Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 021

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. The power of concentration is tremendous. How do we know that we have this power of concentration? What is the way for us to know? There are three characteristics that we have concentration. The first tremendous self-discipline, the second tremendous knowledge and the last tremendous amount of ananda or bliss comes through concentration. Now if you have read Swami Vivekananda's speeches especially in India we find that he emphasized again and again the remedy for all evils is education and what did he mean by education? By education he meant only two things, formation of character and the power of concentration and these two are interrelated, without character there would be no concentration and without concentration there would be no character at all. This is a subject which needs a separate type of discussion, I will not enter into it but this is what Patanjali said that two preconditions are necessary to attain concentration. What are they? Repeat and practice and vairagya means you do not allow your mind to go anywhere other than the subject you want to focus upon. Swamiji very often used to say train a child and give him the power of concentration afterwards any subject you give it to him, in a trice it will reveal itself to him that is the power of concentration. Three, first without discipline there will be no concentration, if a person has concentration that means he has discipline, second proportionate to the amount of concentration would be the knowledge that one obtains and last proportionate to the knowledge one will have experienced tremendous amount of bliss. Let us keep this in mind, what is the definition of concentration? What is the definition of meditation and what is the definition of Samadhi? These are let us remember progressive steps, first concentration called according to Patanjali scheme of eight stepped way dharana, what is meditation dhyana and what is the last one Samadhi, dharana, dhyana and Samadhi and let us be very clear what is the definition of concentration. Now whenever we look at any object a series of thoughts occur into the mind because of interaction between ourselves and the any object it doesn't matter, how many thoughts? Every millisecond some thought is coming, later on another thought will come, so what is concentration? The gap between any two thoughts, we are usually not aware of this but the very language betrays what I am talking about, how do we say there are two thoughts? If there is one thought it is one thought but two thoughts, two thoughts means one thought comes to an end and the second thought begins, if it is one continuous thought there would be no gap and we don't call it two thoughts, only we call it to two provided there are two separate thoughts, maybe of the same object but two separate thoughts. Now where one ends and where the other begins, however small there is an amount of gap. Now what is concentration? To increase this gap, what does that mean? That means only one thought is continuing for a long, longer, longest before the next thought is allowed. What is concentration? To increase the gap between two thoughts and this is achieved with tremendous amount of self-consciousness and effort, to increase the gap between two thoughts and let us also not forget every object is nothing but a thought, a pratyaya in our mind. Now in Sanskrit terminology, it is very precise, you know what is the Sanskrit word for an object, any object, an object, what do we call in Sanskrit, padartha, padartha means the meaning, the thought of a word, there is a word, here is a watch and as soon as we hear that word watch, immediately the form and the qualities etc. of that particular object just flash in the mind, that is called the artha of this particular word. We don't know what an object is excepting our thought. We don't know what an object is, what is outside us excepting what is the thought within us. So to increase the gap between two thoughts is called dharana concentration and it is achieved with great effort but through repeated practice, when this becomes easier, very natural and one thought flows into the other thought very smoothly, that is the definition of meditation. At the same time, it is not two different thoughts, it is not even in concentration, it is not of two different, now I am thinking of the watch, next second I am thinking of a book, no, it is the same thought, this is a watch, this is a watch, this is a watch, this is a, so the thought ends, don't allow another thought to come, that is in Sanskrit we have the word, what is it, japa, what is japa, God's name. As soon as we hear God's name or for ourselves, immediately some idea of God comes, don't allow something else to intrude into it but the same thought, the mind gets tired because of its incapacity, weakness, then it stops the thought, don't allow to think something else because the mind, it wants to think many things because we habituated it, now do not allow, that is why how many times do you need to repeat God's name, if God's thought is in our mind continuously, is it called japa, it is not called japa, what is it called then, dhyana, we use the word japa and dhyana, what is japa, continuously we repeat the name and it doesn't remain, some new thought will come but new thought about only God, not anything else, this is also part of concentration, let me give an example, suppose you are thinking of Krishna, you are repeating the word Krishna, oh Krishna, now he is eating butter, Krishna, second time repetition, now you are thinking he is playing with his friends in the groves of Vrindavan, Krishna, now he is pestering his mother or he is grazing the cows, Krishna, he is playing flute, Krishna, he is giving sermon in the battlefield, Krishna, he is driving the chariot, different thoughts but all related to only Krishna, that is part of not dhyana, this is part of ekagrata, concentration but when our love, interestingly what is love, if I have to define love as concentration, you will look blank, what is the relationship between love and concentration, is there any relationship, yes, what is the relationship, proportionate to the amount of concentration, our love also is a manifestation of that, suppose you say to somebody, I love you but you are thinking 150 thoughts in your mind, can it be called love, absolutely no, hundreds of examples are there but I will give one example, you know, say Ramakrishna is like a dry timber, slightest friction immediately it will burst into fire, in this instance whether someone is talking about God, someone is singing about God, someone is discussing about God, anything related to God, the moment he hears that, like pralada, any word starting with Ka is enough to throw into Samadhi, Ramakrishna knows like that, now someone, some devotee is singing, you can see these scenes in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, someone is singing a devotional song, Sri Ramakrishna immediately is thrown into Samadhi, say let us say someone is singing about Krishna, he goes into state of Samadhi, the singer doesn't know the state of Sri Ramakrishna, he says I am a good singer, a good singer can sing anything, so he starts singing about Shiva and you can see Sri Ramakrishna face has become contorted, sometimes the devotees do not understand, with great difficulty he brings his, no, no, don't sing about Shiva, sing about either Divine Mother or Krishna, now what happened in this instance, after all devotional song, Sri Ramakrishna only said Krishna, Shiva, Rama, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Allah, all are same, why is he disturbed? Because that is the state of Samadhi where it doesn't bear even deviation within its own self, he went into Samadhi, hearing the word of Krishna or Kali and he wants to continue that one, if anybody does anything different from it, I think you get lot of examples there, if anybody sings especially about Shiva and he will immediately say, no, no, sing about the Divine Mother, that's because it is not only about God, it is about one particular aspect of God, that is called focus, so concentration or Japa means repeatedly bringing the same thought, the same thought comes to an end, again the same thought arises and it goes on and on and it is done with great difficulty because at the same time, because of lack of training, our mind goes on thinking various thoughts, so the mind is working on two fronts, on one front it says, think of this, on the other front as it were, if the mind becomes a watchman and says, do not allow any other thought to enter into this situation, this is done with great self-effort and after long practice, it matures very naturally, Ekagrata dharana very naturally matures into higher thing, what is called Dhyana, what happens in Dhyana? Two things happen, first of all, there is no need for self-effort, in Dhyana, this is the difference, in Ekagrata, concentration, you need effort, in meditation, you don't need, Thailadharavata, smoothly one thought moves into the second thought because of repeated practice and it appears as though there is an unbroken flow of thought, appears to be an unbroken flow of thought, let us take here, appears, actually even when you are pouring oil, if you analyse enough, there is a gap between one drop and the other drop, very fine but it is there, we cannot detect it but you know, supposing someone is taking a video, photo, video, film of this oil being poured and you slow down the time, slow down, slow down, slow down, have you seen this cricket or tennis ball, you know, they slow down and when whether it touched that border line or not, like that if you slow down, you will see there is a gap, what is that gap? There are 2 gaps, there are 2 gaps there, not 1 gap but 2 gaps are there, what are those 2 gaps? One is the meditator, another is the object of meditation, the thought of the object of meditation, one after the other it is coming, the second is I am meditating upon it, this is called meditation, these 2 characteristics, what are these 2 characteristics? The self-effort is minimal, not at all there as it were, there is but as though it is not there and very smoothly it flows because a person has practised it for a long, long time. What is the second characteristic? It is of the same thought, same thought and the gap between these 2 is quite long, it takes a long time, this is the definition of Dhyana. What is Samadhi? In Samadhi, 2 things happen, what 2 things? First of all, there would be no gap at all, only one single Pratyaya and secondly, there is no division between the meditator and the meditated, so these are the 3 clear definitions of what is concentration, what is meditation and what is Samadhi, this is what we briefly discussed in our last class. Now let us proceed, we said according to Patanjali, Samadhi is of 2 types first of all, he divided into 2, Sampragnata Samadhi, Asampragnata Samadhi. What it means is the lower type of Samadhi, the higher type of Samadhi, the lower type of Samadhi is called Sampragnata and the higher type of Samadhi is called Asampragnata. Now Sampragnata Samadhi, the lower type of Samadhi is further divided into 4, Vitarka, Vichara, Ananda and Asmita and this is 4, Vitarka, Vichara, Ananda, Asmita and Vitarka is again divided into 2, Savitarka, Nirvitarka and Vichara is again divided into 2, Savichara and Nirvichara. Asmita Meditation is only one, Asmita Meditation is only one. Now the lowest of the, we are talking about now the lower Samadhi, the lower Samadhi has these 4 steps, the first 2 steps contain all the 4, there will be an element, an object both gross and subtle and in time and outside time and there will be an experience of joy or bliss and there is the awareness that I am there. Let me elaborate on this a little bit which last class also I did that but let me do it. So I got one flower here, very nice flower, before I actually go into it, very briefly I want to bring to your notice this fact, we are all seeing this rose, right? How many are there in this seeing, in this experience called I am seeing the or we are seeing the rose, we are seeing this object, how many things are there? 3, first of all I am there, the object is there and I am not there, will there be an experience? No. And I am there, the object is not there, will there be an experience? No. I am there, the object is there but the mind is absent, will there be an experience? So how many things are there? 3, the experiencer, the object of experience and that which connects us both. So the object of experience, the experiencer himself and that which connects. So let me also very briefly point out then I will come to the deeper subject. Now what is it that connects me with this object? Here is an object, how many are there when we are experiencing this object, how many things are there? 3 are there, keep this in mind. Now when I say I, what do I mean by I? When I say I am experiencing this through the mind, what do you mean by mind? This is where concentration, power of concentration comes to our help, okay. The object is also not one, the mind also is not one, the only one real one is pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is one whereas the mind is many and this object also is many. Let me briefly dwell upon this. First, when I say I am experiencing and here is something grammatically a wrong usage. We usually say we are experiencing, all of us are seeing this, no all of us are not seeing. I am alone seeing and I am seeing all of you are seeing, part of your experience is included within that I am seeing, do you get what I am talking about? When I say we are all seeing, though I am using that word I don't know about your experience, all that I know is you also exist in my mind only and I see that you are also seeing like this, right? I don't want to confuse too much but there are two objects, this object also is not one and my mind is also not one. So according to both Sankhya Yoga which is the root philosophy of Yoga philosophy, Patanjali's philosophy and according to Vedanta both, what is it? The middle one, that which it connects, what is it called, the mind. The mind is divided, roughly I will divide it into two categories, there are more categories but for our purpose two categories we will do. There is Aham, Aham means I, so the mind divides itself into two as it were, one is the seer, it is not the real seer at all, the real seer is only pure consciousness but that pure consciousness is borrowed by the mind and it assumes an identity and says I am seeing but that quality doesn't belong to the mind at all, it is a borrowed money. The mind as it were borrows it and that from which it borrows is called pure consciousness means Purusha, Atma and the mind has that capacity, the buddhi has that capacity to borrow it, that is what we call when we say I am seeing, we are not referring to the Atma, the Atma never sees anything. Last class I mentioned, this idea I am bound belongs to whom, Purusha or mind, only to the mind and the idea I am liberated also belongs to whom, it is only to the mind. So what is that field I am bound, that borrowed reflected consciousness which is we usually call Aham and unable to understand. So the mind divides itself into two, one is the reflected consciousness called Aham and the second is the instrument through which it sub employs some other instruments called the eye, the ear etc., five sense organs, one part of the mind employs like big contractor employing subcontractors, it employs these five sense organs but the whole thing you can say mind. So is the mind one or many? Not one, it is eye as though it is standing separate and says I am seeing it, it assumes everything to itself, that is why it suffers, this is our problem and then it says the instrument by which an object is connected with the mind is part of the mind, the mind itself becomes the subject and that subject objectifies its own self as an instrument as well as the object which it is experiencing, that is how through concentration we get better knowledge. Let me briefly dwell upon this before I go, what is this, this is a rose, how many roses are there, means how many objects are there, how many objects, it looks as though it is only one object. Let me give you some examples and then I will come back to this, I will give you three examples, the first example is have you seen a mountain from a long distance say 50 miles away, you know a mountain, how does it look, very smooth as though it is green, green and green and green, as you approach near what happens to you, you start seeing there are small trees, big trees, bushes, rocks, you see the picture of Himalayas like that and you say what this Tenzing and other fellows, they took such a long time to climb only from here to here and what is the problem, simply sit and then like that you go, only when you see, go near you understand how varied is the terrain, how slippery and all those things, right. Another example is water, you know what is the chemical definition of water, show water to anybody, you say what is this object, what would be the reply, this is water, but is that one or is that many, how many are there in the water, two particles of hydrogen and one particle of oxygen, you see they are not one object, water is not one object, water is really two of a combination of two elements, you see now, so it is only the power of concentration which tells it is like that. Another beautiful example came to my mind, do you know Google earth, you know fire, that application called Google earth, how wonderful the whole globe looks, how much, how big is the globe, only the size of your monitor and then you go on zooming it, zoom in, zoom in, zoom in, have you seen what happens, the more you zoom in, how many billions and billions and billions of objects, trillions of objects come into view from a distance, how does it appear, as though it is one single object, but if you analyse, you will see, now I will go back still another angle I will take, according to science, this whole, every object in this whole universe is composed of how many elements, you know how many elements, that is according to Vedanta, according to science, I think, I am not sure, I think about 104 or 105 elements, every single object you name it, is but a combination of these 105 elements, is it clear, that is how they say, now these 105 elements, are they separate elements or are they again, they can be further generalised, so that they can be, do you see, the billions, trillions of objects are classified into how many, 105 elements, again these 105 elements, if you generalise them, then that is what the physicists call it matter and if you go further generalisation, that is matter, energy, this is how, this is how far the physical science has come, no further, keep this in mind, what is the point, the point is, the more we focus, the more knowledge comes, the more knowledge we get, the more, in everything, that which appears to be one single object, first becomes the combination of many, many, many things and again in the end, this miracle happens, what is that miracle, every single object is but a manifestation of one single material, you call it self, you call it matter, you call it energy, it doesn't matter, see how wonderful it is, now from the Vedantic point of view, every single object in this universe is composed of how many elements, 5 elements, what are they, space, air, fire, water and no, no, fire and prithvi, earth, earth, let me, then what happens, these 5 elements, how many elements, 5 elements, what appears to be a single object is but a combination of 5 elements but after going there, after analysing like this, after splitting them, again you join them and say, from where these 5 elements have come, from one single element which is called space, akasha and how does the akasha work, there is another element besides akasha that is called prana, so the whole universe is nothing but a combination of 2 elements, what are they, akasha and prana and if you still go further, this akasha and prana, are they 2 separate elements or are they the outcome of one single element, one single element, what is that element and that is called the atman, that is called the atma according to Vedanta, according to Sankhya, it is 2 eternal separate unmixable 2 elements, prakriti and purusha but according to Vedanta, always mind you as time goes, the previous theories become much more analysed, much more expanded and much more generalised, so Vedanta is more generalised than Sankhya, therefore say there are no 2 elements, they appear to be 2 different elements but in fact they are but one, looked at from 2 different points of view. Now come back to this object, before I proceed, as I said this looks like one flower, this looks like one flower, you focus your mind and then you say there are, just now I mentioned, what did I say, according to Vedanta, every single object is composed of 5 elements, so therefore there are 5 elements in this, there is space, there is air, there is fire, there is water and there is also earth, the earth element is represented by the smell, the taste element, it is very tasty, you know rose, atharthi make medicine and all that, if you bite it, it will give you some taste, that taste element belongs to the waters, rasha, then there is also the fire, fire is form, colour, then there is what you call touch, you know some flowers are very rough, some flowers are very smooth, very silky and that element comes from the air and it is a manifestation of space, it is a little bit difficult for us to understand but I have to mention whether it is clear or not. Imagine here in this space, what is there now, what is there in this place, nothing is there, I put the flower here, now what is there, flower is there, what happened to that space which was before, morning you heard my class, that space now had taken certain name, certain form and certain name and that is what we call the flower, this flower is nothing but space acquiring a particular rupa, form and then name because space is the final element, when this is first merged, what is the grossest thing we can see, prithvi, prithvi is gross, very concrete, subtler than that, smoother than that, more flowing than that, what is it, water, see that is the subtler cause, cause is always subtler than the effect, the earth is the effect and the earth sprang from which cause, water, therefore water is more fluid and the more, even more subtler than water came from where, fire, it is even more subtle and the fire came from the air, can you imagine, there would be fire without air, if there were to be, what happens, suppose there is a vacuum, will there be fire, what is the first necessary element for fire to manifest, oxygen, that is why you make a place empty, there will be nothing, so the fire gets merged and you can only feel it, you can't even see it, you can only feel, heat and cold and very soft and very hard, these are the elements belonging to the air and subtler than the air is space, you cannot see it, you cannot feel it and yet it contains the whole, the whole universe is contained in space, huge stars, planets, galaxies, they are all contained in space, that is why the good lord, like a good house builder, he planned, I want to create this world, then he got worried, where do I keep it, I have to keep it somewhere, then what did he do, first thing, if you want to build a house, what is the first thing that you need, you need space and then you submit it, you call the architect, what is the first question he asks you, how much space you have, then only he will ask how much money you have, whether you want to have gold and one or you see, that belongs to somebody else, he won't build it, you can't build it, you see the point, so this is the analysis, now when we look at it in a very ordinary way, you see this is a flower, this is just a flower, but when you focus and say, I want to only focus on this, immediately it unrivals and says, it is a matter of, I will give a funny example just to make it, I give you a cup of coffee and I ask what are you doing, someone asks what are you doing, what do you say, I am drinking coffee, is it not, how many things you are drinking, only coffee, but if you analyse what are you drinking, what is a coffee, a combination of hot water, no, no, water, heat, sugar, coffee powder, how many are there, 4 and in the right combination, otherwise you say after all, you know I am a yogi, first I will drink water, it becomes heated inside myself, then I will put some sugar, then I will put some coffee powder, it becomes coffee inside, your stomach enjoys it, but your tongue doesn't enjoy it, if you want the tongue to enjoy, you have to combine these things outside, do you get the point that I am driving at? Any object in this world is only a combination of different things and this is where the blessing is there and this is where the curse also is there, what is the blessing and curse, a man falls in love with a woman and if you ask what is it you love, he says I love this woman, how many objects he loves, woman, one object, it appears to be, but is that one woman, one object, there is the body, there are the sense organs, there is the mind and there are the samskaras within the mind, so many things are and there is of course the self, so many things are there, what happened, this person foolish, he thinks this is only one object, but that is not one object, because anything that is a combination, anything that is every object is a combination and any combination can become any combination, let me briefly explain what it is, you know coffee, coffee is a name for a particular type of liquid you drink, not necessarily hot, do you understand, there is a funny incident coming to my mind, Swami Vireshwaranandaji, he narrated it to us, Swami Akhandanandaji was living with a devotee in Calcutta, he was not coming to Belur Math, then Swami Vireshwaranandaji, they all want Swami Akhandanandaji, president of the order, they want him to come and stay in Belur Math, but he was refusing, so these people went and then the Maharaj, why don't you come to Belur Math, we are all eager to serve you there, what will you give me there, what have you got to give me there, he shouted at them, here the devotees, so devoted, you fellows there is no devotion at all and then he scolded them, what have you got, some dry roti, some potato curry, here you look, morning South Indian breakfast, noon Bengali lunch and in the dinner time, Punjabi dinner, then Vireshwaranandaji was thinking, how can I induce Maharaj to come, then he said, Maharaj, I will give you something, which you have never tasted in your life, which no devotee has ever given you, Swami immediately changed, he was like a child, what is it, what is it, he said, I won't reveal it to you, then you must come, he said, yes, I will come, if you promise, you will give me something, which I have never tasted in my life, he said, yes, and then he came to Advaita ashram and then Swami Vireshwaranandaji from South India, you know, he prepared iced coffee and Akhandan ji said, I never tasted such a wonderful thing in my life, anyway, what is the point, coffee doesn't mean only one object, it can be, you know, sweet coffee, it can be brown coffee, it can be white coffee, it can be any number of hot coffee, cold coffee with 10% fat, 100% fat, you know, it is terrible, if you go on thinking about, so whenever we look at this particular object in a very normal way, we mistake, I was giving the example of a woman, so what happens, any combination, any object, every object is made up of combination and any object, which is made up of a combination, any number of combinations can take place and any variable, variation in that combination can either make a person happier or unhappy. Just to give a small example, coffee, coffee is wonderful, suppose you put 3 huge teaspoons of sugar, will it be good coffee and or you put 3 big teaspoons of coffee powder, will it be a combination, you know, everything has got its own perfect combination and then only it will be tastier, any variation in that immediately brings about a change in our experience because the object has changed, object has changed, 1 teaspoon of sugar, perfect, 2 teaspoons of sugar, it has changed, I mean 1 teaspoon means appropriate, appropriate amount of coffee powder, it is perfect, you put less, it looks pale, tastes pale, you put more, it tastes, or you put 3 days before decoction, you prepare it and then you put. Now what happens, here is the example I gave, this man at one particular moment, that woman, that object gave a particular impression, which was very pleasant and he fell in love, the same example applies, man to woman, woman to man, any is only an example, so any variation, maybe the woman is not in good mood, she was not smiling or she doesn't prepare, first time she prepared, it was wonderful, second time she prepared, the combination has changed, then what happens, this fellow's reaction also changed accordingly, that brings misery, at one time she brought tremendous amount of joy, the same object after some time brought a tremendous amount of grief, misery, what is my point? My point is that any combination, it is all the time changing, what is the name for world? Jagat, what is the meaning of time? Time changes everything, there is only one thing which never changes, what is it? If something is a singular thing, not a combination of anything, that will be eternal, that will be infinite and that will never ever change and there is only one object, Self, God, Atma, whatever name you give, Purusha and that's why it is said, if we can see God, then we will be eternally happy, if we can see God and that is our aim, we want to be happy, what is the way to be happy, to see God, not only that, there is something very wonderful, God is eternal, is it not? But am I eternal, if I am not eternal, how can I see God eternally? I can only see for 50 years, 100 years, no more than that, but if I want to see God eternally, then I also have to be eternal, that means what? I want to see God everywhere, including myself, that means what? I am also God, first I become God, then I see everyone else also as God and God is a singular object, single, not a compound and that is in a little bit complicated way, this is what we mean, Tattvamasi, the what, that, tell you a small funny thing, you know, there was this guru and he had a disciple and he was, the guru was going on telling Tattvamasi, the what, that, Guruji, I don't understand it, Guruji, I don't understand, he started pestering the guru, one day they were walking near a forest, wooded area and the guru was going a little bit ahead, he was a little bit annoyed because so many times he was repeating, the disciple was unable to grasp it, just at that time, still the disciple was shouting, give me some teaching, I can't understand what you are talking, a donkey happened to pass very near the disciple, the guru looked at it, Tattvamasi, the what, that. We are discussing about the lower Samadhi, let us come back to our subject, so this elaborate introduction I gave because through concentration, as we go near and near and near and near, what is concentration? Approaching an object from the viewpoint of knowledge, nearer and nearer and nearer, let me again give an example, you look at this through your naked eyes, it appears one way, you take a powerful magnifying glass and then you see what, see there, you look at a man's or a woman's face from a distance, then you take a magnifying glass, go nearer and nearer, what happens? All the pimples and then if the magnifying glass is powerful enough, you will even see the crawling bugs, I am not imagining, this is the truth, all over each one of our body, both outside and inside, it is full of bugs only, this. We are all suffering from viruses, do you know virus? All of us are suffering from Sri Ramakrishna's viewpoint, we are all sufferers from virus, beaten by virus, possessed by virus, do you know what is virus? What is the spelling, virus, V-I-R-U-S, vital information resources under seas. We do not have enough information but unlike virus, what happens when we develop the power of concentration? At first, this object resolves itself into its various components and if you further go, then you will see something extraordinary happens, what is that extraordinary something? All these things are resolved into one single element and that is called, call it God, call it Brahman, call it Atman, that is why the name for God in Vedantic language, what is it? Brahman. Brahman means that which is containing everything else. So now the introduction paves the way for better understanding. So let us take first about Sampragnatha Samadhi and let us also recall that whenever we experience any object, there are three elements involved, three elements, what are they? Eye and the object and the mind and the mind divides itself, I said, into aham and also the instrument and the object resolves itself into basically five elements and then ultimately many other things, ultimately it resolves back into one single element called Purusha. What is the goal of Samadhi? Through this power of concentration. What is Samadhi? Concentration when it develops, that is called Dharana, develops into Dhyana, meditation. Dhyana merges into Samadhi and what happens in Samadhi, I mentioned. What is the definition of Samadhi? The experiencer, the object of experience and the instrument of experience become one single element, that is called Brahman. So that is why whenever we eat food, we say Brahman, what does that mean? The eater and that which is eaten and the instrument with which it is eaten, all these are nothing but different ways of looking at the same things. For our purpose, this division is very important, eye, the mind and the object. Eye is called Grahita and the object is called Grahya in technical language and that which joins the Grahita or Grahitru with the Grahya is called Grahana, that which joins these three elements, the knower, the process of knowing and the object. When these three come together, their springs is equivalent to Jnana, knowledge. So what is the lowest type of Samadhi? Lower Samadhi is divided into four categories. What is it? It is Vidarka, Vichara, Ananda and Asmita. Let us take the Vidarka only for today's talk. Vidarka means, as it were, focus on any gross object, focus on any gross object, focus on any gross object. This is an example, I gave you this example, focus on this. And then what is it that happens? You are aware that I am looking at this object and this object is a rose and it is of red colour and it is on the table, as an example, it could be anywhere, it could be in front of me and there is a distance between me and the object and I started concentrating at 5 o'clock in the afternoon or 6 whatever at this time and I focused for say 5 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever is the time. One is aware of all these things but he is not thinking of anything else, he is only thinking about this particular object but he is very much aware and when sufficient degree of concentration is developed, then what happens you know, when you focus, how do you know you are focusing really? In the beginning, you are struggling not to allow any thought to enter into, after some time something happens magically, what happens? You are totally focused on that object and when you are focused on the object, something happens and what is that something? You are not aware of time and the moment you are not aware of time, you are also not aware of space because these two go together and when you are not aware of space, you are also not aware of causation. Why should I look at this rose? There must be a reason why I am focusing on this. The rose is there, I am here, the rose is there, that is called awareness of space. I started thinking about the rose at this point of time and I conclude it at some point of time, that is awareness of time and then why am I doing it? Because I read in the book that if I develop this power, I get knowledge, I get discipline and I also get joy, after all we do everything for the sake of joy, ananda. So therefore, I focus upon it. In the beginning, we are aware of time, space but only this object in time and space, that is called sa-vitarka samadhi. When the mind becomes sufficiently concentrated so that the thought of this particular object, it could be any object, it could be Ramakrishna or it could be flower, it doesn't matter. According to Sankhya, it doesn't matter what object you are focused because every object is made up of only one element, Ramakrishna is made up of the same prakriti and this rose also is made up of what? The same prakriti. It is not different at all according to Vedanta also. Let me take it off, this idea, remove this idea. According to Vedanta, everything is Brahman. If everything is Brahman, is this rose Brahman or not and is Ramakrishna Brahman or not? What is the difference between Ramakrishna and this rose? From the Brahman's point of view, there is absolutely no difference at all. When a person's concentration is of sufficiently developed power, what happens is he is only aware of this particular object but in that space, in that time and when a person achieves this aware of time, aware of space but aware of no other thought excepting repeatedly arising pratyaya or thoughts of this one particular object, then that is called success in Savitarka Samadhi. Now see, even we have not attained, it is far far away goal even this particular thing but then let me bring in the second idea, we will continue in my next class. Now if the same person is going on focusing more, what happens? He becomes absorbed as it were, then only two thoughts are there in his mind. There are only two thoughts in his mind. What is that? I am aware of this object, I and this object, there is no time, that's why sometimes when you are watching a very nice interesting movie, you know how time passes, when you are reading some absorbing book, it could be even a detective novel, mystery novel, hours pass before you are even aware and you know what wonderful changes take place when you are focused. If you have nothing, you get very hungry, have you noticed? If you have nothing to do, you get very hungry because it is not hunger, a false hunger but when you are absorbed, even this hunger is overcome because you get more joy in this, that's why the mother is calling, food is getting cold, come, no, no, no, just let me read one more page, just let me watch another five minutes, that is the power of concentration. When you are totally absorbed, what happens is you go beyond time and space and when the focusing power, attention power, power of concentration doesn't remind you of time and space, you have attained to the second step of the first step, second part of the first step. What is it? Nirvitarka Samadhi, it is also Samadhi because it is absorption, any type of absorption is called Samadhi, you attain to that second time but this is only gross, then what happens? In this talk, today's talk, I will just give you a brief analysis. As you bring the magnifying glass near, what happens is, let me give this gross example, look at this, how many colours do you see but when you are asked first, what do you see? What did you reply? I see only rose, then when you are asked, you say, I see a red rose but when you are asked, I am further asking you, what else do you see? Then what do you see? Now there is a green colour stem and that encloses the red colour but really speaking, I have to tell you something, if your focus is there, is that uniformly red, is the red colour uniformly red? You see here at the bottom, is this red colour is the same as at the top? You never thought about it because I am asking you, you thought about it, that means Lord that is only an example I am giving you, when you are focusing, your power of concentration increases every little bit as though you are magnifying as it were and when you come to that state, what happens? That colour is only one part of this object, colour. I said every object has 5 elements, what are they? The earth, the water, the fire, the air and the space. Now you start separating, your mind starts separating. Let me give this example, let us take the colour, previously you identified this object called rose with this colour, with the power of concentration, now what happened? You separated, rose is different, colour is different because a rose can be a yellow rose, a white rose and this red colour could be Swami's cloth also could be red and any other object also could be of this particular colour, isn't it? The walls of your room also can be of this particular colour, is it not? That means what? That colour which is specifically associated with this object in a gross way has now become universal and whatever is universal goes out of time and space, whatever is universal, your particularisation you have forgotten and universalisation starts. You can associate this colour with everything else, do you get the point that I am talking? You have gone out of time and space, how did you go out of time and space? First to space, you see this colour on the wall. When you start focusing only on the colour, then you see colour here, colour also there, where is the colour now? Only here? There? Everywhere? When something is everywhere, you go beyond the concept of space and when you go beyond the concept of space, you also automatically go because time and space are upwards and reverse of the same idea. So that is how the focusing power it goes but for our talk's purpose, what happens when we become perfect? In focusing on this object, the grossness disappears, the subtleness comes. What is that subtleness? Okay, this is a petal made up of this chemical, that chemical, the stem is made up of this chemical, that chemical, this colour is made up of this chemical, that chemical, the smell, the touch, the sound, everything is made up of different chemicals etc. But those chemicals remain. What is the origin of those chemicals? Now from the gross, we have progressed into the subtle. Now the second step of the lower Samadhi is called Vichara Samadhi. It is again of two types, Savichara and Nirvichara. So what it is and I will go a little bit of detail this also in my next class. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.