One of the key elements of Raja Yoga, based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the practice of samyama, which is a one-pointed concentration that is so complete that it merges subject, object and the process of knowing into one unified whole. By this practice, one knows everything about the object of the concentration, from “inside” as it were.

Even without going to the final stage of samyama, however, an individual can find tremendous benefit in whatever direction he turns his attention through an increasing focus of the concentration on the ‘signal’ and a corresponding reduction of the ‘noise’ or static that disrupts or weakens the signal that is coming through.

An interesting example was recounted in the great epic of India, the Mahabharata. The preceptor Drona was instructing the sons of Dhristarashtra and the sons of Pandu in the art of archery. He asked each one to focus on a bird in a distant tree, and in particular on the eye of that bird as the potential target of the archery. He then asked each prince to describe what he observed. One after another they described the land, the sky, the clouds, the tree, the bird and eventually they noted they saw the eye. He then came to Arjuna, the premier archer of the age, and Arjuna replied that he saw only a black spot. He had restricted his focus and concentration down to just the target, the eye of the bird, and had disregarded everything else that was a distraction to that focus.

While this story describes the process of concentration in terms of success in the world, it does not specifically address the point the Mother is making, that successful concentration also allows one to accomplish things in a much faster period of time. This conclusion, however, is inevitable if one recognises that much of the wasted time in accomplishing anything is due to the interference of distractions or ‘noise’ that create friction and prevent the individual from making the exact, correct, minimal movement to achieve the result.

The Mother notes: “… If you have much to do, you must learn how to concentrate much, all the more, and when you are doing a thing, to think of that only, and focus all your energy upon what you do. You gain at least half the time. So if you tell me: ‘I have too much work’, I answer: ‘You do not concentrate enough.’

(Another child) For a mathematical problem, sometimes the solution comes quickly, sometimes it take too long.”

The Mother responds: “Yes, it is exactly that: it depends on the degree of concentration. If you observe yourself, you will notice this quite well: when it does not come, it is because of a kind of haziness in the brain, something cloudy, like a fog somewhere, and then you are there as in a dream. You push forward trying to find it, and it is as though you were pushing into cottonwool, you do not see clearly there; and so nothing comes. You may remain in that state for hours.”
“Concentration consists precisely in removing the cloud. You gather together all the elements of your intelligence and fix them on one point, and then you do not even try actively to find the thing. All that you do is to concentrate in such a way as to see only the problem — but seeing not only its surface, seeing it in its depth, what it conceals. If you are able to gather together all your mental energies, bringing them to a point which is fixed on the enunciation of the problem, and you stay there, fixed, as though you were about to drill a hole in the wall, all of a sudden it will come. And this is the only way. If you try: Is it this, is it that, is it this, is it that?… You will never find anything or else you will need hours. You must get your mental forces to a point with strength enough to pierce through the words and strike upon the thing that is behind. There is a thing to be found; swoop down upon it.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter IV Concentration, pp. 42-43

Author's Bio: 

Santosh has been studying Sri Aurobindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at http://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast located at https://anchor.fm/santosh-krinsky
He is author of 20 books and is editor-in-chief at Lotus Press. He is president of Institute for Wholistic Education, a non-profit focused on integrating spirituality into daily life.
Video presentations, interviews and podcast episodes are all available on the YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@santoshkrinsky871
More information about Sri Aurobindo can be found at www.aurobindo.net
The US editions and links to e-book editions of Sri Aurobindo’s writings can be found at Lotus Press www.lotuspress.com