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# 2021-12-01 - Four Paths of Yoga by Swami Vivekananda | |
A friend gave me a printed book titled The Four Paths of | |
Self-Realization by Swami Vivekananda. The content of the book is | |
public domain and can be found in the first three volumes of The | |
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. I have included download links | |
at the bottom of this log entry. | |
Swami Vivekananda wrote about these four paths of yoga: | |
* Bhakti Yoga -- The path of love, devotion & surrender. | |
* Jnâna Yoga -- The path of reason, knowledge & self-inquiry. | |
* Karma Yoga -- The path of service & work. | |
* Rāja Yoga -- The path of meditation & psychology. | |
Below are interesting excerpts from these books. | |
"The next point is, that ignorance is the great mother of all misery, | |
and this is the fundamental ignorance, to think that the Infinite | |
weeps and cries that he is finite, and this is the basis of all | |
ignorance, that we, the immortal, the ever pure, the perfect spirit, | |
think that we are little minds, that we are little bodies; this is | |
the mother of all selfishness. As soon as I am a little body I want | |
to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it nice, at the expense of | |
other bodies; you and I have become separate. As soon as this idea | |
of separation comes, it opens the door to all mischief and leads to | |
all misery. This is the utility, that if a very small fractional | |
part of the human beings living today can put aside this idea of | |
selfishness and narrowness and littleness, this earth will become a | |
paradise tomorrow, but with machines and improvements of material | |
knowledge it will never come. These only increase misery, as oil | |
poured on fire increases the flame all the more. Without the | |
knowledge of spirit, every bit of material knowledge is only adding | |
fuel to fire, only giving into the hands of selfish man one more | |
instrument to take what belongs to others, to live upon the life of | |
others, instead of giving up his life for others." | |
Is it practical, is another question. Can it be practiced in modern | |
society. Truth does not pay homage to any society, modern or | |
ancient. Society has to pay homage to Truth, or die. Societies and | |
all beings are molded upon truth, and truth has not to adjust itself | |
to society. | |
[This reminds me of Limits To Growth, the idea that the anthrosphere | |
has a cannibalist, parasitic relationship to the ecosphere and the | |
idea that advances in technology will only add fuel to the fire and | |
increase the upward transfer of wealth and centralization of power. | |
The evidence shows that is exactly what the last century of | |
automation has accomplished. As Vivekananda points out later, we no | |
longer literally eat one another's flesh, but by cheating each other, | |
entire countries are brought to ruin.] | |
Most of you are horrified when reading the old scriptures... to find | |
that the ancient gods sometimes did things which, to us, are very | |
repugnant. But when we read these books, we entirely forget that we | |
are persons of the nineteenth century, and these gods were beings | |
existing thousands of years ago. We also forget that the people who | |
worshipped these gods found nothing incongruous in their characters, | |
found nothing to frighten them, because they were very much like | |
themselves. I may also remark that that is the one great lesson we | |
have to learn throughout our lives. | |
In judging others we always judge them by our own ideals. That is | |
not as it should be. Every one must be judged according to his own | |
ideal, and not by that of any one else. In all our dealings with our | |
fellow-beings we constantly labor under this mistake, and I am of the | |
opinion that the vast majority of our quarrels with our fellow-beings | |
arise simply from this one cause, that we are always trying to judge | |
other gods by our own, other ideals by our ideals, and others' | |
motives from our motives. Under certain circumstances I might do a | |
certain thing, and when I see another person taking the same course I | |
think he has also the same motive actuating him, little dreaming that | |
although the effect may be the same, yet many thousands of causes may | |
produce the same effect. He may have performed the action with quite | |
a different motive from what would impel me to do the same thing. | |
So in judging of those ancient religions we must not take the | |
standpoint to which we incline, but must put ourselves into the | |
position of thought and life of those early times. | |
This again is a most curious fact; in every society you find it. | |
Supposing there is an evil in society. You will find immediately one | |
group rising up and beginning to denounce it in vindictive fashion. | |
This sometimes degenerates into fanaticism. You always find fanatics | |
in every society... Every fanatic who gets up and denounces | |
something secures a following. It is very easy to break down; a | |
maniac can break anything he likes, but it would be hard for him to | |
build anything in this world. | |
So there is this set of denouncers in every country, present in some | |
form or other, and they think they will mend this world by the sheer | |
power of denunciation and of exposing evil; they do some good, | |
according to their light, but much more harm, because things are not | |
done in a day. Social institutions are not made in a day, and to | |
change means removing the cause. Suppose there is evil here; | |
denouncing it will not do anything, but you must go to work at the | |
root. First find out the cause, then remove it, and the effect will | |
be removed also. All this outcry will not produce any effect, unless | |
indeed it produces misfortune. | |
There were others who had sympathy in their hearts and who understood | |
the idea that we must go deep into the cause, and these were the | |
great saints. One fact you must remember, that all the great | |
teachers of the world have declared that they came not to destroy but | |
to fulfill. ... Fanatics little understand the infinite power of love | |
in the hearts of these great sages. They looked upon the inhabitants | |
of this world as their children. They were the real fathers... | |
filled with infinite sympathy and patience for every one, they were | |
ready to bear and forbear. They knew how human society should grow, | |
and patiently, slowly, surely, went on applying their remedies, not | |
by denouncing and not by frightening people, but by gently and kindly | |
leading them step by step. | |
We never build anew, we simply change places, we cannot have anything | |
new, we only change the positions of things. The seed grows into the | |
tree, and patiently, gently, we must direct the energies towards | |
truth, and fulfill the truth that exists, not try to make new truths. | |
Thus, instead of denouncing these old ideas of God as unfit for | |
modern times, these ancient sages began to seek out the reality that | |
was in them, and the result was the Vedanta Philosophy, and out of | |
the old deities, out of the monotheistic God, Ruler of the Universe, | |
they found yet higher and higher ideas in what is called the | |
Impersonal Absolute; they found One-ness throughout the Universe. | |
[This reminds me of appreciative inquiry, and the idea that it is | |
much easier to destroy than to create.] | |
Materialism prevails in Europe today. You may pray for the salvation | |
of the modern skeptics, but they do not yield, they want reason. The | |
salvation of Europe depends on a rationalistic religion, the | |
Advaita--the non-duality, the Oneness, the idea of the Impersonal | |
God--is the only religion that can have any hold on any intellectual | |
people. It comes whenever religion seems to disappear and irreligion | |
seems to prevail, and that is why it has taken ground in Europe and | |
America. | |
In the old Upanishads we find sublime poetry; these "Seers of Truth" | |
were poets. Plato says, inspiration comes to people through poetry, | |
and it seemed as if these ancient Rishis were raised above humanity | |
to show these truths through poetry. They never preached, nor | |
philosophized, nor wrote. Strains of music came out of their lips. | |
In Buddha we had the great, universal heart, infinite patience making | |
religion practical, bringing it to every one's door; in Sankaracharya | |
we saw tremendous intellectual power, throwing the scorching light of | |
reason over everything. We want today that bright sun of | |
intellectuality, and joined to it the heart of Buddha, that | |
wonderful, infinite heart of love and mercy. This union will give us | |
the highest philosophy. Science and religion will meet and shake | |
hands. Poetry and philosophy will become friends. This will be the | |
religion of the future, and if we can work it out, we may be sure | |
that it will be for all times and professions. This is the one way | |
that will be acceptable to modern science, for it has almost fallen | |
into it. When a great scientific teacher asserts that all things are | |
the manifestation of one force, does it not remind you of the God of | |
whom you hear in the Upanishads: "As the one fire entering into the | |
universe is expressing itself in various forms, and yet is infinitely | |
more besides, even so that one Soul is expressing itself in every | |
soul and yet is infinitely more besides." Do you not see how science | |
is going? The Hindu nation proceeded through the study of the mind, | |
through metaphysics and logic. The European nations start from | |
external nature, and now they too, are coming to the same results. | |
We find that searching through the mind we at last come to that | |
Oneness, that Universal One, the Internal Soul of everything, the | |
Essence, the Reality of everything, the Ever-Free, the Ever-Blissful, | |
the Ever-Existing. Through material science we come to the same | |
Oneness. Science today is telling us that all things are but the | |
manifestation of one energy, which is the sum-total of everything | |
which exists, and the trend of humanity is towards freedom, and not | |
towards bondage. Why should men be moral? Because through morality | |
is the path towards freedom, and immorality leads to bondage. | |
It is thought which is the propelling force in us. Fill the mind | |
with the highest thoughts, hear them day after day, think of them | |
month after month. Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they | |
are the beauty of life, these failures. What would life be without | |
these failures? It would not be worth having if it were not for the | |
struggle. Where would be the poetry of life? Never mind the | |
struggles, the mistakes. ... So never mind these failures, these | |
little backslidings, hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail | |
a thousand times make the attempt once more. This is the ideal of | |
man, to see God in everything. If you cannot see Him in everything, | |
see Him in one, in that thing which you like best, and then see Him | |
in another. So on you can go. There is infinite life before the | |
soul. Take your time and you will achieve your desire. | |
So long as the vain desires of our senses are clamoring and, as it | |
were, dragging us every moment outward, making us slaves to | |
everything outside, a little bit of color, a little bit of taste, a | |
little bit of touch, dragging the human soul out, notwithstanding all | |
our pretensions, how can the truth express itself in our hearts? ... | |
To understand this truth is very difficult. Many, even hearing it | |
continually, do not understand, for the speaker must be wonderful, so | |
must be the hearer. The teacher must be wonderful, so must be the | |
taught. Neither is the mind to be disturbed by vain argument, for it | |
is no more a question of argument, it is a question of fact. We have | |
always heard that there is a path in every religion which insists on | |
our faith. We have been taught to believe blindly. Well, this idea | |
of blind faith is objectionable, no doubt--no doubt it is very | |
objectionable--but analyzing it we find that behind it is a very | |
great truth. What it really means is what we read now. The mind is | |
not to be ruffled by vain arguments, because argument will not bring | |
us to know God. It is a question of fact, and not of argument. All | |
argument and reasoning must be based upon certain principles. | |
Without these principles there cannot be any argument. Reasoning is | |
the method of comparison between certain facts which we have already | |
absolutely perceived. If these absolutely perceived facts are not | |
there already, there cannot be any reasoning. Just as it is true in | |
the external sense, why should it not be at the same time true in the | |
internal? The external sensations all depend on actual experiences. | |
You are not asked to believe in any assertions, but the rules become | |
established by actual demonstration, not in the form of argument, but | |
by actual perception. | |
All arguments are based upon certain perceptions. The chemist takes | |
certain things and certain results are produced. This is a fact; you | |
see it, sense it, and make that the basis on which to build all your | |
chemical arguments. So with the physicists, so with all other | |
sciences, all knowledge must stand on certain perception of facts, | |
and upon that we have to build, our reasoning. But, curiously | |
enough, the vast majority of mankind think, especially at the present | |
time, that no such perception is possible in religion, that religion | |
can only be apprehended by vain arguments outside. Therefore we are | |
told, the mind is not to be disturbed by vain arguments. Religion is | |
a question of fact, not of talk. We have to analyze our own souls | |
and to find what is there. We have to understand it and to realize | |
what is understood. That is religion. No amount of talk will make | |
religion. So the question of whether there is a God or not can never | |
be proved by argument, for the arguments are as much on one side as | |
the other. But if there be a God, He is in our own hearts. Have you | |
ever seen Him? Just as the question as to whether this world exists | |
or not has not yet been decided, so the debate between the idealists | |
and the realists is eternal. It is a fact, yet we only know that the | |
world exists, that it goes on. We only change the meaning of the | |
word. So with all the questions of life, we must come back to facts. | |
There are certain facts which are to be perceived, and there are | |
certain religious facts, as in external science, that have to be | |
perceived, and upon them religion will be built. Of course the | |
extreme claim that you must believe any dogma of a religion is | |
degrading to the human mind. That man who asks you to believe | |
anything degrades himself, and, if you believe, degrades you too. | |
The only right that the sages of the world have to tell us anything, | |
is that they have analyzed their own minds and have found these | |
facts, and if we do the same, we shall believe, and not before. That | |
is all that there is in religion. But you must always remember this, | |
that as a matter of fact 99.9 percent of those who attack religion | |
have never analyzed their minds, have never struggled to get at the | |
facts. So their arguments do not have any weight against religion, | |
any more than those of a blind man who cries against the sun, "You | |
are all fools who believe in the sun." That would have no weight | |
with us. So the arguments of these people who have not gone to work | |
to analyze their own minds, yet at the same time try to pull down | |
religion, should have no weight with us. ... See the Sermon on the | |
Mount. Any man who truly realized it would be a god immediately, | |
would be perfect, and yet it is said that there are many millions of | |
Christians in the world. Do you mean to say they are all Christians? | |
What is meant is, that mankind may at some time try to realize that | |
sermon. Not one in twenty millions is a real Christian. | |
So, in India, there are said to be three hundred millions of | |
Vedantins. If there were one in a thousand who had actually realized | |
religion, this world would soon be greatly changed. We are all | |
atheists, and yet we try to fight the man who admits it. We are all | |
in the dark; religion is to us a mere nothing, mere intellectual | |
assent, mere talk--this man talks well, and that man ill--this to us | |
is religion. | |
If a wave rises in the ocean it makes a hollow somewhere. If | |
happiness comes to a man unhappiness comes to some other, or to some | |
animal. Men are increasing [in number] and animals are vanishing; we | |
are killing them, and taking their land; we are taking all means of | |
sustenance from them. How can we say that happiness is increasing? | |
The strong race eats up the weaker, but do you think that the strong | |
race will be very happy? No; they will begin to kill each other. | |
[Here, Vivekananda confronts the myth of perpetual progress.] | |
There are Buddhists who deny the whole theory of the soul that I have | |
just now been propounding. "What use is there," says the Buddhist, | |
"to assume something as the substratum, as the background of this | |
body and mind? Why may we not allow thoughts to run on? Why admit | |
a third substance beyond this organism, composed of mind and body, a | |
third substance called soul? What is its use? Is not this organism | |
sufficient to explain itself? Why take anew a third something?" | |
These arguments are very powerful. This reasoning is very strong. | |
So far as outside research goes, we see that this organism is a | |
sufficient explanation of itself--at least, many of us see it in that | |
light. Why then need there be a soul as a substratum, as a something | |
which is neither mind nor body but stands as a background for both | |
mind and body? Let there be only mind and body. Body is the name of | |
a stream of matter continuously changing. Mind is the name of a | |
stream of consciousness or thought continuously changing. What | |
produces the apparent unity between these two? This unity does not | |
really exist, let us say. Take, for instance, a lighted torch, and | |
whirl it rapidly before you. You see a circle of fire. The circle | |
does not really exist, but because the torch is continuously moving, | |
it leaves the appearance of a circle. So there is no unity in this | |
life; it is a mass of matter continually rushing down, and the whole | |
of the matter you may call one unity but no more. So is mind; each | |
thought is separate from every other thought; it is only the rushing | |
current that leaves behind the illusion of unity; there is no need of | |
a third substance. This universal phenomenon of body and mind is all | |
that really is; do not posit something behind it. You will find that | |
this Buddhist thought has been taken up by certain sects and schools | |
in modern times, and all of them claim that it is new--their own | |
inventions. This has been the central idea of most of the Buddhistic | |
philosophies, that this world is itself all-sufficient; that you need | |
not ask for any background at all; all that is, is this | |
sense-universe: what is the use of thinking of something as a support | |
to this universe? Everything is the aggregate of qualities; why | |
should there be a hypothetical substance in which they should inhere? | |
The idea of substance comes from the rapid interchange of qualities, | |
not from something unchangeable which exists behind them. We see how | |
wonderful some of these arguments are, and they appeal easily to the | |
ordinary experience of humanity--in fact, not one in a million can | |
think of anything other than phenomena. To the vast majority of men, | |
nature appears to be only a changing, whirling, combining, mingling | |
mass of change. Few of us ever have a glimpse of the calm sea | |
behind. For us it is always lashed into waves; this universe appears | |
to us only a tossing mass of waves. Thus we find these two opinions. | |
One is that there is something behind both body and mind which is an | |
unchangeable and immovable substance; and the other is that there is | |
no such thing as immovability or unchangeability in the universe; it | |
is all change and nothing but change. The solution of this | |
difference comes in the next step of thought, namely, the | |
non-dualistic. | |
It says that the dualists are right in finding something behind all, | |
as a background which does not change; we cannot conceive change | |
without there being something unchangeable. We can only conceive of | |
anything that is changeable by knowing something which is less | |
changeable, and this also must appear more changeable in comparison | |
with something else which is less changeable, and so on and on, until | |
we are bound to admit that there must be something which never | |
changes at all. The whole of this manifestation must have been in a | |
state of non-manifestation, calm and silent, being the balance of | |
opposing forces, so to say, when no force operated, because force | |
acts when a disturbance of the equilibrium comes in. The universe is | |
ever hurrying on to return to that state of equilibrium again. If we | |
are certain of any fact whatsoever, we are certain of this. When the | |
dualists claim that there is a something which does not change, they | |
are perfectly right, but their analysis that it is an underlying | |
something which is neither body nor the mind, a something separate | |
from both, is wrong. So far as the Buddhists say that the whole | |
universe is a mass of change, they are perfectly right; so long as I | |
am separate from the universe, so long as I stand back and look at | |
something before me, so long as there are two things--the looker-on | |
and the thing looked upon--it will appear always that the universe is | |
one of change, continuously changing all the time. But the reality | |
is that there is both change and changelessness in this universe. | |
The science of Râja-Yoga proposes to put before humanity a practical | |
and scientifically worked out method of reaching this truth. In the | |
first place, every science must have its own method of investigation. | |
If you want to become an astronomy and sit down and cry "Astronomy! | |
Astronomy!" it will never come to you. The same with chemistry. A | |
certain method must be followed. You must go to a laboratory, take | |
different substances, mix them up, compound them, experiment with | |
them, and out of that will come a knowledge of chemistry. If you | |
want to be an astronomer, you must go to an observatory, take a | |
telescope, study the stars and planets, and then you will become an | |
astronomer. Each science must have its own methods. I could preach | |
you thousands of sermons and that would not make you religious, until | |
you practiced the method. These are the truths of the sages of all | |
countries, of all ages, of men pure and unselfish, who had no motive | |
but to do good to the world. They all declare that they have found | |
some truth higher than what the senses can bring to us, and they | |
invite verification. They ask us to take up the method and practice | |
honestly, and then, if we do not find this higher truth, we will have | |
the right to say there is no truth in the claim, but before we have | |
done that, we are not rational in denying the truth of their | |
assertions. So we must work faithfully using the prescribed methods, | |
and light will come. | |
In acquiring knowledge we make use of generalization, and | |
generalization is based on observation. We first observe facts, then | |
generalize, and then draw conclusions or principles. The knowledge | |
of the mind, of the internal nature of man, of thought, can never be | |
had until we have first the power of observing the facts that are | |
going on within. It is comparatively easy to observe facts in the | |
external world, for many instruments have been invented for the | |
purpose, but in the internal world we have no instrument to help us. | |
You know we must observe in order to have a real science. Without | |
proper analysis, any science will be hopeless--mere theorizing. And | |
that is why all psychologists have been quarreling among themselves | |
since the beginning of time, except those few who found out the means | |
of observation. ... The object is internal, the mind itself is the | |
object, and it is necessary to study the mind itself--mind studying | |
mind. We know that there is the power of the mind called reflection. | |
... The powers of the mind should be concentrated and turned back | |
upon itself, and as the darkest places reveal their secrets before | |
the penetrating rays of the sun, so will this concentrated mind | |
penetrate is own innermost secrets. ... It will all be revealed to | |
us. This is what Râja-Yoga proposes to teach. ... We are human | |
beings; that is sufficient. Every human being has the right to ask | |
the reason, why, and to have their question answered by themself, if | |
they only take the trouble. So far, then, we see that in the study | |
of this Râja-Yoga no faith or belief is necessary. Believe nothing | |
until you find it out for yourself; that is what it teaches us. | |
Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of Yoga | |
should be at once rejected. The best guide in life is strength. In | |
religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens | |
you, have nothing to do with it. Mystery-mongering weakens the human | |
brain. | |
There was once a minister to a great king. He fell into disgrace. | |
The king, as a punishment, ordered him to be shut up in the top of a | |
very high tower. This was done, and the minister was left there to | |
perish. He had a faithful wife, however, who came to the tower at | |
night and called to her husband at the top to know what she could do | |
to help him. He told her to return to the tower the following night | |
and bring with her a long rope, some stout twine, pack thread, silken | |
thread, a beetle, and a little honey. Wondering much, the good wife | |
obeyed her husband, and brought him the desired articles. The | |
husband directed her to attach the silken thread firmly to the | |
beetle, then to smear its horns with a drop of honey, and to set it | |
free on the wall of the tower, with its head pointing upwards. She | |
obeyed all these instructions, and the beetle started on its long | |
journey. Smelling the honey ahead it slowly crept onward, in the | |
hope of reaching the honey, until at last it reached the top of the | |
tower, when the minister grasped the beetle, and got possession of | |
the silken thread. He had told his wife to tie the other end to the | |
pack thread, and after he had drawn up the pack thread, he repeated | |
the process with stout twine, and lastly with the rope. Then the | |
rest was easy. The minister descended from the tower by means of the | |
rope, and made his escape. In this body of ours the breath motion is | |
the "silken thread"; by laying hold of and learning to control it we | |
grasp the pack thread of the nerve currents, and from these the stout | |
twine of our thoughts, and lastly the rope of Prana, controlling | |
which, we reach freedom. | |
We do not know anything about our own bodies; we cannot know. Why do | |
we not? Because our attention is not discriminating enough to catch | |
the very fine movements that are going on within. We can know of | |
them only when the minds become more subtle and enters, as it were, | |
deeper into the body. | |
We hear "Be good," and "Be good," and "Be good," taught all over the | |
world. There is hardly a child born in any country in the world who | |
has not been told, "Do not steal," "Do not tell a lie," but nobody | |
tells the child how he can help doing them. ... Talking will not help | |
him. | |
He who has succeeded in attaching or detaching his mind to or from | |
the centers at will has succeeded in Pratyahara, which means, | |
"gathering towards," checking the outgoing powers of the mind, | |
freeing it from the thralldom of the senses. | |
The first lesson, then, is to sit for some time and let the mind run | |
on. The mind is bubbling up all the time. It is like that monkey | |
jumping about. Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply | |
wait and watch. Knowledge is power, says the proverb, and that is | |
true. Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it. | |
Give it the rein; many hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be | |
astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts. But | |
you will find that each day the mind's vagaries are becoming less and | |
less violent, that each day it is becoming calmer. | |
Yoga is divided into two parts. Where one's self is meditated upon | |
as zero, and bereft of qualities, that is called Abhava. That in | |
which one sees the self as full of bliss and bereft of all | |
impurities, and one with God, is called Mahayoga. The Yogi, by each | |
one, realizes his Self. | |
The word Karma is derived from the Kri, to do; all action is Karma. | |
Technically, this word also means the effects of actions. | |
If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate | |
of tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind; you will find | |
that misery and happiness are equal factors in the formation of that | |
character. | |
So with all our feelings and actions we may find, if we calmly study | |
our own selves, to have been brought out from within ourselves by so | |
many blows. The result is what we are; all these blows taken | |
together are called Karma--work, action. Everything we do, physical | |
or mental, is Karma and it leaves its marks on us. | |
Karma in its effect on character is the most tremendous power that | |
man has to deal with. Man is, as it were, a center, and is | |
attracting all the powers of the universe towards himself, and in | |
this center is fusing them all and again sending them off in a big | |
current. Such a center is the real man, the almighty, the | |
omniscient, and he draws the whole universe towards him; good and | |
bad, misery and happiness, all are running towards him and clinging | |
round him; and out of them he fashions the mighty stream of tendency, | |
called character, and throws it outwards. As he has the power of | |
drawing in anything, so has he the power of throwing it out. | |
All actions that we see in the world, all the movements in human | |
society, all the weeks that we have around us, are simply the display | |
of thought, the manifestation of the will of man. | |
Work for work's sake. There are some who are really the salt of the | |
earth in every country, and who work for work's sake, who do not care | |
for name, or fame, or even to go to heaven. They work just because | |
good will come of it. | |
The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and | |
solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of the | |
intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. He | |
has learned the secret of restraint; he has controlled himself. He | |
goes through the streets of a big city with all its traffic, and his | |
mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could | |
reach him; and he is intensely working all the time. That is the | |
ideal of Karma Yoga, and if you have attained to that, you have | |
really learned the secret of work. | |
Tamas is typified as darkness or inactivity; Rajas is activity, | |
expressed as attraction or repulsion; and Sattva is the equilibrium | |
of the two. | |
The important thing is to know that there are gradations of duty and | |
morality--that the duty of one state of life, in one set of | |
circumstances will not and cannot be that of another. | |
Our first duty is not to hate ourselves; because to advance we must | |
have faith in ourselves first and then in God. He who has no faith | |
in himself can never have faith in God. | |
The one who from weakness "resists not" commits a sin, and as such | |
cannot receive any benefit from the non-resistance; while the other | |
would commit a sin by offering resistance. ... We must first take | |
care to understand whether we have the power of resistance or not. | |
Then, having the power, if we renounce it and do not resist, we are | |
doing a grand act of love; but if we cannot resist, and at the same | |
time try to deceive ourselves into the belief that we are actuated by | |
the highest love, we are doing the exact opposite. | |
Plunge into the world, and then, after a time, when you have suffered | |
and enjoyed all that is in it, will renunciation come; then will | |
calmness come. So fulfill your desire for power and everything else, | |
and after you have fulfilled the desire, will come the time when you | |
will know that they are all very little things; but until you have | |
fulfilled this desire, until you have passed through that activity, | |
it is impossible for you to come to the state of calmness, serenity, | |
and self-surrender. | |
Every man should take up his own ideal and endeavor to accomplish it; | |
that is a surer way of progress than taking up other men's ideals, | |
which one can never hope to accomplish. | |
Unity in variety is the plan of creation. However men and women may | |
vary individually, there is unity in the background. The different | |
individual characters and classes of men and women are natural | |
variations in creation. Hence, we ought not to judge them by the | |
same standard or put the same ideal before [all of] them. Such a | |
course creates an unnatural struggle only and the result is that the | |
man begins to hate himself and is hindered from becoming religious | |
and good. Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live | |
up to his own highest ideal, and strive at the same time to make the | |
ideal as near as possible to the truth. | |
Helping others physically, by removing their physical needs, is | |
indeed great, but the help is greater, according as the need is | |
greater and according as the help is far-reaching. If a man's wants | |
can be removed for an hour, it is helping him indeed; if his wants | |
can be removed for a year it will be more help to him; but if his | |
wants can be removed forever, it is surely the greatest help that can | |
be given him. Spiritual knowledge is the only thing that can destroy | |
our miseries forever; any other knowledge satisfies wants only for a | |
time. It is only with the knowledge of the spirit that the faculty | |
of want is annihilated forever; so helping man spiritually is the | |
highest help that can be given to him; he who gives man spiritual | |
knowledge is the greatest benefactor of mankind, and as such we | |
always find that those were the most powerful of men who helped man | |
in his spiritual needs; because spirituality is the true basis of all | |
our activities in life. A spiritually strong and sound man will be | |
strong in every other respect, if he so wishes; until there is | |
spiritual strength in man even physical needs cannot be well | |
satisfied. Next to spiritual comes intellectual help; the gift of | |
knowledge is a far higher gift than that of food and clothes; it is | |
even higher than giving life to a man, because the real life of man | |
consists of knowledge; ignorance is death, knowledge is life. Life | |
is of very little value, if it is a life in the dark, groping through | |
ignorance and misery. Next in order comes, of course, helping a man | |
physically. Therefore, in considering the question of helping | |
others, we must always strive not to commit the mistake of thinking | |
that physical help is the only help that can be given. It is not | |
only the last but the least, because it cannot bring about permanent | |
satisfaction. The misery that I feel when I am hungry is satisfied | |
by eating, but hunger returns; my misery can cease only when I am | |
satisfied beyond all want. Then hunger will not make me miserable; | |
no distress, no sorrow will be able to move me. So that help which | |
tends to make us strong spiritually is the highest, next to it comes | |
intellectual help, and after that physical help. | |
The miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only; | |
until man's nature changes, these physical needs will always arise, | |
and miseries will always be felt, and no amount of physical help will | |
cure them completely. The only solution of this problem is to make | |
mankind pure. Ignorance is the mother of all the evil and all the | |
misery we see. Let men have light, let them be pure and spiritually | |
strong and educated, then alone will misery cease in the world, not | |
before. | |
Every work must necessarily be a mixture of good and evil; yet we are | |
commanded to work... Good action will entail upon us good effect, bad | |
action, bad. But good and bad are both bondages of the soul. The | |
solution reached in the Gita regarding this bondage-producing nature | |
of work is that if we do not attach ourselves to the work we do, it | |
will not have any binding effect on our soul. | |
"Samskara" can be translated very nearly as "inherent tendency." | |
As the tortoise tucks its feet and head inside the shell, and you may | |
kill it and break it in pieces, and yet it will not come out, even so | |
the character of that man who has control over his motives and organs | |
is unchangeably established. | |
By work along men may get to where Buddha got largely by meditation | |
or Christ by prayer. Buddha was a working Jnani; Christ was a | |
Bhakta, but the same goal was reached by both of them. The | |
difficulty is here: Liberation means entire freedom--freedom from the | |
bondage of good, as well as from the bondage of evil. A golden chain | |
is as much a chain as an iron one. So the bad tendencies are to be | |
counteracted by the good ones, and the bad impressions on the mind | |
should be removed by the fresh waves of good ones, until all that is | |
evil almost disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a corner | |
of the mind, but after that the good tendencies have also to be | |
conquered. Thus the "attached" becomes the "unattached." | |
Work as if you were a stranger in this land, a sojourner; work | |
incessantly, but do not bind yourselves; bondage is terrible. This | |
world is not our habitation, it is only one of the many stages | |
through which we are passing. | |
Do you see how everybody works? Nobody can be altogether at rest; | |
ninety-nine percent of mankind work like slaves, and the result is | |
misery; it is all selfish work. Work through freedom! Work through | |
love! | |
Do you ask anything from your children in return for what you have | |
given them? It is your duty to work for them, and there the matter | |
ends. In whatever you do for [someone else], assume the same | |
attitude towards it... If you can invariably take the position of a | |
giver, in which everything given by you is a free offering to the | |
world, without any thought of return, then will your work bring you | |
no attachment. Attachment comes only when we expect a return. | |
Now you see what Karma Yoga means; even at the point of death to help | |
everyone, without asking questions. Be cheated millions of times and | |
to never ask a question, and never think of what you are doing. | |
Never vaunt of your gifts to the poor or expect their gratitude, but | |
rather be grateful to them for giving you the occasion of practicing | |
charity to them. Thus it is plain that to be an ideal householder is | |
a much more difficult task than to be an ideal Sannyasin; the true | |
life of work is indeed as hard as, if not harder than, the equally | |
true life of renunciation. | |
The term "duty," like every other universal abstract term, is | |
impossible to clearly define; we can only get an idea of it by | |
knowing its practical operations and results. ... Therefore we see | |
that it is not the thing done that defines a duty. To give an | |
objective definition of duty is thus entirely impossible. Yet there | |
is duty from the subjective side. Any action that makes us go | |
Godward is a good action, and is our duty; any action that makes us | |
go downward is evil, and is not our duty. From the subjective | |
standpoint we may see that certain acts have a tendency to exalt and | |
ennoble us, while certain other acts have a tendency to degrade and | |
to brutalize us. But it is not possible to make out with certainty | |
which acts have which kind of tendency in relation to all persons, | |
all sorts and conditions. | |
It is therefore our duty to do that work which will exalt and ennoble | |
us in accordance with the ideals and activities with the society in | |
which we are born. But it must be particularly remembered that the | |
same ideals and activities do not prevail in all societies and | |
countries, our ignorance of this is the main cause of much of the | |
hatred of one nation towards another. | |
Therefore the one point we ought to remember is that we should always | |
try to see the duty of others through their own eyes, and never judge | |
the customs of other peoples by our own standard. I am not the | |
standard of the universe. I have to accommodate myself to the world, | |
and not the world to me. | |
Duty is seldom sweet. It is only when love greases its wheels that | |
it runs smoothly; it is a continuous friction otherwise. | |
In every religion there are three parts; philosophy, mythology, and | |
ritual. Philosophy of course is the essence of every religion; | |
mythology explains and illustrates it by meas of the more or less | |
legendary lives of great men, stories and fables of wonderful things | |
and so on; ritual gives to that philosophy a still more concrete | |
form, so that everyone may grab it--ritual is in fact concretized | |
philosophy. ... Therefore symbols are of great help and we cannot | |
dispense with the symbolical method of putting things before us. | |
It is not the receiver who is blessed, but it is the giver. Be | |
thankful that you are allowed to exercise your power of benevolence | |
and mercy in the world, and thus become pure and perfect. | |
You need not worry or make yourself sleepless about the world; it | |
will go on without you. It is the level-headed man, the calm man, of | |
good judgment and cool nerves, of great sympathy and love, who does | |
good work and so does good to himself. The fanatic is foolish and | |
has no sympathy; he can never straighten the world, nor himself | |
become pure and perfect. | |
We ought not to be fanatics of any kind because fanaticism is opposed | |
to love. You hear fanatics glibly saying, "I do not hate the sinner, | |
I hate the sin;" but I am prepared to go any distance to see the face | |
of that man who can really make a distinction between the sin and the | |
sinner. It is easier said than done. | |
We cannot breathe or live without injuring others, and every bit of | |
food we eat is taken away from another's mouth: our very lives are | |
crowding out other lives. It may be men, or animals, or small | |
microbes, but someone or other of these we have to crowd out. | |
The "revolving towards" is what we call the world, the "I and mine"; | |
it includes all those things which are always enriching the "me" by | |
wealth, money, and power, and name and fame, and which are of a | |
grasping nature, always tending to accumulate everything in one | |
center, that center being "myself." That is the "Pravatti," the | |
natural tendency of every human being; taking everything from | |
everywhere and heaping it around one center, that center being one's | |
own sweet self. When this tendency begins to break, when it is | |
"Nivritti" or "going away from," then begin morality and religion. | |
Both are of the nature of work: the former is evil work, and the | |
latter is good work. | |
However much their systems of philosophy differ, all mankind stand in | |
reverence and awe before the man who is ready to sacrifice himself | |
for others. Here it is not at all any question of creed, or | |
doctrine--even men who are very much opposed to all religious ideas, | |
when they see one of these acts of complete self-sacrifice, feel that | |
they must revere it. | |
... as the old Christians used to say, "the old man must die." This | |
old man is the selfish idea that the whole world is made for our | |
enjoyment. | |
To those who have not controlled their own minds, the world is either | |
full of evil or at best a mixture of good and evil. This very world | |
will become to us an optimistic world when we become masters of our | |
own minds. Nothing will then work upon us as good or evil; we shall | |
find everything to be in its proper place, to be harmonious. | |
Perfect equilibrium, or what the Christians call the peace that | |
surpasses all understanding, cannot be had in this universe, nor in | |
heaven, nor in any place where our mind and thoughts can go, where | |
the senses can feel, or which the imagination can conceive. No such | |
place can give us that freedom, because all such places would be | |
within our universe, and it is limited by space, time, and causation. | |
... real religion begins where this little universe ends. These | |
little joys, and sorrows, and knowledge of things end there, and the | |
reality begins. Until we give up the thirst after life, the strong | |
attachment to our transient conditioned existence, we have no hope of | |
catching even a glimpse of that infinite freedom beyond. | |
But it is a most difficult thing to give up the clinging to this | |
universe; few ever attain to that. There are two ways to do that | |
mentioned in our books. One is called "neti neti" (not this, not | |
this), the other is called the "iti" (this); the former is the | |
negative and the latter is the positive way. The negative way is the | |
most difficult. It is only possible to the men of the very highest, | |
exceptional minds and gigantic wills who simply stand up and say, | |
"No, I will not have this," and the mind and body obey their will, | |
and they come out successful. But such people are very rare. The | |
vast majority of mankind choose the positive way, the way through the | |
world, making use of all the bondages themselves to break those very | |
bondages. This is also a kind of giving up; only it is done slowly | |
and gradually, by knowing things, enjoying things, and thus obtaining | |
experience, and knowing the nature of things until the mind lets them | |
all go at last and becomes unattached. The former way of obtaining | |
non-attachment is by reasoning, and the latter way is through work | |
and experience. The first is the path of Jnana Yoga, and is | |
characterized by the refusal to do any work; the second is that of | |
Karma Yoga, in which there is no cessation from work. | |
Non-attachment is the basis of all the Yogas. | |
Here are the two ways of giving up all attachment. The one is for | |
those who do not believe in God, or in any outside help. They are | |
left to their own devices; they have simply to work with their own | |
will, with the powers of their mind and determination, saying, "I | |
must be nonattached." For those who believe in God there is another | |
way, which is much less difficult. They give up the fruits of work | |
unto the Lord, they work and are never attached to the results. | |
Whatever they see, feel, hear, or do, is for Him. | |
This world's wheel within wheel is a terrible mechanism; if we put | |
our hands in it, as soon as we are caught we are gone. We all think | |
that when we have done a certain duty, we shall be at rest; but | |
before we have done a part of that duty another is already in | |
waiting. We are all being dragged along by this mighty, complex | |
world-machine. There are only two ways out of it; one is to give up | |
all concern with the machine, to let it go and stand aside, to give | |
up our desires. That is very easy to say, but is almost impossible | |
to do. I do not know whether one in twenty millions of men can do | |
that. The other way is to plunge into the world and learn the secret | |
of work, and that is the way of Karma Yoga. Do not fly away from the | |
wheels of the world-machine, but stand inside it and learn the secret | |
of work. Through proper work done inside, it is also possible to | |
come out. Through this machinery itself is the way out. | |
Bhakti Yoga is a real, genuine search after the Lord, a search | |
beginning, ending, and continuing in love. One single moment of the | |
madness of extreme love to God brings us eternal freedom. | |
The one great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest and most | |
natural way to reach the great divine end in view; its great | |
disadvantage is that in its lower forms it often degenerates into | |
hideous fanaticism. All the weak and undeveloped minds in every | |
religion or country have only one way of loving their own ideal, i.e. | |
by hating every other ideal. But this danger exists only in that | |
stage of Bhakti which is called the preparatory (Gauni). When Bhakti | |
has become ripe and has passed into that form which is called the | |
supreme (Parâ), no more is there any fear of these hideous | |
manifestations of fanaticism; that soul which is overpowered by this | |
higher form of Bhakti is too near the God of Love to become an | |
instrument for the diffusion of hatred. | |
For it has been said by the Lord: "Those who are constantly attracted | |
to Me and worship Me with love--I give that direction to their will | |
by which they come to Me." | |
Bhakti is a series or succession of mental efforts at religious | |
realization beginning with ordinary worship and ending in a supreme | |
intensity of love for Ishvara. | |
It has always to be understood that the Personal God worshiped by the | |
Bhakta is not separate or different from the Brahman. All is | |
Brahman, the One without a second; only the Brahman, as unity or | |
absolute, is too much of an abstraction to be loved and worshiped; so | |
the Bhakta chooses the relative aspect of Brahman, that is, Ishvara, | |
the Supreme Ruler. Ishvara is the highest manifestation of the | |
Absolute Reality, or in other words, the highest possible reading of | |
the Absolute by the human mind. | |
[The Bhakta], soon, through the mercy of the Lord, reaches a plane | |
where pedantic and powerless reason is left far behind, and the mere | |
intellectual groping through the dark gives place to the daylight of | |
direct perception. He no more reasons and believes, he almost | |
perceives. He no more argues, he senses. And is not this seeing | |
God, and feeling God, and enjoying God higher than anything else? | |
Every soul is destined to be perfect, and every being, in the end, | |
will attain the state of perfection. Whatever we are now is the | |
result of our acts and thoughts in the past; and whatever we shall be | |
in the future will be the result of what we think and do now. But | |
this, the shaping of our own destinies, does not preclude our | |
receiving help from outside; nay, in the vast majority of cases such | |
help is absolutely necessary. When it comes, the higher powers and | |
possibilities of the soul are quickened, spiritual life is awakened, | |
growth is animated, and man becomes holy and perfect in the end. | |
To quicken the spirit, the impulse must come from another soul. The | |
person from whose soul such impulse comes is called the Guru--the | |
teacher; and the person to whose soul the impulse is conveyed is | |
called the Shishya--the student. To convey such an impulse to any | |
soul, in the first place, the soul from which it proceeds must | |
possess the power of transmitting it, as it were, to another; and in | |
the second place, the soul to which it is transmitted must be fit to | |
receive it. | |
... it is a mysterious law of nature that as soon as the field is | |
ready, the seed must and does come; as soon as the soul earnestly | |
desires to have religion, the transmitter of religious force must and | |
does appear to help that soul. When the power that attracts the | |
light of religion in the receiving soul is full and strong, the power | |
which answers that attraction and sends in light does come as a | |
matter of course. | |
There are, however, certain great dangers in the way. There is, for | |
instance, the danger to the receiving soul of its mistaking momentary | |
emotions for real religious yearning. So whenever we are tempted to | |
complain of our search after the truth that we desire so much, | |
proving vain, instead of so complaining, our first duty ought to be | |
to look into our own souls and find whether the craving in the heart | |
is real. Then in the vast majority of cases it would be discovered | |
that we were not fit for receiving the truth, that there was no real | |
thirst for spirituality. | |
The conditions necessary for the [student] are purity, a real thirst | |
after knowledge, and perseverance. | |
In regards to the teacher, we must see that he knows the spirit of | |
the scriptures. The second condition necessary in the teacher | |
is--sinlessness. The third condition [is that] the teacher must not | |
teach with any ulterior, selfish motive; his work must be simply out | |
of love, out of pure love for mankind at large. | |
When you see that in your teacher these conditions are fulfilled, you | |
are safe; if they are not, it is unsafe to allow yourself to be | |
taught by him, for there is the great danger that, if he cannot | |
convey goodness to your heart, he may convey wickedness. This danger | |
must by all means be guarded against. | |
Religion, which is the highest knowledge and the highest wisdom, | |
cannot be bought, nor can it be acquired from books. You may thrust | |
your head into all the corners of the world, you may explore the | |
Himalayas, the Alps, and the Caucasus, you may sound the bottom of | |
the sea and pry into every nook of Tibet and the desert of Gobi, you | |
will not find it anywhere until your heart is ready for receiving it | |
and your teacher has come. And when that divinely appointed teacher | |
comes, serve him with childlike confidence and simplicity, freely | |
open your heart to his influence, and see in him God manifested. | |
Those who come to seek truth with such a spirit of love and | |
veneration, to them the Lord of Truth reveals the most wonderful | |
things regarding truth, goodness, and beauty. | |
Now worshiping Ishvara and Him alone is Bhakti; the worship of | |
anything else--Deva, Priti, or other being--cannot be Bhakti. | |
One who aspires to be a Bhakta... must know that all the various | |
sects of the various religions are the various manifestations of the | |
glory of the same Lord. Not only this, the Bhakta must take care not | |
to hate, nor even to criticize those radiant sons of light who are | |
the founders of various sects; he must not even hear them spoken ill | |
of. Istha-Nishtha: steadfast devotion to the chosen ideal. | |
When the human soul draws back from the things of the world and tries | |
to go into deeper things; when man, the spirit which has here somehow | |
become concretized and materialized, understands that he is thereby | |
going to be destroyed and to be reduced almost into mere matter, and | |
turns his face away from matter--then begins renunciation, then | |
begins real spiritual growth. The Karma-Yogi's renunciation is in | |
the shape of giving up all the fruits of his action; he is not | |
attached to the results of his labor; he does not care for any reward | |
here or hereafter. The Râja-Yogi knows that the whole of nature is | |
intended for the soul to acquire experience, and the result of all | |
the experiences of the soul is for it to become aware of its eternal | |
separateness from nature. The human soul has to understand and | |
realize that it has been spirit, and not matter, through eternity, | |
and that this conjunction of it with matter is and can be only for a | |
time. The Râja-Yogi learns the lesson of renunciation through his | |
own experience of nature. The Jnâna-Yogi has the harshest of all | |
renunciations to go through, as he has to realize from the very first | |
that the whole of this solid-looking nature is all an illusion. He | |
has to understand that all that is any kind of manifestation of power | |
in nature belongs to the soul, and not to nature. He has to know | |
from the very start that all knowledge and all experience are in the | |
soul and not in nature; so he has at once and by sheer force of | |
rational conviction to tear himself away from all bondage to nature. | |
He lets nature and all that belongs to her go, he lets them vanish | |
and tries to stand alone! | |
Of all renunciations, the most natural, so to say, is that of the | |
Bhakti-Yogi. The Bhakta's renunciation is easy, smooth flowing, and | |
as natural as the things around us. When the moon shines brightly, | |
all the stars become dim, and when the sun shines, the moon herself | |
becomes dim. [Likewise] So this love of the pleasures of the senses | |
[is made dim by the pleasures of the intellect, and the pleasures of | |
the intellect is made dim] and cast into the shade by the love of God | |
Himself. The Bhakta has not to suppress any single one of his | |
emotions, he only strives to intensify them and direct them to God. | |
Stand as a witness, as a student, and observe the phenomena of | |
nature. Have the feeling of personal non-attachment with regard to | |
man, see how this mighty feeling of love is working itself out in the | |
world. Sometimes a little friction is produced, but that is only in | |
the course of the struggle to attain the higher real love. Sometimes | |
there is a little fight or a little fall; but it is all only by the | |
way. Stand aside, and freely let these frictions come. | |
In Bhakti Yoga the central secret is, therefore, to know that the | |
various passions and feelings and emotions in the human heart are not | |
wrong in themselves; only they have to be carefully controlled and | |
given a higher and higher direction, until they attain the very | |
highest condition of excellence. The highest direction is that which | |
takes us to God; every other direction is lower. | |
Tadiyatâ (His-ness) comes when a man becomes perfect according to | |
Bhakti--when he has become blessed, when he has attained God, when he | |
has touched the feet of God, as it were. Then his whole nature is | |
purified and completely changed. All his purpose in life then | |
becomes fulfilled. | |
It is impossible to express the nature of this supreme and absolute | |
ideal of love in human language. Even the highest flight of human | |
imagination is incapable of comprehending it in all its infinite | |
perfection and beauty. Nevertheless, the followers of the religion | |
of love, in its higher as well as its lower forms, in all countries, | |
have all along had to use the inadequate human language to comprehend | |
and to define their own ideal of love. Nay more, human love itself, | |
in all its varied forms has been made to typify this inexpressible | |
divine love. Man can think of divine things only in his own human | |
way, to us the Absolute can be expressed only in our relative | |
language. The whole universe is to us a writing of the Infinite in | |
the language of the finite. Therefore Bhaktas make use of all the | |
common terms associated with the common love of humanity in relation | |
to God and His worship through love. | |
If you want to be angry, be angry with Him. Chide your Beloved, | |
chide your Friend. Whom else can you safely chide? Mortal man will | |
not patiently put up with your anger; there will be a reaction. | |
[ | |
> Dedicate all your actions to God and direct all your passions, | |
> such as lust, anger, pride, and so forth, toward God. --Narada | |
> Bhakti Sutra | |
] | |
When this highest ideal of love is reached, philosophy is thrown | |
away; who will then care for it? Freedom, Salvation, Nirvāna--all | |
are thrown away; who cares to become free while in the enjoyment of | |
divine love? "Lord, I do not want wealth, nor friends, nor beauty, | |
nor learning, nor even freedom; let me be born again and again, and | |
be Thou ever my Love. Be Thou ever and ever my Love." "Who cares to | |
become sugar?" says the Bhakta, "I want to taste sugar." | |
author: Vivekânanda, Swâmi, 1863-1902 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Swami_Vivekananda | |
title: Bhakti Yoga (path of love, devotion, & surrender) | |
source: gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532735 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Bhakti | |
title: Jnâna Yoga (path of reason, knowledge, & self-inquiry) | |
source: gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99640 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Jñāna_yoga | |
title: Karma Yoga (path of service & work) | |
source: gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.94806 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Karma_yoga | |
title: Rāja Yoga (path of meditation & psychology) | |
source: gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.94806 | |
detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Rāja_yoga | |
tags: ebook,non-fiction,spirit,yoga | |
# Tags | |
ebook | |
non-fiction | |
spirit | |
yoga |