Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 51

The last word too drops

There is just a day left to shake hands with a New Year of the Solar Calendar. And here, with this Sutra we come to the end of Samadhi Padaha, the first of the four chapters of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. We will soon move on to the Sadhana Padaha or the practical part. Practising the methods outlined in the Sadhana Padaha, we can reach the ideal state of union of the mind with the one consciousness that has been vividly described in the Samadhi Padaha. Just before that, here is the last Sutra -

Tasyapi Nirodhe Sarva Nirodhath Nirbeejas Samadhihi

Here I would like to repeat a story in the Upanishads called Simha Swapnavat. A man is sleeping. In his sleep, he has various dreams of people, places and lots of vague thoughts cluttering. He walks in a forest, enjoys the view of sunlight filtering through the trees, dried leaves crunching beneath his feet as he walks. He is tired and sits on a rock beside a fresh spring of water and kneels down to sip a palmful of water. At that time, when he is thirsty, he hears a lion roar. He turns and begins to run, sweating and as the lion stretches its claws to catch him, our man wakes up from the dream!

So here we are, with all our confusing thoughts, stuck with the ever-changine phenomena of the world outside. There are pleasant patches when we learn a bit of Yoga, meditation and contemplation. Then the lion of contemplative flashes of truth surfaces. Even that has to go finally and what remains is an empty sky of consciousness, with no singular thought or thoughts that usurps its attention.

This Sutra says that even that one thought - of Om, a mantra, a Sutra, a text, Guru, form or anything with which the other thoughts are driven out - should ultimately go. When we reach the last step, we got to let go our hold on the ladder and walk freely into the vast consciousness which is our true self.

Wishing you all a very happy new year - Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 49-50

Knowing that which erases Sanskaras

(deep thought impressions)

Shrutanumana Pragnyabhyam Anya Vishaya Vishesharthathvath

Tajjas Sanskaraha Anyasanskarapratibandhi

We are almost at the end of the Samadhi Padaha as this year too comes to a close. Sutra 49 is very significant in telling us what the truth is. Sutra 50 tells us about the effect of being rooted in the truth, on our sub-conscious impressions that the memory part of our mind bears.

The first sutra clarifies that the purpose of this truth is away from all that we know through our sense perceptions of hearing, inference and material knowledge, fitting into the dimensions, time and space. What we see, hear touch, taste, smell and think about is behind all these perceptions and provides a support for the perception to exist and even throw light on them. Truth is Shiva or consciousness and the expressions are Shakti or the movements, sounds, emotions and feelings caused by energy. In this manner, everything is discounted as non-truth.

Once a person knows the way to hold on tightly to the truth, all the deep embedded impressions are gently erased. This truth has the power to even keep off new thought impressions from settling down in the mind The Atman begins to shine like a globe of light around a being, preventing the darkness of separate thoughts from even entering within.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 49

Something different from all we know
Shruta Anumana Pragnyabhyam Anavishaya Vishesharthathvat
This knowledge that is rooted in the truth of consciousness is distinctly different from all that we know through hearing and other sense organs or by inference. What is the true self that we are? Anything that we see is not our self. Anything that we hear is not our self. Anything that we touch is not our self. Anything that we taste is not our self. Anything that we smell is not our self. Anything that we may know about through inference, is also not our self. Inference is the word Anumana. If there is thick smoke coming somewhere from the depths of a forest, we infer that probably there may be a fire. If a child gives brilliant answers to questions in class, we may infer that he may have got the intelligence genetically from his parents. But inference is also not the truth. The ultimate knowledge that is based on truth is simply an inner experience which can never be described with words, names and forms. Swahilya Shambhavi

Pic: Forms, names and symbols take us to the truth, but they are not the ultimate truth. It is an inner experience. (Swahilya)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 47-48

Intelligence shines with consciousness

Nirvichara Vaisharadye Adhyatma Prasadaha

Ritambhara Tatra Pragnya

When an individual becomes proficient in this state

of being where there are no thoughts to deflect the consciousness, he or she naturally becomes an expression of the stillness of the soul. Consciousness is like the sky, well almost. We are that consciousness. When a thought passes by like a cloud, we, who are actually the sky, forget the fact and begin riding on a limited thought or thoughts. When the time of the thought ends, we awaken to the reality that we are the sky and not the cloud.

For one who has managed to identify himself as the sky, then the consciousness distributes itself to all around, usurping the place of the human ego.

Bearing the truth fully and becoming the truth in this manner, the intellect gets firmly rooted and completely identified with this consciousness. - Swahilya Shambhavi. Pic: Deoria Tal.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 46

Samadhi with embedded causes

Ta Eva Sabija Samadi

All that has been described in the Sutras earlier are different states of absorbtion which has an embedded cause like a seed which is the reason for the sprouting of a plant which grows into a tree. The seeds of various mental tendencies lie hidden in the sub-conscious mind and can sprout any time when the situation is conducive. So when such a person enters into samadhi due to various factors, can drop down to normal human experiences filed with likes and dislikes, passions and hatred. The seed are still remaining within and hence the state of Samadhi with seeds is for a temporary period. - Swahilya Shambhavi

(Trees in Tungnath. As long as there are seeds, there will be trees. As long as there are imprints embedded in the sub-conscious, thoughts will keep springing.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 45

After mind, it's emptiness

Sukshma Vishayathwam Cha Alinga Paryavasanam

The mind can observe the body which is gross - made up of cells, atoms, molecules, sub-atomic particles and quarks floating in space. The mind and intellect are a form of energy that travels as a communication channel between these particles, forming thoughts, concepts and ideas. Beyond these forms of thought, nature is empty, without a name and form to describe it.

The capability of the mind to understand and comprehend anything ends with the concepts. When the

mind embraces the last element of nature called consciousness, it loses its own identity and dissolves into a vast that has no name or form or idea to express itself. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Pic. This is yet another of my many pictures of the sky above the clouds taken on an Air France flight from Chicago-Paris-Chennai. The world of thoughts here are the clouds. The last bits of contemplation are the colours of the rainbow. Beyond that is just emptiness where nature is nothing but pure consciousness.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 44

Savichara Nirvichara Samadhi

Eta yaiva Savichara Nirvichara cha Sukshma Vishaya Vyakhyata

All this while, Patanjali explained about the different states of Samadhi born out of meditating on a form with a definition and a name. Now, he speaks of a state of absorption by mere contemplation on a formless idea such as love, universe, cosmos or consciousness called Savichara Samadhi and a state of Nirvichara Samadhi where the mind is absorbed in consciousness without even holding on to or contemplating about an idea or abstract concepts. In this manner, the contemplation shifts from a gross form to a subtle dimension. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Pic. The reflection of mountain peaks and the trees around the Deoria Tal Lake at Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag District. An arduous trek took me up to the lake. As I was contemplating in its benign presence, a boy jumped into the waters for a splash and swim and I could feel the waves of energy spread all around.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 43

When consciousness

shines through

Smritiparishuddhau Swarupashunya Iva Arthamatranirbhasa Nirvitarka

With different efforts in Yoga Sadhana, the mind is purified and memory is cleansed. In this state of purity, one's consciousness which is the purest light of wisdom, shines through with clarity.
Visualise a vase made of glass. The glass is filled with light. When an object or idea is impacting that glass, it shatters forming cracks. The light within shines through a distorted pattern on the glass.
Next visualise a lampshade made of silk cloth. Compare an idea to a wooden object that impacts the taut cloth which caves in forming a deviation in the path of the light. Now imagine a brightly lit room with an open space at the window ledge. An object passing through the window falls flat, making no dent or disturbance to the light that shines through out of the room.
The glass vase, the silk lamp and the brightly lit room with open windows are nothing but yourself. The objects that are thrown are thoughts and ideas. Meditation is the process which purifies the memories which make the mind. In the beginning it is gross and impenetrable like wood, then it becomes glass, then yielding like cloth and then remains like empty space, merged with consciousness.
This state is Nirvitarka Samadhi, where consciousness shines through steadily through a pure mind. - Swahilya Shambhavi.
(Pic: Sunset falling on the waters of the Ganga at Rishikesh. The waves on the water are compared to the different thoughts on the surface of the mind. Deep down, the water is tranquil and reflects the light of the sun - consciousness, sharply) Photo: Swahilya

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 42

When forms, ideas and meanings still exist....

Tatra Shabdarthagnana

vikalpaihi Sankeerna Savitarka Samapattihi

The various meditative practices leads us to a certain state of Samadhi or absorbtion called Savitarka. It is a conditional state of absorbtion. You meditate on an object or thought. Soon every other thought, emotion or object, except the one you are meditating upon - leaves your awareness temporarily. Like, when you watch a movie in the theatre, you almost forget the world outside, whether it is sunny or raining and during gripping scenes, you even forget the people sitting just next to you. But still, the mind is not totally quiet. It is conditioed by what you see - the name and form and your prior knowledge about the form and its associated meanings within. It is a state of Samadhi, but there is still the doubting and questioning mind that is active. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Picture: The clouds are bright with sunshine above the city of Paris, but the city is shrouded by the clouds. Even though there is a glimpse of truth, it is only a conditioned vision. (Pic. Swahilya)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 41

Crystal clear

Ksheene vritteh abhijatasya manehe grheetru grihana grahyeshu tatstha tadanjanata samapattihi

There is a point of time during the sadhana, or spiritual practices, when all the thoughts that kept rising like incessant waves on the ocean of consciousness ebb outh a state of pure tranquility, the mind becomes like a pure cryst

al which simply reflects the colours of objects that surround it.

In this state of Samadhi, the one who is trying to comprehend an object of meditation, the process and means of comprehension and the object of comprehension dissolves its difference and everything just remains a unified field of consciousness - one without a second.

As an example, I narrate here my experience of such a state when I went to the Himalayas for the first time with a group led by Swami Akshara.

After all the arduous trek from Gangotri to Chirwasa and on the next day to Bhojwasa and on the third day to Gomukh on a pony, I had to climb rocks boulders and walk through soft sand and rivulets to finally sit on a stone washed by the gushing Bhageerathi, which flows out of a cave shaped like the face of a cow and hence the name Gomukh, or cow-face.

My energies were thoroughly exhausted in the trek when I sat down on the rock beside the ice-cold waters. There was a while I don't know how long when I did not exist - nor did the rock or the people and voices around or the river. I opened my eyes when a ponyman tapped me to say it was not proper to sit there as the river might swell any moment without a warning. That was a moment of absorbtion - I realise now with gratitude to my Guru. - Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Pic: Quartz Crystal Hanuman

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 40

From the atom to the cosmos

Paramanuparama mahathwanthaha asya vasheekaraha

By the several practices of keeping the mind to stay as one whole without shattering into as many pieces of thoughts that it encounters, moment by moment, it gains the infinite capacity to penetrate into the subtle truth of the tiniest atom and is also able to easily comprehend the complex unfolding of the cosmos. From the microcosm to the macrocosm, such a mind is able to comprehend anything. - Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Fitness, Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 39

Form or place that you love

Yathabhimata Dhyanat Va

Or by meditating on a chosen object, place, person that one feels good within.

This sutra gives the ultimate freedom for meditation. The last of the several means of meditation to prevent the mind from breaking into pieces of mind and remain rather in peace and in one whole.

The last method suggested is that one can take up anything that they love to do or see and meditate upon that. The subject of meditation goes without saying that it should be an uplifting topic, music, personality, object or place. When one contemplates in this manner, the vibrations of the mind is at once connected to the subtle vibration of the topic, person, place or thing that it ponders about and becomes one with it. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 38

Contemplations of visions in dream and sleep

Swapna Nidra Gnanalambanam Va





There is yet another way of bringing the mind to a state of tranquility. That is by recalling and meditating upon any clear vision of truth that we may have had during the dream state and the deep sleep state.


Though we might not be aware, dreams happen during the time just after we go to bed and even while we are fast asleep. Nidra or sleep as we saw in one of the first few Sutras is among the five activities of the mind. Not all dreas should be meditated upon. Most of them can revolve around the undigested thoughts of fear, anger, jealousy, hatred or fundamentally an unnecessary emotion.
Some dreams can be visions of truth too. Recently I experienced such a dream - of myself being a blob of liquid floating in a vast ocean in a subtle human form nevertheless. I am looking up to another similar blob of liquid - another human being for love, grace and benediction.
For a moment, I pause and look beneath my watery feet and it is a deep ocean with unfathomable, yet crystal clear water. The bed of the ocean is no sand, but an orb of light like a moon almost glimmering and from the bottom there are bubbles of love that rise to the surface. In the same dream, I contemplate and realise that the same love, grace, blessings and energy that I look forward to receiving from another person is available all around. And even the other person who will give us also takes from this same ocean to do so. This was not surprisingly a vision of the conscious mind while meditating, but something that I recall happening in deep sleep!
- Swahilya Shambhavi (Fitness, Satori)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 37

Focus on the one

devoid of passion

Veetaraga Vishayam Va Chittam

Another method of bringing the mind to lovingly rest with consciousness is to set it upon a self-realised individual who has renounced all passions. What the mind sees, that it becomes. It can be the image of a deity or the form of the Guru or the Master. As the mind focusses on the form

in the picture or an idol in a temple or a living personality in front of him or her, reading about such a person, meditating upon him or her who is not swayed by passion - a Vairagi or desireless person, the mind also becomes so and rests quietly at the altar of consciousness instead of being swayed like the waves of an ocean caught up in a storm.

Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Fitness, Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 36

See the light and you become it

Vishoka Va Jyotishmati

Another form of meditation is on the luminous effulgent light that is beyond sorrow. Practices in many religions have a lot to do with light. Traditional Hindus light a lamp. Christians

light the candle and many light fires and invoke the presence of the divine too. There is also the worship of the sun, moon and many stars in the galaxy. What your mind watches for a while, it takes up that form.

In my own experience, I have always loved to gaze at the illumination of the serene soft light from a lamp placed in a dark room. Seeing the light even for a while, can throw up great visions that take you to the pleasant light that all of us are composed of. We are in essence beings of light.

During one such time spent in gazing at a lamp a couple of yeas ago, I had an arresting vision of a Jyotirlingam - a huge cylindrical column of light, fire compressed in the shape of a Lingam that has a flat circular base and ends in a round dome - orange in colour. As if covered by a sheet of glass, there was a layer of water, with more water constantly flowing over it. The circular base of the Lingam was of solid matter in the form of a black stone. After the water, there was air and then came space.

First I saw this apart of myself. Then analysing the contents further revealed that it was myself - the fire within, covered by the constant flow of water, air passing through and surrounded by space. The whole subtle structure is supported in the base of the body, that is gross matter. A moment of intensely watching the lamp led me to this inner realisation. - Swahilya Shambhavi swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com (Fitness, Satori)

Pic: The full moon and its reflection in the Bay of Bengal on Guru Purnima this year.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 35

Merging the mind with the object of perception

Vishayavati Va Pravrittiruthpanna Manasah Sthithinibandhini

How to bring the mind with waves and tides high and low into one's control? Patanjali is explaining many ways for this and in this Sutra, he says the mind can become merged with the object of sense perceptions.
There are five main senses of the mind. They are sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. Merging with the object of sense perception is focussing on something that the eyes sees for instance, a river or the sky. With practice, the mind becomes steady. Same is to listen intensely to something, whether it is music or spoken words, the prattle of a child, the humming of a bee - any sound. Through being totally with a sip of water or a mouthful of food and getting into the taste, the mind quietens down. Smelling an aroma, or touching an object and putting one's mind fully into feeling that object of touch can bring a state of tranquility that keeps the mind as one whole piece.
- Swahilya Shambhavi. (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Fitness, Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 34

The Energy within the Breath

Pracchardanavidharanaabhyam Va Pranasya
The next method Patanjali gives to remove the impediments that prevent the mind from residing with the consciousness is by exhaling the breath which carries the energy called Prana and remaining in that state of exhalation as long as one is comfortably able to do so.
There is the whole science of Pranayama which has to be practised with the help of a master. But those few moments of awareness at the point of complete exhalation puts the mind to rest and the awareness alone is in those moments.
As long as there is life in the body, Prana exists in many forms and does not get emptied with an exhalation. But the most tangible experience of Prana happens when it enters and exits along with the breath. - Swahilya Shambhavi. swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com Fitness, Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: 32-33

The Taming of the Shrew

Tat pratisedartham Eka Tatwa Abhyasaha
Maitri Karuna Mudita Upekshanam Sukha Dukha Punya Apunya Vishayanam Bhavanataschitta Prasadanam
When I was writing out the headline for this post, I remembered William Shakespeare's drama - The Taming Of The Shrew. In fact, bringing the mind to sit quietly with the consciousness is an effort similar to the taming of the shrew.
After Patanjali describes the nine impediments to the unity of the mind with the consciousness and the four ways in which the impediments are revealed, in the subsequent Sutras he presents solutions to bring the mind back to order.
In the 32nd Sutra, Patanjali says, the individual should take up practice of following or contemplating upon one principle - Eka Tatwa Abhyasaha.
The Eka Tatwa can be - Aham Brahmasmi - I am that Brahman, Tat Twam Asi - You are That, Pragnyanam Brahma - Consciousness is Brahman and Ayam Athma Brahma - This Soul is Brahman. Brahman here means consciousness.
This is however a contemplation on the supreme truth of existence. The single truth practice can be done as enumerated in the next Sutra.
The truths that can be practised are Maithri - Friendliness towards those that give you happiness, Karuna - Compassion towards those who may be causing misery to you, Mudita - Joy towards those who may be doing good things and Upekshanam is an indifferene when we may come across someone visious and beyond the ken of our efforts to reform.
Cultivating these four habits can help in calming the mind from its habitual reactions such as jealousy when someone is happy, hatred towards someone suffering with an attitude of, "They deserve it," anger when someone is able to do great things that are impossible by us and delving on the misdeeds of others or trying to judge their actions.
These outbound and natural tendencies of the mind can lead us to misery. Converting them to compassion, friendliness, joy and a centred approach will help the mind to remain placid at all times. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com) Fitness, Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 30/31

Obstacles on the path
and their symptoms

Vyadhi-Styana-Samsyhaya-Pramada-Aalasya-Avirati-
Bhrantidarshana-Alabdha Bhumikatwa Anavasthitathwani
Chitta Vikshepaha Te Antaraya ha
--------------
Dukha Daurmanasya Angamejayathwa Shwasaprashwasaha
Vikshepa Saha Bhuvaha

There are nine obstacles on the path of the unity of the divided individual mind with the one undivided consciousness. The nine impediments can happen to block the success of any work that we undertake - in this context - Yoga or union. In fact, success in anything is ultimately a union with the goal - success for an athelete is union with the gold medal, success for a writer is union with his or her published work and likewise, success in Yoga is realising permanently the one consciousness.

The nine impediments are Vyadhi - disease, styana - sluggishness, a sudden drop in interest towards pursuing a goal or target, Pramada - the "I know it all," or "Been there done that," attitude which stalls the way for further experience, Aalasya - a lazy and nonchalant posture, Avirati - an extraordinary interest in pursuing the pleasures of the sense organs, be it in food, sex, music, reading or interacting with people that is pleasurable to the five senses of sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch - rather getting lost in them, Bhrantidarshana - hallucinations, illusions or seeing and hearing what is not there. For instance, seeing a white shirt in a dark room and thinking it is a ghost is Bhranti Darshana, or being out of tune with the reality.

Alabdha Bhumikathwa is the inability to sustain the moments of truth reached through contemplation - a frequent fall from the glimpse of the one pervading consciousness to the world of dualities, Anavasthitathwani - an inability to remain in one state of mind for long and being in an agitated frame of thought. Chitta Vikshepa is a scattered mind - one part of the mind wants an ice cream, another part wants to run to a bookshop, another to a movie and yet another part to the disco - pieces of mind, rather than peace of mind!

The presence of these nine obstacles will be revealed by either one or all four of the symptoms enumerated in the next Sutra. Patanjali lists them as Dukha - sorrow or sadness, Daurmanasya - a depressed state of mind or a negative shut down mode of the mind commonly referred to as a bad mood, Angamejayathwa or restlessness of the body, fidgeting, unsettled running around and Shwasaprashwasaha - Irregular and often shallow breathing. These four are signs of a scattered state of mind.

(Picture: Sage Patanjali who is rather filling my consciousness these days, author of the Yoga Sutras) - Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)
The New Indian Express - Fitness, The New Indian Express - Satori

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 27-29

The name of God

Tasya Vachakah Pranavaha
Tajjapah Tadartha Bhavanam
Tatah Pratyakchetanadhigamopyantarayabhavascha
Everything that is known has a name. You talk of a world and it is called the earth. It is represented b a map. The letter Om, is written in Sanskrit, is a map to describe God. Patanjali says that the word t describe God is Om. It is considered as the root sound of all the letters and words. It is considered as the essence of speech and sound. The sound of thunder, the sound of a crashing wave, the sound of a flowing river, the sound of a revving engine or a concorde jet, the sound of the air inside a sea shell - all vibrate with Om.
Om is a combination of three letters A (as in aunt) - creation, U (as in pooh) - preservation and the nasal M (as in hmm...) - destruction. Many call the word God as Generator, Operator and Destroyer which is synonymous with Creator, Preserver and Destroyer that Om stands for.
Om or Aum may be a gift of the Sanskrit language of ancient India, but Aum is present in words of blessing such as Amen or Ameen.
Setting aside the philosophy of the sound Om - Patanjali says that repeated chanting of the Mantra (a sound tool), Om, feeling the essence of the consciousness that ir represents all along the chanting, is a technique to turn the wavering mind to one's own essence by making it one-pointed.
This removes the several obstacles to the realisation of one's being. The obstacles to such a realisation are listed out in the subsequent Sutras.
At Ukhimath in the Himalayas recently, I came across a Brahmachari by name Sudhir, who was particular that I sat down and chanted 'Om' along with him in the evenings. He explained that the house of the mind is always littered with thoughts. Om is the broom with which one can sweep away those thoughts and experience pure consciousness.
What I write here is almost always born out of a direct experience. Some with these Sutras too. As I began to study and write them, I was seized by some unnameable indolence (an obstacle enumerated in the next Sutra). It was a kind of laziness that made me push aside my books and pen and just lie down exhausted. I experimented with the chanting of Om loudly and later silently to remove this obstacle. And soon, I find myself writing and completing this post with a picture that has just been taken too! It is a sound that has the energy to work in our lives.
- Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 25/26

The seed of creation

Tatra Niratishayam Sarvagnyabeejam

Sa esha purvesham Api Guruh Kalena Anavacchedath

There are more qualities of God described here. In him resides the seed that is unparalleled that knows all. The seed here refers to the source or origin of all creation. In the tiniest seed lies the blueprint of the most massive oak, elm or banyan tree. Even humans, animals, plants and other creatures are products of the tiniest and invisible essence in a seed.

The biggest buildings and bridges were the outcome of the contemplation that happened in the invisible realms of the architects' mind. this whole universe that we experience through our senses spring out of the seed called God. It is pure consciousness that knows and is aware of everything.

This consciousness is the teacher, Guru of the most ancient teachers. It has always existed without a break, not bound by any time. It always exists - this Master. - Swahilya Shambhavi

Unpublished articles

(swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 23 & 24

Surrender to God

Ishwara Pranidhanat Va

Klesha Karma Vipaka Ashayai Hi Aparamrushtah Purusha Vishesha Ishwaraha

Patanjali understands the human mind so beautifully and does not allow the scope for the least confusion. In the 23rd Sutra he says, another way for reaching the state of Samadhi or supreme tranquility of mind is by surrendering one's actions, words, feelings and thoughts and one's whole being to God.

He is quick to explain who or what is God in the very next line. God is the special being that is free from any afflictions, free from seeds that give birth to activity born out of desire and is something that is untouched by anything that is experienced by the senses, emotions or thoughts.

To bring in a modern-day understanding, God is one's consciousness, awareness. Surrendering here means being fully aware of one's thoughts and actions. This leads to Samadhi, which is nothing but the experience of consciousness, an experience of God, being with the creator - the Purusha. - Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

(Picture: Ganga at Rishikesh, spreading beneath the Ram Jhoola).

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 21

Mild, moderate or intense?

Mridhu Madhya Adhimatrathvat Tatah Api Viveshaha


Intensity is the key to reaching the goal of Samadhi. Just as reaching to any target in our day-to-day life, the intensity of our effort matters. Intensity here is not to be confused with speed. It is the focussed conscious effort that is thrown into the practice which generates the heat of Tapas. That dissolves the being and removes the mental barrier that comes in between the inner and outer consciousness.


I had an experience of intensity at a recent meditation programme in which I participated on duty as Editor/Columnist of the Spirituality and Fitness pages for The New Indian Express. I was among 2000 participants gathered at the Anna University grounds and was simply breathing chaotically for about 10 minutes. It was so intense that the simple act of breathing in and out caused profuse sweating in a very short while.


Intensity generates heat. Heat burns and destroys. At the end of the process of burning, there is just the remnant ash which gets easily dissolved and the consciousness shines through in its brilliance. - Swahilya Shambhavi (swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 20

Intensity yields results

Tivra Samveganam Asannaha

With intense practise, the goal of Yoga, merging of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness is achieved. This merging, or a state of Samadhi happens when the mind is functioning in tune with the cosmic consciousness and not broken into vrittis or individual thought waves. The means of practise to reach the state of Samadhi has been outlined in the many sutras in the next part of the Patanjali Yoga Sutra, called the Sadhana Padaha. - Swahilya Shambhavi

(The New Indian Express, E-paper, Expresso - Page 6, Fitness, Monday, May 12)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 19

The need to practise

Shraddha Virya Smriti Samadhi
Pragnya Poorvaka Itaresham



Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them. There are some who are born with the experience of Samadhi very early in age. Samadhi is endowed by nature on some others at different stages of their lives. Samadhi here simply means an equanimity of vision and a personal experience of connectedness with the Unverse. It is important that Samadhi is not or rather need not be some fantastic experience or imaginary expeditions of the mind. It simply means a working knowledge of the interconnectedness applied moment to moment.


There are however a large segment of people who are neither born with it nor can they hopefully wait for such an experience to happen. Those persons, Patanjali says, can reach the Samadhi state of mind with Shraddha - faith in a glimpse of truth that has been revealed to them and holding on to it, Veerya - dynamic energy and enthusiasm, Smriti - constant remembrance of the state of oneness and extending the periods of awareness of a glimpse of any experience that one may have had.


For instance, if one has tasted sugar, there is a remembrance of the taste and a hope to taste it sometime again. Samadhi can happen in very ordinary states of absorbption - while eating a chocolate, while spending silent moments alone watching a gurgling brook, while intensely hugging someone dear to you - a state where you are not there, but the experience is.


(Trekkers' progress: An arduous climb up Parvathamalai.)
(Articles on health, fitness, spirituality including two columns About You, and Zenith on April 28 and May 1 issues on Expresso - Page -6 in the epaper of The New Indian Express)

Something more

Dear friends.
I am writing a page on fitness, wellness and another on spirituality in The New Indian Express. Each of the pages on Monday and Thursday will also feature a column written by myself. If you wish to check it out you may visit http://www.newindpress.com There you have to click on a tab called epaper and then Expresso and move on to Page 6. Today the first column has appeared on Monday, April 28 issue. Good luck if you are trying to find the page!
Last week's issue on April 21 had a lead article on Surya Namaskar and this week it is crystal healing. The page on spirituality will be on the following Thursday.
Swahilya.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 19

Merging with nature

Bhavapratyayo Videhaprakritilayanam

Prakritilaya or becoming one with nature or its elements. It is a state of being where the consciousness is able to experience a state of oneness with a stone, a mountain, a tree, a flowing river or flowers. The unifying experience happens between the individual and nature. This happens most to poets like William Wordsworth who sang of host of golden daffodils

This Samadhi sometimes happens without an effort at any age of life. This is a glimpse of the experience of an evened out intellect which leaves its separate state of existence and merges with the bliss that already exists in the Universe.

As I walked up to the origin of the Ganga once in Gomukh, culminating in a spiritual journey, the last lap of the trek was intensely difficult. It was through the nooks and crannies of the rocks and boulders, slippery soft sand and tiny rivulets that I had to take. All exhasted with a parched throat, I sat down on a rock, well into the bank of the mighty Ganga, gushing out of the Gomukh cave. After watching the river for a while, I closed my eyes. It may have been a few minut

es or over a quarter of an hour - I do npot know. There was no voices of my co-trekkers, nor even the roar of the river that I heard. When I opened my eyes, a local resident was telling me to move out of there as the river might swell erratically. Even as I close my eyes now and recollect my experience, I know it was a glimpse of Prakritilaya Samadhi, when the individual merges with nature.

Photo: Waters of the Mandakini gushing past the temple at Kedarnath in the Himalayas.

(Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Tirumandiram, Bamboo Wisdom, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 18

Satori

Viramapratyayabhyasapurvaha Samskarasheshonyaha

The thoughts on Samadhi continue here. There are many methods of Samadhi described in the previous Sutra. This sutra speaks of repeatedly practising of holding on to one thought, an idea or a symbol. The symbols and forms that one thinks about are themselves an idea. But it is nevertheless an idea that can help in dissolving with the source like sugar in milk or salt in water. In this case, the mind that repeatedly holds on to a thought by mentally chanting a name, looking at one symbol, hearing a particular musical note again and again will dissolve into consciousness.

All these forms of Yoga practise is to help this mind to dissolve without resistance, dissolve with ease.

However, in such a state of Samadhi caused by concentration on one particular form or symbol is but a temporary state that will re-energise and revitalise the individual on a spiritual mountain climb. It is a temporary cessation of thoughts because the seeds of the past still continue to be present whih grow in the form of thoughts. The final achievement can happen only when the seeds are no more.

Yoga is like tending a garden. There needs to be daily watering and feeding the tree of this body. It also requires some digging and weeding out unnecessary growth from the surroundings. Unless the digging is done and the seeds of thoughts are destroyed, chances are that the weeds will continue to spring again and again.

To quote a live example to explain Virama is now, as I write this Sutra. An hour ago, I was trying to sleep, but with no avail as there were lots of thoughts and activities to take my attention away. Nevertheless, I sat down to just focus and study this Sutra and almost completed writing it when the contemplation on the form and content of the Sutra dissolved itself with the rest of my mind into a deep sleep. Samskara Sesha are the remaining seeds of thought that does not get destroyed even after a brief period of Samadhi as now when I get up fresh from my sleep, I pick up from the seeds of thought and continue writing this Sutra. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Picture: Omjasvin resting a while on a trek up Swamimalai with me in Yelagiri. The age-old practice of climbing mountains is one such method to help stop the formation of thoughts.)

(Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Bhagavad Gita, Tirumandiram, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 16

Samadhi

Vitarka Vichara Ananda Asmitaroopa Anugamath Sampragnyataha

Samadhi is the goal of Yoga. It means an absorbtion of the individual mind with the cosmic mind. Of the four chapters, Patanjali begins the Yoga Sutras with the Samadhi Pada (chapter).

Samadhi may sound to be quite an esoteric word. But it can actually be a common everyday experience that goes unnoticed. It can happen when driving a car in the midst of a traffic jam and honking vehicles. It can happen while looking at a bunch of flowers. Samadhi is a simple combination of Sama + Adhi - Sama is same and Adhi is cosmic awareness. The individual awareness gets merged with the cosmic awareness.

Patanjali mentions four ways in this sutra for entering into Samadhi, with the help of objects, nature or people outside, thoughts or happiness within or contemplation on one's own self.

If Albert Einstein was intensely absorbed in a scientific theory and comes out with an original discovery - that happens in a state of Samadhi. At that time all the faculties of his mind are directed toward the object of his study and only awareness remains. This is Vitarka - giving all the faculties of the mind to study and analyse somethng.

Next is Vichara. This is reflection within. Sitting with eyes closed in a quiet ambience, you may find thoughts springing up. Being with those thoughts or emotions and observing the source from which they spring can lead to Samadhi.

Ananda is bliss,m exhalted mood, jubilation. It may have causes outside like being in a beautiful natural surrounding, seeing a lovely movie, playing with children, or even sitting quietly may aid in experiencing the bliss within Going to the source of this bliss is Samadhi through Ananda.

Asmitaroopa - This is the most famous technique expounded by Ramana Maharishi. Let us take our bloggers for instance. I say, "I am Swahilya." JJ will say, "I am JJ," and Fruitu will say, "I am Fruitu." The "I" is common to all the three of us , rhough we come from different places, have different names and forms. The technique to reach Samadhi here is to constantly enquire, "Who am I?" That takes you to the source.

So following the steps shown by Vitarka, reasoning and study of the Patanjali Yoga Sutra, Bhagavad Gita, The Holy Bible and the Qur'an, Vichara - reflection on the source, being with the experience of bliss and finding the "I" that we refer to ourselves can take one to a state of Samadhi. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Photo: Sunset over a lake in Naperville, Illinois. Tranquil scenes of nature are aids to Samadhi if we be fully with that silence.

(Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Bhagavad Gita, Tirumandiram, swahilya.soulmate@gmailcom)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 15

Hold on within

Tatparam Purushakhyatehe Guna Vaithrushnyam

*****

By knowing what does one achieve detachment from the world - which is nothing but an amalgam of the three Gunas or characteristics - Satwa - Tranquility, Rajas - Dynamism and Tamas - Inertia. Any person, animal, plant, being, objects and situations that comprise this world is a permutation combination of the three Gunas.

To achieve a steady mind, one needs to be detached from the Gunas and remain a dispassionate observer of people and events. The detachment achieved in this manner does not make one a helpless spectator, pushed by situations and people. On the contrary, a sense of detachment with the world and attachment to the Parama Purusha or the Cosmic Consciousness within one's mind can make an individual strong and steady, ready for action when required.

Take the example of the game of tug of war. A team which is focussed on its strength can easily pull the opposing team to its side. However, if the team members are agitated by fear and confused by focussing on the Gunas (characteristics) of the opposing team, then they lose their balance as the outside forces get an upper hand and scatter them to their side.

This detachment without and attachment within brings to my mind a scientific reply for a question on how the creamy layer forms over milk when heated. The scientist said that one end of the fat molecules that constitute the milk is hydrophilic and the other end is hydrophobic. When the milk is agitated with heat, all the hydrophobic ends huddle together and attach to each other while the hydrophilic ends expand outward to the water element, forming a thick layer of cream. Same with the mind which attaches strongly to the supreme consciousness within and expands from the outer circumference with freedom into the world. Such a mind of dispassion without and compassion within is steadily rooted in Yoga.

(Picture: The earth below, cloud in between like an umbrella over the city of Chicago and the sky above. The Gunas are many which form the world of matter, and the one consciousness is like the sky plain and expanded. The mind that connects the two is like the cloud.)

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Bhagavad Gita, Tirumandiram, The Himalayas, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 12

Ready, Steady Go...

Drashtanushravika Vishaya Vithrushnashya Vasheekara Samgnya Vairagyam

*****

The practice needs to be done for a long period of time. As a result of the practice of Yoga, what happens? This is the subject of the 15th Sutra. The practitioner has lesser and lesser attachment to temporal objects that are perceived by the senses. The objects outside that were all along holding a sway on the individual, ceases to control the person who is practising Yoga. He acquires a quality of mind called Vairagyam when he remains unmoved by pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow and is not attached to one particular thing, person or situation. A person with vairagya lives in the present moment and is no longer tussled by the whims and fancies of others. He is established firm as a rock in his own self.

What is the use of Vairagya - Dispassion and non-attachment? In the event of a calamity, say a flood situation, people are running helter skelter, confused and not knowing what to do. There are people who escape and run back into their homes, to pick up jewels and other property they think are valuable, but lose their life in the process. A person with Vairagya will not lose his mind in transcient objects or treasures, but will instead be totally in the present moment, save himself and many others too, because he has learnt to keep his mind steady and is unmoved by fear, anxiety, worry or any kind of fleeting emotions.

(Picture: I still have many pictures above the clouds and of the earth below from the skies. Yet to heed to Nature Nut JJ Loch's request to send some rays her way, I have posted a picture of warm sunshine over a banana tree in Chennai!)- Swahilya Shambhavi. (Bhagavad Gita, Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Tirumandiram, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 11

Effort with Patience

Sa tu deerghakala Nairantarya Satkara Aadara Aasevito Dridha Bhoomihi

The effort of Yoga is to watch events, people and places from the Consciousness and not through the mind. Consciousness can be likened to the space inside the home. The window with the screen are the eyes and other sense organs. To function through the mind is like viewing and interpreting the events happening outside or the actions of people moving about with the screen covering the window. The viewing happens with only that much clarity that the screen allows.

But the practice of Yoga helps us to draw the screen over the window when we need it and pull it to a corner when we want to see clearly. Yoga helps in clearing up this screen, yet retain it transparent and clean for use when needed.

This line of the Yoga Sutra says that to achieve this clarity of the mind, the practice or Sadhana should be done with attention, care and reverence, uninterrupted over a long period of time, nurturing the thought with care, practicing it repeatedly with zeal. This will help to firmly root the understanding of yoga at the physical and mental level with success.

(Picture: Wet snow over the earth through the window screen.) - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Bhagavad Gita, Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Tirumandiram, I Am That, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 10

Practice to stay there


Tatra Sthithau Yathnobhyasaha:
Practice leads to perfection. This line says that once the mind is disciplined, with the aid of constant practice, sufficient effort has to be taken to sustain the mind steadily on an object of concentration, focus or study. The Patanjali Yoga Sutra is a text of universal applicability. For a school child, quietening the mind will help her to focus on studies and play well. For a lover, a quiet and tranquil mind can help to focus on the beloved. For a scientist, a still mind will help him slice through her slide and land on a scientific truth with clarity. For a meditator, a serene mind can help to pick pearls of wisdom with insight into consciousness.
The Yoga Sadhana (practice) that is prescribed are ways to quieten the flow of thoughts and raise the mind to serene heights or tranquil depths. Practice is still required to sustain the mind in such tranquility when required. Sadhana or effort is required up to a point when such a calm texture of the mind, becomes a way of life. - Swahilya Shambhavi.
(Picture: The plain branches reach out to the sky in New York's Central Park. The tree is like the mind in sadhana, trying its best to expand and grow and reach the greatest heights possible.)
(Bhagavad Gita, Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Tirumandiram, Maha Shivaratri, Chicago Satsang, Himalayas, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - IX

Practice Dispassion

Abhyasa Vairagabhyam Tannirodhaha:

The mind has the five capabilities of cognition, misapprehension, imagination, deep sleep and memory. The nature of the mind is constant activity in trying to put its faculties to use. It always keeps trying to understand, interpret and report its feedback on the happenings in the world outside.

The key of yoga is to reign in the mind, which will then become obedient to the command of the intellect. The obedience in this case will be more like a friend or a lover, rather than as a servant to an overbearing and fearsome master.

By constant practice, the mind can be trained to listen to the intellect rather than acting on its own.

An example of the relationship between the intellect and the mind can be understood this way - the relationship between the CEO of a company and his personal secretary. The personal secretary of the mind has got all the five capabilities. But if he begins to use them on his own, it will be like the secretary receiving all office correspondences and issuing orders himself. A secretary is just supposed to receive the mails and the information and pass it on to the CEO who will take decisions and issue directions. The CEO may chose to ask the secretary for advice now and then, but the final decision is left to himself.

Patanjali says that by constant practice of Yoga - the different methods of practice are mentioned in the other Sutras, the energies of the restless, clueless mind can be harnessed and channelised to thoughts and activities that enrich and enhance the individual.

The purpose of keeping the mind trim and fit with Yoga also prevents the six types of aberrations that cause distortion - Kama - lust, Krodha - anger, Lobha - greed, Moha, Delusion, Mada - arrogance and Matsarya - jealousy.

By sustained practice of Yoga, the mind is not following in the direction of thoughts uncontrollably like a rudderless ship caught in a storm, but is held in charge by the intellect for what it choses to do.

(Photo: Sunset in Naperville, Illinois. A tranquil mind is a friend in need for any work at all times.) - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Maha Shivaratri, Bhagavad Gita, Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Satsang in Chicago, Tirumandiram, Himalayas, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - VIII

Remembering

Anubhuta Vishaya Asampramoshaha Smritihi

To remember is the fifth quality of the mind. An incident that happened, a song or speech that one heard, the names and faces of people, emotional feelings, concepts and ideas one has read or recollection of any experience through the five sense organs is called Smriti or Memory.

To re-member (hyphen used deliberately to signify that the word means to connect again) means to attach the mind from the present moment, to some name, object, situation, concept or experience. I travel to the Himalayas, see the mountains, rivers, temples, sights, scenes and people. Now sitting in Chicago, I re-member my experience in the Himalayas and connect my mind to it. Depending on the , understanding and my response to the experience, the memory can be good or bad, comfortable or uncomfortable, joyous or sad.

Yoga, the technique of connecting the individual mind with the cosmic mind, uses smriti or memory to re-member the biggest, infinite existence and become that in the present moment.

Every moment spent at the altar in prayer is an exercise in Smriti of Jesus Christ, Allah, Shiva or the Para Brahman - connecting our mind to that person or thing that we are thinking about. Every act of chanting a mantra or repeating an affirmation is to use this faculty of Smriti to re-member oneself with the name and form we think about.

(Photo: Our actions are the results of Smriti or memory. One who thinks of Consciousness has written 'Om' on snow while another who has thought of a greeting has written 'Hi' in the same snow.) - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Maha Shivaratri, Bhagavad Gita, Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Himalayas, Satsang in Chicago, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - VII

Sleep

Abhavapratyayalambana Tamovrittir Nidra: The mind has the faculties of cognition - Pramana, misapprehension - Viparyaya and imagination - Vikalpa. It has a fourth capability too, which happens to all at the end of day time - sleep.

Sleep happens daily at night and sometimes during the day too, when there is an absence of any thoughts, notions or ideas. The mind holds on to this attitude of a state of no thoughts when it takes rest, along with the body.

Either, when it is the time to sleep at night, or when the body is tired with hard work and exhausted and also when the mind is bored, it slips from conscious activities of working, talking and thinking and settls down like a wave that rises high and falls back into the ocean. Every living creature is a similar wave of expression that falls back to a few hours of rest.

During this period of rest, the mind is submerged in the super-conscious self and wakes up in the morning or at any time, after sleep -refreshed and rejuvenated.

(Photo: Sunset near the Aurora temple in Chicago. Even when day slips into night, it rests a while and wakes up refreshed next morning.) - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Bhagavad Gita, Vignana Bhairava Tantra, Himalayas, Indians in Chicago, swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com).