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The yoga of the Gita is not religion in the narrow sense of creed, ritual, and piety; it is a comprehensive philosophy of human growth, development, and fulfillment, individual and collective, in which creeds, rituals, piety, prayer, and meditation, as well as all forms of work and labour, find place. . .Our people have to shed all cheap magical and pseudo-mystical ideas associated with this word yoga and, then, with clear mind, understand this yoga philosophy of the Gita. (Swami Ranganathananda, Eternal, Values for a Changing Society, Vol. IV, pp. 392 - 395) |
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| Prologue (this page)
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Misuse and
Abuse of a Great Philosophy |
What is Yoga |
| Why Yoga | What is Meditation | What is Pranayama |
| What is Japa | What is a Mantra | How to Meditate |
| How Long to Meditate | Best Place for Meditation | Best Time for Meditation |
| How to Perform Japa | How Many Times to Repeat the Mantra | What is Initiation |
| Who is the Guru | Qualifications of a Guru | Restrictions in Yoga |
| Obstructions to Yoga | About Kundalini | Cautionary Advice |
| Epilogue |
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This introduction can help viewers of this site lead a balanced and meaningful life, the ultimate objective of which is to "see" God! Not God as seen in the movie Oh, God! Book II by little Tracy in a Chinese restaurant's lobby where God appears before her in a three-piece suit while smoking a cigar (God played by George Burns)! No sarcasm intended---the movie is a perfect satire on our contemporary and the so-called modern and progressive society. In this comedy, God wants to promote Himself in the world and seeks Tracy's help. She comes up with the slogan "Think God!", which she and her classmates start publicizing in their town using posters and graffiti. As usual in a situation such as this, the story-hungry media appears on the scene, and the story about Tracy and her slogan spreads like wild fire all over the world. However, Tracy's claim and her insisting that she really "saw God" and "talked to Him" worries her parents, and they take her to a panel of psychiatrists for a session. Now could God---compassionate and loving as He is---who put this little girl through this ordeal, stay behind? No! So to defend her, He appears, to the amazement of everyone, in the room where the panel is interviewing Tracy and her parents. As seen earlier by Tracy, God is dressed up in his three-piece suit and of course he also is smoking a cigar! To convince all present in the room, God gives a brief talk on what's real and what's not, and in a split second changes the day to night to prove His point. Tracy's parents are fully convinced now that their daughter is perfectly normal and sane. The meeting is adjourned, and Tracy leaves with her parents while the bewildered psychiatrists make a decision to keep what they just saw to themselves! That's just a hilarious comedy from Hollywood! But is the real world any different? We live in a crazy world today that badly needs a similar slogan and perhaps also a few of God's "miracles"! Is it possible to "see" God? ABSOLUTELY---according to all spiritual teachers and all mystics around the world, of all ages. I have known, beyond all darkness, that great Person of golden effulgence. (Svetasvatara Upanishad, III-8, source:The Upanishads, tr. Prabhavananda and Manchester, p. 122) But behind the manifest and the unmanifest, there is another Existence, which is eternal and changeless. This is not dissolved in the general cosmic dissolution. . .To reach it is said to be the greatest of all achievements. . . That highest state can only be achieved through devotion to Him in whom all creatures exist, and by whom this universe is pervaded.(Bhagavad-Gita, VIII-20,21,22, tr. Prabhavananda and Isherwood, p. 77) Buddha says: "Brahman I know, Vasettha, and the world of Brahman, and the path which leadeth unto it. Yea, I know it even as one who has entered the Brahman world, and has been born within it." (Maha-parinibbana Sutta, II.33, cited in: The Spiritual Heritage of India, Swami Prabhavananda, p. 173) Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matthew, 5:8) I have no body or life: for I am the Life of Life. I have put away duality: I have seen the Two worlds as one: Let me tell you one thing. God can be seen. . .God is known by the mind and intellect that are pure. . .God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. . . one cannot develop love of God or obtain His vision without work. Work means meditation, japa, and the like. Christ said he saw God; the disciples said they felt God. . .Similarly in Buddhism, it's Buddha's experience. He experienced certain truths, saw them, came in contact with them, and preached them to the world. So with the Hindus. In their books, the writers or sages declare they experienced certain truths, and these they preach. . .The teachers all saw God; they all saw their own souls, they saw their future, they saw their eternity, and what they saw they preached. Like Krishna and Buddha, Christ did not preach a mere ethical or social gospel but an uncompromisingly spiritual one. He declared that God can be seen, that divine perfection can be achieved. In order that men might attain this supreme goal of existence, he taught the renunciation of worldliness, the contemplation of God, and the purification of the heart through the love of God. (The sermon of the Mount according to Vedanta, Swami Prabhavananda, p. xiv) The teachers also unequivocally declared that "seeing" God---"realizing God", "realizing Self", liberation, moksha, or nirvana---is the only goal of human life. The moksha of the Hindus, the nirvana of the Buddhists, and the "kingdom of heaven within" of the Christians are really one and the same. (The Spiritual Heritage of India, Swami Prabhavananda, p. 174) However, no other philosophy or religion emphasizes this goal to the extent as do Vedanta and Hinduism. Only by knowing him does one conquer death. There is no other way of escaping the wheel of birth, death, and rebirth. (Svetasvatara Upanishad, III-8, source:The Upanishads, tr. Prabhavananda and Manchester, p. 122) Arise! Awake! Approach the feet of the Master and know THAT. (Katha Upanishad, I-3-14, source:The Upanishads, tr. Prabhavananda and Manchester, p. 20) The Self, Maitreyi, is to be known. Hear about it, reflect upon it, meditate upon it. By knowing the Self, my beloved, through hearing, reflection, and meditation, one comes to know all things. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, II-4-5, source:The Upanishads, tr. Prabhavananda and Manchester, p. 87) Brahman is the end of the journey. Brahman is the supreme goal. (Katha Upanishad, I-3-11, source:The Upanishads, tr. Prabhavananda and Manchester, p. 20) The Self is not known through study of the scriptures, not through subtlety of the intellect, nor through much learning; but by him who longs for him is he known. (Katha Upanishad, I-2-23, source:The Upanishads, tr. Prabhavananda and Manchester, p. 19) Be established in the consciousness of the Atman always. (Bhagavad-Gita, II-45, tr. Prabhavananda and Isherwood, p. 40) Sri Ramakrishna taught nothing but this single theme---he instructed his followers again and again: The vision of God is the only goal of human life. . .The realization of God is one goal of life. . .The goal of human life is to love God. . .The nearer you come to God, the more you feel peace. Peace, peace, peace---supreme peace!. . . (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, tr. Swami Nikhilananda, pp. 331, 407, 94, 178) Swami Vivekananda went even one step further by denouncing as hypocrites those who believe in God, but do not strive to realize Him. If there is a God we must see Him, if there is a soul we must perceive it; otherwise it is better not to believe. It is better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite. (Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 127) Vivekananda could make such a forceful statement only because of the spiritual education and yoga instructions he received from Sri Ramakrishna. He met Sri Ramakrishna quite accidentally when he was a college student and a mere teenager. Here's how he narrated his first encounter with him: . . . I heard of this man, and I went to hear him. He looked just like an ordinary man, with nothing remarkable about him. He used the most simple language, and I thought "Can this man be a great teacher?" ---crept near to him and asked him the question which I had been asking others all my life: "Do you believe in God , Sir?" "Yes," he replied. "Can you prove it, Sir?" "Yes." "How?" "Because I see Him just as I see you here only in a much intense sense." That impressed me at once. For the first time I found a man who dared to say that he saw God, that religion was a reality to be felt, to be sensed in an infinitely more intense way than we can sense the world. . . . I began to go to that man, day after day, and I actually saw that religion could be given. One touch, one glance, can change the whole life . . . The second idea that I learnt from my Master, and which is perhaps the most vital, is the wonderful truth that the religions of the world are not contradictory or antagonistic. They are but various phases of one eternal religion . . . " (Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 179) By seeing or realizing God is meant attaining perfection in life. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven perfect, exhorts Jesus (Matthew, v. 48). This perfection is the birthright of every man, woman, and child, says Vedanta. (Swami Ranganathananda, The Message of the Upanisads, p. 99) This perfection although difficult to attain by most of us, is indeed attainable by following certain spiritual disciplines and a balanced way of life. But this impotence to perceive real essence, And yoga is a discipline---a spiritual discipline---that can be practised by anyone to attain this perfection. It will be clear as we continue with this discussion that certain elements of yoga can be found---in some form or the other---in all the major religions of the world. (Ref: The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley) This introduction is intended to clarify certain popular misconceptions about this ancient discipline. What follows in this series is an assortment of quotations on yoga from various scriptures, specifically from: and from the teachings of:
Below are the topics, which we intend to cover over the next several months.The red dots
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