Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 045

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. In our last class, we discussed that a yogi who has been practicing concentration attains to such a power that he could very easily concentrate from the minutest to the biggest, paramanu to the subtlest of the objects. Paramanu is a gross thing, an atom, whereas that unmanifested prakruti or pradhana, it is also called, it is called alinga. Alinga means you can never ever find out what it is, but yet you can think of it if you have that kind of concentration of the mind. He has complete control over his mind. What is that mind like? It becomes like pure crystal. This is what we have been discussing here in the 41th aphorism, kshena vrittehe abhijatasyaiva manehe grihetru grahana grahyesu tats tat tat anjanatha samapatihe A yogi whose vrittis, in other words, whose mind has become absolutely pure, clean, vritta, rajas and tamas, such a mind attains such a high state of concentration, it becomes like a crystal. I have not translated the exact wordings here, but I am giving you the essence so that we can all remember. In our last class, this is what we discussed. Keep a pure crystal. I give this example. Pass light through it. What happens? That light which appears to us to be just one, now as though it is consisting of, in fact, how many? Seven colors. So, any object in this world, any type of knowledge we have, it is all mixed type of knowledge. So, this crystal example indicates to us two things. One is it takes the form of an object which we can hear it. Keep a red flower, it appears to be red. Keep it green, it appears to be completely green. And yet we know the moment that color, colorful object is removed, it ever remains, in fact, it always remains pure crystal, means so detached, it knows crystal clearly. That's why we say, we use the word crystal clear. It knows I am separate from any object in this world. A yogi's mind becomes like that absolute crystal. But at the same time, it can take the form of whatever object is near it. I would like to illustrate this to certain things. As you know, Lord Krishna, he wanted to have the vision of Rama. And as we all know, did he meditate upon Rama? No. He meditated upon Hanuman. Why? Because Hanuman knows nothing excepting Rama. So, what happened to Ramakrishna? He became like Hanuman. He wanted to have the vision of Krishna. Then he meditated upon his greatest devotee Radha. And he became like Radha. His physical body became, and you can also, you only have to imagine how his mind has become. It has become absolutely like Radha. Then he meditated upon Jesus Christ. Then his mind became like Jesus Christ. He meditated upon Prophet Muhammad. Then he became like Prophet Muhammad. This is the meaning. Every time we salute Shri Ramakrishna, Sarva Deva Devi Swaroopa, means what? He has no particular form. If anybody has a particular form, he could never become any other form. But Shri Ramakrishna's mind is like a crystal. Anything that comes near, it appears to be assuming that particular form. That means the thought of Jesus or Buddha or Rama, Krishna, Prophet come near his mind, he becomes as it were they. And at the same time, he could be also totally different from them. Shri Ramakrishna's teachings are profound. He says about God. God is with form. God is without form. And God is beyond both form and formlessness. We can understand form. We can also understand formlessness to some extent. I will give an illustration to make this point. Here is a pot. A pot is made out of clay. Here is a table. It is made out of wood. Now, what is the form of the table or the pot? Usually you will describe. So, such and such width and length, height, colour, texture, etc. What is the form of the clay? What is the form of the wood? And yet, even though it is called formless in a way, but formless, within that formless something, infinite amount of forms are already potentially inherent. So, when a carpenter makes a table out of this wood, now is he making the table or is he removing the obstructions from the wood? It is very important to know this. Suppose it is a sculptor. Michelangelo, he was a great example, one of the greatest sculptors. He is well known only as a sculptor, but he was also greatest painter. So, he sculpted David and Goliath. Now, he saw some other sculptor saw that piece of marble stone and he thought it is broken, it is useless. What did Michelangelo do? He saw this entire David and Goliath in that very stone and then what did he do? We say he made, a potter made a pot, a sculptor made a sculpture, a painter made a painting. What do you mean by he made? Did he bring from somewhere? No. What did he do? He removed, chipped away all the extra pieces of stone. Is it not? What does he do? Sculpting means what? He takes a chisel and goes on removing all the unnecessary things. But what do you mean by unnecessary things? If you want to make something else, then you do not need to chip away so many things. Similarly, from the wood, already the table is there. So, what is this analogy for? It is what Hirananda calls Brahman. It is with form, without form, beyond form. When no expression is there, it is beyond both form and formlessness. Because what we call formless, who is saying that? Brahman is not saying, we are saying. That means, our mind is saying. That means, we have an idea what is with form, what is without form. This example, here is wood, here is the table. Do you see the wood? Do you see the clay? You are seeing the clay, you are seeing the wood. That means, though it is formless, still it is an object of our experience. Whereas Brahman, you cannot see it. It is simply as simple as that. So, what is the point we are discussing? Sri Ramakrishna is called the embodiment of all Gods and Goddesses. What does it mean? And it is very interesting, you know, when we say he is an embodiment of all Gods and Goddesses, one very important factor emerges. Does everyone see every form in Sri Ramakrishna? When a devotee of Rama comes, what does he see? When a devotee of Krishna comes, what does that person see? Krishna. When a devotee of Jesus comes, what does he see? Now, very very interesting, you know, when a Christian devotee approaches Sri Ramakrishna, did it really happen? And then he looks at Sri Ramakrishna and he sees Jesus Christ. Did Sri Ramakrishna become Jesus Christ or is this devotee removed all the unnecessary parts from Sri Ramakrishna and seeing Sri Ramakrishna as Jesus Christ? This is how we see. When I look at you, how do I see? I remove whatever parts I don't like to see in you and I see that is how we are attracted, we are detracted, we love, we hate, we have attachment. It has nothing to do with a person. This is a great truth. I will repeat a billion times if necessary. Who is a saint? A person who sees only God, isn't it? Suppose Sri Ramakrishna sees Saddam Hussein or Hitler, what do you think he will see? What do we see? What does he see? Now who is this person? Is he Saddam Hussein or is he God? You get the point. Every object is nothing but manifestation of Brahman. But at the same time we say that person is a good person, the other person is a beautiful person, the other person is a wicked person, good, bad, good, evil, happy, unhappy, beautiful or ugly, rich and poor. All these qualities, who is perceived? Swami Vivekananda gives a beautiful example. I quoted this example umpteen number of times. Midnight you are sleeping with your child, suddenly a stranger comes, enters into the room through the window, breaking the window or a door, doesn't matter. How do you perceive that person? How does the child perceive? Does the child see a thief? Does he know who is a thief? What does the child see? He sees only a strange person. Whereas we look at that person, now tell me where is this thiefness? If you don't know what is called theft, would you label that person as a thief? This is such an important fact. What is spiritual life? Remove all your labels, not the labels from the other person. Then we see what we call only what is the truth. We will come very shortly to that point. So this is a yogi's mind which has attained to that state. So it becomes like a crystal and a crystal reflects as if it has assumed the form, whichever is the nearest to that and at the same time it remains totally unaffected in any way it is not affected at all. Now tell me what is the nearest object that is to this yogi? This yogi also we presume he has got a body and he has got a mind but through spiritual practice of many, many, many years or long hours, long years, many lives he had attained. Let us imagine to the state of a crystal. What is the nearest object to him? His own body and mind. So how is his real mind? See he had practiced through that very mind, even though he is not the mind, but through that very instrument he had attained to that state. He becomes like a crystal. Now another name for this crystal is pure consciousness. So this pure consciousness, whatever object, what are the objects in this case? The yogi's own mind and yogi's own body. So he reflects Sri Ramakrishna, laughing, smiling, he is eating jalebi, he says I like this jalebi, I like this. Is he affected in any way? Absolutely not. His mind says we have to get rid of this, all parochial, narrow ideas about Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna's mind is, you agree with me, Sri Ramakrishna's mind has become like this yogi's, like a crystal. Is Sri Ramakrishna an Indian? Is Sri Ramakrishna a Hindu? By the very fact you say he is the embodiment of all Gods and Goddesses, that very fact shows that he is beyond all distinctions of a country, a language, a religion and everything else. That means he could be as a devotee as a devotee wants him to be. I will just give an example. After the war, Rama killed Ramanasura, the Ramayana and at that time he needed the help of Garuda and the Garudman. Garudman is not a bird, he is one of the greatest devotees who carries Vishnu everywhere. When a devotee goes anywhere, what does he carry? When a devotee, I am asking a good devotee, what do you think he will carry? Only God. So Garudman, he is a carrier of God, he is a crystal clear mind. So this Garudman came in the story and because of him all these snakes, everything have disappeared but he liked to see which form of Rama, Vishnu's form. So immediately Rama assumed the form of Vishnu and then Hanuman, he always liked to see the form of Rama. Now conflict is going on in his mind, he is fidgeting. Now Rama assumed, we say Rama assumed the form of Vishnu to please Garudman. Did he assume the form or did Garudman see him in the form of Vishnu? I don't know whether I am making any sense. Everything depends upon, we are always thinking this object is like this but we have to reverse it and say this object is like that because I am seeing it like that. This is the point. So Shri Ramakrishna doesn't change anything. This is a real example. A Christian devotee Mr. Mishra came and he shook hands because Christian tradition is not to touch the feet but to shake the hands and for several minutes there was no talk, they were looking at each other. Now what is the point here? This devotee, he was having a vision of Jesus Christ in Shri Ramakrishna. There were other devotees, what were they looking? How were they looking at Shri Ramakrishna? They were only looking at the way that they are accustomed to look Shri Ramakrishna, like photograph. At the same time, Shri Ramakrishna is appearing as Jesus Christ to one. Imagine, you can extend the image. Suppose a Muslim devotee comes, how do you think he will see at the same time Shri Ramakrishna as his chosen deity? So you can see any number of forms that you want to see. This is the idea that is conveyed through this aphorism that a yogi's mind becomes like a crystal which seems to take on the appearance of anything that is nearby and actually is totally detached from it. So what is the nature of the crystal to be a crystal? What is the nature of a yogi? What is his egotism? If you ask him who are you, what do you think his answer would be? He says, does he say I am Shri Ramakrishna? Does he say I am Swamiji? What does he say? He says I am Brahman. Simple, I am Brahman. That is the state of the yogi. I will give you other examples. There are very wonderful examples. Two examples from the life of Swami Brahmananda. It was summer, very hot. Swami Brahmananda was suffering from terrible heat. Calcutta heat could be enormous. Then one disciple was there, I think most likely Boshi Singh and then Swami Brahmananda called him. His heat is intolerable. Let us meditate on Himalayas. And both of them, because Swami told, the young man also wanted to, he closed his eyes. What happened? Nothing happened. But then Swami Brahmananda's body, he merged. And after a few minutes, Swami Brahmananda saw the disciple. He knew the disciple's meditation was not like this crystal at all. And he asked, you touch my body. And the disciple touched the body of Sri Ramakrishna. Do you know what he found? When you touch the eyes, how do you feel? That means the body of Sri Ramakrishna, by meditation, it took on the form of the like Himalayas. And it is also, if you have carefully read the life of Swami Akhandananda, then while he was wandering in the Himalayas, he saw a yogi, a lama, Tibetan lama, sitting and what is called snow, deep snow, crystallized snow, absolutely no clouds. And Swami Akhandananda observed carefully that all the ice near the yogi was melting. He was surprised. Then, you know, later on, he had a talk with the lama. And then the lama said, he understood. He said, there is nothing surprising here. There is a small type of yogic practice. I can teach you right now. And if I teach you that one, you can also strip all your clothes, sit here and your body will produce so much heat. Not only you will not suffer, but even the snow around you will start melting. So much of heat you will produce. And in case we are, you are all doubting Thomas, you know, in case we are doubting, do you recollect when Shri Ramakrishna was practicing spiritual discipline, his body started burning like burning fire that he had to stand for several hours in the Ganges just to get temporarily. I told you so many times how Bhairavi Brahmani came and gave that remedy. Do you think that a body is capable of producing so much of heat? It is produced. Where from the heat is coming now? Is it coming from the body? Or is it coming from that mind which is identifying itself into that love of God and because of that separation, it is like fire is coming out. And interestingly, we also say that, you know, when somebody is burning with jealousy. Have you heard the expression? Burning with jealousy. Really he burns. And if he continues like that, his stomach starts burning and then he has to take that Philips. That is how, what is that called? Acidity. Acidity comes. And people say, all the yogis have found if somebody is having jealousy, he will suffer mostly from stomach problems. Some diseases are caused physiologically but many of the diseases are caused by mental actions. This is well known now. It is called psychosomatic effect. You know the diseases that are caused by stress and strain. Anyway, so to wrap up, this is one example. Another example of Swami Brahmananda, most wonderful. Swami Brahmananda was at Haridwar, North India. He had a disciple who was performing austerity nearby Rishikesh and one day a disciple of Swami Brahmananda, he told his guru, you know Maharaj, you are the so and so disciple. He had a samadhi while practicing austerities in Rishikesh and instantaneously Maharaj replied, no, no, I know what he had experienced. What he had experienced? A kind of ecstatic state and this is how so many aspirants go wrong because they think they had some experience but they misinterpret as the highest experience. It is very, very small experiences. This was the incident. Now, what is the point we are making? How did Swami Brahmananda know what type of experience the disciple had? How did he know? Because whenever he thinks of any one of his disciples, he assumes his mind is like a crystal and as though that his disciples are the person about whom he is thinking, that mind as it were is placed near him and then he knows, oh, this is the experience here. By the way, you know who is a great teacher? A teacher who could come down to the level of the student and then he knows, oh, this much only this person has understood. This is his capacity. So, I should teach him only this much, not anything else. This is the secret of any teaching. If I am talking to you and sometimes what I talk to you goes above your, that means what? I have not been able to identify myself with you. Swamiji, very often he used to do that. I mentioned the example, one day he announced that my next topic would be my master Ramakrishna and with full of enthusiasm, he was almost ecstatic, entered into the hall. That day there were thousands of people, there was not even standing room left out and he came, he stood, he looked at the audience and then he, you know what he found? These people are unfit to hear about my master. That is Swami Vivekananda's concept of his master. He wanted to talk and he was in his element and then he changed the subject and went on blasting them. You are slaves of your sensual people, slaves of your life and then the report came later on. There were hundreds of people abruptly left the hall but there were some who remained glued to the chair and then you know at the end the report came. When the talk was over, Swamiji was exhausted but the audience absolutely in silence, no talk, no comments, with grave faces they walked out. That means what? They were able to understand at least a little bit what Swami Vivekananda was trying to tell. But the sequel to this is very very interesting. Swami Vivekananda went back to his room and he started beating his head, saying I am unworthy of being a disciple of my master. My master never criticised anybody, never opened his mouth and condemned anybody and I who went to speak his name, all that I did was only criticised and criticised and criticised. What a wonderful thing it is. Anyway, what is the example I am telling? That a teacher is one who could come down to the level, then only the people will be able to, so whether it is Sri Ramakrishna or Holy Mother or Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, they all can come down to the level of the student and that is why they are such effective teachers to us. These are examples I am trying to give you to say that when a person, spiritual aspirant develops this kind of power of concentration, his mind becomes crystal clear. Let me make it clear. What does it mean crystal clear? What does it mean? It means our mind is usually covered with the three things, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. But in the case of this yogi, he had completely removed the Tamas and Rajas. What remains? Sattva. What is the nature of this Sattva? Nature of this Sattva is purity, clarity. It becomes like a mirror and then what is the example of this mirror for? When you stand in front of the mirror, if it is a good mirror, clean mirror, it exactly reproduces, oh this is me, otherwise we have no other way of knowing who we are. So here the yogi, yogi's mind, as it were he stands aside. Until that time he was totally identified with his mind because of Tamas and Rajas. At this stage his mind becomes pure Sattva and it acts like a mirror and he stands in front of that mirror and then what does he see? I am not body and mind, I am Purusha, I am pure Consciousness and from that point onwards he will never again identify himself. As I mentioned you can put a flower near a crystal, it appears to be taking on the colour and form of the object but it ever remains totally separate from it. This is the meaning of it. Then from aphorism 42 to 44, means 42, 43 and 44 is exactly a reproduction of what we discussed in aphorism 17 which talks about four types of Samadhi. Very quickly I will go. When a yogi is practicing spiritual discipline, means here in this case concentration, then he goes through four stages, four stages, Savitarka, Savichara, Pitarka, Vichara, then Ananda and Asmita. That is to say two belong to an object, one belongs to the instrument of the object and one belongs to the Consciousness without which this is not possible. So here very briefly I will tell you something, number 42, sound, meaning and resulting knowledge being mixed up is called Samadhi with reason. I will make it very simple. Whenever we have a knowledge, it is a mixture of three things. I will give an example, practical example. I tell you, this is a clip, this is a clip. Now what happened? My words are sounds and that entered into your mind. You already know what is the clip. Immediately the meaning of my words flash into your mind. So what happens now? The sounds and the meaning of the sounds react in your mind like throwing a table in a lake and it produces a reaction. So the sound, the meaning of the sound and the reaction, these three things combined is called what we call information, knowledge, Jnana. We call it knowledge and accordingly we react. You see, here is a tiger. Somebody says, here is a tiger. Suppose you are walking alone in a forest and you see a tiger. Did anybody shout to you, this is a tiger? Did you hear any words? Did you hear any sound? This route comes. Nobody else shouted. Who is shouting? You are shouting yourself from within your mind. You are shouting yourself. You are saying, this is a tiger. Very softly you are saying, but it is there. So when you are saying this is a tiger, that is your sound and then you are, that meaning, I know already what is the tiger and then you have the knowledge of the tiger and you react to that knowledge either run away or faint, whatever it is. Every single knowledge that we get is a mixture of sound, shabda, meaning, artha and the resultant reaction in the mind which is called knowledge and to this combined knowledge we shape our reactions. Now what is Patanjali telling here? In our case, we never are able to separate these three. Sound is different, meaning is different and the object in knowledge is different, totally different and that is why we suffer so much. Whereas a yogi is crystal, this is only sound, this is only its meaning and this is knowledge, this is nothing to do. All the three are totally separate, no connection with each other. What is the result of this analysis? He would not be a slave as we are slaves to things. I will give a funny example, probably funny, I do not know. Suppose there is a man and he is very fond of coffee, he gave him a cup of coffee, he will be very happy, is not it? And if the coffee is not prepared well, he would not be happy at all. So, you come across such a person and you know that he likes coffee and he will be very happy. So, what you do? First you bring hot water and make him drink. After five minutes when you bring a teaspoon full of coffee powder and ask him to swallow. After five minutes bring a little bit of sugar, ask him to swallow. After five minutes bring a little bit of milk and ask him to swallow. After all what is coffee? Hot water, coffee powder, a bit of sugar if at all and milk, is not it? Is it the same? It is exactly the same, it is exactly the same, no difference. But this man thinks unless they are mixed in a particular way, it is not coffee. But if you analyze, what is it? This is an example, but I will give you and say, you are fond of, some people are very fond of food, very spiced food. After all what is spiced food? Here is a potato, potato is a potato is a potato, is it not? Boil the potato and then you give it to him and then he likes spiced potato curry. So, after some time you bring the spice also to five minutes and give it to him. Is it same as eating the potato or not? I am asking you. It is not the same? It is exactly the same, but in the person's mind he has a fixed idea that unless it is combined in this way, it is not. What after all is the purpose of eating potato curry? Then again you have to separate. We eat because that gives us sustenance. What is the other purpose? Taste. Now, is taste and sustainability are the same? Come on. So, you see a yogi, what does he do? What does it matter? Ramakrishna, you know, once he had felt, I must wear a cashmere shawl, very costly and Madhubabu provided me. What happened, you know, he said, after all these are sheep's hair, any ordinary kambal also will do. Why this thousand rupees this shawl? They go to burn, fortunately somebody had taken it. Whether he returned it later on, I don't know anything about it. You see, we all suffer because we want a particular combination. But what is the practical use of this thing? I am going to give you. You are going, walking in the street, suddenly somebody comes and then calls, you are a rogue, you know, here, now here he comes. This fellow calls me a rogue. I will just take a gun and blast him. But if whatever yogi, he says, oh, rogue, it is a sound, meaning the rogue, it could be used as a word of criticism or it could be a word of endearment. Ramakrishna used to address his guru, Sala. Sala means rogue. Parents, small children, you are a rogue. The fellow breaks his big smile. It all depends upon how you take a combination. So, a yogi is not at all concerned about it. I am giving these practical examples because we all suffer because of this inability to separate these three things. So, I will give you a practical example. You know, a person was walking in a street and there was a man sitting, standing outside a house and as soon as he saw this man walking there, he started abusing him right and left and this man was furious, he was boiling, he didn't do anything, but his blood pressure was rising, it was going. Then you know, another man was standing next door to this abuser and that man heard what had happened and he went up to this man who was boiling with rage. He said, do you know, this is a mad guy. The moment this man heard, this is a mad guy, not only his anger had completely disappeared, now his mind is filled with compassion. Another human being, he has lost the ability to live like another decent human being. Why God has given? He started praying for that man. Now you see, the words were exactly the same. What happened in the first instance? He understood it in his own way. Then what happened in the second instance? The other man explained to him, he is a mad guy. This totally changes the perspective of the listener and accordingly his reaction also totally differs. What happens? Somebody comes and then he may criticize you, he may cause you trouble. It happened to Sri Ram Krishna once, I think it was Hajra, somebody criticized him. Whatever you are seeing is a hallucination. Sri Ram Krishna got very, very agitated. He ran to the object of his hallucination. That man criticized, you are seeing hallucinations, you are having hallucinations about Divine Mother. You know, you see Divine Mother Kali in the temple. Where did he go? To the hallucinations. And asking the hallucination, what the other man called hallucination, are you a hallucination? And then that hallucination said, no, I am not a hallucination. I am the reality. That fellow is a fool. And these words reassured Sri Ram Krishna and he came back. I am putting it in a funny way. The thing is, is it a hallucination? Yes or no? Previously. From a devotee's standpoint, it is absolute reality. From the highest point of view, any vision is a hallucination because it is created by our mind. From one point of view, the forms of God are all 100%. From the other point of view, they are all nothing but reflections, the thoughts, chitta vrittis in our mind. From the yogic point of view. What is this aphorism says? The primary knowledge we get is the mixture of sound, meaning and the reaction in our mind. This is what we call knowledge. And we are slaves to it. Whereas a yogi is a master. What does that mean? That means he knows. These three have no connection with each other. So he can react as he would like to react. That is why he is not effective. If somebody praises him, he is not pleased. If somebody criticizes him, he is also not pleased. And you all know that example, beautiful example. Yogi Maharaj, Yogi Swami Yogananda went travelling by boat and some people started criticizing Sri Ram Krishna and he didn't say anything. He thought he was a great spiritual person and he reported to Sri Ram Krishna. Sri Ram Krishna scolded him. What? Your guru is being scolded, abused, criticized and you didn't say anything? You should have given him a slap. Like that. Same incident happened to another of his disciples, Swami Niranjanananda. And he also came and reported. And Sri Ram Krishna scolded him. And then he said, what are these? There are some words. What does it mean? If they say I am a good person, I become a good person. If they say I am a bad person, do I become a bad person? What does it matter? They are all words. Why did you lose your temperament? You see, very difficult. What is the point of this example? One person took these words in one way. Another person took the same words in a totally different way. And what is the point? Both of them were affected. Sri Ram Krishna says, what is the point? He says, if you are affected, then there is something wrong with you. Here is an important point. Just because I am a spiritual aspirant, the world doesn't change its behavior. Nothing changes. But what happens? My way of interpreting and reacting towards the events of the world, that will be changed. That means I start seeing everything as either God or everything as my own Chitravasti. What a marvellous thing. That is what a Yogi is. That is what a spiritual aspirant is. When a Yogi has this capacity to separate these things and he is a master, that is called Samadhi. That leads to Samadhi. The aphorism 43, Smriti Parishuddhau Swaroopa Surya Surya Deva Artha Matra Nirbhasa Nirvitarka is a little bit advanced concentration than we discussed in the last aphorism. That Samadhi, which is called without reasoning, comes when the memory is purified or devoid of qualities, expressing only the meaning of the meditated. Very simply what it means is, a Yogi comes to such a state and he can concentrate in such a way that the knowledge of an object just flashes in his mind without the instrumentality of anything else in this world. Artha Matra Nirbhasa is not dependent upon an instrument, he is not dependent upon an object, the knowledge comes. It is a kind of intuitive kind of knowledge comes to us in three ways. Instinct, reasoning and intuition. Instinct and reasoning is what we use. Animals use mostly instinct and rational people use reasoning, but Yogis, their mind, it doesn't need any instrument. Simply the knowledge comes to them. For example, when Sri Ramakrishna used to look at a newcomer, he knows all about this newcomer's past, present, future, when he is going to attain God, what things he has to experience etc. So this Samadhi is called Nirvitarka, 44th aphorism. Already we have commented upon, it is called Savitarka Samadhi, Nirvitarka Samadhi, Savichara Samadhi, Nirvichara Samadhi, which simply means a Yogi can meditate upon any object, gross or subtle. He can meditate upon the instrument called the mind, he can also meditate upon the knower or the pure consciousness or the Aham. Such a Yogi has reached almost the highest state. And what is the limitation for such a Yogi? Can he meditate upon anything he likes? Yes, this is what is being said in the 45th Sokshma Prashayat Vamcha, Alinga Vasaranam. That is to say, his capacity to meditate extends to what is called the highest of the Prakruti from which this whole universe has come. Now we have to remember that this Yoga Sutras are based upon a particular school of philosophy called Sankhya. According to Sankhya, how this world has come, how you and me and everything that we experience has come. I am not going into the details, but I am going to tell you how it has come very briefly. First of all, there is what is called Ishwara, creator. Who is Ishwara? Brahman plus Maya. Brahman plus Maya is called Ishwara. From Ishwara, the first emanation that has come is called Prakruti or Pradhana. That is the matrix from which this whole cosmos has come, including our so-called ability to be conscious and to act as conscious beings. That is why every day, practically, every Saturday we sing Prakrutim Parama. Holy Mother is praised here. Prakrutim Parama. Parama Prakruti means she is that Ishwara. She is the Maya matrix from which the whole universe has come. Not true. We cannot even think of it. This Prakruti manifests in the form of Avyakta. Avyakta means unmanifested. Still it is manifested means you can experience. Unmanifested means you cannot experience. From this Avyakta came Mahat. Mahat means that is a manifestation of this Avyakta. It is even that also is yours to universe that is there. From this Mahat came Ahamkara or egotism. Not individual egotism, cosmic egotism. From that cosmic egotism came five subtle elements. Five subtle elements. From those five subtle elements again came five gross elements which are called Afrasya, Vayu, Agni, Apaha, Prithvi. That is the space, the air, fire, water and the earth. The whole universe consists of nothing but these five elements. And how do we know these five elements? Because each element has its own resultant object of knowledge. Akasha or space gives rise to sound, Shabda. That is why it is Shabda, Sparsha, Rupa, Rasa and Vandha. That is to say sound, touch, form, taste and smell. So these five elements have taken the form of our five sense organs. Each eye can see, form, fire. The ears can hear, sound and the nose can smell. The tongue can taste and the whole body, the skin, it can touch. What is this world? Nothing but five things. If any of these are absent the world becomes less by that and if all the five sense organs are absent the world simply disappears. That is why it is called Prapancha consisting of five elements. Now what is the point of my telling you this? This is according to Sankhya is what we see the gross world. This came from the five subtle elements of Ramaputra and they came from Ahamkara and they came from Mahat. Mahat came from Adhyakta, unmanifest. The unmanifest came from Prakruti or the original matrix and that original matrix along with pure consciousness is called Eshwara, creator or God. Now what is the point of telling all this? Patanjali is telling a yogi can meditate on this clip and he can also meditate on this clip. His mind, he just says let me meditate on this clip. He says immediately. That means his mind becomes a clip. Then immediately he says let me meditate on the matrix and he becomes the, that means his mind is capable of that range. That means there is no object in this world upon which he fails to focus his mind and when a person attains to that state that is called Savijya Samadhi. Now we will come here, number four. All these Samadhis that we have discussed so far, four types of Samadhis, they are called Savijya. Means you can concentrate on them only with the help of an object. Vijya means an object. This is one meaning. The other meaning is even to a yogi who attains to this type of Savikalpa Samadhi, he stays, there is a seed left out. That means there is a possibility he can fall down. A seed means what? It can become a plant. What does it mean? He can be reborn again. And rebirth is possible only when the person has got ignorance still. However subtle it is, the possibility is still there. This is what it says. Then 47. Nirvichara vaisaradhe adhyatma prasadaha. When a yogi attains to this highest of this Savikalpa Samadhi, it is called Nirvichara. Adhyatma, he attains, his mind becomes so pleased, prasannata, it is called prasada. That is why we say whatever is offered to God, we call it, why do we call it prasada? Because the moment we accept it with devotion, our mind becomes absolutely serene. And then what is the point you know? I will explain this in my next class, but this is only, I will stop here. That is why I am telling you, when we really accept prasada, anything offered to God with devotion and eat it, our mind becomes, prasada means serene. Now did you notice, when do you get correct knowledge? When you are reading a book, your mind is disturbed. Do you get correct knowledge? But your mind is absolutely quiet, calm, serene. Then you read the book. Does it make a difference? That is what is meant. When a yogi's mind attains to the highest state of Nirvichara Samadhi, then his mind becomes absolutely like a lake, undisturbed by any breeze, whatever, samskara. Then what happens? When he looks, becomes like a crystal and he says, oh, this is how I look. When a person knows, I am the Purusha, I am the pure consciousness, then what happens? His mind becomes absolutely, that unimaginable, infinite joy fills his very being as it was. Why? Because that is what he is. Oh, I have been looking for you for eons together, here and there, in this object and that object. I have moved all the three worlds in search of whom? In search of my own Self. This is called Adhyatma Prasada. But I will put it in my own dualistic way. We, ordinary people, we go to the temple and we sit and meditate. We come out, you know, we always keep the water here. What is that water? Aphodine. We reverentially drink that water. And there is also nice prasada outside. The moment a devotee takes little bit, he feels his body, mind has become pure and then he feels that serenity. And you know what is that serenity? What happens in that serenity? You feel that I am having an intimate relationship with God. I am a child of God. I am a son of God. I am a devotee of God. I am a servant of God. Whatever be the feeling, this relationship naturally, spontaneously, it manifests in that mind which has become pure. That is called Adhyatma Prasada. In our case, the mind becomes only little bit serene. That is why this relationship, this manifestation of divinity is only a little bit and also for a short time. But in this yogi, Adhyatma Prasada means forever because he knows now what he truly is. Now what is this Adhyatma Prasada? How he is going to attain? Even this also had to be gotten rid of. It is a marvellous subject matter. Probably I will conclude in my next class. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti