conscious or unconscious, such a group exists, and this collective force is what is
disturbed at the time of the concentration of the mind.
What it is that we are disturbing is a very interesting point to recollect at the present
moment. We are interfering with those silent forces which have been, up to this time,
lying dormant, inactive, on account of unfavourable circumstances for germinating
into conscious experience. We are now compelling the fruit to ripen under conditions
that we are introducing by the power of concentration, so the latent energies, which
would not have otherwise woken up into activity, are made to wake up. This is what
we call the waking up of sleeping dogs; and we do not know what the dog will do
when it wakes up. It can go the other way, or it can attack us. Hence, we have to be
very cautious, first of all. What would we do when these forces are stirred? It is not
very wise for an untutored mind to stir up forces like that in an act of concentration.
It is not merely concentration of mind that is expected of us; we must also know what
we are in our deposits, at the bottom.
When we wake up all these forces that are deposited within, we must be able to face
them. In the concentration process, the forces that are awakened are nothing but
those things which are within us and everything that is sympathetically connected
with the external atmosphere. The affections that are deep-rooted inside—the
deposited potencies of likes, etc.—stir up the corresponding objects outside in the
world. And so there is an awakening of forces within as well as without when we
concentrate the mind. If we are wise enough, if we are discriminative enough, we can
understand what is inside us, and we can also understand what we will awaken,
because the things that will wake up are those counterparts of the deposits of
potencies that are psychologically buried inside. That is why Patanjali has been so
cautious to give us a detailed analysis of the psychological functions of the mind, not
only in the Samadhi Pada but also at the commencement of the Sadhana Pada. A
wise understanding and probing into one’s inward constitution is necessary before
one takes up the work or function of concentration of mind.
In the sutra which begins the Vibhuti Pada, deśa bandhaḥ cittasya dhāraṇā (III.1),
Patanjali gives us a definition of concentration. The binding, or fixing, or tethering of
one’s attention at a particular point is called concentration. This is not a joke. We
cannot do it easily, because we cannot think of one thing continuously for a long
time. The reason is that the mind has not been accustomed to it; we have always been
taught to think a hundred things at a time. Even when it appears that we are
concentrating on one particular point, there is a subconscious distraction of attention
towards other things. An officer at work may be concentrating his mind on the task
on hand, but it does not mean that subconsciously he is forgetting his family. He is
thinking of his family also at the same time. It may not be on the conscious level, but
subconsciously it is there. His wife may be at home, ill. How can he forget that, when
he is working in the office? So there is another side-activity going on in the mind,
together with the issue that is directly on hand. Or he may be a judge in the court; it
does not matter. He may be passing a judgement, but he cannot forget his child who
is seriously ill at home. That is a subconscious activity that is going on as an
undercurrent, together with this directly adopted attitude of conscious concentration
on the particular work on hand.
Likewise, we will find that in concentration an undercurrent of thought may be there,
which is subconsciously working in a different direction. That is called distraction.