Raja Yoga (the Yoga Sūtras with commentary) — trans. Swami Vivekananda (1896)

time which all these Samskaras take to appear. At other times they are not so active, but when you want them not to be they are sure to be there, trying their best to crowd inside your mind. Why should that be so ? Why should they be much more potent at the time of concentration ? It is because you are repressing them and they react with all their force. At other times they do not react. How countless these old past impressions must be, all lodged somewhere in the Chitta, ready, waiting like tigers to jump up. These have to be suppressed that the one idea which we like may arise, to the exclusion of the others. Instead, they are all struggling to come up at the same time. These are the various powers of the Samskaras in hindering concentration of the mind, so this Samadhi which has just been given is the best to be practised, on account of its power of suppressing the Samskaras. The Samskara which will be raised by this sort of concentration will be so powerful that it will hinder the action of the others, and hold them in check.

51. By the restraint of even this (impression, which obstructs all other impressions), all being restrained, comes the " seedless " Samadhi.

You remember that our goal is to perceive the Soul itself. W'e cannot perceive the Soul because it has got mingled up with nature, with the mind, with the body. The most ignorant man thinks his body is the Soul. The more learned man thinks his mind is the Soul, but

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both of these are mistaken. What makes the Soul get mingled up with all this, these different waves in the Chitta rise and cover the Soul, and we only see a little reflection of the Soul through these waves, so, if the wave is one of anger, we see the Soul as angry ; " I am angry," we say. If the wave is a wave of love we see ourselves reflected in that wave, and say we are loving. If that wave is one of weakness, and the Soul is reflected in it, we think we are weak. These various ideas come from these impressions, these Samskaras covering the Soul. The real nature of the Soul is not perceived as long as there is one single wave in the lake of the Chitta, this real nature will never be perceived until all the waves have subsided ; so, first, Patanjali teaches us the meaning of these waves ; secondly, the best way to repress them ; and thirdly, how to make one wave so strong as to suppress all other waves, fire eating fire as it were. When only one remains it will be easy to suppress that also, and when that is gone, this Samadhi of concentration is called seedless ; it leaves nothing, and the Soul is manifested just as It is, in Its own glory. Then alone we know that the Soul is not a compound, It is the only eternal simple in the uni\erse, and, as such, It cannot be born, It cannot die, It is immortal, indestructible, the Ever-living Essence of intelligence.

CHAPTER II.

CONCENTRATION— ITS PRACTICE.

1. Mortification, study, and surrendering fruits of work to God are called Kriya Yoga.

Those Samadhis with which we ended our last chapter are very difficult to attain ; so we must take them up slowly. The first step, the preliminary step, is called Kriya Yoga. Literally this means work, working towards Yoga. The organs are the horses, the mind is the reins, the intellect is the charioteer, the soul is the rider, and this body is the chariot. The master of the household, the King, the Self of man, is sitting in this chariot. If the horses are very strong, and do not obey the reins, if the charioteer, the intellect, does not know how to control the horses, then this chariot will come to grief. But if the organs, the horses, are well controlled, and if the reins, the mind, are well held in the hands of the charioteer, the intellect, the chariot reaches the goal. What is meant, therefore, by this mortification ? Holding the reins firmly while guiding this body and mind ; not letting the body do anything it likes, but keeping both in proper control. Study. What is meant by study in this case ? Not study of novels, or fiction, or story books, but study of those

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