beyond the bonds of my family and goes to that other, family also, because, he is my son-in-law, my
daughter s husband. So, in this way, attachment starting from one body goes and spreads to all
other persons, objects or situations which are pleasing to the body, desired by the body. Thus
attachment goes on. It is called Raga. Raga means conceiving attachment to things of temporary
appearance called the world-process.
At the same time, anything that stands in the way of expression of this attachment, anything
that stands in the way of our fulfilment of our desires, towards that we conceive aversion. Anything
that is not pleasing to the body and the senses, anything that is not mine or anything that stands
always in the position of what is not mine, towards that we conceive aversion. As I told you, where
there is attachment there is always aversion also. Love and hate go together. If you like sweet
things, you do not like bitter things. In this way, the world being made up of duality, if you attach
yourself to one set of things or one kind of things, you are averse to the opposite kind of things. If
you are attached to late rising, you are vexed to early rising and you don t want it. And if you are
attached to over-eating, you do not want to abstain from it and you do not like even to be told about
it.
The whole world is made up of what is known as Dvandvas. Dvandvas means pairs of
opposites, two things which are mutually opposite to each other. Therefore, attachment to one
includes within itself aversion to that which is opposite of it. And this wise being bound by
ignorance, clinging to this I , attached to wrong identification with one body, thus gives rise to
attachment and aversion. In this process of seeking that which one likes and avoiding that which
one does not like, this life-process completely absorbs the individual and he clings to it as
something very dear to him. The very thought of death, that something which creates fear, that one
does not like. So, clinging to life, the fifth obstacle to illumination, springs up. Ignorance, egoism,
attachment, aversion and clinging to life can be overcome by the practice of Kriya Yoga. Kriya
Yoga removes all these obstacles to illumination. How this is done we considered in our previous
class. Tapas, self-control, self-denial, the restraint of the senses, control of the senses and conquest
of desires counter ignorance and its effects.
The identification with the body and the basic ignorance which is the cause for bondage
become countered by both Tapas and Svadhyaya. Because, you contradict the identification with
the body by denying the senses, by refusing to identify yourself with the senses and the sense-urges,
saying no, I stand apart from them, you refuse to co-operate with them. I am not the sense-urge.
Therefore, I will not give in to them, but stand apart by the unattached witnessing consciousness.
So, you start a counter. Up-till now, life has been flowing in the direction in which the senses were
40
ASMITA, RAGA AND DVESHA
dragging and going along with the mind, in whatever direction the desires pulled you or pushed
you. But now Tapas or austerity aids you to refuse to give in to the desires of the mind. You refuse to
succumb to the urges of the senses and now you start countering them. See, you start confronting
them, approaching them with the power of the will by discrimination. Coming into contact with
Yoga philosophy, has brought into your mind, the idea that you are not this body, senses and the
mind, and that you are a distinct, ever-free liberated being whose nature is Pure
Consciousness, Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. Therefore, enough of this bondage of the
body, senses and mind.
Now you must claim your birthright. You must assert yourself. You must affirm your true
nature and thus liberate yourself from this identification and bondage. This truth will come into the
life of a seeker through philosophy. Now, he wants to practise this truth. Therefore, Tapas is one of
the ways of actually putting into practice the truth, I am not this body, I am not this mind, I am
not these senses, I am not this desire, etc. When this is so, you wish to manifest your distinctive
nature and you do this by austerity. Refusing to give in to the senses, refusing to give the desire its
objects, creates in the inner psyche, a certain confrontation between the lower mind, the gross
sense-urges in the individual and the higher awakened discriminative faculty, rational faculty of the
individual. This confrontation between gross sense-urges and the higher awakened intellect,
rational faculty of the individual, creates a certain tension and this tension guarantees an intense
psychic energy within. It augments a fiery will-power, and hence the significant term Tapas. Given
to this process of standing confronting and facing your lower nature, that significant term means
heat. Energy is generated by this confrontation. So, what happens, this energy is now available to
you. If you go along with senses and the desires, your energy fritters away, your energy is expended
in sense-experiences, in desire-fulfilments. Now, in as much as you refuse to give in to these lower
sense-urges, that energy is conserved and it becomes a valuable asset to you for higher spiritual
purposes or techniques of Yoga, concentration and meditation.
The conversion of this energy is done through Pranayama. Pranayama and Asana, both have
the power of converting the conserved gross energy into more subtle psychic energy. To some
extent, even the various Hatha Yoga postures also have the effect of enabling the practitioner to
convert gross physical energy into higher, subtler form of energy. And as you begin to practise
Hatha Yoga, this conversion begins to take place. When you go into the Raja-Yogic Asana and
Pranayama, this conversion of gross energy takes on a new form. It becomes very refined and starts
progressing upward. This process of conversion is called sublimation.
All forms of gross energy including the sex-energy of the individual, are capable of being
thus converted into subtler form and then sublimated into a purely psychic energy. And for this
sublimated psychic energy, they have a very, very significant and very expressive term in Yogic
terminology. They call it radiance or effulgence. The Sanskrit term for it is Ojas. Ojas means
radiance or effulgence. So they say, when sublimation takes place, the gross energy-potential of the
human being, having been converted into a subtle energy, takes the form of radiance. It is just like a
hard piece of ice, for example, which melts and takes on a comparatively or relatively subtler form
or lighter form of water and the same thing, when heated and brought to boiling point, becomes still
subtler, and rises up in the form of steam. A similar process may be said to happen when the gross
physical energy is controlled through Tapas or austerity. Through Hatha Yoga and other Yogic
practices, it is converted into a subtler energy. It goes inward and at this stage, it can manifest itself
41
LECTURES ON RAJA YOGA
in your nature as good health, strength of the muscles, clarity of the brain, augmented intelligence,
and deeper retentive memory. When this energy is controlled through moderation, austerity, it
begins to manifest in three forms.
First and foremost, you begin to feel more energetic and begin to see that your health
improves and there is a radiance in your complexion and facial appearance; and then the body [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]