy of action is Kundalini, "the coiled up". It is very probable that the residual motor energy is also stored up in the same center, as, after deep study 23 or meditation on external objects, the part of the body where the Muladhara center is situated (probably the sacral plexus) gets heated. Now, if this coiled-up energy be roused and made active, and then consciously made to travel up the Sushumna canal, as it acts upon center after center, a tremendous reaction will set in. When a minute portion of energy travels along a nerve fiber and causes reaction from centers, the perception is either dream or imagination. But when by the power of long internal meditation the vast mass of energy stored up travels along the Sushumna, and strikes the centers, the reaction is tremendous, immensely superior to the reaction of dream or imagination, immensely more intense than the reaction of sense-perception. It is super-sensuous perception. And when it reaches the metropolis of all sensations, the brain, the whole brain, as it were, reacts, and the result is the full blaze of illumination, the perception of the Self. As this Kundalini force travels from center to center, layer after layer of the mind, as it were, opens up, and this universe is perceived by the Yogi in its fine, or causal form. Then alone the causes of this universe, both as sensation and reaction, are known as they are, and hence comes all knowledge. The causes being known, the knowledge of the effects is sure to follow. Thus the rousing of the Kundalini is the one and only way to attaining Divine Wisdom, superconscious perception, realization of the spirit. The rousing 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 was any manifestation of what is ordinarily called supernatural power or wisdom, there a little current of Kundalini must have found its way into the Sushumna. Only, in the vast majority of such cases, people had ignorantly stumbled on 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 response to his prayers does not know that the fulfillment comes from his own nature, that he has succeeded by the mental attitude of prayer in waking up a bit of this infinite power which is coiled up within himself. What, thus, men ignorantly worship under various names, through fear and tribulation, the Yogi declares to the world to be the real power coiled up in every being, the mother of eternal happiness, if we but know how to approach her. And Raja-Yoga is the science of religion, the rationale of all worship, all prayers, forms, ceremonies, and miracles. Notes * The reader should remember that this was spoken before the discovery of wireless telegraphy. — Ed.

Pranayama is not, as many think, something about breath; breath indeed has very little to do with it, if anything. Breathing is only one of the many exercises through which we get to the real Pranayama. Pranayama means the control of Prana. According to the philosophers of India, the whole universe is composed of two materials, one of which they call Akasha. It is the omnipresent, all- penetrating existence. Everything that has form, everything that is the result of combination, is evolved out of this Akasha. It is the Akasha that becomes the air, that becomes the liquids, that becomes the solids; it is the Akasha that becomes the sun, the earth, the moon, the stars, the comets; it is the Akasha that becomes the human body, the animal body, the plants, every form that we see, everything that can be sensed, everything that exists. It cannot be perceived; it is so subtle that it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen when it has become gross, has taken form. At the beginning of creation there is only this Akasha. At the end of the cycle the solids, the liquids, and the gases all melt into the Akasha again, and the next creation similarly proceeds out of this Akasha. By what power is this Akasha manufactured into this universe? By the power of Prana. Just as Akasha is the infinite, omnipresent material of this universe, so is this Prana the infinite, omnipresent manifesting power of this universe. At the beginning and at the end of a cycle everything becomes Akasha, and all the forces that are in the universe resolve back into the Prana; in the next cycle, out of

24 this Prana is evolved everything that we call energy, everything that we call force. It is the Prana that is manifesting as motion; it is the Prana that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. It is the Prana that is manifesting as the actions of the body, as the nerve currents, as thought force. From thought down to the lowest force, everything is but the manifestation of Prana. The sum total of all forces in the universe, mental or physical, when resolved back to their original state, is called Prana. "When there was neither aught nor naught, when darkness was covering darkness, what existed then? That Akasha existed without motion." The physical motion of the Prana was stopped, but it existed all the same. At the end of a cycle the energies now displayed in the universe quiet down and become potential. At the beginning of the next cycle they start up, strike upon the Akasha, and out of the Akasha evolve these various forms, and as the Akasha changes, this Prana changes also into all these manifestations of energy. The knowledge and control of this Prana is really what is meant by Pranayama. Then comes Pranayama. Prana means the vital forces in one's own body, Ayama means controlling them. There are three sorts of Pranayama, the very simple, the middle, and the very high. Pranayama is divided into three parts: filling, restraining, and 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. In the lowest kind of Pranayama there is perspiration, in the medium kind, quivering of the body, and in the highest Pranayama levitation of the body and influx of great bliss. There is a Mantra 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." Om is joined to it at the beginning and the 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 or gathering towards oneself. Fixing the mind on the lotus of the heart, or on the center of the head, is what is called Dharana. Limited to one spot, making that spot the base, a particular kind of mental waves rises; these are not swallowed up by other kinds of waves, but by degrees become prominent, while all the others recede and finally disappear. Next the multiplicity of these waves gives place to unity and one wave only is left in the mind. This is 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 centers, only the meaning of the thought is present. If the mind can be fixed on the center for twelve seconds it will be a Dharana, twelve such Dharanas will be a Dhyana, and twelve such Dhyanas will be a Samadhi.

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

[W]e come next to Pranayama, controlling the breathing. What has that to do with concentrating the powers of the mind? Breath is like the fly-wheel of this machine, the body. In a big engine you find the fly-wheel first moving, and that motion is conveyed to finer and finer machinery until the most delicate and finest mechanism in the machine is in motion. The breath is that fly-wheel, supplying and regulating the motive power to everything in this body. In this body of ours the breath motion is the "silken thread"; by laying hold of and learning to control it we grasp the pack thread of the nerve currents, and from these the stout twine of our thoughts, and lastly the rope of Prana, controlling which we reach freedom. We do not know anything about our own bodies; we cannot know. At best we can take a dead body, and cut it in pieces, and there are some who can take a live animal and cut it in pieces in order to see what is inside the body. Still, that has nothing to do with our own bodies. We know very little about 25 them. Why do we not? Because our attention is not discriminating enough to catch the very fine movements that are going on within. We can know of them only when the mind becomes more subtle and enters, as it were, deeper into the body. To get the subtle perception we have to begin with the grosser perceptions. We have to get hold of that which is setting the whole engine in motion. That is the Prana, the most obvious manifestation of which is the breath. Then, along with the breath, we shall slowly enter the body, which will enable us to find out about the subtle forces, the nerve currents that are moving all over the body. As soon as we perceive and learn to feel them, we shall begin to get control over them, and over the body. The mind is also set in motion: by these different nerve currents, so at last we shall reach the state of perfect control over the body and the mind, making both our servants. Knowledge is power. We have to get this power. So we must begin at the beginning, with Pranayama, restraining the Prana. This Pranayama is a long subject, and will take several lessons to illustrate it thoroughly. We shall take it part by part. We shall gradually see the reasons for each exercise and what forces in the body are set in motion. All these things will come to us, but it requires constant practice, and the proof will come by practice. No amount of reasoning which I can give you will be proof to you, until you have demonstrated it for yourselves. As soon as you begin to feel these currents in motion all over you, doubts will vanish, but it requires hard practice every day. You must practice at least twice every day, and the best times are towards the morning and the evening. When night passes into day, and day into night, a state of relative calmness ensues.

Controlling the motion of the exhalation and the inhalation follows after this. When posture has been conquered, then the motion of the Prana is to be broken and controlled. Thus we come to Pranayama, the controlling of the vital forces of the body. Prana is not breath, though it is usually so translated. It is the sum total of the cosmic energy. It is the energy that is in each body, and its most apparent manifestation is the motion of the lungs. This motion is caused by Prana drawing in the breath, and it is what we seek to control in Pranayama. We begin by controlling the breath, as the easiest way of getting control of the Prana.

Its modifications are either external or internal, or motionless, regulated by place, time, and number, either long or short. The three sorts of motion of Pranayama are, one by which we draw the breath in, another by which we throw it out, and the third action is when the breath is held in the lungs, or stopped from entering the lungs. These, again, are varied by place and time. By place is meant that the Prana is held to some particular part of the body. By time is meant how long the Prana should be confined to a certain place, and so we are told how many seconds to keep one motion, and how many seconds to keep another. The result of this Pranayama is Udghata, awakening the Kundalini.

The fourth is restraining the Prana by reflecting on external or internal object. This is the fourth sort of Pranayama, in which the Kumbhaka is brought about by long practice attended with reflection, which is absent in the other three. From that, the covering to the light of the Chitta is attenuated. The Chitta has, by its own nature, all knowledge. It is made of Sattva particles, but is covered by Rajas and Tamas particles, and by Pranayama this covering is removed.

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The mind becomes fit for Dharana (single-pointed focusing and concentration of the entire consciousness). After this covering has been removed, we are able to concentrate the mind. -Sri Chinmoy (Chinmoy)

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INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE & PROOF OF HIGHER REALMS & WHY BREATH CONTROL WORKS This opens to us the door to almost unlimited power. Suppose, for instance, a man understood the Prana perfectly, and could control it, what power on earth would not be his? He would be able to move the sun and stars out of their places, to control everything in the universe, from the atoms to the biggest suns, because he would control the Prana. This is the end and aim of Pranayama. When the Yogi becomes perfect, there will be nothing in nature not under his control. If he orders the gods or the souls of the departed to come, they will come at his bidding. All the forces of nature will obey him as slaves. When the ignorant see these powers of the Yogi, they call them the miracles. One peculiarity of the Hindu mind is that it always inquires for the last possible generalization, leaving the details to be worked out afterwards. The question is raised in the Vedas, "What is that, knowing which, we shall know everything?" Thus, all books, and all philosophies that have been written, have been only to prove that by knowing which everything is known. If a man wants to know this universe bit by bit he must know every individual grain of sand, which means infinite time; he cannot know all of them. Then how can knowledge be? How is it possible for a man to be all-knowing through particulars? The Yogis say that behind this particular manifestation there is a generalization. Behind all particular ideas stands a generalized, an abstract principle; grasp it, and you have grasped everything. Just as this whole universe has been generalized in the Vedas into that One Absolute Existence, and he who has grasped that Existence has grasped the whole universe, so all forces have been generalized into this Prana, and he who has grasped the Prana has grasped all the forces of the universe, mental or physical. He who has controlled the Prana has controlled his own mind, and all the minds that exist. He who has controlled the Prana has controlled his body, and all the bodies that exist, because the Prana is the generalized manifestation of force. How to control the Prana is the one idea of Pranayama. All the trainings and exercises in this regard are for that one end. Each man must begin where he stands, must learn how to control the things that are nearest to him. This body is very near to us, nearer than anything in the external universe, and this mind is the nearest of all. The Prana which is working this mind and body is the nearest to us of all the Prana in this universe. This little wave of the Prana which represents our own energies, mental and physical, is the nearest to us of all the waves of the infinite ocean of Prana. If we can succeed in controlling that little wave, then alone we can hope to control the whole of Prana. The Yogi who has done this gains perfection; no longer is he under any power. He becomes almost almighty, almost all-knowing. We see sects in every country who have attempted this control of Prana. In this country there are Mind-healers, Faith-healers, Spiritualists, Christian Scientists, Hypnotists, etc., and if we examine these different bodies, we shall find at the back of each this control of the Prana, whether they know it or not. If you boil all their theories down, the residuum will be that. It is the one and the same force they are manipulating, only unknowingly. They have stumbled on the discovery of a force and are using it unconsciously without knowing its nature, but it is the same as the Yogi uses, and which comes from Prana. The Prana is the vital force in every being. Thought is the finest and highest action of Prana. Thought, again, as we see, is not all. There is also what we call instinct or unconscious thought, the lowest plane of action. If a mosquito stings us, our hand will strike it automatically, instinctively. This is one expression of thought. All reflex actions of the body belong to this plane of thought. There is again the other plane of thought, the conscious. I reason, I judge, I think, I see the pros and cons of certain things, yet that is not all. We know that reason is limited. Reason can go only to a certain extent, beyond that it cannot reach. The circle within, which it runs, is very, very limited indeed. Yet at the same time, we find facts rush into this circle. Like the coming of comets certain things come into 28 this circle; it is certain they come from outside the limit, although our reason cannot go beyond. The causes of the phenomena intruding themselves in this small limit are outside of this limit. The mind can exist on a still higher plane, the superconscious. When the mind has attained to that state, which is called Samadhi — perfect concentration, superconsciousness — it goes beyond the limits of reason, and comes face to face with facts which no instinct or reason can ever know. All manipulations of the subtle forces of the body, the different manifestations of Prana, if trained, give a push to the mind, help it to go up higher, and become superconscious, from where it acts. In this universe there is one continuous substance on every plane of existence. Physically this universe is one: there is no difference between the sun and you. The scientist will tell you it is only a fiction to say the contrary. There is no real difference between the table and me; the table is one point in the mass of matter, and I another point. Each form represents, as it were, one whirlpool in the infinite ocean of matter, of which not one is constant. Just as in a rushing stream there may be millions of whirlpools; the water in each of which is different every moment, turning round and round for a few seconds, and then passing out, replaced by a fresh quantity; so the whole universe is one constantly changing mass of matter, in which all forms of existence are so many whirlpools. A mass of matter enters into one whirlpool, say a human body, stays there for a period, becomes changed, and goes out into another, say an animal body this time, from which again after a few years, it enters into another whirlpool, called a lump of mineral. It is a constant change. Not one body is constant. There is no such thing as my body, or your body, except in words. Of the one huge mass of matter, one point is called a moon, another a sun, another a man, another the earth, another a plant, another a mineral. Not one is constant, but everything is changing, matter eternally concreting and disintegrating. So it is with the mind. Matter is represented by the ether; when the action of Prana is most subtle, this very ether, in the finer state of vibration, will represent the mind and there it will be still one unbroken mass. If you can simply get to that subtle vibration, you will see and feel that the whole universe is composed of subtle vibrations. Sometimes certain drugs have the power to take us, while as yet in the senses, to that condition. Many of you may remember the celebrated experiment of Sir Humphrey Davy, when the laughing gas overpowered him — how, during the lecture, he remained motionless, stupefied and after that, he said that the whole universe was made up of ideas. For, the time being, as it were, the gross vibrations had ceased, and only the subtle vibrations which he called ideas, were present to him. He could only see the subtle vibrations round him; everything had become thought; the whole universe was an ocean of thought, he and everyone else had become little thought whirlpools. Thus, even in the universe of thought we find unity, and at last, when we get to the Self, we know that that Self can only be One. Beyond the vibrations of matter in its gross and subtle aspects, beyond motion there is but One. Even in manifested motion there is only unity. These facts can no more be denied. Modern physics also has demonstrated that the sum total of the energies in the universe is the same throughout. It has also been proved that this sum total of energy exists in two forms. It becomes potential, toned down, and calmed, and next it comes out manifested as all these various forces; again it goes back to the quiet state, and again it manifests. Thus it goes on evolving and involving through eternity. The control of this Prana, as before stated, is what is called Pranayama. The most obvious manifestation of this Prana in the human body is the motion of the lungs. If that stops, as a rule all the other manifestations of force in the body will immediately stop. But there are persons who can train themselves in such a manner that the body will live on, even when this motion has stopped. There are some persons who can bury themselves for days, and yet live without breathing. To reach the subtle we must take the help of the grosser, and so, slowly travel towards the most subtle until we gain our point. Pranayama really means controlling this motion of the lungs and this motion is associated with the breath. Not that breath is producing it; on the contrary it is producing breath. This motion draws in the air by pump action. The Prana is moving the lungs; the

29 movement of the lungs draws in the air. So Pranayama is not breathing, but controlling that muscular power which moves the lungs. That muscular power which goes out through the nerves to the muscles and from them to the lungs, making them move in a certain manner, is the Prana, which we have to control in the practice of Pranayama. When the Prana has become controlled, then we shall immediately find that all the other actions of the Prana in the body will slowly come under control. I myself have seen men who have controlled almost every muscle of the body; and why not? If I have control over certain muscles, why not over every muscle and nerve of the body? What impossibility is there? At present the control is lost, and the motion has become automatic. We cannot move our ears at will, but we know that animals can. We have not that power because we do not exercise it. This is what is called atavism. Again, we know that motion which has become latent can be brought back to manifestation. By hard work and practice certain motions of the body which are most dormant can be brought back under perfect control. Reasoning thus we find there is no impossibility, but, on the other hand, every probability that each part of the body can be brought under perfect control. This the Yogi does through Pranayama. Perhaps some of you have read that in Pranayama, when drawing in the breath, you must fill your whole body with Prana. In the English translations Prana is given as breath, and you are inclined to ask how that is to be done. The fault is with the translator. Every part of the body can be filled with Prana, this vital force, and when you are able to do that, you can control the whole body. All the sickness and misery felt in the body will be perfectly controlled; not only so, you will be able to control another's body. Everything is infectious in this world, good or bad. If your body be in a certain state of tension, it will have a tendency to produce the same tension in others. If you are strong and healthy, those that live near you will also have the tendency to become strong and healthy, but if you are sick and weak, those around you will have the tendency to become the same. In the case of one man trying to heal another, the first idea is simply transferring his own health to the other. This is the primitive sort of healing. Consciously or unconsciously, health can be transmitted. A very strong man, living with a weak man, will make him a little stronger, whether he knows it or not. When consciously done, it becomes quicker and better in its action. Next come those cases in which a man may not be very healthy himself, yet we know that he can bring health to another. The first man, in such a case, has a little more control over the Prana, and can rouse, for the time being, his Prana, as it were, to a certain state of vibration, and transmit it to another person. There have been cases where this process has been carried on at a distance, but in reality there is no distance in the sense of a break. Where is the distance that has a break? Is there any break between you and the sun? It is a continuous mass of matter, the sun being one part, and you another. Is there a break between one part of a river and another? Then why cannot any force travel? There is no reason against it. Cases of healing from a distance are perfectly true. The Prana can be transmitted to a very great distance; but to one genuine case, there are hundreds of frauds. This process of healing is not so easy, as it is thought to be. In the most ordinary cases of such healing you will find that the healers simply take advantage of the naturally healthy state of the human body. An allopath comes and treats cholera patients, and gives them his medicines. The homoeopath comes and gives his medicines, and cures perhaps more than the allopath does, because the homoeopath does not disturb his patients, but allows nature to deal with them. The Faith-healer cures more still, because he brings the strength of his mind to bear, and rouses, through faith, the dormant Prana of the patient. There is a mistake constantly made by Faith-healers: they think that faith directly heals a man. But faith alone does not cover all the ground. There are diseases where the worst symptoms are that the patient never thinks that he has that disease. That tremendous faith of the patient is itself one symptom of the disease, and usually indicates that he will die quickly. In such cases the principle that faith cures does not apply. If it were faith alone that cured, these patients also would be cured. It is by

30 the Prana that real curing comes. The pure man, who has controlled the Prana, has the power of bringing it into a certain state of vibration, which can be conveyed to others, arousing in them a similar vibration. You see that in everyday actions. I am talking to you. What am I trying to do? I am, so to say, bringing my mind to a certain state of vibration, and the more I succeed in bringing it to that state, the more you will be affected by what I say. All of you know that the day I am more enthusiastic, the more you enjoy the lecture; and when I am less enthusiastic, you feel lack of interest. The gigantic will-powers of the world, the world-movers, can bring their Prana into a high state of vibration, and it is so great and powerful that it catches others in a moment, and thousands are drawn towards them, and half the world think as they do. Great prophets of the world had the most wonderful control of the Prana, which gave them tremendous will-power; they had brought their Prana to the highest state of motion, and this is what gave them power to sway the world. All manifestations of power arise from this control. Men may not know the secret, but this is the one explanation. Sometimes in your own body the supply of Prana gravitates more or less to one part; the balance is disturbed, and when the balance of Prana is disturbed, what we call disease is produced. To take away the superfluous Prana, or to supply the Prana that is wanting, will be curing the disease. That again is Pranayama — to learn when there is more or less Prana in one part of the body than there should be. The feelings will become so subtle that the mind will feel that there is less Prana in the toe or the finger than there should be, and will possess the power to supply it. These are among the various functions of Pranayama. They have to be learned slowly and gradually, and as you see, the whole scope of Raja-Yoga is really to teach the control and direction in different planes of the Prana. When a man has concentrated his energies, he masters the Prana that is in his body. When a man is meditating, he is also concentrating the Prana. In an ocean there are huge waves, like mountains, then smaller waves, and still smaller, down to little bubbles, but back of all these is the infinite ocean. The bubble is connected with the infinite ocean at one end, and the huge wave at the other end. So, one may be a gigantic man, and another a little bubble, but each is connected with that infinite ocean of energy, which is the common birthright of every animal that exists. Wherever there is life, the storehouse of infinite energy is behind it. Starting as some fungus, some very minute, microscopic bubble, and all the time drawing from that infinite store-house of energy, a form is changed slowly and steadily until in course of time it becomes a plant, then an animal, then man, ultimately God. This is attained through millions of eons, but what is time? An increase of speed, an increase of struggle, is able to bridge the gulf of time. That which naturally takes a long time to accomplish can be shortened by the intensity of the action, says the Yogi. A man may go on slowly drawing in this energy from the infinite mass that exists in the universe, and, perhaps, he will require a hundred thousand years to become a Deva, and then, perhaps, five hundred thousand years to become still higher, and, perhaps, five millions of years to become perfect. Given rapid growth, the time will be lessened. Why is it not possible, with sufficient effort, to reach this very perfection in six months or six years? There is no limit. Reason shows that. If an engine, with a certain amount of coal, runs two miles an hour, it will run the distance in less time with a greater supply of coal. Similarly, why shall not the soul, by intensifying its action, attain perfection in this very life? All beings will at last attain to that goal, we know. But who cares to wait all these millions of eons? Why not reach it immediately, in this body even, in this human form? Why shall I not get that infinite knowledge, infinite power, now? The ideal of the Yogi, the whole science of Yoga, is directed to the end of teaching men how, by intensifying the power of assimilation, to shorten the time for reaching perfection, instead of slowly advancing from point to point and waiting until the whole human race has become perfect. All the great prophets, saints, and seers of the world — what did they do? In one span of life they lived the whole life of humanity, traversed the whole length of time that it takes ordinary humanity to come to

31 perfection. In one life they perfect themselves; they have no thought for anything else, never live a moment for any other idea, and thus the way is shortened for them. This is what is meant by concentration, intensifying the power of assimilation, thus shortening the time. Raja-Yoga is the science which teaches us how to gain the power of concentration. What has Pranayama to do with spiritualism? Spiritualism is also a manifestation of Pranayama. If it be true that the departed spirits exist, only we cannot see them, it is quite probable that there may be hundreds and millions of them about us we can neither see, feel, nor touch. We may be continually passing and repassing through their bodies, and they do not see or feel us. It is a circle within a circle, universe within universe. We have five senses, and we represent Prana in a certain state of vibration. All beings in the same state of vibration will see one another, but if there are beings who represent Prana in a higher state of vibration, they will not be seen. We may increase the intensity of a light until we cannot see it at all, but there may be beings with eyes so powerful that they can see such light. Again, if its vibrations are very low, we do not see a light, but there are animals that may see it, as cats and owls. Our range of vision is only one plane of the vibrations of this Prana. Take this atmosphere, for instance; it is piled up layer on layer, but the layers nearer to the earth are denser than those above, and as you go higher the atmosphere becomes finer and finer. Or take the case of the ocean; as you go deeper and deeper the pressure of the water increases, and animals which live at the bottom of the sea can never come up, or they will be broken into pieces. Think of the universe as an ocean of ether, consisting of layer after layer of varying degrees of vibration under the action of Prana; away from the center the vibrations are less, nearer to it they become quicker and quicker; one order of vibration makes one plane. Then suppose these ranges of vibrations are cut into planes, so many millions of miles one set of vibration, and then so many millions of miles another still higher set of vibration, and so on. It is, therefore, probable, that those who live on the plane of a certain state of vibration will have the power of recognizing one another, but will not recognize those above them. Yet, just as by the telescope and the microscope we can increase the scope of our vision, similarly we can by Yoga bring ourselves to the state of vibration of another plane, and thus enable ourselves to see what is going on there. Suppose this room is full of beings whom we do not see. They represent Prana in a certain state of vibration while we represent another. Suppose they represent a quick one, and we the opposite. Prana is the material of which they are composed, as well as we. All are parts of the same ocean of Prana; they differ only in their rate of vibration. If I can bring myself to the quick vibration, this plane will immediately change for me: I shall not see you any more; you vanish and they appear. Some of you, perhaps, know this to be true. All this bringing of the mind into a higher state of vibration is included in one word in Yoga — Samadhi. All these states of higher vibration, superconscious vibrations of the mind, are grouped in that one word, Samadhi, and the lower states of Samadhi give us visions of these beings. The highest grade of Samadhi is when we see the real thing, when we see the material out of which the whole of these grades of beings are composed, and that one lump of clay being known, we know all the clay in the universe. Thus we see that Pranayama includes all that is true of spiritualism even. Similarly, you will find that wherever any sect or body of people is trying to search out anything occult and mystical, or hidden, what they are doing is really this Yoga, this attempt to control the Prana. You will find that wherever there is any extraordinary display of power, it is the manifestation of this Prana. Even the physical sciences can be included in Pranayama. What moves the steam engine? Prana, acting through the steam. What are all these phenomena of electricity and so forth but Prana? What is physical science? The science of Pranayama, by external means. Prana, manifesting itself as mental power, can only be controlled by mental means. That part of Pranayama which attempts to control the physical manifestations of the Prana by physical means is called physical science, and that part which tries to control the manifestations of the Prana as mental force by mental means is called Raja-Yoga.

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Through the control of breath also, the mind will become quiescent; but it will be quiescent only so long as the breath remains controlled, and when the breath resumes the mind also will again start moving and will wander as impelled by residual impressions. The source is the same for both mind and breath. Thought, indeed, is the nature of the mind. The thought ‘I’ is the first thought of the mind; and that is egoity. It is from that whence egoity originates that breath also originates. Therefore, when the mind becomes quiescent, the breath is controlled, and when the breath is controlled the mind becomes quiescent. But in deep sleep, although the mind becomes quiescent, the breath does not stop. This is because of the will of God, so that the body may be preserved and other people may not be under the impression that it is dead. In the state of waking and in samadhi, when the mind becomes quiescent the breath is controlled. Breath is the gross form of mind. Till the time of death, the mind keeps breath in the body; and when the body dies the mind takes the breath along with it. Therefore, the exercise of breath control is only an aid for rendering the mind quiescent (manonigraha); it will not destroy the mind (manonasa). Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, food restrictions, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent. Through meditation on the forms of God and through repetition of mantras, the mind becomes one-pointed. The mind will always be wandering. Just as when a chain is given to an elephant to hold in its trunk it will go along grasping the chain and nothing else, so also when the mind is occupied with a name or form it will grasp that alone. When the mind expands in the form of countless thoughts, each thought becomes weak; but as thoughts get resolved the mind becomes one-pointed and strong; for such a mind Self-enquiry will become easy. - Ramana Maharshi (Ramanasramam)

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HOW TO PERFORM PRANAYAMA Proper breathing is very important in meditation. When breathing, try to breathe in as slowly and quietly as possible, so that if somebody placed a tiny thread in front of your nose, it would not move at all. And when you breathe out, try to breathe out even more slowly than when you breathed in. If possible, leave a short pause between the end of your first exhalation and the beginning of your second inhalation. If you can, hold your breath for a few seconds. But if it is difficult, do not do it. Never do anything that will harm your organs or respiratory system. The first thing that you have to think of when breathing is purity. When you breathe in, if you can feel that the breath is coming directly from God, from Purity itself, then your breath can easily be purified. Then, each time you breathe in, try to feel that you are bringing into your body peace, infinite peace. The opposite of peace is restlessness. When you breathe out, try to feel that you are expelling the restlessness within you and also the restlessness that you see all around you. When you breathe this way, you will find restlessness leaving you. After practicing this for a few times, please try to feel that you are breathing in power from the universe. And when you exhale, feel that all your fear is coming out of your body. After doing this a few times, try to feel that what you are breathing in is joy, infinite joy, and what you are breathing out is sorrow, suffering and melancholy. There is another thing that you can also try. Feel that you are breathing in not air but cosmic energy. Feel that tremendous cosmic energy is entering into you with each breath and that you are going to use it to purify your body, vital, mind and heart. Feel that there is not a single place in your body that is not being occupied by the flow of cosmic energy. It is flowing like a river inside you, washing and purifying your whole being. Then, when you start to breathe out, feel that you are breathing out all the rubbish inside you – all your undivine thoughts, obscure ideas and impure actions. Anything inside your system that you call undivine, anything that you do not want to claim as your own, feel that you are exhaling. This is not the traditional yogic pranayama, which is more complicated and systematized, but it is the most effective spiritual method of breathing. If you practice this method of breathing, you will soon see its results. In the beginning you will have to use your imagination, but after a while you will see and feel that it is not imagination at all but reality. You are consciously breathing in the energy which is flowing all around you, purifying yourself and emptying yourself of everything undivine. If you can breathe this way for five minutes every day, you will be able to make very fast progress. But it has to be done in a very conscious way, not mechanically. When you reach a more advanced stage, you can try to feel that your breath is coming in and going out through every part of your body – through your heart, through your eyes, through your nose, and even through your pores. Right now you can breathe only through your nose or your mouth, but a time will come when you will be able to breathe through every part of your body. Spiritual Masters can breathe even with their nose and mouth closed. When you have perfected this spiritual breathing, you will feel that all your impurity and ignorance has been replaced by God’s Light, Peace and Power. -Sri Chinmoy (Chinmoy, The Body: Humanity's Fortress)

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THE CONTROL OF PSYCHIC PRANA

We have now to deal with the exercises in Pranayama. We have seen that the first step, according to the Yogis, is 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 externalized, and have lost sight of the fine motions inside. If we can begin to feel them, we can begin to control them. These nerve currents go on all over the body, bringing life and vitality to every muscle, but we do not feel them. The Yogi says we can learn to do so. How? By taking up and controlling the motion of the lungs; when we have done that for a sufficient length of time, we shall be able to control the finer motions. Sit upright; the body must be kept straight. The spinal cord, although not attached to the vertebral column, is yet inside of 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 do yourself an injury. The three parts of the body, the chest, the neck, and the head, must be always held straight in one line. You will find that by a little practice this will come to you as easy as breathing. The second thing is to get control of the nerves. We have said that the nerve center that controls the respiratory organs has a sort of controlling effect on the other nerves, 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. The first lesson is just to breathe in a measured way, in and out. That will harmonize the system. When you have practiced this for some time, you will do well to join to it the repetition of some word as "Om," or any other sacred word. In India we use certain symbolical words instead of counting one, two, three, four. That is why I advise you to join the mental repetition of the "Om," or some other sacred word to the Pranayama. Let the word flow in and out with the breath, rhythmically, harmoniously, and you will find the whole body is becoming rhythmical. Then you will learn what rest is. Compared with it, sleep is not rest. Once this rest comes the most tired nerves will be calmed down, and you will find that you have never before really rested. The first effect of this practice is perceived in the change of expression of one's face; harsh lines disappear; with calm thought calmness comes over the face. Next comes beautiful voice. I never saw a Yogi with a croaking voice. These signs come after a few months' practice.

After one has learned to have a firm erect seat, one has to perform, according to certain schools, a practice called the purifying of the nerves. This part has been rejected by some as not belonging to Raja-Yoga, but as so great an authority as the commentator Shankaracharya advises it, I think fit that it should be mentioned, and I will quote his own directions from his commentary on the Shvetashvatara Upanishad: "The mind whose dross has been cleared away by Pranayama, becomes fixed in Brahman; therefore Pranayama is declared. First the nerves are to be purified, then comes the power to practice Pranayama. Stopping the right nostril with the thumb, through the left nostril fill in air, according to capacity; then, without any interval, throw the air out through the right nostril, closing the left one. Again inhaling through the right nostril eject through the left, according to capacity; practicing this three or five times at four hours of the day, before dawn, during midday, in the evening, and at midnight, in fifteen days or a month purity of the nerves is attained; then begins Pranayama."

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

The mind should not be allowed to wander towards worldly objects and what concerns other people. However, bad other people may be, one should bear no hatred for them. Both desire and hatred should be eschewed. All that one gives to others, one gives to one’s self. If this truth is 35 understood who will not give to others? When one’s self arises, all arises; when one’s self becomes quiescent, all becomes quiescent. To the extent we behave with humility, to that extent there will result good. If the mind is rendered quiescent, one may live anywhere.

- Ramana Maharshi (Maharshi, Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi)

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PREPARING TO MEDITATE

After practicing pranayama, the yogi is ready to venture on the path toward meditation. The knowledge of breath control will aid the yogi on this path, allowing the mind to become quiet and fixated on the breath for a long time. Once this has been practiced extensively, or mastered, the yogi will have the tools needed for deeper and more prolonged periods of meditation.

The early morning and the early evening are the two periods of calmness. Your body will have a like tendency to become calm at those times. We should take advantage of that natural condition and begin then to practice. Make it a rule not to eat until you have practiced; if you do this, the sheer force of hunger will break your laziness. In India, they teach children never to eat until they have practiced or worshipped, and it becomes natural to them after a time; a boy will not feel hungry until he has bathed and practiced. Those of you who can afford it will do better to have a room for this practice alone. Do not sleep in that room, it must be kept holy. You must not enter the room until you have bathed, and are perfectly clean in body and mind. Place flowers in that room always; they are the best surroundings for a Yogi; also pictures that are pleasing. Burn incense morning and evening. Have no quarrelling, nor anger, nor unholy thought in that room. Only allow those persons to enter it who are of the same thought as you. Then gradually there will be an atmosphere of holiness in the room, so that when you are miserable, sorrowful, doubtful, or your mind is disturbed, the very fact of entering that room will make you calm. This was the idea of the temple and the church, and in some temples and churches you will find it even now, but in the majority of them the very idea has been lost. The idea is that by keeping holy vibrations there the place becomes and remains illumined. Those who cannot afford to have a room set apart can practice anywhere they like. Sit in a straight posture, and the first thing to do is to send a current of holy thought to all creation. Mentally repeat, "Let all beings be happy; let all beings be peaceful; let all beings be blissful." So do to the east, south, north and west. The more you do that the better you will feel yourself. You will find at last that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy. After doing that, those who believe in God should pray — not for money, not for health, nor for heaven; pray for knowledge and light; every other prayer is selfish. Then the next thing to do is to think of your own body, and see that it is strong and healthy; it is the best instrument you have. Think of it as being as strong as adamant, and that with the help of this body you will cross the ocean of life. Freedom is never to be reached by the weak. Throw away all weakness. Tell your body that it is strong, tell your mind that it is strong, and have unbounded faith and hope in yourself. - Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

When meditating, it is important to keep the spine straight and erect, and to keep the body relaxed. When the body is stiff, naturally the divine and fulfilling qualities that are flowing in and through it during meditation will not be received. The body should not be uncomfortable either. When it feels uncomfortable, automatically it will change its position. While you are meditating, your inner being will spontaneously take you to a comfortable position, and then it is up to you to maintain it. The main advantage of the lotus position is that it helps keep the spinal cord straight and erect. But it will not necessarily keep the body relaxed. So the lotus position is not at all necessary for proper meditation. Many people meditate very well while they are seated in a chair.

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Some people do physical exercises and postures. These exercise, called hatha yoga, relax the body and bring peace of mind for a short period. If someone is physically very restless and cannot stay still for more than a second, then these exercises will definitely help. But hatha yoga is not at all necessary. There are many aspirants who can just sit and make their minds calm and quiet without doing any hatha yoga. I wish to say, however, that hatha yoga exercises are far superior to the Western system of exercises, which are often done abruptly, vigorously and, to some extent, violently. Hatha yoga exercises are done calmly, quietly and in a meditative mood. They strengthen the nerves and calm the mind, unlike most Western exercises. Also, hatha yoga will help the seeker purify his body- consciousness and develop his kundalini power. Some seekers like to meditate while lying down, but I wish to say that this is not at all advisable for the beginner, nor even for those who have been meditating for several years. It is only for the most advanced seekers and for realized souls. Others, who try to meditate while lying down, will enter into the world of sleep or into a kind of inner drift or doze. Furthermore, while you are lying down, your breathing is not as satisfactory as it is when you are in a sitting position, since it is not conscious or controlled. - Sri Chinmoy (Chinmoy, The Body: Humanity's Fortress)

My disciples often ask me if they should meditate with their eyes open. Here I wish to say that in ninety out of one hundred cases, disciples who keep their eyes closed during meditation fall asleep. For five minutes they meditate, and then for fifteen minutes they remain in the world of sleep. There is no dynamic energy, but only lethargy and self-complacency, and they feel a kind of restful, sweet sensation. Then, after some time, by God’s miraculous Grace, they come back again and meditate for two or three minutes. When you keep your eyes closed during meditation and enter into the world of sleep, you may enjoy all kinds of fantasies. Your fertile imagination may make you feel that you are entering into the angel world. There are many ways you can make yourself believe that you are having a wonderful meditation. In the ashram where I once lived, ashramites who had been there for thirty or forty years would enter into their “highest meditation” and get caught by a nightmare and start screaming. Then, when someone shook them, they would say, “What are you doing? Why are you disturbing me? I was in my highest meditation!” This is not meditation; this is a very easy way of self-deception. But if you keep your eyes open, then you can become the judge of your own meditation. If you go very high in your meditation and have a really good vision while your eyes are open, then you will not feel that it is a hallucination. And if it is a false vision, you will know it immediately. Actually, it is best to meditate with the eyes partly open and partly closed. In this way you are the root of the tree, and at the same time, the topmost bough. The part of you that has the eyes half-open feels that it is the root, symbolizing Mother Earth. The other part, which has the eyes half-closed, is the topmost branch, the world of vision or, let us say, Heaven. Your consciousness is on the highest level and it is also here on earth, trying to transform the world. When you meditate with your eyes half open and half closed, you are doing what is called the lion’s meditation. Even while you are going deep within, you are focusing your conscious attention both on the physical plane and on the subconscious plane. Both the physical world, with its noise and distractions, and the subconscious world, world of sleep, are inviting you. But you are fighting both of them. Since your eyes are partly open, you will not fall asleep and end up in one of the lower worlds. So you are challenging the world of the subconscious. “Look, I am all alert. You cannot take me into your 38 domain.” You are conquering the subconscious world of sleep. At the same time, you are maintaining your mastery over the physical plane. If you are having a good meditation with your eyes closed and you feel, say, a cockroach, you will immediately jump up startled or agitated. While you are in a higher world, if your eyes are closed and a creature of Mother Earth disturbs you, at that time there is no connecting link between that particular creature and your own existence. So, automatically you become frightened or annoyed. You feel, “Here I am in my highest, and this undivine creature is bothering me.” Because you are agitated and disturbed, your meditation disappears. But, if you keep your eyes open a little, you know that you belong to this world. You are maintaining your poise and inner power here on earth. You can devour any wrong forces around you, because you are vigilant, dynamic and alert. If you keep your eyes closed, you are meditating like a cat. If somebody touches you, you may be frightened to death. Anybody can come and devour you. But when you have the lion-meditation, you can see a monkey moving around and not be affected. - Sri Chinmoy (Chinmoy, The Body: Humanity's Fortress)

If you are unable to take a shower or bath before sitting down to meditate, you should at least wash your face and your feet. It is also advisable to wear clean and light clothes. It will help if you burn incense and keep some flowers in front of you. There are some people who say that it is not necessary to have flowers around during meditation. They say, “The flower is inside; the thousand-petalled lotus is inside.” But the physical flower that you have in front of you reminds you of the inner flower. Its color, its fragrance and its pure consciousness give you a little inspiration. From inspiration you get aspiration, and from aspiration you get realization. It is the same with using candles during meditation. The flame from a candle will not in itself give you aspiration; it is the inner flame that will give you aspiration. But when you see the outer flame, then immediately you feel that the flame in your inner being is also climbing high, higher, highest. And when you smell the scent of incense, you get perhaps only an iota of inspiration and purification, but this iota can be added to your inner treasure. If someone is on the verge of God-realization or has actually realized God, then these outer things will have no value. But if you know that God-realization is still a far cry, then they will definitely increase your aspiration. - Sri Chinmoy (Chinmoy, The Body: Humanity's Fortress)

Where there is fire, or in water or on ground which is strewn with dry leaves, where there are many ant-hills, where there are wild animals, or danger, where four streets meet, where there is too much noise, where there are many wicked persons, Yoga must not be practiced. This applies more particularly to India. Do not practice when the body feels very lazy or ill, or when the mind is very miserable and sorrowful. Go to a place which is well hidden, and where people do not come to disturb you. 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.

- Swami Vivekananda (Vivekananda)

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RAJA YOGA: A CONCLUSION

As the body and the Prana are the key of all the closed doors of the Yoga for the Hathayogin, so is the mind the key in Raja yoga. But since in both the dependence of the mind on the body and the Prana is admitted, in the Hathayoga totally, in the established system of Raja yoga partially, therefore in both systems the practice of Asana and Pranayama is included; but in the one they occupy the whole field, in the other each is limited only to one simple process and in their unison they are intended to serve only a limited and intermediate office. We can easily see how largely man, even though in his being an embodied soul, is in his earthly nature the physical and vital being and how, at first sight at least, his mental activities seem to depend almost entirely on his body and his nervous system. Modern Science and psychology have even held, for a time, this dependence to be in fact an identity; they have tried to establish that there is no such separate entity as mind or soul and that all mental operations are in reality physical functionings. Even otherwise, apart from this untenable hypothesis, the dependence is so exaggerated that it has been supposed to be an altogether binding condition, and any such thing as the control of the vital and bodily functionings by the mind or its power to detach itself from them has long been treated as an error, a morbid state of the mind or a hallucination. Therefore the dependence has remained absolute, and Science neither finds nor seeks for the real key of the dependence and therefore can discover for us no secret of release and mastery. The psycho-physical science of Yoga does not make this mistake. It seeks for the key, finds it and is able to effect the release; for it takes account of the psychical or mental body behind of which the physical is a sort of reproduction in gross form, and is able to discover thereby secrets of the physical body which do not appear to a purely physical enquiry. This mental or psychical body, which the soul keeps even after death, has also a subtle pranic force in it corresponding to its own subtle nature and substance, – for wherever there is life of any kind, there must be the pranic energy and a substance in which it can work, – and this force is directed through a system of numerous channels, called nadi, – the subtle nervous organization of the psychic body, – which are gathered up into six (or really seven) centers called technically lotuses or circles, chakra, and which rise in an ascending scale to the summit where there is the thousand-petalled lotus from which all the mental and vital energy flows. Each of these lotuses is the center and the storing-house of its own particular system of psychological powers, energies and operations, – each system corresponding to a plane of our psychological existence, – and these flow out and return in the stream of the pranic energies as they course through the Nadis. This arrangement of the psychic body is reproduced in the physical with the spinal column as a rod and the ganglionic centers as the Chakras which rise up from the bottom of the column, where the lowest is attached, to the brain and find their summit in the brahmarandhra at the top of the skull. These Chakras or lotuses, however, are in physical man closed or only partly open, with the consequence that only such powers and only so much of them are active in him as are sufficient for his ordinary physical life, and so much mind and soul only is at play as will accord with its need. This is the real reason, looked at from the mechanical point of view, why the embodied soul seems so dependent on the bodily and nervous life, – though the dependence is neither so complete nor so real as it seems. The whole energy of the soul is not at play in the physical body and life, the secret powers of mind are not awake in it, the bodily and nervous energies predominate. But all the while the supreme energy is there, asleep; it is said to be coiled up and slumbering like a snake, – therefore it is called the kundalini shakti, – in the lowest of the Chakras, in the muladhara. When by Pranayama the division between the upper and lower Prana currents in the body is dissolved, this Kundalini is struck and awakened; it 40 uncoils itself and begins to rise upward like a fiery serpent breaking open each lotus as it ascends until the Shakti meets the Purusha in the brahmarandhra in a deep Samadhi of union. Put less symbolically, in more philosophical though perhaps less profound language, this means that the real energy of our being is lying asleep and inconscient in the depths of our vital system, and is awakened by the practice of Pranayama. In its expansion it opens up all the centers of our psychological being in which reside the powers and the consciousness of what would now be called perhaps our subliminal self; therefore as each center of power and consciousness is opened up, we get access to successive psychological planes and are able to put ourselves in communication with the worlds or cosmic states of being which correspond to them; all the psychic powers abnormal to physical man, but natural to the soul develop in us. Finally, at the summit of the ascension, this arising and expanding energy meets with the superconscient self which sits concealed behind and above our physical and mental existence; this meeting leads to a profound Samadhi of union in which our waking consciousness loses itself in the superconscient. Thus by the thorough and unremitting practice of Pranayama the Hathayogin attains in his own way the psychic and spiritual results which are pursued through more directly psychical and spiritual methods in other Yogas. The one mental aid which he conjoins with it, is the use of the mantra, sacred syllable, name or mystic formula which is of so much importance in the Indian systems of Yoga and common to them all. This secret of the power of the mantra, the six Chakras and the Kundalini Shakti is one of the central truths of all that complex psycho- physical science and practice of which the Tantric philosophy claims to give us a rationale and the most complete compendium of methods. All religions and disciplines in India which use largely the psycho-physical method, depend more or less upon it for their practices. Raja yoga also uses the Pranayama and for the same principal psychic purposes as the Hathayoga, but being in its whole principle a psychical system, it employs it only as one stage in the series of its practices and to a very limited extent, for three or four large utilities. It does not start with Asana and Pranayama, but insists first on a moral purification of the mentality. This preliminary is of supreme importance; without it the course of the rest of the Raja yoga is likely to be troubled, marred and full of unexpected mental, moral and physical perils.* This moral purification is divided in the established system under two heads, five Yamas and five Niyamas. The first are rules of moral self- control in conduct such as truth-speaking, abstinence from injury or killing, from theft etc.; but in reality these must be regarded as merely certain main indications of the general need of moral self- control and purity. Yama is, more largely, any self-discipline by which the rajasic egoism and its passions and desires in the human being are conquered and quieted into perfect cessation. The object is to create a moral calm, a void of the passions, and so prepare for the death of egoism in the rajasic human being. The Niyamas are equally a discipline of the mind by regular practices of which the highest is meditation on the divine Being, and their object is to create a sattvic calm, purity and preparation for concentration upon which the secure pursuance of the rest of the Yoga can be founded.

* In modern India people attracted to Yoga, but picking up its processes from books or from persons only slightly acquainted with the matter, often plunge straight into Pranayama of Raja yoga, frequently with disastrous results. Only the very strong in spirit can afford to make mistakes in this path.

It is here, when this foundation has been secured, that the practice of Asana and Pranayama come in and can then bear their perfect fruits. By itself the control of the mind and moral being only puts our normal consciousness into the right preliminary condition; it cannot bring about that evolution or manifestation of the higher psychic being which is necessary for the greater aims of Yoga. In order to bring about this manifestation the present nodus of the vital and physical body with the

41 mental being has to be loosened and the way made clear for the ascent through the greater psychic being to the union with the superconscient Purusha. This can be done by Pranayama. Asana is used by the Raja oga only in its easiest and most natural position, that naturally taken by the body when seated and gathered together, but with the back and head strictly erect and in a straight line, so that there may be no deflection of the spinal cord. The object of the latter rule is obviously connected with the theory of the six Chakras and the circulation of the vital energy between the muladhara and the brahmarandhra. The Raja yogic Pranayama purifies and clears the nervous system; it enables us to circulate the vital energy equally through the body and direct it also where we will according to need, and thus maintain a perfect health and soundness of the body and the vital being; it gives us control of all the five habitual operations of the vital energy in the system and at the same time breaks down the habitual divisions by which only the ordinary mechanical processes of the vitality are possible to the normal life. It opens entirely the six centers of the psycho-physical system and brings into the waking consciousness the power of the awakened Shakti and the light of the unveiled Purusha on each of the ascending planes. Coupled with the use of the mantra it brings the divine energy into the body and prepares for and facilitates that concentration in Samadhi which is the crown of the Raja yogic method. Raja yogic concentration is divided into four stages; it commences with the drawing both of the mind and senses from outward things, proceeds to the holding of the one object of concentration to the exclusion of all other ideas and mental activities, then to the prolonged absorption of the mind in this object, finally, to the complete ingoing of the consciousness by which it is lost to all outward mental activity in the oneness of Samadhi. The real object of this mental discipline is to draw away the mind from the outward and the mental world into union with the divine Being. Therefore in the first three stages use has to be made of some mental means or support by which the mind, accustomed to run about from object to object, shall fix on one alone, and that one must be something which represents the idea of the Divine. It is usually a name or a form or a mantra by which the thought can be fixed in the sole knowledge or adoration of the Lord. By this concentration on the idea the mind enters from the idea into its reality, into which it sinks silent, absorbed, unified. This is the traditional method. There are, however, others which are equally of a Raja yogic character, since they use the mental and psychical being as key. Some of them are directed rather to the quiescence of the mind than to its immediate absorption, as the discipline by which the mind is simply watched and allowed to exhaust its habit of vagrant thought in a purposeless running from which it feels all sanction, purpose and interest withdrawn, and that, more strenuous and rapidly effective, by which all outward-going thought is excluded and the mind forced to sink into itself where in its absolute quietude it can only reflect the pure Being or pass away into its superconscient existence. The method differs; the object and the result are the same. Here, it might be supposed, the whole action and aim of Raja yoga must end. For its action is the stilling of the waves of consciousness, its manifold activities, chittavritti, first, through a habitual replacing of the turbid rajasic activities by the quiet and luminous sattvic, then, by the stilling of all activities; and its object is to enter into silent communion of soul and unity with the Divine. As a matter of fact we find that the system of Raja yoga includes other objects, – such as the practice and use of occult powers, – some of which seem to be unconnected with and even inconsistent with its main purpose. These powers or siddhis are indeed frequently condemned as dangers and distractions which draw away the Yogin from his sole legitimate aim of divine union. On the way, therefore, it would naturally seem as if they ought to be avoided; and once the goal is reached, it would seem that they are then frivolous and superfluous. But Raja yoga is a psychic science and it includes the attainment of all the higher states of consciousness and their powers by which the mental being rises towards the superconscient as well as its ultimate and supreme possibility of union with the Highest. Moreover, the Yogin, while in the body, is not always mentally inactive and sunk in Samadhi, and an account of the

42 powers and states which are possible to him on the higher planes of his being is necessary to the completeness of the science. These powers and experiences belong, first, to the vital and mental planes above this physical in which we live, and are natural to the soul in the subtle body; as the dependence on the physical body decreases, these abnormal activities become possible and even manifest themselves without being sought for. They can be acquired and fixed by processes which the science gives, and their use then becomes subject to the will; or they can be allowed to develop of themselves and used only when they come, or when the Divine within moves us to use them; or else, even though thus naturally developing and acting, they may be rejected in a single-minded devotion to the one supreme goal of the Yoga. Secondly, there are fuller, greater powers belonging to the supramental planes which are the very powers of the Divine in his spiritual and supramentally ideative being. These cannot be acquired at all securely or integrally by personal effort, but can only come from above, or else can become natural to the man if and when he ascends beyond mind and lives in the spiritual being, power, consciousness and ideation. They then become, not abnormal and laboriously acquired siddhis, but simply the very nature and method of his action, if he still continues to be active in the world-existence. On the whole, for an integral Yoga the special methods of Raja yoga and Hatha yoga may be useful at times in certain stages of the progress, but are not indispensable. It is true that their principal aims must be included in the integrality of the Yoga; but they can be brought about by other means. For the methods of the integral Yoga must be mainly spiritual, and dependence on physical methods or fixed psychic or psycho-physical processes on a large scale would be the substitution of a lower for a higher action. We shall have occasion to touch upon this question later when we come to the final principle of synthesis in method to which our examination of the different Yogas is intended to lead. -Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo, Dictionary of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga)

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Bibliography Aurobindo, Sri. Dictionary of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. Twin Lakes: Lotus Light Publications, 1992. —. Kena and Other Upanishads. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department, 2001. Buck, William. Mahabharata. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. Chinmoy, Sri. Occultism and Mysticism (His Miscellanies). Jamaica: Agni Press, 1977. —. The Body: Humanity's Fortress. New York: Agni Press, 1974. Maharshi, Sri Ramana. Spiritual Instruction of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. TIRUVANNAMALAI: V. S. RAMANAN, 1974. —. Upadesa Saram. n.d. —. Who Am I? TIRUVANNAMALAI: V. S. RAMANAN, 1923. Ramakrishna, Sri. Selections from the Gospels of Sri Ramakrishna. Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House, 2005. Ramanasramam, Sri. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi. Tiruvannamalai: V.S. Ramanan, 1996. Vivekananda, Swami. Raja Yoga. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1956.

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