Raja Yoga (2)

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For thousands of years such phenomena have been studied, investigated, and

generalised, the whole ground of the religious faculties of man has been

analysed, and the practical result is the science of Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga

does not, after the unpardonable manner of some modern scientists, deny the

existence of facts which are difficult to explain; on the other hand, it

gently yet in no uncertain terms tells the superstitious that miracles, and

answers to prayers, and powers of faith, though true as facts, are not

rendered comprehensible through the superstitious explanation of attributing

them to the agency of a being, or beings, above the clouds. It declares

that each man is only a conduit for the infinite ocean of knowledge and

power that lies behind mankind. It teaches that desires and wants are in

man, that the power of supply is also in man; and that wherever and whenever

a desire, a want, prayer has been fulfilled, it was out of this infinite

magazine that the supply came, and not from any supernatural being. The

idea of supernatural beings may rouse to a certain extent the power of

action in man, but it also brings spiritual decay. It brings dependence; it

brings fear; it brings superstition. It degenerates into a horrible belief

in the natural weakness in man. There is no supernatural says the Yogi, but

there are in nature gross manifestations and subtle manifestations. The

subtle are the causes, the gross the effects. The gross can be easily

perceived by the senses; not so the subtle. The practice of Raja Yoga will

lead to the acquisition of the more subtle perceptions.

 

To be continued.............

 

(from the preface)