Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 034

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. Why is it that in spite of so much efforts, in spite of seeming to be so very sincere, we do not make progress in spiritual life? Patanjali had beautifully outlined five causes, like the steps of a ladder from the lower step to the highest step. Patanjali here gives us five qualifications which every aspiring spiritual practitioner must develop. If we really go through these five steps, then success is assured and we reach our goal. What are those five? Shraddha, Virya, Smriti, Samadhi, and Prajna. Shraddha means it is not one quality. We all hear of Shraddha. Shraddha involves several components, which we have of that three parts. First, intense faith in the knowledge that we obtain. This is absolutely true. Second, how much we value, even though something may be true, we may not value it. Third, how much we are prepared to make commitment. So intense faith that the knowledge is true, which means here in this case the goal I am going to attain is true. How much I value that goal and how much am I prepared? These three components constitute what is called Shraddha. That is why we discussed also that Shraddha, even though we possess in one compartment, we lack it in other compartments. I give an example. Here is a man who really thinks he is very sincere in believing in God in spiritual life, but intensely miserly on the other hand. There are several examples of this. Achiketa's father, he believed in heaven. He wanted to go to heaven, but he was not prepared to give up what is very paltry things or any earthly things. Even the highest valuable thing on earth is like a greatest valuable thing we see in a dream. He was thinking of what is its value and yet he was not able to give up for some time. Subsequently, he did give up, but it took some time. So this is called compartmentalizing Shraddha or faith. And if we examine our lives, almost within each one of us, we have faith in certain higher things and at the same time, our sense of reality dominates us and binds us too much. If we have really Shraddha, it leads to the next stage, which is tremendous energy. We are prepared to what is called commitment, the highest commitment and there could be no greater example in Shri Ramakrishna's life. That intense yearning, he said, as though a ghost had taken possession of me and did not allow me to do what I like to do. So that commitment, how much time, how much energy, how many resources, that's why the very word yoga, let us take one simple example, Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga means what? Any action that we do must be associated with God, that is called Karma Yoga. You cannot compartmentalize and say that when I am cooking, I am not a Karma Yogi, when I am looking after my child, I am not a Karma Yogi, when I am working in the damned office, I am not a Karma Yogi, because suppose you don't like your boss because he is not giving you raise for the last five years and yet you are a devotee, can you say I will practice Karma Yoga at the Vedanta Centre, but not at the office, that cannot be, that compartmentalization cannot happen. Eric Fromm gives a beautiful example in his book, The Art of Loving. The art of loving is to become a loving person, when a person becomes a loving person, he gives this example, it is like putting on a black spectre, when you put on black spectre, whatever you look at appears to be black, you cannot say I don't like this person, so I will see him as black, I like this person immensely and I would see him as pure white, once you put on that spectre, whatever be the colour of the spectre, every object appears to be of that particular colour, love is like that. So then he makes a beautiful distinction, very often we swing between two modes, extreme modes, either we love everything else and hate ourselves or we love ourselves, everything else becomes secondary. So beautifully he says, you cannot compartmentalize love like that, if you are a loving person, you love yourself and you love everything else, the very meaning of loving person means he loves everybody, everything together, so Shraddha is like that, you cannot compartmentalize and say when I go to the shrine, I will be a great devotee of God but when I come outside, I will be a normal worldly person, you cannot do that, that is not true Shraddha, at the same time, it is an undeniable fact that we are all going through that stage, we are really sincere when we read gospel of Sri Ramakrishna or any scripture, when we come to the temple, when we are in the presence of holy people, we seem to be very sincere, absolutely there is no doubt about it, when we go outside, then something happens, Sri Ramakrishna illustrates this so beautifully, every day that passes, I understand Sri Ramakrishna in a much, much better light. There is this person, he had faith in the Ganges, Ganges is a very holy water, anyone who dips into it, he becomes free from all sins, what does he say, the fellow, he goes to take bath in the Ganges but the sins cannot enter the water, what are they doing? They are hanging on the branches outside on the bank of the Ganges, the moment he comes out, all the sins jump on his shoulder, it looks as though it is a very simple saying, what does it really mean? What does he mean? When the person is taking bath in the Ganges, he really feels I am holy, I am purified, he gets some relief but the moment he comes out, his old samskara, papa means what, sins means what, his old tendencies, I have left that to half Rasogulla only I have eaten, the other half must be waiting for me there, etc., etc., all thoughts, all sorts of thoughts do come but this is a stage we have to pass through. So first of all, we have to be aware and say that am I really having faith in God in the scriptures, if so is my life in accord with this in every respect, so this is how we progress from a lower step to a higher step, exactly corresponding how much Shraddha, intense faith we have, so much enthusiasm is generated, just mathematically to put it you know, if a person has 10% Shraddha, his enthusiasm will also be 10%, if it is 50%, 50%, if it is 90%, 90%, if it is 100%, it is 100%, what does 100% mean, 90% mean, what does 100% mean? If it is 90% that means most of the time he is committed to what he believes in but 10% his old samskaras are pulling him back, what does 100% mean? It means that the person is as if become one with Shraddha, this is what Sri Ramakrishna says, I was possessed by a ghost as if because his Shraddha does not allow him to take any false step, incidentally that is what truthfulness also means, we are all both truthful and untruthful, in some respects we are very truthful, in some other respects we are not truthful, so what respects we are truthful, wherever some welfare, some profit comes to us, we are highly truthful, but where we think there is going to be a loss, then there we are totally untruthful. Now look at the story of Harishchandra in the Puranas, even though he had to sell his wife, his son and finally himself, he did not dare to deviate from truthfulness. Sri Ramakrishna is an embodiment of truthfulness, funny stories are there, once he went to a festival and by mistake he said, I won't take any luchi, unfortunately for him, that day the main dish was luchi, luchi is a kind of bread and he said, since I told that I won't take, though I feel like taking, felt like taking, I could not take, so I have to just satisfy myself with some water and some sweets, once he gave a word that I will come to your house and he totally forgot about it and then at about midnight, suddenly he remembered, you see the Divine Mother, the alarm clock goes a little bit late there, she could have reminded him a little bit earlier, so he remembered only at 12 o'clock, immediately he took Swami Brahmananda, Rakhal Maharaj, went to that house, of course the house was closed, see his practice of truthfulness, he was supposed to be inside the house, but the door was closed, so he said, I put my foot inside the components, I have come, I have come, I have come, he fulfilled, was he deviating from truth, no, because these things, intentionally he had not done that, age, in age we always forget, in times, in stressful times, old age, etc., so this is what is called, how much we are prepared to commit, enthusiasm follows that Shraddha and what does enthusiasm generate, so Shraddha is first step and enthusiasm, tremendous energy, tremendous stamina, I also gave the example, in case we forget, a man comes from the office very late and he is a great lover of cricket and then he is terribly tired, dead tired, all that he intends to do is to eat some food and then watch the head news, headline news and then rush to the bed and as he turns on the TV, suddenly he says, a great cricket match is about to take place and what happens to his tiredness, completely gone, how did it go? Did it go? Yes, how did it go? That is because he had so much of valuation for the cricket game that all enthusiasm comes, you know how much enthusiasm, fellows will be shouting and then jumping up and down in the sofas, but they are not watching the real game, they are watching through the TV and that jumping is proportional to the commentator's voice, if you have noticed, so produces tremendous amount of energy, what does that energy lead to, what is the third step, Smriti, memory, we say that our memory is poor, we do not forget where our interests are concerned, that is why I say, you know, a young man comes and tells me, oh, my memory is very poor Swami, okay, 10 years, 20 years back that girl smiled at you, do you still remember, oh Swami, he will never forget, maybe she is laughing at him, that is a different issue, but he thinks that picture is forever imprinted in his mind, nothing wrong with memory, everything is related to interest, in this respect also, see, we are reading Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna everyday and we do not remember many of the incidents, why is it, but we remember something that happened 20 years back, 50 years back, why is it we cannot remember what we have read yesterday and day before yesterday, what is the reason, reason is our memory is proportionate to the amount of interest we have in anything, this is the secret, if you have interest, you will remember everything, if you do not have interest, you will not remember because that which, in which we do not have interest, that makes no connection in the brains, think of it, so this Smriti means here, constant remembrance of God and it works in a beautiful way, both positively and negatively, how it works positively, oh, if I can go to God, then I will gain the greatest treasure in the world, this is the positive pulling, negative way of the thing is, oh my God, I am in this world, death may come anytime, disease may come, somebody may come and cut off my head, my fear, we are always in the grip of insecurity in this world but why is it that we do not think about it, we are like that Jamedas like type of people who carry film on their heads, after some time, they become accustomed, there are people living in Columbia and other places where any second can be their death, so much of shooting and all those things go on, people they go on living, there also they get married, there also they get bigger children, they have their happiness, their losses, everything but what about this insecurity, get adjusted, that is human nature, whether it is weather, whether it is social circumstances, we do get adjusted to them, in worldly life also people get adjusted, how much of freedom we lose in this world and yet we go on, okay, that is why Smriti means that unbroken memory, unbroken memory, both memory of what we are going through and what we are going to achieve, that is why constantly, oh Lord, save me, save me, save me, I want to come to you as quickly as possible, what is the example? Example is again, every saint is an example but I will only quote Sriram Krishna, Sriram Krishna used to say, when the sun had set, then I used to roll on the bank of the Ganga, oh mother, one day has gone and I have not seen you, death may come, I was feeling intense pain, whereas as soon as we complete our meditation, what a relief, another day of meditational duty is over, now I can go back to my worldly pleasures, what a joyous day it is. See, so this Smriti, unbroken memory, virya leads to unbroken memory, memory of my goal, memory of what I am going through, the bondage, intense bondage, so what it boils down to is the more we feel the bondage, the more would be our desire to become free, so instead of saying how much I am progressing in spiritual life, let us question ourselves and say, how much do I feel the bondage of the world, do I really feel bondage, how much? The next step is Smriti, unbroken Smriti, it gradually leads one to that beautiful step which is called Samadhi, Samadhi means absolutely the mind is fixed on that idea of the self, God and naturally it results in what is called Pragnya, Pragnya means here interpreted as the highest Sampragnata Samadhi, lowest Samadhi, why is it called lowest Samadhi, not Asampragnata Samadhi, not the highest, because last week I mentioned Asampragnata Samadhi cannot be attained by effort, it has to happen, the best we can do is the lower Samadhi and somehow you go through that and then something happens, it is not in our hands, it just happens automatically by the grace of God, whatever, so these are the 5 steps Shraddha, Veriya, Smriti, Samadhi and Pragnya, this is called the right means, there are 2 types of yogis just to remind ourselves, one type of yogi, he doesn't follow this right means properly, as a result he gets stuck, he makes some progress and every progress we make gives us that much amount of happiness, bliss, so one way of understanding, am I making progress in spiritual life, how do we know, the more joy, happiness we generate from within is the index how we understand how much we progress in spiritual life and it has a lot of implications and it will take long time for me to discuss about it, but I will give you one small, supposing you find a person and he seems very sincere but he is indulging in political talks, chit-chatting and passing his time in so many ordinary things, what does that indicate, when he goes for meditation he seems to be very sincere, but rest of the time he is wasting his time, but he doesn't call it waste because if he calls it waste, he feels guilty, he suffers from the blood pressure called guilty consciousness, yeah, we all suffer from guilty consciousness that is why our mind generates rationalizations to suppress our guilty conscience or there is some part of our mind which knows what is right, what is good, what is evil and it creates that reaction, but we have found out a clever way of suppressing, shutting its mouth and that is how we cover our own eyes, if we can make introspection, am I getting joy, what is this, oh, this is a spiritual book, am I getting joy, how do we know, because if you are getting joy, you will hold on to it, if you don't get joy, then after 10 minutes enough of gospel, now let me read the newspaper or something else or let me watch something else, that is a sure indication, if we are getting joy, then we do not need to go anywhere, after all anything that we are running after is only to get happiness and joy, so the more joy we are getting, the more we are progressing in spirit, not how much time we are spending in japa, meditation, scriptural study, talking about God, all these things do not make any sense, there was a funny incident that comes to my mind, once one devotee brought one gentleman to Sri Ramakrishna and this gentleman seems to be practising meditation and he seems to have attained some kind of samadhi and then his friend who was a good friend, very good friend, he who could bring people to Sri Ramakrishna, you must say that he was the true friend brought him to Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramakrishna did not know anything about this person, he knew the other devotee, during the course of conversation, suddenly he went into samadhi and it appeared as though the bliss, the joy was overflowing and he is not able to contain it, the other person also was witnessing, the visit was over, when they were returning then the devotee who brought that man to Sri Ramakrishna, he was telling, have you noticed Sri Ramakrishna samadhi, yes, what did you notice, that uncontainable joy as it were overflowing, look I also saw your samadhi, it looks good to me, a woman is giving birth to a big baby, what type of samadhi is that where there is only tremendous you know gritting of the face and wrinkling the face and then as though he was putting on, bearing tremendous unbearable pressure, whereas samadhi is such a joyous affair, so anything that a spiritual person experiences brings joy to him, this has been so beautifully explained. Radha, you know that famous character in Brahmavai Vartapurana, she was going along with her friends, you know Radha is the representation of the highest devotion for Krishna, as she was going, suddenly she came to a tree which was bearing yellow flowers, tamala vriksha, soon as she saw, she went into samadhi, why did she go into samadhi, because that tamala vriksha reminded her of Shri Krishna, the colour of Krishna, the garments of the Krishna. Ramakrishna also mentions the case, this was also mentioned by Shri Ramakrishna only, he mentions Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, once he was walking through a village along with his followers, then somebody happened to mention the clay from that village is used in the kol, a percussion instrument in singing the names of God, the moment he heard it, he went into samadhi, what was the association, this clay is used in percussion instrument, that percussion instrument is used in the singing of Lord Krishna's name and the moment Krishna, immediately he went into samadhi, you see this is called association and it is a wonderful subject you know again, memory and association, why our thoughts wander about, because of purely association, one like you know, it is like I say, I call it surfing the web, you went to a website and you are watching it, suddenly there is another link, you click on it, it takes you to another website, you click on it, some other link and it will, like that by the time you realise, you have gone through the whole world, that is why it is called surfing the web, how much time passes, internet addicts are there, anyway the point is the whole life is associated with web, what is spiritual life, make it into this web of associations, you see a book, you are reminded of God, you see food, you are reminded of God, you see a building, you are reminded of God, you see a tree, you are reminded of God, you see a flower, you see the sky and you are reminded of God, this developing the association, that is called yoga, develop association, in that case, whether you open your eyes or close your eyes, you are only progressing in yoga and when this association becomes total, whether closed eyes or not closed eyes, always the remembrance of God is there and when it reaches its highest peak, that is called Samadhi, Samadhi means the mind disappears, what remains? The self alone remains, that is called Prajna, that is what is called the Sampragnata Samadhi, but what about Asampragnata Samadhi, as I mentioned, through self-effort it doesn't come, but doesn't mean that it will happen, yes, when once we reach there, as if someone is waiting to pluck us and then put it there, so this was what we discussed in our last class, just to remind, even to recollect it took so much time. The next Sutra, what it is saying is so beautiful, we make so much effort and yet we do not seem to succeed, what is the reason? The question is put by Patanjali himself, when does a person attain Asampragnata Samadhi, when do I attain God, when do I reach God Realisation, self-knowledge? The answer is in 2025, you will reach, no, it is said, it depends upon, say a person is travelling by a car or whatever, going to London, from here to London, when do I reach London? Who can give answer, are you walking, are you going by bike, are you going by auto rickshaw or are you going bullock cart, are you taking a helicopter? If you take a helicopter, in 2 minutes, 5 minutes, you are there, if you take a car, it may take an hour, if you take a bullock cart, it may take 2-3 days and if you have started walking 30 miles, it may take few days, what is the answer? Depends upon how fast you are travelling, Theevra means intense, Samvegana, those whose desire, who has got intense yearning depends upon the intensity of our yearning. The idea is, Patanjali is conveying to us is that only when you have that intensest yearning for self-realisation, that will take you very quickly. Now the interesting point, this answer is not really a correct answer from the philosophical point of view. Who is God? God is one beyond time, when do I reach timelessness? How many hours do I take? How many years do I take? How many lives I take to reach timelessness, do you see the paradoxical point? Now timelessness is something you can reach even this very second, but it depends upon how you do it. We are travelling in time, that is why Asampragnath Samadhi cannot be attained because Asampragnath Samadhi is a state of timelessness and a state of timelessness can never be attained, it has to happen by itself. Simple illustration some of our Swamis give is, how quickly can I fall asleep? You go to bed, you are tired and you say, I would like to go to sleep very quickly and the more you struggle, the longer it takes. So what should you do? Try to do nothing, just relax and the sleep will come by itself. Do you see what I am talking about? You cannot attain sleep, sleep has to come all by itself and the more we struggle, the more counterproductive it becomes and if sleep itself is like that, what about Samadhi? Tevra Samveganam Asannaha, success in yoga comes quickly to those who are intensely energetic. Sri Ramakrishna talks of intense yearning. The next sutra, aphorism, Mridu mathya adhi mahatratva tato api visheshaha. Success varies according to the means adopted to obtain it, mild, medium or intense. This is a wonderful shloka. Each one of our yearning for God realization, desire for God realization can be divided into three parts as it were, three parts. What is the three parts? The first way of understanding is, you know three gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. If we are endowed with more of Tamas, our Shraddha becomes Tamasic Shraddha. If we are endowed with Rajas, our Shraddha becomes Rajasic Shraddha. If we are endowed with Sattva, we are endowed with Satvika Shraddha. That means Tamasic Shraddha means the intensity is the lowest, who is a Tamasic person? An indolent person, a lethargic person, a procrastinating person, a lazy person who doesn't have any desire to do anything, when is he going to reach? So a Rajasic person is one who is endowed with Rajas, tremendous energy is there, but two problems. One problem is he is not the master of that energy, second problem is lot of distractions. You know that is why our mind becomes very restless, whereas a Sattvika person again has got these two characteristics, first of all he is the master of his mind, secondly whatever he does that leads to only one particular goal. For example Shri Ramakrishna, he was plucking flowers and what for he was plucking flowers? So that he can worship God, he is taking bath, what for he was taking bath? So that he can feel pure, clean and he can worship God and he is walking in the garden, what do you think he is doing? He is looking which flowers will be so nice to offer to our Divine Mother tomorrow morning. I still remember a beautiful incident, how these great people's lives can be eye-openers to us. You know Swami Akhandananda after Shri Ramakrishna's passing away, he was wandering, so he liked to wander, he went to Tibet, Himalayas and so many other places as you all know, he started from Calcutta and he went many, many miles and he entered into a place where there is a garden and in that garden suddenly he saw, I do not know its English, Nag Champa, the flower of which Shri Ramakrishna simply loved, Nag Champa, the whole plant is full of those flowers. Immediately he bought a basket and a piece of cloth and then wet the piece of cloth and took the permission of the gardener, filled the basket and he ran all the way back to the mutt. Why did he do that? It is because he remembered, Thakur loved these flowers and if I can offer it, that will be my greatest joy. He did not mind. Similarly, you remember the incident of Shri Ram. He started for his nephew's place in Medinipur early morning, several hours he walked and there it was about March-April when the pilva tree sheds all its leaves and these leaves of the pilva are very sacred to Lord Shiva and they were not getting. So he went and saw there is a new, plenty of new leaves have come on that plant. Immediately you know, he forgot all about his journey and he collected and then brought back, worshipped Lord Shiva to his heart's content and then his wife was asking, why did you come after several hours? Then he explained, she just was struck, mute with wonder, just because you saw some new bilvalis, you have taken the trouble, it is not going, turning a car. Yeah, so anyway, so these are the characteristics of a great soul. Everything reminds them of God. That is called intense yearning, means everything reminds them of God. Then yearning means, sometimes they feel in yearning, sometimes the mind is distracted. Tamasic yearning means, okay, anyway, the law says when God bestows his grace, I realize why make any effort, let God bestow. So it is always said, self-effort and grace of the self, they go together. So if we don't put forth the effort, then the grace also will not come forward. So this is the idea. So Thivarasamvaganam Asanaha, this intensity is classified into three, that is very small yearning, medium yearning and intense yearning. And depending upon how much yearning we have and our faith, our energy, our remembrance and our concentration and our resulting knowledge, all depends upon these steps. So the idea conveyed here is that instead of doing something else, you intensify your yearning, desire for God, everything else follows. We can do only our best. In spite of intense efforts, it is not possible. Sometimes as though huge mountains are standing right on our path, obstructing our reach in our goal at those moments, what are you going to do? So Patanjali introduces a most marvelous idea. Before we go into that idea, one important point we have to remember is Sankhya Yoga, the school of philosophy, which Indian philosophy is divided into six schools of philosophy. They are subdivided into three schools because two to schools are closely allied, Nyaya and Vaiseshika, Purvami, Mamsa and Vedanta, Sankhya and Yoga. As if one is the theoretical part, another is the practical part of it. Now Sankhya is the theoretical part of it and Yoga is the practical part of it. That is why in Yoga, hardly there is any mention of what is called philosophy. It is all practice and practice and practice. So the Sankhya school of philosophy doesn't believe in God. It only believes in two things. What are these? Patanjali and Purusha, that is the consciousness principle and everything else is inert, non-conscious nature. Nature means inert thing. Now where is the place for God? Whereas Vedanta, it believes in God. It begs the grace of God, it says, O Lord, please bestow your grace, whereas in Sankhya you cannot do that, but Patanjali deviates because through practical experience we see sometimes adamantine walls are standing right in front of us, not allowing to do anything that we would like to do. What will you do? The 23rd aphorism says, Ishwara pranidhanatva. This asampragnata samadhi or God realization, self-knowledge may also be attained through devotion to Ishwara. The principle of bhakti is introduced here. It is most interesting because bhakti is possible only when there is a duality. Duality means here is a better man, here is an inferior man, here is a superior man. The inferior man has to bow down to the superior person, that is called bhakti. You accept you are my superior, I have something to learn from you. In fact, we do not use the word grace, but that is what it means. When you go to a doctor, even including you may be a doctor also, but when you have a problem, what do you do, you go to a bigger doctor or someone who you think can help you, cure you. And then what do you say, will you have a look at me, these are the words we use, will you have a look at me, I have this problem. Inside what are you telling translated, please be gracious, please find out my disease, find out the right remedy, everything depends upon you. And you know, if there is surgery, then just before anesthesia is applied, what will you be taking, take refuse in home, I hope this doctor is alright, I hope this anesthesiologist is also okay, I hope he has not taken any other drugs. You know, the self-surrender comes automatically before any surgery, even smallest surgery also. Yeah, I experienced it, I tell you the secret because you are my good devotees. Whenever I sit in the dentist's chair and then you know when you sit like that, you get some energy, he puts you absolutely down and then open your mouth and then he brings that instrument, my God, you all know what I am talking about, what is Holy Mother, please see that it is not too painful, it is bearable pain, are you alright Swami, excellent, but I can't say excellent, human life, just it can be squeezed like we squeeze some fruit juice like that and yet how much of ego, how much of you know pride, how much of hurt feelings we have, surrender, practice surrender to Ishwara, that is called devotion. What does it mean? Oh Lord, I am helpless, I have done my best and I am unable to reach you. This idea Shri Ram Krishna is putting so beautifully in the form of a small example, you know at night the police inspector goes round to watch for thieves and other things, he has a powerful torch, he can see everybody else, everything else, but nobody can see his face, but someone has a desire, I would like to see your face, what do you need to do, go and pray, please turn the torch on yourself, I may be able to see you, in fact when we are doing this Aratrikam in the evening, why do we show the light in the first place, what is the symbolism of that light, light is always symbolism of knowledge, so this is not a picture, this is the divine Lord himself, so that light as it were is opening up, destroying our ignorance and telling us here is the Lord, look at him properly, all symbolism, our whole life it goes only through symbols, my words are symbols, language is a symbol, you are seeing me, are you seeing me, no, you are seeing a symbol in the mirror of your heart through the organ of your sense organs, you are hearing like that, then you are interpreting it in so many different ways. The commentary goes the mind must always travel between two extremes, you can think of limited space, but the very idea of that gives you also unlimited space, close your eyes and think of a little space and at the same time that you perceive the little circle, you have a circle round it of unlimited dimensions, it is the same with time, try to think of a second, you will have the same act of perception to think of time which is unlimited, so also with knowledge. What does this beautiful but peculiar commentary really mean, whenever in life whatever we are experiencing it moves in dualities, where are you, there, where am I, here, if I ask you where are you, would you say I am there or do you say I am here and where are you, Swami, you are there, for me there is, for you there is me, you see the opposites, if I am saying 4.30, that means there is something also not 4.30, it could be morning, it could be night, it could be anything, so if I say here, you have at the same time the idea there. Now come to think of it, what do you mean by there, how much, 10 feet, 100 feet, 300 light years, where is the limit, if I say this is 4.30 or 5 o'clock, that means if you are aware of time, you are also aware of timelessness and that timelessness is not real timelessness, if we are saying this is finite, then how do you know this is finite, with regard to infinity, but is that infinity really infinity, because you can never think of timelessness, what tell me, what time can you think of timelessness, night at 12 o'clock, you can never think of timelessness, because you live, the very question you are asking is from within the framework of time, the very space we are thinking of in the framework of space, time, space and causation, these are all dualities, limitedness, the opposite of what we think, if this is limited, something is unlimited, that unlimitedness is not true real unlimitedness, it is a opposite idea that we are forced to live in, what is all these ideas leading to, they are leading to the concept of God, who is God, he is one who is beyond time, beyond space, beyond causations and coming back, what is time, space and causation, that is called bondage, limitation means bondage, bondage means limitation, limitation means living in the framework of time, space and causation, and that is why we feel insecurity, we want to go beyond time, limited time, space and causation limits, and how can you go there, that is called asampragnata samadhi, that is called brahma sakshatkar, that is called atman, that is called God realization, that is called the kingdom of heaven, whatever name you give, can you attain it, you cannot attain it, what is the way, surrender yourself to your concept of that unlimited, not to the real unlimited, you cannot, but to surrender to your understanding of unlimitedness, which is called eshwara, eshwara pranidhana dva, then here is an element of devotion, what is the devotion, I am helpless, I tried my best, I am unable to reach that goal, by your grace, I would like to reach that goal, when that feeling of helplessness comes, then only we can, that prayer from the bottom of our heart springs up, I am helpless, please help me, otherwise you can't, after nice, nice having, nice breakfast, you sit and say, oh God, I am really helpless, please help me, it is not going to come, so Patanjali introduces this beautiful idea, now who is this eshwara, because according to him, according to Sankhya philosophy, there can be no eshwara, all are equal, that is consciousness, purusha means not man, purusha means consciousness, so in consciousness there are no differentiations, if there is no differentiation, then where comes this personal God, I am a jiva, limited soul, individual soul and you are God, unlimited, where comes the idea and yet in our helplessness, we have no option but to surrender ourselves to God, but we are surrendering to what, we are using that word eshwara, what is your concept of eshwara, so Patanjali goes here, klesha karma vipaka asayai aparamrishtaha purusha visheshaha eshwaraha, eshwara is a special kind of being untouched by ignorance and the products of ignorance, not subject to either karmas or the result of karmas or samskaras or the result of actions, this is an idea that requires a little bit of elaboration, we are in bondage, to whom are you going to surrender, another person who is in bondage, no, another being who is completely unbound, free because if one person is not free, the other person also can never help, this is the simple truth, that is why we can never pray to any God, we can only pray to the highest being who is completely free, free from what? Free from what means, what are you bound with and he is free from that bondage and what are we bound with, only one, what is that, ignorance, what is ignorance? What is ignorance? Not knowing who we are, we think we are somebody else, this is called avidya, the word vidya, the word jnana, the word sakshatkara, they are all synonymous terms, jnana, ajnana, vidya, avidya, knowledge, ignorance, what is ignorance and how does it manifest, this is where such beautiful rational way he presents to us, how do we know, what is ignorance, how do we know? Very briefly, we will discuss in our next classes, avidya manifests in 5 different forms, ignorance manifests in 5 different forms, this ignorance, it leads to egotism, egotism leads to attachment and likes and dislikes, attachment and intense hatred and intense clinging to life, so this is klesha, these are called kleshas, kleshas means that which lead to bondage is called a klesha, that which leads to suffering, grief, pain is called klesha and it has 4 characteristics, mistaking the impermanent for the permanent, mistaking the impure for the pure, mistaking pain for pleasure, mistaking the non-self as the self. First, what is impermanent, we take it as permanent, what is permanent in this world, is there anything permanent, therefore to expect that anything will be permanent will be a permanent ignorance, it is not, but we do not understand it, oh I am going to live for a long time, that is why humorously put it you know, are you free from ignorance, yes Swami, are you sure, yes Swami, do you pay insurance, yes Swami, if you are paying insurance what does that mean, that means you think you are not going to die soon, at least soon, that is why if you are thinking at this moment I am going to die, do you pay, will you pay your insurance, so mistaking the impermanent for the permanent, mistaking the impure for the pure, what is pure, one human body is attracted to another human body, what is pure in that human body, tell me, what is it consisting of, see Ramakrishna's graphic words, mistaking pain for pleasure, when you are eating some nice thing and you feel great pleasure, is it a pleasure, when I was eating sweet, I felt tremendous pleasure, now when the doctor prescribed metformin, I do not feel so much of pleasure, mistaking the non-self for the self, our body we think that is the self, who are you, what is your CV, whenever you apply for a job, what do you say, this is my CV, I am so and so, these are my qualifications, what are you talking about, it is all nothing but non-self, mistaking the non-self for the self, this is what is called avidya, these are the characteristics of avidya, which we will discuss in our next class. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.