The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga

The Doctrine and Practice of
Yoga

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Title: The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga
Author: A. P. Mukerji
Release Date: August 27, 2004 [EBook #13300]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga
Including the Practices and Exercises of Concentration, both Objective
and Subjective, and Active and Passive Mentation, an Elucidation of
Maya, Guru Worship, and the Worship of the Terrible, also the

Mystery of Will-Force
BY SWAMI MUKERJI YOGI OF THE SOUTH INDIA ORDER
1922

ANNOUNCEMENT
In studying these Lessons please remember 3 points:--
1. Not one useless or superfluous sentence is written. Every word is full
of meaning. They are highly condensed. Think deeply over them.
2. They are meant as a practical supplement to the 'Spiritual
Consciousness,' 'Soul-Force' and 'Inner Forces.' Studied side by side,
these lessons will yield a great deal of benefit. You are expected to
think hard and long.
3. Let none expect speedy or miraculous results. _All spiritual training
calls for infinite patience and deep reverence unto the Guru. Constant
rise and fall accompanies all progress_.

FOREWORD.
CONCENTRATION AND THOUGHT-CONTROL.
Student! Your life is your own. You have only yourself to thank for
what you are, have been and will be. Take your present into your own
hand. Consciously shape out of it your future. Direct your forces along
lines of study and endeavour that have the strongest attraction for you.
Such attraction is the indication of need. It is the hand pointing out your
Life-purpose. What your heart desires earnestly and clamours for
incessantly is attracted to you out of the _invisible supply, i.e._, the
means, the environments, the right sort of persons, books and
thought-forces are drawn to you and then you are expected to work out
your desire. This is in perfect accord with the great Law of Attraction.
Some call it God: since it answers all sincere prayers. Prayer, remember,
is the sincere desire of the heart. I take it that you hunger for Truth and
Spiritual Growth--else you and I would not be here. The instructions
given you hereunder are meant to give you a strong body and a strong
will. They will also tend to your Soul-Unfoldment. Talk not of them.
Keep your mouth closed. Be serious, earnest and thoughtful. Then
work at them confidently and with perseverance. Do not be daunted by
apparent failures. Failure is the stepping-stone to Success. He fails who

gives up a thing in final despair. Go on, I say. You will improve from
the very first day, and in a short time you will be another man. All the
leaders of humanity, past or present, have studied and investigated with
tireless zeal along the special lines and, in Spiritual culture, you must
do the same. But you must have health, a strong will and a steady brain,
and I will enable you to have these positively. Keep these instructions
strictly privately. Master them by constant meditation upon same.

LESSON I.
CONCENTRATION.
Concentration signifies the state of being at a centre (con and
_centrum_). Applied to thought, it is the act of bringing the mind to a
single point. Each human being must practise concentration
subjectively and objectively. In other words, each human being aims
with more or less precision at concentration on a point within and a
point without his own world. Concentration "without" is illustrated
when you devote all your attention upon Nature, such as learning a
trade, a profession, a science, an art or some form of business. This is
_Evolution_, outgoing or positive mental energy. I shall call this
Objective Concentration. Concentration "within" implies the
withdrawing of attention from the external world and the placing of
mind on "God," "Spirit," "Heaven," "Religion," "Peace," "Nirvana,"
"Eternity," etc. This is _Involution_, _i.e._, incoming or negative
energy.
When Objective Concentration alone is practised, you develop into a
hard-headed, practical man of the world or a successful man of
business. You are keen and shrewd. The world is a very matter-of-fact
thing to you. You cannot think of anything else beyond money-making
and pleasures and worldly affairs. You are a "worldling of the world,"
very clever, rich, and a master along your own lines. But spiritually you
are an imbecile, worse than a baby. This is the _Objective Mind_--the
"deepest immersed