THE MAHATMA PATANJALI
And Raja Yoga
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THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI
Many great Gurus and Theosophists have translated the Yoga Sutras and the one that I'm teaching from is that of Alice Bailey a very high initiate of the Master Kootmi; she was also the telepathic receiver of the teachings of the Mahatma Djwal Khul.
I think before we get underway with this teaching I should give Alice Bailey's remarks concerning the practice of Raja Yoga:
"The Science of Raja Yoga, or the "Kingly Science of the Soul," as laid down by the main exponent, Patanjali, will eventually find its greatest demonstration in the West (she's speaking to us). This is owing to the fact that under cyclic law-the
Remember, also that at the turn of the century as we entered this phase of the Aquarian Age, Hierarchy decided that they had a much better and easier response by their students when they performed world service, teaching healing etc. as a group - as you can see they extended this same concept in the teaching of the Yoga Sutras, much easier when done as a group - Therefore as a group of souls seeking Truth and contact with the Soul itself, we are now on the threshold of becoming Higher Initiates - Why? Because we are the Fifth Sub-Root Race and therefore we'll be the ones and are the ones who will work from the "fifth principle" the "fifth plane"and the "fifth ray"the ray of truth and concrete knowledge. Let's continue to read and learn from this great initiate, Alice A. Bailey:
ALICE BAILEY
Hitherto the mind has either been prostituted to material ends or has been deified. Through the science of Raja Yoga, the mind will be known as the instrument of the soul and the means whereby the brain of the aspirant becomes illuminated and knowledge gained of those matters which concern the realm of the soul.
Under the law of evolution likewise, the mind, being the fifth principle, the fifth root, race most be intimately concerned with it, and its corresponding fifth sub-race more intimately than any other. Students would do well to bear in mind the following correspondences:
1. The fifth root race.. . . . . . . . . . .Aryan
2. The fifth sub-race . . . . . . . . . . .Anglo-Saxon
3. The fifth principle . . . . . . . . . . .manas, or mind
4. The fifth plane . . . . . . .. . . . . . The mental
5. The fifth Ray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Truth, concrete knowledge
As you know, I have just given you a very long lesson on the entire history of our Root Races, so you already have become acquainted with each of them and where they fall on the evolutionary path - at this time we , in the West, we are all part of the Fifth Root Race and the Fifth Sub-Race and therefore we need to pay very close attention to where we stand with Hierarchy and their plan for us according to Cosmic Law. That which is marked in what we need as a tool for gaining access to our very own Souls and/or Holy Christ Selves.
Alice Bailey goes on to explain how the Hierarchy worked with each Root Race and their Sub-Races - for instance the Lemurians were the First Root Race and like babies they introduced them to Hatha Yoga - the problem for the Adepts of that time was to teach human beings, who were then little more than animals, the purpose, significance and use of their various organs, so that they could consciously control them, and the meaning of the symbol of the human figure - therefore, through the practice of Hatha Yoga, the human beings reached the portal of initiation. At that time the attainment of the "third initiation, resulting in the transfiguration of the personality, was the highest initiation that man was capable of achieving.
The Second Race and part of the Third with their sub-races were Atlanteans and the sons of men were procured through the imposition of "two Yogas". First, the Yoga which is called by the name of Laya Yoga, the Yoga of the centers which produced a stabilizing of the etheric body and of the centers in man and the development of the astral and psychic nature (the centers would be the chakras). Later on, Bhakti Yoga, growing out of the development of the emotional or astral body, was incorporated with Laya Yoga and the foundation of that mysticism and devotion, which has been the underlying incentive during our particular Aryan root race, was laid.
So let's see what Alice Bailey can tell us to expect as the Fifth
Root Race and Sub-Race:
Now, in the Aryan race, the subjugation of the mental body and the control of the mind is brought about through the practice of Raja Yoga, and the fifth initiation, that of adept, is the goal for evolving humanity. Thus, all the Yogas have had their place and served a useful purpose and it will become apparent that any return to Hatha Yoga practices or those practices which deal specifically with the development of the centers, brought about through various types of meditation practices and breathing exercises, is, from a certain aspect, a retrogression. It will be found that through the practice of Raja Yoga, and through assuming that point of directional control which is to be found by the man who centers his consciousness in the soul, the other forms of Yoga are unnecessary, for the greater Yoga automatically includes all the lesser in its results, through not in its practices.
When these are studied, it will become apparent why the day of opportunity has only just arrived. The East has preserved rules for us since time immemorial. Here and there orientals (with a few Western adepts) have availed themselves of those rules and have submitted to the discipline of this exacting science. Thus has been preserved for the race the continuity of the Secret Doctrine, of the Ageless Wisdom, and thus has been gathered together the personnel of the Hierarchy of our planet. In the time of the Buddha through the stimulation He produced there was a great gathering in of the Arhats. These were men who had achieved liberation through self-initiated effort. This period, in our Aryan race, marked a climax for the East. Since then the tide of spiritual life has steadily flowed westward, and we may now look for a corresponding climax in the West, which will reach its zenith between the years 1965 and 2025. Towards this end the adepts of the East and of the West are unitedly working, for they follow always the Law.
This coming impulse is (as was that in the time of the Buddha) a second ray impulse, and has no relation to any first Ray impulse, such as that which brought forth H. P. Blavatsky. First Ray impulses rise in the first quarter of each century and reach their climax on the physical plane during the last quarter. The interest now shown in Raja Yoga and the study of this science and the rules it provides for man's unfoldment, is indicative of the general trend of this rising second Ray impulse. This interest will be increasingly shown. Thus comes the day of opportunity.
Alice Bailey wrote this book and it was published in 1927 - as noted we are not only working with Hierarchy with all of the Fifth Ray attributes that allows for us to open and expand the mind to its fullest capacity - reaching for "soul awareness" but at the same time the Planetary Logos (Sanat Kumara) the original Word or Son of God has designated this time for all of mankind to be on the Second Ray of Love/Wisdom - so everything seems to be according to the Divine Plan. Remember, she gave us the expectations that Hierarchy planned for us - starting in the year 1965 through 2025 - so we had better get into these Sutras and align ourselves with Hierarchy each and every day through concentration and meditation. She also tells us what we need to move forward on our evolutionary path to ascension. -mf
There are three books which should be in the hands of every student, the Bhagavad Gita, the New Testament and the Yoga Sutras, for in these three is contained a complete picture of the soul and its unfoldment.
LORD KRISHNA
In the GITA we have given us (in its eighteen chapters) a description of the soul, of Krishna, the second aspect, in His true nature as God in manifestation, culminating in that marvelous chapter where He reveals Himself to Arjuna, the aspirant, as the soul of all things, and the point of glory behind the veil of every form.
JESUS THE CHRIST
In the NEW TESTAMENT there is depicted for us the life of a Son of God in full manifestation, wherein, freed from every veil, the soul in its true nature walks the earth. It becomes apparent to us, as we study the life of Christ, what it means to develop the powers of the soul, to attain liberation, and become, in full glory a God walking on earth.
THE MAHATMA PATANJALI
In the YOGA SUTRAS there are embodied for us the laws of that becoming, and the rules, methods, and means which - when followed - make a man "perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Step by step there is unfolded for us a graded system of development, leading a man from the stage of average good man, through those of aspirant, initiate and master on to that exalted point in evolution at which the Christ now stands. John, the beloved disciple, has said that "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" and the revelation of the soul to man in physical plane incarnation works ever the great transformation. Christ himself has said that "greater works than I do shall you do," holding out to us the promise of the"kingdom, the power and the glory" provided our aspiration and endurance suffice to carry us along the thorny way of the Cross, and enable us to tread that path which "leads up hill all the way"" to the summit of the Mount of Transformation.
How is this great change brought about? How does man, the victim of his desires and lower nature become man, the victor, triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil? It is brought about when the physical brain of the incarnated man becomes aware of the self, the soul, and this conscious awareness only becomes possible when the true self can "reflect itself in the mind-stuff." The soul is inherently freed from objects and stands ever in the state of isolated unity. Man, however, in incarnation has to arrive, in his physical brain consciousness, a realization of these two states of being; he has consciously to free himself from all objects of desire and stand as a unified whole, detached and liberated from all veils, from all forms in the three worlds. When the state of conscious being, as known by the spiritual man, becomes also the condition of awareness of the man in physical incarnation then the goal has been reached. The man is no longer what his physical body makes him, when identified with it, the victim of the world. he walks free, with shining face(1 Cor,.3) and the light of his countenance is shed abroad upon all he meets. No longer do his desires swing the flesh into activity, and no longer does his astral body subjugate him and over come him.
Through dispassion and the balancing of the pairs of opposites he has freed himself from the moods, feelings, longings, desires, and emotional reactions which characterize the life of the average man and has arrived at the point of peace. The devil of pride, the personification of the misused mental nature and the distorted perceptions of the mind, are overcome and he stands liberated from the three worlds The nature of the soul, the qualities and activities inherent in the love nature of the Son of God, and the wisdom which demonstrates when love and activity (the second and third aspects) are brought together, characterize his life on earth, and he can say as did the Christ, "It is finished."
Patanjali was a compiler of teaching which, up to the time of his advent, had been given orally for many centuries. He was the first to reduce the teaching to writing for the use of students and hence he is regarded as the founder of the Raja Yoga School. The system, however, has been in use since the very beginning of the Aryan race. The Yoga Sutras are the basic teaching of the Trans--Himalayan School to which many of the Masters of the Wisdom belong, and many student hold that the Essenes and other schools of mystical training and thought, closely connected with the founder of Christianity and the early Christians, are based upon the same system and that their teachers were trained in the great Trans-Himalayan School. It had been dictated and paraphrased by the Tibetan Brother and the commentary upon them has been written by myself, and subjected to revision and comment by the Tibetan (Master Djwal Khul). It should be noted that the translation is not literal, and is not an exact an definition of each original Sanskrit term. it is an attempt to put into clear and understandable English the exact meaning,insofar sa it is possibe to do so through the medium of that non-elastic and unimaginative tongue. The student may find it of use in the study of these sutras to compare the rendition here given, with the various other procurable translations.
New York, May, 1927 Alice A. Bailey
CHAPTER ONE
THE PROBLEM OF UNION
1. AUM (OM) The following instruction concerns the Science of
Union
Before the soul can see, the harmony within must be attained, and fleshly eyes be rendered blind to all illusion.
Before the soul can hear, the image (Man) has to become as deaf to roarings as to whispers, to cries of bellowing elephants as to the silvery buzzing of the golden fire-fly.
Before the soul can comprehend and may remember, she must unto the silent speaker be united, just as the form to which the clay is modeled is first united with the potter's mind
For them the soul will hear, and will remember,
And then to the inner ear will speak the Voice of the Silence."
From the Voice of the Silence by H. P. Blavtsky
I -AUM, is the Word of Glory; It signifies the Word made flesh and the manifestation upon the plane of matter of the second aspect of divinity (The Son-mf). This blazing forth of the sons of righteous-the rules herein contained. When all the sons of men have demonstrated that they are also Sons of God, the "cosmic son of
God will likewise shine forth with increased intensity of glory. The great initiate, Paul (Apostle of Jesus-mf) had a vision of this when he said that "the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain . . waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God". (Rom. VIII.)
Think about it, Jesus instructed the Apostle Paul and must have given him insight into the deeper teachings - because two thousand plus years ago, no one but Jesus could have conveyed such thoughts into the minds of men at that level - therefore even then, only a very few would consciously understand what the meaning of these words conveyed.... All of Creation groaned and travailed.... even at that time for us to get our acts together ...We have little understanding even today of just the saying of the word "AUM" could be so very significant and powerful . . . then how did this Tibetan Mahatma understand and also teach its powerful significance?
Because He had reached the same level of consciousness as the Master Jesus did two thousands years before and again, he wanted all of his disciples, adepts, students and monks to also "follow the rules that are contained within Raja Yoga; and when they have all followed the Path of Raja Yoga they will also demonstrate that they are indeed Sons and Daughters of God - it will be only at this point that the Cosmic Son of God (Sanat Kumara) will also shine forth with increased intensity and glory". Now we will proceed to his teaching of "Raja Yoga"
THE PLANETARY LOGOS
THE ANCIENT OF DAYS
THE ORIGINAL SON OF GOD
SANAT KUMARA
Raja Yoga, of the science of Union (with the Higher Self and God-mf) gives the rules and the means whereby:
1. Conscious contact can be made with the soul, the second aspect, the Christ Within.
Here, you need to stop and concentrate on His words: it is not the physical man that can connect to the Higher Self and to God the Father; but it is the contact with our Souls, the Holy Christ Self and/or second aspect of the Holy Trinity i.e. "the Word, the Christ, the Soul which is within us also known as "the spark of divinity within each of us" deep within the secret chamber of the heart" and we can only make contact by concentrating the mind on the Soul -mf
2. Knowledge of the self can be achieved and its control over the not-self maintained.
You may ask, yes, but how can I achieve the control over the "little mind"? Well, just wait and see because this Adept will explain all of it and I'll try and put it into simple words and phrases. The non-self is the little mind that keeps us tied to the material world where every desire must be met, every emotion must be satisfied; where every thought, word and deed is all about self and those within the circle or orbit of that self - so until you can Let Go and Let God" help you to keep centered and wholly concentrated upon the Soul for say, only 15 minutes to begin with - longer than this is quite difficult as you will continually find that your mind wanders and you lose contact with the inner mind. -mf
3. Power of the ego or soul can be felt in the daily life and soul powers manifested.
Every good thought, word or deed that comes through an individual is coming from the
Solar Angel or Soul, not the lower mind
4. The lower psychic nature can be subdued, and the higher psychic faculties demonstrated.
This takes great effort at first, just to still the "little mind" while concentrating on looking above for the Solar Angel and/or Soul.
5. The brain can be brought en rapport with the soul and its messages received.
Let's face it, everyone of the Masters of Wisdom, the Mahatmas have had to go through the very same effort, to subjugate that little emotional yapping mental lower mind, while at the same time in deep concentration looking for the "Light of the Soul" above our earthly plane.
6. The "light in the head" can be increased, so that a man becomes a living Flame.
As one continually practices Raja Yoga, he will begin to see flashes of light, at first only a flashing - but this tells one that he is on the right path and has begun to attract the Soul, Who will pay no attention until we begin to clean up our actions, control our desires, become single-minded in our determination to be finally free to walk and talk with Hierarchy while still living in a human body, while over a period of time we become that very flashing light, a living flame.
7. The Path can be found and man himself becomes that Path.
The following triplicities may be found of value to the student, especially if he remembers that it is the central column which contains the terms applicable to the soul or second aspect. The union to be achieved is that of the third and second aspects. This is consummated at the third initiation (in Christian terminology, the Transfiguration). A later synthesis is then effected between the united third and second aspects and the first:
So, in order to make it perfectly clear to the student, it must be the combination of the should with the body; the Son with the Holy Ghost; The Ego with the Personality; the Higher Self with the Lower Self; the Consciousness with Form; The Angel of the Presence with the Human being that will bring us eventually into the "1st Aspect".
1st Aspect 2nd Aspect * 3rd Aspect
Spirit Soul Body
Father Son (Christ) Holy Ghost
Monad (Higher Self) Ego Personality
Divine self Higher Self Lower Self
Energy Consciousness Form
The Presence The Angel of the Presence The human being
*A Clear distinction should be made between the Christ Principle (2nd Aspect) as indicated above, which is a high spiritual aspect to which each member of humanity must attain, and the same term applied to a personage of exalted rank representing that Principle, whether in the historical reference to the Man of Nazareth or otherwise.
This is the High Mental Body or Chita
This is where one needs to Concentrate and
strive towards the Solar Angel through
this aspect of the mind.
II- This Union (or Yoga) is achieved through the subjugation of the psychic nature and the restraint of the chita (or mind).
Clearly, what we all need to accomplish is the complete control over the "little mind" the chatter box that never stops yapping, especially when one is in meditation. One way of clearing the mind is to either chant a mantra (in the mind) example. Repeat over and over :
Oh Solar Angel
From heaven above,
Whom the Father sent to me,
A gift of LOVE. . . .
The Solar Angel or Soul
The following after union has two things to do:
1. To gain control of the "versatile psychic nature."
Stop the little mind from chatting and yapping
2. To prevent the mind from assuming the many forms it so easily does. These are frequently called "modifications of the thinking principle."
These two produce control of the emotional body and therefore of desire, and control of the mental body, and therefore of lower manas or mind. The student should remember that uncontrolled desire and an unregulated mind shut off the light of the soul and negate spiritual consciousness. Union is impossible as long as the barriers exist, and the Master therefore directs the attention of the student (at the beginning of his instruction) to the practical work to be done in liberating this light so that it may "shine forth in a dark place;" i. e., on the physical plane. it should be borne in mind that, occultly speaking, when the lower nature is controlled it can manifest the higher. When the second aspect of the lower personal self, the emotional body, is subjugated or transmuted then the Christ light (the second aspect egoic can be seen. Later, in its light, the Monad, the Father, the One, will stand revealed. Equally, when the first aspect of the lower personal self, the mental body, is restrained, then the Will aspect of the ego can be known, and through its activities, the purpose of the Logos Himself will be cognized
When the lower mind of the lower personal self is restrained (or controlled) then the Will aspect of the ego (soul) can be known, and through its activities there will be a realization of the purpose of the Planetary Logos (Sanat Kumara) in other words, the Divine Plan will be revealed to each of us. mf
End of Lesson - to be continued.....
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