A Series of Lessons in Raja YogaAtkinson, William Walker
Religion
A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga
Atkinson, William Walker
Yoga; Yoga, Raja
But a few of them are more courageous, and come out into the open and
preach their doctrine in full.
Some of the modern Western teachers of this philosophy explain matters by
saying that "God is masquerading as different forms of life, including
Man, in order that he may gain the experience resulting therefrom, for
although He has Infinite and Absolute Wisdom and Knowledge, he lacks the
experience that comes only from actually living the life of the lowly
forms, and therefore He descend thus in order to gain the needed
experience." Can you imagine the Absolute, possessed of all possible
Knowledge and Wisdom, feeling the need of such petty "experience," and
living the life of the lowly forms (including Man) in order "to gain
experience?" To what Depths do these vain theories of Man drive us?
Another leading Western teacher, who has absorbed the teaching of certain
branches of the Oriental Philosophy, and who possesses the courage of his
convictions, boldly announces that "You, yourself, are the _totality_ of
being, and with your mind alone create, preserve and destroy the
universe, which is your own mental product." And again the last mentioned
teacher states: "the entire universe is a bagatelle illustration of your
own creative power, which you are now exhibiting for your own
inspection." "By their fruits shall you know them," is a safe rule to
apply to all teachings. The philosophy that teaches that the Universe is
an illusion perpetrated by you (God) to amuse, entertain or fool yourself
(God), can have but one result, and that is the conclusion that
"everything is nothing," and all that is necessary to do is to sit down,
fold your hands and enjoy the Divine exhibition of legerdemain that you
are performing for your own entertainment, and then, when the show is
over, return to your state of conscious Godhood and recall with smiles
the pleasant memories of the "conjure show" that you created to fool
yourself with during several billions of ages. That is what it amounts
to, and the result is that those accepting this philosophy thrust upon
them by forceful teachers, and knowing in their hearts that they are
_not_ God, but absorbing the suggestions of "nothingness," are driven
into a state of mental apathy and negativeness, the soul sinking into a
stupor from which it may not be roused for a long period of time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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