Explaining that the modifications of the Chithi,Yoga delves further into describing the tool that can make the Modifications extinct and enable the Individual to return to his original Self or His Natural Identity..
The modifications of the Chitha starts from and due to the Mind and its activities.
Can we control The Mind be controlled and make us do our bidding?
Yoga confirms we can.
But it is difficult.
We are aware how difficult it is to reign in the Mind.
The more one tries to control the Mind, more it would become uncontrollable and roam, than it would have been, had we kept quiet.
This is not a disqualification for practicing Yoga nor is this unique to you, of us , the fickle minded.
Arjuna,who mastered the art of Concentration, for he was the one, when asked by his Guru to hit a bird,after felling it , said later, that he could see nothing else but the bird only, found it difficult to control the Mind and confesses to lord Krishna in The Bhagavad Gita.(6.34)
Bhagavd Gita 6.34
‘This Mind,Krishna, has the ability to confound the senses into running after objects, fickle and strong;It is as difficult as controlling the wind’
Lord Krishna agrees with him and replies,
‘
‘O son of Kunti, without doubt mind is difficult to restrain, prone to agitation; but it can be controlled by repetitive practice and by Right Resolve.’ (6.35)
Mind can be controlled by Practice and Right Resolve .
Yoga says the same.
Yoga Sutra 1.12
By regular practice and Right Resolve one can make mind one’s own.
Vairagaya or Right Resolve and Abhyasa, regular practice, is explained in the coming Sutras.
After touching on what thoughts are and how we get them, Patanjali now is defining the important function of the Mind, ‘Memory’
We come (our senses) come into contact with sense objects.
We become aware of them
Neurology explains the process thus.
We have neurons in our Nerves.
The neurons have two essential parts,
Axon and Dendrites.
These when the come into contact, through the appropriate sense, transmit the sensation, in the form of an electrical/magnetic impulses to the Brain.
( there is a debate whether these are transmitted as an electrical impulse or they are Magnetic;Indian Philosophy and Buddhism say it is an Magnetic Impulse)
These messages do not travel through a pipeline as it were.
There is a small gap between one neuron and another.
The gap is called the ‘Synaptic Gap’
The impulses jump in the form of waves(electrical/magnetic)i to another neuron till the impulses reach the Brain or the Spinal Cord.
Depending on our Nature, the emergency and nature of the message , the Brain or the Spinal cord takes decision and reacts.
If we are sleeping, a mosquito votes us, the message is acted upon by the Spinal Cord..
If we see some things, then action is taken by the Brain.
Before this action takes place, the brain, after receiving the impulses (Stimulus), searches its memory bank to identify whether there is already some information there already and banks the stimulus there.
Then the Action center of the Brain takes charge.
It decides the action to be taken, based on the threat to the organism(individual) and selects a course already banked in the Data base, Memory.
In case the stimuli appears for the first time, action is taken on the basis of the threat level to the organism and the unconscious imprints of the actions already taken by the Brain earlier.
Then the message flashes out to the appropriate muscles through the Nervous System.
Then we react.
Patanjali goes to the roots here and talks about the ‘Unforgotten experience’ .
He does not say ‘ remembered’, but says ‘unforgotten’
We remember what we want to and forget what we want to.
Patanjali here says ‘unforgotten’ because the ‘forgotten’ ,(what we think consciously as” forgotten’ this is a paradoxical concept), Memory includes those which we consciously think we have forgotten!
Many of us are aware a,that, at many an instance, memories of what we thought have forgotten rush to us suddenly.
Memory, according to Yoga, is the recollection of ‘unforgotten’ experiences, both conscious and unconscious.
( In Indian Philosophy, there is no such thing as Unconscious‘ ,we just do not remember that’s all).
So as a corollary,as all our actions, reactions, are registered and come back to us,
Indian Philosophy says,
‘Think, speak, and do Good always’
and Tamil Says,’
ஒன்று உண்டென்று இரு , தெய்வம் உண்டென்றிரு ,உள்ளதெல்லாம் உனதன்று என்று இரு ‘
“Trust The Reality,God,Remember whatever is here is not yours’
‘
anubhūta – perceived, understood, apprehended; resulted,; that has experienced, tasted, tried or enjoyed viṣaya – sphere (of influence or activity); dominion, kingdom, territory, region, district
country , abode asaṁpramoṣaḥ – the not allowing to be carried off, not letting drop (as from memory) smṛtiḥ – memories, remembrances,
We have seen in the earlier Sutra that one has to manage pleasures by understanding the Modifications of the Mind, which one makes us immersed in them to such an extent as to lose ourselves.
We need the instruments to identify these.
Patnajali
Mind, being the one to be managed, these instruments can not be from out side us,
Unlike the Western Philosophy, Hinduism, treats the Mind as just an Organ. like eyes,ears, Nose, Body(tactile sensation), mouth etc.
The West treats Mind an Entity along with Matter.
We have three levels to aid us in being aware of,knowing, understanding , judging and directing.
First the Brain,the physical organ, which is the instrument for collecting the sense impressions conveyed to it by the Neurons.
Next, The Mind, which is like a CPU, collects these sensory perceptions(here again I use the term in the normal sense, not the philosophical sense) for analysis, assigns them a a Folder , as it were.
Intellect, is the activity of the Mind(just as the Mind is the activity of the Brain), which recognizes this information, and assigns or passes, as it were, Judgement like correct or incorrect, Right or Wrong,
This Intellect may be understood to mean ‘Buddhi‘-this is not an exact equivalent for the Sanskrit word.
This Buddhi , under the directions of the Chiththa, directs it to take a particular course of Action, including what to store.
This Chiththa , though the manifestation of the attributes of The Reality might be ‘have been affected by past mental impressions or Vaasanas( a term that denotes the remnants of all the Impressions of our earlier actions, including those that we have seeming ly forgotten and of our past Lives.
We choose a course of the instrument of Knowledge, as directed by the Chiththi.(Siddhi)
What are they?
Accepting the information from others-Pramaanam.
Direct Personal Experience-Prathyatcham.
Inference-Anumaanam.
Wrong, misleading Knowledge-Viparyayam
Imaginary,different from what a thing is actually is-Vikalpam.
Brain is the CPU that receives sensory impressions like a CPU of a Computer‘just receives it, nothing more.
Mind is the Activity of The Brain.
As the Brain receives the sensory impressions from the Neurons, another part which Patanjali calls Mind classifies them into groups of sensations and records them.
Then we have Buddhi(Intellect) which has the attribute of distinguishing and labeling the information as correct or incorrect, Right or Wrong.
To pass such judgments and classify the Intellect has to have a frame of reference and a Director.
This is Chiththa.
I do not have an equivalent for this in English.
Chiththa is not Consciousness ,not Buddhi but that lies in between.
When we think of some thing thought waves are created.
There is debate even to-day among psychologists on how the Concepts are formed.
Visualization of Stream of Consciousness , Writing
These ways are inclusive of thoughts which are inclusive of thoughts against the course of action we may contemplate later.
For instance, if even if one is a teetotaler, our thought processes includes the thought of Drinking enjoying.
It is the Buddhi which approves or disapproves drinking.
This Buddhi is directed by a Higher level.
For we are aware of the Buddhi or Intellect; we are aware of its presence.
This Chitha is what determines and directs the direction the Buddhi or Intellect has to take.
The Intellect directs Mind, Mind the Brain and the Brain the sense organs.
These activities take place simultaneously and they are so swift we fail to note them.
How does Chiththa choose a particular direction?
This, as Patanjali would explain later,is because od Vasanas or the tendencies.
Now Patanjali says Yoga is about Chiththa.
He does not say ‘modify Chiththa for Chiththa per se can not be modified as it is an attribute of Brahman , The Ultimate Reality.
The description of Brahman is ‘ Sat, Chit, Ananadam’,’Being,Chiththa(attribute of Consciousness) and Bliss.
So Patanjali calls for the modification of Chiththa.
That is you make an effort and attempt to modify the Impressions of The Chiththa.
This, Patanjali says , is possible by The practice of Yoga.
The Chiththa, being the attribute of Consciousness, once you clean it up you will be able to realize the Pure Consciousness within, which is a part of the Universal Consciousness.
Recall Swami Vivekananda’s Words. What is in The Microcosm is in The Macrocosm and what is in the Macrocosm is in The Microcosm”
Too much thinking brings in Misery and as a wag put it,’Life is a tragedy for those who think, but a Comedy to those who feel’.
Recent study reveals that thinking is what makes us survive and make us a complicated mechanism.
However stopping ‘thinking’ is possible, according to Indian Philosophy.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sastra is all about ‘cessation of the modification of Chitta(stilling the thought waves)’
This is described as ‘Moksha’, ‘Nirvana‘ when one realises He is One with the Reality.
Brain scanning technology is quickly approaching levels of detail that will have serious implications (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
‘Most likely you have not needed to worry whether the rustling in the underbrush is a rabbit or a leopard, or had to identify the best escape route on a walk by the lake, or to wonder whether the funny pattern in the grass is a snake or dead branch. Yet these were life-or-death decisions to our ancestors. Optimal moment-to-moment readiness requires a brain that is working constantly, an effort that takes a great deal of energy. (To put this in context, the modern human brain is only 2 percent of our body weight, but it uses 20 percent of our resting energy.) Such an energy-hungry brain, one that is constantly seeking clues, connections and mechanisms, is only possible with a mammalian metabolism tuned to a constant high rate.
Constant thinking is what propelled us from being a favorite food on the savanna—and a species that nearly went extinct—to becoming the most accomplished life-form on this planet. Even in the modern world, our mind always churns to find hazards and opportunities in the data we derive from our surroundings, somewhat like a search engine server. Our brain goes one step further, however, by also thinking proactively, a task that takes even more mental processing.
So even though most of us no longer worry about leopards in the grass, we do encounter new dangers and opportunities: employment, interest rates, “70 percent off” sales and swindlers offering $20 million for just a small investment on our part. Our primate heritage brought us another benefit: the ability to navigate a social system. As social animals, we must keep track of who’s on top and who’s not and who might help us and who might hurt us. To learn and understand this information, our mind is constantly calculating “what if?” scenarios. What do I have to do to advance in the workplace or social or financial hierarchy? What is the danger here? The opportunity?
For these reasons, we benefit from having a brain that works around the clock, even if it means dealing with intrusive thoughts from time to time.’
Read my blogs on this subject under Indian philosophy.
Related:
As we age and our memory starts to function less well, names are most likely among the first things to escape us. You can use tricks to help remember, such as rhyming the name with an object. What is easiest, however, is to keep in mind that everyone has difficulty with names, so you can be less embarrassed when one eludes you and less critical of others when yours escapes them.
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