Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 038

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar, and of the body through medicine. In our last class, we discussed certain points. First point is, there is an alternative method of God realization which is called surrender to God, Eshwara. This is called also Bhakti Marga. Surrender to God, what does it really mean? It means, according to Patanjali, and it's the most wonderful thing, it means repeat his name. And his name is Om, Tasya Vachakaha Pranavaha. So this repetition is called Japa. So there is a lot of philosophy involved in this repetition. Last class, I mentioned a few things which are, if really we want to do Japa, repetition, then certain conditions are to be fulfilled. Some of them I have explained in my last class. Then there are also certain obstructions, if we do not remove them, our Japa will not be successful. Not only we have to fulfill certain conditions, we have to see that certain things we should never do. Let us look into them. First, looking upon a chosen ideal as different from his name and form. For example, our chosen deity is Ramakrishna. We get our mantra. Is this mantra different from Ramakrishna? Ramakrishna very often used to emphasize, Nama and Namni are one and the same. The name and the name are one and the same. And how they are one and the same, I had explained in my past classes. To put it very simply, Nama and the name are like the two ends of a rope. You catch hold of one end, the other end will come. You catch hold of the name, the named will come. You catch hold of the named, the name will invariably come. That is because the name, the idea, and the object are one and the same. And in our Indian languages, in Sanskrit, in Bengali, in Hindi, etc., this is so clear even though we use that word, but we do not probably think what is the name in Indian languages for an object, the English word object, padartha. This word padartha is a combination of two words, pada and artha. Pada means name, artha means the named. They are always together. You remember somebody's name is there, Rama, for example. Immediately, can you stop thinking the object of Rama when you utter the name Rama? It is impossible. Some idea you have, right or wrong, but there will be the other named will be there. Think of a person. A person's form comes to your mind. Can you make so that you don't remember the name? It is impossible. So if you think of name, the object will come to your mind. If you think of the object, the name also will come to your mind. But don't pull it too long. Sometimes I see a person, I don't remember his name. I give some name, some x, y, z, some name is there. So we should never think that the name and the named are different. If we think that is an aparadha, japa aparadha, it is a crime against japa. Second, regarding the glory of the sacred world, every mantra is a sacred word. One should never doubt about it. Why? It is the scriptures who are giving. It is the guru who is giving. Therefore, your mantra is an interesting thought came just to my mind. Supposing you approach a guru and the guru doesn't like you. Don't think every guru likes everybody. And every guru likes everybody all the time. That depends upon what type of face you bring before him, castroil face or a cheerful face. Guru says, supposing guru doesn't like you for some reason and he gives you something, he tells you something. But you do not know what he told you, especially the gurus in India, they tell everything in Sanskrit. Suppose he gives you a mantra, I'm making fun of you. You go with all seriousness and say, Guruji, give me a mantra out of your most glorious graciousness. He smiles and says, kushmandaha. And then you go, my guru has given me a great mantra, kushmandaha. And then go away. It will work. If you go out, it won't work. You know what kushmandaha means? Pumpkin. He is telling you, addressing you as a pumpkin. But since blissfully you are not aware like that to Barbara, who did not know what was the meaning of dam. Sri Ramakrishna, he emphasizes the power of faith, several stories he gives, but one particular story is very important for us. You know, one man was washed up in Sri Lanka where Vibhushana was ruling. And all the asuras' mouths started watering, seeing a human being after a long time. So this man was protected by Vibhushana for one night. And then next morning, Vibhushana called him and said, you better go away from here as soon as possible, because I can't protect you always. But how do I go? I have to cross this sea, ocean. He said, no, don't worry. I will write something and give it to you, tie it, and you can walk on the waters. So the man agreed, and he was nicely walking. When he walked to the middle of the ocean, suddenly a doubt had come, what is such a wonderful thing that I am able to walk on the waters? So he, out of curiosity, he opened. What did he say? Only one word was written, Rama. Only this, immediately he sank. And you also know, Hanuman built the stone bridge with stones, writing the name of Rama. Whereas, Rama himself had to be carried on Hanuman's shoulders. Ramakrishna used to say, Hanuman jumped, he cleared the ocean, just he uttered Rama and he jumped. Whereas, the man himself had to walk, only to glorify the name, the mantra, Ishta Mantra is very, very sacred. And it becomes sacred only when it comes from the mouth of a guru. Otherwise, you can't, I want to internet guru. There are so many mantras on the internet. You just pick up a mantra, it is not going to work out for you. It has to come from a guru. But you must have this tremendous faith in the mantra. Now there is some curious psychology involved here. The psychology is, if you do not have faith in the guru, can you have faith in the mantra? If you have faith in the mantra, can you separate the guru and say, I have faith in the mantra, but I don't have faith in the guru? Is it ever possible? If you have faith, in fact, you will have faith in everything. If you have doubt, you doubt everything. Such is the nature of the faith that we have. That is why it is said it is God's grace. Faith is God's grace indirectly that comes to us. So second point is, never doubt the power of the mantra. Third, speaking disrespectfully of the sacred texts. It is very important for us to understand, whether it is Gita, or Koran, or Tripitaka, or any sacred Vedas, or Bible, any sacred scripture, never criticize them. Why? They have all come from the mouth of great saints, realized souls. But having said that, I have to tell you also something. As Swami Vivekananda pointed out, every scripture contains a mixture of sand and sugar. What is sugar here? Those truths which the saints, the rishis, have realized through their spiritual practice. And when other people have taken them down, they have added certain things. There is something called misuse of the scriptures. Most leaders of religious organizations, they misuse the scriptures in the sense they select things which would suit their power, their vested interest, but never tell the other things. But a true spiritual teacher, he will never hide anything from you. He will test you first. No religious priest is ever going to test us. His only test is, how big is your pocket? Our credit card accepted nowadays also. Beyond that, he won't test us, anyone. But a true spiritual teacher doesn't care whether you are a billionaire or anybody else. You know the story that goes, Alexander invaded India. He came across a great saint, and he was pleased. And when he was returning back, he said, you please come with me. I will give you a special place. Look after you very nicely. The saint said, I'm quite happy here. I don't want to go. Alexander got very angry. How dare you deny me? I'm going to cut off your head. The man started laughing, laughing, and said, this is the greatest lie I ever heard in my life. How can you cut off my head? Because I don't have a head. I'm the Atman, body, yes, but not the Atman. Many saints' heads have been cut off, especially those who said, Anal Haq, I am Allah, I am God. Many Muslims have cut off. Many Christian saints have been tortured. One of those who was tortured was Saint John of the Cross, one of the greatest Spanish mystics. Who tortured him? His own brother monks. Actually Teresa was put to endless miseries and troubles by her own order. These things happen. What is the point? Never, never ever speak disrespectfully of any scripture. When Sri Ramakrishna used to say, Bhagavata, Bhakta, and Bhagavan, you heard this. What does he mean by Bhagavata? Suppose somebody gives him a Koran, what do you think he will say? He will say Bhagavata, Bhakta, and Bhagavan. Suppose somebody has given him a Bible. In fact, he was read Bible. That is how he had the vision of, if he had criticized the Bible, had he obtained the vision of Mother Mary and Jesus Christ? You see, for him, scripture means absolutely, 100%, it is satya, truth. And Guru's words, any words coming from Guru's mouth is absolute truth. That is why he succeeded. Now I can put you one question. Have you ever come across any instance when Sri Ramakrishna doubted the words of the scriptures for a single second? You will never come across. Fourth, disobeying a spiritual teacher, disobeying a spiritual teacher, Guru, spiritual teacher means Guru. Do we disobey our spiritual teacher? If I ask you, do we disobey our spiritual teacher? What would be your answer? You would say, no, no, no, whatever he tells us, we practice. It is not correct. Why? What does a spiritual teacher really mean? He means you concentrate on spiritual life and progress in spiritual life. If we are not progressing in spiritual life, what are we doing? He gives, disobeying spiritual teacher means not fulfilling what he expects us to do. He gives us certain instructions. Simple example, I'll tell you. We all believe in Sri Ramakrishna. Did Sri Ramakrishna give us instructions? He gives us instructions in two ways, one, from the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, when you are reading gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, who is giving instructions? If you say it is a scripture, then you have to say it is God himself who is giving instructions. Secondly, he gives us instructions through the Guru who initiated us. Now, come to this. What does the Guru do? First, the Guru gives a mantra. He tells us what to do, what not to do. Is that all the teacher tells us, or is there something else? Is that all? He asked me, minimum 108 japa you do, minimum 108. Is that all he said? Did he not say that you have to be truthful, you have to be unselfish, you have to serve others, shiva, jnana, jiva, shiva? Did he say or not? Do you get what I'm talking about? He might not have told you directly, but directly he tells through lectures. Suppose you have been initiated, let us say by Swami Ranganathanandaji, and you took initiation, but he also gave lectures. When you hear the lectures, who is giving you the lectures? Swami Ranganathananda or your Guru. And what is he telling? Throughout, what is the essence of all his lectures? Lead a spiritual life, do this and don't do this. And we say, he did not at the time of initiation, he did not tell me to observe truthfulness and other things. He only told us to repeat 108 times japa, and if you are following that, I don't want to tell anything further about it. Disobeying the spiritual teacher is fourth. Despising the devotees of the Lord. The greatest crime for any spiritual aspirant is to criticize other devotees. Why we should not criticize? Because first of all, we are supposed to see God in devotees. Bhagavata, bhakta, bhagavan. Of course, many devotees are not perfected souls. They will have a lot of problems. If that is their problem, if they have got a headache, why should it create headache in you? If they have a headache, who do you think they will suffer? If they have defects, who is going to suffer? Why should you bother? But there are certain aspects, they come to the centre, and they pray to God, and they quietly go away, and just because they don't like you, or you don't like them, you have no right to criticize a devotee. Did Sri Ramakrishna ever criticize any devotee of God? That's very important. These are the practical considerations. These are what is called crimes against japa, mind you. Then sixth, considering the sacred word as no more than an arrangement of letters. What is a mantra? It consists of some letters. What is this? It's all right. Somebody put it together. It's not an arrangement of letters. It is a sacred power coming from the guru tradition. Seventh, imparting the sacred word to unworthy persons. You are not authorised to give the mantra you get to anybody else, and especially to people who are not worthy of it. Doubting the efficacy of japa, Holy Mother said, you remember, japa siddhi, perfection comes through japa of one's own mantra. There is a lot of meaning. I would not like to go deep into it. Even if you don't know anything, if you have faith in the mantra, and if you go on repeating, she gives a very nice example. There was a lady, and she was initiated into Krishna mantra. And she, rukmini nathaya namaha, is an example. But she was not such an educated person, rukku natha, rukku natha. She could only pronounce that. But she had tremendous faith in the guru's words. And she went on. And she attained perfection. But if you tell this to any learned person or priestess, oh, the real mantra is rukmini nathaya, and you are only rukku natha, rukku natha, you are talking about it. You are not going anywhere. It is not the letters arrangement. It is the Lord who is manifesting in the form of the mantra, that is why the very definition of mantra is mananathrayate, by repeating, you will be saved. You see the practical reason of it. So never doubt the efficacy of japa. Holy Mother herself said japa siddhi, that is vedavakya. Can you doubt? Suppose you say, oh, I'm not fulfilling all these conditions. All these conditions will manifest if you have faith and repeat the mantra. I am telling you all these things. Before that, did you know that there are so many crimes we are committing against japa? But you don't need to know. If you have that faith, all these things, God will himself remove these obstacles. Naturally, these qualities, characteristics will manifest in a person. Who is the example? Ramakrishna. Did he go to any, in the beginning of his sadhana, he did not have any teachers. He did not have the benefit of scriptures. But things have come. One simple example I want to tell you. Suddenly the idea came that people regard money as most valuable in this world. Is it most valuable? What is valuable? Only God is valuable. To bring in that idea, reinforce that idea, suddenly an idea came. Nowhere we find in the scriptures. The Divine Mother inspired him and said, take a coin in one hand and a lump of mud in another hand. Go on repeating the mantra. What is the mantra? Taka mati, mati taka, rupee is clay, clay is rupee, means value. And from his mind, that rupee means money, is any more valuable, has been removed from his mind forever, wiped off. Whereas we, we are still clinging to it. But if we repeat God's name, it will slowly come. Then nine, regarding japa as equal to other spiritual practices. That is to say, it is a little bit of praise. That is to say, japa is the most wonderful spiritual practice, there is no equivalent of japa. It is a little bit of fanatical statement. But it is good for most of us, because all that we do is not meditation, not anything, but really remembering God with sincerity, that is all. Then ten, repeatedly committing sinful acts, being strengthened by the power of japa, is the most peculiar crime. When we go on doing japa, a special willpower develops. But if our minds are not purified, that willpower will go to repeatedly commit crimes. Any practice will bring power, consistently if we practice, it brings power. But do we have a discrimination to use that power in the right manner? That is most important. Japa can bring money, japa can bring name and fame, japa can bring any object that we desire in this world. Even though it is not directly relevant to our subject, I want to tell you in this manner. You know, in the Vedantic scriptures, we are Vedanta, Vedanta means teachings of the essence of the Vedas. Vedas have got two parts. The first part of the Veda is all about fulfilling one's desire. If you don't have children, there is a type of japa you can do and then your desires will be fulfilled. You want money? For example, I mentioned to you, there is a special hymn which is considered a very powerful mantra. It is called Shri Shukta. And if anybody repeats it with faith, money will come. I know it will come. There is another stotra called Kanakadhara Stotram, which Shankaracharya had hymned to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. The point is, there is power, but when we do japa, we should not do certain things. Power comes. This topic has come with relation to power. You do japa, you pray to God, money will come? Yes, money will come. Many things will come. There are hundreds of these methods explained in our first part of the Vedas. But when a person understands, all these things ultimately do not lead to lasting happiness, then the second part will come, Vedanta will come. So repeatedly committing sinful acts, being strengthened by the power of japa, according to Padma Purana, one Purana mythology, these ten are violations of japa and to be rectified by japa alone, what does it mean? It means if we are aware we are committing these crimes against japa, and you take a vow, oh japa, please see that I do not commit these mistakes again, you hold my hand and then do it. Mantra guiding us, have you heard about it? Mantra guiding us? Yes, you know that, but you have to be reminded. You know what is that? Gayatri Mantra. What is the Gayatri Mantra? It is the right understanding, most wonderful mantra is Gayatri Mantra, where nothing is asked. Only one thing is, what is it? Please guide me to what is right and what is not wrong. Prachodayat is a very powerful word, not guide me, you sit behind me and drive me. That is why Gita is considered an explanation of Gayatri. So there, Arjuna is the repeater of Gayatri, chariot is the vehicle to take one through life. Who is Krishna? One who drives Arjuna safely in the field of life, and life is a battle, battle between righteousness and unrighteousness, dharmakshetri, gurukshetri, samavetha, yuyutsava, etc. So we have to take care that certain favorable qualities are developed for the successful completion, sadhana of japa, and we have to take care that we should not commit these sins, which we have mentioned, ten types of sins, and if we do this, japa, siddhi, perfection in siddhi is absolutely assured. The next point I want to tell, japa, usually japa is translated as repetition of God's name. You know, you go on, Om Rama, Om Rama, Om Ramakrishna, etc., or Om, Om, Om also. It is not mere repetition, it must be done with love, with feeling. It is what, who says, Patanjali says, what does he say, tat japa hatat artha bhavanam. You must think of the meaning, what is the meaning of Omkara, what is the meaning of Omkara? You must feel the effect. Now, I will give you one or two examples to make this point clear, feeling, and if we don't feel, then there will not be effect. Let me give you first one example, supposing somebody had insulted you and you felt very badly hurt, after that do you know what you will be doing, what would you be doing, japa of that person, again and again it comes. The more japa you are doing of that person who hurt you, see the feeling, your blood pressure is rising, your anger is rising, your heart is racing, and you are trembling all over. If you have a gun or something like that, you know, in anger, what not people will do. This is an illustration to say that how this remembrance, japa. Another, I am giving you an example, you know, there is an young man, he is full of hormones running, and imagine he loves a girl, and he is full of this desire to enjoy her, then he remembers her. What happens to him? The moment he remembers her, what happens to him? You know, he will be filled with images of pleasures, and then I want to go, and all sorts of imaginations will be there. It's only an illustration, mind you, how that just remembrance, how much it affects the person. But in this case, why in this case of this person, young man, why is it affecting him? His desire, it is not the person, it is his desire, I want to enjoy. Because he is suffering from stomach ache, and he remembers her. You know what happens? He would not like to see it. In many examples like that, you know, you like some nice food material. I am giving graphic description so that you understand what is the meaning of japa. You know, we all love certain food materials, and the moment that remembrance comes, instantaneously what happens to your mouth? Starts watering. But supposing you have got a stomach ache, what happens, dyspepsia, stomach ache, you had terrible diarrhea, and all these things, even if you remember, it may even create the opposite effect. You don't want even to think about it, is it not? Now what is my point? My point is japa will be effective, much more effective, only when it is done with feeling. And that feeling is the direct result of our desire. That is why sadhana, chatustaya, sampatti, the treasure of fourfold qualifications. What do they do? What is the last one? Mumukshuta, intense desire for liberation. You know, Ramakrishna used to give an example. A man went to a guru and asked him, when can I realize God? You know the example. The guru took him into a pond and pressed his head under the water for a few minutes. He didn't allow him to come up. And when he was panting terribly for breath, then he let the head come up. Then the first question the guru asked was, how did you feel? He said, but for a breath of air, all that I want is one lungful of air. That is called mumukshuta. And there is a book, when we have to study Vedanta, before studying, entering into Vedanta, there are a few books which are called Introductions to Vedanta. One is called Tattvabodha. Another is called Vedantasara. Another is called Vedanta Paribhasa. Of these, we are taught Vedantasara at the training center. Chinmaya mission devotees or brahmacharis, they are taught Tattvabodha. It's a wonderful book. This Vedantasara first delineates these things and says, when can a spiritual aspirant, sadhaka, be successful? And he says that when a person's head has caught fire and he has seen water, what do you think he will do? What do you think he will do? He will be rushing. At that time, you come and say, hey, and I'm thinking of inviting you for a nice dinner. What do you think he will do to you to not push you, kick, literally kick him out? When a person has that kind of desire for self-knowledge, then that is part of the sadhana, which is the fourfold treasure of spiritual fitness. It is only fitness. The whole first part of the Veda's aim is only to make a person attain to these fourfold qualities so that he can enter into the second part. Now what I'm trying to tell you is, through all these examples, japa will be successful only when we have that intense desire, anything, even secular desire. Suppose somebody says he's desperately in want of money, and he comes to me. I tell you, repeat this, shreya shukta. Then he will take. Suppose I tell to Bill Gates, you know, you want more money, and you repeat this, do you think he will care? Because he doesn't want money. Suppose the old man, who is taking diabetic medicines, suppose you tell to him, do you want nice sweets? If you repeat this mantra, you will get good sweets. Do you think he will repeat? You know, that intense desire must be there, and that is why Sri Ramakrishna tells in the Gospel of Ramakrishna, Balram's father had come. That is why these people do so much japa, and they don't seem to make one centimetre progress. This is because they don't have that yearning for God realization. They are doing. Does it mean to say that japa is waste? Never. They have all those qualities, you know, intense faith that japa is efficacious. I cannot restrain myself telling some examples. Sabari, you know the story of Sabari, her guru, some holy people told, Sabari, you served as well, daughter of a maidservant. Sabari, we are going away, we are initiating you into the Rama mantra, and don't go anywhere, just stay here. You will have the vision of Rama. And you know, she went on doing japa, and they told her, Rama will come, entertain him. Every morning, she goes out, gathers some fruits, sits whole day repeating, I am going to ask you. This you know, that she used to bring the fruits, and then sit. What do you think she is doing afterwards, whole day, what do you think she is doing? Repeating, remembering, Rama is going to come, Rama is going to come, Rama is going to come, Rama, Rama, automatically she had that faith in Guru's words. One year passed, she was about 5-6 years, 10 years passed, 20 years passed, 50 years passed, 80 years passed, 90 years passed, 99 years passed, almost 100 years she has become, she can't see, even then she went nearby and gathered some fruits. But her faith was rewarded, Rama came at last, she can't see him properly. And then she wanted to feed them fruits, and she knew, she can't see, so what was she doing? She was eating one fruit, if it is sour, then she will put it aside, if it is little sweet, she gives, and Rama was accepting it as her own child. That is called intense yearning faith, faith that japa will bear fruit, no doubt about it, willingly, unwillingly. Now what does Holy Mother say? For us, what Sri Ramakrishna says, Holy Mother says, Swami Vivekananda says, Swami Brahmananda says, etc., Veda Vakya, supposing Vedas come and tell me, you are a foolish fellow, don't believe Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swamiji, and I have faith in Holy Mother, Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji, whom do you think I will accept, whose word, Veda's word, I throw aside the Veda and say, for me, what Sri Ramakrishna says is the Veda Vakya. But Holy Mother says, you know, realization will come through japa, whether you jump into water or get pushed into it, your cloth will get drenched, that is the effect of japa. It is infallible, whether practiced with devotion or not. The mantra purifies the body, a man becomes pure by repeating the mantra of God, as wind removes a cloud, so does the name of God, disperse the cloud of worldliness. If one repeats the name 15 or 20,000 times each day, and one realizes God, I have seen it actually happen, our own life is this. So what is the point, why am I quoting this? The point is, God's name has its own power. Like you know how, somebody comes and tells me, I don't believe in potassium cyanide. I say, okay, how does it work? He says, it works only if you have faith. Okay, when you are sleeping, I will put potassium cyanide in your mouth, let us see whether it works, because it should not work according to you. No, it has its own power. But if we have faith, then it adds to that. God's name is powerful. But all these conditions, what do they do? They don't bring the power of God into the mantra. They add to the already existing, or let me put it this way, they remove the obstacles for the manifestation of the power of the mantra. That is all. Okay, now let us proceed further. So what happens when a man goes on repeating this mantra of God? What is the effect that happens, what is the result? This is the result. This is aphorism number 29, by the repetition of the sacred name of Ishwara, which is Om, and by extension, which means any mantra that any devotee receives. What happens? Two results. One result is, hence comes the knowledge of the Atman, first result, destruction of the obstacles to that knowledge of Atman. Two results. What is the result? This aphorism is a most wonderful aphorism. I will dwell upon it for a few minutes. Pratyak chetana, pratyak means inside, within inside each one of us, there is a being who is eternal, who is that being? Self. Everything else is changeable, destructible, excepting that. It is not an object, but it is the eternal subject. And you call it Atman, you call it Ishwara, call it God, by whatever name you give. So what happens? But through japa, he attains to God-realization, or self-knowledge comes. This is the ultimate meaning. But before that, there is another meaning. Pratyak chetana adhekama means, man becomes intensely aware of what is taking place in his mind. That means, psychological knowledge. Now if we want to know what is our psychology, we have to pay money and go to somebody. That is a good thing. If you don't know about yourself, that is a very good thing, because you are supporting a lot of psychologists, psychiatrists, and all the others, they will lose their jobs. But by japa, we become aware of both our good points and then our bad points. This is the first development of doing japa or spiritual practice. If anybody says, I have been doing sincerely spiritual practice, what is the first thing that happens? He turns a powerful light, as it were, upon his own mind, and whatever thoughts are coming, good, bad, he becomes. That means, like throwing a powerful light into the basement, all the things that we have stored there, they can't hide themselves. And until we find what is hidden within our own minds, how are we going to remove? There are good things. There are also bad things. We are not aware of how others look at us. We think that we are all wonderful, good, nice, and all those things. There are so many goodies within us, which others are well aware of. That is why you live with people who don't like you. Without spending a single penny, they will tell you everything about you. So pratik chaitanadhi gama means that first of all, we become intensely aware of our own problem. We don't need anybody else. And once we become aware of it, then we know how to deal with it. This is a normal, rational process. First you diagnose a problem, and then you find out the proper medication or treatment for that, and then only the disease will disappear. If you don't know what a person is suffering from, do you know what is it called? One new doctor was going around in a hospital ward, and you know hospital wards, besides the patients, there will be a chart. And on the chart, they will write, in brief, when did he come, how long he has been staying, what disease he is suffering from. One junior doctor went, and he read, this person suffers from G-O-K. He never heard this disease. So he asked this senior doctor, Doctor, what is this disease? So the doctor took him aside and said, God only knows. So what is the point we are discussing? No sadhaka, spiritual aspirant, should be ignorant of what is happening within himself. How to know? You practice your spiritual disciplines according to what your guru told you, and one part of your mind will throw a beautiful torchlight upon the mind and say, oh, now this thought has come, now this thought has come, now this thought has come. Every single thought will be highlighted, and you will know that they are good or bad. There are other ways. You know what other ways? And one of the things that psychologists do is dream, study of the dreams, Jungian methods you know, Freudian methods also, interpretation of the dreams. I'm not talking about interpretation of dreams, I'm simply talking about, supposing you analyze the dreams of you for one month, and out of 30 days, 25 days, you are going to a restaurant, you are eating different types of food materials, what does that indicate? You analyze your dreams, whereas when a spiritual person is reading holy scriptures, he's meditating upon the events, suppose you meditate upon holy mother's life, Thakur's life, Swamiji's life, what type of dreams do you think you'll have? You will see those events, more or less, you know, a little bit mixed up, but you will see holy mother, you will see Ramakrishna, you will see sadhus, that is why it is sadhu darshana, punya darshana, so if you see holy people, even if I come and ask you for nice food from your part, you should think that it is a punya darshana, because you will see a sadhu. But if you come and tell me that, then I will take it as a bad omen, because I'm asking for food. Anyway, I'm only making fun of you. So dreams indicate invariably what type of thoughts, where is our consciousness, it is dealing with. It's a very nice way of doing it. Other things, what type of books we are interested in, what does it mean? It means if you are interested in one particular book, it must give you joy. So do you get joy in reading the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, or Upanishads, or listening to the lectures, etc.? I am a very keen observer of human nature. You know, so many people, first they come enthusiastically, after that they don't come. 150 excuses they find why they can't come. But they have got 150 excuses why they could go to dinner parties, wedding parties, dancing parties and all those parties. What does that indicate? After all, you know, even people staying nearby, they don't want to come, but they have time for everything else. There is a beautiful Bengali song, you know, I have time for everything else, but excepting I have no time to call upon you, I have time for everything else, it's a beautiful song. So these are some of the hints by which we can know where is our state of consciousness. And there will come a time, if we persist, our mind becomes really intensely yearning, and then we will appreciate things. Japa becomes like, you know, Ramakrishna gives an example, there is a man who lost his job and he is desperately seeking for a job, go on doing, and then it will become fruitful. Japa is fruitful, but we have to, there are many ways of analysing ourselves, many ways of analysing. One of the best ways is to find out a friend who really loves you, ask that person frankly, tell me my defects, but you should not take offence, I ask you okay, but you are not supposed to tell me. No, really you have to, this is how sincere spiritual aspirants will do. One of the saddest things I have to tell you is, a guru is meant to tell the disciples the defects, by scolding, he will say you have this defect, but you know, if a guru scolds the disciple, then that would be the last time he will be seeing the disciple. Devotees also, if I scold the devotees, after that I will see them at a long distance from the gate only, anywhere near they will not come. Such is the pitifulness of human nature. Everybody wants high praise, and only they should be praised, even if I praise others, it should not be, if I praise the other person in three sentences, I should praise you in six sentences, otherwise their canker will start. Very common thing, I am telling, this is the practical thing, but in earnest spiritual disciplines, we have to seek earnestly, what is our problem, and then try to overcome that, then japa becomes very effective. What is the effect of japa? First effect is, we become aware of our own workings of the inner mind. Second effect of the japa is, ultimately we get realization of the self, wonderful, but this realization of the self comes also through another means, that is the second effect mentioned here in this aphorism, by the removal of obstacles. Obstacles to spiritual practice. How many obstacles are there? Nine obstacles are there. What are the obstacles? Vyadhi, sthiana, samsaya, pramada, alasya, avirati, bhranti darsana, alabdha, bhumikatva, anavasya tattvani, chitta vikshepa, tehi antaraya, sickness, mental laziness, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, sloth, craving for sense pleasure, false perception, despair caused by failure to concentrate, and unsteadiness in concentration. These nine distractions are the obstacles to knowledge. And if we have these nine obstacles, it produces five types of results. These nine obstacles produce five types of results. What are they? Dukha, daurmanasya, angamey jayatva, shvasa, prashvasa, vikshepa, sahabhuva, grief, mental distress, tremor of the body, irregular breathing, accompany, non-retention of concentration. We will discuss in our next class.