loving and serving him like a faithful dog.  So will you tap on to his inner forces.  And when he sends you away into the broad world to live out the great ideal he has set before you, you shall be astonished at your courage and power.  You shall take fearless possession of this world and every minute you shall realise how only he can command who has learnt to obey.  By commanding I do not mean dominating any one and forcing your views on others.  This is the sign of fools.  But you will find your influence radiating and circling out naturally and irresistibly, winning souls to the higher life, and you yourself shall thus stand as a tower of strength, a redeemer of the race, an inspiration and a living benediction unto humanity.  Peace be with you!  May you realise strength of soul!

LESSON II.

PERSONAL MAGNETISM, WILL-CULTURE, SELF-CONTROL.

Personal Magnetism is the individual expression of a subtle irresistible and dynamic Force in man, which enables him to exert an unusual influence upon others.  You all have come into contact with men of this type.  They are endowed with marvelous, almost miraculous powers of influencing, persuading, attracting, fascinating, ruling and bending to their own Will-Force men of widely varying mental peculiarities and temperaments.  Men actually go out of their way to please them.  They attract others without any visible effort and others feel drawn to them in spite of themselves.  Various are the examples of such power as afforded by history.

Now what is this power due to?  How to develop it within yourself?  Is it possible for everyone to acquire it?  Has it or can it be put to any higher and nobler use than merely to enslave others’ minds in order to make them subservient to your selfish purposes on the relative plane of existence?  If so, what is that higher use?  I know of a Christian gentleman, Mr. K. by name, who had been smitten with the young governess of a Magistrate in Benares.  This grown-up man sought out a young College student who was a born leader of men and who was adored, admired and universally respected by all students, teachers and professors.  “I wish you would teach me Mesmerism so that I may fascinate that girl”—­this was the application of Mr. K. Well, the upshot of it all was that Mr. K. got a severe and stern rebuke from the young mesmerist, who in all truth was a born Yogi and cared not for the petty ways and small thoughts and attainments of men of this world.  I find that nearly all modern Western writers on and teachers of this subject are much, in fact solely, taken up with the idea of sensationalism through Occultism, so much so that when a really thoughtful man investigates their writings he feels utterly disgusted, repelled and horrified at the very name of Occultism. “It is sin to manifest power,” said Vivekananda.  The man who studies Yoga and Occultism simply with a view to develop, display and demonstrate Psychic