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DR. K. C. VARADACHARI
The School of Rajayoga is said to have
been founded by Hiranyagarbha (Brahma) and the chief tenets
of that school were written down in Sutra-form by Sage
Patanjali. Sage Patanjali is identified with the great
grammarian Patanjali by some scholars. Rajayoga, as
enunciated by the Yoga Sutras, is one of the earliest
systematic attempts to present the method of release. It is
however true that in the meanwhile many other types of yoga
have come into being.
Shri Ram Chandraji (of Shahjahanpur) states in his Efficacy
of Rajayoga that the technique discovered by his Master Shri
Ram Chandraji of Fatehgarh was originally the earliest
having been invented by a Rishi who lived far earlier than
Sri Dasaratha, the father of Sri Rama Chandra, the avatar.
This method depends on the same principle later enunciated
by sage Patanjali but with a great modification. The
principle is that all this world, both individual and
cosmic, arose out of the original stir (kshobha) and this is
of the nature of thought. It is this subtlest thought that
as power has become grosser and grosser till it evolved into
the cosmic world (brahmanda) and the individuated worlds of
beings. Thought thus became the gross world of matter. Of
course this descending process of thought has been attended
by a series of twists or inversions of the original flow or
strands of the flow. Thus we have the descriptions of the
higher and the lower constantly being changed or inverted.
These inversions lead to many changes, and knots are formed
at each one of the stages of the descent of the flow of
thought. All these are not mentioned in the Yoga Sutras of
Patanjali or in the Samkhya. Sage Patanjali states in his
definition of Yoga that it is just the nirodha or stopping
the modifications of the citta (citta-vrtti-nirodha). The
nature of citta is not clearly mentioned, for citta is not a
category (tattva) of the Samkhyan enumeration. Therefore,
the writers on Yoga think that it is to be equated with
manas, the sensorium of Samkhya. But really citta should
refer to all thought-processes starting from buddhi,
ahamkara, manas, sense-organs culminating in the motor
organs also, for all have to be reversed or led to nivrtti.
It is then that they really are made to be one with the
original thought. Thus the force of thought is to be used to
stop the flow of thought downward towards grossness. It is
undoubtedly a serious question whether the thought as citta
is used for the purpose of restraining itself. That is not
the case, and what happens is that another force has to
restrain it from going on its downward movement. It is this
force that is said to be of the same nature as that of citta
but in its refined form or superfine form which is to be
used for the purpose of restraining the modifications of the
citta.
Shri Ram Chandraji has shown that the original thought
(which he calls Manas), with which the later formations of
it including obviously the citta are identical in a sense
but which have to be shown to be inversions of it, is to be
used for controlling them. This power of Superfine Thought
cannot be had unless one begins to contemplate or meditate
on the Superfine thought itself or on one who is in full
possession of it without any diminution, namely God Himself
or a great Master who has arrived at that condition.
Thought as understood by philosophers is just reason and
reasoning. Such a reason is dependent for its existence on
sensations and experiences which are sensory. The reasoning
or reason cannot be correct unless it is also guided by the
laws of reason. That is why the philosophers can be arriving
at wrong conclusions or erroneous judgments. There are any
number of philosophies nowadays which are based on a set of
axioms or assumptions even like mathematical schools
dependent on a set of axioms. There are thus any number of
mathematically constructed universes none of which need be
true. So too these several philosophies can be produced or
invented and none of them need be true. Therefore, we have
conflicts between several types of philosophies all of which
claim to satisfy but which is hardly arrived at so long as
their basic assumptions either of thought (called laws of
thought) or sense (claimed to be facts) are arbitrarily
chosen.
The procedures of philosophers based on the so called
genetic approach or empiricism are bound to be vitiated at
the very outset because they attempt to know Reality as a
whole through the knowledge of the parts. Inductive
procedure based on leaping to the general or universal or
whole knowledge from the knowledge of parts has its own
basic hazards. The leap is sometimes impossible, sometimes
nonsensical, and sometimes irresponsible.
Thought, as we have delineated it, is a kingly thing in us,
and since we use thought for the purpose of linking
ourselves with Reality, the Yoga (linking) is called
Rajayoga. However, if it is the usual intellectual
discursive thought, thought that is the servant of
sensations, then it is not doing its kingly function. The
real thought is akin to Vision, and it is this royal thought
which has to be trained to come back to us by the
purification of the thought that we now exercise. The twists
and turns or inversions (vivarta) that that thought has gone
through in its becoming (pravrtti) have to be unwinded or
untwisted or reinverted so as to become the original
thought. Therefore, the true purpose of philosophy is to
restore its original power to thought and then use it to
know Reality, rather than try to know Reality with the help
of these twisted and distorted instruments.
Ancient Indian thinkers have laid down three conditions for
arriving at truth or Reality: (i) the subject or knower must
be healthy and not obsessed by desires; (ii) the object
should be without ambiguous or similar nature to other
objects so as to give rise to illusions; (iii) the means or
instruments of knowing or thought (pramana) must be without
any defect. The error or deficiencies of the subject lead to
hallucinations and errors of prejudice and desire; the
errors of the second lead to illusions, and the third also
to error. Thus Reality which is of the highest nature cannot
be truly comprehended or apprehended by means of the senses
or reasoning or comparisons or analogies, because it is
subtler than any of the objects of the senses and because
knowledge of that will throw light on the sensations rather
than otherwise. Thus Rajayoga aims at arriving at the
highest Thought or purest thought to apprehend Reality as it
is, having cleansed the subject of all desire and the means
of all imperfection.
Shri Ram Chandraji therefore counsels that any one
interested in the knowledge of Reality should arrive at this
state of Vision or Intuitive knowing and should not try to
know Reality of a kind by means of senses and reasoning
which can only give distortions of Reality or unreality in
one word.
II
Sri Ramchandra’s Rajayoga is claimed to be the natural
method of attaining this Highest Vision and experience of
Reality.
Since thought in its subtlest form is the origin of all
process and building up of the gross physical, vital, and
mental bodies so as to speak, thought even in its gross form
is utilized to break up these structures. The simple method
is the method of concentration which is the linking up of
our thought (gross form) with its subtlest form (that is of
Reality). This subtlest form is that of the Master, and that
is why the Master becomes the object of concentration. All
religions counsel the concentration or meditation on the
Godhead who is claimed to be Adi Guru — the first Guru or
the Guru of all Gurus. Concentration on that Guru leads to
the loss of grossness of the thought which is ours, and
slowly there happens the transformation of that thought into
subtle conditions. The thought within us moves slowly to the
Ultimate. And in this process there is achieved a double
end, firstly, thought purifies itself by contact with the
Ultimate and secondly, moves to that Ultimate Being or state
or condition faster and faster.
As our thought slowly moves upwards or takes its yatra or
pilgrimage to the Ultimate, renunciation of thought in its
lower forms and movements take place naturally. So too, our
thought becomes subtler and subtler and thus reveals its own
true nature. Thus the renunciation of the lower levels
happens without effort by fixing it on the Ultimate as the
goal. The individual begins to realize that the individual
mind has become as such when it began to get away from the
Centre of Peace (the Ultimate).
More important, of course, is the point that the soul begins
to get the Ultimate’s peace and calmness; and simplicity
begins to descend even as the individual is moving towards
it or has totally surrendered to its contemplation. For it
is a truth that one becomes what one contemplates. Thus the
meditation on the Ultimate is the first condition of ascent.
As Shri Ram Chandraji states “the gentle waves of the Calm
of the Region of the Almighty begin to flow direct to the
individual mind and so in the long run you become one with
it” (Efficacy of Rajayoga P.34). The meditation on the
Ultimate having been decided on and the Ultimate having been
recognized as the Guru or God, it follows as to where and as
what the Ultimate has to be meditated upon.
Shri Ram Chandraji has clearly stated that there are certain
minimum assumptions: firstly, there is the Ultimate;
secondly, that this Ultimate (which is also called Zero or
Nothingness) is called Tam (or that, tat). It is not the
tamas quality or the quality that makes for dullness,
lethargy etc., that comes up later on as the element of
inertia or inactivity in its gross form, which is perhaps
the inversion of that. The Tam has beneath it a kind of
invisible motion. This is the first Mind or Supermind of the
Almighty. From this superconscious mind our own mind
originates. When we take up our individual mind to this
level of the First Mind, then we come close to the Centre or
the Almighty.
The First Mind being arrived at one comes very close to the
Centre and gains the experiences of plainness, simplicity
and calmness.
The difficulty of worshipping the Ultimate is however there.
The need to have a concrete Object rather than an immaterial
Absolute is everywhere felt by meditators. It is indeed
difficult to meditate on that. Therefore, Shri Ram Chandraji
prescribes that one may meditate on the personality who has
attained the Ultimate condition, and who is capable of
leading the meditator to that state. It can be an Avatar as
Sri Krishna has stated about Himself or a special
personality who has attained that state.
Shri Ram Chandra of Fatehgarh, the Master of Shri Ram
Chandra of Shahjahanpur, is said to be one who has that
state and therefore fit to be meditated upon. Further, our
mind being individual and gross needs one who is incarnate
whilst yet being in the Ultimate for concrete meditation.
As Shri Ram Chandraji puts it “when we meditate on a living
form, the form naturally remains in our view. When the
attention gets fixed in it everything superfluous then gets
out of sight. When one goes deep into it, it transforms and
assumes the form of mere impression. Further on that too
sinks into a subtle idea of his Greatness. The ‘jyoti’
experienced in the heart is a reflection of Reality ....”
Many abhyasis (practicers of meditation) have found it
difficult to keep the outer form of their beloved Godhead
before their meditation, whether it be the living Master
also. The difficulty is due to the very nature of the
transference of outer experience to the inside. It becomes a
gross kind of meditation, for the outer is the gross
expression of the inner. There has therefore been a great
deal of difficulty in convincing the meditator about the
change of external appearance in meditation. One should let
oneself go in the inner and experience the flow of the
Master’s superconsciousness within oneself. Surely it may
reveal many experiences. At each stage of ascent there will
be experienced different kinds of light. The ascent itself
is featured by various experiences at the several knots or
wheels (chakras). Shri Ram Chandraji points out that all the
chakras begin to glow as the Superfine Consciousness begins
to pass through them.
When meditation starts there happens the awakening of the
heart Region. Once the Heart Region begins to glow then
there is the starting of the journey to the Ultimate.
It can be seen that one must have chosen the Superconscious
Personality for the meditation on the Ultimate. The
meditation on Him means connecting oneself with Him with
devotion and love. The meditation is to be a kind of
surrender, a total self-giving of oneself to be led to the
goal of superconsciousness which promotes renunciation, and
other necessary adjuncts to the practice known as sadhana
sampattis such as viveka, sama, dama, titiksa, sraddha,
comprised in the triple words, plainness, simplicity and
resignation.
Whatever has been gross is slowly dissolved, and one
naturally proceeds to the Ultimate state of the Supreme
Personality. The worship of the Supreme Personality does not
mean the worship of the gross forms but forms open to the
inner mind. Idolatry is the worship of the gross form
whereas true worship is of the subtlest nature. All gross
forms will melt away into the subtlest nature, and this is
what is experienced as the identity of all manifest forms in
the Ultimate.
The method insists upon the subtlest meditation so as to
purify the inner as well as the outer perceptions and enable
us to arrive at the true nature of things as they are in the
Ultimate.
Thus we are enabled to explore the Heart Region which is
counseled as the initial place of meditation for embodied
beings.
We have spoken about the need to concentrate on the Highest
Personality or the Ultimate in order to arrive at that
condition which is our real goal. It is clear, however, that
we have to distinguish between concentration and meditation.
The original distinction in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is
between dharana and dhyana. They are the two stages of the
increasing absorption in the Ultimate. Meditation is the
natural manner of keeping one’s attention on the Supreme
Personality. During this period every abhyasi experiences
the influx of lot of everyday thoughts and feelings. These
have the nature of interfering with our constant attention,
and effort seems to be demanded to check the influx of these
wayward thoughts (called citta-vrttis), both from our past
and from outside. The need to throw out all these thoughts
is also felt seriously. Dejection seems to overtake most
abhyasis. However, Shri Ram Chandraji has stated that these
could be checked by the process of cleaning two points A & B
located about the region of the heart.
Two fingers from N (left nipple) and three fingers down is
point A and two fingers further down is B.
Secondly, He has also stated that if there is real surrender
or offering to the Master and one has placed oneself
entirely at His disposal, depending upon Him as the only
means, then these intrusions and influxes which are even
referable to our past lives in the form of samskaras can be
thrown out even at the very moment of their arising. The
Buddhist Jhana teaches the necessity of checking influxes of
these vrttis or mental modifications even as they arise.
This requires the heightened awareness of arising of these
subtle elements. This technique however is hardly
successful. This technique of destruction or annihilation of
cittavrttis is also practiced by the Zen Buddhists of Japan.
All these require effortful meditation and in fact for them
there can be no meditation without conscious effort even in
relaxation.
In Sri Ramchandra’s Rajayoga this is achieved effortlessly
by the influx of the transmissional force of the Supreme
Master which neutralizes the entire incoming and arising
vrttis. Therefore, even though they seem to be coming into
oneself, they no longer disturb the meditation on the
Supreme. One feels a growing calm and that is the essence of
detachment from them. Once this detachment from these vrttis
occurs there is then a slow abolition of their occurrence.
Automatically points A and B get cleaned and become free
from any possibility of being made the seats of lower
thoughts. The principle of substitution of the higher in the
place of the lower or perverse modifications stated in the
Yoga Sutras (Vitarka-bhavane pratipaksa-bhavanam) is
masterfully adapted to this new technique of purification of
the thoughts. After this practice, meditation becomes
naturally purified. Concentration becomes naturally
established.
Shri Ram Chandraji has already given the method of
purification by those who have surrendered to the Master and
can take him as the object of meditation. The Master is
described as the Ocean of Bliss. Bliss of course means the
Ultimate though we go beyond bliss itself to the state that
makes bliss possible. We are also asked to think that we are
seated in this Ocean and that the waves of the Ocean which
have the property of removing all dirt and disease are
flowing through us, having this unique quality even like the
X-rays which can pass through us without being obstructed by
any element. Thus the dirt and diseases are removed.
Dirt and diseases which are the causes of our misery or
non-bliss, are of three kinds, physical, vital and mental,
and they come from the outer world or external world and
also from higher powers or forces which are cosmic. Whatever
they are, they all get removed by this incoming descent or
interpenetrating flow of the Waves of Bliss Ocean of the
Master. This suddhi or purification leads to the clear and
calm dhyana, meditation-cum-concentration.
A deep consideration of the manner of meditation is
necessary. What exactly does meditation do? Is it merely a
linking up of oneself with the object or goal, or is it also
the experience of the feeling that one is slowly being
lifted up to that object? There is no doubt that one does
experience the coming into oneself of the object in the form
of waves of bliss (anandalahiri) which is followed by the
ascent of oneself to the centre of the ocean of bliss. This
is very much like the description of certain fishes which go
upstream counter to the flow of the stream.
Now it is necessary to enter into this a little more
carefully. We can see that when anything flows down it is
seen to twist itself in a wavy manner. Liquids twist as they
flow down. Waves of light and energy flow in a wavy manner.
Describing this we can say that things when they move or
flow have the nature of twisting or inverting. This is also
called serpentine. The top becomes the bottom, the right
becomes the left and upper becomes the lower and vice versa.
This principle is called the principle of invertendo by Shri
Ram Chandraji. It is known as anatrope by Plato.
Topsyturveydom is the natural result of this flowing
downwards of everything or movement as such. Up to a
particular point this is tolerable but as these inversions
continue to pile up distortion and grossening of the same
occur. Indeed at one stage the limit of flow having been
reached there is solidification and thus the physical is
solidification wherein the flow has become stopped except in
a very little sense. The changelessness of matter or the
physical is not quite correct expression however, for, as
Shri Ram Chandraji states it: “Change-lessness is a divine
characteristic. In man this changelessness is a divine
characteristic running parallel with the Highest. If it is
proportionately similar, he must then be having it in a
lower degree (in comparison with the Highest). The inversion
itself becomes divine if parallelity is removed and that is
the abhyas in the Sahaj Marg”. Meditation thus attempts to
remove this parallelity and that is by awakening this gross
changelessness into its Ultimate condition of
changelessness.
But this is done by a series of inversions which will
restore the original condition in its subtle condition. The
upward ascent has to be made by the same process of
reversing the inversions. Each one of the points at which
the inversion happened is a point of change, and it is known
as a knot or chakra, a wheel which has to be reversed in its
movement. Thus we get the significance of the rotating of
the dharma-chakra which is the process of reversing the
direction of movement of the adharma-chakra.
This is one of the most important things which the
transmitted power of the Master achieves, for no one can do
it by oneself. This reversing of the movement at the centre
of the Heart which is the gross point of our thought,
immediately achieves the reversal of all the inversion
points or knots also imperceptibly at the beginning, and
perceptibly later on. This itself brings about loss of
tension and the experience of relief from pain and torment. |
