Being, in order that you may control the lower principles by the force of
your awakened Will, which Will depends upon your degree of consciousness
of the Real Self.

As man grows in understanding and consciousness of the Real Self, so does
his ability to use his Will grow. Will is the attribute of the Real Self.
It is well that this great realization of the Real Self brings with it
Love for all of Life, and Kindness, for, were it not so, the Will that
comes to him who grows into a realization of his real being could be used
to the great hurt of those of the race who had not progressed so far
(their _relative_ hurt, we mean, for in the end, and at the last, no soul
is ever really _hurt_). But the dawning power brings with it greater Love
and Kindness, and the higher the soul mounts the more is it filled with
the higher ideals and the more does it throw from it the lower animal
attributes. It is true that some souls growing into a consciousness of
their real nature, without an understanding of what it all means, may
commit the error of using the awakened Will for selfish ends, as may be
seen in the cases of the Black Magicians spoken of in the occult
writings, and also in the cases of well known characters in history and
in modern life, who manifest an enormous Will which they misuse. All of
this class of people of great Will have stumbled or grown blindly into a
consciousness (or partial consciousness) of the real nature, but lack the
restraining influence of the higher teachings. But such misuse of the
Will brings pain and unrest to the user, and he is eventually driven into
the right road.

We do not expect our students to grasp fully this idea of the Expansion
of Self. Even the highest grasp it only partially. But until you get a
glimmering of the consciousness you will not be able to progress far
on the path of Raja Yoga. You must understand _what you are_, before you