The Three Transformations: Part II

The interplay between Samaadhi and Nirodha Parinaam

Note: This article is a continuation of last week’s article, which you can find here:

The Three Transformations: Part I

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Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.

In meditation, and indeed throughout life, the mind transforms across three axes:

1. Dharma (धर्म): Primary characteristic

2. Lakshanaa (लक्षणा): State

3. Avasthaa (अवस्था): Temporal condition

These axes of transformation apply beyond the mind, to the external world as well. In this article, however, we will focus on the interplay of these transformations within the mind.

The mind is ultimately nothing but samskaaras, or seeds, rising and setting in the form of thoughts - called pratyayas. These pratyayas combine to form what we know as vrittis - the thought patterns that we know and love.

Vrittis - or mental whirlpools - as we have discussed, are of five types - knowledge (through perception, inference, and trusted testimony), error, imagination, memory, and sleep.

However, these vrittis are made up of smaller units of individual mental movements - just like an image on a screen is made up of pixels.

For more on vrittis, you can take a look at the article here:

When looking at a pot, the truth of the matter is that you are looking at nothing but clay (the “pot” is just a superimposed name for the specific form of clay).

That is, all effects are nothing but their material cause.

In the same way, vrittis are nothing but pratyayas, and pratyayas are nothing but samskaaras in a different form. In this way, the mind is nothing but samskaaras, or mental impressions, that rise and set like the rising and setting sun.

The Dharma (धर्म) - the primary characteristic, or nature - of the mind, is defined by the type of samskaara.

As we know, there are two types of samskaaras - vyutthaana (gesticulating, or outward), and nirodha (inward), depending on whether the particular impression takes the mind closer to bhoga (experience), or closer to apavarga (liberation).

There are only two things that the Universe of experience can provide - bhoga (ie. experience or enjoyment), and apavarga (ie. freedom or liberation). These two are diametrically opposed to each other. Vyutthaana Samskaaras, or outgoing tendencies, are those tendencies which pull our attention towards bhoga. On the other hand, Nirodha Samskaaras, or inward tendencies, are those tendencies which pull our attention towards apavarga. Attention naturally follows the tendencies in the mind, just like a ball automatically rolls downwards. Therefore, generating more nirodha samskaaras helps to create even more nirodha samskaaras, thus accelerating the path to freedom. The opposite is also true.

Now the mind can move in a spectrum of two possible states - scattered or focused. It may feel like we have many things in our mind at a given time - many threads at once. On the other hand, the mind can be entirely set on only a single object for a given time.

This axis is known as lakshanaa (लक्षणा) - state, or indication.

Notice, the mind - the substratum (aka dharmi, धर्मी), is qualified first by the type of samskaaraa - outward or inward. This is further qualified by whether the mind is focused or scattered.

These axes are independent of each other.

That is, the mind can be focused on a vyutthaana (outward) samskaara or a nirodha samskaara, and the mind can also be scattered between several nirodha samskaaras or can be focused on a single nirodha samskaara.

In today’s article, we will go over some examples of the interplay between these two axes of transformation, and see how they may apply in our day-to-day lives, and in our practice.

Specifically, we will go over the following four categories:

1. Vyutthaana Sarvaarthataa: Outward scattering

2. Vyutthaana Ekaagrataa: Outward focus

3. Nirodha Sarvaarthataa: Inward scattering

4. Nirodha Ekaagrataa: Inward focus

Vyutthaana Sarvaarthataa: Outward scattering

This is the classic image of a scattered mind.

In this state, the person may be thinking about work in one moment, and in the following moment the attention will suddenly get drawn to a thought about dinner. The next moment the person will start thinking about doing the laundry, and shortly start thinking about their plans for the weekend.

The workings of a mind in the state of vyutthaana sarvaarthataa, or outward scattering.

Here, the content of the samskaaras that are activating into thought relates to bhoga - or sensory experience - physical or mental.

In this way, they are vyutthaana, or outward. Work, dinner, laundry, and weekend plans are all nothing but particular combinations of the activation of the five senses, and the mind is drawn to them because there is an underlying belief - avidya - that cultivating these thoughts, or taking them seriously, will bring happiness.

Not only are the samskaaras outward, the mind is scattered between several of them. It flits from one to the next fairly quickly - unable to hold on to a single one for an extended period of time.

This state is sarvaarthataa - where the mind is seemingly scattered in many directions at once.

Vyutthaana Ekaagrataa: Outward focus

Here, the mind is focused, but the content is a vyutthaana, or outward samskaara.

Consider a time that you were completely engaged with a sense pleasure. For example, try to remember a time that you went to a restaurant with a group of friends, and the food was absolutely amazing.

In situations like this, we may notice that an otherwise talkative group falls silent as they enjoy their meals. Why is this the case?

Sense pleasure can have the power of focusing the mind completely. In this example, everyone’s minds suddenly became overtaken with the pleasure of good taste, and their attention is completely drawn to it. As a result, there is no attention left for conversation, and the group falls silent.

This is also true for other sense pleasures.

For example, you may notice the mind become completely focused when watching a good movie, or when listening to good music.

What’s more, this can also be true of dislikes.

For example, if someone dislikes a person, the mind very easily focuses on that person when a thought about them arises. This is the reason that gossip or speaking ill of others can be so engaging.

The mind is easily drawn to vrittis which are coloured with kleshas such as attraction, but also aversion. We can see this in action when you dislike a person and someone has gossip to share about them. This focused state of mind is known as vyutthaana ekaagrataa, or outward focus.

Here, the state of the mind is focused - ie. there is ekaagrataa, or one-pointedness. However, the content of the samskaara is outward - vyutthaana.

Nirodha Sarvaarthataa: Inward scattering

This is the category into which the untamed horse analogy described in last week’s article falls, where the mind moves between different aspects of the same aalambanaa. If you have a regular meditation practice, you may recognize this category as times when you cannot decide between aalambanaas, or different aspects of the same aalambanaa.

For example, if you use your breath, you may notice the mind wandering between the sensations at the belly, the feeling of air touching your nostrils, the sound of the breath, the coolness of the inhale, or the warmth of the exhale.

One method to train the mind to become more focused in meditation is to at first allow it room to roam within your aalambanaa. Then, gradually reduce the boundary of your aalambanaa until it arrives at a single point. In the image above, the example of the breath is used, where at first the mind can be “allowed” to roam along several points (marked in orange). Gradually, these “allowable” points are reduced to just one. This is how to transition the mind between sarvaarthataa (all-pointedness) to ekaagrataa (one-pointedness).

It may also be seen in a Yogi who is constantly switching between different teachers, different schools of philosophy, or different texts.

For example, a person may pick up the Bhagavad Gita one day, not finish it, pick up the Vivekachudamani the next day, not finish it, pick up the Yoga Sutras the following day, and so on.

Or, one may listen to Alan Watts one day, Krishnamurti the next day, and Swami Sarvapriyananda the following day, without any particular direction or focus to their learning.

Many seekers begin with a number of different focus areas, often cutting across various schools, teachers, or modalities. This state of mind is known as nirodha sarvaarthataa, or inward scattering.

To be clear, this is not “bad” - there is no judgement of good or bad in Yoga, just what is helpful or unhelpful for a certain goal.

What’s more, depending on the person, a mind scattered between several nirodha samskaaras may be much more helpful than whatever they were doing previously, and can even be a sign of significant progress.

For example, they may otherwise have been focused on thoughts of money, power, or sense pleasures, which are vyutthaana in nature. However, ultimately, if Moksha (ie. freedom) is the goal, this lack of focus must be dropped in favour of ekaagrataa - or one-pointedness, even for a nirodha samskaara.

In Yoga, the fact of focus, and the quality of the samskaara is more important than the specific content (ie. Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita, Islam, Buddhism, etc.).

As long as the samskaaras are nirodha, and the mind is in a state of ekaagrataa, progress will happen.

To summarize this, the state of the mind in this scenario - the lakshanaa - is scattered, there is sarvarthataa.

However, the samskaara is nirodha - that is it is an inward samskaara, closer to the Self than sense pleasures or worldly (or otherworldly) thoughts.

Nirodha Ekaagrataa: Inward focus

This is the state of mind that helps to deepen meditation and speed up progress. Here, the mind is focused completely on a single aspect of the aalambanaa, and becomes increasingly focused on more and more subtle aspects of it.

The samskaara here is nirodha, or inward (since it is a samskaara that moves one towards the Self rather than towards the world), and the mind is ekaagra, or one-pointed, and gets sharper and sharper as it goes deeper into the aalambanaa.

Summary

When vyutthaana samskaaras fall and nirodha samskaaras arise, the movement or transformation of the mind along this axis is known as Nirodha Parinaam, or the “mastery” transformation.

When the propensity of the mind towards sarvaarthataa sets and the propensity towards ekaagrataa rises, it is known as Samaadhi Parinaam, or the “Samaadhi” transformation.

Both of these transformations (as well as the third, Ekaagrataa Parinaam), happen both in meditation, but in our day-to-day lives as well. The goal of Yoga is to encourage the mind towards the state of Nirodha Ekaagrataa, or inward focus. This modification of mind creates fertile ground for Samaadhi to deepen, and apavarga, or liberation, to arise.

Over the next two weeks, we will begin a discussion on the third transformation, Ekaagrataa Parinaam, which occurs along the third axis of change - avasthaa, or the temporal (ie. time) condition, as well as the inner workings of the mind during Samaadhi.

Until next week:

1. During your day to day life, notice the characteristic of your mind. What kind of samskaaras are activating? Vyutthaana or Nirodha?

2. Notice the state of your mind - is there a propensity towards sarvaarthataa (all-pointedness) or ekaagrataa (one-pointedness)?

3. How do the characteristic and state change after your daily meditation? Take notes to find patterns.

4. Ask your questions here:

Next week: The inner workings of Nirbeeja Samaadhi