English
And therefore we find that this law of attraction between the atoms and particles of matter is a mental action, and that it belongs to man’s mental kingdom, because he has a body and this mental action is con- tinually going on in his body. So therefore this is the lowest mental plane to be considered in the make-up of the man. This plane is, of course, far sunken beneath the plane of consciousness, and is scarcely identified with the personality of the man at all, but rather belonas to the life of the whole, manifest in the rock as well as in the man. But after these atoms have been grouped by the law of attraction and have formed molecules of matter, they are THE MENTAL PLANES 11 possession of by a higher mental activity and into cells by the mental action of the plant. The life impulse of the plant begins by drawing to it certain par¬ ticles of inorganic matter—chemical elements—and then building them into a single cell. Oh, mystery of the cell! The intellect of man is unable to duplicate this wonderful process. The Mind Principle on the Vegetative Plane, however, knows exactly how to go to work to select and draw to itself just the elements needed to build up the single cell. Then taking up its abode in that cell—using it as a basis of operations, it proceeds to duplicate its previous performance, and so cell after cell is added, by the simple reproductive process of division and sub¬ division—the primitive and elemental sex process—until the mighty plant is built up. From the humblest vegetable organism up to the greatest oak the process is the same. nd it does not stop there. The body of man is also m t up in just this way, and he has this vegetative mind also within him, below the plane of consciousness, of course. To many this thought of a vegetative mind may e S0I dewhat startling. But let us remember that every part of our body has been built up from the vegetable cell. The unborn child starts with the coalition of two cells. These cells begin to build up the new body for the occupancy of the child—that is, the mind principle in the cells directs the work, of course—drawing upon the body of the mother for nourishment and supplies. The nourishment in the mother's blood, which supplies the material for the building up of the child’s body, is obtained by the mother eating and assimilating the vegetable cells of plants, directly or indirectly. If she eats fruit, nuts, vegetables, etc., she obtains the nourish¬ ment of the plant life directly—if she eats meat she obtains it indirectly, for the animal from which the meat was RAJA YOGA jilt up the meat from vegetables. There are nc yjT/about this—all nourishment of the animal ' fan kingdom is obtained from the vegetable kingdom, directly or indirectly. And the cell action in the child is identical with the cell action in the plant. Cells constantly reproducing them¬ selves and building themselves up into bodily organs, parts, etc., under the direction and guidance of the mind principle. The child grows in this way until the hour of birth. It is born, and then the process is but slightly changed. The child begins to take nourishment either from the mother’s milk or from the milk of the cow, or other forms of food. And as it grows larger it partakes of many different varieties of food. But always it obtains building material from the cell life of the plants. And this great building up process is intelligent, pur¬ poseful, to a wonderful degree. Man with his boasted intellect cannot explain the real “ thingness ” of the process. A leading scientist who placed the egg of a small lizard under microscopical examination and then watched it slowly develop has said that it seemed as if some hand was tracing the outlines of the tiny vertebrae, and then building up around it. Think for a moment of the development of the germ within the egg of the humming¬ bird, or the ant, or the gnat, or the eagle. Every second a change may be noticed. The germ cell draws to itself nourishment from the other part of the egg, and then it grows and reproduces another cell. Then both cells divide—then subdivide until there are millions and millions and millions of cells. And all the while the building up process continues, and the bird or insect assumes shape and form, until at last the work is accom¬ plished and the young bird emerges from the egg. And the work thus commenced continues until the death of the animal. For there is a constant using-up and THE MENTAL PLANES :ing-down of cell and tissue, which the orgi ;t replace. And so the vegetative mind of the plant, or insect, or animal, or man, is constantly at work build¬ ing up new cells from the food, throwing out worn-out and used-up material from the system. Not only this, but it attends to the circulation of the blood in order that the materials for the building up may be carried to all parts of the system. It attends to the digestion and assimilation of the food—the wonderful work of the organs of the body. It attends to the healing of wounds, the fight against disease, the care of the physical body. And all this out of the plane of consciousness—in the infant man, the animal world, the vegetable kingdom— ever at work, untiring, intelligent, wonderful. And this plane of mind is in man as well as in the plant, and it does its work without aid from the conscious part of man. although man may interfere with it by adverse conscious thought, which seems to paralyse its efforts. Mental Heal¬ ing is merely the restoring of normal conditions, so that this part of the body may do its work without the hin¬ drance of adverse conscious thought. On this plane of the mind is found all of the vital functions and operations. The work is done out-of¬ consciousness, and the consciousness is aware of this part of the mind only when it makes demands upon the con¬ scious for food, etc. On this plane also resides the elemen¬ tary instinct that tends toward reproduction and sexual activity. The demand of this part of the mind is always “ increase and multiply,” and according to the stage of growth of the individual is the mandate carried out, as we shall see presently. The elementary impulses and desires that we find rising into the field of consciousness come from this plane of the mind. Hunger, thirst and the reproductive desires are its messages to the higher parts of the mind. And these messages are natural and RAJA YOGA /Jj the abuses and prostitution often obsemfcl to them by the intellect of man in connection unrestrained animal impulses. Gluttony and unnatural lust arise not from the primitive demand of this plane of the mind—for the lower animals even are free from them to a great extent—but it is reserved for man so to prostitute these primitive natural tendencies, in order to gratify unnatural and artificial appetites, which serve to frustrate nature rather than to aid her. As Life advanced in the scale and animal forms appeared on the scene, new planes of mind were unfolded, in accordance to the necessity of the living forms. The animal was compelled to hunt for his food—to prey upon other forms, and to avoid being preyed upon by others. He was compelled to struggle for the unfoldment of latent powers of his mind that would give him means to play his part in the scheme of life. He was compelled to do certain things in order to live and reproduce his kind. And he demanded not in vain. For there came to him slowly an unfolding knowledge of the things necessary for the requirements of his life. We call this Instinct. But, pray remember, by Instinct we do not mean the still higher something that is really rudimentary Intellect that we notice in the higher animals. We are speaking now of the unreasoning instinct observed in the lower animals, and to a certain degree in man. This Instinctive plane of mentality causes the bird to build its nest before its eggs are laid, which instructs the animal mother how to care for its young when born, and after birth; which teaches the bee to construct its cell and to store up its honey. These and countless other things in animal life, and in the higher form of plant life, are manifestations of Instinct—that great plane of the mind. In fact, the greater part of the life of the animal is instinctive, although the higher forms of animals have THE MENTAL PLANES /ev^loped something like rudimentary Intellefc ason, which enables them to meet new conditions where Instinct alone fails them. And man has this plane of mind within him, below consciousness. In fact, the lower forms of human life manifest but little Intellect, and live almost altogether according to their Instinctive impulses and desires. Every man has this Instinctive mental region within him, and from it are constantly arising impulses and desires to perplex and annoy hinf, as well as to serve him occasionally. The whole secret consists in whether the man has Mastery of his lower self or not. From this plane of the mind arise the hereditary impulses coming down from generations of ancestors, reaching back to the cavemen, and still further back into the animal kingdom. A queer storehouse is this. Animal instincts—passions, appetites, desires, feelings, sensations, emotions, etc., are there. Hate, envy, jealousy, revenge, the lust of the animal seeking the gratification of his sexual impulses, etc., etc., are there, and are constantly intruding upon our attention until we have asserted our mastery. And often the failure to assert this mastery comes from an ignorance of the nature of the desire, etc. We have been taught that these thoughts were “ bad ” without being told why, and we have feared them and thought them the promptings of an impure nature, or a depraved mind, etc. This is all wrong.