Patanjali's Yoga Sutras || by Patanjali || Book 3 || Quotes Pin

Book three of The Yoga sutras of patanjali by patanjali translated by Charles Johnston 1867 to 1931 this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Kyle James mlan introduction to book three 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 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 the spiritual man all his faculties and powers are inversions of the powers of the spiritual man in a single phrase his self-seeking smallis is the inversion of the self-seeking bigest which is the very being of the spiritual man the ceaseless search after the Divine and August self begest 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 Ancients 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 overs Soul 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 other way except the hard way of sacrifice of trial of renunciation of selfless self-conquest and genuine Devotion to the will of all others only thus can the golden gates be reached and entered only thus can we attain to that pure world where in 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 midworld the shadow of the spiritual man and of his powers the basted vesture and the basted 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 three 1 The Binding of the perceiving Consciousness to a certain region is attention or Tana interpretation 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 thinking of something else at the end of the 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 focused 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 attention to spiritual things is the first step to spiritual knowledge two a prolonged holding of the perceiving Consciousness in that region is meditation or Diana interpretation 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 fixed fixedly on it until it reveals far more of its nature than a single glance could perceive the first is the focusing of the search Light 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 world of the spiritual message three when the perceiv Consciousness in this meditation 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 or sadii interpretation let us review the steps so far taken first the beam of perceiving Consciousness is focused on a certain region or subject through the effort of attention then this attending cons Consciousness is held on its object third there is the Ardent will to know its meaning to illumin it with comprehending thought fourth all personal bias all desire merely to endorse 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 andless the all Consciousness come to Bear upon the problem the overol bends its Ray upon the object and illumines it with pure light four when these three attention meditation contemplation are exercised at once this is perfectly concentrated meditation or sonama interpretation when the personal limitation of the perceiving Consciousness stands aside and allows the all Consciousness 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 pain staking the effort for genius is the vision of the spiritual man and that vision is a 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 the way for when 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 overol looking through his eyes recognize 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 CE struggle he perceived the superb process of evolution the overs Soul once more recognizing its own frown haer 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 the substance in the worlds and Suns the unity of the materials of the universe once again the overol looking with his eyes re 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 five by mastering this perfectly concentrated meditation there comes the illumination of perception interpretation the meaning of this is illustrated by what has been said before when the spiritual man is able to throw aside the tremel 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 or a Slave six this power is distributed in ascending degrees interpretation 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 forms and use of leaf and flower of bone and muscle the characteristics of Gena 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 fulfill 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 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 gaining knowledge and power with never more than one day to solve at a time until all life becomes radiant and transparent seven this three-fold power of attention meditation contemplation is more interior than the means of growth previously described interpretation 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 three-fold power is to be exercised by the spiritual man thus extricated and standing on his feet viewing life with open eyes8 but this Triad is still exterior to the soul Vision which is unconditional free from the seed of mental analysis interpretation the reason is this the three-fold power we have been considering the Triad of attention contemplation meditation is so far as we have considered it the focusing 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 nine 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 interpretation 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 self 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 and Views the apparation 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 are the eyes of the spiritual man are open this will be a true 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 it's 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 interpretation 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 offener gains skill with a rapia innumerable small efforts of attention will make a result which seems well n 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 interpretation 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 our baseballs Marbles and so on and then he comes back with a joke 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 overol this is the true one-pointedness 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 this is the development of one pointedness interpretation this would seem to mean that the inside 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 one-pointedness 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 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 interpretation 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 two-fold 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 the particular flower with its color and scent its peculiar fold of each petal but we also see it in 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 forth 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 interpretation every object has its characteristics belonging to its past its present and its future in a fur 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 interpretation 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 stage 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 interpretation 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 rarely 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 the like manner he who really knows today and the Heart of today 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 object and the thought called up by a word are confounded because they are all blured together in the Mind by perfectly concentrated meditation on the distinction between them there comes an understanding of the Sounds uttered by all beings interpretation it must be remembered that we are speaking of the 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 everyone has this 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 pre previous births interpretation this is simple enough if we grasp the truth of rebirth the fine Harvest of past experience 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 interpretation 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 Fe in 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 interpretation the meaning appears to be simple one may be able to perceive the thoughts of someone 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 ey's power of sight there comes the power to make the body invisible interpretation 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 lifespan may be either immediately or gradually operative by perfectly concentrated meditation on the comes a knowledge of the time of the end and also through signs interpretation a garment which is wet says the commentator may be hung up to dry and so dry rapidly or it may be rolled into a ball and dry slowly so a fire May Blaze or smolder thus it is with Karma The Works that fill out the lifespan by an insight into the mental forms and forces which make up Karma there comes a knowledge of the rapidity or slowness of their de 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 interpretation 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 where by 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 interpretation this is a pretty image elephants possess not only Force but Poise and finess 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 finess 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 SK interpretation as was said at the outset each Consciousness is related to all consciousnesses 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 perfectly concentrating meditation on the Sun comes a knowledge of the worlds interpretation 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 interpretation 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 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 interpretation addressing Duty Stern daughter of the voice of God Wordsworth finally said thou Dost 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 the Sutra the fixed pul star 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 center of force in the lower trunk brings an understanding of the order of the bodily Powers interpretation 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 Rel 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 the 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 dominance of the personal life Rising as as it were through the life channels of the body it flushes the personality with physical force and maintains and colors 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 perect L concentrated meditation on the nature of this Force means first that Rising 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 gradual attained control of this wonderful Force which will mean its direction to the body of the spiritual man and its gradual withdrawal all 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 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 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 they're building 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 there 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 center of force in The Well of the throat there comes the sensation of hunger and thirst interpretation We are continuing the study of the bodily powers and center of force in the 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 arise 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 the 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 the psychical power or perhaps we should say its Center of activity in the physical body is said to be in the cavity of the throat thus in the tiria 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 pallet 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 pallet 31 by perfectly concentrated meditation on the center of force in the channel called the toris formed comes steadfastness interpretation we are concerned now with the center of nervous or psychical Force below the cavity of the throat in the chest in which is felt the sensation of fear the center 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 Fe 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 center in the throat there comes a sensation 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 interpretation the tradition is that there is a certain center 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 center which is as it were the doorway 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 furthest shore of the Sea of death and rebirth Perhaps it is to this Divine sight that the master eluded who is reported to have said I counsel you to buy of me I slave that you may see it is of this same vision of the great companions the children of light that AIA 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 words rolling ever more 33 or through the divining power of intuition he knows all things interpretation 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 interpretation 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 spiritual man by coming to Consciousness as the spiritual man a perfect knowledge of Consciousness will be attained for the consciousness of the spiritual man has this Divine quality while being and remaining a truly individual Consciousness it at the same time flows over as 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 interpretation 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 it with 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 Liv 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 individual uality 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 interpretation when in virtue of the Perpetual sacrifice of the personal Man daily and hourly giving his life for his Divine brother and spiritual man and through the radiance ever pouring down from the higher self eternal the heavens the spiritual man comes to birth there awaken 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 their 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 manifestation they are called magical powers interpretation 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 the 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 Splendor 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 noral 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 passing the Consciousness is transferred to the other body interpretation 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 awake there comes the transfer of the dominant Consciousness the sense of individuality 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 one Consciousness to the other the first may also be described as Detachment 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 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 pleasures or occupations of the personality therefore it is said lay not up yourselves for Treasures upon Earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where the thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves Treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth 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 interpretation 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 disciples 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 nearby 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 Kata upanishad 101 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 interpretation 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 personality is endowed with a new life force a strong personal magnetism one might call it such as is often an appendage of a genius but the text seems to mean more than this and to have in view the vesture of the color of the sun attributed by the op shines to the spiritual man that vesture with the disciple has thus described the Lord shall change our vile body and it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body perhaps body of Radiance would better translate the Greek in both these passages the teaching seems to be that the body of the full grown spiritual man is radiant or luminous for those at least who have anointed their eyes with eyes s so that they may see 41 from perfectly concentrated meditation on the correlation of hearing and The Ether comes the power of spiritual hearing interpretation physical sound we are told is carried by the air or by water iron or some medium on the same plane of substance but there is a finer hearing whose medium of transmission would seem to be the ether perhaps not that ether which carries light heat and magnetic waves but it must be the far finer ether through which the power of gravity works for while light or heat or magnetic waves traveling from the Sun to the Earth take 8 minutes for the journey it is mathematically certain that the pull of gravitation does not take as much as 8 seconds or even the eighth of a second the pull of gravitation travels it would seem as quick as thought so that it may well be that in thought transference or telepathy the thoughts travel by the same way carried by the same thought Swift medium the transfer of a word by telepathy is the simplest and earliest form of the Divine hearing of the spiritual man as that power grows and as through perfectly concentrated meditation the spiritual man comes into more complete Mastery of it he grows to be able to hear and clearly distinguish the speech of the great companions who counsel and comfort him on his way they may speak to him either in wordless thoughts or in perfect definite words and sentences 42 by perfectly concentrated meditation on the correlation of the body with The Ether and by thinking of it as light as thistle down will come the power to Traverse The Ether inter ration it has been said that he who would tread in the path of power must look for a home in the air and afterwards in The Ether this would seem to mean besides the constant injunction to Detachment that he must be prepared to inhabit first a psychic and then an etheric body the former being the body of Dreams the latter the body of the spiritual man when he wakes up on the other side of Dreamland the gradual accustoming of the Consciousness to its new etheric vesture its gradual acclimatization so to speak in the etheric body of the spiritual man is what out text seems to contemplate 43 when that condition of Consciousness is reached which is far-reaching and not confined to the body which is outside the body and not conditioned by it then the veil which conceals the light is worn away interpretation perhaps the best comment on this is afforded by the words of Paul I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth such a one caught up to the third heaven and I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable or unspoken Words which it is not lawful for a man to utter 44 Mastery of the elements comes from perfectly concentrated meditation on their five forms the gross the elemental the subtle the inherent the purposive interpretation these five forms are analogous to those recognized by modern physics solid liquid gaseous radiant and ionic when the piercing vision of the awakened spiritual man is directed to the forms of matter from within as it were from behind the scenes then perfect Mastery over the beggarly elements is attained this is perhaps equivalent to the injunction inquire of the Earth the air and the water of the secrets they hold for you the development of your inner senses will enable you to do this 45 thereupon will come the manifestation of the atomic and other powers which are the endowment of the body together with it unass Force interpretation the body in question is of course the etheric body of the spiritual man he is said to possess Eight Powers the atomic the power of assimilating himself with the nature of the atom which will perhaps involve the power to disintegrate material forms the power of levitation the power of Limitless extension the power of boundless reach so that as the commentator says he can touch the moon with the typal of his finger the power to accomplish his will the power of gravitation the correlative of levitation the power of command the power of creative will these are the endowments of the spiritual man further the spiritual body is unassailable fire burns it not water wets it not the sword Cleaves it not dry winds punch it not and it is said the spiritual man can impart something of this quality and temper to his bodily vesture 46 shapeliness Beauty Force The Temper of the diamond these are the endowments of that body interpretation the spiritual man is shapely beautiful strong firm as the diamond therefore it is written these things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass he that overcometh and keepeth my Works unto the end to him I will give power over the Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and I will give him the Morning Star 47 Mastery over the powers of perception and action comes through perfectly concentrated meditation on their five-fold forms namely their power to grasp their distinctive nature the element of self-conscious in them their inherence and their purposiveness interpretation take for example sight this possesses first the power to grasp apprehend perceive second it has its distinctive form of perception that is visual perception third it always carries with its operations self-consciousness the thought I perceive fourth site has the power of extension through the whole field of vision even to the utmost star fifth it is used for the purposes of the sea so with the other senses perfectly concentrated meditation on each sense a viewing it from behind and within as is possible for the spiritual man brings a Mastery of the scope and true character of each sense and of the world on which they report collectively 48 then comes the Power Swift as thought independent of instruments and the Mastery Over Matter interpretation we are further enumerating the endowments of the spiritual man among these is the power to Traverse space with the swiftness of thought so that whatever place the spiritual man thinks of to that he goes in that place he already is thought has now become his means of locomotion he is therefore independent of instruments and can bring his Force to Bear directly wherever he Wills 49 when the spiritual man is perfectly disentangled from the psychic body he attains to Mastery over all things and to a knowledge of all interpretation the spiritual man is enmeshed in the web of the emotions desire fear ambition passion and impeded by the mental forms of separateness and materialism when these measures are suered these obstacles completely overcome then the spiritual man stands forth in his own wide world strong Mighty wise he uses Divine Powers with a Divine scope and energy working together with Divine companions to such a one it is said Thou Art now a disciple able to stand able to hear able to see able to speak thou Hast conquered desire and attained to self- knowledge thou H has seen thy soul in its Bloom and recognized it and heard the voice of Silence 50 by absence of all self-indulgence at this point when the seeds of bondage to sorrow are destroyed pure spiritual being is attained interpretation the seeking of indulgence for the personal self whether through passion or ambition SWS the seed of future sorrow for this self-indulgence of the personality is a double sin against the real a sin against the cleanness of life and a sin against the universal being which permits no exclusive particular good since in the real all spiritual possessions are held in common this two-fold sin brings its reacting punishment its confining bondage to sorrow but ceasing from self-indulgence brings Purity Liberation spiritual life 51 there should be complete overcoming of allurement or pride in the invitations of the different Realms of Life L attachment to things evil arise once more interpretation the commentator tells us that disciples Seekers for Union are of four degrees first those who are entering the path second those who are in the realm of allurements thirdd those who have won the victory over matter and the senses fourth those who stand firm in pure spiritual life to the second especially the caution in the text is addressed more modern teachers would express the same Truth by a warning against the delusions and Fascinations of the psychic realm which open around the disciple as he breaks through into the Unseen worlds these are the dangers of the anti room safety lies in passing on swiftly into the inner chamber him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out 52 from perfectly concentrated medit ation on the divisions of time and their succession comes the wisdom which is born of discernment interpretation the upanishads say of the liberated that he has passed beyond the Triad of time he no longer sees life as projected into past present and future since these are forms of the mind but beholds all things spread out in The Quiet Light of the Eternal this would seem to be the same thought and to point to that cleare eyed spiritual perception which is above time that wisdom born of the unveiling of time's delusion then shall the disciple live neither in the present nor in the future but in the Eternal 53 hence comes discernment between things which are of like nature not distinguished by difference of kind character or position interpretation here as also in the preceding Sutra we are close to the doctrine that distinctions of order time and space are creations of the Mind the three-fold prism through which the real object appears to us distorted and refracted when the prism is withdrawn the object returns to its Primal Unity no longer distinguishable by the mind yet clearly knowable by that high power of spiritual discernment of Illumination which is above the Mind 54 the wisdom which is born of discernment is starlike it discerns all things and all conditions of things it discerns without succession simultaneously interpretation that wisdom that intuitive divining power is star-like says the commentator because it shines with its own light because it rises on high and illumines all things not is hid from it whether things past things present or things to come for it is beyond the three-fold form of time so that all things are spread before B it together in the single light of the Divine this power has been beautifully described by Columbo some there are though very few to whom Divine Grace has granted this that they can clearly and most distinctly see at one and the same moment as though under one Ray of the sun even the entire Circuit of the whole world with its surroundings of ocean and Sky the most inward part of their mind being marvelously in love Ed 55 when the vesture and the spiritual man are alike pure then perfect spiritual life is attained interpretation the vesture says the commentator must first be washed pure of all stains of passion and darkness and the seeds of future sorrow must be burned up utterly then both the vesture and the wearer of the vesture being alike pure the spiritual man enters into into perfect spiritual life end of book three recording by Kyle James mlan.