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The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga
Including the Practices and Exercises of Concentration, both Objective
and Subjective, and Active and Passive Mentation, an Elucidation of Maya,
Guru Worship, and the Worship of the Terrible, also the Mystery of
Will-Force
1922
In studying these Lessons please remember 3 points:—
1. Not one useless or superfluous sentence is written. Every word is fullof meaning. They are highly condensed. Think deeply over them.
2. They are meant as a practical supplement to the 'SpiritualConsciousness,' 'Soul-Force' and 'Inner Forces.' Studied side by side,these lessons will yield a great deal of benefit. You are expected tothink hard and long.
3. Let none expect speedy or miraculous results. All spiritual trainingcalls for infinite patience and deep reverence unto the Guru. Constantrise and fall accompanies all progress.
Student! Your life is your own. You have only yourself to thank for whatyou are, have been and will be. Take your present into your own hand.Consciously shape out of it your future. Direct your forces along linesof study and endeavour that have the strongest attraction for you. Suchattraction is the indication of need. It is the hand pointing out yourLife-purpose. What your heart desires earnestly and clamours forincessantly is attracted to you out of the invisible supply, i.e.,the means, the environments, the right sort of persons, books andthought-forces are drawn to you and then you are expected to work outyour desire. This is in perfect accord with the great Law ofAttraction. Some call it God: since it answers all sincere prayers.Prayer, remember, is the sincere desire of the heart. I take it that youhunger for Truth and Spiritual Growth—else you and I would not be here.The instructions given you hereunder are meant to give you a strong bodyand a strong will. They will also tend to your Soul-Unfoldment. Talk notof them. Keep your mouth closed. Be serious, earnest and thoughtful. Thenwork at them confidently and with perseverance. Do not be daunted byapparent failures. Failure is the stepping-stone to Success. He fails whogives up a thing in final despair. Go on, I say. You will improve fromthe very first day, and in a short time you will be another man. All theleaders of humanity, past or present, have studied and investigated withtireless zeal along the special lines and, in Spiritual culture, you mustdo the same. But you must have health, a strong will and a steady brain,and I will enable you to have these positively. Keep these instructionsstrictly privately. Master them by constant meditation upon same.
Concentration signifies the state of being at a centre (con andcentrum). Applied to thought, it is the act of bringing the mind to asingle point. Each human being must practise concentration subjectivelyand objectively. In other words, each human being aims with more orless precision at concentration on a point within an