The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
The practice of Yama and Niyama leads to renunciation of, and detachment from, the things of this world and of the next,⁴ arising from the knowledge of the permanent and impermanent, and intense desire for and incessant striving after emancipation, which characterises him who is Mumukshu, or longs for Liberation.
1 See Ch. I, vv. 16, 17, Hathayogapradīpikā, and p. 133, 2nd vol. of Tantrik Texts, ed. A. Avalon. The Shāndilya Up., Ch. I, gives Vrata as the last, which is described as the observance of actions enjoined and refraining from actions prohibited. See also Ch. V, Varāha Up.
2 Patanjali’s Yoga Sūtra, Ch. II, 30, 32.
3 So, as was the case in our Mediæval guilds, religion inspires Indian Art; and Indian speculation is associated with religion as was the scholastic philosophy. In modern times in the West, the relevancy of religion in these matters has not been generally considered to be apparent, craftsmanship in the one case and intelligence in the other being usually thought to be sufficient.
4 Such as the Sudhā (nectar) which is gained in the heavens (Hathayogapradīpikā, Comm. to v. 9, Ch. I). Renunciation may doubtless be practised by giving up what one wants, but renunciation or abandonment (Tyāga) here means the want of desire of enjoyment (Tyāgah=bhogechchhābhāvah) (ib.). Those who seek the joys of any heaven can never attain the end of high Yoga.
Yama and Niyama are the first two of the eight accessories of Yoga (Ashtānggayoga). These accessories or limbs may be divided into five exterior methods¹ (Bahirangga), chiefly concerned with the subjugation of the body, and three inner methods² (Antarangga), or states affecting the development of the mind.
Attention is paid to the physical body, which is the vehicle of the Jīva’s existence and activity. Purity of mind is not possible without purity of the body in which it functions and by which it is affected. Purity of mind is here used in the Hindu sense. According to English parlance, such purity merely connotes absence of irregular sexual imaginations. This, though creditable, particularly in a civilisation which almost seems designed to fan every desire, is yet obviously insufficient for the purpose in hand. Proper thought and conduct in all its forms is but the alphabet of a school in which they are merely the first step to the conquest of greater difficulties to follow. What is here meant is that state of the mind or approach thereto which is the result of good functioning, clear thinking, detachment, and concentration. By these the Manas is freed of all those modifications (Vritti) which enshroud by their illusions the Ātmā from Itself. It is turned inward on the Buddhi which becomes Laya in Prakriti, and the Ātmatattva or Brahman.
Provision therefore is made in respect both of Āsana (posture) and Prānāyāma, or breath development, both of which are shortly dealt with later in connection with
1 Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prānāyāma, Pratyāhāra.
2 Dhyāna, Dhāranā, Samādhi, which is both incomplete (Savikalpa or Samprajnāta) and complete (Nirvikalpa or Asamprajnāta).
Hathayoga, of which they are particular processes. Pratyāhāra is the restraint of and subjection of the senses to the mind, which is thereby steadied.¹ The mind is withdrawn from the objects of the senses. The mind is by nature unsteady, for it is at every moment being affected by the sight, sounds, and so forth, of external objects which Manas through the agency of the senses (Indriyas) perceives. It must therefore be detached from the objects of the senses, withdrawn from whatsoever direction it may happen to tend, freed from all distraction, and kept under the control of the dominant self. Steadiness (Dhairya) therefore is the aim and result of Pratyāhāra.² The three processes known as the “inner limbs” (Antaranga)— namely, Dhāranā, Dhyāna, and Savikalpa Samādhi— complete the psychic and mental discipline. These are concentration of the mind on an object; unity of the mind by contemplation with its object; resulting in the last or consciousness of the object only. The first is the “holding by”—that is, fixing the Chitta, or thinking principle, on— a particular object of thought or concentration (Dhāranā). The mind, having been drawn away from the objects of the senses by Pratyāhāra, is fixed on one object, such as the Devatās of the Bhūtas, alone. Uniform contemplation on the subject which the Chitta holds in Dhāranā is Dhyāna (meditation). Dhyāna has been defined to be the state of the Antahkarana (mind) of those whose Chaitanya holds to and is occupied by the thought of one object, having first
The practice of Yama and Niyama leads to renunciation of, and detachment from, the things of this world and of the next,⁴ arising from the knowledge of the permanent and impermanent, and intense desire for and incessant striving after emancipation, which characterises him who is Mumukshu, or longs for Liberation.
1 See Ch. I, vv. 16, 17, Hathayogapradīpikā, and p. 133, 2nd vol. of Tantrik Texts, ed. A. Avalon. The Shāndilya Up., Ch. I, gives Vrata as the last, which is described as the observance of actions enjoined and refraining from actions prohibited. See also Ch. V, Varāha Up.
2 Patanjali’s Yoga Sūtra, Ch. II, 30, 32.
3 So, as was the case in our Mediæval guilds, religion inspires Indian Art; and Indian speculation is associated with religion as was the scholastic philosophy. In modern times in the West, the relevancy of religion in these matters has not been generally considered to be apparent, craftsmanship in the one case and intelligence in the other being usually thought to be sufficient.
4 Such as the Sudhā (nectar) which is gained in the heavens (Hathayogapradīpikā, Comm. to v. 9, Ch. I). Renunciation may doubtless be practised by giving up what one wants, but renunciation or abandonment (Tyāga) here means the want of desire of enjoyment (Tyāgah=bhogechchhābhāvah) (ib.). Those who seek the joys of any heaven can never attain the end of high Yoga.
Yama and Niyama are the first two of the eight accessories of Yoga (Ashtānggayoga). These accessories or limbs may be divided into five exterior methods¹ (Bahirangga), chiefly concerned with the subjugation of the body, and three inner methods² (Antarangga), or states affecting the development of the mind.
Attention is paid to the physical body, which is the vehicle of the Jīva’s existence and activity. Purity of mind is not possible without purity of the body in which it functions and by which it is affected. Purity of mind is here used in the Hindu sense. According to English parlance, such purity merely connotes absence of irregular sexual imaginations. This, though creditable, particularly in a civilisation which almost seems designed to fan every desire, is yet obviously insufficient for the purpose in hand. Proper thought and conduct in all its forms is but the alphabet of a school in which they are merely the first step to the conquest of greater difficulties to follow. What is here meant is that state of the mind or approach thereto which is the result of good functioning, clear thinking, detachment, and concentration. By these the Manas is freed of all those modifications (Vritti) which enshroud by their illusions the Ātmā from Itself. It is turned inward on the Buddhi which becomes Laya in Prakriti, and the Ātmatattva or Brahman.
Provision therefore is made in respect both of Āsana (posture) and Prānāyāma, or breath development, both of which are shortly dealt with later in connection with
1 Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prānāyāma, Pratyāhāra.
2 Dhyāna, Dhāranā, Samādhi, which is both incomplete (Savikalpa or Samprajnāta) and complete (Nirvikalpa or Asamprajnāta).
Hathayoga, of which they are particular processes. Pratyāhāra is the restraint of and subjection of the senses to the mind, which is thereby steadied.¹ The mind is withdrawn from the objects of the senses. The mind is by nature unsteady, for it is at every moment being affected by the sight, sounds, and so forth, of external objects which Manas through the agency of the senses (Indriyas) perceives. It must therefore be detached from the objects of the senses, withdrawn from whatsoever direction it may happen to tend, freed from all distraction, and kept under the control of the dominant self. Steadiness (Dhairya) therefore is the aim and result of Pratyāhāra.² The three processes known as the “inner limbs” (Antaranga)— namely, Dhāranā, Dhyāna, and Savikalpa Samādhi— complete the psychic and mental discipline. These are concentration of the mind on an object; unity of the mind by contemplation with its object; resulting in the last or consciousness of the object only. The first is the “holding by”—that is, fixing the Chitta, or thinking principle, on— a particular object of thought or concentration (Dhāranā). The mind, having been drawn away from the objects of the senses by Pratyāhāra, is fixed on one object, such as the Devatās of the Bhūtas, alone. Uniform contemplation on the subject which the Chitta holds in Dhāranā is Dhyāna (meditation). Dhyāna has been defined to be the state of the Antahkarana (mind) of those whose Chaitanya holds to and is occupied by the thought of one object, having first
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