Reading section 10

It is the occult and mystic meditation of the Divinity, practised by religious recluses after their retirement from the world in the deep recesses of forests, according to the teachings of the Áranyakas of the Vedas. In this sense it is called “_Alaukika_” or recluse, as opposed to the “_laukika_” or the popular form. It is as well practicable in domestic circles by those that are qualified to practise the “_Jnána yoga_” (ज्ञानयोग) or transcendental speculation at their leisure. Of the former kind were the Rishis Súka deva, Yájnavalkya and others, and of the latter sort were the royal personages Janaka and other kings and the sages Vasistha, Vyása and many more of the “_munis_.”

[Sidenote: 4. The Exoteric _Rája yoga_.]

This is the “_laukika_” or popular form of devotion practised chiefly by the outward formulae—_vahirangas_ of yoga, with observance of the customary rites and duties of religion. The former kind called _Vidyá_ (विद्या) and the latter _Avidyá_ (अविद्या), are enjoined to be performed together in the Veda, which says: यत्तद्वेदोभयं सह &c. The Bhagavadgitá says to the same effect, नकर्मणामनारम्भ्यनैष्कर्म्मं पुरुषोश्नुते. The yoga Vásishtha inculcates the same doctrine in conformity with the Sruti which says: अन्धतमम्प्रबिशन्ति येउबिद्यायांरताः । ततोभूयएबतेतमो ये उअबिद्यायांरताः ।

[Sidenote: 5. The Subjective or _Hansa yoga_.]

The _hansa_ or _paramahansa_ yoga is the subjective form, which consists in the perception of one’s identity with that of the supreme being, whereby men are elevated above life and death. (Weber’s Ind. Lit. p. 157.) The formula of meditation is “_soham_, _hansah_” (सोऽहं हंसः) I am He, _Ego sum Is_, and the Arabic “_Anal Haq_”; wherein the Ego is identified with the _absolute_.

[Sidenote: 6. The objective word _Tattwamasi_.]

The objective side of yoga is clearly seen in its formula of _tat twam asi_—“thou art He.” Here “thou” the object of cognition—a _non ego_, is made the absolute subjective (Weber. Ind. Lit. p. 162). This formula is reduced to one word _tatwam_ तत्वं denoting “truth,” which contained in viewing every thing as Himself, or having subordinated all cosmical speculations to the objective method.

[Sidenote: 7. The Pure yoga-Suddha Brahmacharyam.]

The pure Yoga has two meanings viz.; the holy and unmixed forms of it. The former was practised by the celibate Brahmacháris and Brahmachárinis of yore, and is now in practice with the Kánphutta _yogis_ and _yoginis_ of Katiyawar in Guzerat and Bombay. Its unmixed form is found among the _Brahmavádis_ and _Vádinis_, who practise the pure contemplative yoga of Vedánta without any intermixture of sectarian forms. It corresponds with the philosophical mysticism of saint Bernard, and the mystic devotion of the Sufis of Persia. (See Sir Wm. Jones. On the Mystic Poetry of the Hindus, Persians and Greeks.)

[Sidenote: 8. The Impure or _Bhanda yoga_.]

The impure yoga in both its significations of unholiness and intermixture, is now largely in vogue with the followers of the _tantras_, the worshippers of Siva and Sakti, the modern Gosavis of Deccan, the Bullabhácháris of Brindaban, the Gosains, Bhairavis and Vaishnava sects in India, the Aghoris of Hindustan, and the Kartábhajás and _Nerá-neris_ of Bengal.

[Sidenote: 9. The Pantheistic or _Visvátmá yoga_.]

This is well known from the pantheistic doctrines of Vedánta, to consist in the meditation of every thing in God and God in every thing; “_Sarvam khalvidam Brahama_” सर्ब्बं खल्विदं ब्रह्म । एतद्धैतत; and that such contemplation alone leads to immortality. भूतेषु भूतेषु बिचिन्त्य धीरः प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भबन्ति । It corresponds with the pantheism of Persian Sufis and those of Spinoza and Tindal in the west. Even Sadi says; “_Hamán nestand unche hasti tui_,” there is nothing else but thyself. So in Urdu, _Jo kuch hai ohi hai nahin aur kuchh_.

[Sidenote: 10. The Monotheistic or _Adwaita Brahma yoga._]

It consists in the meditation of the creed ओं एकमेवबाद्बितीयं of the Brahmans, like the “Wahed Ho” of Moslems, and that God is one of Unitarian Christians. The monotheistic yoga is embodied in the Svetáswatara and other Upanishads (Weber p. 252 a). As for severe monotheism the Mosaic and Moslem religions are unparalleled, whose tenet it is “_la sharik laho_” one without a partner; and, “Thou shalt have no other God but Me.”

[Sidenote: 11. The Dualistic or _Dwaita yoga_.]

The dualistic yoga originated with Patanjali, substituting his _Isvara_ for the _Purusha_ of Sánkhya, and taking the _Prakriti_ as his associate. “From these,” says Weber, “the doctrine seems to rest substantially upon a dualism of the _Purusha_ male and _avyakta_ or Prakriti—the female.” This has also given birth to the dualistic faith of the _androgyne_ divinity—the Protogonus of the Greek mythology, the _ardhanáriswara_ of Manu, the undivided Adam of the scriptures, the Hara-Gauri and Umá-Maheswara of the Hindu Sáktas. But there is another dualism of two male duties joined in one person of _Hari-hara_ or _Hara-hari_; whose worshippers are called _dwaita-vádis_, and among whom the famous grammarian Vopadeva ranks the foremost.

[Sidenote: 12. The Trialistic or _Traita-yoga_.]

The doctrines of the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, and that of the Platonic triad and Christian Holy Trinity are well known to inculcate the worship and meditation of the three persons in one, so that in adoring one of them, a man unknowingly worships all the three together.

[Sidenote: 13. The Polytheistic yoga or _Sarva Devopásana_.]

This consists of the adoration of a plurality of deities in the mythology by every Hindu, though every one has a special divinity of whom he is the votary for his particular meditation. The later upanishads have promulgated the worship of several forms of Vishnu and Siva (Web. I. Lit. p. 161); and the _Tantras_ have given the _dhyánas_ or forms of meditation of a vast member of deities in their various forms and images (Ibid. p. 236).

[Sidenote: 14. The Atheistic or _Niríswara_ yoga.]

The Atheistic yoga is found in the _niriswara_ or hylo-theistic system of Kapila, who transmitted his faith “in nothing” to the Buddhists and Jains, who having no God to adore, worship themselves, in sedate and silent meditation. (Monier Williams, Hindu Wisdom p. 97).

[Sidenote: 15. The Theistic or _Ástikya yoga_.]

The Theistic yoga system of Patanjala: otherwise called the _seswara_ yoga, was ingrafted on the old atheistic system of Sánkhya with a belief in the Iswara. It is this system to which the name yoga specially belongs. (Weber’s Ind. Lit. pp. 238 and 252).

[Sidenote: 16. The Practical _Yoga Sádhana_.]

“The yoga system,” says Weber, “developed itself in course of time in outward practices of penance and mortifications, whereby absorption in the Supreme Being was sought to be obtained. We discover its early traces in the Epics and specially in the Atharva upanishads.” (Ind. Lit. p. 239). The practical _yoga Sádhana_ is now practised by every devotee in the service of his respective divinity.

[Sidenote: 17. The devotional or _Sannyása yoga_.]

The devotional side of the yoga is noticed in the instance of Janaka in the Mahábhárata, and of Yájnavalkhya in the Brihadáranyaka in the practice of their devotions in domestic life. These examples may have given a powerful impetus to the yogis in the succeeding ages, to the practice of secluded yoga in ascetism and abandonment of the world, and its concerns called Sannyása as in the case of Chaitanya and others.

[Sidenote: 18. The Speculative _Dhyána yoga_.]

It had its rise in the first or earliest class of Upanishads, when the minds of the Rishis were employed in speculations about their future state and immortality, and about the nature and attributes of the Supreme Being.

[Sidenote: 19. The Ceremonial or _Kriyá yoga_.]

This commenced with the second class or medieval upanishads, which gave the means and stages, whereby men may even in this world attain complete union with the Átma (Web. I. Lit. p. 156). The yogáchara of Manu relates to the daily ceremonies of house-keepers, and the Kriyá yoga of the Puránas treats about pilgrimages and pious acts of religion.

[Sidenote: 20. The Pseudo or _Bhákta yoga_.]

The pure yoga being perverted by the mimicry of false pretenders to sanctity and holiness, have assumed all those degenerate forms which are commonly to be seen in the mendicant Fakirs, strolling about with mock shows to earn a livelihood from the imposed vulgar. These being the most conspicuous have infused a wrong notion of yoga into the minds of foreigners.

[Sidenote: 21. The _Bhakti_ yoga.]

The Bhakti yoga first appears in the Swetáswatara Upanishad where the Bhakti element of faith shoots forth to light (Web. Ind. Lit. pp. 252 and 238). It indicates acquaintance with the corresponding doctrine of Christianity. The Bhágavad Gítá lays special stress upon faith in the Supreme Being. It is the united opinion of the majority of European scholars, that the Hindu _Bhakti_ is derived from the faith (_fides_) of Christian Theology. It has taken the place of श्रद्धा or belief among all sects, and has been introduced of late in the Brahma Samájas with other Vaishnava practices.

The other topics of Prof. Monier Williams being irrelevant to our subject, are left out from being treated in the present dissertation.

XIII. THE CONSUMMATION OF YOGA (SIDDHI).

[Sidenote: 22. By assimilation to the object.]

The Yogi by continually meditating on the perfections of the All Perfect Being, becomes eventually a perfect being himself, just as a man that devotes his sole attention to the acquisition a particular science, attains in time not only to a perfection in it, but becomes as it were identified with that science. Or to use a natural phenomenon in the metamorphoses of insects, the transformation of the cockroach to the conchfly, by its constant dread of the latter when caught by it, and the cameleon’s changing its colour for those of the objects about it, serve well to elucidate the Brahmahood ब्रह्मभूयः of the contemplative yogi.

But to illustrate this point more clearly we will cite the argument of Plotinus of the Neo-Platonic school, to prove the elevation of the meditative yogi to the perfection of the Being he meditates upon. He says, “Man is a finite being, how can he comprehend the Infinite? But as soon as he comprehends the Infinite, he is infinite himself: that is to say; he is no longer himself, no longer that finite being having a consciousness of his own separate existence; but is lost in and becomes one with the Infinite.”

[Sidenote: By identification with _the object_.]

Here says Mr. Lewes, “If I attain to a knowledge of the Infinite, it is not by my reason which is finite, but by some higher faculty which identifies itself with its object. Hence the identity of subject and object, of the thought and the thing thought of ज्ञाताज्ञानयोरैक्यं is the only possible ground of knowledge. Knowledge and Being are identical, and to know more is to be more”. But says Plotinus; “If knowledge is the same as the thing known, the finite as finite, can never know the Infinite, because he cannot be Infinite”. Hist. Phil. I. p. 391.

[Sidenote: By meditation of Divine attributes.]

Therefore the yogi takes himself as his preliminary step, to the meditations of some particular attribute or perfection of the deity, to which he is assimilated in thought, which is called his state of lower perfection; until he is prepared by his highest degree of ecstacy to lose the sense of his own personality, and become absorbed in the Infinite Intelligence called his ultimate consummation or _Samádhi_, which makes him one with the Infinite, and unites the knower and the known together; ज्ञाताज्ञेययोरैक्यं ।

[Sidenote: The Sufi Perfection.]

The perfection of the _yogi_ bears a striking resemblance with _maarfat_ of the Sufis of Persia, and it is described at length by Al-Gazzali, a famous sophist, of which we have an English translation given by G. K. Lewes in his History of Philosophy. (Vol. II. p. 55). “From the very first the Sufis have such astonishing revelations, that they are enabled, while waking, to see visions of angels and the souls of prophets; they hear their voices and receive their favours.”

[Sidenote: Ultimate consummation]

“Afterwards a transport exalts them beyond the mere perception of forms, to a degree which exceeds all expression, and concerning which one cannot speak without employing a language that would sound blasphemous. In fact some have gone so far as to imagine themselves amalgamated with God, others identified with Him, and others to be associated with Him.” These states are called स्वारुप्य, सायुज्य &c., in Hindu yoga as we shall presently see.

XIV. THE DIFFERENT DEGREES OF PERFECTION.

[Sidenote: The Eight perfections. अष्ट सिद्धिः । ]

“The supernatural faculties” says Wilson, “are acquired in various degrees according to the greater or lesser perfection of the adept.” H. Rel. p. 131. These perfections are commonly enumerated as eight in number (अष्ट सिद्धिः ।), and are said to be acquired by the particular mode in which the devotee concentrates himself in the Divine spirit or contemplates it within himself.

[Sidenote: 1. Microcosm or _Animá_.]

The specific property of the minuteness of the soul or universal spirit, that it is minuter than the minutest (अण रणीयान्). By thinking himself as such, the yogi by a single expiration of air, makes his whole body assume a lank and lean appearance, and penetrates his soul into all bodies.

[Sidenote: 2. Macrocosm or _Mahimá_.]

This also is a special quality of the soul that it fills the body, and extends through all space and encloses it within itself (महतो महीयान्); by thinking so, the yogi by a mere respiration of air makes his body round and turgid as a frog, and comprehends the universe in himself.

[Sidenote: 3. Lightness or _Laghimá_.]

From thinking on the lightness of the soul, the yogi produces a diminution of his specific gravity by swallowing large draughts of air, and thereby keeps himself in an aerial posture both on sea and land. This the Sruti says as (लघोर्लघीयान्).

[Sidenote: 4. Gravity or _Garimá_.]