The kindling of the inner psychic fire that at once burns away all the impurities (coloring) and limitations of the mind-stuff, the study both of scriptural texts and one's own reaction to situations from moment to moment, and the meaningful, dynamic and devotional surrender to the indwelling omnipresence - these three simultaneously constitute active yoga, or practice of the indivisible unity.

When it is clearly understood that the instant realization of cosmic oneness, which is yoga, is not the product of any effort, how can one "practice" such unity?

Surely, active yoga is taught not because such practice results in the realization of oneness. However, it can aid in the direction of one 's attention towards enlightenment, and away from the elements that cause mental turmoil, which, as a result of such turning away, are weakened.

The mind is restless because of the many unresolved problems. The elements that disturb mental equilibrium and thus generate psychic distress are:

ignorance of the truth concerning

(2) one's self or egotism which seems to be the obvious truth in ignorance, and the belief in the separative individuality,

(3&4) psychological and unnatural extension of attraction and repulsion which, as neurological phenomena are natural, and

(5) blind clinging to the present physical "life", born of the ignorant division of timeless eternity into life and death.

Obviously, ignorance of the truth of oneness (or indivisibility of cosmic intelligence) is the cause of all the other sources of psychic distress - whether these latter seem to be completely hidden or dormant, veiled or weak, or actively spread out, creating the notion that they are not related to spiritual ignorance, that they are independent of ignorance, and can, therefore, be dealt with by means other than self-knowledge.

Ignorance gives rise to a "knowledge" of ego-sense - an assumed fact of the non-existent ego-sense. It is only in a state of spiritual ignorance that one identifies or confuses that which is impermanent with that-which is eternal, that which is impure or colored with that which is pure and unconditioned, pain with joy, and the unmodified consciousness (Self) with thoughts and modifications which are not Self. Realization of the spiritual truth or enlightenment on the other hand enables the impermanent, etc., to be seen as such, and the permanent etc., to be seen as such.

In cosmic consciousness all activities happen. Thus, for instance, seeing happens: the power of sight sees. However, when the consciousness fragmented by the shadow of ignorance identifies itself as the seer, there is the ego-sense.

Attraction (or mental conditioning or coloring) follows, rests in, and is just another term for, the erroneous evaluation of an object or experience as pleasure. Because of the mental coloring something looks attractive.

Similarly, repulsion (which is another phase of attraction) follows, abides in, and is just another term for, the erroneous classification of an object or experience as pain-giving. On the other hand, what the human mind in ignorance regards as attraction and repulsion exist in nature and are inherent, invariable and constant in the manifestation of cosmic intelligence (e.g., the magnetic polarity). In nature, however, there is neither the cloud of ignorance nor its consequent ego-sense, and hence the attraction and repulsion in nature are of an entirely different quality to that found in the human psyche.

Blind clinging to life is an inexplicable yet undeniable fact of life which is self-sustaining (since it is just another phase or face of ignorance) and is therefore found to be a dominant factor even in wise beings as long as the physical body which is the operative seat of ignorance exists. It is the operation of the power that preserves the physical sheath for the unfoldment of self-knowledge, combined with the habit of dependence on objective sources for enjoyment and sustenance and fear of losing them, and the inability to see other states of existence.

These sources of psychic distress are subtle, and not to be confused with their gross expansion as likes and dislikes, habits (good and bad), vanity and such personality traits. However, these subtle sources of psychic distress can be dispelled by resolving each in its own cause (or by confronting each of them with its own true opposite).

Both when these elements of psychic distress are mere ripples on the surface of the mind-stuff and when they become gross and operative, they can be dispelled by contemplation.

All actions bear to the five-fold psychic disturbance or distress a mutual cause-and-effect relationship, thus sustaining a chain reaction. Hence, actions lead to afflictions (notions of ego-sense) which manifest in the obvious physical life as experience of pleasure, pain, etc., and also in the subtle mental states (likes and dislikes), here in this life span or in other not so obvious life-states and such afflictions (the ego-sense and ignorance) generate further actions. However, this need not forever be so; for from these effects the causes can be known, and the root-cause made inoperative.

As long as the roots of these psychic disturbances exist generating their consequent actions, their expansion and fruition are inevitable. Their fruition takes place in different life-spans, perhaps in different species, and in diverse experiences. Such fruition is therefore an unmistakable pointer to the persistence of spiritual ignorance and its offspring which are the fountain-source of sorrow.

These experiences which are the results of virtue and vice are the sweet and bitter fruits (causing happiness and agony respectively) that are found all along the path of life.

However, the wise (though their own mind is totally free of all sorrow) consider all experiences painful as they are all the fruits of the actions of ignorance. The very pleasures are accompanied by the painful realization that they are subject to change. Constant and violently painful craving for repetitive experience of pleasure in a vain attempt to cancel the change fills the interval with pain. All of this leaves an enduring impression on the mind, which (impression) creates the painful tendency to crave for the avoidance of pain which alone is therefore continuous. And, there is constant conflict in oneself as the psychological mood changes, with every change in the thought-form in the mind-stuff; and the conflict is sorrow.

Yet, all is not lost. For, sorrow that has not yet "arrived", not yet reached the field of experience, can be avoided; unhappiness that has not yet befallen may be avoided, by avoiding psychic contact with it.

How to avoid contact with the experience of pain? By understanding the structure of this experience. What is the structure of experience? The division or the polarization of experiencing into the experiencer and the experience, and the subsequent conjunction or contact of the subject and the object of the experiencing - and this can be avoided. Experiencing being the sole reality, the subject and the object are of identical nature, and thought is the dividing agent. Thought is of pain, pleasure, etc.; and thought experiences pain, pleasure, etc., by the psychological action of division and contact. The possibility of the avoidance of pain is because of the unity of the seer (experiencer) and the seen (experience), without a division.

What is the object and how does it come into being? T he object of the experiencing is threefold in nature - (1) the light of intelligence, (2) dynamic activity, and (3) material existence. While the external cosmos is the object of the senses they themselves are regarded as the object of experiencing by the ignorant, both the external cosmos and the internal experiencer being indivisible from the experiencing. Yet, the "object" helps the intelligence to realize its true nature by intelligent experiencing, and thus be freed from ignorance.

Such objects may even be of different kinds or categories: (1) they can be special -supernatural experiences, (2) they can be commonplace and routine experiences, (3) they may have distinguishing marks or characteristics, or (4) they may be subtle, without any distinguishing marks: and their qualities may be in different stages of development. Simply, the entire cosmos including the external world and the internal sensory system, is the object.

The truth concerning the seer (experiencer) is that there is only the ever-pure act of seeing (experiencing). Yet, there arises a polarization on account of which a concept (which then becomes the subject or the experiences) seems to experience (the reaction of the senses to the eternalized world - all such externalisation being the result of the polarization and the consequent apparent movement in the subject). An apparently independent entity called experience therefore becomes the object.

The existence or the very meaning of the object is but the sum and substance of the subject's fragmentary experience, brought on by the ignorant polarization. This fragmentary experience is the contact with pain.

To him who has attained fulfillment, when the (unreal nature of the polarization of experiencing is truly understood, the contact with pain ceases: the only way to avoid pain is never to be separated from it (as the experiencer)! Yet, the potentiality of polarization (separation) and the consequent contact with pain exist in other, ordinary circumstances. Hence, even an enlightened person may still experience pain when not in the total awareness of non-separation.

When the polarization of the experiencing has taken place, the subject's desire for awareness of its own nature and its own voluntary and involuntary powers of action causes or acts as a link or contact between the subject and the object (Here the "subject" is the fragmented concept of self, and the "object" i s both the sense-experience and the external sense-object.)

Obviously, all this is due to the ignorance of the spiritual truth or oneness. Ignorance alone is the cause for the polarization the fictitious separation which is the sole cause for the desire to become aware of "another" and for the contact of "the other".

When that ignorance is dispelled, the polarization, (separation, division or fragmentation and the consequent conjunction or contact of the experiencer and the experience is rendered meaningless. It is given up. This is liberation for the seer who is pure experiencing or the undivided homogeneous consciousness, which alone existed. Liberation is not isolation nor independence from another, but union in the sense of non-division.

Briefly, the constant unbroken awareness of this truth alone is the means to the ending of this ignorance and its retinue.

This awareness shines resplendent with the light of intelligence, when the inner psychic impurities that becloud the vision of truth have been eliminated by the intelligent practice of the "limbs" of yoga.

Discipline, observances, posture, exercise of the life-force, introversion of attention, concentration, meditation and illumination (at-onement) are the eight limbs of yoga or the direct realization of oneness. Hence, these limbs should all be practiced together, intelligently, so that the impurities of all the physical, vital and psychological limbs maybe eliminated.

When the light of intelligence or the awareness of the truth illumines the mind-stuff, psychological order comes to prevail which is manifest as the following articles of natural self-restraint or discipline: non-violence, perception of what is or truth, non-hoarding, an effortless movement of the total being in cosmic homogeneous essence, and non-covetousness. (The fourth article also specifically refers to continence or chastity.)

These articles of supreme (because effortless) self-restraint or order are universally invariable in everyone seeking enlightenment. They are compromised only when there is disharmony and contradiction between, for example, one's head - which seeks the order and one 's heart - which seeks the concomitant of disorder, viz., pleasure. They are not affected or modified by distinctions of birth (class, tribal, etc.), nationality or geography, epoch, (ancient, modern, etc.) or of circumstances (profession, life-style, contingencies, etc.).

When distracted by wayward or pervert rationalization, suitable counter-measures should be adopted to keep away or remove such obstacles, especially by the contemplation of the other point of view.

When distracted by wayward or pervert rationalization, suitable counter-measures should be adopted to keep away or remove such obstacles, especially by the contemplation of the other point of view.

Wayward or pervert reasoning is often indulged in to nationalize violence etc., whether such violence etc., are direct personal actions, or indirectly caused, or merely witnessed or acquiesced in. These can be mild, moderate or grave transgressions. However, they have greed, hate and stupidity as their antecedents, and they yield the bitter fruits of endless sorrow, and ever-deepening darkness of ignorance - such contemplation is the effective counter-measure. (Or, hence the need for suitable counter-measure.)

When there is natural firmness in non-violence all hostility comes to an end in its very presence. Conflict ceases in such a mind.

Then there is firm grounding in the perception of what is, or of truth, it is seen that an action and reaction, seed and its fruits, or cause and result, are related to each other; and the clear vision of intelligence becomes directly aware of this relationship. (Or, one ' s words are fruitful.)

When the intelligence firmly rejects the desire to hoard, and when thus there is natural firmness in non-hoarding, even precious gems stand in front of the yogi, unable to deflect him.

When the inner light of intelligence illumines the state of mind that has firmly rejected all greed and there is contentment with what life brings unsolicited, there arises knowledge of the mysteries of life and its why and how.

The habit of cleanliness, if it is not mechanical and ritualistic but intelligent with an understanding of the nature of decaying physical organism, reveals the impure nature of the physical body: and, there arises disgust for the body and a disinclination for contact with those of others.

And, such a habit of cleanliness also leads to the purification of the whole substance, peace and basic goodness of mind, one-pointedness, mastery over the senses, as also the ability (and the qualification) to attain self-knowledge .

From contentment there flows the most excellent happiness and delight.

The inner psychic fire destroys all impurities of the heart and mind, and brings about the health, sanity, wholeness or perfection of the physical and vital being (the inner senses).

By study (not necessarily nor exclusively) of scriptures, and of oneself the consciousness is united with the desired or loved divinity. This divinity may well be a "luminous" internal transmutation-experience or its externalized psychic manifestation, of Carl enlightened being".

Perfection in self-awareness instantly follows total, dynamic and intelligent surrender of the individual ego-sense (in the sense of the realization of its unreal nature) or the merging of it in the indwelling omnipresence (in the sense of the direct realization He falsity of the "me", the ego-sense, and therefore the sole reality of the indwelling omnipresence) .

The posture of the body during the practice of contemplation and at other times, as also the posture of the mind (or attitude to life) Should be firm and pleasant.

Such a posture can be attained (1) by the abandonment of effort and the non-use of will, and (2) by the continuous awareness of the infinite eternal existence.

Then follows immunity from the onslaughts of the pairs of inseparable opposites - like pain and pleasure, heat and cold, success and failure, honor and dishonor.

Simultaneously, the interruption find reversal (and therefore the balancing) of the flow of inhalation and exhalation, of the positive (life-promoting) energy and the negative (decay-promoting) energy, constitutes the regulation of the life-force which is then experienced as the totality of all its functional aspects previously and ignorantly viewed as the building up and the breaking down opposed to each other.

Different techniques involve holding the breath within (after inhalation), or without (after exhalation), or the suspension of the breath, with conscious effort. There are different types, too, some prolonged, some subtle (and short) - different also in regard to the place where the breath is held, the duration of the retention, and the number of times it is practiced.

There is a fourth type which is the spontaneous suspension of breath, while minutely observing something external or internal.

Then, the veil of psychic impurity and spiritual ignorance that covers the inner light is thinned and rent asunder.

There is psychological freedom when the senses function spontaneously in complete harmony with the inherent intelligence (without thought - or will-interference ) without being drawn into contact with their objects by cravings or false evaluations. This freedom is the fountain-source of energy since in it there is effortless (and therefore non-)movement of the energy.

With such an abundance of energy it follows that there is complete mastery (in the sense of ever-vigilant understanding) over the senses, as all psychological conflicts and confused movements of thought and energy cease, and the senses function intelligently without disorder and disharmony, inhibitions and excitation.