11. DHYĀNA HEYĀS TAD VṚTTAYAḤ.
“Dhyana
= meditation; heyas = destroyed; tad = their; vrittayah = active modifications”,
meaning, “In the active state, they can be destroyed through meditation.” (Satchidananda, 2011) Yoga is cultivating awareness of the finite
self in order to gain access to the infinite self. Through meditation, I was able to achieve stillness
within myself to examine and understand my surroundings.
I believe once you open the door to
enlightenment, you can never be close minded again. This brings us back to the sutra that speaks
of meditation destroying the thoughts or obstacles that hinder us from gaining
access to God. “Then, when you transcend
the mind in the higher Samadhi, even the ego is lost.” (Satchidananda, 2011) It is not until you let go of the ego that the
thoughts will go away.
In book one, it is also said that “om”
moves through the body. “The word
expressive of Isvara is the mystic sound OM, which is Gods’ name as well as
form. “ This was a very intense notion
for me because it expressed that by chanting the word “om”, we are essentially
invoking God into our very being. My
mind was thoroughly blown when I gathered what Patanjali was trying to say. I began thinking, if by chanting “om” during
my meditations I am bringing the Devine presence into me, could it be that the
sense of peace and self-awareness that I actually feel in doing so is Gods’ existence?
Victorya French-Williams
No comments:
Post a Comment