In a yoga practice, various posture sequences, breathing exercises, meditation and relaxation techniques are done in order to encourage the harmonious development of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being. Yoga is not a religion. Students are given suggestions on how to more deeply connect with their inner selves, but it is up to the student to find a path that brings him or her own self into harmony.
At Vel Powers, Master Raja proposes to attain that fine state of perception in which we can perceive all the different mental states. There must be mental perception of all of them. One can perceive how the sensation is travelling, how the mind is receiving it and how it is going to the determinative faculty. As each science requires certain preparations and has its own method, which must be followed before it could be understood, for an example in RajaYoga.
Raja Yoga means the King of Yogas because the mind is supposed to be the king among the organs. Certain regulations as to food are necessary; we must use that food which brings us the purest mind. If we go into a menagerie, we will find this demonstrated at once. We see the elephants, huge animals, but calm and gentle; and if we go towards the cages of the lions and tigers, we find them restless, showing how much difference has been made by food. All the forces that are working in this body have been produced out of food, we see that every day. If we begin to fast, first our body will get weak, the physical forces will suffer; and then after a few days, the mental forces will suffer also. First, memory will fail. Then comes a point, when we are not able to think, much less to pursue any course of reasoning.
We have, therefore, to take care what sort of food we eat at the beginning, and when we have got strength enough, when our practice is well advanced, we need not be so careful in this respect. While the plant is growing it must be hedged round, lest it be injured; but when it becomes a tree, the hedges are taken away. It is strong enough to withstand all assaults.
A Yogi must avoid the extreme of austerity. He must not fast, nor torture his flesh. He who does so, says the Bhagavad Gita, cannot be a Yogi. He who fasts, he who keeps awake, he who sleeps much, he who works too much, he who does no work, NONE of these can be a Yogi (Bhagavad Gita, VI, 16).
"Meditate on your SELF, Respect your SELF, Love your SELF, Worship your SELF, Yogic Powers will dwell within your SELF." |