Yoga : Sri Ramakrishna

YOGA IN THE  WORDS OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

Take a pair of scales, for example. If a weight is placed on one side, the tower needle moves away from the upper one. The lower needle is the mind, and the upper one, God. The meeting of the two is Yoga.

 

Unless the mind becomes steady there cannot be Yoga. It is the wind of worldliness that always disturbs the mind, which may be likened to a candle flame. If that flame does not move at all, then one is said

to have attained Yoga.

 

The upshot of the whole thing is that, no matter what path you follow, yoga is impossible unless the mind becomes quiet. The mind of a Yogi is under his control; he is not under the control of his mind.

 

Maya is nothing but 'woman' and 'gold'. A man attains Yoga when he has freed his mind from these two The Self - the Supreme Self- is the magnet; the individual self is the needle. The individual self experiences the state of Yoga when it is attracted by the Supreme Self to Itself.

 

Weep for God with a longing heart. Tears shed for Him will wash away the clay. When you have thus freed yourself from impurity, you will be attracted by the magnet. Only then will you attain Yoga.

 

If a man slips from the path of Yoga, then he is reborn in a prosperous family and starts again his spiritual practice for the realisation of God.

 

While thinking of God, the aspirant may feel a craving for material enjoyment. It is this craving that makes him slip from the path. In his next life he will be born with the spiritual tendencies that he failed to translate into action in his present fife.

 

The mind is dispersed. Part of it has gone to Dacca, part to Delhi and another part to Coochbihar. That mind is to be gathered in; it must be concentrated on one subject.

 

If you want sixteen annas worth of cloth, then you have to pay the merchant the full sixteen annas. Yoga is not possible if there is the slightest obstacle.