THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

VII. 11. Yoga and Hypnotism391animals it is evident that mind is not all in the sense of being theultimate force in nature. It seems to be all, only because thatwhich is all expresses itself in the mind and passes everythingthrough it for the sake of manifestation. That which we call mindis a medium which pervades the world. Otherwise we could nothave the instantaneous and electrical action of mind upon mindof which human experience is full and of which the new phenomenaof hypnotism, telepathy, etc., are only fresh proofs. Theremust be contact, there must be interpenetration if we are to accountfor these phenomena on any reasonable theory. Mind thereforeis held by the Hindus to be a species of subtle matter inwhich ideas are waves or ripples and it is not limited by the physicalbody which it uses as an instrument. There is an ulterior forcewhich works through this subtle medium called mind. An animalspecies develops, according to the modern theory, under the subtleinfluence of the environment. The environment supplies a needand those who satisfy the need develop a new species whichsurvives because it is more fit. This is not the result of any intellectualperception of the need nor of a resolve to develop thenecessary changes, but of a desire, often though not always, amute, inarticulate and unthought desire. That desire attracts aforce which satisfies it. What is that force? The tendency ofpsychical desire to manifest in the material change is one termin the equation; the force which develops the change in responseto the desire is another. We have a will beyond mind which dictatesthe change, we have a force beyond mind which affects it.According to Hindu philosophy, the will is the Jiva, the Purusha,the Self in the ÀnandakoØa acting through vijÜÀna, universalor transcendental mind; this is what we call spirit. The forceis Prakriti or Shakti, the female principle in Nature which is atthe root of all action. Behind both is the single Self of the universewhich contains both Jiva and Prakriti, spirit and materialenergy. Yoga puts these ultimate existences within us in touchwith each other and by stilling the activity of the saÌskÀras orassociations in mind and body, enables them to act swiftly, victoriouslyand as the world calls it, miraculously. In reality, thereis no such thing as a miracle; there are only laws and processeswhich are not yet understood.