Table of Contents Lecture I. The Nature of Yoga 1. The Meaning of the Universe 2. The Unfolding of Consciousness 3. The Oneness of the Self 4. The Quickening of the Process of Self-Unfoldment ... Read more

Table of Contents Lecture I. The Nature of Yoga 1. The Meaning of the Universe 2. The Unfolding of Consciousness 3. The Oneness of the Self 4. The Quickening of the Process of Self-Unfoldment 5. Yoga is a Science 6. Man a Duality 7. States of Mind 8. Samadhi 9. The Literature of Yoga 10. Some Definitions 11. God Without and God Within 12. Changes of Consciousness and Vibrations of Matter 13. Mind 14. Stages of Mind 15. Inward and Outward-turned Consciousness 16. The CloudLecture II. Schools of Thought 1. Its Relation to Indian Philosophies 2. Mind 3. The Mental Body 4. Mind and SelfLecture III. Yoga as Science 1. Methods of Yoga 2. To the Self by the Self 3. To the Self through the Not-Self 4. Yoga and Morality 5. Composition of States of the Mind 6. Pleasure and PainLecture IV. Yoga as Practice 1. Inhibition of States of Mind 2. Meditation with and without Seed 3. The Use of Mantras 4. Attention 5. Obstacles to Yoga 6. Capacities for Yoga 7. Forthgoing and Returning 8. Purification of Bodies 9. Dwellers on the Threshold 10. Preparation for Yoga 11. The EndLecture ITHE NATURE OF YOGAIn this first discourse we shall concern ourselves with thegaining of a general idea of the subject of Yoga, seeking itsplace in nature, its own character, its object in humanevolution.The Meaning of the UniverseLet us, first of all, ask ourselves, looking at the world aroundus, what it is that the history of the world signifies. When weread history, what does the history tell us? It seems to be amoving panorama of people and events, but it is really only adance of shadows; the people are shadows, not realities, thekings and statesmen, the ministers and armies; and the eventsÄthe battles and revolutions, the rises and falls of states Äarethe most shadowlike dance of all. Even if the historian tries togo deeper, if he deals with economic conditions, with socialorganisations, with the study of the tendencies of the currentsof thought, even then he is in the midst of shadows, the illusoryshadows cast by unseen realities. This world is full of formsthat are illusory, and the values are all wrong, the proportionsare out of focus. The things which a man of the world thinksvaluable, a spiritual man must cast aside as worthless. Thediamonds of the world, with their glare and glitter in the raysof the outside sun, are mere fragments of broken glass to the manof knowledge. The crown of the king, the sceptre of the emperor,the triumph of earthly power, are less than nothing to the manwho has had one glimpse of the majesty of the Self. What is,then, real? What is truly valuable? Our answer will be verydifferent from the answer given by the man of the world. Less