Aleister Crowley - Meditation

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BOOK 4

by Aleister Crowley

PART I

MEDITATION

THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT OF GENIUS OR GODHEAD CONSIDERED

AS A DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN BRAIN

Issued by order of

the GREAT WHITE

BROTHERHOOD

known as the A.'.A.'.

"Witness our Seal,"

N.'.'

"Praemonstrator-General"

{Diagram: A.'.A.'. seal}

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

EXISTENCE, as we know it, is full of sorrow. To mention only one minor point:

every man is a condemned criminal, only he does not know the date of his

execution. This is unpleasant for every man. Consequently every man does

everything possible to postpone the date, and would sacrifice anything that he

has if he could reverse the sentence.

Practically all religions and all philosophies have started thus crudely, by

promising their adherents some such reward as immortality.

No religion has failed hitherto by not promising enough; the present breaking

up of all religions is due to the fact that people have asked to see the

securities. Men have even renounced the important material advantages which a

well-organized religion may confer upon a State, rather than acquiesce in fraud

or falsehood, or even in any system which, if not proved guilty, is at least

unable to demonstrate its innocence.

Being more or less bankrupt, the best thing that we can do is to attack the

problem afresh without preconceived ideas. Let us begin by doubting every

statement. Let us find a way of subjecting every statement to the test of

experiment. Is there any truth at all in the claims of various religions? Let

us examine the question.

Our original difficulty will be due to the enormous wealth of our material.

To enter into a critical examination of all systems would be an unending task;

the cloud of witnesses is too great. Now each religion is equally positive; and

each demands faith. This we refuse in the absence of positive proof. But we

may usefully inquire whether there is not any one thing upon which all religions

have agreed: for, if so, it seems possible that it may be worthy of really

thorough consideration.

It is certainly not to be found in dogma. Even so simple an idea as that of

a supreme and eternal being is denied by a third of the human race. Legends of

miracle are perhaps universal, but these, in the absence of demonstrative proof,

are repugnant to common sense.

But what of the origin of religions? How is it that unproved assertion has

so frequently compelled the assent of all classes of mankind? Is not this a

miracle?

There is, however, one form of miracle which certainly happens, the influence

of the genius. There is no known analogy in Nature. One cannot even think of a

"super-dog" transforming the {7} world of dogs, whereas in the history of

mankind this happens with regularity and frequency. Now here are three "super-

men," all at loggerheads. What is there in common between Christ, Buddha, and

Mohammed? Is there any one point upon which all three are in accord?

No point of doctrine, no point of ethics, no theory of a "hereafter" do they

share, and yet in the history of their lives we find one identity amid many

diversities.

Buddha was born a Prince, and died a beggar.

Mohammed was born a beggar, and died a Prince.

Christ remained obscure until many years after his death.

Elaborate lives of each have been written by devotees, and there is one thing

common to all three -- an omission. We hear nothing of Christ between the ages

of twelve and thirty. Mohammed disappeared into a cave. Buddha left his

palace, and went for a long while into the desert.

Each of them, perfectly silent up to the time of the disappearance, came back

and immediately began to preach a new law.

This is so curious that it leaves us to inquire whether the histories of

other great teachers contradict or confirm.

Moses led a quiet life until his slaying of the Egyptian. He then flees into

the land of Midian, and we hear nothing of what he did there, yet immediately on

his return he turns the whole place upside down. Later on, too, he absents

himself on Mount Sinai for a few days, and comes back with the Tables of the Law

in his hand.

St. Paul (again), after his adventure on the road to Damascus, goes into the

desert of Arabia for many years, and on his return overturns the Roman Empire.

Even in the legends of savages we find the same thing universal; somebody who is

nobody in particular goes away for a longer or shorter period, and comes back as

the "great medicine man"; but nobody ever knows exactly what happened to him.

Making every possible deduction for fable and myth, we get this one

coincidence. A nobody goes away, and comes back a somebody. This is not to be

explained in any of the ordinary ways.

There is not the smallest ground for the contention that these were from the

start exceptional men. Mohammed would hardly have driven a camel until he was

thirty-five years old if he had possessed any talent or ambition. St. Paul had

much original talent; but he is the least of the five. Nor do they seem to have

possessed any of the usual materials of power, such as rank, fortune, or

influence.

Moses was rather a big man in Egypt when he left; he came back as a mere

stranger. {8}

Christ had not been to China and married the Emperor's daughter.

Mohammed had not been acquiring wealth and drilling soldiers.

Buddha had not been consolidating any religious organizations.

St. Paul had not been intriguing with an ambitious general.

Each came back poor; each came back alone.

What was the nature of their power? What happened to them in their absence?

History will not help us to solve the problem, for history is silent.

We have only the accounts given by the men themselves.

It would be very remarkable should we find that these accounts agree.

Of the great teachers we have mentioned Christ is silent; the other four tell

us something; some more, some less.

Buddha goes into details too elaborate to enter upon in this place; but the

gist of it is that in one way or another he got hold of the secret force of the

World and mastered it.

Of St. Paul's experiences, we have nothing but a casual illusion to his

having been "caught up into Heaven, and seen and heard things of which it was

not lawful to speak."

Mohammed speaks crudely of his having been "visited by the Angel Gabriel,"

who communicated things from "God."

Moses says that he "beheld God."

Diverse as these statements are at first sight, all agree in announcing an

experience of the class which fifty years ago would have been called

supernatural, to-day may be called spiritual, and fifty years hence will have a

proper name based on an understanding of the phenomenon which occurred.

Theorists have not been at a loss to explain; but they differ.

The Mohammedan insists that God is, and did really send Gabriel with messages

for Mohammed: but all others contradict him. And from the nature of the case

proof is impossible.

The lack of proof has been so severely felt by Christianity (and in a much

less degree by Islam) that fresh miracles have been manufactured almost daily to

support the tottering structure. Modern thought, rejecting these miracles, has

adopted theories involving epilepsy and madness. As if organization could

spring from disorganization! Even if epilepsy were the cause of these great

movements which have caused civilization after civilization to arise from

barbarism, it would merely form an argument for cultivating epilepsy.

Of course great men will never conform with the standards of little men, and

he whose mission it is to overturn the world can hardly escape the title of

revolutionary. The fads of a period always furnish terms of abuse. The fad of

Caiaphas was Judaism, and the Pharisees told him that Christ "blasphemed."

Pilate was a loyal Roman; to him {9} they accused Christ of "sedition." When

the Pope had all power it was necessary to prove an enemy a "heretic."

Advancing to-day towards a medical oligarchy, we try to prove that our opponents

are "insane," and (in a Puritan country) to attack their "morals." We should

then avoid all rhetoric, and try to investigate with perfect freedom from bias

the phenomena which occurred to these great leaders of mankind.

There is no difficulty in our assuming that these men themselves did not

understand clearly what happened to them. The only one who explains his system

thoroughly is Buddha, and Buddha is the only one that is not dogmatic. We may

also suppose that the others thought it inadvisable to explain too clearly to

their followers; St. Paul evidently took this line.

Our best document will therefore be the system of Buddha;<<footnote: We have

the documents of Hinduism, and of two Chinese systems. But Hinduism has no

single founder. Lao Tze is one of our best examples of a man who went away and

had a mysterious experience; perhaps the best of all examples, as his system is

the best of all systems. We have full details of his method of training in the

"Kh"ang "K"ang "K"ing, and elsewhere. But it is so little known that we shall

omit consideration of it in this popular account.>> but it is so complex that no

immediate summary will serve; and in the case of the others, if we have not the

accounts of the Masters, we have those of their immediate followers.

The methods advised by all these people have a startling resemblance to one

another. They recommend "virtue" (of various kinds), solitude, absence of

excitement, moderation in diet, and finally a practice which some call prayer

and some call meditation. (The former four may turn out on examination to be

merely conditions favourable to the last.)

On investigating what is meant by these two things, we find that they are

only one. For what is the state of either prayer or meditation? It is the

restraining of the mind to a single act, state, or thought. If we sit down

quietly and investigate the contents of our minds, we shall find that even at

the best of times the principal characteristics are wandering and distraction.

Any one who has had anything to do with children and untrained minds generally

knows that fixity of attention is never present, even when there is a large

amount of intelligence and good will.

If then we, with our well-trained minds, determine to control this wandering

thought, we shall find that we are fairly well able to keep the thoughts running

in a narrow channel, each thought linked to the last in a perfectly rational

manner; but if we attempt to stop this current we shall find that, so far from

succeeding, we shall merely bread down the banks of the channel. The mind will

overflow, and instead of a chain of thought we shall have a chaos of confused

images. {10}

This mental activity is so great, and seems so natural, that it is hard to

understand how any one first got the idea that it was a weakness and a nuisance.

Perhaps it was because in the more natural practice of "devotion," people found

that their thoughts interfered. In any case calm and self-control are to be

preferred to restlessness. Darwin in his study presents a marked contrast with

a monkey in a cage.

Generally speaking, the larger and stronger and more highly developed any

animal is, the less does it move about, and such movements as it does make are

slow and purposeful. Compare the ceaseless activity of bacteria with the

reasoned steadiness of the beaver; and except in the few animal communities

which are organized, such as bees, the greatest intelligence is shown by those

of solitary habits. This is so true of man that psychologists have been obliged

to treat of the mental state of crowds as if it were totally different in

quality from any state possible to an individual.

It is by freeing the mind from external influences, whether casual or

emotional, that it obtains power to see somewhat of the truth of things.

let us, however, continue our practice. Let us determine to be masters of

our minds. We shall then soon find what conditions are favourable.

There will be no need to persuade ourselves at great length that all external

influences are likely to be unfavourable. New faces, new scenes will disturb

us; even the new habits of life which we undertake for this very purpose of

controlling the mind will at first tend to upset it. Still, we must give up our

habit of eating too much, and follow the natural rule of only eating when we are

hungry, listening to the interior voice which tells us that we have had enough.

The same rule applies to sleep. We have determined to control our minds, and

so our time for meditation must take precedence of other hours.

We must fix times for practice, and make our feasts movable. In order to

test our progress, for we shall find that (as in all physiological matters)

meditation cannot be gauged by the feelings, we shall have a note-book and

pencil, and we shall also have a watch. We shall then endeavour to count how

often, during the first quarter of an hour, the mind breaks away from the idea

upon which it is determined to concentrate. We shall practice this twice daily;

and, as we go, experience will teach us which conditions are favourable and

which are not. Before we have been doing this for very long we are almost

certain to get impatient, and we shall find that we have to practice many other

things in order to assist us in our work. New problems will constantly arise

which must be faced, and solved.

For instance, we shall most assuredly find that we fidget. We shall {11}

discover that no position is comfortable, though we never noticed it before in

all our lives!

This difficulty has been solved by a practice called "Asana," which will be

described later on.

Memories of the events of the day will bother us; we must arrange our day so

that it is absolutely uneventful. Our minds will recall to us our hopes and

fears, our loves and hates, our ambitions, our envies, and many other emotions.

All these must be cut off. We must have absolutely no interest in life but that

of quieting our minds.

This is the object of the usual monastic vow of poverty, chastity, and

obedience. If you have no property, you have no care, nothing to be anxious

about; with chastity no other person to be anxious about, and to distract your

attention; while if you are vowed to obedience the question of what you are to

do no longer frets: you simply obey.

There are a great many other obstacles which you will discover as you go on,

and it is proposed to deal with these in turn. But let us pass by for the

moment to the point where you are nearing success.

In your early struggles you may have found it difficult to conquer sleep; and

you may have wandered so far from the object of your meditations without

noticing it, that the meditation has really been broken; but much later on, when

you feel that you are "getting quite good," you will be shocked to find a

complete oblivion of yourself and your surroundings. You will say: "Good

heavens! I must have been to sleep!" or else "What on earth was I meditating

upon?" or even "What was I doing?" "Where am I~" "Who am I?" or a mere wordless

bewilderment may daze you. This may alarm you, and your alarm will not be

lessened when you come to full consciousness, and reflect that you have actually

forgotten who you are and what your are doing!

This is only one of many adventures that may come to you; but it is one of

the most typical. By this time your hours of meditation will fill most of the

day, and you will probably be constantly having presentiments that something is

about to happen. You may also be terrified with the idea that your brain may be

giving way; but you will have learnt the real symptoms of mental fatigue, and

you will be careful to avoid them. They must be very carefully distinguished

from idleness!

At certain times you will feel as if there were a contest between the will

and the mind; at other times you may feel as if they were in harmony; but there

is a third state, to be distinguished from the latter feeling. It is the

certain sign of near success, the view-halloo. This is when the mind runs

naturally towards the object chosen, not as if in obedience to the will of the

owner of the mind, but as if directed by nothing at all, or by something

impersonal; as if it were falling by its own weight, and not being pushed down.

{12}

Almost always, the moment that one becomes conscious of this, it stops; and

the dreary old struggle between the cowboy will and the buckjumper mind begins

again.

Like every other physiological process, consciousness of it implies disorder

or disease.

In analysing the nature of this work of controlling the mind, the student

will appreciate without trouble the fact that two things are involved -- the

person seeing and the thing seen -- the person knowing and the thing known; and

he will come to regard this as the necessary condition of all consciousness. We

are too accustomed to assume to be facts things about which we have no real

right even to guess. We assume, for example, that the unconscious is the

torpid; and yet nothing is more certain than that bodily organs which are

functioning well do so in silence. The best sleep is dreamless. Even in the

case of games of skill our very best strokes are followed by the thought, "I

don't know how I did it;" and we cannot repeat those strokes at will. The

moment we begin to think consciously about a stroke we get "nervous," and are

lost.

In fact, there are three main classes of stroke; the bad stroke, which we

associate, and rightly, with wandering attention; the good stroke which we

associate, and rightly, with fixed attention; and the perfect stroke, which we

do not understand, but which is really caused by the habit of fixity of

attention having become independent of the will, and thus enabled to act freely

of its own accord.

This is the same phenomenon referred to above as being a good sign.

Finally something happens whose nature may form the subject of a further

discussion later on. For the moment let it suffice to say that this

consciousness of the Ego and the non-Ego, the seer and the thing seen, the

knower and the thing known, is blotted out.

There is usually an intense light, an intense sound, and a feeling of such

overwhelming bliss that the resources of language have been exhausted again and

again in the attempt to describe it.

It is an absolute knock-out blow to the mind. It is so vivid and tremendous

that those who experience it are in the gravest danger of losing all sense of

proportion.

By its light all other events of life are as darkness. Owing to this, people

have utterly failed to analyse it or to estimate it. They are accurate enough

in saying that, compared with this, all human life is absolutely dross; but they

go further, and go wrong. They argue that "since this is that which transcends

the terrestrial, it must be celestial." One of the tendencies in their minds

has been the hope of a heaven such as their parents and teachers have described,

or such as {13} they have themselves pictured; and, without the slightest

grounds for saying so, they make the assumption "This is That."

In the Bhagavadgita a vision of this class is naturally attributed to the

apparation of Vishnu, who was the local god of the period.

Anna Kingsford, who had dabbled in Hebrew mysticism, and was a feminist, got

an almost identical vision; but called the "divine" figure which she saw

alternately "Adonai" and "Maria."

Now this woman, though handicapped by a brain that was a mass of putrid pulp,

and a complete lack of social status, education, and moral character, did more

in the religious world than any other person had done for generations. She, and

she alone, made Theosophy possible, and without Theosophy the world-wide

interest in similar matters would never have been aroused. This interest is to

the Law of Thelema what the preaching of John the Baptist was to Christianity.

We are now in a position to say what happened to Mohammed. Somehow or

another his phenomenon happened in his mind. More ignorant than Anna Kingsford,

though, fortunately, more moral, he connected it with the story of the

"Annunciation," which he had undoubtedly heard in his boyhood, and said "Gabriel

appeared to me." But in spite of his ignorance, his total misconception of the

truth, the power of the vision was such that he was enabled to persist through

the usual persecution, and founded a religion to which even to-day one man in

every eight belongs.

The history of Christianity shows precisely the same remarkable fact. Jesus

Christ was brought up on the fables of the "Old Testament," and so was compelled

to ascribe his experiences to "Jehovah," although his gentle spirit could have

had nothing in common with the monster who was always commanding the rape of

virgins and the murder of little children, and whose rites were then, and still

are, celebrated by human sacrifice.<<footnote: The massacres of Jews in Eastern

Europe which surprise the ignorant, are almost invariably excited by the

disappearance of "Christian" children, stolen, as the parents suppose, for the

purposes of "ritual murder."<<WEH footnote: This unfortunate perpetuation of the

"blood-libel" myth was later recanted by Crowley. The blood-libel was visited

upon early Christians by the Romans and is visited today upon Thelemites by

Christian Fundamentalists.>>>>

Similarly the visions of Joan of Arc were entirely Christian; but she, like

all the others we have mentioned, found somewhere the force to do great things.

Of course, it may be said that there is a fallacy in the argument; it may be

true that all these great people "saw God," but it does not follow that every

one who "sees God" will do great things.

This is true enough. In fact, the majority of people who claim to have "seen

God," and who no doubt did "see God" just as much as those whom we have quoted,

did nothing else.

But perhaps their silence is not a sign of their weakness, but of their

strength. Perhaps these "great" men are the failures of humanity; {14} perhaps

it would be better to say nothing; perhaps only an unbalanced mind would wish to

alter anything or believe in the possibility of altering anything; but there are

those who think existence even in heaven intolerable so long as there is one

single being who does not share that joy. There are some who may wish to travel

back from the very threshold of the bridal chamber to assist belated guests.

Such at least was the attitude which Gotama Buddha adopted. Nor shall he be

alone.

Again it may be pointed out that the contemplative life is generally opposed

to the active life, and it must require an extremely careful balance to prevent

the one absorbing the other.

As it will be seen later, the "vision of God," or "Union with God," or

"Samadhi," or whatever we may agree to call it, has many kinds and many degrees,

although there is an impassable abyss between the least of them and the greatest

of all the phenomena of normal consciousness. "To sum up," we assert a secret

source of energy which explains the phenomenon of Genius.<<footnote: We have

dealt in this preliminary sketch only with examples of religious genius. Other

kinds are subject to the same remarks, but the limits of our space forbid

discussion of these.>> We do not believe in any supernatural explanations, but

insist that this source may be reached by the following out of definite rules,

the degree of success depending upon the capacity of the seeker, and not upon

the favour of any Divine Being. We assert that the critical phenomenon which

determines success is an occurrence in the brain characterized essentially by

the uniting of subject and object. We propose to discuss this phenomenon,

analyse its nature, determine accurately the physical, mental and moral

conditions which are favourable to it, to ascertain its cause, and thus to

produce it in ourselves, so that we may adequately study its effects. {15}

CHAPTER I

ASANA

THE problem before us may be stated thus simply. A man wishes to control his

mind, to be able to think one chosen thought for as long as he will without

interruption.

As previously remarked, the first difficulty arises from the body, which

keeps on asserting its presence by causing its victim to itch, and in other ways

to be distracted. He wants to stretch, scratch, sneeze. This nuisance is so

persistent that the Hindus (in their scientific way) devised a special practice

for quieting it.

The word Asana means "posture; but, as with all words which have caused

debate, its exact meaning has altered, and it is used in several distinct senses

by various authors. The greatest authority on "Yoga"<<footnote: Yoga is the

general name for that form of meditation which aims at the uniting of subject

and object, for "yog" is the root from which are derived the Latin word "Jugum"

and the English word "Yoke.">> is Patanjali. He says, "Asana is that which is

firm and pleasant." This may be taken as meaning the result of success in the

practice. Again, Sankhya says, "Posture is that which is steady and easy." And

again, "any posture which is steady and easy is an Asana; there is no other

rule." Any posture will do.

In a sense this is true, because any posture becomes uncomfortable sooner or

later. The steadiness and easiness mark a definite attainment, as will be

explained later on. Hindu books, such as the "Shiva Sanhita," give countless

postures; many, perhaps most of them, impossible for the average adult European.

Others insist that the head, neck, and spine should be kept vertical and

straight, for reasons connected with the subject of Prana, which will be dealt

with in its proper place. The positions illustrated in Liber E (Equinox I and

VII) form the best guide.<<footnote: Here are four:

1. Sit in a chair; head up, back straight, knees together, hands on knees,

eyes closed. ("The God.")

2. Kneel; buttocks resting on the heels, toes turned back, back and head

straight, hands on thighs. ("The Dragon.")

3. Stand; hold left ankle with right hand (and alternately practise right

ankle in left hand, etc.), free forefinger on lips. ("The Ibis.")

4. Sit; left heel pressing up anus, right foot poised on its toes, the heel

covering the phallus; arms stretched out over the knees: head and back straight.

("The Thunderbolt.")>>

The extreme of Asana is practised by those Yogis who remain in one position

without moving, except in the case of absolute necessity, {16} during their

whole lives. One should not criticise such persons without a thorough knowledge

of the subject. Such knowledge has not yet been published.

However, one may safely assert that since the great men previously mentioned

did not do this, it will not be necessary for their followers. Let us then

choose a suitable position, and consider what happens. There is a sort of happy

medium between rigidity and limpness; the muscles are not to be strained; and

yet they are not allowed to be altogether slack. It is difficult to find a good

descriptive word. "Braced" is perhaps the best. A sense of physical alertness

is desirable. Think of the tiger about to spring, or of the oarsman waiting for

the gun. After a little there will be cramp and fatigue. The student must now

set his teeth, and go through with it. The minor sensations of itching, etc.,

will be found to pass away, if they are resolutely neglected, but the cramp and

fatigue may be expected to increase until the end of the practice. One may

begin with half an hour or an hour. The student must not mind if the process of

quitting the Asana involves several minutes of the acutest agony.<<WEH footnote:

It is important to distinguish between cramp and severe chronic muscle spasm

which can tear ligaments. Muscle spasm tends to result from pinching or

compressing nerves, and can lead to permanent injury. Also beware of

constricted circulation, which produces numbness more than it does pain. Wear

loose clothing and avoid pressing on hard objects.>>

It will require a good deal of determination to persist day after day, for in

most cases it will be found that the discomfort and pain, instead of

diminishing, tend to increase.

On the other hand, if the student pay no attention, fail to watch the body,

an opposite phenomenon may occur. He shifts to ease himself without knowing

that he has done so. To avoid this, choose a position which naturally is rather

cramped and awkward, and in which slight changes are not sufficient to bring

ease. Otherwise, for the first few days, the student may even imagine that he

has conquered the position. In fact, in all these practices their apparent

simplicity is such that the beginner is likely to wonder what all the fuss is

about, perhaps to think that he is specially gifted. Similarly a man who has

never touched a golf club will take his umbrella and carelessly hole a putt

which would frighten the best putter alive.

In a few days, however, in all cases, the discomforts will begin. As you go

on, they will begin earlier in the course of the hour's exercise. The

disinclination to practise at all may become almost unconquerable. One must

warn the student against imagining that some other position would be easier to

master than the one he has selected. Once you begin to change about you are

lost.

Perhaps the reward is not so far distant: it will happen one day that the

pain is suddenly forgotten, the fact of the presence of the body is forgotten,

and one will realize that during the whole of one's previous life the body was

always on the borderland of consciousness, {17} and that consciousness a

consciousness of pain; and at this moment one will further realize with an

indescribable feeling of relief that not only is this position, which has been

so painful, the very ideal of physical comfort, but that all other conceivable

positions of the body are uncomfortable. This feeling represents success.

There will be no further difficulty in the practice. One will get into one's

Asana with almost the same feeling as that with which a tired man gets into a

hot bath; and while he is in that position, the body may be trusted to send him

no message that might disturb his mind.

Other results of this practice are described by Hindu authors, but they do

not concern us at present. Our first obstacle has been removed, and we can

continue with the others.

{18}

CHAPTER II

PRANAYAMA AND ITS PARALLEL IN SPEECH, MANTRAYOGA

THE connection between breath and mind will be fully discussed in speaking of

the Magick Sword, but it may be useful to premise a few details of a practical

character. You may consult various Hindu manuals, and the writing of "K"wang

Tze, for various notable theories as to method and result.

But in this sceptical system one had better content one's self with

statements which are not worth the trouble of doubting.

The ultimate idea of meditation being to still the mind, it may be considered

a useful preliminary to still consciousness of all the functions of the body.

This has been dealt with in the chapter on Asana. One may, however, mention

that some Yogis carry it to the point of trying to stop the beating of the

heart. Whether this be desirable or no it would be useless to the beginner, so

he will endeavour to make the breathing very slow and very regular. The rules

for this practice are given in Liber CCVI.

The best way to time the breathing, once some little skill has been acquired,

with a watch to bear witness, is by the use of a mantra. The mantra acts on the

thoughts very much as Pranayama does upon the breath. The thought is bound down

to a recurring cycle; any intruding thoughts are thrown off by the mantra, just

as pieces of putty would be from a fly-wheel; and the swifter the wheel the more

difficult would it be for anything to stick.

This is the proper way to practise a mantra. Utter it as loudly and slowly

as possible ten times, then not quite so loudly and a very little faster ten

times more. Continue this process until there is nothing but a rapid movement

of the lips; this movement should be continued with increased velocity and

diminishing intensity until the mental muttering completely absorbs the

physical. The student is by this time absolutely still, with the mantra racing

in his brain; he should, however, continue to speed it up until he reaches his

limit, at which he should continue for as long as possible, and then cease the

practice by reversing the process above described.

Any sentence may be used as a mantra, and possibly the Hindus are correct in

thinking that there is a particular sentence best suited to any particular man.

Some men might find the liquid mantras of the Quran slide too easily, so that it

would be possible to continue another train of thought without disturbing the

mantra; one is supposed while saying {19} the mantra to meditate upon its

meaning. This suggests that the student might construct for himself a mantra

which should represent the Universe in sound, as the pantacle<<footnote: See

Part II.>> should do in form. Occasionally a mantra may be "given," "i.e.,"

heard in some unexplained manner during a meditation. One man, for example,

used the words: "And strive to see in everything the will of God;" to another,

while engaged in killing thoughts, came the words "and push it down," apparently

referring to the action of the inhibitory centres which he was using. By

keeping on with this he got his "result."

The ideal mantra should be rhythmical, one might even say musical; but there

should be sufficient emphasis on some syllable to assist the faculty of

attention. The best mantras are of medium length, so far as the beginner is

concerned. If the mantra is too long, one is apt to forget it, unless one

practises very hard for a great length of time. On the other hand, mantras of a

single syllable, such as "Aum,"<<footnote: However, in saying a mantra

containing the word "Aum," one sometimes forgets the other words, and remains

concentrated, repeating the "Aum" at intervals; but this is the result of a

practice already begun, not the beginning of a practice.>> are rather jerky; the

rhythmical idea is lost. Here are a few useful mantras:

1. Aum.

2. Aum Tat Sat Aum. This mantra is purely spondaic.

II.

{illustration: line of music with: Aum Tat Sat Aum :under it}

3. Aum mani padme hum; two trochees between two caesuras.

III.

{illustration: line of music with: Aum Ma-ni Pad-me Hum :under it}

4. Aum shivaya vashi; three trochees. Note that "shi" means rest, the

absolute or male aspect of the Deity; "va" is energy, the manifested or female

side of the Deity. This Mantra therefore expresses the whole course of the

Universe, from Zero through the finite back to Zero.

IV.

{illustration: line of music with: Aum shi-va-ya Va-shi Aum shi-va-ya

Vashi :under it}

5. Allah. The syllables of this are accented equally, with a certain pause

between them; and are usually combined by fakirs with a rhythmical motion of the

body to and fro.

6. Hua allahu alazi lailaha illa Hua. {20}

Here are some longer ones:

7. The famous Gayatri.

Aum! tat savitur varenyam

Bhargo devasya dimahi

Dhiyo yo na pratyodayat.

Scan this as trochaic tetrameters.

8. Qol: Hua Allahu achad; Allahu Assamad; lam yalid walam yulad; walam yakun

lahu kufwan achad.

9. This mantra is the holiest of all that are or can be. It is from the

Stele of Revealing.<<footnote: See Equinox VII.>>

A ka dua

Tuf ur biu

Bi aa chefu

IX. Dudu ner af an nuteru.

{illustration: two lines of music with: A ka du - a Tuf ur bi - u Bi

A'a che -

- fu Du - du ner af an nu - te -ru :under them}

Such are enough for selection.<<footnote: Meanings of mantras:

1 Aum is the sound produced by breathing forcibly from the back of the throat

and gradually closing the mouth. The three sounds represent the creative,

preservative, and destructive principles. There are many more points about

this, enough to fill a volume.

2. O that Existent! O! -- An aspiration after realty, truth.

3. O the Jewel in the Lotus! Amen! -- Refers to Buddha and Harpocrates; but

also the symbolism of the Rosy Cross.

4. Gives the cycle of creation. Peace manifesting as Power, Power dissolving

in Peace.

5. God. It adds to 66, the sum of the first 11 numbers.

6. He is God, and there is no other God than He.

7. O! let us strictly meditate on the adorable light of that divine Savitri

(the interior Sun, etc.). May she enlighten our minds!

8. Say:

He is God alone!

God the Eternal!

He begets not and is not begotten!

Nor is there like unto Him any one!

9. Unity uttermost showed!

I adore the might of Thy breath,

Supreme and terrible God,

Who makest the Gods and Death

To tremble before Thee: --

I, I adore Thee!>>

There are many other mantras. Sri Sabapaty Swami gives a particular one for

each of the Cakkras. But let the student select one mantra and master it

thoroughly. {21}

You have not even begun to master a mantra until it continues unbroken

through sleep. This is much easier than it sounds.

Some schools advocate practising a mantra with the aid of instrumental music

and dancing. Certainly very remarkable effects are obtained in the way of

"magic" powers; whether great spiritual results are equally common is a doubtful

point. Persons wishing to study them may remember that the Sahara desert is

within three days of London; and no doubt the Sidi Aissawa would be glad to

accept pupils. This discussion of the parallel science of mantra-yoga has led

us far indeed from the subject of Pranayama.

Pranayama is notably useful in quieting the emotions and appetites; and,

whether by reason of the mechanical pressure which it asserts, or by the

thorough combustion which it assures in the lungs, it seems to be admirable from

the standpoint of health. Digestive troubles in particular are very easy to

remove in this way. It purifies both the body and the lower functions of the

mind,<<footnote: Emphatically. Emphatically. Emphatically. It is impossible

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