Thought Power

General description

T. Subba Row defined Kriya-shakti (the power of thought) as follows:

The mysterious power of thought which enables it to produce external, perceptible, phenomenal results by its own inherent energy. The ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally if one's attention is deeply concentrated upon it. Similarly an intense volition will be followed by the desired result.

Mme. Blavatsky referred to Kriya-Shakti as: "The power of thought; one of the seven forces of Nature. Creative potency of the Siddhis (powers) of the full Yogis."

This power in latent in all human beings, but it is not strong enough to produce external phenomena, unless it is awakened by yogic training:

Kriyasakti [is] that mysterious and divine power latent in the will of every man, and which, if not called to life, quickened and developed by Yogi-training, remains dormant in 999,999 men out of a million, and gets atrophied.

However, our thoughts are constantly producing effects on the inner planes:

Thoreau pointed out that there are artists in life, persons who can change the colour of a day and make it beautiful to those with whom they come in contact. We claim that there are adepts, masters in life who make it divine, as in all other arts. Is it not the greatest art of all, this which affects the very atmosphere in which we live? That it is the most important is seen at once, when we remember that every person who draws the breath of life affects the mental and moral atmosphere of the world, and helps to colour the day for those about him. Those who do not help to elevate the thoughts and lives of others must of necessity either paralyse them by indifference, or actively drag them down. When this point is reached, then the art of life is converted into the science of death; we see the black magician at work. And no one can be quite inactive. Although many bad books and pictures are produced, still not everyone who is incapable of writing or painting well insists on doing so badly. Imagine the result if they were to! Yet so it is in life. Everyone lives, and thinks, and speaks. If all our readers who have any sympathy with [the journal] Lucifer endeavoured to learn the art of making life not only beautiful but divine, and vowed no longer to be hampered by disbelief in the possibility of this miracle, but to commence the Herculean task at once, then 1888, however unlucky a year, would have been fitly ushered in by the gleaming star.

The first and most important step in occultism is to learn how to adapt your thoughts and ideas to your plastic potency . . . because otherwise you are creating things by which you may be making bad Karma. No one should go into occultism or even touch it before he is perfectly acquainted with his own powers, and that he knows how to commensurate it with his actions. And this he can do only by deeply studying the philosophy of Occultism before entering upon the practical training. Otherwise, as sure as fate—HE WILL FALL INTO BLACK MAGIC.

There are persons who can kill toads by merely looking at them, and can even slay individuals. The malignance of their desire brings evil forces to a focus, and the death-dealing bolt is projected, as though it were a bullet from a rifle.

Evil eye

The evil eye . . . simply means possessing enormous plastic power of imagination working involuntarily, and thus turned unconsciously to bad uses. For what is the power of the “evil eye”? Simply a great plastic power of thought, so great as to produce a current impregnated with the potentiality of every kind of misfortune and accident, which inoculates, or attaches itself to any person who comes within it. A jettatore (one with the evil eye) need not be even imaginative, or have evil intentions or wishes. He may be simply a person who is naturally fond of witnessing or reading about sensational scenes, such as murder, executions, accidents, etc., etc. He may be not even thinking of any of these at the moment his eye meets his future victim. But the currents have been produced and exist in his visual ray ready to spring into activity the instant they find suitable soil, like a seed fallen by the way and ready to sprout at the first opportunity.

The jettatura, or evil eye, is nothing but the direction of this invisible fluid, charged with malicious will and hatred, from one person to another, and sent out with the intention of harming him. It may equally be employed for a good or evil purpose. In the former case it is magic; in the latter, sorcery.

See also

• Kriya-Shakti

Online resources

Articles and Pamphlets

• Kriyāśakti at Theosopedia
• Thoughts of the Dead by H. P. Blavatsky
• The Creative Power of Thought by A. Trevor Barker
• A Word on Man, His Nature and His Powers by Annie Besant
• Thought Power and Gratitude by Barbara Hebert
• Kriyashakti by Raghavan Iyer
• Power and Use of Thought by C.W. Leadbeater
• Manifestation of Intention through Visualisation by Pablo Sender
• Power of Thought at Theosophical.org

Books

• Thought Power - Its Control and Culture by Annie Besant

Audios

• The Power Of Thought by Jack Patterson

Videos

• The Power of Thought to Change Our Inner and Outer Worlds by Tim Boyd
• The Power of Thought in Regeneration by Dora Kunz
• The Power of Thought and Its Use by Pablo Sender