Yoga is not a path of renunciation. It is also not a path of detachment from the activities of life. The purpose of tantra and yoga is to expand the consciousness for the liberation of shakti, energy, for creative intelligence.
Yoga and tantra aim at realization of inner consciousness. Therefore, if such symptoms take place proper guidance must be sought from a master. In the same way, it is not correct that in spiritual advancement the mantra and meditational techniques be changed. The mantra should remain the same. The meditation technique has to remain the same. As your consciousness becomes more subtle, the quality of the mantra undergoes a state of transformation. There is no structural change.
This subject has been discussed in one of the important texts, the Bhagavad Gita. It is a dialogue between Krishna, the master, and Arjuna, the disciple. The problems of Arjuna are the same. He does not see any good in the activities of the war. He wants to renounce them. He is asking Krishna why he is compelled to work, because when you transcend consciousness you should also transcend the activities. Throughout the Gita, this subject has been discussed through analysis. Ultimately, a conclusion is drawn.
The consciousness must become yogic consciousness.
The life must become dynamic. With a dynamic mind and transformed consciousness, if you live in the world, you attain perfection. Therefore, when one is practising yoga, there is a moment, there are times when you get a sort of detachment. This is an outcome of the totality of hate in man. This is a consequence of totality of frustrations in man. Those who have suffered frustrations and hatred in the mind, those who have desires and complaints within the consciousness, when they practise yoga, they come to a point of animity. To them, everything is considered worldly. Therefore, before one practises yoga, one must practise tantra.
Through tantra you open the gate. Through tantra you overcome frustrations. With no frustrations and hatred, meditation brings results full of joy and life. I belong to this area of thinking. If you water the plant, it must bloom into a flower. If you water the plant and it does not bloom, there is something wrong. The ultimate consequence of yoga is an expression of intelligence and creativity.
21 May 1980, Barcelona, Spain