How can the practice of yoga explained?
It is the restraining of the mind-stuff from taking certain forms.
Samadhi, yoga is the restraining of the fluctuations which normally occur in the mind. It implies stilling the mind.
‘Be still and know that I am God’.
Psalm 46:10
The psalm refers to the inner stillness of the mind.
What disturbs our mind? Is it primarily a reaction to external events triggered by circumstances and desires?
How do major events influence the mind?
We may not be able to control circumstances; we can control how we think about them.
Causes of mental pain? Explain –
i) Attachment of the mind to the outcomes of events
ii) Attachment to desire or aversion
iii) Our unrealistic expectations
What are coping mechanisms?
i) Knowledge
ii) Experience
iii) Prayer
iv) Believe
v) Faith
Yoga states that he, who has succeeded in attaching or detaching his mind from events at will, has gained control over his mind.
What does this imply? - Being active rather than reactive.
How can control over the mind be achieved?
i) We sit still for some time and let the mind run wherever it wants; we simply wait and watch until the mind becomes calm. This should be done on an ongoing basis.
ii) The next step is to focus the mind on a certain external or internal object and exclude all other thoughts from penetrating the mind.
iii) Super-conscious meditation.
iv) By the realization and or acceptance that one’s true nature is Spiritual and that the mind is under the control of the spirit within.
What would be the result a controlled mind?
i) The determining faculty of the mind would merge into the Self or one’s essence.
A look at how the undisciplined mind works.
i) On the conscious level all activity is accompanied by the feeling of I.
ii) On the unconscious level, as in dreamless sleep, there is no feeling of I, no ego.
iii) There is yet still a higher state on which the mind can work, which is the super- conscious level.
iv) However, just as there is no I, or ego on the unconscious level, there is no I on the super-conscious level either.
The question then arises how does one know whether he functions on the unconscious or super-conscious level?
The answer is by its effects.
When in deep sleep one enters a state inferior to that of super-consciousness. The body functions, it does breathe, but it is unaware of the I, the ego. When one awakens, he does so with the same personality is the same that he had before he went to sleep. Nothing changes, except the feeling of having had a good rest.
However, when coming out of the super-conscious or samadhi state, one appears different, even enlightened.One’s personality undergoes changes.
This in short, explains the idea of samadhi.
So what’s the big deal?
Ordinarily our field of reasoning or the conscious working of the mind is limited. It is as if moving within a box or in a circle, one cannot really move beyond its borders. The boarders may expand or contract, but they are still remain boarders into which we may collect more information, but often only to support our already excising limited points of view.
Yet it is beyond this circle that there lies all that humanity holds most dear.
It is here where we can realize, that all the questions whether we are an immortal soul, whether there is a God, or a Supreme intelligence guiding the universes, are revealed.
All our ethical theories, our moral attitudes, all that are good and great in human nature, have been moulded by answers that have come from beyond the circle.
It is here where we realize that actual knowing lies beyond reason and until one attains to that state of consciousness, he has to accept ultimate truth or reality by faith alone. This is what many religions teach.
The purpose of yoga is Self and God realization. This is ultimate freedom, liberation, perfection while still in the body.
‘Be ye therefore perfect as thy Father in heaven is perfect’.
Matthew 5:48
No comments:
Post a Comment