Chapter 2
The body is the horse on which
you ride on you way to GOD.-Guru Granth Shaib.
The yoga system known as Yogoda which Lahiri Moshai evolved and taught to his great disciples Shri Yukteshwar Maharaj and Swami Yoganand,is logical and simple.Considerable literature is available at the Ranchi headquarters of the Yoga Society,but I could contact no outstanding Master who had perfected the art of this form of yoga and who could teach it with any authority.After Swami Yogananda,who visited and influenced the United States of America considerably,the chairmanship of the Math passed to an American lady disciple of Yogananda,the well known Daya Mata.
I had the good fortune to meet this distinguished lady once in Delhi,in the house of an army brigadier who practiced Yogoda,and later at Dakshineshwar in Calcutta.She wears ochre robes and sings beautiful devotional songs in English in praise of God.
The origin of the Yogoda system as a means of becoming aware of the Soul is tracked back to Shri Babaji.He is said to be immortal,remaining young from century to century and assisting the great Masters in carrying out their spiritual tasks in this world.How he insisted Shri Lahiri Moshai in the Himalays,close to Ranikhet,is an astounding miracle.It is impossible to fully comprehend the true nature of Shri Babaji due to his being a Maha-avtar, but his disciple Shri Lahiri Mahasaya succeeded in carrying his torch with such brilliance that he amazed all who saw him.Men of all faiths came to him for help and they never went back disappointed.The way he cured the illness of an Englishman’s wife who was in England when he was serving under him in India, shows the remarkable powers he possesed.
He asked his disciples to avoid theoretical discussion of the scriptures.”Solve all your problems through meditation”,he said.
Seek truth in meditation,not in moldy books
Look in the sky to find the moon,not in the pond.(Persian proverb)
Kriya Yoga,the technique of spiritual advancement taught by Shri Babaji to Shri Lahiri Mahasay,who passed it on to Shri Yukteshwar,who then gave it to Shri Yogananda,is a highly sophisticated yoga technique,consisting of breathing exercises and concentration on the psychic centres.
In his book The Autobiography of a Yogi,Paramhansa Yogananda describes Kriya Yoga as “a simple psycho-physiological method,whereby the blood of the human being is being discharged of carbonic acid and oxygen is added.The atoms of this aditional volume of oxygen are transformed in the lifestream of the human being to regenerate the centres in the brain and the spine.By counteracting the accumulation of veinous blood,the yogi can reduce or prevent the decay of the tissues.In this way mastery of life is obtained”.
I took a correspondence course and tried out some exercises,and since I could not find an expert instructor,I gave up this system for fear of damaging the nervous system of the body. It is absolutely vital that yoga exercises are conducted under the expert supervision of a Master.Having taken to physical Yoga Exercises,one tends to neglect the most vital aspect,the cleansing and elevating complement of chanting the Lord’s Name,listening to devotional music or reciting the scriptures.Great Masters like Babaji,Lahiri Mahasaya,Yukteshwarji and Yoganada lay great store by it.
I have visited the Ranchi Centre of Yogoda where I saw a couple of young Americans who were seriously studying this practice.However, I saw no arrangements for devotional music or reciting of scriptures.Perhaps that was left to the disciples to arrange individually,or the system had become so ultra-modern that the need for cultivating love of God,awareness of whom is the main aim of this discipline,was no longer felt,the whole concentration being on the physical aspect.Daya Mata,however,enchanted the audience by her devotional songs in English when she came to Delhi.
Bab Sita Ram Das Onkarnath,who was to be my Master, knew all about this system and its great gurus. He reads the life of Lahiri Mahasay chapter by chapter every evening,along with other scriptures.Daya Mata met him whilst he was in ’silence’ or Mauna, at Puri, and at her request he allowed her to sit for meditation with him for an hour. She was kind enough to describe this experience to me when I met her at Dakshineshwar. She had asked Baba after his meditation,why her spiritual progress had stopped and Baba readily told her it was because she was eating eggs.She was amazed at Baba’s insight and confessed that although she did not take meat,she found it hard,due to her American background, to leave eggs also. She accurately summed up Baba when she said,”He is God’s own child”.
One of her young American disciples,who was looking for the samadhi or burial place of Lahiri Moshai,which was reported to be by the river Ganges at Hardwar,accidentally met me at Hardwar and asked me the name of the saint whom I had just then prostrated myself in salutation.When I said it was Baba Sri Sita Ram Das Onkarnath,he rushed to prostrate himself at Baba’s feet and said he had been instructed by Daya Mata not to miss meeting him whilst in India. For this purpose he had been to Puri in Orissa where Baba had last been reported and had been disappointed not to find him there.He expressed his delight to Baba Onkarnath in being able to meet him at Hardwar,while he was looking for the samadhi of the great Guru Shri Lahiri Moshai,about which no one appeared to know.The saint led this young man ten yards away from where we all were standing,and showed him the platform which housed the samadhi he was looking for.The amazing thing was that nobody,not even the caretaker of this ashram,knew about the existence of this samadhi. We were all stuned by the insight of Baba Onkarnath and the American young man was almost in tears with joy. How wonderful ,he said, that he should achieve both his aims of coming to India and at the same time,that of visiting the samadhi of Shri Lahiri Moshai,and meeting Baba Onkarnath. The young man asked for a favour from Baba which was readily granted,namely,that he should be able to meet Baba again the following year.
Of all yoga systems,Yogoda appears to me to be the best, provided one can find a real Master as a guide. I have known one man who had some ill effects while practising this by means of a correspondence course.It would be a great pity if we lost the technique of Kriya Yoga through neglect, though I know that the ever vigilant Shri Baba would choose suitable persons to propagate this system. Anyone wishing to practise Yoga should read The Autobiography of a Yogi, by Yogananda.This book, which makes one’s hair stand on end, had a considerable and beneficial effect on my mind and induced me to study Yogoda. Unable to find a Master of this technique, I had to give it up. It appeared, however, to lay little stress on the essential ingredient of love of God, which has to be specifically cultivated ,before undertaking any yoga practice. Otherwise, the whole system is apt to degerate into a desire for miracles.
Tags: Daya Mata., Maha-avtar, Shri Babaji, Shri Lahari Mahasay
