Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 066

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMAVIDVISHAHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRANJALI RANATHOSME I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar and of the body through medicine. We continue the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. We had discussed the very foundation of spiritual life is the practice of these 10 Yamas and Niyamas. If we do not practice there is no question of progress in spiritual life. It is said in our scriptures that we all should want, wish, long for liberation. So when does liberation come? Does it come at a particular point of time? It is said no. The moment we start spiritual practice that very moment maybe 1%, 2% we have already progressed towards liberation. As soon as we progress a little bit in manifesting these 10 qualities Yamas and Niyamas, that very moment our mind becomes so pure and so free that is called Mukti. Mukti means liberation. Liberation means that to feel that I am not bound. So as we go on progressing in spiritual life a time will come when we feel totally free. Here also a little bit of psychology is involved. That psychology is what is really Mukti? Liberation. What is bondage? Bondage is to feel our identification with body and mind. And what is it that binds the body and mind? That Sukha and Dukha, happiness and unhappiness. And these are the things which bind. So what happens is these 10 beautiful qualities which are foundational qualities, when we practice these things we become free from the bondage of both body and mind. Take a simple example. The first of these qualities of Yama is called Ahimsa. Ahimsa means non-injury. Ahimsa means injury. Ahimsa means non-injury. Now where does this non-injury begin? It is in the mind. As soon as a thought comes, what does that thought do to us? It brings us to the consciousness of the body and our experience of the happiness or unhappiness, they take place in our mind. So physically, body-wise, the moment we practice non-injury, we feel free and we feel also happy. Add to it, Santosha. Santosha means tremendous amount of contentment. What is the result of practicing this contentment? Anuttamaha Sukhalabhaha. When we become perfect in contentment, that means when we feel we have no desire, we experience such a great joy, no description can be given of it. Now a little bit of psychology about happiness. When can we say we are happy? When we are free, when we do not feel time, space, then we are happy. Time and space are the things that bind us. When we are in pain, we experience intensely, we become aware of time and space. When we are happy, then we do not experience. In a way of speaking, what is the definition of happiness? Happiness is forgetting time and space. What is the definition of health? When we are not conscious of the existence of the body, that is called health. When are we aware of our teeth? Until I am speaking now, are you aware of your teeth? If you have any problem, the moment you have a problem, pain or any kind of defect, immediately it brings us to our notice. Then we become intensely aware of time and space. Now what this has got to do with our discussion? We are talking about the concept of Mukti. Mukti means what? Freedom. Freedom means what? Not being conscious of time, space and causation. What is it that makes us intensely aware of time, space and causation? The body and mind. Therefore, I hope you see the point that the more we practice these ten virtues, foundational qualifications for spiritual life, that very moment if we have succeeded in establishing these ten qualities or even one quality, the only understanding we must have is if we can practice one virtue, it brings in all other virtues. If we practice one non-virtue, bad quality, all other qualities will come along with that. There is absolutely no doubt about it. So practicing one virtue requires the moral support of all the other virtues. If we can succeed in establishing these Yamas and Niyamas, 1%, how much are we free? 1%. When we succeed 2%, how much are we free? 2%. When we succeed 100%, then we are absolutely free. What does that mean? To sum up again, 1% if we are free to practice these virtues, 1% we become less aware, conscious of our body and mind. There are only three entities in this whole universe, the soul, body and mind. What is bondage? To feel identity with body and mind. What is freedom? To be free from the identity with body and mind. This is the psychological explanation. Patanjali also tells us that these five Yamas, Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, Aparigraha, these are universal great vows. That means, let it be any time, billion years in the past, billion years in the future, any place, any time, any person, whoever does not practice this is a bound person. Whoever practices this is a great soul. There is also a beautiful point to be noted here. Five Yamas, five Niyamas. These five Yamas like non-injury, truthfulness, etc. These are considered universal great vows. No time, space, place, person, class, caste, etc. is limited. Now everybody has to practice, must practice if they want happiness. But the other five Niyamas are personal. The more we practice, the more we get benefit out of it. Of course, as a side effect, others also might get benefit. But mostly we get benefit. But when we practice the first five Yamas, the whole world will get benefit. We have discussed in quite a detail about these two. But life is not so easy. Whenever we try to practice these things, tremendous obstructions come. The obstructions come in what form? In the form of what is called opposite thoughts, inimical thoughts. Take for example Ahimsa, that is non-injury. The moment we want to practice this, somebody will come and pass a remark. And then our whole balance, calmness, serenity, everything is totally upset. How to overcome? What is spiritual practice? It is to get rid of these inimical thoughts. So, aphorism number 33. Patanjali is telling something extraordinary. Vitarka badhane pratipaksha bhavanam. To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to yoga, contrary thoughts will be brought. To put it in simple words, if we are thinking wrong thoughts, what is the way to stop wrong thoughts? Start thinking wrong thoughts to wrong thoughts. Thoughts opposed to wrong thoughts. Vitarka means inimical thoughts. What is the enemy of non-injury? Injury. What is the enemy of always longing to receive things? Non-receiving. What are the enemies for living a life of brahmacharya or continence? To get rid of the body consciousness. Think thoughts opposite to body consciousness. Thus, for all these ten virtues, opposite thoughts will be coming. When we are trying to practice, opposite thoughts will come. These thoughts may originate because of mainly two sources. One source is that outside world. Even though I may want to live a good life, there may be a number of people outside, number of events that happen outside, that can cause me to think or to go down or not being able to practice these virtues. But even more inimical than that is my own, what we call, past lives, deep impressions. For ages together, we have been practicing the wrong type of life. We think that happiness is not possible unless we compete with others, unless we injure others, unless we suppress others, oppress others. The whole society, wherever it is, it is trying to do these things. So now we have become aware, by the grace of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and Holy Mother, we want to lead a spiritual life. But there will be also the world. The world doesn't understand that we are trying to lead a spiritual life. So they also cause. In fact, the world causing us obstructions is in a way a good thing, in a way a bad thing because it is an obstruction. In a way it is a good thing because it gives us, it shows us a mirror to our face and says, are you free from the thoughts of injury? Are you free from the thoughts of temptation, etc.? During my talks, I also happen to mention this story. Supposing, as an example, a person has lust within himself. But another emotion which is called, I want to perform austerities, I want to think only about God. Suppose this thought overcomes the lower thought. The lower thought has not gone. Swami Yathishwaranandaji, in his most classic book, Meditation and Spiritual Life, discussed how in our subconscious, what the modern psychology calls unconscious, they are deeply hidden. So how do we know that they are there? Because the first opportunity that comes, they become manifest. As Sri Ramakrishna used to say, there are sometimes, you know, plants which shed the seeds on the ground. For many years, there is no rain. So it looks everything is desert. Not one inkling that there is any seedling or any such thing. But let the first rains descend. Within three days, the whole earth is covered with different types of plants, seedlings, etc. So the example given in our Puranas is the story of Vishwamitra. I have recounted. Vishwamitra wanted to become, get the title of Brahma Rishi, a man of realization. Brahma Rishi, he wanted. He performed 1000 years austerity. And Indra, the God of Gods, he had sent some women to entertain him, to make him fall down, to tempt him. And very first sight, he fell down. Now this is the story. I don't want to go deep into that story. But the point that we have to learn is, was Indra the cause of Vishwamitra's downfall? Was it Vishwamitra? What was the role of Indra? According to my understanding, Indra was the greatest friend. He wants to help us. But we are unable to find out. There is a deep disease lying hidden in the depths of our unconscious. But it is not coming out. And we are thinking that we are free from that. Just because it is not drawing our attention. We also discussed during this course of these talks, that one emotion can totally suppress and overcome another emotion temporarily. For example, a woman is very angry with her husband. Swami Vivekananda gives this example. And when she was expressing her anger, suddenly her child comes there, crawling, and immediately she takes up the child. And the emotion of love for the child drives away the anger upon her husband. So we are always covering one emotion with the other emotion. And when the emotion which is covered is not expressly manifest, we are likely to make the mistake of thinking we have overcome. So to complete this story, Vishwamitra had fallen. After some time he realized, I had fallen. Again he had gone. Again he had done 1000 years austerities. This second time again Indra sent the same people. And this time he did not fall victim to lust, but he fell victim to tremendous, terrible anger. How dare you come to tempt me? He didn't understand that that very first obstruction has now taken a second manifestation. Like Mahishasura in the Devi Saptashruthi. The Mahishasura, how many forms he takes. The mother wants to cut off the head of one form, immediately he takes another form. This Ahamkara, egotism, takes so many forms. Every emotion by the way is nothing but manifest in the form of Ahamkara, egotism. What does that mean? Such a fascinating subject. I am angry, anger is there. I am not anger, but I become angry. What did I become? I have become anger. I have become lustful. I have become greedy. These are all separate thoughts. But the moment they come in touch with I, the pure I, which is idling, now becomes one with that thought. Vruthi sarupyam itharatra. In the yoga I say, when we are not established within our own nature, then we are identifying with every passing thought that is going through our minds. So this lust had turned into anger. And all his austerities have been totally destroyed. The power, he had lost everything. Again 1000 years. What an interesting story. And third time again, Indra sends the same situation. What happened this time? Vishwamitra realized, I had given in to my emotions. Now I am not going to give. You dance, you sing, I will watch you, I will enjoy you. He had overcome. He realized. This time, Brahma comes and says, you have advanced in spiritual life. What is the moral of this story? I am only taking this story as an anchor, so that we can discuss these points. Deep within him, all these negative emotions were hiding. What happened? He was not aware of them. He was thinking, I am a great spiritual sadhaka. I am not overcome by this. Ordinary people, useless people, weak people, they may be overcome. But me, no, I am deeply committed to God. The point is, if you are not deeply committed, if you are really deeply committed to God, why is it that you are not making progress towards God? So Vishwamitra recognized that emotion. This is the psychoanalytical method. Freud discovered this. I think some of you know about it. I have referred so many times. Freud was struggling to help people who are suffering from mental diseases. Once, an eight-year-old girl, she had come. She was suffering from mental disease. Then he tried his level best with his knowledge, but he couldn't help. By that time in France, this hypnotism, mesmerism had become very popular. And it was reported, several mentally sick people were helped by these processes. And at first, Freud had denied the validity of these things. But then he thought, I was not able to cure this girl. So let me try. So he put her into hypnotic state. And then he asked her, what is it that is troubling you? He took her, that girl back to a situation, to a time when she had gone through a very painful episode. When that girl herself recollected that event. And this girl later on realized it. It was brought to her notice. She became aware, oh, this is the cause of my problem. Immediately she became cured. Now apply this to Vishwamitra. He was not able to progress. He was accumulating power, spiritual, not spiritual, or the power of austerity. But he was not able to move forward. Why? Because these chains of karma, growth, etc., were pulling him back. They were not simply allowing him to move forward. But Indra wanted to help him. How to help him? To make him aware, even at the cost of falling down. Even at the cost of wasting 2000 years of austerity. So what is the point we are discussing? Within ourselves, so many past lives, samskaras are deeply hidden. That is why when we read the life of Sri Ramakrishna, we come across. When devotees used to come to Sri Ramakrishna, about some of them he would say, this person is a great yogi in his past life, but he could not progress. This would be his last life. He used to say this about Swami Abhedananda and others. About others he would say, this person will not progress in spiritual life in this life. He will make progress only in the next life. We create a soul, an incarnation of God like Sri Ramakrishna, like Jesus Christ. Even they could not help so many people. As I go on talking, I also give some illustrations to make these points very clear. There was one man who came to Sri Ramakrishna. He said, I am suffering from intense infatuation with my wife. I am unable to make progress. In Sri Ramakrishna, there are two personalities. One is the divine mother and another is the child, the devotee. So the devotee Sri Ramakrishna, he said, don't worry, you bring some sweets. I will eat off your infatuation, maya. And the man really brought, but Sri Ramakrishna said, I could not touch. Because that man's problem was so deep, he had to go through a lot of suffering. Sri Ramakrishna even, he promised, I will eat off your maya. But he could not help. So why he could not help? Because the man had to learn lessons. Coming back, Vitarka Badhane Pratipaksha Bhavanam. Patanjali says, as we are trying to practice spiritual disciplines, so many these obstructions, inimical thoughts will come. What is spiritual practice? To convert every type of opposing thought. Because every thought expends some amount of energy. And for God realization, we need 100% of the energy. This is called focusing, full concentration. So even though it is an inimical thought, the energy behind that thought, it doesn't belong to that thought. The thought is only misusing that. If we can remove that thought, or if we can even make it positive, and that is the method advocated here, then it will help us move forward, go forward very fast. In this connection, there is a beautiful incident. One monk approached Swami Brahmananda and he told him, Maharaj, I am suffering from lust. I am unable to move forward. Can you not remove my lust? Swami Brahmananda made a remarkable statement. Look here my boy, I can remove your lust. You will never again feel it. But you will not progress one centimeter in spiritual life. Now this sometimes, it definitely surprised me at that time, because I did not understand properly. Why? Because the energy behind the lust is the same energy behind love of God. There is a beautiful Bengali saying, I don't know how much I remember. आत्मेंद्रियः प्रीति इच्छा तारी नाम काम। कृष्णेंद्रियः प्रीति इच्छा धुरे प्रेम नाम। Am I right? So if our desires are centered around our body and mind, that is called lust, karma. But if the same desire is centered around Krishna, that is called love of God. You know in modern world, so many wrong things have taken place. One of the thing is, we use the word love. We must clearly distinguish these two words. Love and lust are opposed like light and darkness. Anything, any desire that belongs to this world, body and mind, that is called lust. Any desire that goes outside the body and mind, in other words, towards God, towards a higher ideal, that is called love. So what is our problem? So many lives, impressions are lying hidden here. But they need not be. Even the opposing thoughts can be used like judo. I am sure you know what judo is. To take advantage of the opponent's strength to topple him is called judo. So if there is lust, let me put you a question. It is a very interesting question. Supposing a person has 10% lust. How much would be his love for God, devotion for God? How much? Only 10%. Don't think, only 10% lust. That means 90% love he has got for God. No, because the lust is nothing but desire. What is the solution? You turn that same desire towards God. Then it becomes devotion. Emotion becomes devotion. So, To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to yoga, contrary thoughts must be brought in. This is the way to practice all these virtues that have been stated by holding thoughts of an opposite character in the mind. When the idea of stealing comes, non-stealing should be thought of. When the idea of receiving gifts comes, replace it by a contrary thought. So on with the practice of all the other 10 virtues. One simple example will be supposing, Oh, my home is alright. My car is okay. But if I had that model, it would have been better. If I had that house in a separate shrine room, it would be much more convenient. Discontentment. But I am not saying you should not have it. What I am saying is the feeling of discontentment is inimical to us. What is the opposite thought? By God's grace, I am having this. It is most wonderful. There are so many people who do not have even this. In the whole world, how many people have a good home, beautiful water, drinking water, electricity supply, so much of safety. We are in seventh heaven, really speaking. But only because we are discontent, grumbling, we think a better state would be much better. So this is how the opposite thoughts to inimical thoughts should be brought in. This is the only way to progress in life. We will explore these things a little further, slightly later on. What is this secret of bringing the opposite thoughts? What is it? Here Patanjali is giving first of all a classification. There are what we call nine types of Pratipaksha Bhavana. If we are doing something wrong, it can be of nine types. Therefore, if we want to overcome them, they also must be of the nine types. What are these? Krita, Karita, Anumodita. Let us give some examples first. The obstructions to yoga or killing etc., whether committed, caused or approved, either through avarice or anger or ignorance, whether they are slight, middling or great, and the result is innumerable ignorances and miseries. This is the method of thinking the contrary. What is this method? First, this vitharka means our inimical thoughts. Vitharka means thoughts inimical to our spiritual practice. Take a simple example. Himsa, injury. The idea of injuring other people is an inimical thought. By the way, Swami Vivekananda's definition of ahimsa, non-injury. Do you know? Non-injury is absence of jealousy. Do you know how subtle this jealousy is? Many times, we are not even aware that jealousy exists. If we see another devotee doing more japa, we feel jealous. If the other devotee is having more talks with the Swami, then we feel jealous. If the other devotee is having better prasada, then we feel jealous. Why could not I have it? So, this himsa means injury. So, that thought comes. The thought of injury comes. Then, this thought of injury, how does it express itself? We may have it. How subtly these things obstruct our spiritual progress? Let us take this example. I am having jealousy, but I may not be even aware of it. Then, towards that person, towards whom I am having that jealousy, I will be looking at him in a peculiar way. Then, supposing another person comes to me and talks a little bit downgrading that person. Immediately, I feel. Simple example, there are two singers are there. One singer is very good singer. The other is not that good singer. So, this person who is not such a good singer, he is jealous of the person who is good singer. So, in this example, this lower type of singer becomes jealous of the higher type of singer. Then, suppose this person, better singer, had given a performance. After the performance is over, somebody comes along. That person and this lower grade singer happens to talk. And that person tells to this person. You know, he is a good singer, but today he did not perform so well. Immediately, this person's mind jumps into great joy. That means what? He is not directly, he is not criticizing. It is somebody else is criticizing. But it causes in this person such a tremendous, what is called, satisfaction. Even though positively he doesn't gain anything. This is just an example to show how much we are victims to these passions, to these wrong type of emotions. If we are not 100% careful about them, we can fall. We have so many examples of these things. I don't want to dwell upon that. Here, Patanjali Rishi is telling us, any type of wrong thought, wrong action, wrong thought leads to wrong action. Any type of wrong action. Maybe we do it directly. Maybe we do not do it directly, but we make others do it. The third type is Anumodita. Krita means directly we do it. Karita means we make others do it. Anumodita means we approve other people doing. We don't say anything. No, I am going to do this to that person. And we don't say anything. We smile and say, oh, that's your business. But inside we are very happy because that gives us joy. Sometimes keeping quiet. That's why it is said, who is a good citizen? Such a wonderful thing. A citizen is one, when he comes to know somebody is harming our country, then he should not keep quiet. He should immediately go and report either to the police or make it public. And sometimes people pay heavily for that. Anyway, coming back, how subtle it is. We may do something wrong ourselves. We may get it done through others. Or we may encourage others either through active approval or by keeping mum. And if we are not free from these three types of actions, then we are caught. We will not progress. Simple truth is we will not progress in spiritual life. That is one truth. The other truth is even more horrible. If we commit any of these negative actions, you know, karma phala, it will come to us in some form or the other. Now or in future, it is inescapable. That is why Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, they believe in the law of karma. When we are suffering, we may not be able to find out the immediate cause of our suffering. But Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, they believe, maybe you have done so many lives back, maybe hundred lives back, thousand lives back, you might have done something. So if I tell a lie or cause another to tell a lie or approve of another doing so, it is equally sinful. I remember an example. Devotees of Holy Mother's life would definitely remember it. Holy Mother used to tell this as a teaching. It is not an incident, but she used to tell. There was a man, he was a butcher. One day he was dragging a cow to the butcher's house. And the cow knows that I am going to be killed. So it was trying to resist. And the man was trying to pull it. He was tired. So in the middle of to the butcher's place, he stopped. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He was tired. Then he begged, I am very hungry. Will you please give some food at a house? And that house lady and she provided him with food. And he took the food. He drank the water. He got some rest. And with that he got some strength. And he pulled that cow to the butcher's butchery and that was killed. What did Holy Mother say? A part of that sin of killing that cow had come to this lady. Why? Because she had aided. How wonderful, you know. If we aid any people who are trying to do some hodgepodge business, and then we will also get the sin. What is the sin? We want progress first of all in spiritual life. Second thing is we ourselves have to pay for that sin in some small way or the other. If we do it directly, that is also sinful. If we get it done through others, that may be equally sinful. But if we do not resist or approve of it and encourage others by our silence, that is also equally sinful. How difficult it is, this spiritual life. And the tragic part of it is most of the time we may not know what we are doing, what we are witnessing in others is right or wrong. So is there any way to do it? Yes. That is where Patanjali Rishi comes to our aid. He says if a person is practicing spiritual disciplines, what is the first thing that happens? Pratyak Pravanata. Every single thought, feeling, emotion, passion that goes through our mind becomes immediately like as though a 10,000 watt halogen bulb shines it. We will come to know. And why modern people suffer from mental sickness? So many of us suffer from mental sickness. Why do we suffer? There are two reasons for that. One reason is we are not aware what is the root cause of these problems. Modern psychiatry will tell you crystal clear, millions of examples are there, everyday experience of the psychiatrists and psychologists. When we go to these people, what do they do? They have learnt the technique of drawing out what is the cause of our problems. Do you know what is the beautiful thing about this? The moment we become aware, oh this is the root cause of my problem, 50% of the mental disease has vanished. But the other 50% is, it is not enough to be aware of it. It is very necessary for us to take active steps that particular obstructive thought or feeling or emotion or passion must be uprooted totally. How do we uproot it? Vitarka badhane pratipaksham, bring the opposite thought. First three divisions. I said nine ways of bringing out these wrong thoughts. What are the first three? We do it directly or we make it cause another person to do it or we approve of it either silently or by approving of it or by not opposing it. And the other thing he says is, these doing wrong actions or thinking wrong thoughts is due to lobha, krodha, moha. It could be due to these three types of ignorances. Lobha, greed or moha means delusion, infatuation or it may be due to krodha, anger. So these emotions themselves are wrong emotions but they become the causes of all the other wrong things that we do and they have got three degrees again. So three plus three, the last three, three degrees. It may be mild, it may be more strengthful, powerful, it may be very powerful. We may do a small wrong thing or we may do a more wrong thing or we may do very wrong thing. So again three degrees are there. So first is direct action, getting it done by others and also get it done through our approval or silent assent and it can be done because of these three being overpowered by three passions that is greed and infatuation or delusion, wrong understanding or through anger and they might be very small or very much more injurious and highly injurious. Nine types. See how careful we have to be. These are all called vittarka. What is vittarka? Anything that binds us, that obstructs our spiritual progress is called vittarka. What is the way to overcome this? Pratipaksha bhavanam. Think of the opposite. Sri Ramakrishna has also given another way. First let us clarify this. Supposing a person, he is addicted to telling lies. How to overcome that habit of telling lies? Think of the opposite. What is the opposite of lying? Truthfulness. You see many times we let lies go on spreading. One of the things very injurious to us is spreading gossip, you know, scandals. Swami Vivekananda was subject to that. All sadhus, practically so far as I know, so many sadhus, these devotees bring these scandals. Oh this person is talking. He must be having some connection with this woman. Scandals or this person is running after money or this person, this monk is running after money or running after this particular devotee. Oh my God! Every monk, every nun have experienced. Recently I have been to. So what is the opposite of lobha? Greediness. What is it? What is the opposing thought to greediness? Generosity. What is the opposing thought to injury? Non-injury. Not only non-injury, doing good to others, actively doing good to others. What is the opposite thing to anger? Love. That's what Swami Vivekananda says. Love. Like that every emotion has got both sides. So that the emotion which obstructs our progress going forward towards God, that is an enemy. But in general we also have the feeling that some things are, some emotions, some passions are, naturally they are enemies towards progress to God. If we analyze then what we find is every passion has its legitimate place in this world. Every passion. Let us take kama. Kama means lust. Lust is the legitimate function of kama. Supposing nobody had got this lust, then do you know what will happen? Today this class would not have been here. Because the whole srishti creation will come to an end. So progenation, that is propagating the species is the very purpose of lust. Not only that, the more lust a person has, that means the more energy a person has. And if he only directs it towards God, then it becomes not only an inimical passion, but it becomes positively a very helpful passion. I will come to that shortly. Every thought which obstructs our progress towards spiritual life, that can be removed by the opposing thought. Patanjali Rishi says this is the method to get rid of negative thoughts, negative emotions. We all suffer from negative thoughts. So negative thoughts always do not mean only that are related to spiritual life, even normal life. Am I a happy person? We should have been much more happy than what we are now, really speaking. But we are not that happy. What is it that holds us back being in seventh heaven, even though at the cost of taking a little time? I want to illustrate this point to you. As we are now, with all our surroundings, environment, people with whom we are living, we should have been in the seventh heaven or eighth heaven. Supposing we are all, let us say, in a place like Nigeria, where we are kidnapped. And somebody is, some enemy with guns, they are chasing us. We are running away from the place. Whole day we are running away. At nightfall, we reach a safe place, a small shed, and very plain food, a little bit of water, and a place where we can lie peacefully. At that time, having escaped that environment, what do you think, what is the state of our mind at that time? We are in seventh heaven. In comparison with that what we have now, we should be in 1800 heaven or whatever it is. But we are not. Why? Because our mind takes it for granted. Nobody is happy. Everybody says, this is okay for now, but if I had the other one, it would be better. So, Pratipaksha Bhavanam. It is our thoughts which make us happy or unhappy. Again, it is our thoughts which make us either bound or released. That is a very beautiful saying in Sanskrit. Mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation. Sri Ramakrishna, he had gone one step further and said, there is another method. According to Patanjali, bring in the opposite thoughts. According to Sri Ramakrishna, he said, you don't need to do that. You can progress in spiritual life by converting those very inimical thoughts. Increase them. I hope you remember the incident. Swami Turiyananda went to Sri Ramakrishna and said, I am suffering from lust. What is the way out? Sri Ramakrishna said, increase it thousand fold, a million fold, you know, dramatic sentence. I am not telling the further, I will tell later on. Suppose Sri Ramakrishna stopped here. This man would be thinking, I have come for a solution. I am suffering from so much of lust, say one percent, and I am unable to control it. And here is a person who is advising me, increase it to one thousand times. What did he add? Direct towards God. There is a tremendous meaning in it. I had already discussed in today's class that any passion, passion is not an obstruction. No passion is an obstruction. It is an obstruction when it is directed towards a worldly object. What is worldly object? Bondage. If I direct my passion towards bondage, I will be more bound. But if I direct this same passion towards liberation, freedom, then I will get a thousand times more freedom. Again here, beautiful mathematics. Supposing a person is suffering from ten percent of what you call a passion, ten percent. When he is freed from that, how much freedom he will get? Ten percent. Supposing he has got a hundred percent and he is freed from a hundred percent, then how much freedom he will get? A hundred percent. What Srinam Krishna is telling is, it is not the passion that is our enemy. It is the object towards which we direct our passions. That is our enemy. So also he said, are you suffering from anger? Increase the anger tremendously, but not towards anybody. Towards the obstructions which are not allowing us to move forward towards God. We can also say a student. He wants to become a first-class student. Then he is overcome by lethargy. He is overcome by sleepiness. Tamasikatha is overcome by certain passions. He wants to watch cricket. He wants to watch movies. He wants to gossip with friends. These are his enemies. He has got this tremendous desire to progress in his studies. So he should get angry. Angry towards what? He should get angry and say, I will not watch movies. I will not go to the cricket match. I will not mix with my friends. Until the examinations are over, I must devote my whole attention to studies and nothing but the studies. This is Ramakrishna's method. He says we are all overcome by greediness. All of us are very greedy. What is the remedy? Greediness itself is not a wrong emotion. As I said, we always have to keep this in mind. There is no wrong emotion. Any emotion that is directed towards a wrong end is a wrong emotion. But any emotion that is directed towards a good thing, towards a positive, a higher ideal, that is what really is a good emotion. So there is greediness. What is the opposite of greediness? Generosity. But Sri Ramakrishna said, no. You increase your greediness. But you say, I want only God. How much of God do you want? I want more God. I can expand it a little bit. You say, I want to do japa. How much japa you want to do? I say, 10,000 times a day is normal. 10,000 times a day. Oh, 10,000 times. That devotee is doing 50,000 times a day. Why should I not be greedy? Let me be also greedy, more greedy than him. Who said that? Holy Mother. Do you remember? What did she say? Every day how much japa she was doing? 100,000 times. Is it possible? Would she have said if it were not possible? It is definitely possible. But the problem is, do we want to do it? So be greedy. I want to do more japa. I want to go to Vedanta Center more. I want to eat more prasadam. So be greedy that I want to develop these virtues. I want to be even more virtuous person. This is Sri Ramakrishna's method. Let us summarize. Patanjali's method is, bring the opposite thoughts. What is Sri Ramakrishna's method? Increase these very passions, but direct them towards God. This is, I think, the new innovation of Sri Ramakrishna in many ways. So today, what did we discuss in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras? The most important point is, whatever does not allow us to progress in spiritual life, that is an inimical thought. That is called ritarka. So many inimical thoughts are there. How to overcome them? Think opposite of those thoughts. This is whose method? Patanjali Yogi's method. What is Sri Ramakrishna's method? You increase them and direct them towards God. Both methods we can combine and successfully use in our spiritual life. And if we succeed in developing these virtues, these five yamas and five nimas, what is the benefit we are getting? We are after all, you know, traders even in religion. We want, what is the benefit I get? And from next class onwards we will take. Such beautiful benefits are there. Just to increase your appetite. He says, there is one virtue called aparigraha, non-receiving of gifts. I do not even think I should receive something. When a man's mind is so clean that he doesn't even think, that thought never comes to his mind of even expecting something from others. What is the result? All the precious stones, ratna, that is the word used here, that means all the wealth of the world rushes towards him and forces itself upon him. Don't expect anything. When we don't expect, somehow nature knows it and then it comes forward. So let us close our talk today here. We will study the benefits of practicing these ten virtues from our next class onwards. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti