In Search of the Miraculous

of fresh sacrifices, fresh hardships, fresh renunciations. A monk has to become a yogi and a fakir. Very few get as far as this; even fewer overcome all difficulties. Most of them either die before this or become monks in outward appearance only.

"The third way is the way of the yogi. This is the way of knowledge, the way of

mind. The way of the yogi consists in working on the third room and in striving to

enter the fourth room by means of knowledge. The yogi reaches the fourth room by

developing his mind, but his body and emotions remain undeveloped and, like the

fakir and the monk, he is unable to make use of the results of his attainment. He

knows everything but can do nothing. In order to begin to do he must gain the mastery

over his body and emotions, that is, over the first and second rooms. To do this he

must again set to work and again obtain results by means of prolonged efforts. In this

case however he has the advantage of understanding his position, of knowing what he

lacks, what he must do, and in what direction he must go. But, as on the way of the

fakir or the monk, very few acquire this understanding on the way of the yogi, that is,

that level in his work on which a man knows where he is going. A great many stop at

one particular achievement and go no further.

"The ways also differ from each other by their relation to the teacher or leader.

"On the way of the fakir a man has no teacher in the true sense of the word. The

teacher in this case does not teach but simply serves as an example. The pupil's work

consists in imitating the teacher.

"On the way of the monk a man has a teacher, and a part of his duty, a part of his

work, consists in having absolute faith in the teacher, in submitting to him absolutely,

in obedience. But the chief thing on the way of the monk is faith in God, in the love of God, in constant efforts to obey and serve God, although, in his understanding of the

idea of God and of serving God, there may be much that is subjective and contradictory.

"On the way of the yogi a man can do nothing, and must do nothing, without a

teacher. In the beginning he must imitate his teacher like the fakir and believe in him

like the monk. But, afterwards, a man on the way of the yogi gradually becomes his

own teacher. He learns his teacher's methods and gradually learns to apply them to

himself.

"But all the ways, the way of the fakir as well as the way of the monk and the way

of the yogi, have one thing in common. They all begin with the most difficult thing,

with a complete change of life, with a renunciation of all worldly things. A man must

give up his home, his family if he has one, renounce all the pleasures, attachments,

and duties of life, and go out into the desert, or into a monastery or a yogi school.

From the very first day, from the very first step on his way, he must die to the world;

only thus can he hope to attain anything on one of these ways.

"In order to grasp the essence of this teaching it is necessary clearly to understand the idea that the ways are the only possible methods for the development of man's hidden possibilities. This in turn shows how difficult and rare such development is.

The development of these possibilities is not a law. The law for man is existence in the

circle of mechanical influences, the state of 'man-machine.' The way of the

development of hidden possibilities is a way against nature, against God. This

explains the difficulties and the exclusiveness of the ways. The ways are narrow and

strait. But at the same time only by them can anything be attained. In the general mass

of everyday life, especially modern life, the ways are a small, quite imperceptible

phenomenon which, from the point of view of life, need not exist at all. But this small

phenomenon contains in itself all that man has for the development of his hidden possibilities. The ways are opposed to everyday life, based upon other principles and

subject to other laws. In this consists their power and their significance. In everyday

life, even in a life filled with scientific, philosophical, religious, or social interests, there is nothing, and there can be nothing, which could give the possibilities which are contained in the ways. The ways lead, or should lead, man to immortality.

Everyday life, even at its best, leads man to death and can lead to nothing eke. The

idea of the ways cannot be understood if the possibility of man's evolution without

their help is admitted.

"As a rule it is hard for man to reconcile himself to this thought; it seems to him

exaggerated, unjust, and absurd. He has a poor understanding of the meaning of the

word 'possibility.' He fancies that if he has any possibilities in himself they must be

developed and that there must be means for their development in his environment.

From a total refusal to acknowledge in himself any possibilities whatever, man