CHAPTER 8
HINDU YOGA
THE FOUR PATHS
The four main spiritual paths for God-realisation are Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga
and Jnana Yoga. Karma Yoga is suitable for aman of active temperament, Bhakti Yoga for aman of
devotional temperament, Raja Yoga for aman of mystic temperament, and Jnana Yoga for aman of
rational and philosophical temperament, or a man of enquiry.
Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga or Kundalini Yoga, Lambika Yoga and Hatha Yoga, are other
Yogas. Yoga, really, means union with God. The practice of Yoga leads to communion with the
Lord. Whatever may be the starting point, the end reached is the same.
Karma Yoga is the way of selfless service. The selfless worker is called the Karma-Yogin.
Bhakti Yoga is the path of exclusive devotion to the Lord. He who seeks union through love or
devotion is called the Bhakti-Yogin. Raja Yoga is the way of self-restraint. He who seeks to have
union with the Lord through mysticism is called the Raja-Yogin. Jnana Yoga is the path of wisdom.
He who seeks to unite himself with the Supreme Self through philosophy and enquiry is called the
Jnana-Yogin.
KARMA YOGA
(Duty for Duty’s Sake)
Karma Yoga is the path of action. It is the path of disinterested service. It is the way that
leads to the attainment of God through selfless work. It is the Yoga of renunciation of the fruits of
actions.
Karma Yoga teaches us how to work for work’s sake—unattached—and how to utilise to
the best advantage the greater part of our energies. ‘Duty for Duty’s Sake’ is the motto of a
Karma-Yogin. Work is worship for the practitioners of Karma Yoga. Every work is turned into an
offering unto the Lord. The Karma Yogin is not bound by the Karmas, as he consecrates the fruits of
his actions to the Lord. Yogah Karmasu Kausalam—Yoga is skill in action.
Generally, a work brings as its effect or fruit either pleasure or pain. Each work adds a link
to our bondage of Samsara and brings repeated births. This is the inexorable Law of Karma. But,
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through the practice of Karma Yoga, the effects of Karmas can be wiped out. Karma becomes
barren. The same work, when done with the right mental attitude, right spirit and right will through
Yoga, without attachment and expectation of fruits, without the idea of agency or doership, with a
mind balanced in success and failure (Samatvam Yoga Uchyate), does not add a link to our
bondage. On the contrary, it purifies our heart and helps us to attain salvation through the descent of
divine light or dawn of wisdom.
A rigid moral discipline and control of senses are indispensable for the practice of Karma
Yoga.
Brahmacharya is, indeed, essential. Cultivation of virtues such as tolerance, adaptability,
sympathy, mercy, equal vision, balance of mind, cosmic love, patience, perseverance, humility,
generosity, nobility, self-restraint, control of anger, non-violence, truthfulness, moderation in
eating, drinking and sleeping, simple living and endurance, is very necessary.
Every man should do his duties in accordance with his own Varna and Asrama, caste and
station as well as stage in life. There is no benefit in abandoning one’s own work in preference to
another’s work.
Some people think that Karma Yoga is an inferior type of Yoga. They think that carrying
water, cleansing plates, serving food to the poor and sweeping the floor are menial works. This is a
sad mistake. They have not understood the technique and glory of Karma Yoga. Lord Krishna, the
Lord of the three worlds, acted the part of charioteer of Arjuna. He also acted the part of a cowherd.
BHAKTI YOGA
(Love for Love’s Sake)
Bhakti is intense love of God. Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion. It appeals to the majority
of mankind. ‘Love for Love’s Sake’ is the motto or formula of a Bhakti-Yogin. God is an
embodiment of love. You will have to attain Him by loving Him. God can be realised only by means
of a love as ardent and all-absorbing as the conjugal passion. Love for God must be gradually
cultivated.
He who loves God has neither wants nor sorrows. He does not hate any being or object. He
never takes delight in sensual objects. He includes everyone in the warm embrace of his love.
Kama (worldly desires) and Trishna (cravings) are enemies of devotion. So long as there is
any trace of desire in your mind for sensual objects, you cannot have an intense longing for God.
Atma-Nivedana is total, ungrudging, absolute self-surrender to the Lord. Atma-Nivedana is
the highest rung in the ladder of Nava-vidha Bhakti, or nine modes of devotion. Atma-Nivedana is
Prapatti or Saranagati. The devotee becomes one with the Lord through Prapatti. He obtains the
divine grace or Prasada.
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ALL ABOUT HINDUISM
Love of God and the rapturous ecstasy enjoyed by fellowship with God, cannot be
adequately described in words. It is as if a dumb man, who had tasted some palatable food, could
not speak about it. It could be revealed only to the chosen few. He who has once experienced love
will see that alone, hear that alone and speak of that alone, because he constantly thinks of that
alone.
Bhakti is one of the chief spiritual sciences. He is wealthy indeed, who has love for the Lord.
There is no sorrow other than lack of devotion to the Lord. There is no right course except love of
the devotee for the Lord. The Name, qualities and Lilas of the Lord are the chief things to be
remembered. The lotus-feet of the Lord are the chief objects of meditation. The devotee drinks the
nectar of Prema or divine love.
There are no distinctions of caste, creed, family, colour or race among the devotees. God
does not look into these things. He looks to the purity of heart of the devotees. Anyone can become a
devotee of the Lord. Nanda, an untouchable; Rai Das, a cobbler; Kannappa, a hunter; Sena, a
barber; Kabir, aMoslem weaver; and Sabari, a Bhilini were all devotees of the Lord, and were great
saints. Kannappa, an illiterate barbarian who poured water from his mouth on the Linga and who
offered swine’s flesh, became the best among the Bhaktas. The Vaishnava Alvars and the Saiva
Nayanars, of South India, were from different classes of society.
RAJA YOGA
(Discipline of the Mind)
Raja Yoga is the path that leads to union with the Lord through self-restraint and control of
mind. Raja Yoga teaches how to control the senses and the mental Vrittis or thought-waves that
arise from the mind, how to develop concentration and how to commune with God. There is
physical discipline in Hatha Yoga, whereas in Raja Yoga, there is discipline of the mind.
THE YOGA OF EIGHT LIMBS
Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are the
eight limbs of Raja Yoga.
Yama and Niyama constitute the ethical discipline which purifies the heart. Yama consists
of Ahimsa (non-injury), Satya (truthfulness), Brahmacharya (continence), Asteya (non-stealing)
and Aparigraha (non-receiving of gifts conducive to luxury). All virtues are rooted in Ahimsa.
Niyama is observance. It comprises Saucha (internal and external purity), Santosha
(contentment), Tapas (austerity), Svadhyaya (study of scriptures and repetition of Mantra) and
Isvara-pranidhana (self-surrender to God). He who is established in Yama and Niyama will have
quick progress in the practice of Yoga.
Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara are preliminary accessories to Yoga. Asana is steady
pose. Pranayama is regulation of breath. This produces serenity and steadiness of mind and good
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health. Pratyahara is abstraction or withdrawal of the senses from their objects. You must practise
Pratyahara. Then only you can look within and can have introversion.
Dharana is concentration of the mind on any object, or internal Chakra, or Ishta-Devata or
tutelary Deity. Then comes Dhyana, meditation or an unceasing flow of ideas connected with one
object. This leads to Samadhi, where the meditator and the meditated become one. All the Vrittis or
waves of the mind subside. The mind ceases functioning. All the Samskaras, impressions and
Vasanas (tendencies and subtle desires) are burnt in toto. The Yogi is freed from births and deaths.
He attains Kaivalva or final Liberation (Absolute Independence).