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always. Never murmur, never grumble, never wail and weep. Never accuse people around you.
Always be content. Three we have already mentioned, viz., austerity, study and dedication to God.
These five comprise the second stage.
Third stage is practising steadying of the body, bringing a state of absolute steadiness in the
body, in the posture. The fourth stage is regulating the breath, trying gradually to gain control over
breathing through which you gain control over the subtle inner force. These four, concerning
themselves as they do with the outer activity of man, the inner observation in daily life, the body and
the breath, they are referred to as outer Yoga. From the fifth stage comes the inner Yoga,
withdrawal of the mind, concentration of the mind, and entering into a state of continuous,
unbroken meditation. These three comprise inner Yogic process leading to the state of Samadhi
which we shall take up tomorrow. In our next lecture, we can discuss about the eight graded steps
(Ashtanga), after covering which we will more or less get a full working knowledge which will help
us to take up to the practice of Raja Yoga in our own life.
God bless you all. May you all shine as perfect Yogins in this very life, in this very body, or
at least, may you all try and make sincere efforts to shine as self-disciplined masters of yourself, put
an end to slavery and put an end to wrong notions, all wrong notions arising from the delusion of  I
am the body idea. May the Divine Grace ever be upon you all!
Fifth Lecture
ASMITA, RAGA AND DVESHA
(EGOISM, LIKES AND DISLIKES)
Beloved Immortal Souls! Radiant Atman! Blessed seekers in the path to Perfection!
Welcome to our continuation of our previous talks. Greetings to you all. In our last talk, we
briefly touched upon the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sutras of the second chapter of Patanjali s Yoga
aphorisms, that is the chapter on Sadhana. The first Sutra sums up what Kriya Yoga is and in
explaining the Sutra, we mentioned how Kriya Yoga according to Patanjali had a specific meaning.
In the classical Yoga aphorisms of Patanjali, Kriya Yoga explains the three disciplines of
practice i) austerity (Tapas), ii) spiritual study (Svadhyaya) and iii) dedication of one s life and
activity to Godhead, starting to live for God, feeling His presence at all times and doing everything
as an offering to the presence of God (Isvarapranidhana). These three combined, Patanjali refers to
as Kriya Yoga  Tapa-svadhyaya-isvarapranidhanani kriya-yogah. These three comprise Kriya
Yoga and he goes on to say that Kriya Yoga is an effective discipline for helping the seeker in
cultivation of concentration and in removing the obstacles to illumination. This is the second Sutra.
And, then he mentions briefly, what are the obstacles to illumination in the seeking aspirants or in
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ASMITA, RAGA AND DVESHA
the spiritual Sadhana. He lists these obstacles as being primarily due to spiritual ignorance and
secondly as the outcome of spiritual ignorance.
The finite, separated ego-consciousness, Asmita, arises from wrong or erroneous
identification of consciousness with the physical body and the mind. We saw how as the outcome of
such an identification, the  I consciousness of one s own individuality becomes the most important
thing for the individual, that for which he lives and dies. It has really no substance and enduring
basis at all, because it is based upon and identified with a particular physical body, and the
name-label given by the parents to this physical body at birth cannot have real or enduring basis.
This body was not there before its birth, it has appeared at a certain point of time, which means
before that point of time this body did not exist. Therefore, this ego-consciousness which is based
upon it, also was not existent at that time. It has a very, very unstable, unreliable support of this
body.
The name-label given to it was non-existent before the body came into being, and similarly,
it again ceases its existence with the death of the body. When the body dies, the name-label given to
this body also is annihilated with it, which means, this ego-consciousness ceases to be, the very
moment this body ceases to be. Because, it is based upon this body. The result is the identification
of this consciousness with one particular body and it takes upon itself all the distinctive and
distinguishing marks of the body. Suppose, there is another person of the same label and if some
one says  I met you there, or some one says  You were the same person, who appeared there, he
would then say  no, no, he might have my name, but he is a French man, or  He is some one else,
or  He is not myself, because, I was born in such and such a place, and this is my age while that
person is 15 years older to me and he was born somewhere else. So, we identify ourselves with this
body, with its distinct marks and distinguishing features. So, the consciousness becomes identified
with an object which has a beginning or a birth, at a certain point in time and which soon ceases to
be and goes out of existence at another point in time. Therefore, the life of this ego is only
commensurate with or co-existent with the life of the physical body, which means the ego has no
real existence. It did not have any existence a little while before, and soon it goes out of existence.
So, it is a mere appearance, a temporary appearance in time, and yet this is taken to be the greatest
reality. The whole life of an individual is completely terrorised by it, dominated by it and for its sake
he is prepared to do anything. He fights, quarrels, does violence, hurts others and creates
disharmony, discontent and does anything. Such is the power of Avidya or Ajnana or spiritual
ignorance.
An unreality which does not really have any substantial or permanent existence, which has
only a temporary appearance for the time being, becomes the factor that dominates the
consciousness of the individual and thus holds the consciousness within its infinite bound in a sort
of imprisonment. This is Samsara, this is bondage. This is what is called phenomenal existence.
This is the outcome of spiritual ignorance. This makes us losing awareness of our true nature, our
permanent eternal nature, moving away from our consciousness which is our permanent nature, and
identifying ourselves to a temporary appearance. This body is just a temporary appearance, just as a
bubble appears upon the surface of water. It was not there a little while before, it appears, and as you
are seeing it, it bursts and it is no longer there. In the same way, this body has a temporary
appearance upon the surface of eternity, eternal time. Therefore, this is a product of ignorance due
to forgetting of one s eternal nature. This ego, having identified itself with the physical body,
39
LECTURES ON RAJA YOGA
conceives attachment for it and this attachment is like a creeper which starts to grow at one point
and then gradually spreads.
In the same way, Dehadhyasa or identification with one body, this form and this name,
gradually concedes attachment to it and this attachment starts extending to all things that are some
way or other related to it.  I am so many years old. This body is mine. Therefore, I am attached to it,
and then I am attached to my wife, I am attached to my husband, I am attached to my children, to my
brother or sister, to my mother or father, to my friend and to my house, to my wrist-watch, to my
fountain pen, to my gold, to my jewellery, to my clothes and so on and so forth. When my daughter [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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