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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 4 - Illumination
2. The transfer of the consciousness from a lower vehicle into a higher is part of the great creative and evolutionary process. This is a very free translation but conveys a clear interpretation of the truth to be grasped. The evolution of consciousness and the effect of that evolution upon the vehicles in which the conscious entity functions, is the sum total of the [382] processes of nature and from the standpoint of the intelligent human unit, three words cover the process and the result. These words are, transfer, transmutation, and transformation. One of the basic laws in occult development and in spiritual unfoldment is given in the words "As a man thinketh, so is he," and to it one can link the oriental truism. "Energy follows thought" as an explanation. As a man changes his desires, so he changes himself; as he shifts his consciousness from one objective to another, so he alters himself, and this is true in all realms and states, higher or lower. The effect of the transference of our conscious thinking state from a low objective to a high one produces a flow of energy of a vibratory quality equivalent to the higher objective. This produces a change or a mutation in the vestures of the thinking entity, and they become transmuted and brought to a condition where they are adequate to the thought or desire of the man. Carried to their conclusion, a transformation is produced, and the words of St. Paul become therefore clear: "Be ye therefore transformed by the renewing of your mind." Change your line of thought and you will change your nature. Desire that which is true and right, pure and holy, and your consciousness of these things will create out of the old a new vehicle or new man, an "instrument meet for use." This transfer, transmutation and eventual transformation is due to one of two methods: [383] A slow method, that of repeated lives, experiences and physical incarnation until eventually the driving force of the evolutionary process brings a man, stage by stage, up the great ladder of evolution. A more rapid process, wherein through such a system as outlined by Patanjali and as taught by all the custodians of the mysteries of religion, a man definitely takes himself in hand, and through conformity to the rules and the laws laid down, brings himself, by his own effort, to a state of spiritual unfoldment. It might be noted here that these three processes bring a man to that initiation called the Transfiguration.
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