prajna: wisdom/whakaaro nui

                 

phot by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash.com

Sunrise, dawn, is a real inner spiritual experience of the dawning of the Higher Consciousness
                    

In 2019. I was writing about the work of great sage, Patanjali. But I forgot to post this about Prajna. So here it is, as continuing from my previous posts, links here, here, here, here and here. 

prajna: wise, wisdom (whakaaro nui)

Prajna is the fourth merit. Or fifth, if you count meditation. Meditation is a merit in that constant practice (abhyasa) of meditation is necessary to proceed along the samadhi path. 

What is this wisdom spoken of in this sutra? Wisdom, we could say, is a type of intelligence. Is this what is meant here? Do we suddenly become wise? Surely wisdom is something which we accrue through life, without enlightenment? Is Patanjali telling us that moving in and out of the first two stages of enlightenment is the way to become wise?

Absolutely not. Here we are talking about a different sort of wisdom. The wisdom of the Higher Mind is flowering. The seeds of this are within us, but, like a flower, they require the correct conditions to come alive, grow, and bloom. 

the power of latent impressions, and trauma

How can this happen? It happens through a myriad of ways:

• meditation reduces our latent impressions. Those of which we are unaware generally. Which have come down through our own incarnations. Some of these impressions are to flower in this lifetime, as part of our journey. And although we must proceed through the journey, in a lifetime, of specific impressions, they can be minimised with the constant practice of meditation. And, indeed, this is one of the reasons why meditators are generally happier.  
• impressions which are yet to develop, in future lives These can be reduced also. 
• our karmic family, ethnic, and societal impressions, or karmas, which we bring into this lifetime, are also reduced.
• our present day traumas, to a large extent, depending of course upon the severity of the traumas, they too can reduce.

Present life trauma is held within the body, in pressure points. Which is the basis of several olde healing modalities. And of course, in the mind. The everyday mind. Meditation can provide incredible inner strength to deal with all of this. However, for many people, meditation is absolutely not appropriate, as these emotional effects of trauma arise in the viewing screen of the mind during meditation and can then keep perpetuating the angst. Note that past life trauma can also be dealt with via the pressure points.

Both past life and present trauma "cover" our personality. Manifesting as behaviour. And perpetuating as emotions. And this covers the portal to the pranic sheath, the pranamaya kosha. Traversing the inner realms will, at some stage, release these coverings. Whether it's bit by bit, or all at once. Bit by bit is easier to handle.

creating space

With the reducing of karmic effects, present or past, we create space:

• for the overall prana (Mauri) to flow more freely. We have prana in our body, our mind, at the emotional level, in our body
• for the revealing of the pranic sheath for the life-force energies to provide more fuel for the samadhi journey
• in our heart
• in our everyday mind

Remember, we are still in the early stages of our samadhi journey.

new neural pathways

Most importantly, we are creating new neural, or nerve, pathways, in our being. With the corresponding reduction of the nerve pathways, or tracks, especially in our brain. And these are being reduced because our thoughts which have been maintaining them, are slowly dissolving into the ether during our meditation practice. It is not samadhi nor any form of intellectualising which does this. It is our daily (preferably twice daily) meditation practice that does.

With this also comes a reduction in our repeated difficult emotional patterns. These are an important part of the patterns of consciousness of which yoga is about. Blocking these patterns. It is not just all about the thoughts, for thoughts come from our emotions. Then these emotions are firmly held in place by the strong patterns of thought that are maintaining these emotions.

how do we gain will?

This is one of the ways that vira, (will; energy) comes about. Because many of our fears which are emotionally based, are just diminishing, and an inner strength takes their place. This strength was there all along. But it was covered. Covered by the impressions, emotional reactions, and the troubled mind.

The new tracks in our mind created by meditation and samadhi, become more and more elevated. We feel good. Really good. Powerful feel-good hormones are flooding our being. They have not been merely released by meditation, they have also been energised, maintained, and grown stronger.

These are developed by and of, samadhi. They are the sensations of Our Higher Consciousness, the inner space of true wisdom. The wisdom of the third eye. And this too, is developed and maintained by meditation.

2024 update

It was the knowing of just how important prajna is, an the role that prana/mauri plays within our being, that enabled me to survive a really bad hidden physical happening, for decades, and aid my recovery from it. 

For, when the prana of the spirit (te Mauri o te Wairua) is strong, it enables us to survive on many levels. The trick, of course, is knowing just how to do this.