Page:The Gospel of Râmakrishna.djvu/292

 ing exercises constitute the fourth step. The fifth is Pratyahara and consists in making the mind introspective and one-pointed. Concen- tration or Dharana is the next; Dhyana or medi- tation is the seventh, and Samadhi or the state of superconsciousness the eighth. Bhakti Yoga is communion by means of love, devotion, and self -surrender (Bhakti).

It is especially adapted to this age. The path of absolute knowledge is exceedingly difficult. The term of human life at the present day is short and entirely dependent on material food. Moreover, it is almost impossible to get rid of the idea that the soul is one with the body. Now a Jnani or philosopher may declare: "I am not this body, gross or subtle; I am one with Brahman, the Absolute. I am not subject to the necessities and conditions of the body, — hunger, thirst, birth, death, disease, grief, pleasure, pain." Such assertions, however, will not make him free from these bodily con- ditions so long as he is on the plane of rela- tivity. He may be compared to a person who is suffering from the intense pain of a wound but who is trying to deny it by mere words of mouth. When the Kundalini is awakened, true