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Page 1 of 11912 · PDF PAGE 42
26 On the other hand, if the student pay no attention, fail to watch the body, an opposite phenomenon may occur. He shifts to ease himself without knowing that he has done so. To avoid this, choose a position which naturally is rather cramped and awkward, and in which slight changes are not sufficient to bring ease. Otherwise, for the first few days, the student may even imagine that he has conquered the position. In fact, in all these practices their apparent simplicity is such that the beginner is likely to wonder what all the fuss is about, pe…
1912 · PDF PAGE 43
…ot only is this position, which has been so painful, the very ideal of physical comfort, but that all other conceivable positions of the body are uncomfortable. This feeling represents success. There will be no further difficulty in the practice. One Will get into one’s Asana with almost the same feeling as that with which a tired man gets into a hot bath; and While he is in that position, the body may be trusted to send him no message that might disturb his mind. Other results of this practice are described by Hindu authors, but they do not con…
1912 · PDF PAGE 108
…rfect vigilance and attention of the mind, uninterrupted by the rise of thoughts? Yes. . And how do you proceed? . Firstly, we still the body by the practice called.Asana, and secure its ease and the regularity of its functions by Pranayama. Thus no messages from the body will disturb the mind. Secondly, by Yamaand Niyama, we still the emotionsand passions, and thus prevent them arising to disturb the mind. Thirdly, by Pratyahara we analyse the mind yet more deeply, and begin to control and suppress thought in general of whatever nature. Fourth…
1912 · PDF PAGE 64
…s in View, because he has learnt how to look, so with practice the thoughts will become more numerous and more insistent. As soon as the body was accurately observed it was found to be terribly restless and painful; now that we ob- serve the mind it is seen to be more restless and painful still. (See 0722137627” opposite.) A similar curve might be plotted for the real and apparent painful- ness of Asana. Conscious of this fact, we begin to try to control it: “Not quite so many thoughts, please!” “Don’t think quite so fast, please!” “No more of …
1912 · PDF PAGE 50
…s of this are accented equally, with a certain pause between them; and are usually combined by fakirs with a rhythm— .ical motion of the body to and fro. 6. Hfia allahu alazi lailaha illa Hua.
1912 · PDF PAGE 11
HERE are seven keys to the great gate, Being eight in one and one in eight. First, let the body of thee be still, Bound by the cerements of will, Corpse-rigid; thus thou mayst abort The fidget-babes that tease the thought. Next, let the breath-rhythmbe low, Easy, regular, and slow; So that thy being be in tune With the great sea’s Pacific swoon. Third, let thy life be pure and calm, Swayed softly as a windless palm. Fourth, let the will-to-live be bound To the one love of the profound. Fifth, let the thought, divinely free From sense, observe its…
1912 · PDF PAGE 63
…ARA is the first process in the mental part of our task. PThe previous practices, Asana, Pranayama, Yama, and Niyama, are all acts of the body, while the mantra is connected with speech: Praty- ahara1s purely mental. And what is Pratyahara? This word is used by different authors in different senses. The same word is employed to designate both the practice and the result. It means for our present purpose a process rather strategical than practical; it is introspection, a sort of general examination of the contents of the mind which we wish to con…
1912 · PDF PAGE 47
…ea of meditation being to still the mind, it may be considered a useful preliminary to still conscious- ness of all the functions of the body. This has been dealt with in the chapter on Asana. One may, however, mention that some Yogis carry it to the point of trying to stop the beating of the heart. Whether this be desirable or no it would be useless to the beginner, so he Will endeavour to make the breathing very slow and very regular. The rules for this practice are given in Liber CCVI. 31
1912 · PDF PAGE 95
…d him. The most reasonable statement, of any acknowledged authority, is that of Yajna Valkya, who says: “ By Pranayama impurities of the body are thrown out?,־by Dharana the impurities of the mind; by Pratyahara the impurities of attachment ; and by Samadhi is taken off everything that hides the lordship of the soul.” There is a modest statement in good literary form. If we can only do as well as that! In the first place, what is the meaning of the term? Etymologically, Sam is the Greek συν-, the English prefix “syn-” meaning “together 79
1912 · PDF PAGE 37
… able to think one chosen thought for as long as he will without interruption As previously remarked, the first difficulty arises from the body, which keeps on asserting its presence by causing its victim to itch, and in other ways to be distracted. He wants to stretch, scratch, sneeze. This nuisance is so persistent that the Hindus (in their scientific way) devised a special practice for quieting it. The word Asana means [505126763 but, as with all words which have caused debate, its exact meaning has altered, and it is used in several distinct s…
1912 · PDF PAGE 53
…to be admirable from the standpoint of health. Digestive troubles in particular are very easy to remove in this way. It purifies both the body and the lower functions of the mind,1 and should be practised certainly never less than one hour daily by the serious student. 1 Emphatically. Emphatically. Emphatically. It is impossible to combine Prana- yama properly performed with emotional thought. It should be resorted to immedi- ately, at all times during life, when calm is threatened.
1912 · PDF PAGE 8
… me! ” He says: “Don?believeme! ” He does not ask for followers; would despise and refuse them. He wants an independent and self—reliant body of students to follow out their own methods of research. If he can save them time and trouble by giving a few useful “tips,” his work will have been done to his own satisfaction. Those who have wished men to believe in them were absurd. A per- suasive tongue or pen, or an efficient sword, with rack and stake, pro- duced this “belief,” which is contrary to, and destructive of, all real religious experience.…
1912 · PDF PAGE 59
43 The only difficult question is that of continence, which is com- plicated by many considerations, such as that of energy; but every- body’s mind is hopelessly muddled on this subject, which some people confuse with erotology, and others with sociology. There will be no clear thinking on this matter until it is understood as being solely a branch of athletics. We may then dismiss Yama and Niyama with this advice: let the student decide for himself what form of life, what moral code, will least tend to excite his mind; but once he has for- mula…
1912 · PDF PAGE 101
…o various “ nerves”, equally mythical. The second class is ob./eois ofdooofz'ofz, such as the idea or form of the Deity, or the heart or body of your Teacher, or of some man whom you respect profoundly. This practice is not to be commended, because it implies a bias of the mind. You can also meditate on your dreams. This sounds superstitious; but the idea is that you have already a tendency, independent of your conscious will, to think of those things, which will consequently be easier to think of than others. That this is the explanation is ev…
1912 · PDF PAGE 86
… absurd to suppose that to accept it would be to condemn the practice. Spasm is a normal func- tion of at least one of the organs of the body. That the brain is not damaged by the practice is proved by the fact that many people who claim to have had this experience repeatedly continue to exercise the ordinary avocations of life without diminished activity. We may dismiss, then, the physiologicalquestion. It throws no light on the main problem, which is the value of the testimony of the experience. Now this is a very difficult question, and raise…
1912 · PDF PAGE 83
…you have a right to pass unchallenged. This power, by the way, is what has been described by magicians as the power of invisibility. Somebody or other has an excellent story of four quite reliable men who were on the look-out for a murderer, and had instructions to let no one pass, and who all swore subsequently in presence of the dead body that no one had passed. None of them had seen the postman. The thieves who stole the “ Gioconda ” from the Louvre were ] This lack of restraint is not to be confused with that observed in intoxication and ma…
1912 · PDF PAGE 103
87 the body comes into contact with every atom in the Universe all at once,” is the description Bhikku Ananda Metteya gives of it. The root of the tongue gives the “ideal sound ”; and the pharynx the “ideal sight.”1 The Samadhi par excellence, however, is Atmadarshana, which for some, and those not the least instructed, is the first real Samadhi; for even the visions of “ God ” and of the “ Self” are tainted by form. In Atmadarshana the All is manifested as the One: it is the Universe freed from its conditions. Not only are all forms and ideas d…