Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 023

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. When a person attains to such a state of concentration, when he could think of any object to the exclusion of every other object, the mind is totally focused only on one object. That is the perfection of the first part of the lowest samadhi. Technical terms, Savitarka has two parts, the higher part and the lower part. When a person is able to focus, think of only one object, that is the peak of the first part of Savitarka Samadhi. And then as soon as he attains to that state, then he proceeds to the next state automatically. Until one attains to that state, it is impossible for any one of us to go to the higher state. This is true of every type of knowledge. You may buy books, textbooks of some higher class, but you cannot grasp unless you have mastered the first part. Now the second part starts. Let us recollect, every object is a combination of three things, sound, idea and knowledge. Shraddha, Artha and Jnana. Just to remind ourselves, when you hear of Ramakrishna, even if you have closed your eyes, but the sound enters into your ears, immediately an idea flashes and the reaction comes. Shraddha, Artha and Jnana. Name or sound and idea and that is pure and then knowledge comes. Knowledge brings reaction. You like, you do not like. Raga and Vaishya. Let us keep this in mind. Higher part of Savitarka, so it is lower type of concentration. Proficiency in the first part means he is able to vaguely deduce, every object has got these three. It is not one object. The name is one and the idea is one and the knowledge is totally different. For us, everything looks exactly the same. But when we attain to that state of concentration, then clearly we could see that these three things are there. But the mind is unable to separate them. It understands but it does not have the capacity. When a person reaches the peak of the first stage, then he enters into the second stage. What he understood till now? Whatever object has got, there is a sound. That sound is separate and the idea is separate and the knowledge is separate and the reaction is separate. When he understands, now his goal in life becomes, let me concentrate, focus my mind on one of these things. Let me focus on the sound or let me focus on the idea and let me focus on the knowledge. To give you some sort of example, suppose you hear the word Ramakrishna, Shabda. Immediately you have some idea. Immediately the idea comes, Oh! Ramakrishna is a great saint. Immediately that idea comes. Ramakrishna is a great saint. You can forget the name, focus on that idea. Then as you go on mulling, he was like that, he lived like that. This is what I meant by idea. He lived at Dakshineshwar and he did this. He got this Guru and he did this kind of spiritual practice. As the ideas go through our minds, we form a certain type of knowledge. He must be a great saint. He must be a very great man. He must have seen God, etc., etc. Knowledge comes. First sound and then idea. Idea leads to knowledge. The point I am trying to make clear is the sound, the idea and the knowledge are not one and the same. To make the point even more clearer, suppose somebody makes a sound, say apple and he brings you a brinjal. Do you know this is called apple? You heard the sound and you saw this object. What is your idea of this object? Is it the right idea? Or to give an even better example, he says this is a mango. If someone brings you bitter gourd, it is a bitter squash you call it, it is a bitter vegetable and your whole idea you associate with this sound is totally wrong. What type of knowledge will you have? Totally wrong knowledge. And what type of reaction you will have? Totally wrong knowledge. You see how many blessings we have. Fortunately, we do not have this much type of wrong ideas. Very few. But in the realm of spirituality, we do have a lot of wrong ideas. I want to illustrate why good people, very sincere people, and they believe in God, why are they misled so much about God, about religion, about other people's practices. For example, a fanatical Muslim, he would never consider Hinduism or Christianity as valid religion. And he would never consider that if a person repeats the name of Rama or Ramakrishna, he will go to the same place which he goes if he repeats the name of Allah. Someone asked me in America, are you a Christian? I said definitely not. Then what are you? I am Ramakrishna. You have to know the difference between Christian and Ramakrishna. A Christian believes only in Christ, whereas a Ramakrishna believes you can take the name of any, any name of God is good enough. Any scripture is holy. Any saint is great. That is the great difference between Christian and Ramakrishna. This is version number 2. Christian is edition number 1. Ramakrishna is edition number 2, updated version. You see, a fanatical Muslim or a Christian, he may be very sincere as the instance of Saint Francis of Assisi. And he wanted to convert people into Christianity and the emperor of these Muslims. And he understood, this man is a great saint. But he said, I respect you, I respect your religion, but do not try to convert if you value your head. It's a wrong understanding. What is the wrong understanding? This person cannot separate the sound, the idea, and the knowledge. What is the sound? Allah. What is the idea about Allah? Is a man sitting above the clouds? I make fun of this. Why long beard? Why always long beard? Why? Because God is only one. There is no barber there. So his idea is that God is only like this. God can be only like this. Whereas any devotee of Ramakrishna, the moment you hear Ramakrishna, an idea comes into your mind, what is Ramakrishna? And you will never have that wrong idea. Rama means only that North Indian gentleman with a long bow and arrows and all those things. No. Different people call the same God as Rama or Allah or Buddha or whatever it is. You see, that single mistake of having a wrong idea associated with any sound, it can create lot. Then what is the knowledge that comes? This is the only way. If a person doesn't take the name of Jesus or the name of Allah, then he will not be able to have any spiritual life at all. He will not go back to paradise. He will go straight to the other places. So, you see, if we have a sound, but it must produce the right type of idea. And that right type of idea is separate from the sound. The word Rama, the word Allah, the word Jesus is separate. But the idea is, they mean exactly one and the same. This is what Sri Ramakrishna was trying. Four people go to a pond to bring water. Some people, they go to one ghat and call it water. Some other people call it pani. Some people call it jhol. Some people call it aqua. Four different sounds, but the idea is exactly the same. Only Hinduism gives this type of knowledge. Other religions, usually they do not do. The saints, they might talk, but the usual teaching is totally different. So, let us keep in mind. Here is sound. Here is idea. And they must be related. And this idea produces, right idea produces right type of knowledge. And right type of knowledge produces right type of reaction. You know, if a person believes that this is the only way to God, and then, if anybody else is trying to reach God through some other path, his reaction would be they are not going to reach. The point I am making, fanatics, though we use the word fanatics, but some of them are very sincere people. They 100% believe in what they think is the right thing. And that is why they would not hesitate to murder, to kill people not because inherently they are bad, because of this wrong type of knowledge that comes. Now, incidentally, we can also stretch the meaning of this. Not only these fanatics, even every devotee of God, who is a devotee, who believes in God, is it not? He has some name, say Ramakrishna. And a person who believes in Ramakrishna is a devotee of who? No. Devotee of God. And the moment he becomes, this is where the problem comes. He is a devotee of Ramakrishna the moment you say he is not a devotee of Rama, not at all Allah, not at all Jesus Christ. Just now I told you I am not a Christian. I am Ramakrishna. I excluded all Christians. Christians will not go to God. Only Ramakristians will go to God. This was the fear Swami Vivekananda had with regard to sects. I am afraid you might create another sect in the name of Ramakrishna. He clearly warned us. And some of it is still percolating to us. The correct sound and the correct idea and then only Nama and Namni become really useful. Our devotees, let us say. Who is a devotee? A devotee is one who totally professes devotion to God. He is a devotee. Now what should he do when he hears the name of Rama or Ramakrishna or whatever God? He should feel the presence of God. Is it not? That should be the knowledge. You take the name of Ramakrishna. Then should you not feel I sincerely took the name of Ramakrishna. So where is that Ramakrishna? Is he in Calcutta? Or is he right here? If he is right here does he not know what is happening? Does he not know what is good for me? Will he not take care of me? Then why do you worry? I know what is our weakness. I am pointing out what should be our goal. Suppose you are going for an interview and you are prepared and you are a devotee of Ramakrishna. You take the name of Ramakrishna and you start to give the interview. What should be your attitude if you are a really believe in what you profess? What should be your attitude? You should say I will do my best. Whatever be the result it depends upon the will of Ramakrishna. Should it not? Then will you worry about it? Whatever is going to happen that is going to happen. If that is our understanding that is our reaction to the knowledge we have after hearing the name of Rama or Ramakrishna and the idea then a sea of change should take in our behaviour. We become transformed. Just few minutes back I was telling this story a beautiful story. It is worth recollecting. There was a great saint and his name was Goswami Tulasidas. You must have heard. He was in Varanasi. There was a man somewhere who committed a murder and he was found out and then he was outcasted and then in those days the punishment was that he has to put a board round his neck. I am a murderer and then he has to go and wherever he goes first people see oh this fellow is a murderer. He should not be allowed to come anywhere near. Nobody would look at him. Nobody would talk with him. Nobody would like to give share something with him and somehow this man reached Varanasi and he was a Brahmin. He happened to be a Brahmin. He went out thinking that this is the city of God and at least I will have some peace of mind here. But there all the pundits oh you are a wretched sinner greatest sinner. You killed somebody and they were not ready to even look at him. Their behaviour is no different from anybody else. If they had the idea we are living in a holy city and Lord is present here and our behaviour should be like this. See their name of Varanasi and the idea associated with Varanasi and the knowledge they have that here the Lord is watching everybody. This is a place where people get liberation. This is the faith even today. Varanasi among all the cities in the world which city is associated with instantaneous liberation just by dying there? Do you know? Varanasi. Thakur Sri Ramakrishna had certified that and said yes. Scriptures tell many places but he is not telling. He told only about one place and Thakur went to many places. He went to Vrindavan. He went to many other holy places. But he did not certify any place as a place of liberation. He only certified Varanasi. So you see if these people had the idea that we are living in a holy city their whole life would have been really transformed. This person happened to meet Goswami Tulsidas a great saint who was then living at Varanasi and this Tulsidas took pity upon this man. He called him to him and said now repeat the name of Rama once. This person had repeated the name of Rama. Tulsidas said now you are free from all your sins. Throw away the board from around your neck. And the man did as he was told. But the local pundits, the worshippers they didn't like this idea at all. They said how can a man get rid of all his sins by just repeating the name of Rama. Tulsidas said why? This is what you preach to people. This is what is written in the scriptures. Don't you believe in the scriptures? They said yes yes we read the scriptures we also explain this to people but really speaking that doesn't work in practical life. Tulsidas said that's not correct. I believe in the scriptures. This man's sins have been washed away by the pure and holy name of Rama. They said is there any proof? Tulsidas challenged them. You put him to test and the pundits decided that tomorrow morning you come to the temple of Lord Vishwanath there is a stone image of Nandi, stone bull and if this man can feed that stone image with green grass then we will believe that he became free from all sins. Tulsidas said yes. That will happen. So next day morning Tulsidas went with this man to the temple and he told him do not worry pray to the Lord have complete faith in yourself and you take some grass and pray to the Lord and the stone bull will eat the grass from your hands and that was what exactly happened and the pundits shut their mouths because they had witnessed with their own eyes and they had nothing to say. It is so hard to have faith in God, to have faith in the scriptures but every saint every true spiritual aspirant will have tremendous faith in the words of the scriptures and if one has that kind of faith there would be a tremendous change in their behavior. So also I was giving this example if a devotee of Ramakrishna starts for an interview after praying to Sri Ramakrishna would he worry about what is going to be the outcome. We have to examine and say what idea have I about Sri Ramakrishna. Is he watching me? If I do something wrong if I am telling a lie or if I am trying to cheat somebody else. Funny example I was telling you know. There was this devotee of Ramakrishna sitting in his home one day. He had a son 4-5 years old and another devotee came to see him and that other devotee who came to see him would only visit when he needed some money or something like that. He was a poor man. This man is much better well to do man. Now what happened this devotee in the house from the window he saw the other man approaching. So he called his son and said when this man knocks at the door open the door and tell him that I am not at home. So the boy went and opened the door and that man said I have come to see your dad. Is he there? The boy said no my dad told me to tell you that he is not at home. What is the point I am making? The point is should a devotee of Ramakrishna behave like that? He could have been say look here I do not wish to help you or I cannot help you. Something like that would have been better. But this kind of he is doing double sin. What is the double sin? Not only he is not telling the truth he is teaching his son also how to behave in the future. That is why you know I make fun of the Sanskrit. Our gurus in the past they tell us Satyam Vada and some people don't know Sanskrit. Satyam Vada murder the truth. Satyam Vada means speak truth. Satyam Vada means murder the truth. Do you see what is the point I am making? When a person progresses in this concentration and he is clearly able to separate that every object has got these three components. There is Shabda, there is Artha and there is knowledge and there is reaction in the mind of the experiencer. The sound, the idea, the knowledge and the reaction. If we are clearly able to see these three things in any object then we will never again do anything wrong. We will not be able to do anything wrong because these three are not one. Why are they not one? Because if the sound and the idea and the knowledge is one then there would be no fanatical Christian, there would be no fanatical Muslim, there would be no fanatic at all because fanatism comes only through wrong or misunderstanding of this. So when a person is able to focus on this, on an object and he is able to clearly distinguish these three then he can say let me meditate on the sound or let me meditate on the idea and let me meditate on the knowledge. You can separate and meditate. How does one do it? This is what in the higher step of Savitarka Samadhi one is supposed to do. Let us take the example of Ramakrishna. Like any other object, Ramakrishna is a name and name is expressed in the form of sound. I am uttering the word Ramakrishna. You are hearing it. Immediately in your mind an idea has come. Now you can meditate on the name. Actually that is called Japa. There are three types of Japa. What is the Japa? Patanjali himself comes to that. Very shortly he will come to that. Tasyavachakaha pranavaha Tadjapaha tadarthabhavanam That is there is a Ishwara, a God and he is also a special type of Purusha according to them. And what is his name? Om. Pranava means Om. Om is his name. And what is Japa? You go on repeating the name first of all. Then you go on meditating upon the meaning. Tadarthabhavanam Artha means the idea. Then automatically knowledge will come. Then you meditate on the knowledge. So let me illustrate this one. You hear first stage. You go on meditating on Ramakrishna. Just go on repeating Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna any name. This only is an example. Om, Rama, Krishna, Allah doesn't matter. Go on meditating and after sometime when you become perfect. Why do I say you can meditate and you should meditate? Because the mind is restless. It is flitting from one sound to the other sound. From one name to the other name. So go on concentrating your mind and when you concentrate your mind, something strange happens. If you really wish to focus your mind only on this name then you will have to divide a part of your mind and put one part of your mind as a watchman over the other part of the mind. You say Oh mind, do not go here and there. Oh mind, do not go here and there. Then as if mentally you separate one part of the mind and say you keep a watchman. You act like a watchman. If the other part of the mind used to remind it pull it back. This is what happened in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. He made his own mind a watchman and sometimes probably his mind was also straying which is only natural and then what happened? Do you recall? Another man exactly looking like him Paramahamsa with a trident in his hand used to appear to him and say don't think anything else. If you think anything else I will pierce you with this trident. Who was that man whom he was seeing? His own mind. He kept his own mind as a watchman. You keep your mind and then one part of the mind watches the other. Then what happens? The other part of the mind is aware. This fellow this rogue is watching me. Let me watch him. Then your mind will not go here and there. That is the idea. When you have succeeded to some extent in focusing upon the name only then you progress and say I am repeating the name. I am producing the sound. Now incidentally you know I used the word name. You heard it? It produced some idea in your mind. Say what is the Ramakrishna? Is it not a name and is it not a sound? Suppose you don't utter it loudly. You utter silently Ramakrishna Ramakrishna. Is there a sound there? There is a sound. It is a silent sound even though you are hearing it. Who is hearing it? In your mind can you not imagine? Can you not remember that somebody had sung a song and you liked it very much. What happens? Are you hearing the letters? Are you seeing the letters or are you hearing the sound? We are hearing the sound but silently in our mind when you succeed in keeping out all other names excepting the name of one particular name Ramakrishna then the next idea that automatically comes is what does this name mean? That is where Sri Ramakrishna's teaching is so very marvellous. Nam, Nama invariably leads you to the named. Namni. Nama means name Namni means the named one. So the sound the name Ramakrishna and you can never separate the name and the sound. Suppose you read in a book you know R A M A K R I S H N A. When you ask a child you read this. R is it a sound or not? A for Australia. The idea automatically comes. What does this name mean? Because every sound has produced a kind of vibration and every vibration produces corresponding idea. Every corresponding idea ends in a particular type of knowledge and every particular type of knowledge expresses it in the form of a reaction. I gave you the secret of mantra. The whole mantra shastra is based upon this. What is it? Vibration. For example you hear Om. Just as an example. Immediately it produces a kind of vibration in our minds. In my mind also because I am also even though I am the utterer I am also the hearer. When I go on repeating this then that vibration is what is called ends in idea and that idea leads to knowledge and that knowledge leads to reaction. Sometimes within me, sometimes outside me. This is how black magic works. Some mantras are there. They go on uttering and that produces vibration and that vibration produces an idea. That idea transforms into knowledge. That knowledge reacts either for good or for bad. In the case of black magic it is exactly the same mantra. If it is for something bad it is called black magic. If it is the same thing is for good that is called white magic or the spiritual aspect of the mantra shastra. This whole mantra shastra as I mentioned, it has a particular name. It is called Spota Vada. Spota means explosion and the whole tantras are full of these things. Even Vedas the whole Adharva Veda is supposed to be full of this. So you repeat the name then the vibration transforms itself into an idea. Even if you don't want, after some time automatically it transforms itself into an idea. What do I mean by Ramakrishna? Do I know anything about Ramakrishna? Let me read about Ramakrishna. This is how advertisement comes. It is a good example. Why am I giving this example? Because advertisement is the greatest mantra. What is the mantra? The advertiser says buy the product I am advertising. That is the mantra. He doesn't put it in that way. He shows you. This is a soap. A particular perfume, a particular soap. It is wonderful. A particular car. Beautiful picture comes. This car. Not any car. Nissan car only. This is an example. Not any car. Because of Nissan. What is it? It is Nissan. What is the best word in the world? Nissan. A car flashes like that. You go on hearing Nissan, Nissan and afterwards it goes on vibrating. Nissan, Nissan. It is nice. Very nice. Very nice. It is a beautiful car. I want to buy it. I want to buy it. And you go and buy it. After that you say what is the big deal of difference between this car and my old car? I only wasted my money. But it is a good example. Advertisement. And they are successful. Why are they successful? They make you do japa. Every day. So many times it flashes and even if you don't want just imagine if we can do every time in any some great devotees company. Every time they do something Ramakrishna. One picture of Ramakrishna. You are more likely to be brainwashed and become more devotees. Come to my class more often. This is the same principle, same psychology which we are using. The name, the sound, the idea ends in knowledge. Knowledge ends in reaction. You read a book, same thing is happening. You watch a movie, same thing is happening. That is why it is Ramakrishna's insistence. Satsanga. Cultivate satsanga. What does satsanga do to you? It makes you do japa willy-nilly. Simple. Makes you japa willy-nilly. I have been speaking so much about you know Ramakrishna Ramakrishna. Even if you don't want to hear that name, it will go into you and it will work its magic sooner or later. So you go on to the idea. Progress into the idea. And the idea means you are trying to understand what the sound really means. What the sound really means. I am only giving very briefly. But again just now a thought has come to me. You know Indian music, any music, but Indian music. Indian music is predominantly divided into ragas. For example, Meghamala. You heard the name Meghamala? Tansen is, Tansen was called Mia. Mia means a great singer. And he was supposed to be the producer of Malar Raga. And what is Malar Raga? It is associated with, Malara means Meghamala. Many Malars are there. Meghamala means associated, related with the cloud, rain. So what happens, according to Indian theory of music, that if the Raga is perfect, then even if it is mid-summer and it is blazingly hot, immediately it starts pouring rain. In fact, there is a beautiful story, an incident in the life of Tansen. Once he was challenged by a rival musician that you, I forget the name, Deep something. Patadeep. Patadeep Raga. Deepa means light. And you put some oil lamp. You don't light them. But it is said, if anyone is an expert singer of this particular Raga, then automatically that lamp should light itself by divine grace. But then there is also, I don't know how far it is true, but I believe it is true. If anybody sings, what happens? That power of God in the form of heat comes and then lights it up. Because after all it is heat. Then what happens? The singer's body will be burned. So the rival who wanted to have the favor of Akbar but had no capacity to sing, to out-sing Tansen, he made him sing this. As soon as Tansen took up the challenge and sang, immediately all the lamps, hundreds of lamps that were there, automatically got lighted up. But in the process his body started burning as though he was on fire. Now there was no remedy, no Ayurvedic medicine, no medicine would ever cure him. But there is only one cure. When he was about to die, I don't know how far it is true. I only heard about this incident. Someone who knew about music he suggested there is only one remedy and that remedy is if somebody can sing the Raga Meghamalar, then that also by divine grace, it produces rain and if that rain falls on Tansen that is the only way the heat can be dissipated. And who could sing? It was said Tansen was in love with another woman from the village that he came from and he really loved her and she was also fortunately a great singer. So Tansen was about to die and he said I want to go to my village and see that my beloved's face and die. Anyway I am going to die. So he was brought and then this woman was told that Tansen had come but he is on death bed. She asked why? This was the reason. Some rival had made him go through this. Then she knew Tansen probably taught her and she was so overcome. She really loved him. She was prepared to give up her life for him. So she absorbed into singing that Raga for her beloved's sake. The moment she finished singing thundering lightning came and in torrents the rain came and Tansen was drenched and he recovered from the day. What is my point in telling this story? My point is what is this music? Music is not ordinary word. You set certain vibrations and these vibrations have tremendous natural powers. They can cure diseases. Music therapy. Mantras can cure people by chanting. Every religion has got that one. Hail Mary. If you are Sikh 2000 times Hail Mary. Or if you are a Hindu then you chant this Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra. There are so many mantras out there. If you want riches then you chant Shri Shukta. If you are in danger you chant Durga Sukta. Like that so many things. Are they true? Yes. They are all true. Only we people lack faith in it. If you don't have faith in that, how will you have faith in the mantra given by your Guru? After all faith is one and the same. Guru Shastra Vakyeshu Sathya Buddhi Avadharana Shraddha. What is faith? What Guru says, what the scriptures say, it is absolutely true. That strong faith is called Shraddha. The moment you start uttering the name, sound I said name and sound are invariably related together. You go on then idea will come. As soon as idea will come, then knowledge will come. When knowledge comes reaction comes. When you progress in the power of concentration, then you go to the higher. You are clearly able to discern that this sound is separate, idea is separate, knowledge is separate and the reaction comes automatically according to our knowledge. Now you are able to focus on any one of these aspects either on Shraddha, sound or the Artha, idea or the knowledge Gnana. You can choose it. You can concentrate on it. When you are able to do that, you have gone the first step. You have become master of Savitarka Samadhi. Samadhi on an object intellectually you separate the sound and the idea and the knowledge and then you progress to the next step which is called Savichara. Now before we discuss about Savichara, very briefly it is exactly the same process but the object has become subtle, from gross to subtle. Now according to our Vedanta philosophy predominantly Sankhya philosophy what is every object composed of? One type of dissection is sound, idea and knowledge. But the other idea of it is every object is a mixture of five elements. Every gross object is not one but it is a mixture of five gross elements called Panchamahabhutas. What are they? Akasha, Space, Air Vayu, Air, Agni Fire, Jala, Apah, Jala, Water Prithvi or Earth. So Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. So when a person's mind is capable of dissecting an object this is sound, this is idea and this is knowledge. He also acquires the power to separate as it were intellectually and say any object, a flower, take as an example a flower. The flower has got the earthly element, the water element, the fire element and the air element and also the spatial element. Outside cosmically these five great elements are there. Every object is nothing but a miniature of these five elements. Keep this in mind and how these five gross elements, what is their origin? Who are their parents? Five subtle elements called Tanmatras. In Sanskrit they are called Tanmatra. That means five subtle elements. Five subtle elements. Exactly the same thing. What is the difference? These are gross elements they are the subtle elements. For example you know, we can see the earth but we cannot, we can never feel the subtle earth. We can feel the gross water but you cannot at all experience the subtle water. You can always experience the fire, heat but you cannot experience but through your subtle body you can experience. Gross body gross elements. Subtle body subtle. But through gross body we can never experience the subtle elements. So there is the counterpart of this fire is a subtle fire. Same name Agni. The counterpart of the air is subtle air Vayu. The counterpart of the Akasha gross space is Sukshma or subtle Akasha. It is there. Now the concentration moves in the second stage from the gross object to the elements. That means a person now can concentrate on either the earth element or the water element or the air element or the fire element or the space element. On any one of them he can. So that is called Savichara Samadhi. In the beginning he can only see an object is made up of five subtle elements. Just as in the beginning of the lowest Samadhi we see an object. It is only one object. But as you go near you see it is made up of five gross elements. Exactly in the same manner. When a person progresses then he is able to see a subtle object called the flower. Idea. Now what is it? Idea. But it is subtle idea. An idea is always subtle. Can you see the idea? Can you feel the idea? Can you touch the idea? Can you breathe? Smell the idea? Can you taste the idea? It is all in the mind. But the person has progressed to such an extent. His mind. Let us not forget. What is it that meditates now? The ego sense combined with the mind. Let us remember this fact because we forget. Whenever we interact with anything, whether you meditate or do not meditate, three things are necessary. I said. We spoke about. What are the two things? The person, the experiencer and the object and then to connect the experiencer with the object there must be something. What is it? The mind. Exactly the same thing happens. Here is only a subtle object instead of gross object. It is a subtle object but the mind is there and the person who is meditating. The meditator and the instrument called his mind and also the subtle object is there. But when he has progressed to the second higher step of concentration called Savichara in the beginning it looks as though all the five subtle elements are just one object. Just as we don't see it. I showed you a flower. If I ask you what is this object? What do you say? It is a flower. But then when we discussed about it now you say it has color, it has a shape, it has a smell, it feels soft or hard and it has got also cold or hot etc. Is it not? Only after our discussion you have become aware of all these things. In the similar way in the second step the man is not much aware but what would be his? He will be able to focus on any subtle object to the exclusion of every other object. When he has reached that state he has become expert in the first stage of the second step. Then he progresses to the second stage called Nirvichara. What is Nirvichara then? Nirvichara is he separates as it were with mental knife. This is earthly element. Subtle earthly element. Subtle water element. Subtle fire element. Subtle air element. Subtle this is also called just for your information. There are three types of spaces. Vahya Akasha external space in which external objects are there. Then Chitta Akasha. Do not mistake it. Not Chitta Akasha. Chitta Akasha. Chitta Akasha. Space within the mind. For example you close your eyes and think of a book. Where is that book existing? In the Akasha of the mind. Because it needs a space. You cannot imagine a book without space. Any object without space. Isn't it? And then when you are able to separate these things you progress to the second higher step of the second step of concentration. It's called Nirvichara. What happens? When you go to the second stage then you go beyond time, space and causation. You are able to think only. Ok this is color. This is sound. This is smell. This is taste. This is touch. But it is even difficult for us to imagine because we have not even gone beyond the first stage. Intellectually we are in the same position. But when you really experience then you can see clearly that yes there is a subtle aspect of every object and that again is a mixture of these five elements and those five elements are functioning within time, space and causation. But when you come to that stage you will be able to separate these things. Focus on one. That means you go beyond time and space and causation. How does one go? Ramakrishna. Heard the name? Immediately an idea came. Ramakrishna was such a great saint. He lived in the 19th century. He lived at Dakshineshwar and his whole what he did which gurus he had. What type of spiritual practices he practiced. Everything. All these ideas come to your mind. Still you have got time space. He is in Dakshineshwar. Not here. In Dakshineshwar. Time not this century. But last century. And then causation. Why did he become? Oh he came across this. This change has come. This idea changed him etc. Causation. All these ideas are there. He was a great saint. What is the final conclusion? He was such a great man. I like to think of. Go deep. And then say what do I like to think about him? Then you will think what was he? He was man of knowledge, man of faith, man of concentration, man of strong will, man of strong renunciation, man of liberality. How many ideas? Bhaswara, bhava, sagara. He is an ocean. Infinite ocean of noble ideas. But for your sake of meditation, you have to choose one particular aspect. Let us separate it with the mental knife. Ramakrishna what was one of the great characteristics? After his passing away, his disciples started quarrelling. Do you know what the quarrel was about? He loved me more. He loved me more. Everybody is thinking Ramakrishna loved him more. Girish Chandra Ghosh asked him, did Ramakrishna love you? He said no. What do you mean? He was not loving. He was L O V E embodiment of love. What is the difference between loving and embodiment of love? This is a wonderful subject in itself. Many times I discussed, in my last classes so many times I discussed. Having happiness and being happy, these are two separate things. Having happiness means if you have got a book, it can be stolen, it can be lent out or it can be torn. Anything can happen. You can separate yourself from the book. The book also can separate itself from you. If it doesn't like you, then it can go. But if you are the book, who can steal you? If you are having happiness means always you are borrowing happiness from something or the other. The sunset is beautiful, music is beautiful or the movie is beautiful, the book is beautiful, the food, the sweet is beautiful but if you are happy then there would be no time when you are not happy because you are of the very nature of happiness. This is what Eric Fromm tried to convey in his beautiful book, Being and Having. There is a book called Being and To Be or To Have. There is the title. It's To Be or To Have. What is our modern days problem? We are focusing on having mode of existence and not being mode of existence. What is spirituality? To have being mode of existence so that if I am happy, if my being is happy, then wherever I go I am happy. Whatever be the circumstance I am happy. Otherwise, sometimes I can be happy, sometimes I may not be happy and in fact I will not be happy sometimes. That is the nature of the world. What is the point we are discussing now? If you become one with the idea, then what happens? We are discussing about one aspect of concentration. What is it? Shri Ramakrishna. What is one of his qualities? Being, love. He is not having love. That's why you can't accuse he loved somebody more and he loved somebody less. How? Suppose there is a fragrant bush and it is full of blooming, full of flowers and two of you go there. One person says, oh what a fragrant smell I am enjoying. The other fellow says, yes I get a faint smell, but why do you say it is full of fragrance? Then you turn to him and say, you stupid fellow if you are having problem of cold you can't blame the bush. You have to blame yourself for having cold. What is the point? So you separate the love aspect of Shri Ramakrishna. Now what happens? If you are thinking of Shri Ramakrishna used to love me, then you are separating his love from himself. Then it is limited. He is an embodiment of love. Then that transcends time and space. If he is an embodiment of love, will he not love everybody? Will he not love all the creatures? Will Holy Mother ever withhold her love from any creature in this world? Why was she called Holy Mother? Because she was holy. She was not having holiness. She was holy herself. That means what? In her eyes, there is no one who is not holy. In her eyes there is no sinner. Everyone is my child. That is why everyone loves her. She has no partiality at all. Now you understand? The moment you separate that quality, Shri Ramakrishna is an embodiment of love. Love is universal. Love is universal. What do you mean by universal? When I use the word universal, what is your idea? Universal means it transcends time, space and causation. Shri Ramakrishna is universal. What does that mean? That means if a billion years back whoever was there, Shri Ramakrishna loved him. After a billion years, if someone comes, still he will be loving him. Because if you say Shri Ramakrishna is born right now, I am trying to convey that idea. If you think Shri Ramakrishna's love is born with him, we are not talking Shri Ramakrishna having love. We are talking about Shri Ramakrishna as love. Don't you think love existed one billion years back? And if love existed one billion years back, what is another name for that love? Ramakrishna. Instead of saying love, when you say Ramakrishna is love, Ramakrishna is love, love is Ramakrishna. Then billion years back, did not love exist between people, between objects? Then was not Ramakrishna present there or God present there? Will he not be present after billion years? What does that mean? That means he is beyond time, beyond space and beyond causation. Why causation? Because if I behave like that, then Shri Ramakrishna will love me, Holy Mother will love me. But if I behave like this, then they will not love me. That is called conditional love. But Holy Mother never said that you behave like this, then only I will love. She said, I will love you in whatever way you behave. But then that is not a license for misbehaving. What is the meaning that Holy Mother's love is unconditional love. What does that mean? She says, my child, you are my child, whether you know it or not. I love you, whether you are good or bad. But then what is the thing? If I love you, and if you are not behaving properly, you won't be able to receive my love. A mother cooks very tasty dish. She is wanting to give to the child. But if the child's stomach is upset, then you can't blame the mother. She is ready, ever ready, and she is waiting. You just be alright, that means be ready to receive, and you will receive Mother's love. Similarly, Thakur's grace. We use these words, grace. But actually, grace, love, knowledge, all these mean exactly the same thing. Is God's grace, anytime it is there, somewhere locked up? And if you are good, then He will give you a password, pass on His password to you. Is He waiting? No. The moment you are ready to receive, He is already waiting, He is waiting for you. We are not waiting for Him. He is waiting for you, and He can wait for eternity. When we are ready, then we receive. Then we say, Oh Lord, how gracious You are. This aspect of love, the moment a person separates this quality called love, and identifies Ramakrishna with that love, and then what did he become now? Universal. Why? Because a meditator becomes one with the object of his meditation. The moment you become concentrated, then you become one with the object. So if your object of meditation is love, then you become love. If your object of meditation is anger, you become anger. This is a wonderful subject. We will take it up in our next class. Shanti, shanti, shanti.