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Rajayoga is the name given to the yoga, which
utilizes the dhyana-samadhi as the means to
union with the Divine. Yoga means union or
connection of a thing with another; but in the
mystical meaning it means union or connection
with God or the Ultimate Reality. The astanga-yoga
refers to the preparation for the yoga -such as
yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara,
dharana, dhyana and samadhi. The preparations
are of the nature of control of the body,
control of desires and instincts, and their
contraries which produce contra (or vicious)
habits, the control of the mind in respect of
the objects of desire, for the mind has the
nature of wandering from one object to another,
from one wish to another, or from pleasure to
pain and so on. Therefore, the first step in
yoga is said to be control or restraint of
mental modifications, which may well be
described to be the real meaning of pratyahara.
If the mind is given an object which will hold
it, then the control of the mind is most easy;
if not, it would wander. We see that Patanjali
states the first definition of yoga as the
control of mental modifications (yogah
citta-vritti nirodhah) but it is seen that it is
not an exhaustive definition at all. It is true
that this definition is given also in the Katha
Up.. Tanm yogamiti manyante sthiram
indriyadharanam. The Mahapanishad states,
Manahprasamanopayoyoga ityabhidhiyate. To
quieten the mind, to hold the indriyas steadily
without permitting them to run amok even as the
horses are being kept under rein, are obviously
the first steps in Yoga. The anga is called by
the name of the angi even as the body is named
and designated by the individual who uses the
name for the soul within the body. Thus
scholars have always linked up the two meanings
of the word Yoga derived from yuj: to connect,
to yoke or control the senses, the mind and the
ego or soul finally.
Rajayoga tried to link the individual with
the divine or yoke it with the divine by means
of the thought (dhi) which is expounded in the
Vedic Gayatri mantra: dhiyo yo nah pracodayat.
Dhimahi is the expressive verb that has made the
divine thought the force by which the union can
be effected. This is known later as Suraji or
solar sabda (Vedic mantra) with which the
ancient gurus used to initiate seekers after
realisation or Yoga. Thus one became a twice
born (dvija).
Revered Babuji has propounded a purified and
simplified version of the ancient Rajayoga and
has given a new method of initiation into the
Yoga that leads to ultimate realization or Union
with the Ultimate (para), the true other. He
calls his system Rajayoga, because he utilizes
the divine thought (cit-sakti or prana) for the
purpose of bringing about union with the divine
almost at the very start of the practice of
Yoga. This is much more important that the
preliminary preparations which have tended to be
made ends in themselves. Thus the yamas, though
basic and fundamental as the essentials of
ethical conduct have been made ends in
themselves and it was said that they are
sufficient to make one attain liberation. As we
know, the Upanishads also have said that they
are preparations. Even for attaining perfection
in them, the grace of God is necessary.
Similarly niyamas are observances which are
really useful, but even here we know that the
variations are many and the practice of the same
difficult without the grace of God. As for
pranayama as mere breathing exercises and
technique of inspiration and retention and
expiration, they hardly help anything more than
cleansing of the nadis or breath pipes than the
mind. The control exercised hardly leads to the
higher levels of consciousness.
The Rajayoga that starts with dhyana places
before itself the Idea of the goal, which is,
firstly, liberation from misery, secondly,
liberation from the cycle of birth and death,
and thirdly, the most important of all, the
Union with the Ultimate which will bring about
the other two as well. Thus one aims at Yoga by
means of ideal or goal fixing. This is the
dharana keeping before one's mind, as will and
purpose, the ideal of Union with the Ultimate
Reality.
The second step would be to try by one's own
efforts whether this could be attained. Though
one knows the goal, what one wants, one does not
know how to attain it. He has to get one who
knows the Goal or is a siddha, and who knows
also how to make others attain that. This is the
Isvara or God who is the Guru on the path, for
He is the ever-attained (nityasiddha) and
sarvajna (all knowing). God alone can be the
real ultimate Guru, and to worship God as Guru
is to make it possible to reach the goal more
easily than if one considered God as the
creator, sustainer and destroyer etc. of the
Universe as the Vedanta says. For the Agama as
for Yoga, the Guru is absolutely necessary, more
so as it involves kriya (practical training)
which is not fulfilled fully by mere discussion
(mere bodha).
Further, once the Guru is chosen, one has to
follow his directions, and this can only be
known when the Guru works on the individual,
through the power of initiation or infilling him
with the divine force (cit-sakti or dhi or
prana), which alone makes everything live, move
and have being, and restores physical,
psychological and spiritual growth and
evolution. This has been one thing that has been
lacking in all the forms of yoga propounded. The
Yoga-sutras seem to be silent on this most
important factor. Indeed it is because the yoga
has been left to be taught by those who could
not or did not have the power or ability or
sanction and permission of the Divine to do it
or has been left to the individual's own efforts
or self-effort, it has not been able to fulfil
even the initial attainment of the samadhi or
dhyana (meditation itself). Concentration, of
course, had become a strenuous nerve racking
task. So, Master counsels that the first thing
in Yoga is to get the process started with being
connected with the Divine by the introduction
into the heart of the divine-thought-breath,
even like an offering into the fire of
aspiration of the heart. This principle has been
called by him Pranahuti (breath or life
offering). This means that the Yoga starts with
Yoga and culminates in the realisation of the
Ultimate Reality Consciousness with the help of
the same. Thus Guru comes early and stays till
the final step is attained. By God force God
union is attained or simply God is the means
(upaya); sadhaka, sadhana and siddhi are all God
in the form of the Guru. The Yoga-sutras hardly
reveal this role except under the niyama as
Isvara-pranidhana and the nature of the Isvara.
Of course, if we wish to see more, the name
Patanjali, one whose anjali is to surrender, is
to fall down, at the feet of the Isvara: that is
his Mudra-nama.
The Agamas have insisted upon this aspect of
the Guru and the Kriya and no wonder the Samkhya
was also known as an Agama-sastra.
The third step on this path of Rajayoga is to
gain the transmission of the Divine
thought-force or prana (pranasya pranah of the
Upanishad) into the heart where the meditation
should be directed. In Yogas many persons
counsel the meditation at the nasikagra or
bhru-madhya. According to revered Babuji, the
meditation is most efficacious when it is made
on the heart, wherein alone the transmission is
made, and also because it is said to be the
place of the Isvara in the human body (Isvarah
sarvabhutanam hrddese tisthati). The meditation
is an effortless observation of the inflow of
the Divine force or prana from the Divine Master
or the preceptor who is a siddha in this regard.
A siddha is not one who is possessed of all the
miraculous powers which come to every practicant
when he performs samyama (concentric control)
over the element or plane or time or space etc.
A siddhi is the attainment of the goal; here the
goal of yoga-kriya is attainment of the Union
with the Ultimate Reality. Thus meditation on
the heart leads to the natural power of
concentration when one begins to perceive the
flow of the Divine prana within oneself.
A fourth point is that the prana introduced
into the system by the process of transmission
also cleans and loosens the entire system of all
tied up conditions. The Guru has to clean the
adhara of all dirt (perceived astrally as black
spots) and make them leave the system. This
leads to the feeling of lightness and clearness
and calmness. The second process is that it also
prevents the entry into the system of all dirt
and heavy thought of the lower level. The
purification (shuddhi) of the system is attained
with the help of this transmission to which must
wholly surrender oneself. Lightness,
detensioning of the entire system of mind, the
loosening of the knots of attachment, viveka,
vairagya, uparati, titiksa and sraddha naturally
result and one gets established in the sattvaika
buddhi, which is characterized by jnana, sakti,
vairagya and isvaratva. One begins to grow into
the condition of the Guru, the Divine.
The Yoga-sutras hardly mention any knots
(granthis) and the sat-chakra theory is not
mentioned in it. The Tantras, however, speak
about it. The Upanishads also mention the
hrdaya-granthi (the knot of the heart) which has
more often been interpreted symbolically as
referring to the attachment or desire for
objects of sense and pleasure. Babuji affirms
that there are knots, which are really batteries
of power, or brackets which have been useful in
the materialization and grossening of the force
and led to solid condition. These have to be now
reversed in their functions and help us to
become more subtle and receptive to the Divine
force and lead to nivrtti-the return to the
primal condition of ksobha (the first thought
force stir). Instead of the spiritual chakras,
the Tantrikas had concentrated on perfecting the
siddhi or miracle potential chakras and so the
progress on the spiritual path has been most
illusory. Therefore, the concentration or
meditation (samyama) on the sat-chakras had led
to degenerate developments in the direction of
power mongering and miracle mongering siddhis.
The Yoga-sutras have definitely ruled out the
siddhi-path if one wishes for Yoga or real union
with the Ultimate and attainment of Liberation
or freedom from all materiality however subtle
up to the limit of prakrti-laya
(avyakta-pradhana or triguni). Further the
chakras are all placed in the Spinal cord
(vina-danda) visible to the astral vision,
whereas the knots as discovered by Master are
outside it and of course visible to the astral
vision developed by the pranahuti
(transmission). The fundamental knots are those
which start with the heart (physical heart) on
the left side of the chest (the location is
given by Master) and moving to the right side
just below the right nipple we have the second
knot (this is what is called the atma-point).
The points further enumerated are the point of
devotion, the point of fire and the point of
vayu, near the throat corresponding to the
visuddha of the Tantrikas. Revered Babuji
enumerates 13 points in his work Anant Ki Or
(Towards Infinity), which covers the knots in
the Heart Region, Mind Region and the Central
Regions.
He mentions another set of points numbering
nine (in three rows of three each) near the
sacral region which govern the desires, passions
and thoughts pertaining to sex. In addition he
has also shown that the Kundalini is not as
important for spiritual purposes as it is for
miracle powers and material powers. This is very
important because the dangers inherent in
rousing the Kundalini from below (i.e.
Muladhara) are great and in fact impede rather
than increase the spiritual. This view is
confirmed by the GURDJIEFF-OUSPENSKY school
also, who call Kundalini, Kundabuffer. But
Revered Babuji shows that the awakening of the
Kundalini from above happens when the aspirant
abhyasi reaches a level in the Mind region like
the Sahasrara.
The samadhi state in the real Yoga of this
type is always naturally induced and is
equivalent to the 'thoughtless condition'.
It is always sahaja, natural and comes about
naturally during dhyana. These are not the
extraordinary manifestations incidental to the
samadhi induced by means of self-effort. It is a
gift of the Divine or Guru, and does not produce
any abnormal physical or physiological
processes. The samadhi is asamprajnata - the
higher condition than the samprajnata, and it is
not sleep or a simulacrum of it, but the yogic
prajna and the yogic turiya conditions. In fact
one goes beyond the prakritilaya to the laya
with the Self or the Ultimate Reality which is
beyond the turiya, Turiyatita.
The spiritual condition resulting from this
attainement is inexpressible peace, shanti that
goes beyond all mere cessations, beyond all that
go by the name of experience even. Most properly
one reaches the Dawn of Reality, the original
Root condition, beyond thought-force-prana. The
Prasna Upanishad has mentioned this condition of
the Prajapati as the person who brought out
prana and rayi. But Master calls this Bhooma
(Bhuma), the Ultimate State of which all other
states are bhumikas or lesser states, of
consciousness, the lowest being the personal
individuated limited consciousness and below it
the unconscious and the subconscious.
Reality-consciousness can only be arrived at
when one goes beyond thought (thought
consciousness or truth). This is the goal and
the perfection which man aims at whether it is
in Vedanta or Yoga. But it is clear that without
Yoga there is no verification of the Vedanta
which yearns after just jnana which is a
category of thought.
The liberation is possible only when one
reaches this Reality-Centre though many consider
that liberation can be of grades or only when
one gives up this body (or rather all bodies
physical, astral, mental, prakrtic) and not when
one is yet remaining in the body. The Jivanmukti
theory speaks about the release from sense of
bondage though the prior effects of karma would
hold on the body till the exhaustion (bhoga)
takes place. According to Revered Babuji the
Prarabdha and sancita karmas could be enjoyed
even when going through the process of yogic
union through transmission as they get destroyed
even as it is said that they get destroyed by
jnanagni in the Gita. The thought - pranic force
destroys them by bringing them to bhoga in a
variety of ways and cleans the system
completely, so much so that the real jivanmukti,
living freedom or freedom even within this body,
can be enjoyed through the divine grace. The
pranasya prana (pranahuti) indeed makes it
possible for man to experience yogically the
Ultimate even when having this body, for there
are subtlest points or knots within the body
which have not yet been roused into
correspondential illumination-action by the
other yogas which have not been able to have a
firm grip over the heart and psycho-physical
organism. Their pessimism had led to the
abandonment of any effort to discover the real
correspondential relation between the pinda and
the Brahmanda and the Centre of Reality. The
mystic truth to which reference has already been
made affirms that the structure of the atom or
cell is repeated (directly and inversely) in the
cosmos and supercosmos as also in the living
reality. Babuji's researches and painstaking
exploration of the un-traversed domain of
psycho-physical parallelism and correspondential
inter-relationships between the supercosmos,
cosmos, the human organism and the atom reveals
a range of possibilities of this Transmissional
Yogic Power of the Ultimate Prana (Cit-sakti).
These are some of the most important
modifications made by Revered Babuji Maharaj
which is not only instructive but also has
opened up some of the lost tracks of Yoga which
the Rishis knew and acted and lived by.
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