A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 49 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday 11, September 2024, 06:50.
A Study of the Bhagavadgita:
Chapter 8: The Stages of Yoga-7.
Swami Krishnananda
Post-49.

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The process of this practice of Yoga is again briefly described in the Fifth Chapter, which is the cue, as it were, to the further exposition in the Sixth Chapter. 

Sparsan krtva bahir bahyams cakshus caivantare bhruvoh, 

pranapanau samau krtva nasabhyantaracarinau (Gita 5.27); 

yatendriyamanobuddhirmunir mokshaparayayah, 

vigatecchabhayakrodho yah sada mukta eva sah (Gita 5.28).

Two slogas will tell you briefly what Yoga is. First of all, you have to shut out all the entry of external consciousness into your meditational mood. This is done by what is called pratyahara technique. The contacts of the senses with externality have to gradually be diminished in their intensity, which you should do by diligent practice.

The objects of the senses have such an impact upon the senses that whenever you see something desirable or abhorrent, you are disturbed in your mind; therefore, in the initial stages of Yoga practice, the student is advised to place himself or herself in an atmosphere in which there will not be temptations. Do not be in a supermarket or a cinema hall or a theatre. These are not places for meditation. As far as possible, also isolate yourself physically from atmospheres of temptation and distraction, disturbance, agitation, and feelings of sorrow. Physical isolation is important – otherwise, why do people come to an ashram, Uttarkashi, Gangotri, and other places?

And then, when you have succeeded to some extent in weaning yourself from the consciousness of the desirables and the undesirables, you have to chalk out a process of the concentration of the mind on the objective that is before you – what it is that you are aiming at in your Yoga. So the verse says, sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁś: externalising them totally, not allowing the mind to come in vital contact with anything that is an object of desire.

Cakshus caivantare bhruvoḥ: not actually opening the eyes entirely nor closing entirely. Semi-closing of the eyes is prescribed here. Commentators tell you that this prescription is specifically because of the fact that if you open the eyes entirely, you will go on seeing things and there will be some kind of distraction. If you close the eyes entirely, you may fall asleep. So the position of the eyelids is supposed to be as if you are looking at the tip of the nose. Some say you may actually concentrate on the tip of the nose, but the actual significance of the prescription seems to be, it should be as if you are looking at the tip of the nose. You are conscious, and yet not externally conscious.

This consciousness of something which is not actually an external consciousness is also the reason why often people prescribe early morning hours for meditation. In sleep there is total unconsciousness, and in waking there is external consciousness. Neither of these states is suitable for actual meditation. So early morning, Brahma-murta, just before sunrise or somewhat at that time, your consciousness seems to be just awakening to a perception of the world outside but it has not actually perceived the world outside, nor are you sleeping. So there is a semi-consciousness. It is a consciousness, not unconsciousness, not outside consciousness – a consciousness, pure and simple. This is the reason, they say, for the instruction that the early morning hours would be good for meditation.

Similarly is the case with the instruction that before you go to bed would also be a suitable time because you are slowly absorbing all your activities at the end of the day. The mind becomes calm; the senses become less active. A similar state as in Brahma-murta will follow to some extent before you go to bed in the evening, so both in the morning and in the evening you may try to practice Yoga.

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Continued

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