GENERAL INTRODUCTION

NATARAJA GURU

YOGA is a subject that is attracting much attention the world over at present. There is perhaps as much interest in yoga as there is misunderstanding about it. In the West, it evokes such ideas as raising the "serpent power," sometimes referred to as the kundalini. In the world of drop-outs, it has become a subject of all-absorbing interest. Yoga institutes and teachers exist in great numbers round about big cities like London, Bruxelles, Paris, Toronto and New York, not to mention Los Angeles and San Francisco. British school-girls practice pranayama, and understand all about asanas and bandhas; they can bend their vertebral columns in many difficult twists without snapping them. Myriad schools teach different types of yoga which they claim belong to various grades ranging from Hatha Yoga to Raja Yoga. The varieties are infinite as also the textbooks and the experts, all over the Western world today. A multitude of varied spiritual powers and medical effects are claimed in the name of yoga.

Hiding behind this sensational seven-day wonder which is now the prevailing rage in the name of this ancient Indian discipline, there is another more sober and less sensational yogic tradition which knowers of yoga in India would like very much to see properly understood, so that such knowledge might act as a corrective to the exaggerated and distorted terms in which this type of psycho-physical discipline is at present being popularly presented.

Of the various subdivisions of yoga about which one hears most frequently in India and elsewhere, perhaps the most commonly mentioned are those of Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga. These divisions are not strictly conceived ones, and are not supported by authoritative Sanskrit texts or sutras in each case, with the name of a rishi (seer) associated with it, except in the case of the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali. It is well known that Patanjali Yoga has its theoretical background not in the Vedanta, but in the Samkhya of Kapila. This latter is a dualistic philosophy which has been subjected to drastic revision and revaluation at the hands of later authorities such as Vyasa and Bhoja. The Brahma-Sutras themselves question categorically the epistemology and methodology of Patanjali. Vasishta questions the validity of Patanjali's ashtanga marga (eight-fold way), and tells Sri Rama in the Yoga Vasishta that neither such an eight-fold division nor its basis of classification is acceptable to the Vedanta, as understood and revised by him. One also hears often of Hatha Yoga, neither of whose two textbooks, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Kheranda Samhita, however, enjoys canonical authority on the Indian soil, at least among those instructed in such matters, The subject of yoga thus presents a long and varied range of items, about which there may be said to be much confusion in the popular mind.

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THE YOGA OF THE VEDANTA

The Vedantically revised and revalued school of yoga may be said to consist of whatever remains over after the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali have been subjected to revaluation by Vyasa and Bhoja. The Yoga Vasishta of anonymous authorship can be placed next in authority. But above all, we have to give to the Bhagavad Gita itself its due place as a Yoga Sastra (a systematic and exactly conceived text in the science concerning contemplation) fully revised and brought into conformity with a full-fledged Science of the Absolute, as is explicitly claimed by Vyasa himself at the end of each of its eighteen chapters - bearing the title of a yoga in each case. The eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, taken together with the ten verses of the Yoga Darsana comprising the ninth chapter of the Darsana Mala of Narayana Guru, may be said to present the whole range of the subject of yoga examined in a critical and fully scientific light, with an epistemology, methodology and axiology properly belonging to it.

The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj - to unite. The question at once arises, to unite what with what? The counterparts involved here are of a subtle epistemological order: they belong neither to the first-dimensional world of the body as a machine, nor do they belong to the second-dimensional world of psycho-physical parallelism or interaction. Deeper still than these, according to the Upanishadic teachings, there lies a third-dimensional psyche which has got its own inner ambivalence, polarity or dichotomy. These two aspects enter into various grades of relationship as between them, besides that of ambivalence as understood in biology. The deeper three-dimensional and four-dimensional stratifications within the scope of purer psycho-physical tendencies when seen further abstracted and generalized would reveal the ground on which yoga, as properly understood, is supposed to live, move and have its being. Here, the counterparts could be related under four different kinds of bipolar relationship, which could be brought under the headings of reciprocity, compensation, complementarity and cancellation. The last possibility lies in the most subtle of four-dimensional grounds.

Such a ground is arrived at by a process of abstraction and generalization, to which the brute realities of the body could be subjected. There are textbooks on yoga whose starting postulates refer to one or the other of these four grades of abstraction and generalization as applied to the body looked upon as a mere physiological entity of the dissection table in a medical laboratory. Expert medical men like Dr. Alexis Carroll, a winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, have pointed out that the laws regulating the living body cannot be studied from a dead one. The same would apply with greater force when we think of the deeper and deeper layers of the psycho-physical totality which we treat of as the human personality.

Thus, there could be as many definitions of yoga as there are possibilities of conceiving of counterparts between which yoga has to operate. These various kinds of yoga require scrutiny each in the light of its own epistemology, methodology and axiology.

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THE YOGA-DARSANA OF NARAYANA GURU

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI VIDYANANDA

Editor's Note : The Yoga-Dassana (Vision by Meditation) comprises the ninth chapter of Narayana Guru's Darsana-Mala (Garland of Visions of tho Absolute) consisting of ten chapters in all. The commentary on the verses which is given here was written by one of Narayana Guru's disciples, Vidyananda, under the direct guidance of the Guru himself, and was approved of by him. The English rendering of the original Sanskrit verses, as also the translation of the cominentary, were done by Nataraja Guru. The Yoga-Darsana is included here in lieu of any of the papers actually presented at the Conference sessions on Yoga because, of all the material available to us, it alone brings to bear on the subject the precise and scientifically valid approach which it deserves, and covers conclusively the entire range of Yoga. Its inclusion here in the midst of a selection of Conference papers may thus be regarded as "irregular but not void."

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YOGA-DARSANAM
and COMMENTARY

I

satatam yojayati yadyunakti ca cidatmani
mano nirodharupo'yam sa yoga iti samsitah

That which always unites the mind
With the reasoning Self, and also gets united with it,
And which is in the form of restraint,
That is praised as Yoga.

The correct meaning of the word Yoga is the union of the mind, when rid of all dross or nescience, with the (reasoning) Self. This is Yoga or union. The mind has in it many activities which come under nescience, etc. When all such activities have been countered by the means that have been indicated in the wisdom texts, and when the mind is thus made to unite with the pure Ultimate Self, such a branch of knowledge is called Yoga. The radical yuj (to join) is used in texts as meaning samadhi (peace) in the expression yuj-samadhi (union in samadhi) by Panini, the great ancient grammarian and linguistic authority, and we are therefore justified in treating Yoga and samadhi as pertaining to the same subject. The saying of Patanjali in one of his opening sutras, that Yoga is the restraint of the mind, as well as the definition of Valmiki in the Yoga Vasishta, which says that Yoga consists of the act or means of tranquilizing the mind, all indicate the same meaning of Yoga. Because Yoga mainly consists of restraint of the mind, it is referred to as consisting of this restraint in general terms. It is not enough, however, that the activities of the mind should be merely mechanistically restrained (in a unilateral sense), but it is also to be understood that the mind, when restrained, should be constantly joined to the reasoning Self (cidatma). What is more, such a union should also take place so as to justify the name of Yoga properly understood.

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II

na drashta darsanam drisyam vidyate yatra tatra hrit
yojayedvasana yavadyogo'yamiti yogavit

Where the seer, the sight and the seen
Are not present-there the heart
Should be joined, as long as incipient memory factors (are present);
Such is Yoga, (says) the knower of Yoga.

The seer, the sight and the seen or, in other words, the knower, knowledge and what is known, are called in Vedanta triputi (tribasic prejudice). In the true form proper to the Self, there is no triputi. When the outgoing activities of the mind have been restrained and the attitude of samadhi (peace) is reached, there is no room for the operation of triputi. In that state of peace, the form of the Self, free from triputi becomes revealed without any hindrance. Patanjali has also described this stage as, "Then takes place the attainment of the proper form of the seer." This form is free from triputi, and is of the status of sat-cit-ananda (existence-subsistence-value or bliss). As soon as one comes out of the state of samadhi, the tribasic prejudice (triputi), asserts itself, and the many activities of the mind produce attachment and aversion and the consequent sensations of pleasure and pain. The incipient memory factors (vasanas) which remain in the inner faculty of the mind are the subtle and potential sources causing all the varied activities of the mind. Therefore, until such time as these väsanas are weakened and completely destroyed, it is necessary to unite the mind with the Ultimate Self which is free from tribasic prejudice (triputi), and thus to practice the art of samadhi (i.e., the wisdom of supreme peace, which is that of Yoga). It is such a kind of Yoga that has been stated by qualified persons who have experienced this type of peace as consisting of true Yoga.

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III

namarupamidam sarvam brahmaiveti viliyate
yadbrahmani mano nityam sa yoga iti niscitah

All this consisting of name-form, (knowing)
As verily the Absolute, the mind ever merges
In the Absolute; what constitutes such,
As Yoga is ascertained.

As stated in the previous verse, it is not easy to restrain mental activity and to remain in the unconditioned and calm contemplation of the Absolute, fully free from tribasic prejudice (triputi) and the operation of the three nature modalities (triguna). It is difficult to remain always in a kind of peace which is without any mental activity at all. Even if we should repeat the word brahman (the Absolute) any number of times, the world of name-form made manifest by attributes does not disappear from being operative within consciousness. When the reasoning mind is distracted by interests of ordinary life consisting of worldly thoughts, the attainment of samadhi (peace) is not possible. Then how is it possible to accomplish such a Yoga?

This verse intends to give the answer to such a question for the aspirant who wishes spiritual progress through Yoga, and puts the question with an intense desire to know an alternative way. Instead of trying to see this visible world as consisting of name-form, and thus as entirely false, it is recommended here as easier on the basis of the mahavakyas (great sayings), such as "Everything here is the Absolute," and "All the phenomenal world is the Absolute indeed," to look upon the whole phenomenal universe as consisting of the Absolute. It is not easy to turn from the long mental habit enduring through many years telling us that the world is real. Even though to a discriminating mind the world is philosophically false, the appearance of the world as real still continues to be operative.

[Reference is here made to verse 3 of Narayana Guru's Advaita Dipika (Lamp of Non-Duality) which states that even when discrimination has abolished the reality of the world, it continues to be given to the senses - just as to a man who has lost his sense of direction, the error could persist for some time, even after the orientation has been intellectually corrected. A mistake might continue to persist for some time, even after its recognition as a mistake, merely by force of habit. There is also reference to another verse in the Atmopadesa Satakam (One Hundred Verses on Self-Knowledge) where Narayana Guru states the converse possibility, and says that all things are real enough but that the man of philosophical disposition could comprehend the unity underlying all things.]

This alternative case can be easily practised, and is here recommended in view of an aspirant who, by practising this kind of Yoga for a long time until the incipient memory factors are eliminated, will accomplish the same purpose of Yoga, otherwise more difficult. It is to underline the continued practice that the word nityam (always) has been used. Patanjali also underlines this same verity when he says that, by long practice without interruption in a reverent spirit of service, one is capable of stabilizing certitude. Such an unceasing practice is itself Yoga.

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IV

cittasya tailadharavadurittya' vicchinnaya' tmani
nirantaram ramyate yatsayogo yogibhih smritah

That unbroken functioning of reason
Which in the Self, like a streak of oil,
Finds incessant joy - such as Yoga
Is by yogis recognized.

The kind of Yoga practised under conditions where no definite rules are observed and where the mind still remains distracted does not yield the results of the high state of samadhi (peace). It is not conducive to Self-realization, because of the many hindrances. Like the incessant flow of the streak of oil when poured from one vessel into another, there must be an unbroken continuity of the relation of a stilled mind which has wholeheartedly to be turned towards its proper object of meditation, with continuity and without interruption, before Self-realization can be accomplished. In this way, the practice must be continued until the goal is attained. Occasional meditation will not produce the desired result. It has been pointed out that the attainment of the goal of Yoga is accomplished only after many life-times of practice. Thus there is the need for incessant practice. It is only when such a high state of attainment is reached that one can say that such a state as found in the texts is firmly established, and one is not perturbed even by disasters.

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V

yato yato mano yati sada'tmani tatastatah
niyamya yojayedetadyogo'yam yujyatamiha

To which or which other interest) the mind goes,
From that or that other into the Self,
Ever restraining it, it should be joined;
In such Yoga here let it be united.

As stated in the Bhagavad Gita (VI, 26), "Whatever causes the changeful unsteady mind to go out (again and again), from each such, restraining (it again and again), it should ever be led to the side of the Self."

As it is difficult to keep the mind in a form of unbroken meditation on the Self, after the manner of the streak of oil that is unbroken and continuous, this alternative method of meditation is suggested in order to lighten such a difficulty. One should watch out carefully and incessantly for any change that might take place in the mind in its goings and comings. Without one being aware of it, the mind, by its incipient memory disposition, tends to follow one or other extraneous interest. In every such case, one has to discover the straying of the mind and bring it back by force, so as to establish it again in the Self. This Yoga is none other than the constant effort to bring back the mind and establish it in the Self. Such a Yoga has always to be practised. As again stated in the Bhagavad Gita (VI, 28), "Ever uniting thus the Self, that yogi, rid of dross, having contact with the Absolute, enjoys easily happiness that is ultimate."

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VI & VII

sarvanarthakarah pumsam sankalpah kalpitaih saha
unmulya vasanajalairyenatmani nirudhyate

drisyasya na driso'stitvam ato drisyam drigatmakam
iti yunjita drigrupe yah sa yogavidam varah

Uprooting those incipient memory factors of willing,
The source of all human disasters, (he) who
Together with their various willed objects
Restrains in the form of Self, (saying);

"What is seen has no existence as such;
"Thus what is seen is the seer's Self,"
He among knowers of Yoga
Is the most superior.

The act of the will is the source of all suffering. Every wilful act arises in accordance with the incipient memory factors corresponding to it. The act of willing arises in accordance with some deep-seated incipient memory factor, having there lain rooted for a long time. Therefore, the yogi or the man of meditation who is interested in avoiding suffering should find out by minute introspection those deep seated incipient memory factors and abolish them, so as to become established in the unity of Yoga.

Yoga is not any form of self-torture. It is the union of the seer and the seen that is here referred to as Yoga. All that is visible is, in reality, unreal; and what really exists is only the basis for such visible entities in the Self, as has already been indicated in the second and third chapters (of the Darsana-Mala-Apavada-Darsana and Asat-ya-Darsana). Therefore, having first brought into union the visible with the seer - that is to say, seeing everything in the form of the seeing subject alone, - he should remain in the form of that inner witness. It is a man who understands Yoga in this manner who is to be considered a superior kind of Yoga-knower.

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VIII

yada piban manobhringah svanandamadhumadhurim
na spandati vasikritya yojito yogavayuna

When the mind-bee, drinking
Of the nectar-sweetness of Self-bliss,
Is drawn into union with Yoga-breeze
And does not flutter, (Yoga takes place).

The mind has been compared to the bee which keeps on fluttering its wings and wanders from flower to flower, attracted by any flower that it sees. The mind is also full of unsettled alternating motions and, because of its random attractions to whatever interests are presented to it, has been compared to the bee for the reasons mentioned. When the bee is engaged in drinking the nectar from the flower, it attains to stillness; likewise the mind, when it has attained to Self-bliss, also becomes stilled. Just as the bee is carried along by the breeze, (so) by the continued practice of Yoga, the mind is also carried along to its goal of happiness. Just as the bee becomes still by the enjoyment of the honey, so the mind becomes still by the sweetness of the honey of happiness found in the Self. When such a stillness is firmly established, such a state is to be understood as Yoga.

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IX

dhyanamantar bhruvordristirjihvagram lambikordhvatah
yada syatkhecari mudra nidralasyadinasini

When meditation with gaze fixed between eyebrows
And the tongue-tip touching beyond the uvula (takes place),
Then happens (khecari-mudra) that space-freedom attitude
Of drowsiness- and fatigue-dispelling capacity.

What is known as khecari-mudra is a variety of meditation referring to the centre of the eyebrows. It refers to a special kind of yogic practice whereby the tongue is bent inwards as far as the roof or palate of the mouth, while the tip of the tongue enters into the cavity that continues upwards from the roof part of the mouth, the insertion of the tongue being fixed above the point where the uvula starts. At the same time, the centre of the eyebrows is its culminating target, and the vision and meditation are fixed together at such a centre. This practice, however, is to be undertaken only in the actual presence of a Guru, who himself is a man who has practiced it and can actually demonstrate it to the would-be yogi. The practice of this kind of attitude called khecari-mudra is to destroy the basic tendencies which express themselves in active (rajasik) and inert (tamasik) tendencies, constituting the main items such as fatigue and sleep which are hindrances to the attainment of Yoga perfection or peace (samadhi). The use of the word adi (and so on) in the above verse is intended to cover the nine kinds of dissipations or distractions, such as illness, doubt, confusion, etc., and the consequent indisposition or debilities which are five in number, (such as) depression, lassitude, etc. This makes for fourteen subdivisions of hindrances. Because the centre of the eyebrows is the seat of consciousness, it is very laudable to meditate with reference to that point.

Patanjali also says that all attainments or ends of Yoga are derivable from consciousness. It is also well known that discrimination is the guiding star for the unstable and alternating stages of phenomenal existence. It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that all the attainments derivable from other yogic practices are also inclusively covered by the cultivation of this supreme form of meditative practice which helps to magnify the power of positive consciousness, making it stronger, subtler, purer and of clearer penetration. It goes without saying that the attainment of wisdom is superior to any other form of spiritual attainment. The practice that leads to this attitude surely yields the benefits of all other secondary practices. Even by the conquest of sleep and fatigue, the yogi becomes qualified in principle for all other spiritual attainments.

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X

jnanam karmeti loke'smin dvidha yogah samasatah
anayoryogavistarah sarvah parisamapyate

As of wisdom or action, Yoga in this world
Is of two kinds; and within these, summarily,
The whole of the further elaboration of Yoga
Is comprised conclusively.

The two divisions of Yoga are wisdom (jnana) and action (karma), characterized in the following way. The Yoga of wisdom is concerned with the reality underlying the principles of the Self - which are based on existence, subsistence and value or bliss (sat-cit-ananda). These principles have to be brought within the scope of one's experience in the form of Self-realization. This requires a discrimination between lasting and transient values in life, belonging to the four pre-requisites of the same kind mentioned in Vedantic texts. Such realization can take place only under conditions of detachment.

As for the Yoga of action, it has the following characteristics. The carrying out of such necessary duties or actions which have the wisdom of the Self as the end in view, and are done without any thought of enjoying the fruit and gain therefrom, as well as having no sense of bondage but rather (as) keeping within the limit of righteousness as an offering to the Lord (isvara) - such is the Yoga of action.

The division made in the Bhagavad Gita (III, 3), refers to the same kind of principle of classification of the two kinds of Yoga, and conforms to and justifies the same when it says that the Yoga of wisdom of the Samkhyans and the Yoga of action of the Patanjali Yogins are the two main disciplines found in this world since ancient times. The Yoga of wisdom has also other descriptive titles applied to it, such as jnana-yajna (the wisdom-sacrifice), samkhya-yoga (meditation based on reason), thyaga (renunciation), sannyasa (more mature renunciation), buddhi (discrimination), buddhi-yoga (meditation based on discrimination), akarma (non-ritualism), and kevala-jnana (plain and simple wisdom).

In the same way, the Yoga of action has other descriptive titles applied to it, such as yoga-yajna (the meditation-sacrifice), pajna (sacrifice), nishkamakarma-yoga (the way of meditation which aims at no advantageous fruits thereof), and kevala-yoga (plain and simple Yoga), as well as kevala-karma (plain and simple action). There is also the term dharma (righteous way of life) applied to both the Yoga of wisdom and the Yoga of action.

In reality, both are the same. The Bhagavad Gita (V, 4 & 5) makes it clear that Samkhya and Yoga are to be looked upon as (being) the same, and (that) he alone who sees this truly sees. It also underlines that only children treat them (being) distinct, and not well-informed pandits. Even if one of these disciplines is properly accomplished, the result of both of them accrues.

These passages in the Bhagavad Gita treat wisdom and action as forming one discipline only. It is necessary, however, to have the guidance of wisdom as a primary condition. One has to recognize that all actions depend upon wisdom or intelligence. Thereafter, when action is performed it has to be done with intelligence, detachment and the sense of non-active understanding. That is, one should be able to see action in inaction and inaction in action.

The one who is able to see these two disciplines as not being different is a jnana-yogi and a karma-yogi. The Bhagavad Gita (IV, 18) also says that the man who is able to see in action inaction, and in inaction action, is a true yogi, while still engaged in every kind of action. The gist of this statement, and all the elaborations to which it is capable of being subjected, confirms the unity of these disciplines.

All the further ramifications of the discipline of Yoga are comprised within the scope of jnana-karma-yoga (the Yoga of combined wisdom and action). Even this distinction, in reality, is not of much consequence. In spite of this, however, in order to distinguish the way of life proper to those who adhere to philosophy and call themselves sannyisins (mature renouncers), and those who combine philosophy with their own activities correctly belonging to their own stations in life and who thus could be more properly called karma-yogis, this distinction in nomenclature is commonly adopted. On closer examination, both are the same. As the Bhagavad Gita (V, 5) puts it, the same point of attainment is reached by the Samkhya philosophers and by the Patanjali Yogins.

Although the Bhagavad Gita initially accepts the outward duality between the two disciplines, it stresses the inner unity based on the common end of both. In short, whatever action one might perform, and whatever Yoga one might practice, it has to be done under the auspices or guidance of intelligence. It is only for action done under such guidance that the name of karma-yoga or the Yoga of action can be applied. It is only when Yoga is accompanied by wisdom that it can be considered to be the supreme goal of human existence, which is moksha (liberation) or nirvana (absorption).

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