II
THE YOGA
PHILOSOPHY
1. Much has been written and
said on the mystic philosophy of ancient nations of the Egyptians, Greeks and
Hindus. But I doubt whether it has been rightly understood. The advocates of
modern science, some of them base the science of ethics on expediency, others
on utility, while there are many to whom moral code is a commandment from a
superior to an inferior. Thou shalt commit no murder. Why? The theologian
would say‑Because that is the commandment of God. The materialists will say‑
because that is the command of the ruling authority of the state. But why
should God and the sovereign issue commands? There is no rational reply. A
system of ethics not based on the rational demonstration of the universe is of
no practical value. It is only a system of the ethics of individual opinions
and individual convenience. It has no solidity and therefore no strength. The
aim of human existence is happiness, progress; and all ethics teach how to
attain one and achieve the other. The question however remains‑What is
happiness and what is progress? Those are issues not yet solved in any
satisfactory manner in the West by the known systems of ethics. The reason is
not far to seek. The modern tendency is to separate ethics from physics or
rational demonstration of the universe and thus make it a science resting on
nothing but the irregular whims and caprices of individuals and nations.
In India ethics has ever been
associated with religion. Religion has ever been an attempt to solve the
mystery of nature. Every religion has its philosophical as well as ethical
aspect and the latter without the former has in India at least no meaning. If
every religion has its physical and ethical side, it has its psychological
side as well. There is no possibility of establishing a relation between
physics and ethics but through psychology. Psychology enlarges the conclusions
of physics and confirms the idea of morality.
The Yoga philosophy
then is based on the idea that if man wants at all to understand his place in
nature and to be happy and progressing he must aim at that physical,
psychological and moral development which can enable him to pry into the
depths of nature. He must observe, think and act, he must live, love and
progress. His development must be simultaneous on all the three planes. The
law of correspondence, according to this philosophy, rules supreme in nature
and the physical corresponds as much to the mental as both in their turn
correspond to the moral. Unless man arrives at this stage of corresponding and
simultaneous development on the three planes he is not able to understand the
meaning of his existence or existence in general, nor even to grasp the idea
of happiness or progress. To that man of high aim whose body, mind and soul
act in correspondence the higher, nay, even all, secrets of nature become
revealed. He feels within himself as everywhere that Universal Life wherein
there is no distinction, no sense of separateness, but therefore all bliss,
unity and peace.
Lest I may be misunderstood as
subscribing to the doctrine of Yoga philosophy except Jainism, I should
tell you beforehand that what I am saying here is merely the doctrine of the
Yoga Philosophy. In my theory in the highest spiritual plane, physical
form is not a necessity for the realization of the highest truth. Form is only
required in the infant state of development.
The peace of Universal Life
then is according to the Yoga philosophy the peace of spiritual bliss
Moksh. The course of nature never ceases, action always compels even
the peaceful to act; but the individual being already lost in the All there is
nothing unpleasant to disturb. The peace of spiritual development is
indescribable and so are its powers indescribably vast. As you go on
forgetting yourself, just in the same proportion do spiritual peace and
spiritual powers flow towards you. When one consciously suppresses
individuality by proper physical, mental moral and spiritual development he
becomes part and parcel of the immutable course of nature and never suffers.
This fourfold development and spiritual peace have been considered the end of
philosophy. In India there have been six such schools of thought. Each starts
with a more or less rational demonstration of the universe and ends with a
sublime code of ethics. There are first the atomic Vaisheshika and the
dialectic Naya schools seeking mental peace in devotion to the ruler of
the universe. Then there are the materialist Sankhya and the practical
Yoga schools teaching mental peace by proper analysis and practical
training. Lastly there are the orthodox Mimamsa and the Unitarian
Advaita schools, placing spiritual bliss in strict observance of Vedic
injunction and in realizing the unity of the Cosmos. It will thus be seen that
Yoga is a complement of the Sankhya.
2. I told you last time when
we met that the Sankhya philosophy starts with the proposition that the
world is full of miseries of three kinds physical, supernatural and corporeal
and that these are the results of the properties of matter and not of its
correlate intelligence of consciousness, that out of the primordial essence
Prakriti comes out the whole universe, by reason of the predominance of
one or other of the three qualities of Sativa, Rajas and Tams
passivity, activity, all grossness, darkness, ignorance of Tams, all
pleasure, passivity, knowledge, peace of Sativa. The mind is a result
of Rajas _ and it is Sativa alone which by its light illumines
it and enables it at times to catch glimpses of the blissful Purush
ever near to the Sativa 2. As mind or the thinking principal
plays an important part in the Sankhya and more so in the Yoga
philosophy, for its chief article is 'Stop the transformation of the thinking
principal and you will realize the Self', we will come to a consideration of
the mind.
3. With the philosophers of
the West, mind and soul are synonyms. The popular definition is‑ mind is the
intellectual power in man. In the East there is a difference of opinion on
this subject among the several philosophers. The followers of the Naya
philosophy hold that all bodies having a form are impermanent but the mind
being formless is permanent; it has special attributes and is likewise subtle;
hence it is unable to grasp two objects at the same time. The Sankhya
philosophy however of which Yoga is the complement considers the mind
to be a derivative product. Till the Purush‑soul‑is emancipated from
Prakriti the mind continues in a state of integrity. Its span of duration
is limited to a Mahapralaya ‑ the great Deluges when it disintegrates
to be taken up by Prakriti. The seat of the mind has been the subject
of an able discussion amongst the ancient philosophers. The followers of the
Puranas and the Tantrums fix it in the forehead near the
junction of the two eye‑ brows. The anatomical description would incline us to
look upon the optic thalamus as the center of the mind. The Vedanta's
hold the mind to be situated in the heart, for they say when an individual
thinks of a subject he keeps it next to his heart as in the act of
worshipping. There are some philosophers who identify the mind with the soul
but Kapila refutes their views. He says: If mind and soul were one and the
same, one would say 'I am the mind' instead of 'my mind, my hands'. According
to him all experience consists of mental representation, the Satva
being clouded, obscured or entirely covered over by the nature or property of
representation. This is the root of evil. The act of the mind cognizing
objects or, technically, taking the shape of objects presented to it is called
Verity or transformation. It is the Verity which being colored
by the presentation imparts the same color by representation to Satva
and causes evil, misery, ignorance and the like. All objects are made of
three Gun. or qualities and when the Verity or the
transformation of the thinking principal sees everywhere nothing but the
Sativa to the exclusion of the other two, presentation and representation
become purely Satvik passive and the internal Sativa of the
cognize realizes itself everywhere and in everything. In the clear mirror of
the Sativa is reflected the bright and blissful image of the ever
present Purush who is beyond change, and supreme bliss follows. This
state is called Sativapati or Moksa or Kevalya4.
For every Purush who has thus realized itself Prakriti has
ceased to exist, in other words, has ceased to cause disturbance and misery.
The course of nature never ceases but one who receives knowledge remains happy
throughout by understanding the truth. The Sankhya tries to arrive at
this result by a strict mode of life accompanied with analysis and
contemplation.
This state of peace besides
being conducive to eternal calm and happiness is most favorable to the
apprehension of the truths of nature. That intuitive knowledge, which is
called Tarka, puts the students in possession of almost every kind of
knowledge he applies himself to. It is indeed this fact on which the so‑called
powers of Yoga are based.
4. The Yoga
philosophy subscribes to this Sankhya theory in toto. It however
appears to hold that Purush‑ Soul‑by himself cannot easily acquire that
Satvik development which leads to knowledge and bliss. A particular
kind of Eashwar or Supreme God is therefore added for the purposes of
contemplation etc. to the twenty‑five categories of the Sankhya. This
circumstance has obtained for Yoga the name of Saishvar
Sankhya or theistic Sankhya as the Sankhya proper is called
nireashwar Sankhya or atheistic Sankhya.
5. The second and really
important improvement on the Sankhya consists in the highly practical
character of the rules laid down for acquiring eternal bliss and knowledge.
The end proposed by the Yoga philosophy is Samadhi leading to
kaivalya. Yoga and Samadhi are convertible terms, either
meaning Vritinirodh or suspension of the transformations of the thinking
principal.5
6. With this introduction
we will enter into the details of this philosophy. We have defined Yoga
to be the suppression of the transformation of the thinking principal. What is
the thinking principal and what are its transformations and what results are
achieved by the practice of Yoga?
As
to its power it teaches that the powers of electricity and magnetism are but a
drop in the ocean compared with those of the soul, when they are fully
developed by the practice of Yoga. But this is no part of true Yoga,
although the lower form of Yoga does teach, how to develop these
powers.6 The scope of true Yoga lies in the realization of
the immortal part of man and the keynote of this self‑realization lies in the
suppression of the transformation of the thinking principal.
