Essays on the Gita, First Series (Arya Publishing House, 1922)

Therefore, it would seem, the Gita proceeds to give iir^in addition to its general method of knowledge and works a special process of Rajayogic meditation also, a powerful method of practice, abhydsa, a strong way to the complete control of the mind and all its workings. In this process the Yogin is directed to practise continually union with the Self so that that may become his normal consciousness. He is to sit apart and alone, with all desire and idea of passion banished from his mind, self-controlled in his whole being and consciousness. “He should set in a pure spot his firm seat, neither too high, nor yet too low, covered with a cloth, with a deer- skin, with sacred grass, and there seated with a concentrated mind and with the workings of the mental consciousness and the senses under control he should practise Yoga for self-purification, dtma- viguddhaye** The posture he takes must be the fnotionless erect posture proper to the practice of Rajayoga ; the vision should be drawn in and fixed between the eye-brows, “ not regarding the regions.'' The mind is to be kept calm and free from fear and the vow of Brahmacharya observed ; the whole controlled mentality must be devoted and turned to the Divine so that the lower action of the conscious- ness shall be merged in the higher peace. For' the object to be attained is the still peace of Nirvana. “Thus always putting himself in Yoga by control of his mind the Yogin attains to the supreme peace of Nirvana which has its foundation in Me, gdntim nifvdha-parafndm malsansthdm**

This peace of Nirvana is reached when all the mental consciousness is perfectly controlled and liberated from desire and remains still in the Self, when, motionless like the light of a lamp in a windless place, it ceases from its restless action, shut in from its outward motion, and by the silence and stillness of the mind the Self is seen within, not disfigured as in the mind, but in the Self, seen, not as it is mistranslated falsely or partially by the mind and represented to us through the ego, but self- perceived by the Self, swaprakdsha. Then the soul is satisfied and knows its own true and exceeding bliss, not that untranquil happiness which is the portion of the mind and the senses, but an inner and serene felicity in which it is safe from the mind’s perturbations and can no longer fall away from the spiritual truth of its being. Not even the fieriest assault of mental grief can disturb it ; for mental grief comes to us from outside, is a reaction to external touches, and this is the inner, the self- existent happiness of those who no longer accept the slavery of the unstable mental reactions to external touches. It is the putting away of the contact with pain, the divorce of the mind’s marriage with grief, duhkha-sanyoga-viyogam. The firm winning of this inalienable spiritual bliss is Yoga, it is the divine union ; it is the greatest of all gains and the treasure beside which all others lose their value. Therefore is this Yoga to be resolutely practised without yielding to any discouragement by difficulty or failure until the release, until the

NIRVANA AND WORKS IN THE WORLD bliss of Nirvana is secured as an eternal possession. The main stress here has fallen on the stilling of the emotive mind, the mind of desire and the senses which are the recipients of outward touches and reply to them with our customary emotional reactions ; but even the mental thought has to be stilled in the silence of the self-existent being. First, all the desires born of the desire-will have to be wholly abandoned without any exception or residue and the senses have to be held in by the mind so that they shall not run out to all sides after their usual disorderly and restless habit ; but next the mind itself has to be seized by the buddhi and drawn inward. One should slowly cease from mental action by a buddhi held in the grasp of fixity and having fixed the mind in the higher self one should not think of anything at all. Whenever the restless and unquiet mind goes forth, it should be controlled and brought into subjection in the Self. When the mind is thoroughly quieted, then there comes upon the Yogin, the highest, stainless, passionless bliss of the soul that has become the Brahman. “Thus freed from stain of passion and putting himself constantly into Yoga, the Yogin easily 'and happily enjoys the touch of the Brahman which is an exceeding bliss. “