Yoga Philosophy

Author(s): Virchand R Gandhi, Bhagu F Karbhari
Publisher: Devchand Lalbhai Pustakoddhar Fund

Page 29

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MYSTICISM IN INDIA
them in reality. The fourth way in which the mind is transformed is sleep and the fifth is memory.
Now the suppression of these transformations is the Yoga which leads to the realization of the self and the means of suppressing them are sustained application and non-attachment. The stages-the intermediate stages relate to the ethics prescribed in conformity with these. They are eight in number, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. The first two are rules aiming at simultaneous physical intellectual and moral elevation leading to spiritual peace. The next two or three are practices preparing the mind for steady concentration on and continued application to any thought or object. The last three are continuations, varying in degree of the same process and ending with Samadhi which is the highest bliss.
Prof. Monier-Williams of England thinks that this system of Yoga is nothing but a mere contrivance of getting rid of all thought; that it is a strange compound of mental and bodily exercises, consisting in unnatural restraint, forced and painful postures, twisting and contortions of the limbs, suppressions of the breath and utter absence of mind. In the opinion of such scholars it is not possible that a man should actually know anything transcending his sensual perception unless it is told to him by some supposed authority. In their opinion the power of intuition cannot be developed to such an extent as to become actual knowledge without any possibility of