Beyond Pleasure and Pain, Tapas

What is Kriya Yoga? It comprises three parts. Patanjali says tapaha.

 

1. Tapas is endurance, acceptance.

 

Say you are traveling in a plane; it is a long-distance flight. You are sitting and your legs are getting numb. You are tired but you keep sitting. You feel heavy but still you keep sitting. You cannot say, "Oh! I cannot sit now. I am going to get out of the plane". No way. If the plane is delayed, held up in the air, you have to be there. There is no choice. Now, if you had a choice, then you would not sit for eight hours like that in one place. No way. But in a plane, you sit, accepting it willingly, without grumbling. That is tapaha.  

 

2. Swadhyaya - is being alert, self-study, observing the thoughts, emotions and where the emotions come from. Where do the thoughts come from? What is happening inside you? Studying yourself is swadhyaya.

 

3. Eshwarapranidhana - means devotion to the Divine, love for the Divine. These three things make up Kriya Yoga. What does it do? What do they all do to you?

 

Kleshatanukaranarthascha- they reduce the suffering. They reduce the misery in life.  Samadhi bhavanarthaha- gives rise to samadhi, equanimity.

 

link:  Patanjali Yogasutras

 

That is what it is really called, Tapas, we have no choice anymore.

We said 'yes' to it and went on that flight and now we sit here and have to go by it, that means Tapas.

The non-conceptual Absolute and the conceptual Relative

You are the Formless (Niraakaaram) come in the form of Man (Naraakaaram), the Infinite, come in the role of the finite, the Formless Infinite appearing as the formful infinitesimal, the Absolute pretending to be the Relative, the Atma behaving as the body, the Metaphysical masquerading as the merely physical.

The Universal Self is the basis of all being.

The sky was there before houses were built under it; it penetrated and pervaded them for some time; then, the houses crumbled and became heaps and mounds; but, the sky was not affected at all. So too, the Atma pervades the body and subsists even when the body is reduced to dust.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

How to understand with the heart and not the mind? We automatically understand with the mind and intellect. If Baba tells we are the formless, he talks about a non-conceptual reality, but we call it anyhow formless and it is defined by the difference to that what we can perceive with the senses and therefore, conceptualize, the form.

It is like thin air, we cannot see it but we know it is there. The same with consciousness, we know it is there, but we have no real concept about it like with air.

How do we experience consciousness?

It makes one Swell with Pride

One may know the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita by heart, but trust Me, the time that was spent in learning by rote and reciting it, is all a waste, if one does not resolutely act upon even a single verse. It is not the resolution that matters; it is resoluteness. Resolution is just a string of words.
In fact, that learning might even be a handicap as that skill can affect the head and make one swell with pride.
The price of sugarcane is fixed according to the sugar content in it. You evaluate oranges in proportion to the juice they contain, is it not? So too, one is worthy of honour in proportion to the knowledge of the Self acquired. 

This knowledge alone can confer steadiness, strength and real happiness.
Baba (thought for the day)

The time we utilize to memorize the text if it is that much, it is waste of time, because it is more important to put it into practice.
It is not just the intention of it, but doing it, doing it no matter what. Learning by heart takes time and effort, but if the text is not applied, what it the use of it? How can we take care to put it into practice?
There has to be perseverance and patience to observe. If we realize that we are the watcher, we are on the level of never changing truth. The observer is the mirror and therefore, not different from the watcher.

As Baba said, follow the master (inner master), fight to the end, finish the game.

Running behind the Dog's Tail

The silence you maintain in temples and devotional congregation must be carried over to wherever you go.

It must be taken as an exercise in the control of the senses.

Senses always are exterior oriented. The tongue should not talk evil. The eyes should not look out for evil. The ears should not seek evil.

The presence of God in every being makes everyone holy. Thinking low of others amounts to thinking low of God. You must always cultivate the feeling that God is the Father and everyone around you are brothers and sisters.

This brotherhood is more real and binding than the blood brotherhood, for here the paternal property for which you struggle can be shared without the share of the other being diminished in any way.

Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poomamevaavasishyate - When the Full is subtracted from the Full, what is left is still Full!

Baba (thought for the day)

 

At work we had a few wrong alarms at the door and lots of excitement about it. It goes directly to the police and if they arrive for nothing, it costs a lot. Still we have to keep the alarm going during daytime for whatever reason.

It always happened in a certain moment and somehow the excitement took over and I got into it. I noticed it only after asking a question and there was no answer on that level, it felt strange.
In that moment I went back to silence.
We are not aware of it, but it is present and we get aware of it when it is no more there. It felt real strange to get involved on that level with that person and getting aware of it, it was like getting involved. That was passion.

All Mantras are Okay

To observe a very small particle, you need a microscope; to see a remote object clearly, you need a telescope. These areyantras or instruments. The instruments that help you visualise the Core that has such contradictory attributes of being minuter than the minutest and more magnificent than the most magnificent, are called Mantras - formulae that save you when you meditate on them.

They are also called Tantras (ceremonies and rites) when their practical application has to be emphasised.

Faith in the efficacy of these Mantras, in the utility of the procedure prescribed, and in the existence of the Core - all of these are essential for success in the great adventure of acquiring the ultimate knowledge; just as faith in the efficacy of the instrument, in the correctness of the procedure, and in the existence of the material one is seeking to know more about, are essential for the scientist.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

An instrument is a mantra. But it doesn't mean anything to us if we don't have the experience. It is like talking how nice strawberries taste, we have to make the experience to appreciate it.

But if we get that experience, we get aware of the thought process and how to observe. It is an inside world and we get to the level which is smaller than the smallest and what do we find - love.

Why mantras can save us?

Practice alone counts in Spiritual Matters

Each heart is a Dharmakshethra (a warfield of righteousness), where there is a constant battle between the forces of good and evil. Why, the whole world is a Dharmakshethra. Hence it is very essential that every single child and mother, each and every one of you be devoted to Dharma (righteousness).

The holy Bhagavad Gita begins with the word,'Dharmakshethrae' and in the final chapter appears the phrase "Sarva Dharman Parithyajya", meaning 'give up all Dharma'.

The significance of this is that through Dharma, you have to transcend Dharma.  

What is needed is the steadfast practice of righteousness. Scholarship and wealth are often burdens, they are indeed a handicap.

Practice alone counts in spiritual matters.

Baba (thought for the day)

 

Now practice is understood as right direction.

And we have to transcend Dharma. Actually, we have to transcend everything. If we talk about the object which is searching for its reflection to merge, it is also transcending. It is transcending when it merges.