Shailesh Basani

Namaste, last week we studied how our senses play a role in affecting the mind. We will study a little bit more about them in the context of next couple of techniques Patanjali suggests to calm the mind. Patanjali talks about a couple of meditation techniques in subsequent sutras (1.36-1.39). To understand how to meditate, it becomes important how our minds ‘think’ in general. Our minds can broadly be defined into two categories – ‘verbal mind’ and ‘pictorial mind’. Verbal mind – someone who thinks more in terms of language, names and numbers . Pictorial mind – someone who thinks more in pictures and visuals . All of us operate in both these categories, but there is generally a domination of one type over the other. The verbal mind expresses what’s within us to others through our ‘talking’ faculty. If we observe carefully, all our senses (hearing, touch, vision, taste and smell) are only ‘ input’ mechanisms – they receive something from outside and send to the brain for furth...

Namaste, let us continue to study the techniques Patanjali suggests to calm the mind. Please note that Patanjali suggests that you adopt one of the techniques suggested and practice it with deep conviction, sincerity and earnestness to accomplish the quietness of mind. The technique we are going to study today is an inquiry into how our senses (hearing, touch, vision, taste and smell) can affect our mind. Our senses can be affected by what we eat, what TV shows we watch, who we interact with, where we go on our vacations, what music or talks we listen to, where we live etc. Based on how the senses are affected, they can either become an attention (citta svarupanukara) or a distraction to our sadhana. The effect of senses on the mind can be explained with a beautiful illustration from Kathopanishad. This illustration is symbolically denoted by the chariot driven by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita . It describes the five horses as the five senses , the reins as the mind and the...

Namaste - last week we studied one of the techniques Patanjali suggests to calm the mind (cultivating proper attitude).  Let us look at the next one this week. When our mind is disturbed or is ‘anxious’, it typically is occupied with three activities.  a) Speed of thoughts b) Too much ‘focus’ or ‘fixation’ on the cause of disturbance c) Negativity.  Think for a moment what goes through the mind when, for instance, there is a calamity back home and you are unable to reach your loved ones for a couple of days. There is a lot of speed and negativity, all focused on what may have happened to your loved ones.  However, once we know that all is well, the anxiety just ‘drops off’ of the mind!    When we don’t learn to calm the mind in general, it becomes disturbed more easily even due to ‘routine’ activities such as airplane travel, guests coming home for dinner, lost keys and even traffic! Patanjali suggests deep breathing techniques that involve...