we fall, if timorous, we make no progress. But if the interplay of the two forces is observed, analysed and controlled, we can achieve perfection. At that moment, the asmita which proposed and the asmita which opposed become one in the Asana and assume a perfect form. Asmita dissolves in bliss, or satcitananda (purity-consciousness-bliss).
Ahamkara, or ego, the sense of ‘I’, is the knot that binds the consciousness and the body through the inner sense, the mind. In this way, the levels of being are connected by the mind, from the soul, through the internal parts, to the external senses. The mind thus acts as a link between the objects seen, and the subject, the seer. It is the unifying factor between the soul and the body which helps us to uncover layer after layer of our being until the sheath of the self (jivatman) is reached.
These layers, or sheaths, are the anatomical, skeletal, or structural sheath (annamaya kosa); the physiological or organic sheath (pranamaya kosa); the mental or emotional sheath (manomaya kosa); the intellectual or discriminative sheath (vijñanamaya kosa); and the pure blissful sheath (anandamaya kosa). These kosas represent the five elements of nature, or prakrti: earth, water, fire, air and ether. Mahat, cosmic consciousness, in its individual form as citta, is the sixth kosa, while the inner soul is the seventh kosa. In all, man has seven sheaths, or kosas, for the development of awareness.
The blissful spiritual sheath is called the causal body (karana sarira), while the physiological, intellectual and mental sheaths form the subtle body (suksma sarira), and the anatomical sheath the gross body (karya sarira). The yoga aspirant tries to understand the functions of all these sheaths of the soul as well as the soul itself, and thereby begins his quest to experience the divine core of being: the atman.
The mind permeates and engulfs the entire conscious and unconscious mental process, and the activities of the brain. All vital activities arise in the mind. According to Indian thought, though mind, intelligence and ego are parts of consciousness, mind acts as the outer cover of intelligence and ego and is considered to be the eleventh sense organ. Mind is as elusive as mercury. It senses, desires, wills, remembers, perceives, recollects and experiences emotional sensations such as pain and pleasure, heat and cold, honour and dishonour. Mind is inhibitive as well as exhibitive. When inhibitive, it draws nearer to the core of being. When exhibitive, it manifests itself as brain in order to see and perceive the external objects with which it then identifies.
It should be understood that the brain is a part of the mind. As such, it functions as the mind’s instrument of action. The brain is part of the organic structure of the central nervous system that is enclosed in the cranium. It makes mental activity possible. It controls and co-ordinates mental and physical activities. When the brain is trained to be consciously quiet, the cognitive faculty comes into its own, making possible, through the intelligence, apprehension of the mind’s various facets. Clarity of intelligence lifts the veil of obscurity and encourages quiet receptivity in the ego as well as in the consciousness, diffusing their energies evenly throughout the physical, physiological, mental, intellectual and spiritual sheaths of the soul.
What is soul?
God, Paramatman or Purusa Visesan, is known as the Universal Soul, the seed of all (see 1.24). The individual soul, jivatman or purusa, is the seed of the individual self. The soul is therefore distinct from the self. Soul is formless, while self assumes a form. The soul is an entity, separate from the body and free from the self. Soul is the very essence of the core of one’s being.
Like mind, the soul has no actual location in the body. It is latent, and exists everywhere. The moment the soul is brought to awareness of itself, it is felt anywhere and everywhere. Unlike the self, the soul is free from the influence of nature, and is thus universal. The self is the seed of all functions and actions, and the source of spiritual evolution through knowledge. It can also, through worldly desires, be the seed of spiritual destruction. The soul perceives spiritual reality, and is known as the seer (drsta).
As a well-nurtured seed causes a tree to grow, and to blossom with flowers and fruits, so the soul is the seed of man’s evolution. From this source, asmita sprouts as the individual self. From this sprout springs consciousness, citta. From consciousness, spring ego, intelligence, mind, and the senses of perception and organs of action. Though the soul is free from influence, its sheaths come in contact with the objects of the world, which leave imprints on them through the intelligence of the brain and the mind. The discriminative faculty of brain and mind screens these imprints, discarding or retaining them. If discriminative power is lacking, then these imprints, like quivering leaves, create fluctuations in words, thoughts and deeds, and restlessness in the self.
These endless cycles of fluctuation are known as vrttis: changes, movements, functions, operations, or conditions of action or conduct in the consciousness. Vrttis are thought-waves, part of the brain, mind and consciousness as waves are part of the sea.
Thought is a mental vibration based on past experiences. It is a product of inner mental activity, a process of thinking. This process consciously applies the intellect to analyse thoughts arising from the seat of the mental body through the remembrance of past experiences. Thoughts create disturbances. By analysing them one develops discriminative power, and gains serenity.
When consciousness is in a serene state, its interior components, intelligence, ego, mind and the feeling of ‘I’, also experience tranquillity. At that point, there is no room for thought-waves to arise either in the mind or in the consciousness. Stillness and silence are experienced, poise and peace set in and one becomes cultured. One’s thoughts, words and deeds develop purity, and begin to flow in a divine stream.
Study of consciousness
Before describing the principles of yoga, Patañjali speaks of consciousness and the restraint of its movements.
The verb cit means to perceive, to notice, to know, to understand, to long for, to desire and to remind. As a noun, cit means thought, emotion, intellect, feeling, disposition, vision, heart, soul, Brahman. Cinta means disturbed or anxious thoughts, and cintana means deliberate thinking. Both are facets of citta. As they must be restrained through the discipline of yoga, yoga is defined as citta vrtti nirodhah. A perfectly subdued and pure citta is divine and at one with the soul.
Citta is the individual counterpart of mahat, the universal consciousness. It is the seat of the intelligence that sprouts from conscience, antahkarana, the organ of virtue and religious knowledge. If the soul is the seed of conscience, conscience is the source of consciousness, intelligence and mind. The thinking processes of consciousness embody mind, intelligence and ego. The mind has the power to imagine, think, attend to, aim, feel and will. The mind’s continual swaying affects its inner sheaths, intelligence, ego, consciousness and the self.
Mind is mercurial by nature, elusive and hard to grasp. However, it is the one organ which reflects both the external and internal worlds. Though it has the faculty of seeing things within and without, its more natural tendency is to involve itself with objects of the visible, rather than the inner world.
In collaboration with the senses, mind perceives things for the individual to see, observe, feel and experience. These experiences may be painful, painless or pleasurable. Through their influence, impulsiveness and other tendencies or moods creep into the mind, making it a storehouse of imprints (samskaras) and desires (vAsanas), which create excitement and emotional impressions. If these are favourable they create good imprints; if unfavourable they cause repugnance. These imprints generate the fluctuations, modifications and modulations of consciousness. If the mind is not disciplined and purified, it becomes involved with the objects experienced, creating sorrow and unhappiness.
Patañjali
