Mind : ( 24/10/2012. )

Mind : ( 24/10/2012. ): The Effect of Dharana or Concentrating the Mind : ... : Generally, when we speak of a point, we think of a geometrical location. This is what an ordinary schoolboy will define ‘point’ as –...

Generally, when we speak of a point, we think of a geometrical location. This is what an ordinary schoolboy will define ‘point’ as – it is a point in space. This is the crudest definition of a point that can be given. A dot, a full stop, is a kind of point. The centre of a circle is a point, and so on. Inasmuch as it is a geometrical point that we are conceiving, naturally it has to be in space. Because every point is a point in space, and because space is outside as well as inside, this point can be outside as well as inside. Wherever space is, there the point also is, because a point is nothing but a part of space. Where is the point of concentration? It is outside, or it is inside. This is a general definition of the location of an object of concentration. But we have to say something more about this point. Are we meditating on a point in the sense of a dot or an ink spot? Or is it something else? This point is not merely a dot. It is a figurative term used to designate ...

Mind : ( 24/10/2012. ): The Effect of Dharana or Concentrating the Mind : ... : Likewise, we will find that in concentration an undercurrent of thought may be there, which is subconsciously working in a different ...

Likewise, we will find that in concentration an undercurrent of thought may be there, which is subconsciously working in a different direction. That is called distraction. Hence, in dharana, or concentration, a wholesale and thoroughgoing fixing of the attention will not be possible at the very outset. That takes place at a later stage. What happens at this point is that we undertake a kind of activity in the mind which, together with its endeavour to allow a continuous flow of thought on a particular point, tries at the same time to eliminate certain other thoughts which are adverse or derogatory to the issue on hand. When we want to think of ‘A’ in concentration, we also feel a necessity to eliminate all thoughts which are concerned with ‘B’, ‘C’ or ‘D’. We do not want ‘B’, ‘C’ or ‘D’ to interfere with the idea of ‘A’, which we are trying to entertain in our mind. Thus in dharana, or concentration, there is a double activity. This is what is known in Sanskrit as vijatiya vr...

Mind : ( 24/10/2012. ): The Effect of Dharana or Concentrating the Mind : ... : What it is that we are disturbing is a very interesting point to recollect at the present moment. We are interfering with those sil...

What it is that we are disturbing is a very interesting point to recollect at the present moment. We are interfering with those silent forces which have been, up to this time, lying dormant, inactive, on account of unfavourable circumstances for germinating into conscious experience. We are now compelling the fruit to ripen under conditions that we are introducing by the power of concentration, so the latent energies, which would not have otherwise woken up into activity, are made to wake up. This is what we call the waking up of sleeping dogs; and we do not know what the dog will do when it wakes up. It can go the other way, or it can attack us. Hence, we have to be very cautious, first of all. What would we do when these forces are stirred? It is not very wise for an untutored mind to stir up forces like that in an act of concentration. It is not merely concentration of mind that is expected of us; we must also know what we are in our deposits, at the bottom. When we wake...

Mind : ( 24/10/2012. ): The Effect of Dharana or Concentrating the Mind : ... : Part-5. That miracle will be, in the beginning, a torture. It will not be a pleasant thing that comes, because we are trying to...