mind under yoga (10)

split, pleasant
and unpleasant

By Kulamarva Balakrishna

Vienna,Tuesday,January 15,200:It is important
to keep it in mind,that under the status of guided
mind the boss,consciousness remains in the
driving seat.Parallel, the unguided mind works
also.Under that condition, Patanjali says in the
fourth sutra our consciousness looks nothing
better than our un minded activities.But for those
activities the boss,life, is equally responsible.
That is the meaning of =vritti sarupyam itaratra=.
Vritti is absent minded activity, sarupya is supposed
visualization, itaratra means elsewhere,meaning
where mind is not attended guided.

It works this way: mercury can split.In that moment
not all of it is under containment.Similarly in the
split mind some portion is attended by will and
some other portions are not.Although yoga´s
aim is to contain all activities of the mind at
one go for a beginner it is not possible to resist
all activities to channelize the mind into a single
or several desired directions.A problem area
not to be ignored.Imagine,Ramana Maharshi
left home at night to land at Arunachalam.
Then moved about the hills reciting Dakshinamurthi
verses.Then he got tired walking but is
concentration remained.He sat at a place
forgetting everything.Here he was enveloped
by an anthill.His mind was single pointed and
steady.In our case, the concentration is being
attempted amidst our daily routine leading
splitting of the mind.A part of our mind is
concentrated yet another part can remain left
free.There is not entirely unattended mind as
much as there is no mind fully attended.This
sutra covers that situation.

In the fifth sutra five categories of five tier vritties
or mental activities are mentioned as pleasant
and unpleasant. =vrittayah panchatayyah klishtah
aklishatah=Pleasant are desirable and unpleasant
undesirable.Even the perception of the pleasant
and the unpleasant differ.This fact we can not
ignore.Both types of vritties or mental activities
leave traces behind.It should be noted.The nature
pleasant and the unpleasant come for discussion
later when come to examine the =samkhya=
philosophical foundation of yoga.

The five tier mental activities are related
to our five fold capacity of perceiving sensitivities.
The perceptions then are five:1)the right perception,
2)wrong perception,3) imaginary perception,4) sleep
and 5)memory.All the five categories are companions
of life, our consciousness.The first three kind of
perceptions are current or present taking place
on the spot.Sleep and memory are traces to our
past mental contact influencing us.These are spelt
out by the sixth sutra.=pamana, viparyaya,vikalpa,
nidra, smritayh=.(end)