Eight Lectures
on
Yoga
by
Aleister Crowley
PDF Edition by
Dr. Greg Wotton
2001
Public Domain Document
yoga for yahoos
First Lecture
First Principles
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
It is my will to explain the subject of Yoga in clear language, without resort to jargon or the
enunciation of fantastic hypotheses, in order that this great science may be thoroughly understood
as of universal importance.
For, like all great things, it is simple; but, like all great things, it is masked by confused thinking;
and, only too often, brought into contempt by the machinations of knavery.
There is more nonsense talked and written about Yoga than about anything else in the world. Most
of this nonsense, which is fostered by charlatans, is based upon the idea that there is something
mysterious and Oriental about it. There isn't. Do not look to me for obelisks and odalisques,
rahat loucoum, bul-buls, or any other tinsel imagery of the Yoga-mongers. I am neat but not
gaudy. There is nothing mysterious or Oriental about anything, as everybody knows who has spent
a little time intelligently in the continents of Asia and Africa. I propose to invoke the most remote
and elusive of all Gods to throw clear light upon the subject -- the light of common sense.
All phenomena of which we are aware take place in our own minds, and therefore the only thing
we have to look at is the mind; which is a more constant quantity over all the species of humanity
than is generally supposed. What appear to be radical differences, irreconcilable by argument, are
usually found to be due to the obstinacy of habit produced by generations of systematic sectarian
training.
We must then begin the study of Yoga by looking at the meaning of the word. It means Union, from
the same Sanskrit root as the Greek word Ζευγµα, the Latin word jugum, and the English word
yoke. (√Yeug -- to join.)
When a dancing girl is dedicated to the service of a temple there is a Yoga of her relations to
celebrate. Yoga, in short, may be translated 'tea figh