Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 095

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. We are discussing the special powers that can be obtained by a yogi through the practice of a special system of yogic practice called Patanjali Yoga practice, obtained through Patanjali Yoga Sutras. We had covered until aphorism 36. In the aphorism 34, there is something very special. That special something is without practicing any concentration, a yogi who obtains the power of intuition can get all those powers without any effort. So one way of obtaining these powers is through the practice of yoga as outlined by Patanjali. The other way of obtaining it is just to pray to God and powers will come automatically through intuition. And what a yogi is going to do with these powers is an entirely different issue. Aphorism number 37. Tathah Pratibha Shravana Vedana Adarsha Asvada Varta Jayante What this aphorism is telling us? When a yogi obtains this power of intuition, he can experience all the things that we ordinary people experience, but not only in this world, but in the divine worlds. Divine forms, divine smells, divine tastes, divine hearings, divine touches. We all are endowed with five sense organs and we experience the world through these five sense organs. Very interesting point is, if we lose any one of these sense organs, to that extent the world disappears from us and in deep sleep the whole world totally disappears from us. And from this experience Vedanta derives the corollary, we are not the world and the world has nothing to do with us. We are totally separate from the world. Why is it? There is a law. If we are the world, we can never get rid of it at any time. What happens in Samadhi? The whole world disappears. So what does that indicate? We have nothing to do with the world. We are totally separate. We have also discussed how to know the simple truth. Whatever we experience, that is not what we are. If you are seeing me, you are not me. If you are hearing me, you are not me, etc. Then what is this special power we are discussing? There are so many wonderful things in this world. We are totally convinced what we experience is the only world. But there are so many things which we do not experience. But we hear the stories from Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda, every saint and sage of every clime, every religion. Sometimes these powers even come to people who are not really even yogis. Somehow these powers come. What is the point here? If a person sincerely practices, then he experiences super sensory experience, divine sights, divine sounds, etc. That is being expounded in this Papurism 37 from Pratibha. Pratibha means intuition. When a person develops intuition, what happens? There arises the knowledge of hearing, touching, seeing, tasting and smelling, either ordinary or extraordinary. What is the difference between ordinary and extraordinary? You are able to see me. Do you need a yogic power? No. But supposing there is somebody who is 5000 miles away and he wants to see me. Can he see me or not? If he has yogic power, he can see me. He can hear me. Suppose someone of you have prepared very nice, let us say, rice pudding. It has come out very well. There is somebody sitting 5000 miles away and if he uses this power, what do you think he can do? He can taste. You see, two things we already understand. What is it? Dura Darshana and Dura Sravana. Dura Darshana means seeing things which are far off. Dura Sravana means hearing things which are far off. We experience it. How? What is your TV? Dura Darshana. And what is your smart phone? Dura Sravana. Already two yogic powers we have got. Next to 50 or 100 years back, you could not have imagined it. There is also another power, Akasha Gamana. Whenever you go to India, where were you sitting? Only in the Akasha. But two powers, that is touching and smelling, we have not yet got. Touching, smelling, seeing and hearing, yes, we have already got. But a yogi does not use these instruments spontaneously from the mind. He can do that. This is called ordinary experience. What is extraordinary experiences? Experiences that take place in extraordinary worlds. For example, do you believe that there is a world called Gandharva Loka? Do you believe that there is a heaven? Just to remind ourselves, though we know it, Sri Ramakrishna's mother, when Sri Ramakrishna was in her womb, she saw a small god riding a swan and he was also sweating. That's very important for us because you think by becoming gods you don't sweat. Yes, there also he has to work, which is more comfortable, riding on a swan or sitting comfortably in a first class business seat in an aeroplane. You see, what is the point? The amount of happiness, unhappiness we experience or any creature experiences in this world, same experiences, slightly different, will be experienced in heavens also. Mythological stories are there. Indra, where does Indra reside? In heavens, isn't it? Svarga Loka. And you think what is Svarga Loka? A great place of enjoyment, heavenly enjoyment. That's our understanding. But what happens, these Asuras, demons go there and then they kick them out of that place. They occupy the seat, just like our conservative government, labour government, conservative government, labour government. This is what is called Devasura Yuddha. And who are the gods? Whoever wins the elections, they are the gods. Whoever is defeated, they become Asuras. Next election, what do they do? This is going on all the time. You go anywhere, Brahma Loka also you go. One of our Swamis was joking, you know, you better come and attend my talks, progress in spiritual life, get liberated. If you don't, you will go to Brahma Loka, there Brahmaji takes classes and then I am only taking for one hour, but he will take 24 hours. What will you do at that time? What is the point I am telling? Whatever experiences we have here, in some degree, same experiences we have anywhere you go to any place called Loka. In fact, the very word Loka means that which can be experienced. That is called Loka. This way in Bengali, they use for man, they say Loke. Why is he called Loke? Because if he doesn't exist, Loka doesn't exist. If I don't exist, the world doesn't exist. When I am in deep sleep, does the world exist for me or not? Totally disappears. Without me, without this I, everything is blank. With me, everything becomes meaningful. So when a Yogi develops this intuition, flash of inner wisdom, he obtains super sensory hearing, super sensory feeling, super sensory seeing, super sensory tasting, super sensory smelling. All these powers are five sense organs. Important point is all these are sensory experience. Now what is the point? Here is the point. If a person experiences a small object, imagine he gets a small amount of happiness. If he experiences a high quality object, what does he experience? Higher amount of happiness. Now with this kind of happiness, we are bound. We desire it. May I have the same happiness again and again and again. If a person experiences higher happiness, which brings more bonding? Lower happiness or higher happiness? That is what Patanjali wants to say. Only point we have to keep in mind is, do not think these are all flights of imagination. All these are 150% real, true, they exist, they can bind us. In mythologies also, we get this, one of the most important points there, they are also subject to temptation. They are also subject to unhappiness, profound unhappiness. See suppose you fall from your chair onto the floor, you get a little bit hurt. Suppose somebody falls from heaven, what happens, who gets more hurt? So profound unhappiness comes when a person is moved from that attachment. In fact, attachment is dangerous for that reason. What is attachment? It is staying in one place. Then what happens? It changes. Either he falls or the object separation comes. When that separation comes, the more intense the attachment, the more intense also the experience of, yeah, I'll put it this way, suppose a person is terribly attached to some object and imagine, he gets 99% happiness from that attachment and when he is separated from the object of his attachment, how much grief he goes through, 99%. So that is the point Patanjali says, every saint, every sage says and here Patanjali is warning. Actually this aphorism could have been kept at the end of this chapter called Vibhuti Yoga or powers so that everything could be included. Why do I say so? Because even after warning us, he again enumerates other powers. He could have enumerated the whole lot. In the end, he could have said that these are all obstacles, a yogi should not pay attention to those things. He could have easily said that. Let me give you an example before we move on to the next aphorism, seeing divine things. So one day, Swami Turiyanandaji, he was in a very sacred place for Hindus called Jagannath Puri. He went, it's considered by devotees of Ramakrishna order as a very special place of pilgrimage. There are so many places of pilgrimages but there is gradation, have you noticed it? We don't consider every place the same. For example, Varanasi, is there any other place of pilgrimage comparable to Varanasi? Why is it the greatest? Because by just managing to stay there and die there, a person gets liberation. Think of it, even today if you are given a choice, do you want to go to Varanasi and die or do you want to go to Rameshwaram and die? What do you think will be the answer? Why? Because about Rameshwaram, they didn't say that if you die there, it's a great place of pilgrimage or Tirupati. But there is nowhere mentioned when a person dies in Tirupati or Rameshwaram or Kanyakumari, he is going to get liberation. Nowhere it is said. But Varanasi, all Hindus believe it, Sri Ramakrishna confirmed it, etc. What is my point here? There is an hierarchy. Hierarchy means what? I can make a little bit of fun. Hierarchy means what? I am always finding where do I get greatest benefit? Varanasi. Because without doing anything, just managing to stay there and die, one gets liberation. I don't think any religion promises liberation, such an easy liberation. Just you have to go. And they didn't say, they didn't put any restrictions and say you have to observe this and this and this and then die, then you will get liberation. Just you go there from morning till evening, go on enjoying whatever you want to do, don't move from that place. This is the faith we have. What is the point here? Ramakrishna devotees consider, Sri Ramakrishna considered, Holy Mother considered and Ramakrishna's disciples considered, we also, everyone have considered Jagannath Puri is one of the greatest places of pilgrimage and it acquired a special speciality, special power. Do you know why? By the 18 years stay of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Swami Turiyanandaji and Swami Brahmanji was very fond of, he went, Swami Turiyananda, one day he went into the shrine room and you know who is the deity there? Lord Jagannath. What was Swami Turiyananda looking at? He saw Jagannath Mahaprabhu, next moment it was Sri Ramakrishna. Now by that time Sri Ramakrishna had already passed away. Now Sri Ramakrishna passed away means his body has fallen, but Sri Ramakrishna is there, Holy Mother is there, all of them are there in subtle bodies, Devaloka you can say, Ramakrishnaloka and Swami Turiyananda, he was looking, wondering and Sri Ramakrishna explained to him, I am Jagannath. What a great thing! I am Jagannath. Is it right? Because what does the Upanishads say, Brahmavid, Brahmaiva, Bhavatiye Nohira, Brahman becomes Brahman himself. When a person becomes Brahman, what is it that he doesn't become? He is Jagannath, he is Rama, he is Krishna, he is everything including you, me and everything. He becomes everything. So there is no wonder, but here in a very special sense Sri Ramakrishna is the embodiment of all Gods and Goddesses, Sarva, Deva, Devi, Swaroopa. That is called divine vision, divine vision. Another experience, one day Swami Turiyananda, he was, I do not remember, either entering or coming out, I think entering, suddenly he smelled divine fragrance and he was looking here and there, there was nothing, no flowers, usually you know fragrance comes only from two sources, one is flowers, another is incense stick, incense stick. There was nothing there, neither incense stick nor anywhere, it didn't perhaps occur in the inside, but it occurred outside the periphery. He was wondering where from this, and he understood, he had never experienced such a fragrance in his life. Then Sri Ramakrishna appeared to him and explained to him, many Gods and Goddesses visit Lord Jagannatha for his darshana and from their bodies emanate this fragrance. Now Sri Ramakrishna's words are scripture, you have to believe, there is no other way and he said, then I understand why, because the God's bodies are not like our bodies, they are made up of divine element, still it is limited, but it is divine element, therefore their bodies never smell like it, very economical, you don't need to go all this, you know cosmetics and cosmetic surgery and all those things you don't need to do, that is one reason why you must become here. My only doubt was whether they visit during the visiting hours or they can come and have darshana at any given time. They prove conclusively and you know in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, in the life of Holy Mother, in the life of Swami Brahmananda, innumerable visions they had. Now what is a vision? What is a vision? Seeing the divine forms of Gods and Goddesses is called a vision, when by constant thinking about these divine beings on the form of these divine beings, when our mind becomes receptive, then we have the vision. Another important point just now came to my mind, you know, I just mentioned Swami Turiyananda had the vision of Sri Ramakrishna or suppose a devotee goes to Brindavan and has a vision of Sri Krishna, now where does Sri Krishna dwell, is a wrong type of question, but is the right type of question, where doesn't he dwell, but usually we say he is in Goloka or Vaikuntha or somewhere there, but when these yogis, great saints, when their minds become pure and when they acquire that intuitive capacity, will there be any so-called geographical location? Are you with me? What I am trying to tell you, from our earthly point of view, bodily point of view, there is a geographical location, you see Australia is somewhere, Dublin is somewhere, London is somewhere, is it not? So also we think Vaikuntha is somewhere, Kailasa is somewhere, etc. Can you imagine, there is Vaikuntha, is it in India or is it in UK? For a yogi, intuitive person, such a distinction doesn't exist, because whenever they open their eyes, they are in Vaikuntha or Kailasa, whichever is their favourite God or Goddess, they will be beholding, is it not? That's a very important point, that means you don't need to go anywhere, you can be right here and you can be, where are you? If you are beholding Lord Vishnu, where are you? If you are seeing Shiva, where are you? In Kailasa. Not only these divine beings, that's what Swami Vivekananda says, these several lokas we say worlds in Hindu mythologies, they are not somewhere, they are at every single point they are there, but we vibrate at a different level, they vibrate at a different level, that's why we cannot see them, they cannot see us, we can't hear them, they can't hear. But the point here is, this aphorism tells us, when a yogi gets that tremendous amount of intuitive power, intuitive, by the way, what is intuition? Intuition means bypassing all the five sense organs and direct perception, intuition means direct perception or experience of things which otherwise we are forced to experience through our five sense organs, that is called intuition. We move on to aphorism number 38, these are obstacles to Samadhi, but they are powers in the worldly state, beautiful explanation he is giving, all these powers, when a yogi gets, they can be terribly dangerous, they can be binding the person, they can degenerate the person, they can make a yogi fall from his power, from his state of attainment, he can fall, from the spiritual point of view, they are obstacles, from the worldly point of view, they are achievements, see, whether these powers are desirable or not depends upon from the point of outlook we have, for a worldly person, all these powers are highly desirable, but from a spiritual point of view, they are terrible dangers, why because a devotee cares a fig for these powers, if God offers them powers, what did Ramakrishna offer to Swami Vivekananda? Just before his passing away, he said, I have these Ashtashiddhis, eight powers, he offered to Swamiji, Swamiji asked one question, very important question, before saying yes or no, he asked one question, will they help me in realising God, Ramakrishna said no, they won't help you, but if you want to do some service to the world, then they can help you, Swami Vivekananda, very intelligent person, he said, I will decide later on, what did he say, first let me realise God, then we will think about these powers, outright he said, no, I don't want, he did not say that, in fact, do you think Sri Ramakrishna had just merely offered and withdrawn the offer, only there is a time limit, after two hours, I am withdrawing my free offer, did he say that, what did he say, he said, I am entering into you, I have offered my whole self, when Sri Ramakrishna offered himself to Narendranath, did he, automatically these powers will not go to him and Swami Vivekananda also used those powers, but very judiciously and only to people who deserve, so many times he did, the miraculous fact is, when they do these miracles, they appear to be like normal event, they don't appear to be miraculous thing, there is no show there, he will do all this noise and then he says like this and something comes out, just as, oh, what is the problem with you, so I don't have money, you will have money, simple example, you know, Holy Mother was at Jairambadi and for three consecutive years, there was a drought, the villagers came to Holy Mother, said, Mother, our children are, our animals are starving, if there is no rain this year, many people will die, many animals will die, Mother's heart melted in compassion and she went straight to the source of the miracle, who was that, Sri Ramakrishna and prayed, Thakur, your children are going to starve, next day onwards, for three continuous days, such an outpouring of rain was there and that year, the crop was what you call, a bumper crop, in the whole lives of those farmers, they never got such a wonderful crop, do you see what is the miracle, you don't see the miracle, if say, okay, you want rain, but the exact amount of rain at the correct time, at the right time and at the right amounts of rain, bumper crop, did she show any type of this thing, you see, all of you have to be very grateful, I am so like that, I will do, like there are so many modern people, you know, they dress in such a way, they do like that and all these horrible things when you witness, how naturally these things are happening, another devotee goes there and says, I have not had any spiritual experience, the very Baba, okay, you will have and he had it, as simple as that, there is no show at all, as though, okay, I want a glass of water, okay, Baba, I am giving you a glass of water, as simple as that and yet, these are such miraculous, that is why even today, there are so many, thousands of people after reading Sri Ramakrishna's life and claiming that they are devotees of God, the moment they hear that somebody is doing some miracle, Sri Ramakrishna is pushed aside, they run there, what a fool, where is your faith? So, these are obstacles to Samadhi, but they are powers in the worldly state, if the Yogi knows all these enjoyments of the world, it comes by the junction of the Purusha and the mind, if he wants to make Sanyama on this, that there are 2 different things, nature and soul, he gets knowledge of the Purusha, from that arises discrimination, when he has got that discrimination, he gets the Pratibha, Pratibha means intuitive power, the light of supreme genius and when he gets this, all these powers become his, these powers however are obstructions to the attainment of the highest goal, the knowledge of the pure self and freedom, these are as it were to be met in the way and if the Yogi rejects them, he attains the highest, if he is tempted to acquire these, his further progress is barred, during my talks, I gave the example of one Govinda Sethi, if you remember, a South Indian gentleman, he got the miraculous power, Sri Ramakrishna's life we get his 2 brothers, Chandra and Girija, they had the miraculous powers and Sri Ramakrishna out of his kindness, he withdrew those powers and in Sri Ramakrishna's life, we get, there was one Gauri Pandit, he had a miraculous power, as soon as his good fortune, he came into contact with Sri Ramakrishna, what happens? The miraculous powers is lost but Sri Ramakrishna fills their heart with discrimination, dispassion so that they can go to the source of Ananda, God himself, that's what we have to keep in mind. Now in the Gospel, in the great master, we have lots of sayings, so here I am going to read out some of them, Swami Vivekananda ruthlessly looked down upon the so-called miracles that create a commotion in the minds of people, I look upon miracles as the greatest stumbling block in the way of truth, when the disciples of Buddha told him of a man who had performed a so-called miracle and showed him the bowl, he took it and crushed it under his feet and told them never to build their faith on miracles but to look for truth in everlasting principles, he showed them the inner light, the light of the spirit which is the only safe light to go by, miracles are only stumbling blocks, let us brush them aside. Did not Buddha perform a miracle? Plenty of them did but there was this incident, in case you do not know, one day a man kept a bowl full of rice pudding on a high pole and said anybody who can reach that bowl, that pious we call you know, that is his and there was some Buddhist monk, he had this power and that power is mentioned here also, he just stretched his hand, it was very high and just as though from the shelves you take down something, he took down and he had that bowl of rice. This incident was reported to Buddha, one of your disciples did this, Buddha got very annoyed and scolded the monk, he just broke that bowl and said do not run because what was the purpose you came and these things will detract you from that, you know what we are thinking? He said okay Swamiji, I agree with you, let me first experience one such miracle, after that I will give it up, so that will give me faith, is it not? Yeah, if you hear that next to door Sathya Sai Baba is performing some miracles, I do not think one single person will remain here. Now Sri Ramakrishna says, the captain says, I have not acquired any occult powers because I eat fish, I tremble with fear, lest I should acquire these powers, if I should have them then this place would be turned into a hospital or a dispensary, people would flock here and ask me to cure their illnesses, is it good to have occult powers, he is asking, no sir, you have said to us that a man cannot realise God if he possesses even one of the eight occult powers, a monster, right you are, only the small minded seek them. Krishna said to Arjuna, friend, if you want to realise me, you will not succeed if you have even one of the eight occult powers, this is the truth, occult power is sure to beget pride and pride makes one forget, master, to Girish and the other devotees, people of small intellect only seek occult powers, powers to cure disease, win a lawsuit, walk on water and such things, but the genuine devotees of God do not want anything except his lotus feet. Then Hriday said to me, uncle, please ask the mother for some powers, some occult powers, I have the nature of a child, while I was practising japa in the Kali temple, I said to Kali, mother, Hriday asked me to pray to you for some occult powers, the divine mother at once showed me a vision, a middle aged prostitute, about 40 years old, appeared and sat with her back to me, she had large hips and wore a black bordered sari, soon she was covered with filth, the mother showed me that occult powers are as abominable as the filth of that prostitute, thereupon I went to Hriday and scolded him saying, why did you teach me such a prayer, it is because of you that I had such a horrible experience. People with a little occult power gain such things as name and fame, many of them want to follow the profession of a guru, gain people's recognition and make disciples and devotees, then say of such a guru, ah, he is having a wonderful time, how many people visit him, he has many disciples and followers, his house is overflowing with furniture and other things, people give him presents, he has such power that he can feed many people if he so desires. Shri Ramakrishna is remarking, the profession of a teacher is like that of a prostitute, it is the selling of oneself for the trifle of money, honour and creature comfort, for such insignificant things, it is not good to prostitute the body, mind and soul, the means by which one can realise God. A man once said about a certain woman, ah, she is having a grand time now, she is so well off, she has rented a room and furnished it with a couch, a mat, pillows and many other things and how many people she controls, they are always visiting her, in other words, the woman has now become a prostitute, therefore her happiness is unbounded, formerly she was a maid servant in a gentleman's house, now she is a prostitute, she has ruined herself for a mere trifle, though he has warned, he himself said these powers exist and he had those powers and even some of our Swamis had that powers, I mentioned Swami Bhuteshananda, you remember, there was a young man, his disciples, yes, it is a young man and for some reason suddenly he developed a blindness and doctors told, after a few days you are going to lose your sight, so this young man came to take leave of his Gurudev at Belur Math, he just wanted to make pranams and leave because afterwards he may not be able to see and as soon as he made pranams, Maharaj told him, you wait for some time, you see me after, everybody goes away and he came and met him and then Maharaj told him, what is the matter, why are you so depressed? Then he narrated, Bhuteshananda said, who told you are going to, these doctors don't know anything, I am telling you, you go back, nothing is going to happen and miraculously after a few days, nothing happened, the doctor's words did not prove right at all, only thing is, did you ever hear him saying, look, you talk with that man what I did to him, did he ever tell you, will he ever tell you, none of our Swamis will tell you, anyway, I have to take a little, make a little fun with you, you know, so some people come and, Swamiji, by your grace, my son had passed the exam, I don't even remember when they came for my blessings and said, I will pray to Sairam, but they took it for granted, you prayed and they passed the examination, they also bring sometimes mangoes, I don't see anything, I am not joking, prayers can be very effective, we don't want these miraculous powers, but they happen, they happen, do not lose faith in all those things. Aphorism number 38, Bandha karana seythe liyat, prachara samvedanachya, chittasya parashareera aveshaha When the cause of bondage has become loosened, a yogi, by his knowledge of manifestation through the organs, enters into another's body, a yogi can enter a dead body and make it get up and move, even while he himself is working in another body, or he can enter a living body and hold that man's mind and organs in check, and for the time being, act through the body of that man, that is done by the yogi, coming to this discrimination of purusha and nature, if he wants to enter another's body, he makes a sayyama on that body and enters it, because not only the yogi's soul is omnipresent, but his mind also according to the yogi, it is one bit of the universal, now however, it can only work through the naru currents in this body, but when the yogi has loosened himself from these naru currents, he will be able to work through other things. In a sense, what this aphorism tells is, a yogi who has advanced sufficiently, who got that intuitive power, means he got the power, the discrimination that this is consciousness and this is body and mind, when a person crystal clearly obtains, separates the conscious from the body-mind, he gets this intuitive power called pratibha, and when he gets this intuitive power, he also gets this power, what is the power? He can enter into anybody's body, I will start with giving two very common examples, and then we will talk about it. In Shri Ramakrishna's gospel or life, you read, often you see, he used to say that there are two personalities in this body, one is that of a child, I want to see such and such a place and I want to eat such things etc., even they are not childish desires, they also have a meaning, what is the meaning? if he doesn't cherish, if he doesn't create these kind of small desires, his mind will just fly off and it will never calm down, but we are not able to understand it, but what is the second personality? The Divine Mother. Now, it happens so naturally, so spontaneously, without any time gap, I am giving you a scenario, not imaginary, day-to-day life in Shri Ramakrishna's life, what he used to have, he is talking with a devotee, and Shri Ramakrishna says, hey, I didn't see you for a long time, why did you not come? I said, sir, I was very busy, then next, some topic came, I don't have any visions, you know, I hear so many people are having visions by coming here, I don't have any, Shri Ramakrishna says, what? You don't have visions? Who said you don't have visions? And then, either at that time, or soon after that, the man will start having what we call miraculous experience. Now, what is the point here? When Shri Ramakrishna was asking, hey, I have not seen you for a long time, who was talking? Child. And when he is telling, who said that you don't have the power? By the grace of Mother, anything is possible, you will have, who is talking at that time? It is the Divine. What is the Divine Mother means what? At that time, when he says this kind of things, exhibits the power, he was possessed by whom? By the Divine. He became one identified, the Divine takes over that body and mind, it is functioning through. Point clear? The next point, Holy Mother was at Brindavan, after Shri Ramakrishna's passing away, and one day, suddenly the devotees, what did they notice? Holy Mother was preparing the betel leaves, how to, you know, pan, she was preparing pan, and Shri Ramakrishna had a way of preparing this pan. Holy Mother had an entirely different way of preparing a pan, and the devotees noticed that Holy Mother was doing it in the way Shri Ramakrishna used to do it, and they were wondering, and then she started talking, whose voice they were hearing, Shri Ramakrishna's voice they were hearing, and he was talking very high things at that time, her voice changed, her language changed, her gestures have changed, her face has changed, now who was possessing her? Shri Ramakrishna had possessed, these are the very common incidents that are taking place everywhere. But I will add, when Swami Vivekananda went to the Chicago Parliament of Religions, he was frightened seeing all those 5,000 people, 4-5,000 people, and all the, it is called elite of the entire America and other places, naturally, however brave he was, he was frightened. What did he do? And he remembered, Lord, it is your grace, and then he opened. My question, who spoke? Did Vivekananda speak or did the divines? Who took possession of his body and mind? And who spoke? There is also corroborative evidence for this. He was living in a woman's devotee's house, and then Swamiji was given a room, and suddenly at night, the hostess and other family members started hearing loud voices coming from the room where Swami Vivekananda was living, quite clear, clearly, they could hear it. The only conclusion they could come, but they felt someone was speaking with Swami Vivekananda because the voice was totally different, it was not Swamiji's voice at all. And after some time, the voice ceased, and then next day, when Swamiji opened the door and came out, they asked, Swamiji, with whom were you talking yesterday night? He said, no, no, I was talking. Is it right? Absolutely right. Who is Ramakrishna? His own self. Who is Narendranath? His own self. In a way of speaking, but the point is, throughout he delivered lectures. Who delivered the lectures? That's why HMV, his master's voice, that's why Swami Vivekananda did not claim a single creed. He said, I spoke. So who did it? Ramakrishna did it. Once some devotees went to Holy Mother, and they were all praised for Swami Vivekananda. What a wonderful thing Swami Vivekananda had, and Holy Mother's remark, you remember? After all, what could Narendranath do? It was Thakur who had done everything through him. That is why, just before passing away, Sriram Krishna took possession of Narendra's body. What did he say? Today I have given everything to you and become Fakir. No, no, he didn't become Fakir, he became Naren, became Naren. This is the truth with everybody. Ramana Maharshi, who spoke through Ramana Maharshi, it is only God. But because we are body-bound, we cannot imagine that. But even ghosts also do the same thing, isn't it? Possessions, you see? Some peoples are possessed, and they behave totally different. So these are common things. These are all true. They can happen. In fact, who is a guru? Who is a teacher? Sriram Krishna, the great master, there is a beautiful explanation. A guru is one whose will is merged in the universal will. To the extent a person's will has become one with the universal will, then that person becomes fit instrument. That means God works through that instrument. He is called a guru. That is why guru and ishta are not two separate beings. That is why we go on praising Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo, Maheshwara, etc. Guru Saksha Param Brahma. We have to expand our ideas and say guru is not the body and mind. That is body and mind. Body and mind is not guru. The real guru is the power that works through that instrument. And for that, the person has to completely surrender himself to God at that point. Okay. What is the aphorism we have come here? A yogi, he can enter into other people's bodies, a dead body, a live body, any body. He can enter and he can do whatever he likes. How can he do that? That's why I gave so many examples, you know, possession. How does he do it? Why can't we do it? We can't do it because we are terribly bound to this body. Can you think for one second, I am not this body? That's impossible for us. But a yogi, what do you think his very natural outlook on life? What is it? First, I am not the body. Second, I have a body. There is a body. I am not the body, but I have a body. What is the difference it makes? I am not the body means he is totally free. I have a body means I have a possession, you know, before you didn't have a phone. Now you have a phone. What is the difference it makes? When you don't have a phone, you can't do certain things which you could do with the phone. Now that you have a phone, you can do certain things with that very... So a yogi's mind works, a very beautiful incident, but very briefly. In the life of Shankaracharya, there is this parakaya, it is also known as parakaya pravesha, entrance into another body. What happened? This is the most marvellous incident in the life of Shankaracharya. It is said. Either you choose to believe it or not to believe it is a different issue. He was moving throughout India, debating his philosophy of Advaita, conquering people and converting people into his way of thinking, his philosophy, Advaita philosophy. And there was a great soul in North India somewhere, he is called Mandana Mishra. He was a householder. He believed in the ritualistic portions of the Vedas, Purva Mimamsa or Karmakanda. The story was so wonderful. His guru, Kumarila Bhatta, he was the greatest Mimamsaka philosopher, totally opposed to Advaita. And Shankara, if he could defeat Kumarila Bhatta, he would have defeated almost every system of philosophy prevalent at that time, the 8th century AD. So he went. Then what happened? Kumarila Bhatta, he was on death bed. Death bed means, you know, he put a lot of this husk, a huge heap of husk and sitting in the middle of that husk, he asked somebody to light it up. He was burning himself, Avati. Why? Because he deceived his guru. It is a very fascinating story. Kumarila Bhatta, before his time, Buddhists were very, very famous and they were smashing this Hindu philosophy like anything. Kumarila Bhatta, he felt inspired, I must defeat these Buddhists. The only way to defeat them because they had a very special type of argumentation, Nyaya, which nobody else knew. So this Kumarila Bhatta is a young man. He wanted to learn those secrets of argumentation, debate and so he went to one of the most famous Buddhist gurus and he said, oh, I believe in Buddha but I want to become a great scholar. And without knowing that Buddhist guru, he started teaching. But inside, he was deadliest enemy of Buddhism. One day what happened, long after he had mastered these things, one day the Buddhist guru was abusing Hinduism right and left. This Kumarila Bhatta burst out. He could not, tears were coming. He could not protest because he was still in the stage of a disciple and also there are so many Buddhists, they would kill him. Then somebody noticed and said, oh, you are a pseudo-Buddhist. You are not really a Buddhist and they reported and the guru immediately understood it. This is the most intelligent person. If he is let out with life, then he is going to be the destroyer of Buddhism and they ordered them, throw this fellow from a mountain peak down. They bodily caught hold of him and went and then threw him down. Then you see, he had tremendous faith in the Vedas. While he was falling, he said, if Vedas are true, may I not come to any harm and he landed safely. Then he regretted. Why did I use that word, if, I should never have used. If Sriram Krishna exists, let him bless me. What does it indicate? If means what? Doubt. So he regretted whole life. Then you see, he defeated many, many Buddhists, made them burn on the fire. That was unfortunate events that have taken place. Many Buddhists died because of his supernormal intellectual powers and then in the end, he regretted. I got, obtained all this knowledge through deceit. I told my, the guru and he did not suspect. That is called Guru Droha. So he said, there is only one punishment for Guru Droha. You know what is it? Point suicide and in a painful way, not by just taking sleeping tablets. You think that, you know, I will just take sleeping tablets, go to Varanasi and then nicely sleep, I will have liberation. No, where most painful way, person has to atone, atonement. He was, he lit up this on the funeral pyre, on the rice husk and why rice husk? Because it burns very, very slowly. He wanted to punish, but he was ready for that. What great faith he had. At that time, Shankaracharya met him and he said, I want to argue with you, debate with you. Whether Advaita is right or Purvamai Vamsa is right, Kumarila Bhatta said, Shankara, you are brilliant, but I am on death bed, but my disciple Mandana Mishra is there. If you defeat him, I consider myself to be defeated because he is as good as me and he directed. So, this Shankara came to the Mandana Mishra and in the beginning, so Mandana Mishra hated Shankaracharya or any monk and he said, I will not allow him to come. At that time, he was performing a beautiful fire ceremony, Homa, special Homa, but Shankara through his miraculous powers, he flew through the air and crossed the compound wall and landed. Then there was a very interesting conversation, he shaven-headed, where from are you coming, like that. I am not going into the details, very, very interesting conversation. Then ultimately he said, I am your guest, you have to give me what I want, bhiksha, what bhiksha, debate bhiksha. And from next day onwards, he agreed, he said, yes, if there is any substance in what I believe, I will be able to defeat you. But the condition of the debate was, if I defeat you Shankara, then you must give up sanyasa and take to householder's life and if I am defeated, I will give up my householder's life and become a monk. And this man's wife was most brilliant scholar, her name was Ubhaya Bharati. She was considered as an incarnation of Mother Saraswati herself. Anybody who is learned is considered as a manifestation of Mother Saraswati because of knowledge. Both of them agreed, she would be the umpire to decide who is going to win. She was a very intelligent lady. She has to look after the guests, she has to feed Shankara, her husband, so many guests have come, Shankara's disciples, big household chores, then she adopted a very clever strategy. What she did, she made two beautiful garlands and put them round the necks of her husband as well as Shankaracharya and she said that whosoever's garland fades away earlier, that person is to be considered as defeated because when a person gets that sense of defeat, the body emanates, exudes heat and then all blood pressure and all those things will be there. That affects whatever is there, that's why smell comes, animals can sense that and both of them agreed. It is said 18 days the debate went on and on but from the 17th day onwards, the garland of Mandana Mishra started to fade, 18th day it was completely out. Ubhay Bharati came out and said that you are defeated and he also agreed. Now her husband had to become a monk but she was a very intelligent lady, she said you know a wife is as good as a husband, you have to argue with me. The poor Shankaracharya, very innocent, he said yes I will argue with you also. Then she asked what are the secrets of successful sex, how can a man please a woman in the most wonderful way. These fellows, what is called childhood, a monk, how does he know all these things. He said give me a few days time, a month's time and I will come and this is the story relevant forever here. So Shankara went, he was searching, to his great fortune there was a king nearby, he was called Amarka and very dissolute fellow and he died, his cremation was being taken. They put the body on the funeral pyre. Shankara said quick, you hide my body, I am going to enter into his body and he entered. When they were about to lit the fire, the king Amarka woke up, as hey why are you butting me, I am still alive and they were stunned. Others had assured that he was dead and it was several hours, thanda ho gaya. But here is a man who got up and said okay, it is very good. So he went away. Very soon they noticed that this is not the old Amarka. That fellow was a dull fellow, this fellow was super intelligent and he started administering the country so well, they understood. Some other great soul had entered into this, our old idiotic king's body and we don't want because that person who entered into this body, his body must be lying somewhere. The intelligent minister immediately sent, search all the places nearby where this funeral pyre took place and find out. So the disciples were guarding it very, very carefully. Now meanwhile what happened, this man had several wives, the king. So Shankaracharya, he sported with them and he learnt all the secrets, the art of love and he had forgotten. It seems he had forgotten, he was so enamoured, you know. So see he had forgotten, that's what the story goes, I am just narrating, don't blame me. His disciples got worried because so many days the body had to be preserved because unless he enters again, that old body of Shankaracharya and they came to know the king's servants were also searching for it and once they get it, then they will burn it. The moment they burn it, Shankaracharya will be forced to stay in the king's body and the wives of the king also were very highly pleased with him. Now what happened, that this man seems to be totally forgetting his nature. Why he came, I was a monk, I came, entered into this body to get this particular knowledge so I should go back, now I know everything but he forgot. So it is said one day his disciples came there and they won't be admitted here, no monk will be admitted there. The minister took care and these people went into, as a kind of magicians or singers, minstrels, they entered into the court, oh he can sing wonderfully well. It is said then they started singing most melodiously this Bhaja Govindam Stotram. The story goes like that. So he says Kaate Kanta Kaste Putra, who is your wife, who is your son, who are you, where from have you come, where are you going to do, you have forgotten everything. The moment they started, Shankara came back, instantaneously he left his body so that he would enter into his old body. That very second the servants also discovered the old Shankara's body but just as they were about to catch hold of that body, suddenly the old Shankara came up and here the king fell down dead. Then he came immediately with his disciples to Vaibharti and the moment she looked at his face, he knew that there is no need to answer, he knows all the answers. He said I admit my defeat, let according to the bet, let my husband take and then he said as soon as he became a monk and this lady immediately she gave up her body. She didn't want to live without that husband and merged herself in mother's womb. Why did I tell this big story? There is only one reason, yogis can enter into other people's bodies. But briefly we will discuss about it next. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.