The mind has five stages, Patanjali tells us, and Vyasa comments that
“these stages of mind are on every plane”. The first stage is the stage
in which the mind is flung about, the Kshipta stage; it is the
butterfly mind, the early stage of humanity, or, in man, the mind of
the child, darting constantly from one object to another. It
corresponds to activity on the physical plane. The next is the confused
stage, Mudha, equivalent to the stage of the youth, swayed by emotions,
bewildered by them; he begins to feel he is ignorant—a state beyond the
fickleness of the child—a characteristic state, corresponding to
activity in the astral world. Then comes the state of preoccupation, or
infatuation, Vikshipta, the state of the man possessed by an idea—love,
ambition, or what not. He is no longer a confused youth, but a man with
a clear aim, and an idea possesses him. It may be either the fixed idea
of the madman, or the fixed idea which makes the hero or the saint; but
in any case he is possessed by the idea. The quality of the idea, its
truth or falsehood, makes the difference between the maniac and the
martyr.
Maniac or martyr, he is under the spell of a fixed idea. No reasoning
avails against it. If he has assured himself that he is made of glass,
no amount of argument will convince him to the contrary. He will always
regard himself as being as brittle as glass. That is a fixed idea which
is false. But there is a fixed idea which makes the hero and the
martyr. For some great truth dearer than life is everything thrown
aside. He is possessed by it, dominated by it, and he goes to death
gladly for it. That state is said to be approaching Yoga, for such a
man is becoming concentrated, even if only possessed by one idea. This
stage corresponds to activity on the lower mental plane. Where the man
possesses the idea, instead of being possessed by it, that one-pointed
state of the mind, called Ekagrata in Sanskrit, is the fourth stage. He
is a mature man, ready for the true life. When the man has gone through
life dominated by one idea, then he is approaching Yoga; he is getting
rid of the grip of the world, and is beyond its allurements. But when
he possesses that which before possessed him, then he has become fit
for Yoga, and begins the training which makes his progress rapid. This
stage corresponds to activity on the higher mental plane.
Out of this fourth stage or Ekagrata, arises the fifth stage, Niruddha
or Self-controlled. When the man not only possesses one idea but,
rising above all ideas, chooses as he wills, takes or does not take
according to the illumined Will, then he is Self-controlled and can
effectively practice Yoga. This stage corresponds to activity on the
buddhic plane.
In the third stage, Vikshipta, where he is possessed by the idea, he is
learning Viveka or discrimination between the outer and the inner, the
real and the unreal. When he has learned the lesson of Viveka, then he
advances a stage forward; and in Ekagrata he chooses one idea, the
inner life; and as he fixes his mind on that idea he learns Vairagya or
dispassion. He rises above the desire to possess objects of enjoyment,
belonging either to this or any other world. Then he advances towards
the fifth stage— Self-controlled. In order to reach that he must
practice the six endowments, the Shatsamapatti. These six endowments
have to do with the Will-aspect of consciousness as the other two,
Viveka and Vairagya, have to do with the cognition and activity aspects
of it.
By a study of your own mind, you can find out how far you are ready to
begin the definite practice of Yoga. Examine your mind in order to
recognize these stages in yourself. If you are in either of the two
early stages, you are not ready for Yoga. The child and the youth are
not ready to become yogis, nor is the preoccupied man. But if you find
yourself possessed by a single thought, you are nearly ready for Yoga;
it leads to the next stage of one-pointedness, where you can choose
your idea, and cling to it of your own will. Short is the step from
that to the complete control, which can inhibit all motions of the
mind. Having reached that stage, it is comparatively easy to pass into
Samadhi.