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SECTION NINE
CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION
Two Main Centres For Concentration
MOST people associate consciousness with the brain or mind because that is the centre for intellectual thought and mental vision, but consciousness is not limited to that kind of thought or vision. It is everywhere in the system and there are several centres of it, e.g., the centre for inner concentration is not in the brain but in the heart,—the originating centre of vital desire is still lower down. The two main places where one can centre the consciousness for Yoga are in the head and in the heart—the mind-centre and the soul-centre.
11-8-1934 Page-249
THE sitting motionless posture is the natural posture for concentrated meditation—walking and standing are active conditions. It is only when one has gained the enduring rest and passivity of the consciousness that it is easy to concentrate and receive when walking or doing anything. A fundamental passive condition of the consciousness gathered into itself is the proper poise for concentration and a seated gathered immobility in the body is the best position for that. It can be done also lying down, but that position is too passive, tending to be inert rather than gathered. This is the reason why Yogis always sit in an āsana. One can accustom oneself to meditate walking, standing, lying but sitting is the first natural position.
13-3-1937
IT is better to make the deeper concentration when you are alone or quiet. Outward sounds ought not to disturb you.
1933 Page-250
STRAINING and concentration are not the same things. Straining implies an over-eagerness and violence of effort, while concentration is in its nature quiet and steady. If there is restlessness or over-eagerness, then that is not concentration.
8-8-1936
THE more the psychic spreads in the outer being, the more all these things (mechanical activity of the subconscious mind) fall quiet. That is the best way. Direct efforts to still the mind are a difficult method.
8-11-1934 Page-251 Silencing the Physical Mind—Dynamic Realisation
FOR the buzz of the physical mind, reject it quietly, without getting disturbed, till it feels discouraged and retires shaking its head and saying, "This fellow is too calm and strong for me." There are always two things that can rise up and assail the silence, — vital suggestions, the physical mind's mechanical recurrences. Calm rejection for both is the cure. There is a Purusha within who can dictate to the nature what it shall admit or exclude, but its will is a strong, quiet will; if one gets perturbed or agitated over the difficulties, then the will of the Purusha cannot act effectively as it would otherwise. The dynamic realisation will probably take place when the higher consciousness comes fully down into the vital. When it comes into the mental it brings the peace of the Purusha and liberation and it may bring also knowledge. It is when it comes into the vital that the dynamic realisation becomes present and living.
27-10-1938 Page-252 Meditation and Divided Consciousness
THAT is not called meditation—it is a divided state of consciousness; unless the consciousness is really engrossed and the surface thoughts are only things that come across and touch and pass, it can hardly be called meditation (dhyana). I don't see how the inner being can be engrossed while whole thoughts and imaginations of another kind are rambling about in the surface consciousness. One can remain separate and see the thoughts and imaginations pass without being affected, but that is not being plunged or engrossed in meditation.
4-2-1937
IF higher meditation or being above keeps one dull and without any kind of satisfaction or peace in sadhana, these are the only two reasons—ego or inertia—I can think of.
27-5-1936 Page-253 |