In the previous episodes, we climbed the 4 steps of the Yoga ladder and came up to the step namely Pratyahara. The first 4 steps namely Yama, Niyama, Asana, and Pranayama gradually shaped our mind into a well-focused Mind.
But reaching this state is not all that easy for everyone. Different people have different limitations.
There are people who are sluggish, both physically as well as intellectually. They are called MooDa. There is nothing much they can do. Neither their body nor their Mind is capable of climbing up the Yoga ladder.
Then we have people who are totally chaotic. They neither have control over their body nor their Mind. They are restless to the extreme. They are called KShipta. These people need to put in lot of efforts to progress in the Yoga path.
The ideal candidates for the Yoga practice are the ones who have a VikShipta Mind. A VikShipta Mind is one that keeps oscillating between a chaotic state and a calmer state. Most of us fall in this category 😉 We have some hope!
People with VikShipta Mind, can rein in their Mind by determined practice of the first four steps of Yoga, and enter the doorway of the actual Yoga. The entry qualification is a single pointed Mind or Ekagra citta.
This is the step 5 of Yoga, namely Pratyahara that we discussed in the previous episode.
What to do with a single pointed Mind?
It depends on what you want to achieve 😉
If you have sharp knife, you can do several things.
If you are a wicked person, you can stab someone and kill him. Or if you are a surgeon, you can use the same knife and save someone’s life. If you are a gardener like me, you can use it to graft plants and produce a new variety. Or you can whittle and create a beautiful carving. If your interest is in cooking, say for example, you can use it to cut vegetables, and meat of course, and rig up a nice meal!
So also, if you have a single pointed Mind. You can use it to achieve worldly things or you can march ahead and use it attain the ultimate realization.
Yoga Sutra devotes an entire chapter for listing out various worldly things you can do once you attain a single pointed Mind. This chapter is called ‘Vibhooti Paada’ – chapter on psychic powers.
This chapter explains how one can achieve various powers using a single pointed Mind.
I normally skip this chapter when I discuss about Yoga, both because such powers don’t interest me and also because I feel that this chapter is a later addition to Patanjali Yoga Sutra by some later author with some Hatayoga background. It is Hatayoga that gives lot of importance to Psychic powers.
When you have a pitcher full of ambrosia waiting for you, it is foolish to hanker for a glass of cheap liquor 😉 Psychic powers pull back a person to the worldly mire.
So, I would not like to go into myriad ways you can use a focused Mind to achieve special powers. I would rather dive into the real Royal Yoga.
Before you can do anything with a single pointed Mind, first you have to choose a specific target and fix your focus on that. This act of fixing your focus on a chosen target is called DharaNa.
DharaNa is the sixth step of Yoga. This involves choosing a suitable target and keeping your mental focus on that.
If you continue to keep your focus on the chosen target, then it becomes Dhyana or meditation.
Dhyana is the seventh step of Yoga.
Patanjali does not delve much into the process of Dhyana but focusses more on what happens if you meditate for a prolonged duration.
What I am going to do first is to get into various forms of mediation and explain the process, before delving into the ultimate result. I will not restrict myself to Yoga of Patanjali, but discuss an array of meditation processes from different disciplines, before coming to what happens when you meditate.
Please do join me in the next episode.
A series revolving around Mind – Science of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Notions of reality, Mind modulation, Domains beyond Mind, and so on. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2019-2020
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