Stages of Mind
The mind has five stages, Patanjali tells us, and Vyasa comments
that "these stages of mind are on every plane". The first stage is the
stage in which the mind is flung about, the Kshipta stage; it is the
butterfly mind, the early stage of humanity, or, in man, the mind of
the child, darting constantly from one object to another. It
corresponds to activity on the physical plane. The next is the
confused stage, Mudha, equivalent to the stage of the youth, swayed by
emotions, bewildered by them; he begins to feel he is ignorant--a
state beyond the fickleness of the child--a characteristic state,
corresponding to activity in the astral world. Then comes the state of
preoccupation, or infatuation, Vikshipta, the state of the man
possessed by an idea--love, ambition, or what not. He is no longer a
confused youth, but a man with a clear aim, and an idea possesses him.
It may be either the fixed idea of the madman, or the fixed idea which
makes the hero or the saint; but in any case he is possessed by the
idea. The quality of the idea, its truth or falsehood, makes the
difference between the maniac and the martyr.
Maniac or martyr, he is under the spell of a fixed idea. No
reasoning avails against it. If he has assured himself that he is made
of glass, no amount of argument will convince him to the contrary. He
will always regard himself as being as brittle as glass. That is a
fixed idea which is false. But there is a fixed idea which makes the
hero and the martyr. For some great truth dearer than life is
everything thrown aside. He is possessed by it, dominated by it, and
he goes to death gladly for it. That state is said to be approaching
Yoga, for such a man is becoming concentrated, even if only possessed
by one idea. This stage corresponds to activity on the lower mental
plane. Where the man possesses the idea, instead of being possessed by
it, that one-pointed state of the mind, called Ekagrata in Sanskrit,
is the fourth stage. He is a mature man, ready for the true life. When
the man has gone through life dominated by one idea, then he is
approaching Yoga; he is getting rid of the grip of the world, and is
beyond its allurements. But when he possesses that which before
possessed him, then he has become fit for Yoga, and begins the
training which makes his progress rapid. This stage corresponds to
activity on the higher mental plane.
Out of this fourth stage or Ekagrata, arises the fifth stage,
Niruddha or Self-controlled. When the man not only possesses one idea
but, rising above all ideas, chooses as he wills, takes or does not
take according to the illumined Will, then he is Self-controlled and
can effectively practice Yoga. This stage corresponds to activity on
the buddhic plane.
In the third stage, Vikshipta, where he is possessed by the idea,
he is learning Viveka or discrimination between the outer and the
inner, the real and the unreal. When he has learned the lesson of
Viveka, then he advances a stage forward; and in Ekagrata he chooses
one idea, the inner life; and as he fixes his mind on that idea he
learns Vairagya or dispassion. He rises above the desire to possess
objects of enjoyment, belonging either to this or any other world.
Then he advances towards the fifth stage-- Self-controlled. In order
to reach that he must practice the six endowments, the Shatsamapatti.
These six endowments have to do with the Will-aspect of consciousness
as the other two, Viveka and Vairagya, have to do with the cognition
and activity aspects of it.
By a study of your own mind, you can find out how far you are ready
to begin the definite practice of Yoga. Examine your mind in order to
recognize these stages in yourself. If you are in either of the two
early stages, you are not ready for Yoga. The child and the youth are
not ready to become yogis, nor is the preoccupied man. But if you find
yourself possessed by a single thought, you are nearly ready for Yoga;
it leads to the next stage of one-pointedness, where you can choose
your idea, and cling to it of your own will. Short is the step from
that to the complete control, which can inhibit all motions of the
mind. Having reached that stage, it is comparatively easy to pass into
Samadhi.
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