A Textbook of Yoga

by Swami Krishnananda

Thus, there are these two aspects of self: the secondary and the false. The third aspect is the primary one, about which I have been haranguing for so many days. The primary aspect is indicated in the condition in which we are existing in deep sleep. It is an indication, a mark, a symbol of what we are really from the circumstance of sleep—Pure Consciousness of Being. I am repeating a little bit of what I told you earlier so that you may not completely forget it.

This Pure Being-Consciousness is our essential, primary Self; and this Being-Consciousness cannot be located inside the body. Though by some mental operation it looks as if we are sleeping inside the body, really it is not so. It is a larger operation extending beyond the ken of this physical limitation. This Pure Being-Consciousness cannot be segregated into localities of people—something here, something there. It is incorrect to say, “I am one Being-Consciousness and you are another Being-Consciousness,” because Consciousness cannot be segregated or partitioned. It cannot be divided into parts; it is an indivisible whole. This indivisibility also implies its infinity and eternity. This is briefly the conclusion that we drew earlier in our studies. So it is true that in yoga you study your own self; but look at this involvement of the self in at least three ways. Which self will you take up for your studies when you study yoga—the secondary self (the object of affection or concern), this body, or something which you cannot grasp?

Yoga teachers of yore have systematically arranged the process of study. There are scriptures on yoga which are especially devoted for practical consideration, the most outstanding being Patanjali’s system of the Yoga Sutras, which is entirely practice and psychology; and we have the Bhagavadgita and the Upanishads, to mention only a few. A gradational approach is prescribed.

What is the first thing that you do when you enter into yoga? Generally, you start doing yoga asanas, physical exercises, breathing processes, sit quietly thinking, and then you meditate for a little while. This is good. This is a kind of kindergarten approach in the early stages, but you must feel that one step forward has been taken. For three months you have done yoga exercises, breathing, pranayama, and sat in meditation. You must feel within yourself that you have taken one step forward. You should not think that you are in the same condition that you were three months earlier.

“I have done something, but I have to do something more. I have taken one step forward, and I am now a little larger than what I was earlier. I am now qualitatively better, and the dimension of my personality is perhaps enlarged in some way. I am healthier, happier, more satisfied, and fewer are my desires.” If these feelings arise in your mind, you have taken one step. Otherwise, it is something like trying to walk on the road by lifting both legs simultaneously. You will not move forward. You have done a lot of walking, but you are in the same place. That kind of thing should not happen.

Studies in yoga, therefore, have to be taken up in a systematic, degree-wise fashion. The usual instruction given to us is: That which seems to be immediately impinging on us like a chronic disease and cannot be easily avoided must be taken up first. It is something like knots being untied. Suppose you tie a knot in a rope, and then tie another knot, and then a third, fourth and fifth knot. If you untie it, the topmost knot will be untied first, not a knot below. The first knot that was tied will be taken up last; the last knot will be taken up first.

Now, what is it that is first, and what is last? This process of creation—the evolution of the universe, into which we had some insight during our studies here—will tell you which came first and which came last. The first was God Almighty Himself; and you should not touch Him suddenly, immediately. He is very respectable, beyond. The last thing in which we got involved is something different. What we observed was that there was the Absolute, pure universal infinity which became the cause of the manifestation of the precondition of externality called space-time, which vibrated into certain forces. In Sanskrit it is called tanmatras, which are cosmic vibrations that condense themselves into the objects of hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, and then solidify into the physical world.

These constitute the entire realm of being, all the degrees of reality in creation—the fourteen worlds, as they are called. Then comes the tripartite segregation—the object, the subject, and the transcendent link which we imagined as existing between them. Then our concern turns to the threefold type of selfhood, about which I mentioned something just now.

Having understood this much, where do you stand now? When you wake up in the morning, what is it that engages your attention first? Do you think to yourself, “How am I?” No. You think twenty things which are outside. “Today I have to do this work. I have a lot of work today. I have to meet this person. I have to go to the shop. I have to go to court. There is a case today, a hearing, and I have to meet this person for this, that reason.” Some fear, some anxiety, some commitment seems to be hitting your head when you get up in the morning. All this is involved with the world outside. You do not think of yourself, of God, or of anything; nothing comes to the mind. You have commitments in the world. “Oh, I have to go. I have to catch the train. I have to book my ticket for a flight.” How many things are in your mind?

So you think only that which is totally external. Your relationship with the externals takes most of the time. You have to adjust yourself to these conditions so cleverly, because if you make a mistake in the adjustment, you will come a cropper. Most of your time goes in adjusting yourself to changing conditions. You have to put on clothes if it is very cold, and you need an umbrella if it is raining. If it is very hot, you have to take a cold bath; and if you are tired, you have to take rest. If there are some people who are impossible in their behaviour, you have to know how to adjust yourself with them. If a creditor comes, you have to know how to speak to him—and so on.

Every minute there is an adjustment of personality, and it is a strain. You cannot be totally free and carefree; you have to make adjustments with so many things. This is the first thing that you have to take into consideration in order that these things should not harass you too much when you are trying to go deeper into the realities of life. In Patanjali’s system especially, brief statements are made about the methodology to be adopted in establishing harmonious relations with the external world. These are called yamas.

Generally, the world is supposed to behave with you in the same way as you behave with it. This is so because, basically, you are vitally connected with the structure of things outside. The world will do tit for tat; as you do to it, so it will do to you. If you smile, it smiles; if you grin, it grins; if you show you teeth, it shows its teeth; if you hate it, it hates you; if you love it, it loves you; if you want it, it wants you; if you don’t want it, it doesn’t want you. This is a peculiarity with the behaviour of things outside—the so-called ‘outside’.

The yamas in Patanjali’s system are the technology adopted by the ancient master to see that we do not place ourselves in a disharmonious situation with anything outside. You must know how to handle anything in this world in a harmonious way. If there is some dissonant sound coming from somewhere, you have to develop within yourself a kind of assonant reaction towards it. If a small thing comes, you have to become small before it; if a big thing comes, you have to become big before it. You have to adjust yourself accordingly with what is in front of you.

This is well said, but actually it cannot be practised easily because it is a day-to-day technique and is not a general instruction for all people, for all times. How you can adjust yourself cannot be said off-hand, because it is a daily affair. What you will eat tomorrow, you cannot say today. It depends upon your condition tomorrow. So how can I tell you that tomorrow you should eat a particular food?

Every day—at every moment, almost—there is some new encounter for you. This difficulty goes in the case of those people who have the blessing of living with a great master who guides them. Every day you will have some peculiar difficulties, and you cannot envisage tomorrow’s difficulty today.

“Oh, today is very difficult for me! I have a headache,” you will say. “I sat and meditated on the point between the eyebrows.” Now, you cannot understand why you have developed a headache; you have to ask somebody. What is the connection between concentration at that point and a headache? You have a backache, or your knee joints are aching, or you have no appetite, or you have a little fever or tremors in the body, etc. What can you do about that? You cannot be a physician of your own self, because you are a patient.

Thus, blessed are those who have a real teacher—a Guru, we may say—in whom they have full faith. You should not go on changing Gurus, thinking that another Guru is better than this one. Then you will be simply hopping like a grasshopper, and nothing will come. Once you have taken to one course, it is final.

In the beginning, daily adjustments seem to be easy. You understand what I say, and say, “Yes, I understand. I will try to do that.” You may do that for some time, but later on you will find that it is not so easy because the mind will revolt. “What are you doing to me?” the mind will say. “I want this only. I will not accept anything else.” And what will you do about that? You say you will adjust yourself, but it says, “No adjustment. I want this.” Oh, very difficult! Naughty children are difficult to handle. So what do you do at that time? Very careful, loving handling is necessary even when you want to restrain something. Even when you oppose an enemy in war, you do not simply go and jump in like a fool. There are methods and manoeuvres in the handling of an army’s movement. Even when you have an undesirable trait, it cannot be simply dubbed as evil. Nobody likes to be called evil. You must know how to become a good physician to that which you consider as bad and convert it, transform it, transmute it into good. Opposition is not the way. To put it briefly, it is a juxtaposition of yourself with the circumstance in front of you by a method that is purely educational psychology.

Therefore, the first thing that you have to take up is to see what your involvements are in the public world. Do you owe something to people, some debt? If you have borrowed some money, pay it. Never go to Gangotri with borrowed money and start meditating. That is no good; then it will harass you.

Every paise that you have borrowed must be returned; otherwise, it will pinch you. Your heart will say that something is wrong. Even if you have uttered a hard word which has deeply hurt someone’s feelings, you must make amends for it. “I am very sorry. In a mood I uttered this. I beg your pardon. I will never do it again.” Otherwise, you will keep it in your mind. It will tell you, “Oh, very bad; I ought not to have done that.” A thought, a word or a deed which is upsetting must be handled carefully. Do not do anything which is harmful. A thing which is harmful can be harmful to both sides. It is not harmful only to one side. Both your side as well as the other side will be hurt by any kind of harmful act, word or thought. This has to be taken care of. A big list has to be made. But you cannot make this list because you think, “I am all right. What is wrong with me? I am perfectly all right. I have studied well.” You have to find out whether everything is well or not by a continuous life of a little isolation in an atmosphere where you are not too much engrossed in externals. That is why people go to ashrams and study under a teacher, etc.

Thus, the essential point is to first take into consideration your involvements outside—the social and natural conditions—so that you may not be worried about things that are happening outside or have happened outside. And do not feel that you owe something. You should not owe anything to anybody. That should be your principle. You should not take more from the world than what you have given to the world. Equal to what you take, you must give. It is good to give more than you take; but if you take more, you will have to repay it in the next birth and you will be reborn in order to clear the debt. All debts of every kind—in deed, in speech, as well as in thought—have to be reconciled.

You have to be clean, first of all. Even in your social relations, you should not look like a funny person or something impossible. The Bhagavadgita has a short passage: You should live in the world in such a way that you should not abhor anything in the world, nor should you behave in such a way that the world abhors you.

Well, you may try your best to see that you do not abhor things, but how will you expect the world not to abhor you? It will not always appreciate you under every condition. But the Gita, which has been told by a great master, must be have some meaning. You must not behave in a way that will be considered as abominable by the world outside and, similarly, you should behave in such a way that you will not be affected by things that are taking place outside. Such is the word of the Gita. You do not shrink from anything, nor do you behave in a way by which the world may shrink from you. A good man you must be. This is the first principle.