Back to the basics: What Is Raja Yoga ?
Some of the questions that I am receiving would like to me to give advice based on “Raja Yoga.” Usually those questions are coming from individuals new to “gyan.”
Raja Yoga is a method to gain soul consciousness through a loving connection to the Supreme soul, from our soul (self) realization.
This connection will bring “strength” to deal with issues. “Strength” in the sense that those “issues” will not have the same appeal, the size of the perceived problem will be largely “reduced;” due to experiencing fulfillment and inner peace.
The method of Raja Yoga has the support from a philosophy; known as “gyan” or the “knowledge.”
This knowledge supports the experience of Raja Yoga, but at the same time allows a person to act with wisdom, even though self-realization may have not be fully experienced.
In this way “knowledge” is a map; so our actions are in tune with the knowledge of how “life works,” which is known as the “Drama.” (The plot, the movie, the design, the plan, etc.)
Knowledge without the stage brought up by “Raja Yoga,” will make us “act.” Act “right” if you would, if we apply knowledge properly; nevertheless the emotions and feelings will be there.
I spoke with a Brahmin soul not long ago. She mentioned that she had some karmic accounts with her mother. If her mother didn’t show appreciation for her for any reason; she would feel affected. She mentioned this to a counselor; the reply of the counselor was, that “she was a human being after all and that she shouldn’t show her mother that she was affected.”
That is what I mean by acting. We are taught to show “toughness” when inside of us there is a river of emotions waiting to overflow. That is unhealthy for we are repressing.
The “easy” answer is to be “cured” by yoga, by the experience of deep meditation, then this is the way that we “settle” karmic accounts, for whatever used to affect us before; all of the sudden that does not have any power over us. That is the magic of Raja Yoga.
In that sense, there is no other system that I am aware of, where learning the steps are so easy, but at the same time… so difficult. Here they go:
Just be in soul consciousness, connect with the Supreme, send loving feelings, relax – End of report.
An alternative is to connect with the inner self and to be absorbed by that experience, where thoughts are meaningless and bliss is the “glue” to keep us in it.
For that continuous practice and a “clean” intellect is needed, and that is the reason why Brahmin souls follow a meticulous “code of conduct” consisting of a vegetarian diet, (Sattvic food items of preference) regular meditation and the practice of celibacy as the main components.
In the world meditation is offered to “heal the self,” what is not offered is the knowledge to “clean up the self,” so a spiritual life could be truly experienced.
Exploring the Depth of Living 