e soul ceases to be united
with the mind and is dissociated from all qualities (gunas) so that the
shadow of the thinking principle no longer falls upon it. This isolation
is produced by performing certain exercises, physical as well as mental,
and, as a prelude to final and complete emancipation, superhuman powers
are acquired. These two ideas, the efficacy of physical discipline and
the acquisition of superhuman powers, have powerfully affected all
schools of religious thought in India, including Buddhism. They are not
peculiar to the Yoga, but still it is in the Yoga Sutras that they find
their most authoritative and methodical exposition.

The practice of Yoga has its roots in the fact that fasting and other
physical mortifications induce a mental state in which the subject
thinks that he has supernatural experiences[661]. Among many savage
tribes, especially in America, such fasts are practised by those who
desire communication with spirits. In the Yoga philosophy these ideas
appear in a refined form and offer many parallels to European mysticism.
The ultimate object is to dissociate the soul from its material
envelopes but in the means prescribed we can trace two orders of ideas.
One is to mortify the body and suppress not only appetite and passion
but also discursive thought: the other is to keep the body in perfect
health and ease, so that the intelligence and ultimately the soul may be
untroubled by physical influences. These two ideas are less incongruous
than they seem. Many examples show that extreme forms of asceticism are
not unhealthy but rather conducive to long life and the Yoga in
endeavouring to secure physical well-being does not aim at pleasure but
at such a purification of the physical part of man that it shall be the
obedient and unnoticed servant of the other parts. The branch of the
system which deals with method and discipline is called Kriya-yoga and
in later works we also find the expression Hatha-yoga, which is
specially used to designate mechanical means (such as postures,
purification, etc.) prescribed for the attainment of various mental
states. In contrast to it is Raja-yoga, which signifies ecstasy and the
method of obtaining it by mental processes. The immediate object of the
Kriya-yoga is to destroy the five evils[662], namely ignorance, egoism,
desire, aversion and love of life: it consists of asceticism,
recitations and resignation to God, explained as meaning that the
devotee fasts