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consciousness. This is another noteworthy sign. Close
association of consciousness with the body leads to the
fear of death, as it precludes the possibility of self-
awareness, as an incorporate Infinity, beyond the pale of
time, space, birth and death.
The standard methods of attainment, advocated by the
Indian Masters from ancient times, are briefly described in
the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagawad Gita, ancient
Yoga manuals and the writing of all the great mystics born
during the last 2,000 years. In their fundamentals these
methods are always the same. The variation is only in
The Practice of Yoga 129
detail or the intensity of the practice. This has led to the
mistaken impression that there are divergent schools of
Yoga leading to dissimilar results. The peak experience is
one and the same with minor modifications caused by the
culture, belief, faith and the mental and physiological
constitution of the initiate. The methods are also the same
with slight variations here and there. Self-discipline,
cultivation of morals, charity, compassion, love, devotion,
truth, withdrawal from the hurry and flurry of the world,
subdual of ambition, greed, passion and desire;
moderation, temperance, service, humility and absence of
ego are the basic virtues essential for a life dedicated to
the practice of Yoga.
Resting on this firm foundation, meditation done on a
divine object or divine principle, in a graduated form
without over-straining, slowly and imperceptibly acts on
the brain until it becomes attuned to a higher plane of
being. The Upanishads and the Bhagawad Gita provide
tried methods which can be practised with profit, by
serious-minded aspirants keen on a rational approach to
the discipline, who realize the magnitude of the task they
wish to accomplish. For others, who seek instant results
with secret and magical methods, the success of the
practice becomes doubtful from the very start. The reason
is that in their ardour for a miraculous performance or
easy success, they show a lack of one of the indispensable
prerequisites for progress in Yoga, namely a
discriminating intellect.
As an illustration to expound the fundamental principles
of the discipline of Yoga, I can do no better than
reproduce a few passages from the Bhagawad Gita, the
most popular and authoritative work on the subject of
transcendence in India.(6.10-19)
Let the Yogi constantly engage himself in Yoga,
remaining in a secret place by himself, with thought and
self subdued, free from hope and greed.
In a pure place, established on a fixed seat of his
own, neither very much raised nor very low, made of a
cloth, a black antelope skin and kusha grass, one over
the other.
130 The Purpose of Yoga
There, having made the mind one-pointed, with
thought and the functions of the senses subdued, steady
on his seat, he should practise Yoga for the purification
of the self.
Holding the body, head and neck erect, immovably
steady, looking fixedly at the point of the nose with
unseeing gaze.
The self serene, fearless, firm in the vow of the
Brahmachari, the mind controlled, thinking on Me,
harmonized, let him sit aspiring after Me.
The Yogi ever united thus with the Self, with the
mind controlled goeth to Peace, to the supreme Bliss
that abideth in Me.
Verily yoga is not for him who eateth too much, nor
who abstaineth to excess, nor who is too much addicted
to sleep, nor even to wakefulness, O Arjuna.
Yoga killeth out all pain for him who is regulated in
eating and amusement, regulated in performing actions,
regulated in sleeping and waking.
When his subdued thought is fixed on the Self, free
from longing after all desirable things, then it is said,
 he is harmonized . As a lamp in a windless place
flickereth not, to such is likened the Yogi of subdued
thought, absorbed in the Yoga of the Self.
These passages from the Gita leave no room for doubt
about the state of the mind Yoga is practised to achieve.
The individual who sets out on the path to solve the riddle
of life and death must first iron out the folds and round out
the angularities in his own personality. A balanced life, a
broad outlook, an open mind, temperance, absence of ego,
pride, greed, malice, ambition and lust are necessary to
bring that state of poise and calm to the agitated worldly
mind in which alone the supra-rational levels of cognition
can be attained. The human evolution is proceeding from
the coarse to the refined, from the animal to human and
from the savage to angelic state of mind. This is also clear
from the verses cited below (6.24-29).
Abandoning without reserve all desires born of the
imagination, by the mind, curbing in the aggregate of the
The Practice of Yoga 131
senses on every side.
Little by little let him gain tranquillity by means of
Reason controlled by steadiness, having made the
mind abide in the Self, let him not think of anything.
As often as the wavering and unsteady mind goeth
forth, so often reining it in, let him bring it under the
control of the Self.
Supreme joy is for this Yogi whose mind is
peaceful, whose passion nature is calmed, who is
sinless and of the nature of the Eternal.
The Yogi who thus, ever harmonizing the self, hath
put away sin, he easily enjoyeth the infinite bliss of
contact with the Eternal.
The self, harmonized by Yoga, seeth the Self
abiding in all beings, all beings in the Self,
everywhere he seeth the same.
These few passages from the Bhagawad Gita have been
cited to make it clear to true seekers after Yoga, to
whatever country they belong, that there is no wide
difference in the methods to be followed for self-
awareness prescribed in the manuals on Yoga and in other
esoteric disciplines, except in some non-essential details.
The discipline of Yoga, as presented in the Indian
tradition, does not attach as much importance to routine
practices like that of postured meditation or repetition of
mantras or any other psychological technique, as to the
ordering and discipline of the body and mind. The main
emphasis is on the cultivation of moral qualities and
virtues that have always elicited and even now elicit
universal homage and acceptance. These noble principles
of life provide the solid foundation of every great religion
of mankind and always did so in the past. The phenomenal
success achieved by great religious teachers of all living
faiths has been, to a large measure, due to this instinctual
response of the multitudes to the moral principles that they
inculcated through their teachings. If these basic tenets are
eliminated from the scriptural literature of the world, all
that would remain will be but the shell without the
precious kernel inside.
132 The Purpose of Yoga
Only a casual glance at the Bhagawad Gita, the
Upanishads, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Discourses
of Buddha, at any revealed scripture of the world, at any
writing of a great mystic, of whatever country and time, is
sufficient to show that the discipline of the mind, the
victory over immoderate passion, lust, ambition, greed,
urge to power; the cultivation of higher virtues
compassion, charity, contentment, truth, forbearance,
patience, humility, love the subdual of anger, hate, envy,
jealousy and malice are the main themes on which the
Illuminati of the past laid the greatest stress in their
teachings.
In inspiring language, the Bhagawad Gita, the
Dhammapada, the Bible, the Quran, the Adi Granth and
other scriptures convey the same message over and over
again to make it clear that success in the effort to reach
God or Nirvana or the Divine, in any form, is not possible
without moulding the life in accordance with these
principles. This is necessary to make purified mind
sufficiently transparent for the Divine light to filter
through it.
It is incomprehensible how, at present, an impression
prevails, even among the learned and devout, that a certain
formula or special technique of concentration, or some
other secret method, in other words, a certain kind of
psychological manipulation, is all that is needed to win to
those planes of consciousness which form the basis of the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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