Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 068

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMAVIDVISHAHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRANJALI RANATHOSME I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar and of the body through medicine. We are dealing with the Yamas and Niyamas. When a person is well established in these five Yamas and Niyamas, what are the benefits one is supposed to get? We had already dealt with the five Yamas. Briefly they are non-killing being established, in his presence all enmities cease in others including the animals. One important point that we raised here was that the person himself may not entertain, cherish any ill-feeling, but there may be others who might cherish ill-feelings towards that person. We get the examples of Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and in all these people. But the person himself will never cherish even the slightest feeling of injury because as a part of spiritual discipline he tries to look upon everything, everybody as one's own friend. Also everybody as divine. That's why the beautiful example. Swami Vivekananda addressed the Parliament of Religions. What was the beginning? Sisters and Brothers of America and everybody was thrilled. But later on so many people became what you call Baddha Shatru. Terrible enemies of Swami Vivekananda, they tried even to poison him, to finish him off. But he was never perturbed. His feeling is everybody is really divine. That is why in his mind there is no other. Everyone is one's own self. Satya pratishtayam kriya phala ashayatham. This is the most wonderful thing. If somebody wants to gain something, he has to work very hard, he has to pay the price. As the saying goes there is no free lunch. But if somebody is really established in truthfulness, whatever desire arises in that particular person's mind, that will come true. Not only that, if that person happens to say to others that may this happen to you, that also will happen instantaneously. Now here also a beautiful question comes. Suppose Sri Ramakrishna tells to a person, a poor person, may you become rich. Now it will come true. The most interesting point here is did these words of Sri Ramakrishna come out of his mouth because the person was not destined to get those things or because of his last janmas karma phala, already he was destined to have these things. But according to the Patanjali Rishi, definitely whatever happens, even if somebody's karma phala is indicating a negative result, but through the grace of those who are established in truthfulness, it will come true. I just remembered a story. There was a great devotee of Lord Narayana, but he never had any children though he was a householder. Then he prayed to God, give me some children. But the Lord conveyed the idea that it is not in your fate to have any children. Later on, somebody who knew this story happened to visit that devotee and found the house full of his children. He said, what? God himself told from the horse's mouth straight that this man is not destined to have any children, but here we see plenty of children over there. Then he went to Lord Narayana and said, what is this? You told one thing and what happened is totally a different thing. And then the story comes out. Lord Narayana laughed and said, what can I do? My devotee Narada went there and this man worshipped Narada and Narada blessed, may you have plenty of children. The second point in this particular sutra, the benefit is, as I said, if we have to get some profit, then we have some happiness or whatever, we have to pay a lot. Here, without doing any action, he gets the result of the action and it really happens. This is what the scripture is telling, so we have to accept to that. Asteya pratishtayam sarva ratna upasthanam. By the establishment of this healing, all wealth comes to the yogi. So if somebody wants to have wealth, the best thing for him to do is not to covet anything. Asteya means to steal. Asteya means not to steal. Anything that doesn't belong to us is called stealing. How unconsciously we practice this stealing business, there is a funny story. There was a man, he had a son. This son was studying in a school and this boy had stolen some pencils from his friends and the complaint came from the head teacher that your son had stolen these things. The father, the moment he got the letter, he was on fire. He called his son, slapped him and said, you rogue, why did you not tell that you were in need of pencils? Had I known, I would have brought ten pencils from the office. It's a very common thing. With such a practice, people are not even aware that they are doing this kind of things. So here is the most wonderful aphorism which says, do you want to become extremely rich? All that you need is to practice that idea of non-stealing. Then the result will come. Brahmacharya pratishthaya virilabha. By firmly being established in continence, tremendous energy is gained. Two types of energies. First type of energy is that which is useful in this world. Tremendous energy, whatever a person wants to do. But the most important energy is spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is again split into two categories. Spiritual understanding and spiritual practice. So first thing that comes is deep understanding. A person who observes continence, he understands things in a different way. A person who doesn't, doesn't understand so deep. Some understanding is there, but not that deep understanding. But sometimes people who are observing total Brahmacharya, they also appear to be very weak. You know, especially the Christian saints, lean and thin and only skeleton is observed. But they are sincerely praying to God, controlling their minds, etc. They do it. So mostly we have to understand, by the observance of continence, a person will gain spiritual benefit. He will be tremendously enthusiastic, happy with what he is doing, if he is established in continence. That is why every monk, he observes continence. Monk or nun, Brahmacharis, why? Because they know here is a tremendous amount of energy. And that has to be, that which is normally its tendency is to go down. Now it goes up and there is a special name in Sanskrit for that. It is called Ojas. Ojas is all the spiritual, what is called physical energy in its finest and varied forms getting converted into spirituality is called Ojas. And the rishis and the seers and the sages who really observe this kind of continence with absolute control over their minds, they are given a very special name in Sanskrit. They are called Udhva-Pretaskas. Udhva-Pretaskas. Always their mind is upward. Aparigrahasthairye janmakathanta sambodha. This is the last of these five Yamas. When a yogi is fixed in non-receiving, he gets the memory of past life. This is a very strange gift that is God by getting established in this particular virtue called non-acceptance of gifts. The first point that comes to us is, is it ever possible in this world to live if we do not receive anything? It is not possible. Even Shri Ramakrishna, he said, O Mother, provide me with some rich suppliers. He could have simply said, I want, O Mother, grant me some suppliers, rich suppliers. Why Shri Ramakrishna prayed that rich suppliers have to be given? Was he after riches? How many last class I told you? If he had accepted Madhur Babu's gift of land, he would have got 2000 rupees per month. But he rejected like filth. And then why did he say? Because we have to understand Shri Ramakrishna's teachings in their entirety, not limited. Shri Ramakrishna knew he will have to establish an organization. Are the suppliers over only with Shri Ramakrishna's birth? What about the persons who contributed to the construction of the temple of Shri Ramakrishna at Belur Math? What about all the devotees who are serving Ramakrishna order in so many ways? I had mentioned the Ramakrishna order consists of three strands. The first is the monks and the nuns. The second is the devotees, whether they are married or unmarried. The third is the admirers of Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. You know in India especially we have so many admirers. They don't come to the mission. They don't attend the lectures. They don't attend to the temple rituals. They perhaps never visit the ashrams at all. But whenever we go for some help in the government, they are all so well aware of Swami Vivekananda. That instantaneously they know, oh we know Swamiji Ramakrishna order. What can we do for you? And they feel blessed by rendering whatever best service they offer. Right from the clerks up to the even Prime Minister. What is the point here? Life is impossible without receiving anything. Then what does this aphorism really mean? It means two things. The first thing is that do not expect anything. If at all something comes, even for a devotee, not only for the monks. You know when a monk goes for begging, what is the word he utters? Bhavati Bhiksham Dehi. Oh Divine Mother, grant me alms. So whatever, this applies even for devotees. You don't go to anybody first of all. You only go to God, you go to Thakur, you go to Ma and you pray. Mother, I am your child, I need this. Ask only what you need, not what you desire, what you need. And definitely she will give. How are you so sure that she gives? Because in the Gita, the Lord promises. अनन्यास्चिन्तयं तोमां एजनाः परिपासते तेशाः नित्याभियुक्तानां योगख्षेमं वहाम्यहं Of those who think of Me unceasingly and depend totally upon Me, I carry to them whatever they need and I protect them from every incident in life. So that promise is there. In fact, Swami Sharadananda makes a remarkable statement in his Great Master, A Life of Sri Ramakrishna. He says, Sri Ramakrishna's special purpose of being born as an incarnation of God in this age is to prove this promise of the Krishna given to his devotee. That promise was not given to Arjuna. That promise is given to every devotee who sincerely strives to live a spiritual life. So what we are discussing here, non-receiving of gifts. First reason I tell, do not expect. Let whatever comes be the grace of God. And secondly, whatever we receive, we have to give back in some form. Holy Mother was very fond of saying, जार आचे मापो, जार नहीं जपो. Meaning, those who have, let them measure out. Measure out means let them give unstintedly. Give unlimitedly. Even from the Karmapala viewpoint, whatever we give, it will come back to us. Don't worry. Definitely thousandfold it will come back. The second thing is that we have to understand this one. Whenever we receive something, we have to give back. What did Holy Mother say? जार नहीं जपो. That means those who do not have. How are they going to repay? You pray for them. You do japa for them. You do some spiritual practice for them. One can do spiritual practices for the other persons also. For example, Swami Vivekananda's birth. Swami Vivekananda's mother, she could not go to Varanasi. She wanted a son. What did she do? She deputed one of her relatives who was living in Varanasi on my behalf. Every day you give puja to Girishwara Shiva. Sri Ramakrishna used to do japa. In fact, there is an incident. One day an attendant at night asked Holy Mother. Ma, like that. He addressed her. Instantaneously, she said, yes, my son. Then he was surprised. It was midnight. He said, Mother, don't you sleep? She said, how can I sleep, my son? So many people come and call me Ma and then get initiated. After that, they do not do anything. I have to do something for them. So Sri Ramakrishna is doing meditation or japa. For whose purpose? For devotees' sake. Holy Mother doing japa, for whose purpose? For our sake. Swami Vivekananda preaching all this and doing japa meditation, for whose purpose? For our sake. Because japa dhyana is needed for realizing God. They have already reached that goal. And whatever they do, it is for our own benefit. So this is a point Holy Mother is telling, if you cannot repay in some way, then you pray for them. That will be the greatest repayment. So there was a charge against monks that they are parasites. Swami Vivekananda heard it many times in India. And then his reply was, they are the greatest benefactors. Why? You just give a little bit of food to them. But they tell you the teachings of the scriptures. And they pray for you. Whatever japa dhyana they do, a part of it will go to you, whoever supplies the food, etc. Now what is the result? When a person, a yogi, is established in this virtue of non-receiving, what is the result? First of all, what is this virtue? Non-receiving. And I mentioned, it is not possible that we can remain not receiving anything. In fact, 24 hours we are receiving. This is again a different topic. I won't enter into depth, but I will give you in brief. You are breathing. Who is supplying you oxygen? God. You are thirsty. Who is supplying you water? God. You are hungry. Who is supplying you food? God. You need heat. Who is supplying you heat? God, in the form of the sun, the moon, the fire, etc. And you need space. Who is supplying you space? It is God again. 24 hours God is fanning us. Do you know that fact? How much time you are fanning God? 24 hours He is fanning us. So we have to be eternally grateful. O Lord, my very existence I owe to your grace. Otherwise, I would not have existed at all. So how can we remain alive and non-receiving? It is not possible. That is why it is constantly we are receiving and constantly we have to give. In what form do we need to give? Do you know? In the form of Panchamahayagna. Do you know the concept? We are indebted to the sages for the knowledge they pass on. To Gods and Goddesses who grant us so many things. And we are indebted to our ancestors, to our mother, to our father. We are indebted to all human beings. We are indebted to everything non-human. Animals, birds, the mountains, the rivers, the plants. Everything we are indebted. To get rid of the debt is called Yagna, a sacrifice. Five great sacrifices. Our whole life is getting rid of the debts only. And if we can do within that some prayer, meditation, definitely everybody will get. Now if we are really established in this virtue of non-receiving, what is the benefit we receive? The commentator writes here, such a beautiful teaching. Says this very body is a gift of God. We are so much attached to this body. Why is it that we are not able to see what is happening in our life? Not to speak of past lives, even what happened in this life we forget. Do we remember all that happened when we were small children? We do not remember it all. So many of our peculiar actions and reactions are due to the habits we got ingrained from our childhood time onwards. We are blissfully unaware of it. The idea is this body itself is the greatest gift. Who gave this body to us? And who is maintaining it? And where does it go in the end? This is one of the greatest questions that has been put in the Upanishads. Is there a creator? Yes. Why? Because there is a creation. We are there. So how do I know or how do I reach that being who has given me this life? The teaching that is given is from which every creature has come out, in which every creature lives, and unto which every creature again returns to the source of its origin. Find out who that source is and that is Brahman, that is God. Now the point we need to understand here is that this body itself is a gift. It is a gift of God and it is maintained by God. Ultimately where does it go? Only to God. Therefore the question of our independence, existence doesn't arise. We owe it to God himself. Now what is the point here? How does a person who is established in non-receiving remember the past lives, remembrance? Some of us have got wonderful memories and some of us have got non-wonderful memories. We don't even remember what we read. I find, you know, somebody is asking one of our Swamis, Swamiji, I don't remember what you spoke yesterday. He said, not to speak of what I spoke yesterday, even what I spoke at the beginning of this class, if you remember, I will be very grateful to you. So many things we do not remember. Why is it? What is the obstruction to this memory? The obstruction is attachment to certain things. What does it mean? There is a law. Our mind goes where our attachment lies. This was beautifully expressed by Jesus Christ. Your mind will be where your treasure is. What is the treasure? Whatever we cherish, whatever we value, whatever we love, that is the treasure. And whatever we love, that is where our mind will be attracted again and again. It's a common phenomenon. You sit for meditation, where does it go? It goes only to objects in which you are interested. It won't go anywhere else. What does this aphorism is saying? Why is it we are not remembering even our childhood, excepting few memorable memories? Somebody had slapped us hard when we were children. That we remember very much. Or somebody had praised us highly. Even whole life we don't forget that. Oh, this person had praised me. Because it affects our interests. Now, why is it we forget other things? Because of our attachment to things. Now here is the point. When a person is trying to get established in this virtue called non-receiving, then his attachments to things diminish. Proportionately it diminishes. And when there is absolutely no attachment, then not only does a person remember what happened in this life, he also remembers what happened also in the past. And there is another explanation, beautiful explanation. Those who are familiar with the five sheaths, they can understand it better. You know, our soul is covered with how many sheaths? Five. What are those sheaths? Annamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha, Anandamaya Kosha. Or in other ways of telling, our soul is enclosed within three bodies. The gross body, the subtle body and the causal body. Now, what is the grossest body? Grossest sheath? This body, which is made up of food. It is the grossest body. And we are so much attached to this body. When a person is established in non-receiving, that idea that I have to receive, somebody owes me something, it is my right to get something, all these ideas totally vanish from a person's mind. His attachment to this body also becomes less. He, as it were, separates himself from that body, steps out and says, this is the greatest obstruction for my further progress. When a person achieves that kind of non-attachment, then his memory becomes what is called unlimited. Then he is able to see what has gone before. Now, why do we need to find out how many lives we had in the past? According to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, these doctrines, how many doctrines? The doctrine of rebirth and the necessary corollary of the doctrine of rebirth. What is the corollary? The law of karma. Why has this body come? Because of the past birth deeds. And why that past birth? The karmas done in the previous birth to it. What is going to be our future birth? It depends upon what we do in this birth. Law of karma. Now, we are not able to see clearly why only when we are detached to this body, to a considerable extent, that sense of detachment brings in memory. All the memories are there. This is an important, crucial point. Do we remember our childhood? Surely no. But if somebody is put in a hypnotic state, he can remember every second of what has happened. And incidentally, there are some people who claim they can regress us into even past lives. Sometimes on the TV also it comes, in my 50th birth, last birth, I have done these things. There was one very famous American person called Edgar Cayce. I don't know how many of you have heard. He had written a beautiful book called Many Mansions. And then he used to claim that we all had past births. And if we had some trouble in this birth, it is due to what we have done. Not only in the last birth, it may be any one of those births. The point here is, why do we need to remember all those births? Because our attachment, as I mentioned in my last class, to this particular body, is because we think this is the only body we have. At this moment, yes, this is the only dress we have. But how many dresses we had in the past and discarded? How many dresses we are going to have in future? So what happens when a yogi has progressed sufficiently, but not able to progress further, and the only cause of this hindrance, family hindrance is because of this deep attachment to this body. And attachment can be gross or very subtle. So gross way of speaking, a yogi is not really attached to this body much because he practices austerities, he practices self-control, he is not taking many things, he has discarded many things, he takes only pure things, prasada. To that extent, he is detached. But that is subtle, this is my body, this is the only body, and if I lose this, I fear what is going to happen. Why do we fear death? If you are sure you are going to have a better body, will you be frightened of death? Not only that, you will be able to, you are very eager, how long shall I stay here? Somebody guarantees you that next birth you will go to heaven. Every young man would like to commit suicide on the spot, so that he can go to the next life. So if we have that kind of faith, also it works. But unfortunately our faith is not that deep. So we are deeply attached to this body. But when a person practices this particular virtue called non-receiving, even in the remotest depths of his unconscious, he will not think of receiving anything except giving. Then his attachment to this body becomes absolutely nil. When such a state of mind is obtained by this yogi, his memory becomes absolutely crystal clear. Then he looks back and says, oh, many lives I had. Then what happens? Oh, why am I afraid of giving up this one body? He says, why am I attached to this one body? I had millions of births. And then very easily such a person is able to get out of that. Now very interesting, even we need not be attached only to this body. We can also be attached to our chosen deity's body. Example, say Ramakrishna. He was deeply attached to this Divine Mother. And Dottapuri comes and says, why do you want to be enjoying your Divine Mother only in one particular form? There are infinite forms. One of those infinite forms is formlessness. What is the origin of form? Many of us do not seem to understand this point. Always form comes out of formlessness, a lump of clay. What form it has got? No form. Because of it, a billion objects can be fashioned. The imagination is the limit of it. If we can somehow get over that deep attachment. But mind you, we need that attachment to progress until that point. Otherwise our mind will be scattered. And once we reach that state of deep thinking, only that Divine Mother's or Divine form comes to our mind. Then that itself becomes an obstruction for further spiritual progress. And that is why the Guru came. Who is this Guru? That is Ramakrishna's Guru who came to Dottapuri. Was it Dottapuri or through Dottapuri who was teaching him? Ramakrishna's own chosen deity, the Divine Mother has come in the form of Dottapuri and says, My child, up till now you have progressed, that is fine. But I have other form also. You come to me. That's why I have come in the form of Dottapuri's teaching. Really, Satchitananda is the only real Guru. So Ramakrishna tried with the help of the Divine Mother again. And then he was able to overcome and he became merchant. Now he became one with the Divine form. This is what happens to a Yogi who is established in this particular. What happens? That he remembers all the past lives. The moment we know that we have infinite number of births, infinite number of parents, infinite number of children, infinite number of everything, then our attachment becomes almost nil. Still there are some virtues. In any case, this is what I wanted to speak from my last class. Aparigrahasthairye janmakathanta sambodaha. When a Yogi is fixed in non-receiving, he gets the memory of past lives. These are the five special gifts we receive when we become more or less established in these five virtues called Yamas. What are they? Non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, observance of continence and non-receiving. Now there are five Niyamas. These Yamas are what is called the very foundation of spiritual life. And they also affect everybody. But the other virtues that we are going to deal now, they are exclusively related to the person. Even though indirectly it might affect the world, but these five virtues definitely affect the whole world. Now these are the gifts. What are the benefits of observing Niyamas? Yama is restraints. Niyama is acquiring certain qualities which will lead us to the realization of Samadhi. This is called Niyamas. We know you have kept some rules and regulations. These regulations now. internal and external cleanliness being established arises disgust for one's own body and non-intercourse with other bodies. In simple words if we want to put, when a person practices cleanliness of both the body and mind, especially the body, to a great extent the benefit that a yogi deserves is he becomes disgusted of his own body and other bodies and he never ever likes to come near any other body. To put it in the most grossest words, what is our greatest obstacle in spiritual life? Even in worldly life also. Do you know what is it that makes a person fall? What is Maya? Lust and gold. What is lust? Even greed. Money. Nobody eats money. Money is only converted into bodily comforts. Ultimately what is that particular defect or particular thing which draws us the most? Do you know? Sexual intercourse. This gives the greatest pleasure. That is why it features the greatest bondage to the world. That means what? One person is getting tremendous pleasure and delight. One body mixing with other body. Now as I mentioned you know, I will also put it in very harsh words, very gross words, so that there is no mistake. Supposing you are a person, you have just gone into the bathroom, had cleaned yourself thoroughly, put on and decorated yourself. Suddenly you come out, and then there is this person, say a leprosy patient. The whole body is oozing undesirable substances. Terrible bad smell is coming, and that person is dirty. Would you like even to touch that person? We get disgusted, is it not? Here are something so, such deep things written here. What happens is, in the normal course of our life, when we take bath, remove all the dirt so far as we can remove, and then we decorate ourselves. In fact, two bodies get more attracted. Is it not a fact? But if these two bodies, or at least one body is not clean, dirty, so the person who is clean, will that person get attracted to the person who is not clean? Do you get the point I am telling? A kind of disgust comes, isn't it? But what Patanjali is telling us, to us is, the more a yogi cleanses his body, the mind is able to perceive what is called undesirability of this body. The disgust that arises, the yogi himself becomes terribly disgusted because whatever amount of cleaning he does, still he finds the body by its very nature is terribly, terribly unclean, produces tremendous disgust. And then it produces tremendous non-attachment. We are attached to what? Whatever we think is pleasant, isn't it? Whether a thing is good or bad, we are terribly attached to it. Why are we attached? Because we think this is the effect of avidya. We think it is pleasure-giving. And during this course of these talks, we also had studied one aphorism, what is avidya? To consider what is non-eternal as eternal, to consider what causes suffering as a source which gives us pleasure, and to consider what is unclean as the clean, avidya is that. Ignorance is that. So when a yogi is practicing this particular virtue called cleanliness, what happens is, that's why I am trying to place this idea across, when we clean ourselves to a small extent, we feel attracted to each other. But when a yogi cleanses himself so thoroughly, the effect is just the opposite. He feels disgust because he could see clearly however much he is trying to cleanse himself. This body is, what is the conclusion? In its very nature, unclean. Uncleanable. I don't know whether such a word exists. Uncleanable. It is not possible. Everything in this body, this is what Shri Ramakrishna also says, what is there in a human body? You know, flesh, bones, and so many entrails, filthy things like urine and stool, and all those things. Is it not? If you cut open any animal, you will see the same things. If we cut open a human body, you will see exactly the same things. I hope you are getting what is the point Patanjali wants to tell, that for a yogi, the more he tries to clean the body, the more disgust that body creates, because it is uncleanable by its very nature. And by association, if my body is uncleanable, what about other people's bodies? They are also uncleanable. How can one non-clean body get attached to another non-clean body? But such is Mahamaya. What is this Mahamaya? I heard that in the past, that these leprosy patients are thrown into a separate colony somewhere where they will never be able to come into contact with normal people. And I heard there will be men, there will be women, and there will be love between them, and they will get married, they will have children, just like any other normal persons, they will lead their life, in spite of their oozing wounds and all that disgusting smell and everything. This is called Mahamaya. What Patanjali wants to tell us through this aphorism, that every yogi must be very clean, because what is the result of cleanliness? More detachment from the body. Why more detachment? Because the more we try to see the good thing in the body, we fail to see, ultimately we understand the body by its very nature is very disgusting. And if we go to hospitals, we know very much how much it is. That is why one of our Swamis used to say, one of the requirements for progress in spiritual life, visit what is called accidents and emergencies, A and E, first of all, then hospice. And you see people, aged people, suffering from so many diseases and yet still clinging to this dear life in so many ways. And what is the benefit? Because maybe in future, I may be one of them. In fact, definitely we will be there. We may not be there in the hospice, but we will become old. Already some of us are feeling the oldness. I definitely feel it. And even if you cover with all the cosmetic things in this world, that doesn't hide the fact that we are getting aged. And with age comes a lot of things. What is the point here? That a Yogi must practice. This is called Niyama. This is a rule. If you want to be a Yogi, you must practice cleanliness, both external as well as internal. Let me read out something. When there is real purification of the body, external and internal, there arises neglect of the body and all this idea of keeping it nice will vanish. What others call the most beautiful face to the Yogi will appear to be an animal's face if there is not intelligence behind it. What the world will call a very common face, he will call heavenly if that spirit shines behind it. This thirst after body is the great bane of human life. So when this purity is established, the first sign will be that you do not care to think you are a body. It is only when purity comes that we get rid of this body idea. This most marvellous idea Patanjali Rishi is putting in crystal clear terms. I will give you some examples. What is the idea? The real beauty is not the beauty of the body. This we all know and yet we ignore. The real beauty comes when there is something shining within. That means when our divinity is manifest even by a little bit, it is that which attracts us more. Examples are galore are there. Sri Ramakrishna, you cannot say by any means, is the most beautiful person on earth. In fact, Holy Mother said some other person is much more beautiful than Sri Ramakrishna himself. But this Sri Ramakrishna once happened to go to Jairambadi. Devotees would recall it. And Sri Ramakrishna was a very charismatic person. He used to attract people. Wherever he goes, people would go to him. So the villagers had come. One day, he had to leave Jairambadi. The graphic description is being given by Swami Saradananda. Sri Ramakrishna had put on a red shawl. After food, he was chewing betel nut. His lips were slightly reddish. And he came out of that small Jairambadi's house. And he was surprised to see so many people had gathered there. He did not understand. He asked, why so many people have come? He said, Mama, they have come to see you. Oh, what is there to see? Everyday they are seeing me. Why especially? No, because you look so beautiful. Because light used to come out of Sri Ramakrishna's body. People didn't understand that light was coming from within his mind. The light of the soul, it has nothing to do with the body. Because it was coming through the body. People were attracted. Like moths are attracted to light. Then they explained, you look so beautiful. When you put on this shawl, when you chew betel nut, when your lips turn crimson, you look so beautiful. What was Sri Ramakrishna's reaction? He said, what? To see this filthy body, people have come. I will not go today. So he threw his shawl, went inside and sat down until everybody left and afterwards only he left. One example. Second example. Again, the devotees, I hope they will remember. Holy Mother's experience. One day she went into ecstatic state. After a long time she came back. And then she was narrating her experience. I went to a faraway country. There Sri Ramakrishna was sitting and the devotees made me sit by his side and I was so happy to see all devotees there. Why I am telling it graphically, because remember next time after our death, where do you want to go? You go to that place where Sri Ramakrishna is sitting and all the devotees are gathered there. I promise you there will be no Patanjali yoga sutras. What happened later on? After a long time, it was time for me to come back. And I saw this disgusting filthy body lying there, Holy Mother's own words. I felt terribly reluctant to enter into that body. But I had to forcibly make myself. My children are there. I have to look after them. And this is the purpose of my living there. She had to convince herself. For a long time she has to come. Then she somehow entered this body. Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda passed away. On a fine day in the evening, he left his body. Next morning, where did he leave his body? At Vellore mud. Next morning, Swami Ramakrishnananda was meditating at Chennai. And Swami Vivekananda appeared to him and said, Shashi, Shashi. I spat out the body. What is it we spit out? You know for us, this body is the greatest dear object. Most dear object. For this body, we do anything. There are people who kill, who murder, who torture, who do anything for the pleasure of this body. But in the eyes of these great yogis, this very body, the filthiest body. If you ever come across, that is why, if you go to crematoriums, and then especially crematoriums where? Indian crematoriums. Because there, people just corpses are thrown out, pell-mell there. You know, especially dogs and all these animals who die, they just drag there. How horribly they will be smelling there. If you ever come across such a body, you sit there and meditate and say, My body is no different from this body. This is the truth. That is why some Buddhists are said to go to the crematoriums, sit before a decomposing body and meditate there. And Tantrics have another sadhana. What is that sadhana called? Shavasadhana. They sit on a corpse and then think of the Divine Mother. When do you think your mind goes to the Divine Mother without interruption? When you sit on a corpse, especially in a crematorium at midnight, you have no option but to think of the Divine Mother. But these are all aids. That is why you go to hospitals. You go to hospitals. See the condition of the people, in what condition they are suffering. This very body, at one time, it helped us so much. This is the very nature of the body. That is why it is said, every living body has to go through six-fold changes. Shud-urmi, birth, sustenance, growth, old age, disease and death. So this is what Patanjali Rishi is telling. The physical body is the grossest and most outward manifestation of our consciousness. As a man's mind becomes purified, he naturally loses his sense of identification with his body. Therefore he grows indifferent to it, regarding it as a mere external garment, which is neither new nor clean. Furthermore, he ceases to desire the bodies of others, since he no longer identifies those bodies with the consciousness that inhabits them. If we really knew and loved the Atman within others, the sexual act would seem utterly meaningless and disgusting to us. As I mentioned, again I will recapitulate. What is our greatest bondage? Sexual attraction. Why? It seems to derive the greatest pleasure from it. Therefore, what is the greatest obstacle to our spiritual practice? Sexual desire. How can we overcome sexual desire? Only when we feel that this body through which we try to achieve that desire, is the most disgusting body. If we can attain to that state, then our attachment to this body will become less. And how to achieve that state? By trying to be clean, both externally and internally. What does this cleaning mean? One type of cleaning is by taking bath, etc. at regular times. The other type of cleaning is even more important. What we eat, what we see, what we hear. That is why the Upanishad says, भद्रं कर्णेविः शुनुयाम देवा भद्रं पश्ये आक्षविर यजत्रा O Gods, may we hear what is auspicious. May we see what is auspicious. What is auspicious? That which brings about detachment to our body. That which brings about more attachment to God. That is auspicious. That which aids our spiritual progress, that is auspicious. It is God's grace that is needed even to get this idea that this body is the greatest obstacle to our spiritual life. Not only it is an obstacle in spiritual life, many times it is also an obstacle to the physical things also. So, if we can maintain purity of this body through external and other means, not only there is a disgust comes because we clearly understand the nature of the body, but there is further benefit comes. In the next aphorism, सत्वशुद्धि सव्मनस्यत्वं एकाग्रत इंद्रिय जेहा आत्मधर्शन योग्यत्वानिच्या 41 aphorism, there also arises purification of the sattva, cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of the organs and fitness for the realization of the Self. We will discuss this aphorism in our next class. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti