An Introduction to Yoga
by Annie Besant
- Pages
- about 121
- Category
- Philosophy
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2.2 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
In this first discourse we shall concern ourselves with the gaining of
a general idea of the subject of Yoga, seeking its place in nature, its
own character, its object in human evolution.
Let us, first of all, ask ourselves, looking at the world around us,
what it is that the history of the world signifies. When we read
history, what does the history tell us? It seems to be a moving
panorama of people and events, but it is really only a dance of
shadows; the people are shadows, not realities, the kings and
statesmen, the ministers and armies; and the events—the battles and
revolutions, the rises and falls of states—are the most shadowlike
dance of all. Even if the historian tries to go deeper, if he deals
with economic conditions, with social organisations, with the study of
the tendencies of the currents of thought, even then he is in the midst
of shadows, the illusory shadows cast by unseen realities. This world
is full of forms that are illusory, and the values are all wrong, the
proportions are out of focus. The things which a man of the world
thinks valuable, a spiritual man must cast aside as worthless. The
diamonds of the world, with their glare and glitter in the rays of the
outside sun, are mere fragments of broken glass to the man of
knowledge. The crown of the king, the sceptre of the emperor, the
triumph of earthly power, are less than nothing to the man who has had
one glimpse of the majesty of the Self. What is, then, real? What is
truly valuable? Our answer will be very different from the answer given
by the man of the world.
“The universe exists for the sake of the Self.” Not for what the outer
world can give, not for control over the objects of desire, not for the
sake even of beauty or pleasure, does the Great Architect plan and
build His worlds. He has filled them with objects, beautiful and
pleasure-giving.
A short sample. Read the whole book
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