The Doctrine and Practice of Yoga Part 9

SLEEP.

It is the depth and relaxation in sleep that counts. High-strung people find it hard to relax and keep tossing on their pillows. Bathe your feet in cold water in hot season and in cool water in cold season. That will draw off the surplus blood gurgitating in your brain. Also bathe the nape of the neck. The student should engage in meditation before falling to sleep, as during sleep the Man leaves the physical form and goes to super-physical planes and it is the last train of thought in your mind that determines and conforms you to the special super-physical influence you are to obtain. The physical benefits too shall be great. You will feel more rested in this way and your sleep will be sleeping a sounder and more refres.h.i.+ng sleep than otherwise. One of the chief signs of success in Mental and Physical Control is that your sleeps are undisturbed and peaceful.

During sleep you are in a pa.s.sive, relaxed condition and all sorts of unseen influences play around you. It is good therefore to enclose yourself in an Astral Sh.e.l.l. Concentrate upon your aura and picture it as extending some 18 inches all around you and forming a sh.e.l.l around you. Now take this affirmation to concentrate your mind.

1. I am charging my aura with my Will-Force.

2. It is strong, strong, strong and can and will resist, repel and drive off all bad influences and admit only pure and holy influence.

3. It will remain around me right along the period of my sleep.

The student is advised to surround himself in this "auric Sh.e.l.l"

even when awake so that it may beat off all malign and harmful thought-forces. As he grows in Will-Power and Self-Confidence, a Protective Aura will form around him naturally and will be felt by others.

RELAXATION VERSUS CONTRACTION.

The student should learn to relax his body completely so that it shall lie still and limp and soft as cotton. He should be able to tense and contract his muscles so that they will become hard as iron. In all the physical exercises you will find two special actions (1) Muscle contraction (2) Stretching. When you contract muscle and harden it, you have sent currents of nerve-force and will to that part; when you relax it, you "let go" completely. What we want is Strength in Repose ready to leap into action in the flash of an eye. We have taught you how to relax in Lesson 2 on Will-Force. You all have noticed a cat crouching for its prey. How intensely still it is; yet you know what such stillness means. It is very far from laziness. Relaxation husbands and conserves nerve-force. It is a great thing to be calm and silent. Calmness is the centralization of tremendous power. Practise being calm, as far as you can.

SOLAR ENERGY.

There is great electrical and thermal power in the sun's rays. If the human body be properly exposed to the sun during the first five hours in the morning and the evening, the body would absorb energy therefrom and gain in strength. Do not over do this, especially you of the warm climate.

LAST WORD ON HEALTH.

Trust Nature. It is her office to keep your body-machine running in perfect order. "Prevention is better than cure"--they say. Observe the healthy man. See how he lives and follow his example. But note that body is yours to control and G.o.d will not do that work for you.

Also get rid of the stupidity that G.o.d sends diseases. Think, study and observe and you will know what Health Laws are.

CONCLUSION.

Student, I have indicated the lines along which you are to seek the way to Spiritual Independence. I cannot run your life-affairs, solve your life-problems, do your work for you. I have pointed out a few principles, observe, think and complete your knowledge. You must climb the steps of the ladder of attainment and Self-Perfection yourself.

Fear is a great stumbling-block in the way. Fight it down. Starve it out.

Be earnest. Be thorough. Live your life silently and earnestly. Give others a helping hand whenever you can without that patronising air of superiority so characteristic of the modern sn.o.bs pa.s.sing for "gentlemen." Be proud that you are an "Indian." Follow Indian ideals of greatness. Consider it a privilege to help deserving souls. We all need help, encouragement and guidance to some extent. Co-operation, interdependence are the basic foundations of human well-being. Be strong.

Be manly. Be courageous. Be great and good. Take your place in the world's evolutionary progress and lend your hand in turning the wheel of life. In the same measure that you help others, shall you yourself be helped on all planes of life. Be reasonable. Be just and fair unto others. Be a source of blessing unto others. So long as you labour under the vitiating influence of negative thoughts, you cannot achieve much in any direction. I have told you "how" you are to proceed.

May G.o.d bless you. May he guide, help and strengthen where I have failed.

SWAMI MUKERJI.