This is another important thing that we have to remember. Yoga is a reconstruction of our ways of thinking. It is rethinking our lives and a wisdom of life that we have to try to cultivate so that this wisdom has an impact upon every one of our actions. We may be in any vocation in our lives, but we can be a yogin in that particular context. We may be an office- goer or we may be a sweeper—but we can be a yogin, because yoga is an attitude of the mind and of the whole of our consciousness. Why can we not be a yogin—whatever be our vocation? Whether we are a worker in a factory, a professor, a teacher, a student or a businessman—again, it makes no difference. Yoga can reconcile itself with any vocation, because it is a principle behind all activity—and not merely activity—but all ways of thinking. The logical precondition of our way of thinking, feeling and understanding is yoga.

If we think of yoga as an Eastern concept, as a mystical approach or as a religious attitude alone, then we may have a doubt in our minds as to how we could practise it. It is however not an Eastern concept, not a mystical approach and it is not merely a religious attitude. All these are false ideas that we have. If I must put it succinctly in one sentence, yoga is the way in which we have to think, and we cannot escape it. If we want to be successful in any walk of life, we cannot but think in terms of yoga; otherwise we will experience only failure. We cannot say, “I don’t want yoga.” We have to like it and we have to want it—we cannot want anything else, really speaking. The question is not whether we want yoga or not; the question is whether we can want anything else. We cannot want anything else in this world but what I am calling ‘yoga’, because without it everything becomes lifeless and devoid of vitality. Like a saltless curry, we wouldn’t like it—so would all of life be without this yoga-essence behind it.

Our attempt in these talks has been to understand what the principle is behind the ideas, the notions, the understanding and the practice of yoga. What people suffer from these days is a thorough misunderstanding of the essence of life. It is not that people don’t want God, but they don’t know what He is—that is their handicap. There is no man who cannot want God, but there are apparently people who do not want Him on account of not knowing what it means. When we say, “God does not exist”, or, “I don’t want God”, we only betray our ignorance of what God is. What is essential is for us to chasten our thought, re-educate ourselves and try to be cultured and aware of the true sense of the term. Then it is that life becomes a joy. With an understanding of this attitude, we have to engage ourselves in a daily practice, because this re-thinking is not an easy task. We cannot re-think ourselves like that, because we have had the same superficial background of old thinking for many years—perhaps for many lifetimes.

A daily schedule has to be prepared, and we have to stick to it systematically like the motion of a clock. What ensures success in the practice of yoga is the system of practice, method, consistency and tenacity. Every day we have to be at it in a systematic manner, otherwise it may slip out of our hands. The routine that we have to pass through should be of a uniform and harmonious nature, which means to say that we should not change our ideas every day. To constantly be changing the concept would be like digging a few feet down in twenty different places each day to get water. On the other hand, we will definitely find water if we persistently dig in one place a few hundred feet down. Again, if we dig only five feet in a hundred different places, we will not get water. To change ideas, concepts and attitudes so blithely would be like digging a few feet down in search of water which we will never find. We must go deep through one way, and we must choose one path, one method of meditation and one way of living. We must then go very deep into it, and when we break through, then we will see something wonderful. So it is that yoga insists upon tenacity, an exclusive approach and method, and consistency in the choice of the path and in the practice.

We have to first of all see clearly who we are and what would benefit us. As I said earlier, if we cannot do this analysis for ourselves, we have to take the assistance of a guide for the time being. To take to the path of extensive meditation exclusively at the outset would be difficult, and we cannot sit for meditation for hours together. We should therefore be wise in using some variety to engage our minds in meditation. We have to take to various types of approach in this particular case. Another important item is japa, which is the repetition of a mantra. A mantra need not necessarily mean a Sanskrit formula. It may be a formula that we choose for our own selves in our own language, because it is supposed to be a symbol or a formula with an idea hidden behind it that is meaningful for us. Meditation being ultimately an emphasis of an idea, the formula may help us in comprehending this idea. With a vehicle like this, we will be able to remember the idea. The mantra is nothing but a vehicle of thought, and so we may choose a mantra even in our own language, if we cannot understand any other. We formulate a symbol of thought for our own selves which may be our own mantra. Go on repeating it again and again—in the beginning verbally, but later mentally.

The third thing is to keep as our guide one of the great texts for study. We have to read this text again and again until the ideas of the text become part of our nature, and we can begin to think exclusively in that way. We have to be saturated with these ideas. If we truly become saturated, then it should be possible for us to think only along these lines and no other way. Just as we at present have one particular way of thinking, this new and more elevated way of thinking should become our new way of thinking. When we open our eyes in the morning, we should think only along these lines. That should be the extent to which these ideas get saturated into our personalities. This is of course a very advanced stage when we can think only in yogic terms and in no other way. Then it is that we become not merely good but also divine and spiritual. To repeat,  japa of a mantra, study of texts conducive to the development of these ideas, actual meditation coupled with analysis—’vichara’ it is called—and daily introspection are all very important. Apart from these, we may also maintain a diary of our progress. I mentioned this earlier, because it is very important to note down every day or every week the progress that we make or the difficulties that we are confronting on the path. Knowing whether the difficulties are repeating themselves or whether we are having newer difficulties is a means to keep a watch on our progress. Is there any progress at all? This is what we have to watch out for. This is why we keep a spiritual diary. If there is no progress, we need to be able to detect the reason.

We will realise later on that the whole difficulty is that, when there is no progress, the reason is that our hearts are not there—they are somewhere else. Sometimes when we do japa our minds may not be there, and we may have completed a whole japa rosary, but we have not been at all present. Just as when we mindlessly walk along a road, the fingers may be automatically rolling the beads, but when we have completed one round, we may not even know what we have been chanting. The reason is that the mind was elsewhere. We may be thinking that we have completed ten rounds, but what is the use of the ten rounds if we have been completely oblivious? The mind is the important element in the rolling of the beads—not the number of rounds. We will realise that this is the difficulty.

The mind will escape, because the mind does not like monotony. That’s why we prefer to go to a movie rather than do japa or attend kirtan (devotional singing). The mind cannot tolerate the monotony, as it is not accustomed to think just one thing. We do not like the same food every day; we don’t like to see the same persons throughout our lives, and likewise, monotony of any kind is detested by the mind. This habit intrudes itself even into our spiritual path. The mind dislikes any sense of being tied down. That is why people want to travel from place to place. They will go to some other place because they are fed up with staying in one place.

These are all obstacles. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to say that we must have ‘stickability’, which means to say sticking to one place. We need not be moving from place to place. These are all distractions, because we will be seeing various persons and things, and we will need to adjust ourselves to different circumstances, and this is an unnecessary waste of time. Stick to one place, stick to one master, stick to one mantra, stick to one text, stick to one method of meditation, stick to one way of living, and have one aim in life. We should not go on changing our aims—today one thing and tomorrow another thing—because this is not good. We must keep a watch over the progress that we make with a spiritual diary, and keep contact with our guides until we are able to stand by ourselves. God Himself will guide us if we are honest, and we will be brought in contact with the necessary master. Nature itself will work when the longing is there. “Ask, and it shall be given” is the law. If our hearts really ask, it shall be given, but our hearts should ask and not merely the lips. If the longing comes from our deeper feelings, then we will see that the doors are open for us. We will be surprised that the resources of nature are at our disposal.

The spiritual seeker need not be despondent or melancholy. They are the blessed souls; they are the salt of the earth, and they will not be deserted at any time. The whole world will help them. The whole of nature will be at their beck and call. But there is once again that one most difficult condition: let the heart be there, let the love be there, let the longing be there, and let there not be any other want. There is nothing else that we are required to do except long for realisation. At the conclusion of the eleventh chapter of the Srimad Bhagavadgita, the Lord says that nothing can enable us to reach Him except a deep longing. All these sacrifices, all the charity, all the austerities, all the study and all these efforts of the will do not enable us to see this tremendous form that Arjuna has seen. Only one thing will help us—a deep longing. If we want Him, we will find Him, otherwise all our efforts will be of no avail. This is the simple secret of all paths of yoga. As I have said many times, the longing is not merely an exclusive devotional or sentimental path. It is the longing of the whole soul of our being. It is this that is referred to by mystics as “the alone flying to the Alone”. The more we think of it, the more we will start liking it, and the more we will get absorbed into it, and the path will become very easy.

I think that what we have heard and learned here is quite enough to keep us active and refreshed in our lives, provided of course that we have really understood all that has been said in its true spirit. Different things have been spoken about, but they are not discrete or isolated ideas. They are all integral parts forming a whole. We have to be able to bring these thoughts and ideas together to constitute the single edifice of the yogic way of life. Again, may I reiterate that yoga is not a way of life, it is the way of life, and we cannot but follow that way. This is the difficulty many people have, because they cannot understand what it means. They think that yoga is for the old man, for the monk in the monastery, for a particular section of people, or for just a part of life. It is not so. All these misconceptions should go. There cannot be any other way of living, there cannot be any other way of thinking, and there cannot be anything else that we can want in this world. With this, I think, I have stated the quintessence of the approach to yoga.