Mind Control : Take The Bull By The Horns

TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS :

THE ANCIENT INDIAN YOGIS SHOW THE WAY....
AND THE STRATEGY FOR RIGHT CONTROL OF THE MIND.


The East and the West across the globe, the ancient man and the modern man across the centuries, have at least one thing in common -- the suffering born of one’s own mind. Man struggled on and on… there in the West and here in the East… to wriggle out of it. Man struggled then in the past, and now in the present, to get rid of it. Ideas, concepts, programs, methodologies, strategies and elaborate practices have been evolved, tried, tested most of which were discarded with disappointment. The solution was often elusive.

Foremost among the ones that survived and stood the test of the time is the method of Yogic Mind Control.

We handle the cow, not with the help of the tail, but the leash. In the case of handling a bull, the best and the safest would be to take him by the horns. But in order to do it with the bull called our mind, we need expert advice. The Hathayogapradipika, the great Indian work on Yoga provides this expertise. It succeeds in making the job seem astonishingly simple.

The technique, the method and the strategy were based on one single most remarkable truth of human existence that the yogis perceived. The principle is the relationship of correspondence between the mind and the breath.

They had observed that the mind with its activities and its thoughts, emotions, sensations are all related in a sense of mutuality to the activity of Pramana, to its movement in and out of different nadis, to its passing through a certain nadi more and its denial to another. Therefore by regulating the movement of the Prana in the Nadi-Mandala, one can effectively regulate the Prana. A crucial discovery indeed. The Yogis of this ancient country have discovered that the flow of Prana is in turn related to the breath, and to the way it is regulated.

Consequently, a huge task has been made astonishingly simple. The discovery of this principle has got wide implications and ramifications. Therefore the principle of Pranayama found its application in almost every line of serious activity in India. It is included as a tenet in Mantropasana, in anushtana and in such other enjoined activities or samskaras of even a non-yogi, a Brahmachari or a Grhastha.

Usually we tend to consider this activity of Pranayama which promises a mighty results, itself has to be mighty, or complex or difficult concept. The activity of a Mahat (Gajapalaka) that regulates a mighty elephant is not itself a mighty activity. It is simply an intelligent strategic and well-regulated activity. It is simply a body of a few techniques for the management of the mighty elephant. The Pranayama also is similar to such an activity. It is simple and easy to practice and gets us mighty results.

The following traslations of slokas, from the Hathayogapradipika, throw light on the specific relationship between the Prana in the nadi mandala, on the one hand and the mind on the other.


1)He who suspends(restrains) the breath, restrains also the mind. He who controls the mind also controls the breath.

2)The (activity of the) mind has two causes: the Prana and the vasanas (acquired tendencies and impressions). When one of these becomes inactive, the activity of the other also comes to an end.

3)Where the mind is stilled there the Prana is suspended; and where the Prana is completely in abeyance, there the mind is quiescent.

4)Mind and Prana are mingled like milk and water, and their activities concur. Where there is (activity of ) Prana there is (that of the) mind, where there is (activity of ) the mind, there is (that of)Prana.

5)If one of the two is suspended, the other is set at rest. If one acts, the other (too acts). If they are not quieted, all the senses are active; if they are controlled in the right manner, the state of liberation is attained.

6)When the Prana and the mind are in a state of absorption, an indefinable bliss ensues.

7)When inhalation and exhalation are suspended, when all grasping of objects (by the senses) has completely ceased, when there is no movement of the body, and no modification of the mind, there is success in absorption (laya) for yogin-s.

8)For the one who thus practices the control of Prana, night and day, for whom the Prana, through right practice is absorbed, the mind also is absorbed.



Thus the Yogis established, beyond any doubt, by quoting the sastra as Pramana, the true relationship of the mind on the one hand with the Prana and the breath on the other.

Now, based on this general principle different types of Pranayamas were evolved. Hathayogapradipika elaborates with fair amount of detail all these techniques. Of course, like most of other similar texts, a good amount of knowledge has been left purposefully vague and ambiguous in order that a deserving student or a keen practitioner gets the explanation from the right Guru who is himself initiated into this understanding by his Guru. Therefore a guru has to be a man of the right experience rather than a heap of data base or information.

The Guru transmits his true experience to a disciple he considers deserving. It is a live tradition. A book would, in fact, become superfluous. It is more or less like a manual of guidance, rather than a comprehensive compendium. One becomes a Yogi by learning from a Guru, the deeper truths that escape a superficial study. One becomes a Yogi only by learning the nuances that are not available elsewhere from a Guru. One becomes a Yogi by learning, from a Guru, the subtleties of converting a theoretical principle into a pragmatic activity.

Such well trained Yogis designed originally, the different Pranayamas. Such Pranayamas, basically, are different applications and variations of a few fundamental principles of breathing.

Personalised insights will follw as we succeed in finding the right Guide and the Mentor....