THE EQUINOX
not only methods of great use as a sedative before commencing
a Magical Operation, but methods of inordinate importance to
such aspirants, who, having discarded the Shibboleths of
sect, have adopted the fatuities of reason. For it is more
difficult for one who has no natural magical aptitude, and one
who perhaps has only just broken away from faith and
corrupted ritual, to carry out an operation of Western Magic,
than it is for him to sit down and perform a rational exercise,
such as the Prandydma exercises of Yoga, which carry with
them their own result, in spite of the mental attitude of the
chela towards them, so long as the instructions of the Guru
are properly carried out.*
As already pointed out, the mere fact of sitting for a time
in a certain position, of inhaling, exhaling and of holding the
breath, brings with it, even in the case of the most obdurate
sceptic, a natural concentration, an inevitable Pratyahara,
which develops in the aspirant the Siddhis, those seemingly
miraculous powers which distinguish an Adeptus Major
from an Adeptus Minor, and entitle the possessor to the
rank of 6° = 5°.
From this discovery Frater P. made yet another, and this
time one of still greater importance. And this was, that if the
* Prandydma acts on the mind just as Calomel acts on the bowels. It does
not matter if a patient believes in Calomel or not. The physician administers it,
and even if the patient be a most hostile Christian Scientist, the result is certain.
Similarly with Pranayama, the Guru gives his chela a certain exercise, and as
surely as the Calomel voided the noxious matter from the intestines of the
sufferer, so will the Pranayama void the capricious thoughts from the mind of
the disciple.
+ By discovery here we mean individual experiment resulting in personal
discovery; another person’s discovery only begets illusion and comment.
Individual discovery is the only true discovery worth consideration.
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