Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 004

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Sahana Bhavatu, Sahana Bhunatu, Sahaveeryam Karavavahai, Tejasvinavaditamastumavidvishavahai, Om Shanti Shanti Shanti He Om, may Brahman protect us both, may Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge. May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge. May what we both study reveal the truth. May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other. Om, Peace, Peace, Peace be unto us. Om Yogena Chittasya Padena Vacham Malam Sharirasya Chavai Dhyakena Upakarottam Pravaram Muninam Patanjalim Pranjali Rana Tosmi 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. This great sage Patanjali was supposed to be helping us in three ways. He was supposed to have written a text book on medicine for making our body healthy. Charaka Samhita He also wrote an elaborate commentary on Panini's Vyakarana. Vyakarana means grammar. So just as medicine helps us to cure illness and makes our body healthy, so also the grammar which is of utmost importance to us. I will come to that point in a second. But if we are not really trained in using words properly then we ourselves would be very unhappy and we would also create so much of unhappiness to other people. So it is believed by the Hindu sages that this whole universe is in a constantly vibrating state, moving state. That is why the name given is Jagat. There is not a single particle which is static. And movement is a representation of energy, prana, shakti. So even though there are two realities, one is prana or force, energy and the second is matter, these two are not two separate realities but they are interacting with each other. So even when we are uttering a word, that word also is a manifestation of energy. And if we misuse the energy in whichever way then it will harm us to that extent. So how much care these great sages have taken to train us so that we are able to express our thoughts in a most appropriate manner. I will give you a small funny example. When we meet each other, usually we say, how are you? There are different ways of saying this, how are you? How are you? That shows that the person who doesn't know how to, his intention may be good but the way it comes out can disturb the other person. If such thing can happen then the opposite also is true. That is why there is an indication, a training given in the Bhagavad Gita. One type of austerity is called verbal austerity. Whatever we speak, speech austerity. What is that? There is a bodily austerity, there is a speech austerity and there is a mind austerity in the Gita. It should not hesitate. That is you should not use such words which will create hesitation in the other people's mind. Not only people but even non-human beings, even maybe plants, trees etc. You think that they do not have life. You do not think that they can hear you. They can hear you very well. But if a loving person speaks, how wonderful it will be. Even animals know better two types of sounds. One sound for discipline, another sound for protection. They have given one whole chapter in Taittiriya is dedicated only to this particular thing. So this Panini has written this science of Sanskrit language grammar. And on that, as I mentioned, people in the past used to use the aphorisms because that is the way to remember things in the mind. But the explanations would follow in their minds. Long explanations. Patanjali Rishi had written a Mahabhashya, a voluminous work explaining. And it is so tough. There was an incident. Swami Vivekananda wanted to study this Mahabhashya. Probably some of you remember, when he went to Rajasthan, he found out a great scholar. So he said, Sir, you teach me Mahabhashya. For three days, this scholar struggled to explain only the first aphorism. And Swami Vivekananda couldn't make head or tail of what he was trying to say. Then Swami Vivekananda got very annoyed and said, Sir, you give me three days time. I want to understand it by myself. He went and sat down. And when he sat down, what did he do? He meditated. And as a result of meditation, everything becomes so crystal clear to him. Then he came back and told to his guru, Is this not what you were trying to explain to me for the last three days? And the pundit was astonished that what he could not convey for three days, Swami Vivekananda, the student himself had found it out. So this teaches us two lessons. One lesson is that we may know a lot of things, but when we want to convey it to others, then if we do not know how to convey, then there is a problem. Grammar helps us how to convey. But even more important point is all knowledge is within. We do not need even teachers. Sri Ramakrishna never needed a teacher to teach in the essence of the scriptures. Divine Mother from within had taught him anyway. The point is that he helped us to remove the impurities of speech through the writing of this Mahabhashya. Then the third of course is Yoga Sutras. Now we are going to commence these Yoga Sutras. These Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, they are known as Yoga Sutras or Yoga Sutras of Patanjali around 195. Exactly we do not know. It may be 196. But that does not really matter for us. They are divided into four chapters. The first chapter is called Samadhipada. It explains what Yoga is or what Samadhi is. It consists of around 51 aphorisms. The next is called Sadhanapada. How to attain Samadhi. The first is what is Samadhi. The second is how to attain the state of Samadhi. Spiritual practice consisting of 55 verses. The third is called Vibhuti Pada. Vibhuti means certain super normal, supernatural powers. When a person practices Yoga, he may acquire supernatural powers. In fact many people fall down. Many people practice for the sake of these powers. And many people even though they do not want the powers, suddenly these powers would come and they would make a person deviate from the true path, true goal of Yoga. So this Vibhuti Pada is as a marvelous powers would come. It explains how. For example, a person, a Yogi who can concentrate well, he can know the past and future of any being, not only of himself but of anybody else. And he has the famous Ashtasiddhis we call, eight supernatural powers. Sri Ramakrishna had those powers. And he once offered them to Swami Vivekananda who refused. But later on, anyway he had the powers. Swami Vivekananda got the powers. Because after all whatever belonged to Sri Ramakrishna was offered to Swami Vivekananda. What about Holy Mother? Did she have the power? Naturally she had the powers. So of these powers, one of the powers, a Yogi means one who could see into the future. So our Yogis had seen. Another is how to become very heavy. Garima, Akashagamana, Doordarshana, etc. There are eight supernatural powers. Sri Ramakrishna condemns all these powers for the simple reason, the true goal of Yoga is to get out of the world. Instead, if we cling or get more of these worldly powers, then there is likelihood we will fall down. Swami Vivekananda came across a person called Govinda Siddhi in South India, who predicted about his future. And this Govinda Siddhi was one who had fallen from the true path of Yoga. And Swami Vivekananda, fortunately for him or unfortunately, he came into contact with Swami Vivekananda. And Swami Vivekananda had the terrible habit of embracing people like Sri Ramakrishna. And he embraced this man. What was the result? Whatever powers he had, totally lost. But in the stead of these powers, Swami Vivekananda had given him. What did he give? He gave himself. And what was Swami Vivekananda consisting of? Viveka. Vivekananda. What is the greatest treasure of Swami Vivekananda? Viveka. So he gave this Govinda Siddhi, Viveka. Immediately he disappeared from the eyes of the world. Nobody knows afterwards what happened to him. The third pada or the third chapter of this Patanjali Yoga Sutras consisting of 56 verses. And the last chapter is called Kaivalya Pada. Kaivalya means to be alone, to be oneself, to be oneself. There is a lot of words are used to convey this idea to us. Sri Ramakrishna's third commandment. Now and then go to a nirjana stan. Here nirjana doesn't mean a place where people are not there. So you go to a place where there are no people. You go to a place where there are no people. Who is there if you ask that person? Is there anybody there? What would be his answer? There is nobody. What about you? Are you there or not? And is not one person enough to create the whole world? Wherever we go, are we not creating, carrying, portable? We are all carrying a portable world of our own world. Wherever we go, that is our world. Is that nirjana stan? No. What does it mean? It means I will know myself to be myself. Myself means in the sense of Atman. I am the Atman. So that is called Kaivalya Pada. How to attain to that state of Kevala, aloneness, one-selfness. That is the goal of yoga. So this work is divided into these four chapters and so systematically. First, the goal is defined. Second, how to attain that goal. Third, warning. If in course of trying to attain this goal, you might encounter these marvellous mayas. You know, see these are marvellous mayas. We all understand the negative mayas. What is negative maya? That which gives you pain. That which gives you unhappiness, misery, suffering. But look at the Isavasya Upanishad. In the end, the spiritual sadhaka struggles, struggles, and struggles, unable to pierce the truth. Because it is covered with the golden disc. So the only way is self-surrender. He prays. Hiranmayena patrena, sathyasya peetham mukham, tattvam poshan apavrunam, sathya dharmaya drishtaye. My whole life, O Lord, I only struggle for your sake. It is not right on your part to withhold your grace. So what do you want me to do? Please withdraw the golden disc which is covering the face of the truth. Sathya dharmaya drishtaye. I want to see what is the truth. And he sees the truth. What a beautiful mantra it is. He sees the Lord out of His grace removes the veil. When the veil is removed, what does he see? What does he say? Yo purusho, soham asmi. O Lord, what the what, I am the same. See, supposing somebody wants to see his face. In our size, in reality we never see our face. So the Lord's face is covered. And interestingly, Sri Ramakrishna gives this example. Even though the truth is right here, right in front of me. He says I am sitting here in front of you. Suppose I put up my towel and put it up as a barrier between you and me. Can you see my face? No. So what is this veil? The veil is like a mirror. So it is not like another object. This is a very important point for us to understand. Suppose there are two things. One person is standing and there is a mirror. Now what do I see? Here is a person, here is a mirror. What is the distinction between these two? When you look at a person, you are only looking at that object. But when you look into the mirror, what do you see? You see yourself. That is the distinction. So that is the veil which is covering the path of truth, the path of reality, God. So prayer, God has to remove. Again Sri Ramakrishna says you cannot remove the veil on the face of the God. You have to pray to him. Oh inspector, out of your kindness, please remove the veil. Turn the torch light on your own face. And this sadhaka, he prayed to the Divine Lord. Immediately the Divine Lord bestows His grace. In what form? He removes the veil from his own face. And what does he see? He sees a perfect mirror. And when he looks into the mirror of the Lord, what does he find? Oh Lord, this is me. There is no I and you. There is only one reality. I have been thinking all this time you are different from me. There are no two persons. How many are there? Only one. That state of perceiving oneself as the reality is technically called Kaivalya Bhava, Kevalatva, aloneness. That forms the fourth and final chapter of this particular work. It consists of 34 aphorisms. Then, because these are aphorisms, the disciples who heard them, they knew the meaning. But for other people, in course of time, it has become very difficult to understand. Commentaries and commentaries upon commentaries. And notes on the commentaries on the commentaries, etc. etc. Natura Lica. And some of them are marvellous. I will briefly mention Vyasa is considered one of the greatest commentators. Then there is a Bhoja's commentary. Then one Vachaspati Mishra. Then one Vignanabhikshu. There are many minor commentators, but these four are considered to be very very important. Of these, Vyasa is considered to be the most important. And Swami Vivekananda's commentary or rather translation of the commentary in modern language is the latest. Actually, Swami Vivekananda bases his talks on the Raja Yoga based upon the commentary of Vyasa. And he combined with his own experience, he translated them or dictated them into modern English language. And as you know, Swami Vivekananda wanted to teach Raja Yoga. His introduction is marvellous. He used to get up the class. People used to come and he would say that now I will explain to you Raja Yoga and then he will try. And he says now I am explaining to you. And he used to go into deep meditation himself. Sometimes three hours, four hours nobody would know. Sometimes he would restrain himself. See this is the difference. We are trying to restrain our chitta vrittis to concentrate. And he was trying to restrain himself not to concentrate. That is the difference between Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and ourselves. That is how the modern Raja Yoga has come. And as I also mentioned that even Swamiji's explanations were quite brief. Because he himself in person must have given lot of explanation or conveyed the experience. But unfortunately we have lost all that. So Swami Prabhavananda with the help of Christopher Isherwood, he did a good job of taking Swami Vivekananda's commentary and also other commentaries. And combining with Vedantic perspective he did a good job. That is one of the best books that we sell even today. Literally hundreds of copies. All over the world literally millions of copies have been sold. So now we proceed a little bit. Why do we need Yoga? Before we study any subject we have to put our question. Why do I want to go to Vedanta Centre? Why do I want to read the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna? Why do I want to read Bhagavad Gita? Why do I want to sit for meditation? Why do I want to pray to God? Want, that very question want means what? I want means what? There is a lack. There is a desire. Where there is a lack there is always a desire. So why do we want? The answer given is liberation from Tapatraya. Only a person who wants to get liberation from Tapatraya. What does that mean? Traya means three. Tapa means, literally tapa means heat. Here it means intense suffering. Now we have got a body, we have got a mind and there is a world. How many? Body, mind and the world is there. To be very brief about this subject. Is it ever possible to be in samsara and not to have any sorrow? This world is called samsara, samsara it is. How is it ever possible to get rid of suffering in being in this world? We have a body, we have a mind and we have this world. Everybody, we are all interacting. Our body is a small bit of matter in this infinite matter. Our mind is a small bit of mind in this universal mind. And we are all interconnected. You may be sitting in the Himalayas but we are breathing the same air. We are interacting either physically or mentally in every way with the whole world. And interaction means dependence. Interaction means dependence. Dependence means suffering. What is suffering? When we depend upon something, that is the greatest suffering. It is not possible. However much you repair your body, you can say it is okay, it is running. There is nothing called perfect body. Perfect body is when you have no body, that is the perfect body. When there is no mind, that is the perfect mind. That is the goal of yoga. A perfect mind is a mind which has attained Samadhi. Such a perfect mind where there are absolutely no thoughts, no modifications, that is the perfect mind. And that is called pure mind. And only when we attain to that pure mind do we really know what we really are. So why do we want to practice yoga? What is its goal? The goal is to get rid of the three types of suffering. Physical, mental and worldly, all sorts of. Any type of suffering falls into one of these three types of suffering. And we never want to suffer. So why do we not want to suffer? Because it is our nature not to suffer. It is our nature to be happy. One of our Swamis has given a beautiful example. You know, when we are walking, there is a balance. It comes very naturally. We understand it very nicely when you observe a baby taking its first tottering steps. The baby is almost about to fall. But the baby wants to walk. So when we walk, there is something called balance. To be balanced is our true nature. But suppose the moment you go out of balance, you feel you are likely to fall. What would you do? You try to prevent falling down. Is it not? Just like that, it is our nature not to suffer. To be happy is our natural state. The moment we lose that happiness in any way, just as we struggle for balance, so we struggle for regaining our balance. And what is that balance? To be ourselves. So somehow we have forgotten who we are. And we are struggling to be ourselves. The whole life is a journey. Journey towards what? To find out who we really are. So this is another goal of yoga. To know who we really are and to remain as we really are. Also, from a utilitarian point of view, yoga is highly helpful for physical, mental and spiritual health. Yoga, so many yoga asanas, pranayama, etc. What is their purpose? To have perfect physical health, good physical health. Not only yoga is good for physical health, it is the only way to also gain mental health. Now, so many people suffer from mental sickness, mental aberrations, very obsessive ideas, worries, and all those what is called dogmas, doctrines, they all possess us. They control us. The whole problem is that our mind is full of millions and millions of different thoughts, dashing like at the speed of lightning and we don't know what to do. And if we want peace of mind, if we want happiness, then also we need this yoga. As I also mentioned before, success in any field can also be called yoga. A great man, he can play baseball or cricket or football, then he is a great yogi in that particular field. What is the meaning of yoga in that context? Perfect concentration and perfect control and coordination of both his bodily and also mental movements. Now, there is something very interesting I wanted to tell you. Recently somebody had done beautiful research. Very briefly, there was a football team. And this football team, slowly it is getting worse and worse, not able to win. So the club, just like Manchester club something, they wanted to hire somebody who can bring them up. So they hired one person. So they heard of this man and they voted, we will hire this man as the football manager. And then he came. He said it will take one year to train you but after that nobody can defeat you. And he kept his word. What was his method? It is this. He said that play in such a way, don't allow thinking to interfere. You have to instinctively react. And actually this is also true even when you are driving. Suppose you see somebody will not say, in another two seconds I am going to run across your car and please take care of it. Will anybody do that? Suddenly somebody dashes across. If your reflexes are not good enough, then it will be disaster both for you and also for the other person. This person what he said, I will give you some techniques in the beginning. What is the essence of this technique is that you should train your body and then movements. You should just do what your intuitive understanding tells you and not to think. Because before you stop to think, already somebody has come and then given it away. And when I read that, I was thinking is this not practice of yoga? What else is that? So also you are listening to my talk. So after going out, you think who is the best listener? The person who remembers all the important, pays attention and remembers all the important points in a logical way and later on he can do manana, reflection upon that. That person would be the best. So that is called yoga. Yoga means concentration in a simple way. Yoga means focusing, not allow anything to interrupt what we are doing at the moment. That ability is called yoga. Is it not good for any field of life? That is it. Above all, before commenting on this book Raja Yoga, the famous four sentences of the summary of Vedanta by Swami Vivekananda. If you remember, each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. So do this by one yoga or the other etc. Four sentences are there. See he puts it, any Raja Yoga book of Swami Vivekananda. This is the first thing you come across before you go to the other explanations. What is the purpose? What is the goal of human life according to scriptures which Swami Vivekananda only reiterated? The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. So what is the goal of yoga? To manifest the divinity within. How? By controlling nature, external and internal. We will come to that point later on during our talks. What is the meaning of internal? What is the meaning of external? Many people, after hearing this one, they say external, control external. Take an AK-47 or a hydrogen bomb and try to control nature, everybody. Now what does it mean? If I can control my sense organs, the whole universe is controlled. I will give one illustration. Supposing a person's weakness is found. We all have weaknesses, you know. The ear is very weak. The hearing is not weak. So he wants to hear more about bad things about others. Hear about bad things about others. That is why he is called Kanpatala. He is a weak-eared one. That means he is a slave to his ears. That is why who is a Guru? Karnadhar. Karnadhar means Kandharan. He who takes your ear and then pulls you out of the ear. Kandhara, Guru. So the point is, suppose somebody is weak. We are all weak people. We have got these temptations. Either we give into a form or we give into a sound. What is that giving into a sound? Can you think you are giving? Somebody comes and says, Oh, you are a marvelous person. After hearing that, our blood pressure will go up. And somebody comes and says, you are a stupid fellow. After hearing that, what goes up? Blood pressure goes up. We are slaves to these words. You see, to the forms, to the tastes, to the smells, to the touches. What is yoga? It is, let me see everything. Let me hear everything. Let me taste everything. Let me touch everything. But I will not be moved. The purpose or goal of yoga is not to shut our sense organs, but to become master of our sense organs. What does it mean? You just see the whole thing. Let the whole universe come in front of you. Let it dance. Let it sing. Let it do whatever it likes. What should you do? You only see the divine play there. That is the purpose of yoga. This is for the manifestation of the divinity within. That is for the yoga. Or, in other words, as I mentioned before, to grow in sat. Sat means goodness, health, etc. Then to grow in chit means to grow in wisdom. And to grow in ananda, from a lower happiness to a higher happiness. As I mentioned again, it is nice to remember. Spiritual life is not an exotic life. It is a life of travel from a lower happiness to a higher happiness. If we explain this way, who will not want to have spiritual life? Everybody wants to become a yogi. So if we promise more happiness, everybody wants to become a yogi. This is yoga. What is the practice of yoga? Yoga is preparing the instruments, body and mind. That is all. We have only two instruments. This travel is undertaken with the help of these two instruments. What are those instruments? Body and mind. How to make the body and mind fit instruments so that we can manifest more of divinity? That is the practice of yoga. Our nature is we are atman in reality. And atman is of the nature of ananda or bliss. So what is yoga in this sense? Yoga is a conscious, voluntary control of the mind so that the inner divinity is more and more manifesting. What is not yoga? It is very important for us to understand. What is not? Not only what is yoga but what is not yoga? So for example, you know, nidra is not yoga. You see, we get the bliss, perfect control of the mind. Perfectly there are no vrittis, no modifications in the mind during deep sleep. But a person who goes into deep sleep and he then wakes up, would you find any difference? That is why Swami Vivekananda explained. There is no difference between deep sleep and samadhi. If a fool goes into deep sleep, he will wake up the same fool. But if the same fool goes into samadhi and comes out, then he becomes an enlightened soul. Yoga is not yogasanas. It is not swooning. It is not drug induced stillness. So what is yoga? The ability to stop at will the fluctuations or modifications of the mind which is acquired through constant practice in a spirit of renunciation. That is called yoga. Yoga is practiced with a view to attaining salvation. To summarize what we discussed so far, what is the goal of yoga? To attain samadhi. That is why we use the word samadhi. Throughout the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, what is the single word which recurs again and again? Samadhi. Sri Ramakrishna was in samadhi. Sri Ramakrishna also came down from samadhi. Sri Ramakrishna was out of samadhi. There is a great chance for misunderstanding this word samadhi. So what is samadhi? It is not a particular posture of the body. Sri Ramakrishna is usually seen like this. So what is Sri Ramakrishna? He is in the state of samadhi. But when he was leapfrogging, was he in state of samadhi or he had fallen from samadhi? He had come down from the state of samadhi. So what is samadhi? Not a posture. What is samadhi? Samadhi is a state of knowledge where one knows without the least doubt, I am so and so. And what is that so and so? This is the beauty between self-knowledge and other knowledge. What is other knowledge? Infinite is other knowledge. What is infinite? You are different. I am different. Every person's CV is different. But if you come to spiritual CV, who are you? I am the Atman. Who are you? I am also the Atman. Who are you? I am also the Atman. There is only one answer. Copying, copying, copying. That's all. Ditto, ditto, ditto. Because it is the same cow. There was a brother and sister in a school. A teacher asked them to write an essay on a cow. Sister being elder, she wrote the essay and her brother photocopied her and submitted it. The teacher asked, why do I find the same essay that your sister has written? The fellow smiled broadly and said, that's because it is the same cow. Truth is one. Atman is, can only be one. God can only be one. Aham Brahmasmi. That is all. That is the only answer we can. That is our true CV. That is our final goal. And whether we know it or not, we are all travelling towards that. So that is called Samadhi. Now what is Samadhi? To know that I am the Atman. That is the Samadhi. Once you have that knowledge, or anyone has the knowledge, there is no question of falling down from that state. It is not possible. Once you have the knowledge, that is the beauty of the knowledge, you can never forget and say, I will pretend to be somebody else. That is not possible. So this word Yoga is derived from this word Dhatu Yuj. Yuj means to yoke. English word yoke, it came from which source? The Sanskrit Dhatu Yuj. It also means to bind. It also means to unite. It also means Samadhi. There are many meanings are there. Of all these meanings, we only want to have one meaning. And what is that meaning? Samadhi. This word Samadhi can be divided into these three words. Sam, A and Dhi. What does it mean? To place forth well. What does that mean? It means there would be absolutely no thought at all. There is no thought at all. When there is no thought, what happens? Two things happen. When there is no thought in the mind and that state is called Samadhi and in that state of Samadhi, two things happen. What happens? Let me first give an illustration which Swami Vivekananda had given. Suppose you stand on the bank of a lake and the lake is lashed into waves because of some wind. Can you see the bottom? You don't see the bottom. Can you see the reflection? You can't see the reflection. Now imagine slowly the wind dies down and there is not even a ripple, slightest ripple on the surface of the water. Then you could clearly see the bottom of the lake. Now by seeing that bottom of the lake, not only that, you can also see your reflection. So when you see your reflection, when that lake is in that state, when there is not even one single ripple, two things happen. First of all, you see the nature of that lake. What is this lake? Secondly, you will know that I am different from the lake. I am not the lake. I am separate from the lake. What we have to understand is our mind is like that lake. Constantly the thoughts are arising. This is called vrittis. To simplify, I use the word thought. That is not a technically correct word. I will explain why later on. So when there are thoughts, what is happening? We are identifying ourselves with that thought. So if there is a thought, I am happy. Then you say I am happy. If there is a thought, unhappy thought, then what are you saying? You are not saying there is an unhappy thought. What are you saying? I am unhappy. We are identifying ourselves with that thought. This is the analogy. But when the mind absolutely attains to the state of samadhi, then it becomes thoughtless. When it becomes thoughtless, it is called state of samadhi. It is called pure mind. When you look into that pure mind, it acts like a pure mirror. And when you stand in front of a mirror, what do you see? Your own reflection. Then you know mirror is only an instrument to let me know two things. What two things? I am not the reflection in the mirror. Second, I am this. I am not the mirror. I am not the reflection in the mirror. First part. Second part is I am separate. I am this. I am me. So what is the state of samadhi? Where a person clearly knows I am not the mind and he knows what he is. That state is called samadhi. This is the meaning of sam-a-dhi. Now we enter into the real sutras. This is just the background so that we will not have any misunderstanding about it. The first very sutra or aphorism in this Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Always our Hindu sages start with the auspicious sound. So here there are two auspicious sounds. One is called Om. Another is called Atha. Why Om we understand? How do we understand Atha? If you know Sanskrit, Atha means therefore. It has a meaning. But we traditionally we consider it as a very auspicious word or a prayer to God because these two words had come out of the mouth of Brahma at the beginning of creation. Before he created the world from his mouth involuntarily two words came out. What are those two words? Om and Atha. Therefore both these are Mangalikas. Mangalikas means very auspicious words. Whenever we undertake any journey and anything we undertake is a journey. What did I say? Whenever we undertake a journey and whatever we do is a journey. Usually journey means moving from one place to another place. Supposing you are reading a book. You start page 1 and then you move to say page 20. Is it not a journey from page 1 to page 20? You start cooking and you start with preparation washing the kitchen and that oven etc. Is it not a travel? Slowly, slowly, slowly you are approaching the end of the cooking. Similarly you have taken up a project and you want to complete it. Is it not a journey? And suppose you want to sleep. So at night you prepare the bed and then you lie down. Is it not a journey? Don't you need preparations? If you want to have good sleep don't you want preparations? So everything that we undertake any moment is a journey. And before we start journey what do we do? When you enter into a car or go out to the house what do you do? What do you say? Durga, Durga. Is it not an auspicious word? Exactly in the same way if you want to write a book, if you want to read a book, whatever you want to do you utter this word Om or Atha. What is the purpose? The purpose is O Lord I have taken up a journey so let me complete this journey by your grace without meeting any obstacle. Second is let it be a success for me. That means let me complete the journey properly, quickly, efficiently with the least amount of trouble and that is called successful completion of the journey. So also this Patanjali Rishi had obtained Atha Yoga Anushasanam. Atha means as I said it is an auspicious word. Second meaning of Atha is even more interesting. That is called therefore. Suppose you enter into a room. I am talking with somebody and you overhear those words. Therefore. Then what would be your understanding of that word therefore? Before that some preparation has gone, some understanding has gone. Therefore you go from here to here. The particular meaning here is since you have travelled in the world for so many lives and since you tried all sorts of methods to remove your miseries, threefold miseries, you are unsuccessful. Therefore now there you try the other method. What is that method? Yoga. Therefore means you have tried everything. You want liberation from these threefold miseries. You want to know who you are and you have tried many other methods. You didn't succeed. Therefore you are going to undertake another method by which you would succeed. That is the meaning of Atha. You are ready. But a person says I didn't try the other one. Okay go back 32 years and afterwards 32 years. Afterwards 32 years. Afterwards 5 years. Yajnavalkya Maitreyi Samvada. 101 years. Until we are prepared we cannot go forward at all. That is why Sri Ramakrishna did not touch two people on the Kalpataru day if you remember. Two people came. He was touching everyone. He didn't touch. He said not now. Why did he say not now? Because this word Atha. Atha therefore not now. What does it mean? You are not ready. Therefore not now. Some people he touched. That means what? Therefore I am touching you because you are ready. See beautiful word Atha. Now therefore what are you going to do? Yoga Anushasana. Yoga means we already explained. I will also explain further. I am going to expound the scripture called Yoga. What is Yoga? What is its practice? What are its benefits? And ultimately where will you end? I am going to explain. Anushasana. The word Anushasana is a beautiful word. What it means? Instructions. I am going to instruct you not out of my own concoction or intellectual understanding. But what is coming through Guru Parampara system. GPS. I did not invent this knowledge. As I mentioned where from the knowledge came? From God himself. Ishwara himself. Or if you want Adisesha. He was the man who possessed. And then he gave through Patanjali Rishi. It is coming from God. According to Vedas or any religion. Knowledge comes from where? Bible came from where? Quran came from where? Vedas came from where? Only from one source. That is the ocean of knowledge. Who is that ocean of knowledge? God. So Anushasana means Anu means after. Anuraga. Raga means passion. Anuraga means you fall in love. Then you follow the person. Anuraga means love. So Anushasana. It has been coming from Guru Parampara. I will give you two interesting examples for this. One example is Krishna. In the fourth chapter of the Gita. Arjuna asks a question. Teach me. And what does he say? I gave this same teaching to Manu. Arjuna says you are my contemporary. Manu was 8000 years back. How did he give? He says in course of time. The teaching has been lost. But I was born many times. So I was also born at the time of Manu. And I gave this teaching to him. And his question is exactly what you put. Therefore ditto. So he is not claiming. I am telling you something new. What I have told to that fellow. I am just you know. I have got that old file. I will email it to you. You leisurely look at it. That is the first example. Second example. Sri Ramakrishna. What did he say? He who was Rama. He who was Krishna. That means what he is telling in plain language is. What I am going to tell you. Through Rama's mouth I told that fellow. Suppose you ask Rama. Where did you get this teaching? Oh don't you know? In the past yuga I was born as Ramakrishna. It is the same truth. Truth is only one. So the teaching cannot be different. Anushasanam means the traditional teaching of the truth that is passed from the mouth of the teacher into the ears of the disciple. And from the mouth of the disciple it flows to his disciple, to his disciple, to his disciple. And that is called Anushasanam. Traditional passing of this ancient knowledge through the system of Guru-Sishya Sampradaya. This is the meaning of Anushasanam. By this what we have to understand is that don't have any doubt. If you have discovered something new you may be wrong. You may be erroneous. Or you may not be reliable. But what this means is millions of people in the past have followed this path, have successfully attained what they wanted to attain, what we call in English language time tested. This is what Sri Ramakrishna also says to his disciples. Where from this knowledge has come? Where from did Sri Ramakrishna get his knowledge? Did he ever say I invented this knowledge or I acquired it by myself? What did he say? I prayed to the Divine Mother and the Divine Mother revealed everything to me. And whenever he used to talk some people, new people say thank you sir, you have spoken well. What was his immediate reaction, instantaneous reaction? I don't know anything. It is the Mother who spoke through this instrument, is it not? So this is the truth. We say Guru Parampara system is not coming from the head of the Guru. Guru is only like a pipe, an instrument through which this knowledge is flowing. What does this mean? It means knowledge is eternal and it is there everywhere. And only the Guru becomes a kind of instrument for prying open. The spring water is there. Only you remove the obstacles. What is the purpose of the Guru? To remove the obstacles. This is called passing of the knowledge from one to the other in the form of removing the obstructions from the disciple's mind. So the first sutra, crystal clearly explains to us, Atha nao, therefore since you are ready and only when you are ready you can understand what I am talking about. This instruction came from ancient years, from God himself. This is nothing new and this also will be a future trend. Suppose the disciple, for him it looks new. Now he got the knowledge, he becomes a Yogi. What does he do now? He will pass on this knowledge to his disciple. And what will he say? Anushasana, I got it from my Guru. He got it from his Guru. Finally it came from God and now I am passing on that ancient, same ancient knowledge to you. This is the meaning of Anushasana. So these two meanings, one is the teaching or knowledge is not new. Second, so many people have attained perfection by following this yogic method. That is what Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna says, Purvakale, beforehand, Janaka Dayaha. Many people like Janaka, by following this Karma Yoga, have attained Siddhi. Therefore you also follow that Karma Yoga, you will also attain Siddhi. No teaching is new. But whenever we acquire something, it appears new for a short time. This is the simple truth. Athayogam Shasanam. Then the second, straight away they go into the subject matter. What is Yoga? Crystal clearly, define what is Yoga. Yogaha, Chitta, Vritti, Nirodhaha. Yoga is perfect control of all the thoughts that arise in the mind. What this means in reality, we are going to discuss in our future classes. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti