Patanjali, Scientist Extraordinaire🔗

We shall talk today about an extraordinary scientist, a real scientist of the inner world. His name is Patanjali, a great enlightened master of ancient Bharat. We remember him for his great book, the book of books, and the root for millions of books. He created a formula and aphorism for spiritual philosophy.

All spiritual literature can be classified into 3 categories: one outlining goals of what you wish to achieve, about life, death, what happens after death, what is atman, books o f philosophy, etc. These books speak about the truth beyond life and death, intellectual material. Difficulty is that this philosophy is not a method or technique to transform your life. They are perceptions of individual philosophers. Millions have answered the question of what happens after death, and yet it is a virgin question. We do not know the answer. Each person who tried to answer created one school of philosophy. These books do not give any answers, no solutions. These are called Sastras .

The second level of literature are the songs in praise of God. These are for emotional people; fairy tales to uplift the spirit in devotion. These are called Stotras.

Third kind of spiritual literature is for those seeking solutions, a seeker at the being level, asking for clear cut explanations of spirituality. These are the aphorisms, techniques to provide solutions, and are called Sutras.

A young man asks Socrates: Should I marry? Socrates had a terrible wife, who used to beat him. Socrates said: you should marry. Only two things can happen when you marry. You can either have a good wife leading a happy and contented life, or you will be like me, with a miserable wife and become a philosopher. It will be good for other people.

People who are not happy, who are not down to earth create philosophies. Philosophy means to complicate simple truths, to make people not understand what they should understand; like Psychiatry that is supposed to cure, but never cures. Philosophers only raise questions, never answer, and only postpone answers. You will be happy with one philosopher's answers till you read another philosopher. More philosophy means more confusion.

Devotional literature is equally fruitless. It's very easy to love a person in front of you. You can love god, but not your wife and neighbor. Your love of God is all unfulfilled fantasies. You may feel hurt. Please understand that to most of you God is only a concept. How can you love a concept that you do not even know.

Patanjali from the first word says let us look for truth. Would other literature provide you life solutions? Or are they just entertainment, passing time? You can sing song praising God and spend time. There are millions of songs praising God. In olden days as there was no TV or movies this was good entertainment; something more than philosophy, food for intellect, brain candy and devotional literature is good, but not for the ultimate experience or experiencing reality.

Patanjail's book is called Yoga Sutra: Aphorisms to achieve union with the ultimate energy. His sutras or aphorisms teach you how to achieve this union. Of thousands of books I have read this is the most scientific and most practical. There is a movie called 'What the Bleep do we know?', explaining Quantum Physics, and a book called 'Fabric of Cosmos', both very good and practical. Patanjali is more practical and more scientific than any of these excellent books and movies.

A Scientist has thirst for truth; he analyses data without prejudice; he has the courage to follow the conclusions of his research. One who has all these qualities and one who does not compromise on any of these parameters is a scientist. Patanjali is an extraordinary scientist and is the father of all eastern philosophy and religions. From the teachings of Jesus it appears that he has been influenced by Patanjali. There is a book on the Life of Jesus, Da Vinci Codes, which is controversial, which raises some of these questions seeking answers to the purpose of life. Patanjali has inspired all those who came after him, knowingly or unknowingly.

Patanjali radiates all these qualities with purity. When Galileo said that Earth is not flat and that the Earth follows the Sun, there was so much opposition to make him recant the truth that he understood and propounded. He had to withdraw his views under pressure from religious leaders. He said I have to change my views, but the Sun and earth will not change their nature. But Patanjali does not bend, does not change his views.

Even in modern day research, researchers have to listen to their fund providers; in olden days they were controlled by Kings and religious leaders. A scientist researches and provides a formula to reproduce their results in the outer world. A mystic produces a formula to reproduce experiences in the inner world. Patanjali's sutras are valid even after 5,000 years; they are still fool proof and still produce intended results. ```

Many produced formulae which suited only specific groups; intellectuals, emotional people, Being level people, men, women etc. There is a book by the name 'Men are from Mars Women are from Venus'. Someone said that this is not correct; they can not be from same universe since the distance between them is too large. Here is a Master who provided techniques to open all doors to all people; Patanjali says these promises are for the whole world.

I was traveling with a Professor on Comparative Religions. I asked him for percentages of different religious groups in the United States. He asked do you want published figures or real figures of those who practice these religious sincerely. These two figures are very different, he said. When I studied statistics at least 25% of all Americans have practiced one form of Yoga or another. At least 10% practice regularly.

Edison discovered light. Once discovered it belonged to the whole world. Patanjali discovered the truth of inner light and made it available to the whole world.

Fortunately, there was no copyright. Patanjali is great because he did not create an organization. Once an organization is created truth is cremated. A real rose is beautiful and God given. A plastic rose is not. The difference between truth and organized religion is the same as between a real rose and a plastic rose.

Another great Master, J Krishnamurthy, said after creating his organization that the organization has only the right to publish his teaching and writings, but not to comment upon them. If Krishna and Jesus meet they will hug each other; but Krishna's cows and Jesus' goats will bicker and fight with each other. Masters are truth, followers are corrupt. Organizations and followers create complications so as to exploit people, to control people.

Some one asked: What is the difference between Sankara's teachings and Buddha's? Sankara talks about atman and brahman, Buddha says there is no self; Sankara says poorna, Buddha says sunya. I said what they say is the same, their experiences are the same, but copyrights are different. A yoga magazine talked about super deluxe Kundalini Yoga. I wondered, where does this title come from? The guy said that the word is his copyright.

Patanjali says when my teachings are no longer true, this book will die; let it live as long as it is the ultimate truth. I want only truth to survive. If I create an organization, my followers will try for the survival of the organization not the truth. If Krishna and Buddha descend today their temples will not welcome them; it will disturb their vested interests.

This openness is what makes me call him a saintist, a saint and a scientist, a mystic and scientist combined in one. He created this book to understand how to reach the ultimate truth and then is ready to stand by and let his book be replaced if some one else comes up with a greater truth. We still can not add a single word to enhance his sayings. Only a person who is so confident can be so open. It is like a money back guarantee, which is possible only if you have absolute confidence in yourself and what you believe in and say.

We shall go into details of his book over the next few days.

Patanjali has created a navigator to guide us in the spiritual inner world of body, mind and spirit. He has solutions, down to earth and practical, for modern day problems. He is neither a philosopher nor a devotional muse. There is not one word or one line that can be disputed or disproved. He is an atheist, because he does not say God exists, he just shows you the way, gives you the techniques to realize divinity; but he is not a fanatic. It is easy to be a believer in the divine, because we do not understand creation, who created it and how. To be an atheist you have to disbelieve what you see around you. You have to deny your senses. You need to be a fanatic.

The first verse of Patanjali is: Yogaha chitta vritti nirodaha. Yoga is the cessation of mind. Where mind drops that is union. When you achieve the ultimate experience mind stops functioning. As long as mind exists you can not experience the union. You will be in dilemma. I always say: Jump before you think, otherwise you will never jump. Mind only creates confusion; it dissects and creates categories. Only when you go beyond mind and logic you can find truth.

There is no gap between you and the divine. You are divine, whether you accept it or not, believe it or not, understand it or not.

A man was told his wife is drowning. He jumped into the river and swam in the opposite direction upstream. People shouted at him asking him: what are you doing. He said you do not know my wife she always goes against the current.

So can you and flounder. When mind stops you experience the divinity within you.

The first line gives you the conclusion.

There are many books on how to present. If you wish to get the attention of your audience you have only 30 seconds to inspire them. Even 30 seconds is too much. You already have evaluated and judged the speaker. Based on this decision you keep collecting data on speaker. These books say that right in the beginning you have to make a powerful statement. Patanjali here gives you all in one: the goal is to experience the divine, the path is to stop the mind and the end result is the Union with the divine. The entire book is a commentary and explanation on this one line.

Let us now see how to drop the mind and reach the divine, Patanjali's techniques, teachings and methods.

Q: Some say Patanjali is 10,000 years or is he only 2000 years old?

A: If my disciple writes a book many years after me, it will be under my name.

Similarly many centuries later other disciples wrote following Patanjali. If you study the language used by Patanjali his works are at least 10000 years old. Unfortunately Hindus are very weak in history, in happenings; we are strong only in content and philosophy. We do not know for certain, dates of birth of any great master, whether Sankara, Buddha or Krishna. History is called puranas, or truths, not facts; there are important di f ferences. Truth is the impact of the incidents, not the chronological or quantitative facts of human life; they preferred to record those truths rather than the facts.

A man goes with his friend to a mango orchard. The friend was calculating the crop size and money realizable while this man was focusing on eating and enjoying the mangoes. Who is more intelligent?

Now we can identify the period based on the evolution of the language. Patanjali lived in Rameshwaram in South Bharat where there is a tomb in his name. They can also fix the age based on the tomb structure.

All Patanjali's disciples are called Patanjali, like Sankara's disciples are called Sankara; after a while you forget which disciple he is. An enlightened Master becomes one with the truth; therefore you remember only the truth.

Patanjali had hidden himself so well; nothing except what he wrote is now available. He kept himself away from his own discoveries, the truths. To use electricity you need to know nothing about Edison, all you have to do switch on and off to enjoy the fruits of his discovery.

Modern day psychologists like Freud and others look too small compared to Patanjali. Freud had only sick people to study, not enlightened Masters. He had no chance. After 35 years of research Freud comes to a conclusion that man can not be healed, that man has to suffer. Patanjali himself was enlightened and was surrounded by other Masters; he could therefore talk about a higher truth of bliss.

Philosophy is right only after your experience, not when you read. Vedanta says everything is God. True. But you can not stand in the middle of the road and say a car will not run me down because both are God.

A great Master teaches his disciples that all is God. While bathing in the river next morning a mad elephant came charging and every body except one disciple ran away. The mahout shouts at him to run away. This disciple stayed on saying that he is God and the elephant is also God. The elephant charged this disciple and he was badly hurt. The master later asked him, after he was injured by the elephant, why did you not run away. The disciple said: I believed what you told me that I am God and the elephant too is God; therefore I did not expect to be attacked by the elephant. Master responded: but the mahout too was God and he warned you to run away.

We understand truths only partly. Unrealized truths, half truths are worse than lies. Vedanta is truth. You have to however realize the vedantic truths before they work for you. Truth before experience is very different from truth after experience. Master speaks from experience. You listen without experience. My words will not have the same meaning in your dictionary.

A lady was trying on a fur coat. Her small daughter watches her curiously as she models the coat. Finally she asks, mom, you are enjoying wearing this fur coat; just imagine how much the animal must have suffered. Mother turns around and snarls, how dare you talk about your father like this?

Dictionaries are different.

Better not believe Vedanta before you experience its truths. Otherwise you will cause confusion for yourself and others. This is true of many preachers who have not experienced the truth. It's not your truth till you experience it. It's only the truth of the sages who have experienced it.

Q: Can there be an organized method to reach the mindless state? How can mind go beyond the mind?

A: When water is at room temperature you can not imagine it becoming steam. To evaporate water you need fire, you need energy. Patanjali infuses energy into the mind to change its state. When the movement of mind stops, it becomes atman, it turns divine. Mind, when it stops can not bind you, only till it has thoughts it can hold you. The deeper you go into the mind, what you think of as qualities of the mind, they disappear. The oscillations stop. Mind is no longer is confusion. It will become a guide, a teacher and will lead you to a no mind state. Instead of moving you away from enlightenment, it will pull you inside. Mind exists in its present form because it does not know that there is bliss in the no mind state. Once it knows, it wants you to stay there, as it is so blissful. Mind is a wonderful servant. It will take you wherever it thinks the truth lies. Once it has a glimpse of the blissful state it won't let it go, and will always take you back there.

Patanjali talks about this. How can one dream take you into another dream, or even a dreamless state? He also gives the answer: if you dream of a lion in your dream, you will wake up and come out of that dream.

```sanskrit yaaogartao vaa Baaogartao vaa sagMartao vaa sagMaivahIna: yasya br*maina rmato icca%tM nandait nandit nand%yoava || ```

yogarato va bhogarato va sangarato va sangavihinaha yasya brahmani ramate cittam nandati nandati nandatyeva

Let one practice concentration; or let one indulge in sense-enjoyment. Let one find pleasure in company; or in solitude. He alone is happy, happy, verily happy, whose mind revels in Brahman.

Bhaja Govindam 19

From Ignorance to Bliss

From stupidity to wisdom; from human nature to divinity; that is what, Patanjali, one of the greatest scientist sages of ancient Bharat describes in his Yoga Sutras, as an eight fold path to achieve Yoga, union of the Self and the Divine.

We shall now look at one part of the first of the eight fold paths. The first part of the eight parts is called Yama. Yama refers to set of moral injunctions to be followed by any serious spiritual aspirant.

The first part of this eight part system, Yama consists of five elements: Ahimsa (non violence), Brahmacharya (living without fantasy), Satya (truth), Asteya (not stealing), and Aparigraha (living with what one has). Now we shall talk about just Satya, Truth.

Satya is just not truth of the words we utter. That's only one dimension. Thinking the truth and living the truth are the other two dimensions. Vedanta says you create what you want, you are the creator of the whole world; it's you who creates suffering and bliss. If we may ask: if we are the creator of the world why would we create suffering? The reason is that either consciously or unconsciously we are not being true to our Being; we are not living, acting, or speaking the truth.

When some one speaks we do not really listen to him, we do not believe him; we are constantly evaluating him, judging him; and we do not allow the words penetrate us, because we ourselves do not speak the truth. When it's against our vested interests, against our judgment we stop listening or ask him to stop if he can. In most cases we have already formed a judgment about that person, and we keep collecting arguments to support our preformed judgment.

If we are creators of our own world why do we create suffering? Continuously we create self contradicting desires. At a deep level, whether we accept it or not, believe it or not, understand it or not, we are God. Therefore we create trouble when we contradict our selves and give power to self contradicting thoughts. When we keep thinking of wanting to get rid of a disease, keep saying that I must not have this headache, or stomach ache or cancer, we are already meditating upon that disease; we give power to the word disease through thoughts, through utterance, we implant this word disease in our Being, and the disease will stay on. We can never get rid of an ache or pain by constantly wishing it to go away. Instead if we say let me be healthy, and if we bring the concept of health to our mind and Being, the ache and pain will disappear. Self contradicting thoughts such as trying to get rid of pain by thinking of pain are called samskaras and these get power and become real.

A person who speaks truth verbally or speaks only of facts is not established in satya. A person can talk facts and still be a liar.

In Mahabharata Krishna wants Drona to be destroyed. Drona is very attached to his son Aswattama. If he hears that Aswattama has died Krishna knows that Drona will give up fighting. Krishna tells Yudhishtra, the incarnation of Dharma, to say that Aswattama has died. Yudhishtra first refuses. Krishna makes Bhima kill an elephant called Aswattama and make Yudhishtra say that Aswattama has died. They say that till then Yudhishtra's chariot which always rode a few inches above ground came down to earth. Yudhishtra stated a fact, but it was not truth.

Being truthful is something more than being factual. First you need to straighten your inner chatter. When an enlightened Master speaks it comes true, because they live in truth. They do not have self contradicting samskaras. These samskaras suck your energy and make you powerless. The word you repeat within yourself should be true. You give power to disease by just saying disease; being factual does not reduce suffering.

A man wants special powers. He goes to a Master and asks for a technique. When an enlightened Master gets special powers it benefits humanity and universe; but ordinary people getting such powers just cause trouble for themselves and others. The master tries to dissuade him. He does not listen. He says if you can not give tell me, I shall go elsewhere.

Ramana says: who says my devotees are followers. At first they follow. Then they do not listen. They want. They lead. Guru is there to do your homework; if he does not, you will leave him.

Francis of Assisi says: God is great because he answers our prayers. He is much greater because most of the time he does not answer many of our prayers.

We know only 120 degrees. Divine knows 360 degrees. God not only has Shakti to give but also the Buddhi to know when to give, or not to give. He makes us stronger by not giving us what we need.

Guru finally relents out of compassion for the stupid disciple. He gives this disciple a medicine and tells him, drink this and it will give you great powers; but do not remember a monkey when you drink the medicine; then it'll not have any effect. The disciple says that's fine, but what if I do think of a monkey. Master says you must bathe and try again. Every time he tries only moneys come to his mind. While bathing all he could remember were monkeys. He was running in and out of the bathroom. He was in the grip of a self contradicting desire; like thinking of a disease when trying to get rid of a disease.

He ran back to his master and cried: get rid of these monkeys. You can keep this medicine. I do not want any powers. I just want you to free me of these monkeys.

Try and spend hal f an hour a day to straighten your thinking, the same way as you spend in straightening your body and dress. Spend time in straightening out your samskaras, in clearing your thinking.

Satya is what gives peace and bliss to all. You can not speak arrogantly; arrogance creates anger, disturbance, and violence. If you say people are disturbed when you speak the truth, the truth that you express is your ego and arrogance, but not the truth. You can always express truth politely, acceptably without hurting some one; only then it is truth. Pure truth can never be violent, can never hurt some one. At best it will be like a Doctor using a knife to clear some one of a problem, and not like a killer using a knife to harm some one.

Living Satya, living Truth in your life, through your body is essential. Einstein was on his death bed. All his disciples were around him. One asked what would you like to be when reborn, since he knew that Einstein believed in reincarnation. Einstein said: I would like to be born a plumber. They were shocked as they expected him to say many other great things. They asked why. He said: all my life I wanted to be a plumber. Environment made a scientist and I could not stop running the rat race. Whatever society gave me, money, status, and fame, all this is a big failure. I did not live my life. My life became a lie.

When the spirit takes birth again and again, it does that based on your desires. If all your life and till the point of your death you focused on eating, you will take the body of a pig; If only in sleeping, the body becomes that of a buffalo. Based on these you choose what you will be, who your parents will be, what your life will be in the next birth. However, if you have lived a fulfilled life, you will have no desires left when the spirit leaves the body. It's free to choose, whether to return or not; and if it does return it knows where to go.

If you believe that you have lived your life even if you live on a pavement homeless, you have lived your life. Otherwise your life has been a lie. Gita says: You will be in your next life what your last thought in this life is. If you feel fulfilled at the end of your life now, you will be liberated. When your spirit is unfulfilled, your death will be miserable and you will return again and again to run the rat race. The problem with the rat race is that even if you win you are still a rat.

A person asks: I wanted to be a cricketer, but my father made me do otherwise. I said: People who do what they really want always excel in what they do though they may not be materially successful. It's too late for you. At least allow your children to do what they wish to. If you are already too old to fix the problem, do not impose the same suffering on others. Even the idea that you wanted to be a cricketer, be sure that it's your own idea, not imposed on you by media and friends.

A person asks: They say, not even a blade of grass moves without God's will. It's also said everything is on free will. There is a dichotomy.

I said: The first statement is from an enlightened person and is true for him not for you. The second statement of free will is true for you. For an enlightened person, he moves in tune with the Universe. If you start saying that every thing depends on God, you will stop working; that is of no use. However, if you believe that statement fully and make your own effort, without bothering about the results, you will move towards enlightenment.

Patanjali therefore says live your life truthfully.

Mahavira Jaina says that when you are born, whatever you want to fulfill in this life upon Earth, your own desires that you wish to fulfill in this birth, you bring with you when you are born. God is so compassionate that he always sends everything you want when he sends you here. Why do we suffer then, why do we feel we are running short of everything. Because after we come down we do not live only our desires, we accumulate every one else's desires. We gather desires. When a neighbor buys an air conditioner the temperature in our house goes up. When we try to live other peoples' desires our live becomes a lie.

How to find out if our desires are truly ours? Till the age of 3 all our desires are genuine. From then on we start picking up other people's desires, as we see them, as we interact with them, as we imitate them. We are mixed up. We are what society wants us to be. We are reacting. Even before we smile we ensure of the other person smiles. We express only when we feel we will be accepted. Meditation is the only way to infuse energy into your desires; infuse consciousness into your desires. What ever your own real desires are will stay; what are not will fall. Those that stay will have the energy to fulfill themselves. There will be no self contradiction. Your true desires will come true. When this happens you feel fulfilled.

Be in Satya, be in Truth: straighten your thoughts so that there is no self contradiction. Express in words without hurting others, with compassion. Live your life based on your own desires; do not accumulate other peoples' desires.

Let God's grace, let the cosmic energy fulfill us in body, mind and spirit to reach eternal bliss.

```sanskrit maUZ jahI ih QanaagamatRYNaaM kuru sad\bauiWM manaisa ivatRYNaMa yallaBasao inajakmaao-pa%tM iva%tM tona ivanaaodya ica%tM || ```

mudha jahihi dhanagamatrushnam kuru sadbuddhim manasi vitrushnam yal-labhase nijakarmopattam vittam tena vinodaya cittam

O fool! Cast off the desire for accumulation of wealth; create in the mind, thoughts about Reality, devoid of passion. What ever you get, what you have achieved through your past deeds, with that, satisfy your mind.

Bhaja Govindam 2

Yoga: Eight Points to Ponder

In Patanjali's Yoga, according to me there are eight points, though these are usually referred to as eight steps. Though you need to know all eight at a time for realizing Truth, these points are not sequential.

As long as you are here to understand and transform your lives it is worth spending your time in studying Patanjali's Yoga; not for acquiring knowledge.

Patanjali was a great mystic, a saintist, saint and scientist. He wrote the aphorisms of Yoga. Yoga is union; union of man with God. He laid down eight points to achieve this union, to reach divine consciousness.

Some one asked: all the techniques are practiced only by the mind, which you say is a dream. How can one dream awaken another dream? When you see a lion chasing you in a dream, you wake up. Any thing that inspires deep fear or greed will wake you up; nightmare or fantasy. All Patanjali does is add something to your dreams to wake you up.

Zen story: Disciple asks the master how I can be awakened. Master responds: slap your face, you will wake up.

Patanjali teaches us eight methods to slap ourselves and wake up. The more you practice these eight steps the more the clarity that descends on you. I have not seen any other Master speaking so clearly with such perfection in such a straight forward way. He is a scientist, saying 2 plus 2 is 4. Mystics don't speak that way. 2 plus 2 to them may be 4, may not be 4. A plus B may be C or D. if that does not come, wait, may be you did not write A or B clearly. Patanjali guarantees; he is so confident of his product; only he can use money back guarantee offers. In other systems, you may understand 50, 60 or 70 %, here you will get 110%; for past, present and future minds, not just your present mind alone now.

We use pesticides; if we use them continuously the pests get immune and even start using the pesticides as nutrient food to grow upon; so you need to increase the strength and vary the pesticide. Same way our mind learns the art of surviving masters. We all have survived Buddhas, Christs, Krishnas; we have survived the masters since our minds are cunning. Patanjali has created a system that can not be escaped; it's perfect; you have to get enlightened if you follow him. He has inspired more masters than any one else.

The first step is Yama, loosely translated as discipline. This means tuning yourself to the ultimate; it is not a set of dos and don'ts. It is a set of instructions to tune yourself to your Self. Within this Yama are: first is Ahimsa, non violence with understanding; Ahimsa is not a moral condition but a technique.

No morality can be practiced. Morality is great to give as advice, not for practicing yourself; which is good; otherwise you will all become schizophrenics. If you understand and practice Yama you will automatically fall in tune with your higher Self. There is no need to fear heaven or hell. Morality practiced to soothe your conscience is just skin deep, to awaken either fear or greed to make you comply. Morality should be based on consciousness. Otherwise you need cops to enforce moral rules; as soon as cops are out of sight you indulge. Breaking any law gives you pleasure. Kids feel they are grown up when they can say no. If you understand then you will not need to violate. All the violence, all the depression, all the sufferings on planet Earth are because of social and moral rules imposed on us.

You do not commit sins and go to hell. You commit sins because you are in hell. If you are relaxed and happy with yourself you will never be violent and commit sins. Only when you are restless, not at ease with yourself, you feel it necessary to find faults with others and commit violence. You do good things because you are in heaven not the other way around. There is no exchange counter between this world and the next; if you do charity you get no pass to heaven. Do charity for the joy it gives you; that's the heaven on earth when you are still alive. There will be no one at the pearly gates waiting for you with a golden key.

If you are established in non violence, even wild animals, if they face you, will turn peaceful. You will radiate love and compassion. Patanjali says: If a man is established in non violence, in his presence, enemies and animals will drop their animosity and radiate love.

Sankara, the great enlightened master, walked all over Bharat on foot, village to village, begged door to door for food, and lived with the common man, to update himself with what was happening around him. This was required of him as a teacher, as a master. As he went he learnt from various masters, universities, and temples which are spiritual universities. He wanted to create his own University to spread his message of Advaita, where the energy of love will speak. In a forest on a full moon night as it drizzled he saw a frog about to hatch its baby and a cobra spreading its hood to protect the frog from the rain; frogs and cobras are born as natural enemies; when Sankara saw this he decided here's where I should have my University where animals lose their enmity, and pure oneness and love starts happening. Once you experience this love you will never be violent; non violence, ahimsa, will happen to you.

Think: when you see someone falling, even if you rush to help, you have difficulty in suppressing laughter. Socially we express sympathy, but inside we enjoy.

Ananda Pappiah woke up to find himself in the hospital with his friend by his side. Anand asked his friend: What happened? Why am I in hospital, unable to move? Friend said: Last night after a few drinks you wanted to fly down four floors and you did, that's why. Anand shouted angrily: fool, why didn't you stop me? Friend said: at that time I too thought you could do it!

Non violence does not come from practice, only from experience. Whether you believe it not, accept it or not, understand it or not, the whole Universe responds to your thoughts. After my enlightenment I was relaxing in front of a cave, sitting with my self. A few feet away a big Cobra was lying. I was not even aware of it though my eyes were open; my mind was not linked to my senses. After some time I woke up to what was around me.

You come back to reality after sometime. Suddenly the thought of the cobra entered my mind. Only then the cobra realized I was a man. Till then both were comfortable with each other. The next thought was fear. This was reflected in the cobra as well and it raised its head. When I moved back, it moved away.

When we are established in love nothing touches us. We do not need to defend ourselves against anything. Defending is what creates the thought of offending. All countries say that they have armies only to defend themselves. Who then is offending? The more you try to defend you enter into offense. Violence starts. Violence starts with defense. This is what Jesus meant when he said to turn the other cheek when someone slaps you. What he said is not impractical. This can be practiced. What have we achieved by protecting ourselves, except suffering? On the other hand, if you radiate love, you will be a God on planet Earth. Can you defend yourself against death? By defending yourself you may add some years to your life; by trusting, by loving you will add life to your years. What would you like to do, add years to your life or add life to your years?

A great Zen master Suzuki was asked: what was the greatness of your Master? Suzuki replied: the most extraordinary thing I found in him was that he always thought he was very ordinary. It is only people who are very ordinary who think they are special, extraordinary. Even if we are too polite to say I am great, we say our country is great, out language is great, our religion is great etc. Why not come out and say I am great instead of in a round about way? We always think we are extraordinary. When we live in an ordinary we way we become extraordinary.

Some one came to me and asked, Swami, am I enlightened? I have a doubt. I said, as long as you have a doubt be very clear you are not enlightened. The moment you are enlightened, not only will you never have a doubt about it, nor will you even think that you are enlightened. You will not even remember you are enlightened. You don't continuously go on thinking who you are and keep repeating your name. People worship dead masters about whom stories are spun as to how special they are. You do not see anything extraordinary about living masters. We live as you do. I also have rest rooms. No dead master's life talks about his rest rooms. Only their peak experiences are recorded. Their miracles are archived. Enlightened masters radiate ordinariness.

When you experience glimpse of love, you will become non violent and you will not think you are extraordinary.

The second point Patanjali takes up is brahmacharya. You can not stop talking about something you love. When you talk about people you do not like, you will change the subject. I love Patanjali and am so comfortable with him that I can go on and on. Normally brahmacharya is translated as celibacy. This is wrong. Celibacy is suppression, perversion. Brahma means existence, reality; chariya is to walk in it, to live with it; brahmacharya is living with reality.

People ask: to become enlightened, do I need to leave my wife and children? I tell tem: renounce only what you do not have; live comfortably, intensely, happily with what you have. If you have a wife, live fully with her; not with the fantasy of some other woman. Renunciation is Brahmacharya; it is dropping your fantasies. Brahmacharya is accepting reality as it is. When you drop your fantasies and accept your beloved for what she is, your life becomes heaven. If you live with your fantasies, you will be uncomfortable with your real wife, and the same will happen to every one you meet and choose.

The idea of beauty is just an idea. As long as distance is maintained things look beautiful. Close ups are always ugly and flat. Even if you marry the Miss Universe the idea of beauty will not last more than 15 days. The moment you start living together reality comes in. That's why you call it honey moon, not honey sun. When you drop your fantasies you can live with reality for ever. That's why in Sanskrit there is no word for divorce. If you feed your fantasies you can change your partner any number of times and still be unhappy. Only in fairy tales do people live happily for ever. Dropping your fantasies is brahmacharya. Outer world can not disturb you or feed you fantasies; only inner fantasies can. People forcing themselves into celibacy are sitting on a volcano. They can not look into your eyes for fear you will see their suffering. If you meditate and practice celibacy, Hindu mythology says that the gods above send celestial beautiful women to disturb you. Nobody sends women to disturb you; if that's true everyone will start meditating. These meditators start hallucinating because of their suppressions, suppressed fantasies. Brahmacharya can not be practiced as morality, but as an understanding. When you accept your partner as he is or as she is, your fantasies drop, and you start accepting yourself as you are. Your partner then becomes your beloved.

Next is Satya, truthfulness. It's not factual but truthful. Living the truth, not just speaking the truth is what Patanjali talks about. If you want to break a law, all you have to do is follow it verbatim; literally; you will then break the spirit of that law. You will catch the letter of the law not its spirit. That's why people fight in the name of God. Jesus says love thy neighbor as you love yourself. Krishna says see me in everybody. Religious zealots follow the letter not the spirit of what their masters said. People who talk about peace say that they want you to be in peace in the manner that they wish.

A preacher, lawyer and Doctor were in discussion. Doctor said that God must have been a doctor because he made Eve from Adam's ribs. Lawyer said no he was a lawyer because he was passing judgment. Preacher said no, there was chaos first, and who else but a preacher can create chaos. Rama called his capital Ayodhya, which means it is a place without strife. Today it's a city strife torn in the name of Rama.

An enlightened Master lived on the banks of Ganges. He used to read the Bhagavad Gita which was the only possession he had, It had become his life. One day a poor man begged him saying he had not eaten. The master was deeply moved that someone was begging from him, who had nothing. He gave the beggar his book and told the beggar to sell the book in the market place where one of his followers may buy it and give him money. Beggar took the book away. The next morning Master prayed: God, I gave away your words to keep your word. Legend says that God appeared to him and blessed him, as one who believed in the spirit not just the letter.

There is so much corruption because we think Satya is factual, not truthful. You have to live the truth by living through your body language. You have to think, speak and express the truth in your life. You have to observe all these 3 dimensions to be in Satya.

The other two aspects of Yama are Astheya and Aparigraha. Astheya refers to non covetousness; not desiring what belongs to others. Astheya not only refers to material possessions of others as in the case o f the Old Testament's Ten Commandments, but also to not coveting what others desire. Universe provides every one of us with all that we need in this life from the moment we are born; but it is unable to cope with our wants that we covet from others. Our own desires come with the energy that will help fulfill these desires. Once fulfilled, these desires get extinguished leaving behind no hangovers or vasanas. It is these vasanas and samskaras, residual unfulfilled desires that cause suffering in life, as Buddha points out.

Aparigraha is related to Astheya, meaning living within our means, living with our own desires, living with the needs that Universe has provided us the energy to fulfill. Non covetous nature and a simple life focused on the ultimate goal of uniting with our own divine self is the practice of Aparigraha.

The second limb of the eight limbs of the Yoga path that Patanjali describes is the Niyama, the set of rules that he enjoins us to practice daily in our personal lives. Yama refers to discipline as it relates to our interaction with others, whereas niyama refers to discipline within our own mind body system. In the Patanjali Sutras five such rules are referred to under the path of niyama.

Saucha or cleanliness refers to cleanliness of body and mind, both through regular physical cleansing of the body parts, and the inner cleansing of our minds through other practices referred to later on such as pranayama and asanas.

Santosha is being happy with what we are given, to accept things as they are rather than wanting them to be as we expect them to be. It is the mindset of renouncing what we do not have, and not needing to renounce what we already have, in the hope o f seeking something better.

Ultimately this attitude of acceptance leads to surrender and enlightenment. With an attitude of santosha there will never be depression and there will always be peace of mind. With it there is always the attitude that the Universe will provide for us what ever is best.

Tapas, the next niyama, is commonly translated as penance, though rightly it is self restraint in controlling all urges, born out of body and mind. This refers to restraints in desires of the mind and actions of the body, controlling lust, anger and greed as well as sensory functions including eating. Tapas leads to a healthy body and a healthy mind.

Svadhyaya, the fourth niyama, is self enquiry and a search of the inner self. Directing the mind inwards automatically controls the mind. Looking inwards makes it easier to understand and reach the ultimate truth that we are one with the Universe. While the study of the Sastras and the Sutras, as well as the Stotras, help in leading to a practice of Svadhyaya, the grace of a master arising out of one's surrender to him leads to this naturally.

The last niyama is Isvarapranidhana; it is surrender to the Divine, the Ultimate, the Master, Parasakti, and an acceptance that whatever happens as a result will be good for us and for all Universe.

The third limb of the eight limbed Patanjali Yoga Sutra is Asana. This word means position, and this limb or module is also referred to as Hatha yoga.

When ever one talks about yoga, probability is that they talk about Hatha yoga and asanas. Hatha yoga is about physical fitness and consists of a set of physical postures people adopt in order to achieve physical flexibility and tone. Concept of Hatha yoga is based on the assumption that physical fitness is a must for mental concentration and focus. At another and deeper level, Hatha yoga refers to the integration of mind body, allowing one to become aware of the flow of prana or energy in our body system. Hatha yoga asanas when performed with awareness lead to awareness of one's emotions and can help clear blocks leading to a greater awareness in one's action in day to day life.

Hatha Yoga exercises provide physical fitness and flexibility at one level; when done regularly and with awareness they also enhance emotional fitness and flexibility. Patanjali says: Infinite flexibility is the secret to immortality. Like the Tao, Hatha Yoga promotes flexibility to counter stresses of life, mental and physical.

Popularity of various forms of Yoga, all derived from the original Sutra's of Patanjali, have made this one of the most popular forms of physical exercises and raised Yoga to a cult level. Practiced without awareness and focused merely on the body instead of mind body, as in the case of martial arts as well, Hatha Yoga can make the person rigid, arrogant and inflexible.

Pranayama, controlled breath is the fourth limb of Patanjali's yoga system.

Breath is energy and is the core of our life. We inhale for the first time shortly after arriving in the world even before your umbilical cord is cut. From the point of birth we inhale and exhale about seventeen thousand breaths each day, which over a lifetime amounts to 500 million breaths. We inhale and exhale from the last time as we depart from Planet Earth. The last breath marks the end of this life cycle for us. Our breathing supports every experience we have from birth till death, from the first inhalation to that of our last exhalation. Breath is the essence of life.

Prana means breath; more specifically it refers to the energy behind breath that makes our body functional and Ayama means control. Pranayama therefore means the control of Prana and the vital forces of the body. Pranayama begins with the regulation of breath and ends in establishing full and perfect control over the life energy currents or inner vital forces. In other words, Pranayama is the perfect control of the inner life energy currents through regulation of breath.

Prana starts functioning from the very moment the child is conceived. However, senses of the body such as hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching begin to function only when their organs such as the ears and eyes are formed. In the Upanishads, Prana is declared to be the master force within the mind body system. Mind and the five organs unequivocally declare: "O Master! O Prana! Supporter of this universe and the supporter of our very lives, the first-born! Adorations unto thee! Thou art really great. Do not depart from this body. We shall serve thee. We duly acknowledge thy superiority." Prana functions even while the mind is absent during deep sleep.

Prana is primordial life energy that governs all our mental and physical functions. Pranayama is the technique to regulate our prana to calm, balance, cleanse, and invigorate our mind body. Our breath integrates all the physical layers of our mind body system and influences the emotional layer as well.

Regulating our breath helps to regulate and uplift our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. It is the key to a healthy and vibrant life.

Prana is li fe energy. When prana flows smoothly in our mind body system we feel healthy and active. When prana is blocked, fatigue and disease set in.

Pranayama helps to master this life energy. There is an intimate relationship between our breath and our mind. When mind is calm and collected, breath too is calm and collected. When mind is turbulent, breathing becomes disordered. Prana is the life energy that flows throughout nature and the universe. When we are tuned in to the pranic energy o f our body, we become aware of the integral relationship between our individual self and the universal Self. Pranayama helps us into this awareness of the union of self and Self.

Prana connects our physical and astral bodies. When Prana is cut off, the astral body separates from the physical body. Death is the result. The Prana that was working in the physical body is withdrawn into the astral body.

Prana is the universal principle of energy or force. It is vital force. Prana is all-pervading. It may be either in a static or dynamic state. It is found in all forms, from the lowest to the highest, from the ant to the elephant, from the unicellular amoeba to a man, from the elementary form of plant life to the developed form of animal life. It is Prana that shines in your eyes. It is through the power of Prana that the ear hears, the eye sees, the skin feels, the tongue tastes, the nose smells, the brain and the intellect perform their respective functions. The smile on the face of a young lady, the melody in music, the power in the emphatic utterances of an orator, the charm in the words of one's own beloved wife—all these and many more have their origin in Prana. Fire burns through Prana. Wind blows through Prana. Rivers flow through Prana. The steamer and the plane, the train and the car move about only through the power of Prana. Radio waves travel through Prana. Prana is electron. Prana is proton. Prana is force. Prana is magnetism. Prana is electricity. It is Prana that pumps blood from the heart into the arteries. It is Prana again that does digestion, excretion and secretion.

Prana is expended by thinking, willing, acting, moving, talking, writing and all such activities. A strong and healthy man has an abundance of Prana or nerve-force or vitality. The Prana is supplied by food, water, air, solar energy, etc. The supply of Prana is received by the nervous system. The Prana is absorbed in breathing. The excess of Prana is stored up in the brain and nerve centers.

A Yogi stores up enough and more of Prana by regular practice of Pranayama just as the storage battery stores up electricity. That Yogi who has in his store an amazingly large supply of Prana radiates strength and vitality all around. He is a big power house. Those who come in contact with him imbibe Prana from him, and get strength, vigor, vitality and exhilaration of spirits. Just as oil flows from one vessel to another, Prana also actually flows steadily from a developed Yogi towards weak persons. This can be seen actually by the Yogi who has developed his inner Yogic vision.

If you can control the breath or Prana, the mind is also easily controlled. He who has controlled his mind has also controlled his breath. If one is suspended, the other also gets suspended. If the mind and the Prana are both controlled, you get liberated from the cycle of births and deaths and attain Immortality.

As long as you speak, you cannot breathe; then you offer the breath in the speech. As long as you breathe, so long you cannot speak; then you offer the speech in the breath. When you want to hear a faint sound, the breath gets suspended for a while. Any one carrying heavy loads instinctively fills his lungs with air and practices unconscious retention of breath (Pranayama) till the load is lifted on to his back. This retention of breath augments his strength and vitality. It immediately provides him with an abundance of energy. It induces great concentration of mind. When you cross a small rivulet by jumping over, when you practice long jump and high jump and various other exercises at the parallel bar and trapezium, you practice retention of breath instinctively.

If the breath is unsteady, the mind also is unsteady. If the breath is steady and calm, the mind is also steady and calm. A Yogi gets longevity of life by the practice of Pranayama. Therefore the practice of Pranayama is indispensable requisite. Just as it takes a long time, patience and perseverance to tame a lion, an elephant or a tiger, so also you will have to tame this Prana gradually. Then it will come under your perfect control.

Incorrect practice of pranayama can lead to discomfort the same way as incorrectly performed asanas can lead to discomfort. Pranayama performed incorrectly, without the guidance of a master and practiced without awareness can release suppressed negative emotions leading to depression and other mental disorders. However, correctly practiced with awareness, pranayama, along with other limbs of Patanjali's eight path yoga, can help lead to realization of truth.

जैतलो मुंडी लुंछितकेश: काषायांबरबहुकृतवेष: पश्यन्नपि च पश्यति मूढ़: हुदरनिमित्तम् बहुकृतवेष:॥

jatilo mundi lunchitakeshah káshayámbarabahukrutaveshah pasyannapi ca na pasyati müdaha hyundaranimittam bahukrutaveshaha

The ascetic with matted lock, the one with his head shaven, the one with hairs pulled out one by one, the one who disguises himself variously with the ochre-coloured robes - such a one is a fool who, though capable of seeing, does not see. Indeed, this varied disguise is for the sake of the belly.

Bhaja Govindam 14