THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

404 The Harmony of Virtuevisible in men, but in some degree they belong to all adepts inHathayoga. Their existence no one can doubt, who has gone deepinto Yoga at all, or who had any personal experience of the Siddhis.The third object is to develop in the body yogic force, theTapah or the Viryam, the fire of Yoga. The fourth object is tobecome ÓrdhvaretÀÕ, that is to say to draw the whole virile forcein the body into the brain up and return so much of it as is neededfor the body, purified and electrified. Pranayama is the masteryof the vital force, the mobile energy that keeps the universe going.In the human body, the most notable function of the Pranaor vital force, is the breathing which is in ordinary men necessaryto life and motion. The Yogin conquers it and renders himselfindependent of it. But he does not confine his attention tothe simple vital operation. He distinguishes five major vital forcesand several minor to each of which he has given a name andhe learns to control all the numerous pranic currents in whichthey operate. As there are innumerable Asanas, so there are agreat number of different kinds of Pranayama and a man is nota perfect Hathayogin till he has mastered them all. The conquestof the Prana confirms the perfect health, vigour and vitality gainedby the Asanas; it confirms the power of living as long as onepleases and it adds to the four physical Siddhis — the five psychical— prÀkÀmya or absolute keenness of the mind and thesenses, including telepathy, clairvoyance and the faculties commonlysupposed to be supernormal; vyÀpti or the power of receivingother men's thoughts, powers and feelings and projectingone's own thoughts etc. or personality into others; aiÙvaryamor the control over events, lordship, wealth and all objectsof desire; vaÙitÀ or the power of exacting implicit and instantaneousobedience to the spoken or written word; ÈÙitÀ or the perfectcontrol over the powers of nature and over things inert andintelligent. Some of these powers have recently been discoveredin Europe as phenomena of hypnotism or will-force. But theEuropean experiences are feeble and unscientific if compared withthe achievements of the ancient Hathayogins or even with thoseof some of the modern. The will-power developed by Pranayamais said to be psychical, not spiritual.Besides these two great practices, the Hathayogins have