Page 252 - Complete Works of Dr. KCV Volume 1

beyond all objectifications and symbolisations inherent in any attempt to seize the object or the idea or object-idea subjectively. One passes beyond in, and during, this supreme tension of the consciousness, which would make all experiences basically conscious and will not permit any experience to sink into unconsciousness. The consciousness, so trained, is expected to make transcendence into superconsciousness - some have claimed this release from egoistic delimitation of consciousness in this higher consciousness which is utterly different from the unconscious and sub-conscious.
Gurdjieff and Ouspensky have surely traversed this same path and seen that consciousness itself must undergo a radical change when it is restored to the Fourth Way - without being circumscribed by the paths already made by men of the first, second and third ways, namely the mechanical, the vital- emotional and the intellectual; the karma, bhakti and jnana; or the tamas, rajas, and sattva ways. Nor do they counsel the adoption of the physiological and biological-chemical ways of arousing forces inherent in the gross system. Hathayoga, and especially the kundalini practices, have proved difficult, and they considered that the kundalini produced more difficulties which acted as buffers preventing one's fullest awareness. It entangled man in imagination and fantasy, whether erotic or otherwise. The volume of literature in the tantras about this kundalini and its arising or uplifting, through mantra or tantra or yantra, is vast and cannot be dismissed lightly. However, the preoccupation with it has produced more deleterious consequences to health, even as the Vyayama utilisation of the asanas and pranayama has done. The tendency to mechanicalise all spiritual activity has produced deleterious effects and grossness. As it is said of Law, that the letter killeth the spirit, so too habit killeth subtleness and freedom.
The attempt to establish a correlation of the yogangas with the three attitudes of bhakti, karma and jnana has been quite fruitful. The great Ramanuja equated bhakti with the yogangas - yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and Samadhi. The several acts of worship were intended to illustrate the processes of yoga. The agama methods of puja had emphasized the importance of control of seat, breath and mind, as also the necessity of goal, direction, moral cleanliness and physical purity.