When the five senses are stilled, when the mind is stilled, when the intellect is stilled, that is called the highest state – they say yoga is this complete stillness.
                                                                                            Katha Upanishad 2.3.10-11

How much effort does meditation take?  Meditation in its fully developed state should be effortless – whether it is an active meditation or a passive one.  The path to get there however is not.  Let’s capture Patanjali’s views on this important topic, which actually ties into the prior blurbs on Sivaratri night-out meditation also…

The method of yoga is intertwined with the story of basal metabolic rate (BMR).  From a pure exertion standpoint, yoga and meditation are about switching to a low BMR/low calorific intake state, from a high BMR/high calorific intake state.  Because food intake-driven metabolism has consequences – thirst, faster breath, sleep, aging, etc.

Yogis reason that “effort” is involved when subject identifies and directs his/her energy toward that object.  In samadhi (the eight step), the subject and object merge!  In that case, at least the Samadhi step has to be a zero-effort process, right?  The samadhi step therefore is described more as an absorption process, and not a mind concentration process.  Samadhi is typically translated into English as “cognitive absorption”.  Let’s go through some quick numbers for further contemplation:

Our basal metabolism rate (BMR) for a 2000 cal/day intake is ~100 Watts. During daily activities like walking and talking, this can be higher by ~50%, and while sleeping, this can fall by about 50%.

Physical Exertion

Physical exertion peaks in the “Asana” phase, the third step.  Light kriyas such as spinal-flexes add maybe 10% to the BMR, while froggies can increase the calorific demand by a factor of ten.  So, if we burn 1-1.5 cal/min in light kriyas, we burn about 10 cal/min during froggies.  Per informal personal fitbit measurements, one can hit ~10-15 cal/min during Bikram yoga standing series, at the peak (corresponds to ~9-10 min/mile jogging).

From the view point of our sessions, we beginners need to loosen up a little through medium to high intensity kriyas, but more importantly,  to burn off the excess energy floating around in our bodies. Otherwise, this surplus energy will result in mental agitation during the latter phases of yoga, like in Dhyana phase.

Mental exertion

Brain/mind by itself is like a 20 watt bulb.  For yogis, every thought generated burns energy, because every thought is a boundary (between two polarities, like yes/no), and it takes energy to maintain that boundary.  Of all, “I” is the strongest and most persistent thought, consuming the most energy.  Interpreting Patanjali, it is only in the dharana phase (6th step) that the mental exertion begins to drop significantly.  Once the mind figures out how to latch on to a single thing, it apparently becomes progressively more effortless.  So, meditation in its mature state is an effortless process, with very low basal metabolic rate.

Cognitive absorption or Samadhi takes us beyond that.  Apparently, not much can be said about this state, and we have to experience that state. for ourselves, individually.

We touched upon BMR control to achieve Sivaratri night-out meditation goal also, and without BMR slowdown for a few days before the night-out, it is impossible to hit the night-out target.

This is a quick summary of how yoga tackles the issue of mind-body sustenance while on a journey to conquer “fluctuations arising within our consciousness”, which could take several bouts of long periods of meditation.  A long story, but we cognize using fluctuations in the field of consciousness.  Essentially cognition is those fluctuations.  In another way to say it, we see, hear, sense, …, are all coded in our mind as fluctuations in the background consciousness.

A story…

This is a story from Ramayana to illustrate the food/sleep/special powers paradigm.   In the great war that took place between Rama (protagonist) and Ravana (the villain),  Rama almost loses the war because his brother (Lakshmana) is defeated by a warrior named Indrajit (Ravana’s son; Indrajit means someone who won the senses; for him, the 5th step of Pratyahara or sense-control should be automatic).

So, when Ravana went to war with Rama, Ravana was super-confident that he will win the war, if not for his own prowess,  because of his son, Indrajit.  Indrajit is such a great warrior that only someone who did not eat, did not sleep and stayed celibate for 14 years straight can defeat him.   Ravana was very confident that no human is capable of doing that as Rama’s army consisted of humans and monkeys (sub-human) only.  Imagine the BMR of a person who did not eat for that long!

Even though, Lakshmana almost pulled it off, he gets knocked unconscious by Indrajit in their first duel.  That is apparently because, Rama one day, being very happy, takes half of the fruit he is about to eat, gives it to Lakshmana, and asks him to eat it.  Since he could not refuse his brother’s gesture, he accepts it, but he surgically inserts it into his body instead of actually eating it (a rishi actually advises Lakshmana to follow that vow, and teaches him the necessary mantras). So in order to avoid directly eating the fruit, he takes the surgical approach to insert it into his thigh.  That was enough of an indiscretion to allow Indrajit to knock him unconscious in the first bout.  With that impurity of the system cleared, Lakshmana takes care of Indrajit in the follow-on duel, and eventually Rama wins the war…

But such is the importance rishis placed on managing BMR, food, sleep and celibacy, and the powers such control bestows upon practitioners!  Yogis have an interesting take on celibacy; apparently the same rishi, Viswamitra, taught Rama the practice of monogamy, and Lakshmana no-gamy (for 14 years). What’s there to “teach” about monogamy,, right?  Pretty interesting stuff – we will review rishis’ thoughts on these topics later.   What Lakshmana practiced for those 14 years is at the core of Yama and Niyama of Patanjali.  We will review that next…

May we all be blessed with a “vibrant and contemplative” mind
(Bhadram no api vAtaya manah) _/\_/\_/\_