Neurophysiological Effects During Meditation
Sheela Nagaraj
One of the topics that was brought up during the NASA 4th of July meet
was if there have been studies performed to quantify the neuro-
physiological effects of meditation and/or prayer. I was previously
employed at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's
(UMDNJ) 3T Radiology Dept and we performed fMRI studies on the effects
of various stiumli on brain function, including chanting/deep
meditation. I have provided some links below that might provide some
insight on the kinds of studies that have been done in this area using
fMRI as well as alternative medical imaging modalities.
http://www.bhj.org/journal/2008_5004_october/download/page-620-624.pdf
http://r203-2.crt.ntust.edu.tw/www/index.php/JCIE/article/viewFile/61/57
https://www.upaya.org/uploads/pdfs/meditationreviewBiolPsych2009.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2170475/
http://mit.psy.au.dk/neuro/HBM2005_Meditation_Onset_poster_251_handouts.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=9r_vy5b7WDQC&lpg=PA185&ots=_LNuC3Rxu7&dq=mantra%20fmri&lr&pg=PA190#v=onepage&q&f=false
Regards,
Sheela Nagaraj
Yelleshpur Jayaram
It seems too technical for me.
I glanced through the articles and they are interesting
Jayaram
"The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Dr Jayaram
(Dr. Jay)
--- On Mon, 7/19/10, Sheela Nagaraj <sheel...@gmail.com> wrote:
Kartik Subbarao
https://www.upaya.org/uploads/pdfs/meditationreviewBiolPsych2009.pdf
I liked how they studied different meditation techniques as well as
different medical conditions and showed the benefits of meditation practice.
I also liked the figures in this paper, even though I don't quite
understand the descriptions: :-)
http://mit.psy.au.dk/neuro/HBM2005_Meditation_Onset_pster_251_handouts.pdf
-Kartik
Sheela Nagaraj
general overview of the state-of-the-art in this area. It is still a
budding field though, and a lot of work is going on in this area. I
will keep a lookout for any new papers that come out on this topic!
- Sheela
naga narayana
| Meditation … neuro-physiological evaluation |
| Quantification of Quality … notions of having … qualification of experience … sense of being … |
| On the onset, from a scientist's perspective, the articles are very interesting. My only concern with the very scientific process is its insistence to "objectify" everything in terms of predictability, repeatability, and falsifiability. As you can see through, all these three principles stem from the root human behavior of existential security. Anything predictable is manipulatable toward one's own advantage. Anything repeatable can be put into use with confidence. Anything falsifiable can be discarded to conserve energy for better use. If you treat meditation the same way, the "scientific progress" in the direction is remarkable and commendable. |
| Scientific quantification of spiritual "benefits" are of interest from quite some time. Even the well known spiritual leaders such as Vivekananda had a quest of the kind. In fact, he had commissioned a team of scientifically trained Swamijis at the California Vedanta Center of RamakrishNaashram. |
| But should we approach meditation this way - scientific quantification and justification?! As you can make out from the very tone, I take an exception on this very approach. |
| Quantification of Quality of any experience always kills the very experience encore. Meditation is "to be". As soon as we subject it to any study, the "being" becomes captive within an objectified notion and gets corrupt into some "having". The bliss of meditation is in the "being" while any attempt to quantify the same turns it into a "having". |
| There is a fundamental difference between "being" and "having". No projections or imagery are in being. Having hankers only on imagery of objects and projections of ideas to facilitate a notion of ownership in the perceiver and strengthen an insistence for having the same further. "Being" is happiness while "having" indicates an existence of the same. In other words, "having" itself is an image of "being". Being an image itself, "having" cannot handle anything other than images as such. |
| I realize that quantification of anything provides a rational basis to the very perception and reinforces the confidence on the very process. The mechanism with which we establish our confidence on anything is also weaved on the same principles - predictability, repeatability and falsifiability - from which all our so-called sceintific innovations have sprouted from. For living, to exist, we need this confidence. But the side effect of this existential urge is - we loose our sense of "being" and hang onto a notion of "having". The sense of "being" being the core necessity for existence. But, the existential urge to "evaluate" things around has taken us so far away from our core presence, we have no clue of how to "be"! As the exploration around has a unique quality of projecting a notion of "having" or ownership in terms of doing, knowing and enjoying. Unfortunately, this notion is severely handicapped - it vanishes as soon as it raises within since it depends on our sensorial mechanism that cannot retain any signal beyond their very manifestation ... |
| IndriyaaNaam prithagbhavamudayastamayou cha yat | |
| Therefore, we are also handicapped, rather helpless, to depend on a perpetual supply of this notion. The dependence has grown so deep into our very existence that the only we can "experience" the sense of being is through a perpetual supply of sensorial indication of the same. Since the senses that we depend are lopside to look only outward, all our attention is also flooding around in a perpetual search of a sense of being ... |
| Paraanchikhaani vyatriNaatsvayambhooh tasmaatparaangpashyati naantaraatman | |
| Attempt to "quantify" the quality of anything would forfeit the very quality. Attempt to "qualify" any experience would eradicate the experience as such. Both acts depend upon sensorial relativity as well as sensitivity and hence are forced to break the monolithic "sense of being" that is the very basis for any experience as wells as existence into fragments of "notions of having" in their own terms and conditions. Since the notions have the quality of not being, the sense of being also seem to vanish as its images in terms of having do! Meditation or Upaasanaa is an education against this imbibed behavior ... to help one to pause from the frenzy of jumping around "to have" ... to educate oneself to quieten the fright - the fright of loosing the sense of being if the notions of having are lost ... to strengthen oneself to be as one is from within which essentially is the being ... to realize how the "being" is devoid of all "havings" ... one would have to invert the senses to explore inward ... to balance the lopsided outrunning habit ... to "be" ... that is the essence of meditation ... |
| Kashchiddheerah pratyagaatmaanamaikshat aavrittachakshuh amritattvamicchhan || |
| On the other hand, the quantification and qualification remains an urge to have something that can never be had - the equanimous peace. The very urge remains the biggest hurdle for spiritual progress in one's journey of life. |
| Unfortunately, Science cannot address this understanding as it is founded on the principles of existence (predictability, repeatability and flasifiability) rather than the principle of presence. |
| Respects. |
| Naga Narayana. |
You may interested to consider SVYAS University, Bangalore (http://www.svyasa.org/about/about.asp).It is a deemed international university having ties with many American, European and Australian universities and medical centers.It is located on Bannerghatta Road south of Bangalore.Naga Narayana.
Kartik Subbarao
[...]
> On the other hand, the quantification and qualification remains an urge
> to have something that can never be had - the equanimous peace. The very
> urge remains the biggest hurdle for spiritual progress in one's journey
> of life.
> Unfortunately, Science cannot address this understanding as it is
> founded on the principles of existence (predictability, repeatability
> and flasifiability) rather than the principle of presence.
I find science to be a valuable tool on the spiritual path. If we learn
to use it effectively, it can promote lucid thought, dispel all sorts of
delusional notions, and clear the way for authentic spiritual
experience. Its unfailing objectivity can help us shed layers of
constructed *subjective* identity, which we need to do if we are truly
to experience "being" in the most direct and unfiltered way possible.
Yes, with science we can get attached to objectifying things and get
distracted from the immediate experience of being. But look at how
straightforward that is to identify! Even in its weakest area, science
is polite to us, and lends itself to be cleanly set aside -- as if to
say to us that it knows its limits, beyond which it can only be silent.
Science isn't arrogant, only (some) scientists are. On the contrary,
science is humble and patient -- it's willing to be questioned
indefinitely. A single black swan can ruthlessly obviate decades of "all
swans are white" observations -- there is no place for egoic attachment
to ideas in science. You could even say that science presents an ideal
laboratory for spiritual practice :-)
-Kartik
naga narayana
| Kartik, |
| Of course Sceince is of great value even in spirituality till applied to unlearn the ignorance we have amassed and to learn the life from an impersonal perspective. It is a great tool to analyze the circumstantial reality of our existential as well as experiential difficulties and identify the ignorance we have imposed thereupon. Of course, one interesting thing with ignorance is that it disappears as soon as it is identified. Upansihads use the science very effectively for this purpose to establish "Saarvatrika PoorNaanubhava" - universally experientiable facts. Of cource, the emphasis is maintained on the experientiables rather than the measurables as in today's science. I absolutely agree with your observations regarding the ego-less nature of the scientific process that helps the seeker understand the physio-pcychological domain of actions and thoughts as transacted within our cognitive mechanisms with better clarity. |
| Applying measurability to actions and thoughts are sensible to some extent - to the extent one's senses are sensible enough. Science drops the ball beyond these limits anyway - it cannot and it won't even attempt to explore anything that cannot be defined within the frame work of our senses. |
| Applying the same on the experiential plane is what I take exception with. Interpreting an experience in terms of actions and thoughts (electro-chemical signals and mechanical movements) is essential to address the same with science. That is where I strongly differ with science. Actions and thoughts are just the tip (or even less) of the massive iceberg harbored within any experience. No extent of expressions in terms of thoughts and actions can ever explain any experience COMPLETELY. That is when the meditation is suggested to appreciate any experience in a wholistic sense. As etsablished with its own regression and backed up by the experience from which its takes birth, a sincere intellect would propose to drop the senses including the intellect altogether in order to appreciate THE COMPLETENESS (POORNATTVA) beyond even the experience ... |
| Yadaa panchaavatishThante gnyaanaani manasaa saha | |
| Buddhishcha na vicheshTate taamaahuh paramaangatim || |
| Meditation's sole purpose is to convince and pursuade the cognitive mechanism to pause from its perpetual purturbations so as to reveal the wholistic completeness in an experience with no interruptions from any expression as such. To appreciate the COMPLETENESS, it is essential to drop dependence on expressions altogether. Expressions are the boundaries we draw on the otherwise monolithic experience as well as existence. We should not be mislead by the expressions we provide in an attempt to communicate our experiences to be the experiences as such! |
| Therefore, application of science to adress this COMPLETENESS is what I take exception with. When it is established beyond doubts that THE COMPLETENESS transcends all expressions collectively, any attempt to bring the same within the framework of expressions does not make sense to me. |
| I hope that helps to resolve any contentions regarding my viewpoint. The viewpoint does not mean or attempt to insist that the it is perfect. Afterall … the viewpoint, just like any other, remains an expression as such. The very viewpoint is being built within the same framework of science (cognitive mechanism) cannot do anything better than the science - it can only help appreciate the misnomers we harbor within. If it has, the viewpoint has served its purpose :). |
| Respects. |
| Naga Narayana. |
Kartik Subbarao
[...]
> take exception with. When it is established beyond doubts that THE
> COMPLETENESS transcends all expressions collectively, any attempt to
> bring the same within the framework of expressions does not make sense
> to me.
>
> I hope that helps to resolve any contentions regarding my viewpoint.
Yes, that makes sense to me. I agree with you that when people try to
use science to reduce the COMPLETENESS to
electromagnetic/chemical/biophysical interactions, it is a futile and
pointless exercise.
>Meditation's sole purpose is to convince and pursuade the cognitive
>mechanism to pause from its perpetual purturbations so as to reveal
>the wholistic completeness in an experience with no interruptions from
>any expression as such.
Speaking of meditation, this discussion does raise another topic of
interest to me. What changes have you observed in yourself since you
started practicing meditation? For example, do you find that you are
able to maintain a higher degree of self-awareness that carries over
into your day-to-day life? Does this presence of mind enable you to
handle stressful situations better than you might have been able to in
the past? Do you find it easier to shift between different modes of
thinking -- say linear and intuitive?
Also, I'm curious to hear how you assess your meditation practice, and
how you decide whether and when to make changes to your current
technique. Are there any milestones where you have seen that you are
established in a certain level of awareness, and can incorporate
new/modified practices to further deepen your experience?
Thanks,
-Kartik
naga narayana
| Kartik, |
| Your personalized questions are a bit intriguing and difficult to answer … yet, I shall attempt :). |
| As I mentioned, the technical meditation of inverting one's senses to explore inward is ONLY to balance our lopsided outward gravitation. If one is stuck within the inward presence, I would say, the meditation has failed. Meditation is also a failure if one cannot bridge the experiences between the inward presence and outward existence. The equilibrium between inward presence and outward existence is equanimity in my understanding. Therefore, EQUANIMITY is the only reality as everything IS in perfect equilibrium across (and beyond) space and time. Perpetual awareness of such cosmic equanimity is meditation in my understanding. |
| When did I started practicing meditation? I do not know. In my understanding the process is so equanimous in nature that one would never know when it started. Have I started? If you mean the traditional Yoga techniques ... NO, I would say. I am not that disciplined yet I suppose. If you mean the life as meditation ... YES ... definitely big time. "Practicing" meditation as life has an advantage of enhancing self-awareness in day-to-day activities more positively. As a matter of fact, the meditation is released along with every birth for sure. Everyone displays the symptom of its initiation if you observe … urge to be happy and a pro-active life adaptation toward the same. |
| How to choose a technique? One way is to let the mind stay as thoughts run through it. Another way is to accelerate the mind to chase and outrun the thoughts. The effect is similar whether you queiten it or let it rage - it purges itself eventually if the witness is alert; it gets delerious if the witness is numb. The choice should be natural to be most effective. My nature is normally against sitting quite. Instead of trying to bind the mind with discipline, I often let it free to think with absolute freedom. But, above all, the life is the core technique ... it takes the form in everyone as it has evolved in the individual. |
| How to judge the technique? Intensity of disturbance within is an indicator … but, beware that often the disturbances are the gateway to purge the ignorance and settle into the expanse of silence within. |
| When and how to change the technique? Whenever you are disturbed from the very technique and by exploring the very disturbance to their eventual mitigation. |
| Has it helped me handle stressful situations? YES. DEFINITELY IT HAS HELPED ME HANDLE MYSELF MUCH BETTER IN "DIFFICULT" SITUATIONS BECAUSE THE METHOD I HAVE ADAPTED DIRECTLY SHOWS HOW "A DIFFICULTY" IS MOST PROBABLY AN IMAGINATION OR IGNORANCE FROM WITHIN! Also, it helps me "practice" the meditation irrespective of what I am involved with in life - because the understanding points to how the life ought to be the meditation and encourages one to appreciate how it IS. |
| Are there any milestones? Milestone is a limitation of ignorance we hoard. How can there be any boundaries such as these limitations to The Equanimity? Looking for milestones is a fundamental hurdle in the process. At the same time, watchfulness regarding one's own ignorance is of paramount importance. |
| How to incorporate changes into the techniques practiced? Changes in the process ... whether one likes it or not, change is perpetual. A "meditation technique" is not an exception to this cosmic reality. Everyone's meditation technique (methods to seek happiness and peace in life) perpetually evolves as the environment around and the being within interact to attain equilibrium in the very interaction as well as beyond. Again, the incremental changes are rooted in one's nature. Witness is the critical parameter here ... an active witness ... a pro-active-witness. |
| Can meditation help me to further deepen my experience? Every action, thought and silence help one to deepen one's experience. But, the fellow wanders around instead of being with the experience - here and now. Therefore, one may miss the message as one let oneself hover in the illusive past and future. Being present is the key - in the silence as well as in the actions - THAT IS MEDITATION. |
| Respects. |
| Naga Narayana. |
Kartik Subbarao
> Kartik,
> Your personalized questions are a bit intriguing and difficult to
I appreciate your candor and willingness to address this topic. This is
exactly the kind of discussion that I envisioned in creating the mailing
list.
I'd like to follow up on some of your points:
> When did I started practicing meditation? I do not know. In my
> understanding the process is so equanimous in nature that one would
> never know when it started. Have I started? If you mean the
> traditional Yoga techniques ... NO, I would say. I am not that
> disciplined yet I suppose.If you mean the life as meditation ... YES
> ... definitely big time. "Practicing" meditation as life has an
> advantage of enhancing self-awareness in day-to-day activities more
> positively. As a matter of fact, the meditation is released along
> with every birth for sure. Everyone displays the symptom of its
> initiation if you observe � urge to be happy and a pro-active life
> adaptation toward the same.
I resonate well with what you have written here. I too try to view every
life experience as an opportunity to develop deeper awareness. At the
same time, I am painfully reminded of my shortcomings whenever I'm not
acting from my highest level of awareness, and so I seek solace in the
regular (again, not as regular as I would like) practice of "formal"
yoga/meditation techniques (such as sitting and gently returning
awareness to the breath when the mind has strayed). I find that the
calmness has a positive influence on my day to day life.
> How to choose a technique? One way is to let the mind stay as
> thoughts run through it. Another way is to accelerate the mind to
> chase and outrun the thoughts. The effect is similar whether you
> queiten it or let it rage - it purges itself eventually if the
> witness is alert; it gets delerious if the witness is numb. The
> choice should be natural to be most effective. My nature is normally
> against sitting quite. Instead of trying to bind the mind with
> discipline, I often let it free to think with absolute freedom. But,
> above all, the life is the core technique ... it takes the form in
> everyone as it has evolved in the individual.
Can you elaborate on how you "accelerate the mind in an attempt to
outrun the thoughts"? I'm struggling to see how you can do that without
pouring fuel on the fire. The closest experience I can relate to is when
I'm having an unproductive line of thinking, and my self-awareness kicks
in and reframes the thoughts entirely, or channels it into a better
path. But that's not really outrunning the thoughts, it's transforming them.
> How to judge the technique? Intensity of disturbance within is an
> indicator � but, beware that often the disturbances are the gateway
> to purge the ignorance and settle into the expanse of silence within.
Agreed. Sometimes meditation brings up content that we've suppressed,
and we need to fully witness that as well. These disturbances can feel
like regression, but in reality our ability to experience them is a step
forward from where we were before.
[...]
> Witness is the critical parameter here ... an active witness ... a
> pro-active-witness.
> Can meditation help me to further deepen my experience? Every action,
> thought and silence help one to deepen one's experience. But, the
> fellow wanders around instead of being with the experience - here and
> now. Therefore, one may miss the message as one let oneself hover in
> the illusive past and future. Being present is the key - in the
> silence as well as in the actions - THAT IS MEDITATION.
Very well said.
Regards,
-Kartik
naga narayana
| Can you elaborate on how you "accelerate the mind in an attempt to outrun the thoughts"? I'm struggling to see how you can do that without pouring fuel on the fire. The closest experience I can relate to is when I'm having an unproductive line of thinking, and my self-awareness kicks in and reframes the thoughts entirely, or channels it into a better path. But that's not really outrunning the thoughts, it's transforming them. |
| As I have observed with myself, the mind gets into a miserable position in many ways. But we can broadly classify the misery into two: Rajasic Misery (mind catching up with the thoughts and actions craving for more) and Tamasic Misery (mind holding onto each thought and action fearing to loose itself if they are let go). Your question is related to Rajasic misery ... let us make an attempt to understand what it means ... |
| Mind feels stumbled or decelerated when it is let to jump around between thoughts and ideas. Unable to catch up with any, it feels frustrated. This is a typical case for a Rajasic mind. The mind is restless when is split amongst the desires. Desire's quality is to morph perpetually. Therefore, the mind that is chasing desires is required switch gears perpetually in order to keep the desires within its perview. As a result, the mind and hence the fellow who is identified with it are bound to be fragmented amongst the thoughts and ideas that seem to portray what the desires are. The very fragmentation is deceleration for the mind. Mind's nature is fluidity. But, when stuck with the ideas of diversity and even conflicts, it naturally feels constricted causing the fellow riding it feel the same. The fellow riding the mind is FREE in nature and the constraints stiffle his nature inflicting pain into his experience. |
| Acceleration of the mind in this perspective is to fight against one's crave for multitude within, gather the mind and let it latch on to one idea of its own choice. Here the multiplicity in one's objects is mitigated. This works well when we choose a reverential thought which is deeply acknowledged with respect e.g. a deity of one's personal choice such as Rama. But for a zealous mathemetician, what is zero or one may work better! The more natural the choice of thought is, the better the mind can gather itself from the rest. This is often called DhaaraNa. |
| But, still there is duality - the perceiver and the thought! To become "one", one has to merge with the thought. By nature, every thought is ethereal - extremely subtle in existence and critically agile in presence. The mind being fragile due the fractures it is daily subjected to cannot often keep peace with the thought and hence returns back more frustrated. It requires practice to bring agility back into its mind - note that agility is the nature of mind; there is nothing more agile than mind! Not even light!! As the mind becomes fit to run along the thought, it learns to synchronize with the thought. By letting the mind run along with the chosen thought and synchronize itself to become one with the thought pursued. Here, the duality is also mitigated as the seeker enters the thought to be one with it. Here, a reverential thought absorbs you better than any other. The key here is NOT LET THE SEEKER remain, but the thought. Rama should remain ... not me. This is essential for ego-reduction. The reverentiality of the target for DharaNa fructifies here. This is often called Dhyaana. |
| The next step is to let go of the thought as well. If the subject remains as THE ONE in Dhyaana, it recollects the objects back to fall back into its multiplicity. If the subject mitigates itself into the object, the object cannot remain naturally. The object drops out naturally in the absence of the subject. The unbound expanse of the peace, The Absolute, remains as ever. This is often called Nidhidhyaasa. This is what I referred to as "out-running" the thought ... the only way to achieve that is to disperse the subject completely into The Absolute Expanse ... |
| Yadaa panchaavatishThante gnyaanaani manasaa saha | |
| Buddhishcha na vicheshTate taamaahuh paramaam gatim || |
| This reminds me of the game "Quidich" of Harry Potter. The seeker (interestingly, they also call this fellow seeker!), should remove all the distractions in the rest of the game and pursue the Quidich, chase and catch it. The fellow elates that he "won" and falls back to the multiplicity. That is the doom for a seeker ... that requires us to depend on the very process again and again :(. No surprise there in your sencere statement. |
| Outrunning a thought is to absorb it completely. Transformation of a thought is the Quidich game a seeker may play. Next game is immediately ready to play after each "winning". |
| Is there anything new here? NO! The reality is the eternal union of all that one can possibly experience in the silent expanse devoid of thoughts and actions. |
| Anajadeko manaso javeeyo nainaddevaa aapnuvan poorvamarshat | |
| Taddhaavato'nyaanatyeti tishThattasminnapo maatarishwaa dadhaati || |
| The Fellow outruns everything even the mind that can outrun anything else. The only way to be THAT is for the mind to outrun itself. It outruns all thoughts … it has outrun itself … and it is THAT. |
| Is THAT not there when the mind is strained between thoughts and actions? YES, of course. |
| AngushThamaatrah purushontaraatmaa sadaa janaanaam hridaye sannivishTah | |
| Then how to experience THAT amongst the very thoughts and actions that distract one into the perceived bondage? |
| Tam swaacchhareeraatpraharenmunjaavidesheenaam dhairyeNaa | |
| One has to dare to embrace the equanimity in one's observation to see THE TRUTH amongst everything as one would extract the essence of sweetness from the sugarcane stems. |
| Once we know how to outrun a thought, we can adapt to daily living to outrun all the thoughts and actions as they pour in … stay unperturbed as they flood through you … each thought and actions has its own need and nature … let it go as they will … they will go as they ought to in spite of your efforts to distort them ... just let it go so that you are not distorted in the process ... Not attaching to any thought is verily outrunning them as well. |
| Respects. |
| Naga Narayana. |
On 08/03/2010 01:30 PM, naga narayana wrote:
> Kartik,
> Your personalized questions are a bit intriguing and difficult to
> answer … yet, I shall attempt :).
I appreciate your candor and willingness to address this topic. This is exactly the kind of discussion that I envisioned in creating the mailing list.
I'd like to follow up on some of your points:
> When did I started practicing meditation? I do not know. In my
> understanding the process is so equanimous in nature that one would
> never know when it started. Have I started? If you mean the
> traditional Yoga techniques ... NO, I would say. I am not that
> disciplined yet I suppose.If you mean the life as meditation ... YES
> ... definitely big time. "Practicing" meditation as life has an
> advantage of enhancing self-awareness in day-to-day activities more
> positively. As a matter of fact, the meditation is released along
> with every birth for sure. Everyone displays the symptom of its
> initiation if you observe … urge to be happy and a pro-active life
> adaptation toward the same.
I resonate well with what you have written here. I too try to view every life experience as an opportunity to develop deeper awareness. At the same time, I am painfully reminded of my shortcomings whenever I'm not acting from my highest level of awareness, and so I seek solace in the regular (again, not as regular as I would like) practice of "formal" yoga/meditation techniques (such as sitting and gently returning awareness to the breath when the mind has strayed). I find that the calmness has a positive influence on my day to day life.Can you elaborate on how you "accelerate the mind in an attempt to outrun the thoughts"? I'm struggling to see how you can do that without pouring fuel on the fire. The closest experience I can relate to is when I'm having an unproductive line of thinking, and my self-awareness kicks in and reframes the thoughts entirely, or channels it into a better path. But that's not really outrunning the thoughts, it's transforming them.
> How to choose a technique? One way is to let the mind stay as
> thoughts run through it. Another way is to accelerate the mind to
> chase and outrun the thoughts. The effect is similar whether you
> queiten it or let it rage - it purges itself eventually if the
> witness is alert; it gets delerious if the witness is numb. The
> choice should be natural to be most effective. My nature is normally
> against sitting quite. Instead of trying to bind the mind with
> discipline, I often let it free to think with absolute freedom. But,
> above all, the life is the core technique ... it takes the form in
> everyone as it has evolved in the individual.
> How to judge the technique? Intensity of disturbance within is an
> indicator … but, beware that often the disturbances are the gateway
> to purge the ignorance and settle into the expanse of silence within.
naga narayana
Outrunning a thought …
From The Knowledge perspective, “outrunning a thought” would be to examine the same from all possible angles to exhaust its potential set of meanings altogether to attain silence eventually. When all fathomable “meanings” have been churned out for a thought, one would realize how no meaning has any meaning except for The Silence in any thought. This is the underlying principle for all schools of meditation. Some consider the thought as an image, some as a sound, some as a word, some as an action, … and some consider the silence itself!
Please note carefully …
The thought arises from silence …
The thought is sustained within the silence as all the meanings that are trying to nourish the thought with variant meanings also arise from the same silence …
The thought eventually merges into the same silence when all its potential meanings are digested encore …
The very observation of The Silence across all the thoughts is meditation. Outrunning the thoughts would provide completeness to the process of observation and shows how each thought is also THE TRUTH (Brahman) alone. That is the reason why one would feel alive only through a thought … The Truth has packed itself in each packet of a thought or an action to provide that sense of presence and existence through them.
Mano brahmeti vyajaanaat ! Manasaa hyeva khalvimaani bhootaani jaayante | Manasaa jaataani jeevanti | Manam prayantyabhisamvishanti iti ||
Observing a single thought of how The Self emerges from the thought to illumine Itself within the thought and enter back into the same thought … is also outrunning the very thought. In this case, the observation is on The Self rather than the thought. Therefore, the attention is not on the potential “meanings” of the thought, but its ONLY reality – itself. Naturally, the thought is completely transcended.
Transcendence across all the thoughts with the observation fixed on The Self would reveal the unchanging nature of The Self irrespective of the apparent variance in terms of ITS projected meanings across the thoughts and actions. When the attention is on the unchanging silence that is the origin, support as well as destiny for all the activities, all the activities attain their “true meaning” instantly within The Absolute and loose their individual existence letting The Absolute reign as it IS and as EVER.
There is a wonderful revelation from RamaNa Maharshi (Ullad naarpad - Reality in forty verses) …
Ulladalad ull unarv ullado ?
Ulla porul ullal ara ullatte ulladaal !
Ullam enum ulla porul ullal evan ?!
Ullatte ullabadi ullade ullal unar !!
I have dared to translate this to Kannada …
Iralaarada oLa-iruvu iruvudentu ?
OLa-arivu oLage nintu horage baaradu !
Horabaarada oLa-tiLivanu porevudentu ?!
OLa-iruvina arivinalle iruvikeya tiLivu tiLi !!
What I understand from this is …
How can there be a sense of existence/presence without something being within?
The being within is present without seeking anything!
How to seek the one within that seeks nothing?! and, who can seek That??!!
Understand that "you can" seek the one within only by being within seeking nothing!!!
That verily is meditation my dear friend.
Respects.
Naga Narayana.
Kartik Subbarao
> Kartik,
> boundaries ... you asked ... some thoughts flowed out ...
You said that you are not disciplined enough to practice the traditional
techniques, and yet here you are casting a methodical view into several
steps of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga! :-)
I particularly liked this insight:
>Desire's quality is to morph perpetually. Therefore, the mind that is
>chasing desires is required switch gears perpetually in order to keep
>the desires within its perview. As a result, the mind and hence the
>fellow who is identified with it are bound to be fragmented amongst
>the thoughts and ideas that seem to portray what the desires are. The
>very fragmentation is deceleration for the mind.
>
>Mind's nature is fluidity. But, when stuck with the ideas of diversity
>and even conflicts, it naturally feels constricted causing the fellow
>riding it feel the same.
[...]
>note that agility is the nature of mind; there is nothing more agile
>than mind! Not even light!!
This is so true. On those days where I think the most clearly, my mind
is very agile. It's no problem for me to shift perspectives, pick up and
drop thoughts and feelings without hanging onto them beyond their
usefulness. But on days where I feel the most foggy, my mind is subject
to a heavy barrage of the Rajasic and Tamasic miseries that you mention.
>Acceleration of the mind in this perspective is to fight against one's
>crave for multitude within, gather the mind and let it latch on to one
>idea of its own choice. Here the multiplicity in one's objects is
>mitigated.
Ok -- now I see what you mean. You're accelerating the encumbered mind
to its *natural*, agile state. In this state, the mind isn't chasing
after the very thoughts that it generates.
> Once we know how to outrun a thought, we can adapt to daily living to
> outrun all the thoughts and actions as they pour in � stay unperturbed
> as they flood through you � each thought and actions has its own need
> and nature � let it go as they will � they will go as they ought to in
> spite of your efforts to distort them ... just let it go so that you are
> not distorted in the process ... Not attaching to any thought is verily
> outrunning them as well.
Yes, I can see the implications. If our mind is rehabilitated into its
natural state where it is faster than its thoughts, then it won't brood
over any of them. It's operating at a higher frequency where there is no
interference :-)
Thanks very much for the explanation.
-Kartik
Kartik Subbarao
> The very observation of The Silence across all the thoughts is
> meditation. Outrunning the thoughts would provide completeness to the
> process of observation and shows how each thought is also THE TRUTH
> (Brahman) alone. That is the reason why one would feel alive only
> thought or an action to provide that sense of presence and existence
> through them.
Your comment reminds me of this famous quote by Victor Hugo: "There is
nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come". Such ideas are
veritable avatars of thought :-)
-Kartik