Raja Yoga (the Yoga Sūtras with commentary) — trans. Swami Vivekananda (1896)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
The translator’s English as printed (Swami Vivekananda). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
us as to whether there is any truth in these things or not ; even the best of us will doubt sometimes. With practice, within a few days, a little glimpse will come, enough to give you encouragement and hope. As one commentator on Yoga philosophy says : " When one proof is realised, however little it may be, that will give us faith in the whole teachings of Yoga." For instance, after the first few months of training and teaching, you- \\'ill begin to find you can read another's thoughts ; they will come to you in picture form. Perhaps you will hear something happening at a long distance, when you concentrate your mind and try to do so. These glimpses will come, just a little bit at first, but enough to give you faith, and strength, and hope. For instance, if you concerftrate your thoughts on the tip of your nose, in a few days you will begin to smell most beautiful fragrance, and that will be enough to show you that there are certain mental perceptions that can be made obvious without the contact of physical objects. But we must always remember that these are only the means ; the aim, and end, and goal, of all this training is liberation of the soul. Absolute control of nature, and nothing short of it, must be the goal. W'e must be the masters, and not nature ; neither body nor mind must be our master, and neither must we forget that the body is mine, and not I the body's.
A god and a demon went to learn about the Self from a great sage. They studied with him for a long time, and at last the sage told them, " Thou thyself art the being thou art seeking." Both of them thought that their bodies were the Self. " We have got everything," they said, and both of them returned to their people and said, " We have learned everything that is to be learned; eat, drink, and be merry; we are the Self; there is nothing beyond us." The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded, so he never inquired any further, but was perfectly satished with the idea that he was God, that by the Self was meant the body. But the god had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking, " I, this body, am Brahman, so keep it strong and in health, and well-dressed, and give it all sorts of bodily enjoyments." But, in a few days, he found out that this could not be the meaning of the sage, their master ; there must be something higher. So he came back and said, " Sir, did you teach me that this body is the Self? If so, 1 see all bodies die; the Self cannot die." The sage said, " Find it out ; thou art That." Then the god thought that the vital forces which work the body were what the sage meant. But, after a time, lie found that if he ate, these vital forces remained strong, but, if he starved, they became weak. The god then went back to the sage and said, *' Sir, do you mean that the vital forces are the Self?" 'I'he sage said, " Find out for yourself; thou art That." The god returneil once more, and thought that it was the mind ; perhaps that is the Self. But in a few days he reflected that thoughts are so various ; now good, now bad ; the mind is too changeable to be the Self. He went back to the