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The Need and Benefit of the Power of Concentration · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Bias cases, Do thou seek to know the eternal?
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  For concentration in thought is the eternal.
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  Thus spoke Varuna to Brugu in the Tituria Upanishad Srioro
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  Binda's translation, Swami Vivekananda's lectures on Raja
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  Yoga, expounding the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with an extensive
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  commentary or a textbook on developing the science of
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  concentration and the benefits of such development.
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  For those who eventually recognize the chaotic and
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  undisciplined state of the mental space, the practice of
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  Raja Yoga can be a tremendous benefit.
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  It is interesting that we are always seeking new exotic powers
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  while we overlook the enormous capabilities and potential of
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  the powers we already have, which simply need to be focused,
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  trained, and developed. Concentration is perhaps the
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  foremost of these powers, and the benefits of concentration
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  can be seen wherever we turn. If you want to succeed in the
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  world, if you want to excel in science, mathematics, sports,
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  art, or music, concentration is essential.
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  What most people do not seem to appreciate is that we not only
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  need to learn how to utilize the power of concentration, but that
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  it can also be trained, enhanced, focused, and developed
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  through various methods, practices, and repetition.
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  We tend to live a life of distraction, particularly with
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  all of the forces in the modern world seeking to pull our
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  attention in One Direction or another.
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  Ours fixation with modern technology certainly has proven
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  to be a major force of distraction.
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  Even when we try to sit for meditation, we find that all
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  kinds of chaotic thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations
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  are competing for attention in our minds, and for the most
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  part, we wind up jumping from 1:00 to another without any
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  clear method of control or focus, the mother writes.
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  Quote Whatever you may want to do in life, one thing is
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  absolutely indispensable and the at the basis of everything, the
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  capacity of concentrating the attention.
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  If you are able to gather together the rays of attention
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  and consciousness on one point and can maintain this
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  concentration with a persistent will, nothing can resist it,
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  whatever it may be, from the most material physical
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  development to the highest spiritual one.
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  But this discipline must be followed in a constant and, it
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  may be said, imperturbable way, Not that you should always be
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  concentrated on the same thing. That's not what I mean.
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  I mean learning to concentrate, and materially for studies,
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  sports, all physical or mental development, it is absolutely
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  indispensable. And the value of an individual
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  is proportionate to the value of his attention.
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  And from the spiritual point of view it is still more important.
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  There is no spiritual obstacle which can resist a penetrating
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  power of concentration. For instance, the discovery of
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  the psychic being union with the inner Divine, opening to the
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  higher spheres, all can be obtained by an intense and
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  obstinate power of concentration.
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  But one must learn how to do it. There is nothing in the human or
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  even in the superhuman field to which the power of concentration
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  is not the key. You can be the best athlete, you
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  can be the best student. You can be an artistic, literary
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  or scientific genius. You can be the greatest St. with
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  that faculty. And everyone has in himself a
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  tiny little beginning of it. It is given to everybody, but
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  people do not cultivate it. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Powers within, Chapter 4
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  concentration, pages 38 to 39.