初步修习
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中文
第二章
最初的步骤
王瑜伽（Raja-Yoga）分为八个步骤。第一是持戒（Yama）——不杀生、诚实、不偷盗、梵行（Brahmacharya）以及不受馈赠。其次是精进（Niyama）——清洁、知足、苦行（Tapas）、研习以及自我皈依于神。然后是体式（Âsana），即姿势；调息（Prânâyâma），即对气（Prâna）的控制；制感（Pratyâhâra），即收摄诸根使其远离外境；执持（Dhâranâ），即将心念固定于一处；冥想（Dhyâna），即禅定；以及三摩地（Samâdhi），即超意识状态。如我们所见，持戒与精进属于道德修炼；若无此二者作为基础，任何瑜伽修习皆不能成就。随着这两者的确立，瑜伽修习者将开始感受到修习的成果；若无此二者，修习永远不会结出果实。瑜伽修习者在思想、言语或行为上，皆不可存有伤害他人之念。慈悲之心不仅限于人类，更应延伸至整个世界，拥抱万物。
下一步骤是体式，即姿势。每天须进行一系列身心练习，直至达到某些较高的状态。因此，找到一种能够长时间保持的姿势，是极为必要的。对某人而言最为舒适的姿势，便应当是其选择的姿势。对于思考而言，某种姿势对一个人可能非常轻松，而对另一个人则可能极为困难。我们稍后将会发现，在研究这些心理事务的过程中，身体内部会发生相当多的活动。神经流将不得不被改道，开辟新的通道。新的振动将开始产生，整个身体结构将被彻底重塑。然而，主要的活动将沿脊柱进行，因此姿势所必须满足的唯一条件，是保持脊柱自由挺直——将胸部、颈部与头部保持在一条直线上。让整个身体的重量由肋骨支撑，如此便能自然轻松地保持脊柱挺直的姿势。你将很快发现，胸部内陷时，实难产生高远的思想。瑜伽修习的这一部分与哈他瑜伽（Hatha-Yoga）有几分相似，后者完全专注于肉体，其目的在于使肉体极度强健。我们在此无需涉及哈他瑜伽，因为其修习方法极为艰难，非一日所能学成，而且终究难以带来多少灵性上的成长。你将在德尔萨特（Delsarte）及其他老师那里找到其中一些练习，例如将身体置于不同姿势之中，但这些练习的目的是物质性的，而非心理性的。人体中没有任何一块肌肉是人所无法掌控的。心脏可以按照意志停止或跳动，机体的每一部分均可同样地被掌控。
哈他瑜伽这一门类修习的成果，是使人延年益寿；健康是其首要的理念，是哈他瑜伽修习者唯一的目标。他立志不患疾病，而他确实也从不生病。他长寿；百岁对他而言不过寻常；他在一百五十岁时依然年轻健旺，发丝未曾染白。但仅止于此而已。一棵榕树有时可存活五千年，但它终究只是一棵榕树，别无其他。同样，一个人即便长寿，也不过是一头健壮的动物。哈他瑜伽修习者有一两条寻常的教诲是很有益处的。例如，你们中的某些人会发现，每天清晨起身后用鼻孔吸饮冷水，对头痛颇有疗效；整日下来头脑清爽凉适，且永不会感冒。方法极为简单：将鼻子伸入水中，用鼻孔吸水，在喉部做抽吸动作即可。
当一个人学会保持稳固挺直的坐姿之后，依照某些流派的教导，须进行一种称为净化神经脉道的修习。这一部分已被某些人拒绝承认，认为其不属于王瑜伽的范畴；但由于如此权威的注释者商羯罗阿阇黎（Shankarâchârya）对此有所建议，我认为有必要在此提及，并将引述他在《白净识者奥义书》（Shvetâshvatara Upanishad）注释中的原文：「通过调息而清除垢染的心，便安住于梵；因此，调息得以宣说。首先须净化神经脉道，然后才能修习调息。以拇指堵住右鼻孔，由左鼻孔吸气，尽力而为；然后无须停顿，堵住左鼻孔，由右鼻孔呼气。再由右鼻孔吸气，由左鼻孔呼出，尽力而为；如此修习，每日于黎明前、正午、傍晚与午夜四个时辰各练习三至五次，十五天或一个月后，神经脉道的清净即可达成；其后，调息修习方可开始。」
修习是绝对必要的。你或许每天坐下来静听我讲授数小时，然而若不加修习，便丝毫无法进步。一切皆取决于修习。我们对这些事情永远不能在真正体验之前便有所理解。我们必须亲自去见，去感受。仅凭倾听解释与理论是不够的。修习有几种障碍。第一种障碍是身体不健康：若身体状态不佳，修习便会受阻。因此，我们必须保持身体的良好健康；我们必须注意饮食，以及日常行止。要时常运用精神力量——即通常所谓的「基督教科学」（Christian Science）——以保持身体强健。仅此而已——无须在身体上做更多。我们必须切记，健康不过是达到目的的手段。若健康本身便是目的，我们便与动物无异；动物几乎从不生病。
第二种障碍是疑惑；对于我们所看不见的事物，我们总会心存疑惑。无论一个人如何努力，都不能单靠言语而活。因此，我们心中会升起疑惑，不知这些事情究竟是否含有真理；即便是我们中最优秀的人，有时也会产生疑惑。然而，随着修习的推进，在短短数日之内，便会有一丝瞥见，足以给人以激励与希望。如某位瑜伽哲学的注释者所言：「一旦获得哪怕极其微小的一个证明，便会给我们对整个瑜伽教义建立信心。」例如，修习数月之后，你将开始发现自己能够读取他人的思想；它们将以图像的形式呈现于你。或许你会听到远处发生的事情，当你以意愿集中心念的时候。这些瞥见将会一点一点地到来，起初极为微弱，但足以给你以信心、力量与希望。例如，若你将思念集中于鼻尖，数日之内，你便会开始闻到最为芬芳的香气，这将足以向你表明，存在着某些无须与物质对象接触便可被感知的心理感受。但我们必须时刻记住，这些不过是手段；一切修习的目的、目标与终点，乃是灵魂的解脱（Moksha）。对自然的绝对掌控，而非任何其他，才是目标所在。我们必须成为自然的主人，而非其奴仆；无论是身体还是心灵，皆不应成为我们的主宰，我们也必须时刻记住，身体是我的，而非我属于身体。
一位神与一位魔同去向一位大智者学习关于真我（Atman）的知识。他们随他修习了很长时间。最终，智者告诉他们：「你们自己便是你们所寻求的那个存在。」他们二人都以为肉身即是真我。他们心满意足地回到各自的族人那里，说道：「我们已经学到了一切应当学到的；尽情吃喝享乐吧；我们便是真我；我们之外再无他物。」魔的本性愚昧混沌，因此他从未做进一步的探究，而是对于「我即是神，真我不过是肉身」这一观念完全满足。神拥有更为纯净的本性。他起初犯了一个错误，以为：「我，这具肉身，即是梵；因此，要保持它强健与健康，衣着得体，给予它种种享乐。」然而数日之后，他发现这不可能是他们导师智者的本意；其中必有更高深的含义。于是他返回，说道：「先生，您是否教导我说这具肉身便是真我？若如此，我见到一切肉身皆会死去；真我不可能死去。」智者说：「去寻找答案吧；汝即是那。」于是，神以为推动身体运作的生命力便是智者所指的真我。然而过了一段时间，他发现若进食，这些生命力便保持强盛，若禁食，则会变弱。神于是再度返回智者处，问道：「先生，您是否指的是生命力便是真我？」智者说：「去自行寻找答案；汝即是那。」神再度回家，此番思量或许心意才是真我。然而不久，他便发现念头纷纭变化，时而善，时而恶；心意变化无常，不足以成为真我。他再度返回智者处，说道：「先生，我认为心意并非真我；您所说的是否指此？」「不，」智者答道，「汝即是那；去自行寻找答案。」神回到家中，最终发现他自己便是真我——超越一切思想，无生无死；刀剑不能刺穿，烈火不能燃烧，风不能吹干，水不能融化；无始无终，不动不变，无处不知，无所不能；它既非肉身，亦非心意，而是超越二者之上的一切。于是他心满意足；而可怜的魔由于执着于肉身，未能获得真理。
这个世界上有许多这样的魔性本质，但也有一些神性的存在。若有人提出教授某种学问以增进感官享乐的能力，便会发现大批人蜂拥而至。若有人着手指示最高的目标，则发现听众寥寥无几。很少有人具备领悟更高境界的能力，具备达到它的耐心者则更为稀少。然而也有少数人知道，即便肉身能够存活千年，最终的结果依然相同。当维系肉身的力量消逝之时，肉身必然衰亡。从来没有任何人能够阻止自己的肉身片刻不变。肉身是一系列变化的名称。「犹如河中的大块水体在你面前每时每刻都在变化，新的水体不断涌来，却呈现出相似的形态，此身亦复如是。」然而肉身必须保持强健。它是我们所拥有的最佳工具。
这具人身是宇宙中最伟大的身体，而人类是最伟大的存在。人高于一切动物，高于一切天神；没有任何存在比人更为伟大。即便是天神（Devas），也必须再度降生，通过人身方能获得解脱。只有人能够达到圆满，就连天神也不例外。根据犹太教与伊斯兰教的说法，神在创造天使与万物之后，创造了人，创造人之后，命令天使们前来向他行礼，众天使皆如命照行，唯有伊不里斯（Iblis）除外；于是神诅咒了他，他便成为了撒旦。在这则寓言背后，隐藏着一个伟大的真理：人类的诞生是我们所能拥有的最伟大的诞生。低等的创造物——动物——是迟钝的，大多由答摩（Tamas）所构成。动物无法产生任何高远的思想；天神或天人也同样无法在没有人身的情况下直接获得自由。在人类社会中，同样地，过多的财富或过度的贫穷，都是灵魂更高发展的巨大障碍。世界上的伟大人物皆出自中产阶级。在那里，种种力量极为均衡地协调配合。
回到我们的主题，我们接下来讨论调息，即对呼吸的控制。这与集中心念的力量有何关联？呼吸犹如这台机器——身体——的飞轮。在一台大型发动机中，你发现飞轮首先开始运动，这一运动依次传递给愈来愈精细的机械，直至机器中最为精密细致的机构开始运作。呼吸便是这一飞轮，为身体内的一切提供并调节动力。
从前，有一位大国之臣。他触怒了国王，国王以惩处之名，下令将他关押在一座极高塔楼的顶端。命令被执行，大臣被留在那里等待死亡。然而他有一位忠贞的妻子，夜里来到塔楼下，向塔顶的丈夫呼唤，询问能为他做些什么。他告诉她，次日夜里返回塔楼时，带来一根长绳、一些粗麻绳、包扎线、丝线、一只甲虫和少量蜂蜜。善良的妻子心存疑惑，但遵从了丈夫的嘱咐，带来了他所要的物品。丈夫指示她将丝线牢牢系在甲虫上，然后在甲虫的触角上涂上一滴蜂蜜，将其放在塔楼的墙壁上，头部朝上。她遵照了所有这些指示，甲虫便开始了它漫长的旅程。嗅着前方的蜂蜜，它缓缓向上爬行，期望能够够到蜂蜜，直至终于爬到塔顶，大臣于是抓住甲虫，得到了丝线。他告诉妻子将另一端系在包扎线上，待他拉上包扎线之后，又依法将粗麻绳拉上，最后是那根大绳。其余的事情便轻而易举了。大臣借助绳子从塔楼上下来，成功逃脱。在我们这具身体之中，呼吸运动是那根「丝线」；通过抓住它，学会控制它，我们便握住了神经流这根包扎线，再由此握住思想这根粗麻绳，最终握住气（Prana）这根大绳，控制了它，我们便达到了自由。
我们对自己的身体一无所知；我们无从了知。充其量，我们可以取来一具死尸，将其切开，还有一些人可以取来活体动物，切开它，以观察其内部构造。然而这一切与我们自身的身体毫无关系。我们对它了解甚少。为何如此？因为我们的注意力尚不够敏锐细致，无法捕捉到内部正在进行的极为精微的运动。只有当心变得更为微妙，仿佛更深地进入身体之中时，我们才能知晓这些运动。为了获得精微的感知，我们必须从较为粗糙的感知开始。我们必须把握那驱动整台机器运转的东西。那便是气，其最为明显的表现即是呼吸。然后，伴随着呼吸，我们将缓缓进入身体，这将使我们能够探明那些精微的力量，那些遍行于全身的神经流。一旦我们感知并学会感受它们，我们便将开始对它们以及对身体获得掌控。心意同样是通过这些不同的神经流而被启动的；因此，最终我们将达到对身体与心意的完全掌控，使二者皆成为我们的仆役。知识即是力量。我们必须获得这一力量。因此，我们必须从最初的步骤开始——从调息、约束气开始。这一调息是一个深广的主题，需要数节课方能详加阐述。我们将逐部分加以讲解。
我们将逐步了解每项练习的原因，以及身体内被激活的是哪些力量。这一切都将向我们呈现，但需要持续不断的修习，证明将在修习中得到。无论我能给你们提供多少推理论证，都不能成为你们的证明，除非你们亲自加以验证。一旦你们开始感受到这些气流在全身流动，疑惑便会烟消云散，但这需要每日勤勤恳恳地修习。你必须每天至少修习两次，最佳时间是清晨和傍晚。当夜色渐渐转入白昼，白昼渐渐进入夜色之时，一种相对宁静的状态随之而来。清晨与傍晚是两段宁静的时辰。你的身体在那些时刻也有趋向宁静的倾向。我们应当利用这一自然状态，于此时开始修习。要养成一个规矩：在修习之前不进食；若能如此，饥饿的力量本身便会打破你的懈怠。在印度，他们教导孩子在修习或礼拜之前绝不进食，日久便成为自然；一个男孩在沐浴和修习之前不会感到饥饿。
你们中能够负担得起的人，最好为这项修习专辟一间房间。不要在那间房间里睡觉，它必须保持神圣。在沐浴、身心皆处于洁净状态之前，不得进入那间房间。在那间房间里时常摆放鲜花；鲜花是瑜伽修习者最佳的环境；还有令人心旷神怡的图画。每天早晚燃点香料。在那间房间里不可有争吵，不可有愤怒，不可有不洁之念。只允许与你志同道合之人进入其中。如此，渐渐地，那间房间里将形成一种神圣的氛围，当你感到痛苦、悲伤、疑惑，或心神不宁之时，仅仅进入那间房间便会使你心生宁静。这便是神庙与教堂的最初理念，在某些神庙与教堂里，你至今仍能感受到这一点，但在绝大多数地方，这一理念已然失落。其理念在于：通过在那里保持神圣的振动，那个地方便成为光明之所，并持续保持光明。那些无力专辟一间房间的人，可以在任何他们喜欢的地方修习。以挺直的姿势坐下，首先要做的是向一切众生发出一道神圣思想的光流。在心中默念：「愿一切众生幸福；愿一切众生平静；愿一切众生安乐。」向东、南、北、西如此做去。你做得越多，自己便会感到越好。你最终会发现，使自己健康的最简便方法，是看到他人健康；使自己幸福的最简便方法，是看到他人幸福。做完这些之后，信仰神的人应当祈祷——不是为了金钱，不是为了健康，也不是为了天堂；而是为了知识与光明；其他一切祈祷都是自私的。接下来要做的是观想自己的身体，看到它强健有力；它是你所拥有的最佳工具。将它想象为坚如金刚，并以此身体为助，你将渡越生命之洋。自由永远无法被软弱者所达到。抛弃一切软弱。告诉你的身体它是强健的，告诉你的心意它是强健的，并对自己怀有无限的信心与希望。
English
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST STEPS
Râja-Yoga is divided into eight steps. The first is Yama — non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving of any gifts. Next is Niyama — cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study, and self-surrender to God. Then comes Âsana, or posture; Prânâyâma, or control of Prâna; Pratyâhâra, or restraint of the senses from their objects; Dhâranâ, or fixing the mind on a spot; Dhyâna, or meditation; and Samâdhi, or superconsciousness. The Yama and Niyama, as we see, are moral trainings; without these as the basis no practice of Yoga will succeed. As these two become established, the Yogi will begin to realise the fruits of his practice; without these it will never bear fruit. A Yogi must not think of injuring anyone, by thought, word, or deed. Mercy shall not be for men alone, but shall go beyond, and embrace the whole world.
The next step is Asana, posture. A series of exercises, physical and mental, is to be gone through every day, until certain higher states are reached. Therefore it is quite necessary that we should find a posture in which we can remain long. That posture which is the easiest for one should be the one chosen. For thinking, a certain posture may be very easy for one man, while to another it may be very difficult. We will find later on that during the study of these psychological matters a good deal of activity goes on in the body. Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibrations will begin, the whole constitution will be remodelled as it were. But the main part of the activity will lie along the spinal column, so that the one thing necessary for the posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts — the chest, neck, and head — in a straight line. Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have an easy natural posture with the spine straight. You will easily see that you cannot think very high thoughts with the chest in. This portion of the Yoga is a little similar to the Hatha-Yoga which deals entirely with the physical body, its aim being to make the physical body very strong. We have nothing to do with it here, because its practices are very difficult, and cannot be learned in a day, and, after all, do not lead to much spiritual growth. Many of these practices you will find in Delsarte and other teachers, such as placing the body in different postures, but the object in these is physical, not psychological. There is not one muscle in the body over which a man cannot establish a perfect control. The heart can be made to stop or go on at his bidding, and each part of the organism can be similarly controlled.
The result of this branch of Yoga is to make men live long; health is the chief idea, the one goal of the Hatha-Yogi. He is determined not to fall sick, and he never does. He lives long; a hundred years is nothing to him; he is quite young and fresh when he is 150, without one hair turned grey. But that is all. A banyan tree lives sometimes 5000 years, but it is a banyan tree and nothing more. So, if a man lives long, he is only a healthy animal. One or two ordinary lessons of the Hatha-Yogis are very useful. For instance, some of you will find it a good thing for headaches to drink cold water through the nose as soon as you get up in the morning; the whole day your brain will be nice and cool, and you will never catch cold. It is very easy to do; put your nose into the water, draw it up through the nostrils and make a pump action in the throat.
After one has learned to have a firm erect seat, one has to perform, according to certain schools, a practice called the purifying of the nerves. This part has been rejected by some as not belonging to Raja-Yoga, but as so great an authority as the commentator Shankarâchârya advises it, I think fit that it should be mentioned, and I will quote his own directions from his commentary on the Shvetâshvatara Upanishad: "The mind whose dross has been cleared away by Pranayama, becomes fixed in Brahman; therefore Pranayama is declared. First the nerves are to be purified, then comes the power to practice Pranayama. Stopping the right nostril with the thumb, through the left nostril fill in air, according to capacity; then, without any interval, throw the air out through the right nostril, closing the left one. Again inhaling through the right nostril eject through the left, according to capacity; practicing this three or five times at four hours of the day, before dawn, during midday, in the evening, and at midnight, in fifteen days or a month purity of the nerves is attained; then begins Pranayama."
Practice is absolutely necessary. You may sit down and listen to me by the hour every day, but if you do not practice, you will not get one step further. It all depends on practice. We never understand these things until we experience them. We will have to see and feel them for ourselves. Simply listening to explanations and theories will not do. There are several obstructions to practice. The first obstruction is an unhealthy body: if the body is not in a fit state, the practice will be obstructed. Therefore we have to keep the body in good health; we have to take care of what we eat and drink, and what we do. Always use a mental effort, what is usually called "Christian Science," to keep the body strong. That is all — nothing further of the body. We must not forget that health is only a means to an end. If health were the end, we would be like animals; animals rarely become unhealthy.
The second obstruction is doubt; we always feel doubtful about things we do not see. Man cannot live upon words however he may try. So, doubt comes to us as to whether there is any truth in these things or not; even the best of us will doubt sometimes: With practice, within a few days, a little glimpse will come, enough to give one encouragement and hope. As a certain commentator on Yoga philosophy says, "When one proof is obtained, however little that may be, it will give us faith in the whole teaching of Yoga." For instance, after the first few months of practice, you will begin to find you can read another's thoughts; they will come to you in picture form. Perhaps you will hear something happening at a long distance, when you concentrate your mind with a wish to hear. These glimpses will come, by little bits at first, but enough to give you faith, and strength, and hope. For instance, if you concentrate your thoughts on the tip of your nose, in a few days you will begin to smell most beautiful fragrance, which will be enough to show you that there are certain mental perceptions that can be made obvious without the contact of physical objects. But we must always remember that these are only the means; the aim, the end, the goal, of all this training is liberation of the soul. Absolute control of nature, and nothing short of it, must be the goal. We must be the masters, and not the slaves of nature; neither body nor mind must be our master, nor must we forget that the body is mine, and not I the body's.
A god and a demon went to learn about the Self from a great sage. They studied with him for a long time. At last the sage told them, "You yourselves are the Being you are seeking." Both of them thought that their bodies were the Self. They went back to their people quite satisfied and said, "We have learned everything that was to be learned; eat, drink, and be merry; we are the Self; there is nothing beyond us." The nature of the demon was ignorant, clouded; so he never inquired any further, but was perfectly contented with the idea that he was God, that by the Self was meant the body. The god had a purer nature. He at first committed the mistake of thinking: I, this body, am Brahman: so keep it strong and in health, and well dressed, and give it all sorts of enjoyments. But, in a few days, he found out that that could not be the meaning of the sage, their master; there must be something higher. So he came back and said, "Sir, did you teach me that this body was the Self? If so, I see all bodies die; the Self cannot die." The sage said, "Find it out; thou art That." Then the god thought that the vital forces which work the body were what the sage meant. But. after a time, he found that if he ate, these vital forces remained strong, but, if he starved, they became weak. The god then went back to the sage and said, "Sir, do you mean that the vital forces are the Self ?" The sage said, "Find out for yourself; thou art That." The god returned home once more, thinking that it was the mind, perhaps, that was the Self. But in a short while he saw that thoughts were so various, now good, again bad; the mind was too changeable to be the Self. He went back to the sage and said, "Sir, I do not think that the mind is the Self; did you mean that?" "No," replied the sage, "thou art That; find out for yourself." The god went home, and at last found that he was the Self, beyond all thought, one without birth or death, whom the sword cannot pierce or the fire burn, whom the air cannot dry or the water melt, the beginningless and endless, the immovable, the intangible, the omniscient, the omnipotent Being; that It was neither the body nor the mind, but beyond them all. So he was satisfied; but the poor demon did not get the truth, owing to his fondness for the body.
This world has a good many of these demoniac natures, but there are some gods too. If one proposes to teach any science to increase the power of sense-enjoyment, one finds multitudes ready for it. If one undertakes to show the supreme goal, one finds few to listen to him. Very few have the power to grasp the higher, fewer still the patience to attain to it. But there are a few also who know that even if the body can be made to live for a thousand years, the result in the end will be the same. When the forces that hold it together go away, the body must fall. No man was ever born who could stop his body one moment from changing. Body is the name of a series of changes. "As in a river the masses of water are changing before you every moment, and new masses are coming, yet taking similar form, so is it with this body." Yet the body must be kept strong and healthy. It is the best instrument we have.
This human body is the greatest body in the universe, and a human being the greatest being. Man is higher than all animals, than all angels; none is greater than man. Even the Devas (gods) will have to come down again and attain to salvation through a human body. Man alone attains to perfection, not even the Devas. According to the Jews and Mohammedans, God created man after creating the angels and everything else, and after creating man He asked the angels to come and salute him, and all did so except Iblis; so God cursed him and he became Satan. Behind this allegory is the great truth that this human birth is the greatest birth we can have. The lower creation, the animal, is dull, and manufactured mostly out of Tamas. Animals cannot have any high thoughts; nor can the angels, or Devas, attain to direct freedom without human birth. In human society, in the same way, too much wealth or too much poverty is a great impediment to the higher development of the soul. It is from the middle classes that the great ones of the world come. Here the forces are very equally adjusted and balanced.
Returning to our subject, we come next to Pranayarna, controlling the breathing. What has that to do with concentrating the powers of the mind? Breath is like the fly-wheel of this machine, the body. In a big engine you find the fly-wheel first moving, and that motion is conveyed to finer and finer machinery until the most delicate and finest mechanism in the machine is in motion. The breath is that fly-wheel, supplying and regulating the motive power to everything in this body.
There was once a minister to a great king. He fell into disgrace. The king, as a punishment, ordered him to be shut up in the top of a very high tower. This was done, and the minister was left there to perish. He had a faithful wife, however, who came to the tower at night and called to her husband at the top to know what she could do to help him. He told her to return to the tower the following night and bring with her a long rope, some stout twine, pack thread, silken thread, a beetle, and a little honey. Wondering much, the good wife obeyed her husband, and brought him the desired articles. The husband directed her to attach the silken thread firmly to the beetle, then to smear its horns with a drop of honey, and to set it free on the wall of the tower, with its head pointing upwards. She obeyed all these instructions, and the beetle started on its long journey. Smelling the honey ahead it slowly crept onwards, in the hope of reaching the honey, until at last it reached the top of the tower, when the minister grasped the beetle, and got possession of the silken thread. He told his wife to tie the other end to the pack thread, and after he had drawn up the pack thread, he repeated the process with the stout twine, and lastly with the rope. Then the rest was easy. The minister descended from the tower by means of the rope, and made his escape. In this body of ours the breath motion is the "silken thread"; by laying hold of and learning to control it we grasp the pack thread of the nerve currents, and from these the stout twine of our thoughts, and lastly the rope of Prana, controlling which we reach freedom.
We do not know anything about our own bodies; we cannot know. At best we can take a dead body, and cut it in pieces, and there are some who can take a live animal and cut it in pieces in order to see what is inside the body. Still, that has nothing to do with our own bodies. We know very little about them. Why do we not? Because our attention is not discriminating enough to catch the very fine movements that are going on within. We can know of them only when the mind becomes more subtle and enters, as it were, deeper into the body. To get the subtle perception we have to begin with the grosser perceptions. We have to get hold of that which is setting the whole engine in motion. That is the Prana, the most obvious manifestation of which is the breath. Then, along with the breath, we shall slowly enter the body, which will enable us to find out about the subtle forces, the nerve currents that are moving all over the body. As soon as we perceive and learn to feel them, we shall begin to get control over them, and over the body. The mind is also set in motion: by these different nerve currents, so at last we shall reach the state of perfect control over the body and the mind, making both our servants. Knowledge is power. We have to get this power. So we must begin at the beginning, with Pranayama, restraining the Prana. This Pranayama is a long subject, and will take several lessons to illustrate it thoroughly. We shall take it part by part.
We shall gradually see the reasons for each exercise and what forces in the body are set in motion. All these things will come to us, but it requires constant practice, and the proof will come by practice. No amount of reasoning which I can give you will be proof to you, until you have demonstrated it for yourselves. As soon as you begin to feel these currents in motion all over you, doubts will vanish, but it requires hard practice every day. You must practice at least twice every day, and the best times are towards the morning and the evening. When night passes into day, and day into night, a state of relative calmness ensues. The early morning and the early evening are the two periods of calmness. Your body will have a like tendency to become calm at those times. We should take advantage of that natural condition and begin then to practice. Make it a rule not to eat until you have practiced; if you do this, the sheer force of hunger will break your laziness. In India they teach children never to eat until they have practiced or worshipped, and it becomes natural to them after a time; a boy will not feel hungry until he has bathed and practiced.
Those of you who can afford it will do better to have a room for this practice alone. Do not sleep in that room, it must be kept holy. You must not enter the room until you have bathed, and are perfectly clean in body and mind. Place flowers in that room always; they are the best surroundings for a Yogi; also pictures that are pleasing. Burn incense morning and evening. Have no quarrelling, nor anger, nor unholy thought in that room. Only allow those persons to enter it who are of the same thought as you. Then gradually there will be an atmosphere of holiness in the room, so that when you are miserable, sorrowful, doubtful, or your mind is disturbed, the very fact of entering that room will make you calm. This was the idea of the temple and the church, and in some temples and churches you will find it even now, but in the majority of them the very idea has been lost. The idea is that by keeping holy vibrations there the place becomes and remains illumined. Those who cannot afford to have a room set apart can practice anywhere they like. Sit in a straight posture, and the first thing to do is to send a current of holy thought to all creation. Mentally repeat, "Let all beings be happy; let all beings be peaceful; let all beings be blissful." So do to the east, south, north and west. The more you do that the better you will feel yourself. You will find at last that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy. After doing that, those who believe in God should pray — not for money, not for health, nor for heaven; pray for knowledge and light; every other prayer is selfish. Then the next thing to do is to think of your own body, and see that it is strong and healthy; it is the best instrument you have. Think of it as being as strong as adamant, and that with the help of this body you will cross the ocean of life. Freedom is never to be reached by the weak. Throw away all weakness. Tell your body that it is strong, tell your mind that it is strong, and have unbounded faith and hope in yourself.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。