If you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience Yoga.
Patanjali
Patanjali taught that we are born with this "beautiful empty, still mind", this peaceful clear lake but along the way we rough up the water. We collect vibrations on top of this lake, creating so much rippling we cannot see the reflection of who we are when we look in. We cannot see Self.
Yoga is about dealing with the ripples so we can get back to the clear lake, so we can once again see Self. We will see our true unlimited nature beyond the prison ego locks consciousness in when it convinces it we are simply bodies with personalities in an external world that is full of suffering. Yoga helps us to remember we are the lake.
So, if you can have control over the thought forms and change them as you want, you are not bound by the outside world. You can make it a heaven or a hell according to your approach. That is why the entire Yoga is based on citta vritti nirodhah. page 6
Control?
Satchidananda uses the word "control" and we need to be cautious with the use of that word. The control he refers to is not about stopping the mind from doing what it does: "Think". It is more about what we do with this natural inclination of the mind to think, in terms of collecting thoughts and building "thought forms" or as Patanjali referred to it, "mental modifications" out of these thoughts, instead of just letting them pass through our awareness. Preventing the aggravation of ripples that take us away from understanding Self requires being aware of those thought vibrations, seeing how we have the tendency to get distracted by them. Instead of clinging and following them into never ending craving, clinging, suppressing, repressing, pushing away the realiity of Life, with " the I, me, my, mine" they create...we need to go deeper beneath the rippling surface to prevent the rippling.
Say what crazy lady?
We need to understand, once again, that everything is energy vibrating (rippling) at different rates. Beneath what we see as a dense material world are several types of energies...some of it vibrating so quickly and so loosely that we cannot see it (scientific instruments have yet to be created to measure much of it). Other types vibrating so slowly we experience dense matter. When that vibration slows down, and the waves become more densely packed together, we begin to see matter. Ice has a lower vibration rate than steam, for example, but both are just water.
Matter is energy and energy is matter and the difference is just a temporary state...Einstein (paraphrased).
So what does this have to do with the mind?
The mind, consciousness, is the source of most vibrations. It has the highest vibration rate of all things we know.
Is there a highest vibration whereverthing slows down from? Yes...tag...You are It.
You are the Consciousness that is the highest vibration rate. It all comes down to you.
So, the mind is the highest vibration making machine. We need, then, to take care of the vibrations it is capable of making. Our thinking, though perfectly natural, can create distracting ripples that take us away from seeing who we are- that consciousness. The ripples we use the mind to make are usually related to this idea of us as separate little entities with problems, desires and aversions. The ripples are so distracting we begin to see ourselves as those things. We get lost in them.
The vast majority of our thoughts are about "me" I, my, me, and mine"
Most people don't notice their thoughts, they believe they are those thoughts,
Huh?
We are infinite consciousness experiencing Life through these bodies and personal minds. The senses pick up the vibrations of everything we encounter ...these vibrations travel up the nervous system tract to the brain, which is the filter for consciousness, for interpretation by the mind. Meant to be empty and still like a clear lake, the mind experiences the ripple but quickly lets them go. It returns to its natural state of stillness. These sensory perceptions and mental interpretations may cause some vibrations...some ripples...but they are temporary as long as we do not cling to them.
But...
This is where the problem comes in. We, as the operators of these minds, may grasp, cling, store, suppress, repress, avoid, and resist etc. these vibrations and when we do that we make big ripples or waves out of teh small ripples on this clear lake. The ripples do not return to stillness. The water becomes so turbulent the reflection of who we really are can no longer be seen on the surface. All we see staring back at us are the ripples and waves of turbulent water. We identify with that.
The defense mechanisms are the means by which we do this...[creating a psyche we identify with]...
The stronger we interpret the sensory vibration coming in, as in trauma for example,...the bigger the wave, and the bigger the distraction. Infinite consciousness is drawn down into the citta vrttis or "mind stuff."[samskara]. We are pulled from our natural state into the chaos of a probelmatic "me". Chitti vrttis...mental modifications and vibrations in the mind...lead to very constricted view points and problematic life's of "I, me. my, and mine. " Instead of peace, we have suffering.
So, normally you are in a peaceful state.That is the natural condition of the mind. But the citta vrttis, or the modifications of the mind-stuff, disturb the peace. page 4
So what do we do?
We purify.
The purified mind is no different than the Self...Yogananda
We stop grasping, clinging, stuffing, storing, resisting, and avoiding the vibrations of life as they come into the mind. We notice, allow, relax into and experience. Then we let them go. We let it all go.
Really, it isn't the mind that is causing the problem. It is we, as operators of the mind, that are responsible for these ripples. So if we disturbed the mind, we can undisturb it.
There is not a single thing in your mind that you cannot get rid of. There is nothing in the mind that clings...you cling to the mind [personal mind as opposed to universal mind].
We have the power to be free through conscious purification. Even if we are in a literal prison we can find liberation.
It is the mental attitude. If, instead of imprisonment, you think of this as a place for your reformation where an opportunity has been given you to change your attitude in life, to reform and purify yourself, you will love to be here until you feel purified.pg 5
Maybe our present states of consciousness in this Earth school, states where we feel trapped in this idea of "me," are prisons we can use to purify in. Maybe, we can learn to love this life of challenging learning for the freedom it can ultimately give us.
If you control your mind, you have controlled everything. Then there is nothing in the world to bind you. pg 6
Hmm! Something to think about.
All is well.
Michael A. Singer/ Temple of the Universe/ Sounds True ( February, 2026) Mind as Vibration: The Root of Suffering and the Path to Freedom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmzjso9T92M&list=PLyOuAoSmZkKoESr2acNWwhznusbBkKXsT&index=1
Swami Satchidananda (2011) The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Integral Yoga Publications
No comments:
Post a Comment