________________
પ્રકરણ. ]
SPIRITUAL LIGHT.
higher than the power of the matter. If matter is without power, the soul would not be acted upon by it, but the force of the material powers changes according to readiness or willingness with which soul is guided. In proportion the material powers diminish in strength, and the soul advances in development towards liberation. It is therefore necessary to control the powers of the body. With this end in view different postures are prescribed according to the experience of the previous Yogis and according to the capacity of the students of Yoga. A certain posture may help one man in concentration while it would be difficult for another.
Swami Vivekananda says
•
"Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibrations will begin, the whole constitution will be remodelled, as it were. But the m part of the action will be along the smal olumn, so that the one thing necessary for the posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts-the chest, neck and head-in a straight line.
Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the rib and then you have an easy natural posture, with the spine straight.
The revered Patanjali prescribes a posture which is steady and pleasant. The venerable Jain Acharya Shri Hemachandra enumerates in the Yoga Shastra
451