yoga_system

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THE YOGA SYSTEM
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. SHIVANANDANAGAR—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.
20th 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
1
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
THE YOGA SYSTEM
2
Karana or instrument, while Buddhi is the Sanskrit term for intellect, which is the Karta or doer.
The intellect judges what is cognized by the mind, and makes a decision as to the nature of the
action that has to be taken in respect of the object in the given circumstances.
The intellect is associated with another principle within, called Ahamkara or ego. ‘Aham’
means ‘I’, and ‘kara’ is that which manifests, reveals or affirms. There is something in us, which
affirms ‘I am’. This affirmation is ego. No logic is necessary to prove the ego, for we do not
prove our own existence. This is an affirmation which requires no evidence, for all logic
proceeds from it. The ego is inseparable from individual intellection, like fire from its heat. The
intellect and ego exist inextricably, and human intellection is the function of the human ego. The
functions of the ego are manifold, and these form the subject of psychology.
There are certain ways in which the psychological instruments begin to function in
relation to objects. The ego, intellect and mind perform the functions of arrogation,
understanding and thinking of objects. There is also a fourth element, called Chitta, which is not
easily translatable into English. The term ‘subconscious’ is usually considered as its equivalent.
That which is at the base of the conscious mind and which retains memory etc., is Chitta or the
subconscious mind. But the Chitta in Yoga psychology includes also what is known as the
unconscious in psychoanalysis. All this functional apparatus, taken together, is the psyche or
Antahkarana, the internal instrument. The internal organ functions in various forms, and Yoga is
interested in a thorough study of these functions, because the methods of Yoga are intended to
take a serious step in regard to all these psychic functions, finally.
Now, how does the internal organ function? The psyche produces five reactions in
respect of the world outside, some of them being positive and others negative. These are the
themes of general psychology.
There are five modes into which the Antahkarana casts itself in performing its functions
of normal life. These modes are called Pramana, Viparyaya, Vikalpa, Nidra and Smriti.
Pramana or right knowledge is awareness of things as they are. This is the main subject
of the studies in logic. Perception, inference and verbal testimony are the three primary ways of
right knowledge. Some add comparison, presumption and non-apprehension to the usual
avenues of such knowledge. How do we know that there is an object in front of us? We acquire
this knowledge through direct sensory contact. This is perception. And when we see muddy
water in a river, we suppose that there must have been rains uphill. This knowledge we gather by
inference. The words of others in whom we have faith, also, convey to us true knowledge, as, for
example, when we believe that there is an elephant in the nearby city, on hearing of it from a
reliable friend, though we might not have actually seen it with our eyes. All these methods
together form what goes by the name of Pramana or direct proof of dependable knowledge.
Viparyaya is wrong perception, the mistaking of one thing for another, as, when we see a
long rope in twilight, we usually take it for a snake, or apprehend that a straight stick immersed
in water is bent. When we perceive anything which does not correspond to fact, the mental mode
is one of erroneous understanding.
THE AIM OF OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS
3
Vikalpa is doubt. When we are not certain whether, for example, a thing we are seeing is
a person or a pole, whether something is moving or not moving, the perception not being clear,
or when we are in any dubious state of thinking, we are said to be in Vikalpa.
Nidra is sleep, which may be regarded as a negative condition, a withdrawal of mind
from all activity. Sleep is nevertheless a psychological condition, because, though it is not
positively connected with the objects of the world, it represents a latency of the impressions as
well as possibilities of objective thought. Nidra is the sleep of the Antahkarana.
Smriti is memory, the remembrance of past events, the retention in consciousness of the
impressions of experiences undergone previously.
All functions of the internal organ can be brought under one or other of these processes,
and subject of general psychology is an elaboration of these human ways of thinking,
understanding, willing or feeling. It does not mean, however, that we entertain only five kinds of
thoughts, but that all the hundreds of thoughts of the mind can be boiled down to these five
groups of function. The system of Yoga makes a close study of this inner structure of man and
envisages it in its relation to the universe.
THE AIM OF OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS
As all thoughts can be reduced to five types of internal function, all objects can be
reduced to five Bhutas or elements. The five great elements are called Pancha-Maha-bhutas,
and they are (1) Ether (Akasa), (2) Air (Vayu), (3) Fire (agni), (4) Water (Apas) and (5) Earth
(Prithivi). The subtlety of these elements is in the ascending order of this arrangement, the
succeeding one being grosser than the preceding. Also the preceding element is the cause of the
succeeding, so that Ether may be regarded as containing all things in an unmanifested form. The
elements constitute the whole physical cosmos. These are the real objects of the senses, and all
the variety we see is made up of forms of these objects.
Our sensations are the five objects. We sense through the Indriyas or sense-organs. With
the sense of the ear we come in contact with Ether and hear sound which is a reverberation
produced by Ether. Touch is the property of Air, felt by us with the tactile sense. With the sense
of the eyes we contact light which is the property of Fire. With the palate we taste things, which
is the property of Water. With the nose we smell objects, and this is the property of Earth.
There is the vast universe, and we know it with our senses. We live in a world of fivefold
objects. The senses are incapable of knowing anything more than these element. The internal
organ, as informed and influenced by the objects, deals with them in certain manners, and this is
life. While our psychological reactions constitute our personal life, the adjustment we make with
others is our social life. The Yoga is primarily concerned with the personal life of man in
relation to the universe, and not the social life, for, in the social environment, one’s real
personality is rarely revealed. Yoga is essentially a study of self by self, which initially looks like
an individual affair, a process of Self-investigation (Atma-Vichara) and Self-realization (Atma-
THE YOGA SYSTEM
4
Sakshatkara). But this is not the whole truth. The Self envisaged here is a consciousness of
gradual integration of reality, and it finally encompasses all experience and the whole universe in
its being.
While the psychology of Yoga comprises the functions of the internal organ, and its
physics is of the five great objects or Mahabhutas, the philosophy of Yoga transcends both these
stages of study. The Yoga metaphysics holds that the body is not all, and even the five elements
are not all. We do not see what is inside the body and also what is within the universe of five
elements. A different set of senses would be necessary for knowing these larger secrets. Yoga
finally leads us to this point. When we go deep into the body we would confront its roots; so also
in the case of the objects outside. When we set out on this adventure, we begin to converge
slowly at a single centre, like the two sides of a triangle that taper at one point. The so-called
wide base of the world on which we move does not disclose the truth of ourselves or of objects.
At this point of convergence of ourselves and of things, we need not look at objects, and here no
senses are necessary, for, in this experience, there are neither selves nor things. There is only one
Reality, where the universal object and the universal subject become a unitary existence. Neither
is that an experience of a subject nor an object, where is revealed a knowledge of the whole
cosmos, at once, not through the senses, mind or intellect,-for there are no objects,-and there is
only being that is consciousness. Yoga is, therefore, spiritual, superphysical or supermaterial,
because materiality is shed in its achievement, and consciousness reigns supreme. This is the
highest object of Yoga, where the individual and the universe do not stand apart as two entities
but come together in a fraternal embrace. The purpose of the Yoga way of analysis is an
overcoming of the limitations of both subjectivity and objectivity and a union of the deepest
within us with the deepest in the cosmos.
THE SPIRITUAL REALITY
And what is this deepest? The physical body, being outside as a part of the physical
world, should be considered an object like the other things of the world, and it is constituted of
the five elements. This material body of five elements acts as a vehicle for certain powers that
work from within. Our actions are movements of these powers. There is an energy within the
body which is other than the elements. This energy is called Prana or vital force. The Prana has
many functions, which are responsible for the workings of the body. The organs of action, viz.,
speech (Vak), hands (Pani), feet (Pada), genitals (Upastha) and anus (Payu) are moved by the
motive power of the Prana. But the Prana is a blind energy and it needs to be directed properly.
We know we do not just do anything at any time, but act with some, method and intelligence.
There is a directing principle behind the Prana. We think before we act. The mind is, therefore,
internal to the Prana. But thought, again, is regulated by something else. We engage ourselves in
systematic thinking and follow a logical course in every form of contemplation and action. This
logical determinant of all functions in life is the intellect, which is the highest of human faculties,
and it is inseparable from the principle of the ego in man.
All these functions of the psychological apparatus are, however, confined to what is
called the waking state. The human being seems to be passing from this state to others, such as
dream and deep sleep. Though we have some sort of an awareness in dream, we are bereft of all
THE SPIRITUAL REALITY
5
consciousness in deep sleep. Yet, we know that we do exist in the state of sleep. This means
that we can exist without doing anything, even without thinking. The condition of deep sleep is a
paradox for psychology and is the crux of the Yoga analysis. It is strange that in sleep we do not
know even our own selves, and still we know that we do exist then. An experience, pure and
simple, of the nature of consciousness alone, is the constituent of deep sleep, notwithstanding
that we are not aware of it due to a peculiar difficulty in which we seem to get involved there. In
deep sleep, we have consciousness not associated with objects, and hence we remain oblivious of
everything external. There is, at the same time, unconsciousness of even one’s own existence
due to there being the potentiality for objective perception. The result is, however, that the
deepest in the individual is consciousness, which is called by such names as the Atman, Purusha,
etc. This is the real Self.
Now, what is the deepest in the cosmos? We learnt that there are five elements. But this
is not the whole picture of creation. There are realities within the physical universe as they are
there within the individual body. If the Prana, mind, intellect, ego and finally consciousness are
internal to the bodily structure, there are also tremendous truths internal to the physical universe.
Within the five gross elements there are five forces which manifest the elements. These forces
are the universal causes of everything that is physical, and are called Tanmatras, a term which
signifies the essence of objects. There is such a force or power behind the elements of Ether, Air,
Fire, Water and Earth. Sabda or sound is the force behind Ether. But this sound is, different
from what we merely hear with our ears. It is the subtle principle behind the whole of Ether, on
account of which the ears are capable of hearing at all. This is sound as Tanmatra. Likewise,
there are the Tanmatras of Air, Fire, Water and Earth, called respectively Sparsa or touch, Rupa
or form, Rasa or taste and Gandha or smell. These powers are subtle energies immanent in the
elements constituting the physical universe.
Modern science seems to corroborate the presence of these, essences behind bodies. The
world was once said to be made up of molecules or chemical substances. Further investigation
revealed that molecules are not the last word and that they are made up of atoms. Research,
again, proved that even the atoms are formed of certain substances, which have the character of
both waves of energy and particles of force. They flow like waves and sometimes jump like
particles. A great physicist has therefore preferred to designate them as ‘wavicles’. These have
been named electrons, protons, neutrons, etc., according to their structure and function. Their
essence is force. There is nothing but force in the universe. There is only a continuum of energy
everywhere. The Tanmatras of the Yoga system, however, are subtler than the energy of the
scientist, even as the Prana is subtler than electricity.
Just as behind the Prana there is the mind, behind the Tanmatras there is the Cosmic
Mind. Beyond the Cosmic Mind are the Cosmic Ego and the Cosmic Intellect, the last
mentioned having a special name, Mahat. Beyond the Mahat is what is called Prakriti, in which
the whole universe exists as a tree in a seed, or as effect in its cause. Transcending Prakriti is the
Absolute-Consciousness, called Brahman, Paramatman and the like. So, whether we dive deep
here or there, within ourselves or within the cosmos, we find the same thing-Consciousness. And
the stages of manifestation in the individual correspond to those in the universe. The purpose of
Yoga is to effect a communion between the individual and cosmic structures and to realize the
THE YOGA SYSTEM
6
ultimate Reality. The Yoga places before us the goal of a union wherein infinity and eternity
seem to come together. The aim of Yoga is to raise the status of the individual to the cosmic
level and to abolish the false difference between the individual and the cosmic. The cosmos
includes ourselves and things. The individual is a part of the cosmos. Then, why do we make a
separate reference to the individual? This is a mistake, which Yoga effectively corrects. To
regard the cosmos as an outer object would be to defy the very meaning of the cosmos. To
imagine ourselves to be subjects counterposed before an object called the cosmos would be to
stultify the comprehensiveness of the cosmos and to interfere with its harmony and working. The
Yoga rectifies this mistake and hereby the mortal becomes the Immortal. As the individual is a
part of the cosmos, this achievement should not be difficult. The individual is not separate from
the cosmic, but there seems to be some confusion in the mind of the individual which has caused
an artificial isolation of itself from the rest of the universe. This confusion is called Ajnana or
Avidya, which really means an absence or negation of true knowledge. Here we enter the realms
of depth psychology.
DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY
Avidya represents a condition in which one forgets reality and is unconscious of its
existence. We have somehow forgotten the real nature of our selves, viz. the universality of our
true being. This is the primary function of ignorance. But it has more serious consequences. For
it also makes one mistake the non-eternal (Anitya) for the eternal (Nitya), the impure (Asuchi) for
the pure (Suchi), pain (Duhkha) for pleasure (Sukha) and the not-Self (Anatman) for the Self
(Atman). It is obvious that the world with its contents is transient, and yet it is hugged as a real
entity. Even the so-called solidity or substantiality of things is challenged today by the
discoveries of modern science. The Theory of Relativity has put an end to such a thing as stable
matter or body and even a stable law or rule to work upon. Still the world is loved as reality.
This is one of the functions of Avidya. So, also, the impure body which stinks when deprived of
life or unattended to daily is loved and caressed as a pure substance. The itching of the nerves is
regarded as an incentive to pleasure and to scratch them for an imaginary satisfaction seems to be
the aim of all sense-contacts in life, whatever be their nature. The increase of desire (Parinama)
after every sensory indulgence, the anxiety (Tapa) consequent upon every attempt at fulfilment of
a desire, the undesirable effect in the form of psychic impressions (Samskara-duhkha) that follow
in the wake of all sense-enjoyments and the obstructing activity of the modes of the relativity of
things (the 3 Gunas) called Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, which revolve like a wheel without rest
(Guna-vritti-virodha) point to the fact that worldly pleasure is a name given to pain, by the
ignorant. Also, objects are loved as one’s Self, while in fact they are not. All these are the
characteristics of Avidya or Ajnana, due to which there is a total distortion of reality into an
appearance called this universe of space, time and objects.
Another result which spontaneously follows from Avidya is Asmita or the sense of being.
This sense is the consciousness of one’s individuality and personality, the ego, Ahamkara, or
self-affirmation. Forgetfulness of universality ends in an assertion of individuality. The wrong
notion that the individual is organically separated from the universe and the consequent self-
assertion (Asmita), the bifurcating attitude of likes and dislikes in regard to things (Raga-Dvesha)
and a longing to preserve one’s body by all means (Abhinivesa) are the graduated effects of
摘要：

THEYOGASYSTEMBySRISWAMIKRISHNANANDASriSwamiSivanandaFounderofTheDivineLifeSociety6(59(/29(*,9(385,)

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