the ashram web log

Today's Satsang began with Guruji annoucing that he will first talk in Kannada, then in English and finally in Hindi. Fortunately or Unfortunately he told the Patanjali Yog sutras in Kannada and we were still all smiles and GAGA at the end of it.

The English session began with a question like -
In Astavakra Geeta,Mahatma Gandhi is said to have preached non violence but it is also said that he was very violent on himself/ his body. His death was also very violent. Vishal added that it is similar to Jesus's death, which was also very violent.

Do not know what question he was trying to ask (:-)) but Guruji's reply was like an exclamation mark, "This is for you to Ponder"

Second question followed and this was also related to Astavkra ," It has been mentioned that if you are caught in some sensory pleasure then you are bound but also those are bound who are against it. Is the same applicable to those who are against alcoholism, poverty etc? Gurudev answered: there is a difference between being against something and hating something. If you hate something then you are bound. The Kannada session began again with bits of the Sanskrit in it about the sutras. The again we started in English The TTC of SRI SRI yoga had another question where the relationship between the panchkoshas and the 7 layers of existence was explored?Admist giggles the answer was," you can make a relation wherever you want, All koshas are anyways interrelated. You can play with the relations as much as you want.

Q: What is that which we should be doing so that we see you in everyone?

Guruji: Question was interrupted and answered that you should not try and see me in everyone.
Don't try to do anything, just be natural and innocent as you are (sahajta se) and that will suffice .

Q: How to become centered?
Guruji: See what is it that is taking you out of the center. Living in the present moment is being centered. Holding anything against in your mind makes you decentered. Being free from opinions is being centered. Like when you have a fight, can you go to the person immediately after the fight with a smile without thinking what he or she will say and smile at them and start a new fight? That is being centered. Going from Gyana to Prema, Bhakti and love. Devotion has no opposite that gets you to the center, love has hatred but devotion has no opposite and that is why it takes you to being centered. When you see life as a dream then how can you live it like a perfectionist? When there is freedom to see the past present and future as a dream then your mind is free and your intellect sharpens.
Do you notice when you are witty what is the state of your mind. Dull person or sad person can never be witty, your mind needs to be free so that you can be witty which is nothing but a sharp intellect. Everyone must have experienced this sometime or the other.
See the people who commit crime can never be free, they don't have feelings for others, no compassion. They dont know that happiness is in them and to be free is going more into yourself and realizing that you are Joy and you are Happiness.

Patanjali Yog Sutra:It is a story about Ved Vyas who goes to Lord Brahma and asks to be given some Knowledge. Brahma then gives him the Vast Himalayas and asks him to take how much ever you can take.

So Vyas then takes how much ever he could with his four hand and thus were the four veds formed: Sangitha, Aranya, Brahman and Upanishads.
Sangitha is that which is born out of what the Rishis said when they went deep in meditation and their words were heard and then written thus it was called Shruti- suna hua gyan ( Knowledge which is born from hearing from others)
From the Sangitha the other three Veda's were born. Then there were the Up Vedas and the 6 upangs. Veda is from the upang which is the Patanjali Yog Sutra. Story goes that Patanjali Rishi used to teach around thousand children in the gurukul. There used to be a curtain between him and the students. He used to teach from behind the curtain. Soon there was curiosity that arised in the minds of the students and one fine day they peeked beyond the curtain. As soon as they did that there was a blinding light, which destroyed all of them. All but one, as he had gone on a nature's break so he was saved. Rishiji told him that he was lucky that he was not with them but none the less he will be punished. So he was made into the Brahma Rakshas and was told to sit and write of whatever he had been taught by him. So he sat on the tree and wrote everything on the leafs which then fell down and were eaten by a goat.
Now it is a Paheli which needs to be solved by us as to:
Why all the 999 were destroyed?
Why were they destroyed?
Why not the one who left the class?
Why make him brahma rakshas ?
Why make him sit on tree top and write on leaves?
Why does the goat eat the leaves?First sutra was:
Anushasan : Which means the Shashan which is made out of our will. Generally shasan is rules put by others, which is then not followed fully with 100% and these are the rules, which we try to defy. Thus there should be anushasan. Lucky is the one whose Anushasan is Yog.
Yog is about freeing your mind, ego and intellect from the past impressions.

Acha why do you need to clean this mind every time? Its like a slate and the impressions are like chalk on it. Like in the school if without using the duster you have the English class and the science and then the geography and the math as well then firstly you should be able to write all the classes and even if you achieve that then you really don;t know anything as it is impossible to make things out. Like we use the duster we need to clean or free our mind of this confusion. and freeing your mind of this confusion is called Yog.
You should shift from seeing the view to the viewer. So that you can experience happiness.
Here he said a beautiful thing. Like in a movie there are people who get so involved that they also start crying. That is getting caught in the view, people get so involved that they tear the screen if something doesn't happen the way they want it to be.
So one should come back to the viewer for bliss ( Anand swaroop) .Then He did a revision of Patanjali Yog Sutra.
Aho......

Posted in: on Saturday, November 3, 2007 at at 6:36 PM