WE COMBINE ALL THE YOGAS

 

WE HAVE TO FIND A WAY WHEREBY THE BODY AND MIND CAN BE WELL-RESTED

Many schools of thought teach their way. What we are most concerned about is our way. We recognise the necessity for deep rest of the body and the need for deep rest of the mind. The enlightened man could live in seemingly absolute turbulence, which is turbulent to us from our level looking up. He can live in that life of turbulence, but inwardly, he is experiencing that deep calm, tranquillity, and deep rest. We in kindergarten have to train ourselves to find that beautiful relaxation of mind and body.

We know that in this twentieth century, in East, West, North, and South, everyone seems to be living a very hectic life. We have brought this hecticness upon us, so now we have to find a way to find tranquillity. We must find a method whereby the body could be well rested, and the mind could follow suit with equal rest.

WE INCORPORATE ALL THE YOGAS

When one achieves that tranquillity, one can go beyond body and mind and be in touch with the Being within us. This is one form of yoga – this forms part and parcel of Raja Yoga. In Karma Yoga, you have total activity, and you reach a state where, in that activity, you are rested. You are rested automatically in all that hustle and bustle. Our teachings regarding meditation, such as mantra meditations and specific other yogic techniques, is the path of Raja Yoga. In our systems of meditation, we incorporate all the Yogas. We include the methods whereby the deep rest of mind and body is attained and where being is touched. And then, in the waking state, we say, let us do our best.

We do our best in our waking state to better ourselves, to face our weaknesses and better those weaknesses, and we have the ability once we have diagnosed our problems as a doctor would tell you that proper diagnosis is half the cure.

In our system, we incorporate Raja Yoga, the methods of mantra and the other forms of meditation which fall under Raja Yoga. We include Karma Yoga, whereby we better ourselves by finding our weaknesses and replacing weaknesses with strengths. Then we also practise Jnana Yoga, which is the yoga of wisdom, and that is where mental analysis, which also serves a valuable purpose, comes in. For a person to do any practice or develop any skill in action, he must necessarily, to a certain extent, appreciate the value of the practices he is doing or the mode of life he is living. This mental analysis of the various systems is called Jnana Yoga or the yoga of wisdom.

So, in our system, we develop Raja Yoga, the practices; Karma Yoga, the way of living; and Jnana Yoga, the yoga of wisdom and with the combination of these three Yogas, we are also in touch with the fourth yoga, which is called Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of devotion, where the husband becomes devoted to the wife, the wife becomes devoted to the husband, and like that, devotion increases.

WE APPROACH THE ABSTRACT THROUGH THE CONCRETE

Our aim in life is to be in touch with the abstract, which might seem inconceivable to the limitations of the mind, so we approach the abstract through the concrete. The object of our devotion could be our guru, could be our wife, could be our husband. It could be any personage, past or present, with whose teachings we agree and whose teachings are beneficial to us.

By having that utter devotion to the person, personage, or object, we automatically draw upon universal forces unto ourselves, and by drawing the universal forces unto ourselves, we benefit with more significant expansion of the mind.

There, we are aiding the yoga of wisdom by greater awareness. We are assisting our practical living life, which is Karma Yoga. And we are also at the same time going deeper and deeper into our practices. So here, Bhakti, Karma, Jnana and Raja Yoga, all these Yogas merge into our teachings. They all become part and parcel of each other. And that leads to the totality of life that we should be living.

OUR YOGA IS THE YOGA WHERE ALL THESE TEACHINGS ARE COMBINED

If we have a motor car with six pistons, I do not think we should be satisfied if the car runs on only four pistons. We know that the vehicle has six pistons, and to get the maximum value of that car running smoothly, we must get all six pistons working beautifully. Because of our limited and conditioned minds, the carburettor sometimes becomes dirty. Divinity is within us; we know we must accept that it is there to be experienced. But that petrol cannot flow through and give the car a smooth run if the carburettor is dirty. So, we clean the carburettor. We clean out the jets and all the dirt in the carburettor so that the petrol can run through, and our car can run smoothly ahead. That is all.

We clear this carburettor by our meditational practices for a start. That would lead us to live a better-integrated life in the waking state that will give us some understanding, Jnana Yoga, that will provide us with devotion. So, our yoga is yoga, which could be an integrated way where all these teachings are combined, which could lead us to progress quickly. We all know that we have come from Divinity, and to Divinity, we reach. We know that. But without doing anything, we will take two million years perhaps, but we do not want to wait so long. We want to reach there faster. Therefore, we have these practices that combine all these forms, which I have briefly described. As we become more and more established in these various modes of living and in the understanding we gain, in the devotion we develop and doing our practices regularly, we will find that life becomes more and more joyous because we are using all the pistons of the car and not just running on one or two or three pistons. And that is how joy increases, love increases, and then there is such a beautiful flow where all hearts can merge as one heart, where all hearts can beat in the one beat, in the one impulse, which is creation itself.

THERE IS ONLY ONE HEART, THE ONE UNIVERSAL HEART

People say there are so many hearts. I would say there is only one heart, the one Universal Heart, and there is only one heartbeat, and when we recognise this factor, we will know the unity instead of the existing diversity. Then we can say, “I and my Father are one.” Then we can practise, “Love thy neighbour as thyself,” because that is all one and within the circumference of that oneness, which in other ways we know as love or love divine.

… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1976 – 10