Page:Ramakrishna - His Life and Sayings.djvu/26

8 Ascetic Exercises or Toga.

Within certain limits Yoga seems to be an excellent dis- cipline, and, in one sense, we ought all to be Yogins. Yoga, as a technical term, means application, concentration, effort ; the idea that it meant originally union with the deity has long been given up. This Yoga, however, was soon elaborated into an artificial system, and though supplying the means only that are supposed to be helpful for philosophy, it has been elaborated into a complete system of philosophy, the Yoga philosophy ascribed to Pata%ali, a variety of Kapila's S#zkhya-philosophy. As described by Svimin Rima- krzsho&nanda in the Brahmavddin, p. 511 seq., it consists, as practised at present, of four kinds Ma n tra, Lay a, R^a, and HaMa-yoga. Mantra-yoga consists in repeating a certain word again and again, particularly a word expres- sive of deity, and concentrating all one's thoughts on it. Laya-yoga is the concentration of all our thoughts on a thing or the idea of a thing, so that we become almost one with it Here again the ideal image of a god, or names expressive of the Godhead, are the best, as pro- ducing absorption in God. RS^a-yoga consists in con- trolling the breath so as to control the mind. It was observed that when fixing our attention suddenly on any- thing new we hold our breath, and it was supposed there- fore that concentration of the mind would be sure to follow the holding back of the breath, or the Pr#y&ma. HaMa- yoga is concerned with the general health of the body, and is supposed to produce concentration by certain portions of