Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

10-32: From practice to perfection in yoga

  • 10-32 defines how one will achieve perfection when one is practicing yoga.
  • 10-15: Realisation of brahman

 

Now Sri Krishna will describe process of astang yoga further.

Bg 6.13-14

samaṁ kāya-śiro-grīvaṁ
dhārayann acalaṁ sthiraḥ
samprekṣya nāsikāgraṁ svaṁ
diśaś cānavalokayan

praśāntātmā vigata-bhīr
brahmacāri-vrate sthitaḥ
manaḥ saṁyamya mac-citto
yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ

Word for word: 

samam — straight; kāya — body; śiraḥ — head; grīvam — and neck; dhārayan — holding; acalam — unmoving; sthiraḥ — still; samprekṣya — looking; nāsikā — of the nose; agram — at the tip; svam — own; diśaḥ — on all sides; ca — also; anavalokayan — not looking; praśānta — unagitated; ātmā — mind; vigata–bhīḥ — devoid of fear; brahmacāri–vrate — in the vow of celibacy; sthitaḥ — situated; manaḥ — mind; saṁyamya — completely subduing; mat — upon Me (Kṛṣṇa); cittaḥ — concentrating the mind; yuktaḥ — the actual yogī; āsīta — should sit; mat — Me; paraḥ — the ultimate goal.

Translation: 

One should hold one’s body, neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus, with an unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one should meditate upon Me within the heart and make Me the ultimate goal of life.

 

samaṁ kāya-śiro-grīvaṁ, kāya is body Sira is head grivam is the neck all of them in a straight line, sit straight most of the people sit slumped, sitting slumped also creates back problem, yogis has to sit straight, not only this but
dhārayann acalaṁ sthiraḥ, one has to sit straight and not looking here and there one has to look at one point, where one has to look?
samprekṣya nāsikāgraṁ svaṁ, samprekṣya means look at nasika is nose. 

 

In 5.27-28 Sri Krishna gives brief description of astanga yoga, there he has talked about looking at the centre of eyebrow, brohomadheya, now he is saying to look at the tip of the nose where are we supposed to look? In between the eyebrows or tip of the nose, actually the point is we have to have some focus of the concentration which is not very interesting because if it is too interesting then it will stimulate our imagination and we start thinking some other things. So we can ask what is special about tip of nose or centre of eyebrows, there is nothing special. Because there is nothing special mind will not think about too many external things we will draw the mind inwards, point is focus, so we need some object for concentration, some object of concentration is aided when we have some object for our vision. When somebody closes the eyes it is quite likely that the person will fall asleep. And Yogis are more troublesomely situated then Bhaktas, because bhaktas can walk and chant also, yogis cannot do yogasana while walking, they cannot do Pratyahara, dhayan, dharana while walking, it all has to be done while siting that is why it is not recommended you close the eyes fix the eyes at one particular thing and diśaś cānavalokayan, don’t look here and there, ānavalokayan, so lokayan means to see. Ānavalokayan means don’t see here and there, don’t be on a sightseeing mission actually one is focusing on turning inwards

praśāntātmā vigata-bhīr. Previous then this verse 6.11 was talking about externals and 6.12 was talking about internals. Similarly here 6.13 is talking about externals and 6.14 is talking about internals. samaṁ kāya-śiro-grīvaṁ is talking about external and then praśāntātmā vigata-bhīr is making mind peaceful and drives away the fear, vigata-bhīr, it is not that yogis are sitting in jungle in meditation and keeping gun next to him when tiger comes I will take the gun and shoot, it is not that yogis in meditation and thinking if someone will come and steal away my gun, no they can’t do this. So we can see how difficult it is to go to forest and do meditation there, there are so many problems, first of all the biggest problem in Kaluga is very few forests are remaining only and if there are some forest there are very few people who go to forest and even if people wanted to go most of the forest there are very few peaceful places, if there are no dangerous animals in forest there are much dangerous animals like dacoits, terrorists, there are law breaker of different kinds, so it is not so easy to do this process in Kaluga, even the physical aspect of it what to say about the internal aspect of it.
brahmacāri-vrate sthitaḥ, one situate oneself in Brahmacarya, this is first time in BG where explicitly brahmacāri is referred earlier in 4.26 there is indirect reference where Srila Prabhupada refers that it refers to Neshthika Bramachari and regulated grihasta but that was the indirect reference this is the first explicit reference in BG to Brahmcharya although point of sense control is talked repeatedly from the second chapter itself where it has talked about sthitha Pragyan and the point of detachment is always there Sri Krishna is telling that one should act without attachment, specifically Branhmachris. Yogis go to jungle to do yogasana, actually yogis doesn’t go with yogini, women can also do yoga but there is not mixing of them. Now the word Brahmacharya, there is a technical meaning and generic meaning the technical meaning is generally associated with Brahmacharis, one particular asrama, where males will not be married and they use their life to pursuit brahman, so Srila Prabhupada has explained that simply bachelors are not brahmacharis, those who are unmarried they are automatically not brahmacharis so actually one should be living in branhmachari ashram with other bramcharis, Brahma charati eti Branhmachari, those who are trying to live in Branhman, move toward Branhman, Brahman is spiritual reality, so in technical sense males who choose not to marry and focus on Brahma is Brahmachari. In generic sense anybody who is trying to Brahmacharan one who is trying to live in Branhman is who is trying to pursue Brahman is Branhmacahari, so in that sense even house holders even females can be Brahmanchari. So in principle who is living a life where he pursuits Brahman is Brahmachari, now when Sri Krishna is talking over here He is not using in a generic sense but in a technical sense, that one gives us sexual abstinence and focus on Brahman, pursuing his spiritual reality. So in this generally path of yoga in vedic culture is followed by men, so women will generally (when Dhritarastra has gone to forest Gandhari also went along with him, Dhritarastra while doing meditation brings out fire from his body and Gandhari enters into that, so of course women can also do austerity and this way they can become purified) but generally the focus is on male the women can also be brahmacharis in that sense if they are living in the pursuit of Brahman, so brahmacāri-vrate sthitaḥ. Srila Prabhupada gives definition of Brahmachari he has given rule of YajnaValka.

Srila Prabhupada Purport: 

karmaṇā manasā vācā
sarvāvasthāsu sarvadā
sarvatra maithuna-tyāgo
brahmacaryaṁ pracakṣate

“The vow of brahmacarya is meant to help one completely abstain from sex indulgence by work, words and mind – at all times, under all circumstances and in all places.”

How one can practice Brahmachari, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate, when one get higher taste one can practice, otherwise it is very difficult,

Srila Prabhupada: No one can perform correct yoga practice through sex indulgence.

Now when we talk about practicing Brahmacharya one needs to regulate one’s senses, otherwise when one gets into physical level, sex is not just a physical activity, it is a physical activity no doubt, but it also drags our consciousness to physical level and it keeps our consciousness at physical level. It keeps our consciousness level at physical level for a long time very few things which drag our consciousness at physical level and keep our consciousness at physical level as much as sex that is why to rise once consciousness levels to higher reality this is the rule one has to follow. Brahmachari Vratha astithya.

manaḥ saṁyamya mac-citto, after regulating the mind fix the mind on Me and then
yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ, similar to this Sri Krishna told in 2.61, the person who has regulated the senses and fix mind on me such a person will conquer the senses, such a person is well situated Prajna Prthistha Sri Krishna says. 

Sri Krishna is revealing that ultimately the purpose is to fix the mind on Him.

And the purpose of the yoga is to attain Me.

Yogis fix the mind on super soul and Sri Krishna is telling super soul is only Me, My expansion. That is why he says fix the mind on Me. This is the first chapter in 6 chapters by Sri Krishna where he refers Himself. Till now he is talking about detachment, realisation, he is talking about equal vision, seclusion but the first time He says fix the mind on me. Now when yogis fix the mind on Sri Krishna or on the super soul at this stage they may not realise that this super soul is the ultimate goal and ultimate reality we realise. It depends on the path they are following and the concept that they are the absolute truth. They have to fix the mind on certain centre. So initially when they fix eyes on the tip of nose the mind need some object for meditation, Actual object of meditation is Sri Krishna. manaḥ saṁyamya mac-citto, regulate the mind and fix on me,.

yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ, more discussion about fixing the mind on Sri Krishna and some technicality of the process of astang yoga in next verses.

BG 06.14 to 18.

In astanga yoga there are 8 stages Yam, Niyam, Asan, Pranayam

In Yam and Niyam there are further 5 elements in each of them 

Fruits of Yama

  • Ahimsa: others give up their enmity to you.
  • Satyam: what we say will be endowed with power and will come true.
  • Asteya: true wealth shall come to you.
  • Brahmacaryam (talked in 6.14): one attains power.
  • Aparigrahah (talked in 6.10): insight into the karmic cause of our present situation as well as the way our present actions will impact our future.

 

In BG Sri Krishna is talking about these in diff verses so BG is not a schematic analysis of path of Yoga, Sri Krishna is assuming that the transcendentalist already knows about yoga, there are specific book on astanga yoga like Patanjali Yoga Sutra, these books gives general knowledge about Yoga, BG doesn’t go into technicality of these it has given a general outline of yoga not a detailed tech analysis of yoga, so in general goal of BG is not to exhaustive delineate any one path. Its goal is to make Arjuna understand which is the best path, so with respect to Bhakti also BG doesn’t go into exhaustive delineation of Bhakti. The way we see 64 elements of Bhakti talked about in NOD (Nectar of devotion), we don’t see anything like that in BG. Why? Because BG is in many ways an emergency book. It is spoken is battle field it is not spoken in Gurukul where guru at leisure instruct disciple in technicality of everything and it is also spoken according to the level of audience. So Arjuna knows about various paths, he knows about Bhakti, he knows about Gyana and Astanga Yoga. So Arjuna’s question is not what is a particular path his question is what I should do. That means which path I should follow. In one sense we have like career counselling, a student has finished 10th std and he is thinking should I take arts, commerce or science so when career counselling is taught what all is taught is arts, commerce and science is not exhaustively described, there will be separate course for that and a student can choose that if the student is interested  What is told in career counselling is various pluses and minus of career counselling so that student can make an intelligent and well informed choice. Like that there are various yoga ladder paths and BG is telling Arjuna like a Yoga counselling system, which yoga to follow life counselling which yoga one should follow in once’s life and for that purpose Sri Krishna analyses various Yoga Path in principle what are there pluses and what are there minuses. And then He tells which is the best path for you.

So as BG progresses we will see Sri Krishna talks more about action in yoga paths than renunciation and among Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga Sri Krishna will choose Bhakti Yoga that we will see as we make progress. But suffice to say right now is Sri Krishna has not covered details but plus and minuses of each path.

So we don’t see these five elements talked about we just see the reference of these:

  • Ahimsa: Means none-violence, it is also explained in BG at several places and Srila Prabhupada has also explained about this at several places in his purports in several occupations. When we are in material world to some extent himsa is inevitable, even when we eat food some germs, microscopic living entities die. But beyond that Kshatriya has to kill but when the person is following renounced order he has to follow ahimsa. In general Vedic culture encourages minimum violence towards other but still sometime some violence is required, but Ahimsa means no violence to others. That is one of the Yama in the path of the yoga, Now Pathanjali describes each of these Yamas and also describes what is the result of following those yamas. So by the practice of Ahimsa, others give up their enmity to you. 

So when people feel threat and feel we will commit violence to them then they tend to become violent towards us, if they see that we are not going to be violent then in many ways their violence decreases, it will go away also, so the practice of Ahimsa leads to others giving up their enmity.

 

Then Satyam, satyam means speaking truthfully, so it recognized as a virtue Stanone-religion and it is an important modern principle also. People who habitually speak lies to get their ways observe that their way is obstructed by lack of trust, which others have, when people speak lies others find out, this person is not trustworthy we can fool some people some of the time and some people all the time but we can’t fool all the people all the time. So people will eventually find out even if they do not exactly catch us they realize that this person plays around the truth. So Satya is a virtue even in mundane morality. So in yogic morality also it is important. And Patanjali says that when we speak the truth what is the result of that what we will speak will be endowed with power and will come true. StayaVratha, SatyaSankalpa, SatyaVak etc. are used to glorify those who are connected with the truth. SatyaSanlaka refers to those whose desire comes true, that is one of the attributes of the Lord, SatyaVak, is the person who speaks the truth, SatyaVratha, one who takes a Vratha and keeps the Vratha true, so the person speaks the true or whatever the person speaks become true, so that is the power which comes in the speech of the person, that person speaks cautiously, seriously, others will also respect that person and it is not that we want to respect ourselves but we are representing Sri  Krishna who is the ultimate truth so we need to speak truthfully.  

Asteya: true wealth shall come to you. When a person don’t try to steal wealth from other that person acquire true wealth. True wealth is ultimately spiritual wealth.

Brahmacaryam (talked in 6.14): one attains power. So we discussed at one level not indulge in sex and at other level living spiritually. So when one practices Brahmacarya one acquires power. So basically the human being has power as spiritual being also we have power now when the person engages in sex that energy gets dissipated apart from social complications emotional entanglement physical debilitation medical sicknesses that can happen because of indiscriminated sexuality but beyond that actually there is subtle power, that power which we have if it is dissipated in sex then we lose it but if it is conserved then it manifests in other ways it can manifest as creativity concentration clarity basically the person becomes intellectually radiant and spiritually potent by the power of Branhmacharya, the dharna sakti, Vichar sakti, Vani sakti all these reason Prabhupada said that one of the reason Gandhi was so successful and leading India towards independence although he has no weapons was that although he being house holder he practiced Brahmacarya and that gave him power 

so Aparigraha, 

Aparigrahah (talked in 6.10): insight into the karmic cause of our present situation as well as the way our present actions will impact our future.

Aparigraha, means one doesn’t possess things unnecessarily one doesn’t have possessing mentality, so when one doesn’t have possessive mentality then one is able to see things truly otherwise one is just caught in, can I get this, can I get this, can I get this…so whatever we are getting we started seeing things deeply, we see this things came to me by Karma and this things I lost by Karma, when we see action of Karma we don’t see things just as an event, When Haridas Thakur departure Sri Mahaprabhu said Lord Krishna being merciful to me gave me that association and Lord Krishna being independent broke that association so we don’t see things as events we see things as broader connection. So like that we get insight into the Karmic causes of events. We start understanding things from a deeper perspective. So when we are not caught up in just trying to possess things then we can see things from a deeper perspective. So these are the fruits of Yama.

Now we will look at the fruits of Niyama. 

So Yama and Niyama are first two aspects of astanga yoga

Niyama has five aspect:

Fruits of Niyama

Shauca: detachment from the selfish, materialistic bond to one’s own body as well as to the bodies of others.

Santosha: highest happiness is attained.

Tapa: impurities are removed and the perfection of the body and senses arises.

Svadhyaya: connection with God.

Ishvara-Pranidhana: perfect samadhi.

 

Shauca, means cleanliness, Srila Prabhupada has talked about physical cleanliness, when we are chanting Hare Krishna we cultivating internal cleanliness, In niyama here the focus is on Saucha cleanliness, Suchi is very important quality, so what is the reason for talking about so much cleanliness, because when we clean the body we understand how unclean the body is. When body is sweat sometimes people just put some perfume and try to deny and conceal the unclean nature of the body by using artificial ways then they stay on the illusion that the body is very pleasant and enjoyable, but when we follow strict rule and regulation and devotees take bath several times in a day in that way we are forced to become aware that this body is unclean, and by conscious effort of being clean we understand that this body is unclean, then one becomes detached from the body, so the discipline of cleanliness brings detachment,

 

Santosha : means satisfaction, what satisfaction means, in general whenever or wherever we live there will always be people who have more things and less things to us, we have a choice we can look at the people who have more things than us, I have two wheeler that person is having four wheeler, I have 2 BHK that person is having 3 BHK house, I have simple cell phone that person is having a smart cell phone, so we can compare, and this comparison is like the cancer of the mind this comparison keeps us perpetually miserable,, now in certain situation based on functional requirement we may need more things if we need more things we can acquire them but beyond that by making things itself the focus of our thoughts we erode our mental energy by that and we find ourselves unnecessarily irritated, unnecessarily envious, unnecessarily dissatisfied so how do we get satisfaction, satisfaction comes by not thinking about the things which causes dissatisfaction, we think of other things so we may say I am feeling satisfied I am not feeling satisfied so we often think of satisfaction as condition, however satisfaction is not just a condition, satisfaction is also a choice. Satisfaction is also a decision, it is not just a condition or emotion, I feel satisfied that means what the emotion of satisfaction is there with me, but it is not just an emotion or condition, it is choice and a decision, the decision means that is what I will be satisfied with I will not be requiring more things, because the quest for material improvements is actually endless, we just keep on improving materially and we think I got this kind of computer now let me get that kind of computer, I got this IPOD now let me get more expensive IPOD, so the quest for material things are endless, so unless we ourselves put stop on this we will not be able to redirect our energy towards Krishna. Certainly we live in material world and we need to have certain standard in material world that is fine as per our socio economic, socio culture circles, we can choose a particular standard we wanted to live on, but once we decide that which has to be realistically decided , I want a particular type of house which puts me on a loan for 35 years then I am taking a load which is beyond my capacity and I am subjecting myself to unnecessary anxiety, so satisfaction doesn’t mean that one cannot have ambition, satisfaction means that one should be clear about one’s priority, people thinks that satisfaction means that there is nothing exiting left in my life, but a devotee can have spiritual ambition a devotee can have ambition to make spiritual advancement to read scripture to share scriptural message to get more and more people to come closer and closer to Sri Krishna, so that ambition can be very purifying very vitalizing, so there is nothing satisfying for a soul as being able to be of tangible service to Sri Krishna, it is nothing more satisfying then seeing that our live is making a difference in other’s live, by sharing Krishna Conscious by seeing that their life is becoming transformed positively, then the sublime satisfaction which comes by that is most enriching experience of life, so we all need something to look forward to something to be excited about, so materialist society makes us excited about materialistic things but percussing material things are agitating and achievement of material things are anticlimax, it never meet the hype, so rather than persuading that which will end up in disappointment we turn and focus on Sri Krishna, and focus on serving Sri Krishna more and more, Santosha is a choice, this is what I am satisfied with, I am not going to go further in this direction, then Tapa means austerity, Saucha, Santosha, Tapa.

Tapa: can be of various types generally Srila Prabhupada talks about austerity by fasting whatever austerity we do, austerity removes the impurities, and it helps is become strong in dealing with body and senses, strong in terms and stamina and stability in their use towards Sri Krishna’s service. 

Swadhaya: Study of scriptures, what is the result of studying of scriptures? That lead to connection with God, How does this happen? By study of scripture we understand that there is a higher reality and that higher reality is cantered around Sri Krishna, Swadhaya is not just any ordinary study, if someone says every day morning I do swadhaya of newspaper for one hour, that is not swadhaya that is simple entertainment, we don’t learn much by studying newspaper, we have to be in touch with newpaper to be updated about current things but we need not have to spend hours in that, just a quick look at the headlines and that is often enough what we need to know. So swadhaya helps in moving towards life’s higher reality, so swadhaya leads us to connection of Gods when we read properly we develop Shahstra Chakchu, eyes of scripture by which we can see hands of Sri Krishna, we can see the world as Sri Krishna’s energy and that is very spiritually enriching mission, and the last is Ishvara-pranidhana.

Ishvara pranidhana: Pranidhana means surrender, by surrender to Ishvara what is the result? One gains Samadhi, Samadhi is the ultimate goal of yoga that is the eighth stage, and it is said by Ishvara Pranidhana one eventually come to the stage of Samadhi. That way the primary purpose to practice spiritual life is to attain Ishvara-Pranidhana, to attain love for the love that is that is the stage of Samadhi and beyond, and Ishvara Paridhana takes us to that. Now we will see clearly that yoga involves devotion. In astanga yoga we see that yogi may not be having detailed worship or the direct devotional service of the Lord, the idea of supreme being to whom we have to meditate is the central part of the yoga, 

Some people says that whole process of yoga is not devotional, we have seen that whole process of yoga is not just one monolithic body it is not that when people think of yoga everybody think of same set of things like there are many bhakti thinker many mayavadi thinker like that there are many thinker on yoga also, some people have come up with different conceptions of yoga, Srila Vyasa Deva and Srila Baladeva Vidhya Bhusan when they wrote commentary on Vedanta Sutra they refute yoga, when yoga is used as independent body of knowledge then yoga tends a person to take at none-personalist conclusion towards a monolithic conclusion, where one think that one will merge in absolute reality, that kind of yoga is refuted, but there are not only that kind of yoga there many others are there like patanjali, there are many indication in pantanjali sutra and other places that he was a Vaishanava, he is a devotee and he has not spoken directly or specifically about Lord Vishnu or Krishna because the book of yoga sutra in Patanjali was primarily meant for yoga and in this book he says once you surrender to Ishvara and he assumes that his readers know who is Ishavara, he is not focusing there to give exhaustive knowledge on Ishvara, when he writes the book he is having a particular purpose, the purpose is he wanted to outline the process of yoga and in that he assumes that people knows about Ishwara and Ishvara-Pranidhana and he doesn’t go in detail about that. So Ishvara-Pranidhana is an important element and it indicate Bhakti element, now some yogi may think that Bhakti element is transitional, we meditate on absolute truth and eventually after knowing Him we will become absolute truth, but there are other yogis who knows that object of meditation is not just transitionally which mean for the time of sadhana but Supreme Lord is object of meditation eternally, So these devotees may get Santa rasa in liberation in spiritual world or if they get association of devotees they inspired further they can get further elevation also, In BG 6.14 c & d refers to this Ishvara-Pranidhana and that refers to how to surrender to Ishvara meditation on Ishvara, one moves forward towards perfection, Now when we look at these eight limbs Yama, Niyama, Ashana & Pranayam actually speaking these things are required in any path does(Niyama) , and don’t (yama).

Another way of looking is Yama are rule of group discipline i.e. how one should interact with others like I should not be violent towards others, I should not lie to others I should not steal others possession, so Niyama are rules for individual discipline and Yama are rules for group discipline. 

Pranayam is breath control the purpose of that is focus of energy. When breath is restless concentration is weak mind runs here and there, so pranayam refers to channelizing of energy. Then there is Pratayahara. Shut out everything else e.g. in cricket match last ball batsman has to make 6 runs so he will not see anything, cut out all the sense object then baller ball and bats man is in Dhayan, Dharana he doesn’t see anything except the ball. So these eight activities can be applied to any process in general. Yam, Niyam, Asan, Pranayam, Prtayahar, Dhyan, Dharana, Smadhi.

Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur has described in essay how these can be applied to even deity worship, so we have rule and regulation for deity worship and we have all these for Deity worship also. 

The point is these are generic principle which are specifically applied to the path of yoga, and they can apply to other paths also.

So we look how we can apply these in our Sadhana Bhakti. This is described in Yoga Sutra also in Yoga literature that the mind moves forward. So mind moves upward and upward towards higher state of contemplation and it talks about five states. What are these five states? 

Five states in mind control:

1.Mudha(deluded, as in sleep, laziness or dullness)

2.Kshipta(agitated, as in stress or mania)

3.Vikshipta(distracted, as in a lecture in a noisy environment),

4.Ekagrata(concentrated, as in a serious student revising an hour before the exam)

5.Niroddha(controlled, as in a devotee absorbed in samadhi, the trance of love)

So Ekagrata is what Sri Krishna has already used in BG in this chapter, in 6.11, we have to use mind in Ekagra. And Niroddha is used in 6.20 these is one of the stages in control of the mind and Niroddha is one of the highest stage. 

  • Mudha is the consciousness state of mind when one is foolish, (deluded, as in sleep, laziness or dullness)
  • Kshipta(agitated, as in stress or mania)-> too much of work pressure when so many things are to be done when mind is running on overdrive but they are not able to function properly because the mind is so much filled with anxiety like fan which moves round and round and round but it gets nowhere, it has stuck at one place itself. Like that sometimes our mind moves round and round that we have to do this also this also that is Kshipta stage, a hyper active stage where we are not doing anything productive 
  • Vikshipta(distracted, as in a lecture in a noisy environment),

Then Vikshipta is a stage where mind is distracted.

 

So Mudha mind will not think about anything very lethargic stage, In Kshipta it is hyper active running here and there but not doing anything. In Vikshipta we are trying to concentrate but the mind is getting distracted, as say lecture in a noisy environment, when we are trying to concentrate but it is getting distracted.

So there is desire to concentrate but one is not able to concentrate then gradually it comes to Ekagrata

  • Ekagrata(concentrated, as in a serious student revising an hour before the exam) – when it is concentrated it is focused. Before exam they may be other stages mentioned above but exam time study in Ekagrata. Beyond that is Niroddha.
  • Niroddha(controlled, as in a devotee absorbed in samadhi, the trance of love) Controlled. In concentrated stage also when somebody is coming for talking we say go away so we are consciously trying to concentrate or someone says your favorite movie is released, leave it I wanted to concentrate, is this is resolute other thoughts come but we are not disturbed.

But in Niroddha there is not attraction to other things actually one is attracted to the spiritual things and that time minds inclination to other things itself is lost. That Sri Krishna talked in 5.21 Yata Uparimate chitam…Upatimate means mind is ceases, the material mental activity ceases, first we have to cease our physical material activities, physically we don’t act at sense gratification, but even we stopped at the level of physical senses gratification still the mind is always fantasizing about senses gratification, but the level of Niroddha the mind stops fantasizing about sense gratification, caseation of material activities, this move up the axis from negative to zero and then for devotees there are many positive spiritual emotions which the devotees pursues on spiritual path so that is the whole different level of reality. Here Sri Krishna is talking about moving up from negative axis to zero. So this is Niroddha stage. So we are discussing the broad term in the stage of Samadhi in the process of Astang Yoga.

End of transcription.