English
He is by a personality hiding the Life Principle, just as you are. Nothing more—nothing less! You are both One in Truth. Let the consciousness of the “ I ” beam forth and you will experience an uplift and sense of Courage, and the other will likewise feel it. You have within you the Source of Courage, Moral and Physi cal, and you have naught to Fear—Fearlessness is your Divine Heritage, avail yourself of it. You have Self- Conscience, for the Self is the “ I ” within you, not the petty personality, and you must have confidence in that “ I.” Retreat within yourself until you feel the presence of the “ I,” and then will you have a Self-Confidence that nothing can shake or disturb. Once having attained the permanent consciousness of the “ I,” you will have poise. Once having realized that you are a Centre of Power, you will have no difficulty in saying “ No! ” when it is right to do so. Once having realized your true nature—your <SL t-CONSCIOUS CHARACTER BUILDING Self—you will lose all sense of Inferiority, and will know that you are a manifestation of the One Life and have behind you the strength, power, and grandeur of the Cosmos. Begin by realizing yourself, and then proceed with the following methods of training the mind. Word Images. It is difficult for the mind to build itself around an idea, unless that idea be expressed in words. A word is the centre of an idea, just as the idea is the centre of the mental image, and the mental image the centre of the growing mental habit. Therefore, the Yogis always lay great stress upon the use of words in this way. In the particular case before us, we should suggest the holding before you of a.few words crystalliz¬ ing the main thought. We suggest the words “I Am Courage, Confidence, Poise, Firmness, Equality. Com¬ mit these words to memory, and then endeavour to fix in your mind a clear conception of the meaning of each word, so that each may stand for a Live Idea when you say it. Beware of parrot-like or photographic repetition. Let each word’s meaning stand out clearly before you, so that when you repeat it you may feel its meaning. Repeat the words over frequently, when opportunity pre¬ sents itself, and you will soon begin to notice that they act as a strong mental tonic upon you, producing a brac¬ ing, energizing effect. And each time you repeat the words, understandingly, you have done something to clear away the mental path over which you wish to travel. Practice. When you are at leisure, and are able to indulge in “ day dreams ” without injury to your affairs of life, call your imagination into play and endeavour to picture yourself as being possessed of the qualities indi¬ cated by the words named. Picture yourself under the most trying circumstances, making use of the desired qualities, and manifesting them, fully. Endeavour to pic¬ ture yourself as acting out your part well, and exhibiting misTfy RAJA YOGA (St ;eIurJLj ,lred qualities. Do not be ashamed to indulge _day-dreams, for they are the prophecies of the things to follow, and you are but rehearsing your part before the day of the performance. Practice makes perfect, and if you accustom yourself to acting in a certain way in imagination, you will find it much easier to play your part when the real performance occurs. This may seem childish to many of you, but if you have an actor among your acquaintances, consult him about it, and you will find that he will heartily recommend it. He will tell you what practice does for one in this direction, and how repeated practice and rehearsals may fix a character so firmly in a man’s mind that he may find it difficult to divest himself of it after a time. Choose well the part you wish to play—the character you wish to be yours— and then, after fixing it well in your mind, practise, prac¬ tise, practise. Keep your ideal constantly before you. and endeavour to grow into it. And you will succeed, if you exercise patience and perseverance. But, mere than this. Do not confine your practice to mere private rehearsals. You need some “dress re¬ hearsals ” as well—rehearsals in public. Therefore, after you get well started in your work, manage to exercise your growing character-habits in your everyday life. Pick out the little cases first and “ try it on them.” You will find that you will be able to overcome conditions that formerly bothered you much. You will become con¬ scious of a growing strength and power coming from within, and you will recognize that you are indeed a changed person. Let your thought express itself in action, whenever you get a good chance. But do not try to force chances just to try your strength. Do not, for instance, try to force people to ask for favours that you may say “No! ” You will find plenty of genuine \ e sts without forcing any. Accustom yourself to looking Ml UlST/f,, NSCIOUS CHARACTER BUILDING the eye, and feeling the power that is baa within you. You will soon be able to see thrd personality, and realize that it is just one portion of the One Life gazing at another portion, and that there¬ fore there is nothing to be afraid of. A realization of your Real Self will enable you to maintain your poise under trying circumstances, if you will but throw aside your false idea about your personality. Forget yourself —your little personal self—for a while, and fix your mind on the Universal Self of which you are a part. All these things that have worried you are but incidents of the Personal Life, and are seen to be illusions when viewed , from the standpoint of the Universal Life. Carry the Universal Life with you as much as possible into your everyday life. It belongs there as much as any¬ where, and will prove to be a tower of strength and refuge to you in the perplexing situations of your busy life. Remember always that the Ego is master of the mental states and habits, and that the Will is the direct instru¬ ment of the Ego, and is always ready for its use. Let your soul be filled with the strong Desire to cultivate those mental habits that will make you Strong. Nature’s plan is to produce Strong Individual expressions of herself, and she will be glad to give you her aid in becoming strong. The man who wishes to strengthen himself will always find great forces back of him to aid him in the work, for is he not carrying out one of Nature’s pet plans, and one which she has been striving for throughout the ages? Anything that tends to make you realize and express your Mastery tends to strengthen you, and places at your disposal Nature’s aid. You may witness this in every¬ day life—Nature seems to like strong individuals, and delights in pushing them ahead. By Mastery we mean mastery over your own lower nature, as well as over out- MIN IST/tf, RAJA YOGA ture, of course. The “ I ” is Master—forget ent, and assert it constantly. Peace be with MANTRAM (AFFIRMATION) I am the Master of my Mental Habits—I control my Character. I Will to be Strong, and summon the forces of my Nature to my aid. THE TWELFTH LESSON SUB-CONSCIOUS INFLUENCES In this lesson we wish to touch upon a certain feature of sub-conscious mentation that has been much dwelt upon by certain schools of Western writers and students during the past twenty years, but which has also been misunderstood, and, alas, too often misused by some of those who have been attracted to the subject. We allude to what has been called the “ Power of Thought.” While this power is very real, and, like any other of the forces of Nature, may be properly used and applied in our everyday life, still many students of the power of the Mind have misused it and have stooped to practices worthy only of the followers of the schools of “ Black Magic.” We hear on all sides of the use of “ treatments ” for selfish and often base ends, those following these prac¬ tices seeming to be in utter ignorance of the occult laws brought into operation, and the terrible reaction inevit¬ ably falling to the lot of those practising this negative form of mental influence. We have been amazed at the prevailing ignorance concerning the nature and effects of this improper use of mental force, and at the same time, at the common custom of such selfish, improper uses. This, more particularly, when the true occultist knows that these things are not necessary, even to those who seek Success 5 by mental forces. There is a true method of the use of mental forces, as well as an improper use, and we trust that in this lesson we may be able to biing the matter sharply and clearly before the minds of our students. H* 229 miST/fy RAJA YOGA .In) i>jur first course (the “ Fourteen Lessons ”), r a.1 lessons entitled respectively “Thought Dynami fepathy, etc.,” and “Psychic Influence,” we have given a general idea of the effect of one mind upon other minds, and many other writers have called the attention of the Western world to the same facts. There has been a general awakening of interest in this phase of the sub¬ ject among the Western people of late years, and many and wonderful are the theories that have been advanced among the conflicting schools regarding the matter. But, notwithstanding the conflicting theories, there is a general agreement upon the fundamental facts. They all agree that the mental forces may be used to affect oneself and others, and many have started in to use these mental forces for their own selfish ends and purposes, believing that they were fully justified in so doing, and being unaware of the web of psychic causes and effects which they were weaving around them by their practices.