Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 072

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM SAHANAVATU SAHANAVUBHUNAKTU SAHAVIRYAM KARAVAVAHAI TEJASVINAVADHITAMASTUMA VIDVISHAVAHAI OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM YUGENA CHITTASYA PADENA VACHAM MALAM SHARIRASYA JAVAIDHYAKENA YOPAKAROTAM PRAVARAM MUNINAM PATANJALIM PRANJALI RANATHOSME I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar and of the body through medicine. In our last class we had discussed about pranayama. Of all the topics the subject and control of the prana is the most important subject. Swamiji goes into such details about this subject that we are really astonished. Swami Vivekananda had introduced certain topics in connection with the discussion of this prana. The first point he makes is solely exclusively through the control of prana one can realize God. This claim has not been made earlier though there were people who really believed it. Swamiji made it almost an exclusive part. Swamiji's greatness was the synthesis he brought among all the four yogas. According to Swami Vivekananda any yoga independent of any other yoga is quite capable of taking one to the highest goal which is called the realization of God, realization of the self etc. And how he so scientifically explains this process is a most marvelous process. So we will deal with these small sub-sections when Swami Vivekananda was discussing about this particular topic of prana. First he says how one can reach the atma. How to control this prana is the one idea of pranayama. The prana which is working this mind and body is the nearest to us of all the prana in this universe. This prana is the vital force in every being and the finest and highest action of prana is thought. In this universe there is one continuous mass on every plane of existence. Physically this universe is one. There is no difference between the sun and you. There is no such thing as my body or your body excepting in worlds. It is one huge mass of matter. One point is called moon, another sun, another a man, another the earth, another a planet, another a mineral. This is the point we discussed. The whole mass of existence is only one, the whole matter. Now if we recall Sriram Krishna's experiences, he said once I had a vision in which I have seen that this whole universe consisting of so many varieties of objects is as if made up of wax. One wax made into different forms. You know children play with wax, play-doh and you can make anything out of it. For the children, no I made a horse, you made an elephant, this is different from that. But we know that it is all one dough made up of one dough. So what is the problem? Why this Swamiji brings this point? Because what is bondage? Bondage is to think everything is different. We have so much of discrimination. In fact I mentioned in my previous class, our body is one. We are identified with this body and yet we make so much discrimination between one part of the body and another part of the body. If you had observed carefully, then we favour certain parts of the body. Probably we favour the right hand, right leg, right eye and right ear. Suppose a person is little bit short of hearing, how does he try to hear? No, he will put. Why not put like this? No, you notice him, always he will put like this. That means what he is favouring one particular ear and to the other particular ear. So we are favouring only one particular part of the body. We are making so much of distinction. Supposing there is a problem and then one has to be punished. He says, do you want your left eye to be taken off or right eye to be taken off? Okay, before that I will give a little more, another example. So if a person is to be punished and the punishment is, do you wish your leg to be taken off or your eyes to be taken off? Most of us would prefer or let the leg go but not the eyes because eyes are the most important instruments for receiving knowledge. Otherwise we are really blind. Okay, supposing the still further fine punishment. Okay, you want to be taken off your left eye or right eye? I am sure you will think twice which eye is there. Okay, I use my right eye more than my left eye. So let the left eye go, let the right eye remain. We make so much of distinction. Upon what does this distinction remain? That organ which we think is the most useful for us, gives us the most happiness or enjoyment. That organ we favour. This is the universal law. What is the point of my telling this? In this universe, we are all favouring something. Of all these countries, we favour the country in which we are born. Of all languages, we favour the language which we speak. Of all religions, we favour the religion which we are practicing. Of all the people in my country, I favour my particular state. Of all the people in my state, I favour my particular village or town. And of all the people in that town, I prefer the people who are living near me. And of all the people who are living near me, I prefer my house. And of all the people in my house, I prefer only myself. Is it an exaggeration? It is absolute truth. When it comes to the extremes of life, most of the time, we choose only ourselves. So what is bondage? Bondage is not identifying with anything else excepting the small bit of the mass which is called matter and also this particular prana. So I already mentioned to this example. Do you want completely to die or do you want to get rid of one part of your body? What would be our instantaneous response? Take any part of the body but let me live. So this is called bondage. What is bondage? That which limits us is bondage. This body limits us. This mind also limits us. So what is freedom? To be totally free from the limitations of the body and mind. Consciously or unconsciously, this is what we are all aiming for. Now there are four roads which lead to that goal. These are called yogas. Before Swami Vivekananda, there was a terrible amount of animosity and conflict at which yoga is better. You know, those who have studied the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, one of the things that Sri Ramakrishna had brought to the fore is the harmony of religions. Not only harmony of religions, harmony of sects. One recurring theme in the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is why do the Vaishnavas and Shaktas and Shaivas quarrel with each other? Don't they know that they are all calling upon the same God? He gives the example of four parts of the lake where water is called by different names. Swami Vivekananda, and of course it was Sri Ramakrishna's teaching only again, through that Swami Vivekananda brings the validity of each of these paths. And Raja Yoga is one such yoga through which we can reach God. What is Raja Yoga? Of the important part of Raja Yoga, the control of the prana. Swami Vivekananda boldly claims that if you can control the prana, two things will happen. First of all, you will identify yourself with the whole universe. Secondly, that knowledge of unity of everything slowly expands our heart and in course of time we also know it is the whole universe is neither matter nor prana but ultimately it is one which is called Atman. This is the point Swami Vivekananda wants to tell here. Thus, even in this universe of thought, we find this unity and at last when we get to the Self, we know that that Self can only be one. Beyond motion, there is but one. Beyond the matter, there is one which is called prana, motion, energy. Beyond that prana, there is one and that is called the Self. This is the way through the control of prana one can reach that goal which is called Self-realization. The control of this prana as stated before is what is called pranayama. How does pranayama help us? A little bit introduction Swami Vivekananda gives. The most obvious of all motions in the body is the motion of the lungs that is the flywheel which is sitting all the other forces in motion. Pranayama really means controlling this motion of the lungs and this motion is associated with the breath. When this prana has become controlled, then we shall immediately find that all the other actions of the prana in the body will slowly come under control. During the course of my talks in the past, I also mentioned about the Upanishadic way of reaching the goal. Very briefly, I want to mention one such means which is mentioned specially in the Taittiriya Upanishad. There was one student called Bhrigu and his father was a God-realized soul. So the son now becomes the disciple and he approaches his father and said, So Bhagawan means Guruji, teach me that supreme truth. Then father says, you are too dull at this moment to grasp the highest truth. I will tell you first step, second step, third step, fourth step, fifth step and through that you will yourself realize. So he has given these steps and says, find out from where this whole universe has come and through which this universe is living and unto which this universe again goes back, merges, srishti, sthiti and laya. What is it? He doesn't say what it is. He gives the hint, find out. Then he says, go and do tapasa brahma vijnasasva. Seek Brahman through tapasya, austerity. What is austerity? Focus your mind to that extent that the secrets of all knowledge will be revealed to you. So whatever helps that expansion of the thought is called tapasya. Prigu goes and he focuses all his mind. He realizes annam brahmetim yajanat. That means to say food is the Brahman. Food is Brahman. How is food Brahman? Everything in this universe comes out of food. It is sustained by food and it returns back into food. It is a marvelous thought. What is meant by food? Matter. We are sustained by matter. We came out of matter. We are sustained by matter and ultimately we return to matter. Everything in this universe is nothing but matter. Then Prigu got a doubt. He says this doesn't solve my problem. I am not free from bondage. I am free from the bondage of the body. But I am not free from the bondage of energy, matter, prana. Because when prana departs it looks as though I am going to die. So again he approaches his father and father tells him go and seek that truth. Same formula but there is a higher truth. Go and seek it through austerity, tapasya. Prigu goes and after some time he comes up excitedly, gleefully. I have found out Brahman. What did you find? Prana is Brahman because matter comes out of prana. Prana acts upon matter. This was what we discussed in our last class. There is in the beginning one mass of matter but it is inert. How does it form into these myriad forms and names? It is the action of the prana. Prigu understands prana is the cause of matter and so prana is more subtle. And so prana is a higher truth than matter. But again he says I am free only as far as the realm of prana goes. But there is something in which I am limited, I am bound. The same answer the father gives. He goes back, thinks again and comes back excitedly and then he slowly transcends five steps. These are called pancha koshas, annamaya kosha, pranamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vijnanamaya kosha, anandamaya kosha. What is anandamaya kosha? The whole universe comes into existence because of only one. That is called ananda. If there were to be no ananda, ananda means bliss. There would be no life at all. Nobody wishes to live. If anybody is suffering and still wishing to live, that means though there is no bliss at this time, a man, living creature wishes to have that things, he will get that bliss in future sometime. Maybe in this life, maybe in the next life. When Prigu reached the fifth kosha, anandamaya kosha, he doesn't come back to his father because he felt he is totally free. What did he discover? The whole bliss belongs to the Atman. As soon as he realized, I am the Atman, then instantaneously he becomes free. He reached the goal. This is what Swami Vivekananda is telling. How through the control of prana one reaches self-knowledge? Because prana by itself doesn't give us self-knowledge. But it takes us to that point where we can see another door. What is that another door? There are ahankara is there and beyond that what is called avyakta is there. Each one as it were begins at some point, takes us to some distance and it says goodbye and says, now if you want some further knowledge, you have to go beyond me. But it stops where the next door opens. And that is how slowly a man reaches that ultimate goal. This is what Swami Vivekananda is telling. Where do we start? We start with the control of this body. This control of the body depends upon the action of the lungs. And the action of the lungs depends upon breathing. And if we can control the breathing, then we control the lungs. When we control the lungs, we control the motion that is making the lungs work. When we enter into that door of prana, we realize the entire body is actually controlled by prana. It has come out of prana. It lives by prana. And when the prana goes out, the body drops simply. Or to put it in other words, the body merges back into prana shakti. This is what in short, Swami Vivekananda wants to convey to us. Now in this respect, Swamiji also deviates a little bit and says, this was the lecture he was giving in the West, in America. He says, in this country, there are many sects which are trying to control this prana. But they don't call them yogis, they don't call them pranayama. What do they call? Faith healers, mind healers, Christian science, different names. Now we will read what Swami Vivekananda had expressed. There is a mistake constantly made by faith healers. They think that it is faith itself that directly heals a man. But it is by this prana that real curing comes. The pure man who has controlled this prana has the power of bringing it into a certain state of vibration, which can be conveyed to others, arousing in them a similar vibration. The gigantic will powers of the world, the world movers can bring their prana into a high state of vibration and it is so great and powerful that it catches others in a movement and thousands are drawn towards them and half the world thinks as they do. Great prophets of the world had the most wonderful control of this prana, which gave them tremendous will power that brought their prana to the highest state of motion and this is what gave them the power to sway the world. Now we know that among each one of us there is so much of difference. What is the difference? To put it simply, someone has more prana than the others. What is the proof? The person who has more prana has more influence upon the other people. So a person who can move the entire assembly has got more prana. A person who can move the entire country has got better prana. And the person who can move the world has got even better control than anybody else. So that is how avataras, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Rama, Krishna, Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, they have tremendous control over prana. So how do they do it? Swamiji gives the explanation. You know what electricity is? Swami Vivekananda gives the example of electricity. What is this electricity? He says it is that power by which the molecules of the matter are made to flow in one direction. In other words, concentrated power which directs a mass of what you call matter is called electricity. So what happens? When all the molecules of matter move in a particular way without deviation, it creates tremendous amount of energy or force. And that force can be used to light a lamp, you can make a fan move, you can make a motor car move forward. It is expressing itself in the form of gravitation, attraction, movement, expression of energy, etc. Now what is this electricity? It is nothing but a little movement of the prana. If we can control our prana, what is the meaning of controlling the prana? To bring the scattered forces of energy and focus them, bring them together and focus them into one particular direction. What happens? All the powers of the prana become totally concentrated. If we can bring all the forces that are within our own bodies through the practice of pranayama, that is the meaning of pranayama. Pranayama means control of the prana. If we can bring, we become gigantic centers of power. Now the control of prana doesn't stop there. What it does, since the whole prana that exists in this universe is one, once we know how to control our own little prana, such a person merges himself in the maha prana or the greater energy of this universe and he will have tremendous power to control the whole universe. In our mythologies, there are a number of stories. Some of the Hindus must have heard it. Supposing there is a woman, she is a wife of somebody, a very chaste woman. If she is so chaste that she doesn't think of anybody excepting her own husband and she thinks of her husband only as equal to God, it is said in our Puranas, if she looks at the sun and says you stop, the sun will stop, the moon will stop, the earth will stop, gods also will stop, anything, everything will stop. This is the story. How does it happen? This lady made her husband an object, a target practice for controlling her prana by focusing all her thoughts onto that one object. But she doesn't stop there. Her husband is only a doorway through which she can control the whole universe. For ordinary people, in the form of a story, mythologists give these kind of hints to us. This is what Swamiji is telling. Through breath, if we can control our lungs, then we get access to the control of all the prana and such a yogi, he can cure any disease that he has in his body. And through that, he can control anybody's disease later on. When he becomes identified with the universal prana, then he can do anything he wants. Suppose he says, let the whole universe die, immediately dies. Now Sri Ramakrishna gives a story, just now I remembered and devotees can remember it. There were two brothers, the younger one, he renounced the world, went away. After 12 years, he came back and the elder brother was very happy to see his younger brother and then said, alright my brother, 12 years you did so much of austerity, what did you gain by that? The man said, do you want to see what I gained? There was an elephant passing by. He says, oh elephant, die immediately. So immediately the elephant dies on the spot. And then the elder brother was going on looking. Then immediately he said, oh elephant, become alive. Immediately the elephant comes out alive. This is one version. Another version is, there was a river. The younger brother said, look what I am doing. He walked across the water. And the elder brother, he also hired a boat, paying half an hour and crossed the river. And after crossing, the younger brother looked proudly and said, did you see? He said, what did I see? I walked. So I also crossed the river by paying half an hour. For this you wasted 12 years. What happened to you? What did you gain by doing this kind of things? Has any change come in you except becoming more proud? So Ramakrishna was very, very great. Wisdom comes from these stories. So in the other story, yes, did you see? Yes, what did I see? There was an elephant. It was dead. It came back to life. What of it? What happened to you? And the man's eyes are open. He said, this is a natural phenomenon which is happening all the time. The same elephant will die. The same elephant will be reborn, either as an elephant or anything else. What does it really matter? What is the point here? The point is, all these actions of the prana can be controlled by a great yogi. And he says, here is something very wonderful. Swami Vivekananda says, if a man can really control the prana, and if he is pure, he develops gigantic willpower. And Jains will develop gigantic willpower. What is the difference? There are also very cruel people in this world. And they also had willpower, like Hitler, etc. Genghis Khan, Hitler, etc. Now what is the difference between these great souls and these kind of wicked people? The difference is, these wicked people are impure. They used, first of all, their power is very short. Secondly, they misused their power to the great suffering, misery, destruction in this world. It is happening even today. And really speaking, Swami Vivekananda makes another statement. How much a wicked man can destroy, an earthquake can do in a trice without undergoing through this. It can kill thousands or even millions of people. In fact, do you know that it happened in history 65,000 years ago? Two-thirds of the entire life on this earth was wiped off. Perhaps some of you know. Why? Because the theory is a meteor struck the earth and then the effect of that was two-thirds of the life has become extinguished. This is what no wicked man can do it in this world. Of course, now we have nuclear bombs, etc. But a great soul, what does he do? He lifts up the minds of human beings. And his power is so great, for centuries together, hundreds of years together. That power will go on working. Sri Ramakrishna passed away as an example in 1886. Even now we are thrilled. Even after 500 years, 1000 years, people will be thrilled. Those who are seeking in this welder of darkness, they will get light by reading the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. What is that power through which Sri Ramakrishna was working? According to Swami Vivekananda, the tremendous willpower. What is willpower? The control of tremendous power of prana directed towards a higher direction. That is called willpower. Whenever we see anybody having tremendous willpower, this is what Swami Vivekananda wants to tell. What is the point here? The point is by controlling the prana, we develop gigantic willpower. Once we develop that willpower, you direct it towards your goal. We assume that it is a spiritual goal and that will end in the realization of God. Third point Swami Vivekananda gives. What does this control of the prana really do? He says, shorten the time of evolution. Swami Vivekananda goes into great detail and tells. You know what? A human being lives perhaps 3000 years of evolution. One avatar goes through one lifetime. We can shorten our period of evolution if only we can control our prana. Let me read out. The whole science of yoga is directed to that one end to teach men how to shorten the time of evolution. All the great prophets, saints and seers of the world, what are they? In that one span of life, they lived the whole life of humanity. Bridged the whole length of time that it will take ordinary humanity to come to the state of perfection. In this one life, they perfect themselves. This is the shortening of the time. Swami Vivekananda goes, you will find that wherever there is any extraordinary display of power, it is this manifestation of this prana. That part of the pranayama which attempts to control the physical manifestations of the prana by physical means is called physical science. And that part which tries to control the manifestations of the prana as mental force by mental means is called Raja Yoga. What a wonderful truth Swami Vivekananda is telling us here. If a person has become extraordinarily great musician, how did he become? If a man had become great scientist, for example Einstein, Max Planck, how did they become great scientists? By the power of control of prana. What happens when prana is controlled? The control of prana is intimately related also with the power of concentration. The moment you have control of prana, you have control of your thoughts. The moment because what are thoughts? Manifestations of nothing but prana. Externally, the movement of the body, the flow of the blood, the movement of the lungs, this is the external manifestation of prana. But when that same prana becomes subtle, then the thought power, every thought that arises in our mind, it is the manifestation of prana. What is science? When a person directs all his powers of concentration, means all his power of prana through concentration towards a physical subject, that is called science. So if somebody takes up poetry, he becomes a great poet. That's why you see people like Wordsworth, it is described when we were college students and we were taught this non-detail, the poetry of Wordsworth, Longfellow, Shelley, Keats, etc. Now the professors do explain about Wordsworth. He used to go out and he used to forget his body, the whole world, and he used to be lifted up as it were into another plane. Devotees of Shri Ramakrishna can also recall when Girish Chandrakoshi used to act the part of a drunkard. What do you think happened? He was totally identified with that subject. When Shri Ramakrishna used to watch the drama, such dramas, he never felt I am watching dramas. He felt kaya and jhaya, both are one. I see the same Rama. I see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That was Shri Ramakrishna's vision because he was not making any distinction. So this is what Swami Vivekananda wants to tell us. Anywhere, any greatness is a manifestation of this great prana. What does manifestation mean here? This person somehow was able to control his prana. That means he was able to control his thoughts. That means he was able to control his mind and that mind when it is directed towards one particular subject and that subject reveals its secrets and that manifests his particular greatness whom we call a great poet, great scientist, great musician, great poet, even a great cook. Suppose in this world there are great cooks. People pay a great amount of money to eat what they cook. Why? Because whatever this person cooks is very tasty. Why? Why does that taste really great? Do you know why? Because he pays the greatest attention to detail how much ingredient at what time it has to be. This is the difference between you give the same ingredients to 10 people, there will be 10 different tastes there and that person is a great cook. Swami Vivekananda had a way of telling it, every good sadhu becomes a great cook if he chooses to do it. It doesn't mean every great cook will become a great saint. But he has the power. If he wants, he can do it. Swami Yathiswarananda Maharaj used to say, scientists are nearer to God than most of us. Why? Because they have three faculties. First thing is concentration. Second thing is self-discipline. And third is self-control. They have tremendous self-control. Years together they don't think anything else excepting that. They are focused. That is the secret Swami Vivekananda is telling here. Having said this, Swamiji is telling, now we shall see why breathing is practiced. In the first place, from rhythmical breathing will come a tendency of all the molecules in the body to move in the same direction. When all the motions of the body have become perfectly rhythmical, the body has as it were become a gigantic battery of will. This tremendous will is exactly what the yogi wants. What is the greatest thing that a yogi has to find out? Will power. Why is it that we are not attaining success? It is due to what? Lack of will power. And what is the meaning of lack of will power? We don't have concentration. Why we don't have concentration? Because our thoughts are running here and there. Why is it? Because we have not controlled the prana. And how to control the prana? Do pranayama. This is the secret, how beautifully Swamiji brings out. See, if a useless fellow goes on breathing, he will have some few benefits, but he is not going to become a yogi. Why? Because you have the first class engine, first class car, but if you don't have the idea where to go and what purpose you want to go, it is completely useless. I want to buy a huge truck to buy some greens from the neighboring shop. Is that a purpose? It is not enough to have will, it is necessary also to have a goal in life. And that's why Swami Vivekananda says that we have to control our body. Now we come to the another part, the fourth part. In Sanskrit there is a word we use, Ojas. Ramakrishna used to say, people like Shukadeva, etc., they are called Uddhvaretaskas. All their finest powers in their body always goes up now or into a downward movement. Let us hear what Swami Vivekananda says. The yogis claim that of all the energies that the human body comprises, the highest is what they call Ojas. Now this Ojas is stored up in the brain and the more the Ojas is in a man's head, the more powerful he is, the more intellectual, the more spiritually strong will that man be. This is the action of Ojas. Now in all mankind there is more or less of this Ojas stored up and all the forces that are working in this body in their highest form become Ojas. You must remember that it is only a question of transformation. The same force which is working outside as electricity or magnetism will become changed into inner force. The same forces that are working as muscular energy will be changed into Ojas. The yogis say that that part of the human energy which is expressed as sex energy in sexual functions, sexual thought and so on, when checked and controlled easily becomes converted, changed into Ojas and as this lowest center is the one which guides all these functions, therefore the yogi pays particular attention to that center and that is why the monks came into existence giving up marriage. There must be perfect chastity in thought, word and deed. Without it the practice of Raja Yoga is dangerous and may lead to insanity. Let me pass one or two remarks here. Why this institution of monks have come? Because anybody and everybody cannot become a monk. A life of a monk is not a lifestyle. It is meant only for one purpose. A monk is one, usually we say he renounces everything. What does he renounce? He renounces home, renounces marriage, renounces power and position in work. Even kings, emperors have renounced going to a solitary place. What is the purpose? There must be a purpose. What is that purpose? In one way we can call it God Realization. In another way we can call it controlling all the energies so that they will never go into waste and converting them into Ojas. Ojas is considered, transforms itself into Tejas. We call Brahma Tejas when it is directed. Actually it is the same if somebody is very strong, it is Ojas converted into muscular power. Somebody is intellectual, it is Ojas converted into intellectual power. But according to religion or spiritual life, the highest such transformation of Ojas is called spiritual life. And then only can one really go to God, realize God. That is why whether you are householders, whether you are monks, whether you are unmarried people, married people, it doesn't really matter. What matters is, are you wasting your energy? That is it. Here is a small point to be noted. Householders are permitted to produce children to use some of these Ojas in that matter. Ramakrishna gives a beautiful direction to them. After the birth of one or two children, they must live the life of Brahmacharya. What is Brahmacharya? Converting Ojas into the realization of Brahman is called Brahmacharya. And that is why millions of people literally throughout history have renounced the world. Would all of them succeed? Yes, they will succeed. Some succeed in one life, some may take hundred lives, some may take a million lives. But all of us are slowly progressing towards that. Hinduism divides life into four successive stages of evolution. As you know, from Brahmacharya, one evolves into Garhastya. And Garhastya, a married person evolves into a Vanaprastha, a retired person. Not the ordinary, nowadays people are retiring and spend their time in reading newspapers and playing bridge. That is not the type of people who are wanted. Those who devote themselves to inner life and then even that retired life is meant to be converted into Sannyasa. So according to Hinduism, everybody is going to become a monk sooner or later. It may be in this life or next life or next life, but ultimately that is what is called way of evolution. We have to end up there. This is Pranayama and Ojas. What is the relationship? Through Pranayama, we control Prana in our body. Through the control of the body, we convert into Ojas. This Ojas is stored up in the brain in the form of tremendous purified energy like Uranium. From there we can manufacture the highest type of explosives. But that should be directed only towards one goal which is God. This is what Swami Vivekananda meant. Now we come to a very interesting subject. This is called Pranayama and Kundalini. We all hear of Kundalini. Let us see what Swami Vivekananda says. The aim of Pranayama is to rouse the coiled up power in the Muladhara called the Kundalini. According to the physiology of Raja Yoga, a huge reserve of spiritual energy is situated at the base of the spine. This reserve of energy is known as Kundalini, that which is coiled up. Hence it is sometimes referred to as the serpent power. There is a book called by John Woodruff, Serpent Power. Some of you might have heard it. When this Kundalini is aroused, it is said to travel up the spine through six centers of consciousness, reaching the seventh, the center of the brain. As it reaches the higher centers, it produces various degrees of enlightenment. This process is best explained in the words of Sri Ramakrishna. Now we take the help of Sri Ramakrishna's Gospel, where he clearly describes how the Kundalini, aroused Kundalini, slowly travels up from the Muladhara to the highest Sahasrara and what happens. The scriptures speak of seven centers of consciousness. The mind may dwell in one or the other of the centers. When the mind is attached to worldliness, it dwells in the three lower centers, at the navel, the organ of reproduction and the organ of evacuation. The mind then has no higher spiritual ambitions or visions. It is immersed in the cravings of lust and greed. The fourth center is at the heart. When the mind learns to dwell there, man experiences his first spiritual awakening. Then he has the vision of light all around. Seeing this divine light, he becomes filled with wonder and says, Ah! How wonderful! His mind does not then run to the lower centers. The fifth center is at the throat. He whose mind has reached this center is freed from ignorance and delusion. He doesn't enjoy hearing or talking of anything but God. The sixth center is at the forehead. When the mind reaches this center, there is the direct vision of God day and night. Even then, there is a little trace of ego left in the aspirant. It is like a light in a lantern. One feels as if one could touch the light but cannot because of the obstructing pain of glass. The seventh center is at the top of the head. When the mind reaches it, Samadhi is attained. One becomes a knower of Brahman, united with Brahman. This is what Sri Ramakrishna had described, this slow movement of the Kundalini from the lowest to the highest. Now Swami Vivekananda gives this explanation. According to Raja Yoga, the spinal column contains two nerve currents, Ida on the left and Pingala on the right, and the central passage is called Sushumna. When the Kundalini is aroused, it passes up the Sushumna, which in normally unspiritual persons remains closed. As we have seen, Yoga physiology makes no absolute distinction between gross and subtle matter. It is all a question of degree. So Swami Vivekananda says, By the power of long internal meditation, the vast mass of energy stored up travels along the Sushumna and strikes the centers. The reaction is tremendous. Immensely superior to the reaction of dream or imagination. Immensely more intense than the reaction of sense perception. Wherever there was any manifestation of what is ordinarily called supernatural power or wisdom, there is there a little current of Kundalini must have found its way into the Sushumna. Only in the vast majority of such cases, people had ignorantly stumbled on some practice, which set free a minute portion of the coiled up Kundalini. All worship, consciously or unconsciously, leads to this end. The object of Pranayama is to rouse this Kundalini and thereby control the Prana, the vital energy. Prana, as has been said, manifests itself primarily in the function of breathing. Therefore, control of the Prana may be obtained by the practice of breathing exercises. Later on, Swamiji gives some simple exercises in Pranayama, which we will see in our next class. What I would like to discuss very briefly is this thing called Kundalini. Now this word Kundalini has become very popular all over the world. People want to rouse the Kundalini. So as Ramakrishna so beautifully pointed out, the Kundalini has got tremendous power. What we call all our past lives samskaras are in a very subtle form, in the name of Karmashaya, are stored up at this base, which is called Mooladhara. And there all these are so much compressed, like point of singularity as physics puts it. Tremendous power is there. In fact, that is a very good analogy. You know the theory of singularity? When a star is dying, it explodes. It is called supernova. And then it collapses on itself. And it goes on collapsing within inside, becoming smaller and smaller, until what the physicists call point of singularity. What is the point of singularity? It is not a small point you put on the paper, a small point. What it really means is that the sense of time and space totally vanishes. And it is a source of all the power of that star when it was alive. And what happens now? This point of singularity explodes, which is called Big Bang. And then again, re-creation starts. And it goes on expanding. If we take this analogy, I liked it very much. What happens is all that power is stored up in our Kundalini at the base of Mooladhara. It is not a physiological point. It is a psychical point. So what happens? A small bit of our past life's impressions, they somehow become manifest. And our next life is determined by that. That is why in the Bhagavad Gita it is said, whatever are the last thoughts just before the death of a person, that determines his future life. It is a wonderful subject, but I will not go into this deviation. What I wanted to tell, what is the goal of a yogi? It is first of all to arouse that Kundalini. Not little bit, but in its complete way. Secondly, the yogi is found out. This is again not physiological. Don't cut through a human body and see where Ida, Pingala and Sushma. You will not see at all. They are psychical people. How do we know? Ramakrishna said, I clearly saw the Kundalini arousing. And then it goes to each chakra and there is a lotus. And that lotus is drooping. And here a small Paramahamsa. Means Kundalini imagined as a Paramahamsa goes to that center and licks with his tongue that particular drooping lotus. Immediately it stands up. And these are different ways of describing different states of consciousness. So what is important for us? The yogi's purpose is not to arouse a little bit. Because a little bit is already aroused in us. Whatever functions we are doing is the manifestation of Kundalini power. But there is one caveat there. The caveat is these three nadis are there. Sushumna is closed for us. Ida and Pingala. Therefore this energy, as though middle door is closed, the left side door, right side door is open. And when this energy goes through them, it goes into worldly activities. And worldly activities are, according to Sri Ramakrishna, all the worldly activities, whatever may be a man, rich or poor, or famous or not famous, scholar or illiterate, are comprised into three. What is that? Eating, procreation and evacuation. Eating, evacuation and procreation. In other words, what Sri Ramakrishna calls Kamini and Kanchana. We have to close those two doors. And it is a tremendous task. Because when we try to close those doors, we find a vacuum. I don't get any joy. That is why so many people, you know, japa becomes dry. Meditation becomes dry. Because the joy this person gets in eating, drinking and other activities, he doesn't get here. But how to get? It will come through prolonged, sustained practice. Perseverance practice. It will come. So when a person is able to purify himself, that is why all these yamas and niyamas, whatever they are there, it is for closing off this left side door and right side door called Ida and Pingala. When they are closed, the energy wants to go out. But there is only one way. So it itself forces through the middle path called Sushumna. And the first door, center it reaches is the heart center, Anahata Chakra. And when it goes there, the man gets so much of joy. This is a point we will take note in today's class. That when a yogi is slowly progressing from one center to the other center, he gets higher and higher types of joys. How do we know? Because there is a law. When we experience some higher joy, we don't want to go to the lower joy. This is a natural law. We never want to go back to a lower joy. Nobody wants to go. On the contrary, we long for higher joy. So Sriram Krishna says, when this Kundalini reaches this Anahata Chakra, heart chakra, he gets so much of joy, he never wants to go again to the other thing. What are those three things? Eating, evacuation and sexual activity. He doesn't want these activities at all. Why? Why does he doesn't want? Why does he doesn't want? Because he is getting much more joy than what he is getting through these three centers. So then there is still, he says, there is still danger. Sometimes the mind can come down because when he loses the higher center, then he falls back helplessly onto the lower joys. That is how a yogi falls. You see so many yogis, they achieve something and after that they will fall down. This is the reason. So to sustain, to be able to be able to stay at that higher center, tremendous amount of effort is called necessary. That is called Kshema. The two words are used, Yoga and Kshema. Yoga means getting what we didn't get. Kshema means to maintain that. So to be able to stay at that center, we have to be extremely cautious. How long? Ramakrishna answers, when the mind goes to what is called Agna chakra, the sixth chakra here, the heart chakra is fourth. Fifth chakra is Vishuddha called in the throat. Sixth chakra is called Agna, which is supposed to be located here. Nothing to do with physiology. It is all psychical. And the seventh is the final chakra, which is called Sahasrara. So when the mind comes, the Kundalini is somehow brought to this Agna chakra, it will never go below the heart chakra. At best, it will come to the heart chakra only. This is what Ramakrishna, through his experience, he is telling. So until we reach that chakra, we have to be careful not to slip down. Many times yogis, even advanced yogis, slip down. How careful we have to be. When this Kundalini, through gradual evolution, reaches the Sahasrara, man realizes, I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am pure consciousness. Then he becomes free forever. There is no bondage. All the bonds will fall down. That doesn't mean he will not have a body and mind. He can have a body and mind. But from that time onwards, his consciousness or his will is totally merged in the universal will. So this body-mind complex becomes a most wonderful instrument in the hands of the divine will. This, in essence, how beautifully Swami Vivekananda delineates, explains, what is called the connection, what is between Prana, between Kundalini, between the will, between the character, etc. And how through the simple steps of controlling breathing, a yogi slowly rises to the highest step until he realizes, I am pure consciousness. We will discuss some of the details of this Pranayama in our next class. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.