FOLLOW A WORD THROUGH THE COLLECTION
Search the corpus.
Phrase search ignores case and repeated whitespace. All-words search finds whole words anywhere on the same page. OCR errors can affect results.
12 matching pages
Page 1 of 11912 · PDF PAGE 79
CHAPTER VI DHYANA HIS word has two quite distinct and mutually exclusive meanings. The first refers to the result itself. Dhyana is the same word as the Pali “Jhana.” The Buddha counted eight Jha'nas, which are evidently different degrees and kinds of trance. The Hindu also speaks of Dhyana as a lesser form of Samadhi. Others, however, treat it as if it were merely an intensification of Dharana. Patanjali says: “Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular object. An unbroken flow of knowledge in that subject is Dhyana. When that, giving up a…
1912 · PDF PAGE 49
… the inhibitory centres which he was using. By in killing thoughts, came the words “and push it down,’ keeping on with this he got his “ result.” The ideal mantra should be rhythmical, one might even say musical; but there should be sufficient emphasis on some syllable to assist the faculty of attention. The best mantras are of medium length, so far as the beginner is concerned. If the mantra is too long, one is apt to forget it, unless one practises very hard for a great length of time. On the other hand, mantras of a single syllable, such as A…
1912 · PDF PAGE 67
… peace and rest, quite different from the lethargic feeling which is produced by over-eating. It is difficult to say whether so definite a result would come to all, or even to most people. The matter is one of no very great importance. If you have acquired the power of checking the rise of thought you may proceed to the next stage.
1912 · PDF PAGE 63
…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 control: Asana having been mastered, all immediate exciting causes have been removed, and we are free to think what we are thinking about. A very similar experience to that of Asana is in store for us. At first we shall very likely …
1912 · PDF PAGE 47
…practical character. You may consult various Hindu manuals, and the writings of Kwang Tze, for various notable theories as to method and result. But in this sceptical system one had better content one’s self with statements which are not worth the trouble of doubting. The ultimate idea 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…
1912 · PDF PAGE 37
…The greatest authority on “ Yoga ” ᾽“ is Patanjali. He says, “Asana is that which is firm and pleasant.” This may be taken as meaning the result of success in the practice. 1 Yoga is the general name for that form of meditation which aims at the uniting of subject and object, for 3/08”is the root from which are derived the Latinwordjugum and the English word Yoke. 23
1912 · PDF PAGE 66
… V, in Equinox II). Others take the View that supcess in this practice is something like the experience which Sir Humphrey Davy had as a result of taking nitrous oxide, in which he exclaimed: “The universe is composed exclusively of ideas.” , Others say that it gives Hamlet’s feeling: “ There ’8 nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so,” interpreted as literally as was done by Mrs. Eddy.
1912 · PDF PAGE 82
…t number of details which are not human at all. This particular appearance is usually assumed to be “ God.” But, whatever it may be, the result on the mind of the student: is tremendous; all his thoughts are pushed to their greatest develop- ment. He sincerely believes that they have the divine sanction; perhaps he even supposes that they emanate from this “God.” He goes back into the world armed with this intense conviction.
1912 · PDF PAGE 81
…ble, and the Subject, invariable, or apparently so. By success in Dharana the object has been made as invariable as the subject. Now the result of this is that the two become one. This phenomenon usually comes as a tremendous shock. It is indescribable even by the masters of language; and it is therefore not surprising that semi-educated stutterers wallow in oceans of gush. All the poetic faculties and all the emotional facultiesare thrown into a sort of ecstasy by an occurrence which overthrows the mind,and makes the rest of life seem absolute…
1912 · PDF PAGE 98
…le from above it seems merely a state of mind as natural as any other. Frater P., before he had Samadhi, wrote of Dhyana: “ Perhaps as a result of the intense control a nervous storm breaks: this we call Dhyana. Samadhi is but an expansion of this, so far as I can see.” Five years later he would not take this view. He would say perhaps that Dhyana was “ a flowing of the mind in one unbroken current from the ego to the non-ego without consciousnessof either, accompanied by a crescent wonder and bliss.” He can understand how that is the
1912 · PDF PAGE 99
83 natural result of Dhyana, but he cannot call Dhyana in the same way the precursor of Samadhi. Perhaps he does not really know the con- ditions which induce Samadhi. He can produce Dhyana at will in the course of a few minutes’ work?,־and it often happens with apparent spontaneity: with Samadhi this is unfortunately not the case. He probably can get it at will, but could not say exactly how, or tell how long it might take him?,־and he could not be sure of getting it at all. One feels sure that one can walk a mile along a level road. One knows…
1912 · PDF PAGE 89
…aggered by the fact that all other experience, attacked on the same lines, will fall much more easily. In whatever way we examine it the result Will always be the same. Dhyana may be false; but, if so, so is everything else. Now the mind refuses to rest in a belief of the unreality of its own experiences. It may not be what it seems; but it must be something, and if (on the whole) ordinary life is something, how much more mus that be by whose light ordinary life seems nothing! The ordinary man sees the falsity and disconnectedness and purpose-