minutes at a time is enough for a beginning, the time being lengthened gradually as the practice

goes on.

But, however short the time which is given to it, it should be given regularly; if a day's practice be missed the previous condition of the atom reasserts itself, and the work has to be re-commenced. Steady and regular, but not prolonged, practice ensures the best results and avoids danger. In some schools of what is called Hatha Yoga the students are recommended to assist concentration by fixing the eyes on a black spot on a white wall, and to maintain this fixity of gaze until trance supervenes. Now, there are two reasons why this should not be done. First, the practice, after a while, injures the physical sight, and the eyes lose their power of adjustment. Secondly, it brings about a form of brain paralysis. This begins with the fatigue of the retinal cells, as the waves of light beat on them, and the spot disappears from view, the place on the retina where its image is formed becoming insensitive, the result of prolonged response. This fatigue spreads inwards, until finally a kind of paralysis supervenes, and the person passes into a hypnotic trance. In fact, excessive stimulation of a sense-organ is, in the West, a recognised means for producing hypnosis

-the revolving mirror, the electric light, &c., being used with this object.

But brain paralysis not only stops all thinking on the physical plane, but renders the brain insensitive to non-physical vibrations, so that the Ego cannot impress it; it does not set him free, but merely deprives him of his instrument. A man may remain for weeks in a trance thus induced, but when he awakes he is no wiser than at the

Such

beginning of the trance. He has not gained knowledge; he has merely wasted time. methods do not gain spiritual power, but merely bring about physical disability.

MEDITATION.

Meditation may be said to have been already explained, for it is only the sustained attitude of the concentrated mind in face of an object of devotion, of a problem that needs illumination to be intelligible, of anything whereof the life is to be realised and absorbed, rather than the form.

Meditation cannot be effectively performed until concentration is, at least partially, mastered. For concentration is not an end, but a means to an end; it fashions the mind into an instrument which can be used at the will of the owner. When a concentrated mind is steadily directed to any object,

with the view of piercing the veil, and reaching the life, and drawing that life into union with the life to which the mind belongs-then meditation is performed. Concentration might be regarded as the shaping of the organ; meditation as its exercise. The mind has been made one-pointed; it is then directed to and dwells steadily on any object of which knowledge is desired.

Anyone who determines to lead a spiritual life must daily devote some time to meditation. As soon may the physical life be sustained without food as the spiritual without meditation. Those who cannot spare half an hour a day during which the world may be shut out and the mind may receive from the spiritual planes a current of life, cannot lead the spiritual life.

Only to the mind concentrated, steady, shut out from the world, can the Divine reveal itself. God shows Himself in His universe in endless forms; but within the human heart He shows Himself in His Life and Nature, revealing Himself to that which is a fragment of Himself. In that silence, peace and strength and force flow into the soul, and the man of meditation is ever the most efficient man of the world.

Lord Rosebery, speaking of Cromwell, described him as "a practical mystic," and declared that a

practical mystic is the greatest force in the world. It is true. The concentrated intelligence, the power of withdrawing outside the turmoil, mean immensely increased energy in work, mean steadiness, selfcontrol, serenity; the man of meditation is the man who wastes no time, scatters no energy, misses no opportunity. Such a man governs events, because within him is the power whereof events are only the outer expression; he shares the divine life, and therefore shares the divine power.

H

CHAPTER IX.

THE STRENGTHENING OF THOUGHT POWER.

WE may now proceed to turn our study of Thought Power to practical account, for study that does not lead to practice is barren. The old declaration still holds good: "The end of philosophy is to put an end to pain." We are to learn to develop and then to use our developed thought-power to help those around us, the living and the so-called dead, to quicken human evolution, and to hasten also our own progress.

Thought power can only be increased by steady and persistent exercise; as literally and as truly as muscular development depends on the exercise of the muscles we already possess, so does mental development depend on the exercise of the mind already ours.

It is a law of life that growth results from exercise. The life, our Self, is ever seeking