The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
“The process heretofore described and others of a similar nature are always kept secret; yet the commentator says he has out of compassion towards his disciples given here an outline of the method.
“Even in the mere expectation of the return of Kundalinī from Sahasāra, the aspirant feels Brahmānanda (Brahma bliss). He who has once taken Kundalinī to Sahasrāra is led to desire nothing but Moksha (Liberation), if he has no other expectation. Even if any of the Samaya practitioners have some worldly expectations, they must still worship in the microcosm only.
“‘Subhagodaya’ and other famous works on Shrī- vidyā say that the practitioner should concentrate his mind on Devī who resides in Sūryamandala (the sun’s disc), and so on. This statement is not at variance with the teaching contained in this book, for the Sūryamandala referred to applies to the Pindānda (microcosm), and not to Brahmānda (macrocosm). Similarly, all the verses advocating outer worship are to be applied to the corresponding objects in the Pindānda.”²
The last, highest and most difficult form of Yoga is Rāja Yoga. By means of Mantra, Hatha and Laya Yoga the practitioner by gradual attainment of purity becomes fit for Savikalpa Samādhi. It is through Rāja Yoga alone that he can attain to Nirvikalpa Samādhi. The former
1 This, as well as some other details of this description, I do not follow. Who is waiting outside the veil? The Jīva is, on the case stated, within, if there be a veil, and what is it?
2 Comm. on Ānandalaharī, ed. by Pandit R. Ānanta Shāstri, p. 85 et seq., who adds: “For full particulars of these principles vide ‘Shuka Samhitā,’ one of the five Samhitās of the Samaya group.”
Samādhi or Ecstasy is one in which unless it perfects into the second kind there is a return to the world and its experience. This is not so in the Samādhi of Rāja Yoga in which there is not the slightest seed of attachment to the world and in which therefore there is no return thereto but eternal unity with Brahman. The first three kinds of Yoga prepare the way for the fourth.¹ In the Samādhi of Mantra Yoga the state of Mahābhāva is attained marked by immobility and speechlessness. In the Samādhi of Hatha Yoga respiration ceases and to outward experience the Yogī is without sign of animation and like a corpse. In the Samādhi of Laya Yoga described in this book the Yogī has no outer consciousness and is also immersed in the Ocean of Bliss. The Samādhi of Raja Yoga is complete (Chit-svarūpa-bhāva) and final (Nirvikalpa) Liberation.² There are, it is said, four states of detachment (Vairāgya) from the world³ corresponding to the four Yogas, the mildest form of Vairāgya being the mark of the first or Mantra Yoga and the greatest degree of detachment being the mark of the highest Yoga or Rāja Yoga. Another mark of distinction is the prominence given to the mental side. All Yoga is concerned with mental practices but this is more specially so of Rāja Yoga which has been described⁴ as the discrimination of the real from the unreal, that is the infinite and enduring from the finite and transient by their reasoning with the help of the Upanishads and the recognised systems of Philosophy.
1 Rāja-Yoga, by Swāmī Dayānanda, published by Shrī Bhārata Dharma Mahāmandala, Benares.
2 Ibid., 19, 20.
3 Mridu (intermittent, vague and weak), Madhyama (middling), Adhimātra (high degree when worldly enjoyment even becomes a source of pain), Para (highest when the mind is turned completely from worldly objects and cannot be brought back to them under any circumstances).
4 Ibid., 5.
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“The process heretofore described and others of a similar nature are always kept secret; yet the commentator says he has out of compassion towards his disciples given here an outline of the method.
“Even in the mere expectation of the return of Kundalinī from Sahasāra, the aspirant feels Brahmānanda (Brahma bliss). He who has once taken Kundalinī to Sahasrāra is led to desire nothing but Moksha (Liberation), if he has no other expectation. Even if any of the Samaya practitioners have some worldly expectations, they must still worship in the microcosm only.
“‘Subhagodaya’ and other famous works on Shrī- vidyā say that the practitioner should concentrate his mind on Devī who resides in Sūryamandala (the sun’s disc), and so on. This statement is not at variance with the teaching contained in this book, for the Sūryamandala referred to applies to the Pindānda (microcosm), and not to Brahmānda (macrocosm). Similarly, all the verses advocating outer worship are to be applied to the corresponding objects in the Pindānda.”²
The last, highest and most difficult form of Yoga is Rāja Yoga. By means of Mantra, Hatha and Laya Yoga the practitioner by gradual attainment of purity becomes fit for Savikalpa Samādhi. It is through Rāja Yoga alone that he can attain to Nirvikalpa Samādhi. The former
1 This, as well as some other details of this description, I do not follow. Who is waiting outside the veil? The Jīva is, on the case stated, within, if there be a veil, and what is it?
2 Comm. on Ānandalaharī, ed. by Pandit R. Ānanta Shāstri, p. 85 et seq., who adds: “For full particulars of these principles vide ‘Shuka Samhitā,’ one of the five Samhitās of the Samaya group.”
Samādhi or Ecstasy is one in which unless it perfects into the second kind there is a return to the world and its experience. This is not so in the Samādhi of Rāja Yoga in which there is not the slightest seed of attachment to the world and in which therefore there is no return thereto but eternal unity with Brahman. The first three kinds of Yoga prepare the way for the fourth.¹ In the Samādhi of Mantra Yoga the state of Mahābhāva is attained marked by immobility and speechlessness. In the Samādhi of Hatha Yoga respiration ceases and to outward experience the Yogī is without sign of animation and like a corpse. In the Samādhi of Laya Yoga described in this book the Yogī has no outer consciousness and is also immersed in the Ocean of Bliss. The Samādhi of Raja Yoga is complete (Chit-svarūpa-bhāva) and final (Nirvikalpa) Liberation.² There are, it is said, four states of detachment (Vairāgya) from the world³ corresponding to the four Yogas, the mildest form of Vairāgya being the mark of the first or Mantra Yoga and the greatest degree of detachment being the mark of the highest Yoga or Rāja Yoga. Another mark of distinction is the prominence given to the mental side. All Yoga is concerned with mental practices but this is more specially so of Rāja Yoga which has been described⁴ as the discrimination of the real from the unreal, that is the infinite and enduring from the finite and transient by their reasoning with the help of the Upanishads and the recognised systems of Philosophy.
1 Rāja-Yoga, by Swāmī Dayānanda, published by Shrī Bhārata Dharma Mahāmandala, Benares.
2 Ibid., 19, 20.
3 Mridu (intermittent, vague and weak), Madhyama (middling), Adhimātra (high degree when worldly enjoyment even becomes a source of pain), Para (highest when the mind is turned completely from worldly objects and cannot be brought back to them under any circumstances).
4 Ibid., 5.
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