as 4. Attention 5. Obstacles to Yoga 6. Capacities for Yoga 7. Forthgoing and
Returning 8. Purification of Bodies 9. Dwellers on the Threshold 10. Preparation
for Yoga 11. The End
Lecture I
THE NATURE OF YOGA
In this first discourse we shall concern ourselves with the gaining of a general
idea of the subject of Yoga, seeking its place in nature, its own character,
its object in human evolution.
The Meaning of the Universe
Let us, first of all, ask ourselves, looking at the world around us, what it
is that the history of the world signifies. When we read history, what does
the history tell us? It seems to be a moving panorama of people and events,
but it is really only a dance of shadows; the people are shadows, not realities,
the kings and statesmen, the ministers and armies; and the eventsÄ the
battles and revolutions, the rises and falls of states Äare the most shadowlike
dance of all. Even if the historian tries to go deeper, if he
