Herein lies the essence of Patanjali’s Raja Yoga:
Continuing with the automotive analogy, last week we said our conscious mind (the aspect we hear; our thinking mind) has three forward gears (correct, incorrect and imagined), reverse (memories) and neutral.
But what fuels those conscious thoughts [aside from the bio-magnetic energy that literally keeps our heart beating, lungs breathing, and mind thinking]?
There are five fuel (energetic) impurities or mental blockages (“emotions”) that affect how well our body/mind functions. To the extent they are present, all five can affect our every conscious thought.
The first is “Ignorance”. This gets right to the heart of Patanjali’s Raja Yoga; overcome this obstacle to continuous clear, correct thinking and you’re virtually home free! Herein “ignorance” has nothing to do with our aptitude or IQ; rather, it simply refers to whether or not we are aware of the distinction between our thoughts and the awareness OF our thoughts:
thoughts are evidence of our conscious mind; awareness OF our thoughts is evidence of our consciousness.
The other four impurities to clear, correct, completely objective, balanced thinking are a consequence of Ignorance: Ego, Attraction, Aversion and Fear.
The objective of the mental discipline of Raja Yoga is to continuously think clearly and correctly – recognizing that
our emotions affect our thoughts which precipitate our behavior which accounts for most of what bothers us!!
I’m here to help. Blessings, Skip
❤😊🕉
