Raja Yoga: The Path of Meditation (Part 1) | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] Oh esatto mas and gamma are Thomas Oh dooty rakamma mid-tier mom written gamma own shanti shanti shanti Oh leaders from the Unreal to the real lead us from darkness into light lead us from death to immortality home peace peace peace so speaking about the four yoga's the one we're going to take up now is called Raja yoga it's basically the path of meditation the raja yogi says that it's not a question of belief it's not a question of believing something it's a question of experience some Vaikuntha said religion is realization the religion is not giving your assent to a set of doctrines not giving your commitment to something that you have been taught but actually practicing and experiencing something you know it it's real only when you have experienced it this is where sri ramakrishna and swami vivekanand the yogis powered excellence you see that is basically for both of them drive towards experience sri ramakrishna he would he approached Rakhal each temple the image of Callias are you real or are you just an image is there some reality behind this can I experience that can I see the Divine Mother so that was his burning quest and how did Vivek on and the Narendra not become Vivekananda he went around asking have you seen God the notable intellectuals and teachers of his time in Calcutta sir have you seen God and finally he came to sri ramakrishna where he got an answer which satisfied him he said yes I have seen God just as I see you in fact even more clearly and you too can see God later Vivekananda was to come to this country and say that if somebody says to you that I have seen God but you cannot and you must follow me you must believe me do not follow such a person but if somebody says I have seen and you can too then you can follow such a person so this method of experience Swami Vivekananda said if there is god I must be able to see God if I have an immortal soul I must feel it through this path of seeking experience religion is something to be experienced again notice that it is not absolutely a new thing it's more or less was taken for granted and understood in India for eons together the religion is not ultimately meant for just for belief because you have the example of so many saints generation after generation who who have actually had vision of God with whatever the tradition is that they have seen God Mirabai saw Krishna actually you have visions of God we are talking about even the thebes saw rama and lakshmana see the protecting the house of the saint still see thus the vision of God these mystical experiences these you will find it and not only throughout the history of Hinduism but in every religion at the core of religion you will find Mystics saints who claim not that they believe in something who claim not that they have understood something who claimed that they have actually seen and the path of yoga Raja Yoga says that's our goal we must actually experience these realities and for that there is a method a set of psychophysical exercises which if you practice you will realize see the paradigm in in the path of devotion is that God exists you do not have faith in God you do not believe in God do not worship or surrender to God that's the problem and so the solution is faith in God in this yoga the Raja yoga the path of meditation the paradigm is our minds are restless and therefore we do not see the truth if the minds can be concentrated focused calmed then we will see this truth for ourselves we will experience it and we do not argue with experience I mean you might argue with somebody else's experience but if you experience it to your satisfaction then you will be satisfied personally so it's the path of experience and why we do not experience it right now because our minds are scattered we are not focused not concentrated and there are methods specific methods to focus or concentrate our mind and then we will realize and specially in the Eastern religions but in all religions but specially in Eastern religions there are many many such methods these are methods of meditation especially religions like Buddhism and Jainism they specialize in a variety of meditative methods and in Hinduism the Patanjali yoga sutras the yoga philosophy the Sankey philosophy especially the yoga philosophy it is it is a specialization on meditation I sometimes joke that advaita vedanta is a composite which has borrowed happily it's a plagiarized happily from all the other schools for the concept of pure consciousness from Sankhya that concept was already there in Sankhya the techniques of meditation Samadhi from yoga which we are going to study now Patanjali yoga how to understand and interpret the Upanishads which are central to adroit evident from purva mimamsa school of philosophy which specialized in textual interpretation and take all of that logic argumentation reasoning from the Naya the Indian school of logic and take all of that and put Brahman on top of it and then kaput it'll put the label Advaita Vedanta but if you open it up made in China inside so meditation techniques have been freely taken from Patanjali yoga Sutra in fact the first textbook we had to read in Vedanta it's called Vedanta Zahra as novices by sedan and the Yoga Indra Vedanta Zara so there at the end you will find entirety of Patanjali yoga so - the techniques of Ashtanga Yoga yama niyama asana pranayama pratyahara dharana dhyana some all of dit just literally taken from Patanjali yoga Sutra and put their plugged in there as the method of meditation and you find them in in Buddhism in Jainism in all these methods the classic textbook of meditation the classic manual of meditation is the Patanjali yoga Sutra and the classic translation modern translation with Patanjali yoga Sutra was done in New York by Swami Vivekananda in 1895 the first edition of Raja yoga so that's part of our heritage - in the New York Vedanta Society in fact Karma Yoga the first edition New York a part of Gyana yoga was first published from New York and bhakti yoga one of the earliest edition the earliest edition was published from New York all the four yoga's from the Vedanta Society of New York the Karma Yoga was also published from London and Gianni Yoga was only partially published from New York but anyway why am I saying it's the classic manual of meditation because there's some controversy whether actually the the way we find the potential Yoga Sutras today is it pre-buddhist occur after the buddha after the buddha but if you look at the buddha's own teachings his own record he went to some teachers after he renounced he went up to the forest to seek enlightenment he went to the teachers first he went to the existing teachers of his time he has left behind records of at least two of them a lot of Kalama and with Darla Kurama put or something to mean something like that and he has left left behind some records he was not satisfied with the teaching but he has left behind some records of the teaching and very clearly when you listen to what he has said they were Frank Ian's teachings and some of the techniques of meditation which he observed developed but they clearly bear the imprint of yogic techniques so and we know from his own records that from Buddhistic records were many Yogi's at that time so this is pre ballistic the text itself may have may be post Buddhistic but maybe the text itself or this is also free ballistic techniques themselves are definitely pre-existing so it is maybe the oldest existing body of knowledge on meditation even now it's very popular the person jelly Yoga Sutras so that's heavy stuff that will come a little later but first before we get into the Patanjali yoga sutras I want to talk about something practical regarding meditation something that helped me and has helped many other people I will share with you today this is from Swami Ashok Ananda there is a nice book before this book is called meditation by the monks of the Ramakrishna order it's a nice collection the collection of essays the first one in that series is before you sit in meditation before you sit in meditation see meditation is very popular today it's so popular but also universally acknowledged to be difficult people say it's difficult so many techniques of meditation across different traditions today it's a supermarket of techniques available to us today there is the Buddhist Vipassana meditation which has been developed further into the modern mindfulness it's a huge industry in us enough multi matting many Millie multi-million or billion dollar industry now meditation mindfulness meditation it's taught in corporate offices it's taught in in schools in jails and in in in a in colleges and the military everywhere you find meditation you sometimes find in corporate buildings meditation rooms and most of the thing you know here is mindfulness meditation there are techniques tantrics have their own techniques of meditation very sophisticated the the kashmir shaivism has a wide range of very sophisticated techniques of meditation one one book began a pair of details about 112 darin oz which are basically techniques of meditation and then you have the Tibetan Buddhists a variety of visualization techniques a variety of sophisticated meditation techniques you have meditation techniques among the Vaishnavas visualization of the deity every devotional tradition in hinduism has its what is what are called dionna's stotras Harnish locust how to visualize the deity it is in fact from there that those iconography has come and images have been built from those verses then you have of course the yogic techniques of Patanjali yoga sutras the Chinese have their own body of meditation techniques and I have heard a branch of Sikhism has its own special version of Kundalini Yoga and so we have a whole range of techniques beyond India you have meditation techniques for example the method if you have read a very beautiful book called the way of the pilgrim the way of the pilgrim Russian Russian Orthodox Church so this man is taught the Jesus Prayer the prayer of the heart which he has to repeat and Lord Jesus have mercy upon me and he repeats and the book is very nice if you read it it's just like mantra japa it is by basically mantra japa and this man in a very simple way throughout all the ups and downs of life he goes on repeating that and his mind is always on that and the experiences he gets you will find it tallies closely with the experiences we talk about in mantra japa which you have in our tradition Sufi Islam has its own meditation techniques so meditation is a worldwide phenomenon many many techniques are there don't worry I'm not going to start teaching technique after technique here but first universally before you sit in meditation there's certain things to be observed which makes meditation if you do these things meditation will become effective very soon joyful peaceful without these things meditation will always remain a kind of a struggle so what are these things so I'm your Shogun and Drain that first si in that book collection meditation by the monks of the Ramakrishna order in that first essay he gives ten points ten points so I'll quickly share them with you before we go into the actual discussion on on the potential yoga sutras first be regular in meditation that means meditate daily be regular in meditation meditate daily what is the practice of meditation just start just start there is no good meditation bad meditation to begin with just start do it meditation is practice remember it no amount of reading or theory or Patanjali yoga sutras and no amount of commentaries if you have read all the books and meditation and not meditated you have not advanced a single inch but if you sit quietly morning and evening at least for 10 minutes five minutes each you've already begun you've made the tomato start so regular regularity wide regularity remember meditation is to do with them the mind is also a body just like the physical body the mind is also a body it's called the subtle body suksham asha reader you are not the mind but you have a mind and spirituality is basically in the mind now why is what is the significance of saying that it's a body body needs training body does not need information just like you want a fit body if you have read all the articles about healthy eating and exercise and all the news feeds and the books will you be given the body become fit not at all maybe a little more sick than before after reading all so many books but if you exercise every day in the morning without reading a single book your body will begin to show the changes similarly the mind it's a body it's a subtle body and body requires training mind also requires training training is repetition it's worth repeating that training is repetition training is not information training is not understanding there's this book happiness hypothesis Jonathan Hyde let me write down the name it sounds like a typical self-help book but it's actually quite a deep book he is psychologist he has written many other books some time nowadays to do with politics and all of psychology of politics but that's different but this was one of his early works very interesting he takes up the issue that so many good books are available now if you go to Barnes & Noble self-help section you know so many it's one of the biggest sections in Barnes & Noble and so many books so if those books did any good our lives will be transformed so much wisdom interesting in the stories inspiring stories techniques they're full of them and it started long ago Dale Carnegie how to win friends and influence people and how to be a good public speaker how to overcome tension so many such books are available and it's not it's not that they are useless it's not that they what they continues is wrong many cases it's anecdotal but may not be very rigorous but still good advice and practical advice and useful advice and yet why is our life our lives are not changing people go ahead buy so many books and then within a few weeks they would have had many friends and influence so many people's but why is it that lives are not changing so he says what is the problem Jonathan Hyde he takes up he says that because the we do not understand the model of our personality it's like elephant and rider he gives the elephant and writer model the rider the MA who knows where he wants the elephant to go he can read a map and he decides I will go there but he has no strength to make the elephant go there unless the elephant agrees to go there elephant is much stronger than the mouth-to-mouth can guide the elephant but the elephant now wants to go there into the banana Grove and eat bananas then the mouth cannot do anything now it is much too weak to pull the elephant to that side our intellect is like the mouth intellect Budi the intellect understanding you go to a seminar or a retreat on yoga and you get convinced meditation is great and I must start meditating get up early in the morning like this one he said 5 o'clock in the morning at 4:30 and we start meditating and morning when the alarm rings you have to get up you don't feel like getting up the body says no did you ask me did I sign up for your silly program no who signed up who was and who netted who was they interested in the seminar and in the we'll treat the intellect intellect says yes it's a great idea but the body did not say it's a great idea but the body is like the elephant the body does not respond to like the elephant it does not respond to talks and seminars and papers and TED talk no not interested the intellect gets very excited and decides I will do these things to change my life now what does the body what does the elephant respond to training training how do moths make the elephant listen to them elephants are wild creatures that trained they trained to respond to certain commands similarly to them to make it habitual and any kind of habitual any kind of training it requires repetition and time it does not it's not enough to listen to something and understand it and what he can be trained to get up at 4 o'clock or 4:30 in the morning and make it easy and effortless I know I when I became a monk the first day I used to be an early lies riser in the hostel which is a different thing altogether the monk told me that from tomorrow onwards now you are a brahmacari that means you are part of the order from tomorrow onwards you must get up early I said yes I am the earliest riser in the hostel now tell me when you want me to get up 7:37 because all my friends used to get up at nine and then the monk laughed and he said forget that 7:00 7:30 and to get up at four o'clock in the morning or 4:30 4:30 my god swami vivekananda made it a rule ring the bell the bell is still there in maine monastery it's it's rung at 3:40 in the morning and we have to get up and he will politely he bringing until you get up and there is somebody whose Duty it is to ring the bell once an enterprising I think annoyed monk hit the bell hit the bell so the next morning the person whose duty it is the monk whose duty it is ring the bell wouldn't find the Bell so we could sleep little more but that person was even more enterprising he took his dish made of metal and a little Bowl made of metal we all get got a dish and a bowl so he banged it may make him more awful clamor throughout and he walked around the whole ministry by banging it making everything of everybody up with that horrible noise training but once you do that for a week for a month for two months three months it's easy it becomes effortless and then you feel uneasy lying around in bed laying around in bed after that especially if you're in a group if you're in a group if 100 other young people are doing it you can't be the ninety nine people have gone away and were last hundred percent lying on the bed it's too much prep peer pressure you have to get up and be up and doing so training body requires training the knowledge intellect in the body requires training why he has given very interesting points he says for example our the gut and certain other parts of the body they are almost an autonomous intelligence they have a bunches of nerves there and so they have a kind of inner decision making regarding food and other sense pleasures that might override your intellect they might exert a pull and so have to be trained 1 another reason why I like this book was he actually went to India to a small town Bhuvaneshwari where I grew up as a kid it rights there I was surprised he said he went there to the temples the Linga Raj temple that a shiva temple there and he interviewed the Brahmin priests there before they performed the rituals and after is he's a psychologist before they perform the rituals and after they perform the rituals which are traditional Hindu temple rituals and the questions he asked a psychologist a battery of questions will be there that is like as scheduled they will give you the scores were widely different how a person feels after performing these rituals is a and response to situations in life questions is quite different from how the person responds before or at a distance from these rituals of course he goes on and says the rituals are deeply connected to the culture you take a bath and it's called Bindu Saga there in near the temple if they would take a bath there you feel chant the mantras then you feel sort of purified and holy soft wake go to the temple to perform the rituals sir will it will it work if I go and take a dip in the Mississippi and then no you have to have that cultural background it has to have that Associated bunch of meanings for you then only it works so but it does work it has an effect on the mind okay so that's why be regular that's number one I had a friend I remember in the when I was a student he was very spiritual and he used to live in the room next to mine and I got infact some good books from him he gave me some good books on spirituality you know you've heard of a cannot issue Aaron who lived in San Francisco wrote very nice books have you met him you have met him here books yes so I was introduced to his books by this this boy now one thing which I noticed he would meditate when the mood took him so days would go by his not meditating sometimes he would feel like meditating it he would meditate more than me but I had already taken month addiction one of the rules is daily after meditate morning and evening even if it is mechanical which is better you would say no this mechanical meditation is not a appeal to me if I don't feel like meditating how can I meditate when I feel like meditating I will meditate no big trick of the mind it's like the elephant saying I will be trained when I feel like training but I don't feel like training you can't train me then the elephant will never be trained no amount of training will work if I say I will get up only then 4 o'clock somedays and I have the mood I will get up at 4 o clock that mood will become rarer and rarer and you will see so regular meditation daily you must meditate then the second point he says have a fixed time for meditation not only daily but I have a fixed time as far as possible I know people are busy so the schedules but as far as possible and swami ashoka recommends at least twice a day thrice if possible if not at least twice a day once of course but at least twice a day morning and evening and he says there are special times which are suitable for meditation best time is always booked you get up from bed fresh the previous day's impressions have been cleared of you are rested use that time for meditation when the world is quiet there are beautiful descriptions of Swami Vivekanand in New York how he would always be in a meditative mood sometimes he would sit quietly and become so absorbed people would be waiting for him to give the talk they would sit for meditation they thought maybe 5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 30 minutes 40 minutes one hour then they would slowly be that they would not dare to disturb him they slowly get up and walk up and he would open his eyes and find the room empty everybody is gone and he actually became embarrassed about these things he taught the American disciples just like Sri Ramakrishna you see the continuity there certain mantras that if you see me sitting in meditation like that repeat it into my ears and I will come back to awareness he would try to stop his mind from going into deep meditation just the opposite first we tried we tried to go into deep meditation you try to stop his mind from going into deep meditation at all hours but specially the beautiful description when the busy city even means Manhattan city that never sleeps when it it finally went to sleep very early in the morning everybody this whole city is quiet Vivekananda would be immersed in deep meditation at some times students would walk into a room and suddenly find his sitting there and they began to recognize that inward mood they would quietly walk out without disturbing him at as evening fell upon the city as night deepened on the city mrs. Vivekananda would remain immersed in Samadhi in the little room meditative mood if we cannot do that at least twice a day and early morning is good and evening in India the Brio Keys they felt that there are certain times in the day when night changes into morning dawn when noontime this is an inner inflection point so to say they are called Sundy Sundy that Twilight when afternoon changes into evening and then midnight these are good times for meditation I remember when as in the hospital I was once a patient as a young monk and there was another much much more old monk who had a cataract operation being done he was in the next bed and because I was young and I was in the hospital for a pretty long time so you're lying down you don't feel like sleeping after some time so sometimes I would stay awake whole night and I I watched when that monk thought everybody else has gone to sleep he would get up on his bed and then he had a little tin box I always wondered what was in it he would open the box at night when everybody was asleep and that box had pictures of Tukwila and Swamiji little pictures he would take it out and he'd put it and then in front and a bed him sit in meditation for hours and hours but well before dawn before anybody stirred in the hospital he would quietly close the box and go to bed so I told him a few days later and Maharaja and Swami I know what you're doing at night and the Swami bursts out in laughter he said in Bengali Oh nobody what he said was oh I am a I am a rock shush a demon demons come out at night I mean Tony shudders this also means the one who walks in the night and a demon or night yes I don't know there's something about the time what a show kanji says is that generally what we read is that nature is quiet at that time there is a certain quietness that comes upon nature at times I don't know how true it is in modern cities in the world but definitely in a just imagine a small Indian town very early in the morning of course quiet and afternoon when it changes into the hot Indian afternoon it quite understand a little and then evening as the sky Redden's and the Sun sets and the darkness falls again a quietness comes on the world so nature is quiet there's something in the patterns in the body also that at these times it is conducive to meditation conducive to inwardness so that's another thing there's Swami Brahma Hahn and they used to say in sri ramakrishna also different places specially holy places pilgrimage places at different times there is a special spiritual vibration so he identified different times balloon mutt much to my annoyance it's at four o'clock in the morning so itself if you want to catch that time the monks were uncompromising we would groan that it's hot and sweaty and you don't get hardly get enough sleep at night you have to get up at 3:40 in the morning I still remember our very senior swam your mentor saying no that one is we cannot compromise on that what do you feel sleeping the next day fine you can sleep but you have to get up at 3:40 in the morning and meditate at for 4 to 5 or almost till 6:00 sometimes you can meditate suppose I can't work properly after that and so whatever you can do after that is acceptable to us that one is you have to get help we don't want your efficiency afterwards we want you to get up and meditated that it's just way of pushing the mind because mind is tricky you know then I think he said poori is probably in afternoon Banaras is midnight I think midnight Brindavan also I think probably midnight the different spiritual centers have special vibration they have the vibration throughout the day but at special times also special times special puja times you will find or the holy days in the year which are regarded as sacred times at that time you will find a special vibration where large numbers of be human beings think of or at least they're supposed to there is a special vibration in the air and for centuries they're those days you know like we think of shiva rathri in bengal the Durga Puja five days and nights and there are special times like that in the year good times for meditation so time second thing is take advantage of time I some of the monks I knew regularity time I've mentioned sometimes one monk who passed away in the ICU and the nurses there would see now ICU difficult to know where it's day or night because it's always neon litter not very sick patients are there but he would always struggle in his bed and get up he's dying he died a few days later but every day he would get up at just before 4 o'clock and who sit like this on the pillow my hands are moving the Japanese going on it's a lifetime practice time exactly at that time he gets up and although he may not be very much conscious of anything outside so regular time make it a lifetime practice as much as possible if not possible we know lives are busy it's may not be always possible then do whatever you can but if not you see mind becomes trained in such a way Sri Ramakrishna said like the needle of a compass it normally points the polar axis not south axis if you spin it around like this what will happen in you go around and then again swing back to that so the mind of the yogi should become like that compass our meditative habit should be such that when the world throws your mind into a spin problems come difficulties come mind gets upset annoyed unhappy anxious but very soon it will work around and come back to that problem is our minds are just the opposite always whirling around and takes effort to bring it back to that axis that reference pointing towards God but that part should be effortless whatever the world does it your mind will be thrown off balance for a while but it will come back again so that you have to train your mind like that and auspicious place number three so I me Ashok Angie says have a place it also means if it could be a corner in your house it could be a room in your house a special meditation seat for yourself the moment and some people have special clothes don't do too much of it then it will not be possible and the danger of training yourself too much in this way is when you don't have that seat and when don't have those that set of clothes in your mind feels I am impure I can't meditate now it's because of those clothes no so don't this should not become a weakness it should become a support for meditation so a special place now there are auspicious places that's why churches somebody said I like this room it has a good vibration yes this is my good vibration it's like it's a church basically and there have been some holy thinking some meditation which has gone on here so a temple a church a meditation hall where people have thought about God or contemplated quietly for a long time so this meditation Hall this idea spread everywhere but the way they execute it sometimes I found an International Airport fantastic and they say proudly they will announce meditation room in such-and-such place meditation and interfaith room so good I must go and see I saw just next to the bathroom that's the only place they could find because it's low down on the priority big food coat is there big coat for like a you know all sorts of shiny objects are there duty-free but in one corner next to the washroom there is the embedded meditation because that's not high priority no it should be a holy place which which has associations the right time and right place immediately when you sit down it's a big support to your mind and people do feel a vibration it is not enough to say just because you've conditioned your mind this is a holy place this is a temple so it will feel holy there but that might have something to do with it but I have seen in value room at our main monastery thousands of people come many people are just like tourists they're just coming there I still seen how they entered the gate and they say ah he's hunted I go wow what a peaceful place now it's not at all pleased peaceful at that hour there thousands of people coming in but just entering the gate they feel peaceful so it's not just association they are not regular devotees they've come maybe for the first time in their life but there is something their association with place regularity time place you know one of the most powerful meditations I have is a very simple thing it's I year after year every day in the morning and evening in balloon mud we have this pronounced we offer our salutations to the temple of shri ramakrishna to the temple in Swami Brahman and the Maharaja's temple swami vivekananda's temple and the place where the monks are cremated the direct disciple the samadhi star and it's a routine now because I have done it quietly attentively day after day month after month year after year for maybe 12 to 14 years of my life more than that 15 16 16 years of my life now it's effortless and just sit down quietly I can recall the feel of the pavement below my feet the stairs as I can climb them the whole thing is vivid before this close my eyes it's so vivid the image of sri ramakrishna and the temple it's very cool that cool touch up the marble on my forehead when I bow down everything is the tactile the visual the feeling around and the mental feeling inside it's very clear every path every step of the path to the temple of the holy mother that temple itself what thoughts come when you go there now it's just repetition time and place and regularity and it's it's a powerful effortless visualization but effortless now because 1516 years it's been repeated every day so this is the power of repetition regular time place I remember a nice M analogy was given to me by a yogi in Gangotri I was sitting by the river so we used to go for begging for food but that was not adequate so it feel hungry so there were there's apples I would pluck from the trees and I would eat the apples and sit near the river munching dapples now once one yogi came and sat next to me and the river was in full spate at that time Ganga its narrow and fast there it was just after the monsoon season so a lot of water and he said Swami you know what's the difference between a worldly mind and a yogic mind the mind of one who of the meditator and the one who does not meditate what is the difference the difference is this look at this river it's full of water and flowing fast and the water is dirty and it's dangerous you can't cross it easily and if you get swept away if you actually somebody had died the day before and been swept away now he says the water is but if you come in winter when you come in winter the same river it will be mostly frozen the higher reaches are frozen so there is less water and it flows slowly and it's crystal-clear water now it's dirty because landslides a lot of mud a fall has fallen into the water but at that time it's crystal clear and sweet and it's easy to cross over not dangerous at all so similarly he says the the non yogic mind and non meditating mind the worldly mind is like this river right now full of thoughts impure thoughts moving and changing fast and in Juris it can no matter we don't know where it will take you and what it will make you do and you can't drink this water nor can you give it to others he said similarly that worldly mind it gives you no peace and gives no peace to those around you but the yogic mind is that like this same River in winter there will be fewer thoughts and all controlled and deliberate just like the water at that time and the water is not at all dangerous you can actually walk across and the water is absolutely clear you can see through the water to the bottom of the river the riverbed similarly a yogic mind is so clear and peaceful you can see through to what is the what lies underneath it that means that's a yoga Sutra actually it says the Atman is beyond the mind so that becomes clear and it gives you you can drink this water you can give it to others a 10 winter similarly this yogic mind gives you peace and it gives peace to all others around you also so very nice comparison he drew between meditating mind and non meditating mind then next thoughts as you start meditating you will become aware of sorts specially patterns of thinking habitual patterns of thinking and what we may call bad thoughts impure thoughts disturbing thoughts negative thoughts how do you handle them and somebody said actually I was quite peaceful earlier after starting meditation have become so disturbed no those thoughts were always there you're not aware of them you never paid any attention when you quieten down sit quietly they become vivid to you another example is you know those ink pots were there earlier when you had fountain pens pens with ink if you ever try to wash ink ink pot what will happen is at first more and more dark and dirty water will come out because all the crystallized ink will come out first then it will become clear and clear until you become crystal clear similarly at first negative thoughts come out the thing is to quietly watch them not to get carried away not to get disturbed those thoughts are things there like so much dirt accumulated patterns of thought they're not you they may scare you but they are not you depressing thoughts negative thoughts violent thoughts resentful thoughts and don't give in to them watch them they will go away getting caught up in thought patterns is very dangerous that's why sometimes when people are mentally disturbed or unsteady we tell them not to meditate if meditation can be dangerous for such Minds they're not strong enough and what will come up from insights is so powerful like a demon it catches them and takes them away for such Minds is much better to get engaged in the world and do some service get involved in some activity creative activity service activity much better so patterns of thoughts negative thoughts do not be swayed by them watch them they will go away remember they will come and they will go away it'll take some time that the story is there of the Zen master the student came to the Zen master and he said I if I meditate all bad thoughts come to my mind I'm feeling very disturbed so the teacher said don't worry take a bowl of take a bowl and there's there are two piles of stones one pile of you know in the Japanese gardens you have smooth stones pebbles so white stones and one pile of smooth black stones whenever a thought which disturbs you comes take a black stone and put it in the bowl whenever a thought which is pure and good uplifting comes to your mind take a white thought and put it in the bowl and says sit and watch your mind and the the student did this exercise and the beginning the bowl was full of mostly black stones and a few white within a few weeks it was more white stones and a lesser black within by the end of the year maybe one or two still one or two black stones but mostly white stones over time as the mind calms down it becomes more sattvic pure now bad company so Mia so Kansas is a very powerful impact on your mind is bad company company or of whom you whose company you keep bad company it's not pejorative in the sense of that person is bad not in that sense a person may be very worldly and if you keep company with such a person knowingly or unknowingly one might think I'm very clever I will not be affected but if you live in a house of suit you're then some black Mart will come on your clothes so be careful whose company you keep if you actually start one advantage is if you actually start practicing spiritual disciplines such people will move away from you let's say oh that person's become so boring no one Swami said how if you are being bothered by tugs by by crooks how do you you can't fight with them they're violent people what do you do start keeping company with the police if you in the thugs the crooks see that you're hanging around with the police they will keep it away from them so keep holy thoughts in your mind the other thoughts will keep away our mind is basically it's beyond our control now the Swami initiations used to give a nice example he said our condition of our mind is we do not know our own minds we think it's my mind so I can do whatever I want I can think right now I am entertaining some not-so-good worldly thoughts but when I want I can think about God very easily not so easy we are very unaware of the strengths of our own mind we are aware of a physical strength can you run the New York Marathon no I am not in shape can you left lift 200 pounds weight lifting no I cannot do that we are aware of our physical limitation can you sit in meditation for 30 minutes yeah what's wrong it's so easy it isn't we about mental mind all stress capacity and it also takes training so initiations used to give this example suppose you have an apartment in some other city and your friend comes and says can I stay in your apartment a few days I'm going to that city for some work and you say yeah I have some a caretaker is there I'm going to give you this note is my friend please let him stay in my apartment for a few days you go to present that notability Tuesday you know your friend goes and rings the bell a few rough-looking characters come out and say what I'm going to stay here says who you know this is the owner of the apartment he has given a note see and that guy takes the note and tears it up and then catches your friend and throws him out on the street now will you still say the apartment is yours it may be legally yours but practically it has been taken over by squatters or somebody else has come and taken over similarly our mind has become so used to worldly thoughts thoughts desirous thoughts envious thoughts angry thoughts resentful thoughts thoughts of suspicion all to do with the world net when now you say I have taken mantra from the Guru the mantra has to remain in my mind you tell the month it's my mind don't worry go in there here's the note guru says mantras to remain here I say my mind mantra will remain here go in there and then these rough thoughts come out and yes what do you want the poor mantra says I have to stay here Rama Rama Rama Krishna Krishna Krishna and those fellows the catch hold of envy anger resentment hatred desire suspicion the catch hold of the poor mantra and throw it out dope that's what happens because of bad patterns of thinking that can be replaced and bad company bad company encourages brings out these tendencies which are already there in our mind it just brings out exactly the opposite happens holy company it brings out the good we all have good samskaras we all have sattvic samskaras holy company it was very powerful that's the last point he will say so I'm not talking about it now but one of the most powerful things I've seen spiritual practice holy company but haami Osho can see himself was humorous about it when he would talk about often about that so one lady wrote to him swami i am convinced about the power of holy company so i had I want holy come funny the Swami wrote back to her the letters are still there Madame I'm glad to know that you want holy company but the question is do the holy want your company is us joking of course then the next one is so be careful of the company you keep good company is good don't get good company then no company is good and solitude is better solitude is very good once how to put it very nicely solitude the agony the ignorant man the man of the world is terrified of solitude alas I am alone nobody likes me I am lonely I am unhappy just think about it what does when you are alone and you are unhappy what does it mean it means I am not happy in my company then why would anybody else be happy in my company I don't like my own company and why would anybody else and nobody likes me do you like yourself no I asked asado and then that's all you said but the opposite is the Gianni who for whom Sol solitude is the highest state in fact the definition of moksha in the in the Yoga Sutras kaivalya aloneness that is moksha that's liberation nothing to be scared of aloneness with the capital a I think who said it probably gluttonous I think what is spirituality is the journey of the alone to the alone alone with small a capital e alone journey of the alone to the alone solitude not loneliness our journey is lonely spiritual person enjoys solitude I asked a sadhu who lived in the high Himalayas very happy Punjabi sadhu at all powerfully built long hair white dress up to his ankles and these little kids would come and play in the ashram and he would have this uproarious laughter and very nice now one day I asked him now it's summertime and all these people are visiting and it's beautiful and there are snows in the higher in the higher peaks but that place there was no snow it was a very nice place to stay but what happens in winter when everybody goes away and you are alone for six months nobody is there and there is no remember this know if it's -15 outside is also - your bed is also -15 there's no internal heating and extension there is no difference between inside and outside unless you have a stove going or something so it's tough and it's absolutely you're helpless set to yourself there's nobody around and that's when the wolves and the Bears start crawling because the higher mountains there is no prey for them so they come down lower looking for things to eat so how do you stay at that time when you are absolutely alone and his answer was very beautiful I still remember he chuckled and he said Swami when now I am happy at that time I am happier happiest he said in Hindi Mataji i'ma Jamie who a table or Bhima Jamie who come or Bhima Jumeirah Tahu but Jamie means in and real happiness I'm happy now and at that time I'm even happier that's the sign of a truly mature mind are you comfortable with your solitude then the next one Sonia show kanji says is sixth point is asceticism asceticism is asceticism that is some austere living in sanskrit it is called tapasya tapasya means in matters of sleep comfort enjoyment food company entertainment don't be severe on yourself that's not sustainable the good rule which I have found is whatever you are comfortable with in all these matters make it a little less tighten it a little bit so there'll be some resistance from the body there'll be some resistance from the mind and that's good don't immediately if you are used to getting up at 7 o'clock and then don't immediately say I'll get up at 3:40 because the Swami said so but that will last only for two days and then next day it'll be 9 o'clock in know but little better little more a little earlier than you are used to in at items of food wherever the mind relaxes and tries to let go loosen their tighten it up a little bit little bit of fasting is good not too much a little bit of fasting and don't fast to the extent that you know a purpose of all this asceticism is to make the mind concentrated powerful so that you can think of God your mind and body comes under control but if you deprive it too much and too fast then the mind will keep thinking about what you have deprived it off one monk in Gangotri still remember he told me he remember when he they talked about a city system and the posture that's pretty austere because they're already leaning a pretty austere life by our standard one monk said everyday well I mean he used to live in a cave now he has an ashram but he's live in a cave when he was young he was also Punjabi he said I would go every day to get there was a place where they would give monks milk so I would go for a glass of milk but you have to go over Hill and Dale to get it maybe 45 minutes a walk on the mountains he said I am wasting 45 minutes for a glass of milk why not give it up and just use that 45 minutes or 1 hour 45 minutes going whatever means coming back used at one and a half hours for meditation and decided I will do that and he did it I mean in his humorous he says the anchoring it dude peanuts short they they will give up that quite I don't need the glass of milk like I'll meditate then he said so monks we are sitting around I did exactly that I did that I meditated on milk is there the next day I sat down to milk to meditate I am meditating and whatever thinking good I have given up see how great I've got one and a half hours to meditate then perhaps it's not necessary to give up for all seven days of the week maybe one day I can go and one six days I can meditate then he said it's much better to go and may have the glass of milk and come back and meditate then think about that that so for asceticism also that remember common sense so Shivaratri I remember fasting I never fasted earlier the first time I fasted it was when I became a monk on shivarathri and so you had get some fruits in the afternoon but otherwise no more no food in no breakfast no lunch no dinner whole night puja next in the morning you get food in but in afternoon you get some fruits so I never ate so many fruits not because I was hungry in anticipation of being hungry maybe I'll be hungry you won't be not really so the that's what happens that's the mind I still remember this poor young man he was a teacher of mathematics and he went to a Swami very proudly and he said tomorrow's Shiv ratri I will also fast can I also fast and the Swami I still remember he said what kind of question is that ten-year-old little children are going to first how aren't you ashamed of asking such a question am I going too fast or not of course you're going too fast and you should see in the poor man's face it became so he looked so miserable in Bengalis and chi-chi-chi both theological oh no you didn't no shame in saying such a thing little boys are going too fast and you are asking whether I will fast or not and so I said this ISM in Vedanta it's called titiksa one way of practicing assisted asceticism is put with the troubles in life in spite of little illness I will still meditate I remember I was very ill once I was on IV and intravenous and the hospital I thought okay I was a new I was a novice okay I'm really ill you know sick and some people thought I might die so I guess it's excused III can sort of lie down in my bed and do a little bit of months Rajab I don't have to sit up and meditate so and to my everlasting in a big lesson another Swami who was in his 70s or 80s he had come for an operation an operation was done he was sedated and Anastacia he was wheeled in he was transferred to the bed he slept that night next in the morning before dawn I saw that Swami was as usual up facing the wall sitting like this like a rock and meditating for two-three hours at a stretch this 80 year old man nearly 80 year old man who had just had an operation the day before is up and meditating so whatever the troubles in life I will pursue my spiritual practice that is a good practice is a good asceticism sickness in life anxiety is there in life sorrow is there in life such tremendous stories are there chaitanya mahaprabhu sri chaitanya he used to go every night there would be some devotees house the Vaishnava would gather led by sri chaitanya and they'll be singing of the name of rama and krishna and and up Laureus chanting of the name of Krishna and Rama and dancing Jetta and they would go into Samadhi and dance and they would surround him and it would be it's called utsava festival of the holy name and this very senior devotee of his he organized that that day his son died and he got the information and he suppressed it from everybody including his wife because chaitanya mahaprabhu is coming to his house and so the festival should go on and the festival went on this old man with tears in his eyes he still sang the name of Rama and and dance with the devotees and happily fed them and everything went on perfectly she knew the pain in his heart and chaitanya mahaprabhu knew so when he embraced that man the both of them went into Samadhi because he knew so that putting up that's an extreme case putting up with the sorrows of the world because of my love for God that's a test that God puts us through that kind of you see what kind of concentration that will bring so but again common sense this example had given earlier to novices I knew two extremes one is I have to put up with all sorts of pains and struggles so he has got a knee pain and sitting in the class I'm teaching he goes like what happened pain in the knee and get it treated no I'm putting up with it hitting shots then he's meditating everybody sitting in the meditation hall he's sitting like this a meditating he can't bend isn't he now what is the use you are meditating on your knee you might supposed to meditate on God don't do that remember the first arrow and second arrow spirituality is meant for removing the second arrow the first arrow you take help medicine whatever it is the problem the equivalent help as much as you can get it will work to some extent will not work there are problems which cannot really be cured you have to put up with them so first arrow is always like that the second arrow is the really important thing so that's one Equinix extreme the other extreme is another young monk he got stomach pain a novice and he became used to get worried you know now it's going to hurt he stopped eating properly became skinnier and he took him to doctors and treatment was going on ever seen no effect no response to the medicines and finally I told him don't worry about it but worrying was killing him if the pain comes it'll come we are going to good doctors treatment has started with things are being done now resign yourself to God and concentrate on what you have come here's four do you study and meditation and all of that anyway very good monk he did exactly that and I'm so happy that years later he wrote a postcard in from another ashram Mauro's you know that stomach pain I had it's finally gone Deven months and months it does not come back again but the good advice was now that things are being done taken care of you concentrate on God don't concentrate on stomach pain no knee pain meditation no stomach pain meditation meditation on God only so balance in both number seven yes what I told you earlier when you enter the hall we come to the presence of God sit down for meditation I am God not I as father and worried about son and daughter not I as mother not I as husband wife I as corporate executive will I be laid off what will my boss think of me what about the deadline no I am NOT coming to God as a corporate executive as father mother son not as person who's what is happening to the stock price on Wall Street no everything like the shoes you cast up before entering temple you can stop all identities somebody pointed out a busy attention so much responsibility huge New York just outside New York and Queens you have huge graveyard cemetery those were among the busiest people in the world now look at them think you are like that nothing in the world depends on you nothing in the world depends on you nothing in the world depends on us don't worry when you're taking care in you're trying to catch hold of God that's when the mind plays tricks we have got so many other responsibilities yes only mind things about responsibilities only when you ask you to think about God other times no so feel completely detached from all the roles of you life I approached God with our a show kanji says beautifully approach God with the sense of eternity look back upon your life these this day in your life no matter what the tension what the fear 20 years later or 40 years later when you look back upon this day in your life it will be a small thing some memory mostly will forgotten then why give importance to it now Mothma gandhi you see in in the most intense moments of political struggle great tension with all the other leaders Nehru or others are in tension what is going to happen for the freedom struggle he is his regular about his meditation about his prayer I read something very nice Martin Luther not Martin Luther King Martin Luther Department of the Protestant movement very nice thing is written that every day I spent an hour I spend an hour on my knees praying to God and when I have no time at all too much work I spent two hours on my knees praying to God so come to God with a feeling of eternity detach from everything only I and now my Lord and nothing else and that is the truth all the others like a cloud every day in the night when you go to sleep where our responsibilities varies father mother husband wife children where where is top price nothing it all disappears any guarantee that we will wake up tomorrow no guarantee no God okay then number eight he says yearning for God very important do I want it this is unfortunately he will scratch our head to say yes I wanted but not enough stimulate this Swami Ashok Ramsey says simulated suppose I wanted it imagine the intense desire of ceramic Krishna for seeing divine mother Kali the intense seeking of Vivekananda I must see God all the lives of the great Saints one thing they had in common men and women ancient medieval modern one thing they had in common this intense desire for God is hunger for God so to some extent simulated it will come if you have that everything else is okay everything will fall in place because if you have the desire everything as we do whatever we want we actually arrange everything accordingly and try to get that it's only when we do not want then lot of techniques methods books all are necessary Sri Ramakrishna says to the man who is very thirsty even water in a puddle on the ground he'll remove the scum on the top and try to drink that water on the puddle in the ground very thirsty and person was not thirsty never even think of that water my god not thirsty then you require what Polar Poland Spring Water what is there yes Nestle Pure Life from the Swiss Alps yes otherwise it will not do or something else is there smart water water is not smart really smart or intelligent water or smart water so not thirsty in Vedanta they speak about so many qualifications Vivek averag a discernment dispassion for worldliness you read all that you will feel no ID it's not for me but it's for everybody actually ramana maharshi that's nice story is there somebody went and said am I qualified for Vedanta am I qualified for so many qualifications necessary am I qualified for Vedanta and Ramana mercy no he's going I he said did you say I then you're qualified if you say I and that's something that every one of us says then you qualify do you are qualified to ask Who am I if you say are you are qualified to ask Who am I so yearning for God we are all qualified to realize God we the more we move towards it the more yearning will increase then number nine have a power throughout the day this is important don't jump into meditation this is not translatable into English with some of the Swami's in them in the monastery they sit down we'll put the cloth around them sit for meditation and they have a rosary prayer bead immediately you can hear the rattling sound rattling very fast rate or ever doing them it's like a machine has been switched on not like that when you come sit quietly for some time quieten down then gently enter into meditation after you have finished then sit quietly for some time before you come back into the world take time give time to it throughout the day have you know like the sitar music in the background like a tanpura music in the background done for a music like that have a connection of the divine throughout the day maybe the mantra is going on maybe a prayer is going on in the mind that advice we read Salaam Krishna gave to LA to Maharaj jaga jo JJ get hug be when you are awake throughout your days and days to come when Salaam kiss man a man who said I am NOT when I'm not there throughout the your days be awake in yoga and yoga Yoga means some connection to God you're visualizing meditating repeating the name of God and the argument service yoga they sacrifice so throughout the day morning till night some connection is there so when you sit down for meditation I would see one way the monks would establish this connection is they would visit the temple several times throughout the day they would make it a part of their routine even in the midst of their busy schedule of course morning they will come for and then after breakfast dill come for a they'll bow down to the and in the shrine and go back to their rooms when they're going for their work in the office school or somewhere on their way they'll come to the shrine and bow down in the middle of their work sometimes they'll come once and bow down just before lunch the bell is there so some breaks in the whole day you dig that opportunity connected to God you cannot you may not have a shrine to go and bow down to but you can have a little picture which you can open and look at or to touch to your head so connect yourself to God throughout the day somehow or the other I remember this old Swami those images keep coming yeah yeah I was a young novice as usual a bookworm so I'd come to the library in the main monestery I was in another institution nearby that comes the library in the main man yesterday I was reading and the library closed for evening prayers instead of going to the evening prayers I was going back to my room to read the book and this old Swami was coming he was like perfectly round he was shot and he was maybe in his 70s or 80s I still remember very funny very loving old Swami he saw that the bell has rung and this young novice is walking the other way so as I passed him he caught my hand nothing I didn't even say anything he sort of as he walked along he was very strong so he literally dragged me after him lovingly so that I will go and sit down where is it it somewhere not so sweet I remember once another time these are the memories that you have there may be scoldings but you remember them with great love throughout your life when I was very new after the evening prayer were supposed to meditate I came down that from the temple into the library which was below the temple opened the library opened the book in those days no computers anything it opened the encyclopedias and read so I was pulling it out preparing for my next day's classes which I would teach the students trick of the mind you don't have to prepare in the meditation time for the classes but a senior swami I still remember him a very tough Swami he comes in what are you doing Swami I'm preparing for the class tomorrow even as I said it it sounded talker falls to me avoiding meditation put it back and he stood and glared at me until I put the book back and locked the cabinet and the book book cabinet and go up and meditate and he stood glaring at me like this until I saw him climb the stairs looking back at him he was at the bottom of the stairs and it'll be you'd sit in the he had a very direct approach to training the youngsters so early morning if you're meditating or sleeping suddenly at this tremendous but it's dark in the inner shrine a tremendous burst of light I thought what already enlightenment is I was just maybe one week into becoming a monk and it's pretty fast no it is early in the morning and the Swami was holding a powerful flashlight and checking which which novice was meditating and who was sleeping I remember this is interesting discussions novice is always this a struggle to get up early in the morning and meditate so this Swami who is the second Swami is really tough Swami he went to the head Swami who is much wiser and much more very very spiritual man he was the second Swami was very worried why are these youngsters not getting up in the morning and meditates why are they so sleepy so he went to the senior Swami and he said if we give them sweets you know cookies in the morning will they come if you say that if you come to the temple we give you a cookie in Bengali a nice tea delay key however they will they come the senior saw me with an exasperated verse he said fools let them sled the fools sleep he said his terrifying words highway to hell he said highway to hell the full sleep that woke us up then last one holy company so a mere show kinda says this whether you believe it or not I think this is the most important thing holy company company off remember he was he he had the company of Swami Brahma Han and the Swami Siobhan and the many of the direct disciple sri ramakrishna he knew many people who were actually enlightened Jeevan Mukta he said once you meet such a person the reality of spiritual life cannot be denied once you see such a person even briefly also you will never forget it your whole life there is something extra the little boy who saw the Buddha and asked what are you you can never forget such a person it has a life-changing experience on you and the more you see such a person the more your life changes a deep impression and you will realize at the end of your lives that was the most valuable part of my life meeting those people the holy power of holy company Ashok Ramsey writes if such a person tells you God is real you are not the body not the mind you have an immortal soul it has a deep effect it convinces you it's some very profound level you feel convinced so the power of holy company that comes to lot of good karma - lot of good karma the blessings of meeting such people in our lives it changes our life Shankar Acharya he thinks that satsanga the company of the holy is the boat which takes us across the river of of samsara ocean of samsara alright so these are the ten points no I took such a lot of time I thought I would take one hour but you have got ten how much time do we have yeah so questions reactions tomorrow we'll do the Yoga Sutras comments all right if not I will tell a story I'll end this thing with the story two stories actually so the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali there the whole text is attributed the whole of yoga tradition meditation becoming enlightened through meditation is attributed to hearin yoga literally it means the golden egg or the golden womb now different sources give different meanings and the it is mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana it's mentioned in minuite also and Yaakov al qassam it I think yes that this whole teaching of yoga comes from a great sage called here in the garbha in the Bhagavata Purana in vedanta hidden a guru is identified with brahma the creator of the world so the stories like this you know the iconography vishnu who is always a bit of a couch potato he's lying on the cosmic serpent Shoshanna gaw the cosmic said it's depicted as a thousand hooded enormous serpent and on the coils of that serpent Vishnu is lying on it is eternal sleep but is not sleeping he's dreaming and his dream is the universe so the first thing that happens when the universe is created which is created many times again and again the whole universe goes through cycles of creation existence and it disappears again switched trees 3t liya HT is not really creation projection it's already there like a movie show yeah that's a good example in a movie theater the same movie is shown several times so it's projected and it goes on for some time then switched off but it's still there the film is still there and it's projected again and in plays and switched off now like that when it first the universe is projected the first emanation first creation first of the guards to come is Bramha so the you know the iconography a Lotus blooms in the navel of Vishnu and on the Lotus is sitting Brahma that's how it is shown Mundaka Upanishad brahma mahad a Varnum pretermit sambar who the choise Jakarta who venecia Gupta Mundaka Upanishad begins with this of all the day without that the gods Brahma was the first to emerge the creator the constructor of the universe in see that but that doesn't God create the universe yes Vishnu does create the universe but he sort of outsources it to Brahma because he is lazy she tells Brahma now you do it I want a universe like this so broom my emerges from Vishnu and he's supposed to create the universe but at first the story is that Brahma is called here another book that first the story is that Brahma doesn't know where am I Who am I what is this what's happening nothing is there the universe is not there he's not even aware of the existence of god Vishnu so what does he do the story not about Wornall story is Brahma then closes his eyes here in Aqaba closes his eyes and sits in meditation of course he has eyes an old stuff so he sits in meditation and which is inward concentrated mind he immediately realizes he has the vision of Vishnu the his source from which he has come and yet everything is revealed to him so that's the beginning of yoga that's the story that's the beginning of yoga so he is the one who discovers yoga meditation with by meditation he realized everything he was enlightened so he passes it down that's why some of the old texts this meditation path of meditation is called people are called followers of hidden nature by red mother Susan Saraswathi writing about Yogi's but the word he uses is not Patanjali yogi or yogi he says the follow-up for the followers of Aaron yoga what does he mean who is this this is that here is referring that story so this is one story now there's a story about the snake - this is about Brahma on the Lotus but Vishnu is lying on the cosmic snake who's that snake Patanjali but in July yoga Sutra so butter and jelly is an incarnation of Adi she sure the cosmic serpent he is incarnated to do what to do three things to give humanity the benefit of three things one for the mind Yoga Yoga Sutras one for speech grammar sanskrit grammar and one for the body Ayurveda see he's gone the sources of the science of ancient science of medicine Ayurveda Patanjali Rishi and that's why they have named all these Iowa the products in India now the Patanjali industry singer but Patanjali Rishi is he is incarnation of Shaitan Agra and the cosmic serpent and the three boons he has given to humanity are for mind speech and body caimen Avakian so for mind this yoga which we will see tomorrow and I her Veda which is very popular and for speech Sanskrit grammar these sutras of Sanskrit grammar the foundational texts of Sanskrit grammar is panini Sutra but not the bread I had that experience when I first landed in USA and the Swami had come to receive me at LAX you're going in the car to the ashram I saw a panini written there I was surprised looking at it like that I thought Sanskrit grammar here - and and the swami understood what is going on in my mind it is not that panini hits its bread it's a particular kind of bread as okay panini was the most the a most ancient grammarian decently in harvard yes somebody to hold on to somebody told me that it it seems that in a norm ski great linguist he says the last great linguist that the humor humanity saw human civilizations are spanning in India and after a 12 jobs key and I said I don't think John he's as great as panning and even jumps himself would not say that yes mmm right same thing same thing cosmic mine here Nagar bus cosmic mind then Vishnu corresponds to the deep sleep state saguna brahman Ishwara Ishwara is deep sleep cosmic deep sleep is Ishwara that is the state of ish new cosmic mind is the state of Brahma Hiranya garbha and cosmic waking is the state of the art exactly that one here in nicaragua mine comes because he o has to do with the mind but beyond all three is the Turia even beyond Vishnu is the Turia what is that that's you that's you real you the Mundaka Upanishad waking dreaming deep sleep and that the fourth one beyond all three so waking dreaming deep sleep are all at individual level cosmic level individual level individual Waker which we are right now the technical name for that is Vishwa when we sleep I the dreamer when I dream I am called digester the fiery one and when I am in deep sleep I am called pragya so these are the three names for me the individual being but there is this cosmic waking also this entire universe together has one designation v-rod consciousness associated with the entire physical universe consciousness associated with one body is ritual constant consciousness associated with the entire universe is called v-rod which is what arjuna saw in the 11th chapter of the bhagavad-gita vishwaroopa darshan consciousness associated with the Dreaming mind entire cosmic mind all our minds together internet consciousness associated with that is called Hiranya garbha and consciousness associated with the entire the deep sleep the resolved state of the universe the vishnu state of the universe is called Ishwara which is wished to act chili on the cosmic serpent deep sleep yes mind dreaming yeah and there's one more right now this is a viraat yes that's the Manduca cat so you as she was asking that to be that one you said the hidden Nia Gerber and Inman Rukia in the dream state cosmic dream state is supposed to be associated with hidden occur but the term used is here in Nicaragua aren't they the same they are the same they're exactly the same why is it associated with yoga it makes sense because Yoga is all in the mind it's to do with the mind okay now the story I wanted to tell when is snacks or tea and coffee yeah so we have little time no I'm worried you're missing snacks so the story is this Patanjali is the incarnation of chay-ara the a thousand headed serpent of Vishnu and he gave these three boons to humanity so panini is the source of sanskrit grammar and so how basically medicine for three things medicine for the mind Jung and Freud no psychotherapy by yoga so yoga is medicine for the mind that was given by Patanjali the Yoga Sutras which we will study and Sanskrit grammar is medicine for the speech to enable people to speak correctly in Sanskrit and then the Ayurveda is medicine for the body now what is potential is role in sanskrit grammar so panini wrote the original sutras of sanskrit grammar yoga sutras are only 195 Patanjali yoga sutras only hundred and ninety-five and I think but two sutras are 84 or 85 I think Brahma sutras are 555 but the grammar sutras are nearly 4000 the sutras where entire grammar is packed into it now it needs explain nation it needs explanation commentary on that to explain the sutras so the masters of Sanskrit grammar day studied the original panini sutras with Patanjali commentary Patanjali wrote that commentary it's called maha harsha the great commentary so the story goes Patanjali was treat was about to teach give it to humanity and he had a thousand students so they would gather in a huge Hall thousand students of Sanskrit grammar he would gather and Patanjali would teach Sanskrit grammar but he had a rule and so that he would teach on a big stage raised platform and there would be a big curtain which would cover it said when the class starts the curtain will be closed and from behind the closed curtains he will teach and when the class is over then the curtain will be pulled and then he comes out now the students were delighted with the class they were amazed a thousand students and they each felt that the teacher was speaking to their own questions and they were speaking to them personally and they were delighted with it but students are always students mischievous so one of them thought many of them thought what's going on why is the old man hiding behind a curtain when he's when he's speaking what's going on behind the curtain and he has strictly said during the class nobody should lift the curtain nobody should peek one student couldn't contain himself any longer so when the class was going on he sort of crept up to the stage and he lifted the edge of the curtain and he looked inside and inside he saw that the stage is not there anymore it's the entire universe stars and and you know planets and all constellations and the whole thing is covered by this this terrifying this huge serpent with enormous fangs and you know the thousand heads flame emitting from the flame of destruction cosmic destruction emitting from the tongues of the thousand heads of this serpent the the Cession Agra the the cosmic serpent and he got terrified and he fainted and the curtain fell back that little corner but he lifted the little corner so spark of that cosmic fire is from that and immediately the thousand students were reduced to ashes they burnt up immediately and poor Patanjali he he regained his human form and he lifted the curtain and jumped out of the stage in and he cried out alas alas alas not for the students what will happen to Sanskrit grammar alas at this moment one boy came to the room and said sir may I come in I think he'd gone out for a washroom break or something like that that's my theory so that's why he was not burnt to a crisp and Patanjali was delighted aha grammar is saved come and he embraced him and it gave him all his all sanskrit grammar now story doesn't end here there's a somewhere it's going so when this boy was ready to graduate he had learnt the entire Maharashtra and caught all the notes nowadays it's all computers and mobile I saw but in those days you have to write down and on palm leaves hard work so he was ready to graduate he said I will go back to my village and start the first Sanskrit school and Patanjali was very happy now I have given grammar to humanity and they can speak well now this boy goes on his way back to his village and then it's a hot summer Indian day so he wants to rest under a tree so he goes to rest under this tree in the shade of the tree and he keeps the bundle of notes on leaves now this goat was grazing nearby and he sees those nice leaves so he starts munching on them luckily this boy wakes up with a start and he shoes away the goat oh my god she was shoes away the goat and he can't get it back again remember no backup no cloud he can download it from because Patanjali has gone back to the cloud he's he's gone back to his real state as Shoshanna so he rescues the notes but a part of it is irrevocably lost and so that is called the goat eaten commentary the Gaggia bucket of Harsha so act actually the whole fanciful story I think has been invented because a part of the commentary is not available anymore so that's why I wonder if the goat became a grammarian after that's the story of Patanjali there's the story of here in Nagoya and potentially what they thought became the first manual of meditation and see how popular it is today even today all over the world the vast amount of Buddhist meditation we see those are special developed developments in Tibet later on Japan in China but the sources from India this is what he learned Buddha himself learned from the sunken teachers and he modified it he developed it further but the source is there in fact I found an interesting article I was visiting London if I wanted to see a library obviously so the British Library in London and I became a member of the British tab interesting system they have absolutely free they don't charge a single thing within 15 minutes I was a member of the British Library I said I have only two hours here said okay you can just go and see without being a member you can't see the collection so I went and started searching yoga and I found an interesting article one of the greatest modern Yogi's harihar Ananda Aaron Yoga he lived about maybe 50 or 60 years away passed away more than another 70 or 80 years ago but the most comprehensive commentary on yoga available now modern commentary is by Hari Hara in the are any recent commentary he was a great yogi so it's about his tradition and how they relate to Buddha and the article says that we were surprised to see that this remember Buddhism and Hinduism have a millenia long debate they're like Buddhists say there is no God there is no permanent soul in Hindus try to prove the existence of God and a permanent so-and-so thousand we regard them as rivals but here is a song Qian teacher a yogi Patanjali yoga teacher who regards Buddha as one of the greatest sonken's how interesting so he explores and he shows actually the teachings of sank and the teachings of Buddhism are not very different early Buddhism an early Sankey there are many similarities there we'll talk about more about her Yaron on the Aranya if they were interesting if you say are there any actual Patanjali Yogi's there are Vedanta Yogi's Swami Vivekanand is not actually a potential yoga he's a with antic yogi do you use the techniques as I said open up the box of a dancer you'll find made in China inside so all the techniques of yoga we have borrowed but we are not Patanjali Yogi's I am NOT a potential yogi but we have borrowed the techniques of Veda of Patanjali yoga but are there any pure Patanjali yoga so those who want to attain enlightenment just by practicing yoga Patanjali yoga there are there's at least one ashram in a place called Madhu poo in Jharkhand which is not very far from where I said I never got a chance to go to that ashram but some of my friends did our Acharya there who taught us yoga sutras he went there these monks they are dedicated for and if you enter that the first thing is that there is a picture of depiction of here on Nagar bar and we say ah our old friend now the head of the monastery see the more senior you become there the more the restrictions are so when you become the senior-most you go into a cave and you never come out again until you die once a week you can talk to the head of the monastery he comes to a hole in the cave you can go to the hole and ask your question you don't have to wait till next week do that that at that time itself he will answer your question but only once a week and our teacher went there and he met the current head the once you become a head you are walled up in a cave that's it I'm sure there is no raise up the corporate ladder dip Shante Shante Shante hurry he owned that said Sri krishna must [Music] you

Channel: Vedanta New York

Views: 340,225

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Keywords: vedantany, vedanta society of new york, sarvapriyananda, swami sarvapriyananda, sarvapriyananda lectures, swami vivekananda, vivekananda, vivekananda teachings, vedanta ny, vedanta, vedanta lectures, belur math, jnana yoga, hinduism, spirituality, enlightenment, higher consciousness

Id: Bj5_lNQdJPw

Length: 100min 8sec (6008 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 24 2020