RAJA YOGA

Articles In This Section:

· YOGA IN VARIOUS FORMS

· WHAT IS YOGIS?

· YOGA TEACHES WHAT?

· JAPA YOGA

· WHAT IS KARMA?

· RAJA YOGA

Finally we come to Raja Yoga which, translated literally, means "King of Yogas." Raja Yoga takes its disciple through eight stages, all of them highly spiritual and so complex we shall not attempt to discuss any except the final one, Samadhi, This is a state of bliss wherein the mind is withdrawn from all earthly attachments. By then the Yogi has learned to stop his thinking processes so completely that his consciousness is absorbed into the Infinite. Just as a river flows inevitably to the sea, so the individual mind merges into the ocean of Absolute Consciousness. Those who have achieved Samadhi claim there are no words to describe the experience—apparently it can only be felt. In the state of Samadhi the Yogi sees without eyes, tastes without tongue, hears without ears, smells without nose, touches without contact. Sound and form are no more, suffering and ignorance disappear, and the Yogi attains Kaivalya or supreme liberation from earthly limitations. In this state, the Yogi is supposedly able to free his astral body or etheric double from his physical body. Raja Yoga may be thought of as the synthesis of all the systems of Yoga as a whole.

It is not vital to remember the various schools of Yoga or memorize the differences between them. Only the occasional reader will be tempted to try. What most persons will retain from this entire discussion is a "feel" of what it is about, and that is all that matters. Now to recapitulate: The gaining of a healthy body and a mind calm and passive under all circumstances is common to all Yogas. Control of one's mental processes as well as of the emotions is a basic common goal. This is achieved partly through conscious disciplines, partly by releasing the undercurrents of the mind at rest—or, to borrow psychological terminology, by giving play to the subconscious. In our own Occidental utilitarian terms, then, Yoga techniques, translated into Yogism, offer us the means for better Self-realization in the realm of the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual. It is a royal road to inner power.