capable of producing reactions, as happened in the case of many saints of the past
who were mortified by society on account of the sudden revolutionary thoughts that
they held in the light of the Reality which they faced in their experience, but which
the world could not understand and the world will never understand.
It is a hard job; and it would be a part of the wisdom of the student to see that even
strong thoughts and revolutionary ideas which may be in conformity with the nature
of Reality do not suddenly set up phenomenal reactions—physical or social. Well,
certain things are beyond one’s control. Occasionally, experiences of such a type may
arise in oneself which may have their own say in the matter; and, for good or for bad,
whatever consequences follow may have to be tolerated. But as far as one’s
understanding goes, to the extent of the capacity of oneself in judging things, it
should be proper that extreme steps should not be taken. A very careful harmony
should be introduced into our idea of the relationship between ourselves and the
world, and also the relationship between ourselves and the goal of life—God
Himself—so that it would be wisdom to be moderate, and patient, and go stage by
stage without missing even one step.
The limbs of yoga are mentioned to be eight. Yama niyama āsana prāṇāyāma pratyāhāra
dhāraṇā dhyāna samādhayaḥ aṣṭau añgāni (II.29). These are the stages through which
we have to pass. The angas, or the limbs of yoga, are really the realms of being which
we pierce in our concentration. These are the various levels of the density of cosmic
atmosphere, all which have their own gravitational fields differing one from the
other, through which we have to pass with adamantine will and force of thought. But
the yoga system also provides us with a clue as to how we can tune ourselves to these
gravitational fields of different densities so that there may not be a jerk, or a pull, or a
kick at different knots, or junctures, or places of coordination of one level of density
with another.
These limbs of yoga are not like isolated rungs in a ladder, one disconnected from the
other. They are called ‘rungs in the ladder of yoga’ no doubt, commonly speaking, but
they are rungs of a different and novel type. They are not disconnected, one from the
other. They are not isolated. There is an organic connection of one stage with the
other, just as we may say the stages of life such as childhood, adolescence, youth, old
age, etc., are rungs in the ladder of the growth of one’s personality. We know very
well how these rungs are connected with one another. We cannot know where one
ends and another begins. One fades into another gradually, and there is a living
connection of every stage with every other stage so that we may safely say that the
whole practice of yoga is one continuous process, like the flow of a river. No
disconnection, no disjointed parts can be seen in the flow of the Ganga,
notwithstanding the fact that we may conceive of parts in the flow. The parts are only
conceptual; they are not organic—not real, and not really there.
Inasmuch as these rungs of the ladder of yoga, these stages, are vitally connected one
with the other, there is to some extent the presence of the element of every stage in
every other stage. They are not completely different, like watertight compartments,
though the predominance of a particular element makes it go by a particular name
and designation. These eight stages are names given to certain predominant features
of the experiences one has to pass through, though the other features are also
present—just as when we say something is sattvic, rajasic or tamasic, what we are
referring to is the dominant character of a particular person or thing, and do not