INTRODUCTION

SS: Among these excerpts are many that elucidate the same concepts brought up in my ongoing New Translation for the Quantum Age of Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali also on this blog.. HERE

The emotion which impels to righteous living is half wasted if the clear light of the intellect does not illuminate the path of conduct; for as the blind man/woman strays from the way unknowing till he/she falls into the ditch, so does the Ego, blinded by ignorance, turn aside from the road of right living till he falls into the pit of evil action. 

THE SELF AS KNOWER

…there is but One Self in the fullest sense of the words; that as rays flame forth from the sun, the Selves that are the true Men/Women are but rays of the Supreme Self, and that each Self may whisper;
” I am He/She”.

When we observe this ” I am”, we find that it expresses itself in three different ways:

(1) The internal reflection of a Non-Self, KNOWLEDGE, the root of thoughts;

(2) the internal concentration, WILL, the root of desires;

(3) the going forth to the external, ENERGY, the root of actions;

” I know” or “I think”, “I will” or “I desire”, ” I energise ” or “I act”.

These are the three affirmations of the indivisible Self, of the ” I am”. All manifestations may be classified under one or other of these three heads; the Self manifests in our worlds only in these three ways; as all colours arise from the three primaries, so the numberless manifestations of the Self all arise from Will, Energy, Knowledge.

The Self as Willer, the Self as Energiser, the Self as Knower—he/she is the One in Eternity and also the root of individuality in Time and Space. It is the Self in the Thought aspect, the Self as Knower, that we are to study.

THE NOT-SELF AS KNOWN

The Self whose ” nature is knowledge ” finds mirrored within himself/herself a vast number of forms, and learns by experience that he/she cannot know and act and will in and through them.

He/She cannot say in them, ” I know”, “I act”, “I will”; and at length he/she recognises them as other selves, in mineral, vegetable, animal, human, and super-human forms, and he/she generalises all these under one comprehensive term, the Not-Self, that in which he/she, as a separated Self, is not, in which he/she does not know, and act, and will. He/She thus answers for a long time the question:

” What is the Not-Self? ” with

” All in which I do not know and will and act.”

KNOWING

The Knower, the Known, the Knowing-—these are the three in one which must be understood if thought-power is to be turned to its proper purpose, the helping of the world. According to Western terminology, the Mind is the Subject which knows; the Object is that which is known; the Relationship between them is knowing. 

CHAPTER 1

THE NATURE OF THOUGHT

The nature of thought may be studied from two standpoints: from the side of consciousness, which is knowledge, or from the side of the form by which knowledge is obtained, the susceptibility of which to modifications makes possible the attainment of knowledge.

The form and the life, the matter and the spirit, the vehicle and the consciousness, are inseparable in manifestation, and are the indivisible aspects of THAT (SS: tad) in which both inhere, THAT which is neither consciousness nor its vehicle, but the ROOT of both.

The final word on this is that consciousness and its vehicles, life and form, spirit and matter, are the temporary expressions of the two aspects of the one unconditioned Existence, which is not known save when manifested as the Root-Spirit—(called by the Hindus Pratyagatman), the abstract Being, the abstract Logos—whence all individual selves, and the Root-Matter (Mula-prakriti) whence all forms. Whenever manifestation takes place this Root-Spirit gives birth to a triple consciousness, and this Root-Matter to a triple matter; beneath these is the One Reality, for ever incognisable by the conditioned consciousness.

The flower sees not the root whence it grows, though all its life is drawn from it and without it it could not be.

…the mental image is a reproduction not a reflection of the object which causes it. The matter of the mind is actually shaped into a likeness of the object presented to it, and this likeness, in its turn, is reproduced by the Knower. When he/she thus modifies himself/herself into the likeness of an external object, he/she is said to know that object , but in the case we are considering that which he/she knows is only the image produced by the object in his/her vehicle, and not the object itself. And this image is not a perfect reproduction of the object…

When the consciousness by long evolution has developed the power to reproduce within itself all that exists outside it, then the envelope of matter in which it has been working falls away, and the consciousness that is knowledge identifies its Self with all the Selves amid which it has been evolving, and sees as the Not-Self only the matter connected alike with all Selves severally. That is the ” Day be with us”, the union which is the triumph of evolution, when consciousness knows itself and others, and knows others as itself. By sameness of nature perfect knowledge is attained, and the Self realises that marvellous state where identity perishes not and memory is not lost, but where separation finds its ending, and knower, knowing, and knowledge are one.

CHAIN OF KNOWER, KNOWING AND KNOWN

Motion is the root of all. Life is motion; consciousness is motion. And that motion affecting matter is vibration. The One, the All, we think of as Changeless, either as Absolute Motion or as Motionless, since in One relative motion cannot be. Only when there is differentiation, or parts, can we think of what we call motion, which is change of place in succession of time. When the One becomes the Many, then motion arises; it is health, consciousness, life, when rhythmic, regular, as it is disease, unconsciousness, death, when without rhythm, irregular. For life and death are twin sisters, alike born of motion, which is manifestation.

From the standpoint of spirit there is always One, from that of matter there are always Many.

…all are modes of motion in ether, though they differ in rates of velocity and in the character of the waves. Thoughts, Desires, and Actions, the active manifestations in matter of Knowledge, Will, and Energy, are all of the same nature, that is, are all made up of vibrations, but differ in their phenomena, because of the different character of the vibrations. There is a series of vibrations in a particular kind of matter and with a certain character, and these we call thought-vibrations. Another series is spoken of as desire-vibrations, another series as action-vibrations. These names are descriptive of certain facts in nature. There is a certain kind of ether thrown into vibration, and its vibrations affect our eyes; we call the motion light. There is another far subtler ether thrown into vibrations which are perceived, i.e., are responded to, by the mind, and we call that motion thought. We are surrounded by matter of different densities and we name the motions in it as they affect ourselves, are answered to by different organs of our gross or subtle bodies. We name ” light ” certain motions affecting the eye; we name ” thought” certain motions affecting another organ, the mind. ” Seeing” occurs when the light-ether is thrown into waves from an object to our eye; ” thinking ” occurs when the thought-ether is thrown into waves between an object and our mind. The one is not more—nor less—mysterious than the other.

In dealing with the mind we shall see that modifications in the arrangement of its materials are caused by the impact of thought-waves, and that in concrete thinking we experience over again the original impacts from without. The Knower finds his/her activity in these vibrations, and all to which they can answer, that is, all that they can reproduce, is Knowledge. The thought is a reproduction within the mind of the Knower of that which is not the Knower, is not the Self; it is a picture, caused by a combination of wave-motions, an image, quite literally. A part of the Not-Self vibrates, and as the Knower vibrates in answer that part becomes the known; the matter quivering between them makes knowing possible by putting them into touch with each other. Thus is the chain of Knower, Known, and Knowing established and maintained.

CHAPTER 2

THE CREATOR OF ILLUSION

Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the Raja of the Senses, the Thought-Producer, he/she who awakes illusion.

” The Mind is the great slayer of the Real.”

The mind is not the Knower, and should ever be carefully distinguished from him/her.

The mind is fundamentally dual and material, being made up of an envelope of fine matter, called the causal body (SS: the seat of our ahamkara principle, our “I”-ness, the ego) and manas, the abstract mind, and of an envelope of coarser matter, called the mental body and manas, the concrete mind’—manas itself being a reflection in atomic matter of that aspect of the Self which is Knowledge. This mind limits the Jiva, which, as self-consciousness increases, finds himself hampered by it on every side. As a man/woman, to effect a certain purpose, might put on thick gloves, and find that his/her hands in them had lost much of their power of feeling, their delicacy of touch, their ability to pick up small objects, and were only capable of grasping large objects and of feeling heavy impacts, so is it with the Knower when he/she puts on the mind. The hand is there as well as the glove, but its capacities are greatly lessened; the Knower is there as well as the mind, but his/her powers are much limited in their expression.

The mind is the result of past thinking, and is constantly being modified by present thinking; it is a thing, precise and definite, with certain powers and incapacities, strength and weakness, which are the outcome of activities in previous lives.

Every impression coming to us from outside is made on this already active sphere, and the mass of existing vibrations modifies and is modified by the new arrival. The resultant is not, therefore, an accurate reproduction of the new vibrations, but a combination of it with the vibrations already proceeding. …If we hold a piece of red glass before our eyes and look at green objects, they will appear to us to be black.

It is in this superficial and obvious sense that the mind is called the ” creator of illusion “. It presents us only with distorted images, a combination of itself and the external object. In a far deeper sense, indeed, is it the ” creator of illusion”, in that even these distorted images are but images of appearances, not of realities; shadows of shadows are all that it gives us.

THE MENTAL BODAY AND MANAS

The mind on the side of life is manas, and manas is the reflection, in the atomic matter of the third —or mental—plane, of the cognitional aspect of the Self—of the Self as Knower.

On the side of form it presents two aspects, severally conditioning the activity of manas, the consciousness working on the mental plane. These aspects are due to the aggregations of the matter of the plane drawn round the atomic vibratory centre. This matter, from its nature and use, we term mind-stuff, or thought-stuff. It makes one great region of the universe, interpenetrating astral and physical matter, and exists in seven subdivisions, like the states of matter on the physical plane; it is predominantly responsive to those vibrations which come from the aspect of the Self which is Knowledge, and this aspect imposes on it its specific character.

The first—and higher—aspect of the form-side of mind is that called the causal body. It is composed of matter from the fifth and sixth subdivisions of the mental plane, corresponding to the finer ethers of the physical plane.

The second aspect is called the mental body, and is composed of thought-stuff belonging to the four lower subdivisions of the mental plane corresponding to the lowest ether, and the gaseous, liquid, and solid states of matter on the physical plane. 

Mental bodies show seven great fundamental types, each of which includes forms at every stage of development, and all evolve and grow under the same laws.

THE BUILDING AND EVOLUTION OF THE MENTAL BODY

The method by which consciousness builds up its vehicle is one which should be clearly grasped, for every day and hour of life gives opportunity for its application to high ends.

Waking or sleeping we are ever building our mental bodies; for when consciousness vibrates it affects the mind-stuff surrounding it, and every quiver of consciousness, though it be due only to a passing thought, draws into the mental body some particles of mind-stuff, and shakes out other particles from it. So far as the vehicle—the body—is concerned, this is due to the vibration; but it should not be forgotten that the very essence of consciousness is to constantly identify itself with the Not-Self, and as constantly to re-assert itself by rejecting the Not-Self; consciousness consists of the alternating assertion and negation, ” I am this”, ” I am not this”; hence its motion is and causes, in matter, the attracting and repelling that we call a vibration. The surrounding matter is also thrown into waves, thus serving as a medium for affecting other consciousnesses.

Pure and lofty thoughts are composed of rapid vibrations, and can only affect the rare and subtle grades of mind-stuff.

If our mental bodies are composed of fine materials, coarse and evil thoughts will meet with no response, and hence can inflict no injury; whereas if they are built up with gross materials, they will be affected by every evil passer-by, and will remain irresponsive to and unbenefited by the good.

Many people are great readers. Now, reading does not build the mind; thought alone builds it. Reading is only valuable as it furnishes materials for thought.

We should read less, and think more, if we would have our minds grow, and our intelligence develop. If we are in earnest in the culture of our minds, we should daily spend an hour in the study of some serious and weighty book, and, reading for five minutes, we should think for ten, and so on through the hour. The usual way is to read quickly for the hour, and then to put away the book till the next hour comes for reading. Hence people grow very slowly in thought power.

With regular and persistent—but not excessive—exercise, the thought-power will grow as the muscle-power grows. And as this thought-power grows, it also comes under control, and can be directed to definite ends. Without this thinking, the mental body will remain loosely formed and unorganised; and without gaining concentration—the power of fixing the thought on a definite point—thought-power cannot be exercised at all.

CHAPTER 4

THE RELATION OF SENSATION TO THOUGHT

If thoughts have their beginnings in sensations, and those sensations are caused by impacts from without, then it is most important that when the sensation arises, the nature and extent of that sensation shall be accurately observed. The first work of the knower is to observe; if there were nothing to observe he would always remain asleep; but when an object is presented to him, when as the Self he is conscious of an impact, then as Knower he observes. 

…there is no such thing as pure feeling or pure thought; for ” desire for the repetition of a pleasure”, implies that the picture of the pleasure remains, however faintly, in the consciousness, and this is memory, and belongs to thought. For a long time the half-awakened Self drifts from one thing to another, striking against the Not-Self in haphazard fashion, without any direction being given to these movements by consciousness, experiencing pleasure and pain without any perception of the cause of either. Only when this has gone on for a long time is the perception above-mentioned possible, and the relation between the Knower and the Known begun.

online archived text of book “Thought Power” by Annie Besant: CLICK HERE http://www.anandgholap.net/Thought_Power-AB.htm