While the first five aspects of Yoga: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara are expressively seen outside in terms of practice. The remaining three are internal—concentration, meditation and abiding in that meditative state.
Maharishi Patanjali says even these three states are external or apparent compared to the state of Nirbeeja Samadhi or meditation without holding on to a particular thought. With the practice of meditation, the mind at first becomes peaceful. It then becomes concentrated and eventually the mind acquires a state of awareness where there is no special knowing and hence the dualities and multiplicities of the world that it perceives are no more. This is the still state of mind where it loses itself. The transformation of the mind into its still state happens when the latent tendencies that are stored as thought impressions in the mind are neither suppressed and nor are they waiting to emerge. They are totally dissolved in the present moment where awareness alone is. Once this tranquil state of mind becomes established with repeated practice, that state of mind itself becomes a deep impression and it flows ever like a peaceful river, free of all agitations.
The transformation of the mind into a state of Samadhi happens when it completely settles down in the present moment. There is no expression of any thought or desire or any particular concentration of a thought pattern in this state. The mind is free and easy with neither any effort to suppress or uphold something.
In this state there are no particular thoughts or desires that erupt. At the next level of transformation of the mind one thought—an affirmation or a sound is taken up for repetition and contemplation. This thought alone becomes prominent to the exclusion of all other thoughts. This is called a concentrated state of mind.
However, the process of yoga affects transformation in the mind by purifying the sense organs and enabling a clear reportage of the events happening around in the world outside and the thoughts inside. While these changes belong to the essential nature of the person and the composition of his body, mind and intellect depending on nature, the one who experiences through the senses remains unchanged.
Maharishi Patanjali says there is a particular order to the transformation of the mind and this order is visible to someone who witnesses it. Even we say, “I used to get so angry before over little things. These days though I don’t get so angry!” The mind has definitely gone through a change from expressing more anger to less anger and there is an individual, who is other than these changes, that noticed the change.
From this point onwards the third part of the Yoga Sutras gets very interesting where the different miraculous powers of the mind are enumerated, with a word of caution that none of the yogic practices should be undertaken with an eye on just these powers as they can divert us from the ultimate goal of self realisation.
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