Book 4 (Part I)

48 Arab can tell him the family history of each of the fifty persons in View, because he has learnt how to look, so with practice the thoughts will become more numerous and more insistent. As soon as the body was accurately observed it was found to be terribly restless and painful; now that we ob- serve the mind it is seen to be more restless and painful still. (See 0722137627” opposite.) A similar curve might be plotted for the real and apparent painful- ness of Asana. Conscious of this fact, we begin to try to control it: “Not quite so many thoughts, please!” “Don’t think quite so fast, please!” “No more of that kind of thought, please!” It is only then that we discover that what we thought was a school of playful porpoises is really the con- volutions of the sea-serpent. The attempt to repress has the effect of exciting. When the unsuspecting pupil first approaches his holy but Wily Guru, and demands magical powers, that Wise One replies that he will confer them, points outwith much caution and secrecy some particular spot on the pupil’s body which has never previously attracted his attention, and says: “ In order to obtain this magical power which you seek, all that is necessary is to wash seven times in the Ganges during Seven days, being particularly careful to avoid thinking of that one spot.” Of