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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1202
the nature of certain methods of psychic development, mental control, and
occult development, which are generally known as the “Raja Yoga methods,”
and which are used also by many of the followers of the other systems, and
the most desirable and “saner” of which are sometimes taught in connection
with some of the branches and cults of the Vedanta. From these “Raja Yoga
Methods” the System of Patanjali takes its name. “Yoga” is the Sanscrit term
meaning “contemplation, concentration, and conjunction”; and also used
in another sense of a “yoking up” or “union,” implying a union, by means
of these methods, between man and the higher planes of being—even of
Brahman. There are many forms of Yoga in the philosophies, “Gnani Yoga,” or
the Yoga of Wisdom being the form preferred by the Vedantists who strive
for Attainment, or Emancipation, by means of Wisdom, Understanding, and
Knowledge acquired by the exercise of Pure Reason and Right Thinking. The
followers of Patanjali, or a large number of them, prefer the road of “Raja
Yoga,” or the Yoga of Mental Control, Psychic Development, Unfoldment
of Latent Forces, etc. The Purva Mimansa system, and the followers of the
many religious sects and cults in India, seemingly prefer the road of “Karma
Yoga” or the Yoga of Work, Duty, Action, Devotion, etc.—the Path of Right
Living and Devotion to Duty and God. And so, in our consideration of
“Yoga” in connection with Patanjali’s Yoga System, we shall hold ourself to
its favourite phase of Raja Yoga. But before passing on to a consideration
of its Yoga Methods, let us examine the system in its philosophical and
metaphysical aspect.
Patanjali, like Kapila, does not dispute the existence of that, or Brahman,
but like his predecessor he “takes that for granted,” as we have heard the
matter stated. He accepts the Sankhya doctrine of the Tattvas, or Principles
of Creation, and holds to the Sankhya conception of the basic principles of
the phenomenal universe, i.e., the two opposing but interacting Principles of
Purusha and Prakriti respectively. Like Kapila, he postulates a great universal
principle of Prakriti, from which has evolved “all this side of Spirit,” including
Mind. And like Kapila, he postulates the existence of innumerable spiritual