The mind was always restless
A wandering mind isn't failure. It's the very thing the practice was built for.
In this step
- 01You're in good company
- 02The teacher's answer
- 03What gets in the way
- 04The deeper diagnosis
You're in good company
The tradition's most famous student complains about his own mind, to his teacher's face.
If your mind wanders the moment you sit still, you have not failed at yoga, you have located its starting point. The old texts assume exactly this. In the Gita, the student Arjuna says it plainly to his teacher:
From the source
BG 6.34The student's complaint, forever relatable: the mind is restless, impetuous, strong, and as hard to hold as the wind.
“For the mind is verily restless, O Krishna; it is impetuous, strong and difficult to bend. I deem it as hard to curb as the wind.”
The original Sanskrit
cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham | tasyāhaṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyor iva suduṣkaram
The teacher's answer
The entire method, in one line.
The teacher does not argue with the diagnosis. The answer names no trick and no shortcut:
From the source
BG 6.35The teacher agrees, and prescribes anyway: constant practice plus dispassion. The method works not because the mind is easy, but despite its being hard.
“The Blessed Lord said: Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard to curb and restless; but it may be curbed by constant practice and by dispassion.”
The original Sanskrit
śrī-bhagavān uvāca asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durṇigrahaṃ calam | abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate
Practice, plus letting go. The rest of this course unpacks those two words.
What gets in the way
The Sutras list the daily obstacles, with clinical care.
Sickness, doubt, laziness, backsliding. The Sutras name the daily obstacles in a list that reads like it was written this morning:
From the source
YS 1.30The classic list of what gets in the way: illness, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, craving, confusion, failure to progress, and losing ground you'd gained. It is meant as diagnosis, not judgment.
“Disease, mental laziness, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, lethargy, clinging to sense-enjoyments, false perception, non-attaining concentration, and falling away from the state when obtained, are the obstructing distractions.”
The original Sanskrit
vyādhistyānasaṃśayapramādālasyāviratibhrāntidarśanālabdhabhūmikatvānavasthitatvāni cittavikṣepās te 'ntarāyāḥ
The deeper diagnosis
Beneath the daily interference, five afflictions drive the churn.
Beneath the surface obstacles the Sutras find five deeper afflictions, with plain old misapprehension at the root:
From the source
YS 2.3The five roots of trouble: not seeing clearly (the root the other four grow from), over-identifying with "I," clinging to what feels good, pushing away what hurts, and fear for one's own life.
“The pain-bearing obstructions are — ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.”
The original Sanskrit
avidyāsmitārāgadveṣābhiniveśāḥ kleśāḥ
The five afflictions
- 1Avidyāmisapprehension, taking the unreal for the real (the root of the rest)
- 2Asmitāegoism, the sense of I
- 3Rāgaattachment, chasing what once pleased us
- 4Dveṣaaversion, fleeing what once pained us
- 5Abhiniveśaclinging to life