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Page 1 of 11912 · PDF PAGE 104
88 the Universe has become the whole, and phenomena and noumena are no longer opposed. But it is quite impossible to describe this state of mind. One can only specify some of the characteristics, and that in language Which forms no image in mind. It is impossible for anyone who experiences it to bring back any adequate memory, nor can we conceive a state transcending this. There is, however, a very much higher state called Shivadarshana, of which it is only necessary to say that it is the destructionofthe previous state, its annihilation; and t…
1912 · PDF PAGE 25
…st intelligence is shown by those of solitary habits. This is so true of man that psychologists have been obliged to treat of the mental state of crowds as if it were totally different in quality from any state possible to an individual. It is by freeing the mind from external influences,whether casual or emotional, that it obtains power to see somewhat of the truth of things. Let us, however, continue our practice. Let us determine to be masters of our minds. We shall then soon find what conditions are favourable. There will be no need to persua…
1912 · PDF PAGE 24
…y conditions favourable to the last.) On investigating what is meant by these two things, we find that they are only one. For what is the state of either prayer or meditation? It is the restraining of the mind to a single act, state, or thought. If we sit down quietly and investigate the contents of our minds, we shall find that even at the best 05 times the principal characteristics are wandering and distraction. Any one who has had anything to do with children and untrained minds generally knows that fixity of attention is never present, even wh…
1912 · PDF PAGE 98
…de from reflection, but from memory. Further, it is easy to master the “trick ” or “knack” of Dhyana. After a while one can get into that state without preliminary practice; and, looking at it from this point, one seems able to reconcile the two meanings of the word which we debated in the last section. From below Dhyana seems like a trance, an experience so tremendous that one cannot think of anything bigger, while from above it seems merely a state of mind as natural as any other. Frater P., before he had Samadhi, wrote of Dhyana: “ Perhaps as…
1912 · PDF PAGE 92
…r, provisionally accept the View that Dhyana is real; more real and thus of more importance to ourselves than all other experience. This state has been described not only by the Hindus and Buddhists, but by Mohammedans and Christians. In Christian writings, however, the deeply-seated dogmatic bias has rendered their documents worthless to the average man. They ignore the essential conditions of Dhyana, and insist on the inessential, to a much greater extent than the best lndian writers. But to any one with experienceand some knowledgeof compara…
1912 · PDF PAGE 17
…sked to see the securities. Men have even renounced the important material advantages which a well- organized religion may confer upon a State, rather than acquiesce in fraud or falsehood, or even in any system which, if not proved guilty, is at least unable to demonstrate its innocence. Being more or less bankrupt, the best thing that we can do is to attack the problem afresh without preconceived ideas. Let us begin 3
1912 · PDF PAGE 85
69 probably be the first to admit that if any man were really tired of life, in his deepest being, a state very different from that in which a man goes about saying he is tired of life, he could manage somehow or other to kill someone first. “ Νονν the man whohas experienced any of the more intense forms of Dhyana is thus liberated. The Universe is thus destroyed for him, and he for it. His will can therefore go on its way unhampered. One may imagine that in the case of Mohammed he had cherished for years a tremendous ambition, and never done any…
1912 · PDF PAGE 76
… other happens,and there is constantly a feeling of being “ on the brink of something pretty big,” one may expect to proceed to the next state—Dhyana.
1912 · PDF PAGE 90
…, so you cannot convince the other that his Dhyana was hallucination, even though he is only too well aware that he has fallen from that state into “normal” life. It is probably rare for a single experience to upset thus radically the whole conception of the Universe, just as sometimes, in the first moments of waking, there remains a half-doubt as to whether dream or waking is real. But as one gains further experience, when Dhyana is no longer a shock, when the student has had plenty of time to make himself at home in the new world, this convict…
1912 · PDF PAGE 28
…as if there were a contest between the will and the mind; at other times you may feel as if they were in har- mony; but there is a third state, to be distinguished from the latter feeling. It is the certain sign of near success, the view-halloo. This is when the mind runs naturally towards the object chosen, not as if in obedience to the will of the owner of the mind, but as if directed by nothing at all, or by something impersonal,' as if it were falling by its own weight, and not being pushed down.
1912 · PDF PAGE 100
84 succeeded in concentrating the mind on it, and perceiving only the internal sensation, the meaning unexpressed in any form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi.” Other authors are inclined to suggest that Samadhi results from meditating on subjects that are in themselves worthy. For example, Vivekananda says: “Think of any» holy subject:” and explains this as follows: “This does not mean any wicked subject.” (!) Frater P. would not like to say definitely whether he ever got Dhyana from commonobjects. He gave up the practice after a few mon…