Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra
“It is good to see so many of you here, because it is a cold day. Temperature is as low as 11 degrees in Santacruz. You see, these things happen. Sometimes the cold becomes a little too much but after that we know that it will become normal and it will become hotter for us later on. This is applicable in all areas of our life. We see changes – one extreme, another extreme. But we can still trust that Nature is behind the whole show. It plays the game very nicely. It doesn’t go so extreme that human beings can’t live. We are thrown on this Earth to live, inspite of the inclement situations. Nowadays in the West the climate is playing truant, lot of difficulties. The basic is our mind. When you talk on yoga, you talk of the mind. And there are people, who thought they may not be ideal, but they live on the Himalayas, coldest areas, with no clothes on. Some of our students have seen them. And they are surviving. See, the body can carry out orders. But the point is not to become a showman. The point is that we have to adjust. As we see things going a little bad, we accept it and wait for another time when it will become better also. This is a lesson that is worth learning because ups and downs are going to happen in life. When they are down they are very much looking down, we feel we are never going to come out but that is not true. So we can learn a little lesson out of this so called extreme – hot and cold.”
– (19th Jan 2013 -Saturday)
So what else is important in life except ourselves?
See this is a very very strong feeling that is there in a little infant as well as an old man. The whole world revolves around this belief in our own self as important. And all our considerations go around this. This is me, my house, my wife, my child and what not. The other consideration just doesn’t come. I recognize that there are others, but there is no comparison with my own self, and I am thinking more of myself than anything else in the world. It has got so deep into us, that it is judging, deciding, acting only on this basis. See we don’t even recognize it. We assume that it is there and we believe in it. See if I don’t care for myself who else in the world will care for me?
The fact is the other way round, but that is not the way the mind is made. Because this world is there, the atmosphere is there, air is there, oxygen is there, certain percentage of carbon dioxide is there, all kinds of things are there, and I am there as a result, but that becomes a little scientific thinking and we might go by the practical thinking and it hurts us. See when we consider ourselves at the cost of everything else, we are denying the existence of powerful agencies. Its only when things go beyond that I, that we start looking around. When earthquake happens, then where is the I?
But this can be cultivated. This can slowly grow into this feeling, there are saintly people who don’t use the word me or I, me or mine and they are able to reach a better state of existence. We are able to accept life, accept the events, accept more powerful people, accept their thinking and all that. Is it worth keeping in mind this control that I has, and is there are anyways we can reduce it. Remembering the name of god is one way believing that there is something higher. Not using too much of this I, or me and mine can be a way. The manager of Tata mill, barred the use of I and me in his organisation, it was always we not I and the organisation used to run very well. So we can consider these ideas.”
– (21st Jan 2013 – Monday)
“So we are reading a book, the Bhagwad Gita. See originally when Sanskrit was not known to the English people this book was just lying idle. And then a British Governor General, he got it translated and he practically went mad reading it. He found it so useful and immediately got it translated and the Westerners (Germany) read it, and they all were very thrilled with its contents. Its a book which deals with the fundamentals of life and gives us a little advise also. Just as these present Sutras, that talk of the Gunas. These are the basic ingredients, whether you call them the atoms and molecules, or whatever these make up the universe. And they are divided according to the structure or force. There are those that are Sattvic-stabilizing, quietening, then there is Rajasic– the active and the Tamasic– the dull, these are the three basics. Just like the modern concepts of atoms and molecules. And they keep busy. See sometimes the active is more, sometimes the intelligence is more, and understanding this the wise man does not bother. This is the main sentence. Understanding the Gunas, how they go on playing their games, the wise man just watches. Sometimes cheerful, sometimes sad , but he doesn’t get sad or cheerful. This is a perk of Prakriti, the source. A man who understands all this doesn’t get bothered. Trusts in god. Surrenders to him and just watches this play of the Gunas that will carry on. That is what these statements are. ”
– (22nd Jan 2013 – Tuesday – Bhagwad Gita 3.28,29,30)
“You see ‘Raga‘ is this word. Somethings we like and we get attached. This attachment stays and it doesn’t go. Now this is something which happens to all. That is the way nature has made us, love and hate. And it keeps on changing. There is not much reason. It is sudden. I like blue colour, for no reason, and if i don’t get it i feel unhappy. See i always quote the example of a village shepherd girl, she was very nice looking, and she married a shepherd. The shepherd was also very good, well built, sturdy. They were very happy, but within 3 days time she had told us that she had divorced, we were shocked, this was 60 70 years back.So we asked what was the reason. The reason was that she disliked red colour. Red colour dhotis, and he loved red colour, and so they divorced, it was that simple and 60 years back. And it continues with us. we may express it , we may not express it , we feel it, it affects our life. See once these kind of feelings come they don’t go away, they remain hidden, and keep on troubling. So this is a dangerous quality of Raga.”
– (24th Jan 2013 – Thursday)
“So there is the discussion about controlling the mind, concentrating, many techniques have been suggested. Yoga is kind of a sum of all this. One is related to the breath – exhaling it out and holding it there, not breathing in immediately and repeating it often. Apparently these things look very easy but they have very serious consequences. You see, the body functions in a certain set way, the way it has been organized – how many breaths in a minute and how long to hold and not to hold the breath. But here, we are going against this. It requires an expert to decide whether we have the capacity, how long can we remain without breath. Many make these mistakes and they ruin their life. At one time in Gujarat, Pranayama was popular. But many youngsters became mentally deranged and there was such a scare in Gujarat that they would never bother about yoga or about Pranayama. I think now it has gone, but these are techniques we have to learn very carefully. The simplest thing that we do here is called as Sunyak. Breathe out, be without breath for some time, breathe in with ordinary measured and a limited way. So, these are one of the techniques called Parikarma.”
– (25th Jan 2013 – Friday – Yoga Sutra 1.34)