THE CRISIS — A MIRROR
The Story of Patanjali –
Once there was confusion in the entire world. It was chaos and people did not know the right way to live. There was so much sorrow in the world. Unaware of what is to be done, the people of the world approached their savior, Lord Vishnu. Reclining on the serpent Adishesha , amid the Ocean of Milk, Lord Vishnu listened to the pleas of the suffering humans. Their hands folded in the Anjali (namaste) mudra , people ardently prayed. Into their hands fell a half-human- half serpent form and thus the world got Patanjali ( Path — to fall, Anjali — folded hands in prayer/respect).
Thus Patanjali, an incarnation of the Adhishesha , came down to Earth at a time of distress. Patanjali gave three solutions to help humankind, Yoga for the mind, Grammar for clear communication, and Ayurveda for Body ailments.
The World situation is not quite different from the time when the Humans approached Lord Vishnu. If there is any time appropriate for us to look at what solutions Patanjali gave, I think, the time is NOW. It amazes me when I try to relate my understandings of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I believe you all would agree with me, after reading this article, the fact that these solutions apply to the present situation many thousand years later.
Yoga for the Mind
The Yoga Sutra’s of Patanjali describes in detail the entity — The mind. When a person is not in Yoga i.e the activities of the mind are not in control, he fails to see his true Self. At such times the activities of the mind take over. Patanjali says there are five different activities that a mind does namely,
PRAMANA - Right Understanding
VIPARYAYA - Incorrect Understanding
VIKALPA - Imagination
NIDRA - Sleep
SMRITI - Memory
The mind of a person is constantly in any one of these activities or multiple activities at any given time. Patanjali says that such activities can either result in Pain or No Pain.
Let us try to understand this, concerning the current context, the second Covid wave.
PRAMANA
Most of us would want to have a right understanding of the situation so that we can be in control of it rather than letting the situation control us.
So as per the present guidelines, the right understanding of a situation is following some of the rules laid down such as wearing masks, building immunity through eating the right food, cleaning hands, maintaining social distancing, etc. The right understanding of a situation would also including isolating and testing oneself in case of early onset of symptoms. Now all these actions of right understanding can give Pain (i.e. staying away from dear ones, a lot of restrictions to normal living) or can also give No Pain (i.e. no spreading the infection to others, not worsening one’s infection, etc)
VIPARYAYA
Viparyaya — not a correct understanding. If we are not aware of the right ways of isolation, or the right methods of wearing masks or cleaning hands then we do it the incorrect way. In terms of ignoring symptoms, interpreting it the wrong way, or not giving it enough attention because of our inherent fears can also be incorrect understanding. In most cases, an incorrect understanding can give us NO PAIN in the short term and PAIN in the long term when the mistakes become apparent.
VIKALPA
Vikalpa or Imagination is an inherent capacity of the human mind. Our Imaginations are based mostly on our experiences or the experiences of others about which we see or hear. No wonder in times of Panic, Vikalpa functions maximum. With most people and the news coverage only the worst outcomes of the pandemic, we immediately associate with such experiences. Say, someone who is close to us has tested positive for Covid, our imaginations run wild fueled by our fears, the result of such a vikalpa is PAIN. However, there are those few who use the imagination for the hope of healing, a better tomorrow and, imagination might give them NO PAIN.
NIDRA
Sleep is also classified as an activity of the mind by Patanjali. While a good well-rested sleep does heal and causes NO PAIN, the distressed mind sees its worst fears as dreams in asleep. Then the activity of sleep does cause PAIN.
SMRITI
Memory is a very important activity of the mind. Without memory, we cannot have a successful physical daily living. Say we do not have any memory of how to reach our house or how to operate the telephone or any other gadget. Life is not going to be easy. However, memory does not always do good. If we recollect the worst outcomes of the pandemic constantly, we will not be confident in handling a challenge that comes by. With such a mindset, helping care for a Covid patient is going to be difficult for the patient and for us. The correct recollection of a valuable thing will cause NO PAIN whereas the memory projecting unnecessary recollections is going to result in PAIN.
If we carefully observe, all these activities happen simultaneously. For instance, a memory can trigger a fear which will make us imagine the worst. In such panic, we can’t gain the right understanding and result in having an incorrect understanding of the situation. From incorrect understandings, we act, and in turn these result in incorrect outcomes which add to the sufferings we face.
The Yoga sutra says Yoga is Chitta Vritti Nirodhah i.e controlled activities of the mind is Yoga. This is a very basic understanding of sutra.
While facing a challenge that life throws at us, especially the likes of Covid, we would want the right understanding or Pramana to prevail. This would help us take the necessary actions. If we let all the activities of the mind run all over the place, it is not going to result in a beneficial outcome.
Is it not amazing that words written many thousand years backstay valid and applicable in the current context? We all have a responsibility, each one of us, to understand the workings of our mind. Such an understanding will not only help us be free of suffering but will also help reduce the suffering we cause others by our thoughts words and actions. We all know what goes around comes around.
Cheers
Aravind Subramanian
