Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 063

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMAVIDVISHAHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRANJALI RANATHOSME I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar, and of the body through medicine. We are discussing spiritual progress which is the main purpose of our coming to spiritual life itself is that. In my last class I had discussed about spiritual progress from the viewpoint of what Vedanta tells, what also a little bit of how Sri Ramakrishna tells about us, how Swami Vivekananda had commented upon it, and I also had promised that we will discuss it from the viewpoint of Christianity, and most important for us from the viewpoint of Sri Ramakrishna. I am going to read now in the beginning from the viewpoint of Sri Ramakrishna what he says about spiritual progress. This is a very important teaching we have to bear in mind. Why is it so very important? Because spiritual life as I mentioned many times is not only concerned about spiritual life. Even if we want to be happy in this world, it is impossible to be happy without being spiritual at all. If anyone says I won't care for spiritual life and I will be happy in this world, he will not be happy. I also had defined many times these definitions are very important for us. Spiritual life is not about chakras. Chakras, those who deal with chakras, very often they will be roaming in chakra. I have seen so many people, very sad, they talk very highly, they don't know what they are talking about, and yet everyone wants to be very happy, healthy, so it's a condition of mind. What is the definition? Spiritual life is a journey from a lower state of happiness to a higher state. And happiness is not something you can fake it or you can pretend to be happy. Be very happy. No, it is like infection. When a person has infection, he can spread it. When a person is happy, he will make others also happy. An unhappy person can never make other persons happy even if he lectures throughout his life. Let us read now what Sri Ramakrishna had to say about it. The various states of mind of the Brahma Jnani are described in the Vedas. The path of knowledge is extremely difficult. One cannot obtain Jnana or knowledge if one has the least trace of worldliness and the slightest attachment to woman and gold. This is not the path for the Kali Yuga. First Sri Ramakrishna is talking about the difficulty of the path of knowledge. I want to clarify a little bit about this point. Does Sri Ramakrishna not encourage the path of knowledge because most of the people in the West seems to be fascinated by the path of knowledge. And some people in India, because most people in India are very emotional, full of B and B. B and B means bhajan and bhojan, devotees. There are people who go on giving talks about the path of knowledge. Sri Ramakrishna also spoke, Swami Vivekananda's best talks on Jnana Yoga which has come out in a book form are delivered, do you know where? In two places. The first place is in London and in the month of November when there is so much of mist in those days. And in New York. What is the point here? The point is Sri Ramakrishna's teaching is this Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge is subsidiary to the path of devotion. This is what Swami Vivekananda called the harmony of yogas. What does it really imply? No yoga first of all can be practiced independent of the other yogas. Every yoga necessarily involves the practice of other three yogas. As you know there are four yogas. Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. No more. Not three, not five, but exactly four. Secondly, in this, not only in this age, but in any age, people are more emotional. Much less rational, logical, discriminative. We are full of emotion. Of the people who follow the path of emotion, what is the best yoga suited? Bhakti Yoga. But there is a danger in Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti Yoga people can think themselves they are bhaktas. Think themselves just because tears come. Tears come for various reasons. As you know crocodile tears are also there. But a real devotee, he doesn't shed tears at all. It's very rare. When it goes out of his control, he really sheds. What is the point here? Shri Ramakrishna very much emphasizes always this emotion must be accompanied by rationality. Otherwise it can mislead us. Every true devotee will be endowed with Jnana, knowledge. Knowledge means we are not talking about knowledge of God. We are talking about knowledge of where we are, what we are doing, why we are doing what we are doing, etc. This is called in Patanjali's own words, Pratyak Pravanatha. Intensely aware of one's own workings of the mind. Just as a psychiatrist, a psychologist is intensely aware of what the patient is going through. But the patient himself is not aware of it. This is also an apt analogy because a guru works more like a psychologist or psychiatrist rather than spiritual teaching comes only in the very end. In the beginning what we need is not spiritual guidance. It's a lot of thappad to keep us on the right path. So much of ignorance is involved here. That is why Shri Ramakrishna is not telling Jnana Yoga is not necessary. He is telling that we are essentially devotees. Devotion accompanied by Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga is the best path for this age or I would say for any age. Here is what Shri Ramakrishna is telling. The Vedas speak of seven planes where the mind dwells. When the mind is immersed in worldliness, it dwells in the three lower planes. At the navel, the organ of generation and the organ of evacuation. Aahaara nidraa bhayamai dhunancha. Samana metha pashu virna rana. There is a beautiful verse which says food eating, sleeping, running away out of fear and procreation. These are all common activities of all animals. Human being, we often forget we are not non-animals, we are also animals. But there is something very special within us. What is that? The capacity, potential rationality, awareness is there. So that's what happens. But for the ordinary people, where is the mind? In the three lower chakras. Eating, drinking and procreating. If you remember, Shri Ramakrishna was asking Bankimchandra Chatterjee, What is the duty of a human being? You know what reply he gave? Eat, sleep and we get children. Shri Ramakrishna got very annoyed and said, Whatever a person does, when a person eats garlic, what comes out? Only the smell of garlic. That's what he scolded. But Bankimchandra was such a great scholar. To get that kind of reply, Shri Ramakrishna perhaps didn't expect that kind of reply. If he had asked me, I would have immediately said, God realization. And he would have scolded me also. You tell what you mean. Don't tell me just because you want to please me. Seriously speaking, who wants God realization? How many people want God realization? Once when I was in a church, one preacher got into a high emotional mode. While preaching about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of heaven. He shouted, all those who want to go to heaven, come to the left side of the church. Everybody rushed there, excepting one fellow. So the preacher got very angry. He shouted at this fellow, Jones, don't you want to go to heaven? Yes, sure, I would like to. Why are you not coming to the left side? Oh, I thought that you are going right now. Definitely I would like to go, but not right now. At the end of my life, I will go to bed and Durga Durga. What a blissful way of going to heaven after that. In fact, every day we go to heaven for your information. How do we know? Because the smallest opportunity we get, we get into that state. Most of the worldly people, their mind is on these three lower chakras. The fourth plane of the mind is at the heart. When the mind dwells there, one has the first glimpse of spiritual consciousness. One sees light all around. Such a man, perceiving the divine light, becomes speechless with wonder and says, Ah, what is this, what is this? His mind doesn't go downward to the objects of the world. The fifth plane of the mind is at the throat. When the mind reaches this, the aspirant becomes free from all ignorance and delusion. He doesn't enjoy talking or hearing about anything but God. If people talk about worldly things, he leaves the place at once. The sixth plane is at the forehead. When the mind reaches it, the aspirant sees the form of God day and night. But even then, a little trace of ego remains. At the sight of that incomparable beauty of God's form, one becomes intoxicated and rushes forth to touch and embrace it. But one doesn't succeed. It is like the light inside a lantern. One feels as if one could touch the light but one cannot on account of the pain of glass. Let me stop here for a moment. You remember when Sri Ramakrishna was being instructed by Totapuri, Empty your mind of all thoughts. He said, I could empty my mind of every thought excepting one thought. And that was the thought of my Divine Mother. And it took him considerable delight. So much of ecstatic joy that his mind doesn't like to move away from there. It needed the grace, the prodding of the Sadguru because of the Divine Mother's grace. Who brought the Guru to Sri Ramakrishna? To the Divine Mother. Who made Sri Ramakrishna accept the vows of monastic life? Again the Divine Mother. And who gave the instructions through the Guru? From the beginning to the end, a Guru is nothing but God. Once for all you will have to understand, when it is said, Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwaraha, Guru is none other than God Himself, it is not an exaggeration because it is not the Guru who is God. It is God who comes in the form of Guru. And Gurus come not only in one form. In myriad forms, God's grace comes. Whenever we need a lesson, God comes in the form of a loving Mother. But the loving Mother also may give some blows out of love. So whatever experiences we have in this world is the grace of God. And that is most difficult for us. A so-called enemy comes and then he may hurt us. He may try to kill us. He might even kill us. Is it a grace of God? Yes, it is a grace of God. For a devotee, everything is a grace of God. I cannot refrain by reminding you of that beautiful incident which Sri Ramakrishna Himself mentions. There was a king, I forget his name, he was a great devotee of Rama. And he was fighting against some Muslims. And some Muslim soldiers came and stabbed him. And he was on the point of death. Someone rushed there and said probably it is only soldiers of his own side who stabbed him. I think was it Raghunath? King Raghunath, I forget the name. Doesn't matter. So people asked, Sir, who stabbed you? Unless they suspected that he knows who stabbed him, how could they ask who stabbed you? Do you remember what reply he gave? It is Rama Himself who stabbed me. Rama Himself. Pauhari Baba's example, do you remember? When the thief came, what did he say? Rama, please pardon me for interrupting your work. A dog was running away with one of his rooties. And then he ran after the dog with a cup of clarified butter, ghee. He said, O Rama, your teeth will break. Let me apply some butter on your bread. What about his own teeth? No danger is there. Because he was a Vedanti. Danta means teeth. Vedanti means without any teeth. When there are no teeth, what is the point? See, such was the knowledge that thief had become one of the greatest monks. When a person reaches this sixth plane, Ramakrishna is telling that as though he cannot help himself, he rushes forth to embrace the divine, but he cannot. That's why Totapuri had been created. Ramakrishna had attained that sixth plane already long back. In fact, he attained the seventh plane also long back. It is for our edification that the teacher had come in a formal way. Ramakrishna said, I can remove my thoughts from everything in this world, but not from my Divine Mother. Of course, in the end, in the seventh plane, what happens? This is what Ramakrishna is telling. In the top of the head, in the seventh plane, when the mind rises there, one goes into Samadhi. Then the Brahmagnani directly perceives Brahman. But in that state, his body doesn't last many days. He remains unconscious of the outer world. If milk is poured into his mouth, it runs out. Dwelling on this plane of consciousness, he gives up his body in 21 days. That is the condition of the Brahmagnani. But yours is the path of devotion. That's a very good and easy path. Let me again dwell a few minutes about the seventh plane. Ramakrishna, by the grace of the Divine Mother, had attained to that seventh plane. He became one merged. What is Ramakrishna telling here? In that state, the body doesn't last more than 21 days. Now, did Ramakrishna's body last or not? How many days? 21 days? He was there several years. He was alive until 1886. Now, what happened in his case, if you still remember, this is a meditation on Ramakrishna. He said later on, for six months continuously my mind dwelt in the highest Nirvikalpa Samadhi. But if the mind doesn't now and then come down a little bit, then it is not going to last. Remember, Ramakrishna asked Narendranath, young Narendra, what do you want? He said, I want to remain merged in Samadhi. Every 3-4 days come down a little to have a little bit of food because the body would not last otherwise. Now, this is what happened to Ramakrishna. A wandering monk came there by the will of the Divine Mother and he understood again by the grace of the Divine Mother that this person had attained to the highest state. And then, you know, what he used to do? He used to, if necessary, beat Sri Ramakrishna with a stick and when a little bit of outward consciousness was coming, he would put a little bit of food inside his mouth. So that is how Sri Ramakrishna's body remained. Even otherwise it would have been without food. How long can a person live without food or drink? Usually, how long can he live? Maybe 21 days, maybe a person may live for 2 months, for even 40 days, 50 days, you know, Gandhiji. Gandhiji had fasted for how many days, longest fast? I think 48 days or something like that. But even then he was drinking water. Without water, the body will not last a long time. He was not eating food but he was drinking water. But Sri Ramakrishna's body, who is going to drink water? He was not conscious. But by the will of the Mother, this sadhu came. And then, in the end, you know what happened? Sri Ramakrishna himself was telling. He heard the Divine Mother's commandment. Bhava Mukhe Thako. Remain in the state of Bhava Mukha, which is neither the completely 7th plane nor 6th plane, but in between, between Nitya and Leela. He is also conscious of the world. He is also conscious of the 7th plane. This is what condition. Sri Ramakrishna is describing this. Even though he was telling this is what is described in the Vedas, means in the Upanishads, etc. Actually, this is his own personal experience. This was the experience of direct disciples like Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, etc. If you remember, I had given a series of lectures several years back on spiritual progress. I have given much more, gone into much more details in those talks. I am not sure, but I think they are still on the website. If you go, if you are interested, of course, you know, you can download and then you can listen to them. And incidentally, you know that, but I can even reinforce your knowledge. In case you are having trouble in falling asleep, I can recommend heartily my talks. They are very beneficial. Several people have reported very beneficial effects of those talks. Now, I also promise to you what Christian mystics think about. Of all these Christian mystics, there are two who are extremely well-known to people. St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. Now, this St. Teresa of Avila had written some nice books. One of the books is the Interior Castle. In that castle, she mentions exactly seven mansions. Instead of seven planes, she uses the word mansion. Although there is a huge building and inside each, inside the building, there are, all together there are seven buildings are there. Each within inside of that outside. And I also mentioned last week, those who missed the talk, you know that temple outside? You count those compound walls. That represents seven chakras in the next room. After my talk, you can go and just count any of the four sides. Even though I mentioned it, I'm still mentioning again. Four doors are there. Four doors represent the four yogas. Right in the center is the sanctum, sanctorum, and that is where the Lord dwells. One can approach the Lord through any of these doorways. And one has to cross one after the other. Actually, Hindu temples are modeled after human body. Within each human body, there are these seven chakras are there. In fact, not only human body, they are there in any living creature, but it is much more manifest in the human body than anywhere else. That's why I mentioned the human body. Now coming back, this is what Saint Teresa is giving a graphic description. Inside the castle, the seven mansions. First, in this mansion are those of good desires, those who pray. However, they are still absorbed primarily in their possessions, honors, and business affairs. Shubhecha. Second, in the second mansion are those who are searching for something deeper. They read the Bible, spiritual books, seek good friendship, and find themselves struggling against evil inclinations. Third, this mansion belongs to those who do not desire to sin, even in the smallest way. They practice mortification and penance. They attend retreats and days of recollection. They are charitable to others. They maintain all things in their life in balance. Yet, there still is a desire to search for something deeper. In the fourth mansion, those who are experiencing infused prayer, also called the prayer of quiet. In this stage, their prayer is passive. It is peaceful. The movement is inward, towards the self, where eventually it will meet its Lord. The most important virtue here is love. Actually, according to her, in this fourth mansion begins love. Love means true devotion. And this is what exactly Sri Ramakrishna and also Vedanta tells us. What is this fourth state? The chakra, fourth chakra, we call it anahata chakra, the heart chakra. That is where the true love begins towards the Lord. Now, what about our love? Our love is a mix of love. We also want world. We also want God at the same time. Fifth mansion, here the person begins the prayer of union, in which all the faculties of the soul are suspended. Teresa says, it is like God becomes the cocoon in which the person dies. It is a period of darkness. But yet the soul is certain beyond doubt that it is with and in the Lord. During this period, the soul grows more in love of neighbor, humility and faithfulness to prayer and the Lord. The most wonderful change is taking place in the fifth mansion. What is the change? Until the fourth, the mind is going inward. But from the fifth onwards, not only the mind is going inward, it is also extending itself outward. That means the differentiation between the in and the out is becoming less or in other words, becoming more harmonious. Sixth mansion, this is called spiritual betrothal. It takes place during a rapture when the soul is drawn out of its senses. It is a time of special secret teaching between the soul and its beloved who appears to the soul. Great courage is needed to take this step because the soul will be purified even more, not only through human trials and sufferings, but also through contact with the human person of Jesus. The result of this mansion are a deep knowledge of God and self, humility, rejection of all earthly things that are not needed to promote love of the beloved and a joy so great that the soul cannot resist shouting it from the housetops. Again, let me dwell a moment. This sixth mansion or sixth plane is also comparable to Visishtadvaita. Visishtadvaita is a special school of philosophy where God also is real. This world also is real. This world is a creation, a real creation of real God and this world is contained within the divine Lord. Like, say, Ramakrishna gives the example, a bale fruit, the seeds and the pulp, everything is contained within that bale fruit shell. So, like that, nothing is unreal in this world. So, how beautifully Saint Teresa is telling, here there is a deep knowledge of God and self. This is what Visishtadvaita tells. When a person develops in spiritual life, he has knowledge. Knowledge of what? Knowledge of God, knowledge of oneself and knowledge of what is the relationship between God and oneself. Only thing is there, it says, God is my Lord, I belong to him. He doesn't belong to me, but I belong to him. Like a wave belongs to the ocean, ocean doesn't belong to the wave. According to Vedanta, this is still a lower step. But this itself is a wonderful thing. What happens in this? Here, rejection of all earthly things that are not needed to promote love of God and a joy so great that the soul cannot resist shouting it from the housetops. Then comes the last, this is called the mansion of spiritual marriage. What is this marriage means? The devotee, the lover and the beloved become one in Sufi language. When the person is ready for spiritual marriage, the Lord removes the scales from their eyes and they see and understand how beautiful they have been made by the Lord. Thus fortified, they are united in marital love deep within the self. They become one and no longer fall into ecstasy. All mystical experiences are co-natural. It is not so much what they do, but with the love union that they do it in. This is one of the most beautiful descriptions I have ever come across of one of the highest states. What is the spiritual marriage? The lover and the beloved become one and there is no longer any ecstasy. What is this idea? There is no longer any ecstasy. Ecstasy means what? I am looking for ecstasy all my life. Because ecstasy until that time is what a person gets. When he reaches this state, it is not what he gets, it is what he becomes. Instead of getting, he becomes that knowledge. So these are the seven steps. I would refrain further dwelling upon this excepting one remark. Even I was studying the Sufism and in the Sufism also there are exactly seven steps. Seven chakras according to Tantras, seven planes of consciousness according to Vedanta, seven mansions according to a Christian theology. All these seven, why everybody is homing in on seven? That means in reality these are the seven steps. One after the other, spiritual progress is really made. I also in my last class had mentioned what I summed up as spiritual progress. So let me remind only two points there. How do we know we are progressing in spiritual life? We will have certain characteristics developed. But of all the characteristics, I emphasize two characteristics, two points. The first point is the more we progress towards God, the more we become aware of what is happening within ourselves. That is why the fallout of this spiritual progress is no spiritual aspirant ever can become a mental patient. No spiritual person can ever become a mental patient. You know why? Because even psychiatrists also are mental patients. Because they have deeper knowledge through experience, they become gurus later on. You know so many people, if you have some problem, ill health, you go and express. They say, oh no, no, I know because I have gone through this so many times myself. And they are in an authentic position, they can give you advice. Even a psychologist or psychiatrist may not know what is ailing him. I think I have given this information before. You know there is a law that every psychologist or psychiatrist must go through psychoanalysis at least three years, four years, once, so that they do not become biased themselves. But according to Vedanta, a psychiatrist is also an ignorant person. And one ignorant person cannot illumine another ignorant person. When two darknesses meet together, the result is more darkness than light. In this world we do need some help people could give. So what does a psychiatrist do? He observes everything objectively. And that is why he has better knowledge of the other person than even himself. That way they can be of some help to us. There is no doubt. I am not saying no. But a spiritual person doesn't need to go to any psychiatrist because the first thing is what is wrong with me? If we are worldly people, our attitude is just the opposite. What is wrong with you? The moment we become spiritual people, then what is wrong with me? This is how we start our spiritual quest. There is something seriously wrong with me. And I would like to become, I get rid of it, become a better person. And that is how we go on throwing the torch light, very powerful hallucination light, into the nooks and corners of what is called deepest part of our minds. Nothing can really hide. That's why part of meditation is to think what are we doing here. Funnily, many times I mentioned, I talked with a person, very happy. I make him happy also by telling him jokes and other things. And then I go to the temple and then meditate. After one hour he comes back with a black face. How was your meditation? Excellent. And I don't talk anything more. I am propelled from inside. Why is your face so dark if your meditation is so good? What were you meditating upon? Definitely you are meditating. If your face is dark, then you must be meditating upon what? Darkness. That means unhappiness. So what is meditation? That's why Swami Brahmananda's teaching is so wonderful. When you meditate, even for a few minutes, meditate that the Lord is extremely pleased. He is bubbling with joy. He is an embodiment of joy. Sachidananda. And you must feel that he is very pleased with you. Then only your meditation becomes. If you think that God is also having dark face, then it's like South Indian temples. Already South India is inside nooks and corners. The image is made up of dark colored stone. And then there is absolutely no electric light in those days. And whenever a devotee goes, they take a small camphor lamp and then go on showing the God there. And only a little part of the God you can see. And in between they will decorate him with all these jewels and diamonds and all those things. They will be shining and reflecting. And you think that the devotee is likely to think God is giving his special darshan to me. You don't really see. I failed to see so many Gods and Goddesses there. Have you visited? Yes, I tell them. Have you seen God? Yes, I say. What did you see? They won't ask what did you see. Because I have nothing to tell. Only vaguely something I see. Whereas you go to any of our temples, bright lights will be there. So that you can see Ramakrishna surroundings, everything so crystal clear. Anyway, perhaps they wanted to preserve a sense of mystery. That's why they keep and then show in God only. You are very fortunate to see. What is the point I am telling? Point is when you meditate, you must be totally aware what you are meditating upon and why you are meditating. Because when you come out, you must be radiant with joy. There must be transformation. When you come out of meditation, even if it be a few minutes, that is the first thing that I emphasize. Be aware what is happening to you. When you are reading, what is happening to you? When you are listening, what is happening to you? And when you are sleeping, what is happening to you? When you are eating, what is happening to you? All the time be self-aware. This is the first point I emphasize. The second point I emphasize. As we progress in spiritual life, I said two things grow within us. Last week's class, if you still remember, when was the last class, Swamiji? Last Sunday for your information. So what were these points? Our Shraddha and our Nishtha, both of them grow. What is the Shraddha? Shraddha means God is, God exists and He is looking after me. And faith also, I won't be left behind because God is looking after me. So long, I have been looking after myself. I have been trying. That's why my life is so uncertain, insecure. But now, I gave this responsibility to God. Therefore, He is looking after me and I have hope. That faith that I am going to be rescued, that is called Shraddha. And this Shraddha, this idea of Shraddha is embodied in that Katha Upanishad. In the form of, can you tell what I am talking about? Nachiketha, the embodiment of Shraddha, Abhivesha. Shraddha possessed him. He did not have Shraddha. Shraddha had him like a ghost. And I also mentioned the point, what is that? Our Nishtha grows. What is the difference between Shraddha and Nishtha? Shraddha means my faith in God and in myself. Nishtha means once I set a routine to myself, whether I am making progress or not, I will never give up. And I am very sorry to tell you, so many people that take initiation from here and go away. In the beginning they show so much of Nishtha. They come to the talks, they sit there, they sit in the front seat and they do all those things. Slowly they take the second seat and then go to the last seat and slowly near the door. See, Nishtha means once I make up my mind, I would like to follow this routine. Never deviate from there. I will just give you in this connection one example of Swami Adbhutanandaji. Sri Ramakrishna once scolded him because he was a boy from a village and he was accustomed to sleep at dusk. So, in the presence of Sri Ramakrishna, he was dozing. Sri Ramakrishna severely scolded him, My boy, have you come here to sleep away your time? Never do that. Sri Ramakrishna's scolding was so powerful, the boy, Swami, later on Swami Adbhutananda, Hattu Maharaj, is ashamed, whole life he did not sleep at night. Only daytime he used to sleep a few hours, noon after food, but otherwise he used to lie down and meditate. Whole life he did it. He passed away in Banaras and during his last days, he was so ill that hardly he could move. Without the help of attendants, he could not move. So, one evening he called his attendants and said, please help me to sit down. But the doctor warned the attendants, do not allow the Swami to sit. Let him lie down because he is severely ill. The Swami requested the attendants. He said, Maharaj, doctor forbid, throw away your doctors. My Gurudev had told me to sit down. I have to sit down. Whole life I have never disobeyed. I have been doing that. I have to do it. They said, why do you want? After all, you know, what is the purpose of this nishtha? To realize God. And you realized God. Why do you want? But he would not listen. Nishtha is nishtha. Then the attendants had to tell him, we are not going to help you. For his own good. He said, if you don't help me, I will call on Hanuman. He will make me sit down. They said, you call your Hanuman. We are not going to help you to sit down. And they went away. After a few minutes they came. What did they find? Found him sitting. They were astonished. Then they asked him, how did you happen? I told you that I will call on Hanuman. The Lord came, made me sit down and put the pillows also behind me to support my back. Perhaps some conversation might have taken place. But what I guess is, he must have told, my Guru told me that at dawn and dusk, you have to sit and meditate. Not lie and meditate. He did not tell me, after God realization, you can lie down also and then do what you like. He told me only to sit and do it. And he never gave any contrary indication. So I will do it so long as I am alive. So long as I can help. This is called Nishtha. And if you remember, I also told the story of Ramanuja's old disciple. If you remember. I am not going to go into that story. The old man, he sat down the whole day and until midnight, waiting for his Guru to come and wash his feet and drink that water. That is called Nishtha. Without Nishtha, nobody can progress in spiritual life. I also incidentally mentioned, as we progress in spiritual life, we become acutely aware of three things. Do you know what three things? Of time, of energy and of the passing of our days. We become acutely aware. So when we are progressing in spiritual life, we have to keep these points in view. What did we discuss so far since the last class and this class? Spiritual life is a progress from a lower state to a higher state. In every scripture, this spiritual state is divided into seven steps. And these seven steps is what Patanjali has said, Saptadabhumi. Prajna Saptadabhumi. Seven planes of consciousness. And if you recollect, Buddhas. How many steps Buddha had outlined? This is also called Ashtanga Marga. Ashtanga Marga means eightfold spiritual discipline. Of these, only one is goal. The rest of the seven is the path. Right understanding the very first step, it is the goal of life. But the rest of the seven is how to progress in spiritual life. So this is what the Patanjali Rishi had outlined. Now the next aphorism says, Yoga Anga Anusthanath Ashuddhi Kshaye Gnana Deepthi A Viveka Khyate By the practice of the different parts of yoga, the impurities being destroyed, knowledge becomes effulgent up to discrimination. What happens when we practice the spiritual disciplines as outlined by Patanjali Rishi? We are specially discussing. It is going to come in the very next aphorism, 29th. The tenfold way. Yama and Niyama. How many Yamas? Five. How many Niyamas? Five. We will discuss it. But here he is telling that when we are practicing yoga, how long should we practice? Until the dawn of Viveka. Viveka means what is called the knowledge that I am the soul and everything else is the nature. According to Vedanta what it really means is, until I come to know that God alone is real and everything is God. What did I say? God alone is real and everything is God. But you don't get it in that formula. You will get Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya Jivo Brahmaiva Na Paraha. Until we reach the highest state, God alone is real, this world is unreal, but you the soul, individual soul is also Brahma. But the truth is that this is only the first step. When you reach there, there is no such distinction that I am separate, this world is separate, Brahman is separate. Everything becomes one. That is why it is called Advaita, non-duality. Not two, but you don't even say one. So 28th aphorism. By the practice of different parts of yoga, the impurities being destroyed, knowledge becomes effulgent up to discrimination. This is called Viveka Khyati. Khyati means knowledge. Viveka means discrimination. Discriminative knowledge. What does that mean? Crystal clear understanding. I am the Self, I am the Purusha in Sankhya Yoga's language. And this is Prakriti. We are two separate things. We have nothing to do with each other. Our present state is I am Purusha, I am Prakriti. Purusha thinks I am Prakriti. Prakriti thinks I am Purusha. The consciousness thinks I am not consciousness. And the non-consciousness thinks I am consciousness. But when we reach this discriminative knowledge, crystal clearly, I have nothing to do with Prakriti or the material. I am totally separate from matter. But this is according to Sankhya. But according to further advances of this Sankhya Yoga, which culminates in Vedanta, there is no such two separate eternal principles. Everything is only one. Swami Vivekananda comments, Now comes the practical knowledge. What we have just been speaking about is much higher. It's way above our heads. But it is the ideal. It is first necessary to obtain physical and mental control. Then the realization will become steady in that ideal. The ideal being known, what remains is to practice the method of reaching it. By the way, I can remind you, that Swami Vivekananda had written a most mystical poem. It is called the Song of the Samadhi. If you remember, Nahi Surya, Nahi Jyoti, Nahi Shashank Sundar. There neither the sun is illuminating, nor the moon, nor the stars. Such a graphic description, Bhase Vyome Chhaya Sama, Dheere Dheere, slowly, slowly, slowly, my eye seems to slowly melt away into that indescribable reality. And Bujhe Pran, Bujhe Jaar. He who experienced it, he alone knows what I am talking about. If you have time and interest, you can refer to that. Now we come into, what are the steps that Patanjali wants us, so that we can become yogis. He says, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhayo, Ashtau, Angani. According to Patanjali, this is an eight-stepped discipline. Ashtanga, eight-stepped. Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. This eight-fold discipline is further divided into two categories. Those which are outer steps, those which are inner steps. The first five, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, is called outer steps. Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi is called the three inner steps. These three inner steps also go by another name, Sanyama. There is complete focusing of the mind with Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. How they are separate, how one leads to the other, we will discuss in our next classes. But here what is important is, this is an eight-stepped ladder. It is a ladder of spiritual progress. And how many steps are there? Actually, there are six steps. Not eight steps, but the six steps. Of these, the platform upon which the ladder stands is called Yama and Niyama. This Yama and Niyama consists of five of each, two into five, ten particular spiritual disciplines. Without this platform, without this background, without this foundation, if your ladder stands on a very uneven ground, what is likely to happen? You will fall down. Yama, Niyama, without that, there is neither worldly life nor spiritual life. One of our Swamis has made a very beautiful observation in this regard. He said, even worldly people, they also want happiness. But most of the time they suffer. Why? Because the foundation is not proper. For both spiritual people as well as worldly people, secular people, the platform is absolutely the same. The foundation is absolutely the same. But what is the difference between worldly people and spiritual people? Spiritual people are not happy just to be on the ground floor. They go on constructing higher and higher buildings. Upper and upper floors they want to climb. How many such floors are there? Just now I told you. Six are there. Six. Very important. I am asking you because at least you will remember a few of these things. At least so long as this class lasts. No, no. I have faith, you know. One day next birth you have to be spiritual lecturers. So be careful. Otherwise you have to go like me through all the studies again. So it's better that you digest what I am telling and you go and give lectures. You will be invited by so many people. So everybody wants only the same goal. Even worldly people want the goal. What is the difference? They would not raise any further floors. They are quite happy. Why am I telling this? The reason is that happiness comes out of what? Happiness comes out of what? Dharma or Adharma. And what is Yama and Niyama? Nothing but Dharma. That is why people, they may try by hook or crook. What happens? They will get things but they will not get happiness. This is the greatest blunder people commit. People cannot understand the difference between having things and being happy. Are they same? They are totally different. And how hard it is. We are nodding our head. But really in our heart of hearts we think no, no, no. If I get more money I will be a happier person. What does the Swami know about it? The fact is without Dharma there is no Sat, there is no Chit, there is no Ananda. This is the fact. But by hook or crook, by cleverness we can get certain things. First let us be clear about this 29th. According to Patanjali how many steps total? Eight steps. Of these eight steps what is the firmest foundation? Two steps. What are they called? Yama and Niyama. This Yama and Niyama consists of how many disciplines? Ten disciplines, five of each. Then how many floors are remaining? Six floors are remaining. That is where Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi will come. So without this Yama and Niyama foundation it is impossible to build anything stronger. That is why whether you want worldly life, worldly wise you want to be happy you need this Yama and Niyama. That the whole law of Karma is dependent upon this law of cause and effect. Yama, Niyama you observe, you will be the happiest person on earth. Just before I close I want to give you this foretaste. One of the part of these five disciplines of Niyama is Santosha. What is Santosha? Absolute contentment. Your content. That means whatever I have I am supremely pleased with it, happy with it. I do not have any desire to have anything else. That is called contentment means no further desire. When a person reaches that state how wonderful it is that he is able to be happy even with what he has. Even he may have one roti but he is very very happy with that. So this is the foundation. Then six disciplines like six floors and the highest of that floor is called Samadhi. What are these Yamas? What are these Niyamas? Just one last addition to what I said. Yamas can only be practiced by monks and Niyamas can be practiced by anybody and everybody. What did I say? Yamas can be practiced only by monks not householders. And why and how we will discuss in our next class. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti