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diff --git a/4278-h/4278-h.htm b/4278-h/4278-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a95b46 --- /dev/null +++ b/4278-h/4278-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3479 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>An Introduction to Yoga | Project Gutenberg</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 4278 ***</div> + +<h1>An Introduction to Yoga</h1> + +<p class="center"> +FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE<br/> +32<small>ND</small> ANNIVERSARY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,<br/> +HELD AT BENARES, ON DEC. 27<small>TH</small>, 28<small>TH</small>, 29<small>TH</small>,<br/> +30<small>TH</small>, 1907.<br/><br/> +</p> + +<h2 class="no-break"><small>BY</small><br/> +ANNIE BESANT,<br/> +<small><i>President of the Theosophical Society</i></small>.</h2> + + +<p class="center"> +<br/><br/><br/><br/> +Theosophical Publishing Society,<br/> +Benares City; and London, 161, New Bond Street,<br/> +<i>Theosophist</i> Office, Adyar, Madras, S.<br/> +1908. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI"><b>Lecture I. The Nature of Yoga</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI01">1. The Meaning of the Universe</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI02">2. The Unfolding of Consciousness</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI03">3. The Oneness of the Self</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI04">4. The Quickening of the Process of Self-Unfoldment</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI05">5. Yoga is a Science</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI06">6. Man a Duality</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI07">7. States of Mind</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI08">8. Samadhi</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI09">9. The Literature of Yoga</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI10">10. Some Definitions</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI11">11. God Without and God Within</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI12">12. Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI13">13. Mind</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI14">14. Stages of Mind</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI15">15. Inward and Outward-turned Consciousness</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapI16">16. The Cloud</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapII"><b>Lecture II. Schools of Thought</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapII01">1. Its Relation to Indian Philosophies</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapII02">2. Mind</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapII03">3. The Mental Body</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapII04">4. Mind and Self</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIII"><b>Lecture III. Yoga as Science</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIII01">1. Methods of Yoga</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIII02">2. To the Self by the Self</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIII03">3. To the Self through the Not-Self</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIII04">4. Yoga and Morality</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIII05">5. Composition of States of the Mind</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIII06">6. Pleasure and Pain</a><br/><br/></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV"><b>Lecture IV. Yoga as Practice</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV01">1. Inhibition of States of Mind</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV02">2. Meditation with and without Seed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV03">3. The Use of Mantras</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV04">4. Attention</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV05">5. Obstacles to Yoga</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV06">6. Capacities for Yoga</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV07">7. Forthgoing and Returning</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV08">8. Purification of Bodies</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV09">9. Dwellers on the Threshold</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV10">10. Preparation for Yoga</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chapIV11">11. The End</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Foreword</h2> + +<p> +These lectures are intended to give an outline of Yoga, in order to prepare the +student to take up, for practical purposes, the <i>Sūṭras of Paṭañjali</i>, the +chief treatise on Yoga. I have on hand, with my friend Bhagavān Ḍās as +collaborateur, a translation of these Sūṭras, with Vyāsa’s commentary, and a +further commentary and elucidation written in the light of Theosophy. To +prepare the student for the mastering of that more difficult task, these +lectures were designed; hence the many references to Paṭañjali. They may, +however, also serve to give to the ordinary lay reader some idea of the Science +of sciences, and perhaps to allure a few towards its study. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +A<small>NNIE</small> B<small>ESANT</small>. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chapI"></a>Lecture I<br/> +THE NATURE OF YOGA</h2> + +<p> +Brothers: +</p> + +<p> +In this first discourse we shall concern ourselves with the gaining of a +general idea of the subject of Yoga, seeking its place in nature, its own +character, its object in human evolution. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI01"></a>The Meaning of the Universe</h2> + +<p> +Let us, first of all, ask ourselves, looking at the world around us, what it is +that the history of the world signifies. When we read history, what does the +history tell us? It seems to be a moving panorama of people and events, but it +is really only a dance of shadows; the people are shadows, not realities, the +kings and statesmen, the ministers and armies; and the events—the battles and +revolutions, the rises and falls of states—are the most shadowlike dance of +all. Even if the historian tries to go deeper, if he deals with economic +conditions, with social organisations, with the study of the tendencies of the +currents of thought, even then he is in the midst of shadows, the illusory +shadows cast by unseen realities. This world is full of forms that are +illusory, and the values are all wrong, the proportions are out of focus. The +things which a man of the world thinks valuable, a spiritual man must cast +aside as worthless. The diamonds of the world, with their glare and glitter in +the rays of the outside sun, are mere fragments of broken glass to the man of +knowledge. The crown of the king, the sceptre of the emperor, the triumph of +earthly power, are less than nothing to the man who has had one glimpse of the +majesty of the Self. What is, then, real? What is truly valuable? Our answer +will be very different from the answer given by the man of the world. +</p> + +<p> +“The universe exists for the sake of the Self.” Not for what the outer world +can give, not for control over the objects of desire, not for the sake even of +beauty or pleasure, does the Great Architect plan and build His worlds. He has +filled them with objects, beautiful and pleasure-giving. The great arch of the +sky above, the mountains with snow-clad peaks, the valleys soft with verdure +and fragrant with blossoms, the oceans with their vast depths, their surface +now calm as a lake, now tossing in fury—they all exist, not for the objects +themselves, but for their value to the Self. Not for themselves because they +are anything in themselves but that the purpose of the Self may be served, and +His manifestations made possible. +</p> + +<p> +The world, with all its beauty, its happiness and suffering, its joys and +pains, is planned with the utmost ingenuity, in order that the powers of the +Self may be shown forth in manifestation. From the fire-mist to the LOGOS, all +exist for the sake of the Self. The lowest grain of dust, the mightiest deva in +his heavenly regions, the plant that grows out of sight in the nook of a +mountain, the star that shines aloft over us-all these exist in order that the +fragments of the one Self, embodied in countless forms, may realize their own +identity, and manifest the powers of the Self through the matter that envelops +them. +</p> + +<p> +There is but one Self in the lowliest dust and the loftiest deva. “Mamamsaha,” +“My portion,” “a portion of My Self,” says Sri Krishna, are all these Jivatmas, +all these living spirits. For them the universe exists; for them the sun +shines, and the waves roll, and the winds blow, and the rain falls, that the +Self may know Himself as manifested in matter, as embodied in the universe. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI02"></a>The Unfolding of Consciousness</h2> + +<p> +One of those pregnant and significant ideas which Theosophy scatters so +lavishly around is this—that the same scale is repeated over and over again, +the same succession of events in larger or smaller cycles. If you understand +one cycle, you understand the whole. The same laws by which a solar system is +builded go to the building up of the system of man. The laws by which the Self +unfolds his powers in the universe, from the fire-mist up to the LOGOS, are the +same laws of consciousness which repeat themselves in the universe of man. If +you understand them in the one, you can equally understand them in the other. +Grasp them in the small, and the large is revealed to you. Grasp them in the +large, and the small becomes intelligible to you. +</p> + +<p> +The great unfolding from the stone to the God goes on through millions of +years, through aeons of time. But the long unfolding that takes place in the +universe, takes place in a shorter time-cycle within the limit of humanity, and +this in a cycle so brief that it seems as nothing beside the longer one. Within +a still briefer cycle a similar unfolding takes place in the +individual—rapidly, swiftly, with all the force of its past behind it. These +forces that manifest and unveil themselves in evolution are cumulative in their +power. Embodied in the stone, in the mineral world, they grow and put out a +little more of strength, and in the mineral world accomplish their unfolding. +Then they become too strong for the mineral, and press on into the vegetable +world. There they unfold more and more of their divinity, until they become too +mighty for the vegetable, and become animal. +</p> + +<p> +Expanding within and gaining experiences from the animal, they again overflow +the limits of the animal, and appear as the human. In the human being they +still grow and accumulate with ever-increasing force, and exert greater +pressure against the barrier; and then out of the human, they press into the +super-human. This last process of evolution is called “Yoga.” +</p> + +<p> +Coming to the individual, the man of our own globe has behind him his long +evolution in other chains than ours—this same evolution through mineral to +vegetable, through vegetable to animal, through animal to man, and then from +our last dwelling-place in the lunar orb on to this terrene globe that we call +the earth. Our evolution here has all the force of the last evolution in it, +and hence, when we come to this shortest cycle of evolution which is called +Yoga, the man has behind him the whole of the forces accumulated in his human +evolution, and it is the accumulation of these forces which enables him to make +the passage so rapidly. We must connect our Yoga with the evolution of +consciousness everywhere, else we shall not understand it at all; for the laws +of evolution of consciousness in a universe are exactly the same as the laws of +Yoga, and the principles whereby consciousness unfolds itself in the great +evolution of humanity are the same principles that we take in Yoga and +deliberately apply to the more rapid unfolding of our own consciousness. So +that Yoga, when it is definitely begun, is not a new thing, as some people +imagine. +</p> + +<p> +The whole evolution is one in its essence. The succession is the same, the +sequences identical. Whether you are thinking of the unfolding of consciousness +in the universe, or in the human race, or in the individual, you can study the +laws of the whole, and in Yoga you learn to apply those same laws to your own +consciousness rationally and definitely. All the laws are one, however +different in their stage of manifestation. +</p> + +<p> +If you look at Yoga in this light, then this Yoga, which seemed so alien and so +far off, will begin to wear a familiar face, and come to you in a garb not +wholly strange. As you study the unfolding of consciousness, and the +corresponding evolution of form, it will not seem so strange that from man you +should pass on to superman, transcending the barrier of humanity, and finding +yourself in the region where divinity becomes more manifest. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI03"></a>The Oneness of the Self</h2> + +<p> +The Self in you is the same as the Self Universal. Whatever powers are +manifested throughout the world, those powers exist in germ, in latency, in +you. He, the Supreme, does not evolve. In Him there are no additions or +subtractions. His portions, the Jivatmas, are as Himself, and they only unfold +their powers in matter as conditions around them draw those powers forth. If +you realize the unity of the Self amid the diversities of the Not-Self, then +Yoga will not seem an impossible thing to you. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI04"></a>The Quickening of the Process of Self-unfoldment</h2> + +<p> +Educated and thoughtful men and women you already are; already you have climbed +up that long ladder which separates the present outer form of the Deity in you +from His form in the dust. The manifest Deity sleeps in the mineral and the +stone. He becomes more and more unfolded in vegetables and animals, and lastly +in man He has reached what appears as His culmination to ordinary men. Having +done so much, shall you not do more ? With the consciousness so far unfolded, +does it seem impossible that it should unfold in the future into the Divine? +</p> + +<p> +As you realize that the laws of the evolution of form and of the unfolding of +consciousness in the universe and man are the same, and that it is through +these laws that the yogi brings out his hidden powers, then you will understand +also that it is not necessary to go into the mountain or into the desert, to +hide yourself in a cave or a forest, in order that the union with the Self may +be obtained—He who is within you and without you. Sometimes for a special +purpose seclusion may be useful. It may be well at times to retire temporarily +from the busy haunts of men. But in the universe planned by Isvara, in order +that the powers of the Self may be brought out—there is your best field for +Yoga, planned with Divine wisdom and sagacity. The world is meant for the +unfolding of the Self: why should you then seek to run away from it? Look at +Shri Krishna Himself in that great Upanishad of yoga, the Bhagavad-Gita. He +spoke it out on a battle-field, and not on a mountain peak. He spoke it to a +Kshattriya ready to fight, and not to a Brahmana quietly retired from the +world. The Kurukshetra of the world is the field of Yoga. They who cannot face +the world have not the strength to face the difficulties of Yoga practice. If +the outer world out-wearies your powers, how do you expect to conquer the +difficulties of the inner life? If you cannot climb over the little troubles of +the world, how can you hope to climb over the difficulties that a yogi has to +scale? Those men blunder, who think that running away from the world is the +road to victory, and that peace can be found only in certain localities. +</p> + +<p> +As a matter of fact, you have practised Yoga unconsciously in the past, even +before your self- consciousness had separated itself, was aware of itself. Sand +knew itself to be different, in temporary matter at least, from all the others +that surround it. And that is the first idea that you should take up and hold +firmly: Yoga is only a quickened process of the ordinary unfolding of +consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +Yoga may then be defined as the “rational application of the laws of the +unfolding of consciousness in an individual case”. That is what is meant by the +methods of Yoga. You study the laws’ of the unfolding of consciousness in the +universe, you then apply them to a special case—and that case is your own. You +cannot apply them to another. They must be self-applied. That is the definite +principle to grasp. So we must add one more word to our definition: “Yoga is +the rational application of the laws of the unfolding of consciousness, +self-applied in an individual case.” +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI05"></a>Yoga Is a Science</h2> + +<p> +Next, Yoga is a science. That is the second thing to grasp. Yoga is a science, +and not a vague, dreamy drifting or imagining. It is an applied science, a +systematized collection of laws applied to bring about a definite end. It takes +up the laws of psychology, applicable to the unfolding of the whole +consciousness of man on every plane, in every world, and applies those +rationally in a particular case. This rational application of the laws of +unfolding consciousness acts exactly on the same principles that you see +applied around you every day in other departments of science. +</p> + +<p> +You know, by looking at the world around you, how enormously the intelligence +of man, co-operating with nature, may quicken “natural” processes, and the +working of intelligence is as “natural” as anything else. We make this +distinction, and practically it is a real one, between “rational” and “natural” +growth, because human intelligence can guide the working of natural laws; and +when we come to deal with Yoga, we are in the same department of applied +science as, let us say, is the scientific farmer or gardener, when he applies +the natural laws of selection to breeding. The farmer or gardener cannot +transcend the laws of nature, nor can he work against them. He has no other +laws of nature to work with save universal laws by which nature is evolving +forms around us, and yet he does in a few years what nature takes, perhaps, +hundreds of thousands of years to do. And how? By applying human intelligence +to choose the laws that serve him and to neutralize the laws that hinder. He +brings the divine intelligence in man to utilise the divine powers in nature +that are working for general rather than for particular ends. +</p> + +<p> +Take the breeder of pigeons. Out of the blue rock pigeon he develops the pouter +or the fan-tail; he chooses out, generation after generation, the forms that +show most strongly the peculiarity that he wishes to develop. He mates such +birds together, takes every favouring circumstance into consideration and +selects again and again, and so on and on, till the peculiarity that he wants +to establish has become a well-marked feature. Remove his controlling +intelligence, leave the birds to themselves, and they revert to the ancestral +type. +</p> + +<p> +Or take the case of the gardener. Out of the wild rose of the hedge has been +evolved every rose of the garden. Many-petalled roses are but the result of the +scientific culture of the five-petalled rose of the hedgerow, the wild product +of nature. A gardener who chooses the pollen from one plant and places it on +the carpers of another is simply doing deliberately what is done every day by +the bee and the fly. But he chooses his plants, and he chooses those that have +the qualities he wants intensified, and from those again he chooses those that +show the desired qualities still more clearly, until he has produced a flower +so different from the original stock that only by tracing it back can you tell +the stock whence it sprang. +</p> + +<p> +So is it in the application of the laws of psychology that we call Yoga. +Systematized knowledge of the unfolding of consciousness applied to the +individualized Self, that is Yoga. As I have just said, it is by the world that +consciousness has been unfolded, and the world is admirably planned by the +LOGOS for this unfolding of consciousness; hence the would-be yogi, choosing +out his objects and applying his laws, finds in the world exactly the things he +wants to make his practice of Yoga real, a vital thing, a quickening process +for the knowledge of the Self. There are many laws. You can choose those which +you require, you can evade those you do not require, you can utilize those you +need, and thus you can bring about the result that nature, without that +application of human intelligence, cannot so swiftly effect. +</p> + +<p> +Take it, then, that Yoga is within your reach, with your powers, and that even +some of the lower practices of Yoga, some of the simpler applications of the +laws of the unfolding of consciousness to yourself, will benefit you in this +world as well as in all others. For you are really merely quickening your +growth, your unfolding, taking advantage of the powers nature puts within your +hands, and deliberately eliminating the conditions which would not help you in +your work, but rather hinder your march forward. If you see it in that light, +it seems to me that Yoga will be to you a far more real, practical thing, than +it is when you merely read some fragments about it taken from Sanskrit books, +and often mistranslated into English, and you will begin to feel that to be a +yogi is not necessarily a thing for a life far off, an incarnation far removed +from the present one. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI06"></a>Man a Duality</h2> + +<p> +Some of the terms used in Yoga are necessarily to be known. For Yoga takes man +for a special purpose and studies him for a special end and, therefore, only +troubles itself about two great facts regarding man, mind and body. First, he +is a unit, a unit of consciousness. That is a point to be definitely grasped. +There is only one of him in each set of envelopes, and sometimes the +Theosophist has to revise his ideas about man when he begins this practical +line. Theosophy quite usefully and rightly, for the understanding of the human +constitution, divides man into many parts and pieces. We talk of physical, +astral, mental, etc. Or we talk about Sthula-sarira, Sukshma-sarira, +Karana-sarira, and so on. Sometimes we divide man into Anna-maya-kosa, +Prana-maya-kosa, Mano-maya-kosa, etc. We divide man into so many pieces in +order to study him thoroughly, that we can hardly find the man because of the +pieces. This is, so to say, for the study of human anatomy and physiology. +</p> + +<p> +But Yoga is practical and psychological. I am not complaining of the various +sub-divisions of other systems. They are necessary for the purpose of those +systems. But Yoga, for its practical purposes, considers man simply as a +duality—Mind and Body, a Unit of consciousness in a set of envelopes. This is +not the duality of the Self and the Not-Self. For in Yoga, “Self” includes +consciousness plus such matter as it cannot distinguish from itself, and +Not-Self is only the matter it can put aside. +</p> + +<p> +Man is not pure Self, pure consciousness, Samvid. That is an abstraction. In +the concrete universe there are always the Self and His sheaths, however +tenuous the latter may be, so that a unit of consciousness is inseparable from +matter, and a Jivatma, or Monad, is invariably consciousness plus matter. +</p> + +<p> +In order that this may come out clearly, two terms are used in Yoga as +constituting man—Prana and Pradhana, life-breath and matter. Prana is not only +the life-breath of the body, but the totality of the life forces of the +universe or, in other words, the life-side of the universe. +</p> + +<p> +“I am Prana,” says Indra. Prana here means the totality of the life-forces. +They are taken as consciousness, mind. Pradhana is the term used for matter. +Body, or the opposite of mind, means for the yogi in practice so much of the +appropriated matter of the outer world as he is able to put away from himself, +to distinguish from his own consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +This division is very significant and useful, if you can catch clearly hold of +the root idea. Of course, looking at the thing from beginning to end, you will +see Prana, the great Life, the great Self, always present in all, and you will +see the envelopes, the bodies, the sheaths, present at the different stages, +taking different forms; but from the standpoint of yogic practice, that is +called Prana, or Self, with which the man identifies himself for the time, +including every sheath of matter from which the man is unable to separate +himself in consciousness. That unit, to the yogi, is the Self, so that it is a +changing quantity. As he drops off one sheath after another and says: “That is +not myself,” he is coming nearer and nearer to his highest point, to +consciousness in a single film, in a single atom of matter, a Monad. For all +practical purposes of Yoga, the man, the working, conscious man, is so much of +him as he cannot separate from the matter enclosing him, or with which he is +connected. Only that is body which the man is able to put aside and say: “This +is not I, but mine.” We find we have a whole series of terms in Yoga which may +be repeated over and over again. All the states of mind exist on every plane, +says Vyasa, and this way of dealing with man enables the same significant +words, as we shall see in a moment, to be used over and over again, with an +ever subtler connotation; they all become relative, and are equally true at +each stage of evolution. +</p> + +<p> +Now it is quite clear that, so far as many of us are concerned, the physical +body is the only thing of which we can say: “It is not myself”; so that, in the +practice of Yoga at first, for you, all the words that would be used in it to +describe the states of consciousness, the states of mind, would deal with the +waking consciousness in the body as the lowest state, and, rising up from that, +all the words would be relative terms, implying a distinct and recognisable +state of the mind in relation to that which is the lowest. In order to know how +you shall begin to apply to yourselves the various terms used to describe the +states of mind, you must carefully analyse your own consciousness, and find out +how much of it is really consciousness, and how much is matter so closely +appropriated that you cannot separate it from yourself. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI07"></a>States of Mind</h2> + +<p> +Let us take it in detail. Four states of consciousness are spoken of amongst +us. “Waking” consciousness or Jagrat; the “dream” consciousness, or Svapna; the +“deep sleep” consciousness, or Sushupti; and the state beyond that, called +Turiya<a href="#fn1" name="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> How are those related to +the body? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn1"></a> <a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> +It is impossible to avoid the use of these technical terms, even in an +introduction to Yoga. There are no exact English equivalents, and they are no +more troublesome to learn than any other technical psychological terms. +</p> + +<p> +Jagrat is the ordinary waking consciousness, that you and I are using at the +present time. If our consciousness works in the subtle, or astral, body, and is +able to impress its experiences upon the brain, it is called Svapna, or in +English, dream consciousness; it is more vivid and real than the Jagrat state. +When working in the subtler form—the mental body—it is not able to impress its +experiences on the brain, it is called Sushupti or deep sleep consciousness; +then the mind is working on its own contents, not on outer objects. But if it +has so far separated itself from connection with the brain, that it cannot be +readily recalled by outer means, then it is, called Turiya, a lofty state of +trance. These four states, when correlated to the four planes, represent a much +unfolded consciousness. Jagrat is related to the physical; Svapna to the +astral; Sushupti to the mental; and Turiya to the buddhic. When passing from +one world to another, we should use these words to designate the consciousness +working under the conditions of each world. But the same words are repeated in +the books of Yoga with a different context. There the difficulty occurs, if we +have not learned their relative nature. Svapna is not the same for all, nor is +Sushupti the same for everyone. +</p> + +<p> +Above all, the word samadhi, to be explained in a moment, is used in different +ways and in different senses. How then are we to find our way in this apparent +tangle? By knowing the state which is the starting-point, and then the sequence +will always be the same. All of you are familiar with the waking consciousness +in the physical body. You can find four states even in that, if you analyse it, +and a similar sequence of the states of the mind is found on every plane. +</p> + +<p> +How to distinguish them, then ? Let us take the waking consciousness, and try +to see the four states in that. Suppose I take up a book and read it. I read +the words; my eyes arc related to the outer physical consciousness. That is the +Jagrat state. I go behind the words to the meaning of the words. I have passed +from the waking state of the physical plane into the Svapna state of waking +consciousness, that sees through the outer form, seeking the inner life. I pass +from this to the mind of the writer; here the mind touches the mind; it is the +waking consciousness in its Sushupti state. If I pass from this contact and +enter the very mind of the writer, and live in that man’s mind, then I have +reached the Turiya state of the waking consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +Take another illustration. I look at any watch; I am in Jagrat. I close my eyes +and make an image of the watch; I am in Svapna. I call together many ideas of +many watches, and reach the ideal watch; I am in Sushupti. I pass to the ideal +of time in the abstract; I am in Turiya. But all these are stages in the +physical plane consciousness; I have not left the body. +</p> + +<p> +In this way, you can make states of mind intelligible and real, instead of mere +words. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI08"></a>Samadhi</h2> + +<p> +Some other important words, which recur from time to time in the Yoga-sutras, +need to be understood, though there are no exact English equivalents. As they +must be used to avoid clumsy circumlocutions, it is necessary to explain them. +It is said: “Yoga is Samadhi.” Samadhi is a state in which the consciousness is +so dissociated from the body that the latter remains insensible. It is a state +of trance in which the mind is fully self-conscious, though the body is +insensitive, and from which the mind returns to the body with the experiences +it has had in the superphysical state, remembering them when again immersed in +the physical brain. Samadhi for any one person is relative to his waking +consciousness, but implies insensitiveness of the body. If an ordinary person +throws himself into trance and is active on the astral plane, his Samadhi is on +the astral. If his consciousness is functioning in the mental plane, Samadhi is +there. The man who can so withdraw from the body as to leave it insensitive, +while his mind is fully self-conscious, can practice Samadhi. +</p> + +<p> +The phrase “Yoga is Samadhi” covers facts of the highest significance and +greatest instruction. Suppose you are only able to reach the astral world when +you are asleep, your consciousness there is, as we have seen, in the Svapna +state. But as you slowly unfold your powers, the astral forms begin to intrude +upon your waking physical consciousness until they appear as distinctly as do +physical forms, and thus become objects of your waking consciousness. The +astral world then, for you, no longer belongs to the Svapna consciousness, but +to the Jagrat; you have taken two worlds within the scope of your Jagrat +consciousness—the physical and the astral worlds—and the mental world is in +your Svapna consciousness. “Your body” is then the physical and the astral +bodies taken together. As you go on, the mental plane begins similarly to +intrude itself, and the physical, astral and mental all come within your waking +consciousness; all these are, then, your Jagrat world. These three worlds form +but one world to you; their three corresponding bodies but one body, that +perceives and acts. The three bodies of the ordinary man have become one body +for the yogi. If under these conditions you want to see only one world at a +time, you must fix your attention on it, and thus focus it. You can, in that +state of enlarged waking, concentrate your attention on the physical and see +it; then the astral and mental will appear hazy. So you can focus your +attention on the astral and see it; then the physical and the mental, being out +of focus, will appear dim. You will easily understand this if you remember +that, in this hall, I may focus my sight in the middle of the hall, when the +pillars on both sides will appear indistinctly. Or I may concentrate my +attention on a pillar and see it distinctly, but I then see you only vaguely at +the same time. It is a change of focus, not a change of body. Remember that all +which you can put aside as not yourself is the body of the yogi, and hence, as +you go higher, the lower bodies form but a single body and the consciousness in +that sheath of matter which it still cannot throw away, that becomes the man. +</p> + +<p> +“Yoga is Samadhi.” It is the power to withdraw from all that you know as body, +and to concentrate yourself within. That is Samadhi. No ordinary means will +then call you back to the world that you have left.<a href="#fn2" +name="fnref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> This will also explain to you the phrase in +The Secret Doctrine that the Adept “begins his Samadhi on the atmic plane” When +a Jivan-mukta enters into Samadhi, he begins it on the atmic plane. All planes +below the atmic are one plane for him. He begins his Samadhi on a plane to +which the mere man cannot rise. He begins it on the atmic plane, and thence +rises stage by stage to the higher cosmic planes. The same word, samadhi, is +used to describe the states of the consciousness, whether it rises above the +physical into the astral, as in self-induced trance of an ordinary man, or as +in the case of a Jivan-mukta when, the consciousness being already centred in +the fifth, or atmic plane, it rises to the higher planes of a larger world. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn2"></a> <a href="#fnref2">[2]</a> +An Indian yogi in Samadhi, discovered in a forest by some ignorant and brutal +Englishmen, was so violently ill used that he returned to his tortured body, +only to leave it again at once by death. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI09"></a>The Literature of Yoga</h2> + +<p> +Unfortunately for non-Sanskrit-knowing people, the literature of Yoga is not +largely available in English. The general teachings of Yoga are to be found in +the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita; those, in many translations, are within +your reach, but they are general, not special; they give you the main +principles, but do not tell you about the methods in any detailed way. Even in +the Bhagavad-Gita, while you are told to make sacrifices, to become +indifferent, and so on, it is all of the nature of moral precept, absolutely +necessary indeed, but still not telling you how to reach the conditions put +before you. The special literature of Yoga is, first of all, many of the minor +Upanishads, “the hundred-and-eight” as they are called. Few of these are +translated.<a href="#fn3" name="fnref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> Then comes the +enormous mass of literature called the Tantras. These books have an evil +significance in the ordinary English ear, but not quite rightly. The Tantras +are very useful books, very valuable and instructive; all occult science is to +be found in them. But they are divisible into three classes: those that deal +with white magic, those that deal with black magic, and those that deal with +what we may call grey magic, a mixture of the two. Now magic is the word which +covers the methods of deliberately bringing about super-normal physical states +by the action of the will. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn3"></a> <a href="#fnref3">[3]</a> +Dr. Otto Schräder, Director of the Adyar Library, is now engaged on these, and +is busy with the laborious task of constructing a critical text, to be followed +by a complete translation, copiously annotated. A great boon will have been +bestowed on all interested in Samskrt literature, when this work is completed. +</p> + +<p> +A high tension of the nerves, brought on by anxiety or disease, leads to +ordinary hysteria, emotional and foolish. A similarly high tension, brought +about by the will, renders a man sensitive to super-physical vibrations Going +to sleep has no significance, but going into Samadhi is a priceless power. The +process is largely the same, but one is due to ordinary conditions, the other +to the action of the trained will. The Yogi is the man who has learned the +power of the will, and knows how to use it to bring about foreseen and +foredetermined results. This knowledge has ever been called magic; it is the +name of the Great Science of the past, the one Science, to which only the word +“great” was given in the past. The Tantras contain the whole of that; the +occult side of man and nature, the means whereby discoveries may be made, the +principles whereby the man may re-create himself, all these are in the Tantras. +The difficulty is that without a teacher they are very dangerous, and again and +again a man trying to practice the Tantric methods without a teacher makes +himself very ill. So the Tantras have got a bad name both in the West and here +in India. A good many of the American “occult” books now sold are scraps of the +Tantras which have been translated. One difficulty is that these Tantric works +often use the name of a bodily organ to represent an astral or mental centre. +There is some reason in that because all the centres are connected with each +other from body to body; but no reliable teacher would set his pupil to work on +the bodily organs until he had some control over the higher centres, and had +carefully purified the physical body. Knowing the one helps you to know the +other, and the teacher who has been through it all can place his pupil on the +right path; but it you take up these words, which are all physical, and do not +know to what the physical word is applied, then you will only become very +confused, and may injure yourself. For instance, in one of the Sutras it is +said that if you meditate on a certain part of the tongue you will obtain +astral sight. That means that if you meditate on the pituitary body, just over +this part of the tongue, astral sight will be opened. The particular word used +to refer to a centre has a correspondence in the physical body, and the word is +often applied to the physical organs when the other is meant. This is what is +called a “blind,” and it is intended to keep the people away from dangerous +practices in the books that are published; people may meditate on that part of +their tongues all their lives without anything coming of it; but if they think +upon the corresponding centre in the body, a good deal—much harm—may come of +it. “Meditate on the navel,” it is also said. This means the solar plexus, for +there is a close connection between the two. But to meditate on that is to +incur the danger of a serious nervous disorder, almost impossible to cure. All +who know how many people in India suffer through these practices, +ill-understood, recognize that it is not wise to plunge into them without some +one to tell you what they mean, and what may be safely practiced and what not. +The other part of the Yoga literature is a small book called the sutras of +Patanjali. That is available, but I am afraid that few are able to make much of +it by themselves. In the first place, to elucidate the Sutras, which are simply +headings, there is a great deal of commentary in Sanskrit, only partially +translated. And even the commentaries have this peculiarity, that all the most +difficult words are merely repeated, not explained, so that the student is not +much enlightened. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI10"></a>Some Definitions</h2> + +<p> +There are a few words, constantly recurring, which need brief definitions, in +order to avoid confusion; they are: Unfolding, Evolution, Spirituality, +Psychism, Yoga and Mysticism. +</p> + +<p> +“Unfolding” always refers to consciousness, “evolution” to forms. Evolution is +the homogeneous becoming the heterogeneous, the simple becoming complex. But +there is no growth and no perfectioning for Spirit, for consciousness; it is +all there and always, and all that can happen to it is to turn itself outwards +instead of remaining turned inwards. The God in you cannot evolve, but He may +show forth His powers through matter that He has appropriated for the purpose, +and the matter evolves to serve Him. He Himself only manifests what He is. And +on that, many a saying of the great mystics may come to your mind: “Become,” +says St. Ambrose, “what you are”—a paradoxical phrase; but one that sums up a +great truth: become in outer manifestation that which you are in inner reality. +That is the object of the whole process of Yoga. +</p> + +<p> +“Spirituality” is the realisation of the One. “Psychism” is the manifestation +of intelligence through any material vehicle.<a href="#fn4" name="fnref4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn4"></a> <a href="#fnref4">[4]</a> +See <i>London Lectures</i> of 1907, “Spirituality and Psychism”. +</p> + +<p> +“Yoga” is the seeking of union by the intellect, a science; “Mysticism” is the +seeking of the same union by emotion.<a href="#fn5" name="fnref5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn5"></a> <a href="#fnref5">[5]</a> +The word yoga may, of course, be rightly used of all union with the self, +whatever the road taken. I am using it here in the narrower sense, as +peculiarly connected with the intelligence, as a Science, herein following +Patanjali. +</p> + +<p> +See the mystic. He fixes his mind on the object of devotion; he loses +self-consciousness, and passes into a rapture of love and adoration, leaving +all external ideas, wrapped in the object of his love, and a great surge of +emotion sweeps him up to God. He does not know how he has reached that lofty +state. He is conscious only of God and his love for Him. Here is the rapture of +the mystic, the triumph of the saint. +</p> + +<p> +The yogi does not work like that. Step after step, he realises what he is +doing. He works by science and not by emotion, so that any who do not care for +science, finding it dull and dry, are not at present unfolding that part of +their nature which will find its best help in the practice of Yoga. The yogi +may use devotion as a means. This comes out very plainly in Patanjali. He has +given many means whereby Yoga may be followed, and curiously, “devotion to +Isvara” is one of several means. There comes out the spirit of the scientific +thinker. Devotion to Isvara is not for him an end in itself, but means to an +end—the concentration of the mind. You see there at once the difference of +spirit. Devotion to Isvara is the path of the mystic. He attains communion by +that. Devotion to Isvara as a means of concentrating the mind is the scientific +way in which the yogi regards devotion. No number of words would have brought +out the difference of spirit between Yoga and Mysticism as well as this. The +one looks upon devotion to Isvara as a way of reaching the Beloved; the other +looks upon it as a means of reaching concentration. To the mystic, God, in +Himself is the object of search, delight in Him is the reason for approaching +Him, union with Him in consciousness is his goal; but to the yogi, fixing the +attention on God is merely an effective way of concentrating the mind. In the +one, devotion is used to obtain an end; in the other, God is seen as the end +and is reached directly by rapture. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI11"></a>God Without and God Within</h2> + +<p> +That leads us to the next point, the relation of God without to God within. To +the yogi, who is the very type of Hindu thought, there is no definite proof of +God save the witness of the Self within to His existence, and his idea of +finding the proof of God is that you should strip away from your consciousness +all limitations, and thus reach the stage where you have pure +consciousness—save a veil of the thin nirvanic matter. Then you know that God +is. So you read in the Upanishad: “Whose only proof is the witness of the +Self.” This is very different from Western methods of thought, which try to +demonstrate God by a process of argument. The Hindu will tell you that you +cannot demonstrate God by any argument or reasoning; He is above and beyond +reasoning, and although the reason may guide you on the way, it will not prove +to demonstration that God is. The only way you can know Him is by diving into +yourself. There you will find Him, and know that He is without as well as +within you; and Yoga is a system that enables you to get rid of everything from +consciousness that is not God, save that one veil of the nirvanic atom, and so +to know that God is, with an unshakable certainty of conviction. To the Hindu +that inner conviction is the only thing worthy to be called faith, and this +gives you the reason why faith is said to be beyond reason, and so is often +confused with credulity. Faith is beyond reason, because it is the testimony of +the Self to himself, that conviction of existence as Self, of which reason is +only one of the outer manifestations; and the only true faith is that inner +conviction, which no argument can either strengthen or weaken, of the innermost +Self of you, that of which alone you are entirely sure. It is the aim of Yoga +to enable you to reach that Self constantly not by a sudden glimpse of +intuition, but steadily, unshakably, and unchangeably, and when that Self is +reached, then the question: “Is there a God?” can never again come into the. +human mind. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI12"></a>Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter</h2> + +<p> +It is necessary to understand something about that consciousness which is your +Self, and about the matter which is the envelope of consciousness, but which +the Self so often identifies with himself. The great characteristic of +consciousness is change, with a foundation of certainty that it is. The +consciousness of existence never changes, but beyond this all is change, and +only by the changes does consciousness become Self-consciousness. Consciousness +is an everchanging thing, circling round one idea that never +changes—Self-existence. The consciousness itself is not changed by any change +of position or place. It only changes its states within itself. +</p> + +<p> +In matter, every change of state is brought about by change of place. A change +of consciousness is a change of a state; a change of matter is a change of +place. Moreover, every change of state in consciousness is related to +vibrations of matter in its vehicle. When matter is examined, we find three +fundamental qualities—rhythm, mobility, stability—sattva, rajas, tamas. Sattva +is rhythm, vibration. It is more than; rajas, or mobility. It is a regulated +movement, a swinging from one side to the other over a definite distance, a +length of wave, a vibration. +</p> + +<p> +The question is often put: “How can things in such different categories, as +matter and Spirit, affect each other? Can we bridge that great gulf which some +say can never be crossed?” Yes, the Indian has crossed it, or rather, has shown +that there is no gulf. To the Indian, matter and Spirit are not only the two +phases of the One, but, by a subtle analysis of the relation between +consciousness and matter, he sees that in every universe the LOGOS imposes upon +matter a certain definite relation of rhythms, every vibration of matter +corresponding to a change in consciousness. There is no change in +consciousness, however subtle, that has not appropriated to it a vibration in +matter; there is no vibration in matter, however swift or delicate, which has +not correlated to it a certain change in consciousness. That is the first great +work of the LOGOS, which the Hindu scriptures trace out in the building of the +atom, the Tanmatra, “the measure of That,” the measure of consciousness. He who +is consciousness imposes on his material the answer to every change in +consciousness, and that is an infinite number of vibrations. So that between +the Self and his sheaths there is this invariable relation: the change in +consciousness and the vibration of matter, and vice versa. That makes it +possible for the Self to know the Not-Self. +</p> + +<p> +These correspondences are utilised in Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga, the Kingly Yoga +and the Yoga of Resolve. The Raja Yoga seeks to control the changes in +consciousness, and by this control to rule the material vehicles. The Hatha +Yoga seeks to control the vibrations of matter, and by this control to evoke +the desired changes in consciousness. The weak point in Hatha Yoga is that +action on this line cannot reach beyond the astral plane, and the great strain +imposed on the comparatively intractable matter of the physical plane sometimes +leads to atrophy of the very organs, the activity of which is necessary for +effecting the changes in consciousness that would be useful. The Hatha Yogi +gains control over the bodily organs with which the waking consciousness no +longer concerns itself, having relinquished them to its lower part, the +“subconsciousness.” This is often useful as regards the prevention of disease, +but serves no higher purpose. When he begins to work on the brain centres +connected with ordinary consciousness, and still more when he touches those +connected with the super-consciousness, he enters a dangerous region, and is +more likely to paralyse than to evolve. +</p> + +<p> +That relation alone it is which makes matter cognizable; the change in the +thinker is answered by a change outside, and his answer to it and the change in +it that he makes by his. answer re-arrange again the matter of the body which +is his envelope. Hence the rhythmic changes in matter are rightly called its +cognizability. Matter may be known by consciousness, because of this unchanging +relation between the two sides of the manifest LOGOS who is one, and the Self +becomes aware of changes within himself, and thus of those of the external +words to which those changes are related. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI13"></a>Mind</h2> + +<p> +What is mind? From the yogic standpoint it is simply the individualized +consciousness, the whole of it, the whole of your consciousness including your +activities which the Western psychologist puts outside mind. Only on the basis +of Eastern psychology is Yoga possible. How shall we describe this +individualized consciousness? First, it is aware of things. Becoming aware of +them, it desires them. Desiring them, it tries to attain them. So we have the +three aspects of consciousness— intelligence, desire, activity. On the physical +plane, activity predominates, although desire and thought are present. On the +astral plane, desire predominates, and thought and activity are subject to +desire. On the mental plane; intelligence is the dominant note, desire and +activity are subject to it. Go to the buddhic plane, and cognition, as pure +reason, predominates, and so on. Each quality is present all the time, but one +predominates. So with the matter that belongs to them. In your combinations of +matter you get rhythmic, active, or stable ones; and according to the +combinations of matter in your bodies will be the conditions of the activity of +the whole of these in consciousness. To practice Yoga you must build your +bodies of the rhythmic combinations, with activity and inertia less apparent. +The yogi wants to make his body match his mind. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI14"></a>Stages of Mind</h2> + +<p> +The mind has five stages, Patanjali tells us, and Vyasa comments that “these +stages of mind are on every plane”. The first stage is the stage in which the +mind is flung about, the Kshipta stage; it is the butterfly mind, the early +stage of humanity, or, in man, the mind of the child, darting constantly from +one object to another. It corresponds to activity on the physical plane. The +next is the confused stage, Mudha, equivalent to the stage of the youth, swayed +by emotions, bewildered by them; he begins to feel he is ignorant—a state +beyond the fickleness of the child—a characteristic state, corresponding to +activity in the astral world. Then comes the state of preoccupation, or +infatuation, Vikshipta, the state of the man possessed by an idea—love, +ambition, or what not. He is no longer a confused youth, but a man with a clear +aim, and an idea possesses him. It may be either the fixed idea of the madman, +or the fixed idea which makes the hero or the saint; but in any case he is +possessed by the idea. The quality of the idea, its truth or falsehood, makes +the difference between the maniac and the martyr. +</p> + +<p> +Maniac or martyr, he is under the spell of a fixed idea. No reasoning avails +against it. If he has assured himself that he is made of glass, no amount of +argument will convince him to the contrary. He will always regard himself as +being as brittle as glass. That is a fixed idea which is false. But there is a +fixed idea which makes the hero and the martyr. For some great truth dearer +than life is everything thrown aside. He is possessed by it, dominated by it, +and he goes to death gladly for it. That state is said to be approaching Yoga, +for such a man is becoming concentrated, even if only possessed by one idea. +This stage corresponds to activity on the lower mental plane. Where the man +possesses the idea, instead of being possessed by it, that one-pointed state of +the mind, called Ekagrata in Sanskrit, is the fourth stage. He is a mature man, +ready for the true life. When the man has gone through life dominated by one +idea, then he is approaching Yoga; he is getting rid of the grip of the world, +and is beyond its allurements. But when he possesses that which before +possessed him, then he has become fit for Yoga, and begins the training which +makes his progress rapid. This stage corresponds to activity on the higher +mental plane. +</p> + +<p> +Out of this fourth stage or Ekagrata, arises the fifth stage, Niruddha or +Self-controlled. When the man not only possesses one idea but, rising above all +ideas, chooses as he wills, takes or does not take according to the illumined +Will, then he is Self-controlled and can effectively practice Yoga. This stage +corresponds to activity on the buddhic plane. +</p> + +<p> +In the third stage, Vikshipta, where he is possessed by the idea, he is +learning Viveka or discrimination between the outer and the inner, the real and +the unreal. When he has learned the lesson of Viveka, then he advances a stage +forward; and in Ekagrata he chooses one idea, the inner life; and as he fixes +his mind on that idea he learns Vairagya or dispassion. He rises above the +desire to possess objects of enjoyment, belonging either to this or any other +world. Then he advances towards the fifth stage— Self-controlled. In order to +reach that he must practice the six endowments, the Shatsamapatti. These six +endowments have to do with the Will-aspect of consciousness as the other two, +Viveka and Vairagya, have to do with the cognition and activity aspects of it. +</p> + +<p> +By a study of your own mind, you can find out how far you are ready to begin +the definite practice of Yoga. Examine your mind in order to recognize these +stages in yourself. If you are in either of the two early stages, you are not +ready for Yoga. The child and the youth are not ready to become yogis, nor is +the preoccupied man. But if you find yourself possessed by a single thought, +you are nearly ready for Yoga; it leads to the next stage of one-pointedness, +where you can choose your idea, and cling to it of your own will. Short is the +step from that to the complete control, which can inhibit all motions of the +mind. Having reached that stage, it is comparatively easy to pass into Samadhi. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI15"></a>Inward and Outward-Turned Consciousness</h2> + +<p> +Samadhi is of two kinds: one turned outward, one turned inward. The +outward-turned consciousness is always first. You are in the stage of Samadhi +belonging to the outward-turned waking consciousness, when you can pass beyond +the objects to the principles which those objects manifest, when through the +form you catch a glimpse of the life. Darwin was in this stage when he glimpsed +the truth of evolution. That is the outward-turned Samadhi of the physical +body. +</p> + +<p> +This is technically the Samprajnata Samadhi, the “Samadhi with consciousness,” +but to be better regarded, I think, as with consciousness outward-turned, i.e. +conscious of objects. When the object disappears, that is, when consciousness +draws itself away from the sheath by which those objects are seen, then comes +the Asamprajnata Samadhi; called the “Samadhi without consciousness”. I prefer +to call it the inward-turned consciousness, as it is by turning away from the +outer that this stage is reached. +</p> + +<p> +These two stages of Samadhi follow each other on every plane; the intense +concentration on objects in the first stage, and the piercing thereby through +the outer form to the underlying principle, are followed by the turning away of +the consciousness from the sheath which has served its purpose, and its +withdrawal into itself, i.e., into a sheath not yet recognised as a sheath. It +is then for a while conscious only of itself and not of the outer world. Then +comes the “cloud,” the dawning sense again of an outer, a dim sensing of +“something” other than itself; that again is followed by the functioning of the +nigher sheath and the Recognition of the objects of the next higher plane, +corresponding to that sheath. Hence the complete cycle is: Samprajnata Samadhi, +Asamprajnata Samadhi, Megha (cloud), and then the Samprajnata Samadhi of the +next plane, and so on. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapI16"></a>The Cloud</h2> + +<p> +This term—in full, Dharma-megha, cloud of righteousness, or of religion—is one +which is very scantily explained by the commentators. In fact, the only +explanation they give is that all the man’s past karma of good gathers over +him, and pours down upon him a rain of blessing. Let us see if we cannot find +something more than this meagre interpretation. +</p> + +<p> +The term “cloud” is very often used in mystic literature of the West; the +“Cloud on the Mount,” the “Cloud on the Sanctuary,” the “Cloud on the +Mercy-Seat,” are expressions familiar to the student. And the experience which +they indicate is familiar to all mystics in its lower phases, and to some in +its fullness. In its lower phases, it is the experience just noted, where the +withdrawal of the consciousness into a sheath not yet recognised as a sheath is +followed by the beginning of the functioning of that sheath, the first +indication of which is the dim sensing of an outer. You feel as though +surrounded by a dense mist, conscious that you are not alone but unable to see. +Be still; be patient; wait. Let your consciousness be in the attitude of +suspense. Presently the cloud will thin, and first in glimpses, then in its +full beauty, the vision of a higher plane will dawn on your entranced sight. +This entrance into a higher plane will repeat itself again and again, until +your consciousness, centred on the buddhic plane and its splendouis having +disappeared as your consciousness withdraws even from that exquisite sheath, +you find yourself in the true cloud, the cloud on the sanctuary, the cloud that +veils the Holiest, that hides the vision of the Self. Then comes what seems to +be the draining away of the very life, the letting go of the last hold on the +tangible, the hanging in a void, the horror of great darkness, loneliness +unspeakable. Endure, endure. Everything must go. “Nothing out of the Eternal +can help you.” God only shines out in the stillness; as says the Hebrew: “Be +still, and know that I am God.” In that silence a Voice shall be heard, the +voice of the Self, In that stillness a Life shall be felt, the life of the +Self. In that void a Fullness shall be revealed, the fullness of the Self. In +that darkness a Light shall be seen, the glory of the Self. The cloud shall +vanish, and the shining of the Self shall be made manifest. That which was a +glimpse of a far-off majesty shall become a perpetual realisation and, knowing +the Self and your unity with it, you shall enter into the Peace that belongs to +the Self alone. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chapII"></a>Lecture II<br/> +SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT</h2> + +<p> +Brothers: +</p> + +<p> +In studying psychology anyone who is acquainted with the Sanskrit tongue must +know how valuable that language is for precise and scientific dealing with the +subject. The Sanskrit, or the well-made, the constructed, the built-together, +tongue, is one that lends itself better than any other to the elucidation of +psychological difficulties. Over and over again, by the mere form of a word, a +hint is given, an explanation or relation is suggested. The language is +constructed in a fashion which enables a large number of meanings to be +connoted by a single word, so that you may trace all allied ideas, ,or truths, +or facts, by this verbal connection, when you are speaking or using Sanskrit. +It has a limited number of important roots, and then an immense number of words +constructed on those roots. +</p> + +<p> +Now the root of the word yoga is a word that means “to join,” yuj, and that +root appears in many languages, such as the English—of course, through the +Latin, wherein you get jugare, jungere, “to join”—and out of that a number of +English words are derived and will at once suggest themselves to you: junction, +conjunction, disjunction, and so on. The English word “yoke” again, is derived +from this same Sanskrit root so that all through the various words, or +thoughts, or facts connected with this one root, you are able to gather the +meaning of the word yoga and to see how much that word covers in the ordinary +processes of the mind and how suggestive many of the words connected with it +are, acting, so to speak, as sign-posts to direct you along the road to the +meaning. In other tongues, as in French, we have a word like rapport, used +constantly in English; “being en rapport,” a French expression, but so +Anglicized that it is continually heard amongst ourselves. And that term, in +some ways, is the closest to the meaning of the Sanskrit word yoga; “to be in +relation to”; “to be connected with”; “to enter into”; “to merge in”; and so +on: all these ideas are classified together under the one head of “Yoga”. When +you find Sri Krishna saying that “Yoga is equilibrium,” in the Sanskrit He is +saying a perfectly obvious thing, because Yoga implies balance, yoking and the +Sanskrit of equilibrium is “samvata—togetherness”; so that it is a perfectly +simple, straightforward statement, not connoting anything very deep, but merely +expressing one of the fundamental meanings of the word He is using. And so with +another word, a word used in the commentary on the Sutra I quoted before, which +conveys to the Hindu a perfectly straightforward meaning: “Yoga is Samadhi.” To +an only English-knowing person that does not convey any very definite idea; +each word needs explanation. To a Sanskrit-knowing man the two words are +obviously related to one another. For the word yoga, we have seen, means “yoked +together,” and Samadhi derived from the root dha, “to place,” with the +prepositions sam and a, meaning “completely together”. Samadhi, therefore, +literally means “fully placing together,” and its etymological equivalent in +English would be “to compose” (com=sam; posita= place). Samadhi therefore means +“composing the mind,” collecting it together, checking all distractions. Thus +by philological, as well as by practical, investigation the two words yoga and +samadhi are inseparably linked together. And when Vyasa, the commentator, says: +“Yoga is the composed mind,” he is conveying a clear and significant idea as to +what is implied in Yoga. Although Samadhi has come to mean, by a natural +sequence of ideas, the trance-state which results from perfect composure, its +original meaning should not be lost sight of. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, in explaining Yoga, one is often at a loss for the English equivalent of +the manifold meanings of the Sanskrit tongue, and I earnestly advise those of +you who can do so, at least to acquaint yourselves sufficiently with this +admirable language, to make the literature of Yoga more intelligible to you +than it can be to a person who is completely ignorant of Sanskrit. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapII01"></a>Its Relation to Indian Philosophies</h2> + +<p> +Let me ask you to think for a while on the place of Yoga in its relation to two +of the great Hindu schools of philosophical thought, for neither the Westerner +nor the non-Sanskrit-knowing Indian can ever really understand the translations +of the chief Indian books, now current here and in the West, and the force of +all the allusions they make, unless they acquaint themselves in some degree +with the outlines of these great schools of philosophy, they being the very +foundation on which these books are built up. Take the Bhagavad-Gita. Probably +there are many who know that book fairly well, who use it as the book to help +in the spiritual life, who are not familiar with most of its precepts. But you +must always be more or less in a fog in reading it, unless you realise the fact +that it is founded on a particular Indian philosophy and that the meaning of +nearly all the technical words in it is practically limited by their meaning in +philosophy known as the Samkhya. There are certain phrases belonging rather to +the Vedanta, but the great majority are Samkhyan, and it is taken for granted +that the people reading or using the book are familiar with the outline of the +Samkhyan philosophy. I do not want to take you into details, but I must give +you the leading ideas of the philosophy. For if you grasp these, you will not +only read your Bhagavad-Gita with much more intelligence than before, but you +will be able to use it practically for yogic purposes in a way that, without +this knowledge, is almost impossible. +</p> + +<p> +Alike in the Bhagavad-Gita and in the Yoga-sutras of Patanjali the terms are +Samkhyan, and historically Yoga is based on the Samkhya, so far as its +philosophy is concerned. Samkhya does not concern itself with, the existence of +Deity, but only with the becoming of a universe, the order of evolution. Hence +it is often called Nir-isvara Samkhya, the Samkhya without God. But so closely +is it bound up with the Yoga system, that the latter is called Sesvara Samkhya, +with God. For its understanding, therefore, I must outline part of the Samkhya +philosophy, that part which deals with the relation of Spirit and matter; note +the difference from this of the Vedantic conception of Self and Not-Self, and +then find the reconciliation in the Theosophic statement of the facts in +nature. The directions which fall from the lips of the Lord of Yoga in the Gita +may sometimes seem to you opposed to each other and contradictory, because they +sometimes are phrased in the Samkhyan and sometimes in the Vedantic terms, +starting from different standpoints, one looking at the world from the +standpoint of matter, the other from the standpoint of Spirit. If you are a +student of Theosophy, then the knowledge of the facts will enable you to +translate the different phrases. That reconciliation and understanding of these +apparently contradictory phrases is the object to which I would ask your +attention now. +</p> + +<p> +The Samkhyan School starts with the statement that the universe consists of two +factors, the first pair of opposites, Spirit and Matter, or more accurately +Spirits and Matter. The Spirit is called Purusha—the Man; and each Spirit is an +individual. Purusha is a unit, a unit of consciousness; they are all of the +same nature, but distinct everlastingly the one from the other. Of these units +there are many; countless Purushas are to be found in the world of men. But +while they are countless in number they are identical in nature, they are +homogeneous. Every Purusha has three characteristics, and these three are alike +in all. One characteristic is awareness; it will become cognition. The second +of the characteristics is life or prana; it will become activity. The third +characteristic is immutability, the essence of eternity; it will become will. +Eternity is not, as some mistakenly think, everlasting time. Everlasting time +has nothing to do with eternity. Time and eternity are two altogether different +things. Eternity is changeless, immutable, simultaneous. No succession in time, +albeit everlasting—if such could be—could give eternity. The fact that Purusha +has this attribute of immutability tells us that He is eternal; for +changelessness is a mark of the eternal. +</p> + +<p> +Such are the three attributes of Purusha, according to the Samkhya. Though +these are not the same in nomenclature as the Vedantic Sat, Chit, Ananda, yet +they are practically identical. Awareness or cognition is Chit; life or force +is Sat; and immutability, the essence of eternity, is Ananda. +</p> + +<p> +Over against these Purushas, homogeneous units, countless in number, stands +Prakriti, Matter, the second in the Samkhyan duality. Prakriti is one; Purushas +are many. Prakriti is a continuum; Purushas are discontinuous, being +innumerable, homogeneous units. Continuity is the mark of Prakriti. Pause for a +moment on the name Prakriti. Let us investigate its root meaning. The name +indicates its essence. Pra means “forth,” and kri is the root “make”. Prakriti +thus means “forth-making”. Matter is that which enables the essence of Being to +become. That which is Being—is-tence, becomes ex-is-tence—outbeing, by Matter, +and to describe Matter as “forth-making” is to give its essence in a single +word. Only by Prakriti can Spirit, or Purusha, “forth-make” or “manifest” +himself. Without the presence of Prakriti, Purusha is helpless, a mere +abstraction. Only by the presence of, and in Prakriti, can Purusha make +manifest his powers. Prakriti has also three characteristics, the well-known +gunas—attributes or qualities. These are rhythm, mobility and inertia. Rhythm +enables awareness to become cognition. Mobility enables life to become +activity. Inertia enables immutability to become will. +</p> + +<p> +Now the conception as to the relation of Spirit to Matter is a very peculiar +one, and confused ideas about it give rise to many misconceptions. If you grasp +it, the Bhagavad-Gita becomes illuminated, and all the phrases about action and +actor, and the mistake of saying “I act,” become easy to understand, as +implying technical Samkhyan ideas. +</p> + +<p> +The three qualities of Prakriti, when Prakriti is thought of as away from +Purusha, are in equilibrium, motionless, poised the one against the other, +counter-balancing and neutralizing each other, so that Matter is called jada, +unconscious, “dead”. But in the presence of Purusha all is changed. When +Purusha is in propinquity to Matter, then there is a change in Matter—not +outside, but in it. +</p> + +<p> +Purusha acts on Prakriti by propinquity, says Vyasa. It comes near Prakriti, +and Prakriti begins to live. The “coming near” is a figure of speech, an +adaptation to our ideas of time and space, for we cannot posit “nearness” of +that which is timeless and spaceless—Spirit. By the word propinquity is +indicated an influence exerted by Purusha on Prakriti, and this, where material +objects are concerned, would be brought about by their propinquity. If a magnet +be brought near to a piece of soft iron or an electrified body be brought near +to a neutral one, certain changes are wrought in the soft iron or in the +neutral body by that bringing near. The propinquity of the magnet makes the +soft iron a magnet; the qualities of the magnet are produced in it, it +manifests poles, it attracts steel, it attracts or repels the end of an +electric needle. In the presence of a postively electrified body the +electricity in a neutral body is re-arranged, and the positive retreats while +the negative gathers near the electrified body. An internal change has occurred +in both cases from the propinquity of another object. So with Purusha and +Prakriti. Purusha does nothing, but from Purusha there comes out an influence, +as in the case of the magnetic influence. The three gunas, under this influence +of Purusha, undergo a marvellous change. I do not know what words to use, in +order not to make a mistake in putting it. You cannot say that Prakriti absorbs +the influence. You can hardly say that it reflects the Purusha. But the +presence of Purusha brings about certain internal changes, causes a difference +in the equilibrium of the three gunas in Prakriti. The three gunas were in a +state of equilibrium. No guna was manifest. One guna was balanced against +another. What happens when Purusha influences Prakriti? The quality of +awareness in Purusha is taken up by, or reflected in, the guna called Sattva— +rhythm, and it becomes cognition in Prakriti. The quality that we call life in +Purusha is taken up by, or reflected, in the guna called Rajas—mobility, and it +becomes force, energy, activity, in Prakriti. The quality that we call +immutability in Purusha is taken up by, or reflected, in the guna called +Tamas—inertia, and shows itself out as will or desire in Prakriti. So that, in +that balanced equilibrium of Prakriti, a change has taken place by the mere +propinquity of, or presence of, the Purusha. The Purusha has lost nothing, but +at the same time a change has taken place in matter. Cognition has appeared in +it. Activity, force, has appeared in it. Will or desire has appeared in it. +With this change in Prakriti another change occurs. The three attributes of +Purusha cannot be separated from each other, nor can the three attributes of +Prakriti be separated each from each. Hence rhythm, while appropriating +awareness, is under the influence of the whole three-in-one Purusha and cannot +but also take up subordinately life and immutability as activity and will. And +so with mobility and inertia. In combinations one quality or another may +predominate, and we may have combinations which show preponderantly +awareness-rhythm, or life- mobility, or immutability-inertia. The combinations +in which awareness-rhythm or cognition predominates become “mind in nature,” +the subject or subjective half of nature. Combinations in which either of the +other two predominates become the object or objective half of nature, the +“force and matter” of the western scientist.<a href="#fn6" name="fnref6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn6"></a> <a href="#fnref6">[6]</a> +A friend notes that the first is the Suddha Sattva of the Ramanuja School, and +the second and third the Prakriti, or spirit-matter, in the lower sense of the +same. +</p> + +<p> +We have thus nature divided into two, the subject and the object. We have now +in nature everything that is wanted for the manifestation of activity, for the +production of forms and for the expression of consciousness. We have mind, and +we have force and matter. Purusha has nothing more to do, for he has infused +all powers into Prakriti and sits apart, contemplating their interplay, himself +remaining unchanged. The drama of existence is played out within Matter, and +all that Spirit does is to look at it. Purusha is the spectator before whom the +drama is played. He is not the actor, but only a spectator. The actor is the +subjective part of nature, the mind, which is the reflection of awareness in +rhythmic matter. That with which it works—objective nature, is the reflection +of the other qualities of Purusha—life and immutability—in the gunas, Rajas and +Tamas. Thus we have in nature everything that is wanted for the production of +the universe. The Putusha only looks on when the drama is played before him. He +is spectator, not actor. This is the predominant note of the Bhagavad-Gita. +Nature does everything. The gunas bring about the universe. The man who says: +“I act,” is mistaken and confused; the gunas act, not he. He is only the +spectator and looks on. Most of the Gita teaching is built upon this conception +of the Samkhya, and unless that is clear in our minds we can never discriminate +the meaning under the phrases of a particular philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +Let us now turn to the Vedantic idea. According to the Vedantic view the Self +is one, omnipresent, all-permeating, the one reality. Nothing exists except the +Self—that is the starting-point in Vedanta. All permeating, all-controlling, +all- inspiring, the Self is everywhere present. As the ether permeates all +matter, so does the One Self permeate, restrain, support, vivify all. It is +written in the Gita that as the air goes everywhere, so is the Self everywhere +in the infinite diversity of objects. As we try to follow the outline of +Vedantic thought, as we try to grasp this idea of the one universal Self, who +is existence, consciousness, bliss, Sat-Chit-Ananda, we find that we are +carried into a loftier region of philosophy than that occupied by the Samkhya. +The Self is One. The Self is everywhere conscious, the Self is everywhere +existent, the Self is everywhere blissful. There is no division between these +qualities of the Self. Everywhere, all-embracing, these qualities are found at +every point, in every place. There is no spot on which you can put your finger +and say “The Self is not here.” Where the Self is—and He is everywhere—there is +existence, there is consciousness, and there is bliss. The Self, being +consciousness, imagines limitation, division. From that imagination of +limitation arises form, diversity, manyness. From that thought of the Self, +from that thought of limitation, all diversity of the many is born. Matter is +the limitation imposed upon the Self by His own will to limit Himself. +“Eko’ham, bahu syam,” “I am one; I will to he many”; “let me be many,” is the +thought of the One; and in that thought, the manifold universe comes into +existence. In that limitation, Self-created, He exists, He is conscious, He is +happy. In Him arises the thought that He is Self-existence, and behold! all +existence becomes possible. Because in Him is the will to manifest, all +manifestation at once comes into existence. Because in Him is all bliss, +therefore is the law of life the seeking for happiness, the essential +characteristic of every sentient creature. The universe appears by the +Self-limitation in thought of the Self. The moment the Self ceases to think it, +the universe is not, it vanishes as a dream. That is the fundamental idea of +the Vedanta. Then it accepts the spirits of the Samkhya— the Purushas; but it +says that these spirits are only reflections of the one Self, emanated by the +activity of the Self and that they all reproduce Him in miniature, with the +limitations which the universal Self has imposed upon them, which are +apparently portions of the universe, but are really identical with Him. It is +the play of the Supreme Self that makes the limitations, and thus reproduces +within limitations the qualities of the Self; the consciousness of the Self, of +the Supreme Self; becomes, in the particularised Self, cognition, the power to +know; and the existence of the Self becomes activity, the power to manifest; +and the bliss of the Self becomes will, the deepest part of all, the longing +for happiness, for bliss; the resolve to obtain it is what we call will. And so +in the limited, the power to know, and the power to act, and the power to will, +these are the reflections in the particular Self of the essential qualities of +the universal Self. Otherwise put: that which was universal awareness becomes +now cognition in the separated Self; that which in the universal Self was +awareness of itself becomes in the limited Self awareness of others; the +awareness of the whole becomes the cognition of the individual. So with the +existence of the Self: the Self-existence of the universal Self becomes, in the +limited Self, activity, preservation of existence. So does the bliss of the +universal Self, in the limited expression of the individual Self, become the +will that seeks for happiness, the Self-determination of the Self, the seeking +for Self-realisation, that deepest essence of human life. +</p> + +<p> +The difference comes with limitation, with the narrowing of the universal +qualities into the specific qualities of the limited Self; both are the same in +essence, though seeming different in manifestation. We have the power to know, +the power to will, and the power to act. These are the three great powers of +the Self that show themselves in the separated Self in every diversity of +forms, from the minutest moneron to the loftiest Logos. +</p> + +<p> +Then just as in the Samkhya, if the Purusha, the particular Self, should +identify himself with the matter in which he is reflected, then there is +delusion and bondage, so in the Vedanta, if the Self, eternally free, imagines +himself to be bound by matter, identifying himself with his limitations, he is +deluded, he is under the domain of Maya; for Maya is the self-identification of +the Self with his limitations. The eternally free can never be bound by matter; +the eternally pure can never be tainted by matter; the eternally knowing can +never be deluded by matter; the eternally Self-determined can never be ruled by +matter, save by his own ignorance. His own foolish fancy limits his inherent +powers; he is bound, because he imagines himself bound; he is impure, because +he imagines himself impure; he is ignorant, because he imagines himself +ignorant. With the vanishing of delusion he finds that he is eternally pure, +eternally wise. +</p> + +<p> +Here is the great difference between the Samkhya and the Vedanta. According to +the Samkhya, Purusha is the spectator and never the actor. According to Vedanta +the Self is the only actor, all else is maya: there is no one else who acts but +the Self, according to the Vedanta teaching. As says the Upanishad: the Self +willed to see, and there were eyes; the Self willed to hear, and there were +ears; the Self willed to think, and there was mind. The eyes, the ears, the +mind exist, because the Self has willed them into existence. The Self +appropriates matter, in order that He may manifest His powers through it. There +is the distinction between the Samkhya and the Vedanta: in the Samkhya the +propinquity of the Purusha brings out in matter or Prakriti all these +characteristics, the Prakriti acts and not the Purusha; in the Vedanta, Self +alone exists and Self alone acts; He imagines limitation and matter appears; He +appropriates that matter in order that He may manifest His own capacity. +</p> + +<p> +The Samkhya is the view of the universe of the scientist: the Vedanta is the +view of the universe of the metaphysician. Haeckel unconsciously expounded the +Samkhyan philosophy almost perfectly. So close to the Samkhyan is his +exposition, that another idea would make it purely Samkhyan; he has not yet +supplied that propinquity of consciousness which the Samkhya postulates in its +ultimate duality. He has Force and Matter, he has Mind in Matter, but he has no +Purusha. His last book, criticised by Sir Oliver Lodge, is thoroughly +intelligible from the Hindu standpoint as an almost accurate representation of +Samkhyan philosophy. It is the view of the scientist, indifferent to the “why” +of the facts which he records. The Vedanta, as I said, is the view of the +metaphysician he seeks the unity in which all diversities are rooted and into +which they are resolved. +</p> + +<p> +Now, what light does Theosophy throw on both these systems? Theosophy enables +every thinker to reconcile the partial statements which are apparently so +contradictory. Theosophy, with the Vedanta, proclaims the universal Self. All +that the Vedanta says of the universal Self and the Self- limitation, Theosophy +repeats. We call these Self-limited selves Monads, and we say, as the Vedantin +says, that these Monads reproduce the nature of the universal Self whose +portions they are. And hence you find in them the three qualities which you +find in the Supreme. They are units, and these represent the Purushas of the +Samkhya; but with a very great difference, for they are not passive watchers, +but active agents in the drama of the universe, although, being above the +fivefold universe, they are as spectators who pull the strings of the players +of the stage. The Monad takes to himself from the universe of matter atoms +which show out the qualities corresponding to his three qualities, and in these +he thinks, and wills and acts. He takes to himself rhythmic combinations, and +shows his quality of cognition. He takes to himself combinations that are +mobile; through those he shows out his activity. He takes the combinations that +are inert, and shows out his quality of bliss, as the will to be happy. Now +notice the difference of phrase and thought. In the Samkhya, Matter changed to +reflect the Spirit; in fact, the Spirit appropriates portions of Matter, and +through those expresses his own characteristics—an enormous difference. He +creates an actor for Self-expression, and this actor is the “spiritual man” of +the Theosophical teaching, the spiritual Triad, the Atma-buddhi-manas, to whom +we shall return in a moment. +</p> + +<p> +The Monad remains ever beyond the fivefold universe, and in that sense is a +spectator. He dwells beyond the five planes of matter. Beyond the Atmic, or +Akasic; beyond the Buddhic plane, the plane of Vayu; beyond the mental plane, +the plane of Agni; beyond the astral plane, the plane of Varuna; beyond the +physical plane, the plane of Kubera. Beyond all these planes the Monad, the +Self, stands Self-conscious and Self-determined. He reigns in changeless peace +and lives in eternity. But as said above, he appropriates matter. He takes to +himself an atom of the Atmic plane, and in that he, as it were, incorporates +his will, and that becomes Atma. He appropriates an atom of the Buddhic plane, +and reflects in that his aspect of cognition, and that becomes buddhi. He +appropriates an atom of the manasic plane and embodies, as it were, his +activity in it, and it becomes Manas. Thus we get Atma, plus Buddhi, plus +Manas. That triad is the reflection in the fivefold universe of the Monad +beyond the fivefold universe. The terms of Theosophy can be easily identified +with those of other schools. The Monad of Theosophy is the Jivatma of Indian +philosophy, the Purusha of the Samkhya, the particularised Self of the Vedanta. +The threefold manifestation, Atma-buddhi-manas, is the result of the Purusha’s +propinquity to Prakriti, the subject of the Samkhyan philosophy, the Self +embodied in the highest sheaths, according to the Vedantic teaching. In the one +you have this Self and His sheaths, and in the other the Subject, a reflection +in matter of Purusha. Thus you can readily see that you are dealing with the +same concepts but they are looked at from different standpoints. We are nearer +to the Vedanta than to the Samkhya, but if you know the principles you can put +the statements of the two philosophies in their own niches and will not be +confused. Learn the principles and you can explain all the theories. That is +the value of the Theosophical teaching; it gives you the principles and leaves +you to study the philosophies, and you study them with a torch in your hand +instead of in the dark. +</p> + +<p> +Now when we understand the nature of the spiritual man, or Triad, what do we +find with regard to all the manifestations of consciousness? That they are +duads, Spirit-Matter everywhere, on every plane of our fivefold universe. If +you are a scientist, you will call it spiritualised Matter; if you are a +metaphysician you will call it materialised Spirit. Either phrase is equally +true, so long as you remember that both are always present in every +manifestation, that what you see is not the play of matter alone, but the play +of Spirit-Matter, inseparable through the period of manifestation. Then, when +you come, in reading an ancient book, to the statement “mind is material,” you +will not be confused; you will know that the writer is only speaking on the +Samkhyan line, which speaks of Matter everywhere but always implies that the +Spirit is looking on, and that this presence makes the work of Matter possible. +You will not, when reading the constant statement in Indian philosophies that +“mind is material,” confuse this with the opposite view of the materialist +which says that “mind is the product of matter”—a very different thing. +Although the Samkhyan may use materialistic terms, he always posits the +vivifying influence of Spirit, while the materialist makes Spirit the product +of Matter. Really a gulf divides them, although the language they use may often +be the same. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapII02"></a>Mind</h2> + +<p> +“Yoga is the inhibition of the functions of the mind,” says Patanjali. The +functions of the mind must be suppressed, and in order that we may be able to +follow out really what this means, we must go more closely into what the Indian +philosopher means by the word “mind”. +</p> + +<p> +Mind, in the wide sense of the term, has three great properties or qualities: +cognition, desire or will, activity. Now Yoga is not immediately concerned with +all these three, but only with one, cognition, the Samkhyan subject. But you +cannot separate cognition, as we have seen, completely from the others, because +consciousness is a unit, and although we are only concerned with that part of +consciousness which we specifically call cognition, we cannot get cognition all +by itself. Hence the Indian psychologist investigating this property, +cognition, divides it up into three or, as the Vedanta says, into four (with +all submission, the Vedantin here makes a mistake). If you take up any Vedantic +book and read about mind, you will find a particular word used for it which. +translated, means “internal organ”. This antah-karana is the word always used +where in English we use “mind”; but it is only used in relation to cognition, +not in relation to activity and desire. It is said to be fourfold, being made +up of Manas, Buddhi, Ahamkara, and Chitta; but this fourfold division is a very +curious division. We know what Manas is, what Buddhi is, what Ahamkara is, but +what is this Chitta? What is Chitta, outside Manas, Buddhi and Ahamkara? Ask +anyone you like. and record his answer; you will find that it is of the vaguest +kind. Let us try to analyse it for ourselves, and see whether light will come +upon it by using the Theosophic idea of a triplet summed up in a fourth, that +is not really a fourth, but the summation of the three. Manas, Buddhi and +Ahamkara are the three different sides of a triangle, which triangle is called +Chitta. The Chitta is not a fourth, but the sum of the three: Manas, Buddhi and +Ahamkara. This is the old idea of a trinity in unity. Over and over again H. P. +Blavatsky uses this summation as a fourth to her triplets, for she follows the +old methods. The fourth, which sums up the three but is not other than they, +makes a unity out of their apparent diversity. Let us apply that to +Antahkarana. +</p> + +<p> +Take cognition. Though in cognition that aspect of the Self is predominant, yet +it cannot exist absolutely alone, The whole Self is there in every act of +cognition. Similarly with the other two. One cannot exist separate from the +others. Where there is cognition the other two are present, though subordinate +to it. The activity is there, the will is there. Let us think of cognition as +pure as it can be, turned on itself, reflected in itself, and we have Buddhi, +the pure reason, the very essence of cognition; this in the universe is +represented by Vishnu, the sustaining wisdom of the universe. Now let us think +of cognition looking outwards, and as reflecting itself in activity, its +brother quality, and we have a mixture of cognition and activity which is +called Manas, the active mind; cognition reflected in activity is Manas in man +or Brahma, the creative mind, in the universe. When cognition similarly +reflects itself in will, then it becomes Ahamkara, the “I am I” in man, +represented by Mahadeva in the universe. Thus wee have found within the limits +of this cognition a triple division, making up the internal organ or +Antahkarana—Manas, plus Buddhi, plus Ahamkara—and we can find no fourth. What +is then Chitta? It is the summation of the three, the three taken together, the +totality of the three. Because of the old way of counting these things, you get +this division of Antahkarana into four. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapII03"></a>The Mental Body</h2> + +<p> +We must now deal with the mental body, which is taken as equivalent to mind for +practical purposes. The first thing for a man to do in practical Yoga is to +separate himself from the mental body, to draw away from that into the sheath +next above it. And here remember what I said previously, that in Yoga the Self +is always the consciousness plus the vehicle from which the consciousness is +unable to separate itself. All that is above the body you cannot leave is the +Self for practical purposes, and your first attempt must be to draw away from +your mental body. Under these conditions, Manas must be identified with the +Self, and the spiritual Triad, the Atma-buddhi-manas, is to be realised as +separate from the mental body. That is the first step. You must be able to take +up and lay down your mind as you do a tool, before it is of any use to consider +the further progress of the Self in getting rid of its envelopes. Hence the +mental body is taken as the starting point. Suppress thought. Quiet it. Still +it. Now what is the ordinary condition of the mental body? As you look upon +that body from a higher plane, you see constant changes of colours playing in +it. You find that they are sometimes initiated from within, sometimes from +without. Sometimes a vibration from without has caused a change in +consciousness, and a corresponding change in the colours in the mental body. If +there is a change of consciousness, that causes vibration in the matter in +which that consciousness is functioning. The mental body is a body of +ever-changing hues and colours, never still, changing colour with swift +rapidity throughout the whole of it. Yoga is the stopping of all these, the +inhibition of vibrations and changes alike. Inhibition of the change of +consciousness stops the vibration of the mental body; the checking of the +vibration of the mental body checks the change in consciousness. In the mental +body of a Master there is no change of colour save as initiated from within; no +outward stimulus can produce any answer, any vibration,ùin that perfectly +controlled mental body. The colour of the mental body of a Master is as +moonlight on the rippling ocean. Within that whiteness of moon-like refulgence +lie all possibilities of colour, but nothing in the outer world can make the +faintest change of hue sweep over its steady radiance. If a change of +consciousness occurs within, then the change will send a wave of delicate hues +over the mental body which responds only in colour to changes initiated from +within and never to changes stimulated from without. His mental body is never +His Self, but only His tool or instrument, which He can take up or lay down at +His will. It is only an outer sheath that He uses when He needs to communicate +with the lower world. +</p> + +<p> +By that idea of the stopping of all changes of colour in the mental body you +can realise what is meant by inhibition. The functions of mind are stopped in +Yoga. You have to begin with your mental body. You have to learn how to stop +the whole of those vibrations, how to make the mental body colourless, still +and quiet, responsive only to the impulses that you choose to put upon it. How +will you be able to tell when the mind is really coming under control, when it +is no longer a part of your Self? You will begin to realise this when you find +that, by the action of your will, you can check the current of thought and hold +the mind in perfect stillness. Sheath after sheath has to be transcended, and +the proof of transcending is that it can no longer affect you. You can affect +it, but it cannot affect you. The moment that nothing outside you can harass +you, can stir the mind, the moment that the mind does not respond to the outer, +save under your own impulse, then can you say of it: “This is not my Self.” It +has become part of the outer, it can no longer be identified with the Self. +</p> + +<p> +From this you pass on to the conquest of the causal body in a similar way. When +the conquering of the causal body is complete then you go to the conquering of +the Buddhic body. When mastery over the Buddhic body is complete, you pass on +to the~conquest of the Atmic body. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapII04"></a>Mind and Self</h2> + +<p> +You cannot be surprised that under these conditions of continued disappearance +of functions, the unfortunate student asks: “What becomes of the mind itself? +If you suppress all the functions, what is left?” In the Indian way of +teaching, when you come to a difficulty, someone jumps up and asks a question. +And in the commentaries, the question which raises the difficulty is always +put. The answer of Patanjali is: “Then the spectator remains in his own form.” +Theosophy answers: “The Monad remains.” It is the end of the human pilgrimage. +That is the highest point to which humanity may climb: to suppress all the +reflections in the fivefold universe through which the Monad has manifested his +powers, and then for the Monad to realise himself, enriched by the experiences +through which his manifested aspects have passed. But to the Samkhyan the +difficulty is very great, for when he has only his spectator left, when +spectacle ceases, the spectator himself almost vanishes. His only function was +to look on at the play of mind. When the play of mind is gone, what is left? He +can no longer be a spectator, since there is nothing to see. The only answer +is: “He remains in his own form.” He is now out of manifestation, the duality +is transcended, and so the Spirit sinks back into latency, no longer capable of +manifestation. There you come to a very serious difference with the +Theosophical view of the universe, for according to that view of the universe, +when all these functions have been suppressed, then the Monad is ruler over +matter and is prepared for a new cycle of activity, no longer slave but master. +</p> + +<p> +All analogy shows us that as the Self withdraws from sheath after sheath, he +does not lose but gains in Self- realisation. Self-realisation becomes more and +more vivid with each successive withdrawal; so that as the Self puts aside one +veil of matter after another, recognises in regular succession that each body +in turn is not himself, by that process of withdrawal his sense of Self-reality +becomes keener, not less keen. It is important to remember that, because often +Western readers, dealing with Eastern ideas, in consequence of misunderstanding +the meaning of the state of liberation, or the condition of Nirvana, identify +it with nothingness or unconsciousness—an entirely mistaken idea which is apt +to colour the whole of their thought when dealing with Yogic processes. Imagine +the condition of a man who identifies himself completely with the body, so that +he cannot, even in thought, separate himself from it—the state of the early +undeveloped man—and compare that with the strength, vigour and lucidity of your +own mental consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +The consciousness of the early man limited to the physical body, with +occasional touches of dream consciousness, is very restricted in its range. He +has no idea of the sweep of your consciousness, of your abstract thinking. But +is that consciousness of the early man more vivid, or less vivid, than yours? +Certainly you will say, it is less vivid. You have largely transcended his +powers of consciousness. Your consciousness is astral rather than physical, but +has thereby increased its vividness. AS the Self withdraws himself from sheath +after sheath, he realises himself more and more, not less and less; +Self-realisation becomes more intense, as sheath after sheath is cast aside. +The centre grows more powerful as the circumference becomes more permeable, and +at last a stage is reached when the centre knows itself at every point of the +circumference. When that is accomplished the circumference vanishes, but not so +the centre. The centre still remains. Just as you are more vividly conscious +than the early man, just as your consciousness is more alive, not less, than +that of an undeveloped man, so it is as we climb up the stairway of life and +cast away garment after garment. We become more conscious of existence, more +conscious of knowledge, more conscious of Self-determined power. The faculties +of the Self shine out more strongly, as veil after veil falls away. By analogy, +then, when we touch the Monad, our consciousness should be mightier, more +vivid, and more perfect. As you learn to truly live, your powers and feelings +grow in strength. +</p> + +<p> +And remember that all control is exercised over sheaths, over portions of the +Not-Self. You do not control your Self; that is a misconception; you control +your Not-Self. The Self is never controlled; He is the Inner Ruler Immortal. He +is the controller, not the controlled. As sheath after sheath becomes subject +to your Self, and body after body becomes the tool of your Self, then shall you +realise the truth of the saying of the Upanishad, that you are the Self, the +Inner Ruler, the immortal. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chapIII"></a>Lecture III<br/> +YOGA AS SCIENCE</h2> + +<p> +Brothers: +</p> + +<p> +This afternoon, I propose now to deal first with the two great methods of Yoga, +one related to the Self and the other to the Not-Self. Let me remind you, +before I begin, that we are dealing only with the science of Yoga and not with +other means of attaining union with the Divine. The scientific method, +following the old Indian conception, is the one to which I am asking your +attention. I would remind you, however, that, though I am only dealing with +this, there remain also the other two great ways of Bhakti and Karma. The Yoga +we are studying specially concerns the Marga of Jnanam or knowledge, and within +that way, within that Marga or path of knowledge, we find that three +subdivisions occur, as everywhere in nature. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIII01"></a>Methods of Yoga</h2> + +<p> +With regard to what I have just called the two great methods in Yoga, we find +that by one of these a man treads the path of knowledge by Buddhi—the pure +reason; and the other the same path by Manas—the concrete mind. You may +remember that in speaking yesterday of the sub- divisions of Antah-karana, I +pointed out to you that there we had a process of reflection of one quality in +another; and within the limits of the cognitional aspect of the Self, you find +Buddhi, cognition reflected in cognition; and Ahamkara, cognition reflected in +will; and Manas, cognition reflected in activity. Bearing those three +sub-divisions in mind, you will very readily be able to see that these two +methods of Yoga fall naturally under two of these heads. But what of the third? +What of the will, of which Ahamkara is the representative in cognition? That +certainly has its road, but it can scarcely be said to be a “method”. Will +breaks its way upwards by sheer unflinching determination, keeping its eyes +fixed on the end, and using either buddhi or manes indifferently as a means to +that end. Metaphysics is used to realise the Self; science is used to +understand the Not-Self; but either is grasped, either is thrown aside, as it +serves, or fails to serve, the needs of the moment. Often the man, in whom will +is predominant, does not know how he gains the object he is aiming at; it comes +to his hands, but the “how” is obscure to him; he willed to have it, and nature +gives it to him. This is also seen in Yoga in the man of Ahamkara, the sub-type +of will in cognition. Just as in the man of Ahamkara, Buddhi and Manas are +subordinate, so in the man of Buddhi, Ahamkara and Manas are not absent, but +are subordinate; and in the man of Manas, Ahamkara and Buddhi are present, but +play a subsidiary part. Both the metaphysician and the scientist must be +supported by Ahamkara. That Self-determining faculty, that deliberate setting +of oneself to a chosen end, that is necessary in all forms of Yoga. Whether a +Yogi is going to follow the purely cognitional way of Buddhi, or whether he is +going to follow the more active path of Manas, in both cases he needs the +self-determining will in order to sustain him in his arduous task. You remember +it is written in the Upanishad that the weak man cannot reach the Self. +Strength is wanted. Determination is wanted. Perseverance is wanted. And you +must have, in every successful Yogi, that intense determination which is the +very essence of individuality. +</p> + +<p> +Now what are these two great methods? One of them may be described as seeking +the Self by the Self; the other may be described as seeking the Self by the +Not-Self; and if you will think of them in that fashion, I think you will find +the idea illuminative. Those who seek the Self by the Self, seek him through +the faculty of Buddhi; they turn ever inwards, and turn away from the outer +world. Those who seek the Self by the Not-Self, seek him through the active +working Manas; they are outward-turned, and by study of the Not-Self, they +learn to realise the Self. The one is the path of the metaphysician; the other +is the path of the scientist. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIII02"></a>To the Self by the Self</h2> + +<p> +Let us look at this a little more closely, with its appropriate methods. The +path on which the faculty of Buddhi is used predominantly is, as just said, the +path of the metaphysician. It is the path of the philosopher. He turns inwards, +ever seeking to find the Self by diving into the recesses of his own nature. +Knowing that the Self is within him, he tries to strip away vesture after +vesture, envelope after envelope, and by a process of rejecting them he reaches +the glory of the unveiled Self. To begin this, he must give up concrete +thinking and dwell amidst abstractions. His method, then, must be strenuous, +long-sustained, patient meditation. Nothing else will serve his end; strenuous, +hard thinking, by which he rises away from the concrete into the abstract +regions of the mind; strenuous, hard thinking, further continued, by which he +reaches from the abstract region of the mind up to the region of Buddhi, where +unity is sensed; still by strenuous thinking, climbing yet further, until +Buddhi as it were opens out into Atma, until the Self is seen in his splendour, +with only a film of atmic matter, the envelope of Atma in the manifested +fivefold world. It is along that difficult and strenuous path that the Self +must be found by way of the Self. +</p> + +<p> +Such a man must utterly disregard the Not-Self. He must shut his senses against +the outside world. The world must no longer be able to touch him. The senses +must be closed against all the vibrations that come from without, and he must +turn a deaf ear, a blind eye, to all the allurements of matter, to all the +diversity of objects, which make up the universe of the Not-Self. Seclusion +will help him, until he is strong enough to close himself against the outer +stimuli or allurements. The contemplative orders in the Roman Catholic Church +offer a good environment for this path. They put the outer world away, as far +away as possible. It is a snare, a temptation, a hindrance. Always turning away +from the world, the Yogi must fix his thought, his attention, upon the Self. +Hence for those who walk along this road, what are called the Siddhis are +direct obstacles, and not helps. But that statement that you find so often, +that the Siddhis are things to be avoided, is far more sweeping than some of +our modern Theosophists are apt to imagine. They declare that the Siddhis are +to be avoided, but forget that the Indian who says this also avoids the use of +the physical senses. He closes physical eyes and ears as hindrances. But some +Theosophists urge avoidance of all use of the astral senses and mental senses, +but they do not object to the free use of the physical senses, or dream that +they are hindrances. Why not? If the senses are obstacles in their finer forms, +they are also obstacles in their grosser manifestations. To the man who would +find the Self by the Self, every sense is a hindrance and an obstacle, and +there is no logic, no reason, in denouncing the subtler senses only, while +forgetting the temptations of the physical senses, impediments as much as the +other. No such division exists for the man who tries to understand the universe +in which he is. In the search for the Self by the Self, all that is not Self is +an obstacle. Your eyes, your ears, everything that puts you into contact with +the outer world, is just as much an obstacle as the subtler forms of the same +senses which put you into touch with the subtler worlds of matter, which you +call astral and mental. This exaggerated fear of the Siddhis is only a passing +reaction, not based on understanding but on lack of understanding; and those +who denounce the Siddhis should rise to the logical position of the Hindu Yogi, +or of the Roman Catholic recluse, who denounces all the senses, and all the +objects of the senses, as obstacles in the way. Many Theosophists here, and +more in the West, think that much is gained by acuteness of the physical +senses, and of the other faculties in the physical brain; but the moment the +senses are acute enough to be astral, or the faculties begin to work in astral +matter, they treat them as objects of denunciation. That is not rational. It is +not logical. Obstacles, then, are all the senses, whether you call them Siddhis +or not, in the search for the Self by turning away from the Not-Self. +</p> + +<p> +It is necessary for the man who seeks the Self by the Self to have the quality +which is called “faith,” in the sense in which I defined it before—the +profound, intense conviction, that nothing can shake, of the reality of the +Self within you. That is the one thing that is worthy to be dignified by the +name of faith. Truly it is beyond reason, for not by reason may the Self be +known as real. Truly it is not based on argument, for not by reasoning may the +Self be discovered. It is the witness of the Self within you to his own supreme +reality, and that unshakable conviction, which is shraddha, is necessary for +the treading of this path. It is necessary, because without it the human mind +would fail, the human courage would be daunted, the human perseverance would +break, with the difficulties of the seeking for the Self. Only that imperious +conviction that the Self is, only that can cheer the pilgrim in the darkness +that comes down upon him, in the void that he must cross before—the life of the +lower being thrown away—the life of the higher is realised. This imperious +faith is to the Yogi on this path what experience and knowledge are to the Yogi +on the other. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIII03"></a>To the Self Through the Not-self</h2> + +<p> +Turn from him to the seeker for the Self through the Not- Self. This is the way +of the scientist, of the man who uses the concrete, active Manas, in order +scientifically to understand the universe; he has to find the real among the +unreal, the eternal among the changing, the Self amid the diversity of forms. +How is he to do it? By a close and rigorous study of every changing form in +which the Self has veiled himself. By studying the Not-Self around him and in +him, by understanding his own nature, by analysing in order to understand, by +studying nature in others as well as in himself, by learning to know himself +and to gain knowledge of others; slowly, gradually, step by step, plane after +plane, he has to climb upwards, rejecting one form of matter after another, +finding not in these the Self he seeks. As he learns to conquer the physical +plane, he uses the keenest senses in order to understand, and finally to +reject. He says: “This is not my Self. This changing panorama, these +obscurities, these continual transformations, these are obviously the +antithesis of the eternity, the lucidity, the stability of the Self. These +cannot be my Self.” And thus he constantly rejects them. He climbs on to the +astral plane and, using there the finer astral senses, he studies the astral +world, only to find that that also is changing and manifests not the +changelessness of the Self. After the astral world is conquered and rejected, +he climbs on into the mental plane, and there still studies the ever-changing +forms of that Manasic world, only once more to reject them: “These are not the +Self.” Climbing still higher, ever following the track of forms, he goes from +the mental to the Buddhic plane, where the Self begins to show his radiance and +beauty in manifested union. Thus by studying diversity he reaches the +conception of unity, and is led into the understanding of the One. To him the +realisation of the Self comes through the study of the Not-Self, by the +separation of the Not-Self from the Self. Thus he does by knowledge and +experience what the other does by pure thinking and by faith. In this path of +finding the Self through the Not-Self, the so-called Siddhis are necessary. +Just as you cannot study the physical world without the physical senses, so you +cannot study the astral world without the astral senses, nor the mental world +without the mental senses. Therefore, calmly choose your ends, and then think +out your means, and you will not be in any difficulty about the method you +should employ, the path you should tread. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we see that there are two methods, and these must be kept separate in your +thought. Along the line of pure thinking—the metaphysical line—you may reach +the Self. So also along the line of scientific observation and experiment—the +physical line, in the widest sense of the term physical—you may reach the Self. +Both are ways of Yoga. Both are included in the directions that you may read in +the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Those directions will cease to be +self-contradictory, if you will only separate in your thought the two methods. +Patanjali has given, in the later part of his Sutras, some hints as to the way +in which the Siddhis may be developed. Thus you may find your way to the +Supreme. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIII04"></a>Yoga and Morality</h2> + +<p> +The next point that I would pause upon, and ask you to realise, is the fact +that Yoga is a science of psychology. I want further to point out to you that +it is not a science of ethic, though ethic is certainly the foundation of it. +Psychology and ethic are not the same. The science of psychology is the result +of the study of mind. The science of ethic is the result of the study of +conduct, so as to bring about the harmonious relation of one to another. Ethic +is a science of life, and not an investigation into the nature of mind and the +methods by which the powers of the mind may be developed and evolved. I pause +on this because of the confusion that exists in many people as regards this +point. If you understand the scope of Yoga aright, such a confusion ought not +to arise. The confused idea makes people think that in Yoga they ought to find +necessarily what are called precepts of morality, ethic. Though Patanjali gives +the universal precepts of morality and right conduct in the first two angas of +Yoga, called yama and niyama, yet they are subsidiary to the main topic, are +the foundation of it, as just said. No practice of Yoga is possible unless you +possess the ordinary moral attributes summed up in yama and niyama; that goes +without saying. But you should not expect to find moral precepts in a +scientific text book of psychology, like Yoga. A man studying the science of +electricity is not shocked if he does not find in it moral precepts; why then +should one studying Yoga, as a science of psychology, expect to find moral +precepts in it? I do not say that morality is unimportant for the Yogi. On the +contrary, it is all-important. It is absolutely necessary in the first stages +of Yoga for everyone. But to a Yogi who has mastered these, it is not +necessary, if he wants to follow the left-hand path. For you must remember that +there is a Yoga of the left-hand path, as well as a Yoga of the right-hand +path. Yoga is there also followed, and though asceticism is always found in the +early stages, and sometimes in the later, true morality is absent. The black +magician is often as rigid in his morality as any Brother of the White Lodge. +Of the disciples of the black and white magicians, the disciple of the black +magician is often the more ascetic. His object is not the purification of life +for the sake of humanity, but the purification of the vehicle, that he may be +better able to acquire power. The difference between the white and the black +magician lies in the motive. You might have a white magician, a follower of the +right-hand path, rejecting meat because the way of obtaining it is against the +law of compassion. The follower of the left-hand path may also reject meat, but +for the reason that be would not be able to work so well with his vehicle if it +were full of the rajasic elements of meat. The difference is in the motive. The +outer action is the same. Both men may be called moral, if judged by the outer +action alone. The motive marks the path, while the outer actions are often +identical. +</p> + +<p> +It is a moral thing to abstain from meat, because thereby you are lessening the +infliction of suffering; it is not a moral act to abstain from meat from the +yogic standpoint, but only a means to an end. Some of the greatest yogis in +Hindu literature were, and are, men whom you would rightly call black +magicians. But still they are yogis. One of the greatest yogis of all was +Ravana, the anti-Christ, the Avatara of evil, who summed up all the evil of the +world in his own person in order to oppose the Avatara of good. He was a great, +a marvellous yogi, and by Yoga he gained his power. Ravana was a typical yogi +of the left-hand path, a great destroyer, and he practiced Yoga to obtain the +power of destruction, in order to force from the hands of the Planetary Logos +the boon that no man should be able to kill him. You may say: “What a strange +thing that a man can force from God such a power.” The laws of Nature are the +expression of Divinity, and if a man follows a law of Nature, he reaps the +result which that law inevitably brings; the question whether he is good or bad +to his fellow men does not touch this matter at all. Whether some other law is +or is not obeyed, is entirely outside the question. It is a matter of dry fact +that the scientific man may be moral or immoral, provided that his immorality +does not upset his eyesight or nervous system. It is the same with Yoga. +Morality matters profoundly, but it does not affect these particular things, +and if you think it does, you are always getting into bogs and changing your +moral standpoint, either lowering or making it absurd. Try to understand; that +is what the Theosophist should do; and when you understand, you will not fall +into the blunders nor suffer the bewilderment many do, when you expect laws +belonging to one region of the universe to bring about results in another. The +scientific man understands that. He knows that a discovery in chemistry does +not depend upon his morality, and he would not think of doing an act of charity +with a view to finding out a new element. He will not fail in a well-wrought +experiment, however vicious his private life may be. The things are in +different regions, and he does not confuse the laws of the two. As Ishvara is +absolutely just, the man who obeys a law reaps the fruit of that law, whether +his actions, in any other fields, are beneficial to man or not. If you sow +rice, you will reap rice; if you sow weeds, you will reap weeds; rice for rice, +and weed for weed. The harvest is according to the sowing. For this is a +universe of law. By law we conquer, by law we succeed. Where does morality come +in, then? When you are dealing with a magician of the right-hand path, the +servant of the White Lodge, there morality is an all-important factor. Inasmuch +as he is learning to be a servant of humanity, he must observe the highest +morality, not merely the morality of the world, for the white magician has to +deal with helping on harmonious relations between man and man. The white +magician must be patient. The black magician may quite well be harsh. The white +magician must be compassionate; compassion widens out his nature, and he is +trying to make his consciousness include the whole of humanity. But not so the +black magician. He can afford to ignore compassion. +</p> + +<p> +A white magician may strive for power. But when he is striving for power, he +seeks it that he may serve humanity and become more useful to mankind, a more +effective servant in the helping of the world. But not so the brother of the +dark side. When he strives for power, he seeks if for himself, so that he may +use it against the whole world. He may be harsh and cruel. He wants to be +isolated; and harshness and cruelty tend to isolate him. He wants power; and +holding that power for himself, he can put himself temporarily, as it were, +against the Divine Will in evolution. +</p> + +<p> +The end of the one is Nirvana, where all separation has ceased. The end of the +other is Avichi—the uttermost isolation—the kaivalya of the black magician. +Both are yogis, both follow the science of yoga, and each gets the result of +the law he has followed: one the kaivalya of Nirvana, the other the kaivalya of +Avichi. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIII05"></a>Composition of States of the Mind</h2> + +<p> +Let us pass now to the “states of the mind” as they are called. The word which +is used for the states of the mind by Patanjali is Vritti. This admirably +constructed language Sanskrit gives you in that very word its own meaning. +Vrittis means the “being” of the mind; the ways in which mind can exist; the +modes of the mind; the modes of mental existence; the ways of existing. That is +the literal meaning of this word. A subsidiary meaning is a “turning around,” a +“moving in a circle”. You have to stop, in Yoga, every mode of existing in +which the mind manifests itself. In order to guide you towards the power of +stopping them—for you cannot stop them till you understand them—you are told +that these modes of mind are fivefold in their nature. They are pentads. The +Sutra, as usually translated, says “the Vrittis are fivefold (panchatayyah),” +but pentad is a more accurate rendering of the word pancha-tayyah, in the +original, than fivefold. The word pentad at once recalls to you the way in +which the chemist speaks of a monad, triad, heptad, when he deals with +elements. The elements with which the chemist is dealing are related to the +unit-element in different ways. Some elements are related to it in one way +only, and are called monads; others are related in two ways, and are called +duads, and so on. +</p> + +<p> +Is this applicable to the states of mind also? Recall the shloka of the +Bhagavad-Gita in which it is said that the Jiva goes out into the world, +drawing round him the five senses and mind as sixth. That may throw a little +light on the subject. You have five senses, the five ways of knowing, the five +jnanendriyas or organs of knowing. Only by these five senses can you know the +outer world. Western psychology says that nothing exists in thought that does +not exist in sensation. That is not true universally; it is not true of the +abstract mind, nor wholly of the concrete. But there is a great deal of truth +in it. Every idea is a pentad. It is made up of five elements. Each element +making up the idea comes from one of the senses, and of these there are at +present five. Later on every idea will be a heptad, made up of seven elements. +For the present, each has five qualities, which build up the idea. The mind +unites the whole together into a single thought, synthesises the five +sensations. If you think of an orange and analyse your thought of an orange, +you will find in it: colour, which comes through the eye; fragrance, which +comes through the nose; taste, which comes through the tongue; roughness or +smoothness, which comes through the sense of touch; and you would hear musical +notes made by the vibrations of the molecules, coming through the sense of +hearing, were it keener. If you had a perfect sense of hearing. you would hear +the sound of the orange also, for wherever there is vibration there is sound. +All this, synthesised by the mind into one idea, is an orange. That is the root +reason for the “association of ideas”. It is not only that a fragrance recalls +the scene and the circumstances under which the fragrance was observed, but +because every impression is made through all the five senses and, therefore, +when one is stimulated, the others are recalled. The mind is like a prism. If +you put a prism in the path of a ray of white light, it will break it up into +its seven constituent rays and seven colours will appear. Put another prism in +the path of these seven rays, and as they pass through the prism, the process +is reversed and the seven become one white light. The mind is like the second +prism. It takes in the five sensations that enter through the senses, and +combines them into a single precept. As at the present stage of evolution the +senses are five only, it unites the five sensations into one idea. What the +white ray is to the seven- coloured light, that a thought or idea is to the +fivefold sensation. That is the meaning of the much controverted Sutra: +“Vrittayah panchatayych,” “the vrittis, or modes of the mind, are pentads.” If +you look at it in that way, the later teachings will be more clearly +understood. +</p> + +<p> +As I have already said, that sentence, that nothing exists in thought which is +not in sensation, is not the whole truth. Manas, the sixth sense, adds to the +sensations its own pure elemental nature. What is that nature that you find +thus added? It is the establishment of a relation, that is really what the mind +adds. All thinking is the “establishment of relations,” and the more closely +you look into that phrase, the more you will realise how it covers all the +varied processes of the mind. The very first process of the mind is to become +aware of an outside world. However dimly at first, we become aware of something +outside ourselves—a process generally called perception. I use the more general +term “establishing a relation,” because that runs through the whole of the +mental processes, whereas perception is only a single thing. To use a +well-known simile, when a little baby feels a pin pricking it, it is conscious +of pain, but not at first conscious of the pin, nor yet conscious of where +exactly the pin is. It does not recognise the part of the body in which the pin +is. There is no perception, for perception is defined as relating a sensation +to the object which causes the sensation. You only, technically speaking, +“perceive” when you make a relation between the object and yourself. That is +the very first of these mental processes, following on the heels of sensation. +Of course, from the Eastern standpoint, sensation is a mental function also, +for the senses are part of the cognitive faculty, but they are unfortunately +classed with feelings in Western psychology. Now having established that +relation between yourself and objects outside, what is the next process of the +mind? Reasoning: that is, the establishing of relations between different +objects, as perception is the establishment of your relation with a single +object. When you have perceived many objects, then you begin to reason in order +to establish relations between them. Reasoning is the establishment of a new +relation, which comes out from the comparison of the different objects that by +perception you have established in relation with yourself, and the result is a +concept. This one phrase, “establishment of relations,” is true all round. The +whole process of thinking is the establishment of relations, and it is natural +that it should be so, because the Supreme Thinker, by establishing a relation, +brought matter into existence. Just as He, by establishing that primary +relation between Himself and the Not-Self, makes a universe possible, so do we +reflect His powers in ourselves, thinking by the same method, establishing +relations, and thus carrying out every intellectual process. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIII06"></a>Pleasure and Pain</h2> + +<p> +Let us pass again from that to another statement made by this great teacher of +Yoga: “Pentads are of two kinds, painful and non-painful.” Why did he not say: +“painful and pleasant”? Because he was an accurate thinker, a logical thinker, +and he uses the logical division that includes the whole universe of discourse, +A and Not-A, painful and non-painful. There has been much controversy among +psychologists as to a third kind —indifferent. Some psychologists divide all +feelings into three: painful, pleasant and indifferent. Feelings cannot be +divided merely into pain and pleasure, there is a third class, called +indifference, which is neither painful nor pleasant. Other psychologists say +that indifference is merely pain or pleasure that is not marked enough to be +called the one or the other. Now this controversy and tangle into which +psychologists have fallen might be avoided if the primary division of feelings +were a logical division. A and Not-A—that is the only true and logical +division. Patanjali is absolutely logical and right. In order to avoid the +quicksand into which the modern psychologists have fallen, he divides all +vrittis, modes of mind, into painful and nonpainful. +</p> + +<p> +There is, however, a psychological reason why we should say “pleasure and +pain,” although it is not a logical division. The reason why there should be +that classification is that the word pleasure and the word pain express two +fundamental states of difference, not in the Self, but in the vehicles in which +that Self dwells. The Self, being by nature unlimited, is ever pressing, so to +say, against any boundaries which seek to limit him. When these limitations +give way a little before the constant pressure of the Self, we feel “pleasure,” +and when they resist or contract, we feel “pain”. They are not states of the +Self so much as states of the vehicles, and states of certain changes in +consciousness. Pleasure and pain belong to the Self as a whole, and not to any +aspect of the Self separately taken. When pleasure and pain are marked off as +belonging only to the desire nature, the objection arises: “Well, but in the +exercise of the cognitive faculty there is an intense pleasure. When you use +the creative faculty of the mind you are conscious of a profound joy in its +exercise, and yet that creative faculty can by no means be classed with +desire.” The answer is: “Pleasure belongs to the Self as a whole. Where the +vehicles yield themselves to the Self, and permit it to ‘expand’ as is its +eternal nature, then what is called pleasure is felt.” It has been rightly +said: “Pleasure is a sense of moreness.” Every time you feel pleasure, you will +find the word “moreness” covers the case. It will cover the lowest condition of +pleasure, the pleasure of eating. You are becoming more by appropriating to +yourself a part of the Not-Self, food. You will find it true of the highest +condition of bliss, union with the Supreme. You become more by expanding +yourself to His infinity. When you have a phrase that can be applied to the +lowest and highest with which you are dealing, you may be fairly sure it is +all-inclusive, and that, therefore, “pleasure is moreness” is a true statement. +Similarly, pain is “lessness”. +</p> + +<p> +If you understand these things your philosophy of life will become more +practical, and you will be able to help more effectively people who fall into +evil ways. Take drink. The real attraction of drinking lies in the fact that, +in the first stages of it, a more keen and vivid life is felt. That stage is +overstepped in the case of the man who gets drunk, and then the attraction +ceases. The attraction lies in the first stages, and many people have +experienced that, who would never dream of becoming drunk. Watch people who are +taking wine and see how much more lively and talkative they become. There lies +the attraction, the danger. +</p> + +<p> +The real attraction in most coarse forms of excess is that they give an added +sense of life, and you will never be able to redeem a man from his excess +unless you know why he does it. Understanding the attractiveness of the first +step, the increase of life, then you will be able to put your finger on the +point of temptation, and meet that in your argument with him. So that this sort +of mental analysis is not only interesting, but practically useful to every +helper of mankind. The more you know, the greater is your power to help. +</p> + +<p> +The next question that arises is: “Why does he not divide all feelings into +pleasurable and not-pleasurable, rather than into ‘painful and not-painful’?” A +Westerner will not be at a loss to answer that: “Oh, the Hindu is naturally so +very pessimistic, that he naturally ignores pleasure and speaks of painful and +not-painful. The universe is full of pain.” But that would not be a true +answer. In the first place the Hindu is not pessimistic. He is the most +optimistic of men. He has not got one solitary school of philosophy that does +not put in its foreground that the object of all philosophy is to put an end to +pain. But he is profoundly reasonable. He knows that we need not go about +seeking happiness. It is already ours, for it is the essence of our own nature. +Do not the Upanishads say: “The Self is bliss”? Happiness exists perennially +within you. It is your normal state. You have not to seek it. You will +necessarily be happy if you get rid of the obstacles called pain, which are in +the modes of mind. Happiness is not a secondary thing, but pain is, and these +painful things are obstacles to be got rid of. When they are stopped, you must +be happy. Therefore Patanjali says: “The vrittis are painful and non-painful.” +Pain is an excrescence. It is a transitory thing. The Self, who is bliss, being +the all-permeating life of the universe, pain has no permanent place in it. +Such is the Hindu position, the most optimistic in the world. +</p> + +<p> +Let us pause for a moment to ask: “Why should there be pain at all if the Self +is bliss?” Just because the nature of the Self is bliss. It would be impossible +to make the Self turn outward, come into manifestation, if only streams of +bliss flowed in on him. He would have remained unconscious of the streams. To +the infinity of bliss nothing could be added. If you had a stream of water +flowing unimpeded in its course, pouring more water into it would cause no +ruffling, the stream would go on heedless of the addition. But put an obstacle +in the way, so that the free flow is checked, and the stream will struggle and +fume against the obstacle, and make every endeavour to sweep it away. That +which is contrary to it, that which will check its current’s smooth flow, that +alone will cause effort. That is the first function of pain. It is the only +thing that can rouse the Self. It is the only thing that can awaken his +attention. When that peaceful, happy, dreaming, inturned Self finds the surge +of pain beating against him, he awakens: “What is this, contrary to my nature, +antagonistic and repulsive, what is this?” It arouses him to the fact of a +surrounding universe, an outer world. Hence in psychology, in yoga, always +basing itself on the ultimate analysis of the fact of nature, pain is the thing +that asserts itself as the most important factor in Self-realisation; that +which is other than the Self will best spur the Self into activity. Therefore +we find our commentator, when dealing with pain, declares that the karmic +receptacle the causal body, that in which all the seeds of karma are gathered +Up, has for its builder all painful experiences; and along that line of thought +we come to the great generalisation: the first function of pain in the universe +is to arouse the Self to turn himself to the outer world, to evoke his aspect +of activity. +</p> + +<p> +The next function of pain is the organisation of the vehicles. Pain makes the +man exert himself, and by that exertion the matter of his vehicles gradually +becomes organised. If you want to develop and organise your muscles, you make +efforts, you exercise them, and thus more life flows into them and they become +strong. Pain is necessary that the Self may force his vehicles into making +efforts which develop and organise them. Thus pain not only awakens awareness, +it also organises the vehicles. +</p> + +<p> +It has a third function also. Pain purifies. We try to get rid of that which +causes us pain. It is contrary to our nature, and we endeavour to throw it +away. All that is against the blissful nature of the Self is shaken by pain out +of the vehicles; slowly they become purified by suffering, and in that way +become ready for the handling of the Self. +</p> + +<p> +It has a fourth function. Pain teaches. All the best lessons of life come from +pain rather than from joy. When one is becoming old, as I am and I look on the +long life behind me, a life of storm and stress, of difficulties and efforts, I +see something of the great lessons pain can teach. Out of my life story could +efface without regret everything that it has had of joy and happiness, but not +one pain would I let go, for pain is the teacher of wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +It has a fifth function. Pain gives power. Edward Carpenter said, in his +splendid poem of “Time and Satan,” after he had described the wrestlings and +the overthrows: “Every pain that I suffered in one body became a power which I +wielded in the next.” Power is pain transmuted. +</p> + +<p> +Hence the wise man, knowing these things, does not shrink from pain; it means +purification, wisdom, power. +</p> + +<p> +It is true that a man may suffer so much pain that for this incarnation he may +be numbed by it, rendered wholly or partially useless. Especially is this the +case when the pain has deluged in childhood. But even then, he shall reap his +harvest of good later. By his past, he may have rendered present pain +inevitable, but none the less can he turn it into a golden opportunity by +knowing and utilising its functions. +</p> + +<p> +You may say: “What use then of pleasure, if pain is so splendid a thing?” From +pleasure comes illumination. Pleasure enables the Self to manifest. In pleasure +all the vehicles of the Self are made harrnonious; they all vibrate together; +the vibrations are rhythmical, not jangled as they are in pain, and those +rhythmical vibrations permit that expansion of the Self of which I spoke, and +thus lead up to illumination, the knowledge of the Self. And if that be true, +as it is true, you will see that pleasure plays an immense part in nature, +being of the nature of the Self, belonging to him. When it harmonises the +vehicles of the Self from outside, it enables the Self more readily to manifest +himself through the lower selves within us. Hence happiness is a condition of +illumination. That is the explanation of the value of the rapture of the +mystic; it is an intense joy. A tremendous wave of bliss, born of love +triumphant, sweeps over the whole of his being, and when that great wave of +bliss sweeps over him, it harmonises the whole of his vehicles, subtle and +gross alike, and the glory of the Self is made manifest and he sees the face of +his God. Then comes the wonderful illumination, which for the time makes him +unconscious of all the lower worlds. It is because for a moment the Self is +realising himself as divine, that it is possible for him to see that divinity +which is cognate to himself. So you should not fear joy any more than you fear +pain, as some unwise people do, dwarfed by a mistaken religionism. That foolish +thought which you often find in an ignorant religion, that pleasure is rather +to be dreaded, as though God grudged joy to His children, is one of the +nightmares born of ignorance and terror. The Father of life is bliss. He who is +joy cannot grudge Himself to His children, and every reflection of joy in the +world is a reflection of the Divine Life, and a manifestation of the Self in +the midst of matter. Hence pleasure has its function as well as pain and that +also is welcome to the wise, for he understands and utilises it. You can easily +see how along this line pleasure and pain become equally welcome. Identified +with neither, the wise man takes either as it comes, knowing its purpose. When +we understand the places of joy and of pain, then both lose their power to bind +or to upset us. If pain comes, we take it and utilise it. If joy comes, we take +it and utilise it. So we may pass through life, welcoming both pleasure and +pain, content whichever may come to us, and not wishing for that which is for +the moment absent. We use both as means to a desired end; and thus we may rise +to a higher indifference than that of the stoic, to the true vairagya; both +pleasure and pain are transcended, and the Self remains, who is bliss. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chapIV"></a>Lecture IV<br/> +YOGA AS PRACTICE</h2> + +<p> +Brothers: +</p> + +<p> +Yesterday, in dealing with the third section of the subject, I drew your +attention to the states of mind, and pointed out to you that, according to the +Samskrit word vritti, those states of mind should be regarded as ways m which +the mind exists, or, to use the philosophical phrase of the West, they are +modes of mind, modes of mental existence. These are the states which are to be +inhibited, put an end to, abolished, reduced into absolute quiescence. The +reason for this inhibition is the production of a state which allows the higher +mind to pour itself into the lower. To put it in another way: the lower mind, +unruffled, waveless, reflects the higher, as a waveless lake reflects the +stars. You will remember the phrase used in the Upanishad, which puts it less +technically and scientifically, but more beautifully, and declares that in the +quietude of the mind and the tranquility of the senses, a man may behold the +majesty of the Self. The method of producing this quietude is what we have now +to consider. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV01"></a>Inhibition of States of Mind</h2> + +<p> +Two ways, and two ways only, there are of inhibiting these modes, these ways of +existence, of the mind. They were given by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, +when Arjuna complained that the mind was impetuous, strong, difficult to bend, +hard to curb as the wind. His answer was definite: “Without doubt, O +mighty-armed, the mind is hard to curb and restless; but it may be curbed by +constant practice (abhyasa) and by dispassion (vai-ragya).”<a href="#fn7" name="fnref7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn7"></a> <a href="#fnref7">[7]</a> +<i>loc. cit.</i>, vi. 35, 35 +</p> + +<p> +These are the two methods, the only two methods, by which this restless, +storm-tossed mind can be reduced to peace and quietude. Vai-ragya and abhyasa, +they are the only two methods, but when steadily practiced they inevitably +bring about the result. +</p> + +<p> +Let us consider what these two familiar words imply. Vai-ragya, or dispassion, +has as its main idea the clearing away of all passion for, attraction to, the +objects of the senses, the bonds which are made by desire between man and the +objects around him. Raga is “passion, addiction,” that which binds a man to +things. The prefix “vi”—changing to “vai” by a grammatical rule —means +“without,” or “in opposition to”. Hence vai-ragya is “non-passion, absence of +passion,” not bound, tied or related to any of these outside objects. +Remembering that thinking is the establishing of relations, we see that the +getting rid of relations will impose on the mind the stillness that is Yoga. +All raga must be entirely put aside. We must separate ourselves from it. We +must acquire the opposite condition, where every passion is stilled, where no +attraction for the objects of desire remains, where all the bonds that unite +the man to surrounding objects are broken. “When the bonds of the heart are +broken, then the man becomes immortal.” +</p> + +<p> +How shall this dispassion be brought about? There is only one right way of +doing it. By slowly and gradually drawing ourselves away from outer objects +through the more potent attraction of the Self. The Self is ever attracted to +the Self. That attraction alone can turn these vehicles away from the alluring +and repulsive objects that surround them; free from all raga, no more +establishing relations with objects, the separated Self finds himself liberated +and free, and union with the one Self becomes the sole object of desire. But +not instantly, by one supreme effort, by one endeavour, can this great quality +of dispassion become the characteristic of the man bent on Yoga. He must +practice dispassion constantly and steadfastly. That is implied in the word +joined with dispassion, abhyasa or practice. The practice must be constant, +continual and unbroken. “Practice” does not mean only meditation, though this +is the sense in which the word is generally used; it means the deliberate, +unbroken carrying out of dispassion in the very midst of the objects that +attract. +</p> + +<p> +In order that you may acquire dispassion, you must practice it in the everyday +things of life. I have said that many confine abhyasa to meditation. That is +why so few people attain to Yoga. Another error is to wait for some big +opportunity. People prepare themselves for some tremendous sacrifice and forget +the little things of everyday life, in which the mind is knitted to objects by +a myriad tiny threads. These things, by their pettiness, fail to attract +attention, and in waiting for the large thing, which does not come, people lose +the daily practice of dispassion towards the little things that are around +them. By curbing desire at every moment, we become indifferent to all the +objects that surround us. Then, when the great opportunity comes, we seize it +while scarce aware that it is upon us. Every day, all day long, practice—that +is what is demanded from the aspirant to Yoga, for only on that line can +success come; and it is the wearisomeness of this strenuous, continued +endeavour that tires out the majority of aspirants. +</p> + +<p> +I must here warn you of a danger. There is a rough-and- ready way of quickly +bringing about dispassion. Some say to you: “Kill out all love and affection; +harden your hearts; become cold to all around you; desert your wife and +children, your father and mother, and fly to the desert or the jungle; put a +wall between youself and all objects of desire; then dispassion will be yours.” +It is true that it is comparatively easy to acquire dispassion in that way. But +by that you kill more than desire. You put round the Self, who is love, a +barrier through which he is unable to pierce. You cramp yourself by encircling +yourself with a thick shell, and you cannot break through it. You harden +yourself where you ought to be softened; you isolate yourself where you ought +to be embracing others; you kill love and not only desire, forgetting that love +clings to the Self and seeks the Self, while desire clings to the sheaths of +the Self, the bodies in which the Self is clothed. Love is the desire of the +separated Self for union with all other separated Selves. Dispassion is the +non-attraction to matter—a very different thing. You must guard love—for it is +the very Self of the Self. In your anxiety to acquire dispassion do not kill +out love. Love is the life in everyone of us, separated Selves. It draws every +separated Self to the other Self. Each one of us is a part of one mighty whole. +Efface desire as regards the vehicles that clothe the Self, but do not efface +love as regards the Self, that never-dying force which draws Self to Self. In +this great up-climbing, it is far better to suffer from love rather than to +reject it, and to harden your hearts against all ties and claims of affection. +Suffer for love, even though the suffering be bitter. Love, even though the +love be an avenue of pain. The pain shall pass away, but the love shall +continue to grow, and in the unity of the Self you shall finally discover that +love is the great attracting force which makes all things one. +</p> + +<p> +Many people, in trying to kill out love, only throw themselves back, becoming +less human, not superhuman; by their mistaken attempts. It is by and through +human ties of love and sympathy that the Self unfolds. It is said of the +Masters that They love all humanity as a mother loves her firstborn son. Their +love is not love watered down to coolness, but love for all raised to the heat +of the highest particular loves of smaller souls. Always mistrust the teacher +who tells you to kill out love, to be indifferent to human affections. That is +the way which leads to the left-hand path. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV02"></a>Meditation With and Without Seed</h2> + +<p> +The next step is our method of meditation. What do we mean by meditation? +Meditation cannot be the same for every man. Though the same in principle, +namely, the steadying of the mind, the method must vary with the temperament of +the practitioner. Suppose that you are a strong-minded and intelligent man, +fond of reasoning. Suppose that connected links of thought and argument have +been to you the only exorcise of the mind. Utilise that past training. Do not +imagine that you can make your mind still by a single effort. Follow a logical +chain of reasoning, step by step, link after link; do not allow the mind to +swerve a hair’s breadth from it. Do not allow the mind to go aside to other +lines of thought. Keep it rigidly along a single line, and steadiness will +gradually result. Then, when you have worked up to your highest point of +reasoning and reached the last link of your chain of argument, and your mind +will carry you no further, and beyond that you can see nothing, then stop. At +that highest point of thinking, cling desperately to the last link of the +chain, and there keep the mind poised, in steadiness and strenuous quiet, +waiting for what may come. After a while, you will be able to maintain this +attitude for a considerable time. +</p> + +<p> +For one in whom imagination is stronger than the reasoning faculty, the method +by devotion, rather than by reasoning, is the method. Let him call imagination +to his help. He should picture some scene, in which the object of his devotion +forms the central figure, building it up, bit by bit, as a painter paints a +picture, putting in it gradually all the elements of the scene He must work at +it as a painter works on his canvas, line by line, his brush the brush of +imagination. At first the work will be very slow, but the picture soon begins +to present itself at call. Over and over he should picture the scene, dwelling +less and less on the surrounding objects and more and more on the central +figure which is the object of his heart’s devotion. The drawing of the mind to +a point, in this way, brings it under control and steadies it, and thus +gradually, by this use of the imagination. he brings the mind under command. +The object of devotion will be according to the man’s religion. Suppose—as is +the case with many of you—that his object of devotion is Sri Krishna; picture +Him in any scene of His earthly life, as in the battle of Kurukshetra. Imagine +the armies arrayed for battle on both sides; imagine Arjuna on the floor of the +chariot, despondent, despairing; then come to Sri Krishna, the Charioteer, the +Friend and Teacher. Then, fixing your mind on the central figure, let your +heart go out to Him with onepointed devotion. Resting on Him, poise yourself in +silence and, as before, wait for what may come. +</p> + +<p> +This is what is called “meditation with seed”. The central figure, or the last +link in reasoning, that is “the seed”. You have gradually made the vagrant mind +steady by this process of slow and gradual curbing, and at last you are fixed +on the central thought, or the central figure, and there you are poised. Now +let even that go. Drop the central thought, the idea, the seed of meditation. +Let everything go. But keep the mind in the position gained, the highest point +reached, vigorous and alert. This is meditation without a seed. Remain poised, +and wait in the silence and the void. You are in the “cloud,” before described, +and pass through the condition before sketched. Suddenly there will be a +change, a change unmistakable, stupendous, incredible. In that silence, as +said, a Voice shall be heard. In that void, a Form shall reveal itself. In that +empty sky, a Sun shall rise, and in the light of that Sun you shall realise +your own identity with it, and know that that which is empty to the eye of +sense is full to the eye of Spirit, that that which is silence to the ear of +sense is full of music to the ear of Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +Along such lines you can learn to bring into control your mind, to discipline +your vagrant thought, and thus to reach illumination. One word of warning. You +cannot do this, while you are trying meditation with a seed. until you are able +to cling to your seed definitely for a considerable time, and maintain +throughout an alert attention. It is the emptiness of alert expectation. not +the emptiness of impending sleep. If your mind be not in that condition, its +mere emptiness is dangerous. It leads to mediumship, to possession, to +obsession. You can wisely aim at emptiness, only when you have so disciplined +the mind that it can hold for a considerable time to a single point and remain +alert when that point is dropped. +</p> + +<p> +The question is sometimes asked: “Suppose that I do this and succeed in +becoming unconscious of the body; suppose that I do rise into a higher region; +is it quite sure that I shall come back again to the body? Having left the +body, shall I be certain to return?” The idea of non-return makes a man +nervous. Even if he says that matter is nothing and Spirit is everything, he +yet does not like to lose touch with his body and, losing that touch, by sheer +fear, he drops back to the earth after having taken so much trouble to leave +it. You should, however, have no such fear. That which will draw you back again +is the trace of your past, which remains under all these conditions. +</p> + +<p> +The question is of the same kind as: “Why should a state of Pralaya ever come +to an end, and a new state of Manvantara begin?” And the answer is the same +from the Hindu psychological standpoint; because, although you have dropped the +very seed of thought, you cannot destroy the traces which that thought has +left, and that trace is a germ, and it tends to draw again to itself matter, +that it may express itself once more. This trace is what is called the +privation of matter— samskara. Far as you may soar beyond the concrete mind, +that trace, left in the thinking principle, of what you have thought and have +known, that remains and will inevitably draw you back. You cannot escape your +past and, until your life-period is over, that samskara will bring you back. It +is this also which, at the close of the heavenly life, brings a man back to +rebirth. It is the expression of the law of rhythm. In Light on the Path, that +wonderful occult treatise, this state is spoken of and the disciple is pictured +as in the silence. The writer goes on to say: “Out of the silence that is peace +a resonant voice shall arise. And this voice will say: ‘It is not well; thou +hast reaped, now thou must sow.’ And knowing this voice to be the silence +itself, thou wilt obey.” +</p> + +<p> +What is the meaning of that phrase: “Thou hast reaped, now thou must sow?” It +refers to the great law of rhythm which rules even the Logoi, the Ishvaras —the +law of the Mighty Breath, the out-breathing and the in-breathing, which compels +every fragment which is separated for a time. A Logos may leave His universe, +and it may drop away when He turns His gaze inward, for it was He who gave +reality to it. +</p> + +<p> +He may plunge into the infinite depths of being, but even then there is the +samskara of the past universe, the shadowy latent memory, the germ of maya from +which He cannot escape. To escape from it would be to cease to be Ishvara, and +to become Brahma Nirguna. There is no Ishvara without maya, there is no maya +without Ishvara. Even in pralaya, a time comes when the rest is over and the +inner life again demands manifestation; then the outward turning begins and a +new universe comes forth. Such is the law of rest and activity: activity +followed by rest; rest followed again by the desire for activity; and so the +ceaseless wheel of the universe, as well as of human lives, goes on. For in the +eternal, both rest and activity are ever present, and in that which we call +Time, they follow each other, although in eternity they be simultaneous and +ever-existing. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV03"></a>The Use of Mantras</h2> + +<p> +Let us see how far we can help ourselves in this difficult work. I will draw +your attention to one fact which is of enormous help to the beginner. +</p> + +<p> +Your vehicles are ever restless. Every vibration in the vehicle produces a +corresponding change in consciousness. Is there any way to check these +vibrations, to steady the vehicle, so that consciousness may be still? One +method is the repeating of a mantra. A mantra is a mechanical way of checking +vibration. Instead of using the powers of the will and of imagination, you save +these for other purposes, and use the mechanical resource of a mantra. A mantra +is a definite succession of sounds. Those sounds, repeated rhythmically over +and over again in succession, synchronise the vibrations of the vehicles into +unity with themselves. Hence a mantra cannot be translated; translation alters +the sounds. Not only in Hinduism, but in Buddhism, in Roman Catholicism, in +Islam, and among the Parsis, mantras are found, and they are never translated, +for when you have changed the succession and order of the sounds, the mantra +ceases to be a mantra. If you translate the words, you may have a very +beautiful prayer, but not a mantra. Your translation may be beautiful inspired +poetry, but it is not a living mantra. It will no longer harmonise the +vibrations of the surrounding sheaths, and thus enable the consciousness to +become still. The poetry, the inspired prayer, these are mentally translatable. +But a mantra is unique and untranslatable. Poetry is a great thing: it is often +an inspirer of the soul, it gives gratification to the ear, and it may be +sublime and beautiful, but it is not a mantra. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV04"></a>Attention</h2> + +<p> +Let us consider concentration. You ask a man if he can concentrate. He at once +says: “Oh! it is very difficult. I have often tried and failed.” But put the +same question in a different way, and ask him: “Can you pay attention to a +thing?” He will at once say: “Yes, I can do that.” +</p> + +<p> +Concentration is attention. The fixed attitude of attention, that is +concentration. If you pay attention to what you do, your mind will be +concentrated. Many sit down for meditation and wonder why they do not succeed. +How can you suppose that half an hour of meditation and twenty- three and a +half hours of scattering of thought throughout the day and night, will enable +you to concentrate during the half hour? You have undone during the day and +night what you did in the morning, as Penelope unravelled the web she wove. To +become a Yogi, you must be attentive all the time. You must practice +concentration every hour of your active life. Now you scatter your thoughts for +many hours, and you wonder that you do not succeed. The wonder would be if you +did. You must pay attention every day to everything you do. That is, no doubt, +hard to do, and you may make it easier in the first stages by choosing out of +your day’s work a portion only, and doing that portion with perfect, unflagging +attention. Do not let your mind wander from the thing before you. It does not +matter what the thing is. It may be the adding up of a column of figures, or +the reading of a book. Anything will do. It is the attitude of the mind that is +important and not the object before it. This is the only way of learning +concentration. Fix your mind rigidly on the work before you for the time being, +and when you have done with it, drop it. Practise steadily in this way for a +few months, and you will be surprised to find how easy it becomes to +concentrate the mind. Moreover, the body will soon learn to do many things +automatically. If you force it to do a thing regularly, it will begin to do it, +after a time, of its own accord, and then you find that you can manage to do +two or three things at the same time. In England, for instance, women are very +fond of knitting. When a girl first learns to knit, she is obliged to be very +intent on her fingers. Her attention must not wander from her fingers for a +moment, or she will make a mistake. She goes on doing that day after day, and +presently her fingers have learnt to pay attention to the work without her +supervision, and they may be left to do the knitting while she employs the +conscious mind on something else. It is further possible to train your mind as +the girl has trained her fingers. The mind also, the mental body, can be so +trained as to do a thing automatically. At last, your highest consciousness can +always remain fixed on the Supreme, while the lower consciousness in the body +will do the things of the body, and do them perfectly, because perfectly +trained. These are practical lessons of Yoga. +</p> + +<p> +Practice of this sort builds up the qualities you want, and you become stronger +and better, and fit to go on to the definite study of Yoga. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV05"></a>Obstacles to Yoga</h2> + +<p> +Before considering the capacities needed for this definite practice, let us run +over the obstacles to Yoga as laid down by Patanjali. +</p> + +<p> +The obstacles to Yoga are very inclusive. First, disease: if you are diseased +you cannot practice Yoga; it demands sound health, for the physical strain +entailed by it is great. Then languor of mind: you must be alert, energetic, in +your thought. Then doubt: you must have decision of will, must be able to make +up your mind. Then carelessness: this is one of the greatest difficulties with +beginners; they read a thing carelessly, they are inaccurate. Sloth: a lazy man +cannot be a Yogi; one who is inert, who lacks the power and the will to exert +himself; how shall he make the desperate exertions wanted along this line? The +next, worldly-mindedness, is obviously an obstacle. Mistaken ideas is another +great obstacle, thinking wrongly about things. One of the great qualifications +for Yoga is “right notion” “Right notion” means that the thought shall +correspond with the outside truth; that a man shall he fundamentally true, so +that his thought corresponds to fact; unless there is truth in a man, Yoga is +for him impossible. Missing the point, illogical, stupid, making the important, +unimportant and vice versa. Lastly, instability: which makes Yoga impossible, +and even a small amount of which makes Yoga futile; the unstable man cannot be +a yogi. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV06"></a>Capacities of Yoga</h2> + +<p> +Can everybody practise Yoga? No. But every well-educated person can prepare for +its future practice. For rapid progress you must have special capacities, as +for anything else. In any of the sciences a man may study without being the +possessor of very special capacity, although he cannot attain eminence therein; +and so it is with Yoga. Anybody with a fair intelligence may learn something +from Yoga which he may advantageously practice, but he cannot hope unless he +starts with certain capacities, to be a success in Yoga in this life. It is +only right to say that; for if any special science needs particular capacities +in order to attain eminence therein, the science of sciences certainly cannot +fall behind the ordinary sciences in the demands that it makes on its students. +</p> + +<p> +Suppose I am asked: “Can I become a great mathematician?” What must be my +answer? “You must have a natural aptitude and capacity for mathematics to be a +great mathematician. If you have not that capacity, you cannot be a great +mathematician in this life.” But this does not mean that you cannot learn any +mathematics. To be a great mathematician you must be born with a special +capacity for mathematics. To be born with such a special capacity means that +you have practiced it in very many lives and now you are born with it +ready-made. It is the same with Yoga. Every man can learn a little of it. But +to be a great Yogi means lives of practice. If these are behind you, you will +have been born with the necessary faculties in the present birth. +</p> + +<p> +There are three faculties which one must have to obtain success in Yoga. The +first is a strong desire. “Desire ardently.” Such a desire is needed to break +the strong links of desire which knit you to the outer world. Moreover, without +that strong desire you will never go through all the difficulties that bat your +way. You must have the conviction that you will ultimately succeed, and the +resolution to go on until you do succeed. It must be a desire so ardent and so +firmly rooted, that obstacles only make it more keen. To such a man an obstacle +is like fuel that you throw on a fire. It burns but the more strongly as it +catches hold of it and finds it fuel for the burning. So difficulties and +obstacles are but fuel to feed the fire of the yogi’s resolute desire. He only +becomes the more firmly fixed, because he finds the difficulties. +</p> + +<p> +If you have not this strong desire, its absence shows that you are new to the +work, but you can begin to prepare for it in this life. You can create desire +by thought; you cannot create desire by desire. Out of the desire nature, the +training of the desire nature cannot come. +</p> + +<p> +What is it in us that calls out desire? Look into your own mind, and you will +find that memory and imagination are the two things that evoke desire most +strongly. Hence thought is the means whereby all the changes in desire can be +brought about. Thought, imagination, is the only creative power in you, and by +imagination your powers are to be unfolded. The more you think of a desirable +object, the stronger becomes the desire for it. Then think of Yoga as +desirable, if you want to desire Yoga. Think about the results of Yoga and what +it means for the world when you have become a yogi, and you will find your +desire becoming stronger and stronger. For it is only by thought that you can +manage desire. You can do nothing with it by itself. You want the thing, or you +do not want it, and within the limits of the desire nature you are helpless in +its grasp. As just said, you cannot change desire by desire. You must go into +another region of your being, the region of thought, and by thought you can +make yourself desire or not desire, exactly as you like, if only you will use +the right means, and those means, after all, are fairly simple. Why is it you +desire to possess a thing? Because you think it will make you happier. But +suppose you know by past experience that in the long run it does not make you +happier, but brings you sorrow, trouble, distress. You have at once, ready to +your hands, the way to get rid of that desire. Think of the ultimate results. +Let your mind dwell carefully on all the painful things. Jump over the +momentary pleasure, and fix your thought steadily on the pain which follows the +gratification of that desire. And when you have done that for a month or so, +the very sight of those objects of desire will repel you. You will have +associated it in your mind with suffering, and will recoil from it +instinctively. You will not want it. You have changed the want, and have +changed it by your power of imagination. There is no more effective way of +destroying a vice than by deliberately picturing the ultimate results of its +indulgence. Persuade a young man who is inclined to be profligate to keep in +his mind the image of an old profligate; show him the profligate worn out, +desiring without the power to gratify; and if you can get him to think in that +way, unconsciously he will begin to shrink from that which before attracted +him; the very hideousness of the results frightens away the man from clinging +to the object of desire. And the would-be yogi has to use his thought to mark +out the desires he will permit, and the desires that he is determined to slay. +</p> + +<p> +The next thing after a strong desire is a strong will. Will is desire. +transmuted, its directing is changed from without to within. If your will is +weak, you must strengthen it. Deal with it as you do with other weak things: +strengthen it by practice. If a boy knows that he has weak arms, he says: “My +arms are weak, but I shall practice gymnastics, work on the parallel bars: thus +my arms. will grow strong.” It is the same with the will. Practice will make +strong the little, weak will that you have at present. +</p> + +<p> +Resolve, for example, saying: “I will do such and such thing every morning,” +and do it. One thing at a time is enough for a feeble will. Make yourself a +promise to do such and such a thing at such a time, and you will soon find that +you will be ashamed to break your promise. When you have kept such a promise to +yourself for a day, make it for a week, then for a fortnight. Having succeeded, +you can choose a harder thing to do, and so on. By this forcing of action, you +strengthen the will. Day after day it grows greater in power, and you find your +inner strength increases. First have a strong desire. Then transmute it into a +strong will. +</p> + +<p> +The third requisite for Yoga is a keen and broad intelligence. You cannot +control your mind, unless you have a mind to control. Therefore you must +develop your mind. You must study. By study, I do not mean the reading of +books. I mean thinking. You may read a dozen books and your mind may be as +feeble as in the beginning. But if you have read one serious book properly, +then, by slow reading and much thinking, your intelligence will be nurtured and +your; mind grow strong. +</p> + +<p> +These are the things you want—a strong desire, an indomitable will, a keen. +intelligence. Those are the capacities that you must unfold in order that the +practice of Yoga may be possible to you. If your mind is very unsteady, if it +is a butterfly mind like a child’s, you must make it steady. That comes by +close study and thinking. You must unfold the mind by which you are to work. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV07"></a>Forthgoing and Returning</h2> + +<p> +It will help you, in doing this and in changing your desire, if you realise +that the great evolution of humanity goes on along two paths—the Path of +Forthgoing, and the Path of Return. +</p> + +<p> +On the Path, or marga, of Pravritti—forthgoing on which are the vast majority +of human beings, desires are necessary and useful. On that path, the more +desire a man has, the better for his evolution. They are the motives that +prompt to activity. Without these the stagnates, he is inert. Why should Isvara +have filled the worlds with desirable objects if He did not intend that desire +should be an ingredient in evolution? He deals with humanity as a sensible +mother deals -with her child. She does not give lectures to the child on the +advantages of walking nor explain to it learnedly the mechanism of the muscles +of the leg. She holds a bright glittering toy before the child, and says: “Come +and get it.” Desire awakens, and the child begins to crawl, and so it learns to +walk. So Isvara has put toys around us, but always just out of our reach, and +He says: “Come, children, take these. Here are love, money, fame, social +consideration; come and get them. Walk, make efforts for them.” And we, like +children, make great efforts and struggle along to snatch these toys. When we +seize the toy, it breaks into pieces and is of no use. People fight and +struggle and toil for wealth, and, when they become multi-millionaires, they +ask: “How shall we spend this wealth?” I read of a millionaire in America, who +was walking on foot from city to city, in order to distribute the vast wealth +which he accumulated. He learned his lesson. Never in another life will that +man be induced to put forth efforts for the toy of wealth. Love of fame, love +of power, stimulate men to most strenuous effort. But when they are grasped and +held in the hand, weariness is the result. The mighty statesman, the leader of +the nation, the man idolised by millions—follow him home, and there you will +see the weariness of power, the satiety that cloys passion. Does then God mock +us with all the objects? No. The object has been to bring out the power of the +Self to develop the capacity latent in man, and in the development of human +faculty, the result of the great lila may be seen. That is the way in which we +learn to unfold the God within us; that is the result of the play of the divine +Father with His children. +</p> + +<p> +But sometimes the desire for objects is lost too early, and the lesson is but +half learned. That is one of the difficulties in the India of today. You have a +mighty spiritual philosophy, which was the natural expression for the souls who +were born centuries ago. They were ready to throw away the fruit of action and +to work for the Supreme to carry out His Will. +</p> + +<p> +But the lesson for India at the present time is to wake up the desire. It may +look like going back, but it is really a going forward. The philosophy is true, +but it belonged to those older souls who were ready for it, and the younger +souls now being born into the people are not ready for that philosophy. They +repeat it by rote, they are hypnotised by it, and they sink down into inertia, +because there is nothing they desire enough to force them to exertion. The +consequence is that the nation as a whole is going downhill. The old lesson of +putting different objects before souls of different ages, is forgotten, and +every one is now nominally aiming at ideal perfection, which can only be +reached when the preliminary steps have been successfully mounted. It is the +same as with the “Sermon on the Mount” in Christian countries, but there the +practical common sense of the people bows to it and—ignores it. No nation tries +to live by the “Sermon on the Mount” It is not meant for ordinary men and +women, but for the saint. For all those who are on the Path of Forthgoing, +desire is necessary for progress. +</p> + +<p> +What is the Path of Nivritti? It is the Path of Return. There desire must +cease; and the Self-determined will must take its place. The last object of +desire in a person commencing the Path of Return is the desire to work with the +Will of the Supreme; he harmonises his will with the Supreme Will, renounces +all separate desires, and thus works to turn the wheel of life as long as such +turning is needed by the law of Life. Desire on the Path of Forthgoing becomes +will on the Path of Return; the soul, in harmony with the Divine, works with +the law. Thought on the Path of Forthgoing is ever alert, flighty and changing; +it becomes reason on the Path of Return; the yoke of reason is placed on the +neck of the lower mind, and reason guides the bull. Work, activity, on the Path +of Forthgoing, is restless action by which the ordinary man is bound; on the +Path of Return work becomes sacrifice, and thus its binding force is broken. +These are, then, the manifestations of three aspects, as shown on the Paths of +Forthgoing and Return. +</p> + +<p> +Bliss manifested as desire is changed into will Wisdom manifested as thought is +changed into reason. Activity manifested as work is changed into sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +People very often ask with regard to this: “Why is will placed in the human +being as the correspondence of bliss in the Divine?” The three great Divine +qualities are: chit or consciousness; ananda or bliss; sat or existence. Now it +is quite clear that the consciousness is reflected in intelligence in man—the +same quality, only in miniature. It is equally clear that existence and +activity belong to each other. You can only exist as you act outwards. The very +form of the word shows It —“ex, out of”; it is manifested life. That leaves the +third, bliss, to correspond with will, and some people are rather puzzled with +that, and they ask: “What is the correspondence between bliss and will?” But if +you come down to desire, and the objects of desire, you will be able to solve +the riddle. The nature of the Self is bliss. Throw that nature down into matter +and what will be the expression of the bliss nature? Desire for happiness, the +seeking after desirable objects, which it imagines will give it the happiness +which is of its own essential nature, and which it is continually seeking to +realise amid the obstacles of the world. Its nature being bliss, it seeks for +happiness and that desire for happiness is to be transmuted into will. All +these correspondences have a profound meaning if you will only look into them, +and that universal “will-to-live” translates itself as the “desire for +happiness” that you find in every man and woman, in every sentient creature. +Has it ever struck you how surely you are justifying that analysis of your own +nature by the way you accept happiness as your right, and resent misery, and +ask what you have done to deserve it? You do not ask the same about happiness, +which is the natural result of your own nature. The thing that has to be +explained is not happiness but pain, the things that are against the nature of +the Self that is bliss. And so, looking into this, we see how desire and will +are both the determination to be happy. But the one is ignorant, drawn out by +outer objects; the other is self-conscious, initiated and ruled from within. +Desire is evoked and directed from outside; and when the same aspect rules from +within, it is will. There is no difference in their nature. Hence desire on the +Path of Forthgoing becomes will on the Path of Return. +</p> + +<p> +When desire, thought and work are changed into will, reason and sacrifice, then +the man is turning homewards, then he lives by renunciation. +</p> + +<p> +When a man has really renounced, a strange change takes place. On the Path of +Forthgoing, you must fight for everything you want to get; on the Path of +Return, nature pours her treasures at your feet. When a man has ceased to +desire them, then all treasures pour down upon him, for he has become a channel +through which all good gifts flow to those around him. Seek the good, give up +grasping, and then everything will be yours. Cease to ask that your own little +water tank may be filled, and you will become a pipe, joined to the living +source of all waters, the source which never runs dry, the waters which spring +up unfailingly. Renunciation means the power of unceasing work for the good of +all, work which cannot fail, because wrought by the Supreme Worker through His +servant. +</p> + +<p> +If you are engaged in any true work of charity, and your means are limited and +the wealth does not flow into your hands, what does it mean? It means that you +have not yet learnt the true renunciation. You are clinging to the visible, to +the fruit of action, and so the wealth does not pour through your hands. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV08"></a>Purification of Bodies</h2> + +<p> +The unfolding of powers belongs to the side of consciousness; purification of +bodies belongs to the side of matter. You must purify each of your three +working bodies—mental, astral and physical. Without that purification you had +better leave yoga alone. First of all, how shall you purify the thought body? +By right thinking. Then you must use imagination, your great creative tool, +once more. Imagine things, and, imagining them, you will form your thought-body +into the organisation that you desire. Imagine something strongly, as the +painter imagines when he is going to paint. Visualise an object if you have the +power of visualisation at all: if you have not, try to make it. It is an +artistic faculty, of course, hut most people have it more or less. See how far +you can reproduce perfectly a face you see daily. By such practice you will be +strengthening your imagination, and by strengthening your imagination you will +be making the great tool with which you have to practice in Yoga. +</p> + +<p> +There is another use of the imagination which is very valuable. If you will +imagine in your thought-body the presence of the qualities that you desire to +have, and the absence of those which you desire not to have, you are half-way +to having and not having them. Also, many of the troubles of your life might be +weakened if you would imagine them on right lines before you have to go through +them. Why do you wait helplessly until you meet them in the physical world. If +you thought of your coming trouble in the morning, and thought of yourself as +acting perfectly in the midst of it (you should never scruple to imagine +yourself perfect), when the thing turned up in the day, it would have lost its +power, and you would no longer feel the sting to the same extent. Now each of +you must have in your life something that troubles you. Think of yourself as +facing that trouble and not minding it, and when it comes, you will be what you +have been thinking. You might get rid of half your troubles and your faults, if +you would deal with them through your imagination. +</p> + +<p> +As the thought body, becomes purified in this way, you must turn to the astral +body. The astral body is purified by right desire. Desire nobly, and the astral +body will evolve the organs of good desires instead of the organs of evil ones. +The secret of all progress is to think and desire the highest, never dwelling +on the fault, the weakness, the error, but always on the perfected power, and +slowly in that way you will be able to build up perfection in yourself. Think +and desire, then, in order to purify the thought body and the astral body. +</p> + +<p> +And how shall you purify the physical body? You must regulate it in all its +activities—in sleep, in food, in exercise, in everything. You cannot have a +pure physical body with impure mental and astral bodies so that the work of +imagination helps also in the purification of the physical. But you must also +regulate the physical body in all its activities. Take for instance, food. The +Indian says truly that every sort of food has a dominant quality in it, either +rhythm, or activity, or inertia, and that all foods fall under one of these +heads. Now the man who is to be a yogi must not touch any food which is on the +way to decay. Those things belong to the tamasic foods—all foods, for instance, +of the nature of game, of venison, all food which is showing signs of decay +(all alcohol is a product of decay), are to be avoided. Flesh foods come under +the quality of activity. All flesh foods are really stimulants. All forms in +the animal kingdom are built up to express animal desires and animal +activities. The yogi cannot afford to use these in a body meant for the higher +processes of thought. Vitality, yes, they will give that; strength, which does +not last, they will give that; a sudden spurs of energy, yes, meat will give +that; but those are not the things which the yogi wants; so he puts aside all +those foods as not available for the work he desires, and chooses his food out +of the most highly vitalised products. All the foods which tend to growth, +those are the most highly vitalised, grain, out of which the new plant will +grow, is packed full of the most nutritious substances; fruits; all those +things which have growth as their next stage in the life cycle, those are the +rhythmic foods, full of life, and building up a body sensitive and strong at +the same time. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV09"></a>Dwellers on the Threshold</h2> + +<p> +Of these there are many kinds. First, elementals. They try to bar the astral +plane against man. And naturally so, because they are concerned with the +building up of the lower kingdoms, these elementals of form, the Rupa Devas; +and to them man is a really hateful creature, because of his destructive +properties. That is why they dislike him so much. He spoils their work wherever +he goes, tramples down vegetable things, and kills animals, so that the whole +of that great kingdom of nature hates the name of man. They band themselves +together to stop the one who is just taking his first conscious steps on the +astral plane, and try to frighten him, for they fear that he is bringing +destructiveness into the new world. They cannot do anything, if you do not mind +them. When that rush of elemental force comes against the man entering on the +astral plane, he must remain quiet, indifferent, taking up the position: “I am +a higher product of evolution than you are; you can do nothing to me. I am your +friend, not your enemy, Peace!” If he be strong enough to take up that +position, the great wave of elemental force will roll aside and let him +through. The seemingly causeless fears which some feel at night are largely due +to this hostility. You are, at night, more sensitive to the astral plane than +during the day, and the dislike of the beings on the plane for man is felt more +strongly. But when the elementals find you are not destructive, not an +embodiment of ruin, they become as friendly to you as they were before hostile. +That is the first form of the dweller on the threshold. Here again the +importance of pure and rhythmic food comes in; because if you use meat and +alcohol, you attract the lower elementals of the plane, those that take +pleasure in the scent of blood and spirits, and they will inevitably prevent +your seeing and understanding things clearly. They will surge round you, +impress their thoughts upon you, force their impressions on your astral body, +so that you may have a kind of shell of objectionable hangers-on to your aura, +who will much obstruct you in your efforts to see and hear correctly. That is +the chief reason why every one who is teaching Yoga on the right-hand path +absolutely forbids indulgence in meat and alcohol. +</p> + +<p> +The second form of the dweller on the threshold is the thought forms of our own +past. Those forms, growing out of the evil of lives that lie behind us, thought +forms of wickedness of all kinds, those face us when we first come into touch +with the astral plane, really belonging to us, but appearing as outside forms, +as objects; and they try to scare back their creator. You can only conquer them +by sternly repudiating them: “You are no longer mine; you belong to my past, +and not to my present. I will give you none of my life.” Thus you will +gradually exhaust and finally annihilate them. This is perhaps one of the most +painful difficulties that one has to face in treading the astral plane in +consciousness for the first time. Of course, where a person has in any way been +mixed up with objectionable thought forms of the stronger kind, such as those +brought about by practicing black magic, there this particular form of the +dweller will be much stronger and more dangerous, and often desperate is the +struggle between the neophyte and these dwellers from his past backed up by the +masters of the black side. +</p> + +<p> +Now we come to one of the most terrible forms of the dwellers on the threshold. +Suppose a case in which a man during the past has steadily identified himself +with the lower part of his nature and has gone against the higher, paralysing +himself, using higher powers for lower purposes, degrading his mind to be the +mere slave of his lower desires. A curious change takes place in him. The life +which belongs to the Ego in him is taken up by the physical body, and +assimilated with the lower lives of which the body is composed. Instead of +serving the purposes of the Spirit, it is dragged away for tile purposes of the +lower, and becomes part of the animal life belonging to the lower bodies, so +that the Ego and his higher bodies are weakened, and the animal life of the +lower is strengthened. Now under those conditions, the Ego will sometimes +become so disgusted with his vehicles that when death relieves him of the +physical body he will cast the others quite aside. And even sometimes during +physical life he will leave the desecrated temple. Now after death, in these +cases, the man generally reincarnates very quickly; for, having torn himself +away from his astral and mental bodies, he has no bodies with which to live in +the astral and mental worlds, and he must quickly form new ones and come again +to rebirth here. Under these conditions the old astral and mental bodies are +not disintegrated when the new mental and astral bodies are formed and born +into the world, and the affinity between the old and new, both having had the +same owner, the same tenant, asserts itself, and the highly vitalised old +astral and mental bodies will attach themselves to the new astral and mental +bodies, and become the most terrible form of the dweller on the threshold. +</p> + +<p> +These are the various forms which the dweller may assume, and all are spoken of +in books dealing with these particular subjects, though I do not know that you +will find anywhere in a single book a definite classification like the above. +In addition to these there are, of course, the direct attacks of the Dark +Brothers, taking up various forms and aspects, and the most common form they +will take is the form of some virtue which is a little bit in excess in the +yogi. The yogi is not attacked through his vices, but through his virtues; for +a virtue in excess becomes a vice. It is the extremes which are ever the vices; +the golden mean is the virtue. And thus, virtues become tempters in the +difficult regions of the astral and mental worlds, and are utilised by the +Brothers of the Shadow in order to entrap the unwary. +</p> + +<p> +I am not here speaking of the four ordinary ordeals of the astral plane: the +ordeals by earth, water, fire and air. Those are mere trifles, hardly worth +considering when speaking of these more serious difficulties. Of course, you +have to learn that you are entirely master of astral matter, that earth cannot +crush you, nor water drown you, etc. Those are, so to speak, very easy lessons. +Those who belong to a Masonic body will recognise these ordeals as parts of the +language they are familiar with in their Masonic ritual. +</p> + +<p> +There is one other danger also. You may injure yourself by repercussion. If on +the astral plane you are threatened with danger which belongs to the physical, +but are unwise enough to think it can injure you, it will injure your physical +body. You may get a wound, or a bruise, and so on, out of astral experiences. I +once made a fool of myself in this way. I was in a ship going down and, as I +was busy there, I saw that the mast of the ship was going to fall and, in a +moment’s forgetfulness, thought: “That mast will fall on me” that momentary +thought had its result, for when I came back to the body in the morning, I had +a large physical bruise where the mast fell. That is a frequent phenomenon +until you have corrected the fault of the mind, which thinks instinctively the +things which it is accustomed to think down here. +</p> + +<p> +One protection you can make for yourself as you become more sensitive. Be +rigorously truthful in thought, in word, in deed. Every thought, every desire, +takes form in the higher world. If you are careless of truth here, you are +creating a whole host of terrifying and deluding forms. Think truth, speak +truth, live truth, and then you shall be free from the illusions of the astral +world. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV10"></a>Preparation for Yoga</h2> + +<p> +People say that I put the ideal of discipleship so very high that nobody can +hope to become a disciple. But I have not said that no one can become a +disciple who does not reproduce the description that is given of the perfect +disciple. One may. But we do it at our own peril. A man may be thoroughly +capable along one line, but have a serious fault along another. The serious +fault will not prevent him from becoming a disciple, but he must suffer for it. +The initiate pays for his faults ten times the price he would have had to pay +for them as a man of the world. That is why I have put the ideal so high. I +have never said that a person must come utterly up to the ideal before becoming +a disciple, but I have said that the risks of becoming a disciple without these +qualifications are enormous. It is the duty of those who have seen the results +of going through the gateway with faults in character, to point out that it is +well to get rid of these faults first. Every fault you carry through the +gateway with you becomes a dagger to stab you on the other side. Therefore it +is well to purify yourself as much as you can, before you are sufficiently +evolved on any line to have the right to say: “I will pass through that +gateway.” That is what I intended to be understood when I spoke of +qualifications for discipleship. I have followed along the ancient road which +lays down these qualifications which the disciple should bring with him; and if +he comes without them, then the word of Jesus is true, that he will be beaten +with many stripes; for a man can afford to do in the outer world with small +result what will bring terrible results upon him when once he is treading the +Path. +</p> + +<h2><a name="chapIV11"></a>The End</h2> + +<p> +What is to be the end of this long struggle? What is the goal of the upward +climbing, the prize of the great battle? What does the yogi reach at last? He +reaches unity. Sometimes I am not sure that large numbers of people, if they +realised what unity means, would really desire to reach it. There are many +“virtues” of your ordinary life which will drop entirely away from you when you +reach unity. Many things you admire will be no longer helps but hindrances, +when the sense of unity begins to dawn. All those qualities so useful in +ordinary life—such as moral indignation, repulsion from evil, judgment of +others—have no room where unity is realised. When you feel repulsion from evil, +it is a sign that your Higher Self is beginning to awaken, is seeing the +dangers of evil: he drags the body forcibly away from it. That is the beginning +of the conscious moral life. Hatred of evil is better at that stage than +indifference to evil. It is a necessary stage. But repulsion cannot be felt +when a man has realised unity, when he sees God made manifest in man. A man who +knows unity cannot judge another. “I judge no man,” said the Christ. He cannot +be repelled by anyone. The sinner is himself, and how shall he be repelled from +himself? For him there is no “I” or “Thee,” for we are one. +</p> + +<p> +This is not a thing that many honestly wish for. It is not a thing that many +honestly desire. The man who has realised unity knows no difference between +himself and the vilest wretch that walks the earth. He sees only the God that +walks in the sinner, and knows that the sin is not in the God but in the +sheath. The difference is only there. He who has realised the inner greatness +of the Self never pronounces judgment upon another, knows that other as +himself, and he himself as that other—that is unity. We talk brotherhood, but +how many of us really practice it? And even that is not the thing the yogi aims +at. Greater than brotherhood are identity and realisation of the Self as one. +The Sixth Root Race will carry brotherhood to the highest point. The Seventh +Root Race will know identity, will realise the unity of the human race. To +catch a glimpse of the beauty of that high conception, the greatness of the +unity in which “I” and “mine,” “you” and “yours” have vanished, in which we are +all one life, even to do that lifts the whole nature towards divinity, and +those who can even see that unity is fair; they are the nearer to the +realisation of the Beauty that is God. +</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 4278 ***</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +</body> + +</html> + |