Microsoft Word - Taimni - The Science of Yoga.doc

path. The path of Yoga appears very fascinating in the beginning and many are the
people who are caught by its glamour and make a start in the hope of plucking its fruit
in a very short time. But alas! Of those who enter the path, only a microscopical mi-
nority are able to make good progress. Even those who have the courage and persever-
ance to continue are very few in number. The vast majority of aspirants drop out
sooner or later, giving up the practice completely or keeping up a semblance of mere
external forms as soon as the glamour wears out. They either come to believe that it is
all ‘moonshine’ or manage to convince themselves that conditions in the present life
are not favourable and they had better postpone the effort to the next life when they
vainly hope to be placed in better circumstances. Leaving out a few cases where
Karma interposes a real obstacle in the path of the aspirant the real cause of discon-
tinuing the practice is, in the vast majority of cases, the lack of spiritual maturity
without which no success on this path is possible. The world and its pursuits have still
a great deal of attraction for such people and they are not prepared to make the sacri-
fices which are demanded on this path.
Coming back to the essential conditions of success the necessity for continuing
the practices for a long time is obvious. The nature of the changes which have to be
brought about in our character, mind and vehicles is such that unless the practices are
continued for a long time no appreciable improvement can be expected. Our nature has
to be completely changed and the change is so fundamental that we must be prepared
to continue the work until it is finished. How long this will take will depend upon
many factors: our evolutionary stage, the time we have already given to the work in
previous lives and the effort that we make in this life. Theoretically, if a man is able to
surrender himself completely to Isvara he can pass into Samadhi immediately, but it is
a very big ‘if’ and the Samskaras of the past will not in actual life allow him to ac-
complish suddenly what can be done only after a long and strenuous course of disci-
pline. In a few rare cases where the progress is extremely rapid there is always the
momentum of the past, due generally to a number of successive lives devoted to the
practice of Yoga. So, no one can predict when the final goal will be reached and he
who enters the path seriously must make up his mind to continue not only for a long
time but through many lives until the goal is reached. He who is ready for treading this
path is so much absorbed in the fascinating work and has so much to do that he has no
time to worry as to when he will reach the goal. If time hangs heavy on our hands and