Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 030

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. It's a long time since we had been studying the Patanjali Yoga Sutras and we had a very big gap in between. So I thought that today's class I will devote to recollect what we had discussed in the light of Sri Ramakrishna's life and Swami Vivekananda's interpretation of it. So Yoga Sutras, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, thousands of years before there was a great soul called Patanjali and he had collected the then already existing knowledge of yoga. We need to define, understand why is this yoga knowledge very necessary. To understand this we have to go a little bit into the background. The foundational scriptures of what we call the present Hinduism is called Vedanta. Vedanta means the very essence of Vedas. Vedanta means that knowledge which we are all unconsciously seeking, aspiring to attain and striving to attain slowly but surely. Most of the time unconsciously we are doing this. So what is it we are aspiring for? Self-knowledge. Why do we need self-knowledge? Can we not be quite alright with the knowledge that is already there? For example, now so much knowledge is increasing exponentially, explosively every day the knowledge we are getting is increasing. But is it only increasing our knowledge or is it also bringing about the desired result? What is it that we really want? Each one of us want only one thing and that is we would like to have three things. We want to be happy we say and in order to be happy two conditions need to be fulfilled. One we need to be alive and not only to be alive but to be aware. So we want to be alive, we want to know that we are alive, we are aware and we also want to know that we are happy. Instinctively we struggle against these three. Instinctively we are all striving, we are breathing because we want to be alive. But why do we want to be alive? Because we want to be aware that we are alive and merely only to be aware, no. We also want to be happy but there is a problem. The problem is we even though striving too much there is lot of break, lot of gap, ill-health is there, ignorance is there, of course we go through so much of pain. So is there any way we can avoid this? This was the quest our ancient sages have undertaken. Is there any end to this suffering, absolute and permanent, absolute and permanent, both. So what is the suffering we are going through? It is called Tapatraya, three types of afflictions, we all know that. In Sanskrit they are called Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika. To put it in simple language, physical, mental and spiritual afflictions. Life seems to be a struggle to find out a solution, how we can get rid of these afflictions. Science can help us to some extent to deal with these afflictions, to some extent and only temporarily. We use two words, first of all we want to get rid of the suffering absolutely, no suffering should be there and permanently. In other words, we should never go through these sufferings, that means all sufferings happen only in time and space and causation. So we have to go beyond time, space and causation. If we think, is there a reality which is beyond time, space and causality, is there? We are not sure, nobody knows. In other words, is there God? What is our concept of God? He is a being who is beyond time, space and causation. He is for all time, he is everywhere and he is free, you know the concept of causation. Cause means dependence, this cause produces this effect. So the effect depends totally upon the cause. God is beyond time because he is not bound by time. God is beyond space because he is not bound by space, he is here, he is there, he is everywhere, there is nowhere where he is not and he is an absolute Sarvatantra Svatantra, he is absolutely free being. Is there such a being who can give the answer? Only a realized soul can emphatically tell. Now if you remember, Swami Vivekananda, Narendranath, he went to see Ramakrishna, what was his first question? Have you seen God? It's a very symbolic, significant question because if there is a God, maybe there is a God, but unless someone has seen that God, how to know that that God exists? There is an object, nobody has seen. Can anyone know about this object? To be able to know, even to have information such and such an object exists, somewhere some person must have experienced that. That's why Swami Vivekananda was a superior intellect, intelligence, he understood and immediately he asked and Sri Ramakrishna's reply also was fantastic reply. He said not only have I seen, but I can also show him to you, why? Because you see, there is something very interesting, even worldly things also you think you can see. This is our worldly intelligence. Here is a watch as an example. Is there a thing called watch? Yes, yes, there is something called a watch. How do I know that there is a watch? Here is a watch, you can see it, many instances this works, but some instances they do not work. I will put you a simple, very simple question, when you are babies, you are taught 2 plus 2. How much? If a child is asked 2 plus 2 is 4, the answer is correct, but when did the child really understand 2 plus 2 cannot be 3, 2 plus 2 cannot be 5, it must be only 4, when did he understand? I ask you that question, when did you understand, the surprising answer would be, first of all I never thought what is the difference between giving an answer and understanding the right thing. Secondly, only now I look back and say yes, at some point I understood, only after I grew up long time. So taking this analogy further, if someone says to Einstein, he says what is your greatness? Oh, I discovered the theory of relativity, can you explain it to me, I said do you know mathematics? A little bit, 2 plus 2 is 4, I can understand it, then I say you please go and get some more training, then we will talk about it, because even to speak at that level, even though it is a fact, to make another person understand that fact, he must be prepared to do that. Now, if we analyze this event of Narendra Nath with Sri Ramakrishna, in answer to Narendra's specific question, Sri Ramakrishna said, yes, I have seen God, not only have I seen God, but I can also show him to you, through this reply, what Sri Ramakrishna is conveying to Swami Vivekananda is that only one who has seen God knows that God really exists, reading any number of scriptures and even meditating upon God doesn't confirm that God really exists. Based on this answer of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda later on categorically defined religion as realization of God. I had an interesting experience, somebody came and asked me, did you see God? I asked him, if I give you an honest answer, would you believe me? He said yes, so the answer is no, I have not seen God, he said Swami, you are lying. If you ask a person, have you seen God? He might not have seen God, but he might say yes, I have seen God. Would you understand whether he has seen God or not? Suppose he has seen God, but he says no, I have not seen God, can you understand it? There is no way, only one person who has seen God can understand another person who has seen God, but we don't say I have seen God, we always say realize God, have you pondered over that word realize God? Realize means real, is God real to you? If God is real, then what happens to this world? Automatically it becomes secondary, unimportant, only as a subsidiary truth, but one thing we have to be, you know, I have been trying to convey this idea to all the devotees, people read and half digest only what is written, this world is not unreal, it is absolutely it is real, but its reality depends upon the existence of God, that is the meaning of unreality. There are many definitions given of unreality, one definition is that which always depends upon something else is unreal. Here it doesn't mean non-existence, it means it is a dependent existence. Another way of looking at it is when we look at reality with a limited instrument, I don't see the whole of reality, I see only a little bit of that reality and that seeing little bit of the reality is known as unreality. The Ramakrishna's perhaps parable can explain this better, four blind men went and touched an elephant and they were asked to describe the elephant, all of them are describing the trunk is the elephant, the leg is the elephant, the tail is the elephant and the ear is the elephant etc. We all know this story, but if you are asked were they right or were they wrong, what could be your answer, they are partly right, partly wrong, because they are not touching anything else excepting an elephant only and it is a real elephant. What is the problem? The problem is whatever part they are touching, they understand that part alone to be the whole of the reality. Now this is the problem with us, I think this table is real means this is the whole of reality, I think this microphone is real, this is the whole of reality, how many times this fellow betrayed me, while I am talking suddenly it has taken holiday. So many things like that, my devotees are also, when I am talking they take holiday, they go off in the middle of my talk, not only physically, mentally. This world is real, but it is really real, because its reality is like the rope, but when we are looking at it in the form of a snake, the snake is also real, but it is only partial reality. So is there God? That realizing God means to make God absolutely real. Now tell me God's reality means what, he is beyond time, he is beyond space, he is beyond causation. If this is true, then if God is everything, we are also, if we are God, then we are also beyond time, space and causation. If we are beyond time, space and causation, there can be nothing in this world which can dissatisfy us, because it is the same reality, why do I want to have something else, because I think that I do not have that thing, meaning I am not that thing, very beautiful concept I would like to clear. Somebody says, there are two ways to understand this, I will give two illustrations. Someone says, I want a car, of course he cannot eat the car, but for all practical purposes he extends his I-ness to the car, what does he say, before buying that is a car, after buying this is my car, the I has been extended. But what about food, many people say, I love fish, it means the consequence for the fish is only one thing, that the fish is going to achieve an absolute identity with me, which is a promotion for the fish, but the point is unity, I realize myself, everything as myself, this is the only way we can not only acquire happiness, this is the only way we can acquire knowledge, there is a branch of philosophy called epistemology. One of the questions that is frequently asked is, how do we know what we know, how does knowledge take place, how do I know this is a table, how do I know I am here, the table is here and how do I know this is a table, I won't go into the details, but Indian presentation, Hindu philosophy which is called darshana is like this, the mind goes out through the sense organs like the light going through the projector, you know, when the light comes through the projector and then if it falls on the screen, you only see light, but if the same light goes through a film, then what happens, it represents both light as well as shade and that is what we call a figure there. In a similar way, our mind goes through these five sense organs or even more to be even more precise, our consciousness, the light of our consciousness goes first through the mind, then it goes through these windows, all the sense organs are called golakas, windows goes and contacts the object, envelops the object, brings an impression of that object and this is what we call knowledge and further interesting thing about this is, say I meet a new person and I have this knowledge, what knowledge do I have, I can only envelop the physical body, this person so much height, this is the sex, this is the weight and this is the fair or black or whatever it is, I have an idea, but do I know what is inside him, that comes, that knowledge comes only through another instrument, do you know what is that instrument? When we start living with a person, that person's personality manifests itself in the form of certain actions and reactions and when we encounter those actions and reactions, our mind understands this person is a good person, this person is not a good person, he has this quality, he doesn't have this quality etc., etc., etc. Now the point we are trying to discuss here is, God is beyond time, beyond space, he doesn't need any cause, we all need cause, let me clarify that point, if I don't have eyes, can I have knowledge of forms? If I don't have ears, can I have knowledge of sounds? So every object in this world is a mixture of these 5 things, form and sound and smell, then touch, then taste, so how do we get knowledge of an object through these 5 instruments? That means, if we do not have these instruments, we have ignorance, God is beyond causation, that means what? He doesn't have, he doesn't need a body, he doesn't need a mind, therefore he is everywhere, therefore he is everything and he knows himself, so there is no need, with regard to ourselves, neither do we know about the others, do we at least know about ourselves? That also we do not know and so therefore the scripture comes and how do we know that the scripture, it is a scripture, what is a scripture? A scripture is the experience of a realized soul, realized soul means he knows what is real, how do we know he is a realized soul? Because we can know, not from his knowledge, we can know a person is a realized soul only when we are realized souls, but how do we know that he is a realized soul? We can guess, how do we guess? Through the actions and reactions, these actions and reactions are what is called the characteristics of a holy man, characteristics of a sage or a saint, whatever name you give to that, because there is a law and that law is, if we have some knowledge, our behavior is altered by that law. Let me give an example, suppose I meet someone and who is that person? He is a stranger to me, there is no connection, no relationship with me, but suddenly I come to know, no one told me until this time, I came only just to know just now that we are actually twin brothers, we were separated at birth, somehow we lost contact with each other, I went my own way, you know these things happen in history and this person also went his own way and we somehow happened to come, in fact strange things happen in history. There are cases where a brother and sister, they were separated, they did not know and then they met later on, they fell in love, they got married and they begot children and after all that they came to know that they were brother and sister, there are few cases like that. Anyway, what is the point? Point is the moment I came to know, my knowledge has come that oh, this is my brother, my whole action and reaction definitely it got altered, what is the point I was trying to make? If we have this knowledge, that knowledge must follow through the actions and reactions, that is to say if I am ignorant about my own self, then I behave one way, but if I know about myself, then my behaviour will be a totally different type of behaviour, knowledge and its expression in the form of actions and reactions, it must tally. So we come to know from the scriptures that there is God. We have no choice to criticise a scripture because you cannot criticise another person's experience, but you have a choice to accept it or not, whether to believe it or not, no, nobody should say that I am living in a scientific age, first prove to me that God exists, then I will start believing in him, no, you have no such a choice, either you believe in him and behave as though he really exists or otherwise you go on with your life and after getting lot of blows and you will come. There is an interesting incident in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. One man came to him and then he said, sir, you show me God, Sri Ramakrishna, in fact Sri Ramakrishna himself was eager, then the man said, probably he expressed a desire, I have no interest in what you are talking, Sri Ramakrishna said, alright, go back, enter into samsara and get varied experiences, get blows from left and right and then when you have not found out a solution to your problems, tapatraya abhigatat jignasa, you come back to me. It is interesting for me because supposing this man had realised that he had no solution for his problems after 50 years, but by that time what happened, Sri Ramakrishna had passed away. Did he? Did Sri Ramakrishna pass away really? No, he is living, today also he is living, not only in a metaphorical sense, but in a very real sense. He is living in the sense, he himself said, I live for hundreds of years in my subtle body answering and helping the devotees and that idea Swami Vivekananda embodies in our day to day hymn. Let me tell, Hindus always believe whenever there is a lot of sorrow, afflictions, sufferings and we do not, humankind does not seek a solution to it, God out of his compassion descends in the form of a human being, this is called avatara, siddhanta. So we believe, many of us believe that in this age Sri Ramakrishna has come. Similarly Christianity has this concept, second coming of Christ, but I spoke to so many Christians, did you know that Jesus Christ had already come, but why is it we don't know? We don't know because for two reasons. One reason is from your side, one reason is from Jesus Christ's side. One reason is you are expecting Jesus Christ to come exactly with the same nose, with the same hair colour and all that, but every time we take birth, we don't come in the same form. Second from Jesus Christ's point of view, the moment he said, shall I Christ, shall I tell this gentleman that you have come second time, no, no, no, no, first time when I came, you gave me such a treat, they gave me such a treatment, don't tell them that I have come a second time, we don't know what this time they will do. Jesus has come, Buddha had come, Rama had come, Krishna had come, the same truth has come. This is the fact Swami Vivekananda had composed in his beautiful hymn, Avatara Stotram. I think it is the ninth verse, Jrimbhita Yuga Eshwara, Jagadeeshwara, then comes a very important word, Yoga Sahay, he is there to help every sincere spiritual aspirant in his yoga. Every spiritual aspirant is only pursuing the path of yoga, again let us remind, we are talking about yoga sutras, what is yoga, definition of yoga, anything that takes us to God is yoga, any path that takes us towards God is yoga, predominantly there are 4 yogas as you all know, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga, why only 4? You also know why the reason, because each one of us have got 4 faculties, action, emotion, will and intellect, there cannot be any more, there cannot be any less, only 4 because 4 faculties and within each one of us, one particular faculty is dominant, it dominates all of our life, our thinking, our opinions, our goals in life, it is this, any spiritual aspirant is pursuing one particular yoga predominantly assisted by the other 3 yogas. Now the question that I raised was, is Ramakrishna alive, yes in his subtle form, how do you contact him, through prayer, through meditation and how does he come, how does he come, let me give a beautiful example, you know Rabindranath Tagore's father, Rabindranath Tagore, he was at one time highly depressed, he was depressed because his only, his aunt who brought him up with all her love, she passed away, he was in a very depressed mood and one day he was sitting morosely on the bank of the Ganges and suddenly a small piece of paper used by peanut vendors came floating through the air and touched his feet, he carelessly picked it up and then opened it and then the first thing that met his eyes was the first verse of the Isavasya Upanishad, that is this whole universe is nothing else but the divine Lord, it is supported by the Lord, it is covered by the Lord, it is the manifestation of the Lord, there is nothing else, in my Isavasya talks, I have covered this subject, the point we have to know is, you have to see everything as a manifestation of God, that is what Holy Mother also says, this world is no stranger to you, make this world your own means realize it is you yourself who is manifesting in this world, extraordinarily perceptive statement, Upanishadic statement, coming back to our subject. So is Ramakrishna alive? He is alive. Where is he alive? In a subtle form, if someone prays, he sends the help, but how does he help? What we are thinking, why does he doesn't appear to us, yes, he is appearing to us, oh Lord, please bestow your grace upon me, he heard our prayer and he is sending somebody who comes and gives us a big slap and we think what is this, I prayed to God and all that I get is a slap, no, that is the grace of God, he says, what is the, you see, if you are rolling in the mud, what is the first thing your mother does, clean you up and your mind has become impure through so many thoughts and actions, so the God wants to, God wants to take us onto his lap and how do you think he does it, first he cleanses us, purifies us and this slap is part of that cleansing process, misery, so-called misery comes, we have to understand it in two ways, one is it is a process of God purifying us, secondly don't blame anybody else because we have created our own karma, this is what we have been discussing in our day retreat and there is further to be discussed but only just about a hint and that hint is whenever we go through some difficulties, that is a grace of God from one point of view and that also is created by whom, we needed that corrective at this moment, so the law of karma tells us whatever happens to us is the result of our own doing, the second point we have to understand clearly is the result, the karma phala doesn't come at random, odd, it comes exactly when it is needed, now Shri Ramakrishna saying is, very often he used to say who are you to think that you are able to help the world, the divine Lord who has created this universe, do you think he doesn't know how to help the world, in fact first of all you can't help it, secondly you don't know how to help, so Shri Ramakrishna is saying, his most wonderful saying, God is sleeping, he is watching all the 24 hours a day and whatever is happening is his will, whether you understand it or not, whether we accept it or not, that is a fact, then we have to understand it, accept it and then say why is this happening, how can I get or avoid this kind of problem, so that is where Swami Vivekananda says, Shri Ramakrishna hears your prayer, he comes and then don't think if his grace comes, immediately prosperity will come and immediately everything becomes alright, an unmarried man gets married and a married man gets, by whose grace, prayers, by God's will only, you don't see the whole thing, so whatever happens, shakali tomare ichcha, everything is your will, kare dauma brahma pado, kare koroma adho gami and not somebody else, this doesn't apply to somebody else, never apply it, you say oh mother if I have an elevated position, it is all your grace and if I have gone down for some reason, that is also, what, not your displeasure, your grace because this is what exactly is needed for me, this is the right medicine at this moment that is needed, how blessed we would be if only we understand this point, so that is what Swami Vivekananda so beautifully he says, jirumbhita yuga eshwara, but who is he, jagadeshwara, he is the lord of the universe, he is the creator, he is the sustainer and he is the person who dissolves, but at the same time jirumbhita yuga eshwara, he is manifesting in this particular form, at some time in the form of Rama, at other time in the form of Krishna, at this time in the form of Shri Ramakrishna and then what does he do, yoga sahai, so he also establishes, he clears the paths by practicing by himself and then he proves that this path is valid and then he again reinvigorates the path, inspires people, this is a good path, I have gone through this, I myself have trod this path and I know where it is going to take, so I have cleaned it, I have purified it, I made it clear, if there is any debris, stones, thorns, I have removed them, now I am inviting you to tread this particular path, yoga sahai, so if I am progressing that is also his grace, if there are obstacles, who puts the obstacles, it is only God who puts the obstacle, in the path of anybody, the obstacle comes only by the grace of God because by his will we are all evolving, evolution needs, only evolution means going, progressing towards God, evolution always means that, in our normal day to day life also we say, and scientists say, we are progressing, progress has to be judged only by three criteria, unfortunately it is never met, what is that criteria, according to Aldous Huxley, he says progress in goodness, progress in happiness and progress in creativity, according to Vedanta, progress in sat, progress in chit, progress in ananda, progress in goodness, wisdom and happiness, so if you think that last year also I was in a depressed mood, now also I am in depressed mood and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel, probably next year also I will be in a depressed mood, then is it a progress, no, but in one way of looking, one way of looking, yes it is also progress because if there is no progress, the struggle will continue, when does the progress stop, when we reach the goal, then there is no more struggle, until that time nature will not keep quiet, it will pull us, either it pushes us or it will pull us, that is why one of our Swamis said so beautifully, progress always takes place in two ways, through sukha and through dukkha, through pain and through pleasure, the pain is pushing us towards God and the pleasure is pulling us towards God, Sri Ramakrishna is the yogasah, he has established, he came clearly to prove God exists and that is the only goal of life, many as I mentioned in the past may not agree with this, but if you ask them that do you want happiness, do you want progress, definitely yes we want progress and in what way do you want progress, one thing about it is very clear, I want to be healthy, I want to be living very healthy life, I want to be happy, that is very, very clear and who doesn't want prosperity, everyone wants to prosper and nowadays something very, very interesting is happening, about 30 years back one of the books with so much eagerness I read was the future shock, Alvin Toffler and the first thing he says is by the time you finish this book already many things have changed, but whatever it is, what is important is he mentions therein who is going to be very prosperous in future and he says he who has knowledge, it is knowledge is money, previously they used to think time is money, very interesting concept time is money, even now we have not got ridden of that old concept, time is money means what, a farmer is tilling, if one farmer tills his land for 6 hours, he gets one result, if the other farmer works for 10 hours, then he gets a little better harvest, that was the concept of time, you work harder, then you get more money, but now the equation had changed, it is not one who labours like a donkey whole day, but the person who has knowledge at the tip of his fingers, the more information, the more knowledge, there are people whose information is at their finger tips and they are the people who can make millions in minutes and there are also people who speculate and lose because they simply do not have knowledge, in any case knowledge is power, knowledge is life, knowledge is prosperity and knowledge is everything, that knowledge need not be decried, need not be disrespected, but this is not permanent knowledge, there is another type of knowledge and that knowledge is the subject matter of Patanjali Yoga Sutras, let me also briefly give an introduction, even though I have already told about this previously, India had developed 6 systems of philosophy, they are called Shad Darshanas, the word philosophy in English language, its equivalent in Sanskrit is called Darshana, Darshana means direct experience of reality, that is what it means reality, call it God or Brahman or whatever, by whatever name you want. Now there were 6 and they are further subdivided into 3, one is the theoretical part, another is the practical part. This Patanjali Yoga Sutra has its theoretical part which is called Sankhya Yoga, Sankhya Darshana and the Yoga Darshana is the practical part of it, that is why it has been taken for granted, that Patanjali Rishi takes for granted, those who are studying this are already familiar with the theoretical part, now they want to experience what they believe to be the theoretical part and that is the way is through this Yoga part, Yoga Darshana. So what is the theory? The theory is there are, in this world, there is this world and we are all in this world and we are all subjected to 3-fold miseries, Tapatraya, these 3-fold miseries no one wants, we want to get rid of them permanently and absolutely, absolutely means what? Let me explain this, such a beautiful concept, suppose you have a headache, who can have a headache, only a person who has got head, but he is not only having head, he is also having stomach, he is also having tooth, he is also having legs, he is having hands. So supposing he is having headache, if a medicine can be found to remove his headache, does it mean that his stomach ache also is removed or romantic pains are removed? No. So this is one, that means absolutely no. Secondly, even if a medication can remove that headache, is it a permanent removal? Only for the time being, there is no guarantee, next day again the headache will not return. So absolute and permanent solution comes only through one, only one realisation. What is that realisation? In my own funny way, I have mentioned it so many ways, so long as you have a head, there will be headache, if you have teeth, then there will be a toothache. So what is the way to get rid of headache permanently? Get rid of the head. For so long as there is a body, there would be a six-fold change, birth, existence, growth, then old age, decay and death. If we want to be free from these, then there is only one way, get rid of the body, get rid of the mind. Therefore the body-mind complex belong to whom? To the Purusha or to the Prakriti? They belong to the Prakriti nature. And somehow there is this unbelievable combination between the conscious and the non-conscious. And the conscious thinks I am unconscious and the unconscious thinks I am the conscious. So this is the root cause of ignorance. What is the root cause? This combination of Prakriti and Purusha, the conscious and the non-conscious. What is the solution? Separate. That is why it is called Yoga is often called Vyoga. Vyoga means not much more of separation than union. Anyway, it doesn't matter really. Union means union with our own true self or disunion with what we are not. That is called Yoga. This is the goal of Yoga. And if we want to progress in this goal of Yoga, then we have to understand what is our real nature and that is we are Purusha. That goes without saying. This belief is the root cause of our ambition as our goal. Somehow we have to know. We are the consciousness, pure consciousness. We have to know about it. Now how to achieve that? And if we don't achieve, what happens? We have discussed until the 19th Sutra where it says slowly, gradually, very, very rationally, scientifically it progresses. What is Yoga? What is the definition of Yoga? Yogaha chitta priti nirodha means when you are totally separate from your body and mind that is the state of Yoga. Call it Samadhi, call it God realization by whatever name you like, paradise, kingdom of heaven, etc. So what happens in our normal day-to-day life that when there is no union with the thought, then there is no union with the thought, tada drstu svarupe avasthanu. Then we remain as our own being. We realize that I am the Purusha or pure consciousness. At other times, whatever thought comes, then we identify ourselves with that thought and say first thought that comes is I am a body, the second thought that comes is I am a mind and all these combinations will come and we become miserable. That is why it is said in the Vedanta Darshan, even when a person reaches the highest possible state of happiness which is called Brahma Loka, even compared to our own true nature, it is also a state of inferior happiness. It is also a state of ignorance but we are talking about far, far higher things. So how to attain it? Slowly train the mind to attain, to separate itself from the body-mind complex and all meditations are geared how we can separate ourselves from that and in order to be able to do that, we must understand the theory of yoga and follow its path and attain. What is the goal of yoga? Samadhi. How many types of Samadhi? Two types, Sampragnata and Asampragnata, with an object and without an object, simplest way of telling. The first lower Samadhi is divided into four steps. This is called Sampragnata Samadhi, meditation, identification with an object. The first object is body-mind, gross body and mind. When we are successful in developing our meditation to such an extent that we can become totally identified with any object, we forget time, space and causation. That is the lowest of the fourth state. Then there is a subtle part to every object. When we can concentrate on the subtle part of the object and yet go beyond time and space and causation, that is the next higher step. Until this, we are talking about an external object. Objects are of two types, external and internal. External objects, you, me, the table. What is the internal object? Mind itself. You focus on the mind and take it to the highest point of concentration and then what happens? The mind reveals its nature. What does it reveal? It says, look here, you think that I am conscious, no, no, I am not conscious, I am unconscious, I am borrowing consciousness, I am like a mirror, I am only reflecting someone else's light. When we reach that understanding, mind itself is part of the non-conscious objective reality, then we have attained to the lower third stage. Then the fourth stage is there. That stage is called Asmita Samadhi. Asmita means there is an I, this is my mind. Sometimes we say this is me. Sometimes we say this is my mind, my mind, it belongs to me. That means whenever we say this is my, that means we are crystal clearly separating I from the object, that is you separate it. You have already separated it through the three stages and we come to the fourth stage where you focus and say what is this blessed I or is it a damned I and then you say this I, dear sir, I am only a reflection, I am not the reality. What does the mind say? I am a mirror. What does the I say? I am a reflection, Chidabhasa, I am not the real consciousness. A beautiful example that is given is like this, Vidyaranya gives in one of his most beautiful works, Panchadarshi, this example. Imagine at noon, 12 o'clock, you are coming to the Vedanta Centre, you just came outside the house and you can see the wall, outside the wall, very beautifully light is reflected there. You see it clearly. Imagine there is a mirror reflecting the sunlight onto the wall. Imagine a mirror reflecting the sunlight, already you are able to see the wall but this time what you are doing, you are seeing much more light on the same wall. Now you are aware of two lights, one is the general light, another is the light from the mirror. Every object in this world is seen in that general light but it is coming from where? From the Lord himself, the Purusha himself but when we progress in our yoga system then we realize this is all reflected lights. You remove the mirror, break the mirror and then comes, how many things are there now? Let me repeat it, you come outside Vedanta Centre and you see now there is sunlight and you see the wall and then suddenly somebody brings a mirror, puts it and the sunlight is reflecting again onto the same wall. Now how many lights you see? Two types of lights you see. Now the wall is the object, we have already crossed. In the third stage, we went which is called Ananda Samadhi, mind, meditation on the mind this, then we came to the Asmita Samadhi, that is also like the reflected light, that is also the reflected light only, it is not the real light and when we can overcome that light itself, that means what? You just imagine you go on staring, very beautiful and somebody takes away the mirror, now again you see the wall but you don't see double light, you only see single light. Suddenly the sun goes now, what happens to the wall? Sun is gone, wall is also gone, who is left out, what else do you see? You see yourself, I am there, what do you say? I don't see anything, that is the real, real eye. So when we succeed in focusing our attention on that reflected eye, on the pure reflected eye, don't see the walls, don't see any object but only see the light, am I making any sense? Let me repeat it. So you come to the Vedanta Centre and then there is a wall and you see the sunlight, in the sunlight if there were to be no sunlight, you don't see the wall but now you see the wall and somebody brings a mirror and the mirror is further reflecting the sunlight and now you see how many lights, two, so two lights are there, one object is there and you are there, how many are there? Four, you, the wall and two reflected lights. Now what happens? The sun goes down, now what happened to the wall? Disappeared, what happened to the two lights? Disappeared, what do you experience now? I am, I am, so when we come to the fourth stage then we clearly realise that this eye which we have been accustomed to use from how many millions of births, I am the body, I am an insect, you know, funny way of saying, according to Hinduism, we are how many births, after how many births we come to human birth? Several millions of births, so how did you start your first birth? I am an inorganic chemical and then I am an organic chemical and then suddenly you manifest life and then you say, I am amoeba, did you have, I am amoeba, I am a cockroach, don't approach me, like that you go on saying, I am a bird, I am a plant and I am an animal and I am a gorilla, I am a chimpanzee, I am a human being, etc., etc., etc., all I, I, I, what is this I? This is nothing but reflected, borrowed I, but the moment all these things disappear then how many are remaining? That I, I don't know anything and that is the result of succeeding in the fourth stage of the Sampragnata Samadhi and then there is another type of Samadhi, what is it called? Asampragnata Samadhi, means there is no object at all, even this I, reflected I itself is an object, it is the subtlest of the objects, but still it is an object, it is not the real subject. When we come to the fourth stage, we clearly understand there is another stage we have to go, but you can't go because there self-effort utterly fails, then what happens? Some grace must come and destroy the mirror which destroys the reflection and that subtle, subtlest part of the mind, Sattva Shuddhi, which reflects this Chidabasa, reflected consciousness is broken. Interestingly, Ramakrishna was trained by Totapuri, he said meditate, make your mind blank means let the mind be out, non-existent, but he said I can take out every other thought excepting one, what is that? My mother's, and that mother, now my question after hearing my long talk, my question is it a reflected consciousness or pure consciousness? And reflected consciousness must be destroyed and you cannot destroy it. So what happened? Interesting subject, Totapuri, what did he do? He took a piece of glass and he pierced the forehead and said meditate on the pain. So you see, when you meditate on pain, your divine, Ananda, my divine mother will disappear immediately and that's what happened. The moment that happened, that is the grace of the divine mother, his mind became totally non-existent. Blank means non-existent. The moment the mind became non-existent, what remained? What remains? I, I, you cannot, you cannot describe that what that I is. You can describe to some extent the reflected I, you can never describe the real I and that is the true nature of Shri Ramakrishna and each one of us. That's why we sing every day, Namo Namo Prabhu, Vakya Mana Atitha, because we cannot understand it. We need his grace. That's why again, Mano Vachana Eka Aadhaar, you are the only support, because of you only I can think, I can speak, etc. But even that is a high concept for us and that is why, Vakthro Dhrute Pihru Dheye Name Bhaati Kinchit, even though I am talking all these things, it really is not understood by me. Aath Tvameva Sharanam Mama Dheena Bandhu. Therefore I take refuge in him, out of your grace, remove this ignorance, remove this reflected consciousness. Then only I will know what I am truly speaking. So this is what we have been discussing until our last class. We have come until, we have completed the 18th, we have touched upon the 19th which describes the Asampragnatha Samadhi and it can be attained only by the grace of God and the grace of God can be attained only if we possess certain qualities, qualifications, Shriddha, Veriya, Smriti, etc. of which we resume our talks from next class onwards. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.