The psychology of the situation
Chapter. 7
The psychology of the situation, which plays a large part in yoga practice, is that recognition is an earlier development than memory. Bodily pleasures and pains precede mentality. Then comes
perception of the pain or pleasure-giving object, then recognition, then memory in which the picture of the object may arise even in its absence, then planning. It is the stream of memories and plannings that the would-be yogi finds it necessary to control. The strong human memory prompts thoughts and imaginings even in the entire absence of a stimulating object. Indeed, the novice in yoga must introspectively observe what it is that he thinks about in his passive or restful moments, when no demands are being made upon him either bodily or mentally. what he finds there may be of this unnatural character, in which case some mental discipline may be very much in order. Regarding this the teacher Patanjali says: When there is annoyance by bad thoughts, let there be reflection against them. This reflection to the contrary is : "The bad thought of injury, untruth, theft, incontinence, or greed, whether done, caused to be done, or approved, whether preceded by greed, anger, or infatuation, whether mild, medium, or strong, results in endless pain and error." This is mental discipline, and then: From the habitual mood of friendliness, sympathy, gladness, and disregard respectively towards thos who are happy, suffering, good and bad, comes purity of mind.
perception of the pain or pleasure-giving object, then recognition, then memory in which the picture of the object may arise even in its absence, then planning. It is the stream of memories and plannings that the would-be yogi finds it necessary to control. The strong human memory prompts thoughts and imaginings even in the entire absence of a stimulating object. Indeed, the novice in yoga must introspectively observe what it is that he thinks about in his passive or restful moments, when no demands are being made upon him either bodily or mentally. what he finds there may be of this unnatural character, in which case some mental discipline may be very much in order. Regarding this the teacher Patanjali says: When there is annoyance by bad thoughts, let there be reflection against them. This reflection to the contrary is : "The bad thought of injury, untruth, theft, incontinence, or greed, whether done, caused to be done, or approved, whether preceded by greed, anger, or infatuation, whether mild, medium, or strong, results in endless pain and error." This is mental discipline, and then: From the habitual mood of friendliness, sympathy, gladness, and disregard respectively towards thos who are happy, suffering, good and bad, comes purity of mind.
Often and often the goal of the yogi is described in yoga Literature as 'Liberation'. The word is 'moksha', and a better translation of it would be 'Liberty'. This does not mean that the yogi is aiming at escape. Escape-from-it-all would be unconsciousness, which he does not expect. Escape from the disagreeables would leave him where he was before with regard to the agreeables, and no nearer to perfection nor divine experience. For the yogi, God is depicted as that being who is free, or, as the Yoga Sutras have it, 'unaffected by troubles, works, and effects'. Indeed when the yogi is given the option of practising devotion to God as one of the means to reaching the heights of contemplation, the idea is that in thinking of the divine he is picturing a being essentially free, and so he is looking forward to what he himself will become -free.
Jon Maged
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