Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 071

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMA VIDVISHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRAMJALI 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. In our past classes we have studied the effect of practicing Yama and Niyamas and they have been most wonderful results. So Yama, Niyama are the first and second steps in the eight-stepped way of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Now we move on to the last third one which is called Asana. Aporism number 46 is Sthiram Sukham Asanam. We all know, we hear this word about Asana. Asana means two things. Where a yogi sits for practicing yoga, the seat on which he sits, the place where he sits, the seat on which he sits and the way he keeps the body on that seat. It is very necessary to sit in a proper way. So Patanjali describes posture is to be seated in a position which is firm, pleasant and relaxed. Firm, pleasant and at the same time relaxed. We see some people sitting very stiff and that means he is exerting unnecessary stress and that is very bad not only for physical health but even mental health too. Why is it so bad? One reason is our breathing depends upon how we sit. Now in the western thinking, you must have heard the famous statue, a thinking man, very stooped. Indian philosophy doesn't agree with that position. A man who is stooped means he is crooked physically, mentally. The way we sit regulates how we can breathe and the way we breathe indicates the state of our mind. That's why a person should be seated in such a place where it doesn't disturb the either body or the mind. Simple example you know, in India you get, India is a very overcrowded place. When you are travelling in bus, people are hanging to the trains, to the buses, to everything that they can get hold of. Now you ask them to do some serious thinking in that position, where do you think their mind is? How to not fall? Their whole mind is fixed on that particular this thing. That is why we say that it is very important, sit properly, sit pleasantly but at the same time firmness should be there. First, a yogi should sit, the place where he sits should be firm, neither too high nor too low and situated in a clean spot. Now there is something called fragrances you know, aromatherapy. It has an effect upon our minds. If it is bad smell, it has one type of effect. In fact every smell has got an effect and that is why the subtlest of the impressions that are alive in the mind, they are called vasanas. In Sanskrit vasana means smell. Even the slightest smell can bring back memories which can be very harmful to people. Sometimes they can be very pleasant, sometimes they can be very harmful, unpleasant or associations. Simple example I want to give. Supposing when you are young, somebody who gave you a lot of pain, always wearing a particular type of fragrance. And even after you grow up, whenever you smell that kind of fragrance, very unpleasant memories crowd literally our minds. That is why we have to be extremely careful. So a place should be neither high nor low nor lopsided and at the same time it should be clean surroundings. Supposing a person is sitting in a place which is full of mosquitoes or other annoying noises, insects etc. There is an instance, one day Swami Vivekananda and Girish Chandra Goswami went to meditate under Panchavati. Such a sacred place. Why? Because Ramakrishna had attained all sorts of visions and he became perfect under the Panchavati. If we can go and meditate in a place where previously somebody had attained to the state of perfection, that would help. That is why we go on places of pilgrimages. Why do we go? Because there the presence of God is felt more intimately, more intensely. So in the north, Girish Chandra Goswami, they went, they sat down. It must have been Maggi time. So they removed their upper clothing and sat. Girish Chandra Goswami was narrating. He could not sit for more than few minutes because of the mosquito bites. Whereas Swami Vivekananda being a born yogi, born meditator, he instantaneously plunged into meditation. His whole back was covered like a blanket with mosquitoes. Such great persons could do that. Just imagine, not only Swami Vivekananda, Swami Vivekananda of course he sat down. But what about Ramakrishna himself? Years and years together he used to sit there. And do you think that he was conscious of the mosquitoes? He must have been totally absorbed. For us, even if one mosquito enters into the mosquito net, our whole night's sleep is disturbed. Let alone its biting, even that humming noise it makes can create disturbance. So this is the first thing. A place which is pleasant, which is even, which doesn't disturb our body and mind, which is a clean place. What is meant by clean place? Physical cleanliness is there. There is another type called mental cleanliness. A place where a person had led a kind of what you call impure life. If we go there, maybe physically you don't see anything. But the vibrations, what we call vibrations, they definitely affect us. That is why you try to sit outside the shrine room and meditate. Sit inside the shrine room, you see how much difference it makes. Unless you are a perfected yogi, then no place makes any difference. Because for a yogi, wherever he sees, he sees only nothing but God. There is also asana, what is called a seat on which we sit. Traditionally it is described it should be on a deer skin. Then underneath the deer skin you spread some kusha grass, not any type of grass. Somehow Hindus have that special kind of reverence for that particular type of grass called kusha grass, which is considered as a holy grass. So that is used in puja and other places. So kusha grass and then put a piece of cloth on it. On that you spread some deer skin or sometimes if you want to impress people, tiger skin also you can put. This is the traditional way of looking at the asana. A yogi should first cover it with sacred grass, then with a deer skin, then lay a cloth over this. Such were the traditional requirements. But any convenient steady seat will do as well. Then the third meaning is posture. You know posture is very very important. You know there is a theory, the more free our body is able to breathe, the better would be not only our body but also our mind. If you sit in a crooked way, this is Hindu yogi's way of explanation. If we sit in a crooked manner then our mind also will become crooked. That is why straight. The role is the backbone and the neck and the head should be straight. So what happens when a body is in this particular position, then the lungs become free. And what is the connection between lungs and the mind? Tremendous connection is there which we will come very shortly, today itself. The more we are able to feel free breath, that means you should not feel that you are striving, straining to take a breath. You should be absolutely free, you should not be even aware that you are straining to take a breath. As normal as it should be. If you want to understand properly what I am talking about, this is a season of the time when many people suffer from a peculiar disease called hay fever. And you know when hay fever comes, very difficult, asthma. And people suffering from asthma also, they cannot breathe properly. We are so lucky people, we are not suffering from this kind of problem. I have seen people, even Swami Vivekananda suffered. Mahapurush Maharaj suffered from this kind of diseases. And it was very difficult for them to breathe. And without breath, your whole attention is turned on the body consciousness. That is why we have to be extremely careful about it. So a posture means asana. And according to Hatha Yoga, there are empty number of asanas are there. That is to say, how to place our legs, where to place our hands, etc. The most famous of these asanas, do you know? Padmasana. There are several asanas are there. Hatha Yoga is practicing it. But what I find is, the most wonderful asana is called Shavasana. You just lie like a corpse. And actually, in between the practice of two asanas, it is a requirement that one should practice this Shavasana to get the full benefit of every particular asana. I will not go too deep into those things. Nowadays, Yoga means mostly Hatha Yoga is referred to. Hatha Yoga means how to bend the body into different postures. And it is intimately connected also with the idea that there is the prana. We all know about prana. Prana means vital energy. Every part of the body has a deep connection with this prana. And when the body is bent in a particular way, either a particular part of the prana, either it is blocked or it is released. So the theory is built up by practicing these particular asanas, a person can become more healthy and he can become free from certain diseases, etc. Swami Vivekananda gives a beautiful example. If people are suffering from frequent catching cold, according to yogic method, you practice drinking water through the nostrils. The nostrils become clear and it is less likelihood a person will be affected by cold. And it is true because I practiced it. So posture, there are an empty number of asanas are there. Sukhasana, Padmasana, Sirsasana, Sarvangasana, Mayurasana, etc. Just in passing, I want to recall. Mayura means peacock. And it is said peacock's digestive power is very good. So if somebody is suffering from problems of indigestion, if he practices this Mayurasana, then it helps quite a lot. So that is very important. Posture is defined by the Hindu tradition as that seat which would aid the free distribution of our prana and so aids in our yogic practice. The most famous asana is the so-called lotus posture, Padmasana, in which the yogis sit cross-legged with the feet drawn into rest against the tops of the thighs. You must have seen Padmasana. Now a caution. What if someone is not able to sit in Padmasana, not even able to sit on the floor? You know, there are elderly people, people suffering from rheumatism, people not accustomed to sit like Indians. So many people are there who will be unable to do it. You can be Hinduism or Patanjali yogis. It doesn't really matter. You sit where you are comfortable. But this is the condition. It must be firm. It must be so that your back would not bend and it must not bring the consciousness of the body to the fore. That is most important. But that seat in which you feel the least of the body consciousness, that is the best. But don't go to the extent of Shavasana because that is the seat where you feel the least of the body consciousness. In fact, soon after that if you practice meditation in Shavasana, you will turn into a Shiva very soon. Elderly beginners may find it best to sit upright on a chair but it is wiser to sit on the ground because when some degree of deep absorption has been achieved, there is always a danger of falling. The value of holding the body erect must be apparent to those who have never practiced meditation. It is a matter of common experience that one thinks more clearly in that position than when one is sitting with a bent back. But for the yogi, the erect posture is absolutely necessary. When the mind becomes deeply absorbed, a spiritual current is felt to rise through the spine and the passage for this current must be kept straight and open. This is the most important point why we should sit straight. That point also I will discuss a little later but I will give you a small hint. You see, we all believe in the presence of what we call Kundalini. Pranayama has a lot to do with the rousing of the Kundalini. The Kundalini is supposed to be at the base of the spine in a particular place. It has a technical name called Muladhara. And the purpose of the yogi is to rouse this Kundalini and make it travel through a particular narrow canal called Sushumna. So when it is rising, if the body is in a crooked position, then its rising will be definitely hampered. It will be obstructed. In fact, when a person is thinking deeply, this is a very common example, if the body is bent, what happens, at some point he will feel the constraint of breathing. As soon as that happens, the mind is brought to be conscious of the body. When that happens, the thought current, deep thought current is blocked. The person loses that thought current because the mind turns towards the thoughts of the body. That is why one should practice this asana before anything else, before practicing concentration, before practicing meditation, one should be able to practice. Sit firmly, calm and quiet in a posture where the breathing will be totally free. But breathing is only external sign of what is going on inside. The real point is to be as little aware of the body as possible. And for that, the posture practice is very important. Aphorism 47 The earlier aphorism number 46 is Sthiram Sukham Asanam Sthiram means firm, Sukham means that which is pleasant, comfortable. That is called practice of the asana. In this aphorism, Posture becomes firm and relaxed through control of the natural tendencies of the body and through meditation on the infinite. You know, our minds are very restless. The body affects our mind. In turn, our mind also affects our body. You must have noticed umpteen number of times when we are worried, then the body also is affected terribly. You know stress. Is stress a body condition or is it a mental condition? It could be both. If the body is in a stressful, you know that is why when prisoners are examined in some regimes, you know what they make them do? Stand up against a wall and bend in the posture of a chair. The knees will be forward, the back will be there. How long can a person hold in that condition? The body becomes extremely painful. Either the person collapses or he feels extreme pain. Everybody will collapse sooner or later. But the questioners, they will beat them so that they will have to stand in that position. The idea is to get confessions out of them. So if you can imagine that, you know what happens. When we are practicing the asana, we should not be very stiff. Some people want to sit very stiff. There is a special warning. Prayatna shaithilyat. You should not be trying to sit. Oh, I want to sit like that. That itself brings on a terrible amount of stress. But at the same time, you should not be totally loose. You should have some control over it at the beginning. So consciously, with full awareness, we have to practice this asana. It is very, very important. But how do we know that we have become really experts in good asana? Posture becomes firm and relaxed through control of the natural tendencies of the body and through meditation on the infinite. One of the beautiful hints given is when we think of finite things, mind becomes restless. If we can somehow train our mind to think of infinity. And what is infinity? Infinity means you take an ocean and you don't see any shore at all. Where you are standing, that is where you see. But you just go on thinking, oh, how infinite it is. Or look at the sky and then the idea of infinity comes. In fact, if you watch some of the documentaries on astronomy, how the whole universe, cosmos, how huge it is, it is beyond our imagination. If we can focus our mind and imagine on that infinity, then this is called ananta samapatti. Samapatti means focusing the mind completely, concentrating the mind completely. Achievement. What is on what? Ananta. The idea of infinity. Think of infinity. Incidentally, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna know that Sri Ramakrishna asked M, which form of God do you like? And he said, I like formless aspect of God. So, sir, can you teach me how to meditate on the formless aspect of God? He said, yes, I will show you. One day he took him to a pond, which was famous in those days, where people go to feed the ducks, etc. And then why Sri Ramakrishna took there? It is a big pond. It is not a lake, it is a big pond. He said, you watch, you are a fish swimming so freely. Nobody harms them. But they are so joyfully swimming there. He gave that example. Then he instructed M, think you are a fish in a huge ocean and no other fish is there. Otherwise, you will have the other damned fish is coming. It is occupying my space. Even if one neighbor is there, he will create what is called stress. No other fish is there. Only one fish is there. And it is joyfully swimming. It can close its eyes and swim absolutely free. This is one example he gave. And another example is still more beautiful. Imagine a bird in the infinite space, in the sky. Only one bird. Again more birds. And then what type of bird? Is it a kite? Is it an owl which will come swoop upon me and then going to gobble me up? No, only one. That means fearlessness. This is a beautiful idea again and again emphasized in the Upanishads. What is the idea? Dviti yaadvai bhayam bhavati. Fear arises out of duality. If there is one more, fear comes. In the wide meaning of this word second, it means not only fear. It could be happiness. Happiness means you are thinking, oh the other person is there. I have to make that person happy. So the thoughts are diverted. If you are alone, then you think of only yourself. That is why this example is given so beautifully. You think you are one single bird and joyfully flying up down in infinite sky. The idea is again we have to exercise our imagination. The bird is flying. How does it fly? It is flying horizontally. Can it fly up? Yes, it can fly up. Can it fly down? Immediately your mind says if it goes on flying downwards, then what will happen? It will smash against the earth. We should not think of that. Infinite means there are no directions. Finiteness means directions. Above, below, left side, right side, front, back, all these directions are only in finiteness. Infinite means no directions are there. This is the idea that has been given. Ananta Samapatti. In Indian mythology there is a story. You see we are living on this earth and this earth is not falling down. Why is it not falling down? Because somebody is holding it up. Who is that somebody who is holding it up? It is said you know like western thinking called Hercules is holding up the whole globe. Like that in Indian mythology this Ananta Naga is Adisesha with thousand hoods. He is holding on his head so that this earth will not fall. It is only mythological idea. Don't take it literally. So what happens if it sneezes? That is the idea of what is called earthquakes. What happens to earthquakes? Hercules is changing his shoulders. So the globe is still from one shoulder he is changing to the other shoulder. What is this Ananta? He is feeling a little bit of this irritation. So he wants to scratch his nose. This is called Bhumi Kamband. This is mythological ideas. But the idea is absolutely steadfast. Not one whisper of movement. Absolutely still. This idea of stillness is so beautifully described like a flame of lamp where there is no wind. Deepa. Absolutely this is what Bhagavan Krishna, this example is given in the Bhagavad Gita. In a room where there is no wind there is lamp and you don't see the lamp flickering. That is meditate upon it. A yogi's mind should be like that. To achieve firmness of seat or asana one is advised to meditate upon this Ananta. But think of the infinite sky, infinite ocean etc. A good natural position is very rare. Most people hold themselves badly and are subject to all sorts of physical tensions. Asana must therefore be perfected by careful training. The aim is to achieve an effortless alertness. Effortless alertness. In which the body is perfectly steady and yet perfectly relaxed. We are told to calm our minds by meditating on what is infinite. Our minds are incapable of imagining the infinite Brahma. But instead we can think of the limitless expanse of the sky or of the ocean etc. When a person becomes somewhat advanced in asana, that means he is able to sit for quite a long period. What is the long period? There is no such rule as long period. For a beginner if he can sit for 5 minutes without moving his body that is a long period. A little more advanced practitioner may be 45 minutes, may be 1 hour. It is said when a yogi sits for days together his body will not move. Like a frozen body he will be like that. So this is very necessary for those who are aspiring to practice to become good yogians. That means for the control of the mind. Again what is the connection between asana? Because when the body is firm the prana which is animating this body also becomes steady. When the body becomes steady then the mind becomes steady. When the mind becomes steady then there will be pratyahara, dharana and dhyana and samadhi. These four will come. We will discuss them in due time. What is the result of achieving a good long time posture? What benefit do we get? And this is also not only a definition but it is also a beautiful explanation of what is a real asana. The aphorism 48, tataha dvandva anavi ghataha tataha means from the conquering of the asana, asana siddhi. What happens? One is no longer troubled by the dualities of sense experience. Again the close connection between the body and mind. If we are affected in the mind the body is also affected. If our body remains steady the mind to that extent remains steady. But don't take it too far. Otherwise you know there are people who can sit absolutely still but they are thinking all sorts of crooked thoughts. They are hatching schemes how to make the other fellow unhappy. Sometimes you will see there are very crooked fellows. They have such control over their bodies. They absolutely look like innocent babes, terrible criminals. Some of them had this kind of control. So if you find somebody sitting absolutely still you can infer two things. Either really he has got control, he is a yogi. The second is, he is a person who is terribly overcome by one guna. What is that guna? Tamoguna. The nature of the tamoguna is you don't feel like even moving. By mere external signs we should not think about it. So Patanjali gives here a beautiful hint. What is that? One is no longer troubled by the dualities of sense experiences. What is bondage? To be affected by dualities. What is duality? Sometimes we are happy, unhappy. Sometimes there is cold, sometimes there is heat. Sometimes there is honor, sometimes there is dishonor. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. So these are called dvandvas. This world is consisting of nothing but these dualities. When a yogi really obtains mastery over the posture, then what happens is he gets to this condition where if it is cold also it doesn't affect him. If it is heat also it doesn't affect him. What do you mean by it doesn't affect him? Do you mean to say if you put a yogi on a block of ice will he be affected or not? If you put him in a furnace will he be affected or not? The body will be affected but the mind is totally free from thinking. I will give you an example. Ramakrishna was living at that time in the home of Rani Rashmani. It was Durga Puja time. Durga Puja was going on. One evening, Ramakrishna was in deep Samadhi. The wife of Madhur Babu Jagadambadashi, she wanted to take Ramakrishna because she was keeping a thousand eyes upon him, watching him lest he might fall. And if she wants to go to witness the Durga Puja, she cannot leave Ramakrishna alone. So she took Ramakrishna along with her. Why was she so careful about it? There was an incident few days before what happened. Ramakrishna was in an ecstatic state and he fell down. And unfortunately he fell down on a live charcoal which was burning. And he was totally unaware because his mind was absorbed in deep meditation on the Divine Mother. So what happened, this charcoal doesn't know who is a saint and who is a sinner. So it went deep, burning flesh, very deep it went inside. He was totally unaware. This lady Jagadambadashi, she came that way and she smelled something burning. When something is burning, a kind of smell comes. She was looking what is burning here. She couldn't find. Then she went to see Ramakrishna, lifted him up and saw this charcoal was still making inroads in his backside. So of course she took care of him and then it took a long time for that wound to heal. What is the point here? Point is if it is cold, it is cold whether he is a yogi or not. If it is hot, it will be hot. If there are mosquitoes, there will be mosquitoes. But the point is when a person achieved mastery over this asana, then what happens is he will not be bothered mentally by these things. To a great extent physically also his mind will not be disturbed. That means he becomes free to think of God or Divine in his own way undisturbed. That is the result of this Tato Dwandwa Anavi Gathaha. Unaffected by the dualities that we all experience in life. Such complete mastery of the body doesn't of course come through posture alone. It arises from a state of absorption in the consciousness of God. Patanjali goes on to describe the further practices which are necessary in order to reach this state. What this particular 48th aphorism wants to tell us that a really a mastery over the seat is a very necessary condition. That much only we will take it. Then how do we know? He becomes less body conscious and a person will not be less body conscious only because of sitting in a seat. But the mind also has to be directed towards something deeper. But this is a good asana. Mastery, the ability to sit in a firm posture, pleasant posture and not being aware of the body to some extent is a very necessary condition. Then we enter into the 49th which is a most important aphorism. Asmin sati shvasa prashvasayoh gativichedaha pranayamaha. We are, all of us tremendously knowledgeable about pranayama. We think we are knowledgeable. What is pranayama? Most of our understanding about pranayama is control of the breath. But this has nothing to do with real control of the prana. So Swami Vivekananda is given a masterpiece of thought about what is the prana, what is psychic prana, how to control psychic prana etc. In his book, before going to explain the aphorisms of Patanjali, Swami Vivekananda throws a wonderful light on the idea of prana. First I will give you a small idea then I will read what Swami Vivekananda had to say about this. First point is what is prana? In this world, he says this whole universe that we experience in our day-to-day life is composed of two elements. The whole universe, whatever we experience, see, hear, smell, taste, touch and that is what is called prapancha is composed of two elements. One is called akasha, another is called prana. Akasha and prana. Now the moment you hear the word akasha, you are thinking about the sky. No, what the modern scientists call matter. What the modern scientists call matter. It is so wonderful how Swami Vivekananda was able to predict these future scientific discoveries in this beautiful analysis. The whole universe is consisting of matter, only matter and from the viewpoint of this matter, there is no difference between a table, a table lamp, a carpet, a chair, a bird, a plant, human being or a great yogi. From the physical point of view, even from the mental point of view, there is no difference. The difference is only how the prana affects. So at the beginning of this creation, there was this huge mass of matter. So how did creation come? This is the second element Swami Vivekananda introduces. That huge mass of matter had taken the form of nama and rupa, form and name. But akasha by itself is totally unconscious. Matter is totally unconscious. So how did this unconscious material take this infinite number of varieties of forms and names? That is where prana comes. Prana is energy. Prana is a shape. So when this prana, undifferentiated prana, somehow comes into contact with this undifferentiated mass of matter, which is called akasha, when these two come, they react in totally different ways. And the result is this whole universe that we are experiencing. Now, so many of us are sitting here and no two of us are alike. What is it that makes the difference between one man and the other man? What is the difference between a man or you sitting and the chair on which you are sitting? What is the difference? Prana. What a gigantic idea Swami Vivekananda is bringing. One mass of prana acting upon one mass of matter. And the result is this entire infinitely variegated objects including human bodies, human minds, animal bodies, animal mind, a plant, an insect, mountain, the river, the air, the fire. Everything is different form of this akasha brought about by the interaction with. So what is the difference between one man and the other man? Prana. I don't want to go too deep into this subject because it will be confusing. But I have to go in some detail. Now, according to Hindu theory, our body, the body which we got, we got from our parents. It is a lot of influence. But how did it, why were we born in a particular parents, through a particular parents, to a particular family, in a particular country, in a particular language, in a particular religion etc. Our past karma, karma, karma theory. What is karma action? And who is supposed to do action? Prana. Prana is the medium through which actions are done. Prana in the form of thoughts, in the form of desires. And prana in the form of the acting out through the body. We have got hands, we have got legs, we have got eyes, we have got ears etc. Just take a simple example. I am going and I see suddenly something strange. So the desire comes. I do not know about this. Let me go and investigate. Find out what it is. So what happens? The desire came. First the thought came, there is something. And second the thought came. I don't know about it. Third the desire came. I want to know about it. Fourth, what does the mind do? It sends the commands through the mind to the sense organs, to the legs. Move nearer to that place and see what it is. And the body moves nearer. The nearer we come, the more knowledge we get. The eyes will look and the ears will hear. The nose will smell etc. This is how we get knowledge. This is how chitta vritti comes. The mind, information that has gone from outside deep inside our mind. This is called vritti. Oh! This is such and such an object. So what happens? We are all governed by one law. We are all teleologically moving towards that which makes our life long, healthy, happy. Automatically we are moving. So our judgmental values are only two. Sukha and Dukha. I want to be happy, so I will do what makes me happier. I want to avoid unhappiness. I want to avoid suffering. So any experience in this world is based upon these two. Interestingly when we discover something, then in what way can it bring happiness to me? Or in what way, if it is going to create suffering, what way it is going to create suffering for me? If I think mistakenly, it is going to give me suffering. I try to distance myself as much as I can. And again the prana acts. If I think it is going to be pleasant to me, I move towards it. Puruthi and Nivruthi. Moving towards and moving away from it. All our activities are due to this. You are all sitting here today. From the viewpoint of this analysis, what are you doing? You have come here because you think this is an activity which is very useful to you, which will make you very happy, if not now, in the future. But you are happy to sit, you are happy to hear, you are happy to understand, you are happy to think about it. If you thought that this is going to bring you misery, you will not be sitting here. So every activity of ours is guided by this one rule. We are all moving towards happiness. This is called teleological urge. What is teleology? That our inner nature is propelling us to manifest that nature. If we are divine, it is propelling us to manifest to that divinity. In what way is it manifesting? What is our nature? According to Vedanta, each soul is... What does that mean? Each soul is potentially divine. What does that mean? We are Sat. Sat means where there is no death, eternal life. And Ananda means there is no suffering, there is no unhappiness. So unhampered by any type of suffering or unhappiness, we want only happiness and happiness. And what does Chit do? It propels us towards that which makes us live. There is no fear of death. There is no fear of suffering. It is always compelling us. So what is the point I want to emphasize here? We are all different because our understanding makes us do different activities. And the result of that activities is what we are today here. To make this point clear, I am giving you another example which I have given you so many times. Suppose in a class there are 40 pupils and one student's understanding is I have to put forth all my energies, listen to my teacher and absorb it and pass brilliantly and that is how my future life is going to be absolutely happier. Whereas some students think, somehow if I pass that is okay. My father is a millionaire. I am not in need of so much of money. So today there is a cricket match or a nice movie or go out with friends and enjoy life. That is his understanding. So he does accordingly, to his understanding he lives his life. This first student lives his life according to his understanding. You followed me so far. You imagine that these people would continue in that line for some time and then death comes. Next life, what is the first student going to be like? What is the other student going to be like? The same thing repeats. What we have obtained in our past life, that continues in the next birth also. Along with of course the karma phala. Our bodies will be like that. A tamasic fellow when he dies, what do you think his next birth will be? Tamasic. A sattvika person, what do you think his next birth would be? Sattvika body. So what happens? A tamasika person, he neither enjoys, all that he enjoys is, leave me alone. I want to be a peepoo, lazy fellow. All his enjoyment lies there. Whereas a sattvika person, he is accustomed. Oh, life is short, I have to think of God, this is the only way I can be happier. And that person will be thinking more and more of God. So this is how either a person goes down or a person goes up. And this is what makes the difference between us. Even our bodies, tamasika bodies, rajasika bodies and sattvika bodies. Because tamasika mind gets tamasika body, appropriate body. Rajasika body gets rajasika body. Sattvika mind gets sattvika body. This is what makes the difference. What about beauty and ugliness and tall and short and fat and thin? They are all also because of our karmas in the past. There is absolutely no doubt about it, though we cannot really prove it. Now what is the point here? All these are carried out by what power? What is that power? That's what Swami Vivekananda comes here. It is the power of the prana. So if the prana can really interact with the mass of material, then it can, depending upon how it acts, it can make a body worse body or it can also make a body most useful, happy body also. Now what is the purpose of a yogi? He wants to achieve unlimitedness, limitlessness, ananta. He wants to go beyond any limit. And what is the name for limit? This body and this mind is the limit. If he wants to achieve unlimitedness, what should he do? He should go beyond the idea of body and mind. But here we have to have a precaution. A yogi doesn't mean that he doesn't have body. It doesn't mean he doesn't have a mind. In fact, every yogi becomes a yogi only with the help of the body-mind. And what is the difference between them and us? We think I am the body, we are the body. Whereas a yogi thinks I am not the body, I am not the mind, but I have these instruments through which I can progress. Like our idea, you know, we have a car. So we know we are not the car. We know that car belongs to us. But there also we feel as though I am the car. Let someone scratch your car. You will see who scratched whom. Did he scratch him, the car, or did he scratch you? Does the car feel the scratch? But who feels the real pain? We feel. And because of our identity with that car. What is Swami Vivekananda is trying to tell us? This prana is what makes the difference between one being and the other being. The difference between all of us is the manifestation of that prana. This prana can manifest in the form of tamas means lowest vibration, rajas means very restless, or sattva means completely unified and directed towards a higher direction. That is called sattva. And with the help of these instruments, then the yogi gets out of this limitedness, becomes unlimited, realizes that I am the atma. This is what Swami Vivekananda tells. Now I will read out a little bit. It is a long passage, but in our next class we will continue that one. But it's extremely important. If we want to understand what is pranayama, then we have to understand these ideas. Briefly I have given these ideas. Prana is that which manifests, takes these gunas and manifests through them. So it depends upon us how we make use of it. For example, you have a body. So how your body, whether it will be healthy or unhealthy, happy or unhappy, better body or worse body, your thought makes it. So you see prana in the form of thought, it progresses towards the higher level, from tamas to rajas to sattva. We are manufacturing these gunas, making them strong, making them weak. What is the goal of a yogi? To transcend tamo guna and rajo guna and ultimately perfect the sattva guna. Through that, jump off into that infinitude. We will discuss this point. So first, pranayama is not as many things, something about the breath. Pranayama means the control of prana. According to the philosophers of India, the whole universe is composed of two materials, one of which they call akasha or space. It is omnipresent, all penetrating existence. Everything that has formed, everything that is the result of compounds, is evolved out of this akasha. In other words, it is what scientists call matter. It is the akasha that becomes the air, the fire, everything in this universe. But by what power is this akasha manifested into this universe? By the power of prana. By what power is this akasha manifested into this universe? By the power of prana. Just as akasha is the infinite omnipresent material of this universe, so is this prana, the infinite omnipresent manifesting power of this universe. It is the prana that is manifesting as motion. It is the prana that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. It is the prana that is manifesting as the actions of the body, as the nerve currents, as thought force. From thought down to the lowest physical force, everything is but the manifestation of prana. Suppose, for instance, one understood this prana perfectly and could control it. What power on earth could there be that would not be his. He would be able to move the sun and the stars out of their places to control everything in the universe from the atoms to the biggest suns because he would control the prana. This is the end and aim of pranayama. This is the most important point here. I will interfere in between and pass my comments on this. What Swamiji is telling is the sun is moving. The sun is inert to mass of matter. How is it moving? You know the earth is moving. The earth is constantly moving. In fact, there is not one particle which is not moving. There is nothing called static. Now you see here, a piece of paper is lying here. Is it moving or is it stationary? According to physicists, it is composed of what? Atoms. And it is moving unceasingly at what speed? At lightning speed it is moving. What is important here, the sun, the moon, anything that exists in this universe is not stationary because if it is stationary, we will never experience it. And if we have to experience, it should be always in motion. And what is it that makes this mass of matter move? Puts it into motion, for example. What is motion? Energy. What is energy? Prana. The electricity, the magnetism and any movement, any activity that we see in this world is the resultant of prana. So what Swamiji is telling, this prana within you, within me, within everybody is exactly the same prana. So what happens? If a yogi can control this prana within himself, then he can control the whole universe. This is an idea we will explore in our next class. So he who has grasped that existence has grasped the whole universe. He who has controlled the prana has controlled his own mind and all the minds that exist. So how to control this prana is the one idea, pranayama. The prana which is working this mind and body is the nearest to us of all, the prana in the universe. This prana is the vital force, what we call prana shakti, in every being. And the finest and highest action of prana is thought. In this universe there is one continuous mass on every plane of existence. Physically this universe is one. There is no difference between the sun and you. This is an idea we will again explore in our next class. Because such a marvellous idea, even to explain it, to express, how to express it properly, takes a little bit of time. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti