Concentration & Meditation - Vedanta

36 Swami Bhajanananda(apari-drista). Various vrittis, which produce names, forms andemotions, belong to the first type. The second type of functions,which cannot be directly perceived but can be inferred from theireffects, has been divided into seven groups. 21Gap betweenvrittis can bewidenedThe first of these, nirodha (suppression), is the capacity of themind to be free from all vrittis. In fact, between every twothoughts the mind remains free of vrittis for a split second. Thisinterval is normally so short that it is seldom noticed, but by practiceit can be prolonged. The second and third functions arekarma and samskara, which respectively mean karmasaya andvasana explained in the last editorial. The fourth function isparinama which means the various mental transformations to bediscussed soon. The fifth function is jivanam, life-activities or themovements of prana, for it is the mind which controls and guidesthe movements of prana, which in turn animates the body. Thesixth function, cesta, is the unseen action of the mind whichmakes the senses work. When the mind is elsewhere we will notsee an object even if we are looking at it.The seventh unseen function of the mind is sakti by which ismeant the various mysterious psychic powers like clairvoyance,clairaudience, thought-transference, psycho-kinesis, etc., whichremain undeveloped in ordinary people. Patanjali calls thesepowers vibhutis and has dealt with them in detail in his Yoga Sutra(Aphorisms). Swami Vivekananda in his lecture on “ThePowers of the Mind” speaks about the miraculous powers of certainpeople which he personally tested and found to be true. 22 Itis commonplace to condemn these extraordinary powers as bador dangerous. But it should be remembered that what is reallyharmful is not the powers themselves but the way they are used.Great saints and sages in all countries have used them with dis-21. See Vyasa’s Commentary on Yoga-Sutra 3.1522. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama,1976), vol. 2, pp. 10-12.