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Attention, Part One, Section B
Jun. 19th, 2018 04:14 pm A couple more gems from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translated by Charles Johnston, in Book 3:
I am very glad I decided to go back to the original source, as what is presented here in the U.S. as yoga is only the physical side, even on the meditation and energy-work side. It is reminding me a lot of how Buddhist meditation has been transformed into mindfullness and relaxation, without any of the spiritual or religious context. What Patanjali wrote is a religious text, with all of the first book and most of the second being all about the spiritual Man (read: Self) and how to liberate him/her from the cycle of reincarnation. This has turned out to be a very productive and fruitful side excursion to the main topic of Atkinson's work.
- 5. By mastering this perfectly concentrated Meditation, there comes the illumination of perception. The meaning of this is illustrated by what has been said before. When the spiritual man is able to throw aside the trammels of emotional and mental limitation, and to open his eyes, he sees clearly, he attains to illuminated perception. A poet once said that Occultism is the conscious cultivation of genius; and it is certain that the awakened spiritual man attains to the perceptions of genius. Genius is the vision, the power, of the spiritual man, whether its possessor recognizes this or not. All true knowledge is of the spiritual man. The greatest in all ages have recognized this and put their testimony on record. The great in wisdom who have not consciously recognized it, have ever been full of the spirit of reverence, of selfless devotion to truth, of humility, as was Darwin ; and reverence and humility are the unconscious recognition of the nearness of the Spirit, that Divinity which broods over us, a Master o'er a slave.
- 6. This power is distributed in ascending degrees. It is to be attained step by step. It is a question, not of miracle, but of evolution, of growth. Newton had to master the multiplication table, then the four rules of arithmetic, then the rudiments of algebra, before he came to the binomial theorem. At each point, there was attention, concentration, insight; until these were attained, no progress to the next point was possible. So with Darwin. He had to learn the form and use of leaf and flower, of bone and muscle; the characteristics of genera and species ; the distribution of plants and animals, before he had in mind that nexus of knowledge on which the light of his great idea was at last able to shine. So is it with all knowledge. So is it with spiritual knowledge. Take the matter this way: The first subject for the exercise of my spiritual insight is my day, with its circumstances, its hindrances, its opportunities, its duties. I do what I can to solve it, to fulfil its duties, to learn its lessons. I try to live my day with aspiration and faith. That is the first step. By doing this, I gather a harvest for the evening, I gain a deeper insight into life, in virtue of which I begin the next day with a certain advantage, a certain spiritual advance and attainment. So with all successive days. In faith and aspiration, we pass from day to day, in growing knowledge and power, with never more than one day to solve at a time, until all life becomes radiant and transparent.
- 10. Through frequent repetition of this process, the mind becomes habituated to it, and there arises an equable flow of perceiving consciousness. Control of the mind by the Soul, like control of the muscles by the mind, comes by practice, and constant voluntary repetition. As an example of control of the muscles by the mind, take the ceaseless practice by which a musician gains mastery over his instrument, or a fencer gains skill with a rapier. Innumerable small efforts of attention will make a result which seems well-nigh miraculous; which, for the novice, is really miraculous. Then consider that far more wonderful instrument, the perceiving mind, played on by that fine musician, the Soul. Here again, innumerable small efforts of attention will accumulate into mastery, and a mastery worth winning. For a concrete example, take the gradual conquest of each day, the effort to live that day for the Soul. To him that is faithful unto death, the Master gives the crown of life.
- 11. The gradual conquest of the mind's tendency to flit from one object to another, and the power of one-pointedness, make the development of Contemplation. As an illustration of the mind's tendency to flit from one object to another, take a small boy, learning arithmetic. He begins: two ones are two; three ones are three—and then he thinks of three coins in his pocket, which will purchase so much candy, in the store down the street, next to the toy-shop, where are base-balls, marbles and so on,—and then he comes back with a jerk, to four ones are four. So with us also. We are seeking the meaning of our task, but the mind takes advantage of a moment of slackened attention, and flits off from one frivolous detail to another, till we suddenly come back to consciousness after traversing leagues of space. We must learn to conquer this, and to go back within ourselves into the beam of perceiving consciousness itself, which is a beam of the Oversoul. This is the true onepointedness, the bringing of our consciousness to a focus in the Soul.
I am very glad I decided to go back to the original source, as what is presented here in the U.S. as yoga is only the physical side, even on the meditation and energy-work side. It is reminding me a lot of how Buddhist meditation has been transformed into mindfullness and relaxation, without any of the spiritual or religious context. What Patanjali wrote is a religious text, with all of the first book and most of the second being all about the spiritual Man (read: Self) and how to liberate him/her from the cycle of reincarnation. This has turned out to be a very productive and fruitful side excursion to the main topic of Atkinson's work.
