| shabdahu 2006-05-04, 11:25 am |
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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
PATANJALI'S YOGA APHORISMS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I.
CONCENTRATION: ITS SPIRITUAL USES (Part 1)
1=2E Now concentration is explained.
2=2E Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Citta) from taking various forms
(Vrttis)
A good deal of explanation is necessary here. We have to understand
what Citta is, and what are these Vrttis. I have this eye. Eyes do not
see. Take away the brain centre which is in the head, the eyes will
still be there, the retin=E6 complete, and also the picture, and yet the
eyes will not see. So the eyes are only a secondary instrument, not the
organ of vision. The organ of vision is in the nerve centre of the
brain. The two eyes will not be sufficient alone. Sometimes a man is
asleep with his eyes open. The light is there and the picture is there,
but a third thing is necessary; mind must be joined to the organ. The
eye is the external instrument, we need also the brain centre and the
agency of the mind. Carriages roll down a street and you do not hear
them. Why? Because your mind has not attached itself to the organ of
hearing. First there is the instrument, then there is the organ, and
third, the mind attachment to these two. The mind takes the impression
farther in, and presents it to the determinative
faculty-Buddhi-which reacts.
Along with this reaction flashes the idea of egoism. Then this mixture
of action and reaction is presented to the Purusa, the real Soul, who
perceives an object in this mixture. The organs (Indriyas), together
with the mind (Manas), the determinative faculty (Buddhi) and egoism
(Ahamkara), form the group called the Antahkarana (the internal
instrument). They are but various processes in the mindstuff, called
Citta. The waves of thought in the Citta are called Vrtti ("the
whirlpool" is the literal translation). What is thought? Thought is a
force, as is gravitation or repulsion. It is absorbed from the infinite
storehouse of force in nature; the instrument called Citta takes hold
of that force, and, when it passes out at the other end it is called
thought. This force is supplied to us through food, and out of that
food the body obtains the power of motion, etc. Others, the finer
forces, it throws out in what we call thought. Naturally we see that
the mind is not intelligent; yet it appears to be intelligent. Why?
Because the intelligent soul is behind it. You are the only sentient
being; mind is only the instrument through which you catch the external
world. Take this book; as a book it does not exist outside, what exists
outside is unknown and unknowable.
It is the suggestion that gives a blow to the mind, and the mind gives
out the reaction. If a stone is thrown into the water the water is
thrown against it in the form of waves. The real universe is the
occasion of the reaction of the mind. A book form, or an elephant form,
or a man form, is not outside; all that we know is our mental reaction
from the outer suggestion.
Matter is the "permanent possibility of sensation," said John
Stuart Mill. It is only the suggestion that is outside. Take an oyster
for example. You know how pearls are made. A grain of sand or something
gets inside and begins to irritate it, and the oyster throws a sort of
enamelling around the sand, and this makes the pearl. This whole
universe is our own enamel, so to say, and the real universe is the
grain of sand. The ordinary man will never understand it, because, when
he tries to, he throws out an enamel, and sees only his own enamel. Now
we understand what is meant by these Vrttis. The real man is behind
the mind, and the mind is the instrument in his hands, and it is his
intelligence that is percolating through it. It is only when you stand
behind it that it becomes intelligent. When man gives it up it falls to
pieces, and is nothing. So you understand what is meant by Citta. It is
the mind-stuff, and Vrttis are the waves and ripples rising in it when
external causes impinge on it. These Vrttis are our whole universe.
The bottom of the lake we cannot see, because its surface is covered
with ripples. It is only possible when the rippled have subsided, and
the water is calm, for us to catch a glimpse of the bottom. If the
water is muddy, the bottom will not be seen; if the water is agitated
all the time, the bottom will not be seen. If the water is clear, and
there are no waves, we shall see the bottom. That bottom of the lake is
our own true Self; the lake is the Citta, and the waves are the
Vrttis.
Again, this mind is in three states; one is darkness, which is called
Tamas, just as in brutes and idiots; it only acts to injure others. No
other idea comes into that state of mind. Then there is the active
state of mind, Rajas, whose chief motives are power and enjoyment. "I
will be powerful and rule others." Then, at last, when the waves
cease, and the water of the lake becomes clear, there is the state
called Sattva, serenity, calmness. It is not inactive, but rather
intensely active. It is the greatest manifestation of power to be calm.
It is easy to be active. Let the reins go, and the horses will drag you
down. Any one can do that, but he who can stop the plunging horses is
the strong man. Which requires the greater strength, letting go, or
restraining? The calm man is not the man who is dull. You must not
mistake Sattva for dulness, or laziness. The calm man is the one who
has restraint of these waves. Activity is the manifestation of the
lower strength, calmness of the superior strength.
This Citta is always trying to get back to its natural pure state, but
the organs draw it out. To restrain it, and to check this outward
tendency, and to start it on the return journey to that essence of
intelligence is the first step in Yoga, because only in this way can
the Citta get into its proper course.
Although this Citta is in every animal, from the lowest to the highest,
it is only in the human form that we find intellect, and until the
mind-stuff can take the form of intellect it is not possible for it to
return through all these steps, and liberate the soul. Immediate
salvation is impossible for the cow and the dog, although they have
mind, because their Citta cannot as yet take that form which we call
intellect.
Citta manifests itself in all these different forms- scattering,
darkening, weakening, and concentrating. These are the four states in
which the mind-stuff manifests itself. First a scattered form, is
activity. Its tendency is to manifest in the form of pleasure or of
pain. Then the dull form is darkness, the only tendency of which is to
injure others. The commentator says the first form is natural to the
Devas, the angels, and the second is the demoniacal form. The Ekagra,
the concentrated form of the Citta, is what brings us to Samadhi.
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