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anthony574
USA
549 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 27 2007 : 11:25:14 AM
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I just got into reading The Yoga Sutras. I have never read any real yoga texts or books and know little other than what I read in Yoganis books and from this forum. It is very inspiring and fulfulling to read it and it raises a couple questions about the yogic theory of the mind. Sorry if this has been touched on before, I couldn't find a relevant post.
What caught my attention so far is the descriptions of the 3 States of the mind. They are
Tamas (darkness, leading usually to injury)
Raja (activity, leading to power, enjoyment)
Sattva (serenity, stillness)
the wording of these is more or less straight from the book which is translated by one of the followers of Ramakrishna (I'm not exactly up on the guru scene either...). Anyway, firstly, what is the difference between these and the 5 Manifestations of Chitta (scattering, darkening, gathering, one-pointed, concentrated)? Chitta, being the "mind stuff"...isn't that the same as mind? Or by the 3 states do they apply them to Purusha, the Real Soul essence?
Also, so by saying that Tamas, which I take to be the shadow self as it seems a vauge description "darkness", does that mean that inherent in all human beings is the shadow self? i believe this, but i did not know it was part of yoga philosphy. is the ultimate goal in this sense then to transcend Tamas and Raja, and simply become Sattva? This would seem to me to be a vegetative state. It dissapoints me thus far that the Yoga Sutras do not seem practical in that they do not emphasize the importance of balance. They make it seem as though any kind of human acitivity that is required to live as an even remotely as a citizen or human as we know it is something to be "destroyed". Reading it really makes me appreciate Yogani's teachings in that he is much more compatible with being a human being. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4429 Posts |
Posted - Sep 30 2007 : 04:06:52 AM
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Hi Anthony,
Welcome to the wonderful world of Sanskrit terms, and the amazing yogic understanding of reality!
Rajas, Satva and Tamas are the three Gunas. They are a bit like different states of mind (Manas). In yoga it is preferable to raise the mind towards the satvic (pure, peaceful) state as this is the preferred state to be in to practice yoga, but yoga is ultimately about stuff beyond the mind.
Chitta is consciousness, so it is different from the mind in the sense that we can be conscious of the mind (manas), of objects within the mind (samskaras), or of reality completely beyond the mind. So the 5 states of chitta are like the state of the beam of consciousness that we have at a given moment, scattered, focussed etc.
The soul, or the true self is neither found in the mind (manas) or in consciousness (chitta) but is the atman, eternally resplendent, shining, and untouched by the trammels of the mind and the individual life. When we are born a part of the purusha descends into the divine heart (hridayam, as opposed to anahata), which becomes its seat. This is the Jivatma (life-soul). The main, and true atman (the paramatma) remains above the crown of the head and is untouched by the life events, the mind and the consciousness.
Tamas is not usually held to be synonymous with the shadow-self. If such a concept existed for the original Sanskrit speaking yogis, it was the ahankara (ego self, as opposed to the true self (atman). The ahankara is really a collection of mental formations (samskaras), which exists in mano-maya (the mind created illusory world, or shadow world).
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Tamas: So we're inherently dark?
