Yoga breathing

Another question that arises in this connection is the position of feeling in such an analysis of thought and matter. Samkhya holds that the three characteristic constituents that we have analyzed just now are feeling substances. Feeling is the most interesting side of our consciousness. Read more »

consciousness, evolution, feelings, forms of matter, genesis, intelligence, manifestations, mass energy, material objects, purusha, reflection, sattva, sensations, substances

The Nyaya sutras begin with an enumeration of the sixteen subjects, viz. means of right knowledge (pramana), object of right knowledge (prameya), doubt (samshaya), purpose (prayojana), illustrative instances (drishtanta), accepted conclusions (siddhanta), premisses (avayava), argumentation (tarka), ascertainment (nirnaya), debates (vada), disputations (jalpa), destructive criticisms (vitanda), fallacy (hetvabhasa), quibble (chala), refutations (jati), points of opponent’s defeat (nigrahasthana), and hold that by a thorough knowledge of these the highest good (nihshreyasa), is attained. In the second sutra it is said that salvation (apavarga) is attained by the successive disappearance of false knowledge (mithyajnana), defects (dosha), endeavours (pravritti, birth (janma), and ultimately of sorrow (1). Read more »

apta, atman, body senses, chala, dosha, five senses, inference, jalpa, pain sorrow, perception, pleasure pain, right knowledge, self body, sense objects, tarka, testimony

The Nyaya-Vaisheshika having dismissed the doctrine of momentariness took a common-sense view of things, and held that things remain permanent until suitable collocations so arrange themselves that the thing can be destroyed. Thus the jug continues to remain a jug unless or until it is broken to pieces by the stroke of a stick. Things exist not because they can produce an impression on us, or serve my purposes either directly or through knowledge, as the Buddhists suppose, but because existence is one of their characteristics. If I or you or any other perceiver did not exist, the things would continue to exist all the same. Whether they produce any effect on us or on their surrounding environments is immaterial. Existence is the most general characteristic of things, and it is on account of this that things are testified by experience to be existing (1). Read more »

akasha, cosmology, demerit, ear drum, existence, four elements, immaterial, kala, sense of hearing, sense organ, tejas, valid reasons

Of the six classes of entities or categories (padartha) we have already given some account of dravya (1). Let us now turn to the others. Of the qualities (guna) the first one called rupa (colour) is that which can be apprehended by the eye alone and not by any other sense. The colours are white, blue, yellow, red, green, brown and variegated (citra). Colours are found only in kshiti, ap and tejas. The colours of ap and tejas are permanent (nitya), but the colour of kshiti changes when heat is applied, and this, Shridhara holds, is due to the fact that heat changes the atomic structure of kshiti (earth) and thus the old constitution of the substance being destroyed, its old colour is also destroyed, and a new one is generated. Rupa is the general name for the specific individual colours. There is the genus rupatva (colourness), and the rupa guna (quality) is that on which rests this genus; rupa is not itself a genus and can be apprehended by the eye. Read more »

akasha, atomic structure, guna, katu, natural taste, nitya, rasa, rupa, tejas, vayu

The problem of negation or non-existence (abhava) is of great interest in Indian philosophy. In this section we can describe its nature only from the point of view of perceptibility. Read more »

cognition, existence, indian philosophy, inference, intuition, manam, negation, notion, visual perception

Mimamsa has to accept the existence of soul, for without it who would perform the Vedic commandments, and what would be the meaning of those Vedic texts which speak of men as performing sacrifices and going to Heaven thereby? The soul is thus regarded as something entirely distinct from the body, the sense organs, and buddhi; it is eternal, omnipresent, and many, one in each body. Prabhakara thinks that it is manifested to us in all cognitions. Indeed he makes this also a proof for the existence of self as a separate entity from the body, for had it not been so, why should we have the notion of self-persistence in all our cognitions–even in those where there is no perception of the body? Read more »

consciousness, existence, going to heaven, pleasure pain, sacrifices, sense organs, true reason, vedic texts

The main idea of the advaita (non-dualistic) Vedanta philosophy as taught by the Shankara school is this, that the ultimate and absolute truth is the self, which is one, though appearing as many in different individuals. The world also as apart from us the individuals has no reality and has no other truth to show than this self. All other events, mental or physical, are but passing appearances, while the only absolute and unchangeable truth underlying them all is the self. Read more »

absolute truth, advaita, akara, appearances, brahman, cognition, comprehension, duality, macrocosm, microcosm, objective truth, passions, preceptor, sensations, vedanta philosophy, world consciousness

The human body has been described as a vehicle for carrying a bag of tools. I sent for a California carpenter the other day. He arrived in an ancient Ford, from which he brought out a very modern kit-box containing at least a hundred tools. In the human body we find legs with which to carry the rest of the outfit about, arms to work with and alter the world, and senses to see what those things are. This carpenter operates in an immense world, but attends to a very small part of it — he sees only a small portion, and works only on a bit of that. Read more »

contiguity, evening sky, human body, immense world, light haze, mind, moment present, moving lights, senses

I HAVE already spoken of relaxation and muscle balance, and their relation to the practices of concentration and meditation. These are necessary so that (I) the body may not be injured by the mental efforts and (2) the mental work may not be spoiled by bodily discomfort. Thirdly, we have to remember that bodily attitudes are associated with states of feeling, such as lying down with sleep, and kneeling with prayer. That has to be taken into consideration when you are selecting a posture, but there is no objection to your lying down to concentrate or meditate, so long as you find that it does not conduce to sleepiness. Read more »

attitudes, concentration and meditation, lying down, mental efforts, muscle balance, posture, relaxation, sensations

1. The Standing Exercise.
With your watch in sight try to stand perfectly still (except for breathing and blinking) in front of a mirror for three to five minutes. Make no response to any twitching, tickling, itching, creeping, aching or creaking feelings that may arise. Think “stillness”, not “not-moving-ness”. Read more »

continence, exercise, feelings, hands and feet, intuition, muscles, practise, sensations

At the end of a month of practice of the kind of physical exercises given in this chapter, though you can sit quietly, and the body has become lighter and brighter, so that you can get up like a cat in the morning, you may still find yourself troubled by outside things during concentration or meditation. Noises, for example, may divert you. In that case spare fifteen minutes a day for a month for practice on the following lines. Read more »

hearth, light waves, nostrils, physical exercises, seclusion, senses, sense organs, unexpected change

In the intellectual form of meditation our purpose is to understand the chosen object as fully as possible. When this is done there is expansion without loss of strength or clarity. When a student is trying to grasp an idea, if he is wise he will first of all concentrate for a while on the data before him, will review his knowledge of them, will study all the things, with their parts, qualities and actions, which bear upon the idea. Read more »

abstract idea, abstract thinking, faculty of inspiration, intellectual form of meditation

One who has an intense affection for an object of worship can follow the same method, but in his case the activity will be mainly one of feeling. The devotee will first picture in imagination the particular form which he regards as ideal. Read more »

ardent devotion, dawn breaks, desires, devotee, divine nature, feelings, imagination, intense affection, maya, presence, worshiper

Mind as we know it, as well as Matter and Energy, is held by the highest occult teachers to be but an appearance and a relativity of something far more fundamental and enduring, and we are compelled to fall back upon that old term which wise men have used in order to describe that Something Else that lies back of, and under, Matter, Energy and Mind–and that word is “Spirit.” Read more »

essence of life, matter and energy, personal god, relativity, spirit, universal life, wise men, word god

In our First Lesson of this series, we brought out the idea that the human mind was compelled to report the fact that it could not think of The Absolute except as possessing the quality of Omnipresence–Present-Everywhere. And, likewise, the human mind is compelled to think that all there IS must be The Absolute, or of the Absolute. Read more »

basic theory, emanations, essence of life, omnipresence, presence, universe, weakest link

We hear much of the claims of scientists who announce that they are on the eve of “creating life” from non-living matter. This is all nonsense–life can come only from life. Life from non-life is an absurdity. And all Life comes from the One Life underlying All. But it is true that Science has done, is doing, and will do, something very much like “creating life,” but of course this is merely changing the form of Life into other forms–the lesser form into the higher–just as one produces a plant from a seed, or a fruit from a plant. The Life is always there, and responds to the proper stimulus and conditions. Read more »

chemical and mineral world, creating life, Creation, One Life, theory of evolution

The Yogi Philosophy teaches of the existence of a Universal Creative Will, emanating from the Absolute–infilled with the power of the Absolute and acting under established natural laws, which performs the active work of creation in the world, similar to that performed by “Cudsworth’s Plastic Nature,” just mentioned. This Creative Will is not Schopenhauer’s Will-to-Live. It is not a Thing-in-itself, but a vehicle or instrument of the Absolute. It is an emanation of the mind of the Absolute–a manifestation in action of its Will–a mental product rather than a physical, and, of course, saturated with the life-energy of its projector. Read more »

causes of motion, Creative Will, Desire to manifest, Life Energy, manifestations of energy, progressing evolutionary effort, Yogi Philosophy

So you see that if we regard the Infinite Reality as Perfect, we must drop all ideas of It Desiring or Lacking–and of it Growing or Improving–or of it obtaining more Power, or Knowledge. These ideas are ridiculous, for an Absolute, Infinite Reality, must possess All-Knowledge; All-Power; All-Presence, else it is not Absolute and Infinite. And, if It does not possess these attributes of Being, then It can never hope to acquire them, for there is Nowhere from whence they could be acquired–there is no Source outside of the All-Source. A Finite Thing, may lack, and desire, and improve and develop, for there is the Universal Source from which it may draw. Read more »

desire, Finite Mind, infinite reality, metaphysics, presence, universal source

In the material body, which is called the “sheath of food” (anna-maya kosa), reign the elements earth, water, and fire, which are those presiding in the lower Cakras, the Muladhara, Svadhisthana and Mani-pura centres. Read more »

bone muscle, digestion, excretion, food and drink, gross body, kosa, material body, procreation, semen, sheath, water and fire

Many writers on the subject of Metempsychosis have devoted much time, labor and argument to prove the reasonableness of the doctrine upon purely speculative, philosophical, or metaphysical grounds. And while we believe that such efforts are praiseworthy for the reason that many persons must be first convinced in that way, still we feel that one must really feel the truth of the doctrine from something within his own consciousness, before he will really believe it to be truth. Read more »

consciousness, logical necessity, memories, metempsychosis, philosophical

One of the things that repel many persons who have had their attention directed to the subject of Metempsychosis for the first time, is the idea that they have evolved as a soul from individual lowly forms, for instance that they have at one time been an individual plant, and then an individual animal form, and then an individual higher animal form, and so on until now they are the particular individual human form contemplating the subject. This idea, which has been taught by many teachers, is repellent to the average mind, for obvious reasons, and naturally so, for it has no foundation in truth. Read more »

contemplating, individuality, many generations, metempsychosis, misconception, predecessors, principle, spiritual evolution

Of a truth there are certain highly developed, advanced and exalted souls in the flesh, known as Masters and Adepts, although many of the tales told concerning them are myths, or pure fiction originating in the minds of some modern sensational writers. Read more »

away from the crowd, experiences, great lodge, human beings, pearls, sacred truth, spiritually, spiritual development, spiritual truths, swine, work miracles

Moreover, the doctrine of Reincarnation is founded on the law of cause and effect. It teaches that the cause is not outside of the effect, but lies in the effect. The cause is the potential or unmanifested state of the effect, and effect is the actual or manifested cause. There is one current of infinite force or power constantly flowing in the ocean of reality of the universe, and appearing in the innumerable forms of waves. We call one set of waves the cause of another set, but in fact that which is the cause is the potentiality of the future effect and the actuality of a previous potential cause. The underlying current is one and the same throughout. Reincarnation denies the idea that the soul has come into existence all of a sudden or has been created for the first time, but it holds that it has been existing from the beginningless past, and will exist all through eternity. Read more »

cause and effect, human soul, latent powers, manifestation, reincarnation, subtle body, thought forces

Many of the Candidates find themselves prevented from a full realization of the “I” (even after they have begun to grasp it) by the confusing of the reality of the “I” with the sense of the physical body. This is a stumbling block that is easily overcome by meditation and concentration, the independence of the “I” often becoming manifest to the Candidate in a flash, upon the proper thought being used as the subject of meditation. Read more »

atoms, concentration, ego, meditation, physical body, realization

While the majority accept on faith the belief in the Immortality of the Soul, yet but few are aware that it may be demonstrated by the soul itself. The Yogi Masters teach the Candidates this lesson, as follows: The Candidate places himself in the State of Meditation, or at least in a thoughtful frame of mind, and then endeavors to “imagine” himself as “dead”–that is, he tries to form a mental conception of himself as dead. This, at first thought, appears a very easy thing to imagine, but as a matter of fact it is impossible to do so, for the Ego refuses to entertain the proposition, and finds it impossible to imagine it. Read more »

assurance of immortality, continuity, ego, immortality of the soul, yogi

In the First Lesson we gave instruction and exercises designed to awaken the consciousness of the Candidate to a realization of the real “I.” We confined our instructions to the preliminary teachings of the reality of the “I,” and the means whereby the Candidate might be brought to a realization of his real Self, and its independence from the body and the things of the flesh. We tried to show you how you might awaken to a consciousness of the reality of the “I”; its real nature; its independence of the body; its immortality; its invincibility and invulnerability. How well we have succeeded may be determined only by the experience of each Candidate, for we can but point out the way, and the Candidate must do the real work himself. Read more »

consciousness, ego, metaphysical features, planes, realization, real nature, self analysis, yogi

It is only by the mind that the teachings we are now giving you may be grasped and understood, and used to your advantage and benefit. We are talking direct to your mind now, and are making appeals to it, that it may be interested and may open itself to what is ready to come into it from its own higher regions. We are appealing to the Intellect to direct its attention to this great matter, that it may interpose less resistance to the truths that are waiting to be projected from the Spiritual Mind, which knows the Truth. Read more »

feelings, intellect, mental attitude, mental conditions, mental impressions, perception, physical desires, spiritual mind, willingness

Many of us have supposed that our minds were the masters of ourselves, and we have allowed ourselves to be tormented and worried by thoughts “running away” with us, and presenting themselves at inopportune moments. The Initiate is relieved from this annoyance, for he learns to assert his mastery over the different parts of the mind, and controls and regulates his mental processes, just as one would a fine piece of machinery. He is able to control his conscious thinking faculties, and direct their work to the best advantage, and he also learns how to pass on orders to the subconscious mental region and bid it work for him while he sleeps, or even when he is using his conscious mind in other matters. These subjects will be considered by us in due time, during the course of lessons. Read more »

conscious mind, inner thoughts, mental processes, subconscious, thoughts and feelings, yogi

In our first three lessons of this series, we have endeavored to bring into realization within your mind (1) the consciousness of the “I”; its independence from the body; its immortality; its invincibility and invulnerability; (2) the superiority of the “I” over the mind, as well as over the body; the fact that the mind is not the “I,” but is merely an instrument for the expression of the “I”; the fact that the “I” is master of the mind, as well as of the body; that the “I” is behind all thought; that the “I” can set aside for consideration the sensations, emotions, passions, desires, and the rest of the mental phenomena, and still realize that it, the “I,” is apart from these mental manifestations, and remains unchanged, real and fully existent; that the “I” can set aside any and all of its mental tools and instruments, as “not I” things, and still consciously realize that after so setting them aside there remains something–itself–the “I” which cannot be set aside or taken from; that the “I” is the master of the mind, and not its slave; (3) that the “I” is a much greater thing than the little personal “I” we have been considering it to be; that the “I” is a part of that great One Reality which pervades all the Universe; that it is connected with all other forms of life by countless ties, mental and spiritual filaments and relations; that the “I” is a Centre of Consciousness in that great One Reality or Spirit, which is behind and back of all Life and Existence, the Centre of which Reality or Existence, is the Absolute or God; that the sense of Reality that is inherent in the “I,” is really the reflection of the sense of Reality inherent in the Whole–the Great “I” of the Universe. Read more »

consciousness, mental phenomena, mental tools, realization, reflection, sensations, sense of reality

The second step in Raja Yoga is what is known as Dharana, or Concentration. This is a most wonderful idea in the direction of focusing the mental forces, and may be cultivated to an almost incredible degree, but all this requires work, time, and patience. But the student will be well repaid for it. Concentration consists in the mind focusing upon a certain subject, or object, and being held there for a time. Read more »

concentration, raja yoga, time and patience, wide awake