Eight Lectures on Yoga

phenomena of which we are aware take place in our own minds, and therefore the only thing we have to look at is the mind; which is a more constant quantity over all the species of humanity than is generally supposed. What appear to be radical differences, irreconcilable by argument, are usually found to be due to the obstinacy of habit produced by generations of systematic sectarian training.

phenomena of which we are aware take place in our own minds, and therefore the only thing we have to look at is the mind; which is a more constant quantity over all the species of humanity than is generally supposed. What appear to be radical differences, irreconcilable by argument, are usually found to be due to the obstinacy of habit produced by generations of systematic sectarian training.

We are constantly tempted to see and hear what we want to see and hear

It means a binding together

4)Yoga means Union

It is the most important of the tasks of the Yogi, because, until he has achieved it, he can have no idea who he is or where he is going

(7) Yoga means Union.
We may now consider what Yoga really is. Let us go for a moment into the nature of consciousness with the tail of an eye on such sciences as mathematics, biology, and chemistry.
In mathematics the expression 'a' plus 'b' plus 'c' is a triviality. Write 'a' plus 'b' plus 'c' equals 0, and you obtain an equation from which the most glorious truths may be developed.
In biology the cell divides endlessly, but never becomes anything different; but if we unite cells of opposite qualities, male and female, we lay the foundations of a structure whose summit is unattainably fixed in the heavens of imagination.
Similar facts occur in chemistry. The atom by itself has few constant qualities, none of them particulary significant; but as soon as an element combines with the object of its hunger we get not only the ecstatic production of light, heat, and so forth, but a more complex structure having few or none of the qualities of its elements, but ca

All phenomena of which we are aware take place in our own minds, and therefore the only thing we have to look at is the mind;

4)Yoga means Union.
In what sense are we to consider this? How is the word Yoga to imply a system of religious training or a description of religious experience?
You may note incidentally that the word Religion is really identifiable with Yoga. It means a binding together.
(5) Yoga means Union.
What are the elements which are united or to be united when this word is used in its common sense of a practice widely spread in Hindustan whose object is the emancipation of the individual who studies and practises it from the less pleasing features of his life on this planet?

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
It is my will to explain the subject of Yoga in clear language, without resort to jargon or the enunciation of fantastic hypotheses, in order that this great science may be thoroughly understood as of universal importance.
For, like all great things, it is simple; but, like all great things, it is masked by confused thinking; and, only too often, brought