Preparing for the Practice of Yoga
(Spoken on
July 12, 1990)
In our perceptions of the
world of persons and things, there is a continuous negation taking place of the
indivisibility of the Self. It is so because of the fact that perceptions are
based on a divided consciousness. There has to be a division between the
subjective side and the objective side, between the perceiver and the
perceived, in order that there may be perception at all.
This dichotomy between the
location of the seer and the seen is precisely the contradiction of the
indivisible nature of the Self. Thus, we may say that we are perpetually
negating the existence of the Self in everything that we do and in everything
that we see, cognise, or perceive through our sense organs.
The moment the Self is
negated, the consequence thereof follows automatically: the character of
non-Self inundates us. We become at once other than what we are. The greatest
fear is the loss of one’s own Self, and that fear is perpetually on our head like
a Damocles Sword – because of the fact that there is a continuous negation of
the Self taking place in our perceptions through the sense organs.
It is, therefore, no wonder
that we are unhappy throughout our life. We have fears from all sides – tapa,
as we call it; adhyatmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika tapa harass us. We
have fear from our own psychophysical constitution: It may fall ill, or it may
even die. That is a fear that we have in regard to our own self. We also have
fear of the people around us; very little can be said about their behaviour
because it is very whimsical, conditioned by changing factors and circumstances
of life. And above all, there is fear of nature, whose wish and will are not
known to us even a little. From every side there is insecurity, as it were,
and, therefore, there is not a moment of peace for anyone in the world.
Perceptions are of two kinds.
These categories may be designated as general and abnormal perceptions. If we
can see a thing, be conscious of its existence but not be emotionally disturbed
about it, we may consider it as general perception. But if any perception
disturbs our feelings, this is certainly not a normal perception. It is not
normal because we seem to be dualistically involved in the knowledge of the existence
of some person or thing in front of us, and not indivisibly involved or, more
properly, normally involved. Unless we are free from it, we cannot actually
even commence the practice of yoga.
The world perception is not
spiritual. It is so because the character of Selfhood cannot be recognised in
any object, in spite of the fact that every object has a Self of its own.
In the same way as in every
pool of water, multiple though the pools be, the same sun is reflected, the
Universal Self is reflected in every individual person as the Self of that
particular person or thing. Therefore, everyone has a Self – not a Self,
the very Self Itself. Yet, in perceptions, the Self is not recognised.
Neither can you see my Self, nor can I see your Self. You see me as a
personality seated here, and I also do the same thing in regard to you. If this
is the way in which the world goes on, world experience cannot be regarded as
spiritual experience. Therefore, we call life in the world as samsara, which
means an aberration from the nature of Selfhood; a deviation from truth. We
move away from the centre of our personality, away from the root of the Self,
to that which is other than Itself.
If there is certainly nothing
other than the Self, then what is the meaning of the deviation of consciousness
from the Self to the not-Self? The not-Self actually is not a person or a
thing. It is the manner in which consciousness adapts itself to persons and
things outside. Your judgment of values is what will determine the spirituality
or the unspirituality of things. The things in the world are neither spiritual
nor unspiritual; they just are, as they ought to be. But the perceptions differ
on account of the non-recognition of the Selfhood, or the character of
subjectivity in things.
Any kind of abnormality of
behaviour, whether psychologically or ethically, will prevent the general
perception of things. We cannot see things as they are. We always see things as
they are not. The well-known dicta of the principles of yama – ahimsa, satya,
asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha – may be considered as the first
principles of ethical and moral practice, which is an endeavour on our part to
restrain ourselves in many a manner.
The art of self-restraint,
which is practically the whole of yoga, right from the beginning to the end, is
constituted of a systematic extrication of consciousness from its connection
with the layers of involvement in its perceptions – to repeat, general as well
as abnormal.
Thus, the practice of yoga,
which is the art of the realisation of God or the Universal Self, is, on the
one hand, a direct endeavour to concentrate the mind on a well-conceived ideal
which is called abhyasa, and simultaneously on the other hand, it is a
negation of anything which may intrude into this consciousness of the
concentration on the Universal Ideal. With these two phases of our practice,
known as abhyasa and vairagya, we should go ahead, driving the
chariot of our personality to the abode of God Almighty.
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