Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

Author(s): Prabhavnanda Swami, Christopher Isherwood
Publisher: Ramkrishna Math Madras

Page 29

YOGA AND ITS AIMS
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and differentiation, each layer being grosser and thicker than the one below it, until the process ends on the outer physical surface of the visible and tangible world.
It is necessary to keep this idea of evolution clearly in mind if we are to understand Patanjali's technique of meditation. For meditation is evolution in reverse. Meditation is a process of devolution. Beginning at the surface of life, the meditative mind goes inward, seeking always the cause behind the appearance, and then the cause behind the cause, until the innermost Reality is reached.
Now let us consider Patanjali's four stages of “concentration upon a single object." This kind of concentration is contrasted with the other, higher kind of concentration which is described in the next aphorism--the concentration which goes deeper than all objects and unites itself with pure, undifferentiated consciousness. Concentration upon a single object is, however, a necessary preliminary stage. When it is practised intensely, it can take the mind very far, right out to the ultimate borders of undifferentiated matter.
The words used to describe the four stages of such concentration are not easy to translate, and our English equivalents are hardly satisfactory. The stage of “examination” is said to be reached when the mind becomes perfectly concentrated upon one of the gross elements. This is followed by the stage of “discrimination,” when the mind pierces the outer material layer and fastens upon the tanmatra, the subtle essence within. Next comes the stage of "joyful peace,” when we concentrate upon the inner powers of perception or upon the mind itself. Finally, there is the stage of “simple awareness of individuality," when we concentrate upon the ego-sense in its simplest, most elemental form-untouched by any fear or desireknowing only that “I” am other than “this” or “that.”
Such concentration is certainly difficult enough-it may take a lifetime to achieve—but it is still within Prakriti. There