The book is intended as a practical manual, and the student who takes it seriously as such will derive most benefit from it if he treats it as a six months’ course rather than as a reading book. At the end of the course the earnest student will find that he knows exactly what to do next. All the same, others who wish to treat it only as a general help to their meditations will find benefit from reading it through, and picking out for their use whatever appeals especially to themselves.

Many hard-headed people may think that my convictions as to the possibilities which we may attain in the near or remote future by internal self-culture are excessively extravagant; but I can assure them that they are perfectly in accordance with the practical mysticism of both East and West, and are consistent with the actual experience and attainment of a number of experts whom I have had the honour to meet and know.

attainment, benefit, experts, internal self, meditations, practical mysticism, self culture

Do you desire success in life? Will you take the means that infallibly secure it? Will you choose, and say to yourself: “I will have wealth; I will have fame; I will have virtue; I will have power’. ? Let your imagination play upon the thought, and watch the dim clouds of hope shape themselves into heavenly possibilities. Give wings to your fancy, for fairer than any picture that you can paint with thought is the future that you can claim with will. Once you have imagined, once you have chosen, say: “I will”. And there is nothing on earth that can hinder you for long; for you are immortal and the future is obedient to you. Read more »

imagination, knowledge, littleness of man, success in life

But, whatever you choose, one thing you will need in all things and at all times — concentration of purpose, of thought, of feeling, of action; so that this, like a powerful-magnet, will polarize everything with which you deal. In all the aims of life it is needed for success. Read more »

aims, concentration, desires, human progress, magnet, science and philosophy, virtue

One of the higher efforts and achievements of concentration of mind has been well described by Dr. Annie Besant in her book The Ancient Wisdom, in the following words: Read more »

abstract subject, ancient wisdom, concentration, devotion, distractions, higher consciousness, indifference, line of thought, physical brain, practice compassion, quiet and still, senses, serene, single point, temperance

YEARS ago I described the contents and workings of the mind as a magic box, comparing it to the nest of boxes produced by an Oriental conjuror, who spreads his carpet and lays a box in the middle of it, then takes a number of boxes out of that box, and then a number of boxes out of each of those, until the whole carpet is piled up with boxes. I compared these boxes to ideas in the mind and described how one idea contains or gives rise to innumerable others. Read more »

advertisement, journey, luxury home, magic box, self starter, steering mechanism

In the previous section I have described a mind-cycle, beginning with a coruscation or up-welling of ideas of mental pictures, continued with a desire and ending with a decision to act. We started the engine ticking over, engaged the transmission and then handled the steering wheel. This process is a full cycle, for at this point the ideas begin to flow again, but in a prescribed direction determined by the will. Read more »

blood stream, conscious, desire, digestive process, full cycle, steering wheel

The drift which I have so carefully described and you, I hope, have inspected in your own mind, is not a bad thing nor a disorderly one. It is the relaxed condition of the mind, and we can use it for resting when we are mentally tired. In the course of prolonged study involving mental effort we may stop awhile to rest and recuperate by simply leaning back, closing the eyes, relaxing the body — especially the neck — and quietly watching the mental drift. Read more »

contiguity, four roads, memory training, mental effort, mental relaxation, remembered things, sensuous experience

Examples:
1. Milk — baby; pen — hand; ship — sea; spade — garden; fatigue — sleep; gluttony — indigestion.
2. Animal — dog; view — landscape; chair — table; red — blue; heat — cold.
3. Car — wheel; tree — root; house — door; root — branch; arm — leg.
4. Earth — round; coin — silver; ice — cold; ink — fluid; lemon — yellow. Read more »

concentration, conjunction, mental picture, precise reason

We may now turn to the first exercise: Read more »

concentration, four roads, mental health, recall

BEFORE you sit down to commence the practice of recall quietly but definitely decide what is to be your object of concentration and for how long you propose to sustain it. Sometimes people sit down and then begin to decide what to do; they start on one object and then change to another because they find it unsatisfactory, and at last they wake up to realize that their time has gone and they have done nothing. Read more »

concentration, meditations, odd times, posture, time has gone

A story is told about the Greek philosopher Plato and Diogenes the Cynic. One day Diogenes visited Plato. When he came into the room he saw the table covered with a rich cloth, shelves glittering with silver cups and other vessels, and other sumptuous furniture. He took hold of the cloth with force, dragged it onto the floor, and stamped upon it with his feet, saying, “I tread upon Plato’s pride”. Plato quietly answered: “And with greater pride!”Of such stories our lives are made up — stories about ourselves and others, some true to fact and others fanciful. True or fanciful, it is the richness of the stories that makes the richness of our lives and it is the richness of our mental power that makes the richness of the stories. Fact and environment give opportunity, but living has strength, color and richness only on account of what it brings to opportunity. Therefore better than to seek opportunity is to be prepared for it. Read more »

close my eyes, cynic, diogenes, enhancement, greek philosopher plato, pride

Confidence is faith in the continuance and increase of your own mental ability. It is not belief. It is knowledge — the knowledge that there is a constancy in the very constitution of things. Read more »

brothers and sisters, constancy, mental ability, occupations, regularity, sanity

WE have studied the first process of thought — the way in which every idea opens out in many directions. We have now to consider the second process — the way in which our attention passes on from one idea to another and forms a flow of thought. It is a matter almost of common knowledge that our attention travels among thoughts very much in the same way as our body moves about among things. So close is the similarity that we may say that the attention seems actually to walk on two-feet from one mental image or idea to another. Read more »

body moves, common knowledge, consciousness, memory, mental image, one moment, subconscious, unity

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

Be it folly or wisdom, I must concentrate on some part of this world. Few men have the inclination and power to ignore it altogether. I must decide to pay attention to this thing or idea rather than that. For this purpose it is the little fish of attention that I have to control. Read more »

concentrate, concentration, folly, inclination, little fish, pay attention, wisdom

Amidst all this competition for my attention what is it that causes me to pick up this or that? Briefly, it is the mood of the mind. We know that the will can step into the current of thoughts, watch them drifting along, and interrupt and direct them. We have seen that it can also impose an overall command or give standing orders covering a period of time. Read more »

hopes and fears, mechanical balance, moods, mother and child, social conditions

It remains to be said that we can deliberately cultivate a mood by concentrating upon it, and thus can predispose the mind to certain associations of thought, so that whatever may turn up in the world or in the mind will lead on to our purpose. This is the way in which concentration leads to success in our chosen vocation or avocation. It makes almost everything you meet a co-worker of yours. Read more »

chosen vocation, concentration, predispose

CONCENTRATION is not an end in itself, but a means to develop the will so that it may make the entire life purposeful. Polarize your entire life — all your actions, your feelings, your thinking — by establishing a permanent mood towards success in some line of human endeavor. It may be the mood of an artist, a scientist, a poet, a philosopher, a philanthropist; it may concern art, religion, science, interpretation, philosophy, thoughts and deeds of affection and kindness, or works of commerce or government; it may aim at skill in action, or intense and expanded feeling, or a clear and deep understanding of life; it may seek self-government, or, the mastery of environment and success in outward things. That is for you to choose; but choose something definite and polarize your whole life to that. Read more »

dignity and security, freedom and power, outward things, position, Power, slave to the base emotion

Then you must give up wishing, for you cannot both wish and will. The two things are utterly incompatible. I have already explained this by reference to the will to pick up or not pick up a pen. It should be understood that indulgence in wishing is not only a waste of time, but also an invitation to harmful emotions. It is like slouching along the road instead of walking erect. Read more »

general purpose, impressions, indulgence, judgment, misunderstanding, perfectly clear, poise, polarization, proper attitude, strong feeling, telepathy, waste of time

Many people do not realize that it is the nature of man to modify his environment, not to submit to it except in so far as his own judgment advises him to do so. He has the combinative and constructive power of mind which, acting through his hands, alters and adapts old forms and makes new ones by rearranging and combining them. Read more »

acting, constructive power, happiness, nature of man, proper attention, senses, state of consciousness, true state

When purpose and pleasure are brought together work becomes play. Every bit of work done in this spirit strengthens the man who does it. It is recreative as well as creative. Artist and carpenter — they make pictures and chairs, but even more they make men, themselves. Think on what you are doing more than on the result, or what you are going to do afterwards. You will not then miss the pleasure of little things. I pick up my pen; there is sheer and undiluted pleasure in this, if I allow myself to experience it. It is natural and pure, and mine when I stop fighting, it. In such little things thought, love and will can flow and grow. And then arise peace and strength and — in active life — the union of work and play. Read more »

active life, bitterness, creative artist, deadly fear, impatience, light on the path, long journey, peace and strength, pleasure, stop fighting, work and play

It is said in an old Indian book that there are four great enemies to human success: (I) a sleepy heart, (2) human passions, (3) a confused mind, and (4) attachment to anything but Brahman. [Each student has to attach his own meaning to this word, keeping it always flexible, so that it may expand and become illumined. Literally: the Evolutioner, Grower or Expander, not creator] Read more »

appetites, brahman, confused mind, emotions, enhancement, exercise, heart, human passions, ordered life, physical culture, pleasure and pain, suppression, vigor, vigorous life

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

The question arises: “why should one recommend physical exercises in a course of mental concentration?” Read more »

bad habits, evolution, maturity, mental concentration, mental exercises, nervous tension, physical exercises, posture

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

SOMETIMES when we are engaged in study or writing a visitor arrives; he may be a welcome friend at any other time, but at the moment he is a trouble. So also when we are engaged in an attempt at concentration, “visitors” throng in upon us, some welcome and others unwelcome. What is it that brings them here so inopportunely, and by what means can we persuade them to take their leave? Read more »

camel, companions, concentration, considerations, emotion, emotions, feelings, particles, resentment, tendency

If you have already said: “I will”, all this will be done, and your concentration will not be disturbed by such thoughts and feelings as these, which constitute the major part of the intruding thoughts that populate the spaces around you. If you have said: “I will”, you cannot even wish that certain thoughts should not intrude; if you find yourself wishing this at any time you will know that you have not yet really willed. Read more »

aim, concentration, everyday life, intrude, obstacles, principal purpose, purpose in life, subordinate, thoughts and feelings

There is another class of intruders, which appear to come telepathically from other minds and from the objects around us. In these days of radio communications there need be no difficulty in believing that thoughts coming from other minds influence ours; that our own habitual thoughts hang about us when we are busily engaged, and discharge themselves upon us in our moments of quiet is a matter of common experience. Read more »

anxiety, concentration, intelligible, intruders, personal emotions, personal interest, radio communications, telepathically

Although I have said that one should learn to concentrate even in a bus or train — anywhere and on any occasion which does not call for vigilance or response on our part, and when no one is talking to us — so that we may be positive and strong in our policy of life, I do not say that we should ignore the conveniences of quietude and non-interruption in our times of special practice. We must be strong enough to face and overcome difficulties, but need not deliberately make or seek them. Read more »

concentrate, concentration, difficulties, interruption, servants, surroundings, telepathy, vigilance

THE explanations and practices of concentration given up to this point should enable the student to follow a line of thought fairly steadily. Next comes thinking. Thinking is the combining of two or more ideas to embody another idea, which is no more contained in the originals than water is contained in hydrogen and oxygen. In some cases, as in learning, two ideas are given, and to understand the matter we have to think them into a unity. Read more »

angles of a triangle, concentrate, concentration, explanations, line of thought

Exercise 5.
Look round a room, noticing the various objects in order. Close the eyes and review them mentally. Again, follow a procession of the letters, of the alphabet, and any different alphabets you may know, such as the Greek, Russian, Hebrew, or Devanagari. Read more »

concentration, devanagari, exercise, feelings, imagination, letters of the alphabet

Exercise 9.
This could be called expansion of concentration. One day I asked a student to imagine a five-pointed star and tell me what he saw. Read more »

concentrate, concentration, exercise, five pointed star, geometrical figures, object thinking

Exercise 13.
I am sitting at a table, but I imagine that I am an artist out in a field painting a tree. How nice this picture looks, with two branches on this side and three on that, and what a nice curve of foliage the greenery makes. Yet, somehow, it lacks! And the trunk. It does look a bit like a leg of Uncle Abe’s working trousers! Read more »

consciousness, i am an artist, other side, painting

Exercise 15.
You will by now have discovered that you are able to call up images far more easily than you could before, and that the mind no longer wanders away so wilfully as it used to do. The next step is to make a series of experiments in calling up images bodily and complete before the mind. Read more »

discern, empty space, eyes closed, images, mental vision, repetition, thought stream, transformations

I need make only a few remarks in this book about reading and study. I advise all people when reading light literature to pause frequently to remind themselves to make clear mental pictures of what they read. Our hero comes to the house to call for his girl friend to take her to a dance. Read more »

combine, concentrate, concentration, mental picture, presence

WHEN the student is well practised in concentration, so that he can put on the mood of it like a garment, let him or her proceed to meditation and contemplation. Read more »

attentively, concentration, contemplation, great happiness, meditation, unite

I hope it has become clear that meditation is no retreat from the world but is one pole of our terrestrial conscious activity which is all creative. Not by meditation alone will anyone reach to the greatest heights; the limitations of external life contain the divine teaching in equal measure. Read more »

blossoms, conscious activity, consistency, laws of nature, meditation

The following diagram is intended to give a rough idea of the changes which occur in man in the course of his development. The first figure indicates the condition of an undeveloped man, in whom the physical nature is dominant and the will is weak, the second that of one very advanced in whom the balance is reversed, other people lie between the two. Read more »

desire nature, emotions, fulfilment, intellect, meditation, physical nature

MEDITATION is a complete flow of thought about an object which you have successfully concentrated upon. It is not a flow past, like a procession in the street, but a flow into, a filling-up. It is like a thread of thoughts closely wound into a ball, such that every part of the thread is intimate with every other part. In meditation you enfold yourself in a cocoon of your thoughts; you go in a grub and come out a butterfly. Read more »

butterfly, emotions, gentle manner, inspiration, intuition, meditation

What have I here? A pebble from a beach in Cyprus, now used as a paperweight. Let me meditate on this. First I shall observe it very carefully, noting its size, shape, color, texture, heaviness, markings, etc. Next I shall close my eyes and concentrate upon it. Now I will use the Four Roads of Thought again, with a new motive — to realize as fully as possible the object in whole and parts, its qualities and its actions. Read more »

concentrate, concentration, consciousness, meditation, new realization

Exercise 17.
The way to meditate on a virtue is simple. First of all make concrete pictures of the virtue in action. For each virtue make a number of pictures; compare them and try to find what is the essential of the virtue and what is the feeling of the virtue in action. Do not be satisfied with mere pictures, as though they were being played before you on a stage. Step up on to the stage and merge yourself in the action, thinking and feeling at the same time. Thirdly, go beyond this and find yourself to be the internal spectator of the virtue, in which condition you witness it as in the “you”, not in the “I”, of yourself. Fourthly, return to your meditation on the virtue as such, but seeing how it would apply in many different circumstances, and in each case putting yourself into the scene and action. Read more »

exercise, practice meditation, selfishness, spectator, thinking and feeling, virtue, witness

It is worth while to spare a little time to meditate quietly upon material and spiritual laws. There is, for example, the law of gravity. Knowing it, we should be fools indeed to jump downstairs instead of walking, or to attempt to cross a river on our feet. There are the laws of health, governing sleep and work and food and many other things, and here again we know that disobedience is foolishness, ruinous to health and happiness. Read more »

foolishness, health and happiness, social relations, spiritual basis, spiritual law, spiritual voyage, time to meditate, voice of conscience

Many people who are devotional by nature prefer to meditate on the ideal human being, instead of on the virtues. Sometimes they choose for this (I) a real historical person and sometimes (2) a symbolic figure. Thought here is two-fold — one group finds delight in self-abandonment or adoration, the other in service of the ideal person. The latter, however, is like the former for purposes of meditation, for without the knowledge and nearness that meditation brings one is not likely to perform true service, that is, act with intelligent love. Read more »

adoration, benefit, devotees, devotion, devotional meditation, hindu, schools of thought, symbolic figure

To work through a religious or philosophical book and meditate on the sentences is another frequent practice. It supplements (a) reading and (b) study, on the assumption that the writer is expressing deep thought worthy of the profoundest consideration. Read more »

concentrate, deep thought, frequent practice, meditation, philosophical book, realization, wisdom

It is to be assumed that the reader of these lines will not wish to write articles, give lectures or make speeches on any subject of which he has not made a conscientious study, for any other course, would be definitely unethical, and could be observed to be motivated by pride, profit or propaganda. Read more »

attributes, class relationships, conscientious, experiences, meditation, propaganda, speeches

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

IN this chapter I must allow myself to use certain Sanskrit words which have technical importance in the study of the mind and the world. Mantra is one of them. In connection with meditation it refers to words or sentences which are repeated over and over again while the mind is intent upon their meaning. Read more »

gunas, mantra, mantras, practice meditation, rajas, recitations, repetition, sanskrit words, tamas, upanishad

One mantra very much recommended in certain Upanishads is the 8-syllabled “Om namo Narayanaya”, which means “salutation to Narayana”. Narayana is Vishnu, of whom Shri Krishna is considered the fullest avatara or incarnation. Vishnu is the middle member of the Trinity, the one Life and Light of the World. Read more »

avatara, bhagavad gita, brahma, devotee, mantra, mantras, narayana, om, sages, salutation, shri krishna, supreme god, trinity, upanishads, vishnu, vowel

If you would practice this form of meditation, sit quietly in your usual place and let your thoughts and feelings simmer down until your mind dwells peacefully upon the thought of the great teacher. Read more »

contemplating, devotion, flower, gopi, heart, lotus bud, mantra, shri krishna, splendor, thoughts and feelings

Om is described as the indicator of Ishwara, a word translatable as God, Ruler, Vishnu, Shabda-Brahman, Avalokiteshwara, etc. Om is not a name, not even a word with a conventional meaning, but an indicator. And Ishwara is the supreme teacher in all of us, touching us not via mineral, plant, animal or human substance or form but, beyond these, within. Read more »

animal kingdoms, brahman, consciousness, mineral kingdom, om, thinker, vishnu

IF you have resolved upon true success in life, that is, to achieve (I) that full living which is prescribed by the spiritual law of action with love and thought, along with (2) the never-closing of that gateway to the inner light that you have opened in your meditations, and if you know that not really you have resolved but something has resolved in you, and if you have said to yourself “I will”, you will, if you look back, see that you have done three things. Read more »

going in the right direction, goodness, meditations, nothing to fear, obstacles, power knowledge, spiritual law, three steps

I have said this before, but here it comes in again. Before you can pass on from meditation to contemplation you must be able to give up wishing and hoping entirely, at least during the period of practice. The mind can never be single while wishes occupy it. Read more »

contemplation, desires, impurity, meditation, spiritual law, train of thought, wishing and hoping

Among these unsatisfactions, one that stands out very prominently in the thoughts of many aspirants to higher consciousness is eagerness to find a teacher. It is the greatest encouragement to know that there must be those who have gone ahead of us and become part of that unseen spiritual life which is surely as intimate to our daily life as our material atmosphere and the eart