THE HOLY GITA

Friday 28 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 32

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 32
Text in Transliteration:
atmaupamyena sarvatra samam pasyati yo ‘rjuna
sukham vaa yadi vaa duhkham sa yogee paramo matah
Text in English:
The yogi, O Arjuna, is regarded as the supreme, who judges pleasure or pain everywhere, by the same standard as he applies to himself.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Man does not differentiate between the limbs of his own body as high and low. They are all of equal importance to him. The harm done to any limb is the harm done to himself, because he and his limb are one and the same. An ordinary man is unassailable in this conviction of his. The yogi, in his turn, beholds the cosmos as the body of the Paramatman and himself a limb of that Cosmic Personality. One limb in a body does not hurt another; all the limbs function for mutual welfare. The yogi knows that he and his neighbours are not different; they are all limbs of the same Iswara. So he works for the general welfare of all. That yogi is supreme who has this cosmic outlook.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
A few holy men were living in an Ashrama in the outskirts of a township. While the oldest of them was passing through the main street of that village, he chanced to see a landlord mercilessly belabouring a tenant of his. The holy man intervened on behalf of the helpless victim. But the landlord now directed his fury on the holy man and thrashed him to the point of making him fall down unconscious. Coming to know of this mishap the inmates of the Ashrama hastened to the spot and carried the holy man back, lying yet unconscious. When, after a long nursing, the saint opened his ehes, a tending man put the question, “Revered one, do you recognize who I am?” in gentle but clear voice came the unexpected answer, “The hand that beat then is now nursing.” He is so because he saw the same Brahman manifestating as the many. The feeling of the offender and offended was not in the saint.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Aatma-aupamya means equality of others with oneself. Even as he desires good to himself, he desires good to all. He embraces all things in God, leads men to divine life and acts in the world with the power of Spirit and in that luminous consciousness. He harms no creature as, in the words of Shankara, “he sees that whatever is pleasant to himself is pleasant to all creatures, and that whatever is painful to himself is painful to all beings.” He does not any more shrink from pleasure and pain. As he sees God in the world, he fears nothing but embraces all in the equality of the vision of the Self.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
He sees that whatever is pleasure or pain to himself is also pleasure and pain to all other beings. He does not harm anyone. He is quite harmless. He wishes good to all. He is compassionate to all creatures. He has a very soft and large heart. He sees thus equality everywhere as he is endowed with the right knowledge of the self, as he beholds the Self only everywhere, and as he is established in the unity of the Self. Therefore he is considered as the highest among all Yogis.

Comments by the blogger:
        This body, other human bodies, all the flower and fauna of the world, the millions of suns and their families the whole Universe is interconnected with each other. Not even a beggarly beggar is an unwanted commodity to this world. Not even a single cockroach is unwanted in this world. The virus, though they live and die in the course of a week when medically treated are important for the revolving earth. There are some beings that are born one moment and die the other, they are as important to this world and we all, all the sentient and insentient notions in this Universe have a stake in their fulfillment. My sense of fulfillment is as important to this world as the staunchest of my enemy’s. Every being and every thing in the Cosmos is important to it. We all have a stake in an ant’s daily life. We are unbelievably and ineffably related to each other. If there is a mighty eruption in our sun it is important to the whole Universe. If there is a tornado for half an hour it is as important as the placid sea waters. Each of the known and unknown heavenly body and their orderly movement is as important as the ripple in a pond made by a diving fish’s movement. Every atom is important. One thing can be changed into the other. But fundamentally matter is eternal. Everything can be reduced to ash and ash cannot be changed. Thus every matter even in this fluxing Universe is important and eternal. All the things, mighty and small, all the beings great and huge like a whale and infinitesimally small as a viral being is important to this world! Everything has an interrelated connection in this Universe and one influences the other. The Vedic Seers had understood this interrelation and that was why they worshipped heavenly bodies like the sun and the moon knowing full well they affect our daily individual life. Out of this notion and crystal clear understanding was born the science of foretelling the future of the individuals. The lines in our palms are enough for the truly learned person to foretell the future of the individual. Writing down the horoscope is based on the places of the heavenly bodies occupy when one takes birth and comes into this world! Reading and writing of horoscope and palm reading are sciences. They are very accurate. But today they are in a shambles because too many crooks have started to strut as experts. Foretelling the life of people should not be for any consideration including money. This is part of the science. But today it is a flourishing business. And that’s how all and sundry have come into the field to pollute it.
As we have seen, every person and thing are important for this Universe and its stay. Man cannot make or create or manufacture an atom. Likewise, man cannot take an atom out of this Universe. When a person is ill he is administered saline water. Saline water injected at one point enures to the benefit of the whole body, and a life is saved. Even the components of the dead body stay in this Universe. Man can only change matter. Neither he can produce an atom nor can he demolish an atom in the sense the atom ceases to exist.
That is why at the time of the World’s annihilation, at the time of Kalki avatar God is said to be coming astride on a white horse. All He needs is to take an atom out of the flux of this Universe, and it would import the irregularity to the regularly coursing planets and the entire world will find a final annihilation. Why a white mount? Because the atoms personality is that of the Sky! Each atom has particles and one of them constantly streaking round within the atomic wall. And it looks like a point of light. And if the atom is magnified into a circus tent, according to the late Tamil writer, Sujatha, these particles would look like a mustard seed. The entire thing inside the atom is void or like the white sky. Since the sky is white to the naked eye or since the day is white in comparison to the night, an atom is called the White horse by the Vedopanishadic Seers. And at the time of the Ultimate Annihilation Iswar just demolishes an atom or take an atom out of the orb of the Universe!  

          

THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 31

THE HOLY YOGA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 31
Text in Transliteration:
Sarvabhoota sthitam yo maam bhajaty ekatvam aasthitah
Sarvathaa var tamaano ‘pi say ogee mayi vartate
Text in English:
He who, established in oneness, worships Me abiding in all beings, that yogi lives in Me, whatever may be his mode of living.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
A person discharged from prison is conscious that he is no more a prisoner, be he shut up in a room, enchained, handcuffed or tethered. Not the external setting but the attitude of the man is the main factor here. The knower of Brahman is conscious that Brahman alone is putting on the appearance of the many in the universe. Because of the Brahmaavastha in which he is established, his contact with beings is nothing shor of the adoration of Brahman. His external behaviour may indicate that he is meditating, attending to the obligatory duties, or, taking rest. But subjectively he is fixed in Brahman. This is the state of liberation from all bondage. This state is technically known as Sahaja nishtha.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The ignorant one believes that God is in some far off region called heaven. The enlightened one, on the other hand, beholds Him as the core of his own being. Iswara is in the hearts of all. The seeker of God therefore realizes Him first within himself.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN
Whatever be his outer life, in his inward being he dwells in God. The true life of a man is his inner life.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
He who has dissolved all duality in the underlying unity, who is thus established in unity, who worships me, i.e., who has realised Me as the Self of all, dwells always in Me, whatever his mode of living may be. He is ever liberated.
Sadana lived in God though he was a butcher because his mind was ever fixed at the lotus feet of the Lord.

Comments by the blogger:
Sri Krishna tells elsewhere that people from all sides come to him. The meaning of that sentence is that devout persons belonging to all sorts works as ways of life come to the path of the Lord. And he accepts all of them providing they are qualified as accomplished yogis.
As the lore goes, in the forest there was a Practitioner of yoga who reduced a crane to ashes when it dirtied him with its droppings from atop a tree by just looking at it. Such was his yogic power. But he was yet to attain the final stage. Then the yogi went into a nearby village and stood before a house to get alms. The housewife took her time in giving the alms. The yogi stared at her in anger. Nothing happened to her. She just smiled and asked the yogi if he took her for the crane! At this, the yogi was devastated and asked her how what happened in the deep forest knew to her. She said that she had attained such feet by dutifully serving her husband. She also said that when the yogi came to her doorsteps she had been ministering to her husband. At this, the yogi fully agreed she was an accomplished yogi and wished to become a student of her.
At this, the housewife directed to a butcher, by name, Sadana as mentioned by Swami Sivananda. When the yogi went to see Sadana he found Sadana to be a butcher! His marvel and wonder had no end. He openly asked the butcher as to the secret of his having become a Saint in spite of his sinful calling. Sadana replied that though he was a butcher by his calling his devotion to the Lord found no limitation. Since he was born and brought up in a butchers house he carried on the job for a living, but his mind was filled with God! So he could realise Him.     

          

Thursday 27 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA , CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 30

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 30
Text in Transliteration:
yo maam pasyati sarvatra sarvam cha mayi pasyati
tasyaa ‘ham no pranasyaami sa cha me na pranasyati
Text in English:
He who sees Me everywhere and sees all in Me, he never becomes lost to Me, nor do I become lost to him.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
After realizing the unity of all beings, the yogi further realizes that it is the Paramatman that manifests Himself as the multitudinous beings at all levels. The one appearing as the many is not merely the yogi’s imagination. It is the eternal sport of the Lord. He and His manifestations are interrelated as the ocean and the waves on it. He is therefore not lost to the Lord and the Lord is not lost to him.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Sweetmeats in the shape of various animals, birds and men are made from the same stuff, sugar. Likewise it is the Sat-chit-ananda that has assumed as the forms of the sentient and insentient in the Universe.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
  It is personal mysticism as distinct from the impersonal one that is stressed in these tender and impressive words: “I am not lost to him nor is he lost to me.” The verse reveals the experience of the profound unity of all things in one who is the personal God. The more unique, the more universal. The deeper the self, the wider is its comprehension. When we are one with the Divine in us, we become one with the whole stream of life.
COMMENTARY MADE BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
In this verse the Lord describes the effect of the vision of the unity of the Self or oneness.
He who sees Me, the Self of all, in all beings, and (Brahma the Creator down to the blade of grass) in Me, I am not lost to him, nor is he lost to Me. I and the sage or seer of unity of the Self become identical or one and the same. I never leave his presence nor does he leave My presence. I never lose hold of him nor does he lose hold of Me. I dwell in him and he dwells in Me.

Comments by the blogger:
In Graham Green’s novel, “The Journey with my Aunt” an interesting argument is held as to the fact if a dog has Atman or Self! And if the dog has the Self isn’t it important to have the funeral rites held before it is interred!
The religion of Gita is even a blade of grass is full of God and is an exhibition of Him in His Universe!
The Lord who had taken more than ten verses to describe the way of Meditation to be practised by a Yogi is now describing the effect of the Yogi who has attained Him. Even while living in this world, such liberated souls enjoy high distinction and once they have attained Him they will never lose Him nor He will lose them.


          

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 29

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OR MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 29
Text in Transliteration
sarvabhootashtham aatmaanam sarvabhootaani chaa ‘tmani
eekshate yogayktaatmaa sarvatra samadarsanah
Text in English:
His mind being harmonized by yoga, he sees himself in al beings and all beings in himself; he sees the same in all.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Separateness is not for him who has progressed high in yoga. The distinction between the high and low, the angel and the humble creature vanishes from his mind. He sees the same divinity in all. in his intuition the Self in him is the Self in all. in his intuition the Self in him is the Self in all and the Self in all is the Self in him. The individualized selves do all merge into one universal Self. This is his realization.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Assuming individuality to oneself is like putting a dam to a portion of the Ganga and claiming the little water in it as one’s own.
COMMENTARY BY DR.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Though, in the process of attaining the vision of Self, we had to treat form outward things and separate the Self from the world, when the vision is attained the world is drawn into the Self. On the ethical plane, this means that there should grow a detachment from the world and when it is attained, a return to it, through love, suffering and sacrifice for it.
The sense of a separate finite self with its hopes and fears, its likes and dislikes is destroyed.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The yogi beholds through the eye of intuition (Jnana-Chakshus or Divya-Chakshus) oneness or unity of the Self everwhere. This is a sublime and magnanimous vision indeed. He feels, “All indeed is Brahman”. He beholds that all beings are one with Brahman and that the Self and Brahman are identified.
Comments by the blogger
The whole of the Prakrity or Nauture scintillates with the Universal Self or God. But Ishwar has hidden himself very well. Indeed the whole Nature is God’s body only. Apart from it His Spirit permeates the Universe as the Universal Soul. So everything here is God only. This is how once the Practitioners of Meditation becomes in his mind harmonized (by yoga) he not only sees himself in all and all in himself, but “he sees the same (Self or God) in all.”
For him the tree is God, the dirt is God, the flower is God and the ugly gardener is God, the earth is God, the Sun and the Moon is God. In all the eight sides everywhere and everything he sees is God. He sees the same in all.     

                                                                                 

Tuesday 25 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 28

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 28
Text in Transliteration:
Yunjann evam sadaa ‘tmaanam yogee vigata kalmashah
Sukhena brahma samsparsam atyantam sukham asnute
Text in English:
Constantly engaging the mind this way, the yogi who has put away sin, attains with ease the infinite bliss of contact with Brahman.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Mythology has it that there is such a thing as the philosopher’s stone, contact with which converts base metal into gold. But this is an allegorical statement. Brahman is the real philosopher’s stone. It is not easily accessible to all; but whosoever gets at It becomes transformed. Ordinary souls who are base become adorable ones after their contact with Brahman. They become heirs to infinite bliss.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
An immersed vessel is permeated by water inside as well as outside. The soul immersed in Iswara cognizes Pure Consciousness everywhere.
COMMENTARY BY DR.RADHAKRISHNAN:
brahmasamsparsam: contact with the Eternal. God is no more a mere rumour, a vague aspiration, but a vivid reality with which we are in actual contact. Religion is not a matter of dialectic but a fact of experience. Reason may step in and offer a logical explanation of the fact but the reasoning becomes irrelevant, if it is not based of the solid foundation of fact.
Besides, these facts of religious experience are universal, in space and in time. They are found in different parts of the world and different periods of its history, attesting to the persistent unity and aspiration of the human spirit. The illuminations of the Hindu and the Buddhist seers, of Socrates and Plato, of Philo and Plotinus, of Chritian and Muslim Mysteries, belong to the same family, though the theological attempts to account for them feflect the temperaments of the race and the epoch.
In the following verses the teacher describes the marks of the ideal yogin. His thought is subdued, his desire is cast off and he contemplates only the Self and is cut off from contact with pain and is at one with the Supreme Reality.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
By Yogic practices such is the withdrawal of the senses, concentration and meditation he loses contact with the objects of the senses and comes into contact with Brahman or the immortal self within and thus enjoys the infinite Bliss of Brahman.
Sensual pleasures are transitory or fleeting but the bliss of Brahman is uninterrupted, undecaying and everlasting. That is the reason why one should attempt to realise the Self within.
The Yogi removes the obstacles that stand in the way of obtaining union with the Lord and thus always keeps the mind steady in the Self.

Comment by the blogger:
The Bliss of Brahman is as real as the sorrow of this world.
Dr.S. Radhakrishnan says God is not a vague notion.
Indeed God is the discovery by the Vedopanishadic Seers, for the Hindus, but not an invention. Only those who say there is no God are great inventors. But the beauty of the Creator’s Creations is that He has left both men, the devout and the naysayers, something for arguing in this regard. The naysayers can ask why Nirbhaya was killed in that horrendous manner.
God did not contemplate the world as a faultless and full phenomenon.
This world is incomplete and full of justice and injustice. That is why a youth starts to sneer at God and such notions, when he becomes mature he finds his God. Some people feel a Phenomenal Power beyond the ken of day-to-day ordinary men but are unable to acknowledge publicly for the fashion is denying God and assume a superior pose and posturing.

The Vedopanishadic Saints closed the eyes and with it other four senses and looked inward with all connections to this incomplete world severed, and then they found what is in the world exists in full inside of themselves. They also found the whole world was going around according and subjecting to a rhythm and the Veda Seers called this as rta (a confirmation to a set law and central rhythm as the focal point). They also heard the pranavic sound OM that overseeing everything here. They found every human being has God inside of him and only when he completely realizes this by performing yoga as described in this discourse so far can become attuned with the Universal Soul.   

Monday 24 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 27

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 27
Text in Transliteration:
prasaantamanasam hy enam yoginam sukham uttamam
upaiti saanta rajas am brahma bhatam akalmasam
Text in English:
Supreme Bliss verily comes to that yogi whose mind is calm; whose passions are pacified, who has become one with Brahman and who is sinless.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
It is the category of Rjas that creates passion, the source of all afflictions. When the impetus of Rajas cools down, calmness of mind comes in as a matter of course. He who cognizes everything as Brahman becomes himself Brahman. The one in Brahmaavstha is actionless, and as such there is no sin for him.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Before visiting the humble home of a tenant of his, the landlord sends in advance the required furniture and provision, so that the occupant may receive him in a fitting manner. Similarly, before the Lord reveals Himself in the heart of a devotee. He endows him with purity, devotion, faith and such like divine qualities.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
brhmabhatam: one with God. We become what we behold according to the rule of the wasp and the bee, bhramarakeetanyaaya. Even as the was which is threatened by the bee thinks of the bee so intently that it itself is transformed into the bee, so also the upaasaka (meditation) becomes one with the object of meditation (upaasy)
brahmatvam praaptam Sridhara.
Progress consists in the purification of body, life and mind. When the frame is perfected, the Light shines without any obstruction.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Supreme (eternal, unalloyed and uninterrupted) bliss comes to the Yogi whose mind is perfectly serene, who has calmed his passionate nature, who has destroyed all sorts of attachments, who has attained knowledge of the Self and thus become a Jivanmukta or one who is liberated while living, who feels that all is Brahman only, and who is taintless i.e., who is not affected by Dharma or Adharma (good or evil)

Comments by the blogger:
The Christianity and the Bible culture speak of original sin. All human beings are sinners. The same is the case with the Quran culture. Man has to suffer because of the original sin of His forefathers. And Man is given only one chance to prove his mettle, in as much as the very living is to attenuate and hold a sorry life because of the original sin. In one chance, Man has to become pure and free from the original sin. The original sin itself consisted of Adam and Eve realising their sex and join to make love. And how can man marry and lead a sensual life at the same time become free of the original sin that too in one chance?

Hinduism, on the other hand, gives umpteen number of chances to get rid of all passions, mind you, not sin, so that he may become bereft of all passions and shed sensualities in favour of becoming one with God. Then supreme bliss would be his eternal life. Thus in Hinduism there is a possibility to take in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in the body and then go up toward the evolution of the mind till all the worldliness is thrown away in favour of that Supreme Bliss enjoyed by the Evarlasting God!

Saturday 22 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER06, DHYANA YOGAOR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 26

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION
VERSE NUMBER 26
Text in Transliteration:
yato-yato niscarati manas cancalam asthiram
tatas-tato niyamyai ‘tad aatmany eva vasam nayet
Text in English:
By whatever cause the wavering and unsteady mind wanders away, let him curb it from that and subjugate it solely to the Self.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
There are miscreants who, while posing to act within the bounds of law, try to circumvent it to their selfish ends. Mind plays the same mischief while yet in the process of subjugation. When weaned away from one object, it gets unwittingly attached to another. With proper discrimination it has to be saved from several pitfalls and placed safely at the feet of the Lord. This is the purport of His exhorting the attainment of calmness stage by stage. The danger of a fall is possible until the mind is completely made over to the Lord.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The vision of the Lord is not possible as long as even an iota of desire is left lingering in the mind. You ought to, therefore, fulfil the innocent and harmless little desires before doing away with them and to mercilessly exterminate the baneful ones with the sword of discrimination.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
In this verse the Lord gives the method to control the mind. Just as you drag the bull again and again to your house when it runs out, so also you will have to drag the mind to your point of centre or Lakshya again and again when it runs towards the external objects. If you give good cotton seed exract, sugar, plantatains, etc., to the bull, it will not run away but will remain in your house. Even so if you make the mind taste the eternal bliss of the Self within little by little by the practice of concentration, it will gradually abide in the Self only and will not run towards the external objects of the senses. Sound and the other objects only ake the mind restless and unsteady. By knowing the defects of the objects of external  defects of external pleasure, by understanding their illusory nature by the cultivation of discrimination between the Real and the unreal and also dispassion, and by making the mind understand the glory and the splendour, of the Self you can wean the mind entirely away form the sensual object and fix it firmly on the Self.

Comment by the blogger:
Cricket is a mind game, the great commentator like Sunil Gavaskar said. What he means by this is the game must be played in the minds of the eleven men, and this, apart from the nets will be useful. When the going gets tough the tough get going. If the game is played by mind on the previous day by an individual player, he would be standing like a rock between the bowlers on both sides and mindful of the ball to be hit and others best defended or and thus tire the bowlers. In the course of say three overs. Then, on the pitch also there will be a tussle between two bowlers and the two batsmen. Once two overs are sent down from both sides, the way the pitch is going to play throughout the day or even innings. Then both the bowlers and batsmen make slightest adjustment. Then it would be a tussle not so much as their bodies as their individual minds. Once the batsman realizes the ball come nicely to the bat then he would shed his initial reserve and start to strike the ball all around the pitch and even over the boundary! On the other hand, if the pitch is helpful to the bowlers they would seek to utilize the pitch with some grass on it and the wind blowing in their favour, they would send down ball after ball and the mind of the batsman should not be covering. They must defend like Sunil Gavaskar who would put forward his left foot and to defend the on coming erstwhile West Indian bowlers and which ever delivery does not come up his bat and pad, he would simply leave for the keeper. Now is the time of one day match and madly frenetic T20 matches. Even now some of the picture perfect Sunny’s defends might give great dividends. Because of the inability of Koli, Rohit Sharma and Dawan to stay put for say a                quarter of hours defending the outside the off stump balls, the other side would have lost their mind and strength so that 300 and odd ball might not have boggled our batsmen.
The mind has a great power over the body and our character while thinking about charater of any us. Mind is compared with a monkey which has been bitten by a scorpion and   over that it had drunk the toddy or arrack! While mind has great strength on our intellect, discrimination must come to our

Help. Otherwise, we are sunk.

Friday 21 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER UNMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBERS 24 AND 25

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBERS 24 and 25
Verse 24
Text in Transliteration:
samkalpa prabhavaan kaamaams tyaktvaa sarvaan aseshatah
manasai ‘ve ‘ndriya graamam viniyamya samanatatah
Text in English:
Abandoning without reserve all desires born of sankalpa, and curbing in, by the mind, all the senses from all sides;
Verse 25
Text in Transliteration:
sanaih-sanair uparamed buddhyaa dhrtigrheetayaa
aatmasamstham manah krivaa na kimchid api cintayet
Text in English:
With his intellect set in firmness let him attain quietude little by little; with the mind fixed on the Self let him not think of anything.
For verse 24 COMMENTARY BY SIDBHAVANANDA:  
The formative thought lurking in the mind is sankalpa. It is this seed of sanalpa that sprouts and grows into the plant of desire. The desire that is like a spark today is capable of developing into a conflagration tomorrow. It is therefore to be entirely eliminated with the weapons of discrimination and dispassion. The senses are safe only when freed from desire.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
However carefully a man may move about in a room full of soot, his clothes are bound to be stained a little at least. In the same way he who lives in the midst of sense-objects is bound to be tainted with a trace of at least of lust.
Verse 25
Text in Transliteration:
Sanaih-sanair uparamed buddhyaa dhrtigrahitayaa
Aamasamstham manah krivaa na mikchid api chintayet
Text in English:
With his intellect set in firmness let him attain quietude little by little; with the mind fixed on the Self let him not think of anything.
Dhrti or firmness is a virtue born of disciplined life. Some are smart enough to distinguish academically between the permanent and the impermanent. But in the day to day life they are slaves to the impermanent sense-pleasure. As mind gets fixed in the self, it ceases to deviate into sense-indulgence. Constant thought of the Lord excludes all other thoughts from the mind.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA:
Mind is the main factor in you. As is your mind, so are you. It may be compared to a washed white cloth which is capable of taking any dye dipped in. When you have learnt a new language you cannot help uttering a few words from it in your conversation. Contact with the undesirables contaminates the mind. Holy company on the other hand elevates it.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Without reserve: The mind is so diplomatic that it keeps certain desires for its secret gratification. Therefore you should completely abandon all desires without reservation.
Desire is born of imagination (sankalpa). Therefore destroy the Sankalpa first. If the imagination is annihilated first then the desires will die by themselves. Mark here! All the senses must be controlled from all sides by the mind. Even if one sense is turbulent in one direction it will distract the mind often and often. The senses will be absorbed in the mind by the constant practice of abstraction (Pratyahara). Then the mind will not think of the objects of sense-pleasure and will become perfectly calm.
That mind which is endowed with a strong discrimination and dispassion will be able to control the ground (or group) of the senses from their objects in all directions. Therefore cultivate strong Viveka or discrimination between the Real and the unreal and also Vairagya or total dispassion for sensual pleasures.
For verse 25
The practitioner of yoga should attain tranquillity gradually or by degrees by means of the controlled by steadiness. The peace of the Eternal will fill the heart gradually with thrill and bliss through the constant and protracted practice of steady concentration. He should make the mind constantly abide in the Self within through ceaseless practice of steady concentration. He should make the mind constantly abide in the Self within through ceaseless practice. If anyone constantly thinks of the immortal Self within, the mind will cease to think of the objects of sense-pleasure. The mental energy should be directed along the spiritual channel by Atma-chintana or constant contemplation on the Self.

Comments by the blogger:
The Lords words in verse 24 that all the senses should be curbed in from all sides call back to mind Arjuna’s prayer while The Lord shows his viswarupa or Cosmic Sight and Arjuna begs the Lord piteously in these words, “Salutations to thee from the front, salutations to thee from the back, salutations to thee from all sides!”  Such was Arjuna’s fright at the sight of the Lord’s Cosmic Form. And such is the care with which the Lord in verse 24 exhorts Arjuna to curb in all the senses from all the sides! Because this world is a Maya or Illusion and the Lord Himself elsewhere in Gita describes the illusion as “mama maya” that is, my maya or my illusion. The illusion consists in our senses constantly going toward the sense object with which the world abounds. Thus it is clear that even for the well-disciplined yogi has to be on his constant guard and curb always in all the senses from all the sides. Lord Shiva is a great yogi. He is called the Adhi Yogi or the First Yogi. He is great curbing all the senses from all the sides. To show this he appears with a deer held safely under his left arm! The deer here stands for the run-away senses. Such is the power the Yogi of constant self-discipline should have over the senses. Sankalpa is the thought or imagination and when we just imagine about a beautiful form even without us ever knowing our mind has a tendency to file it away for future use! Thus just a wayward sankalpa has a tendency to strike invisible roots in the mind and having grown in strength without the owner of the mind knowing anything about it at one point when it had come to have an overmastering power over the mind for the satiation of that sankalpa thus wasting away all the Sadhana or Pratice in self-disciplining over the years by the Practitioner.

In verse 25 the Lord exhorts the Practitioner to attain quietude little by little with his intellect having been set in firmness because attaining the stage of complete quietude is not feasible even for the trained and tried Practitioner! The mental energy is like the electric energy or electricity. We all know the electricity should continue to flow and there’s no way of containing it so that it becomes static even for a period of a split second. Thus electricity cannot be considered as a commodity which can be transported by other means of transport like trucks as in the case of other things. Electricity must be flowing continuously and always. That is why we have to incur colossal transmission loss when electricity is transferred from grid to grid. Mental energy also cannot be contained and made static. And indeed mental energy is by far greater in speed and other properties than the electric energy. So, like electric energy is contained inside of a battery cell, mental energy also should be made to attain quietude in the sense that it must be channelized toward Self and God. When mental energy in totality is made to flow toward God then the Practitioner is said to have overmastered it and attained the QUIETUDE THE LORD SPEAKS OF. THE QUIETUDE SPOKEN IS IN RELATION TO THE CHANGING OF CHANEL, THAT IS, TURNING THE FLOWING TOWARD THE SENSE OBJECTS AND CHANNELIZING THE SAME TOWARD THE ULTIMATE MAKER OF OURS. The Lord says “with the mind fixed on the Self let him not think of anything.” This means let him channelize the mind’s energy fixedly on the Self let him not think of anything MUNDANE. When the Practitioner attains to the level of thinking of his Self-possession, no other possession and enjoyment would make any claim over the mind of the Practitioner. Of all possessions, Self-Possession is the ultimate and undying one and it also brings to the Practitioner the freedom from having to come back to the plane of the Earth again!  

Thursday 20 July 2017

THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER S 20, 21, 22 AND 23.

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBERS 20, 21,22 and 23
Text in Transliteration:
yatro ‘paramate cittam niruddham yogasevayaa
yatra chai ‘vaa ‘tmanaa’tmaanam pasyann aatmani tusyati
Text in English:
When the mind, disciplined by the practice of yoga, attains quietude, and when beholding the Self by the self, he is satisfied in the Self;
Verse number 21 Text in Transliteration:
Sukham aatyantikam yat tad buddhigraahyam ateendriyam
Vetti yatra na chai ‘vaa ‘yam sthitas calati tattvatah
Verse number 21 Text in English:
When he feels that supreme bliss which is perceived by the intellingence and which transcends the senses, and wherein established he never moves from the Reality;
Verse number 22 Text in Transliteration:
yam labdhvaa chaa ‘param laabham manyate naa ‘dhikamtatah
yasmin sthito na duhkhena gurunaa ‘pi vicaalyate
 Text of the verse 22 in English:
And having gained which, he thinks that there is no greater gain than that, wherein established he is not shaken even by the heaviest affliction;
Text in Transliteration of the verse number 23:
tam vidyaad duhkhasamyogaviyogam yogasamjnitam
sa nischayena yoktavyo yogo ‘nirvinna cetasaa
Tex in English of the verse number 23:
Let this disconnection from union with pain be known by the name of yoga. This yoga should be practised with determination and with an undistracted mind.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
For verse 20
Quietude of mind and the experience of satisfaction in the Self are concomitant. Self-knowledge and Self-satisfaction are interrelated.
For verse 21
Bliss is the characteristic of the Atman; therefore the extroverted senses cannot have access to it. Purified intellect grasps it to some extent. Bliss is everlasting because of its belonging to the Atman. The yogi does not want to divert himself from this bliss to the impermanent pleasures of the senses any more than the fish wants to get to land abandoning its watery abode.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
While in Samadhi the yogi dives deep into the ocean of sat-chit-ananda. In that state his senses become defunct.
For verse 22
The fleeting earthly pleasures are all ever selective.but getting into the infinite beatitude of the Self, the yogi has nothing else to seek, even as the fish in the ocean has no other abode to seek. The yogi established in the bliss of Brahman has no body-consciousness. The body hangs on him just as a shadow hangs on to a body. Any harm done to the shadow does not hurt the body; any harm inflicted on the body does not afflict the yogi established in the Self.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Whatever may be the suffering that falls to the lot of the body, the power and glory of the devotion and knowledge of a true devotee do not in the least get diminished thereby. What all tribulations the Pandava brothers had to undergo during their exile! But the exuberance of their wisdom was in no way affected even for a momen by those ordeals.
For verse 23
Bliss is the real nature of man. It is because of ignorance that he courts misery and suffers under its weight. When this assumed state of affair is alienated is alienated, he beams in his original bliss again. This act is like rousing up a man from the pangs of a dreadful dream and putting him in his wakeful state. The meaning of yoga is to yoke one with one’s supreme nature. There is no justification for anybody to invite sorrow on himself. That person who makes himself over to affliction is unfit for yoga. He who takes to yoga with buoyancy of mind, fixed intention and constancy of purpose, achieves it. Sound mental climate is not prelde to the yogis getting back to beatitude, his original state.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SIDBHAVANANDA:
Milk in a vessel continues to boil and bubble so long as there is fire underneath. But when the fire is removed, its simmering stops. On this wise, the man who takes to the practice of yoga out of curiosity pursues it vehemently for sometime and then abandon it once for all. He gains nothing. Steadfastness in yoga is essential.    
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
For verse 21
See Katha Upanishad., III, 12. While the Supreme is beyond perception by the senses, it is seizable by reason, not by the reason which deals with sense data and frames concepts on their basis but reason which works in its own right. When it does so, it becomes aware of things not indirectly, through the medium of the senses or the relations based on them, but by becoming one with them. All true knowledge is knowledge by identity. Our knowledge through physical contact or mental symbols is indirect and approximate. Religion is contemplative realization of God.
For verse 23
In verses number 10—22 the intense fixation of the mind on its object with a view to liberation is taught. It is the repose of the liberated spirit in its own absoluteness and isolation. The self rejoices in the Self. It is the kaivalya or the Samkhya purusha, though in the Gita, it becomes identified with blessedness in God.
Anirvinnachetasaa: nirvedarahitena chetasaa. Shankara. We must practice yoga without slackness of effort arising from the thought of prospective pain.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
For verse number 20
The verses 20, 21, 22, and 23 must be taken together.
When the mind is completely withdrawn from the objects of the senses, supreme peace reigns within the heart. When the mind becomes quite steady by constant and protracted practice of concentration the yogi beholds the Supreme Self by the mind which is rendered pure and one-pointed and attains to supreme satisfaction in the Self within.  
For verse number 21
The infinite Bliss of the Self(which is beyond the reach of the senses)can be grasped (realised) by the pure intellect independently of the senses. During deep meditation the senses cease to function, as they are involved in their cause, the mind. The intellect is rendered pure by the practice of Yama (Self-restraint) and Niyama (observances and disciplinary practices) and constant meditation.  
For verse number 22
Which: the gain or the realisation of the Self or the immortal Soul.
Wherein: in the all-blissful Self which is free from delusion and sorrow. The Self is all-full and self-contained. All the desires are fulfilled when one attains Self-realisation. That is the reason why the Lord says: “There is no other acquisition superior to Self-realisation.” if one gets himself established in the Supreme Self within, he cannot be shaken even by heavy sorrow and pain, because he is  mindless and he is identifying himself with the sorrowless and painless Brahman. One can experience pain and sorrow when he identifies himself with the body and the mind. If there is no mind there cannot be any pain. When one is under chloroform he feels no pain even when his hand is amputated, because the mind is withdrawn from the body.
For verse number 23
In verses 20, 21, and 22 the Lord describes the benefits of Yoga, Viz., perfect satisfaction by resting in the Self, infinite unending bliss, freedom from sorrow and pain, etc. He further adds that this Yoga should be practised with a firm conviction and iron determination and with non-depression of heart. A spiritual aspirant with a wavering mind will not able to attain success in yoga. He will leave the practice when he meets with some obstacles on the path. the practitioner must also be bold, cheerful and self-reliant.  
Comments by the blogger:
In verse 20, there is a distinction sought to be made between the Self and self which is not adopted in the original Sanskrit version! This is the problem of the commentators. How a mind is disciplined, we have already seen. Earlier verses categorically describe how the mind should be disciplined. And here in verse 20, it is stated that when such a disciplined mind rises up one more notch through unswervingly regular meditation and attains quietude the mind can see the Self. The beholder also is the Self. But since the antecedents of this beholder self was as such it had to go through its millennial journey till at last took to the regular practice of yoga, it is shown as self and not Self. In actual fact, the Self only goes through the delusional lives till its possessor takes up to yoga. But since this Self is not fully realized it is denoted by the commentators as self and not Self! Otherwise, there is no distinction between the self and the Self. Self only, even as it is bound by worldly notions and passions of the person possessing the Self, sees the Self at last and the man is satisfied the prototype Self indeed which had been inhering in himself hitherto!
When the so-called self( Self indeed)which used to be bound by the sheerness of the worldly things and notions attained through various discipline and regular practice of Meditation as have been written above feels the supreme happiness or bliss or Brahma bliss, as we have already seen in the verse number15 in my comments, he, the possessor of this Self never moves from the reality. Because one Brahma bliss is such that it transcends the five senses and he is firmly established in the bliss.  Here both the perceiver and the perceived mingle into one. This is the source of Ananda or insatiable Bliss Brahma! In this state all the dualities and sensualities are transcended.
Verse number 22 is not the icing on the cake but further elucidation by the consummate Teacher that the Lord is to Arjuna and through him to the people of the world. When a person becomes the possessor of Self and the consequent Brahma Bliss he rightly thinks that there is no greater gain than this quintessential state. When he is established firmly in this state of Existence Bliss he is not shaken even by greatest of sorrow. Because he is the possessor of his Self and he has also become one with the Universal Self, and as such the Bliss is such that ordinary human drama which is not everlasting but transitory, the possessor of the Self is not moved even by greatest of sorrow. He knows he won’t be coming back to earth here afterward. For example, His Holiness Sri Jayendira Chandrasekarendira Swami of Kanchi mutt was once giving a discourse to a group of devotees. At that time the telegramme containing the news of his mother’s demise was handed over to him with trepidation. But what the Swami or Periyavaal as he was fondly called by his devotees, did was to hold an analysis as to the death of a hermit to this world once he became one, and as such could such a corpse have a mother in its present life as a hermit with complete Self-possession! Such is the case of those who have become established in Self.
Verse number 23 proclaims in unequivocal words and terms that this disconnection from union with pain should be known by the name Yoga. That is why this yoga should be practised with determination and with an undistracted mind. There must be a single-minded devotion to the practising of this emancipating Yoga. The practitioner should give all that he has lived by, his/her spouse in the case of a householder taking to this yoga, and every possession of worldly life. Because, the possession of the Self is the ultimate possession, and to attain to that status one should practise regularly. Swami Vivekananda says that such practitioners attain this state of Self-possession within six years if he/she has meditated for a minimum of eight hours daily. Some attain freedom in twelve years. Some attain in twenty-four years. And even those who die before attaining this stage and established in the Self takes up to the yogic path in the next birth quite early from where he/she had left off in the erstwhile birth. This meditation is very scientific and belongs to the entire humanity transcending all notions of religion and caste.  


Wednesday 19 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA , CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 19

THE HOLY YOGA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 19
Text in Transliteration:
Yathaa deepo nivaatastho ne ‘ngate so ‘pamaa smrtaa
Yogino yatacittasya yinjato yogam aatmanah
Text in English:
‘As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker’—this is the simile used for the disciplined mind of a yogi practising concentration on the Self.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The flame of a lamp in a place perfectly sheltered against wind, is as steady as the flame of a lamp in a picture. When the mind of the yogi is completely sheltered against the wind of desire, the Self in him shines in its original splendour. He is to identify himself with that unbroken consciousness.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
‘Mukti(emancipation) is easy of access to the one deep and strong in mediation’—so goes the saying. Do you know when one is said to be perfect in meditation? When he sits in meditation, divine effulgence engulfs him. His little self merges into the Cosmic Self.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
The yogi’s thought is absorbed in the Atman. Fleeting glimpses or passing visions should not be confused with the insight into Atman which is the one safeguard against all delusions.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
This is a beautiful simile. Yogins quote this simile very often when they talk of concentration or steadiness or one-pointedness of the mind. A steady mind will serve as a powerful searchlight to find out the hidden spiritual treasures of the Self.

Comments by the blogger:
All that is worldly must be seen not as a bane but as a distraction. The lord is sporting. This is the only plausible explanation. And this is the only explanation by the Hindu Seers and Saints when asked why should God send us into the world full of distractions and sinful cravings and then ask us to think only of Him and not be swayed by the sensualities of the world. A year’s complete sadhana or practice in utmost privacy is shot to hell when an angel like person looks upon us and smiles. They say every man has a price. If a man is not swayed by one lakh rupees he is swept off his yogic feet by one crore rupees! The heart melts at a beautiful form’s interest in us. Money and land have a power like the kick in the ass. All the worldly things seem the utmost and ultimate at the moment. The change of moment is taken up by a change of “man, pen and pon” ( land, woman and gold respectively). The strong pull for the land, woman and gold lasts till the last breath is sucked out by our fate and even as we are being reduced to a corpse. Eswar or the Lord is said to be sporting. We have to transcend not transact with the five senses. We should crave for the Lord and not hate the five senses which are just a matter of evolution. We should pray to the Lord, beg him going down our knees and cring-beg him to please fill us with thoughts and feeling about Him to the level that without hating the senses or sense objects, we may concentrate on Him and Him only like the picture perfect pure flame of a lamp placed in a windless spot! We should always remember that the Lord is sporting.



      

Tuesday 18 July 2017

THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 18

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 18
Text in Transliteration:
yadaa viniyatam cittam aatmany evaa ‘vatisthate
nihsprhah sarvakaamebhyo yukta ity ucyate tadaa
Text in English:
When the disciplined mind rests in the Self alone, free from desire for objects, then is one said to be established in yoga.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Wind creates storm in the sea. The wind of desire creates commotion in the mind. Desirelessness makes the mind constant and pure. Fixed in yoga is that mind which is impregnable against all desires with such a sterling mind is naturally an adept in meditation.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The mustard that gets scattered from a torn bag, cannot easily be gathered again. Likewise, the mind dissipated in worldly things does not come under easy control. Possession of the mind in its entirety is yoga.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNA:
 Complete effacement of the ego is essential for the vision of truth. Every taint of individuality should disappear, if truth is to be known. There should be an elimination of all our prejudices and idiosyncrasies.
In these verses, the teacher gives the procedure by which the seeker can gain the experience of the Essential Self. In the ordinary experience of the outer or the inner world, the Self in union with the body is immersed in phenomenal multiplicity and remains veiled because of it. We should fist of all empty the soul of every specific operation, rid it of every image, of every particular representation, of every distinct operation of mind. This is a negative process. It may be thought that by draining our consciousness of every image, we end in a pure and simple nothingness. The teacher makes out that the negative process is adopted to apprehend the Pure Self, to achieve the beatific vision. The silence is made perfect and the void is consummated through this apparently negative but intensely vital mystical contemplation, involving a tension of the forces of the soul. It is an experience which transcends all knowledge; for the Self is not an object expressible in a concept of presentable to mind as an object. It is inexpressible subjectivity.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Perfectly controlled mind: The mind with one-pointedness.
When all desires for the objects of pleasure seen or unseen die, the mind becomes very peaceful and rests steadily in the Supreme Self within. As the yogi is perfectly harmonised, as he has attained to oneness with the Self and as he has become identical with Brahman, sense phenomena and bodily affections do not disturb him. he is conscious of his immortal, imperishable and invincible nature.
 Yukta means ‘united’ (with the self) or harmonised or balanced. Without union with the Self neither harmony nor balance nor Samadhi is possible.  
Comments by the blogger:
The discipline has already been pointed out clearly by Sri Krishna in the previous verses. The mind must be serene and fearless. The practitioner should be firm in the vow of a Brahmachari. One should sit in yoga with a subdued mind. The practitioner should think of the Lord only. Keeping himself ever steadfast in this manner, the yogi attains peace which abides in the Lord. This should culminate in Nirvana. For this, the practitioner should not eat too much neither desist from food too much. He should not sleep too much neither be wakeful too much. Thus the practitioner should be moderate in eating and recreation. He should be temperate in actions.
When the mind is disciplined this way, it cannot be difficult for the mind to rest in the Self alone free from desire for objects. Such a mind and practitioner of Yoga is said to be established in yoga.








THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 17

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 17
Text in Transliteration:
yuktaahaara vihaarasya yukta cestasya karmasu
yukta svapnaavabodhasya yogo bhavati duhkhahaa
Text in English:
For him who is moderate in eating and recreation, temperate in his actions, who is regulated in sleep and wakefulness, yoga becomes the destroyer of pain.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Physical exercise, as much as the as spiritual sadhana (Practise), is incumbent on the yogi; but it has to be resorted to, moderately. The duties of the yogi are very consequential and they have to be discharged meticulously and as regularly as the movements of the planets. The merit in him in the midst of these activities is, he is free from body-consciousness. Meitation therefore becomes easy and spontaneous to him. pain is always associated with the diseased body and mind. But the yogi takes no note of the body and he is sound in mind. Therefore yga becomes the destroyer of pain to him.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
It is not complete abstinence from action but restraint in action that is advised. When the ego is established in the Self, it lives in a transcendent and universal consciousness and acts from that centre.
COMMENTARY BY SIVANANDA:
In this verse the Lord prescribes for the student of yoga, diet, recreation and the like. The student of Yoga should always adopt the happy medium or the middle course. Lord Buddha went to the extremes in the beginning in matters of food, drink, etc. He was very obstemious and became extremely weak. He tortured his body very much. Therefore he was not able to attain to success in Yoga. Too much of austerity is not necessary for Self-realisation. This is condemned y the Lord in chapter XVII, verses 5 and 6. Austerity should not mean self-torture. Then it becomes diabolical. The Buddhi Yoga of Krishna is a wise approach to austerity. Some aspirants take asceticism as the goal; it is only the means by not the end. The nervous system is extremely sensitive. It responds even to very slight changes and causes distraction of the mind. It is, therefore very necessary that you should lead a very regulated and disciplined life and should be moderate in food, sleep and recreation. Take measured food. Sleep and wake up at the prescribed time. Sleep at 9 pr 10 p.m. and get up at 3 or 4 a.m. only then will you attain to success in Yoga which will kill all sorts of pains and sorrows of this life.

Comments by the blogger:
Yoga is a destroyer of pain.
This life is painful with a trace of happiness.

Ramana Maharishi asks who does a man go to the doctor when he gets a headache? And he answers the question that the man remembers the period of time when he was free of the same! In the previous verse we saw the quantification of the ultimate happiness of Brahma. We each of us is entitled to that ultimate happiness. So only this life is full of pain. We go through it without any complaint because we do not have an idea as to our right to the ultimate happiness. Only through yoga can we attain to that state quickly. Even otherwise we can attain to it. But it will take millions of births and deaths through which we slowly evolve in our mind. We shed very painfully slowly avarice and lust through our millennial innings. But, compared to this slow process of evolution, Yoga is like a voyage in a rocket!      

Monday 17 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 16

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 16
Text in Transliteration:
naa ‘tyasnatas tu yogo ‘sti na chai ‘kaantam anasnatah
na chaa ‘tisvapnaseelasya jaagrato nai ‘va chaa ‘rjuna
Text in English:
Yoga is not possible for him who eats too much or for him who abstains too much from eating; it is not for him, O Arjuna, who sleeps too much or too little.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The wire of a vina (stringed instrument) snaps if tightened too much and become devoid of music if loosened too much. In the art of partaking of food, the yogi is to act like a properly tuned vina bringing out the best music. If he over-eats he becomes a dullard; if he under-eats he becomes weak. In regard to the quantity and sort of food one’s physique is not the standard for another’s. Each sadhaka (Practitioner) has to fix them for himself. Sleep brings rest and relaxation and tones the system; but over or under indulgence in it aggravates Tamas or inertia, which is a hindrance to the practice of meditation.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Eat sumptuously in the day time; but let your food at night be sparse and easily digestible.
A sadhaka or Practitioner ought to help himself to that food only which is not hearing to the body and exciting to the mind.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
We must be free from animal cravings. We must avoid excess in all things. Compare with this the middle path of the Buddhists, the golden mean of Aristotle.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
In this verse the Lord prescribes the diet for the students of Yoga. You must observe moderation in eating and sleeping. If you eat too much you will feel drowsy, and sleep will overpower you. You will get indigestion flatulence, diseases of the bowels and the liver. If you eat too little you will get weakness and you will not be able to sit for a long time in meditation. you should eat neither more nor less than what is actually necessary for maintaining the body in a healthy and strong state.
It may mean also that success in Yoga is not possible for him who eats more than the quantity prescribed in the text books on Yoga. They prescribe: “Half the stomach must be filled with food; a quarter with water and the remaining fourth must be empty for the free movement of air.” This is the Mitahara or moderate diet for a student of Yoga.
 If you sleep too much you will become lethargic. The mind will be dull and the body will be heavy. You cannot meditate. If you sleep too little you will experience drowsiness. You will sleep during meditation. Keep the golden medium. You will have rapid progress in Yoga.
Comments by the blogger:

Sri Krishna is a consummate dietician. Several thousand years ago He has laid down the normal sleep and diet for the Practitioner of Yoga. Gaudama, the Buddha before he became as such is said to have experimented with extreme dietetic measures; he is said to have gone without food for several days in the hope of blunting the onslaught of the five senses. When he had become too emaciated, he found that Yoga could not be practised on the empty stomach. Likewise, more than anything, a good and sound sleep for normal duration tones up our system, and thereby enables the practitioners able to meditate for long hours. At last, Buddha is said to have found out that the five senses should not be blunted in the bid to perform Yoga but they must be transcended. Swami Vivekananda says that even a famished man cannot eat his food like a dog eats its regular food with great gusto. It is in us. We have the biological clock. And likewise we have a self sustaining system. If we adhere to it we should be able to perform Yoga.    

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 15

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 15
Text in Transliteration:
Yunjann evam sadaa ‘tmaanam yogi niyatamaanasah
Saantim nirvaanaparamaam matsamsthaam adhigachati
Text in English:
Keeping himself ever steadfast in this manner, the yogi of subdued mind attains the Peace abiding in Me and culminating in Nirvana.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDHBAVANANDA:
Hunger is appeased by the one who partakes of food. The Peace of Blessedness comes to him who has reached the culmination of yoga. As heat is inherent in fire, Peace pertains to Paramatman. This Peace or shaanti is synonymous with mukti or emancipation. And this is the fruit of yoga.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
The one who newly visits a city must first procure a good lodging for himself. Then he may roam about the city, seeing many interesting things. If the lodging be not fixed first, at sunset he will have difficulties in that respect. Similarly, the man who has newly come into this world shall have to seek the everlasting shelter first at the feet of the Lord. Then he may live in this word care-free and go about his undertakings. Otherwise, the sunset of death will harass him much.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
  Thus: in the manner prescribed in the previous verse.
  The Supreme Self is an embodiment of peace. It is an ocean of peace. When one attains to the supreme peace of the Eternal, by controlling the modifications of the mind and keeping it always balanced, he attains to liberation or perfection.
    Comments by the blogger:
The yogi should keep himself steadfast in the manner as described in the verse 14. It is promised that such yogi of subdued mind will attain the peace abiding in God. And the practitioner will attain Samadhi or Nirvana or Freedom from rebirth and oneness with God.
Ordinary average man’s life is tuned toward obtaining happiness of all kind. He wants to live a contented life to his heart’s content till death. And death harasses him.
Apart from Man all the animals exert to get maximum happiness. Man also wishes for highest happiness in this world. For this, he strives hard. So he thinks he has little time for God. Moreover, he thinks the time spent in harsh meditations is a waste of time. His highest motive is continuous happiness. So he is discouraged by a necessity to pursue a spiritual life.
But all that man achieves here by way of happiness is just a pittance in comparison with what he stands to obtain by attaining oneness with God.
We have already seen the quantification of happiness a man stands to obtain by pursuing the Spiritual Path: we shall see again the same see the same in this context.
In Taiteeria Upanishad this quantification of happiness is described.
It goes thus: “Now let us see the quantification of happiness: let us take as the basic unit a good and strong and wise and self-controlled youth. Let us further hold that such a youth possesses this whole earth for his enjoyment. The happiness such a youth will harvest is one Human happiness. One hundred of such Human  happiness is equal to One Human-Gandharva Happiness. One who has no avarice and wise gets this happiness.
One hundred of such Human-Gandharva happiness is equal to one Deva-Gandharva happiness. One who is not avaricious and wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such Deva-Gandharva happiness is equal to One happiness of our long-lived forefathers. One who is not avaricious and wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such forefathers’ happiness is equal to a Dheva who is a celestial Being’s one happiness. Who is not avaricious and wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such Dheva happiness is equal to the one Karma Dheva happiness. Karma Dhevas are those who obtain the Dheva stage through proper Actions. One who is not avaricious and wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such Karma Dheva’s happiness is equal to one Mukya Dheva’s (Important Dheva’s) happiness. One who is devoid of avarice and is wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such Mukya Dheva happiness is equal to one Indira happiness. One who has no avarice and is wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such Indira happiness is equal to one Bruhaspathi’s happiness. One who is not avaricious and is wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such Bruhaspathi’s happiness is equal to one Prajapat’s happiness. One who is not avaricious and is wise obtains this happiness.
One hundred of such Prajapati’s happiness is equal to one Brahma’s happiness. One who is not avaricious and is wise obtains this happiness.

 Thus from the above quantification, we may form an idea the kind of happiness one stands to reap by sacrificing the ordinary and short-lived happiness wrought out in the worldly life.

Sunday 16 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 14

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 14
Text in Transliteration:
prasaantaatmaa vigatabhir brahmachaarivrate sthitah
manah samyamya maccitto yukta aasrta matparah
Text in English:
Serene and fearless, firm in the vow of a Brahmachari, subdued in mind, he should sit in yoga thinking on Me and intent on Me alone.
COMMENTARY BY SIDBHAVANANDA:
That mind is said to be serene, which is as placid as a rippleless lake. As there is in the yogi a heroic deliberation to train the mind this way, fear finds no place in him. he is a Brahmachari who, untouched by lust, is pure as a baby in thought, word and deed. As his mind has not been allowed to become Satanic, subjugation of the mind is a matter of course with him. No two conflicting things simultaneously occupy one’s mind. The yogi’s mind is dedicated to serve and commune with Paramatman only. He is therefore ever intent on Iswara.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
When a person observes the vow of Brahmacharya rigidly for twelve years he develops a new sensory nerve known as Medhanadi. It is the intuitive faculty. Intricate and knotty problems of life are no problems to him. that penetrating faculty makes it possible for him to intuit Iswara as well, it being the acme of enlightenment.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
brahmachaarivrate sthitah; firm in the vow of celibacy. The aspirant for yoga must exercise control over sex implulses Hindu tradition has insisted on brahmacharya from the beginning. In the Prasna Upanishad Pippalaada asks the seekers to observe brahmacharya for a year more at the end of which he undertakes to initiate them into the highest wisdom. In Chanandogya Ypanishad, Brahmaa taught Indra the the knowledge of Reality after making him undergo brahmacharya for 101 years. Brahmacharya is defined as abstinence from sex intercourse in thought, word and deed in all conditions and places and times. The gods are said to have conquered death by brahmacharya and penance. In Jnaanasamkalinee Tantra, Siva says that true tapas is brahmacharya and he who practises it uninterruptedly is divine, not human. It is not ascetic celibacy that is meant by brahmacharya, but control. Hindu tradition affirms that a householder who controls his sex life is a brahmachaari quite as truly as one who abstains from sex altogether. To be a celibate is not to deaden the senses and deny the heart.
The qualities demanded for the practice of Yoga may be compared the three Evangelical counsels of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience by which we overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.
The negative process of bringing all thoughts to a standstill has for its positive side, concentration on the Self. Isvara pranidhaana is a recognized way in yoga discipline. The mind becomes still but not vacant, for it is fixed on the Supreme maccittah matparah.
Only the single-visioned see the Real. Spiritual life is not prayer or petition. It is profound devoutness, silent meditation, the opening of the consciousness to the innermost depths of the soul, which connect the individual self directly with the Divine Principle. Those who learn this art do not require any external assistance, any belief in dogma or participation in ritual. They acquire the creative vision since they combine absorption with detachment. They act in the world, but the passionless tranquillity of the spirit remains undisturbed. They are compared to the lotus on the lake which is unruffled by the tide.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The spiritual aspirant should possess serenity of mind. The Divine Light can descend only in a serene mind. Serenity is attained by the eradication of Vasanas or desires and cravings. He should be fearless. This is the most important qualification. A timid man or a coward is very far from Self-realisation.
A Brahmachari (celibate ) should serve his Guru or the spiritual preceptor whole-heartedly and should live on alms. This also constitutes the Brahmachari-Vrata. The aspirant should control the modifiations of the mind. He should be balanced in pleasure and pain, heat and cold, honour and dishonour. He should ever think of the Lord and take Him as the Supreme Goal.
Brahmacharya also means continence. Semen or the vital fluid tones the nerves and the brain, and energises the whole system. That Brahmachari who has preserved this vital force by the vow of celibacy and sublimated it into Ojas Sakti or radiant spiritual power can practise steady meditation for a long period. Only he can ascend the ladder of Yoga. Without Brahmacharya or celibacy not an iota of spiritual progress is possible. Continence is the very foundation on which the superstructure of meditation and Samadhi can be built up. Many persons waste this vital energy –a great spiritual treasure indeed—when they become blind and lose their power of reason under sexual excitement. Pitiable is their lot! They cannot make substantial progress in Yoga.

Comments by the blogger:

Continence is contemplation and not a desisting from; the devout is not so in the way we ascribe to the word our own watered down meaning. When someone asked Sri Ramakrishna when he could see God the great sage replied by asking what he would do if someone immerses his head in water; the person naturally replied that he would try his best to get out of the water and breathe. The sage said that is the kind of craving one should develop for God and if one could develop that kind of craving he could see God! So continence happens directly and automatically when one is filled to the full with the serene contemplation of the Self or God! Continence is one of the things that goes into what we call Spiritual Culture. All Old Spiritual Cultures like the Ancient Greek have gone out of date. But Indian culture has endured because of the Upanishadic Saints and Seers who were great Bramachariyas. This kind of spiritual culture is an undying contribution by India to the world.      

Friday 14 July 2017

THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 13

THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION
VERSE NUMBER 13
Text in Transliteration:
samam kaayasirogreevam dhaarayanna achalam sthirah
samprekshya naasikaagram svam disas  chaa ‘navalokayan
Text in English:
Let him hold the body, head and neck erect and still, gazing at the tip of his nose, without looking around.
COMMENTS BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
When the body, head and neck are held erect, the spinal cord becomes vertical. In this posture harmonized breathing takes place easily and freely and good thoughts come in naturally. The posture assumed for meditation should be firm, facile and deliberate. Consciousness of the body is got over in this manner. As the mind calms down in meditation, the ehe-balls assume steadiness and seem as if they are gazing at the tip of the nose, while actually at rest. In meditation all modifications of the mind merge in the Self beaming as Bliss or as Pure Consiousness.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
When a bird is brooding on her eggs for hatching, she puts on a vacant look taking notice of things around her. Even such is the case with the eyes of the yogi in meditation.
In meditation there is one-pointedness of the mind. Then eyes see not and ears hear not; body becomes inert, as it were any snake crawling on the body is not sensed then by the yogi, nor does snake apprehend any danger from its contact with the human body.
COMMENTARY BY DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN
Posture or aasana is here mentioned. Patanjali points out that the posture should be steady and pleasing so as to aid concentration. A right posture gives serenity of body. The body must be kept clean if the living image of God is to be installed in it.
Sampreksya naasikaagram. The gaze is to be fixed on the tip of the nose. A wandering gaze is not a help to concentration.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The Lord describes here the pose or Asana and the Drishti (gaze) in this verse.
You cannot practise meditation without a firm seat. If the body is unsteady, the mind will also become unsteady. There is an intimate connection between the body and the mind.
You should bot shake the body even a bit. You should attain mastery over the Asana (Asana-Jaya) by daily practice. You shoud be as firm as a statue or a rock. If you keep the body, head and neck erect, the spinal cord also will be erect and the Kundalini will rise up steadily through the subtle ‘nerve-channel’ (Nadi) called the Sushumna. Sit in the ‘lotus pose’ or ‘adept pose’. This will help you in maintaining the nervous equilibrium and mental poise. You should steadily direct your gaze towards the tip of your nose. This is known as the Nasikagra Drishti. The other gaze is the Bhrumadhya Drishti or gazing between the two eyebrows where the psychic centre known as the (Ajna Chakra is situated. This is described in chapter V verse 27. In Bhrumadhya Drishti direct the gaze towards the Ajna Chakra with closed eyes. If you practise this with open eyes, it may produce headache. Foreign particles  or dust may fall into the eyes. There may be distraction of the mind also. Do not strain the eyes. Practise gently. When you concentrate your gaze at the Ajna Chakra you will experience Divya-Jyotis (perception of supra-phenomenal lights ). This ai an experience to give encouragement, push you up in the spiritual path and convince you of the existence of transcendental or supra-physical things. Do not stop your Sadhana. Yogins and those Bhaktas who meditate on Lord Siva concentrate on the Ajna Chakra with Bhrumadhya Drishti. You can select whichever Drishti suits you best.
Though the gaze is directed towards the tip of the nose when the eyes are half-closed and the eyeballs are steady the mind should be fixed only on the Self . therefore you will hae to gaze, as it were, at the tip of the nose. In chapter VI verse 25 the Lord says: ‘Having made the mind abide in the Self, let him not think of anything’. Gazing at the tip of the nose will soon bring about concentration of the mind.

Whichever be the point selected, visualise your own tutelary deity there and feel His Living Presence.

Thursday 13 July 2017

THE HOLY YOGA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 12

THE HOLY YOGA
Chapter number 06
DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:
VERSE NUMBER 12
Text in Transliteration:
Tatrai ‘kaagram manah krtvaa yatachittendriyakriyah
Upvisyaa ‘sane yunjyaad yogam aatmavishddhaye.
Text in English:
 Sitting there on his seat, making the mind one-pointed and restraining the thinking faculty and the senses, he should practise yoga for self-purification.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Mind loses its innate purity to the extent it contacts objects through the senses. It is very much like the rain water contacting the earth and becoming muddy. Suspending the senses and resting the mind in the Self is the only means to reclaim it to its original state. Like bathing and cleansing the body with water, mind has to be purified by repeatedly merging it in the Self. And this process is life-long. It is to be as obligatory as bathing and eating. The power and potentiality of the mind increases as it progresses in self-purification.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:
Milk gets easily mixed with water; but if it is churned into butter and put in water it floats maintaining its individuality, instead. Man’s mind that easily gets lost in the sense-objects has to be cultivated in devotion to the Lord in solitude. Worldly contact that comes subsequent to the development of devotion to the Lord causes no harm.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Yoga here means dhyaana yoga, meditation. To realize truth, man must be delivered from the clutches of practical interests which are bound up with our exterior and material life. The chief condition is a disciplined disinterestedness. We must develop the power to see things as a free undistorted intelligence would see them. for this we must get ourselves out of the way.  When Pythagoras was questioned why he called himself a philosopher he gave the following story. He compared human life with the great festival at Olympia where all the world comes together in a motley crowd. Some are there to do business at the fair and enjoy themselves. Others wish to win the wreath in the contest and some others are merely spectators and these last are the philosophers. They keep themselves free from the urgencies of immediate problems and practical necessities. Shankara points out that the essential qualifications of a seeker of wisdom are a capacity to discriminate between the eternal and the non-eternal, detachment from the enjoyment of the fruits of action, terrestrial and celestial, self-control and an ardent desire for spiritual freedom. For Plato, the aim of all knowledge is to raise us to the contemplation of the idea of good, the source alike of being and knowing, and the ideal philosopher is one whose goal, at the end of a life lived to the full, “is always a life of quiet, of indrawn stillness, of solitude and aloofness, in which the world forgetting, by the world forgot, he finds his heaven in lonely contemplation of the ‘good’. That and that alone is really life” “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” This purification of the heart chittasuddhi, is a matter of discipline. Plotinus tells us that, “wisdom is a condition in a being at rest.”  
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
The self means the mind. The real Supreme Self is the Atma. This is primary (Mukhya). Mind also is the self. But this is used in a secondary sense (Gauna). Mukhya Atma is Brahman or the highest Self, Gauna Atma is the mind.
Make the mind one-pointed by collecting all its dissipated rays by the practice of Yoga. Withdraw it from all sense-objects again and again and try to fix it steadily on your Lakshya or point of meditation or centre. Gradually you will have concentration of the mind or one-pointedness. You must be very regular in your practice. Only then will you succeed. Regularity is of paramount importance. You should know the ways and habits of the mind through daily introspection, self-analysis or self-examination. You should have a knowledge of the laws of the mind. Then it will be easy for you to check the wandering mind. When you sit for meditation, and when you deliberately attempt to forget the worldly objects, all sorts of worldly thoughts will crop up in your mind and disturb your meditation. You will be quite astonished. Old thoughts that you entertained several years ago, and old memories of past enjoyments will bubble up and force the mind to wander in all directions. You will find that the trap-door of the vast subconscious mind is opened or the lid or the storehouse of thoughts within is lifted up and the thoughts gush out in a continuous stream. The more you attempt to still them, the more they will bubble yp with redoubled force and strength.
Be not discouraged. Nil desperandum. Never despair. Through regular and constant meditation you can purify the subconscious mind and its constant memories. The fire of meditation will burn all thoughts. Be sure of this. Meditation is a potent antidote to annihilate the poisonous worldly thoughts. Be assured of this.
Meditation on the immortal Self will act like a dynamite and blow up all thoughts and memories in the conscious mind. If the thoughts trouble you much, do not try to suppress them by force. Be a silent witness as in a bioscope. They will subside gradually. Then try to root them out through regular silent meditation.
During introspection you can clearly observe the rapid shifting of the mind from one line of thought to another. Herein lies a chance for you to mould the mind properly and and direct the the thoughts and mental energy in the divine channel. You can rearrange the thoughts and make new associations on a new Sattvic basis. You can throw out worldly and useless thoughts. Just as you remove the weeds and throw them out, you can throw these out, and you can cultivate sublime, divine thoughts in the divine garden of your mind. This is a very patient work. This is a stupendous task indeed. But for a Yogi of determination who has the grace of the Lord and an iron will it is nothing.
Calm the bubbling emotions, sentiments, instincts and impulses gradually through silent meditation. You can give a new orientation to your feelings by gradual and systematic practice. You can entirely transmute your worldly nature into divine nature. You can exercise supreme control over the nerve currents, muscles, the five sheaths (of the Self), emotions, impulses and instincts through meditation.
  
Comments by the irregular blogger:
When life started here on earth as one cell animals' senses were almost absent. But sense objects abounded the world. The air and water was pure. There were occasional sounds as when there was rain, tornado earthquake etc. But still one cell animals had the sense to proliferate, eat, drink and sleep. As the single cell animals wanted to enjoy these sense objects more and more there needed to be the senses of hearing, shouting, grunting etc. So as centuries passed, the single cell animals not only evolved into multi-cell animals, they also wanted to enjoy this world of sense objects more and more. More was the ambition to enjoy and greater multifarious became the power of senses! Then several centuries afterward the animals in the water bodies encroached upon the land. There were all sorts of flower and fauna in the millennial course of evolution. Ordinary Zebra tried and tried to eat the leaves of higher branches. So those zebras gave birth to cubs which had long necks even as their mothers. When they matured into adults their necks were double that of their mothers in length. Still these cubs now adults tried to eat leaves on higher and higher branches. These virtuous cycles continued till at one time the modern zebras evolved.
Not only the single cell animals came to have longer necks as zebra, birds had beaks the size of which was ruled according as the habitats and surroundings. Eagle the bird had developed longer curved talons as they were necessary to carry the prey and then tear open them and gut them and eat. Their beaks also evolved for that purpose.
Thus animals came to have highly developed senses so that they can enjoy this world full of sense objects. The snakes did not have ears but they developed a highly sensitive underbelly by which they can factor in the oncoming of both the preys and enemies. The bats did not have eyes but they learnt to fly by sending some rays forward and would fly till the rays go unchecked and once checked then there was an object so they could in a jiffy turn the direction. All these senses are pure matter of striving for and receiving. That is what we call evolution. The prakrity or nature would give whatever we ask of it continuously and studiously. So striving on the part of the original single cell animal became the ultimate Ape.  
Then, in the course of time, Man evolved with a very unique mind that is by far superior to all animals taken together!
He had five unique senses to enjoy the whole world.
But alas, since the bodily evolution is over when the ultimate modern Man evolved he could sing, speak, write poems and dramas and so on. There is no end to Man’s power to enjoy the nature with sense objects numberless.
But the same prakriti or Nature which gave the zebra its longish neck, the snake an ultra sensitive power, fox and dog an ultra sensitive power of smell, now says to Man TO UNLEARN WHATEVER HE HAD BEEN LEARNING FROM HIS TIME AS THE SINGLE CELL ANIMAL!
NOW, SELF-CONTROL IS ONE OF NOT, BUT THE ONLY IN THING.
MAN, THOU SHALT CONTROL YOURSELVES.
THAT IS WHY WORLDLINESS IS CALLED BY GREAT YOGIS AS POISONOUS!
TO BECOME A SLAVE TO ONE’S SENSES IS NOW A SIN!
AND THEN THERE IS AN ORIGINAL SIN TO WHICH ALL MANHOOD STANDS PRIVY ACCORDING TO THE HOLY BIBLE!
IT IS AS THOUGH MAN SHOULD UNLEARN EVERYTHING HE HAS BEEN LEARNING FROM THE DAYS OF THE SINGLE CELL DAYS.
UNLEARN!
DON’T DO THIS. DON’T DO THAT. DON’T INDULGE IN THAT OVERMUCH.
WHO SAYS?
HELLO, WHO SAYS ALL THESE THINGS?
WHY, THE NATURE! THE VERY NATURE WHICH ENCOURAGED THE ZEBRA TO DEVELOP LONGER NECKS, AND OTHER ANIMALS ALL THEY NEEDED TO EAT, DRINK, SLEEP AND PROCREATE QUITE INDULGENTLY, NOW SAYS THOU SHALL NOT DO THIS AND THAT!
The former editor-in-chief of the Tamil Weekly, Mr. Cho Ramasami famously said, the same father who at once encouraged his son to learn much so that he could earn much and make his life abundant, turns around when the son attains middle age that money is not the only thing in life. There are values of life and virtues of life more important than money and the power it gives. Give money to others. You yourself contemplate on God!
Nature is like that father. It encouraged endless variety of species to develop endless power to enjoy the earthly life. But when the ultimate animal comes around, the Nature turns around and says “unlearn almost all the worldliness you’ve learnt. Think of your Self. Now Self culture is the in thing. Grow abundantly in Self culture. Realise that you are not an animal. Don’t make a pig of yourselves. Think of the Maker of this Universe. He is within you. Thou art that. Learn it through yoga or dhyana or meditation.
Some ten thousand years ago when the Rig Vedic saints and then the Upanishadic saints sat in a place and turned their attention inward they realized that the animal life and life style is over, now is the mind culture or self culture starting to take the predominate place. Once you realise yourself then you would find this world is only a school for teaching Age after Age how to enjoy this world and then graduate from that and how to enjoy your own Self.
That is why yogis call the worldliness as poisonous. And ask us to turn toward Godliness!
Because now is the time for the evolution of Man in His Mind and become one with His Maker!