Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily live meditation session with me,
Dhyansa.
We are meditating on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
You are immensely powerful.
You are a human.
You are immensely powerful,
More powerful than you can ever imagine.
But what is this forgetfulness about our powerful nature,
Our being human?
Why are we living like not a human,
But a subhuman who has to be reminded of its own powers?
What are these powers of being human?
What is it to be this powerful human being?
In a peace,
Love,
Compassion,
Gratitude,
Connection,
Blissfulness,
All these powers are innate and these are a given of being a human.
And what has happened to us?
Where we are looking for these,
We are searching for these as if these are not a given,
As if one has to do something to have love in life,
One has to do something to have peace in life,
To have compassion in life,
And so on.
This forgetfulness about us being human,
About having all these powers given to us,
Has made us live somewhat like subhuman.
Just like the king of the jungle,
The lion,
He is taken into the circus where the trainer has beaten him,
Has trained him to stand up like a dog or any other pet and he starts doing that.
He forgets that this 800 pound powerful being is far more powerful than anybody else,
Than the trainer,
But he still in that forgetfulness starts dancing like a monkey,
Starts standing like any other pet.
This same we are the best creation in this whole universe,
Through this session,
Through the message of Patanjali,
I would like to remind you,
I would like to remind all of us of our true nature,
Of being the best creation in this whole universe.
We are human beings,
Love,
Compassion,
Peace,
Joy,
Harmony,
All these powers,
All these belong to us,
But we live somewhat like subhumans,
Someone who has to rise to the love,
Someone who has rise to peace,
Someone who has to rise to the truth.
This is the state we are in.
In order to appreciate Patanjali's Yoga Sutras,
Which were written for the human,
The Patanjali's Yoga Sutras in Patanjali's narration,
In Patanjali's efforts,
They were written for the human to become the superhuman,
To reach to the divine,
To make sure that this sleeping divine that we are human beings,
To raise ourselves from being human to the superhuman to the divine.
That much takes effort,
That much takes something that requires your tapas,
Requires your effort,
Requires your dedication to rise above your human nature.
Not love,
Compassion,
Inner peace,
Bliss,
Gratitude,
All these things,
These powers,
These belong to you,
They are given to you,
And now we are using these Patanjali's Yoga Sutras to rise us above from being the subhuman to the human.
We being the sleepy humans need to be waken up.
And what is this sleep?
What is this forgetfulness?
This sleep,
This forgetfulness is in the mind.
It is like the powers that we are having that are given to us while being human.
There is a lock put onto those powers.
There is a mind that is the lock that is put onto the powers and the key to that lock is dropped in our hearts.
So in order to rise above back to being human,
We have to go within,
We have to dive within in the depths of our own being.
Find that key,
That key is silence,
That key is awareness.
Find that key,
Unlock the mind and rise from being subhuman to human where we realize our true nature,
Our power and not be fearful,
Not be full of anxiety,
Not be full of this sense of losing every moment in life.
Rather live powerfully,
Live gracefully,
Live joyfully which is a given to us and in that bliss,
In that joy,
In that love,
In that compassion,
In the truth rise above the human to be the super human,
To be the divine.
That is the ambition that Patanjali is setting.
When we think about that ambition,
We may just fold ourselves and say,
Who cares about being divine,
Who cares about being super human,
All that is just fascination,
All that is just an imagination.
Such is the fall that we have faced in our life.
So we must rise up to being human once again which is a given,
Which is very easy,
Which does not take much effort,
All you need to do is go within in your depths,
Find the key to silence,
Find the key to awareness and unlock this lock,
This mind,
This limitation,
This forgetfulness that we have created for ourselves and then from there on the journey is in your own light.
Let us hear what Patanjali has to say,
What Sutra Patanjali has to say in this context for today before we sit in silence,
Before we sit in meditation.
Patanjali says,
By meditation on the gross and subtle elements and on their essential nature,
Correlations and purpose,
Mastery over them is gained.
So here Patanjali is talking about the five bhutas,
The five elements.
Two days ago we meditated on one of those bhutas,
One of those elements,
The space,
The akasha.
For today's session let us very briefly understand,
Resonate,
Relate to what these five elements are.
You see that in order to create an understanding for ourselves,
In order to wake us up of our true nature,
In order to remind us of our powers,
In order to remove this forgetfulness of who we really are,
Patanjali is saying look back at your foundation,
Look back at what you are composed of,
You are human,
You are superhuman,
You are divine.
All these promises,
All these visualizations,
All these paths that Patanjali is setting for you,
He is saying look you are based on these five foundational elements which are giving you all these powers,
Which are the reason,
Which are the foundation why you as a human are having love,
Joy,
Compassion,
Inner peace,
And why you have the potential to be the superhuman,
Why you have the potential to even be the divine.
And these five elements where he points us back to our roots,
To our foundations are earth,
Water,
Fire,
Air,
And space.
No matter how you break down your understanding about yourself,
You will eventually have to come down to this fundamental of these five elements in order to best understand yourself,
In order to best relate to yourself.
In the deepest of awareness,
In the deepest of silence,
You come to these by your own experience.
You don't have to chase,
You don't have to go after this understanding.
This understanding arises to you naturally.
But it helps for the thought,
For the awareness,
For the mind,
For the belief,
For the entire energies to come in and focus and understand what these elements are.
So as we would sit in meditation in silence,
We will reflect on our nature,
The first element,
The earth,
The solidity,
The foundation that we have,
This matter that we have received from this existence.
We will reflect on that,
We will meditate on that.
Then we will move on to the next element,
This water,
This abundant water that is there in this existence which is also there in us.
We are also mostly water if you break down our elemental composition.
So we will reflect on water,
We will reflect on the coolness,
On the nature of our own being,
The nature of water.
Then we will reflect and move on to fire.
This fire that keeps us alive,
This fire which keeps us warm,
The fire that this aliveness carries which keeps us aware all the time,
That awareness is empowered by the fire.
So we will relate to this fire in this meditation and then move on to air and space and so on.
Let us listen to one more sutra what Patanjali has to say in this context before we move in silence and meditate over these five elements.
He says,
Tat anima adhi praddu bhava kaya sampat dharana anabhriga cha In these come attainment of anima and other siddhis,
Bodily perfections and non-obstruction of bodily functions by the influence of eight elements.
So here what Patanjali is saying is that when you have mastered these five elements,
And not even go as far as mastery,
The moment you start recognizing,
The moment you start relating to these elements in your being,
You start to experience these powers.
And please remember,
Here Patanjali is referring to the human first.
He is saying you,
The human,
This is what you can be as the superhuman.
So here he says there are eight powers,
There are eight siddhis.
They do not mean much to the lifestyle that we have,
To the life that we are living.
We are more concerned about us being in our true nature of inner peace,
Of joy,
Of love and compassion.
But to understand once again how far can we extend ourselves,
How high we can go in our powers,
Let us just take a look at these eight siddhis,
Eight powers,
Which just sound unbelievable.
He says,
The first is anima,
To become very small.
Second is mahima,
To become very big.
Third is lageema,
To become very light.
Garima,
To become very heavy.
Prakti,
To reach anywhere.
Prakamya,
To achieve all one's desires,
Any desire that you have.
Ishthwa,
The ability to create anything.
And lastly,
Vasitva,
Ability to command and control everything.
Just see the vision that Patanjali is laying down and saying what all is possible and where are we stuck?
We are stuck with trying to have some moments of peace.
These messages from Patanjali,
These sutras from Patanjali are not to be seen as something unreachable,
Something absolutely for somebody else,
Somebody who is living in the mountains,
Somebody who is on a different trip.
They are an inspiration to once again wake us up of what all is possible.
The human that can be the superhuman,
That can be the divine.
And we,
Wherever we are,
The human or the subhuman,
Let us rise back to our true nature.
Love,
Compassion,
Peace,
Joy,
Harmony.
With that message from Patanjali,
Let us sit in silence,
Close our eyes and take these moments to reflect on the five elements.
I will guide you through the steps to go one by one through these elements and bring them into our own realization.
Please take a posture that is comfortable for you with your head,
Neck and spine erect.
Nose down,
Face relaxed,
Eyes relaxed and a gentle smile on your face.
Nice deep breath,
Inhale from the nose and also exhale from the nose,
Allowing your body to rest.
Telling your mind to calm down.
In these moments,
Your awareness settling inwards.
Take your time for the body to rest,
For the mind to give away the way to your awareness.
Thank you.
As your awareness turns inwards in your inner space,
Bring your attention to the first element,
Earth.
In these moments of silence,
Recognizing the Earth,
The physical in us,
Awareness on your body,
On all what you feel as the physical,
This Earth giving you stability,
Giving you form,
Giving you strength.
Bring your thought,
Your awareness,
Your energies,
All in this realization of Earth,
Of solidity,
Of strength.
And shifting the awareness to water.
Tuning in to this awareness of water in you,
Around you,
In the whole existence.
This water,
There is coolness,
There is peace.
There is silence,
There is flow.
Allowing your energies to flow like water.
Your thought,
Your feeling,
Sensations,
Awareness,
All tuned in to water.
And shifting awareness.
To the third fire.
Feeling the fire in your body,
The warmth in your body.
In that fire,
There is healing.
All negativity burning in that fire.
Giving you purity.
In that sense of fire,
There is awareness rising.
Like a flame,
Your awareness rising to the top of your head.
And the fourth element,
Air.
This presence,
This subtle presence of air which gives you lightness,
Which gives you weightlessness.
Which flows in your breath,
Quietly,
Silently.
And the last ether.
Space,
The empty space inside of you,
Outside of you.
Your awareness to this empty space.
And let go of everything in this empty space.
Simply remain silent and aware in this empty space.
In this space is the key to all of your awareness.
All what you desire to all what belongs to you.
Silence,
Love,
Compassion,
Joy,
Harmony,
Connection.
With that remembrance and experience of the empty space,
Very gently and slowly,
You may open your eyes,
Maintaining this awareness,
This silence and the sense of the five elements as you proceed in your day.
Thank you very much.
Namaste.
Namaste.
