Patanjali Yoga Sutras
CHAPTER
I - SAMADHI PADA
CONCENTRATION:
ITS SPIRITUAL USES
॥ प्रथभ् सभाणधऩाद् ॥
1.
अथ मोगानशु ासनभ ॥् १॥
atha
yoganushasanam
Now
concentration is explained.
2.
मोगणित्तवृणत्तणनयोध् ॥ २॥
yogashchittavrittinirodhah
Yoga is restraining the
mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms (Vrttis) A good deal of
explanation is necessary here. We have to understand what Chitta 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 retinæ 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 Patanjali
Yoga Sutras 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 mind-stuff, called Chitta. The waves of thought in the Chitta are called
Vrtti (“the hirlpool” 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 Chitta 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 enameling 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 Chitta.
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 Chitta, 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. Anyone 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 dullness, 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
Chitta 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 Chitta get into
its proper course. Although this Chitta 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 Chitta
cannot as yet take that form which we call intellect.
Chitta
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 Chitta, is what brings us to
Samadhi.
