For thousands of years such phenomena have been studied, investigated, and
generalised, the whole ground of the religious faculties of man has been
analysed, and the practical result is the science of Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga
does not, after the unpardonable manner of some modern scientists, deny the
existence of facts which are difficult to explain; on the other hand, it
gently yet in no uncertain terms tells the superstitious that miracles, and
answers to prayers, and powers of faith, though true as facts, are not
rendered comprehensible through the superstitious explanation of attributing
them to the agency of a being, or beings, above the clouds. It declares
that each man is only a conduit for the infinite ocean of knowledge and
power that lies behind mankind. It teaches that desires and wants are in
man, that the power of supply is also in man; and that wherever and whenever
a desire, a want, prayer has been fulfilled, it was out of this infinite
magazine that the supply came, and not from any supernatural being. The
idea of supernatural beings may rouse to a certain extent the power of
action in man, but it also brings spiritual decay. It brings dependence; it
brings fear; it brings superstition. It degenerates into a horrible belief
in the natural weakness in man. There is no supernatural says the Yogi, but
there are in nature gross manifestations and subtle manifestations. The
subtle are the causes, the gross the effects. The gross can be easily
perceived by the senses; not so the subtle. The practice of Raja Yoga will
lead to the acquisition of the more subtle perceptions.

To be continued.............

(from the preface)