I’m a spiritual guide like a priest or rabbi, though my faith comes from Patanjali, father of Raja Yoga. I teach Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, a 3,000 year old, 200 line poem outlining the science of transcending the mind to experience consciousness (i.e., to become “enlightened”).
Patanjali’s poem has four parts. About halfway through the first part (sutra 1.20), he lists a sequence of energetic experiences you’re likely to have along the journey. Here’s what Edwyn F. Bryant*, says about this line of Patanjali’s poem [paraphrasing]:
FAITH – Vyasa [universally recognized as the original authoritative commentator on Patanjali’s work] states that faith sustains like a benevolent mother; it supports the yogi until the very end.
VIGOR – comes from deep faith, which the commentators take to be the pursuit of the eight limbs of yoga described in the second part of the poem; in other words, faith inspires an energetic pursuit of enlightenment.
MEMORY – vigor produces memory, which is understood by Vyasa to mean an undisturbed mind.
MEDITATION – a focused state of mind facilitates un-deviated concentration on an object.
DISCERNMENT – as a result of the complete absence of distraction in the final stage of meditation, discernment, the ability to see things as they really are, manifests. The ultimate act of discrimination is to realize the distinction between mind and consciousness: the latter [the Holy Grail of Patanjali’s poem] witnesses the former.
God bless, Allan
*source: Edwin F. Bryant’s “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: a new edition, translation, and commentary with insights from the traditional commentators”
