Ayurveda and Breath E-Book

Sri Sri Ravishankar

• Herausgeber: Aslan eReads
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 206

Beschreibung

Commentary by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Yoga Sutra expounded by Sage Patanjali. The aim of Patanjali Yoga Sutras is to set man free from the cage of matter. Mind is the highest form of matter and man freed from this dragnet of Chitta or Ahankara (mind or ego) becomes a pure being

Leseprobe

PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS पतंजलि योग सुत्र

A Commentary by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Volume 1

Sri Sri Publications Trust, India.

© Copyrights Sri Sri Publications Trust

This digital edition is published by arrangement with Aslan Business Solutions

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Aslan Reads -An imprint of Aslan Business Solutions Borivli, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Email: [email protected]: www.aslanbiz.com & www.aslanreads.com

Physical Editions Published by:

 

Sri Sri Publications Trust The Art of Living International Centre 21st KM, Kanakapura Road, Udayapura, Bangalore – 560082 Email: [email protected]: www.sattvastore.comToll Free: 1800-258-8888

© All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher

ISBN: 978-93-85898-08-2

Layout by: Sri Sri Publications Trust

Contents

Title

Chapter 1 Discipline of Yoga

Chapter 2 Honouring the Practice

Chapter 3 Samadhi

Chapter 4 Who is God

Chapter 5 Overcoming Obstacles

Chapter 6 Steadiness in Samadhi

Chapter 7 Kriya Yog & Three Types of Tapas

Chapter 8 The Veils of Misery

Chapter 9 Eliminating The Cause of Pain

Chapter 10 The Eight Limbs of Yoga

The Founder

The Art of Living

The Art of Living Programs

International Centres

Landmarks

Cover

Chapter 1 Discipline of Yoga

अथ योगानुशासनम्

Atha yogaanushaasanam.

Shaasana are the rules that society or somebody else imposes on you. Anushaasana are the rules that you impose on yourself.

Now, why is Yoga called a discipline?

Where is the need for a discipline?

When does the need for a discipline arise?

When you are thirsty, you want to drink water. You do not feel that it is a rule to drink water when you are thirsty. And when you are hungry you eat. You do feel that you have the discipline of eating when you are hungry; that you have a discipline of enjoying the nature. No discipline is necessary for enjoyment. When is discipline relevant? Not when something is enjoyable at the very first step. A child never says that it has the discipline of running to his mother when he sees her.

Discipline arises where something is not very charming to begin with; when you know that it would ultimately give a fruit that is very good and enjoyable but that, in the beginning, it is not enjoyable. When you are abiding in yourself, when you are in joy, and when you are in peace or happiness, true happiness, then you are already in your Self. There is no discipline there. But when that is not so, the mind will wag its tail all the time. Then, discipline is essential to calm it down so that it can come back to it Self. The fruit of this is eventually blissful and joyful. A diabetic patient has a discipline not to eat sugar. Someone with cholesterol has to be disciplined and not take too much fat. This is because, though fats are tasty, they will raise unpleasant complications later.

There are three types of happiness-sattvic, tamasic and rajasic.

Sattvic, to begin with, is not so enjoyable but it always leads to joy. The happiness which is felt after a certain discipline is really sattvic happiness-a long lasting happiness. A happiness which is enjoyable to begin with, but ends in misery is no happiness at all. So, a discipline is necessary to have this authentic sattvic happiness. Discipline is not torturing oneself unnecessarily. The purpose of discipline is to attain joy.

Sometimes people impose disciplines on themselves which does not give any joy to them or to anybody else at any time. This is tamasic happiness. Tamasic happiness just appears to be so but it is misery from the beginning to the end. No discipline is necessary for tamasic happiness. Lack of discipline is tamasic happiness.

Rajasic happiness appears very enjoyable in the beginning but ends up in misery and suffering. It is caused by following the wrong discipline. It may also arise from a lack of discipline.

Discipline is essential for sattvic happiness. To bear what is uncomfortable is discipline. It need not be uncomfortable all the time. But if it is uncomfortable, you need discipline to be able to bear it and move through it.

That is why Patanjali began with “Now” -when things are not clear and when your heart is not in the right place.

Yogaanushaasanam-Nobody has imposed the discipline of Yoga on you. They are self-imposed. What are the rules that you have imposed on yourself? When you wake up in the morning, you brush your teeth. You do it before going to bed, too. This is your discipline. But this has been imposed on you from childhood. When you were a kid, your mother had imposed it on you. Once it became a habit and when you understood that it was good for you, it was no more you mother’s rule. It became your rule. Keeping yourself clean and observing hygiene, exercising, meditating, being kind, considerate, and not being rude-you have imposed these rules on yourself to help maintain your discipline.

Now, what does discipline do?

Discipline unites your Self and unites all the loose ends of your existence.

तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपे∙वस्थानम्

Tadaa drashtuh swaroopae avasthaanam.

It puts you on to your Self. Tadaa drishta swaroopae avasthaanam.

Otherwise, what has been happening?

वृत्ति सारूप्य मितरत्र

Vritti swaroopaya mitaratra.

Your mind has been engaged and caught up in the outside world all the time. Your eyes have been open and you have been caught up in all that you have been seeing. Similarly, you have been caught up in all that you smell, hear, touch, taste, etc. And when you are awake, you are constantly engaged in the activities of the senses. Otherwise, you go back to sleep and dream. Then, you are completely shut off.

During sleep and dream, the same memories come but you are never calm and quiet. When you unite all the loose ends of your existence, you become the object of your perception. When simple people or children watch a movie, they become totally involved in it. At that time, nothing else exists-just the movie. If you have a backache or a pain in your legs or back, it will seem more intense if you are idle. But when you are engaged in watching a movie then you do not feel the pain or anything else. You do not feel your body at all. You are not even aware that you are sitting. That is the deep interest the movie has aroused in you. Your consciousness has assumed the form of that movie, of that vritti.

Once, the people were watching a movie in a village. They saw that the hero was being tortured by the villain. The audience actually rushed towards the screen with sticks and stones, saying that they would hit the villain.

A great reformist of India was watching a drama, and the villain acted very well. This gentleman actually threw his shoe at him because he was so mad at him. He asked the villain how he could be so bad. The actor took it all as a compliment. He said that his acting was so good and he could captivate him so much with it that he actually threw his shoe at him.

Our consciousness assumes the form.

The whole purpose of Yoga is to be unto one Self-to bring integrity in you and to make you whole. You may be looking at me. Then, become aware of your eyes which are looking at me. And become aware of the mind that is looking at me through those eyes. Now for a moment close your eyes. Just squeeze them. Feel your eyes and take your attention from the eyes to the mind that is all over your head. Now, become aware of your whole body, your heart and the very core of your existence-the “I” that is you. Rest and relax there, right there. Then, you are not interested in seeing anything, smelling anything, hearing anything, or tasting anything, or feeling, or touching anything. Retrieve your mind from all the five senses, to the core of your heart or your existence. This is drishtuhu swaroopae avasthaa. Abiding there in the form of the seer is Yoga. Abiding in that form in the nature of the seer is Yoga. You are abiding in the form and the nature of the seer, knowingly or unknowingly, whenever you experience joy, ecstasy, bliss, or happiness in life. Otherwise, at other times, you are involved in and attached to the different activities of your mind.

Vritti swaroopae mitaratra. You assume the form in the mind. What are the activities in the mind?

Vrittayah panchatayyaha.

The modulations of the mind are of five forms-klishta and aklishta.

Some are problematic, and some are non-problematic. There are certain vrittis of the mind which are problematic and which cause troubles and difficulties, and certain others which are not problematic-unpleasant and pleasant vrittis.

Pramaana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidraa and smritayaha.

Five modes of consciousness arise in you-five modes in the mind. Mind, consciousness or chitta are the same.

Pramaana, the mind is engaged in wanting proof for everything. There are three types of pramana-pratyaksha, anumaana, aagamana.

Pratyaksha means that which is obvious or can be experienced. You may be in Switzerland. You have a proof of this in your mind. The proof is that you can see the Swiss Alps. Whatever you see is a proof. You know that you are feeling cold. Nobody needs to tell you that. This is pratyaksha. Our mind constantly wants to have some obvious, solid or experiential proof. This is one mode of activity of the mind.

Another is anumaana. It means something which is not so obvious, but which can be guessed. You will believe in whatever you guess. The guessing of the mind is called anumaana.

Then there is aagamana, the scriptures. They are believed because they are written. These are the three types of proof you look for. Even today in certain remote villages, in the third world countries, anything that is printed is the gospel truth. People feel that, since many follow it, it must be the truth. A few people can be fooled in this way but not many. The mind feels that thousands are not fools. And if they are, then the mind feels that it can also be a fool. The mind works this way. It takes proof from scriptures or from the belief of many. Aagamana pramaana. You are constantly looking for proof of something or anything. This is one mode of activity.

Yoga is when you drop this. Then alone can you abide in the Self. Retreating from this activity of the mind of wanting proof is being released from that vritti, or activity of the mind, and goingback to the Self. You may need proof of whether you are in Switzerland and your senses will tell you that. But you do not need proof, through your senses, whether you are where you are currently. You could be taken to Austria or to Canada. You will see similar snowy mountains and lakes there. You may think that you are in Switzerland but you are not. Your senses may fool you. But the feeling of “I am and I exist” is beyond proof.

Abiding in the Self does not need proof. Truth cannot be understood through proof. Anything that can be proved can also be disproved. Truth is beyond proof or disproof. God is beyond proof. You can neither prove God, nor can you disprove Him. Proof is connected with logic, and logic is very limited in its purview. It is the same with enlightenment and with love. Love cannot be proved or disproved. Someone’s actions and behaviour is not a proof of love. Many movie actors and actresses exhibit a lot of love and romance in the movie but they need not experience real love or romance. They can just display it. One can act the emotion of love very well without feeling it or living it. Self is beyond all this proof. Proof is one of the main activities of the mind.

Proof is one of the main things that you are stuck with in this world. You want proof for everything. This is not in the realm of the seer. A seer is beyond proof. Pramaana is the first modulation or activity of the mind.

Then comes viparyaya.

Patanjali describes this very beautifully in each of these modulations.

विपर्ययो मिथ्याज्ञानमतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठम्

Viparyayo mithyaa gyanam atad roopa pratishtham.

Pramaana is the knowledge that the mind is constantly engaged in arguments, in proofs, in knowledge, in analysing, or in wrong knowledge, wrong understanding, etc. You could be arguing and being logical. You could be looking for proof, or you will have wrong understanding. You will think things are the way that they are not. Most of the time you impose your own views, ideas, and feelings on others. You think that this is how the things are. This activity of mind is called viparyaya. You may have an inferiority complex and, thereby, consider someone’s behaviour very arrogant. Actually, they are not arrogant, and you are not being ill-treated by them. But, you feel that you are being ill-treated. You feel that you have not been respected. It is because you do not respect yourself enough that you think that the others do not respect you. This tendency of your mind is viparyaya.

Others will be shocked by the change in your behaviour. They will wonder what has happened to you.

A very good friend of yours suddenly starts being very rude to you and you wonder what has happened to him. You wonder what it is that you have done to cause this. You do not understand that they are imagining things about you in their minds. It is not because they are bad or anything. It is this activity of the chitta, of the mindbecoming predominant.

Suddenly, people may feel that they are not being loved. Many parents have this problem with their children. They get so perplexed. They do not know what to do and how to prove their love to their children. Proof is of no importance once viparyaya dominates. The pramaana does not survive, and logic fails because the mind is now more active on the second modulation, the second vritti, that is viparyaya. Only incorrect information sticks on. The correct knowledge appears briefly somewhere in their minds but returns to the background again, and the wrong information sticks on.

Mithyaa jnanam atad roopa pratishtam. This is viparyaya.

The third vritti is vikalpa.

Vikalpa is a sort of hallucination. There may be some thought. But, it is not true. However, something hovers in the mind. This is called vikalpa. People become paranoid. All such unfounded and baseless fears do not mean anything. Such thoughts and ideas are called vikalpas-fantasies. The mind either get stuck in proof or in wrong knowledge, misconceptions or fantasies. Fantasies are vikalpa. You may be already forty, fifty or sixty years old, and you fantasize what it would be like if you were sixteen again. Then, you go on and think that you would go somewhere and get a big haul of gold and that, then, you would become rich. Then, you would have your own helicopter to fly in. It is not just the children who fantasize. Adults also get into their own fantasies. This fantasy is called vikalpa, the third modulation of chitta.

Vikalpa could be of two types. One could be of just a joyful and pleasurable fantasy, and the other could be baseless fears. Even fear is a vikalpa. You may be apprehensive about what will happen if you die the next day. You may meet with an accident. You may become disabled. These are all just sounds that have no value. Baseless fears in the mind or fantasies are called vikalpa.

The fourth one is nidra or sleep. If the mind is not in any one of the three vikalpas, then it is asleep.

The fifth activity of the mind is smriti-remembering the experiences it has had. When you are awake, are you in any of these four states of modulations? Then, that is not meditation. That is not Yoga.

Are you looking for some proof? Are you debating with yourself? Are you hanging on to the wrong knowledge or concepts about how things are? You do not know how things are because the whole world is fluid. There is nothing solid here. Nobody is solid. Nobody’s mind is solid. No thoughts are solid. The whole world is fluid or even airy. Go one step further, and you can say it is all airy-fairy! Anything can change at anytime and in any manner. The whole world is full of probabilities and possibilities. But your mind gets fixed on things, people, ideas, places, etc. It categorizes them into definite items, quantities, etc. This is how it is-set ideas, using the proof of the wrong information or the vikalpa, fantasizing and dwelling in the past experiences. The four modulations of mind plus the sleep, the fifth modulation, are the five different vrittis of the mind.

अभ्यासवैराग्याभ्यां तन्निरोधः

Abhyaasa vairagyaabhyaam tan nirodhah.

How will you get over the overpowering nature of these vrittis?

It is through abhyasa and vairagya-practice and detachment.

तत्र स्थितौ यत्नोऽभ्यासः

Tatra sthithau yatno abhyaasaha.

That which you do to ‘be’ is called abhyasa or practice. Abiding in the seer is abhyasa. That which you do to be there, now, here or in this moment is abhyasa. An effort is needed for you to relieve yourself from the five modulations and just be here-now, now, now; to bring the mind to the present and not dwell on past memories. This effort is called abhyasa.

You can start by being determined that you are not going to dwell on any logic. You are free from pramaana. You are not going to be interested in any proof. If the mind is asking for proof, just know it. Know it, observe it and relax. You are not interested in any wrong knowledge or right knowledge. Often when the mind is on wrong knowledge, it thinks it is on the right one. So, it is not even interested in knowing anything. Retrieve the mind from knowing, and from knowledge. There is no anxiety to see, smell, touch, feel or understand anything. Let things be the way they are. Do not care. Do not pass judgements of right or wrong. Free yourself from viparyaya, vikalpa. Check if the mind is on some imagination or some fantasy. By just knowing that it is imagining or fantasizing, it drops off. It is just like the time when you know that you are dreaming-the dream vanishes. Knowing you are on a vikalpa, or a fantasy, it just drops off, thereby freeing you. This moment is so new, so fresh and so total. Abhyasa is just recognizing the moment when you are free, fresh, full and totally in the present moment. Here your mind might try to go into the past. You know that the mind is getting into the five vrittis without any aversion or craving. This is coming back to the centre; to the seer.

This moment, again and again and again, is abhyasa.

Chapter 2 Honouring the Practice

Never mind. The mind can never go where you are. A wave can never go to the depth of the ocean. By the time the wave goes to the depth, it ceases to be a wave. So the mind can never come to you. The mind can never be you. That is why never mind! You are never the mind. It is superficial. The moment that mind starts coming towards you, it is not a mind. That is why it is said, “Never mind.” You are accepted there; never the mind. Your mind can never go there.

You know you have had this experience often. The mind keeps on asking questions, “Why, why, why, why?” You feel that something that is bothering you is your mind’s stuff! At that moment there is alertness, and an awareness dawns. And then there is a relief in the mind. And the more you feel that your questions are just “mind’s stuff!”, more and more you are aware. And then, the questions just vanish. This is abhyaasa, this is practice.

In the next sutra, Patanjali says,

स तु दीर्घकालनैरन्तर्यसत्कारासेवितो दृढभूमिः

Sa tu dheerghakaala nairantharya sathkaara sevito dridha bhoomih.

The effort to be still and steady comes with practice. At some time you may realize that it is the moment. And then it vanishes. You feel that the moment had come and you lost it. You say, “Now,” and then the “Now” is lost. It may not be right to say you have lost it but, in some sense, you feel you are not in the “Now.” But, this effort is not just linear -this effort to be steadily established in the “Now” because of it. The “Now” is not linear. The “Now” is very deep and vast. The “Now”, the present moment, is not just a point; not just a dot. It is infinity. It is “Now” in all dimensions and from all sides. Practice gives stability in that moment-that is the purpose of practice. And how can that be arranged? How can that be achieved?

Sa tu dheergakaala-it takes a long time. Nairantharya means without a gap. Sathkaara sevita means with honour and respect-receiving it and practicing it with honour and respect. Dhrida bhoomi-then it becomes firmly established. Anything of value in life takes some time to culture. To master an art-cooking, playing a guitar, sitar, or a flute-takes some time. You cannot learn to play the flute in a day. It is not possible. To learn to play an instrument takes quite a while, and to master it even more. A coach is needed to teach how to play football. If you want to be a sportsman, you need a coach and you need practice. You need a coach in a gymnasium. You cannot make your body muscular overnight. It takes quite a long time. The body has its own requirement of time for its growth. Similarly, the mind takes even longer for its growth. It takes some time to memorize something. In the same way, any practice takes some time. It need not be too long but sufficiently long and without interruption. We usually learn something for a time and then stop. We will start again after some time. If we feel like doing it, we do, and don’t do it if we do not want to; when we feel a little lazy. Then, the connection is broken, and what we want does not happen. Constant practice without a gap is essential. If you go to the gymnasium for a couple of days and stop and then go again after some time, you will not achieve anything. You may practice on the piano for two days and lay off for two months. Then, you start playing again. There is no consistency and nothing is gained. Lack of consistency prevents you from learning any art.

Therefore, sa tu dheergakaala-a long time without a gap. Sathakara sevita.-This is another important point-with honour and respect. Sometimes, we grumble when we do something. It is of no use doing something unenthusiastically. That is not abhyasa. Abhyasa