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A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga574
matter. A man sees and knows but very little of what is going on about him.
His limitations are great. His powers of vision report only a few vibrations of
light, while below and above the scale lie an infinity of vibrations unknown
to him. The same is true of the powers of hearing, for only a comparatively
small portion of the sound-waves reach the Mind of Man—even some of
the animals hear more than he does.
If a man had only one sense he would obtain but a one-sense idea of the
outside world. If another sense is added his knowledge is doubled. And so
on. The best proof of the relation between increased sense perception and
development is had in the study of the evolution of animal forms. In the
early stages of life the organism has only the sense of feeling—and very dim
at that—and a faint sense of taste. Then developed smell, hearing and sight,
each marking a distinct advance in the scale of life, for a new world has been
opened out to the advancing forms of life. And, when man develops new
senses—and this is before the race—he will be a much wiser and greater
being.
Carpenter, many years ago, voiced a thought that will be familiar to those
who are acquainted with the Yogi teachings regarding the unfoldment of
new senses. He said: “It does not seem at all improbable that there are
properties of matter of which none of our senses can take immediate
cognizance, and which other beings might be formed to perceive in the
same manner as we are sensible to light, sound, etc.”
And Isaac Taylor said: “It may be that within the field occupied by the
visible and ponderable universe there is existing and moving another
element fraught with another species of life—corporeal, indeed, and
various in its orders, but not open to cognizance of those who are confined
to the conditions of animal organization. Is it to be thought that the eye of
man is the measure of the Creator’s power?—and that He created nothing
but that which he has exposed to our present senses? The contrary seems
much more than barely possible; ought we not to think it almost certain?”