सङ्कल्पप्रभवान्कामांस्त्यक्त्वा सर्वानशेषत: | मनसैवेन्द्रियग्रामं विनियम्य समन्तत: || 24 || शनै: शनैरुपरमेद्बुद्ध्या धृतिगृहीतया | आत्मसंस्थं मन: कृत्वा न किञ्चिदपि चिन्तयेत् || 25 || |
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“Abandoning all desires that arise in the mind, restraining all the senses and focusing on the Self alone, remain steadfast and absorbed in contemplation.”
“Gradually, step by step, with a strong conviction, withdraw from all material concerns and fix the mind on the Self alone, without thinking of anything else.”
Commentary: These verses emphasize the need for completely withdrawing the mind from external thoughts born out of desires. The process should be gradual, with full conviction of the intellect. One should not think of anything else other than God.
Mind in its raw form, is an intangible film-roll in the brain that just captures and stores all sensory reflections of sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. As soon as the Maya of “I, me, mine” is stamped on the film-roll, Chitta or the feeling aspect of consciousness flickers and vibrates creating personal attachments, likes and dislikes. This vibration shrinks the ocean of Self into a tiny cramped space of individual consciousness in a specific body.
Patanjali’s yoga sutras state “chitta vritti nirodha” – to calm the storms of mental and emotional activities, in order to gain spiritual success. When the film-roll of the mind is withdrawn, it travels the path back to its etheric-home where it was originally created by Nature. By calming Chit-ta or the vibrating waves of consciousness, the yogi experiences vibrationless Chit, which is the pure all-knowing consciousness of God.