Hi New Morn:
On Jun 19, 2007, at 8:55 PM, new.morning wrote:
> Between their definition of samadhi (they refer
> to it as a state of "mental concentration") and
> gamma waves, you mean.
>
> Vaj, you've made some high-sounding claims that
> you haven't even begun to document.
But Judy, give him some slack. This is clearly the FIRST such
lapse. :)
Smart ass.
You have to find the right question first. Here, let me do it for you
two since you can't seem to ask the right questions!
Why would bypassing the angas and just trying to cultivate samadhi
not work?
A good question is why one would require the angas, the limbs, as a
prerequisite for samadhi? Why is this insisted on in the tradition of
the Patanjali YS--indeed why is it universally insisted that the
prerequisites of samadhi cannot be bypassed? Hindu yoga, Buddhist
yoga and Jaina Yoga all insist similarly that you will not reach
stabilized samadhi if you attempt do a Darth Vader and bypass the
prerequisites of samadhi.
Oh you'll achieve something, but it won't be stabilized samadhi nor
will it remove the kleshas.
The Buddhist yogin Atisha said:
As long as the prerequisites for samadhi
Are incomplete, meditative stabilization
Will not be accomplished, even if you meditate
Continuously for thousands of years.
The long answer would require days of typing to give a full
explanation of the mechanics and rationale for all of angas in the
Patanjali system of practice and why they are sequential. But I can
try to give a simple answer to strike at the faulty view presented
and indoctrinated by Mahesh Varma.
According to samkhya, the mind is a modification of matter and
therefore composed of the three gunas. Disturbed states of mind
present an imbalance of the gunas. Different types of disequlibrium
creates different states of mind. For example rajas will cause the
mind to be agitated. These different states of mind are called the
five states of the mind-field. The rajas-dominated kshipta state is
the common state of mind of your average human.
Vyasa doesn't say much about these five states, but instead the
tradition of Patanjali deals more with the modification of the
kshipta state into vi-kshipta. After all, samadhi cannot occur in a
kshipta mind-field.
On the path to samadhi sattva-guna begins to illuminate the mind-
field and the mind begins to find some spontaneous concentration
where thoughts subside and then stop. Rajas and tamas however still
make their presence felt thru lethargy/torpor and flighty thoughts.
This state where is swayed by rajas is called distraction or
vikshepa. (Vikshepas are the nine impediments and their five
companions.)
Nonetheless some people who still have distracted minds do claim to
be yogis!
Vyasa says this in regards to such people:
Samadhi subordinated and eclipsed by distraction in a distracted
(vikshipta) mind-field is not fit to be included within the category
of yoga (i.e. samadhi, since yoga=samadhi).
Consequently what happens in a vikshipta state of mind is that styles
of proto-samadhi are all that can occur, in short bursts (e.g. TM).
These short bursts are not capable of removing the kleshas and so
therefore stability cannot develop. It takes the prerequisites of
samadhi to help the mind be capable of sustaining samadhi and for
these short gaps to develop into uninterrupted, cognitive samadhi.
Without the prerequisites of samadhi, samadhi never stabilizes, even
if practiced continuously for many, many lifetimes.
This is just one reason explained in the practice tradition of
Patanjali, there are others more completely understood by
understanding the bhumis and the rationale behind the sequence of the
angas or limbs.
