Patanjali revisted: the exhilaration of yoga

 

Patanjali is surely the most ancient and precise of ancient psychotherapist, neuroscientist and psychologist rolled into one. He is, and I say that without intending any hyperbole, far ahead of those in these field today.

 

Whenever I read his terse verses and with whatever interpretation, I always experience goosebumps.

I want to spend the next year trying to reconstruct his verses into my practice as an everyday, every moment experience.

 

Here, in just two verses, right the beginning of his treatise, he throws the gauntlet at you (Chapter 1: verse 2/3)

 

Yogsch citta vritti nirodah

Tada drastuh svarupe avastanam

 

 

So much meaning in so few words: Yoga means stopping the mind's oscillations.

Then (then) the witness shines in his own splendor.

 

The first part appears easy enough. By the time you swoop into trying to understand the following part, already the mind's oscillations set in..

 

And what is now, at this phase of my yoga practice is so exhilarating, is the clarity towards the desire to reach that stillness .. mumukshutva..no fake silence, the real thing!

 

 

 

 

 

Dharma thoughts: its just about remembering

Prachi, my student who think is more like a little guru to me, once said that some of us feel like aliens in this world perhaps because we are from some oth

er part of the universe. And maybe we are homesick. And then, any case, as all the philosophies assure us -- this lifetime would pass in a blink and we would have made this one part of a whole package of  lifetimes. Adi Shankaracharya says we have to go  through 84 lakh lifetimes to come to this human state which gets a glimmer of the cosmic truth. So, maybe it is all just a rite of passage and we would be past this life, too, in a jiffy.
All of this life, mirage, as all the Saints say, would not matter at all.  Why does that idea offer relief! For those of us being buoyed by a spiritual momentum, there is something very soothing about that thought! Others may fret, and crave a longer life or possibly a deathless state!

Here is Buddha's quote and was he saying the same thing?
"You will forget
and your mind
will lead you away from yourself
Remembrance will lead you home. "

I recall how in Laghu Yoga Vasistha translated by K Narayanaswami Aiyer the world is depicted as a mirage like thing, unreal as  to a child born of a woman married to a reflection. I tried to dig out the quote but could not find it today. But it is an exhilarating quote that speaks of the world in quantum terms, as an image that whose only reality is that it is unreal.

It seems some of us want something that is not of this world. Listen to this Sufi quote:
He (God) asked me, "Bayazid, what do you want."
I replied , "I want what you want."
God was pleaseand said
I am yours and you are Mine."
Shaykh Bayazid Bistami.
 

Will power: it is not about winning

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Here is a beautiful definition by Ramana Maharishi on will power. We have been taught it wrong by our care-taker generation that was ahead of us --  our parents, our teachers, our leaders have made it out that will power is about succeeding always. Ramana says it is actually about trying, come what may. And also, it adds up to equipoise whatever the result.
 How elegant that definition is.. how sophisticated. The way we have been taught about will power -- it is aggressive, competitive and conflicting and leaves us dissatisfied at having tried, if we did not succeed. Our definition of will power is designed to makes us restive and unhappy!

Here is Ramana's definition:
"Your idea of will power is success insured. Will power should be understood to be the strength of mind which makes it capable  of meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one's attempts be always attended with success? Success develops arrogance and the man's spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure on the other hand is beneficial, in as much as it opens the man's eyes to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself. Self surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness. Therefore one should try to gain the equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is will-power. Again success and failure are results of prarabhdha and not of will-power, "
 

Monkey mind: even the intellect is suspect!

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The big thing that surfaced, after years of meditation, is the idea that one's own awareness can actually be spiritually disturbing. That the awareness becomes a trigger for extroverting the mind, and thus, it actually ruins it from its steadiness of fixed intention on THAT. It was such a shock when this surfaced, like scum on top of already turgid water. Because awareness itself was born of intense meditation..So, you suddenly appreciate what Ramana suggests -- it is work, and constant work, of meditation till your mind becomes crystal clear, from the trying...

Here is how awareness/which I  believe is triggered by the intellect (referred in yoga as buddhi) can interfere and disturb you from remembering That, if not watched out for. From the words of Swami Niranjananda in his latest book which I've just acquired: Mind, mind management and Raja yoga



Buddhi is of two types : firm and negotiable. The firm buddhi denotes firmness of nature, idea, thought and knowledge. You are not oscillating, vacillating and fluctuating in your thoughts, ideas and perceptions.  That firmness and clarity is the decided inteligence nischatyatmika buddhi, the stable buddhi. The fluctuating nature vyavasayatmika buddhi.

Most of the time, it is the negotiable buddhi that is active in you.

When buddhi is not used properly, it becomes clouded. Buddhi is also the source of all passions and desires. When vasanas become strong, then the colour of buddhi changes completely. It is similar to ink being mixed with water. If black ink is mixed into a glass of clear water the entire coulor of water will change.

Feng Shui for your mind:)

I have always sniffed at rituals, but am a bit more humble towards things I do not know much about, these days. So, with this struggle with maintaining an open mind (because I used to think ritualistic people are really very rigid people, with set beliefs) I was intrigued to find Harish Johari, whom I respect a lot as a great yoga master, in his book Tools for Tantra suggest that rituals actually regulate and tame the R-brain in us, the ancient mind that is serpentine. That is a powerful suggestion. There must be something there.

So, while browsing through this book on Feng Shui, I find that you can create your spiritual space with care too and make your mind more keen with that sort of awareness (in fact, Swami Sivananda also suggests that the place where you meditate should be exclusive and not open to anybody, even family).

So, this Feng Shui book suggests tha t your
*revive stagnant chi by opening it to sun or wind
* chants are good to move the chi in
* vertical plants create a dynamic chi
*clear clutter
*Clarify your thoughts and remember what you think permeates your space. Have clean thoughts:)!

Awareness is of two kinds

There are two kinds of awareness. One is an awareness that is very keen, alive, tense, the ready-to-pounce, do-something kind of awareness. Another is a watchful one. The first one seems to be a more effective weapon. But actually not. Like a knife, when it is sharpened too often can become too thin, bend when it must actually thrust, this gross awareness fails when the actual action must be done. The other (subtle) awareness is a state which is aware of this `overzealous awareness'. In that sense it a consciousness, a state of mind -- not intense, but a stepping-back. Because it is very subtle, like a sword hidden in a scabbard we often worry it will not be effective in the hour of need. Also, most of us don't even know that this subtle awareness exists. Just as only a trained soldier can skilfully draw a sword out of the scabbard when it is needed, so also only an involuted, intensely aware mind can see the subtle states of consciousness within oneself. Since this consciousness is very subtle it is also difficult to whip it up in an hour of need. It cannot be cultivated. But your own awareness of this subtle awareness may, however, be cultivated. Through meditation.

When there must be something done, as your mind begins to crowd with things which need to be done (first, gross state of awareness), you must become intensely, continuously aware to tell your own mind to back off. This is very subtle, but powerful way to actually do anything in life. I have noticed, when I write something elegant it does not happen because I am agonising about the words. It happens naturally. My hard work is only involved in becoming aware of the information I wish to project. I often do not need to organise this info even. At a very subtle level, the sub-conscious has actually done all the organising, so that when I write it (the mind) automatically organises everything. In such cases, you can say I am not working, but enjoying the act of writing. So, though the action may be the same, the state of mind or consciousness are different. This is what decides the quality of work: as happens when two people do the same thing the results may vary due to their different mental awareness while doing it. If you transpose this image of two different people, and accept that we ourselves keep switching between several states of awareness, you will appreciate that a continuous state of subtle awareness which watches this constant make-overs we do to ourselves, is a more important thing. In that state, you reach a level where you do not become tired, but are in a flow. I am afraid I cannot even say it is a super-fun state because that would again bring it back to a very mundane level of words and normal experiences. Such a state of awareness is beyond all that, beyond such props. It is a state of steadiness, very pure.


So, the sum of what I have said is that we must, those of us who want to be spiritual, healthy, balanced, content, productive in life, must cultivate an awareness which is not a rajasic one, but a subtle state of consciousness which has stepped back, watching the action unfold in front. In this state there is no fear.