Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 076

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 PRANJALI RANATHOSME I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar and of the body through medicine. Today we are discussing the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Of these Yoga Sutras we have completed the second chapter which is also called the Sadhana Pada. First is Samadhi Pada, the definition of what yoga is, types of Samadhis are there and how to attain them. Second stage is called Sadhana Pada, how to achieve that. The last two sutras, Pratyahara, we had elaborately discussed this Pratyahara. What is Pratyahara? The ability to withdraw the mind from any thought. Our day to day problem is our thoughts go to first of all various objects. Secondly, even when we are fully aware that these thoughts are useless thoughts, we are unable to withdraw our mind from there. I have quoted so many times the incidents from the life of Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna, Swamiji and other great saints. One important incident, let us recall, you know it appeared as though Holy Mother had tremendous attachment for one particular girl called Radhu, woman called Radhu. And many people used to believe Mother was truly attached to her. Now the curious thing is, if we are unable to practice detachment earlier in life, it is impossible to do that before death. Many people would think, oh before death I will have as much attachment as possible. But at the time of death, oh I will have tremendous mind control, I will just withdraw. And that is an impossibility. But in the case of Holy Mother, what happened? Even many genuine, sincere devotees were under the impression somehow that Holy Mother is deeply attached to Radhu. And they also thought that if we can somehow please Radhu, that will please Holy Mother too. They used to bring gifts, this is for Radhu etc. But Holy Mother probably she was, as we say, laughing in her sleeves, what people are thinking about her. So when the time of passing away came, she knew it, she said take Radhu away, Radhu's daughter also take her away. People were surprised. Sharaj Maharaj, Swami Sharda Ranjit, he knew if Mother withdraws her mind from Radhu, then she will not live on this world. Because the only deliberate conscious attachment she had kept for our sake was Radhu. And if she withdraws it, her life will go away. So we have a belief that if we are free from desires, that very moment death will come. And it is very true, even psychologically it is true. A person who has become hopeless, that person wants to commit suicide. Hopelessness is desirelessness, but for an entirely different reason. So here is Holy Mother and she said take them away, I have withdrawn myself from them. Sharath Maharaj heard about it, he knew about what is going to be the consequence. He called the attendants and said somehow try to divert the mind of Mother towards them. But now she said once I have withdrawn, I am not going to be attached to it. Because she had decided to quit this body. Now that ability to withdraw, did she practice it at that time or was she having that control from the very beginning? So here is some very important principle. The question is this, do we develop attachments or do the developments catch hold of us? What is the truth? Do we develop attachments? You know, many times we say I have attachment. So as though you are the master, you decided to have an attachment. The truth is just the opposite. We don't develop, we are not masters, we don't develop attachments. Attachments come and fall upon us, make us fall down and they will not let us go. And that is why we do not have control over detachment also. Whereas a person who deliberately says I will develop this attachment, he is the master. And when the time comes, he will also say I will not have this attachment. Unfortunately, what is our normal condition? We think we are doing a lot of things, we are not doing. Things are done by that. This beautiful psychological condition is so beautifully described by one great poet saying, I have not spent time, time has spent me. I have not enjoyed objects, objects have enjoyed me. This is called passive life. And what is spiritual life? It is to turn the tables around and say I will spend time, I will enjoy things or I will do things, what I like to do. If you analyze things like this, you know what a wonderful truth emerges. If I get angry, the anger doesn't possess me. I possess the anger. So I know exactly how angry I should be, how long I should be, when it should be withdrawn. And I can totally replace it with its opposite emotion. That is called yoga. That is, he who can do it, he is called yogi. That is called mastery of yoga. So pratyahara. What is pratyahara? When the mind developed that capacity to withdraw 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. This was what we discussed in our last class. So you can go back or you can download the last talk and listen to it. So what happens when a person has mastered pratyahara? Then he enters into that state which is called tatah paramah vasyatah indriyanam. Complete control over his sense organs develops. That means he is a master. He can control his mind. He can tell to his mind, just withdraw yourself. Or he can say to his mind, just focus on a particular aspect of the object. So yatha kurmo indriyanam sammarate bhagavad gita gives a very apt example. Whenever a tortoise is in danger, you know what it does? It withdraws itself into the shell. And when it is free, when it thinks it is safe, then it will come out of it. This is the condition of a yogi. When he wants to withdraw, he has the ability to withdraw. All his sense organs come under his control. What does control mean? Control means two things. I can focus my attention on any part of my sense organs. I can say, now you focus yourself upon this. Now look at this. Now hear this. Or total withdrawal from any object that I would like to have. That is called a yogi's power. Not only this power, there is another power. I would like to quote it because it is so important. Supposing you ask Swami Vivekananda or Sri Ramakrishna. Supposing there is a crowd, 500 people. And 500 people are talking with each other. Ask Swami Vivekananda, shut your ears against everybody excepting two people talking with each other. Do you get what I am talking? He will not hear 499 people. He will hear only, sorry, 498 people. And he will hear only those two people speaking with each other. His ears are functioning. But he commanded them, you hear only what these two people are talking about. This ability to choose one particular aspect of any particular sense organ, that is called pratyahara. What a wonderful control. If we have that control, then you can say any number of people may talk anything. You will not hear about it. You will hear only one particular sound. This is what we discussed in our last class. That was the 55 sutra or aphorism of the yoga talks. With that the second chapter had ended. So we are entering into the new chapter, third chapter. It is called Vibhuti Pada, the chapter on Vibhuti. Normally Vibhuti means ashes. But Vibhuti, Sanskrit word means, Bhuti means prosperity. Vibhuti means extraordinary glory, powers. Yogis are supposed to have tremendous powers. They develop because of the concentration. So is a real yogi really interested in powers? What do powers do to any person, spiritual person? A power is wanted by a worldly person because he wants to enjoy worldly objects. But a real power is an obstacle for real spiritual aspirants. Because if we get, even as we are, our minds are full of egotism. If we get some extra power, oh my god, it is unbelievable and it is extremely difficult. Sri Ram Krishna again and again warns us we should not have the powers. Then why does Patanjali go on describing the condition about the powers? Is it because, is he encouraging you can have this power? That's not so. But what is important is there will be skeptical people who do not believe that yoga is really a mastery of the mind and one can get tremendous powers, tremendous amount of knowledge etc. It is to prove that practice of yoga is even practical in this world that Patanjali is describing this one. There is also another reason that if you read the biography of any great saint, you will see invariably there will be powers exhibited in his life. It happened in the life of Sri Ram Krishna, Holy Mother, Swamiji, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Sivananda, every saint including in the life of Swami Bhuteshanandaji Maharaj. Just briefly I am mentioning, I once mentioned this story to you that there was a man initiated by him and he was losing his sight and he came on his last visit, so-called last visit to Swami Bhuteshanandaji and Bhuteshanandaji felt a little bit special about this man and said you meet me afterwards and when he met he asked why do I find you are so sad and the young man said Maharaj I am losing my eyesight. A doctor says there is nothing I can do. I am going blind so I would like to, I wanted to see you for the last time. Bhuteshanandaji said who told you that you are going blind, don't worry. Thakur is blessing you, you will be absolutely fine and the young man could not believe it because when the doctors have given unqualified certificate that he is going to go blind, Swami good wishes, Guru especially, but will it really happen and it so happened miraculously, the man slowly recovered, complete sight has come back. What do you think? Is it some yoga siddhi or grace of God? It is definitely a power, not misused values. Maybe that young man was really fortunate enough. That is not the point. The point is in the life of every holy man who sincerely practices spiritual disciplines especially yoga practices, he will, he or she will definitely develop the powers. The problem is not getting the powers. The problem is how to see that they do not affect and stop one's spiritual progress. But before Patanjali really comes, there are a few aphorisms where he has to continue. We only discussed up to Pratyahara. It is only the fifth step. There are three more important steps for Samadhi. In fact four steps Dharana, Dhyana, Savikalpa Samadhi and Nirvikalpa Samadhi. But he clubbed them together and said Samadhi. So we are going to discuss what is this Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, what happens when a person becomes expert in it. So let us come to the first aphorism. Desha Bandhaha Chittasya Dharana Dharana means concentration is when the mind holds on to some object either in the body, within the body or outside the body and keeps itself in that state. This is called concentration. What is concentration according to Patanjali? To keep the mind completely fixed, trying to keep the mind fixed either inside the body or outside the body. First outside the body. What does outside the body mean? Not anything one likes on a lamppost, on a tree, on a flower. No. It is on some particular aspect of God. It could be Vishnu, it could be Shiva, it could be Devi or Vignesha, Ganapati or the Sun etc. That is also very useful. According to Patanjali, actually these Gods and Goddesses are of no value. According to Patanjali. But we are not discussing purely according to Patanjali. We are combining both Vedanta in the light of Sri Ramakrishna's teachings and Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Gods or Goddesses are on a noble ideal like truthfulness, unselfishness, service etc. Desha, Vandaha, Chittasya, Dharana. Chittasya means of the consciousness or of the mind. Desha. Place it, Dharana, on some particular place. Desha means a place within the body. Now, not any place. I want to think about my toe, I want to think about my eyebrow, I want to think about my nose. No. What it means is, according to yogis, there are seven chakras are there. You know that. Muladhara, Swadhishtana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Agna, Sahasrara. Focus on any one of these chakras. In other words, there is a psychic body within us, which is distinctly different from the gross body and from the causal body, where the yogis had identified certain corresponding parts of the body and they called them. This particular chakra is at this approximately place within the body. For example, Muladhara at the base of the backbone, Anahata at the heart, Agna between the eyebrows and Sahasrara in the middle of the head. Focus on any one of these centers of consciousness. That is what is called inside. Outside, either a God or a Goddess or a wonderful, ideal, noble quality within either on Muladhara or one of the chakras mentioned. Then keep the mind there. Let it not go anywhere else. When a person succeeds in doing that, this is called Dharana. Dharana is roughly translated as concentration. Now there is quite an amount of misunderstanding about Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. I would like to give a very brief explanation about it. Concentration, meditation and Samadhi. First, about concentration. What is concentration? Take any object and one can have different ideas about that particular object. Let us take for example, a person wants to concentrate on Bhagavan Krishna. Krishna's form, Krishna's qualities, Krishna's teachings, Krishna's divine sports, focus on any one of them. But you can change. The mind goes on changing. Now it is thinking the form. Now it is thinking the sport. Now it is thinking of the teaching. Now it is thinking of what he said to somebody and what he did. This is called Lela Dhyana. One object, various ideas. No other idea excepting Krishna is coming into that person's mind. But various thoughts about Krishna. When a person can achieve that state, he is supposed to be in the state of concentration, Dharana. What is meditation? Concentration, a scientist also can concentrate. A painter also, an artist also can concentrate. A poet can concentrate. Anybody can concentrate. In fact, it is said, you know, when a cat is sitting outside the rat's hole, what is it doing? It is said in a funny way, it is fully meditating upon the rat. And you know what happens after some time, the rat and the cat become one. That's not the point. It is concentration on one subject, a scientist, that's why the more he concentrates, the more he is likely to discover some new knowledge about that object. Whereas meditation is not concentration on any worldly object, but it is exclusively on a scripture-approved, encouraged, inspired idea. A scripture should tell, you meditate upon this, and a scripture always tells to meditate upon spiritual beings, spiritual personalities, spiritual qualities. When this concentration shifts from any subject to spiritual subject, that is called Dhyana. But that is not the complete Dhyana. Concentration, what did we say? One object, various thoughts. In meditation, it is one object and one thought. For example, this devotee who has been trying to meditate on Shri Krishna, now he is thinking about his beautiful form. Now he is thinking about his teachings. Now he is thinking about this force. Now he is thinking about some incident related with Shri Krishna. Even sometimes he can also forget Shri Krishna and think of something else, but all in relation with Shri Krishna. For example, a person is focusing on Kamsa, what a bad fellow he was and how he was hating Shri Krishna, etc. But it is again related to only Krishna. Now if you think of Hitler at that time, that is not supposed to be concentration. But Kamsa is fine. Why? Because Kamsa is closely related to Shri Krishna. Somehow the thought must center around Shri Krishna. But in meditation what happens? It is Shri Krishna. He is as God. But suppose this devotee is thinking, I will only think the lotus feet of Krishna, that's it. I will think of the eyes of Krishna, nothing else. This is beautifully illustrated by a story I told you that Shri Ramakrishna mentions this story. Dronacharya wanted to test how wonderfully his disciples have learned archery. The test was, he ties a bird to the highest branch of its highest tree, longest tree, tallest tree. And then he says, he calls one by one. What do you see? Do you see me? Yes. Do you see the people here? Yes. Out. Next person. Do you see me? No. Do you see the people here? No. Do you see the tree? Yes. Out. The next person. Do you see the tree? No. Do you see the branches? No. Do you see the bird? Yes. Out. At last he called Arjuna and said, what do you see? Do you see us? No. Do you see the tree? No. Do you see the bird? No. What do you see? I see only the eye of the bird. And Dronacharya said, you do not need to do anything, you pass out the test. Now the idea is, one particular object, not only one particular object, but even one particular idea of that object, related to that object. When concentration develops, improves, progresses into this state, that is called Dhyana. But here, Arjuna says, I am here and the eye of the bird is here. I am highly conscious of the eye of the bird. This is meditation. But what happens in lower Samadhi? Artha Matra Nirbhasa. Even that eye will not be there. The bird's eye will not be there. What is there? Only an idea. But still, in meditation, either I am here and the idea is here. I am the meditator. This is the object upon which I am meditating. And there is something which connects, links me with the object of meditation. It is called Triputi in Sanskrit. The knower, object of knowledge, and knowledge which connects both the knower and the object together. It is invariable. So this would be the first stage of Samadhi. Whereas in the second stage, there would be no experiencer, knower, there would be no knowledge. Both become totally one. That is called Nirbhija Samadhi, Nirvikalpa Samadhi. It is the Advaita Samadhi. It is the highest type of Samadhi. Now we are coming back to the first Sutra of the third chapter called Vibhuti Bhagat. Desha Pandha Chittasya Dharana. Dharana means concentration. Concentration means either on any subject that one wants, any object, but only one object, various thoughts. Either it can be outside our body or within our body on any particular center of consciousness, Chakra. The next, second Sutra tells us, Tatra Pratyayekatanata Dhyanam. An unbroken flow of knowledge towards that object is called Dhyana. Mind tries to think of one object to hold itself to one particular spot at the top of the head, the heart, etc. And if the mind succeeds in receiving the sensations only through that part of the body and through no other part, that would be Dharana. And when the mind succeeds in keeping itself in that state for some time, it is called Dhyana. So we are talking the definition of Dhyana. What is Dhyana? There would be only one object and one idea. One object and one idea. It is purely internal, not external, purely internal. But here also, Pratyayaekatanata. What is Pratyaya? Knowledge. Knowledge of an object. Ekatanata means same knowledge repeats again and again and again and again. In contrast to our mind, what happens? Here is a bird, here is a book, here is a noise. And various thoughts in rapid succession are passing from one side to the other side. But whereas in meditation, oh, these are the lotus feet of Krishna. These are the lotus feet of Krishna. These are the lotus feet of Krishna. These are the lotus feet of Krishna. For some time, the idea of the lotus feet of Krishna and again, what thought is coming? Exactly the same thought. This is called Pratyaya. Pratyaya means knowledge of a particular idea or a particular idea. Ekatanata. Only that particular idea again and again and again and again rising in the mind without stop. That is defined as Dhyanam or what we call meditation. Let us dwell upon this. Because even here, the concentration has been taken to the next highest, higher level, which is completely focused. The only difference as we already pointed out is not various thoughts about one object but one idea about that one particular object. Again and again and again when it comes, that is called meditation. The example given is pour oil into oil. Now why this particular example is given? You can give example of water being poured into water. You know when you take water in one tumbler and pour it into the other tumbler, there could be a break, there would be bubbles. But when you are pouring oil, you don't see any break. So oil being poured from one vessel to another vessel, unbroken flow, that is the idea. Oil has nothing to do with meditation. Otherwise, don't go on meditating upon oil. Oil is only an example. It has that viscosity where you don't feel the break at all like other liquids. That is the idea we have to get into our mind. Pratyaya ekata anata dhyanam. One pratyaya. You know what is pratyaya? A thought, a bit of knowledge. And a thought is a bit of knowledge. Every thought is a bit of knowledge. This knowledge flows, only one thought, one idea flows continuously. Why is it called flowing again? Flowing because if it is absolutely one, then what happens is the meditator and the meditated, they practically become one. So the meditator is highly conscious, but he is highly trained. So that thought comes again and again and again and again and again. In a funny way, I can give the example of, you know, we are all masters in meditation. I told you many times, you don't need to be a master in meditation. Only divert the subject to a godly subject. You know when a thought of fear or worry comes into your mind, what happens? We all have experienced it. Same thought comes again and again. And the funny thing is, the more you want to get rid of that thought, the more intensely it comes. The more you are trying to say no, the more it comes. It is our normal experience. So what is the point? One particular idea coming again and again into our mind. That's why I told you that we are experts in meditation. What is the problem? Two problems. One problem is, when a worry comes, again we say, I am worried. This is nonsense. I am not worried. Worry has taken possession of me. Just now I mentioned, if I am worried, if I am the master of worry, what do you think I can do? Any moment I can say, get out. And it gets out. But the problem is, we cannot get rid of the worry because I have not mastered the worry, the worry has mastered me. And here is one problem. Second is, when we are worrying, it is usually a worldly... Now, can you worry about God? So when you are thinking about God, can there be something called worry? The reason for that is that God is not an object that can be lost because He is everywhere. There is no question of losing God at any time, at any place. And that is why you need not worry about God. In fact, it is God who worries all the time. Why is this person not thinking of me? Even though right in front of him I am standing, still he cries, God, God, where are you? He is worried about me. Of course, that is also his play game. Anyway, what is the point here? Meditation is one particular idea coming again and again and again. Now he is coming to the first type of Samadhi. I mentioned there are two types of Samadhi. One is Savikalpa and another is Nirvikalpa. In this third aphorism, Patanjali is defining what is called Savikalpa Samadhi. He says, When giving up all forms, the mind reflects only the meaning, it is called Samadhi. So what is Samadhi state here? Samadhi is, in meditation I said, the same idea comes again and again and again. What happens in lower Samadhi? That idea will not go. Once we have that idea, it becomes fixed there. The other works very fast. One thought is coming and the same thought is coming. That means there are two thoughts, three thoughts, four thoughts and in between there is a break. In this lower Samadhi, there is no break at all. Only the idea shines. For example, suppose a person is meditating on the face of Shri Krishna. And what happens in concentration? Oh, the face is blue, the face has got some ears and the ears have got ear rings. And these ear rings have got some diamond rings, etc., etc., different thoughts. But in meditation, only the face, beautiful face, beautiful face, beautiful face, beautiful face. It is coming, it is going. What happens in lower Samadhi? Only the knowledge of Bhagavan Krishna's face shines. Now what do we mean by meaning of the Bhagavan's face? Do you mean to say that Bhagavan Krishna, Bhagavan as God, He has got a face? It is what we call a support, Alambanam, Ashrayam. It is to make our mind enter into Samadhi. It is like a door. Nobody can claim, I entered into the room standing at the door. Meditation is a door. When he enters into the room, he forgets the door, forgets the face of Bhagavan Krishna. And what happens when a person forgets about the face of Krishna? What happens? Now here I have to dwell a moment upon our ordinary experiences. Supposing you are hungry. Naturally your thoughts will be on what? On food. On food, isn't it? If you are asked what are you thinking about, say I am thinking about food, I am hungry, I am thinking about food. Are you really thinking about food? Or are you really thinking about there is a discomfort within myself? I am trying to remove the discomfort. Do you see the difference between these two? I am thinking about the food. I am saying I am thinking about the food. But if I am asked, is it your real goal? Is food your real goal? No. The food is an instrument to remove a discomfort that has risen in my body. I want to get rid of my discomfort. Do you get my point? Nothing to do with food. Suppose I can get my discomfort without thinking about food. Then what happens? Discomfort is gone. What is the point I am trying to convey to you? Take any one of our experiences. You are thinking, oh I am thinking about a person, I am thinking about money, I am thinking about a dress, car, house. They are not our real goals. Our real goal is to get rid of some particular discomfort, lack which we feel. That is the simple truth. Now applying this principle to this lower samadhi. What is this lower samadhi? It is Bhagavan Krishna is not our goal. To think of Bhagavan Krishna is not our goal. What then is our goal? Thinking about God. And what is God? You cannot define. Whatever you cannot define about, that is called God. If you can define about something, what do you call it? Object. Because any definition, by definition, any definition is that something which is limited. And God certainly is not limited. We have to understand that idea because we do not have the idea of unlimitedness. We take Krishna, Ramakrishna, Jesus Christ as a door through which we have to enter into that infinity, unlimitedness. Go, in other words, beyond our body and mind. Every day of our lives here we are singing. What are we singing? Namo Namo Prabhu Vakya Mana Atitha. Salutations, O Lord, to you who is beyond both speech and mind. Mind and speech. And yet without you, mind and speech cannot function. Mana Vachana Ek Aadhar. We are totally dependent upon this mind and speech. We are using that instrument. And these instruments are totally dependent upon what? Upon that some pure consciousness of which we have no description. But this is a limited view of that. Sri Ramakrishna gives a beautiful example. So deep, we need to meditate upon it. Once he says, what is the concept of God we have? He is also having a form. Bhagavan Vishnu, for example, you know, I always make fun. Suppose, you know, can a Texas man be Bhagavan Vishnu? Only an Indian man could be Bhagavan Vishnu or Bhagavan Krishna. After all, Bhagavan Krishna is a cowboy, isn't it? A Texas man also can be a cowboy, isn't it? With a shotgun, with a horse and all those things, with that rope and all those things. Why can't you paint Bhagavan Krishna like that? It rebels against our long-standing habit. What is the point we are discussing? God cannot be really thought of. But we need to enter into that thoughtless state. We can enter into the state beyond thought only through the door of refined thought. And Bhagavan Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Ramakrishna, these are those sacred, noble, spiritual doors through which we enter into the same limitless ocean of consciousness. When a person enters into the lower state, what happens? Only the meaning shines. I want to dwell a little bit on this meaning. Really what we are seeking is this meaning. So here is, I am hungry. What is this hunger? It is a thought in the mind. I am uncomfortable. What is it? It is another thought in the mind. I think that if I eat food, then my hunger will go. So I eat food. I have eaten food. This is another thought. I am hungry is one thought. I have to eat food is another thought. I have eaten food is another thought. I am quite satisfied is another thought. What are we dealing with here? We are dealing with nothing but only thoughts. Lest this may appear to be over-fertile imagination, let me give you an example also. Supposing a person, very hungry, no food, he goes to sleep. He is dreaming that he is suffering from terrible hunger and somebody supplies him with very delicious dishes and he has eaten his stomach full and belches. What would be his condition of mind at that time? Does he feel hunger or does he say I am thoroughly satisfied? Even in dream, think of it, the actual physical hunger can be totally appeased in dream by dreaming that I have taken food. The same thing can happen also vice versa. Supposing in dream you feel that you are hungry and you have eaten to your stomach full and no more food goes inside your mind, suddenly you wake up. Can you not wake up fully hungry? That also is possible. What is my point here? My point is all the time from birth to death in our lives, we are only living in the world of thoughts. I am giving a talk, this is a thought in my mind. You are sitting there and listening, this is a thought in my mind. You are sitting there and listening to me, this is a thought in your mind. And if Swami has spoken well or not spoken well, that is also a thought in our mind. It is the thoughts in the world of thought that we are acting and interacting and feeling happy and unhappy etc. What is the connection with our subject? That is Artha Matra Nirbhasa. When a person has attained to that state of lower Samadhi, by whichever means thinking of Krishna or Shiva or Durga or Jesus or Buddha enters into this lower state of Samadhi, then there remains only one idea, shining idea of God, nothing else. At that time, do you think this person remembers, I am thinking about Jesus Christ? That's why I said, I would like to dwell upon this subject. It is so deep. When a person passes beyond the thought of physical Jesus, after all what is Jesus? Tell me, what is Jesus? A person who looks like this, is it not? A person historically connected, 2100 years back and he was of such and such a height, his nose is like that. I will make a little fun of you, just so that this idea enters into your mind. Can you think of Krishna as an 89 year old man? Even in your idea you are reveling against it. No, I don't want to think. Why? Is it a limitation of Krishna or is it a limitation of your thought about Krishna? You see the point? So we are limited. This is, I am meditating on Jesus Christ. But once you go beyond this name and form, what difference do you find between Ramakrishna and Krishna and Jesus and Buddha and anybody? Do you think you will find any idea, any difference? Because the differentiation comes only between the body, dimensions, time, space. These are the limitations. But once you enter into the world of ideas, then the limitations have become much less. And when you go enter into the world of meaning, there is absolutely no limitation at all. I know this is a difficult point, but I am trying my level best to convey my idea to you. So you go to India and you get a good neighbor, a good person. You come to UK and again you are in luck and you will get another person who is very good to you. You make friendship with that person. You go to America and you meet another person who is very good. So what is your qualification? Good person, good person, good person. Now forget about the person and think about the goodness. If you can focus upon the goodness, what is the difference? Is there an Indian goodness, UK goodness, American goodness? Do you think you get this idea? If you are following what I am trying to convey to you, we are living in the world of ideas. Even though we are very much confined to the physical body and mind, in reality all of us are living only in the world of thoughts, ideas. Every object represents a particular thought and every thought is a particular piece of knowledge. And every particular piece of knowledge is only giving us a particular idea. And we act and react according to that particular idea. There are many details which I will not like to go here. But the point that I am really trying to convey to you is, even though we are beings very much limited by our body and mind, in reality all the time we are living only in the world of ideas. But again we travel back and forth. I am an Indian. I like Indian food. What is the difference between an Indian eating Indian food and a Western eating Western food? Both only satisfy what? Is there anything called Indian hunger, Western hunger? There is no difference. Is there something called Indian food and Western food? Realistically we use those words. But there is no Indian rice and Western rice. But the way something is added while cooking, that is what you call Indian cooking, Mexican cooking, is it not? Now what is the point? The point is all of us are living in the world of ideas. But those ideas very much limit us and bring us back again and again to the idea of our body and mind. Whereas a Yogi, what he does, he tries to remain in this world of ideas. And everything in the end has got only one idea. I would like to bring today's talk and then stop there. In the next talk we will elaborate a little further. Now the idea is you are thinking about a pen and that is a thought. And what is a thought? It is called Vritti. In Patanjali Yoga Sutras, what is it called? Vritti. Vritti is a thought. Thought is called a Pratyaya. Chitta Vritti that is why called Pratyaya is another name. Pratyaya means knowledge. Now this knowledge is an idea. And it is this idea which is possessed by. What is this idea? It is consciousness plus the idea of an object. In this case a pen. You close your eyes and think this is a pen. This is a thought. This is a pen is a thought. In that thought there are two parts. What is those two parts? Here is pure consciousness and here is an object. Idea about an object. Now when a person meditates deeply, enters into the lower Samadhi, what happens is all the objective world disappears. All the ideas disappear. Excepting one particular idea. That is called lower Samadhi. Artha Matra Nirbhasa. The point here is supposing Sri Ramakrishna is meditating on Mother Kali. Jesus is meditating on his father is God. Guru Nanak is meditating on his concept of God. Let anybody meditate on their own concept of God. Imagine they all entered into this lower state of Samadhi. What remains by definition? What is this lower Samadhi? Artha Matra Nirbhasa. Only one idea is shining there. That shining is 99% and it is held by one particular idea. The object is gone. You forget about the object. Only the meaning remains. That's why it is said it is an idea. What is that idea? Can you distinguish Jesus' meditation, Samadhi, Ramakrishna's Samadhi, Buddha's Samadhi, lower Samadhi I am talking, not high Samadhi. What is the one idea? That I am here and this is God. For simplifying, I am using the word God. You can use the word consciousness. I am here and here is God. I am here, here is pure consciousness. I am here and here is the God. My point is can you distinguish between these four different people meditating, entering into the lower Samadhi. What is the difference between one person's Artha and the other person's Artha? Can you distinguish? The subtler, subtlest we go, the less becomes the differentiation. The borderlines just melt and merge. There will be only one idea. God, I am meditating on God. I am meditating on God. I am meditating on God. I am meditating on God. This is called lower Samadhi. That is what he is telling here. When in meditation, when a person attains to that state of meditation, where there is only one idea is again and again coming up. In that meditation, all forms are given up. And what remains, that is called lower Samadhi. I know it is a deep idea, but I can only give hints. You will have to think over them. Swami Vivekananda gives. Suppose I were meditating on a book and that I have gradually succeeded in concentrating the mind on it and perceiving only the internal sensations, the meaning unexpressed in any form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi. I will try to give a simple example. Supposing a person is reading a mystery novel. In that mystery novel, say, X is trying to kill Y. X is trying to kill Y. When you first open this book, this is the title of the book. This is the author and this is the plot. This is what I have been reading right now. I have come until this point. The mystery has become very suspensive and X is trying to kill Y. But when we become absorbed, you forget the name of the author, the book, how it looks and the plot and all that idea it remains is X is trying to do harm to... This is called Artha Mata Nirbhaya. I know it is not an elegant example, but my point is, here everything else is forgotten. Time is forgotten. Space is forgotten. Even the distinction between ideas are forgotten. Only one idea remains. The meditator and the object of meditation. Today's talk, I will close with this because it is really, really very difficult to understand and much difficult to convey it. But we will discuss in our future classes about it. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti