YOGA REDUCES THE EGOISM

                                                             EGOISM

                EGOISM IS THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE SEER WITH THE INSTRUMENT OF SEEING.

          THE SEER IS REALLY THE SELF, THE PURE ONE, THE EVER HOLY, THE INFINITE, THE IMMORTAL. THAT IS THE SELF OF MAN. AND WHAT ARE THE INSTRUMENTS? THE CHITTA, OR MIND - STUFF, THE BUDDHI, DETERMINATIVE FACULTY, THE MANAS, OR MIND, AND THE INDRIYAN, OR SENSE ORGANS. THESE ARE THE INSTRUMENTS FOR HIM TO SEE THE EXTERNAL WORLD, AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE SELF WITH THE INSTRUMENTS IS WHAT IS CALLED THE IGNORANCE OF EGOISM. WE SAY, "I AM THE MIND, I AM THOUGHT, I AM ANGRY, OR I AM HAPPY ". 

       HOW CAN WE BE ANGRY, AD HOW CAN WE HATE? WE SHOULD IDENTIFY OURSELVES WITH THE SELF, THAT CANNOT CHANGE. IF IT IS UNCHANGEABLE, HOW CAN IT BE ONE MOMENT HAPPY, AND ONE MOMENT UNHAPPY? IF IS FORMLESS, INFINITE, OMNIPRESENT. WHAT CAN CHANGE IT ? BEYOND ALL LAW. WHAT CAN AFFECT IT? NOTHING IN THE INIVERSE CAN PRODUCE AN EFFECT ON IT, YET, THROUGH IGNORANCE, WE IDENTIFY OURSELVES WITH THE MIND-STUFF, AND THINK WE FEEL PLEASURE OR PAIN.

             ATTACHMENT IS THAT WHICH DWELL ON PLEASURE.

       WE FIND PLEASUREIN CERTAIN THINGS, AND THE MIND, LIKE A CURRENT, FLOWS TOWARDS THEM, AND THAT, FOLLOWING THE PLEASURE CENTRE, AS IT WERE, IS ATTACHMENT. WE ARE NEVER ATTACHED TO ANYONE IN WHOM WE DO NOT FIND PLEASURE. WE FIND PLEASURE IN VERY QUEER THINGS SOMETIMES, BUT THE DEFINITION IS JUS THE SAME, WHEREVER WE FIND PLEASURE, THERE WE ARE ATTACHED.

              AVERSION IS THAT WHICH DWELLS ON PAIN.

     THAT, WHICH GIVES UP PAIN WE IMMEDIATELY SEEK TO GET AWAY FROM.

           FLOWING THROUGH ITS OWN NATURE, AND ESTABLISHED EVEN IN THE LEARNED, IS THE CLINGING TO LIFE.

        THIS CLINGING TO LIFE YOU SEE MANIFESTED IN EVERY ANIMAL, AND UPON IT MANY ATTEMPTS HAVE BEEN MADE TO BUILD THE THEORY OF A FUTURE LIFE, BECAUSE MEN LIKE THEIR LIVES SO MUCH THAT THEY DESIRE A FUTURE LIFE ALSO. OF COURSE IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT THIS ARGUMENT IS WITHOUT MUCH VALUE. BUT THE MOST CURIOUS PART OF IT IS THAT, IN WESTERN COUNTRIES, THE IDEA THAT THIS CLINGING TO LIFE INDICATES A POSSIBILITY OF A FUTURE LIFE APPLIES ONLY TO MEN, BUT DOES NOT INLUDE ANIMALS. 

             IN INDIA THIS CLINGING TO LIFE HAS BEEN ONE O THE ARGUMENTS TO PROVE PAST EXPERIENCE AND EXISTENCE. FOR INSTANCE, IF IT BE TRUE THAT ALL OUR KNOWLEDGE HAS COME FROM EXPERIENCE, THEN IT IS SURE THAT WHICH WE NEVER EXPERIENCED WE CANNOT IMAGINE, OR UNDERSTAND. AS SOON AS CHICKENS ARE HATCHED THEY BEGIN TO PICK UP FOOD. MANY TIMES IT HAS BEEN SEEN WHERE DUCKS HAVE BEEN HATCHED BY HENS, THAT, AS SOON AS THEY COME OUT OF THE EGGS, THEY FLEW TO WATER, AND THE MOTHER THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE DROWNED. IF EXPERIENCE BE THE ONLY SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE, WHERE DID THESE CHICKENS LEARN TO PICK UP FOOD, OR THE DUCKLINGS THAT THE WATER WAS THEIR NATURAL ELEMENT? IF YOU SAY IT IS INSTINCT, IT MEANS NOTHING - IT IS SIMPLY GIVING IT A WORD, BUT IS NO EXPLANATION.

             WHAT IS THIS INSTINCT?  WE HAVE MANY INSTINCTS IN OURSELVES. FOR INSTANCE, MOST OF YOU LADIES PLAY THE PIANO, AND REMEMBER, WHEN YOU FIRST LEARNED, HOW CAREFULLY YOU HAD TO PUT YOUR FINGERS ON THE BLACK AND THE WHITE KEYS, ONE AFTER THE OTHER, BUT NOW, AFTER LONG YEARS OF PRACTICE, YOU CAN TALK WITH YOUR FRIENDS, AND YOUR HAND GOES ON JUST THE SAME. IT HAS BECOME INSTINCT, IT BECOMS AUTOMATIC, BUT SO FAR AS WE KNOW, ALL THE CASES WHICH WE NOW REGARD AS AUTOMATIC ARE DEGENERATED REASON.

                         

            IN THE LAUGUAGE OF THE YOGI, INSTINCTIS INVOLVE REASON. DISCRIMINATION BECOMES INVOLVED, AND GETS TO BE AUTOMATIC SAMKARAS. THEREFORE, IT IS PERFECTLY LOGICAL TO THINK THAT ALL WE CALL INSTINCT IN THIS WORLD IS SIMPLY INVOLVED REASON.AS REASON CANNOT COME WTHOUT EXPERIENCE, ALL INSTINCT IS, THEREFORE, THE RESULT OF PAST EXPERIENCE. CHECK FEAR THE HAWK, AND DUCKLINGS LOVE THE WATER, AND THESE ARE BOTH THE RESULT OF PAST EXPERIENCE. THEN THE QUESTION IS WHETHER THAT EXPERIENCE BELONGS TO A PARTICULAR SOUL, OR TO THE BODY SIMPLY, WHETHER THIS EXPERIENCE WHICH COMES TO THE DUCK IS THE DUCK'S FOREFATHER'S EXPERIENCE, OR THE DUCK'S OWN EXPERIENCE. MODERN SCIENTIFIC MEN HOLD THAT IT BELONGS TO THE BODY, BUT THE YOGIS HOLD THAT IT IS THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SOUL, TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE BODY. 

              THIS IS CALLED THE THEORY OF REINCARNATION. WE HAVE SEEN THAT ALL OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, WHETHER WE CALL IT PERCEPTION OR REASON, OR INSTINCT, MUST COME THROUGH THAT ONE CHANNEL CALLED EXPERIENCE. THESE FEELINGS HAVE TO BE CONTROLLED IN THE GERM, THE ROOT, IN THEIR FINE FORMS, BEFORE EVEN WE HAVE BECOME CONSCIOUS THAT THEY ARE ACTING ON US. WITH THE VAST MAJORITY OF MAN KIND, THE FINE STAES OF THESE PASSIONS ARE NOT EVEN KNOWN, THE STATE WHEN THEY ARE SLOWLY COMING FROM BENEATH CONSCIOUSNESS. WHEN A BUBBLE IS RISING FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE, WE DO NOT SEE IT, OR EVEN WHEN IT IS NEARLY COME TO THE SURFACE, IT IS ONLY WHEN IT BURSTS AND MAKES A RIPPLE THAT WE KNOW IT IS THERE. 

              WE SHALL ONLY BE SUCCESSFUL IN GRAPPLING WITH THE WAVES WHEN WE CAN GET HOLD OF THEM IN THEIR FINE STATE, AND UNTIL YOU CAN GET HOLD OF THEM, AND SUBDUE THEM BEFORE ANY BECOMES GROSS, THERE IS NO HOPE OF CONQUERING ANY PASSION PERFECTLY. TO CONTROL OUR PASSIONS, WE HAVE TO CONTROL THEM AT THEIR VERY ROOTS, THEN ALONE SHALL WE BE ABLE TO BURN OUT THEIR VERY SEED. AS FRIED SEEDS THROWN INTO THE GROUND WILL NEVER COME UP, SO THESE PASSIONS WILL NEVER ARISE.