THE PHILOSOPHY AND AIM OF YOGA
Although information about the universe is ever increasing, the
human mind is never satisfied; it always years for more knowledge.
However, as Kant, the great eighteenth century Prussian
philosopher noted, the intellect ultimately comes to a point
beyond which it cannot penetrate. The intellect cannot answer such
questions as: What is the purpose of life?, Who am I?, Where will
I go? Is physical death the end of everything? It can be seen as
foolish to search for truth with an instrument as limited as the
intellect, to attempt to measure the unknown depth of eternal
questions with a finite instrument.
There are people known as saints or seers who can ‘see’ the past,
present, and future. They have the ability to gather the
dissipated rays of the mind. The answers to transcendental
questions come to these people from the limitless source of wisdom
gained during the hours of silent meditation.
The seers and saints who have discovered the truth declare that
this truth will take away all of the miseries and pain of life.
They have realised their essential nature, which is eternally pure
and perfect.
The founders of all religions ‘saw’ God; they saw through their
own souls. What they saw, they reported and taught techniques to
reach this state of experience. Transcending the intellect gives
the yogi, saint or seer the highest mystical experience or ‘samadhi’.
Many religious teachers of today, on the other hand, seem busier
with preaching than with practicing. Many people blindly follow
religious leaders without knowing the purpose of life, and are
satisfied with mere ritual and tradition.
Each person needs to experience the truth within him/herself; only
then will doubts and miseries vanish. Yoga gives practical and
scientific techniques for finding and experiencing the truth in
religion. As every science has its won method of investigation, so
also the science of yoga has its own method. Yoga says that the
truth can be experienced only when one transcends the senses, and
when the mind and intellect cease to function.
A yoga teacher does not stop to prove theories, nor argue with the
class. A true teacher teaches with the authority of personal
experience. This authority, in turn, is based on guidance received
from his/her own teacher and from the scriptures. The teacher
knows that much of the teaching is but the planting of seeds. For
every idea the student understands, there will be a hundred that
will come into the conscious mind only when the time is ready,
when sufficient purity, strength and clarity of mind have been
achieved.
The aim of all yoga practice is to achieve truth, wherein the
individual soul identifies itself with the Supreme Spirit, or God.
Beyond the ever-changing consciousness of mind and intellect,
there is a changeless, formless Spirit which is unaffected by
anything, and which is veiled in the individual according to
his/her stage of evolution.
ANALOGIES
1. Lamp and Veils
The light of the lamp is covered by the outer veil so the light is
unseen; this represents the mineral kingdom. When the lamp is
covered by a thinner veil, we see the light shining through a
little more strongly (animal kingdom). With the thinnest veil, the
human kingdom is apparent. When all veils are removed, we behold
the free soul or sage. The same light is shining behind all the
different veils from the gross to the subtle. Likewise, there is
only one Self, God, or Truth, behind all life forms. The
consciousness unveiled is pure Atman. Consciousness veiled is ego.
2. Space is witness of all phenomena, but is unaffected by them
Similarly, the Atman remains the eternal witness standing outside
time and space, witnessing the three states of waking, dreaming,
and deep sleep. The Atman transcends all in the Turiya state.
3. The Spider and the Web
The pure consciousness (Brahman or Siva) is the spider that
projects mind and matter, which is the web. The spider is now the
subject, and the web is the object. Before the web was projected,
it was one with the spider, symbolizing the universe in casual or
unmanifest state. When the web is withdrawn by the spider into
itself, then there is no subject-object, but a union of the two,
known as yoga. The spider is both the efficient cause (the life
principle within the spider), and the material cause (its body).
The spider’s body provides the material from which its web is
formed. But, there could be no web without the energy that is
necessary to spin the web.
4. Sun and Clouds
The clouds are formed by the presence (action) of the sun. They,
in turn, hide the sun. The sun, however, remains unaffected by the
clouds even though hidden by them. The sun is Brahman, and the
clouds are the creation which veils the sun. The heat of the sun
is Maya.
5. Movie Screen
The screen is unaffected by the movie projected on it. One sees
fires, floods, disasters of all sorts on the screen. Yet the
screen remains unaffected by the apparent activity upon it. So,
also, the pure consciousness is unaffected by creation, which is
projected from itself by its active power of Maya.
6. Glass (container) and Space
The veiling agent is called upadhis (limiting adjunct). Body and
mind are the limited adjuncts. For example: a cup (upadhis)
appears to separate the space within the cup from the space
outside. This division, however, is only illusory, as space
remains one and undivided.
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