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12
MYSTICISM IN INDIA
with the prevalent modern conceit that we Westerners have reached the highest pinnacle of intellectual culture, go to India. Let them go to the land of mystery, which was ancient when the great Alexander crossed the indus with his warriors, ancient when Abraham roamed the plains of Chaldæa with his cattle, ancient when the first pyramid was built; and if after a careful study of Hindoo life, religion and philosophy, the enquirer is still of opinion that the palm of intellectual advancement belongs to the Western world—let him lose no time in having his own cranium examined by a competent physician.
Without caring much for what the foreigners have to say in reference to the philosophies of India, we will come to our own subject. I told you that Yoga is the suppression of the manifestation of the mind. The source of the positive power therefore lies in the soul. In the very wording of the definition of Yoga is involved the supposition of the existence of a power which can control and suppress the manifestations of the mind. This power is the power of the soul - otherwise familiar to us as freedom of the will. So long as the soul is subject to the mind, it is tossed this way or that in obedience to the mental changes. Instead of the soul being tossed by the mental changes, the mind should vibrate in obedience to the soul-vibrations. When once the soul becomes the master of the mind, it can produce any manifestation it likes.
I told you in the beginning that the suppression of all mental changes produces the state called Yoga.
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