05/10/2025
Thank you Himalayan Yoga 🫶🏼 what wonderful wisdom
Purification of thoughts and emotions – to prevent internal disturbances from extraneous thoughts and sentiments arising during meditation one needs to practice purifications such as:
- the five yamas: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, abstinence from sensual indulgence, non-possessiveness
- the five niyamas: purity, contentment, practices that lead to perfection of body and mind and senses, study that leads to knowledge of the Self, surrender to the ultimate reality
- the four brahma-viharas or right attitudes: friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked. (YS.I.33)
- the antidotes to disturbing thoughts, prati-paksha-bhavana (YS.II.33) to ward off the thoughts (vi-tarkas) opposed to the yamas, niyamas, and brahma-viharas (YS.II.34), and so forth.
The practice of these leads to ethical behaviour, thereby loosening the bonds of karma, and chitta-pra-sadana, clarity and purification of mind, making the mind pleasant and clear, and thereby sthiti-ni-bandhana, firming up the physical and mental stability and steadiness in life and during meditation.
It is not as simple as it appears. For example, the preceptors in the Himalayan tradition state that they are able to sit in one posture for long hours because they are emotionally stable and undisturbed, and they have practised certain special mantras and ta***ic concentrations after having been initiated into states energizing the muladhara-chakra.
Just reading a scholarly commentary on the Yoga-sutras’ sutra on asana will not help the disciple accomplish such a state; the entire integral system must be followed. For example, if one has mastered a meditation posture through hatha practices and can keep that posture for some time, this will not prevent him from feeling a sensation of moving and swaying etc. (YS.I.31) that many meditators suffer from.
Another aspect of purification is the conquest of the vikshepas, nine disturbances in the path of concentration: sickness, mental laziness, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, sloth, craving for sense-pleasure, false perception, despair caused by failure to concentrate and unsteadiness in concentration (YS.I.30), and their five accompaniments: grief, despondency, trembling of the body and irregular breathing (YS I.31).
Without such a conquest one will remain bound to the first three states of mind: turbulent (kshipta), stupefied, (mudha), distracted by the vikshepas (vi-kshipta) and will not be able to move to the next ground (bhumi), being one-pointed (ekagra) and then totally controlled (ni-ruddha) in samadhi.
For the conquest of these distractions special methods are employed in the Himalayan oral traditions. For example, the involuntary physical movement or swaying, or sensation of swaying even without a perceptible movement is overcome by purifying the emotions ,certain mantras, and meditating in the preceptor’s presence which helps steady the sadhaka’s mind.
Recommended Readings:
Night Birds by Swami Veda Bharati
Meditation and Its Practice by Swami Rama
The Royal Path by Swami Rama
Choosing a Path by Swami Rama
SOURCE-
Ahymsin
Association of Himalayan Yoga Meditation Societies International (AHYMSIN) is a world-wide affiliation of centers and initiates.
