Its techniques are not meant only
for certain types and temperaments, such as those few who incline
toward the monastic life; yoga requires no formal allegiance.
Because the yogic science satisfies a universal need, it has a
natural universal applicability.
A true yogi may remain dutifully in the world; there he is like
butter on water, and not like the easily-diluted milk of unchurned
and undisciplined humanity. To fulfill one's earthly responsibilities
is indeed the higher path, provided the yogi, maintaining a mental
uninvolvement with egotistical desires, plays his part as a willing
instrument of God.
There are a number of great souls, living in American or European
or other non-Hindu bodies today who, though they may never have
heard the words YOGI and SWAMI, are yet true exemplars of those
terms. Through their disinterested service to mankind, or through
their mastery over passions and thoughts, or through their single
hearted love of God, or through their great powers of concentration,
they are, in a sense, yogis; they have set themselves the goal of
yoga-self-control. These men could rise to even greater heights if
they were taught the definite science of yoga, which makes possible
a more conscious direction of one's mind and life.
Yoga has been superficially misunderstood by certain Western
writers, but its critics have never been its practitioners. Among
many thoughtful tributes to yoga may be mentioned one by Dr.
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