Raja-Yoga

YOGA APHORISMS. 183
an animal s face, if there is not intelligence
behind it.
What the world will call a very common face he will
call heavenly, if that spirit
shines behind it. This
thirst after body is the great bane of human life. So,
when this purity is established, the first sign will be that
you do not care to think you are a body. It is
only
when purity comes that we get rid of the body idea.
41. There also arises purification of the Sattva,
cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, con
quest of the organs, and fitness for the realisa
tion of the Self.
By this practice the Sattva material will prevail, and
the mind will become concentrated and cheerful.
The first sign that you are becoming religious is that
you are becoming cheerful. When a man is gloomy
that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion. A
pleasurable feeling is the nature of the Sattva. Every
thing is pleasurable to the Sdttvika man, and when this
comes, know that you are progressing in Yoga. All
pain is caused by Tamas, so you must get rid of that;
moroseness is one of the results of Tamas. The strong,
the well-knit, the young, the healthy, the daring alone
are fit to be Yogis. To the Yogi everything is bliss,
every human face that he sees brings cheerfulness to
him. That is the sign of a virtuous man. Misery is
casued by sin, and by no other cause. What business
have you with clouded faces; it is terrible. If you
have a clouded face do not go out that day, shut your
self up in your room. What right have you to carry