Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 074

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. In our last two classes we had discussed extensively about the art of pranayama. Let us recollect what we have discussed. Pranayama has to be practiced by slow degrees keeping an eye on health and physical well-being. Pranayama practiced without meditation makes the mind more restless. That is why in some cases it brings on lunacy. It is a well-known phenomena. If pranayama is practiced without the control of some great teacher, expert teacher, it can lead to terrible problems. We have to be extremely careful about it. Attention should be given to diet, it should be remembered that ultimately the yogins have to give up consumption of fat altogether. Any fatty substance, oily substance is extremely dangerous for the practice of pranayama. Simple logic of this is if we take fat, what do we become? Fat. When we become fat it terribly affects our lungs and when lungs are affected naturally it follows that we cannot practice pranayama regularly. That is the simple truth. Now it is something very important. Mere suspension of breathing is not yogic pranayama. There are some people who can naturally suspend breathing. It is such people who remaining buried showed their magical power and earn money. In India there are some people who can remain buried for days together, two days, three days like that together and they get lot of name, fame, money and all those things. Is it pranayama? What is true pranayama? We will come to that. There are people who can remain submerged in water for many minutes by suspending breath. There is, I forget, Main, David Main was very famous musician. He can remain suspended in water, I think his record was more than 17 minutes without breathing. What is he doing? He is trying to earn money in the form of, you know, his magic, showing magic and all that. Mere pranayama without yogic practices, means without meditation and without the complete practice of yama, niyama, asana, etc. is not at all good. This is neither yoga nor samadhi. That is why such people fail to achieve any spiritual excellence. The suspension of prana which either arrests modification of the mind or makes it one-pointed constitutes yogic pranayama. So what is the difference between these people trying to practice pranayama and what is the difference between yogis trying to practice pranayama? Here is a clear difference is there. When a yogi practices, first thing is he is totally detached to the world. As he practices, his detachment towards the world, his attraction of worldly objects towards the world become gradually attenuated, reduced. Second, his mind becomes absolutely controllable. He controls his mind, he can direct it to whichever subject he wants to and he directs it only towards one goal. How to get rid of maya. Third, he gets what is called the power of discrimination. Viveka jnana vilka. What is real, what is unreal. These are the three important points not only with regard to pranayama, these three apply with regard to any type of religious practices. There are so many people who do practice a lot of so-called religious activities of going to pilgrimages, worshipping God. But do they attain self-knowledge? No. What do they attain? They get the result of their practices and they become more attached to the world in the form of going to higher worlds etc. With this resume, we will continue our study of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Aphorism number 51. Bahya abhyantara vishaya akshepi chaturthaha. There is a fourth kind of pranayama and it is the stoppage of the breath which is caused by concentration either upon external or internal objects. Now this is called according to Patanjali the fourth type of pranayama. What are the other three types of pranayama? Pooraka, Rechaka and Kumbhaka. You think that they are in a way connected. In a way, one can have Pooraka pranayama, Rechaka pranayama, Kumbhaka pranayama. But there is a fourth kind of pranayama. This is an extraordinary type of pranayama. This can come even to those who do not practice pranayama. Swami Brahmanandaji used to tell us, if you do japa and become concentrated, the Kumbhaka takes place automatically. If you meditate, Kumbhaka takes place automatically. If you can focus your mind, Kumbhaka takes place automatically. Many scientists also can attain to this kind of Kumbhaka. What is the point? The point is this is a Kumbhaka that naturally occurs not through self-effort but by doing some other higher spiritual practice. So this is the most wonderful pranayama. In fact, the other three types of pranayamas are supposed to lead us to this kind of pranayama. This fourth kind of pranayama is the stoppage of the breath which is caused by concentration either upon external or internal objects. Kumbhaka achieved through japa etc. Some examples let us take. Ramakrishna, as a boy, once he was walking in the fields. Most of our devotees know that incident. He saw a huge flock of cranes flying against the black background of the sky. As soon as he saw, immediately he fell down unconscious. That is one of the kind of examples of Kumbhaka. This fourth kind of Kumbhaka we are talking about. Similar incident happened to Swami Vivekananda. When he was a boy, his father was transferred to Raipur. So they were travelling in a bullock cart somewhere near Raipur. There was a huge row of hills and as the cart was travelling through the hills, suddenly Swami Vivekananda saw a huge nest of honey bees and he was wondering at this naturalness, beauty of this one. Contemplating, he fell into unconsciousness. He said several hours, I did not know what had happened. This is something extraordinary. Many artists and others, they have this kind of Kumbhaka because of the power of concentration. But it might lead to self-knowledge. It might not lead. But they will definitely achieve excellence in their own fields. Another incident was there. Swami Akhandananda was once travelling in the Himalayas. It was time of sunset. Swami Akhandananda was sitting there. In front of him, there was a hill. He was sitting as it were perpendicular to the hill. That means he could see both sides of the mountain. Not hill, Himalayan mountain. It was sunset. The sun was setting on one side and he said that was a full moon light night. On the other side, on the eastern side, the moon has risen. On the other western side, the sun was setting. So he saw like this, you know. He was able to sit there and see. One side, it was absolutely golden. On the other side, it was absolutely pure white. Swami Akhandananda saw this and he was drinking. He was describing it in his reminiscences. He was drinking, absorbed. Suddenly, Ramakrishna appeared and said, look this is called Haragauri. You know Arthanarishvara we call it? No. But it is a natural scenery. It is the most beautiful, enchanting, mind-arresting scenery. How can it be Shiva and Parvati? According to Hinduism, there is nothing in this world which is not divine. So if Himalaya Parvata can become what is called a great being and who is Parvati? Daughter of Himalayas. Means what? A stone gave birth to a daughter? It is a divine being that gave birth to another divine being. For us, you know Ganga for example. Is it water? Ganges. Is it water? It is nothing but divine mother. Yamuna, divine mother. You know sometimes we make this kind of distinctions. There is a beautiful incident in the life of Swami Vignanandaji. You know Sri Ramakrishna used to consider Ganges as a goddess. But Swami Vignananda said we are all science-trained people. This is mere water. What is this old superstition? So maybe he actually entertained this doubt for a long time. So what happened when he was at Allahabad? He said one day I went to take bath in that river. Suddenly I saw a goddess with three plates and she was moving in that river. Then he said now I understand how Sri Ramakrishna saying that Ganges is the divine mother really is true. You know unless we have some such experience it is very difficult to consider this. We have faith. So we drink Ganges water. Every day before doing puja we sprinkle ourselves with Ganges water. We mix Ganges water in the puja water and we purify ourselves with Ganges water. Sri Ramakrishna had such high regard. If any worldly person had spoken worldly things for a long time, he used to sprinkle Ganges water and he used to say it purifies immediately. Similarly the Mahaprasada offered to Lord Jagannath is called Mahaprasada. Take a little bit and it will instantaneously purify you to the greatest extent. How does it do it? Because it is divine. That is why we consider the fruits etc. offered to the Lord so sacred. What do you mean by sacred? It is divine but we don't have that purity of mind to see the divinity. In fact let me complete this talk with a little bit of example. We worship Mother Annapurna. You know Mother Annapurna? Those who know the name Annapurna. Anna means what? Food. Purna means infinite amount of food. Any food that we eat is nothing but a manifestation of the Divine Mother Annapurna. That is why we do Brahmarpanam not to make the food pure but to make ourselves pure so that we can see the food as the divine. This is the simple truth. What is the benefit of practicing pranayama? So four types of pranayamas that is puraka, kumbhaka, rechaka and the fourth type which is a natural kumbhaka whenever we concentrate our mind. So what do we get out of it pranayama or what should we get? What should we expect from it? Tatha kshiyate prakasha avarnam If we practice pranayama properly, what is the meaning of practicing properly? Certain conditions have to be fulfilled. What is the condition? You practice yama, you practice niyama, practice asana, practice pranayama. Without the practice of yama and niyama pranayama will not be really effective. Just now we mentioned there are people who can be suspended in water without breathing. That's a kind of kumbhaka for 17 minutes, 18 minutes. What do they gain? Some money, some name and fame, things etc. like that they move. So here the Rishi Patanjali is telling us as a result of this practice of pranayama the covering of the inner light is removed. All of us have this inner light. That means we are all divine. We have this divine light. But this divine light is covered. Covered by what? Ignorance. What covers our real nature is called ignorance, maya, avidya etc. As a result of this pranayama this gets covered. The inner light is the light of spiritual discrimination between the real and the unreal. The covering is made up of ignorance produced by our past karmas. As the mind becomes purified through the practice of pranayama this ignorance is gradually dispelled. The veil enveloping discriminative enlightenment which is worn away by pranayama is not the veil of misapprehension but the veil of karma based on misapprehension. Let me explain it a little bit before we go further. How does this covering get removed? How does it get removed? So does it remove avidya directly? No. Because there is a law. You know what is the law? Ignorance can be destroyed only by darkness, can be destroyed only by light. Ignorance can be destroyed only by knowledge. It is not possible to destroy darkness accepting through light. Ignorance can be destroyed only through knowledge. How can pranayama, after all it is an act, physical act of controlling our breath through the control of the movements of the lungs. How can this physical act be destroyed? Let me give an example also. Swami Vivekananda's most wonderful teaching on Karma Yoga. What is it? You serve another being not thinking he is the human being but he is God himself. How do you do that? If he is a beggar, you give him some food, some clothing, some help. If he is hungry, give him food. If he is feeling cold or heat, give him some covering. This is a physical act but is this physical act Karma Yoga? What is real Karma Yoga? It is a mental act of looking upon that person not as a human being but as a divine being. That is the real practice. Now here pranayama what happens is as we become more experts in pranayama, what is the direct result? The mind becomes absolutely quiet. When the mind becomes quiet, what happens? The real knowledge dawns. Let us remember the definition of what is called yoga. What is yoga? Yogaha chitta vritti nirodaha. The mind is always running at a tremendous speed thinking of a billion thoughts. Now what is yoga? Not to allow the mind to run here and there but just to keep it calm. What happens when we control our thoughts? Tada drashtu svarupe avasthanam. See just imagine. I will give a small example. Here is a mirror and there are five people. Each person is going and standing in front of the mirror. What does the mirror show? First person. Second person goes. It shows the reflection of the second person etc. Supposing then you go there and you stand or I will modify a little bit of this example. You are standing in front of a mirror. What does the mirror show you? Your reflection. Imagine another person, huge person, he comes and stands in front of you. What does the mirror show now? This example you understand. But so long as every other person is coming, standing in front of you and what is the mirror reflecting? Only that person's form. Suppose all the people have gone away. You are standing alone. What does the mirror reflect? Yourself. What is the point here? The point is the self alone is there in front of the mirror of the mind. A thought is like a person coming and standing in between yourself means consciousness and the mirror. Then what is it reflecting? That particular thought. I am happy. I am unhappy. I am a human being. I am man. I am woman etc. etc. These are the thoughts that are coming. If no thought is there, then the self alone is there and that self is reflected. That is called Drashtu Swaroop Avasthanam. When there is no thought, movement in the mind, then the mind is forced to reflect only that being. And that is what happens when we do pranayama. What happens as a result of pranayama? The prana is controlled. When prana is controlled, thoughts are controlled. When thoughts are controlled, the mind is controlled. When the mind is controlled in a way of speaking, it becomes pure or it attains to Satvika state. That means there is no dirt upon it. Even there is no dirt upon it, then it reflects a thing that is in front of it exactly as it is without the slightest bit of distortion. And that is what Patanjali Rishi is telling us. The inner light is the light of spiritual discrimination. The covering is made up of the ignorance produced by our past karmas. As the mind becomes purified through the practice of pranayama, this ignorance is gradually dispelled. Now further explanation follows. Some people raise the objection that since wrong knowledge can be destroyed only by right knowledge, how can a physical act in the form of pranayama cause the destruction of wrong ignorance? In reply it may be said that in this case also, misapprehension is destroyed by knowledge. Pranayama is no doubt a physical act but the knowledge gained by the act causes destruction of the avidya. How? How does it do? The practice of pranayama separates one's I-sense from the body and the sense organs. Therefore, knowledge corresponding to the act of pranayama, every act has its own corresponding knowledge, is I am neither the body nor the senses. What is discrimination? I am not the body, I am not the mind. If I am not the body, if I am not the mind, what am I? I am. We always say, who are you? I am a man. How are you? I am not happy. I am not healthy. If I am not healthy, what am I referring to? I am the body. If I am not happy, what am I referring to? So, I am neither the body nor the mind. Then what remains? I am. This is what is the result of pranayama. This is what all the yogas have to lead. You practice karma yoga, practice bhakti yoga, you practice jnana yoga. It doesn't matter what yoga you practice. What should be the result? I am not the body, I am not the mind. But you don't say it. In the jnana yoga, our practice is I am not the body, I am not the mind. We say that intellectually. But it doesn't really make any effect. Because at 12.30 bell rings, who are you? 12.30 or lunch time. Then who are you? You feel hungry. That means you feel you are the body. The sadhus have learnt by rote certain words. This world doesn't exist in the past, present and future. I say that is excellent. But add to it, this world exists at morning breakfast time, lunch time and dinner time. Other times it doesn't exist. Is it so easy? Suppose you are a bhakta, you are a devotee. What are you supposed to do? You are supposed to see your God in everybody. You remember just the gopis, on the full moon day, they were all playing with Shri Krishna. Suddenly egotism came. We had obtained Shri Krishna through our prayers. Instantaneously Krishna disappeared. Then the separation from the Lord was so intense. The pain was so intense that each gopi with unbroken concentration, they started meditating upon their beloved Shri Krishna. And each gopi said, look I am Krishna. I am playing the flute. Another gopi is dancing, taking another gopi. He says, look I am Krishna dancing with another gopi. Like that every act of Shri Krishna they were imitating. They were not intellectually doing it. They were really overwhelmed and did it. You know, Shri Ram Krishna was at Dakshineshwar during his last days. And one day he said, call all the devotees, means his disciples. He said, surround me. I will be in the midst of you. Now close your eyes and meditate that this is Raksha Leela. Shri Krishna's play with gopis. Such a marvelous incident. Whenever we read about Raksha Leela, we are thinking a beautiful man dancing with some beautiful woman. This is the picture that comes in front of our, if you see calendars and other things, this is what happens. But what is Ram Krishna telling? That intense focus upon God in their minds, that is true Raksha Leela. The play of the individual soul with the divine soul is called true Raksha Leela. These are all highly spiritual symbolic things. Now coming back to our subject. What does Pranayama do? Pranayama takes us to the same result, but not merely pulling the breath in and out. Through the practice of Yama, we get rid of all negative qualities. Through the practice of Niyama, we acquire all the Sattvic qualities. What are the Sattvic qualities? If you have not forgotten, cleanliness, contentment and study of the scriptures. Then Swadhyaya, Ishwara Pranidhana, complete surrender to the divine Lord and austerity. When we practice these things and with that perform this Pranayama, naturally where do you think Prana goes? It allows only one thought. That is the thought of the divine Lord and that is what destroys the ignorance. That is what Patanjali is telling that it destroys the covering of ignorance and thereby the self shines, the light of the self shines. Aphorism number 53, Pranayama doesn't stop there. Dharanasucha yogyata manasaha. The mind gains the power of concentration dharana. Now we will discuss this. What is concentration in our next class? That is because in this particular second chapter which is called Sadhanapada, he has just given a hint. Pranayama results in two results. What is the first result? It destroys the covering of ignorance. Second what does it do? The mind gains the power of concentration. What is that concentration? How it is going to lead slowly to Samadhi? He is going to discuss it. Already in the first chapter we had a detailed discussion of it. Again he brings this subject. So we will deal with it 53rd aphorism in our next class. Now 54th aphorism. What is the next step? Pratyahara is the fifth limb of the eight limbs of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Fifth limb, Pratyahara. This word Pratyahara, actually two words Prati and Ahara. What is Ahara? Whatever we take in. Ahriyate iti Ahara. Whatever we are taking in. So when we use that word whatever we take in, that means do not think only what we take in through the mouth, the physical food. We are taking in so much of food through the eyes. When you watch a television what are you taking in? All the forms. When you are listening to some music what are you taking in? Through the sounds, through the ears. When you are smelling what are you taking in? So many impressions. It is not merely smell. It is not merely sound. It is not merely a sight. So many other things associated with this. I will give a simple example. Though I have given so many times. Suppose you are walking in a street and suddenly somebody is frying something and immediately you think it is pakoda. What is pakoda? What is pakoda special? How do you know it is pakoda? You know pakoda is a fried, besan fried and perhaps most of you know about it. So how do you know it is fried? Because it is not pakoda which you know. It is the onion which is used in the pakoda which you know. When you fry onion it gives a very strong special smell and it is that onion smell most often associated with pakoda. Are you smelling or are you also taking in so many other things? What happens unconsciously? Suppose you are hungry at that time. What happens to your mouth? It starts watering. Swami Prabhavanandji gives a beautiful example. You are walking in the street. A young man is walking in the street. Suddenly a beautiful girl is walking. What do you think he is taking in? He is seeing the form of that girl. That everybody sees. Even a cockroach also sees. A mosquito also sees. A dog also sees. Every one of us sees if we happen to be there. What is that young man seeing? Is he seeing only a girl walking there? No, a girl is walking and she is young and she is beautiful. She is desirable. What is the next step? I want her. This is how we are drawn in. So what is pratyahara? Prati means going opposite. That means to say you experience things but you experience only things. You don't bring anything. Something is being fried. You don't care what it is. Let me give the example of Ramakrishna. I gave the example of a young man looking at a young girl. Ramakrishna, one day he was coming back from Calcutta and he also saw a beautiful young girl on his way. What was he looking? The divine mother. In fact he said something very very wonderful. He said, I saw mother Sita waiting for Rama to come. In ordinary persons, even including that lady, she is waiting for customers. Otherwise he would not have seen. If you ask her, what are you looking? I am looking for some customers. But what was Ramakrishna seeing? That means every woman is mother Sita and every man is... So for such a person, it is not a hypothetical question. It is actually his experience. Supposing he beholds man and woman mating. We behold. What would be the reaction within us? What would be the reaction in Sri Ramakrishna? I will give two examples. Incidents. One day he saw in Panchavati a dog and a beech mating. What did he behold? Shiva sporting with the divine mother. This is something he beheld. This is another example. When he was practicing tantric practices. One day Bhairavi Brahmani had brought to him a most beautiful woman at night. And he asked her to get unrest. She asked Sri Ramakrishna, you sit on her lap and practice japa. And at first you know the incident. First he said, mother, what is this test you are making me go through? Will your weak child be ever able to do this? And suddenly he said, tremendous strength possessed me as it were. And I sat. And hardly had I finished doing japa, turned my beads once, japa mala, my mind soared into the highest samadhi. And after so much time, so many hours, when I came back to consciousness, Bhairavi Brahmani said, my child, this is the last test. Very few succeed in it. But by the grace of the divine mother, you have succeeded in it. With that, the tantric practices of Sri Ramakrishna practically came to an end. He said very soon afterwards, he worshipped one Bhairavi in the open hall, at daylight, in front of everybody. And had presented her at the conclusion of his practice of the tantric disciplines. Now what is the point you are doing pratyahara? What is pratyahara? First one, we are experiencing anything through our sense organs. We simply command the mind, oh eyes, do not look at it. Or do not look in that way. Two, do not look at it. Means we will not be even aware what we are looking. Second, we are fully aware what we are looking. But we say, not as ordinary people see, but as saints look at things. This is called pratyahara. With pratyahara, it is with pratyahara that our real spiritual practice starts. Pratyahara, that is withdrawal of the sense organs, even when they are experiencing their objects, and not being able to be influenced by their results, and keeping our mind absolutely serene and calm, this is necessary even not only for spiritual aspirants, even for every one of us. Have you not noticed that there were some nights when you were terribly worried about some event that had happened, and you have not been able to sleep? Have you not noticed? Have you not noticed that there is some event, some thought, which is troubling you, and you know that you should not be troubled, and you know that there is enough time to think about that thought, but now some urgent work is there, and you can pay attention to this urgent work now, and think about these things later on. For example, a schoolboy studied very well, and just before he is going to the examination hall, some event happened which made him very worried. Maybe his mother fell ill, or some disaster had taken place, and he had to go to the examination hall or for any interview. Where do you think his mind will be? If he had this power of pratyahara, he will say, Okay, my friend, you wait there. Let me finish this job. After that, I will attend to you. This ability to postpone to things at our own convenience, the ability in other words, to bring thoughts when we want, how we want, how long we want, with what intensity we want, or to keep them in the background, or even totally to forget about them, that is the most wonderful thing ordinary people we all need. Now, if we have only this power of withdrawing our mind from one thought, and the ability to focus on another thought, if we have that power, what do you think would be the result of that in our lives? Immediately two results will follow. First of all, a total control over the mind. That means what? You can focus on whatever you want. Second result will be, you will simply say to that thought, I don't want ever to deal with you. Get out of my sight. And the moment they say, and it will what happen? Let me read the commentary a little and then we will discuss. When the mind is withdrawn from sense objects, the sense organs also withdraw themselves from their respective objects and thus are said to imitate the mind. This is known as Pratyahara. Let us discuss. First thing is, when the mind is withdrawn from the sense organs. Why? Because you know what is our normal function? The mind gives command to the sense organs, what to do, what not to do. And the sense organs then get employed in their particular activities. But this is in the case of the Yogi. In the case of ordinary people like us, what happens you know? Again the same example, a young man sees a young girl. The sense organ says, Oh it is a beautiful girl. And sense organ reports, Oh mind, this is a beautiful young girl. And the mind says, Is it so? Go on looking at her. And the sense organs gladly they will go on looking, what is called gaping at her. This is what normally what happens. This is an example. It could be sound. None of us want to be criticized. You call even a fool, you are a fool, he will get very angry. In fact, if you tell to a wise man, you are a fool, then he will never get angry. He will say you are right. Only when we tell like that to a fool, there are two sorts of people in this world. Do you know that? Wise and otherwise. So if you tell this to some otherwise people, they will react immediately, terrible reaction. Sometimes they can kill you. In the name of what is called keeping up honor, family honor, etc. So many things will happen. So what is the first thing? Patanjali Yogi Rishi is telling, the important thing is mind. Who experiences sense objects? Do the sense objects, sense organs, experience sense objects? It is the mind. They are just carriers. Like camera, you know. Does the camera see the person in front of the camera? Or it is the cameraman who sees the camera? It is the mind. It has got something to do with the mind. So the mind tells to the sense organ. And it can tell to each one of the sense organs. It can tell to the ears. You go on listening. It can tell to the eyes. You don't need to look at it. And you know, this is what we do practice. What do we do? Supposing a chanting is going on. Bhajan is going on. So you don't need to go on looking at that person who is singing. You just close your eyes and then listen. This is what we do. We close our eyes. Why do we close our eyes? Because we do not have the power that when they are looking, don't look. When you are hearing, don't hear. When you are smelling, don't smell. We don't have that power. But what yogis do, they tell to the eyes, go on looking, but don't look. They will not look at all. So how this happens sometimes unconsciously is a funny incident in the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. One day M came to Dakshineshwar and he went into Sri Ramakrishna's room. He was not there. Nobody was there. So he understood and he went towards the Panchavati. Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the platform. He was sitting right in the middle and so many devotees were surrounding him and there was a kirtan going on. And M went, stood right in front of Sri Ramakrishna and said, where is he? And then he suddenly looked, his eyes looked and then he saw Sri Ramakrishna and everybody started laughing. Now tell me, that moment when he was looking for whom? For Sri Ramakrishna. And he was standing right in front of Sri Ramakrishna and he was not seeing Sri Ramakrishna. Why did that happen? Is it because of yogic power? No, it's not at all. It is forgetfulness. The point is, his mind was so much absorbed, he was not able to take in what his eyes were showing in front of him. Why did I quote this example? It is possible we can look, but we don't look. It is possible we are hearing, but we don't hear. Example, all of you here, right now. You know many times, I am talking, sometimes minutes can pass without your hearing. That means what you know? You are here, but you don't hear. You are here, but you don't hear. This happens. Once this was a funny incident, you know. Sri Ramakrishna was talking to Dr. Mahendra Lal Sarkar and Sri Ramakrishna said, you know, even when I am eating, I don't take notice of the food. Immediately Mahendra Lal Sarkar said, am I any less than you? Sir, when I am eating, I also don't notice. Then my family tells me, I think we have not put salt in your curry. Oh, is it so? Then he takes notice. Then M was commenting, you know. Are these both the same? Sri Ramakrishna was not taking notice because his mind was on God and this doctor was not able to see, to hear, to taste. Why? Because his mind was on worldly things. These are not the same things. One is out of absolute control of the mind. The other is non-control of the mind. Other thoughts take us away. Similarly, our everyday experience, you sit for meditation. For everybody outside, this man is meditating. But where are you? In Nepal, in Sri Lanka, in India, in Kolkata, everywhere else, excepting here. Is it not a common experience? Yeah. Through the practice of pratyaha, this is the fifth limb, a yogi, what he tells his mind, you go on looking, but you will not see what you want to see. First. Second, you will see what I command you to see. Sri Ramakrishna was looking at this young woman. Was not his eyes looking at that young woman? He did not say, close your eyes. This is a public woman. You should not see such people. He did not say that. At the same time, what did he say? Look at the Divine Mother. Shiva Ghane, Jiyu Shiva. There are so many things are there. I just remember one incident. Swami Brahmanandaji was sitting outside and enjoying music. That was Sri Ramakrishna's birthday celebration. There was a very famous Veena player. I think Veena player. Pulin Babu. And this Pulin Babu was playing the Veena so beautifully. Maharaj was absorbed. Suddenly Maharaj said, Pulin Babu, you move out a little. Move out. And Pulin Babu was a disciple of Swami Brahmanandaji. He moved out. Sat a little bit to the other side. No, no. Move out a little. And he moved out. Move out a little more. And he moved out a little more. This was strange because there was nobody there. Later on, someone asked, Maharaj, what was this phenomenon? He said, you know, I saw Sri Ramakrishna. Suddenly he came. And he wants to sit next to Pulin Babu. And his body was touching Pulin Babu. That's why I asked Pulin Babu to move. Nobody was able to see. Now, was Maharaj seeing Pulin Babu? Yes. Was he seeing Sri Ramakrishna? He was seeing both. Now you see the point? Everybody else was seeing only that musician who was playing. Where Swami Brahmanandaji was seeing both the musician as well as Sri Ramakrishna himself. This is the divine vision. This is a day-to-day affair in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. You read the gospel. Oh mother, he was talking to devotees. You have come out well-dressed in Banaras silk shirt. Now don't disturb me. We want to see her. She's not coming. And he is telling her that you go out. Now I want to enjoy the music. Because if you come, you disturb my enjoyment of the music. Where is he and where are we? Okay, coming back to our beautiful subject. What is Pratyahara? The mind is withdrawn from the sense objects. The sense organs themselves, they can function, but they will not have the ability to influence the mind. In our case, the sense organs control the sense objects and influence our mind. But this is not the case in the life of a yogi who has really mastered this. So this Pratyahara is wonderfully helpful for us. For example, when you are sitting here, you just tell your mind, Oh, I just want to hear, understand what Swamiji is talking about and just to do that. Sri Ramakrishna could do that. Or you are reading a book. I just want to read the book. That means nothing else is noticed. This particular ability is noticed not only in the yogis, but also in great scientists. Swami Bhuteshanandji Maharaj was narrating one of his reminiscences. One day he went to see some of his friends. They were college students. They went to see Jagadish Chandra Bose. And at that time, it was very hot. They were sitting on the roof. And then somebody directed, you go to the roof, you will see him. And they all went. For 15 minutes, Maharaj was telling, Sir, Jagadish Chandra Bose was not at all aware somebody has come to see him. After 15 minutes, he came back to consciousness. So, oh, you have come. When did you come? Was he sleeping? Or was he deeply absorbed? You know this gentleman who invented the bulb fuse, Edison. Sometimes he was not aware when people put his food there and after four hours they come, the plate is still lying there. Did you not eat, Sir? Oh, I have not taken notice that food is here. That means he was so intensely absorbed. Pratyahara is extremely useful. And whichever student can develop Pratyahara, he, no doubt, he will become one of the first class students. There is absolutely no doubt about it. How to practice Pratyahara? Then I will come to the examples. First, the principle methods for the practice of Pratyahara, first, indifference to external objects. Anybody has the slightest interest in any external object, he will not be able to practice Pratyahara. Second, one must cultivate the art of living in the world of thought. You know, our minds are very superficial, very shallow, but these great scientists, great musicians, when they practice their art, they are totally absorbed. In which world are they living? In the world of thought. Swami Yathirushanji Maharaj, he always used to say, warn the spiritual aspirants, never allow your mind to come down the intellectual level. You read some nice books, get the ideas, start thinking about the ideas. What a wonderful practice. Thinking about God may bore you after some time. But take up some nice subjects, it could be science, it could be physics, it could be history, and God willing, cultivate the habit of deep thinking, and that will help us in acquiring this art of Pratyahara. Third, Pratyahara cannot be practiced unless the habit of intently noticing objects with the eyes and other senses are given up. That means, I will read again. Pratyahara cannot be practiced unless the habit of intently noticing objects with the eye and other senses is given up. That means, you know, some beautiful object is going on. Don't go on noticing it intently. Just say, OK, something is going. You hear some noise, some sound. You say, OK, some sound is going on. If you are interested, you will be caught. So we have to develop. That is why Buddhists have been given a practice, you know, when they are walking, they should notice only their toes. They should not notice, because you know, what is the problem? That the eye is rolling. It notices good things. Suppose there is a beautiful car. You come to the Vedanta Center to hear about Pratyahara. And when you are coming, a beautiful car drives up. And you say, beautiful car. What is the thought? Beautiful car means what? The moment you say it is a beautiful car, what is the follow-up? Why do not I possess that car? Let me talk about this. Because these are the real problems in spiritual life. The moment you certify something is wonderful, and if you do not see God in it, the simple reduction is, I would like to possess it. Maybe if you are asked, do you want a sports car? No, I do not want. Because you may not have that money or you may not be able to drive it. You rather want a car which goes slowly but which you can control, isn't it? But they desire, how nice if I were able to drive that car. That is how our whole world is caught up. That is why practice, not taking too much interest. But even when we are practicing these not noticing things, if the old samskaras are strong and beset with passion, they can overwhelm us. I will give you an example. There was one Christian monk. He was a saint. Later on he became a saint. At one point, he was living on what we call begging. He used to go for begging every morning for an hour or so. Whatever little he collects, he comes to his cottage and whole day he was spending his time in contemplation. He was a superior type of person who can spend his whole time in contemplation of God. Several years had passed. Then his superior told him, there is no need for you to beg. The monastery itself will supply your food. You go on staying here and you just contemplate. He started doing it. One day he was sitting in the temple. Suddenly, the picture of a very alluring woman came to his mind in bright intensity. He was overwhelmed with what we call lust. He went on praying, Lord, what is this? I never want to be a victim to this. Why are you making me go through this horrendous experience? He could not understand at first. He never remembered where he saw this woman. Then he remembered when he was begging several years before, one day he went and stood in front of a house, a woman devotee. She was not beautiful. She was not young. She was middle-aged woman, not particularly handsome woman. She came with devotion. She gave him some and his eyes just happened to glance at her. He did not think about it. He went away. After several years, when he was praying in the temple, that idea of the woman in brilliant light came and obsessed him. He said, several years he had to pray and pray and pray until by the grace of God it had disappeared. What a difficult thing. How many things we are noticing? Without even taking notice we are noticing. Everything is told in our mind. I will conclude today's talk. We will discuss about this in detail in our next class. An experiment has been done that how much people can remember. It is an exercise in remembrance. Some psychologists have taken some people, young people, middle-aged people and old people into a bookshop. I said, I will give you five minutes time. You just go through this bookshop and come out. You note down how many titles of the books you really remember. Hardly they could remember because in five minutes they went. By the time they came out, they have seen the titles of the books within a few minutes. But by the time their mind went to the next title, the previous title was already so-called forgotten. So they could hardly recall a few titles, five, six titles or ten titles. Somebody extraordinarily having good memory and those same people were put under hypnotism and asked the same question. Write down all the... They have written down more than 200 titles. What does this indicate? What is the lesson we learn? Even a casual glance at things, the impressions are taken into our minds and then they are stored there. Nothing is forgotten. And when right time or wrong time comes, those images come in bright colors and influence our behavior. That is what we call even subliminal messages. We will stop with this. Psychologists have experimented. There was a cinema going on. In between some frames, they have put a frame advertisement of some drinks. Just one or two frames in this film. People were watching and the psychologists were watching. They have seen half an hour or one hour of the film and then what do the people do? And they found out these people, they ordered a lot of drinks because that subliminal... You know subliminal means? Consciously that frame came and went off so quickly there was no time for them consciously to take note. But their mind is taking everything in and it produces instantaneous reaction and they all felt thirsty and that day the sales of the drinks had gone up. See the power of our mind. That's why we have to be extremely careful. That is what it says. Pratyahara cannot be practiced unless the habit of intently noticing objects with the eye and other senses is completely given up. So some of the examples also we will take in our next class. How to develop really Pratyahara which leads to the next step. What is it called? Concentration or dharana we will discuss. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti