Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 003

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Sahana Bhavatu Sahana Bhunatu Sahaveeryam Karavavahai Tejasvi Navadhi Tamastu Mavidvishavahai Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om May Brahman protect us both May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge May what we both study reveal the truth May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other Om Peace Peace Peace be unto us Om Yogena Chittasyapadena Vacham Malam Sharirasya Chavaidya Kena Upakarottam Pravaram Muninam Patanjalim Pranjali Rana Tosmi I bow down 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 Patanjali Yoga Sutras. This is the third of such a class. This is a very important study and it really helps us whether we are devotees following the path of devotion or of knowledge or of karma. Yoga contains the very essence of all these paths. So it is very important for us to understand because without understanding this it is not possible for us to progress not only in spiritual life but in any field of life. If we analyse the lives of any great person or any successful person we come to understand that all of them became great to the extent their minds have come under their control. So the very word yoga many times it is misunderstood, misapplied especially nowadays in the West. The moment we hear the word yoga, recollect yoga asanas etc. pranayama etc. has nothing to do with the real meaning of the word yoga. Yoga really means that which elevates us, that which removes all obstacles in the path of self-knowledge. Yoga is that which helps us to maintain good health. Yoga also is that which helps us in maintaining sanity. When people are insane the only cause is because they have fallen from the path of yoga. Very often the spiritual terms like spirituality or religion are not properly understood. That is why many people take a dislike to the word God, to the word yoga, to the word spirituality, to the word religion. According to Hinduism there is no disbeliever at all. We are all believers only. Of course if you are asked do you believe in God, do you believe in spirituality, do you believe in religion, there is a possibility they may say no. But if you rephrase that question, do you want to be happier, do you want to be healthier, who would say no? In fact from birth to death that is what we are all doing. So what is religion, what is spirituality? Religion or spirituality, I am combining them, though there are some differences there, for simplification, religion or spirituality is a journey from a lower state of happiness to a higher state of happiness. Religion or spirituality or yoga is a journey from a lower state of happiness to a higher state of happiness. As simple as that. Who can object if this is the definition given of religion or spirituality? So this special technique by which we can travel in a better way from a lower state of happiness to a higher state of happiness is called yoga. Let me also rephrase it in this way. So for example what is bhakti yoga, devotional path? Yoga means, from the Vedantic point of view, yoga means union between our individual self with the universal self or Jeeva, Ishwara, Ikea. This is the normal definition that is given. So why do you want to be united? One simple reason, Ishwara is independent, he is eternal, he is omniscient and he is bliss itself. Sat, chit and ananda, as simple as that. So if we can become one with that God who is eternal, who is of infinite knowledge and who is of infinite bliss, that is the goal, that is what we want to attain, that is what consciously or unconsciously we are all trying, then that is religion, that is yoga. So yoga means union. Union with whom? Union with our own selves. What do you mean by union with our own selves? Do you mean to say that we are not ourselves now? Yes, we are not ourselves, we think we are somebody else. Sri Ramakrishna's words, the whole world is mad. What is madness? Not knowing who one is. If you are asked, who are you? And we all know who you are. Then if you tell some other identity, CV, and consistently if you go on talking that you are somebody else other than what you are, then you will be labelled as mad, insane. But because all of us are mad, we keep the saints in the lunatic asylum and we remain outside. There is no place in lunatic asylum, only saints have got that. You see, insanity means not to know who we really are. There is a wonderful book by a socio-psychologist called Eric Fromm, Saint Society. So he starts with this premise. Suppose there is a small group of people, hundred people, and ninety-nine persons are behaving in one way, one person is behaving in a different way. The other ninety-nine percent of people would label that person as abnormal. What is normal? What most of the people are doing, that's normal. And what one person does or two persons do, that is abnormal. That's wonderful. We all know that. But suppose the whole society as it were is abnormal. How do you compare? The whole world is abnormal. How do you compare them? To know who is abnormal, we must have a comparative something besides which we say this is normal, this is abnormal. If the whole society is abnormal, how do you know? So this is the premise. And he starts a beautiful analysis. In the end what he tells us is nothing but pure spirituality. So if we are really sane persons, this should be the result. What should be? We should be truthful, we should be leading a righteous life, we should be completely unselfish, and we should identify ourselves with the whole universe because the whole universe is nothing but only one simple unit. The whole universe. If you ask a physicist, he will tell the whole universe consists of what? Matter or energy. But see how much we label ourselves, how much discrimination takes place, how much bloodshed takes place, how much misery is caused. So what is the point we are discussing? Yoga is nothing but an attempt at knowing who we really are and remain as we are. So what does that imply? That implies at this moment we are not what we think we are. How do we know? Scriptures are necessary. And why should we know? One of the most important questions is, there is a saying in English, many are called but few are chosen. What it means is many people, many of us want or claim that we want to be spiritual but very few really become spiritual. What is the reason? We have a desire, everyone has a desire to attain to that self-knowledge which means the highest type of life. And yet we are frightened because the present has to be sacrificed if we want to attain something. The Katha Upanishad describes it so graphically, psychological interpretation of this most marvellous Upanishad is very important. As you know this story, there was an old orthodox Brahmin and he had a desire to go to heaven. He came to know from the scriptures that there is a place called heaven and if one goes to heaven it is all happiness. No misery is ever there. It is all happiness. So naturally he said he believed in that and he wanted to go to that. But the condition is imposed. What is the condition? If you want to live in a palace you have to leave your pig's tie. But he said I would like to go to heaven but carry my pig's tie with me. Then even if you go to heaven also where will you be living? In the pig's tie only. So all the things that you think yours are to be completely given up. But he was not willing to give up. Why? Because he says I want heaven but he is so deeply attached. He was willing definitely to give up things which are of no profit to him. Old cows which have stopped giving milk, calving, eating and they are in the last state. Anybody would be ready to give up those things. So what are we talking about? A desire is measured by the amount of sacrifice we make. It is not simply telling. This is the difference between a successful man and an unsuccessful man. Do you follow? Who doesn't want to be successful? Everyone wants to be successful. Then what is the difference? The difference is a successful person he is prepared to give up what he thinks is unprofitable for what he thinks, he has faith that something better. Without sacrifice no progress is ever possible. Even in ordinary day-to-day life if you want to go to the fourth step then you have to give up the first step, second step and the third step. Is that not what we do when we are climbing? We give up one by one the lower steps. Remaining at the same step is it ever possible for us to go higher? So come back to the point. We are discussing this Patanjali Raja Yoga. Let me summarize what we discussed in our last class very briefly. I mentioned yoga is both a system of philosophy and the practical side of such a philosophy is called yoga. What is the philosophy? All of us have a philosophy. Our philosophy is our attitude towards our life and our attitude is generated by our understanding of who we are and what the world is and what is the relationship between ourselves and the world. Now we are all philosophers. Most of us are unconscious philosophers. So the attempt, religion or spirituality is to become conscious, better philosophers. So why? Because we profess one thing and we speak something and we do entirely something else. That's not profitable at all. Even from a worldly point of view, who is a successful person? He who thinks, who he speaks and who acts, exactly all these three when they become united. Such a person alone can become successful. Otherwise what happens? Let me give an example. Everybody wants to attain to the highest position. Say a clerk wants to become a CEO. Now his desire to become CEO is real. But he only wants the advantages, the perks, but he doesn't want to assume the responsibilities and the headaches. So if you want to have headache, you must have head. So I want to have a head but do not want to have a headache. That's impossible. So a head is there. Sometimes there may be headache. Sometimes there may be something marvelous. So both go in the same territory. We have to be accepting both. And our attempt should be how to get rid of or eliminate headaches and use the head in the proper way. There is a practical side of this philosophy. What is philosophy? It is a quest for higher happiness. And higher happiness is possible when we really believe that it is possible to have a higher happiness. Not only believe but our entire lifestyle must be transformed. What is yoga? Transformation of our thoughts, of our speech and of our deeds in one accord. That is called yoga. Any dichotomy will create problem. This kind of dichotomy is our problem. What we want and what we do, these are separated. That is called maya. This is beautifully illustrated. In the case of Mahabharata, Duryodhana was lying with his thighs broken. Someone came and asked him, you are such an intelligent person. Why did you bring this misery upon yourself knowing fully well that this is going to be the result? He knew. He was not a fool. He didn't do this war out of ignorance. He did it out of egotism. Sometimes we are not ignorant of the state of things. But our ego doesn't permit us to accept and then withdraw. Even if we know we are going to lose, we just go on doing it. This is the power of habit. What is yoga? It is an attempt to transform our life totally. Without transforming our life, no progress is possible. The very word progress means leaving the old behind and going forward in a better way. Progress always is a positive word. It means we grow in goodness, we grow in wisdom and we grow in happiness. How do we measure any progress? How do we measure? This is a very interesting concept. I would be bringing some of these concepts which bear on what we call non-spiritual subjects. Suppose there is a company. It is making lot of profits by hook or crook. But is it called progress? How does a company measure its progress? By what criteria? There are three criteria. What is it? Is it growing in goodness? Is it growing in wisdom? Is it growing in happiness? Many companies they do well in collecting money, accumulating money. But from the bottom to the top everyone is crooked and they are ignorant and they are not happy. What is the good of such kind of work? What will you do with money? Now there is a psychology which we should be aware. We all declare, proclaim we want to be happy. And do you know what is the way to be happy? What brings happiness? According to Vedanta, happiness is the result of developing two qualities. Sat and Chit. Sat means goodness. Only a good man will be a happy man. What is the second? Chit. Chit means wisdom. Only a wise man. And what a wise man is? Who is a wise man? Sri Ramakrishna had wonderful examples at every step to clarify these ideas. Who is a wise man? Do you remember the story of the scholar who was travelling by a boat? And he wanted to exhibit. What a poor stupid scholar. He wants to exhibit his scholarship in front of a boatman. You see, who understands you are a scholar? Only other scholars can understand. How can a boatman understand who is a scholar and who is not? So you know the story. The scholar asked, have you studied Vedanta? He said, what is that bird? I never heard its name. One fourth of your life is gone. Have you studied Kavya? What is that tree? I never heard. Half of your life is gone. Have you studied Vyakarana? What is that animal? I never heard its name. Three fourth of your life is finished. Meanwhile, a big storm arose and the boat was tossing and the boatman knew that the boat was going to sink. He asked one simple question. Sir, do you know how to swim? He said, no. Your whole life is wasted. What is the moral of this parable? Why does Ramakrishna tell it? Scholarship, money, name and fame or what is called marriage with a celebrity or whatever, all these do not count for happiness. How do we know? Every day you read newspapers with a discerning eye. Celebrities taking to drugs or committing suicide or doing mad things, killing each other. We should have thought being celebrities having so much name and fame, so much wealth, they should have been the first persons to be happier persons. But on the contrary, what drives them to take drugs, drinks and suicide and all that? That means they are profoundly unhappy. What does this teach us? That the ingredient for happiness is only two. What is that? Sat and chit, they go together. Sat, chit and ananda go together. Where there is sat, there is chit and ananda. Only a wise man could be a good man. Only a good man can be a wise man. Only a good and wise man alone can be a happy man. How many of us really believe in it? If we believe, do we try to accumulate things by hook or crook? What our intellect understands, what our heart understands are totally two different things. So, this person went to Duryodhana and he asked, you are very intelligent. You knew this was going to happen. Why did you do that? He gave a most wonderful answer. I know what is right, but I have the least inclination to follow it. I know what is unrighteousness, but I have absolutely no control. I cannot desist from it. So, this is where yoga starts. What is yoga? A conscious attempt at transforming our life so that what we think and what we talk about and what we do is in accord and that which takes us ultimately to God. God is another word which creates a lot of bitterness in so many people's lives. We don't believe in God. What is God? God is sat, chit and ananda. To be good, to be happy. After all, who doesn't want to be happy? So, catch hold of one idea. I want to be happy. How can I be happy? Only a person who is wise, he can be happy. There was an American. He was a wise man. Very rich man. He died. And all his relatives, you know that, where there is a will, there are many relatives. So, all his relatives gathered and his lawyer, he opened the will. Everybody was eagerly awaiting how much share he got. There was only one sentence in his will. Being wise, I spent it all before I died. So, a wise man is one who knows what is right and what is wrong. Who is a wise man? Bhagavad Gita. Very first verse, Krishna opens his mouth. He tells to Arjuna. You know what he says? You are speaking like a wise man, but you are behaving like a fool. Wise people neither grieve for the dead and much less for the living. Because life and death are one single unit. There is nothing called death. There is nothing called separate as life. It is one continuous journey according to Vedanta. So, wisdom, a wise man alone can be good. Why is he good? Why does a wise man become good? Because we learn our lessons. What do you do? You put your hand in hot water. What does it do? It scalds you. So, you do something, you eat something wrong. What happens to your tummy goes wrong. Then you become wise. And then you say these things bring misery to us. This is the basis of the law of karma. What it means is, if I am unhappy, then why am I unhappy? Because I have done certain things which I should not have done. If I am happy, then who is responsible? I am responsible. That means I must have done something which is right. That is called sat. Sat means living a righteous type of life. Most of us are good in theory. When we hear the news of somebody in Nigeria suffering from, tears come to our eyes. But what do you do? One swami was collecting funds for a project. Trying to collect funds, but it was not coming. One day he conveyed a meeting. And in the meeting he said, I have both good news and bad news for you. The good news is, all the funds necessary are already here. Somebody asked, what is the bad news? The bad news is, it is all in your pocket. We all want to be good. I saw one cartoon, beautiful cartoons, intelligent people do. One rich duchess, just coming out of a 7 star hotel. A tramp was there outside. He went as soon as he saw her. Madam, I haven't eaten for 3 days. Will you give me a little something to buy bread? Immediately she started shedding tears. She wiped her tears and I can't bear such pathetic sight. Jumped into her car and ran away. We are all good. But that kind of goodness will not do. Goodness must express itself in action, otherwise no. What is the point we are making? Yoga is that method by which we transform our lives. Not only in thought, not only in speech, but also in actions. So that we can attain to the highest type of happiness. Become what is called the personification of goodness. And become the wisest person. According to Shri Ramakrishna who is a wise person. Only an atmajnani, a man who knows what he is. If we know what we are, we know what the world is like. Why? Because now, because we identify ourselves with this miserable body and mind. We also identify everybody as bodies and minds. And forge a wrong relationship. That is where likes and dislikes will come. How beautifully Shankaracharya brings out this idea in the Bhagavad Gita Bhashya. Arjuna was lamenting. I cannot fight because I see people whom I like. My relatives, my friends. They are all there in the opposite party. Then Shankaracharya is commenting. What is the cause of Arjuna's grief? Avidya. Avidya means what? Ignorance. Ignorance of what? Ignorance breeds the sense of ahankara and mamakara. I and mine. I and mine. The sense of I and mine further result in likes and dislikes. Raga and dvesha. Raga and dvesha. Likes and dislikes result in righteousness and unrighteousness. What I like, I try to obtain by hook or crook. And what I don't like, I try to get rid of it again by hook or crook. You know a person murders. If you ask why did you murder? I don't like this fellow. I don't see any other way. This is the only way I can get rid of this problem. So this righteousness and unrighteousness bring what we call punya and papa. That is virtue and vice. The result. And punya and papa bring happiness and unhappiness. And happiness and unhappiness start our samsara. What a beautiful analysis. So what is the root cause of all our likes, dislikes, hatreds, friendships or self-ignorance? What is the root cause? Vidya. We have to strike at the very root. Yoga is that system by which we burn completely the wrong knowledge. We do not need to obtain right knowledge. It is right there. Remove the obstruction. That is why last class I did explain. According to Sankhya philosophy or Yoga philosophy, there are two principles. They are called prakriti and purusha. Matter and soul. Somehow, for some reason they came together. And they mistake one for the other. Each other. I am the matter thinks I am the soul. The soul thinks I am the matter. So what is Yoga? Yoga is separation of the pure consciousness from everything else. Whichever way you put, self-knowledge is a better word. That is the goal of Yoga. By the practice of Yoga, we destroy what is our ignorance. Ignorance of who we are. Systematically, there are certain practices and hints that are given here. And this Yoga class is all about it. And now, who did it? Who has brought this system? This book which we are trying to follow is called Patanjali Yoga Sutras. It is a book of aphorisms practically consisting of 195 or 96 sutras. Now, this Patanjali, this person, when did he live? You know, in India, one thing is there. That is, if you are trying to get some historical facts, practically you won't get it. It is fortunate that British people came and then started. Sri Ram Krishna was born in 1936. Had they not come, some people would have said he was born in 1936 B.C. Some people would have said after 200 years so many things would come. Like that. Why? Because Indians have their own meaning of history. According to them, history is his story. God's story. It has nothing to do with facts and figures. Any number of books have been written by Patanjali, by Veda Vyasa and by so many others. Any author becoming famous, thereafter everybody puts his name. Written by Veda Vyasa. This yoga system in itself is as old as the Upanishads. There are Upanishads like Svetasvatara, Chandogya, etc. Where this system is very beautifully elaborated without giving specific name, this is called Yoga Sutras. There was a person called Patanjali and he, as I said, we do not know exactly when he lived. Swami Vivekananda places him in 1400 B.C. But we believe this yoga system was prevalent even 4000 years before. And we believe in it because our Upanishads, there are lots of things are there. What this person did? He did not create the system. He reformulated. In fact, according to Hinduism, Vedas are eternal. And Veda Vyasa, the very name is Veda Vyasa means editor of Vedas. What he did? He collected the prevalent texts and then for the ease of understanding, he classified them into four. And then he taught each one to one of his disciples. And that is how the knowledge had spread. So Vedas are not four. Veda means only one. But it has been divided into several sections. In the same way, in the name of Veda Vyasa, Mahabharata came. 36 Puranas have come. Bhagavatam has come. So many other things have come. We do not know. But we believe all these, whatever book has been put under the name of Veda Vyasa or Patanjali, they are all for our good. It is valid knowledge. It helps us. We can experiment. And we can see the results right now. One great thing about this yoga system is, you do not need to wait posthumously to prove that it is right and it gives. Just you practice it for a month or even for a week, even for a few hours, you will see the result immediately. It is a very practical Shastra. This Patanjali is anywhere between 4000 BC until 200 AD. We don't care. The fact is, he was called Patanjali. Now there is a story which is also probably not of much importance, but anyway I will mention it. This Patanjali codified this, collected all the yoga literature, codified them in the form of sutra or aphorism and he was teaching it to his, he wanted to teach it to his disciples. So he said to his disciples, you sit in the hall, I will sit behind a curtain and I will teach you. None of you should have the curiosity to open the curtain and see who is teaching you. And this is the surest method to make sure, you know, if you want any secret to be spread, you be very empathetic and say, this is a secret, I am telling only you. This is the fastest way of spreading any secret. So he prohibited them. Like you know, God prohibited Adam not to eat and the first thing he did was to eat the rat. So one of the disciples had this insatiable curiosity, he couldn't control himself. He just opened a little bit and peeped in. Then he said he saw a thousand hooded snake talking, it is called Adisesha. Adisesha, it is very symbolic. You know Vishnu, he always lies on a snake. Shiva also wears snakes. Many people, why this weird type of ornaments and all these things? No, it is Adisesha or thousand headed serpent is indicator of the mastery of yoga. Vishnu is the master yogi. He has mastered yoga. So this, you know, Kundalini yoga, you heard it? It is like a snake. If there is no real snake, it is symbolic again, rising from a lower state to a higher state. Anyway, so many people consider this Patanjali Rishi as an incarnation of Adisesha. Like Madhvacharya was considered the incarnation of Bhimasena because he could eat 36 big bananas in one go. Similarly, we also consider, you know, Sri Ramakrishna is the incarnation of Gayavishnu. Yes, and Holy Mother is the incarnation of Mother Saraswati herself. This is what Sri Ramakrishna had said incidentally. If Mother, Holy Mother is Saraswati, then who is Sri Ramakrishna? Must be Brahma. There is no other way. Sri Ramakrishna is Brahma. Sri Ramakrishna is Kali, Shiva, Vishnu, Radha and all these different devotees had seen. Hindus believe that there is a higher concentration of knowledge and power which goes by the name of Gods or Goddesses. Now, be very clear about this point. God and Gods and Goddesses, these are two different propositions. God is only one. But when Hindus call Gods and Goddesses, they are different functions or manifestations of one single power. So, God as knowledge is called Saraswati. God as prosperity is called Lakshmi, etc. So, Hindus do not worship different Gods or Goddesses. And we also believe that so long as we think we are real, Gods and Goddesses are also absolutely real. And to help us, like a great man, Mahatma Gandhi used to go to slums and help people. These powers, they incarnate from time to time and help us. I am not really bothered about whether Adi Sesha incarnated as Patanjali Rishi and passed on this knowledge. What does it matter? But he must be a great person who could pass such marvellous knowledge, which even today the modern psychologists in the West, they have never studied Patanjali and this depth psychology is much more comprehensive than all the modern psychology put together. The modern psychology can never help people completely. Why? Because they do not believe in the past births. Hindus believe every baby is not born with the Tabula Rasa, this is not the first life. That is why you see so much of difference between one and the other baby. This beautiful psychology in the form of Samskaras, we are all bundles of Samskaras. What is a human being? A bundle of past Samskaras. Just look, let us look at ourselves in this light. What am I? I am a bundle of habits. Samskara means deep seated habits. A habit is something which we ourselves have created. Our life is nothing but how do I look at the world? There are pessimists, there are optimists, there are realists, there are mixers, there are people who have hope, there are people who are hopeless, those who are always believing in the future, there are people who do not believe in the future. But what makes this difference? It is only a bundle of habits. Why do we react to certain things in different ways? Because of the different habits. But where from did we get these habits? You can't explain because all babies are born. This is one of the biggest subjects that is being investigated, researched right now. The subject goes by the name nature or nurture. What is it that makes a man? What is Vedanta's answer? It is 90% nature and 10% nurture. That is where we can probably help others. But mostly a person takes, we have a saying in Sanskrit language, if you feed a poisonous snake with milk, what would be the result? It will produce more poison. But if you feed milk to a saint, what does he become? More saintly. So it is not the milk which changes. What is this analogy? This analogy is here the person is the nature, the milk is the nurture. We can help to some extent, there is no doubt about it. But it is an illusion to think you can bring up a child in a different environment, all perfectly psychologically conditioned. You know what they become? This was the subject matter as a matter of interest. Aldous Huxley had written a novel, The Brave New World. And ultimately what did they turn out to be? Machine babies, automated babies. They had no will of their own. So yoga is a system by which we understand our own psychology. And why should we understand our own psychology? Because our happiness and unhappiness, our bondage and liberation, both are dependent upon what? Our psychology. Where is bondage? In the mind. Where is liberation? In the mind. Why some people feel they are free? Why some people feel they are bound? These are extreme terms, highest terms, bondage and liberation. But come to practical terms, what it means is, why is a person depressed? Whereas under the same conditions, another person is extremely happy. It's a relative, it's all relative. Why? Because it is all in the mind. If we can understand our psychology, we do not need to go to any psychologist. Economically, yoga is one of the greatest life saver or bank saver. Otherwise in Harley Street, 100 pounds per hour, you go and lie down and babble, babble and babble. What is the end result? I asked one psychologist. So does it make any difference in the outcome of your treatment? He said, Swamiji, outcome no difference. Income there is a huge difference. You see, nobody can help us. This is one of the fundamental principles Swami Vivekananda expounds in his Karma Yoga. By helping the world, we help ourselves. By hurting the world, we only hurt ourselves. What does this principle really mean? It means, let it be a psychologist, let it be a great spiritual person, whatever it is. I would like to draw your attention to one very important point before we go any further in spiritual life or in secular life. Can anybody really help us? Can you make somebody happy? No. Can you make somebody unhappy? Absolutely no. You can try to create conditions either to make a person happy or unhappy. But how that person takes it and reacts is entirely up to that person. Now I want to draw your attention to this point. Because in spiritual life, while discussing this topic of yoga, I want to bring some very important points and in a practical manner. One person asked, one devotee really, how wonderful it would have been if only I had met Sri Ramakrishna. But I told him that he is fortunate that he didn't meet you. You are fortunate you didn't meet him. Otherwise his hands and your cheeks, both would have been red. That's a different issue. What is meant is, supposing there is an ocean and two people go. One person takes one small vessel. Another person takes a huge tanker. Now does the ocean say that you only take this much water? It says take as much as you want. But the person who carries the smaller vessel, he can only bring with him that much. And the person who has bigger container, he can bring big things. It doesn't matter whom we are meeting. You meet Sri Ramakrishna or you meet an ordinary spiritual person. It doesn't really matter. Have you the capacity to receive what the other person is about to give. And even an ordinary person can fill you with self-knowledge. You don't need Einstein to teach you 2 plus 2 is 4. In fact Einstein will confuse you. The moment he asks 2 plus 4, he will draw all those from the top to bottom, all those you know. And then the end result will be to put you off completely for life after life from mathematics. Never ask such great people. Anyway, what is the point I am making? We can only receive what we are capable of. This is a very important point. If we are capable of receiving, any instrument is enough to give us. Sri Ramakrishna's gospel, he gives this. Once he was talking, Sri Ramakrishna was talking with Girish Chandra Ghosh. And then he said, you know what are you talking about knowledge of Brahman? You know, once an ant went to a sugar hill and it took one small grain in its mouth and that is all it could do. He said, next time I come, I will carry the whole hill. What is he talking about? That even when an ant goes even to a sugar mountain, it can only carry what it is capable of. In the same way he says, Shukadeva and others, after all they drank three mouthfuls and fell unconscious. He is comparing, an ant can only take that much. But a person like Shukadeva, he can take a little more. From infinity, what is its comparison between the biggest and infinity? Is there any comparison? So that is one. From ordinary point of view, you go to any psychologist, you go to any great person. He can only give you, conditions may be good, he can point out the truths about yourself. He can tell you, you have to alter your habits, the way you think etc. There are certain things which we are not conscious of. He has been trained to bring those things to our consciousness. And then he can tell us. But after that, can he force us to change? Can he change us? The change must come through our efforts. That means we must have the desire. So what is the point we are illustrating? All spiritual sadhana is to increase our capacity to receive the grace of God. Sri Ramakrishna also gives another illustration. You know sunlight, you can all wonder about the sunlight. What is its power? It can give you a little warmth. At best it can bring down the cold temperature. But take a magnifying glass and see that same sun power, it can burn, it can cook, it can do many things. What is it trying to tell us? That the sun is always present. God is present everywhere. He is bestowing his grace or not? We say God is not gracious. What do you mean by God is not gracious? How can he not be gracious? Because it is his nature to be gracious. He is the nature of knowledge. And so he cannot, even if he wants, he can't hold himself. That is the greatest defect of God. Have you ever heard about this? You can go on a holiday. Where can God go on a holiday? Suppose he gets angry with you and says get out, can he make you go out? Wherever you go, he is there. What is the point? The point is, according to Vedanta, God is the only reality. Because of our ignorance we are not able to understand. If God is everything, who are we? We must be God only. But we do not know that we are God. That is why, what is yoga? It is to increase the capacity. And we increase the capacity, how? By removing the obstacles. And how do we do that? Just imagine, our mind is like this room. Our mind is like this room. It is full of junk. But you want to bring some new furniture, latest furniture. But where do you keep it? In the garage. What to do? So if you want to use that and enjoy, what should you do? Throw all this junk out. Yoga is a system by which you throw out all the junk accumulated in the mind. And that junk is accumulated in the form of vrittis. Vrittis means tougher thoughts. So what is yoga? Vritta vritti nirodha means what? Throwing out all the vrittis, all the thoughts, all the modifications that arise in the mind. That is called yoga. Yoga had developed a systematic way how we can expand ourselves, throw out all the junk. And just as soon as we remove all the junk, the room becomes filled with light of knowledge. So this is what we discussed in the last class. I just wanted to state to you what are the points we discussed now. The first point is yoga is not a new system at all. It has been there since when? 3000 years? No, it is eternal. But this particular sage called Patanjali, he had gathered it, codified it and put it in the form of sutra literature. And because of him we are able to get it systematically. Everything is only a discovery, nothing is an invention. This is the point we have to understand. Second point, yoga is very practical. As I said, you practice it for a short time, you will get immediately the result. You can prove it to yourself. There is no question of waiting for God's grace or anything. All the grace we need is only one grace. Really speaking, from every point of view, only one grace we need. You know what is that? Grace of the mind. God's grace is there and other people's grace is there and every devotee's grace is there. Every grace is there. The only grace that is lacking is our own mind. So what should we do? We should make our mind in such a way that it is capable of removing all these vrittis. As soon as the vrittis are removed, we reveal to ourselves our own true nature. This point we will discuss in our future classes. And sutra literature, just one point I wanted to make it. What is sutra literature? In the past there was no writing material. Everything passed only from mouth to mouth. It is called GPS system. Guru Parampara system. Why is it necessary? Because if something is put in writing, there could be distortion. That is even secondary point. The primary point is a thing that comes from the mouth of an authentic person is far more powerful and useful and influential than a thing that comes from the books. I will give this illustration. Supposing you read gospel of Ramakrishna, how much influence it will have on our minds? Suppose you hear the same thing from the mouth of Sri Ramakrishna or Swami Vivekananda. Do you see? No. All devotional literature tells us that don't fear. God is very gracious. He will protect you. But that doesn't produce any change within us. But suppose you go to Holy Mother and she says, Baba, do not fear. I am taking care of you. The moment you hear that word, you will see what a faith becomes established in you. You will never ever again fear. That is called Guru Parampara system. Not only because writing material was not there. They used to explain these things in elaborate ways. They were not constrained for time. Now they wanted the disciples to remember as cues, demonic cues, memory cues. The sutra literature is that type of literature where you just a few words and afterwards the whole thing remains in memory. Now Aham Brahmasmi. This is a sutra. What is this sutra? Aham Brahmasmi. In Brahma Sutras also it is mentioned. It comes in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. So what is Aham Brahmasmi? I am Brahman. But elaborate explanation is given. But all those things you may not remember. But the moment you pull out Aham Brahmasmi, what my Guru told me, how he explained, the whole thing will come. So what is a sutra or aphorism? अस्तुपाक्षरं असन्धिग्धं सर्वतत् विष्वतो मुखं अस्तोभं अनवध्यम्च सूत्रं सूत्रविदो विदो। That is to say, that which consists of the least number of words possible, unequivocal, means there is no place for doubt, expresses a vast idea in a gist form, is non-repetitive and doesn't contain any fault, is known as a aphorism. I won't go much further into it but I will just make a little bit of joke. These people went to such lengths to condense these sutra literatures. If they could save half a syllable, half a syllable, they used to be rejoicing as though a son is born to them. To what extent they have gone and the result is we can't make head or tail of what they are talking about. We need lot of commentaries to understand what they said. So these Yoga Sutras are in the form of aphorisms but it contains very deep meaning. So many commentators have come of which the latest for us is, was Swami Vivekananda himself and then later on Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. They did a great job of recondensing Swami Vivekananda's thoughts with a little bit of modern phrases etc. What our approach would be, our understanding should be in the light of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda's life and teachings and it should be practically helpful in our day-to-day life. This would be the way I would like to deal with this from next class onwards. We will actually dwell on each sutra and try to make a meaning out of it. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti