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Chitta Prasadanam

Series Summary: Making the Mind a Pleasant Place

by Keshav Rajgopal

Discourse Series on Making the Mind a Pleasant Place by Pandit Priyadarshan. A Summary. 18th November 2020

AHYMSIN organized an in-depth satsang with Shri. Pandit Priyadarshan (Pierre Lefebvre) from October 11th to November 8th, 2020. Over these five Sundays, Pandit ji provided a detailed discourse decoding how to cultivate pleasant mindedness in our daily lives. Keeping Maharshi Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras as the center piece, supported by the Bhagavad Gita and Swami Veda’s commentary and discussions, he elucidated the concepts with ease.

Pandit ji brought the core of the discourse series - Chitta Prasadanam, literally meaning “The Pleasant Mind”, to clear understanding of the eager and enthusiastic participants. He generously used explanations from various yogic texts, Vedic scriptures, and Buddhist texts, abundantly supported by relevant instances from his own interactions with revered Swami Veda to make the concepts clear to understand and easy to adapt to everyday life.

I am privileged to be part of this enlightening spiritual endeavor and make my best efforts to summarize the course of the event. Sincere gratitude to AHYMSIN for facilitating this event and Sadar pranam to Shri. Pandit Priyadarshan ji for his clear, smooth, effortless and friendly discourse.

Chitta Prasadanam refers to a practice found in many yogic texts, primarily in the Yoga Sutras. This is generally translated as making the mind, a pleasant place. Over the duration of the discourse, many sutras, relevant yogic practices and shlokas from the Bhagavad Gita were explored to aid the understanding of this concept.

The word Prasada, comes from the root sad, means to settle. In the context of working with the mind through yoga practices, it takes a triple meaning - to settle the mind, - to clear the mind and- to make the mind become more pleasant. Take the example of water in a pond. If the water stirred, mud from the bottom also gets disturbed and water becomes muddy and unpleasant. By settling it, mud settles down and water becomes pleasant. In essence, clear mind is a pleasant mind.

The word Chitta in Yoga Sutras refers to the entire mind field. Buddhi, the higher mind, that discriminates, Ahankara, that provides the notion of self as in “I” and the identity that create the individuality, and Manas, the lower mind that provides the capability to collect inputs from senses and initiates actions through those senses are all part of Chitta.

Chitta Prasadanam is making the entire mind field a pleasant place.

There are a number of sutras, mostly in the first chapter of the Yoga Sutras, dealing with this concept. In the shloka of homage to Patanjali (योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां मलं शरीरस्य च वैद्यकेन। yogena cittasya padena vācāṁ malaṁ śarīrasya ca vaidyakena “He who removed the impurities of the mind (by the teaching of) yoga…”

Reference to Chitta Prasadanam appears in first chapter of the Yoga Sutras, which is meant for the advanced practitioners of yoga. Sutras are by definition formulas that need commentary to understand clearly. Vyasa is one of the first and foremost commentators of Yoga Sutras. As per Swami Veda, both the sutras and the commentary by Vyasa must be taken together, not as separate entities.
This was one of the most favorite sutras of Swami Veda.

मैत्रीकरुणामुदितोपेक्षाणां सुखदुःखपुण्यापुण्यविषयाणां भावनातः चित्तप्रसादनम् ॥३३॥
maitrī-karuṇā-muditā-upekṣānāṃ
sukha-duḥkha-puṇya-apuṇya-viṣayāṇāṃ
bhāvanātaḥ citta-prasādanam ||33||

Maitri (friendliness towards those who are happy), Karuna (compassion towards those who are suffering), Mudita (joyfulness towards those who are doing good actions), Upeksha (indifference towards those indulging in evil actions) are the four attitudes towards different types of people, that need to be cultivated for managing the situations peacefully.  The commentators say that first three of these are ways to achieving Samadhi and the fourth is neutral, in the sense that cultivating it will not bring us further away.

Our attitudes in daily life are steppingstones to achieving Chitta Prasadanam.

One needs to show friendliness towards happy people. In a generic sense, this feeling has to be towards everyone as mentioned by both Swami Veda and Swami Vivekananda. It is also related to Ahimsa, of not committing violence. As per Vyasa, at all times, in all places, under all circumstances, towards all living beings, not having the intention of/doing harm is Maitri.

Karuna is compassion towards those who are in suffering. Mudita is happiness/good will towards those who do good action. Upeksha is indifference/not forming a judgement towards people committing evil actions. The word - Upeksha comes from the root eeksh (to see) and when prefixed with upa (near) means to see from near. This is the process of becoming an observer, not getting entangled with the subject being observed.

Bhavana is cultivating these sentiments in oneself.
These attitudes/actions are not to be considered as a sequence, but all of them go together and balance each other.

Yoga Sutras are close to Buddhism. There are many ways to end suffering (Dukha). Chitta Prasadanam also exists in the same way as of Buddhist concept of Brahma Vihara - frolicking in the absolute consciousness.

On Chitta Prasadanam, Vyasa says “Prasannam Ekagram Stitipadam Labate”, meaning that stability is obtained by purifying the mind and making it one pointed. Our organization – AHYMSIN logo has the byline - “Yogah Samadhih”, which is Vyasa’s commentary on the first sutra meaning Yoga [is] Samadhi.  Purification and one pointedness of mind are required.

Sutra 33 is about Chitta Prasadanam and the four main tools (parikarma/upaya) of achieving it. Chitta Prasadanam is also linked to the stability of the mind field. Stability comes from making the mind clear. Sutras 34-39 are also methods of Chitta Prasadanam helping in stabilizing the mind and in bringing permanence to that stability.

प्रच्छर्दनविधारणाभ्यां वा प्राणस्य ॥३४॥
pracchardana-vidhāraṇābhyāṃ vā prāṇasya ||34||

Pranayama is spoken of in the sutra 34 of chapter 1. The link between prana and mind is very strong. That’s the reason Kumbhaka, the practice of holding breath, is not taught in the tradition until Chitta Prasadanam is achieved. Holding breath amplifies whatever is held in the mind. If the mind is impure, such as a situation wherein it’s filled with anger, depression, jealousy etc., the same impurities will also get amplified by the practice of Kumbhaka, and hence breath retention isn’t taught until emotional purification is achieved through Chitta Prasadanam.

The word - Vidharana in Sutra 34 is generally explained as Kumbhaka by many.  Its explanation in the Himalayan Tradition, as given by Swami Rama and Swami Veda is quite different from that.  Vidharana is a special concentration on inhalation, where it is constant and controlled. This is linked to the Buddhist practice of breath awareness, an application of mind on pranayama, rather than a practice of pranayama.
Pandit ji reemphasized the reason and approach for the perceived lack of Kumbhaka practices in the tradition. Explaining this rationale further, he explained that in the first phase there is focus on preparing the physical body, the pranic vehicle, before practicing the breath retention. Expanding the breath by gradually increasing the duration of number of counts of beathing in and out over a period of time without struggle. In the second phase, focus shifts to practicing the ratio of exhalation to inhalation at 2:1.  Along with this practice of expanding the breath, emotional purification is emphasized. If this sequence and preparations is not managed properly, as explained earlier, the content of the mind, including the impurities will get amplified. Hence Kumbhaka is not practiced until the contents of the mind are cleared.

There are two types of Kumbhaka - one of a hatha yogi and the other of a dhyana yogi. In case of sahaja kumbhaka, there is a natural tendency of the breath to suspend on its own, rather than being forcefully being held.

Chitta Prasadanam is also mentioned in Vyasa’s commentary of Sutra 1 of Chapter 2, that describes Kriya Yoga - Tapas, Svadhyaya, and Ishwara Pranidhana. Vyasa says that tapas has to bring about Chitta Prasadanam, otherwise tapas cannot happen. Swami Veda says whatever brings imbalance in the mind and body is not tapas.

In Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17, Shlokas 14 - 16 talk of three types of tapas – physical, vocal and mental. Swami Veda placed great importance on mental tapas. Physical tapas is about giving service to deities, dvijas (twice born or who know Brahman), gurus and wisemen. Purity/cleanliness and simplicity, abstinence, non-violence are also included as part of tapas (Yama/Niyama of Yoga Sutras). Calming speech that is true, pleasant and beneficial is vocal tapas. Practice of svadhyaya is also vocal tapas. In this context, Japa is svadhyaya, apart from the other meaning of self-study. Manah prasadah (pleasantness of mind), Saumyatvam (calmness), Maunam (silence - attitude of turning inside, contemplating), Atma Vinigrahah (self-control), and Bhava Sanshuddhi (purification of emotion) is mental tapas.

Swami Veda used to say that if our goal is to achieve Samadhi, every action we do, should take us closer to that goal. Sutra 33 and the next few are about attitudes we need to cultivate to create a purified mind field. In his commentary on Sutra 33, letting the mind to become pleasant equates to that of stabilizing the mind. Sutras 34-39 go about binding that stability permanently.

Sutra 35 mentions different types of concentrations:

विषयवती वा प्रवृत्तिरुत्पन्ना मनसः स्थितिनिबन्धिनी॥३५॥
viṣayavatī vā pravr̥tti-rutpannā manasaḥ sthiti nibandhinī ||35||

Pravrtti, the intensely focused mental operation (vrtti) stabilizes the mind.

विशोका वा ज्योतिष्मती ॥३६॥
viśokā vā jyotiṣmatī ॥36॥

Sutra 36 talks about the experience of pure sattva, of buddhi, the highest mental faculty. Viśokā is about losing sorrow by meditating on the center of the heart that is also known as dharara. This inner space is described as a vast, endless, calm, pure space of buddhi.

वीतरागविषयं वा चित्तम् ॥३७॥
vītarāga viṣayam vā chittam ॥37॥

Sutra 37 mentions that meditating on Yogis who have renounced/won over attachments can help achieve steadiness. The meaning also includes when the disembodied yogis and sages may come to meditate in us.

स्वप्ननिद्राज्ञानालम्बनं वा ॥३८॥
Svapna-nidrā jñāna-ālambanam vā ॥38॥

Sutra 38 says that stability of mind is attained by the knowledge of - or knowledge gained through sleep (including yoga nidra) and dream.

यथाभिमतध्यानाद्वा ॥३९॥
yathā-abhimata-dhyānād-vā ॥39॥

Sutra 39 says that one can stabilize the mind by meditating (pravrtti) on any object that’s agreeable.

At the end of each session, Pandit Priyadarshan set homework for the participants that enabled them to reflect and practice upon the learnings from those sessions. For example, homework from session 1 asked the participants to practice breath awareness, feeling the flow of breath and its effect on the state of mind. Homework 2 asked for observing one’s thoughts and reactions in many situations to cultivate the methods to achieve Chitta Prasadanam. Homework 3 expected the participants to observe the principles of mental tapas. Homework 4 invited the participants to observe the process of falling asleep with the progressive withdrawal of awareness while getting into sleep.

The final homework requested everyone to cultivate Chitta Prasadanam in life through the attitudes and actions covered in the discourse in detail.

Editor’s Note:

For further reference:Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali With the Exposition of Vyasa: A Translation and Commentary: Volume 1: Samadhi-Pada by Pandit Usharbudh Arya (later known as Swami Veda Bharati upon taking sannyasa)