is vikalpa.
- Nidra: means sleep
- Smruti: living in memory
These five vrittis really bother a human being.
It drains the potential of a human being. Not
that they are bad. These five vrittis continue
to exist, but having control over them is
yoga. They are like horses. If the reins of the
horses are in your hands, then you can give
them direction, but if you are at the mercy of
the horse then it takes you wherever it goes.
So, it is said, ‘Yoga chitta vritti nirodha’- these
five vrittis need to be arrested, modulated,
controlled. This is Yoga. And how is it done?
All these different methodologies have been
given in the Yoga Sutras, one after another. It
is such a scientific exposition of spirituality.
Yoga Sutras is the best yoga.
So remember, when you do an asana the
goal of your asana is to feel comfortable first
and then feel the expansion; not by wanting
to feel but by letting go, by not ‘doing’
something.
Divinity is in the simplest state or form of
awareness, i.e., feeling ‘I don’t know. Who
cares, I don’t know’.
When you relax what is happening? The body
relaxes and the mind expands. But when
you want to know something, the mind is
focused, it is intense and concentrated. We
are trained to concentrate. We are trained to
be attentive and then too much attention
becomes tension. So, the first step in yoga
is to let go, to relax.Now, don’t ask me how to relax. How do I let
go? Just let go, that’s it! The desires in the
mind are something that hold you, restrain
or restrict you. Instead of thinking, “I want
this, I want this”, have the feeling, “I will get
what I need.” Once this feeling is there, then
where is the need?Only when the mind feels, “I may not get
it’, it starts racing. “I have to do it, I have to
get it’”. Instead, we must focus on just one
thing, “I will get what I need.”That is why it is said, ‘Samadhi siddhi ishwara
pranidhana’ - by letting go or by dropping
it at the lap of the Divine, samadhi starts
happening in you.Only two sutras refer to God in the Yoga
Sutras and one of them is, “when you need
to get into samadhi you have to give yourself
onto the higher power.”The purusha or God inside you is free from
klesha (suffering), karma (merit & demerit),
vipaka (fruit of action). This is higher
knowledge. The five vrittis come and go. We
should not fight with them; we should just
recognize them and relax. In the realm of
the mind, the way to get rid of something is
through relaxation and not through action.
In the physical realm, if we want to get
something, action is essential. In the realm
of consciousness, inaction is essential. So,
action and inaction is what life is all about.