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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 1 - The Problem of Union
35. The mind can be trained to steadiness through those forms of concentration which have relation to the sense perceptions. We are dealing with those forms of unfoldment [79] and of control which eventuate in what has been called "gracious peace." We have seen that correct group relations and rhythmic living will produce that condition wherein stillness of the vehicles or of the sheaths is attained, and the lower man can then adequately reflect the higher or spiritual man. Now we touch upon certain aspects of the Raja Yoga philosophy and the key to the understanding of this sutra is found in the word detachment. The aspirant (as he makes his sense contacts and through the medium of the five senses comes into touch with the phenomenal world) will gradually assume more and more the position of onlooker. His consciousness therefore shifts slowly out of the realm of the sense vehicles into that of the "dweller in the body." It is interesting to note here, the Hindu teaching upon the uses of the tongue and the entire region of the nose and the palate. The orthodox oriental teaching gives the following suggestions:
Method | Sense | Result
1. Concentration upon the tip of the nose | smell | perfumes.
2. Concentration upon the root of the tongue | hearing | sounds.
3. Concentration upon the middle of the tongue | taste | flames.
4. Concentration upon the middle of the tongue | touch | vibration.
5. Concentration upon the palate | sight | pictures, visions.
The aspirant must not literalise these things nor seek blindly to meditate, for instance, upon [80] the tip of the tongue. The lesson to be learnt, under the law of analogy, is that the tongue typifies the creative faculty, the third aspect in its five fold nature. The relation of the five senses (as synthesized here in the region of the mouth) to the five rays forming the synthesis governed by the Mahachohan (director of the third ray aspect upon our planet), will be found illuminating. Students would find it valuable to work out the analogy between these five rays and the five senses and the mouth as the organ of speech. As the study is carried forward it will be seen that two other physical organs, the pituitary body and the pineal gland, correspond to the remaining two aspects, love wisdom and organizing power, will or purpose. These seven points in the head (and all are found within a comparatively small area) are the symbols in physical matter of the three great aspects manifesting as the seven. As the aspirant therefore assumes the position of the ruler of the senses and as the analyzer of all his sense perceptions, he gradually becomes more mentally concentrated, and the advanced yogi can identify himself at any moment with any one of the ray energies to the exclusion - where desired - of the others. The student is warned not to imagine that this "gracious peace" can be achieved through definite meditation upon any specific sense. Through an understanding of the laws of creation and of sound, through a consideration of the sounding board of the mouth and the method whereby speech becomes possible, a knowledge of the world [81] creative processes can be arrived at, and the man can achieve an understanding of the laws whereby all forms come into being. The senses of all yogis are naturally abnormally acute and this fact should be remembered.
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