The other day, I left my office to
go to somebody's house, taking a quick look at the directions before I left,
which was later than I was planning because I lost track of time. I got completely lost, driving way out of my
way. As I was tracking my way back with GoogleMaps on my phone, it occurred to
me that I really do better when I visually see my route on a map and that I
know that, but just wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing when I
was getting ready to leave. Once I knew where I was and where I was going, I
was trying to be careful about turning at the right places, only not really
because I made at least one more wrong turn and almost missed a street when I
had just finished telling myself to focus.
Finally, I arrived at my friend’s house about a half an hour late—much to
her surprise because the gathering was happening the following week! These are
the kind of days that make you feel a little crazy.
This is a great example of the fourth
mental activity described by Patanjali. Clearly, it’s not right or valid
knowledge. The events were not really a result of misperception and it wasn’t
an issue of imagination. This is what Patanjali calls sleep.
Abhavapratyayalambana tamovrttirnidra (sutra 1.10) means something like sleep is the mental activity that is the
non-existence of cognition. The version I have here is from Desikachar who also
has the word for heaviness that isn’t in any of the other versions of the
sutras on my bookshelf—that seems useful in distinguishing this absence of
thought or knowledge from the kind that happens when you are empty and peaceful
(like can happen when you chant om for an hour). It’s not just about sleep like
you’re going to sleep for the night, but about being kind of unconscious. We
all have moments of unconsciousness—when we forget where we put the keys or are
on auto-pilot doing something. I think this was the predominant mental activity
for me on the day I got lost (and even before). I was unconscious when I put it
on my calendar, when I was getting ready to leave and a few times while I was
driving. Sometimes conditioned mind can tell us it’s a lot of work to pay
attention all the time, but that day showed me that it is way more work to be
unconscious.
