- Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra
16th Mar 2013 – Saturday – Vigilance
“Think a little about ‘vigilance’. See we know this word and we claim that we are, then somehow, just that much doesn’t complete the whole thing. In yoga awareness is the idea. And the yogi takes care, right from the start- Doesn’t get into unnecessary activities, extremely attentive of what one is doing and all that, and we laugh at it. We just carry on things in a hurry, problems come and that can mean lot of hardships, but we are accustomed- see that is the way of our life. Imagine the traditional yogi, who refuses to move out- confined to his own area- See we don’t accept that. Our present mentality is to be on the move, be busy, to face up to all kinds of tensions and struggles, hurry and worry. That is the life we have, so it becomes a question, whether to just remain as a traditional yogi did- in the same place all of life or whether you take chances, and are in a hurry-worry life and possibly also suffer as a result. I don’t know what is your opinion.”
18th Mar 2013 – Monday – Nirodha Citta
“So today we have a topic, related to the mind- Chitta. At an extreme stage, we have discussed the earlier stages- distracted, dull, occasionally steady. This is a stage when it doesn’t function, a very new idea. For us the mind is functioning all the time. We may try and try but somewhere it will come out , bring out its head and start. But we find that there is a mischief, when this mind is busy, all kinds of thoughts,hears and what not. Sometimes we are tired, but at the same time we don’t want the mind to stop. So this is the concept- the Nirodha chitta- a mind that is totally switched off. I don’t know what you have to say.”
19th Mar 2013 – Tuesday – Bhagwad Gita 3.43
“You see we have a sutra, which is very technical. It’s about the techniques of concentration. Now what is expected in Yoga, The idea is making the mind steady, without thoughts and one-pointed. These are called as the ‘Samapattis‘. See what you can gather out of it is that ultimately yoga aims at the mind, so the idea is controlling the mind and understanding the depth of desire. You see desire is very very deep in us, all kind of desires, and it doesn’t allow clarity of thinking. We don’t realize it. One desire leads to another and in that way it goes on. So the suggestion here given is- control this enemy, that is eating ground. The earlier techniques are there, the senses, mind, various things have been discussed. But ultimately it is these desires. We are not able to understand this and even at that level, the desire is there- the desire to become a guru, the desire to get control. We are not cutting off all this, you see the final stages in yoga are a state where there is no thought, so even that desire has to go, but these are difficult ideas. We are only functioning at this ordinary level. I don’t know how much of it is clear?”
21st Mar 2013 – Thursday – Ahimsa
“You see we have ‘Ahimsa’ as the topic. Which is one of the yamas, considered as the source of all the virtues. Now we generally don’t understand it and we don’t give much importance. With some it is everything, as in case of the Jainas. The question is, whether we are conscious- conscious of others, their thoughts, feelings. If we are not that conscious, then we don’t mind a little hurt here and there. We don’t see any meaning in trying to be very careful.
“In life, there are times when you can slightly hurt someone, even without any desire to hurt. But following this virtue, one has to be conscious all the time. Naturally that means a diversion of our attention. You see this attention is important. Are we conscious of what we are doing and how it is affecting others? Or are we careless, and just carry on as we like?
”There are so many reasons we have- we are busy, life is so fast, and we escape. But the point is- can we set up certain rules and follow them? This is very hard, we want to behave as we like. And sometimes, what we say and what we like, it may cause a little hurt. Just as when you are passing through a crowded road or place, you don’t mind a slight pushing.
“See, being all the time aware and seeing to it that we don’t consciously do things which are not liked or which can cause a little hurt- this is a very difficult thing. No doubt we become conscious, aware, careful. But our question is – to what extent? When we are passing through a crowded place these things can happen, how much care can you take? And what is the meaning of it? I don’t know- what are your answers?”
23rd Mar 2013 – Friday – Yoga Sutra 1.42
“You see now the discussion is about Samadhis. What we have to understand, is that, what we call as knowledge. There are many things involved. Words are there, the meaning of the words, the understanding that comes, many things join to make up the meaning. So when we talk of concentration, we have to go into details. We try to understand the word, the meaning , the knowledge it creates, alternatives. And in that manner we arrive at the decision, and say- ‘this is what it means’. So when they talk of Samadhi, they go into all these things, and that way they come to the accurate understanding on which we base the future decisions. I don’t know whether this is clear, would you like to say something?”