The whole evolution is one in its essence.  The succession is the same, the sequences identical.  Whether you are thinking of the unfolding of consciousness in the universe, or in the human race, or in the individual, you can study the laws of the whole, and in Yoga you learn to apply those same laws to your own consciousness rationally and definitely.  All the laws are one, however different in their stage of manifestation.

If you look at Yoga in this light, then this Yoga, which seemed so alien and so far off, will begin to wear a familiar face, and come to you in a garb not wholly strange.  As you study the unfolding of consciousness, and the corresponding evolution of form, it will not seem so strange that from man you should pass on to superman, transcending the barrier of humanity, and finding yourself in the region where divinity becomes more manifest.

The Oneness of the Self

The Self in you is the same as the Self Universal.  Whatever powers are manifested throughout the world, those powers exist in germ, in latency, in you.  He, the Supreme, does not evolve.  In Him there are no additions or subtractions.  His portions, the Jivatmas, are as Himself, and they only unfold their powers in matter as conditions around them draw those powers forth.  If you realize the unity of the Self amid the diversities of the Not-Self, then Yoga will not seem an impossible thing to you.

The Quickening of the Process of Self-unfoldment

Educated and thoughtful men and women you already are; already you have climbed up that long ladder which separates the present outer form of the Deity in you from His form in the dust.  The manifest Deity sleeps in the mineral and the stone.  He becomes more and more unfolded in vegetables and animals, and lastly in man He has reached what appears as His culmination to ordinary men.  Having done so much, shall you not do more ?  With the consciousness so far unfolded, does it seem impossible that it should unfold in the future into the Divine?

As you realize that the laws of the evolution of form and of the unfolding of consciousness in the universe and man are the same, and that it is through these laws that the yogi brings out his hidden powers, then you will understand also that it is not necessary to go into the mountain or into the desert, to hide yourself in a cave or a forest, in order that the union with the Self may be obtainedÄHe who is within you and without you.  Sometimes for a special purpose seclusion may be useful.  It may be well at times to retire temporarily from the busy haunts of men.  But in the universe planned by Isvara, in order that the powers of the Self may be brought outÄthere is your best field for Yoga, planned with Divine wisdom and sagacity.  The world is meant for the unfolding of the Self:  why should you then seek to run away from it?  Look at Shri Krishna Himself in