Can Yoga and Alchemy Meet?

When one is asked by a Syllabus Secretary to give a talk, the opening

gambit is nearly always What will your title be? I want to put it in my
syllabus. This simple query is designed to pin one down. Thatll fix
him, he cant back out if I get a title, the Secretary thinks. But if the
lecturer is wise and knows the ropes, he plays for time.
Ill let you know yes, as soon as possible.

Being the prospective lecturer I have time to think this over. It will
probably take several days while I get on with my normal work. After a
couple of weeks I decide that I had better do something about that
wretched lecture. My first thought is, Get away from the usual cliche
titles and try to find something startling and interesting. This is not so

easy, so I decide to discuss it with my wife. This I fancy is a good

move.
What are you reading about at the moment? she asks.
Alchemy, I reply.
Well how does that tie up with your reading on Theosophy?
What a question!
Yoga might be the nearest contact I suppose, but I really cant see it.
A long pause

Can yoga and alchemy meet? How would that do?

Yes, that has possibilities, so I reach for the phone and get on to the
Secretary.

Ive got a title for my talk. I hope youll like it.

A sigh of relief is heard at the other end of the line. Of course he likes
it. Hes got me hooked!
I hang up and sit back. What have I done? Committed myself either to
bluff it out or prove a case. Strangely I find this a refreshing and
exciting challenge.
And that was the beginning of a lecture I never gave because the date
was cancelled.

Yoga and Alchemy the East and the West well, most systems
have something in common, so out come my books and I set to work.
But before getting onto the subject matter I must make it clear that I
am not a practicing Yoga student, so I have taken what I have to say
from Swami Vivekanandas book Raja Yoga and The Yoga of Health,
Youth and Joy by Sir Paul Dukes, K.B.E.
Regarding Alchemy I must express my appreciation for the help I have
received from The Builders of the Adytum without whom I could not
have attempted this chapter. Let us begin with Yoga.

The approach to Divinity through study, learning, thought and

meditation. Jnana Yoga is generally agreed to be the most difficult of
all the paths, for it leads rapidly into a mass of paradoxes and
contradictions. Being the path demanding the highest flights of pure or
abstract thinking it makes a strong appeal to the intellectual student.
The second path, that of devotion, Bhakti Yoga is perhaps more
popular for it does not demand the same intellectual equipment as

Jnana. The approach is to God through worship, adoration and selfabnegation. The path of the visionary and the poet, of all great mystics
and saints.

The third path, that of Karma Yoga is the approach through work,
activity and enterprise. The way of the welfare worker, the mechanic,
the inventor or business man. It is the Yoga of a man of action inspired
by an ideal.
An important aspect of Karma Yoga is the economy of energy. It
strives always to obtain the maximum of result with the minimum of
effort. The principle of skill in action applies not only to large matters
of daily life, but to small details of thought and action too.

The aim of Hatha Yoga is to bring the function of our physical bodies
into harmony with the source of creation. Our physical and mental
faculties must be trained to function with perfect rhythm and harmony.
In physical terms perfection of health and physique is the aim, but
health of a super-nature is the ultimate goal.

Of the other divisions of this great subject, two of the more important
are Mantra Yoga and Laya Yoga. This is the science of sound and
vibration. It includes the study of chanting and incantations; the
repetition of sacred formulae and their effects on the emotions, mind
and body. Laya Yoga is the study of the subject of energy, particularly
in the human organism, and the mystery of the Life Force in all its
aspects.

These alone will not lead a man to develop his divinity. Along side
must come the practice of character building in every aspect of everyday living in thought, word and deed. Wisdom is learned from
experience gained by knowledge applied. One could enlarge on
these paths, but I propose to spend more time on Raja Yoga because
we have here a method of dealing with consciousness and
development of mind concentration.
What has Raja Yoga to offer? It proposes to put before humanity a
practical and scientifically worked out method of reaching truth. One
must, they say, proceed as in science by observing, from which
consciousness and principles are drawn.
Knowledge of the internal nature of man, the real world and of
thought can never be had until the power of observing the facts that
are awakened within ourselves.

Raja Yoga proclaims that there are in nature gross manifestations

and subtle manifestations. It proposes to give a means of observing
these internally. The instrument for perfecting this act is the mind.
Before one can anticipate personal experience intellectually,
acceptance must come from those who have trodden the Path before
us. And there are many to whom we can refer if we wish to do so.
One must have a basis on which to work and the intellectual reading
and study of men like Vivikananda is an excellent beginning. Ones
own confirmation follows by practice. What then is their basic
philosophy of the Universe?

1 The Universe is composed of an omnipresent, all-pervading,

ineffable, nameless existence. The One Life in limitless varieties of
forms and formlessness, everything that exists.
2 Nature is governed by three forces or distinguished by three
qualities known as Three Gunas:
Raja- a positive quality that induces activity.
Tamas- a negative quality that shuns activity, including inertia.
Sattva- the equalising quality that balances the other two; these
represent poise, self-control and moderation.

3 It also has five classes of expression known as Tatt-vas. These are

five classes of energies behind our five senses. Each has its own
colour and shape. Rama Prasad gives a very full description in
Natures Finer Forces. The five are:
Tattva

subtle
principle

Akasha hearing
Vayu
Tejas
Apas

touch
sight

colour
black/purpl
e
blue
red
silver

shape
ovoid

spherical
triangular
semitaste
lunar
Prithivi smell
yellow
cubical
Expressions can, of course, be combinations of any two or more. How
then does one, with this fundamental knowledge, begin? The answer
is by considering the eight Yogi Steps. These are:
1. Yama Non-killing; non-coveteousness; truthfulness.
2. Niyama Cleanliness; Contentment; Regular Observations; Austerity;
Self-surrender to God. These are the basic moral techniques without
which no practice of Yoga will succeed.
3. Asana Posture. A series of exercises mental and physical. Through
this much activity goes on in the body. Nerve currents have to be
given a new channel. The whole constitution will be remodelled and
the main activity will lie along the spinal column.
4. Pranayama Control of breathing. This includes amongst other
things, nostril breathing.
5. Pratyahara Restriction of the senses. Checking the outgoing
powers of the mind and freeing it from the thraldom of the senses.
6. Daharna Concentration of motion. A fluid state of heightened
attentiveness that is highly focussed.

7. Meditation This leads from the former.

8. Super-Conscious Awareness.