Chapter XVII. Meditation Exercise

Yoga Lessons for Developing Spiritual Consciousness, by A.P. Mukerji, [1911], at sacred-texts.com

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CHAPTER XVII.

MEDITATION EXERCISE.

1. I will be what I will to be. I "can" and I "will" be Free.

2. Locked up in my soul is All-Power,—All-Wisdom,—All-Love. My first, last and only mission in life is to give Explicit Expression to the Soul-Force—the All-Go(o)d—implicit in my being. I live for Self-Perfection.

3. I yield to no external agencies . . . be they human or non-human. He that fights for me is Within me and he is strength itself. My inner nature is a battery of irresistible force.

4. By the way of nothing I resolve to realize the Parambramhan—the Supreme Self—the Absolute, who alone exists away beyond Time and Space; beyond Cause and Effect, beyond Light and Darkness; beyond all relative manifestation.

5. I renounce all thirst for Life on Earth or in Heaven. I resolve to be cold to Pleasure and to be calm to Pain. I am "Desire-Free."

6. Henceforth I obey no Law, man-made or God-made, but what is sanctioned by my own highest Intuition and Inner Judgment. I am a Disembodied Spirit

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working, living and breathing for all that is related to me by Spiritual Affinity. I care little for this world with its thousand-cloven tongues of gratis advice, praise and censure. I can but obey my polarity. I want nothing. I seek Strength in Chastity. I seek Wisdom in the Silence of my own heart, which is assuredly the Seat of Divinity and the Fountain of all Virtue and Goodness.

7. I dedicate myself—body, soul and spirit to the service of the "Great Orphan"—humanity. I worship God by serving Man.

8. I resolve in this life, so to train myself, that I shall be a tremendous centre of Spiritual Force. My entire personality must reflect Divine Splendour. It must be a living and powerful lever to Uplift, Ennoble and Purify all such as come into contact with me. I am a Spiritual Exemplar of greatness.

9. I strive for the Christ-Life, the Buddha-Life, and the Great-Lives whose touch has brought me Light of Knowledge.

10. I resolve to be serious, devoted and constant in my principles every moment of my life, awake or asleep; at work or at rest; in society or in solitude; in joy or in grief; in praise or in blame; in earth-life or. hereafter. I am determined that nought shall shake my purpose, which is unalterably fixed. By the sword of Knowledge I will cut asunder and dispel all fear, within and without.

11. I resolve to be Fearless. I deny the Power of

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anything, within or outside of my physical form, to . weaken me. I am resolved that my nerves shall be steady and obey my mandates.

12. I resolve to be Pure and perfectly Chaste, Clean, Contented, and studious. I shall by force of my Will-Power crush and starve out all sensual and unclean thoughts; and conquer, most thoroughly, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life." I am the embodiment of Continence.

13. I resolve to live above the animal stage, above the merely human stage, above all, as far as possible, that pertains to either or both. I resolve to live the Divine Life—which is not only superhuman but is above it.

14. I resolve to master my mind and body. The education of the Will and the Expansion of my spiritual Stature is the aim of my existence, since what appear to be trials beyond the endurance of common humanity can have no terrors for the Expanded Intellect of the Yogi. The dawn of Spiritual Greatness heralds the death of Pain. Pain fructifies in the soil of Ignorance.

15. I resolve to thoroughly master all the principles of Spiritual Unfoldment and to spare no pains for the acquirement of right Knowledge; since the emotion that is a constant impulsion to noble living and lofty aspirations is baffled in its efforts and becomes a source of Pain unendurable, when the Clear Light of the Intellect does not shine upon the Path.

16. I resolve to mount guard over Speech, Thought

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and Action, lest by recklessness or inadvertency I should, in any way, however slightly, sully myself Spiritually and thus give myself cause for self-condemnation. I resolve to put Emotion under the yoke of Reason.

17. I resolve to be Gentle, Quiet and Loving to others. My bearing towards others shall be one of perfect sweetness. I radiate the Supreme Power—the Love-Force—the Expansion of which shall be my constant endeavour and a source of all-bliss to mankind.

18. I resolve to be a staunch upholder of the Great Law of Compassion and Non-injury. From me there can be no danger to anything or anybody. I wish everyone perfect Soul-Bliss.

19. I resolve to hold myself ever Calm and Serene. I can never be a slave to worry, anger or any other emotional disturbance, I am Master everywhere and always, over everything and all conditions.

20. I am independent of the body and use same as an instrument. I am and have Eternal Life. I am a Soul indestructible and have a body. I am one with All. I am the All.

The following extracts are from the Kalpaka—published by the Latent Light Culture.

SILENCE—What is Silence? Silence is to keep quiet. It is a great thing to keep silent. It can be called one of the greatest accomplishments that man can attain. It is not only for the development of the soul or any unfoldment of the self that it is useful, but

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it is also beneficial for both work and rest. When you keep silent the brain works much more accurately and the action of the heart is more steady; a physical rest ensues as all the members of the body are quiet, relaxed and in a state of receptivity.

A man who can relax his muscles will get more rest in an hour than one who cannot relax gets in one full day.

When one is silent, a beautiful stillness prevails, and it is then you come into consciousness more entirely. What is it? It is nothing but the understanding of your relation with God. How to make this practical?

When you read this you feel an upliftment; you realize yourself to a greater extent; you have a truer consciousness of infinite things. Every step of this advancing realization induces stronger consciousness of. Power. What more practical proof than this do you want?

There is no limit to Truth. There is no limit to your Power. There is nothing impossible for you in this universe. You must first realize this fact. If you wish to attain Power, you must be full of desire and attention.

What is desire and attention? It is nothing but concentration, pure and simple. It is only when you open the avenues of your soul to the influence of the Spirit that you can have liberty—liberty from bondage. In short, know yourself.

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OBSTACLES—I am the master of my own life. I can overcome all obstacles and gain dominion over myself and my surroundings.

It is my duty to count my blessings and brighten the lives of others around me.

I shall not sadden others by complaining and faultfinding.

Do you realize that comfort cannot be found outside of yourself? You do; and yet the whole world is sinning, suffering and sighing for it. Then why don't you enjoy it?

You wish you could, but you find you have so many things to do, and you barely find time to devote to yourself. You must understand there is no permanence except in Spirit. You must utterly abandon your old ways of thinking and of doing. You must set aside an hour every day for sitting in the 'Silence.' The intense forces of life operate in perfect silence. You must take that hour by force until it becomes a habit with you. You will have peace and control. Life will be worth living.

You are but a part of the whole. The whole is Spirit. There is only one Spirit, and God is Spirit. Therefore you are spiritual.

No kind of material trouble can affect the spiritual. Everything is spirit. Lo! you are a being having everything in you. What you want is within your grasp. You can be what you wish to be. All that appears to be obstacles to your advancement is false, and

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does not exist. Assert your Self and become the master of all.

REFLECTION—One of the most important elements that constitute success is reflection. It is more or less an exercise—intellectual exercise; by this the mind is cleared and the thought receives a greater impulse. "Read and reflect" is an adage worth remembering. Just take a piece of poetry; read it slowly; think of its various meanings; value the thought that could have suggested the piece; weigh each word in it and see what a clearness and precision is before you.

Now take your life; aye, a day of your life; say from morn to eve. Just when you retire for the night, recount each word act and deed of yours from morning till then. Think over each of them in an impartial light; see what a host of light—true light—is thrown, and everything in its right sense is revealed to you. If your recounting portrays your acts of the day in a light which would make you blush, turn over a new leaf and improve yourself.

Try this for a week and say whether you have become master of your actions or not. A rigid training along this line will make you pure and enable you to control yourself and this leads to success.

BREATH—The Bible says:—"And the Lord God breathed into the nostrils the breath of life and man became a living Soul."

Man cannot live without air even for a few minutes, whereas he can go without food and water for days together.

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[paragraph continues] Breath is the life of man. The whole mystery of life is centered in this Breath.

Every day we hear about proper ventilation and the great value of pure air. All this is good and right. Proper ventilation is highly desirable. Pure air is essential. Above all, the way of breathing is nearly as important as the quality of air you breathe.

God has created air in abundant quantity; it is the only thing pervading space. It sustains all lives by oxygen, its life-giving property.

The act of breathing not only helps you to draw oxygen from the air but it also helps to throw out certain poisonous matter formed in the body by the breaking down of the tissues. The blood has a duty to perform. It makes a complete circuit in three minutes; carries oxygen to the tissues for their upkeep and takes the poison from thence and throws it out through the lungs. This taking of oxygen and throwing out of poison is performed through breath. So here you see that slow breathing will take in more of the life giving oxygen and at the same time throw out more of the poisonous matter formed within. It is estimated that one-third of the poison formed in the body is thus thrown out of the lungs and the remainder through the bowels, skin and kidneys.

Has it ever occurred to you, dear reader, that breath plays an important act in your everyday life? Just try this when a crisis is forced upon you or when petty cares of life seem to assume abnormal proportions, by sitting

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quietly and breathing deeply for at least three minutes. You will see what a comfort flows to you and what a balanced head you have to solve all this.

All the greatest statesmen, the greatest generals, the greatest orators and the greatest thinkers have been the deepest breathers. Deep breathing promotes vitality and greatness. Ambition and aspiration both materially and spiritually are fulfilled only by breathing—breathing in the proper way.

It has been accepted that there is something else in the air than oxygen—a life-giving, vitalizing property which the chemists have not been able to detect or analyse. It is Prana. You see that plants around you, aye, the whole vegetable and mineral kingdoms draw their life out of this air and live upon it. You know that vegetables and minerals have life. What is this life? It is nothing but Prana. Science has proved that men can subsist on air without food and water. Many experimenters have tried this, and most of them have been able to fast 40 days together with no kind of food and drink except air—pure air. They have not lost their weight. We have now in India many Yogis who live mainly on air not for days and years but for ages together. Why? Because they know how to breathe and draw sufficient Prana from the air to keep up the physical body.

What is Prana? Prana is Spirit. It is alive and conscious. The air or atmosphere is full of this vitalizing,

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living, conscious Spirit substance—the breath of life, the source of all life and energy.

Concentrate on this Prana, when you breathe the breath of life. You will see that your subconscious mind opens to receive this Prana. The mighty secret of the miraculous power of Yogis lies in the conscious reception of PRANA. Hence learn to breathe.