Response to "Yoga and Its Application"

Rammurti S. Mishra opens his book Yoga: A Handbook of Theory, Practice and Application with the line: “Submission of lower desire to higher desire is called Yoga” (29). The Buddha teaches that the cause of all suffering is just that: desire. Yet there is this human urge to “quest” -- to yearn for more than this -- this existence. So then, yoga is a spiritual quest.

Mishra states, “Yoga teaches the methods to control the mighty waves of the mind and to subdue them completely to the primordial consciousness, which is operating eternally through every perceptual mechanism” (29). A prerequisite embedded in the yogic philosophy is this idea of “the source” (God, energy, light, consciousness, Soul, Spirit, Self, the many faced God, etc.)-- essentially that all beings are a fraction and reflection of this omnipresent power. Existence, as perceived from the human point of view, is a false sense of seprativity or separate-ness. And the point of yoga is to dissolve the illusion of “the individual” in order to unify with the whole. To become one with nature, man. Similar to the buddhist idea that there is no ego -- no “me” or “you. ” To hold another entity in the same regard as the self is a deep empathy -- essentially, a deep LOVE. Therefore, the point of yoga, otherwise known as samādhi, is love.

The “primordial consciousness” Mishra mentions is a consciousness that existed since the beginning of time. Scientifically, we know -- and have known, that we are stardust. One and the same material-- in essence the same set of 118 elements. But we seem to have grown distant from our stardust cousins. So then the quest is one to awaken… or remember… or know, really know-- or maybe it’s feel, really feel part of this whole, the 118 elements the primordial consciousness. Like a drop of water returning to the ocean. The raindrop trusting the fall.

There appears to be many similarities between yogic philosophy and Buddhism. Obviously the Buddha was Hindu; however, classic Buddhist ideologies -- such as the avoidance of suffering, to my suprise, root in Hinduism. Mishra explains that a key concept of yoga is to reduce or avoid suffering by achieving a state of nirvānam, or eternal bliss. “The main goal of yoga,” Mishra said, “is freedom of the spirit from the fetters of material desires and permanent victory of consciousness over ignorance” (30). Ignorance, in this case, is the state of consciousness stuck in the delusion of sperativity or individualism. The goal of yoga, according to Mishra, is transcendence from one plane of reality or consciousness to a “higher” one.

Simply put: “Yoga is mastery of the mind” (31). Mind being the physical entity that exists under your skull, the you (yes, the separate not-real-you with the social security number), and the ultimate, supreme, primordial consciousness too.

Baby steps. In sum, Mishra promises to take his readers from individuals to yogis through the exploration and practice of the eight systems of yoga: yamas, niyamas, āsanas, prānāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāranā, dhyāna, and samādhi.

Mishra closes his first chapter with a list of attributes he recommends his reader’s possess: confidence, high expectations, trust in oneself, flexibility, and focus-- and the last suggestion is most curious -- the remembrance of the eternal consciousness that “is manifested in you in the form of a divine sound… a subtle and constant inexpressible musical vibration in your head, almost humming sound similar to the pronounced word OM” (33). I end the chapter listening -- not knowing what for… not knowing which plane I will hear… if I open up to the possibility of the real becoming unreal… or was it the other way around?

Mishra, Rammurti S., M.A., M.D. Fundamentals of Yoga: A Handbook of Theory, Practice, and Application. New York, Julian Press, Inc., 1959.