Note 319 — Chapter XXI · THE PROCESS OF PRANAYAMA.

Yoga is compared to a sacrifice. In a mental Yajna i.e. Yoga one need not dedicate inferior articles to fire as oblations. Though the Yogin does not observe the practices of the external but inferior sacrifice he however acquires similar fruits. The Sruti says that if the Yogins wish to see the region of the dead their ancestral manes appear before them. When a Yogin attains to a consummate stage he sees unseen and unheard of objects. The ordinary persons, who celebrate sacrifices, are not entitled to know the Great Atman; they are allowed to know Isvara. Atman is the Real Absolute God and Isvara is the God endued with Maya or creative energy. In the inferior sacrifices there is the difference of fruits proportionate to the excess and absence of reverence but in the Atma-yajna i.e. Yoga there is no such thing for the common object of all is the attainment of salvation.