by Charles F. Haanel

Yoga is an ancient philosophy of India. A Yogi is one who makes a practice of that Philosophy. An Adept is a Yogi who has become proficient in the practice of that Philosophy.

A Master is a Yogi who has apparently conquered the forces of Nature and thus seems to work miracles, although he is simply putting into practice Universal Laws which he has come to understand. He has acquired the wisdom with which to manipulate the invisible forces of Nature.

He knows that the invisible controls the visible; that it is the mind that controls the Man; the steam that controls the engine; the electrical reactions which control most of the industrial processes in the world today.

The objective is the visible; the subjective is the invisible. The objective and subjective mutually interact upon each other; but the power is in the subjective. There can be no changes in the objective without change first occurring in the subjective.

Surrounding this physical body of ours, there is an exact counterpart of our physical body, composed of an ethereal substance, of a very high rate of vibration. It is neither mere matter nor yet is it mere force. It is composed of something very fine, but far more tenacious than anything that is known as matter.

This Akasa material of the body, in the Science of the Yogi, is the super-sensitive substance which pervades all space and enters into all bodies; it is the body that is formed out of this substance which is called the Astral Body.

The energy which is generated by this psychic body and which permeates the physical is Prana or “the breath of Life.” Without such vibratory force, the body would return to the original earthly elements of which it is composed—dust to dust.

The astral is the vital part of us [Akasa], the actual cloak of the Soul. The physical is merely propelled by the astral energy [Prana] and enables you to act upon the physical plane.

Yoga Philosophy is neither strange or mysterious.

Mystery mongering is weakening. Because a philosophy is not understood it is not necessarily mysterious. The unusual power of the so-called Adepts and Yogis is simply the result of an understanding of certain Natural Laws which all may possess.

The Yoga Philosophy was discovered more than 4,000 years ago, and has been perfectly delineated, formulated and given clearly and concisely to the world by the ancient Masters.

A Yogi never lies or causes another to tell a lie, or approves of another doing so. The Yogi knows that the easiest way to be happy is to make others happy. The Yogi understands that he whom holds another down is just as much in bondage as the one held.

Yoga is the Science which develops the capacity of the human mind to respond to higher vibrations.

In fact, it makes one a receiving as well as a broadcasting station of radio activity, with the mind as the aerial. One can thus receive the unspoken thoughts of others from any distance. One can also broadcast one’s own thoughts and thus assist others to rise spiritually, or guide them when they are in difficulty.

All the miracles performed by the long line of Saints, Saviours and Sages of all times and in all climes, were due to the knowledge of Yoga, the grandest of all sciences.

It is the science which leads the initiate by easy gradations to the loftiest height of self-realization, until he stands face to face with the object of his search.

What the Western World calls Ether, the Yogi calls Prana.

Prana is the substance from which and by which is evolved everything that we call energy, power or force. The ability to understand the laws governing this Prana, therefore, opens the door to unlimited possibilities.

More than thirty centuries ago, the sages of India discovered that not only life, but health, longevity, wisdom, spiritual attainment and success, depend upon certain processes which are governed by immutable cosmic laws.

The internal nature is in direct contact with all nature, all persons and all things; and, for this reason, he who conquers the internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his servant.

Higher forces than we know in physical nature will be subdued. The body is but the externalisation of the mind. Mind and body are not different things; they are but two aspects of one thing.

The physical body is an electrical dynamo, and the astral body is simply the magnetic field of the individual, and the Hindu Sages after much investigation and experimentation found that the planetary vibrations, which reach us in invisible waves of different wave-lengths, change the polarity and valency of the astral body which controls all subconscious activities of the physical body.

The Yogi sages discovered that every thought changes the polarity and valency of the astral body. The change in thought influences the operation of the magnetic law of attraction and repulsion. Thus the person is drawn into a different environment, where he meets with failure or success, sorrow or happiness, loss or gain, disease or health.

As it is possible to regulate the thought activities, a sceptre of power has been placed in the hands of those who are initiated into the mysteries of Yogi Philosophy, by which they can become the architects of their own fortune and control their health, conditions and experiences.

The Astral Body, being composed of ethereal substance of a very high rate of vibration, is in direct contact with all other ethereal substance and with every other Astral Body in the same rate of vibration, just as a radio receiver can be attuned to any vibrations in the ether of the same wave length. Thus the internal forces control not only the body, but all external conditions and experiences.

In the development of this inner nature the perceptions get finer and finer until we begin to realize that we are in touch with a realm of consciousness which perhaps we may not have known was in existence. We have heretofore neglected this finer internal nature. We have looked at things from the outside rather than from within.

This something beyond our mind is called the “Cosmic Mind” which is greater than our Mind. To illustrate: The “Cosmic Mind” is the general power house, and we are dynamos through which the general power house distributes Its energy.

When the power of this truth is established in thought, word, and deed, he may say to a man, “Be blessed,” and that man will be blessed. If a man is diseased, and he says to him, “Be thou made whole,” it will be done.

Physical ability may have its limitations, but mental ability knows no bounds. It will penetrate to the remotest spot in the world, it will contact the Infinite, it will make the impossible possible.

Thought can bring us to the point where we can meet the Great and Glorious “First Cause,” and thus realize our Unity with the Source.

Excerpt from Amazing Secrets Of The Yogi