the Equinox - The Hermetic Library

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING
principles. I follow such openings or cavities as there may be, according to the
natural constitution of the animal. A good cook changes his chopper once a year,
because he cuts. An ordinary cook once a month—because he hacks. But I have
had this chopper nineteen years, and although I have cut up many thousand
bullocks, its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone.*
MANTRA YOGA. Union through Speech.
This type of Yoga consists in repeating a name or a
sentence or verse over and over again until the speaker and
the word spoken become one in perfect concentration.
Usually speaking it is used as an adjunct to some other
practice, under one or more of the other Yoga methods. Thus
the devotee to the God Shiva will repeat his name over and
over again until at length the great God opens his Eye and the
world is destroyed.
Some of the most famous mantras are:
“Aum mani padme Hum.”
“Aum Shivaya Vashi.”
“Aum Tat Sat Aum.”
“Namo Shivaya namaha Aum.”
The pranava AUM† plays an important part throughout
the whole of Indian Yoga, and especially is it considered
sacred by the Mantra-Yogi, who is continually using it. To
pronounce it properly the “A” is from the throat, the “U” in
the middle, and the “M” at the lips. This typifies the whole
course of breath.
* “Yoga or Transformation,” p. 196. Control, or Restraint, is the Key to
Karma Yoga; weakness is its damnation. Of the Karma Yogi Vivekânanda
writes: “He goes through the streets of a big city with all their traffic, and his
mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could reach him;
and he is intensely working all the time.” “Karma Yoga,” p. 17.
† See Vivekânanda’s “Bhakti-Yoga,” pp. 62-68.
71