Superphysics Superphysics
Chapter 2

Yoga

by Patanjali Icon
4 minutes  • 841 words

15 The differences in development is caused by the differences in stage.

The first stage is the sapling, the caterpillar, the animal.

The second stage is the growing tree, the chrysalis, the man.

The third is the splendid pine, the butterfly, the angel.

Difference of stage is the cause of difference of development. So it is among men, and among the races of men.

16 Through perfectly concentrated Meditation on the three stages of development comes a knowledge of past and future.

We have taken our illustrations from natural science, because, since every true discovery in natural science is a divination of a law in nature, attained through a flash of genius, such discoveries really represent acts of spiritual perception, acts of perception by the spiritual man, even though they are generally not so recognized.

So we may once more use the same illustration. Perfectly concentrated Meditation, perfect insight into the chrysalis, reveals the caterpillar that it has been, the butterfly that it is destined to be.

He who knows the seed, knows the seed-pod or ear it has come from, and the plant that is to come from it. So in like manner he who really knows today, and the heart of to-day, knows its parent yesterday and its child tomorrow. Past, present and future are all in the Eternal. He who dwells in the Eternal knows all three.

17 The sound and the object and the thought called up by a word are confounded because they are all blurred together in the mind. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the distinction between them, there comes an understanding of the sounds uttered by all beings.

It must be remembered that we are speaking of perception by the spiritual man.

Sound, like every force, is the expression of a power of the Eternal.

Infinite shades of this power are expressed in the infinitely varied tones of sound. He who, having entry to the consciousness of the Eternal knows the essence of this power, can divine the meanings of all sounds, from the voice of the insect to the music of the spheres.

In like manner, he who has attained to spiritual vision can perceive the mind-images in the thoughts of others, with the shade of feeling which goes with them, thus reading their thoughts as easily as he hears their words.

Everyone has the germ of this power, since difference of tone will give widely differing meanings to the same words, meanings which are intuitively perceived by everyone.

18 When the mind-impressions become visible, there comes an understanding of previous births.

This is simple enough if we grasp the truth of rebirth. The fine harvest of past experiences is drawn into the spiritual nature, forming, indeed, the basis of its development. When the consciousness has been raised to a point above these fine subjective impressions, and can look down upon them from above, this will in itself be a remembering of past births.

19 The understanding of the thoughts of others is gained through perfectly concentrated Meditation on mind-images.

This is the secret of thought-reading. According to thought-readers, the perceiving mind must be stilled, before the mind-image projected by the other mind can be seen.

With it comes a sense of the feeling and temper of the other mind and so on, in higher degrees.

20 But since that on which the thought in the mind of another rests is not objective to the thought-reader’s consciousness, he perceives the thought only, and not also that on which the thought rests.

The meaning appears to be simple: One may be able to perceive the thoughts of some one at a distance; one cannot, by that means alone, also perceive the external surroundings of that person, which arouse these thoughts.

21 The power to make the body invisible is gained:

  • by perfectly concentrated Meditation on the form of the body
  • by arresting the body’s perceptibility
  • by inhibiting the eye’s power of sight

There are many instances of the exercise of this power, by mesmerists, hypnotists and the like.

We may simply call it the power of suggestion.

Shankara tells us that by this power the popular magicians of the East perform their wonders, working on the mind-images of others, while remaining invisible themselves. It is all a question of being able to see and control the mind-images.

22 The works which fill out the life-span may be either immediately or gradually operative. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on these comes a knowledge of the time of the end, as also through signs.

A garment which is wet, says the commentator, may be hung up to dry, and so dry rapidly, or it may be rolled in a ball and dry slowly; so a fire may blaze or smoulder. Thus it is with Karma, the works that fill out the life-span. By an insight into the mental forms and forces which make up Karma, there comes a knowledge of the rapidity or slowness of their development, and of the time when the debt will be paid.

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