Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 101

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Yogena Chittasya Padhena Vacham Malam Sharirasya Javaidhyakena Upakarottam Pravaram Muninam Patanjalim Pranjalirana Tosme Very interesting phase we are entering. In our last class we discussed two very important aphorisms. One, Sthani Upanimantrane Sangasmaya Karanam Punaha Anishta Prasangat The yogi should not feel allured or flattered by the overtures of celestial beings or fallen yogis etc. for fear of again entering into this evil. In Vedantic terminology evil means only one thing that is total fall into this what we call prakriti or samsara, transmigration. Now how many types of people are there who really tempt us or make us fall into this? How many types? Three types of beings are there and why also we will discuss. The first type are malvalent beings, there are beings whose nature it is to make us fall. We have to be extremely careful about them. I discussed when we do puja what do we do? We do bhuta apasarana, there are malvalent beings are there. Second, there are yogis who fail to reach their goal and become jealous. Jealousy is such a strong emotion even in advance of spiritual people because a yogi hasn't reached that state and he doesn't want to make to see another person reach that goal even in spiritual life. What a horrible thing it is. In a way of speaking the example is Mairavi Brahmani, Mairavi Brahmani was extremely fond of Sri Ramakrishna, she wanted to see him attain God and she herself was an advanced spiritual aspirant and yet why did she become so jealous that Sri Ramakrishna would lose all devotion to God even an ordinary person like us we understand progress in spiritual life is what? Knowledge and knowledge must destroy all ignorance. The more knowledge we have the more we love a thing, this is a wonderful thing. When an ordinary human being comes into contact with another human being for some reason both are attracted to each other or sometimes only one is attracted to the other, the other is detracted from the one. Why is this person attracted? Because he has a peculiar concept in his mind, this is the most attractive object in this world, whatever it is that is his knowledge. So that knowledge makes him love that particular object. My point is it is only knowledge which makes us either love or hate. Now when a person advances in spiritual knowledge what does, what happens, what type of knowledge? First the knowledge comes every human being is a representation of God, manifestation of God, not only human beings, everything in this world including non-living things. For Hindus deification is one of the most wonderful things that happen, deify everything, the earth, the water, the air, the fire and the space, everything should be deified. That is why in India what do we see, all rivers are deified, the earth is considered as what bhuv devata, fire is considered as a devata, as a deity, air of course vah devata, space akasha devata, we all worship all these deities and the whole universe is nothing but a manifestation of these five elements. The point is the more we advance in spiritual life that means more knowledge we get, the more real knowledge we get then what happens, our idea that the others are someone totally different from us, it slowly diminishes. That means we always get what is called the unity, unitative knowledge of everything. That is why a perfectly knowledgeable yogi for him the whole universe is nothing but manifestation of only God and nothing else, this is the truth. If Pareravi brahmani had attained to such a high state she should have been more happy because I have not realized, I have not reached that state but at least my disciple would reach that state, she should have encouraged it because she was such a highly developed soul she should have recognized two things, what are those two things, first thing is I myself have not reached that highest goal, second my disciple is far better equipped, more qualified than me so he will be able to reach that highest goal. She should have had that kind of discriminative knowledge but instead of saying you will lose all devotion, a man who gets more knowledge will he lose devotion or will he gain more devotion, he will gain more devotion, she should have encouraged him, in fact what happened also is very very interesting, Sri Ramakrishna of course never listened to her, he only listens to, that means he himself means he is nothing but the Divine Mother. So since he only obeys what the Divine Mother tells, what his own pure mind tells and the pure mind will only tell Vivekajam Jnanam, only that was absolutely true and right. So he went to Totapuri, became a disciple, achieved the highest Samadhi and then he reached the goal. Now what happened you know, Totapuri his guru he had not become perfect and he didn't have any devotion to the Divine Mother, what did Sri Ramakrishna do, through a painful method or what did the Divine Mother do, what did she do, she made him suffer, as a result he felt disgusted with the body, wanted to commit suicide, couldn't commit suicide, then the highest knowledge had come. Now the moment that highest knowledge had come, what is that knowledge, everything is God, Divine Mother, the moment came, did he acquire devotion, his non-devotion has just disappeared in a trice and for the first time in his life he went and then prostrated in front of the Divine Mother and ever since that time, though he was not there to tell us, we can tell, ever since that time he remained the greatest devotee of the Divine Mother, that's what happened, but Bhairavi Brahmani had taken a long time. Now coming back to our subject, what is the illustration we discussed so far, there are people because of their inadequate knowledge, they feel jealous, jealousy is always the result of what, inadequate knowledge, proper knowledge, right knowledge always makes a person get rid of jealousy. Jealousy also comes because of incomplete knowledge, what is that incomplete knowledge, wrong knowledge, what is the wrong knowledge, this person is different from me, what is spiritual knowledge, I and everybody else, everything is nothing but, it is absolutely same, sarvam kalvidam brahma, so there are people and they also can prevent through various means, this is the second type of being, malevolent beings first, yogis who have not reached that state they might feel jealous, not every yogi feels jealous, some could feel that and third there are gods who feel threatened or feel that they lose their ownership, it is said in the Upanishads, every human being is like an animal to gods, animals to gods, like if we possess some animals and if we happen to lose one animal, we feel very sad, okay, what is the point here, there are gods, for gods we are like animals, what do the animals do, they give us milk, they give us fodder, they serve our purpose, they labour, they work very hard all for our happiness, so how do we become animals to gods, by worshipping them, by giving them offerings, by praising them, by going on pilgrimage and piteously surrendering ourselves to them and they like it, you go to some small god and say oh you are the Parabrahma, you are this, you are that and the god feels I think you are right, I am somebody because so many people are praising me, gods are also you must remember not jnanis, not perfected beings, they are also as ignorant as anybody else, maybe they are in a higher position but they are no better than or sometimes worse than even ordinary human beings, what is the point, they can create. Okay, let us take some examples of this. Buddha, just before his enlightenment, who tempted him? Mara, in all sorts of ways, but Buddha was firmly established in knowledge and that is why he never deviated from his one goal, just did not react at all, either positively or negatively, just went on witnessing and Mara could not do anything, he just disappeared, Mara means maya, Mara means maya. Okay, second example, we can take the example of Ramakrishna, before I come to that example, we have to understand in the progress in spiritual life, four obstacles can be there, we discussed it in our past classes, what are they? Laya, vikshepa, kashaya and ananda. Laya, vikshepa, kashaya and ananda. Laya means what? You sit for meditation and you go to sleep, that is called laya and if you don't get up, it is called pralaya. Then somehow if you are able to keep awake, the second thing that comes is lot of distraction, the mind tries to run here, there, everywhere, this is our condition, so that is called vikshepa, vikshepa means scatteredness of the mind. Somehow if we can overcome that, that idea that I have to progress in spiritual life, I have to sit and meditate and do so many things, sacrifice so many things, becomes like bitterest medicine, that is called in Ayurveda kashaya and somehow if we can overcome that state of kashaya, then the greatest obstacle in spiritual life comes. Do you know what is that greatest obstacle? It is called ananda. With this background, let us come to Sri Ramakrishna. What was the last obstacle before Sri Ramakrishna could really enter into samadhi state? The divine mother, you know it is called kalikakara vritti, brahmakara vritti, that is the last thought which filled his whole mind and gave him the greatest joy and for us we never consider ananda as an obstacle, but to reach the highest state, one has to give up the lower state. Why is this kalikakara vritti or brahmakara vritti called an obstacle? Why is it called? Because we always must keep the discrimination. Any happiness we derive from anything other than the self is called vishaya. Vishaya means an object. Vritti, a vritti is a mental modification. A mental modification is an object. Since it is an object, it is an obstruction. We have to understand that we do not want to depend upon anything in this world. We are already dependent. We have to feel that I don't want happiness, I want to be happiness. To cognize that I am of the nature of happiness, sat, chit, ananda. I am ananda swaroopo asmi. I am the embodiment of bliss. That is the goal. Call it God realization, samadhi, whatever name you want to give. Now you can see the great unimaginable joy, bliss, Sri Ramakrishna was experiencing was itself a great obstacle in his spiritual life. What is the way? This great ananda is coming from where? From vritti, mental modification, the image of the Divine Mother. What is the remedy? Get rid, destroy that last obstacle. As soon as it was destroyed, there was no question of getting ananda, Sri Ramakrishna realized, I am ananda swaroopa. Another example, when Swami Vivekananda was in USA, lots of wealthy, beautiful young women, so many young women just fell head over heels in love with the magnetic personality of Swami Vivekananda. He had, just imagine, he was the highest type of yogi. That is why he used to look at them and do you know what he used to say? He used to say, if you think of me like that, you will become green frogs. Naturally, no woman ever wants to become a green frog. He was a great mahayogi. What do you think? He can create thousands of millions of beautiful women from his own power. So these are the three examples. One more example, the story of Jada Bharata. You know, how a great yogi, in the last stages of his life, he saw a small baby deer. So Jada Bharata fallen in love and he was so intensely thinking. Why was he so intensely thinking? Because he trained his mind to think intensively. A person who trains his mind to think intensively, even if he thinks of very trivial thing, insignificant thing, he will only think of intensively. So he became the deer. Next life, he became the deer and then he understood, I have fallen and then he became alert and next life, he never became attached to anything. The only way of not getting attached to anybody, there is only one stratagem. Behave like an idiot and he behaved like an idiot. Everybody will run away from the idiot. That is how he had to sacrifice the attractions. So having given these three types of beings, malevolent beings, then fallen or jealous yogis and gods who do not want to lose us so that we will not serve them. They become frightened of not our being served, our service to them. But there is one fact which we always must keep in mind. It is easy to blame anybody and everybody. Only law that is, if I do not have a weakness, nobody can tempt me really. All cases, all these examples that we see any fallen person, there is a weakness, a desire hidden etc. I have also discussed very extensively in my last class about Vishwamitra. Why did he fall for a woman? Because he had that terrible desire but some other desire temporarily overpowered him. So that is why until we reach the goal, we have to be extremely cautious and I also mentioned what is the way. The only way is to surrender yourself to the Divine Mother and say, oh Mother, I am weak, I cannot stand all these things, you please protect me. This is the only way we can do. Then we have come a little bit difficult aphorism, it is called, how can we obtain that kind of discriminative knowledge. No obstacle in this world can ever obstruct our progress in spiritual life. By making Sahyama on a particle of time and then its multiples comes discrimination. How are we to avoid all these things, these Devas, these heavens, these powers, these temptations? There is only one way, by discrimination, by knowing good from evil. What was the name of Swami Vivekananda? What is the meaning of Vivekananda? Ananda, derived from discriminative knowledge. Do you think he can be tempted by anybody? Sri Ramakrishna could not tempt him. You know that example? During his last days, Sri Ramakrishna had offered him eight supernatural powers. Swami Vivekananda said, do they help me in realising God? Sri Ramakrishna said, no, they can help you in doing some service, but not in realising God. Swami Vivekananda said, first let me realise God, then I will think whether they are worth accepting or not. Of course, he got later on from Swami Sri Ramakrishna, there is no doubt about it. Now the whole point is, if we can develop the discriminative knowledge, what is it? My goal is to know Atman. My goal is to realise God and until I realise that, all these things are obstacles, however wonderful they may be. That is called discriminative knowledge and if a Yogi has that discriminative knowledge, none of these obstacles will ever come. Even powers also are useless as far as he is concerned. Now in this aphorism, what is being said? How to get this kind of ultimate discrimination? It is called Vivekajam Brahma. How do we obtain? I also made a little bit detailed talk in my last class. There are three things, time, space and causation. Now for us, time is linear, space is also linear and causation is also linear or instead of using the word causation, we will use an object. Three, time, space and object. This is called worldly life. This is called nature. This is called Prakruti. Now to be clear about it, the smallest unit of time, the smallest unit of an object, the smallest unit of space. What is that smallest unit? That is the ultimate unit. You cannot split that unit. That is the single most thing. If we can do Sanyama on that, this discriminative knowledge will come. How to do it? Time, space, causation first of all are not perceptions but concept. First of all we have to understand. Can you see time like we see a table? Can we see space like we see a table? So can we see even an object like we see a table? Very interesting. Do you see this table? Do you see me? Where do you see me? Where do you see me? You see me not outside. That concept of inside outside is also a vritti, a mental modification within our minds. Okay, the whole point is whether it is perceptions or concept these are all objects. Object we mean something physical which is as though we feel it is outside. We can see, hear, taste, smell, touch etc. Now all these concepts are also objects. Objects because you can separate yourself and then you can look into them and you say oh so much time passed. Oh this is like this. This place is like that. Oh this is an object. Whatever we can experience is an object. What is an object? Whatever we can experience and whatever we can experience is totally different from the experiencer. So we are all Purusha, pure consciousness. Pure consciousness somehow came into contact with what? Prakruti. That is what is called transmigration, samsara. What is the way out? The way out is totally separate and say I have nothing to do with Prakruti or nature. How do we do that? By making Sanyama on these things. Now it's a little bit difficult concept. It's a little tough. It requires a little bit of thinking but it is not too tough, too difficult. Take any object. What is the smallest unit in the object? Anu, we call it, an atom. Similarly if space is also an object, mental object, it also must have the smallest amount of unit. Smallest amount of unit, an object. Time also has got the smallest unit. The smallest unit of time is called one moment, kshana. The smallest unit of an object is called atom. And what is the smallest unit of space? The difference between the smallest unit of time passing into the next moment, that change is called space. That is why time and space are one unit according to Einstein. We can understand intellectually if we pay a little bit attention. So what is one moment? The time taken to move from one smallest, one unit of space into another unit of space is called kshana. What is the smallest unit of space? That is one unit of time moving into the next unit of time is called space. At least nod your head. Desha, kala, vastu or nimitta. These are the Sanskrit technical terms. Now the point is, is this. Somehow we have a concept in our mind, time is flowing. That is why we divide time into three parts. What is that? Past, present and future. But according to our philosophy, the past moment doesn't exist. The future moment doesn't exist. What exists is only the present moment. Now if a yogi can forget the past and future moments of time and focus his mind on that moment, he will see that every moment of time, smallest unit of time, kshana, the whole universe is undergoing a change. Let me come back again a little bit to make this point clear. What is time? What is another name for time? Change. So the smallest unit of change is called the smallest unit of time. That means the whole universe is changing. What is changing? The whole universe, all object, the whole universe is an object. So every object is changing, the whole universe is changing and changing means what? Even for one moment it doesn't remain changeless. It remains absolutely changeable. For a yogi, if he can do Sanyama on just one moment, forgetting the past and then future, then he will find the whole universe is nothing but another name for change. The moment he comes to that, he gets this knowledge called vivekajam jnanam, viveka, discrimination. What happens when he gets discrimination? What is discrimination? He says if I am experiencing change, there must be, there is a law. To know something is changing, there must be somebody who is changeless and not only that, the being who experiences changefulness must also be very conscious about it. Without consciousness, no experience. If you are not conscious for one second, whatever I spoke, you won't even register about it. You won't even say I forgot what you said. You simply, you don't know what I have spoken. Now what is the point? When a yogi can focus on one second, means remain on that one second and never go here and there, never deviate, then what happens? He finds the whole universe is one object which is constantly going through change. The moment he understands everything is changing, then the highest knowledge will come. I am the changeless pure consciousness. In other words I am pure purusha, everything else is an object which is called nature, prakruti. That is the greatest benefit it comes. We are talking about the almost the yogi is knocking at the door of realization. That is where he says the smallest unit of time is kshana. That a sequence of moments is our mental concept and therefore by making sayama on single moments and their sequence in time, the yogi comes to realize that the entire universe passes through a change within every single moment. Time means change. The smallest unit of time means what? Change. And I will ask you a question. Is change, is it small change or biggest change? Any change, is it small or big? Well you see, every change is death. Every change is death. Here is a man alive, next moment he dies. Is it a small change or big change? So he understands that the nature of the universe is transitory because the whole universe prakruti is bound what? By time. Time means what? Change. Change means what? Totally unreliable. Change means what? I am different from that which is changing. All these things occur simultaneously to the yogi at that stage, not at this stage. This understanding that everything is change is what is meant by discriminative knowledge called vivekajam jnanam. Because the yogi's mind is not subject to the illusion of time, he can understand the real nature of his own self. So if a person understands what is time, it is change. What is change? Change is an object. So I am not the change. So I am not the time. Therefore I am not time. So who am I? Timeless. I am eternal. I am an object. Therefore who am I? I am the subject. Everything is knowable. Who am I? I am the knower. And how many knowers are there? Only one. Pure consciousness that is there. This is the benefit of doing sanyama on one unit of time. Simultaneously is making sanyama on one unit of space, one unit of object. They are all absolutely three things, three in one. And there is also fringe benefit. You know what is fringe benefit? I was sad the whole afternoon. Yesterday afternoon how did it pass? Oh I was very sad. When in fact we were only sad at 2.15, 2.37, 3.01 and so on. That means at 2.37 some sad thought came. Then suddenly some cat jumped from the upper shelf and then were you sad? Your whole mind is distracted. And then you have driven away the cat. After that I am sad. At 2.45. After that something telephone rings. Then what happens? You forgot your sadness. Then at 3.01 suddenly telephone call ended and then you are again sad. But what do you say? I was sad the whole afternoon. I was suffering the whole life. I heard people you know, wife complaining because I married you, I suffered my whole life. I said how come? You sleep 12 hours a day. So what are you suffering 12 hours a day? Out of 24 hours, 12 hours you are not suffering. How come that you complain that whole life you are suffering? And after remaining 12 hours, how many hours were you really thinking about your husband? And how many hours were you thinking about yourself? This is discrimination. Make this discrimination. This is the kind of what is called our suffering. We never suffer from anybody else. We only suffer from ourselves, our state of mind. This is the only thing that happens. Suffering is largely composed of our memory of past pain and our fear of repeated pain in the future and this memory and this fear are dependent on our consciousness of a time sequence, past, remembrance, future, apprehension, speculation, imagination etc. If we can focus on one unit of time what happens? Past doesn't exist, future has not arrived and the present will be only absolutely pleasant because if a yogi can focus on one moment of time, is he focusing on the mind or is he focusing on his own nature? It is so advanced. Do you think that such a yogi will suffer? It is only ordinary people who suffer. So that is called vivekajam jnanam. So what happened? I will give you some examples also. First Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, Mahapurush Maharaj, he was suffering from asthma in his old age and one night he could not breathe, he could not sit, he could not lie down, he could not recline, every movement was a pain. He could not sleep, if he slept he would have got some relief, then he said no I will sit in meditation. You know what he said? Being an old man's meditation in a trice I forgot the entire body-mind and after 45 minutes when my mind came down I found that the body was rested, the mind was rested, the pain more or less reduced, that is called living in the present. By the way what is true meditation? Living in the present. That means same idea we are fixated on same vritti or idea that is called meditation. Let us not forget what we discussed in the past. In Sri Ramakrishna, that is in the gospel is a beautiful incident towards the end of Sri Ramakrishna's life, you know he was suffering from throat cancer, then one day the pain was unbearable and several devotees were sitting including Swami Arbuthananda later on. Sri Ramakrishna went into samadhi. After some time his mind came down, then he does make a beautiful remark, he said there is Leto, he is sitting with his hand under the chin. I see God himself sitting in the form of Leto. I have no pain now. I am relieved from the pain. There are also benefits, but the body always goes through these painful periods. Every change in fact is a pain. Every period, moment is a pain. When you are eating a sweet, the moment the sweet touches your tongue, that moment is a moment of joy. What happens? Does it continue? What happens? It is interspersed with some other memories. Oh, last year also I ate the same sweet. Is it experiencing the present sweet or remembering the past? Will I get the same sweet in the future? Already pain started. But if he can stay in one moment, then that is called samadhi and that is the highest yoga can achieve. That the whole universe appears as a series of changes ruled by time, space and causation and I am the witness, I am not the prakriti, I am free. The next aphorism, those which cannot be differentiated by species, sign and place, even they can be discriminated by sanyama on one time. For a yogi who reached this advanced stage, the next aphorism is telling, any given two objects will be separate by three factors, jati, lakshana and avastha. Jati means species. A cow is different from a horse. Lakshana means a young boy is different from an old man. Even the same boy, after 50 years, what does he become? Old. The young boy is different, the old person. This is how differentiation comes. Then, spatial differentiation. It is very interesting you know, where is the microphone? On my right. One microphone on my left. Another microphone on my right. When I ask you, where is the microphone, what do you say? You say it is opposite of, if it is to my right, it is to your left. And if it is to my left, it is to your right. This is how we distinguish any given two objects by the species, by the, what is called young and old, the differentiation in avastha, status and by space. So that also involves time. Young and old, old means what? Young means past, old means what? Future. This is how, but supposing somebody gives you, let us say two hairs, pluck two hairs. You pluck your two hairs and give it to me and say, what is the difference between these two? Will you be able to tell? Will I be able to tell? You will not be able to tell. Because there are things like, Swami Prabhavananda gives an example, two newly minted coins. Give it to them and say, now find out what is the difference between these two. We cannot find out. But a yogi instantaneously he recognizes the differences. What does that mean? That means there are no two things alike at any given time. Two factors. One is the same object is different because of time and there are no two objects which are absolutely alike in the past, in the future and now. That means every object is totally different from every object. But a yogi, he can discriminate. So what happens when this discrimination comes? It brings strength and then alone can we avoid all these various ideas of bodies, heavens and gods and devas. This ignorance arises through differentiating by species, sign or place, jati, lakshana and desha. Now this discriminative knowledge, it separates every object from the other object in all its aspects. That is the most important point. What is the in all aspects? Let me dwell on this idea for a moment. You see a young person. What do you see? A young person. Then what happens? The moment we see a young person, temptations may come, likes may come, dislikes may come. Usually it could be likes, temptation. Oh how nice this person looks. But supposing you if this yogi who could discriminate and he can see that young person in its babyhood and in its old age, before birth and after death, not only that, all the millions of births that young person has gone. I am just making a little bit of fun here. Suppose this young person, ah so attractive, I would like to be near this person and then suddenly you become a yogi and you look at that person. He says this rascal has cut my throat hundred times in my previous birth. What happens? All your love turns into, all nectar turns into poison. Just because we are unable to see all the sequences, we are only seeing one moment at a time, we are subject to weaknesses, temptations and that is how fall comes. But a yogi who has this knowledge, he can look at one object and see the whole past and future of that object. What happens as a result? He will never be tempted again in this world and then the temptation belongs to whom? Temptation belongs to whom? This is the most important point. A young man looks at a young woman and he feels tempted. This temptation is between two things. What are those two things? Two bodies. So if when a yogi acquires such a discrimination and says I am the witness of the event, I am not the object, then he has that capacity to say I am not the body, I am not the mind. When a yogi can really feel I am not the body, how can another body or another object attract him? This is the point. Only two objects can be attracted or distracted or detracted. Likes and dislikes come. When one is a knower and another is a known, there is no relationship is possible at all. No relationship is possible. For relationship, there is a philosophical term, Sambandhata. What is the Sambandhata? They must have similar nature. When two dissimilar natures, there cannot be any relationship. We simply normally say what is the relationship between a human being and a dog? You say yes Swamiji, there is a relationship. I am the owner and this is my pet. God knows now who is the pet of whom. Is that called relationship? Relationship between two human beings, relationship between two dogs, relationship between two gods is possible because they are of similar nature. But two dissimilar natures, true relationship is impossible. That's why what is the point? When a yogi, through discrimination, clearly perceives I am not the body-mind. If a yogi is not the body-mind, then who can he be? He can be only, only one thing is there. Body-mind, other than the body-mind, there is only one thing. What is that? Pure consciousness. Can there be a relationship between Purusha and Prakruti? There never was. It is not there. It won't be there. It is a Maya ignorance which says I have a relationship with my body, I have a relationship with my mind and therefore I have a relationship with this entire universe, is a totally wrong perception. A yogi has acquired such a discrimination and he says I am Purusha. And how many Purushas are there? Two knowledges of consciousness are there? Only one. Therefore, when there are no two things, where is the question of relationship? So two types of, two reasons are given why relationship is not possible. Relationships are possible only between two similar things and Purusha and Prakruti, pure consciousness and pure nature, they are two totally dissimilar opposite things. Therefore, there can be no relationship. Secondly, pure consciousness is only one. When there is only one, where is the question of relationship comes? The spiritual value of this power of discrimination lies of course in one's ability to distinguish always between the Atman and the non-Atman, pure consciousness and non-consciousness. The outward appearance, however deceptive the latter may be, that means he clearly knows I am the Purusha, I am pure consciousness. The next aphorism says, Tarakam sarva vishayam sarva dha vishayam akramam chaiti vivekajam jnanam. This vivekajam knowledge is given a beautiful term. It is called Tarakam. You know what is Tarakam? One of the names of the Divine Mother is Tara. Tara means what? One who saves. Rakshati. Tarayati. It is Tara. Tara, Tara you know. The saving knowledge, this discriminative knowledge ultimately turns out to be the saving knowledge. What is the saving knowledge? It saves a person from ignorance and its consequences which is transmigration and therefore he clearly knows I am not nature, I have nothing to do with nature, in fact there is no nature. Whatever existed was ignorance, now that ignorance is springing from my own self and now I realize there is no ignorance, everything is of one nature and that is called pure consciousness. In pure consciousness there can be no ignorance at all. Saving because the knowledge it takes the yogi across the ocean of birth and death, the whole of prakriti, in all its states, subtle and gross, is within the grasp of this knowledge. There is no succession in perfection by this knowledge. It takes in all things simultaneously at a glance. This knowledge delivers a man from the bondage of ignorance, it comprehends all objects simultaneously at every moment of their existence and in all their modifications from the Vedantic point of view. This is from the Sankhya point of view. From the Vedantic point of view, when a man acquires this kind of discriminative knowledge, you know, he says Maya is Maya. Maya means two letters, ma-ya. Now you reverse, ya-ma. Ya means that which, ma doesn't exist. There is nothing called Maya. It is a play of the mind. The moment he gets, if nothing is there, what remains? If nothing is there, what remains? Only one thing remains. What is it? I. I am Brahman. Nothing else exists. That is why it is called Taraka Jnana. When a man gets this kind of knowledge, what happens? Everything is transformed into one knowledge. What is this? Brahman. That is why in the Bhagavad Gita it says, Vidya vinaya sampanne brahmane pravihastini shulcheva shvapakecha panditaha samdarshanaha. A pandita is a Jnani, man of knowledge. A man of knowledge is a man of discrimination. A man of discrimination in his eyes, there is no Brahmana, there is no cow, there is no elephant, there is no dog, there is no dog-eater. All these distinctions, differentiations is from the viewpoint of pure ignorance. Everything is sarvam kalvidam brahmana. Then what happens? There will be no likes and dislikes. And when there are no likes and dislikes, there will be no dharma and adharma. When there is no dharma and adharma, there is no punya and papa. When there is no punya and papa, there is no enjoyment or suffering. When there is no enjoyment or suffering, there is no samsara or transmigration. Because he is the embodiment of bliss. Aham sacchidananda brahmasmi. That would be his experience. That is the result of this. Then the last aphorism we are coming, sattva purushayoh suddhi samye kaivalyam ithe. By the similarity of purity between the sattva and the purusha comes kaivalya. When the soul realizes that it depends on nothing in the universe, from gods to the lowest atom, that is called kaivalya isolation and perfection. It is attained when this mixture of purity and impurity called the mind has been made as pure as the pure consciousness itself. Then the sattva, the mind, reflects only the unqualified essence of purity, which is the purusha. So perfection is attained when the mind becomes as pure as atman itself. When all the thought waves in the mind have been stilled, the mind holds nothing but pure undifferentiated consciousness. In this state it becomes one with the atman. As Ramakrishna used to say, the pure mind and the atman are one and the same. To summarize what we discussed so far, when a yogi reaches this highest state of discrimination, what happens? His mind becomes absolutely pure like a pure mirror. And when you stand in front of a pure mirror, what do you see? Your reflection as clearly as possible. That means as though it is you, as though the reflection is no other than, but still you realize that is a reflection, this is real me. When the mind becomes as pure. And what is the name for that purity of the mind? What is purity of mind? Not having any thoughts. And what is yoga? Chitta vritti nirodha. What is chitta vritti nirodha? The mind having absolutely no modifications. At that time what happens? Tada drashtu svarupe avasthanam. The mind becomes as pure. And when the purusha looks himself in the pure mind, then he sees himself as the purest of the pure consciousness. When he looks at it, he knows I am this. As soon as he knows, the prakriti falls down and says all this journey from the non-yogi to the yoga, through yoga, through to becoming this, obtaining this vivekashyam jnanam is only a dream, a journey. As the Sufi saying goes, a Sufi has only three journeys. From God, in God, to God. The yogi reaches his destination. What is the destination? Kaivalyam, moksha. What is kaivalya? I am alone. Nobody else in this world. With this, the third chapter of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, we have been able to complete. This pada is called Vibhuti Yoga. To summarize, a yogi can obtain lot of powers, but all these powers, obtainment of all these powers requires tremendous amount of first, power of concentration, second, focus that concentrated mind on a particular objective way, so that that particular power can be obtained and yogis can get sometimes these powers and ultimately when all these powers have been obtained or experienced, the yogi might fall several times and then he realizes these are all total obstacles in my path of spiritual progress and then ultimately he obtains this highest amount of discrimination that the whole universe is nothing but a series of changes. Series of changes means it is absolutely mithya or false existence and I am totally separate from them. I am the changeless, eternal, immortal, pure consciousness and the yogi becomes totally free from all distractions and remains, abides within himself. This in short is the essence of this whole third pada which is called Vibhuti Pada, a chapter on powers. The chapter on powers, but it has nothing to do with powers. It is only to point out that my goal, every yogi's goal is to know what he is himself.