When Concentration Becomes Beneficial

[Guest guest]

Let us remember one point. Many people say, `Oh! I am not able to

practise concentration'. Knowing the persons, that their mind is not

pure enough, I say to them `It is good that you don't have

concentration'. If an impure mind gets concentrated, it becomes like

a bombshell. Aren't we concentrated when we are angry, when we are

full of hatred and jealousy? That concentration is no good. It is

actually dangerous. So an amount of spiritual discipline is

necessary. In the path of Yoga, Patanjali speaks of Yama and Niyama.

You have to practise these disciplines as much as you can. One cannot

be established in the spiritual life all of a sudden.

 

Ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha (non-dependance on

others' charity) are the first disciplines; Niyama - which consists

chiefly of Saucha, purity of body and mind, Santosha, contentment -

has to be developed. If one is always grumbling and complaining, can

one with such a mind, ever do anything successfully either in this

world or in the world of the spirit? No. We must adjust to the things

in this world and try to improve ourselves.

 

Tapas: There should be an amount of austerity in life. Without rigour

in spiritual practices, each generation is becoming softer than the

previous one. Nothing can be achieved by these soft people.

 

Swadhyaya: We study books. Does anything enter our mind! We hear a

lecture and say it was wonderful; and when asked `What did you hear?'

we would not be able to repeat anything. The words enter through one

ear and pass out through the other. They are not retained. Swadhyaya

means to reflect on what you study. Make it a part of your own.

`Srotavyah': First you hear or read, then you have to reflect on what

you have heard or read, i.e. `Mantavyah'. That is the way. When we

are established in the moral path, to some extent, then we will

surely get the benefit of spiritual disciplines.

 

Asana: You may sit like a statue for many hours; what do you get?

Pretty nothing. At least there should be spiritual aspiration; then

your sitting posture helps you in your spiritual practice.

 

Pranayama: In the practice of Pranayama you stop your breath. What do

you gain? If it is merely a physical phenomenon, a football bladder

then must be a great Yogi. What do you get by it? Nothing by itself.

But when the mind is greatly disciplined, when the mind is in a

spiritual mood, Pranayama helps one to rise to a higher plane of

consciousness.

 

Praytyahara is detachment. From everything the mind is to be

detached. When you are attending to some work you banish all other

thoughts and give your mind to that particular object. If you fail to

practise detachment you invite worries. When you go to sleep, and

think of too many things, you don't get sleep, you suffer from

insomnia and fall ill. The mind is to be detached from all things at

will.

 

Similarly if you wish to meditate, what should you do? Detach your

mind, as much as you can, from the things of the world; even from the

pictures, the thoughts and the feelings that arise within you. But

detachment should not create a vacuum in your mind. A vacant mind

will fall asleep. Be wide awake. Take the name of the Lord and

meditate on Him. Then there would not be any fear of falling asleep.

Instead the mind will rise to a higher plane.

 

Dharana: Fix your mind on some divine theme and that is Dharana.

 

Dhyana: Fix the mind on a holy word or on a holy blissful form - that

is a step to attain to what is called Dhyana or contemplation. You

remain absorbed in Divine Consciousness and that leads to the higher

state, the superconscious state.

 

But before we proceed we will ask ourselves a question and that is

very vital. We identify ourselves with the body and think that we are

men and women. We worship a certain Deity - Male or Female. We begin

our spiritual life that way, and end also in that way; what do we

gain? At the very beginning of our spiritual life, it is essential on

our part to be conscious that we are all souls. The Atman, the

spiritual entity, has become bound by ego, bound by the mind, bound

by the senses, bound by the body. This Atman is to be freed.