viewer yoga (8)

mindful, we remain
focussed


By Kulamarva Balakrishna

(Questions are welcome)
Vienna,Sunday,January 13,2008:When the yoking,
yoga is achieved,the seer is restored to his seat.
It is the third sutra,which reads =tada drashtuh
svarupe avasthanam=. Word by word meaning
goes then,the viewer (within the body) remains
in his own real form.Individual life is internal to
the body but he is the boss of the substance that
every one sees with form two legs, two hands,
a face with two eyes demarcated by a nose,with
ability to talk,walk,etc and do many other things
spontaneously and think.What humans do we can
see.What we think no outsider can see.Similarly
what we speak can be heard and understood
whether the words spoken are thought out or just
outbursts.But all these are the results of the mental
activities of the individual,who is owned by the
inhabitant called =antaryami= ( mover in the interior)
or =antaratma=, soul.When Buddhists say =mindful=
or we say =mind yourself= is meant more aptly be
self guiding.In the previous sutra which defined yoga
it was described by two words =chittavritti nirodhah=
the spontaneous responses are caused by
=chittavritti=.This mental activity is guided by
=nirodha=.In Sanskrit nirodha is meant restraining.
The word has wide applications.But Buddhist
=mindfulness= is closer to the intended expression.

There is some element of damaging and unintended
deviation when the word =nirodha= is translated
as =suppression=.It is not suppression but is calling
for wakefulness,awareness.When we are wakeful,
aware our reflexes match the needed responses.
We are not alert, we hurt ourselves by wasting
energy and making amendments.Just like one
wrong move in the chess make two set backs,one
in lost chance to ourselves the second the chance
we have offered to our opponent.The loss is
double.Yoga is concerned with it.Buddha having
taken the folksy communication route of common
man´s Pali language as against the scholarly brahminic
Sanskrit had the advantage of being easily understood
by the unobtrusive mother tongue.

Then what the third sutra says is =the individual is
in command=.What happens, if he is not in command?
Even though he is not mad, the reflexes, behavior
slip up.When without guiding our mind we go about
there can be accidents.The next sutra describes
five accident zones of our minds.(end)