yoga (12)

not suppression
but harnessing
the mind

By Kulamarva Balakrishna

Vienna,Tuesday, January 22,2008:How to
guide these five fold mercurial tendencies?
The sutra twelfth of the samadhi pada or
the first chapater says= abhyasa vairagyabhyam
tannirodhah=.Nirodha is not suppression,
but harnessing,guiding.This should be kept
always in the mind.Suppression is a meaning
of the word but in the context of yoga that
is meant for the convergence of =antaryami=
inner consciousness with =paramatma= outer
environmental consciousness, call it god
if you like, is made possible not by suppression.
It is made possible by guiding the mind to
move in an orderly way.

Abhyasa is practice,exercise.Another route
is vairagya,disinterest in worldly fashionable
things.It is this second route perhaps made
many to think of suppressing the mind.Think
of Maharishi Maheshayogi, the man who now
lives propagating Ayurveda.He has learned
yoga.His transcendental meditation does
not ask any one to suppress the mind but
advises to gently guide it.We come to that
key sutra afterwards.Rati,raga both words
have the same etymological root that is
attachment.When we discard attachment
for the experienced and natural tendencies
vairagya is established.That is by practice.
Disinterest is natural vairagya where practice
has no role to play.Some people have no
interest in anything.That cuts at the roots of
motivation to what generally gets people
attracted.

For any one,who is set on harnessing mind
both vairagya and practice are essential.
May be one of it more essential than the
other.At some point engaging the mind
then to make efforts remain there is a set
practice.In theravada meditation there
is a technique of setting the mind
on light seeping through the shadow and
see the colours there,which is called
=kashana=.That is one kind of practice.
Otherwise, non Buddhist practitioners
point the eyesight to the tip of one´s own
nose.Make effort to retain the sight there
itself.There are other concentration points
but for the student to succeed he should
select one and concentrate.Why I say this
is to avoid getting mad like by the multiple
devotions of the superficial Hindu langoti
monkeys. Multiple devotions make
devotion meaningless, taking man outside
the rules of law.The avoidance of such
diversion is the goal of yoga.

The late I.K.Taimni, an acknowledged yoga
teacher mentions the eight parts of yoga
as concentration points.That is his wrong
conception.Because the entire yoga sutras
of patanjali is a single system.There the
first four angas,are preparatory parts.The fifth
is the state of readiness by withdrawing
sense from all outer objects.The sixth, seventh
and eighth states are to be commenced
together.Besides, patanjali says clearly
the first two parts are absolutely essential
and to be considered as supreme
=sarvabhaumah=,indicating they should
remain with the yogi as long as he lives.
If any one goes by the advise of Mr.Taimni
note this mistake of his.As we go forward
we will get this accident zone confirmed.
(end)