Today before having dinner Jayashree and I had a lovely talk on a few principals of Yogic philosophy. She and her brother, Sri Narasimhan, have taught the Yoga Sutras from their home in Mysore for 10 years. Most consider the heart of the Yoga Sutras to be Ashtanga Yoga, the eight limbs or practices outlined and detailed in Pantajali’s chapter (II.30) on practice (yama-abstentions, niyama-observances, asana-posture, pranayama-breath control, dharana-concentration, dhyana-meditation, Samadhi-absorption). The last three practices are often initially challenging to fully distinguish. Jayashree and Sri Narasimhan’s analogy makes it simple and fun.
Dharana (concentration) is like looking for the nearest Starbucks, especially first thing in the morning or on a cold winter day. You’d really like a cup a coffee (the object of concentration) and so you go out seeking the coffee shop. Many things may interrupt you…traffic, phone calls, pedestrians, etc….but you have the location of the cup of coffee in your mind and continue with determination to find the nearest Starbucks.
Dhyana (meditation) happens once inside the Starbucks. You then select a specific type of coffee (sharping the focus on the object)…and order a cappuccino! Now your mind is focused not only on coffee but also on its qualities.
Samadhi (absorption) is like the first sip of coffee. The desire for the taste (the object of meditation) is blissfully satisfied and all thoughts completely melt away. Samadhi is not a permanent state, but one that is flowed into and out of. After the initial satisfaction (absorption) of the taste of the coffee subsides, other thoughts may come back in…like the desire (concentration/meditation) for another sip, but the second sip doesn’t taste as nearly good as the first and so reaching the state of Samadhi (absorption) again takes more mental skill, and sustaining it, even greater skill yet.
I see some direct applications here to the practice of music. As musicians we have a desire to practice. The motivation may vary of course, anywhere from competition to curiosity. And so, we direct our concentration (dharana) toward the act of practicing (object). We may even have practice rituals to help rid our practice room/space of distractions…we turn off the phone/TV/computer, set out the metronome, and place the music on our stand. We possibly even have a cup of coffee! We (flutists/wind players) may begin with a ritual of scales or long tones, noticing the thoughts that try to interrupt us, possibly even battling with them.
Then we create an intention within the music practice, perhaps the object of sound, and even more specifically, the quality of tone. We continue to refine the production of tone through the inquiry of, or meditation on (dhyana), sound. Maybe we make subtle changes in the shape of the embouchure or the speed of air, but we keep pulling our concentration back to the quality of tone. Gradually, or perhaps even suddenly, we find that we are completely absorbed in the quality of the sound (Samadhi). We may even be able to describe the experience as blissful!
However, before long, something distracts us, perhaps intonation or a sensation in the shoulders or neck related to holding the instrument, and we engage in an oscillation between concentration, meditation and absorption. With practice we gain the ability to stay fully absorbed for longer periods of time, thus experiencing different levels of Samadhi. The ability to sustain complete absorption throughout an entire performance is the inquiry of “The Transcendent Musician.” (...my development leave project.)
Well, I definitely enjoy coffee before practice. Nescafe seems to be the popular coffee here in India. Next time you’re in the Starbucks, have a soy mocha for me!
By the way, monkeys were on my terrace this morning!
6 comments:
I love the analogy with practicing! I can't wait to see how you develop the relationship between the eight-limb practice and the act of singing and playing music.
How strange to have monkeys on your terrace! The monkeys here, I'm afraid, are all in my brain.
love you!
Nice example for Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
The other popular brand of coffee is Bru (or Bru-Instant). But do not miss out on home-brew coffee... it is often better than branded coffee. On another note, usually in India chicory (a natural thickener) is blended with coffee powder. This adds to the texture and mouth-feel of final product.
PS: We were a Bru fan before we de-addicted)
I think that it is interesting that Ashtanga is considered to be the heart of the Sutras, but Patanjali never uses the word himself.
The Starbucks analogy made me laugh. Now that's globalization!
I think the idea of Samadhi as a temporary, transient state is interesting. Some accounts I have read portray it as more of a one-time, permanent transformation. A commonly used analogy is pouring liquid from a jar...at first drips and then eventually a flowing state. I wonder if there is a possible connection with western psychology. The work of Cziksentmihalyi and his research on flow states in artists comes to mind.
Dear Lisa,
Hello! So now things are set and falling in place and hope you are enjoying thoroughly your first visit to India. Reading your blog and following your multi- coloured experiences.
Best wishes,
Pratibha
Nice description of the stages of practice. I like to tell myself that even when I'm not fully absorbed (or am battling with those distracting thoughts!), it's still better than not practicing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hey Brian,
I discovered that Patanjali does use the term Eight-Limbed, it's just a little hidden. A great confirmation of my choice to study Sanskrit here! Take a look at 2.29. The a of asta is omitted with an apostrophe ('ast), the v that follows ('astav) has something to do with the case, and angani means limbs. :-)
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