Maharishi on misinterpertation of Yoga, Pantanjali and Devotion

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Question: Thank You Maharishi. I am a student from India and I’d like to ask you a question
about the different types of yogas because lately even though I’m a great believer of TM that’s why I’m here but it still casts some doubt in my mind in the absence of TM there were different techniques discovered by yogis for instance bhakti yoga, gyan yoga, kriya yoga and so on and so forth which have no doubt produced very enlightened people maybe not all. In TM there is an assurance that most people will but in these techniques only a few advanced masters have reached it and I’m confused as to why did it have to wait till Guru Dev for this to come out because India as you yourself have called it is the mother of wisdom and Indians love truth most. Why did it have to wait till Guru Dev to come out?
 
Maharishi: Because the cycle of knowledge revival and extinction of knowledge – revival and extinction of knowledge. India has gone through all kinds of revivals of knowledge. This is up and down – forgetting the real wisdom. Unfortunately, the whole of the yoga philosophy has been very highly misinterpreted – very deeply misinterpreted. All these different yogas in hatha yoga and raja yoga laya yoga mantra yoga these different disciplines – they have been in their spirit they have been so natural.
 
All that we talk of about the natural procedure of TM this is the essence of yoga but misinterpreted yoga has become a means of disciplining the mind, controlling the mind. Control is opposed to evolution. All these systems mantra yoga, laya yoga,  raj yoga. this kriya yoga – Yogananda taught in the West all these different systems they have been interpreted to get control of the mind. Through the process of concentration. Repeated practice of concentration will inculcate a natural state of control. So ever since yoga all these different systems – ever since the control was advocated the philosophy of yoga lost its charm – lost its effectiveness, lost its utility lost its universality and what has resulted from that loss is suffering everywhere.
 
Throughout the world suffering is only due to not properly understanding the philosophy and practice of what is called yoga – Union Yoga means union .Now through our own experience we know that mind is brought to that universal awareness. 
 
This is Union – individual mind comes in unity with cosmic intelligence with universal awareness. This is the state of union. Now in this in this happening – mind coming to be united with universal awareness. In this happening it is our experience that breathing is influenced, body is influenced senses are influenced. They turn  inwards as the mind goes deep in, the senses cease to experience outside – they turn inwards. Breathing becomes so refined, body becomes so relaxed – it just doesn’t move here and there.
 
Again, it is our experience in the habits of behavior change, attitudes change, all the negative habits drop off,  positivity springs in the field of behavior. In the field of the senses, body, mind , prana, all these different spheres of individual life are influenced.
 
Yoga philosophy is such a perfect and self-sufficient system of integration of life that it can pick up – it means the philosophy of yoga it can pick up any aspect of life and through that create the same effect on all the aspects converging to that state of union .This is the perfection of teaching in TM. We are taking into account the natural tendency of the mind. The nature of the mind we are considering and considering the nature of the mind we take the mind to that pure awareness but we see that ss the mind comes to that pure awareness to that state of yoga, body, senses, breathing, environment – the whole thing is conducive to the mind’s march in that way.
Now philosophy of yoga considers all these things separately and by taking into account each of them separately it produces the same effect that the individual is in union with the universal awarenesss.
Body is taken into account and this is the chapter of hatha yoga. Hatha means force – by force one would transform the body to a value where awareness of the individual will be in tune with that universal awareness. So hatha yoga starts to advocate bending of the body here and there so that the structural transformation and material transformation – it advocates lots of various practices so that impurities in the system – impurity is deposited in the system along with the stretches may turn out may come out only by taking the body into account .It’s prescribed so many activities of the body pertaining to the body and tries to create that high state of purity of the nervous system where the structure is functioning most normally and where the material of the nervous system is so pure that the nervous system functions most normally – and normally functioning human nervous system is capable of maintaining that pure awareness at all times.
 
Cosmic consciousness – the state of yoga – the individual united with the cosmic and permanently established on that value.
 
Hatha Yoga accomplishes that by taking into account the conditions of the body. Along with the body it also concerns with the breathing – some breathing exercise some deep some shallow some quick some fast – different patterns of breathing in order to break the natural pattern of breathing and culture the breath to be so refined that the whole system could be helped for increasing purity in hatha yoga.
 
Mantra yoga taking the mantras along with the mantras breathing is associated and did all kinds of purity in behavior in eating in drinking and all kinds of do this and don’t do this eat and don’t eat – like that all these various systems in order that the breathing could become refined and every aspect of yoga every – every class of yoga is perfect and it’s so scientific that it accounts for the perfection of the philosophy. It’s so perfect you only take the body into account and see, it’s like the table has four legs and you draw one leg of the table and all the other three follow – that you take this leg and draw this from this side all the three will follow. That so you pick up from anywhere produce the same effect of all following one.
 
It is this perfect knowledge about all these various fields of individual life that produce the different styles of handling these different aspects of the personality and raising the individual personality to come to that level of cosmic intelligence. Very perfect but in its essential nature yoga is what I said just now but in its misinterpreted form. Yoga is as is prevalent in the market today – the purpose of yoga philosophy was not to force and goad or discipline by force. Something should be incorporated in the daily routine whereby without any sense of control the whole stream of life as it is advancing is advancing in its purity as well and a time comes much before the end of life that man could rise to the highest state of awareness – to the full state of purity of the body and mind integrated personality. But the effect in the various systems as taught today for the last many hundred years in India and elsewhere – all the books on yoga that you find the primary teaching is controlled – control the body, control the mind,  control the breathing, control life and once for all we should know control is opposed to evolution. Control is opposed to evolution. 
 
Life spontaneously proceeds towards higher levels – evolution. As I said in the morning the force of creation is embedded in the force of evolution. Life must evolve. Any kind of control means you want the life the current of life to be stagnant – make your mind there and make it steady don’t let it deviate, concentrate. Concentration, control is opposed to the force of evolution which wants to take he individual life to higher and higher states of evolution. Control is damaging to the purpose of life. Evolution is good, natural that is why we are so much emphasizing and we are so proud of this emphasizing that very naturally the mind should be brought to bear upon the infinite value which is there deep within us very naturally. Any control, any concentration we have seen in our practice we know from our own experience that any inception of desire or any analysis, any manipulation, any expectation, it just it’s jarring to the mind – you feel as if you -you get headache here and headache here something. Slightest intention to concentrate produces strain and what will happen when the whole philosophy of integration is based on the principle of control? From our experience we know that slightest idea that I must transcend, not even must maybe this time I will succeed, even faint expectation, very faint idea very faint idea of concentration, puts a resistance to to the process.
So, when the idea of concentration puts a resistance to the process what will happen when we start on the project of concentration?  That is why even though in itself yoga philosophy is so perfect but in its misinterpreted form it is only damaging to progress and evolution it’s only damaging.
 
When I first visited Germany there were hordes of yoga teachers – numberless yoga ‘lehrer’ they call Lehrer. Yoga Lehrer is yoga teacher. All the yoga lehrers  In about six weeks time ten very strong centers in all the biggest towns of Germany sprang up and it was this big news in one and a half month the whole country was shaken for its ideology of yoga – and the questions that were in the general meetings in the halls mostly about concentration, control and I was outside I didn’t know that all these yoga teachers have been advocating strict discipline very strict discipline -you mustn’t go to cinema and you mustn’t smoke and you mustn’t drink, you must not do this you must not do this- nothing- to this thousands of families in Germany were following those strict disciplines with the hope that someday when the whole system is purified they are going to enjoy that unbounded bliss consciousness – that temptation of Samadhi made them live all the restricted life. Very sincere seekers but years are going by and they are not accomplishing because they are told that impurity of the system and this or this, or this.
 
At the end of the first tour of Germany there was held a Congress German Congress of the spiritual regeneration movement when and the whole thing was such a grand success the whole country of papers and all the thrilling with this new thing that you can have Samadhi in a natural way and you don’t have to go through years of discipline. And all this should be teaching of yoga in Germany for the last so many years. Four yoga teachers wanted to meet me I said I’ll meet the yoga teachers in a second as they entered the door one of them said your transcendental meditation has put an end to yoga in Germany.
 
I said I welcome you because you feel for the end of yoga. By my being here the roots of yoga should go deep into the unfathomable areas for eternity and you say it is rooted out that means you are really sorry for the yoga to be disappearing and this is a value to me.
 
Come, we’ll sit and talk. In the meantime some other men said that your teaching is opposed it’s against Patanjali – Patanjali how many of you have heard the name of Patanjali? All have heard. You know the exponent – exponent of yoga philosophy Patanjali philosophized the whole system of integration of life. All the systems have been – have been philosophized by Patanjali and that is called Patanjali yoga.
 
He said you’re teaching us against Patanjali. I said I welcome you because you take Patanjali to be authority and I also take him to be that come on we’ll sit and then I said tell me how this Transcendental Meditation is opposed to Patanjali? Then the third man said Patanjali has said eight steps to yoga to samadhi and you say like that samadhi can be gained by anyone without going through seven steps. How can one suddenly get on to these eight steps? I said you are absolutely right no man can get to the eight steps without having to go through first second third fourth seventh but we should see whether Patanjali advocated these eight steps and  if he has then we will see whether Transcendental Meditation provides those- those eight steps in one lift?
 
Maybe it provides those all those height of eight steps in one lift? I said Patanjali never advocated that there are eight steps to Samadhi. They are not eight steps – yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana  samadhi – these are not eight steps. These are the eight different fields of life which are influenced when yoga is attained but Patanjali the very name of yoga according to Patanjali is not eight step yoga no it is eight limbs of yogaas if the body of yoga is composed of eight limbs hands and feet and head and stomach and this and this..  eight different limbs – Ashtanga it is called Ashtanga. ‘Anga’ means limbs these are the eight limbs of yoga.
 
Patanjali never said there are the eight steps of yoga. He said these are the eight limbs of yoga as if the body of yoga is made of these eight parts and everyone knows that when the body develops all the limbs develop simultaneously hands and nose and eyes in feet and stomach and all every level grows and develops. So, the growth of yoga means growth of all these sections or spheres of life simultaneously. There is no sense of step at all – samadhi asanas pranayama, pratyahara, all these things simultaneously grow. That means if one grows one unit of commodity then all the seven others also grow to that one unit – if Samadhi grows to 90 units all these seven spheres also grow into their value – to the same extent the growth of personality, the growth of the senses, the growth of the mind, the growth of prana, the growth of the body, the growth of the relationship with others, the growth of the influence that the individual produces for the entire creation, this growth is uniformly accomplished – a uniform accomplishment of growth in all spheres of man’s concern in all spheres of man’s life therefore there is no sense of steps Samadhi is not the eighth step – all of the eight are found in every step and this we can conceive. Meditators of Transcendental Meditation can appreciate what Patanjali said about the eight limbs of yoga eight parts of yoga. We know that when we meditate an expansion of mind is one thing at the same time when we come out open the eyes artists have told us that their color scheme is better now eyes open more – perception is sharper than before so this is expansion of the ability of the sense s- senses become more acute sharper they are able to appreciate things in their truer perspective – greater realities are perceived and started to be lived in life in all these different spheres. Prana naturally becomes refined. We are not required to do anything for the refinement of prana – naturally prana is refined. With all these experiences on our personal level we understand Patanjali to have advocated only Transcendental Meditation – this the soul of all the yoga this is yoga philosophy.
 
We are not responsible for the mis-interpretations of Samadhi and if misinterpretations have become common everywhere we can deplore the whole situation and start refreshing the whole atmosphere.. If everything has gone wrong someone in India said to me in open lecture like that and he said you mean to say that all these saints who have gone by were wrong and you only are right I said when I see your life I am only concluding that this new voice only is right and all the old voices from wherever they came they must have come from the field of ignorance we don’t we don’t know who said it but whosoever advocate concentration, control, the need of detachment, renunciation, for enlightenment – whosoever he was he didn’t know what he was talking about. Whoever he may be he may be God incarnation speaking from heavens but we’ll say please stop let us hear the voice of the earth the whole thing is wrongly interpreted -misinterpretations of the Vedas of the Upanishads of the Gita – of the whole philosophy of Vedanta. Philosophy of yoga the whole thing is in such a mess that if we hope but with this with this voice of revival and with such a simple and natural system to give the experience of inner reality the situation will change – the understanding will change but it’s a it’s a it’s a job that needs time and devotion
 
Question : Maharishi, in your introduction to your commentaries in the Gita you remarks about Shankaracharya and you said that in the absence of the sun the lesser stars take over and Ilove that metaphor anyway because I have an English major anyway
 
Maharishi: You know talking all this truth
 
Question: it is also
 
Maharishi: Every day we see when the sun is set the stars take over it – it’s our experience of daily every day in this sky this thing keeps happening.
 
Question: In the absence of Shankara’s well the way he expounded Vedanta, would  Ramanuja and the others be correct?
 
Maharishi: the main mistake of Ramanuja and Madhava and all of this was to disregard transcendental awareness in advocating devotion. They disregarded this pure consciousness and established their field of devotion on the level of thinking of God singing of Him praying to Him all the time thinking of Him. So devotion is a thing on the field of Being one believes that in life one doesn’t have to say I love you so much and one doesn’t have to keep on saying I love you so much and I love you come it’s a thing – love is a thing on the level of life one lives it spontaneously – one lives it particularly that unbounded love whose waves are so high as to face the touch of God – that love is a thing of life it is on the level of Being and disregarding Being from the field of devotion is taking devotion to a baseless it’s like building castles in the air – you can’t build it’s not possible to establish the field of  devotion irrespective of pure awareness. So when these people started to expound devotion they just sang in the praise of God if one’s awareness is full of bliss consciousness if one’s mind and heart is full with that pure consciousness then the song of the God just a wave of bliss already when the awareness is universal then only these songs and these prayers, they have a meaning in contacting that field of the Almighty. Otherwise it’s just thinking and glorifying the bank remaining in the market you cry for the bank you remain in the market and think of the bank and call the bank and pray the bank and make all kinds of things on the streets of the but unless you enter the bank the bank is not going to be significantly useful. So when these people asked Shankara started to glorify devotion they did not uphold this transcendental awareness and due to that their followers even though swinging in the moods of devotion fell from waves of happiness in their in their moods of devotion but couldn’t get to the enlightenment which devotion brings -couldn’t get to God consciousness which is the goal of all devotion and therefore they didn’t last in time – they didn’t last in time in their teaching remained ineffective just remained ineffective and people were dissuaded to keep on wasting their time in crying for God or in – in wanting for Him and all kinds of things which were labeled as devotional practices but resulted in utter mood making. It’s a loss of life
 
Question: Is it possible for one many thinkers and philosophers and even advanced Yogi’s believed that you can always explain the how of creation but never the why in other words why was the universe created – if a man reaches supreme knowledge which is the seventh stage as you have unfolded – will he know why the universe was created why creation?
 
Maharishi: The why of creation is hidden beneath the how of it. Once we know the creation is a display of cause and effect and that affects are the cause for further effect it’s a display of cause and effect and cause and effect and this is how the manifestations evolve – evolve in this how of creation the why is found. Why creation? to evolve. How creation? from cause to effect from cause to effect from cause to effect so in the answer of how of creation the why of creation is found.
 
The purpose of creation is expansion of happiness expansion of life Expansion – expansion of happiness is the purpose of creation and how from more latent states to more expressed states from more latent to more expressed form more latent to more expressed from fine particles to the nucleus and from there electron and then the atom and then molecules and then the muscular levels.
The whole creation in in sequence of evolution from finer to grosser from grosser to finer we experience in meditation. So from this way to that way from that way to this way and this is natural. Nature the absolute evolves to the relative the relative evolves to the absolute and both ways life flows because it is meant to be that way. This is the nature of life.
 
Question: Perhaps I’m asking ultimate questions and you don’t have too much time but why does the one have to become the many in the unmanifested state?
 
Maharishi: Because there is no fun in loneliness.
Question: I think you answered my question
Maharishi: The Almighty can’t possibly remain lonely all the time and in his almightiness He remains lonely even in the midst of the many so He is the One and He is the many and many in One and one in the many and that is the Almighty nature – the whole thing is natural – nature -nature – nature of the Almighty