Introduction

The aphorisms of Patañjali on the Yoga Sūtras are contained in four chapters and are nearly two hundred in number. The author of the aphorisms is said to be the same Patanjali who wrote the famous commentary on Pāniṇi’s aphorisms, under the name of the Mahābhāṣya or the Great Commentary, another work is also attributed to him the great work on Medicine. If so, he was not only a great Grammarian and a great Philosopher, but a Great Physician. He prescribed for the body, mind and spirit all three. The age of Patanjali is now generally fixed at three centuries before Christ.^[1]

The word Yoga comes from a Sanskrit root which means “to go to trance, to meditate.” Others however derive it from a root which means to join; and Yoke in English is said to be the same word as Yoga. Both roots are feasible—in the case of the root to join, Yoga would mean the science that teaches the method of joining the human soul with God.

The philosophy of Patañjali is essentially Dualistic. The Jīvas or Puruṣas or human egos are separate individual entities and exist from eternity; so is also Prakriti, and so also Īśvara or God. It thus believes in three Eternal co-existent principles, the God, the Man and the Matter.

But man is found to be involved in matter, to have fallen from its pristine state of purity. The aim of Yoga is to free (viyoga) man from the meshes of matter. But the highest form of matter is mind—the Citta (a term which would include that which is technically known as manas, as Ahaṃkāra and as Buddhi). The students of Sāṅkhya need not be told that the first product of Prakṛti or the root-matter is Mahat or the Great Principle—the Buddhi, then comes the Ahaṃkāra or I-principle—the matter through which can function the I-ness: and then the Manas or the matter which is the vehicle of thought. These three vehicles—the thought-vehicle (Manas), the I-vehicle (Ahaṃkāra), the Pure-Reason-vehicle (Buddhi)—constitute Chitta or the subtlest form of Matter. To free man from the fetters of this Chitta is thus the problem of Yoga.

The man when freed from all vehicles, remains in his own form called Svarūpa. It is not made of Prākṛtic matter. It is the body which belongs to man—is part of man from eternity—the body in which he dwells in Mukti in super-celestial worlds. It is the body in which the Triune God is directly active—Īśvara, Prāṇa and Śrī—or the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. This svarūpa-deha, is the body of Prāṇa—the body of Christ of the Gnostics. This is the incorruptible undecaying body, the spiritual body.

But when man is not in his Own-Form (Svarūpa), he functions naturally in the lower vehicles, and his form is there the form of his vehicles—whether it be of Buddhic, Ahaṃkāric or Mānasic matter. In fact the man of Psychology is this triad—Ahaṃkāra, Buddhi and Manas.

The human consciousness in whatever lower body it may function is always a dual consciousness—it must be alternately pleasurable or painful. Pleasure and pain are the marks of consciousness functioning in Chitta. The Svarūpa consciousness is only above all pains.

Next to this primary division of all consciousness, as regards their nature; the consciousness as regards its quality is five-fold:—(1) it may be a true consciousness of some objective reality—something which is outside the man and his vehicles;or (2) it may be an incorrect consciousness of outward reality; or (3) it may be a hallucination; or (4) it may be nonperception of anything external but of rest; or (5) it may be the reviving of old perceptions. In other words, the consciousness looked at from the subjective or emotional point of view is either pleasurable or painful; looked at from the objective or cognitional point of view it is—(i) true perceptions, (ii) false perceptions, (iii) hallucinations, (iv) sleep, and (v) memory.

Thus both the emotional and the intellectual aspect of the Citta—or the Triune Man is to be checked. But how is it to be checked. The answer is by constant practice and want of attachment or Dispassion. There must be constant exertion to keep the mind on. one point. This is called Abhyāsa. The intellectual functioning of the Citta is to be checked by Abhyāsa—putting the mind to think of one object, and as soon as it strays away from it to bring it back again to the same point. This practice or Abhyāsa, steadily persevered in, would make the mind one-pointed, with the help of Viveka or discrimination.

As regards the emotional sides of the mind, it must be checked by Vairāgya or dispassion. Pleasure or Pain, attraction or repulsion, love and hatred can be controlled only by this world-weariness—realisation that there is nothing in this world or the next worth striving after, worth desiring or worth hating. The highest form of Vairāgya will be attained when one will realise his separateness from all Prākṛtic vehicles—when he can say “I am not Body, or Desire, or mind, or Reason or I-ness.”

The state of Samādhi or trance induced by Practice and Dispassion is two-fold—Saṃprajñāta and Asaṃprajñāta. In the first, the man has shut off from his consciousness all external impressions, but his internal self-initiated activities have not ceased. In the other, even these are stopped.

There are some entities whose consciousness is in a state of Samādhi naturally, who have not to acquire it by any exertion. These are the classes of beings called Videhas and Prakṛtilayas. Their consciousness is cosmic. The Videhas are Devas. They are Mukta from the beginning: but in some future Kalpa they may come into the world-cycle. The Prakṛtilayas are Adhikāri Puruṣas, the great office-holders in the cosmic hierarchy. They are the perfect ones of the past Kalpa.

In the case, however, of ordinary entities—for the Videhas and the Prakṛtilayas do not stand in need of Yoga the method of suppressing Citta-functions consists in having faith, energy, retentive memory, meditation and wisdom. One must cultivate these qualities in order to become a successful Yogī.

The success is quicker according to the amount of energy put in by the person in his practice. But the best and the safest method of Yoga is the love of God. Loving God with all one’s heart and soul, would quickly bring about the cessation of all mental functions. God is a spirit untouched by sorrow, action and its fruition. He is Omniscient, He is the Teacher of all, and from eternity. His mystic name is Om. One must recite this Om constantly meditating on its letters and their imports; and thus all obstacles to concentration will be removed, and the Inner Self will manifest itself. The obstacles to concentration are disease, languor, doubt, heedlessness, laziness, sensuality, delusion, &c., mentioned in I.30. But when the mind is concentrated, there is no pain or despondency, no fidgetiness, no difficulty of breathing. To attain concentration and remove these obstacles, the aspirant must practise to fix his attention on One Point, One Truth. Of course the highest Truth is God and so the constant attitude of the mind should be God-ppinted.

The aspirant must strictly regulate his conduct as regards others. He must show happiness and feel happiness when dealing with those who are happy. Let him have no feeling of jealousy towards them. He must show compassion towards those who are suffering. He must not be callous to the miseries of others. He must be complacent towards the virtuous, and hate not the sinner. These are the moral attributes that he must try to cultivate.

There are, however, some particular methods which quickly bring about concentration; one of them is the regulation of the breath. The monotony of slowly breathing in and breathing out brings about hypnosis; Fixing the attention on various parts of the body, such as the tip of the nose, palate, &c., are also helpful. The astral senses are developed by this means, and when the practitioner gets first-hand knowledge of astral sights, sounds, &c., his doubts are removed, and he feels more earnestness in pursuing the path.

If the astral development is not wanted, the practitioner may concentrate his attention on the light in the heart: and upon the thought “I am.” This also steadies the mind.

Or he may fix his attention on some great and holy saint or sage—such as Zoroaster, the Buddha, the Christ, &c.

Or he may fix his attention on the objects of his dreams. Sometimes in dream he may be shown a great Deva or a great Teacher. Let him not reject it as fancy. By fixing his attention on it he may acquire steadiness of mind.

Or he may fix his attention on the ideas that pass through his mind just before he goes to sleep, the pictures that arise when one is half-awake and half-asleep—the hypnopompic (as Myers calls them). Or he may fix his attention on the pictures that one sees just before awakening—the hypnogogic. If he can fix his attention on these, he may easily pass into hypnosis.

By such concentration all mental impurities are removed, and the mind becomes like a pure crystal that reflects truly and correctly all objects that are presented to it. They are no longer distorted pictures or dim and dull reflections of outer verities. The mental vehicle is purified, and the knowledge that now arises is far more true than any knowledge that he had before. The mind, however, enters as an element in every such knowledge, and the past ideas and memories tinge such knowledge. This state is called Savitarka or mixed up trance. But when the mind reflects only the object, without adding to it anything from its own associations and storehouse, it is pure idea and is Nirvitarka Samādhi. In this state the light of the Self shines out on purified mind. It is not only a pure crystal that faithfully reflects the outer objects, but it is illumined, as if it were, by a light which was dormant within its own inmost centre. Such a mind is called the Truthbearing mind. It has truth within it and truth without—a mass of truth—a tree carrying the fruit of truth—a female full with truth. Up to this time the objects of the mind were mere ideas and inferences, mere thoughts,

Now the contents of the mind are things, the very things as it were, and not merely thoughts of things. The mind modifies itself, as it were, into the very thing itself; and thus the thing is known more truly and essentially than it was known ever before. In this state of mind, the time and space cannot impede the perception of the object. The object may be inside a box, behind a wall or hundreds of miles off, the mind faithfully reproduces it. The object may be the subtlest and the minutest, not visible even under the strongest microscope, the mind reproduces it. For it no longer depends upon the senses for its knowledge, but has become the all-sense itself. In this way the mind becomes the highest sensory:—by constant practice the mind gets into the habit of reflecting the trance objects. But even this habit is ultimately to be conquered if one wishes to rise to the higher levels of what is called the seedless trance.

The First Chapter thus, in fifty-one aphorisms, gives what may be called the theory or the science of Yoga. An ardent and intelligent person can learn enough from this chapter alone to become a practical Yogin. But for men of ordinary intellect, more detailed teaching is necessary. The Second Chapter enters into such teaching. It may be called the art of Yoga—the technique of it.

The art of Yoga consists in bringing under control and purifying the three lower vehicles of man, namely, the body, the mind and the spiritual Self—the astro-physical, mental, and the causal bodies. The astro-physical body is to be purified and brought under control by what are called ascetic practices,—early rising, bathing, fasting, bearing hardships, etc., in short, all that go under the name of Tapas—or austerities. The mental body must be purified and strengthened by study, by acquiring knowledge. An ignorant person cannot be a Yogī. The causal or spiritual body is to be developed by entire devotion to God. Thus an atheist cannot be a true Yogī.

These three helps—austerities, study and resignation to the will of God—facilitate trance and remove “afflictions.” The “affliction” is the technical name of certain intellectual and emotional weaknesses to which all human beings are liable. They are five in number:—(1) The first is the Nescience or Wrong Notion of things objective—mistaking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, the painful for the pleasurable, the non-Self for the Self. (2) The second is the wrong notion about things subjective—identifying one’s Self with the vehicles in which the Self functions, taking the bodies for the soul. These two are intellectual defects, (3) The third is the emotional weakness. It is the desire natural of man, running after pleasant things. (4) The fourth also is emotional hatred of things that give pain. Thus these two—love and hatred—are emotional defects. The fifth defect is neither intellectual nor emotional—it is instinctive—the instinct of self-preservation—the instinctive fear of death—the love of life. These are the five “afflictions” of Yoga—Avidyā, Asmitā, Rāga, Dveṣa and Abhiniveśa—Nescience, Egoism, love and hatred and instinctive dread of death. These “afflictions” are destroyed by meditation and the methods already mentioned.

These “afflictions” are the root of the body of transmigration, the root of re-incarnation, of birth, life and suffering. The pleasure and pain which a man suffers are the result of his past acts, the virtuous acts are the seed of pleasure, the vicious of pain. The word “affliction” is thus a purely technical term, for it includes the high heavenly pleasure also which is the result of virtuous actions. But in the philosophy of Yoga—as well as that of Sāṅkhya—all such pleasures are also considered as pains: because philosophically the world is painful, all its experiences, even those which people call pleasurable, are painful to the philosopher. This is stated in the memorable aphorism, II. 15, p. 100.

All world-experience being thus painful, the philosopher seeks to find the root-cause of this experience and this is the conjunction of the knower and the knowable—the Self and the not-Self. Because man is tied with mind, and cannot extricate himself from the embraces of mind-matter that he suffers. When he masters the mind, and is not her slave, then there is no pain—there is no necessary experiencing of joy and sorrow. The non-ego to which the man is tied has the three well-known attributes or Guṇas—the Sattva, Rajas and Tamas—the Light, the Activity and the Inertia—is the source of all elements, and producer of all sensations and senses.

The Yoga system of cosmogony is the same as that of the Sāṅkhya, so far as the evolution of the world-elements out of the Primordial matter called Prakriti is concerned. It is summarised in II. 19.

What is the nature of the Self? This question naturally arises after one has learned the nature of the nön-Self. The man is pure consciousness: and the non-Self exists for him. If man is pure consciousness, how does he perceive the non-Self? He knows the non-ego by a sort of reflex action. The mind catches the reflection of the non-Self; and the man becomes conscious of that reflection. The man is thus the seer of the pictures in the mind. The non-ego or the knowable thus exists for the sake of the Man. In the state of Mukti, there exists no knowable for that Man. Though to the Perfect Man there is no knowable, it does not mean that the knowable ceases to exist. It exists with regard to the other souls that have not reached perfection.

A question is often asked: If the ultimate goal is the separation of man from the non-Self, the knowable, why was this conjunction between the two brought about? Why was man tied down to non-Self, to mattermind? The answer to this is: In order that Man may perfect his nature by acquiring all experiences and passing through them. Unless the Man learns all that the Matter-Mind has to teach, the conjunction is not broken. The effective cause of this conjunction lies in the Avidyā—the Wrong Notion. When, therefore, the Avidyā or Nescience is removed, the conjunction is removed and the Man shakes off the eternal burden. How is the Avidyā to be removed? The Avidyā being Wrong Notion, can be removed only by Right Notion call Viveka-Khyāti or Discriminative knowledge. This discriminative knowledge has seven stages four dealing with the phenomenal knowledge and three with the mental or subjective notions, as described in II. 27. It is on reaching this that the title of Adept or Kuśala is given to the Yogī.

The acquisition of this Adeptship is through the practice of eightfold Yoga. The famous phrase Aṣṭāṅga Yoga refers to this. The eight accessories of Yoga are enumerated in II. 29. Five of these are external, as if, compared with the last three. The eight Aṅgas are so important that it can well bear repetition here.

First, Practise Restraint, i.e., be moral. This restraint or Yama consists of five sub-divisions:—(a) do not kill or injure any being. Be kind to all. Ahiṃsā; (6) Speak and act truth; (c) Steal not, nor acquire illicit gains; (d) Practise continence and celibacy; (e) Be not avaricious. These are universal rules.

Second Niyama or Observance. This is also five-fold:—(a) Be clean in body and mind, (b) Be contented, (c) Practise asceticism and austerity, (d) Study sacred books, (e) Be devoted to God.

While practising Yama and Niyama, if obstacles arise, always try to think of the opposite quality. If he feels a strong desire to tell a falsehood, let him not fight the desire, by a frontal attack, by checking it. Let him substitute the opposite desire—the beauty of truthfulness. If he hates another, let him think of the good qualities of that man. If he is in danger of breaking the vow of celibacy, let him think of the glorious future of the Brahmacārī. Pratipakṣa Bhāvana—thinking of the contrary—is the key of success. It is the great strategy in this moral battle, and is embodied in II. 33. The moral qualities mentioned in Yama, must be absolutely observed—no sophistical diminution of their absolute nature is allowed to the Yogī. To him the moral laws are absolute. Thus the first rule of Ahiṃsā says “kill not.” This is an absolute rule. There cannot be any exceptions or reservations. The enemies of the country, the renegades of religion, the blasphemers of sages and saints, the murderer, the criminal—kill none. To Yogī the vow of non-killing is absolute. He must not kill even in self-defence of himself or of his near and dear ones. Hence the rule says: “They (Yama) are the great vow universal, and not limited by caste, country, age and condition. (II. 31.). So also with truth. One must not lie for the sake of one’s country or State or Brāhmaṇa or cow, &c. Not only this: there are certain omissions which become as bad as actual commissions of these sins. He incurs sin if he causes another to do it or permits its being done.

The third Aṅga of Yoga is Āsana or posture. No particular posture is obligatory, but the posture must be such as is steady and easy; not painful or irksome. The various postures given in books of Hatha Yoga such as Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā or Śiva Saṃhitā are useful as physical exercises, for the otherwise sedentary Yogī.

The fourth Aṅga of Yoga is the much abused Prāṇāyāma or the Regulation of breath. The Yoga has come to mean, in the thoughts of many, posturing and nose-closing. But the right regulation of breath as a mental and physical effect was pointed out long ago. The Western science has come to recognise its advantages and Books of Breathing are not as rare now as they were when we first wrote about it in 1882.

The fifth Aṅga of Yoga is Pratyāhāra or Abstraction. It is a state of catalepsy when the senses do not come into contact with their objects. It is the state of the inhibition of the senses. A pistol may be fired near the ear of the Yogī and he will not hear it. Ammonia may be held under his nostrils and he will not smell it, and so on.

All the above five are Bahiraṅga or the external. The internal Yoga which has to deal with the mind and mind alone consists of the last three Aṅgas—Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna and Samādhi.

The Third Chapter gives a description of this Antaraṅga Yoga. The Dhāranā, Dhyāna and Samādhi are collectively called Saṃyama.

When the stage of catalepsy is reached, the Yogī fixes his mind on any particular portion of his body. This holding the mind in a particular part is Dhāraṇā or concentration.

The continuation of the mental effort to keep the mind there is Dhyāna or meditation.

This meditation (Dhyāna) turns into Samādhi or contemplation when the Self is lost as if it were, the object of meditation alone remains in the mind and shines out alone.

This Saṃyama—concentration, meditation and contemplative trance—is the great instrument of acquiring all knowledge of supersensuous verities. It is the strong searchlight of the mind which turned on any object, reveals its inmost core. It is the great light of wisdom—Prajñāloka.

This Saṃyama must be applied to plane after plane of nature, physical, astral, mental, &c. One cannot jump to a higher plane, leaving off an intermediate plane—the progress is gradual.

The Yogi who has mastered Saṃyama as regards a higher plane should not desecrate this faculty by employing it in lower planes. He who by Saṃyama, has learnt communion with God, should not waste his faculty in thought-reading, clairvoyance, bringing messages from the dead to the living or vice versa. He should not squander his energy in hunting up the past records in the astral light, nor the shadows of the future in the Brāhmic Idea.

What is the state of mind in Samādhi and Nirodha? Is it a state of perfect quiescence of the mental body? As regards the mental body it is state of perfect stillness so far as the vehicle is concerned, but it is a state of great molecular motion in the mental body itself. The molecules of the mental body are thrown in a very high state of vibration, though the body in all appearance is in perfect calm. This vibration of the molecules of the mental body, becomes by practice, rhythmic and this rhythmic flow is the mental peace of Samādhi. The swing of the vibration lies between one-pointedness and all-pointedness—between the contraction to a point and expansion to embrace a whole universe. That which appears to be the stillness of Samādhi is perhaps the highest activity possible. Even what is called one-pointedness is itself a state of utmost activity. When the mind is one-pointed it does not mean that one idea is indelibly impressed on the mind like an engraving on a stone, but that the mind is working so quickly that the image of one is formed in no time as it were, destroyed in no time as it were, and formed again. This quick succession of the same form is one-pointedness. In ordinary states one idea is followed by another idea. In one-pointedness the same idea vanishes and re-appears again and again. Thus what is called fixing the mind to a thought is really making the mind reproduce one thought over and over again, in the utmost quickness of succession, without the intrusion of any foreign thought.

The Third Chapter then gives a list of psychic powers and how to acquire them by applying Saṃyama. The power of knowing the past, present and future is by making Saṃyama on three-fold modifications which all objects are constantly undergoing (III.13).

Methods are laid down as how to acquire the memory of past births, how to read the thoughts of others, how to disappear from sight, how to get strength, how to see through closed doors, how to know the solar system and astronomy, &c., &c. These methods have a meaning only for him who knows the practice of Saṃyama. Without that no amount of thinking on the solar plexus will give one a knowledge of internal anatomy, &c.

The Fourth Chapter deals with Kaivalya or final emancipation—the realisation by Man that he is separated from Mind-Matter.

The psychic powers or Siddhis are either innate, or produced through the means of medicinal drugs, or suggestion of Mantra, or asceticism or contemplation. Some are born psychics, as Kapila, Swedenborg, &c. Temporary psychic powers may be acquired through anæs-thetics, such as chloroform, hashish, &c. Psychic faculties may be developed by the recitation of certain Mantras, or the suggestion of sound. Some persons have acquired psychic powers through austerities. The fifth or contemplation is the method of this Yoga system.

The born psychics are those who had practised Yoga in their past lives. They are like eggs in which the bird has already fully formed—break the shell and the bird comes out. But ordinary men are eggs that require hatching for lives to develop the bird. The born psychics are like a field by the side of a reservoir of water on a higher level. It only requires the opening of the sluice to flood the field with water. It only requires some exciting cause to make a born psychic a developed Yogī. Ordinary men are, however, like fields, which are away from any source of water, and which require to be irrigated by bringing water from a distance, with great exertion, in this life. A Yogī, having attained the power of Samādhi, sets about destroying his past Karmas. All Karmas may be divided into three classes:—(1) The acts done in the past whose consequences the man must suffer in the present life: the Karmas to expiate which he has taken the present birth or incarnation. They are the ripe Karmas (Prārabdha). (2) The Karmas done in the past, but which are not ripe, and will have to be expiated in some future life. They are the stored Karmas or unripe (Sañcita). (3) The Karmas which a man creates in his present life, and which have to be expiated in a future or the present life. This last kind of act—the fresh Karmas, can be stopped. By devotion to the Lord and doing everything in a spirit of service, no fresh Karmas are generated. The incurring of debt is stopped

The man, however, has to pay off past debts—the ripe and unripe Karmas. The ripe Karmas will produce their effects in the present life. The Yogī does not trouble himself about this. But the unripe or stored Karmas require a future birth. It is here that the Yoga is of the greatest practical importance. The Yogī is not bound to wait for future lives in order to get an opportunity to pay off the debt of Sañcita Karmas. He simultaneously creates all the bodies that those Sañcita Karmas require through those bodies expiates all his Karmas simultaneously. Every one of such body has a Citta or mentality of his own. This is the Nirmāna-chitta or the Artificial mind—like the Pseudo-Personalities of hypnotic trance. These artificial minds arise simultaneously like so many sparks from the Aharnkāric matter of the Yogī’s Self, and they ensoul the artificial bodies created for them. These artificial bodies with artificial minds in them walk through the earth in hundreds—they are distinguished from ordinary men by the fact that they are perfectly methodical in all their acts, and automatic in their lives. All these artificials are controlled by the consciousness of the Yogī. One consciousness controlling hundred automatons. Every one of these automatons has a particular destiny, a particular portion of the Sañcita Karma to exhaust. As soon as that destiny is fulfilled, the Yogī withdraws his ray from it, and the “man” dies a sudden death—a heart failure generally.

Now what is the difference between the ordinary mind and the Yoga-created mind—the natural Citta and the artificial Citta. The natural mind by experience gains a habit, the impressions are stored in it and they, as Vāsanās, become the seeds of desires and activities. The artificial mind is incapable of storing up impressions in it. It has no Vāsanās and consequently it disintegrates as soon as the body falls down.

The actions performed by the Yogī, through his ordinary or the extraordinary bodies—through the body with which he was born, or through the bodies which he gives birth to by Yoga power—are no actions in the ethical sense of the word. They are not Karmas—neither good nor bad. They are the paying up of the past debts, and not incurring of fresh liabilities. With ordinary men the actions are good or bad, or a mixture of both—white or black or gray, all such actions produce their effect,—particular kind of birth, particular length of life period, particular kinds of life experiences—or produce their effect as tendencies to certain kind of actions, Both kinds of effects constitute the fate or the destiny of man,

Tendency is memory. The essence of memory is converted into tendency. The tendencies with which a man is born are the extracts of all the memories of a particular kind. The events of the past life are not remembered, but from the tendencies of the present life one can easily infer what those, events must have been to give rise to these tendencies. The surgical operation may be forgotten, because performed under chloroform, or in infancy, but from the nature of the cicatrix one can infer what must have been the nature of the operation. Therefore, the Smṛti (memory) and Samskara (tendency or habit) are really one (Ekarūpatva)—IV. 9. Acts produce habits, habits lead to acts—the circle of Vāsanā is eternal, and beginningless. Is it possible, to break this chain of habits and acts, acts and habits? Jñāna is the only means. Through Jñāna alone is possible to destroy this inexorable chain of causation.

Now what is this Jñāna or wisdom? It is the realisation of the distinction between the Puruṣa or Spirit, and Prakṛti or mind-matter-energy. Puruṣa is pure consciousness or rather Citśakti—power of consciousness. By his proximity to Prakriti (mind-energy-matter) it induces in the latter his quality. This induction takes place in the purest part of Prakriti in the Buddhic-essence (the mental portion of Prakriti): Just as soft iron becomes magnetised by its proximity to iron. Thus Cit-śakti or consciousness is two-fold,—the pure consciousness of the spirit or spiritual consciousness and the consciousness of the Buddhi-sattva or mental consciousness. The pure Buddhisattva (devoid of Rajas and Tamas) reflects the spirit and appears likes spirit and is mistaken for it. The Jñāna consists in the discrimination of this difference realising that the Citta is the instrument and not the Self. In the state of Samā-dhi, when this highest knowledge is realised, then arises the positive activity of the Spirit. Up to this time the effort was in a sense negative only—separating the Spirit from mind-energy-matter. When this separation is realised, then the Spirit manifests its own attributes fully. This manifestation of the attributes (dharma) of the Spirit on its own plane above the planes of Prakriti (mind-energy-matter) is the highest form of Samādhi. It is positive Samādhi and is called Dharma-Megha Samādhi. Dharma means highest activity, above the sphere of causation, where, the actions are neither white, black nor grey, an activity that leads to the highest end of Man—an activity which is the highest end of Man. It is called Megha or cloud, because this state of Samādhi rains such Dharma;—is full of Dharma and Dharma alone. It is the cloud which showers all blessings on the lower planes—while the Man himself basks in the Light of the Eternal Sun. Every Mukta Yogi is a Dharma-Megha—the Cloud of Holiness—the showerer of good and nothing but good on all creation. A man who has become a Dharma-Megha—a Cloud of Holiness, is above all afflictions and Karinas, his mind is free from all taints, and there is nothing that is beyond the scope of his knowledge. Being the Cloud of Dharma all attributes are known to him. Then the man is in his Svarūpa—this is Kaivalya, this is Self-realisation—the state of true Freedom, though full of highest activity. Such a Man, the Dharma-Megha, the Cloud of Holiness, is a blessing to the thirsting humanity nay a blessing to the whole creation.

S. C. V.

Dated, 24th February 1910.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra’s preface to his Edition of the Yoga Aphorisms of Patañjali and also his paper on Goṇikāputra and Gonardīya as names of Patañjali, pp. 261 et seq., of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1883.