Swami
now explains the other two yoga(s)
Royal path of unitive wisdom
“Now about the royal
yoga (raja-yoga). Royal yoga means
the process of establishing mastery over the mind. One need not surrender one’s
intellect or follow the guidelines of religious leaders. There is no chance of
being misled or mistaken. At every step, one must rely on one’s own intellect
and experience, as tested by oneself.
Every being has three
varieties of instruments for acquiring knowledge and, through that knowledge,
wisdom. The first is “instinctive”; this is very strong, active, and advanced in
animals. This is the earliest, the lowest, and therefore the least beneficial
of the three. The second is the “rational”, the instrument that seeks the cause
and the effect thereof. This is most evident in people. The instinct can
operate only in the limited field of senses and sensory experiences.
In people, instinctive
knowledge is largely subordinated by the rational instruments. The limits of
the rational are very thin; reason can range over vastly wider fields. In spite
of this, reason is also capable only of very poor performance. Its reach is
restricted; it can proceed only a certain distance; it cannot venture further.
The road that logic takes is not straight. It is more circular, returning again
and again to the place from which it started.
Take, for example, our
knowledge of the objective world, of the elements and energies that compose it.
That which urges and prompts the objective world and its components does not
stop with just this much. It absorbs also that which is immanent outside the objective
world. So, the extent that reason can spread over and explain is as the
“consciousness” that is imprisoned in the tiny molecule as compared with the
vastness and grandeur of the transcendent fullness.
To go across the
boundaries of reason into the full, free realm of intuition, certain spiritual
disciplines and exercises are essential. They can be grouped under the name
God-propelled wisdom (jnana). For we
have only three stages of wisdom: native, or derived from the senses of action
and perception (sahaja-jnana);
knowledge derived by the process of discrimination and evaluation; and
God-induced knowledge, i.e. gained through grace by inner vision or
intuition.
The first of these is
the knowledge possessed by animals; the second is the characteristic of
humanity, and the third is the special treasure of high-souled individuals. It
possible for everyone to foster, cultivate, and develop the seedlings of this
third wisdom; the capacity is latent in all.
Another fact has to be
borne in mind. The three are stages of growth, so they are not mutually
exclusive types of knowledge.
God-induced knowledge
will not contradict discriminative knowledge; it will only bring to light what
is un-manifest in discriminative knowledge. The later stage only confirms and
elaborates the previous ones. Afflicted by the vagaries of the mind and its
fancies, some consider their distorted attitudes to be God-given or
grace-induced. They may even call upon others to heed their counsel and lead
people astray by their barren guidance. These morons announce their absurd
prattle as God-propelled.
True teaching can never
be counter to discriminative knowledge — the conclusion arrived at by
discrimination and evaluation. The yogas mentioned above are all established in
consonance with this view. Royal yoga has to be practiced mostly by the mind
and its resolution. This is a vast subject, so we consider here only its
central theme, something that is the only refuge for the lowest of the low and
the highest of the yogis: single-pointed meditation.
For the person engaged
in research in a laboratory, one walking along a road, a scholar reading a
book, or an individual writing a letter or driving a car, concentration of all
their attention on the articles before them and the activity in which they are
engaged is very important. The person understands the nature and peculiarities
of the object being handled. The more intense the concentration, the more
successful the activity. When the mental abilities are focused on one effort, knowledge
can be acquired quicker and from a wider field. And, that is the only way by
which knowledge can be earned.
Concentration will
enable one, whoever one is, whatever the activity engaged in, to finish it much
better than otherwise. Whether in material assignments, ordinary day-to-day
work, or spiritual exercises (sadhana),
concentration of mental energies is a must if success is to be achieved. It is
the key that can open the treasure chest of wisdom (jnana). This is the most important aspect of royal yoga. It can
even be said that it is the only important aspect of that yoga.
Millions of unwelcome,
unwanted, unnecessary, and even harmful thoughts enter our minds and confound
their activities. These have to be kept out; the mind has to be guarded and
controlled and kept under our rigorous supervision. Royal yoga is the one
refuge for persons endeavoring to win this victory.
Yoga of supreme wisdom
The yoga of wisdom (jnana-yoga) is devoted mostly to the
study of basic principles. This universe or cosmos, which we cognize as outside
ourselves, can be explained by means of various theories of knowledge, but none
of them can be convincing to the uninitiated. Wisdom-yogis weave many such
theories and hypotheses. They are not convinced of the reality of any material
object in the universe, or of any activity, or even of anyone else who
propounds any other explanation.
They believe that they
should transcend the daily chores of life and not be bound by social or other
obligations. In the vast ocean of ISNESS, or truth (sath), all objects are but drops, in their view. They are all
struggling to move from the circumference to the center, from which they manifested
through illusion (maya). Wisdom-yogis
also yearn to merge in the centre, the core of reality, away from the tangle of
apparent diversity.
They exert themselves to
become the Truth, not only to become aware of it. Of course, as soon as they
are aware of it, they become it. They cannot tolerate the thought that they and
truth are separate and distinct.
The divine is the only
kith and kin of wisdom-yogis. They know none other. They entertain no other
urge, no other attachment, no other desire. God is all, in all. They cannot be
affected by grief or joy, failure or success. They see and experience only one
unbroken, unchallenged stream of bliss-consciousness.
For the people who are
firmly established in this state, the world and its ups and downs appear
trivial and illusory. In order to stay in that consciousness, they have to
counter the pulls of the senses and face the fascinations of the world without
any agitation of mind.
Wisdom-yogis are
vigilant against the temptations held before them by the senses; turning them
aside, they approach the Divine and seek strength and solace there. They
realize that the power and energy that vitalize the tiniest of the tiny and the
vastest of the vast is the same divine Principle. Their actions, thoughts, and
words reveal the vision that they have experienced: the Supra-vision (Paramaartha-drishti). They see all
elements —earth, fire, water, wind, and sky— as the divine itself and all
beings —humanity, beast, bird, and worm — as emanations from God and therefore
fully divine."
We will go deeper into
the SSV part covered in the blog today, in our next post
Love.
