Category Archives: Yoga

Everyone imagines they know what yoga is, but the notion commonly rests on the misconception that yoga is all about postures and breathing exercises. In fact, the development of postures and breathing came at a relatively late time and only forms a branch of Hatha Yoga—a branch that is not in any way a sum of even that specialised knowledge. Yoga, which is linked etymologically to ‘yoke’, includes both the goal and the means. The ‘union’ that is implicit is also mistaken for a uniting that takes place between two distinctly separate things, whereas it is really more of a return to one principle that has no second, so is more in the way of a fullness of realisation or total knowledge that involves the destruction of all ignorance concerning the true state of affairs.

The origin of yoga is far more ancient than is usually supposed. There are two darshanas or points of view within the Hindu doctrines that are closely linked, these being the principial cosmology of Shankhya, and the Yoga-Sutras attributed to Patanjali. Modern scholarship always insists on attributing traditional knowledge to an individual author, whereas names like ‘Shankhya’ are not the names of a personage but descriptive more of a specialised knowledge or science not in any way comparable to conventional scientific theories. Shankhya literally has the meaning of ‘category’, which is meant in the sense of synthetic knowledge of true principles (tattvas). Patanjali, who wrote down the aphorisms (sutras) of the yoga theory and practice, based on the Shankhya cosmology, does not refer to one person; it is a family name, indicative of a school of thought as a collective entity.

Furthermore, the great antiquity of yoga is made clear in the Sanskrit source texts and the commentaries on them by the ancient sages. Yoga practice is inseparable from the Shankhya teaching and that is attributed to Kapila, who is identified with Hiranyagarbha, the Lord of the Universe in the present cycle or Manvantara. It is written that Kapila had acquired the sum total of all knowledge of the Manvantara previous to this present one, of which according to Hindu cosmology we are now at the end of the final phase called Kali Yuga.[1] Owing to the degradation that takes place at the end of a cosmic cycle it thus became necessary to write down the theory and practice of yoga about two thousand years ago—before that it was not necessary as knowledge was passed down through oral tradition.

When the knowledge was in danger of being forgotten and lost forever, Patanjali wrote it down in a concise form, which is known as the aphorisms or Yoga-Sutras. The nature of the ancient Sanskrit language is such that it requires commentaries to determine the meaning. The true meaning can only be construed by those who have direct knowledge of what is being written about, as opposed to the study of scriptures alone. For this reason much gets lost in translation into modern languages; this is all the more so when the translators lack the knowledge, as is the case with scholarly or academic commentators. The important thing is that knowledge in the way it is meant here cannot be learned without a valid teacher.

To repeat what was said earlier, the Shankhya darshana is a synthetic cosmology or a ‘natural science’ that was drawn from what already existed in the Vedas, and even thousands of years earlier, before anything was written down. It rests on ‘true principles’ (tattvas). It is not in any way a material science, in so far especially as ‘matter’ has no direct equivalent word in any ancient language. Matter itself is a modern theoretical notion based on a strictly limited view of causality, which shall here be briefly explained: Conventional scientific theories are insistent that all things perceptible by the senses, or perceptible by the senses supported by special machines or instruments, have a causal relation with other things of a similar ‘material’ class, and that also rests on an assumption that matter is in itself inert, requiring something else to move it. A material cause is not only sought for material things but is also sought for in things that are obviously subtler than gross matter. For example, it is becoming increasingly accepted, especially by the public, whose access to conventional science is limited to generalised presentations of what are in fact extremely specialised theories, that the mind, or what composes the mind, is caused by the brain, the physical organ. That owes to neuroscience, which as with all conventional sciences, seeks to restrict reality to what its own specialised and so extremely limited field can imagine. All such theories are, by their very nature as ‘invented knowledge’, constantly changed when new theories are produced; so there is always a kind of ‘falling behind’ where public acceptance of the ‘new facts’ amounts to acceptance of an ‘old fact’.

Such a way of theorising about nature and reality is the complete reverse of all ancient and traditional knowledge, which while prone to adaptation over time, never changes in its essential principles. Traditional doctrines assert that all things have a causal basis in a higher or subtler principle and are known thereby.

[1] See ‘Cosmic Cycles’, Nu Hermetica.

This description is adapted from our book Thunder Perfect Gnosis.

Mantra Yoga and Initiation

Posted on 2nd November 2025 by Shaktananda

The mantra is extremely important in all initiatic traditions as it is the primary means of conveying diksha or ‘initiation’ within the Orders or groups. Various meanings of the Sanskrit term also include ‘consecration’, ‘preparation’ and most interestingly, ‘new vision’, as seeing and knowledge often have the same meaning.

When the guru gives a mantra to a sadhaka, it is called japa as that implies continuous repetition. While that is not the only use of the mantra, japa is valuable as a means of controlling the mind and stabilising the knowledge, and can be very efficacious as a support to meditation. The word or phrase can itself be the object of meditation. The whole question of diksha is contentious and some prefer not to discuss the subject at all, which is understandable. One should certainly not discuss one’s personal mantra. Very often the same mantra will be given to a group; it is still ‘personal’ when it has been conferred, even if used by all the followers of a particular guru.

This article is from our book, Advaita Vedanta—Question of the Real.

Why is diksha contentious? Very often novices will pester us for japa or diksha when they have read or heard about it somewhere and sense its importance. However, that feeling does not take account of their readiness to receive it, especially in the real initiatic sense. Impatience is a clear indication of unworthiness, although there is no reason at all why it should not be requested. In so far as it really can transmit initiation then once received it is permanent, and this is why it has been said that no member of an Order can ever leave it, since it is an integral part of being. Those who do leave an Order, as of course happens frequently, especially in the volatile times we live in today, were never truly members so their departure is no different than someone dissociating from any profane club, association or society. Even if initiation were given, they would not have received it.

Mantra in Initiation

This brings up a very important question regarding initiation, in whatever way it is given. We will not discuss here the absurdity of ‘self-initiation’, which is very popular in neo-spiritualism, and will only state here that it is an oxymoron arising from sheer ignorance. Initiation must be transmitted from one who has knowledge of more than a theoretical order, or if not, then at least from one that has received authorisation to initiate from within an Order. Initiation, as we have said, may be given sometimes but not received. Likewise a seed may be cast upon stony ground and so will not flourish.

At the highest level diksha is no less than what is called guru darshana, where the samadhi of the guru is transferred to the practitioner at least temporarily—in which case they have to work on it of course. There are other cases where the person may receive a spiritual influence but owing to their lack of preparedness, its effect is detrimental—although this is usually temporary and it is known that sometimes the power has been subsequently removed by the guru. In such a case, they were not able to withstand the direct transference from the mind of a Brahma-jnanin. It will then become apparent that the giving of a mantra or diksha is far more than the practice within the Order of the Golden Dawn where a seasonal ‘password’ is given, or in some later derivatives of that, where the Neophyte has to figure out a ‘secret word’ from a code given in the ritual.[1]

A real mantra is never merely invented or made up. The word or phrase will often be one well known from the Gita or Upanishads, for example, in which case the question arises as to how then can it be in any way ‘secret’ or indeed personal? It is special because it has been given in the way we have indicated. It is not merely a word, there is power behind it, which is the power of transmission. The guru will also give personal instruction in how to pronounce it and how to use it, which may be different according to the individual.

The secret then is not in a word itself, as is the case with shruti (‘direct’) texts. This is further explained by the bija mantra, where not only a word is given but also a deity, called Ishta Devata, the ‘chosen deity’. The mantra in this case is linked to the deity and usually a name of the deity is included, as with the much celebrated Om Nama Shiva-ya. There are countless examples in scripture and in hymns of praise. The most important of all of them is Om or AUM as it is a name of Brahma and much else besides.[2]

The three letters A, U, M are merged into one figure. The chandra-bija is at the top, which literally means ‘moon and dot (or point)’. All mantras include what is also called the bija-nada, which is indicative of subtle sound, not uttered physically. The bija ‘point’ is placed over the mantric word to indicate this. It is for the same reason—of the very subtle nature of this sound—that AUM is referred to in the Vedas indirectly, as Pranava, which is AUM or Brahma Nirguna.[3] This can be taken to mean, ‘a boat that carries us away from world illusion and to the Real’. This is further indicated by the moon and point.

Mantra: saying it and hearing it

It is often said in books or literature that mantras are to be sounded aloud with the voice. While this is sometimes done, it is not the way to enter the mystery of the bija-nada. It is therefore best to utter the word silently. In the highest form of the nada, it is not uttered at all, not even mentally, but is heard though not with the ears or even the inward sense of hearing. In this case, what is actually experienced is completely indescribable. There are lesser degrees of this, which amount to more indirect forms of knowledge.

The yantra, ‘image’, is also used extensively, and there are countless examples even within Hinduism, let alone neo-spiritualism where symbols are invented as often as they are drawn from a valid tradition. Apart from these—some of which can be effective—the best are no doubt to be found within the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Some of the most effective within the Tantras, and which are also very well known, also happen to be the simplest, for example the point within a triangle:

The purpose of this is to meditate, using the bindu in the centre as the focal point. Such a yantra should preferably be hand drawn and painted by the sadhaka. While it can be meditated on externally, as with the mantra it is best when it is transferred to the subtle sense of vision in the first instance. After that, depending on the skill of the operator, the image itself is lost and the real knowledge of the symbol is known directly.

Another form of yantra is the image of the Ishta Devata. This is used in combination with the bija mantra. Traditionally, the idea is to build the image of the deity imaginatively in as much detail as possible. In practice, some are better at this than others, and in fact it is not really essential, especially as the idea is not to stay with the imagination; ideally, the created ‘picture’ is replaced by the vision of the deity, which is not at all the same thing as imagining it. Although it is not in any way a supreme realisation or something of that order, there are ‘degrees’ or levels of reality and the vision is of a higher order generally than mere visualisation. This practice is also part of what is called Ishvara Pranidhāna in the Yoga-Sutras.

Mantras and Chakras

Finally, a word should be said regarding the use of bija mantra images and sounds associated with the chakras. There is much of this written about in popular books and elsewhere, and that removes such practices entirely from their traditional use, so we will not give here a list of them. One might gain the impression, even from what might appear to be authoritative sources that the use of mantras extends no further than a means of helping with bodily health or psychological problems. In fact, using them ignorantly in the ways often suggested can be harmful—often the best thing that can happen is that nothing happens at all. Why is this? The methods are ancient and while the main use of these was spiritual, that does not mean that a spiritual influence will have a beneficial effect on one that uses them without knowledge and without a guru to guide them.

Even in tradition, mantras can be used for material purposes and this is not necessarily illegitimate but obviously there is ignorance prevailing in the person using them in this way, exactly as in the case of magical talismans. Our recommendation is to use the mantra and yantra for spiritual purposes, which means knowing the Real as the ultimate goal.

Notes

1. For example, using the Western colour correspondences to the paths of the Tree of Life in the King Scale: blue, yellow, orange-yellow, emerald green, blue-black: MABYN, a transliteration from Hebrew, sometimes rendered without the yod.
2. One should refer, in the first instance, to the Mandukya Upanishad, which is the authoritative treatise on AUM.
3. Thus repetition of the sacred AUM is called Pranava Japa.

Books by Oliver St John

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Yoga

Posted on 19th October 2026 by Shaktananda

Our thesis on Ashtanga Yoga (Eight-Limbed Yoga), otherwise known as Raja Yoga, is only the tip of the iceberg of a highly technical subject that has been developed over more than two thousand years and that was part of the oral tradition long before that, entering into a time when historical dating cannot even be applied.[1] We focus entirely on the practical aspects of the Patañjali Yoga-Sutras and omit all comparative discussions and what might be called ‘philosophical’ conversations.[2]

The rishis or sages who first wrote down the Yoga-Sutras were practitioners. They spent their whole lives meditating the yoga states. They did not have to worry about driving cars, going on holiday, paying taxes, purchasing real estate, or becoming addicted to televisions and mobile phones. They were able to do quite a lot more than simply ‘calm down a bit’ from a life full of worries and cares and stress. They were able to get to the very spiritual essence of the Self and understand everything about it, and even the origin or source of the universe and some way beyond that to the dazzling brilliance of the Infinite, Absolute.

We modern practitioners, with all the unnatural things we have to deal with nonetheless come to a spiritual practice of yoga with the intention to get to that same reality so we can know clearly what is our true Self. Some people then get some very strange ideas. They think if they do this and find out the nature of their true Self, or gain experience of rare states of awareness, then they will not be able to do anything anymore, they will no longer act in the world. They really imagine they will have to go and live in a cave or become a recluse in some way. They have the idea that gaining enlightenment, or whatever we want to call it, means doing nothing in this life or otherwise that they will fail in the things they try to achieve; or that they should not even try to achieve them. The only reason they might fail after gaining some sort of experience on the path is through mental confusion—confusion about the path, the doctrine, confusion about themselves. Spiritual tourism is rife. Too many people these days expect to get some sort of initiation and scarcely read a single book. They do not even connect the two things together and understand that while book-learning does not result in initiation, the intellect is needed as a support to initiation. The anti-intellectual attitude is deeply embedded in our culture. By now we have generations that are indoctrinated into thinking that developing the intellect is somehow anti-social. They want to pursue spirituality but they think they can do it all by learning a few visualisation techniques and, if they are not looking up mantras on Google, they might be looking for a teacher who will give them japa mantra without putting them through any rigorous examination.

This article comprises the new Introduction to the book Raja Yoga [Ordo Astri]. It was culled from a private lecture given to practitioners 4th April 2026.

Success in yoga, gaining initiation and spiritual realisation, does not mean you will fail in your life—unless, as was pointed out, you have somehow gained a lot of mental confusion along the way. If you have truly contacted your real Self, then when you go back out to the world to pursue various initiatives, you will not be doing it because you are hypnotised by the government, by corporations or social indoctrination. You will be coming from a place of real and lasting knowledge and you might stand more of a chance of doing something for the world that will make it a better place.

So what is Ashtanga Yoga all about? All yogas, whether Advaitan, tantric or even Buddhistic are a development or adaptation of the classical Patañjali yoga. Adi Shankaracharya made a great deal of use of it when commenting on the Vedic texts. The Patañjali Yoga-Sutras provide the foundational basis of all yogas. Most paths that have developed practices from Patañjali yoga agree on the following statement: The essence of life is nothing but Consciousness. The nature of Consciousness is luminous. It is apparent to itself without needing any other means of knowledge, whether internal or external. It is therefore self-luminous ‘I’. All we experience is by the light of this inner luminosity, which is consciously aware of Itself.

We can do a simple meditation now to get to the real essence of the primary goal of yoga. Keep your eyes open for the first part of this meditation. Look at this picture of the Kali Chakra for a few seconds.

You are looking at a picture as an exterior object, called a gross object in yoga. Words are supporting what we see. You know the geometric design is called Kali Chakra. That is savitarka, with words to support cognition. We do it all the time. Getting engrossed in this is called savitarka samadhi. Now close your eyes and continue to see the image in your mind. Keep this for as long as you can for the time being. This is savichara, following on. You are following on, vichara, with a thought-image, called a subtle object. Engrossment in this is called savichara samadhi.

Now let the thought-image fade away, as it will do naturally in any case. We have passed from savichara to nirvichara, no words or images. What is left? It is not ‘blank’, or ‘nothingness’, because you are still experiencing something. How are you experiencing it, whether it is a picture or no picture? With your consciousness. That consciousness, the individual sense of ‘I’ is always there in the background of everything, no matter what it is you are experiencing in the waking, dreaming or deep sleep state. If we can hold on to this for a few moments we have a taste at least of the primary goal of yoga—the difference is that the idea of yoga meditation is to sustain this for longer than a few seconds. All the same, if you experienced this even for a moment and were not thinking about what to have for dinner tonight, you have experienced to some degree samprajñata, the intuitive samadhi.

The Patañjali Yoga-Sutras are divided into four parts; the work is voluminous, along with its many commentaries, and we only focus here on particular matters of interest to practitioners. The first two sections comprise the aim of Raja Yoga, which is samadhi, and the means of accomplishing that. The last two parts deal with the powers of the yogin, and the considerations on final liberation, called moksha or kaivalya in yoga:

The Aim of Raja Yoga
How to accomplish that aim
The powers that arise from that
The ultimate goal of final liberation

The word yoga is from yaj, to join or yoke. Hence yoga means union and communion. It also has the meaning of concentration; those who assume that yoga-union must involve two things, as with the conjunction of the Moon and Sun, or of Venus and Mars, too often overlook this.

The individual awareness formed around the separate idea of ego-self has no truly independent existence apart from other things. It is not a separate and distinct entity apart from the cosmic or universal Self, let alone the absolute, which would be an impossible state of affairs. Yoga-union is sometimes better put as the union of two poles where one end of the axis is individual awareness (vimarsha) and the other is cosmic consciousness (prakasha).[3] The unity is obviously there in this analogy. This leads to the objection, why then bother to do yoga practices if the union is already there? If the person asking the question is a jivanmukti (one who is finally liberated) then very good, they do not need any practices or teachings to help them realise what they permanently know, for now and forever. Yet even such siddhas or supremely enlightened beings continue practices so long as they live in this world. Why do anything else?

Patañjali begins the Sutras by explaining that thoughts are stopped in yoga. The aim, however, is not to be continuously exercising control of thought but to arrest it permanently. Why do this? Because thoughts, and along with them all the associated afflictions that continuously arise out of egoism, block out the light of the true Self; indeed they can prevent it from ever being realised even in the slightest degree. The union that is the goal of yoga is then summed up in one word: samadhi. So what is samadhi? The word implies many things but is essentially Self-realisation.

Perhaps owing to the fact that the experience of non-dual reality cannot be conveyed in dualistic speech or writing, many concepts have grown up around samadhi that are an obstacle to its realisation. The great majority of persons in the world today are not qualified, from birth, and so will never know the goal of yoga—assuming that they even want to know it, which is very unlikely. The desire to know true things is itself a qualification derived from shaktipata, divine grace. If we are practitioners then we are already qualified by being practitioners in the first place, to have maintained and developed such an interest where we are ready and willing to perform the necessary actions. We should be very careful then not to push samadhi away from ourselves as some impossible ‘attainment’ (so-called), forever out of reach.

Among the obstructive notions about samadhi is the one arising from the detailed descriptions of the life of Sri Ramakrishna, who went into samadhi every day of his life. He is a bad example for aspirants if they imagine that samadhi means falling over backwards in a sort of trance, to the extent you risk injury to your body if you do not have disciples ready and standing by to break your fall. There is no question that Sri Ramakrishna regularly enjoyed samadhi but it does not have to be done in the way that was unique to him. This has also given rise to the falsehood that samadhi is somehow unnatural as well as rare. The reverse is true. Samadhi means returning to the perfectly natural condition where the mind is the recipient for divine power, love, wisdom and knowledge.

There are many kinds of samadhi. One might call these gradations or degrees, ranging from continued absorption in dhyana (true meditation), sustaining it by our own efforts, to at least four kinds of savikalpa samadhi: vitarka and vichara, with or without words or images as support for the cognition. The savikalpa samadhi includes ego awareness. Only the highest, called nirvikalpa samadhi includes no trace of egoism or sense of separate ‘I’ awareness. That cannot be achieved by one’s own efforts and comes about purely through divine grace.

With the help of the tattva ‘principles’ from elements (bhutas) to the ego sense and beyond, we are able to understand our own consciousness. The practitioner can then get to know if they are experiencing samadhi and at what level. Some will wonder, why spend a long time meditating on tattvas? There is no such thing as a yogin or yogini who does not understand, have knowledge of, the tattvas, tanmatras, ahankara, jiva, boddhi and purusha or atma.[4] One cannot be a yogin without knowledge of yoga! It is as simple as that. So we must keep working at this for a long time.

There is a serious difficulty with what is called ‘lusting after result’. While we must obviously be desirous of the goal, preferably over and above all else, wanting to see results from our actions, worrying over this, means we are looking for exterior phenomena. The will and imagining is then flowing outward and away from us towards dispersion in objects of the mind. It is the very opposite of yoga meditation, where pratyahara means withdrawal of the mind from the senses that imprison us.

While discussing the means of samadhi, we cannot leave out viveka discrimination as a practice, which is absolutely essential. Along the way many pitfalls have been revealed as the practice is adopted. At the very beginning of the Yoga-Sutras Patañjali emphasises that the true state of the mind is samadhi and that it is the vrittis, conveniently classified in five types, that prevent this.

Therefore Raja Yoga is about stopping the thoughts from doing what they usually do. It is the most basic level to identify what kind of vrittis, ‘cognitions’. We need to be really clear that it is not about identifying what is a ‘good’ thought and what is a ‘bad’ thought. It is nonetheless true that there are helpful thoughts and unhelpful thoughts; especially those that lead to samskara impressions, old habits formed in the mind that lead straight to klésha afflictions because they have arisen from affliction in the first place, of which the foremost are ignorance (avidya) and egoism (asmita).

The potential error to be aware of if you are serious about being a Raja yoga practitioner is that a practice of viveka ‘discrimination’ can easily become a situation where the mind is permanently stuck with controlling the thoughts. Consequently the mind remains in control of everything. And it is the same old mind! In other words, the same samskaras or mental impressions keep popping up again and again. We are trying to put out a fire that never goes out. The karmasaya ‘seeds’ (from past actions or thoughts) keep sprouting new samskaras. This is no good at all.

We could paint this in big letters across the sky: viveka is not about exercising continual control of mind. It is about ‘roasting the seeds of the samskaras’ so they do not sprout. The mind is cleaned then. How do we roast the seeds of the samskaras? With the fire of viveka-khyati ‘discriminatory knowledge’. There has to be knowledge involved. So it is not about exercising continual control, like trying to weed out a garden where the weeds grow faster than we can dig. If we roast the seeds of the samskaras with tapas fire we form a new mind, a different modality of mind altogether. This is viveka-khyati, resulting from the ‘unwavering mind’ where discriminatory knowledge predominates along with the sattvic guna (kléshas are tamasic and rajasic). Ultimately viveka-khyati allows one to distinguish between the true Self, called purusha in yoga, and prakriti or all else. Ultimately by it we destroy ignorance and obtain liberation.

Note that the discrimination between purusha and prakriti has led to a view of Patañjali and Sankhya cosmology (yoga is based on the tattva principles) as ‘dualistic’. We don’t really need to worry about this in practice; it is a ‘philosophical’ problem for the professors. At this stage of the practice we need to sort out the true from the false. If we do not do that we will not get the viveka practice established properly.

One other thing that needs mentioning is that sometimes the observation of personal vrittis, thought waves that give rise to impressions, is extended outwards into things that one really has no control over at all. In Patañjali yoga this is broadly explained in terms of natural or man-made catastrophes such as floods, famine, earthquake, wars and so on. But the same applies on a smaller scale. If someone drives their car into yours while you are waiting at a crossroads there is no use applying viveka discrimination to it as though it were a product of your mind alone. You could not do anything about that. Similarly, suppose some very unpleasant, ignorant person is demanding your attention? There is no use in going through your vrittis and imagining that you yourself are suffering from some affliction. When other people are afflicted by kléshas the advice is not to purify your own mind because this came from someone else’s mind. The advice is to practice total indifference towards those of an evil inclination. Things happen in life sometimes that are upsetting and disturbing. The way to deal with this is among what are called the Four Qualifications including the Six Treasures.[5]

On the other side of that same coin the advice is to enjoy the happiness of other people. Only the very small-minded person resents it when another person is experiencing happiness. We should be happy for these happy ones and also encourage happiness whenever and wherever we find it. We can now move on to the powers of the yogin. The powers of the yogin in Patañjali are almost unlimited. This is because purusha—the older name given to atma—is capable of becoming the Lord of an Aeon or Cosmic Cycle. One must be aware that in yoga, Ishvara does not equate to God in other paths and traditions. If we get into the habit of thinking Ishvara is identical to the God of creation, reward, punishment, salvation, redemption and all the rest, then we are making a nest of errors for the captivation of our souls.

There are multiple purushas in yoga and even the highest purusha is in no way the same as the ‘one God’ of the Abrahamic religions.[6] Purusha, in the schema that rests on Sankhya cosmological tattva principles for a basis, is a cosmic Guru. His primary instruction to us is to meditate, and so to realise ourselves ultimately as him. One should further note a difference here between this path, followed exactly, and the paths of non-dualism. In Trika Shaivism, for example, Shiva-Shakti is the cosmic Guru. While there can also be multiple shiva and shakti beings at a very high though secondary level, the ultimate reality is one non-dual Paramashiva, who is able to appear as Shakti. In Trika Yoga or Shaivism an aspect of the Hindu doctrine of speech and sound is given great importance owing to its practical usefulness.

Brahma, or the supreme principial Reality, is the unchanging essence of speech, and appears as the phenomenal substance out of which universal existence proceeds. Thus, in all traditions with a fully developed metaphysics, the word or subtle vibration becomes flesh. This speech is Consciousness Absolute, in which the universe shines. There are four types of speech, of which the first, at the densest level of manifestation, is vaikhari or gross speech. Vaikhari is spoken language by which we understand things and communicate ideas to others.[7]

The four levels of speech can be applied to yoga where the practical usefulness of the knowledge becomes apparent. The last level called paravac need not enter into this discussion as it is beyond all conception; so it is the first three we are concerned with for the present purpose.

Whenever we sound a mantra aloud then we are at the first level called vaikhari, audible sound that requires no further explanation. Understanding the meaning or otherwise meditating on the mantra internally, without physical utterance, is the second level, madhyamā. Most persons commonly know these first two levels. Only the yogin can enter the third level, called pashyanti, through meditation. At the level of pashyanti, difference or separation between the subject and object begins to dissolve. When the meditator sees no difference between the mantra and the Self, then the meditator has become a yogin. When this is perfected the yogin is a rishi, a ‘seer’, one who has truly ‘seen’ the mantra. Anyone familiar with the Mandukya Upanishad will see how the four kinds of speech equate to waking, jagrat, dreaming, svapna, deep sleep, sushupna, and turiyam, the ‘fourth’ that is really the basis of all states.

If you are a beginner at Ashtanga Yoga, or have studied and practiced other forms of yoga, perhaps less traditional, you are well advised to read this introduction over and over a few times, learn the Sanskrit terms and let it all sink in. You will then be better prepared to make a deeper study and practice of the subject.

Yoga Notes

1. Scholars date the beginning of the Yoga-Sutras in written form at around the 2nd century BCE.
2. This introduction to Raja Yoga was culled from a private lecture given to practitioners on 4th April, 2026.
3. These terms are more often used in Kashmir Shaivism than Ashtanga yoga but they are apt for what we want to express here.
4. Tattvas = elements; tanmatras = seed of elemental awareness; ahankara = ego; jiva = individual self; boddhi = higher (divine) intellect; purusha = Self or Atma in the world of Being; atma = Self.
5. See Raja Yoga, pp. 49 and 75.
6. This is called pratyak-chetana. Swami Hariharānanda explains it in his commentary on Yoga-Sutra I: 24.
7. Shakta Yoga [Ordo Astri 2026].

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