Yoga as philosophy and religion

by Surendranath Dasgupta

Santosha (contentment) is the absence of desire to possess more than is necessary for the preservation of one’s life. It should be added that this is the natural result of ceasing to desire to appropriate the property of others.

At the close of this section on the yamas and niyamas, it is best to note their difference, which lies principally in this that the former are the negative virtues, whereas the latter are positive. The former can, and therefore must, be practised at all stages of Yoga, whereas the latter being positive are attainable only by distinct growth of mind through Yoga. The virtues of non-injury, truthfulness, sex restraint, etc., should be adhered to at all stages of the Yoga practice. They are indispensable for steadying the mind.

It is said that in the presence of a person who has acquired steadiness in ahiṃsā all animals give up their habits of enmity; when a person becomes steady in truthfulness, whatever he says becomes fulfilled. When a person becomes steady in asteya (absence of theft) all jewels from all quarters approach him.

Continence being confirmed, vigour is obtained. Non-covetousness being confirmed, knowledge of the causes of births is attained. By steadiness of cleanliness, disinclination to this body and cessation of desire for other bodies is obtained.

When the mind attains internal śauca, or cleanliness of mind, his sattva becomes pure, and he acquires highmindedness, one-pointedness, control of the senses and fitness for the knowledge of self. By the steadiness of contentment comes the acquisition of extreme happiness. By steadiness of asceticism the impurities of this body are removed, and from that come miraculous powers of endurance of the body and also miraculous powers of the sense, viz. clairaudience and thought-reading from a distance. By steadiness of studies the gods, the ṛshis and the siddhas become visible. When Īśvara is made the motive of all actions, trance is attained. By this the Yogin knows all that he wants to know, just as it is in reality, whether in another place, another body or another time. His intellect knows everything as it is.

It should not, however, be said, says Vācaspati, that inasmuch as the saṃprajñāta is attained by making Īśvara the motive of all actions, the remaining seven yogāṅgas are useless. For the yogāṅgas are useful in the attainment of that mental mood which devotes all actions to the purposes of Īśvara. They are also useful in the attainment of saṃprajñāta samādhi by separate kinds of collocations, and samādhi also leads to the fruition of saṃprajñāta, but though this meditation on Īśvara is itself a species of Īśvarapraṇidhāna, saṃprajñāta Yoga is a yet more direct means. As to the relation of Īśvarapraṇidhāna with the other aṅgas of Yoga, Bhikshu writes:—It cannot be asked what is the use of the other disciplinary practices of the Yoga since Yoga can be attained by meditation on Īśvara, for meditation on Īśvara only removes ignorance. The other accessories bring about samādhi by their own specific modes of operation. Moreover, it is by help of meditation on Īśvara that one succeeds in bringing about samādhi, through the performance of all the accessories of Yoga; so the accessories of Yoga cannot be regarded as unnecessary; for it is the accessories which produce dhāraṇa, dhyāna and samādhi, through meditation on God, and thereby salvation; devotion to God brings in His grace and through it the yogāṅgas can be duly performed. So though devotion to God may be considered as the direct cause, it cannot be denied that the due performance of the yogāṅgas is to be considered as the indirect cause.

Āsanas are secured when the natural involuntary movements cease, and this may be effected by concentrating the mind on the mythological snake which quietly bears the burden of the earth on its head. Thus posture becomes perfect and effort to that end ceases, so that there is no movement of the body; or the mind is transformed into the infinite, which makes the idea of infinity its own and then brings about the perfection of posture. When posture has once been mastered there is no disturbance through the contraries of heat and cold, etc.

After having secured stability in the Āsanas the prāṇāyāmas should be attempted. The pause that comes after a deep inhalation and that after a deep exhalation are each called a prāṇāyāma; the first is external, the second internal. There is, however, a third mode, by means of which, since the lungs are neither too much dilated nor too much contracted, total restraint is obtained; cessation of both these motions takes place by a single effort, just as water thrown on a heated stone shrivels up on all sides.

These can be regulated by calculating the strength of inhalation and exhalation through space, time or number. Thus as the breathing becomes slower, the space that it occupies also becomes smaller and smaller. Space again is of two kinds, internal and external. At the time of inhalation, the breath occupies internal space, which can be felt even in the soles of hand and feet, like the slight touch of an ant. To try to feel this touch along with deep inhalation serves to lengthen the period of cessation of breathing. External space is the distance from the tip of the nose to the remotest point at which breath when inhaled can be felt, by the palm of the hand, or by the movement of any light substance like cotton, etc., placed there. Just as the breathing becomes slower and slower, the distances traversed by it also becomes smaller and smaller. Regulations by time is seen when the attention is fixed upon the time taken up in breathing by moments, a moment (kshaṇa) is the fourth part of the twinkling of the eye. Regulation by time thus means the fact of our calculating the strength of the prāṇāyāma the moments or kshaṇas spent in the acts of inspiration, pause and respiration. These prāṇāyāmas can also be measured by the number of moments in the normal duration of breaths. The time taken by the respiration and expiration of a healthy man is the same as that measured by snapping the fingers after turning the hand thrice over the knee and is the measure of duration of normal breath; the first attempt or udghāta called mild is measured by thirty-six such mātrās or measures; when doubled it is the second udghāta called middling; when trebled it is the third udghāta called intense. Gradually the Yogin acquires the practice of prāṇāyāma of long duration, by daily practice increasing in succession from a day, a fortnight, a month, etc. Of course he proceeds first by mastering the first udghāta, then the second, and so on until the duration increases up to a day, a fortnight, a month as stated. There is also a fourth kind of prāṇāyāma transcending all these stages of unsteady practice, when the Yogin is steady in his cessation of breath. It must be remembered, however, that while the prāṇāyāmas are being practised, the mind must be fixed by dhyāna and dhāraṇā to some object external or internal, without which these will be of no avail for the true object of Yoga. By the practice of prāṇāyāma, mind becomes fit for concentration as described in the sūtra I. 34, where it is said that steadiness is acquired by prāṇāyāma in the same way as concentration, as we also find in the sūtra II. 53.

When the senses are restrained from their external objects by pratyāhāra we have what is called pratyāhāra, by which the mind remains as if in its own nature, being altogether identified with the object of inner concentration or contemplation; and thus when the citta is again suppressed, the senses, which have already ceased coming into contact with other objects and become submerged in the citta, also cease along with it. Dharaṇa is the concentration of citta on a particular place, which is so very necessary at the time of prāṇāyāmas mentioned before. The mind may thus be held steadfast in such places as the sphere of the navel, the lotus of the heart, the light in the brain, the forepart of the nose, the forepart of the tongue, and such like parts of the body.