Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 048

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM YOGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA CHAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRANJALI RANATHOSME I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar, and of the body through medicine. We have completed the first chapter which is called Samadhipada of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. To recapitulate the important points there, we all suffer from three kinds of afflictions and the cause of these afflictions is because of the mind. Various thoughts that arise in the mind, they disturb us and we identify ourselves with those thoughts. Or in technical language, the combination of Prakriti and Purusha, pure consciousness with what we call Jada are non-conscious objects. That is the cause of all our problems also called three Tapa or three types of afflictions. Why do we want yoga? Because we suffer. No one wants to suffer. Everyone wants to be happy. The only way to be happy is to be oneself and by nature oneself is of the embodiment of bliss, Ananda. So what is the way to separate the consciousness from non-consciousness? This process is called Yoga. Yogaha Chitta Vritti Nirodhaha Separating the mind from our own real nature is called Yoga. And the whole life is meant only for this purpose. Through happiness, through unhappiness, we are stumbling as it were towards this perfection and a time will come, we will attain that goal. But still, if we can intelligently, consciously adopt a path which is called Yoga, then we can hasten this process. Otherwise, in course of time, after a long time, it is quite possible for us to separate the Prakriti from Purusha. And then Patanjali gives us, this has to be attained through two main sadhanas called Abhyasa and Vairagya. Abhyasa means repeated practice. How long? Until we attain liberation. The question often comes, how long am I going to do it? So long as we haven't reached the goal, we have to do it. And for that purpose, out of his infinite compassion, God also has provided the opportunity which we call rebirth. Any number of births and this being reborn doesn't come to an end until we really become totally liberated. So Abhyasa and Vairagya. Interestingly, there is a very beautiful Bengali song someone had written on Shri Ramakrishna. A new man has come. Let us go and see him. What is the speciality of this new man? All the time on both his shoulders are hanging two bags. What are the names of those two bags? One is discrimination, Viveka. Another is called dispassion. Discrimination and dispassion. In Patanjali's words, this is called Abhyasa and Vairagya. Abhyasa means go on discriminating. Vairagya means whatever we think is not right, good, which is an obstruction, try to remove it slowly, slowly. These are the two main ways to do it. What is this Abhyasa? So he says that you surrender yourself to God. Ishwara pranidhana. What does that mean? It means repeat the name. Tasya vachakaha pranavaha. The name of Ishwara is Pranava, Omkara. And go on repeating it. What happens? Changes will take place within us and a time will come when we clearly understand. We get a special faculty called Viveka Khyati. Viveka means that crystal clear intuitive understanding. I have nothing to do with this body, with this mind, with this world, with any world. I have nothing to do. This is what we are supposed to attain. Samadhi also has been divided into four categories. First two categories, then the lowest Samadhi is again subdivided into four categories. Slowly, slowly, first let us attain concentration on any object in this world, both gross and subtle. Then attain concentration on the object of concentration, which is called mind. Then attain concentration on what we constantly use, I, I, I, what is this I? Ramana Maharshi used to ask, go on discriminating, trying to find out who are you, who am I, what is this I? And we have got two I's. One is a Sakshi or witness, which says I was the same, I will be the same. The other one, now I am happy, now I am old, now I am young, now I am rich, now I am poor, etc., etc. So many are there. So these two I's have to be separated. That process of separation is called Sadhana. Then the last is, even the last obstruction, even to meditate upon Ananda, because to experience bliss and to be bliss, these are two totally separate processes. To experience bliss is finiteness. Why? It comes, it goes. But to be bliss is our true nature, real nature. So first Pada or chapter in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras is called Samadhi Pada. Definition that what is the nature of our goal and how to attain it and how to understand what is the right means. But as Sri Ramakrishna tells us, it is very easy to read a book and say Sarigama Padhani, but to practice it until it becomes perfect, and that is the difference between a good musician and a bad musician. That is the difference between singing and singeing. We have to practice. So the second chapter of Patanjali Yoga Sutras is very aptly named as Sadhana Pada. Pada means chapter. Sadhana means actually transforming our understanding into day-to-day practice, behavior. In other words, change in behavior. This chapter has got 55 sutras or aphorisms. So we will be dealing with that. Yoga and its practice, Sadhana Pada. What are the main ingredients of this spiritual practice, yoga practice? There are only three, absolutely three. Patanjali has classified any type of spiritual practice into three categories. Tapah, Swadhyaya and Ishwara Pranidhanani. Austerity, study of scriptures and ultimately surrender to God. From the Vedantic point of view, I told you at the beginning of this series that I won't be going purely by the theories of Sankhya, from where this yoga system has come, but I will take the Vedantic interpretation and that too in the light of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda's teachings and Holy Mother's teachings. So austerity, study and surrender to God. Any type of Sadhana, in any religion, in any country, at any age, all fall into this category. What is the first category? Austerity, Tapasya, it is called Tapasya. What is austerity? The moment we hear the word austerity, we feel something that we have to deprive ourselves, something voluntarily becoming what you call suffering, voluntary suffering. The strangest thing I find is, suppose there is a person and he doesn't want to have anything to do with spiritual life, do you think he doesn't perform any austerity? From birth to death, everything is an austerity. A child is born, how much austerity the parents have to get, including losing their sleep. What does a yogi do? He loses his sleep during not only daytime, during night time also. What do these parents do? They also lose sleep. A student wants to be a brilliant student. What does he do? Is he not doing Tapasya? Okay, you are working in the office, you are married, married life itself is the greatest austerity I can tell about. Not only children, to adjust with each other, to have right understanding, most of the time it will be misunderstanding only. We do not even attempt to understand what the other person is trying to tell. Whether it is in the monasteries, misunderstandings come. Then other people will be thinking ill of us and we are aware other people are thinking ill of us. What should be our reaction? Are we not performing Tapasya? If your boss is very angry with you, what are you going to do? Are you not performing austerity? We will go there, put up a smiling face, good morning sir, and whole day you are working there. What are you doing? You are doing Tapasya, austerity. But you don't call it austerity. No one calls it austerity. It should not be called austerity. You know why? Because by definition, what austerity means, that kind of hardship or suffering which is voluntarily undertaken and which helps us progress in life, both physically, mentally and spiritually, that is called austerity. Let us keep this in mind, these two conditions. Let me repeat. What are the two conditions? If somebody forces us to do something, bear some suffering, it is not austerity. It must be voluntarily, consciously undertaken. That's why, you know, some people, they fast on Ekadashi day, 11th day. Nobody forces them, but they themselves do it. A mother, when a baby is born, happily she goes through. It is hardship, but she never says, oh, this is not wanted like that. She is very happy to do that. A student, a mountain climber, how much hardship they go through. So the first condition is, if some austerity is to qualify in the right way, it must be voluntary and consciously undertaken and consciously practiced. The second is, it must always help us to move forward. Why is this second condition so important? Someone asked Swami Brahmanandaji, Maharaj, what is austerity? We hear so many holy people, sadhus, they are standing on their heads or some people, they lift their hands for whole life. Some people stand for whole life. Some people, they stand in cold rivers throughout the night and doing japa. Is this called austerity? He says Rama Rama. Most of these people, it is not austerity at all. It is pure selfishness. They are craving for some kind of powers. Siddhi is what we call. Second, he says, whatever helps us to go forward in life, that is austerity. Austerity must always fulfill that condition. So what do we see in so-called many people? Ramakrishna had very observant eyes. So he looks and then he sees people on Ekadashi, they are fasting. And on such occasions, they do not speak, but they want to eat fish. They go to the fish market. Meaning how much? That fellow says something, five rupees. They are only selling for three rupees. You know, all going on. Is this called austerity? What is the point of your doing Ekadashi? What is the real point is, is there any real transformation in our character? Are we becoming less selfish? Are we becoming less attached to the world? Are our passions becoming less? Maybe slowly, but becoming less. Is my attachment to God growing? So this is real austerity, if it is happening. But if no change is happening, however hardship we may go through, it is like what we call, you know, like water that has been leaking. It is waste. Not complete waste, because a person in course of time acquires that capacity to do hardship. That is a good thing. You know how much hardship even the sportsman, Olympic sportsman, how many hours they practice? A boxer, how much hardship he practices? So what is the point we have to remember? In life, hardship is unavoidable. Whatever, like whether you are worldly person, spiritual person, it is completely unavoidable. Either neighbours will trouble you, your own family members will trouble you, weather will trouble you, God will trouble you, something or other. And becoming old, that is also hardship. And already we have tremendous, terrible fear of death. All these things we understand, but we ignore them. Now coming back, what Patanjali is telling us, Tapah means such type of activities, even if they involve suffering and usually they do, but they must advance us towards spiritual life. We must grow, go towards God. In Patanjali's language, what it means is, we must feel less identified with our body and mind and more identified with our own true nature, which is Purusha, this is. In the Bhagavad Gita, we have got beautiful description. How many types of austerities are there? We have got three main instruments. By the way, you know, when a Brahmin boy is invested with sacred thread, he puts on that sacred thread as a symbol of self-control and it consists of minimum three threads. And then what are these threads for? Three. Why three? Or multiples of three. Why three? Because in Vedanta, three is very significant. How many bodies we have? Three bodies. How many instruments we have? Mind, speech and body. Thought, speech and action. Three. So that is controlling these three. Controlling the mind, controlling the speech, controlling the action. These three are beautifully described in the Bhagavad Gita. The first is the bodily austerity. Brahmacharya, observing continents, controlling our external sense organs, controlling our food, eating sattvika food and that too, that which has been offered to God and then worshipping Gods, visiting temples and meditating upon God, etc. Shariram tapavichyate. Then there is the speech, austerity of speech, you know. Anudvegakaram Vakyam, Satyam Priyahitanchayat, Swadhyaya Abhyasananchayiva, Vamayam tapavichyate. What a beautiful description. Anud, when we speak, it should not cause agitation in other people. It must be truth and it must be beneficial. Then Swadhyaya Abhyasanam. Again and again studying the scriptures is or speak also good things. When you are talking with somebody, how much time are you going to talk about worldly things? You know, same repetition, endless repetition, same things throughout life. Why not talk something good, even if it be repetition? That is called Parayana, Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita. There are so many Hindus, Christians, they go on reading this Bible. Muslims, do you know what they do? They go on reading Quran or doing Japa. All these fall under the category of austerity of the speech. Swadhyaya Abhyasanam, Vamayam tapavichyate. Then, Manah Prasadah Samyatvam, Maunam Atma Vinigraha, Bhava Samshuddhi Ityetat, Tapo Manasam Uchyate. Keeping the mind serene, in spite of all the ups and downs that go on in this world and trying to focus the mind only on God. In Swami Vivekananda's words, it also means whatever duty we are doing at any given moment, you are now listening. Listen carefully. Don't go to sleep. And remember it. Because if you don't hear in the first sense, how can you remember it afterwards? If you are meditating, meditate. Don't meditate upon anything. What happened to my brother-in-law? Why is he not phoning to me? What is going to happen? No. Okay. Mind is restless. Swami Turiyananda used to say, tell to your mind, okay, you want to think of all those things, fine. Let me finish this meditation. Let me come out of meditation. Then, I will give time to worry about all these things. Interestingly, one of our Swamis has put so beautifully, we are all experts in meditation. It surprises us. Am I really an expert? I like to meditate, but my mind is running here and there. How do you call that I am an expert? Well, have you ever worried? What is worry? Deep meditation on any subject other than God. Because, you know, in spite of our saying, no, I should not think of it, again and again and again, naturally the mind flows. If we are experts in worrying, we are already experts in meditation. Change the subject. Instead of worrying about worldly objects, now you worry about, how can I progress in spiritual life, etc. So, without austerity, it is said, nobody is capable of progressing in any field of life. You know, scientists, musicians. Do you know a good musician? A musician who gets up at 8 o'clock and wants to become a good musician, it is never possible. Every musician should get up at 4 o'clock and if possible, stand in a cold river up to the neck and then automatically the music flows through him. God has provided enough of all these things. Put up with all these problems and people, that nature, life throws against us every moment of our life. If we can put it up cheerfully, with serenity of mind and not thinking of revenge, that is the greatest austerity we can go through. So, this is what is being told. The practice of serenity, sympathy, meditation upon the Atman, withdrawal of the mind from sense objects and integrity of motive is called austerity of the mind. In the Katha Upanishad, we have a very beautiful imagery. Let me read it. This is the image employed by the author of the Katha Upanishad. The senses, say the wise, are the horses. The roads they travel are the mazes of desire. When a man lacks discrimination and his mind is uncontrolled, his senses are unmanageable like the restive horses of a charioteer. But when a man has discrimination and his mind is controlled, his senses, like the well-trained horses of a charioteer, lightly obey the rain. The man who has sound understanding for a charioteer and a controlled mind for rains, he it is that reaches the end of the journey which is called Samadhi in Patanjali's words. This is the first part. We said three parts. All spiritual practices fall under three parts. The first is austerity, Tapah. What is the second one? Swadhyaya. The word Swadhyaya has got two meanings. Swadhyaya and Swadhyaya. Swadhyaya means study of any sacred text which reminds us of our goal, of the nature of God and inspires us to take that goal. Now, this is a wonderful subject by itself. You know, sometimes they say, Okay, I read the Gospel of Shri Ramakrishna. What is there to read? He talks the same thing again and again and again. I know that. I have read it with attention. I know what he is going to say. That's not the point. That is missing the point. What is the point? You know, you sit in front of a TV and go on watching. In between, what comes? Lot of advertisements. And how many times do you think you see the same advertisement? You see dozens of times. Why? Are those fools? They know that you have seen once. No. If you see once, it makes little impression. If you see twice, it makes a little more impression. If you see a dozen times, you are sold. Yes, that is it. That's why they spend millions of dollars or pounds of this advertisement. Simple. Only a few seconds. And yet, how could they afford that? Because the watcher is paying for it through his nose. Yes. Now, if you understand what I just now said, you can apply it to the scriptures also. What happens? Go on reading scriptures. Go on studying the scriptures. It is the same material. But like advertisement, it goes on modifying our behavior, transforming our behavior from deep within us, slowly, slowly, slowly, it brings about a change. In the case of external advertisements, the effect is in the external world. But in the case of the scriptures, because they are truth-filled, Ritambhara, truth-filled, whatever is in the scripture is coming from God himself. It is God only in another form. Ramakrishna, as you recall, had a vision of Shri Krishna, Bhagavatam and a devotee. From that time onwards, he used to repeat morning and evening, Bhagavata, Bhakta, Bhagavan. So, what is a wonderful statement I found. We have not seen God. And we don't even see a good devotee really. Devotees are there, but not that good devotees. But a Bhagavatam is absolute manifestation of God. Go on reading it. Kathamruta, Swamiji's works, Upanishads, Gita, whatever, Bible, Koran, it doesn't really matter. It acts like a corroding agent, destroying all our worldly tendencies and slowly, but imperceptibly, gradually drawing us towards higher and higher goal. So, this is the one meaning. Study scriptures. If we want to progress in spiritual life, let us never ever forget this fact that study of scriptures is absolutely necessary. How long? How long? When we reach God, we can throw it. In the Vedas, there is a beautiful statement and it is amazing statement. When a person reaches God Realization, the state of God Realization, then what happens to the Vedas? They can be discarded like waste paper. Ramakrishna gives a beautiful tale. A man from a village went to a town, city and he receives a letter. He kept it there. I will look into it later on. He seemed to have misplaced it somewhere and he started frantically to search for it. After a long time, he got it and he read it. What was the essence? You bring this item, this item. Then you come back home and after that, he tore that letter into pieces, threw into the waste paper basket. So, what is the meaning of this parable? When we reach God, then we do not need all these Vedas. In fact, they become like trash. Until that time, if we are away from the scriptures, that would be very rash activity. After reaching God, it becomes trash. So, these are the two meanings. One is, study the scriptures. What is the second meaning? Sva-adhyaya. Study, let us study our own mind. What was Holy Mother's teaching to a woman devotee who asked, Mother, what is the way to attain peace? What was the second part of her teaching? The first part is, if you want peace of mind, then you stop finding fault with others. What is the second continuation? Start finding faults with your own self. That is called Sva-adhyaya. Let us study. Because we have got so many defects, so many faults, there is absolutely no doubt about it. And added to that, we go on borrowing it from others. We even purchase. Are you surprised to hear this statement? We borrow. What does borrow mean? Whenever we meet, then we start criticizing other people. That is called borrowing. I borrow from you, you borrow from me. The fault-finding habits. This is one. What is purchasing faults? You know, you purchase a magazine, a worldly magazine, and then you go on. What are you doing now? You actively pay the money for doing this. Or you watch some undesirable movies. What are you doing? You are purchasing. Purchasing is not only with money. Purchasing with time. Purchasing with energy. That means wasting time, wasting energy, and wasting so many of our resources, instead of doing something good. It is amazing. So the second part is, let us turn the torchlight upon ourselves. Let us find out, what is my problem? Why am I not progressing? This is what Swami Brahmanandaji advises. Every spiritual aspirant, before going to bed, just sit down, and go through the whole day's events, and say, what did I do? How much time I thought of God? How much time did I think of, did I waste on worldly affairs? And how am I going to do tomorrow? Let me make a program tomorrow. How I can think of God more. This is called Swadhyaya. So the first thing is, austerity. The second thing is, study of scriptures, and also study of one's own mind, to find out where I was, where am I now, and how better can I reach my goal. This is the second part. But whatever we do, according to Vedanta, without one more component, we are never going to progress, in any field of life. Not only spiritual field of life, in any field of life. What is that? Complete surrender to God. That is called Ishwara Pranidhana. The word Pranidhana, and the word Pranama, have got a close connection. Pranidhana and Pranama. What does it mean to surrender oneself to God? Our life itself depends upon God. Our future, we do not know, it depends upon God. We do not know what is right, what is wrong. That also depends upon God. This is the most important thing. When a person obtains the grace of God, what happens? His buddhi, or his understanding faculty, is illuminated by God. Then he comes to know, what is right, what is wrong, what is good, what is evil, what should be done, what should be avoided. That's why in the Gita, one of the most marvelous assurances that we see, Bhagavan Krishna is telling, if anybody surrenders himself to me, what do I do? He said in many places, I will recall two places, Buddhi Yogam Dadamyaham. I grant such a person buddhi. Buddhi means the capacity to understand. And our understanding is not proper. That's why every Hindu, whenever he is reciting the most famous Gayatri Mantra, what is he praying for? Give me Dhyo Yonaha Prachodayat. Give me right understanding. You know there is in the Upanishads, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, is the most beautiful prayer in three sentences, which most of the time we all use. Sathoma Sadgamaya Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya Mrutyorma Amritangamaya He says, O Lord, lead me from the unreal to the real. Lead me from ignorance to illumination. Lead me from death to immortality. Death means here, suffering. Because he has already said, Sath and Asath. Here it means Sath, Chit and Ananda. Lead me to Sath. Lead me to Chit. And lead me to Ananda or Ananta. On some occasions, I might tell you about this. We use the word Ananda. It's better to use the word Ananta. Ananta is infinity. Because if our existence is very temporary, that doesn't serve the purpose. If our knowledge is also very limited, that also doesn't serve the purpose. But if it is infinite existence, if it is infinite knowledge, then infinite joy will come. But that requires a separate talk. I will not go into this now. So this prayer, and that is what happens by the grace of God. Even we surrender ourselves to Him. What does He do? Immediately He doesn't come. We can surrender right now. He is not coming running now. Unless you are like Sri Ramakrishna. But what does He do? What is the first thing He does? He gives us right understanding. Oh, I have been leading this kind of life. I think I ought to lead this kind of life right now. This is the first thing that comes. Then what is the second grace, second expression of God's grace? He gives us what you call right circumstances, right means. That is why the great Shankaracharya puts it in three words. Manushyatvam, Mokshatvam, Mahapurusha Samsaya. Human birth, we do not realize how many billions and billions and billions of non-human species are there. If we are born like a mosquito, what is the chance of our progressing in spiritual life? That is first. But human bodies, so many people have got, 7 billion people have got human bodies. What is the second thing? Momokshatvam, a desire that comes only by the grace of God. That is why when Sri Ramakrishna, on 1st January 1886, what did he bless people with? Chaitanya Ho. May your consciousness be awakened. What does that mean? That means you try to understand, Oh my God, I am a human being. How many years have passed in vain? I have not progressed in life. I should progress in life. That right understanding. The point we are discussing is self-surrender to Ishwara. That is the most important point and that is the only way we can ever realize God. How? Is it ever possible for the finite to reach infinite? It is only by the grace of the infinite that the finite can ever understand that I am not finite, I am the infinite. Because this ignorance, called maya, belongs to whom? It belongs to God. Bhagavad Gita says, This maya is divine. It is not human. It is not something else. No devil has produced it. Therefore if the maya belongs to God, who can take us out of maya? Only God. That is why at the end of the Bhagavad Gita there is one verse which is called in South Indian tradition Charama Shloka. The word charama has two meanings. It is the last and it is also the best. What is that? You all know. Do not grieve. Be happy. Because I have taken your responsibilities. I will free you from all sin. What does sin mean? Sin means ignorance. In Vedantic language, sin means ignorance. Because why does a person commit evil deeds? Because of wrong understanding. Right understanding makes everything absolutely right. So that is Eswar Pranidhan. So these three is the most important aphorism of this entire Sadhana Pada. What is spiritual practice? Consisting of three. It is impossible to progress in life without austerity. It is impossible to progress in life without study of the scriptures because scriptures tell us about the goal which is God. Scriptures tell us about the nature of God or nature of each one of us. It is the scriptures again who point out this is the right way to go. That is why the Vedas have been divided into two parts. As you know the first part is called Karma Karna. But the proper would be Dharma Kanda. What type of activities lead us to progress in life. That is why it is called Dharma Kanda. Dharma Jignasa. The second part is Jnana Kanda. Actual practice. First you improve yourself. In this world there is so much of misunderstanding about it. Every Indian he thought he is an expert Vedantic. And what is he doing? The first thing he does is only eat South Indian Rasam. How can he even walk ten steps with this mere Rasam? He has to eat. Eat with muscles of iron and nerves of steel. Swami Vivekananda inspires us. Then only you will be called a man. Until that time you do not even deserve to be called a human being. Physically we must be very strong. And that is why in the motto it is there Nayam Atma Balahinena Lapshah Any weakness. Physically weak person. Intellectually weak person. Morally weak person. Spiritually weak person. How can he improve in life? And what does that mean? Improve in life means. You know we use right words the understanding becomes better. What is spiritual life? It is a journey from a lower state of happiness to a higher state of happiness. And who does not want happiness? All of us want happiness. In fact our whole life is a struggle only for two things. How to avoid unhappiness and how to become more and more happy. This is the simplest truth we have to understand. What is spiritual life then? It is a proper way how to avoid all these problems, sufferings, hardships and how to get more and more happy. That is why Sri Ramakrishna also divided happiness into three categories as we know. What are those three categories? Vishayananda, Bhajanananda and Brahmananda. Vishayananda means getting happiness from all these sense objects. Is it condemned? No, it is not condemned. If you have not enjoyed something probably you will come back again for it. Yeah. I tell you, if you have never tasted South Indian Rasam, there is no chance for you that you will progress in spirituality. At least have once a good Rasam. It has a lot of meaning. If you have a good Rasam, one sip of one glass, you cannot go to sleep for two hours. It will go from your Apadha Mastaka, from the sole of your feet to the head, to the top of your head. It will be burning, burning, burning. You cannot go to sleep. You will be wide awake. You know people drink coffee. What for? Just to keep themselves awake. What is the point? Vedanta never condemned worldly happiness. All that it says, do not stop there. Go forward. There are higher and higher and still higher happinesses are there. Do not stop here. It is a progress. It is an evolution. Okay. So these are the three most important parts of spiritual practice. What are they? Again to recollect, Austerity. What is Austerity? That which is done voluntarily with complete self-awareness and only for the sake of progress in spiritual life. Otherwise it is totally meaningless. Okay. What is the second one? Swadhyaya. Swadhyaya has two meanings, I said. What are those? Study of scriptures. We can never be bereft of scriptures because the moment you stop studying scriptures, you will go down and down and down. I can assure you. There are two reasons for that. One reason is that we think we know the goal of life. We think we are devotees. I can challenge you. You stop reading any spiritual scripture for one month. Let me see how you will keep up your so-called spiritual ambitions. Just do that. This is what Sri Ramakrishna says. Constantly cultivate holy company. Holy company doesn't mean only persons or temples. Holy company also scriptures. You keep the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. That is the holiest company you can keep. Yeah. So this is the study of one's own mind along with that. Most of us do not study. How do I know? Because why people become mentally sick? Who becomes mentally sick? First of all, if I ask you that question, who becomes mentally sick? Those who do not study their own mind. Means those who do not understand what is hiding in the depths of their unconsciousness. What complexes are getting tangled or getting conflicted. It is like a tsunami. I compare it to a tsunami. You know where does tsunami start? It doesn't start on the surface. Two, what they call you know two parts of this globe, they are colliding with each other and it creates a huge amount of energy. It pushes up the water and that like a snow balling, it becomes so terrible that it can travel 800 or 1000 kilometers per hour. Within a few hours from this side of the Atlantic to the other side of the Atlantic, it can crash all the cities and then rise. There is a beautiful program in BBC on the future happening of a tsunami. If it happens, then most of these coastal cities will be completely inundated and history shows us so many flourishing cities all around and coastal areas have now they are finding submerged in the sea. So, we do not know how many tsunamis are happening within us. Not only that, psychologists tell us that accidents happen in day-to-day life and what is the cause of the accident? Psychologists have found it is impossible to believe unbelievable that a person voluntarily causes accidents but unfortunately that is the fact of life. So many things happen. Simplest explanation is, why is a person meeting an accident? Why does he do accident? That means temporarily suffering upon ourselves. In fact, if we go into that subject, it is the most marvelous subject. If we are going through suffering hardships according to the law of karma, who created it? We ourselves created it and don't we know that this is going to be the result of my own doing in the past. Whereas his neighbor is studying deep and later on this fellow looks why am I like this? My neighbor, we are like this. Ultimate thing? Ishwara pranidhana. That means what? Accepting, surrendering ourselves to God. There is no other way. That's why Swami Vivekananda in his Karma Yoga he says we help the world by helping ourselves. One important statement he gave is tsunami. It flattens everything. There is nothing you can do. Is it not what is happening? Is it not what happened? The famous American that you know Katrina or something like that. Can do something? How much can it do? They cannot even receive because you know not to speak of it. What I am trying to tell you is so many unknown things that we ever see. Why should we practice these three? The second aphorism says samadhi bhavanarthah kleshat anukaranarthasya We may cultivate the power of concentration and remove the obstacles to God. Why should we practice this? For two reasons. What is this? Samadhi bhavanarthah so that we can attain samadhi that means we can attain self knowledge. What is the second? Without these three nobody can progress in spiritual life. What is the problem? There are obstructions. It is the obstructions that have to be slowly slowly thinned and completely eliminated later on. So everything must be destroyed. What are those things? These are called klesha. The Sanskrit word klesha means pain bearing obstructions. Pain bearing this word is a wonderful word. Usually we think when we are young why is it everything painful? Let me put it in my own light way. Suppose there is a young man and he is thinking I must also progress in spiritual life. Imagine supposing he gets a most pain bearing or is it pleasure bearing. From the worldly point of view it is a great pleasure because it really gives a good wife, a good family, is irreplaceable let me tell you. But on the other hand his spiritual life is not a joke. It works both ways. What is the reason? When we go through suffering then we are more likely to depend upon God, to pray to God and to call on God more times. I tell you it is the reality. I tell you it is the reality. When you pray to God your heart simply goes 100% towards God. When you are very happy what happens? After eating a dozen Samadhi Bhavanarthah So, what are these kleshas? Klesha means pain. What are the kleshas? Avidya, Asmita, Raga, Dvesha, Abhinivesha, Klesha Five. Avidya means ignorance. Asmita, egotism. Raga, attachment. Dvesha, hatred. Abhinivesha, intense clinging to life. Of these, Avidya is the mother. How many children? Four children. Avidya, ignorance, leads to egotism. Egotism results in Raga and Dvesha, attachment and aversion. And ultimately, these two make us cling intensely to life. These are the five afflictions. Why are they called afflictions? So long as we have a body and mind, these three types of afflictions are impossible to overcome. All problems are only belonging to body and mind. How do we know? Proof. Every night, we are free from all these five afflictions. When? When we are in deep sleep. Why? Because in deep sleep, we are not attached or identified with the body and the mind. What is Samadhi? Consciously practicing Sushupti state. Complete detachment from the body and mind. How are these going to affect? We will discuss in our forthcoming classes. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti