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concentration are the past Samskaras, impressions. All of
you have observed that when you are trying to concentrate
your mind, your thoughts wander. When you are trying to
think of God, that is the very time which all these Samskaras
take to appear. At other times they are not so active, but
when you want them not to be they are sure to be there,
trying their best to crowd inside your mind. Why should that
be so? Why should they be much more potent at the time of
concentration? It is because you are repressing them and
they react with all their force. At other times they do not
react. How countless these old past impressions must be, all
lodge somewhere in the Chitta, ready, waiting like tigers to
jump up. These have to be suppressed that the one idea
which we like may arise, to the exclusion of the others.
Instead, they are all struggling to come up at the same time.
These are the various powers of the Samskaras in hindering
concentration of the mind, so this Samadhi which has just
been given is the best to be practised, on account of its
power of suppressing the Samskaras. The Samskara which
will be raised by this sort of concentration will be so
powerful that it will hinder the action of the others, and hold
them in check.
51. By the restraint of even this (impression,
which obstructs all other impressions), all
being restrained, comes the seedless
Samadhi.
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RAJA YOGA
You remember that our goal is to perceive the Soul iself.
We cannot perceive the Soul because it has got mingled up
with nature, with the mind, with the body. The most
ignorant man thinks his body is the Soul. The more learned
man thinks his mind is the Soul, but both of these are
mistaken. What makes the Soul get mingled up with all this,
these different waves in the Chitta rise and cover the Soul,
and we only are a little reflection of the Soul through these
waves, so, if the wave be one of anger, we see the Soul as
angry: I am angry, we say. If the wave is a wave of love
we see ourselves reflected in that wave, and say we are
loving. If that wave is one of weakness, and the Soul is
reflected in it, we think we are weak. These various ideas
come from these impressions, these Samskaras covering the
Soul. The real nature of the Soul is not perceived until all
the waves have subsided; so, first, Patanjali teaches us the
meaning of these waves; secondly, the best way to repress
them; and thirdly, how to make one wave so strong as to
suppress all other waves, fire eating fire as it were. When
only one remains, it will be easy to suppress that also, and
when that is gone, this Samadhi of concentration is called
seedless; it leaves nothing, and the Soul is manifested just as
It is, in Its own glory. Then alone we know that the Soul is
not a compound, It is the only eternal simple in the universe,
and, as such, It cannot be born, It cannot die, It is immortal,
indestructible, the Ever-living Essence of intelligence.
CHAPTER II.
CONCENTRATION ITS PRACTICE
1. Mortification, study, and surrendering fruits
of work to God are called Kriya Yoga.
Those Samadhis with which we ended our last chapter are
very difficult to attain; so we must take them up slowly. The
first step, the preliminary step, is called Kriya Yoga.
Literally this means work, working towards Yoga. The
organs are the horses, the mind is the reins, the intellect is
the charioteer, the soul is the rider, and this body is the
chariot. The master of the household, the King, the Self of
man, is sitting in this chariot. If the horses are very strong,
and do not obey the reins, if the charioteer, the intellect, does
not know how to control the horses, then this chariot will
come to grief. But if the organs, the horses, are well
controlled, and if the reins, the mind, are well held in the
hands of the charioteer, the intellect, the chariot, reaches the
goal. What is meant, therefore, by mortification? Holding
the reins firmly while guiding this body and mind: not letting
the body do anything it likes, but keeping them both in
proper control. Study. What is meant by study in this case?
Not study of novels, or fiction, or story books, but study of
those books which teach the liberation of the soul. Then
again this study does not mean controversial studies at all.
The Yogi is supposed to have finished his period of
controversy. He has had enough of all that, and has become
satisfied. He only studies to intensify his convictions. Vada
and Siddhanta. These are the two sorts of Scriptural
knowledge, Vada (the argumentative) and Siddhanta (the
123
124
RAJA YOGA
decisive). When a man is entirely ignorant he takes up the
first part of this, the argumentative fighting, and reasoning,
pro and con.; and when he has finished that he takes up the
Siddhanta, the decisive, arriving at a conclusion. Simply
arriving at this conclusion will not do. It must be intensified.
Books are infinite in number, and time is short; thereofre this
is the secret of knowledge, to take that which is essential.
Take that out, and then try to live up to it. There is an old
simile in India that if you place a cup of milk before a Raja
Hamsa (swan) with plenty of water in it, he will take all the
milk and leave the water. In that way we should take what is
of value in knowledge, and leave the dross. All these
intellectual gymnastics are necessary at first. We must not
go blindly into anything. The Yogi has passed the
argumentative stage, and has come to a conclusion, which is
like the rocks, immovable. The only thing he now seeks to
do is to intensify that conclusion. Do not argue, he say; if
one forces arguments upon you, be silent. Do not answer
any argument, but go away free, because arguments only
disturb the mind. The only thing is to train the intellect, so
what is the use of disturbing it any more. The intellect is but
a weak instrument, and can give only knowledge limited by
the senses; the Yogi wants to go beyond the senses; therefore
the intellect is of no use to him. He is certain of this, and
therefore is silent, and does not argue. Every argument
throws his mind out of balance, creates a disturbance in the
Chitta, and this disturbance is a drawback. These
argumentations and searchings of the reason are only on the
way. There are much higher things behind them. The whole
of life is not for schoolboy fights and debating societies. By
surrendering the fruits of work to God is to take to
ourselves neither credit nor blame, but to give both up to the
Lord, and be at peace.
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YOGA APHORISMS: CONCENTRATION II
2. (They are for) the practice of Samadhi and
minimising the pain-bearing obstructions.
Most of us make our minds like spoiled children, allowing
them to do whatever they want. Therefore it is necessary
that there should be constant practice of the previous
mortifications, in order to gain control of the mind, and bring
it into subjection. The obstructions to Yoga arise from lack
of this control, and cause us pain. They can only be
removed by denything the mind, and holding it in check,
through these various means.
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