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A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga646
of the course will also throw additional light on the subject of sub-conscious
mental action, in connection with other subjects.
The Yogi takes the student when the latter is much bothered by a
consideration of some knotty and perplexing philosophical subject. He bids
the student relax every muscle,—take the tension from every nerve—throw
aside all mental strain, and then wait a few moments. Then the student is
instructed to grasp the subject which he has had before his mind, firmly
and fixedly before his mental vision, by means of concentration. Then he is
instructed to pass it on to the sub-conscious mentality by an effort of the
Will, which effort is aided by forming a mental picture of the subject as a
material substance, or bundle of thought, which is being bodily lifted up and
dropped down a mental hatch-way, or trap-door, in which it sinks from sight.
The student is then instructed to say to the sub-conscious mentality: “I wish
this subject thoroughly analyzed, arranged, classified (and whatever else is
desired) and then the results handed back to me. Attend to this.”
The student is taught to speak to the sub-conscious mentality just as if
it were a separate entity of being, which had been employed to do the
work. He is also taught that confident expectation is an important part of the
process, and that the degree of success depends upon the degree of this
confident expectation.
In obstinate cases, the student is taught to use the Imagination freely, until
he is able to make a mental image or picture of the sub-conscious mind
doing what is required of it. This process clears away a mental path for the
feet of the sub-conscious mind, which it will choose thereafter, as it prefers
to follow the line of least resistance.
Of course much depends upon practice—practice makes perfect, you
know, in everything else, and sub-consciousing is no exception to the rule.
The student gradually acquires a proficiency in the art of sub-consciousing,
and thereafter devotes his time to acquiring new facts for mental digestion,
rather than bestowing it upon the mechanical act of thinking.