Glimpses of Raja Yoga by Vimala Thakar

Author:Vimala Thakar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2012-08-08T16:00:00+00:00

Dhyāna

First the energy that was diffused gets concentrated, that which was unsteady is made steady, that which was disturbed becomes peaceful.There is a qualitative transformation in receptivity, in attitude, in retention, in reproduction. A qualitative transformation has taken place through dhāraṇā. That is why Patanjali recommends it to yoga students to strengthen the mind stuff, to make it vital, vigorous, always energetic. Never is the mind of a yoga student lazy, lethargic, inattentive, distracted, disturbed—it is always alert and attentive.

In the study of Raja Yoga, you do not get stuck there, you do not get blocked there, that is not the culmination, but it can lead to the next step. And the next step is the identification with the mind stuff that has become steady, peaceful, quiet, and beautifully refined, and later, even the identification with that disappears in the state of meditation. In dhāraṇā, in concentration, you divided yourself into the person who conditions and that which gets conditioned. You divided yourself in two. You were conditioning—according to a technique and a method—your inner matter; you were working on yourself, on the subtle part of yourself. In the same way, you work upon your body—you clean it, wash it, bathe it, sit it, stand it.

In dhāraṇā there is a voluntary inner division for betterment, for development—but the division is still there. In dhyāna, the division ends.That identification with the idea of the “Me,” the ego ends. We use that as an instrument, just as we use thought as an instrument, as we use the activity of the eyes, the ears, the vocal chords as an instrument—that is a psychophysical activity.

In dhyāna, in meditation, there is no activity at all. Meditation is the ending of all voluntary psychophysical activity. Through ending all activity, further exploration takes place; further exploration is not going to take place through the movement of the past. The movement of the conditioning, the techniques, the methods have served their purpose, and they have conditioned the finest possible matter in you, which you call mind. Mind is matter, it is finest matter, and what you call your physical body is gross matter.They are really one and the same—fine and gross, that is the only difference. Ultimately, Raja Yoga says, matter—your body is the materialization of your thought—ultimately it comes to that, but we are not going to that ultimate point this morning. We are saying that, according to Patanjali, dhyāna has no method or technique. Up to dhāraṇā techniques, methods are necessary, they have a relevance, anyone who says no method, no education, no discipline is necessary—they are indulging in an illusion. Just by listening to talks, reading books, or academically discussing things, transformation doesn’t happen. Whether you call it disciplining yourself, educating yourself, conditioning yourself—whatever name you give to that process of education—you have to equip your matter, you have to bring out all your latent sensitivity contained in your matter, so that the heightened, intensified, and deepened sensitivity causes the transformation—the ultimate transformation.

Vimala is open

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