71.On learning to Meditate

 During the second semester of the  Integrated  Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) in NIT Calicut  which  I  was  teaching during  Jan-June 2024, I used to regularly  attend the  2-day a week Yoga sessions for students. The Yoga  trainer  intersperses  games  of  5 to 7  minutes  duration  prior to   performance of strenuous  asanas  and the students  love  it. Usually  following  Pranayama  exercise students are directed to meditate for short intervals  and they are  expected to sit  silently in an erect  posture. Then I noticed that  the  attention   of   a  few tended to falter.   Was it because  they were  all  tired  after the  8 am to 4 pm  classes  or  did  they lack the motivation?

I  recalled my  struggle to learn how to meditate during my own  Post Graduate  days sans a guru. Despite  reading half a dozen books  on Meditation and  cogitating on   the  advantages of the same, I  couldn’t  master it!

A few days ago, I came across a  quote  from   Swami   Vivekananda    : “The highest meditation is to think of nothing. If you can remain one moment without thought, great power will come.”(Vedanta Philosophy)  This echoes  the thoughts of  Prof.  M. Ram Murty of  Queen’s University,  Canada, who recently  delivered  a lecture  entitled the Meaning of  Yoga  at  NIT Calicut.

 The following are   extracts  from his  PPT slides:

The restless monkey

*Vivekananda relates the following story.

*The mind has been often compared  to a monkey.  There was a monkey restless by his own nature, or as all monkeys are.

*As if that were not enough, someone made him drink freely of  wine, so that  he became more restless.

*Then  a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion he jumps about for a whole day, so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever.

*To complete his misery, a demon entered into him. What language can describe  the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey?

*The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature.  Then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, increasing its turbulence.

*After  desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance.

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The role of creative work

 *According to Patanjali, the best way to deal with restlessness of the mind is to put it in creative work and keep it engaged.

*Another way is to watch the bubbling of thoughts in a detached way and slowly, as one observes them, the oscillations decrease.

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Dharana and Dhyana

*Dharana is holding  the mind on to some particular object or idea. An unbroken flow of knowledge in that object or idea is Dhyana.

*Dharana is concentration and Dhyana is continued concentration.

*  Many times, we find the mind becomes concentrated and inspired but has a tendency of not staying  in that state for too long.

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Samadhi or total absorption

*The final stage is  Samadhi.

Patanjali writes that the three: Dharana, Dhyana  and  Samadhi, comprise Samyama and are  to be taken together.

*The process has been compared to the trajectory of a three stage rocket, where the lower stages drop  off at an appropriate  time  and the rocket can be propelled  into the higher reaches of space.

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Breathing and the mind

*Patanjali offers another method for calming the mind, namely rhythmic breathing. This is called Pranayama, or the regulation of  the breathing.

*When our mind is disturbed the breathing  becomes irregular. At such moments, Patanjali says to sit alone and calm oneself by rhythmic breathing.

*Once the mind has been calmed, it is fit to begin meditation on a single idea such as the ‘light within’ or  the  ‘illumined  being’ or ‘pure awareness’.

*Concentration can also be achieved by fixing the mind on a divine form or symbol.

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*The first verse in the treatise  (Patanjali’s  Yoga Sutra)   is yoga chitta vritti nirodah. Yoga is the restraint of mental modifications.

*That is,  yoga is the control of thoughts and feelings.

*They are restrained by practice and non attachment (abhayasa and vairagya). Practice is  repeated  effort… It becomes firm  when it has been cultivated for a long time, with earnest devotion, Non- attachment is self-mastery”..

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 States of mind

*Patanjali writes that the human is usually in one of five general states:  Wandering (Ksipta),Forgetful (Mudha), Occasionally steady or distracted (Viksipta), One -pointed  (Ekagrata) and Restrained  (Niruddha)

*The last two are referred to as higher levels of awareness.

*Normally, our mind is in the first three states.

*The highest state Patanjali  refers to as Samadhi, or perfect understanding.

*It is said to be two kinds: with image (Savikalpa) and without image (Nirvikalpa).

*The last stage is characterized by  the fact that  there is no thought wave in the mind, it is perfectly still, and supremely aware of itself.

70. On learning to concentrate

 

Teaching  in NIT Calicut  is  indeed  a  great  learning experience for me. During  the  first five  months  I  was  assigned  to  teach  English for  Communication  for the  fresh batch of  the newly launched  Integrated  Teacher Education Programme  (ITEP). Then my prime  objective was to refine   the ability of  learners   who  were fresh from  Higher  Secondary, to   use English fluently  for  communication. I had  made use of  several  strategies  which I  mastered  during  my  stint  as faculty and  course coordinator of  Spoken English Courses  in the  Regional  Institute  of  English South India, Bangalore renowned  for the  Communicative  Approach  Project.   I  believe  I  was fairly successful    because  both  the Chairman  and   Head of the  Department  during the commencement of the   second semester  while  addressing  the  students  commented  that  they have  tremendously improved  in their  ability to communicate.   While  I  gave  a pat on my back  for my  achievement,  I expected  a  similar   performance   when assigned to teach  Indian Knowledge  Systems  during the  second  semester. 

But to my disappointment,  a  few  students  who  did  remarkably well in the first semester  performed  poorly    in  the  Mid  Semester  examination.  During my  lecture  sessions on Indian Knowledge Systems,  I  had noticed the   attention of  a  few students  faltering.  When  I  cross checked the marks  I found that  those who scored  poor marks were the ones  whose  ability to  concentrate on the lecture  tended to falter.

So I called the poor  performers  to my  cabin  one by one  and inquired   why  they found it difficult to perform well.  Did  they find the topic  particularly  difficult  (the  Module  was on Indian Philosophy) ?  Did  they  find  it  difficult  to  memorize  major  aspects  of   philosophical  perspectives of  different  schools?  Did  my  explanations  and  illustrative  videos  fail to  help them grasp the  content?... A review  of the  responses  revealed  that  many  had not  mastered the   ability  for  sustained   concentration.  A  close  analysis of the  answers  written by the  low performers  also revealed  a  failure  to  think logically  and  also  an inability to recall  points  explained   despite my meticulous supply of  relevant  study materials.

This  led  me to the realization  that  unlike  the  previous  semester   when  I had to  consciously  provide  inputs   to enable the students  make a  smooth  transition as a  serious  learner  in    the new  competitive   academic  environment  of   a  top rated Higher  Education institution,  I had to commence  teaching  the students  certain basic  things  such as  how to  concentrate!

Almost  all the students  as part of the  course on Indian Knowledge Systems  had become  fairly  familiar with  the traditional  Ayurvedic  diet which Kerala State is noted for    or  even  Satvic  food habits.   They were also aware of the body-food-mind  connection.  So I suggested to them  to observe the following  which I found to be useful during my  days  as  a  student  struggling to  concentrate  for  longer  durations  of  time.

*Sit in a quiet  dark room with a lit candle. Focus your eyes  on the flame alone by holding your breath for say  10 to 30 seconds.  Slowly  increase the duration.

*Try bouncing  a  ball continuously for  3 to 5 minutes. The quick bouncing type ball (without air inside) is the best…..Once this  ability is  mastered,  try bouncing two balls  simultaneously.

*While in  college, during the  morning prayer before the class commences,  try to hold your breath during the rendering of the prayer.

The other day,  I had  attended  a lecture  at NIT Calicut  on the Meaning of Yoga by Prof. M.Ram Murty of  Queen’s University, Canada.  During the lecture,   the professor  highlighted  certain aspects related to concentration. The following are  his observations:

*Concentration upon a single object may reach four stages: examination or questioning (vitarka), reflection or discernment (vichara) joyful peace (Ananda) , and unqualified egoism.

*Examination or inquiry  refers to isolating what is to be attended to.  The first step in concentrating the mind is to determine what to concentrate  it on, to prioritize… to isolate the task before us and then, to begin.

Aids to concentration

*Concentration is achieved through faith, energy, recollection, absorption, and illumination.

*Faith is two-fold; we must have faith in our ability and we must have faith that the goal can be attained.

*When we examine our mind, we find  a powerful undercurrent of ‘background thought’.  The early stages of concentration can be viewed as  ‘house-cleaning’ , when we remove gross distractions.

*External distractions are easier to remove than internal distractions.

69.The Meaning of Yoga

 

On  June 14,2024,  Prof.  R.Ram Murthy of  Queen’s  University  Canada  delivered a lecture on  the  Meaning of Yoga    at  NIT Calicut. The following are  extracts from the  slides  displayed by the professor  during  his lecture.

The root meaning of Yoga

*The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word  ‘Yuj’ which means to yoke or to unify.

*In a larger sense it refers to the integration of personality, and is the method of achieving ‘union within, union without, and union with the ultimate ground.’

*The average human being has a multitude of thoughts, emotions  and energies that are often discordant. Yoga is the method of self-integration.

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Later developments of Patanjali’s  Yoga Sutras

*Patnjali’s  Yoga Sutras are an early attempt at the scientific study of the human mind.

*Patanjali  cautions that  the approach  must be scientific, guided by reason and experience.

*Its methods and techniques can be applied by everyone.

*Later this system was absorbed into Vedanta as part of the four-fold yoga.

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The synthesis of the yogas

*Krishna makes a final appeal, echoing his earlier message of verses 30 and 31  of the  3^rd chapter.

*Mayi sarvani karmani samnyasya dhyatmacetasa nirasir nirmamo bhutra yudhasra  rigatajvarah

*Ye me matam idam nityam, anutisthanti manavah sraddhavanto nasuyanto  mucyante te’pi karmabdhih

 

*”Resigning all your works to Me, with your consciousness fixed in the Self, being free from desire and egotism, fight, free from any  mental fever. This is my philosophy of life, and whoever follows this teaching will also be released from the bondage of work.”

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The essence of the Gita

*These two verses contain the essence of the Gita.

The human mind has four faculties: thinking, feeling, willing  and  restraining. Just as thinking can be taken to a higher state as illumined reason, so also feeling, willing, restraining can be taken to higher levels.

*The method for raising  each faculty to a higher state is called yoga. The four yogas, Jnana, Bhakti, Karma and Raja, correspond to the four faculties of the mind, namely  thinking, feeling, willing and restraining.

 *When Krishna refers  to ‘my philosophy of life’  he means the four-fold combination of all these  yogas.

 *This is his masterly stroke. This is his magnificent synthesis of all philosophical thought. The human brain should not be developed in a one sided fashion but must be exercised in this four-fold  way giving a higher expression  to each of its four faculties.