The
word Yoga means ‘connection’. The mental connection between
the soul and Supreme Soul or the remembrance of the Supreme
Soul by the soul is called meditation or Raj Yoga. Stability
in the Soul-consciousness and God-consciousness will bring
peace and bliss to the soul. By this means, all the
latencies of the vicious actions of the past lives will be
destroyed because intellectual communion with God acts like
fire. It burns the sins of the past. Yoga washes off all
dirt from the soul; bathing in a river may clean the body
but a soul is cleansed only in the remembrance of the
Supreme Soul.
Yoga is the only means through which soul gets link or
association with God, who is the truth. By dint of Yoga, man
controls his otherwise fickle sense organs and overcomes
diverse vile thoughts. Yoga has such great force that, under
its influence, even the elements of nature are brought to
elevated state and the righteousness and peace is
established in the world.
Through the meditation or Rajyoga, the soul gets immense joy
of an extraordinary kind from its link with the Supreme
Soul.
The Knowledge of our relationship with God
What is our relationship with God? Knowledge of the
relationship between the soul and the supreme soul is very
essential to remembrance. In his dealings in life, man
remembers every now and then only those who are bound to him
by ties of one kind or another. The closer the relationship,
the more easily one is reminded of it without any effort, as
it were. It is very important to realize and feel that God
indeed is our Supreme Father-Mother, Teacher, true Friend
and Guide, and the real Protector. Relationship is the lever
that can lift us to the state of Yoga. So if we have clearly
before us, our relationship with God, we shall every now and
then be reminded of Him and only this true link redeems all
the human beings.
God is the most beautiful being
Beauty is a thing that bewitches man and draws his mind and
understanding again towards itself. But beauty of the
physical body and other physical things is only temporary
and subject to gradual decline and decay. On the contrary,
it is the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Father, who is
absolutely and truly beautiful. His beauty is spotless; it
never suffers change or decline. Remembering Him will make a
soul clean and beautiful.
How to practice Raja Yoga?
Whenever
one remembers any person or thing, one is reminded of all
that person or thing is and what one’s association therewith
is. Hence, at the very start, you have the feeling that you
are now here to remember God; your mind will at once be
transported to the highest world of eternal Light, which is
His abode. The qualities of God, the Supreme Soul, and a
point-of-light will come to the memory.
This means that you have not to utter any sound or syllable,
nor recite mentally any formula or maxim. You have to let
yourself easily remember Him, or be conscious of Him, the
Supreme Soul who is in the Incorporeal World. This is
similar to the way in which the memory of any of your
worldly relations or ties comes to you. You will then
recollect in some such manner as: “I am a soul… I am a point
of light and I am a child of the Supreme Soul… He is also a
point of light. God the Supreme Father is an inexhaustible
repository of knowledge, peace, bliss and love and is
Almighty …. He it is who bestows blessedness on all… How
very fortunate I am …”
The knowledge of both the soul and Supreme Soul is already
there. Hence this should not be difficult to practice. You
need to withdraw yourself from all your sense organs and
establish yourself in the faith that you are a soul,
distinct from your body; You will be reminded of the Supreme
Soul. As long as we live in the consciousness of the body,
we tend to remember only the body and its connections. On
the contrary, when I understand myself to be a soul, I will
naturally put in mind the Supreme Father of the soul.