Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity : 21-5. Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday, June 02, 2022. 20:00

Chapter 21.The Two Ways of Yoga -5.

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Well, yoga is conscious of this predicament. Sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁś cakṣuś caivāntare bhruvoḥ. Here is a very technical point mentioned. It is to say, literally translated, concentrating one's attention in the middle of the eyebrows. Many people physically look up and gaze at the point midway between the two eyebrows – the ajna chakra, as it is sometimes called – which is said to be the seat of the mind in the waking state. It has a literal significance and also a mystical suggestiveness. Literally, it is good to concentrate the mind on the point midway between the two eyebrows. This is because the mind is said to be located in the brain. Sometimes it is said to be actively operating in the eyes, more properly in the ajna chakra, the point between the two eyebrows. That is the seat of the mind. To concentrate the mind on its own seat would be to bring the mind back to itself. The mind is in the throat in dream and in the heart in deep sleep. Now we are in the waking condition, and therefore it has to be brought back from its external impulses, which may be the reason why here the instruction is given that attention has to be bestowed on the point between the two eyebrows.

Also, it may mean that consciousness has to be brought back to its source. Many a time a suggestion is made to meditate upon the heart. In deep sleep, in samadhi, supreme communion, the mind is said to be lodged in the heart. The heart is the root of the mind. When the mind is in the heart, we go to sleep or we are in an intensely meditative mood. But if it is not in the heart, it is a little above, then we dream. But if it is in the head, we wake up and we are conscious in this world of outward perceptions.

The consciousness has to be brought back to itself. This is the whole business of yoga. It is moving outward, going anywhere, meandering in all the things of sense. It has to be brought back. One of the methods of bringing it back to its own source is to bring it to this particular person which is the subject of perception. My consciousness is in me. I always feel that my intelligence, my reason, my consciousness is emanating from me; and when I look at a thing, it has gone out of me and it is somewhere else. Now, when I do not think of anything outside me, it is in me; I am thinking of myself. This is one peculiar kind of meditation.

This has many expressions in actual practice. One of the methods people adopt is concentrating on oneself. Though this self is not a physical body – it is well known that when we speak of ‘oneself' the reference is not to the physical person – yet, the physical person is very important. This body is a very delightful possession of every person. One loves one's own self, no doubt, in a very important sense spiritually; but physically also, one loves one's own self. This cannot be ruled out entirely. “I am the most beautiful person. Others are not so beautiful as I am.” Each one thinks like that, and each one has to see one's face in the mirror.

Now, this seeing oneself in the mirror also is one kind of meditation called darpana yoga. Go on looking at your reflection in the mirror, and do not look at anything else. See yourself. Go on looking at your face in the mirror. You will be very happy because you are seeing yourself. Nobody is more attractive than yourself. Nobody is more beautiful than you, or more interesting, more valuable. “The greatest treasure I am,” each one thinks. The idea is not to concentrate on the body. The suggestion mentioned in this verse is to bring the consciousness from outside objects into oneself through the aperture of this body, and then take it further inward, from the outward perception of totally alienated objects in space to the internal object which is this body, and then bring it further inside into the real me, which is not necessarily this body. The meaning that there is in my face or in my body is imparted to it by something else inside it, which is the real me. My mind is beautiful, not the face which is physical, and I am seeing my mind rather than my body.

To be continued ...

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