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The Science of Meditation
107 The directions about the seat (asana) are of an entirely practical nature. The seat should not be high that there is risk of falling if Trance supervenes, nor so low that there is a danger from poisonous insects. The seat should be soft enough to give ease of the body.
It is important to instruct the disciple to make his mind calm and free from hope and greed, that is to say, from that attitude of wishing to grasp things to and for oneself which is characteristic of the lower mind. Before practising meditation proper the Buddhists remove the five “Hindrances”, namely, sensual passion, illwill, sloth and torpor, worry and perplexity from the mind.
The next point is the posture (also called asana). The postures used in this Yoga have nothing to do with bringing pressure to bear on centres in the body, whether nervous or occult”. The essential is, as Patanjali said, that it should be steady and pleasant. By pleasant, however, it is not meant that it should be an armchair sort of attitude, as that would be more conducive to sleep than to meditation. It must be one which can be maintained for a long stretch without sensations of crampor fatigue and at the same time it should be one which is conducive to mental alertness. The spine should be kept straight.
The next point is the direction of the gaze. A wandering gaze means a wondering mind, and therefore the eyes are to be kept fixed in one direction. In practice it has been found that the best way to do, this is to direct the eyes along with line of nose and then to half-close the eyelids, the gaze be fixed between the eve-brows (Ajna Centre).
The breathing is to be kept regular and smooth, as there is a vital connection between the flow of thoughts and the rhythem of the breath. Because breath comes out of the heart, unrhythmical breathing comes from the hearts unrest. Therefore, one must breath in and out quite softly so that it remains inaudible to the ear.
The heart of Yoga is more difficult and is what cannot be taught in words. It is the "checking of all the modifications of the mind”, the “holding of the heart to the centre of the midst of conditions”, the “making of the mind one-pointed" and its direcion towards Him, the Atman, the Light that streams in of itselfbetween the eyebrows". This is the essential thing, it produces the detachment from the desire, nature and the union with Him that gives enlightenment. All that exists within the One, and what we see as a world depends upon the point of view from which we see; that which we see is one. As the Maitri Upanishad puts it: “Thought is verily the world and therefore should be purified with care. As one's thought is, so one becomes this is the eternal mystery". Mind is the mirror though which we see the world and this mirror must be kept clean.
January-March 1993
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