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Sometimes we
have been told that, because there are a
variety of yogas, different yogas are suited
to different personalities and that we must
choose the path of yoga we would like to
follow. Let us see how far this idea is
valid.
Yoga through
love and devotion - Raja Yoga means the
total development of the soul; if I am told
that I must follow the path of bhakti yoga
(the yoga through love and devotions)
because this is the way in which my
personality is inclined, what will be the
final result? Through bhakti yoga there is
the expression of love for the supreme,
there is the experience of love from the
supreme, and there is also great humility.
But the soul does not just need love; it
needs a great deal more.
If there is only
the development of the emotional aspects, of
love within the soul, my personalities will
develop in a dangerous pattern, for not only
do I need to love GOD, I also need to know
him, in order to follow his instruction, and
obey the directions he gives for my life. So
while I remain only a yogi of bhakti, love
will be developed but there will be no
wisdom, no understanding and no strength
within my soul.
Yoga through
learning knowledge - I also need that which
has been described as gyan yoga (gyan
meaning knowledge) because only when I have
a yoga which is based on knowledge will I be
able to protect myself from any temptation.
Yoga of the
intellect through depth of perception of
knowledge - While there may be any love for
god, there is also the possibility that any
temptation coming in front of me will prove
to be greater than the emotion I experience
at what moment, and I will be distracted
from my path of Yoga or union. But if there
is knowledge, with the depth of perception
that knowledge brings, the soul is able to
recognise the difficulties, obstacles and
temptations and will make sure that it is
not trapped by any of these, and that it
remains the firm yogi. Gyan yoga is linked
with buddhi yoga (buddhi mean intellect).
The balance of
yogas - While Gyan and buddhi yoga are
isolated, there is the danger that simply
with knowledge, simply with yoga of the
intellect, I may develop arrogance, and
there would not be a complete development of
personality. Complete development implies a
tempering of qualities of love and law with
each other: love channel by law, and law
tempered by sweetness of love. I need both,
surely, if I am to be completely balanced
personality.
I need the
bhakti to develop to develop the sweetness
within my nature, and equally I need
knowledge, in order to develop the strength
within my being. So I cannot separate my
yoga into compartments and say that I must
choose the one or the other. I must find a
yoga, which combines both. And if we look at
Raja Yoga, we can see the perfect
combinations.of all yogas within one system.
The yogas within
Raja Yoga - first and foremost, perhaps it
could be described as the buddhi yoga
because it is yoga based very much on the
intellect. The intellect is the faculty
which takes knowledge, so raja yoga is also
given gyan yoga .the intellect uses
knowledge as the basis for communication
with the supreme, there is spontaneous
expression of pure love and devotion for the
supreme being, not only as my father and
mother, but my friend, my beloved and my
companion. So it contains the purest love of
bhakti. Without this, the perfect
relationship of the soul with the supreme
could not exist.
Yoga through
renunciation - with this love of supreme the
soul very naturally turns away from all
others and comes to one - the seed. Thus
raja yoga is sanyas yoga (sanyas means
renunciation). It is not a physical
renunciation. If I have physically renounced
something, and yet my thoughts are pulled to
that being or thing it is only artificial
renouncing.
However if my
thoughts are pulled by the supreme as a
result of there being a recognition.
Of the sweetness
of the supreme and my thoughts and intellect
have renounced or left behind the pulls or
attraction of the physical gross world then
this is the highest the natural unlimited
renunciation.
Yoga through
discipline and determination - Raja Yoga is
also hatha yoga ( hatha implying a system of
discipline or a system of force). Within
Raja yoga there is natural discipline, he
natural force and power that comes from a
deep understanding within the soul. No
physical postures are performed but this
soul is completely disciplined so that it
remains in the mental postures necessary for
each particular situation.
Hatha is also
determination. Raja Yoga is not achieved
without determination in the soul. However,
again the determination is an internal one.
Rather than simply holding the body the body
in a lotus posture, the raja yoga is intent
on keeping the mind in a lotus posture; that
is, while living in the old, impure world of
kali, yuga (the iron age), to make sure the
soul itself is quite unaffected and always
above the influence of the impurity all
round.
In raja yoga,
there is not the shauv assan (the death
posture) for the body, which is used to
bring relaxation. However, because the soul
experiences total detachment from its
physical senses and its physical costume,
there is perfect relaxation, even more so
than with the shauv aasan.
Thus in raja
yoga everything is translated to apply to
the internal state of development and the
complete stability achieved through that
development.
Yoga through
action - raja yoga is also karma yoga (karma
means action). Karma yoga can be defined in
three ways:
Firstly - yoga
which can be practiced even whilst
performing action. Since raja yoga is simply
turning the loving thoughts to the supreme
father, does not involve any physical
posture or physical aid, my thoughts can be
with my supreme father even while I work
with the hands, and be in perfect yoga with
him. As I walk, as I talk, as I sit, as I
eat, and whatever action I am engaged in, my
thoughts are engaged with my supreme
beloved. Therefore it is the one and only
yoga that one can maintain whilst engaged in
action.
SECONDLY - KARMA
YOGA IS ALSO TRANSLATED AS THE YOGA THAT IS
REFLECTED IN MY KARMA (MY ACTION). My
communication with the supreme fills me with
purity, love and peace; my actions then
reflect this state of being - my yogic
state. Actions are transformed to ones of
total purity, ones that spread both peace
and love.
THIRDLY - KARMA
YOGA IS THE ACTION BY WHICH MY YOGA IS
STRENGTHENED; i.e. through which I come
closer to supreme being, or through which my
union with him is strengthened. When there
is karmic exchange (giving and taking)
between human beings, a relationship
develops. Precisely the same occurs with the
supreme father; as I perform action out of
love for the supreme, in the love of the
supreme, that action brings me closer to
him, and strengthens my yoga. So yoga is
also true karma yoga.
Yoga through
equanimity - Raja yoga is the samatwa yoga (samatwa
meaning equanimity) as I have union with my
supreme father, I am pulled away from the
fluctuating influences of the external
world. The only influence able to reach me
is that of the qualities of my supreme
father. The influences of the impure world
of the iron age,* with their negativity,
have been left behind. My thoughts, my
intellect and my SANSKARAS are now
influenced only by the qualities of my
supreme father, and so my complete state of
mind, through my whole being, reflects this
equanimity.
There may
be many other yogas but each one of them is
found within raja yoga. It is the supreme of
yogas, for it leads to the full development
of myself, the soul. * The present age of
the degraded state of the world. (see lesson
6, in due course). |
