Raja-Yoga

CHAPTER II.
CONCENTRATION ITS PRACTICE.
1. Mortification, study, and surrendering fruits of
work to God are called Kriya Yoga.
Those Samddhis with which we ended our last chapter
are very difficult to attain so we must take them
; up
slowly. The first step, the preliminary step, is called
Kriya Yoga. Literally this means work, working
towards Yoga. The organs are the horses, the mind
is the reins, the intellect is the charioteer, the soul is
the rider, and this body
is the chariot. The master of
the household, the King, the Self of man, is sitting in
this chariot. If the horses are very strong, and do
not obey the reins, if
the charioteer, the intellect, does
not know how to control the horses, then this chariot
will come to grief. But if the organs, the horses, are
well controlled, and if the reins, the mind, are well held
in the hands of the charioteer, the intellect, the chariot
reaches the goal. What is meant, therefore, by this
mortification? Holding the reins firmly while guiding
this body and mind; not letting the body do anything
it likes, but keeping them both in proper control.
Study. What is meant by study in this case? Not
study of novels, or fiction, or story books, but study
of those books which teach the liberation of the soul.
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