But getting back to the real complete yoga system. It was required when you followed the Astanga Yoga system that you would take certain vows and you would have certain observances. These fit under the umbrella of yama and niyama; and they were fundamental things that people practiced in the yoga system, and it was part of the ancient Vedic or spiritual culture that made it so a person could make very great advancement in spiritual life. Apart from them… and we can talk about these things in some detail later. Apart from yama and niyama, asana was practiced.
Asana was meant for the purpose, it actually implies comfort, which is sort of like a little bit different than what people generally put themself through. (Audience laughter) There was this understanding that it’s tied to two things: One is comfort, and the other one is support. Much in the same way that a chair supports you, your body must become a support, which means it must be strong, but the purpose was to make it so that you could sit in a state that is relaxed and comfortable for you to be able to engage in other forms of spiritual practice. And that is why people did it. Of course, there were other benefits such as to promote a very strong constitution and great health. Sickness was considered a huge impediment for spiritual practices. When a person becomes sick their body is plagued with some grave problem. It really becomes a huge disturbance. And so the way that they ate, their practices were to bring about this state of really good health and be able to sit for long periods of time in a relaxed and comfortable way to engage in some other pursuit. So the asana part of it was part of getting a person into this condition to be able to engage.
As part of the yama, niyama thing there was observances in relation to food that you eat. The reason for restricting what you ate, was again, one to promote health and to bring a state of peacefulness in your existence.
One of the things that we can learn are about these forces that exist in this world. Most people are completely oblivious to the fact that there are monumental, powerful forces that are existing all around us. They are defined as what is called the three guna, or the three types of qualities, or as is described by some spiritual teachers as the modes of material nature. And they are fundamentally categorized as the mode of ignorance, the mode of passion and the mode of goodness. In society, in general, the predominant influence that we find in this world is the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance and it stimulates people to desire and hanker for things and cities are built because of this stimulation. The mode of ignorance brings about, you see, when people are intoxicated or drawn to intoxication, laziness, craziness. The mode of goodness is a condition of great peacefulness and not being plagued by desire and hankering. And so the consumption of food, the type of living that a person would… the lifestyle that they would choose would create the most ideal environment for a person now to move on to what is actually, really important.
In yoga, all yoga systems accepted the absolute necessity of being able to exercise control of the mind. In the yoga system, the mind that is not perfectly controlled is categorized as a great enemy. It is a great enemy that causes so much distress and difficulty for the living being. And so when a person adopts a certain lifestyle, certain food choices, certain practices… Pranayam was practiced primarily as a way to bring peacefulness. In this world, hardly anybody knows peacefulness. To be actually able to let go of, to be, exist in this state of peacefulness where there is no great agitation, no disturbance.
Pranayam, of course, affects the ten channels or types of air that circulate within the body that brings about regulation and promotes health, it brings about a state of peacefulness so a person can become deeply reflective. Then there was a condition where people practiced the withdrawing of the senses from the sense objects. This idea is so incredibly foreign to most people outside of some practitioners within the ancient Vedic culture, certain types of Buddhists; but it is a small minority that the, mostly we consider that the object of life is to give free rein to your senses. Whatever you desire, you do it. And advertising is something that is very much focused on this. I mean there have been some really… Am I allowed to say, “Disgusting?” (Audience laughter) ideas that have been promoted over time. This idea of letting yourself go and, of course, we have this other promoted idea of, “Just do it!” And, you know, these ideas of just whatever urge overtakes you, to be free to just do it. You know what? This is what dogs do. They’re just doing it all the time. They’re doing it on the road, with each other… They’re taking a dump, the sniffing, the barking... Whatever, whatever urge overwhelms me I just give free rein to it and just do it! And this is somehow described as ‘spiritual’. I’m sorry, this is like the height of materialism. That when a person is unable to exercise control of the mind or the senses and, in fact, becomes a servant, a dedicated servant to their mind and senses, where they’re just doing whatever is dictated. Sorry, if this is going to offend people that watch, but we do not have any choice but to speak what is the truth, knowing that it is in your interest to hear and consider such things.
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So this path of the Astanga Yoga process where yogis would actually go away and practice this for decades, they would spend decades living alone subsisting on anything that they could forage to eat, or if there was somebody some distance away that knew that this yogi was living in this cave, they would come and maybe once a day or every couple of days, bring some food. But apart from that they were completely absorbed in this system and they would not relate and interact with people. Nowadays, you hardly find this type of person. What they would do in this process is observe how different types of interaction between the senses and the objects of the senses - what effect it would have on the mind, what effect would it then have on the living being, on the person. And we’re going like, “What’s the big deal with that one?” You know, what, “How necessary is that?”
I’m in a little bit of a difficult position here because we actually know a lot about shortcuts. We know how to get to the heart of things and to come to the platform of genuine spiritual realization that this Astanga Yoga process, is actually a very difficult process and it was designed for people in far more ancient times where people were much more hardy, where they had much more powerful minds, much more control over their senses, and the way that they lived – they lived in conditions of great purity and austerity, they were almost like superhuman compared to what people are like now.
This Astanga Yoga process, although we’re talking about it, I will tell you quite frankly, it is practically impossible for people in this age to practice it and attain real self-realization. There are other options available but we’re talking about this for now so people can come to, at least, understand what it is that they may be dabbling with, or experimenting with, or trying to become involved in.
So in this system of pratyahara it is described as just like a tortoise - he’s able to withdraw its limbs within its shell. In a similar manner the yogi was able to completely withdraw the senses from the sense objects; and we’d be thinking like, “My God, this sounds like such a difficult thing to do! Why? Why would you want to even try it?” And it’s a very simple answer. When a yogi experienced the reality, the fruit of this practice they would experience a type of unimaginable peacefulness and tranquillity and happiness that the average person in this world could not even comprehend. They weren’t doing it because it was a bummer. You know, a materialistic person, a person who’s absorbed in the world thinks, “Oh, my God!” You know, “I’m, I’m not gonna have all my creature comforts and I’m not gonna be able,” you know, “instagram my friends,” and, you know, “Get on the computer and watch TV,” and, “Oh, my God, what kind of a life am I gonna have?” You know, “I’m not gonna be able to go shopping, and hang out in Starbucks,” or whatever. (Audience laughter) You know what? And the yogis experience the actual futility of material life and in these practices, there is this reward. A great price must be paid but there was a reward that was so far beyond anything that common people in this world have ever experienced, or will ever experience and that is what drove them, this is what motivated them. And the very powerful understanding and a vision of the reality of this world and things related to what we call ‘life’.
So not only would they practice this pratyahara, the withdrawing of the senses, but now they struggled with the mind, dharana; struggled with the mind to bring it under control and to focus it one- pointedly on a single subject. I mean, if you try to just sit, I mean, they would do exercises like stare at one point, look at a flame. Those that were more theistic would look upon a form of the Lord, this vigraha, arca vigraha form of the Lord and it would become the focus of their meditation where they would actually make it so they could gradually just completely fix themself on one point. And this was all considered pre-meditation. Only when you got into this position where you could completely withdraw your senses from the sense objects and bring your mind into total focus did you begin actual meditation. Of course, it was practiced as you went, but you are now considered able to experience the fruits of it.
Meditation. What was meditation? Most people think it’s just like blank, nothingness. And that is not, that is not a fact. The meditation of the great yogis was primarily upon the form of the, what is called the parampurusa, the Supreme Purusa, the Supreme Soul, Paramatma, who resides within the heart of all living entities. Within the heart doesn’t mean in the heart muscle - the right ventricle, or left ventricle? (Audience laughter) Within the region of the heart where the living being also exists within the body. And meditation was practised and eventually when a person became so absorbed in this meditation, experiencing a form of transcendental blissfulness that is so unimaginable for ordinary people, they would become completely lost in this moment and this state was considered samadhi.
There were two types of samadhi that were practiced: pradnihata, or apradnihata. One of them was described as being the end of the mechanical process which was considered that a person may be able to stay in that state or they may not be able to stay in that state; they may fall from that state. And another type of process that was considered spontaneously arose when the person, the spiritual being, was able to completely bind in an experience of deep and profound love and meditation upon this Paramatma, the Supreme Being, residing within my heart.
So it is a very complex system and we can actually talk about it in more detail. But just talking about it in summary, you know, it’s really nice that people are taking to yoga and yoga practices because it’s giving them an opportunity to kind of slow down a little bit and to consider something other than what they are so used to and fixed in. When people become drawn to the Hatha Yoga process they have the opportunity to be introduced to the practices of meditation and to real spiritual cultivation.
So in, maybe our next talk we can speak more about the different types of spiritual processes and the different types of fruit, or experiences, or realizations that the different types of yogis achieved from these practices.
So does anybody have any questions on these things, or about anything in general? I mean, we can do anything.
