The Importance
of Concentration
This is an important question as nothing great can be
achieved without concentration. On the other hand,
with total concentration there is nothing impossible
or which cannot be attained. This is a truth which
has been affirmed in most spiritual disciplines,
which is applicable to spiritual as well as material
life and which has been reaffirmed by the Mother in
very categorical terms. She says:
"Whatever you
may want to do in life, one thing is absolutely
indispensable and at the basis of everything, the
capacity of concentrating the attention. If you
are able to gather together the rays of attention
and consciousness on one point and can maintain
this concentration with a persistent will,
nothing can resist it - whatever it may be, from
the most material physical development to the
highest spiritual one. But this discipline must
be followed in a constant and, it may be said,
imperturbable way; not that you should always be
concentrated on the same thing - that's not what
I mean, I mean learning to concentrate.
And materially, for studies, sports, all physical
or mental development, it is absolutely
indispensable. And the value of an individual is
proportionate to the value of his attention.
And from the spiritual point of view it is still
more important. There is no spiritual obstacle
which can resist a penetrating power of
consciousness. For instance, the discovery of the
psychic being, union with the inner Divine,
opening to the higher spheres, all can be
obtained by an intense and obstinate power of
concentration - but one must learn how to do it.
There is nothing in the human or even in the
superhuman field, to which the power of
concentration is not the key.
You can be the best athlete, you can be the best
student, you can be an artistic, literary or
scientific genius, you can be the greatest saint
with the faculty. And everyone has in himself a
tiny little beginning of it - it is given to
everybody, but people do not cultivate it."
The Meaning of
Concentration
But what exactly and precisely is the meaning of
concentration? In the words of the Mother:
"[Concentration]
is to bring back all the scattered threads of
consciousness to a single point, a single idea.
Those who can attain perfect attention succeed in
everything they undertake; they will always make
a rapid progress."
Says Sri Aurobindo:
"Concentration
is a gathering together of the consciousness and
either centralising at one point or turning on a
single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also
be a gathered condition throughout the whole
being, not at a point."
How to
Concentrate
The next question that naturally arises is "how
to concentrate?" Sri Aurobindo explains:
"Ordinarily
the consciousness is spread out everywhere,
dispersed, running in this or that direction,
after this subject and that object in multitude.
When anything has to be done of a sustained
nature the first thing one does is to draw back
all this dispersed consciousness and concentrate.
It is then, if one looks closely, bound to be
concentrated in one place and on one occupation,
subject or object - as when you are composing a
poem or a botanist is studying a flower. The
place is usually somewhere in the brain if it is
the thought, in the heart if it is the feeling in
which one is concentrated. The yogic
concentration is simply an extension and
intensification of the same thing. It may be on
an object as when one does Tratak on a shining
point - then one has to concentrate so that one
sees only that point and has no other thought
than that. It may be on an idea or word or a name,
the idea of the Divine, the word OM, the name
Krishna, or a combination of idea and word or
idea and name. But further in yoga one also
concentrates in a particular place. There is the
famous rule of concentrating between the eyebrows
- the centre of the inner mind, of occult vision,
of the will is there. What you do is to think
firmly from there on whatever you make the object
of your concentration or else try to see the
image of it from there. If you succeed in this
then after a time you feel that your whole
consciousness is centred there in that place - of
course for the time being. After doing it for
some time and often it becomes easy and normal.
I hope this is clear. Well, in this yoga, you do
the same, not necessarily at that particular spot
between the eyebrows, but anywhere in the head or
at the centre of the chest where the
physiologists have fixed the cardiac centre.
Instead of concentrating on an object, you
concentrate in the head in a will, a call for the
descent of the peace above or, as some do, an
opening of the unseen lid and an ascent of the
consciousness above. In the heart centre one
concentrates in an aspiration, for an opening,
for the presence of the living image of the
Divine there or whatever else is the object.
There may be Japa of a name but, if so, there
must also be a concentration on it and the name
must repeat itself there in the heart centre.
It may be asked what becomes of the rest of the
consciousness when there is this local
concentration? Well, it either falls silent as in
any concentration or, if it does not, then
thoughts or other things may move about, as if
outside, but the concentrated part does not
attend to them or notice. That is when the
concentration is reasonably successful.
One has not to fatigue oneself at first by long
concentration if one is not accustomed, for then
in a jaded mind it loses its power and value. One
can relax and meditate instead of concentrating.
It is only as the concentration becomes normal
that one can go on for a longer and longer time."
And this capacity can
be cultivated and developed to such an extent that
nothing can resist it. All systems and methods can be
used according to one's nature and inclination but
one must take a decision and then persevere. As the
Mother says:
"Concentration
can be developed exactly like the muscles; one
may follow different systems, different methods
of training. Today we know that the most pitiful
weakling, for example, can with discipline become
as strong as anyone else. One should not have a
will which flickers out like a candle.
The will, concentration must be cultivated; it is
a question of method, of regular exercise. If you
will, you can.
But the thought "What's the use?" must
not come in to weaken the will".
*
How to
increase concentration (single-mindedness) and
will-force - they are so necessary for doing
anything.
"Through regular, persevering, obstinate,
unflagging exercise - I mean exercise of
concentration and will".
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