The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga / Including the Practices and Exercises of Concentration, both Objective and Subjective, and Active and Passive Mentation, an Elucidation of Maya, Guru Worship, and the Worship of the Terrible, also the Mystery of Will-Force

by swámi A. P. Mukerji

LESSONS III AND IV.

Quite a number of you there must be to whom the "Fearless" mind is not only an enviable possession but something to which you are and have been an utter stranger. You may not say it to others—confession may hurt your pride—but secretly away deep in your heart, there resides strongly and fiercely the desire to be a Fearless Individual. And it is a worthy desire. To be able to wipe off all fearfulness, anxiety and worry from your mental tablets is no easy task, but when once accomplished, it gives you a glimpse of Heavenly Joy and Superhuman Strength. And, You can be Fearless, I tell you—each one of you—you can be what you will to be. I have seen it. I have done it. I am going to give you sound and positive instructions in this paper so that you may forge ahead towards your goal. These instructions are based upon good psychological grounds, have been tested and proved by millions and proved a blessing to whoever took them up in all earnestness and gave them a trial. If you want to be Fearless, hesitate not to follow them to the very letter.

I shall not waste space telling you about the dire results of fear, cowardice, worry, anxiety and the vile brood of negative thoughts branching of FEAR. Physically, mentally and spiritually man is what he thinks in his heart. As you think, so you are. Mind governs everything, creates or destroys everything, on the physical as well as other planes. Your thoughts affect your health, your circumstances, your environments; those who come into daily contact with you, those who are separated from you by space, those who are what you call "dead" but who are really alive in spirit-life and bound to you more or less by mystic chords of sympathy in thought and soul-life, affecting you and being affected by you every minute. The range of influence exerted by a man's daily thoughts is simply tremendous. Trees and animals, minerals and other objects of material life absorb it. The walls of your room, the clothes you wear, the letters you write are all being impressed by the aura of your thought-force. If you go to a clairvoyant or a psychometerist and put into his hands a letter, a lock of hair, a cloth-piece, or anything else pertaining to one of your friends, he or she will psychically trace out the personal appearance, temperament, past and present history, and everything else in connection with that person. Marvellous, 'Impossible' you cry in surprise. But it is done. Realise through study and investigation the importance of your thought-life and avoid vitiating it by fear-thoughts, hate-thoughts, sensual and sensuous thoughts and vanity thoughts. Because, mark you, these four giant-weeds poison the roots of the Tree of Life. All humanity suffers pain in diverse ways, on account of these four bad thoughts and their millions of off-springs. Now you will say this is all very well but:

HOW?

That is just what I mean to teach you all along. I don't want to feed you on mere empty theories, but I can and I will give you that knowledge which when assimilated shall build up strong flesh, bone, muscle, tissue, pith and marrow which will give you superb health, strength of mind and spirit—all of which are necessary adjuncts to Spiritual Growth and Happiness. Let me give you in detail methods and exercises. The ideal fearless man has many qualities. I say the Ideal Hero—no imitation patch work vulgarian. These qualities are in rough detail: (1) Devotion to God. (2) Knowledge. (3) Concentration. (4) Will Power. (5) Energy and Aspiration. (6) Health. (7) Self-Esteem. (8) Self-Control. (9) Love for Humanity. (10) Chastity. There may be other qualities but you will do well to build up the above and others will come to you by themselves. Let me drop a few helpful suggestions on the above. Follow each sentence closely.

1. DEVOTION TO THE ABSOLUTE WILL.

I have always said, written, observed and felt that the most courageous individuals are devoted to God. Such men are rare. You all understand the meaning of "Fearlessness" in its fullest sense. It means absolute independence—in two words, he is the FEARLESS man who "fears-nothing," and "faces-everything." That everything includes everyone. That nothing excludes no one. Viewed from this standpoint is not the fearless man rarely to be met with? You may come across degrees of fearlessness. Now the man who possesses this quality in the "highest degree" has faith in this God. Everyone has his conception of God. Everyone sees the absolute from his individual plane of vision. That conception which you have of God will do for you. I say, it will do for you and you alone. Don't force it upon others. Keep it for yourself. If you want to improve this conception of God pray in the Silence thus: "O, THOU, I UNDERSTAND NOT THY NATURE. I KNOW NOT—YET I YEARN TO KNOW. DO THOU REVEAL THYSELF UNTO MY SOUL. DO THOU OPEN MY SPIRITUAL EYES AND LEAD ME ON." Student, don't treat this lightly. Listen not to that conceited or blinded brother of yours who says he does not care for God—who says he can go on without the aid of God. Listen not. Listen not. The strongest and greatest pray often. Only they do not talk of this to others. They never make a show of their devotion. But they have all prayed and do all pray. They believe in personal effort—they also believe in Divine leading and guidance. Learn to be "lead by the Spirit." Everything shall come to you in this way. You will also notice that the Fearless Man is not a mere God-fearing man. He is a God-loving Individual. He loves God for God's sake largely. That man who is fearful in spite of his devotion to God is a sham devotee. But the grace of the LORD'S name is such that it shall purify the most impure of heart. It shall build up even a sham devotee into a real devotee who in time shall transcend all limitation. Therefore have faith in God. "Be regular" in your devotions. Also remember that each trial is a pain accompanying spiritual regeneration—each pain a process of strengthening the herald of a mere glorious dawn of wisdom. Hence give up all grumbling. The great God whose Infinite power regulates the motions of planets and yet takes note of the sparrow's fall has your soul's best interest at heart. All you do, all you say, all you feel, all you hope, all your experiences—all, all is His will. Man's Will is God's Will. God's Will is Man's Will. And who can define God? God alone has the power to define Himself. He has defined Himself as the Universe—Bramhanda. Nothing is impossible for the devotee of God. Let him but be willing to work and God shall give him everything. Regular devotion to God will surely develop extreme Fearlessness. "God is Love."

(2). KNOWLEDGE (Gnayanam).

Fear is due to ignorance. When in the dark of night you mistook the rope for a snake, you shrieked out in terror. Cause? IGNORANCE. But when you saw the rope as a rope, you laughed out in amusement. Cause? KNOWLEDGE. All your fear is due to your ignorance of your real nature. All the fear at the last is fear of death. You have to realise through knowledge of the Vedanta that you are birthless, deathless. You have to unfold by meditation a consciousness of your Real Self. I give you hereunder a meditation exercise that will help you in this direction.

MEDITATION EXERCISE NO. 1.

Retire into the SILENCE. Shut off all thoughts and purposes relating to the external world. Try to realise that you, the Real Ego are not the body but that it is a mere garment you have put on for functioning on the physical plane and which you shall put off some day. Try to realise that you are immortal and that although a thousand bodies might come and go, you, the Ego, shall be as alive as ever. These are your shadows—your personalities. What dies and is born is a mirage—a mere phantasm—which you materialise for certain purposes. All these purposes centralise in one POTENTIALISED PURPOSE—the conquest of matter. Realise that you the Ego, have your dwelling in Supernal Regions—on the spiritual plane—with your Father-in-Heaven—but that you have come down into matter that you may find the fullest possible objective expression. Realise that you, the Ego, are a differentiated centre of consciousness in the Great Consciousness—THE ABSOLUTE—EGO—SUM of the entire Universe with all its gross and subtle manifestations—that you are endowed with all the powers and attributes of the Absolute Self. Realise that you are not the emotional and passional manifestations—surging up in your personality. These are subject to the law of Flux and Rhythm and must be brought under the control of Reason and Will—the balancing, equating principle of mind. Realise that you are not the mind nor the intellect, but that you exercise this function in order to analyse the external manifestations of nature and study same. Realise that you are pure Consciousness, Bliss and Existence in your essential nature—one with the all-life. Realise that the form side of manifestation is but a concentration, a precipitation within you. Your subjective nature is one with the subjective self of others—an inlet for the influx and efflux of the GREAT SUB-CONSCIOUS. Realise thus your Unity with All-Life-manifesting objectively as Universal Brotherhood of all living beings and the perfect recognition of the All-Father-Mother, the Great Cosmic Power and Intelligence known as God whose intelligence all-blissfulness and existence are ever pouring into each Unit of Individualised Divine Energy and evolving through nature. And, student, when you meditate daily that you are neither the body nor the emotions nor the mind, you shall then unfold the consciousness of the "I am I" that which rules the personality that which has been called Soul-Consciousness. You shall then be Chaitanya-Spiritually awake. You shall then know no Fear. Fear shall drop away like a worn-out sheath. All fear-thoughts are due to undeveloped race-consciousness which reacts upon individual consciousness and is stamped more or less upon every atom of matter. You 'fear' because you think you are the body. When you realise that you can command as many bodies for your use as you like; when you realise in your heart of hearts that you are a Spiritual Being expressing and energising through material personalities; when you realise that you cannot die, fear shall be afraid of you and drop tormenting and teasing you. Fear resides in the matter-fed mind—that mind which has been grown and matured by the reception and re-action upon external sensations and stimuli—what has been called the objective mind. This mind identifies itself with the form, the body. It has an incorrigible determination towards the form-side, the concrete-side of existence. It sees nothing but the body and is darkened by the forces of Maya. It sees nothing but separation. Yes, it is the matter-fed mind. People with a development of this side of consciousness are invariably selfish; have generally small, conical eyes, understand nothing, but the welfare of the body. They are subject to the fear and the delight in making others fear them. This mind needs illumination from the soul, the Subjective Man, the "I am I" side of consciousness. It is not that you are a body and have a soul—this is the dirty conviction of the matter-fed mind—but you are a soul and have a body. The dawn of Soul-Consciousness makes a man a Force for good. He himself is Fearless. His is the voice of strength that does not crush and dominate but that puts warmth, life, energy, hope and indomitable courage into cold and despairing hearts. Some are born with this Soul-Consciousness. Do not think that I am feeding with the theories of eccentricity. Often when a boy playing with others the thought would strike me hard, "Are you the same that is running and jumping and shouting." I would stop, looking blankly ahead. A feeling of confusion would come over me and I would forget everything. I could recall the feeling distinctly and vividly. Now I understand. These were flashes of Soul-Consciousness unfolded in a past life and struggling for "recognition" in this life. Such men face DEATH for themselves calmly. They know they can't die. Such men are incapable of sustained hatred. They too have their physiognomical signs and distinctions. They represent an advanced order of intellect. And, lastly, when the full blaze of realisation comes, your one object in life shall be to bestow your sense of freedom on others. You shall not be able to mock and smile calmly at the pain, the ignorance to imperfections of your brother-man. You shall realise what it is to 'feel' for humanity, yea, even for animals. You shall glimpse, in some measures, the great feeling of pain that rent the hearts of the Buddas, the Christs, the Ramakrishnas, the Vivekanandas of this world. They suffered, they felt for humanity. And when undeveloped humanity forced them to the Cross; they bore it in the same spirit in which the gentle nurse bears the blows and abuses of the disease-racked patient. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Verily to know all is to forgive all. This Soul-Consciousness is as much yours as that of anyone. It comes through meditation on the Infinite, and the Formless Absolute—the Over-soul of the universe—the Brahman of the Vedanta—the Self of the philosophers—the Atman of the Yogis—the personal—impersonal God of the devotee—and, last, but not least, the humanity of the humanitarian.