An Introduction to Yoga | Page 9

avoid
the use of these technical terms, even in an introduction to Yoga. There
are no exact English equivalents, and they are no more troublesome to
learn than any other technical psychological terms.] How are those
related to the body?
Jagrat is the ordinary waking consciousness, that you and I are using at
the present time. If our consciousness works in the subtle, or astral,
body, and is able to impress its experiences upon the brain, it is called
Svapna, or in English, dream consciousness; it is more vivid and real
than the Jagrat state. When working in the subtler form--the mental
body--it is not able to impress its experiences on the brain, it is called
Sushupti or deep sleep consciousness; then the mind is working on its
own contents, not on outer objects. But if it has so far separated itself
from connection with the brain, that it cannot be readily recalled by
outer means, then it is, called Turiya, a lofty state of trance. These four
states, when correlated to the four planes, represent a much unfolded
consciousness. Jagrat is related to the physical; Svapna to the astral;
Sushupti to the mental; and Turiya to the buddhic. When passing from
one world to another, we should use these words to designate the
consciousness working under the conditions of each world. But the
same words are repeated in the books of Yoga with a different context.
There the difficulty occurs, if we have not learned their relative nature.
Svapna is not the same for all, nor is Sushupti the same for everyone.

Above all, the word samadhi, to be explained in a moment, is used in
different ways and in different senses. How then are we to find our way
in this apparent tangle? By knowing the state which is the starting-point,
and then the sequence will always be the same. All of you are familiar
with the waking consciousness in the physical body. You can find four
states even in that, if you analyse it, and a similar sequence of the states
of the mind is found on every plane.
How to distinguish them, then ? Let us take the waking consciousness,
and try to see the four states in that. Suppose I take up a book and read
it. I read the words; my eyes arc related to the outer physical
consciousness. That is the Jagrat state. I go behind the words to the
meaning of the words. I have passed from the waking state of the
physical plane into the Svapna state of waking consciousness, that sees
through the outer form, seeking the inner life. I pass from this to the
mind of the writer; here the mind touches the mind; it is the waking
consciousness in its Sushupti state. If I pass from this contact and enter
the very mind of the writer, and live in that man's mind, then I have
reached the Turiya state of the waking consciousness.
Take another illustration. I look at any watch; I am in Jagrat. I close my
eyes and make an image of the watch; I am in Svapna. I call together
many ideas of many watches, and reach the ideal watch; I am in
Sushupti. I pass to the ideal of time in the abstract; I am in Turiya. But
all these are stages in the physical plane consciousness; I have not left
the body.
In this way, you can make states of mind intelligible and real, instead
of mere words.

Samadhi

Some other important words, which recur from time to time in the
Yoga-sutras, need to be understood, though there are no exact English
equivalents. As they must be used to avoid clumsy circumlocutions, it

is necessary to explain them. It is said: "Yoga is Samadhi." Samadhi is
a state in which the consciousness is so dissociated from the body that
the latter remains insensible. It is a state of trance in which the mind is
fully self-conscious, though the body is insensitive, and from which the
mind returns to the body with the experiences it has had in the
superphysical state, remembering them when again immersed in the
physical brain. Samadhi for any one person is relative to his waking
consciousness, but implies insensitiveness of the body. If an ordinary
person throws himself into trance and is active on the astral plane, his
Samadhi is on the astral. If his consciousness is functioning in the
mental plane, Samadhi is there. The man who can so withdraw from the
body as to leave it insensitive, while his mind is fully self-conscious,
can practice Samadhi.
The phrase "Yoga is Samadhi" covers facts of the highest significance
and greatest instruction. Suppose you are only able to reach the astral
world when you are asleep, your consciousness there