<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml"
xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"
xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">

<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name=ProgId content=
<meta name=Generator content="Namo WebEditor v4.0">
<meta name=Originator content=
<link rel=File-List href="HTML/A-Theory-of-Yoga_files/filelist.xml">
<link rel=Edit-Time-Data href="HTML/A-Theory-of-Yoga_files/editdata.mso">
<o:SmartTagType
 namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State" />
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
 name="place" />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
 <w:WordDocument>
  <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
 </w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
 /* Font Definitions */
 @font-face
	{font-family:"Arial Narrow";
	panose-1:2 11 5 6 2 2 2 3 2 4;
	mso-font-charset:0;
	mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
	mso-font-pitch:variable;
	mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;}
 /* Style Definitions */
 p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
	{mso-style-parent:"";
	margin:0in;
	margin-bottom:.0001pt;
	mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
	font-size:12.0pt;
	font-family:"Times New Roman";
	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
	color:black;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
	{color:blue;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
	{color:blue;}
p
	{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
	margin-right:0in;
	mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
	margin-left:0in;
	mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
	font-size:12.0pt;
	font-family:"Times New Roman";
	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
	color:black;}
@page Section1
	{size:8.5in 11.0in;
	margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
	mso-header-margin:.5in;
	mso-footer-margin:.5in;
	mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
	{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
 /* Style Definitions */
 table.MsoNormalTable
	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
	mso-style-noshow:yes;
	mso-style-parent:"";
	mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
	mso-para-margin:0in;
	mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
	mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
	font-size:10.0pt;
	font-family:"Times New Roman";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<meta name=CREATED content="20040107;17551000">
<meta name=CHANGED content="20040216;20414300">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
 <u1:DocumentProperties>
  <u1:Author>ASC</u1:Author>
  <u1:Template>Normal</u1:Template>
  <u1:LastAuthor>ASC</u1:LastAuthor>
  <u1:Revision>2</u1:Revision>
  <u1:TotalTime>1</u1:TotalTime>
  <u1:Created>2004-01-10T05:01:00Z</u1:Created>
  <u1:LastSaved>2004-01-10T05:02:00Z</u1:LastSaved>
  <u1:Pages>3</u1:Pages>
  <u1:Words>1827</u1:Words>
  <u1:Characters>10417</u1:Characters>
  <u1:Company>Aurokruti</u1:Company>
  <u1:Lines>86</u1:Lines>
  <u1:Paragraphs>20</u1:Paragraphs>
  <u1:CharactersWithSpaces>12792</u1:CharactersWithSpaces>
  <u1:Version>9.2720</u1:Version>
 </u1:DocumentProperties>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
 <u2:WordDocument>
  <u2:Zoom>FullPage</u2:Zoom>
 </u2:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
</head>

<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue style='tab-interval:.5in'>

<div align="center">
	<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
		<tr>
			<td>

<p align="right" style="margin:0; text-align:center;line-height:150%">
<span style='font-weight:700'><font size="4">A Theory of Yoga</font></span></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0">&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>YOGA is another form of a normal function in man,
it is the consciously regulated and heightened process of a habitual activity
of the mind.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>The recent science of Psycho-analysis has brought
to light certain hidden springs and undercurrents of the mind; it has
familiarised us with a mode of viewing the entire psychical life of man which
will be fruitful for our present enquiry. Mind, it has been found, is a house
divided, against itself, that is to say it is an arena where different and
divergent forces continually battle against one another. There must be,
however, at the same time, some sort of a resolution of these forces, some
equation that holds them in balance, otherwise the mind-the human being itself
– would cease to exist as an entity. What is the mechanism of this balance of
power in the human mind? In order to ascertain that we must first of all know
the fundamental nature of the struggle and also the character of the more
elemental forces that are engaged in it. </p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>There are some primary desires that seek
satisfaction in man. They are the vital urges of life, the most prominent among
them being the instinct of self-preservation and that of self-reproduction or
the desire to preserve one's body by defensive as well as by offensive means
and the desire to multiply oneself by mating. These are the two biological
necessities that are inevitable to man's existence as a physical being. They
give the minimum conditions required to be fulfilled by man in order that he
may live and hence they are the strongest and the most fundamental elements
that enter into his structure and composition. </p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>It would have been an easy matter if these vital
urges could flow on unhindered in their way. There would have been no</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p align=center style='margin:0; text-align:center;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%'>Page – 36</p>

</div>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;problem at all, if they met satisfaction
easily and smoothly, without having to look to other factors and forces. As a
matter of fact, man does not and cannot gratify his instincts whenever and
wherever he chooses and in an open and direct manner. Even in his most
primitive and barbarous condition, he has often to check himself and throw a
veil, in so many ways, over his sheer animality. In the civilised society the
check is manifold and is frankly recognised. We do not go straight as our
sexual impulsion leads, but seek to hide and camouflage it under the
institution of marriage; we do not pounce upon the food directly we happen to
meet it and snatch and appropriate whatever portion we get but we secure it
through an elaborate process, which is known as the economic system. The
machinery of the state, the cult of the <i>kshattriya </i>are roundabout ways
to meet our fighting instincts.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>What is the reason of this elaboration, this
check and constraint upon the natural and direct outflow of the animal
instincts in man? It has been said that the social life of man, the fact that
he has to live and move as member of a group or aggregate has imposed upon him
these restrictions. The free and unbridled indulgence of one's bare aboriginal
impulses may be possible to creatures that live a separate, solitary and
individual life but is disruptive of all bonds necessary for a corporate and
group life. It<b> </b>is even a biological necessity again which has evolved in
man a third and collateral primary instinct –that of the herd. And it is this
herd-instinct which naturally and spontaneously restrains, diverts and even
metamorphoses the other instincts of the mere animal life. However, leaving
aside for the moment the question whether man's ethical and spiritual ideals
are a mere dissimulation of his animal instincts or whether they correspond to
certain actual realities apart from and co-existent with these latter, we will recognise the simple fact of control and try to have a glimpse into its
mechanism.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>There are three lines, as the Psycho-analysts
point out along which this control or censuring of the primary instincts acts.
First, there is the line of <i>Defence Reaction. </i>That is to say, the mind
automatically takes up an attitude directly contrary to the impulse, tries to
shut it out and deny altogether its existence and the measure of the insistence
of the impulse is also the</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p align=center style='margin:0; text-align:center;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%'>Page – 37</p>

</div>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;measure of the vehemence of the denial. It
is the case of the lady protesting too much. So it happens that where
subconsciously there is a strong current of a particular impulse, consciously
the mind is obliged to take up a counteracting opposite impulse. Thus in
presence of a strong sexual craving the mind as if to guard and save itself
engenders by a reflex movement an ascetic and puritanic mood. Similarly a
strong unthinking physical attraction translates itself on the conscious plane
as an equally strong repulsion.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>Secondly, there is the line of <i>Substitution. </i>Here
the mind does not stand in an antagonistic and protestant mood to combat and
repress the impulse, but seeks to divert it into other channels, use it to
other purposes which do not demand equal sacrifice, may even, on the other
hand, be considered by the conscious mind as worthy of human pursuit. Thus the
energy that normally would seek sexual gratification might find its outlet in
the cultivation of art and literature. It is a common thing in novels to find
the heroine disappointed in love taking finally to works of charity and
beneficence and thus forgetting her disappointment. Another variety of this is
what is known as &quot;drowning one's sorrow in drinking.&quot;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>Thirdly, there is the line of <i>Sublimation – it
</i>is when the natural impulse is neither repressed nor diverted but lifted up
into a higher modality. The thing is given a new sense and a new value which
serve to remove the stigma usually attached to it and thus allow its free
indulgence. Instances of carnal love sublimated into spiritual union, of
passion transmuted into devotion (Bhakti) are common enough to illustrate the
point.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>The human mind naturally, without any effort on
its part, takes to one or more of these devices to control and conceal the
aboriginal impulses. But this spontaneous process can be organised and
consciously regulated and made to serve better the purpose and urge of Nature.
And this is the beginning of yoga – the conscious fulfilment of Nature. The
Psycho-analysts have given us the first and elementary stage of this process of
yoga. It is, we may say, the fourth line of control. With this man enters a new
level of being, develops a new mode of life. It is when the automatism of Nature
is replaced by the power of <i>Conscious Control. </i><st1:State><st1:place>Man.</st1:place></st1:State>
is not here, a blind instrument of forces, his activities (both indulging and
controlling) are not</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p align=center style='margin:0; text-align:center;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%'>Page – 38</p>

</div>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;guided according to an ignorant submission
to the laws of almost subconscious impulsions. Conscious control means that.
the mind does not fight shy of or seek to elude the aboriginal insistences, but
allows them to come up freely, meets them squarely, recognises them and
establishes an easy mastery over them.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>The method of unconscious or subconscious nature
is fundamentally that of repression. Apart from Defence Reaction which is a
thing of 'pure coercion, even in Substitution and Sublimation there always
remains in the background a large amount of repressed complexes in all their
primitive strength. The system is never entirely. purified but remains secretly
pregnant with those urges; a part only is deflected and camouflaged, the
surface only assumes a transformed appearance. And there is always the danger
of the superstructure coming down helplessly by a sudden upheaval of the nether
forces. The whole system feels, although not in a conscious manner, the tension
of the repression and suffers from something that is unhealthy and
ill-balanced. Dante's spiritualised passion is a supreme instance of control by
Sublimation, but the <i>Divina Comedia </i>hardly bears the impress of a serene
and tranquil soul, sovereignly above the turmoils of the tragedy of life and
absolutely at peace with itself.</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>In conscious control, the mind is for the first
time aware of the presence of the repressed impulses, it seeks to release them
from the pressure to which they are habitually and normally subjected. It knows
and recognises them, however ugly and revolting they might appear to be when
they present themselves in their natural nakedness. Then it becomes easy for
the conscious determination to eliminate or regulate or transform them and thus
to establish a healthy harmony in the human vehicle. The very recognition
itself, as implied in conscious control, means purification.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>Yet even here the process of control and
transformation does not end. And we now come to the Fifth Line, the real and
intimate path of yoga. Conscious control gives us a. natural mastery over the
instinctive impulses which are relieved of their dark <i>lamas </i>and attain a
purified rhythm. We do not seek to hide or repress or combat them, but surpass
them and play with them as the artist does with his material. Something</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p align=center style='margin:0; text-align:center;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%'>Page – 39</p>

</div>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;of this <i>katharsis, </i>this aestheticism
of the primitive impulses was achieved by the ancient Greeks. Even then the
primitive impulses remain primitive all the same; they fulfil, no doubt, a real
and healthy function in the scheme of life, but still in their fundamental
nature they continue the animal in man. And even when Conscious Control means
the utter elimination and annihilation of the primal instincts – which,
however, does not seem to be a probable eventuality – even then, we say, the
basic problem remains unsolved; for the urge of nature towards the release and
a transformation of the instincts does not find satisfaction, the question is
merely put aside.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>Yoga, then, comes at this stage and offers the
solution in its power of what we may call <i>Transubstantiation. </i>That is to
say, here the mere form is not changed, nor the functions restrained, regulated
and purified, but the very substance of the instincts is transmuted. The power
of conscious control is a power of the human will, <i>i.e. </i>of an individual
personal will and therefore necessarily limited both in intent and extent. It
is a power complementary to the power of Nature, it may guide and fashion the
latter according to a new pattern, but cannot change the basic substance, the
stuff of Nature. To that end yoga seeks a power that transcends the human will,
brings into play the supernal puissance of a Divine Will.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>This is the real meaning and sense of the moral
struggle in man, the continuous endeavour towards a transvaluation of the
primary and aboriginal instincts and impulses. Looked at from one end, from
below up the ascending line, man's ethical and spiritual ideals are a
dissimulation and sublimation of the animal impulsions. But this is because –as
we see, if we look from the other end, from above down the descending line –
man is not all instinct, he is not a mere blind instrument in the hands of
Nature forces. He has in him another source, an opposite pole of being from
which other impulsions flow and continually modify the structure of the lower
levels. If the animal is the foundation of his nature, the divine is its
summit. If the bodily demands form his manifest reality, the demands of the
spirit enshrine his higher reality. And if as regards the former he is a slave,
as regards the latter he is the Master. It is by the interaction of these
double forces that his whole nature has been and is being fashioned. Man does
not and cannot</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p align=center style='margin:0; text-align:center;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%'>Page – 40</p>

</div>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>give carte blanche<i><span style='font-family:
"Arial Narrow"'> </span></i>to his vital, inclinations, since there is a
pressure upon them of higher forces coming down from his mental and spiritual
levels. It is these latter which have deviated him from the direct line of the
pure animal life.</p>
<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%'>&nbsp;</p>

<p style='margin:0; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; text-indent:0.34cm'>Thus then we may distinguish three types of
control on three levels. First, the <i>natural </i>control, secondly the
conscious, <i>i.e. </i>to say the <i>mental – the </i>ethical and religious
control, and thirdly the <i>spiritual </i>or divine control. Now the spirit is
the ultimate truth and reality, behind the forces that act in the mind and in
the body, so that the natural control and the ethical control are mere attempts
to establish and realise the spiritual control. The animal impulses feel the
hidden stress of the divine urges that are their real essence and thus there
rises first an unconscious conflict in the natural life and then a conscious
conflict in the higher ethical life. But when both of these are transcended and
the conflict is carried on to a still higher level, then do we find their real
significance and arrive at the consummation to which they move. Yoga is the
ultimate transvaluation of physical (and of moral) values, it is the
trans-substantiation of life-power into its spiritual substance.</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p align=center style='margin:0; text-align:center;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid black 1.0pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%'>Page – 41</p>

</div>

  <p align=right style='margin:0; text-align:right; line-height:150%'>
	<a title="Home" style="color: blue" href="-00_-Content"><img src="/Nolini/Volume-1/_Gif_Image/house01_green.gif" width="28" height="23" border="0" alt="house06_white.gif"></a></p>

</div>

			</td>
		</tr>
	</table>
</div>

</body>

</html>
