(A.A. Bailey, The Light of the Soul, pp. 178-184, 1927 — BOOK II, THE STEPS TO UNION.)

"28. When the means to Yoga have been steadily practised and when impurity has been overcome, enlightenment takes place leading up to full illumination.

We now come to the practical part of the book, wherein instruction is given as to the method to pursue if full yoga, union, or at-one-ment is to be achieved. The work might be described as twofold:

1. The practice of the right means whereby union is brought about,

2. The discipline of the lower threefold man so that impurity in any of the three bodies iseradicated. This steadfast application to the twofold work produces two corresponding results, each dependent upon its cause:

1. Discrimination becomes possible. The practice of the means, leads the aspirant to a scientific understanding of the distinction existing between the self and the not-self, between spirit and matter. This knowledge is no longer theoretical and that to which the man aspires, but is a fact in the experience of the disciple and one upon which he bases all his subsequent activities.

2. Discernment takes place. As the purificatory process is carried on, the sheaths or bodies which veil the reality become attenuated and no longer act as thick veils, hiding the soul, and the world wherein the soul normally moves. The aspirant becomes aware of a part of himself, hitherto hidden and unknown. He approaches the heart of the mystery of himself and draws closer to the "Angel of the Presence" which can only be truly seen at initiation. He discerns a new factor and a new world and seeks to make them his own in conscious experience upon the physical plane.

It should be noted here that the two causes of revelation, the practice of the eight means to yoga and the purification of the life in the three worlds, deal with the man from the standpoint of the three worlds and bring about (in the man's physical brain) the power to discriminate between the real and the unreal and to discern the things of the spirit. They cause also certain changes of conditions within the head, reorganize the vital airs and act directly upon the pineal gland and the pituitary body. When these four:

1. Practise,
2. Purification,
3. Discrimination,
4. Discernment,

are part of the life of the physical plane man, then the spiritual man, the ego or thinker on his own plane attends to his part of the liberating process and the final two stages are brought about from above downwards. This sixfold process is the correspondence upon the Path of Discipleship, of the individualizing process, wherein animal man, the lower quaternary (physical, etheric, astral and lower mental) received that twofold expression of spirit, atma-buddhi, spiritual will and spiritual love, which completed him and made him truly man. The two stages of development which are brought about by the ego within the purified and earnest aspirant, are:

1. Enlightenment. The light in the head, which is at first but a spark, is fanned to a flame which illumines all things and is fed constantly from above. This is progressive (see previous sutra), and is dependent upon steadfast practise, meditation and earnest service.

2. Illumination. The gradually increasing downpour of fiery energy increases steadily the "light in the head," or the effulgence found in the brain in the neighborhood of the pineal gland. This is to the little system of the threefold man in physical manifestation what the physical sun is to the solar system. This light becomes eventually a blaze of glory and the man becomes a "son of light" or a "sun of righteousness." Such were the Buddha, the Christ, and all the great Ones who have attained.

29. The eight means of yoga are: the Commandments or Yama, the Rules or Nijama, posture or Asana, right control of life-force or Pranayama, abstraction or Pratyahara, attention or Dharana, meditation or Dhyana, and contemplation or Samadhi.

It will be noted that these means or practices are apparently simple, but it must be carefully remembered that they do not refer to anything accomplished on one or other plane in some one body, but to the simultaneous activity and practice of these methods in all three bodies at once, so that the entire threefold lower man practices the means as they refer to the physical, the astral, and the mental vehicles. This is often forgotten. Therefore, in the study of these various means to yoga or union, we must consider them as they apply to the physical man, then to the emotional man and then to the mental man. The yogi, for instance, has to understand the significance of right breathing or of posture as they relate to the triple aligned and coordinated lower man, remembering that it is only as the lower man forms a coherent rhythmic instrument that it becomes possible for the ego to enlighten and illuminate him. The practise of breathing exercises, for instance, has led the aspirant frequently to concentrate upon the physical apparatus of breath to the exclusion of the analogous practice of rhythmic control of the emotional life.

It may be of use here if (before we take up the consideration of the means, one by one) we tabulated them carefully, giving their synonyms where possible:

Means I.

The Commandments. Yama. Self-control or forbearance. Restraint. Abstention from wrong acts. These are five in number and relate to the relation of the disciple (or chela) to others and to the outside world.

Means II.

The Rules. Nijama. Right observances. These are likewise five in number and are frequently called the "religious observances" because they relate to the interior life of the disciple and to that tie, the sutratma or link which relates him to God, or to his Father in Heaven. These two, the five Commandments and the five Rules are the Hindu correspondence to the ten Commandments of the Bible and cover the daily life of the aspirant, as it affects those around him, and his own internal
reactions.

Means III.

Posture. Asana. Right Poise. Correct attitude. Position. This third means concerns the physical attitude of the disciple when in meditation, his emotional attitude towards his environment or his group, and his mental attitude towards ideas, thought currents and abstract concepts. Finally, the practice of this means coordinates and perfects the lower threefold man so that the three sheaths can form a perfect channel for the expression or manifestation of the life of the spirit.

Means IV.

Right control of the life-force. Pranayama. Suppression of the breath. Regulation of the breath. This refers to the control, regulation and suppression of the vital airs, the breath and the forces or shaktis of the body. It leads in reality to the organization of the vital body or the etheric body so that the life current or forces, emanating from the ego or spiritual man on his own plane, can be correctly transmitted to the physical man in objective manifestation.

Means V.

Abstraction. Pratyahara. Right withdrawal. Restraint. Withdrawal of the senses. Here we get back of the physical and the etheric bodies, to the emotional body, the seat of the desires, of sensory perception and of feeling. Here can be noted the orderly method which is followed in the pursuit of yoga or union. The physical plane life, external and internal is attended to; the correct attitude to life in its triple manifestation is cultivated. The etheric body is organized and controlled and the astral body is re-oriented, for the desire nature is subdued and the real man withdraws himself gradually from all sense contacts. The next two means relate to the mental body and the final one to the real man or thinker.

Means VI.

Attention. Dharana. Concentration. Fixation of the mind. Here the instrument of the Thinker, the Real Man, is brought under this control. The sixth sense is coordinated, understood, focussed and used.

Means VII.

Meditation. Dhyana. The capacity of the thinker to use the mind as desired and to transmit to the brain, higher thoughts, abstract ideas, and idealistic concepts. This means concerns higher and lower mind.

Means VIII.

Contemplation. Samadhi. This relates to the ego or real man and concerns the realm of the soul. The spiritual man contemplates, studies or meditates upon the world of causes, upon the "things of God." He then, utilizing his controlled instrument, the mind (controlled through the practise of concentration and meditation) transmits to the physical brain, via the sutratma or thread which passes down through the three sheaths to the brain, that which the soul knows, sees and understands. This produces full illumination." [184]

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