Cessation Of Mind

Patanjali

The content below is an expanded version of a forum post.

Union or realization of oneness happens on cessation of mental activities. This is the age old formula (by the father of yoga Patanjali himself). All very good, but what is really meant by cessation of mental activity?

Does it mean I stop using my mind? Does it mean I stop the continuous chatter (monologue) that goes on inside my head? Does it mean I should stop perceiving things, recognizing things, naming/knowing them etc? Does it mean I bring the mind to a standstill like a dead or unconscious or asleep man? Do I need to be brain dead to get the experience of oneness?

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-5

Extraordinary experiences: of heavenly kind is just another weapon the Mind uses to distract a seeker. May be it is a side effect of getting aware of the larger universal Mind, and various hidden realms of the Mind start showing up during meditation, or sometimes even in the normal waking state. Initial newbie experiences are typically lights, sounds and bodily sensations. Later on people report a sense of connectedness, infinity, oneness, being the almighty creator of everything, world may start appearing like a dream, aversion from worldly existence, indifference towards daily activities like eating, working or talking to others, so on and so forth.

Well, that sounds like progress, how can it all be obstacles? What happens is, seekers hear about such experiences and immediately judge themselves as lacking cool stuff. I want what the other has – is the feeling and desire. They start hankering after such experiences. They cling to the tiniest of straw if that assures them that they are making progress. They seek confirmation, they brag about their “achievements”. They treat them like trophies or currency in their bank account. They immediately get jealous of those who have more. They look down on those who did not see all those fireworks in the mind. They feel the need to be special. A fancy experience proves for them that they are “enlightened” now, and nothing more needs to be done. Of course, except getting more experiences of “spiritual” type.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-4

The following may read like total BS to those who haven’t experienced any of it. Such events/experiences do not seem like natural and get classified as supernatural. But anything goes in the realm of the Mind, its all natural there. Anyhow, I don't claim the below as factual, it is all mysterious, if its your experience, it is a fact, else not. I do not have an extensive and in depth knowledge or experience in such matters, but have encountered enough weirdness so that I’m not anymore amazed if someone tells me about some odd thing that happened. I’m amazed, however, when someone tells me such things are impossible [1].

Paranormal phenomena: are a norm when your path is not so normal. By not normal I mean its trajectory goes via unknown or unknowable terrain of the Mind. When you encounter something that you do not encounter so frequently, it gets classified as paranormal. A smartphone is an example of a paranormal thing for an Amazonian tribal, who never encountered a modern man with a smartphone before. When you take up above kinds of paths, you are like that Amazonian tribal. Things are neither normal nor paranormal, you are either inexperienced or experienced.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-3

People and relatives: are often the biggest and most difficult obstacles for many. They are unpredictable, dynamic and active obstacles, which makes it a bit difficult to deal with them. Parents may oppose your every move, criticize you, shame you and may try to pull you back into a dogma they prefer, however outdated or moronic theirs is. Sometimes they will threaten you, especially if you are still young and a dependent. Parents also try to emotionally blackmail to have their own way, to “fix” you, just like your partner/spouse may. You may find that parents and partner will erect all kinds of hurdles on your path, may try to overpower you giving you a reason that they “love” you. Children become an obstacle if they are young and are dependent on you, because your responsibility makes you less free to devote time for your practice, to switch jobs or to travel and stay in solitude if required.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-2

Purified - by Tomasz Alen Kopera

Sleep: is the way of the Mind to excuse itself out of a deep meditation. But it can also happen naturally, say because of sleep deprivation or tiredness. You are highly alert, your mind is not so noisy, you are totally motivated and you sit upright and turn inwards towards the Self. So far so good, the next thing you know is you are getting up from a nice six hour long sleep.

Obstacles and Their Cures: Part-1

Remover of obstacles. We invoke him first before we start on a path.

We have studied in much detail what can go wrong when you start on a path or even before that. All those pitfalls and traps that trap you even before you start your journey were discussed. To summarize, these are –

• Absence of a path itself 
• Afflictions of the Mind 
• Afflictions of the Ego 
• Solidified beliefs and conditioning 
• Physical limitations of the body 
• Absence of a good teacher 
• Lack of certain qualities in the student 
• Resistance, lack of effort or lost opportunities 

If you expand this list it can fill up pages. Somewhat disheartening I must say, but then I've said many times, this path is not for weaklings. It is not like walking on a carpet showered with petals. Deeper the ignorance, more are the obstacles. The good news is - once you start jumping past hurdles, it becomes easier and easier to overcome them. You pick up speed exponentially and if you stick to it, it shouldn’t take a very long time. There is a learning curve of sorts that makes everything seem impossible at first, there is an entry barrier for people and only those who are seeker material are allowed past it. Once you get past the hurdles, and fall into a few pits, you start getting the knack of it all, you learn the art of not falling and of picking up yourself as soon as you fall.

Resistance, Effort and Opportunity: Part-2

In the last article we saw how resistance slows a seeker down on his path. Lack of effort and lost opportunities are other reasons that can slow one down. Are these three the only hurdles? Of course not, but one can classify most of the hurdles under these three broad terms conveniently. I’m not saying that there cannot be other strange forms of hurdles (like Karmic hurdles, or evil entities, or jealous deities), but its beyond my pay grade to write about them, I can write about things I directly know of or at least somewhat sure of. In the end, its all Mind, you see, and we can use Mind itself (its more favourable parts) to defeat Mind.

Effort

The dilemma of effort is a familiar one for most of the seekers. Do I reach there by enough effort or can I achieve it effortlessly? The answer usually given is familiar one too, which is – It is not possible to reach there by effort, but one must still make some effort.

Resistance, Effort and Opportunity: Part-1

A path is rarely seen with a red carpet laid on it, padded with rose petals, mostly, especially for new travellers, it is full of thorns, pits and steep climbs. It may sound discouraging and ironical since this blog is about encouraging people for taking up a path. But then, instead of showing a rosy picture its better to share something useful which provides you instant solutions in case you fall, and something which warns you beforehand, to prevent the fall. Following is a brief write up of things I found that may cause trouble and some solutions that I found useful.

Introspection - 7 : Illusion of Bondage

By Michelle Wiarda

Goal

We will attempt to gain a direct experience of the free nature of the Self and will see that there is absolutely no bondage of any kind.

Prerequisites

Nothing more than that which is already mentioned for other introspections. See introspection - 1.

Question your bondage

Ask – Who is bound? Who is not free?

Those who are identified with the body will immediately find themselves answering how they are not free to do this or to do that, to remain young and healthy forever and to evade death or to have all the riches and pleasures of the world. That is deep ignorance, but it is ok.

Introspection - 6 : Consciousness Without Content

Goal

We will attempt to gain a direct experience of the pure consciousness, in other words, Self that is not engaged in experiencing anything, or when there are no contents to experience. Note that its not possible to even remember such a state, because there will be no memories of it, so we will just try to get a taste of it.

Prerequisites

Nothing more than that which is already mentioned for other introspections. Although sometimes a friend who can ask you questions mentioned below can be useful. Best done with eyes closed, but it is not necessary.