English
It is clear that in all these varying senses the dominant sense is that of “‘joining.” But such a joining implies also a disjunction, and the fundamental and indispensable disjunction implied is dissociation from all desires for pleasures and fruits of action (phala-tyaga). For this reason cases are not rare where yoga is used to mean cessation of desires for the fruits of action. Thus, in the Gita, vi. 2, it is said, ‘‘What is called cessation (of desires for the fruits of action) is what you should know, O Pandava, as Yoga: without renouncing one’s desires (na hy asamnyasta-sankalpa) one cannot bea yogin!.” The reason why this negative concept of cessation of desires should be regarded as yoga is that without such a renunciation of desires no higher kind of union is possible. But even such a dissociation from the fruits of desires (which in a way also means samyamana, or self- control) is to be supplemented by the performance of duties at the preliminary stages; and it is only in the higher stages, when one is fixed in yoga (yogaridha), that meditative peace (sama) can be recommended. Unless and until one succeeds in conquering all attachments to sense-objects and actions and in giving up all desires for fruits of actions, one cannot be fixed in yoga. It is by our attempts at the performance of our duties, trying all the time 1 Asamnyasto’parityaktah phala-visayah sankalpo ’bhisandhir yena so’samnyas- ta-sankalpah. Sankara’s commentary, vVI.2. Nasamnyastah phala-sankalpo yena. ridhara’s commentary on the above. Yogasrama edition, Benares, 1919. eee XIV] Gita and Yoga 445 to keep the mind clear from motives of pleasure and enjoyment, 3 that we gradually succeed in elevating it to a plane at which it would be natural to it to desist from all motives of self-interest, pleasure and enjoyment. It is at this stage that a man can be called fixed in yoga or yogaridha. This naturally involves a con- flict between the higher self and the lower, or rather between the real self and the false; for, while the lower self always inclines to pathological and prudential motives, to motives of self-interest and pleasure, it has yet within it the higher ideal, which is to raise it up. Man is both a friend and a foe to him- self; if he follows the path of his natural inclinations and the temptations of sense-enjoyment, he takes the downward path of evil, and is an enemy to his own higher interests; whereas it is his clear duty to raise himself up, to strive that he may not sink down but may elevate himself to a plane of detachment from all sense-pleasures. The duality involved in this conception of a friend and a foe, of conqueror and conquered, of an uplifting power and a gravitating spirit, naturally involves a distinction between a higher self (paramatman) and a lower self (atman). It is only when this higher self conquers the lower that a self is a friend to itself. In a man who has failed to conquer his own passions and self-attachments the self is its own enemy. The implication, however, is that the lower self, though it gravitates towards evil, has yet inherent in it the power of self-elevation. This power of self-elevation is not something extraneous, but abides in the self, and the Gita is emphatic in its command, “‘ Thou shouldst raise thyself and not allow thyself to sink down; for the self is its own friend and its foe as well?.”’ It is only when the self thus conquers its lower tendencies and rises to a higher plane that it comes into touch with the higher self (paramatman). The higher self always remains as an ideal of elevation. The yoga activity of the self thus consists, on the one hand, in the efforts by which the yogin dissociates himself from the sense-attachments towards which he was naturally gravitating, and on the other hand, in the efforts by which he tries to elevate himself and to come into touch with the higher self. At the first stage a man performs his duties in accordance with the injunctions of the sastras; then he performs his duties and . tries to dissociate himself from all motives of self-interest and DEVIN 5. 446 The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita [cH. enjoyment, and at the next stage he succeeds in conquering these lower motives and is in touch with the higher self. Even at this stage he may still continue to perform his duties, merely for the sake of duty, or he may devote himself to meditative concentration and union with the higher self or with God. Thus the Gita says that.the person who has conquered himself and is at peace with himself is in touch with paramatman. Such a person is a true philosopher; for he not only knows the truths, but is happy in the inner realization and direct intuitive apperception of such truths; he is unshakable in himself; having conquered his senses, he attaches the same value to gold and to stones; he is the same to friends and to enemies, to the virtuous as to the sinful; he is in union (with paramatman) and is called a yogin'. The fact that the word yogin is derived here from the root yuj, to join, is evident from a number of passages where the verb yw is used in this connection?. The Gita advises a yogin who thus wants to unite himself with paramatman, or God, in a meditative union, to lead a lonely life, controlling his mind and body, desiring nothing and accepting nothing’. The yogi should seat himself on level ground, in a clean place, and, being firm on his threefold seat composed of kusa grass, a leopard skin and soft linen, he should control his thoughts, senses and movements, make his mind one-pointed in God (tatra), gather himself up in union, and thus purify himself?. The yogin should eat neither too much nor too little, should neither sleep too much, nor dispense with sleep. He should thus 1 Yukta ity ucyate yogi sama-lostasma-kdfcanah, v1.8. Sankara, however, splits it up into two independent sentences, as follows: ya idrso yuktah samahita tti sa ucyate kathyate; sa yogi sama-lostasma-kaficanah. Sridhara, again, takes a quite different view and thinks it to be a definition of the yogariidha state and believes yukta to mean yogariidha, which in my opinion is unjustifiable. My interpre- tation is simpler and more direct than either of these and can be justified by a reference to the context in VI. 7 and VI. Io. 2 Yogi yunjita satatam Gtmanam rahasi sthitah. Ibid. v1. 10. Upavisydsane yuryyad yogam aGtma-visuddhaye. Vi. 12. Yukta dsita mat-parah. vi. 14. Yufyjann evam sadatmanam yogi niyata-manasah. V1. 15, etc. 8 Ekaki yata-cittatma nirasir aparigrahah. v1. 10. The word aimd in yata- cittdtma is used in the sense of body (deha); according to Sankara, Sridhara and others. 4 Both Sankara and Sridhara make tatra an adjective to dsane. Such an adjective to dsane would not only be superfluous, but would also leave ekdgram without an object. The verb yufijydt, literally meaning “‘should link up,’’ is interpreted by Sridhara as “should practise,” apparently without any justifica- tion (VI. 12). XIV] Gita and Yoga \ 447 lead the middle course of life and avoid extremes. This avoidamcé. of extremes is very unlike the process of yoga advised by Patajijali. Patanjali’s course of yoga formulates a method by which the yogin can gradually habituate himself to a condition of life in which he can ultimately dispense with food and drink altogether and Nz | | “desist from all movements of body and mind. The object of a yogin |_in making his mind one-pointed is ultimately to destroy the mind. According to Patafiyjali the advancement of a yogin has but one object before it, viz. the cessation of all movements of mind (citta-vrtti-nirodha). Since this absolute cessation cannot be effected without stopping all movements of the body, desires and passions are to be uprooted, not only because they would make the mind fly to different objects, but also because they would necessitate move- ments of the body, which would again disturb the mind. The yogin therefore has to practise a twofold control of movements of body and mind. He has to habituate himself to dispensing with the necessity of food and drink, to make himself used to all kinds “of privations and climatic inconveniences of heat and cold and \ ultimately to prepare himself for the stoppage of all kinds of bodily ) movements. But, since this cannot be success sfully done so long ( as one inhales and exhales, he has to practise’ pranayama for abso- lute breath-control, and not for hours or days, but for months ane years. Moral Be is regarded as indispensable in yoga only because without absolute and perfect cessation of all desires and passions the movements of the body and mind could not be absolutely stopped. The yogin, however, has not only to cut off all new causes of disturbance leading to movements of body and mind, but also to practise one-pointedness of mind on subtler and subtler objects, so that as a result thereof the sub-conscious forces of the mind can also be destroyed. Thus, on the one hand, the mind should be made to starve by taking care that no new sense-data and no new percepts, concepts, thoughts, ideas or emotions be presented to it, and, on the other hand, steps are to be taken to make the mind one-pointed, by which all that it had apprehended before, which formed the great storehouse of the sub-conscious, is destroyed. The mind, thus pumped out on both sides, becomes absolutely empty and is destroyed. The ideal of Patafijali’s Yoga is absolute extremism, consisting in absolute stoppage of all functions of body and mind. The Gita, on the other hand, prescribes the golden middle course 448 * The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita [cH. Of moderate food, drink, sleep, movements of the body and activity ‘in general.