7rcTIX1xP

A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga562
poor is because their failing powers of Attention has prevented them from
receiving strong, clear mental impressions, and as is the impression so is the
memory. Their early impressions having been clear and strong, are easily
recalled, while their later ones, being weak, are recalled with difficulty. If the
Memory were at fault, it would be difficult for them to recall any impression,
recent or far distant in time.
But we must stop quoting examples and authorities, and urging upon you
the importance of the faculty of Attention. If you do not now realize it, it is
because you have not given the subject the Attention that you should have
exercised, and further repetition would not remedy matters.
Admitting the importance of Attention, from the psychological point of
view, not to speak of the occult side of the subject, is it not a matter of
importance for you to start in to cultivate that faculty? We think so. And
the only way to cultivate any mental or physical part or faculty is to Exercise
it. Exercise “uses up” a muscle, or mental faculty, but the organism makes
haste to rush to the scene additional material—cell-stuff, nerve force, etc.,
to repair the waste, and it always sends a little more than is needed. And
this “little more,” continually accruing and increasing, is what increases the
muscles and brain centers. And improved and strengthened brain centers
give the mind better instruments with which to work.
One of the first things to do in the cultivation of Attention is to learn
to think of, and do, one thing at a time. Acquiring the “knack” or habit of
attending closely to the things before us, and then passing on to the next
and treating it in the same way, is most conducive to success, and its practice
is the best exercise for the cultivation of the faculty of Attention. And on the
contrary, there is nothing more harmful from the point of view of successful
performance—and nothing that will do more to destroy the power of
giving Attention—than the habit of trying to do one thing while thinking
of another. The thinking part of the mind, and the acting part should work
together, not in opposition.