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The Fifth Lesson: The Cultivation of Attention.553
The Fifth Lesson: The Cultivation of Attention.
In our last lesson we called your attention to the fact that the Yogis devote
considerable time and practice to the acquirement of Concentration. And
we also had something to say regarding the relation of Attention to the
subject of Concentration. In this lesson we shall have more to say on the
subject of Attention, for it is one of the important things relating to the
practice of Raja Yoga, and the Yogis insist upon their students practicing
systematically to develop and cultivate the faculty. Attention lies at the base
of Will-power, and the cultivation of one makes easy the exercise of the
other.
To explain why we lay so much importance to the cultivation of Attention,
would necessitate our anticipating future lessons of this series, which we do
not deem advisable at this time. And so we must ask our students to take
our word for it, that all that we have to say regarding the importance of the
cultivation of Attention, is occasioned by the relation of that subject to the
use of the mind in certain directions as will appear fully later on.
In order to let you know that we are not advancing some peculiar theory
of the Yogis, which may not be in harmony with modern Western Science,
we give you in this article a number of quotations, from Western writers and
thinkers, touching upon this important faculty of the mind, so that you may