Adhyatma Yoga

Adhyatma Yoga

1. This world has no real, independent existence. It appears to exist, because Brahman or the Absolute exists for ever.
2. There is no body before its birth; there is no body after its death. Think and feel that which you see now does not really exist. That which does not exist in the beginning and end does not really exist in the middle also.
3. Sensual pleasure is the womb of pain. The cause for pain is absence of pleasure. Sensual pleasure is imaginary, illusory, fleeting and tantalising. Abandon sensual pleasure and rejoice in the Eternal Bliss of Atman.
4. He who has destroyed desire is really a harmonised, peaceful and happy man.
5. Slay anger and desire. Control the thoughts. Know thyself. You will enjoy Supreme, Everlasting Peace.
6. Desire is insatiable. It is born of Rajas or passion. It is born of ignorance. It is an enemy of peace, wisdom and devotion. Master first the senses and then slay this desire which abides in the senses, the mind and intellect, ruthlessly through enquiry, discrimination, dispassion, devotion and meditation.
7. Anger also is born of Rajas. When a desire is not gratified, anger manifests itself. Anger is a form of desire only. Slay this anger through Vichara, discrimination, patience, love, meditation, identification with the ever-serene Atman.
8. Subdue the lower self by the Higher Self. Annihilate all desires. Slay egoism. Destroy all attachments. Meditate and rest peacefully in your own Innermost Atman, which is Existence, Consciousness and Bliss Absolute.
9. If you want to attain immortality, go beyond the pairs of opposites.
10. Endure bravely heat and cold, pain and sorrow, loss and failure, censure and dishonour. You will attain equanimity of mind, peace and poise.
11. If you are balanced in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, sin will not touch thee; you will not be affected by the fruits of your actions.
12. Keep the senses from attraction and repulsion. Attain mastery over the senses. Discipline the senses and the mind. You will not be affected now even if you move among sense-objects.
13. He who is free from desires, cravings, attachment, egoism, and mine-ness, attains the Peace of the Eternal.
14. Stand up. Have mastery over the senses. Be devoted to Atman. Destroy all doubts through Satsanga, study, enquiry, meditation and wisdom.
15. Do actions without the idea of agency, without expectation of fruits, without attachment to the actions themselves, balanced in success and failure. You will not be bound by actions.
16. Selfless actions will purify your heart and lead to the attainment of wisdom of the Self.
17. Constantly do your duty without attachment. Your heart will be purified. You will attain immortal bliss.
18. Think and feel that Prakriti or Svabhava or Guna does everything. Identify yourself with the Actionless Atman, the Silent Witness and thus free yourself from the bondage of action.
19. Surrender all actions unto the Lord. Fix your mind on Him. Free yourself from egoism, attachment, desire. No action will bind you. Actions are burnt by the fire of Wisdom. Such actions are no longer actions at all. You will attain the Supreme Abode of everlasting bliss and peace.
20. Conquer likes and dislikes which abide in the senses. You can conquer mind and attain the Peace of the Eternal.
21. Serve your Guru. Be devoted to your Guru. Obey him. Have implicit faith in his teachings. You will grow in spirituality. The veil will be torn down. You will attain Self-realisation.
22. All actions culminate in Jnana or wisdom. Bhakti also terminates in wisdom. Without Bhakti, Jnana is impossible.
23. Knowledge of Atman burns all actions. There is no purifier in this world like Brahma-Jnana.
24. Seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, speaking, grasping, etc., are actions of the senses. Atman is the silent witness. Thou art really the Atman or the Witness, Sakshi. Never forget this.
25. Behold only the One Atman or the Self in all beings—in the ants, dogs, cows, horses, elephants and outcastes. This is equal vision or Sama Drishti.
26. Give the mind to the Lord and the hands for the service of humanity. Always think of Lord only. You will soon attain God-realisation easily.
27. Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give, whatever austerity you do, do it as an offering unto the Lord. Your heart will be purified. You will not be bound by actions. You will soon attain the Lord.
28. Cultivate the divine qualities: humility, harmlessness, purity, steadfastness, self-control, dispassion, unostentatiousness, non-attachment, balance of mind, fearlessness, angerlessness, self-restraint, renunciation, straightforwardness, truthfulness, compassion, non-covetousness, steadiness. You will attain Wisdom of the Self or Brahma-Jnana.
29. Be cautious. Be vigilant. Be diligent. Be alert. The senses are very turbulent. They will hurl you down into the abyss of ignorance at any moment. Always do Japa, do Kirtan. Meditate ceaselessly.
30. Sin is only a mistake. Knowledge of Self will burn all sins. The Name of the Lord will destroy all sins. Therefore, repeat His Name and attain Wisdom of Atman.
31. Have faith in your own Self, in the existence of Brahman, in the teachings of your Preceptor, in the sacred Scriptures. Then alone can you attain Self-realisation.
32. Behold the Lord in the effulgence of the sun, in the fragrance of flowers, in the brilliance of fire, in the sapidity of water, in the birds, beasts, in the air, ether, in the mind, intellect, in the heart, in the sound, in music.
33. The Lord is seated equally in all beings. He is imperishable. He is the Supervisor, Supporter, Enjoyer. He who thus seeth, he really seeth.
34. Be firm in the vow of Brahmacharya. Control the senses and the mind. Abandon greed. Cultivate dispassion. Make the mind one-pointed. Sit steadily on Padma, Siddha or Sukha or Svastika Asanas. Now meditate and practise Yoga. You will attain Samadhi or the superconscious state.
35. Now you will behold the One Atman in all beings and all beings in the Atman.
36. Withdraw yourself. Annihilate all attachments and external sense-contacts. Be in tune with the Infinite. Find joy in your own Atman. You will realise Immortal, Undecaying Bliss.
37. Control the senses and mind, and sit for meditation. Do not allow the mind to think of sensual objects. Again and again withdraw the mind and fix it on the Lord.
38. Get established in the Eternal. Be balanced. Pain and sorrow will not touch thee.
39. Rejoice in the Atman. Be satisfied in the Atman. Be contented in the Atman. Rest in Atman. Root yourself in Atman. All your desires will be gratified. Your heart will be filled with the Self.
40. Rajas is passion, motion. It causes attachment and thirst for mundane life. Inertia is darkness. It causes heedlessness, laziness, indolence, and sloth. Sattva is purity, harmony. It produces peace and bliss.
41. When Rajas predominates, Sattva and Tamas are subordinated; when Sattva preponderates, Rajas and Tamas are subordinated. When Tamas predominates, Sattva and Rajas are subordinated.
42. Hypocrisy, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, are demoniacal qualities. They are enemies of wisdom and devotion. They are obstacles in the path of Yoga. Slay them ruthlessly.
43. Sattvic food helps Yoga Sadhana. Take green gram, spinach, milk, fruits, barley, bread, Lauki, bitter-gourd, plantain stem and flower, and cow’s ghee. These augment vitality, energy, vigour, health, joy and cheerfulness. They are delicious, bland, substantial and agreeable.
44. Give up chillies, sour, overhot, pungent, dry, burning, too much salted things. These are Rajasic substances, which produce pain and sickness. Abandon them.
45. That which is stale, putrid, corrupt, useless leavings of a meal, eggs, fish, etc., are Tamasic foodstuff. Give up these things also.
46. Worship the Gods, the preceptor, the wise, sages, Yogis, Munis, saints and Sannyasins, learned Brahmins. Be straightforward. Be pure. Observe Brahmacharya. Practise Ahimsa. This is austerity of body.
47. Speak the truth. Speak that which generates love. Speak that which is beneficent. This is austerity of speech.
48. Be equanimous. Be cheerful. Be self-controlled. Be pure in nature. Control the thoughts. This is austerity of mind.
49. A glutton is unfit for Yoga. One who starves cannot practise Yoga. Similarly, one who is filled with inertia and so sleeps much, or one who sleeps very little and is ever engaged in Rajasic activity is also unfit for Yoga. Adopt the golden mean. This is the Path of the Wise.
50. He who is alike to foe and friend, who is balanced in pleasure and pain, heat and cold, honour and dishonour, censure and praise, who is without attachment and egoism, who is ever content and harmonious, who is compassionate, who does not hate any creature, is a devotee of God-realisation. He has crossed the three qualities.
51. A liberated Sage is free from passion, attachment, fear, anger, egoism. He has a balanced mind and equal vision.
52. No one can slay or destroy this Atman or soul because It is extremely subtle, formless. It is Spirit, not matter.
53. Mind is greater than the senses. Pure Intellect is greater than the mind. Atman is greater than the intellect. There is nothing greater than the Atman.
54. Brahman is without senses, mind, Prana, quality. He is within and without all beings. He is Immovable. He is extremely subtle.
55. He is the Light of lights. He is beyond the three qualities. He is a mass of wisdom. He is attainable through wisdom.
56. Just as one sun illumines the whole world, the one Brahman illumines all intellects.
57. Control the senses and the mind. Burn all desires. Aspire fervently and intensely. Kill fear and anger. You will attain Liberation or the Final Beatitude.
58. Think of Brahman. Meditate on Brahman. Be devoted to Brahman. Get merged in Brahman. Get established in Brahman, This is Brahma-Abhyasa or Jnana-Abhyasa, or Vedantic Nididhyasana or Ahamgraha Upasana.