#62. If Everyone Had A Naked Mind | Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

The mind is not a private phenomenon. It belongs to the world, to the public. When you realize this, a breakthrough happens in your inner space, which then begins to point at the truth, the more real, your awareness. You stop relying on the thoughts and learn to move with your intuition.

Transcript

Namaste.

Welcome to this meditation session with me,

Dhyansay,

Your path to inner peace,

Wisdom and awareness.

Mind is a mystery.

It has always been a mystery,

Such a fascinating mystery.

What is this that we carry in us?

We call as mind.

You say,

I have a mind,

You say,

I have a body,

I say,

I have a body,

I have a mind.

Everyone has a mind of their own,

But what is it?

For the body,

We can see it,

We can feel it,

We can measure it.

There is a way to grasp the concept of the body.

But how do we grasp the mind?

It's something not physical.

How do we understand the mind?

How do we approach the mind that we have in our life,

That is running our life all throughout our lives?

In our body,

If we say,

I want to raise my hand,

And I raise my hand,

That means I have control over my body,

I can call it my body.

If I want to raise my hand,

And I cannot raise my hand,

Then I may not be able to call this as my body anymore,

Because I have no control over this body.

When you say my mind,

All that goes in your mind,

Are you creating that?

Are you maneuvering that?

Are you the owner,

The creator,

The manager of your own mind?

Or is this something else?

If you right now think of an apple,

You immediately would have an image of an apple.

But if you right now think of not having any thoughts,

It is not possible to switch it off.

It is not possible to entirely grasp what this is,

How to put it in its right place.

And all along our life,

We have millions and millions of thoughts that are driving us here and there,

That are making us believe that we are in control,

That we are thinking that the thought that we have is my thought,

Therefore I am in control of my life,

Therefore whatever is happening is what I am doing.

It gives us somewhat of a sense of control,

It gives us somewhat of a sense of identity,

Of participation.

But is this real?

Is mind something real or just an artificial concept?

What is it?

Throughout history,

Throughout centuries,

Scholars,

Scientists,

Yogis,

People of all sorts,

Have attempted to understand what mind is,

To conquer what mind is.

If you see even the technology right now,

It is all trying to know what is on your mind.

All social media wants to know what is on your mind.

All the new technologies that are coming up,

They want to go and create a brain-computer interface to know what is on your mind.

Such a fascination,

Such an obsession to know what the mind is.

And what are we going to do with that?

Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras gives us clues.

Along the path of yoga,

Along the path of meditation,

He says,

Observe your mind,

Observe your body,

Observe your inner space.

Why observe?

When you observe from a neutral point of view.

When you don't identify with the mind.

When you don't identify with the body.

And simply observe this phenomena that we call as mind.

There is much to learn about what exactly is happening in our body,

What exactly is happening in our mind.

All the thoughts that we are having,

If we just simply observe from a neutral standpoint,

Like an observer,

There is much surprise to be unfolded,

To be seen that all these thoughts that we are having,

The origin of these thoughts,

Of most of the thoughts,

Is not within us.

It's from somewhere else.

So we cannot even call what we are having in us in the most intimate space,

Is ours.

Our mind is not personal.

Our mind is public.

It is of,

It belongs to the collective.

And this realization,

This understanding,

Is a breakthrough.

When you are silently observing your mind,

When you are silently observing your thoughts,

And realizing that none of it is belonging to you.

None of the thoughts,

None of the triggers of whatever ideas,

Plans,

Perspectives,

Decisions that you have in you,

Are actually arising out of you.

It takes courage to see that as well.

But when that reality sets in,

Then you start differentiating between what is real,

And what is not real.

Then you start to see what is it that is the more fundamental you,

What is it that is more closer to you than even your thought.

And you come to a point where you realize that you can only rely on your awareness.

The only thing in you,

Not your body,

Not your mind,

The only thing in you which you can call as me,

Which you can call as I,

Which you can call as I am,

The closest to that is your awareness.

That is the most reliable,

Because the mind,

It belongs to the world,

It belongs to the public.

It is not a private space.

So,

In meditation,

You learn to bring this into your own reality.

You learn to see it first handed.

On this Vibhuti Pada,

Patanjali,

After having taught how to observe,

How to really see all these things,

How to have that modulation of the awareness,

Which allows you to witness the mind,

Witness the body,

And witness all these phenomena,

He gives on going sutras further focused on several aspects along this journey.

There are several fascinating things that come along.

There are certain bizarre ideas that Patanjali is presenting.

So,

While you are going through these sutras with me,

While you are meditating on these sutras with me,

Take what is relevant for you,

Take what is interesting for you,

And whatever does not relate,

Whatever does not matter,

Just move on,

Keep on moving towards silence,

Towards awareness,

Towards the truth,

And use all these indications by Patanjali to keep you awake,

To keep you aware,

To not get caught up in the unreal as you move towards the real,

As you move towards the truth.

Let us hear what Patanjali has to say in this context.

He says,

By Samyama on the distinguishing signs of others' bodies,

Knowledge of their mental image is obtained.

Very interesting.

We all want to know what is going on in somebody else's mind.

We first of all don't even know what is going on in our mind,

But we have this curiosity of knowing what is happening in other people's mind.

And just for an instance,

Think,

Imagine,

What if the mind becomes completely transparent,

Meaning you could see what is there in other people's mind,

Other people can see what is there in your mind,

How would the state of interaction be?

How would you interact with other people?

How would you interact with your own self?

What would be your identity in that case,

If your mind is completely transparent?

If the mind of other people is completely transparent in front of you,

Would that lead to more love,

More compassion,

More truthfulness?

Or would that lead to more fear?

Would that lead to wanting more of a place where you can just be in all your discretion,

In all your secrecy?

What would be your stance on if the mind becomes transparent,

If you could see what other people are thinking,

What is going on in their mind?

So here Patanjali says,

If you do the Samyama on the distinguishing signs of others' body,

Everyone carries a certain set of unique signs,

Certain unique movements,

Certain unique gestures,

Certain unique facial expressions,

Certain unique body movements and expressions and gestures.

If you put your awareness,

100% of your awareness in Samyama,

In the practice where the concentration,

Where the contemplation,

Where meditation,

Where samadhi,

All come together,

If someone is so much worth to you,

A lover,

A spouse,

Somebody in your family,

Even a friend,

If you are so much concerned about that person,

To know what is going on in their mind,

You bring your attention,

You bring the Samyama on that person,

And slowly you will start to also read what is going on in their mind.

That is what Patanjali is claiming,

And you can also have the signs of this truth in your own life.

When you are living with your spouse,

You see if you are in perfect synchronicity with your lover,

With your spouse,

Then you slowly also start to think similar.

You slowly start to see also what the other person is thinking.

The transparency between your mind and the mind of the other starts to increase,

And there is no secret anymore.

So this is what Patanjali is saying,

That if you are obsessed with knowing what is going on in other people's mind,

Then you have to have the Samyama awareness on the other person.

There is another way to understand this is on the path of training yourself in yoga,

In awareness.

You build your awareness so strong that when you let that awareness be on another person,

Very soon you get to know what is going on in the other person.

And that is how masters all these times,

All across centuries,

All across teachings,

When a student came to a master,

Just by looking at the student,

The master knows what is going on in the student,

Where is the student right now in the journey,

What the student needs to move on,

The student needs to not say anything verbally.

This ability,

Masters have to develop in order to bring their students to the next level.

Then Patanjali says,

Nachatat salambanam tasya avishya bhutavat,

But this does not include the support in the person's mind,

Such as the motive behind the thought,

As that is not the object of Samyama.

He is saying that it is in this process,

In this process of knowing the other person's thought,

What is still concealed,

What is still not revealed,

Is what is the motive behind,

Why is the person,

Why is the other having those thoughts.

For that you have to bring your attention even deeper.

In oneself as well,

There is one level of tension that you can have on your thoughts,

To just observe your thoughts,

What kind of thoughts that you are having.

But then you can also go deeper.

When you go deeper,

To understand what is the motive,

Why am I having these thoughts,

Where are these thoughts coming,

That require one level deeper Samyama,

And it is even possible for the other,

But here Patanjali is just indicating that if you want to know the thoughts of the other,

You do Samyama on the distinguishing characteristics of the other person's body,

On the gestures,

On the physical,

And from the physical you know the thoughts,

And if you want to go deeper,

Then you have to shift from the physical to the non-physical.

All this is relevant if you were to become a master of your own awareness,

If you were to become a master that you would want to help others,

But we are not on that path.

We are on the path of helping ourselves improve our lives a little bit better.

For that we need awareness on our own mind first,

For that we need to deal with our own mind,

With our own thoughts,

With our own motives that are driving those thoughts.

So let us take this moment to move into silence,

To move into meditation,

In observing what is going on in our mind,

What are these thoughts,

What is the source of these thoughts,

Where they are coming and where they are disappearing.

Please close your eyes and take a posture that is comfortable for you.

And a nice deep breath,

Inhaling from the nose.

And as you exhale from the nose,

Letting your body be at rest.

Turning your awareness towards your mind,

Paying attention to your thoughts,

Ideas,

Images,

Whatever is arising in your mind right now,

Simply observe like a spectator,

Like a witness,

As if these thoughts,

These images do not belong to you.

And as you exhale from the nose,

Let your body be at rest.

And as you exhale from the nose,

Let your body be at rest.

With every breath,

A gap between your thoughts and your observation increases,

So that you can see,

Observe,

Witness your thoughts without getting involved,

Without getting carried away.

Don't judge yourself,

Don't judge your thoughts,

Simply observe where they are coming from,

Where they are right now,

Where they are going,

Like clouds in the sky coming from nowhere,

Going into nowhere.

And as you exhale from the nose,

Let your body be at rest.

As the awareness settles,

Silence arises in your inner space.

Thoughts lose their power,

They come and go without bothering you.

You remain silent and an observer of your thoughts,

Of your mind.

And as the thoughts lose their power,

Shift your awareness,

To the sensations underneath,

The subtle vibrations underneath the thoughts.

And observe them as you were observing the thoughts,

Without getting involved,

Allowing them to rise and fall on their own.

Awareness and subtle sensations in your inner space,

Movements in your inner space.

And as you exhale from the nose,

Let your body be at rest.

Awareness.

Awareness,

Nothing in particular,

But subtle movements in your inner space.

Allowing everything to be in your inner space.

Allowing everything in your inner space to rest,

To settle.

And the awareness,

An inner silence,

Emptiness.

Leaving all effort.

In these moments,

Every breath reminds you of the inner silence.

Your awareness settled in inner silence.

With no motive,

With no movement.

With no thought,

With no sensation.

With no mind,

With no body.

Just awareness in silence.

Stay like this as long as you like.

Thank you very much.

Namaste.

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