Are We in Sight of the End?
Ram S. Ramanathan MCC
Systemic, Sustainable, and Spiritual Self Development Coach Author: Coaching the Spirit & Re-creating Your Future Books & Programs
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When this wisdom is disturbed by samskara impressions, other thoughts arise. ||27||
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Patanjali is almost at the end of his treatise. He addresses the subtlest and the most critical aspects of mind management in these concluding sutra.
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At first, in the starting sutra on Samadhi Pada, Patanjali spoke of the movements of the mind, which need to be stilled to realise the higher Self, as the objective of Yoga. Patanjali then speaks of samsara, the latent impressions carried over births. He then speaks of the colouring, klesha, which stands in the way of clarity in the second part, Sadhana Yoga. These obstacles, samskara and klesha plague the practitioner throughout sadhana, practice. Truth be told, the siddhi, powers and benefits that Patanjali speaks of in the third chapter Vibhuti Pada are also obstacles, which prevent many from moving forward.?
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In the last chapter, Kaivalya Pada, Patanjali summarises. He speaks of the karma sequence of vasana, samskara and karma, and how these affect the mind. Not having been in the state of the great sages, all I know is that one can experience the presence of the Truth and glimpse it with all imperfections still affecting the mind. Not many yoga practitioners and meditators may admit to this, but from the beginning till the end, which I have not reached, one’s journey in Yoga is accompanied by samskara and klesha. The sadhana must continue.
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Please understand that vasana and samskara arise from previous lives. In this birth, we are veiled from our prarabda karma of past vasana and samskara by maya. Maya is the creation of the divine creative energy consciousness. That’s the game She plays. That game is to ensure we are abhinivesha, the eternal greed to live with the fear of death, which is essential for the survival of the species. Within this maya, there are a few who still seek and find a way out. The vast majority stay and suffer.
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Realising the Self, which unlike the self has no attachment to vasana, samskara and therefore no added karma or guna to live by, is the ultimate objective of Yoga. This Self-Realisation leads to kaivalya, liberation from the cycle of birth and death. In sutra 4.25 to 4.28, Patanjali says that when the self has overcome the distinction between the Seer and the Seen, integrating all of it within, the self has realised that it is the Self. This is the end of the journey.
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In that instance, the innate nature of the Self is what it sees. Shankara put this differently and poignantly in Nirvana Shatakam. ‘Aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhokta’ he says, ‘I am not the food of the senses and mind, not the eater, not the process of eating.’ He ends the verse saying, ‘I am sat chit ananda, the bliss of the consciousness of Truth, shivoham, the cosmic auspiciousness.’
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This is the essence of what Patanjali says here. It’s also the essence of what Krishna says in the Gita. When the Seer, Seen and the process of Seeing integrate, the auspicious cosmic energy Self emerges. When that happens one no longer experiences the effects of vasana, samskara, klesha, karma and guna. Till then we do. The fact we do should not and does not hinder our movement forward. What we need is faith and the spirit of surrender.
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When one realises the Self, nothing else is of interest. The vibhuti or siddhi powers of knowing everything, doing everything, controlling everything, and achieving everything pale into irrelevance when one realises one is the creator. Patanjali terms this dharma megha samadhi.
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Swami Sivananda says, ‘Dharma megha Samadhi or the Samadhi of the cloud of virtue, comes from constant discrimination, having no interest left in the highest discrimination’. Nothing matters when one realises ‘Aham Brahmasmi’, I am the Truth.
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Reflection
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When I started my meditation seriously, it was always interrupted by negative thoughts of lust, greed, anger, fear and many others. This is normal. It was not the joyous blissful experience I was looking for. Yet, it was healing. It was nurturing.
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We suppress our negative sensations, emotions and thoughts. Even if we don’t consciously, our mind makes them unconscious to make us comfortable. However, this comfort of suppressed negative memories makes us unwell. They need to be expressed now through the meditation practice. There is no shame in it.
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This takes a while depending on at what age one starts. Even when one thinks one has cleared all carried-over baggage, new ones arrive with everyday experiences. It never stops for most of us. This is normal and natural. What one must do is to observe the negative thoughts, acknowledge them and move on. Don’t follow them. Don’t suppress them. Just witness and disengage.
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Ram is a co-founder and mentor at Coacharya . Ram's focus is the integration of Eastern wisdom with modern science, spiritually, systemically and sustainably.
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Conscious Leadership Trainer;Certified Brain Based Coach;Certified Psych-k practitioner:Meditation Facilitator & Energy Healer
4 个月FREEDOM IS SO NEAR, YET SO FAR. WITNESS IS THE SALVATION!