The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga | Page 7

the merging of the personal into the
impersonal. This austere life is the secret of all greatness. You know
how Archimedes when threatened with death by the vandalistic
invaders of his country raised his head and said 'Please do not disturb
my circles' and nothing more. This man was practising Yoga
unconsciously. You must be able to lose all consciousness of this
relative personality, the sure victim of death and impermanence. You
must give up the personal ego that in the words of Walt Whitman 'is
contained within your hat and boots' and then alone will you realise an
infinite individuality. Truly in losing himself man finds Himself. 'Ye
must be born anew'. Herein, apart from its formative and moulding
influence lies the greatest value of study. Study and direct aural
influence of a perfected soul are the two objective means of instilling
powerful suggestions into the subjective self or the inner soul. All
knowledge is within the deeps of the eternal subjective. But the gate is
locked. Your Guru gives you the master-key with which to unlock the
door and enter the gate of wisdom and power. Once you are there all
pain and death shall be conquered. You can then help yourself. Man
can only worship such a God as is greater than himself in degree and
not in kind. Such a God he can "grow into." It is the impersonal God of
the Hindu Philosophy that gives you the abstract ideas and the living
Guru (God) in human form that gives you the concrete ideal. The one is
necessary for the soaring intellect; the other for the rousing and

enkindling of tremendous and indomitable motive-power. Seek both
and when you find them worship and serve them with all your heart
and soul. 'My worship for my master is the worship of a dog. I do not
seek to understand his nature. It ever startles with its newness and
profound depth'. So spoke Vivekananda of Ram Krishna. Need I tell
you of the tremendous and world-conquering power that awoke in
Vivekananda through mere Guru worship? In India the Guru asks for
nothing short of absolute worship, obedience, and submission to his
will although none values and appreciates individual freedom more
than the master. So long as you are at the feet of your master be as
submissive as a lamb. So will you open yourself to his great batteries of
inner power. Serve him. Please him. Obey him. Be his slave. No matter
what contradictions you may see. A great and profound nature is full of
contrary ways and his character is a paradox impossible for you to read
through reason and observation. You can only understand him by
having perfect faith in him, loving and serving him like a faithful dog.
So will you tap on to his inner forces. And when he sends you away
into the broad world to live out the great ideal he has set before you,
you shall be astonished at your courage and power. You shall take
fearless possession of this world and every minute you shall realise
how only he can command who has learnt to obey. By commanding I
do not mean dominating any one and forcing your views on others.
This is the sign of fools. But you will find your influence radiating and
circling out naturally and irresistibly, winning souls to the higher life,
and you yourself shall thus stand as a tower of strength, a redeemer of
the race, an inspiration and a living benediction unto humanity. Peace
be with you! May you realise strength of soul!

LESSON II.
PERSONAL MAGNETISM, WILL-CULTURE, SELF-CONTROL.
Personal Magnetism is the individual expression of a subtle irresistible
and dynamic Force in man, which enables him to exert an unusual
influence upon others. You all have come into contact with men of this
type. They are endowed with marvelous, almost miraculous powers of
influencing, persuading, attracting, fascinating, ruling and bending to
their own Will-Force men of widely varying mental peculiarities and

temperaments. Men actually go out of their way to please them. They
attract others without any visible effort and others feel drawn to them in
spite of themselves. Various are the examples of such power as
afforded by history.
Now what is this power due to? How to develop it within yourself? Is it
possible for everyone to acquire it? Has it or can it be put to any higher
and nobler use than merely to enslave others' minds in order to make
them subservient to your selfish purposes on the relative plane of
existence? If so, what is that higher use? I know of a Christian
gentleman, Mr. K. by name, who had been smitten with the young
governess of a Magistrate in Benares. This grown-up man sought out a