Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / The Road to Silence of the Mind

Transcript

The Road to Silence of the Mind · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:02
  It is essentially a universal experience that when we sit for
• 0:06
  meditation, we see clearly the constant running of thoughts
• 0:11
  perceptions feelings, emotions desires, Etc, that occupy the
• 0:19
  mind all the time but to which we pay little attention, when
• 0:24
  going about the activities of daily life.
• 0:28
  There is a constant stream, which some have called stream of
• 0:32
  Consciousness, that creates a mental running commentary.
• 0:37
  That the mind is constantly asked to process, we tend to
• 0:42
  treat this as an obstacle to meditation and generally blame
• 0:47
  ourselves with the thought that we simply are not able to
• 0:50
  meditate in reality. This is the normal human
• 0:54
  condition and it takes time patience and perseverance to
• 1:00
  bring about a shift towards a quiet and eventually a silent
• 1:05
  mind. Many people find that the
• 1:08
  recommendations in the yogic text to find a quiet, calm.
• 1:12
  External setting can help reduce the input that generates the
• 1:16
  mental turmoil. Some find that monitoring the
• 1:20
  breath focusing on placing the body into various asanas or
• 1:26
  chanting mantras can help bring coherence to the Mind stuff, and
• 1:31
  thus help to bring it to a state of questions.
• 1:36
  While these methods May Aid the Seeker initially, they
• 1:40
  eventually need to be surpassed so that the secret is not
• 1:44
  dependent on external methods of this sort to experience The
• 1:49
  Quiet Mind. More directly.
• 1:53
  There are methods that use the flow of these perceptions
• 1:57
  impulses and thoughts as the object of observation.
• 2:02
  There are a number of different methods.
• 2:04
  Utilized to achieve the result of the silent mind and SRI
• 2:08
  aurobindo describes several of them.
• 2:12
  SRI aurobindo, observes, quote, if the difficulty in meditation
• 2:17
  is the thoughts of all kinds come in that is not due to
• 2:21
  hostile forces, but to the ordinary nature of the human
• 2:25
  mind, Also addicts have this difficulty and with many at last
• 2:31
  for a very long time. There are several ways of
• 2:35
  getting rid of it. One of them is to look at the
• 2:38
  thoughts and observe what is the nature of the human mind as they
• 2:42
  show it but not to give any sanction and to let them run
• 2:47
  down till they come to a standstill?
• 2:50
  This is a way recommended by Vivekananda in his Raja yoga.
• 2:55
  Another is to look at the thoughts.
• 2:57
  As not one's own to stand back as the witness purusa and
• 3:02
  refused to sanction. Thoughts are regarded as things
• 3:06
  coming from outside from prakruti and they must be felt
• 3:11
  as if they were passers-by crossing the Mind space with
• 3:15
  whom one has no connection and in whom one takes no interest In
• 3:21
  this way, it usually happens. That after a Time, the Mind
• 3:25
  divides into two apart, which is the mental witness watching and
• 3:30
  perfectly undisturbed and quiet. And a part, which is the object
• 3:36
  of observation, the property part in which the thoughts Cross
• 3:42
  or wander, Afterwards. One can proceed to silence or
• 3:47
  quiet. The property part also, There is
• 3:51
  a third and active method by which one, looks to see where
• 3:56
  the thoughts come from and finds.
• 3:59
  They come not from oneself, but from outside the head, as it
• 4:03
  were, if one can detect them coming.
• 4:07
  Then before they enter, they have to be thrown away
• 4:11
  altogether. This is perhaps the most
• 4:15
  difficult way and not all can do it, but if it can be done, it is
• 4:20
  the shortest and most powerful road to silence and quote
• 4:26
  reference, SRI aurobindo, integral yoga.
• 4:30
  SRI aurobindo is teaching and method of practice, chapter 6,
• 4:34
  sadhna through work, meditation and love and devotion sadhna
• 4:38
  through meditation Pages. 146 to 149, This is perhaps the most
• 4:15
  difficult way and not all can do it, but if it can be done, it is
• 4:20
  the shortest and most powerful road to silence and quote
• 4:26
  reference, SRI aurobindo, integral yoga.
• 4:30
  SRI aurobindo is teaching and method of practice, chapter 6,
• 4:34
  sadhna through work, meditation and love and devotion sadhna
• 4:38
  through meditation Pages. 146 to 149,