Method
The aim of Raja Yoga is perfection; the method is the connection with the supreme. Whilst I only have connection with human beings or even with prophets and messengers, I cannot reach my own most elevated stage. But when I have union with the supreme, I am given the strength to erase my own defects, and the strength to absorb all virtues and achieve perfection.

The Complete Stage
THE STAGE OF PERFECTION could be described as BEING COMPLETELY VICELESS, COMPLETELY VIRTOUS, FILLED WITH ALL DIVINE TALENTS AND ATTRIBUTES AND COMPLETELY NON-VIOLENT - the soul who follows the highest code of conduct.

Through the knowledge that is taught by the supreme and the method of meditation that is taught by the supreme, this becomes possible. Yoga means union; Raja Yoga means union with supreme. It also means the highest the highest of all unions: that yoga through which the soul regains its supremacy. I became the master over myself, my own mind, my senses, my personality, so that I can develop in the direction of my choice. Instead of being manipulated by outside events and circumstances, or even by other people, the soul can see its target and will move forward with constancy, or even by other people, the soul can see its target and will move forward with constancy and with determination, thus achieving its target , its final aim and object.

Sometimes we have felt that as Raja Yoga is highest, perhaps it is also the most difficult. Nothing could be further from truth, because Raja Yoga is the very natural awareness of one's own true identity. How could that possibly be difficult? Raja Yoga is also the natural, loving communication with the supreme father. Can communication with a beloved father be called difficult?

Whilst there is lack of understanding, or whilst there is no clearly defined knowledge, there is a clear introduction, I can begin to establish a relationship on the basis of that introduction. And as I experience the benefits of that relationship, it deepens until it becomes one of perfect union, perfect harmony, in which the souls becomes the image of the supreme. It is recreated with the qualities of the supreme Father.

A Choice of Yogas?
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).

The Stages of Development

Stage-1 MEDITATION
It is interesting that the very foundation of raja yoga is different from most other forms of meditation. One of the very first stages of raja yoga could be described as meditation. But in this meditation we are not using a "mantra" (a holy word, phrase or sound), nor are we using any physical images. We are using knowledge.

Stage-2 CONCENTRATION
With meditation, straying thoughts cease, and there is concentration. Far from concentration on a mere physical object, the raja yogi seeks union with the supreme, who is incorporeal, without physical form of any description.

Stage-3 REALISATION
So the aim of my meditation is to have total concentration on or connection with the supreme being. This total concentration can be called realization.

Why not a Mantra or an Object ?
WHILST A MANTRA, OR AN OBJECT, IS USED, THE best I can hope to achieve is concentration on the word or object. Most certainly, I a very far away from experiencing communication with the supreme. The most I will achieve is a certain peace of mind, because my thoughts have moved away from a pattern of thinking linked to my physical existence or the events that were causing me grief and sorrows. My thoughts have been diverted to the mantra or the object, and that period of time I performed that meditation. However, after that of meditation, I discovered I am still the same as I was before.

The meditation of raja yoga is the aim of achieving communication with the supreme. It is not merely a concentration exercise.

How does one acheive communication ?
Thought - even when two people are communicating by means of physical energies, such the sound of speech, aided by visual communication through the eyes, the basis of that communication is thoughts. Their thoughts, in harmony, are the communication that is actually taking place. In the same way, I must use my thoughts if I am to communicate with the supreme father.

This is why in the GITA we are given the instructions "manmanabhav" - "focus your mind on me".

On the hand, this is surely the simplest thing I can do and very easy to achieve. There is no difficulty for my physical body. There is no penance or ritual - nothing for me to perform. All I must do is think, turn my thoughts, my mind, towards GOD. And yet this most simple of tasks proves to be the most difficult thoughts, because I don't know where to focus my thoughts. I do not know hoe to discipline my thoughts.

A focus - therefore, knowledge is needed: (i) knowledge of the self, so that I know how the soul is creating thoughts (ii) knowledge of the supreme, so that I can focus my thoughts on the Supreme Being. Once there is knowledge, and love, my thoughts will automatically move away from al other directions and will focus on the supreme.

In the first stage of raja yoga, the mind is used very actively. This is surely the best system, being the easiest and most natural. To try and stop the mind functioning is the most laborious thing. It is not even necessary.

My mind is accustomed to working constantly. If a car is running at full speed and I slam on the breaks, I will come to a halt, but I would possibly create damage in the process. In the same way, my mind is accustomed to racing and if I would try to prevent it from doing so, I will either have great difficulty or I will only be successful for a short while. The mind will again leap to another direction and I will loose control all over.

The Experience
Supreme teaches a very beautiful system: let the mind race, but simply control the direction in which it is going. When the intellect has knowledge, thoughts will be elevated from the level of physical mundane activity to thoughts of the self: "who am I? What am I? What are my original qualities? Where is my home? Who is my father? What is my relationship with him? What are his qualities? What is his address? What does he do?

The answers to these questions are given in raja yoga, and the soul ponders on these questions. As it discovers and churns the answer, the soul finds that it has moved away from the gross, corporeal world into subtle areas - the subtle regions. There is then "meditation" taking place on the most natural level.

Then there is full concentration on the Supreme Being. I go deeper and deeper into the Ocean, discovering His qualities, experiencing different relationships that I have with Him, Conscious thoughts are still operating, but now all thoughts are focussed on One - on Supreme - not even on other areas of spiritual knowledge.

During the meditation, perhaps many areas of spiritual knowledge were being taken up. During the concentration, I speak to my Supreme Father - my thoughts become quieter, calmer, no longer racing. And, the mind becomes still, I even begin to hear what my Supreme Father is saying to me. I reach the stage where there is "concentration" - the experience of my Supreme Father as He truly is.

I am flooded with the experience of His qualities. I absorb them. I am transformed. I even begin to radiate them in the universe.

I have reached a stage where there are no longer conscious thoughts at work. Pure experience has taken over. And as I come away from that stage of experience, I can classify it, and conscious thought comes. But whilst in that experience, there is not even conscious thought

The Natural Way
In a very natural way my mind has moved from conscious, gross thinking to conscious, subtle thinking (first stage), and then to concentration (second stage), and then even to a stage beyond conscious thinking (third stage). Because there has been a natural process at work, it has been a very simple procedure. The difficulty with meditation has been that people have considered it necessary to stop all thought, and in order to achieve this, have had to use artificial means. But the active mechanism comes to a halt naturally when the system of Raja Yoga is understood and practised.

It is not even a matter of having to spend many months on one stage before going onto the next. As I practice, and observe the disciplines of a yogi way of life, and understand more and more knowledge, the soul moves away from ordinary consciousness to soul consciousness to God consciousness in another easy step, and then experiences perfect union.

The Effect on the World
So Raja Yoga has an effect on one's whole life. But a Raja Yogi is also influencing change in the World, in two different ways. Firstly, on one level, as I change, I trigger off a reaction in all others around me - my family, my relatives, my friends, my colleagues, in society, and in the world. Secondly, as one sits on the highest stage of yoga, one is an instrument for spreading the qualities of god, the qualities of purity and peace, into the universe, so that not only am I transformed, but the world is also transformed.

The ultimate aim of Raja Yoga is not even just the transformation of the self, not just perfection for the self, but the creation of a new world order in which there is perfection. The aim of Raja Yoga is the establishment of the "World of Truth", the Golden Age, the World of Purity, the World of Love, the World of Happiness.

The system of Raja Yoga is simply turning the thoughts towards the Supreme, with love, as has been spoken of in the Gita.

Suggested Thoughts for Meditation

I become aware of my true identity…I the soul…I move away from the pull of the body and the physical world… The pull of the Supreme Father is stronger than these others. I come in front of my Supreme Father…In the presence of Baba, the Incorporeal pinpoint of light…I experience the blessings of my Father, my Teacher, and my Supreme Guru…the blessings of purity…of divinity… I am filled up with the peace from the Ocean…with the light and might that is within the Supreme…Naturally, easily I am filled with all that I desire…for I have met the Supreme Father of all souls and taken from his store… And as I go about linked with my Father, I spread those vibrations of light and might into the physical world.

Questions
Why is Rajayoga considered to be the supreme yoga?
In what ways do we achieve a link with the Supreme?

In your own words, explain how through meditation one can bring about a change in others and also in the world.