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The Yoga System
The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda, The Divine Life Society, Sivananda Ashram, India
The Yoga System
by
Swami Krishnananda
The Divine Life Society
Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India
CONTENTS
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The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda, The Divine Life Society, Sivananda Ashram, India
Preface
The present small book consists of lectures delivered by the author
several years ago on the essentials of the Yoga system as propounded by the
Sage Patanjali. These lessons were intended particularly for students who
required a special clarity of this intricate subject, and the approach has been
streamlined accordingly in a form and style commensurate with the
receptive capacities of the students.
The section on Pratyahara is especially noteworthy and students of Yoga
would do well to go through it again and again as a help in internal training.
20th February, 1981 - THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
Chapter 1
PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESUPPOSITIONS
It is necessary, at the outset, to clear certain misconceptions in regard to
Yoga, prevalent especially among some sections in the West. Yoga is not
magic or a feat of any kind, physical or mental. Yoga is based on a sound
philosophy and deep psychology. It is an educational process by which the
human mind is trained to become more and more natural and weaned from
the unnatural conditions of life. Yoga has particular concern with
psychology, and, as a study of the ‘self’, it transcends both general and
abnormal psychology, and leads one to the supernormal level of life. In
Yoga we study ourselves, while in our colleges we are told to study objects.
Not the study of things but a study of the very structure of the student is
required by the system of Yoga, for the known is not totally independent of
the knower.
How do we know things at all? There is a mysterious process by which
we come to know the world, and life is an activity of such knowledge. A
study of the mind is a study of its relations to things. The instruction, ‘Know
Thyself’, implies that when we know ourselves, we know all things
connected with ourselves, i.e., we know the universe. In this study we have
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The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda, The Divine Life Society, Sivananda Ashram, India
to proceed always from the lower to the higher, without making haste or
working up the emotions.
The first thing we are aware of in experience is the world. There are
certain processes which take place in the mind, by which we come to know
the existence of the world. There are sensations, perceptions and cognitions,
which fall under what is known as ‘direct perception’ or ‘direct knowledge’
(Pratyaksha) through which the world is known, valued and judged for
purpose of establishing relations. These relations constitute our social life.
A stimulation of the senses takes place by a vibration that proceeds from
the object outside. This happens in two ways: (1) by the very presence of the
object and (2) by the light rays, sound, etc., that emanate from the object,
which affect the retina of the eyes, the drums of the ears, or the other senses.
We have five senses of knowledge and through them we receive all the
information concerning the world. If the five senses are not to act, we cannot
know if there is a world at all. We, thus, live in a sense-world. When sensory
stimulation is produced by vibrations received from outside, we become
active. Sensory activity stimulates the mind through the nervous system
which connects the senses with the mind by means of the Prana or vital
energy. We may compare these nerve-channels to electric wires, through
which the power of the Prana flows. The Pranas are not the nerves, even as
electricity is not the wires. The Prana is an internal vibration which links the
senses with the mind. Sensations, therefore, make the mind active and the
mind begins to feel that there is something outside. This may be called
indeterminate perception, where the mind has a featureless awareness of the
object. When the perception becomes clearer, it becomes determinate. This
mental perception is usually called cognition.
Beyond the mind there is another faculty, called the intellect. It judges
whether a thing is good or bad, necessary or unnecessary, of this kind or
that, etc. It decides upon the value of an object, whether this judgment is
positive or negative, moral, aesthetic or religious. One assesses one’s
situation in relation to the object. Some psychologists hold that the mind is
an instrument in the hands of the intellect. Manas is the Sanskrit word for
mind, which is regarded as the Karana or instrument, while Buddhi is the
Sanskrit term for intellect, which is the Karta or doer. The intellect judges
what is cognized by the mind, and makes a decision as to the nature of the
action that has to be taken in respect of the object in the given
circumstances.
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The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda, The Divine Life Society, Sivananda Ashram, India
The intellect is associated with another principle within, called
Ahamkara or ego. ‘Aham’ means ‘I’, and ‘kara’ is that which manifests,
reveals or affirms. There is something in us, which affirms ‘I am’ . This
affirmation is ego. No logic is necessary to prove the ego, for we do not
prove our own existence. This is an affirmation which requires no evidence,
for all logic proceeds from it. The ego is inseparable from individual
intellection, like fire from its heat. The intellect and ego exist inextricably,
and human intellection is the function of the human ego. The functions of
the ego are manifold, and these form the subject of psychology.
There are certain ways in which the psychological instruments begin to
function in relation to objects. The ego, intellect and mind perform the
functions of arrogation, understanding and thinking of objects. There is also
a fourth element, called Chitta, which is not easily translatable into English.
The term ‘subconscious’ is usually considered as its equivalent. That which
is at the base of the conscious mind and which retains memory etc., is Chitta
or the subconscious mind. But the Chitta in Yoga psychology includes also
what is known as the unconscious in psychoanalysis. All this functional
apparatus, taken together, is the psyche or Antahkarana, the internal
instrument. The internal organ functions in various forms, and Yoga is
interested in a thorough study of these functions, because the methods of
Yoga are intended to take a serious step in regard to all these psychic
functions, finally.
Now, how does the internal organ function? The psyche produces five
reactions in respect of the world outside, some of them being positive and
others negative. These are the themes of general psychology.
There are five modes into which the Antahkarana casts itself in
performing its functions of normal life. These modes are called Pramana,
Viparyaya, Vikalpa, Nidra and Smriti.
Pramana or right knowledge is awareness of things as they are. This is
the main subject of the studies in logic. Perception, inference and verbal
testimony are the three primary ways of right knowledge. Some add
comparison, presumption and non-apprehension to the usual avenues of such
knowledge. How do we know that there is an object in front of us? We
acquire this knowledge through direct sensory contact. This is perception.
And when we see muddy water in a river, we suppose that there must have
been rains uphill. This knowledge we gather by inference. The words of
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The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda, The Divine Life Society, Sivananda Ashram, India
others in whom we have faith, also, convey to us true knowledge, as, for
example, when we believe that there is an elephant in the nearby city, on
hearing of it from a reliable friend, though we might not have actually seen it
with our eyes. All these methods together form what goes by the name of
Pramana or direct proof of dependable knowledge.
Viparyaya is wrong perception, the mistaking of one thing for another,
as, when we see a long rope in twilight, we usually take it for a snake, or
apprehend that a straight stick immersed in water is bent. When we perceive
anything which does not correspond to fact, the mental mode is one of
erroneous understanding.
Vikalpa is doubt. When we are not certain whether, for example, a thing
we are seeing is a person or a pole, whether something is moving or not
moving, the perception not being clear, or when we are in any dubious state
of thinking, we are said to be in Vikalpa.
Nidra is sleep, which may be regarded as a negative condition, a
withdrawal of mind from all activity. Sleep is nevertheless a psychological
condition, because, though it is not positively connected with the objects of
the world, it represents a latency of the impressions as well as possibilities of
objective thought. Nidra is the sleep of the Antahkarana.
Smriti is memory, the remembrance of past events, the retention in
consciousness of the impressions of experiences undergone previously.
All functions of the internal organ can be brought under one or other of
these processes, and subject of general psychology is an elaboration of these
human ways of thinking, understanding, willing or feeling. It does not mean,
however, that we entertain only five kinds of thoughts, but that all the
hundreds of thoughts of the mind can be boiled down to these five groups of
function. The system of Yoga makes a close study of this inner structure of
man and envisages it in its relation to the universe.
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