(The Self as supreme power, untouched by matter)
PREFACE “Why do you weep, my friend? In you is all power. Summon up your all-powerful nature, O mighty one, and this whole universe will lie at your feet. It is the Self alone that predominates, and not matter.”
It is the Self alone that predominates, and not matter.”
(Yogic detachment and the bliss of the Atman)
They remain perfectly calm wherever they are and whatever they do, enjoying the bliss of the Atman.
Brahman is the Supreme Reality. The world is apparent, like water in a mirage. The real nature of the individual soul is divine, but that divinity is covered by ignorance.
They knew that Dattatreya was an incarnation of Vishnu and a great yogi, that he was beyond good and evil, and that his outward behaviour was a mere show. Consequently, nothing could contaminate him. As a lotus leaf cannot be moistened by the water on which it floats, so the mind of a yogi cannot be touched by worldliness.
For those who have controlled their minds and senses and who persevere with great energy, there is nothing unknowable nor is their anything unattainable anywhere.
(Renouncing attachment and the disease of worldliness)
My children, if you want to practise yoga, you must remove all attachment from your hearts. If you cannot do this, then keep the company of holy men, for holy company is the panacea for the disease of worldliness. Give up all desires. But if you cannot do this then cultivate a desire for liberation. The desire for liberation destroys all other desires. He who forsakes the immortal, indivisible, immutable, ever-free Atman, and becomes involved in sense pleasure is like a vile crow whose attention is always fixed on filth. Shun carnality in thought, word, and deed. If your mind delights in sensual pleasure, you will miss heaven and liberation.
The wise should transcend worldly desires and concentrate on the Supreme Reality. The essential ingredients of the human body are controlled by the moods of the mind. When the mind is troubled and unbalanced, its moods become correspondingly unbalanced and devour it. Therefore the mind should be protected by every possible means. Discrimination is possible only when the mind is calm.
(The Atman as existence-knowledge-bliss, untouched by body and mind)
Again, since I am not the mind and since my true nature has neither beginning nor end, I am always the same—serene, peaceful, unmoved by inner events. Let pleasure, and pain, enjoyment and misery, remain in the body or the mind; it matters nothing to me, for I am the Atman—Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Why should I care for virtue if I have no body? Of what use to me is wealth if I have no hands or feet or head? Therefore, in reality I have no foe or friend, misery or happiness, home or wealth. And if this is true for me then it is true for all.
If your pet bird is killed by a cat you feel bad. On the other hand, if the same cat kills a mouse it does not bother you at all. So it is attachment that brings misery; in non-attachment lies the only true happiness.
Again, happiness and misery depend on the distribution of the gunas [qualities]. If there is a preponderance of sattva [tranquillity] a man is happy, and if tamas [inertia] or rajas [restlessness] prevails he is unhappy. Here is a simile: A man’s ignorance is like a tree. The ego is its sprout from which springs up the trunk of attachment, with house and properties as its branches. Wife, children, and relatives are the twigs on which grow the leaves of wealth and crops. Virtue and vice are the flowers; happiness and misery are the fruits. And this tree, which has grown vigorously throughout untold centuries and now blocks the path to liberation, has been watered and nourished by the hypnotic spell of delusion. Desire for sense objects is like a cloud of wild bees swarming around the tree. Their humming lulls those weary souls, engrossed in worldly enjoyment, who take rest in its shade; so there is no hope for their liberation. On the other hand, those who have sharpened the axe of knowledge on the whetstone of holy company can chop down this tree of ignorance and enter into the quiet, serene park of Brahman, where there is freedom from the thorny plants of craving and the blinding dust of desire. Here all mental waves cease to function, and one attains illumination.
We are not the result of elements combined with senses. We are the Atman and beyond maya. As a fish lives in water yet is different from it, so the Atman lives in the body but is different from it.
Listen, here is the way to realize the Supreme Self: Purify all sense organs through pranayama [breath control], all sense objects through pratyahara [withdrawal of the mind], all mental evils through dharana [concentration], and finally, burn all three gunas through dhyana [meditation]. As fire purifies metal, so tapasya [spiritual discipline] purifies the body, the senses, and the mind. Through the practice of pranayama one can conquer fatigue, restlessness, and melancholy. As one can tame, by love and affection, such ferocious animals as the lion, the tiger, and the elephant, so the yogi, through pranayama, conquers the all-powerful vital force [prana]. Then everything is under his control and he can do anything he chooses.
A few words of caution: Do not practise yoga when you are hungry, tired, or worried. Avoid meditation in a place of extreme cold or heat. Do not practise yoga near fire or water, in a crowded place, in a dirty pasture, at the junction of four roads, among dry leaves, in a palace, in a cremation ground, or in any place that may engender fear. Environment plays a vital role in the practice of yoga. Shun evil company mercilessly. Later, when your mind is filled with God-consciousness, neither space nor time nor company will be able to disturb you. Yoga can be very effective. If you feel hot, meditate on snow; if you are cold, concentrate on fire. If you find that your mind is restless, think that you are a vast motionless mountain and that nothing can shake you.