Sivaratri Talk -Upasana Yoga (10/03/2013)

In our tradition, our scriptures have given us several spiritual and religious sadhanas for daily practice. Among all these practices there is one practice that is very important, useful, and very efficacious. And that is upasanam or upasana. It is so important and presented in the Vedas as upasana kandam. And one ashrama, the vanaprastha ashrama, is specially designed for practice of Upasana.

            The word “Upasana” literally means “staying or sitting near”. It says staying near or in proximity but does not say staying near what? We are supposed to fill up properly. We should not interpret it as staying near television or staying near Naivedyam; it should be understood as staying near God. Ishwarm Upa Asanam (Asnam means staying or sitting, Up means near, and Ishwaram is God). This Upasana is also known as “Upa vasah” (Vasah means staying). So if the devotee wants to stay near with the Lord on special occasions like Sivaratri day, Vaikunda Ekadasi etc the entire day, he/she will not have time even for eating food.  Therefore by the implied meaning of “Upa vasah” began to mean “not eating food.” Upa vasah means staying near the Lord that we don’t have time for cooking food, or eating, or visiting New Woodlands hotel! We want to spend the whole time with the Lord. This proximity (of staying near the Lord) has two dimensions; one is physical proximity and the other is mental proximity. Physical proximity is doing puja or visiting temples; but more important is mental proximity, by which I mean, the mind dwells on the thoughts of the Lord. Mentally dwelling on the thoughts of the Lord is mental Upvasah Between physical proximity to the Lord and mental proximity to the lord, which is important? Mental proximity is considered more important and efficacious. I could be in the temple and mind may be dwelling on the tasty “panjamritham” mentally! Therefore manasa upavasah is more efficacious than just physical. Even the scriptures declare that among Kaeeka, Vachika, and Manasa activities, mental one is the most powerful. Even in Japa they talk of three types; one is vocal and loud repetition of the mantra (Vachika Japa), the second is whispering repetition (Upanshu Japa), and the third is mental repetition (Manasa Japa). We may consider loud chanting as spending more energy but Sastra says that “Manasa Japa” is Uthamam. What I want to emphasize here is “mental proximity to the Lord” is very important aspect of Upasanam.

            This Upasana, our elders, prescribe as a regular activity. Not just for one day in a year like Sivaratri but a daily Nitya Karma. The daily practice of Sandhya Vandanam is considered to be the most important Upasana. Therefore Ishwara Upasanam is considered to be Nitya Karma where I enjoy the presence of the lord or thoughts of the Lord in my mind. There is this story of a Nayanmar that Swami Dayananda loves; among the 63 Nayanmar there was a Nayanmar who was a great Siva Bhakta by name Pushalar or someone. He built a temple for Siva mentally. The Nayanmar built a temple in the mind while parallelly a local king was building a most expensive temple. The King fixed the time of Kumbhabisekham; Lord Siva appeared in the dream of the king and said his appointment on that day was already booked. The Lord also has a dairy and HE also has bookings and appointments; My bhakta is doing a Kumbhabisekham and that is very important for ME and therefore you change the date. The King’s ego was hurt: I have spent so much money and how can the Lord give importance to someone else. Then the king asked,” Where is this temple?” and the Lord gave him the address, somewhere in the outskirts of Chennai. The king visited that place and found nothing. He found the Nayanar and when the king queried about the temple, the Nayanmar said,” I have built the whole temple in my heart and I have fixed the Kumbhabisekham.” That is when the king realized that Manasam is more powerful and efficacious than Vachikam and Kaeekam. Therefore this manasa upasanam is one of our Nitya Karma. But unfortunately Sandhya Vandanam is now an endangered species; many people who are supposed to do don’t even know the mantras. Sandhya Vandanam can be replaced by Ishwara Upasanam like manasa puja. What is the daily Upasanam that is prescribed by the scriptures? The purpose of Upasanam is to refine ourselves both externally and internally, which is called a samskara karma. There are 41 samskarams in the scriptures and one of them is the Upasanam. The word “samskara: is defined as “dosha appanayanaka purvah guna adharam” – removing the impurities both externally and internally and adding more virtues. As the 16^th chapter of the Bhagawad Gita “Asureem Sampath elimination” “Daiveem Sampath acquisition” is “Samskarah”. According to the scripture “Samskaras” are required and the ultimate stage of spiritual and religious life is “offering ourselves unto the Lord”. Initially we offer various things to the Lord in the form of naivedyam, bananas etc but the ultimate stage (which is the ninth stage of Bhakti) is “Atma Nivedhana Roopa Bhakti”. You would have heard the sloka: sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam; varieties of expressions of Bhakti and the ultimate stage is the bhakta does not exist separate from Bhagawan. As we saw in Taittiriya Upanishad, Bhagawan-Bhakta division must be removed. Dwitha Bhaki must culminate in Advaitha Bhakti in which the devotee offers himself to the Lord. And if I have to offer myself, I must purify. Like if we are offering flowers in a puja we must clean all the flowers. Not only physical cleaning but also spiritual cleaning like sprinkling “Bhur Bhu Sua Om”. If I am to offer myself to the Lord, I must likewise refine myself. Nitya Upasanam is self-refinement to make myself fit to offer myself to the Lord. Ishwara Sayukyam Ikyam.

            The next question is “How do I know I getting refined or not?” What are the indications of spiritual, religious refinements? In our dharma sastra the indications are given. These Nitya Upsana must refine me and confer me with Asta Atma guna; by following Upasana one will get eight fold virtues. The practice of Upsana is called “Upasana Yoga”. When I do upasanam for worldly benefits it is called “Sakamam” but with objective is to refine myself and offer myself to the lord it is “Nishkama Upasana yoga”. What are the eight virtues we have to develop?

            Daya is the first virtue – consideration for other people or being aware of other’s difficulties. That sensitivity for others is first guna. The second is Skhesma; patience. Whenever I want things done, I can use violent method also. Or by non-violence also. By shouting at people and threatening people, I can get things done. That Sastra says violence is not good; always try to get things done in a pleasant non-violent method. Violent method should only be the last resort. That means I should have lot of patience. You can point a gun at someone, and they will immediately comply. But non-violent methods require patience. Therefore to have daya you must have skhesma. The third is “anasuya” – not having jealousy on seeing the prosperity and progress of others. The fourth is “Shaucham” that is having purity at thought, word, and deed level. My motives are always noble. Then the fifth is “Anaayasah” – enjoying a disposition always which is calm and quiet at physical, mental and vocal levels. The sign of a calm disposition in the mind is a relaxed body language; my words at the vocal level reflects calmness and gentleness. You can request someone to stay away in a calm manner or you can get agitated and yell, “Get away.” Anything we can say gently or rudely. So if I can be gentle in my body language, in my verbal language, and even at thought level; it is called “Anaayasah” or “Calm Disposition” (Ayasa Hinah) and chief benefit is freedom from stress and tension. The sixth virtue is “Karpanyam which is freedom from self-pity. All the time complaining “I am miserable, I am miserable”. Self-pity or low self-image is called “Karpanyam” which is what Arjuna felt in the first chapter of Gita. “I have one qualification and which makes me proud is that I am a bhakta of the Lord.” So freedom from self-pity or “Karpanyam” The seventh one is “Aspruhah” – freedom from greed and attachment. And the eighth and last one is “Mangalam”. The word”mangalam” means a pleasant and cheerful and endearing personality. People enjoy coming near me; just seeing me they will not run away. As I have always said: Some people give happiness wherever they go, some people give happiness when they go away. Meditate on this! So having a pleasant, cheerful, and endearing personality in spite of having problems! Everyone has problems and it does not mean that I have to distribute my misery to everyone around. This is called “mangalam” These eight virtues are called “Astau Atma Gunah” which makes me fit for “Atma rupa nivedhana bhakti”. These eight qualities must be developed through nitya ishwara upasana. Shivaratri day is an auspicious day to take a vow that “I will spend some time daily for Ishwara Upasana”. Not only will it refine, it will also give me physical and mental health. In fact your BP will come down, you can test. Without medicines you can eliminate blood pressure.

            Then the next question is “how do I practice upasana”. Several methods are mentioned in the scriptures. And one method is “manasa puja” which is a beautiful and convenient form of upasana which does not involve the physical body. Doing a puja requires a lot of physical fitness. And for most of us sitting itself is a project! Somehow they sit; most of them say,” Swamiji we don’t want to sit in front of you; so we don’t need a chair.” Then I will tell them,” Please sit in the chair. If you sit on the floor then I will have to lift you up.” …..(laughs) “So at least for my sake, take the chair.” So even a ritualistic puja many of us are not able to do; Sandhya Vandanam is a beautiful daily ritual and if you can do them, it is fine. But if cannot, then you can sit in any posture including an easy chair, we can do a “manasa puja” if you don’t doze off. And many of our Acharyas have written several “manasa puja slokams” on several deities. There is “devi manasa puja” and “Dakshinamurthy manasa puja” but the simplest and most beautiful one is “Shiva Manasa Puja” which is only five slokas.  Rathnai Kalpitham asanam, Himajalai snanam cha divyambaram Naana rathna vibhooshitham mruga madha modhanvitham Chandanam, today being Sivaratri, I wanted to quote this. Jathi champaka bilwa pathra rachitham, pushpamcha deepam Thada Deepam deva dayanithe pasupathe, hrud kalpyatham gruhyatham ll

You can mentally chant this sloka and visualize the Lord taking an asanam and the asanam made up of all precious stones. And you can do that because it is a mind thing!.......(laughs). You visualize the most expensive jewelry and mentally offer each one of them. Souvarne nava rathna Ganda Rachithe, pathre Grutham Payasam Bakshyam pancha vidam Payo dadhiyutham, rambha phalam panakam Saaka namayutham jalam ruchikaram, karpoora gandojwalam Thamboolam manasa maya virachitham Bhakthyo prabho sweekuru ll Chathram Chamarayoryugam vyajanagam, chaa darshakam nirmalam. All these are offered to you by devotion; may you kindly receive. Careful, you should not say: I am offering and may you accept them with devotion…..(laughs) because in Sanskrit the word “bhaktya” comes in the wrong place. We have a booklet and may you learn this simple sloka and then you can do a beautiful manasa puja which is equal to daily sandhya vandanam. Those of you who have taken “sanyasam” from Sandhya Vandanam can replace it with this beautiful manasa puja. After the third sloka the puja is over. The fourth sloka Aathma thwam Girija Mathi sahacharaa, prana sarreram gruham lPooja theey vishayopa bhoga rachana, nidhra samadhi sthithi l Sanchara padayo pradakshina vidhi, , sthothrani sarva giraa lYadyath karma karomi thathad akhilam, shambho thavaradhanam. At the end of the sloka we have to do “etha sthanam prateshtta payami” which means you have to send back the Lord to his original place. Then the question will crop up as to what is the original place of Bhagawan? You may think it is “Kailasa” but what the Sastra says would shock you,” the original place of Shiva is your very own heart only.” Yo veda nihitam guhayam parame vyoman so'snute sarvan kaman saha brahmana vipascita. So after the puja I install the Lord in my own heart. That means my body becomes a temple. I am carrying the Lord with me always. This bhavana is wonderful for throughout life, we have this sense of insecurity. Insecurity is one universal problem. It grows more and more when we are growing old. We want all the relations to be around us all the time. Paka Balam….(laughter) Unfortunately our present day lifestyle is such that all our relatives are scattered all over. Children are everywhere except near me! They are in America, Russia, Japan, Australia and only we oldies are left behind in India. You cannot even summon them for an emergency for flight itself takes 19 hours. By which time I will reach Kailasa itself…(laughter). We don’t have any support and Sastras says,” don’t rely on any local support”. They themselves are not sure of their lives. Therefore what is the best support? HAVE THE LORD IN YOUR HEART. Therefore I am always with Ishwara. Thereafter Kara charana krutham vaak kayajam karmajam vaa l Sravana nayanajam vaa maanasam vaa aparadham l Vihithamavihitham vaa sarva methath Kshamaswa l Jaya Jaya katunabdhe sri Mahadeva Shambho ll For the sake of our survival we often compromise with ethical and moral values. All the values are going away. Even those who wish to follow values complain to me,” O Swamiji, It is easy for you to preach. How does it matter to you?” …(laughter). We are regularly violating and we are regularly doing himsa (everyone has a mosquito bat at home and daily centuries!) All these are pappams and what Prayachitams we are doing? Sandhya Vandanam is a Prayachitam and that also we have renounced. We commit so many pappas and we don’t do Prayachitam it will take me more and more away from God. Therefore daily prayachitam is daily Upasanam, and very important. According to Sastra, Sandhya Vandanam must be done thrice a day. Even if you do once in the early morning, it is a very good practice. If anyone is not doing, you can start from tomorrow itself. Sandhya Vandanam is a wonderful spiritual and religious practice. It is called manasa puja.

            The second method of Upasanam is manasa parayanam. If we cannot do a puja, we can chant any slokam we know. But the chanting is also done mentally. What will happen if we chant vocally? The mouth will be chanting while the mind will be worrying. Because we know it by heart Jagath prabhum deva devam antham purushothamam I Sthuvan nãma sahasréna purusha saththo thithaha and we will be racing at the speed of a train. I know so many people do Bharatanatyam also while chanting! They even keep talking,” When did you come?” We will have conversations all over while chanting! So “manasa puja” is much more efficacious.

            The third one is “manasa japah”. Japa is taking any nama like “Om Namo Shivaya” or “Om Namo Narayanaya” or any word like “Maha Deviya Namah” and any mantra we can choose. We need not wait for initiation. People nowadays have different excuses. And one excuse is,” I have not been initiated.” Bhagawan HIMSELF is the best guru. We can get initiated by Bhagawan and take any nama and mentally chant. This is called Manasa Japah.

            And the fourth one is a very, very important Upasana which is vishwa rupa bhavanam. This is an integral part of all upasanam. In manasa puja parayanam etc we have a deity in front of us in the form of Siva linga or Saligrama or any moorties. But we should remember that these moorties only represent Bhagawan and that Bhagawan is in the form of the entire creation. According to Sastra the first avataram of Bhagawan is in the form of the world itself. This is the most beautiful and wonderful avatara because it is available throughout. If you read the translation of Sri Rudram, it says Lord, you are in the form of Akasha in Chidambaram, you are in the form of Vayu in Kalahasthi, you are in the form of Agni in Tiruvanammalai, you in the form of Jala Lingam in Tirivanni Kaval, you are in the form of Prithivi lingam in Kanchipuram” which means the Lord is the manifestation of five elements, panja bhootas. This Vishwa Rupa Ishwara Dyanam is the most important part of Upasanam. In Vishnu Sarashanam there is sloka is boo padam asura wilayah and in Sri Rudram we have the slokam “Jala Dara Kalasam Lingam Akasha Murthim” indicating the dome of the lingam is the sky. “Nakshtram Puspamalyam” what a beautiful description that all the stars are nothing but flowers on the Shiva Linga. graha ganda kusuma chandra vani arka natram, Kukshit Samudram Hima giri sayanam sapta pathala, vedam vaktram dasa dishi vadanam divya lingam navami. The ultimate lingam is vishwa rupa Ishwara. In the Vishnu Sahasranama the first name of Vishnu is “Vishwam” – the whole universe.  

This meditation is extremely important to eliminate two problems faced by all human beings. Those are “Ahamkara” and “Mamakara”. Ahamkara is claiming ownership of body and mind. And claiming a few things around is Mamakara, my car, my house, my new chapels. One of the worries in any function is “my new chapel should be there when I leave”. Nowadays people do “Chappel Dyanam” for it is very, very costly. That is why I chose “wooden” shoes….(laughter) but nowadays wooden shoes are becoming a fashion. Now I am worried whether I will lose my chapels. So Ahamkara and Mamakara is claiming Bhagawan;s property as mine. According to Sastras Ahamkara and Mamakara is trespassing in God’s territory. And Bhagawan’s is clear: trespassers will be prosecuted. Whoever claims “I” or “mine” is subject to prosecution. And this prosecution is samsara in the form of fear, worry, attachment and most of the negative emotions are born out of Ahamkara and Mamakara. Whenever you are anxious, ask yourself “about what”? Not the auto rickshaw of some person. Because in that auto rickshaw, I don’t have ahamkara and Mamakara. I only get anxious when “I” and “mine” are involved. Those can be weakened only by the Vishwa Rupa Ishwara dhyanam. That is why in the “arathi” there is Hindi prayer tan-man-dhan sub kuch tere. I am not the owner of anything. I am only the user of Bhagawan;s property. The Lord has given me everything for my temporary use. And Bhagawan can take away anything including the closest body without advance notice, not even a sms …..laughter. A person may go to sleep and never wake up. Therefore I have to replace “ownership” idea with “usership.” As Bhagawan is the owner of everything he is the controller of everything. I don’t have control over anything including my body; I don’t know whether my body will be in ICU or You See Me. We don’t know. But I do have a freewill and I can play an “influencing” part. I don’t have a controlling freewill except an influencing freewill. Bhagawan can give me any experience according to HIS will or HIS law of karma. Therefore future is a continuous experience of favourable and unfavourable situations. If at all I can ask Bhagawan, I can only ask,” O God, give me the courage to go through any blessed experience that you want me to go through.” If I am engaged in various projects, I cannot ask for success all the time. Because Bhagawan will not give what I ask but what I deserve according to the law of Karma. I tell Bhagawan that I prefer success but I immediately add; give me the courage to receive any experience that you want me to go through. I use Vishwa Rupa Ishwara Upasana to gain courage and strength. The most important resource we need is life is COURAGE and STRENGTH because life is a mixture of opposites. Sukha Dukha, Labha, labou etc.

      So Manasa puja, manasa parayanam, manasa japa and Vishwa Rupa Dyanam is to get courage and strength to face the day. I will take a sankalpa that I will follow the karma yoga way of life. I have talked about Karma Yoga in 2013 New Year speech,” Pancha Angani”. Mayi sarvani karmani sannyasa adhyatma cetasa nirasih nirmamo bhutva yudhyasva vigata jvarah. I will recapitulate: a)   Keep moksha as primary goal b)      Dedicate every action to the Lord as an offering. Every Karmaphallam comes from the Lord and everything is fair. There is no unfair karmaphallam in the world. Therefore I accept any karmaphallam as Ishwara Prasadam. c)      Keep OFF all the expectation from the mind. Replace expectations with seeking courage and strength to deal with any situation whether it is tallying me or not. d)  Always remember I am not the owner or controller, I am only the user and influencer. e)   Learn to say from your heart, you are willing and confident of going through every experience, any karmaphallam. That is, be equanimous. As given by Lord Krishna, I chant this verse and take a vow that I will follow. Krishna when says it means “you chant” and when we say it will become “Krishna you chant” so we will make a slight change mayi sarvani karmani ,  sannyasyadhyatma-cetasa, nirasir nirmamo bhutva,  yudhyasva vigata-jvarah. Mayi will change to Dwayi and Yudhyasva to Yudheya. I take a resolution that I will follow Karma yoga. If I practice this upasanam regularly, I will have peace of mind, I will have spiritual growth, and at the time of death I will not have puner janma but I will merge with Ishwara. This is very beautiful Nitya Karma and this Ishwara Upasanam every one of us should do. And my request is please follow Upasanam daily and preferably at the time of Sandhya on waking up. Let us have the grace of Lord Shiva for implementing this Upasana Yoga in our daily life.

New Year – 2014: Astanga Yoga

First of all I wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous year 2014. Last year I talked about “yoga” and how different meanings are there for the word. From Veda’s viewpoint the word “yoga” is ikyam or union between Jivatma and Paramatma. According to scriptures both Jivatma and Paramatma are one only and because of ignorance we have created a division between them. Through knowledge when we remove this notational division, it is called Jivatma-Paramatma ikyam which is nothing but “Jnanam”. Therefore the primary meaning of the word yoga is jnanam and this is the goal of every jiva. Therefore we call it Sadhya yogah and yoga the destination.  

To reach his goal the scriptures prescribe several disciplines and all those disciplines are also called yogah (more specifically, Sadhana yoga). There are many yogas talked about and we have seen karma yoga which is one type of sadhana yoga, then upasana yoga and then finally jnana yoga which is systematic and consistent study of scriptures like the Gita for a length of time under the guidance of a competent an Acharya. Following these yogas an aspirant will reach the destination, Sadhya yoga, which is jivatma-paramatma ikyam and this is moksha. There is also one more yoga which is very important called “Astanga yoga” as a Sadhana yoga.

Today I want to briefly dwell on this topic of Astanga yoga and otherwise also called Patanjali yoga. Patanjali Maharishi presented Astanga yoga in his well known work “Patanjali Sutra.” This Astanga yoga has two darshanams, the theoretical part, the yoga darsham and the disciplines called yoga sadhanam. Of the two, we don’t take the yoga darshanam in our tradition because it deviates from the Vedic teaching. Therefore the darshanam part is rejected. Vysya while presenting the Vedic darshanam sets aside the yoga darshanam propounded by Patanjali Maharishi. Though we reject the yoga darshanam part of Yoga sutra we accept the other part, yoga sadhana, which is called Astanga yoga. Astanga yoga is accepted as a sadhana by both Vysacharya and Sankaracharya. This Astanga yoga is very useful and beautiful for all the people. I propose to briefly present the principles of Astanga yoga in today’s lecture.

            Patanjali Maharishi present yoga sutra and defines yoga is “Chitta Vritti Nirodah”. Chitta means mind, vritti means function meaning thoughts proliferation or mental function and Nirodha means disciplining or regulating. Therefore Astanga yoga means a scheme for disciplining mental function. Or in simple language yoga means “mental discipline”. We will know the importance of mental discipline if we know two things regarding the mind. We must know the greatness and powerfulness of an internal organ the mind that we are given. Mind is very important and powerful internal organ. We must know the problems faced by the mind also. Mind is the most powerful instrument we have with which we can accomplish all the goals of life; artha, kama, dharma and moksha. Mind is so powerful that we have to use it in all our activities. We have different sense organs for different activities; to see form we have “eyes” and to hear we don’t use “eyes” rather another sense organ the “ears”. Therefore each sense organ is used for a particular area and not always but the mind has to be employed in all the area. Mind is so primary and powerful. Mind has a unique capacity to convert heaven into hell and hell into heaven. A person with every convenience can feel miserable and a person weighed by so many negative things can feel so wonderful. The quality of our life is dependent on the most powerful organ, the mind. All these are the glories of the mind and you can do an archana which in Veda is hiranyagarba upasana.  

The powerful mind also has another dimension; it has a serious problem in its nature. The mind has the nature of producing/generating continuous thoughts without taking permission from us. Without our will, without our permission, without our involvement the mind which is supposed to be our instrument – we are the owner but the mind acts on its own. The mind must produce thoughts of our choosing but its nature is to produce thoughts continuously. The involuntary thoughts is happening even now….(laughter). I have no way of knowing all the involuntary thoughts that are going in the audience and who all are listening to me now. This generation of “continuous involuntary thoughts” is a very serious problem. And because of which several adverse consequences takes place. When there are involuntary thoughts, the thoughts kidnap the mind. And this means the mind is not available for my use. Even though Bhagawan has given me a wonderful mind, I am deprived of the benefit. Like I buy a car for my use and all the family enjoys it. I want to come to the morning class and the car is not there! The most powerful gift god has given us but these involuntary thoughts encroach upon it. There is a property dispute which we are not even aware of. The dispute is who the owner of the mind? Involuntary thoughts are the encroachers that kidnap the mind and the biggest problem is “I don’t have the mind for my use most of the time.” I do all the actions as an absent minded person as a mindless person or “living in absentia.” I go through the entire life because the mind is not available, as a kartha I am inefficient. In all the actions many mistakes are committed as forgetfulness is a problem. I misplace something and waste hours searching for it – always searching for a pen or book or anything. As a Bogtha I cannot even enjoy a beautiful concert in Marghazi season. I am in the auditorium and “I am here but I do not hear” – such absented mindedness and all due to the involuntary thoughts that the mind produces without my permission. As a kartha I fail, as a bogtha I fail, as a pramatha the learner I fail because I don’t listen. I don’t listen because the mind is not behind it. It is engaged elsewhere and robs me of my efficiency. I experience is often: I announce a class in the morning while one or two will come in the evening and find the hall empty. They will call me saying,” Swamiji there is no one.” Case of announcements not registered…..(laughter).

Involuntary thoughts are the greatest enemies we have not recognized. The second problem when these involuntary thoughts are constantly moving in the mind, several times they produce disturbing emotions also. These involuntary thoughts produce toxic emotions like worry, anxiety, fear, depression, regret, hurt, guilt – all these are generated in the mind by the involuntary thought without my invitation. These come and encroach my mind. Even when I ask them to go, they don’t go away. The problem of emotional disturbance is a serious one. When these toxic emotions stay for a long time, I even lose my health. Loss of efficiency is first problem, loss of health is second adverse effect of involuntary thoughts in the mind. In fact many of our modern diseases are caused by a stressful mind. Stress means involuntary thoughts continuously running in my mind and running very very fast. And in the old age when I retire from most activities I own a mind that I don’t really own. I am stuck with a mind I cannot set away, it comes with me wherever I go. Owned by whom actually? Involuntary thoughts! Thoughts keep piling upon one another and all kinds of problems flare up. I call them “FEDEREL” problem. Fe means fear, De for depression, Re is regret and L is loneliness. I am here and the children are away. Even here L stands alone! I am stuck with a mind with FEDEREL problem in old age. My life becomes miserable because of what? I did not realize the problem and seriousness of “involuntary thoughts”.

Astanga yoga is a scheme by which I learn to be aware of this serious problem and take measures to tackling it. As the very word shows, Astanga yoga consists of eight steps. Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. The first two are general disciplines and this we have seen in my lecture “The ten commandments of Hindusim”. We will now see the later six disciplines called the yogic meditation. Only when I am aware of this problem of “involuntary thoughts” only then I will be serious to tackling them. These six yogas will let me see whether these involuntary thoughts are the owner of my mind or I am the owner of my mind and capable of giving a job to the mind. Who is the boss? I or the Mind? What are the “Shadaga Yoga”?

The first is “Asanam” in which I sit in a posture deliberately. I sit in a physical posture and am intensely and totally aware of my entire body from top to bottom. I am conscious of the body, I am conscious of the posture, and I consciously relax the body. If I consciously do that it means that my mind is available for that job I have set for it. Incidentally it will help in relaxing also. This is asanam or consciously being seated. The whole principle of Astanga Yoga is deliberate and conscious action.

The second step is “Pranayama” – consciously and slowing breathing and being intensely aware of the breathing process. Conscious and slow inhalation and exhalation and making sure my mind is aware doing this job deliberately. If I do both “Asanam” and “Pranayama” I have used my mind and the “flow of involuntary thoughts” would go away. Because I have taken possession of my mind doing them deliberately; I have snatched my mind from wandering and for a moment free from the terrible and powerful involuntary thoughts. By consciously doing “asanam” and consciously doing “pranayama” I am exerting my ownership of my own mind. And if have succeeded in snatching my mind from involuntary thoughts I have come to “Pratyahara”.

Pratyahara means retrieving, bringing back from the clutches of involuntary thoughts; indicating I am the original owner of the mind but unfortunately the mind had been owned by involuntary thoughts. We try retrieving the mind for 15 minutes by being aware of this serious problems and deciding to take steps.

Having retrieved the mind in the third step, I continue to make sure I own the mind. If I don’t take any step then the involuntary thoughts are waiting there. You will retrieve your mind for a minute and these thoughts would swamp you under. These are most powerful internal enemies. So after retrieving the mind in the third step, I continue to give a job to the mind. I suggest whatever prayer you know in any language by-heart; say it mentally with a lot of deliberation. That you chant mentally with total awareness. It may be a guru strotram, it maybe Gita dhyanam or Shiva manasa puja by being aware of every word; like you are hearing yourself or the words appearing in your mind screen. You don’t have to think of the meaning for this a shabda pradhana manasa parayanam. I should be aware of every word for 5 minutes only. When I am doing that I am only extending my attention; dharanam is attention in a particular area and then I go to the next step “Dhyanam”.

            “Dyanam” is remaining in that thought for a length of time, maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Dharana is attention while Dhyanam is attention span. Many people have attention but they don’t have attention span. In any lecture they will be attentive for ten minutes and after that OUT. They will then look around, exclaim that there is a good crowd and start looking for the face of your friend in the audience! And all this happens without your permission – involuntary thoughts can take your attention away at will.  If one can listen to a 60 minute lecture with attention then that mind has a converging power. Dyanam is these thoughts must continue in the same field.

If Dyanam determines the length of attention the last part is “Samadhi”; which is the depth of attention. How deep and total my attention is? Samadhi means “absorption” and if I can have my mind absorbed in the field I have provided. We are not talking about one hour now; we are only seeing if we can remain aware in one thought for five minutes. What is the yardstick that you are absorbed totally? In that case you will forget the surroundings; I don’t hear anything, I don’t smell anything (in the neighborhood they may be preparing masala vada!). In Samadhi I am ignorant of the world; it is called Savi Kalpaka Samadhi. Not only do I forget surroundings, I forget myself also. This total self-absorption is called Nirvilpaka Samadhi. These six steps put together is called Shadaga Yoga Abyasa. When we practice them we will know whether we are the owners of our mind or the involuntary thoughts own our mind. If we don’t practice this yoga we will never know the seriousness of this problem. And if we don’t diagnose the problem how can we attempt a solution?  

Therefore we go through Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi for ten or fifteen minutes and by that time we will know where we stand; whether I am yogi or a rogi (manasa roga). Manasa roga is called samsara roga. Once you discover this problem then you will need a sankalpa – “Acknowledge I have this problem of involuntary thoughts” and these become masters of my mind. Now I have to get back my property back by defeating these involuntary thoughts. When my war becomes with my involuntary thoughts then I am called an “Astanga Yogi”. This war is not with my family members or any external actor but with my own involuntary thoughts. I take a strong sankalpa that I will live an alert and conscious life. I will watch involuntary thoughts and gradually reduce them and slowly they become weaker. They may not be totally removed but I can achieve an FIR reduction – frequency and intensity of reaction. How frequent are the involuntary thoughts that snatch away the mind and the intensity of these involuntary thoughts that rob my mind and how long these involuntary thoughts lasts; I will be alert and vigilant. My goal would be reduce involuntary thoughts and they must become weaker while I must become stronger and owner of my own mind.

And what are the steps to lead an alert life? The shadaga yoga will help me become a master of my own mind and it is called “Karma Yoga”. Karma yoga not only includes doing the duty, not only includes Ishwara Arpanam, and Prasada Bhavana; Karma yoga includes according to Sankara’s Bashyam Samadhi or Shadaga yoga. This Astanga yoga is integral part of Karma yoga which is spending some time to find out where my mind is and try to lead an alert life. As Krishna says: traigunya-visaya veda, nistraigunyo bhavarjuna, nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho, niryoga-ksema atmavan by leading a mindful life. Even in Buddhism they talk about “Right Mindfulness”. Which means whenever you are doing an action, do them consciously. When we do actions consciously we have two-fold advantages: when I am deliberate my efficiency improves (if you place your pen or book consciously then you will not have to search for them), as opposed to doing actions mechanically where involuntary thoughts proliferate. So one method of defeating involuntary thoughts is by being deliberate in one’s actions; before we start the class we chant guru strotram. Now see whether you can chant deliberately, or mouth chants and the mind rants! So the first benefit of deliberate action is we become efficacious and we make fewer and fewer mistakes. Even in giving cheques you will put the year properly or you will still be used to 2013 even this year. Why? When I put the date my mind is not there. I am telling this so that you write your cheques from today on….(laughs). Conscious actions will make me efficient, the second benefit is we win our war against the most powerful enemy which is “involuntary thoughts”. Krishna calls all the conscious actions as “Sattvic” actions. Mechanical chanting or mechanical puja is “Rajasic” karma; so increase your Sattva guna.

For regular chores like walking you don’t have to be deliberately conscious whether it is right or left leg. But in India, you better be conscious you don’t where there is a gutter! Therefore walking must be yoga in India! Especially if you are old, or you will land up in a hospital with a fracture. Because of what? Actions are mechanical. You place your feet after purifying them with your Dhristi, then even walking becomes a yoga. But if you are doing a regular chore and acting mechanically then have a programme for your mind otherwise involuntary thoughts will take over. Learn some slokas and repeat. The sloka which have to chant consciously, recently learnt sloka. If you know Vishnu Shastra Namam then you don’t chant that; then it becomes mechanical and involuntary thoughts will be generated. So have some conscious action by learning new slokas. By repeating them constantly and with alertness, you will learn them by-heart. Once they also become mechanical, learn a new set of slokas. You must have some conscious action ready for utilization to defeat the involuntary thoughts. Ultimately a successful person is one who is the owner of this own mind. So what is Astanga Yoga? It is winning the property dispute after several years; it is the longest war more than 30 years in a land dispute and involving Indian courts. My property is my own mind. And I can accomplish all the goals like Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha with such a mind.

Once I reduce involuntary thoughts I gain freedom from worrying habits. New Year starts and it is called Janworry …..(laughs). Freedom from habitual worry, habitual anxiety, habitual depression; all these problems are because of mechanical life. And we try to solve these problems by prayers and these prayers are done mechanically! The problem is mechanical and we add to the problem by Temple visit, mechanical. Puja, mechanical. Vedantic meditation, mechanical. Break mechanicalness and own your mind. This is a fantastic scheme presented by Patanjali Maharishi through the Shadaga yogah. Which I consider very important during the New Year by waging war with involuntary thoughts

I will briefly mention the first two steps Yama and Niyama which is a set of rules given in the form of Ten Commandments. I have dealt with them earlier; I will briefly list out the ten values that have to be observed if you are a serious spiritual seeker. For success both shadaga yoga and these two together is extremely important. Yama is observance of five values: Ahimsa (non-violence), Satyam (truthfulness), Asteyam (not owning any illegitimate property), Brahmacharyam (following the sexual morality), and Aparigraha (not possessing too much, which is a simple life). The five Niyamas are: Shoucham (cleanliness in word and deed), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (moderation), Svadhyaya (Scriptural Study), and Ishwarapranidanam (Surrender to the Lord). These ten values along with Shadaga yoga will give spiritual success. With this I conclude and wish you success in your war against involuntary thoughts in 2014.