S S Chinananda-Lectures on raja yoga, en
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Lectures on Raja Yoga
By
Sri Swami Chidananda
Sri Swami Sivananda
Founder of
The Divine Life Society
SERVE, LOVE, GIVE,
PURIFY, MEDITATE,
REALIZE
So Says
Sri Swami Sivananda
Sri Swami Chidananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition:
1976
Second Edition:
1991
(3,000 Copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition: 1999
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
ISBN 81-7052-081-9
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. S
HIVANANDANAGAR
—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.
PREFACE
Peace be unto all beings!
Adorations unto the Almighty Lord! Homage unto the great Sage Patanjali, the ancient
expounder of the science of Raja Yoga! Salutations to Worshipful Master Gurudev Sivananda at
whose Feet this book is offered in reverence and devotion!
I am happy to give this brief Preface to this little book on the subject of Raja Yoga edited by
Sri Swami Vimalananda, who has been a devoted helper to me in innumerable ways over the past
more than two decades. The matter in this book comprises a series of class lectures given in Beirut
(Lebanon) at the Yoga Shanti Niketan where I had been invited by the Founder-Director, Mrs.
Louisa Raaff, known to her student circles as Mother Shanta and Mother Swami Lalitanandaji, who
generously helped towards this trip. I went to Beirut and stayed for six weeks in the spring of 1973
fulfilling a programme of a series of class lectures, Satsangas, meditation sessions and public
engagements. Two other friends who took great interest in my visit and were very helpful to me are
Sri Omar Mansaur and Jean Pierre Sara, both spiritual seekers taking keen interest in Yoga practice
and meditation. To these wonderful persons I owe a debt of gratitude and take this opportunity of
recording it here.
I must also mention the young student, Panos Tsakalian of the American University at
Beirut who arranged lectures at the University.
These lectures have been given in very simple language avoiding technical terms as far as
possible. They are easy to understand as they were originally addressed to a group of persons who
were strangers to Indian philosophical thoughts and the subject of Yoga-Darshana. It was a new
subject and the field was unfamiliar to their thought-form. As such, these talks were necessarily
made simple for them to grasp. An orderly sequence was attempted at the time of their delivery.
Therefore, this arrangement makes the present volume something in the nature of a primary
text-book on Patanjali Yoga. Hence it is felt that it may be of some value to beginners and would
help them to get a preliminary knowledge of Ashtanga Yoga.
Whatever is helpful and of any value in this volume belongs to Maharshi Patanjali, to whom
I pay homage. Any discrepancies and shortcomings the reader may find belong to me. The entire
project was undertaken in the spirit of Guru-Seva to Worshipful Master Swami Sivanandaji.
My many grateful thanks to each and everyone who has made this volume possible.
Swami Chidananda
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CONTENTS
PREFACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
RAJA YOGA IS A UNIVERSAL SCIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
VALUE OF RAJA YOGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
MIND AND ITS ACTIVITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
RIGHT APPLICATION IN YOGA BRINGS SUCCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
ASMITA, RAGA AND DVESHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
THE ESSENCE OF THE FOUR YOGAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
THE AWAKENED MIND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
iv
First Lecture
RAJA YOGA IS A UNIVERSAL SCIENCE
Beloved Immortal Souls! Radiant Children of Light! Greetings to you all in the name of
Yoga. Yoga, the ancient science of India, is the common heritage of humanity, though evolved in
the East, though practised and expounded in India. This science of attaining universal
consciousness is the common wealth of mankind. It is a science that goes beyond the barrier of any
particular faith or religion, system or theology, and takes on the nature of spiritual process that is
capable of being worked out within the interior of human consciousness irrespective of the
personality. This consciousness, shines as the universal common denominator, as the common
factor in all life. It runs as a subtle invisible cosmic link in all life, just as a thread runs as the
common inner support through a necklace of beads of variegated colours, shapes and appearances,
holding them all together, unifying them into one object, a necklace. Here is this Sutra or a thread, a
unity within diversity.
Consciousness or the spiritual essence is similarly the unifying factor that underlies all
forms in this universe that are apparent as different objects to our superficial, physical gaze. All
such objects hold, within their apparent diversity, this inner Unity of Consciousness. The spirit
within is the universal common denominator underlying all forms of existence, but it has become
involved in mental processes, and through them got caught up within the meshes of sensual and
physical nature.
Yoga presents a system of liberating the spiritual essence from this involvement, this
entanglement in mental and physical processes. It achieves the effect of restoring the spiritual
consciousness to its pristine state, its untrammelled, pure original state. The thesis of Yoga based
upon the direct experience of those who became its expounders, is that your true nature, your real
and essential nature, is pure bliss. It is pure peace. It is Ananda and Santi. Not sorrow. Not misery.
Not grief. Not restlessness. Not agitation. Not tears. But peace and joy. Thus Raja Yoga is a
scientific method of liberating the consciousness from the bondage of mind, senses and matter. It
does not come into clash with any set of dogma or any specific religious belief. For, in the ultimate
context, if you try to analyse religion to its gross roots, you will discover that all religions have as
their ultimate aim, showing to the individual the path beyond sorrow, the way to supreme
blessedness. Call it divine felicity, call it eternal beatitude, call it salvation, emancipation,
liberation—the term which you use does not matter; the aim or the ultimate objective of religion
remains the same. If you try to grasp the central essence of religion, the central spirit behind all the
elaborate rituals and ceremonials, you will find that it is to bring man to God. And this Reality or
this Cosmic Being called God denotes a state of perfection that transcends the imperfect
experiences of this finite earth-life, that transcends sorrow and suffering. It denotes a positive state
of perfect joy and peace.
Yoga therefore is a system, a science, a practice. Though it had its origin in India, though it
was systematised by a people who professed the Vedic religion which we call Hinduism, Yoga is
beyond religion and occupies a place in the spiritual life of man which is the common meeting
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