‘Vruddhi Saarubya Mithradhratha’ (Sutra 1.4)
You become distant from you true nature when you are lost in the Thought waves.
Once we give room for thought waves, this is by our interaction with sense objects,after a while we become immersed in them.
As seen in the earlier Sutra, we become Happy or Sad only when we give in to the thoughts of the objects.
After a while, the object may not be physically present, yet the Thoughts about them persist.
There is fable on this, narrated by Sri Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa.
Two Sanyasins(the Renounced) were walking on the road.
They saw a beautiful woman unable to walk.
A Sanyasi hoisted her on his back and carried her to her destination and left her there.
Then they continued walking about their way.
The Sanyasin who did not carry the woman was looking thoughtful
The other Sanyasi asked him what the matter was.
He replied that he was thinking of the mental states and the emotions the woman might have triggered in the mind of the Sanyasi who carried her.
The Sanyasi who carried the woman replied,
‘I left her long back,you are stinking of her still!’
There is another one from the Life of Pattonaththaar, a Great Yogi from Tamil Nadu,India.
Pattinaththaar was in Thiruvotriyur(near Chennai, where he later attained Jeeva Samadhi.
He was relaxing with a hand under his head during a hot summer, under a tree.
Two women, who were menial workers, were passing by.
On seeing Pattinathar, one woman said, ‘Strange, A sanyasi needs the pleasure of a Hand to sleep!’ and they walked on.
Pattinathar heard this and he removed his hand and lay down after removing his hand .
The women returned.
The woman who commented earlier said’ A Sanyasi should never listen to the outer world,this one seems to listen to others;he has removed his hand’
Pattinathar stood up and prostrated before her saying that she had taught him what Yoga is.
One wo gets immersed in thought waved gets himself identified with them and can never have his mind function clearly.
The same thought is conveyed in the Bhagavad Gita in Karmanyeava(Chapter 2)
Related articles
- Denying Senses Is Not Yoga, Patanjali Yoga Sutra 3 (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
- Yoga Is “Cessation Of Thought Waves” Sutra 2 (ramanan50.wordpress.com)