The inherent power of fear, anger and
self-willed desire can also be stored
potentially or expended kinetically, and it is
your personal attention that determines in which
state the energy resides. If the mind's
conscience, known as buddhi in Sanskrit,
defines a particular thought as a form of energy
that will enable you to fulfill the purpose of
your life (a shreya), it is suggesting
that you transform the state of that thought
energy from the potential into the kinetic by
taking some appropriate action. In other words,
you are encouraged to think about the shreya,
speak in service to the shreya, and take
some physical action in service to the shreya.
Such emotions as fear, anger and greed are not
inherently bad or negative, for if they're
handled skillfully, they can become helpful
resources. If the conscience (buddhi)
recognizes them as merely an ego or sense
gratification that conflicts with your own Inner
Wisdom, (known as preya), you are being
asked to renounce your attachment to them so
that their intrinsic power can be transformed
and stored for your future use.
The laws of physical science state that energy
cannot be created nor destroyed, but it can be
transformed. Viewing Yoga as a sister science,
the ancients experimented with controlling,
conserving and transforming the energy of
thought. Through trial and error they realized
that when they renounced a single preya
desire-what could be seen as a momentary
temptation or a negative thought -- the energy
of that desire manifested in a different form.
Recognizing this process, imagine what would
happen if, instead of gasoline, twenty gallons
of crude oil directly from the fields of Saudi
Arabia were pumped into your car's gas tank. It
would wreck your engine. Crude oil is simply of
no use in a combustion engine. To become an
appropriate fuel for your automobile, the raw
oil must first be refined.
Each of us has the capacity to employ a refining
process that can transform the raw, inherent
power of every thought, desire and emotion. When
the mind's conscience, the buddhi,
intuitively advises that the unusable,
destructive and constrictive power of a
particular fear, anger or self-willed desire is
appearing in your awareness in the form of
preya, you, as a Yoga scientist, have access
to a mechanism for capturing and transforming
that power. This refinement process is
accomplished by consciously and willingly
renouncing your attachment to the preya.
Remember, in every moment, the buddhi is
always present to advise you that it's not in
your best long-term interest to give the
preya your continued attention. If you
consciously or unconsciously choose to serve the
preya in thought, word or deed, you will
experience some form of physical, mental,
emotional or spiritual dis-ease.
Every thought, word and deed is a means for
spiritual unfoldment. Recognizing that desire is
the fuel for human action, the ancient sages
conceived a scientific formula that might well
be called the spiritual equivalent of Albert
Einstein's E=MC2. The formula they
discerned was D = E + W + C.
Every desire is composed of three basic
components: energy, will power and creativity
(consciousness). When you align every thought,
word and action with the wise and good counsel
of the buddhi by serving the shreya,
you'll be led for your highest and greatest
good. When you willingly and consciously
surrender your attachment to the merely
pleasant, comfortable, familiar and attractive
preya, you really give up nothing of
value. The intrinsic power of the preya
is not lost to you. Instead, your voluntary act
of sacrifice automatically transforms the
preya into internal reserves of energy and
will power, and opens the doorway to the
superconscious mind--your access to the Divine
source of intuitive wisdom and creativity.
Conversely, when you go against the advice of
the mind's conscience (buddhi) by serving
the ego or sense gratification that conflicts
with Inner Wisdom in thought, word and deed,
your internal strategic reserves of energy, will
power and creativity are diminished.
The major crisis of our culture today is not one
of IQ--intelligence quotient. Rather, the
problem we face individually and collectively is
one of WQ--will quotient. In twenty-first
century America, countless people possess the
intellectual capacity to make brilliant
decisions, but because they are habituated to
serving the limited perspective of the ego,
senses and unconscious mind, their reserves of
will power have become bankrupt. Without
sufficient will power to exercise
discrimination, their reserves of energy and
creativity are similarly diminished. The more
these reserves are depleted, the more frequent
and severe the tension, stress, anxiety, burnout
and pain.
As in banking, our personal balance sheet always
reflects whether deposits or withdrawals have
been made. The choice of solvency or bankruptcy
is up to each individual.
In modern life, you need plentiful reserves of
energy, will power and creativity to fulfill
your many duties and responsibilities. You have
obligations to yourself, your family, friends,
business associates, society, the animal kingdom
and the good earth Herself. Yoga Science teaches
that everything you need for a happy, healthy
and secure life is always available in the form
of your thoughts, desires and emotions. A ready
supply of power arises within you daily in the
form of fear, anger and selfish desires. If you
do not expend this power kinetically in the
present moment, you can consciously conserve and
transform it for use at another time. Yoga
Science offers a systematic, practical method
for conserving and transforming energy. It's
very simple, and all it takes is knowing how to
direct your attention appropriately, based on
the intuitive wisdom already within you.
____
Leonard Perlmutter,
founder of the American Meditation Institute (AMI),
is the author of an acclaimed book
The Heart and Science of Yoga:The American
Meditation Institute's Empowering Self-Care
Program for a Happy, Healthy, Joyful Life,
an encyclopedic guide to meditation and
the Yoga Science that supports it. Praised by
such international medical luminaries as Drs.
Dean Ornish, Mehmet Oz, Bernie Siegel and Larry
Dossey, this ultimate guidebook not only
explains what to do, BUT WHY TO DO IT. It delves
into Yoga Science, the eight-step method for
managing the life force energy that propels us
and connects us to the infinite power and
creativity that is within and without us all.
And the result of mastering it is the bliss and
daily joy that comes from the realization of our
connection. For more information, visit
www.americanmeditation.org
