| Dr. Jai Maharaj 2005-09-25, 10:34 am |
| A Rendezvous With 'Patanjali'
By Shounak Bhattacharya
September 17, 2005
I knew that buying time out my hectic office-life was really tough.
Especially, during the phase of implementation of our company's
ERP, day by day the complexities start increasing. I being the
second executive, looking after the functional and technical part
of ERP, have to attend to a lot of problems of clients as well as
visit client offices frequently to solve out the technical part.
Exhausted, when I leave office late at night I could hardly take
out time to read Vedanta. Just as an engine exhales al its fume, by
making a long monotonous sigh while moving under the shed, so do I,
after returning from the day long work, lie down on my bed and
exhale a long frustrated breath.
But I was quiet sure that amidst such hurlyburlyness, I would be
able to make out time to visit Udbodhan on last Saturday of every
month.
The lecture was delivered by the editor of 'Udbodhan' magazine, a
Bengali monthly, published from Ramakrishna Mission and the subject
was 'Raj Yog' and 'Patanjali's Yog Sootr'. Fortunately, this time
the number of audience increased overwhelmingly as compared to our
previous 'Vedic chanting' session.
I thought the lecture would be delivered very seriously, and, as
the subject itself suggests, it would be something which is purely
based om philosophical thoughts. On the contrary, I found it to be
very practical and something which can be practised in our daily
life. Imagine a person working on a certain skill set like a
carpenter, a fisherman, a software engineer or a manager. In order
to increase the efficiency of one's own work, Patanjali devises
various means for this path. It is called Patanjali's eight limbs
of Yog. There are:
Yum - self restraint
Niyum - rules of conduct
Aasun - posture
Pranayam - breathing
Prayahaar - control of senses
Dharan - concentrating the mind to a single point
Dhyaan - concentration
Samadhi - eternal bliss.
Out of those eight, five are called outer quests or 'bahir ung
sadhana', the rest three are inner quests or 'antar ung sadhana'.
Taking an ideal example of a student who wants to top in his
examination, he would follow Yum - restraining his self not to go
towards entertainment. Similarly Pratyahara - control of senses
should be automatically practiced to concentrate on studies rather
than on objects of lust and desire. The rest inner quests may or
may not be practises by a person chasing after worldly desires.
Dhyaan and Dharan are practises by a person who holds the mind to a
particular point for more than fifteen seconds. Like the waves of
water, thoughts and words are in constant oscillatory motion in our
mind. It arrives and disappears. The first phases, Dharana helps
the mind to fix at a point. It might be chanting of hymns or
imagining a person's countenance. Indeed, for any of us, Dharana is
required so that we can grab hold of thoughts and ideas very
quickly. The mind is like a battered ship on the storm-teased sea.
A ship needs ballast to keep her on an even keep and the helmsman
needs a star to steer by. A student often forgets things. This is
due to the incomprehensive thoughts that moves in the mind.
Through Dharana the chance of loosing thoughts and ideas reduces
and it congloomerates and takes a perfect shape. Patanjali further
subdivided Yama into Ahimsa - non-violence, Satya - truth, Asteya -
non theft, Brahmacharya - continence or celibacy and Aparigraha -
hoarding of things. In the modern world of MNCs and lucrative
shopping malls people tend to hoard things based on their choices.
Credit cards, shopping malls, advertisements they all are luring us
towards expense rather than savings. Do we really need to hoard.
Keeping a firm faith on God will help us to get things as and when
needed.
In the 9th chapter of Gita, Shree Krshn says:
"ananyash chintayanto mam yeh janah par upsate
"tesham nitya bhi yuktanam yogakshemam waham myaham"
(To those men who worship me alone, thinking of no one else, who
are ever devout, I provide gain and security.)
It must be remembered that all those exercises devised by Patanjali
are NOT for yogis. In many books you'll find that Patanjali's eight
limbs of Yog are written are to be followed only by the yogis. The
big question that comes to our mind is who is a yogi?
Swami Vivekanand in his book "Raj Yog" tells that anyone who takes
up any idea and runs after it is a yogi. An eminent scientist, a
celebrity, a scholar, a musician, anyone working to achieve a
target, sacrificing all his desires and need is a yogi.
So, if Patanjali's way to success is meant for a yogi then there
cannot be a yogi more than anyone who runs after achieving a goal.
It must also be mentioned that the basic, core idea of our Vedantic
approach towards life is self-abnegation. Pertaining to the simple
example of a student what is his self-abnegation? Does he/she leave
aside study and career and go to the jungle? No. Self-abnegation is
automatically achieved by anyone who starts running after a
specific goal and leaves aside everything. A student trying to
achieve first class in examination, would automatically give up
watching movies, playing, going around with his friends. if we take
the example on a broader scale, a freedom fighter sacrifices his
life, his family, his happiness, for the sake of his country. This
is self-abnegation. Karm Yog speaks of this self-abnegation which
is scientific and also being preached by Patanjali and is being
practiced by any person who wants to achieve a target.
Delving a little deep in Patanjali's Yog Sootr he describes at one
place a restricted entry of external sources. our five senses, eye,
ear, nose, tongue and skin are sensitive to external vision, sound,
smell taste and touch. If we stop getting external disturbances
through our five organs, the possibility of wavering our mind
reduces. Two forces working along the X-axis oscillates but no one
is allowed to move towards the Y-axis or in the negative direction.
As a result if we stop getting more sources from outside, our mind
is less disturbed. It starts concentrating internally. Just as a
country guarded by natural barriers like mountains and rivers
preserves its' own culture and lineage than a country which is
easily accessible to its' territories.
Such practice has been mentioned in the fifth chapter of Gita
"sparshan kritwa bahir bahayam chakshush chaiwantare bruvo
prana pranou samou kritwa nasa abhyantar acharinou
yata indriya monou buddhir munir moksha parayanah
wigata iccha bhaya krodha yah sada mukta eva cha"
Shutting out all external objects, fixing the vision between the
eyebrows, making the inward and outward breath moving within the
nostrils, the sage, who has controlled the senses, mind and
intellect, who is intent on liberation, who has cast away desire,
fear and anger, is ever liberated.
Patanjali points out that gods and goddesses are modified forms of
human beings. For the liberation of soul one tries 'dhyaan' -
concentration and attains 'samadhi' - a state where there remains
no sense of 'I' or 'mine' and the mind and the intellect have
stopped as if one is in deep sleep. But one can pass into this
state with a desire on mind or without a desire in mind. Those who
pass into this state with a desire in mind become gods and
goddesses, they enjoy a covetous life, fulfilling their sensual
desires and afterwards thrown back to earth. In the 9th.chapter of
Gita, Shree Krshn says:
"te twam bhuktwa swarga lokam vishalam
Kshine punye marta lokam wishanti
Ewam trai dharmam anu prapanna
Gata gatam kam kama labhante"
(Having enjoyed the extensive heavenly world, they return to the
world of mortals of mortals on the exhaustion of their merits.)
Thus taking recourse to action with interested motive enjoined by
the three Vedas and seeking worldly enjoyments they repeatedly go
and come.
Our lecture ended on the fourth Saturday with the final conclusion
that Patanjali's means of liberating the soul can be exercised
vigorously by any person to increase his dexterity of work. We
understood that a 'yogi' is not a superhuman but person like us and
'yogs' are nothing but tools and means which help us to achieve a
specific goal.
After completing the lecture my guru rose up with a smile over his
face. He told us that words are simple to say but to act
accordingly is really difficult. His character always overwhelmed
me. He has been extremely calm in every aspect of life, amidst
extreme business and worries.
I bent down before his knees, closing my eyes, feeling the
tremendous power and bliss, which pervades his noble soul.
- Shounak Bhattacharya
More at:
http://indiacause.com/columns/OL_050917.htm
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
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