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This Classic Spiritual work is now copyright expired and therefore in the public domain. Clairvoyance and Occult Powers by Swami PanchadasiLESSON VIII CLAIRVOYANT REVERIE
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While I dislike to dwell on the subject, I feel that I should call the attention of my students to the fact that certain teachers seek to produce the abnormal psychic condition by means of exhausting breathing exercises, which make the person dizzy and sleepy. This is all wrong. While rhythmic breathing exercises have a certain value in psychic phenomena, and are harmless when properly practiced, nevertheless such practices as those to which I have alluded are harmful to the nervous system of the person, and also tend to induce undesirable psychic conditions. Again, some teachers have sought to have their students hold their breath for comparatively long periods of time in order to bring about abnormal psychic states. The slightest knowledge of physiology informs one that such a practice must be harmful; it causes the blood to become thick and impure, and deficient in oxygen. It certainly will produce a kind of drowsiness, for the same reason that impure air in a room will do the same thing--in both cases the blood stream is poisoned and made impure. The purpose of rational and normal breathing is to obviate just this thing--so these teachers are reversing a natural law of the body, in order to produce an abnormal psychic state. With all the energy in me, I caution you against this kind of thing.
Along the same line, I protest and warn you against the practices advised by certain teachers of "psychic development," who seek to have their pupils induce abnormal physical and psychic conditions by means of drugs, odor of certain chemicals, gases, etc. Such practices, as all true occultists know, belong to the clans of the Black Magicians, or devil worshippers, of the savage races--they have no place in true occult teachings. Common sense alone should warn persons away from such things--but it seems to fail some of them. I assert without fear of intelligent contradiction, that no true occultist ever countenances any such practices as these.
All the true teachers are vigorous in their denunciation of such false teachings and harmful practices. In this same category, I place the methods which are taught by certain persons, namely, that of inducing abnormal physical and psychic condition of giddiness and haziness by means of "whirling" around in a circle until one drops from giddiness, or until one "feels queer in the head." This is a revival of the practices of certain fanatics in Persia and India, who perform it as a religious rite until they fall into what they consider a "holy sleep," but which is nothing more than an abnormal and unhealthful physical and psychic condition. Such practices are a downward step, not an upward one. It seems a pity that the necessity has arisen for such warnings as these--but my duty, as I see it, is very plain. To all who are tempted to "develop" in this way, I say, positively, "DON'T!"
The scientific, rational way to develop the astral senses is to first acquire the art of concentrating. Bear in mind that in concentration the person, while shutting out the impressions of the outside world in general, nevertheless focuses and concentrates his attention upon the one matter before him. This is quite a different thing from making oneself sensitive to every current of thought and feeling that may be in the psychic atmosphere. True concentration renders one positive, while the other methods render one negative. Contrary to the common opinion, psychic concentration is a positive state, not a negative--an active state, not a passive one. The person who is able to concentrate strongly is a master, while one who opens himself to "control," either physical or astral, is more or less of a slave to other minds.
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