Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 031

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali, who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar, and of the body through medicine. In our last class, we had studied partially, partly, the 19th sutra of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. We discussed that when a person wants to become a yogi, he had to take to definitive practices. And we have not yet come to that state, where he outlines eight-stepped method, Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi. These eight steps is also called Kriya Yoga or Yoga in practice. Of these eight steps, 50%, that is four steps, are merely preparing the instrument. When we come to that sutra aphorism, we will discuss it further. But only one point I would like to mention. Why is it so necessary for us to prepare the instrument? Because we can never progress, however much practice we do, we can never progress until we prepare the instruments. And we have two instruments, the body and the mind. It doesn't matter the environment, but our body and our mind is the most important instruments. Another point we need to recollect and be grateful to God is that unless great souls like Shri Ramakrishna had appeared on this earth, we would have lost total faith in the scriptures. And the study that we have undertaken is one of those scriptures, Patanjali Yoga Sutras. What is he talking about? Samadhi. And if we study the life and teachings of Shri Ramakrishna, what do we find? Every second practically, he was in a state of Samadhi, he was going. And what is Samadhi? It is that state where a person knows what is reality. He becomes identified with that state of reality. So to recollect briefly before we go on, we are studying Patanjali Yoga Sutras. What is Yoga? Yoga is that action through which the mind or the thoughts which consist of the mind are totally eliminated. And with the elimination of thoughts, the whole what is called non-self, the world, universe, cosmos disappears. And that is our natural state. And to attain to our true natural state is the goal of life. And here goal of life doesn't mean that we are going to attain something else. Just as I mentioned many times during my talks, an apple seed has the most natural activity to manifest itself into an apple tree. It cannot help. It is not a question of choice. It had to do that. This is what Patanjali says. This is what Vedanta tells. This is what Swami Vivekananda came once again to re-emphasize. Each soul is potentially divine. The implications of that statement are tremendous. What it means is we have no choice but to become our own true self. And what is the nature of our true self? It is to be divine. And what does it mean to be divine? Because it appears to be a mysterious something. It is attributed at least in our imagination only to God. God is divine. But am I a God? Vedanta gives a beautiful definition. What is God? Absolute existence, absolute knowledge and absolute bliss. Sat, chit and ananda. What is it we want? What is it every creature, every living creature, what does it struggle for from moment to moment, from birth to death, from birth after birth, what does it struggle for? It wants to be, it wants to know and above all it wants to remain blissful. So evolution is inevitable. And I also mentioned an important point, biologists, physicists, they are talking about evolution. The moment we use certain words and we can never understand their meaning unless we have knowledge of this opposite. For example, simplest example is, I am a man, how do I know I am a man? Because I know there is another type of human being who is called a woman. How do we know? This is daytime because we are aware of night time. How do we know what is happiness? We are aware of unhappiness. Funnily you know, if you happen to go to the sun god and meet him, good morning, what do you think his response to you would be? You would be wondering what does good, good I understand, but what is morning, what does morning mean? Because from the sun's point of view, there is neither morning nor afternoon nor evening nor night. But if you go to god and say you are good, this is one of the most interesting points. According to Vedanta, god is not good. Is he evil? No, he is not evil. He is beyond both good and evil. For us so hard to understand because human mind is constituted in such a way, we can only think in terms of dualities. So what is yoga? To attain to our real state. What do we gain? We become immortal, there is no death. We become all consciousness, there is no ignorance. We become blissful, there is no break both in intensity and extensity in our happiness which is called bliss. And that's what we are really struggling for and when a practitioner has the knowledge from some great soul, he comes to hear about it that you are potentially divine. Going on hearing about it, at some point the desire comes, am I really potentially divine? And at some point he becomes possessed of Shraddha of which we will discuss later on. As soon as that faith comes in, instantaneously he feels a desire, let me attain to my state. What we have been seeking unconsciously throughout our transmigration, we would now seek the same thing consciously, deliberately with crystal clear understanding and each step which can lead to the next step. Of such steps, there are four steps. This is called lower Samadhi and it is a state of knowledge. If you recall, it is called Sampragnata Samadhi. Sampragnata means right knowledge and this Samadhi according to Patanjali is divided into two, objective concentration and subjective concentration and Purusha or pure consciousness is beyond both object and subject. So objective concentrations are of two types or rather three types and subjective concentration is of one type. To recollect, when a person starts practicing intense concentration, here let me also mention a very very important point. According to Patanjali, you don't need to believe in God. You do not need to believe in God. That doesn't mean you don't need to believe in anything. You have to believe in something. Only you do not need to believe in God. Then what does this particular aspirant believe in? He believes he is potentially divine. He believes that is his true nature. That's enough. If he has a true belief, true faith, that is enough. But second thing, it is not enough to believe, it is necessary to make that faith into a fact, transform that faith into realization and when he starts doing, he encounters many many obstacles and there is only one object which is the greatest obstruction, obstacle. Do you know what it is? It is called mind. So it is said bondage is also in the mind, liberation is also in the mind because the soul is never really bound. It is the mind with which the soul becomes associated and he thinks I am the mind and the mind thinks I am the soul and this confusion comes. To get rid of this confusion, to separate the mind from the pure consciousness is the goal of the yoga. So there are four types of lower Samadhi, four steps but each leading gradually to a higher and still higher and still higher level. So according to Patanjali, Samadhi, Samadhi means our real state of the mind, not of the consciousness. Consciousness has no states, we are purely talking about the mind has four, lower four states. What is that four states? First, when the mind concentrates intensely on an object in space and time, that is called Savitarka. When the person becomes capable of taking out the idea of the object from the realm of time and space, it is called Nirvitarka. Even that is a great achievement and with each achievement a special power is attained. To know is to have power, knowledge is power, tremendous powers are obtained. The next higher step is the concentration is focused upon a subtle aspect of the physical object from the external to the internal. Again it is of two types, it is called Savichara and Nirvichara. Savichara means when a subtle object is focused upon in time and space, it is called Savichara. When we take out the same subtle idea out of time and space and that is called Nirvichara and then comes a big leap and that leap, the third step, higher step is to get rid of the objects completely and to focus only on the instrument of cognition, which is mind. As it were, the mind divides itself into two. One is the person who focuses, another is the object upon which it focuses. When a yogi succeeds in this, he attains immense bliss. Why does? How does he attain to this immense bliss? A beautiful illustration is given. Imagine there is bright sunlight and we are in a room completely covered and so the room is in darkness, outside there is total light, maybe midday sun. Imagine there is one small window, a glass window and light could come through that but the glass is covered completely in dirt and dust so that it never allows the light to come. As we go on cleaning the glass, two things happen simultaneously. One, more and more light starts percolating through that glass. Second, that very light which is coming through that glass shows us the defects of the glass much more clearly so that we can clean it thoroughly. When that cleansing process is complete, the glass in its native nature, that means not obstructing the light to percolate through, it almost allows the complete light to stream in. So, what is this analogy for? Here is the self full of bliss and here is the mind covered with dirt and what is the dirt? The dirt is what Vedanta calls past impressions, our thoughts, our ideas, thickly we are covered. I am the body, very thick covering. I am a mixture of body and mind, a little less dirt. I am the mind, much more light. I am not the mind, even more light. That very light makes us realize, okay, I am not enjoying the light. Where from is the light coming? From within myself. When a person realizes, he becomes totally immersed in unimaginable, indescribable bliss and that state is called Sananda Samadhi. When a person reaches that state, there arises a special type of knowledge. It is called Viveka Khyati, discriminative knowledge. Instantaneously, person says, I do not want to have happiness. I do not wish to be happy. I want to become happiness. In Bengali, it is a beautiful expression, which unfortunately most of us do not understand properly. Ami cheeni hote chai na, cheeni kheete chai. I do not wish to become sugar. I wish to enjoy sugar, but this question was asked once to Swami Brahmananda, which is better to become sugar or to taste sugar? His instantaneous reply was, only an ignorant person, who does not know what he is talking about, he only says, I want to enjoy sugar. I do not wish to be. Very briefly, because I discussed these points many, many times in greater detail, refer to your notes or memory, whichever is. What is the difference? If I have happiness, anything that I have, it can come, it can go. I have an object, it can come, it can go. At some point, it was not there, at some other point, it will go away. Even this body, if we say, I have the body, because I am not the body, because I have the body, when did it come? When we are born. When does it go? When death comes. But we do not die. The body comes and goes. So also, even subtler point, it is the mind. I have a mind. I am not the mind. I can never be the mind. Whatever fluctuates, whatever comes and goes, can never be me. Grammatically also, it is impossible to say that I have something, unless I am separate from that something. So when a person, a yogi, succeeds to this Sananda Samadhi, there comes a very subtle type of discriminative knowledge, which is, I do not wish to have happiness. I do not wish to have happiness. I want to be happiness, because the happiness which we have comes and goes, however intense it is. And in our scriptures, it is said, even if a person attains Brahmaloka, the highest heaven, he has to fall down one day or the other. So they are all like adhridaha plavaha, leaky boats. They will drown you into the ocean of this transmigration. Okay, if you have curiosity, you go there, enjoy. Go there only on a visitor's visa. And incidentally, they will give you only visitor's visa. They will never allow you to stay there permanently, because there is no permanency in anything except in God. Then this discriminative knowledge comes. Then he says, who is this I or who am I? I am sure many of you have heard about Ramana Maharshi. And whenever anyone goes to him with a problem, and usually devotees go only when there is a problem. And then, Swami, how to get rid of this problem? He says, he smiles and he says, find out who you are. There is a deep meaning in it. What it means is, if you are thinking that you are a person who is having a problem, then you are never going to get rid of the problems. Only when you realize that you have no problem, the problem belongs to your neighbor, to your nearest neighbor. Who is the nearest neighbor? The mind. So find out who you are. That's what he's referring is a very high state. Find out who you are. So when a yogi, as we are studying the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, comes to the end of the third stage, and remember, he has to renounce the lower stages in order to go to the higher stages. When he has come to the end of this third stage, already the horizon becomes very clear. Oh, I thought this is the end of the mountain peak. As soon as I got up to the peak, I see another mountain peak which is much more attractive, much more beautiful, much more alluring. So the person, he starts, he becomes eager because if I can experience so much of happiness in this, how much more happiness can I not derive if I go there? So very naturally this evolutionary process takes place and the person goes forward and then he comes to the fourth stage. What is that fourth stage? The I-consciousness, I-awareness separated from body, external world, then body, then mind. But even there his discriminative knowledge becomes even more intense, even more intuitive and then he realizes what I have been thinking about myself. I am not this real I, I am only reflected I, I am only shadowy I, this is not my real nature. The moment he says, oh, if this is not my real nature, there must be something else. He knows what that something else is, but he cannot attain it. So this is what we had discussed in our last so many classes, I think around 30 classes. Now I want to proceed and this is Sutra 19. But before that, I just briefly mentioned that whenever we have a concept of one idea, we also must be aware of the opposite idea. We are aware of this word, this concept evolution. The moment evolution means going up, becoming better, progressing, Swami Vivekananda makes it so beautifully. He says the moment you hear of the word evolution, you must have the knowledge of involution. Without the idea of involution, the idea of evolution is totally impossible. What does that mean? I would like to go to God, why do you want to go to God? The answer is because you have come from God, that is what potential divinity means. You have forgotten your divine nature, now nature is pushing you from within to attain to that state. Incidentally, the biologists, the scientists, they all talk about evolution, but they are unable to explain what is it that drives evolution, what is it that drives evolution. It is only this inside urge, I want to be myself. That means we are totally aware of our own divinity. So with this point, let us continue further. Now we are coming to the 18th Sutra, 18th aphorism. As I mentioned, there are two types of Samadhi, the lower and the higher. The lower Samadhi is of four steps, that is when a person realizes, I am a reflected I, my identity as a reflected I, this reflection, I am a reflection. If I am a reflection, then there must be some original person from whom I am getting this reflection. Just for a moment, imagine this, you are standing in front of a mirror. In day to day life, of course this never happens, but imagine that you are standing in front of a mirror. Now how many objects are there? You are there, the mirror is there, and then the reflection is there, just for a moment. Imagine that that reflection somehow comes to life and thinks that I am a reflected person, I am a reflected person. Imagine there is no poverty in imagining, I am a reflected person. And then suddenly it says, am I a reflected person? So I am not the original person, then who is the original person? The original person is there standing of whose reflection I am. Now in our waking state, it is difficult for us to understand this concept, because our reflection never thinks like that, because it is we who think of the reflection. We are also aware of ourselves, we are also aware of the reflection at the same time. But at the same time, if you are thinking about a dream state, in the dream state our reflected I is very, very clear. Let me briefly try to dwell on this. You had a dream. Say in the dream, you have come to the Vedanta center, enjoyed the talk, enjoyed the Arhatrikam, you woke up and you also met so many people, you woke up. After waking up, you remember the dream, what was the dream? You came to the Vedanta center and you heard the talk and you went to the shrine and you enjoyed the worship, divine worship there. Now you are reflecting. Tell me now, who is the original I? Who is the reflected I? The person in our waking state who is recollecting the dream is the original person. And of whom, oh, I went to the shrine, who was that I? Reflected I. From the yogi's point of view, our waking state is also these all reflected I only. The original I, no. We are vaguely, dimly aware of that original I, but it is even difficult for us to imagine that I am the origin of this awareness, of this so-called consciousness. That has to come. How does it come? It comes through faith. How does faith come? Through the scriptures, through the Guru. When you read Gita, when you read Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, for example, when you read the Bible, let me take the example of the Bible itself, New Testament, there are wonderful statements. It says, man is made out of the image of God. Have you heard that statement? Man is made, fashioned out of the image of God. That means every living creature is a reflection of the original consciousness. There are also statements, I and my father are one. That means the individual soul and the supreme soul are one and the same. Take the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Someone asks, what is the goal of life? What would be his answer? God realization is the goal of life. God realization. What does that mean? If we reflect upon it, we will come to know. God means reality. That reality must become real for us. What is real now? Now we are in a very peculiar state. Neither unreality is a reality nor reality is a reality. This hanging in between, Trishankusvarga, is called Maya or Mithya. What do you mean by saying we are living in this unreality? What is the definition of reality? Reality means that which never changes. Is there anything in this universe which never changes? Body is changing. Mind is changing. The whole universe is changing. In fact, every millisecond it is changing in time, in space, in causation. That is why we have what is called fear, though we are not aware of that fear. You know what is the fear? Fear of death. Why do we fear old age? Why don't we fear youth? In fact, youth is the most fearful thing in this world, because the greatest mistakes are done only in youth. Old age, you have neither the knowledge nor the energy to make many mistakes. So you go on regretting upon the mistakes that we have committed earlier in life. So this is what I call romantic pains. In old age, we all suffer from romantic pains. Romantic pain means romantic pains as well as romantic pains. So when this reflected consciousness develops this discriminative knowledge that I am the reflected consciousness, instantaneously it becomes aware that there must be original consciousness. And that pulls the person, helplessly he is attracted like an iron particle is helplessly attracted to a powerful magnet. And that is what here he is talking about. Virama pratyaya abhyasa porvaha samskara sesho anya. There is another, another means higher, highest type of Samadhi. It is called Asampragnata Samadhi. I will come for the explanation. Let me first read the translation. The other kind of concentration is that in which the consciousness contains no object but only subconscious impressions which are like burnt seeds. It is attained by constantly checking the thought waves through the practice of non-attachment. Let me briefly dwell upon this. The first point I made many times, I am now again making is this highest Samadhi cannot be attained through effort. It is the goal. It is the point of arrival. We can arrive there but you cannot make effort. Why? It is like saying I don't want desires. Expression is there. I want to become desireless. Is that a desire? Human language we express. Can you arrive at that point of desirelessness? Yes, we can but not through effort, no effort. It is just like you know there are certain paradoxical things in life. One night you are unable to sleep and you want to sleep and what do you do? You struggle to sleep. The more you struggle, the more it becomes counter effective. So what is the way to get sleep? Seize all struggles. That is the exact point here that seizing to struggle is the practice we have to make. This is what Patanjali is making. Now to understand this point, let me also briefly explain something. You know our consciousness is always associated with an object and it is fleeting from one object to the other, it is moving from one object to the other object. So from object A to object B, constantly it is moving. This is what we call restlessness of the mind. But if we observe carefully, something very wonderful reveals itself to us. You know when one thought ceases to be, when the other thought starts to begin, in between there is a gap and that gap has a special name, it is called virama. Virama means stoppage and it is happening unconsciously within us all the time. Now you know this word virama, in cinema, while watching cinema, in the past, cinemas, these films used to be three hours, four hours, so people get tired, they get hungry, so in between they put vishram is one word, viram is another word, like that, when a yogi goes on practicing these thought processes, sadhana, spiritual practice, he becomes intensely aware, he becomes a witness and this wonderful miracle takes place. So you thought, you stopped, now you started another thought. The yogi is aware, one thought is stopped and another thought starts. Usually the gap between these two is very small, just a milli, milliseconds, but there is a stop is there and stopping, observing that middle point where in between two thoughts, that is the practice this person has to do. Now what is the cause of the thought, desire, therefore what is the process to stop these thoughts? Do not have desires and not to have desires is called dispassion, detachment, when a yogi starts practicing this intense dispassion and here also one most wonderful point we have to understand. After hearing this talk or reading a book, you are going to say, I will start practicing dispassion. What do you mean? I do not wish to have this desire. In practice, this psychology never works. What is wanted is, why do we run after an object? Because it gives us, yields us certain type of pleasure or joy, but until we get that kind of joy from within ourselves, that object will never cease to enslave us. Only when we say, what you are giving, I am getting from within myself, though I do not need any more, automatically it falls off. So where from that joy comes, already we discussed, when a person starts meditating on the very instrument, he gets the highest type of joy possible within his mind and therefore he develops what Patanjali calls supreme dispassion. Now all that he needs to do is that you increase this gap between these two thoughts. How does he do that? Because when dispassion comes, naturally the objects do not attract. When objects do not attract us, the thoughts about those objects also naturally would not arise in our mind. There is another important point. My Gurudev, Swami Yathushanandji used to tell, hating someone or getting angry with someone is as worse as loving someone. You know why? Because if you love somebody, what are you thinking of that person? If you hate somebody, whom are you thinking about, even with even more intensity. Your thought, it binds, so go beyond both love and also hatred. This is the common teaching given by Vedanta in every scripture again and again. Go beyond knowledge and ignorance. Go beyond pleasure and pain. Go beyond good and evil because they are not two separate absolutes. They are expressions of the same thing in different guises. So the point is, when a yogi has that supreme dispassion, it's called para-vairagya. That very para-vairagya makes his mind not get attached to anything. Why? Because he is getting so much of joy from within. Sri Ramakrishna had a very typical, beautiful expression. When a plant grows, as it goes on growing higher and higher, it drops off the lower leaves as a palm tree. But if you try to pull that leaf forcibly, you are only injuring that plant. It must happen very naturally. So a yogi's mind also very naturally, it lifts itself up. By attaining to higher state of happiness, the lower state of happiness automatically falls off. So when a yogi starts practicing this intense dispassion, intense detachment follows and automatically the attraction of the objects becomes less and less and less. Naturally the thoughts about them also become less and less and less. When this starts happening, the gap in between these two thoughts goes on increasing. And a time will come when no thought appears with regard to any objects. Then what happens? But the past impressions which we all acquired through many many lives, they remain in a very subtle state. When a yogi attains to that state, something happens automatically like this intense dispassion acts like a catapult, as it were the individual soul is a stone and it is put in the catapult of intense dispassion and as it were someone pulls it and then releases it. These are all what is called analogical. Then what happens to that stone? It goes out of the bounds of prakriti, nature, transmigration, maya, delusion etc. So a yogi's problem is he has to go on increasing the gap in between two thoughts. What it really means is slowly stop thinking about objects. But the question comes, how can we stop thinking? Because we are accustomed to think objects, we are accustomed to feel I am happy, that is an object. I don't like that, that is also an object. Only a person who knows, he knows. Because he is getting so much of joy from within and so he doesn't need any object. In fact every thought becomes an obstruction. This is the immediate analogy that comes to my mind is, suppose I am giving a talk here and a hundred persons are moving in front of me, having a gap between you and me. Do you see what happens at this time? How much I will be disturbed? A yogi who is enjoying this tremendous bliss from within, the self joy, ananda, any thought that comes is an obstruction to him, is like a fly in the eye, he feels intensely disturbed. That moves him further and further away from any object. This is the goal of this particular highest samadhi. But it's not so easy. So what happens? Very few people attain. When a person reaches that highest state, what is the fourth state? The realisation that I am the reflected consciousness and that is even higher than attaining ananda samadhi. Can you imagine? Sometimes some people get doubts, Swami, you say I have to go beyond bliss? Yes, you have to go beyond bliss. But if I go beyond bliss, what is there for me to live for? The thing is, these technical words need not confuse us. It is that kind of state where even it is like saying I want to become sugar, instead of eating sugar, I want to become sugar. It is difficult even to describe such a state. So when a person reaches that state, then he realises I am in the highest state of bliss. What happens? Many yogis get stuck there. He is getting so much of joy, he doesn't want to go up. So that is why Shankaracharya's great grand guru, Gaudapada, he says yoga has four obstructions, terrible obstructions. One is laya, vikshepa, kashaya and the fourth one, do you know what is the greatest obstruction to the perfection of yoga? Ananda. Laya means as soon as a person stops restlessness, sits. I am happy to see people like that because they are agreeing with me even in their sleep. So this is called laya. Laya means pure tamasic state where sleep comes, is the first thing. Why does this happen? This happens because when is it that the body goes to sleep? When all activities are wound up, when the body is lying and you are just relaxing and unconsciously that happens. So the mind is brainwashed to think that if a man sits without activity, without even thought and he relaxes himself, oh my master is preparing to go to sleep. This is called laya. Then the next high is vikshepa. What if the man is not going to sleep, you know what happens? You try, you sit, 100,000 thoughts go on moving. Added to that we add other thoughts to it. Why in hell am I so restless? Why am I behaving like a monkey? I want to concentrate, I want to focus and my mind is restless. What is wrong with me? This is we add to that. So this is called vikshepa. Mind becomes terribly restless. Somehow if he progresses, then the third obstacle comes like demons, you know. What is the third obstacle? Kashaya. Kashaya means bitter Ayurvedic medicine. Even a smell of that we feel like vomiting, very, very terrible. Oh God, what do I get? Especially I am telling you, we have to be aware of that because spiritual practice is not that easy. I believe in God, I pray to God and I trusted God. Why are things going so wrong in my life? In fact, my editorial in this next magazine is going to come. Are prayers answered? And the answer is every single prayer is answered. And further answer is most of the time the answer is no. It is not funny. Why does God say no? Because he wants to take revenge upon you? No, because if a child asks for poison, which mother is prepared to give that poison? Anyway, just to make you happy, I have to tell you a funny story. This Mulla Nasruddin, one day he was sitting in his village, idly passing his time, scratching his head or whatever. And suddenly he found so many mullahs of the whole village gathered all the small children. They were herding them to the mosque. So mullahs were surprised and he asked the other mullahs, why are you taking the children to the mosque? They tried to explain, Nasruddin, don't you know we are suffering from lack of rain. For the last few years, there was hardly any rain, we are all starving. We prayed to God so many times, but he did not respond. So what? So we are taking these children to the mosque because the innocent prayers of these small children, God, Allah cannot but listen to them. Hearing this, Mullah Nasruddin started laughing and laughing and laughing. The mullahs got annoyed. What do you mean? Why are you laughing? He said, I don't believe God is going to listen to these innocents. They got even more angry. What do you mean? You mean to say the prayers of these sincere innocent children, God will not, Allah will not listen? No. Because if he had heard, you would have lost your school teacher's job long, long back. Every school going child's earnest prayer is, let his teachers fall sick or die so that he did not go through all these lessons. So the point is, God is more than our loving mother. He knows our past. He knows our present. He knows our future. He answers always. But he does like a good physician or a surgeon. When a surgeon operates on a patient, tell me, is he doing good to the patient or bad? So why do you think that God doesn't answer your prayer? Because you don't know what you are praying for. You don't know what is good for you. That's why God answers all the time. It is fun to say, the answer is no, is no to that particular prayer, oh God, give me that job and make me win the mayorship of London, etc., etc. That particular prayer may not be answered. But he knows how to guide you. He says he wants to take you to higher and higher and higher state until he wants to give himself to you. This is God's greatest prayer to another God, you know. God also has a prayer, has a wish, let all my children know that they are me. But we are putting obstruction. We are like children playing, absorbed in our play. So the point is, God answers. Sometimes he gives us what we don't want to have it. That's why how hard it is to understand. Holy Mother's saying, I'm sure most of you recollect, misery is a gift of God. Meditate upon it. If God loves you, then he will give you misery. It's astounding. What? God gives me misery. I am going to God to escape misery, to escape suffering. And yet you say yes, but at the same time, he is also awakening your wisdom. What is suffering? How to escape suffering? That knowledge also he is giving along with that suffering. Because if we had been good children and learnt our lesson pleasantly, then God need not have gone through this harrowing event. But because we have no other way, this is the only way we can learn. God puts us through these trials and tribulations for our own good. Anyway, what is the problem? When a yogi is trying to become more and more dispassionate, his prayer, wholehearted prayer goes to the Divine Lord. Oh Lord, I know I am the reflected consciousness. I want to become one with you. In Sanskrit language, we have a very beautiful way of expressing this truth. You know what is that? Say a moth, as soon as it sees a flame, what does it do? It wants to become one with, immolate itself. Every devotee wants to immolate himself into God, become one with God. This is an innate wish that we have. When a yogi, having ascended to the fourth state, clearly understands, I am the reflected consciousness and there is a tremendous yearning in him to attain to oneness with the reality, then something miraculous happens. As I said, that highest Samadhi can only be attained, cannot be practiced. But what can be practiced is, get rid of the obstructions. And that getting rid of the obstructions is done through the practice of intense dispassion. Whenever any thought comes, you simply go on saying, no, no, no. Now, this saying no, no, no, becomes another Samskara or impression. How does a yogi allow himself to be catapulted? He must sit in the catapult. The catapult does its job, but the stone must be put in the catapult. So the yogi must put himself in such a position that automatically the catapult does its own job. And that is done through the practice of saying, no, no, no. And when this saying no, no, no, becomes so strong, so natural, so automatic, this gap in between the two objects goes on widening until no object comes into his mind. Let me conclude this talk, again reminding ourselves, what happened to Sri Ramakrishna when Totapuri came, Totapuri asked him, empty your mind. Sri Ramakrishna's typical reply was, I can empty my mind of all thoughts, excepting one thought. What is that thought? My Divine Mother. But that is also a thought. I want to enjoy the sugar. I don't want to become the sugar. What is Totapuri saying? I don't want you to enjoy the sugar. I want you to become the sugar. I don't want you to enjoy the Divine Mother. I want you to become the Divine Mother. Sri Ramakrishna said, I am incapable of doing it. This is the whole point I am striving to convey. Sri Ramakrishna said, I can't do it. But the Divine Grace came in the form of Totapuri, his Guru. It is the Divine Mother and Totapuri looked at him and said, what? You cannot do, you will do it. I will make you do it. And he took a broken piece of glass, pressed it against the forehead of Sri Ramakrishna and he said, forget about your Divine Mother, bliss, meditate upon this pain. The intense pain, the intense pleasure, when they equated, both of them disappeared. What did happen? Sri Ramakrishna became sugar, the Divine Mother and he entered into that, what we call, Nirvikalpa Samadhi which is Asampragna Samadhi and the rest of the story is only repetition of what happened, which we will discuss, this most wonderful point in our next class. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.