The Uses of Samyama, 3 of 6

This is part three of six pieces on the genius state known as samyama.

The worldly use of samyama in education, science, politics, and arts is almost completely untapped. Patanjali is very open in the Yoga Sutras about the application of samyama to worldly goals, and it seems even behind his weird language it is an exceptionally powerful tool.

Samyama releases genius. In the field of economics, the real driver of capital creation is genius. Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein as individuals created more value for society than millions of people by their work. And the work of genius arises from concentrated, meditative absorption on the topic they choose.

In part two of this series we looked at the 3 components of samyama – dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. By applying these three approaches to a topic, you can easily penetrate the material form (through dharana) of any topic, comprehend it intellectually (through dhyana), and experience its essence (through samadhi). But it is by applying samyama that great leaps of genius insight unfold in whatever arena or field of knowledge it is applied in.

Samyama is the secret of genius. By samyama on a topic, you come to know it from the inside out, as you know yourself. Imagine knowing a person from the inside out through samyama, and the advantage it confers in dealing with them. Imagine knowing a political or business issue from the insight and the strength and clarity of insight it would bring to bear on the successful resolution of the issue.

I want to suggest that in the case of especially talented women and men, they have the unconscious imprint of the ability to samyama on certain topics or arenas. If they are able to unconsciously samyama on science, they may be a scientific genius. But without the requisite mind training their insights will seem accidental, random, and mediated through sleep, dream and reverie. With training in stilling the motions of the mind, otherwise known as yoga, this process becomes conscious.

If this idea is accurate, and unconscious samyama is the source of talents in everyday genius creators, then it opens a new path of inquiry:

Is it possible to teach genius through the systematic development of samyama?