Swami Mukerji - The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga

In studying these Lessons please remember 3 points:

1. Not one useless or superfluous sentence is written. Every word is fullof meaning. They are highly condensed. Think deeply over them.

2. They are meant as a practical supplement to the 'SpiritualConsciousness,' 'Soul-Force' and 'Inner Forces.' Studied side by side,these lessons will yield a great deal of benefit. You are expected tothink hard and long.

3. Let none expect speedy or miraculous results. All spiritual trainingcalls for infinite patience and deep reverence unto the Guru. Constantrise and fall accompanies all progress.

Student! Your life is your own. You have only yourself to thank for whatyou are, have been and will be. Take your present into your own hand.Consciously shape out of it your future. Direct your forces along linesof study and endeavour that have the strongest attraction for you. Suchattraction is the indication of need. It is the hand pointing out yourLife-purpose. What your heart desires earnestly and clamours forincessantly is attracted to you out of the invisible supply, i.e.,the means, the environments, the right sort of persons, books andthought-forces are drawn to you and then you are expected to work outyour desire. This is in perfect accord with the great Law ofAttraction. Some call it God: since it answers all sincere prayers.Prayer, remember, is the sincere desire of the heart. I take it that youhunger for Truth and Spiritual Growthelse you and I would not be here.The instructions given you hereunder are meant to give you a strong bodyand a strong will. They will also tend to your Soul-Unfoldment. Talk notof them. Keep your mouth closed. Be serious, earnest and thoughtful. Thenwork at them confidently and with perseverance. Do not be daunted byapparent failures. Failure is the stepping-stone to Success. He fails whogives up a thing in final despair. Go on, I say. You will improve fromthe very first day, and in a short time you will be another man. All theleaders of humanity, past or present, have studied and investigated withtireless zeal along the special lines and, in Spiritual culture, you mustdo the same. But you must have health, a strong will and a steady brain,and I will enable you to have these positively. Keep these instructionsstrictly privately. Master them by constant meditation upon same.

Concentration signifies the state of being at a centre (con andcentrum). Applied to thought, it is the act of bringing the mind to asingle point. Each human being must practise concentration subjectivelyand objectively. In other words, each human being aims with more orless precision at concentration on a point within and a point withouthis own world. Concentration "without" is illustrated when you devote allyour attention upon Nature, such as learning a trade, a profession, ascience, an art or some form of business. This is Evolution, outgoingor positive mental energy. I shall call this Objective Concentration.Concentration "within" implies the withdrawing of attention from theexternal world and the placing of mind on "God," "Spirit," "Heaven,""Religion," "Peace," "Nirvana," "Eternity," etc. This is Involution,i.e., incoming or negative energy.

When Objective Concentration alone is practised, you develop into ahard-headed, practical man of the world or a successful man of business.You are keen and shrewd. The world is a very matter-of-fact thing toyou. You cannot think of anything else beyond money-making and pleasuresand worldly affairs. You are a "worldling of the world," very clever,rich, and a master along your own lines. But spiritually you are animbecile, worse than a baby. This is the Objective Mindthe "deepestimmersed in matter, literally made of the dust." "It is the brain ofworldly wisdom, common sense, prudence, methodical arrangement, order,discipline, classification, the skill and knowledge of the expert in anybranch or department of art or science." This side of the mind is welldeveloped in Scientists, Mathematicians and Businessmen, etc. Whereit is not guided by the Subjective Mind, it can only see diversity anddifference and is the slave of Mayathe slayer of the Real.

Subjective Concentration is seeking the Kingdom of Heaven withinyou. "God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship in Spiritand Truth." LAPLACE, the great astronomer, asserted that he had sweptthe heavens with his telescope and found neither God nor Heaven. Yes,poor LAPLACE! He looked for God objectively instead of subjectively.

The Kingdom of God comes not with 'observation' but it is 'within' you.The be-all and the end-all of religion is the practice of SubjectiveConcentration. The performance of objective work by the human organismnecessitates expenditure of energy and at last death, because allObjective Concentration means 'going from' the Absolute centreGodandhence it expends Spiritual Energy. Subjective Concentration means 'comingto' the centre and hence it husbands and recuperates this energy. Nownature is motion to and from, and Spiritthe centre of Life. Thistwo-fold motion constitutes what is known as polarityEvolution andInvolutionnegative and positive. At the negative pole life becomesinvolved, i.e., 'wrapped up' in form. At the positive pole life'evolves' or becomes expressed in nature. In Subjective Concentration youreturn for fresh supplies to the inexhaustible storehouse of forcetheAbsolute Will. Jesus healed the sick, exhibited control over externalnature by raising the dead, because his chaste soul could receive nothingnegatively from God and could give it out positively to the objectiveworld. All power comes from God. I would impress upon you theall-important necessity of placing yourself in a magnetically passiveattitude towards the Universal Will and then of taking up a calm,positive attitude towards the phenomenal worldwhich is a projection ofthe lower nature and hence must be handled masterfully, fearlessly andconfidently. Be positive to the external world. Be negative and receptiveto the Lord's Will-force. Remember this. This brings me to the supremestand most solid truth contained in the Science of prayer. The prayingmind, by its mere attitude of faith and earnest expectation, opens itselfout to the tremendous inflow of Divine Energy. It draws close to thecentre of all-power, wisdom and love, and drinks deep of the livingwaters of life so that even the very face or flesh begins to shine underthe influence of this self-polarizationif I may be permitted to usethis wordthrough prayer. Here is the causa nuxus between a prayer andits sure reply. Do you remember what Lord Rosebery said of the greatPuritan Mystic Oliver Cromwell? If not, please let me quote: "The secretof his extraordinary successhe was a practical mysticthe mostformidable and terrible of all combinations. The man who combinesinspiration, apparently derivedin my judgment, really derivedfromclose communion with the Supernatural and the Celestial, a man who hasthat inspiration and adds to it the energy of a mighty man of action,such a man as that lives in communion on a