The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING principles. I follow such openings or cavities as there may be, according to the natural constitution of the animal. A good cook changes his chopper once a year, because he cuts. An ordinary cook once a month—becausé he hacks, But I have had this chopper nineteen years, and although I have cut up many thousand bullocks, its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone.* MANTRA YOGA. Union through Speech. This type of Yoga consists in repeating a name or a sent- ence or verse over and over again until the speaker and the word spoken become one in a perfect concentration. Usually speaking it is used as an adjunct to some other practice, under one or more of the other Yoga methods. Thus the devotee to the God Shiva will repeat his name over and over again until at length the great God opens his Eye and the world is destroyed. Some of the most famous mantras are: “Aum mani padme Hum.” “ Aum Shivaya Vashi.” “Aum Tat Sat Aum.” “Namo Shivaya namaha Aum.” The pranava AU M+ plays an important part, throughout the whole of Indian Yoga, and especially is it considered sacred by the Mantra-Yogi, who is continually using it. To pronounce it properly the “A” is from the throat, the “ U ” in the middle, and the “M” at the lips. This typifies the whole course of breath. * “Yoga or Transformation,” p. 196. Control, or Restraint, is the Key to Karma Yoga; weakness is its damnation. Of the Karma Yogi Vivekananda writes: “He goes through the streets of a big city with all their traffic, and his mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could reach him; and he is intensely working all the time.” “Karma Yoga,” p. 17. + See Vivekananda’s “ Bhakti-Yoga,” pp. 62-68. 71