Day 6 - "Inner Engineering" course by Isha Foundation

February 15th, 2010 - Day 6 (7:00 - 10:00 PM)

Started with the routine exercises. We also did the Sambhavi today. Then we listened to the video discoure by Sadhguru. It included Q&A session of all things related to Sambhavi and a lot of generic clarifications on Kundalini, Chakras etc. Very entertaining and enlightening. He explained the symbolism of Kundalini (coiled serpent) as the dormant energy form. He succintly explained the importance of proper yoga techniques whereby body and mind are synchronized in order to awaken the energy. In the absence of good synchronization, the effects of extreme energy realization could be disastrous, akin to waking a sleeping serpent violently.

The best part was the explanation to "Karma". He explained Karma as the experiential library within ourselves that categorizes everything into likes and dislikes. He explained succintly how the 4 layers of mind (cognition, recognition, reaction, recording) works to etch and maintain the like/dislike karmic list in our brain. He used sense of sound as an example - The cognitive layer notices the source of sound and passes it on to the next step, the recognition layer. Recognition layer immediately looks up that sense from the karmic library and identifies it as a specific sound that was experienced earlier. The Reactionary layer instructs the brain to react to the specific sound based on whether it is stored in the likes vs dislikes list. In case of a new sound, the Reaction layer learns how the individual reacts to this new sound and passes it on to the next layer for storing it in karma library for future references (build up of Karma). The origin sensory perception could be anything including people, taste, object etc. Sadhguru pointed out that this is what everyone refers to as Karma.

Ofcourse, the next question arises around logic of reincarnation surrounding this karmic buildup. Sadhguru explained that until this list is brought down to zero there will be the act of reincarnation. While I personally am neither curious nor intelligent enough to get into this discussion at this time, I definitely like the analogy of an associated memory list. At the least, being aware of one's self can help prevent the buildup of this list, the obvious benefit being, one can be devoid of opinions (like/dislike), directly resulting in much lesser strife/suffering in the mind. Once there are no specific likes and dislikes in the list (requires prevention of new plaque buildup and wiping away old plaque), the individual lives life as-is without reacting to situations negatively (or positively).

I had not understood the emphasis on taking responsibility in one of the earlier classes. What this concept was trying to say in a different way was to avoid forming any opinion for any event/sensory perception. Taking responsibility on oneself is one way to avoid like/dislike build up.

This approach is definitely starting to make huge common sense for me. I am still pondering if achieving 100% equanimity is possible in a practical life. What kinds of leadership styles will survive such a situation? However, that problem is irrelevant at this stage, since we have a long way to go :-)

Onto the last day of class...