Comparative and Critical Study of Mantrashastra

Author(s): Mohanlal Bhagwandas Jhaveri, K V Abhayankar
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab

Page 17

8
INTRODUCTION
mind. This happens under the two well known laws viz, The Law of Materialization and the Law of Attraction. Under the operation of the first law, thought tends to materialize itself into objective reality; and under the operation of the second, it tends to draw to itself the particular materials conducive to its materialization and expression. The outward manifestation also, that is attainment of any object thought of, takes place under the operation of the same two laws.
It will be noted, therefore, that the Visualisation, that is to say seeing vividly in imagination, is the first step towards attainment. The entire creative and inventive work of man is simply the result of the materialization of his imaginings. But imagination should be distin guished from its negative form "Fancy" i. e. “Day dreaming." Fancy is involuntary imagination and is without purpose or use. It is a mild form of mental intoxication tending to weaken the Will. Positive imagination is to a purpose and results in action. In its positive phase, Imagination supplies the mould, pattern, or die for the materialization of our ideals.
Imagination means the power of the mind to form images. It is a power more or less constantly exercised by every individual. If the imagination is strong and rich, we have the poet, the musician, the painter, the sculptor, the writer, or the orator-all those who create new forms. Good poetry produces a clear and distinct image in the mind of the reader, not a vague, misty, undefined thought. The poet must therefore have a living imagination to produce vivid images in the mind of the reader. Emerson expresses this fact very lucidly thus: "The moment our discourse rises above the ground-line of familiar facts, and is inflamed with passion or exalted by thought, it clothes itself in images. A man conversing in earnest, if he watch his intellectual processes, will find that a material image, more or less luminous, arises in his mind, contemporaneous with every thought which furnishes the vestment of the thought. Hence, good writing and brilliant discourse are perpetual allegories. This imagery is spontaneous. It is the blending of experience with the present action of the mind. It is proper creation. It is the working of the original cause through the instruments he has already made. The poet, the