#77. 8 Billion Worlds In One | Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

We are NOT 8 Billion in one world; rather we are 8 Billion worlds in one. The way to understand this from realizing that we are composed of two forces: consciousness (Purusha) and energy (Prakriti). Consciousness is one in all of us, but the energy takes different manifestations to create different shapes, forms, thoughts, etc.

Let us bring this knowledge into our experience during the session.

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Transcript

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 unique.

Each one of you are unique.

You are so unique that you are a world in yourself.

We say that we are 8 billion in one world.

But in reality,

We are 8 billion worlds in one.

Let me repeat.

We say that we are 8 billion in one world.

But we are 8 billion worlds in one.

The difference in understanding of this creates a transformation in how you see yourself,

How you understand yourself and how you understand the world.

Patanjali through Yoga Sutras has been making this very clear distinction between consciousness and energy.

And here what I just said that you are 8 billion worlds in one and not 8 billion people in one world.

This becomes clear when we understand the difference between consciousness and energy.

Let me very briefly repeat this from the past sutras what Patanjali has been explaining over several sutras.

The way we are right now,

This manifestation that we are,

This manifestation,

This manifestation of energy that we are,

This is unique.

We all are unique manifestations of energy.

We are 8 billion unique human manifestations of this energy that in yoga can be called as prakriti or nature.

Different ways of saying the same thing that this creative energy,

This matter which can become into a manifestation,

Something that is pure energy in unmanifested state and can become a manifestation is who we are.

We all are these unique expressions,

These unique manifestations of this energy.

And as a consciousness we are all one.

There is only one consciousness.

And we share this one consciousness.

It would be not precise to say share.

We are one consciousness.

But the way we understand ourselves,

The way we operate in this world,

We have completely inverted this.

We think that we have individual consciousness.

And we must act in uniformity.

We must think alike exactly how the other is thinking.

We should also think the same.

We should also behave the same.

We should also act the same.

And this is the common norm.

This is the way we have set ourselves up in this world.

In this way,

Yes we have found a common ground to work together,

A common ground to exchange.

But we have lost much.

Because what is common between us,

This common expression between all of us is very little as compared to the uniqueness that we each one of us have.

So how do we then relate to each other?

How do we all come together?

We don't all come together in uniformity of the manifestation,

But we come together in this oneness of the consciousness,

Realizing that we are all one consciousness.

And in that realization,

We give space to each one of us for our uniqueness.

To express our uniqueness,

To express who we really are into this world and be able to appreciate,

Be able to recognize,

Be able to share this uniqueness with all of us.

And not only move towards uniformity of the mind,

Uniformity of the opinion,

Uniformity of the expression.

That is just making everyone into a dead robot and somebody who is having no uniqueness.

If there is no uniqueness,

There is no expression of this energy,

Of this manifestation into the world and you will always remain unsatisfied.

You will always feel something is missing in life unless you are able to express your uniqueness into the world.

And at the same time,

Unless you are able to recognize this oneness in consciousness.

This one consciousness that flows in all of us,

Unless you are able to recognize that,

You will not be able to relate to people.

To be able to relate to others,

We don't look for uniformity,

We look for uniqueness and we look for one consciousness.

That is the message of Patanjali,

That is the message of yoga through this session to all of us,

To the 8 billion of us,

8 billion worlds that we are in one.

Let us hear what Patanjali has to say today in relation to what I just said in the sutra and then we will sit for meditation.

Patanjali says,

Jati Lakshna Disha Anayata Anavichedat Tulyayo Tath Pratipati.

Thus the indistinguishable differences between objects that are alike in species,

Characteristics,

Marks and positions become distinguishable.

The crux of this sutra is that the indistinguishable becomes distinguishable.

The indistinguishable becomes distinguishable,

Meaning the awareness becomes so sensitive when you meditate,

When you are in heightened awareness,

When you are in your own consciousness,

In the light of your own consciousness,

In your awareness,

Then all what is indistinguishable,

All what you see as one uniform and each and every mind looks the same,

Every person looks the same,

That becomes distinguishable.

Your awareness becomes so sensitive that you can look into the finer details,

You can appreciate the finer details of manifestation and this will drive you into the uniqueness,

Into appreciating the uniqueness of all the 8 billion that we are and of our oneself,

Of your own uniqueness and the uniqueness of the other.

And that is only possible if we have the awareness,

If we have this sensitivity to have this indistinguishable becoming distinguishable.

And this sutra is in continuation with what we discussed,

What we meditated upon yesterday,

Where Patanjali was talking about doing meditation on time,

To be precise meditating on the present moment.

So in continuation to what Patanjali had given us yesterday,

Once we are established in the present moment,

Once we meditate on the present moment,

Once we understand the flow of what we call as time in established presence,

In being in that moment,

In that present moment,

The awareness becomes sensitive,

The awareness rises and you can see through finer layers of everything that comes in your perception.

So you can,

Whatever is indistinguishable for you right now becomes distinguishable.

And this has several dimensions to that.

For the outward dimension into the world,

You can distinguish between finer details of your experiences outside of what you see,

Of what you hear,

Of what you interact with others and when you look within,

When you become self-aware,

Then this indistinguishable becomes distinguishable means that you see that you are not the body.

So you see that you are not the mind.

You see that you are something more than the body,

You are something more than the mind.

Right now you are in a state where you are in this,

You cannot distinguish between your body,

Your mind,

Your consciousness,

Your awareness,

All these are indistinguishable.

When you are in meditation,

When you are in silence,

When you are in awareness,

In that state,

This indistinguishable becomes distinguishable.

Meaning for the internal dimensions,

You see you are not the body,

You are in the body.

You see you are not the mind,

But you use the mind.

You see that you are consciousness,

You are purely the witness that is experiencing this world in unique ways through the body,

Through the mind.

That consciousness that is experiencing through the body,

Through the mind is the same that is there in you and in everyone else.

So that is the message through the sutra from Patanjali for today.

He completes this topic by saying,

Tarakam sarva vishayam sarvatha vishayam akramam chaity viveka jam jananam The discriminative knowledge that simultaneously comprehends all objects in all conditions is the intuitive knowledge which brings liberation.

So here he just summarizes by saying that this awareness and this ability to be able to distinguish and have those finer details in your awareness.

Once you start to see the entire world with that,

You see the manifestation,

The energy that is manifested that is unique in everyone and you also see the consciousness that is one in all of us.

And in that witnessing of the unique manifestation and of the one consciousness,

There is liberation.

In that awareness of knowing that you are not the body,

Of knowing that you are not the mind,

There is liberation.

So he is taking all these different sutras,

All these different formulas and pointing at one goal and that goal is liberation.

What is liberation?

Liberation is freeing oneself of all the miseries that come along in our own perception of who we are,

How this world works,

What is this world and so on.

So when we are free of our own perception of how we see things and that filter of the mind drops and the awareness comes in contact with reality just the way it is,

There is liberation,

Because you realize that you are consciousness and not the body,

Not the mind.

Let us take this theory or what sounds like a concept into our own experience,

Into our own meditative silence.

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

With your head,

Back,

Neck aligned.

Elote,

Yet comfortable.

Your face relaxed.

And take a nice deep breath.

Inhale from the nose.

Then exhale from the nose,

Allowing your body to rest at its own weight.

Allowing your mind to calm down.

For the next minutes visualize,

Become aware of,

Realize,

And take a deep breath.

Realize that you are in the body.

You are not the body.

You are in the body.

You are not the body.

You are not the body.

You are not the body.

And observe your body from within.

You are not the body.

You are not the body.

You are not the body.

You are not the body.

You are not the body.

Without trying to change anything,

Simply remaining as an observer,

A watcher,

A witness of the body.

With every breath,

The body resting.

You simply observing your body resting.

Now shift your awareness to your mind and observe it from a distance.

See that the mind is there,

But you are not the mind.

All what is going on in your mind,

Thoughts,

Images,

Ideas,

Voices,

Anything that arises in your mind is not you.

You simply observe your mind.

You are not the body.

You are not the body.

Don't force anything on the mind.

You observe from a distance.

You observe from a distance.

Observing your mind,

Realizing you are not the mind.

Observing your body,

Realizing you are not the body.

Then who are you?

Become aware of the awareness.

Turn the awareness to itself,

The awareness observing itself.

You are not the mind.

Away from the body,

Away from the mind.

All your awareness on the awareness.

All your awareness of awareness.

All your awareness.

Don't let go of any effort.

Simply remain in this silence,

In this awareness.

No sensations,

No images,

No ideas,

No thoughts,

No words.

Simply silent awareness.

No sensations,

No thoughts,

No words.

And very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes,

Maintaining this silence.

This awareness,

This awareness centeredness.

And once again back to your body,

Back to your mind.

Thank you very much.

Namaste.

Reviews

🙏

Excellent

A beautiful meditation. Namaste.