Knowledge of Reality
Shri Yogendraji
Yoga and Total Health, April 2012
Of the ten main objects of yoga promulgated by the practical teachers, the yogins, the awakening of superior knowledge where Reality may be seen face to face is one that has a special appeal to the intellectually inclined. Non-knowledge or Avidya is considered by almost all the schools of philosophy as the cause of evil, pain and sorrow. It is further held that the same can be removed only by the awakening of the right knowledge. There is no bondage greater than ignorance (Ajnana) and no pain greater than illusion (Maya) born of nescience, and unless this is loosened, there is no chance for ultimate deliverance (Mukti).
It is argued by the practical yoga authorities that knowledge achieved by Vedanta and other Sastras (systems of thought) as merely theoretical, and, furthermore, it is not possible to acquire direct knowledge of objects only through abstract reasoning, and that, therefore, a special type of practical training becomes absolutely necessary to enable one to put oneself in direct touch with the object of knowledge. It may be observed that it is only the system of practical yoga that undertakes to systematically train the students to place themselves in direct touch with reality (of objects on which they can contemplate). By yoga, therefore, as stated in the commentary on the Hathayogapradipika, one acquires direct knowledge of things.
The central feature of yoga meditation consists in the securing of a habit by which one can put oneself in direct touch with Reality of the object instead of going around it through the ordinary processes of the mind. There is a way of acquiring Truth by the exercise of the ordinary logical powers of the mind and there is also a way by which new Truth can be attained, viz. by stopping the logical processes and the outgoing functioning of the mind, thereby bringing oneself in direct and intimate touch with the object of knowledge. This second method is in some way akin to the flash of light which illumines the mind of a poet or a scientist absorbed in his own task of bringing out a new creation or discovering a new truth.
This process of intellectual acumen (Prajna) and Samyama has, therefore, nothing mysterious about it; it is directly derived as a result of the operation of the ordinary psychological laws and processes with which we are all familiar.
The point on which any doubt can be raised is whether or not by a supreme concentration on a particular object, any special category of knowledge dawns forth. Yoga experience holds that it does. Nor is there anything improbable about it. If the mind by its constant change of objects can produce one dimension of knowledge, there is no reason why it cannot produce another superior dimension of knowledge by the reverse process of steadying the mind on a particular object. Those who have performed the experiment testify to its validity.