The Fourfold Yoga - Part I - An Introduction
Yoga is derived from the word "Yuj" which means to unite.
Union with Cosmic
Creative Intelligence is the aim of Yoga.
The Fourfold Yoga has been prescribed for Cosmic Union in Oriental
Philosophies.
They are
1. Union via Action ( Karma Yoga )
2. Union via Psychic Control ( Raja Yoga )
3. Union via Universal Love ( Bhakthi Yoga )
4. Union via Wisdom ( Jnana Yoga )
Union via Action is for the person of active temparament.
Union via Psychic Contro is for the person of adventurous
temparament
Union via Universal Love is for the person of emotional temparament.
Union via Wisdom is for the person of intellectual temparament.
These four paths are not different from one another. They are all
part of the Fourfold Yoga.
Certain qualities are to be inculcated in the seeker if he is to
achieve the Ultimate Goal.
Prajna has been defined as the discriminative intellect. When the
intellect discriminates between the Real & the Unreal. The
intellect which discriminates between Being and Non-Being. This
quality should be incorporated by the Intellectual Man if he is to
progress in the path of Jnana Yoga.
Love is defined as the greatest of all the positive qualities of
man. This quality is to be incorporated by the Emotional Man if he
is to progress in the field of Bhakthi Yoga.
Control of Mind or Psychic Control through Raja Yoga should be
incorporated
by the Adventurous Man if he is to progress in the field of Raja
Yoga.
Selfless Service should be incorporated by the Active Man if he is
to progress in the field of Karma Yoga.
In other words, since the Fourfold Yoga has been prescribed for
mankind , all these four great qualities - Selfless service, love,
psychic control & the discriminative intellect should be
incorporated by the spiritual aspirant to develop in the field of Yoga.
Yoga was defined by Aurobindo as a methodic process towards
self-perfection through a development of the latent potential at the
five levels of Being - physical, vital, mental, intellectual &
spiritual. Normal man lives only in the first three sheaths -
physical, vital & mental. Only when we use our hidden spiritual
potential - the intellectual & the bliss sheaths - can we unfold
our full mental potential.
The Seven States of Consciousness
Man lives in 3 relative states of Consciousnes- waking, dreaming
& Dreamless sleep known in Sanskrit as Jagrata, Swapna &
Sushupti. Now there is a Transcendental state of Consciousness known
as the Fourth ( Tureeya ) & there are still higher states of
Consciousness.
These are the seven states
1 .Waking
2. Dreaming ( REM sleep )
3. Dreamless Sleep ( non- REM )
4. Transcendental Consciousness ( T C)
5. Cosmic Consciousness ( C C )
6. Glorified State of Cosmic Consciousness ( G C )
7. Unified State of Cosmic Consciousness ( U C )
In his Phd Thesis "The physiological effects of Transcendental
Meditation, a Proposed Fourth Major state of Consciousness " Dr
Robert Keith Wallace proved the existence of a fourth major state of
Consciousness ( T C ).
The way to
achieving Higher States of Consciousness- The Triune Meditation
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Reverence to preceptors & Yogis, worhsip of one's Tutelary
Deity, observance of Continence, non-violence - all these constitute
Physical Meditation. Speaking kind words and not hurting
anyone, Observance of Truth, Self-Study ( serious study of the Self
) - all these constitute Verbal Meditation.
Mental Meditation - Mental cheerfulness, humility, observance of
Silence, mastery of the sense organs, purity of heart - all these
constitute Mental Meditation.
The aim of Nature is to effect Super-Nature and the aim of Yoga is
Self_ Actualisation. The Goal of Life is Self-Realisation, and in
order to unfold our true potential, we have to follow the Fourfold
Path.
He still keeps to the high & difficult road
That sole leads to the Eternal's peaks!
Without Knowledge, without service, without psychic control &
finally Love, who has ever realised his Self ?
And what is prerequisite for this Self_Realisation ? Sacrifice !
Only by hard sacrifice is high heaven earned ( Aurobindo ).
Attachment to the sensory world is Bondage. Sacrifice alone can give
us Liberation or Self_Actualisation and the Ultimate Bliss.
Earth's pains are the ransom of its prisoned delights
For Joy and not for sorrow was earth made ( Aurobindo )
By sacrifice, we become the Self_Actualising person of Abraham
Maslow living in the widest possible frame of reference.
He who to none and nowhere overbound
By ties of flesh, takes evil things and good
Neither desponding nor exulting such
Bears Wisdom's plainest mark ! ( The Song Celestial )
About the Land of Wisdom, extolled by Western scholars
Walt Whitman said
To India, to primal thought
To Reason's early paradise
Of Wisdom's birth and innocent intuitions
Of a fair creation.
Mark Twain said: "India is, the cradle of the human race, the
birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother
of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition."
Will Durant said " India is the mother of us all; through
Sanskrit, the mother of Europe's languages, through the Buddha, of
the ideals embodied in Christianity, through the Arabs, of higher
mathematics & algebra; through the village community, of
self-government and democracy. Mother India is, in many ways, the
mother of us all"