Mankind is in a state of mental unrest and crisis. We are living in an age where we cannot be asked to believe anything unless research has been made and statistics give conclusions. It is very important today to investigate the ways that can bring us a greater life, and greater enlightenment. Western sociology and eastern psychology have come to the conclusion that the science of yoga has an immediate influence on human psychology. More than 2,500 years ago, yoga was very popular all over the world, much before the advent of the present culture or structure of society. Yoga was the great science that was available to our ancestors, and we lost touch with it.
The most important point is the psychological part of yoga. Very few people can understand how the practices of yoga can take you deep into the unconscious. Whether you want to realize the truth or want to attain balance of mind, it is very important that you should be able to get in touch with the collective mind. Man has been fighting in the dark with shadows. When you have anxieties, fears, worries, the way you deal with them is unscientific, incomplete and useless. When you are surrounded by worries, by problems infected by phobia, who is going to solve them?
Do you think that your sick mind can solve them? Do you think that your fight with the mind can treat the phobia? Do you think that your anxious mind can cure excitement? The point is that we are not understanding the basic truth of life. What are we doing? The blind leading the blind. The mind is weak, the emotions are weak, willpower is weak, our determination is weak, our heart is weak, and we are trying to overcome our problems with this weakness.
That is why there is crisis everywhere. Yoga says in clear language: leave this mind, realize the super mind, discover the spirit, commune with the collective mind. There is a greater mind, a total, powerful mind and there is a luminous spirit in every man. How can you get it? Not by thinking, not by reading books; there is no way of communing with this great spirit except by knowing the way to go inside. When your mind withdraws itself from time, space, objectivity, and goes within, that is the way to yoga.
The objective consciousness is the objective consciousness of objects – we see through the eyes, we hear through the ears, smell through the nose, experience touch through the skin; these are experiences belonging to the outer world and are confined by time and space. We have to find the way to transcend time, space and objectivity. You cannot transcend time and space by drugs, tranquillizers or by escaping from life. Unless you know the technique of transcending time and space, you can never be completely happy. There is a dimension of consciousness which is beyond time and space.
The most important thing in life is one-pointedness and in yoga it is termed meditation, dhyana. I talk about this as much as I can. Man can cognize through so many doors; the sensual life is one door; mind is another doorway of knowledge, and so is the subconscious, but they are limited, their knowledge and cognition is partial knowledge; it is not complete. The cognition of the sensual and mental life cannot be experienced during the subconscious stages; therefore, in meditation we try to expand our consciousness. What we do in meditation is to focus the mind at one point, and then expand it totally. You must remember that forgetfulness is not meditation. Unconsciousness is not meditation, visions are not meditation, dark experiences are not meditation, to lose control of self- awareness is not meditation.
In meditation, two things happen simultaneously: one, effulgence of the inner point, and two, withdrawal of the internal consciousness. How to do it? Closing your eyes, is not the way. In meditation you have to consider the scientific factors that are controlling the brain, the mind, the respiratory system and the whole physical mechanism. The spinal column is not an assemblage of bones but is very important as far as the brain and the evolution of consciousness is concerned. It is the home for pranic and mental energy, and controls the vital and psychological functions in our day-to-day life. Therefore, an upright vertebral column comes first and the second point is the way you go in, with a point, the mantra.
The mantra is a medium of communication between this plane of consciousness and the other plane of consciousness. Mantra is a sound with an immediate effect on the super mind. The mantra influences the higher spheres of the mind and it is a vehicle to lead your consciousness through the mind. Mantra is important in meditation; it keeps the soul and the spirit (completely) in an expanded state. The third point is awareness of breath and synchronization of your mantra; then you will find you are taking a smooth path into inner life.
When you are practising meditation and distractions come in the mind, what is going to be your attitude? The distractions are bound to come; it is impossible to find a man with no distractions. Should we suppress them, control them or allow them? This is everybody’s problem. According to yoga psychology, the imbalance between the mental and physical forces is the cause of distractions. There are two great forces in the body, one is called prana, the other is called mind. Prana is bio-energy, life force, vitality by which we live, and mind, is the mental energy by which we know and are aware. These two forces direct and control the body. Usually there is an imbalance between the two, and this imbalance is the cause of disease and mental distractions. If the pranic force is suppressed and the mental force is superseding, you have physical diseases; if the pranic force is predominant and the mental force subservient, you have mental disease. Through the practice of hatha yoga, you bring about an equilibrium in these two forces.
When everything has been said, one important point should not be forgotten and that is that every man has a great power in him; there is a very powerful dimension of your personality. When you lead yourself towards materialism, you are weak. When you lead yourself to the world and the pleasure of life, you lose touch with the mind, but when you are in total communication with that dimension of your personality, you become more powerful, energetic and capable.
Kindly remember that I am not talking about the super-life, I am not talking about spiritual life now. At this moment, I have just one thing in mind – to give you an idea as to how to improve your personality. You have a physical body; how do you prove it? You know it. You have a mental body; how do you prove it? You do not know it? That is yoga. As the body falls ill, so will the mind. When the body becomes weak, it cannot carry the burden. The mind also becomes weak and is not able to carry the burden of life. A weak mind is an angry mind, it is passionate, jealous, fearful. A strong mind is a peaceful mind. Through the practice of meditation, the mind becomes strong.
May 1977, Barcelona, Spain