signs of progress - 1

[Guest guest]

Vicki!

>Question:

> In the practice of meditation are there any signs in the realm

> of subjective experience which will indicate

> the aspirant's progress towards Self-realization ?

>

>Answer :

> The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts

> and the degree of concentration on a single thought

> are the measures to gauge the progress.

 

How true this is! It makes me think immediately of the second verse of

Patanjali's _Yoga Sutras_, which says, "Yogas citta vritti nirodhah." Yoga

(the science of union) is the control of the citta vritti. Citta is the

mind or mind-stuff, and this means much more than just the intellect. It

is the sum-total of mind, says Satchidananda, including many levels or

planes. Or for "mind" we could read "consciousness" or "awareness."

The

stuff (or substance) of consciousness itself. Or awareness itself.

"Vritti" or (Anglicized plural) vrittis means the modifications or

variations.

 

This applies to both the mental plane (manas) and the emotional plane

(kama-manas or desire-mind). DK says, speaking of control on the two

planes of emotions and

intellect:

> The follower after union has two things to do:

> 1. To gain control of the "versatile psychic nature,"

> 2. To prevent the mind from assuming the many forms it so easily does.

>These are frequently called "modifications of the thinking principle."

> These two produce control of the emotional body and therefore of desire,

>and control of the mental body, and therefore of lower manas or mind. The

>student should remember that uncontrolled desire and an unregulated mind

>shut off the light of the soul and negate spiritual consciousness. >snip<

>It should be borne in mind that, occultly speaking, when the lower nature

>is controlled it can manifest the higher.

 

We practice this in meditation, but the control we learn extends throughout

all our activities throughout the day. It becomes easier and easier to

control the mind-stuff all the time. It's like going into a gym for

physical exercise. The physical ability and control we develop is with us

outside the gym, too, throughout the day. The state of meditation is the

"gym" for learning control of the mind-stuff.

 

You can see, from the analogy with physical exercise, that control of the

mind-stuff doesn't mean a continual effort to subdue something or get rid

of something. When we go into the gym, we don't fight to subdue clumsiness

or try to "clear" physical ineptness or easy fatigue. We strengthen the

muscles and learn control of them. So too with the mind-stuff.

 

Love,

Dharma