Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 067

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. 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 have been studying the eight-stepped way of Patanjali. Of these, the first two steps, Yama and Niyama. These are, as we had discussed, the very foundational qualities. Without developing these qualities, nobody has any chance of going forward even one centimeter in spiritual life. I would say, not only in spiritual life, even in worldly life. After all, we all are aiming to have happiness, peace, satisfaction, contentment, and the sense of fulfillment. Even these can come only through the practice of these qualities, which are also called universal qualities. Any good person, anywhere in this world, will have these qualities, at least in some measure. Now, what benefit do we get? One of the things that a charge made against spirituality is, what do I get? After all, if I become spiritual, I might gain something after death in some other place. But what do I get right now? Patanjali gives us something extraordinary. Even a secular person, who doesn't believe in any spiritual progress, but if he develops these qualities, he will get the most extraordinary results. We are going to discuss these things very soon. These statements made by Patanjali also raise some very important doubts, which we have to be very careful to understand. Let us start with the Yama. Yama consists of five qualities. Similarly, Niyama also consists of five qualities, ten qualities. So, we must get ten separate results. The first of which is called Ahimsa. Ahimsa means non-injury. When a person's mind becomes so high and so pure, that even the thought of injuring any creature never ever arises, even unconsciously. In his presence, not only he is free from the sense of injury, in his presence even animals are supposed to attain that quality of non-injury. It is said that Shankaracharya had established one of his most important centres for the propagation of Advaita in Sringeri, a place called Sringeri. How did he come to choose this particular place? He had this project in his mind and he was searching for a suitable place. Now, people like us, when we want to construct something, our idea of suitability is totally different. Shankaracharya's idea of suitability was totally different. It was all in those days, nearly 800 years back. It was all wooded area, very sparsely populated. He was one day walking and suddenly he saw that a female frog was giving birth to its baby and a ferocious cobra was spreading its hood upon that frog, protecting it from the hot sun. Now, frogs and snakes are what is called born enemies. This site moved Shankaracharya so much, he decided to construct because if by nature that place had become so free of any injury, what a wonderful place it will make. Incidentally, we have so many temples in India, not only in India, here churches etc. Some churches, some temples have become extraordinarily popular, they draw people. What is the attraction? Incredibly, we find that probably some great saint had practiced severe austerities there and created that atmosphere of godliness. Ramakrishna used to say, what is the greatness of a place of pilgrimage? He gave an illustration, water is available everywhere underground. But if somebody takes the trouble of digging a well, then it is much easily available to everybody. So, a place of, a holy place like Belur Math, what is the attraction to these holy places? They can easily contact God or their minds can be raised to higher consciousness in those places. This is the fact Patanjali is bringing to our mind. Whenever there is a person who is free from the least idea of injury and who is that person who will have this kind of thoughts? The answer given is accepting a person who loves himself. We always love ourselves the most. For each one of us, our own self including the body and mind is the most dear object in this whole world. We can even in dream think of doing any harm to others. The proof is even when you are in deep sleep and a mosquito bites you, you give liberation to the mosquito if possible. That means we want to protect ourselves from this. Of course the cases, immediately question comes, no there are people who want to commit suicide. No, that case is they do not wish to commit suicide, killing the body. They wish to remove certain conditions which are making that person suffer. It is in the moment you remove those conditions, immediately he will give up all thought of committing suicide. So we are the most dear people to ourselves. We never think of injuring ourselves even in our remotest thoughts. If we can see our own self in everything in this world or to put it in another way, a person who could see God in everything, such is the person who would never think of injuring. Because if he injures anybody, whom is he injuring? Himself. So we never wish to injure anybody. Now such a great person, there are people in this world, most of the people who are good people in this world, they are not capable of attaining to that state. At most they try not to injure anybody in any way. So what happens when a yogi is established in this condition, so that from his mind the idea of injury has been so totally destroyed, even the thought, is there a thought in my mind of injuring others doesn't occur to him. When a person attains to that state of the mind, what happens? Non-killing being established in his presence, all enmities cease. Ahimsa pratishthayam tat sannidhau vairatyagaha Even born enemies give up their enmity towards each other. Now this raises some questions. Obviously Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Rama, Krishna, take any great saint, they were all God-realized souls. That means they see God everywhere. That means they consider the whole universe as none other than their own self. The question of their cherishing, entertaining or even imagining a thought of injury never ever arises in their minds. Does it mean to say that they have no enemies? If I ask you this question, has Swami Vivekananda enemies? Has Jesus Christ enemies? Has Sri Krishna Bhagawan has enemies? Has Rama, Ramachandra had enemies? We have to understand that question. Do they cherish feeling of enmity in their hearts? Or it is the others who cherish such feelings towards them? You see the difference between these two? They do not have... You think that Swami Vivekananda, once upon a time he had Nirvikalpa Samadhi. After that his mind came down and then he started behaving like normal people. Is it ever possible once a person attains to that state of knowledge, he will ever lose that state of knowledge? But there could be people, either by the will of God, we only have to say by the will of God. You know why? Because a person of realization is entirely supervised. By whom? It's God's will. Shokali, Tumari Iccha. It is your will, oh mother. If somebody gives a slap to Sri Ramakrishna, in fact somebody kicked Sri Ramakrishna, in case you do not remember. Did it happen because of his problem or because of some other people's problem? So we have to understand that these enemies, born enemies, give up their enmity in the presence of such great people. That statement has to be taken in a very discriminative way. Sometimes it does happen. I heard of a sadhu specifically. How far it is true, I don't know. This is information gathered by reading books. There was one sadhu recently in North India and he never thinks of injuring anything and there are lots of monkeys and other animals. They all come and sit. Every day his service is he will collect food and distribute to all of them. It seems they all sit like good students in front of him and they never peek from the others etc. So it is there. In the life of Ramana Maharshi also such incidents are very graphically illustrated. He used to treat everyone as equivalent to human beings. Always he used to address animals. In English it is difficult to translate it. In Hindi, way, aap, uni, para. Like that. In respectable sense. And he used to look upon them as God himself. So in his presence there are so many incidents are there that they used to behave just like good devotees. But sometimes mischief also is done even in his presence and he used to scold them. He used to get a little bit of biting also. So it doesn't mean it is completely true. So this is an important point we have to understand. These great persons themselves do not have any idea of injury. Their thought never occurs. But there may be others who cherish such a feeling. Take Sri Rama's example. Ravanasura kidnapped Rama's wife himself, Sri Krishna. How Duryodhana and others wanted to kill him. How many times Kamsa wanted to kill him. What about Swami Vivekananda? People wanted to kill him in USA. And there were so many missionaries and even our own Indians who cherished so much of ill-feeling towards him. So what does this aphorism really mean? It means the person never sees anything wrong anywhere. When a person had reached this state really, it is a state of perfection. One point we have to understand here is that only a realized soul would have perfected. This quality manifests in its 100% perfection only in a realized soul. But we have to try. It may be 20%, 30%, 40%. So this is the result that comes. If a man gets the idea of non-injuring others before him, even animals which are by their nature ferocious will become peaceful. The tiger and the lamb will play together before that yogi and will not hurt each other. When you have come to that state, then alone you will understand that you have become firmly established in non-injury. We also can recollect the incident of Saint Francis of Assisi. One day he was going from one village to the other. He had to pass through a jungle area and the villagers warned him, there is a very bad wolf there. So it has killed so many people already. So Saint Francis said, I know a mantra. He was going fearlessly. Then suddenly this bad wolf had come and it was about to attack him. And Saint Francis with that loving voice, addressed it, brother wolf, why are you doing these nasty things? Don't you know that God will become angry with you? And immediately it bowed down to him and then it was looking, please pardon me. It's a very beautiful incident. Many people's lives, saints' lives, we get this kind of ideas out there. So the main point we have to understand is, if we cherish the idea of injury to others, two things will happen. First of all, even that thought will not die. It will come back to us in its ferocious form and at some point or other, it will injure us, harm us. Swami Vivekananda used to say, if you think a bad thought and then forget about it, don't think the thought has died. It is there hovering and it will come with compound interest at some point. This is the first point. Second point is, the more we cherish this kind of negative qualities, the less we progress in spiritual life. It is for our own good. A simple explanation, supposing you are cherishing a thought of injury, then what happens is, you want to sit for meditation. Then this thought will come. It will distract you from thinking about God. The mind will not become serene and quiet. So even from that point of view, for our own good, we have to practice this irrespective of whether a tiger and a lamb will come in front of you and then sit together. That's not material for us. Second of these Yamas, Satya pratishthayam kriya phala ashrayatvam By the establishment of truthfulness, the Yogi gets the power of attaining for himself and others the fruits of work without the works. Very beautiful aphorism, which says, you know, in this world, if we wish to get some great result, then we will have to work very hard. But we are all looking for a wonderful secret recipe without doing any work. How can we get the result of that activity? Is there any way? Yes, there is a way. What is that way? Satya pratishthayam kriya phala ashrayatvam If we are truthful, what happens is, whatever thought arises in our mind, that will immediately become true. In Ramakrishna's life, we can see. So one day, a sick man came to him and said, Ramakrishna, may you be cured. He did not openly say it and immediately that man was cured. A poor man came. You know this example. And he said, I want to become rich. Ramakrishna said, all right. I will say you will become rich, but I need a little bit of payment. Bring some jalebi. I will eat and I will make you rich. Next day or so, the man brought jalebi. Ramakrishna ate and said, may you become rich. He had become rich. Now, the classical example in Bhagavatam we get, the story of Sudama. Sudama was a poor man and his wife prompted him. In his mind, there was first of all, even the idea of telling a lie never arose in his mind. See, he didn't want anything. He was quite content to live his life even though he was poverty stricken. But unfortunately, he had a lot of children. So, they were starving. His wife told him, you have your friend Krishna. He is a rich man. Why don't you go and ask him? And you know this story. Even though, at the cost of a little bit of time, it is an extraordinary story. Sudama came, but there is a saying, when one is going to visit some friends or loved ones or God, we should not go empty handed. So, his wife procured a little bit of flattened rice. And with that, tied on his upper cloth, he went and then Sri Krishna received him right royal way, washed his feet and then he was... Rukmini and others were fanning. Now, the Bhagavatam goes into ecstasy describing that scene. What great merit this brahmana, poor brahmana had earned that even Lakshmi Devi herself is fanning. She did not ask her servants to come and fan him. She herself was fanning because Sri Krishna himself washed the feet of Sudama and drank because that was the custom in those days for householders, kings, kshatriyas. They had to respect brahmanas in that way. Then the time came for food and all royal dishes were being served. Sudama became so ashamed. What had he brought? What has to offer to Krishna who was offering him such royal dishes? He was completely ashamed. So, he gave up the thought of giving it. Krishna himself, he knew he was Antaryami. He can read the thoughts of his devotees, everybody. He asked, my friend, you are coming to see me after a long time. What have you brought for me? Sudama does not reply. After he hung his head, then Sri Krishna looked. Oh, there is something here. You must have brought for me only. And he opened. Here comes Bhagavata's description. There was a small quantity. He opens it, unties and then he takes one handful and eats it. Rukmini was watching and Sri Krishna was so enamored of this loving offering. Patram, Pushpam, Phalam, Toyam, Yome, Bhaktia, Prayatchati. The Lord promises in the Gita, if a poor man, but with devotion, offers even water, a small leaf, a small fruit, a small flower, anything, I accept it with the greatest love. So, he was about to take the second one. Rukmini holds her, his hand. Doesn't allow him to eat any further. Why? Because she knew, when the Lord is so satisfied, there is no doubt he will get all the riches in this world. That is the story. What is the point here? The point is that this Brahmana was established in Sathya. So, he did not do business. He did not go to earn money by ploughing the land or any such thing. But the Lord granted him. But the story doesn't end here. This man could not ask Krishna anything. He couldn't open and say, I have come for this purpose. The whole night passes like that. Next morning, he does his morning ablutions and then Krishna lovingly sends him off. He walks a long distance, embraces him and sends him off. On the way, this Sudama was thinking, certainly the dear Lord knows why I have come. And he never asked me why I had come. So, he knew why I had come. But he did not ask. Why? Because if he asks, I would have said, I want these riches, a little money. And then he would have given immediately. But he didn't ask. That means he doesn't want me to have these riches. Because riches create egotism, pride and other things. With that beautiful thought, you know, what do we do in that circumstances? This fellow, whole night I spent, he spoke so sweetly and he sent me off like this. He did not even ask me why I have come. Even though he could guess what for I had come. But only full of devotion, when he returned to his home, he could not believe his eyes. Did I come to my home? Or did I come somewhere else? His poor heart had turned into a palace. As he was wondering, what is this new sight? What happened to my poor home? Suddenly, a lady looking like Lakshmi Devi appeared before him. She smiled and said, Husband, don't you recognize me? Because she was transformed into one of the richest ladies. The story doesn't end there. What did he do with all his wealth? He said, he spent in two ways. In the service of God and in the service of devotees. In these two ways, he spent his whole money. That means God has given me. Now I can sit back and enjoy life. No, sir. You lead a simple life. He led an even more devoted life. That is the most important point. What did Upendra Nand Mukhopadhyay do? He also led a simple life. Most of his money, he spent in charities, in philanthropic activities. And when Swami Vivekananda returned, it was he, at his own expense, printed 70,000 pamphlets and splattered them all over Kolkata so that Swami Vivekananda could receive a grand reception. And even after that, so much money he had donated to Ramakrishna Mission. So many books he had published at very cheap rates so that people could get good books like Gita Press Gorakhpur has been doing for so many years. He had done like that. So every good devotee, he uses his prosperity and his money and everything in the service of the Lord. What is the point here? This Brahmana, Sudama, he never ploughed the field or any such thing, yet he got all this wealth. What is the cause of his wealth? Here the answer is given. By the establishment of truthfulness, the yogi gets the power of attaining for himself and others, the fruits of work, without doing the work. So if such a person who is established in truthfulness, if he says to some person, may you become a knower of Brahman, instantaneously that person's life will undergo a change. You remember on 1st January 1886, Ramakrishna touched. May your spiritual consciousness be awakened. Immediately all those whom he touched had extraordinary experiences. How did they happen? Had they worked for it? They got the result. But is it the result of how they worked? It is the result of Sri Ramakrishna's grace because he was established in truthfulness. That means what is truthfulness? Another name for truthfulness is God. Another name for God is truth. In case you have forgotten, Sat, Chit, Ananda. Sat is the name of God. When this power of truth will be established, with you, then even in dream, you will never tell an untruth. In thought, word or deed, whatever you say will be truth. You may say to a man, be blessed and that man will be blessed. If a man is deceased and you say to him, be thou cured, he will be cured immediately. I will narrate two incidents. One from the mythologies and another that happened in the life of Swami Vivekananda. How this established in truth, their words, every word will come absolutely true. The story in the mythologies, the great sage Narada was once walking and he saw a tiny insect and he was in a high mood and he said, what a pity, this tiny insect, how many millions of births it has to take before it becomes a human being. Then how many thousands of times before it becomes a little bit endowed with desire for spiritual progress and then it has to get a Sadguru and then it has to practice spiritual disciplines. He was overcome with compassion. He blessed, may you attain liberation. The mythology, what narrates it this way, as soon as he blessed it, the insect died. Immediately it was born as an animal. Immediately it died. So it was being born and then it died. It was being born every time, higher and higher birth and within a few minutes, it was born in a high caste human life and then it obtained the desire for liberation and then it got a Sadguru and immediately he practiced and it had. This is the blessings. Now an incident from the life of Swami Vivekananda. There were three sisters called Meade sisters at Pasadena in USA. Swami Vivekananda stayed for a few weeks with them. There was one lady who used to be depressed. This is a wonderful thing. Devotees also can be depressed. Devotees can also be feeling low thoughts, negative thoughts. They should not but we are all human beings. Such things happen. So one of the ladies, she was very weak mentally. Swami Vivekananda was leaving their house and you know he used to smoke. A pipe was there and they had a fireplace. Swami Vivekananda while taking leave, he said, I forget her name. He addressed her and said, look I am leaving my pipe here. Whenever you are in dire need of some strength, when you are at the lowest of your spirits, then you take this pipe and rub like rubbing a jean or an old lamp or something like that. Wherever I am, I will come to your aid. Swami Vivekananda told. Whether she believed 100% at that time, I do not know. Several years had passed. Meanwhile Swami Vivekananda had passed away and there was a time when this lady was at her lowest ebb. She was feeling highly depressed. Idly she was looking and suddenly her eyes felt she forgot that Swamiji's pipe was left on her fireplace and then she remembered Swamiji's promise. So she took that and then Swamiji you promised me you will help me. As soon as the thought came to her, as though Swamiji had become present in her presence, immediately tremendous strength came, lifted her up and helped her. The same promise God has given in the Bhagavad Gita. Whenever you remember me lovingly, I will come to your aid. Holy Mother's special yoga, I call it Smarana Yoga. Whenever my child, you are in need, do not forget you have a mother, you remember me, I am ever behind you, I will come and help you. This is the power. People who are established in truthfulness, whatever thought comes in their minds, whatever word comes out, even involuntarily from their mind, from their mouths, whatever they think, it will all come true in course of time because they are established in truth, they are established in God. Incidentally, it is said, how did creation take place? There is a beautiful conversation between Swami Vivekananda and one of his disciples, Sharad Chandra Chakravarti. And this Sharad Chandra Chakravarti puts a question. Swamiji, it is written in the Vedas that as soon as Brahma thought a cow, immediately a cow is produced. But we never see such a phenomenon in our day-to-day life. If I want to produce a pot, then I have to bring the clay, I have to knead it and then I have to put it on a wheel, I have to go through so many steps. Then he said, No, God is called Sathya Sankalpa, that whatever thoughts arise in his mind, immediately they come true. So the moment Brahma thinks about a cow, a cow is immediately, instantaneously it comes. And curiously, our Vedanta scriptures illustrate the state of dream to teach us this lesson. In your dream, what is the distance between your thought and an object appearing in your dream? Have you ever thought about it? The moment the thought comes, what happens in your dream? Instantaneously you see that present in your very presence, in front of you. So if this is true, we are Sathya Sankalpas in dream. Only thing is our Sathya Sankalpa is somebody, some tiger is coming and eating, wobbling me up. And immediately a tiger, somebody coming and slapping me. Immediately somebody comes and slaps me. Because why? Because in the dream, we are the creators, we are the Brahmas. But in this waking state, we do not have that power because we are not truthful persons. So whatever we desire, immediately it will come to us if we are only established in this quality called Sathya. Sathya Ashraya, Sathya Pratishtha. Even this is a wonderful thing. Somebody says, I want a job. I need a job. Immediately the job will come. There is also this incident is there. M was insulted in the school that was established by Vidyasagar. He in a huff resigned. And then he was poor. He did not have any income. His family would have been in great difficulty. He went to Sriram Krishna and told him, this is the incident that happened. I resigned. Sriram Krishna appreciated it and said, well done. But he did not say anything further. Then within 2-3 days, an offer had come for him to become a professor in a college. Why did it come? I think because of two factors. Sriram Krishna said, definitely he wished that my devotee should not be undergoing any difficulty. Secondly, M himself was a very truthful person. Both these combined together, immediately it came. One question can make us suffer. If that is so, if somebody is suffering from a disease, he could say, let me be cured. Sriram Krishna, you know how many people came and said, why don't you wish that may you be cured? After all, you are a person. Here also there is a beautiful incident. Sriram Krishna was suffering from throat cancer. It was unbearable suffering for him as well as for his devotees. Now, I forget one name. I think Sheshadhar Tarkachudamani. He came there and suggested to Thakur, Sir, you are a yogi. If you just make up your mind and say, I do not have any disease, immediately it will go. Is it true? Absolutely. If Sriram Krishna said, I do not have any disease, it would have left him that very moment. But he knew that that is part of the script he had to go through. So he said, no, I cannot wish such things. I have surrendered my will to the Divine Mother long back. I can't bring back that mind and then say, Mother, please cure me. One day Sriram Krishna was making fun. Is there nobody who can cure me or my disease? Naga Mahasaya was nearby. He heard it. And immediately he went, I will take away your disease. Here, not curing, but transferring it from the body of Sriram Krishna to his own body. Sriram Krishna knew it. He pushed him and said, enough, enough. I don't want you to come and do it. I know you can do it. But I do not wish that to be done. Because that is the script written in the life drama of Sriram Krishna Paramahamsa. Aphorism 37 This is one of the most marvellous aphorisms. By the establishment of non-stealing, all wealth comes to the yogi. The more you fly from nature, the more she follows you. And if you do not care for her at all, she becomes your slave. There is also a saying in English. Nature abhors vacuum. That means, if you are running away from women, women will follow you. But if you are following women, they will run away from you. If you are running after wealth, then wealth will run away from you. But if you are running away from wealth, then wealth will follow you. Invariably, this phenomena is seen. This idea, Patanjali is putting it in his beautiful words, if anyone is established in the quality of non-stealing, all wealth comes to the yogi. Now this idea of non-stealing, the grossest form. Most of us, we do not steal. Most of us, physically. But mentally, supposing you are going, passing by the road, and you see a beautiful house. How I wish this house would have been. If only it was mine, I would have been very happy. I will not give many other illustrations because I know what you will be thinking of. So if you are seeing a car, if only I had this car, how nice it would be. If only this dress, how nice it would have been. But what is this non-stealing? This idea of even wishing is a type of stealing. A certain way. We are not doing it. If I wish, I had this one. That is also, I want to obtain it. Why do you want to obtain it? After all, you are a yogi. You want God. Anything other than God is inimical to you. When a person is established, even in the depths of his heart, he will never think of stealing anything. What is stealing? Anything that doesn't belong to oneself is called non-stealing. You remember, I am sure, devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. The funny incident that happened at the house of Rani Rasmani. She had three daughters and at some point, she divided her property. And Sri Ramakrishna was living at that house at that point of time. So one day, he was strolling in the garden. Suddenly, she saw one of the daughters of Rani Rasmani picking up greens from a plot that belonged to the other sister. It is all legally written, but they were all living together. They never thought that we have to put some boundaries and then one should not go into the other. Sri Ramakrishna asked, How come? Did you take your sister's permission? And she got into the game. She wanted to play a game with Sri Ramakrishna. Baba, please don't tell my sister that I am stealing from this plot. And he was very serious and she was only playing with him. Meanwhile, that lady to whom that particular plot belonged happened to come there. And Sri Ramakrishna went straight and said, Do you know your sister is taking greens from that plot belonging to you? And she also got into a playful mode and said, Baba, is it so? How wrong of her without asking my permission? And then both of them could not keep up the charade. They burst out into laughter. Sri Ramakrishna was puzzled and said, I don't understand. What wrong have I told you? You know the incident of the lemon, Sri Ramakrishna and the lemon incident. In case some of you do not know or do not recollect, here is the incident. A doctor prescribed a juice of one lemon for Sri Ramakrishna's ill health. So there was a neighboring garden and there were plenty of lemon trees. Even today lemons are the cheapest vegetables. Even monkeys do not touch them. One of the devotees, with the permission of that owner, and the owner must have told the watchman that a person will come and pluck one lemon every day. You permit him. And this was going on. One day this attendant went as usual and got the lemon. The watchman didn't say anything and he brought. Sri Ramakrishna could not touch it. He tried to touch it with both hands, holding one hand with the other hand and they picked up that lemon. He could not do it. Then he said, why is it I am unable to pick it up? There must be some reason. Then on inquiry it was found, previous day the garden had changed its ownership. The previous owner had sold it to somebody else. Sri Ramakrishna did not know. His devotees did not know. The watchman knew it. But what was his truthfulness? You just imagine. He could not even, because what would it amount to if he had brought that lemon? In spite of the watchman's not saying anything. So many incidents are there in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. Graphic illustration of all these aphorisms. Sri Ramakrishna was established in this. Swami Vivekananda was established in this. Asteya and all that. Every great man had to be established. Did wealth come to him? It is one of the questions that was raised in our scriptures is, when a man realizes God, he got God and God is the owner of this whole universe. So if a poor yogi, poor man, before he realized God, but after he realized God, he could change his circumstances. Would he change? I have never seen any change like that. Why? Because what is the point of having riches? Only one point. And that is, you lead so-called happy life. He was the happiest person just by thinking about God. What does he care for all those things? And then he accepts the will of God. Does not God know? Is he not taking care of his devotees? So even he's taking care of ordinary devotees like us. Would he not take care of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and others? But there are also instances which prove this fact. In fact, money did come to Sri Ramakrishna. There was one Lakshmi Narayan Marwadi. He offered 10,000 rupees. In those days, 10,000 rupees were like offering 1 million pounds or something like that. Then there was Madhur Babu. He genuinely loved Sri Ramakrishna and he said, if something happens to me, Baba will be in trouble. So let me give some chimindari to him. Sri Ramakrishna went to beat him up. Do you know what is the value of that? Recently only I read about it. Sri Ramakrishna would have got 25,000 rupees per month, per year. 25,000 rupees per year. That means 2,500 rupees. His salary was 5 rupees. After retirement his pension was 7 rupees. And even then he was saving money. With that he got ornaments made for Holy Mother. A part of that money. He was very careful. How much money would have come to him? But did he accept it? He went to beat Madhur Babu's head. Madhur Babu had to run away. So yogis do not care. It will come. A yogi does not care. But if somebody wants money, let him only practice this virtue. And whatever he wants, he will come to it. But there is also psychology involved here. When a man really becomes established in this virtue, what happens is he gets so much of joy, he does not depend upon these things. Even the coarsest food would give him as though he was eating amrita. Aphorism 38. By the establishment of continents, energy is gained. The chaste brain, Swami Vivekananda says, has tremendous energy, gigantic will power. Without that there can be no mental strength. All men of gigantic brains are very continent. It gives a wonderful control over mankind. Leaders of men have been very continent. And this is what gave them power. Therefore, the yogi must be very continent. Of all the virtues, the greatest importance has been placed upon this virtue, Brahmacharya. Brahmacharya means complete control over any sexual desires. When a person is established, and when is a person established in that virtue, we will come. So when a person is established in this virtue, tremendous virya is produced. Virya in English word is tremendous energy, tremendous strength, both of the body as well as of the mind. Here also some questions arise. We will deal with them shortly. First of all, virya doesn't mean not only physical and mental, but predominantly it means spiritual energy. That means a person who is observing Brahmacharya, his efforts towards God, his efforts in practicing spiritual disciplines, will become unabated, full of enthusiasm. Every second he is looking forward. How can I advance in my spiritual life? And to advance in spiritual life we need tremendous energy, believe me, because so many thoughts are trying to pull us back. We also have quite a good amount of ambition to progress in spiritual life. All of us have, without a doubt. Why is it we are not advancing? Because of these various obstacles that are put, because we are not really practicing these things. So the real benefit of observing continence is spiritual energy comes. Now the question. What is Patanjali telling us? Tremendous amount of physical and mental energy is obtained. But it doesn't mean a person becomes sando, like that world famous boxer Michael or what was his name? I am the greatest. Do you see the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna? Have you seen Swami Subodh Anandaji? How was his body? Was he observing Brahmacharya or not? But what a tremendous energy, spiritual enthusiasm and unfailing thinking of holding on to God and above all Nishtha. If there is one quality that I cherish among all of us devotees, that quality I call it Nishtha. What is the meaning of Nishtha? I will stick to my routine. Let whatever happen. What happens to ordinary people? The moment they start practicing, somebody says Papa come here, come and then wipe my back. Immediately all his devotion to God is over. So that whatever happens, I want to go to God. Every circumstance I will think how this is going to advance me in my spiritual life. The tremendous Nishtha. I illustrate always with the story. I have told this story in my classes before. Briefly I will tell you. There was the great Acharya Ramanujacharya in South India. And there was an old man who wished to become his disciple. Now you know Brahmins they respect the old age. This Ramanuja was a very young man. This old man wanted to become his disciple. Ramanujacharya accepted. So he initiated him into Sri Vishnu Sampradaya. And then the disciple had to give Guru Dakshina. He asked what Seva? Guru Dakshina means some kind of Seva. What service can I render to my Gurudeva? You know Ramanujacharya made strangest of all requests. Brahmins believe that they have to wash other respectful Brahmins feet and drink their water. Of which the feet are washed. So Ramanuja said everyday you sit in front of your house. On my way from the temple to my home I will stop. I will wash your feet and I will drink that water. This is the service you have to render to me. And the disciple agreed. And day after day this was what Ramanujacharya was doing. One day he forgot completely he was thinking something else. And then he went by some other pathway to his home. Totally this idea of stopping at that disciple's home. He never remembered until at midnight just before going to bed. Suddenly he remembered. He knew his disciple would be waiting for him without food. So he ran back to that house. Exactly he found the Brahmin waiting for his Guru. He washed his feet, drank the water and asked the Brahmin to go and have some food and to take rest and then came. This is called Nishtha. But even better example is there. Shabari. Indian devotees definitely would know about Shabari Pratiksha. Shabari's Guru told her that Rama will come to you. She never lost faith in that word, that Nishtha. Every day morning she will go out, gather some fruits, come to her cottage and wait, wait, wait. One year passed, ten years passed, fifty years passed. She reached almost ninety nine years old and she could not see properly. Yet she would go. She never gave up hope for a single second and Rama came. That was the last day. That's why she could not even see which was ripe fruit or unripe fruit. So she tasted it first to know whether it is sweet or not. And what she found sweet, she offered. Rama accepted it with the greatest delight. So that is called Nishtha. What is Nishtha here? That unfailing faith in the words of the Guru or the scripture, it is going to come true. So that is what is in all, these are all scriptures. We are all reading it. Definitely these things will come. So here is the example. If a person thinks of non-stealing, all wealth comes to him. When a person is established in Brahmacharya or continence, tremendous energy is gained. He may not look like a sandal. He may even look very, very lean and thin and bones may stick out. But his spiritual energy goes on increasing undimmed. And that is the only thing which can really help us. The real meaning of Brahmacharya also, that Brahmani Charatiti Brahmachari. That is to live in God. That is called Brahmacharya. Otherwise we have a funny way of saying all castrated bulls must have realized God long back. Because they are observing pure continence. No, that is not the truth. The next aphorism, 39 says, When a yogi is fixed in non-receiving, he gets the memory of past life. This is one of the strangest things. Even I find it very difficult to understand it. One of these, the last of the yamas, Aparigraha. Aparigraha means never receive anything. Because everything that we receive comes with a sting. So if an evil person gives us something, his evil will come to us. If a good person gives to us, then good only will come to us. But whatever it is, when we receive something, that becomes an obstruction in our spiritual life. It should never be done. So here Patanjali Rishi is telling, When a person, when a yogi is really fixed in this virtue, in this called Aparigraha, non-receiving, he gets the memory of past lives. I will discuss this point in my next class. But very briefly what happens, what is most of the time, the most obstacle for our getting the vision of God? Attachment. Attachment belongs to this life, to this body, to this mind. But what happens when a person, when a yogi is established in this virtue, then he becomes totally detached towards this body. The moment he becomes detached, then it is said this strange power comes of knowing all the past lives he had since the beginning of his life. Out of millions of births, I was an insect. I was a plant. I was a bird. I was an animal. I was a lowly human being. So what happened? I had so many fathers. I had so many mothers. I was born as a son. I was born as a man. I was born as a woman. I was born as poor man, as rich man. I was a king. I was a slave. I was a master. When a person really remembers all these things, his attachment becomes totally destroyed. Because we are attached because we think this is the only life. And then not only that, why is it that we are afraid, fear comes? Fear comes because of attachment. What is the fear? That if I lose this, what am I going to get? But when a person says, so many lives I had, so many future lives also I will be having. When a person is assured this way, just take an example. Suppose you have only one cloth. If you are asked to give it up, it will be really difficult. Even if it is dirty and torn, you don't want to give it up unless you are assured. Suppose somebody says, I will give you a thousand better dresses like this. Will you have any objection in throwing this off? Immediately you will throw it off and then run after them. When a Yogi remembers his past lives, his detachment becomes total. And what happens? Since there is no attachment and he knows all these bodies come and go, then there is no attachment. When there is no attachment, what holds the soul becoming one with God? What is it that holds us? Attachment in some form or other. The ultimate bondage is attachment. Once that attachment disappears, there is nothing standing in between the soul and God. Immediately he becomes one with God. There are wonderful points which we have to discuss about this and we will discuss in our next class. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti