{"id":35,"date":"2013-07-13T01:25:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=35"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:25:29","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:25:29","slug":"54-hathayoga-vol-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03\/54-hathayoga-vol-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-54_Hathayoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\nHathayoga<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nT<\/font>HE <\/font>
\n<\/b>evolution of man has been upwards from
\nthe body to the spirit and there are three stages in his progress. He bases himself upon the body, rises through mind and
\nsoul and culminates in spirit. And to each stage of his evolution
\nbelong certain kinds of sādhanā<\/i>, a particular type of Yoga, a characteristic fulfilment. There was no aeon in man’s history, no
\nkalpa<\/i> to use the Indian term, in which the Yoga was withheld
\nfrom man, or fulfilment denied to him. But the fulfilment corresponded to his stage of progress, and the Yoga corresponded to
\nthe fulfilment. In his earlier development, he was realising himself
\nin the body and the divinity of the body was his fulfilment. He is
\nnow realising himself in the heart and mind and the divinity of
\nthe heart and mind will be his culmination. Eventually he will
\nrealise himself in the spirit and the divinity of his true spiritual
\nself will round off his history. Yoga is the realisation of one’s
\ncapacity of harmony, communion or unity with God. Whatever
\nreligious standpoint, creed or philosophy one adopts, Yoga is
\npossible as long as God’s existence or omnipresence is admitted,
\nwhether it be as a Personality, a Force or a Condition of Things.
\nThe infinite in some form or idea must be admitted. To be in
\ntune with the Infinite, that is harmony. To be in touch with
\nthe Infinite that is communion. To be one in kind, extent or
\nself-realisation with the Infinite, that is unity. But fulfilment
\nis not possible, unless the "Soham" \u2014 "He am I" \u2014 is recognized and practised as the ultimate truth of things. The realisation of God in self with the eye on the body is the fulfilment
\nof the tamasic or material man; that with the eye on the mind
\nis the fulfilment of the rajasic or psychic man; that with the
\neye on the spirit is the fulfilment of the sattwic or spiritual man.
\nAnd each fulfils himself, by rising beyond himself. When the
\nmaterial man fulfils the divinity of the body, he does so by rising
\ninto the psychic part and finding his strength in the ahankāra
\n<\/i>or the psychic principle of egoism. The psychic man fulfils the<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 402<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndivinity of the soul, by rising into the spirit and finding his
\nstrength in the super-psychic Will or Intelligent Force in things.
\nThe spiritual man fulfils the divinity of the spirit by rising
\nbeyond the human spirit, the jivātman<\/i> and finding his strength
\nin the parameśvaram<\/i> and parabrahman<\/i>, the sah<\/i> and
\ntat<\/i>, God
\nrevealed and unrevealed, the Universe and Supreme Spirit who
\nsupports and contains the individual. To put it in language easier
\nbut more capable of misconception, the material man realises
\nhimself by identifying God with his own ego; the psychic man
\nby identifying God with passionless, intelligent, blissful Will in
\nhimself, the spiritual man by identifying God with the All, in
\nwhom everything abides. The first is the rāksasa<\/i> or asura<\/i> of
\nthe lower order, the second is the deva<\/i> or the asura<\/i> of the highest
\norder, the third is the pūrna<\/i> or siddhapurusa<\/i>, the perfect being.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe pure Hathayoga is the means of the fulfilment through
\nthe body. Its processes are physical, strenuous, colossal, complex, difficult. They centre in
\nāsana<\/i>,
\nprānāyāma<\/i> and the physical
\npurifications. The number of āsanas<\/i> in the modern mixed Hathayoga is limited and even they are numerous and painful; in
\nthe ancient or pure Hathayoga they were innumerable and the
\nold yogin<\/i> practised them all. The āsana<\/i> means simply particular
\nposition of the body and is perfect or ‘conquered’ in the technical
\nlanguage, when a man can stay in a single posture, however
\nstrained or apparently impossible, for an indefinite period, without being forced by strain to remember the body.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe first object of the Asana is to conquer the body, for the
\nbody must be conquered before it can become divine \u2014 to be able
\nto lay any command upon it and never be commanded by it.
\nThe second object is to conquer physical nature, by developing
\nthe four physical siddhis \u2014 laghimā<\/i>, animā<\/i>, garimā<\/i>, mahimā<\/i>.
\n<\/i>By perfect laghimā<\/i>, man can rise into the air and tread the winds
\nas his natural element, by perfect animā<\/i> he can bring the nature
\nof the subtlety into the gross body which the fire will no longer
\nburn, nor weapon wound, nor want of air stifle, nor the waters
\ndrown; by perfect garimā<\/i> he can develop an adamantine steadiness which no shock of even an avalanche can overbear; by
\nperfect mahimā<\/i> he can without muscular development outdo the
\nfeats of a Hercules. These powers in their fullness are no longer<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 403<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nvisible in men, but in some degree they belong to all adepts in
\nHathayoga. Their existence no one can doubt, who has gone
\ndeep into Yoga at all, or who had any personal experience of the
\nSiddhis. The third object is to develop in the body yogic force,
\nthe Tapah or the Viryam, the fire of Yoga. The fourth object is
\nto become ūrdhvaretāh<\/i>, that is to say to draw the whole virile
\nforce in the body into the brain up and return so much of it as is
\nneeded for the body, purified and electrified. Pranayama is the
\nmastery of the vital force, the mobile energy that keeps the
\nuniverse going. In the human body, the most notable function
\nof the Prana or vital force, is the breathing which is in ordinary
\nmen necessary to life and motion. The Yogin conquers it and renders himself independent of it. But he does not confine his attention to the simple vital operation. He distinguishes five major
\nvital forces and several minor to each of which he has given a
\nname and he learns to control all the numerous pranic currents
\nin which they operate. As there are innumerable Asanas, so there
\nare a great number of different kinds of Pranayama and a man
\nis not a perfect Hathayogin till he has mastered them all. The
\nconquest of the Prana confirms the perfect health, vigour and
\nvitality gained by the Asanas; it confirms the power of living
\nas long as one pleases and it adds to the four physical Siddhis \u2014 the five psychical\u2014 prākāmya<\/i> or absolute keenness of the
\nmind and the senses, including telepathy, clairvoyance and
\nthe faculties commonly supposed to be supernormal; vyāpti<\/i> or the power of
\nreceiving other men’s thoughts, powers and feelings and projecting one’s own thoughts etc. or personality into others;
\naiśvaryam<\/i> or the control over events, lordship, wealth
\nand all objects of desire; vaśitā<\/i> or the power of exacting implicit
\nand instantaneous obedience to the spoken or written word;<\/font>
\n<\/font>īśitā<\/i> or the perfect control over the powers of nature and over
\nthings inert and intelligent. Some of these powers have recently
\nbeen discovered in Europe as phenomena of hypnotism or will-
\nforce. But the European experiences are feeble and unscientific
\nif compared with the achievements of the ancient Hathayogins
\nor even with those of some of the modern. The will-power
\ndeveloped by Pranayama is said to be psychical, not spiritual.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBesides these two great practices, the Hathayogins have<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 404<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nnumerous others, such as the extraordinary means by which
\nthey clean out daily all physical impurities. By these numerous and difficult
\npractices, they attain an extraordinary power, vitality, virility, longevity and
\nare also able to attain knowledge transcending the ordinary human bounds, leave the body in Samadhi,
\nand in one word exercise every mere power that comes by Yoga.
\nBut the practice of unmixed Hathayoga generates a colossal
\negoism and the Yogin seldom exceeds it. The modern Hathayoga
\nis mixed with Rajayoga and neither so virile and potent nor so
\ndangerous as the ancient. The modern Hathayogin often falls
\na prey to egoism but he knows he has to transcend it. The ancient
\nembraced it as a fulfilment; only he managed and directed it by
\nthe use of psychic Will-power.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 405<\/font><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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