The yogi learns that by means of imagination or visualization, will, and pranayama ( life- energy control) he can dim the lights of the senses- sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste–— whenever he doesn’t wish to be disturbed by their messages.
He has full control over, and can enter at will, the waking state, the dream state, the deep- sleep state ( i.e., the psychological, the subconscious, and the super- subconscious), and the superconscious state.
The yogi masters the art of mind control. He shuts off mental restlessness and imagination, and avoids absentmindedness by practice of the following:
(A) passivity, or evenmindedness under all conditions;
(B) positive concentration (keeping the mind on one particular thought at a time);
(C) negative concentration ( using discrimination and will to eliminate unwanted thoughts);
(D) transferring consciousness from feeling to will or ideas;
(E) transferring consciousness from emotions, such as love or hatred, to self- control, or creative thinking, or pure feeling;
(F) holding the thought on one sensation ( sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch) at a time;
(G) visualization of mental images, and creating and dissloving dreams at will;
(H) mental anesthesia ( receiving sensation of pain as informative reports rather than experiences of suffering).
” The Divine Romance” pg no.211
By Sri Paramhansa Yogananda
