Raja-Yoga

THE CONTROL OF PSYCHIC PRANA. 59
either side of the spinal column, also of the Sufumnd,
the passage through the centre of the spinal cord.
These three are present in every animal; whatever has
a spinal column has these three lines of action, but the
Yogis claim that in ordinary mankind the Sufumnd is
closed, that action there is not evident, while in the
other two it is evident, carrying power to different
parts of the body.
The Yogi alone has the Sutumnd open. When this
Sufumnd current opens, and thought begins to rise
through it, we get beyond the senses, our minds
become supersensuous, superconscious, we get beyond
even the intellect, and where reasoning cannot reach.
To open that Suhtmnd is the prime object of the
According to him, along this Suumnd are ranged these
centres of distribution, or, in more figurative language,
are called. The lowest one is at
these lotuses, as they
the lowest end of the spinal cord, and is called Mdlddhdra,
the next one is called Svddhisthdna, the next
ManipAra, the next Andhata, the next ViSuddha, the
next Ajna, and the last, which is in the brain, is the
SahaSrdra, or thousand "the petalled." Of these we
have to take cognition just now of only two centres,
the lowest, the M&lddhdra, and the highest, the Sahatrdra.
The lowest one is where all
energy becomes
stored up, and that energy has to be taken up from
there and brought to the last one, the brain. The
Yogis claim that of all the energies that the human
body comprises the highest is what they call "Ojas"
Now this Ojas is stored up in the brain, and the more