Patañjali’s Yoga and Modern Science Towards An Integral Model of Consciousness
Auszug: Bedeutung von „Yoga“:
Along with Bryant, who translates nirodhaḥ as „stilling“, Jnaneshvara, an American disciple of Rammurti Mishra, comes in with the second least aggressive translation in the tablewith „control“. My own translation would be „Yoga is the attenuation of activities of the mental subsystems.“
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Here the word attenuation implies a less aggressive exercise, the application of knowledge and skill gained through practice in modulating the various subsystems of the human mental processes. Thinking in words, remembering, conceptualizing, allowing ideas to arise and develop; all these normal activities and skills of what we call mind must be attenuated, turned down, allowed to taper off, so that awareness is allowed to enter into a new state.
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The internal silence opened up through the successful quieting and detaching from the normal operations of mind allows awareness to flow into alternate configurations opening up new modes of sensory and cognitive perception.
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In fact the word „quieting“ might be a good translation for nirodhaḥ, and it is not a coincidence that it also appears as a major concept in the early Christian contemplative practice of hesychia, ἡσυχία, „stillness, quiet, silence“ found in the writings of Evagrius Pontikos and other eremites in Egypt as early as the 4th century CE. For example: „Antony said, ‚He who sits alone and is quiet has escaped from three wars: hearing, speaking, and seeing.“ [Deutsch]
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Siehe auch: Subtle Anatomy of the Brain
When we apply a yogic perspective to anatomy and physiology, the elaborate design of our bodies can be seen as more than just a composite of chemicals, structures, and processes. We begin to understand the physical body as a vehicle to experience life.
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Deutlicher: Verstehe den physischen Körper als ein individualisiertes Vehikel, durch den das Leben sich selbst erfährt. Es gibt ein Vehikel (Körper, Gefährt) aber keinen Fahrer (Ich, Ego).