tendencies in yoga (11)

categories of mental
tendencies
positive n negatives

By Kulamarva Balakrishna

Vienna,Thursday,January 17,2008:For the pleasant
and unpleasant,Upanishadic words are =Shreyah=,
for the good and =Preyah=, just pleasant.In other
words in Sanskrit what is shreyah is called =hita=
simply attractive pleasant =priya=. In the yogic
context, when an aspirant gets to the level of
judging by discriminatory knowledge, he would
get a clear idea on what are the five fold pleasant
tendencies of the mind and what are the unpleasant
ones.Although both leave traces behind, the
klishtahs,unpleasant ones (preyahs) are degrading
the ndividual by their traces.This a yoga aspirant
should keep in mind always as he sets on course.

The five sets of tendencies of the mercurial mind
are as said, grouped under knowledge,2.false
knowledge,3.imagination/fancy,4.sleep and
5) memory.Our actions and experiences of the
past and hopes and forebodings of the future
are covered by these.When we think seriously
the range covers everything under the sun,even
when sun is not visible.Just consider them silently
how far your mind can take you.If you are taking
yoga seriously, it would be the ideal beginning.

Knowledge are divided on the basis how it is
derived.By direct contact with the evidences
is the first and the most dependable one.
Inference based the second when we test it
by validation methods.The third one is based
on =authority=, say for example dictionary but
these authorities are subject to change on
account of time or space causing amendments
in knowledge.The sutra reads = pratyaksha=
=anumana= =agamah= =pramanani=.The
last word is in plural indicating the different
sources for deriving knowledge.

False knowledge is =viparyaya=. We have
come to the conclusion by our direct perception
of the right knowledge,realize the earlier
belief was an error,mistake.=mithyajnanam=
second word of the sutra says it is false
knowledge, because the third word gives
reason =atadrupa pratistham= it does not
match to the tested real knowledge.

Image is conceived by words of our language.
It has no existance but it is like =supposision=
=shabda jnana anupatee vastu shunyo vikalpah=
Our imagination is dragged before the mind by
knowledge of language. It is for this reason
grammarian of about the sixth century Bhartruhari
defined the =word= is but light.If it was not there
we would have remained blind forever all over
the world.=idamandham tamah krisnam jayeta
bhavana trayam yadi shabdahvayam jyotih
a samsaram na deepyate=.According to him
the word is a kind of light.It lits up for us all
three worlds,in plural he has mentioned three
but according to time it covers all galaxies
imaginable.

Sleep, if it is ideal restful empty mind.
=abhava pratyayalambana vrittih nidra=.
Mind with out based on any substance is when
in sleep.But not most of us are that lucky to sleep
empty minded.Good or bad dreams disturb
a restful sleep.This should be noted.

Memory is a past experience trailing our mind.
=anubhutavishaya sampramoshah smritih=.
These are then categories of mental tendencies
that a yoga aspirant is confronted with.We have
to keep our mind beyond the control of these
categories.(end)