In Sutra 1.13,it was explained how one should go about practicing without bothering about the opinion and comments by the others.
Having commenced the Practice, one has to do it systematically and regularly to make it Perfect.
As in Life, practice is necessary to make anything perfect.
One man have a loads of Talent.
Only when it is fine boned does it become perfect
Practice is what makes Perfection.
We know that , sportsperson, keep themselves ready and raring to go, by constant practice.
This action of practicing must be regular and be uninterrupted..
Uninterrupted practice becomes easy when the Resolution is steadfast .
Those who have tried to do a particular puja would have noticed that it gets interrupted, making them drop it.
Hinduism anticipates this.
They believe that this, apart from the individual’s lack of resolution and laziness, is due to disturbance from the forces that tend to disturb the regularity of practice.
To ward of this,a Pooja has, foe every Maha Mantra like Lalitha Sahasranama or Vishnu Sahasranama, Anga Nyasa, Kara Nyasa.
This procedure ensures that the practice does not get disturbed by the forces , not in control of the individual.
One must, in order to succeed in Yoga Sadhana, Practice regularly.
Good habits are difficult to get set while Bad Habits are easy to acquire.
Practice regularly.
Yoga Sutra 1.4
sa – that [practice] tu – but dīrgha – long kāla – time nairantarya – without interruption satkāra – with great attention āsevitaḥ – practicing assiduously dṛḍha – firmly bhūmiḥ -grounded
“But that practice only becomes firmly established when it has been executed with great attention and without interruption over a long period of time”
There might be stable in your friend’s House in some other place or take the instance of Mars.
In this case, you do not have the idea as such personally.
But it exists as an Idea in some one else’s Mind.
When we take things to Be, of which we have no IDEA,it is called Subjective Idealism or Solipsism., because it Exists as an Idea in some one else’s Mind.
‘Forget every thing, I am able to write on this, it has four legs and a Top’
This is Pragmatism.
Every information is through Language, that is from Words.
In a Language, words are logically connected(excepting for the Politicians).
So to know clearly one has to simply understand the logical connectivity and analyse the. language and words’the logical connectivity between them.
By following all systems or any, still we are left with Incorrect Awareness(Knowledge).
Yoga Sutra 1.8
This Incorrect Knowledge prevents us from the Correct Knowledge.
There is an interesting thought on this.
What is Correct?
That which is True all times?
The funny thing is what or how we define Truth.
Secondly if existence at all times is the criteria for Correct Knowledge, no Knowledge is Correct for none of us will be around whether a particular thing will be there to after our Death.
In fact things do change.
What we have seen yesterday is no the same to-day.
Take an Individual.
I was 10, 25. 40 and 62 now.
Every second I grow.
I am different in all aspects this second from what I was seconds earlier.
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”
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