Another of my Raja Course Essays. I am working on them slowly, and have a couple more to publish here. Once these are done, I am planning to take a back-step, because at the moment, it’s not high enough on my priority list, and I want to give this course my full attention. I wrote this one in October 2018: 

The Nature of the Mind: 

The nature of the Seer (our true selves) is impacted heavily by the mind. The mind, to use an analogy is like a lake; when the lake is still and clear, there is peace in our thoughts. We are able to look into the lake and see ourselves clearly; a true reflection. However, when the lake is murky, or there are ripples in the water – our busy thought forms – the reflection is distorted. We are unable to see ourselves in our true form, because, as Swami Satchidanda said, the mind is coloured. The goal of yoga is to restrain the mind, to free us from the bondage created by these thought forms; known as vrittis so that we can cultivate peace and harmony in our lives.

In the practice of yoga, through meditation, we observe our minds without judgement. In time, with regular practice and dedication to ourselves, we see that our minds are less busy, and that our thoughts are useful. In more time, we are told by experienced practitioners and the great gurus and spiritual leaders, that we can turn off our thoughts, and experience total stillness; a perfect reflection in the lake of our minds. This is what the Sutra’s tell us, once we have managed yogas chittas vrittis nirodhah, we can abide in our own true nature (Sutra 1:3 – tada drastuh svarupe vasthanam).

Patanjali tells us that the vrittis are the key. These 5 mental modifications that can either be painful (selfish) or painless (selfless).

1. Right Knowledge: we can choose to be indifferent, or we can choose to learn about our high self, to do good, and to be good.
2. Misconception: when we do not understand the full story yet make judgement/observations based on only what we know – e.g. the coiled rope being mistaken for the snake. As we modify our minds through yoga, we are able to understand that there is knowledge missing, so we seek it.
3. Verbal delusion: when words are used to convey images that are not true to reality. If we are able to modify our minds, we can sense verbal delusion from others and use our discriminative discernment to maintain our truth. Additionally, we would not use verbal delusion with others.
4. Sleep: our minds are not blank in sleep, and through meditation, we can modify this vritti to influence our minds even as we dream.
5. Memory: our minds attach emotions to memory and often this leads to feelings of regret or sorrow if the memory is associated with a bad experience. Through yoga, we can modify our thought patterns and let go of this attachment to the emotion and accept that we cannot change what has already occurred.

Authors Epiphany:

In relation to the last vritti, there is a quote that comes to mind:

The past does not exist, but you are dealing with the non-existent, going about as if it is a reality. That is the whole illusion. Mind is the basis of this.[i]

The past only exists in our heads, because when we write it or verbalise is, the full experience is lost. Words are able to convey experiences only as far as the person listening or reading can associate a personal experience to. This is the beauty of the mind. The mind allows us to understand pain, because we have felt it, so we can empathise; but our empathy doesn’t mean we are having the same experience, only that our minds have allowed us to understand something similar.

Through meditation, we can free ourselves from the thoughts that ‘weigh us down’, and by doing so, we are able to increase the compassion, love and joy we feel. A clear lake (mind) is the goal of yoga, as set out by Patanjali; it allows us peace and harmony. However, the muddy waters are part of our human experience, and the are what allow us to have an enriched life. The goal for me isn’t a perfectly clear lake all the time; in total honestly, I don’t think that it’s possible. My goal is a clear lake during quiet pockets of the day, but to fill the rest of the day with love, joy, pleasure, laughter; all the things that make life beautiful. Our minds are an incredibly interesting and beautiful and, in some ways, scary place, but that is part of our human experience.

Raising my son, I can see how his mind is shaped by different experiences. I want to make them good, I want to increase his enjoyment and enthusiasm. And, I want him to experience pain. I want him to grow knowing in his mind that pain and pleasure are both fleeting. There must be balance. Sthira and Suka.

As Chögyal Namkhai Norbu said, “Beyond the mind, beyond our thoughts, there is something we call the ‘nature of the mind’, the mind’s true condition, which is beyond all limits. If it is beyond the mind, though, how can we approach an understanding of it?”

I think the nature of the mind is to strive for quiet, for steadiness and for peace; but until the mind has had the opposite, we do not appreciate the silence.

Sources: 

[i][i] https://isha.sadhguru.org/yoga/yoga_articles_mind_stress/yoga-and-the-mind/