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.
lO RAJA YOGA.
So far, then, we see thai in the study of this Raja Yoj;ja no faith or heHef is necessary. Beheve nothinj; until you find it out for yourself ; that is what it teaches us. Truth requires no prop to make it stand. Do you mean to say that the facts of our awakened state require any dreams or imaginings to prove them ? Certainly not. This study of Raja Yoga takes a long time and constant practice. A part of this practice is physical, but the main part of it is mental. As we go along we shall fmd how intimately the mind is connected with the body. If we believe that the mind is simply a finer pail of the body, and that mind acts upon the body, in the same way the body must act upon the mind. If the Ixxly is sick, tiie mind becomes sick also. If the body is healthy, the mind remains healthy and strong. When one is angry, the mind becomes disturbed ; at the same time, when the mind is disturbed, the body also becomes disturbed. With the majority of mankind the mind i> entirely under the control of the body ; the mind is very little developed. The vast mass of humanity, if you will kindly excuse me, is very little removed from the animals. Not only that, but, in many instances, the power of control is very little higher than that of the lower animals. We have very little command of oui minds. Therefore to bring that command about, to gel that control over body and mind, we must take certain physical helps, and when the body is sufficiently controlled, we can attempt the manipulation of the mind. By manipulation of the mind, we shall be able to bring
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it under our control, make it work as we like, and compel it to concentrate its powers as we desire.
According to the Raja Yogi, all this external world is but the gross form of the internal, or subtle. The finer ; is always the cause, and the grosser the effect. So the external world is the effect, and the internal the cause. In the same way external forces are simply the grosser parts, of which the internal forces are the finer. One who has discovered and learned how to manipulate the internal forces will get the whole of nature under his control. The Yogi proposes to himself no less a task than to master the whole universe, to control the whole of nature. He wants to arrive at the point where what we call " nature's laws " will have no influence over him, where he will be able to get beyond them all. He will be master of the whole of nature, internal and external., The progress and civilisation of the human race is simply | ^ controlling this nature.