The name ‘Raja Yoga’ reveals that this particular school of classical yoga holds a superior place in yoga. The word Raja meaning king in Sanskrit, Raja Yoga connotes the royal path to self-realization. The Raja Yoga is concerned with the mind, on the purification and preparation of the mind so as to enable the mind to go beyond mind and have pure spiritual experiences. Spiritual experiences coming through the practice of Raja Yoga culminate in the mind dissolving in the Supreme Consciousness.
Although Raja Yoga is principally concerned with mind, it does lay some stress on the purification of the body so that it is quieted down to let the pure mind to emerge from the body consciousness.
The ordinary crude mind is restless and it hardly allows the ascent of consciousness. The object of Raja Yoga is to quiet it down, making it void of all thoughts so that it can receive the higher lights-the light of the Divine.
The Rishis of ancient India realised while seeking to open the closed doors of the mind that the physical mind is just a tiny part of the mind and through yoga, mind can be enabled to lose itself into something greater than mind. This is the essence of Raja Yoga. Through the practice of Raja Yoga, one can find the key to reach the inmost soul.
This is an inner adventure of consciousness and it finally leads to finding the Supreme Divine Energy that is existing somewhere deep in the body like a sleeping, coiled serpent. Raja Yoga affirms that this serpent can be awakened from sleep. Once awakened, it rises upwards, breaking free of the physical/ nervous consciousness, and brings about supernormal experiences which the normal mind can never have.
