Mind : ( 24/10/2012. )

Patanjali tells us that it does not mean that the mind which is aware of an object creates the object. The object is not manufactured or produced by the mind; it is only aware of the presence of the object in a particular manner, and the manner has been described. What is the manner in which the object makes an impression upon the mind? Here is a great point in philosophy – namely, the relationship of the object to the mind, and vice versa. Entire schools of philosophical thought may be said to be labouring on the solution of this one question: what is the relation of the mind to the object, or the relation of the object to the mind? Who is the determining factor of what? Does the mind passively receive any impression that is made upon it by the object, and the mind has nothing to contribute to the nature of the object? Is it only a featureless and passive receiver of the impressions made upon it by the object? Is it the case? Or is it true that the mind has something to contri...

The nature of an object is being discussed here in a few sutras. The philosophical status of an object has much to do with the practice of samyama in yoga, because yoga samyama is nothing but the resolution of the factors of relation between the subject and the object. The philosophy of yoga has a unique concept of the nature of the object, on the basis of which its psychology is directed and its practice is conducted. What is an object? We have studied something about its nature previously, where it was said:  The local presence of an object – the position of an object in space, the isolate)d existence of the object – is regarded as a kind of temporary presentation before the senses of a form taken by the cosmic prakriti in its manifold movement of the gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. A kind of concretion, we may say, a concentration of the three gunas in a particular manner, at a particular point in space and time, is the object. The outcome of this analysis is that ev...

The universe of forms – this vast thing that we see in front of us – is a particular pattern taken by prakriti, modified according to a plan, and is to continue for a period of time, according to the necessity of the time. There are infinite potentialities in prakriti, just as infinite statues can be made out of a block of stone. We can carve any statue from a block of stone. Can you tell me how many statues are inside a block of stone? Infinite – no number – because anything can be carved out of it. Likewise, infinite capacities are present in the original substance – namely, prakriti. But the sculptor does not concentrate on the infinite capacity present in the block of stone. The sculptor has in mind a particular pattern. That is the time-form into which prakriti changes itself, and in regard to which it concentrates itself. The sculptor has only a specific idea in his mind: “I will carve a lion, or a human form,” or some such thing, in spite of the fact that many oth...

The property which is inherent in the original substance is the cause for the variety of things which is visible to the senses. For the first time, this substance modifies itself into the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas; and I mentioned to you what happens later on. Now, this particular sutra has something specific to tell us. Dharma, laksana and avastha are the three terms used in this sutra. These dharmas, or the properties of things in general, are present in the original substance just as, to give a more concrete example, a pot made of earth is inherent in the clay, which is only a heap of earth. A clod of earth has no shape whatsoever. But out of this shapeless mass of earth the potter manufactures a pot, and we have what is called a pot. The pot is a shape taken by the earth, the original clay matter. It is very strange, really speaking. If we try to understand what a pot is, we will not know what it is, because it is not the same as clay, and it is not different fr...

Before we can understand the method of samyama – the practice of yoga proper for the solution of this mystery – an analysis is given in one or two sutras as to what this means. It is very precisely, and without any ceremony whatsoever, openly said in one  . Here Patanjali says practically nothing except that the dharmas, laksanas and avasthas of things have already been explained when he explained to us the three parinamas of the mind. He does not want to tell us anything more. But it is a very hard job to understand what he actually means. The implication of this sutra is that there is a corresponding law operating in the external universe, which is similar to the law that operates in the mind inside; and the process of the control of the mind and the process of the control of the objects outside are both similar. If we can know our own mind thoroughly, we can also know every other object in this world. If we can control our mind, we can control everything else also. This...

Continuing the subject we were discussing in the previous chapter, the Yoga Sutras introduce our minds to a new subject – namely, the control of nature and mastery over those conditions and circumstances which now appear to be ruling over us. At present we are, apparently, in a helpless condition, being controlled by laws, rules and regulations which seem to be operating above us, transcending us, which are outside us and are independent of us. Is it possible for us to enter into these systems of legal operation of the universe and gain some sort of control over these systems which are governing everything everywhere? For this purpose it is that in yoga, samyama is practised on the essential things which constitute the universe as a whole. These essential things are most difficult to understand because many of them are not visible to the eyes; or, we may say, the principle factors are not cognisable even by the mind. But they have to be understood in order that they may be...

These functions all put together are the citta, the stuff of the mind. This stuff it is that reveals itself as various functions, though it is true that the stuff itself cannot be discovered and we can know its nature only from the functions that it performs. Nevertheless, we can know something about this stuff by the nature of this function. As I mentioned, we should take an average of the types of functions which the citta has been performing for the last several years, and we can know what stuff it is made of and what is it that is in store, inside it. When the task on hand is taken up, as it was mentioned, we have to strike the iron while it is hot, as they say. The total mind has to rise up to the occasion in a comprehensiveness that would be necessary to deal with the problem, just as when there is a national war, the whole nation girds up its loins. It is not only a few people that start thinking about it; the forces constituting the entire nation get stirred up into a s...