A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga

Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga, by Yogi Ramacharaka

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Title: A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga
Author: Yogi Ramacharaka
Release Date: October 6, 2004 [EBook #13656]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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A SERIES OF LESSONS
IN RAJA YOGA
By YOGI RAMACHARAKA
Author of "Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism" "Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy, etc."; "Hatha Yoga"; "Psychic Healing"; "Science of Breath." etc.
1906

"When the soul sees itself as a Center surrounded by its circumference--when the Sun knows that it is a Sun, surrounded by its whirling planets-then is it ready for the Wisdom and Power of the Masters."

PUBLISHERS' NOTICE
The lessons which compose this volume, originally appeared in the shape of monthly lessons, the first of which was issued in October, 1905, and the twelfth in September, 1906. These lessons met with a hearty and generous response from the public, and the present volume is issued in response to the demand for the lessons in a permanent and durable form. There have been no changes made in the text.
The publishers take the liberty to call the attention of the reader to the great amount of information condensed within the space given to each lesson. Students have told us that they have found it necessary to read and study each lesson carefully, in order to absorb the varied information contained within its pages. They have also stated that they have found it advisable to re-read the lessons several times, allowing an interval between each reading and that at each re-reading they would discover information that had escaped them during the course of the previous study. This has been repeated to us so often that we feel justified in mentioning it, that other readers might avail themselves of the same course and plan of study.
Following his usual custom, the writer of the lessons has declined to write a preface for this book, claiming that the lessons speak for themselves, and that those for whom they are intended will receive the message contained within them, without any prefatory talk.
THE YOGI PUBLICATION SOCIETY.

INDEX
LESSON I. The "I"
LESSON II. The Ego's Mental Tools
LESSON III. The Expansion of the Self
LESSON IV. Mental Control
LESSON V. The Cultivation of Attention
LESSON VI. Cultivation of Perception
LESSON VII. The Unfoldment of Consciousness
LESSON VIII. The Highlands and Lowlands of Mind
LESSON IX. The Mental Planes
LESSON X. Sub-Consciousing
LESSON XI. Sub-Conscious Character Building
LESSON XII. Sub-Conscious Influences

THE FIRST LESSON.
THE "I."
In India, the Candidates for Initiation into the science of "Raja Yoga," when they apply to the Yogi Masters for instruction, are given a series of lessons designed to enlighten them regarding the nature of the Real Self, and to instruct them in the secret knowledge whereby they may develop the consciousness and realization of the real "I" within them. They are shown how they may cast aside the erroneous or imperfect knowledge regarding their real identity.
Until the Candidate masters this instruction, or at least until the truth becomes fixed in his consciousness, further instruction is denied him, for it is held that until he has awakened to a conscious realization of his Actual Identity, he is not able to understand the source of his power, and, moreover, is not able to feel within him the power of the Will, which power underlies the entire teachings of "Raja Yoga."
The Yogi Masters are hot satisfied if the Candidate forms merely a clear intellectual conception of this Actual Identity, but they insist that he must feel the truth of the same--must become aware of the Real Self--must enter into a consciousness in which the realization becomes a part of his everyday self--in which the realizing consciousness becomes the prevailing idea in his mind, around which his entire thoughts and actions revolve.
To some Candidates, this realization comes like a lightning flash the moment the attention is directed toward it, while in other cases the Candidates find it necessary to follow a rigorous course of training before they acquire the realization in consciousness.
The Yogi Masters teach that there are two degrees of this awakening consciousness of the Real Self. The first, which they call "the Consciousness of the 'I'," is the full consciousness of real existence that comes to the Candidate, and which causes him to know that he is a real entity having a life not depending upon the body--life that will go on in spite of the destruction of the body--real life, in fact.