English
The details may not be presented to his consciousness (often it is not, for very good occult reasons) by the result, or essence of the knowledge will pass before his attention, with suffi¬ cient examples and illustrations, or arguments to enable him to make out “ a good case ” for himself. In the next lesson we will call your attention to other features and qualities of this great field of mind, showing you how you can put it to work, and Master it. Remein- er, always the “ I ” is the Master. And its Mastery must a ways be remembered and asserted over all phases and p anes of the mind. Do not be a slave to the sub-con- scious, but be its MASTER. MiN/sr^ RAJA YOGA MANTRAM (AFFIRMATION) I have within me a great area of Mind that is under my command, and subject to my Mastery. This Mind is friendly to me, and is glad to do my bidding, and obey my orders. It will work for me when I ask it, and is constant, untiling, and faithful. Knowing this, I am no longer afraid, ignorant or uninformed. The “ I ” is master of it all, and is asserting its authority. “ I ” am master over Body, Mind, Consciousness, and Sub-consciousness. I am “ I ”—a centre of Power, Strength, and Knowledge. I am “I”—and “I ” am Spirit, a fragment from the Divine Flame. Ml UlST/fy. <SL THE ELEVENTH LESSON SUB-CONSCIOUS CHARACTER BUILDING In our last lesson (the Tenth Lesson) we called your attention to the wonderful work of the sub-conscious regions of mentation in the direction of the performance o Intellectual work. Great as are the possibilities of this neid of mentation in the direction named, they are equalled by the possibilities of building up character bv similar methods. Everyone realizes that one may change his character st renuous course of repression and training, and l 7 . wIl ° read these lines have modified their char- eristics somewhat by similar methods. But it is only thVt Su yCarS that . the generaI Public have become aware tim aracter might be modified, changed, and some- mes completely altered by means of an intelligent use of the sub-conscious faculties of the mind. The word “ Character ” is derived from ancient terms mea mn g to mark,” to engrave etc > and SQmc authorities inform us that the term originally arose from . used hy the Babylonian brickmakers to desb- nate the trade mark impressed by them upon their bricks, vtw haVmS h , ls own mark - This is interesting, in charnrL ? IBC ^ t * eo *f regarding the cultivation of workTl tlCS u^’ Ch ma ^ be found in the curren t Western T Y n Z PSy u ° l0 fu But th£Se thcories not new to methork eaCherS °f the Eastl who have employed similar PTOils Th r v nt - Ur ! eS Past in trainin g their students and ter wa<8 !! ,. 0g !? have lorlg taught ^at a man’s charac- ’ P lact ically, the crude character stuff possessed 209 MIN/Sr^ RAJA YOGA % it his birth, modified and shaped by outside the case of the ordinary man, and by delibeifa&l^ raining and shaping by the wise man. Their pupils are examined regarding their characteristics, and then directed to repress the undesirable traits, and to cultivate the desirable ones. The Yogi practice of Character Building is based upon the knowledge of the wonderful powers of the sub-con¬ scious plane of the mind. The pupil is not required to pursue strenuous methods of repression or cultivation, but, on the contrary, is taught that such methods are opposed to nature’s plans, and that the best way is to imitate nature and to unfold gradually the desired charac¬ teristics by means of focusing the will-power and attention upon them. The weeding out of undesirable characteris¬ tics is accomplished by the pupil cultivating the charac¬ teristics directly opposed to the undesirable ones. For instance, if the pupil desires to overcome Fear, he is not instructed to concentrate on Fear with the idea of killing it out, but, instead, is taught to deny mentally that he has Fear, and then to concentrate his attention upon the ideal of Courage. When Courage is developed. Fear is found to have faded away. The positive always over¬ powers the negative. In the word “ ideal ” is found the -secret of the Yogi method of sub-conscious character building. The teach¬ ings are to the effect that “ ideals ” may be built up by the bestowal of attention upon them. The student is given the example of a rose bush. He is taught that the plant will grow and flourish in the measure that care and atten¬ tion are bestowed upon it and vice versa. He is taught that the ideal of some desired characteristic is a mental rose bush, and that by careful attention it will grow and put forth leaves and flowers. He is then given some minor mental trait to develop, and is taught to dwell upon it :ONSCIOUS CHARACTER BUILDING bought—to exercise his imagination and menta scc ” himself attaining the desired quality. He is „_ antrams or affirmations to repeat, for the purpose of giving him a mental centre around which to build an ideal. There is a mighty power in words, used in this way, providing that the user always thinks of the meaning of the words, and makes a mental picture of the quality expressed by them, instead of merely repeating them parrot fashion. The Yogi student is trained gradually, until he acquires the power of conscious direction of the sub-conscious mind in the building up process, which power comes to anyone—Oriental or Occidental—who will take the trouble to practise. In fact, nearly everyone possesses and actively uses this power, although he may not be aware of it. One’s character is largely the result of the quality of thoughts held in the mind, and of the mental pictures or ideals entertained by the person The man who constantly sees and thinks of himself as unsuccessful and down-trodden is very apt to grow ideals of thought- forms of these things until his whole nature is dominated by them, and his every act works toward the objectifica¬ tion of the thoughts. On the contrary, the man who makes an ideal of success and accomplishment finds that his whole mental nature seems to work toward that result— the objectification of the ideal. And so it is with every other ideal. The person who builds up a mental ideal of Jealousy will be very apt to objectify the same, and to unconsciously create condition that will give his Jealousy food upon which to feed. But this particular phase of die subject properly belongs to our next lesson. The Eleventh Lesson is designed to point out the way by which people may mould their characters in any way they desire—supplanting undesirable characteristics by desirable ones, and developing desirable ideals into active RAJA YOGA The mind is plastic to him who k ft. jdristics. et of its manipulation. average person recognizes his strong and weak points of character, but is very apt to regard them as fixed and unalterable, or practically so. He thinks that he “ is just as the Lord made him,” and that is the end of it. He fails to recognize that his character is being uncon¬ sciously modified every day by association with others, whose suggestions are being absorbed and acted upon. And he fails to see that he is moulding his own character by taking interest in certain things, and allowing his mind to dwell upon them. He does not realize that he himself is really the maker of himself, from the raw and crude material given him at his birth. He makes himself nega¬ tively or positively. Negatively, if he allows himself to be moulded by the thoughts and ideals of others, and positively, if he moulds himself. Everyone is doing one or the other—perhaps both. The weak man is the one who allows himself to be made by others, and the strong man is the one who takes the building process in his own hands. The process of Character Building is so delightfully simple that its importance is apt to be overlooked by the majority of persons who are made acquainted with it. It is only by actual practice and the experiencing of results that its wonderful possibilities are borne home to one. The Yogi student is early taught the lesson of the power and importance of Character Building by some strong practical example. For instance, the student is found to have certain tastes of appetite, such as a like for certain things, and a corresponding dislike for others. The Yogi teacher instructs the student in the direction of cultivating a desire and taste for the disliked thing, and a dislike for the liked thing. He teaches the student to fix ONSCIOUS CHARACTER BUILDING nd on the two things, but in the direction of inTji w hat he likes the one thing and dislikes the other, student is taught to make a mental picture of the desired conditions, and to say, for instance, “ I loathe candy—I dislike even the sight of it and, on the other hand, I crave tart things—I revel in the taste of them,” etc., etc., at the same time trying to reproduce the taste of sweet things accompanied with a loathing and a taste of tart things, accompanied with a feeling of delight. After a bit the student finds that his tastes are actually changing in accordance with his thoughts, and in the end they have completely changed places. The truth of the theory is then borne home to the student, and he never forgets the lesson. In order to reassure readers who might object to having the student left in this condition of reversed tastes, we may add that the Yogi teachers then teach him to get rid of the idea of the disliked thing, and teach him to cultivate a liking for all wholesome things, their theory being that the dislike of certain wholesome eatables has been caused by some suggestion in childhood or by some prenatal impression, as wholesome eatables are made attractive to the taste by Nature.