What The Yoga Sutras Taught Me About Regulating My Consciousness
Worldviews, clouded perceptions & fluctuations of consciousness
The Yoga Sutras written by Patanjali some 2500 years ago explore the various stages of self-realization. Its clear and concise aphorisms allow the practitioner to expand her consciousness and attain the ultimate goal of yoga which is to become one with God.
The individual soul (atman) and the Universal spirit (brahman) are entangled in a cosmic gameplay of self-exploration. The former separates itself because the latter wants to intrinsically experience the creation from within. Through this separation, the brahman explores its multidimensional existence only to integrate all its pieces over time and become whole again.
But the laws of the physical world being governed by cause and effect tangle the individual soul in the web of life.
The separation we experience from God is not a natural state of being but rather a product of our disconnected worldview that rejects the very premise that spiritual laws can govern the physical world. As eternal spiritual beings of light, our soul has the potential to stay connected with the source even in this physical realm.
We live in an era of polarizing frequencies regulated by duality and it has conditioned us to believe in only two perspectives of reality. Things are either right or wrong, good or bad, love or hate, yours or mine, etc. But the absolute truth is beyond the projections of our perception. It comes from a space of love and oneness.
This disconnected perception of reality only creates karma, which in turn strengthens the web of life and refrains the soul from returning to God, the source of eternal bliss.
The Bhagavad Gita says,
“The enlightened sages call those persons wise, whose every action is free from the desire for material pleasures and who have burnt the reactions of work in the fire of divine knowledge.”
What Causes Your Perception To Get Clouded?
The shiny materialistic objects you long for are more often than not the desires of your ego and not your soul. Your perception inevitably gets clouded as you interact with the external world.
Thus, Patanjali describes the individual consciousness (citta) as fluid because just like water it has the tendency to become cloudy.
When citta is exposed to the objects of the world it gets imprinted by it through its five senses of perception. Once imprinted, citta becomes attached to the object and gets modified by it.
This thereby results in engrossing thoughts of the object clouding your citta from its true desires. For instance, when you hold on to someone or something that does not serve your highest good, your perception becomes clouded by the unrealistic expectations of the situation.
It results in a fluctuating state of consciousness, also called vrittis that distort the very expression of your soul. Hence, yoga is also referred to as citta vritti nirodha, meaning the cure for the fluctuations of the mind.
To possess the object, your citta identifies with it so strongly that it projects itself into the outer world triggered by the object’s thoughts and emotions. This in turn brings about a change in your behavior and mood giving rise to citta-vritti.
The law of attraction teachings utilizes this attribute of citta to manifest one’s desires. Usually coupled with techniques such as creative visualization and embodying the emotions of the fulfilled state, it elicits an integral change in your thoughts and emotions which subsequently results in actions that are in alignment with your desired state of reality.
If left unregulated, citta’s clouded perception naturally attracts the dominant worldview it identifies with. Just like water, it does not discriminate against the object it harbors.
Visualizing Citta
To visualize the citta, imagine an optical lens with no light of its own placed directly above a source of pure light, the soul. The inner surface of the lens facing the light remains pure, this is your true self which often speaks to you through your voice of conscience.
On the other hand, the upper surface of the lens is the aspect of your citta that is connected to the outer world via your sense of perception and the mind. It has the tendency to become clouded and is separate from the inner face of the citta, the latter being more connected with the soul.
How I Regulate My Citta?
This knowledge has tremendously helped me regulate my inner world. Knowing the two facets of citta, I can identify which stimulus is triggered by the ego and which by my intuition.
The voice of my ego is loud and exciting. It demands instant gratification, is outcome-driven and desires control. On the other hand, the voice my intuition and conscience is subtle. Oblivious of my intuition, I would habitually overlook or second-guess its premonitions only to later be exasperated by its “I knew it in my gut” feeling. She speaks from a space of love and does not impose herself unlike the ego, but also does not sugarcoat or get lost in fantasy. Her words are often contradictory to the ego and can momentarily even be hurting.
This awareness has led me to surrender more and let go of control. The more I did so, the more I could neutralize my neurotic ego making space for my inner citta to shine through.
Living in the present moment has always been a challenge for me. Tormenting myself about my past or getting lost in the reveries of the future was my way of life. However, with this awareness, I’ve learned to embrace the present moment. I am now taking conscious actions, and doing what needs to be done to actively build the future I’ve always desired. I realized that letting go of attachments is really the key to regaining control in life and it brings about a sense of peace like never before.
