PYS - Techniques to calm the mind (1.36)

Patanajali suggests three different meditation techniques in this context to calm a distracted mind. Please note that there are several hundreds of meditation techniques and meditation should really be learnt from a trained teacher. Most of the meditation techniques revolve around fixing your concentration on an object, a mantra, your breath etc. We will look at the first of the three here. In sutra 1.36 (visoka va jyotismati), Patanjali asks us to concentrate on an object which is the innermost core of the heart, wherein alone the sorrowless, effulgent light glows. Meditating on this light helps you to cultivate feelings such as love and compassion. The idea here is similar to what some techniques teach as meditating on ‘Heart Chakra’.

There is a lot of mystification on the term ‘Chakra’. Especially, it is hard to understand for many folks when a technique says ‘do this practice and appropriate chakra will open’. Our guruji gives a simple and logical explanation on this Chakra. Chakra means wheel - that which moves. When a wheel moves on application of a force, conversion of potential to kinetic energy occurs. We can similarly imagine few ‘centers of energy’ or ‘centers of movement’ within our body. For instance, when a mother sees a child, there is this ‘movement’ in the heart, which evokes feelings of love and prompts the mother to give a hug (similar to potential -> kinetic energy). Similar logic can be applied for chakras such as throat chakra (urge to speak), stomach chakra (digestion) etc. Here’s an interesting site for further study - https://www.lifescriptdoctor.com/seven-chakras/. Happy meditating and we will study the other two techniques next week.