“In this evening’s discourse I am going to comment on the eleventh sutra.”

In this evening’s discourse I am going to comment on the eleventh sutra. In this sutra, Patanjali talks about memory as the fifth and final modification of the mind. Let us enter into the sutra and see the idea Patanjali has regarding memory.

anubhuta-visayasampramosah smrtih

Modern day psychology and all such things appear too small in front of what Patanjali says in his Yoga Sutra. It looks too meagre in comparison to his depth, clarity and vision. I am continuously surprised that he is able to penetrate, describe and give solutions for all of modern day problems that the modern individual faces. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is the oldest scripture that is relevant to the largest number of modern individuals on planet earth.

Each time I repeat Patanjali’s words, I feel they can never be translated properly. They are filled with so much meaning and each sutra has so many dimensions. I have the time only to express one dimension of what Patanjali means.

The sutra is translated as: The recall of mental impressions of past events from the subconscious mind is memory.

We have three levels of memory. The items in the first level of memory can be compared with the things on the table in front of us. They are the kind of memories we handle everyday. For example, you know who your son is, who your wife is, who your daughter is, who your mother is and who your boss is. We all know the relationships that we maintain and the place in which we live. These memories are directly connected to our day-to-day routine.

Then we have the memories which can be compared with the things in our office cupboard. If we wish to, we are capable of retrieving them. For example, which friends you choose to spend your time with or where you went on a vacation three years earlier, belong to this type. If we want we can retrieve them but they will not continuously be available on the table.

The final type of memories is like the things stored in the archives room. This type of memories you cannot access without a special key! That special key is what I refer to as meditation techniques. When the load becomes too much on your table, there is an automatic process that moves the files to the archives room. There is a system that automatically reduces the load on your consciousness.

I can say that memory is the source of all good things and of all bad things. Memory is responsible for what you remember or forget. Patanjali says that smrtih (memory) is responsible for what you are, how you are talking, how you are behaving, why you are behaving the way you are behaving, how you are living and why you are living the way you are living. For everything, memory is responsible.

Memory can lead either to suffering or to joy in our day-to-day life. With regard to suffering, all of the psychological disorders we undergo, all the suffering we have is because of us constantly using our memory. Memory is completely responsible for this.

On the other hand, memory is also completely responsible for your spontaneity and decision making. I can say, anything available to you in the outer world, memory is responsible for. Whether it is your comforts, your luxuries, or all the research and development done in all the fields of the outer world, memory is responsible. Memory is responsible for all the things we enjoy in the outer world.

If memory is retrieved and used properly, it has the potential to bring so much joy and comfort! A leader is a person who can handle a large amount of memory with a very sharp quality of presence as well.

So what is the best way to use memory? When it comes to the outer world, use memory more and more and more. When it comes to the inner world, unclutch from it more and more and more. This is the sutra. This is the rule of thumb!

When you unclutch from the memories, when you relax from the memories in the inner world, you will start to enjoy a tremendous amount of spontaneity. You will be responding to situations spontaneously. Being in the present will start happening. Mahima (grace) will start expressing through you. When mahima starts expressing through you, it means you are unclutching from your memories. Then wherever you go and whatever you do, a tremendous feeling of security will start radiating around you. Only a person who can unclutch from his memory can feel completely secure.

All over the world, I continuously give discourses (public talks). In the last six years of my public life, I have spoken over five thousand hours! Usually when I speak I have only the Sanskrit book of the sutra in front of me, nothing else. There will be no other notes or hints. I am constantly asked the question by people, ‘How do you speak continuously without any preparation, hints or notes?’ People ask me, ‘How do you speak like that Swamiji?’ When people ask me, I tell them only one thing: Somehow fortunately, I learned how to unclutch from memories, nothing else.

In the next sutra, Patanjali beautifully explains ‘unclutching’ as the solution.

abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah

The sutra is translated as, ‘Relaxing from these thought patterns through constant and intensive practice of unclutching.’

The solution is to constantly practice unclutching, intensively. I am not saying that you shouldn’t remember. You should remember only when you need to remember. You don’t need to be remembering every moment. Then people say to me, ‘No, we need our memory to live our life, to keep our job and our relationships.’ This is because society is raised in an education system that is based on memory and remembering things. On the other hand, the vedic education gurukul system is based on unclutching!

The amount of memory that becomes available to you and the ability to retrieve it is unimaginable when you start to practice unclutching. I experimented with this teaching of unclutching with our gurukul children. You will be surprised by the memory that those children have. All I tell them to do is when you finish studying, ‘unclutch’. It looks paradoxical! People think, ‘If I unclutch I will forget.’ No, you won’t. It will become a word document and get stored in you. When you don’t attach your emotions to the memories, they will become word documents which are stored in your system and you will have intelligence, clarity and efficiency to retrieve them when you need them.

Not only that, your consciousness and the mind that becomes available to you to retrieve the memory will also be very sharp. It is like applying oil on your hands before you open a jack fruit. If you don’t apply oil before you open a jack fruit, your whole hand will be stuck with the gum that is a part of the fruit. Because your hands become stuck, you will not be able to retrieve exactly what you wanted to retrieve with your hands. Your smrtih, your chitta, your memory, is very similar to that jack fruit.

If you want to remember something, all you need to do for a few moments is unclutch. If you apply consciousness to your hands, the same as applying oil, you will be able to open the jack fruit and not get stuck. You will be able to retrieve the right file without being affected by it, without getting attached to it and without bringing suffering through it.

Experiment with the technique of unclutching for ten days; constantly try to unclutch. Surely within ten days your life will not become a mess just by trying a simple experiment. Anyway, we have already created a big mess! So for ten days, just constantly try to unclutch. Unclutch means, ‘Not connecting with your memory’. Whenever thoughts rise, remember to unclutch and relax. Again and again come back to the silence which is inside you. The first time you unclutch, for two seconds you may be silent. Then again a thought will rise, so again unclutch. Then for three or four seconds you may be silent. Again a thought will rise, again unclutch. Soon, you will start to see that the gap between the thoughts increases to as much as twenty to thirty seconds. When you can relax inside that gap, when you rest inside that gap and live inside that gap, that is what is called Living Enlightenment - not being affected or disturbed by the memory.