Contemplation and Compilation ~ Patanjali Yoga Sutras 1:12- 1:20

For any practice to become firmly established and successful in our lives it needs to be done ~

Continuously, without any gaps, with patience, honor, respect, faith, gratefulness, enthusiasm and without any attachment or personal desires. 

Mere practicing for a long time is not sufficient. Some people practice for a long time and they still stay bound, unsettled, restless, disappointed and disturbed. The reason is that they stay attached and result oriented in their practices which makes them anxious and impatient. They lack honor and respect which when practiced brings quality, stability and steadiness.

It is our constant craving and desire to be happy all the time that makes us miserable. Happiness is our nature but wanting to be happy is a creation of misery.

Our mind is continuously gathering things to satisfy its desires through our senses and it also has a tendency to stick and remember only negative things experiences and words. The wisdom is to learn to discriminate what is good for us or what is not and to learn to apply restraint before the mind goes and grasp as it wants. 

Practicing dispassion or non attachment (vairagya) helps us understand this pattern and helps to put an end to this vicious cycle of misery by bringing heightened awareness, stability and  steadiness that helps us be more peaceful and centered amidst the emotional turmoil and storms. 

Dispassion helps us be free from the regrets of the past and anxieties of the future and lets us be completely centered and 100 percent in the present moment. 

Detachment of mind from its desires and enjoyment is vairagya which is on the sensory level and detachment of mind from memory, past impressions and sanskaras is param vairagya which comes after we learn to repose and rejoice in our true self. 

Samadhi is the steadiness in prana, state of equanimity and a process of going inwards which can be achieved by being completely aware and present in the moment. There are 2 kinds of samadhi

• Samprajnata or Sabeeja samadhi or Savikalpa samadhi 

Samadhi which you can experience during an activity. We have often done this as child, looking with depth and becoming one with the object. The depth in our eyes indicates the steadiness and stability in our soul. In sabeeja samadhi we are totally relaxed and happy with heightened awareness and sharp intellect. 
The past impressions, thoughts, memories and  sanskaras are still buried on our mind in this state and can pull us in the worldly experiences through thoughts.  The practice of Vairagya, non attachment helps to dive deeper into the experience.

Guided meditation is an example of sabeeja or samprajnata samadhi.

4 stages of Samprajnata samadhi

1   Savitarka ~ accompanied by reasoning - In this samadhi mind contemplates on the gross object, sound, or a mantra. The contemplation on single object makes mind steady, focused, quiet and relaxed. 
2.  Savichara ~ accompanied by reflection - In this samadhi mind moves from outer layer of object to the inner realms and contemplates. You experience Tanmatras and through practice gain great control over Tanmatras. Example of Tanmatras are seeing lights, divine, hearing chants, or other extraordinary experiences while meditation. They key is not to get attached to the Tanmatras and observing them as just an experience on the path of Samadhi. Many people get entangled at this stage. Vairagya or non attachment is needed here to achieve the next stage.  

3.  Sa-ananda ~ accompanied by rejoicing or ecstasy

4.  Sa-asmita ~ accompanied by contemplation on I-ness, you are there and you are aware of nothing else. Prakriti Leya 

• Asamprajnata or Nirbeeja samadhi or Nirvikalpa or Nirvichara 

After mastering the 4 stages of Samprajnata samadhi one can get into Asamprajnata samadhi, Param Vairagya where no impressions and no feeling of I-ness exists. The one who has attained this state is called Jivan Mukta, the one who lives but at the same time is liberated.

We have existed before and we will exist after, when we practice meditation we are not only bringing harmony within ourselves but influencing all the subtle layers at different levels of existence in the creation in the present birth and future births.

Mokshabhekso Bandah ~ Even the desire of liberation is a bondage in itself! 

The minds nature is to desire then how do we get over this bondage?- Turn your desires into greater causes. Think, how can you contribute and be useful to society and planet, what is the purpose of your life and how can you be of service. Any desire that does not have a personal or selfish motive will never bind us but will help us channelize our energy. 

Contemplation and Compilation ~ Patanjali Yoga Sutras 1:1-11

Introduction - 1:1-11 

Our soul is like a seer, and the nature of seer is pure joy, ecstasy, bliss and happiness. 

Our mind is generally content but It is the desiring mind, the manas that gets attracted to the outside worldly things through 5 senses and disturbs the peace of the mind.

There are 5 vrittis or modulations or activities or thought forms our chitta or mind gets stuck in and disturbs our inner peace. When we are lost and stuck in the loop of the modulations, it only brings us pain, misery and suffering.

• Pramana - the mind is continuously engaged in arguments of wanting proof or trying to analyze and verify the right knowledge 

There are 3 types of Pramanas

1. Pratyaksha - direct perception, when you understand by seeing or experiencing something yourself.
when you are experiencing something yourself and you do not have a doubt. 

2. Anumana- inference or assuming - you see smoke and assume there is a fire, its not obvious but you guess from your past understanding, knowledge and experiences.

3. Aagamana - We believe in something because a reliable authority or scriptures tell it or state it.

Our mind is continuously looking for proof. Truth can not be understood through proof. What can be proved can also be disproved. 

• Viparyaya - mind gets stuck in misconception or incorrect knowledge or false understanding and thinking that is the truth. When our mind is stuck in Viparyaya all logic fails and only wrong knowledge prevails.

• Vikalpa - baseless fears, joyful or pleasurable fantasies, paranoia, imagination or hallucination or a verbal delusion - you form an opinion about someone or something  from what you have heard but there is no truth or reality in that, you are creating impressions in mind that are not true based on someones perception or ideas.

• Nidra - sleep or impression left in mind upon waking up of an experience of deep sleep or nothingness in sleep

• Smriti - memory, experiences create impressions on our mind that surface when we want them in form of day dreams or when we do not want them as dreams.

If only we can learn to gain a control over our senses and mind there is nothing in the world that can bind us.

Through the practice of yoga and self study we can learn to become aware and befriend our mind and understand the thought forms its stuck in.

How do we control our mind when our mind seems to be controlling us all the time?

When we realize that we want more control and understanding of self that is when the anushasan or the self discipline of yoga begins. 

The extraordinary experience we gain by controlling the thought forms or modulations of mind is Yoga and it teaches us - 

• Vairagya, dispassion which helps us bring our mind skillfully back to self, honoring all the object of senses and not blaming them.
• Abhyasa, the continuous practice of becoming aware when our mind is getting stuck in modulations and bringing it back to the present moment again and again.

Yoga Chitta Vriti Nirodah~

Gently observe the fluctuations and plays of mind, don't become them! One has reached the goal of Yoga if this restraint is achieved!