Microsoft Word - Taimni - The Science of Yoga.doc

is the basic idea underlying the whole philosophy of Yoga and all systems of Yoga aim
at the destruction of this ‘I’ consciousness directly or indirectly, by one means or an-
other. The practice of Isvara-Pranidhana is one of such means. It has for its object the
dissolution of Asmita by the systematic and progressive merging of the individual will
with the Will of Isvara and thus destroying the very root of the Klesas.
The practice of Isvara-Pranidhana therefore begins with the mental assertion
‘Not my will but Thy Will be done’, but it does not end there. There is a steady effort
to bring about a continuous recession of consciousness from the level of the personal-
ity which is the seat of ‘I’ consciousness into the consciousness of the Supreme whose
will is working out in the manifested world. This effort may take many forms accord-
ing to the temperament and previous Samskaras of the Sadhaka. There may be an ear-
nest desire to become a conscious instrument of the Supreme Will which is finding
expression in the unfolding of the manifested Universe. This Will finds obstruction in
its expression at the human level owing to the limitations of the personality, the
greater the egoism the greater the obscuration and the consequent obstruction. Such a
Sadhaka who is trying to practise Isvara-Pranidhana tries to remove this obstruction
of the personality by doing Niskama-Karma, so that his personality may become a
willing and conscious instrument of the Divine Will. It is needless to say that this is a
gradual process and for a long time the Sadhaka has to work, as it were, in the dark,
trying to do scrupulously what he thinks to be right without having any conscious
knowledge of the Divine Will. It is, however, not necessary to know the Divine Will
until the personality has been brought under control, for even if that Will were known
the wayward and uncontrolled personality will not allow it to be expressed freely and
fully. But as in all processes of this nature the effort to realize an ideal gradually re-
moves the obstructions in the way of realization and if the Sadhaka pursues his ideal
with perseverance he succeeds in becoming a conscious agent of the Divine. His false
lower ‘I’ disappears and the Divine Will can work freely through the ‘I’-less centre of
his consciousness. This is real Karma-Yoga.
The practice of Isvara-Pranidhana takes a different form if the Sadhaka is a
person with a highly emotional temperament and is treading the path of Bhakti. Here
the emphasis is not on the merging of the individual will in the Divine Will but on the
union with the Beloved through love. But as love naturally expresses itself in self-
abnegation and subordination of personal desires to the Will of the Beloved the path of
Bhakti also leads indirectly to the dissolution of the ‘I’ or Asmita. Here it is love which