Four stages of coloring
In the post on AVIDYA, the
translation of the yoga sutra verse mentioned about the 4 stages of coloring
and the author had written there that we will learn about the 4 stages later.
1. Active, aroused
(udaram): Is the thought pattern active on the surface of the mind, or
playing itself out through physical actions (through the instruments of action,
called karmendriyas, which include motion, grasping, and speaking)?
These thought patterns and actions may be mild, extreme, or somewhere in
between. However, in any case, they are active.
2. Distanced,
separated, cut off (vicchinna): Is the thought pattern less active
right now, due to there being some distance or separation. We experience this
often when the object of our desire is not physically in our presence. The attraction or aversion,
for example, is still there, but not in as active a form as if the object was
right in front of us. It is as if we forgot about the object for the now. It is
actually still colored, but just not active (but
also not really attenuated).
3. Attenuated,
weakened (tanu): Has the thought pattern not just been interrupted,
but actually been weakened or attenuated?
Sometimes we can think that a deep habit pattern has been attenuated,
but it really has not been weakened. When we are not in the
presence of the object of attachment or aversion, that
separation can appear to be attenuation, when it
actually is just not seen in the moment.
This is one of the big traps
of changing the habits or conditionings of the mind. First, it is true that we
need to get some separation from the active stage
to the distanced stage, but then it is essential to start to attenuate the
power of the coloring of the thought pattern.
4. Dormant, latent,
seed (prasupta): Is the thought pattern in a dormant or latent form,
as if it were a seed that is not growing at the moment, but which could grow in
the right circumstances?
In the next and final post
on MBCA, we will learn how to move the aroused coloring to dormant latent level
and then how to evolve further to reach the stage of SELF ENQUIRY and
Meditation.
Love.
