Raja Yoga (the Yoga Sūtras with commentary) — trans. Swami Vivekananda (1896)
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The translator’s English as printed (Swami Vivekananda). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
What is the use of such knowledge ? In the firsts place, knowledge itself is the highest reward of knowledge,! and, in the second place, there is also utility in it. Iti will take away all our misery. When, by analysing his own mind, man comes face to face, as it were, with something which is never destroyed, something which is, by its own nature, eternally pure and perfect, he will no : more be miserable, no more unhappy. All miserycomes A V from fear, from unsatisfied desire. INIan will find that he
/ never dies, and then he will have no more fear of death. When he knows that he is perfect, he will have no more \ain desires, and both these causes being absent, there will be no more misery — there will be perfect bliss, e\en while in this body.
There is only one method by which to attain this knowledge, that which is called concentration. The chemist in his laboratory concentrates all the energies of his mind into one focus, and throws them out upon the materials he is analysing, and so finds out their secret. The astronomer concentrates all the energies of his mind and projects them through his telescope upon the skies ; and the stars, the sun, and the moon, give up their secrets to liim. The more I can concentrate my thoughts on the matter on which I am talking to you, the more light I can throw upon it. Vou are listening to me, and the more you concentrate your thoughts the more clearly you will grasp what I have to say.
How has all this knowledge in the world been gained but by the concentration of the powers of the mind ? Nature is ready to give up her secrets if we only know how to knock, to give her the necessary blow, and the strength and force of the blow come through concentration. There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought lo bear on one point, and that is the secret.
It is easier to concentrate the mind on external things, the mind naturally goes outwards; but, in_the^ase of religion, or psychology, or metaphysics, the subject and
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object are one. The object is internal, the mind itself is the object, and it is necessary to study the mind itself, mind studying mind. We know that there is the power of the mind called reflective. I am talking to you ; at the same time I am standing aside, as it were, a second person, and knowing and hearing what I am talking. You work and think at the same time, another portion of your mind stands by and sees what you are thinking. The powers of the mind should be concentrated and turned back upon itself, and as the darkest places reveal their secrets before the penetrating rays of the sun, so will this concentrated mind penetrate its own innermost secrets. Thus will we come to the basis of belief, the real genuine religion. We will perceive for ourselves! whether we have souls, whether life is of five minutes, or of eternity, whether there is a God in the universe or none. It will all be revealed to us. This is what Raja Yoga proposes to teach. The goal of all its teaching isi| how to concentrate the mind, then how to discover the j facts in our own minds, then how to generalise those ; facts, and form our own conclusions from them. It ; therefore never asks the question what our religion is, \ whether we are Deists, or Atheists, whether Christians, ! Jews, or Buddhists. We are human beings ; that is sufficient. Every human being has the right and the power to seek for religion ; every human being has the right to ask the reason why, and to have his question answered by himself, if he only takes the trouble.