184 SKETCH OF THE 



order, intended chiefly for men of learning ; the two latter admitting mem- 

 bers from every description of people, and possessing a more attractive 

 popular character. 



The term Jogi or Yogi, is properly applicable to the followers of the 

 Yoga, or Pdtanjala school of philosophy, which, amongst other tenets, 

 maintained the practicability of acquiring, even in life, entire command 

 over elementary matter, by means of certain ascetic practices. The 

 details of these it is unnecessary to particularize, and accounts of them and 

 of the Yoga philosophy, will be best derived from the translation of Bhoja 

 Devas' Comment on the Pdtanjala Sutras, in Ward's Account of the Hindus, 

 and Mr. Colebrooke's Essay on the S&nkkya and Pdtanjala doctrines, in 

 the 1st volume of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. It is 

 sufficient here to observe, that the practices consist chiefly of long con- 

 tinued suppressions of respiration ; of inhaling and exhaling the breath 

 in a particular manner ; of sitting in eighty-four different attitudes ; of 

 fixing the eyes on the top of the nose, and endeavouring, by the force of 

 mental abstraction, to effect a union between the portion of vital spirit 

 residing in the body and that which pervades all nature, and is identical 

 with Siva, considered as the supreme being, and source and essence of all 

 creation. When this mystic union is effected, the Yogi is liberated in 

 his living body, from the clog of material incumbrance, and acquires an 

 entire command over all worldly substance. He can make himself lighter 

 than the lightest substances, heavier than the heaviest ; can become as 

 vast, or as minute as he pleases, can traverse all space, can animate 

 any dead body, by transferring his spirit into it from his own frame, can 

 render himself invisible, can attain all objects, becomes equally acquaint- 

 ed with the past, present, and future, and is finally united with Siva, 

 and consequently exempted from being born again upon earth. These 

 super-human faculties are acquired, in various degrees, according to the 



