“In our country, on 15th August we attained independence, and on 26th January its became a Republic. What does it mean? We have become more organized and formed rules and norms. In our life also we can get free, as we are, but then have we formulated any rules, any ideals? That looks like a little distant thing for us, and yet there has to be some purpose, meaning, direction, that we have to try to search for. But we unfortunately don’t spend time on that. We just live, and carry on our life, usual life, nothing very special. And I don’t think we have made the best of it. So on a day like this, even a little thinking about what should be my way of living, would be a good thing. Not doing anything great, but a slight thought, a slight inwardness, if you could call it, slight clarity, direction. Even a few minutes like that, if you can set and ideal today and if at all it is worth while, we carry on everyday for a few minutes – think about ourselves, about life, purpose, direction. I don’t think it will be an unwise thing, it may bring very good results.”
– (26th Jan 2013 -Saturday)
“See our topic is Dvesa, some kind of negativity, just like hatred, jealousy. Not that these things are not there with us. We have them in abundance. We have a whole list of things that we don’t like. The government, the politicians, the leaders, the neighbours, some members of the family at home. We can’t say we love everyone. Now this is something that comes very naturally, spontaneously, when the other qualities are too strong. See, the like is intense and so the dislike also. The Yogic idea is to maintain a balance, not to like too much not to dislike too much. But probably that is very hard, we are easily carried away to one of these feelings. In fact, it supplies us with the nourishment to live. See we carry on because, things that are liked by us and there are things that are disliked. In yoga the suggestion is avoid it. Don’t dislike, which also means don’t like too much. See, this is a play of mind. Suddenly it is very happy, and then suddenly again it is very unhappy with the same thing. That is our structure, the way we are made. So that is the way we have to function. Yoga would mean having to go against. I don’t know whether you can accept this idea.”
– (28th Jan 2013 – Monday – Dvesa)
“See in the Gita, ‘Faith’ is an important thing. Faith of course in God, and faith in the action that you do. All our problems come from this. We do half-hearted things. We don’t believe things will happen, we have our doubts, fear, anxiety and problems are there. The fearless men in history are those who have full faith and plunge and succeed. So this is a point repeated in the Gita and we should also learn from it because there is a message.”
– (29th Jan 2013 – Tuesday – Bhagwad Gita 3.31, 32)
“See we are talking about something technical, the ‘klesas’. Abhnivesa, is love of life. This is very deeply seated in us, the ‘I’ sense. Even the worm or an insect has a very firm desire to live or to continue its own existence. A human is intelligent so he has developed a very nice way, and we are full of that. What ever we are doing, we do want to protect ourself, carry on, assert. These are very important parts of our personality. We can’t right from birth forget ourselves, not care too much, care for others, this has not come to us. And it can create lots of situations. Even in the worst conditions, we just can’t forget. There is a story of a monkey and its little one, and they were put into a pond which was empty and gradually water was getting filled up, and the monkey was enjoying the water rising, it kept on rising, came up to the stomach, still further to the chest and still further it came up to the nose. And the monkey took the little one up and kept it on its shoulders, until the water interfered with the monkeys breathing and the monkey threw the little one down ,stood on it, to protect itself. This was an experiment carried out, to show that the ‘I’ sense is very strong, in the animals right up to the end. Naturally its such a strong ‘I’ sense. We can’t tell lies and cheat, that ‘I don’t have any I sense’. It is there and influencing all our actions. So apparently we do things for others, but basically it is for ourselves. Our pleasures, our exixtence and all that. So abhinivesa is one of the Klesas, Asmita means the same thing.”
– (31st Jan 2013 – Thursday – Abhinivesa)
“So you see we are discussing about, so to say, Samadhi techniques. See the simple instruction is, ‘keep the mind focused’. This is very necessary and it generally happens. The person who is interested in something more than material, he is deeply concerned about things that are there sitting before the sea, watching the sea. That also can hold the attention. And the advantage is that, if the mind is kept like that steady, it starts gaining new habits, new attitudes, new objectives. Though the object itself may not be so big or so great, but that attitude starts. When considering an object which is the right kind of object- and those are the objects that come normally to a Yogi, one gets involved for sometime, and that helps in making the mind steadier and even gaining a little knowledge. The important thing is gaining a little knowledge but it requires some incentive, something interesting. Just as I said, sitting in front of the sea. The vastness of the sea draws your attention. And sitting there alone, no thoughts, except a great sea. That can be helpful. So these are suggestions, concentrating on objects that are vast and innocent, the right kinds- that can also build up the future attitudes of deep meditation.”
– (1st Feb 2013 – Friday – Yoga Sutra 1.35)