Lessons In Yoga Exercises

On asanas.
1. Salutation to Âdinatha (Siva) who expounded the knowledge of
Hatha Yoga, which like a staircase leads the aspirant to the high
pinnacled Raja Yoga.

2. Yogin Swatmarama, after saluting his Gurû Srinatha explains
Hatha Yoga for the attainment of Raja Yoga.

3. Owing to the darkness arising from the multiplicity of opinions
people are unable to know the Raja Yoga. Compassionate
Swatmarama composes the Hatha Yoga Pradipika like a torch to
dispel it.

4. Matsyendra, Goraksa, etc., knew Hatha Vidya, and by their favor
Yogi Swatmarama also learnt it from them.

5. The following Siddhas (masters) are said to have existed in
former times:- Sri Adinatha (Siva), Matsyendra, Natha, Sabar,
Anand, Bhairava, Chaurangi, Mina Natha, Goraksanatha, Virupaksa,
Bilesaya.

6. Manthana, Bhairava, Siddhi Buddha, Kanthadi, Karantaka,
Surananda, Siddhipada, Charapati.

7. Kaneri, Pujyapada, Nityanatha, Niranjana, Kapali, Vindunatha,
Kaka Chandiswara.

8. Allama, Prabhudeva, Ghoda, Choli, Tintini, Bhanuki, Nardeva,
Khanda Kapalika, etc.

9. These Mahasiddhas (great masters), breaking the sceptre of
death, are roaming in the universe.

10. Like a house protecting one from the heat of the sun, Hatha
Yoga protects its practisers from the burning heat of the three
Tapas; and, similarly, it is the supporting tortoise, as it were, for
those who are constantly devoted to the practice of Yoga.

11. A yogi desirous of success should keep the knowledge of Hatha
Yoga secret; for it becomes potent by concealing, and impotent by
exposing.

                                         
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Guide To Advanced Yoga Techniques

CONTENTS
PART 1
A SERIES OF LESSONS IN RAJA YOGA
LESSON I. The "I"
LESSON II. The Ego's Mental Tools
LESSON III. The Expansion of the Self
LESSON IV. Mental Control
LESSON V. The Cultivation of Attention
LESSON VI. Cultivation of Perception
LESSON VII. The Unfoldment of Consciousness
LESSON VIII. The Highlands and Lowlands of Mind
LESSON IX. The Mental Planes
LESSON X. Sub-Consciousing
LESSON XI. Sub-Conscious Character Building
LESSON XII. Sub-Conscious Influences
PART 2
A SERIES OF Lessons in Gnani Yoga (The Yoga of Wisdom.)
LESSON I. The One
LESSON II. Omnipresent Life
LESSON III. The Creative Will
LESSON IV. The Unity of Life
LESSON V. The One and the Many
LESSON VI. Within the Mind of the One
LESSON VII. Cosmic Evolution
LESSON VIII. The Ascent of Man
LESSON IX. Metempsychosis
LESSON X. Spiritual Evolution
LESSON XI. The Law of Karma
LESSON XII. Occult Miscellany

PART 1
THE FIRST LESSON.
THE "I."
In India, the Candidates for Initiation into the science of "Raja Yoga,"
when they apply to the Yogi Masters for instruction, are given a series
of lessons designed to enlighten them regarding the nature of the Real
Self, and to instruct them in the secret knowledge whereby they may
develop the consciousness and realization of the real "I" within them.
They are shown how they may cast aside the erroneous or imperfect
knowledge regarding their real identity.


Until the Candidate masters this instruction, or at least until the truth
becomes fixed in his consciousness, further instruction is denied him,
for it is held that until he has awakened to a conscious realization of
his Actual Identity, he is not able to understand the source of his
power, and, moreover, is not able to feel within him the power of the
Will, which power underlies the entire teachings of "Raja Yoga."
The Yogi Masters are hot satisfied if the Candidate forms merely a clear
intellectual conception of this Actual Identity, but they insist that he
must feel the truth of the same--must become aware of the Real
Self--must enter into a consciousness in which the realization becomes a
part of his everyday self--in which the realizing consciousness becomes
the prevailing idea in his mind, around which his entire thoughts and
actions revolve.

To some Candidates, this realization comes like a lightning flash the
moment the attention is directed toward it, while in other cases the
Candidates find it necessary to follow a rigorous course of training
before they acquire the realization in consciousness.

The Yogi Masters teach that there are two degrees of this awakening
consciousness of the Real Self. The first, which they call "the
Consciousness of the 'I'," is the full consciousness of real existence
that comes to the Candidate, and which causes him to know that he is a
real entity having a life not depending upon the body--life that will go
on in spite of the destruction of the body--real life, in fact. The
second degree, which they call "the Consciousness of the 'I AM'," is
the consciousness of one's identity with the Universal Life, and his
relationship to, and "in-touchness" with all life, expressed and
unexpressed. These two degrees of consciousness come in time to all who
seek "The Path." To some it comes suddenly; to others it dawns gradually;
to many it comes assisted by the exercises and practical work of "Raja
Yoga."
                                                   

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An Introduction to Yoga,

Lecture I

THE NATURE OF YOGA




THE NATURE OF YOGA
In this first discourse we shall concern ourselves with the
gaining of a general idea of the subject of Yoga, seeking its
place in nature, its own character, its object in human
evolution.


The Meaning of the Universe

Let us, first of all, ask ourselves, looking at the world around
us, what it is that the history of the world signifies. When we
read history, what does the history tell us? It seems to be a
moving panorama of people and events, but it is really only a
dance of shadows; the people are shadows, not realities, the
kings and statesmen, the ministers and armies; and the eventsÄ
the battles and revolutions, the rises and falls of states Äare
the most shadowlike dance of all. Even if the historian tries to
go deeper, if he deals with economic conditions, with social
organisations, with the study of the tendencies of the currents
of thought, even then he is in the midst of shadows, the illusory
shadows cast by unseen realities. This world is full of forms
that are illusory, and the values are all wrong, the proportions
are out of focus. The things which a man of the world thinks
valuable, a spiritual man must cast aside as worthless. The
diamonds of the world, with their glare and glitter in the rays
of the outside sun, are mere fragments of broken glass to the man
of knowledge. The crown of the king, the sceptre of the emperor,
the triumph of earthly power, are less than nothing to the man
who has had one glimpse of the majesty of the Self. What is,
then, real? What is truly valuable? Our answer will be very
different from the answer given by the man of the world.
"The universe exists for the sake of the Self." Not for what the
outer world can give, not for control over the objects of desire,
not for the sake even of beauty or pleasure, does the Great
Architect plan and build His worlds. He has filled them with
objects, beautiful and pleasure-giving. The great arch of the sky
above, the mountains with snow-clad peaks, the valleys soft with
verdure and fragrant with blossoms, the oceans with their vast
depths, their surface now calm as a lake, now tossing in
furyÄthey all exist, not for the objects themselves, but for
their value to the Self. Not for themselves because they are
anything in themselves but that the purpose of the Self may be
served, and His manifestations made possible.


Yoga
Table of Contents
PART 1
Lecture I. The Nature of Yoga
1. The Meaning of the Universe
2. The Unfolding of Consciousness
3. The Oneness of the Self
4. The Quickening of the Process of Self-Unfoldment
5. Yoga is a Science
6. Man a Duality
7. States of Mind
8. Samadhi
9. The Literature of Yoga
10. Some Definitions
11. God Without and God Within
12. Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter
13. Mind
14. Stages of Mind
15. Inward and Outward-turned Consciousness
16. The Cloud
Lecture II. Schools of Thought
1. Its Relation to Indian Philosophies
2. Mind
3. The Mental Body
4. Mind and Self
Lecture III. Yoga as Science
1. Methods of Yoga
2. To the Self by the Self
3. To the Self through the Not-Self
4. Yoga and Morality
5. Composition of States of the Mind
6. Pleasure and Pain
Lecture IV. Yoga as Practice
1. Inhibition of States of Mind
2. Meditation with and without Seed
3. The Use of Mantras
4. Attention
5. Obstacles to Yoga
6. Capacities for Yoga
7. Forthgoing and Returning
8. Purification of Bodies
9. Dwellers on the Threshold
10. Preparation for Yoga
11. The End
PART 2. The Doctrine And Practice Of Yoga
Lesson I. Concentration
Lesson II. Personal Magnetism, Will Culture, Self-Control
Lesson III and IV. The Yogi Self-Developer
                                                 

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