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The
Importance of Concentration
Excerpt from: "A Series of Lessons in Raja
Yoga" -
By Yogi Ramacharaka
Concentration is a focusing of the mind. And this focusing of the mind
requires a focusing, or bringing to a center, of the Will. The mind is
concentrated because the Will is focused upon the object. The mind
flows into the mould made by the Will. The above exercises are designed
not only to accustom the mind to the obedience and direction of the
Will, but also tend to accustom the Will to command. We speak of
strengthening the Will, when what we really mean is training the mind
to obey, and accustoming the Will to command. Our Will is strong
enough, but we do not realize it. The Will takes root in the very
center of our being--in the "I," but our imperfectly developed mind
does not recognize this tact. We are like young elephants that do not
recognize their own strength, but allow themselves to be mastered by
puny drivers, whom they could brush aside with a movement. The Will is
back of all action--all doing--mental and physical.
We shall have much to say touching the Will, in these lessons and the
student should give the matter his careful attention. Let him look
around him, and he will see that the great difference between the men
who have stepped forward from the ranks, and those who remain huddled
up in the crowd, consists in Determination and Will. As Buxton has well
said: "The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great
difference between men, the feeble and the powerful; the great and the
insignificant; is Energy and Invincible Determination." And he might
have added that the thing behind that "energy and invincible
determination" was Will.
The writers and thinkers of all ages have recognized the wonderful and
transcendent importance of the Will. Tennyson sings: "O living Will
thou shalt endure when all that seems shall suffer shock." Oliver
Wendell Holmes says: "The seat of the Will seems to vary with the organ
through which it is manifested; to transport itself to different parts
of the brain, as we may wish to recall a picture, a phrase, a melody;
to throw its force on the muscles or the intellectual processes. Like
the general-in-chief, its place is everywhere in the field of action.
It is the least like an instrument of any of our faculties; the
farthest removed from our conceptions of mechanism and matter, as we
commonly define them." Holmes was correct in his idea, but faulty in
his details. The Will does not change its seat, which is always in the
center of the Ego, but the Will forces the mind to all parts, and in
all directions, and it directs the _Prana_ or vital force likewise. The
Will is indeed the general-in-chief, but it does not rush to the
various points of action, but sends its messengers and couriers there
to carry out its orders. Buxton has said: "The Will will do anything
that can be done in this world. And no talents, no circumstances, no
opportunities will make a two-legged creature a Man without it." Ik
Marvel truly says: "Resolve is what makes a man manifest; not puny
resolve, not crude determinations, not errant purpose--but that strong
and indefatigable Will which treads down difficulties and danger, as a
boy treads down the heaving frost-lands of winter; which kindles his
eye and brain with a proud pulse-beat toward the unattainable. Will
makes men giants."
The great obstacle to the proper use of the Will, in the case of the
majority of people, is the lack of ability to focus the attention. The
Yogis clearly understand this point, and many of the _Raja Yoga_
exercises which are given to the students by the teachers, are designed
to overcome this difficulty. Attention is the outward evidence of the
Will. As a French writer has said: "The attention is subject to the
superior authority of the Ego. I yield it, or I withhold it, as I
please. I direct it in turn to several points. I concentrate it upon
each point as long as my Will can stand the effort." Prof. James has
said: "The essential achievement of the Will, when it is most
voluntary, is to attend to a difficult object, and hold it fast before
the mind. Effort of Attention is the essential phenomenon of the Will."
And Prof. Halleck says: "The first step toward the development of Will
lies in the exercise of Attention. Ideas grow in distinctness and
motor-power as we attend to them. If we take two ideas of the same
intensity and center the attention upon one, we shall notice how much
it grows in power." Prof. Sully says: "Attention may be roughly defined
as the active self-direction of the mind to any object which presents
itself at the moment." The word "Attention" is derived from two Latin
words, _ad tendere_, meaning "to stretch towards," and this is just
what the Yogis know it to be. By means of their psychic or clairvoyant
sight, they see the thought of the attentive person stretched out
toward the object attended to, like a sharp wedge, the point of which
is focused upon the object under consideration, the entire force of the
thought being concentrated at that point. This is true not only when
the person is considering an object, but when he is earnestly
impressing his ideas upon another, or upon some task to be
accomplished. Attention means reaching the mind out to and focusing it
upon something.
The trained Will exhibits itself in a tenacious Attention, and this
Attention is one of the signs of the trained Will. The student must not
hastily conclude that this kind of Attention is a common faculty among
men. On the contrary it is quite rare, and is seen only among those of
"strong" mentality. Anyone may fasten his Attention upon some passing,
_pleasing_ thing, but it takes a trained will to fasten it upon some
unattractive thing, and hold it there. Of course the trained occultist
is able to throw interest into the most unattractive thing upon which
it becomes advisable to focus his Attention, but this, in itself, comes
with the trained Will, and is not the possession of the average man.
Voluntary Attention is rare, and is found only among strong characters.
But it may
be cultivated and grown, until he who has scarcely a shade of it
to-day, in time may become a giant. It is all a matter of practice,
exercise, and Will.
It is difficult to say too much in favor of the development of the
faculty of tenacious Attention. One possessing this developed faculty
is able to accomplish far more than even a much "brighter" man who
lacks it. And the best way to train the Attention, under the direction
of the Will, is to practice upon _uninteresting_ objects, and ideas,
holding them before the mind until they begin to assume an Interest.
This is difficult at first, but the task soon begins to take on a
pleasant aspect, for one finds that his Will-power and Attention are
growing, and he feels himself acquiring a Force and Power that were
lacking before--he realizes that he is growing Stronger. Charles
Dickens said that the secret of his success consisted in his developing
a faculty of throwing his entire Attention into whatever he happened to
be doing at the moment and then being able to turn that same degree of
Attention to the next thing coming before him for consideration. He was
like a man behind a great searchlight, which was successively turned
upon point after point, illuminating each in turn. The "I" is the man
behind the light, and the Will is the reflector, the light being the
Attention.
This discussion of Will and Attention may seem somewhat "dry" to the
student, but that is all the more reason that he should attend to it.
It is the secret that lies at the basis of the Science of _Raja Yoga_,
and the Yogi Masters have attained a degree of Concentrated Will and
Attention that would be inconceivable to the average
"man on the street." By reason of this, they are able to direct the
mind here and there,
outward or inward, with an enormous force. They are able to focus the
mind upon a small thing with remarkable intensity, just as the rays of
the sun may be focused through a "sun-glass" and caused to ignite
linen, or, on the other hand, they are able to send forth the mind with
intense energy, illuminating whatever it rests upon, just as happens in
the case of the strong electric searchlight, with which many of us are
familiar. By all means start in to cultivate the Attention and Will.
Practice on the unpleasant tasks--do the things that you have before
you, and from which you have been shrinking because they were
unpleasant. Throw interest into them, and the difficulty will vanish,
and you will come out of it much stronger, and filled with a new sense
of Power.
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