- The Fourfold Yoga - Part I - An Introduction
- by G Kumar,
Astrologer & Epistemologist
Yoga is derived from the word
"Yuj" which means to unite. Union with Cosmic Creative
Intelligence is the aim of Yoga.
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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. |
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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 and 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 and 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 be unfold our full mental potential.
The Seven States of Consciousness
Man lives in 3 relative states
of Consciousnes - waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep known
in Sanskrit as Jagrata, Swapna and Sushupti. Now there is a Transcendental
state of Consciousness known as the Fourth ( Tureeya ) and 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
).
Cosmic consciousness is a state
where TC and the 3 relative states coexist.
More information about Transcendental
Philosophyand Yoga can be had from http://www.eastrovedica.com/html/yoga.htm
The way to achieving Higher States
of Consciousness - The Triune Meditation
Meditation is threefold
1. Physical Meditation
2. Verbal Meditation
3. Mental Meditation.
Reverence to preceptors and Yogis,
worship 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 Actulisation. 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 and
difficult road
That sole leads to the Eternal's peaks!
Without Knowledge, without service,
without psychic control and finally love, who have 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 and algebra; through
the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother
India is, in many ways, the mother of us all"
Copyright 2003 G. Kumar |
The Fourfold
Yoga - Part II
