A Series of Lessons in Raja YogaAtkinson, William Walker
Religion
A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga
Atkinson, William Walker
Yoga; Yoga, Raja
The Yogi takes the student when the latter is much bothered by a
consideration of some knotty and perplexing philosophical subject. He
bids the student relax every muscle,--take the tension from every
nerve--throw aside all mental strain, and then wait a few moments. Then
the student is instructed to grasp the subject which he has had before
his mind firmly and fixedly before his mental vision, by means of
concentration. Then he is instructed to pass it on to the sub-conscious
mentality by an effort of the Will, which effort is aided by forming a
mental picture of the subject as a material substance, _or bundle of
thought,_ which is being bodily lifted up and dropped down a mental
hatch-way, or trap-door, in which it sinks from sight. The student is
then instructed to say to the sub-conscious mentality: "I wish this
subject thoroughly analyzed, arranged, classified (and whatever else is
desired) and then the results handed back to me. Attend to this."
The student is taught to speak to the sub-conscious mentality just as if
it were a separate entity of being, which had been employed to do the
work. He is also taught that _confident expectation_ is an important part
of the process, and that the degree of success depends upon the degree of
this confident expectation.
In obstinate cases, the student is taught to use the Imagination freely,
until he is able to make a mental image or picture of the sub-conscious
mind doing what is required of it. This process clears away a mental
path for the feet of the sub-conscious mind, which it will choose
thereafter, as it prefers to follow the line of least resistance.
Of course much depends upon practice--practice makes perfect, you know,
in everything else, and sub-consciousing is no exception to the rule.
The student gradually acquires a proficiency in the art of
sub-consciousing, and thereafter devotes his time to acquiring new facts
for mental digestion, rather than bestowing it upon the mechanical act of
thinking.
But a very important point to be remembered is that the Will-power back
of the transferred thought-material, which Will-power is the cause of the
subconscious action, depends very greatly upon the attention and interest
given to the acquired material. This mass of thought-material which is to
be digested, and threshed out by the sub-conscious mind, must be well
saturated with interest and attention, in order to obtain the best
results. In fact interest and attention are such important aids to the
Will, that any consideration of the development and acquirement of
Will-power is practically a development and acquirement of attention and
interest. The student is referred to previous lessons in this course in
which the importance of interest and attention is explained and
described.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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