CERTAIN SALIENT CLARIFICATIONS ON RAJA YOGA

"Anahat-Music of the spheres. There is a sound ever present eternally, which is not heard except by those who, by Divine Grace, have developed inner perception. This is Anahat Ajapa. We meditate on the heart. During the meditation we naturally go deeper and deeper, till we come across the natural vibrations which are sounded "Om". It is a clue that one has started touching the "Upper" which ultimately reveals its own character. When ajapa is felt in the heart, it begins to travel all over giving its stress at the plexus, till it is felt throughout the entire being. Anahat really begins when one arrives on his march at the trikuti or the cavernous plexus, if charging there is in full sway. In any case, if anahat is not started while an abhyasi has his reach in the cavernous plexus, then it is the duty of the Master to start it at that point. This is the time mature for it. It can be taken even earlier, but Master is the only authority to judge it." (Extracted from page 76 and 77 of Autobiography VOL.. 1 Second Edition Oct. 1980:)

"After years of practice when the meditation grows deeper and the thought begins to start one's upward march, one comes to a point where one feels "I am the power myself". It happens when surat comes in contact with glimpses of the Divine. It loses its own character and gains the Divine one. There one starts to feel "I.am Brahman". I give the meaning of surat in this way. When thought comes in contact with soul, a third thing, a spark, is produced. This is termed surat. It leads to the Highest. Thoughts lag behind. They have no accommodation in the sphere of divinity. After some time when surat leaps forward, it brings in the Divine character. The self has been effaced, so naturally one goes a little further and every step brings to its lot more of Divinity. So Divinity remains in his thought. Then he begins to feel the greatness, as his mind is also trained to feel it. There he develops to "All from Him (Brahman)". A step back reveals to him a part of the nature of God - "All is Brahman". This is the effect midway between charging reality and going beyond. One feels that "All is from God". When all these stages are over an abhyasi begins to feel himself as above all that has been said above. Thus the real character of Brahman and of himself dawns. Going beyond, every thing is silent, and silence itself becomes silent;" (Extracted from page 45 of Autobiography Vol.1 Second Edition Oct. 1980:)

"It is the universal law of Nature that change should be there. What we see today will be something else tomorrow, the difference may be a minimum. After night comes the day, and every change begets some result. If there is no change, there is no basic principle. If there is no basic principle, there is no Absolute. It is only through the process of change that every object in the world gets fruition. A poet has said: If the sky and the earth are there,The particle is destined to grow into lustre. Really revolution is the basis of all improvement. Movement gives growth, and growth stops movement." (Extracted from page 242 of Autobiography Vol. 1 Second Edition Oct.1980:)

"Deaf and dumb state: Playing within yourself in your own character; Touching your own corner; Being absent to your senses. This is the stage, which a man arrives at when he crosses his own boundaries. This is not a permanent state. That is far higher than this. It is called changeless condition. It comes during the march of freedom. This is the end of all the activities:" (Extracted from page 50 of Autobiography Vol 1 Second Edition Oct.1980:)

"Thought is the rust of reality. The basis of words is thought alone. If thoughts are pure, the words will be pure and effective. Devotion: Lashing in the wave of the Almighty with unawareness of the fact of what I am doing and for what I am doing it. The highest type of bhakti is the unawareness of oneself, and of the process:" (Extracted from page 54 of Autobiography V0l. 1 Second Edition Oct.1980:)

"Ego is said to have been abused by all the present and past writers. The ego gives you strength for all the work. It points out to you that you have got the power to do a certain thing. But we identify ego with the body, instead of with the soul. It is the production of God, which you cannot annihilate. You should modify it. Suppose a man has got an immense fortune and he is proud of that, he commits no sin because it does not do harm to anybody. What happens as a result of it is that the wisdom of the man becomes blunt" (Extracted from page 56 of Autobiography Vol. 1 Second Edition Oct.1980:)

"The dying condition starts in all the plexuses when it is stronger than it is felt. It means that the abhyasi has become absorbed in the condition of the centre, losing his own identity. Immense peace may perhaps be interpreted by the word Jnana. When we pronounce 'Jnana', the flow of sound shows that something comes out of the root syllable, stopping at the last syllable. Jna-na. It shows that what is at the root should be at the end. When you are in touch with knowledge of the Absolute, you bring in something as reality, displayed according to its different conditions. So Jnana is not simply knowledge for the purpose of knowing what one is or what one has in it, or what that is. Having Divine Condition speaks of True Reality. It is a sort of dance with certain movements produced by its effect. And there are different stages in it, which I have discussed in "Towards Infinity". In short Jnana is not `knowing', but `having'. This is the condition when knowledge and action become one. What the Divine displayed in its own realm, we begin to display the same in our realm with His power. Actually speaking, at its highest point is the state of dissolution where remains nothing but the Divine. He is Absolute in His own cadre and we become Absolute in our own cadre. He is Absolute-He is totally Absolute. Knowledge swims at the surface and the Real works as the base. So "Real" is the only knowledge. So when we have Reality we become aware of it. 'Real' gives knowledge when it becomes Reaiity. The Reality within and without is Jnana:' (Extracted from page 39 and 40 of Autobiography Vol. 1 Second Edition Oct. 1980)

"Anger and passion are the creation of the Divine. Lobha - covetousness, and Moha -undue attachment, are man's creation. Nobody can destroy God's creation, but we can only modify it. Destroy your own creation. When energy descended from near about centres, it worked for the creation. There were anti-clockwise movements all over. The result of this movement was that matter was formed. The movement was not less than about three lakhs per second. Had the movement not been so strong, matter would not have been formed. It formed some matter and that is the basis of all creation. There was movement, and also movement in movement, causing different results. There was heavy movement. It caused some force, which grew into rage ultimately. All these came into our share. Man is the epitome of the Universe. Since heavy movement was there it became a force of material character. When Will touches its depth, it produces a sort of irritation which one feels when one plays with it. The cause of heaviness is unbalanced movement. If balance had not been disturbed there would have been no creation. For every progress, rise and fall are necessary." (Extracted from page 38 of Autobiography Vol. 1 Second Edition Oct. 1980:)

"Death: - I used in my book "Efficacy of Raj yoga" a term 'living dead'. This is the condition felt when a man becomes absorbed in absorbency- Phanaye Phana. These conditions can best be explained in a negative way. I give my view in the worldly way. When the impressions of the past become very active, then Nature brings death as a pause for rest, so that one may be fresh in the next life to undergo the results of action. Now we come to the spiritual standard of life. Here death means the oblivious state of mind, which rejects all that is there, As to how it happens, I am giving you my own view. The tendency of the mind is that it ejects what it gets. That is why man feels the rush of thoughts all the time. Thoughts are like the dust, which flies with the air, but constructs no building because they have no power in them. When you give them power, they become strong like the mound of white ants. Every body has got life but we have to seek for life in life, which ultimately merges in its own essence. We forget the rest in the cradle when we grow old. Similarly when we are highly advanced in spirituality, we enter into the new restful state, the state which we cannot conceive of, because the idea of rest is there; and when the idea of rest comes into the mind we begin to remember cot and pillow and it becomes almost artificial. Artificiality can only be lost when we are free from both the negative and positive ideas. In the negative you lose something, in the positive you gain something. So when losing and gaining are there, you are in tune with Maya.If we name rest as unrest and unrest as rest, then in the state of unrest we will say 'I am at rest'. But for this, everybody must taste both rest and unrest. This really depends upon the depth of thought. The ultimate base of every thought is Reality, which gives power to all that one asks for. The tragedy is that we go to the power alone, but not to the base of that power. Hence we commit wrong acts more than right ones. The real character is formed in saintliness, and the suffering is half over. The suffering is really that which we do not suffer. The spiritual history of India says that the Saints of India have prayed to God to give all the miseries of the world to them, so that humanity -may be free from it. The people generally follow the spiritual methods so that they may be relieved from suffering. It is my idea that the saints are not to enjoy but to be enjoyed by others. Suffering and peace both become one at their base. The most wonderful thing I found when I travelled abroad was that people are hankering for peace. They know what is before peace, but they do not try to know what is after peace. If anybody asks for its explanation, I can safely say that non-peace peace is the real peace, and is nearer to Divinity. After peace is Reality, so loving and embracing. We start with the cradle and rest in the grave. That is the whole life picture of the human life. In 1942 I had a dream of my Revered Master, who said, "There are persons who crave for wealth but they cannot do anything unless they take me as their base". He also described a meditation for me with instructions that this sort of meditation should only be done when the body consciousness is thoroughly gone, and the soul consciousness starts. This sort of meditation works by banishing the idea of soul. This idea should also leave one for good. It has come to my experience, for the first time in spiritual history, that both body and soul ideas have got to be got rid of. Afterwards consciousness of consciousness should also bid farewell. This idea I have expressed in "Efficacy of Raj Yoga". The scientific world may not agree with my views because this thing is beyond matter and science cannot explain it. Real psychology is beyond mind, and the Reality is beyond and yet beyond. The people generally may call it an ambiguous statement. Freshness is there but richness is not there. They are rich when they have got wealth; they are poor when they have not got it. This is the real ambiguity, because they do not understand the real relation between these two. Both come from one and the same mother. So the mother is more important than either of these two things." (Extracted from pages 238 to 241 of Autobiography Vol. I Second Edition Oct. 1980:)

"What is love, when I do not know why I love Him and what for? Sometimes in the state of love, emotion follows. Sometimes a man begins to weep and sometimes he feels in the weeping mood. Emotion no doubt is a human weakness, but I may allow it as it happens naturally. It causes no harm but gives a little benefit. Generally, the weeping comes when a man cannot bear it; in other words he is wanting in the capacity to bear." (Extracted from page 40 and 41 of Autobiography Vol. I Second Edition Oct. 1980:)

"There is nothing so important for a man as passion. Passions have been related in different ways in the scriptures of all religions. The true picture is something else. The first jerk of energy was passion. It was pregnant with all the forces required for creation. It came from the highest intelligence because that was the component factor to give movement to the Will of God. It also came to our share, but its beauty was lost because "I" viewed it from different angles. The centre of the highest intelligence and of passion is the same. It cannot be annihilated in any way or by any method, because it excites into action that which is necessary for man. Man cannot enter into the spiritual life unless he is moved with force towards it." (Extracted from page 37 of Autobiography Vol. I Second Edition Oct. 1980:)

"When I used to go to my Master, people used to come to Him for Realisation. Now most of the persons who come to me want only peace. Time has brought such a change, Restlessness is prevailing everywhere. Everybody is hungry for peace. But the difficulty is that nobody knows what peace is. If one who worships God daily is somehow not able to worship one day in the morning, he feels restless; and when he does it, satisfaction is there. People think satisfaction is peace, so they are not peaceful, but only satisfied. Actually restlessness comes from peace or rest which burrows its way to Divinity. Peace is the substance we want and restlessness is the instrument we use. What we gain from restlessness is peace. Restlessness gives you advancement to Divinity. The state of peace is dormant, while the state of satisfaction is active. Peace at the Ultimate state becomes non-peace peace, and satisfaction at its Ultimate state becomes gross and heavy. Peace touches the silent aspect of God, while satisfaction touches the active part of God. Activity should be there if you want to come at real peace. Satisfaction is the production of man, whereas peace is the production of God" (Extracted from page 36 and 37 of Autobiography V0l. 1 Second Edition Oct.1930:)

"The Thinkers have laid stress upon samadhi, and some of them have stated it to be the goal of all activities. They did not mark the real substance. If we utter the word "real" the flow is smooth, but if we use the word samadhi the stress is there in 'dhi'; that means unevenness is there in the very word. Unevenness is not found in nature. Swimming and diving are different subjects. Swimming in the river we know, but we have to learn swimming on the dry land first, and then diving. Suppose we want to dive in the water in the state of samadhi, the unevenness of 'dhi' will not give you full diving. I give the meaning of samadhi in my own way; I can say 'sam+adhi'. 'sam' means the state of balance; 'adhi' means what was in the beginning. That means the condition, which was in the beginning; i.e. when we came here for the first time. Now to utilise it, we should stick the word 'adhi' to the 'sam', that means that we have made this factor also beneficial to our approach so 'adhi' becomes the instrument for going to the state of 'sam'. Now I relate my own experience. "It is the state where a man feels awakening in the benumbed state". This benumbed state remains behind the curtain, and work goes on alright. In other words, it is sense in the senseless state. A man having this state can do the best work in the field of God and in his own field-the world. This state which, in my opinion, the angels crave for, only falls to the share of a human being. What is above it, the word `silence' can only describe; and there is something after it for which, if I use the word 'silence', it will be blasphemy to the Real Substance. To die in hunger is not saintliness" (Extracted from page 202 of Autobiography Vol. I Second Edition Oct.1980:)

"When a man, on his march to freedom, reaches the trikuti or cavernous plexus such conditions occur. The symptom of reaching there is that the abhyasi feels darkness all round even in the sunshine." (Extracted from page 61 of Autobiography Vol. I Second Edition Oct 1980:)

"Shab-e-Qadr can literally be translated as Esteemed night, or a night to be esteemed. Muslims believe that the Shab-e-Qadr occurs during Ramzan, and if a person remembers God during that night he acquires the merit of having remembered God for a thousand nights. This term is used metaphysically in Urdu and Persian literature." (Extracted from page 112 of Autobiography Vol. I Second Edition Oct. 1980)

"Transmission is the utilization of Divine Force for the transformation of man. Man, as the thinkers say, is a social animal. That means animality is there. He becomes a super animal, and from super-animality to man, and then from man to man-behind-man. This is the transformation. Tendencies of the mind are changed, and he begins to do everything in proper order. He begins to learn the proper use of the faculties. Mind becomes disciplined and, ultimately, comes to Divine order. Transmission brings about such a result. It is the instrument we use for this end. By transmission Divinity comes peeping in at every stage of development and finally ends in Divinisation" (Extracted from page 42 and 043 of Autobiography Vol. 1 Second Edition Oct. 1980: )

"Going beyond easiness is uneasiness. A man becomes conscious when similarity or sameness is disturbed. As long as easiness is there, there is no disturbance. The state we acquire by the help of the meditation causes a repulse. When the outgoing tendencies of the mind come in touch with it or, in other words, when the tendencies touch the field of easiness, its opposite is felt. So we should also try to calm down the outgoing tendencies of the mind. I now give you something about uneasiness. If somehow a man can begin to feel easiness in uneasiness then it will give place to the outgoing tendencies to enter in it." (Extracted from page 43 of Autobiography Vol. I Second Edition Oct. 1980:)