PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS🔗

Introduction

What is Yoga

Yoga forms one of the six systems of Hindu philosophy. The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word 'yuj' which means to join or yoke. Whenever we talk about a union we presume duality. The two come together to become one. First lets us understand the term union correctly so that before we commence the study of yoga, we are sure about its goals and objectives. Yoga means the union of the individual with the absolute. By our very nature we think of ourselves to be separate individuals. Yoga teaches us that by our very nature we are not separate as we think. We are the ultimate potentiality due to which all dualities come into existence. Yoga teaches us that we are not one among the many but the source from which the entire manifestation of dualities has come into being. We are one with the absolute and it is due to our false identification with the body and the mind that makes us believe that we are separate. Yoga means the union of this separate entity, the individuality with the absolute or God. In this book we talk about Yoga-sutras, a scripture written thousands of years ago by a great Sage by the name Patanjali. Patanjali was an extraordinary scientist, a real scientist of the inner world. He was an enlightened master from 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 in life, death, what happens after death, what is atman etc, books of philosophy, shastras. 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 thought. These books do not give any answers or solutions; they just build hypothesis. There is a second level of literature: songs in praise of God. These are for emotional people; fairy tales. 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 sutras, the aphorisms, the techniques to provide solutions.

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. You can have a good wife and lead a happy life. Or you will be like me, and become a philosopher and it will be good for other people. People who are not happy, down to earth create philosophies. Philosophy is complicate truths, to make people not understand what they should understand. Like psychiatry, try to cure, but not to cure. Philosophers just raise questions and never answers; they always try to postpone answers. You will be happy with one philosopher's answers till you read another philosopher. Ultimately philosophy leads to confusion. Philosophy may appeal and help a very small subset of people. But its not a guaranteed solution for all. Many would get bored with philosophy because philosophy will never give any solution. It will only build a concept trying to explain the ultimate reality but will never tell you what to do.

Similarly devotional literature can be equally misleading. Again it's a domain for the few who are blessed with devotional qualities. I always say that it's very easy to love God but it's difficult to love your wife. You can always say that I love God or I love the world but the real problem comes when you have to love your own wife. When you cannot love a person whom you see every day how can you love God whom you have never seen. Once a great sage from southern Bharat by the name Ramanuja was asked a question by a brahmacari (loosely defined means a celibate; a person who abstains from any sense pleasures) "how to develop love for god". Ramanuja replied to that person asking him whether he had fallen in love with any person before or has he experienced a long lasting relationship with anybody before. That person was shocked. He said that I am a pure brahmacari, a celibate. How can I fall in love with anybody? Ramanuja exclaimed that if you cannot fall in love with people whom you see everyday; how can you develop love for God whom you have never seen. Your love of God is all unfulfilled fantasies. You may feel hurt. Please understand that for most of you God is only a concept. How can you love a concept that you do not even know? Patanjali does not depend on any faith. He is providing clear-cut techniques. He does not ask you to sing praises for God. He gives you a solution for experiencing his state.

Patanjail's book is called Yoga Sutra: Aphorisms to achieve union with the ultimate energy. His sutras or aphorism teach you how to achieve this union. Of thousands of books I have read, this is the most scientific, most practical. There is a movie called 'What the Bleep do we know' and another book 'Fabric of Cosmos', explaining Quantum Physics. 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 conclusion 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. Patanjali has inspired all those who came after him, knowingly or unknowingly.

When Galileo said that Earth is not flat and that the Earth follows the Sun, there was so much pressure to make him recant. 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. Even in modern day research, researchers have to listen to their fund providers. In olden days Kings and religious leaders controlled them. But Patanjali does not bend, does not change his views. His declarations were so foolproof that no one could defy them.

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 yoga sutras are valid even after 5,000 years; they are still fool proof and still produce intended results for hundreds of yogis (practitioner of yoga) around the world. Many spiritual masters produced formulas that suited only specific groups; intellectuals, emotional people, being level people, men, women etc. There is a book, Men are from Mars Women are from Venus. Someone said that this is not correct, they cannot be from same universe; their distance is too great. Here is a Master who provided techniques to open all doors to all people. Patanjali yoga sutras are for the whole world.

I was traveling with a Professor on comparative religions. I asked him for percentages of different religious groups. He asked do you want published figures or real figures of those who practice these religions sincerely. These two figures are very different, he said.

When I studied the statistics at least 25% of all Americans have practiced one form of Yoga or another. At least 10% practice regularly. Edison discovered light. Once it was discovered it belonged to the whole world. Patanjali discovered the truth of inner light and has made it available to the whole world in the most scientific way. There was no copyright fortunately. Patanjali is great because he did not create an organization. Once an organization is created, truth is lost. 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 plastic roses.

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's goats will bicker and fight with each other. Masters speak the truth, followers 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 purna, Buddha says sunya. I said what they say is the same, their experiences are the same, but brand names are different. 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 scientist, a saint and a scientist, a mystic and scientist combined in one. He created this book to understand how to reach the ultimate truth. But he is also ready to step out and let his book be replaced if some one else comes up with a greater truth. We still cannot 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. Patanjali has created a navigator to guide us in the spiritual inner world of body, mind and spirit. He has solutions which are down to earth and practical, for modern day problems. He is neither a philosopher nor a devotional person. There is not one word, one line that can be disputed or disproved in his teachings.

Some one asked me, what is the time period when Patanjali existed. If my disciple writes a book many years after me, it will be under my name. Similarly many centuries later, disciples wrote following Patanjali. If you study the language used by Patanjali his works are at least 10000 years old. 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. 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. 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 cannot 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 cannot 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 screams at him to run away. The disciple refused to move saying that the elephant was God. The elephant kicks the disciple and the disciple is badly hurt and unconscious. When he regains consciousness the master asks the disciple the reason for not running away when the mad elephant was chasing him. The disciple says that he was following the master's teachings that all is God. The master laughs and says that the mahout who had warned him was also God. Why didn't he choose to listen to this God who was asking him to get aside?

We understand truths only partially. 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. A man goes with his friend to a mango yard. The friend was calculating the crop size and money realizable while this other man was focusing on eating and enjoying the mangoes. Who is more intelligent? Master speaks from experience. You listen without experience. So my words will not have the same meaning in your dictionary. A lady was trying on a fur coat. Her small daughter asks, Mom, how much the animal must have suffered. Mother turns around, 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. Can there be an intellectual explanation to reach the mindless state? How can mind go beyond the mind? When water is at room temperature you cannot 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 then it becomes atman, it turns divine. Mind when it stops cannot 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 discusses this important question: How can one dream take you into another dream, or even a dreamless state? He also gives the answer: If you dream about a lion, you will wake up and come out of that dream. Anything 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. A Zen story: Disciple asks how can I be awakened. Master says slap your face and you will wake up. Patanjali teaches us methods to slap ourselves and wake up. The more you practice his techniques the more the clarity that descends on you. I have not seen any other Master speaking so clearly with such perfection in such a straightforward way. He is a scientist, saying two plus two is four. Mystics don't speak that way. Two plus two to them may be four, may not be four. A plus B may be C or D. if that does not happen, you are asked to wait or they say may be you did not write A or B correctly. Patanjali guarantees his solution. He is so confident of his product that only he can use money back guarantee offers. In other systems you may understand 50, 60 or 70 %, here you will get 100%. Patanjali has devised a technology for past, present and future minds, not just the present times. When we use pesticides; if we use them continuously the pests get immune and even start using the pesticides 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 by our cunning minds. Patanjali has created a system that cannot be escaped; it's perfect; you have to get enlightened if you follow him. He has inspired more masters than anybody else.

Before you begin

First few things you need to understand before you start the sutras.

Read this book with an open mind. Don't compare whatever you read with what you have read in the past. Let the mind grasp each and every aspect of this book. If you read this book with all your previous baggage then there won't be any space to add anything new. Also when you read the book, read it for yourself not for others. Don't think in your mind that this point I need to tell it to my wife or husband. The reason you have picked up this book means that it is for YOU.

A small story:

A learned professor from the West went to meet a Zen Master in the East, in Japan. The professor was very learned and had done a lot of research in many areas of study. He went to meet the Master to acquire some spiritual knowledge, to discuss various issues with him, to understand spirituality in a better fashion.

He arrived at the Master's place and found the Master brewing tea.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM saw him and gestured for him to sit and continued to brew the tea.

The professor sat down and after a while, started talking of his background, of all his studies, his discoveries, his travels all over the world, his experiences with different people, his conclusions on various subjects and what not.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM finished brewing the tea and placed two cups between them.

He began pouring tea into the professor's cup. He poured and poured and slowly the cup started overflowing. The tea spilt over the saucer and flowed onto the table.

The professor was watching what was happening. He could not contain himself any more. He screamed out, "Master, what are you doing? Stop pouring! The cup is overflowing!"

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM stopped and calmly said, "So are you."

The professor was shocked but understood what THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was trying to tell him.

The professor was so full like the teacup that could not hold any more tea. Anything that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM might have told him would have only flown outside, not into him. The professor understood from that one word of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, what he meant, what he was trying to tell him!

So understand if you want to gain from reading this book just be an empty cup. Be totally open and receptive. Be like a child, innocent and curious; like a sponge, ready to absorb; that is enough.

There are three types of knowledge. The first is intellectual knowledge – the knowledge of the mind. For this, you need only your mind, nothing else. If you are attentive and have a good memory, it is enough. If you can apply logic well, if you have a little common sense to connect things and understand, it is enough. This is the kind of knowledge that you gain in school, with your books. To learn mathematics and science, your mind is enough. You can become a great mathematician or a great scientist.

The second type of knowledge is knowledge of the heart. Here, you need to use your heart also in addition to your mind. Art, Music, Poetry, and Dance – all these come under this category. For all these, you cannot use only your mind; nothing will happen if you use only your mind. You have to use your heart also. To paint, to write poems, to sing, you need to emote.

All these are creations. They are creations from your heart. They are expressions of your heart. Can you write a poem with no feelings at all? Can an artist draw and paint with just his mind? No! He needs to connect with his heart and then he will simply flow.

You can pick up certain points, certain techniques about writing poems with your mind or about painting, but ultimately the stuff will come from your heart only. No one can teach you to write poems or paint. They can teach you certain techniques that's all. You have to then absorb things and start doing on your own.

The third type of knowledge is spiritual knowledge – knowledge that is neither of the mind nor of the heart, but of your Being! Actually, we can't even call it knowledge; it is just a deep understanding beyond logic. This can neither be taught nor picked up. It can simply happen out of a deep communion at the Being level.

I always tell people: I cannot teach you spirituality, but you can learn! You can learn by just absorbing THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's words at the Being level – like Energy. The energy behind THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's words is so powerful that if you allow it, it can penetrate you and touch you at the Being level. It can bring about a transformation that cannot happen with just words of the mind and feelings of the heart.

When I talk, I talk from my experience of the Ultimate Truth; from my Being. When you listen, listen totally, from your Being. Only then can you get a glimpse of my Experience. I am not here to give you just words. I am here to take you beyond words. If you are here with acute awareness and silence, you can go beyond words and get a glimpse of your own Being.

A small story:

There was a great Zen Buddhist monk, an enlightened Master.

One day, the Governor of Japan came to visit him.

The Governor sent in his visiting card to the Master. It had the words, 'Zak-San - Governor of Japan'.

The Master took one look at the card and said, "I have no business with this idiot! Ask him to leave this very minute!"

Zen Masters can be very harsh when they want to break somebody's mind, somebody's ego. They will never hesitate to use harsh words. The energy behind their words can simply pierce and transform a person.

The disciple came back to the governor, gave back his card and repeated what the Master had told him.

The Governor saw the card and understood. He was an intelligent man… not just intellectual, but intelligent also!

When the card and message were returned to him, he quietly struck out the words, Governor of Japan, and gave back the card to be shown to the Master.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM took one look and said, "Show him in!"

All our titles, our designations, are all mere labels pasted on us by society. They are all just labels that society pastes on us. And we go about thinking that we are these labels. We by and by forget that we are not the labels but the stuff inside. We feel great about the labels. But you can never approach THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM with these labels. You can never know Existence with your labels.

What the Governor did cannot be called wrong. It might have been the right way to approach society, to be in accordance with the social protocols, but not the right way to approach THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM!

So when you read this book, leave your governorship outside! Otherwise you will miss a lot. Here we are going to share something of the inner world. Labels of the outer world will stand in the way when this is happening. Forgetting your personality is spirituality, because personality is societal.

Why Yoga

A man always lives his life either in the past or the future. He never lives in the present. If you are here physically then you can be sure that your mind is not here. Mind always oscillates between the past and the future. It never remains steady at one place. It never allows your being to rest. That is the very nature of the mind. When you are at work you think about the beach. When you go to the beach in the evening you think about next days work. You are never in the present moment. That is the reason you never really enjoy. You remain unsatisfied throughout your life. When the real time for enjoyment comes you miss it because of fear or greed. Man spends almost his entire life in fear and greed. Both fear and greed are related. If there is no greed there wont be fear. It's the greed for the pleasant which gives rise to fear. It's the fear of the undesirable which gives rise to greed. Man spends almost his entire life doing these two things. The cycle of fear and greed is a vicious cycle. Fear is due to the past engraved memories. It is the past which gives rise to fear. It's the imagination of the future that fosters greed. In both the cases you miss the present.

Really speaking if you have won your mind, you have won the world. Winning the world does not require you to be Alexander, the great. If you want to win the world you have to win your mind. There is a beautiful incident that happened in the life of Alexander. His subordinates informed him that Bharat is the land of enlightened masters. Since then Alexander was very much eager to meet some enlightened master in Bharat. When he came to Bharat he once saw an ascetic sage sitting by a tree on the banks of a river. He was amused by the tranquility and peace he saw on the face of the sage. Alexander requested the sage that he should come with him to Greece. The sage refused. Then Alexander tried using greed to lure the sage and told him that he would give huge rewards and would make him his chief minister. The sage just laughed and said that he does not need any such rewards. He is happy as he is. Alexander was shocked. For the first time in his life he had seen someone rejecting such gifts. Obviously the next thing what Alexander tried was to threaten the sage. He took out his sword and held it by the neck of the sage and told the sage that he would kill him if he did not accept his offer of coming with him to Greece. The sage again started laughing and said that he cannot be killed. The sage said that his body might get destroyed but he cannot be killed, as he is that imperishable, omniscient, omnipresent spirit. This was too much for Alexander; he just could not handle it. He had never seen such courage in his entire lifetime. He was taken aback by the fact that a person can be so composed and fearless even when the sword of death is hanging on his neck. He pleaded the sage to tell him the secret of his fearlessness. The sage asked Alexander who he was and what was his motive behind coming to Bharat. Alexander replied with pride that he is a great emperor and he has set out to conquer the world. So he has come to Bharat to conquer Bharat. The sage asked him the reason for conquering the world. Alexander said that he is conquering the world so that the entire world will be his; he can rule the world. The sage asked as to what he would do after conquering the whole world. Alexander said that he would just sit, relax and enjoy. The sage laughed and exclaimed that he was exactly doing the same thing right now without going through the troubles of conquering the world.

This is a story, which we need to understand carefully because this is the story of our lives. Throughout our lives we keep running without understanding the reason for our running. We always postpone the bliss. An important thing we need to understand is that bliss is not in the future, bliss is in the now. Bliss is not something that we can possess. Bliss happens when we just relax from the mind. Mind has got into the habit of possessing things so it tries to run after bliss. But mind can never find bliss because the very bliss happens when there is no mind. Only when you relax from your mind, bliss starts happening to you.

A young man from America was visiting London and was traveling in a train. In the train, beside him was an elderly British couple. The British lady had a pet dog with her, which she was carrying in her lap. All of a sudden the pet dog jumped from her lap on the American guy and vomited. The lady, instead of apologizing to the American guy, started patting her dog saying 'Oh, what happened to you. Your stomach may be upset'. The American young man just chooses to keep silent this time. After few minutes, the dog jumped on the American once again and pissed on him. Again the British lady instead of apologizing to the American man started patting the dog. She expressed concern about the health of her dog and started saying things like 'I have to take you to the doctor. I don't know what has happened to you'. The British lady was not at all concerned about the inconvenience being caused to the American young man. After some time, the dog jumped again on the American and this time you know what he must have done. Even then the British lady did not feel like apologizing to the American and instead started giving some food and medicine to her dog. All this while, the American young man was watching everything silently but by this time his patience was tested enough. The American young man silently got up, picked up the dog and threw him out of the window. After this incident the husband of the British lady got up from his seat and shouted at the American guy 'You stupid Americans, you drive on the wrong side of the road, use the wrong scale for measurement and now you have thrown the wrong bitch out of the window'.

This is the story of our lives. We always throw wrong things out of the window. In this story, the dog was not at fault; poor animal, it was sick and it cannot even express itself. It was the fault of the British lady as she was not apologetic for her dog's actions. I am not saying that the American should have thrown the lady out of the window. The point I am trying to make is that without even analyzing the situation, the American made a wrong choice of throwing the poor dog out of the train. All our choices, all our decisions always end in dilemma. This dilemma is what I call the mind. Dilemma is a straight direct definition or explanation for the mind. There are so many definitions for mind, but from my experience I can say that 'dilemma' is the right word to describe the mind. When you close your eyes, whatever you think and whatever you can think, whatever you visualize and whatever you can visualize, whatever you experience or whatever you can experience, the whole is what I call the mind. Vacillating from one extreme to the other is the very nature of the mind. The mind is never convinced or satisfied with its own decisions; instead it tries to judge and compare its decisions with the past memories and never stays in the current moment. When you are in dilemma, all our choices without exception end in suffering. If you can just accept the current moment, the existence as it is, you can go beyond the mind. You will reach a state of no mind, which we call as enlightenment or super consciousness. Bliss is choiceless awareness. When you are perfectly choiceless, when you accept the current flow you end up in bliss. You may ask that how can I end up in bliss when I cannot make a choice in life. The important thing to note here is that choicelessness is acceptance of the reality as it is. It is not because of suppression but it's an acceptance. When you truly know that the energy which moves the earth around the sun; which makes life happen; which keeps the nature in perfect equilibrium is perfectly capable of taking care of every individual and thing in the universe; and my individual choice or intervention is not required to make things happen you end up in a state of choicelessness or bliss. You start enjoying the divine play. We all say that we accept everything but there is just one thing to be taken care of and then we can be in bliss. If we analyze carefully we have been postponing the bliss all our lives. When we are in Bharat we think if we get the US visa we will be happy. Once we get the visa we start worrying about a good job. Once we get the job we start thinking about a house in the US. After we get that, we start thinking about green card, then citizenship and the whole thing continues. By the time we have a family, we have already mortgaged our lives.

All our lives we have been postponing the bliss, which is continuously happening within. We do something now so that tomorrow we can be blissful. When tomorrow comes we repeat the same process and then this blissful tomorrow never comes. Only when we realize and experience that the very deed itself is blissful, we experience bliss every moment. Bliss is our true nature. We need to understand that mind ceases to exist when bliss happens to us because bliss happens when we are choiceless. Mind is nothing but a veil over this infinite ocean of bliss, which is roaring within all of us. When we just drop the mind, that is when we become choiceless and bliss starts expressing itself. In the Taitereya Upanishad they have mentioned five koshas or sheaths, which every individual is made of. The first sheath is annamaya kosha (physical sheath) followed by pranomaya kosha (vital sheath), manomaya kosha (mental sheath), vijnanamaya kosha (intellectual sheath) and finally anandamaya kosha (sheath of bliss). When we tear through the first four sheaths the anandamaya kosha or the bliss starts expressing itself.

People come and ask me whether they should continue their material life or spiritual life and to what they should give more importance. This is a million dollar question, which every so-called spiritual seeker has. Just as professional lawyers, professional doctors there are a group of spiritual seekers who think of themselves as professional seekers. There only job is to read some books and keep window shopping from master to master, from group to group and proclaim that they are great spiritual seekers. I have seen thousands of such spiritual seekers. They always come up with one question as to should they put more energy in the spiritual life or the material life.

Be very clear, the moment you choose you have started suffering whether you choose the spiritual life or the material life. If you choose the material life you feel that you are missing the spiritual life. You will start visualizing what you are missing. If you choose the spiritual life you will start missing the material life. I tell you that there is no need to choose. Material life is the horizontal line and spiritual life is the vertical line. We always have the dilemma which one to choose. If you look little deeply into your being, if you meditate deeply you will understand that you don't have to choose either the horizontal line or the vertical line. You have the capacity to grow in both directions at the same time. This is what I call quantum spirituality. You have the ability to explode in both directions at the same time and space. Real spirituality begins when you start living in the moment and not by choosing the spiritual life excluding the material life. When you choose one you exclude the other. Real spirituality is all-inclusive. When you restrict your life only to the so-called spiritual life, you reduce this all encompassing, all-inclusive truth to a concept that you have about spiritual life. When you start living in the moment naturally you explode; you express yourself both in the material life as well as your spiritual life. Life cannot be divided into material and spiritual. All that matters is whether you live your life with awareness or without awareness. That is the only choice you have. Actually, it's not even a choice because it just happens. When you meditate, automatically your life gets flooded with awareness. You cannot choose between spiritual life and material life.

Don't think that just because somebody has become a spiritual person he is someone from the other world. He is made up of the same material as you are made of. He eats the same kind of food as you eat. He sleeps just like you and also goes through the daily chores of life as you do. He is identical to you in all-physical manifestation. Actually the problem is that in our ancient scriptures we have not recorded whether Krishna used the bathroom or not. We always have an idea of a spiritual figure. We have some pre-conceived notion about how a spiritual person is supposed to be. And when we try to choose a spiritual life we try to imitate the characteristics, which a spiritual person is supposed to have. We don't understand that the process is not reversible. Imitating a spiritual person won't make you spiritual. It's the awareness of the current moment, which makes you spiritual. Everything else is just external manifestation, which can also differ between different spiritual figures. We always try to achieve the status of a spiritual person rather than attaining his state. Our ego gets a boost if we can correctly imitate a spiritual person. So never should we try to imitate an enlightened master, instead we should try to attain his state. When we flood awareness into our being, automatically we enter into a new dimension of our being. We begin to enjoy life truly, both the material and spiritual.

A small story:

A Bus driver and a great preacher died and reached Lord Yama Dharma's court – the court of the Lord of death. First, the bus driver was questioned about all his deeds in his lifetime. His records were verified. Then, he was given a golden key and a staff and sent to a luxury room. The preacher was waiting for his turn and watching all this. He thought to himself, "If the bus driver himself was given a golden key and other luxurious things, then surely, I will get something much more than that." After all, he had preached about God all his life. His turn came and his records were presented. The verdict was pronounced. He was sent to hell. He became very angry. He could not believe the verdict. He demanded to know the reason. Lord Yama explained, "We don't bother about what you have done in your lifetime; we only see the results of your actions. When the bus driver was driving, his driving was such that the people in his bus were continuously thinking of God. He converted a lot of atheists into believers. Whereas when you were preaching, although you spoke about God, the people who were with you were sleeping most of the time."

Life is whole. Only when you start living intensely you start enjoying the whole. By living intensely, I mean living in the moment not concerned about the past and the future. It's the present, which makes the future not your imagination of the future or the memories of the past. Of course you can work towards your imagination in the present, but its absolutely not required to remember that imagination again and again in the present. You can use your past experiences in the present but its not necessary to be in fear because of your past experiences. When you have set some goal, you can forget that goal and simply start working; you need not worry about the goal or remember it. You need to understand that chronological planning is perfectly all right. It does not take much load of your energy. It's the psychological worrying which hurts. Psychological worrying drains your energy and also makes achieving the goal more and more difficult. When you live in the moment you actually live the whole. Because life is neither in the past nor in the future but is in the now. The whole life is in the now and if we can live in that now every moment we really live and enjoy the whole. When we live the whole we become holy.

The moment you start choosing you give power to your mind. Fear, greed, worries all three starts choosing for you. When your greed makes you choose or fear makes you escape from some things, naturally both end in worry, confusion, dilemma. Greed and fear is the root for choosing. People ask me that if you say not to choose, how can we go about our day-to-day living. Should we drop spirituality or should we drop our profession. Should we meditate or should we go for the job. I tell them that never choose anything mentally. Just start living intensely as you feel as your heart guides. You will see simply that your profession will become meditation. What has to drop will drop automatically. You don't have to choose, that will choose you. Your whole being will express that choice and it will be beyond intellect. When you choose with your logical calculations, with your intellect you land in trouble. Not choosing and just accepting the flow, going along with the flow is what I call intelligence. Understanding perfectly that when you accept the will of para-shakti, you enter into a space where intuition starts happening to you. Man operates normally at three levels. The first level is the instinct level. This is the very basic level, where we exhibit animal instincts. On seeing a sweet in front of us we just pounce on it, just as animals do. The second level is the intellect level, where we choose intellectually. This is the level in which 90% of the humans are stuck. If we see some sweet we start analyzing whether we should have it or not. If we are having a full stomach or if we have diabetes we decide not to have the sweet. In this level we choose between things based on intellect. When we stop choosing and just accept the current moment as it is, we rise to a higher level, the intuition level. At this level the divine energy starts flowing through your being. You become an instrument of the divine law or the cosmic law. When you continuously operate at this level, you reach a state of enlightenment; you become god.

Unfortunately, most of us are stuck at the intellect level, continuously fighting with ourselves and creating conflicts. That is the reason we need so much entertainment. Why do you think we need continuous partying, drinking, TV, movies etc. When I first came to this country my devotees took me to entertainment parks like Disneyland, Universal Studios etc. thinking that I will feel very happy. On the contrary I felt sad for the people of this country. Fact that so much external entertainment is required means that this country is joyless. When the inner peace is absent, we try to snatch joy from the external world. Trying to snatch joy from the external world is nothing but trying to make thread out of a stone. In Bharat they make thread from a Banana tree to be used in flower garlands. Similarly if you try to make thread from a stone what will happen? Our attempt to find enjoyment in the outer world is like attempting to extract thread from boulders. The so-called enjoyment that you find in the outer world is nothing but a way to escape from yourself. When you are not at ease with yourself, you need something external to involve you so that you can forget yourself. All external activities are nothing but techniques to escape from our own selves. But one should never think that they are blissful or joyful due to these things. Unless a person is totally comfortable with himself, unless he is totally at ease with himself, unless he is totally relaxed with himself, I don't think he can find joy in anything in the external world. Joy is within not outside. In fact our very nature is bliss. We disturb this state of bliss due to the infinite longings we create in our mind. If the mirror is dusty how can the reflection be clear? Similarly when our mind is cluttered we cannot extract true joy even from the external world.

That is the reason at the age of around 40-45 you enter a new phase in your life that I call "depression of success". It means that you got what you want, but you don't know what for you want. When you struggle hard to get some thing but after getting that thing you don't know what to do with it is what I call depression of success. This is the time people take major decisions in their life. This is the time when you try to change everything like your car, house, wife etc. Either you go for some change or you get addicted which means you try to escape from yourself. Escaping from yourself can happen in many ways. Not only through alcohol and drugs but it can happen through TV also. TV is also one of the methods to escape from yourself. You just don't want to sit with yourself. That is the reason we are with some form of entertainment all the time. We are always restless. That is why every 15 minutes we go around the complete cycle of television channels. We can't even sit with one channel for more than 15 minutes. The other day one advertisement producer had come to meet me. He mentioned to me that maximum time an advertisement can take is 60 seconds. Survey says that 60 seconds is the maximum time people can watch an advertisement. I was shocked to hear this. You cannot trust anybody for more than 60 seconds because within 60 seconds the decision changes. We are continuously restless, trying to escape form our self all the time. If some person helps you escape from yourself you call him a good entertainer. If some program helps you escape from yourself you call it a good entertainment program. How long will you continue escaping from yourself. The more you postpone being comfortable with yourself the more emptiness you will feel from within. That is why many people come to me and tell me that they have all the things a man can ask for but they just don't feel happy. They don't feel at home.

There was an old man in a family who could not be pleased at any cost. He remained stubborn and grumpy, no matter how much his family tried to keep him in good spirits. His children and grandchildren would all come and visit him and try to cheer him up, but he would remain the same way. Suddenly one day, overnight, he became very gentle and cheerful. His family was shocked at the sudden transformation. One of his grand daughters was courageous enough and asked him, "Grandpa, how come you have changed so suddenly?" The old man replied, "All my life, I tried my best to get a contented mind, but never succeeded in getting it. So I have decided to be contented with it now."

A small story:

At the time the television was introduced in Bharat, a new television was bought in a certain House of mendicants. All except one of them used to watch the programs on the television. This man who never watched the television used to go to the President of the house and complain about how the others were watching television for hours together. After a few times of complaining, the President told him, "You too watch television from tomorrow." The man was shocked and asked why he said that.

The President replied, "You are not happy abstaining from watching and hence you are grumbling about them doing it. You have the desire to watch but you don't watch it because you want to feel solid inside yourself. But this suppression is causing you to complain against them."

You see: If you are not completely happy abstaining from eating non-veg food, you will compel others to become vegetarians. When you are doing something totally, you will never force another person to do it. Only when you are doing it with a doubt or halfheartedly, you will pull other people also into it. This is the scale to see if you are in something totally or not. When you are total, you are enough unto yourself with no regrets and so you will not trouble anyone else. You will allow them to have their freedom.

In fact, I would go on to say that those who eat non-veg food for one hour a day and forget about it, are better off than those who eat vegetarian food and think about non-veg 24 hours a day!

A small story:

A Zen Master was walking with his disciple towards his city. On the way, there was a river that was flowing. There was a beautiful woman standing near it. When she saw them, she requested the Master to help her cross the river. The Master promptly carried her to the other side of the river, left her there and returned. The disciple was totally disturbed by what he saw. He was burning inside with what he saw. As they walked along towards the city, he couldn't resist asking, "Master, how can you, as a Master, touch and carry a young girl?" The Master replied, "I left her there long back, why are you still carrying her?"

We always think that bliss is dependent on our outer lives. That is the reason we try to make our outer life perfect. But we miss one important thing. Bliss is not based on quantity but its based on quality. It is based on our inner quality as to how much we can sit with ourselves. How much we are comfortable with ourselves. Our inner peace decides the bliss and not the outward quantity. Of course I am not against quantity. You can enjoy all the best things of the outer world. You can have all the out worldly comforts. Have everything but don't sell the inner world to have the outer world comforts. We sell our sleep to purchase an expensive bed. We sell our eyes to watch late night movies. We sell our stomachs to enjoy and relish tasty food. This is where we go wrong. We sell our inner space to have outer space. But there is a very beautiful thing said in Tantra. Tantra says that you don't need to sell your inner space in order to have outer. There is no need to disturb, damage your inner space in order to have outer. You can create enough energy, richness, and quality in your inner space and at the same time also enjoy the outer space. There is a technique to do this. The techniques to maintain quality in your inner space are what I call as meditations. If you can spend at least 20 to 30 minutes during the day to enrich your inner space, to maintain the quality of your inner space, you would start radiating bliss. It will be so fulfilling that you will also excel in your professional and family life. Only when you radiate bliss you will understand the purpose of your existence in this universe. Only when you are at ease with yourself, you will understand the purpose of your actions else you wont even know what for you are running all this while. For most of us, by the time we ask this question, what for we are running, we have already reached the end of our lives. We have finished our race and then we ask what for we ran. The worst thing is that even if you win a rat race, you are still a rat. I don't think anybody wants to be a rat just for the sake of winning. The decision is up to you.

Somebody was asking me 'How to clear negativity'. This is a very important question and I would like to address this issue, especially for doctors. Doctors are exposed to a lot of negativity. They swallow the negativity of their patients. They listen to their problems; they keep hearing about diseases, they are continuously meditating on negative things. Please be very clear, for others meditation may be a luxury but for doctor's meditation is a necessity. If doctors don't meditate they are naturally going towards depression, because everyday they are exposed to negative things, ideas, events. In Bharat, everyday people come for healing and they have counseling with me. I listen to their problems and also give them the healing touch. People ask me 'Swamiji, how do you manage to sit so long and see so many people everyday'. I tell them that it is not a big thing. Its very easy and anybody can do it. The real thing is disconnecting us from their problems. People come and color us all the time. We are continuously exposed to people's problems, their pains, sufferings, diseases etc. After hearing to their problems, unconsciously we also start exhibiting the characteristics of that problem or disease. There was a research done in some medical school that if a particular disease say headache, knee pain, backache is being discussed in the class, more than 40% of the students feel the same symptoms in their body. When we continuously hear about something, we unconsciously start meditating and contemplating on it, so naturally when you hear about a disease you will feel the symptoms of the disease. Any physical disease has its roots in the mind. You cannot avoid the influx of this negative information, unless you manage to seclude yourself from the society. So the only way to save ourselves from this is to improve the quality of our inner space so that we don't become a victim of someone else's disease or problem.

I was listening to a beautiful discussion. It was about Hindu parents in USA. The problem being discussed was the issues involved in raising kids in USA. It was a nice discussion and it went on smoothly but the time was slightly insufficient. After the discussion was over I contemplated on the issues they analyzed. I came to the conclusion that it is the parents who need to be more responsible. They need to keep up the quality of their inner space so that they can have the patience and intelligence to deal with their children. The parents need to set an example for their kids through their own lifestyle. Please understand that kids are not going to listen to your rules, your advices, your regulations on morality etc unless they see you abiding by these rules. Stories like 'In those days in Bharat, we used to live this way' or 'You are an Hindu kid, you are a Bharatiya Nari' are not going to help. The kids are not going to listen to all this. Your verbal language is not going to help. Important thing to understand here is that kids don't listen so easily as easily they pickup. Kids pickup attributes from their parents. Its only through your own life you can teach the kids and not through admonishment and punishment. Just be an inspiring parent and maintain the quality of your inner space, you will see that your kids will follow you. Instead of being a trainer be a role model for your kids. Then they will have respect for you from their being. It is the responsibility of the parents to be their kids guru. In olden days, father and mother used to be the guru's of their kids. They could do that because their inner space was extremely pure. Only if you maintain the quality of your inner space you can inspire your next generation. When you come back home from work, you may have come back from your workplace but your inner space is already contaminated. During the day there is so much of unconscious activity going on in your mind, that you are physically as well as mentally fatigued. As a result as soon as you get home, you just want to enter into tamas (inaction). Because you have been in rajas (action) throughout the day, we immediately tend to go into tamas (inaction) when we come back. You are not inspiring by the end of the day and all your kids see of you are your tired faces. How do you expect them to learn or listen to you when all they see are your tired, morose and depressing faces? You don't have the energy to spend some quality time with your kids. When I was moving around I heard some kids say that my dad comes home late and my mom is never at home. Even if you are in the house you are tired. How do you expect to raise your kids then?

One important concept you need to know is about the pain body that is inside our system. It consists of the memories of our pains and sufferings. This pain body attracts more and more pain into our system. Anything that is inside our system has its own instinct, the survival instinct. It tries to multiply. It can survive only by multiplying, by expanding its boundary. So this pain body also expands its boundary by attracting more pain and suffering. The moment you listen to others pains and suffering, immediately you plant the seed of that pain for yourself. That is the reason in the Yoga system, all healers are advised to meditate apart from taking just a physical bath. They are asked to meditate so that they clean their inner space, which may have been contaminated during their healing process. Just as you clean your hands, take a bath after coming out from a hospital so that you are not affected by bacteria, viruses etc, similarly you need to do some meditation everyday because all the time we are exposed to some problem or the other. Just as you clean your external body daily, you need to clean your inner space also. You need to take a shower of bliss so that you don't attract any negativity from your surroundings. Please understand that mediation is a basic necessity for doctors. It's not a luxury or an option but it's a must for doctors. I have seen some doctors saying 'No Swamiji, I am a professional doctor. I disconnect myself from my patient's problems. Consciously you can disconnect yourself, but we are never aware of our unconscious activity, which is going on in our mind. Please be very clear no healer can disconnect oneself from the patient unless he or she meditates. Unconsciously you will be repeating the word that you receive from your patients and will be creating an engraved memory. The etheric connection between the healer and the patient continues to exist unless the healer meditates. So I suggest that, devote at least twenty minutes of your time during the day for meditation. Give twenty minutes appointment to your self. We give appointment to everybody other than our own selves. And meditation is the way of giving appointment to your self.