Yoga Scientific
by Hari Prasad Shastri
One of the uses of science is to teach man how to put certain articles together to produce an expected result. This principle will be widely and easily recognized if we study our radio, electric lamp or pen. Nature has almost infinite potentialities, and when man is able to exploit them, he can obtain wonderful results. A few miles from the borders of Kashmir there is a huge waterfall. When the writer saw it, he thought that its potential power, if organized, could supply the whole of Kashmir with electricity at the cheapest rate.
Yoga is the method of combining the functions of the mind with a view to create a super-function (vritti) producing peace and freedom. The mind in its natural state serves the instincts, but when the refined part of it is brought into the service of the cognitive and introspective processes, the results are psychologically wonderful.
Our desires are like a huge and wide waterfall, the force of which must be harnessed and utilized to serve a higher end of life, the knowledge and service of Truth. The instruments which help in the organization of the desires from a state of wildness into a regular process are called vairagya, indifference to the objects of desire in the external life, and viveka, or spiritual discrimination.
How can we do so? Aristotle says that intellect is a divine part of human personality. Intellect in an organized form is called reason. In the ordinary individual, it remains mixed up with instincts. By silencing the mind through meditative relaxation, the intellect can be freed from the tyranny of instincts.
It is a psychological law that any thought that is not contradicted by reason, held in the mind repeatedly at a given time, creates a fresh atmosphere in which the light of discrimination can be brought into play. The yogis utilize other psychological laws also. A very prominent one is the law of association and transference.
Association is of two kinds: physical and mental. Objects brought together always interact. If our physical associations are of a peace-giving and love-producing nature, then success in Yoga is half achieved. The internal association is the friendship of ideas, pursuit of spiritual wisdom and cultivation of love of the ultimate Reality. It is in this atmosphere that the transmutation of the instinctive and human mind into the spiritual intellect takes place.
The object of spiritual study will now be perceived clearly. St Paul and other Christian mystical writers recommend faith as a prerequisite to spiritual life. The Vedas teach the same lesson. Unless one has confidence in himself, in the methods of spiritual practice and the Teacher, the spiritual progress is not possible. Faith can be cultivated, and the mind can be tutored in faith. An inquisitive mind is valuable, but a sceptical mind very often leads to self-destruction. If there is the least doubt in our heart, our fate in Yoga is bound to be disappointment.
Ibn 'Arabi, the prince of Arabic mystic philosophy in Spain, tells an interesting story. A doubting philosopher and an illiterate faithful peasant started on a spiritual journey, the goal of which was vision of Truth. The intellectual, on account of his doubting tendencies, made little progress, whereas the simple faithful man reached the goal.
By the yogic process the modes of the mind are slowly so arranged that they resemble a harmonious orchestra in which each instrument, though different from the others, is tuned to produce the same melody. The guide is the conductor of the orchestra, and the music is SO-HUM (He am I) and SHIVO-HUM (the highest Good am I).