Page 405 - Complete Works of Dr. KCV Volume 1

than if one considered God as the creator, sustainer and destroyer etc. of the Universe as the Vedanta says. For the Agama as for Yoga, the Guru is absolutely necessary, more so as it involves kriya (practical training) which is not fulfilled fully by mere discussion (mere bodha).
Further, once the Guru is chosen, one has to follow his directions, and this can only be known when the Guru works on the individual, through the power of initiation or infilling him with the divine force (cit-sakti or dhi or prana), which alone makes everything live, move and have being, and restores physical, psychological and spiritual growth and evolution. This has been one thing that has been lacking in all the forms of yoga propounded. The Yoga-sutras seem to be silent on this most important factor. Indeed it is because the yoga has been left to be taught by those who could not or did not have the power or ability or sanction and permission of the Divine to do it or has been left to the individual's own efforts or self- effort, it has not been able to fulfil even the initial attainment of the samadhi or dhyana (meditation itself). Concentration, of course, had become a strenuous nerve racking task. So, Master counsels that the first thing in Yoga is to get the process started with being connected with the Divine by the introduction into the heart of the divine-thought-breath, even like an offering into the fire of aspiration of the heart. This principle has been called by him Pranahuti (breath or life offering). This means that the Yoga starts with Yoga and culminates in the realisation of the Ultimate Reality Consciousness with the help of the same. Thus Guru comes early and stays till the final step is attained. By God force God union is attained or simply God is the means (upaya); sadhaka, sadhana and siddhi are all God in the form of the Guru. The Yoga-sutras hardly reveal this role except under the niyama as Isvara-pranidhana and the nature of the Isvara. Of course, if we wish to see more, the name Patanjali, one whose anjali is to surrender, is to fall down, at the feet of the Isvara: that is his Mudra-nama.
The Agamas have insisted upon this aspect of the Guru and the Kriya and no wonder the Samkhya was also known as an Agama-sastra.
The third step on this path of Rajayoga is to gain the transmission of the Divine thought-force or prana (pranasya pranah of the Upanishad) into the heart where the meditation should be directed. In Yogas many persons