From Sri Swami Sivananda's book, MAY I ANSWER THAT?.
What is Yoga ?
To live in God, to commune with God is 'Yoga'. Life in God brings eternal bliss. Yoga shows you the way, unites you with God and makes you perfect and immortal.
Yoga is a system of integral education, education not only of the body and the mind or the intellect, but also of the inner spirit. Yoga shows you the right method of rising from evil to good, and from goodness to holiness and then to eternal divine splendour. Yoga is the art of right living. The Yogi who has learned the art of right living is happy, harmonious, peaceful and free from tension.
Yoga is for all and is universal. It is not a sectarian affair, but a way to God and not a creed. The practice of Yoga is not opposed to any religion or any sacred church. It is purely spiritual and does not contradict anyone's sincere faith.
Yoga is not a religion, but an aid to the practice of the basic spiritual truths in all religions. Yoga is union with God, union with all. God dwells in all. Moral purity and spiritual aspiration are the first steps in the path of Yoga. One who has calm mind, faith in the words of his preceptor and the scriptures, who is moderate in eating, drinking and sleeping and who has intense longing for deliverance from the wheel of births and deaths is a qualified person for the practice of Yoga.
The four paths for God-realization are Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Karma Yoga is suitable for a man of active temperament, Bhakti Yoga for a man of devotional temperament, Raja Yoga for a man of mystical temperament and Jnana Yoga for a man of rational and philosophical temperament.
Life today is full of stress and strain, of tension and nervous irritability, of passion and hurry. If man puts in few of the elementary principles of Yoga, he would be far better equipped to cope with his complex existence.
Yoga brings perfection, peace and lasting happiness. You can have calmness of mind at all times by practice of Yoga. You can have restful sleep and increased energy, vigour, vitality, longevity and high standard of health. You can turn out efficient work within a short space of time and have success in every walk of life. Yoga will infuse new strength, confidence and self-reliance in you. The body and mind will be at your beck and call.
It is within the power of everybody to attain success in Yoga. What is wanted is sincere devotion, constant and steady practice. Spiritual growth is gradual. There is progressive evolution. You should not be in feverish hurry to accomplish great Yogic feats or enter into superconscious state in two or three months.
Do not stop the practice when you get a few glimpses and experiences. Continue the practice until you get perfection.
What is Maya ?
Maya is an appearance. It is semblance. It is the illusory power of God.
Maya is the illusory power of God. She is the creatrix of this universe. She projects this world for His Lila (sport). Mind, intellect, body, and senses are her forms. She is the energy or mother-aspect of the Lord.
Just as heat is inseparable from fire, coldness from ice, Maya is inseparable from Brahman (God). It is dependent on Brahman.
Maya has countless potencies. Solidity of stone is a power of Maya. Fluidity of water is another power of Maya. Fire is a third burning power. Air is the moving power of Maya. Ether is the void or space power of Maya.
You know you will die, and yet you think you will live forever. This is Maya. You know that the world is full of miseries, and yet you take delight in the perishable objects and will not leave them. This is Maya. You know that the human body is made up of all sorts of impurities, flesh, bone, urine and faecal matter, and yet you rejoice in embracing it under the sway of lust. This is Maya.
Maya causes false glittering and entraps the deluded Jivas (individual souls). She does a little electroplating work. Man is entrapped. He is caught in the wheel of birth and death.
Maya is neither true nor false. It is truly false and falsely true. It is neither real nor unreal. It is not real like Brahman, because it disappears when one gets Knowledge. It is not unreal like a barren woman's son or the horn of hare, because its presence is felt.
This Maya is a sort of jugglery. You are astonished so long as the juggler is not seen. As soon as the juggler is known, the results are known to be unreal; the wonder ceases at once. When you realize Brahman, the wonder of Maya's working vanishes.
When the mesmerist hypnotises the whole audience, all people believe that the man is ascending the rope in the air. All people see that the mesmerist devours a big sword and cuts the body of a lad in the box. Even so, you are all hypnotised by Maya and Avidya (ignorance) and you take this unreal world as a solid reality. De-hypnotise yourself by getting Knowledge of Brahman. Then alone you will understand the grand jugglery of Maya.
When and why has God created the world ?
Why were we created and put to this miserable and pitiable plight ?
How did Avidya (ignorance) arise in us ?
When did Karma begin ?
How could Avidya (ignorance) or Maya exist in the Supreme Absolute Light ?
Why did the formless assume forms ?
Why is there evil in this world ?
Questions like these are Ati-prasna or transcendental queries - for which you will not get an answer even if you rack your brain for million of years. Answers to these questions cannot be understood with your intellect. You can understand it only with your intuition.
It involves the understanding of the Ultimate Principle, the Intelligence that is behind and beyond these questions, the Cause of all causes, the Subject of all objects. It cannot be known as object. And, when the subject (Self or Atman) knows Itself, speech and thought cease. The questioner and question vanish in the quest. The doubt disappears in the doubter. In that Supreme Silence, the problem is inexpressibly solved! The riddle is solved; but speech is baffled - and the question remains unanswerable.
If a small son questions his father, "Papa, how did you procreate me ?", what answer will Papa give ? He will simply say, "Wait. When you become a man, you will understand this point". This is exactly the case with new aspirants in whom the Light is trying to shine forth. Do not put the cart before the horse. Don't bother about why creation came into being, but try to know the Creator! Take creation for what it is and try to transcend it. This is wisdom. Trying to probe intellectually into the mystery is only buying psychological distress.
There is no 'Why ?' in respect of transcendental matters. 'Why ?' is only for worldly things. Reason is finite and frail. God only knows the 'Why ?'. Realize the Atma. Then you will get the answers. Then you will know the origin and nature of EVERYTHING.
At the present moment, apply yourself to solid Sadhana (spiritual practices) in earnestness and remove Mala (impurities like lust, greed, hatred, anger, jealousy, etc.), Vikshepa (the tossing of mind) and Avarana (veil of ignorance). Do not enter into vain discussions and arguments on such matters.That which truly is not, but appears to be, is Maya. That which causes infatuation or Moha is Maya.
What is Yoga ?
To live in God, to commune with God is 'Yoga'. Life in God brings eternal bliss. Yoga shows you the way, unites you with God and makes you perfect and immortal.
Yoga is a system of integral education, education not only of the body and the mind or the intellect, but also of the inner spirit. Yoga shows you the right method of rising from evil to good, and from goodness to holiness and then to eternal divine splendour. Yoga is the art of right living. The Yogi who has learned the art of right living is happy, harmonious, peaceful and free from tension.
Yoga is for all and is universal. It is not a sectarian affair, but a way to God and not a creed. The practice of Yoga is not opposed to any religion or any sacred church. It is purely spiritual and does not contradict anyone's sincere faith.
Yoga is not a religion, but an aid to the practice of the basic spiritual truths in all religions. Yoga is union with God, union with all. God dwells in all. Moral purity and spiritual aspiration are the first steps in the path of Yoga. One who has calm mind, faith in the words of his preceptor and the scriptures, who is moderate in eating, drinking and sleeping and who has intense longing for deliverance from the wheel of births and deaths is a qualified person for the practice of Yoga.
The four paths for God-realization are Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Karma Yoga is suitable for a man of active temperament, Bhakti Yoga for a man of devotional temperament, Raja Yoga for a man of mystical temperament and Jnana Yoga for a man of rational and philosophical temperament.
Life today is full of stress and strain, of tension and nervous irritability, of passion and hurry. If man puts in few of the elementary principles of Yoga, he would be far better equipped to cope with his complex existence.
Yoga brings perfection, peace and lasting happiness. You can have calmness of mind at all times by practice of Yoga. You can have restful sleep and increased energy, vigour, vitality, longevity and high standard of health. You can turn out efficient work within a short space of time and have success in every walk of life. Yoga will infuse new strength, confidence and self-reliance in you. The body and mind will be at your beck and call.
It is within the power of everybody to attain success in Yoga. What is wanted is sincere devotion, constant and steady practice. Spiritual growth is gradual. There is progressive evolution. You should not be in feverish hurry to accomplish great Yogic feats or enter into superconscious state in two or three months.
Do not stop the practice when you get a few glimpses and experiences. Continue the practice until you get perfection.
What is Maya ?
Maya is an appearance. It is semblance. It is the illusory power of God.
Maya is the illusory power of God. She is the creatrix of this universe. She projects this world for His Lila (sport). Mind, intellect, body, and senses are her forms. She is the energy or mother-aspect of the Lord.
Just as heat is inseparable from fire, coldness from ice, Maya is inseparable from Brahman (God). It is dependent on Brahman.
Maya has countless potencies. Solidity of stone is a power of Maya. Fluidity of water is another power of Maya. Fire is a third burning power. Air is the moving power of Maya. Ether is the void or space power of Maya.
You know you will die, and yet you think you will live forever. This is Maya. You know that the world is full of miseries, and yet you take delight in the perishable objects and will not leave them. This is Maya. You know that the human body is made up of all sorts of impurities, flesh, bone, urine and faecal matter, and yet you rejoice in embracing it under the sway of lust. This is Maya.
Maya causes false glittering and entraps the deluded Jivas (individual souls). She does a little electroplating work. Man is entrapped. He is caught in the wheel of birth and death.
Maya is neither true nor false. It is truly false and falsely true. It is neither real nor unreal. It is not real like Brahman, because it disappears when one gets Knowledge. It is not unreal like a barren woman's son or the horn of hare, because its presence is felt.
This Maya is a sort of jugglery. You are astonished so long as the juggler is not seen. As soon as the juggler is known, the results are known to be unreal; the wonder ceases at once. When you realize Brahman, the wonder of Maya's working vanishes.
When the mesmerist hypnotises the whole audience, all people believe that the man is ascending the rope in the air. All people see that the mesmerist devours a big sword and cuts the body of a lad in the box. Even so, you are all hypnotised by Maya and Avidya (ignorance) and you take this unreal world as a solid reality. De-hypnotise yourself by getting Knowledge of Brahman. Then alone you will understand the grand jugglery of Maya.
When and why has God created the world ?
Why were we created and put to this miserable and pitiable plight ?
How did Avidya (ignorance) arise in us ?
When did Karma begin ?
How could Avidya (ignorance) or Maya exist in the Supreme Absolute Light ?
Why did the formless assume forms ?
Why is there evil in this world ?
Questions like these are Ati-prasna or transcendental queries - for which you will not get an answer even if you rack your brain for million of years. Answers to these questions cannot be understood with your intellect. You can understand it only with your intuition.
It involves the understanding of the Ultimate Principle, the Intelligence that is behind and beyond these questions, the Cause of all causes, the Subject of all objects. It cannot be known as object. And, when the subject (Self or Atman) knows Itself, speech and thought cease. The questioner and question vanish in the quest. The doubt disappears in the doubter. In that Supreme Silence, the problem is inexpressibly solved! The riddle is solved; but speech is baffled - and the question remains unanswerable.
If a small son questions his father, "Papa, how did you procreate me ?", what answer will Papa give ? He will simply say, "Wait. When you become a man, you will understand this point". This is exactly the case with new aspirants in whom the Light is trying to shine forth. Do not put the cart before the horse. Don't bother about why creation came into being, but try to know the Creator! Take creation for what it is and try to transcend it. This is wisdom. Trying to probe intellectually into the mystery is only buying psychological distress.
There is no 'Why ?' in respect of transcendental matters. 'Why ?' is only for worldly things. Reason is finite and frail. God only knows the 'Why ?'. Realize the Atma. Then you will get the answers. Then you will know the origin and nature of EVERYTHING.
At the present moment, apply yourself to solid Sadhana (spiritual practices) in earnestness and remove Mala (impurities like lust, greed, hatred, anger, jealousy, etc.), Vikshepa (the tossing of mind) and Avarana (veil of ignorance). Do not enter into vain discussions and arguments on such matters.That which truly is not, but appears to be, is Maya. That which causes infatuation or Moha is Maya.
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