Sathya Sai Vahini Index

Raja-Yoga

Now, about Rajayoga: Rajayoga means the process of establishing mastery over the mind. One need not surrender one's intellect or follow the guidelines of religious leaders. There is no chance of being misled or mistaken. At every step, one has to rely on one's own intellect and experience, as tested by oneself.

Every being has three varieties of instruments for acquiring knowledge, and through that knowledge, wisdom. The fact is 'instinctive'; this is very strong, active and advanced in animals. This is the earliest, the lowest and therefore, the least beneficial of the three. The second is the 'rational', the instrument that seeks the cause and the effect thereof. This is most evident in man. The instinct can operate only in the limited field of senses and sensory experiences. In man the instinctive knowledge is largely subordinated by the rational instruments. The limits of the rational are very thin; reason can range over vastly wider fields. In spite of this, reason too is capable of very poor performance only; its reach is restricted. It can proceed only a certain distance. It cannot venture further. The road that logic takes is not straight. It is more circular, returning again and again, to the place where it started from.

Take for example, our knowledge of the objective world, of the elements and energies that compose it. That which urges and prompts the objective world and its components does not stop with just this much. It absorbs also that which is immanent outside the objective world. And so, the extent that reason can spread over and explain is as the 'consciousness' that is imprisoned in the tiny molecule, as compared with the vastness and grandeur of the transcendent fullness.

For us to go across the boundaries of reason into this full, free realm of intuition, certain spiritual exercises and disciplines are essential. They can be grouped under the name, God-propelled Jnana. For, we have only three stages of Jnana - Sahajajnana (Native, derived from the senses of action and perception), Yukti-yuktajnana (Knowledge derived by the process of discrimination and evaluation), and Iswaraprerithajnana (God- induced knowledge gained through Grace by inner vision or intuition). The first of these is the knowledge possessed by animals; the second is the characteristic of man and the third is the special treasure of high-souled individuals. It is possible for everyone to foster, cultivate and develop the seedlings of this third Jnana. For, the capacity is latent in all.

Another fact also has to be borne in mind. The three are stages of growth and so not three mutually exclusive types of knowledge. The Iswaraprerithajnana will not contradict the yukti-yuktajnana; it will only bring to light what is unmanifest in the yukti-yuktajnana. The later stage only confirms and elaborates the previous ones. Afflicted by the vagaries of the mind and its fancies, some take their distorted attitudes as God given or Grace-induced. And, they may even call upon others to heed their counsel. They lead men astray by their barren guidance. These morons announce that their absurd prattle is God-propelled.

True teaching can never be counter to the yukti-yuktajnana, the conclusion arrived at by discrimination and evaluation. The Yogas mentioned above are all established in consonance with this view. Rajayoga has to be practised mostly by the mind and its resolution. This is a vast subject and so, we shall consider here only its central theme. It is something that is the only refuge for the lowest of the low and the highest of the Yogis - namely, single-pointed meditation. For the person engaged in research in a laboratory, for one walking along a road, or for a scholar reading a book, or an individual writing a letter, or driving a car, the concentration of all their attention on the articles before them and the activity they are engaged in is very important. He understands the nature and peculiarities of the object he is handling. The more intense your concentration, the more successful will be your activity. When the mental abilities are focussed on one effort, knowledge can be acquired quicker and from a wider field. And, that is the only way by which knowledge can be earned.