Yoga - Meditation and the Striving for Self realization
Self-Discipline for Self-Realization
The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means "to unite." The yoga system provides a methodology for linking up individual consciousness with the Supreme Consciousness. There are various schools of yoga, among which bhakti-yoga, jnana-yoga, karma-yoga, and kundalini-yoga are especially well known. The yoga system that is counted as one of the six systems of Vedic philosophy is the patanjala-yoga system, which will be reviewed here. This school of yoga, also known as astanga-yoga (the yoga of eight parts), is closely allied to sankhya philosophy. Indeed, astanga-yoga is the practical application of sankhya philosophy for the attainment of liberation. It is called patanjala-yoga because it was systematized by the sage Patanjali. His work is known as Patanjala-yoga-sutra. There are various commentaries on this text, Vyasa's being the most ancient and profound. This yoga system attempts to explain the nature of mind, its modifications, impediments to growth, afflictions, and the method for attaining what is described as the highest goal of life: kaivalya (absoluteness).
The Yogic View of Mind
According to Patanjali, yoga is the control of the modifications of the subtle mental body. He proposes that the mental body leads a person to bondage or to liberation, that most human problems are mental, and that the only remedy to solve them is mental discipline. Among all human instruments that serves one in attaining one's goals, the mental body is the finest. The mental body is also the link between consciousness and the gross physical body. For these reasons, Patanjali places great emphasis on the study of the mental body. His yoga system attempts to provide all possible means to control the mental body's modifications and unfold its great power for higher attainment.
Theoretically, the yoga system is based on the same tenets as sankhya philosophy, and it also incorporates some of the teachings of Vedanta. In sankhya philosophy, the mental body is defined in terms of three functions or parts (mind, intelligence and false ego), but in vedanta philosophy the mental body is divided into four parts (mind, intelligence, false ego and citta or conditioned consciousness, the storehouse of memories). In yoga, however, the mental body is equated with the mind, and the intelligence and false ego are considered to be aspects of that mind. Citta denotes all the fluctuating and changing phenomena of the mind. According to yoga, the mind is like a vast lake, on the surface of which arise many different kinds of waves. Deep within, the mind is always calm and tranquil. But one's thought patterns stir it into activity and prevent it from realizing its own true nature. These thought patterns are the waves appearing and disappearing on the surface of the lake of the mind. Depending on the size, strength, and speed of the waves, the inner state of the lake is obscured to a greater or lesser degree. The more one is able to calm one's thought patterns, the more the inner state of the mind is unveiled. It is not very difficult to calm down the waves of thought patterns on the surface of the lake of mind, but it is very difficult to calm down those unrhythmic and destructive waves of thought patterns that arise from the bottom. Memories are like time bombs buried in the lake bed of mind that explode at certain times and disturb the entire lake.
There are two main sources for the arising waves of thoughts: sense perceptions and memories. When the waves of a lake are stilled and the water is clear, one can look deep down and see the bottom of the lake. Likewise when one's thought patterns are quieted, one can see one's innermost potentials hidden deep within the mind. Because the mind is an evolute of prakrti, it is composed of the elements of sattva, rajas, and tamas. The relative proportions of these three qualities determine the different states of citta, conditioned consciousness. The turmoil caused by the interaction of the gunas is responsible for the arising thought patterns in the mind.
Five Stages of Mind
The mind is described in five stages, depending on the degree of its transparency: disturbed (ksipta); stupefied (mudha); restless (viksipta); one-pointed (ekagra); and well-controlled (niruddha). The predominance of rajas and tamas causes the mind to be disturbed (ksipta). Because of the predominance of rajas, the mind becomes hyperactive; because of the predominance of tamas, it loses its quality of discrimination. Thus it flits from one object to another without resting on any. It is constantly disturbed by external stimuli, but it does not know how to discriminate what is beneficial from that which is useless. In the second stage (mudha), the mind is dominated by tamas, which is characterized by inertia, vice, ignorance, lethargy, and sleep. In this state, mind is so sluggish that it loses its capability to think proper]y and becomes negative and dull. In the restless stage (viksipta), there is a predominance of rajas. In this state, the mind runs from one object to another but never stays anywhere consistently. This is an advanced stage of the disturbed mind.
These first three stages of mind are negative and act as impediments in the path of growth and exploration. At this level, one experiences pain and misery and all kinds of unpleasant emotions, but the next two stages are more calm and peaceful. All the modifications are found in the earlier three stages. In the one pointed and well-controlled states there are no modifications at all. In the one-pointed state of mind (ekagra), there is a predominance of sattva, the light aspect of prakrti. This is a tranquil state near to complete stillness in which the real nature of things is revealed. This fourth state is conducive to concentration, and the aim of the yoga system is to develop or to maintain this state of mind for as long and as consistently as possible. In the well-controlled state of mind (niruddha), there is no disturbance at all but a pure manifestation of sattvic energy. In this state, consciousness reflects its purity and entirety in the mirror of mind, and one becomes capable of exploring one's true nature. Only the last two states of mind are positive and helpful for meditation, and many yogic practices are designed to help one attain these states. When all the modifications cease and the state of stillness is acquired, then purusa (pure consciousness) sees its real nature reflecting from the screen of the mind.
The Modifications of the Mind
The yoga system categorizes the modifications of mind into five classes: valid cognition, invalid cognition, verbal cognition, sleep, and memory. All thoughts, emotions, and mental behaviors fall into one of these five categories, which are further divided into two major types: those that cause afflictions (klista) and those that do not cause afflictions (aklista). False cognition, verbal cognition and sleep always cause afflictions and are in themselves afflictions: they are harmful modifications. Valid cognition and memories (depending on their nature) are not considered to be causes of affliction and are not harmful for meditation.
The sources of valid cognition are perception, inference, and authoritative testimony, which have already been described in detail in the sankhya chapter. False cognition is ignorance (avidya). Ignorance is mistaking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, misery for happiness, and the non self for the Self. It is the modification of mind that is the mother of the klesas, or afflictions. Ignorance has four offshoots: asmita, which is generally defined as I-am-ness; raga, attachment or addiction, which is the desire to prolong or repeat pleasurable experiences; dvesa, hatred or aversion, which is the desire to avoid unpleasurable experiences; and abhinivesa, fear of death, which is the urge of self-preservation.
Verbal cognition is the attempt to grasp something that actually does not exist but is one's own projection. An example of such a projection is the fantasy of marrying a gossamer-winged fairy and together flying through the empyrean to the most wondrous paradise. All such fantasies are mere verbal cognition that do not correspond to facts and only cause the mind to fluctuate. Sleep is a modification of mind in which one's relationship with the external world is cut off. One might ask: If sleep is a modification of mind, aren't the dreaming and waking states also accepted as modifications? The answer would be no; the dreaming state is occupied with verbal cognition, and the waking state is occupied mainly with valid cognition and invalid cognition. Memory, the fifth and final mental modification, is the recall of impressions stored in the mind.
Overcoming the Modifications
The modifications of the mind are caused by nine conditions or impediments, namely sickness, incompetence, doubt, delusion, sloth, nonabstention, confusion, nonattainment of the desired state, and instability in an attained state. These impediments disturb the mind and produce sorrow, dejection, restlessness, and an unrhythmic breathing pattern. Yoga provides a method for overcoming these problems and controlling the modifications of the mind. Patanjali states that the mind and its modifications can be controlled through practice (abhyasa) and detachment (vairagya). The mind is said to be like a river that flows between two banks. One bank is positive and is the basis for liberation, while the other bank is negative and is the basis for indiscrimination and infatuations with sense objects. When the current of the river is controlled by practice and detachment, it tends to flow toward the side of liberation. Abhyasa, practice, means a particular type of effort or technique through which the mind maintains stillness. Practice does not mean engaging in mental gymnastics; it is, rather, sincere effort for maintaining steadiness of the mind. Perfection in practice is attained through sincerity and persistence. Vairagya, detachment or dispassion, does not mean to renounce the world or to withdraw oneself from one's environment; rather it means to have no expectations from external objects. Detachment means to eliminate identification with the evolutes of nature and to understand oneself as pure self, as a self-illuminating conscious being. Patanjali also describes another method, called kriya-yoga, to help students attain a higher state of consciousness while dealing with a restless mind. Kriya-yoga, which means the yoga of purification, is a threefold discipline composed of the practice of austerity, study of the scriptures, and surrender to God. By practicing the path of kriya-yoga, students learn to perform their duties skillfully and selflessly while dedicating the fruits of their actions to the Supreme.
The Concept of God
Patanjali accepts the existence of God (isvara). According to him God is the perfect supreme being who is eternal, all-pervading, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. God is that particular purusa who is unaffected by the afflictions of ignorance, egoism, desire, aversion, and fear of death. He is also free from all karma actions), from the results of action, and from all latent impressions. Patanjali says that the individual has the same essence as God, but because of the limitations produced by afflictions and karma, one separates oneself from God-consciousness and becomes a victim of the material world. There is only one God. It is ignorance that creates duality from the one single reality called God. When ignorance is dissolved into the light of knowledge, all duality's are dissolved and full union is achieved. When one overcomes ignorance, duality dissolves and he merges with the perfect single Being. That perfect single Being always remains perfect and one. There is no change in the ocean no matter how many rivers flow into it, and unchangeability is the basic condition of perfection.
Nyaya / Vedanta - The Philosophy of Logic and Reasoning
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