Concentration
Wednesday December 22 2004 08:59 IST
By Karmayogi
When someone is doing a
work like writing, we find he does not notice our coming and standing by his
side for some time. He may not respond to a few words of ours calling his
attention.
Later we are surprised at his surprise when we mention how oblivious he was of
our visit. That is concentration. In yoga, concentration is defined as Being
dwelling on itself. The index of dwelling on itself is to be oblivious or forgetful of the outside.
At the time of such a concentration, Mind cannot think of the future. Thinking
of the future is expectation. Nor can it think of the past, which is the source
of worry. We call it brooding over the past.
Withdrawing from the past and future, one concentrates on the Present. That
way, the present becomes the Ever Present. Put philosophically, one overcomes
Time. Philosophy tells us that Time creates Mind. Yoga is to conquer Time or
Mind or both.
Mind thinks, lives in the Idea. It is the surface mind. The life of the surface
mind is for us who run a family, a householder. The Spirit is Truth. The
Spiritual Truth lies behind the Idea. The Idea is in the Mind, not outside in
the external world.
All yoga is an inward activity. It has nothing to do with the mundane, humdrum
world outside called the outer objective existence. To us, it is the external
as against the internal or Inner. Yoga belongs to the Inner world.
There is an inner world of Thought, a world of Ideas, another inner world of
emotions. Behind it lies an inner world of actions. Far behind the inner worlds
of idea, emotion, and action lies the inner world of Existence, called Sat in
Sanskrit.
The Purusha of Sat is called Sat Purusha.
Yogic concentration demands the yogi withdraw from the world of senses, the
external world. This is the first stage of concentration. It means the Mind
withdraws from hearing outer sounds, seeing outer sights, etc.
Having withdrawn from the outer world, the Mind is in its own inner world. Mind
can see now without opening the eyes. It can hear, smell, touch, taste all by
itself. Dhyana becomes a success at this stage. Few householders can reach this
state.
As one withdrew from the external consciousness, he must now withdraw from the
inner consciousness. The Truth of the Spirit lies in the inner consciousness. The
Truth of the one is behind the inner consciousness where the yogi expands
inwardly into the consciousness of the Idea.
Then he becomes a Muni. Durvasa was such a Muni. He was able to give Krishna, an Avatar, the boon
that his body would be invulnerable to attacks from any weapon. Concentration
behind an idea gives power to grant a boon to an Avatar.
This is the tool of Jnana Yoga. Raja yoga is the consummation of Jnana yoga.
There are several such yogas.