objects becomes very alert to discover things concerning those
objects--to seize upon things, opportunities, persons, ideas, and facts
tending to promote the objects thought of. The man who is looking for
facts to prove certain theories, invariably finds them, and is also quite
likely to overlook facts tending to disprove his theory. The Optimist and
the Pessimist passing along the same streets, each sees thousands of
examples tending to fit in with his idea. As Kay says: "When one is
engaged in seeking for a thing, if he keep the image of it clearly before
the mind, he will be very likely to find it, and that too, probably,
where it would otherwise have escaped his notice. So when one is engaged
in thinking on a subject, thoughts of things resembling it, or bearing
upon it, and tending to illustrate it, come up on every side. Truly, we
may well say of the mind, as has been said of the eye, that 'it perceives
only what it brings within the power of perceiving.'" John Burroughs has
well said regarding this that "No one ever found the walking fern who did
not have the walking fern in his mind. A person whose eye is full of
Indian relics picks them up in every field he walks through. They are
quickly recognized because the eye has been commissioned to find them."
When the mind is kept firmly fixed upon some ideal or aim, its whole and
varied powers are bent toward the realization and manifestation of that
ideal. In thousands of ways the mind will operate to objectify the
subjective mental attitude, a great proportion of the mental effort being
accomplished along sub-conscious lines. It is of the greatest importance
to one who wishes to succeed in any undertaking, to keep before his
mind's eye a clear mental image of that which he desires. He should
picture the thing desired, and himself as securing it, until it becomes
almost real. In this way he calls to his aid his entire mental force and
power, along the sub-conscious lines, and, as it were, makes a clear path
over which he may walk to accomplishment. Bain says regarding this: "By
aiming at a new construction, we must clearly conceive what is aimed at.
Where we have a very distinct and intelligible model before us, we are in
a fair way to succeed; in proportion as the ideal is dim and wavering, we
stagger or miscarry." Maudsley says: "We cannot do an act voluntarily
unless we know what we are going to do, and we cannot know exactly what
we are going to do until we have taught ourselves to do it." Carpenter
says: "The continued concentration of attention upon a certain idea gives
it a dominant power, not only over the mind, but over the body." Muller
says: "The idea of our own strength gives strength to our movements. A
person who is confident of effecting anything by muscular efforts will do
it more easily than one not so confident of his own power." Tanner says:
"To believe firmly is almost tantamount in the end to accomplishment.
Extraordinary instances are related showing the influence of the will
over even the involuntary muscles."
Along the same lines, many Western writers have added their testimony to
the Yogi principle of the manifestation of thought into action. Kay has
written: "A clear and accurate idea of what we wish to do, and how it is
to be effected, is of the utmost value and importance in all the affairs
of life. A man's conduct naturally shapes itself according to the ideas
in his mind, and nothing contributes more to success in life than having
a high ideal and keeping it constantly in view. Where such is the case
one can hardly fail in attaining it. Numerous unexpected circumstances
will be found to conspire to bring it about, and even what seemed at
first to be hostile may be converted into means for its furtherance;
while by having it constantly before the mind he will be ever ready to
take advantage of any favoring circumstances that may present
themselves." Along the same lines, Foster has written these remarkable
words: "It is wonderful how even the casualties of life seem to bow to
a spirit that will not bow to them, and yield to subserve a design which
they may, in their first apparent tendency, threaten to frustrate. When a
firm, decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the space
clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom." Simpson has said:
"A passionate desire and an unwearied will can perform impossibilities,
or what seem to be such to the cold and feeble." And Maudsley gives to
aspiring youth a great truth, when he says: "Thus it is that aspirations
are often prophecies, the harbingers of what a man shall be in a
condition to perform." And we may conclude the paragraph by quoting
Lytton: "Dream, O youth, dream manfully and nobly, and thy dreams shall
be prophets."
This principle of the power of the Mental Image is strongly impressed
upon the mind of the _chela_, or student, by the Yogi teachers. The
student is taught that just as the house is erected in accordance with
the plan of the architect, so is one's life built in accordance with the
prevailing Mental Image. The mind sub-consciously moulds itself around
the prevailing mental image or attitude, and then proceeds to draw upon
the outer world for material with which to build in accordance with the
plan. Not only is one's character built in this way, but the
circumstances and incidents of his life follow the same rule. The Yogi
student is instructed into the mysteries of the power of the mind in this
direction, not that he may make use of it to build up material success,
or to realize his personal desires--for he is taught to avoid these
things--but he is fully instructed, nevertheless, that he may understand
the workings of the law around him. And it is a fact well known to close
students of the occult, that the few who have attained extraordinarily
high degrees of development, make use of this power in order to help the
race. Many a world movement has been directed by the mind, or minds, of
some of these advanced souls who were able to see the ideal of evolution
ahead of the race, and by visualizing the same, and concentrating upon it
in meditation, actually hastened the progress of the evolutionary wave,
and caused to actually manifest that which they saw, and upon which they
had meditated.
It is true that some occultists have used similar plans to further their
own selfish personal ends--often without fully realizing just what power
they were employing--but this merely illustrates the old fact that the
forces of Nature may be used rightly and wrongly. And it is all the more
reason why those who are desirous of advancing the race--of assisting in
the evolution of the world--should make use of this mighty power in their
work. Success is not reprehensible, notwithstanding the fact that many
have interpreted and applied the word in such a matter as to make it
appear as if it had no other meaning or application other than the crude,
material selfish one generally attributed to it, by reason of its misuse.
The Western world is playing its part in the evolution of the race, and
its keynote is "Accomplishment." Those who have advanced so high that
they are able to view the world of men, as one sees a valley from a
mountain peak, recognize what this strenuous Western life means. They see
mighty forces in operation--mighty principles being worked out by those
who little dream of the ultimate significance of that which they are
doing. Mighty things are before the Western world to-day--wonderful
changes are going on--great things are in the womb of time, and the hour
of birth draws near. The men and women in the Western world feel within
them the mighty urge to "accomplish" something--to take an active part in
the great drama of life. And they are right in giving full expression to
this urge, and are doing well in using every legitimate means in the line
of expression. And this idea of the Mental Attitude, or the Mental Image,
is one of the greatest factors in this striving for Success.
In this lesson we do not purpose giving "Success Talks" for our students.
These lessons are intended to fill another field, and there are many
other channels of information along the lines named. What we wish to do
is to point out to our students the meaning of all this strenuous
striving of the age, in the Western world, and the leading principle
employed therein. The great achievements of the material world are being
accomplished by means of the Power of the Mind. Men are beginning to
understand that "Thought manifests itself in Action," and that Thought
attracts to itself the things, persons and circumstances in harmony with
itself. The Power of Mind is becoming manifest in hundreds of ways. The
power of Desire, backed by Faith and Will, is beginning to be recognized
as one of the greatest of known dynamic forces. The life of the race is
entering into a new and strange stage of development and evolution, and
in the years to come MIND will be seen, more clearly and still more
clearly, to be the great principle underlying the world of material
things and happenings. That "All is Mind" is more than a dreamy,
metaphysical utterance, is being recognized by the leaders in the world's
thought.
As we have said, great changes are before the world and the race, and
every year brings us nearer to the beginning of them. In fact, the
beginning is already upon us. Let any thinker stop and reflect over the
wonderful changes of the past six years--since the dawning of the
Twentieth Century, and he will be dull indeed if he sees not the trend of
affairs. We are entering into a new Great Cycle of the race, and the old
is being prepared for being dropped off like an old worn out husk. Old
conventions, ideals, customs, laws, ethics, and things sociological,
economical, theological, philosophical, and metaphysical have been
outgrown, and are about to be "shed" by the race. The great cauldron of
human thought is bubbling away fiercely, and many things are rising to
its surface. Like all great changes, the good will come only with much
pain--all birth is with pain. The race feels the pain and perpetual
unrest, but knows not what is the disease nor the remedy. Many false
cases of diagnosis and prescription are even now noticeable, and will
become still more in evidence as the years roll by. Many self-styled
saviours of the race--prescribers for the pain of the soul and mind--will
arise and fall. But out of it all will come that for which the race
now waits.
The changes that are before us are as great as the changes in thought and
life described in the late novel by H. G. Wells, entitled "_In the Days
of the Comet_." In fact, Mr. Wells has indicated in that story some of
the very changes that the advanced souls of the race have informed their
students are before the race--the prophetic insight of the writer named
seems marvelous, until one realizes that even that writer is being used
as a part of the mental machinery of The Change itself. But the change
will not come about by reason of the new gas caused by the brushing of
the earth's surface by a passing comet. It will come from the unfolding
of the race mind, the process being now under way. Are not the signs of
mental unrest and discomfort becoming more and more apparent as the days
go by? The pain is growing greater, and the race is beginning to fret and
chafe, and moan. It knows not what it wants, but it knows that it feels
pain and wants something to relieve that pain. The old things are
beginning to totter and fall, and ideas rendered sacred by years of
observance are being brushed aside with a startling display of
irreverence. Under the surface of our civilization we may hear the
straining and groaning of the ideas and principles that are striving to
force their way out on to the plane of manifestation.
Men are running hither and thither crying for a leader and a savior. They
are trying this thing, and that thing, but they find not that which they
seek. They cry for Satisfaction, but it eludes them. And yet all this
search and disappointment is part of the Great Change, and is preparing
the race for That-which-must-Come. And yet the relief will not come
from any Thing or Things. It will come from Within. Just as when, in
Well's story, things righted themselves when the vapor of the comet had
cleared men's minds, so will Things take their new places when the mind
of the race becomes cleared by the new unfoldment that is even now under
way. Men are beginning to feel each other's pains--they find themselves
unsatisfied by the old rule of "every man for himself, and the devil take
the hindmost"--it used to content the successful, but now it doesn't seem
to be so satisfying. The man on top is becoming lonesome, and
dissatisfied, and discontented--his success seems to appall him, in some
mysterious manner. And the man underneath feels stirring within himself
strange longings and desires, and dissatisfaction. And new frictions are
arising, and new and startling ideas are being suddenly advanced,
supported and opposed.
And the relations between people seem to be unsatisfactory. The old
rules, laws, and bonds are proving irksome. New, strange, and wild
thoughts are coming into the minds of people, which they dare not utter
to their friends--and yet these same friends are finding similar ideas
within themselves. And somehow, underneath it all is to be found a
certain Honesty--yes, there is where the trouble seems to come, _the
world is tiring of hypocrisy and dishonesty in all human relations_, and
is crying aloud to be led back, someway, to Truth and Honesty in Thought
and Action. But it does not see the way out! And it will not see the way
out, until the race-mind unfolds still further. And the pain of the new
unfoldment is stirring the race to its depths. From the deep recesses of
the race-mind are rising to the surface old passions, relics from the
cave-dweller days, and all sorts of ugly mental relics of the past. And
they will continue to rise and show themselves until at last the bubbling
pot will begin to quiet down, and then will come a new peace, and the
best will come to the surface--the essence of all the experiences of the
race.
To our students, we would say: During the struggle ahead of the race,
play well your part, doing the best you can, living each day by itself,
meeting each new phase of life with confidence and courage. Be not
deluded by appearances, nor follow after strange prophets. Let the
evolutionary processes work themselves out, and do you fall in with the
wave without struggling, and without overmuch striving. The Law is
working itself out well--of that be assured. Those who have entered into
even a partial understanding and recognition of the One Life underlying,
will find that they will be as the chosen people during the changes that
are coming to the race. They have attained that which the race is
reaching toward in pain and travail. And the force behind the Law will
carry them along, for they will be the leaven that is to lighten the
great mass of the race in the new dispensation. Not by deed, or by
action, but by Thought, will these people leaven the mass. The Thought is
even now at work, and all who read these words are playing a part in the
work, although they may know it not. If the race could realize this truth
of the One Life underlying, to-day, the Change would occur in a moment,
but it will not come in that way. When this understanding gradually dawns
upon the race--this new consciousness--then will Things take their proper
places, and the Lion and the Lamb lie down together in peace.
We have thought it well to say these things in this the last lesson of
this course. They are needed words--they will serve to point out the way
to those who are able to read. "_Watch and wait for the Silence that will
follow the Storm_."
In this series of lessons we have endeavored to give you a plain,
practical presentation of some of the more important features of "Raja
Yoga." But this phase of the subject, as important and interesting as it
is, is not the highest phase of the great Yoga teachings. It is merely
the preparation of the soil of the mind for what comes afterward. The
phase called "Gnani Yoga"--the Yoga of Wisdom--is the highest of all
the various phases of Yoga, although each of the lower steps is important
in itself. We find ourselves approaching the phase of our work for which
we have long wished. Those who have advised and directed this work have
counseled us to deal with the less advanced and simpler phases, in order
to prepare the minds of those who might be interested, so that they would
be ready for the higher teachings. At times we have felt an impatience
for the coming of the day when we would be able to teach the highest that
has come to us. And now the time seems to have come. Following this
course, we will begin a series of lessons in "GNANI YOGA"--the Yoga of
Wisdom--in which we will pass on to our students the highest teachings
regarding the Reality and its Manifestations--the One and the Many. The
teachings that "All is Mind" will be explained in such a manner as to be
understood by all who have followed us so far. We will be able to impart
to you the higher truths about Spiritual Evolution, sometimes called
"Reincarnation," as well as Spiritual Cause and Effect, often called
"Karma." The highest truths about these important subjects are often
obscured by popular misconceptions occasioned by partial teaching. We
trust that you--our students--will wish to follow us still higher--higher
than we have ventured so far, and we assure you that there is a Truth to
be seen and known that is as much higher than the other phases upon which
we have touched, as those phases have been higher than the current
beliefs of the masses of the race. We trust that the Powers of Knowledge
may guide and direct us that we may be able to convey our message so that
it may be accepted and understood. We thank our students who have
traveled thus far with us, and we assure them that their loving sympathy
has ever been a help and an inspiration to us.
Peace be with you.