The Ekagra Chitta

Every situation has an impression on our Minds. The impressions are your experiences and opinions of so many people around you. Even though you may only consciously remember a few things, our Mind stores such information, all we have experienced, called the Anubhava, is saved in our Mind's memory bank, also called the Chitta. Now, if you notice what is saved in your memory, you will realise that every little impression from childhood is held in Chitta.

The Negative Impressions:

If you fail continuously in a subject, there will be a negative opinion about you in school, to the extent that someone must have told you or given you the impression that "You are not good enough", and this impression is saved in your Chitta. And while growing up, this becomes more like a deep-rooted belief. However, it was an opinion of your school teacher or a student who judged you based on your results at that moment. You may have failed only twice due to sickness or lack of preparation. The person you are today has nothing to do with that failure, but the impression stays with you. In your subconscious Mind, you carry this impression for many years and sometimes for many lifetimes. The impressions or the words are part of your life and trouble you now and then. Impressions such as "I am not loved enough" can be something you gathered in this life as a child, but this impression is your insecurity which reflects in all your relationships. Such impressions can also be passed on from parents.

We love our parents, but we forget they are regular people with their share of trauma and "impressions". And they do their best to live a happy life, but trauma and negative impressions stay on and get passed to the next generation. Things like financial difficulty can be a deep-rooted belief of a parent, and the child starts carrying that baggage.

The method to let go of all these negative impressions from our Chitta is Yoga. Yoga is not about only Asanas; the world assumes so and does not work beyond Asanas. Yoga is a way of life; when Yoga happens, life changes. But one needs to create an environment for Yoga to happen. The second Sutra of "The Yoga Sutras" is more like a definition of what Yoga does to us.

Yoga and Chitta:

So here is the second Sutra from "The Yoga Sutras". ( Second poem from The Yoga Sutras)

“Yogascha Chitthi Vritti Nirodhah”

This means Yoga is the control (nirodhah, regulation, channelling, mastery, integration, stilling, or quieting) of the Mind's modifications or impressions (gross and subtle thought patterns) of the Mind field (Chitta).

The deeper meaning is about the Mind and meditation. The possibility of mediation happens when the thoughts disappear. Meditation belongs to one pointed Mind. Where there are no disturbances from any impressions, which also means the images need to disappear.

This one-pointed concentration(Ekagra Chitta) is not the highest level of achievement, as per Yoga. After one reaches this stage, the Yogi strives to the next level, The Controlled Mind(Nirudha). At this stage, The Mind works like an instrument called Antara Karanam (internal Instrument). Now this Instrument is yours; you can use it to write a book or do complex scientific research. A focused and controlled mind will change someone's life forever.

One may do all the Yoga Asanas and still need not reach this level, and someone who does very little Asana practice can reach this stage. That is why I always believe you understand Yoga when Yoga happens to you. You may have been doing the asanas all the while. But that is not Yoga; Yoga is a science of the here and now. We are always hoping, dreaming, expecting, regretting or just living in the past glory. So if Yoga has to happen to you, you must live in the NOW and be in the present because the reality is in the present, neither in the future nor in the past. Being hopeful of finding something from Yoga is going to be futile as you gain hope in the future.

Let Yoga happen to you; then you become a Yogi with complete control over your Mind.

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