Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 075

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMA VIDVISHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRAMJALI 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. In our last class we had been discussing about Pratyahara. Pratyahara means the capacity to withdraw our mind from any object however interesting it is. Before we can practice concentration it is very necessary that we are able to withdraw our mind. We all want to develop the power of concentration. Why? Concentration gives many benefits. The first benefit is we can acquire knowledge of anything very fast, very efficiently, very thoroughly. Second, it gives us control over our mind. Third, it gives us total control over our sense organs which Patanjali himself tells us very soon. We will discuss at that point. Last class we have discussed giving also certain examples of Pratyahara. The Sanskrit word Pratyahara. Prati-ahara. Ahara means to take in. Prati means the ability not to take in. And this has several manifestations. First manifestation is that you totally close your sense organs. Simple example is you don't want to see something. Close your eyes. You won't be able to see because the eyes are not functioning. But what will you do if there are ears? Some noise is going on and you feel that it is disturbing. So many times we feel disturbance even in the shrine. What will you do if someone is out of your control? It's a very common problem is if you go to the office, what do people talk about? All nonsense. What can you do? You can't tell them to shut their mouths. And at the same time you don't want to hear those things also. What can you do? When you are moving in the street, you can't close your eyes. When you are at home sitting, you can close your eyes. What will you do when you are driving a car? You may be seeing many undesirable sights. The first manifestation of Pratyahara is to be able to close the sense organs so that they won't function. As an example, you know, you don't want to hear something. Put some earplugs. To some great extent you can prevent hearing it. This is one way but superior to this is another way. Let all the sense organs go on performing their functions but do not allow them to influence you. I'll give an example also. Swami Sharada Anandaji, he used to write the biography of Sri Ramakrishna. You know those who have seen mother's house, such a small room, a small desk. You know in those days he used to squat on the floor. In front of him there is a low type of table, writing table. And all the great things he did, he was doing there. One day some junior monks were laughing uproariously. And Golappa, who had a loud mouth, he started scolding them. You boys, Sharada is going to be disturbed. Stop making noise. Sharada Maharaj heard both. The young monks laughing uproariously, at the same time Golappa, such a loud voice and fearless woman, the only person who could control her was Girish Chandra Ghosh. So Sharada Maharaj heard it, called Golappa and said Golappa, do not scold these boys. They have come to become monks. They want some kind of joy, pleasure, happiness. So they are, you know, some joke, some incident, they are very happy. This is good for their spiritual life. Then he told her, you know, I am not at all disturbed. How come? It's very simple. I told my ears, don't mind what goes on outside. Focus on what is in front of you. Now you see here is the second manifestation. What is it? He has not put earplugs. He was able to hear whatever is going on outside, crystal clear, but he was not at all disturbed. There is a third manifestation. The third manifestation is far superior to anything. Whatever we experience, whatever we experience through our sense organs, not only it doesn't disturb us, but it goes to enhance our spiritual life. Again, I will give you two examples before I come back to pratyahara, power of pratyahara in practical life. The example is like this. You know, there are certain words in every language which provoke our deepest sensuality. I am quoting, this may be a little bit rough, but I have to quote from the life of Sri Ramakrishna. You know, there is one word called yoni. Yoni means female generative organ. When we hear this particular word, immediately what springs is, you know, undesirable desires, unwanted desires, imaginations and so many sceneries come to our mind. But as soon as Sri Ramakrishna used to hear this word yoni, he was reminded of the divine origin and immediately he is plunged into samadhi. Similarly, you all know karana. In tantric practices, there is a word used karana. Karana means wine and it is something which one has to drink. Of course, many of us are not accustomed to drinking, but supposing there is a drunkard, the moment he hears the word wine, what is the effect upon him? But as soon as Sri Ramakrishna used to hear this word wine, instantaneously it will create in him so much of intoxication. You know that there was one devotee of Sri Ramakrishna who was a drunkard and once he came to Dakshineswar. He asked Sri Ramakrishna, Sir, my throat is very dry. Can you give me a few drops to cool my throat? Sri Ramakrishna looked at him and said, Yes, I can give you, but you know, it is very strong. Will you be able to stand it? Then he said, Sir, is it British made? You know, in those days, British made means very strong, like Russian vodka and things like that. Sri Ramakrishna said, No, no, no, it is purely homemade, but very strong. The man looked and said, Yes. Sri Ramakrishna touched him. Immediately he went into such intoxication. Sri Ramakrishna could do it. So there is a beautiful Bengali song, Ami surapan kori ne, shudha khai, joy kali bhole. It's a beautiful song is there. I do not drink an ordinary wine. I become intoxicated by drinking the wine of the Divine Mother's name. Name itself is intoxicated. Every day it is a common experience in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. Whenever he hears the name of God, instantaneously it will throw him into the highest type of Samadhi. And incidentally, what is Samadhi? When a man experiences Samadhi, I am posing you this question. Will he experience intoxication or not? Ananda, will Ananda come or not? Yes. Let us not have the idea like deep sleep. In deep sleep, we get the effect, but we do not experience directly that bliss. Whereas in Samadhi, consciously we experience the effect as well as the intoxication. Ananda, tremendous Ananda. These are the two examples I gave you about hearing the words. Our eyes see various things. I gave this example during this course of talks. Sri Ramakrishna once saw a dog and a bitch meeting. What does an ordinary man see? And what was Sri Ramakrishna seeing? You know that incident Sri Ramakrishna saw? It is Shiva and Parvati sporting with each other. Another example also you know, Sri Ramakrishna saw a public woman while returning from Calcutta waiting for customers. What do other people see? What did Sri Ramakrishna see? This is called the supreme manifestation of Pratyahara or withdrawal. What is it? Not only we are not affected, but at the same time it throws us into the highest mood. Now let me quote a few examples and then move on further to the next aphorism. So what is Pratyahara? When the mind is withdrawn from sense objects, the sense organs also withdraw themselves from their respective objects and thus are said to imitate the mind. This is known as Pratyahara. One example of withdrawing the mind from different parts of the body. Swami Turiyananda had developed one kind of carbuncle in the arm. The doctor had to operate. He wanted to give anesthesia because you know it is the most painful thing. Even if you touch with a feather, it will create a tremendous amount of pain. Swami Turiyananda told the doctor, you don't need to give me anesthesia. Just give me 2-3 minutes time and the doctor said I am going to start in a few minutes. Swami Turiyananda said go ahead now and then the doctor operated. Swami Turiyananda was looking at it as though operation was being done to somebody else. So the doctor operated, completed the operation, bandaged it, went away. Next morning he came back, he opened the bandage just to see how the wound is healing and with the tip of his knife he just touched it. Swami Turiyananda jumped up crying like that in great pain. The doctor was surprised. Swami what is this? Yesterday I did the operation and as though you were looking on somebody else's operation and today I just touched and then you jumped up in pain. He said yesterday I had withdrawn my mind from that particular part of the body. See the beauty of it. Supposing the doctor had touched say the finger of pith knife, you would have cried out in pain. He lifted his mind up only from that particular portion of the body, hand. What a tremendous self-control. Same thing happened to Ramana Maharshi. He also developed a painful carbuncle and the doctors wanted to operate and he said go ahead and he was looking as though someone else's operation is being done. This is one. Sri Ramakrishna withdrawing his mind. Ultimately these are the examples we have to plant in our mind firmly. Once Sri Ramakrishna was suffering from some illness. The doctor told him you should not drink water for I think 20 days or something. You know in Calcutta especially in summer season to be able not to drink water even for one day not to speak of so many days it is a real tapasya. I mean it is death. So Sri Ramakrishna he asked everybody will I be able to do it including holy mother and so many devotees. Everybody will I be able to do it? Will I be able to do it? You know like a child and everybody assumed yes sir if you make up your mind you will be able to do it. Immediately Sri Ramakrishna said yes I will not drink. Now the point here is what happens when you fast? Where is your mind? When you decide to postpone your drinking water if you are thirsty and then where will be your mind? When do I get next bit of water? Sri Ramakrishna totally forgot the very idea of water doesn't enter into his mind. So complete was his self-control. Another incident was there. Once Hajra or somebody I think Hajra advised Sri Ramakrishna why do you go on thinking about these youngsters? Other days Sri Ramakrishna would not even hear his words, give ear to his advice. But that day something happened. He said yes and he withdrew his mind. He was almost in a semi-conscious state. He was not talking with anybody and holy mother was terribly frightened. So after several hours somebody came and Sri Ramakrishna opened his mouth. And what happened during that period? His mind had gone to such a high state everybody was frightened. Sri Ramakrishna may give up his body that day. What is this power? Power of withdrawing his mind from whichever subject he wants to withdraw. But there is something we have to understand. This pratyahara and dharana withdrawing the mind and fixing it on some object they go together. So it is like your vehicle is going and if you don't go this way you have to go somewhere. Unless we attain Samadhi. When we attain Samadhi you don't go anywhere. Now this is an aspect let me dwell upon it for a second. You know we don't have any idea about Samadhi. Deep sleep. Where do you go? Where do you go into deep sleep? Do you go anywhere? Does anything happen? That means time, space and causation is totally forgotten. That is called deep sleep. What is Samadhi? Doing the same thing, exactly the same thing but with full awareness, consciousness. That is called Samadhi. People have weird ideas about Samadhi. What happens? Where did you go? What did you see? In real Samadhi you don't see anything. So if you don't see anything, if you don't hear anything, if your sense organs are not functioning, then what happens to you? Remember? Tada drashtu svarupe avasthanam. When the mind is not identified with chitta vrittis which is called Yoga. What is Yoga? Yogaha chitta vritti nerodaha. So what happens? Vritti saarupyam itaratra. When the mind is not in Samadhi, it always is identified whatever thought comes into the mind. What happens to persons like Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda? Were they always in the state of Samadhi? Let us discuss this point very interestingly. I am asking you because you are devotees, you have read Sri Ramakrishna's holy mother, Swami Vivekananda. You know that Sri Ramakrishna attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Thereafter, was he in Samadhi? You know your idea of Samadhi is sitting absolutely quiet without the slightest movement of the eyelid or heart or anything. That is called Samadhi. Is it not? In an unconscious state. Suppose Sri Ramakrishna, one day he went there. Second visit or third visit and he did not find Sri Ramakrishna in his room. Where did he go? He went to the Panchavati. What did he behold? Sri Ramakrishna was playing leapfrog. You know what is leapfrog? So a person bends and then another person jumps over him. Sri Ramakrishna was trying to jump over him. So this man was this man whom I beheld yesterday in the deepest of Samadhis. He was thinking like that. You see what a wonderful situation. So now when Sri Ramakrishna was practicing leapfrogging, was he in Samadhi or not? What would be your answer? You have to clearly understand what is Samadhi? Knowledge of God. Direct knowledge of God. Once a person gets knowledge, he will never forget it. In his dreams also he will not forget it. Always it will be there. And what type of knowledge is that? Svarupa Svarupa Anusandhanam. One's own true nature. That is called Samadhi. He knows. I am. What is that Svarupa Anusandhanam? I am Brahman. I am divine. In other words, I am Brahman. Once a person directly experiences that I am Brahman, will there be any time when he forgets it? That's a very important point for us to remember. Otherwise I have heard people saying this is Sri Ramakrishna's Yoga Samadhi. This is Sri Ramakrishna's Ananda Samadhi. This is some other Samadhi. He gave various names. I said, I am sorry, you seem to be more learned than many of us. I never heard Sri Ramakrishna entering into so many types of Samadhis. What is the point here? Point is Samadhi means knowledge of oneself. And once we get knowledge, we will never forget it. Whatever be our state. When Sri Ramakrishna was leapfrogging, were there thoughts in his mind or not? There are thoughts. But what type of thoughts were they? How was he looking at that leapfrogging? When Sri Krishna was playing with Gopis, how was he looking? Unfortunately, you know, some of the Indian depictions of God's Leela are not very desirable for young people. Have you ever seen the picture of old Sri Krishna with white beard and all? You will always see a 25 year old, very beautiful young man. And what about Gopis? Have you ever seen an old Gopi? Always young and beautiful. Have you ever seen? At least, okay, one can be young. What about ugly? One can be ugly also. There is no ugliness. Why? Why is there no ugliness? Do you know what is the meaning of that? When you are looking at somebody with loving eyes, how does that person appear? We have a saying in Telugu language. The young one of a crow, the most lovely creature to the mother. Here also. What is the point here? In the eyes of the mother, how is the baby? Must be most beautiful. In the eyes of Sri Ramakrishna, whatever object he was looking at, what was the sight he was beholding? His own divine mother. So is there any place for ugliness etc.? So this is the idea. Sri Krishna loved Gopis and Gopis also loved Sri Krishna. In their eyes, he is Sakshat, Manmatha, Manmathaha. His Manmatha is the love god in Hindu mythology. But a million of these Manmathas, they consider Sri Krishna as the most beautiful Manmatha. They are mesmerized by him. Really blind. For a disciple, his guru is Jagadguru. For a devotee, his deity is Jagannatha. Mannatha, Jagannatha. Madguru, Jagadguru. Madatma, Sarvabhutantaratma. There is a verse. When we have developed the eyes of divine love, even ordinary love to the extreme, but divine love, we can never see ugliness, boldness, whatever be the condition. It is not changing the condition, but it is our attitude towards that. When Sri Ram Krishna had experienced the Samadhi, thereafter, whatever he looks, what do you think he will be seeing? Only Brahman. Is it Samadhi or not? That's the point we have to understand here. Even though he is seeing Brahman, but does he see the human form? Does he see a dog? Does he see fire? Does he see water? Yes, he will still see. That means he has got double vision. What is double vision? This is water in the form of or Brahman in the form of water. Brahman in the form of a tree. Brahman in the form of a child. Brahman in the form of a woman. Brahman in the form of a man. Whatever he sees, he doesn't deviate from that unitive vision. This is what is called unity in diversity. But why is it so? Because the body is functioning, the mind is functioning, they have that kind of distinction. Then what is the speciality? They will never be bound again. Why? Because behind everything they will see. Simple illustration, you know, Deepavali time, mother makes lot of sweets with sugar, you know, in the mouths, green elephant, green plant, red horse, etc. So many in the mouths. For children, they all go on quarrelling, I like this, I don't like that, I hate that and all that. Whereas for the elders like us, when we look at that sweet, do we have any difference between those sweets? We all look upon it, we know what is it. What is it? We see the horse head and at the same time we see also the sugar behind it. Seeing that sugar behind every sweet, at the same time seeing all the variations, differences, small and big, if you can understand this, you know, understand what Sri Ramakrishna's or any God-realized soul's vision. In the Bhagavad Gita, there is one beautiful illustration is given for this pratyahara. When a tortoise senses danger, what does it do? It simply withdraws all its limbs into that shell. That is a beautiful illustration of this pratyahara. And there is an illustration, it is written there. You know Sri Ramakrishna is not to be tempted by women. Long before he had attained to that higher state, whenever Sri Ramakrishna looks at any woman, what do you think he is looking at? The Divine Mother. But for the sake of some people who observed him, that whenever women were in his presence, all his limbs used to be drawn into his body. As I said again, I have to be a little bit crude. These are all there in the books. His generative organ used to completely, totally withdraw into the body. When I read that, I used to wonder, why is it necessary for Sri Ramakrishna to have that kind of extreme thing? Why was he doing it? I have only one explanation and that explanation is, he practiced this at the beginning so much, afterwards it became a most natural thing for him. We have discussed what is pratyahara, three manifestations of withdrawing the mind. The ability to withdraw the mind, that means the ability to withdraw the particular sense organ, not contacting the particular sense object, that means the mind remains totally unruffled. What happens when the sense organs are totally withdrawn? Let me dwell on it for a moment. Supposing you close your eyes, you know there are so many sights, you close your eyes, then you don't see any longer. So far as your mind is concerned, no new sense information is flowing in, but you are able to hear, you are able to smell, you are able to taste, you are able to touch. Imagine you withdraw all your sense organs, your mind withdraws, simply passes command, don't go on interacting with any object. Then what happens? As if all the sense organs are imitating the mind. What is the state of the mind in your deep sleep? Are there any thoughts in deep sleep? When a yogi is capable of withdrawing his sense organs and means not allowing to function them at all, as if they were imitating the mind, that means there is no information. See it is like a blank blackboard, nothing is written, or if there is something written, it is totally wiped out. What do you see? A blank board. It is like that. As if. Why as if? Because the moment again they go, again the information starts flowing. That is why I mentioned three manifestations of Pratyahara. What is the first manifestation? You do not hear, you do not see. This is the crudest, grossest manifestation of Pratyahara. What is the higher one? You see, you hear, you smell, but you don't allow your mind to react. This is the second manifestation, higher, but the highest manifestation. What is it? You see, you employ all the sense organs to their best capacity and you are seeing the sights, you are hearing the sounds. I give examples. But not only they do not drag the mind down, they in fact lift up the mind. That is the art we have to develop and there is a particular name for it. That is called sublimation. How to do it? How to do it? Ramakrishna used to say, especially for young people, suppose there is a devotee, young devotee, it could be man or woman. For the man, every woman that he looks upon is Mother Sita and for the woman, every man she looks upon is Sri Rama himself, Divine Mother or Shiva. If we can develop through practice this kind of look, you look at things, you don't shut your sense organs, but you give a different attitude, different interpretation to it. That process is called sublimation. Not suppression, but sublimation. We will now move on to the next verse. What is the result of practicing pratyahara? Aphorism number 53, dharanasucha yogyata manasaha The mind gains the power of concentration. We will come back to the details of this one, but very briefly what it means is, if we want to really acquire concentration, what is the first obstacle? Our mind is going here and there. So you withdraw your mind. I just now remembered one experience of Sri Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna was trying to think of the Divine Mother. At some point, I don't know why he had that. He suddenly saw, he was describing, I saw another sanyasi, a monk, exactly resembling me with a trident in his hands and he showed the trident to me and threatened me, if your mind deviates from the lotus feet of the Divine Mother, I will pierce you with this trident. Trishula. We call it Trishula. Just a side issue, Trishula means three prongs. You know, if it is one prong, it is called sphere. If it is three prong, it is called three. Three means three prongs. Shiva is always depicted as having this three pronged shula. Why three? Have you ever questioned yourself? So what does a sphere do? It will pierce and destroy some object. Here three, there are three objects to be destroyed. Do you know what those three objects are? The gross body, the subtle body and the causal body. When these three are destroyed, what remains is nothing but pure Atman. That is the symbolism of Trishula. He is also called Tripurari. Another epithet for Shiva is, what is it? Tripura Ari. Tri means three. Pura means bodies. Again, exactly the same thing. Tripura Ari. Dharanasucha yogyata manasaha. Manasaha of the mind. Dharanasu, in perfect concentration. Yogyata labdha. When a person becomes a master of pratyahara or the capacity to withdraw his mind from any object, then only he can place it. Simple example, you know. Somebody says, your watch should be, just imagine, watch is like that and I can't see the time properly and you advise me, that's not the proper way. Place it in the right way, facing you in the proper way. What do I need to do now? What do I need? I have to remove it from that position, turn it towards me, isn't it? Same way, unless we withdraw our mind, how is the mind going to gain concentration? So we have to remove it from the objects it is accustomed to naturally run after and forcibly place it on the object which we wish it. Now, last class also, commentators on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras warned us something. Let me bring up that subject. Actually, I forgot to talk about it, last subject. This withdrawal of the mind can also happen unnaturally, what is called passively it can happen or it can also happen by the force of another person. Let me give illustration. Supposing, you are asked to read philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and especially at 10 o'clock at night, after heavy food, what would be the result? Perfect concentration, but on, you have to be alert, you have to put your mind. Will you be able to do it? So what happens is, supposing, you are reading a very fascinating mystery novel. So nice, you know, some books are what you call page turners. You go on thinking, what comes next? What comes next? And even if your food is delayed, somebody is calling you, you don't want to go. Have you ever experienced this? Every day we experience hundreds, thousands of times this one. Some object is going and you are interested in that object and that is called predisposition. The moment you see that object, immediately your mind is withdrawn there. If you are interested in cars, thousands of cars will be, but one particular model you are interested in. Whenever you look, you go on looking at it. That means you are capable of withdrawing your mind from every other car and putting it only on that car. Is it your power? No, it's not your power. It is what is called passive power. Some object is drawing us because of its attractive power. We are slaves to it. Other is, Swamiji warns very frequently, it is called the power of hypnotism. And we are all, believe me, we are all hypnotized in so many unconscious ways. We have to wake up from this. One simple example I will show you. If you are asked to talk about Osama Bin Laden, what is your opinion about Osama Bin Laden? I am sure 99% of you would only give the most adverse, negative ideas about him. Is it not? How did you come to that? Did you see him? Did you have any interaction with him? Do you know what he was doing in his own place and all those? We gloat over how he was killed and all those things. Just as an example, and this can be applied to everyday thousands of the events, we are hypnotized because we are borrowing, we are heavily hypnotized by the opinions of other people. Another example I will give to make this point very clear. Every child born, most of the children in a Muslim family, orthodox, fanatical Muslim family, if you ask the child, do you believe in Allah? What would be his reply? If you ask the same child, is there any salvation other than Islam? What do you think his reply would be? Now tell me, did he really understand what he is talking about? How did he come to this opinion? A child has come to this opinion. How did he come to this opinion? What is that called? Hypnotism. Hypnotized, brainwashed by our parents, by our religious beliefs, by so many things. That is where problems come. I am not saying you should not believe. What I am saying is, in the initial stages we have to believe. But later on stages, you have to turn back and say, okay, why am I believing? Is there any rationality to it? What is the rational of my belief? That is what Swami Vivekananda wants. Do not believe because your old scriptures tell you. Do not believe because some saints told you. Do not even believe because I am telling you. But you give me a chance. Listen to me. And then you sit and make it your very own, through rational thinking. Then only your faith is true faith. Otherwise it leads into all these kinds of fanaticisms and terror attacks, etc. It will lead to. So we are hypnotized in so many ways. Let me tell you here something very important. Scientists, no scientific discovery is final. All that they can say is, till this time what we know, it appears to be, this is the correct thing. Now recently what I heard, the latest discovery tells us, we have to throw overboard all our understanding of how our universe has originated. That means what? Back to the zero. We have come back to the zero. But they are not telling it openly yet. There are still people in India who believe that Vibhishana is ruling Sri Lanka. Swami Akhandanda was about to lose his head because of this. What was the point we are discussing? Pratyahara can be had through the practice of hypnotism. What is hypnotism? A weak mind getting influenced by a stronger mind and forcibly turning that weaker man's mind from certain objects and thinking that something else. You know hypnotism. You have nothing to worry. Oh, I have a lot to worry. No, no, you have nothing to worry. Am I really free from all worry? Yes, you are free. We hypnotize for the time being. He will be totally convinced of that fact. Now what is the problem with that? Swami Vivekananda tells, what is the problem? Already you are weak. And now you are handing over the keys of your weakness to some other person. That means once you get accustomed to be believing because of other person's strong words or gestures, then you are in danger of anybody who gives you suggestion, then you will be victim of that person's mistake. It was Buddha who said, do not believe because I tell you. I tell you, give me a chance. Listen to me. And go on examining what I said is true because God has given you that ability to think deeply, develop your own thinking. When you are convinced, then only you practice it. You accept it and you practice. And ultimately realize it and make it your very own. That's why Swamiji rants against what is called hypnotism. Unfortunately, hypnotism has become one of the accepted means of alleviating so many, not only physical ailments, but especially I think mental ailments. With this, let us move on to the next. which is dharanasiche yogyata manaha If we become masters of pratyahara, withdrawing our mind, then the mind gains the power of concentration. Patanjali will define concentration in the first aphorism of the next chapter. We will go into details and varieties of concentrations, etc. definitions of concentration, samadhi, etc. We move on to 54th aphorism. Tathah paramah vasyatah indriyanam 55th aphorism of Patanjali says Thence arises complete mastery over the senses. Thence means whence. So when a person has mastered the art of withdrawing the mind, when the person masters the power of focusing his mind on any particular object, at that time all the sense organs come under one's complete control. That means one becomes master of one's sense organs. When? These two conditions. What are the conditions? The ability to withdraw and the ability to put that withdrawn mind into an object which we deliberately choose. Just as the provinces of a country are controlled by first taking over the central government, so we must begin by controlling the mind before we can control the sense organs. The sense organs are like animals which instinctively imitate their master. If the master is weak and subject to certain passions, then the sense organs will imitate and even exaggerate his weakness, dragging him along after them as a child is dragged by a strong unruly dog. Let me give an illustration by Swami Iteshwaranandaji Maharaj. It's how to control the mind. He said, you know, we are controlling the mind. We are the masters of the mind all the time. Of course, you will be shocked to say, we don't have any control of the mind. Here you are issuing a statement. But what did we do? We told to the mind, Oh mind, I am the master of you. Whatever I command you, you will obey. Now I am commanding you, don't obey me. Do whatever you like. Who gave that power? We gave that power. Swami Iteshwaranandaji used to give this illustration. There was a man and he bought a pet dog from a puppy's time. And he would keep that puppy all the time on his lap. It has become a lap dog. He called it lap dog. And that dog grew, puppy grew into a full-fledged dog and whenever the master comes from his bed, instantaneously it will jump onto his lap and he will go on fawning. The dog was also very happy. Both were very happy. Then after many years, the man thought, this is a nuisance. I don't want to take this dog into my lap. Let it lie down wherever it wants. So what happens? As soon as he goes, immediately the dog jumps into his lap and then he pushes it. Then what happens? The dog immediately jumps back. He is pushing. It jumps back. He is pushing. It will take long, long time for the dog to understand, Allah's, my master doesn't want to take me into his lap any longer. Swami Yudhishthira Nandaji, he used to give this illustration saying, who asked our sense organs to run after the sense objects? Who gave the freedom? Not only freedom, in fact we are forcing the sense organs to go after sense objects. If a person has a passion, say lust, his sense organ, eye will go on looking for wherever he says there are women or there are men, etc. Sometimes, it is janma janma antara samskara, we call it, you know. We acquired this desire through so many lives, life after life. So it looks as though it is the most natural thing in the world to do. It is not a natural thing. We made the mind habituate to do this kind of thing. After so many lives, when we are awakened a little bit, the power of discrimination comes. So this is the greatest of all. But the dog of the mind, do you think it will listen? My master always gave me freedom. Now he doesn't want me. I am not going to allow you. Again and again and again, it rebels. What is the way out? Go on kicking it out again and again and again and again until one day it learns alas, I have lost the affection of my master. Don't want. But this is called withdrawing the mind. But pratyahara, but at the same time you will not be able to do that withdrawal unless you fix something else. That is why, Patanjali himself has said, if you want to kick out an old habit, you will have to develop a new habit, opposite habit. We have to develop. So this is the only way to do it. This is what he is telling. Paramahasyata Indriyat, supreme control. That means what? If the mind says, I, you go on seeing this only and it will see you. Ramakrishna gives command to his mind, see the Divine Mother. Because afterwards, what does the eye see? Whatever it sees, only sees. And then, Ramakrishna tells to his ear, Oh ear, always listen, only the Divine Mother. Let me also count something so wonderful you know. Ramakrishna had many gurus. But don't take that example and go on having many gurus. Who knows, if I buy so many lottery tickets from so many companies, at least one may strike. That's bad. According to Hinduism's teaching, you must have only one guru. But why Ramakrishna had so many gurus? Because he had to be a Jagat Guru, world teacher. So he has to experience so many paths. So one guru is not expertise. Let me elaborate a little bit on it. Supposing Ramakrishna wanted to learn devotional path from Totapuri. What would be the effect? Disaster. Supposing he asks Bhairavi Brahmani to learn his pure non-dualistic experience. What would be the effect? It would be another disaster because she was of that mind and she was expert in that field and she could guide Sri Ramakrishna in that field. Totapuri could guide Sri Ramakrishna only in his chosen field. Ultimately Sri Ramakrishna made Totapuri also the greatest devotee of the Divine Mother and he made Bhairavi Brahmani also to understand. Now the point is, was he disrespecting the gurus? No. But he had a supreme guru. Who was that guru? The Divine Mother. So he was obeying everything. Mother, what shall I do? This lady had come. Learn from her because I brought her for your edification. And this, you know that story. Totapuri came. Ma, this Totapuri, this Sanyasi came. He wants to give me monastic vows. What shall I do? Oh, for this purpose only I brought. He was thinking he came. What was Mother saying? I brought him. So what is it we are discussing this point? The point is, Sri Ramakrishna had that pure mind where he could listen to the Divine Mother and he knows this is the truth. He did not lose respect for any of his teachers and at the same time he did what the Mother commanded him to do so. Sri Ramakrishna had this wonderful commandment to his ears. So listen only to the highest words. What is it? Even if he listens to a bad word, that bad word turns into the highest mantra. There is a Shanti Mantra, peace chant in the Upanishads. Oh Gods, may we hear only what is most auspicious through our ears. May we see only what is most auspicious through our eyes. It is a wonderful prayer. Now is it practicable? Is it possible that we go on hearing only Sri Ramakrishna's teachings or Jesus Christ's teachings or beautiful Upanishadic words? Do you hear that? So how are your prayers going to be fulfilled? You pray to God, may I hear only what is good. May I see what is only good. How do we practice this? How are our prayers answered? It is here. Whatever you hear, it is auspicious. Interpret it in the most spiritual sense. Whatever you see, that's most auspicious. Interpret it in the most wonderful way. Suppose somebody insults you. How do you interpret it? This is called practice of yoga. Somebody insults you. You are getting hurt. Somebody utters bad words towards you. How do you interpret this? So that you will become a better, more spiritually advanced person. How are you going to do that? Do you know how to do that? If it is a bad person, then we say, this world is like this only. There will be some people who are not good. The other way also you have to practice. What is the other way? Somebody praises you. Then you have to see what is good. If you are going on, what is called puffing up with pride, Ahankara, Oh, I am such a great person. You seem to be very beautiful. You look very beautiful. This is the normal, you know. You look very beautiful and we become very angry. That you look beautiful means what? Your dress makes you beautiful. You are not beautiful. Your dress makes you beautiful. You seem to be intelligent. Seeming means what? So we should not be glad because we are hearing positive words. What is positive? Whatever takes us to God, that alone is positive. Whatever takes us away from God, that is negative. Suppose you see a sight which is not good. You should interpret it in a spiritual way. Is it possible? Yes. All the time it is possible. How is it possible? So if somebody insults you, say, what is God trying to teach me? Keep the mind. In the 12th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna was giving this thing. What is it? Somebody blames you, somebody praises you. Somebody respects you, somebody disrespects you. What should you do? Keep your mind absolutely calm. Keep your mind absolutely calm. Keep your mind absolutely calm. Somebody respects you, somebody disrespects you. Is it possible? Yes, it is possible. How is it possible? Through practice. First time you react badly. Then think and say, next time I would not react so badly. Next time it happens, you are not that badly affected. Third time it happens, it becomes a kind of habit. I told you the story of the Sufi story. If you remember, one man wanted to become a spiritual person. He went to a Sufi guru. The guru advised him, go and search to such and such a man and pay him by the hour and get abused. So for six months the man was paying for what? To get abused. And after six months he came and said, I fulfilled your commandment, what next? He says, you go to Basra and there you will get your true guru and he will guide you to Allah. And this man went. The moment he entered into the Basra door, immediately there was a very ugly looking old man. He started abusing him right and left. And this man started dancing with joy. And that stopped the abuser. And the abuser asked him, what? I am abusing you and you are dancing with joy, why? He said, sir, for the last six months I was paying money to be abused. And today, first time, I am getting completely free. That means what? In the future, let anybody abuse him. It was not going to affect him. Kabir Das. There is a story about Kabir Das. Kabir Das had just gone, taken a bath in the Ganges and was coming back. A Muslim gentleman spat on his face. Kabir Das didn't say anything. Once more took bath, came out. Again this man spat. He was waiting to spit upon him. Hundred times it happened. After that, nothing, calm and quiet. When this Kabir Das came out this time, this man fell at his feet and said, I have committed a terrible crime. Please pardon me. He was totally transformed. He became one of the devotees. This last aphorism in the second chapter, Parama Vashyata Indriyana, a person who had mastered the art of withdrawing his mind from all sense objects and mastered the art of placing his mind. The mind commands, you think only of this object and it will not deviate from that place at all. And if we can do that, then every sense organ comes under control. What happens? And if our sense organs come under control, the mind becomes totally free from all distractions. I will close this talk with one illustration. Sri Ramakrishna wanted to sit for a long time in meditation and he wanted an ideal. So you know, in Dakshineshwar temple, not mandir we call it, dance hall. There is a hall in front of the main temple. Above that hall on the wall, there is a figure of Bhairava sitting in meditation. You can go and see, small figure. Sri Ramakrishna used to show and say, Oh mind, you be still like this Bhairava without moving. And once he gave that commandment to his mind, he used to be like that. Sri Ramakrishna graphically describing how he had attained to this kind of steadiness. He said, you know, when I sit for meditation, as if from inside the Divine Mother was, somebody was locking my, what is called joints, one after the other and I had no power to move from that seat until the same power unlocked. What a marvellous things to meditate upon. With this 55th aphorism, we have completed two chapters. There are a few more verses coming in the third chapter called the chapter on powers. What powers can be obtained? Most of the powers we neither understand nor we need them. So we will gloss over them quite quickly, excepting for the first few aphorisms, which will be our next class. I do not know when, maybe in the first week of October. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti