Raja yoga. Direct experience

You’re touching the very heart of Rāja Yoga 🌿

In the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, Rāja Yoga is the “royal path” of meditation and self-mastery, culminating in direct experience (anubhava) rather than mere belief or intellectual understanding.

Direct Experience in Rāja Yoga

• Yoga is defined as: “Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ” (YS 1.2) – “Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.”
• When the mind is stilled, the yogin does not rely on scriptures or reasoning alone, but has pratyakṣa (direct perception) of reality.

This “yogic perception” is:

• Immediate and experiential – not mediated by concepts, language, or reasoning.
• Transformative – the yogin directly sees the difference between puruṣa (pure consciousness) and prakṛti (matter/nature).
• Liberating – it dissolves ignorance (avidyā) and brings kaivalya (liberation, absolute freedom).

How It Is Attained (the Rāja Yoga path)

The eight limbs (aṣṭāṅga-yoga) prepare the mind for direct experience:

1. Yama – ethical disciplines.
2. Niyama – personal observances.
3. Āsana – posture.
4. Prāṇāyāma – breath control.
5. Pratyāhāra – withdrawal of senses.
6. Dhāraṇā – concentration.
7. Dhyāna – meditation.
8. Samādhi – meditative absorption.

At the level of samādhi, especially nirbīja samādhi (seedless absorption), the yogin has direct, non-conceptual experience of puruṣa.

Patañjali on Direct Experience

• YS 1.49: “Śruta-anumāna-prajñābhyām anya-viṣayā viśeṣārthatvāt”
  – The knowledge born of direct yogic experience (ṛtambharā prajñā) is different from knowledge gained by scripture (śruta) or inference (anumāna), because it apprehends reality as it is.
• This is essentially yogaja-pratyakṣa—direct perception through yoga.

✅ So, in Rāja Yoga, direct experience is the hallmark of true knowledge.

It is not belief, not intellectual deduction, not scriptural testimony, but direct vision of the Self and reality in samādhi.

Would you like me to show you how this idea of direct experience in Rāja Yoga parallels the Buddhist notion of yogaja-pratyakṣa you asked about earlier? They’re very close but differ in what exactly is “directly experienced.”