Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - The Threads of Union
The Sanskrit word sutra comes from suture, or thread. Patanjali's work is one of the first written documents to collect the threads of the oral history of yoga into a coherent summary.
Before beginning any spiritual text it is customary to clear the mind of all distracting thoughts, to calm the breath and to purify the heart.
1.1 Now, instruction in Union.
1.2. Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind.
1.3. Then the seer dwells in his own nature.
1.4. Otherwise he is of the same form as the thought-streams.
1.5. The thought-streams are five-fold, painful and not painful.
1.6. Right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy, sleep and memory.
1.7. Right knowledge is inference, tradition and genuine cognition.
1.8. Wrong knowledge is false, illusory, erroneous beliefs or notions.
1.9. Fancy is following after word-knowledge empty of substance.
1.10. Deep sleep is the modification of the mind which has for its substratum nothingness.
1.11. Memory is not allowing mental impressions to escape.
1.12. These thought-streams are controlled by practice and non-attachment.
1.13. Practice is the effort to secure steadiness.
1.14. This practice becomes well-grounded when continued with reverent devotion and without interruption over a long period of time.
1.15. Desirelessness towards the seen and the unseen gives the consciousness of mastery.
1.16. This is signified by an indifference to the three attributes, due to knowledge of the Indweller.
1.17. Cognitive meditation is accompanied by reasoning, discrimination, bliss and the sense of 'I am.'
1.18. There is another meditation which is attained by the practice of alert mental suspension until only subtle impressions remain.
1.19. For those beings who are formless and for those beings who are merged in unitive consciousness, the world is the cause.
1.20. For others, clarity is preceded by faith, energy, memory and equalminded contemplation.
1.21. Equalminded contemplation is nearest to those whose desire is most ardent.
1.22. There is further distinction on account of the mild, moderate or intense means employed.
1.23. Or by surrender to God.
1.24. God is a particular yet universal indweller, untouched by afflictions, actions, impressions and their results.
1.25. In God, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed.
1.26. Not being conditioned by time, God is the teacher of even the ancients.
1.27. God's voice is Om.
1.28. The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning.
1.29. From that is gained introspection and also the disappearance of obstacles.
1.30. Disease, inertia, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, laziness, sensuality, mind-wandering, missing the point, instability- these distractions of the mind are the obstacles.
1.31. Pain, despair, nervousness, and disordered inspiration and expiration are co-existent with these obstacles.
1.32. For the prevention of the obstacles, one truth should be practiced constantly.
1.33. By cultivating friendliness towards happiness and compassion towards misery, gladness towards virtue and indifference towards vice, the mind becomes pure.
1.34. Optionally, mental equanimity may be gained by the even expulsion and retention of energy.
1.35. Or activity of the higher senses causes mental steadiness.
1.36. Or the state of sorrowless Light.
1.37. Or the mind taking as an object of concentration those who are freed of compulsion.
1.38. Or depending on the knowledge of dreams and sleep.
1.39. Or by meditation as desired.
1.40. The mastery of one in Union extends from the finest atomic particle to the greatest infinity.
1.41. When the agitations of the mind are under control, the mind becomes like a transparent crystal and has the power of becoming whatever form is presented. knower, act of knowing, or what is known.
1.42. The argumentative condition is the confused mixing of the word, its right meaning, and knowledge.
1.43. When the memory is purified and the mind shines forth as the object alone, it is called non-argumentative.
1.44. In this way the meditative and the ultra-meditative having the subtle for their objects are also described.
1.45. The province of the subtle terminates with pure matter that has no pattern or distinguishing mark.
1.46. These constitute seeded contemplations.
1.47. On attaining the purity of the ultra-meditative state there is the pure flow of spiritual consciousness.
1.48. Therein is the faculty of supreme wisdom.
1.49. The wisdom obtained in the higher states of consciousness is different from that obtained by inference and testimony as it refers to particulars.
1.50. The habitual pattern of thought stands in the way of other impressions.
1.51. With the suppression of even that through the suspension of all modifications of the mind, contemplation without seed is attained.
2.1 Austerity, the study of sacred texts, and the dedication of action to God constitute the discipline of Mystic Union.
2.2 This discipline is practised for the purpose of acquiring fixity of mind on the Lord, free from all impurities and agitations, or on One's Own Reality, and for attenuating the afflictions.
2.3 The five afflictions are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and the desire to cling to life.
2.4 Ignorance is the breeding place for all the others whether they are dormant or attenuated, partially overcome or fully operative.
2.5 Ignorance is taking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, evil for good and non-self as self.
2.6 Egoism is the identification of the power that knows with the instruments of knowing.
2.7 Attachment is that magnetic pattern which clusters in pleasure and pulls one towards such experience.
2.8 Aversion is the magnetic pattern which clusters in misery and pushes one from such experience.
2.9 Flowing by its own energy, established even in the wise and in the foolish, is the unending desire for life.
2.10 These patterns when subtle may be removed by developing their contraries.
2.11 Their active afflictions are to be destroyed by meditation.
2.12 The impressions of works have their roots in afflictions and arise as experience in the present and the future births.
2.13 When the root exists, its fruition is birth, life and experience.
2.14 They have pleasure or pain as their fruit, according as their cause be virtue or vice.
2.15 All is misery to the wise because of the pains of change, anxiety, and purificatory acts.
2.16 The grief which has not yet come may be avoided.
2.17 The cause of the avoidable is the superimposition of the external world onto the unseen world.
2.18 The experienced world consists of the elements and the senses in play. It is of the nature of cognition, activity and rest, and is for the purpose of experience and realization.
2.19 The stages of the attributes effecting the experienced world are the specialized and the unspecialized, the differentiated and the undifferentiated.
2.20 The indweller is pure consciousness only, which though pure, sees through the mind and is identified by ego as being only the mind.
2.21 The very existence of the seen is for the sake of the seer.
2.22 Although Creation is discerned as not real for the one who has achieved the goal, it is yet real in that Creation remains the common experience to others.
2.23 The association of the seer with Creation is for the distinct recognition of the objective world, as well as for the recognition of the distinct nature of the seer.
2.24 The cause of the association is ignorance.
2.25 Liberation of the seer is the result of the dissassociation of the seer and the seen, with the disappearance of ignorance.
2.26 The continuous practice of discrimination is the means of attaining liberation.
2.27 Steady wisdom manifests in seven stages.
2.28 On the destruction of impurity by the sustained practice of the limbs of Union, the light of knowledge reveals the faculty of discrimination.
2.29 The eight limbs of Union are self-restraint in actions, fixed observance, posture, regulation of energy, mind-control in sense engagements, concentration, meditation, and realization.
2.30 Self-restraint in actions includes abstention from violence, from falsehoods, from stealing, from sexual engagements, and from acceptance of gifts.
2.31 These five willing abstentions are not limited by rank, place, time or circumstance and constitute the Great Vow.
2.32 The fixed observances are cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study and persevering devotion to God.
2.33 When improper thoughts disturb the mind, there should be constant pondering over the opposites.
2.34 Improper thoughts and emotions such as those of violence- whether done, caused to be done, or even approved of- indeed, any thought originating in desire, anger or delusion, whether mild medium or intense- do all result in endless pain and misery. Overcome such distractions by pondering on the opposites.
2.35 When one is confirmed in non-violence, hostility ceases in his presence.
2.36 When one is firmly established in speaking truth, the fruits of action become subservient to him.
2.37 All jewels approach him who is confirmed in honesty.
2.38 When one is confirmed in celibacy, spiritual vigor is gained.
2.39 When one is confirmed in non-possessiveness, the knowledge of the why and how of existence is attained.
2.40 From purity follows a withdrawal from enchantment over one's own body as well as a cessation of desire for physical contact with others.
2.41 As a result of contentment there is purity of mind, one-pointedness, control of the senses, and fitness for the vision of the self.
2.42 Supreme happiness is gained via contentment.
2.43 Through sanctification and the removal of impurities, there arise special powers in the body and senses.
2.44 By study comes communion with the Lord in the Form most admired.
2.45 Realization is experienced by making the Lord the motive of all actions.
2.46 The posture should be steady and comfortable.
2.47 In effortless relaxation, dwell mentally on the Endless with utter attention.
2.48 From that there is no disturbance from the dualities.
2.49 When that exists, control of incoming and outgoing energies is next.
2.50 It may be external, internal, or midway, regulated by time, place, or number, and of brief or long duration.
2.51 Energy-control which goes beyond the sphere of external and internal is the fourth level- the vital.
2.52 In this way, that which covers the light is destroyed.
2.53 Thus the mind becomes fit for concentration.
2.54 When the mind maintains awareness, yet does not mingle with the senses, nor the senses with sense impressions, then self-awareness blossoms.
2.55 In this way comes mastery over the senses.
3.1 One-pointedness is steadfastness of the mind.
3.2 Unbroken continuation of that mental ability is meditation.
3.3 That same meditation when there is only consciousness of the object of meditation and not of the mind is realization.
3.4 The three appearing together are self-control.
3.5 By mastery comes wisdom.
3.6 The application of mastery is by stages.
3.7 The three are more efficacious than the restraints.
3.8 Even that is external to the seedless realization.
3.9 The significant aspect is the union of the mind with the moment of absorption, when the outgoing thought disappears and the absorptive experience appears.
3.10 From sublimation of this union comes the peaceful flow of unbroken unitive cognition.
3.11 The contemplative transformation of this is equalmindedness, witnessing the rise and destruction of distraction as well as one-pointedness itself.
3.12 The mind becomes one-pointed when the subsiding and rising thought-waves are exactly similar.
3.13 In this state, it passes beyond the changes of inherent characteristics, properties and the conditional modifications of object or sensory recognition.
3.14 The object is that which preserves the latent characteristic, the rising characteristic or the yet-to-be-named characteristic that establishes one entity as specific.
3.15 The succession of these changes in that entity is the cause of its modification.
3.16 By self-control over these three-fold changes (of property, character and condition), knowledge of the past and the future arises. (= precognition and retrocognition)
3.17 The sound of a word, the idea behind the word, and the object the idea signfies are often taken as being one thing and may be mistaken for one another. By self-control over their distinctions, understanding of all languages of all creatures arises. (= clairaudience)
3.18 By self-control on the perception of mental impressions, knowledge of previous lives arises. (= consciousness after bodily death)
3.19 By self-control on any mark of a body, the wisdom of the mind activating that body arises. (= telepathy)
3.20 By self-control on the form of a body, by suspending perceptibility and separating effulgence therefrom, there arises invisibility and inaudibilty. (= invisibility)
3.21 Action is of two kinds, dormant and fruitful. By self-control on such action, one portends the time of death. (= clairvoyance)
3.22 By performing self-control on friendliness, the strength to grant joy arises. (= form of psychokinesis)
3.23 By self-control over any kind of strength, such as that of the elephant, that very strength arises. (= mind-body control or mind-matter interaction)
3.24 By self-control on the primal activator comes knowledge of the hidden, the subtle, and the distant. (= knowledge of hidden objects or clairvoyance)
3.25 By self-control on the Sun comes knowledge of spatial specificities. (= clairvoyance of macroscopic objects and systems)
3.26 By self-control on the Moon comes knowledge of the heavens. (= clairvoyance of macroscopic objects and systems)
3.27 By self-control on the Polestar arises knowledge of orbits. (= clairvoyance of macroscopic objects and systems)
3.28 By self-control on the navel arises knowledge of the constitution of the body. (= mind-body connection or ability of self-healing)
3.29 By self-control on the pit of the throat one subdues hunger and thirst. (= inedia or breatharianism)
3.30 By self-control on the tube within the chest one acquires absolute steadiness. (= mind-body knowledge leading to exceptional health or self-healing)
3.31 By self-control on the light in the head one envisions perfected beings. (= refined clairvoyance)
3.32 There is knowledge of everything from intuition. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.33 Self-control on the heart brings knowledge of the mental entity. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.34 Experience arises due to the inability of discerning the attributes of vitality from the indweller, even though they are indeed distinct from one another. Self-control brings true knowledge of the indweller by itself. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.35 This spontaneous enlightenment results in intuitional perception of hearing, touching, seeing and smelling. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.36 To the outward turned mind, the sensory organs are perfections, but are obstacles to realization.
3.37 When the bonds of the mind caused by action have been loosened, one may enter the body of another by knowledge of how the nerve-currents function. (=distant mental interactions with living systems)
3.38 By self-control of the nerve-currents utilising the lifebreath, one may levitate, walk on water, swamps, thorns, or the like. (=levitation, a highly advanced form of psychokinesis)
3.39 By self-control over the maintenance of breath, one may radiate light. (= mind-body control)
3.40 By self-control on the relation of the ear to the ether one gains distant hearing. (= clairvoyance and clairaudience)
3.41 By self-control over the relation of the body to the ether, and maintaining at the same time the thought of the lightness of cotton, one is able to pass through space. (=levitation, a highly advanced form of psychokinesis)
3.42 By self-control on the mind when it is separated from the body- the state known as the Great Transcorporeal- all coverings are removed from the Light. (= out-of-body perception)
3.43 Mastery over the elements arises when their gross and subtle forms,as well as their essential characteristics, and the inherent attributes and experiences they produce, is examined in self-control. (= manipulation of matter, highly refined version of psychokinesis)
3.44 Thereby one may become as tiny as an atom as well as having many other abilities, such as perfection of the body, and non-resistence to duty. (= manipulation of matter, highly refined version of psychokinesis)
3.45 Perfection of the body consists in beauty, grace, strength and adamantine hardness. (= mind-body control and psychokinesis)
3.46 By self-control on the changes that the sense-organs endure when contacting objects, and on the power of the sense of identity, and of the influence of the attributes, and the experience all these produce- one masters the senses.
3.47 From that come swiftness of mind, independence of perception, and mastery over primoridal matter.
3.48 To one who recognizes the distinctive relation between vitality and indweller comes omnipotence and omniscience.
3.49 Even for the destruction of the seed of bondage by desirelessness there comes absolute independence.
3.50 When invited by invisible beings one should be neither flattered nor satisfied, for there is yet a possibility of ignorance rising up.
3.51 By self-control over single moments and their succession there is wisdom born of discrimination.
3.52 From that there is recognition of two similars when that difference cannot be distinguished by class, characteristic or position.
3.53 Intuition, which is the entire discriminative knowledge, relates to all objects at all times, and is without succession.
3.54 Liberation is attained when there is equal purity between vitality and the indweller.
4.1 Psychic powers arise by birth, drugs, incantations, purificatory acts or concentrated insight.
4.2 Transformation into another state is by the directed flow of creative nature.
4.3 Creative nature is not moved into action by any incidental cause, but by the removal of obstacles, as in the case of a farmer clearing his field of stones for irrigation.
4.4 Created minds arise from egoism alone.
4.5 There being difference of interest, one mind is the director of many minds.
4.6 Of these, the mind born of concentrated insight is free from the impressions.
4.7 The impressions of unitive cognition are neither good nor bad. In the case of the others, there are three kinds of impressions.
4.8 From them proceed the development of the tendencies which bring about the fruition of actions.
4.9 Because of the magnetic qualities of habitual mental patterns and memory, a relationship of cause and effect clings even though there may be a change of embodiment by class, space and time.
4.10 The desire to live is eternal, and the thought-clusters prompting a sense of identity are beginningless.
4.11 Being held together by cause and effect, substratum and object- the tendencies themselves disappear on the dissolution of these bases.
4.12 The past and the future exist in the object itself as form and expression, there being difference in the conditions of the properties.
4.13 Whether manifested or unmanifested they are of the nature of the attributes.
4.14 Things assume reality because of the unity maintained within that modification.
4.15 Even though the external object is the same, there is a difference of cognition in regard to the object because of the difference in mentality.
4.16 And if an object known only to a single mind were not cognized by that mind, would it then exist?
4.17 An object is known or not known by the mind, depending on whether or not the mind is colored by the object.
4.18 The mutations of awareness are always known on account of the changelessness of its Lord, the indweller.
4.19 Nor is the mind self-luminous, as it can be known.
4.20 It is not possible for the mind to be both the perceived and the perceiver simultaneously.
4.21 In the case of cognition of one mind by another, we would have to assume cognition of cognition, and there would be confusion of memories.
4.22 Consciousness appears to the mind itself as intellect when in that form in which it does not pass from place to place.
4.23 The mind is said to perceive when it reflects both the indweller (the knower) and the objects of perception (the known).
4.24 Though variegated by innumerable tendencies, the mind acts not for itself but for another, for the mind is of compound substance.
4.25 For one who sees the distinction, there is no further confusing of the mind with the self.
4.26 Then the awareness begins to discriminate, and gravitates towards liberation.
4.27 Distractions arise from habitual thought patterns when practice is intermittent.
4.28 The removal of the habitual thought patterns is similar to that of the afflictions already described.
4.29 To one who remains undistracted in even the highest intellection there comes the equalminded realization known as The Cloud of Virtue. This is a result of discriminative discernment.
4.30 From this there follows freedom from cause and effect and afflictions.
4.31 The infinity of knowledge available to such a mind freed of all obscuration and property makes the universe of sensory perception seem small.
4.32 Then the sequence of change in the three attributes comes to an end, for they have fulfilled their function.
4.33 The sequence of mutation occurs in every second, yet is comprehensible only at the end of a series.
4.34 When the attributes cease mutative association with awarenessness, they resolve into dormancy in Nature, and the indweller shines forth as pure consciousness. This is absolute freedom.
(Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as translated by BonGiovanni. Some interpretations of supernormal powers in the modern world given in part 3 have been taken from Dean Radin's book Supernormal, chapter 7)
- Part 1 of the Yoga Sutras (Samadhi Pada) is on contemplations, the nature of meditative absorption.
- Part 2 of the Yoga Sutras (Sadhana Pada) is on spiritual disciplines, the practice of yoga.
- Part 3 of the Yoga Sutras (Vibhuti Pada) is on divine powers, the extraordinary abilities (siddhis) that one encounters along the yogic path
- Part 4 of the Yoga Sutras (Kaivalya Pada) is on realizations, the goal of yoga - liberation.
Before beginning any spiritual text it is customary to clear the mind of all distracting thoughts, to calm the breath and to purify the heart.
Part 1 - Samadhi Pada (on contemplations)
1.2. Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind.
1.3. Then the seer dwells in his own nature.
1.4. Otherwise he is of the same form as the thought-streams.
1.5. The thought-streams are five-fold, painful and not painful.
1.6. Right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy, sleep and memory.
1.7. Right knowledge is inference, tradition and genuine cognition.
1.8. Wrong knowledge is false, illusory, erroneous beliefs or notions.
1.9. Fancy is following after word-knowledge empty of substance.
1.10. Deep sleep is the modification of the mind which has for its substratum nothingness.
1.11. Memory is not allowing mental impressions to escape.
1.12. These thought-streams are controlled by practice and non-attachment.
1.13. Practice is the effort to secure steadiness.
1.14. This practice becomes well-grounded when continued with reverent devotion and without interruption over a long period of time.
1.15. Desirelessness towards the seen and the unseen gives the consciousness of mastery.
1.16. This is signified by an indifference to the three attributes, due to knowledge of the Indweller.
1.17. Cognitive meditation is accompanied by reasoning, discrimination, bliss and the sense of 'I am.'
1.18. There is another meditation which is attained by the practice of alert mental suspension until only subtle impressions remain.
1.19. For those beings who are formless and for those beings who are merged in unitive consciousness, the world is the cause.
1.20. For others, clarity is preceded by faith, energy, memory and equalminded contemplation.
1.21. Equalminded contemplation is nearest to those whose desire is most ardent.
1.22. There is further distinction on account of the mild, moderate or intense means employed.
1.23. Or by surrender to God.
1.24. God is a particular yet universal indweller, untouched by afflictions, actions, impressions and their results.
1.25. In God, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed.
1.26. Not being conditioned by time, God is the teacher of even the ancients.
1.27. God's voice is Om.
1.28. The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning.
1.29. From that is gained introspection and also the disappearance of obstacles.
1.30. Disease, inertia, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, laziness, sensuality, mind-wandering, missing the point, instability- these distractions of the mind are the obstacles.
1.31. Pain, despair, nervousness, and disordered inspiration and expiration are co-existent with these obstacles.
1.32. For the prevention of the obstacles, one truth should be practiced constantly.
1.33. By cultivating friendliness towards happiness and compassion towards misery, gladness towards virtue and indifference towards vice, the mind becomes pure.
1.34. Optionally, mental equanimity may be gained by the even expulsion and retention of energy.
1.35. Or activity of the higher senses causes mental steadiness.
1.36. Or the state of sorrowless Light.
1.37. Or the mind taking as an object of concentration those who are freed of compulsion.
1.38. Or depending on the knowledge of dreams and sleep.
1.39. Or by meditation as desired.
1.40. The mastery of one in Union extends from the finest atomic particle to the greatest infinity.
1.41. When the agitations of the mind are under control, the mind becomes like a transparent crystal and has the power of becoming whatever form is presented. knower, act of knowing, or what is known.
1.42. The argumentative condition is the confused mixing of the word, its right meaning, and knowledge.
1.43. When the memory is purified and the mind shines forth as the object alone, it is called non-argumentative.
1.44. In this way the meditative and the ultra-meditative having the subtle for their objects are also described.
1.45. The province of the subtle terminates with pure matter that has no pattern or distinguishing mark.
1.46. These constitute seeded contemplations.
1.47. On attaining the purity of the ultra-meditative state there is the pure flow of spiritual consciousness.
1.48. Therein is the faculty of supreme wisdom.
1.49. The wisdom obtained in the higher states of consciousness is different from that obtained by inference and testimony as it refers to particulars.
1.50. The habitual pattern of thought stands in the way of other impressions.
1.51. With the suppression of even that through the suspension of all modifications of the mind, contemplation without seed is attained.
Part 2 - Sadhana Pada (on spiritual disciplines)
2.2 This discipline is practised for the purpose of acquiring fixity of mind on the Lord, free from all impurities and agitations, or on One's Own Reality, and for attenuating the afflictions.
2.3 The five afflictions are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and the desire to cling to life.
2.4 Ignorance is the breeding place for all the others whether they are dormant or attenuated, partially overcome or fully operative.
2.5 Ignorance is taking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, evil for good and non-self as self.
2.6 Egoism is the identification of the power that knows with the instruments of knowing.
2.7 Attachment is that magnetic pattern which clusters in pleasure and pulls one towards such experience.
2.8 Aversion is the magnetic pattern which clusters in misery and pushes one from such experience.
2.9 Flowing by its own energy, established even in the wise and in the foolish, is the unending desire for life.
2.10 These patterns when subtle may be removed by developing their contraries.
2.11 Their active afflictions are to be destroyed by meditation.
2.12 The impressions of works have their roots in afflictions and arise as experience in the present and the future births.
2.13 When the root exists, its fruition is birth, life and experience.
2.14 They have pleasure or pain as their fruit, according as their cause be virtue or vice.
2.15 All is misery to the wise because of the pains of change, anxiety, and purificatory acts.
2.16 The grief which has not yet come may be avoided.
2.17 The cause of the avoidable is the superimposition of the external world onto the unseen world.
2.18 The experienced world consists of the elements and the senses in play. It is of the nature of cognition, activity and rest, and is for the purpose of experience and realization.
2.19 The stages of the attributes effecting the experienced world are the specialized and the unspecialized, the differentiated and the undifferentiated.
2.20 The indweller is pure consciousness only, which though pure, sees through the mind and is identified by ego as being only the mind.
2.21 The very existence of the seen is for the sake of the seer.
2.22 Although Creation is discerned as not real for the one who has achieved the goal, it is yet real in that Creation remains the common experience to others.
2.23 The association of the seer with Creation is for the distinct recognition of the objective world, as well as for the recognition of the distinct nature of the seer.
2.24 The cause of the association is ignorance.
2.25 Liberation of the seer is the result of the dissassociation of the seer and the seen, with the disappearance of ignorance.
2.26 The continuous practice of discrimination is the means of attaining liberation.
2.27 Steady wisdom manifests in seven stages.
2.28 On the destruction of impurity by the sustained practice of the limbs of Union, the light of knowledge reveals the faculty of discrimination.
2.29 The eight limbs of Union are self-restraint in actions, fixed observance, posture, regulation of energy, mind-control in sense engagements, concentration, meditation, and realization.
2.30 Self-restraint in actions includes abstention from violence, from falsehoods, from stealing, from sexual engagements, and from acceptance of gifts.
2.31 These five willing abstentions are not limited by rank, place, time or circumstance and constitute the Great Vow.
2.32 The fixed observances are cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study and persevering devotion to God.
2.33 When improper thoughts disturb the mind, there should be constant pondering over the opposites.
2.34 Improper thoughts and emotions such as those of violence- whether done, caused to be done, or even approved of- indeed, any thought originating in desire, anger or delusion, whether mild medium or intense- do all result in endless pain and misery. Overcome such distractions by pondering on the opposites.
2.35 When one is confirmed in non-violence, hostility ceases in his presence.
2.36 When one is firmly established in speaking truth, the fruits of action become subservient to him.
2.37 All jewels approach him who is confirmed in honesty.
2.38 When one is confirmed in celibacy, spiritual vigor is gained.
2.39 When one is confirmed in non-possessiveness, the knowledge of the why and how of existence is attained.
2.40 From purity follows a withdrawal from enchantment over one's own body as well as a cessation of desire for physical contact with others.
2.41 As a result of contentment there is purity of mind, one-pointedness, control of the senses, and fitness for the vision of the self.
2.42 Supreme happiness is gained via contentment.
2.43 Through sanctification and the removal of impurities, there arise special powers in the body and senses.
2.44 By study comes communion with the Lord in the Form most admired.
2.45 Realization is experienced by making the Lord the motive of all actions.
2.46 The posture should be steady and comfortable.
2.47 In effortless relaxation, dwell mentally on the Endless with utter attention.
2.48 From that there is no disturbance from the dualities.
2.49 When that exists, control of incoming and outgoing energies is next.
2.50 It may be external, internal, or midway, regulated by time, place, or number, and of brief or long duration.
2.51 Energy-control which goes beyond the sphere of external and internal is the fourth level- the vital.
2.52 In this way, that which covers the light is destroyed.
2.53 Thus the mind becomes fit for concentration.
2.54 When the mind maintains awareness, yet does not mingle with the senses, nor the senses with sense impressions, then self-awareness blossoms.
2.55 In this way comes mastery over the senses.
Part 3 - Vibhuti Pada (on divine powers)
3.2 Unbroken continuation of that mental ability is meditation.
3.3 That same meditation when there is only consciousness of the object of meditation and not of the mind is realization.
3.4 The three appearing together are self-control.
3.5 By mastery comes wisdom.
3.6 The application of mastery is by stages.
3.7 The three are more efficacious than the restraints.
3.8 Even that is external to the seedless realization.
3.9 The significant aspect is the union of the mind with the moment of absorption, when the outgoing thought disappears and the absorptive experience appears.
3.10 From sublimation of this union comes the peaceful flow of unbroken unitive cognition.
3.11 The contemplative transformation of this is equalmindedness, witnessing the rise and destruction of distraction as well as one-pointedness itself.
3.12 The mind becomes one-pointed when the subsiding and rising thought-waves are exactly similar.
3.13 In this state, it passes beyond the changes of inherent characteristics, properties and the conditional modifications of object or sensory recognition.
3.14 The object is that which preserves the latent characteristic, the rising characteristic or the yet-to-be-named characteristic that establishes one entity as specific.
3.15 The succession of these changes in that entity is the cause of its modification.
3.16 By self-control over these three-fold changes (of property, character and condition), knowledge of the past and the future arises. (= precognition and retrocognition)
3.17 The sound of a word, the idea behind the word, and the object the idea signfies are often taken as being one thing and may be mistaken for one another. By self-control over their distinctions, understanding of all languages of all creatures arises. (= clairaudience)
3.18 By self-control on the perception of mental impressions, knowledge of previous lives arises. (= consciousness after bodily death)
3.19 By self-control on any mark of a body, the wisdom of the mind activating that body arises. (= telepathy)
3.20 By self-control on the form of a body, by suspending perceptibility and separating effulgence therefrom, there arises invisibility and inaudibilty. (= invisibility)
3.21 Action is of two kinds, dormant and fruitful. By self-control on such action, one portends the time of death. (= clairvoyance)
3.22 By performing self-control on friendliness, the strength to grant joy arises. (= form of psychokinesis)
3.23 By self-control over any kind of strength, such as that of the elephant, that very strength arises. (= mind-body control or mind-matter interaction)
3.24 By self-control on the primal activator comes knowledge of the hidden, the subtle, and the distant. (= knowledge of hidden objects or clairvoyance)
3.25 By self-control on the Sun comes knowledge of spatial specificities. (= clairvoyance of macroscopic objects and systems)
3.26 By self-control on the Moon comes knowledge of the heavens. (= clairvoyance of macroscopic objects and systems)
3.27 By self-control on the Polestar arises knowledge of orbits. (= clairvoyance of macroscopic objects and systems)
3.28 By self-control on the navel arises knowledge of the constitution of the body. (= mind-body connection or ability of self-healing)
3.29 By self-control on the pit of the throat one subdues hunger and thirst. (= inedia or breatharianism)
3.30 By self-control on the tube within the chest one acquires absolute steadiness. (= mind-body knowledge leading to exceptional health or self-healing)
3.31 By self-control on the light in the head one envisions perfected beings. (= refined clairvoyance)
3.32 There is knowledge of everything from intuition. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.33 Self-control on the heart brings knowledge of the mental entity. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.34 Experience arises due to the inability of discerning the attributes of vitality from the indweller, even though they are indeed distinct from one another. Self-control brings true knowledge of the indweller by itself. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.35 This spontaneous enlightenment results in intuitional perception of hearing, touching, seeing and smelling. (=refined clairvoyance)
3.36 To the outward turned mind, the sensory organs are perfections, but are obstacles to realization.
3.37 When the bonds of the mind caused by action have been loosened, one may enter the body of another by knowledge of how the nerve-currents function. (=distant mental interactions with living systems)
3.38 By self-control of the nerve-currents utilising the lifebreath, one may levitate, walk on water, swamps, thorns, or the like. (=levitation, a highly advanced form of psychokinesis)
3.39 By self-control over the maintenance of breath, one may radiate light. (= mind-body control)
3.40 By self-control on the relation of the ear to the ether one gains distant hearing. (= clairvoyance and clairaudience)
3.41 By self-control over the relation of the body to the ether, and maintaining at the same time the thought of the lightness of cotton, one is able to pass through space. (=levitation, a highly advanced form of psychokinesis)
3.42 By self-control on the mind when it is separated from the body- the state known as the Great Transcorporeal- all coverings are removed from the Light. (= out-of-body perception)
3.43 Mastery over the elements arises when their gross and subtle forms,as well as their essential characteristics, and the inherent attributes and experiences they produce, is examined in self-control. (= manipulation of matter, highly refined version of psychokinesis)
3.44 Thereby one may become as tiny as an atom as well as having many other abilities, such as perfection of the body, and non-resistence to duty. (= manipulation of matter, highly refined version of psychokinesis)
3.45 Perfection of the body consists in beauty, grace, strength and adamantine hardness. (= mind-body control and psychokinesis)
3.46 By self-control on the changes that the sense-organs endure when contacting objects, and on the power of the sense of identity, and of the influence of the attributes, and the experience all these produce- one masters the senses.
3.47 From that come swiftness of mind, independence of perception, and mastery over primoridal matter.
3.48 To one who recognizes the distinctive relation between vitality and indweller comes omnipotence and omniscience.
3.49 Even for the destruction of the seed of bondage by desirelessness there comes absolute independence.
3.50 When invited by invisible beings one should be neither flattered nor satisfied, for there is yet a possibility of ignorance rising up.
3.51 By self-control over single moments and their succession there is wisdom born of discrimination.
3.52 From that there is recognition of two similars when that difference cannot be distinguished by class, characteristic or position.
3.53 Intuition, which is the entire discriminative knowledge, relates to all objects at all times, and is without succession.
3.54 Liberation is attained when there is equal purity between vitality and the indweller.
Part 4 - Kaivalya Pada (on realizations)
4.2 Transformation into another state is by the directed flow of creative nature.
4.3 Creative nature is not moved into action by any incidental cause, but by the removal of obstacles, as in the case of a farmer clearing his field of stones for irrigation.
4.4 Created minds arise from egoism alone.
4.5 There being difference of interest, one mind is the director of many minds.
4.6 Of these, the mind born of concentrated insight is free from the impressions.
4.7 The impressions of unitive cognition are neither good nor bad. In the case of the others, there are three kinds of impressions.
4.8 From them proceed the development of the tendencies which bring about the fruition of actions.
4.9 Because of the magnetic qualities of habitual mental patterns and memory, a relationship of cause and effect clings even though there may be a change of embodiment by class, space and time.
4.10 The desire to live is eternal, and the thought-clusters prompting a sense of identity are beginningless.
4.11 Being held together by cause and effect, substratum and object- the tendencies themselves disappear on the dissolution of these bases.
4.12 The past and the future exist in the object itself as form and expression, there being difference in the conditions of the properties.
4.13 Whether manifested or unmanifested they are of the nature of the attributes.
4.14 Things assume reality because of the unity maintained within that modification.
4.15 Even though the external object is the same, there is a difference of cognition in regard to the object because of the difference in mentality.
4.16 And if an object known only to a single mind were not cognized by that mind, would it then exist?
4.17 An object is known or not known by the mind, depending on whether or not the mind is colored by the object.
4.18 The mutations of awareness are always known on account of the changelessness of its Lord, the indweller.
4.19 Nor is the mind self-luminous, as it can be known.
4.20 It is not possible for the mind to be both the perceived and the perceiver simultaneously.
4.21 In the case of cognition of one mind by another, we would have to assume cognition of cognition, and there would be confusion of memories.
4.22 Consciousness appears to the mind itself as intellect when in that form in which it does not pass from place to place.
4.23 The mind is said to perceive when it reflects both the indweller (the knower) and the objects of perception (the known).
4.24 Though variegated by innumerable tendencies, the mind acts not for itself but for another, for the mind is of compound substance.
4.25 For one who sees the distinction, there is no further confusing of the mind with the self.
4.26 Then the awareness begins to discriminate, and gravitates towards liberation.
4.27 Distractions arise from habitual thought patterns when practice is intermittent.
4.28 The removal of the habitual thought patterns is similar to that of the afflictions already described.
4.29 To one who remains undistracted in even the highest intellection there comes the equalminded realization known as The Cloud of Virtue. This is a result of discriminative discernment.
4.30 From this there follows freedom from cause and effect and afflictions.
4.31 The infinity of knowledge available to such a mind freed of all obscuration and property makes the universe of sensory perception seem small.
4.32 Then the sequence of change in the three attributes comes to an end, for they have fulfilled their function.
4.33 The sequence of mutation occurs in every second, yet is comprehensible only at the end of a series.
4.34 When the attributes cease mutative association with awarenessness, they resolve into dormancy in Nature, and the indweller shines forth as pure consciousness. This is absolute freedom.
(Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as translated by BonGiovanni. Some interpretations of supernormal powers in the modern world given in part 3 have been taken from Dean Radin's book Supernormal, chapter 7)
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
Ego
The ego is an idea we all have of who we are. Who I am is what I have, what I do and what other people think of me. The basic idea of the ego is that who I am is separate from everyone else and from all that I would like to attract into my life.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Ego - the origin of fear
The psychological condition of fear is divorced from any concrete and true immediate danger. It comes in many forms: unease, worry, anxiety, nervousness, tension, dread, phobia and so on.
This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now. You are in the here and now, while your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap and if you are identified with your mind and have lost touch with the power and simplicity of the Now, that anxiety gap will be your constant companion. You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that in only a mind projection – you cannot cope with the future.
Moreover, as long as you are identified with your mind, the ego runs your life. Because of it's phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is also the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.
Now remember that an emotion is the body's reaction to your mind. What message is the body receiving continuously from the ego, the false, mind-made self? "Danger, I am under threat." And what is the emotion generated by this continuous message? "Fear".
Fear seems to have many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on, but ultimately all fear is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego, death is always just around the corner. In this mind-identified state, fear of death affects every aspect of your life. For example, even such a seemingly trivial and "normal" thing as the compulsive need to be right in an argument and make the other person wrong – defending the mental position with which you have identified – is due to the fear of death. If you identify with a mental position, then if you are wrong, your mind-based sense of self is seriously threatened with annihilation. So you as the ego cannot afford to be wrong. To be wrong is to die. Wars have been fought over this and countless relationships have broken down.
Once you have dis-identified from your mind, whether you are right or wrong makes no difference to your sense of self at all, so the forcefully compulsive and deeply unconscious need to be right, which is a form of violence, will no longer be there. You can state clearly and firmly how you feel or what you think, but there will be no aggressiveness or defensiveness about it. Your sense of self is then derived from a deeper and truer place within yourself, not from the mind.
Watch out for any kind of defensiveness within yourself. What are you defending? An illusory identity , an image in your mind, a fictitious entity? By making this pattern conscious, by witnessing it, you dis-identify from it. In the light of your consciousness, the unconscious pattern will then quickly dissolve. This is the end of all arguments and power games, which are so corrosive to relationships. Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True power is within, and it is available to you now.
The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it. In other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer. The more you are able to honor and accept the Now, the more you are free of pain, of suffering – and free of the egoic mind.
If you no longer want to create pain for yourself and others, if you no longer want to add to the residue of past pain that still lives on in you, then realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and only paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and only pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.
(Source: http://youtu.be/WlhxujIurCM)
This kind of psychological fear is always of something that might happen, not of something that is happening now. You are in the here and now, while your mind is in the future. This creates an anxiety gap and if you are identified with your mind and have lost touch with the power and simplicity of the Now, that anxiety gap will be your constant companion. You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that in only a mind projection – you cannot cope with the future.
Moreover, as long as you are identified with your mind, the ego runs your life. Because of it's phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is also the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.
Now remember that an emotion is the body's reaction to your mind. What message is the body receiving continuously from the ego, the false, mind-made self? "Danger, I am under threat." And what is the emotion generated by this continuous message? "Fear".
Fear seems to have many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on, but ultimately all fear is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego, death is always just around the corner. In this mind-identified state, fear of death affects every aspect of your life. For example, even such a seemingly trivial and "normal" thing as the compulsive need to be right in an argument and make the other person wrong – defending the mental position with which you have identified – is due to the fear of death. If you identify with a mental position, then if you are wrong, your mind-based sense of self is seriously threatened with annihilation. So you as the ego cannot afford to be wrong. To be wrong is to die. Wars have been fought over this and countless relationships have broken down.
Once you have dis-identified from your mind, whether you are right or wrong makes no difference to your sense of self at all, so the forcefully compulsive and deeply unconscious need to be right, which is a form of violence, will no longer be there. You can state clearly and firmly how you feel or what you think, but there will be no aggressiveness or defensiveness about it. Your sense of self is then derived from a deeper and truer place within yourself, not from the mind.
Watch out for any kind of defensiveness within yourself. What are you defending? An illusory identity , an image in your mind, a fictitious entity? By making this pattern conscious, by witnessing it, you dis-identify from it. In the light of your consciousness, the unconscious pattern will then quickly dissolve. This is the end of all arguments and power games, which are so corrosive to relationships. Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True power is within, and it is available to you now.
The mind always seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it. In other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer. The more you are able to honor and accept the Now, the more you are free of pain, of suffering – and free of the egoic mind.
If you no longer want to create pain for yourself and others, if you no longer want to add to the residue of past pain that still lives on in you, then realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and only paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and only pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.
(Source: http://youtu.be/WlhxujIurCM)
Origin of fear - Jiddu Krishnamurti
Comparison, imitation and conformity are contributors to fear, as they are a meaning of becoming something, which implies the fear of not becoming it.
Click here if you'd like to find the video on the website of the Krishnamurti Foundation India.
Click here if you'd like to find the video on the website of the Krishnamurti Foundation India.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Friday, August 9, 2013
Is spirituality something special?
Q: Do you think spiritually and spiritual people are something special?
A: No, spirituality is all about leading a completely normal life in tune with our inner Self. There is nothing special about it. (Mata Amritanandamayi)
Notes:
But what does it mean by “completely normal life.” One way of looking at it is doing whatever every human being is doing in the normal course of life, but doing it with a different consciousness in harmony with the inner self. The other way is the Indian spiritual conception of normality. In this perspective our present ego-centric existence is a state of insanity, madness, abnormality and living in our false self. Spirituality is the path for rediscovering our true self, become what we are in our essence and recover our perfect sanity and normality in a state of Sahaja, which means effortless case, freedom and joy of living. So if one says I am not interested in spirituality, he is telling I don’t want to recover my sanity in my soul and remain in a state of madness in my ego. Can there be a greater madness than this? When someone said to Osho, “I agree I am ignorant and a little mad. But I am happy” he replied, “You are telling I am happy with my ignorance and madness. Your happiness is the happiness of a pig wallowing in its own filth. You will become a little more wise if you become unhappy with your piggish happiness.” So brutally true.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Robert Kegan - In Over Our Heads
Dr. Robert Kegan - author of the book "In Over Our Heads" - is a pioneer of human development, perhaps best known for his work on Orders of Consciousness and Subject-Object Theory.
A tremendous amount of cross-cultural evidence shows that various capacities of human beings develop through several distinct stages of psychological maturity. But our culture seems to know almost nothing about human development during adulthood. The fact that human development is a life-long journey can be essential to find solutions for the most pressing global problems. Human development, particularly adult development, is an idea that could change the world.
The "Subject-Object Theory" offers insight into the actual mechanics of transformation, both psychologically and spiritually. Essentially, the subject of one stage becomes the object of the subject of the next stage. The process of "subject becoming object" does not just describe the process of "vertical growth" through psychological stages of consciousness, but also "horizontal growth" through states of spiritual awareness and awakening (e.g. meditation is a practice of making subject into object: witnessing our own subjective minds with non-attached equanimity, experiencing our subjective thoughts, emotions, sensations, and impulses as objects in our awareness, like clouds floating through the empty expanse of the sky). With enough training and practice, the spiritual path ultimately leads us to the point of "Absolute Subjectivity"—that point where we are completely "emptied out" and there is no more subject left to be made into object, and all that remains is the effortless and seamless embrace of nondual awareness.
In Dr. Kegan's work, he outlines Five Orders of Consciousness:
At each step, the subject of the preceding stage becomes the object of the following stage.
Loosely, one can think of ...
If one grows from egocentric to ethnocentric, one doesn't stop caring about oneself, but that care and concern is now extended to one's family, community, nation, and so on. Likewise with the growth from ethnocentric to worldcentric, that care is now extended to all people regardless of race, class, creed, gender, etc.
One of the most complete ways to illustrate how levels of developmental complexity exist in the subjective, intersubjective, objective, and interobjective aspects of reality is the diagram:
The Five Orders of Consciousness exist in the intentional (I) quadrant, but their influence permeates the behavioral (it), cultural (we), and social (its) quadrants. Likewise, those domains can influence the speed at which one does or does not evolve through the Five Orders.
(information and inspiration from http://integrallife.com/ken-wilber-dialogues/over-our-heads)
A tremendous amount of cross-cultural evidence shows that various capacities of human beings develop through several distinct stages of psychological maturity. But our culture seems to know almost nothing about human development during adulthood. The fact that human development is a life-long journey can be essential to find solutions for the most pressing global problems. Human development, particularly adult development, is an idea that could change the world.
The "Subject-Object Theory" offers insight into the actual mechanics of transformation, both psychologically and spiritually. Essentially, the subject of one stage becomes the object of the subject of the next stage. The process of "subject becoming object" does not just describe the process of "vertical growth" through psychological stages of consciousness, but also "horizontal growth" through states of spiritual awareness and awakening (e.g. meditation is a practice of making subject into object: witnessing our own subjective minds with non-attached equanimity, experiencing our subjective thoughts, emotions, sensations, and impulses as objects in our awareness, like clouds floating through the empty expanse of the sky). With enough training and practice, the spiritual path ultimately leads us to the point of "Absolute Subjectivity"—that point where we are completely "emptied out" and there is no more subject left to be made into object, and all that remains is the effortless and seamless embrace of nondual awareness.
In Dr. Kegan's work, he outlines Five Orders of Consciousness:
- First Order: Impulsive — Perceives and responds by emotion.
- Second Order: Imperial — Motivated solely by one's desires.
- Third Order: Interpersonal — Defined by the group.
- Fourth Order: Institutional — Self directed, self authoring.
- Fifth Order: Inter-individual — Interpenetration of self systems.
At each step, the subject of the preceding stage becomes the object of the following stage.
- Subjects of the impulsive stage (Order 1) are the individual's impulses and perceptions, whilst its objects are the reflexes.
- Subject of the imperial stage (Order 2) are the individual's needs, interests, and desires, whilst its objects are the individual's impulses and perceptions.
- Subject of the interpersonal stage (Order 3) are interpersonal relationships and mutuality, whilst its objects are the individual's needs, interests, and desires.
- Subject of the institutional stage (Order 4) are the individual's authorship, identity, and ideology, whilst its objects are interpersonal relationships and mutuality.
- Subject of the inter-individual stage (Order 5) is "the interpenetrability of self-systems", whilst its objects are the individual's authorship, identity, and ideology.
Loosely, one can think of ...
- the first and second orders as egocentric (me),
- the third order as ethnocentric (us),
- the fourth and fifth orders as worldcentric (all of us).
If one grows from egocentric to ethnocentric, one doesn't stop caring about oneself, but that care and concern is now extended to one's family, community, nation, and so on. Likewise with the growth from ethnocentric to worldcentric, that care is now extended to all people regardless of race, class, creed, gender, etc.
One of the most complete ways to illustrate how levels of developmental complexity exist in the subjective, intersubjective, objective, and interobjective aspects of reality is the diagram:
The Five Orders of Consciousness exist in the intentional (I) quadrant, but their influence permeates the behavioral (it), cultural (we), and social (its) quadrants. Likewise, those domains can influence the speed at which one does or does not evolve through the Five Orders.
(information and inspiration from http://integrallife.com/ken-wilber-dialogues/over-our-heads)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)