Harmony
To bring the mind to the state
of awareness of meditation, stability or harmony has to be practiced in every
walk of life. Harmony is of various grades.
1. You
must be harmonious in your relationship with other people in the world. You
should be friendly; you should have no hatred towards anyone. You should not
harm or deceive anyone. You should not steal or appropriate what does not
belong to you. You should have no disgust for any person or thing; you should
have affection for all persons and things. All this constitutes harmony in
outer relationship with the society and the world. You should not take from the
world more than what you have given to it by your service.
2. You
must be harmonious within your own personality. The human individual is often
out of balance with himself. You should take care of the minimal needs of the
body: e.g. cleanliness, a bath regularly, to eat only when you are. Treat your
body as your friend. Live in ventilated places; breathe fresh air; spend at
least two hours a day in open air. Adopt simple living and high thinking.
3. You
must have harmony of muscles and the nervous system. We are generally in a
state of restless activity and agitation. So we are asked to practice Asanas or
physical postures, for the stability of the body. Though for the health of the
body you may practice many Asanas, you should sit in one Asana alone for
meditation. By staying in one, single, steady, comfortable posture, you bring
about a harmony in the nervous system and the muscles.
Why is this
posture prescribed? Because some energy, you may call it electric power, is
generated in the body when the mind is concentrated in meditation. Now, if the
extremities of the body are left open, the electricity that is produced in
meditation will leak out. So, the purpose of posture is to lock up the fingers
and the toes so that there is a circulation of energy throughout the body, and
there is no leakage of energy outside. Also, to prevent leakage, you are asked
to sit on some nonconductor of electricity, e.g. deer skin or mat, not an iron
seat (that will give you a shock). Sit there, locking the fingers and toes, and
keeping the spine, neck and head erect, in one straight line. If you cannot sit
straight in the beginning, sit straight leaning your back against a wall.
4. Bring
the breathing process, Prana, into harmony. Pranayama is a normal state of
breathing. Usually we are not in a normal state of breathing. And we are not
happy when we breathe disharmoniously. The Pranas are disturbed because you
long for objects in the world. And to desire an object is to be out of tune
with the law of the universe, because the object is not outside the law of the
universe; the object is an integral, vital part of the cosmos. So, when you
imagine anything is outside, consciousness is disturbed, agitated, unhappy. So,
this harmony is achieved not merely by control of breathing through the nose,
but by reduction of desires. If you entertain too many desires in your mind,
Pranayama will be useless, or may be even harmful. A person with no control
over desires should not practice Pranayama. First, you must be ethical and
moral in your conduct.
In the
beginning, do not practice technical methods (like alternate breathing); just
practice normal inhalation and exhalation. Take in a slow, full, deep breath
and exhale slowly. Generally, you do not take a slow, deep breath, you take a
fast, shallow breath.
The purpose
of Pranayama is to reduce the rate of breathing. And, when the Prana becomes
calm by this process of slow breathing, the mind also becomes calm. The Prana
is connected with the mind. When the Prana is reduced in its activity, the mind
is also reduced in its activity. Between the Prana and the mind are the senses.
The senses are the meeting point between the Prana and the mind. The senses
become active, whether the Prana works or the mind works.
5. So,
the fifth harmony is the control of the activity of the senses. The senses
cannot be controlled so long as you live in the midst of attractive objects.
So, in the beginning stages of Yoga practice, you should try to live for at
least some time in a year in such places where objects are not tempting to the
senses. This is the reason why seekers of Truth try to live in Ashrams,
monasteries or secluded places. When you try gradually to abstain from sense
indulgence, by living in such holy atmospheres, the senses get automatically
subdued. As the senses are in contact with the mind, control of the senses also
involves a little control of the mind.
When the mind
is accustomed to a life of seclusion and solitariness, and the senses do not
ask for tempting objects, you are ready for concentration and meditation. This
is really the field of Yoga. All the stages earlier are only preparatory. From
concentration onwards is proper Yoga.
6. Now,
concentration is of three forms: Concentration on External Points,
Concentration on Internal Points, Concentration on the Universal.
(to be continued…)
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