Abstract States as Memory
One persistent problem in meditation is the spontaneous operation and illustration of memories which are counterproductive to the meditation objective. One finds that in some sessions of meditation, memories of mundane events arise repeatedly, being flashed in the mind through the illustrative powers of the intellect.
There is a confidential relationship between the intellect and memories whereby without the permission or request of the coreSelf, the intellect invokes memories or the memories induce the intellect to illustrate them even against the desire of the coreSelf.
The memory assessment-value appraisal of events, even mundane ones, is levied in the mind by the senses and the intellect, such that even an event which is of no value in meditation, may have a high value assessment placed on it in the mind, so that this value causes the self to be forced to view the illustration of that remembered event.
Lahiri is of the opinion that yogis must train the mind to remember higher states, even such states which occur momentarily. Using breath infusion, a yogi will experience higher states during practice. He must train the mind to place a higher memory value on these states. In meditation he should train the mind to record even abstract conditions of consciousness. These will be used by the mind to reinforce future meditations, where instead of recalled mundane events, the mind will be prompted with memories which support and outfit the meditations.
The mind should pause, note and record even flash events of higher states. It will use these to reinforce other meditations. This will provide grip during abstract states. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna mentioned the difficulty with indistinct states of consciousness.
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श्रीभगवानुवाच मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते । श्रद्धया परयोपेतास् ते.मे युक्ततमा मताः ॥१२.२॥ |
śrībhagavānuvāca mayyāveśya mano ye māṁ nityayuktā upāsate śraddhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ (12.2) |
Śrībhagavān — the Blessed Lord;uvāca — said; mayyāveśya = mayi-on me + āveśya — focusing on: mano = manaḥ — mind; ye — who; māṁ — me; nityayuktā — those who are always disciplined in yoga; upāsate — they worship; śraddhayā — with faith; parayopetās = parayā — with the highest degree; + upetāḥ — endowed; te they; me — to me; yuktatamā — most disciplined; matāḥ — considered
The Blessed Lord said: Those whose minds are focused on Me, who are always disciplined in yoga, who are always involved in worship of Me, who are endowed with the highest degree of faith, they are considered to be the most disciplined. (12.2)
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ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यम् अव्यक्तं पर्युपासते । सर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यं च कूटस्थमचलं ध्रुवम् ॥१२.३॥ |
ye tvakṣaramanirdeśyam avyaktaṁ paryupāsate sarvatragamacintyaṁ ca kūṭasthamacalaṁ dhruvam (12.3) |
ye — who; tu — but; akṣaram — imperishable; anirdeśyam — undefinable; avyaktaṁ— invisible; paryupāsate — they cherish; sarvatragam — all-pervading; acintyam — inconceivable; ca — and; kūṭastham — unchanging; acalaṁ —- immovable; dhruvam — constant
But those who cherish the imperishable, undefinable, invisible, all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, immovable, constant reality, (12.3)
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संनियम्येन्द्रियग्रामं सर्वत्र समबुद्धयः । ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव सर्वभूतहिते रताः ॥१२.४॥ |
saṁniyamyendriyagrāmaṁ sarvatra samabuddhayaḥ te prāpnuvanti māmeva sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ (12.4) |
saṁniyamyendriyagrāmaṁ = saṁniyamya — controlling + indriyagrāmaṁ — all sensual energies; sarvatra — in all respects; samabuddhayaḥ — even-minded; te — them; prāpnuvanti — they attain; mām — me; eva — also; sarvabhūtahite = sarvabhūta — all creatures + hite — in the welfare; ratāḥ — rejoicing
...by controlling all sensual energies, being even-minded in all respects, rejoicing in the welfare of all creatures, they also attain Me. (12.4)
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क्लेशोऽधिकतरस्तेषाम् अव्यक्तासक्तचेतसाम् । अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते ॥१२.५॥ |
kleśo'dhikatarasteṣām avyaktāsaktacetasām avyaktā hi gatirduḥkhaṁ dehavadbhiravāpyate (12.5) |
kleśo — kleśaḥ — exertion; 'dhikataraḥ = adhikataraḥ — greater; tesam — of them; avyaktāsaktacetasām — avyakta — invisible existence + āsakta — attached + cetasām — of minds; avyaktā — invisible reality; hi — truly; gatiḥ — goal; duḥkhaṁ — difficult; dehavadbhiḥ — by the human beings; avāpyate — is attained
The mental exertion of those whose minds are attached to the invisible existence is greater. The goal of reaching that invisible reality is attained with difficulty by the human beings. (12.5)
The adjectives used by Krishna to describe abstract meditative states are:
- imperishable
- undefinable
- invisible
- all-pervading
- inconceivable
- unchanging
- immovable
Experiences in meditation which match any of these descriptions should be noted in memory. Such indistinct states should be recalled during future meditations, when those states again occur. This will reinforce higher meditations and accelerate the quest of transferring to the chit akash sky of consciousness.
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This is a very helpful point from Lahiri is to train the mind to remember higher states even though they come in flashes.
One of the main challenges during breath infusion practice that I have is, certain old buried thoughts hidden in my trunk, thighs or brain starts coming out. Especially during certain asanas stretching body parts, certain old unpleasant thoughts or memories rise (like buoyancy) all the way up to the skull and knocks you down that you have to take a pause for 5-10 minutes to deal with it. The body freezes to counter them.
Also the other way, certain deep thoughts arise from the head, and during breath infusion, it goes and hides in certain parts of the body like thighs, shoulders, chests like pockets to store them. Maybe they will rise again and hit the head. This is less traumatic than the former described. It feels good when these thoughts are moved away from the head to the lower parts of the body but still confronting these old unpleasant thoughts inside the head is traumatic.
These traumatic thoughts discourage one from doing the practice because of the fear of "Oh, I don't know what hidden traumatic thoughts gonna come today" and as a human tendency, we try to avoid pain and trauma in every form. Slowly we start to identify the breath infusion practice to traumatic thoughts than higher experience.
"Holding onto flash of higher experience to counter several traumatic thoughts" is a good strategy to slowly turn the tables on bad thoughts and to identify the practice to higher experience.
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Memory of lower states is indeed a pain in the ass. In my case, memory of the pleasure derived from sexual intercourse resurfaces in the psyche often to influence participation. This may well be the ancestors doing, but this particular influence comes in the form of memory. Much work must be done on my part to “train the mind to remember higher states” since it’s dominated by lower memories.
An interesting experience that I’ve had consistently. Is that when Kundalini rises into the subtle head through breath infusion, either during and/or after the dispersal of the bliss energies. Old memories of events that happened many years ago resurface at those moments in the form of image flashes or thoughts. These are mostly things that I didn’t remember until that point.
Questions for Michael Beloved :
Can you please speak on the relationship of the kundalini arousal and memory? And what exactly is occurring in these experiences?
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Jamal wrote:
In my case, memory of the pleasure derived from sexual intercourse resurfaces in the psyche often to influence participation. This may well be the ancestors doing, but this particular influence comes in the form of memory.
Mi~Beloved revision:
In any case, memory of the pleasure derived from sexual intercourse resurfaces in the psyche often to influence participation. This is reinforced by the presence of ancestors in and around the psyche of the experiencer. Part of it is the ancestor’s doing, but part comes in the form of memory in the body of those who experienced the adult form of the body.
Before puberty there are similar promptings but the sexual impact is lacking. Stil in that case the dormant instinct expresses an influence which causes attempts at sexual participation which cannot be acted out because the physical body is not yet equipped with sexual facilities. Since the sexual memories from previous lives is absent, the person cannot factually appreciate the prodding as he/she would after sexual maturity.
Jamal wrote:
But an interesting experience that I’ve had consistently. Is that when Kundalini rises into the subtle head through breath infusion, either during and/or after the dispersal of the bliss energies. Old memories of events that happened many years ago resurface at those moments in the form of image flashes or thoughts. These are mostly things that I didn’t remember until that point.
Mi~Beloved’s Remark:
The intellect and the kundalini have the memory at their disposal and uses the memory record to reinforce and strengthen their positions in reference to the helpless coreSelf. They also use the memories to expand or contract their operations irrespective of the desire of the core.
Jamal’s Question:
Can you please speak on the relationship of the kundalini arousal and memory? And what exactly is occurring in these experiences?
Mi~Beloved’s Response
Memory is memory only and nothing else. However, it is available to the other three operators which are:
- intellect
- kundalini
- coreSelf
The main activator of memory and expansion of it and colorization of it, is the kundalini. the intellect’s job is to help kundalini to get an endorsement from the coreSelf. If the core is resistant or objecting to anything that kundalini wants to do, the intellect will intimidate the core, so that the core comes to its senses and does what is suggested to it, which is to provide energy to help with completing the kundalini’s ideas.
The coreSelf cannot directly access memory. It relies solely on the intellect to open, illustrate and terminate a memory display. The emotional value of a memory is registered by the kundalini, just as a clerk at a bank renders values to currency. What has the core to do with it, except that the core is subjected to the illustrated memory and is afflicted negatively or positively by it?
Most ascetic groups from the Eastern system of spiritual disciplines, are of the view that kundalini’s main focus is sex desire. However, that is not true. Kundalini is concerned with survival. For that, it knows that sex desire is the main operator. Hence it puts stress on sex desire for the purpose of survival in an environment which is shifting and which does not allow it to remain stable.
Sex desire is rated as the chief impulsion by many human beings. this happens because the experiencers are not allowed to be objective to the experience. With no objectivity one cannot correctly rate any experience. Survival and whatever it takes to proceed with that is the main impetus. Sex is important in terms of how it facilitates and support survival.
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