Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00159)

Since that sutra is only the introduction to the first stage yoga practice of 
book 1... How come when the meditator arrives at the practice of book 4, 
he/she is still thinking intuitively, after having gained Bodhichitta or 
discriminative mind?  

As Patanjali says at the end of Book 4 (transliterated by WQJ) "it is then 
perceived that the moments and their order of precedence and succession is the 
same." How does one "perceive" such a recondite idea without it being a thought 
in the higher intuitive mind field? (Only those who don't know what it is 
made of, calls it "mind-stuff". :-) Actually, Theosophy calls it "The Thinking 
Principle."

If you read further in Book One, it becomes obvious that the modifications 
referred to are only the random or discursive thoughts that are not directly 
controlled by the thinker and are based on false knowledge, or as the Buddhists 
say, "wrong view."

Unfortunately, the dead letter reading of the Sutra's is the big problem in 
understanding what those "modifications" actually mean. The experience is 
simply watching the uncontrolled or discursive thoughts come and go while 
concentrating on the breath until they finally stop and the mind becomes calm, and you 
can start meditating (focussed thought, contemplating, reflecting, pondering, 
etc.) on right ideas with or without a seed.
  
But, all through the sutras, Patanjali makes it perfectly clear that 
meditation is and active process of thinking or concentration of the mind on right 
views of the true nature of reality and one's place in it.   


In a message dated 03/10/04 6:48:44 PM, stevestubbs@yahoo.com writes:

>It turns out there are several pages on the net which contain thetext 
>of THE YOGA SUTRAS. Here is the Sanskrit of sutra 2, chapter 1 
>(samadhipada) transliterated into Latin characters:
>
>YS 1.2 yoga»cittavôttinirodhan
>
>Here is the English translation of the Sanskrit words:
>
>yoga» = yoga; citta = of the mind?stuff; vôtti = modifications; 
>nirodhan = restraint [S]
>
>The significance of the sutra is: "yoga is the cessation of the 
>modifications of the mind."
>
>Some folks will remain unconvinced, but this may assist others.
>
>Since the matter is experiential, it is impossible to understand its 
>meaning without entering into the experience. It cannot, in other 
>words, he analuzed unless someone has some experiential basis for the 
>analysis.