PRACTICE OF YOGA BY SWAMI SIVANANDA (MESSAGE 8)
The ever-restless mind becomes quiescent when all desires vanish. Desire raises Sankalpas. Man performs actions for acquiring the desired objects. Thus he is caught up in the wheel of Samsara. This wheel stops when Vasanas perish.
Ahankara, Sankalpa, Vasana and Prana have intimate connection with the mind. There cannot be any mind without these four. Prana is the life of the mind. Ahankara is the root of the mind. Sankalpas are the branches of the tree of mind. Vasana is the seed of the mind. This deep-rooted tree of Samsara of dire Ajnana has the mind as its root. It ramifies in various directions with branches full of flowers, tendrils, fruits, etc. If this root—mind—is destroyed, the tree of Samsara, this tree of birth and death will also be destroyed. Cut this root—mind—with the axe of Brahma-Jnana. Chop off the branches—the Sankalpas—with the knife of Viveka and Vairagya.
Thought-Culture
This is a vital subject. Very few people know this art. Even educated people are not aware of this fundamental education. All have random thinking. All sorts of loose thoughts of various kinds come and go in the mental factory. There is neither order nor harmony. There is neither rhythm nor reasoning. There is neither concord nor organised working. There is neither system nor discipline. Everything is in chaos and utter confusion. There is no clarification of ideas. You cannot think on one subject even for two minutes in an orderly and systematic manner. You have no understanding of the laws of thought and the laws of mental plane. There is a perfect menagerie inside. All sorts of sensual thoughts fight amongst themselves to enter the mind of a sensualist and gain the upper hand. The eye-Indriya struggles to bring its own thoughts. It wants to have sight-seeing. The ear-Indriya wants to hear radio music and so on. In the vast majority of persons, only base thoughts, lustful thoughts, thoughts of hatred, jealousy and fear exist in their minds. They cannot entertain even a single sublime divine thought even for a second. Their minds are so framed that the mental energy runs in sensual grooves.
Every man has got his own mental world, his own mode of thinking, his own way of understanding things and his own way of acting. Just as the face and voice of every man differ from another's, the mode of thinking and understanding also differ in every individual. That is the reason why misunderstanding easily occurs between friends. One is not able to understand rightly the views of another. Hence, friction, rupture and quarrel occur within a minute even amongst fast friends. The friendship does not last for a long time. One should be in tune with the mental vibrations or thought-vibrations of another man. Then only one can easily understand another. Lustful thoughts, thoughts of hatred, jealousy and selfishness produce distorted images in the mind and cause clouding of understanding, perversion of intellect, loss of memory and confusion in the mind.
Every thought has got image, form, dimension, weight, shape, colour, etc. Thought is as much a matter as a piece of stone. Thought moves and passes from one man to another. Thought influences people. A man of powerful thought can influence readily people of weak thoughts. Telepathy is the branch of occult science wherein the Yogi can transmit messages to any man in any part of the world. Telepathy was the first radio system in this world known to Yogins and occultists of ancient days.
A thought of anger or hatred sends arrows from the mental factory towards the person aimed at, harms the individual, sets up discord and disharmony in the thought-world, and comes back again to the sender and harms the sender also. If one can understand the effect and power of thought, he will be very careful in the manufacture of his thoughts in his mental laboratory. One should develop the faculty of producing pure, Sattvic thoughts by protracted mental discipline, dietetic adjustment, good company, study of divine books, Japa, meditation, Pranayama, prayer, etc. A good man can help his friend even though he lives at a long distance by good thoughts. You must not allow any evil thought to enter your mental factory. Always watch your thoughts. Avoid useless and base thinking and reserve or conserve your mental energy. Energy is wasted in idle thinking.
Keep yourself always occupied in doing virtuous actions and study of religious books. You can thereby cultivate good, sublime thoughts. Destroy random thinking. Take a subject and think on its different aspects and bearings. When you think on one subject never allow any other thoughts to enter the conscious mind. Again withdraw the mind to the subject on hand. Take for instance, you begin to think on the life and teachings of Sri Sankaracharya. Think of his birthplace, his early life, his character, his personality, his virtues, his preachings, his writings, his philosophy, some of his important passages, the Siddhis that he exhibited from time to time, his Digvijaya, his four disciples, his four Muths, his commentary on the Gita, the Upanishads and the Brahma-Sutras. Think of these items one by one in order. Exhaust them. Again and again bring the mind to the point. Then take up another subject. By this practice you will develop organised thinking. The mental images will gain intense strength and force. They will become clear-cut and well-defined. In ordinary persons the mental images are distorted and undefined. Every thought has got an image. A table is a mental image plus some external something. All outside objects have got their counterparts in the mind. The pupil is a small round thing in the eye. Retina is a small structure. How is it that the image of a big mountain seen through a small aperture or structure is cast on the mind? How does the big form of a mountain enter a tiny hole in the eye? This is a great marvel and wonder. The image of the mountain already exists in the mind. The mind is like a big, vast, sheet of canvas-cloth that contains all the pictures of the objects seen outside.
You must have knowledge of the mental laws, viz., law of association, law of relativity and law of contiguity. Then you can develop thought-culture easily. You can remember things through the law of association. Brahmacharya and pure Sattvic diet are essential for thought-culture.
Mind is nothing but a collection of Samskaras. It is nothing but a collection of desires arising from contact with different objects. It is also a collection of feelings aroused by worldly botherations. It is a collection of ideas gathered from different objects. Now these desires, ideas and feelings constantly change. Some of the old desires are constantly departing from their storehouse of the mind and new ones are replacing them. If all the thoughts are eliminated, then there remains nothing which can be called the mind. Therefore thoughts are the mind. There is no such thing as the world, independent of and apart from thoughts. Two thoughts, however closely related to one another, cannot exist at the same time.
Mental Factory
Now, I will take you to the description of the most wonderful mental factory which is very close to you, which is the wonder of wonders. Even a rank materialist, if he is very sincere, will be turned within a second into a perfect theist if he closes his eyes for a second and seriously reflects on the working of this marvellous factory.
There is a Director of this mental factory and the direct perception of this Director, through the purification of mind and spiritual practices of concentration and meditation, can bring Self-realisation, freedom, perfection and immortality. I have to hammer on your mind very often about the importance of Self-realisation which alone can give real bliss, and about the existence of God who is the source for this mind, will and memory. It is He who gives light and power to this little mind. Do not forget this point. Brahman (Absolute) is the silent witness of this factory. Hiranyagarbha is the supreme Director of this "factory. Hiranyagarbha is the sum total of all minds. He has to manage and supervise the whole cosmic factory. Every man has his own individual mental factory. He who dwells in the mind, who is within this mind, whom the mind does not know, whose body is the mind, and who rules the mind from within is your Self (Atman), Inner Ruler (Antaryami), Immortal (Amritam). Salutations unto this Inner Ruler who illuminates the mind and the mental factory.
Just as the iron-piece moves in the presence of a magnet, so also this insentient mind moves and works in the presence of the Inner Ruler. This point has not been properly understood by the western psychologists, rationalists, free-thinkers, communists and socialists. Hence they are restless and are groping in utter darkness. The vibration of psychic or subtle Prana manufactures thoughts in the mind.
If you can clairvoyantly visualise the inner working of this mental factory, you will be dumbfounded. Just as the operator in the telephone-office plugs, connects and disconnects the different switches when he receives messages from various centres, so also the mind puts plugs, connects and disconnects. When you want to see a thing, the mind puts a plug in the other four centres of hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling. When you want to hear, it plugs the other four centres. The mind does an action with tremendous lightning speed. You can clearly see the numberless pigeon holes in the subconscious mind or Chitta, where various sorts of things are recorded in perfect order. They are classified, grouped and labelled with accurate and precise denominations. You will see that the subconscious mind works with tremendous activity and preciseness just as the head-sorter works in the mail train. One impression rises up as a thought-wave and comes to the surface of the mind for tickling the Jiva for action. You will see various colours of thoughts. If there is a spiritual or holy thought, you will find that the thought is tinged with beautiful yellow colour. If there is a thought of anger, dark red arrows will shoot out from the mind. Various shades of colours will be seen according to the nature of thought. You will find perfect order in cosmos. The working is very smooth and harmonious, because there is the Antaryami behind. He directs and guides. Just as in the presence of a King the Divan and other officers work smoothly, so also in the mere presence of the Inner Ruler, the indwelling, interpenetrating Presence, the mind and other inner faculties work without any friction.
The eyes and the ears are the gatekeepers of this magnanimous mental factory. They are the 'way in' for the entry of the vibrations from outside. Mouth is the 'way out.' The eyes and ears bring matters inside the mental factory for manufacture. Light vibrations and sound vibrations are brought inside through these two avenues. The mind will make them as percepts and then present these percepts to the Buddhi (intellect). Then the Buddhi converts these percepts into concepts or ideas. These ideas are expressed by the outside gate-keeper, Vak-Indriya, the organ of speech. Just as the raw sugar-cane juice is treated with so many chemicals for purification, passed through various settling tanks, cooled, solidified, transformed as pure crystals, and is packed in bags for delivery at the railway station, so also mere light-vibrations and sound-vibrations are turned into powerful ideas old 'concepts' of various descriptions in this mental factory.
The external physical eyes and physical ears are only Bahya Karanas (external instruments). But the real visual and auditory centres are in the brain and in the astral body. These centres are the real Indriyas. Understand this point well. The Buddhi receives the materials from the mind and presents them to the Purusha or Atman who is behind the screen. Buddhi is the Prime Minister to Purusha. He is more close to Purusha than the mind, as he is the Prime Minister. Mind is the Commander and has the five soldiers (five Karma-lndriyas) to execute his orders. He is the advocate who places the facts before the Judge, Buddhi. Mind is the head-clerk of the mental factory. He has ten clerks—five Jnana-Indriyas to bring news and matter from outside and five Karma-lndriyas to execute his orders. As soon as the facts are placed by intellect before Purusha there flashes out Ahankara. The Buddhi receives back the message from the Purusha, decides, determines and gives back to the mind for execution. The five Karma-Indriyas Vak, Pani, Pada, Upastha and Guda (speech, hands, feet, genitals and anus) execute the orders of their master, the mind.
Antahkarana or the inner instrument is a broad term which includes mind, intellect, memory and Ahankara. The one Antahkarana assumes four forms according to the various functions it performs, just as one man assumes the name of a Judge -when he works in the court; President, when he serves in a society or association; Chairman, when he presides in a meeting; and a storekeeper when he is in charge of a store. When you pass along a mango garden, the mind does Sankalpa-Vikalpa (will and doubt). It thinks whether it is a good mango or not. The Buddhi comes to its aid. It determines and says: "This is a good mango." The Chitta does Anusandhana (enquiry). It says: "I will find out methods to get mangoes. I will find out the owner of the garden. I will purchase from him." Ahankara self-arrogates: "I must have this mango at any cost." Then the mind gives the execution to the Karma-Indriya, feet. The feet take the man to the gardener. Ahankara purchases the mango and eats. The impression of the mango remains in the mind and a Vasana is formed in the mind. The thought of enjoyment comes back to the mind later on through memory in the form of a subtle Vasana. Vasana produces Sankalpa and the man wants to enjoy the taste of mango again. This cycle of things, viz., desire, thought and action, is going on from eternity and has brought bondage for man. When the Vasana is repeated several times, it becomes a strong passion or strong desire. The man finds it difficult to control passion and becomes a slave of passion and Indriyas. A strong sense-hankering is called Trishna. The difference between a desire and a Vasana is that the Vasana is subtle and hidden in the subconscious mind, whereas desire is gross. The pleasure derived from the enjoyment of sensual objects brings attachment. Attachment is death. Attachment is Moha. The man, who is full of sense-Vasanas, is tied to various objects. Escape becomes difficult for him. Escape is only possible by destroying these knots by knowledge of the Director of this mental factory who has kept up this show inside.
There are different regions for sentiments, emotions, instincts and impulses. There are highlands and lowlands in the mind. There are subtle realms and gross regions. There are the plane of instinctive mind, plane of intellect and spiritual plane. There is the region of Suddha Manas, pure mind and the region of the Asuddha Manas, the instinctive or lower mind. On one side the will-power will step in to execute certain strong desires of the mind and the various other faculties such as memory, Dharana Sakti, etc., will stand behind in a disciplined array to help their master—will. After will has executed one order, imagination will come forward and speculate another scheme. Memory will help the imagination. The three Gunas, various moods, the thirteen evil Vrittis (lust, anger, etc.) will show their faces in different colours. Just as in a talkie actors come and go in an electric speed, the various faculties come to the scene, work and retire to their respective quarters and rooms for rest. The scene is simply thrilling and magnificent. Words cannot describe. You will have to develop this clairvoyant astral sight through purification and concentration. If you practise introspection and self-analysis, you will fully understand the working of this mental factory and the circus that goes on in the menagerie of the mental plane. Do not forget the Director of this mental factory, who is your own Inner Self. He is waking up even when this mental factory is temporarily closed at midnight. Try to meet Him by purifying the mind and by the practice of regular concentration. Develop all powers or faculties of the mind and get sanguine success in your life and eventually merge in Him.
Memory-culture
Memory-culture is very, very important, because it brings success in God-realisation as well. A forgetful man always fails in any endeavour. The manager gets displeased with a forgetful clerk. A forgetful man makes serious mistakes again and again. A man with strong and retentive memory gets success in all his endeavours. He who has good memory can conduct his business successfully, can remember credits, debits and can keep correct accounts. A student who has retentive memory will get success in every examination. Intelligence is only nine-tenth of memory.
The functions of Chitta are Smriti (remembrance), Dharana (attention) and Anusandhana (enquiry). When you repeat the Mantra in Japa, it is the Chitta that does Smriti or Smarana. It turns out better work than mind or Buddhi. Smriti is a separate faculty or category in Vedanta. Sometimes it is Antargata (hidden). In Sankhya philosophy, it is included in Buddhi.
The Sanskrit term for memory is Smriti. Smarana is remembering. This is the function of the subconscious mind or Chitta. The Samskaras of thinking and acting are deeply impressed in the Chitta. The Chitta is like the sensitive plate of a camera. All the impressions are indelibly recorded there. Whenever you make an attempt to remember past events or things, they come back to the surface of the conscious mind through the trapdoor. Just as the man enters the stage from the side curtains, just as the prisoner comes outside the jail through a small door in the big main gate, so also the impressions come out through the trapdoor in the form of a big wave of thought or mental image.
The term memory is used in two senses. We say: "Mr. John has got a good memory." Here it means that Mr. John's capacity of the mind to store up his past experiences is very good. Sometimes you say: "I have no memory of that incidence." Here it means you cannot bring up to the surface of the conscious mind in its original form the incident that took place some years ago. It is an act of remembering.
If the experience is fresh, you can have a complete recall of your past experiences through memory. You do not get any new knowledge through memory. It is only a reproduction.
In ordinary recollection there is a temporal coefficient. In personal memory there is a specific coefficient. That which acts together with another is a coefficient. In mathematics the numerical or literal factor prefixed to an unknown quantity in an algebraic term is a coefficient.
Suppose you have received a nice fan as a present from your amiable friend. When you use the fan, it sometimes reminds you of your friend. You think of him for a short time. This fan serves as Udbodhaka or Smritihetu (cause of memory).
A knowledge of the working of the subconscious mind is necessary for those who want to develop their memory. Most of the mental operations take place in the subconscious mind. The conscious mind takes some rest, but the subconscious mind works throughout twenty-four hours. It is the subconscious mind that brings the answer like a flash in the early morning when you fail to get a solution in the night, even though you raked your brain for hours together. It is the subconscious mind that wakes you up in the morning when you go to sleep with a resolve: "I should catch the train at 3.00 a.m." It is a most faithful servant, if you know the technique of manipulating it in a masterly manner. You can extract tremendous work from it. All the prodigies and geniuses know the art of handling this portion of the mind. The Chitta analyses, sorts, arranges and takes out all old records from the various pigeon holes of the mind and produces a balance-sheet or a clear statement of facts for your perusal and review whenever you want. Before you go to bed, give orders to Chitta to do any kind of work. It will keep ready the answer in the early morning. When you are in a dilemma, when you are confused, when you do not know what to do in a serious problem, place before it the nature of your difficulty and give orders to the Chitta for a definite solution. In the next early morning you will have a clear-cut answer. Try to do this practice. Then you will have wonderful conviction and strength. You will find this subconscious mind to be your very reliable friend.
A man of strong and retentive memory can turn out tremendous work in a twinkling of an eye. He can master any subject in a short time. Mr. Johnson used to repeat passages after passages in a few minutes by committing them to memory. His mother was quite astonished. His mother would ask him: "My dear child, get this passage by heart." Before she ascends the upstairs, Johnson would follow her and say: "Mamma! Mamma! I know this by heart." He would repeat the passage correctly. Look at the wonderful memory of the boy! If you read the introduction of Pranava-Vada written by Sri Babu Bhagawan Das of Benares, you will find that he collected all the matter of his big book in four volumes by hearing the recitations from a Pundit. He was blind from his very birth. He knew the contents of many books by heart. He knew the numbers of the pages also. There was one person named Bhakshi Sur who lived in a village near Lakhimpur-kheri. He had a wonderful memory. He was a blind man from his very birth. He used to quote all the verses of Surdas and Tulasidas. How he learnt this and how he committed this to memory is a great wonder. In olden days Sanskrit scholars got by heart all the Vedas. The Gurukula-system of education has got its own advantages. It develops memory marvellously. Even now there are Sanskrit Pundits in Varanasi who have committed to memory the whole of the Upanishads, the Gita, the Brahma-Sutras, the Chitsukhi. the Advaita Siddhi, etc. There are small boys in the Darshan Maha Vidyalaya of Sri Raghavachari, Muni-ki-reti, Rishikesh, who have committed to memory the eighteen chapters of the Gita. Gurukula-system of education is wonderful. Our students of universities cannot remember even a single passage. You can reproduce a passage nicely after reading it only once. You can preserve a fact of a passage for a considerable period and reproduce it at once without any difficulty whenever it is needed. These are the characteristics of good memory. Sri Chintamani of Allahabad had a good memory. He could describe in detail any event or incident that occurred several years back. He could describe the life history of important men of the world in detail without any omission.
If your brother is a tall man, the sight of a similar man in another place will bring to your mind the memory of your brother. This memory is due to the similarity of objects.
Suppose you have seen a dwarf at Madras. When you see a very tall man at Bombay, this will remind you of the dwarf whom you saw at Madras. The sight of a big palace will remind you of a peasant's hut or a Sannyasin's grass-hut on the bank of the Ganga. This memory is due to dissimilarity in objects.
When you walk along the road on a stormy day, if you happen to see a fallen tree, you conclude that the tree has fallen owing to the storm. In this case the memory is due to the relation between cause and effect.
Subconscious mind is termed 'Chitta' in Vedanta. Much of your subconsciousness consists of submerged experiences, memories thrown into the background but recoverable. When you show symptoms of losing your memory, as you grow old, the first symptom is that you find it difficult to remember the names of persons. The reason is not far to seek. All the names are arbitrary. They are like labels. There are no associations along with the names. The mind generally remembers through association, as the impressions become deep thereby. Even in old age you can remember old events as there are associations with events. You can remember well in old age some passages that you have read in schools and colleges. But you find it difficult to remember in the evening a new passage you have read in the morning. The reason is that the mind has lost its Dharana Sakti (power of grasping ideas). The brain-cells have been degenerated. Those who overwork mentally, who do not observe the rules of Brahmacharya and who are afflicted with much cares, worries and anxieties, lose their power of memory soon.
The mental processes are not limited to the field of consciousness alone. The field of subconscious mentation is of a much greater extent than that of conscious mentation. Message when ready, comes out like a flash from the subconscious mind to the surface of the conscious mind through the trapdoor in the subconscious mind or Chitta. Only ten per cent of mental activities come into the field of consciousness.
At least ninety per cent of our mental life is subconscious. We sit and try to solve a problem and fail. We walk around, try again and again fail. When the subconscious processes are at work, suddenly an idea dawns that leads to the solution of the problem.
All actions, enjoyments and experiences leave the impressions in the subconscious mind in the form of subtle impressions or residual potencies. The Samskaras are the roots for causing again Jati, life and experiences of pleasure and pain. Revival of Samskaras induces memory. The Yogi dives deep inside and comes in direct contact with these Samskaras. He directly perceives them through the inner Yogic vision. By Samyama (concentration, meditation and Samadhi) on these Samskaras, he acquires knowledge of previous lives. By doing Samyama on the Samskaras of others, the Yogi gets the knowledge of their past lives also.
When you desire to remember a thing you will have to make a psychic exertion. You will have to go up and down into the depths of the different levels of subconsciousness and then pick up the right thing from a curious mixture of multifarious, irrelevant matter. Just as the railway mail sorter takes up the right letter by moving the hand up and down along the different pigeon-holes, so also the subconscious mind brings the right thing to the level of normal consciousness. The subconscious mind can pick up the right thing from a heap of various matters.
A Samskara of an experience is formed or developed in the Chitta at the very moment that the mind is experiencing something. There is no gap between the present experience and the formation of a Samskara in the subconscious mind.
With the help of subconscious mind you can change your vicious nature by cultivating healthy and virtuous qualities that are opposed to the undesirable ones. If you want to overcome fear, mentally deny that you have fear and concentrate your attention upon the opposite quality, the ideal of courage. When courage is developed fear vanishes away by itself. The positive always overpowers the negative. This is Pratipaksha Bhavana. This is an infallible law of nature. You can acquire a liking for distasteful tasks and duties by cultivating a desire and taste for them. You can establish new habits, new ideals, new ideas, new tastes and new character in the subconscious mind by changing the old ones.
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