Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 043

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM YOGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRANJALI RANA DOSME 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 in the midst of discussing some of the most helpful hints how to progress in spiritual life, how to particularly concentrate our mind. As we know it is so difficult to concentrate the mind. There is an important matter here. In the beginning the concentration of us seemed to be extremely good. But as time goes on it becomes harder and very difficult. The reason for this is our minds are like small pools. There is so much of dirt accumulated in the unconscious and so long as we do not stir it, it looks to be absolutely clean and clear. But the process of meditation is like churning. As we start churning, all the things from inside come out. And that's why many of us get discouraged. Once a devotee asked one of our senior Swamis, Swami, as time goes on, I think my meditation is getting worse. And the Swami said, I am so happy you are able to say that your meditation is getting worse. Actually it is getting better. The devotee couldn't understand. Then the Swami explained, previously you are carried by your mind. You are not observing. Whatever your mind is thinking, you thought you are thinking the same. Now you are standing apart and say, oh, this mind has become impure. There are so many undesirable things here. You have become conscious, aware and that is a great benefit. And in fact ultimately this being aware of something is the secret of spiritual life. The more we are aware, if you have to be aware of something, you have to be separate from it. The more you are becoming aware, now we are aware to some extent of external things. We know other people because we see them as objects. We do not identify ourselves with them. But we do not look at ourselves as we look at the others. That is where the meditation comes. So the more we see so much of undesirability in our mind, in a way it is absolutely good. Because that is the first step. Then having become aware, oh, there is so much of this impurity here. Okay, what shall I do to get rid of it? That would be the next thing. It is also said so beautifully, when does a person become truly spiritual? Begins. The answer is when he finds this world absolutely undesirable. So long as we think that there is some attraction in this world, true spiritual life really doesn't start. In the same way, so long as we think we are fine, everything is nice, then we will never progress in spiritual life. That's why watch the mind, observe the mind, observe the body. Buddhists, they have taken this principle to the extreme. That is called Vipassana meditation. I asked so many people, what do they do in Vipassana meditation? What is the first thing? First thing is you go on focusing on different parts of the body and see what those parts of the body are doing. What has this got with spirituality? Because the body, the mind, these are not different from the world. So when we become aware, oh, my leg is moving, my back is suddenly itching, funny things happen, you know. Suppose you are watching a very interesting movie and your body becomes absolutely still. The more you are absorbed, the less your body becomes restless. In our last class, we discussed two things. Patanjali is suggesting two things. Meditate on good, wonderful, divine dreams that we have. But I guess that practically there are none of us who did not dream of good things. At least some good things. Have you not seen sadhus in the dream? Maybe they are coming to beat you up. That is also okay. That's fine. But you have seen a sadhu in your mind. That is a good, very good sign. Or have you not seen a most beautiful scenic view? Maybe you have gone to Himalayas. Maybe there are big waterfalls. There are wonderful things. If you have such a thing, it will have an effect. Before we go into it, one of the questions that often comes to our mind is, are dreams real? Or are they mere imaginations that spring from the impressions we gain from the waking state? Are they real? If you want psychological answer, yes, they are your imaginings. Because if you see you are riding an elephant while you are asleep on your bed, that is absolute imagination. But if you want Vedantic answer, why do we put that kind of question? Because we think waking state is real, whereas dream state is not real. Absolutely illogical proposition because when you are in dream state, is the waking state real or unreal? When we are in the waking state, our so-called waking state is a dream state. When we are in the waking state, what we call the dream state, that is supposed to be unreal. But that's not the real point we want to discuss. The real point is, what is the effect? One of the definitions of reality is, what is it that affects us? In the waking state, we see billions of things in our short life. But why do you call it reality? In fact, 99% of what we experience is not real. What happens to all of you is not real for me, unless some self-interest is involved there. You see, supposing I don't like you, some of you, I don't like some of you. Then if something bad happens to you, I don't mind, I don't lose sleep, I don't lose my appetite, nothing is lost. But if I love some of you and if something happens to them, I feel deeply affected. You know, I am a speaker, so I expect audience to come and listen to my talks. And there has been a devotee who has been attending regularly and admires my talks. I admire those people who admire me. You see, all of you do it, I am only telling you. So this person suddenly dies and I am profoundly affected. Why am I affected? Not because he died, because one of my audience is less by that. Do you see how much reality is there in that? I don't care a straw whether the other fellow is affected, but if my audience is less, then I am affected. Do you think is it not true in your case also? A husband, Ramakrishna graphically says this, husband is dying and the wife is telling, alright, you are going like a nice good babu, what have you left behind for me? If he had left a billion pounds behind, I would say, my husband is the best husband in the world. Otherwise, he is a wretched husband. This is called selfishness. I am only putting it in a funny way. This is the teaching given by Yajnavalkya to Maitreyi, my dear, no wife loves her husband. For the sake of the husband, it is for the sake of the self. This is the truth. A mother loves her daughter. Why does she love? Why can't she love somebody else? It's only because this is my daughter. Similarly, why do we love our religion? Because it's my religion. Why do we love our God? It's because my God. If your God comes in some other form, would you love? These are some of the important things to know. So are dreams real? If they affect, they are real and they do definitely affect us. Not only dreams, books can affect us. You know, a person reads one book or even a part of a book, his life is changing forever. Ravindranath Tagore, Ravindranath Tagore's father, he was depressed because the aunt who brought him up so lovingly, she died. He was a grown-up man, but he could not overcome that. One day he was sitting on the banks of the Ganges and you know, these peanut vendors, they sell peanuts and they wrap it in a piece of paper, old paper. One such paper, by the wind, came to his feet and he just accidentally picked it up and opened. What does he find? The first verse of the Isavasya Upanishad. Isavasyam Idagum Saram. The whole universe is filled with the Lord. Everything is God. And that one sentence had changed his life forever. We can also say that, how did you become so religious? You must have read some gospel of Sri Ramakrishna or some complete works of Sri Ramakrishna or Bhagavad Gita, things like that. And then when the time is right and that particular reading has profoundly altered our minds. I know hundreds of cases, one sentence, one casual sentence has changed the life of a person. Of course, there must be preparation behind. It doesn't simply happen like that. Any Tom, Dick and Harry picks up the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and his life is transformed. No. He has to be ready for that. If the field is ready, when the seed comes, it becomes fructified. That is the law. So, it is not only dreams, even things that we sometimes, casually somebody passes. Just now, I remembered one incident. There was one Lala Baba. He was a zamindar. One day, he was returning. One evening, the sun is setting. He was passing outside a village. There was a washerman and he had an eight-year-old daughter. And that day, he was late in washing the dirty cloths. So, the daughter was telling, Baba, the sun is about to set and when are you going to clean the cloths? Baba, onek bela hoyeche. Bhasan means this interesting word. In Bengali, in Sanskrit, bhasana means this life after life's impressions, our character. Bhasan means also, bhasana means cloths. So, she meant, when are you going to wash the cloths? But that moment, he understood it. When are you going to get rid of all these impressions you have accumulated through so many ages, life after life? That very moment, transformation came. That is called conversion. He left the home and he became one of the greatest monks. What we are discussing is that you observe what is it that really impresses you. Suppose you are reading a book and so many things are there. But one particular passage or one particular sentence or one particular incident or a song, it affects you profoundly. Then you understand, oh, this is what it really means. The meaning has broken into your consciousness, deep meaning. And then what the mistake we commit is, okay, it is wonderful. And then you pass on. No, don't pass on. Hold on to it. And going on meditating upon it. That is why, meditate upon the songs. We have got wonderful songs. I can give you one example. There is a song. Shakali tumari ichcha. Oh mother, everything is done after thine own will. It is a marvelous song, I tell you. So you go on contemplating on that song. So is it called meditation? Yes, it is meditation. Why is it called meditation? Because again we fall into the same trap. Whatever we see through the eyes alone appears to be worthy of meditation. No, whatever we hear through the ears also can be worthy of meditation. Suppose I am talking. I told something. I am giving as an example. I told something. And there may be 30 people, 50 people. And most of the people, it just passes from one ear to the other ear. But one person for some reason says, this is a very nice thing. I heard like that. Don't allow it to disappear from your awareness. Hold on to it. And say, how can I meditate, concentrate and derive more meaning out of this? How can I apply it to our minds? So that is why Ramakrishna used to give instructions one to one. Not en masse. En masse there is a teaching. But one to one there is a teaching. Because this is meant only for you. He had one to one relationship, unique relationship with each one of his devotees and disciples. The relationship which he had with Swami Vivekananda was not the same relationship which he had with Swami Advaitananda. Many times I told you, Swami Brahmananda was considered as the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna. And Swami Brahmanandaji used to sleep in the same bed with Sri Ramakrishna. Did you ever hear Swami Advaitananda sleeping in the same bed with Sri Ramakrishna? No. Because their relationship was totally different. Both are valuable. But each person according to his own. So there was one devotee, I don't know who he was. But Girish Chandra Ghosh had a unique relationship with Sri Ramakrishna. And he used to abuse Sri Ramakrishna. And Sri Ramakrishna, the more he abused, the gladder he was. Because that was how, Girish Chandra Ghosh was thinking I am abusing Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna was feeling that the more you abuse me, the more you become my slave. Identified with me. And that's what happened in the end. Totally surrendered himself to him. But that was his way of attracting. So Sri Ramakrishna had his own unique approaches. This was his Girish Chandra Ghosh approach. Girish Chandra Ghosh used to abuse Sri Ramakrishna right and left in front of anybody. He never cared. Seeing this, seeing that Sri Ramakrishna, the more he was abused, Sri Ramakrishna became more happy. Another devotee also started abusing. Immediately Sri Ramakrishna became grave and said, no, this is not your attitude. If you pursue like this, I will not see your face. Unique relationship. Why? Because each one of us are totally different. The same thing applies to us. Sometimes we may like songs. Sometimes we may like a drama scene, etc. So anything that affects us profoundly helps us to become better person. You hold on to it and meditate upon it. Make it an object of your meditation. Even I would say, I would go so far as to say, you know, some films make profound impression. So any event that happens that can make us go forward towards God, become better persons, that would be wonderful. But this applies not only to the audience. This also may apply to the actors and actresses. I will come to that point shortly. So the first answer is that our waking state experiences are also unreal. Our dream state experiences are also unreal ultimately. And our deep sleep experience is also unreal ultimately. But we can derive benefit out of this. Go to a temple and see the temple. You can be transformed. Just now I remembered, you must have heard about the book, Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. How did transformation come? You know, he has not seen a holy person. In the spring season, he was walking. All the trees were absolutely bare. But because the spring season had come, one tree has started, you know, a few new leaves have come. Seeing that, he became spiritual. Just imagine that one, you know. Because the thought process that came out of seeing that, oh, it looked like a dead tree. But you see, as soon as the season came, most beautiful tender leaves have started coming. And in a few days, this very tree which looks dead becomes full of leaves, flowers, etc., etc. This is imagination. Imagination, not unrealistic imagination. This is our everyday experience. Here also, same thing, some trees. So, immediately he said, maybe within me, there is some such spring season will come. Maybe I will be transformed. Maybe I will be a devotee of God. And that moment, he became transformed. He joined the monastery and he became one of the greatest monks. And that book shows what he is. So, who knows how transformations will not come. So, dreams can be real, but if you are particularly lucky to have dreams. And I am sure all of us, all of you have wonderful dreams. Do not think they are dreams. Hold on to them. And then meditate upon them. This is one way you can progress in spiritual life. Ramakrishna also says, asks him, did you have any good dreams? One particular dream, I am going to the city of the Divine Mother, Bhavanipur. Ramakrishna says, my hair is standing on end. I am thrilled. Go and get initiated. And all that. Dreams have that wonderful effect. Did Ramakrishna have a dream? How was he born? Remember? His father went to Gaya, Gaya Kshetra. And there, what did he have? He was sleeping peacefully after performing about 10 days of all the rituals connected with the ancestor worship. And then he had a wonderful dream. At least that is what he is telling. Was it a dream or was it reality? Was it a dream? It was not a dream. The vision came in that state when the mind was absolutely calm and quiet. And all the future events have taken place. Whereas Chandramani Devi had a real vision. Light was coming from Shiva's finger and then this. What a marvelous thing it is to contemplate. So where do you say that dreams are dreams? That's why some dreams are just our imaginings, just like our day-to-day life. Some events that take place may be foretelling the coming events' future. That is one way of looking at things. But the real way of looking at the dreams is, if we are fortunate enough to have some vision, means wonderful thought of gods, goddesses, holy people, etc., then you fix your mind on them. That will help. This is about dreams. And what about deep sleep? So he says Swapna Nidra Avalammanamva. Nidra means deep sleep. All of us have got three states. Waking, dreaming and sleeping. So deep sleep is called sleep. Usually we say he went to sleep. But there are two states are there. Dreaming state and a state without dreams. Sushupti. So Sushupti is a most wonderful state. And we all long for it. Because the greatest amount of bliss is derived from that. Bliss means that which doesn't have an opposite. Happiness has its opposite. Pleasure has its opposite. Joy has its opposite. But bliss doesn't have its opposite. That's because there are no experiences. It is the pure state of Advaita or non-duality. And many people consider that as real Samadhi. Though we don't accept it. But what I call it is a compromise. It's a poor man's Samadhi. Deep sleep is poor man's Samadhi. And we all become one. It's a wonderful state. You wake up. Before your mind becomes occupied, means all the memories are hanging outside the door, about to jump on your shoulders, before that happens, after you wake up, before these memories fall upon you and make you anxious, between those two states, there is a wonderful state of repose. Every single day we are experiencing it. In fact, I would go so far as to say, not only every single day, every single minute, after one thought ends and before another thought begins, there is a very minute time gap is there. Otherwise, how do you know this is the second thought? That is also a state of repose. But we won't be able to notice it right now. Only a Yogi can notice it. But whereas, we can all notice, when you had a wonderful sleep, you wake up, and then before your mind remembers and then becomes restless. If you can meditate upon that state, that is called Nidra Alambanam. Certain incidents that happen, that also can be taken as examples of meditation. I will give you one example. Swami Yateshwaranandaji narrated this. Swami Brahmanandaji came to Madras and Swami Yateshwaranandaji was doing puja. He was doing puja like we all do. That means there is devotion, but nothing much better than that. Sincerity, devotion, that Sri Ramakrishna is present there, is always there, but nothing beyond that. Swami Brahmanandaji came and he would not attend regular Aarathi, etc. But one day, Swami Yateshwaranandaji was telling, in the evening, before the Pujari has to do, the priest has to do the evening Vesper service as we do here, showing the lights, etc. In India, we do with all the five items. Just before that, Swami Brahmanandaji came, stood in a corner of the Madras, the old temple, not this new temple, and Swami Yateshwaranandaji, he got up and then he was describing that because of the presence of Swami Brahmanandaji, he said, I could see Sri Ramakrishna alive and that day, my Aarathi was out of this world. And then he said, after some time, silently, Swami Brahmanandaji left the place. Then he said, whenever I enter into the shrine, after that, I always have that experience by the grace of Sri Ramakrishna. You know, the thing is, monks do not wish to have, to express, to tell to public, these kind of experiences. Most of us have this kind of experience, but we don't want to. These are our treasures. So, Swami Yateshwaranandaji used to encourage people the greatness of Swami Brahmanandaji by their mere presence. He said, he had given me that day the gift of seeing God whenever I enter into the temple. I still just remembered. I narrated that incident. Perhaps some of you can remember it. There was Ramanuja in South India in a town and in that town, one day he went out. That day was a special day when the Lord will be taken in a chariot round and there was a shameless fellow who was enamored of a public woman and then the public woman also came because she was also a devotee. She was witnessing. She was standing and looking at the chariot where the image of the Lord was there. Whereas the shameless fellow, he turned his back to the chariot. He was holding an umbrella so that she would not feel the heat of the sun. It was such a shameless, publicly showing such a high class person. This was pointed out to Ramanuja by somebody. Ramanuja went and touched him and said, look my friend, everybody is looking at the Lord. You are not looking. What are you looking at? He was a very frank person, great person. I tell you why he was great. So that man looked at Ramanuja and said, Sir, I have never seen anything more beautiful than the eyes of this lady. I am a worshipper of beauty. I don't see anything else. I have not seen anybody else so beautiful with these beautiful eyes. Ramanuja gently asked him, supposing I show you even more beautiful eyes, what will you do? He said, it is impossible. I have never seen, I have never heard, it is impossible. Ramanuja said, supposing I show you, what will you do? He said, I am only worshipper of beauty. I don't care. If I see better eyes, immediately I will leave. Then Ramanuja turned him around and said, look. And by the grace of Ramanuja, the man was able to see the beauty of the Divine Lord. What do we see? We see only an image, wooden image or stone image or whatever. But by their grace, he saw. Immediately he left. And then he prostrated before Ramanuja, went and said, Sir, please accept me as your disciple. And then the most wonderful thing happened. This disciple was accepted by Ramanuja and he was asked to do personal service, like making up the bed, etc., of Ramanujacharya. And never again he went back to anywhere. He never went out of the house. He never visited the temples. Anybody asked, what is this? You are not going to a temple to visit the Lord? He says, no. My God is my Guru. And I am serving my God. I am seeing my God. This is my all in all. I don't care for anything else. And then there was a curious incident. He was looking after Ramanuja's personal comforts. So he used to make Ramanuja's bed. After making up the bed, he would bear his body and lie down on the bed, roll on the bed and then only, after some time, Ramanuja will come and lie down upon it. So some jealous brother disciples found it out, complained to Ramanuja. Ramanuja's Guru knew better than anybody else. So he said, let us ask him why he does it. So he was called and asked, is it true that before I sleep, you sleep on it, roll on it and enjoy it? He said, no. It is true that I roll on it. But I am not enjoying. Because I want to see that if there is any object there which would disturb your sleep. That's why I bear my body and roll on the bed from one end to the end two, three times to see that there is nothing which could disturb your sleep. I am only doing it for your comfort. The other disciples understood the lesson. The point is, if any object, any passage, any sound, any song, anything which brought you higher thoughts, keep on to it. That is the whole point here. So Swapna, Nidra, Jnana, Alambaramva by fixing the mind upon a dream experience or the experience of deep sleep. I still remember one or two examples. I have to give it to you. You know, Sri Ramakrishna was living at Dakshineshwar and there was a sweeper, not Rishik, somebody else, Swami Vishuddhanandaji met him many many years later and he saw there was this old man. He was cleaning the pathway from Sri Ramakrishna's room to the Panchavati very very carefully. He was bent. He could not get up. But the way he was doing attracted the attention of Swami Vishuddhanandaji. Then Vishuddhanandaji went and asked him, Did you see Sri Ramakrishna? He said, Yes, I saw Sri Ramakrishna. Then Vishuddhanandaji understood. Something happened. So he asked, I noticed that you are doing this so carefully. Has anything happened to make you do this? You know, usually servants don't do that. This is an unusual case. Then Vishuddhanandaji was narrating, the man was very reluctant to tell this. But Vishuddhanandaji said, Baba, I am also devotee of God. I will be edified if you tell me this. Then he said. One day at night, suddenly I woke up and I saw a peculiar light coming from the Panchavati side. I was curious to know at this night how this unearthly light comes. So he said, I slowly went there. Then I saw Sri Ramakrishna in a very peculiar light. Some light was coming out of the body of Sri Ramakrishna which is not normal at night. Many incidents are there like that. The man saw and he bowed down to Sri Ramakrishna from a distance and returned. Next day at some point, Sri Ramakrishna called him and asked, did you come to Panchavati yesterday? He said, yes. Although Sri Ramakrishna did not know anything. Who attracted him? It was only Sri Ramakrishna. Then he asked, did you see something? He said, yes. And Sri Ramakrishna said, meditate on that form every single day. And the old man was telling, from that day my meditation is only on that Ramakrishna whom I saw under the Panchavati with that peculiar light. Then Sri Ramakrishna told, so long you see many devotees, they walk. So, so long as you are capable of working, see that everything is done carefully. From that day, his sadhana was twofold. You know what is twofold? Sri Krishna advised Arjuna, mam anusmara yudhya cha, remember me and do your duty. Fight. He said, you clean so long as you are there. You meditate upon that form and you do this duty and you will get salvation. And the gardener said, from that day this is my goal in life to meditate upon that. I meditate, go on thinking of that wonderful form and I clean that path because Sri Ramakrishna told me. I will do this so long as I am capable of doing it. You see, he was such a marvelous incident. Another incident comes to my mind. Latu Maharaj, you know, he was reminiscing. He said that, I have seen Sri Ramakrishna in so many different samadhis. Each samadhi is different from the other. But he said, one day he sang Ramana and he said, that day the singing, the sweetest singing in my life, I never heard from anybody such a sweet singing and that day Sri Ramakrishna's body was totally transformed. And then he said that, I meditate upon that form of Sri Ramakrishna. I saw that day. So you see, Sri Ramakrishna had many forms. There was an incident. Somebody was making an image of Sri Ramakrishna. Then somebody asked Swami Brahmanandaji, would you like to go and see this image of Sri Ramakrishna? Then Swami Brahmanandaji asked, in which form of Sri Ramakrishna has the image maker made? What does that mean? That means Sri Ramakrishna doesn't have one particular form. In the same day, sometimes he will be tall, he will be short, he will be stout, he will be thin, he will be Rama. And some devotees saw in him Rama. Some devotees saw in him Krishna. Some devotees saw in him Radha. Just as an example, Gangamayee. What did she see in Sri Ramakrishna? Only Radha. And what did Latumara see in Sri Ramakrishna? Rama. What did Swami Vivekananda see? Swami Vivekananda's chosen deity was Ramachandra. He saw. So different people saw in Sri Ramakrishna. What did Holy Mother see in Sri Ramakrishna? Mother Kali. So he is infinite. Which form this image maker has made? Of course, you know, we mean how we see Sri Ramakrishna in the photograph. But what he meant was that Sri Ramakrishna had infinite moods. One point I mentioned, if you remember, when you are watching a drama and if that drama had really made an impression upon you, remember that, you know, suppose somebody acted like Rama, like Krishna and it is so wonderful, you meditate upon that. There is nothing wrong. You are not meditating upon the actor. You are meditating upon the God himself or Jesus Christ. You know, St. Francis of Assisi used to meditate upon Jesus Christ, that crucifixion, so that his hands, his legs, they started bleeding. Stigmata. Exactly same thing. Their face itself becomes transformed. Where are we, Brahmani? He said, whenever I look at Ramakrishna, I don't see a male, I see Radha in him. Everybody saw in Sri Ramakrishna or in Jesus or in Buddha, their own ideal. So, this is, the incident comes to my mind. What about the actors and actresses? What about them? Now, I'll give you two examples. You know, Girish Chandrakosh had written a most wonderful drama, which he transformed thousands of people, brought them to spirituality. Do you know what the drama was? Chaitanya. Sri Chaitanya. Sri Ramakrishna himself sighed. Holy Mother sighed. And there, one lady had acted. I forget, Dino Dini? And her life was transformed. Okay. Sri Ramakrishna's life. He was a young boy. Shivaratri day. He was asked to meditate upon Lord Shiva. What did he do? He became totally identified with Lord Shiva. He became Shiva. What is my point? My point is, he himself had become Shiva. That's why drama could not be continued. Some of the audience were transported to highest joy. And some of the people started criticizing normally. But my point is, some of them who had faith in Sri Ramakrishna, and who had seen that scene, how Sri Ramakrishna looked, dressed in the garb of Lord Shiva. In future, what should they meditate upon? Lord Shiva. They will never forget, because it's a wonderful experience. So, what I wanted to convey to you in this class is, that do not be fixed. It could be a smell. I can tell you, you know, in South Indian temples, if you enter, the mixture of two smells come out. One is called camphor. Another is called kumkum. This is the most common thing. So, whenever I smell that, I feel holy. Here also, if you observe in the Charanamruta, the water offered, if there is camphor, you feel holy. Have you noticed? All of you may not feel, but some of you definitely feel, because of association. It could be a touch. It could be a taste. A taste. There is a peculiar taste. The sweet made offered to Lord Jagannath, it has its own special taste. You cannot compare it to anything else in this world. Any of these objects, take them as sacred and meditate upon them. And that is one of the easiest ways of being able to meditate. Then 39th aphorism comes, yatha abhimata dhyanatva or by fixing the mind upon any divine form or symbol that appeals to one as good. So, this is one of the most attractive characteristics of this Patanjali's philosophy, means Vedanta philosophy, is its breadth of vision, its universality. I will briefly mention. One of the cardinal tenets of Vedanta is, you can meditate upon God in any form. It is called the law of the chosen deity. Ishta devata siddhanta. What does it mean? It means, you like Rama, meditate. You like Jesus, meditate. You like Buddha, meditate. You like on a formless aspect of God, meditate. You like to meditate upon light, meditate upon it. Meditate upon the space. That's what Upanishads describe. Vast oceans, meditate. Vast sky, meditate. Arabians in the deserts at night, as soon as the sun sets. Do you know what a light? Have you seen in pictures at least? The whole sky is like jewels hanging, so crystal clear. Contemplate, look upon them and then you will see the infinity of God. The idea of the infinity, we have some idea by looking at these things. So, if you like that, meditate upon it. That is wonderful. That is how you progress in spiritual life. What is spiritual life? From smallness to bigness. From finiteness to infinite expansion. So meditate upon whatever a passage of, a scriptural passage or something that appeals to you in any form with one caution. And that caution is, do not go on changing your objects of meditation. You see Ramayana, immediately Rama is your Ishta Devata, chosen deity. You see Mahabharata or Bhagavata, Krishna's life, and then you change it to Lord Krishna. And the day after tomorrow, you see Prophet Muhammad and you start crying Allah Allah. Don't go on doing that. Fix upon one thing. You have the freedom to meditate upon any form of God. Repeat any name of God. Doesn't matter. But, you must have that steadfastness and say for me, this is for my whole life. That is why, according to Sri Ramakrishna's teachings, I cannot but repeat it thousands of times. Five. One religion. One scripture. One Guru. One mantra. One chosen deity. You have the freedom before. And after, you must follow one thing. That is called, this single, one form. Eka Tattva Abhyasaha. Focus upon one particular principle. Otherwise you will be digging the well in so many places. That's not going to help you. There are so many other things. But, Patanjali only gives us these few. Then he says, 40th aphorism, he says, A person who practices all these things sincerely, his mind acquires such a power, he can meditate upon the minutest of objects, subtlest of the objects. He can also meditate upon the biggest. He has acquired such a power, that whatever object he chooses to meditate upon, he can fix his mind. It won't move from there. What happens when he is able to fix upon his mind? The whole universe comes under his control. He can meditate, means he can become identified. And in this respect, I have to give one example. In the Upanishads, we get these highest truths. A realized soul. Suppose he says, I want to see my ancestors. He has a desire. He wants to see his 14th great-grandfather. Can he see? Yes. The moment that desire comes, the entire, it's called Pitru Loka, the world of the ancestors, stands in front of him. He need not go. It will come in front of him, because he is all-pervading. He has become as all-pervading as God himself. These are all expressions of language. What it means is, I want to be, I am just giving a funny example. I want to be in the auditorium of the Vedanta Center right now. That is my greatest desire. And I open my eyes. Where am I? In the auditorium of the Vedanta Center. Why? Because I am already here. But if I say, now I want to be in London. Can I be? Not at this stage. But we can be. When? When I have become identified with the entire universe. That is why, is Ramakrishna in India? In Belur, not? Or is he here also? If you go to America, he will be there. If you go to heaven, he will be there. If you go to hell, is he there or not? No, he is not there. Because if you go to hell, and if he is there, will it be hell? Where Sri Ramakrishna, where God is, it cannot be hell. Where you don't see God, that is, you know, I can put it in psychological language. Where there is happiness, that is heaven. Where there is unhappiness, that is hell. Is it not? So what is hell? If you are very happy, you know, that story comes, you know, Yudhishthira, after death, he had gone, he had, he opened his eyes, found himself in hell. Then, as he was seeing, piteous sides, the souls, who have done so much of, Yudhishthira was surprised. Arre, I never did anything wrong. I find myself in hell. As he was going, you see, piteous cries, O Yudhishthira, Dharma Raja, be here. Don't go away. Your very presence here, makes our, this hell has disappeared. This heat has gone. It has become like air-conditioned place. All the happiness we are experiencing. Please, we have, be here, be here, be here. Anyway, the humorous part of it is, is he asked, he was surprised himself. He was not expecting to be in hell. Why, why am I here? And he was explained, you know, that is how, your Guru had come to an end. So you accumulated 99% merit, and 1% a lie is there. That's why, whoever accumulates more merit, and less, demerit, first they will go to hell, quickly finish that demerit, and then go and enjoy, heavenly life for a long time. So, your momentary stay here, experience all the sins you have committed, now you can go back to, heaven. And all the souls were crying out, Yudhishtira, do not leave us, your presence brought us so much of relief, but he can't stay because this is the law of karma. So he went. What did he find? All the Duryodhana and others were enjoying, the first class dance of Rambha, Urvashi, Dhirothama, and all those fellows. He was shocked, because he was not expecting them to be there. Anyway, I thought I escaped them, and here also I find them the same way. Then he asked, how come they are here? Because they did one percent merit. So first they will experience, heaven, and afterwards, leisurely, you know, they experience, hellish something. These are all for our edification. So, the points we have discussed today is, that there are many methods of meditation. Even though we are all initiated, we are all supposed to be meditating upon our chosen deity. We can make our meditation very pleasant, by remembering certain experiences. You have seen Sriram Krishna meditate. You have seen Holy Mother, in your dreams, meditate upon it. Or, Leela Dhyana, I mentioned in my last talk. What is Leela Dhyana? Every day, go to Jairambhati, mentally, and then, you know, at the end of the office, when you come home, you want to meditate, go to Jairambhati, slowly. Imagine, hundred percent, you are there, you are walking, and as you are moving towards the house of Holy Mother, you feel more and more joy. And then, imagine, no crowds, Shiva sitting, waiting, when is my child coming to me? Because in actual life, that doesn't happen. But in imagination, you can throw everybody else into the other places. Your imagination. There also, if you imagine, mosquitoes and flies, I have to pity you. You prostrate before Mother, touch her tenderest feet, and then, she will put her hand and blessing you, says, my child, you have come, you must be tired, wait, I will bring some prasad. She runs inside and brings first class, just now fried. Don't think she fried three hours before and they are cold. Now first class fried pakoda and all those things. Whatever you like. And then, as you are eating, you talk with Holy Mother. You talk, what happened my child, today, that fellow shouted at me, oh, that person appreciated me, I could finish my work. Talk like normally what you are doing, related to Holy Mother. And you feel her presence. You can do it with Ramakrishna. You can do it with Krishna. As I mentioned, what was Gopalasma doing for 33 years? She was only thinking of Krishna. Why did she have that vision of Krishna? Because she was focused for 33 years. That particular form of child Gopala, crawling and crying for butter and all those things, that's why she had that vision. So, these are some of the ways, we can make our meditation very pleasant and effective. If you can focus on a particular idea, do that. But, on the day, when your mind is not that focused, then, Leela Dhyan. That is what Bhagavatam, Ramayanam, all these are there, so that we can meditate upon Rama, upon Krishna, etc. I again want to remind ourselves, when Sri Ramakrishna, used to think of having the vision of Sri Rama, what did he meditate upon? Hanuman. When he wanted to have the vision of Krishna, what did he meditate upon? Radha. And then, the intensity of the imagination, made him, he is 100% into Hanuman, into Radha. That means, that mind of Sri Ramakrishna, whatever he wants to meditate upon, he will be able to do that. That is what in this 40 years. Whatever he resolves to do, meditate upon to focus, he will become one with that. Sri Ramakrishna was a realized soul, even if you don't accept him as an incarnation of God. And he used to give, most appropriate instructions to each one of his disciples. How did he do that? You know, by definition, who is a good teacher? Who is the best teacher? Teacher is one, who is capable of coming down, to the level of the pupil, put himself in the shoes of the pupil and say, so this pupil is like this. So for him, this would be the most appropriate teaching. What do you think Sri Ramakrishna was meditating upon, after he had all these experiences? You know, he was always in Samadhi and other things. What do you think he was meditating upon? He was meditating upon his devotees, in which state each one of them was there. There are also hints in Kathamruta. I was thinking, sitting, how much each devotee progressed, etc. And how was he doing? How was he able to find out, which person had progressed? What obstacles were there? How did he come to know about it? Because he was able to identify himself, with each one of his disciples, means become one like that. And then he knows, oh, this is what is inside the mind. These are the unconscious things, which are holding him down. This is the best way for him. So what we are unable to see, like a psychiatrist, he was able to see, and then tell further, you go this way, this way, this way. What do you think a realized soul will do, really speaking? What do you think his job is, his dharma is? What did Swami Vivekananda do, after his realization? Think of it. First, before attaining, he said, I want Samadhi. After attaining Samadhi, is there anything else to do? Then what does he do? He will only think of one thing. What is that one? To put it in brief, he becomes an absolute instrument, in the hands of God. And who is God? Creator. And what is the nature of the Creator? After creating, what does he do? You see, what a wonderful thing it is to think, a woman, before marriage, she is thinking only about herself. After marriage, she is thinking about her happiness, and her husband's happiness. But after she gets a child, what do you think she will be doing? She will be only thinking 24 hours, about the welfare of the child. You see, God is like our mother, who created us. Then what do you think he will be thinking? What will be good for us? This would be the meditation of the Divine Lord. That's why Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, she could not sleep. What was she doing? Thinking about the welfare of all the children. Only one thing, do not confine your understanding of Sri Ramakrishna, only to those days whom he knew. We are all children of Sri Ramakrishna. He is still thinking. Do you think he is sitting there, and then he doesn't know anything that is happening to us? He knows everything about us. He knows what is going to be our future. He knows what is good for us. Is he doing something? He is doing everything. What are we doing? We say, you fellow, you don't know what is good for my good, and what is bad. You are not listening to me. I am praying to you. I know better than you. Who knows better than us? He knows better. And whatever incidents happen, actually that is all for our good. This is called self-surrender. Wonderful things. And the next coming few aphorisms are only reiteration or recapitulation of what we already discussed, especially 17th, 18th and 19th aphorisms. We will go very quickly through them. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti