Have you ever seen a circus show? Surely, you might have at least seen it on a T.V. Did you ever notice the daredevil feat performed by the circus performers? They manage to walk on a rope or jump from one swing to another in mid – air. Their bodies are so fit and elastic that they can do anything. They can command their body to do any breath –taking task.
They are not super men or women. They are ordinary human beings. The only difference is that they have a commendable concentration of mind and have developed their physical capacity to an extent where they have become the most skilled. With their enormous power of the human mind they have tarned their bodies.
The power of the mind can be harnessed and successfully channelised only ny concentration. That is by focusing one’s attention any distracting thoughts to enter the mind. During the evolution of man his intelligence and other mental facultties developed to an extent that he could make progress and improve upon his way of living. Human civilization has made tremendous progress because of man’s superior mind.
Our mind has the power to store limitless facts and knowledge. It was this knowlegde that was put to use by the anient ‘gurus’. A vast amount of knowlegde anout religion, music medicine, mathematic, astronomy, law and ethics was thus passed on from one generation to the other by word of mouth only.
Such learning, it is needless to say, required tremendous concentration and power of mind. This was ‘hearing’ and ‘learning’ which was called ‘Shruti’ and ‘Smriti’. The words heard were remembered and repeated to the next person, who also memorised them. This was the only method available in the absence of books.
However, the pupils were given special trainin on how to concentrate. It was done through ‘yoga’ and meditation, which was an essential part of learning.pupils came tpo learn and learn they did. They had their fullest concentration for learning. You must know, ‘Yoga’ denelops the power of mind. The students were tested for their efficiency in ‘Yoga’ before they were declared learned or masters of any art or craft. The great guru Dronacharya put the Pandavas and Kauravas to a similar test, when he had asked them to give proof of their ability in marksmanship at the end of their lesson in archery.
Guru Dronacharya placed a wooden bird on the tree in the forest. He asked them to blow off the bird’s head with an arrow. The Pandavas and Kauravas stood lined up. First he asked Yudhistra.
‘what do you see?
He answered that he could see all his brothers, cousins, the sky and the forest and its trees. Guru was not satisfied with the answer, so he moved to the next price. Each one failed, only Arjun gave the right answer. He said,
‘ I see just the head of the bird.’
Thus, out of all the brothers Arjun alone could pass the test because he could aim correctly as he concentrated only on the surroundings. Their concentration level was inferior to Arjun’s
The Japanese arts of self- defence like Judo and Karate involve enormous exercise of will- power and concentration.
Each and every muscle of the body can be controlled to achieve near impossible physical feats. Remember that just as you can perform a physical feats. Remember that just as you can perform a physical activity better with more and more practice, your brain also requires to be constantly used to produce good results.
All great discoverers were people with great concentration of mind. They were deep thinkers. All the mysteries of nature may be before our eyes, but we have to look inwards into our mind to look for them. You have to train yourself to observe and examine everything that happens around you.
Right now, you have your studies which you should pursue with all seriousness. You are called upon to do a lot of mental activity. Learning a number of new ideas and concepts each day requires you to use your mind. It is important therefore that you realise the importance of concentration. Learning process involves two things- understanding and facillitated by the ability to concentrate.