When we look at the Yoga Chakra, we see some as a practice – hatha yoga, raja yoga and kriya yoga; and we see some as an expression – karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga. What about kindness. First comes manahprasad, happiness. If you are not happy, you cannot be kind. An unhappy person is never kind. They do not know what kindness is. Kindness is an expression of happiness. The more happy you are, the more kind you become. Look at it from the other perspective. Happiness is your experience. To experience happiness, you have to work with your mind. You are developing happiness through the principles and the practices of raja yoga. The discovery of happiness is the practice of raja yoga. Just as you try to experience peace in meditation and say, ‘This is raja yoga,’ in the same manner you experience happiness in meditation and that is raja yoga. After raja yoga, when your mind is happier, expression happens. Happiness makes you reach out to other people with kindness. That connection, the bond that we create of kindness is bhakti yoga, it is not raja yoga. Kindness is bhakti yoga. It is the expressive aspect of happiness. Happiness plus kindness equals L-O-V-E.
Manahprasad plus udaarata, happiness plus kindness, equals love. If you see enlightened beings and the kindness which we see in Swami Satyanandaji’s life through giving, it is nothing but an expression of love. What he speaks of is atmabhava, which is nothing but the fulfilment or the culmination of happiness, kindness and love. The parameter and measure of spiritual life is not how good you are at meditating or having the experience, but how kind you are in your real life. You will see that kindness in the life of every saint, whether it be Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Teresa of Avila, Mother Teresa of Kolkata, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Sivananda, a Sufi saint or a Buddhist monk. In the life of all spiritual beings, kindness is the trait that jumps out at everyone. It is the measure of spiritual life. Kindness is not only an act; it is also an awareness. Do not think of kindness from your perspective and understanding; slowly in the course of time, develop the awareness, the understanding and the perspective of the yogas in relation to kindness. Just as you have understood manahprasad in relation to yoga, you have to understand kindness in relation to yoga.
16 October 2023, Progressive Yoga Vidya Training, Ganga Darshan, Munger