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A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga540
amenable to the same general laws as are the other two manifestations, or
attributes of substance. One is so apt to think of his Mind as “himself”—the “I.”
Notwithstanding the fact that in our Second Lesson of this series we showed
you that the “I” is superior to the mental states, and that it can set them aside
and regard and consider them as “not-I” things, yet the force of the habit
of thought is very strong, and it may take some of you considerable time
before you “get into the way” of realizing that your Mind is “something that
you use,” instead of being You—yourself. And yet, you must persevere in
attaining this realization, for in the degree that you realize your dominance
over your mind, so will be your control of it, and its amenability to that
control. And, as is the degree of that dominance and control, so will be
the character, grade and extent of the work that your Mind will do for
you. So you see: Realization brings Control—and Control brings results. This
statement lies at the base of the science of Raja Yoga. And many of its first
exercises are designed to acquaint the student with that realization, and to
develop the realization and control by habit and practice.
The Yogi Philosophy teaches that instead of Mind being the “I,” it is the thing
through and by means of which the “I” thinks, at least so far as is concerned
the knowledge concerning the phenomenal or outward Universe—that is
the Universe of Name and Form. There is a higher Knowledge locked up
in the innermost part of the “I,” that far transcends any information that it
may receive about or from the outer world, but that is not before us for
consideration at this time, and we must concern ourselves with the “thinking
about the world of things.”
Mind-substance in Sanscrit is called “Chitta,” and a wave in the Chitta
(which wave is the combination of Mind and Energy) is called “Vritta,” which is
akin to what we call a “thought.” In other words it is “mind in action,” whereas
Chitta is “mind in repose.” Vritta, when literally translated means “a whirlpool
or eddy in the mind,” which is exactly what a thought really is.
But we must call the attention of the student, at this point, to the fact that
the word “Mind” is used in two ways by the Yogis and other occultists, and