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Shri Ram Chandraji of Shahjahanpur is the
founder and President of the Mission called
after His Guru Shri Ram Chandraji of Fatehgarh (U.P.).
The Mission was started to spread the method of
Raj Yoga, which Shri Ram Chandraji of Fatehgarh
devised during His lifetime. Though based on the
ancient method of Raj Yoga it is, in a sense, an
innovation and improvement on that method which
also fell into disuse owing to a variety of
causes. The training given under this new method
for spiritual improvement is unique and is in
many respects different from what goes by the
name. This is in the considered opinion of the
founder most important for rescuing mankind from
the faults of spiritual training available today
in every country and religion, which have led to
the deterioration of spiritual values and moral
degeneration and physical disintegration. The
Mission therefore has the universal purpose of
uplifting humanity to the real and basic
spirituality that belongs to it and into which
its destiny is to evolve or attain.
Shri Ram Chandraji of Shahjahanpur is a
unique personality in many ways. He is unlike
other yogis because His Yoga is called Natural
Path, the normal divine life, which is capable
of being, accepted and followed by every human
being, without any difference of race or caste
or creed. He is not dogmatic but a practical
idealist, resting every one of His methods by
anubhava or experience. He is a householder
living the ordinary life of a family man with
all the duties and responsibilities belonging to
that station and life (asrama). His simplicity
and purity and all pervading peace are rare
qualities. He enthuses every one who meets Him
with this godly aspiration for Ultimate peace
and simplicity and liberation both within and
without, and what is more, has been able to
train persons belonging to different levels of
varna and asrama to live this divine life of
purity, simplicity and peace amongst their
fellowmen.
Shri Ram Chandraji-s life was entirely spent
at Shahjahanpur as an official in the District
Court at that place. Uneventful in respect of
the world, it was spiritually packed with
sadhana, which his Guru trained Him in. He
attained the highest limits of spiritual
attainment in the brief span of thirty years. He
was chosen to be the representative of His
Master by His Master and since then He has been
carrying on that work. Though as He puts it, all
the powers of Nature are vested in Him yet since
they are not the be-all and end-all and in fact
they are the refuse of spirituality, He has been
above them all. His most important work or
mission has been the dedication to make men
divine through the special training discovered
by His Master. He has since then improved upon
the technique of transmission and made it
applicable to each and every type of man who
seeks His help.
He speaks of the special personality who has
incarnated for the ushering in of the new age of
true or real spirituality. Such a personality
could be known through meditation. The new age
of spirituality will be something quite
different from the past when only a few persons
were liberated or divinised. But even those men
did not have the awareness of levels of Being
which have now been opened up by Him, the most
important being the Central Region beyond the
levels of cosmic and supracosmic
consciousnesses. Might be that some very
advanced souls have had glimpses of the
same-especially the mystics who had experienced
the Nihil, the Unground, the Void, beyond all
the apprehensions of the senses and the mind,
beyond the levels of the waking, dream deep
sleep and the fourth or turiya. This is
remarkable achievement in so far as not only has
He been able to penetrate into it but also take
along with Him at least some of those who have
been trained by Him for this Experience of
experiences.
His philosophy of Natural Path He has
presented in the four works, which have been
written from the spiritual level, namely the
Reality at Dawn, Commentary on the Ten
Commandments of Sahaj Marg, Efficacy of Raja
Yoga and Towards Infinity.
In the Reality at Dawn Shri Ram Chandraji
describes the Ultimate Experience as it was at
the Dawn of Creation. In that state Reality is
in its highest potentiality. It has been known
as the Base and origin of Creation. It has been
described as the Night before the Day. It is a
condition or Reality as it is in itself before
it had proceeded to manifest the creation.
Philosophers usually describe this state as the
causal condition or just Causa sui. Mystics of
the Upanishads have held that this is what has
to be known, this is the Brahman, this is the
Reality which once being known all get known. It
is described as Sat, as containing the root of
all existence or satyasya satyam. This is the
Asat in the sense that it is the Non-existence
that was prior to all this existence. It is the
That (Tam) which is to be known, seen and
entered into if one seeks liberation from the
cycle of births and deaths. The philosophers
have claimed that this has to be contemplated
upon if one seeks to attain Truth. In fact truth
is the Ultimate-the Primal Being which is verily
non-existence to all the ways of knowing that
man has at his command-perception, inference,
analogy and even the Sabda or scriptural
revelation. But it is something that could be
known perhaps by being instructed by the seer by
means of transmission of a new power of
consciousness far above the conventional pramanas or ways of knowing. It is something of
a revelation by the Divine, an exposure of the
Divine to the seeker or an uncovering of the
Divine of the inner reality which sustains and
supports all the known and knowable realities
which we call truth and to which the criteria of
truth and error apply. This primal condition is
the Dawn.
Having explained the Dawn what is the Reality
that one apprehends at that stage. Reality is to
what truth corresponds. But it is more than
truth. And thought it is that goes by the name
of truth and it is thought that makes the
correspondence possible. But some levels of
thought especially the discursive can never know
reality and limits itself to consistency of one
thought or idea with another.
Truth is thus said to be judged by coherency
with a system of knowledge or truths or
consistency between the several truths belonging
to one and the same level or to different
levels. Thus uncontradicted knowledge is said to
be truth. This is fairly applicable to the areas
of our sources of knowledge but totally
inapplicable to Reality that transcends them or
incapable of being fully covered or embraced by
them either singly or collectively. Thus Shri
Ram Chandraji affirms that where philosophy ends
spirituality begins. It begins with wonder or
mystic experience. The mystic seer wishes to
probe into that which is beyond thought and
sense and even the individual ego-sense. He is
determined to realise Reality through thought if
possible if not through being itself. In one
sense then being becomes the mode by which Being
can be apprehended or grasped or made real to
oneself. This is the meaning of anu-bhava, which
may be properly translated as imperience rather
than experience. It is an in-tuition rather than
intellection or discursive and dichotamic
daliectic.
Reality is then what is to be known. It is to
be known through the integral experience or
imperience of the heart, which is the living
organ in every human being. Considered in the
context of anubhava the heart has reasons, which
the head or intellect can never be aware of and
more often the heart is right though the head
refuses to credit it with wisdom. In other
words, the anubhava that leads to the
realisation of Reality is something different in
kind from what operates through the head or
intellect. This leads to the question whether
these are not opposites. The thought that
operates through intellect is, in nature,
identical with that which works through the
heart, but as Shri Ram Chandraji points out,
there is inversion a phenomenon which we can
witness in all cases of movement - a wavy
process that causes inversion - the right
becomes left, the up becomes down. This is the
principle of Invertendo, which He expounds in
His works. It is this principle that leads to
our world - experiences and takes us from
grossness to subtleness or vice versa. Thus
successive stages of thought might appear to be
contradictory or opposites when in fact they are
just the same at different points of movement -
as in motion that is ray or wave - motions.
Similarly we find that waves condense into
particles and particles disintegrate into waves
and Shri Ram Chandraji mentions a level of
anubhava when the atoms in the body get broken
up into vibrations at a very high level. In this
He shows how the physiological processes abide
by the laws involved in the breaking up of the
atom.
He also throws light on the origination of
the atoms not mentioned in the Yoga or Samkhya
sutras and He also shows that changes occur in
the human body in a perfectly intelligible
manner by the utilisation of the Divine thought
force which operates on lines mystically noted
in the Visesika doctrines of Pila-paka and
Pithara-paka. These have been thoroughly
forgotten by the schools.
Thus Shri Ram Chandraji points out that it is
absolutely necessary to go beyond the
intellectual philosophers and philosophy and
instead of finding refuge in an equally
untenable religious solution, seek the spiritual
awakening which puts us in direct touch with
Reality.
Reality is the Ultimate ground of all
manifestations. It is the ground of all that we
know as existence as well as thought. This
Ultimate Reality is characterised by Peace,
Calm, Plenitude and Simplicity and Infinity. It
is the -That- (Tam). Union with this is
liberation and perfection and realisation, of
one-s nature. To live with it is to attain the
real thing which is natural to the human
individual or individual as such. It is Sahaja -
the natural condition arising from living with
the Ultimate Reality which is the very stuff and
soul of oneself in all one-s levels of existence
from the subtlest to the grossest, from deep
transcendent awareness to the sensory-motor life
in the physical body. This is the deep
aspiration within each individual to attain
union with one-s deepest being and force of
being or existence. This is the final Resting
place and abode of all creatures aspiring for
liberation.
Disunion with this Source and ground never
really completely happens. But manifestation or
creation happens by an inexplicable movement
from this Ultimate Ground and Source and this
force or movement (ksobh) is what is known as
Manas or thought. This is in fact what is the
beginning of creative diffusion of the force,
which is both thought and intelligence and the
cause of all the levels of manifestation. It is
suggested that this original primal impulsion
from within is of the nature of Living
sustaining breath (prana) which sustains all the
creation from the Parabrahmanda to the Pinda
(gross physical world). But it must be
remembered that the original manas continues to
abide in a very gross condition in the grossest
sensible matter which we meet with. In a serious
mystical sense one can say that all this is
manas or thought, and all levels of being or
manifestation are verily thought or manas.
For outer vision the manifestations appear to
be disunited fragments but for the spiritual
vision they are all operating from the original
impulsion of Manas which keeps their
organisation and organic unity in a multi -
phasic unity. Separateness is for the purposes
of deeper unification in terms of the organic
multi phasic unity.
The problem of man may be posed in two ways.
It may be considered by some that they should
realise the fullest dimensions and possibilities
of the manifestation and integration. This
-creative advance- is to them adventurous and
pleasure - granting and heroic. The whole
process is leading up to external manifestation
of an infinite inwardness in the Primal Ground
or Primeval Motion (Ksobh). But this creative
advance and pleasure consequent on that may turn
out dialectically into pain and bondage and
misery and an unending prison-house of boredom
if the connection with the Centre or Life Force
is somehow attenuated or snapped or forgotten.
When thought becomes a thing and nothing more
than this it is the end of all peace. This may
be play of doom not the play of liberation.
Though it appears as a pessimistic play or
tragic drama of lila, it is true.
Pleasure that culminates in its opposite, and
an adventure that becomes its opposite viz.
cowardice and fear cannot obviously be the goal
of man. The opposite tendency is to seek the
origin and return to it because all the outward
movements have become exhausted, in their
results. Having come down to the level of
veriest matter and sense and found that all
these lead to bondage and suffering, one returns
to the original self-nature-giving up attachment
to the sensory and motor worlds and
ego-centricisms. This is the path of
renunciation.
According to the exponents of Divine
Evolutionism, divine evolution or the evolution
by the Divine Force is not a movement to the
centre, from which it has started but a movement
away from the centre whose infinity is sought to
be exhibited in terms of multiplicity in terms
of space-time. In fact it is asserted that this
outward going dynamism is really continuous with
the Centre which supports the multiplicity and
grossness and once this is restored or kept up
constantly it will be a play of ecstasy and
acceptance rather than the rejection of the
manifestation or creation. Rejection of
manifestation is neither necessary nor
inevitable for the realisation of the Divine
freedom, which is freedom realised and
experienced in terms of manifestation and
multiplicity. But the grossening process in the
last terms of the downward or descending process
leaves evolution in the grip of materiality and
immutability. So much so even this theory would
have to provide for the Yoga which entails the
rejoining or linking up of the lowest and
lowliest with the Central Original Force of the
Divine, so that these may have continuous flow
of divine energy which remains Divine even in
matter. The necessity therefore to conceive of
the Divine as remaining divine even when it has
descended into matter becomes more and more
clear and this means that we have to conceive of
a second or third or fourth force different from
that which has descended to form the levels and
is seeking experience in each of them. God then
has to be brought down to the lowest level if
there is to be divine evolution.
Ancients knew that the Divine is indeed the
Guru or Teacher who constantly undertakes this
task of linking up the outermost with the
innermost - and not only does he himself do it
but also provides for the constant working of
this process through those whom he had trained
in it. The Avatars also are considered to
perform this divine function of linking up the
Divine with the manifestation from the centre
which is Himself to the fringes of matter or the
inconscient gross being, all of which are the
extensions of His thought-force or Manas or
prana.
Ordinarily Yoga or linking is the attempt at
union by the individual with the Divine Centre.
But really it is the conscious assistance that
one gives to the Divine in linking up itself
with the Divine. In other words whilst Yoga is
what the Divine is performing and maintaining at
all times and levels unceasingly, it is the
individual-s recognition and renewal on his part
of the connection with the Divine in a
complementary effort to that of the Divine. The
connection of the soul with God is Yoga and it
is seen that this can be done only with the help
of the Centre or God Himself or His original
power. God of course is not thought of as even
the primal one for He is beyond manas or
thought. But it is undoubted that without His
will this connection cannot be made by the
individual soul in a conscious way and unless
this connection is established between the soul
and God as complementary to that between God and
the soul, there is no possibility of full Yoga.
Integral Yoga, in a new sense, would mean not
the integration or combination of the three
yogas or more of the kind we know, based on
individual efforts alone according to the three
modes of man-s affective, cognitive and conative
functions but the integration of the twofold
processes of the Divine link with the soul and
the soul-s link with the Divine.
The process of linking or yoga is however
again a point of great interest. Undoubtedly all
of us have to link up with the help of our
thought, which has its basis in the affective,
cognitive and volitive functions. This thought
has unfortunately become so particularised to
the needs of bodily survival and adjustment and
adaptation to the environment that its power to
link it with the original thought has become
lost. But without this original thought
descending into the individual nothing really
can happen. This original prana (manas) known to
the ancient Rsis as Satyasya satyam, Rtasya
rtam, pransya pranah and manaso manah, is
already waiting to descend if the individual
could but purify himself of all other goals and
seekings, and desires. But mankind has come to a
pass when even this simple life of purification
of one-s thoughts including emotions and
instincts or cravings, is found to be almost
impossible. Every effort to do so only lands it
in more complexities. In fact, the definition or
function of Yoga, according to Patanjali seems
to refer to this work of stemming or arresting
or once and for all abolishing the mental
modifications -- Yogah cittavrttinirodhah. But
this is undoubtedly a very difficult thing
without the grace of the Divine. Isvara prasada.
As Sri Krsna says: maccittah sarva durgani mat
prasadat tarisyasi: becoming of my mind through
my grace you will cross over all these walls or
forts (of mental modifications). Shri Ram
Chandraji indeed refers to the formations of the
circles of thoughts from the most subtle to the
most gross, from the circles of splendour to the
circles and rings of Maya in the Reality at
Dawn. The grace of God comes when one surrenders
one-s mind to God, one-s thought, however gross
to God so that by that influx of that original
thought or Godly Manas or thought the gross
thoughts of the particularised and
individualised person will receive purification
and get restored to divine activity.
Shri Ram Chandraji herein introduces the real
function of the Guru. It is He who having
attained the Ultimate Central Anubhava is
capable of introducing that supreme superfine
thought into the heart of the seeker or abhyasi
so as to evoke the processes of mental control
and spiritual aspiration and ascent. He is the
Ignitor, initiator of the spiritual union. All
others, however, learned and scholarly and even
walking encyclopaedias can hardly do this work.
Thus we find saints among the unlearned or those
who have unlearned their book knowledge and not
among the scholars of knowledge. Hence the need
to select a proper Guru on the Yoga path who
could train is imperative.
Further in the real Raj Yoga, since it starts
with the meditation on the heart wherein the
Master or Guru introduces the Ultimate living
force (prana), the other steps seem to follow
naturally. The natural formation of spiritual
nature or reformation of individual behaviour is
something quite natural and effortless because
of the nature of the force that works from the
centre of one-s heart towards the periphery of
all behaviour. There is a superconscious
development, which almost makes this reformation
of one-s behaviour miraculous and evolutionary.
Yama, the fivefold virtues of truthfulness
(Satyam), chastity (brahmacarya), non-injury
(ahimsa), non-robbery (aparigraha) and non-theft
(asteya) as well as niyamas or cleanliness and
godliness happen as the very nature of spiritual
life. As for the seat (asana) and breath-control
(pranayama) they are found to be naturally
following from the intensity of one-s meditation
which brings these about in a satisfactory way.
Physical health is something that follows from
spiritual health, unlike what materialists would
like to maintain that a sound mind can only be
in a sound body which every one knows is a
materialist doctrine.
Supporting the goal in one-s mind is dharana
whereas dhyana is basic to all Yogic practice of
spiritual union with the Ultimate Yoga as
control of mental modifications thus is a
consequence of Divine descent or introduction of
Prana into the heart by the Guru. Once this is
grasped Shri Ram Chandra shows how the process
leads to the Ultimate union in the shortest
possible time. Yoga is really the method of
swiftest self-evolution to the Divine nature as
contrasted with the biological evolution that
has been taking place through millions of years.
Pranahuti or the introduction of the Divine
Life - principle of the nature of Divine
superfine superconscious thought is therefore
the Guru-s work and unless one does it or can do
it ably he cannot be a Guru of Yoga. It is the
introduction of this -breath- or life spiritual
that awakens, illumines and leads the seeker to
aspire, persevere and move upward to the Centre
through all the several rings of ignorance,
illusion and egoism and splendour. Without it
Yoga is incomplete or rather has no capacity to
start at all.
The Yoga of Shri Ram Chandraji shows that the
heart is pivotal for dhyana (meditation on the
divine thought), purification of the entire
psycho-physical system of all gross particles
and patterns.
He shows that the Divine Centre is subtly
placed in the region marked as -C- in the
Central Region (which is also the discovery of
the Master) in the Occipital protuberance or
just below it.
He shows that the heart can be connected with
that Centre through the superfine thought
vibrations of the Pranahuti and only then does
the Sahaja samadhi take place. Sahaja samadhi is
the state of being in the divine consciousness
even in the waking sensory-motor condition of
the normal man. Such a person in whom the two
points have been closely linked achieves
liberation from the cycle of births and deaths
and also attains the bright worlds of freedom
after death.
The Divine centre is not the Sahasrara of the
tantrik - yogins or even the Brahmarandhra
through which one is said to depart at death.
These are shown to be placed in the third region
and not in the Central Region. The very fact the
Central Region is marked in the physical plane
of the Head shows that one can attain it even
whilst in this body. But if the turiya is above
and outside the physical then liberation or
experience of the Divine worlds could only take
place after death.
Consciousness such as the individuated
particularised individuals possess is not the
Ultimate. True consciousness is something very
different. Even so Shri Ram Chandraji considers
that the "soul possesses consciousness as a
result of God-s will to effect creation"
(Reality at Dawn p.31 first ed.). The soul is
said to be conscious only because it arises from
it when it is called upon to function. A state
of realisation, which is for oneself, goes
behind this consciousness which is needed for
work outside itself and for others. Even in the
case of our knowing God this is normally
directed outward towards manifestations and
images or representations or symbols of God. But
in the case of knowing God as He is in Himself
and for Himself, one has to go behind this
consciousness. Thus alone can one enter into the
Divine (tattvena pravestum) as the Gita puts it.
Thus one attains the Divine through the
Divine-s help as Guru. The Isvara in the Yoga
system is known as the teacher or perfect
teacher - perfection being translated as
Isvaratva. Even so, in the Natural Path, the
Divine or Guru is teacher and trainer and
transmitter of the Divine breath and thought and
consciousness by which the dhyana is cultivated
and improved and perfected into Samadhi of the
Natural Path. All this is seen to happen
naturally, simplified and efficient, producing
what we may call welfare all round and peace in
everybody.
One finds that one-s problems of the
evolution into Divine nature get solved easily
and without the arduous practices which do more
harm by producing tensions in the life. Theories
of Maya have produced more tensions than solved
them. Similarly renunciation has produced
tensions of a different kind. Even the practice
of virtue has become a hazardous enterprise in
the modern world. The ethical life is a life of
tensions whereas really it is the life of vice
that ought to be so. In any case vices produce
tensions and create more complexities at the
physical, mental and spiritual levels.
Shri Ram Chandraji in the Reality at Dawn
presents a simple philosophy of the Natural Path
which could help everyone to become normal,
undepressed and unrepressed, detensioned and
happy even amidst the chaos that is shrouding
the world today.
The ethics of Natural Path consists in its
being the preparation and practice of spiritual
life. It has been held that before one
undertakes the practice of Yoga one should
possess or cultivate the fourfold means (sadhana
catustaya), as pointed out in the Reality at
Dawn viveka, vairagya, sama and dama, uparati,
tittiksa, sradha, and samadhana.
The Vedantic explanations are slightly
different from those adopted by Yoga. In any
case every one is agreed that it is necessary to
awaken to the sense of the temporary and the
permanent, out of which the others follow
necessarily. The Yogic transmission of the
highest consciousness, which becomes the divine
censor within or conscience, makes the following
of the several steps of moral reformation easy.
The will to do the right, knowing the right, is
all that is necessary. One should not be in the
state of mind of many a weakling; -I know what
is righteous, but am unable to follow it; I know
what is wrong (evil) but am unable to resist
doing it." This predicament of the moral
degenerate like Duryodhana is made impossible
once the individual comes into the path of
spiritual regeneration and evolution through
spiritual transmission.
All yoga involves the practice of
self-restraining (yama) in all conduct, and
certain basic observances (niyama). The
-Commentary on the Ten Commandments- expounds at
length the commandments or directions for daily
routine observance by every abhyasi. One should
practise these consistently and uniformly with
the feeling that all this is pleasing to the
Divine. Love dictates the moral life rather than
mere duty. Thus one is instructed to rise early
and offer prayer to God at fixed hours sitting
in a pose which is convenient for meditation on
the heart. One should have the goal steadily
before one-s mind-this goal being the Ultimate
condition of Reality itself. One must become
more and more identical with Nature, the
Ultimate superfine superconscious state of
Reality. This is known to be plain and simple
and capable of producing and maintaining sublime
peace.
Love for the Ultimate is most necessary, but
it is also something that grows in and through
the practice of spiritual reception of the
transmission from the Master. Faith also grows
and so too constant remembrance of the Divine
and the Master.
The fifth commandment affirms the necessity
to speak the truth. Be truthful. This is the
most important element of the principles of
Yama. Be honest with oneself refers to asteya.
Be not revengeful for the wrongs done by others
refer to ahimsa. To treat all people as brethren
is to practise -aparigraha (non-robbery)-to
treat all as sharers in God-s bounty. To eat
divine prasada or offerings made to God is to
have contentment as well. One should accept all
wrongs and sufferings and miseries and diseases
even, as gifts of God. They have to be accepted
with gratitude as heavenly gifts. Above all the
ethical person should practise repentance for
the wrongs one does or has committed and shun
once and for all their repetition.
Thus spiritual ethics does not exalt the
necessity to choose and discern and weigh and
act. He is not concerned with the problem of
choice between the pleasure and unpleasure, good
and evil understood as productive of pleasure or
pain, misery or happiness, wealth or illth. His
goal being the realisation of the Ultimate
Reality which has been chosen as such there is
one necessity, the necessity to feel the
omnipresence of the One Divine in all one-s
living and moving and being.
Shri Ram Chandraji has beautifully explained
the commandments not as vidhis (inviolable
obligations) but as basic observances which help
spiritual progress. Any deviation only causes
delay and one-s co-operation with his Master or
Guru is obviously necessary. This is all that is
needed on the individual-s part. It is his
effort (yatna) which will help the speedy
progress of his evolution. Though the Guru-s
transmission would do all these too, the
individual-s conscious collaboration is valuable
on the path. In this sense these are
commandments.
These commandments do not prescribe or
proscribe any duties or acts, which are against
the decent behaviour of persons who wish to live
a good life among men and society. The virtues,
which are requisite, are universal virtues.
There is no prescription that men should on
becoming spiritual, be beyond good and evil
moralities. On the contrary it is clear that no
one can be said to live a normal life that
creates tensions within himself and in his
environment. The goal, if attaining the highest
good, which is liberation or freedom from all
misery and perfection of one-s spiritual nature
determines the inner voice which is indeed the
divine awakened within by the spiritual
transmission. One-s awakening of the divine
within and hearing the inner voice is a true
moral attainment, which will be in tune with the
divine Nature.
The real moral life arises from the surrender
that one makes to the Ultimate Reality, giving
up oneself in all one-s nature to its
realisation. Surrendering oneself to the Divine
Force and Reality also means the recognition
that one is by oneself incompetent to pursue it
integrally. It is not merely the resignation of
oneself to the fate in things, but a willing
acceptance of the hazards on the path of
integral spirituality till the final goal is
reached. It is true that doubts and scepticisms
may arise on the path of spiritual evolution as
in every other walk of life, but they may be
recognized as merely the testing periods of the
progress made and the steadiness acquired so
far, thanks to the transmission of the Guru. In
a sense they are verily the stepping stones to
success. There is no pessimism on this path
since the path is a great moral anti-depressant
and anti-tensionist. The spiritual utterly
exposes the moral pathology of repression and
conditionings and possibly makes the downward
movement to antisocial and criminal behaviour
impossible. But these are not merely large
claims A moral or spiritual transformation of
man must involve these. If religious codes have
failed-as we can see the religious pathology-it
is because they have not taken man seriously for
the transformation and provided outlets for
social pathology.
In the Efficacy of Rajyoga, Shri Ram
Chandraji reveals the magnitude of His
discoveries in the field of Yoga. Rajyoga has
been said to be the original system of practice
which tried to connect the Divine with the help
of divine thought with the human individual mind
or thought. Thought being the sovereign
principle in man, the method has been called
Rajyoga or sovereign Yoga. The other features of
thought are not eschewed, but they are in the
human being divided and disintegrated. The
integral or unified divine thought takes care of
all the processes in man once it is introduced
into the system or organism of the seeker after
Ultimate emancipation. It is not the goal of
Yoga to attain powers of control over nature,
which go by the name of siddhis (or miracles).
Nor is it the aim of Yoga to attain the trance
state (samadhi) whether it is called
nirvikalpaka (asamprajnata) or savikalpaka
(samprajnata). On the contrary the goal is
attainment of liberation from all material
organs and outward going mind and intellect. One
realises the soul as different from its causal,
astral and physical bodies, and attains the
condition of Being in the Divine. All his
activities are restored to the original
condition of Nature. One attains the condition
of real Isvaratva (freedom from the nature and
its modifications).
In the Efficacy of Rajyoga Shri Ram Chandraji
reveals the levels or regions of Heart, Mind and
the Central Region to be placed even within the
human anatomy. It means that as in the Cosmos so
also in the individual, the regions are
interconnected or reproduced. Yatha brahmande
tatha pinde-as in the macrocosm so too is the
microcosm. This metaphysical mystic assumption
is now being more and more recognized by science
itself as shown most lucidly by Professor Errol
Harris in his monumental work -Foundations of
the Metaphysics of Science-.
The previous thinkers stopped with the Mind
Region and did not realise that there was the
Central Region and the Centre. The conception of
levels of super-existence in close conformity
with the Ultimate Reality within the human
organism itself is astounding and amazing but
making it amenable to experience is what makes
this formulation of the Rajyoga unique. It is
not a mere conception but like the modern
discoveries in outer space it is directly
verifiable with the help of the divine thought
instrument, which can be transmitted to those
centres under well-defined conditions and under
the guidance of the Guru. It is shown how the
human consciousness, which is at the gross
stage, tied down to outer objects and needs of
the body, can be transcended at the heart
region. The Heart region holds the key to
evolution as it is known by all to be the key
organ wherein the soul and the Divine dwell, to
be awakened. Thus we appeal to the heart rather
than to the head. The living being is known by
its heart rather than by its head. The Rajyoga
begins with the awakening of the gross heart to
the divine vibrations of the transmission and
since the transmission is of the nature of
divine love, the heart begins to glow with the
light of the divine thought within it. The
purification of the points near the heart helps
the perception or vision of the light within.
The calm and lightness follow almost very soon.
The individual awakens to its real task in
birth. It begins to seek and aspire strongly for
the Divine life. Through several centres or
points which Shri Ram Chandraji calls * knots
(granthis), the soul illumined by the Divine
thought begins to travel upward to the region
known as the Mind region. Of course this region
is an inversion of the Heart Region, but it is a
rarefied superfine consciousness that prevails
in this region which is already connecting
itself with the Cosmic regions beyond the body.
This region is said to be so vast comprising all
the cosmos that it would take millions of years
for the soul to cross it. It may appear on the
physiological scale to be very small but
experiential and evolutionary scale would put it
in terms of perhaps cosmic distances. But with
the help of divine transmissional thought it is
possible to pass through these regions almost
within a few decades. This is the field of
cosmic energies and as such is known also as
Brahmanda. One may venture further to imagine
that the higher levels of this area are
Parabrahmanda. In fact Shri Ram Chandraji holds
that very few, if at all, among the Yogis of the
past have gone so far as that.
*"Existence comprises all the various forms
and conditions in which the different elements
appear to us. ... At the time of the creation
the Origin wherefrom the currents began to flow
out was cold because it was unalloyed with
matter. As they flowed out they gave out jerks
which went on multiplying. The jerks occurred
mostly at the point wherefrom the process of
creation had started. It will be more
comprehensible if, for the sake of understanding
we divide it into three parts. When the coolness
got extended up to the limit where it started
generating heat mostly by its own actions,
therefrom it began to assume the differentiated
form. It was, of course, the central part. Now
the same central part came to our lot in the
form of Granthi (knot). There we find some
circling rings in it. To be more plain I may
frankly say that the very Root-element now by
itself turned into a knot and owing to the
multiplicity of actions and counter actions
assumed such denseness as to transform in into
matter. Now we are absorbed in it through our
thought and are wandering round in it so that we
may be able to proceed onwards ... " (p.10-11.
Anant Ki Or translation into Towards Infinity).
What He now unfolds is a region, which is
beyond this region itself. It is the Central
Region which comprises the first primal
thought-force (ksobh) radiating from the Centre.
That primal impulsion in the form of the
superfine vibration forms, bright rings-seven in
number the outermost being the limit of the
brightness and extraordinary, unimaginable,
indescribable consciousness. This may be the
bright world to which the liberated ones go
after death. One who crosses into it with the
help of the Guru no longer returns to the dark
worlds and the worlds of Maya or reversed
realities. Surely the Master or Guru alone can
does this for man, individual effort hardly
avails at this stage. Superb description of this
region makes it almost beyond man-s reach in one
life. But for the divine thought-force nothing
is impossible. It can take one uptill its own
starting point, namely the Ksobh-primal
impulsion. Of course no one enters into the
Centre, which is, in one sense, the refutation
of all ksobh with which thought is concerned.
One who goes beyond enters a zone of Reality
that is beyond thought and which has variously
been named Zero, which is not what Buddha called
the Sunya. More truly it could be called the
Absolute God. In any case this bright region of
splendour was not accessible for experience or
indwelling to those who were embodied up to now.
Shri Ram Chandraji affirms that this is possible
and reveals a new dimension in spiritual ascent
and evolution. Though this region is intended
for the Divine incarnations and special
personality or personalities who is said to be
there only one at any time, it is now possible
to have that superfine superconsciousness for
any embodied being who has adequate faith and
Guru-s grace.
These three regions of the Heart, Mind and
Central are very important landmarks and help us
to understand the full potentialities of this
path of Rajyoga. In this sense there can be no
Yoga without being assisted by the two yogas of
Prapatti or Saranagati and Dhyana.
In the fourth book entitled Towards Infinity,
Shri Ram Chandraji presents further researches
into the psychic state of the human individual.
He reveals that though the ancients knew of the
knots (granthis) they hardly thought of them as
centres of power or batteries wherein the
transformation of one kind of power happens into
another, and one kind of vibrations is modified
or reversed into another. In fact it is crucial
that one should know how one kind of force
transforms itself into another and how the
subtle becomes gross and so on. It is the
greatest psychic discovery of the present times.
The knots are precisely centres to which we
should pay attention in Yoga. The divine
transmission has to make the transformation of
one kind of energy into another and in the
process attend to the force released for higher
evolution. The ancients knew of the knot of the
heart, which they held was the knot of
attachment and insisted upon its being cut. Shri
Ram Chandraji shows that these knots, which
appear to be so very difficult to cross over or
transcend, could by this yoga be made to yield
power for ascent to higher levels. They have
been formed at different levels with the human
organism also as in the Macrocosm. These centres
or knots or points are very important.
They are indeed different from the usual
descriptions and locations of the Cakras
(wheels) found in the Tantra Kundalini yogas.
Though they are there in the psychic system they
are hardly relevant or useful for spiritual
ascent and liberation. They are centres rather
for action than meditation. So the meditation
between the eyebrows (ajna cakra) is shown to be
not helpful if not positively a hindrance as it
provokes power of the ego. One should, if at
all, meditate on a centre higher above namely
the Cit-lake. In any case meditation on the
Heart not perhaps the anahata is helpful for
spiritual journey (yatra) of the soul. The
spiritual transmission thus loosens the knot and
permits the ascent, which was closed by it when
the soul came down to the gross level of a human
being.
The researches of Shri Ram Chandraji show
that there are thirteen knots in the microcosm
or man and they have the same power as the
macrocosmic points so to speak. In fact, every
point or knot has, when awakened to full
luminosity and effulgence in transmission, the
full potentialities of the Centre or God
himself. But it requires the guiding hand and
watchful eye of the Master and the awakening of
the knot into action must take place with His
help alone.
In this work He reveals how five points are
placed in the chest that covers the Heart Region
also known as Pind pradesh. There are four in
Mind Region called also the region of the
Supermind of God and Brahmanda. Here is the
Cit-lake where the mind becomes calm and
collected and peace prevails. A thoughtless
condition is achieved. Going beyond one enters
the field of the Prapanna and the Prabhu, which
are placed in the Parabrahmanda mandal. Going
still farther on, one reaches the Central Region
with the knots 11, 12 and 13, which is the
Centre.
In a later work He has shown that there are
nine points at the right sacral area, which are
centres of desire, (sexual) passion and
thoughts, all pertaining to sex. He has, in
addition discovered the seat of the individual
soul, the destructive eye which is opened in
times of pralaya, both individual and cosmic.
He has been carrying on researches on these
levels assiduously and has revealed many more
points, which cannot be described intelligibly
to those who have not risen to the Anubhava of
the Central Reality. There are points of
conversion of atoms or ultimate particles into
pure energy, which is utilised for the cosmic
purposes of transmission.
All these have been demonstrated by Him to be
within the limits of human anubhava.
Such is the work of this great Master of
Psychical Knowledge (adhyatma vidya) which is
now being made available to all those who seek
the Ultimate Reality and liberation which has
the Peace that passeth all understanding. His is
a pioneer work and He can fully be said to be
the greatest living Rajayogi of our times, if
not of all times.
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