By
SRI SWAMI KRISHNANANDA
Sri Swami Sivananda
Founder of
The Divine Life Society
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So Says
Sri Swami Sivananda
Sri Swami Krishnananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1981
Second Impression : 1992
(3000 Copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Reprint : 1997
WWW site: http://www.rsl.ukans.edu/~pkanagar/divine/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. S
HIVANANDANAGAR
—
249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.
PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE
The present small book consists of lectures delivered by the author several years ago on
the essentials of the Yoga system as propounded by the Sage Patanjali. These lessons were
intended particularly for students who required a special clarity of this intricate subject, and the
approach has been streamlined accordingly on a form and style commensurate with the receptive
capacities of the students.
The section on Pratyahara is especially noteworthy and students of Yoga would do well to
go through it again and again as a help in internal training.
20
th
February, 1981
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
Dedicated
To
The Seekers of Truth
CONTENTS
PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESUPPOSITIONS.................................................................................... 1
THE AIM OF OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS ....................................................................................... 3
THE SPIRITUAL REALITY .......................................................................................................... 4
DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY ................................................................................................................6
THE MORAL RESTRAINTS......................................................................................................... 7
THE OBSERVANCES .................................................................................................................11
ASANA OR POSTURE................................................................................................................13
PRANAYAMA OR REGULATION OF THE VITAL ENERGY ............................................... 17
PRATYAHARA OR ABSTRACTION ........................................................................................ 20
PEACE OF MIND AND SELF-CONTROL................................................................................. 32
DHARANA OR CONCENTRATION ......................................................................................... 35
DHYANA OR MEDITATION ..................................................................................................... 41
SAMADHI OR SUPER-CONSCIOUSNESS............................................................................... 42
APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................... 44
Practical Techniques .................................................................................................................. 44
A. Concentration on External Points: ........................................................................................ 45
B. Concentration on Internal Points:.......................................................................................... 46
C. Concentration on the Universal:............................................................................................ 47
Day-to-Day Practice ................................................................................................................... 48
PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESUPPOSITIONS
PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESUPPOSITIONS
It is necessary, at the outset, to clear certain misconceptions in regard to Yoga, prevalent
especially among some sections in the West. Yoga is not magic or a feat of any kind, physical or
mental. Yoga is based on a sound philosophy and deep psychology. It is an educational process
by which the human mind is trained to become more and more
natural
and weaned from the
unnatural conditions of life. Yoga has particular concern with psychology, and, as a study of the
‘self’, it transcends both general and abnormal psychology, and leads one to the supernormal
level of life. In Yoga we study ourselves, while in our colleges we are told to study objects. Not
the study of things but a study of the very structure of the student is required by the system of
Yoga, for the
known
is not totally independent of the
knower.
How do we know things at all? There is a mysterious process by which we come to know
the world, and life is an activity of such knowledge. A study of the mind is a study of its
relations to things. The instruction, ‘Know Thyself’, implies that when we know ourselves, we
know all things connected with ourselves, i.e., we know the universe. In this study we have to
proceed always from the lower to the higher, without making haste or working up the emotions.
The first thing we are aware of in experience is the world. There are certain processes
which take place in the mind, by which we come to know the existence of the world. There are
sensations, perceptions and cognitions, which fall under what is known as ‘direct perception’ or
‘direct knowledge’
(Pratyaksha)
through which the world is known, valued and judged for
purpose of establishing relations. These relations constitute our social life.
A stimulation of the senses takes place by a vibration that proceeds from the object
outside. This happens in two ways: (1) by the very presence of the object and (2) by the light
rays, sound, etc., that emanate from the object, which affect the retina of the eyes, the drums of
the ears, or the other senses. We have five senses of knowledge and through them we receive all
the information concerning the world. If the five senses are not to act, we cannot know if there is
a world at all. We, thus, live in a sense-world. When sensory stimulation is produced by
vibrations received from outside, we become active. Sensory activity stimulates the mind
through the nervous system which connects the senses with the mind by means of the
Prana
or
vital energy. We may compare these nerve-channels to electric wires, through which the power
of the Prana flows. The Pranas are not the nerves, even as electricity is not the wires. The Prana
is an internal vibration which links the senses with the mind. Sensations, therefore, make the
mind active and the mind begins to feel that there is something outside. This may be called
indeterminate perception, where the mind has a featureless awareness of the object. When the
perception becomes clearer, it becomes determinate. This mental perception is usually called
cognition.
Beyond the mind there is another faculty, called the intellect. It judges whether a thing is
good or bad, necessary or unnecessary, of this kind or that, etc. It decides upon the value of an
object, whether this judgment is positive or negative, moral, aesthetic or religious. One assesses
one’s
situation
in relation to the object. Some psychologists hold that the mind is an instrument
in the hands of the intellect.
Manas
is the Sanskrit word for
mind,
which is regarded as the
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