Raja-Yoga quotes

Second, the Yogis hold the mind to be equally all - pervading with the soul, or Purusha, and the Sankhyas do not.

Each soul is potentially divine.

The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal.

All our knowledge is based upon experience.

What we call inferential knowledge, in which we go from the less to the more general, or from the general to the particular, has experience as its basis.

This I entirely deny. If there has been one experience in this world in any particular branch of knowledge, it absolutely follows that that 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 experience of ancient times, but that no man can be religious until he has the same perceptions himself.

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;

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; when he has grasped it, realised it, felt it within his heart of hearts, then alone, declare the Vedas, would 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; there is no other way."

Yoga is the science which teaches us how to get these perceptions.

It is not much use 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, because people never went to the fountain-head;

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 outspoken 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 are futile; on the other hand, with the semi-educated, the idea seems to be that these things really have no basis;

The instrument is the mind itself. The power of attention, when properly guided, and directed towards the internal world, will analyse the mind, and illumine facts for us.

The powers of the mind are like rays of light dissipated; when they are concentrated, they illumine.

This is our only means of knowledge. Everyone is using it, both in the external and the internal world; but, for the psychologist, the same minute observation has to be directed to the internal world, which the scientific man directs to the external;

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.

How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the concentration of the powers of the mind?

The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow.

The strength and force of the blow 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; that is the secret.

The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow 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; that is the secret.

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 the 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.

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 the 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.

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.

Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of Yoga should be at once rejected.

The best guide in life is strength.

In religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it. Mystery-mongering weakens the human brain. It has well-nigh destroyed Yoga — one of the grandest of sciences.

What little I know I will tell you. So far as I can reason it out I will do so, but as to what I do not know I will simply tell you what the books say.

It is wrong to believe blindly.

You must exercise your own reason and judgment; you must practice, and see whether these things happen or not. Just as you would take up any other science, exactly in the same manner you should take up this science for study.

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

As these two become established, the Yogi will begin to realise the fruits of his practice; without these it will never bear fruit. A Yogi must not think of injuring anyone, by thought, word, or deed.

Mercy shall not be for men alone, but shall go beyond, and embrace the whole world.

The next step is Asana, posture. A series of exercises, physical and mental, is to be gone through every day, until certain higher states are reached. Therefore it is quite necessary that we should find a posture in which we can remain long.

He is determined not to fall sick, and he never does. He lives long; a hundred years is nothing to him; he is quite young and fresh when he is 150, without one hair turned grey. But that is all.

A banyan tree lives sometimes 5000 years, but it is a banyan tree and nothing more.

So, if a man lives long, he is only a healthy animal. One or two ordinary lessons of the Hatha-Yogis are very useful.

practicing this three or five times at four hours of the day, before dawn, during midday, in the evening, and at midnight, in fifteen days or a month purity of the nerves is attained; then begins Pranayama."

Practice is absolutely necessary.

You may sit down and listen to me by the hour every day, but if you do not practice, you will not get one step further. It all depends on practice. We never understand these things until we experience them.

Practice is absolutely necessary. You may sit down and listen to me by the hour every day, but if you do not practice, you will not get one step further. It all depends on practice.

We never understand these things until we experience them.

We will have to see and feel them for ourselves. Simply listening to explanations and theories will not do. There are several obstructions to practice. The first obstruction is an unhealthy body:

When the forces that hold it together go away, the body must fall. No man was ever born who could stop his body one moment from changing.

Body is the name of a series of changes.

"As in a river the masses of water are changing before you every moment, and new masses are coming, yet taking similar form, so is it with this body." Yet the body must be kept strong and healthy. It is the best instrument we have.

"As in a river the masses of water are changing before you every moment, and new masses are coming, yet taking similar form, so is it with this body." Yet the body must be kept strong and healthy.

It is the best instrument we have.

This human body is the greatest body in the universe, and a human being the greatest being. Man is higher than all animals, than all angels; none is greater than man.

Mentally repeat, "Let all beings be happy; let all beings be peaceful; let all beings be blissful." So do to the east, south, north and west. The more you do that the better you will feel yourself.

You will find at last that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy.

After doing that, those who believe in God should pray — not for money, not for health, nor for heaven; pray for knowledge and light; every other prayer is selfish.

it is the best instrument you have. Think of it as being as strong as adamant, and that with the help of this body you will cross the ocean of life.

Freedom is never to be reached by the weak.

Throw away all weakness. Tell your body that it is strong, tell your mind that it is strong, and have unbounded faith and hope in yourself.

it is the best instrument you have. Think of it as being as strong as adamant, and that with the help of this body you will cross the ocean of life. Freedom is never to be reached by the weak.

Throw away all weakness.

Tell your body that it is strong, tell your mind that it is strong, and have unbounded faith and hope in yourself.

How to control the Prana is the one idea of Pranayama. All the trainings and exercises in this regard are for that one end.

Each man must begin where he stands, must learn how to control the things that are nearest to him.

This body is very near to us, nearer than anything in the external universe, and this mind is the nearest of all. The Prana which is working this mind and body is the nearest to us of all the Prana in this universe.

All reflex actions of the body belong to this plane of thought. There is again the other plane of thought, the conscious. I reason, I judge, I think, I see the pros and cons of certain things, yet that is not all.

We know that reason is limited.

Reason can go only to a certain extent, beyond that it cannot reach. The circle within which it runs is very very limited indeed. Yet at the same time, we find facts rush into this circle.

We know that reason is limited. Reason can go only to a certain extent, beyond that it cannot reach. The circle within which it runs is very very limited indeed. Yet at the same time, we find facts rush into this circle.

Like the coming of comets certain things come into this circle; it is certain they come from outside the limit, although our reason cannot go beyond.

The causes of the phenomena intruding themselves in this small limit are outside of this limit. The mind can exist on a still higher plane, the superconscious.

All the sickness and misery felt in the body will be perfectly controlled; not only so, you will be able to control another's body.

Everything is infectious in this world, good or bad.

If your body be in a certain state of tension, it will have a tendency to produce the same tension in others.

In an ocean there are huge waves, like mountains, then smaller waves, and still smaller, down to little bubbles, but back of all these is the infinite ocean.

The bubble is connected with the infinite ocean at one end, and the huge wave at the other end.

So, one may be a gigantic man, and another a little bubble, but each is connected with that infinite ocean of energy, which is the common birthright of every animal that exists. Wherever there is life, the storehouse of infinite energy is behind it.

If an engine, with a certain amount of coal, runs two miles an hour, it will run the distance in less time with a greater supply of coal. Similarly, why shall not the soul, by intensifying its action, attain perfection in this very life?

All beings will at last attain to that goal, we know. But who cares to wait all these millions of aeons?

Why not reach it immediately, in this body even, in this human form? Why shall I not get that infinite knowledge, infinite power, now?

So, one may be a gigantic man, and another a little bubble, but each is connected with that infinite ocean of energy, which is the common birthright of every animal that exists.

Wherever there is life, the storehouse of infinite energy is behind it.

Starting as some fungus, some very minute, microscopic bubble, and all the time drawing from that infinite store-house of energy, a form is changed slowly and steadily until in course of time it becomes a plant, then an animal, then man, ultimately God.

We may be continually passing and repassing through their bodies, and they do not see or feel us.

It is a circle within a circle, universe within universe.

We have five senses, and we represent Prana in a certain state of vibration. All beings in the same state of vibration will see one another, but if there are beings who represent Prana in a higher state of vibration, they will not be seen.

only for those who can go on further with it will Kundalini be aroused, and the whole of nature will begin to change, and the book of knowledge will open.

No more will you need to go to books for knowledge; your own mind will have become your book, containing infinite knowledge.

I have already spoken of the Ida and Pingala currents, flowing through either side of the spinal column, and also of the Sushumna, the passage through the centre of the spinal cord. These three are present in every animal;

He who has succeeded in attaching or detaching his mind to or from the centres at will has succeeded in Pratyahara, which means, "gathering towards," checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the thraldom of the senses.

When we can do this, we shall really possess character; then alone we shall have taken a long step towards freedom; before that we are mere machines.

How hard it is to control the mind! Well has it been compared to the maddened monkey. There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are.

When a man is stung by a scorpion, he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey?

The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence.

After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind!

To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence.

After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance.

How hard to control such a mind!

The mind is bubbling up all the time. It is like that monkey jumping about. Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply wait and watch. Knowledge is power, says the proverb, and that is true.

Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it.

Give it the rein; many hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts.

It is like that monkey jumping about. Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply wait and watch. Knowledge is power, says the proverb, and that is true. Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it.

Give it the rein; many hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts.

But you will find that each day the mind's vagaries are becoming less and less violent, that each day it is becoming calmer.

The first lesson, then, is to sit for some time and let the mind run on.

The mind is bubbling up all the time. It is like that monkey jumping about.

Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply wait and watch. Knowledge is power, says the proverb, and that is true. Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it. Give it the rein;

One bit of food more or less will disturb the whole system, until one gets perfect control, and then one will be able to eat whatever one likes.

When one begins to concentrate, the dropping of a pin will seem like a thunderbolt going through the brain.

As the organs get finer, the perceptions get finer. These are the stages through which we have to pass, and all those who persevere will succeed. Give up all argumentation and other distractions. Is there anything in dry intellectual jargon?

It only throws the mind off its balance and disturbs it. Things of subtler planes have to be realised. Will talking do that? So give up all vain talk. Read only those books which have been written by persons who have had realisation.

Be like the pearl oyster.

There is a pretty Indian fable to the effect that if it rains when the star Svâti is in the ascendant, and a drop of rain falls into an oyster, that drop becomes a pearl.

There is the danger of frittering away your energies by taking up an idea only for its novelty, and then giving it up for another that is newer.

Take one thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen the end, do not give it up.

He who can become mad with an idea, he alone sees light. Those that only take a nibble here and a nibble there will never attain anything. They may titillate their nerves for a moment, but there it will end.

Take one thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen the end, do not give it up.

He who can become mad with an idea, he alone sees light.

Those that only take a nibble here and a nibble there will never attain anything. They may titillate their nerves for a moment, but there it will end. They will be slaves in the hands of nature, and will never get beyond the senses.

Those who really want to be Yogis must give up, once for all, this nibbling at things.

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life — think of it, dream of it, live on that idea.

Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced. Others are mere talking machines.

The sum total of the knowledge which he had before he went into the sleep remains the same; it does not increase at all. No enlightenment comes.

But when a man goes into Samadhi, if he goes into it a fool, he comes out a sage.

What makes the difference? From one state a man comes out the very same man that he went in, and from another state the man comes out enlightened, a sage, a prophet, a saint, his whole character changed, his life changed, illumined.

This, in short, is the idea of Samadhi. What is its application? The application is here.

The field of reason, or of the conscious workings of the mind, is narrow and limited.

There is a little circle within which human reason must move. It cannot go beyond. Every attempt to go beyond is impossible, yet it is beyond this circle of reason that there lies all that humanity holds most dear.

He did not know anything beyond that. But this is common that all claim that this knowledge has come to them from beyond, not through their reasoning power. What does the science of Yoga teach?

It teaches that they were right in claiming that all this knowledge came to them from beyond reasoning, but that it came from within themselves.

The Yogi teaches that the mind itself has a higher state of existence, beyond reason, a superconscious state, and when the mind gets to that higher state, then this knowledge, beyond reasoning, comes to man. Metaphysical and transcendental knowledge comes to that man.

There are not three minds in one man, but one state of it develops into the others. Instinct develops into reason, and reason into the transcendental consciousness; therefore, not one of the states contradicts the others.

Real inspiration never contradicts reason, but fulfils it.

Just as you find the great prophets saying, "I come not to destroy but to fulfil," so inspiration always comes to fulfil reason, and is in harmony with it.

They were not peculiar people. The very fact that one man ever reached that state, proves that it is possible for every man to do so. Not only is it possible, but every man must, eventually, get to that state, and that is religion.

Experience is the only teacher we have.

We may talk and reason all our lives, but we shall not understand a word of truth, until we experience it ourselves. You cannot hope to make a man a surgeon by simply giving him a few books.

Experience is the only teacher we have. We may talk and reason all our lives, but we shall not understand a word of truth, until we experience it ourselves. You cannot hope to make a man a surgeon by simply giving him a few books.

You cannot satisfy my curiosity to see a country by showing me a map; I must have actual experience.

Maps can only create curiosity in us to get more perfect knowledge. Beyond that, they have no value whatever. Clinging to books only degenerates the human mind.

The animal has its happiness in the senses, the man in his intellect, and the god in spiritual contemplation. It is only to the soul that has attained to this contemplative state that the world really becomes beautiful.

To him who desires nothing, and does not mix himself up with them, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.

These ideas have to be understood in Dhyana, or meditation. We hear a sound. First, there is the external vibration; second, the nerve motion that carries it to the mind;

This meditative state is the highest state of existence.

So long as there is desire, no real happiness can come.

It is only the contemplative, witness-like study of objects that brings to us real enjoyment and happiness. The animal has its happiness in the senses, the man in his intellect, and the god in spiritual contemplation.

This purifies the mind, the Chitta. Never producing pain by thought, word, and deed, in any living being, is what is called Ahimsâ, non-injury.

There is no virtue higher than non-injury.

There is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by this attitude of non-offensiveness, to all creation. By truth we attain fruits of work. Through truth everything is attained. In truth everything is established. Relating facts as they are — this is truth.

When man gives it up, it falls to pieces and is nothing. Thus you understand what is meant by Chitta. It is the mind-stuff, and Vrittis are the waves and ripples rising in it when external causes impinge on it. These Vrittis are our universe.

The bottom of a lake we cannot see, because its surface is covered with ripples.

It is only possible for us to catch a glimpse of the bottom, when the ripples have subsided, and the water is calm. If the water is muddy or is agitated all the time, the bottom will not be seen.

Anyone can do that, but he who can stop the plunging horses is the strong man. Which requires the greater strength, letting go or restraining? The calm man is not the man who is dull. You must not mistake Sattva for dullness or laziness.

The calm man is the one who has control over the mind waves.

Activity is the manifestation of inferior strength, calmness, of the superior.

Which requires the greater strength, letting go or restraining? The calm man is not the man who is dull. You must not mistake Sattva for dullness or laziness. The calm man is the one who has control over the mind waves.

Activity is the manifestation of inferior strength, calmness, of the superior.

The Chitta is always trying to get back to its natural pure state, but the organs draw it out.

"I will be powerful and rule others." Then there is the state called Sattva, serenity, calmness, in which the waves cease, and the water of the mind-lake becomes clear. It is not inactive, but rather intensely active.

It is the greatest manifestation of power to be calm.

It is easy to be active. Let the reins go, and the horses will run away with you. Anyone can do that, but he who can stop the plunging horses is the strong man. Which requires the greater strength, letting go or restraining?

And fourthly, that truth must have a possibility of verification. If a man says, "I have seen a vision," and tells me that I have no right to see it, I believe him not. Everyone must have the power to see it for himself.

No one who sells his knowledge is an Apta.

All these conditions must be fulfilled; you must first see that the man is pure, and that he has no selfish motive; that he has no thirst for gain or fame. Secondly, he must show that he is superconscious.

The only remedy for bad habits is counter habits; all the bad habits that have left their impressions are to be controlled by good habits. Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts continuously; that is the only way to suppress base impressions.

Never say any man is hopeless, because he only represents a character, a bundle of habits, which can be checked by new and better ones.

Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone can reform character.

Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts continuously; that is the only way to suppress base impressions. Never say any man is hopeless, because he only represents a character, a bundle of habits, which can be checked by new and better ones.

Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone can reform character.

13. Continuous struggle to keep them (the Vrittis) perfectly restrained is practice.

The mind, to have non-attachment, must be clear, good, and rational. Why should we practise? Because each action is like the pulsations quivering over the surface of the lake. The vibration dies out, and what is left? The Samskāras, the impressions.

When a large number of these impressions are left on the mind, they coalesce and become a habit.

It is said, "Habit is second nature", it is first nature also, and the whole nature of man; everything that we are is the result of habit.

all search for enjoyment is vain; this is the old, old lesson which man finds so hard to learn. When he does learn it, he gets out of the universe and becomes free.

The possession of what are called occult powers is only intensifying the world, and in the end, intensifying suffering.

Though as a scientist Patanjali is bound to point out the possibilities of this science, he never misses an opportunity to warn us against these powers.

25. In Him becomes infinite that all-knowingness which in others is (only) a germ.

The mind must always travel between two extremes.

You can think of limited space, but that very idea gives you also unlimited space. Close your eyes and think of a little space; at the same time that you perceive the little circle, you have a circle round it of unlimited dimensions.

Some days or weeks when you are practising, the mind will be calm and easily concentrated, and you will find yourself progressing fast. All of a sudden the progress will stop one day, and you will find yourself, as it were, stranded. Persevere.

All progress proceeds by such rise and fall.

31. Grief, mental distress, tremor of the body, irregular breathing, accompany non-retention of concentration.

and every evil thought or deed of hatred, or any thought of reaction, if it is controlled, will be laid in our favour. It is not that we lose by thus restraining ourselves; we are gaining infinitely more than we suspect.

Each time we suppress hatred, or a feeling of anger, it is so much good energy stored up in our favour; that piece of energy will be converted into the higher powers.

34. By throwing out and restraining the Breath.

If it is good, we must be glad; if it is evil, we must be indifferent. These attitudes of the mind towards the different subjects that come before it will make the mind peaceful.

Most of our difficulties in our daily lives come from being unable to hold our minds in this way.

For instance, if a man does evil to us, instantly we want to react evil, and every reaction of evil shows that we are not able to hold the Chitta down; it comes out in waves towards the object, and we lose our power.

That is very rational, and can be explained, because every new thought that we have must make, as it were, a new channel through the brain, and that explains the tremendous conservatism of human nature.

Human nature likes to run through the ruts that are already there, because it is easy.

If we think, just for example's sake, that the mind is like a needle, and the brain substance a soft lump before it, then each thought that we have makes a street, as it were, in the brain, and this street would close up, but …

This is what is meant by the aphorism.

Realisation is real religion, all the rest is only preparation — hearing lectures, or reading books, or reasoning is merely preparing the ground; it is not religion.

Intellectual assent and intellectual dissent are not religion. The central idea of the Yogis is that just as we come in direct contact with objects of the senses, so religion even can be directly perceived in a far more intense sense.

Why should that be so? Why should they be much more potent at the time of concentration? It is because you are repressing them, and they react with all their force. At other times they do not react.

How countless these old past impressions must be, all lodged somewhere in the Chitta, ready, waiting like tigers, to jump up!

These have to be suppressed that the one idea which we want may arise, to the exclusion of the others. Instead they are all struggling to come up at the same time.

and when he has finished that he takes up the Siddhanta, the decisive, arriving at a conclusion. Simply arriving at this conclusion will not do. It must be intensified.

Books are infinite in number, and time is short; therefore the secret of knowledge is to take what is essential.

Take that and try to live up to it. There is an old Indian legend that if you place a cup of milk and water before a Rāja Hamsa (swan), he will take all the milk and leave the water.

Every argument throws his mind out of balance, creates a disturbance in the Chitta, and a disturbance is a drawback. Argumentations and searchings of the reason are only by the way. There are much higher things beyond them.

The whole of life is not for school boy fights and debating societies.

"Surrendering the fruits of work to God" is to take to ourselves neither credit nor blame, but to give up both to the Lord and be at peace.

We find pleasure in certain things, and the mind like a current flows towards them; and this following the pleasure centre, as it were, is what is called attachment. We are never attached where we do not find pleasure.

We find pleasure in very queer things sometimes, but the principle remains: wherever we find pleasure, there we are attached.

8. Aversion is that which dwells on pain.

With the vast majority of mankind the fine states of these passions are not even known — the states in which they emerge from subconsciousness.

When a bubble is rising from the bottom of the lake, we do not see it, nor even when it is nearly come to the surface; it is only when it bursts and makes a ripple that we know it is there.

We shall only be successful in grappling with the waves when we can get hold of them in their fine causes, and until you can get hold of them, and subdue them before they become gross, there is no hope of conquering any passion perfectly.

By the "receptacle of works" is meant the sum-total of Samskaras.

Whatever work we do, the mind is thrown into a wave, and after the work is finished, we think the wave is gone. No.

It has only become fine, but it is still there. When we try to remember the work, it comes up again and becomes a wave. So it was there; if not, there would not have been memory.

The great king Yudhishthira once said that the most wonderful thing in life is that every moment we see people dying around us, and yet we think we shall never die.

Surrounded by fools on every side, we think we are the only exceptions, the only learned men.

Surrounded by all sorts of experiences of fickleness, we think our love is the only lasting love. How can that be?

Surrounded by fools on every side, we think we are the only exceptions, the only learned men.

Surrounded by all sorts of experiences of fickleness, we think our love is the only lasting love.

How can that be? Even love is selfish, and the Yogi says that in the end we shall find that even the love of husbands and wives, and children and friends, slowly decays. Decadence seizes everything in this life.

How can that be? Even love is selfish, and the Yogi says that in the end we shall find that even the love of husbands and wives, and children and friends, slowly decays. Decadence seizes everything in this life.

It is only when everything, even love, fails, that, with a flash, man finds out how vain, how dream-like is this world.

Then he catches a glimpse of Vairāgya (renunciation), catches a glimpse of the Beyond. It is only by giving up this world that the other comes; never through holding on to this one.

Not only so, but to have wanted the whole universe to come into the pig-life! The Purusha, when it identifies itself with nature, forgets that it is pure and infinite.

The Purusha does not love, it is love itself. It does not exist, it is existence itself.

The Soul does not know, It is knowledge itself. It is a mistake to say the Soul loves, exists, or knows. Love, existence, and knowledge are not the qualities of the Purusha, but its essence.

The Purusha, when it identifies itself with nature, forgets that it is pure and infinite. The Purusha does not love, it is love itself. It does not exist, it is existence itself.

The Soul does not know, It is knowledge itself.

It is a mistake to say the Soul loves, exists, or knows. Love, existence, and knowledge are not the qualities of the Purusha, but its essence. When they get reflected upon something, you may call them the qualities of that something.

So get this experience of husbands, and wives, and friends, and little loves; you will get through them safely if you never forget what you really are. Never forget this is only a momentary state, and that we have to pass through it.

Experience is the one great teacher — experience of pleasure and pain — but know it is only experience.

It leads, step by step, to that state where all things become small, and the Purusha so great that the whole universe seems as a drop in the ocean and falls off by its own nothingness.

It was men who made these places holy, and then the effect became the cause and made men holy. If the wicked only were to go there, it would become as bad as any other place.

It is not the building, but the people that make a church, and that is what we always forget.

That is why sages and holy persons, who have much of this Sattva quality, can send it out and exert a tremendous influence day and night on their surroundings. A man may become so pure that his purity will become tangible.

That is why sages and holy persons, who have much of this Sattva quality, can send it out and exert a tremendous influence day and night on their surroundings.

A man may become so pure that his purity will become tangible.

Whosoever comes in contact with him becomes pure.

Certainly intelligence is manufactured, and that very fact shows us that there must be something beyond that. It cannot be free, everything connected with matter is in nature, and, therefore, bound for ever. Who is free? The free must certainly be beyond cause and effect.

If you say that the idea of freedom is a delusion, I shall say that the idea of bondage is also a delusion.

Two facts come into our consciousness, and stand or fall with each other. These are our notions of bondage and freedom. If we want to go through a wall, and our head bumps against that wall, we see we are limited by that wall.

At the same time we find a will power, and think we can direct our will everywhere. At every step these contradictory ideas come to us.

We have to believe that we are free, yet at every moment we find we are not free.

If one idea is a delusion, the other is also a delusion, and if one is true, the other also is true, because both stand upon the same basis — consciousness. The Yogi says, both are true;

This body is a combination. It is only a fiction to say that I have one body, you another, and the sun another.

The whole universe is one ocean of matter, and you are the name of a little particle, and I of another, and the sun of another.

We know that this matter is continuously changing. What is forming the sun one day, the next day may form the matter of our bodies.

Therefore he who has conquered the internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his servant. Raja-yoga propounds the methods of gaining this control. Forces higher than we know in physical nature will have to be subdued.

This body is just the external crust of the mind.

They are not two different things; they are just as the oyster and its shell. They are but two aspects of one thing; the internal substance of the oyster takes up matter from outside, and manufactures the shell.

They were working their own way, and we, through ignorance, joined ourselves to them. But we have been alone, omnipotent, omnipresent, ever blessed; our own Self was so pure and perfect that we required none else.

We required none else to make us happy, for we are happiness itself.

We shall find that this knowledge does not depend on anything else; throughout the universe there can be nothing that will not become effulgent before our knowledge.

The mind will cease to be dissatisfied. While we are aware of thirsting after knowledge, we begin to seek here and there, wherever we think we can get some truth, and failing to find it we become dissatisfied and seek in a fresh direction.

All search is vain, until we begin to perceive that knowledge is within ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help ourselves.

When we begin to practise the power of discrimination, the first sign that we are getting near truth will be that that dissatisfied state will vanish.

Every vicious thought will rebound, every thought of hatred which you may have thought, in a cave even, is stored up, and will one day come back to you with tremendous power in the form of some misery here.

If you project hatred and jealousy, they will rebound on you with compound interest.

No power can avert them; when once you have put them in motion, you will have to bear them. Remembering this will prevent you from doing wicked things.

37. By the establishment of non-stealing all wealth comes to the Yogi.

The more you fly from nature, the more she follows you; and if you do not care for her at all, she becomes your slave.

38. By the establishment of continence energy is gained.

When there is real purification of the body, external and internal, there arises neglect of the body, and the idea of keeping it nice vanishes.

A face which others call most beautiful will appear to the Yogi as merely animal, if there is not intelligence behind it. What the world calls a very common face he regards as heavenly, if the spirit shines behind it.

This thirst after body is the great bane of human life. So the first sign of the establishment of purity is that you do not care to think you are a body.

By the practice of cleanliness, the Sattva material prevails, and the mind becomes concentrated and cheerful. The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful.

When a man is gloomy, that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion.

A pleasurable feeling is the nature of the Sattva. Everything is pleasurable to the Sattvika man, and when this comes, know that you are progressing in Yoga. All pain is caused by Tamas, so you must get rid of that;

We can make the seat firm by thinking of the infinite.

We cannot think of the Absolute Infinite, but we can think of the infinite sky.

48. Seat being conquered, the dualities do not obstruct.

The organs are separate states of the mind-stuff.

I see a book; the form is not in the book, it is in the mind.

Something is outside which calls that form up. The real form is in the Chitta. The organs identify themselves with, and take the form of, whatever comes to them. If you can restrain the mind-stuff from taking these forms, the mind will remain calm.

In common life we see that when we are interested in a book we do not note the time at all; and when we leave the book, we are often surprised to find how many hours have passed.

All time will have the tendency to come and stand in the one present.

So the definition is given: When the past and present come and stand in one, the mind is said to be concentrated.

How are we to know that the mind has become concentrated? Because the idea of time will vanish.

The more time passes unnoticed the more concentrated we are.

In common life we see that when we are interested in a book we do not note the time at all; and when we leave the book, we are often surprised to find how many hours have passed.

When a Yogi has attained to this Samyama and wants strength, he makes a Samyama on the strength of the elephant and gets it.

Infinite energy is at the disposal of everyone if he only knows how to get it.

The Yogi has discovered the science of getting it.

The mind in its foolishness thinks that it is working in this body.

Why should I be bound by one system of nerves, and put the Ego only in one body, if the mind is omnipresent?

There is no reason why I should. The Yogi wants to feel the Ego wherever he likes. The mental waves which arise in the absence of egoism in the body are called "real modifications" or "great disembodiedness".

When the Yogi has seen all these wonderful powers, and rejected them, he reaches the goal. What are all these powers? Simply manifestations. They are no better than dreams.

Even omnipotence is a dream.

It depends on the mind. So long as there is a mind it can be understood, but the goal is beyond even the mind.

The misery that we suffer comes from ignorance, from non-discrimination between the real and the unreal.

We all take the bad for the good, the dream for the reality.

Soul is the only reality, and we have forgotten it. Body is an unreal dream, and we think we are all bodies. This non-discrimination is the cause of misery. It is caused by ignorance.

The power of words. There are certain sacred words called Mantras, which have power, when repeated under proper conditions, to produce these extraordinary powers.

We are living in the midst of such a mass of miracles, day and night, that we do not think anything of them.

There is no limit to man's power, the power of words and the power of mind.

There are certain sacred words called Mantras, which have power, when repeated under proper conditions, to produce these extraordinary powers. We are living in the midst of such a mass of miracles, day and night, that we do not think anything of them.

There is no limit to man's power, the power of words and the power of mind.

Mortification. You find that in every religion mortifications and asceticisms have been practised. In these religious conceptions the Hindus always go to the extremes. You will find men with their hands up all their lives, until their hands wither and die.

The water for irrigation of fields is already in the canal, only shut in by gates. The farmer opens these gates, and the water flows in by itself, by the law of gravitation.

So all progress and power are already in every man; perfection is man's nature, only it is barred in and prevented from taking its proper course.

If anyone can take the bar off, in rushes nature. Then the man attains the powers which are his already. Those we call wicked become saints, as soon as the bar is broken and nature rushes in.

perfection is man's nature, only it is barred in and prevented from taking its proper course. If anyone can take the bar off, in rushes nature. Then the man attains the powers which are his already.

Those we call wicked become saints, as soon as the bar is broken and nature rushes in.

It is nature that is driving us towards perfection, and eventually she will bring everyone there.

Therefore there is no reason to believe that competition is necessary to progress. In the animal the man was suppressed, but as soon as the door was opened, out rushed man.

So in man there is the potential god, kept in by the locks and bars of ignorance. When knowledge breaks these bars, the god becomes manifest.

4. From egoism alone proceed the created minds.

Bad deeds put a bar to the manifestation of the nature of the Purusha; good deeds take the obstacles off, and the glory of the Purusha becomes manifest. The Purusha itself is never changed.

Whatever you do never destroys your own glory, your own nature, because the soul cannot be acted upon by anything, only a veil is spread before it, hiding its perfection.

With a view to exhausting their Karma quickly, Yogis create Kāya-vyuha, or groups of bodies, in which to work it out. For all these bodies they create minds from egoism. These are called "created minds", in contradistinction to their original minds.

These different minds, which act in these different bodies are called made-minds, and the bodies, made-bodies; that is, manufactured bodies and minds.

Matter and mind are like two inexhaustible storehouses.

When you become a Yogi, you learn the secret of their control. It was yours all the time, but you had forgotten it. When you become a Yogi, you recollect it. Then you can do anything with it, manipulate it in every way you like.

10. Thirst for happiness being eternal, desires are without beginning.

All experience is preceded by desire for happiness.

There was no beginning of experience, as each fresh experience is built upon the tendency generated by past experience; therefore desire is without beginning.

What makes it the same book? The changes are rhythmical; in harmonious order they are sending impressions to my mind, and these pieced together make a continuous picture, although the parts are continuously changing. Mind itself is continuously changing.

The mind and body are like two layers in the same substance, moving at different rates of speed.

Relatively, one being slower and the other quicker, we can distinguish between the two motions. For instance, a train is in motion, and a carriage is moving alongside it. It is possible to find the motion of both these to a certain extent.