The Yoga philosophy establishes that spiritual enquiry is continuous with science and art, when the place of each is understood. To develop a taste for truth and beauty as they are expressed in true science and art, and a distaste for their opposites, is a powerful means of refining, purifying and enlarging the mind. And to study, or at least to take an appreciative interest in aesthetics and natural history, is a precious source of legitimate pleasure and relaxation for the nervous system during the yogic struggle. The supremely rational outlook of the philosophy on which Yoga is based, and the continuity of metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics and science, which it establishes, gives Adhyatma Yoga a particular relevance to the problems of the modern world. Hints about it are found in the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Vasishtha.
Some modern books advertise the culture of study, but such books are mostly superficial.
It is better to go to the cultivation of the highest and the noblest and not to pay any attention to what is third-rate in life. This is the true Yoga, and this is rooted in our daily discipline. 1999 Shanti Sadan. All rights reserved.