Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 092

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali, who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar, and of the body through medicine. We are discussing the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, especially on powers that could be obtained by yogis. One of the benefits of the incarnation of God is that he conclusively proves that these are not empty words, but they are Aksharadaha Satyam, every letter of it is absolute truth. We are going to discuss about these factors. In our last class, the sutra we had discussed was 23rd, is that by focusing, concentrating upon the beginning and end of one's past karma, one comes to know when one is going to die. How does a yogi know through this? First of all, through the focus on the karma, second also by focusing upon the certain portents we call it. All of us are what we call superstitious about so many things. Some of the superstitions are just mental aberrations, but there are some which are absolute truths. But there is no way for us to distinguish what is truth and what is mere, what you call blind faith or blind belief or superstition. We will discuss the importance of this one. Sopakramam nirupakramam cha karma, tat sanyamat aparanta jnanam arishta bhyova. Karma is of two types, soon to be fructified and late to be fructified. By making sanyama on that or by the science called arishta or portents, the yogis come to know the exact time of separation from their bodies. I will give quite a good number of illustrations showing how this is not only possible, it is inevitable in the case of many, many sadhakas. Before that we have to know why should we know about death. There are many reasons. If we are certain of death, suppose I know I am going to die, say after six months, one year, you come to know that you are going to die in six months' time. Do you know what happens? All your values, your perception of the whole world, everything totally changes. By hearing talks like this, by reading books, it won't come because we know we will die but we are not thinking death comes soon. In fact, I know one Swami, we sing the 108 names of the Holy Mother, the compositor, a Maharashtrian sadhu, great scholar, he just went to bed, normal, morning, he was not getting up and they went and found out he had left the body. You can also hear, so many people. So what is the point here? Death will come. When it comes, we do not know but if we are convinced that death is going to come very soon then what is the benefit? Vairagya comes, dispassion comes because if I have to live the whole thing, that is what death means, do you think that our attachment to these things will still stick? In most of our cases, no and do you know Buddhists have a practice? In their shrine rooms, just right below Bhagawan Buddha or even by his side, they keep skulls of human beings. Why? Because when they see Lord Buddha smiling, they forget about death but when they see the skull, then they are reminded. Not only that, there are extreme Buddhists who go and live in crematoriums for several days. So in the olden days, Indians in India and many places also, after death they just drag the corpse and leave it there. You know over time, number of days, you know what happens, slowly decomposition starts, smell starts and it goes. So these Buddhist monks go on watching. What is the idea? Oh mind, do not be proud, your body is also subject to the same conditions. Not only that, there was a beautiful legend, there was a great Greek philosopher, once he was found by the king of that country wandering, searching something in a crematorium. Perhaps the king was very arrogant, very proud because he was the king and then he knew the philosopher, probably he was his mentor and he asked him, what are you doing here? And he replied, oh king, I am trying to find out what is the difference between the bones of a dog and the bones of a king. What is the difference after death? Both are corpses, dead bodies, absolutely there is no difference at all. Now we will discuss these points. In my last class, I discussed a yogi can focus upon the karma. As I also mentioned, if you go to a supermarket, you see the manufacturing date and then the expiry date and then you know that you should not use. Each one of us have come with a particular time, this is what Vedanta tells us, this is what we believe in it. But if we live a sensible life, then what happens is we can live a healthy life, that is the benefit of it. Now about the portents, portents of three kinds, Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika, three types of portents. I will give illustrations also. Adhyatmika means the example of personal portents is not hearing any sound from within the body on closing the ears. It is a very peculiar phenomenon. You just put your fingers inside both your ear canals and you can hear some rushing sound because the blood is flowing, could you hear it? Don't say that you are not able to hear because if you don't hear according to this, death is going to come very soon. This is one of the portents or not seeing any effulgent light on the eyes being pressed by fingers. You know when you press our eyelids, a kind of lights come out, have you noticed it? Yes. If you have not noticed, it is a very common phenomenon. If you want the Divya Darshana without doing any yogic practice, all that you need to do is press your eyelids very hard and immediately you will see it. And if you do not see, this is one of the things mentioned here. And then Adhibhautika, the example of elemental portents is seeing the messengers of the god of death or the wraiths of departed forefathers. And suddenly a person with some ghost like that will come forward and I will give an example also. Holy Mother was living at Mother's house, Udbodhan and what happened, there was a Swami who passed away and after that Holy Mother remarked, you know, few days before I saw a ghost and I was surprised, why is the ghost here? And after few days, this person has passed away. Like this, there are so many instances are there or sometimes some forefathers may come and then it is, it is, that means what are they saying, that you are soon going to come to me. There are so many examples are there. One example comes to my mind, you know, say Ramakrishna's family, all of them had tremendous, these powers are there, powers of foretelling, etc. Ramakrishna's immediate brother, middle brother, Rameshwar, he passed away. He had a very intimate close friend and immediately after passing away, it was midnight and the friend was there, he knew that Rameshwar was sick but he did not know that he passed away. He heard a knock and then he opened the door, he looked here and there, nobody was there. Then Rameshwar was telling, I am Rameshwar, just now I departed, I just came to say goodbye to you and then the voice disappeared. Immediately his friend rushed to say Ramakrishna's house and found that just few minutes before this person had departed and I told you also this story, wonderful story of Kusum. I don't know how many of you remember Kusum, it's a wonderful story. I will recollect, recall it to you because a few of you, probably quite a number of you have not heard about it. What is the point of this story? It proves devotion to Guru is a marvellous thing. It proves that death as we understand is meaningless really speaking. It is not the end of anything, it is only the beginning of something very new. As I mentioned, death is nothing but like waking up after one night's sleep. It also proves if a person has a real and tremendous devotion to the Guru, everything can be attained. Briefly, this is the story. There was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and called Koka Maharaj, Swami Subodhanandaji and he was permitted to give initiation and he gave initiation to some devotees and this initiation was one of the things he did at Ranchi. There is a place called Ranchi, very famous Ranchi Sanatorium and then Ranchi Lunatic Asylum. Every year, Koka Maharaj Swami Subodhanandaji used to visit Ranchi, stay in a particular devotee's house. There was an unmarried girl called Kusum and she was highly devoted to her Guru and some years passed, there were also others who were initiated. So by the side of Kusum's house, there was another devotee family and they were also initiated by Koka Maharaj. This Kusum became ill and then the neighbouring family came and they knew that she was going to die. So one early morning, near about three o'clock also, the neighbouring house heard a lot of crying and then they went up to the roof because they knew probably Kusum passed away. But what they did not expect was, as soon as they went to the roof and looked at this house, they saw that Swami Subodhananda was walking away from the house and he was holding the hand of his disciple Kusum and slowly they disappeared. And this family started wondering, when did Swami Subodhananda come? Even yesterday we went to that house, there was no news. How did he come? If he comes, everybody will come to know. We would have gone, but we did not know. It was a wonder, but they did not express anything and when day time came, they went to that house. They found out exactly at that moment when they went up and they saw this Kusum had passed away. That is why they heard the cries. So what happened? They were wondering. They did not tell anybody what they saw and after some time, maybe that year or the next year or after few months, Swami Subodhananda visited Ranchi and again he was staying there and these devotees went, met him and asked him, Maharaj, we saw like this on that day, what happened? And he was as surprised as they were surprised, I don't know anything about it. If I come to know, I will let you know and then some time passed, some years passed. What happened? Swami Subodhananda, I do not remember exactly where he was, perhaps at Belur Math or Varanasi. He fell sick and he was in need of service and he was thinking because his disciple Kusum used to serve him so devotedly like serving Sri Ramakrishna or even more than serving Sri Ramakrishna, I would say. It will become clear as I proceed with the story. He was sick. He was thinking, oh, had Kusum been here, how she would have served me? As soon as that thought came, suddenly Kusum appeared. She sat on his bed and started, you know, slowly passing her hand over his body and then Subodhananda asked, Kusum, I heard like this, what happened on the day you passed away? Then she narrated. He said, I was thinking only about you just before death and suddenly you came and said, Kusum, it is time for you to come with me. Come with me and I caught hold of your hand and both of us were proceeding. This is what had happened and after going a short time, suddenly you changed your form and it was Sri Ramakrishna. He appeared and said, Kusum, I was not sure if I had appeared to you, you would have come with me. That is why I have appeared in the form of Koka. So this is me, poor Koka does not know anything, in bracket, come with me. Of course, she was very happy. She went with Sri Ramakrishna and when she appeared to Subodhanandaji on his sick bed, this was what she narrated. Then Swami Subodhanandaji asked, how did you happen to come? How are you? He said, oh, I am so happy, Thakur is there, Ma is there, Swamiji is there, all the disciples were there, all the devotees were there, everybody there. I am in bliss, immersed like a pot, immersed in water, I am in bliss, immersed in bliss. Just a few minutes back, Sri Ramakrishna turned to me and said, Kusum, Koka is thinking about you, you go and serve him a short time and so that is why I have come. This was the incident that had happened. What are the points here? How much was her Guru Bhakti, faith, devotion, Shraddha, so intense was, she was only thinking and that is called real Guru Bhakti and that is why Sri Ramakrishna came in the form of Kokamaras. Why? What do we say, Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu. So who is the real Guru? Kokamaras? No. God. God in the form of Kokamaras, for us, from whomsoever we have taken initiation, it doesn't really matter because the real Guru is God in the form of Sri Ramakrishna or Rama or Christ or whatever it is, in the form of all these people, it is only God. If we have that Guru Bhakti, it doesn't matter who is our Guru because all are like pipes, nothing else. This is a most wonderful incident that had happened. So for many devotees and many Swamis, spiritual people, they all have these kinds of visions. Then there is Adhidaivika portents, we are talking about portents, let's not forget. The divine portents are seeing the heavens or the Siddhas, ethereal, suddenly are seeing everything contrary to what has been seen before. Through such portents, one comes to know that death is at hand. These are what is mentioned in our scriptures and Patanjali has collated them and brought them here. It is not only Patanjali Yoga Sutra, it is there in Puranas, etc. I will narrate now some of the examples. Sri Ramakrishna is passing away. Long before he is passing away, he predicted, he told when you see a large number of people rushing here, then you know that it is time for this body to disappear and that when Holy Mother and others came to know, they were worried because Sri Ramakrishna's words would never go in vain and that's what had happened. Then one day Sri Ramakrishna was narrating, devotees can recollect, to Holy Mother, I had a vision, I saw a huge, infinite expansion of water and I am going to a far away country and slowly my body is merging into that water and Holy Mother, she was terribly worried. She was almost certain that he was going to give up the body and one day Holy Mother was cooking food and suddenly the pot was broken with rice and she didn't like it. You know why? Because these are some of the things we say, like we are having superstitions, when we are about to step outside, somebody sneezes or even a lizard may sneeze and then we step back and say Durga, Durga for 10 minutes and then it restarts again. There is a truth in all of those things, but not everything, that's absolutely fine. Mahabharata story, you know Mahabharata, Yudhishthira was the emperor and Sri Krishna had gone away and for some time they didn't receive any news, then Yudhishthira suddenly called Arjuna and then said Arjuna, I see so many portents, you know the jackals and others, daytime they are crying and the birds are cawing in a very peculiar way, I don't see any good, I haven't received any news of Krishna, will you go and see? And Arjuna immediately started for Dwaraka in his chariot. I think some of you at least recollect this story. As Arjuna was going, these portents became more and more frequent and intense and when he approached, as though everybody was immersed in an ocean of misery and then when he went, then he saw that Krishna had left his body, Balarama had left his body, through these portents also one comes to know all this, that there is some disaster has taken place and also some people have got, you know, whenever a meteor passes, especially Indians, some huge disaster will take place. I don't know how far it is true, but these beliefs are there in many cultures. Ramayana, Sita was visited by Ravanasura and she was given, I am giving you only one month's time, if you do not become mine, I am going to cut you, kill you, cut you and eat you or give you to my Rakshasas and she was grief stricken naturally and next morning, one of the Rakshasi, female demoness, she saw that other demonesses were scolding Sita, threatening her. Then this lady got up and said, do not do that, because yesterday night I had a dream. I saw Ravanasura naked, shiven headed, putting on weird cloths, riding towards the south on a donkey with his body backwards. This is the definite portrait, you know, in Indian culture, going southward means south is presided over by Yamadharma Raja, death. So these are the, some of these things, Ramayana also tells these things and there are many other incidences are also there. Portraints, holy mother, you know, she could not leave the body. She had that capacity, when she wants, she could leave the body and do you know what were the portraits of Sharada and Dasa, when she was sick, then one day what happened, you know, she loved Radhu so much and Radhu's son was there and one day, this boy was trying to crawl into the bed of holy mother as was his want and holy mother pushed him away and said enough, I have withdrawn my mind, get the hell out of here, go back to, she called Radhu and said take your child and go to Jayarambatti and this was reported to Swami Sharadananda. Instantaneously he understood, the moment she withdraws her mind from Radhu and her children, what happens, she is going to give up the body because what was keeping her down to the earth, tied to the earth was her own creation of attachment to Radhu and her son and Sharadanandji very sadly said try to see if mother's mind can be again brought back to the sun and any number of times they tried, nothing happened and Sharadanandji knew definitely holy mother is going to pass away and that's what had happened. Now Swami Brahmananda is passing away. We know that Sri Ramakrishna had foretold about certain of his disciples, Swami Vekananda, the moment he comes to know, he will pass away. About Swami Brahmananda, the moment he comes to know who he was, he will pass away and according to Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Brahmananda was the companion of Bhagavan Krishna. So what happened, there were certain portents. He had this cholera, diabetics turned into cholera and doctors have almost given up hope but still everybody was serving him, hoping against hope that he will survive, he will overcome this problem. One morning he got up and then he said, yesterday night I saw Thakur and he was looking at me, staring at me, not one single word has come out of his mouth. I can't understand why this happened because when Sri Ramakrishna appears, he would generally tell something but this time only looking at him sadly and not saying anything. So I am worried, my mind is withdrawn. Of course, later on what happened, he was narrating his vision, I am the friend of Krishna, you tie anklets to my ankles, I want to dance with Krishna, Krishna is calling me, Krishna, Ramakrishna, I am coming, very vividly and the moment his brother disciples heard this, they knew that he was not going to stay any longer. About this passing away, why is it important, Swami Vivekananda also, same thing happened. The moment he comes to know that he will pass away. He had not even attained the age of 40, 39 plus some months and then he decided to give up. He was feeling decidedly better on the day he passed away and you know of all the things, he took a class for 3 hours on what subject? Sanskrit grammar and he went out for a walk with Swami Premananda and he was telling his future vision of Belurmat. This place will be the centre of spiritual power for another 1000 years, the ideas will flow from here. Who could believe just after 1 or 2 hours, he is going to pass away. It is very difficult to believe. But just before what happened, Sister Nivedita also heard this, what Sri Ramakrishna said about Swamiji, the moment he comes to know who he is, he will pass away and she came on an Ekadashi day and they were fed there and Swamiji himself was pouring water over their hands after food was over. Then Sister Nivedita simply asked Swamiji, do you know who you are? He said, yes, I know and she became silent because she knew if he knows then that is the end of it and suddenly within few days, the news came next morning, Swami Vivekananda had passed away. It is called Icchyam Rithyu. Icchyam Rithyu means death cannot take them away but they have the power when to give up the body and it is a mystery why he had given up the body. Before this passing away, it seems he made, I can do much more good if I kick off the body. There are so many mysteries we do not understand. One of the things that he said was, you see if there is a huge banyan tree, other trees cannot grow and meaning so long as I am there, body is there, other brother disciples, their greatness will never come out. That is why I feel that I can do much better work in my subtle body and he himself declared that long before that I shall not rest until I let everybody know that they are divine. These are some of the examples. Now coming back, I also mentioned meditation upon death is one of the surest means of progress in spiritual life, of attaining faith and also attaining dispassion in life. Also it gives us time to prepare, after all if we have lived well, death is a most pleasant experience. Somebody had remarked, life is a preparation for a good death and is absolutely true. Sound a little bit sceptical but the fact is if we believe in the afterlife then death is only a stepping stone for a higher life. Then also it is said in our scripture, suppose there is a yogi and he is progressing and he has almost reached the end but he is unable to enter into the door. Why? There is a remnant of attachment. At that time he said, all the lives he had previously, they come up like a cinema roll. How many millions of times he was born, he died, then what happens? That last remnant of attachment to this physical body and everything that belongs to the physical body just snaps away and then he will never come back again. This has got wonderful significance. The important point why we have to think about death is, first of all it is a fact of life, second it is very certain, third that by simply dying we are not going to become better people. What we are now, next birth we will be the same person. If we can meditate upon death then many good virtues can be developed and that is a great benefit of meditation upon death. In fact, Swami Vivekananda defines what is sannyasa, meditation upon death. We move on to aphorism 24, Maitriyaadishubalani, by making sanyama on friendship etc., various strengths come. Friendliness, compassion and goodwill are the three kinds of sentiments that are recommended. Of these, strength of friendliness is acquired through entertaining a feeling of friendliness towards a happy person. By cultivating a sentiment of compassion towards unhappy creatures, strength of compassion is developed. By a feeling of pleasure towards the virtuous, strength of goodwill is developed. This is a most marvelous aphorism I tell you because we all wish to develop in virtues or a particular yogic attitude. Yogic means spiritual attitude towards life. Of these attitudes, in our previous chapters we discussed, what are those, Maitri, Karuna, Mudita, Upeksha. What should be the dominant attitudes of a spiritual aspirant towards life? Normally, every worldly person will have attachments towards others. But here what is, if you want to be a good spiritual aspirant, you should have four dominant attitudes towards other people and events also. Other people. What are that? Maitri, Karuna, Mudita, Upeksha. Maitri means friendliness, Karuna means compassion, Mudita means happiness and Upeksha means indifference. So, what are these attitudes for? If we find somebody who is very virtuous, very spiritual, we should make friendship with them. When we see other people very happy, we should feel more happy than them. When we find people suffering, then we must have compassion, otherwise a human being is no human being at all. And when we see wicked people, what should be our attitude towards evil people, towards wicked people? What is the attitude normally we have? Hatred. If we wish that somebody would kill them, how many of you not thought, let Saddam Hussein be killed and let Hitler be killed, etc. Did we not think? Even though we are only reading about their lives, some of their lives like Hitler, etc. So, we wished if I was there with a gun, I would have sacrificed my life by just shooting him. Is that a correct attitude for a spiritual aspirant? No. What should be the attitude? Upeksha. Upeksha means what? Upeksha means what? I don't care. No. Upeksha means the attitude which says all this is happening by whose will and by whose karma. Two points. By whose will? God's will. And because of whose karma? People's karma. It is a very important question. I brought up again and again in my private talks also. I said for example, this Brussels, so many people have died, have been killed. What should be a spiritual person's reaction towards that event? If you believe in God, then your attitude should be it is his will. And if you believe in the law of karma, then all these people died because of what? Their law of karma. I am not going to go into details here. In this 24th, what is telling is we have to develop these four attitudes, friendliness, happiness, compassion and indifference depending upon towards whom we have to have that kind of attitude. How to develop? Do we have that now? Do we have all these qualities? Maybe a little bit but very often no and more often we have the opposite qualities. What is jealousy? If somebody is happy, are we happy? If somebody is prospering, then are we happy? If somebody is progressing even in spiritual life, are we happy? We want to progress. We know definitely that they are progressing in spiritual life because of their spiritual practice. What we want is without doing any spiritual practice, we want to be more spiritual than them. What right they have got to progress in spiritual life? This is called spiritual jealousy. Worldly jealousy, yes we can understand. This is called spiritual jealousy but jealousy is jealousy. So how to develop? How to develop? Then do Sanyama. Sanyama means deep focused thinking upon Maitri, Karuna, Mudita and Upeksha. Then what happens? These feelings get intensified. First thing is there are spiritual people and when they are sincerely doing spiritual practice and if we come across them, what is the feeling we should have? Maitri. That's why Ramakrishna used to run whenever he heard somebody singing God's name, somebody is doing worship. Do you remember in gospel, he went to Shambhu Malik's house I think because Divine Mother was being worshipped and then he asked, what is this? You have not sent any invitation to me, Mother is being worshipped, you did not give me the news and that man laughed and said, what is that Bhattacharya, can the news of Mother be kept away from, you see just I installed the Mother and you came running here. Why did Shri Ramakrishna go? Of course you know he was such a personality, he did not need inspiration from that kind of worship but he wanted to inspire, strengthen the devotion of that devotee. There is a verse in Narada Bhakti Sutras, Swami Bhutesanandji Maharaj's marvellous exposition and also Swami Thyagesanandji's commentary on this, Teerthi Kurvanti Teerthani, Teerthani means holy places, sacred places, places of pilgrimage. How do they become places of pilgrimage? A small place like Dakshineshwar, how did it become so holy today? Because Teerthi means a holy man, when he lives there and by his power of spiritual practice he makes the whole place holy, it's a beautiful verse in Sutra, aphorism, I am not going into it now, the long and short of it is, if we can find somebody who is progressing, you focus upon that person, then what happens, that particular feeling becomes intensified and that will help us in its turn, whenever we see any spiritual persons, then we feel friendly towards them, when we see happy people, we have to do Sanyama on what? Their happiness, how gracious God is, even if I am suffering, I have to focus and say may God bless you, may God make you more happy. Without these virtues, I am asking you a question, without these virtues, do you think we are going to progress in spiritual life? It is not possible, we have to try, then we see so much of distress, just now I mentioned the event of Brussels, what was the idea I said, if you believe in God, it happened because of his will and if you believe in the law of karma, it happened because of their own karma, full stop, no more feeling, is that what we want? Since they are suffering, what should be our attitude, even though it happened because of their own karma or God's will, our attitude should be intense compassion and prayer for them and do what is in our capacity to do, otherwise just feeling and I become satisfied and say I am a very compassionate person because I feel compassion but don't do anything about it. I told you one funny cartoon, there was a very posh hotel and a very rich lady with mink coat and full of jewels, everything just came out and a tramp approached and said my lady I haven't eaten for four days, will you give me something, immediately tears sprang into her eyes, she said I can't bear this sight and then ran to her car, jumped into it and ran away, what a compassion, so we must develop that compassion, even though knowing that these things would happen, would have happened or happening, would happen in future too, that's what we want to know, don't think this is the end of that affair, we may be having worse news in days to come, so we must develop that so-called compassion but according to Sriram Krishna not even compassion, what is the feeling, Shiva Jnanae, Shiva Shiva, that should be a true spiritual person's attitude, then there will be people who are troubling us, there will be people who trouble other people also and there is nothing we can do about it, even if we know there is nothing we can do about it, what should be our attitude towards those events, towards those people, towards those circumstances, what should be our attitude? Upeksha, upeksha means what? It is God's will, maybe some good will come out of it, I do not know, let me bear it, this is what is called Sahanam Sarva Dukhanam Aprati Kaara Porvakam Chinta Vila Parahitam Titiksha Sa Nigatyate, Shankaracharya is defining what is called Titiksha, any type of unhappy events must be borne with an equanimous mind and not thinking when I get opportunity I will give, I will take revenge, no, let Karmapala itself will take revenge, there was a sadhu, it is a story but it is true in every sadhu's life, there was a sadhu and there was a man who was giving him the utmost trouble and you can see in a way of speaking how Hriday gave trouble to Sri Ramakrishna, how his own disciples gave trouble to Swami Vekananda like Swami Kripananda and here study like that so many people gave trouble in both in India and here, so there was a sadhu and there was a person who was giving so much trouble and one day that person had become so angry, abused him and went away, now the sadhu had some disciples who if the sadhu gave permission they would have taken revenge upon that fellow, they had that power, so they asked for permission, give us permission, we will see this fellow, he said no, the very fact that he is inimical to me is the greatest bad karma he could have been uplifted, he could have progressed in spiritual life, the very fact that he is ill-disposed towards me is the greatest Karmapala anybody could have enjoyed it, what a marvellous attitude. So Maitri, Karuna, Mudita, Upeksha etc, Maitriya, Adishu, Balani, what happens when you focus upon these four qualities then these qualities become very much strengthened and the more they are strengthened the less we suffer even in a practical way in this world and the more we progress towards spiritual life, that is the benefit of it, then 25th aphorism says by making Sanyama and I hope you understand what is Sanyama, I explained it, absolute focus, concentration, absorption, a particular feeling, by making Sanyama and the strength of the elephant etc, that strength comes to the yogi, when a yogi has attained to this Sanyama and wants strength, he makes a Sanyama and the strength of the elephant and gets it, infinite energy is at the disposal of everyone if he only knows how to get it, the yogi has discovered the science of getting it, for example a person wants tremendous courage he should focus upon the heart of a lion, suppose a person is depressed he should focus upon the heart of a very happy person, suppose a person is very lethargic and he should focus upon Hanuman because Hanuman is a symbol of what? Tremendous energy, is it a fact? It is a wonderful fact, I will just narrate you one example of it, it was summer at Belur Math, very hot, terribly hot and Swami Brahmanand was there you know on the Swamiji's building upstairs facing the Ganges and an attendant was there trying to fan him and it was intolerable, Swami Brahmanand suddenly said you keep your fan down, let us meditate on Himalayas and both of them sat and of course the Brahmachari could not make a Sanyama because he has not developed but within few seconds Swami Brahmananda became absolutely still like the mountain and after a few minutes he opened his eyes and said touch my body and when this Brahmachari touched Maharaj's body do you know how he felt, he was touching a block of ice, so these are all real things and we can do that you know simple normal experiences, whenever you read Swami Vivekananda you get very inspired, don't you, even temporarily, what does that mean, that means little bit you made Sanyama on Swami Vivekananda and his power also comes to him. In this respect I remember one almost a miraculous story that happened, there was one family of sisters, they are called Mead sisters in America, in California and Swami Vivekananda happened to stay there and there was one lady who was prone to depression, severe depression and Swami Vivekananda, but she was highly devoted to Swami Vivekananda, all the three sisters loved, revered, served Swami Vivekananda, few days he stayed with them and then he was taking leave, while taking leave Swami Vivekananda, he used to smoke you know that small pipe and then he took it out and then there was a fireplace, he said I leave this with you, madam whenever you feel depressed, you just take that and like Aladdin's rubbing the lamp, you rub it and wherever I am, I will come and lift you up. So the incident was being recalled later on, several years passed, once this lady was in terrible depressive, depressed state and she was almost thinking of committing suicide and she was sitting fortunately, where that fireplace was there, she probably had forgotten that pipe and while idly looking at that place, suddenly her eyes fell on that pipe and she recalled Swamiji's words, immediately she rushed forward, took the pipe and Swamiji, you promised me, you will come and lift me up, as she was holding that pipe, suddenly she felt the presence of Swami Vivekananda, tremendous strength entered into her and she became rejuvenated and all her depression has left, you know we are also subject to depression every now and then, some people more, some people less but more or less. So whenever such a situation happens, we can meditate upon either say Ramakrishna or Swami Vivekananda or Holy Mother or whatever and our desires will be fulfilled, we will be filled with strength, filled with devotion, filled with, that is why you meditate upon some of the, this is my special recommendation, you know, suggestion for devotees of Shri Ramakrishna especially, you meditate upon Nag Mahasaya and see what happens, have you ever done that? Do it, because what is the use of meditating upon Shri Ramakrishna, he is too high and ideal for us. Meditate upon the events that happened on Nag Mahasaya, humility will come, strength will come, devotion will come, Shraddha will come, that grit will come, willpower will come, because he was an embodiment of all these things, even though he was looking like that. The aphorism 26, Pravrityalokanyasa Sokshma Yavahita Viprakrishna Jnanam, making Sanyama on that effulgent light comes the knowledge of the fine, the obstructed and the remote. First I will read the translation, then I will go into details. When a yogi makes Sanyama on that effulgent light which is in the heart of everybody, he sees things which are very remote, things for instance that are happening in a distant place and which are obstructed by mountain barriers and also things which are very fine. By applying the effulgent light of the higher sense perception and it is called Vishokava Jyotishmati, Jyotishmati is the Sanskrit word. So this yogi will have knowledge of subtle objects or things obstructed from you or placed at a great distance, all these things can be acquired. The light of the higher sense perception of the mind has been mentioned before, with its help through Sattvika revelation, the yogi can see things which are very subtle or obstructed from you or situated far away. This is one of the most wonderful aphorisms that we have to dwell upon. I am going to continue it in our next class also, but what it means is every place, every object, everything in this world has got three aspects, gross, subtle and causal. This is true of every object, but there are certain places, there are certain people which are glowing with tremendous spiritual splendour and when we go to those places or meet those kind of people, our gross perceptions do not penetrate the inner light. So what is the first law, we have to understand, each, everything I said has got a higher nature. I have got a higher nature, I have got a subtle nature, I have got also a causal nature, I have also got beyond these three, a Turiya nature. I means what? Every one of us, everything has got. What is lacking? A vision to dwell, to see, to experience those things, but it is said a yogi acquires a special power which is within himself and that is called Jyotishmati, Vishoka Va Jyotishmati. This aphorism comes in the first chapter, 36 aphorism, chapter 1, 36 aphorism, there it is mentioned a yogi can meditate upon a spiritual light which is called Vishoka means absolute bliss, Jyotishmati a spiritual light. This is what is being mentioned here, when a person acquires that, meditates, a yogi makes Sanyama on that Jyotishmati light, so many things which are obstructed, for example I can't see what is beyond the wall, this is only gross, there may be things which are very subtle and it is impossible for us to see it, it may be things which are very far, it is impossible for us to see those things, but a yogi can experience everything there. I will start explanation of this with one example, Swami Pramanand ji was sitting in an elevated ecstatic mood and after that he came down from that state and then one disciple was Maharaj, do you know what we are all thinking, yes I know not only what you are thinking because that person was standing right in front of him, I know what so and so is thinking in America, there is no obstruction and though he is sitting next to me, I have that power to see and so many times we know that he had exercised that power, this is only an introduction to that. Let me first start with one concrete example, you know when Sri Ramakrishna was alive, M had visited Kamarpukur, he came back, after few days he came back and Sri Ramakrishna was a teaser and he was asking how did you find Kamarpukur, he said marvellous, what is so marvellous about it, what was so marvellous, as soon as M approached Kamarpukur, everything, the dust of that village, the animals, the people, the trees appeared in a beautiful spiritual light, everything is glowing with the spiritual light and you can understand how much of happiness he was getting and he enjoyed thoroughly, how did he enjoy? If you go to Kamarpukur, you may not see, most likely not see, you will see the dust, the heat, the cow dung smell and all those, especially if you go to Jairambati, cow dung smell, all those things you will see but he had experience of these things, he came back and he narrated, Sri Ramakrishna was enjoying his description and then M didn't stop there, he said I would like to go back there once more, Sri Ramakrishna said no, later on he went but not at, while Sri Ramakrishna was alive, now what was the point? Many points are there, the first point is how did he get that vision, did he get by his own power, Sri Ramakrishna had specially blessed him, you will see the same Kamarpukur in an enhanced light, like Arjuna was seeing Krishna, how? that's why he says you are my friend, hey Krishna, hey Yadava, hey Sakha, they were great friends and they were putting hands on each other's shoulders but Arjuna did not understand this is the Lord God himself, so when he was granted that universal vision, he started shaking and said oh Lord, I never realised you are this, what is the point now, how did Arjuna see, by whose grace, Krishna's grace, that's why he said you cannot see me with these eyes, I will grant you special spiritual insight, it is the same Krishna, one person sees in the gross form, another person sees as Isvadevata, other person sees as the universal Lord, Gopis saw him, Nakhalu Gopika Nandano Bhavan, Akhila Dehinam Antaratmadrik, it is a wonderful incident, I will discuss it in my next class, with so many beautiful examples that especially places associated with a great spiritual personage, not to speak of the incarnations of God, they are not all ordinary places, they are places highly sanctified by their very birth, by their very spiritual effort, by everything associated with their lives, for us to have that vision, we have to practice that full concentration, on where, Vishvakava Jyotishmati, each one of us have, if we elevate our mind to that state of Jyotishmati, then with that heightened insight, whatever we look at, appears to be absolutely spiritual, this is the most wonderful point, we will discuss in our next class. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.