15.14 I am the fire of digestion in every living body and I am the breath of life, exhaled and inhaled, with which I digest the four-fold food.
Krishna uses the word 'yoginah' in this verse. It is important to understand what He means by this. Yoga has become a buzz word; a trendy, fashionable word for cool people. I recently read an advertisement offering super-deluxe Kundalini Yoga that provides instant liberation.
I never read about super-deluxe yogic practices in the scriptures. There is no instant liberation yoga mentioned in the scriptures.
Yoga is the link, the union, between individual self, atman, and universal Self, Cosmic Consciousness, Brahman. Awareness of this link, awareness that the self is the same as the Self, leads to liberation. The understanding happens in an instant; however, the practice leading to it requires a disciplined approach.
Patanjali, the great scientist sage of ancient Bharat, describes the yogic path in his Yoga Sutra. Patanjali lays down eight paths to this union, the liberation, the awareness that we are Divine. These eight paths, the Ashtanga Yoga paths, are not eight sequential steps. These are eight parts, not eight steps.
The first path is yama, the spiritual laws of conduct. These are five: satya, truth in thought, word and action; ahimsa: nonviolence in thought, word and action; asteya: not coveting what does not belong to oneself; aparigraha: living a simple life and brahmacharya: living in Reality.
In Hindu tradition, when every ascetic is ordained in a particular lineage, he must take these five vows of spirituality and follow them rigorously.
In fact, each year I go with devotees on a Himalayan pilgrimage to centers known as the char dham. At the starting point in Rishikesh, on the banks of the holy river Ganga, each devotee takes these five vows. For the duration of the journey, they are yogic practitioners, ascetics engaged in a serious spiritual journey.
The second path is niyama, a set of day-to-day practices to keep one physically, mentally and spiritually clean and pure.
The third path is asana, or body postures to facilitate meditation; today these have become synonymous with Yoga. Asana, also referred to as Hatha Yoga, is one of the eight paths of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga.
The fourth path is pranayama, control of breath or the life force; again this focuses the mind-body upon the inner self. The fifth path is pratyahara, disconnecting from senses, sense objects and sensory pleasures; again this enables focus on the inner self.
The sixth path is dharana, complete focus on a chosen object, to control the mind. Once someone can concentrate the mind on one object, the mind becomes laser sharp and can shift attention to any other object.
The seventh path is dhyana, meditation upon inner self.
The eighth and final path is samadhi; this is when awareness happens and union is complete. Through a sustained and serious application of these methods of yoga, a practitioner, a yogi, reaches that awareness that he is one with the Universe. There are highly evolved beings who reach samadhi without any intervening process; these are rare cases.
In today's world, my opinion is that dhyana, meditation, is best suited for spiritual progress and realization of the awareness that one's self is part of that cosmic Self.
Krishna says that until that awareness happens, however much one may strive, one will not reach Him.
Understand, here we are talking about awareness, not achievement. The truth is that our individual self is an integral part of universal Consciousness, the Self. This truth is not something that we need to work towards. It exists. It is. We are blinded by individual ego, maya, the illusion of our individual identity, in forgetting that we are part of the Collective Consciousness.
Yogis, serious spiritual practitioners, lift this veil of maya, destroy the illusion, to see beyond into the truth of their oneness with the Divine. Meditation is the path and technique to lift this veil. Meditation enables the practitioner to go deeper and deeper into oneself. Meditation brings about awareness of what is.
Light is awareness. Light is the sustainer of life. The Bible says, "God said, 'Let there be light and there was light.'" Light is one of the first manifestations of the Divine in creation. Without light and heat from the sun, life as we know it would be impossible. Everything in this world revolves around energy received from the sun in the form of light and heat.
The sun is also the dispeller of darkness. Not only does Krishna establish that He is the Creator of this Universe - the solar system, sun, moon and the fire which sustain our lives, but He also tells us that He is the Dispeller of darkness.
Krishna, as the Master, as the Guru, is the Dispeller of darkness. Guru means one who leads from darkness to light. As the sun, moon and the fire, Krishna is the ultimate Master who leads us into awareness.
Krishna is the destroyer of our samskaras. Samskaras are products of darkness, our unconscious. Darkness is not a positive entity. It cannot be shifted from point to point. However, it can be destroyed by light. The presence of light dissolves darkness. The presence of awareness destroys samskaras. Darkness has no existence of its own. It only exists when there is no light. We cannot create darkness. It is the absence of something.
When someone cannot see, he is not bothered by darkness. He is not afraid of darkness. To a blind man, darkness is his nature. A blind man will not say that he sees ghosts and spirits in darkness. Darkness is the state that he exists in. He does not fear things lurking in the darkness waiting to pounce on him.
A truly courageous man is also not disturbed by darkness. Someone who is not afraid of anything does not fear the loss of ego, loss of identity and death. To him, darkness poses no fear as well. He can equally handle darkness as well as light, without fear or attraction.
Other than these two classes of people, darkness, the absence of light, poses problems and presents fears for everyone else. In the Ananda Spurana or Life Bliss Program, as well as in the Nithyananda Spurana Program, we have sessions where participants meditate upon darkness. This is a highly energizing meditation. It may seem surprising, but darkness is energy.
People have powerful experiences when they go into this meditation with deep awareness. One gradually loses the ability to sense: one loses all one's sensory powers, those of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. The powers of the gnanendriya take leave. One loses awareness of one's boundaries of the body. Effectively the body disappears. Then thoughts stop and the mind comes to rest.
Focusing and meditating upon darkness can enable one to reach a state of awareness where the spirit is perceived. One realizes that body and mind as well as the senses can be lost, yet the spirit remains.
Some people, especially those who have lived in countries where darkness is more common than light during certain periods of the year, do not even see the darkness when they go into this meditation. People living near the Arctic or Antarctic regions, where there is no sun during winter, become accustomed to this darkness and have no fear. Such people, when asked to meditate upon darkness as a means to eliminate fears associated with darkness, do not perceive darkness as something to be afraid of.
In this sense, Krishna is not only the Lord of light, but of darkness as well.
Krishna further expands on His pervasiveness. In the form of light and heat, He is the Sustainer of all beings within this universe. He, as we have seen, is the dispeller of darkness, the dissolver of samskaras.
He says that He is the energy of the watery moon and through this energy He is the life energy within plant life.
The Taittreya Upanishad says:
'Those who realize Brahman, the Cosmic Consciousness, as Ultimate Truth, see the Divine in their hearts. They are granted all the blessings of life. From this Ultimate Truth, Brahman, etheric space materialized. From etheric space, air emerged. From air, came fire. From fire, came water. From water, earth emerged. And from the earth, plants were produced. The plants gave food. From food was created the human body, head, arms, leg and heart.'
Krishna affirms that He is Brahman and through His manifestation of the various natural elements of space, air, fire, water and earth, He is responsible for plant life and therefore food and human beings.
Without plant life, there is no food. Without food, there is no body and mind. Body and mind become food for others after death. Food is an expression of Divinity. The energy behind food is both the creator and destroyer of samskaras.
Most of us treat food as a basic necessity or an object of sensual pleasure. We ignore it or become addicted to it. We need to be aware of what we eat.
A disciple asked a Zen Master: 'Master, what changed in you when you became enlightened?'
The Master said, 'Now that have I become enlightened, I eat when I eat and sleep when I sleep.'
This may sound confusing. How many of us eat when we eat? How many of us focus on the food that we eat? While eating, we focus on everything except food. We talk, dream, read, watch TV, fight and do everything except be aware of the food.
We treat food as garbage and it turns into garbage inside us. Once we treat food as energy, the life energy
that it is, we experience a transformation inside us. Saying grace before meals as Christians do is a wonderful custom.
Before eating, offer gratitude to the Universe for what you have received and meditate upon the food. Traditionally Hindus offer oblations to the Divine and chant prayers before eating. Major changes happen when you follow these customs with awareness.
To focus on what we eat while we eat is to be in the present moment. In the present moment, everything happens for the first time, afresh.
A Master was instructed by his physician to eat bland food. The Master's cook became fed up after awhile and complained, 'I don't know how you can eat the same food everyday without complaining. I am bored cooking the same food everyday.'
The Master said: 'It is not the same food. What I ate yesterday is different from what I am eating now. What I am eating now is not the same food that I shall eat tomorrow.'
A person who can be so settled in the present is one who is aware. He is one with Krishna.
The role of the sun as the giver of light and heat energies is obvious. It is also obvious that without the sun all life forms will cease to exist. However, the fact that the moon is the nourishing energy through its role in providing life energy to plant life and therefore to humans is not that well appreciated.
The moon controls our behavior, moods and minds. Soma, the name for the moon, refers to its fluidity and the transient nature of growing and withering.
Krishna then talks about vaisvanara, prana and apana.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says:
'This fire that is within the human being and digests the food that he eats is vaisvanara. The sound of this fire vaisvanara is that which one hears by closing the ears. When death nears and spirit is about to leave the body, he no longer hears this sound.'
This Upanishad goes on to say that neither ahara (food), nor prana (breath), can function alone, one without the other. Food will decay without breath and breath will dry up without food. Together, when the awareness of their union happens, true Consciousness results.
Food is classified into four parts: Food that is chewed and eaten as with solids, food that is swallowed straightaway as with air, food that is sucked and consumed as liquids, and food that is licked and consumed. Food is also related to the four elements other than space: air, fire, water and earth.
The ancient Hindu traditional medicine system Ayurveda, works from this principle of vaisvanara. The quality of this inner fire determines our state of hunger or lack of hunger as well as state of health. One of the classifications of the mind-body system in Ayurveda, pitta, refers to vaisvanara activity.
What Krishna implies here as well is that food is Divine since it has His imprint on it. We tend to take food for granted. Only when food is scarce, is it appreciated and enjoyed.
Look around us; look at yourselves. How often do we value food that we consume? A poor man eats his meager food with great relish and awareness. The wealthier we become, the less aware and caring we are of what we eat. The underlying cause of most illnesses can be traced to this disrespect of food.
In traditional homes in rural Bharat, even today, some food is offered to a crow or animal before the household eats. Often the household will not eat till a wandering mendicant or ascetic is fed. Offering food to others, other living beings, has been considered a form of worship in Hindu tradition. Food has always been considered the repository of the Divine.
A small story:
A teacher was teaching a little boy good habits at nursery school, how to sit properly at the table, fold the napkin on his lap, pick up the fork and spoon and so on.
As the boy was about to gulp down what was set in front of him, she said, 'Uh, uh, haven't we forgotten something?'
The boy exclaimed, 'What now?'
The teacher asked, 'Don't you pray before you start eating?'
'No,' said the boy. 'My mom's a good cook!'