Mental Register Hampers Meditation

The mental register of scenes seen, as well as sound heard, and feelings felt, may hamper the meditative part of yoga practice.

Images flash in the mind, on the basis of what is or was seen. Sounds are repeated in the mind after they are heard. Feelings are reproduced in the mind after they are felt, either inside the psyche, or on the rim of it, which is represented by the skin in the physical body.

If a visual, aural, or tactile occurrence makes a deep register in the mind, that will affect yoga, but more likely it will be a disruptive effect, and not a supportive one. It will be such that it will hamper the selected meditative focus, and divert the attention of the yogi to the remembered idea.

There is an instruction by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. It has to do with the power to instantly stop the chittavritti, which are the creations and indulgences of the intellect, the lifeForce and the memories. If this instruction is not enforced, the meditation will be of a weak focus which will not give the result intended.

However, there are some instances, where a yogi can give a command in the mind for it to cease the unwanted behavior. But still he will find that some indulgences cannot be curtailed or even reduced. They seem to have a power which is greater than the yogi’s command. Why is this so?

It is because of the original register of impressions in the mind. A strong register will resist the order of the yogi, such that when he desires to stop it from replaying in the mind, he cannot do so. Its register is stronger than his intention to cease it from playing before him in the mental space.

Yogeshwarananda instructed that a yogi should be careful not to allow impressions to carry a strong register in the mind. He is of the opinion that for those who want to penetrate to chit akash sky of consciousness, or to using the divine eye, the instances with a strong register, will cause their failure to develop divine perception.