The Oneness of the Self

The Self in you is the same as the Self Universal. Whatever

powers are manifested throughout the world, those powers exist in

germ, in latency, in you. He, the Supreme, does not evolve. In

Him there are no additions or subtractions. His portions, the

Jivatmas, are as Himself, and they only unfold their powers in

matter as conditions around them draw those powers forth. If you

realize the unity of the Self amid the diversities of the

Not-Self, then Yoga will not seem an impossible thing to you.

The Quickening of the Process of Self-unfoldment

Educated and thoughtful men and women you already are; already

you have climbed up that long ladder which separates the present

outer form of the Deity in you from His form in the dust. The

manifest Deity sleeps in the mineral and the stone. He becomes

more and more unfolded in vegetables and animals, and lastly in

man He has reached what appears as His culmination to ordinary

men. Having done so much, shall you not do more ? With the

consciousness so far unfolded, does it seem impossible that it

should unfold in the future into the Divine?

As you realize that the laws of the evolution of form and of the

unfolding of consciousness in the universe and man are the same,

and that it is through these laws that the yogi brings out his

hidden powers, then you will understand also that it is not

necessary to go into the mountain or into the desert, to hide

yourself in a cave or a forest, in order that the union with the

Self may be obtainedÄHe who is within you and without you.

Sometimes for a special purpose seclusion may be useful. It may

be well at times to retire temporarily from the busy haunts of

men. But in the universe planned by Isvara, in order that the

powers of the Self may be brought outÄthere is your best field

for Yoga, planned with Divine wisdom and sagacity. The world is

meant for the unfolding of the Self: why should you then seek to

run away from it? Look at Shri Krishna Himself in that great

Upanishad of yoga, the Bhagavad-Gita. He spoke it out on a

battle-field, and not on a mountain peak. He spoke it to a

Kshattriya ready to fight, and not to a Brahmana quietly retired

from the world. The Kurukshetra of the world is the field of

Yoga. They who cannot face the world have not the strength to

face the difficulties of Yoga practice. If the outer world

out-wearies your powers, how do you expect to conquer the

difficulties of the inner life? If you cannot climb over the

little troubles of the world, how can you hope to climb over the

difficulties that a yogi has to scale? Those men blunder, who

think that running away from the world is the road to victory,

and that peace can be found only in certain localities.

As a matter of fact, you have practised Yoga unconsciously in the

past, even before your self- consciousness had separated itself,

was aware of itself. Sand knew itself to be different, in

temporary matter at least, from all the others that surround it.

And that is the first idea that you should take up and hold

firmly: Yoga is only a quickened process of the ordinary

unfolding of consciousness.

Yoga may then be defined as the "rational application of the laws

of the unfolding of consciousness in an individual case". That is

what is meant by the methods of Yoga. You study the laws' of the

unfolding of consciousness in the universe, you then apply them

to a special caseÄand that case is your own. You cannot apply

them to another. They must be self-applied. That is the definite

principle to grasp. So we must add one more word to our

definition: "Yoga is the rational application of the laws of the

unfolding of consciousness, self-applied in an individual case."