Patanjali's Tough Love
It is likely that we will agree that the mind exists.
Generally we think of ourselves as either;
a.) living as the mind (even if we think it is illusory) or
b.) living in the mind.
Due to differing beliefs regarding the existence of the eternal individual soul, we cannot all agree that there is a self, existing either conscious or unconscious of itself, inside the mind chamber.
Despite the duality of dvaitism and advaitism, I would bet that we can also agree that the individual mind is an astral container full of contents which psychically control the physical body while embodying it. And when the physical body is not functional due to old age, disease or injury, the mind exits the physical form, yet, remains the mind - remaining a container filled with psychic organs which cause it to function in this realm, both the physical format of this realm as well as the astral formats.
Most of us are aware and agree that we go back and forth between the physical and the astral places - its called 'reincarnation'.
But is this existence simply explained away as an automatic pilot situation where the “Brahman” is making believe that it is multiple things and the game is to bring all those divided parts (us, our phony existence) back into its original, exclusive state of oneness?
Of nothing-else-ness?
The same lonely condition that supposedly caused 'the one' to 'make believe differentiate' itself into illusionary diversity?
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There are many forms of meditation that promote relaxation and engagement of the visualization component of the mind meant to take itself (the mind) to a more pleasant, albeit make-believe, place then the one it currently finds itself in.
You know the places….a heavenly flower garden, a crystal beach, a quiet forest. The mind can conjure up better places to pretend it exists in then it does in it's actual reality.
But is that all it can do?
Pretend?
Imagine itself as something that is somewhere better?
Patanjali didn't seem to think so.
He thought that the little self could get along without imagination.
He seemed to think that the spiritual self had things to do and people to see beyond what the local mental tools were able to perceive. He required us to put down those local mental tools if we were to attempt to experience any of those non-local things.
So what did Patanjali want for us?
Not supporting the primitive idea of advaita, he instructed that we stop making believe anything during meditation and give up the vrittis, the fluctuations of the mind.
His demands of stabilization and sublimation of the mental activities for the sake of what?
For Patanjali, it was for the sake of the PERCEIVER.
The SVARUPE.
Why does Patanjali bring up the Svarupe?
Who is that svarupe?
And why does It matter?
To Patanjali the individual mattered most in much the same way that Lord Krishna thought it mattered when he reminded Arjuna so sternly on the battlefield that the individual soul is, was and will always, be.
Patanjali thought the self mattered so much that he was willing to leave it with nothing to relate to on the local level upon which it currently depends.
He was willing for you and I to be left alone.
Why?
Seems like torture for one who relates so strongly to the
mind.
Seems like trauma for one who believes that they are the mind....and if not the mind, then a nothing, an illusion to themselves.
Seems like a torturous request for the one who doesn’t believe that there is even a self in there to redeem.
Because if there is not a self to redeem, there is no one to experience the bliss of self realization, of spiritual self love and of one’s relationship with Ishwara, the Supreme Spiritual Person. The very person Lord Krishna claimed himself to be. (You can forget about experiencing those things if there is no self.)
Patanajali requires that we sacrifice the addiction to the relationship with the mind.
Just as when an alcoholic begins the process of sobering up, he can feel boring, lifeless, personality-less. underdeveloped, no fun. But once the alcohol leaves the system, he may awaken to himself, a self he knew previous to the drink or had never known before.
They begin to value the real person.
The one not under the influence.
When Patanjali asks us to leave behind the drug of imagination, he asks us to sober up spiritually.
Through this act of tough love the self is given the chance to awaken, to realize its own personal essence, its glorious relationship with God.....and to plan for its future.
Whatever that may be.
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