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Written by Swami Vivekananda |
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SINCE the dawn of history, various extraordinary phenomena
have been recorded as happening amongst human beings.
Witnesses are not wanting in modern times to attest the fact
of such events, even in societies living under the full blaze of
modern science. The vast mass of such evidence is
unreliable, as coming from ignorant, superstitious, or
fraudulent persons. In many instances the so-called miracles
are imitations. But what do they imitate? It is not the sign
of a candid and scientific mind to throw overboard anything
without proper investigation. Surface scientists, unable to
explain the various extraordinary mental phenomena, strive
to ignore their very existence. They are, therefore, more
culpable than those who think that their prayers are answered
by a being, or beings, above the clouds, or than those who
believe that their petitions will make such beings change the
course of the universe. The latter have the excuse of
ignorance, or at least of a false system of education in their
childhood, which has taught them to depend upon such
beings for help, and this dependence has no become a part of
their degenerate nature. The former have no such excuse.
For thousands of years such phenomena have been
investigated, studied, and generalised, the whole ground of
the religious faculty of man has been analysed, and the
practical result is the science of Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga does
not, after the unpardonable manner of some modern
scientists, deny the existence of facts which are very difficult
to explain; on the other hand, it gently, yet in no uncertain
terms, tells the superstitious that miracles and answers to
prayers, and powers of faith, though true as facts, are not
RAJA YOGA vi
rendered comprehensible through the superstitious
explanation of attributing them to the agency of a being, or
beings, above the clouds. It declares to mankind that each
being is only a conduit for the infinite ocean of knowledge
and power that lies behind. It teaches that desires and wants
are in man, that the power of supply is also in man; and that
wherever and whenever a desire, a want, a prayer, has been
fulfilled, it was out of this infinite magazine that the supply
came, and not from any supernatural being. The idea of
supernatural beings may rouse to a certain extent the power
of action in man, but it also brings spiritual decay. It brings
dependence; it brings fear; it brings superstition. It
degenerates into a horrible belief in the natural weakness of
man. There is no supernatural, says the Yogi, but there are in
nature gross manifestations and subtle manifestations. The
subtle are the causes, the gross the effects. The gross can be
easily perceived by the senses; not so the subtle. The
practice of Raja Yoga will lead to the acquisition of the more
subtle perceptions.
All the orthodox systems of Indian philosophy have one
goal in view, the liberation of the soul through perfection.
The method is by Yoga. The word Yoga covers an immense
ground, but both the Sankhya and the Vedantist schools point
to Yoga in some form or other.
The subject of the first lectures in the present book is that
form of Yoga known as Raja Yoga. The aphorisms of
Patanjali are the highest authority and text book on Raja
Yoga. The other philosophers, though occasionally differing
from Patanjali in some philosophical aspect, have, as a rule,
acceded to his method of practice a decided consent. The
first part of this book is comprised of several lectures to
classes delivered by the present writer in New York. The
second part is a rather free translation of the aphorisms
AUTHOR’S PREFACE vii
(Sutras) of Patanjali, with a running commentary. Effort
has been made to avoid technicalities as far as possible, and
to keep the free and easy style of conversation. In the first
part some simple and specific directions are given for the
student who wants to practice, but all such are especially and
earnestly reminded that, with few exceptions, Yoga can only
be safely learned by direct contact with a teacher. If these
conversations succeed in awakening a desire for further
information on the subject, the teacher will not be wanting.
The system of Patanjali is based upon the system of the
Sankhyas, the points of difference being very few.
The two most important differences are, first that
Patanjali admits a Personal God in the form of a first
teacher, while the only God the Sankhyas admit is a nearly
perfected being, temporarily in charge of a cycle. Second,
the Yogis hold the mind to be equally all-pervading with the
soul, or Purusa, and the Sankhyas do not.
THE AUTHOR.
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