The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: the Book of the Spiritual Man by Patañjali
page 8 of 111 (07%)
page 8 of 111 (07%)
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and the purification of mind and thought.
13. The right use of the will is the steady, effort to stand in spiritual being. We have thought of ourselves, perhaps, as creatures moving upon this earth, rather helpless, at the mercy of storm and hunger and our enemies. We are to think of ourselves as immortals, dwelling in the Light, encompassed and sustained by spiritual powers. The steady effort to hold this thought will awaken dormant and unrealized powers, which will unveil to us the nearness of the Eternal. 14. This becomes a firm resting-place, when followed long, persistently, with earnestness. We must seek spiritual life in conformity with the laws of spiritual life, with earnestness, humility, gentle charity, which is an acknowledgment of the One Soul within us all. Only through obedience to that shared Life, through perpetual remembrance of our oneness with all Divine Being, our nothingness apart from Divine Being, can we enter our inheritance. 15. Ceasing from self-indulgence is con- scious mastery over the thirst for sensuous pleasure here or hereafter. Rightly understood, the desire for sensation is the desire of being, the distortion of the soul's eternal life. The lust of sensual stimulus and excitation rests on the longing to feel one's life keenly, to gain the sense of being really alive. This sense of true life comes only with the coming of the soul, and the soul comes only in silence, after |
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