10/27/2022
*Overcoming Obstacles*
Patanjali was a scientist. In just a few words, he had said all that was to be said, all that needed to be said.
Along with these 9 obstacles, 5
indications, or signs of a disturbed mind are mentioned.
That is DUKHA - “suffering” sadness, dourmanasya - bitterness, angamejayatva - restlessness in the body, or lack of co-ordination in the body, bhrantidarshan - hallucination & irregular breathing - imbalance of your incoming & outgoing breath.
When you are happy, or excited, the incoming breath is longer & you are more aware of it. It is more prominent.
When you observe the incoming & outgoing breath, you will note that there is a total imbalance. There is a big sigh, when you are unhappy, indicating heaviness & sadness.
When you are joyful, you are just aware of your incoming breath. You aren’t even aware when you are breathing out.
These are the 5 signs, or side-effects, along with the obstacles.
Now, how do you get rid of these ?
To get rid of them, just go on doing ‘ONE THING’.
When you just keep doing one thing, you will begin to get bored & restless.
And the restlessness & boredom will take you to a peak that will bring clarity.
This is the only way out.
Our mind is troubled because it is dwelling on duality.
It has choices before it & so is more confused. It wonders if it should do this thing or the other.
And then it is jumping all around the place, & the mind is further divided.
A divided mind causes misery & a one-pointed mind causes joy. At all those moments when you had been very happy, the mind had become one, had become whole.
You had experienced joy, peace & bliss. Then, you had experienced life totally. Duality, or divided mind, is the cause of fear & misery.
So, if you keep doing two things or too many things, it is not eka tattvaabhyaasa. It is not one practice. So what is the eka tattva?
It is attending to one principle. This one principle could be God, could be a matter, could be Guru or could be self.
It could be anything, but, you need to practice just one of those things - eka tattva abhyaasa. Then, you get over all the other obstacles.
All the nine obstacles can be got rid of. You can attend to one principle, only if there is certain amount of calmness & subtleness in the mind.
Otherwise, even that does not seem to be possible. In one-pointedness there is a certain degree of calmness in the mind.
You see that one principle in everybody. You feel that you are present everywhere; that your Master is present everywhere.
There is nobody other than your Master. He / She is everything for you or God is everything for you. This is the skill in life - holding on to one principle & seeing that principle in everything.
Our life has to be loved in the realm of multiplicity. In the world you live with many people & everybody is not the same.
But, how can you see the same thing in everybody?
Nothing appears to be the same.
No two people appear to be the same.
