Yoga is a system to make a man "a real man" to enjoy the life happily, peacefully and blissfully. The purpose of the life of man is very great and noble. It is to develop the consciousness to the fullness. Yoga is to make the method of living in unison with the purpose of life. To achieve this goal quickly and successfully, one has to understand the purpose of life and lead the life in a systematic way. Following a way of life with understanding of the purpose of life is Yoga. Man's life is going on in three angles between self, society and Nature. So one has to understand the Law of Nature, one has to understand the value of the society, its constitution and sentimental feeling of the people. Also one has to know all about his own personality such as body, mind and soul. Only after understanding these man can lead a life with responsibility. Yoga is not only psychic practise but also is a practise for disciplining every deed in every day life. One has to make his life successful for one and all in the society.

Yoga has been classified into four sections, from childhood up to the end of man in old age, to be useful in all stages in life. The first stage is called BHAKTHI YOGA, second KARMA YOGA, third RAJA YOGA and the fourth stage GNANA YOGA. For innocents and ignorant BHAKTHI YOGA is a must and they cannot go beyond that, but for other people Karma Yoga also becomes necessary. Even though they are innocent in the earlier age, as the age advances they develop thinking ability, therefore at that time they have to follow KARMA YOGA. Thereafter they have to follow Raja Yoga to get satisfaction and peace in life. Finally, Gnana Yoga is a must to lead the people who are in Bhakthi Yoga and Karma Yoga stages, in the right path. Bhakthi Yoga is to teach people to lead their lives with good habit in the early age as they are growing. Whether one knows or does not know - developed person or an • adult, whatever he does will have a result according to time, place and object of contact. To get good and proper result, some one has to guide them in a righteous course. Therefore, innocent and ignorant people should lead their lives under the guidance of people with sound knowledge. Such an arrangement is Bhakthi Yoga.

Yoga means that your will should work in unison with Nature. There should never be conflict between will and Nature; the resources of Nature are abundant and the world is provided with all facilities. Only one has to understand and enjoy the bliss and happiness. Whenever one gets conflict with the Nature the result is pain, miseries and problems. The pains, miseries and problems are obstructing the journey of man's life to reach the goal in time. At times he drowns himself in these miseries and problems. This is not only a loss to the individual but also to the whole society. Whatever wrong one does, the effect of the result has to continue to the persons living in the society. Therefore, all should live a harmonious life by following the path of Yogic method of life.

In Bhakthi Yoga which is the need of early years of one's life there are three processes.

Learning to read and write (Language)

Learning to produce things (Production skill)

Learning to form good habit (habit which will not result in pain to self or others at present or in future to the body or mind).

These processes are combined called as education. In this period of education, the students or people have to follow the path shown by the elders that is the persons like parents and teachers. This is Bhakthi Yoga.

But when one comes to maturity he has to render his services to the society in return for what he got and what he is getting even now by which he is enjoying with material comforts through the things produced by the labour of thousands of persons and the intellect of very many people. Therefore, he has to render his services to the society with such an understanding and responsibility. This is what Karma Yoga is. But Karma Yoga is not aloof from Bhakthi Yoga. It has to be followed in addition to Bhakthi Yoga.

When some of the persons get very much matured by following Bhakthi Yoga and Karma Yoga, question may arise in their mind as to why.

- He has to do so?

- What is that?

- Which is that?

- What is the purpose of life? And so on.

All such questions indicate the need for developing one's consciousness to understand all the secrets of his life. For this he has to learn Raja Yoga. There, instead of becoming victim to the senses, the consciousness has to be developed so as to make senses, subordinate to the consciousness. That is Raja Yoga. One has to understand the law of Nature and also has to understand self. Self consists of four phenomena. They are Body, Mind, Soul and Almighty. All these four phenomena a jointly condition the personality. To understand this secret a psychic practice is required. The mind is the psychic projection of the life-force. So we have to turn the mind from its outward activities, through sensual perception, and fix it on the life force itself, so as to reduce the frequency and finally get attuned with all the levels of universal function and understand all its secrets and get the facts. This psychic practice enables one to understand his deficiency by appropriate deeds by adopting new method of life. All these are covered under the practice of Raja yoga.

Finally, some have to progress further to achieve total consciousness and lead the multitude of people, who by themselves cannot understand the proper method of living, to reach the goal of life. For this, one has to sacrifice all his services and all his knowledge for the welfare of the society after understanding that he is one among the many children of Almighty. The practice for achieving full understanding with complete dedication and sacrifice is known as Ghana Yoga.

Now we are starting with Raja Yoga. In olden days Raja Yoga was learnt by people only to become teachers. Always people were thinking that they have to learn under a master. So in olden days both Bhakthi Yogis and-Karma Yogis wanted to learn under the guidance of Raja Yogis and were learning with complete faith in master. In this scientific age complete faith or blind faith is not possible. It is now necessary that one has to understand the reality and live accordingly. Otherwise life will be miserable. Therefore in present day world all family people, Bhakthi Yogis as well as Karma Yogis, have to understand and practise the Raja Yoga so that they themselves may be able to moralise their deeds, streamline their Binds and lead their lives in harmony and peace. In our lives harmony is the prime requirement. There should be harmony between the body and the soul. If not pain, disease and death are the result.

If there is no harmony between body and soul for maintaining harmony between body and soul, there should be proper circulation of blood, heat and air in the body. These three media should be maintained in sufficient quantity and of good quality. This can be achieved by carefully regulating the food habits, sexual indulgence, work, rest and use of thought force. By following these responsibly, one can maintain circulation of blood, heat and air in proper order. By this one can maintain harmony between soul and body. Only when the harmony between body and life-force is maintained in good order, mind will be able to work properly to be congenial for the development of consciousness and reach the goal. Physical well being is a must for all people in life, including for spiritual development. For maintenance of health first one has to observe some restrictions in his activities and enjoyments. Many of us are working in the office sitting in one place and some of us are working standing in a place. By this blood circulation and other circulations may be affected. Therefore, there is a need to regulate the circulations every day by proper exercises. So exercises are also a part of yoga to prevent mal-circulation of blood, air and magnetic force in the body. In addition, maintaining or keeping the mind in peaceful and equilibrium state is also necessary for maintaining good health. If the mind is in a peaceful state it will return to the equilibrium state then and there even when there is a disturbance.

I will explain to you how it happens. When the mind is maintained in the state of equilibrium, the life-force is working in good and harmonious vibration. Otherwise, there will be change in the vibration resulting in change in mental frequency. This change will affect the transformation of life-force into pressure, sound, light, taste and smell, which will affect the metabolic routine in the body. There are many ways to cure the diseases in the body, through blood circulation, through electrical circulation (i.e.) nervous system, through life-force and mind. We have to find the proper method which is easily and quickly available. Without mental well being, the physical body will get deteriorated irrespective of the way you maintain it. The life-force gets aggravated, whole body gets disturbed. The blood circulation gets distributed, the heat circulation gets disturbed and the energy circulation also gets disturbed. With the result important organs get spoiled. It is therefore, essential that mind should always be made to work in a peaceful state. Hence, daily meditation is a must for all family people. Maintaining mind and body well, there are four processes: meditation, introspection, sublimation and perfection are necessary.

By maintenance of proper circulation of blood, air, heat and life-force, the harmony between body and soul is achieved. The harmony between soul and mind can be achieved by practice of meditation, introspection and sublimation. Suppose the soul is functioning at a certain vibration required for the construction or maintenance of the body, if at that time mind functions in a different way, it causes sudden exhaustion or aggravation to the life-force due to the resulting change in vibration. Therefore, if there is no harmony between mind and soul, the body function and the mental function will be disturbed. Therefore, everyday you have to work for harmony between soul and mind. For this meditation, introspection sublimation and perfection will be very helpful.

Then harmony comes in the family and the society. Here, man has five kinds of duties.

He has to maintain and develop himself, maintain his personality in good condition.

He has to maintain harmony with friends.

He has to maintain harmony with relatives.

He has to maintain harmony with society.

He has to maintain harmony in the work.

So everyone has duty in five ways. Therefore, no action or deed should give conflicting result to the other four. Suppose one wants to maintain himself, but it should not be at the cost of the other four. However, sometimes it may be inevitable to involve in such actions but it should not be indulged always. Similarly, in fulfilling his duties to the family one should not cause hardship to the society or by spoiling himself. When one works only for his family or society or the world without taking care of the maintenance of his health he is prone to get sick. With that he will not be able to perform his duties to the family, society or the world. On the other hand, he becomes a burden to the society. So it is a double loss. Therefore, maintenance of one's health is not selfishness. It is also one of the duties to the society. In such a way, one has to understand his responsibility in performing his duty.

In this regard, I will tell about one incident in Madras. One sister was very much agitated and came to me and said. "Swamiji I am very much suffering with family troubles and I am thinking of leaving the house and going to some other place to be free". I asked her where she wanted to go. She said "I want to go to an Ashramam and serve God and be free from all troubles." I enquired what she wants to serve there. She replied "I want to serve the society instead of the limited family". The conversation went on like this. "All right how many children do you have?

“I am having five daughters and two sons.”

“What are they doing?”

"One is an MSc and is working as a music teacher in the University of Madras, another daughter is teaching psychology in another college and so on." Sister you have your children in such a way so that they are helping the society in one way or the other and are very much useful to the society. So, you are serving the society indirectly. You are great here as you have developed your children to be useful to the society. When you are work for your daughters and sons, who, in return, are working for the society. Without you their services would be hampered or restricted. So you are the cause for their service to the society. Now you can understand our rule in the service to the society. If you go from here to any Ashram you have to take a room and sweep it. If you do not do it may not give you food, Further you will have to become a member of a new family. Where you are now, you are great, simply because you want a change, you are all these without knowing that.

"Swamiji you have opened my eyes. I am very much satisfied”, saying this she prostrated before me and took blessings before she left.

So only understanding is necessary as to where we are, what we are and what we are doing to get satisfaction. Around us, there are thousands of provisions and happiness. Only one has to get satisfaction in doing his duties. Whatever duty you do, whatever deeds you do, the results will go to the society. One has to ensure that the result is good; result is harmonious and beneficial to one and all in the society. Even if it is also beneficial to yourself it is also service to the society because you are helping one member in the society and through that member you are able to do service to the society continuously. So whatever way you live, every work every action has to be helpful to one and all in the society. In such a way, we have to maintain our existence and be useful. That is enough. If you do not understand, you think that you are only working for money or working for some cause.