Tag yoga

Identify The Tools of The Mind Patanjali Yoga Sutra 6

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.

Mind, being the one to be managed, these instruments can not be from out side us,

They have to be within us.

''Pramaana,Viparya,Vikalpa,Nidra, Smrithayah' Yoga Sutra ( Samadhi Pada-1.6)

However , until we become the Realized Soul, we have to use our discrimination.

Here one finds an interesting Concept in Hinduism

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?

Manage Pleasures Patanjali Yoga Sutra 5

Vruddhiyah panchatahyaha Klishta Aklishtaa'

We are after the objects of the senses initially;later we can not leave them and it needs a special effort to get rid of this.

It becomes a habit.

This applies to even a trivial thing(depends on one's view) like Browsing the Internet or even the use of Fans, Mixers,ACs.

We were living with out these quite some time back.

I was without electricity some 50 years back, with out mobile phones, Internet,PC till a few years.

To day I browse and write for about 10 hours a Day and I can not be without a Fan even a few minutes.

If the Internet connection is off , I become restless.

Let's extend this further.

We have been happy without these and were not inconvenienced with out them.

We were children, went to school played around ,went to college.

We were quite Happy when we compare them with the grown up Life of Adults.

Without wife children, were we,;yet we were Happy.

Now, those things are gone and the things which gave Happiness to us at a point of Time do not exist now,

And the things like Wife, Positions, and other things that gave us pleasure at a point of time to us, no longer give us the same pleasure.

In fact, they give us Pain.

They have not changed,we have rather our Perspectives.

Happiness ,Sadness do not lie in things or people.

They lie within us.

Though we want to change this, we can not.

Why?

It is because these thoughts are a part us that we can not get rid of.

Yet there are certain things we are happy through out,like being Alone.

Alone means being within oneself.

Every one knows what it is.

Again there are certain things that give us pleasure at all times, like watching Ocean,Sky,Infants, Seeing a smile on others,or helping some one who is in dire need and seeing his tears of gratitude.

And of course the instinctive feeling we are more than this flesh and bones.

Why?

Patanjali explains.

The Modifications of Chiththa are the cause.

They are of Two kinds,

Klishta,that which make us delve deep into them and be lost in them, like the objects of the senses.

Aklishta, that those which help us retrieve ourselves from them.

Desire to enjoy is like poring Ghee to Fire, the more one enjoys , more he needs them, there is no end.

But to come out of them there are two practices, as Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.

They are Abhyaasa,Practice and Vairaagya, clear deter determination.

Once we develop these two we can be rid of these tendencies to be happy or Unhappy.