Verse 1.16
Yoga is accomplished through enthusiasm, courage, steadfastness, knowledge of the essence, certainty, and abandonment of the company of people.
Enthusiasm caused by yogic experiences is generated in the inner heart of the aspirant who enters yoga by means of the arousal of the life energy, but it is intermittent, so at times he becomes wearied and discouraged. If he has unwavering faith in yogic scripture, God, and the truth teacher, then his enthusiasm is uninterrupted. True, on occasion, due to force of
circumstances, it flags, but not for long. We may also say that enthusiasm does not depend only on the practice of yoga; it also depends on the grace of the teacher or Grace of God, devotion to yoga, yogic knowledge and yogic experiences. Sun-moon yoga is a vast ocean; without grace it is impossible to cross it. Grace is the boat. The enthusiasm of the graced aspirant remains unbroken.
Although there is ordinary fearlessness in the yogi, in this yogic worship, a kind of
fearlessness is needed that can only come from a yogi [a truth teacher] who has reached the far shore. This courage (boldness, spirit, vigor, resoluteness) is extraordinary in every respect. The aspirant needs it every day and every moment. He is in it every time he enters the mouth of death. The aspirant in whose mind there is not complete detachment cannot remain stable in it [that courage]. The great virile hero, White One, was a very capable warrior, yet at the time of the Mahabharata War, cowardice was born in his inner heart. That Mahabharata War is traditionally instructive in addition to being legendary. Ordinarily we acknowledge only its legendary aspect, saying that it was only the war [called] 'Mahabharata', but it is actually [a war] to destroy the distortions of the body and mind. Ordinary wars end within several days or months, but this special war does not end even after countless births. It is appropriate to call it the Mahabharata War (the Great Fire Sacrifice War). White One was an action yogi, but the horror of the extraordinary setting of yoga made him very cowardly. If he had not received the grace of Revered Lord Dark One, then, abandoning the well-worn path of action, he would have wandered about following a mirage, lost in the desert of knowledge. The teachers of devotional yoga call this courage 'taking refuge in God'. In that state, having abandoned ethical action and unethical action, sin and virtue, he accepts the refuge of Revered Beloved God: he surrenders himself. This is devotion, this is yoga, and this is knowledge. In the act of taking refuge there is the duality of Love-Filled One and the devotee. In equanimity, duality and non- duality no longer exist, because the 'devotee' no longer exists. The drop joins (spreads
throughout) the ocean; the sugar becomes mixed in the milk. This is the second, or last, step. Steadfastness means stability, firmness, or self-composure (staying with the soul). When a person runs, his rate of inhaling and exhaling increases, his organs become restless and his blood circulation is greatly increased. The result of this is that his mind becomes disturbed. It is true that the aspirant does the suspension of the life energy in a pleasant posture; he does not run; but in that state the blood circulation also rapidly speeds up, with the result that the mind becomes agitated. The worship of the life energy is sun-moon worship. In it, disturbance is kept under a very delightful control; it comes without delay and resides continually as a guest in the aspirant's inner heart. [But] In this ordinary state [during sun-moon worship], how can there be steadfastness of mind [true detachment]? We know that partial forbearance is produced in the inner heart of the aspirant by regular daily sun-moon practice; this is granted; however, when various purifying actions begin to occur through arousal of the life energy, a lot of
disturbance occurs. We know that to be true as well, but when the evolutionary divine power is awakened and, in the middle, disturbances also begin coming and going in an uninterrupted series, then the hard weapon of steadfastness of the strong, brave aspirant begins to shake.
In The Holy Bhagavad Gita, Revered Lord Dark One has specified an unparalleled and successful means of attaining liberation: abandonment of attachment to the 'fruit'. The desirous aspirant does action to acquire the fruit; the desireless aspirant does action to acquire liberation. Renunciation of attachment to the fruit appears to be totally impossible; however, the technique of yoga makes it totally possible. In the beginning, the meditation of the aspirant is not drawn toward this technique of yoga, but when the practice becomes stable and full realization of the grace of God or the grace of the teacher occurs to him, his meditation is drawn towards it. That aspirant who takes refuge in Revered Beloved God is the only one who renounces attachment to the fruit. The expression 'taking refuge' really means 'renunciation of attachment to the fruit'.
This yogic journey is completed after numerous births. Following the entrance into yoga it seems to the inexperienced aspirant that within one, two, or at the most, six years, equanimity will be accomplished. But when gradually six, eight, ten and twelve years pass, even though he has a strong attraction to taking refuge, his steadfastness is shaken (slips). Not only this,
sometimes he even doubts the truth of yoga. But since he is a graced aspirant, a solution is given to him, sometimes through contemplation of scripture, sometimes through the technique of yoga. Teachers of devotional yoga call this anxiety 'the agony of separation'. In fact it is not a worldly type of burning austerity, it is an unworldly burning austerity that completely purifies
the body and mind. It is called ultimate devotion, and the knowledge yogi calls it renunciation of action. This is a very difficult worship. In it, it is difficult to foretell when steadfastness will be broken; even so, the focused aspirant continually guards his mental stability (constancy) by the strength of faith. Steadfastness is the ultimate end of the disposition toward forbearance.
The fourth good friend of the yogic aspirant is knowledge of the essence. Real (accurate) knowledge concerning the body, the organs, the life energy, the mind, the judgement, the ego, the soul, the Ultimate Soul, the Absolute and the world is called knowledge of the essence or Absolute-knowledge. It is acquired by means of true scripture, from the truth teacher, and from systematic practice. When these three flanks unite, the aspirant becomes very strong and can valiantly counter any of the inevitable obstacles of systematic practice. The yogic journey of one who does not have scriptural knowledge and a truth teacher soon comes to an end. Just as in pitch darkness a person has no knowledge of direction, a person devoid of knowledge of the essence has no knowledge of the principles of life. The strength of knowledge is the best strength. Beyond it no other strength exists. Knowledge is the jewel of all the
accomplishments. It is the Highest Absolute. After its accomplishment, there is nothing remaining to be accomplished, because contained in knowledge are the four wells of
compassion: compassion of scripture, compassion of the truth teacher, compassion of Kind Dissolver, and compassion of the soul.
The fifth contributor to the accomplishment of yoga is certainty. The meaning of certainty is doubt-free knowledge, determination of the truth of a matter, a sure verdict, or confidence. When doubt is born in the inner heart of a person, the vices of lack of faith, despondency, cowardice, mental weakness, etcetera, appear. This doubt indicates a lack of knowledge of the essence by the aspirant. In this state, the aspirant should reflect on scripture, contemplate the instruction of the truth teacher, and should analyse the science of the technique of yoga.
Strength of certainty is strength of knowledge. It reinforces courage and enthusiasm. Certainty, under the name of strength of judgement, strength of mind, or strength of the soul, is in fact well-known in the world. Through certainty, all work is accomplished, so the aspirant should become one of firm certainty.
The company of people increases the aspirant's restlessness because it stimulates deep mental impressions to flourish again. It is best to live alone.
These six true friends that enable yoga to be accomplished have the special characteristic that when one of them becomes powerful, so do the remaining five. We can also say that if one of the six becomes a stem, the remaining five become flowers. That is to say, in each there is the capacity to be stem or flower.