The Mountain Path Vol. 4 No. 3, July 1967
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SRI RAMANASRAMAM, TIRUVANNAMALAI " Who can ever find Thee ? The Eye of the eye art Thou, and without eyes Thou seest, Oh Aruna- (A QUARTERLY) chala! " —The Marital Garland of " Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who Letters, verse 15.- meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala ! " —The Marital Garland of Letters, verse 1. Publisher : Vol. IV JULY 1967 No. 3 T. N. Venkataraman, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai. CONTENTS Page EDITORIAL : Total Therapy . 181 Bhagavan on Yoga . 184 Editor : What Are We Waiting For?—Douglas Harding 185 Arthur Osborne, What Yoga is Not—Dr. Sampurnanand . 186 Sri Ramanasramam, Seeking (Poem)—L. P. Yandell . 188 Tiruvannamalai. Raja Yoga — The Royal Path —Prof. Eknath Easwaran . 189 Yama and Niyama—Prof. G. V. Kulkarni . 194 * Some Misconceptions about Yoga —Dr. I. K. Taimni . 197 Managing Editor : Yoga as Meditation—Prof. Eknath Easwaran . 201 V. Ganesan, The Meaning of Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita Sri Ramanasramam, —Prof. G. V. Kulkarni .. 204 Tiruvannamalai. In Quest of Yoga—Swami Sharadananda . 206 The Know-how of Yogic Breathing —Prof. K. S. Joshi . 208 Patanjali's Interception on Yoga —Dr. G. C. Pande . 213 Annual Subscription : Mouna Diksha—R. G. Kulkarni . 216 INDIA . Rs. 5. Some Aspects of Buddhist Yoga as Practised in FOREIGN . \0sh, $ 1.50. the Kargyudpa School of the Tibetan Vajrayana—Dorothy C. Donath .. 217 Life Subscription : Ignatian Yoga—/. Jesuuasan, S.J. , . 222 Rs. 100 ; <£ 10 ; $ 30. How I Came to the Maharshi—Dinker Rai . 224 Single Copy : Dialectic Approach to Integration—Wei Wu Wei 226 Rs. 1.50; 3 sh. ; $0.45 The New Apostles—Cornelia Bagarotti . 228 The Known and the Unknown—Alone . 229 A Leaf from Life (Poem)—Derek Southall . 230 CONTENTS— (Contd.) fountain fait} Page (A QUARTERLY) The Life and Teachings of Hari Prasad Shastri —M. H. 231 To Arunachala (Poem) . 235 The aim of this journal is to set Reminiscences of Swami Ramprakash forth the traditional wisdom of all Ramasnehi . 236 religions and all ages, especially The Bhagavad Gita —Ch. IX as testified to by their saints and —Prof. G. V. Kulkarni and mystics, and to clarify the paths Arthur Osborne . 237 available to seekers in the condi• Arunachala (Poem)—Arthur Osborne . 240 tions of our modern world. Book Reviews 241 " You and I " (Poem)—G. N. Daley . 246 Ashram Bulletin . 247 Contributions for publication Introducing ... 254 should be addressed to 4 The Editor, Glance of Grace—Sri Muruganar . 256 The Mountain Path, Sri Ramanas- Letters to the Editor . 257 ramam, Tiruvannamalai, Madras State' . They should be in English and typed with double spacing. Contributions not published will ba returned on request. To Our Subscribers 1. The official year of the quarterly is from January to December. The editor is not responsible for statements and opinions contained 2. SUBSCRIBERS IN INDIA should remit their annual subscription by Money Order only as far as possible and not in signed articles. by cheque. The words 'subscription for The Mountain Path for year/years' should be written on the M.O. coupon and the full name and address written in BLOCK LETTERS on the reverse of the coupon. No payment is made for contri• Life Subscription should be sent by cheque drawn favouring The Mountain Path and crossed. butions published. Anything herein published may be reprinted else• The journal will not be sent by V.P.P. where without fee provided due 3. FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS can send their subscrip• acknowledgement is made and the tion by International Money Order, British Postal Order oi by Bank cheque or draft payable in India, U.S.A. or U.K. editor is previously notified. The subscription rates are for despatch of the journal by surface mail to all parts of the world. If despatch by AIR MAIL is desired the following Contributions are accepted only additional annual amount should be remitted : on condition that they do not £ $ appear elsewhere before being pub• (a) Pakistan, Ceylon Rs. 4.00 lished in The Mountain Path. They ib) Asia, Egypt, Indonesia 12s. 1.80 (c) Europe, Africa (excluding Egypt) 18s. 2.70 can be published later elsewhere (d) Australia, New Zealand, Fiji 24s. 3.60 but only with acknowledgement to (e) North & South America, Hawaii 30s. 4.50 The Mountain Path. (QUARTERLY) Editor ; ARTHUR OSBORNE Vol. IV JULY, 1967 No. 3 TOTAL THERAPY Editorial TV/TAN as we know him in the world the various religions are an exhortation to to-day is in an imperfect state which break free from this fallen state and an Christianity refers to as ' fallen \ That is indication of what this implies and how it to say that he is deprived of the sublime can be done. To wait for death in the hope awareness and resplendent powers which are that it will be done for you is a pusillani• his birthright. It is not the fault of any mous attitude. This life is the opportunity individual man that he grows up so, but it for doing it. is the fault of mankind as a whole, since it There are many ways of setting about it ; is only through neglect and misuse that but they can be grouped broadly into the powers are lost. Therefore Christianity positive and the negative. calls it i sin * but * original sin \ the sin or fault lying on mankind as a whole and The negative path is exemplified by causing its ' fallen' state. Although an Christ's saying that he who lays down his individual did not bring this unworthy state life for Christ's sake shall find it ; it is the upon himself, he can, with right guidance path of self-inquiry, seeking out the and persistent effort, rectify it and recover imposter ego ; the path based on anatta? his lost birthright. According to Christian denying the very existence of an ego ; the teaching, he can be redeemed from it by the Mediaeval Christian path of ' self-naught- Christ born in his heart. I quoted in a ing ' which aims at extinguishing the pseudo- previous editorial that very profound say• self. To say that it is negative does not ing of Angelus Silesius : " Christ may be mean that it is.weak or effortless. Laying born a thousand times in Bethelhem, but if down one's life is not an easy thing to do. he be not born anew in your own heart you It means total abnegation of the individual remain eternally forlorn." The scriptures of pesudo-self who has lost his divine birth- 182 THE MOUNTAIN PATH July right. When the usurper vacates the throne torial of January 1965, karmamarga (and the true heir, the Christ-Self, is free to all positive paths are forms of karma occupy it. marga) does not alone lead to the ultimate goal. J Positive methods are methods of total therapy, of building up one's spiritual, Nevertheless, it is impossible in spiritual mental and physical nature into its true matters to go too much by forms and regu• likeness and thereby attaining to the state lations. It is the Spirit that is being har• known technically as 1 primordial man nessed and directed by these various disci• that is man ' before ' or unaffected by the plines, and the Spirit can break through to 6 Fall'. Such methods include yogic and the ultimate Goal beyond all disciplines. tantric disciplines in India, Hermetism in For instance, the Tibetan Buddhist poet Mediaeval Christendom, Islam and China, Milarepa followed a Tantric path, and yet, and techniques practised in post-Han reading his life and poems, it is impossible Taoism. to doubt that he was established at the It might be said that on a negative path Source beyond all paths and states. a man attains first the Kingdom of Heaven, Mentioning the characteristics of each as Christ bade him, and all else is added to type of path does not mean deprecating him. The word * attain' sounds positive, but either. Each aspirant will be drawn by his in fact it is a way of attainment by renun• own nature and destiny to whichever is ciation, possession by dispossession. suitable to him. In one sense the positive methods could Yoga is probably the most widely known be considered more complete, since the 1 all and easily accessible of the ' positive ' types else ? which is added to a man on the nega• of path in the world to-day. Unfortunately, tive path does not necessarily include the however, it is regarded by many not as full nhysical health and supernatural powers total but only as physical therapy. This is a developed by the positive way. On the other degradation of a spiritual science and a hand, the negative way brings him to a grave curtailment of its efficacy. That does state where these have no value for him and not mean that one cannot use yogic exercise he does not care whether he has them or for physical therapy. One can and, with not. On the positive way various powers right guidance, they can be very effective usually considered supernatural may be and need not be dangerous ; but by doing deliberately developed, as described by so one is not practising yoga. Yoga is an Patanjali in his Yoga-Sutras. It is possible integral science which covers far more than that powers may also manifest in the these exercises. spiritual man who has eliminated the ego which cares whether they manifest or not, Many may find it surprising that what but they will not be deliberately acquired appears to be a mainly physical discipline or valued if they appear. should have spiritual repercussions at all.