Core-Self Dominates the Mental Screen

It is something achieved if the core-self could ever say truthfully that it dominates the mental space, that it is not being compelled to participate willingly or unwillingly in the dramas which appear willy nilly in the mental space.

According to Patanjali, yoga does not begin unless the core-self is free from mental dominance. This means that most meditation sessions would not be classified as meditation or samyama. Most of it is something preliminary to meditation or preparatory for meditation.

Because the mind space is dominated by thoughts which are mental constructions based on current and past sensual perceptions, the core-self has no idea of how to get a mental space which is cleared of impressions. In fact the self remembers itself only as an observer of the theatrical performances in the mind. But Patanjali alerted yogis that yoga has to do with ridding the psyche of the impressions and influences which enthrall the core-self.

When a beginner tries to meditation, he or she might have no idea of the process which is detailed by Patanjali. This means that it would be an accident for a beginner to really know what meditation is all about. Meditation for such a person would be whatever that person decided meditation is but this may not be as prescribed by Patanjali.

Meditation for the modern people is mostly about stress relief to gain peace of mind but that is not meditation according to Patanjali. There are other modern methods for stress relief which give instant results without all the effort required in meditation, For instance listening to music can give stress relief instantly; so can the ingestion of drugs. Taking a holiday can give stress relief. Walking in the woods may give stress relief. Becoming involved in hobby can give stress relief.

For centuries human beings have used alcohol for getting instant stress relief. In some cases the attempt to meditate or to quiet and redirect the mind leads to increased stress which is the opposite of relief.

The truth is that the observing-self is continually harassed by the conjectures of the mind. That self hardly knows how to dodge the psychic assaults in the mind. Apart from bad dreams which are real unwanted astral occurrences, there are in-the-mind occurrences which continually spook the self.

One method of escaping this spook-show is to go to the back of the subtle head. Usually the theatre of the mind takes place in the frontal part of the subtle head. Since the observing-self has little or no power to stop the theatrics of the mind, it may escape from dominance by going to a place in the mind where the scary activities do not take place. This is called avoidance of unwanted mental bombardment. This does not mean that the self is more powerful than the mind. In fact it directly means that since the self understands that it is not as powerful as the mind, it took the easy way out by avoiding the mind so that it is not in a position where it could be bullied by the mind. This is a process of avoiding a powerful enemy.

However in the long term this method is inadequate. Long term means that eventually the observing-self should become the dominant force in the mind. Of course initially this is out of the question, because initially the observing-self discovers that it does not have the power to dominate the mind. It is dominated by the mind from day one. For it to have the mind at its beck and call, there would have to be a substantial change in its relationship with the adjuncts which operate the theatre in the mind.

Unfortunately the self would have to earn this dominance because the natural way is for the self to be dominated in the mind by the mind’s creations. Does it matter that the natural design of the psyche is that the self is dominated by the mind?

When monkeys get the upper hand with a farmer, they not only take bananas from his trees but they go to his fruit storage and remove bananas which he picked, hauled and set to ripe for market. When they first arrive in the storage area they are usually fresh-looking and alert. They look around with the leading money giving signals as to if the farmer is present or not present. If they are afraid of the farmer they will not enter his storage while he is there. They will watch from a distance. If however they have no fear they will skip from tree to tree and make a few noises just to see if the farmer would be irritated by their presence.

After this, the monkeys will skip along the ground silently. Following the leading money, they will enter the storage area and take bananas. Instead of running way with the fruit, they will peel a few and eat parts of each, then throw the remaining parts here and there. What do they care about the farmer? After all it is their storage area and the farmer is merely their willing slave.

When a yogi masters the mind, he can meditate in the frontal part of the subtle head by going there, sitting there and meditating in total silence without images, ideas or thoughts, arising in the mind. There will be no disturbance. It is as if the presence of the observing-self brought the mind to order or that it can do whatever it likes without any interfering influences from any other part of the psyche. This is just like when monkeys eat and throw the peels here and there, knowing that their slave, the farmer, will clean up after them and again put out the very best bananas.

Mind control is like that.

~It is wonderful indeed~