I’ve only read the first two chapters of the book, and my overall impressions are for the most part positive. Although it may be a bit of a distraction from the main focus of the thread, I’m sure the intent is to use this in the process of energizing yoga.
The book talks a lot about manas and so I thought I would provide some background information for anyone who may not be familiar. Manas is one of the twenty-five principles of Samkhya. In the Samkhya scheme of evolution, manas is one of the eleven indriyas which evolve from Ahamkara, or the principle of self. The word indriya means “instrument”, like a microphone is an instrument for changing the form of sound waves, or a radio is an instrument for receiving radio waves. There are two categories of indriyas. First, there are the indriyas of cognition, which are the five senses. Second, there are the indriyas of action, which include locomotion, grasping, reproduction, elimination, and speech. Manas is the sattvic indriya which controls and coordinates the other indriyas, having characteristics of both cognition and action.
The indriyas all have a corresponding object in the material world. For the indriya of sight, the object is light or color; for hearing, sound; for smell, odor; for taste, flavor; for touch, form. Likewise the instruments of action have their corresponding objects in the form of desire. In the same way, the object of the individual manas is thought.
Yogananda talks about an atmoshpere of thought. This is the principle of manas having universal application. If we think of the atmosphere of thought as a sea of radio waves, then the individual manas would be like a radio receiver and transmitter. The essence of what Yogananda is saying, is that we need to learn to tune into and transmit on the desirable frequencies, and filter out the undesirable static.
