The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING seeing if it would interrupt P.’s meditation. The result on the first occasion was a bad break; second, two bad breaks; third to sixth, no breaks occurred. At the end of the experiment P. was able to repeat all MAitrananda had said except the last remark.* August gth. Practised Mental Muttering of the Mantra: “Namo Shivaya Namaha Aum.” I found that with Rechaka the voice sounds as if from the Con- fines of the Universe: but with Puraka as if from the third eye. Whilst doing this in the Saivite A’sanat I found the eyes, without conscious volition, are drawn up and behold the third eye. (Ajna Chakkra.) roth, A day of revelation of Arcana. Ten minutes A’sana and breathing exer- cise. Latter unexpectedly trying. Also practised Mental Muttering whilst in A’sana. Repeating “ Namo Shivaya Namaha Aum,” which takes, roughly, 86 seconds for 50 repetitions, ze. about 1,000 in half an hour. I practised this Mantra for thirty minutes: 10 minutes aloud; 10 minutes in silence; 10 minutes by hearing.t 11th. Recited the Mantra for about 1} hour while painting a talisman. * Any who have undergone this test will readily understand how severe it is. The speaker says something with a view to break the meditation of the meditator. Meanwhile the meditator must so strengthen his will, that he wd/s to remain in his meditation uninterrupted; and yet in the end, though his mind has never wandered in contemplating the object meditated upon, he, neverthe- less, has to repeat what the speaker said; which when the will is very strong may not even be heard as a sound, let alone as a coherent sentence. The will has to keep the thinking faculty of the meditator from interrupting the medita- tion; but meanwhile the thinking faculty without in any way breaking the meditation has to receive the message of the speaker and deliver it unimpaired to the meditator directly the meditation is at an end. This experiment, except that it is carried out by an act of will, differs very slightly, if at all, from those moments in which whilst absorbed in some work, we hear a clock strike, and only realize that the clock has struck a certain hour some considerable time after the event. t+ The Thunderbolt: see Illustration in THE EQUINOX, vol. i, No. 1. t Le, no longer uttering the Mantra, but listening to the Mystic Voice of the Universe saying it. I51