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Written by Swami Vivekananda |
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ALL our knowledge is based upon experience. What we call
inferential knowledge, in which we go from the less general
to the more general, or from the general to the particular, has
experience as its basis. In what are called the exact sciences,
people easily find the truth, because it appeals to the
particular experience of every human being. The scientist
does not tell you to believe in anything, but he has certain
results which come from his own experiences, and reasoning
on those experiences, when he asks us to believe in his
conclusions, he appeals to some universal experience of
humanity. In every exact science there is a universal basis
which is common to all humanity, so that we can at once see
the truth of the fallacy of the conclusions drawn therefrom.
Now, the question is, has religion any such basis or not? I
shall have to answer the question both in the affirmative and
in the negative. Religion, as it is generally taught all over
the world, is said to be based on faith and belief, and, in
most cases, consists only of different sets of theories, and
that is the reason why we find all these various religions
quarrelling with each other. These theories, again, are based
on belief. One man says there is a great Being sitting above
the clouds and governing the whole universe, and he askes
me to believe that, solely on the authority of his assertion. In
the same way I may have my own ideas, which I am asking
others to believe, and if they ask a reason, I cannot supply
them with any. This is why religion and metaphysical
philosophy have a bad name nowadays. Every educated
man seems to say: “Oh, these religions are only bundles of
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theories without any standard to judge them by, each man
preaching his own pet ideas.” At the same time I must tell
you that there is a basis of universal belief in religion,
governing all these different theories, and all the varying
ideas of different sects of men in different countries. Going
to the basis of them we find that they also are based upon
universal experiences.
In the first place I will ask you to analyse all the various
religions of the world. You will find that these are divided
into two classes, those with a book, and those without a
book. Those with a book are the strongest, and have the
largest number of followers. Those without books have
mostly died out, and the few new ones have very small
followings. Yet, in all of them we find one consensus of
opinion, that the truths they teach are the results of the
experiences of particular persons. The Christian asks you to
believe in his religion, to believe in Christ, and to believe in
Him as the incarnation of God, to believe in a God, in a soul,
and in a better state of that soul. If I ask him for reasons he
says, “No, it is my belief.” But if you go to the fountain
head of Christianity you will find that it is based upon
experience. Christ said He saw God; the disciples said they
felt God; and so forth. Similarly, in Buddhism, it is
Buddha’s experience—He experienced certain truths, saw
them, came in contact with them, and preached them to the
world. So with the Hindus—in their book the writers, who
are called Rishis, or sages, declare that they have
experienced certain truths, and these they preach. Thus it is
clear that all the religions of the world have been built upon
that one universal and adamantine foundation of all our
knowledge—direct experience. The teachers all saw God;
they all saw their own souls, they saw their eternity, they
saw their future, and they saw what they preached. Only
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there is this difference, that in most of these religions,
especially in modern times, a peculiar claim is put before us,
and that claim is that these experiences are impossible at the
present day; they were only possible with a few men, who
were the first founders of the religions that subsequently
bore their names. At the present time these experiences have
become obsolete, and therefore whe have now to take
religion on belief. This I entirely deny. If there has been
one case of experience in this world in any particular branch
of knowledge it absolutely follows that this experience has
been possible millions of times before, and will be repeated
eternally. Uniformity is the rigorous law of nature; what
once happened can happen always.
The teachers of the science of Yoga, therefore, declare
that religion is not only based upon the experiences of
ancient times, but that no man can be religious until he has
had the same perceptions himself. Yoga is the science which
teaches us to get these perceptions. It is useless to talk about
religion until one has felt it. Why is there so much
disturbance, so much fighting and quarrelling in the name of
God? There has been more bloodshed in the name of God
than for any other cause, and the reason is that people never
went to the fountain head; they were content only to give a
mental assent to the customs of their forefathers, and wanted
others to do the same. What right has a man to say he has a
soul if he does not feel it, or that there is a God if he does not
see Him? If there is a God we must see Him, if there is a
soul we must perceive it; otherwise it is better not to believe.
It is better to be an outspoke atheist than a hypocrite. The
modern idea, on the one hand, with the “learned,” is that
religion and metaphysics, and all search after a Supreme
Being, is futile; on the other hand, with the semi-educated,
the idea seems to be that these things really have no basis,
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that their only value consists in the fact that they are strong
motive powers for doing good to the world. If men believe
in a God, they may become good, and moral, and so make
good citizens. We cannot blame them for holding such
ideas, seeing that all the teaching these men get is simply to
believe in an eternal rigmarole of words, without any
substance behind them. They are asked to live upon words;
can they do it? If they could, I should not have the least
regard for human nature. Man wants truth, wants to
experience truth for himself, to grasp it, to realise it, to feel it
wihtin his heart of hearts; then alone, declare the Vedas, will
all doubts vanish, all darkness be scattered, and all
crookedness be made straight. “Ye children of immortality,
even those who live in the highest sphere, the way is found;
there is a way out of all this darkness, and that is by
perceiving Him Who is beyond all darkness, and there is no
other way.”
The science of Raja Yoga proposes to put before
humanity a practical and scientifically worked-out method of
reaching this truth. In the first place, every science must
have its own method of investigation. If you want to
become an astronomer, and sit down and cry “Astronmoy,
Astronmoy!” it will never come to you. The same with
chemistry. A certain method must be followed. You must
go to the laboratory, take the different substance, mix them
up, compound them, experiment with them, and out of that
will come a knowledge of chemistry. If you want to be an
astronomer you must go to the observatory, take a telescope,
study the stars and planets, and then you will become an
astronomer. Each science must have its own methods. I
could preach you thousands of sermons, but they would not
make you religious, until you first practiced the method.
These are the truths of the sages of all countries, of all ages,
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men pure and unselfish, who had no motive but to do good
to the world. They all declare that they have found some
truth higher than that the senses can bring to us, and they
challenge verification. They say to you, take up the method
and practise honestly, and then, if you do not find this higher
truth, you will have the right to say that there is no truth in
the claim, but before you have done that, you are not rational
in denying the truth of these assertions. So we must work
faithfully, using the prescribed methods, and light will come.
In acquiring knowledge we make use of generalisation,
and generalisation is based upon observation. We first
observe facts, and then we generalise, and then we draw our
conclusions or principles. The knowledge of the mind, of
the internal nature of man, of though, can never be had until
we have the power of first observing the facts that are going
on within. It is very easy to observe facts in the external
world, and many thousand instruments have been invented to
observe every point of nature, but in the internal world we
find no instrument to help us. Yet we know we must
observe in order to have a real science. Without a proper
analysis, any science will be hoepless, mere theorising, and
that is why all the psychologists have been quarrelling
among themselves since the beginning of time, except those
few who found out the means of observation.
The science of Raya Yoga, in the first place, proposes to
give men such a means of observing the internal states, and
the instrument is the mind itself. The power of attention of
mind, when properly guided, and directed towards the
internal world, will analyse the mind, and illumine facts for
us. The powers of mind are like rays of light being
dissipated; when they are concentrated they illumine
everything. This is the only source of knowledge that we
have. Everyone is using it, both in the external and the
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internal world, but, for the psychologist, this minute
observation which the scientific man can throw upon the
external world, will have to be thrown on the internal world,
and this requires a great deal of practice. From our
childhood upwards we have been taught only to pay
attention to things external, never to pay attention to things
internal, and most of us have nearly lost the faculty of
observing the internal mechanism. To turn the mind, as it
were, inside, stop it from going outside, and thenm to
concentrate all its powers, and throw them upon the mind
itself, in order that it may know its own nature, analyse
itself, is very hard work. Yet theat is the only way to
anything which will be a scientific approach to the subject.
What is the use of such knowledge? In the first place,
knowledge itself is the highest reward of knowledge, and, in
the second place, there is also utility in it. It will take away
our misery. When, by analysing his own mind, man comes
face to face, as it were, with something which is never
destroyed, something which is, by its own nature, eternally
pure and perfect, he will no more be miserable, no more
unhappy. All misery comes from fear, from unsatisfied
desire. Man will find that he never dies, and then he will
have no more fear of death. When he knows that he is
perfect, he will have no more vain desires, and both these
causes being absent, there will be no more misery—there
will be perfect bliss, even while in this body.
There is only one method by which to attain this
knowledge, that which is called concentration. The chemist
in his laboratory concentrates all the energies of his mind
into one focus, and htrows them out upon the materials he is
analysing, and so finds out their secret. The astronmoer
concentrates all the energies of his mind and projects them
through his telescope upon the skies; and the stars, the sun,
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and the moon, give up their secrets to him. The more I can
concentrate my thoughts on the matter on which I am talking
to you, the more light I can throw upon it. You are listening
to me, and the more you concentrate your thoughts the more
clearly you will grasp what I have to say.
How has all this knowledge in the world been gain but by
the concentration of the powers of the mind? Nature is ready
to give up her secrets if we only know how to knock, to give
her the necessary blow, and the strength and force of the
blow will come through concentration. There is no limit to
the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it
is,the more power is brought to bear on one point, and that is
the secret.
It is easier to concentrate the mind on external things, the
mind naturally goes outwards; but, in the case of religion, or
psychology, or metaphysics, the subject and object are one.
The object is internal, the mind itself is the object, and it is
necessary to study the mind itself, mind studying mind. We
know there is the power of the mind called reflective. I am
talking to you; at the same time I am standing outside, as it
were, a second person, and knowing and hearing what I am
talking. You work and think at the same time, another
portion of your mind stands by and sees what you are
thinking. The powers of the mind should be concentrated
and turned back upon itself, and as the darkest places reveal
their secrets before the pentrating rays of the sun, so will this
concentrated mind penetrate its own innermost secrets. Thus
will we come to the basis of belief, the real genuine religion.
We will perceive for ourselves whether we have souls,
whether life is of five minutes, or of eternity, whether there
is a God in the universe or none. It will all be revealed to us.
This is what Raja Yoga proposes to teach. The goal of all its
teaching is how to concentrate the mind, then how to
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discover the facts in our own minds, then how to generalise
those facts, and form our own conclusions from them. It
therefore never asks the question what our religion is,
whether we are Deists, or Atheists, whether Christians, Jews,
or Buddhists. We are human beings; that is sufficient.
Every human being has the right and power to seek for
religion; every human being has the right to ask the reason
why, and to have his question answered by himself, if he
only takes the trouble.
So far, then, we see that in the study of this Raja Yoga no
faith or belief is necessary. Believe nothing, until you find it
out for yourself; that is what it teaches us. Truth requires no
prop to make it stand. Do you mean to say that the facts of
our awakened state require any dreams or imaginings to
prove them? Certainly not. This study of Raja Yoga takes a
long time and constant practice. A part of this practice is
physical, but the main part of it is mental. As we go along
we shall find how intimately the mind is connected with the
body. If we believe that the mind is simply a finer part of
the body, and that mind acts upon the body, in the saw way
the body must act upon the mind. If the body is sick, the
mind becomes sick also. If the body is healthy, the mind
remains healthy and strong. When one is angry, the mind
becomes disturbed; at the same time, when the mind is
disturbed, the body also becomes disturbed. With the
majority of mankind the mind is entirely under the control of
the body; the mind is very little developed. The vast
majority of humanity, if you will kindly excuse me, is very
little removed from the animals. Not only that, but, in many
instances, the power of control is very little higher than that
of the lower animals. We have very little command of our
minds. Therefore to bring that command about, to get that
control over body and mind, we must take certain physical
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helps, and when the body is sufficiently controlled, we can
attempt the manipulation of the mind. By manipulation of
the mind, we shall be able to bring it under our control, make
it work as we like, and compel it to concentrate its powers as
we desire.
According to the Raja Yogi, all this external world is but
the gross form of the internal, or subtle. The finer is always
the cause, and the grosser the effect. So the external world is
the effect, and the internal the cause. In the same way
external forces are simply the grosser parts, of which the
internal forces are the finer. One who has discovered and
learned how to manipulate the internal forces will get the
whole of nature under his control. The Yogi proposes to
himself no less a task than to master the whole universe, to
control the whole of nature. He wants to arrive at the pont
where what we call “nature’s laws” will have no influence
over him, where he will be able to get beyond them all. He
will be master of the whole of nature, internal and external.
The progress and civilisation of the human race is simnply
controlling this nature.
Various races differ in their processes. Just as in the
same society some individuals want to control external
nature, and others want to control internal nature, so, among
races, some want to control the external nature, and some the
internal. Some say that by controlling internal nature we
control everything; some that by controlling external nature
we control everything. Carried to the extreme both are right,
because there is neither internal nor external. It is a fictitious
limitation that never exists. Both are destined to meet at the
same point, the externalists and the internalists, when both
reach the extreme of their knowledge. Just as the physician,
when he pushes his knowledge to its limits, finds it melting
away into metaphysics, so the metaphysician will find that
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what he calls mind and matter are but apparent distinctions,
which will have to vanish for ever.
The end and aim of all science is to find a unit, that One
out of which all this manifold is being manufactured, that
One existing as many. Raja Yoga proposes to start from the
internal world, to study internal nature, and, through that,
control the whole—both internal and external. It is a very
old attempt. India has been its special stronghold but it was
also attempted by other nations. In Western countries it is
thought to be mysticism. People who wanted to practice it
were either burned or killed as witches and sorcerers, and in
India, for various reasons, it fell into the hands of persons
who destroyed 90 per cent. of the knowledge, and of that
portion which remained tried to make a great secret. In
modern times many so-called teachers have arisen worse
than those of India, because the latter knew something, while
these modern exponets do not.
Anything that is secret or mysterious in these systems of
Yoga should be at once rejected. The best guide in life is
strength. In religion, as in everything else, discard
everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it. All
mystery-mongering weakens the human brain. Through it
this science of Yoga has been well nigh destroyed, but it is
really one of the grandest of sciences. From the time that it
was discovered, more than 4000 years ago, it was perfectly
delineated and formulated and preached in India, and it is a
striking fact, that the more modern the commentator, the
greater the mistakes he makes. The more ancient the writer
on it the more rational he is. Thus it fell into the hands of a
few persons who made it a secret, instead of letting the full
blaze of daylight and reason fall upon it, and they did so that
they might have the powers to themselves.
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In the first place there is no mystery in what I preach.
What little I know I will tell you. So far as I can reason it
out I will do so, but what I do not know I will simply tell you
that it is what the books say. It is wrong to blindly believe.
You must exercise your own reason and judgement; you
must practice, and see whether things happen or not. Just as
you would take up any other science of a material nature,
exactly in the same manner you should take up this science
for study. There is neither mystery nor danger in it. So far
as it is true it ought to be preached in the public streets, in
the broad daylight. Any attempt to mystify these things is
productive of great danger.
Before proceeding further, I will state to you a little of
the Sankhya Philosophy, on which the whole of Raja Yoga is
based. According to this philosophy perception comes
through instruments, e.g., the eyes; the eyes carry it to the
organs, the organs to the mind, the mind to the determinative
faculty, from this the Purusa (the soul) receives it, and gives
the order back, as it were, and so on through all these stages.
In this way sensations are received. With the exception of
the Purusa all of these are material, but the mind is of much
finer material than the external instruments. That material of
which the mind is composed becomes grosser, and becomes
what is called the Tanmatras. It becomes still grosser and
forms the external material. That is the psychology of the
Sankhya. So that, between the intellect and the grosser
matter outside, there is only a difference in degree. The
Purusa is the only thing which is immaterial. Mind is an
instrument in the hands of the soul, as it were, through which
the soul catches external objects. This mind is constantly
changing and vacillating, and it can either atttach itself to
several organs, or to one, or to none. For instance, if I hear
the clock with great attention I will not, perhaps, see
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anything, although my eyes may be open, showing that the
mind was not attached to the seeing organ, although it was to
the hearing organ. And the mind, in the same way, can be
attached to all the organs simultaneously. This mind has the
reflexive power of looking back into its own depths. This
reflexive power is what the Yogi wants to attain; by
concentrating the powers of the mind, and turning them
inward, he seeks to know what is happening inside. There is
in this no question of mere belief; it is the analysis of certain
philosophers. Modern physiologists tell you that the eyes
are not the organs of vision, but that the organs are in the
nerve centre in the brain, and so with all the senses; and they
also tell you that these centres are formed of the same
material as the brain itself. So the Sankhyas will also tell
you, but one is a statement on the physical side, and the
other on the psychological side; yet both are the same.
Beyond this we have to demonstrate.
The Yogi proproses to himself to attain to that fine state
of perception in which he can perceive all these things.
There must be mental perception of all the different states.
We shall perceive how the sensation is travelling, and how
the mind is receiving it, how it is going to the determinative
faculty, and how this gives it to the Puruca. As each science
requires certain preparations, as each science has its own
method, until we follow that method we can never
understand that science; so in Raja Yoga.
Certain regulations as to food are necessary; we must use
that food which brings the purest mind. If you go into a
menagerie you will find this demonstrated at once. You see
the elephants, huge animals, but calm and gentle; and if you
go toward the cages of the lions and tigers you will find
them restless, showing how much difference has been
produced by food. All the forces that are working in this
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body have bene produced out of food; we see that every day.
If you begin to fast, first your body will get weak, the
physical force will suffer; then, after a few days, the mental
force will suffer also. First, memory will fail. Then comes a
point, when you are not able to think, much less to pursue
any course of reasoning. We have, therefore, to take care
what sort of food we eat at the beginning, and when we have
got strength enough, when our practice is well advanced, we
need not be so careful in this respect. While the plant is
growing it must be hedged round, lest it be injured; but when
it becomes a tree the hedges are taken away; it is strong
enough to withstand all assaults.
A Yogi must avoid the two extremes of luxury and
austerity. He must not fast, or torture his flesh; he who does
so, says the Gita, cannot be a Yogi; he who keeps awake; he
who sleeps much; he who works too much; he who does no
work; none of these can be Yogis. |
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