July 15, 2026
Raja Yoga, "the royal road to self-knowledge" is aptly termed “royal" because it is the most direct highway along which riding. is smooth and swift.
In the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali there is indeed a chapter on psychic powers. But there is also a warning that that they distract our attention and throw us into the old muddle again. There is a word of caution, "Even if you have some power, do not exhibit it."
The whole text (and hence the whole yoga philosophy) is an inspiring declaration that "The suffering that has not yet reached oneself should be avoided". This, however is not done by pushing sorrow away: it is the pushing that makes it sorrow and undesirable.
What is sorrow? Is it in the world, in the objects of the world, or is it in ourselves. Surely sorrow is experienced by us, within ourselves by our own thinking. The mind that thinks it is miserable, is miserable. This is revealed by the fact that when the mind is asleep and it does not think, there is no sorrow.