Mind! Present moment! Bliss! – Part 2🔗

We can go beyond our mind and reach the state of bliss

Next, we shall see about Brahmacharyam. This word is a beautiful word. It is a word which has to be understood by all of us. Let us see this word in two parts. Brahma and charyam. Brahma means Divine or God. Charyam means living. The word, Brahmacharyam means living like God. Most of us think that by Brahmacharyam it means becoming a Sanyasi (ascetic). That is most of us think that living alone without getting married is called Brahmacharyam. But the meaning of this in Sanskrit (one of the oldest languages in Bharat. Many of the hymns and songs in the olden days were sung in Sanskrit) is different. It means living like God. Truly, the meaning of the word Brahmacharyam means renouncing the imaginations and dreams in our mind and thus living with reality.

One person asked me: Is it true that, we can attain divinity and bliss only if we renounce everything? I told him: You need not have to renounce what you have, just renounce what you don't have. There is no necessity for us to renounce what we have, but if we can renounce what we don't have, then immediately we will reach the state of bliss. Please understand this deeply. What is meant by renouncing what we don't have? Anything that we possess does not put us into problems. Things which we don't have, but which we feel we should have, are the ones, which trouble us and put us in misery. If we can just renounce those things, which we don't have, then immediately we will be showered with bliss.

Please understand that we are not required to renounce anything we possess now. It is not required of us to renounce our wife or our husband. If we can renounce our fantasies about the way our husband or the wife should be and if we can renounce the dreams and fantasies about our prospective spouse, then we can reach the state of Brahmacharyam or the state of bliss. To reach the state of bliss, it is not required of us to renounce our husband or our wife. It is enough if we can renounce what we don't have i.e. our imagination and fantasies.

We all collect lot of fantasies and imagination from our childhood. We collect all possible fantasies and imagination from all possible magazines, TV channels, movies or internet or any other media and imagine as to how our future life should be and how our would be should be. But if the husband or the wife is not as per the imagined figure, then we start chiseling them to fit the figure of our imagination. If the wife is not as per the husband's imagined figure then the husband starts chiseling her to make her resemble the imagined figure. Any sound which we hear in our houses is just the noise due to chiseling. The husband is chiseling the wife and the wife is chiseling the husband. You are chiseling her with a chisel and a hammer and she is also chiseling you with another hammer and chisel. In our life, if we can drop the hammer and chisel and stop chiseling others to match our imagination, then we will automatically reach the state of the Brahmacharyam or the state of the bliss.

Brahmacharyam does not mean renouncing of the external man or woman. It means renouncing the imaginary inner man or inner woman. It is not required of us to renounce the external man or woman. It is enough if we can renounce the imaginary man or the imaginary woman which we are dreaming about. By nature, we will be able to reach the state of Brahmacharyam or the blissful state or the state at which we can live like God.

In Shiva Sutras (A book in which the techniques for enlightenment are given by Lord Shiva, the God responsible for dissolution of the universe), Lord Shiva says beautifully, 'When the husband and the wife live without dreams, fantasies and imagination about each other, then the husband will reach the state of Shiva consciousness and the wife will reach the Devi consciousness'.

Thiruvalluvar beautifully says,

Vayathul Vaazhvangu Vaazhvaar Vaanuraiyum Deivathul Vaikapadum.

The first few words Vayathul Vaazhvangu Vaazhvaar means not having any imagination or dreams about the husband or the wife, loving the real wife or the real husband. As long as we have imagination and dreams about how our wife should be for that long we will not feel like loving our wife. The moment we drop our dreams and imagination, we will feel the love and thus care for our wife. Similarly, the moment we drop our dreams and imagination about our husband, we will feel true love and care towards our husband.

As long as we have dreams and imagination, we will not feel love and care towards our spouse, who in reality is with us. By watching some TV serial when the husband coaxes the wife to be like the heroine of the serial, by saying, 'Look how the heroine is so responsible. What are you doing at home? You are doing nothing. You are not fit for anything', then the wife will also compare the husband with a hero of the serial and blame the husband.

This is a small incident that actually happened.

A father told his son who was twelve years old, 'Son did you know, at your age, Abraham Lincoln started earning on his own, but you are still dependent on me'. The son replied, 'Dad, but by your age, he had become the president of America. But you are still here.'

Similarly, the moment you compare your spouse with someone, your spouse would do the same to you. When you compare your wife with some heroine in the TV, she will start comparing you with a hero in some TV program. All of us are thrusting our imagination and dreams over others and trying to chisel them, so that they would resemble our imaginary figures.

Really, if you want to reach the state of the Brahmacharyam or the state of the bliss, the first and only work to be done is to drop all our imagination and dreams. Not required of us to renounce our spouse who is with us. It is just enough if we can renounce our fantasies and our imaginary inner man or woman. Brahmacharyam means living like God. This is what Thiruvalluvar means by saying,

Vayathul Vaazhvangu Vaazhvaar Vaanuraiyum Deivathul Vaikapadum.

By this Thiruvalluvar means that in this world, if we can live with our husband or wife happily and have a joyful relationship without any of our dreams and imagination being thrust upon them, then that means we are living a spiritual life.

I have seen some couples. They would have lived together for thirty years, but still the husband will not know what the wife's needs are and the wife will not know what the husband's needs are. As soon as the husband gets up in the morning, he will pick up his chisel and hammer and start chiseling the wife. Similarly, she will also pick up her chisel and hammer and start chiseling her husband. The home which has to be a place of bliss and peace will become a war ground. When such of couples who live with each other for many years, without understanding the needs of others, come to see me, I used to tell them: After you die you will not enter into hell, because you are already in hell. Even if it comes, you will not feel the dif erence. There will no dif erence or anything new in hell. It will be similar to the life you are living now.

Similar to the canoe which is oscillating due to problems, our life is also oscillating due to dreams and fantasies. The ability to renounce what we don't have will give us the maturity to deeply enjoy the things that we possess. This is what Thiruvalluvar means by saying,

Vayathul Vaazhvangu Vaazhvaar Vaanuraiyum Deivathul Vaikapadum.

Also the word, Brahmacharyam means the same. The meaning which we can practically apply in our life is also this.

If we can keep our life partner, or other relations in our family happy and have a joyful relationship with them then that is called living like God. Beating the children is against the concept of Brahmacharyam. Please understand this carefully. Brahmacharyam does not just mean a cordial relationship between the husband and the wife. Having a cordial relationship with everybody around us, without any dreams and imagination about all of them is called Brahmacharyam. Beating the children is due to a mental disease. If you are a person who beat the kids, please understand this clearly, it is not the kids who are to be beaten, but it is you, who will have to be treated for your mental disease. The first thing to be done is giving treatment to you. Beating the kids is a kind of mental disease. That is, a mental setup which derives pleasure out of controlling others. That is expressed out as the arrogance of beating the children.

Let me narrate an incident which actually happened. If we can understand this incident, then that is enough.

This happened in the life of the King Shahjahan. Shahjahan was a great Moghal king. Shahjahan was arrested and imprisoned by his son, Aurangazeb. After about six months, Aurangzeb went to supervise the prisons. There he saw Shahjahan, who was worn out physically and mentally in sorrow. Whatever it is, Aurangzeb was the son of Shahjahan and so looking at the plight of his father he felt sad for him.

So feeling sad, Aurangzeb told him :Whatever it is you are my father. Because I wanted the kingdom, I had to throw you behind the bars. If you can promise me that you won't create any problems for me, then I shall let you inside the palace. Be my minister. But if you act against me after coming there, immediately your head will be seized. You will lose your life. If you accept to this condition, then I shall have you in, what do you say? Shahjahan replied : I don't want to take that risk, even if someone gives you any wrong information that I am doing some mischief then I will have to lose my head. So I don't want to take that risk. But just do me one favor, if you can send about thirty students to me, that is enough for me.

Even though Aurangzeb was puzzled, he agreed to his father's request and generously sent fifty students to Shajahan.

After one month again Aurangzeb went to supervise the prisons. He was surprised to see Shahjahan's status. Shahjahan was looking like a king. Though Shajahan was not wearing royal clothes, his body language had changed. The flow of his words had changed. His life style had changed, the shine in his eyes, everything was like that of the kings.

Aurangzeb was puzzled as to how that was possible. Now again he looked like a king. How did he get so much of enthusiasm and body language like those of the kings? He questioned the guards of the prison: Tell me what happened and how it is possible for Shahjahan to be like a king again.

The guards replied: From morning till the evening, Shahjahan runs his own government with the fifty students as though he is the king; he runs his own kingdom. Out of the 50 students, he has appointed one as minister, other one as head of the war troops, another as treasurer. He instructs those children to act the way he wants. In the evening he creates two teams and makes them fight like soldiers. In the night again he holds the committee meeting and discussion. Thus he runs his own kingdom.

From morning till evening by dominating and ruling the children, he retains his kingship. The mental setup is in such a way that it gets pleasure out of controlling someone. Only if we have the mental setup of controlling others, we will torture others. If you beat the children or if you have the habit of beating children, then be very clear, that you are also suffering from this disease. Please do not beat your wife or children. If you are a person of that category, your first requirement is to consult a psychiatrist. Then surely you need treatment for that disease. This is a kind of mental disease, where you derive the pleasure out of physically torturing others. Causing destruction to others for satisfying one's own ego is the biggest disease. Insulting others and deriving pleasure out of that, will be the worst disease that one can be infected with.

So far we have seen the five viratham (i.e. the five techniques specified under the first step). Now we shall enter into the next step called Niyamam.

Sauchasvang Gajugupsa Paraisamsthararga. Beautiful hymn.

Let me narrate another hymn and then we can see the meaning of the two hymns together.

Sathvasuddhi hee Sowmanasyay Yekakriyaendhriya Jayaatmadharshana Yogyadhwani.

The above hymns talks about the mental setup which surrenders, the internal and external purity, happiness, satisfaction, stainless chanting of mantras (sacred words) and all other possessions, to the divine. Let us understand deeply about the mental setup to surrender. It will be enough if you can understand just this point.

As long as the thought 'I' is there, any acts which we do, will either directly or indirectly will end up in causing trouble to others. When the importance is placed over the ego that is the 'I" thought then every activity that is done based on this will end up in giving trouble directly or indirectly to others as well as to us. But if we can get the mental setup of surrendering the responsibility; again and again not burdening our head with responsibilities; if we can place down such responsibilities and be relaxed then we can save ourselves from unnecessary miseries.

Let me narrate a small story to make this concept clear. One person was traveling in a train. He had placed his box over his head.

After sometime someone sat next to him. He said: Sir, you seem to be so tired, why don't you place that box down?

The first person replied: The train can bear just my weight. How can it bear even the box's weight?

He has not realized that he himself is sitting in the train with his box. He did not have the clarity that the train which carries him is carrying the box as well.

The moment we hear this we laugh. But please understand that most of us are doing the same in our lives. God, who has given the air for us to breathe always, won't that God provide us the food three times a day. The God who has created and provided the air, which we can't be without even for a few minutes, will He forget to satisfy our food needs. But we never believe that. We don't believe that the supreme energy which has provided us with air can run our lives as well. Only if we see deeply, we will understand this. Similar to the passenger in the train who did not believe that the train which can carry him can carry his luggage also, we also do not believe that the cosmic energy or the divine energy, which has given this life to us, which has granted us so many things for us, which has helped us to run our life will provide us with the basic requirements as well. Will such supreme energy forbid us of our basic requirements? We don't have such belief at all. We question: How will it come? It is we who have to take care of all these. True, that we have to take care of all these and of course we are only going to take care. But, when we believe that the cosmic energy will take care and that it will help us to get it done and if we have such a mental setup to surrender, we can save ourselves from unnecessary problems and mental depression. We can protect ourselves from unnecessary miseries.

One person had an important task to be done on the other side of the river Ganges. He sat on the boat. The boat started moving and he was walking up and down inside the boat from one corner of the boat to the other corner.

Looking at him the boat rider said: Please don't move like this, if you constantly walk like this, the boat will start oscillating and I will not be able to balance the boat. The man who was restless said: I have an important work to be finished. I don't have time to sit. That's why I am walking fast. It is okay, you don't bother. Please continue to row the canoe.

Walking inside the boat does not help in any way. Similarly beyond a particular level, however fast we walk, nothing will happen. We can try only up to the point of entering into the boat. Then after that it becomes the work of the boat rider. Only if we sit quietly without moving around, the boat will move faster. But if we keep oscillating inside the boat, the boat rider will not be able to row the boat. Beyond a particular point, lowering the burden from our head, placing down the head weight, happily surrendering and relaxing is the way to run our life.

There is one more wonderful thing that we will have to understand. Niagara waterfalls are the biggest waterfalls in the world. It is in Canada-America border. Anybody who has slips into that water falls have never survived. A man who is very much involved and who has undergone extensive training in meditation and Yoga jumps into the waterfalls to prove a point. By God's grace, he came out of the falls alive, without any fractures. Everybody is surprised. TV, magazines and other media interviewed him. They asked him: How did you escape from this dangerous accident? He answered very beautifully: I gave up my ego and surrendered myself completely to the water energy. Since I could do this, I became a silent observer of my body which moved like a wood flowing on the river.

It does not mean that we have to jump into the Niagara water falls. It is enough if we can properly and happily walk on the ground. Our act of surrendering need not have to be that courageous so as to make us jump into the Niagara waterfalls. It is enough if it can give us the courage to make us peacefully walk on the ground. The cosmic energy or the divine energy or Lord Rama or Lord Krishna or Jesus or Allah or Mahaveer or Buddha whatever names we want give to it we must realize that it is the same one energy. Trusting that energy, dedicating ourselves to that energy and being relaxed will reduce our miseries and stress in our life. This will make our mind simple, light and blissful.

Now we will enter into the third step called Aasanam. The word, Aasanam has also got a very in deep meaning. Aasanam means being relaxed and being confident and solid. Keeping our body relaxed and confident is called Aasanam. Aasanam does not just mean the Yoga (physical exercises accompanied by breath control techniques). Aasanam means maintaining and operating the body in a blissful state for twenty-four hours. I had told in the first chapter of this third part that if we disrespect and insult our body by comparing our body with someone else's then we will start creating a gap between ourselfves and our body. We will break the relationship between ourselves and our body. We must trust that each one of us is enough onto ourselves and each one of us is beautiful. We are beautiful to ourselves. There is no need for us to decide whether we are beautiful or not by comparing ourselves with others. Each one of us is an individual flower. Can we compare two flowers and come to a conclusion, that one of the flowers is ugly? No, not possible. It is also wrong to do so. Each one of us is an individual flower. If God was an engineer, He would have done a mass production. With one mould he would have manufactured every one of us. But God is an artist. That's why He has made everybody different. He has made everyone of us in different ways. Every one of us is enough onto ourselves. Every one of us is beautiful to ourselves. Arriving at this clarity is the way to make ourselves be in the state of bliss. That is called Aasanam.

Next is Pranaayaamam. Praanaayaamam means bringing our breath into control. This is an important step. Many people come and ask me: How to control anger? How to control anger which is due to boiling of our emotions? Please understand that this technique is for controlling the swelling of emotions. Regulating our breath is equal to controlling our mind because both the breath and mind are closely connected to each other. If we can bring our breath under our control then our mind will completely come under our control. Whenever the feeling of anger swells in us, it will be enough if we can bring our breath under our control. This technique is not only for dealing with anger but it can be used for any swelling of emotions like arrogance or lust. Enough if we can just slowly and deeply breathe ten times. Nothing else needs to be done. That feeling will disappear. That swelling of emotions will disappear. Whenever any swelling of emotions happens our breathing cycle will be very fast. When we regulate our breath flow and bring it under our control by breathing deeply and slowly then automatically our mind will come under our control.

Pranaayaamam is a beautiful technique to keep our mind under control. With the help of this technique we can keep our mind in our control for all the twenty-four hours. Pranayamam has many other techniques, but if we can follow just this simple technique of breathing slowly, deeply and lengthily then whenever the emotions like anger, vengeance, restlessness, stress, depression or sorrow swells, that is enough. Our mind will automatically come to a relaxed and peaceful state without even our awareness. Controlling the mind through regulating the breath is called Pranaayaamam.

Next is Prathyagaaram. The mind oscillates between various things and incidents in the world. To bring such an oscillating mind under control by focusing on one thing is called Prathyagaram. That is focusing the mind on one thing. If we observe our thought flow deeply, it never runs uniformly. It does not run like a clear stream. All our thought flow runs very superficially without any discipline.

This small example will make us understand this. If we can understand this then we will know about the pattern of our thought flow. We will know the speed of our thought flow. Assuming we are walking on the street and we are seeing a dog. As soon as we see the dog, we will be reminded of the dogs that we saw and got scared of during our childhood.

The next moment we will think about our childhood. Then we will think about our school teacher. Then we will be reminded of the house she lived in. Our thought flow will keep flowing like that.

If we see carefully is there any connection between the dog that we saw on the street and our school teacher? There is no direct relationship. Finally we will forget from where we started our thinking. Just for five minutes if we sit alone and start writing our thought flow, then we will know that we are all running a big mental hospital in our mind. Just do this for five minutes. Be it any thought, we need not have to show it to anybody. If we write whatever we think of continuously and read what we have written on the paper for ourselves, we will see that the thoughts are unconnected to each other. Thoughts flow randomly without any connection with each other in our mind. Similar to the bubbles which come up in a lake, in our mind unconnected and unrelated thoughts keep coming up.

We may be sitting in one place, suddenly we feel we are in our native place, the next moment we feel like going home, suddenly we think about our business. There will not be any rational and sensible connection between any of the thoughts. If we just analyze our mind once then we will know that we are running a large scale mental hospital within ourselves. We think that we have locked all the mad people inside the mental hospital and raise a big wall as a protection. Whereas the mad people think that they have left all the mad people outside and raise a big wall as a protection and stay peacefully within the walls.

We are all outside the compound and they are inside the compound. That is the difference. Probably another difference is that as far as number of people is concerned we are the majority. That's why we have locked them all inside the compound. We do not have any other extra ability other than being more in number! Only when we see our thought flow we will know that our thought flow is unconnected and unrelated. This is what is meant by manageable mental disease. This mental disease is in such a way that it can be managed. That is the reason why we are moving on.

A small story:

It is the time during which Bharat just got the independence. Nehru was a popular prime minister of Bharat then. One man heard about Nehru again and again and suddenly he began to feel that he himself was Nehru. He started acting, talking, walking and living like Nehru. He wore a rose flower on his shirt like Nehru. If he had stopped at this level, then there is no problem. But he started writing letters in the name of Nehru to all the authorities. There started the problem. He was admitted in the mental hospital. He was given treatment for about six months. He became better. The day, on which he was to be discharged, incidentally Nehru happened to visit that hospital.

The doctors of the hospital decided to introduce him to Nehru and brought him before Nehru and said: Sir, this man was calling himself as Nehru. He was here for his treatment. Now he is cured and he is getting discharged today.

The patient looked at Nehru and asked him who he is.

Nehru replied: I am Nehru.

The moment he heard that he said: Oh, don't worry, be here for six months. They will make you alright.

The people who are inside are thinking that we are mad and we are thinking that they are mad! There is no way to find out whether someone is sane or not. There is no scale to measure the sanity.

Prathyagaram means focusing our mind onto one thing. The moment we start focusing our mind onto one thing, we will know the extent at which our mind oscillates in all directions and the way it has run without any control so far. Be very clear that only when mind is brought into control, man becomes man. Until then, he lives like an animal or a useless thing or a mad man.

Let us look into our lives deeply. If someone throws out a harsh word towards us, we become mad in rage. Nothing else needs to be done to make us angry. If a harsh word is thrown towards us, then we become mad with rage. The moment someone says: What are you doing like a mad person? Then the next moment we will prove that he is right, by shouting at him. Our actions and our impatient activities will portray that we are mad. Only when we focus our mind onto one thing, we move up to a higher plane from the state of madness. When the mind runs and oscillates the way it wants, without our control over it, then it is clear that we are living a mad life to an extent. That's all it means. Anger is part-time madness. When someone is angry, he will not know what he is doing. Even a mad man will not know what he is doing. Part-time madness is called anger. Full-time anger is madness. That's all!

Only when we bring our life and our thought flow into control, we are considered to have proceeded towards a higher plane. Until then our life will go on madly. Of course it is manageable madness! That's why life seems peaceful.

Next we shall get into Dharanai. Dharanai is a beautiful message. It means that mind has to get centered. Prathyagaram means focusing the mind onto one thing from outside. Dharanai means centering of the mind on something. Whatever we want to achieve in our lives, Dharanai has to happen. If we want to become a popular cardiologist, we have to be centered on knowing about the heart. We will have to focus the center of our attention on the functioning of the heart. If we want to become a great civil engineer, our mind has to focus its attention again and again on the architecture. Whichever profession we want to achieve, Dharanai has to happen in that profession. Even if some one wants to steal, even then one has to do Dharanai, there is no other way. If we use the Dharanai in good ways, we will attain the state of bliss. If we use it in bad ways, it will end up in sorrow and misery. But Dharanai has to happen in our lives, only when Dharanai happens in our lives, we will begin to achieve anything in our lives.

Albert Einstein says beautifully on this. Reading his atomic philosophy, other scientists asked him: How were you able to discover and express this great truth? Einstein answered: When my mind was completely and deeply involved on this subject, something inside me opened and I experienced a different feeling. Based on that experience only, I was able to declare this truth.

Please understand that this experience which happened in him is called Dharanai. He expressed this experience of Dharanai as his message.

When Newton was sitting in the garden an apple fell down. Most of us would have eaten that apple or sent it to the kitchen or may be we would have ignored it. But Newton started focusing the centre of his mind and thought as to why it fell down? The results of such questions led to the inventing of the law of gravitational force. Even in our lives, many apples are falling down, but we are unable to be a Newton. What is the reason for us not becoming a great scientist like Newton? The reason is Dharanai had happened in him and it has not happened in us. That's the reason.

Even in our lives, many opportunities pass by, but since we don't have the Dharanai, we are unable to capitalize on those opportunities. If we have the Dharanai energy, we will definitely achieve something in some field.

One of our devotees is a doctor. He has built a hospital. He was telling me: Master, my college mates who studied medicine with me are still reading the newspaper from morning till evening, but I was able to create this big hospital just due to my hard work. It is true. Even in the field of medicine, not just the studies, but only when the Dharanai happens, they are able to excel in that field. Be it the field of medicine or architecture or be it any other art or profession or science, only when Dharanai happens, we start excelling in that field. Dharanai, the centeredness of the mind on something is the basic requirement for everyone.

The next step after Dharanai is Dhyanam (meditation). We cannot explain about Dhyanam in mere words. We can understand about Dhyanam only if we have experienced it. Only people who have experienced meditation can understand about Dhyanam. Only such people can understand that it is possible to reach a higher plane in life, physically, mentally and consciously. Today, we are going to learn a simple meditation technique, which is practically possible for all of us to do. If we do it regularly, then we will understand the benefits of meditation.

The next step after Dhyanam is Samadhi. Samadhi as most of us think does not mean the tomb which is built for someone on his death. Being deeply immersed in Dhyanam, forgetting the thought 'I' and merging with that bliss is called Samadhi. We cannot understand about Samadhi by just talking about it. Just by talking about Samadhi we cannot completely understand about Samadhi. Only when it is experienced, Samadhi can be understood. The messages which can be understood by experience have to be understood only by experience.

I explained the first five steps, because those are the steps which we have to know and follow, but the last two steps are something which have to happen by itself. If a rose has to flower, we can root the plant. We can water it and apply fertilizers. We can do that much only, we cannot do anything else. We can create an environment for it to grow and we will have to be patient. We cannot make it bloom by trying to open the buds. If we try to make it bloom by opening the buds, ultimately it will not be a flower.

A small story:

There were three monkeys which got hold of one mango. We know, what will happen to the state of a mango if it is caught in the hands of one monkey. Imagine the plight of the mango if it is caught in the hands of the three monkeys. Immediately they started fighting as to who will have which part of the mango. The three monkeys went to a sage to solve their problem.

The Sage answered: It is not possible for three of you to divide the mango amongst yourselves. So bury this mango in the ground. A big tree will grow and all three of you can have as many mangoes as you want.

The monkeys felt this was good idea. They buried the mango.

The first monkey was responsible for watering the plant. The second monkey was a responsible for sprinkling the fertilizers everyday. The third monkey was responsible for safeguarding the plant by being a security to the plant. It was six months since they planted the mango and there was no sign of any growth of the plant. All the three monkeys started doubting each other. Anyway, all three go to meet the sage, who gave them the idea of planting the mango. They complained to the sage that the plant did not grow.

When the sage asked them about their daily activities which they did towards the plant, the first monkey replied: Sir, I am watering the plant without fail, every morning. The second monkey said: I have sprinkled fertilizers in the evening every day. I have not missed a single day.

The third monkey replied: All the twenty four hours, I am there near the plant to safeguard it. Not only that, at least once a day I make sure to check whether anything has sprouted from the seed, by digging out the seed from the ground.

If the mango seed has to grow into a tree, we have to water the plant, sprinkle the fertilizers, and patiently wait for it. Just by the very act of digging the ground, the act of sprouting will not happen. If a tree has to grow or a flower has to bloom, we can accordingly make the environment conducive for its growth and we have to be patient.

Similarly, both Dhyanam and Samadhi are like a flower which have to bloom within us. Both those are flowers of bliss which have to bloom in us. They are fruits of knowledge which have to ripen within us. If the flowers of bliss and fruits of knowledge should bloom or ripen in us, our job is to set the suitable environmental conditions by following in a disciplined way the first six steps (i.e. Iyamam, Niyamam, Aasanam, Pranyamam, Prathyagaram, Dharanai) and patiently wait for the flower of bliss to bloom and the fruits of knowledge to ripen. Instead if we keep digging every time to check if it has grown the plant will not shoot up. Only the first six steps can be worked on and acted upon. The last two steps, Dhyanam and Samadhi have to happen by itself. If we can do the first six steps properly then definitely the last two steps will happen.

Let me tell you the summarization of the Patanjali Yoga Sutras discourse, please listen to it deeply. Whether you have heard or missed any of the first few chapters, don't bother. But please internalize the few words which I am going to say now.

Firstly, we started by understanding the glory of Patanjali Yoga Sutra. To enable us to experience the bliss which he enjoyed, Patanjali has written the techniques in this book called Patanjali Yoga Sutra. Next we saw that the mind again and again, gets suppressed in ignorance, sorrow and misery. So such a mind has to be encouragingly lifted up by ourselves, by our advice. Thirdly, to enjoy and experience the complete bliss in our life, we have to move forward through the above eight steps. Iyamam means discipline, Niyamam means not just the physical discipline, but it means surrendering to the divine. Aasanam means maintaining the body joyfully. Pranayamam means controlling the mind by regulating the breath. Prathyagaaram means to make the oscillating mind to think in a straight way and function in a disciplined way. Dharanai means getting the centeredness of the mind on one thing and traveling completely towards the goal to be achieved. Vivekananda beautifully says: When you have decided to achieve something, deeply meditate over it, again and again, let those messages deeply immerse in your body, mind, bones, and blood. Let your breath breathe thinking about the goals to be achieved. Let your every heart beat, beat towards that goal. You will achieve the goal definitely.

If we can understand the basis of these steps and it is enough even if we try to follow these eight steps. It is not necessary that we have to do it completely. It is enough even if we can make an attempt. How much ever we can, we must try to that extent. Try it whole heartedly. That alone is enough. Don't worry about the result. Always the divine energy is waiting to support and lift us up. If we take one step towards God, He takes a thousand steps towards us. If we make one attempt then we get help from different places, in different ways, from different fields. We will be blessed with the support of the divine energy.

So I pray to the existence that the messages which Patanjali has delivered through the eight steps, for the eternal bliss which happened in Him, to happen in others. May we follow these steps. May these words of wisdom and intelligence be immersed in us. May both state of Nithyam (eternality) and Dhyanam (meditation) happen in us and may the state of bliss which is beyond this flower in us. Thank you.