Hinduism: Yoga sutras: Thinking about no thing           NO-THING.TXT
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       Thinking about no thing

       Source Material: How to know God: the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

       Many people believe that the practice of yoga is concerned with
       "making your mind a blank"--a condition which could, if it were
       really desirable, be much more easily achieved by asking a friend
       to hit you over the head with a hammer...  (However, what we are
       really trying to do is) to unlearn the false identification
       of the thought-waves with the ego-sense.
       (p. 14)


       Our thoughts have been scattered, as it were, all over the mental field.
       Now we begin to collect them again and to direct them toward a single
       goal--knowledge of the Atman.  As we do this we find ourselves becoming
       increasingly absorbed in the thought of what we are seeking.  And so,
       at length, absorption merges into illumination,
       and the knowledge is ours.
       (p. 36)

       We have to start by training the mind to concentrate, but Patanjali has
       warned us that this practice of concentration must be accompanied by
       non-attachment; otherwise we shall find ourselves in trouble.  If we
       try to concentrate while remaining attached to the things of this
       world, we shall either fail altogether or our newly acquired powers
       of concentration will bring us into great danger, because we shall
       inevitably use them for selfish, unspiritual ends.
       (p. 62)