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RAJA YOGA an INTRODUCTORY to RELIGION WITHOUT RELIGION!
The science of Raja Yoga proposes to put before humanity a practical and scientifically worked-out method of reaching this truth. In the first place, every science must have its own method of investigation. If you want to become an astronomer, and sit down and cry “Astronmoy, Astronomy!” it will never come to you. The same with chemistry. A certain method must be followed. You must go to the laboratory, take the different will come a knowledge of chemistry. If you want to be an astronomer you must go to the observatory, take a telescope, study the stars and planets, and then you will become an astronomer. Each science must have its own methods. I could preach you thousands of sermons, but they would not make you religious, until you first practiced the method. these are the truths of the sages of all countries, of all ages.
Listern - Meditation Radio - More - Introduction to Raja Yoga | Meditation | The Spirit of Man | Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda | Ethics by Spinoza
Men pure and unselfish, who had no motive but to do good to the world. They all declare that they have found some truth higher than that the senses can bring to us, and they challenge verification. They say to you, take up the method and practice honestly, and then, if you do not find this higher truth, you will have the right to say that there is no truth in the claim, but before you have done that, you are not rational in denying the truth of these assertions. So we must work faithfully, using the prescribed methods, and light will come.
In acquiring knowledge we make use of generalization, and generalization is based upon observation. We first observe facts, and then we generalize, and then we draw our conclusions or principles. The knowledge of the mind, of the internal nature of man, of though, can never be had until we have the power of first observing the facts that are going on within. It is very easy to observe facts in the external world, and many thousand instruments have been invented to observe every point of nature, but in the internal world we find no instrument to help us. Yet we know we must observe in order to have a real science. Without a proper analysis, any science will be hopeless, mere theorizing, and that is why all the psychologists have been quarrelling among themselves since the beginning of time, except those few who found out the means of observation. The science of Raja Yoga, in the first place, proposes to give men such a means of observing the internal states, and the instrument is the mind itself. The power of attention of mind, when properly guided, and directed towards the internal world, will analyze the mind, and illumine facts for us. The powers of mind are like rays of light being dissipated; when they are concentrated they illumine everything. This is the only source of knowledge that we have.
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From our childhood upwards we have been taught only to pay attention to things external, never to pay attention to things internal, and most of us have nearly lost the faculty of observing the internal mechanism. To turn the mind, as it were, inside, stop it from going outside, and them to concentrate all its powers, and throw them upon the mind itself, in order that it may know its own nature, analyze itself, is very hard work. Yet this is the only way to anything which will be a scientific approach to the subject. What is the use of such knowledge? In the first place, knowledge itself is the highest reward of knowledge, and, in the second place, there is also utility in it. It will take away our misery. When, by analyzing his own mind, man comes face to face, as it were, with something which is never destroyed, something which is, by its own nature, eternally pure and perfect, he will no more be miserable, no more unhappy. All misery comes from fear, from unsatisfied desire. Man will find that he never dies, and then he will have no more fear of death. When he knows that he is perfect, he will have no more vain desires, and both these causes being absent, there will be no more misery—there ill be perfect bliss, even while in this body. There is only one method by which to attain this knowledge, that which is called concentration. The chemist in his laboratory concentrates all the energies of his mind into one focus, and throws them out upon the materials he is analyzing, and so finds out their secret. The astronomer concentrates all the energies of his mind and projects them through his telescope upon the skies; and the stars, the sun, and the moon, give up their secrets to him. The more I can concentrate my thoughts on the matter on which I am talking to you, the more light I can throw upon it. You are listening to me, and the more you concentrate your thoughts the more clearly you will grasp what I have to say. How has all this knowledge in the world been gain but by the concentration of the powers of the mind? Nature is ready to give up her secrets if we only know how to knock, to give her the necessary blow, and the strength and force of the blow will come through concentration. There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is the more power is brought to bear on one point, and that is the secret. It is easier to concentrate the mind on external things, the mind naturally goes outwards; but, in the case of religion, or psychology, or metaphysics, the subject and object are one. The object is internal, the mind itself is the object, and it is necessary to study the mind itself, mind studying mind. We know there is the power of the mind called reflective. I am talking to you; at the same time I am standing outside, as it were, a second person, and knowing and hearing what I am talking. You work and think at the same time, another portion of your mind stands by and sees what you are thinking. The powers of the mind should be concentrated and turned back upon itself, and as the darkest places reveal their secrets before the penetrating rays of the sun, so will this concentrated mind penetrate its own innermost secrets. Thus will we come to the basis of belief, the real genuine religion. we will perceive for ourselves whether we have souls, whether life is of five minutes, or of eternity, whether there is a God in the universe or none. It will all be revealed to us. This is what Raja Yoga proposes to teach. The goal of all its teaching is how to concentrate the mind.
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Discover the facts in our own minds, then how to generalize those facts, and form our own conclusions from them. It therefore never asks the question what our religion is, whether we are Deists, or Atheists, whether Christians, Jews, or Buddhists. We are human beings; that is sufficient. Every human being has the right and power to seek for religion; every human being has the right to ask the reason why, and to have his question answered by himself, if he only takes the trouble. So far, then, we see that in the study of this Raja Yoga no faith or belief is necessary. Believe nothing, until you find it out for yourself; that is what it teaches us. Truth requires no prop to make it stand. Do you mean to say that the facts of our awakened state require any dreams or imaginings to prove them? Certainly not. This study of Raja Yoga takes a long time and constant practice. A part of this practice is physical, but the main part of it is mental. As we go along we shall find how intimately the mind is connected with the body. If we believe that the mind is simply a finer part of the body, and that mind acts upon the body, in the saw way the body must act upon the mind. If the body is sick, the mind becomes sick also. If the body is healthy, the mind remains healthy and strong. When one is angry, the mind becomes disturbed; at the same time, when the mind is disturbed, the body also becomes majority of mankind the mind is entirely under the control of the body; the mind is very little developed. The vast majority of humanity, if you will kindly excuse me, is very little removed from the animals. Not only that, but, in many instances, the power of control is very little higher than that of the lower animals. We have very little command of our minds. Therefore to bring that command about, to get that control over body and mind, we must take certain physical helps, and when the body is sufficiently controlled, we can attempt the manipulation of the mind. By manipulation of the mind, we shall be able to bring it under our control, make it work as we like, and compel it to concentrate its powers as we desire.
Put only how the great Vivekananda can.......
Listern - Meditation Radio - More - Introduction to Raja Yoga | Meditation | The Spirit of Man | Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda | Ethics by Spinoza
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