Pushkarmuni Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Devendramuni, A D Batra, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Rajasthankesari Adhyatmayogi Upadhyay Shree Pushkar Muni Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 936

Paths to the Divine
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Kundalini Yoga is based upon this approach. Thus the yogi on the Kundalini path begins with the body and gradually progresses to the deeper spiritual practices of meditation. He applies his will as well as his reason and logic to his search for God. In contrast with the practitioner on the path of prayer, who begins with surrender, the yogi's journey begins largely through the path of will. The beauty of the path of will is that the journey starts where the majority of aspirants are--it starts with what they can readily understand, communicate, experience and accept. It begins with the known, the external, the tangible and the concrete. The practitioner can be sure of what is happening when he deals with the body. He can feel and see the results of his practices. Thus the path of will is well-suited to the Western mind, which responds best to what is external, tangible and concrete
The practitioner on the path of will, however, eventually comes to a stage in which he must let go of his will and allow the inner workings of the God within him to direct his progress. This 'letting go' is called surrender. In eight-limbed Astanga Yoga* the first six steps, that of Yama (abstention from wrong doing), Niyama (moral observances), Asana (posture), Prānāyāma (control of breath), Pratyahára (withdrawal of the mind from sense-objects), and Dharana (concentration) belongs to the path of will. The last two Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (merger into centre of the Self) belong to the path of surrender. When the disciple arrives at the stage of surrender, he can no longer progress by using his will. His will, in fact, becomes a hindrance to him. At this stage, faith, trust and surrender are necessary to make continued growth possible. The faith and trust needed by the disciple, however, are now available to him as a result of his prior wilful practices.
The Kundalini path progresses from the known to the unknown. When your journey begins with a God of whom you know nothing, it starts with the abstract, with what you are not. Such a search is a journey from the unknown to the unknown. To make such a journey is difficult for the man of logic, the man of reason and will. If you have the faith to surrender to the unknown, to jump into the unknown, then the path of surrender is valid at the very beginning of the search. If you do not have a sufficient amount of faith, however, you will find it difficult to use this approach. Such is the predicament of the average Western practitioner of traditional, faith-oriented religion.
The devotee, the follower of the path of prayer and faith, folds his hands and prays to the Father for His grace and waits. The yogi, who believes the dormant aspect of God to be within himself, goes through various disciplines to awaken the energy of God, known as Sakti, within him. He acts. He begins with wilful, conscious practices. This difference in approach does not mean that prayer can be used only by those who believe God to be outside themselves. It also plays a useful role on the path of will, for prayer, in some form, can be and is used by all paths and in every religion. Prayer without attention to and care of the body, however, is an abstract prayer-a useless prayer.
If the person who prays to God lacks total faith and abiding trust, he will become vague in his belief of God. If he further ignores his body and condemns it, he will fail to see the power of God functioning through his body. He will tend to reject and separate the apparently lower forces of the body from the higher forces of God. As a result, it will become psychologically difficult for him to believe that the kingdom of heaven is within, that God can express Himself through man.
People of this belief unconsciously treat the body and its forces as devilish. They see that the sensual pleasures of lust and passion are so powerful that they distract the aspirant from the higher path. The saying "the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak' is correct. The
• Astānga (Eight-Limbed) Yoga: A scientific approach to God-realization based on progressively unfolding levels of growth, expounded by the sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra (200 B.C.).