Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 062

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMAVIDVISHAHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRANJALI RANATHOSME I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar and of the body through medicine. In our last classes we have been discussing the second chapter of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras called Sadhana Pada. In this Sadhana Pada we are specially discussing what is the cause of our bondage. Cause of our bondage is Avidya, ignorance. What is ignorance? Ignorance that we are the pure consciousness and not what we really feel the body and mind. What is the cause of this ignorance? It is indiscrimination, absence of knowledge etc. That is the real cause. Now we are entering into the most interesting topic. Are we progressing in spiritual life? Are we progressing in the path of yoga? Is it happening or are we just under the delusion that we are progressing in spiritual life? How do we know? When we read any scripture, for example the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, we also have this same problem whether we are really progressing in spiritual life. We may be studying the gospel, we may be meditating upon God, we may so far as we understand sincerely feel that we are spiritual aspirants. Everything is fine but how do we know that we are progressing towards our goal? How do we know we are becoming yogis? There must be certain science must be there and it's very important for us. Even in normal day-to-day life also we have to apply this principle. If we are sick and go to a doctor, doctor has diagnosed, given medicine and then are we progressing? How do we know? To the extent that our disease becomes less, we become more healthy and the same analogy also applies here also. What is our normal state? We are healthy people. Disease is not our normal state. How do we know? Whatever is our normal state, our body and mind, it tries to go back to that state. Have you seen a spring? So you try to press it down. What happens? It only goes up. The moment we release the pressure, immediately it goes up. Similarly, you plant a small seed. What is its natural state? It breaks the ground and starts growing towards the light. You may put it in darkness but it grows towards the light. What is a human being's most natural thing? We want to be healthy. That is the first thing. We want to live long time. That is also the first thing. We want to be very happy because that is our nature. To be unhealthy bodily is not our nature. To be unhappy in the mind is also not our nature. These are the most natural things. Even a child doesn't observe this. Oh, let me be sick. What is there? I can enjoy my sickness. I am not happy. Even the child will not be able to give an explanation but it will also automatically, naturally, it cries, I want to be free from these situations. But do we always grow towards health, both physical and mental, and grow spiritually? So that is where our quest starts. We have to have some kind of discrimination. Yoga teachers are totally aware that every now and then we have to pause. Interestingly, when we are traveling on the road, nowadays GPS system is there. So how many more miles to the destination? How much more time? As we are going towards the destination, the time, the length, it becomes shorter and shorter and shorter until then suddenly you have reached your destination. So it is the same thing, GPS, Guru Parampara system. This is Guru Parampara system so far as we are concerned, GPS system. So what is the way for spiritual progress? Viveka Khyati, the developing discrimination. What is discrimination? This is me and this is not me. Simple statement of fact which Holy Mother also makes. What does a man grow when he realizes God? Does he grow two horns? No, only discrimination grows. That's what happens. We have completed 26 aphorisms. We are entering into the 27th. Tasya Saptadha Prantabhumi Pragnya. Pragnya means that discriminative knowledge which really tells us where we are. It progresses, it goes forward in seven steps. Saptabhumi, seven planes of consciousness. Saptachakras, according to the Tantra, what do we call them? Seven chakras, according to Vedanta, Saptabhumi, seven planes of consciousness. According to Christianity mentioned last class, Saint Teresa of Avila says seven mansions. She gave the imagery of a beautiful building. In that building there are seven rooms, not parallel rooms but one room is another room, the outermost room. Inside there is a bigger room. Inside there is a little bit smaller room. And the most, the central place, that is our destination which is the God himself. These are imageries. We should not take it in a geographical sense. Also in the next room there is a temple, model of a temple. This is a very famous temple in South India. If you notice from any side, from any direction, there are seven prakaras, seven compound walls. One within each other. That is what Saint Teresa of Avila is telling. Within our human being also. It is not a geographical location. Starts from the bottom of the backbone and then slowly goes towards the head. It should not be taken in that light. It should be one within the another. Go to the innermost. Go to the innermost. Go to the innermost. When we come to the truth, then this is the truth. Nobody need tell it. It is self-approving, self-certifying. When the sun rises, you don't need to ask, is this the sun? Until that time, is this the sun? No. There is a doubt. Why is there doubt? Because this doesn't seem to approximate to the truth. But when the sun rises, nobody need tell. It is called self-effulgent, self-illuminating. Let me read the commentary given by Swami Vivekananda for this aphorism. The experiencer gains this discriminative knowledge in seven steps advancing toward the highest. When this knowledge comes, it will come as it were in seven grades, one after the other. And when one of these has begun, we may know that we are getting knowledge. The first to appear will be that we have known what is to be known. The mind will cease to be dissatisfied. While we are aware of thirsting after knowledge, we begin to seek here and there. Wherever we think we can get some truth and failing to find it, we become dissatisfied and seek in a fresh direction. All such is vain until we begin to perceive that knowledge is within ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help ourselves. When we begin to practice the power of discrimination, the first sign that we are getting near truth will be that that dissatisfied state will slowly vanish. We shall feel quite sure that we have found the truth and that it cannot be anything else but the truth. Then we may know that the sun is rising, that the morning is breaking for us, and taking courage, we must persevere until the goal is reached. The second grade will be that all pains will be gone. It will be impossible for anything in the universe, physical, mental or spiritual, to give us pain. The third will be that we shall get full knowledge, that omniscience will be ours. Next will come what is called freedom of the chitta. We become free from the chitta. We shall realize that all these difficulties and struggles have fallen off from us. All these vacillations of the mind, when the mind cannot be controlled, have fallen down. Just as a stone falls from the mountain top into the valley and never comes up again, the next will be that this chitta itself will realize that it melts away into its causes whenever we so desire. Lastly, we shall find that we are established in our own self, that we have been alone throughout the universe. Neither the body nor mind was ever connected with us, much less joined to us. They were working their own way, and we, through ignorance, imagined that we joined ourselves to them. But we have been alone, omnipotent, omnipresent, ever blessed. Our own self was so pure and perfect that we required none else. We required none else to make us happy. For we are happiness itself. We shall find that this knowledge doesn't depend on anything else. Throughout the universe, there can be nothing that will not become effulgent before our knowledge. This will be the last state, and the yogi will become peaceful and calm, never to feel any more pain, never to be again deluded, never to touch misery. He knows he is ever blessed, ever perfect, almighty. This is the beautiful commentary that has been given by Swami Vivekananda in his book Raja Yoga. Now, there is another way of looking. I am jumping to that because that is much more sensibly laid, more beautifully, more logically, rationally presented before us. These are called in the path of Vedanta, means in the path of knowledge. Saptabhumis, or they are also called Jnanabhumis, planes of knowledge. First thing, Shubha Iccha, means the desire for truth. Second will be Vicharana, investigation into the truth. Third is called Tanumanasi, pure and attenuated mind. Fourth is called Sattvapatti, the realization of the truth. Asamsakti, a detached outlook on the universe and its contents. Next is called Padarthabhavani, untainted awareness of self. The last is Turiya, the highest and indescribable state of realization. Now, the Sanskrit word should not keep us away, but what it means is a beautiful explanation follows here. First, to wean from unedifying associations and desires, knowledge of the supreme is the first plane called Shubha Iccha. Somehow the desire comes. I have been wandering all over this so-called transmigratory existence since aeons. I have lost my way. I want to go back to my own place. Mano chalo nija niketane. That is called Shubha Iccha, that is an auspicious desire. What is an auspicious desire? Any desire that leads us towards God, that is called auspicious desire. Any other desire, even if it may look nice from the worldly point of view, is not real desire. For example, someone may feel, I want to help people. That is not Shubha Iccha, that is Punya Iccha. That is what you call a meritorious desire, good desire, but not auspicious desire. What is auspiciousness? We have to be very careful about these words. May we hear with our ears what is auspicious. May we see with our eyes what is auspicious. What does it mean? Early morning you get up and see a most richest person. Is that called seeing auspicious something? No. May we see something which reminds me of God. That is why I mentioned to you, early morning when we get up, what is the first thing we have to see? The feet of God or any holy person, the face of any holy person. I also jokingly told you, you know, it's always good to have that habit. Because if you look at your own face and something untoward happens, then you can't blame. You don't want to blame yourself. But if you look at God, at least you can blame God. What is the good of blaming God? If you blame yourself, you will become more depressed. If you blame God, then there is every chance you progress towards God. After all you are thinking of God only. There is a funny incident, you know. Once somebody reported to Sri Ramakrishna that such and such a person is abusing you. Sri Ramakrishna's face lighted up. He said, what a nice thing. He is only thinking of me. He may be abusing me, but he is only thinking of me. Actually if somebody hates you, you pat yourself. Because that is such a wonderful thing to be hated. That person most, in this world nobody cares for anybody. In this world where nobody cares for anybody, somebody is intentionally, focussedly, concentratedly thinking about you. How, what a good fortune it is. This is Subhecha means that desire which always takes us towards God. Second, to associate with enlightened sages, learn from them and reflect on the truth is called investigation. What was the second commandment of Sri Ramakrishna's five commandments? Satsanga, holy company. Always we feel we must seek holy company, learn from them so that we can progress towards God. Third, to be free from desires by meditating on the truth with faith is the attenuation of the mind. So this is a most wonderful thing again. What is our problem? What is ignorance? Ignorance is not to know what we are. Ignorance is also not to know what is our bondage. Ignorance is not to know about ignorance. Ignorance is more importantly not to know who we are. How do we know there is ignorance? We say we are ignorant. How do we know we are ignorant? Because there will be desires. What desire? I want to be happy. Imagine a fellow who has been given royal dishes and he is eating and he is shouting I want to eat. What is he doing? He is eating. Is it not madness to say plenty of food is there, more than he could eat and he is shouting I want to eat. You are eating. What is the point? The point is even though he is eating, he is not aware that he is doing exactly what he is desiring to do it. What are we shouting? What is this analogy for? I want to be happy. What is your nature? To be happy only. Are you a happy person or not? Yes, you are a very happy person. But are you a happy person really? All the time you are having, cherishing hundreds of desires, sometimes impossible desires. Why? What is the problem? Problem is we do not know that we do not need any desires. We are what we are seeking. I am the happiest person because happiness is my own nature. Nobody takes me away from my own happiness. But I do not understand that. I am totally ignorant of that. That is called Maya. So what happens? Avidya comes in the form of what? Desires. And doubts. Desires come and doubts also come. I mentioned the incident. There was one monk who day and night he used to study Vedanta scriptures. And somehow he felt intellectually that he is Brahman, he is God. And he started declaring it to people. I have realized the truth. I am Brahman. Of course the other monks kept quiet. Because we smile at ourselves when somebody says I am a God-realized soul. A God-realized soul does not come and shout I am a God-realized soul. If anybody shouts I am a God-realized soul, then the first thing is we have to doubt his very sanity. So this man, he once came to Belur Math. He was an elderly monk. And he met the President of the Order, Swami Shivananda. And he was audacious enough to declare to Swami Shivananda, I am a realized soul. Mahapurush Manas looked at him and asked, sometimes do you get doubts that you are a realized soul? He said yes. Then you are not realized. Because doubts will not come. He is so certain. He doesn't need anybody's certificate. Even if the whole world comes and says you are mad, he doesn't care because he knows what is the truth. What is the point here? We are all possessed by ignorance. What is the ignorance? Ignorance that I am a happy person. Ignorance that I am a deathless person. I am immortal. I am eternal. I am Sat, Chit and Ananda. Naturally, when I do not know that I am Sat, Chit and Ananda, what will be my anxiety? I want to be Sat. Means I want to live forever. I want to be Chit. I want to know everything. And what is the thing I never wanted to be? What is my point? What am I trying to convey to you? Point is, how do we know we are ignorant? Desires will be there. So long as there are desires, then we are ignorant people. A realized soul, does he have any desire? Will he have any desire? Absolutely none, because there is nothing more to be desirable. He knows I am everything. So what can you desire? So to be free from desires, by meditating on the truth with faith, is the attenuation of the mind. This is the third stage. Fourth, the shining forth of the highest knowledge in the mind, owing to the development of certain conditions, is realization. Fifth, to be free from illusion by firm realization of truth, is the detached on-look on the universe. That is to say, when we have reached such a state, that I have realized the truth, I do not have any attachment. Again this word attachment, do you know what is attachment? Attachment means desire. I want this, and I do not want that. These both are attachments. We call it, we do not call it, don't call it detachment. What is the opposite of attachment? Detachment. So attachment means I want something. I depend upon it. I cannot live without it. What is the detachment? Just the opposite. But never mistake these two. A person will be so much attached to God, he doesn't want anything else. Do you want money? No. Do you want anything else in this world? No. If you remember, Agnivalkya was a rich man, householder, and he wanted to take to monastic life. So he had two wives, he called both wives, and he told, I want to take to the life of renunciation. I have got so much of property, I am dividing it equally between you two, and you will be looked after very well because there is so much of wealth. One wife, she took meekly. Then the other wife, she questioned him. Will I attain what you wanted to attain through wealth? Will I attain immortality? Will I attain God-realization? That means, will I obtain all the results of God-realization by having wealth in this world? Categorical answer was, no. You will be having conveniences, gadgets, instruments, like any rich person in this world, but you will not attain immortality. There is no hope of immortality through limited means. The unlimited, the infinite cannot be attained by the finite, by the limited. Categorical answer. Immediately the wife says, then I do not want this. I want only what you are after. What you know, teach me. Actually, he was a realized soul. Immediately he teaches. One of the most sublime teachings Yajnavalkya gives to the whole world in the form of a conversation. And you know, we have heard so many times. I have mentioned it so many times. No wife loves her husband for the sake of the husband. She loves her husband for the sake of the self. What is that self? That which is true within the husband. And no husband loves his wife for the sake of the wife, but for the sake of the self which is hidden in the wife. Just I will dwell very briefly on this. What is this self that we are talking about? What does a wife expect from her husband? That he should always love her. Is it not? What does a husband expect from his wife? His wife means everything in this world. Husband means everything in this world. So what does the husband expect? I want my wife to love me forever. What a ridiculous thing. If the wife is what is called wife and not the self, is it possible for the wife or husband to love each other forever? It is impossible. Do you know why? First of all, you divide the whole 24 hours. You must love me forever and ever. Okay, I am pledging you. I am promising you. I will love you 24 hours a day. How much time does the wife sleep? 8 hours. 8 hours. No loving husband. Also vice versa. How many hours are left out? 16 hours. In these 16 hours, the wife also has to do something. How much time do you think she is remembering her husband? How much time do you think that she is remembering her own self? I am going to ask you that question. How much time do you think of others? How much time do you think of yourself? Who is thinking about others? We are all thinking about whom? Our own selves. Keep it in your mind. This is the greatest truth. Either we are thinking about what we call our worldly self, body and mind. If we are realized souls, then what would we be thinking? About the real self. In either case, we are not thinking about anything else in this world. Whether it is a wife or husband or parents or children, friends, enemies. Everybody is only thinking about their own self. So this is the greatest truth Yagnivalika taught to his wife. No one loves anything else in this world but for the sake of the self. Self means what? That which is permanent. What was my point? My point is that even if a wife loves her husband, even if a husband loves his wife, they can only think of each other for a very, very short time. And even if they think about others for a short time, they are only thinking in the context of their own self, not in the context of the other self. This is the truth. It is time that we wake up to this truth. And yet we are under the delusion. Somebody loves me. Somebody cherishes me. Somebody values me. I am very valuable. Your value is zero. But you become very valuable, the highest value, because a one is added to the zero. And what is that one? I. That's all. You are valuable because of me. This is the simplest truth. So to be free from desires by meditating on the truth with faith is the attenuation of the mind. We have come here. To be free from illusion by firm realization of truth is the detached outlook on the universe. When we progress to the fifth state, fifth bhumi, then what happens is that we develop a detached outlook on the universe. Do you know what is the detached outlook? Not a look of indifference. The word detached is not a very good word actually. What it really means is I look upon anything else in a different light. Previously I am looking upon it in a different light. Now I look upon it in a totally different light. What is the different light? Previously I was looking upon myself also as non-self. I am the body. I am the mind. I am also looking upon everything else also exactly in the same light. But now I start looking upon myself as the real self. And so I also look upon everything else as real self only. Here is again another nugget of truth. The truth is we look upon the whole universe as we look upon our own selves. If I think I am the non-self, the whole world also remains to me as non-self. If I look upon myself as self, then the world also appears to me as none other than the self. In simple words, if I think I am not God, even I think of God also as non-God. But if I know I am God, then I look upon everything also as God. Do you know why? Because how many Gods can be there? There is only one God. This is the simple truth. Sixth state. The bliss of the non-dual self, devoid of triads, knower, knowing, known and so on is untainted awareness of self. When a person reaches the sixth plane, then man becomes free from the triad. Triad means the object to be known, the subject who wants to know and that means of knowing what these two are. You know English grammar is very interesting. In the grammar, for a sentence to be a complete sentence, at least three things are necessary. Do you know that? Subject, object and a verb. Subject, a predicate and a verb. Rama kills Ravana. Otherwise it is not a complete sentence. Suppose you say Rama, Ravana. What is the meaning of Rama and Ravana? What do you want to convey? It is not a complete sentence. Where is the meaning? Rama killed Ravana. That makes sense. This is called triad. Triad means what? In our world of ignorance, because there are so many things, I am the subject and everything else is the object and that which connects me with the object, that is called verb. This is called triad. The knower, the known and the means of knowledge. This is called triad. Triputi. For those who are interested, it is called Triputi. So in this sixth state, the bliss of the non-dual self, devoid of triads, is untainted awareness of self. The man is aware. Only the self is shining and nothing else. And the last stage is sublime silence of the very nature of self is Turiya. There is nobody to tell, no one to be told. It is all unbroken, undivided, Akhanda, Satchitananda, Paramatman. These four states are again, this is academic, these seven states are divided into four states. One who functions in the first three planes is called an aspirant after realization. Second, one who functions in the fifth, no, one who functions in the fourth Bhumika is called a Brahmavit, knower of Brahman. One who functions in the fifth plane is called Brahmavidwara, a little more advanced aspirant. Third, one who functions in the sixth plane is called a Brahmavidwaranya. And lastly, one in the seventh plane is called Brahmavidwarishta. These Sanskrit terms might somehow put you off, but I am going to simplify it. Simply, how do we measure spiritual progress? So here is what I am going to do it. Spiritual progress or any progress in life, spiritual or worldly, can be measured in two ways. Anuloma and Viloma, positive way and negative way. First let us deal with the positive way and this would be much easier thing for us to understand. I have only put them in a simplest words rather than with all those Sanskrit terminology etc. What is the first step? Again seven steps. What is the first step? Developing awareness. We know what the mind is thinking, including in our subconscious mind. We know a little bit of psychology, not much, a little bit of psychology. Do you know why? If we know psychology 100%, then the first persons to be affected would be two. Psychologists and psychiatrists and secondly all the mental hospitals. They will be vanishing forever. But what is our problem? We neither know about our conscious state, neither know about subconscious state. We have a little bit of false, partial, misinterpreting type of knowledge. But when we start progressing in spiritual life, what happens you know? We become aware what the mind is thinking, including why it is thinking that way. We do something, we talk something, we think something else. Ramakrishna used to tell you know, spiritual aspirants must be too deeply hidden. No one should know that I am a spiritual aspirant. He says here is a spiritual aspirant. He is loudly uttering the name of Shiva. But all his outward signs indicate that he was a follower of Vishnu. But deep in his heart, he is only meditating upon the Divine Mother. He was meditating upon the Divine Mother, put on the signs to deceive people that I am a Vaishnava. And then he is loudly uttering the name of Shiva. Where is the connection? That is what happens in a funny way. We think something, we say something and we do totally different things. No wonder so much, why we are not in the lunatic asylum? Because there is not enough space. Those who suffer less from mental problems are admitted in the mental hospitals. The rest of them, there is no place, that's why we keep them outside. What is the first sign of spiritual progress? Our crystal clear knowledge of what our mind is thinking and why it is thinking. Second, we become more rational, tolerant, forgiving and understanding of others. This doesn't need elaborate commentary. What is rationality? We all think that we are all rational. We give elaborate rational explanations for whatever we do. Just to give an example, you know the terrorist blows somebody and kills so many people. Just imagine what is happening nowadays. Harami or Bukhami. 2000 people, they just went and then butchered in one day. I think one day, I am not sure. Whatever it is, 2000 like us. I cannot imagine how these people... You ask them, is it rational? He will give you 150 pages of psychoanalysis and tell you how rational he is and all those fellows, how irrational they are. This is what. The more rational we become, the more tolerant we become. You know, we are very intolerant towards anybody else and we become as a result of this introspection, forgiving, more forgiving. You know, people offend us. Consciously, unconsciously, intentionally, unintentionally, they go on offending us. The more spiritual we become, the more we don't have time to go on cherishing ill-will towards them and we have more understanding of others also. Why poor fellow, he is doing like this. I will give you an example also. Ramakrishna, he had a companion called Hajra. And this Hajra, one day, he upsets Ramakrishna for some reason. Ramakrishna was like a child. So he went to the Divine Mother and soon after came back. Then later on, he said, at first, he was very angry. Then afterwards, he said, poor fellow, how is he to know? The Divine Mother hasn't given him that understanding, that rationality. So this, and forgiving and understanding. What is the sign of forgiving? You know, there is English, we say, forgive and forget. So many people I asked, have you forgiven? Yes. Have you forgotten? No. So if anybody doesn't forget, did he really forgive? He is not doing anything. He is really genuinely, but inside he is still grouchy. He is still cherishing resentment against that person. So this is the second step. Become more rational, tolerant, forgiving and understand, these four characteristics. The third characteristic of spiritual growth, very, very important for us. Our Shraddha and Nishta, they grow phenomenally. Shraddha and Nishta. Shraddha, that there is faith that God exists and we are going to realise him by his grace. I repeat it, Shraddha means faith that God exists and we are going to realise him by his grace. I analysed it in the past. So many of us, we say we have faith in God. But really we don't have faith in God. Because if we have faith in God and at the same time we think we are not going to progress in life, that is not sign of faith in God. Because by definition God means he is all capable. That means even if I am most worthless, he is capable of lifting me up. As we grow in spiritual life, our faith not only in God but faith in ourselves also grows phenomenally. Then the second characteristic in this is Nishtha. You know what is Nishtha? Do you understand what is Nishtha? Nishtha means once we set a program, this is what I am going to do and we will never give up in our whole life. Like the example of Sabari, her guru told her that Rama is going to come. So be ready and every day she will gather until how long? Until she died and the last day Rama came. But Nishtha in spiritual life grows exponentially. So we will never give up. That is the third sign that we are growing spiritually. Fourth sign, Mumukshottam. Perseverance and patience grows. You know Mumukshottam means the desire to progress spiritually. The desire to realize God is called Mumukshottam. The desire to become free, to be liberated is called Mumukshottam. Desire for liberation and perseverance. We will never give up even if the whole world says you are going in the wrong way. Not only that, even if we feel that we are not going anywhere but I will not give up. I will go on doing it. Perseverance. Remember the story of Sri Ramakrishna? Two yogis sitting under two trees. Yes, even if I have to be reborn a billion times. Now I can ask you, those who know that story. The second yogi, the first yogi started weeping, Oh, I have to be reborn once more. The second yogi, Narada replied, Do you see the tree under which you are sitting? It is a tamarind tree. Tamarind tree leaves are small, big tree but very small leaves. Billions and billions of leaves. So many times you have to be reborn and then God will come. He immediately jumped up with joy and said, Oh, how gracious God is. Now my question to you is, this is how you have to meditate. Suppose Narada says, God told me that you have to go on doing spiritual practices for eternity. You are never going to get God realized. Suppose he said that. What would you think would be his reaction? I would say, he would be dancing even more vigorously than before. You know why? Because thinking of God is itself the greatest joy he is deriving already. He says, I was afraid God will come and put a stop to my spiritual practice. Now I am assured that I am going for eternally. Nobody is going to stop my thinking about God. You know, that is the most wonderful thing. Our desire for liberation and perseverance in our sadhana by following the path of what our Guru instructs us to do and patience, our patience grows. Why do we become patient? You know why we become patient? Because we become impatient. Impatience means what? I can do whatever I like quickly now itself. It is a very wonderful thing. Once I was having a conversation with a person and that person is telling, oh, for some reason the plane was delayed. We were sitting and then he is telling, these damn fellows, always there is trouble. It is only rarely trouble is there. Not always. If you have flied 100 times, maybe once or twice, there may be slight delay for your own sake. So suppose I asked him, so what do you expect? Supposing we are going to reach the destination in 6 hours time. Oh, how nice it would be if we can reach in 3 hours time. Oh, how nice it would be if we can reach in 1 hour time. How nice it would be if we can reach in 5 minutes time. This conversation was going on. Then I asked him, suppose instantaneously you are placed in that. What are you going to do there? What are you now? Impatient. What would be after reaching the other place? You would be still impatient, isn't it? You have got 6 hours time to develop more patience. What are you going to do after reaching that place? We never think what we are going to do after accomplishing something. Our problem is this. I am not happy now. Then what are you going to do? I am doing something to become happy after 6 hours. Do you think you will be happy if you are not happy now? There is any guarantee you will be happy after 6 hours or 6 days? You will never be happy. This is something different and what we are doing is something different. We do not understand. We are learning our lessons through all these struggles. It is only through development of patience. Patience means what? Joyfully doing what we do. That is called doing patience. So 4th stage is our desire for liberation and perseverance in our spiritual practice. And patience for whatever circumstance grows. Fifth, we become acutely aware of the value of time. The more we progress in spiritual life, we become acutely aware of the value of time. So there are two types of using time. Using time and killing time. When a person is progressing in spiritual life, what do you think happens? His time killing activities slowly get reduced and time using activities will slowly grow. So we have to clearly understand the difference between these two. Suppose you go there into a friend's place, a devotee's place and you find him reading the gospel of Shri Ramakrishna. What are you doing? I am doing spiritual practice. What spiritual practice? I am reading the gospel of Shri Ramakrishna. Don't question further. Otherwise he will get angry. You will also get abused. Why? You ask him, are you reading the gospel because you want to progress in spiritual life? Or are you reading gospel because you have nothing else to do and you want to spend your time? Crucial difference is there between these two. Killing time and using time. So we are aware of one sort of killing time. You know you find somebody is reading some trashy magazine and why are you reading this? Or why are you watching some nonsensical film or something? Oh I am killing time. I have plenty of time on my hands. I don't know how to pass. That is we clearly recognize it. But do we recognize that a person can spiritually also kill the time? A person who doesn't have any other entertainment, he can go on doing japa. And you think what a spiritual person he is. Not necessary. Can you remember an example of this? Shri Ramakrishna was having a conversation with the father of Balrambasu. And then Shri Ramakrishna is remarking because always these people, they are Vaishnavas, they take a rosary and go on whatever even while talking also they go on doing this japa. So Shri Ramakrishna says why is that these people are doing so much japa and yet do not progress in spiritual life? Why because this doing japa itself is a way of passing time. It is their killing time. Killing time, it is good to think of God killing time instead of doing other trashy things. But from a spiritual point of view, it is only when there is I want to go to God, when that motive is clear and then only all these activities become valuable. Activity doesn't validate our motive. The motive which validates our activity. This is the difference. Sixth, we get more joy in spiritual matters. Whether you take God's name, you hear about God or you read spiritual books, watch something spiritual, listen to bhajans, whatever it is, there are two ways of watching these things. You sit in the shrine, again and again, how long is this Aarati, Vesper service going to take place? I have found people, you know, I sit after the Vesper service, I go and sit in the other room and start talking. So the moment Aarati is over, they jump up already, they go there, put on the light and they are sitting and waiting for me. Why? Because my talking is more entertaining to them than sitting and enjoying the Vesper service here. One has to be very analytical about it. So more joy in spiritual matters, more attachment towards spiritual concerns. Lastly, more detachment and indifference towards worldly concerns. So the more we progress in spiritual life, the less we are interested in any spiritual matter, even if the most important thing also. And it is not an indifference of coldness, but indifference because everything in this world is an illusion, not because it is a reality. So we should not think, if you tell to Shri Ram Krishna, so many people have been killed, it is a very interesting question. Suppose you meet Shri Ram Krishna and you know a terrorist has finished 2000 people, you ask him, Sir, how do you feel about this incident? What do you think his reply would be? He is least bit interested in it. Is it true that he will be disinterested? It is absolutely true. How do we know? Because Eshwar Chandra Vidya Sagar story, Eshwar Chandra Vidya Sagar read in history, Chengis Khan had slaughtered 100,000 prisoners. What effect did it produce in Vidya Sagar? He lost faith in God. What effect did it produce in Shri Ram Krishna? Nothing. Why you know? He said, this is the Leela of God. From that standpoint, what we now consider to be the absolute reality is just like a drama. It is only a dream. It is not the reality. It is very difficult to understand this non-dualistic philosophy. That is why for people who have concept of the reality of life, reality of this world, they have a different reaction towards life and the world. And those who know the truth, they have a totally different. And Shri Ram Krishna illustrates this through one very beautiful thing. Shiva and Parvati were sitting on Mount Kailash. Suddenly, boom, like that one sound is heard. Then Parvati was startled. She asked, Lord, what is that? Ravana is, after a second, boom, like that another sound. What is this sound? Ravana is dead. Now the point is, Ravanasura was born. He did lot of austerities. Then all this tapasya has been done. And then he got wounds. And then he started, he even kidnapped Sita. And Rama had to go. All this story, Ravana is born, Ravana is dead. How many people Rama killed? 14 Akshavani's he killed. All these demons he had killed. Now from our worldly point of view, what? God had slaughtered 14 million people. Whereas from the non-dualistic point of view, so much botheration is less now. So much nuisance is destroyed. If it is real, God is cruel. If it is unreal, then God is... So these are the seven methods, seven steps that I have enumerated. This is called Anuloma, positive way of looking. What is the negative way of looking? Just the opposite of all these things. To conclude, we can also think of spiritual progress in the form of five commandments of Sri Ramakrishna. What is the first commandment? God alone is the supreme concern in life. Cultivate holy company. What is holy company? That which makes us aware of God and His supreme reality. Third, no one can go into solitude and think only of God. Fourth, always discriminate that this world is temporary. Everything else, everything in this world is temporary. God alone is the reality. Lastly, live in this world like a maid servant lives in a rich man's house. She never thinks this is my house and I am permanent here. She says my home is elsewhere. I only come here to work. So this is how we have to meditate upon and then find out whether we are really progressing towards the Lord. This is the essence of what Patanjali wants to tell us in this 27th aphorism. To summarize it in one sentence, moving towards God and moving away from the world is the essence of spiritual progress. And to know whether we are doing that, all these characteristics have been enumerated here. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti