“An emotion is a combination of thought and desire. Every idea is charged with emotion. Emotions are desires which are penetrated by the thought element. In other words, emotion is desire mingled with thought. The vibrations of emotions will arouse corresponding excitement in purely mental matter and all the man’s thoughts will be disturbed and distorted.

There is emotion-desire. There is emotion-feeling also. If the desire element is predominant, it is emotion-desire. If the pleasure element is predominant, it is emotion-feeling.

Raga and Dvesha (love and hatred) are the two important emotions of the mind and all the different emotions can be classified under these two headings. Wonder is a compound emotion. It is admiration and fear combined. Reverence is a compound emotion. It is awe and respect combined. Amarsha is a compound emotion. It is anger and jealousy combined. As soon as the man is pulled down to a lower level, the anger of the inferior man who was jealous vanishes.

Pleasure is a particular kind of emotion in the mind. The mind expands during pleasure. Coolness prevails in the mind. What takes place of the mind when pleasure feeling arises is not exactly understood by the western psychologists. It is incapable of being understood also by ordinary persons. Only a Yogi or a Jnani knows this psychic phenomenon. During pain, the mind contracts. Considerable heat is produced in the mind.

Many of the physical desires and emotions in man are akin to those of the lower animals. Anger and sex-impulse in man are the brutal instincts. In the undeveloped man, these desires and emotions which belong to the lower nature (Aparaprakriti) predominate and overpower the higher nature (Paraprakriti).

It is a symptom of weakness to have emotions in the mind. They should be controlled by the intellect and the will.”