Raja-Yoga

DHYANA AND SAMADHI. 73
ing the body out of the food is done for me by some
body else. That cannot be, because it can be demon
strated that almost every action of which we are
unconscious now can be again brought up to the plane
of consciousness. The heart is beating apparently
without our control ;
we none of us here can control
the heart; it goes on its own way. But by practice
men can bring even the heart under control, until it
will just beat at will, slowly, or quickly,
or almost
stop. Nearly every part of the body can be brought
under control. What does this show ? That these
things which are beneath consciousness are also worked
by us, only we are doing it unconsciously. We have,
then, two planes in which the human mind is working.
First is the conscious plane; that is to say that sort of
work which is always accompanied with the feeling of
egoism. Next comes the unconscious plane, the work
beneath, that which is unaccompanied by the feeling
of egoism. That part of mind-work which is unaccom
panied with feeling of egoism is unconscious work, and
that part which is accompanied with the feeling of
egoism
is conscious work. In the lower animals this
unconscious work is called instinct. In higher ani
mals, and in the highest of all animals, man, the second
part, that which is accompanied with the feeling of
egoism, prevails, and is called conscious work.
But it does not end here. There is a still higher
plane upon which the mind can work. It can go be
yond consciousness. Just as unconscious work is
beneath consciousness, so there is another work which