This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1837 edition. Excerpt: ...his text, gives the word as in the Bhdshya, yatrakdmdvasayitwam; and explains it, 'he who accomplishes his desires, to whatever they may be directed:1 and he illustrates it by saying that' an arhat, or Bauddha saint, can, by virtue of this faculty, convert poison into ambrosia, and administer it as means of vitality.' XXIV. Consciousness is egotism. Thence proceeds a twofold creation. The elevenfold set is one: the five elemental rudiments are the other. BHASHYA. The elevenfold set: the eleven organs. The five elemental rudiments: elementary matter of five kinds, or the rudiments, sound, touch, form, flavour, and odour. What sort of creation proceeds from that which is thus defined is next explained. COMMENT. The third category is here specified, and described as the source of the senses and their respective objects. The term here given as the synonyme and definition of ' egotism, ' ahankdra f, is abhimdna, translated 'consciousness.' The ordinary sense of both words is pride, and the technical import is 'the pride or conceit of individuality;' 'self-sufficiency;' the notion that'1 do, I feel, I think, I am, ' as explained by Vachespati: '1 alone preside and have power over all that is perceived and known, and all these objects of sense are for my use. There is no other supreme except I; I Am. This pride, from its exclusive (selfish) application, is egotism.' The principle, therefore, is something more in Hindu metaphysics than mere consciousness, or conscience. It might be better expressed, perhaps, by 'le moi, ' as it adds to the simple conception of individuality the notion of self-property, the concentration of all objects and interests and feelings in the individual. The other synonymes of this category express rather modifications of...

Reprint of the original, first published in 1837.

How does the soul relate to the body? Through the ages, innumerable religious and intellectual movements have proposed answers to this question. Many have gravitated to the notion of the "subtle body," positing some sort of subtle entity that is neither soul nor body, but some mixture of the two. Simon Cox traces the history of this idea from the late Roman Empire to the present day, touching on how philosophers, wizards, scholars, occultists, psychologists, and mystics have engaged with the idea over the past two thousand years. This study is an intellectual history of the subtle body concept from its origins in late antiquity through the Renaissance into the Euro-American counterculture of the 1960's and 70's. It begins with a prehistory of the idea, rooted as it is in third-century Neoplatonism. It then proceeds to the signifier "subtle body" in its earliest English uses amongst the Cambridge Platonists. After that, it looks forward to those Orientalist fathers of Indology, who, in their earliest translations of Sanskrit philosophy relied heavily on the Cambridge Platonist lexicon, and thereby brought Indian philosophy into what had hitherto been a distinctly platonic discourse. At this point, the story takes a little reflexive stroll into the source of the author's own interest in this strange concept, looking at Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical import, expression, and popularization of the concept. Cox then zeroes in on Aleister Crowley, focusing on the subtle body in fin de siècle occultism. Finally, he turns to Carl Jung, his colleague Frederic Spiegelberg, and the popularization of the idea of the subtle body in the Euro-American counterculture. This book is for anyone interested in yogic, somatic, or energetic practices, and will be very useful to scholars and area specialists who rely on this term in dealing with Hindu, Daoist, and Buddhist texts.