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).