Renounce the Mind (Patanjali Yoga Sutras 105)

Today's subject: "Renounce the mind to realize your Self". In Patanjali yoga sutra: 105th sutra, the 2nd chapter, 54th verse. "sva-viṣaya-asamprayoge cittasya svarūpa-anukāraḥ iva indriyāṇām pratyāhāraḥ"

Swami Vivekananda translates this as: "pratyāhāraḥ or the drawing in of the organs is affected by their giving up their own objects and taking as it were the form of mind stuff".

Swami Prabhavananda translates as: "When the mind is withdrawn from the sense objects and sense organs also withdraw themselves from their respective objects and thus are said to imitate the mind. This is known as pratyāhāraḥ".

Swami Satchidananda translates as: "When the senses withdraw themself from the objects and imitate as it were, the nature of the mind stuff is pratyāhāraḥ".

I'll try to translate this sutra. Please understand the word pratyāhāraḥ. That's the key word. āhāraḥ means absorbing, taking in, pratyāhāraḥ means withdrawing, not taking anything in. āhāra means through five sense you absorb; like seeing, listening, eating... sorry tasting, that’s the right word than eating, tasting, smelling, touching. These are āhāra - five senses. pratyāhāra means not taking anything through the five senses.

As Ma Nithyatma was saying in her experience, when the kundalini is awakened, the senses are shifting. They are no more ordinary! Actually when the kundalini awakens, when you experience levitation, you will automatically experience pratyāhāra. Let me explain pratyāhāra - how the senses are working, how the āhāra happens and pratyāhāraḥ happens, how the kundalini awakening directly impacts and influences the pratyāhāraḥ. First thing, your senses are matter used by your inner space, your mind. Your mind works through your senses and experiences the world through sensual pleasures or pains like seeing, listening, smelling, tasting, touching.

Now the stuff out of which your mind is made, if it withdraws from the senses activities, sensory activities and returns to its source, restoration, returning to the source - that is what I call pratyāhāraḥ. Withdrawing the senses, restoring them into the space where intense excitement and joy is a constant happening, without any happening.

Please understand. The joy and excitement happens in your senses only if there is something is happening outside. If your cell phone rings, excitement - Oh!! Maybe some friend; if you get an email - Oh! Excitement - Maybe some good news!! If you see food, Aaaw!! Come on... Now the tongue is alive!!! If you see anything new, immediately excitement!!

Yesterday I saw, all bramhacharis and bramhacharinis were asked to eat in the mud plate to experience renunciation. Of course eating in the mud plate is very good for your health also; especially the plate which is made out of Ganges mud. We use that's what in our ashram, the plates made out of Ganges mud. When you put the hot food, hot rice into it and mix with sambar and eat in hand, that is something totally different! The energy and quality and even the chemistry of the food is different!! It works with your body like anything.

In sanyas training, there is a life called ‘Ganga based’ . They will morning take bath in Ganges water, drink Ganges water, use the Ganga mud to brush the teeth and the sticks which is collected from the trees which grows out of Ganga water, with that stick they will burn and cook their food in the pot made up out of Ganga mud; and the rice grown in the Ganga field and eat that and sleep in the breeze of Ganga and do their spiritual practices sitting in the banks of Ganga. The Ganga based life is a spiritual training.

So that is the reason I asked all my bramacharis and bramhacharinis to eat in the plate made out of Ganga mud. Even in that I saw these bramachari, especially one bramacharini, five times she wrote her name. I thought, "Oh God!! To avoid the excitement only the Ganga mud plate, but the plate has become such a big excitement". Then I went round and checked in the kitchen almost in ever plate five names... five times names are there.

In Pattinatar's disciple Badragiriyar, there was a great siddha Pattinathar in Tamilnadu from a very... He is from a very charitable community. He is born and brought up in a community which does business 'nagarathars'. So he is a highly charitable minded person. He had some renunciation experience. So he gave away all the property and became a sadhu. Because he became a sadhu, actually he used to give, lend money even to kings. Suddenly, he became sadhu.

One king, king of Badragiri who used to borrow money from this Pattinathar , he was shocked!! Somebody who can lend money to me, king, has become a sadhu... renounced all the wealth! He was shocked and he came to see the Pattinathar. Pattinathar just gave two three great teachings, essence of life; that clicked with Badragiriyar, Badragiri king and he also renounced everything and came and started staying at the feet of Pattinathar.

So Pattinathar always used to take food from the hand and eat. But this his disciple after all he was a king, so he decided to have a small mud plate to eat. But Pattinathar did not like the idea of having a mud plate to eat. But king after all poor guy, it’s too much to eat from the hand , he needs at least the basic comfort to eat from a plate. He got a mud plate.

Naturally when there is a mud plate, you will take the food little more than what is required because you do not know how much is enough. With hand if somebody gives you will eat, eat. When the stomach is full you will say, “No, enough go back”. So person who brought the food has to take the remaining back. Who came to give you alms, he will give how much you want and after that he will go back with the remaining food. So, no problem. But when you have a plate, naturally they will dump the food and go away. And this guy everyday he saw remaining there was little food.

One day one small dog came to him and he gave that food to that dog. And continuously like this few days when he gave the food to the dog, the dog got attached to him and it started staying with him. And after few days he started taking automatically little more food for the dog also. Earlier whatever was excess he started giving. So accepting the excess; the first fall!! The second fall, now for the dog also he started taking more food.

One day Shiva himself came down as a sadhu; as a siddha to Pattinathar and asked. "Oh Lord! Please give me something". He asked for alms. Pattinathar looked up and said, he understood it is Shiva. "I am a paradesi, I don't have anything to give. Maybe in the other side of the temple one of my disciple who is a samsari is sitting. Go and ask him something. He will give you".

So Shiva went to the Badragiriyar, the disciple who was king, the ex-king and asked the Badragiriyar, "Please give me something I am a sadhu". Then he looked up and said, "I am also a sadhu". Then the....Then Shiva said, "No, no. I went to your guru who is sitting in the eastern side of the temple, Pattinathar. He said he is a sadhu, he doesn't have anything but his disciple Badragiriyar.... he mentioning you that you are a samsari, grihasta, householder, he asked me to come and beg from you.”

Then suddenly it clicked to that king, the Badragiriyar, Oh God! oodum tirunayyum yenae samsari aakeeyado he excites, he cries in Tamil, “this begging bowl and the dog which eats my remaining.... this too can it make me a householder, a bound man, a grihasta! Oh God!! What have I done?” It clicks. That idea clicks with him and he throws that mud plate on the dog. The plate breaks and the dog dies and he is liberated.

Please understand how cunning your senses are. The things the life is created around you so that the external excitements are avoided but you are excited even about those few things. I have seen these sadhus, they will leave everything and go away to Haridwar or Rishikesh and stay outside some temple, beg and eat but after two three months they will be attached to the place. Even when they go out they will put a towel that no other, nobody else should come and sit in that place.

That’s exactly getting a mud plate to eat. What for? So that you will not have other excitement attachment; and writing 5 times your name and making all kinds of kolam and flower garlands in that. I thought, "Oh God!! All these things are created so that the mind will avoid going through the senses too much and stop the getting excitement. But somehow our mind catches even these things and start getting excited".

So the excitement has nothing do with the object. It is something to do with your ideas. Whether you are attached to the 5 acre land or 2 feet land outside the temple to sit and beg is not important. You are attached is important. Whether you are attached to a silver plate or steel plate or to the mud plate is not important; you are attached. Even in the silver plate nobody used to write the name.

Mind going through the senses is the constant distraction. A conscious decision to withdraw the mind and restore it in its original stuff out of which it is made without going through the different happenings of the five senses, being in the space of constant excitement and joy which happens without happening is pratyāhāraḥ. So decide not to let the mind to go into the useless sensory distractions. Get into the space of ultimate excitement, peace and joy; without happening. Space where ultimate joy, peace, bliss is happening without any happening. Get into that. That is what I call pratyāhāraḥ!!

I bless you all to experience, achieve, express, live, radiate and share the eternal bliss, Nithyananda!

Thank you.