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”
Then, one night as I was smoking in my office around 10 pm, I thought that it was silly to smoke and threw out the packet and I have not smoked since.
The reason is that there had been a resolve to kick the habit away at the back of my mind but it was just that I could not bring myself do it.
If your resolve is strong, you will do it.
Another point is that if your resolutions are sparked by or reinforced by those whom you love, then you do it.
I used to drink and had been for nearly 30 years.
One day my daughter came to me(she was 25 then) and said to me,
‘we want you, do not Drink any more”
I stopped Drinking from that Day.
So two things are important,
Follow-up your resolutions blindly and
Have it reinforced by those who love you.
That’s it.
Two great points by the sastras.
Never disclose your Pooja or Mantras to others.
Always surround yourself with Satsang (people of Good Thoughts and Deeds)
Remember it is equally important to have the Grace of God for these Sadhanas.
So much so, Yoga, called as a Nastika System(Atheist), for Sankhya and Yoga do not believe in the Testimony of the Vedas( Astika is one who believes in the Testimony of The Vedas), because it does not believe in it, is forced to accept personal God as Iswara for Yoga Practice.
His Grace is necessary, even Patanjali.
Now onto the Sutra 1.12.
Yoga Sutra 1.13
tatra -in regards to these [abhyāsa and vairāgya] sthitau – standing firm [`as in battle’] standing, staying, situated, resting or abiding or remaining in yatnaḥ – effort, activity of will, volition abhyāsaḥ – practice, repeated or permanent exercise, discipline, use, habit, custo
The practice requires Firmness of Resolution and Practice.
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,
Sleep and Dreams, are the two states of which we know precious little.
Sigmund Freud, in his attempt to interpret the Dreams, has set up a system of Psychiatry, blames every one for their actions but themselves.
He had interpreted Dreams only as an expression of Sex and depressed desires.
Jung professed ‘Freud conceived the unconscious solely as a repository of repressed emotions and desires. Jung agreed with Freud’s model of the unconscious, what Jung called the “personal unconscious“, but he also proposed the existence of a second, far deeper form of the unconscious underlying the personal one. This was the collective unconscious, where thearchetypes themselves resided, represented in mythology by a lake or other body of water, and in some cases a jug or other container. Freud had actually mentioned a collective level of psychic functioning but saw it primarily as an appendix to the rest of the psyche’
Then we have many Behavioral Psychologists.
These scholars saw Mind as a Blind seeing An Elephant” seeing a part and interpreting it to suit them.
Patanjali goes to the basics.
Since we do not remember anything in sleep, is Sleep ‘Absence of Thoughts?’
He says NO.
According to Yoga Sutra 1.10, Sleep is a State where one is not aware of the thought waves.(Deep Sleep)
This can not be confused with the ‘Yoga Sate where one is devoid of Thought waves”
abhāva – absence, non-existence, nullity pratyaya – cause, resulting impressions ālambanā – support, basis, foundation, cause vṛttiḥ – habits or activities of the mind nidrā – deep sleep
Translation
“Sleep is the mental habit characterized by the absence of form”
That is we are not ascribing, in the Deep sleep stage,a Form for the Thought waves, that’s all.
The first state is the waking state, in which we are aware of our daily world. “It is described as outward-knowing (bahish-prajnya), gross (sthula) and universal (vaishvanara)”.[web 62] This is the gross body.
The second state is the dreaming mind. “It is described as inward-knowing (antah-prajnya), subtle (pravivikta) and burning (taijasa)”.[web 62] This is the subtle body.
The third state is the state of deep sleep. In this state the underlying ground of concsiousness is undistracted, “the Lord of all (sarv’-eshvara), the knower of all (sarva-jnya), the inner controller (antar-yami), the source of all (yonih sarvasya), the origin and dissolution of created things (prabhav’-apyayau hi bhutanam)”.[web 62] This is the causal body.
A fourth state is Turiya, pure consciousness. It is the background that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness.[web 63][web 64] In this consciousness both absolute and relative, Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman, are transcended.[141] It is the true state of experience of the infinite (ananta) and non-different (advaita/abheda), free from the dualistic experience which results from the attempts to conceptualise ( vipalka) reality.[142] It is the state in which ajativada, non-origination, is apprehended.[142](Wiki)
What does Modern Science say on this?
Brain Waves during Sleep.
Stage 1
Stage 1 is the beginning of the sleep cycle, and is a relatively light stage of sleep. Stage 1 can be considered a transition period between wakefulness and sleep. In Stage 1, the brain produces high amplitude theta waves, which are very slow brain waves. This period of sleep lasts only a brief time (around 5-10 minutes). If you awaken someone during this stage, they might report that they weren’t really asleep.
Stage 2
Stage 2 is the second stage of sleep and lasts for approximately 20 minutes. The brain begins to produce bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles. Body temperature starts to decrease and heart rate begins to slow.
Stage 3
Deep, slow brain waves known as delta wavesbegin to emerge during stage 3 sleep. Stage 3 is a transitional period between light sleep and a very deep sleep.
Stage 4
Stage 4 is sometimes referred to as delta sleepbecause of the slow brain waves known as delta waves that occur during this time. Stage 4 is a deep sleep that lasts for approximately 30 minutes. Bed-wetting and sleepwalking are most likely to occur at the end of stage 4 sleep.
Stage 5
Most dreaming occurs during the fifth stage of sleep, known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep is characterized by eye movement, increased respiration rate and increased brain activity. REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep because while the brain and other body systems become more active, muscles become more relaxed. Dreaming occurs due because of increased brain activity, but voluntary muscles become paralyzed.
The Sequence of Sleep Stages
It is important to realize, however, that sleep does not progress through these stages in sequence. Sleep begins in stage 1 and progresses into stages 2, 3 and 4. After stage 4 sleep, stage 3 and then stage 2 sleep are repeated before entering REM sleep. Once REM sleep is over, the body usually returns to stage 2 sleep. Sleep cycles through these stages approximately four or five times throughout the night.
On average, we enter the REM stage approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep. The first cycle of REM sleep might last only a short amount of time, but each cycle becomes longer. REM sleep can last up to an hour as sleep progresses.
You must be logged in to post a comment.