Beyond the Superconscious Mind – Part 4: How to get there? con’td

Marriam-Webster dictionary defines Mantra as a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone’s basic belief. In the book, the author explains what are the qualities of that word or phrase which make it effective in attaining greater peace and clarity.

Concentration on Mantra

A mantra must 3 qualities in order to transcend the ignorance and illusions of lower mind to subtler realms.  It must be pulsative, incantative and ideative.

Pulsative means having two syllables to be in tune with the rhythm of breathing (in and out), because breathing has a profound effect upon the state of one’s consciousness.  The function of breathing is closely relating to the flow of vital energy in the body, called práná or “qi”, which in turn greatly affects the mind.  The control of breathing (pránáyama) is an important part of yoga training as the regulation of the práná reduces disturbance to the mind.

Slow and rhythmic internal chanting of mantra serves to slow the breathing, steady the qi and calm and control the restless wandering mind.

Incantative refers to the vibrational pattern a sound have when being chanted internally. It is known that rhythmic movement of musical scales, subtly attuned to the rhythm of nature, can evoke the mood of individuals and even plants.

Yogis have, through long inner experimentation, developed a series of powerful sounds or mantra which when chanted internally, resonate with the individual’s own (entitative derivate from word entity, considered pure entity) rhythm. The rhythm vibrates at a particular frequency, gradually transform into the infinite straight line of Supreme Peace and the mind merges in boundless Cosmic consciousness. These sounds that originated from inside their bodies have been systematized into the oldest language – Sanskrit.

When we are able to withdraw our mind from external sounds, we will hear much subtler inner vibrations; vibrations of our own nervous system and the pulsation of blood.  Ancient yogis were not only able to withdraw minds from external sounds but also from their physical bodies. They could focus their minds on the subtle energy inside them. There are seven (7) psychic energy centres or cakras along the spine and brain which control the functioning of mind and body. The cakras emanate (49) vibrations, which the ancient Yogis were able to spoke them aloud in letter of the Sanskrit alphabet.

The Sanskrit language was developed from the externalized sound of our subtle internal energies. Sanskrit mantras have been used by people of all nationalities, regardless of their native language, for meditation because Sanskrit is the universal language for self-realisation. Repeated chanting of the mantra in meditation vibrates the cakras and stills the restlessness of the mind.

Recent scientific studies have revealed that meditation have positive impact on one’s consciousness, through detection of changes in frequency of the brain waves. Brain waves, which are vibrations of nerves, are picked up using Electro-encephalogram (EEG) machines through the sensitive electrodes attached to a person’s head.  The rhythms of the waves are charted on graphs and the following table shows that the nature of the waves correlates to a person’s mind.

During one-pointed concentration on the mantra, all different parts of the brain vibrate in the same frequency and it is the same rhythm as the heartbeat and respiration. During deep meditation, the yogi’s mind becomes like a laser beam, highly intense and with only one frequency that gives it tremendous power, he develops immerses psychic power. Those realized individuals with complete mastery of the rhythms over their mind, become free from all bondages of form, space and time. They understand the subtle law of consciousness and are able to perform “miracles”.

Possession of such potent spiritual energies and releasing them into the external world before one has attained spiritual perfection is detrimental to his spiritual progress, because one may develop pride in their display or the mind and body may deteriorate.

Ideative, the third quality of a mantra, is that it has a specific expansive meaning. Today, the power of positive thinking, affirmation, creative visualisation are being applied to help one achieve more, to gain greater success, wealth and popularity.  Likewise during meditation, the repeat affirmation (chanting of mantra) helps us gradually expand our mind to be free from bondages and transcend to non-duality bliss.

Every human being,  man or woman, rich or poor, young or old, educated or not, may set on this path to true happiness.  Going through step-by- step to purify and strengthen each layer of the mind. One develops a healthy and pure body, emotional balance, sharp memory and clarity and finally bliss. All the above can only be achieved through experience, so go ahead and start your journey!

My Thoughts:

Meditation has proven to be an effective way for one to gain clarity and peace.  It is not easy for one to just sit and not think about anything and it is important to note that meditating is not “spacing out”. Different meditation guides use different approaches, some focus on breath, some on certain object or light. My Yoga instructor advised that to gain faster progress, it is best to have a teacher to clarify questions.   Practising meditation is a life-long process, it is not just to experience the bliss but to prepare one for gaining deeper wisdom for real happiness.

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation. ~ Milarepa

Beyond the Superconscious Mind – Part 3: How to get there?

Now that we have understood happiness is within us through the layers of our mind, we now look at how to get there.

HOW TO GET THERE

The human mind is as restless as an untamed monkey, running after desires which lead greater sufferings. “The greatest conquerors on earth are those who have conquered their own minds.” so said a master to his disciples. Asanas are scientific system of exercise, developed by yogis, to not only maintain the health of the body, but also to help calm and control the mind. It is thus an important part of integrated physical and mental practices to prepare our mind for higher consciousness.

Purify Body, Purify Mind

Since we are what we eat, it is also important that we keep diets that purify our body, just as the practices of meditation purify the layers of the mind. Yogis have emphasized the importance of a vegetarian diet to maintain the purity of the cells of the body.

Studies have shown that to tame our mind we can work on withdrawing from distraction of external stimulus through our 10 sense and motor organs. It is not easy to rein these organs which are akin to being 10 “wild horses” that unyieldingly going after one object of pleasure to another.

Sensory deprivation experiments have shown that by “turning off” our sensory organs, due to the lack of external stimulation, the conscious mind gets turned off. The subjects move inwards into subconscious layer of their minds.  Those which were able to touch their superconscious level of the mind experienced the bliss.

Withdraw from External Stimuli and Internal Disturbances

The process of sensory withdrawal happens during meditation practices, where one sits motionlessly in lotus posture (Padmasana), the brain waves moves from restless to slow calm rhythm.  The lotus posture also affects the organs function and redirects the vital energy to expand the mind.

In the meditation posture, hands folded, eyes closed, tongue turned back in the mouth, and mind withdrawn from external physically. To “turn off” nose and ears, the technique of visualisation is applied, by visualising we create a mental state that brings us away from the external disturbances. With all the 10 organs being controlled and the conscious mind is kept completely still.

The challenge that many find during meditation is to keep the mind from holding a conversation of its own, making plans and thinking about something other than “nothing”.   Through years of trials and tests, yogis have discovered that concentration on mantra, which means “that which liberates the mind”, can lead help elevate the mind to subtler levels.

In the next part, we’ll look at how mantra is able to help in meditation practices.

Beyond the Superconscious Mind – Part 2: Where are we going? cont’d

The Five Kosa (layers) of the Mind

The 5 layers* are:

1. The Conscious Mind: Layer of Desire
2. The Subconscious Mind: Recollection and Reflection
3. The first layer of Superconscious Mind: Layer of Intuition and Creative Insight
4. The second layer of Superconscious Mind: Discrimination and Non-attachment
5. The highest level of Superconscious Mind: Yearning for the Infinite

(*These “layers” are not physical or visible layers, rather they are concept to differentiate states of one’s mind.)

The first layer, the Conscious Mind, also called “Kamamaya kosá”. Kama means desire and it is this layer of desire which controls and guides our relationship with the exterior world. All actions we perform throughout the day and throughout our lives are driven by desire for comfort or pleasure, to avoid discomfort or pain.

Our 5 sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin) sense the stimuli from external world, signal to the layer of desire, to activates our 5 motor organs (hands, feet, vocal cord, sexual and excretory organs) to materialise the desire or aversion. However, human existence is much more than just engaging in physical activities in response the external stimuli, we should instead, take control and charge of our conscious mind.

The subconscious mind, also known as subtle mind, is more expanded than the conscious mind. It carries the functions of: (a) deep thoughts or reflection, and (b) recollection.

This layer called “Manomaya kosá”, means composed of manas or mind, handles the analytic reasoning and problem-solving of ordinary life and society.  According to yoga, there are 2 kinds of memory: cerebral memory and extra-cerebral memory.

It is believed that learning and memory is the preservation of vibrational impression of past events received through the sense organs and agitates the nervous system and conscious mind. Recollection of cerebral memory is the re-expression of this vibration in the brain, so the past experience is “relived”.

Extra-celebral memory is the recollection of an impression that existed prior to this body, i.e. past-life memories. Records of reincarnation from all over the world, evidenced the case of past-life memories.

Dreams take place in this layer. During the day, the images and events are stored in the subconscious mind and during sleep these impression are revived in the brains as dreams. Dreams stimulation may become more agitated if the nerves are tense or weak, or there is anxiety or intense mental concentration, or indigestions.

Normally the images of our subconscious remains in the mind, but if the mind is concentrated with fear, one may cause the image to be projected outside. So the “ghosts” that haunts us for ages are merely hallucinations of agitated minds. Hypnotism is another phenomenon of the subconscious mind, in which the powerful subconscious mind of one person influences the conscious mind of another.

Our aim is to become the master of our own mind and attain freedom from all external bondages. So the answer to the first question is we are going beyond the Superconscious Mind.

Beyond the subconscious mind, is the layer of intuition and creative insight, also known as “Atimánasa kosá”.  It literally means supramental layer, and it is the first layer of superconscious mind or the causal mind.

According to sages, there is a Cosmic-Mind, an infinite storehouse of all knowledge, where past, present and future merge into one super-stratum beyond space and time.  Those who can transcend the lower conscious and subconscious level of their mind, immediately realise this superconscious Cosmic-Mind.

Few are able to enter this subtle psyche realm, those who may have entered this state had been through various experiences, such as a sudden effortless “flash of insight” beyond logic or rational analysis, intuitional dreams, extra-sensory perception (ESP), focus with intense concentration on an object or through misuse of misuse drugs to induce glimpse of higher consciousness.

Some may gain clairvoyant inspiration from the superconscious mind, however if the person is not well-trained, the experience may be distorted or incomplete. It may also be dangerous as they may loss control of their own overwhelming supramental forces, and such situations have been labeled as being “possessed by spirits”.

Many experimental studies have shown that meditation is superior replacement for the drug “high” and even drug-abusers give up drugs for meditation.  The observation supports “the contention that the highs obtainable by meditation are better than highs obtainable through drugs”.

Yogis have emphasised the importance of gradual and careful prepartion of the mind and body to receive and control the unlimited powers of the superconscious state.

The second layer of causal mind is called “Vijinánamaya kosá”, literally means “special knowledge layer”, where the mind is expanded to this subliminal layer of superconscious mind.  This sublime level of awareness goes beyond clinging to possessions, wealth, loved ones and attachment to one’s life and identity.  One realises the impermanence of things and does not grasp to the notion of self and worldly concerns, develop renunciation.

Renunciation however should not be confused with becoming indifferent or rejection of pleasure.  It is simply about dealing with life without attachment and aversion.  Those who are truly non-attached embrace life and see all objects and creatures of the world as part of the universal consciousness and they enjoy inexhaustible bliss.

When one experiences the blissfulness, yearning for the infinite splendour arises.  The mind surges into a single-pointed desire to elevate into the highest layer of the superconscious mind that is the “Hiranmaya kosá” or golden-coloured layer. The yearning is described as an intense desire for breath when being suffocated.

Therefore, the author conclude that to transcend one by one from the grosser levels of existence until one reaches the Supreme State, where the mind merges with the universal consciousness, as the goal of our journey.

In our ordinary state of ignorance, we view ourselves to be different and separate from the world and from our fellow human beings. We live in a world which focuses on material success and where conflicts arise due to individualistic ideology.   Most of us have mistook happiness to be something that we have to pursue externally.  Instead, today we need to work towards a world with greater humanity and to elevate our minds towards social harmony.

The author described the attributes of our mind and hopefully by understanding and learning to manage these aspects,  we would be encouraged to make the changes we want within us, within our mind.

Part 3 and Part 4 of this series of post talk about how to practice to gain the happiness.

My Thoughts:

Indeed happiness from external sources is only temporary. If we observe carefully, all events and matters do not exist on its own, they are dependent-arising (results of causes and effects). In order to gain happiness, we need to transform our mind, to see every situation as an opportunity to improve our environment.

Beyond the Superconscious Mind – Part 1: Where are we going?

One of the recommended readings for my yoga course is this book: Beyond the Superconscious Mind, by Avadhútiká Ánandamitrá Ácaryá.

The author introduces the concept of potentiality of our mind and the method of achieving self-actualisation, a state of bliss.

Below is part 1 of my book summary and some of my thoughts.

As the world develops, human increasingly desires to overcome the limitations of physical existence to gain full mental potential.  This is probably the stage where human aim for “self-actualisation” under Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the exploration starts to go inwards.

To embark in a journey into our inner space, we need to address 2 questions:

1. Where we are going?
2. How to get there?

We first need to familiarize ourselves with the passage through which we would explore to eventually find the destination.

WHERE WE ARE GOING

Our expedition begins with our physical body, which is the vehicle for our travel through the inner space.

Our body runs on a system of glands known as the endocrine glands, which secrete hormones into the bloodstream. Hormones affect body functions such as growth, metabolism, digestion, energy level, heat, sexuality and also the mind. Irregular secretion of various glands can cause mental disturbances and negative emotions like anxiety, hatred, anger or fear, which destroy health and peace of mind.

Ancient philosophers identified the gland located at the centre of the brain, the pineal gland as “the controller of thought”. The yogis described this gland as the “third eye”, it is suggested that when properly developed or “opened” by yogic practices, one can “look into” past, present and future in a blissful state of higher consciousness.

The Endocrine Glands

Yogis have, for centuries, recognised the need for balanced hormonal secretion to control and transcendence of the mind, so they developed a series of physical exercise (Hatha Yoga) to specifically target at stabilising the endocrine glands.

The physical body could be known as the outer most layer of the mind is called “Annamaya Kosá” [Sankrit], which means “shield made of food”. This material vehicle is a machine of the mind, to operate in the physical world. Thus the fundamental awareness of spiritual development is the realisation: “I am not this body”.

According to Yogic Philosophy, a person’s mind is divided into five (5) layers or kosás [Sanskrit, also Kosha]. As one moves up each layer, there is more joyful and expanded awareness; the higher the layers, the greater the source of energy and knowledge. Beyond all 5 layers is the realm of infinite consciousness, the pure self within. In this state, one experiences perfect peace and eternal bliss.  This is the goal of Yoga and the goal of life: to elevate the mind through higher layers until one realises the infinite blissful self within.

We’ll look at explanation of the 5 layers in Part 2 of this series of posts.

Shantideva said: “All joy in this world comes from wanting others to be happy, and all suffering in this world comes from wanting only oneself to be happy.”