Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Chapter 9 - Eliminating The Cause Of Pain  Day 72  The world which is seen is illuminated. Each thing gives you a message. It gives you an idea of how great the consciousnesses is. Every aspect in this world is an expression of consciousness and everything is active. Everything has manifested out of consciousness.  Everything in this universe is dynamic. They are not static. Flowers come up. Mountains appear to be static but they are not. They are all dynamic. Every atom in this universe is dynamic, means everything undergoes certain stages of evolution.  Everything has a stage, a state. And everything is governed by certain principle and qualities. The entire creation is made up of five elements - the five elements and five sense organs. These are five organs of perception and five organs of action. These are ten organs.  The entire creation is endowed with these two and the mind. This entire creation is there to give you pleasure and relief. Whatev...

Chapter 9 - Eliminating The Cause Of Pain  Day 71  The root cause of pain needs to be eliminated. That pain which has not yet come in life and that sorrow which has not yet sprouted should be nipped right in the beginning. How do we do that? The main cause of pain is forgetting that one's Self is separate from one's environment.  The Self, the seer and the seen - lack of perception of the Self and the objects that are all around the Self. You think of yourself as you. Then the problems begin. Usually, we keep our life somewhere else and not in us. There was a story in the olden days.  The life of the king was in a parrot. So, if this parrot was killed, the king would die, too. The king's life was not in he king. He would not die if somebody did anything to him. He was like a superman. If the King has to be killed, the assassin had to go to a remote island which had a fort.  It was very difficult to get into it. If the assassin did manage to get in, h...

Chapter 9 - Eliminating The Cause Of Pain  Day 70 If you just look into all the pleasures or joy that you get in life, you will note that they all come with a tax and this tax is sorrow. Every event causes some pain. An event could be very pleasant or joyful. But, it comes with a little pinch, a pain.  That pain is that, however joyful an event is, it will end. And the ending of an event, however pleasurable and joyful, comes with a little pinch. The greater the joy it has given, the greater will be the pain when it ends. Parinaama dukha - This is called parinaama, the effect or the result. Taapa dukha - longing for an event. Waiting for a pleasurable event causes pain. Samskaara dukha - the impressions of it, memories of it. Memories of a pleasure also bring pain. So before you have something, the feverishness to get it is painful.  Then, when you have it, the fear of losing it is painful. And, when it is gone the memory of its joy is painful. So the whole th...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 69 When these impressions are good, they bring you much joy and happiness. However, if they not good, they bring suffering. It depends on your merit and demerit. If you have done good to people, then that good karma accumulates and brings you joy.  If somebody is happy, it is because he has done something good in the past. If somebody is miserable, he has done something bad in the past. So, here Patanjali connects every happiness and misery to some action of the past - all that is in your karma tank. And, meditation is the way we wash out the misery. You become so light, hollow and empty. You sing and dance to make thin the veil which is on the Self. This is very precious. Sometimes, you may feel bored. It does not matter.  Just be aware that you are burning some old seeds of boredom. If you are bored with yourself, just think how boring you would be to somebody else? So even if you are bored, never mind. It will make you m...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 67 If you don't cleanse your consciousness of these five miseries or impurities, then you will have to suffer in this life and the next, too. Patanjali said you will have to suffer in this life and in the next life too, because the miseries form a bank of karma.  They get into the reserve bank In you. They form a karma tank. This karma can be washed off and eliminated right away through meditation. You should get rid of the karma and lessen the sheaths of ignorance over you before your body drops. Otherwise, there is no escape for you from these miseries. Some karma will give you fruit in this life and some in the next. Some people may ask, if one day you put your finger in the fire, whether it will burn that day, the next day, the next year or in the next lifetime. They will point out that there is nothing like karma.  They will agree that every action has its repercussions, which are felt in the current lifetime, itself. ...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 66 When you make the sources of misery and the fears more and more subtle, they let you return to your Self. They let you bring the mind back to the Source. When these miseries are very thick, they bother you.  They captivate your mind. When they become thinner and thinner, they begin to let your mind become free and get back to its Self, the Source. When you are craving for somebody and it is not subtle, you are unable to relax or even be still.  However, once that craving is gone, then you are able to relax and meditate. The feverishness gets reduced and the mind can get back to the source. Now, what is the way to get rid of these miseries? These five vrittis can be eliminated through meditation.  Misery can be overcome through meditation. Patanjali emphasized that it could be done only through meditation. If you do not do it, then what will happen? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji  PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS 

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 65 Prachchinna means one is dominant and the others have gone underground. And Udaara, means very generous, fully active. This you can find in the societies all over the world. All the miseries are present in their generous form in people who are not doing any practice or meditation.  It is so nice of Patanjali to call them generous. There is no shortage of frustrated and miserable people all through the ages. Udaara is the form when they are fully active. A little fear should be kept in the body, so that the body can be maintained.  It should be lesser than salt, less than a pinch. That is why it is called vidushoopi. It is found even in persons who gave much knowledge about scriptures. Actually, it is not fear. It is alertness. There is a difference. Alertness implies being careful.  There is a similarity between alertness and fear. That is why Patanjali has used the word abhinivesha, and not bhaya, which means fear....

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 64  Dwesha is hatred. Hatred or aversion brings an unpleasant experience. Aversion brings the same misery as craving. Both craving and aversion are sources of misery. Abhinivesha is fear - fear of the unknown. Though intellectually you may know everything, you will have a bit of abhinivesha. This fear exists even in scholars. Nature has imposed these fears in everybody. If they become thin, you will be evolved and if they remain thick, you will stay unevolved. These fears and miseries have four stages. The first stage is when they are dormant in you The next sutra is prasupta avastha. These miseries can be prasupta - asleep or dormant. Tanu means very feeble, almost non-existent. Prachchinna means that when one of the miseries becomes dominant, the others subside. When there is a craving, aversion subsides. So does fear and the other miseries.  And when there is avidya or ignorance, you are not even aware of the two things ...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 63 Ignorance is considering that which is changing to be non-changing. We try to control other’s mind. This is not possible. Someone may have loved you yesterday. But, they need not love you today or tomorrow. They would not know this themselves.  You expect an enlightened behavior from everybody around you and when you do not get it, you become unhappy. You may not be behaving in an enlightened way, but you expect everyone around you to be enlightened and have unconditional love for you.  A person who loves you unconditionally is rare - one in a million. But you expect it from everybody around you. This expectation makes you unhappy. This is what everybody is doing, consciously or unconsciously. Sometimes, they may not even know what they are expecting.  But their expectation is something very big. They are seeking God in everybody. They are seeking God without understanding that God could behave in any manner that He...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 62 This is the yoga of action. But when you are doing something, you should think that you are not doing it. You should be a silent witness. There is a depth in you, a silent corner that does not change. All the activity is taking place in this silent space. Every atom is revolving around the nucleus and all the planets are moving around. Yet, there is silence.  The purpose is this is klesha tanukarana - to refute the suffering or misery in life and to bring out samadhi, harmony and equanimity in life. What are the root causes of misery in life? Avidya, asmita, raga, dwesha, abhinivesha, panchakleshaaha. Avidya is ignorance. It is the root cause of all suffering.  Ignorance is to consider permanent that which is not so, to think or to understand that which is changing to be unchanging, that which is not joy to be joy, and which is not Self to be the Self. It is thinking you are the body when you are not, thinking that you a...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 61  The first step is to see Lord as different from you - Lord and me. Two are needed for surrender - when you feel that there is Lord of all virtues and that you are nobody. In this nobody-ness, the union takes place.  The realisation dawns that all is the Lord and then that all is me, me, I, I , that the universe is Lord's, your body is His, your mind with all its conflicts and your mind with all its beauty is also His.  This offering itself is a technique which brings you back home. Ishwara pranidhaana brings you samadhi, or ecstasy in that meditation. Offering candles, incense or flowers is not great.  You should offer every part of your body, offer every moment of life, offer every breath, offer every thought - good, bad, pleasant, unpleasant, anything. Offer all those vasanas or those things which you consider are your negative points.  Offer all your negativity and offer all your positivity. By offerin...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 60  Look into the motives behind your actions. Often, you do not go for things that you really want. You go for them because others want them. You may even go for something depending on what others would say, think or do about it.  And many times you are not clear about what you want because you have never really looked into yourself. You are swayed by fleeting thoughts, fleeting emotions and fleeting desires. Your desire may not even be your own.  Maybe, some outside factors - food, events, situations or company have raised a storm in you and you start believing that storm as your very Self. That is why often you are not happy even when your desires are fulfilled. You should observe the Self.  You should wonder who you are and what you are. You have purified the body, but are you the body? You have made your mind light, but are you the mind? Are you your thoughts? Are you your emotions? Who are you?  This se...

Chapter 8 - The Veils Of Misery  Day 59 We are talking about tapas. What does tapas do? Why should we undergo tapas? It purifies our system and strengthens our system - purity and strength. That is the purpose of tapas. But tapas can bring a big ego in a person. Unfortunately, people think by doing tapas, they will become very great.  If someone has to fast for long periods of time, he must have had lots of impurities. Out of proportion glorification of tapas leads to ego. That is why the next thing to be done immediately after tapas is swaadhyaaya. Swaadhyaaya is self-study. Why do you fast? Is it just to show off?  Is it in competition with somebody? There is a story. There were two persons who were meditating and doing some tapas. They were neighbors. And, God came to one of them and asked him what he wanted. The man said that he wanted whatever He would give to his neighbor.  He asked God if He was visiting his neighbor, too. God replied that he certa...