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THE ANATOMY OF THE TANTRAS
Samadhi. As“ Pratyahara is not a distinct method in itself, but is a result of Pranayama," so Samadhi is the stage brought about by the processes of Dhyana and Dharana. As “by Pratyahara, the subjective world overcomes the objective," so by Samadhi, the spiritual nature of man stands predcminant over the gross physical one. Pratyahara must be clearly distinguished from Samadhi. No more serious mistakes, we think, can be committed than considering the hybernation of the reptiles and other animals as illustrating the Samadhi stage of the Yogis. The hybernation corresponds with the Pratyahara and not the Samadhi stage of Yoga. The learned translator has happily compared the Pratyahara stage with the stage of insensibility produced by the administration of anaesthetics, c. g., chloroform (Introduction to the Shiva Sanhita, Ch. X, pp. Ivii, et seq.). But it is a well-known fact that the inhalation of chloroform has little perceptible effect upon the sympathetic nerves. The spiritual consciousness of man is intensified only when the functions, of the organic life are brought under his control, and when he can modify and regulate the functions of the different viscera. We repeat that is the stage of Samadhi.
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