In this book the emphasis is on what is known as Raja Yoga – the yoga of meditation – which is principally concerned with the cultivation of the mind by learning to quieten or master its many fluctuations in order to experience deep stillness, joy and, ultimately, enlightenment. However, the pages that follow also contain physical purification practices for the body, breath and mind that derive from Hatha Yoga – the wider practice of yoga as defined in Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Such physical practices are also an essential part of Raja Yoga; Hatha and Raja Yoga are interdependent.
One way to think of the interaction between Hatha and Raja Yoga is that the physical practices of Hatha Yoga – asana, purification and pranayama practices (see chapters 4–6) – represent the cleaning of the temple windows (the physical body and mind) in order for the spiritual light of Raja Yoga – the meditation practices (see chapter 7) – to shine into the inner sanctum (the inner Self). After all, your physical body and mind are your primary tools for all spiritual practices. So without a strong, healthy body and mind, it is difficult to attain spiritual joy.
Raja Yoga teachings can be traced back to around 200 BCE when they were systematized by a great sage called Patanjali, who formulated them into 196 aphorisms called the Yoga Sutras, quotes from which you will see scattered throughout this book. Some modern translations give the number of sutras as 195 due to the interpretation that one is an expansion of a previous sutra.
Patanjali’s ancient guidelines give instruction on the actions he believed we need to take if we want to regain the experience of our true divine nature – from social and personal disciplines through yoga postures, breathing control and sense withdrawal to concentration and meditation techniques.
Stilling the mind
Patanjali tells us in his Yoga Sutras that when the mind is still and turns within, we perceive the self in its true, divine, ever-joyful nature, free from any obstacles that were previously obscuring this:
“Yoga (the experience of unity) results from the neutralization of ego-feelings (vrittis) that produce desires, attachments, likes and dislikes.”
Yoga Sutras 1:2
“Then the self abides in its own (eternal) true nature.”
Yoga Sutras 1:3
“At other times when the self is not abiding in its own true nature, there arises false identification with the ego-feeling (vritti).”
Yoga Sutras 1:4
The Sanskrit word vritti means “whirlpool” and it is these swirling vortices of feeling arising from the ego – desires and attachments, likes and dislikes, feelings and memories – that cause restlessness of the mind. Yoga is simply the stilling of such feelings, and therefore of such movements, akin to waves gently stilling on the surface of a lake, bringing about a sense of calm.