Microsoft Word - Taimni - The Science of Yoga.doc

and trying to develop in themselves the necessary qualifications, they are always after
easy methods and new teachers who they hope will be able to bestow on them Siddhis,
etc. as favours.
The four qualifications given by Patanjali are faith, indomitable energy or will,
memory and the keen intelligence essential for Samadhi. Faith is the firm conviction
regarding the presence of the Truth we seek within us and the efficacy of Yogic tech-
nique in enabling us to reach the goal. It is not ordinary belief which can be shaken by
contrary arguments or repeated failures but that state of inner certainty which is pre-
sent where a purified mind is irradiated by the light of Buddhi or spiritual intuition.
Without this kind of faith it is impossible for anyone to persevere through many lives
which are needed by the ordinary aspirant to accomplish the object of Yogic discipline.
The word Virya in Samskrta cannot be translated by any one word in English. It
combines in itself the connotations of energy, determination, courage, all aspects of an
indomitable will which ultimately overcomes all obstacles and forces its way to the
desired goal. Without this trait of character it is not possible for anyone to make the
almost superhuman effort which is required in going through the Yogic discipline to
the end.
The word Smrti is not used here in its ordinary psychological sense of memory
but in a special sense. It is the experience of the large majority of aspirants on the path
that the lessons of experience are forgotten again and again and the same experiences
have therefore to be repeated time after time thus involving tremendous waste of time
and effort. The Yogi has to acquire the capacity to note the lessons of experience and
to retain them in his consciousness for future guidance. Take, for example, a man who
is suffering from indigestion. He knows that a particular kind of food which he likes
does not agree with him, but when the particular food comes before him he forgets all
about the repeated sufferings which he has undergone, yields to the temptation, takes
the food and goes through the suffering again. This is a crude example but it illustrates
a state of mind which is generally present and which must be changed before progress
in Yoga is possible. We have been going through all kinds of miseries life after life,
the misery of old age, the misery of being torn away from those we love dearly, the
misery of unfulfilled desires, and yet we are involving ourselves in these miseries
again and again by our desires. Why? Because the lessons of these miseries fail to
make a permanent impression on our mind. So the aspirant for Liberation must have
the capacity to learn from all experiences quickly and finally, not needing to go