1-17Yogi
By Mahāperiyava
Translation from Tamil: V. Krishnaraj
யோகி : தெய்வத்தின் குரல் (முதல் பகுதி)
Yogi: Deivathin Kural (First Part)
http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part1kural17.htm
The one who does not let sorrow to touch him is a Yogi. The cause for sorrow is the impurity in the mind. When the impurities leave a person, the mind turns towards Paramātman. By good conduct and discipline, impurities in the mind can be removed. Before the Ātmā separates from the body-nest (physical death), all the impurities should be removed by spiritual education, practice, disciplined life… If victory is obtained by these means, in the end, tēka-viyōkam (Body-separation = death) will be the Yogam that guarantees inseparable bonding with Paramātman.

What are the signs of a Yogi? His mind in union with Paramātman will not think of entertaining other thoughts.
The mind should not run amok. Since the thoughts are in a standstill, all the mind-induced troubles will be lost forever. To attain that state, whom should we unite with? We should unite with the source (genitor) from which the mind was created. If the mind unites with the source, it will dissolve in it. Then the mind does not run amok. That itself is a state of freedom from problems.

River’s source is the ocean. The evaporated water and the rain clouds from the ocean take the form of a river in a distant land. The river meanders all over the place. Having run its course, it finally joins its source, the ocean. After that, does the river have an individual name or form? Is there an ultimate point of union of minds with the source, akin to rivers falling into the ocean? There is one. It is the state of Samadhi. When the Jnanis and Yogis dissolve their individual minds in Samadhi without extraneous conscious awareness, they merged with the source. Though they may appear to have given up the connection with the source other times, it is an inseparable union in truth. They continue to experience the merger. When they appear to us to have the external conscious awareness, they have no desire to acquire (and possess) this or that. If someone has entertained a faint thought of desire, he is no longer a Yogi. It means he did not unite with the Swamy.

We can establish the identity of a Yogi in other ways. If his Cittam stands steady with Paramātma, thereafter however big the sorrow is, the cittaṁ should not stagger, move, or cry. Unlike the steady state, if his Cittam shakes even minutely, it means he did not attain Paramātman.

Yogi may have many sorrows. They appear as sorrows to the world. But he does not experience the sorrow even a little bit. He looks like a dead tree. Not even that. Is it not a state of insentience? Yogi only remains in full conscious awareness. He is in constant ecstasy. Not desirous of this and that, Yogic state is simply everlasting ecstatic state.

In his natural self, Yogi is a font of mercy. He does not show anger or hatred towards anyone. He holds thoughts of not causing even a little injury to an animal. Whatever activities he does, he does not have the egoistic thought or feeling of ‘I am the benefactor.’ Without self-interest, his activities have Supreme Mercy in them. Though some deeds appear harsh, his inside entertains nothing but Supreme Mercy. In like manner, Mahāyōgi Parameśvaraṉ does his destruction (சம்ஹாரம் = Samhāram = death). To us it may appear cruel.

Every Jīva, embodied soul, makes sins. Siva performs Samhāram (= destruction) to give respite for a short duration from his Karma-gati (Karmic state) and lets his soul merge with him. It is like Siva giving us sleep, freedom from happiness and sorrow for the duration of deep sleep. After the body falls, Siva gives relief from difficulties. We go to sleep, wake up in the morning and engage in meritorious and demeritorious activities. When the present body is laid to rest and the soul undergoes expiation (பரிகாரம் = Parikāram), we ‘wake up’ in another body. This wandering of the soul again and again in birth and death is not to be had. When the present body is gone, there should not be another body in its wake. We should do things to forestall such an eventuality. Self-control, discipline, supreme compassion, Tapas (austerity), Yagna (oblation), and charity are essential to prevent rebirth. These qualities must be instilled from childhood. Such behavior will engender a jnani or Yogi. That one person towering over others as a Jnani or Yogi is the fruit of the creation of man.