The
Western student is apt to be somewhat confused
in his ideas regarding the Yogis and their
philosophy and practice. Travelers to
India have written great tales about the
hordes of fakirs, mendicants and mountebanks
who infest the great roads of India and the
streets of its cities, and who impudently
claim the title 'Yogi.' The Western student is
scarcely to be blamed for thinking of the
typical Yogi as an emaciated, fanatical,
dirty, ignorant Hindu, who either sits in a
fixed posture until his body becomes ossified,
or else holds his arm up in the air until it
becomes stiff and withered and forever after
remains in that position, or perhaps clenches
his fist and holds it tight until his
fingernails grow through the palms of his
hands. That these people exist is true,
but their claim to the title 'Yogi'seems as
absurd to the true Yogi as does the claim to
the title 'Doctor' on the part of the man who
pares one's corns seem to the eminent surgeon,
or as does the title of 'Professor, 'as
assumed by the street corner vendor of worm
medicine, seem to the President of Harvard or
Yale.
There have been for ages past
in India and other Oriental countries men who
devoted their time and attention to the
development of Man, physically, mentally and
spiritually. The experience of
generations of earnest seekers has been handed
down for centuries from teacher to pupil, and
gradually a definite Yogi science was built
up. To these investigations and
teachings was finally applied the term
'Yogi,'from the Sanscrit word 'Yug,'meaning
'to join.' From the same source comes the
English word 'yoke,'with a similar
meaning. Its use in connection with
these teachings is difficult to trace,
different authorities giving different
explanations, but probably the most ingenious
is that which holds that it is intended as the
Hindu equivalent for the idea conveyed by the
English phrase, 'getting into harness,'or
'yoking up,'as the Yogi undoubtedly 'gets into
harness'in his work of controlling the body
and mind by the Will.
Yoga is divided into several
branches, ranging from that which teaches the
control of the body, to that which teaches the
attainment of the highest spiritual
development. In the work we will not go
into the higher phases of the subject, except
when the 'Science of Breath'touches upon the
same. The 'Science of Breath'touches
Yoga at many points, and although chiefly
concerned with the development and control of
the physical, has also its psychic side, and
even enters the field of spiritual
development.
In India there are great
schools of Yoga, comprising thousands of the
leading minds of that great country. The
Yoga philosophy is the rule of life for many
people. The pure Yogi teachings,
however, are given only to the few, the masses
being satisfied with the crumbs which fall
from the tables of the educated classes, the
Oriental custom in this respect being opposed
to that of the Western world. But
Western ideas are beginning to have their
effect even in the Orient, and teachings which
were once given only to the few are now freely
offered to any who are ready to receive
them. The East and the West are growing
closer together, and both are profiting by the
close contact, each influencing the other.
The Hindu Yogis have always
paid great attention to the Science of Breath,
for reasons which will be apparent to the
student who reads this book. Many
Western writers have touched upon this phase
of the Yogi teachings, but we believe that it
has been reserved for the writer of this work
to give to the Western student, in concise
form and simple language, the underlying
principles of the Yogi Science of Breath,
together with many of the favorite Yogi
breathing exercises and methods. We have
given the Western idea as well as the
Oriental, showing how one dovetails into the
other. We have used the ordinary English
terms, almost entirely, avoiding the Sanscrit
terms, so confusing to the average Western
reader.
The first part of the book is
devoted to the physical phase of the Science
of Breath; then the psychic and mental sides
are considered, and finally the spiritual side
is touched upon.
We may be pardoned if we
express ourselves as pleased with our success
in condensing so much Yogi lore into so few
pages, and by the use of words and terms which
may be understood by anyone. Our only
fear is that its very simplicity may cause
some to pass it by as unworthy of attention,
while they pass on their way searching for
something 'deep,'mysterious and
non-understandable. However, the Western
mind is eminently practical, and we know that
it is only a question of a short time before
it will recognize the practicability of this
work.
We
greet
our students, with our most profound salaam,
and bid them be seated for their first lessons
in the Yogi Science of Breath.