Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 109

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Sahanaavavatu Sahanaubhunaktu Saaveeryam Karavavahai Tejasvi Navadhi Tamastumavidvisahavahai Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hari Om Om Yogena Chittasya Padena Vacham Malam Sharirasya Javaidhyakena Yopakarottam Pravaram Muninam Patanjalim Pranjali Rana Tosmi I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar and of the body through medicine. In our last class we discussed a little bit about how the mind gets its power of saying I and of knowing and of feeling I am experiencing everything. Very interesting Vedantic explanation is coming here. The whole universe consisting of five elements, the body, the mind, they do not have consciousness. If there is no consciousness there is no knowledge. They do not even know that they exist. Simple example, this table does not know that I am a table and I exist. It is for the other to know. To know anything there must be consciousness. But the mind seems to know everything. So how does it know? Sri Ramakrishna gives a beautiful example. Once there was a court case between a very rich zamindar and a poor man and people guessed how dare the poor man wage a battle against the rich man. Then they understood there must be some other rich man behind the poor man who is propping him up. In the same way, if the mind does not know that it is of the nature of pure consciousness but it seems to know everything and it seems to say I exist, that's why I comes. This is a very interesting topic and very deep philosophical meaning is there. Before we experience anything, what is the first thing that we need to experience? Eye consciousness. I am there. I am sitting. I am doing this. Whether we express it or not, the eye comes first. You know in our normal day-to-day language, what are you doing? Sitting. Very short answer. But what is implied is I am sitting. If there were to be no eye, no experience will take place. And for that eye to function, two things are necessary. First it must be endowed with I am, then whatever else is there. Both functions the mind does not have. For the simple reason it is called inert, jada, a non-conscious. But it is behaving in a way that it says I and whenever we say I, what do we mean? It is the mind with borrowed consciousness which says I and that is called bondage. What is bondage? To feel the second I which says I know everything. What a wonderful analysis. That is why that ahankara has to be removed. Every scripture, every saint is saying that you have to get out of your egotism. What does it mean? You cannot get rid of egotism. Ramakrishna says it is like an ashwatha tree. You cut all the branches and the next day new leaves will come out. Why? Because there are two eyes within each one of us. One is the real I coming out of the pure consciousness which just says I, does not say anything else. The other is of the mind and that mind says I and at the same time it says adds a lot of things. I am doing this. I am knowing this. I am affected by this. If we remember the very beginning, this great sage, deep psychologist, he says what is the definition of yoga? Yoga chitta vritti nirodaha, complete cessation of every type of vritti or mentation from the mind. What does that mean? It does not mean there would be no vrittis in the mind. It means I know that I have no relationship whatsoever with that type of mind. I am different from the mind. The pure consciousness knows I am myself and nothing else is. But the other one, it does not have anything to know. But how does it know? So here we give a beautiful definition. First let me read out the chitah aprati sankramaya tadah karapattau svabuddhi samvedanam. The pure consciousness, the purusha, is unchanging, unchangeable because it is eternal. Unchangeable, it is unchangeable because anything that is changing must be limited time-wise and space-wise. So you are sitting there, after some minutes you go and sit elsewhere. This is called change in what? Change in space. And now you are sitting here, after some time sit somewhere else. So that is change in time. You can never separate time and space. Whatever event happens, it happens simultaneously both in time as well as in space. So what is it that is the cause of change? Time and space. And time and space limit time-wise and space-wise. Anything that is limited by time and space is changeable, is limited, is called an object. Simple example, God is unchangeable. Here purusha, but Vedantic language or devotee's language, God. God is everywhere. If he is everywhere, where can he move? There is no question of he cannot change. I am feeling uncomfortable, I will go somewhere else. That cannot happen. And God is also unchangeable from time-wise. Eternal. That means what? 50 years back, he was younger, now he is a little bit older. You cannot say about God. Whatever limits us is limited only by these two factors, time and space. And God is called ananta and nitya, beautiful Sanskrit words. Ananta means infinite, nitya means eternal. What do these two terms mean? Ananta means he is not limited by space and nitya means he is not limited by time. There cannot be any change. Pure consciousness, here called purusha, is unchanging. If he is unchanging, what could be besides it? According to Sankhya philosophy, there is another principle which is also eternal and which is called prakriti. And this mind, body, everything belongs to the prakriti. So this aphorism, 20 seconds says, the pure consciousness or the purusha is unchanging, unchangeable, eternal, infinite. Then we are experiencing change all the time. In fact, another name for body-mind is change. You know body, from the moment of birth, how many changes it's every millisecond it is going through a change. But broadly, these changes are divided into six, shat or me, six waves. What is a wave? A change in water is called wave. So what are these six? Birth, confirmation, growth, old age, disease and death. So we do not consciously experience one change that is called death. But all the other changes we are experiencing. For example, you know, as soon as a baby is born, he starts bawling out. Is he conscious? Yes, he is conscious. His consciousness is very limited, but he is still conscious about it. What are we talking here? The body is a mass of change. What about the mind? It is such a wonderful subject. You are sitting here, maybe quietly, and suddenly you change your position or go to another chair. The body changed. Did the mind also change along with the body? Change of the body, change of mind also took place instantaneously. Previously I was there, now I am here. Every movement of the body and mind are coordinated and that coordination is called change. But the peculiarity of the mind is it says, I, I am changing. If who is telling that the Purusha is unchanging? We are discussing all this time, the soul is unchanging. Who is saying that the soul is infinite, the soul is eternal, it is unchanging, it is all-pervading? Who is saying that? Is it the soul which is saying or is it the mind which is saying? And the peculiarity of this mind is it is not infinite, it is not eternal, it is constantly going through a change. How did it come to know that I am the eternal unchanging? Because it has not even experienced it one time also. So the essence of this aphorism is so marvellous, the pure consciousness of the Atman or Purusha is unchangeable. But as the reflection of its consciousness falls upon the mind, the mind takes the form of the Atman and appears to be conscious. In Vedanta, we give a beautiful example. To simplify the matter, what it means is, here is a poor man and he is living like a rich man. Here is a poor man, he does not have any money and he is living like a rich man. What is the implication? Either he had borrowed money or he has stolen money, isn't it? Here is a mind which is totally inert and an inert mind, does it know that I am inert? And to know whether I am inert or I am not inert, the mind has to be conscious. But it seems to be conscious, it says, you know, I was very sharp at that time, 20 years back I was so cute, 20 years back I was so cute. What does it mean? Now I am not so cute. The mind is like that. Imagine, Vedanta gives a beautiful example, imagine a room and it is midnight, there is no light at all, absolute darkness and there is a mirror and you are standing in front of the mirror. What do you see? Do you see your reflection? Do you see the mirror? You don't see anything. But imagine there is a chunk, a small hole on the roof and brilliant moon light is there and it falls on the mirror. The mirror is now reflecting the light of the moon. Imagine this situation and you are standing in front of it. Now what does this phenomena do? What a beautiful example Vedanta gives. The first thing that happens is the mirror, it reveals itself saying, I am a mirror, it doesn't say but it is revealing, standing because you recognize, here is a mirror. How do you know it is a mirror? Before you could not find it but now a little bit of light, moon light through that chunk or hole is falling directly upon the mirror and the first thing that happens is the mirror reveals itself, I am the mirror. What is the second thing that happens? You are able to find out your reflection in that mirror. So now two things are happening, self-revelation and other revelation. See when light comes what happens, it is completely dark. What do you say? Don't say anything. The moment I switch on the light two things happen. First thing that happens, oh the light has come on. We say the light has come on. The second thing that happens is this light not only self-reveals itself but it also reveals every object within its orbit. These two things will happen. This is the phenomena that is happening. The mind has a beautiful part of it which is like a mirror and that is why the light of the Atman shines upon that mirror and immediately the mirror as it were the mind, the mirror of the mind comes to life as it were and says I am the mind and once it says I am the mind then it looks around, oh you are one third, you are the another third, you are the third third. By the way here is a beautiful idea. What does the mind see? Does it see any object? Many times we discuss this topic. You know I am opening my eyes and I am seeing you. Am I seeing you or is my mind seeing the thought of you as reflected in my mind? I am not seeing you. I am seeing you know the eyes taking the information like a camera. This is a beautiful analogy. Does a camera see things? The camera is merely a small object which allows the light of the object to pass through. Who sees that there is an object through the camera? There is a man behind who is a sentient being, who is a conscious being and that person is looking and says yes, I see you, you are focused, you are not focused, move a little, all these things he is telling. The poor camera it does not know anything at all. If you can understand this, when the light of the purusha that is called chaitanya, chit, that is why it is called chit, do not confuse chit with chitta, chitta means mind, yogaha chitta vritti nirodaha, but here chit, chidakara, sat, chit, ananda, pure consciousness, when the light of that purusha falls upon the mind and the mind has that capacity to reflect. Again this is a beautiful thought, it is like you know Sri Ramakrishna says the sunlight is shiny and there is a rock and there is mud, there is a piece of wood and there is a shiny silver object and there is a mirror and there is water. The light is the same but the rock and the clay it does not reflect anything, the piece of wood it does not reflect anything, but in the shiny piece of the metal it reflects a little bit and in the water it reflects even better and in a mirror it reflects absolutely beautifully. Incidentally, I am telling you something, you know the biggest telescopes in this world, you know what they do, the tiniest teeny weeny bit of light coming from billions of light years away, somehow it catches and it transforms that information into mathematical language and gives it to the astronomers. Our mind has that capacity to reflect and here also something wonderful, the mind by nature is consisting of how many gunas, three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas. When it is filled with tamas, its reflecting power is very small, but when it is filled with rajas, it is mixed, it is confused, understanding comes, but when it has more sattva, the reflecting power comes very much. Pre-ideas are very necessary for understanding these yoga sutras which we are going to discuss here. The pure consciousness, it never changes, but the mind, the body, by implication body and mind, there are only two things, consciousness and what is called the world, world means body and mind. Do you get the idea? World means body and mind, nothing else, do you know anything else in this world excepting through your body and mind, you will not know anything, whatever you are able to know in this, in this what you call whole world, it is all done only through your individual body and mind and the more sattvic your mind, the more understanding comes to you, that is how a scientist's mind is more endowed with sattva. You may wonder how is it, because he has got three qualities, his mind is absolutely, it is fixated upon one goal, three qualities. The first quality is fixated upon one particular goal, it does not deviate this side and that side and second is it has developed the power of concentration, that means one subject and he focuses only on that one subject, this is the second thing. What is the third thing? Supporting these two, the third quality, it is called self-discipline. Any number of temptations may come, but he says no, I need to do this. Most of you know this information, astronomers work daytime, all night, whole night, when the whole world is asleep, these astronomers, they go on, you know, whole night and do you think that they are feeling sleepy, every piece of information, they are just wide awake, that is why they are compared to yogis, because who keeps awake at night, a yogi, bhogi and a rogi, yogi because he wants to think about God, bhogi because that is the best time when he can cloak or the whole world is cloaked from him in secret, in darkness, he can enjoy. Rogi, poor fellow, daytime somehow the time passes, whole night he is moaning and groaning and doing all those things and he also keeps awake, when a person is lying down, he does not get too much of sleep, anyway, always keep this analogy, room is dark, there is a chunk and there is a mirror and the light is reflected upon it, then we are able to see. So what is this mirror here, the mind and what is that reflected light, it is what we call I and what is the original light, that is called Purusha. The mind has that capacity both to say I am and I know, I am happy, I am unhappy, at the same time the mind also is related with other objects, we will come to that point here. So the next aphorism, this 22nd aphorism was what we discussed somewhat in our last class. 23rd aphorism, drashtru toshya uparattam chittam sarvartham, chittam means the mind, sarvartham becomes all-knowing, all-knowing means not all-knowing, all-knowing means many-knowing, whichever object comes into its purview, if it pays attention, it comes to know, but it is said it knows everything, but just now we discussed by itself it doesn't have the capacity either to be or to know or to feel or to enjoy, it is borrowing from the Purusha, it is reflecting. What is the state of this mind, let me read this translation, 23rd aphorism, drashtru toshya uparattam chittam sarvartham, the mind is able to perceive because it reflects both the Atman and the objects of perception, here is the world, here is the self, where does the mind stay, it is exactly in the middle and it is getting that light, therefore like the mirror which also as it were is endowed with light, when you see a reflection of the light as if the mirror has come to life, but at the same time it also is able to reflect, reveal many other objects, this is the condition of the mind. The mind stands midway as it were between the Atman and external object, its power to perceive the object is only borrowed from the Atman. In a perfectly dark room, a mirror cannot reflect the man who stands before it, but when a light is brought in, the mirror immediately perceives the man, here mirror means not the physical mirror, it is the mind, similarly the individual soul is known to Hindu philosophy as the reflected, whenever we say Jeeva, Jeevatma means what, reflected consciousness, not original consciousness, why, because if the Jeevatma is original consciousness, it is free, it is never bound, so there is no question of sadhana, spiritual practice or the question of realizing something doesn't arise, you cannot attribute to the Purusha that oh you are in bondage and you have to realize yourself, what is it that says I am bound, what is it that says I am released, first it says I am bound, oh I am bound, yes, then it asks some other bound soul, one bound soul is asking another bound soul, this is how do I become free from this bondage, then the other bound soul may be a little bit advanced, says you know there is a person, a great Paramahamsa, he lives in a nearby garden and you go to and meet, do you understand what I am referring, M when he was about to thinking of committing suicide, his nephew was in a better position in a way of speaking at that time, so he was taking him round just to give relaxation to his uncles and to distract him from his negative thoughts, when he came near Dakshineshwar temple garden, suddenly he remembered because he was never interested, he remembered Hiram Krishna was there, he did not know Hiram Krishna, but he heard that a Paramahamsa lives there, immediately the brilliant idea came to him, who is the greatest psychiatrist in India, only Gurus and spiritual people, immediately he says uncle let us go and he introduced, as you know that was the first day and last day he had ever met Hiram Krishna, but a bound Jeeva, when he asks another bound Jeeva, he cannot help him release, but he can tell him that I will tell you about somebody whom I know and who can help you, you know many times you ask somebody, do you know a good psychologist, if anybody comes to me, I will immediately refer to Neela or somebody else, like that, then this bound Jeeva goes, oh there is somebody there, then he goes there and does anybody help anybody else, this is a very mute question and questionable question, does Ram Krishna give you liberation, he cannot give you liberation and you may be surprised what, I am a devotee of Hiram Krishna, you are supposed to be a devotee of Hiram Krishna, Hiram Krishna cannot give you, no he cannot give you liberation, you have to fulfil the condition, what is the condition, you have to be feeling intense longing, I want to be liberated and 99.999% of spiritual people, spiritual aspirants, they all claim that, how many get liberation, very few, why, because hell is paved with good intentions, so spiritual hell is also paved with deep spiritual longings and accepting that they express the desire, they don't do anything else excepting that, but there are a few who have already become ready, who have that faith, when they go to a person like Shri Ram Krishna, then they will remove that obstruction, and Shri Ram Krishna doesn't give, cannot give, need not give liberation, I am giving you Advaita Vedantic point of view, what does that mean, supposing you are dreaming, you are in a room, there is somebody and you are dreaming that somebody tied you your hands behind and you are crying, my friend, you release me, somebody had bound me, what will you do, will you release him, what do you do, you go and give him a slap, then he wakes up and then he says, oh, I thought I was bound and what are you thinking now, I am free, was he ever bound, no, it was only his thinking, see from Advaitic point of view, there is no bondage, there is no liberation, there is no spiritual practice because the self is ever free, but it is all first class Advaita theory philosophy, but now we don't feel that, how do we know, because if you had ever felt that, you would not have come and attended my class and I also would not have taken the trouble to come and then prepare the lecture and then give the lecture, I am free, so Shri Ram Krishna need not give because we are already free, but we are like sleeping souls, we think we are not free, that's why beautiful Sanskrit saying, manayeva manushyanaam karanam bandha mokshayoh, mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation, mind means your thought, you think you are not happy, but there is no reason why you should think you are not happy, because happiness is your very nature, coming back, this mind stands between the self and the world and it reflects both and as a result it also knows what is the world, means what are the objects in this world in the form of thoughts, waves, chitta, vritti and it also reflects the pure consciousness in the form of what, first I, then I have a desire, then I know, then I do, then I enjoy, four forms it takes, what is the form, that first I and second is, this is called jnana shakti, jnana shakti means I know, I desire, then kriya shakti, I do, then bhoga shakti, iccha, jnana, iccha, kriya, what is kriya, I do something, then when I do something, the result of it, I experience, so I say I am happy, I am unhappy, so what is the point of essence of this whole aphorism we are saying, the mind by itself is absolutely inert, since it stands nearest to the self, it reflects the light of the consciousness and it takes advantage, then it says I know the self and I also know the world, I also know the self, I also know the world, there are two things or rather three things that is called bondage, what are those three things, first of all here is a self, I am not the self, second here is the world, I am not the world, so how many, self, me and the world, this triangle that is called bondage, what a beautiful, it takes little bit of time but I am sure you can understand these concepts as you go on thinking about it, that is why triple bondage, here is self, here is me, here is the world, Jeeva, Jagat, Ishwara, that triangle is there, that triangle is the root cause of all the problems in this world, so when a man realises I am the self, what happens to that man, world will not exist, mind doesn't exist, because the mind doesn't exist, the world also doesn't exist, very important principle I am telling you, when the mind is not there, the self also disappears and the world also disappears, proof, in deep sleep is there a world, do you experience the world, because the mind is not there, because the mind is not there, it doesn't itself know I am there, that is why you say I did not know anything, it loses the power of knowledge because it is not capable of reflecting the light of the consciousness in that particular state, but it is very happy because this is a negative type of happiness, what is the negative type of happiness? I am not experiencing any positive happiness, but I am not experiencing any negative things, that is why even this much gives us great joy, that means what, most of our waking state what are we experiencing, only negative type of joy, why, what is negative type of joy? Any joy that comes through the intermediacy of an object is called a negative joy, instead of saying directly that is called indirect joy, similarly the individual soul is known to Hindu philosophy as the reflected means Jeeva, shadow Atma, Jeeva Atma means shadow Atma, it has no separate existence, it is only the reflection of the Atman upon the mind which gives rise to a separate sense of ego, so before I conclude this aphorism I want to tell you something most wonderful, is knowledge the nature of the self, Purusha? No, not as we know it, because knowledge means what, here is a table, I am here and I am separate from the table, therefore I try to get the knowledge of the table, but suppose there is no table means there is no object, what type of knowledge do I have? Here is a very interesting thought, so we all know who we are, you know, how we look and how we dress etc., just think for a moment, suppose from birth to death you are there in the darkest room, the question of your seeing any reflection doesn't arise, you have absolutely no communication whatsoever with anybody, why I am mentioning this, because our idea of who we are both physically and mentally comes from the opinions of other people, how, suppose there is a mirror and you look at yourself, does it create any type of superiority or inferiority complex, try to understand what I am trying to tell you, if there is no second to compare with, the question of superiority or inferiority complex doesn't arise, in comparison with whom do we say that I am either superior or inferior, I am taller, I am shorter, I am fatter, I am thinner, I am beautiful, I am ugly, I am intelligent, I am not intelligent, I am rich, I am poor, all these ideas come only in relationship with other people, the picture I am trying to give it to you, so you can imagine, here is you are born and it is total darkness means you cannot see your body and there is nothing else to be seen, no other person is there, can you imagine that state and ask one question, who am I, what would be your idea, who am I, you know I am, accepting that you will not know anything and that's exactly what I am referring, this is the state of deep sleep where there is no world, where there is no light and you are there and that idea is there, I am, but what I am you have absolutely no idea, so upon waking up if you are asked all that you can say is I did not know, I do not know anything, I did not know because now you know, at that time you did not know, it's a very interesting experiment you make, who am I when no one else is, it's very important because most of our behaviour is guided by the opinions of other people, I am a good man, I am a bad man, I am a devotee, I am this, I am that etc., so an extension of this talk will be, you all, we all claim that we are devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, is it not, supposing you did not know about Sri Ramakrishna or any idea about God, will you claim that you are a devotee of God, question doesn't arise, so then how did you come to know about Sri Ramakrishna, somebody told you and if that somebody who told you about Sri Ramakrishna happens to be a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, you will have a very what we call a very positive idea about Sri Ramakrishna, then you become a devotee, suppose you have grown up in an atmosphere where you hear about Sri Ramakrishna, all negative things, will you be a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna or will you be a critic of Sri Ramakrishna and is it a far-fetched imaginary statement I am making, supposing you ask fundamentalist, Muslim or Christian, what is your opinion about Sri Ramakrishna or a communist, Mao, Mao Zedong or a scientist who does not believe in God, you will be terribly disappointed, the type of criticism he passes on will be terrible, maybe you are a great devotee, you meet Richard Dawkins and you express your opinions about Sri Ramakrishna as an incarnation of God, do you know what he will call you, what is the book he wrote, God delusion, God is a delusion and if you are a devotee of God, that is the greatest delusion, tragic delusion anybody can cherish, what is the point I am making, we have to be extremely careful not to mix with people who have negative ideas about God, about our chosen deity etc., we have to be very very careful about it, so the mind does not have the capacity either to say I am or I know or I am happy or unhappy but at the same time it is through the mind, every object it comes into contact is known, how does it know, simple, if it does not have, it can borrow, unfortunately it cannot steal, you know, beg, borrow or steal, no, you borrow, so the mind has the capacity to reflect and that reflection is not an unnatural reflect, this statement beg or steal does not arise here because if the mind does not have the capacity to reflect then it will never be able to reflect, you ask a cloud of earth, why can't you reflect sunlight, moonlight, it cannot do that but you don't need to ask a mirror because it has the capacity to reflect the light and then we said two things, always keep it in mind, two things, what are those two things, a light is self-revelatory and a light also will reveal any object that is in front of it, in fact the moment light comes you will know about yourself, every object has the capacity to see but that object also must have the capacity, must be a living creature to know it, living creature means what, it has a mind and a mind means what, it has got little bit of sattva guna and because of that sattva guna is that reflecting medium through which the light of the self reflects and that is how knowledge arises, we will move on to the 24th aphorism, though the mind has innumerable impressions and desires, it acts only to serve another, the atman, for being a compound substance it cannot act independently and for its own sake, every combination of individuals or forces in this world has to have a purpose for its action or existence, otherwise it would be just a meaningless, functionless collection of objects brought together haphazardly and this purpose must be external to itself, a congress or parliament would be just a collection of noisy individuals in a room if it didn't have the purpose of legislating for a community, a house is just a mind, that yelling parliament of conflicting interests and desires, it is nothing but a madhouse until it is called to order, it can only become purposive by the extreme will of the atman, here is one of the most fundamental points of vedanta again, what is it, any combination, any object with certain combinations, first of all it is inert, secondly it doesn't have a purpose of its own and lastly it is always there to serve somebody who is sentient, take simple example our own body, I have got body, body means what, there are hands, there are feet, there are tens and sargams are there and so many other things are there, all these things each is separate from each other, every function is different from each other but they all have come together and whom does it serve, simple example, you ask yourself, my body serves whom, does it serve the body or does it serve somebody who is occupying that body, who is the owner of that body, who is conscious of that body and who directs that body and who is using that body for his or her own purpose, here I will use the word for his, his means jivaatma, so the mind also is a combination and what is called four things put together is the mind, if you still remember, manaha, buddhi, chitta and ahankara, four things are there and four different functions are there and each function cannot really do any useful thing unless it is combined, you know if you separate your ahankara, it is totally useless unless it has the mind, it has the buddhi and it has the chitta or memory, chitta is totally lifeless without ahankara, mind and buddhi, similarly the other two, each is totally dependent upon, now the point is the mind has got these four factors, four factors means what, it is a combination of four separate individual parts, what is the rule in Vedanta, anything that is a mixture, an assemblage like a house, first of all is a good example, here is a house, what do you mean by house, it has foundation, it has floor, it has walls, it has doors, it has windows, it has roof, it has curtains, it has many many other things, that is called a house, first of all the house has come into existence by its own will or somebody, someone else's will, somebody sentient being plans and says I would like to have a house in this particular way, extend this example, analogy to the body and do not stop there, extend this example to the mind also because mind also is a combination of four things, the mind itself as we said jada, therefore for whose purpose the mind is functioning, there is somebody who fashioned the mind for his or her own purpose, relatively speaking from the lower point of view, speaking from the lower point of view because the Purusha doesn't have any desire because it is completely full, purna, so it cannot have, that's why the number asked the question why did God create the universe, you cannot answer that because if the God is really deficient in something, he has a purpose, some people say for leela, for divine play, otherwise he was getting bored, no, you cannot answer, then what is the answer? There is no answer, you are thinking that he has done this, is he thinking, was he thinking or you are thinking about him, does God know, first of all I am talking about from extreme Advaitic point of view, does God know the world exists, alright, does God know that you are sitting here, he doesn't know anything about, even though you say he is all knowing, he doesn't know because apart from him there is no other, what is God's knowledge, I am, that's it, period, nothing else is extreme, although I am not talking from devotees point of view, what is the point we are making, anything that is a combination and assemblage is always first of all it is inert, second it doesn't create itself and thirdly it is meant for the service of someone else, simple question, we have body, we have mind, you have your body, mind, your body for example you know you are eating nice sweet, does your body know that it is eating sweet, if you inject poison into the body, does the body know that it is poison, who is it that knows, so a little higher answer is no, it is not the body who knows, it is the mind who knows, you know that to know this is a sweet and it is an enjoyable thing, that quality belongs to whom, to consciousness, reflected consciousness, so the mind also is a combination of four items, you know, manaha, buddhi, chitta, ahamkara, that's why in the Nirvana Shatka, mano buddhya ahamkara chittani naham, Shankaracharya says so when there are four things coming together, it is called assemblage, like a house, like the body and it is never meant for its own sake, it is meant for some sentient being, that is what this aphorism really says, so the question now comes that the body is recognized by the mind, because the body cannot cognize itself, by whom is it cognized, by the mind and the mind doesn't have the power to cognize by itself, because it is borrowing its ideas from the, borrowing, reflecting the consciousness, which says, that reflected consciousness says I know this is my body, I know this is your body and all those, simple example I am trying to give you, you know, suppose you are eating a sweet, will I know what you are experiencing, suppose you are feeling terrible about this sweet, but you are smiling and saying what a beautiful sweet, so that I share with you and I also experience the same thing, suppose I am telling you that one, will you know, will I know what you are experiencing, absolute I don't know, you are sitting here and you are looking at me and what you are thinking God alone knows, I don't know, nobody else knows, only you perhaps know it, but you think you know it, according to Vedanta, that is also wrong, you don't know, the reflected consciousness, it thinks that, oh I know it, but what does it mean, whatever thought is happening in the mind, vritti, that vritti is combined with the borrowed consciousness, the light of the consciousness and the combination of that is what we call a conscious thought, by the way, this is a redundant word, is there anything called unconscious thought, can there be a thought which is not combined with consciousness and if there is a thought, will you know that it is a thought, even to know it is a thought, you will have to be conscious about it, that is why there is nothing called mechanic, so you do japa, little bit of your mind is paying attention, otherwise it cannot do that act, what this aphorism is telling is, anything that is a combination is meant for the other and here we are talking about the mind, much less the body, the mind, the functions of the mind, whatever the mind does is for the benefit of others, who is that other, not for purusha, be very careful, I am repeating hundreds of times, not for the purusha, because the soul does not need anything of this, it is complete in itself, what is it that knows, it is the reflected consciousness, which says I then it feels I am incomplete, if I have this, I will become complete, etc., etc., it is that little bit of reflected partial consciousness and it is for that purpose the body and mind are functioning, the ultimate meaning of this is that there is really that little bit of reflected consciousness for some perverted reason, it thinks I am bound and it becomes very eager and to get rid of that unpleasant thought, so it does lot of spiritual practice and at the end of it, it feels I am free, but when it wakes up and it feels I was never in bound, I was never bound, I was never in bondage, I never did anything and I was not free, I was free, I am free all the time, again even at the risk of repetition, in dream you are sleeping and then you feel somebody has bound you and you are shouting in dream and somebody comes and releases you and you feel oh I am released, then you wake up, then do you claim oh what a horrible experience I have gone through, I was bound, somebody had made me bound and fortunately somebody else came and released me from bondage, now I am free, would you say that, you say that was a bad dream, bad thought, all created by whom, 25th aphorism, vishesha darshanaha atma bhava bhavana nivruttihi, very beautiful but very meaningful aphorism, the man of discrimination, ceases to regard the mind as the atma, what is our problem? We think that the jiva atma is atma, the mind is the atma because we are identified with the mind completely but a viveki, who is a viveki, he who knows crystal clearly the differentiation between the atman and the mind, for him the thought that I am a bound person, I am an individual soul, it ceases to and what its implication is so profound, says for a discriminating person who knows through discrimination that I am the soul and I am never the mind, for that person even that process of discrimination itself becomes totally irrelevant, like in the dream you know you are shouting, you have discrimination at that time, oh I am bound, I need help to be freed and then you shout and that shout perhaps wakes you up and then what do you think, oh thanks God, I was so intelligent, I shouted and I became free otherwise what would have happened to me, would you think like that? You simply think it was a passing thought, not pleasant, it is a negative but it is not reality, it is all imagination, unreal, that's why every dream is unreal and for a person who woke up from this second dream, that is called first dream, this is called second dream, everything is unreal but so long as we are in the dream, everything is real. The man of discrimination ceases to regard the mind as the Atman, Atman means what? I am the mind, if you remember the third aphorism, when a person is absolutely, has become master of his mind, I am the Purusha, I have nothing to do with the mind but for all others, whatever the mind is saying, we become identified, now your mind is saying I am a man, I am a middle aged man, I am sitting here and I am going to some other place, you are totally identified, I am identified, all of us are identified but for a true man of discrimination, he reaches a state, he knows crystal clearly, mind and Purusha are totally, completely opposite things and I am not the mind, when a person knows I am not the mind, the process of discrimination itself comes to an end, that's what the man of discrimination ceases to regard the mind as the Atman, that's all we need to, 26th, when the mind attains to this state of discrimination, then it moves towards liberation, the moment a person comes to know I am not the body and I am not the mind, he becomes very anxious because he knows I am not the body, he knows I am not the mind but he doesn't know who exactly he is, yes through scripture he has done, you are Brahman but that is scriptural statement, I believe in it, I have 100% faith but that's not my experience, I long for that experience, then what happens, that mind instantaneously turns its direction from the world towards God, this is what Sri Ramakrishna calls, when a person through many lives practices spiritual disciplines, he develops what he calls intense yearning, what is it called, Parama Vyakulata, what is that Vyakulata means, intense yearning, yearning for what, I know I am not the mind but I don't know that I am God, so immediately it, because it understood the worthlessness of this world, means world means what, the body and the mind, it immediately turns its attention towards God, oh Lord how can I realize, that's why the moment Sri Ramakrishna's mind reached this state, every evening, you know what he used to do, he used to go and pray, oh mother one day he is gone, I have not realized you and one day he could not control himself, he went and then said I will cut my throat, that is called Kaivalya Praakvaram, that is the mind totally is, has directed its mind only towards Purusha, towards the self, towards God, Tath Chidreshu Pratyahantarani Samskar Epahat, 27th aphorism says, distractions due to past impressions may arise if the mind relaxes its discrimination even a little, Patanjali Rishi is warning us, even when a person reached that state, when he is intensely longing for God realization, the force of the past old Samskaras are still very strong, now and then they peep out, try to peep out, however much we are controlling, they try to peep out and then we have to be extremely careful, if we are not careful, one moment of such distraction can forcibly pull us down, the great Shankaracharya is telling, trying to realize God is like trying to swim the ocean and as the man is swimming the ocean, Vivek Choudamani, he says that the maya of crocodile is running after this man, because so long as the person is completely conscious what he is doing, the crocodile does not dare to approach, the moment he forgets, even one billy second he forgets, instantaneously that crocodile catches hold of him, forcibly drowns him in the ocean of Samsara, in simple words what he is trying to tell, until you realize God be extremely cautious about it, don't think I have done it, I want to give you an example, you know Sri Ramakrishna, once long after he had the darshana, the Nirvikalpa Samadhi and everything, one day he was moving in Panchavati and he felt, I have conquered lust, you know that incident that happened, I conquered lust, how could such a thought arise in a realized soul, in the mind of a realized soul, but two three days afterwards he was so much overcome by this desire, he immediately understood, oh mother if this thought persists I will commit suicide, I will cut my throat and by the grace of the mother it has gone, but the real explanation is not because he was forgetful about it, once a person realizes God, there is no sadhana, no need for you to remember, but it is so that he can understand the problems of people like us, that is all, anyway with regard to this an illustration of Sri Ramakrishna came to my mind, you know he said there were some sadhus, they were all sitting and meditating, what a beautiful picture Sri Ramakrishna is giving in the gospel and a woman happened to pass by, all the other sadhus they did not open their eyes, but one man furtively with a side long glance, he watched that woman come and go, why was he doing it, what was Sri Ramakrishna telling, explaining that the other people they did not know a woman, but this person, he was a married person, he knew what is the enjoyment of a woman, even though now he renounced and he is very sincere, but this object has distracted his mind, how careful we should be, sadhu, sadhana, until we realize God. Hanam esham kleshavat uktam, these distractions may be overcome in the same manner as the obstacles to enlightenment, earlier he said how to overcome, what are kleshas, kleshas means that which bind us, 5 are there, avidya, asmita, raga, dvesha, abhinivesha, avidya means ignorance, asmita means a sense of egotism which springs from ignorance and this egotism brings 3 things, raga we tend to go towards things which give us pleasure, attachment and we try to run away from things which give us unhappiness which is called dvesha and abhinivesha means intense longing for the attachment to the body, that's why everyone of us is afraid of death, death of what, death of the soul and death of the body and we know that the body is going through so many changes and yet we are not prepared to give up our attachment, you know why, because millions of births this body has been our companion, our the only instrument for the enjoyment of whatever happiness, pleasure we derived from this world is all because of this, even though it also has given unhappiness, mahamaya makes us forget the unhappiness part of it and remember only the happiness part of it and again and again and again we long to go towards it. What is the way out? The way out is practice spiritual discipline, 5 commandments of, what is the way out? 5 commandments of Ramakrishna, every scripture tells this, this is the 28th, it says what is ignorance, anitya asuchi dukkha anatmasu nitya suchi sukha atma khyate he, the firm knowledge that whatever is ephemeral to think that that is permanent, you know our body we know that it is ephemeral but we just think it is permanent, we don't want to die, then asuchi, whatever is most impure we consider it as pure, what is impurity, Ramakrishna used to say this rice pudding, how tasty it is, it is worth to be offered to gods but keep it for 2-3 days, afterwards what it would be, what is its condition because that impurity is inherent in that very object only at a particular moment it covers it, dukkha, how much of unhappiness and troubles we are going through, anyway I should not say to householders this thing, they will say from morning till evening their whole life is dedicated running to the office, working there like animals and coming back in the evening, for the sake of what? You get some money, why that money? So you can maintain the family, is it not a fact, that's why Ramakrishna was dead against all those things, he was even dead against vidya which leads to that only, that which only gives me some money, that type of education, I hate it, I don't want it, it's a very beautiful thing, then anatmasu, whatever is not atman, to consider that as atman, this is called avidya, this is one of the most important kleshas, klesha means the cause of bondage, so we have to overcome, how? He says through spiritual practice and through yoga, how? What is the yoga? What does the yoga do? It helps us overcome this avidya, once avidya is overcome, we clearly come to have vidya, what is the antidote for avidya, vidya, what is the antidote for ignorance, knowledge, what is the knowledge? I am not the body, I am not the mind, if I am not the body and mind, who am I? There is only one choice, there is no choice, what is it? I am the atman, that is how slowly through spiritual practice or yogic practice, we have to get rid of this, finally the last point we have to remember is, spiritual realisation is not something positive, it is destroying something innate, because the positive is always there, so you don't gain something which you didn't have, you only remove the obstructions, all spiritual practices are meant to get rid of the obstructions, including God's grace, it only helps us to get rid of this, these beautiful ideas, we will discuss them in our future class, Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.