Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 058

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Sahana Vavatu, Sahana Vuvunatu, Sahaveeryam Karavavahai, Tejasvinapaditamastumavidvishravahai, Om Shanti Shanti Shanti, Om Yogena Chittasyapatena Vacham, Malam Sharirasya Chavai Dhyakena, Upakarottam Pravaram Muninam, Patanjalim Pranjali Ranathosmi. In our last class, we had been discussing about the theory of Karma, Karma Siddhanta. This is one of the most pivotal doctrines of Hinduism. It is also so in so many other religions, even though they do not directly mention about it. Why we are in this particular state is all due to our Karma. In this connection, I was struck with wonder how Holy Mother had expressed it so beautifully. I would like to read out that particular extract. This was a conversation between Holy Mother and Swami Arupananda. Holy Mother, no one will suffer for all time. None will spend all his days on this earth in suffering. Every action brings its own result, and one gets one's opportunities accordingly. Disciple, is everything then due to Karma? Mother, if not, what else? Don't you see the scavenger carrying the tub on his head? Disciple, whence does one first get the propensity which leads him to an action, good or bad? You may say, as an explanation of the propensities of this life, that they are due to the actions of the previous life and the propensities of the previous life due to the preceding one. But where is the beginning? Mother, nothing can happen without the will of God. Not even a blade of grass can move. When a man passes into a favourable time, he gets the desire to contemplate on God. But when the time is unfavourable, he gets all the facilities for doing evil actions. Everything happens in time according to the will of God. It is God alone who expresses His will through the actions of man. Could Naren by himself, that is Swami Vivekananda, by himself have accomplished all those things? He was able to succeed because God worked through him. The master has predetermined what he is going to accomplish. If anyone surrenders himself totally at his feet, then the master will see that everything is set right. One must bear with everything because everything is determined by actions. Again, our present actions can counteract the effect of past actions. Disciple, can action ever cancel action? Mother, why not? If you do a good action, that will counteract your past evil action. Past sins can be counteracted by meditation, japa and spiritual thought. Disciple, Mother, a margosa tree doesn't produce a mango. Nor does a mango tree produce a margosa fruit. Everyone reaps the results of his or her own karma. Mother, you are right, my child. In course of time, one doesn't feel even the existence of God. After attaining wisdom, jnana, one sees that gods and deities are all maya. Everything comes into existence in time and also disappears in time. I would like to take a moment just to discuss this profound meaning that lies behind it. What was the first thing we see suffering in this world? A statement Mother gives is, no one is going to suffer all the time. A time will come and everybody will be liberated. This is what Swami Vivekananda put so succinctly. Each soul is potentially divine. What does that mean? It means everybody is going to become divine, to be divine sometime or other. There is no eternal hell at all. Then a disciple, a very sharp person, is everything due to karma? Somebody is happy, someone is unhappy, someone is prosperous, someone is intelligent. Then the conversation goes, okay, this life is because of the result of the past life. And the past life is again the result of its previous life. When did it actually start? This is one of the questions most of us also put, when did karma really start? What a stroke of wisdom Holy Mother said. She doesn't say in 5 million BC your karma started. What was her reply? Nothing can happen without the will of God. Ultimately our karma begins where? Only in God. But what it really amounts to is that what we call we are nothing other than the will of God. And whom can God affect really? Only Himself. Ultimately what it means is we are all no other than Brahman. This is what it must be. Holy Mother tells one must bear with everything because everything is determined by actions. Then comes another question. Is it possible that maybe we have done something? We cannot go back and undo it. But we would like to undo it. Is there any way? Holy Mother says yes. Good actions counteract evil actions. What it really means is it is not the actions that are the problem with us. It is the experience of the results of actions. Whenever we say that our actions are bearing fruit, what do we exactly mean by the results of actions? We mean our bodies, our circumstances, our families, our religion, our country, our opportunities, etc. So that is not important at all. These are karmas. What is important is the experience of karma. We have to be very clear about it. We don't care what karma it is. But we have to say how we are experiencing it. If we can experience even the most, what appears to be most horrendous, painful, suffering situation, but if we experience it cheerfully, in a most positive way, then it practically lost its value. A simple example I am giving you. There was a great saint. Imagine. And it happened also really. Somebody else was cutting his throat. When we look at that situation, that person whose throat is being cut must be in a most suffering state. That's our experience unfortunately. That action is someone is cutting somebody else's throat. That is the karma. But how are we experiencing it? In a most horrible way. But how is that person himself experiencing it? So Sri Ramakrishna's example is there. He was suffering from immense throat trouble, cancer, very painful. And one day, as you know, Swami Turiyananda, Harimara at that time, he came. And seeing Harimara, Sri Ramakrishna says, you know how much I am suffering? He said, no sir, I am seeing you are swimming in an ocean of bliss. Sri Ramakrishna laughed out and said, this rascal found me out. I quoted this many times. So what is the point we are making? How was Sri Ramakrishna experiencing it? How others were experiencing Sri Ramakrishna's situation? Situation being the same, the experience makes a lot of difference. I will also give you some other example. Supposing, imagine 100 years, 200 years back, a man is caught thieving, stealing in America. Do you know what would be the punishment? Lynching. Lynching means they will tie him and then hang him. Now how was that person experiencing that situation? Naturally, because the person is what you call an ignorant person. Even a thief, a murderer, even when he is suffering the consequences of his own or her own actions, but they also experience pain or pleasure according to their state of mind. Now look at the situation. The man is being lynched, hanged and it is most painful for the person who is being hanged. But there are thousands of people. What is this? How are they experiencing that state? They were all the greatest glee. They are all rushing forward to see that beautiful scenery. As you know that when Roman emperors were there, there used to be gladiators fighting each other, hacking themselves to death. You know even Christians, early Christians were being fed to the lions. Lions, tigers, they were being let into the arena. What were the spectators? How were they experiencing? Oh, it is like a football match for them. Okay. What about the Christians? You see, this is one of the greatest examples I can give you. The lions were enjoying this experience. The people who were being eaten alive by the animals, they were in the greatest state of what? Enjoyment. That is why I am giving this special treat. The Christians, they had tremendous faith in Christ. We are going to paradise. In a few moments, we will be in the presence of God. This is called martyrdom. The spectators were enjoying. The victims were enjoying. And the lions were enjoying. It is an enjoyment all around. But when we read about the situation, how are we experiencing that state? We are the only people who would be suffering from that. This is the fact. So I quoted this thief's example 200 years back. He is being, he suffers because he is ignorant person. The spectators are enjoying. In the case of Sri Ramakrishna, the devotees suffer seeing the suffering of Sri Ramakrishna. But Sri Ramakrishna himself, what was his experience? When Swami Turiyananda, Hari Maharaj at that time told him, No sir, I do not see you suffering at all. I see you are in the greatest state of bliss. And Sri Ramakrishna admitted that fact. Now what is this discussion leading to? Discussion leading to is the distinction between the karma, means the results of karmas are of two types. External results are the geographical location, the circumstances, the weather, the people with whom we have to live and the experiences we have to go through. These are external set of results. But how is one experiencing them? That is where Holy Mother's words make meaning to me. She used to say if by God's grace, love share was to go through a person and by his grace it will be just over by a pinprick. What does that sentence really mean? Does it mean to say that the person's external circumstances would change completely, totally? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But the other way of looking at it is, the person who had to suffer horrendously by the grace of God, his mind is elevated to such an extent that they feel just very little. I will give another example. You know Sri Ramakrishna's elder brother. He had two brothers, elder brother and eldest brother. Eldest brother died soon after he came to Dakshineswar. But the elder brother, Rameshwar, he died. Sri Ramakrishna's mother was at Dakshineswar and Sri Ramakrishna got the news. He had to convey that news and he was suspecting, guessing that this news would shatter her. So what did he do? He prayed to the mother. Tune her mind to the higher pitch, highest pitch. So after prayer, he went and conveyed. In a sad way, he was totally unexpected. The situation that is going to happen. He was thinking she will break down. So gently he conveyed the news. You know that. What was her reaction? She started consoling him. Baba, life is like this. There are people, they are born, they die. Don't worry. And what was Sri Ramakrishna telling? Joy Ma, joy Ma. Thank you mother. See, what is the example for? Really for a mother to hear the news of her second son also. First son died. Second son also died. And third son's condition is like this in her mind. What would have been the effect of that news? But by mother's grace, what happened? The same external circumstances, nothing changed. The dead son was not going to come back to life. But the divine mother had lifted up Chandramani's mind to such an extent that it not only did not feel death as a negative experience, she became as it were a great philosopher. This is life. You have to accept. And she was consoling him. Just imagine. So what is my point here? Did you get it? Experience of karma are of two types because of the result of merit. Our circumstances will be bright. We will be born in a good family and all that. And the negative results of demerit are also the opposite of those things. But how we experience those things, that is what makes a person's life either full of suffering or just normal life. So that can be countered. This is beautifully illustrated even in the Upanishads also. One example is given. A person wants to go to heaven. He starts performing a huge worship, yajna. And it takes a long time. So half of the yajna is done. Still half has to be accomplished. Otherwise the merit will only be half. Suddenly he becomes enlightened. He gives up doing performing because what is the use of performing? He had reached a state which is far superior even to going to heaven. Now the question raised was, all his actions, will they go in vain? The answer given is no. They will not go in vain. He gets tremendous amount of punya, merit. But he doesn't need it. He himself had attained such a state. He doesn't need anymore. Imagine a person is working very hard, studying very hard. And he has studied absolutely fine. What was the purpose? He wants to attain some very good job or promotion. But just before examinations, the daughter of his company's CEO fell in love with him. And they got married. And he inherited all the CEO's legal and illegal property. Now what is he going to do? He is the owner of the whole lot. So he may continue studies. He may discontinue his studies. It doesn't really matter because he attained far superior result than what he was aiming at. This is what spiritual progress really does to us. And I also mentioned in my past lectures an example from Dr. Jung. In case it is not coming to the mind, I will tell you very briefly. Dr. Jung was a very famous psychologist. And he was successful. He treated many people and was able to help. But quite a number of people he couldn't help at all. He had to leave that. But later on in his life, he became curious to know what happened to those patients whom he could not help. So he made enquiries. And to his greatest surprise he found that quite a number of them had overcome the problems. And were leading very very happy lives. He became curious and he interviewed them and asked them, how come I was not able to help you? But how did you get better? Invariably the answer came that they did not solve their problems. But they raised their mind to higher dimension, higher level. And by raising their mind to a higher level, they were able to look down upon their problems. And they found that those problems were no problems at all from the higher level. And that is a most wonderful truth which holds good even today. Most people will not be able to help us. Even today people can't help. Because anybody, even God himself might be able to come forward to help us. But if we are not in a position to receive it, that is why we are praying and praying to God. Give me this, give me that. Especially we are praying, give me devotion, give me dispassion, etc. And he wants to give, but we are not able to receive them. Because our unconscious is rebelling against it. I want to be both a devotee and also a worldly man at the same time. That would be wonderful. But unfortunately these are two opposite directions. So this is where Holy Mother says, if you do a good action, it will definitely counter a wrong action. But the best thing is yoga sadhana, progress in spiritual life. What does it do? It destroys all the karmas along with their results. Root and branch everything. How does it happen? Only dagdha bijavat is the word. Dagdha bijavat. Bija means seed. Dagdha means burnt. Ramakrishna also gives, if you fry rice seeds, then they will not sprout again. They look like seeds, but there is no power. This is called the asampragnata samadhi. That is our goal. Why is it? Because whatever we are experiencing, we want to experience in future, is not somewhere outside. It is our own self. Ramakrishna gives a beautiful metaphor for this. There is a camel, goes on chewing thorny bushes. And it is enjoying because a lot of tasty blood is coming out from the bushes. Where from is it coming? From its own mouth. It is unable to understand all this is coming from my own mouth. We are like that. Whenever we experience any object, either happiness or unhappiness, they do not come from the objects themselves. They come from within our own self. That is the reaction of our own mind. If we can train our mind only to give good result in spite of whatever be the outside, then we are free. We do not need. In other words, independence. When we want to experience something good from outside, we are becoming dependent upon it. And dependence is called bondage. Here is another point which is very important to understand. I will ask you a question. Did Sri Ramakrishna eat rasagullas? Did he enjoy them? Did he enjoy them or not? He enjoys hundred times, thousand times, million times more than we enjoy it. Because we have got lots of worries and future speculations and all that. But when he eats, he just eats. And it is divinity, it is God, it is mother Annapurna for him. That is why his enjoyment is a million fold than us. Anything that he enjoys, experiences, he enjoys a million fold than us. This was what Swami Vivekananda told to Robert Ingersoll. You know, there was an agnostic. There was a conversation. Then Swamiji asked, what is your philosophy? He said, my philosophy is to squeeze the orange of this world. Swami Vivekananda said, I know a way. I can squeeze the same orange any number of times. It gives every time full juice. Whereas you can only squeeze once. This is a statement of profound meaning. What it means is that the same object gives us infinite enjoyment like Akshaya Patra. These are all beautiful parables. You know Mahabharata, Draupadi, she was asked to prepare food when there was nothing. Then so many guests had come, there was absolutely nothing in store. What did she do? She prayed to Lord Krishna. And what did Lord Krishna do? Very beautiful story. I am very fond of this story because it is a very funny story also. These Pandavas were in the forest and they had their lunch and there was nothing left. All the vessels were completely clean and kept. At that time, by the promptings of Duryodhana, Durvasa Rishi, a very angry person with 100 disciples, he comes and demands, you have to feed us. At this time, Yudhisthira could not say no because that is his duty to feed the Brahmins. And he said, please go and take bath and come. I don't know how he told this statement because he knew more than anybody else there is nothing there. He came to see the beauty of that story. He came to Draupadi and said, my dear, guests have come, prepare. She said, there is nothing is there. Then what to do? That is your problem. He washed off his hands and went away. Then what could she do? She prayed to the Divine Lord Krishna. Krishna came and said, I am hungry, give me some food. Already 100 plus 1 and here is 1 comes, you pray to God and he comes, give me also food. She said, there is nothing. It has been cleaned. See, there may be some food there. So that cooking pot, she showed him. He said, there you see, there is a grain there, sticky. Previously it was not there. Suddenly it appeared there. And she gave it to him. And he said, this is enough. He said, I am completely satiated. The moment he said that, all those Rishis who came after lunch, their bellies were bloating with the after effects of eating food. They said, if we go and then if Yudhishthira feeds us, we won't be able to eat. So let us run away from there. What is the point here? Krishna, the Lord is called Akshaya Patra, Akshaya means inexhaustible source of bliss. So if we can think of God, identify ourselves with God, any object in this world is nothing but a manifestation of God. The amount of bliss we derive from there, it is inexhaustible. That's what Swami Vivekananda meant because I see everything as God. There is no enemy. There is no one who is a stranger. There is no second person. This is what the Holy Mother says. My child, there is no stranger. Everyone is your own. Make everyone your own. If you want peace of mind, stop finding fault with others. Start finding fault with your own self. There is no stranger. No one who is a stranger. Everyone is your own. In which state can we really think that the whole world is our own? Only in the state of Brahma Gnan. Why can't we find fault? Because there is plenty of fault in people. It's because if you find fault with others, whom are you finding fault with? With yourself. And if you don't see fault in anybody, that means you are also faultless. If you are seeing fault in anybody, where is the fault? That is what Jesus Christ says. But before you try to remove a mite from the other person's eye, you remove the beam from your own eye. And strangely, Patanjali also gives this example. Anyway, I dwelt so long because it is possible to get rid of suffering by the grace of God. That is called spiritual practice. And this is what Patanjali is telling, what Holy Mother said, Kriya Yoga. What is that? Tapaha, Swadhyaya, Ishwara, Pranidhana. Austerity and study of the scriptures as well as one's own mind and complete surrender to God. He is advocating surrender. And that's what is called spiritual progress. Only by His grace it is possible. Now, last class also I mentioned something very important. For a discriminating person, means for a wise person, every experience is suffering, grief. Sarvam dukkham vivekinah. This was what we very briefly discussed and now we will discuss in some detail this. The aphorism number 15. Paridama, tapa, samskara, dukkahi, guna, vritti, virodhachya, dukkham eva sarvam vivekinah. For the man of spiritual discrimination, all these experiences are painful. For even the enjoyment of present pleasure is painful since we already fear its loss. Past pleasure is painful because renewed cravings arise from the impressions it has left upon the mind. And how can any happiness be lasting if it depends only upon our moods? For these moods are constantly changing as one or another of the ever-varying gunas seizes control of the mind. This is a very profound aphorism. That's why I am taking a little time. So here he says each one of us suffer from three types of sufferings, dukkha. The popular definition of three types of, we call them trita, tapatraya, three types. What are they? Physical, mental and spiritual. So here he is referring to this paridama, tapa, samskara. Very briefly I would like to go through this. Suppose a person is experiencing a pleasure, is eating something nice for example, or listening to some nice piece of music. But before we start discussing, the point we have to keep in mind is this is a dukkha only for a wise person, discriminating person, not for an ordinary person. The point we have to remember is that when we experience dukkha, it is grief or suffering for everybody, even an otherwise wise person also, unwise person also. When he is experiencing some unhappiness, it is most normal, it is unhappiness. But here Patanjali raises the question, even when a yogi is experiencing something pleasurable, happy experience, even that is also very unhappy experience for him, because he is a discriminating type of person, wise person. Sri Ramakrishna made a statement to Hriday. At that time Hriday was the nephew of Sri Ramakrishna, who served him at the beginning very lovingly and painstakingly for many years. Later on he became completely opposite due to God's will or samskara, whatever it is. The point is, this man at this stage of his life, he was craving for money. He was a poor person, but he was craving for money literally. Probably that was the occasion when Sri Ramakrishna makes a statement. He tells, Hriday, if I had known this world is real, I would have paved the streets of Kamarpukur with gold. Now that is the point that Patanjali is bringing here. For a yogi, everything is a dukkha because it is not even a shadow of happiness. It is something which doesn't exist. A non-existing happiness and by implication non-existing unhappiness too. Why? We must remember the Sankhya philosophy. What does it say? There are only two realities. One is called Purusha or the Atman. The other is called Prakruti. And all our experiences are due to what? If we analyze our experiences, we have got two states. The waking state and the dream state. I didn't mention the dreamless state. Do you know why? What experience do you have in the dreamless state? Except in saying I do not know anything, you have no experience. That is why waking and dreaming state, these two states, whatever experience. What is the medium through which we experience? The body and the mind. And the body and mind belong to whom? To the Purusha or to Prakruti? They belong to the Prakruti. And there is no relationship between Purusha and Prakruti. And therefore it is purely a non-existing type of experience. But for whom? Only for a yogi. Not for an unwise person, indiscriminating person. No. Only for a yogi. But its implications are profound. Parinama means what? First of all, imagine a yogi is experiencing something nice. Not something negative. Something very positive. He is listening to some music or he is even reading books, etc. Or he is even meditating upon God. Even ultimately, that also belongs to who is meditating. When you say a yogi is meditating, I am asking you the question. Who is meditating? The mind. And the mind belongs to whom? Prakruti. Therefore, the Prakruti has absolutely no connection. The Purusha doesn't meditate. Because there is no need for meditation. The Prakruti is meditating upon whom? Upon Purusha. And the Purusha is meditating upon whom? For nobody. He doesn't need to meditate. To realize Purusha, Prakruti is meditating. And the Purusha doesn't need. We are meditating upon God. Upon whom God is meditating? Upon us. Do you know why? I will put it in a funny way. We are meditating upon God because we think God is great. You are great. You are wise. You are wonderful. You are like father, mother. You disturb everything. What is God? God is meditating. Why is this fool meditating? Upon whom is he meditating? He himself is God and he is meditating. Lest we may think this is a funny statement. This is what we are doing. Sometimes this is our experience in dreams. You have nice food and go to bed. And you are dreaming. You are starving. And there is not any food available in sight. Sometimes you can experience like that. Or you are in a very protective, safe environment. And suddenly you are walking somewhere, you know. And somebody is chasing you. Either a tiger or a goon is chasing you. Don't you have that kind of dreams? Nightmares sometimes? Now tell me. Is it a fact that someone is chasing you? It is all unreal. But when do you realize that it is unreal? Only when you wake up. We wake up. Each one of us have got very, what you call, unhappy dreams. Don't we? No. If anybody says, no, I never had any unhappy dream. You say, either he is sleeping even during waking state also. Or he doesn't know what he is talking about. The point is, all of us, we experience these negative things. Not only dream. This yoga is nothing but, Patanjali yoga is nothing but deep depth psychology. How do we look upon, you say, this person, I don't like, I hate this person. Why? Because he causes me only unhappiness. Whose view is this? Our view. But you ask his mother, you ask his sister, you ask his children. And they will say, our son is a saint himself. Even in the waking state, when we have a negative opinion about others, it could be totally wrong. Because no person is so evil that he is 100% evil. And no person is so good that he is 100% good. We are all a mixture of good and evil. For some peculiar reason, sometimes we experience some unhappiness because of some misunderstanding or whatever it is. But that's not the entire personality. In fact, from a yogi's point of view, everyone is no other than God himself. Each soul is potentially divine. There is no thief, there is no murderer. But sometimes the manifestation is like that. You study Sri Ramakrishna or I can give you the example of Holy Mother. Do you think that she hated anybody in this world? Again another question. Do you think there were any people who tried to give her pain, grief and other things? Were there or were there not? Plenty of them. But how was she looking upon them? So you see, this is what spiritual life is about. We have to somehow make our mind in such a way, we only see the good thing, God really. Then only we have the right to say everything is God's will. Then only we have a right even to sing, O Mother, everything is done after thine own will. Anyway, coming back, the experiences of unhappiness can be due to three reasons. Here he says, actually one more also he adds, four reasons. First, Parinama, a yogi, a wise person, gives this example, is enjoying something. Even while enjoying, he is not really enjoying. What does that statement mean? It means, you see Sri Ramakrishna, he is enjoying a nice sweet. That is, we are seeing him, there is a nice sweet and he is enjoying it. Is it an enjoyment for him because he is a yogi? From one point of view, no. Why? Because, for many reasons. One reason is that whenever we enjoy something, at the same time, at the time of enjoying it, experiencing it as something very pleasurable, the mind can also be thinking the future consequences, okay, now I am having, okay, but in future I may not have it. This is one. For a yogi, he will also think, I am experiencing this as a result of my karma. What type of karma? Good karma. Okay, I will give you an example to make this point clear. You go to a nice restaurant and you order something and you are enjoying it. In your mind, don't you know that your credit card has to be shown? What does that mean? To the extent you have enjoyed, to that extent, your money becomes less. Is it not? So for a yogi, his thoughts will be, if I am, I am not talking about an enlightened yogi, we must always remember, he is a striving person. He wants to progress in spiritual life. For a realized soul, this yoga class is not necessary. That's why Shri Ramakrishna, I am sure, doesn't attend my class. You know what happens if he attends my class? He gets bored because we are only repeating what he already knows and he doesn't need it. If I sing some nice song, perhaps he might enjoy, I don't know. Okay, so this yogi knows, even while experiencing, first thing he knows is, how long does it last? How long does it last? How long a good sweet lasts? Only for a very short time. Not only that, there is something very important here. Supposing you are enjoying a sweet. You are hungry, sweet is good and it is very clean and nice. You are enjoying one sweet and you get a second sweet. Will you get the same type of, same amount of quantity, quality of happiness from the second sweet? Supposing somebody forces you a third sweet on you. Then it turns into an opposite. This is one type of thought a Viveki has already got. The second type of thought he has got. My merit, instead of making me go towards God, is getting exhausted in these. So his mind is always discriminating. Third thing, even more important thing, he says, if any person, any one of us is enjoying, that means we are becoming slaves to it. That means we crave the same thing to come in the future. That point we are going to come here. All these thoughts are passing. This is Parinama. Parinama means changefulness. Everything in this world is changing. What does a sweet change into? When you eat, before you eat, what is that beautiful sweet? And after it comes into contact with you, what is it? Changes. And the experience also changes. Everything is changing in this world. For a yogi, the whole universe is changing. Do you know how fast? Every millisecond it is changing. This is called Parinama. Parinama means change. And when a yogi, when a wise person, he is aware of it. That's why he is a wise person. An unwise person is one who is not aware of it. He thinks this is going to be permanent. And that is why we suffer in everything. If you accept everything is changing, our bodies are changing, minds are changing, we are going to become old. Then for a yogi, what does this mean? Enjoyment, it means bondage. What does it mean for him? I am born. And with birth, what is the certainty that comes? Death. A yogi is highly aware. Are we aware? No, we are not aware. In front of a yogi, always this idea is there. This body is going to die. I have to die. I have to die. That itself is a great source of dukkha, unhappiness. But why is it that we are not suffering? Is it because we have become conquerors of death? What is happening? We are not paying attention to the coming dukkha. And not only that, literally we are fools. Because each one of us, even though we are studying the scriptures, if I put the question to myself and to all of you, when is death going to come? What do you think your answer would be? Not now. I don't know about the future, but certainly not now. What is the proof? That you are sitting here and listening to my talk is the proof. If you are really sure that you are going to die, you would have been at home. A yogi is highly aware. You know, at the end of every day, before he had the vision of the Divine Mother, Shri Ramakrishna used to roll on the ground. You know that. What was his prayer? Oh Mother, one more day had passed. Because he was constantly aware, the shortness of the time, any time death may come. This is what a yogi did. This is called Parinama Dukkha. Everything in this world, including the mind, the body, the objects we experience, the experiencer and the experience, everything is changing. And that is called Parinama Dukkha. Unhappiness which results from the awareness of change. Then Tapa Dukkha. There is a second type of Tapa. Tapa means, we say, Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika, Adhidaivika. Three types of Tapas. Tapa also means, Okay, I have done something wrong. And because of that, I am able to enjoy now. But the results will come. Now we are talking about a yogi. You know who is a yogi? A yogi is one who has not realized still God. He is on the way, but not. But why has he become a yogi? He has tremendous faith in scriptures. And what does it mean to have tremendous faith? The scripture which tells that there is God, you can realize God. The same scripture tells that if you misbehave, then you are going to pay for the consequences. You are going to experience the consequences. And a yogi is highly aware of his own karma. So what is happening? If you enjoy this, that means, how are you able to enjoy this? And incidentally, Vyasa, whose commentaries, you know, I take the help of Vyasa Bhashya, Bhoja Vritti, and also Shankaracharya, supposed to have written a beautiful commentary, is there anyway, whether he wrote or somebody else wrote. He says that in the yogi's mind, there is always this burning, burning question comes. When I enjoy this, what happens? I am depending upon something which I am not. And my goal is to know who I am. And I am here, consciously and willingly, I am indulging in this kind of experiences. And that gives a tremendous amount of dukkha, unhappiness for him. Not only that. Here is a question raised by Vyasa. When you are enjoying Rasagulla, how did you get that Rasagulla? You worked, and you worked with whom? In your room, alone, without any connection, relationship with anybody? There have been objects in this world upon which you have established, with which you established a relationship. That means, your enjoyment or suffering is totally dependent upon people, circumstances, objects, etc. And in case they cause the opposite effect, which is called dukkha or unhappiness, suffering, then also it comes through people or circumstances also. Let me dwell a moment upon this point, which is very important. You are enjoying something. It could be a bed, it could be nice sleep, it could be nice food, it could be anything. Suppose you are listening to some nice music. What does that mean? You have heard somebody had sung, and that singing has been recorded. And you bought or you acquired that record, and you are enjoying it. That means you are dependent upon some people. So the moment you depend upon some people, because things are changing, those things, those very things which at one time gave so much of pleasure or joy, can also bring the opposite effect. For a yogi, not for an unwise person, these are all points for a yogi. This is called tapadukha. Because every enjoyment is followed by what? Unhappiness. This is what Swami Vivekananda says. Happiness comes with a crown of misery on its head. This is called tapadukha. First is because of changefulness. Second is because even while we are enjoying, always our mind is already regretting. Either I paid for it, and once it comes to an end, I have to pay for it again, or I am going to pay for it in future. This is called tapadukha. Then the third point, third source of unhappiness, samskaradukha. What is samskaradukha? Whenever we experience anything, good or bad, it leaves an impression, deep impression in our mind. What is the impression? It wants us to repeat that action again and again and again. Is it not our life? You enjoy something, and what is the very experience I enjoyed? What does that imply? I want to have it again. And you have it again. So an analogy is given. Suppose there is fire, and you want to put out the fire. What do you do? You take some petrol and put on that fire. What is the result? Is the fire going to be put out, or is it going to become even more virulent? Every enjoyment, this is the effect. It wants, it grows, the desire for enjoying that one grows. Now what is wrong with that? The wrong thing with it is, as soon as we have the desire to enjoy it again, there will be obstructions. There will be some circumstances. There will be some people. There will be something which is trying to obstruct us. And what would be the result? We get very annoyed. Dvesha, hatred, aversion comes to those circumstances. The moment either you have Raga, means I want to have this again, Sukha. Remember what we discussed earlier? Sukha, Anushayi, Raga. That the craving to have the same pleasurable experience again is called attachment. What is the other opposite? That which gives us suffering, we develop hatred or aversion. Dukha, Anushayi, Dvesha. Our whole life is nothing but, we are like football being kicked by these two, Raga and Dvesha. So this is what the Yogi is thinking. Samskara, Dukha. What is Samskara? You enjoy something. And as soon as you enjoy, you want to enjoy it again. You want to enjoy it again. By experiencing, is that enjoyment going to come to an end? Or is it becomes a seed for further craving? It becomes, this is called Samskara Dukha. So Dukha means a suffering arising from changing circumstances. And change is the name for this word. And even while enjoying, it gives a kind of pain. Now I have, in future I may not have or I have to pay again. I have to work hard again, etc. And this produces a kind of deep impression in the mind that I want again and again and again. We are caught in the net of these three. And for a Yogi who is a wise person, a discriminating person, any type of enjoyment is rather an obstacle in spiritual life. He considers it, it is Dukha. The more enjoyment comes, the more Dukha comes. I also put a question to you, now also I am going to put. Suppose there are two people and both are trying to practice spiritual disciplines and trying to progress in spiritual life. One person is enjoying all the time for whatever be the reason. Another person is going through lots of suffering, is unable to enjoy. My question to you would be who is likely to progress in spiritual life? This is the truth. Even though we may not admit it, this is the truth. Because this suffering produces more longing, not for an unwise person, for a wise person, Yogi. And this is the reason why Holy Mother says suffering, grief is a gift of God. When God wants His child to come quickly to Him, He creates a special suffering. This is why Kunti also hymned Krishna, may I have more suffering. Its profound meaning is there behind. This much is enough for today. Then the fourth reason why, Our whole life, our body, our minds, our life, our circumstances, everything is the result of Prakriti. Prakriti consists of three Gunas. What are the three Gunas? Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Now these three Gunas, the first point is they oppose each other. Where there is more Sattva, there is less Rajas, less Tamas. Where there is more Rajas, there is less Sattva and less Tamas. And where is more Tamas, there is less Sattva and less Rajas. They are constantly changing our moods. To put it in the simplest language, our moods are always changing. This is a subject, again very profound subject. But I will just give you a very brief hint. You know we are slaves to our minds. The minds are changing. What does that mean, minds are changing? That means our moods are changing. We are in a happy mood and even the smallest thing gives us happiness. And suddenly you go into a depression for whatever reason. And even the greatest possible object of happiness doesn't give so much of happiness. There is a story, very brief you know. There was a village and there was one person and he criticizes everybody, everything all the time. So the villagers decided to teach him a lesson. And what they did, he loved food. So they prepared the best type of food that is possible for anybody to prepare. They invited him and they asked him to sit. And they were watching what criticism comes from his mouth. But he was a creature, habituated only to find fault. But he was trying to find fault. He couldn't find any fault in the food, it was perfect. But it was his habit to criticize. So he started saying, now it is okay. After one hour it would have been horrible. See the point is, for a yogi he has developed the discrimination to find fault in everything. That is the beauty of a yogi. Here, what is it? Even when it is very, very happy circumstance. For a yogi, because the moods can change, it always leads to unhappiness. Now it may be happy. But after one hour, after one day, after one year and after death, totally things change. This is called guna-vritti-virodhacharya. Three gunas are changing all the time. Not only they are changing outside, they are changing inside us all the time. And because our moods are so unstable, for a yogi everything is dukkha one. Because one mood he is enjoying it and he is witnessing it. And second mood is the opposite. He is not enjoying, even though there is nothing to find fault with it. And because of the mind's behavior, for a yogi, even the happiest experience is the most unhappy experience. And that is the truth which Ramakrishna also tells. We will discuss in our future class. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti