- Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra
23rd Mar 2013 – Saturday – Pleasure and Pain
“So this is the way of life. Pleasure , Pain. All the days can’t be pleasure. As soon as we understand that, its easier to live. We unfortunately see the pain part. See in yoga they talk of a balanced mind- no pleasure , no pain. Its is not an easy thing, it takes a whole lifetime. But we can start it in small ways. We start with certain techniques, Asanas, not pleasant, but we carry on, survive, and then we get accustomed. We may do the same thing later on, we don’t even bother. So this is actually a simple principle of life, which is very hard to understand because we want to have pleasure, and in nature it is never like that.”
25th Mar 2013 – Monday – Satya
“So we are talking about truth. Who out of this group will say that speaking truth is bad, or that they don’t speak untruth? None will agree, we are all truthful saints. But the fact is that right from the morning we start telling untruths, till the end of the day, and we have so many reasons. You see in yoga these are considered as very important points of training. One is aware all the time. Speaking untruth can happen at any moment, and one then sees to it that whatever are the situations one holds on to the speaking of truth. There are many reasons , temptations that one will like to speak a little untruth. Difference as they say ‘between the right and the left eyes’, just that little untruth, but it is untruth. And if ones to preserve that truth speaking spirit, one has to revolutionize ones life. It is very challenging and very very difficult.”
26th Mar 2013 – Tuesday – Bhagwad Gita 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4
“So we are on the next chapter. We begin by trying to maintain the chronology. See what is important, this kind of knowledge has not just come suddenly. It is not just something which is in the head of some person. There has been a tradition, it has been coming down for thousands and thousands of years. And as a result, it is established. See the Gita is respected throughout this country. People believe it. Originally it is supposed to have been spoken of by god himself, in that way in the country it has been there. See now a days, anyone has something in his head and just speaks on it. That is how the various ideologies have come. But there is no background, no strong connections- I think something and proclaim it to the world and the world believes me and it goes on for a few years and the matter is lost, someone else comes and he takes over. And in that way thousands of ideologies have come and they go. Communism was one such ideology, very powerful, but gradually it is fading out. What is stated here is this continuity of very correct thinking which has an unbroken tradition and which is the basis of relationships and of the entire society. See today in the course of law, the Gita is considered an important text book, that has to be quoted, so it has enjoyed that kind of importance. It is the same in other countries also. So we are talking about a work, which is not an ordinary work.”
29th Mar 2013 – Friday – 1.43
“We are discussing about Samadhi techniques. These are higher stages. See, what is mentioned here is that in this stage, one does not rely on memory. You are concentrating on an object but not remembering all that you have heard. Even the external appearance, form, is not allowed to interfere. You want to get in touch with the object, not what others say, what you have heard. It is only the object that you are trying to get in tune with. It happens in a child and mother relation. She is so much in tune with the child, the other details don’t bother – the name and the parents and how rich they are or poor they are. Just the child. And one gets engrossed. And that is why a mother can understand the child better. She is in tune with the child, one with the child. In other cases, the individuality remains and in a very superficial manner, one is trying to think. These are techniques where you become the object and there are some instances where the individual forgets himself or herself and becomes one with the object and that is when real understanding happens. In other cases, where the mind starts working which may not be correct. You see a friend hurt and the mind starts to work – how the person must be feeling, how to handle the situation, what would be the right feeling, so many things. So, to a large extent we are not one, just trying to be the object. So this is a Samadhi of a high order called as Nirvitarka – no Vitarka, no thoughts. Just the thing. One with the thing. We are unable to reach this stage. We are so much occupied with ourselves, our relation with the object, all kinds of considerations, thinking, so it doesn’t allow us to understand the thing and the attempt in yoga is to become the thing, then we understand. That’s the difference. Becoming the object and just externally thinking about it. This is the second kind of Samadhi – Savitarka, Nirvitarka. It goes further also – only thoughts and no thoughts. Just the object. These are later stages but we get an idea that Samadhi would mean forgetting ourselves and just creating the awareness of the object that we are concentrating on and nothing else. Is it clear?”