A Series of Lessons in Raja YogaTheosophy / New ThoughtMystical / EsotericEnglishShareA Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 67Project Gutenberg #13656 - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableProject Gutenberg #13656LanguageEnglishEspañol‹A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 3A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 4A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 5A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 6A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 8A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 9A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 10A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 11A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 12A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 13A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 14A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 16A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 17A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 18A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 19A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 20A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 22A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 23A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 24A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 25A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 26A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 27A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 28A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 29A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 31A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 32A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 33A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 34A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 35A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 36A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 38A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 39A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 40A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 41A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 43A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 44A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga MA Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 46A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 48A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 49A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 50A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 51A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 52A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 53A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 54A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 56A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 57A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 58A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 59A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 63A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 64A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 65A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 67A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 68A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 70A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 71A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 72A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 74A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 75A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 76›Subconscious Character Building.A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 67ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1In our last lesson (the Tenth Lesson) we called your attention to the wonderful work of the sub-conscious regions of mentation in the direction of the performance of Intellectual work. Great as are the possibilities of this field of mentation in the direction named, they are equaled by the possibilities of building up character by similar methods. 2Every one realizes that one may change his character by a strenuous course of repression and training, and nearly all who read these lines have modified their characteristics somewhat by similar methods. But it is only of late years that the general public have become aware that Character might be modified, changed, and sometimes completely altered by means of an intelligent use of the sub-conscious faculties of the mind. 3The word "Character" is derived from ancient terms meaning "to mark," "to engrave," etc., and some authorities inform us that the term originally arose from the word used by the Babylonian brickmakers to designate the trade mark impressed by them upon their bricks, each maker having his own mark. This is interesting, in view of the recent theories regarding the cultivation of characteristics which may be found in the current Western works on psychology. But these theories are not new to the Yogi teachers of the East, who have employed similar methods for centuries past in training their students and pupils. The Yogis have long taught that a man's character was, practically, the crude character-stuff possessed by him at his birth, modified and shaped by outside influences in the case of the ordinary man, and by deliberate self-training and shaping by the wise man. Their pupils are examined regarding their characteristics, and then directed to repress the undesirable traits, and to cultivate the desirable ones. 4The Yogi practice of Character Building is based upon the knowledge of the wonderful powers of the sub-conscious plane of the mind. The pupil is not required to pursue strenuous methods of repression or cultivation, but, on the contrary, is taught that such methods are opposed to nature's plans, and that the best way is to imitate nature and to gradually unfold the desired characteristics by means of focusing the will-power and attention upon them. The weeding out of undesirable characteristics is accomplished by the pupil cultivating the characteristics directly opposed to the undesirable ones. For instance, if the pupil desires to overcome Fear, he is not instructed to concentrate on Fear with the idea of killing it out, but, instead, is taught to mentally deny that he has Fear, and then to concentrate his attention upon the ideal of Courage. When Courage is developed, Fear is found to have faded away. The positive always overpowers the negative. 5In the word "ideal" is found the secret of the Yogi method of sub-conscious character building. The teachings are to the effect that "ideals" may be built up by the bestowal of attention upon them. The student is given the example of a rose bush. He is taught that the plant will grow and flourish in the measure that care and attention is bestowed upon it and vice versa. He is taught that the ideal of some desired characteristic is a mental rosebush, and that by careful attention it will grow and put forth leaves and flowers. He is then given some minor mental trait to develop, and is taught to dwell upon it in thought--to exercise his imagination and to mentally "see" himself attaining the desired quality. He is given mantrams or affirmation to repeat, for the purpose of giving him a mental center around which to build an ideal. There is a mighty power in words, used in this way, providing that the user always thinks of the meaning of the words, and makes a mental picture of the quality expressed by them, instead of merely repeating them parrot fashion. 6The Yogi student is trained gradually, until he acquires the power of conscious direction of the sub-conscious mind in the building up process, which power comes to anyone--Oriental or Occidental--who will take the trouble to practice. In fact, nearly everyone possesses and actively uses this power, although he may not be aware of it. One's character is largely the result of the quality of thoughts held in the mind, and of the mental pictures or ideals entertained by the person. The man who constantly sees and thinks of himself as unsuccessful and down-trodden is very apt to grow ideals of thought forms of these things until his whole nature is dominated by them, and his every act works toward the objectification of the thoughts. On the contrary, the man who makes an ideal of success and accomplishment finds that his whole mental nature seems to work toward that result--the objectification of the ideal. And so it is with every other ideal. The person who builds up a mental ideal of Jealousy will be very apt to objectify the same, and to unconsciously create condition that will give his Jealousy food upon which to feed. But this particular phase of the subject, properly belongs to our next ‹Previous chapterA Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 65Next chapterA Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 68›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the USA