Patanjali Yoga Sutras #5

Strength and purity is the purpose of tapas.

Svadhyaya: Self study, observing the self: Looking into the motives behind your actions. Often you don't go for things yo really want. You never looked into yourself. You are swayed away by fleeting thoughts, desires. Your desire is not even your desire.

Are you your thoughts, mind?

Self study eliminates misery and suffering of mind. Fears, anxieties.

Buddha has said this so beautifully. 

1. kaayanupaschana, observe the body.  
2. Vedanaanupaschana, observe the sensations in the body. 
3. Chittanupaschana, observe the mind, the impressions in the mind, the thoughts in the mind. 
4. Brahamaanupaschana, observe your very nature. Observe the dharma, the very nature that you are. 

Svadhyaya can eliminate all the mental or emotional impurities or fears, and Ishvara pranidhana, love of God, surrender to the Lord will complete the process.

How can love for God can blossom in you?

First step is to see Lord as separate from you. Lord of all virtues, and I am nobody. In this 'nobodiness' happens. Second step is to surrender.

Realize that it's all you, you (the Lord). This body, this universe is yours. This mind is yours. All mind's conflicts are yours. All the mind's beauty is yours. This offering itself is a technique which brings you back home.

Offer every breath, thought, moment of life. Anything. Offering all the negativity, positivity, you become free. By offering all the negativity, you will be free. By offering all those positive virtues you think you possess, you become free. You will not become arrogant. Virtues make you arrogant. Virtues make you behave as though you are special. 

It is your drawbacks which pull you down and make you feel bad about yourself . If you start feeling bad about yourself, you become unconnected to the divine. 

There is nothing to make you connected to the divine. It's up to you to feel close to the divine. To anybody for that matter. Even if they don't feel close, you can start feeling close. This is because nothing else can convince you that you are dear to the divine other than your own self. 

You just start feeling, that you are the most closest. Whatever seed you sow, it will start blossoming. 

To bring about samadhi in life.

What root causes of misery in life? 

Panch klesha. Ignorance is the root cause. What is ignorance? To think that which is not permanent as permanent. That is which not joy as joy.

A fixed idea about who you are, stops the growth and destroys you. Limits your possibilities.  You do not know who you are, that should be the right attitude. You are changing every moment and you have kept the possibility of change open. 

Asmita is one-ness of our intellect and our self. Inability to see the powers of the instrument as separate.

“Asmita or ego is thinking that the self or the intellect and the instruments of perception are one and the same.”

      

Patanjali Yoga Sutras #4

Kriya Yoga: Yoga of action.

Action is part and parcel of this creation. There is activity in everything atom, sun, moon, stars. Nothing is stable. There is absolutely no silence at all.

In every activity there is silence too. How do you see it? It needs sharpness of awareness. Keen-ness. 

Kriya Yoga has 3 parts:

Tapas - endurance, acceptance, willingly do something that is not easy. Focus is on physical body. If you had a choice you won't do it. This is tapa. Without grumbling willing accepting something that'd you rather not. Because you know the result of this action is v good.

Svadhyaya - self study, or study of mind

Ishvara pranidhana - devotion to the lord or the self

They all reduce the suffering, misery in life. And give rise to samadhi.

https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/intro-yoga-philosophy-tap-heat/

Fire sustains life. 5 types of fires

Bhutagni: Physical fire. With which you heat your home and keep yourself warm. This sustains life.

Kamagni: Fire of desire or lust or passion. It is because of this that life continues on this planet. This has potential to make you alert if this is kindled properly. 

Jatragni: Fire of hunger and digestion. It affects your balance, health. When you fast, every cell of your body becomes alive. It's a very good therapy. Allow this fire to come up in you. It can purify you, remove the toxins from your body. It can make your feelings better. All religions of the world prescribe fasting and prayer. Fasting touches the deepest sanskara in you from ages. However it should be done with an understanding. Extreme fasting is not good either. 

Badabagni: Fire of social criticism. When people criticize, it wakes you up. As a social animal man must abide by code of conduct. It generates fear of getting punished, and keeps up the morals in you. If you are concerned too much what people will say, it may limit your freedom and you are missing the point. 

Premagni: Fire of knowledge or love. It takes you totally. It can lift you up from fire of criticism. You do not mind what people say. Fire of love begins with intense longing. Only in human birth can this fire be experienced. It moves onto the full blossoming. 

Sattvic tapas is of 3 kinds:

1. Physical Tapas: Having a say over senses, and the body. Remaining in self.

2. Vangmay: Tapas of speech: Speaking such words that do not excite people in wrong sense. Speaking truth, with pleasant expression of truth. 

3. Manomay: Tapas of mind: Maintaining pleasantness in mind is big tapas. You feel pleasant and very soon you can drop it if not maintained. Calm and composed, sensitive to your surroundings. Silent mind. Remaining in the self.

On path of yoga your words become powerful. If you call someone fool, they may become fool. Your words have power to bless and curse.

Normally we think mind is within body. But body is within the mind.

Ten times bigger than your physical body is your body of prana or the energy body.

Ten times bigger than your pranic body is your mind body, your thought body. 

Ten times bigger than that is your intuitive body. 

Ten times bigger than that is your bliss body. Ten times means infinite times bigger is our blissful body. Boundless is our bliss. Blissful body.

Patanjali Yoga Sutras (contd.) #3.2

Looking at a sunset, and you are in Samadhi. Mindy is steady. Senses are steady.

Steadiness is dignity, is the strength, is dispassion.

Experiment this. For a few moments keep your eyes, body steady. Almost immediately the mind will also become steady, stand still. And breath will become stand still too. This is where the time stops. Death stops. Immortality begins.

Before the time swallows you, the earth swallows, gulps you, you wakeup. You swallow the time.......that is samadhi.

Samadhi is the state where you feel you can stay like this for a million years, where the mind freezes. Secret of youthfulness, secret of bubbling enthusiasm, secret of renewal of life.

Every experience of your senses what you see becomes very bright, colorful and complete. Keen-ness of observation.

When you are happy you feel an expansion. Bloating. Awareness is expanding. You are relaxed. But you cannot be alert.

To thread a needle (to do something v minute) it needs keen-ness of awareness. You can't be relaxed. You need to be alert.

To have both -- is Samadhi. Both relaxed and keen/alert awareness. 

When you are in this state, you have heightened senses (you hear better, you see better).  

Samadhi enables sensitivity to other feelings too.

When you become sensitive (your instrument eyes, ears), nature becomes sensitive to you. Natures listens to you.

Seeing things as they are is Samadhi. Seeing through comparison is no samadhi. Seeing a mountain -- it's beautiful. But calculating mind compares -- it's like the other mountain.

When the self, and the senses, the object are in harmony. That is samadhi.

When you are eating food, and aware of every bit of it as you eat.

There is another type of samadhi, where you simply know you are. The feeling that "I am". This is nirvichar (thoughtless, hollow & empty) samadhi.

This is eyes close meditation. More and more of thoughtless samadhi, brings grace of the divine. . Mastery of hollow and empty leads to spiritual awakening. Innermost comes forth and blossoms.

The knowledge that comes from the depth of the being, is different from what you have heard, guessed. It is very special, flawless, beyond time, full of truth (ritambhara). This is pure knowledge. The impression from this deep consciousness removes/erases all other non useful impressions of the mind. It makes you new, renews you. Again and again. That is why you may feel a different person after meditation every time.

The goal is in every moment. Yet the path is long. There should be enthusiasm, with patience. Balance.

Patanjali Yoga Sutras (Contd) #3.1

There is no 10th obstacle.

Imbalance of breath is the side effect of these obstacles.

When you are happy,  joyful, incoming breath is prominent, longer. You are not conscious of out-breath. 

When you are sad, out-coming breath is prominent, longer.

To get rid of them just do one thing. Beat the bush. One pointed attention in one thing. 

What happens when you keep doing one thing? Boredom comes, restlessness comes. They take you to a peak. That brings clarity. This is the only way out.

Our mind is troubled because it has choices. Dwelling on duality. Divided mind is misery. One pointed mind is joy.

When you are happy, mind becomes total.

Attending to one principle. Could be God, Self, Guru etc. Anything. EkTatvaAbhyasa - practice one thing. Then you get over all these 9 obstacles.

It's all me only. See the ONE THING in everyone. 

Friendless with all people those who are happy. Feel they belong to you. You cannot be jealous of someone dear to you.

Be compassionate with un-happy people. Have sympathy for them. Don't be friendly as it'd drag you down.

Breaking the natural rhythms of the breath. And sustaining the breath in different rhythms. Clue for Sudarshan Kriya.

We are bringing breath in a conscious definite particular rhythm. Modulating the prana. By this also mind becomes calm and one-pointed.

Though any one object of senses, the mind can be stilled. After Gazing/Kirtan/Singing the mind comes to a still.