Autobiography of a Yogi
Sri Yukteswar was both a swami and a yogi. A swami, formally a monk
by virtue of his connection with the ancient order, is not always
a yogi. Anyone who practices a scientific technique of God-contact
is a yogi; he may be either married or unmarried, either a worldly
man or one of formal religious ties. A swami may conceivably follow
only the path of dry reasoning, of cold renunciation; but a yogi
engages himself in a definite, step-by-step procedure by which
the body and mind are disciplined, and the soul liberated. Taking
nothing for granted on emotional grounds, or by faith, a yogi
practices a thoroughly tested series of exercises which were first
mapped out by the early rishis. Yoga has produced, in every age
of India, men who became truly free, truly Yogi-Christs.
Like any other science, yoga is applicable to people of every clime
and time. The theory advanced by certain ignorant writers that yoga
is “unsuitable for Westerners” is wholly false, and has lamentably
prevented many sincere students from seeking its manifold blessings.
Yoga is a method for restraining the natural turbulence of thoughts,
which otherwise impartially prevent all men, of all lands, from
glimpsing their true nature of Spirit. Yoga cannot know a barrier
of East and West any more than does the healing and equitable
light of the sun. So long as man possesses a mind with its restless
thoughts, so long will there be a universal need for yoga or control.
The ancient rishi Patanjali defines “yoga” as “control of the
fluctuations of the mind-stuff.” {FN24-4} His very short and masterly
expositions, the YOGA SUTRAS, form one of the six systems of Hindu
philosophy. {FN24-5} In contradistinction to Western philosophies,
all six Hindu systems embody not only theoretical but practical
teachings. In addition to every conceivable ontological inquiry,
the six systems formulate six definite disciplines aimed at the
permanent removal of suffering and the attainment of timeless bliss.
The common thread linking all six systems is the declaration that
no true freedom for man is possible without knowledge of the ultimate
Reality. The later UPANISHADS uphold the YOGA SUTRAS, among the six
systems, as containing the most efficacious methods for achieving
direct perception of truth. Through the practical techniques of
yoga, man leaves behind forever the barren realms of speculation
and cognizes in experience the veritable Essence.
The YOGA system as outlined by Patanjali is known as the Eightfold
Path. The first steps, (1) YAMA and (2) NIYAMA, require observance
of ten negative and positive moralities-avoidance of injury to others,
of untruthfulness, of stealing, of incontinence, of gift-receiving
(which brings obligations); and purity of body and mind, contentment,
self-discipline, study, and devotion to God.
The next steps are (3) ASANA (right posture); the spinal column
must be held straight, and the body firm in a comfortable position
for meditation; (4) PRANAYAMA (control of PRANA, subtle life currents);
and (5) PRATYAHARA (withdrawal of the senses from external objects).
The last steps are forms of yoga proper: (6) DHARANA (concentration);
holding the mind to one thought; (7) DHYANA (meditation), and (8)
SAMADHI (superconscious perception). This is the Eightfold Path
of Yoga {FN24-6} which leads one to the final goal of KAIVALYA
(Absoluteness), a term which might be more comprehensibly put as
“realization of the Truth beyond all intellectual apprehension.”
“Which is greater,” one may ask, “a swami or a yogi?” If and when
final oneness with God is achieved, the distinctions of the various
paths disappear. The BHAGAVAD GITA, however, points out that the
methods of yoga are all-embracive. Its techniques are not meant only
for certain types and temperaments, such as those few who incline
toward the monastic life; yoga requires no formal allegiance.
Because the yogic science satisfies a universal need, it has a
natural universal applicability.
A true yogi may remain dutifully in the world; there he is like
butter on water, and not like the easily-diluted milk of unchurned
and undisciplined humanity. To fulfill one’s earthly responsibilities
is indeed the higher path, provided the yogi, maintaining a mental
uninvolvement with egotistical desires, plays his part as a willing
instrument of God.
There are a number of great souls, living in American or European
or other non-Hindu bodies today who, though they may never have
heard the words YOGI and SWAMI, are yet true exemplars of those
terms. Through their disinterested service to mankind, or through
their mastery over passions and thoughts, or through their single
hearted love of God, or through their great powers of concentration,
they are, in a sense, yogis; they have set themselves the goal of
yoga-self-control. These men could rise to even greater heights if
they were taught the definite science of yoga, which makes possible
a more conscious direction of one’s mind and life.
Yoga has been superficially misunderstood by certain Western
writers, but its critics have never been its practitioners. Among
many thoughtful tributes to yoga may be mentioned one by Dr. C. G.
Jung, the famous Swiss psychologist.
“When a religious method recommends itself as ‘scientific,’ it can
be certain of its public in the West. Yoga fulfills this expectation,”
Dr. Jung writes. {FN24-7} “Quite apart from the charm of the new,
and the fascination of the half-understood, there is good cause
for Yoga to have many adherents. It offers the possibility of
controllable experience, and thus satisfies the scientific need
of ‘facts,’ and besides this, by reason of its breadth and depth,
its venerable age, its doctrine and method, which include every
phase of life, it promises undreamed-of possibilities.
“Every religious or philosophical practice means a psychological
discipline, that is, a method of mental hygiene. The manifold,
purely bodily procedures of Yoga {FN24-8} also mean a physiological
hygiene which is superior to ordinary gymnastics and breathing
exercises, inasmuch as it is not merely mechanistic and scientific,
but also philosophical; in its training of the parts of the body,
it unites them with the whole of the spirit, as is quite clear,
for instance, in the PRANAYAMA exercises where PRANA is both the
breath and the universal dynamics of the cosmos.
“When the thing which the individual is doing is also a cosmic event,
the effect experienced in the body (the innervation), unites with
the emotion of the spirit (the universal idea), and out of this there
develops a lively unity which no technique, however scientific, can
produce. Yoga practice is unthinkable, and would also be ineffectual,
without the concepts on which Yoga is based. It combines the bodily
and the spiritual with each other in an extraordinarily complete
way.
“In the East, where these ideas and practices have developed, and
where for several thousand years an unbroken tradition has created
the necessary spiritual foundations, Yoga is, as I can readily
believe, the perfect and appropriate method of fusing body and
mind together so that they form a unity which is scarcely to be
questioned. This unity creates a psychological disposition which
makes possible intuitions that transcend consciousness.”
The Western day is indeed nearing when the inner science of self-control
will be found as necessary as the outer conquest of nature. This
new Atomic Age will see men’s minds sobered and broadened by the
now scientifically indisputable truth that matter is in reality a
concentrate of energy. Finer forces of the human mind can and must
liberate energies greater than those within stones and metals, lest
the material atomic giant, newly unleashed, turn on the world in
mindless destruction. {FN24-9}
{FN24-1} I CORINTHIANS 7:32-33.
{FN24-2} Literally, “This soul is Spirit.” The Supreme Spirit,
the Uncreated, is wholly unconditioned (NETI, NETI, not this, not
that) but is often referred to in VEDANTA as SAT-CHIT-ANANDA, that
is, Being-Intelligence-Bliss.
{FN24-3} Sometimes called Shankaracharya. ACHARYA means “religious
teacher.” Shankara’s date is a center of the usual scholastic dispute.
A few records indicate that the peerless monist lived from 510 to
478 B.C.; Western historians assign him to the late eighth century
A.D. Readers who are interested in Shankara’s famous exposition
of the BRAHMA SUTRAS will find a careful English translation in Dr.
Paul Deussen’s SYSTEM OF THE VEDANTA (Chicago: Open Court Publishing
Company, 1912). Short extracts from his writings will be found in
SELECTED WORKS OF SRI SHANKARACHARYA (Natesan & Co., Madras).
{FN24-4} “CHITTA VRITTI NIRODHA”-YOGA SUTRA I:2. Patanjali’s date
is unknown, though a number of scholars place him in the second
century B.C. The rishis gave forth treatises on all subjects with
such insight that ages have been powerless to outmode them; yet,
to the subsequent consternation of historians, the sages made no
effort to attach their own dates and personalities to their literary
works. They knew their lives were only temporarily important as
flashes of the great infinite Life; and that truth is timeless,
impossible to trademark, and no private possession of their own.
{FN24-5} The six orthodox systems (SADDARSANA) are SANKHYA, YOGA,
VEDANTA, MIMAMSA, NYAYA, and VAISESIKA. Readers of a scholarly bent
will delight in the subtleties and broad scope of these ancient
formulations as summarized, in English, in HISTORY OF INDIAN
PHILOSOPHY, Vol. I, by Prof. Surendranath DasGupta (Cambridge
University Press, 1922).
{FN24-6} Not to be confused with the “Noble Eightfold Path” of
Buddhism, a guide to man’s conduct of life, as follows (1) Right
Ideals, (2) Right Motive, (3) Right Speech, (4) Right Action, (5)
Right Means of Livelihood, (6) Right Effort, (7) Right Remembrance
(of the Self), (8) Right Realization (SAMADHI).
{FN24-7} Dr. Jung attended the Indian Science Congress in 1937 and
received an honorary degree from the University of Calcutta.
{FN24-8} Dr. Jung is here referring to HATHA YOGA, a specialized
branch of bodily postures and techniques for health and longevity.
HATHA is useful, and produces spectacular physical results, but this
branch of yoga is little used by yogis bent on spiritual liberation.
{FN24-9} In Plato’s TIMAEUS story of Atlantis, he tells of
the inhabitants’ advanced state of scientific knowledge. The lost
continent is believed to have vanished about 9500 B.C. through a
cataclysm of nature; certain metaphysical writers, however, state
that the Atlanteans were destroyed as a result of their misuse of
atomic power. Two French writers have recently compiled a BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF ATLANTIS, listing over 1700 historical and other references.
CHAPTER: 25
BROTHER ANANTA AND SISTER NALINI
“Ananta cannot live; the sands of his karma for this life have run
out.”
These inexorable words reached my inner consciousness as I sat one
morning in deep meditation. Shortly after I had entered the Swami
Order, I paid a visit to my birthplace, Gorakhpur, as a guest of
my elder brother Ananta. A sudden illness confined him to his bed;
I nursed him lovingly.
The solemn inward pronouncement filled me with grief. I felt that
I could not bear to remain longer in Gorakhpur, only to see my
brother removed before my helpless gaze. Amidst uncomprehending
criticism from my relatives, I left India on the first available
boat. It cruised along Burma and the China Sea to Japan. I disembarked
at Kobe, where I spent only a few days. My heart was too heavy for
sightseeing.
On the return trip to India, the boat touched at Shanghai. There
Dr. Misra, the ship’s physician, guided me to several curio shops,