Concentration and Breathing :- (how to build concentration )- Swami Vivekananda

Now first of all I must tell you that this is not an article written by me but this is a very useful speech that was delivered over 100 years ago by Swami Vivekananda , it is taken from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol - 6 .


              CONCENTRATION AND BREATHING

The main difference between men and the animals is the difference in their power of concentration. All success in any line of work is the result of this.Everybody knows something about concentration. We see its results every day. High achievements in art, music, etc., are the results of concentration. An animal has very little power of concentration. Those who have trained animals find much difficulty in the fact that the animal is constantly forgetting what is told him. He cannot concentrate his mind long upon anything at a time. Herein is the difference between man and the animals — man has the greater power of concentration. The difference in heir power of concentration also constitutes the difference between man and man. Compare the lowest with the highest man. The difference is in the degree of concentration. This is the only difference.

Everybody's mind becomes concentrated at times. We all concentrate upon those things we love, and we love those things upon which we concentrate our minds. What mother is there that does not love the face of her homeliest child? That face is to her the most beautiful in the world. She loves it because she concentrates her mind on it; and if every one could concentrate his mind on that

same face, every one would love it. It would be to all the most beautiful face. We all concentrate our minds upon those things we love. When we hear beautiful music, our minds become fastened upon it, and we cannot take them away. Those who concentrate their minds upon what you call classical music do not like common music, and vice versa. Music in which the notes follow each other in rapid succession holds the mind readily. A child loves lively

music, because the rapidity of the notes gives the mind no chance to wander. A man who likes common music dislikes classical music, because it is more complicated and requires a greater degree of concentration to follow it.

The great trouble with such concentrations is that we do not control the mind; it controls us. Something outside of ourselves, as it were, draws the mind into it and holds it as long as it chooses. We hear melodious tones or see a beautiful painting, and the mind is held fast! We cannot take it away.

If I speak to you well upon a subject you like, your mind becomes concentrated upon what I am saying. I draw your mind away from yourself and hold it upon the subject in spite of yourself. Thus our attention is held, our minds are concentrated upon various things, in spite of ourselves. We cannot help it.

 Now the question is: Can this concentration be developed, and can we become masters of it? The Yogis say, yes. The Yogis say that we can get perfect control of the mind. On the ethical side there is danger in the development of the power of concentration — the danger of concentrating the mind upon an object and then being unable to detach it at will. This state causes great suffering. Almost all our suffering is caused by our not having the power of detachment. So along with the development of concentration we must develop the power of detachment. We must learn not only to attach the mind to one thing exclusively, but also to detach it at a moment's notice and place it upon something else. These two should be developed together to make it safe. 

This is the systematic development of the mind. To me the very essence of education is concentration of mind, not the collecting of facts. If I had to do my education over again, and had any voice in the matter, I would not study facts at all. I would develop the power of concentration and detachment, and then with a perfect instrument I could collect facts at will. Side by side, in the child,should be developed the power of concentration and detachment.

My development has been one-sided all along I developed concentration without the power of detaching my mind at will; and the most intense suffering of my life has been due to this. Now I have the power of detachment, but I had to learn it in later life.

We should put our minds on things; they should not draw our minds to them. We are usually forced to concentrate. Our minds are forced to become fixed upon different things by an attraction in them which we cannot resist. To control the mind, to place it just where we want it, requires special training. It cannot be done in any other way. In the study of religion the control of the mind is absolutely necessary. We have to turn the mind back upon itself in this study.

In training the mind the first step is to begin with the breathing. Regular breathing puts the body in a harmonious condition; and it is then easier to reach the mind. In practicing breathing, the first thing to consider is Âsana or posture. Any posture in which a person can sit easily is his proper position. The spine should be kept free, and the weight of the body should be supported by the ribs.Do not try by contrivances to control the mind; simple breathing is all that is

necessary in that line All austerities to gain concentration of the mind are a mistake. Do not practice them.

The mind acts on the body, and the body in its turn acts upon the mind. They act and react upon each other. Every mental state creates a corresponding state in the body, and every action in the body has its corresponding effect on the mind. It makes no difference whether you think the body and mind are two different entities, or whether you think they are both but one body — the

physical body being the gross part and the mind the fine part. They act and react upon each other. The mind is constantly becoming the body. In the training of the mind, it is easier to reach it through the body. The body is easier to grapple with than the mind.

The finer the instrument, the greater the power. The mind is much finer and more powerful than the body. For this reason it is easier to begin with the body. 

The science of breathing is the working through the body to reach the mind. In this way we get control of the body, and then we begin to feel the finer working of the body, the finer and more interior, and so on till we reach the mind. As we feel the finer workings of the body, they come under our control. After a while you will be able to feel the operation of the mind on the body. You will also

feel the working of one half of the mind upon the other half, and also feel the mind recruiting the nerve centers; for the mind controls and governs the nervous system. You will feel the mind operating along the different nerve currents.

Thus the mind is brought under control — by regular systematic breathing, by governing the gross body first and then the fine body.

The first breathing exercise is perfectly safe and very healthful. It will give you good health, and better your condition generally at least. The other practices should be taken up slowly and carefully.

Gods in Sanatan Dharma(Hindu culture)

   In the Hindu culture or more correctly sanatan dharma that has a history of over 5000 years Gods have a special place. They are said to be 330 million of them. But do the gods really exist ? The truth is gods have but a symbolical value representing a force of nature.

     In the Vedas especially RigVeda Lord Indra who is said to be the king of Gods have a very special place. He is said to be the god of rain. Now in ancient times the civilizations were agriculture driven and dependent on farming. Farming in turn was dependent on rain as good and optimum amount of rain would results in good crop production. So they did Yagyas and worshipped Indra to appease this power of nature that controls rain so that there is good crop yield.

       In the later Vedas though the trio of Bramha , Vishnu and Shiva are given more importance. Bramha represents the natural force of creation. Vishnu represents the natural force of preservation . Shiva represents the force of destruction. As we find in nature creation, preservationa and destruction these three processes are always there. That's how life goes on in earth and in the universe. A star is born from a plasmic cloud (creation), the star radiates energy through its entire life(preservation) and finally the star explodes as a supernova and releasing matter that would go on and produce a future star.

      Similarly there are gods and goddesses that represent forces of nature like Agni(fire), Vayu(Wind), Jal (Water) gods of different animals ,god of sea etc so we see that the ancients believed that there were controllers of the various phenomenons in nature and they tried to communicate them so that in turn they could somehow have nature work in their own favor for their well being.

     Throughout time there have been good and evil existent in nature. Various worships and mythological stories have been created to assert that ultimately the evil is destroyed by the good. The Hindu culture gives special importance to the status of Mother. That's why you see the worship of Mother Goddess across the nation. If you look at the image of Devi Durga you would see a Mother Goddess slaying a demon with a trident (it symbolises the victory of good over evil) . Similarly if you the the image of Mother Kali you would see that a Mother Goddess in an awesome form killing demons wearing a garland of severed heads around her neck( It also represents the destruction of evil.).

     Thus it is clear that nature is being looked up as mother goddess and her various forms are worshipped. You have Sarswati - the goddess of knowledge, Laxmi - goddess of wealth and prosperity, Kamdeva -the god of sexual pleasure. Similarly many many other gods .

      There is a story about a sage called Valmiki who in his youth was a robber but somehow came across a sage Narada who asked him to verify if his family members would share the sin that he is committing and he was shocked to know  that his family members refused be share as a result he gave everything up , the sage Narada asked him to repeat the name Ram so that he becomes free. In reality  the word Ram is a mantra it seems that the whole story was weaved around by Valmiki himself who later on wrote Ramayana. Glorifying Lord Ram so that people practice the japa(repetation) of the the mantra RAM. Ramayana gives the model of a ideal king, ideal son, ideal wife(Sita) , ideal brothers and ideal kingdom. It is very much possible that the two Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were written by Valmiki and Ved Vyasa respectively to reach out the common man and impart the knowledge of Vedas and Upnishads in the form of stories. 

Swami Vivekananda

SPEND SOME TIME READING THIS MAN , IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL

Mind and its control (Breathing)

The mind is not any physical product but it is the software running on a hardware called the brain. Our thoughts are generated in the mind depending on our memory, knowledge ,feelings and values. What  we feel ie weather we are happy or sad, feeling loved or angry depends on the mind and it is called its state . Controlling the mind through knowledge and actions is very important so that we are almost always in the correct state of the mind. 

        There are three layers of conciousness 1) Instinctive 2) Logical 3) Intuitive 

           The instinctive conciousness is inbuilt in all organisms it is stronger in animals as compared to man and it is formed by millions of years of evolution. When a baby of a cow is born within a few minutes it stands up on its feet and starts drinking milk from the udder of its mother. Now from where did the brain of the calf get signals to do such an act? It is the built in instinctive intelligence in it that made it do that.

       Logical intelligence is about the mathematical  and logical reasoning and analytical abilities to solve problems, the ability to think logically is mostly found in humans . Using this ability of his mind man has made tremendous progress in mathematics science and technology. 

Intuitive intelligence is getting the solution of a problem without knowing the source of the solution it comes to one like a flash of light , when one solves a problem by logic one has to go step by step , while in case of intuition the solution just comes.

It is also called transcendental knowledge like Buddha received enlightenment through meditation. The knowledge directly came to him as a result of his prolonged meditation.

In today's world we have very fast lives and lots of things to worry about the fallout of this is stress, worries which have resulted many kinds of diseases psychological and physiological. Now how does one get around stress and keep the mind functioning in a sound fashion the solution to that lies in Paranayam and meditation.

In Pranayama by controlling the motion of the breath one controls the lung motion this controlled and rhythmic lung motion rythmises the nerve currents associated with the lung motion. This rhythmic nerve current rythmises the nerve currents across the body and brain, the mind feels relaxed.

The practice is simple just sit up straight and relaxed with the head , neck and torso in one straight line . Now breathe rhythmically in and out slowly in a relaxed fashion, just breathe in for 5 seconds and breathe out for another 5 seconds, repeating this with the practice of a mantra like OUM will produce even better results . Do it as long as you like but don't put any unnecessary force on your lungs while breathing keep the entire process easy.

Other practices should be taken up slowly in a phased manner