Name of the Book: The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga
Author: Dr. Paul Brunton
Edition: First Indian Edition
Reprint 1986
Publisher: B I Publications Pvt.
Ltd.
Pages: 92 – 119
Chapter V: The
Philosophical Discipline
Seven
Psychological Qualifications
1. The Truth Above All
Strong yearning to find
truth… Not many are born with such an attribute of loving truth for its own
sake, for ordinarily the mind does not want to exert itself to find it. Those
others who active it later in life usually do so out of the depths of agonized
suffering, tragic loss or disappointment with religion or mysticism. It may
also arise from personal contact with a genuine sage.
Truth demands a deep
devotion before revealment. Very few want it so strongly. Most men and women
may be interested in it as a hobby or for polite intellectual discussion, but
stop short at permitting it to tincture their lives.
They are soon tested on
this quest, anyhow. The right kind of seeker will pursue it to the end and then
accept it whatever its taste, be it like poison or like nectar.
2. Hold On and Hope On.
It will be quite natural
therefore for anyone who feels such a strong truth-ward yearning to strive in
consequence to possess the second qualification, which is an enduring
determination to take up the quest of truth and preserve, come what may, until
the goal is reached.
Defeatist moods of mind and
heart will inevitably blow over him and go, but the determination to carry on
with the quest must remain. Mental chameleons who change the color of their
goal with every year cannot suit this path.
He must know how to
continue with studies that yield no immediate fruit and how to wait for the
favored moment of illumination. Time is thus a factor which must be allowed
for.
3. Think
The third required
characteristic is thinking power, an intelligence sufficiently vigorous to
weigh the relative importance of things or validity of statements correctly and
not merely conventionally… Things are not always what they appear to be.
We must think, we must act,
not for ourselves but for truth.
Philosophy cannot become
intelligible without much mental effort; it is hard to follow – so hard that
the effort is often like trying to walk on a logical tight-rope without losing
balance...
The ultimate ideal is a
mind as keen as a Toledo sword-blade that the steely thrust of its thought may
effectively pierce delusions and fancies, sentiments and superstitions.
4. Inner Detachment
Attitude of inner
detachment from both the unpleasant episodes and pleasant attractions which
constitute the nadir and zenith of mundane living.
Whatever misfortune the
turning wheel of destiny may bring to the forefront of the student’s life, he
must cultivate a hidden indifference, and whatever enjoyment or desires rule
the hour he should not be so strongly attached to them that he cannot let them
quickly go if need be.
His attachments create
mental favoritism and thus prevent his reaching a fair impartial attitude when
weighing evidence, pursuing enquiries or delivering judgment. Moreover, such a
qualification is needed so that the seeker may not be drawn aside from his
quest by temporary allurements.
All worldly attractions,
all earthly possessions, all human relationships, all sensual pleasures as well
as their objects may die or disappear tomorrow. When he sees that everything is
relative and everyone is transient he will understand that they can yield only
a relative and transient happiness to him at the best.
There are other minds,
however, which may not be so sharp as to see the need of such an attitude and
yet they will arrive at it all the same, as the outcome of certain experiences
through which they have passed. In them it arises out of great suffering,
bitter loss, sudden shock, unsuccessful striving or profound danger. Sorrow
leads to understanding. Every tear becomes a tutor.
It does not imply ascetic
running away from human life nor turning away from personal activity nor even
estrangement from common enjoyments.
He who possesses it may
outwardly partake of all the same routine existence of family obligations, work
and pleasure as others, but deep down in his heart he will evaluate it at its
true worth as being transitory and un-abiding.
He may act in the same way
as others, but will not get lost in his action. The man will be as firm and
matter-of-fact in his practical dealings as any business executive, but duty
will motivate him more than desire.
The zest for accurate
measurement by the logical mind need not displace the appreciation of charm and
atmosphere by the sensitive heart; there is plenty of room in for both.
5. Concentration, Calmness and Reverie.
Occult experiences,
extraordinary visions and similar abnormal happenings will only hinder his
progress in philosophy if he pays them undue attention.
The first of these points
is the power to regulate the thoughts and master attention, and then to
concentrate fully in any required direction.
The power to become
completely absorbed in the subject in hand can then be unfolded. The meaning of
such concentration is extreme attentiveness to the topic under consideration,
never permitting it to lapse through laziness or fatigue.
The faculty of fixing
attention at will and retaining it ultimately helps to burn a way through the
hardest intellectual problems.
The second factor of
philosophic importance to be sought after in the mystic discipline is equipoise
– a calm, steady and even disposition of mind which will withstand shocks.
When passions rage strongly
within a man, when anger flares up too frequently or when desires threaten to
submerge him, he becomes unbalanced.
Essential factor is the
capacity to re-orientate the attention at will from the world of concrete
things to the world of abstract thoughts. Many a practical man of business or
industrial affairs possesses a keen sharp mind but is yet unable to move amid
abstract ideas because he can apply his attention only to concrete objects.
Every philosopher must
possess these three qualities of concentration, calmness and reverie.
Composure of mental peace
is an essential prelude to the undisturbed investigation of truth. The man who
cannot keep conflicts and anxieties out of his mind will not be able to keep
his attention uninterruptedly fixed on philosophic matters.
Excitement darkens
intelligence, that sound well-balanced judgment cannot be delivered when the
mind is full of wrath; but both are dismissed or disappear under the calming
influence of yoga. Even if a man possesses sharp understanding he may injure
its philosophic value if he uses it when he is angry. The mind must be
emotionally free for study.
The mystic who unfolds
reverie and calmness through meditation and stops there, intent upon enjoying
the peace or ecstasy he may feel, will remain in ignorance of the supreme truth
about life although he will have gone farther than others in self-knowledge. He
may feel happy, but he will not be wise.
It must also be repeated
that only when meditation is correctly practice is it likely to be useful for
this quest or indeed any other. When wrongly done or when carried to excess it
becomes a hindrance to philosophic activity, breeding fresh evils, whims and
fancies which will need to be overcome and which were not formerly present. It
should be practiced within suitable limits.
6. Discipline Emotion and Purify Character
At every stage of
philosophical research the student must suppress his emotions and sentiments
whenever they come into sharp conflict with reason. Strong gusts of
emotionalism therefore provide a barricade against which the attacks of reason
are futile.
Two powerful emotions –
hate and greed – are together responsible for many of the crimes in world
history. The passions engendered by sex are responsible for terrible troubles.
Human desires in particular
are extremely competent to seduce reason. A student may in a hypothetical case
even have a sharply developed mind and yet his attachment through desire may
make him favour his belief in the ultimate materiality of the physical world
when all proof might point to its ultimate nature being essentially mind-stuff.
The learner’s liking or disliking of certain facts or certain experiences has
nothing to do with their truth or with their reality.
Wishful thinking is always
pleasant but often unprofitable.
Every emotion becomes
potentially dangerous when it takes upon itself the task of guiding reason
instead of letting reason guide it.
Student is not asked to
kill intimate emotion and destroy warm feeling; that indeed is quite
impossible; he is asked only to keep them subordinate to reason and not let
them when contrary to it rise to the top of his being.
Emotion is a part of man’s
nature and is therefore incapable of elimination; it must be given its fit
place in his life, but reason must direct its course whenever the two come into
collision.
It is generally easier for
men to follow this path than for woman, although Nature compensates by
rendering the mystic path easier for women.
Philosophy is better suited
to those who are nearing middle age than to the youthful. The younger are more
quickly moved by emotion and passion than their elders, who, possessing riper,
experience in unwritten discipline of life, are more level-headed.
7. Give up the Ego
Every man who has not
undergone the philosophic discipline is inclined to rate his own judgments far
more highly than they merit.
It is a pathological fact
that the various forms of insanity and mental disorder are rooted in the ego
and all the obsessions and complexes are likewise connected with the ‘I’.
When ego becomes the centre
of obsessive states we meet with minds narrowed by religious bigotry or clouded
by metaphysical meandering…
Those who have the
strongest personal views are the most difficult to lead the truth. Jesus said:
“Except ye become as little children ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of
heaven.” It means the childlike mind and not the childish mind. It means
putting aside all prejudices born from experience and all preconceptions born
from earlier thought …
The student’s quest after
truth begins with dependence on authority, rises to the use of logic and later
of reason, progresses to the cultivation of intuition and of mystical
experience, and culminates in the development of ultra mystic insight.
*-*-*-*
Name of the Book: The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga
Author: Dr. Paul Brunton
Edition: First Indian Edition
Reprint 1986
Publisher: B I Publications Pvt.
Ltd.
Pages: 92 – 119
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