When through meditation & spiritual action the devotee
experiences the joy of the inner true Self, he is so satisfied that he has no
longer any cravings for the pleasure of the senses.
The Self or soul in expression has a dual function.
The outer, ego, pseudo soul, with its bodily instruments and
faculties to experience the outer world and the inner true Self (that which is
to be experienced by the ego, and which in turn then experiences God).
The outer nature of even the perfect sage retains at least some
degree of individualized consciousness, for without this, the soul could not
remain in the body, but would dissolve in Spirit.
Many people have a problem understanding why the Gita advises man
to do away with sense pleasure and to concentrate on the soul.
There could be no pleasure of the flesh except through the
delusive identification of the soul with the body and the senses. It is like
when a lover identifies with his beloved and thinks, that his happiness is
dependent on her and her alone.
The wise person perceives that his inner Self contains all the
bliss.
The wise person – muni withdraws his consciousness from the
distorted sense mind and focuses it on the soul. He realizes that the nature of
the soul is different from the nature of the body and because of this he does
not become upset when troubles invade the body. Nor does he become unduly
elated when fortunes come his way. He knows that his outer experiences are
transitory.
Thus, when the ego self is settled in the true Self, wisdom
paralyzing emotions do not affect the true yogi, since fear is caused by a
sense of impending misfortune.
The wise person, identified with the soul, never has cause for
alarm.
This is where we learn true discrimination, it is when we have
experienced the difference between soul peace and temporary sense pleasure.
Desire, attachment, anger, discrimination
The yogi is desire less and content in his true Self. He is free
from emotions because he is united with his inner soul nature. The Self
realized muni is at all times and under all conditions – in a state of
neutrality toward good and evil, he knows that it is the light and the shadow
pictures of creation that cause the ordinary person to react with pleasure and
pain.
This neutrality is not a heartless indifference, but a conscious
control and calming of his consciousness.
Two things are required of the wise man.
First he must withdraw his mind from the senses;
Second, he must keep his mind united in God.
The advanced yogi finds his senses ever obedient, well trained, and
subservient to the joy of God perception.
Control of the senses
To be free we must let go of attachment to the pleasures of the
world.
New age teachers often encourage their students to visualize
sensory happiness. This method produces an increasing attachment to that
feeling of attraction and eventually becomes an active desire for attainment,
giving birth to many cravings.
What is an issue with desire?
It is unfulfilled desires which enmesh one in anger. Uncontrolled
anger can have grave consequences.
Anger arises from non fulfillment of desires, good or bad.
Obstruction of good desires gives birth to a righteous anger:
“Jesus expelling the money changers from the temple”. Wrong
desires case a life of misery.
Anger has many detrimental effects on the body and mind. It
releases harmful chemicals into the body.
The psychological effects are equally important, they stupefy the
mind, as motor impulses override and hinder rational functions. We know what men
do when they are in a rage.
Thus, the Gita warns that anger gives birth to an enveloping
delusion, a state of psychological blindness.
The Hindu sages were experts in psychology. They recognized the
futility of merely laying down laws which are mostly broken.
How can we learn to control the senses?
Control of the senses is linked to control of prana or life force
in the body. In the sensory nerves, prana makes perception possible. All
messages of the senses, all pleasurable and painful sensations from the
periphery of the body, are reported to the brain through the medium of this
life energy. In the motor senses prana makes movement possible. It is
responsible for the activity of the involuntary organs. Thoughts and will
require its help to express themselves as action.
Prana holds the key to the bodily dwelling and to its inner
compartments of the brain and consciousness. It lets in or shuts out all
welcome and unwelcome visitors of sensations and actions, ACCORDING TO THE
GUIDANCE IT RECEIVES or the FREE REIGN it is allowed.
When the devotee’s mind is identified with the prana or energy of
the senses, he is tempted by fragrance, tastes, sex and other attractive
sensations. The Gita tells the Yogi to withdraw his mind and energy from the 5
sense channels to attain Self mastery, just as the turtle withdraws its limbs
when it sees danger.
This implies that by the slightest command of the will, the
devotee should be able to WITHDRAW THE MIND AND ENERGY FROM ANY OF THE 5
SENSES.
When the yogi learns how to withdraw his mind and energy from the
senses, his mind concentrates on its own real joy found in soul contact and
interiorization.
So breath is the cord that ties the consciousness to the body and
senses. Breath control is a sequel of control of the heart and the life force.
Even to quiet the heart partially at will, is to be able to switch off the life
current from the five senses. However, quieting the heart and senses through
holding the breath is not the answer. The answer lies in Kriya Pranayama.
Kriya Pranayama evokes the heart to be quieted in a natural way,
causing it to withdraw the life force from the senses. By deep stillness the
heart is released from constant work and is then free to withdraw the life
force from the senses. No sensations then can reach the brain to harass the
mind.
*Withdrawing life and consciousness upward through the spinal
centers, dissolving the grosser into the successively finer manifestations of
the holy creative vibration of Aum, and Aum in Spirit.
** Christ said to his
disciples: “But, Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet (the silence
within), and when thou hast shut the door (withdrawn the mind from the senses),
pray to the father which is in secret (in inner transcendent divine
consciousness); and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly
(shall bless you with the ever new bliss of His Being).” (Matthew 6:6).
The eight essential stages in the study and practice of yoga are:
Yama – abstentions, non violence, truthfulness, non – stealing,
non greed.
Niyama – Observations, purity, contentment, austerity, self –
study, attunement to God.
Asana- Postures
Pranayama – Breath Control
Pratyahara – Sense Withdrawal
Dharana – Concentration
Dhyana – Meditation
Samadhi - Abortion
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