There are various stages of man’s evolution. In the earlier stages we think like animals—our way of seeing things is just like a cow seeing things or a dog seeing things. We run after things and run away from things in the same way as a dog or a cow does, and there is no difference. This is animal perception and is what we may call the general human way of thinking. Higher than the ordinary man’s way of thinking is the good man’s way of thinking. Higher than the good man is the saintly man. Still higher is the God-man. It is this God-man whom we call a yogin. When all this happens and when the fourth stage of meditation is reached, the yogin becomes a veritable divinity and like God moving on this earth, say the yoga scriptures. It is good that for now we do not say much about the higher stages of meditation, because it will all simply go over our heads. Even these small things which have been discussed appear to be beyond us. The four stages mentioned now are actually subdivisions made by Patanjali of two ways of thinking: the gross and the subtle. Here is made a fourfold division of the two stages, gross and subtle, in terms of the association and dissociation of space and time, and also in reference to the grossness and the subtlety of things. To achieve this perfection in these stages themselves will take many years of practice.

Here it would be advantageous to make a review of certain of the conditions that are necessary to achieve this stage. I’m not speaking about new things, because I have said all these things already, but I’m only trying to recapitulate what has been said for our own advantage. It is not possible to come to these stages of meditation all at once. We try our best, and yet we will find that it is hard. We will get lost in this attempt, we will start fretting, and then we will not know what is wrong. What I am precisely trying to say is where we can go wrong and why we might fail in the attempt. They are simple things, but they are very important things. We will find it difficult to think like this and even more difficult to achieve any success in this, if we have not taken this as our vocation in life. We should not make this a kind of hobby just as if one might go sightseeing—see this place and see that place—and see yoga in the same casual fashion like one of the items of sightseeing. We will not get anything in this case. We will simply go out as we came in. We should not look at yoga as a hobby and employ a simple trial and error method. “Oh, if I get something, all right, if I don’t get anything, then let it go.” This attitude also is not good, and finally we would get nothing. We must come to yoga wholeheartedly with a determination to achieve something and with a determination that we will not return until we achieve something. With this determination we should come to it. All the great sages and saints of the past did this. Buddha was one. “Even if my flesh should melt, I will not get up from this meditation seat until I find what I seek,” he said, and he found it with this determination.

We should not approach it with a suspicious mood or a critical attitude. We must approach it with an appreciative mood of understanding. No one would like to be approached by a person with a critical demeanour. If I speak to you with a critical attitude, then you would rather leave me and go away! Nobody likes to get criticised—even a stone would not like to be criticised, and it would repel our approach if we were to approach it in that manner! We may be critical in the sense of trying to understand with a discerning attitude, but not in the sense of merely rejecting. We have to remember that even stones can somehow sense our feelings. Don’t think that they are insensible.

Animals of course are still higher. If we read the discoveries of Sir J.C. Bose, the great biologist of India, we will find what a plant really is. It “speaks,” it “weeps” and it “laughs,” he says, and it can feel as we feel though it cannot speak as we speak. We should not think that we can just deal with things as we like merely because they cannot speak. They have their own language, though it may not be in English or Sanskrit or any of our languages. What is language? It is a way of expression, and such a thing is found even in objects which we see as speechless and insentient. If we deal with objects, thinking that they are just nothing, then they will also treat us as nothing. The attitude of yoga should be one of absolute friendliness with things.

We want the help of our object of meditation, for instance. We want it to associate with us in the same way as we want to associate ourselves with it. We are not dissecting the object of meditation as a scientist does with a frog in a laboratory. It is not like that, but is quite a different matter altogether. As a living being we approach things which are also living. There are no such things as dead objects for a yoga student. Not even a stone is dead—it is vibrant with energy and force, and it can be harnessed if we like for certain active and creative purposes. How can we call it death? Today we are told that an atom is not dead—it can burst cities if it is so directed. Dead things cannot do this work. This appreciative attitude, based on a tremendous understanding, is what brings success in yoga.

Apart from this, an even more important aspect is confidence in our own selves. If we have no confidence and if we are diffident, we will achieve little success. “I am not certain; I don’t know if I will get anything or not.” If this attitude is entertained, then with this attitude we will fail. Why do we proceed with a pessimistic mood? Why do we think that we cannot achieve success? The perspective comes on account of some weaknesses in us. We have certain small spots in us which obstruct our attitude of confidence. We come once again to the accumulation of desires within us which speak a different voice, and which may speak in a more empathetic and seductive tone than our yogic approach does at the outset. As we approach this subject of meditation with greater and greater intimacy and as we advance further, the difficulties will be more and more. They will be subtler difficulties, more psychological in their nature, and therefore more repulsive. In the beginning there will be only physical obstacles, but later there will be psychological obstacles. We will have rational difficulties, difficulties of conviction and difficulties finally of fixing ourselves in a position.

Every step that we take in meditation should be such that once we have taken a step we need not take a step backwards. It should be a well-considered step and well-pondered over. To again stress the point, when we take to meditation, we have taken a decisive step in our lives—decisive in the sense that it is going to be our profession, if one would like to call it so. Meditation is not going to be merely one of many objects in our lives. If we take it as just one of many objectives, we are likely to use it as a kind of means to some other end, as many people try to do, but they don’t get anything finally.

It is not easy to catch this object of our meditation. When we treat it as a means to an end, it will elude our grasp. So it is that we find ninety-nine percent of people failing in yoga—perhaps ninety-nine point nine percent. They will all fail because unconsciously they treat this as a kind of means to something else which they want to achieve in life. “What will I get from it?” If this is our attitude, we will go back home as we came. Yoga is not a means to an end, and our subtle intent of using it as a kind of means will be repelled by it. We will realise how difficult it is and how much sacrifice is needed. We have to cut our ego into pieces—it should not remain anymore when we go towards this end. We should stand as a unit of truth facing another unit of truth which is our object of meditation. We are in a world of ends rather than of means.

What is it to be in a world of ends rather than of means? We must approach the object of our meditation as an end and not a means. One can never try to use it as a means to benefit ourselves merely and thereby regard ourselves alone as the end. The object of meditation will escape our grasp if we approach it as a means rather than an end. This is the greatest sacrifice that we have to make in yoga; there can be no greater sacrifice conceivable in the world than to treat things as ends in themselves rather than as means. Here we would feel almost like dying. We don’t know whether it is worthwhile living in the world when we cannot treat anything as a means but only as an end.

Well, this is the difficulty that we feel in the beginning. Later on though we will experience an excessive joy; “Oh, this is the truth!”  The help that we gain from persons and things when we treat them as ends will be more than the little lip sympathy that we receive from persons and things when we treat them only as a means to our own selfish ends. Let us therefore think rightly, and let us not delude ourselves. Let us not be under the impression that to treat things as ends would be to lose something valuable in the world. Quite the contrary, it is then alone that they will come to us. “Here is our friend,” they will say, “we shall go to him.” Like dogs licking our hands, everything will start “licking” us with friendship as it were, because we are treating them as we are treating ourselves. The opposite view leads to a more negative scenario. “Very well then. I will come to you, but if you treat me as a stranger and a servant or as a subordinate or as a mere adjunct to yourself, well, I shall also treat you like that.” It is simple psychology and a great scientific truth. If we remember these truths, we will have real success in yoga. To come to the point then, these four stages of meditation are difficult steps that we must traverse. One must know the difficulties in order to understand what I have been saying. We can imagine the difficulties in practising it, but yet it becomes easy by a continuous thinking on the same subject.

As I have said, at least for two or three hours we must be able to sit and think like this. Go for a walk; sit alone for some time. Can we think like this when nobody disturbs us? I don’t know if any one of us can lead a life of seclusion in the sense of a yogin or a full-time aspirant, but we can go for a walk, and we can sit quietly for an hour in the morning and in the evening. Yes, I know that it is difficult to find time these days—it is a great problem. Everyone is lacking time, but there are certain ways of finding time. We will realise that when we carefully analyse our daily schedule. We waste our time in many ways, but we can reduce the time we spend in unnecessary activities. We need not meet people whom it is not necessary to meet. If it is necessary to meet them—okay, then meet them—but if it is not necessary, then don’t meet them. Why do we meet people unnecessarily? We can at least reduce some time spent for this habit.

There are some people who can profitably reduce the time spent in the routine of lunch, dinner, breakfast, etc. Most of us go on eating several times. Sometimes we take tea at bedtime, milk and lunch tea, and this tea and that tea, and then something in the middle. These are all not necessary things. As a matter of fact they are very unnecessary things. Why do we take a tea at bedtime? We seem to need to stimulate ourselves to get up from bed, otherwise we can’t get up in the morning, but in fact this bedtime tea is not necessary to aid us in getting up. We may take a mild breakfast in the beginning stages. I don’t think that everyone in fact needs breakfast, but in the beginning we may need it. Afterwards, there is no need of eating anything till lunch. People will say, “Let’s go have a cup of coffee or tea at 10 o’clock and enjoy ourselves,” but where is the necessity? It will not help us. This is waste of time when we have to think of it. This thinking itself is a waste of time.

There is no need of eating anything after lunch until our supper. We must think over honestly—is it necessary to eat anything? This constant eating will spoil our health and also disturb our stomachs. We need not go on eating all these things. We can reduce a little bit of the time spent in unnecessary things, as that is our interest here. Why do we waste our time in all these things—they are not necessities. Take our lunch, take our breakfast, take our supper—these three things may be necessary for us, but to eat more than three times would be quite unnecessary, and we should rid ourselves of it completely in our yogic way of life. Going to films, etc. may be habitual for some of us, but that also we can give up. I don’t think that many of us will go, but some may have the habit. Reading things which are not necessary is not helpful. If it is necessary, we can read it, but if it is not necessary, we should give it up. We should not go on picking up any random paper that we find anywhere and any book that is nearby. Why do we want to see it? We have a prescribed course of studies made for our own yogic way of living. This is called swadhyaya. Apart from this, there is no need of reading anything. Read constructive literature. One need not read things which are merely of an informative character, or things with a destructive nature. We would best read only constructive literature which will help us to build up our souls, otherwise, we need not read anything. Thus also we can reduce the unnecessary wastage of time.

Then a question about sleep arises—how many hours of sleep are needed? We should choose it for ourselves. Each person may have predilections, weaknesses, illnesses and so on, according to which the time of sleep may vary from person to person. We will find that we need not bother about it too much, because the extent of sleep necessary depends also on the condition of our health. We should try as far as possible to maintain good health, and then we will find that we don’t need much sleep. It is some kind of sickness in us that makes us sleep a little more. We are often bored, worried and nervous for various reasons. We sometimes find ourselves to be in a weakened condition. There is some kind of deficiency in the whole physical system—aches in all parts of the body and various difficulties like sneezing and headaches in almost every person. These can be avoided by a regimentation of diet and a changing of the ways of thinking. One must understand that many of the sicknesses are due to wrong ways of thinking. We have many psychological difficulties, and that makes us sick. It may not make us sick in one day, but when there is a cumulative effect produced by these erroneous ways of thinking, we develop certain illnesses. We may even not be able to digest our food. Our stomach becomes weak as a result of wrong thinking for years and years together.

We will not know that we are in these physical conditions. We will think that everything is all right, but it won’t be all right. We should always have a robust appetite—that is the sign of health. We should not be brooding whether to take a little meal, or not to take it after an hour. That means we are not all right. There was a medical man who used to say how we can test our hunger—that is to say, whether we are really hungry or not. How do we know whether we are really hungry or not? If we see a dish placed before us and we salivate immediately, then we are really hungry! It is very humorous, but there is a great truth in it. He said that even with plain cooked rice without any ingredients at all, if we see it in a state of hunger, salivation should occur. If so, we are really hungry, and at that time we can digest anything. We should not go on saying, “This food is not all right,” and “That food is not all right.” Everything will be all right when we are truly hungry. It may not be all right only because we are not ready to take it. Of course, these are all very small and humorous things, but they are very meaningful and of great value. Many of us are not really hungry. We so often eat with only a half hunger in us, and these habits make us sick—not merely sick, but we also become weak in many ways. We cannot sit for meditation, and we are disturbed internally by worries and nervous symptoms of different types.

I am not just joking around—these things are all mentioned in the Sutras of Patanjali. He has given us a list of the obstacles that we face, and illness is one. I’m not going through this list now, as it is not my main interest, and there is not enough time to put it into focus. These difficulties that we may have to face in the practice of yoga are of various types, with physical illness being one. We have to avoid falling sick as far as possible. ‘As far as possible’ is the key phrase here, because I don’t think that we can be absolutely the master over illness. But to the best extent possible, we can avoid illness by thinking rightly, honestly and in a godly manner. If we try to think in a godly way, we will see that our health improves. Don’t think merely like a human being, as we have been thinking for so many years. Now try to think like God—a veritable God moving on this earth. Can we think like this? Just see whether it has any effect on our systems or not. It will have an effect. We will feel a freshness in our bodies, a normalcy of our breathing, and a kind of freedom which we will be unable even to express. Therefore, a divine way of thinking is necessary to regain our health.

In addition, one should not brood over the past. The past is past, so let the dead past bury its dead. We need not think of yesterday. We do not know what incredible things happened in our previous births, so where is the necessity to bother with what happened yesterday? Give it up completely. Yesterday has gone, and there is no more need for it to worry our minds again. Think as if we were reborn today! We can truly reconstruct ourselves, if we can think as if we were reborn today. A fresh child we are today, and how youthful and strong we will feel if we don’t care to know what happened yesterday. These are all small suggestions that we can give to ourselves, and we can have many more such suggestions according to our own interests. These suggestions are given lest we should be obstructed by unnecessary botheration in life, and the suggestions are to be coupled with the honesty of purpose that will lend them strength. A divine way of thinking will ensure us success in the practice of meditation.