RESETTING THE MIND SERIES 4. Practice on the Mat

Transcription

1 RESETTING THE MIND SERIES 4. Practice on the Mat Swami Suryadevananda Practice on the Mat is the fourth in the series Resetting the Mind. Earlier, we have discussed: the dynamics of inner slipping what to let go abandoning otherness, and four good friends on the path. Today, let us together look into Greetings. what is practice why practice at all foundations for practice, and getting started in practice. Today we talk about practice. And in this particular session, I d like to talk about practice on the mat which we generally refer to as spiritual practices or sadhana. In the next session, we ll talk about practice in life, because in yoga, practice is not for the mat only. Practice encompasses all of life; the mat of yoga encompasses all of life. So why do we practice in a controlled area, like our prayer area, or our room, or our home? Quite simple. When we learned how to drive, we practiced in a parking lot so that we could understand the car, we could understand the principles of driving, and we could get a little practice and comfortable at it. Basically, it was a controlled area where we could learn. But that is not where driving stopped. We didn t go back every single week after week after week, year after year after year, and just drive the parking lot. Driving the parking lot is good but it is not going to go somewhere. We learned there so we could drive efficiently, and go and come on the open roads. It s a little bit of the same thing. In yoga we practice on the mat so that we can understand ourselves a little bit better. We can develop vigilance, we can develop all these faculties of looking within to keep thought from interfering with action, and then later to keep thought from interfering with self. Practice on the Mat 1

2 For self-mastery, these two things are essential: number one: to keep thought out of action. In the earlier videos we have seen that our problems are not because of life, or things out there. Our problems are because awareness or consciousness of our sense of being seems to be very interested in thought. It faces thought continually instead of facing what s out there or resting in itself. Consciousness seems to have an obsession with thought. It seems to face thought, it seems to believe and when I say consciousness I m talking about our sense of being, who we are, we re conscious beings, we re aware of things. That sense of awareness is very interested in thought. And the reason for that is quite simple: habit. We have taken this inner world of thought, because that s where our values, our hopes, our expectations, our likes, our dislikes everything that seems to define us resides. So there seems to be a small little pseudo-government, and the big government is obsessed by the little pseudo-government because it cannot seem to distinguish That is in it and we are real, awareness is real, and thought or the amalgam of thought, all of this conditioning exists in this reality, or seems to exist, and so it seems to be real. And this is the crux of our problems. If we can free consciousness from thought, if consciousness can rest within itself, awareness can rest in itself face everything, do what needs to be done. My friends, life would be very joyful, we will be healthy, we will be happy, we would not vie with one another. We vie with one another for what reason? We fight with one another for what reason? Well, whatever the reasons may be, we consider the other, first of all, an other, and different from us fundamentally. And where do differences lie? They lie in the minds of the beholder, and what is the content of that? Thought. So, mastery over thought becomes essential, and in resetting the mind, our focus is going to be this much and this one: can we live which is function: eat, sleep, drink, breathe, come, go, all of that without the interference of thought? Can we separate thought from action completely? Can this awareness directly perceive? and directly do? And can we function smoothly, harmoniously, without hurting or hurting others? Without suffering pain?, and without causing pain? Can we do that? There is another step in yoga, which is separating thought from consciousness. Most of that happens in meditation, but that is not the focus of this particular series, Resetting the Mind. And we re going to try to look into ways of separating thought from action. And since this is not something that can be done just in one stroke not because it cannot be done, because of how enmeshed and how one we have become with thought. We are defined by thought, we have created thought, and now thought creates us and now it defines us. We ve made a prison, and that prison is from where we function. And yoga aims at getting to this, and at finding a way, first, Practice on the Mat 2

3 to live free of thought, free of all the turmoil and therefore, beyond sorrow. So, practice should be geared to this. What is practice? And we call this practice, not because we re going to do something little by little by little incrementally, and then eventually something s going to happen some explosion or some enlightenment or something is going to happen. But we will look at practice the way a scientist looks at practice. When a scientist is bent on a discovery, he or she goes to the lab every single day; and every single day they don t go there thinking, Well, I m going to do my 2 cents today, and then after about ten years or twenty years, hopefully I ll come upon discovery no. They re bent on trying to discovery today at least an enthusiastic scientist. They go in there thinking, Today is the day. But they don t go back doing the same thing in the same old way because they ve learned lessons yesterday of what did not work, or what other discoveries they came upon. Now they come in renewed, refreshed and wiser. And as they take up the task on hand, it s a new person, with a different, sharpened focus. And so, it s not doing the same thing at all again. So, practice, my friends, is not a mechanical thing or a routine we set down. Do a routine is good - but a routine in terms of a plan is useful and we re going to talk about that next. A routine in terms of a mechanical event or a mechanical action is not only counter-productive, it s going to dig things even deeper it s not going to accomplish anything. The scientist doesn t go the same way and do the same thing the same way and expect for a different result. Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. My friends, it s not going to happen we have to wake up from that. And it s not just enthusiasm, but it s a tremendous level of alertness that is needed. A level of attention and alertness for discovery is essential, and the fuel for alertness is interest. Interest lies at the bottom of this; we have to want to find a way to live, a way to act, a way to do what needs to be done that is free of this burden of thought, my friends completely free of all the turmoil and chaos and chatter of the mind. And yoga says it is possible, it is possible; and this is why we practice. It s a new mechanism and there rarely are we going to sit and make a sankalpa or ideation or a resolve that That s it! I m going to function the yoga way and thought s not going to interfere. Well, maybe one in very very many might be able to pull that one off, but really not for the most part. We ve got to get into this where functioning without thought is not something that happens really with effort; it becomes the modus operandi of the natural way of living. So first, it s going to take effort to find that path. Just like a hidden mountain path that someone gives you a few navigation points on, and you go out there and you find that path and you know that path from then on; however hidden it may be, you become one with that path. We ve got to find this path till we can walk this path, until walking the path becomes natural to us and this is the focus of our thing. Practice on the Mat 3

4 Why practice at all? Once again let me preface that practice is not something incremental. Practice is an all-out attempt, and we practice because our earlier attempt just didn t cut it. It didn t cut it to what standard? Not just discovery of this way, but establishment in that. Irreversible establishment so there is no going back: functioning without the interference of thought. Now I m not saying that we don t use thought, but using thought, and thought being in the driver s seat or thought running things, are two different things. Thought interfering are two different things. I can use thought like I can use any other of my faculties. I can ask it for data, I can ask it for things, I can look within and challenge it to come up with things, ask it to do certain things that s all fine. But when we get into the action mode, is there any need for thought at all? because number one, action involves a real situation. And this inner intelligence that is aware of thought is also facing that situation. It s more pervasive, it s more stable, and it s not susceptible to the mood swings, and up and down, and high/low, and reactions of thought. Why can that not perceive and act? and do what needs to be done? Yoga says it can! - and we know it can! When we drive very often, we get into we see the car before us as driving nicely, we go with the flow of traffic and we adjust the inner intelligence is making all sorts of computations about pulling back, about giving more space, about changing lanes about all of that stuff. We don t really have to think about it consciously: that I should be here. We re aware of it, alert. But something else can drive, while we still alert. That something else is very alert. That something else is alert even when we sleep! Look friends, when we sleep, the conscious mind is turned off in deep sleep. Still, if a cold draft comes in, this inner intelligence will pull the blanket over the feet and sleep will go on uninterrupted. So, this inner intelligence never sleeps; and this is a very stable medium. And we practice so that we can surrender to this get this in the driver s seat, and let this live our life. This little conscious mind which is already so overloaded with likes and dislikes and pet peeves and everything else! and it keeps plodding through life like an old ox cart or a horse-drawn buggy that s over laden, heavy, and ineffective. So, this is why we practice. And we practice because the first attempt didn t cut it not because of anything else. It s not an incremental thing that we re going to do little by little by little by little. Just like the scientist bent on the discovery of something, just like a businessman; a businessman is always looking out for an opportunity. They don t go and think, Well, I ll do this and that and over a period of time something may mature. They are ready to make a deal at any point if it s in their best interest. So, we should be coming to practice with this wholeheartedness. Without this wholeheartedness, my friends, if we come in with this incremental thing or a routine thing: that I ll do certain things and it will please somebody and maybe a spark of some kind of blessing will come my friends, we re not wholehearted to begin with. How are we going to succeed? Wholeheartedness itself is yoga. Wholeheartedness is every single ray of our being, gathered together, and practice Practice on the Mat 4

5 becomes the means to do that. So the very gathering of the rays itself is joining together or bringing together all aspects of our energy, our being, our awareness, the inner intelligence everything else. That coming together, that joining together, is itself yoga. And if the approach starts off with an incremental, gradual, or a sort of routine type of thing that we re doing for a purpose that s beyond it we can never be wholehearted to begin with. See, my friends, if we have a motive that we are going to do this practice for that purpose: to please this person, or that person celestial being, divine being, God it doesn t make a difference. But if there is a purpose ahead of the practice, the practice cannot be wholehearted because the purpose or the end is more important than the practice. And so, the practice will always be half-baked. And as is the effort, so is the result. Matter of fact, result will be quarterbaked, if at all. So we can t start off on that thing. Practice itself has to be the thing in itself! the end it itself! and gathering the rays has to be critical: how we start: as you sow, so you shall reap. If you sow seeds of petty effort, little effort, thwarted effort, and start off with hopes and expectations that are beyond the effort, the effort is going to be stunted to begin with; and a stunted or limited effort to begin with, or a thwarted effort to begin with, is going to result in stunted effects. So, wholeheartness is not only the foundation of effort and practice, but it is itself the practice and it is itself the goal in itself: to be wholehearted. So I mentioned earlier that it requires a tremendous amount of alertness and the fuel of the word alertness is interest. So the interest cannot be on something else: that I m doing this because of that because, that which I am doing it for is going to be what we re interested in, and practice will never get the interest. This, my friends, is why I hear from people all the time: Swamiji, I d like to practice or I ve been doing meditation for so long, or I ve been doing something for so long, and it just doesn t work. The mind is turbulent, or this is that, or I just can t seem to sustain. Why? Because there is something ahead of your practice that s more important than the practice itself. Why isn t your practice the most important thing, and the thing in itself? What you do every single thing you do, my friends, and whether it s cooking or cleaning or working out that has to be the thing in itself! If you re working out, for instance, or jogging, or watching your diet so you can lose weight, it s not going to work. It s not going to work! If you re running so you can get fit, it s going to work only to a certain extent. But how long are you doing to sustain the effort? The effort is going to become burdensome, because you re going to hit a point called the law of diminishing returns which is, where the effort seems to be more than the result you seem to be seeing. And at that point, doubt, disinterest, change of heart, and you ll even see practice, your own spirituality, as a burden. The grass on the other side is going to start to appear much greener; and it s only a matter of time before those pastures start calling you by your first name. Practice on the Mat 5

6 So, my friends, don t make this mistake! Practice has to be the thing in itself! and for that (and we re going to talk about this in the next session) every thing you do in life has to be the thing in itself! When you eat, just eat enjoy your meal! Don t be checking your and playing with your cell-phone, catching up on the news and reading your mail in this multi-tasking crazy world! See, my friends, all of that stuff just doesn t work. And, the problem with the rat race, I read a little joke, a little cartoon I d like to share with you: The only problem with the rat race is: even if you win, you re still a rat! There s a second part to this, but I ll come to that next time. So, remember this: get out of all this stuff out here. Heal your mind! Everything you do, do one thing at one time and with practice, do one thing at one time. Approach your practice with love, with ardor, with interest: you want to be here! not because this is going to make you good at that. You don t want to become an expert at asanas so you can teach somebody; you don t want to become an expert at singing so you can impress somebody. You don t want to become an expert at some scripture so you can talk about it. The purpose of yoga if we call it a purpose at all is to purify the mind so one s true nature can be seen. This, my friends, keep in the center of your mind s eye! never let this go! as far as why we do things in the first place. And, to purify the mind, we have to see the impurities. The very seeing the impurities puts them in an objective status. I realize my subjectivity and I m already starting to go beyond that. This takes alertness. Alertness requires interest, and you cannot have an interest that is beyond the practice. This is all very very rational; yoga is very very rational; and yoga psychology, you may call it spiritual psychology, is very sound and very clear. There s no ambiguity to it at all. So, wholeheartedness is yoga. Interest, tremendous interest, will rouse alertness. Alertness will let you see things as they are, and that will allow you to go beyond habit. Because habit is not how things are habit is what we have become accustomed to but we take it for things as they are! and that is the problem that we are trying to go beyond in this! So much for what is practice and why practice at all. I want to talk about those few points. I think we ve gone a little bit long-winded on that, but I try to approach it from many different ways. I wanted to stress interest, wholeheartedness, nothing beyond it. The things that you do practice is the thing in itself! Practice itself has to be enlightenment! nothing beyond that. Anything beyond that that beyond is going to be more interesting, this is going to get less effort, and forget about the principle of yoga and why we practice: the removal of impurities so one s true nature can be seen. One s true nature is already there it has to be seen. So the removal of the obstruction or impurities is not like removing something in the ordinary sense. But as I become aware of these impurities, I see my distinctness from them. That itself is realizing one s true nature, or seeing one s true nature. Practice on the Mat 6

7 Foundations of practice So, my friends, let s go up the next step. You cannot approach your practice haphazardly by whims and fancies: I ll do this today, I ll try that tomorrow, or a sort of fly-by-night operation, my friend. That doesn t work. It has to be approached properly, efficiently. I would say systematically and people will think system is mechanical. System is not mechanical; you can have a system that is completely alert because we are awake! We are alert! We know what we need! System is just being organized. Maybe, perhaps, we ll use that word you have to approach this organized. You have to know what you re doing so you can tweak things are you go along. An athlete is very organized and they know how to adjust things as they go along. You re very organized when you go on a long road trip or well, you may be, you should be. There are some people that are not. They have two and three GPSs and all kinds of printouts in the car, when you re still back at the gas station asking for directions. Well, nowadays they just don t do that; they just call up somebody and say, I m lost. oh, well, they don t do that either; they just ask: Where exactly is your place? Well, you know, those are the interesting things that we have come down to. Do them 4 times, 5 times, 10 times, 2 GPSs, print-outs and everything else. But, we re back on the phone again: Where exactly is your place? Seems to be hidden from me. I don t seem to be lost your place seems to be hidden! Very interesting. Anyway, So, organized we come to things organized. Organized: in the very roots of the word is organic to be one with things. Organized is not mechanical; organized is to be wholehearted look at things and get organized. So, how do we get organized for practice. Swami Sivananda has what he calls a trisul. A trisul is a trident; it s got three points to it. Let s go over these very useful, very useful! The first thing is: we mentioned interest is the most important thing. Your heart must be with it. So you must be able to make a resolve and put that in writing: What am I setting out to do? The remove of impurities so my true nature can be seen. Well, maybe that is too tall an order because that involves two things: number one, separating thought from action and thought from consciousness. So let s just take the first half, which is what we are setting out to do in resetting the mind. I must be able to live without the interference of thought, to live naturally which is, to interact with everything as it is without the add-on or interference of thought, without the chatter of thought, I must be able to live in that healthy manner. This is why I go to work, why I do things every place else is just an environment whether it be work, family, or at the yoga mat in your practice area. All of these are just different environments, but the principle is very steady, it s the same which is, to discover a way to function, to live, without the interference of thought. Practice on the Mat 7

8 To still get along, to still enjoy things; you can enjoy a meal, matter of fact, we can only really enjoy things when thought doesn t interfere. Let me give you another example, my friends. Say you sat down to eat an apple pie. You go to your friend s house and his wife has made an apple pie. Very nice (I love apple pie) and it s delicious, good apple pie. Slightly warmed up and you re in business. So you re there, digging into that apple pie, and your friend s wife asks you, your friend asks you: How is it? And you say, It s excellent! and then a minute later you remember your old grandmother who used to make apple pie, and you say, It s excellent! almost as good as my grandmother s apple pie. Ach! My friends! Why did we have to bring grandma into this? She was good, it was excellent, but because that thought interfered, this is not as good, or almost as good, and so I cannot really even enjoy this because that thought interfered. Now, I m not doing a disservice or unloving grandma by wholeheartedly saying, It s excellent! It is excellent why can not I just say it? Why do I have to say it s not good as? My friends, very simple example; but I m trying to show you how thought does not allow you to even enjoy a slice of apple pie. You can just imagine how it interferes in relationships and everything else. So, this is our goal: can we find a way to live not just find it, but be established in it! so it becomes natural? And this is not going to happen in one day. First, we need to develop the mechanisms so we can look within and keep thought from interfering, so we can rouse this alertness or inner intelligence into action and empower it into life. And this is why we do sadhana or spiritual practice, my friends. This is the first reason. The second reason, of course, is to separate thought from consciousness, which I ve already discussed earlier but we re not going to get into that in this series. This series thought and action, or thought and life, thought and living. Okay, my friends, so much for that. I mentioned resolve that is very important; and what I ve been discussing just now has been this resolve. Make this resolve write it down. Put it in your prayer area, write it on the back of a few business cards. (You know, business cards are pretty useful: you can turn them around and use the back to write down important things that you want to remember, so they re pretty good, pretty useful, and that person s phone number or whatever is there; but you can put more important things on the back of a card. Sometimes if you have a two-sided business card, that doesn t work too well, but the one-sided ones are pretty good. We have to be a little bit light about this and keep our interest high.) Okay, my friends, so the first thing is the resolve. Write it down, frame it, put it in your prayer area: this is what is important to me! and this is how, and the way, the principle, that is going to guide my action. To be able to separate thought from action, thought from living that is my resolve. Practice on the Mat 8

9 Number two, or the second point of Swami Sivananda s trident or trisul, is: you must have a plan for it: a plan for living. So make up a schedule, a schedule for each day of the week. On one side you can list down all of the things that must be done: This is the time I am going to wake up and this is what I m going to do, meditation, this, that, etc., time for exercise, time for different things, Sort of like a diary. And then you can have six or seven columns for each day of the week and put down what you ve accomplished, because you ve got to be able to see what you are doing while you are doing it, through your day and hold yourself accountable. So this diary is very important. And if you read the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, you will see that he held the diary as supremely important; and he gave little diary all the credit for taking him from very humble beginnings to where he got to. All athletes keep a diary or a journal or a training log. Doctors have a folder in which they keep your medical records, and things of that kind. Why would you not have it? You even have a journal or something for the maintenance on your car. Well, this is so important, my friends; why wouldn t you have it? So make one. Later, I ll post on my website or you can even search on the internet Swami Sivananda s Spiritual Diary. You can modify it a little bit and you can include all the elements of your practice that we are about to discuss now. That is the second foundation of your practice. The first was resolve; the second is you must have a plan, you must be organized organized, not mechanical; organized: organic, one with things; organized is another way of saying wholehearted. You must be into it. And the third is: as you catch towards the end of the day your periods of introspection, things that have been missed for whatever excuse there must be some self-accountability. Self-accountability could be anything: going light on dinner, just having a little bit of soup, or maybe a little glass of milk, skipping that nice, tasty dinner that you had and spending the time instead in study or meditation or japa or whatever item that you ve missed. Or you look to it, and you put down over there one of the things in your journal, that this week, or this month, I m going to work to develop these virtues say, the opposite of anger, which is love, forgiveness, kindness, all of that, or I m working on getting over and you realize over the day that you lost it. Well, you try to think about how that happened. First of all, very clearly: how did anger, which is a thought, act in me? - how did I lose alertness and awareness? so that you can make sure that doesn t happen again. Now, sit and have some self-accountability not self-punishment like some childish thing hurting yourself or whatever, but something constructive. Pull out your japa mala or your beads and have a little sitting of japa 10 to 20 malas of japa, a little extra meditation or chanting, or study, to send a message to your own self: that this is not acceptable, and I must be more alert. And this self-accountability rouses up a little bit more interest and heightens and sharpens the alertness. So, my friends, you re not doing it for some secret punishment or payment or some other purpose. You re sharpening your own self! So these three should be the foundation of your practice: Practice on the Mat 9

10 1. Resolve; have it in writing, put it in many places, have it in your pocket also. Put in on the wall, put it in your prayer area. 2. You have to have a plan of living and accomplishing that accomplishes all this, which includes all this, that s organized organized from the word organic : organic, from the root, to be one, to be one in terms of wholehearted, to be interested, deeply interested, because interest is the seed from which attention will sprout as a plant, and it will grow to be a big tree that people will take shade under. 3. And then, there must be self-accountability. At the end of every day, there must be a period of introspection, and at that period of introspection, things that have been missed, there must be some method of self-accountability positive, healthy, constructive method of accountability. It can even be some charity, where you pull open your checkbook or your wallet and you send a little check. Well, I did this today or did that today. Here s a check that goes out have some envelopes that are ready, addressed to your favorite charity, stamped and ready to go. Pull out the checkbook, write it out, $10 or whatever it is, send it out that very moment, in the mailbox. Getting started in practice Okay, my friends, enough on that. Now we get into four basic elements of practice that we can get started with. I m not going to get in-depth into them explaining the nitty-gritty for two reasons: it s going to be a very long, drawn-out session today, it will probably take about 8 or 10 sessions on itself; and secondly, this is already available on my website, so if you go to the one on asanas, there s a video and a text on that you can download that. There s one on pranayama, you can download that. There s one on meditation, you can download that. But, I am going to cover the elements of them and maybe how they should be approached so we don t make it mechanical, and our angle of approach is right. There are also some of you who may be taking yoga classes and will be learning in different places or have some books or things on your own, or sort of have your own practices; you may be from a different faith and have slightly different practices or a different lean on it all that s okay, my friends. So I m not getting into the specifics. But we will talk about the practice and the angle of approach: how we ll approach it because that is what is most important. 1. Asanas or posture Okay, my friends, we ve been talking and talking and talking. Now let s get into the doing mode. Let s start off with the first practice: asanas or postures. Commonly or generally, when we think about asanas, we tend to think about a posture that we get into: either a sitting posture, or some form of bent-over posture that we get into and we hold for a while to develop flexibility and good health. But, my friends, we need to go a lot deeper than that, because while the body is doing Practice on the Mat 10

11 the posture, what is the mind doing? And how is this posture or getting into this asana going to help me with that resolve to purify the mind so I can see my true nature. How is bending over and grabbing my ankles, or whatever the asana be, going to help me towards that? How is it going to be yoga which is about the discovery of oneness or joining or bringing together or harmonizing all the elements of my being? my feelings, my thoughts, my emotions where thought does not stand outside of consciousness,.. my feelings don t stand outside it, and my body doesn t stand outside it? How does doing the asanas, or how can I do my asanas so it supports this primary focus the discovery of the existing unity? or, the removal of impurities so this existing unity can be discovered? So, my friends, it has to be a little bit different. Now, I ll just talk about the principle asana and then I ll recommend ten asanas that are there and you can establish a routine for yourself. Download the video that I have on asanas, and the handout, and then you can take it from there. Say we re doing one asana, which is spreading my feet forward and I m holding my ankles or my toes with my hands. Say that is the asana that I m working on. My friends, what is your mind doing at that point? That is the important thing. When you bend over, the only involvement of the mind is that initial command: I m going to do this asana. After that, the mind rests. The mind is not needed at all any more. It just gives a command to the organs of action: This is what to do. After that, there is no involvement of the mind. Now, you re still aware. Can that awareness or attention get involved in the asana? to see: that when I go and I hold the posture because that is all I can do without throwing something off, or without straining or spraining myself can it look at that inner intelligence, which is organizing the body and giving it a little bit more flexibility, to see it at work actually at work? Can the inner intelligence discover its larger counterpart? Can this inner intelligence face inward where exactly I am held up in this asana and see this inner intelligence at work? sorry the alertness see the inner intelligence at work. The alertness is the individualized form of this inner intelligence which is not individualized. It s its larger counterpart its own self and getting joined, so to say, by facing its own self. So, my friends, when you do that very interesting, because when you get into the asana, this inner intelligence will get to a portion and it will hold. That alertness is now facing the intelligence which is organizing the body and giving you flexibility. That inner intelligence is talking to your alertness and saying, Here and no more; hold; I ve got work to do now. I ve got to give some more flexibility. You might even have a little bit of shaking, or whatever. That s the inner intelligence working. So, don t strain and don t jump and bounce back in an asana there must be this holding because in that holding the alertness or attention is facing the inner intelligence which is bringing about the flexibility, and there is yoga going on. The body has surrendered to the inner intelligence. The inner intelligence is organizing the flexibility that you need, little by little. And the alertness is also facing the inner intelligence. This is yoga through the physical medium and that s why it s called hatha yoga. You ve got this thing called yoga yoga, union, to join back all these things, but it must involve the mind, it must involve attention, it must involve alertness. Practice on the Mat 11

12 So, my friends, make a routine of about ten basic asanas. The idea is not to get into an asana, to force yourself in, all of that, and the health benefits of doing asanas will come but don t worry about that. Don t put anything beyond. You re not in competition yoga is not competition. Can you go to as far as you can go? The mind stops the minute the order has been given to do this. The mind is not needed any more. It just gives the order to the organs of action: This asana, please. And see that that is the only role of the mind: to gather information from the organs of senses, and to give the command to the organs of action. That s it! It should not go any further. It exceeds its authority if it does. So can I discover that and say that I can apply that principle to the rest of life also. This inner intelligence now takes charge of the body. The body surrenders to the inner intelligence, and it starts organizing it to be more flexible, to do this asana. While it s doing that, your attention, or alertness, is facing the intelligence, and there is perfect harmony within. Can you discover that through the asana so it may be applied to the rest of your life? So this is the discovery through this. So make your routine the mornings are the best time to do it. I ve got a video on YouTube that s on my website also that you could download, along with a hand-out and a poster, little things that will help you along. And remember: we are not trying to be experts at that position, and do it so picture perfect, because we ve got a goal that is far beyond that expertise of a position. But what we are trying to learn is another position: how can I position myself in life so thought does not interfere with action? The asana is a way to understand your own self; so the asana is yoga. Develop a routine; get about 10 asanas not hard to do; it will take you about minutes. Do it every day. The health benefits will come, all of that else will come, but don t go and settle for less just trying to get body-beautiful, or something of that nature, and forget the bottom of the iceberg. The bottom of the iceberg is much deeper, my friends. Go after that. Make every asana count. Okay, enough of that. 2. Pranayama or breath control Second element of practice is pranayama. Pranayama is generally called, is looked at, as breath control, and people translate prana as breath, but prana is a lot more than breath, it s not just breath. It is the energy that animates breath, that which makes it go up and down. It is also the energy that animates thought. It s the same energy that animates thought, animates your breath. There is only one energy, there are not two energies or they would be in collision with one another. But this energy also works in a very systematic and organized manner, so there has to be an intelligence behind it. Just think about it, my friends. The same inhalation at a given point becomes an exhalation. This miracle is going on non-stop within us! Have you ever pondered as to how this happens? What is the inner intelligence that at a given point takes the inhalation and makes it an exhalation? takes the exhalation pushing all that carbon dioxide out and then breathes in fresh air? And what is controlling and regulating that so superbly? and when I need more, I get more. So there s an inner intelligence behind that energy. Now what we are trying to do with pranayama is to, again, to discover that inner intelligence and be one with it, but instead Practice on the Mat 12

13 of in asanas we did it through the physical medium here we re going to do it through the vital medium, which is through the energy medium. The outer physical is breathing; the breathing is powered by energy; the energy is controlled by intelligence. Simple flow, my friends, simple flow. So again, we have some depth in our pranayama we re not just doing it to breath better. Sure, you develop deeper breathing, and sure, that will improve a lot of things in your life, but the goal is not as shallow as to just breathe better, my friends. So it s not just breath-work, as some people call it, or breathing exercises it s a little bit more than that. Just remember we have this word called yoga, and then yoga comes in well above the iceberg. We re going down to the center, so yoga involves discovery, yoga involves seeing one s true nature, which is the ultimate discovery: the truth of one thing is the truth of all things. Yoga insists on knowing that by a direct experience. So, my friends, simple pranayama. There are other complex pranayamas, but let me give you some simple ones on the website, too Swami Sivananda s sukha purvak pranayama it means simple and easy pranayama. No tension, just simple, easy pranayama. Just sit straight, feet crossed just like I am now, my friends. If you re sitting on a chair, sit on the chair don t lean back, don t slouch, lean forward, just sit straight. Breathe in; as you breathe in, let your attention be on your breath. So your attention is dovetailing, or following your breath as far in as it can go, and as far out as it can go. There are three elements to this sukha purvak pranayama. It s not alternate nostrils; you can just keep both your hands on your thighs, you can cross your palms, just clasp your hands together, which is like I have them, and it s simple: breath in as far, as deeply as you can, hold for as long as comfortable, and breath out for as long as comfortable. Now, don t mix these two up: comfort is there, but as long as is there also. Comfort is one word, as long as is three words, so don t forget this: as long as also and you ve got to find a balance between the two of them. So, my friends, the difference here is we re not just breathing. Again, the mind s only role is to give the command: I m going to do simple, easy pranayama sukha purvak pranayama. Okay. The mind retires after that or it should be retired. It s got no use and we re going to discover that that, in life (on the next video I ll talk about it): if we can to the same thing in our practice, why can t we do it in life also which is use the mind, not be used by the mind and have no interference of the mind. So here also: we give the command, the mind is retired. Now, this inner intelligence starts following the breathing. Beautiful. Breath in, the inner intelligence dovetails with it, and if your intelligence or alertness is acute which I hope it should be! you would even feel the warmth, the humidity, of your own breathing. Fantastic! It will follow it as long as it can go, and let it try to understand where is this inner intelligence that now tells it Now, hold now, out and then when it breathes out Now, in. There is something that is animating my breathing and controlling my breathing something intelligent because it s doing something very intelligently and efficiently. When this alertness starts looking within, it begins to Practice on the Mat 13

14 get a feel for this inner intelligence, or its own larger counterpart at work! It marvels! it s so happy! this alertness sits and faces that, because it realizes that things can get along without the interference of the mind with its own self, and one need not get so worked up about things, to take care of things, and to do things. This, my friends, is very joyful. We did it in the physical medium, we re not coming upon this in the vital medium through pranayama. But you re also going to discover something else very terrific! very fantastic! which is: I am not this body! I thought I was. with this mind of all these ideas which make up my personality. This alertness or attention, I seem to be facing that, I seem to identify with that, I seem to feel I am that more!, this thing that seems to be facing this energy, facing that intelligence, I am that! I m also aware of the body, I m also aware of the mind, and now I m aware of this intelligence at work. So I must be something much more subtle, much more pervasive, because I pervade all of these. So I am not the body. I have a body. I m not the body. I have a body. So when the body is sick, I m not sick, the body has got some sickness. Just think about it, my friends! We re not just playing with words, clichés and slogans, but we re trying to find a way that is beyond sorrow, beyond all of this! And yoga says it is possible and yoga shows us the way! So, my friends, keep that inner alertness, which is individualized intelligence, inner intelligence facing its larger counterpart to see where and how does an inhalation become a retention, become exhalation, and come back into inhalation, retention, and how does this cycle work. What is regulating this? Your breathing will follow three cycles, or three stages: inhalation, retention, exhalation as long as comfortable. So we need all this at the same time that is going on. Do it about 20 times, twice a day, my friends. That s your prescription. Not only will that promote this discovery, but it will also pave the way for meditation when you discover and start off with the fact that I am not this body, I have a body. This alertness, this intelligence, this consciousness, this awareness, - I am. So at every point, yoga seeks to strengthen this feeling within you. Okay, my friends, we ve talked about asanas, 10 or 12 of them once a day for 15 minutes or so, 20 minutes if you include suryanamaskar. Pranayama we were talking about not just breathwork but yoga through prana, which is discovery, union through prana not through breath, through energy. Prana on the outside physical, energy in the inside vital, intelligence behind it. So we are coming in through the vital medium and trying to fall upon that same inner intelligence just as we did in asana but we did it there through the physical medium, here through the vital medium. Very good, my friends. Practice on the Mat 14

15 3. Swadhyaya or study Let us move on to number three. Number three aspect of your practice, or element of your practice, is study. I know what some of you may be thinking. Study all the scriptures but why is that necessary? Isn t it adding on more conditioning and ideas and things like that study? No, my friends. We are not studying the scripture. Through the scripture we are going to study our self - removal of impurities so one s true nature can be seen. I m not going to get tired of saying that, I hope you won t get tired of hearing it because we have to keep our focus so we don t make things another mechanical add-on in our life. We have to keep our focus, my friends. That focus about why we are doing things has to guide what we are doing. Very simple. So, study. There are many different definitions of study, and people look at it as: Study the scriptures: I get understanding, I get depth, all of these things, My light bulb goes off I become en-lightened and out-lightened! all of these great, fantastic things! May I offer a simple thing: swadhyaya, or what people generally call scripture study. May I suggest an alternate way of looking at swadhyaya, which is actually very much on the translation, too. Swa means swayam myself; dhyaya coming from dhyanam to meditate, to ponder deeply on. So swadhyaya is to ponder deeply on myself through the scripture. Just like when I shave in the morning, I look in the mirror, but I shave here. So can I read a scripture but look here (within) How do I do that? Simple, my friends. Think about three or four scriptures: Bhagavad Gita, Upanishad, Yoga Vasistha, anything else pick up one more scripture 3 or 4 of your own choosing, so that you have at least three. Why? We are not trying to study the scripture, we are trying to study our self, see our self through the scripture. One page, or a little bit more, on each scripture; then put a bookmark you know you re going to come back there to that point the next day. While you read either aloud, or you re reading mentally better if you re reading mentally, can you watch the rise of the ego agreeing with it, disagreeing with it, or in trying to interpret it? Let it go let it exhaust itself! And try, instead, to understand in your heart not what the words mean. See, my friends, there s a difference between the translation and the meaning. Very often people read the translation and through the translation they try to infer a meaning. Instead, the author of that scripture had an experience that he or she witnessed, or experienced. They are trying to point to that through these words. So what is the author trying to point to? Can I see that in my heart, which is the center of my understanding? And can I try to envision a means for actualizing it? Because there is no point in studying something that A or B experienced if I cannot taste it, too. See, I don t want to talk about chocolate and read about chocolate I want to taste it, my friends! and you do, too! So this is what we are talking about. But we have to look at that. Just like if you ask somebody for directions, they might point here, but this is not what they are referring to, it s pointing to something beyond that hand. So similarly, the verse or the words are pointing to something beyond them. Don t get so stuck up on definitions and all kinds of fantastic interpretations! Quietly as you re reading in your mind without the interference of the ego. If the Practice on the Mat 15

16 ego comes just listen just say no! Rouse your heart to try and get a feel for the intent of the author or the experience of the author. And also, close your eyes a little bit after you ve read for a few moments to try and think: how do you reach there? How to have that experience? How is this possible? So there s no interference, once again, of thought. So through the intellect, which is the individualized form of intelligence, or through your attention which is facing this inner intelligence, you re trying to understand your self. How is this possible? You dismiss the ego. Simply dismiss the ego when it comes up and either agrees or disagrees by saying: You re not needed! Rest! or At ease! and you continue to try to get a feel for it in your heart. What happens my friends, you learn about trying to get a feel for things rather than rely on data and memory, which is something we don t know how to do in life we ve forgotten it, right? We have so much data, and so much memory, and if that is not enough, now we ve got these smart phones that have unlimited memory or add a little memory to it now we ve got this thing. So, not only do we rely on our memory, but we rely on the Smartphone. Well, the phone s pretty smart, but the user s getting pretty dumb. I m not against Smartphones, but I want the user to be smart! let the phone be dumb, or let it be smart or whatever it is, but not at the cost of the user. So, my friend, we rely on far too much memory. Now, remember about that grandma and apple pie thing I talked about? Memory interfered there, too. Now, as if our memory isn t enough, we bring a Smartphone with addable memory cards so we can have this memory here to augment our memory. And then we ve got memory up in the cloud unlimited space and things of that kind, and data that we can recall on demand. See, my friends, not a good direction of relying on memory. Get a feel for things! Want to know how the weather is? Get a feel for it look outside! Try to understand: do I sense there is something in you that can sense things because it is one. With the inner intelligence that regulates my breathing is also the same intelligence that holds the planets and stars and sun and moon in their positions. This can get a feel for that because they re not apart. If they were two intelligences, everything would be colliding and fighting with one another. Planets would not stay where they are, sun would not stay where it is, the earth would go out of orbit, and my breathing would go haywire. There s one intelligence that regulates all, that powers all, that animates all and this can give you the secret to that! It can give you the workings of that. So when I read can I close my eyes after I ve read? First of all, read without interpreting, agreeing, disagreeing. Can I read with all my heart? My friends, if you could learn how to do just that, you can learn how to get a read of every situation as it is without Oh, that person s coming, or This is not happening or That is not happening. you can go beyond that. This is why we practice. We practice to purify ourselves, my friends. We don t practice to learn the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures so we can teach you the secret of the scripture then the light bulb will go off later, my friends. All of that stuff is delusion! That stuff is good for scholars, but we re not trying to be scholars, glory to scholars. We need them, too. But we re not trying to be them, we ve Practice on the Mat 16