The word Yoga properly means “union”;1 it should be mentioned in passing, though it is really a matter of small importance, that we do not know why numerous European authors make this a femi nine word, whereas in Sanskrit it is masculine. The principal mean ing of the term is the effective union of the human being with the Universal; applied to a darshana, of which the formulation in sūtra s is attributed to Patañjali, it signifies that the darshana in question has as its goal the realization of this union and provides the means of attaining it. While the Sāṇkhya viewpoint remains a theoretical one, we are here essentially concerned with realization in the meta physical sense that we have already explained, notwithstanding the opinions of the professional orientalists, who imagine that they are concerned with a “philosophy”, or of the would-be “esoterists” who, attempting to make up for their own lack of doctrine by fanciful inventions, look upon Yoga as a “method for developing the latent powers of the human organism”. The point of view in question refers to a totally different order of things, incomparably superior to anything that is implied in such interpretations, and it escapes the comprehension of both orientalists and occultists alike; this is natu ral enough, however, since nothing of the kind is to be met with in the West.
On the theoretical side, Yoga completes Sāṇkhya by introducing the conception of Īshvara or Universal Being; and this conception permits of the unification, first of Purusha, a multiple principle only so long as it is considered in relation to separate existences, and next of Purusha and Prakriti, since Universal Being, as their common principle, is beyond the distinction between them. Yoga again admits the development of nature or manifestation as described in Sāṇkhya, but since it is here taken as the basis of a realization that is destined to lead beyond its own contingent sphere, it is considered, so to speak, in an order inverse to that of its development, namely, from the standpoint of return to its final end, which is identical with its initial principle. In relation to manifestation, the first prin ciple is Īshvara or Universal Being; that is not to say that this princi ple is absolutely first in the universal order, since we have explained the fundamental distinction to be made between Īshvara, who is Being, and Brahma, which is beyond Being; but for the manifested being, union with Universal Being may be looked upon as consti tuting a necessary stage on the way toward ultimate union with the supreme Brahma. Besides, the possibility of going beyond Being, either theoretically or from the point of view of realization, implies a complete metaphysical doctrine, which the Yoga- Shāstra of Patañ jali does not claim to represent by itself alone.
Since metaphysical realization essentially consists in identifica tion through knowledge, whatever is not itself knowledge has value only as an accessory means; accordingly, Yoga takes as its starting-point and fundamental means what is called ekāgrya, that is to say “concentration”. This concentration, as Max Müller admitted,2 is something quite foreign to the Western mind, accustomed as it is to direct all its attention upon externals and to disperse itself amid their indefinitely changing multiplicity; it has indeed become almost an impossibility for this type of mind, and yet it is the first and most important of all the conditions of effective realization. Concentration, especially at the outset, can take for its support either a thought or else a symbol such as a word or an image; subse quently, however, these auxiliary means become needless, along with the rites and other “aids” that may be employed concurrently in view of the same end. It is evident, moreover, that this end could not be attained solely by use of the accessory means we have just men tioned, which are extraneous to knowledge; but it is nonetheless true that these means, though in no wise essential, are not to be despised, for they can possess a large measure of efficacy in assisting realization, and in leading, if not to its final goal, at least to its earlier stages. Such is the real utility of everything that is covered by the term hatha-yoga, which is designed, on the one hand, to destroy or, rather, to “transform” those elements in the human being which pose an obstacle to union with the Universal, and, on the other hand, to prepare for that union by the assimilation of certain rhythms, con nected chiefly with the control of the breath; but for reasons previously given, we do not intend to dwell here on questions affecting realization. In any case, it must always be borne in mind that, of all preliminary means, theoretical knowledge alone is really indispens able, and that later, when one passes to actual realization, it is con centration that matters most and that leads to it in the most immediate way, for it is directly bound up with knowledge. An action is always separated from its results, but meditation or intel lectual contemplation, called in Sanskrit dhyāna, bears its fruit within itself; moreover, action cannot bring about deliverance from the realm of action, a result that is implicit in the final aim of meta physical realization. However, this realization may not always be complete, and it is possible for it to stop short at the attainment of states that are of a higher order but not final; it is to these lesser degrees of realization that the special observances prescribed by the Yoga-Shāstra refer; but instead of traversing them in succession, it is also possible, though doubtless more difficult, to pass them over in one leap in order to arrive directly at the final goal, and it is this last way which is often referred to by the term raja-yoga. Actually, this last expression should be taken to refer also, in a stricter sense, to the goal of realization itself, whatever may be the means or particular modes employed, which should naturally be those best adapted to the mental and even to the physiological conditions of each person; in this case the chief purpose of hatha-yoga, at all its stages, will be to lead up to rāja-yoga.
Th e yogī, in the strict sense of the word, is he who has realized perfect and final union. The name cannot therefore be applied with out abuse to the man who simply gives himself up to the study of Yoga as a darshana, nor even to one who in fact follows the path of realization indicated in it but without having yet reached the supreme goal toward which it leads. The state of a true yogī is that of a being who has attained and possesses the highest possibilities in their fullest development; all the secondary states we have men tioned belong to him as well, automatically so, but as it were by superaddition, and without being given greater importance than is their due, each according to its rank, in the complete hierarchy of existence of which they form so many constituent elements. The same can be said of the possession of certain special and more or less extraordinary powers, such as those called siddhi s or vibhūti s: far from being worth pursuing for their own sake, these powers amount to no more than simple accidents, derived from the realm of the “great illusion”, as does all that belongs to the phenomenal order, and the yogī only exercises them in quite exceptional circum stances; regarded otherwise, they can only form obstacles to com plete realization. It can be seen how unfounded is the popular opinion that would make of the yogī a sort of magician, not to say a sorcerer. In truth, those who make a display of certain peculiar fac ulties, corresponding to the development of possibilities that do not however belong exclusively to the “organic” or physiological order, are not yogī s at all, but they are men who, for one reason or another, and most often through intellectual insufficiency, have stopped short at a partial and inferior realization that does not extend beyond the limits of human individuality, and one can rest assured that they will never travel any further. On the other hand, through true metaphysical realization, detached from all contingencies and therefore essentially of a supra-individual order, the yogī has become identical with “Universal Man”, to use an expression bor rowed from Islamic esoterism to which we have already referred; but in order to draw the conclusions that this implies, we should have to go beyond the limits we wish to set ourselves in the present work. Furthermore, it is especially to hatha-yoga, that is to say to the pre paratory tasks, that the present darshana refers, and our remarks were chiefly intended to strike at the root of the commonest errors on the subject; what remains to be said, namely whatever concerns the final goal of realization, should be reserved rather for the purely metaphysical side of the doctrine, which is represented by the Vedānta.
1 The same root, in almost identical form, appears in the English word “yoke”. ED
2 Preface to the Sacred Books of the East, pp. xxiii–xxiv.