Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness - Part 5

[Guest guest]

Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness - Part 5

 

Role of the mind and

soul in health of the

body

 

(p.164) Man is a threefold being; his body is a battery within batteries. The

body battery is contained in the mind and soul batteries. It is continually

recharged by Cosmic Energy from the mind-driven will, which in turn draws its

power from Cosmic Consciousness flowing through the superconsciousness of the

soul.

 

The body, mind, and soul batteries are interrelated. From the outside, the mind

battery is charged by life energy generated by bodily metabolism; and inwardly

it is charged by the superconsciousness of the soul. Likewise, the soul battery

is charged with a good mind, good life energy, and good chemical energy of the

body from the outside; and inwardly the soul is charged by Cosmic Consciousness.

 

A weak, dilapidated body weakens the mind; but a healthy body does not always

mean a remarkable mind, unless it is charged with the superconsciousness of the

soul. A diseased body discourages the mind and suppresses the expression of the

soul, when the mind and soul are attached to the body. On the other hand, a

strong soul, which reclaims its joy in meditation, makes the mind indomitably

positive; such a powerful mentality in turn can influence a disease-stricken

body to manifest healing and vitality.

 

The more one daily meditates deeply, and feels his joy increasing, the more his

soul battery will be recharged with wisdom poured out from God. Meditation, the

company of saints and intelligent, mentally powerful people, good books,

introspection, creative work in art, science, literature, and business - all

further the development of a strong mind, receptive to the wisdom of the soul.

 

Since the soul has descended into matter from Spirit and has made the imperfect

body its playground, the perfection of Spirit and soul needs to be established

in the mind in order to enable the erstwhile flesh-entangled soul to manifest

within and through the body its Spirit nature. Its native immortality,

diseaselessness, and immutable happiness must be evidenced in complete mastery

of the mind over the body.

 

Man's intelligence, a reflection of Divine intelligence, controls the very atoms

of the body. [1] (p.165) God's Cosmic Consciousness flowing through the soul

battery empowers the mind; and it is the power of will wielded by the mind that

draws the conscious creative life force, or " Word, " from the invisible dynamo of

Cosmic Energy and causes it to flow into the body through the medulla oblongata,

or " mouth of God. "

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 8, pg. 164-165

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

[1] Man's intelligence, or mind, is not a simple single faculty. Yoga has

minutely analyzed its physiological, psychological, and spiritual components,

defining it as a conglomerate of the ego principle ('ahamkara') - the agent or

subjective doer and perceiver; the consciousness or feeling and awareness

('chitta'); the sense mind ('manas') consisting of the enlivening power of the

five senses of knowledge (smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing) and five senses

of action (locomotion, exercise of manual skill, speech, elimination, and

procreation); and discrimination ('buddhi'). From these principles evolve the

five life energies, the fivefold function of 'prana' responsible for empowering

the performance of the crystallizing, assimilating, eliminating, metabolizing,

and circulatory activities of the body. Man is thus a highly complex aggregate

of intelligent energies and consciousness, all of which derive from the soul and

its source in the Cosmic Consciousness of God.