Antardarshana

yoga-anga-anushtthaanaat-ashuddhi-khsye-jnaana-deeptihi-aaviveka-khyate

(Patanjali Yoga Sutra)

The meaning of this Sutra is: By establishing oneself in any aspect of yoga, the impurities wean away and the wisdom blossoms. What are the aspects of yoga? It is said thus: The eight limbs of yoga are--yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. I would briefly talk about the Sutra.

There is a misconception about practicing yoga. The impression is, one should first take up yama, then niyama and then.... Actually it is not so. Yoga is a flower having eight petals. Any flower, when it blossoms from bud, doesn’t open out its petals one by one. Gradually, all the petals would open out. In the same way, you take up any aspect of yoga, or any petal of yoga, slowly there would be a flowering of a personality. All the petals would blossom depending on yoga-anga-anushthana.

To understand it better, let us take up a yoga-anga called yama. Out of five in yama, let us take the first--ahimsa. To get established in ahimsa, it takes many lives. Gandhiji took up only two of yama: ahimsa and satya. His practice of these two granted liberation of the whole country from its alien rulers! In fact, it was a side-effect of his own evolution. It made him a Mahatma! Just imagine the power of yoga-anga-anushthana. If you too want to get established in any yoga-anga, make modest beginnings. Don’t take up vows which you can’t accomplish. If you want to practise ahimsa, begin from your home.

To take up any sadhana, the prime importance should be laid on creating the environment. Through continuous practice, try to create the external as well as internal environments, not by force, but by gentleness. It is possible that you make mistakes; don’t worry. Grow as you do mistakes, and march ahead. When an INSAT satellite failed a few years ago, the head of that organisation had said, “We would learn more from mistakes than from successes.” Just see how successful they are now. In that way, every aspect of life is a satellite-launch. We stop growing if we don’t learn lessons and march ahead.

If you want to practice satya, it is subjective. You can’t always prove it to others but you can experience it in you. You can’t even teach it, but you can stay in it. Try to stay in it, not teach it. The environment plays a very important role in creating a vibrant atmosphere. In that atmosphere, the seed of truth grows. In everybody’s deeper layers of consciousness, the seed of truth is present. The reason why we are having problems with ourselves is, we are not providing the right environment in the deeper layers of our consciousness. That is why, there is no sprouting of the true personality. If you are watchful enough, you would see only weeds in the deeper chambers of our being. Ironically, we are nourishing them. In order to give strength and vitality to the seed so that it grows, we have to remove the weeds. The removal of weeds is done by following yama and niyama. Niyama is creating the external environment, like cleanliness, exhibiting happiness... Staying in yama means practising, one or more of, ahimsa, satya, non-stealing, non-possessiveness.. Yama is the Lord of Death too. Taking up sadhana also means learning the art of dying. Learning to die at every moment – means seeing life afresh.

Staying in yama will help us to see the life in its totality. For this, one needs to follow an element of ahimsa in one’s awareness. I am not saying that you follow ahimsa in its totality. I don’t say that you behave in a particular way in order to practise a code of conduct. Ahimsa is that where there is no ‘himsa’. If I start condemning people, if I irritate them, disturb them and hurt with harsh words, that is himsa. These too are the acts of violence. It would harm you more, internally, than the one whom you are harming.

I have different yardsticks for others and for myself. If I apply the same yardstick for others as well as for myself, then I stay in ahimsa. Ahimsa practice is to treat everybody as a part of your own being--your husband/wife, children, parents, inlaws, friends/foes... If I hurt you, it would take the form of tension in myself and it would not allow me to keep quiet; it starts disturbing me. I get agitated and disgusted. I become even frustrated and fearsome. Violence breeds further violence. That is why, sage Patanjali asks us to sprinkle the fragrance of ahimsa in our attitude, in our behaviour. I don’t ask you to practice ahimsa to the extent our sages have lived; just see how far you can practice. If you practice ahimsa, the effect would be a calm and quiet mind.

In this way, you can correct every aspect of your gestures. The way you sit, the way you talk, the way you snub people, the way you pick and choose things for yourself and deny certain things to others. If you sit with a hunch back, try to sit straight. If you are curt, try to be sonorous in your words.

With regard to practicing Satya, it is becoming sincere to your inner being. Find out whether you are true to yourself. If you are leading the life of a hypocrite, try to be straight and, at the same time, polite. Be in a feeling, “I am what I am; I don’t hide anything.” In order to deal with the external world, people lie a lot. In order to hide one lie, we would roll out a chain of lies. But the human consciousness can’t tolerate this and it would bring out the truth one day or the other. It can’t accept anything that is untrue.

As you continuously stay in yoga-anga-anushthana, the pseudo personality that you have built over the years, over so many lives, would lose its strength and the true seed starts getting its nourishment; when it grows, it would be a magnificent tree, giving shelter to so many tired souls. May you be blessed.