BOOK III
INTRODUCTION TO BOOK III
The third book of the Sutras is the Book of
Spiritual Powers. In considering these spiritual powers, two things
must be understood and kept in memory. The first of these is this:
These spiritual powers can only be gained when the development
described in the first and second books has been measurably
attained; when the Commandments have been kept, the Rules faithfully
followed, and the experiences which are described have been passed
through. For only after this is the spiritual man so far grown, so
far disentangled from the psychical bandages and veils which have
confined and blinded him, that he can use his proper powers and
faculties. For this is the secret of all spiritual powers: they are
in no sense an abnormal or supernatural overgrowth upon the material
man, but are rather the powers and faculties inherent in the
spiritual man, entirely natural to him, and coming naturally into
activity, as the spiritual man is disentangled and liberated from
psychical bondage, through keeping the Commandments and Rules
already set forth.
As the personal man is the limitation and
inversion of the spiritual man, all his faculties and powers are
inversions of the powers of the spiritual man. In a single phrase,
his self seeking is the inversion of the Self-seeking which is the
very being of the spiritual man: the ceaseless search after the
divine and august Self of all beings. This inversion is corrected by
keeping the Commandments and Rules, and gradually, as the inversion
is overcome, the spiritual man is extricated, and comes into
possession and free exercise of his powers. The spiritual powers,
therefore, are the powers of the grown and liberated spiritual man.
They can only be developed and used as the spiritual man grows and
attains liberation through obedience. This is the first thing to be
kept in mind, in all that is said of spiritual powers in the third
and fourth books of the Sutras. The second thing to be understood
and kept in mind is this:
Just as our modern sages have discerned and
taught that all matter is ultimately one and eternal, definitely
related throughout the whole wide universe; just as they have
discerned and taught that all force is one and eternal, so
coordinated throughout the whole universe that whatever affects any
atom measurably affects the whole boundless realm of matter and
force, to the most distant star or nebula on the dim confines of
space; so the ancient sages had discerned and taught that all
consciousness is one, immortal, indivisible, infinite; so finely
correlated and continuous that whatever is perceived by any
consciousness is, whether actually or potentially, within the reach
of all consciousness, and therefore within the reach of any
consciousness. This has been well expressed by saying that all souls
are fundamentally one with the Oversoul; that the Son of God, and
all Sons of God, are fundamentally one with the Father. When the
consciousness is cleared of psychic bonds and veils, when the
spiritual man is able to stand, to see, then this superb law comes
into effect: whatever is within the knowledge of any consciousness,
and this includes the whole infinite universe, is within his reach,
and may, if he wills, be made a part of his consciousness. This he
may attain through his fundamental unity with the Oversoul, by
raising himself toward the consciousness above him, and drawing on
its resources. The Son, if he would work miracles, whether of
perception or of action, must come often into the presence of the
Father. This is the birthright of the spiritual man; through it he
comes into possession of his splendid and immortal powers. Let it be
clearly kept in mind that what is here to be related of the
spiritual man, and his exalted powers, must in no wise be detached
from what has gone before. The being, the very inception, of the
spiritual man depends on the purification and moral attainment
already detailed, and can in no wise dispense with these or curtail
them.
Let no one imagine that the true life, the true
powers of the spiritual man, can be attained by any way except the
hard way of sacrifice, of trial, of renunciation, of selfless
self-conquest and genuine devotion to the weal of all others. Only
thus can the golden gates be reached and entered. Only thus can we
attain to that pure world wherein the spiritual man lives, and
moves, and has his being. Nothing impure, nothing unholy can ever
cross that threshold, least of all impure motives or self seeking
desires. These must be burnt away before an entrance to that world
can be gained.
But where there is light, there is shadow; and
the lofty light of the soul casts upon the clouds of the mid-world
the shadow of the spiritual man and of his powers; the bastard
vesture and the bastard powers of psychism are easily attained; yet,
even when attained, they are a delusion, the very essence of
unreality.
Therefore ponder well the earlier rules, and
lay a firm foundation of courage, sacrifice, selflessness, holiness.
BOOK III
1. The binding of the perceiving
consciousness to a certain region is attention (dharana).
Emerson quotes Sir Isaac Newton as saying that
he made his great discoveries by intending his mind on them. That is
what is meant here. I read the page of a book while inking of
something else. At the end of he page, I have no idea of what it is
about, and read it again, still thinking of something else, with the
same result. Then I wake up, so to speak, make an effort of
attention, fix my thought on what I am reading, and easily take in
its meaning. The act of will, the effort of attention, the intending
of the mind on each word and line of the page, just as the eyes are
focussed on each word and line, is the power here contemplated. It
is the power to focus the consciousness on a given spot, and hold it
there Attention is the first and indispensable step in all
knowledge. Atten. tion to spiritual things is the first step to
spiritual knowledge.
2. A prolonged holding of the perceiving
consciousness in that region is meditation (dhyana).
This will apply equally to outer and inner
things. I may for a moment fix my attention on some visible object,
in a single penetrating glance, or I may hold the attention fixedly
on it until it reveals far more of its nature than a single glance
could perceive. The first is the focussing of the searchlight of
consciousness upon the object. The other is the holding of the white
beam of light steadily and persistently on the object, until it
yields up the secret of its details. So for things within; one may
fix the inner glance for a moment on spiritual things, or one may
hold the consciousness steadily upon them, until what was in the
dark slowly comes forth into the light, and yields up its immortal
secret. But this is possible only for the spiritual man, after the
Commandments and the Rules have been kept; for until this is done,
the thronging storms of psychical thoughts dissipate and distract
the attention, so that it will not remain fixed on spiritual things.
The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word
of the spiritual message.
3. When the perceiving consciousness in this
meditative is wholly given to illuminating the essential meaning of
the object contemplated, and is freed from the sense of separateness
and personality, this is contemplation (samadhi).
Let us review the steps so far taken. First,
the beam of perceiving consciousness is focussed on a certain region
or subject, through the effort of attention. Then this attending
consciousness is held on its object. Third, there is the ardent will
to know its meaning, to illumine it with comprehending thought.
Fourth, all personal bias - all desire merely to indorse a previous
opinion and so prove oneself right, and all desire for personal
profit or gratification must be quite put away. There must be a
purely disinterested love of truth for its own sake. Thus is the
perceiving consciousness made void, as it were, of all personality
or sense of separateness. The personal limitation stands aside and
lets the All-consciousness come to bear upon the problem. The
Oversoul bends its ray upon the object, and illumines it with pure
light.
4. When these three, Attention, Meditation
Contemplation, are exercised at once, this is perfectly concentrated
Meditation (sanyama).
When the personal limitation of the perceiving
consciousness stands aside, and allows the All-conscious to come to
bear upon the problem, then arises that real knowledge which is
called a flash of genius; that real knowledge which makes
discoveries, and without which no discovery can be made, however
painstaking the effort. For genius is the vision of the spiritual
man, and that vision is a question of growth rather than present
effort; though right effort, rightly continued, will in time
infallibly lead to growth and vision. Through the power thus to set
aside personal limitation, to push aside petty concerns and cares,
and steady the whole nature and will in an ardent love of truth and
desire to know it; through the power thus to make way for the
All-consciousness, all great men make their discoveries. Newton,
watching the apple fall to the earth, was able to look beyond, to
see the subtle waves of force pulsating through apples and worlds
and suns and galaxies. and thus to perceive universal gravitation.
The Oversoul, looking through his eyes, recognized the universal
force, one of its own children. Darwin, watching the forms and
motions of plants and animals, let the same august consciousness
come to bear on them, and saw infinite growth perfected through
ceaseless struggle. He perceived the superb process of evolution,
the Oversoul once more recognizing its own. Fraunhofer, noting the
dark lines in the band of sunlight in his spectroscope, divined
their identity with the bright lines in the spectra of incandescent
iron, sodium and the rest, and so saw the oneness of substance in
the worlds and suns, the unity of the materials of the universe.
Once again the Oversoul, looking with his eyes, recognized its own.
So it is with all true knowledge. But the mind must transcend its
limitations, its idiosyncrasies; there must be purity, for to the
pure in heart is the promise, that they shall see God.
5. By mastering this perf ectly concen-
bated Meditation, there comes the illumina- tion of perception.
The meaning of this is illustrated by what has been said before.
When the spiritual man is able to throw aside the trammels of
emotional and mental limitation, and to open his eyes, he sees
clearly, he attains to illuminated perception. A poet once said that
Occultism is the conscious cultivation of genius; and it is certain
that the awakened spiritual man attains to the perceptions of
genius. Genius is the vision, the power, of the spiritual man,
whether its possessor recognizes this or not. All true knowledge is
of the spiritual man. The greatest in all ages have recognized this
and put their testimony on record. The great in wisdom who have not
consciously recognized it, have ever been full of the spirit of
reverence, of selfless devotion to truth, of humility, as was
Darwin; and reverence and humility are the unconscious recognition
of the nearness of the Spirit, that Divinity which broods over us, a
Master o'er a slave.
6. This power is distributed in ascending
degrees.
It is to be attained step by step. It is a
question, not of miracle, but of evolution, of growth. Newton had to
master the multiplication table, then the four rules of arithmetic,
then the rudiments of algebra, before he came to the binomial
theorem. At each point, there was attention, concentration, insight;
until these were attained, no progress to the next point was
possible. So with Darwin. He had to learn the form and use of leaf
and flower, of bone and muscle; the characteristics of genera and
species; the distribution of plants and animals, before he had in
mind that nexus of knowledge on which the light of his great idea
was at last able to shine. So is it with all knowledge. So is it
with spiritual knowledge. Take the matter this way: The first
subject for the exercise of my spiritual insight is my day, with its
circumstances, its hindrances, its opportunities, its duties. I do
what I can to solve it, to fulfil its duties, to learn its lessons.
I try to live my day with aspiration and faith. That is the first
step. By doing this, I gather a harvest for the evening, I gain a
deeper insight into life, in virtue of which I begin the next day
with a certain advantage, a certain spiritual advance and
attainment. So with all successive days. In faith and aspiration, we
pass from day to day, in growing knowledge and power, with never
more than one day to solve at a time, until all life becomes radiant
and transparent.
7. This threefold power, of Attention,
Meditation, Contemplation, is more interior than the means of growth
previously described.
Very naturally so; because the means of growth
previously described were concerned with the extrication of the
spiritual man from psychic bondages and veils; while this threefold
power is to be exercised by the spiritual man thus extricated and
standing on his feet, viewing life with open eyes.
8. But this triad is still exterior to the
soul vision which is unconditioned, free from the seed of mental
analyses.
The reason is this: The threefold power we have
been considering, the triad of Attention, Contemplation, Meditation
is, so far as we have yet considered it, the focussing of the beam
of perceiving consciousness upon some form of manifesting being,
with a view of understanding it completely. There is a higher stage,
where the beam of consciousness is turned back upon itself, and the
individual consciousness enters into, and knows, the All
consciousness. This is a being, a being in immortality, rather than
a knowing; it is free from mental analysis or mental forms. It is
not an activity of the higher mind, even the mind of the spiritual
man. It is an activity of the soul. Had Newton risen to this higher
stage, he would have known, not the laws of motion, but that high
Being, from whose Life comes eternal motion. Had Darwin risen to
this, he would have seen the Soul, whose graduated thought and being
all evolution expresses. There are, therefore, these two
perceptions: that of living things, and that of the Life; that of
the Soul's works, and that of the Soul itself.
9. One of the ascending degrees is the
development of Control.
First there is the overcoming of the
mind-impress of excitation. Then comes the manifestation of the
mind-impress of Control. Then the perceiving consciousness follows
after the moment of Control. This is the development of Control. The
meaning seems to be this: Some object enters the field of
observation, and at first violently excites the mind, stirring up
curiosity, fear, wonder; then the consciousness returns upon itself,
as it were, and takes the perception firmly in hand, steadying
itself, and viewing the matter calmly from above. This steadying
effort of the will upon the perceiving consciousness is Control, and
immediately upon it follows perception, understanding, insight.
Take a trite example. Supposing one is walking
in an Indian forest. A charging elephant suddenly appears. The man
is excited by astonishment, and, perhaps, terror. But he exercises
an effort of will, perceives the situation in its true bearings, and
recognizes that a certain thing must be done; in this case,
probably, that he must get out of the way as quickly as possible.
Or a comet, unheralded, appears in the sky like
a flaming sword. The beholder is at first astonished, perhaps
terror-stricken; but he takes himself in hand, controls his
thoughts, views the apparition calmly, and finally calculates its
orbit and its relation to meteor showers.
These are extreme illustrations; but with all
knowledge the order of perception is the same: first, the excitation
of the mind by the new object impressed on it; then the control of
the mind from within; upon which follows the perception of the
nature of the object. Where the eyes of the spiritual man are open,
this will be a true and penetrating spiritual perception. In some
such way do our living experiences come to us; first, with a shock
of pain; then the Soul steadies itself and controls the pain; then
the spirit perceives the lesson of the event, and its bearing upon
the progressive revelation of life.
10. Through frequent repetition of this
process, the mind becomes habituated to it, and there arises an
equable flow of perceiving consciousness.
Control of the mind by the Soul, like control
of the muscles by the mind, comes by practice, and constant
voluntary repetition. As an example of control of the muscles by the
mind, take the ceaseless practice by which a musician gains mastery
over his instrument, or a fencer gains skill with a rapier.
Innumerable small efforts of attention will make a result which
seems well-nigh miraculous; which, for the novice, is really
miraculous. Then consider that far more wonderful instrument, the
perceiving mind, played on by that fine musician, the Soul. Here
again, innumerable small efforts of attention will accumulate into
mastery, and a mastery worth winning. For a concrete example, take
the gradual conquest of each day, the effort to live that day for
the Soul. To him that is faithful unto death, the Master gives the
crown of life.
11. The gradual conquest of the mind's
tendency to flit from one object to another, and the power of one-pointedness,
make the development of Contemplation.
As an illustration of the mind's tendency to
flit from one object to another, take a small boy, learning
arithmetic. He begins: two ones are two; three ones are three-and
then he thinks of three coins in his pocket, which will purchase so
much candy, in the store down the street, next to the toy-shop,
where are base-balls, marbles and so on, -and then he comes back
with a jerk, to four ones are four. So with us also. We are seeking
the meaning of our task, but the mind takes advantage of a moment of
slackened attention, and flits off from one frivolous detail to
another, till we suddenly come back to consciousness after
traversing leagues of space. We must learn to conquer this, and to
go back within ourselves into the beam of perceiving consciousness
itself, which is a beam of the Oversoul. This is the true
onepointedness, the bringing of our consciousness to a focus in the
Soul.
12. When, following this, the controlled
manifold tendency and the aroused one-pointedness are equally
balanced parts of the perceiving consciousness, his the development
of one-pointedness.
This would seem to mean that the insight which
is called one-pointedness has two sides, equally balanced. There is,
first, the manifold aspect of any object, the sum of all its
characteristics and properties. This is to be held firmly in the
mind. Then there is the perception of the object as a unity, as a
whole, the perception of its essence. First, the details must be
clearly perceived; then the essence must be comprehended. When the
two processes are equally balanced, the true onepointedness is
attained. Everything has these two sides, the side of difference and
the side of unity; there is the individual and there is the genus;
the pole of matter and diversity, and the pole of oneness and
spirit. To see the object truly, we must see both.
13. Through this, the inherent character,
distinctive marks and conditions of being and powers, according to
their development, are made clear.
By the power defined in the preceding sutra,
the inherent character, distinctive marks and conditions of beings
and powers are made clear. For through this power, as defined, we
get a twofold view of each object, seeing at once all its individual
characteristics and its essential character, species and genus; we
see it in relation to itself, and in relation to the Eternal. Thus
we see a rose as that particular flower, with its colour and scent,
its peculiar fold of each petal; but we also see in it the species,
the family to which it belongs, with its relation to all plants, to
all life, to Life itself. So in any day, we see events and
circumstances; we also see in it the lesson set for the soul by the
Eternal.
14. Every object has its characteristics
which are already quiescent, those which are active, and those which
are not yet definable.
Every object has characteristics belonging to
its past, its present and its future. In a fir tree, for example,
there are the stumps or scars of dead branches, which once
represented its foremost growth; there are the branches with their
needles spread out to the air; there are the buds at the end of each
branch and twig, which carry the still closely packed needles which
are the promise of the future. In like manner, the chrysalis has, as
its past, the caterpillar; as its future, the butterfly. The man
has, in his past, the animal; in his future, the angel. Both are
visible even now in his face. So with all things, for all things
change and grow.
15. Difference in stage is the cause of
difference in development.
This but amplifies what has just been said. The
first stage is the sapling, the caterpillar, the animal. The second
stage is the growing tree, the chrysalis, the man. The third is the
splendid pine, the butterfly, the angel. Difference of stage is the
cause of difference of development. So it is among men, and among
the races of men.
16. Through perfectly concentrated
Meditation on the three stages of development comes a knowledge of
past and future.
We have taken our illustrations from natural
science, because, since every true discovery in natural science is a
divination of a law in nature, attained through a flash of genius,
such discoveries really represent acts of spiritual perception, acts
of perception by the spiritual man, even though they are generally
not so recognized. So we may once more use the same illustration.
Perfectly concentrated Meditation, perfect insight into the
chrysalis, reveals the caterpillar that it has been, the butterfly
that it is destined to be. He who knows the seed, knows the seed-pod
or ear it has come from, and the plant that is to come from it. So
in like manner he who really knows today, and the heart of to-day,
knows its parent yesterday and its child tomorrow. Past, present and
future are all in the Eternal. He who dwells in the Eternal knows
all three.
17. The sound and the ob ject and the
thought called up by a word are confounded because they are all
blurred together in the mind. By perfectly concentrated Meditation
on the distinction between them, there comes an understanding of the
sounds uttered by all beings.
It must be remembered that we are speaking of
perception by the spiritual man. Sound, like every force, is the
expression of a power of the Eternal. Infinite shades of this power
are expressed in the infinitely varied tones of sound. He who,
having entry to the consciousness of the Eternal knows the essence
of this power, can divine the meanings of all sounds, from the voice
of the insect to the music of the spheres. In like manner, he who
has attained to spiritual vision can perceive the mind-images in the
thoughts of others, with the shade of feeling which goes with them,
thus reading their thoughts as easily as he hears their words. Every
one has the germ of this power, since difference of tone will give
widely differing meanings to the same words, meanings which are
intuitively perceived by everyone.
18. When the mind-impressions become
visible, there comes an understanding of previous births.
This is simple enough if we grasp the truth of
rebirth. The fine harvest of past experi ences is drawn into the
spiritual nature, forming, indeed, the basis of its development.
When the consciousness has been raised to a point above these fine
subjective impressions, and can look down upon them from above, this
will in itself be a remembering of past births.
19. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
mind-images is gained the understanding of the thoughts of others.
Here, for those who can profit by it, is the
secret of thought-reading. Take the simplest case of intentional
thought transference. It is the testimony of those who have done
this, that the perceiving mind must be stilled, before the
mind-image projected by the other mind can be seen. With it comes a
sense of the feeling and temper of the other mind and so on, in
higher degrees.
20. But since that on which the thought in
the mind of another rests is not objective to the thought-reader's
consciousness, he perceives the thought only, and not also that on
which the thought rests.
The meaning appears to be simple: One may be
able to perceive the thoughts of some one at a distance; one cannot,
by that means alone, also perceive the external surroundings of that
person, which arouse these thoughts.
21. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
the form of the body, by arresting the body's perceptibility, and by
inhibiting the eye's power of sight, there comes the power to make
the body invisible.
There are many instances of the exercise of
this power, by mesmerists, hypnotists and the like; and we may
simply call it an instance of the power of suggestion. Shankara
tells us that by this power the popular magicians of the East
perform their wonders, working on the mind-images of others, while
remaining invisible themselves. It is all a question of being able
to see and control the mind-images.
22. The works which fill out the life-span
may be either immediately or gradually operative. By perfectly
concentrated Meditation on these comes a knowledge of the time of
the end, as also through signs.
A garment which is wet, says the commentator,
may be hung up to dry, and so dry rapidly, or it may be rolled in a
ball and dry slowly; so a fire may blaze or smoulder. Thus it is
with Karma, the works that fill out the life-span. By an insight
into the mental forms and forces which make up Karma, there comes a
knowledge of the rapidity or slowness of their development, and of
the time when the debt will be paid.
23. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
sympathy, compassion and kindness, is gained the power of interior
union with others.
Unity is the reality; separateness the
illusion. The nearer we come to reality, the nearer we come to unity
of heart. Sympathy, compassion, kindness are modes of this unity of
heart, whereby we rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with
those who weep. These things are learned by desiring to learn them.
24. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
power, even such power as that of the elephant may be gained.
This is a pretty image. Elephants possess not
only force, but poise and fineness of control. They can lift a
straw, a child, a tree with perfectly judged control and effort. So
the simile is a good one. By detachment, by withdrawing into the
soul's reservoir of power, we can gain all these, force and fineness
and poise; the ability to handle with equal mastery things small and
great, concrete and abstract alike.
25. By bending upon them the awakened inner
light, there comes a knowledge of things subtle, or concealed, or
obscure.
As was said at the outset, each consciousness
is related to all consciousness; and, through it, has a potential
consciousness of all things; whether subtle or concealed or obscure.
An understanding of this great truth will come with practice. As one
of the wise has said, we have no conception of the power of
Meditation.
26. By perf ectly concentrated Meditation on
the sun comes a knowledge of the worlds.
This has several meanings: First, by a
knowledge of the constitution of the sun, astronomers can understand
the kindred nature of the stars. And it is said that there is a
finer astronomy, where the spiritual man is the astronomer. But the
sun also means the Soul, and through knowledge of the Soul comes a
knowledge of the realms of life.
27. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
the moon comes a knowledge of the lunar mansions.
Here again are different meanings. The moon is,
first, the companion planet, which, each day, passes backward
through one mansion of the stars. By watching the moon, the
boundaries of the mansion are learned, with their succession in the
great time-dial of the sky. But the moon also symbolizes the
analytic mind, with its divided realms; and these, too, may be
understood through perfectly concentrated Meditation.
28. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
the fixed pole-star comes a knowledge of the motions of the stars.
Addressing Duty, stern daughter of the Voice of
God, Wordsworth finely said: Thou cost preserve the stars from
wrong, And the most ancient heavens through thee are fresh and
strong - thus suggesting a profound relation between the moral
powers and the powers that rule the worlds. So in this Sutra the
fixed polestar is the eternal spirit about which all things move, as
well as the star toward which points the axis of the earth. Deep
mysteries attend both, and the veil of mystery is only to be raised
by Meditation, by open-eyed vision of the awakened spiritual man.
29. Perfectly concentrated Meditation on the
centre of force in the lower trunk brings an understanding of the
order of the bodily powers.
We are coming to a vitally important part of
the teaching of Yoga: namely, the spiritual man's attainment of full
self-consciousness, the awakening of the spiritual man as a
self-conscious individual, behind and above the natural man. In this
awakening, and in the process of gestation which precedes it, there
is a close relation with the powers of the natural man, which are,
in a certain sense, the projection, outward and downward, of the
powers of the spiritual man. This is notably true of that creative
power of the spiritual man which, when embodied in the natural man,
becomes the power of generation. Not only is this power the cause of
the continuance of the bodily race of mankind, but further, in the
individual, it is the key to the dominance of the personal life.
Rising, as it were, through the life-channels of the body, it
flushes the personality with physical force, and maintains and
colours the illusion that the physical life is the dominant and
all-important expression of life. In due time, when the spiritual
man has begun to take form, the creative force will be drawn off,
and become operative in building the body of the spiritual man, just
as it has been operative in the building of physical bodies, through
generation in the natural world.
Perfectly concentrated Meditation on the nature
of this force means, first, that rising of the consciousness into
the spiritual world, already described, which gives the one sure
foothold for Meditation; and then, from that spiritual point of
vantage, not only an insight into the creative force, in its
spiritual and physical aspects, but also a gradually attained
control of this wonderful force, which will mean its direction to
the body of the spiritual man, and its gradual withdrawal from the
body of the natural man, until the over-pressure, so general and
such a fruitful source of misery in our day, is abated, and purity
takes the place of passion. This over pressure, which is the cause
of so many evils and so much of human shame, is an abnormal, not a
natural, condition. It is primarily due to spiritual blindness, to
blindness regarding the spiritual man, and ignorance even of his
existence; for by this blind ignorance are closed the channels
through which, were they open, the creative force could flow into
the body of the spiritual man, there building up an immortal
vesture. There is no cure for blindness, with its consequent
over-pressure and attendant misery and shame, but spiritual vision,
spiritual aspiration, sacrifice, the new birth from above. There is
no other way to lighten the burden, to lift the misery and shame
from human life. Therefore, let us follow after sacrifice and
aspiration, let us seek the light. In this way only shall we gain
that insight into the order of the bodily powers, and that mastery
of them, which this Sutra implies.
30. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
the centre of f orce in the well of the throat, there comes the
cessation of hunger and thirst.
We are continuing the study of the bodily
powers and centres of force in their relation to the powers and
forces of the spiritual man. We have already considered the dominant
power of physical life, the creative power which secures the
continuance of physical life; and, further, the manner in which,
through aspiration and sacrifice, it is gradually raised and set to
the work of upbuilding the body of the spiritual man. We come now to
the dominant psychic force, the power which manifests itself in
speech, and in virtue of which the voice may carry so much of the
personal magnetism, endowing the orator with a tongue of fire,
magical in its power to arouse and rule the emotions of his hearers.
This emotional power, this distinctively psychical force, is the
cause of "hunger and thirst," the psychical hunger and thirst for
sensations, which is the source of our two-sided life of
emotionalism, with its hopes and fears, its expectations and
memories, its desires and hates. The source of this psychical power,
or, perhaps we should say, its centre of activity in the physical
body is said to be in the cavity of the throat. Thus, in the
Taittiriya Upanishad it is written: "There is this shining ether in
the inner being. Therein is the spiritual man, formed through
thought, immortal, golden. Inward, in the palate, the organ that
hangs down like a nipple,-this is the womb of Indra. And there,
where the dividing of the hair turns, extending upward to the crown
of the head."
Indra is the name given to the creative power
of which we have spoken, and which, we are told, resides in "the
organ which hangs down like a nipple, inward, in the palate."
31. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
the centre of force in the channel called the "tortoise-formed,"
comes steadfastness.
We are concerned now with the centre of nervous
or psychical force below the cavity of the throat, in the chest, in
which is felt the sensation of fear; the centre, the disturbance of
which sets the heart beating miserably with dread, or which produces
that sense of terror through which the heart is said to stand still.
When the truth concerning fear is thoroughly
mastered, through spiritual insight into the immortal, fearless
life, then this force is perfectly controlled; there is no more
fear, just as, through the control of the psychic power which works
through the nerve-centre in the throat, there comes a cessation of
"hunger and thirst." Thereafter, these forces, or their spiritual
prototypes, are turned to the building of the spiritual man. Always,
it must be remembered, the victory is first a spiritual one; only
later does it bring control of the bodily powers.
32. Through perfectly concentrated
Meditation on the light in the head comes the vision of the Masters
who have attained.
The tradition is, that there is a certain
centre of force in the head, perhaps the "pineal gland," which some
of our Western philosophers have supposed to be the dwelling of the
soul,-a centre which is, as it were, the door way between the
natural and the spiritual man. It is the seat of that better and
wiser consciousness behind the outward looking consciousness in the
forward part of the head; that better and wiser consciousness of
"the back of the mind," which views spiritual things, and seeks to
impress the spiritual view on the outward looking consciousness in
the forward part of the head. It is the spiritual man seeking to
guide the natural man, seeking to bring the natural man to concern
himself with the things of his immortality. This is suggested in the
words of the Upanishad already quoted: "There, where the dividing of
the hair turns, extending upward to the crown of the head"; all of
which may sound very fantastical, until one comes to understand it.
It is said that when this power is fully
awakened, it brings a vision of the great Companions of the
spiritual man, those who have already attained, crossing over to the
further shore of the sea of death and rebirth. Perhaps it is to this
divine sight that the Master alluded, who is reported to have said:
"I counsel you to buy of me eye-salve, that you may see." It is of
this same vision of the great Companions, the children of light,
that a seer wrote:
"Though inland far we be,
Our souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither,
And see the Children sport upon the shore
And hear the mighty waters rolling
evermore."
33. Or through the divining power of tuition
he knows all things.
This is really the supplement, the spiritual
side, of the Sutra just translated. Step by step, as the better
consciousness, the spiritual view, gains force in the back of the
mind, so, in the same measure, the spiritual man is gaining the
power to see: learning to open the spiritual eyes. When the eyes are
fully opened, the spiritual man beholds the great Companions
standing about him; he has begun to "know all things."
This divining power of intuition is the power
which lies above and behind the so-called rational mind; the
rational mind formulates a question and lays it before the
intuition, which gives a real answer, often immediately distorted by
the rational mind, yet always embodying a kernel of truth. It is by
this process, through which the rational mind brings questions to
the intuition for solution, that the truths of science are reached,
the flashes of discovery and genius. But this higher power need not
work in subordination to the so-called rational mind, it may act
directly, as full illumination, "the vision and the faculty divine."
34 By perfectly concentrated Meditation on
the heart, the interior being, comes the knowledge of consciousness.
The heart here seems to mean, as it so often.
does in the Upanishads, the interior, spiritual nature, the
consciousness of the spiritual man, which is related to the heart,
and to the wisdom of the heart. By steadily seeking after, and
finding, the consciousness of the spiritualman, by coming to
consciousness as the spiritual man, a perfect knowledge of
consciousness will be attained. For the conscious ness of the
spiritual man has this divine quality: while being and remaining a
truly individual consciousness, it at the same time flows over, as
it were, and blends with the Divine Consciousness above and about
it, the consciousness of the great Companions; and by showing itself
to be one with the Divine Consciousness, it reveals the nature of
all consciousness, the secret that all consciousness is One and
Divine.
35. The personal self seeks to feast on
life, through a failure to perceive the distinction between the
personal self and the spiritual man. All personal experience really
exists for the sake of another: namely, the spiritual man. By
perfectly concentrated Meditation on experience for the sake of the
Self, comes a knowledge of the spiritual man.
The divine ray of the Higher Self, which is
eternal, impersonal and abstract, descends into life, and forms a
personality, which, through the stress and storm of life, is
hammered into a definite and concrete self-conscious individuality.
The problem is, to blend these two powers, taking the eternal and
spiritual being of the first, and blending with it, transferring
into it, the self-conscious individuality of the second; and thus
bringing to life a third being, the spiritual man, who is heir to
the immortality of his father, the Higher Self, and yet has the
self-conscious, concrete individuality of his other parent, the
personal self. This is the true immaculate conception, the new birth
from above, "conceived of the Holy Spirit." Of this new birth it is
said: "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.: ye must be born
again."
Rightly understood, therefore, the whole life
of the personal man is for another, not for himself. He exists only
to render his very life and all his experience for the building up
of the spiritual man. Only through failure to see this, does he seek
enjoyment for himself, seek to secure the feasts of life for
himself; not understanding that he must live for the other, live
sacrificially, offering both feasts and his very being on the altar;
giving himself as a contribution for the building of the spiritual
man. When he does understand this, and lives for the Higher Self,
setting his heart and thought on the Higher Self, then his sacrifice
bears divine fruit, the spiritual man is built up, consciousness
awakes in him, and he comes fully into being as a divine and
immortal individuality.
36. Thereupon are born the divine power of
intuition, and the hearing, the touch, the vision, the taste and the
power of smell of the spiritual man.
When, in virtue of the perpetual sacrifice of
the personal man, daily and hourly giving his life for his divine
brother the spiritual man, and through the radiance ever pouring
down from the Higher Self, eternal in the Heavens, the spiritual man
comes to birth,-there awake in him those powers whose physical
counterparts we know in the personal man. The spiritual man begins
to see, to hear, to touch, to taste. And, besides the senses of the
spiritual man, there awakes his mind, that divine counterpart of the
mind of the physical man, the power of direct and immediate
knowledge, the power of spiritual intuition, of divination. This
power, as we have seen, owes its virtue to the unity, the
continuity, of consciousness, whereby whatever is known to any
consciousness, is knowable by any other consciousness. Thus the
consciousness of the spiritual man, who lives above our narrow
barriers of separateness, is in intimate touch with the
consciousness of the great Companions, and can draw on that vast
reservoir for all real needs. Thus arises within the spiritual man
that certain knowledge which is called intuition, divination,
illumination.
37. These powers stand in contradistinction
to the highest spiritual vision. In mani- festation they are called
magical powers.
The divine man is destined to supersede the
spiritual man, as the spiritual man supersedes the natural man. Then
the disciple becomes a Master. The opened powers of tile spiritual
man, spiritual vision, hearing, and touch, stand, therefore, in
contradistinction to the higher divine power above them, and must in
no wise be regarded as the end of the way, for the path has no end,
but rises ever to higher and higher glories; the soul's growth and
splendour have no limit. So that, if the spiritual powers we have
been considering are regarded as in any sense final, they are a
hindrance, a barrier to the far higher powers of the divine man. But
viewed from below, from the standpoint of normal physical
experience, they are powers truly magical; as the powers natural to
a four-dimensional being will appear magical to a three-dimensional
being.
38. Through the weakening of the causes of
bondage, and by learning the method of sassing, the consciousness is
transf erred to the other body.
In due time, after the spiritual man has been
formed and grown stable through the forces and virtues already
enumerated, and after the senses of the spiritual man have awaked,
there comes the transfer of the dominant consciousness, the sense of
individu- ality, from the physical to the spiritual man. Thereafter
the physical man is felt to be a secondary, a subordinate, an
instrument through whom the spiritual man works; and the spiritual
man is felt to be the real individuality. This is, in a sense, the
attainment to full salvation and immortal life; yet it is not the
final goal or resting place, but only the beginning of the greater
way.
The means for this transfer are described as
the weakening of the causes of bondage, and an understanding of the
method of passing from the one consciousness to the other. The first
may also be described as detach meet, and comes from the conquest of
the delusion that the personal self is the real man. When that
delusion abates and is held in check, the finer consciousness of the
spiritual man begins to shine in the background of the mind. The
transfer of the sense of individuality to this finer consciousness,
and thus to the spiritual man, then becomes a matter of
recollection, of attention; primarily, a matter of taking a deeper
interest in the life and doings of the spiritual man, than in the
please ures or occupations of the personality. Therefore it is said:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
cloth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
cloth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
39. Through mastery of the upward-life comes
freedom from the dangers of water, morass, and thorny places, and
the power of ascension is gained.
Here is one of the sentences, so characteristic
of this author, and, indeed, of the Eastern spirit, in which there
is an obvious exterior meaning, and, within this, a clear interior
meaning, not quite so obvious, but far more vital.
The surface meaning is, that by mastery of a
certain power, called here the upward-life, and akin to levitation,
there comes the ability to walk on water, or to pass over thorny
places without wounding the feet. But there is a deeper meaning.
When we speak of the disciple's path as a path of thorns, we use a
symbol; and the same symbol is used here. The upward-life means
something more than the power, often manifested in abnormal
psychical experiences, of levitating the physical body, or near-by
physical objects. It means the strong power of aspiration, of upward
will, which first builds, and then awakes the spiritual man, and
finally transfers the conscious individuality to him; for it is he
who passes safely over the waters of death and rebirth, and is not
pierced by the thorns in the path. Therefore it is said that he who
would tread the path of power must look for a home in the air, and
afterwards in the ether.
Of the upward-life, this is written in the
Katha Upanishad: "A hundred and one are the heart's channels; of
these one passes to the crown. Going up this, he comes to the
immortal." This is the power of ascension spoken of in the Sutra.
40. By mastery of the binding-life comes
radiance.
In the Upanishads, it is said that this
binding-life unites the upward-life to the downward-life, and these
lives have their analogies in the "vital breaths" in the body. The
thought in the text seems to be, that, when the personality is
brought thoroughly under control of the spiritual man, through the
life-currents which bind them together, the person ality is endowed
with a new force, a strong personal magnetism, one
might
call it, such as is often an appanage of genius. |