{"id":974,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=974"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:41","slug":"24-concentration-vol-20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20\/24-concentration-vol-20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20","title":{"rendered":"-24_Concentration.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nChapter
\nIV<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n


\n
\nConcentration<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>
\nA<\/font><\/span><\/b>LONG<\/span><\/font> with purity
\nand as a help to bring it about, concentration. Purity and concentration are
\nindeed two aspects, feminine and masculine, passive and active, of the same
\nstatus of being; purity is the condition in which concentration becomes entire,
\nrightly effective, omnipotent; by concentration purity does its works and
\nwithout it would only lead to a state of peaceful quiescence and eternal repose.
\nTheir opposites are also closely connected; for we have seen that impurity is a
\nconfusion of Dharmas, a lax, mixed and mutually entangled action of the
\ndifferent parts of the being; and this confusion proceeds from an absence of
\nright concentration of its knowledge on its energies in the embodied Soul. The
\nfault of our nature is first an inert subjection to the impacts of things\u00b9 as
\nthey come in upon the mind pell-mell without order or control and then a
\nhaphazard imperfect concentration managed fitfully, irregularly with a more or
\nless chance emphasis on this or on that object according as they happen to
\ninterest, not the higher soul or the judging and discerning intellect, but the
\nrestless, leaping, fickle, easily tired, easily distracted lower mind which is
\nthe chief enemy of our progress. In such a condition purity, the right working
\nof the functions, the clear, unstained and luminous order of the being is an
\nimpossibility; the various workings, given over to the chances of the
\nenvironment and external influences, must necessarily run into each other and
\nclog, divert, distract, pervert. Equally, without purity the complete, equal,
\nflexible concentration of the being in right thought, right will, right feeling
\nor secure status of spiritual experience is not possible. Therefore the two
\nmust proceed together, each helping the victory of the other, until we arrive
\nat that eternal calm from which may proceed some partial image in the human
\nbeing of the eternal, omnipotent and omniscient activity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 bāhyasparśa. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 303<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

       
\nBut in the
\npath of knowledge as it is practised in <\/span>India<\/span>
\nconcentration is used in a special and more limited sense. It means that
\nremoval of the thought from all distracting activities of the mind and that
\nconcentration of it on the idea of the One by which the soul rises out of the
\nphenomenal into the one Reality. It is by the thought that we dissipate
\nourselves in the phenomenal; it is by the gathering back of the thought into
\nitself that we must draw ourselves back into the real. Concentration has three
\npowers by which this aim can be effected. By concentration on anything
\nwhatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed
\nsecrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself.
\nBy concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of
\nthat which is still ungrasped<\/span>, still beyond us; this
\npower, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently
\nsincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can
\nuse for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not
\nfor the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to
\ngrasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one
\nsubject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status
\nof itself, we can become whatever we choose; we can become, for instance, even
\nif we were before a mass of weaknesses and fears, a mass instead of strength
\nand courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a
\nsingle universal soul of Love; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to
\nbecome not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now
\nare, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action
\nand attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration
\ncan only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual
\ntraining of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards
\ntheir grand and unique object. <\/span><\/p>\n

This use of
\nconcentration implies like every other a previous purification; it implies also
\nin the end a renunciation, a cessation and lastly an ascent into the absolute
\nand transcendent state of Samadhi from which if it culminates, if it endures,
\nthere is, except perhaps for one soul out of many thousands, no return. For by
\nthat we go to the \u201csupreme state of the Eternal whence souls
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 304<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

revert not\u201d into the
\ncyclic action of Nature;\u00b9 and it is into this Samadhi that the Yogin who aims
\nat release from the world seeks to pass away at the time of leaving his body.
\nWe see this succession in the discipline of the Rajayoga. For first the Rajayogin<\/span> must arrive at a certain moral and spiritual
\npurity; he must get rid of the lower or downward activities of his mind, but
\nafterwards he must stop all its activities and concentrate himself in the one
\nidea that leads from activity to the quiescence of status. The Rajayogic concentration
\nhas several stages, that in which the object is seized, that in which it is
\nheld, that in which the mind is lost in the status which the object represents
\nor to which the concentration leads, and only the last is termed Samadhi in the
\nRajayoga although the word is capable, as in the Gita, of a much wider sense.
\nBut in the Rajayogic Samadhi there are different grades of status, \u2013 that in which
\nthe mind, though lost to outward objects, still muses, thinks, perceives in the
\nworld of thought, that in which the mind is still capable of primary
\nthought-formations and that in which, all out-darting of the mind even within
\nitself having ceased, the soul rises beyond thought into the silence of the
\nIncommunicable and Ineffable. In all Yoga there are indeed many preparatory
\nobjects of thought-concentration, forms, verbal formulas of thought,
\nsignificant names, all of which are supports \u00b2 to the mind in this movement,
\nall of which have to be used and transcended; the highest support according to
\nthe Upanishads is the mystic syllable AUM, whose three letters represent the
\nBrahman or Supreme Self in its three degrees of status, the Waking Soul, the
\nDream Soul and the Sleep Soul, and the whole potent sound rises towards that
\nwhich is beyond status as beyond activity.\u00b3 For of all Yoga of knowledge the
\nfinal goal is the Transcendent.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have,
\nhowever, conceived as the aim of an integral Yoga something more complex and
\nless exclusive \u2013 less exclusively positive of the highest condition of the
\nsoul, less exclusively negative of its divine radiations. We must aim indeed at
\nthe Highest, the Source of all, the Transcendent but not to the exclusion of
\nthat which it transcends, rather as the source of an established <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 yato
\nnaiva nivartante tad dhāma paramam mama.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b2 avalambana\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00b3 Mandukya Upanishad. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 305<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

experience and supreme
\nstate of the soul which shall transform all other states and remould our consciousness
\nof the world into the form of its secret Truth. We do not seek to excise from
\nour being all consciousness of the universe, but to realise God, Truth and Self
\nin the universe as well as transcendent of it. We shall seek therefore not only
\nthe Ineffable, but also His manifestation as infinite being, consciousness and
\nbliss embracing the universe and at play in it. For that triune infinity is His
\nsupreme manifestation and that we shall aspire to know, to share in and to
\nbecome; and since we seek to realise this Trinity not only in itself but in its
\ncosmic play, we shall aspire also to knowledge of and participation in the universal
\ndivine Truth, Knowledge, Will, Love which are His secondary manifestation, His
\ndivine becoming. With this too we shall aspire to identify ourselves, towards
\nthis too we shall strive to rise and, when the period of effort is passed, allow
\nit by our renunciation of all egoism to draw us up into itself in our being and
\nto descend into us and embrace us in all our becoming. This not only as a means
\nof approach and passage to His supreme transcendence, but as the condition,
\neven when we possess and are possessed by the Transcendent, of a divine life in
\nthe manifestation of the cosmos.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order that
\nwe may do this, the terms concentration and Samadhi must assume for us a richer
\nand profound meaning. All our concentration is merely an image of the divine
\nTapas by which the Self dwells gathered in itself, by which it manifests within
\nitself, by which it maintains and possesses its manifestation, by which it
\ndraws back from all manifestation into its supreme oneness. Being dwelling in
\nconsciousness upon itself for bliss, this is the divine Tapas; and a Knowledge-Will
\ndwelling in force of consciousness on itself and its manifestations is the
\nessence of the divine concentration, the Yoga of the Lord of Yoga. Given the
\nself-differentiation of the Divine in which we dwell, concentration is the
\nmeans by which the individual soul identifies itself with and enters into any
\nform, state or psychological self-manifestation (bhāva<\/i>) of the Self. To use this means for unification with the
\nDivine is the condition for the attainment of divine knowledge and the
\nprinciple of all Yoga of knowledge.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 306<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

This
\nconcentration proceeds by the Idea, using thought, form and name as keys which
\nyield up to the concentrating mind the Truth that lies concealed behind all
\nthought, form and name; for it is through the Idea that the mental being rises beyond
\nall expression to that which is expressed, to that of which the Idea itself is
\nonly the instrument. By concentration upon the Idea the mental existence which
\nat present we are breaks open the barrier of our mentality and arrives at the
\nstate of consciousness, the state of being, the state of power of
\nconscious-being and bliss of conscious-being to which the Idea corresponds and
\nof which it is the symbol, movement and rhythm. Concentration by the Idea is,
\nthen, only a means, a key to open to us the superconscient planes of our
\nexistence; a certain self-gathered state of our whole existence lifted into
\nthat superconscient truth, unity and infinity of self-aware, self-blissful
\nexistence is the aim and culmination; and that is the meaning we shall give to
\nthe term Samadhi. Not merely a state withdrawn from all consciousness of the
\noutward, withdrawn even from all consciousness of the inward into that which
\nexists beyond both whether as seed of both or transcendent even of their
\nseed-state; but a settled existence in the One and Infinite, united and
\nidentified with it, and this status to remain whether we abide in the waking
\ncondition in which we are conscious of the forms of things or we withdraw into
\nthe inward activity which dwells in the play of the principles of things, the
\nplay of their names and typal<\/span> forms or we soar to the
\ncondition of static inwardness where we arrive at the principles themselves and
\nat the principle of all principles, the seed of name and form.\u00b9 For the soul
\nthat has arrived at the essential Samadhi and is settled in it (samādhistha<\/span>) in the sense the Gita attaches to the word,
\nhas that which is fundamental to all experience and cannot fall from it by any
\nexperience however distracting to one who has not yet ascended the summit. It
\ncan embrace all in the scope of its being without being bound by any or deluded
\nor limited.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we
\narrive at this state, all our being and consciousness being concentrated, the
\nnecessity of concentration in the<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 <\/span>The
\nWaking, Dream and Sleep states of the soul.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 307<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Idea ceases. For there
\nin that supramental state the whole position of things is reversed. The mind is
\na thing that dwells in diffusion, in succession; it can only concentrate on one
\nthing at a time and when not concentrated runs from one thing to another very
\nmuch at random. Therefore it has to concentrate on a single idea, a single
\nsubject of meditation, a single object of contemplation, a single object of
\nwill in order to possess or master it, and this it must do to at least the
\ntemporary exclusion of all others. But that which is beyond the mind and into
\nwhich we seek to rise is superior to the running process of the thought,
\nsuperior to the division of ideas. The Divine is centred in itself and when it
\nthrows out ideas and activities does not divide itself or imprison itself in
\nthem, but holds them and their movement in its infinity; undivided, its whole
\nself is behind each Idea and each movement and at the same time behind all of
\nthem together. Held by it, each spontaneously works itself out, not through a
\nseparate act of will, but by the general force of consciousness behind it; if
\nto us there seems to be a concentration of divine Will and Knowledge in each,
\nit is a multiple and equal and not an exclusive concentration, and the reality
\nof it is rather a free and spontaneous working in a self-gathered unity and
\ninfinity. The soul which has risen to the divine Samadhi participates in the
\nmeasure of its attainment in this reversed condition of things, \u2013 the true
\ncondition, for that which is the reverse of our mentality is the truth. It is
\nfor this reason that, as is said in the ancient books, the man who has arrived
\nat Self-possession attains spontaneously without the need of concentration in
\nthought and effort the knowledge or the result which the Idea or the Will in
\nhim moves out to embrace. <\/span><\/p>\n

To arrive
\nthen at this settled divine status must be the object of our concentration. The
\nfirst step in concentration must be always to accustom the discursive mind to a
\nsettled unwavering pursuit of a single course of connected thought on a single
\nsubject and this it must do undistracted by all lures and alien calls on its
\nattention. Such concentration is common enough in our ordinary life, but it
\nbecomes more difficult when we have to do it inwardly without any outward
\nobject or action <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 308<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

on which to keep the
\nmind; yet this inward concentration is what the seeker of knowledge must
\neffect.\u00b9 Nor must it be merely the consecutive thought of the intellectual
\nthinker, whose only object is to conceive and intellectually link together his
\nconceptions. It is not, except perhaps at first, a process of reasoning that is
\nwanted so much as a dwelling so far as possible on the fruitful essence of the
\nidea which by the insistence of the soul’s will upon it must yield up all the facets
\nof its truth. Thus if it be the divine Love that is the subject of
\nconcentration, it is on the essence of the idea of God as Love that the mind
\nshould concentrate in such a way that the various manifestation of the divine
\nLove should arise luminously, not only to the thought, but in the heart and
\nbeing and vision of the sadhaka. The thought may come first and the experience
\nafterwards, but equally the experience may come first and the knowledge arise
\nout of the experience. Afterwards the thing attained has to be dwelt on and
\nmore and more held till it becomes a constant experience and finally the Dharma
\nor law of the being. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the
\nprocess of concentrated meditation; but a more strenuous method is the fixing
\nof the whole mind in concentration on the essence of the idea only, so as to
\nreach not the thought-knowledge or the psychological experience of the subject,
\nbut the very essence of the thing behind the idea. In this process thought
\nceases and passes into the absorbed or ecstatic contemplation of the object or
\nby a merging into it in an inner Samadhi. If this be the process followed, then
\nsubsequently the state into which we rise must still be called down to take
\npossession of the lower being, to shed its light, power and bliss on our
\nordinary consciousness. For otherwise we may possess it, as many do, in the
\nelevated condition or in the inward Samadhi, but we shall lose our hold of it
\nwhen we awake or descend into the contacts of the world; and this truncated possession
\nis not the aim of an integral Yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

A third
\nprocess is neither at first to concentrate in a strenuous meditation on the one
\nsubject nor in a strenuous contemplation of the one object of thought-vision,
\nbut first to still <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 In
\nthe elementary stages of internal debate and judgment, vitarka<\/i><\/span> and vicāra<\/i><\/span>, for the correction
\nof false ideas and arrival at the intellectual truth.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 309<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the mind altogether.
\nThis may be done by various ways; one is to stand back from the mental action
\naltogether not participating in but simply watching it until, tired of its unsanctioned
\nleaping and running, it falls into an increasing and finally an absolute quiet.
\nAnother is to reject the thought-suggestions, to cast them away from the mind
\nwhenever they come and firmly hold to the peace of the being which really and
\nalways exists behind the trouble and riot of the mind. When this secret peace
\nis unveiled, a great calm settles on the being and there comes usually with it
\nthe perception and experience of the all-pervading silent Brahman, everything
\nelse at first seeming to be mere form and eidolon. On the basis of this calm
\neverything else may be built up in the knowledge and experience no longer of
\nthe external phenomena of things but of the deeper truth of the divine
\nmanifestation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ordinarily,
\nonce this state is obtained, strenuous concentration will be found no longer
\nnecessary. A free concentration of will\u00b9 using thought merely for suggestion
\nand the giving of light to the lower members will take its place. This Will will<\/span> then insist on the physical being, the vital
\nexistence, the heart and the mind remoulding themselves in the forms of the
\nDivine which reveal themselves out of the silent Brahman. By swifter or slower
\ndegrees according to the previous preparation and purification of the members,
\nthey will be obliged with more or less struggle to obey the law of the will and
\nits thought-suggestion, so that eventually the knowledge of the Divine takes
\npossession of our consciousness on all its planes and the image of the Divine
\nis formed in our human existence even as it was done by the old Vedic Sadhakas<\/span>. For the integral Yoga this is the most direct and
\npowerful discipline.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 <\/span>This
\nsubject will be dealt with more in detail when we come to the Yoga of
\nself-perfection.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 310<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter IV Concentration    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ALONG with purity and as a help to bring it about, concentration. Purity and concentration are indeed two aspects, feminine…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20","wpcat-20-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}