生 活 的 藝 術 之 南 境 知 識 棧

Question: Dear Guruji, is it possible to get stuck in making a mood of dispassion, turning one’s attention to the separation between Self, thoughts, emotion and sensory, allow one to see more clearly of who you are. But if a habit is developed, a separating oneself from everything in an artificial way, you will lose spontanity and a tune with the nature, will not fully engage life by giving your 100%. How do you walk this tight road? How do you know you have not walked too far from one side of the other? Thank you, jai guru dev.

        Dispassion does not divide you. In fact, it connects you, it connects you to the present moment so totally, so you can be 100% in anything that you are doing. Actually, when you are not dispassionate then what happens is you are linked to the past or to the future so you are not 100% connected to the present so you are more divided. Do you get it? When your mind is hoping something in the future or regretting the past, it is not 100% with the moment that means it is divided already. When you are fully centered and you are doing anything in the world, then you are 100% every moment. So you are eating, you are eating 100%, you enjoy every bit of it. You can feel every sip of the soup you are having. Every bite of the food tastes great. And every look, every sight is fresh and new. And your love is like the first love every moment. You look at anybody, anything is all charming to the core as though it is a very new sight.

        Dispassion does not take away joy from you; dispassion gives you the joy which nothing else can give. There is a verse adi shankaracharya… What pleasure dispassion can not give? It gives all the pleasure. Because you are so totally in the moment. It puts you 100% in the moment. Every moment is a peak experience. The so called dispassion in the world seems so dry. People who think they are very dispassionate are melancholy, they are sad. They run away from the world and then they call this is dispassion that I have renounced the world. This is no renounce, there is no dispassion. Do you see what I am saying? People out of failure, out of misery, out of sorrow, out of apathy, they escape that escape is called themselves as having dispassion to the world. Dispassion is something more precious, more refine and more valuable in life. If you are dispassionate, you are so centered, so full of joy, so full of contentment. And everybody would like to be that way.

        There is a story of Diajunni. What is his name? Diajunni. The Alexander when he saw him, and he was being carried and taken out to be sold as a slave and the people who were taking him to be sold, to sell him. They looked like the slave. Diajunni said “Here is a slave who wants to buy him?” He was roaring like a lion. It was difficult for people to see who is slave, who is selling the slave.

        When Alexander the Great came to India, people had told him, if you find somebody, some sanyasi there, some saints, just catch hold of them and bring them. Bring them back with you, they are very precious in India. So he ordered. Do you know this story? Oh! No. so he sent words but nobody would come. Then he threatening them, ok, if you don’t come, I am going to sever your head, chop off your head. And people did not agree with it and he said ok, I am going to take away all your books, all vedas, four vedas. Then they said alright. You can take all these scriptures away. Ok, you can come and take them tomorrow by evening, we will give you all of our books. And these pandits what they did was they called all his children and made them all memorized by heart all the scriptures. And when he took the manuscripts, they said “you take the manuscripts, we don’t need it now.” They took all the manuscripts wanted to catch all the sanyasi and sanyasi wouldn’t come. Finally, he has to go to him, are you coming or not? I am going to chop your head off. Fine, you chop my head off, I will also see. And Alexander could not look into his eyes, could not tolerate the power of dispassion. Here is the first time in his life, a person who did not care for an emperor.

        When Alexander entered India, some people presented him in a plate a golden bread. And he asked “I am hungry, give me bread, I want to eat.” Oh! You are an emperor, how can you eat a wheat bread so we prepared a golden bread for you. Said “no, no, you are making fun of me at this time, I am starving, I am dying now! Give me bread.” Then they brought him a bread, “don’t you get this bread in your country? Why you have to conquer the whole world, all these places to get a bread? You eat also the same bread that I also eat here. It shocked Alexander for a moment. This is truth. What is the point in conquering country after country? All that you need is to live peacefully happily. When you don’t have that happiness, when you don’t have that peace, when you don’t have that care and concern for people, putting your stem in all the villages, in all the towns has no meaning. It seems there he says when I die, my hands should be kept open. Let people know Alexander the Great though he conquer, he goes with empty hands. He could not take a thing from this earth.

        Dispassion is the strength thing. Our Gurudev used to say even if the creator offers me knowledge, I would say no. Even the Lord of Wealth, angles we don’t need to take anything from them. That is the strength of dispassion. I mean it is not arrogant. It is the centeredness. You are so centered, so calm then you can understand everyone who has come to this world comes to give something to the world, nothing to take from here. A different shift happens, a shift happens. You come from a very different context altogether. Hmm…

The next sutra goes:

Vitarka vichara ananada asmita rupa anugamat samprajnatah

        What is the purpose of these sadhana? Vitarka where your mind has a special logic to presume in the world and to perceive the truth. Tarka means logic, kutarka means wrong logic, what do you call it, the word? Illogical… you can say illogic… where the intention is not right, where the logic is applied only to find fault, what do you call it? Ill-intended logic. With motive you put the logic on and one knows deep inside it is not right but still logically you prove it is right. Illogical you can say. Wrong logic. Or vitarka is a special logic. This is a special logic. See, now we are talking about dispassion, what is happening? Logically we are understanding something, right? And this logical understanding, even hearing, talking has certain effect on our consciousness. Have you notice that? It elevates your consciousness. You are in a different space, do you see this? This is Samadhi. One type of Samadhi.

        Sama means equanimity; dhi is the intellect. Or these faculties that sustain you, all the faculties of consciousness. We are in a state of Samadhi because we are talking about the Self with a definite logic, undeceivable logic. Logic can always change, you know? Just logic can always change, you can put it in this side or that side. It has no loyalty. But vitarka is a logic which can not be condemned, which can not be reversed. For example, if somebody is dead, you are standing there and it is obvious he is dead. You know how the life was there is not there any more and this is the final. And that moment your consciousness is in a different state. Do you see what I am saying? You are not emotional connected to them then what is happening? Your consciousness says oh! It is the final. Like a movie is over, there is a feeling it is all over. And people when they walked out from the movie theatre, you see they all walked out in particular state of consciousness. When they come out of a musical concert, they all come out with a feeling it is all finished. Like a festival is over, the course is over, people go, they say it is all over like the show is over.

        At that moment there is a definite logic in the mind, irrefutable logic, that’s right, irrefutable logic, irreversible logic. That triggers in your consciousness, like that is so obvious – life is like this. It’s so obvious. Everything is changing and is bound to change, bound to dissolve and disappear, this is obvious. This vitarka elevates one’s consciousness. One doesn’t have to sit with eyes closed, with eyes opened the feeling of “I”, the consciousness is all that is, everything is empty, everything is in a state of fluidity, the whole is just a quantum mechanism field, whatever. This is vitarka. The entire science is based on tarka, a refutable tarka of it, a quantum physic or whatever you call it. This is vitarka. Vitarka anugamat Samadhi. This is a Samadhi.

        And then vichara anugamat. vichara means, … in vichara comes all experiences – smell, sight, vision, taste or sound all that you hear as an experience when you meditate is all called vichara anugamat samadhi. Do you see what I am saying? All experience, thoughts, observing the thoughts come and go. You know, there are two types of or two states of mind that come in you often; one is the thought which disturbs you and another is the thought which does not disturb you but it simply hovers around in your consciousness but you are aware of them. You are in Samadhi, you are in equanimous state, equanimous mind at the same there are thoughts hovering in your meditation, some thoughts come, some thoughts come, some thoughts come. Thoughts exist, experiences exist, this is the second type of Samadhi or awareness.

        And then the third is ananada anugamat Samadhi.  Ananada means the blissful state.  Have you notice, when you do kriya afterward, you are in a different space. When you sing bhajans, you are in a different space of Samadhi. Mind is still elevated, the consciousness is still elevated, equanimous but it is in ecstasy, the Samadhi in ecstasy is ananada anugamat samadhi. Do you see what I am saying? This is also a meditative state, a meditative state in which you are in ecstasy. And there is a meditative state in which you are with some experiences, some thoughts, some ideas, some fleeting feelings hovering around. And you are in a meditative state with irrefutable logical understanding of creation. So one, two , three ~  three states.

        Now, fourth is asmita anugamat Samadhi, this is really the deep experience of meditation where you do not know anything just the awareness you are. Just you know you are but you don’t know where you are, what you are, who you are, nothing else is known. Just I am, asmita, I am present.  Just this experiences, this is the fourth state of Samadhi or meditative experience state. All these four are called samprajnatah, means there is consciousness in these. In all these there is a flowing of awareness through and throughout. Hmm… how to achieve them? The next sutra says very simple.

virama pratyaya abhyasa purvah samskara sesoanya

        By doing something you can not experience, you can not achieve this awareness, you can not bring out the intelligence and alertness in you by effort. Without effort, relaxation, hold on to the relaxation, by relaxing, reposing in the Self. Virama pratyaya resting, abhyasa purvah by practice of resting, conscious relaxation, conscious rest. See, unconscious rest is sleep which we are forced by the nature, you are not resting then. You are forced to rest. Do you see what I am saying? When you are so tired, it likes the nature pulling you down, forcing you, beating you up and making you rest. You are not resting. When you say I am resting really that is only in meditation because you are consciously resting, “Ok, I am resting now.” “You rest.” Otherwise rest is galloping you, is swallowing you. Here you allow the rest to happen. Do you see the difference? Sleep is putting you to rest. And meditation is you’re resting on your own. This is abhyasa, this is practice. Practice of deep rest consciously. Virama pratyaya abhyasa purvah.

        Then this comes samskara sesoanya. For some people these come through old samskara impression. Some people have to do a lot of practice in order to be calm & equanimous, in order to bring up more awareness in them & for some people it is by old impressions of some life’s, past lives, births, just happens.  Sometimes right from the birth or sometimes at some particular period in life they start opening up. Samskara sesoanya. Have you noticed this? There are some people after 30 - 40 years or sometime suddenly one day, they open up to some spiritual experience. Then they have more awareness. Unfortunately, most of those people get misguided. A little of experience, and then they go on with all these prophesy whatever the world is going to end. And what happen is they read somewhere from the Bible of these or those prophesy and suddenly the experience becomes so real to them they see the vision, they declare to the people, oh! This world is going to end on 20^th Sep and everybody gathers. Because there is no root of this understanding of yoga. Someone who knows the root, they know all these experiences. Suddenly white light coming down and say oh! Something has come down, something is happening. People get misled by such experiences, eventually experiences, all these eventually experience. You should know they are all from samskara sesoanya. Some samskara from the past that is a different type of Samadhi. Hmm…

bhava-pratyayo videha prakrti layanam

        This goes into a more historical line. Samadhi is not a property of just this level of existence. It’s surpasses this level. It goes into the other worlds also. People who do not have body, they too can get affected by meditation. When you meditate, you are not just bringing a harmony within your self but you are influencing the subtle layers of creation, the subtle bodies of all the different levels of existence in the creation, so your meditation influences those people who lived 100 years ago, their consciousness, their mind, people who would live in the future, their mind, their consciousness too. Do you get what I’m saying?

        Because life is infinite. Though life is in every moment, it is also infinite. Your life has been here from thousands of years, from centuries and your life will continue to be here for centuries. So there are different types of yogi. One is called Videha means one who does not have body. You can walk feeling as though you have no body and the mind is in such a state of equanimity. And those who do not have body, they are also coming in the influence or effect of yoga.

        Same with prakrti laya those who are completely submerged in the nature. They also attain the same state of equanimity. Do you see what I’m saying? Either you are so much away from the material existence, completely not aware of the material, videha, completely have no awareness of the body, of the surrounding, of situation, so much immersed in the Self or completely immersed in the object of world. Either you are eyes closed and totally immersed, then also you are in the state of meditation, Samadhi. Or when you are looking at a mountain or a sunset, what is happening? Prakrti laya is happening, you are merging with that nature at that moment. You are looking at the sunset and the sun is setting and setting. There is you and the sun and the vision that you are having about the sun and then in a while you are not aware of yourself, you are just aware of the sun.

        Have you had this experience sometime? When you are watching a mountain, you are watching and watching, you completely forget yourself, what you are with is just that mountains, snow peaks or lakes, water you are observing the water and water and water, and that’s only the waves in the water, that’s all stands, no thoughts, no mind, no body, no awareness, have you had this experience? This is prakrti laya Samadhi. But when you are doing that and if the mind comes, oh! This is water, what am I doing? Am I not a stupid person looking here to the water? I should better use my time doing something else. Or somebody, something else comes in mind then you are not dissolving in nature. This is again another practice, prakrti laya is a big practice for hours together, for years together, people sit in solitude just watch and watch and watch till all thoughts disappear. And all that they are left with is an emptiness.

        You can do this as an experiment. When you are very worried or tensed, just sit by a flowing river or gushing water and just keep looking at the water. You know, within few moments you feel as though like a magnetic pull, that your mind is being pulled in the direction of flow of water. Then you turn around sit on the other side or other bank and then watch, you will see that your mind is pulled in the other direction. Have you experienced this? How many of you have experimented this? You sit by flowing water and that why many people, you know when they want to jump into the water and suicide, when they go near the water, look at the water, then something happens, shift happens, they cannot suicide, they don’t commit suicide there in the water. Because watching that water changes that whole vibration of the mind, the prana in the system. And in a short while all the anguish, delusion, whatever you had, with the flowing water, it all flows away and you become fresh. Same thing with ocean. Why people love ocean? More prana there, more ozone and then you sit and just go on looking at the waves and waves and waves and waves. It washes off, lifts something away from you. This is prakrti laya meditation where you are dissolving yourself with the nature. Do you see what I’m saying?

        And videha means knowing that I’m not the body, I have a body. This is my body; I’m not the body. This is videha. This sutra has been so wrongly interpreted over centuries, people have wrongly understood, again and again. But again, here Patanjali says, these things will suit certain people at certain time. You know, it is not like a practice every day you do, everyday you go on sitting on the mountain. Not everyone, certain time, certain people, these things create that Samadhi.

sradha-virya smrti Samadhi prajna purvaka itaresam

        This is the most vital sutra:

        Sradha means faith. Faith creates such a quality in your consciousness. It makes your consciousness so stable, steady, solid. Doubt in consciousness makes you very vulnerable, fearful, uncertain, fluid. But faith makes you solid. Do you see that? Faith brings totality in you. It pulls together all the loose ends of your consciousness. It integrates your whole personality. Doubts scatters you, doubts destroys you. Doubt disseminates you and your energy. Doubt is something that pulls you apart, disseminations of energy is doubt. Consolidation of your energy is faith. Are you getting what I’m saying? The very feeling when you are having faith is a sort of consolidation, strength. That’s why Jesus also said “Faith is your strength.” They are synonymous, faith and strength. When you are strong, bold, you have faith. When you are weak and feeble, you have doubts. A doubt is a sign of weakness. Uncertainty is a sign of weakness. Faith is strength. When there is faith, then Samadhi is also achieved. Equanimity, meditativeness happens just out of faith.

        And then virya, it is 100% vigor, what do you call it? Force, courage, vitality, total courage, the force with which an army personal goes, what word you call? Valor, that is the right word. The valor with which… Okay! Come on fight for our country. What is happening? All that energy in the system is coming up together. We fight for our country! Our country! My country! You know what happens? My country is in danger, my religion is in danger, that’s it! See how valor rises in people. The whole world is valor, is in fighting. You think they simply do it without getting any joy out of it? In that moment of valor, extreme sense of patriotism or valor, it gives such a tremendous joy. That’s why this world is facing wars again and again. If people would completely condemn war, nobody likes war then war cannot happen.

        But in the process of war, though the result of war is not palatable, nobody likes the result of the war but the process of war is very thrilling. Why people like thrill movies? You know, a thrill is a sense of virya, valor. The entire body, every cell in the body becomes united, the whole consciousness becomes one. Defense system gets awakened in you. That is again strength, defense against fear. And that defense system when it comes to its peak, it is joyful because there is also that equanimity there. There is a sense of gratefulness, gratitude. There is a sense of patriotism, devotion. Do you see what I’m saying? That sense of patriotism or valor or vigor, also takes you to a state of meditation. Sradha-virya smrti Samadhi prajna purvaka itaresam.

        Smrti means memory of it. Once you have had a very peaceful, beautiful state of mind, experience, the very memory of it again, will again make you relive that. Do you understand what I’m saying? Memory of Samadhi reproduces, memory of one’s Being, memory of the Self, memory of freedom, memory of devotion, memory of surrender, memory of love, memory of joy, brings back you to your Self.

        Often we don’t remember nice things, what we keep remembering is bad things, not so nice things. We don’t remember compliments, but we remember somebody’s insult more. But yoga is turning the wheel around. Remember those wonderful moment you have had, sit and be with it. In that very memory, your entire being gets back to that state. Smrti samadhi prajna purvaka then through Samadhi, through deep meditation, through deep equanimous mind, also awareness is gained. And prajna is a result of Samadhi.  Equanimous mind gives rise to a heightened awareness, to heightened awareness. So these many avenues are there, these many ways that you can blossom in life. There are the other ways of being aware of the Self.

        Next sutra,

tivra-samveganam asana

        Often what we do, we keep 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th preference to our practice. First preference we give to worldly things, our survival, everything and last preference to anything that is spiritual. Then it will go slow. Says tivra-samveganam asana, when you give first preference to your spiritual practice, then it is more easy. The center focus of your life is spiritual growth, is peace then all other things will be around that. Do you see what I’m saying? Your first and foremost commitment in life is to be with the truth, to evolve in truth, then our work, our other things – social obligations, everything comes 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th like that and the list of preferences. Then it is very easy to you. Tivra-samveganam asana very easy for one who gives it first preference, for one whose mind is really wanting to move in this direction.

        Even then, even there, there are 3 types:

Mrdu madhya adhimatra tvatato pi visesah

        There also speciality is, Mrdu means little slow and medium and fast. There are also three cycles, people with three cycles.

        “Ok, let me do it.”

        “No, no, I have to do it”

        and “I cannot be without doing it.”

        Do you see that? “Someone who is really, really 100% into it”, “someone who is a little mild about it” and “one who says ok, let me do this, I have to do it”.

        The 1^st grade, 2^nd grade and 3^rd grade. The three different grades there also.

        Next sutra says:

isvara-pranidhana-va

        Just by devotion to god, just by one pointed devotion to god, also possible. Hmm…

That’s much for today.

        Jai Gurudev!