Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 069

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMA VIDVISHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRAMJALI 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. Today we are studying the benefits of practicing these ten virtues called Yama and Niyama. In our past classes we dealt with the five benefits of the practice of Yamas. Last class we also discussed a little bit the aphorism 40 SHOUCHAT SVANGA JUGUPSA APARAIHI ASAMSARGAHA Internal and external cleanliness being established there arises disgust for one's own body and non-intercourse with other bodies. Shoucha means purity or cleanliness and it consists of two internal and external. External is body cleanliness. We have to by taking bath, by taking the help of soaps etc. When we try to clean our body for a yogi what happens is the more he cleans, the more he finds more impurities, uncleanliness. And within our bodies also there are certain elements which we all are very well aware of which are not desirable at all. Besides that when there is any disease how much of unhappiness, suffering it causes we also know. All of us have undergone but there is also another side of it. We are both body and mind, we are identified deeply and the problems of the mind they are indescribable. How much people suffer, everyone at some point of the time or other we all suffer. So what happens when a yogi tries to cleanse his body through various implements, he finds it is uncleanable as a result terrible disgust comes for the body. And the result of this disgust is he will have tremendous amount of non-attachment. He doesn't care any longer for this body, not only that. Since one's own body is like that, the other bodies also create disgust. Now the result of that is a yogi never wants to come near anybody. If he is asked what is your desire now, he says I wish I were bodiless. Nothing in this world gives a yogi any pleasure, on the other hand it gives the opposite effect. That brings about a great revolution in the mind. Such a person is nearer to God, it is because his attachment to the body has become so much less. But at the same time body is necessary, without body mind will not work. And without body-mind progress in spiritual life, progress in any field of life is almost impossible. So that is the first part of trying to cleanse the body. And the second part is mind, how to cleanse the mind. Mind consists of full of passions. According to our Indian philosophy, there are six enemies, internal enemies. Kama, Krodha, Loha, Moha, Mada, Matsarya. And all these are terribly inimical for our progress in spiritual life. And our internal, our mind, internal state is full of, this is what they call dirt, internal dirt. And unless we are purified of that, there is no chance of our progressing forward in spiritual life. Not only spiritual life, even for a scientist, even to discover some new truth, unless a person's mind is under control, it is impossible. Just imagine, a person is obsessed with anger. Such a person, can he concentrate on scientific facts? It is impossible for him. And we cannot take right decisions, even the CEO of any company. Suppose he hates somebody, suppose he dislikes somebody, suppose his mind is full of anger, hatred, etc. Taking right decisions is impossible. I just remember, you know, these world championships in chess, chess masters. When two chess masters sit each other, opposite to them, both the parties employ psychologists and their businesses to sit in front of the masters and go on staring at them. And that fellow feels, this fellow is looking at me, this fellow is looking at me, that so annoys that person, he loses all common sense, he makes the most horrendous mistakes. What to speak of a yogi? Now, one of the most interesting points is, when we progress a little in spiritual life, we become acutely aware of the passions which are in our mind. Now, we are not so much disturbed, not because we are yogis and we don't have passions, because we are not aware what passions are there within us, ready to spring up like tigers. And at what point of time they will come up and then overwhelm us, only God alone knows. You know, Sri Ramakrishna was such a great soul. Even he, at one point, he had been obsessed with uncontrollable lust. There was a reason for that, because he felt before that, I have conquered lust. But after 2-3 days, tremendous amount of lust had possessed him. He had no control over it. He was like a slave, like a demon possessing somebody. But he was Sri Ramakrishna. So, immediately he became aware, oh, this passion is overwhelming me. And immediately he prayed, oh mother, if this continues, I will cut my throat. And because his prayer was so sincere, immediately the Divine Mother had removed that feeling, never again to come to him. Now, another instance, you know Sri Ramakrishna's guru Dhotapuri, he was supposed to be a knower of Brahman. Sri Ramakrishna always used to speak about the Divine Mother, says unless one pleases the Divine Mother, one can never overcome these passions. But he said, I am a knower of Brahman, what do I care for your Divine Mother? He never acknowledged the Divine Mother. He never went to the temple, even though he lived in her presence for 11 months. And then one day, you know the incident, he became extremely angry. And he was not aware that he was possessed by anger. That is the most intriguing part of it. Such a great yogi, the moment that thought comes within one's mind, one should be able to recognize it. Even ordinary people, ordinary spiritual aspirants are able to recognize it. But he was such a great soul, he was not able to recognize it. Sri Ramakrishna started rolling on the ground in laughter and said, Dhotapuri was surprised, why are you laughing at me? I am seeing the extent of your Brahma Jnana. Just now you have been speaking about Brahma Jnana. And now you are about to kill this person. Brahman cannot kill Brahman. Dhotapuri became aware that there is something mysterious going on. He became thoughtful. He used to make fun of Sri Ramakrishna. Whenever Thakur used to take Mother's name at dawn and us clapping his hands, Are you fashioning chapatis? But now he became aware, there is something in what Sri Ramakrishna had said. The main point here of the story is, once he became aware, he took a vow. Never again will I allow this anger to overwhelm me. And he was never again seen to be angry. He was a great person. The point is, we all have these passions. But we are not troubled by these passions, excepting when an occasion comes. Other times we are not troubled. Why are we not troubled? Not because they are absent. But not because they are not operational at all times. But unless we cleanse our mind thoroughly of all these things, They are like six strong chains binding us and not allowing us to go forward. What does a Yogi do? The first thing, he becomes acutely aware. Oh, the moment a thought comes, good or bad, immediately he becomes aware and says, Oh, this thought is coming into my mind. That thought has come into my mind. And this is called Pratyak Pravanatha. Being aware of whatever thoughts pass in the mind. Pratyak Pravanatha. And all of us must develop this Pratyak Pravanatha. Otherwise, like blind men, we are thinking we are going forward in spiritual life. Whereas we have been chained by these strong iron bonds. Nagamahasaya, a great devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, used to tell a story. This applies here in our case. Four drunkards got into a boat at night after drinking. And the whole night they rowed and rowed and rowed. They did not go forward one step. When morning came, the intoxication had come down. Light was there. Then they were inquiring, why did we not make progress? Because the whole night we were rowing. And then they found out they did not lift the anchor. We can try, we can do Japa, meditation, puja, anything we can do. Another incident comes to my mind. There was one very humorous person living with Sri Ramakrishna. His name was Pratap Chandra Hajra. And he used to do a lot of Japa and other things. Sri Ramakrishna played a divine play. Sri Ramakrishna told him many times, you will not go forward. Why? Because you are cherishing so many unspiritual desires in your mind. And he was not even aware. He used to give sermons to all people, including criticizing Sri Ramakrishna and others. What is the point here? Our mind is full of these passions, dirt, which in the yogic terms is called Ashaucha. Ashaucha means uncleanliness, impurities, dirt. So what is the purity? Thought, word and deed. When these are pure, then our mind becomes pure. Now, if our mind becomes pure, what is the benefit we get? In this 41 aphorism, this is what Patanjali is telling. Five benefits of practicing internal and external purity. There arises purification of the Sattva, cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of the organs and fitness for the realization of the Self. We will take up one by one. The first thing that arises is Sattva. So what is Sattva? According to Sankhya Yoga, the whole of the Prakruti consists of three strands of Gunas. Three Gunas. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. At any given point, these Gunas go on dominating our mind. For example, early in the morning we are full of Sattva Guna. That is why the mind is, immediately after waking up from sleep, our mind is full of serenity and peace. No excitement is there. But as the day goes by, as the sun rises and then trying to go to the west, Raja Guna improves. That means we feel like running here and there, become restless. Our mind really is disturbed. And when we come back from our activities after sunset, we have our dinner. What is the Guna that prevails after dinner? Tamo Guna, we feel like sleeping, which is very natural. But the problem here is, many of us are dominated by one Guna more than the other Gunas. Some are Tamasic, some are Rajasic, some are, a few are Sattvic. So Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures also clearly enumerate to us what is the characteristic of these three Gunas. When Sattva Guna arises, two benefits come. One benefit is true knowledge comes. Jnana is Utpadana. The second is Sukha. The mind becomes extremely happy. That is why Sattvika people, under any circumstances, they are extremely happy. Not because the circumstances outside are favorable, but just because their mind is full of Sattva Guna. Whereas the result of Vraja Guna is two. The mind is filled with tremendous amount of desires and it is extremely restless. Desires and restlessness. The profit of Tama Guna is, it leads to laziness, sleep, indolence, procrastination and not having the right knowledge. In fact, having the wrong type of knowledge. Now, when a Yogi tries to purify his body and mind, the first thing that happens is, the mind becomes endowed with Sattva. Have you noticed that, suppose you have come back from office full of tiredness and you go and take a good bath. Have you noticed immediately what change takes place? You feel lighter, you feel happier, you feel more calm and quiet. That is why we are advised to take bath before doing Japa and Dhyana. This taking bath has the tremendous activity. So, how all these benefits come? Because this temporarily, that Sattva Guna increases. But if we also purify our internal organ, it is called mind, then what happens? This Sattva Guna goes on increasing. When Sattva Guna goes on increasing, these two benefits would come, as I mentioned. What are the benefits? First, true knowledge comes. Secondly, the mind becomes very cheerful and happy. Any circumstance is converted into a happy circumstance, even though from outside it may look like a circumstance which can produce pain or suffering etc. That is the Sattva Guna. And what does Sattva Guna do? Slowly it takes a person beyond the chains of illusions of this world and ultimately Sattva Guna points out the way and says, there is your ideal, you go there. In this connection, our devotees can easily recollect the story of the three robbers. I hope most of you know three robbers. One man was going through a forest. Three robbers attacked him, bound him, robbed him and one robber said, there is no point in keeping alive, kill him. That is the Mohana. Second robber said, it is not necessary to kill him, let us bind him and let us run away from this place. That is Rajyoguna. All the three robbers left and after a few minutes, the third robber comes, sets him free, takes him out of the forest and says, there is your village and you can go now without fear. And the man was so grateful to be kept alive, says, why don't you come to our home, we will honour you because you saved my life. He says, no, I am also a robber, police will catch me. What a profound parable of Sri Ramakrishna. The Gunas cannot give us knowledge. Why? Because Purusha is totally of the nature of pure consciousness, whereas all Gunas belong to Prakruti. What is the nature of Prakruti? Unconsciousness. What is the logic? Unconsciousness can never give consciousness. But it can take us to the point where we will be pulled by some other entity to enter into the realm of pure light, pure consciousness. That is why the Sattva Guna is advocated. Every devotee, every yogi, every spiritual person had to develop this Sattva Guna. How can one develop Sattva Guna? By purifying our internal organs, by also living a modest, favourable circumstances with satsanga, holy company, etc. And changing also our food habits. Very important. That's why there are certain foods which are called Sattva increasing foods. There are some foods which increase Rajoguna, restlessness and desires. There are some which will make us purely Tamasic. So once we know, we have to avoid these things. It is part and parcel of a yogi's real spiritual discipline to take as much Sattvika food as possible. When our mind starts becoming slowly pure, it is not that we go on purifying it and after many years suddenly it becomes 100% pure and then only we get these benefits. No. The moment we rub our mind clean a little bit, already all these five benefits will start accruing to the yogi. So what is the first benefit? The Sattva Guna starts increasing. What is the second benefit? As soon as Sattva comes, cheerfulness of the mind. So we also become cheerful. But a yogi also becomes cheerful. What is the difference? When we become cheerful because sometimes certain objects which we desire come to us. Our wishes are fulfilled or the weather is very fine and there are no worrying circumstances. Everything is fine. Maybe something which we love dearly also comes to us and it is these things which make us cheerful. The moment they are removed, instantaneously we fall into despondency, dejection, etc. Whereas for a yogi, it doesn't matter where he is, under what circumstances, even if you put him in a dungeon, he will be really cheerful. Again, I want to narrate something very interesting. There was one very great psychologist called Viktor Frankl. He was the person who advocated the Logotherapy. He was a Jew. He was in the concentration camp. Before the Germans took him into the concentration camp, he was practicing this psychiatry. And after he was taken as a prisoner also, he was observing people because that was his habit. What do all psychologists do? Do you know what psychologists do? They say, when a cobbler is sitting outside his house and whenever a cow passes, he will be thinking, if this cow is mine, how much skin I will get. So whenever a psychologist looks at people, who is going to be my next customer? These psychologists would be looking at observing people's behavior. But really speaking, it is good for psychologists and psychiatrists to observe people, because thereby they get a lot of knowledge by observing. So this Viktor Frankl, he went on observing. Then what he noticed was, the people in the concentration camp could be divided into two categories. First, those who were having tremendous faith before being taken as prisoners, faith in God, now they have lost all hope. By the way, there is a law, losing faith in God is losing faith in hope. When a person becomes hopeless, that means he has lost faith in God. What is another name for God? Hope. So if anybody says, I believe in God, I have tremendous faith in God, but I am a hopeless person. What do we have to conclude? That the person is really not having faith in God. Because when you see your future is full of wonderful things, we can bear our present when our future is bright. This is a beautiful point we have to note down. Even when we are in dire circumstances at this moment, but we could see the silver lining or golden lining or whatever it is, very soon we are going to attain to that. Then, have you noticed, bearing our present in unbearable circumstances becomes very much possible. But if we lose faith, then everything will be lost. So one category of people, most of the people, they have lost faith in God, lost faith in their future and some of them committed suicide, some of them became sick. This Viktor Frankl found out, there were some people in spite of all those circumstances, just imagine, they are going to be executed sooner or later. Can you put yourself in their shoes and say, after a few days we are going to be executed or tortured and we are going to kill. There is no hope that we are ever going to get out. Under those circumstances, how many of us can keep our wits about and really say we are having hope. So there are some people who were that cheerful. Then he went and asked them, how could you keep this kind of mentality, mental attitude, in spite of all the same circumstances, many people have given up hope. And then all those people gave one reply only. He said, we trust in God, there is a purpose, there is some hidden agenda, why we are brought here, but we will never lose faith, there is a meaning in it. We find that meaning, it is God's will and those people who found meaning in the existence, in life, those people are absolutely cheerful. This is the real benefit of religion. When a person believes in something higher, call it God, call it Nirvana, call it Kingdom of Heaven, then we can overcome any obstacles that we can have. And that is why we say we have to believe in God and He is looking after us and there is a meaning why He is making us go through. I have to learn some lessons etc. Such persons are real people who believe in God. Those who easily give up, they are not real believers, they are very superficial believers and it is not going to stay with them for a long time. When the Sattva Guna increases, automatically cheerfulness of the mind comes. What is the Yogi's cheerfulness, special characteristic? Just now I mentioned, it doesn't depend upon any external circumstance. It totally comes from within because he sees the light of consciousness, light of God from within. The third benefit he says is concentration. He is able to focus. Now here is a wonderful question for all of you. When are you able to concentrate? When you are very unhappy, can you concentrate, can you focus your mind on anything? Reading a book, watching a movie or thinking of God Japa. When are you able to concentrate more? Can you tell? When you are really happy and cheerful. There is a relationship between the emotion called happiness, cheerfulness and concentration. When a person is under depression, desperation, then he will not be able to focus at all. Have you noticed? Notice it, if you have not noticed it before. So when a person's mind is filled with Sattva, he becomes very cheerful and happy. And when he becomes cheerful and happy, automatically his power of concentration increases proportionately. And then what happens when concentration comes? Conquest of the sense organs happens. This is the fourth benefit. That means it is very easy for a happy person to keep his five sense organs under control. This is also a psychological condition. When we are desperate, then we want to use any of our sense organs to overcome that situation. Whereas a yogi says that I am happy from within, not because I am depending on any happiness that comes from outside. So concentration will come. As a result of concentration, the man is able to conquer. Let us look at it in this way. When a person has got concentration, then suppose a thought comes. I am a slave so many lives to this particular sense organ, say taste or music or fragrance, whatever it is. He is not able to keep that thought. Why? Because he doesn't have concentration. But when a person has concentration, that means he is able to keep that thought. As long as he keeps that thought, that will help him to overcome, to have more control over the same sense organ. In this regard, I have to tell you something very interesting. There is a lot of experiment going on, on willpower. And some psychologists have definitely conclusively proved that a person who has more willpower, his life will be much better. And they made more than 20 years experiments. How this experiment started? They wanted to discover the secrets of the willpower, whether it is necessary. Is there something called willpower? If there is something called willpower, how to acquire that willpower? So they started with a test. Small children, about 6 to 10 years old small children, they have been taken into a room by the researcher one by one. And they were made to sit on a chair in front of them. There is a small table. On the table, there is one marshmallow. You know marshmallow? It's a kind of sweet. Children, I think, I believe, love it very much. It's a wonderful sweet. And then the trainer, the experimenter is instructed to tell that boy that if you want, you can have this immediately. But if you wait for 15 minutes, I will go out. I will come back after 15 minutes. If you wait, you will get two marshmallows. And then they made a lot of children go through that test. And what they noticed was a few people, they just did not eat. Most of the people, they could hold for one minute. Some people ate immediately. Some people ate after a minute or two. They started going, looking here and there. After a minute, they could not hold it. They swallowed it. But there were people who were waiting for the trainer researcher to come. After 15 minutes also, the researcher returns. Then he finds these few people. And then he rewards them with double that marshmallow. That is the starting point. Then they tracked the lives of these boys for 40-50 years later on. And the invariable result they found out, those who held on for 15 minutes, controlled themselves, they have more willpower. And these people, in their marriage, in their profession, in their normal circumstances, in every way, they did much better compared to the other people. And they also tracked the other people. And there were failures. Their marriage was in shambles, most of them. And they got very ordinary jobs, etc. Then the inevitable conclusions these researchers come to do, those who have more willpower, they lead generally more happy, more productive, more creative, more harmonious life. And the whole of yoga is nothing to do but how to develop this power of will so that the will will not think. Anything else, excepting God. So the willpower is necessary. All this got to do with our present aphorism. When sattva increases, willpower also automatically increases. And the persons are able to overcome all unfavorable circumstances. They are not affected by these circumstances much. They will be affected a little bit, but quickly they are able to overcome. And as a result, concentration will come. Now concentration also has a lot to do with willpower. If there is no willpower, any Tom, Dick and Harry can concentrate. But only a person of willpower says, I want to think about it. Here also is a secret. If you are asked to think about something you really like and love, it is much easier to concentrate. But if you are asked to do something which you don't really like, that is going to be that much harder. And to think about God is the most difficult thing in this world. Because the immediacy of all the sense objects, they are always pulling us down. So the capacity to control our sense organs increases as a fourth benefit of trying to keep our body and mind cleaner. Again, the example, after taking bath, it is much easier to focus. You want to read a book, you want to meditate, you can do it much better. You want to control your sense organs, you can do it much better. Benefit is there. But here we are talking mainly of the internal purification. The mind should be removed of all its dirt and dust, which is called six passions mainly. The last benefit, what comes? We develop qualities which make us fit for the realization of the Self. That is why Chitta Shuddhi is such an important factor in any religion, in any spiritual discipline. And these are the five benefits. To recapitulate, as a result of purification, the Sattva increases, cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of the sense organs, and all the qualifications for the fitness, for the realization of the Self, they come to a yogi who practices. This is the benefit of practicing internal and external purity. By this practice of cleanliness, the Sattva material will prevail and the mind will become concentrated and cheerful. This is what Swami Vivekananda is writing. The first sign that you are religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When a man is gloomy, that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion. A pleasurable feeling is the nature of the Sattva. Everything is pleasurable to the Sattvika man. And when this comes, know that you are progressing in yoga. All pain is caused by Tamas, which is the opposite quality of Sattva. So you must get rid of that. Moroseness is one of the results of Tamas. The strong, the well-knit, the young, the healthy, the daring alone are fit to be yogis. To the yogi, everything is bliss. Every human face that he sees brings cheerfulness to him. That is the sign of a virtuous man. Misery is caused by sin and by no other cause. What business have you with clouded faces? It is terrible. If you have a clouded face, do not go out that day. Shut yourself up in your room. When your mind has become controlled, you will have control over the whole body. Instead of being a slave to the machine, the machine will be your slave. Instead of this machine being able to drag the soul down, it will be its greatest helpmate. There were times when for this or that reason, we had temporarily ceased to feel anxious. When we lived, as we so seldom do, in the depths of the present moment, without regretting the past or worrying about the future. This is what Patanjali means by contentment. The next aphorism we are going to read. 42 Santosha Anuttamaha Sukhalabhaha From contentment comes super-relative happiness. Here, the word contentment is called Santosha. It is one of the greatest virtues. Yudhisthira was asked by Aksha, what is the greatest happiness? And he gives this answer, Santosha is the greatest happiness. What is Santosha? Contentment. What is contentment? I have more than what I require. I do not need anything else. I am very happy just by having what I have been given. That is called contentment. So, Sri Ramakrishna was content. Holy Mother was content. Swami Vivekananda was content. Every yogi, every saint, every seer, they are all contented people. There is an incident. Holy Mother used to say later on, when I was with Thakur at Dakshineswar, although somebody had put a picture of bliss in my heart, said I was happy day and night. Also, Swami Turiyananda was making a statement about visiting Sri Ramakrishna. He said one visit to Sri Ramakrishna used to keep us in high bliss for one week. Now the important point is Sri Ramakrishna has not bestowed any special boon upon these people. Anybody who visits Sri Ramakrishna is bound to become that much happy. Why is it? What is the cause? Because they were supremely content. Why were they able to be supremely content? Because they got what can never be lost. What is that? God. They have God with them. That is why they are supremely content. If we compare our circumstances to Sri Ramakrishna, what is Sri Ramakrishna? In one room, there is no attached bathroom. He had to walk at least 5-10 minutes to reach the place where he had to answer the calls of nature. And whether it is raining or shining, heat, he had to walk. And there it is full of mosquitoes and other troublesome insects. And in spite of all that, he used to go into Samadhi. Holy Mother. Whenever devotees used to go to Holy Mother's place, wherever she was, you know, very ordinary food. Do you think they had electric fans when the weather becomes very hot? You know how hot and humid this West Bengal climate becomes. South Indian climate also. But in spite of that, her face used to be always immersed in bliss. Why is it? Whenever any devotee visits Holy Mother, this is a very important point. Very important point. Whenever any devotee visits Holy Mother, her face used to bloom like a lotus flower. And why was it? Do you mean to say all the devotees were very advanced spiritual aspirants? No. What is the secret of her bliss? Because she used to see Thakur in every devotee. She never discriminated. This is a worldly person. This is a devotee. And this is a very virtuous person. This is not a virtuous person. That is why you have to understand Holy Mother's statement. For me, my son Amjad and my son Sharath are both equally my sons. Sharath Maharaj was a monk, purest monk, disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. And Amjad, he was a village Muslim robber. He went many times to jail also. And Holy Mother knew that he went to jail. There was a funny incident. Holy Mother had not seen Amjad for many months. And suddenly one day, he puts up his appearance. And then Mother asks, Amjad, I have not seen you, my son, for a long time. What happened? His mother, Her Majesty had been entertaining me in hospitality. And what is the point here? She never made the slightest distinction. That means her mind is equanimous. And one of the definitions of Yoga is Samatvam Yoga Uchchate. Equanimity is another name for Yoga. That means what? In heat and cold, in happiness and unhappiness, in poverty and riches, under any circumstances, the mind remains always cheerful. Why? Because they are not looking at the circumstances or objects. They are looking. Whenever, whatever they look at, what do you think they look at? Only God. That is why she was such a contented person. Who is the most contented person in the world? One who realizes God is the most contented person on earth. And Holy Mother was more than that. So how do we know? God realization is in my hand. That means what? Not only she was a realized soul, she can also disturb it on anybody she likes. So the 42nd aphorism says Santoshad means because of contentment. Anuttamaha Sukhalabhaha. From content comes super relative happiness. Not merely happiness, super relative happiness. But contentment also has got degrees. So we can make some mathematical calculation. Supposing a person has got 1% contentment. What is his happiness? 1%. If the person has got 50% contentment, 50% happiness. If he has got 100% contentment, 100% happiness. That's why we see, we can learn lessons from children, small babies. The mother is feeding, not exotic foods, just very ordinary. At least we know in India, the first food we give is nicely boiled rice with nicely boiled lentils, mixed together with a little bit of clarified butter, ghee. And the baby is supremely happy. Whatever mother gives is most wonderful. They are content because the desire has not yet arisen. Oh, I have to eat this, otherwise I am not happy. I have to get that one, I am not happy. Wherever they are kept, wherever mother puts them, they are very happy too. They can sleep under any circumstances. This is only an example. But if we happen to have the good fortune of living with a saint, you can see one of the conditions or how to find if this person is really a yogi or a spiritual aspirant. Under all circumstances, he is supremely happy. Why? Because he is content. Content means what? Desirelessness. No more desires there. Now we come to 43rd aphorism. आयेंद्रियसिद्धिः अशुद्धिक्षयात् तपस The result of mortification is bringing powers to the organs and the body by destroying the impurity. These results of mortification are seen immediately sometimes by heightened powers of vision and so on, hearing things at a distance, etc. Patanjali makes a remarkable statement. If anybody performs mortification or austerity, तपस means austerity, means अशुद्धिक्षयात्, the first thing that happens is all impurities are burnt out. When these impurities are burnt out, what happens? कायेंद्रियसिद्धिः कायेंद्रियसिद्धिः means extraordinary powers would come to these sense organs. What does that mean? The eyes can see things at a long distance. The ears can hear what people are talking at a long distance. A person can smell things are even thousands of miles away. A person can have the taste of something which is a long time back. These kind of incidents happened in the life of Sri Ramakrishna many times. Sri Ramakrishna performed superhuman tapasya. But we have to understand what is the meaning of tapasya. Tapasya means austerity or mortification. It is not giving pain to body or mind. A little bit of pain is unavoidable. But deliberately giving pain, you know there are, we have especially Hindus have mortifications, means they won't eat for days together. And if there is a cold river, they will go and immerse themselves up till the neck and then go on doing japam or trying to bear out extreme heat. Devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother can recollect that incident where she practiced pancha tapa. That is pancha tapa is a most suffering producing mortification. What is that? In India, what they do on a summer day from sunrise to sunset, they will go to open place, put four, light up four fires on all four directions and they sit in the middle. The fifth, these four fires are called four tapah, that which burns. Tapah means burns. The fifth is the sun. From early morning, it is quite pleasant. But as it rises, when it comes to midday, it becomes almost unbearable. And a person must not get up from that place from sunrise to sunset. Interesting question. You are all, you know, calculating people. How much distance between each fire and the person? Suppose you put, you know, 100 feet away. That is not tapahs. It must be really torturing you. It must be burning. It should not really burn, but you must feel the burning heat. Then only it is tapahs. So on a small roof, near Ambar Babu Mukherjee's garden house, Holy Mother lighted up. Holy Mother with one or two other women companions, she performed it quite a number of times. This is called tapahs. But the real, what is real austerity, real mortification? Here is the Patanjali. That which burns our impurities, that is real austerity. So if a person is practicing austerity, so-called, you know, in Himalayas, without any adequate warm clothing, etc. But if he is full of desires, if he is full of egotism, that is not tapahs. What the tapahs should do? It must burn away our impurities. What are those impurities? Just now we discussed before. Six passions. That means our lust, anger, greed, infatuation, pride and jealousy, they must slowly become less and less and less. Only by that effect we know we are practicing austerity. So there are so many aids are there. One of the aids is bear the calamities that happen to us cheerfully. Cheerfully because it is God's will. Not with gritted teeth I will be and not like that. You have to think it is a tapahsya. Living in the family is a tapahsya. Just today I was reading something very interesting, it never struck me before. In India, for school children, summer camps are becoming very popular. And sometimes some of the camps, they are so much in demand, the parents, in spite of wanting to pay high price, they are not getting seats for summer camps. So one of our Swamis went and asked, why are you so eager to send away your children for vacancies? And you will be surprised at the answer that came, Swamiji, we are terribly tired of these children looking after them whole year. This is the time when we want to enjoy our life. This is one of the reasons. What is tapahsya? Mortification or austerity. That which reduces, burns, makes our passions less. That is real tapahsya. And then, because of this tapahsya mortification, what happens? Our body becomes pure. Our sense organs get attuned at high powers, which we do not have right now. Extraordinary powers will come. Also, bearing the neighbours, bearing the normal day-to-day circumstances, and keeping cheerfulness. Not again, as I said, with gritted teeth. And living under the normal life circumstances, and accepting everything as normal, as God's will or as my own karma phala, and cheerfully bearing it, that is tapahsya. In other words, withstanding the dualities with cheerfulness is called tapahsya. So, Patanjali tells us that so many supernatural powers would come. What are those powers? And what is real tapahsya? In Bhagavad Gita, we have got this tapahsya. First, I will read out. There are three types of austerities, beautifully enumerated in the Bhagavad Gita. In the 17th chapter, we get it. The austerity of the body, the austerity of speech, and austerity of the mind. Three varieties of austerities. What is the austerity of the body? It consists in this. Worship of God, the Brahmanas or holy people, one's guru or spiritual master, and one's superiors like father and mother, cleanliness, simplicity, celibacy and non-violence are austerities of the body. What are the austerities of speech? Austerity of speech consists in speaking truthfully and beneficially, and in avoiding speech that offends, that injures others. One should also recite the Vedas regularly. That is the pure tapahsya of speech. What is the austerity of the mind? Attaining serenity, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purity of thought are the austerities of the mind. This is such a beautiful thing. It is not talking about you fast and go to some cold place and try to bear the cold or heat etc. That is also a kind of tapahsya. But this is the real tapahsya. What happens if we practice these two? Through bodily tapahsya, body becomes pure. Through the speech, austerity of the speech, whatever a person utters, it comes true. His wishes are fulfilled. And if we practice the austerity of the mind, mind becomes calm, serene and develops the capacity to understand the teachings of the scriptures. You can understand. As you are becoming purer in your mind, perhaps you have read the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna 30 years back. Now also you are reading the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. There would be a profound difference between understanding 30 years back and now. What is it due to? Purity of the mind. Suppose you don't have purity of mind. What you understood 30 years back, you still carry on even now. In this connection, a thought just now entered into my mind. You know, understanding scriptures deeply with rationality and their true purport is the result of austerity. If this is true, what is not understanding the scriptures, misinterpreting the scriptures, misapplying the teachings of the scriptures? What is it? The opposite of the question. Now you see some people, the terrorists etc. In the name of religion, in the name of scriptural commandments, they do things which injure, which kill, which maim, which bring destruction. It is going on rampantly in many places. That is the saddest part. Nobody is able to stop it. So some people raised the question, are they not having deep faith in their scriptures? No, they are not having first of all deep faith because their understanding of the scriptures itself is totally wrong understanding. What happens when a person really practices austerity, the mind becomes so pure, as it becomes pure, the depth of correct understanding also increases. That is a definite benefit it comes. Now three types of Tapasya according to Bhagavad Gita. Austerity consisting of the body, consisting of the speech, and consisting of the mind. That is true austerity. And wherever we go, whatever we do, if these results do not come, that means it is anything but austerity. Now Ashta Siddhis, we call it Ashta means eight, Siddhis means supernatural powers. It is well known. So many people practice austerities for getting these supernatural powers. What are these powers? Very briefly, the first power is called Don't worry about these Sanskrit terms. The ability to reduce the size of the body, like Hanuman reduced his body to any desired length he wants. One benefit of this is, you buy any cloths without looking at the size. Second is called Bhagavan Krishna assumes a huge form when Duryodhana wanted to bind him. Third, Garima. Another example is in Vamana Avatar, Lord Vishnu also just in two steps, he increased his size. This is the example of what is called becomes as large as one wants to become. Third is called Garima. The ability to become very heavy in weight by mere will. Nobody will be able to lift. Fourth is called Lagima. One can become as light, as small as possible. Lagima is the ability to make the body very light. Levitation and flying in the air are its subsidiary powers. Prapti. Prapti means a yogi who has this power can obtain anything he wants even if it is at a long distance, immediately it becomes his. Prakamya. The ability to obtain anything desired, ability to have realized one's dreams. Ishitva. The power of absolute lordship over the entire creation. Vashitva. The ability to have everything under control, especially the physical manifestation made up of five elements. We will discuss in our next class some of the examples that Swami Vivekananda had, Sri Ramakrishna had, Holy Mother had and many other saints and sages had these powers. The only point I want to emphasize now Sri Ramakrishna did not encourage one to get these powers because they have the tendency to corrupt us to bring our mind down from God and to make our egotism, bloat our egotism because the moment the power comes the person becomes bloated with egotism, pride and the desire to obtain everything and to control other people etc. They deviate us from our true path. But Sri Ramakrishna had, Holy Mother had and every yogi will have it. And some of these examples we will discuss in our next class which would be in the month of May. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti