What really is Yoga? Literally it means a state of union, – a union between what we are and what we could be; a union between our external consciousness now driven by a thousand forces of ignorance and our depths so that our inmost soul and the Divine becomes the true Master even of our most outer being and all its movements; a union between the dark half of existence in which we right now labour fruitlessly and with much suffering and struggle and, the bright half that remains hidden and unclaimed where Peace and Bliss are the very law of life; in other words a union between Soul and Nature, God and the World, Man and the Cosmos.
This union cannot come until we have found the central key hidden behind the multitudinous appearances of nature. This key cannot be found in our present egoistic state which only keeps up the division and walls us apart from everything and everyone else. This key cannot be found even by merely a universalization of our being, even if it extends as far as the universe and beyond for the reconciliation will still be missing between the diverse and different elements of nature, their right law of arrangement with respect to each other, termed the Rta of the Vedas. Beyond the ego-ridden individual consciousness and the fields of cosmic ignorance there exists a transcendent Truth whose countless Rays reach out and embed themselves in each and every atom of existence. It is the original Truth, the very Source of all that is. Even though it transcends all, it is yet hidden in all and holds all creation in its vast embrace. It is, to use the image of the Upanishad, the Speech of our speech, the Intelligence behind all intelligence, the Power behind all manifestations of power, the Mind behind our mind, even the Sense behind our sense. It is the state of constant and dynamic Perfection, a state of perpetual Harmony at rest and in movement. It is this transcendent Supramental Sun that is the key to a perfect union. Short of it we can have various degrees of union with different levels of the higher consciousness but it will always be incomplete and therefore unable to change earthly life into the mould of the eternal Perfection that ever exists beyond creation and within its very depths as its secret core and base.
If there were not this bud of eternal perfection enclosed within us we would not seek perfection at all. But one of the signs of human evolution is this relentless seeking for perfection in countless ways and in every sphere of life. Indeed there are a thousand ways that we strive for perfection and a thousand ways that men can and do approach the Source, the Divine Perfection within them. Helplessly we are driven towards It, attracted as it were and in the end no resistance can stand in the way since that is our core and our Destiny that cannot be denied for long. However There is a key within man, a secret ‘something’ hidden in the very depths that can directly respond to this Supramental Truth now beyond the reach of our mind and senses, beyond the grasp of our emotional being and a will maimed by ignorance and desire. It is this hidden key that can put us directly in contact with the supreme Truth and help our nature receive and bear the Rays that may otherwise find the Divine Touch unbearable and scorch in the Presence of that Sun of Truth. That entity within us is, in fact our true identity, it is a part and parcel of the Divine, a fiery portion of the Wonderful, a spark of That which burns yonder in Space and guides and flow and flux of Time. That key is the psychic being, the secret soul in man.
It is the psychic being that can open the rest of our nature to the Divine Influence and carve a temple of eternity out of the transient mud and water constituting this body. It is the psychic being that can orient our nature to the Right and the Light so that all its movements begin to flow swiftly and smoothly towards the Eternal rather than in a crooked and deviant way as they now do. It is the psychic being that can put us back on the straight and sunlit path that the mind has lost and hence struggles and gropes in the darkness of terrestrial nature. But for that the psychic being itself must first disengage itself from this deviant flow, extricate itself out of the thorny bushes of a fallen nature, retrieve its powers now covered by unconsciousness and falsehood, recover its truth and reclaim its immortality. That is the first and immediate task of this great journey that should preoccupy us for the rest very much depends upon how much we succeed in this. Once this is done the rest is a matter of time. This is the key to the golden temple door of things beyond.
