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.
Before proceeding further, I will state to you a little of the Sankhya Philosophy, upon which the whole of Raja Yoga is based. According to this philosophy perception comes through instruments, e.g., the eyes ; the eyes carry it to the organs, the organs to the mind, the mind to the
I A RAJA YOGA.
determinative faculty, from this the Purusa (the soul) receives it, and gives the order back, as it were, and so on through all these stages. In this way sensations are received. With the exception of the Purusa all of these are material, but the mind is of much finer material than the external instruments. That material of which the mind is composed becomes grosser, and becomes what is called the Tanmatras. It becomes still grosser and forms the external material. That is the psychology of the Sankhya. So that, between the intellect and the grosser matter outside there is only a difl'erence in degree. The Purusa is the only thing which is immaterial. Mind is an instrument in the hands of the soul, as it were, through wiiich the soul catches external objects. This mind is constantly changing and vacillating, and it can either attach itself to several organs, or to one, or to none. For instance, if I hear the clock with great attention I will not, perhaps, see anything, although my eyes may be open, showing that the mind was not attached to the seeing organ, although it was to the hearing organ. And the mind, in the same way, can be attached to all the organs simultaneously. This mind has the reflexive power of looking back into its own depths. This reflexive power is what the Yogi wants to attain ; by concentrating the powers of the mind, and turning them inward, he seeks to know what is happening inside. There is in this no question of mere belief; it is the analysis of certain philosophers. Modern physiologists tell you that the eyes are not the organs of vision, but that the organs are in the nerve centre in the brain, and so with all the senses ; and they also tell you that these centres are formed of the same material as the brain itself. So the Sankhyas will also tell you, but one is a statement on the physical side, and the other on the psychological side ; yet both are the same. Beyond this we have to demonstrate.
The Yogi proposes to himself to attain to that fine state of perception in which he can perceive all these things. There must be mental perception of all the different states. We shall perceive how the sensation is travelling, and how the mind is receiving it, how it is going to the determinative faculty, and how this gives it to the Purusa. As each science requires certain preparations, as each science has its own method, until we follow that method we can never understand that science ; so in Raja Yoga.