Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar by Jeffrey Armstrong

Author:Jeffrey Armstrong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ATRIA BOOKS

Inside Out

Most people think that the physical, external world of experience is real and the inner world is unreal. Yogis say both are real and that both are connected to higher levels of reality. Yoga is the pursuit of those higher realms and the freedom that comes from their discovery. This may not at all fit most preconceived ideas of Yoga, but that’s a great thing—because there’s nothing better than a little mind expansion on the road to spiritual growth.

The sixth limb of Yoga is understandable to people simply as something we all do every day. This limb is called dharana, or “one pointedness of the mind.” In the outer world, it’s self-evident that success in most endeavors demands single-minded focus. Aiming, targeting, and holding a focus are all practice for achieving dharana within. We also understand how difficult staying focused in the outer world is amid endless distractions. Going within and holding one thought or one point of focus is the most difficult form of one-pointedness. Sleep, in a way, can offer this focus in the form of dreams. But to go within, and to focus deeply, without sleeping is to do a similar shift in consciousness and yet be more awake than at any other time.

Yogis tell us that when leaving our body at the time of death, the chaos of physical disintegration makes holding a focus extremely difficult and unlikely. Once the body is shed, we are alone inside the mind—a “hall of mirrors” where single-pointed, purposeful focus is stunningly difficult to achieve, let alone maintain for long periods of time. Without long-term focus training, one’s subtle airplane rarely leaves the hangar, let alone takes flight.

This singular focus of dharana is supposed to be a relaxed state, yet one still maintaining complete focus. Yoga describes this undivided attention as holding complete focus with no tension. It is compared to a dam holding water, with no strain or effort. All of the first limbs and effortless internal attention to a single focus are prerequisite skills to truly practicing the seventh limb of Yoga. The first six limbs must first be achieved.

The Sanskrit for the seventh limb of Yoga is dhyan. Alongside Buddhist thought, which arose in northern India and then migrated East, this word became chan in China and then zen in Japan. The word is often translated in English as “meditation”—which has become a loose and casual definition of the word. Meditation is often used to mean empty of ordinary thought or inner awareness or focusing on the light and so on. In the traditional yogic meaning of the word, none of this is considered to be dhyan.

These limbs of Yoga are defined in the most concise and practical manual for yogic principles, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali—Patanjali being the author. In these Yoga sutras, the three aims or processes of Yoga are described. The first is tapasya, meaning “you must do something over time with great intensity.” Tapas means “heat (results) generated by extremely focused behaviors.” It is as if our bones are made of iron.

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