(The section ‘Tapas
or Austerity’ now resumes)
The
tapas performed by men with the utmost faith, without desire for fruit and
harmonised, is sattvic or pure. That practised with the object of gaining
respect, honour and worship and for ostentation is rajasic, unstable and
fleeting. That done under a deluded understanding, with self-torture or with
the object of destroying another, is declared to be tamasic or of darkness.
"The men who perform severe austerities, unenjoined by the scriptures,
wedded to vanity and egoism, impelled by the force of their desire and passion,
unintelligent, torturing all the elements in the body and Me also who dwells in
the body — know thou these to be of demoniacal resolves."
Bhagavad Gita (XVII-5, 6)
By
tapas the mind, speech and senses are purified. Fasts and all religious
observances that are laid down in scriptures and the rules of yama and niyama,
asana, pranayama, etc., come under tapas.
Psychic
powers can be acquired by the steady practice of tapas. Manu says: "He
whose speech and mind are pure and ever carefully guarded obtains all the
fruits that are obtained by means of vedanta. By the performance of tapas, all
afflictions and impurities can be destroyed."
Svadhyaya — Study of Scriptures
"By the study of scriptures comes the
communion with God." (II-44)
Svadhyaya
is the fourth limb of niyama. It is the daily study of scriptures written by
realised sages, such as the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Ramayana, Bhagavatam,
etc. It elevates and inspires the mind. It gives you an idea of your goal and
the practices that are necessary for its accomplishment. The study should be
done with concentration. You should understand what you have studied and try to
put into practice in your daily life all that you have learnt. Practical
application of what you read that is applicable to your temperament and to your
mode of life is very necessary if you wish to derive any permanent benefit from
your study. There will be no benefit in your study if you do not exert to live
up to the teachings of the scriptures. This study includes japa, the repetition
of mantras. It is also the enquiry into the nature of the Atman, i.e. 'Who am
I?'. Constant study and its practice in daily life will lead one to communion
with God.
Svadhyaya
is negative satsang, when you cannot get the positive satsang of saints and
mahatmas. It clears doubts. It strengthens the flickering faith and induces
strong yearning for liberation, or aspiration. It gives encouragement and illumination.
It places before you a list of saints who trod the path and encountered and
removed difficulties, and thus cheers you up with hope and vigour. It fills the
mind with sattva or purity and inspires and elevates the mind. It helps
concentration and meditation. It cuts new sattvic grooves and makes the mind
run in these new grooves. It inspires and elevates the mind to a high spiritual
altitude. It weeds out unholy ideas. It reduces wandering of the mind. It
serves the purpose of a spiritual pasture for the mind to graze upon. When you
study the sacred books you will be in tune with the authors who are realised
souls, you will draw inspiration and become ecstatic.
Ishvara Pranidhana — Self-surrender
This
is the fifth limb of niyama. It forms the third limb of kriya yoga also.
"Or, by devotion and self-surrender
to God (Ishvara)." (I-23)
Who is Ishvara?
"God (Ishvara) is a particular soul
unaffected by afflictions, works, fruition and vehicles." (I-24)
God
(Ishvara) of Patanjali is neither the personal God of the bhaktas nor the
impersonal God of the vedantins. His God is a peculiar Purusha, completely free
from all afflictions, works, fruition and vehicles.
"In Him is the highest limit of the
seed of omniscience." (I-25)
Knowledge,
non-attachment, spiritual wealth, austerity, truth, forgiveness, endurance,
power of creation, knowledge of Self, and being the substratum for everything
and of all activities — these are the ten unchangeable qualities that always
exist in God.
"Being unconditioned by time, He is
the teacher of even the ancients." (I-26)
Success
is rapid in attaining samadhi by devotion to Ishvara. The devotee should have
total, ungrudging unreserved self-surrender to Ishvara. He should entirely
depend on Ishvara. He should not keep any secret desire or egoism for his
self-gratification. He should not expect any kind of reward — even admiration,
gratitude or thanks — for his services. He should completely dedicate himself
and all his actions to the will of the Supreme Being. This is Ishvarapranidhana.
It is true devotion and self-surrender.
"By self-surrender comes the
attainment of samadhi, the super-conscious state." (II-45)
Self-surrender
leads to samadhi or the super-conscious state. It leads to communion with the
Lord. The individual will becomes one with the Cosmic Will.
Just
as the sponge that is dipped in water becomes filled with water, so also the
devotee who practises surrender to God is filled with the Supreme Lord. He
feels that the Lord pervades his whole being and that he is an instrument in
the hands of the Lord. He is not bound by karma. He attains freedom from birth
and death, perfection, omniscience, immortality and eternal bliss. The
self-surrender should be free, perfect, unconditioned and ungrudging. Worship
God with a pure heart and stainless mind, surrender your ego at His feet and
annihilate the idea of doership or separateness from the Lord. You will realise
the oneness of the Self. Samadhi will come by itself.
If a
yogi is not careful, if he is not well-established in the preliminary practices
of yama and niyama, he is unconsciously swept away from his ideal by
temptation. He uses his powers for selfish ends and suffers a hopeless
downfall. His intellect becomes blind, perverted and intoxicated. His understanding
gets clouded. He is no longer a divine yogi. He becomes a black-magician or
yoga charlatan. He is a black sheep within the fold of yogis. He is a menace to
society at large.
"Asana is steady, pleasant posture."
(II-46)
"By mild and steady practice and
meditation on the Infinite." (II-47)
After
yama and niyama comes asana (posture). Patanjali does not pay much attention to
asana. He says only, "Asana is steady, comfortable posture. This is
obtained by mild and steady practice and meditation on the Infinite. Then the
yogi is free from the disturbance of the pairs of opposites." So he only
wants you to be able to assume a comfortable posture in which you can sit for a
long time. You can even sit in a chair, but do not allow sleep to overcome you.
In
hatha yoga* there are various asanas, elaborately designed to give more
perfection to the body. These are all later developments. These asanas render
the body firm and eradicate physical ailments. Physical fitness and a
disease-free healthy body are essential for spiritual practices. Without good
health you cannot fight against the turbulent senses and the boisterous mind.
Regular practice of asanas will keep the body fit and the mind calm and will
give abundant energy, vigour, strength and nerve-power. You will be able to do
intense practice without physical discomfort.
* See Volume II:
Health and Hatha Yoga
The
yoga student must practise this preliminary yoga wholeheartedly and with single
minded devotion. The means is as important as the end itself. If you neglect
this practice and try to jump to meditation at once with the hope of getting
samadhi quickly, you will not be crowned with success. There will be a delay in
the spiritual progress. Every step in yoga is important. It must be mastered.
Then only will you be ready to take up the next step.
Any
easy, comfortable posture is asana; but the traditional postures for meditation
are padma, siddha, svastika or sukha asana. Practise for half an hour to start
with. Then increase the period to three hours. In one year, you can have
asana-siddhi.
Padmasana:
This is the lotus-pose. Place the right foot on the left thigh, the left foot
on the right thigh. Put the hands on the thighs near the knee joints. Keep the
head, neck and the trunk in one straight line. Close the eyes and concentrate
on the trikuti (the space between the two eyebrows). This is called lotus-pose
or kamalasana. This is very good for meditation. This asana is beneficial for
householders.
Siddhasana:
This is the perfect pose. This is a beautiful asana for meditation. Place one
heel at the anus, keep the other heel at the root of the generative organ and
the hands on the knees. Close the eyes. Concentrate at the trikuti or at the
tip of the nose. Keep the head, neck and trunk in one straight line. Keep the
hands as in padmasana, near the knee joints. This asana is beneficial for
brahmacharis and sannyasis.
Svastikasana:
This is sitting at ease with the body erect. Place the right foot near the left
thigh and bring the left foot and push it between the right thigh and calf
muscles. Now, you will find the two feet between the thigh and calf muscles.
This is svastikasana.
Sukhasana:
Any easy comfortable posture for japa and meditation is sukhasana. The
important point is that the head and trunk should be straight. Here is a
special variety of sukhasana which is very comfortable for old people: Take a
cloth 5 cubits (6-7 feet) long and fold it lengthwise. Raise the knees to the
chest level. Keep one end of the cloth near the left knee. Take the other end,
and going round to the back come to the left knee and make a knot there. Keep
the hands between the knees. As the legs, hands and backbone are all supported,
one can sit in this asana for a long time.
"When (asanajaya is obtained) one is
free from the disturbance of the pairs of opposites." (II-48)
Asana
removes many diseases such as piles, dyspepsia and constipation, checks
excessive rajas (restlessness) and steadies the body. The body gets genuine
rest from the posture. If you are established in asana, if you are firm in your
seat, then you can easily take up exercises in pranayama.
When
the asana becomes steady you will not feel the body. When you have obtained
mastery in the asana, the qualities of the pairs of opposites such as heat and
cold will not trouble you. You must sit in the asana with an empty stomach. You
can take a small cup of milk, tea or coffee before doing asana. For meditation,
concentration and japa, padmasana or siddhasana are prescribed.
Mental
poise is more important than the physical pose. It is more difficult than the
practice of asanas. Keep the mind also steady and fixed on the goal of
God-realisation. Keep it in a balanced state, let it not sink down or jump with
emotion. Be always serene, tranquil and calm. Check its wanderings, make it
motionless. Fill it with joy, cheerfulness and zeal. Curb the thoughts, desires
and cravings. Annihilate likes and dislikes and building castles in the air.
When the mind is more steady and poised the physical pose also will be perfect
and steady.
* See Volume II:
Health and Hatha Yoga
Prana
is the universal principle of energy or force. It is a vital all-pervading
force. It may be either in a static or a dynamic state. It is found in all
forms from the highest to the lowest, from the ant to the elephant, from the
unicellular amoeba to man, from the elementary forms of plant life to the
developed forms of animal life. Prana is the force of every plane of being,
from the highest to the lowest.
Whatever
moves or has life is but an expression or manifestation of prana. It is prana
that shines in your eyes. It is through the power of prana that the ear hears,
the eye sees, the skin feels, the tongue tastes, the nose smells and the brain
and the intellect perform their functions. The smile in a young lady, the
melody in music, the power in the emphatic words of an orator, the charm in the
speech of one's beloved are all due to prana. Whatever you behold in this
sense-world, whatever moves or works or has life, is but an expression or
manifestation of prana.
That
which moves the steam engine of a train and a steamer, that which makes the
aeroplane glide in space; that which causes the motion of breath in lungs; that
which is the very life of this breath itself, is prana. Prana is the sum-total
of all energy that is manifest in the universe and all the forces in nature.
Heat, light, electricity and magnetism are all the manifestations of prana, and
all spring from the fountain or common source — Atman. Fire burns and wind
blows through prana. Radio waves travel through prana. Prana is force,
magnetism and electricity. It is prana that pumps the blood from the heart into
the arteries or blood vessels. It is through prana that digestion, excretion
and secretion take place. Prana digests the food, turns it into chyle and blood
and sends it into the brain and mind. The mind is then able to think and
enquire into the nature of Brahman.
It is
through the vibrations of psychic prana that the life of the mind is kept up
and thought is produced. Prana is related to the mind and through the mind to
the will and through will to the individual soul, and through this to the
Supreme Being. If you know how to control the little waves of prana working
through the mind the secret of subjugating universal prana will be known to
you. Because you see, hear, talk, sense, think, feel, will, know, etc. through
the help of prana, the scriptures declare: "Prana is Brahman".
Prana
is expended by thinking, willing, acting, moving, talking and writing. A
healthy strong man has an abundance of prana (or nerve-force or vitality). It
is supplied by food, water, air, solar energy, etc. The supply of prana is
taken up by the nervous system. The prana in the air is absorbed by breathing.
The excess is stored in the brain and nerve centres. When the seminal energy is
sublimated or transformed it supplies an abundance of prana to the system. It
is stored up in the brain in the form of spiritual energy.
The
yogi stores a great deal of prana through the regular practice of pranayama,
just as the storage battery stores electricity. That yogi who has stored up a
large supply radiates strength and vitality all around. He is a big power-house
and those who come in close contact with him imbibe prana from him and receive
strength, vigour, vitality and exhilaration of spirits. Just as water flows
from one vessel to another, prana actually flows like a steady current from a
developed yogi towards weak persons. This can actually be seen by the yogi who
has developed his inner yogic vision.
Breath
is not the real prana, it is but an external manifestation of it. It is a
physical aspect or symptom or external sign. Breath is gross, while prana is
subtle. By controlling the breath you can control the prana — just as you can
control the other wheels by controlling or stopping the fly wheel of a diesel
engine and just as you can control the hair-spring, cog wheels and the main
spring of a watch by controlling the minute hand. Prana connects the body and
the mind. It is the outer coat of the mind. Only gross prana moves in the
nerves. The subtlest prana moves in the astral nadis*, which are the astral
tubes made up of astral matter that carry the subtle prana. It is through these
nadis that the vital force or pranic current moves. Since these are made up of
subtle matter they cannot be seen by the naked eyes. They are not ordinary
nerves, arteries and veins. The body is filled with innumerable nadis that
cannot be counted.
*Ida, pingala and
sushumna
Wherever
there is an interlacing of several nerves, arteries and veins, that centre is
called a plexus. Similarly there are plexuses or centres of vital forces in the
subtle nadis. These are called chakras.
Ida,
pingala and sushumna** are the most important of the innumerable nadis. Ida and
pingala are on the two sides of the spinal cord and sushumna is within the
spinal canal. Ida operates through the left nostril and pingala through the
right nostril. When the breath operates through sushumna the mind becomes
steady. This steadiness of mind is called the mindless state, the highest state
in raja yoga. If you sit for meditation when sushumna is operating, you will
have wonderful meditation. When the nadis are full of impurities the prana cannot
pass through the middle nadi. So one should practice pranayama for the
purification of the nadis.
** See Volume II:
Health and Hatha Yoga
A yogi
can withdraw prana from any area of the body. That area gets benumbed, becomes
impervious to heat and cold and has no sensation. A yogi can send prana also to
any area and make it over-sensitive; he can send it to the eyes and see distant
objects; he can send it to the nose and can experience divine aromas; he can
send it to the tongue and can experience super-sensuous taste.
By
control of prana the yogi can also control the omnipresent manifesting power
out of which all energies take their origin, whether concerning magnetism,
electricity, gravitation, cohesion, nerve currents, vital forces or thought
vibrations; in fact, the total forces of the universe, physical and mental.
A
comprehensive knowledge of prana and its function is absolutely necessary for
pranayama.
Pranayama
is said to be the union of prana and apana. Pranayama in the language of yoga
means the process by which we understand the secret of prana and control it. He
who has grasped this prana has grasped the very core of cosmic life and
activity. He who has conquered and controlled this very essence has not only
controlled his own body and mind, but every other body, mind and power in this
universe. Thus, pranayama or the control of prana is that means by which the
yogi tries to realise in this little body the whole of cosmic life, and tries
to attain perfection by getting all the powers in the universe. His various
exercises and training are for this end.
"That (control over posture) being
acquired, follows pranayama or the control of breath — the cessation of the
movements of inspiration and expiration." (II-49)
When
the breath is expired it is termed rechaka; when the breath is drawn in it is
termed puraka; when it is suspended it is called kumbhaka. Kumbhaka is
retention of breath. It increases the period of life, it augments the inner
spiritual force, vigour and vitality. If you retain the breath for one minute,
this one minute is added to your span of life.
"Pranayama is of long duration or
subtle according to the external and internal restraint or holding process,
regulated by place, time and number." (II-50)
Each
of these motions in pranayama viz., inhalation, exhalation and retention, is
regulated by place, time and number.
By
place is meant the inside or outside of the body, and the particular part of
the body. During expiration the distance to which breath is thrown outside
varies in different individuals. The distance varies during inspiration also.
The length of air coming out of the nostrils is normally of the measurement of
twelve fingers; it is twenty fingers at the time of eating, twenty-four while
walking, thirty in sleep, thirty-six at the time of coition and still more
while doing exercises. This is to be ascertained through a piece of reed or
cotton.
The
place of inhalation ranges from the head down to the soles of the feet. This is
to be ascertained through a sensation similar to the touch of an ant. The place
of retention consists of the external and internal places of both exhalation
and inhalation taken together, because the functions of the breath are capable
of being held up at both these places. This is to be ascertained through the
absence of the two indicatives noted above, in connection with exhalation and
inhalation.
Time
is the time of duration of inhalation, exhalation and retention. It is
generally counted by matra, which corresponds to one second. The time taken in
making three rounds of the knee with the palm of the hand, neither very slowly
nor quickly, snapping the fingers once, is called a matra. Both the twinkling
of an eye and the time occupied by one normal respiration are considered as one
matra. The time taken up in pronouncing the mono-syllable OM is also regarded
as one matra. This is very convenient. Many pranayama practitioners adopt this
time-unit in their practice.
By
time is also meant how long the prana should be fixed in a particular centre or
part. The pranayama is long or short, according to the period of time it is
practised.
Number
refers to the number of times the pranayama is performed. The yoga student
should slowly take the number of pranayamas to eighty at one sitting. He should
have four sittings: in morning, afternoon, evening and midnight or at 9 p.m.,
and should thus have 320 pranayamas in all.
The
specification of the three kinds of breath regulations, by all these three —
place, time and number — is only optional. They are not to be understood as to
be practised collectively, for in many scriptures we meet with passages where
the only specification mentioned with reference to the regulation of breath is
that of time.
The
period of retention must be gradually increased. Retention gives strength. If
you want to increase it for more than three minutes the help of a guru by your
side is very necessary. You can suspend the breath for two or three minutes
without the help of anybody.
Retention
is of two kinds, viz. sahita and kevala. That which is coupled with inhalation
and exhalation is termed sahita kumbhaka (which is described in 'Easy
Comfortable Pranayama — Sukha Purvak'). When you get mastery in sahita it is
said: "When after giving up of inhalation and exhalation one holds his
breath with ease, it is kevala (absolute) kumbhaka. One attains the state of
raja yoga." The practitioner attains perfection in yoga.
The
fourth (pranayama exercise) is going beyond the internal and external positions.
(II-51)
In the
previous sutras, three kinds of pranayama exercises are given: viz. internal,
external and the period of suspension. In this sutra the highest stage of
pranayama is given, going beyond inhalation and exhalation. This is kevala
kumbhaka — absolute retention — wherein there is neither inhalation nor
exhalation. There is retention only. This is for advanced yogis.
In the
third kind of pranayama the spheres of inhalation and exhalation are not taken
into consideration. The stoppage of breath occurs with one single effort and is
then measured by place, time and number and thus becomes long and subtle. In
the fourth variety, however, the spheres of expiration and inspiration are
ascertained. The different states are gradually mastered. This fourth variety
is not practised all at once by a single effort like the third one. On the
other hand, it reaches different states of perfection as it is being done.
After one stage is mastered the next stage is taken up and practised. Then it
goes in succession. The third is not preceded by measurements and is brought
about by a single effort; however the fourth is preceded by the knowledge of
the measurements, and is brought about by much effort. This is the only
difference. The conditions of place, time and number are applicable to this
kind of pranayama also. Particular occult powers develop themselves at each
stage of progress.
This fourth pranayama is concerned
with the fixing of the prana in the various chakras and taking it very slowly,
step by step and stage by stage, to the last chakra in the head, where perfect
samadhi takes place. This is internal. Externally it takes into consideration
the length of breath in accordance with the prevailing element — earth, water,
fire, air or ether.