RAJA YOGA

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

according to Shri Yogacharya Ajita
This book is the basis of the age old, classical Yoga. It describes this whole science in an
astonishing brief way: there are only !" Sutras or #erses. $% until now the translations and
inter%retations were inco&%lete or si&%ly wrong. 'ith the hel% of his soul Shri Yogacharya
Ajita e(%lains all Sutras for the first ti&e clearly. You feel as if you are in his class roo&. You
are carried away by his enthusias&. )is hands on a%%roach let your Yoga %ractice &ake a lea%
forward. You *uickly understand the enor&ous i&%ortance of Yoga in our o#erheated world.
Introduction
+ear Yoga friend,

It is with %leasure that I offer you this work as an ins%iration tool for your Yoga %ractice. It
contains, as far as I can see, the highest knowledge about Yoga, and co&%le&ents &y earlier
books, Subtle Anato&y, )atha Yoga Pradi%ika and Science of Soul.
The basis of this book consists of &y co&&ents of the book ,Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,
translated and co&&ented by I.-. Tai&ni. during &y classes of the Yoga Teachers Training
/ourse 011230114 on the 5onday e#ening. 6ster 6riksen has recorded &y co&&ents and
&ade the transcri%tion, for which she has &y eternal gratitude.
This book contains the ins%ired lectures and all discussions which ha%%ened in the grou%. The
tone is therefore often #ery li#ely.
Since !78 this book has been an i&%ortant %art of &y Professional Yoga Training, which
consists of a 9asic3, a Teacher3 and a 5aster Training /ourse, as described in &y website
www.(s8all.nl:;rajayoga:6< or www.raja3yoga.org
It is funny that e#en before editing this book Swa&i 5aitreyananda Saras#ati, President of the
'orld Yoga /ouncil, has already asked &e %er&ission to translate it in S%anish.
5ay this book hel% you reach 6nlighten&ent.
5ay this book contribute to the s%reading of Yoga in the world.
Yours friendly,
Shri Yogacharya Ajita
=Phili%%e 9arbier>
)onorary Secretary of the International Yoga ?ederation for the 6uro%ean $nion
President of the 6uro%ean Yoga /ouncil of 6uro%ean Yoga Alliance
)onorary @ife 5e&ber of the 'orld Yoga /ouncil
5e&ber of the International Yoga Thera%y /ouncil
5e&ber of the /oregrou% of the Sa&enwerkende Yogadocenten <ederland
+irector of the Aaja Yoga Institute
Il%enda&, )olland, Buly 21
th
011C
0
Content
Page Subject

0 Introduction
2 /ontent
8 Preface
/ha%ter I : Sa&adhi Pada
88 /ha%ter II : Sadhana Pada
227 /ha%ter III : Dibhuti Pada
84 /ha%ter ID : Eai#alya Pada
2
Preface
It is a re&arkable book indeed.
Fnce I started a collection of all %ossible #ersions of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali fro& di#erse
sources =co&&ents:translations>. The #ersion written by Tai&ni is the last and only one that
re&ains. A&ong all #ersions it %ro#ed to be the least %oor.
It is horrifying what you find in all those books. 'ritten by %eo%le who know nothing about
this business, but still find they ought to add their cents worth. In Yoga, if you ha#e so&e, if
any a&bition, I think that as a &atter of habit one should write his own co&&ent on these
Yoga Sutras G
/haracteristic of a good edition is that it does not only contain the original Sanskrit te(t in
transliteration =in letters that we can at least understand a little>, but also a literal translation,
which &eans word by word, followed by a nor&al translation that reflects the &eaning in daily
language and a co&&ent on it.
It would be truly %erfect when the curly characters of the <agari3scri%t would be added. That
of course would be #ery nice, were it not that &ost of us are not able to read <agari3scri%t
anyways. ?or that &atter, Sanskrit can be %ut down in #arious styles of scri%t of which only
one is <agari. There are &any other styles of curly characters of which one is 9rah&i.
'hat kind of scri%ture is this and who is the authorH
It is not %ossible to deter&ine how old this scri%ture is and where it ca&e fro&, as nothing is
known about the author Patanjali. All we know is that his na&e is Patanjali. 'hat is known,
howe#er is that the basis of Yoga science lies here.
'as this the first Yoga scri%ture in historyH
Probably not, but it see&s to &atch with other #ery old scri%tures. The )atha Yoga Pradi%ika
on the other hand is clearly fro& a later era.
This one has &ost likely been written so&ewhere before /hrist.
Fne can only ad&ire the geniality of this fairly short scri%ture that e(ists only out of !"
#erses, cry%tic #erses or for&ulas as it were.
In for&er ti&es they were written down on a %al& leaf by the Yoga %ractitioners and rolled u%
in the for& of a scroll, tied with a cord and carried on the back. It was their &ost %recious
%ossession. An e(a&%le of this can nowadays still be seen in the 9ritish 5useu& in @ondon.
In the Yoga schools of for&er ti&es these !" Sutras were &e&oriIed, so it was only nor&al
that the students could recite the& by heart.
The Sutras are %robably re&inders that were s%ecifically designed to hel% the teacher as a
leading thread running through the lessons. )e and his %u%ils used the& as a kind of
co&%endiu&, a re&inder like ,oh yeah, thats what it was aboutJ.
Ae&arkably enough only "11 different words were used in these !" #erses. This is ty%ical for
Yoga: to tell the issues with a &ini&u& of words.
8
The Sutras thus are #ery concise in structure, #ery short. It is for this reason that they are often
#ery difficult to understand. That is the reason why there are so &any inter%retations of the&.
Sutras ha#e a &agical #alue and are used as 5antras because they awaken infor&ation in the
su%er3consciousness as well as in the sub3consciousness. This is difficult to e(%lain but lets
say I take the book, I o%en it, I read a Sutra, gi#e it so&e ti&e to sink in, and i&&ediately it
e#okes certain things. Then I can talk about it with a wisdo& that %er%le(es &e. Aeally, no
kidding, often I just listen to &yself, hearing what a wonderful story it is I& telling. It is funny
for sure, because just a &o&ent ago I didnt ha#e the slightest clue.
Sutras also ha#e a kind of %ro%hetic %ower, or an e(%lanatory %ower:
'hen you %ut the Sutras on your night table, and at a certain &o&ent you just dont know
what to do with your life, or certain *uestions arise, you just o%en the book, at any gi#en %age,
and you will see, the answer is right there in front of you. I ha#e done it like this &any ti&es
and it works.
The Sutras are the basis of what we call classical Yoga, also called Ashtanga Yoga of
Patanjali. Ashtanga &eans 7 ste%s. /lassical Yoga is the first, original Yoga, fro& which all the
later for&s of Yoga ha#e originated.
The ancient *uality test for any for& of Yoga %ractice is: ,+oes your Yoga %ractice consits of
the 7 ste%s of PatanjaliH.
You can bring u% Ear&a Yoga, or 9hakti Yoga or Tantra Yoga or Eundalini Yoga or na&e
any kind, but it should always contain the 7 ste%s of Patanjali.
If that is not the case, it is not Yoga. This is the %resent standard of the International Yoga
?ederation.
Yoga cannot be e(%lained in any other way, because then it is wrong. Bust kee% it %rofessional,
as it was &eant to be fro& the beginning. If the co&&entator:author of the sort of Yoga in
*uestion wants to do right to Yoga, the original Yoga, he considers all 7 ste%s. ?ro& the
&o&ent he de#iates fro& this, he is not doing it right.
'hy notH
9ecause the 7 ste%s deal with the whole hu&an being: e&otional, &oral, %hysical, &ental,
s%iritual. That is what those 7 ste%s are for. And it is i&%ossible to &ake &an de#elo% %ro%erly
if you take only one or so&e of the ste%s and lea#e so&e of the others out. If you want to hel%
%eo%le de#elo% you &ust deal with the whole, because it is a closed circuit.
If for e(a&%le you take 9hakti Yoga, and you say: ,@ook, I refer to the <arada 9hakti Sutras.
=<arada K author who %lays the &ost i&%ortant role in 9hakti Yoga>. 9ut the <arada 9hakti
Sutras do not &ention the 7 ste%s of Yoga, well, then it is ti&e to watch your ste%s, because
so&ething is not right.
In &any of the Yoga for&s the 7 ste%s are not &entioned. )ow do we ha#e to %ercei#e thisH
This &eans that %roble&s ha#e occurred.
?or e(a&%le in 9hakti Yoga, in which 5antras are used.
The <arada 9hakti Sutras 3 which are a #ery short scri%ture 3 are to be obser#ed when you
focus on the %ractice of 5antra. This scri%ture describes that when %racticing 5antra there are
0 %arts: 9ha#a L &ood, and Shabda L sound. 6s%ecially 9ha#a is i&%ortant. You ha#e to %ut so
"
&uch e&otion into the sound that tears are rolling down your cheeks. That is a techni*ue, it
works %erfectly, and it is okay to use it, but you are %utting an accent on one as%ect only. 9ut
the rest of Yoga also has to be regarded when you do that. If you only focus on just one as%ect,
you are in danger. And that is e(actly what ha%%ens so often. Fne %lunges into 9hakti and
creates an o#erdose of Shi#a within. This creates increasingly Ta&as. As a result e&otions are
not under control. The %rinci%le of Pratyahara is ignored. That is when things go wrong, with
whole grou%s of %eo%le at once. 9ecause e#erybody thinks he is doing things right. In India it
is e#en worse than here because 9hakti Yoga has &any followers there.
Also in 9hakti Yoga one needs to learn the techni*ues of Sa&adhi. That &eans all of the&, and
not just one techni*ue of &editation or conte&%lation. So all 7 ste%s, and not to forget the
Ya&as and <iya&as.

)ow do you think about the T.5. &o#e&entH
The 5aharishi res%ects the 7 ste%s, so that is a #aluable e(a&%le. I dont care what they do or
how they do it, if only they would res%ect the ground rules. 'e are awaiting their results. They
are not as good as ours, but anyways G
A lot of %eo%le of the 5aharishi co&e here to recei#e e(tra training. 'hat we do *ualitati#ely
is inco&%arable. 6#en for those who ha#e followed their Siddhi %rogra&.
In Yoga you always ha#e to res%ect the 7 ste%s. You can directly di#e into a ste% of Yoga and
enjoy, but kee% in &ind that it is %art of the totality. 'hen you read a no#el, you ha#e to ha#e
learned so&ething about gra&&ar. The Sutras of Patanjali are like the gra&&ar of Yoga, and
no less.
Fften the 7 ste%s are all taken into account, but then Pranaya&a %ractice is wrong, doing
breathing techni*ues instead of &ental energy control
Dery often that is indeed the case. ?ro& the &o&ent they %ractice Pranaya&a as breathing it is
wrong, e#en when they say they %ractice correctly.
In such cases I always think: ,@ets talk about it, and co&%are the results we achie#ed, how we
got there, and no hard feelings..
I ha#e tried that se#eral ti&es, but the %roble& is always that I feel as if I a& standing in front
of a brick wall. They dont want to talk about it. They dont want to co&%are. They dont want
to check. They just acce%t it dog&atically: ,This is how it is and thats it.. 'ith such an
attitude, whether they are right or wrong, I a& out of thereJ
It is because its not fair. It is not o%en. Still I think that we are seriously %ro#ing that our
a%%roach is the right a%%roach.
Take the techni*ue of Pratyahara for e(a&%le.
The techni*ue of Pratyahara is not being taught any&ore L not in the whole wide worldJ 'e
ha#e ado%ted this techni*ue fro& Swa&i Yogesh#arananda Saras#ati. Pratyahara is described
in his first book: ,?irst ste%s to )igher Yoga..
A lot of %eo%le in the Yoga3world know this author, know the school he directed, and res%ect
hi& #ery &uch, but Pratyahara is hardly taught anywhere.
4
I think that he was one of the to% Swa&is of this ti&e.
I dont understand that this doesnt get any attention, e(ce%t for 9uddhis&, in which they do
clearly e(%lain about this &atter, but in other Yoga for&s there is hardly any &ention of it.
Bust re&e&ber: if you want to seriously %ractice Yoga you ha#e to know that it e(ists out of 7
ste%s, as Patanjali one day established it.
Yoga has an alternati#e na&e, which is Aaja L royal. This is not a different kind of Yoga. It is
Yoga, described by ad&irers as being royal, a title that was gi#en to it later because it was so
#enerable, so brilliant. 9ut it was also a basic ingredient of the training of kings. You could say
a course for to% &anagers.
In the sa&e #ein you find the fa&ous book of Sun3TIu, The Art of 'arfare, in &ilitary
acade&ies.
Princes, future kings got this on their %late.
There are e(a&%les of kings who were co&%letely trained and educated on this basis, like king
Banaka fro& the 5ahabharata.
+o you actually feel like being a kingH
Probably not. In each case not the kinds of king as we know the& nowadays in the 'estern
world. ,Eing. in fact is a ter& used to na&e a &aster, a %erson who is fully awakened. The
9uddha has %robably recei#ed this as study &aterial.
There are &any si&ilarities between his teaching and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
'e learned about the %hiloso%hy of the Eleshas. They are the sa&e as in 9uddhis&.
So&e %eo%le take offence with what I a& saying: 9uddha is a great Yogi who recei#ed Aaja
Yoga training. It took C years to reach enlighten&ent with Aaja Yoga. Indeed he &ay ha#e
de#elo%ed his own style or for& of Yoga, in which he has o#erlooked a cou%le of ste%s.
+oes this &ean that 9uddhis& is actually a %art of YogaH
Yes, but be careful when you &ention this to 9uddhists. Fb#iously they dont agree.
?ro& the &o&ent that you talk with a 9uddhist about the fact that you %ractice Yoga, he looks
at you disa%%ro#ingly or i&&ediately starts a discussion with you. And rightly so. At least
when you %ractice the usual Yoga, as &ost %eo%le know it these days. 9ecause he doesnt
know that you learned Yoga in this school. And with the &aterial that you ha#e learned in this
school you will wash the ears of the 9uddhist with his own doctrine. And he will be baffled
and say to you: ,Yes, but what you are telling &e now, that is 5ahayana 9uddhis&..
There are 0 directions in 9uddhis&: the )inayana and the 5ahayana L the lower %ath and the
higher %ath.
'hat can you tell us about )induis&H
Yoga is the basis of )induis&. There are about 081 &illion )indus. ?ro& the &o&ent that you
follow the )indu religion you auto&atically beco&e a Yoga %ractitioner.
All the gods ha#e been added later. It has beco&e an i&&ense hodge%odge.
C
)induis& is based on the original Yoga with its 7 ste%s. After Yoga, the Sankhya %hiloso%hy
ca&e into being. The book ,Science of Soul. with 5anas, 9uddhi, /itta, Aha&kara and
Antahkarana has been largely ins%ired by it.
The Sankhya %hiloso%hy tries to e(%lain al the %heno&ena that we co&e across in Yoga.
After that 8 &ore %hiloso%hical trends followed, &aking it all increasingly difficult to
understand. In the end the cat cannot find its kittens any&ore.
That is what ha%%ened to )induis&. The )indus walk around, but ha#e lost their way
co&%letely. I &ean, the way to hea#en. They ha#e so &uch infor&ation, and so &any gods,
and so &any rituals, and so &any different insights that they dont see it the&sel#es any&ore.
You can co&%are their Pandits or scribes with the scribes with who& Besus had so &uch
trouble.
'hat we are trying to do, and what we can do L because we are totally inde%endent fro& the
)indu culture L is to go back to the roots, without outside influences. 'e feel &uch freer. It is
like a re3disco#ery tri% by an inde%endent third %erson.
You &ay by now realiIe that it is #ery difficult in the Yoga3world to find a #ersion of the Yoga
Sutras with so&e #alue. ?ortunately there is the Theoso%hical Society, for which I ha#e a lot
of res%ect. Already for &ore than 11 years this organiIation tries to translate the original
scri%ts and s%read the& a&ong the %eo%le.
Theoso%hy &eans ,@o#e for the +i#ine.. Theo L so%hy.
Tai&ni was a &e&ber of the Theoso%hical Society, %rofessor at the $ni#ersity of Allahabad in
India and abo#e all he was a Yoga %ractitioner.
You will see that his endea#ors are %raiseworthy. At a nu&ber of %oints I will tell you &y
inter%retation. Then you can co&%are yourself with what we ha#e learned so far. 6s%ecially in
the field of Sa&adhi he co&%letely &isses the boat. The entire 2
rd
cha%ter, therefore should be
re3written.
Yoga has &any si&ilarities with /hristianity
/ertainly, and this is *uite re&arkable indeed. It is therefore that Yoga is called the 5other of
all religions. It is #ery likely that Besus was educated in the original Yoga. 9ecause the things
he tells are so strikingly si&ilar to the contents of this bookM in it the &iracles or Siddhis that
he %erfor&ed are e(%lained.
'hat is the cause of this growing so far a%artH
Peo%le ha#e different o%inions, different inter%retations and different interests. Throughout the
ages the /hurch has &ade a &onster out of original /hristianity, that does not rese&ble at all
the descri%tions in the 9ible.
/hristianity actually is Yoga. It is indeed a for& of Yoga that goes in the direction of 9hakti,
the Yoga of de#otion.
'hat about the Incas, the AItecs and the sha&ansH
7
That is #ery &uch related with Yoga too. You could say that the Aishis or seers of Yoga were
a kind of sha&ans. In other religions:cultures they were &edicine &en and the likes. 9ut also
here we see si&ilarities arising.
6#erywhere, in Australia, <orth A&erica, South3A&erica: it all looks #ery si&ilar to each
other.
'hen you study Yoga and the inter%retations that are gi#en about it, you will be able to &uch
better understand the religion of the Incas and the AItecs.
So&e students ha#e tra#eled to 5e(ico and as a &atter of test they %erfor&ed &editation on
to% of one of the %yra&ids. Their findings were fantastic:
,This is itJ 'e had a &ystical e(%erience there that is inco&%arableJ.
So if e#er you ha#e a chance you should try this for your selfJ
It is truly a %ity that it is not allowed any&ore to cli&b the %yra&ids of 6gy%t. That is officially
%rohibited because tourists ha#e caused too &uch da&age.
9ut whene#er you find yourself a %yra&id so&ewhere G
Then you will realiIe: ,Yeah, this is indeed why they built this..
They are there to hel% raise s%irituality.
'hy are there so few %eo%le who know about thisH
Peo%le tend to be dog&atic.
So always kee% the door or window o%en towards the other. Eee% discussing with one another.
9ut the understanding of all this stands or falls with your own understanding of Yoga. If you
yourself ha#ent finished your Yoga education yet, it is difficult to talk. So first try to finish
your training and es%ecially study this scri%ture.
Should we &ake reading the Yoga Sutras co&%ulsory in schoolH
That wouldnt work. Aeading of this scri%ture is only reser#ed for those %eo%le who ha#e gone
through a considerable %re%aration. This really is literature for s%ecialists. That is the reason
why it took so long for us to start with it. ?irst we went through the )atha Yoga Pradi%ika,
Science of Soul and the likes. The Yoga Sutras are the &ain course. 'hen you are finished
with this you can enter the gates of %aradise.
The Yoga Sutras contain only !" for&ulas:#erses
There are &any underlying connections. Still it is a tight fitting whole. It is as if you recei#e a
kind of a %rogra&. It is al&ost like co&%uter science.
'hat you recei#e here is not &ine.
6#erybody thinks so&ething like ,Ajita is just telling us so&e stories G..
It is not &ine. I only got it &yself.
'hat is the #alue of the book /on#ersations with NodH
!
I strongly reco&&end these books. There is a
st
, 0
nd
and 2
rd
%art, which are all good books.
Personally I think the /elestine Pro%hesies are #ery beautiful too.
9ut the /on#ersations with Nod are of considerable higher le#el than /elestine Pro%hesies.
9ut at the #ery highest le#el we find this: Patanjali.
It contains only 8 cha%tersJ

st
: Sa&adhi Pada
0
nd
: Sadhana Pada
2
rd
: Dibhuti Pada
8
th
: Eai#alya Pada
The
st
cha%ter L Sa&adhi Pada L deals with the definition of Sa&adhi.
The 0
nd
cha%ter LSadhana Pada 3 deals with how you can co&e to Yoga.
Sadhana L %ractice.
'hat does it re*uire education3wise to co&e to Sa&adhiH
There are C ste%s to hel% you to e#entually co&e to the 7
th
ste%, Sa&adhi.
The 2
rd
cha%ter L Dibhuti Pada deals with su%er3natural %owers.
In this cha%ter Patanjali e(%lains concentration, &editation and conte&%lation, and Sa&ya&a
=a co&bination of the 2> fro& which, if %erfor&ed %ro%erly, astonishing %owers arise, known
in Yoga as su%ernatural %owers and in /hristianity as &iracles.
The 8
th
cha%ter concludes with the %art about Eai#alya or @iberation.

st
cha%ter K Sa&adhi Pada.
YogaH Yoga is Sa&adhi.
The si&%letons here in the 'est say: ,Yoga and &editation. Today we ha#e Yoga and
&editation scheduled: Yoga and &editation.. ?oolsJ
)a#ent they e#er read PatanjaliH
Yoga is Sa&adhi
Yoga and &editationJ Net out of hereJ
,Yes, but Yoga, that is just a %hysical e(ercise. &ost of the& say.
As ha%%ened one day in the 9harata3school in A&sterda&. This guy still doesnt get it.
Their so3called teacher said to &e: ,I ha#e no idea of what you are doing, you knowJ. So I told
hi&: ,'ell, I ha#e no idea what it actually is that you are doingJ.
,9ut, but G I know what Yoga is, and I just let %eo%le co&e into a %osture or turn the&sel#es
into a knot and so G That is YogaJ. he said.
I said: ,'hat you are doing is not Yoga, because Yoga deals with Sa&adhiJ.
Sorry G had to get this of &y chest G
5ay all, who want it, recei#e the light of knowledge on Yoga.
?ro& here, lets get really started with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Fne by one we are going to try to get to the botto& of the&, and follow the thread =Sutra>, to
try to understand the leading thread of the story.
1
First Chapter : Samadhi Pada
! Atha Yoganusasanam
<ow, an e(%osition of Yoga =is to be &ade>
Atha suggests that so&ething has %receded this.
'hat is it that has %recededH
5ost likely it was the )atha Yoga Pradi%ika, or so&ething alike.
It is not %ossible to just start studying the Yoga Sutras without %reli&inary %re%aration.
<ot only did we go through a %art of the )atha Yoga Pradi%ika, but we ha#e also studied the
Science of Soul.
"! Yogas Citta#$rtti#%irodhah
Yoga is the inhibition of the &odifications of the &ind
The word ,<irodhah. &eans, ,to bring under control..
Another way to inter%ret this word is ,to %ut a halt to it. or ,to shut off.. 9ut in this case it is
not to %ut a halt to it or to shut it off. If you would shut it off you would be finished. It si&%ly
cannot be shut off, because energy is a dyna&ic %heno&enon.
,The &odifications of the &ind. L a translation for Dritti. 9ut the Drittis ha#e arisen fro& the
Sa&skaras re&e&berH And Sa&skaras are at the le#el of /itta. 'hat we see here is a
dyna&ic in the Sutra that shows that the %rocess of control goes fro& the causal to the &ental,
and fro& the &ental to the causal.
Drittis belong to 5anas. 'hile the Sa&skaras occur in /itta. This &eans that /itta and Dritti
actually do not belong together. )owe#er, it is a nice trick to tell the story &ore *uickly: ,Yoga
is the inhibition =bringing under control or slowing down> of the Drittis in us u% until the le#el
of /itta, where there are still Sa&skaras.. This &eans then that the control goes u% until the
Sa&skaras in /itta. 6#en &ore than that: that you will e#en be able to gain control o#er the
consciousness, to such an e(tent that you will re&ain in /itta itself.
This is a fantastic Sutra: not &ore than 8 words, but still a co&%lete %rogra&.
Yoga therefore is a science of control. In it, actually, there is a co&%lete outline of the
consciousness. The consciousness goes fro& the &ind u% until the &e&ory L /itta.
And the %rocess of the consciousness is also outlined in it.
It starts with the i&%ressions:Sa&skaras that transfor& into thoughts, Drittis.
Those Drittis e#entually cause %roteins in our body that are res%onsible for the &aterialiIation
of our being L whooshJ
Yoga is about the control of this %rocess.

6#entually you reach successful control by beco&ing steadfast at the le#el of /itta. Than you
ha#e Yoga: union.
+o you understand thisH
'ell, FE G
Dritti is a word that refers to the &ental, doesnt itH It &eans whirls of energy or thought. 9ut
/itta is a causal funda&ental idea L the &e&ory. <or&ally we cannot abolish Drittis. Still
those words are %ut together. They actually reflect that the control does not only deal with the
Drittis, but also with the cause of the Drittis, for that lies within /itta. Those are the
Sa&skaras.
So, as long as you ha#e not gained control o#er the Sa&skaras you are not finished yet with
Yoga. <ot only control o#er the Drittis, with &editation, but also o#er the Sa&skaras, with
conte&%lation.
+o you ha#e trouble with the conce%t of /itta, because in so&e books /itta is described as ,the
heart.H
/itta is the causal body in har&ony =Satt#a>. You should see ,the heart. in the sense of a
stable, constant factor, not the real heart. There is no heart in the causal body.
The causal body is a syste& of energy, a s%here that can be in har&ony, but it can also contract
or e(%and. In that sense you can call it the heart of the causal body. The essence. The causal
body at its best, that is /itta.
It has a &e&ory function, because in this har&ony, at any ti&e you can find back infor&ation
that has been %lanted in it. That is why it is called &e&ory. $nchanged, a constant.
So, Yoga connects you with the causal and the &ental. 9ut if only you continue, you know that
the &ental le#el is the boss of the gross le#el. So you ha#e to in#ol#e the gross le#el as well.
Then you will ha#e control o#er the 2 worlds:bodies in this Sutra.
/learH
So, dont shut it downJ
You ha#e to learn to gain control o#er e#erything, not just the &e&ory or the functioning of
the &e&ory. If you ha#e this control you will function as one totality.
The word control in this sense has the &eaning of kee%ing things in check or &anaging.
It is not only about controlling the &ind. It is also about sensing, because we know Sa&skaras
are on the le#el of /itta.
So you control the sensing inside you, of the heart, and you ha#e control of the &ind. As a
conse*uence you ha#e control of the body as well.
+oes that &ean that Yoga is a control3scienceH
Peo%le fro& the co&%uter3science de%art&ent, &aybeH
Anyone fro& the accounting de%art&entH
)as anyone e#er heard of e(a&inationsH
An accountant, a bookkee%er L s%ecialist, checks e#erything and %oints out things that need
correction: this is not right, that is not right G
An e(a&ination L ne#er e(%erienced thisH
6(a&ination =due diligence> of a co&%anyH
A s%ecialist fro& outside who co&es to ha#e a look at the co&%anyH
0
Those %eo%le are to%3s%ecialists, and as such Yoga, too, is a to%3science that can be used
anywhere.
The %erson can do whate#er he does, but on to% he adds Yoga.
)e &ay be a doctor, he &ay be soldier, he &ay be a teacher G
)e has benefit fro& this control3science. 'hate#er he does, he will i&%ro#e because of it.
&! 'ada (rashtuh S)arupe $asthanam
Then the seer is established in his own essential and funda&ental nature
'hen you ha#e achie#ed Yoga, thanks to /itta3Drtti3<irodhah, as a seer you will be
established in your own, essential and funda&ental nature or S#aru%a Sthiti. <ow what is thatH
This is At&an.
Thats what we ha#e learned fro& Science of Soul: a total control of your being u% until the
le#el of /itta. This will e#en enable you to rise abo#e /itta. In At&an.
'hen you co&e in /itta with your consciousness, when you are in total har&ony, then you
will co&e to At&an. The Sa&adhi that hel%s you to achie#e this is As&ita Sa&adhi L the
realiIation of sheer being.
?irst you start with Sas&ita Sa&adhi, which will then slowly e#ol#e into <iras&ita Sa&adhi if
you ha#e enough %atience and %ower.
The %ure sense of sheer being &eans that there is only ,being.. 6#en the obser#er of this
,being. is not %resent any&ore. The knower and the known &erge into one L and you dont
e#en realiIe any&ore that you ,are..
In At&an there is nothing left that can be described.
9uddha calls it ,#oid. =e&%tiness>, but that too is only a descri%tion.
?or as soon as you want that #oid, you li&it yourself to only one thing, and then you search:
,'here is the #oidH. 9ut that is how you find At&an.
There is actually only one na&e for it, and that is ,unna&able..
Fnce you are there so&ething #ery strange will ha%%en. You will ha#e a sense that e#erything
fits and &atches and that you ha#e ad#anced considerably. That is the &o&ent, when the union
that Yoga is, has actually succeeded.
So, ne(t ti&e when you &eet so&ebody who clai&s he is doing Yoga, you say: ,Nosh, niceJ
And, ha#e you already arri#ed in S#aru%a SthitiH.
If then he looks at you foolishly and says ,'hat, err GH. you know it is of no use to continue
the con#ersation.
*! $rtti#Sarup+am Itaratra
In other states there is assi&ilation =of the seer> with the conditions =of the &ind>
2
'hen you are not established in your own true nature, if you ha#e not co&e to At&an, then
there is assi&ilation:identification:fusion of the seer in you with the seen.
The &odifications of the &ind, thats the Drittis.
So because we are not able yet to co&e into S#aru%a Sthiti:Self3realiIation, our consciousness
will be drawn to the Drittis that we ha#e within us. 'e identify oursel#es with our Drittis.
?or this +escartes one day said: ,Be %ense donc je suis. L I think, therefore I a&.
So he identified hi&self with his &ind.
)e said: ,Fh, I thinkJ So I a&J.
As a conse*uence our entire ci#iliIation is still suffering under this foolish state&ent, or at
least the foolish inter%retation of this state&ent. 'e link our e(istence to our thought, which is
totally wrong.
There is &ore than thought within us, isnt itH
'here does this thought co&e fro&H
So, as long as you ha#ent disco#ered your Self:At&an, you will be attracted by your &ind.
And at the sa&e ti&e that brings us to the descri%tion of the %roble& that we are dealing with:
to be absorbed by the &ind.
)ow do you want to deal with thisH
+o you think it is all right to be absorbed by the &indH
+o you want to go through life as a sla#eH
Fr do you want to do &ore with your lifeH
)ow are you going to take care of thisH
You will try to abolish that fusion of the seer with the thought.
Thats the %hiloso%hy of the Eleshas re&e&berH
'e try to a#oid the fusion of the thinker with the thought:the known

,! $rtta+ah Pancata++ah -.ishta/.ishtah
The &odifications of the &ind are fi#e3fold and are %ainful or not3%ainful.
To tackle the ene&y, which we know now to be the Drittis, it is necessary that we know hi&,
and recogniIe hi& when he &anifests hi&self.
Those Drittis a%%ear in " different for&s. And, roughly s%eaking, we can say that so&eti&es
they are %ainful and so&eti&es they are not3%ainful. It is %ainful when a Dritti is related to our
ego and it is not3%ainful when it is not related to ego.
An e(a&%le of a Dritti that is related to our ego is an e&otion.
'e feel affected by so&ething. 'hen it affects us, it e#entually results in %ain. 9ut when it is
not connected with ego L a casual thought 3 then it is not %ainful.
As soon as you fail to detach it is %ainful. 'hen there is attach&ent, it is %ainful. So, once
&ore a descri%tion of a %roble&: a %roble& can hurt you, and a %roble& can e(ist without
causing you %ain.
8
0! Pramana $ipar+a+a $i/a.pa %idra Smrta+ah
They are right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy =fantasy, i&agination>, slee%
and &e&ory.
The first three Drittis, right knowledge, wrong knowledge and i&agination a%%ear in 9uddhi,
the intellect. The following two Drittis, slee% and &e&ory a%%ear in /itta. +o you re&e&ber
this fro& &y book ,Science of SoulH.
These are the big e#ildoers, the cul%rits. It is actually these things that we are going to deal
with in Yoga. If we can tackle these and control the&, then we ha#e e#erything under control.
All the #arious techni*ues that we use L those 7 ste%s L are all &eant to e#entually take control
of these " different Drittis. +own to their roots.
Is there a %ossibility that there are &ore than those " DrittisH
<o, all %ossible Drittis can be traced back to these ": right knowledge, wrong knowledge,
i&agination, slee% and &e&ory.
So, basically, the world e(ists out of: right things, but wrong things can also e(ist inside your
head, or notH Then we ha#e left i&agination, slee% and &e&ory.
This a total descri%tion of what can take %lace within your consciousness, isnt itH A &ar#elous
analyses indeedJ
)ere we ha#e another %roof of the science of Yoga at its best.
?or&ulation of the %roble&: descri%tion of the essence of the %roble&M and because you ha#e a
#ery clear %icture of the %roble& L its al&ost like syste&3analysis L you can directly &o#e to
the solution.
If you dont understand the reason for a disease, it is ob#ious that healing will not take %lace,
or does itH The treat&ent then is sy&%to&atic and shallow. Bust %ut a bandage on it and ho%e
for the best, huhH 9ut you will ne#er really be cured.
)a#e a look at this: what is the essence of the %roble& of a hu&an beingH
<o control of his consciousness. )e allows hi&self to be absorbed by his thoughts.
'hat can we do about thisH
'e ha#e to take control of these thoughts back until their #ery roots.
This &eans: to e#entually recogniIe, trace and arrest the " different kinds of
thoughts:e&otions.
Are you kee%ing track of the nu&ber of words being used in this book to e(%lain all thisH
'hile I& sitting here talking and talking, a cou%le of words a%%ear: Sto% G definition of
Yoga: 8 words G sto% G this one: " words G sto%.
'hat e(actly are those DrittisH
1! Prat+a/sanumanagamah Pramanani
=?acts of> right knowledge =are based on> direct cognition, inference or
testi&ony.
"
'e are now in the first Dritti of 9uddhi, which we called right knowledge. That Dritti is
di#ided into 2 different Drittis. There are 2 ways to co&e to right knowledge: by direct
cognition =K direct insight>, by inference =Kdeduction> and by testi&ony. Aight knowledge can
directly be %resent =cognition>, but it can also grow gradually =inference> or #ery slowly. This
last one is testi&ony.
Is it of any i&%ortance to know all thisH
Yes, it is i&%ortant to know. There are #arious %eo%le who %ossess direct knowledge, but they
doubt about the&sel#es, because all around the& there are %eo%le telling the&: ,9ut you
should go to school, get a di%lo&a. If you dont, you will know nothing.. 9ut a %erson with
direct insight doesnt need to go to school because he already knows. 5aybe he doesnt know
e#erything, but anyway he knows a lot. To call u% direct insight in a %erson all you ha#e to do
is ask: ,And what do you think about thisH. I find the direct answer to that *uestion the &ost
beautiful as%ect of a hu&an being.
So, this &eans that, fro& now on, you ha#e to look at %eo%le in a s%ecial way. It could be that
certain talents are %resent that you should recogniIe. And you should not i&%air those talentsJ
Fn the contrary, you &ust sti&ulate this %otential so it can be de#elo%ed.
Is right knowledge e*ual to truthH
Yes, I translate it into talent, inborn talent to be %recise.
+o you ha#e an inborn talentH
,<e#er heard of itJ 'hat are you talking aboutH. =just kidding>
I& talking about talented %eo%leJ
<obodyH
'hat a disaster.
9ut anyway, it can ha%%en that while de#elo%ing in your life you suddenly disco#er that you
ha#e a talent. You are doing so&ething:learning so&ething and you feel that so&ething o%ens
u% within you. 6t #oila, there you ha#e itJ
<ow, when this day co&es, this te(t is actually hel%ing you to say ,Fh, how nice it isJ I ha#e
to res%ect this.. +ont dis%ute what you ha#e found. /heck it a cou%le of ti&es and carry on.
You realiIe that if you can let this talent arise in you, &aybe you can let the rest arise in you
too, that &aybe you ha#e e#en &ore talents inside youJ
You use testi&ony or deduction to achie#e right knowledge.
So, dont stick only to testi&ony, like &any %eo%le, whose whole blessed li#es they ha#e
nothing better to do than to refer to other %eo%les wisdo&. They ha#e nothing of the&sel#es,
really. They say: ,Yes, but he said this and that, so thats how I do it tooJ G and it is written
that so and so, so G and when I %ut this and that together of hi& and the other, G then that is
&y truthJ
+o you know any of these kinds of %ersonsH They are intellectuals, uni#ersity %rofessors. I call
the& trained or certified ,du&bos., foolish scribes.
Bust read any of their booksJ The botto&s of the %ages are full of footnotes. As if we could use
the&H ?ootnotesH And in the back of their books you find bibliogra%hies L there you can find
4
doIens of books and research %a%ers used as references. It &akes you ask yourself: ,Fkay, but
what in this book is actually hisH.
I ha#e been digging dee% into &arketing literature. At a certain &o&ent I realiIed that the story
is actually always the sa&e. Bust add a little sauce to it, you know, because otherwise it is
%lagiaris&J 9ut so&ething original, so&ething newH 5any %eo%le do not e#en do effort. Those
%eo%le li#e their life co&%letely based u%on testi&ony.
It is &uch &ore interesting to use deduction. Try to find a cle#er connection and be renewing,
original, try and find new co&binations. And bring that forward, that is &uch &ore fun. A new
flow of thought has been created. A new theory has been created. ?or e(a&%le the Su%er3string
theory, or the -uantu& theory that lies at the basis of it.
'hat I think of itH -uantu& theory, String theory, Su%er3string theory, they are all ideas based
on deduction.
5aybe you are &ore fa&iliar with the 6#olution theoryH
It is all deduction.
/oincidentally the 6#olution theory belongs under wrong knowledge, so lets not e#en talk
about that. String and Su%er3string are also *uite faulty.
You ha#ent heard of all thisH 'ell, &aybe education in 9elgiu& is si&%ly better.
@et us take a look at science. The latest disco#eries in science are #ery closely linked to Yoga.
So now you can tell the scientist: ,9ut boys, you ha#e to look there, because that is itJ 'e are
already doing this in %racticeJ <ot just in theory, but in %ractice reallyJ.
?or e(a&%le, all %hysicists are searching for the ,Nrand $nified 6nergy Theory.. They know
that there &ust be one large, interconnected syste& of energy in the world of which all beings
are %art. That is what our scientists sus%ect. They are drea&ing of it. 9ut they ha#e already
gi#en it a na&e: Nrand $nified 6nergy Theory.
9ut they ha#ent found it yet.
9ut we didJ
At least, Yoga found it.
'hen you read the ,Subtle Anato&y. that I wrote, this theory is e(%lained. This will enable
ato&ic scientists to finally control nuclear e(%losions. 9ut I& afraid that it will take a long
ti&e before they are willing to read &y booklet the ,Subtle Anato&y..
Fne day it will draw their attention, because this booklet can be downloaded for free fro& our
website www.raja3yoga.org
+o you understand now what we are talking aboutH <ot yetH
Aight knowledge is not si&%ly what we know in our world as right knowledge. It e(ists out of
2 different as%ects: shallow: testi&onyM dee%er: deductionM dee%est: direct insight.
'hen we ha#e to &ake an e(a& for so&e subject and we ha#e to %roof our knowledge in a
certain field, we ha#e already co&e to the %oint of degradation that in our 'estern world it
suffices to si&%ly ,%arrot., recite the te(ts written in our study books. ?ortunately there are
also so&e e(a&iners that take the&sel#es serious and ask: ,'hat is your %ersonal o%inion
about this or that subjectH.
C
This kind of e(a&iner tries to %ersuade you into deduction, which will gi#e hi& the chance to
better see whether you are fa&iliar with the &atter or not, whether you ha#e actually
understood the &atter in your heart.
9ut %arroting G well, it is like with a lawyer who studied @aw. This &eans 8 or " years of rote
&e&oriIation. A cou%le of years later it has all faded away and he knows nothing about it
any&ore. You know that it works like this, or dont youH
The du&best of all students in uni#ersity is the lawyer, or at least the %erson studying @aw.
)a#e you e#er talked with such a %ersonH Is there by any chance so&ebody who triedH
It is really du&b: you dont ha#e to understand anything, only rote &e&oriIation. And when
you start asking *uestions about articles of the law, you will end u% being co&%letely lost, you
will not understand a thing of it.
It is all just incoherent. Ff course there are e(ce%tions, like the /ode <a%oleon. 9ut you can
ask any s%ecialist: at the &o&ent there isnt a soul that understands @aw.
So, what this Sutra is telling us is that you are not *uite finished yet once you ha#e just reached
the le#el of testi&ony. You &ust go on, u% until the le#el of deduction, and fro& that %oint u%
to direct insight. 'hat is a lawyer then su%%osed to do with this SutraH )e should work on @aw
to the %oint at which he gains direct insight in that fieldJ Then he will ha#e beco&e a brilliant
lawyer.
?or e(a&%le: %ro%erty.
This afternoon we walked in Pur&erend and %assed by a jewelry sho%. The show3window was
broken: clearly an atte&%t of robbery. 'ell, they did not succeed to break through. The
window was %atched u% a little and a new %iece of glass was glued to the da&aged one.
+irect insight awakens a sense of justice when you see that. You feel that %eo%le should kee%
their hands of other %eo%les %ro%erties. You also feel the duty that you ha#e to defend your
own %ro%erty, if necessary by all &eans.
5y wife @ida told &e: ,If I would see so&ething like this ha%%ening, &y sho% being ransacked
like this, I would be ca%able of killingJ.
Ff course, the reaction is *uite e&otional, but it is based on direct insight.
You just cannot attack so&eones %ro%erty, act aggressi#ely, or try to steal so&ething. A
nor&al and sane hu&an being has to defend hi&self. This is a di#ine right. 9ut unfortunately
that is far fro& the reality of the law in )olland. You are only allowed to defend yourself when
you are %hysically under attack but not when your %ro%erty is under attack. That is not allowed.
You ha#e no right to inflict har& on the offendersJ
+oesnt this cause a conflictH
Ff course it does, because it goes co&%letely against all co&&on sense with &eJ
+o not trust the law of &an, because it is i&%erfect, but trust the law of Nod. So stick with
your own right knowledge, e#en though it de%ends on the %erson and the circu&stances. The
only *uestion that re&ains is, whether your truth is in co&%liance with the big Truth or not.
7
I ha#e tried to e(%lain that abo#e all you should try to not only rely on testi&ony. Also that you
should try to think, and that you should at least ac*uire right knowledge by &eans of
deduction.
So think about the things that are %resented to you, and if %ossible try to find so&e recognition
in the subjects that we discuss, in such a way that at a certain %oint you can use direct
knowledge to co&e to right knowledge. Put es%ecially accents on the feeling that you ha#e
when you look at things in life.
+o you recogniIe thisH You walk in sho%s, talk with %eo%le and you ha#e a feeling like: ,)ey,
this is for &eJ This belongs to &e. This is fit for &eJ.
Aecently I strolled through )oorn and saw a coat:%ants:shirt. ,That is what I ha#e to ha#eJ. I
e(clai&ed standing in front of the sho%%ing window. I e#en recogniIed the o#ercoatJ
6#en though I was al&ost bankru%t when I left the sho%, it ga#e &e a good feeling. )ow is that
%ossibleH +o you understand itH And e#erything fitted nicelyJ It was really there for &e. Ff
course this is all #ery %ersonal.
Is 9uddhi res%onsible for thisH
Yes, it is 9uddhi
9ut how is it %ossible that 9uddhi recogniIes so&ething like thisH 9ecause recogniIing
so&ething &eans that it actually is already %art of you. It is already inside you, because the
causal #ibration is faster than ti&e. You just fill in the %art that you ha#e to do. So recognition
is si&%ly filling in your lot.
)ow do we relate this to wishesH
There is nothing to be wished for. That is the whole %oint.
You just ha#e to do L what you feel, suddenly 3 because it has already been written.
If you dont fill it in you shortchange yourself.
The causal #ibration is faster than ti&e, so it already actually ha%%ened.
It is in you, and your being actually only e(%eriences the future.
9efore you co&e ho%%ing into that street, your causal body has already done that.
Is that what we call dOjP #uH
Yes, it is indeed what we call ,dOjP #u.
So e#erything has already been decidedH
6#erything has been laid down, but being a hu&an being you ha#e, and that is the fantastic side
of it, the %ossibility to ,tinker. with your Ear&a. And, if you wish to, you can &ake alterations
to your lot =fate>. That is what you ha#e to learn in Yoga. This is a%%lying 5antra Yoga when
you e(%ress your wish and Ear&a Yoga when you take res%onsibility for your actions.
You can only be in har&ony at the &o&ent that you do what you ha#e to do and when you li#e
on the basis of these kinds of recognitions, with direct insight.
!
So you are not allowed to solely use thoughtH
Yes, e(actly. Ftherwise you are on the wrong track. Then you will ha#e the feeling that you
are not li#ing your life the way it should be li#ed and you will beco&e restless and searching.
That is ty%ically a nor&al hu&an being L one that is searching. 'hyH
9ecause you dont %ay attention to direct insight. You just %ass by that suit in that sho%%ing
center in )oorn. That is the du&bo.
The %erson who recogniIes and s%ends "11 euros G just like that G that is the wise &an.
Although, when I heard the %riceJ I felt like sinking through the ground of sha&eJ
Strange enough: I felt ha%%y anyway.
You just cant belie#e it.
<e#er, e#er did I s%end so &uch &oney in &y life on clothes.
+o you see the fun of what ha%%enedH
It is really %leasant.
It really gi#es you a good feeling because it fits in with what you ha#e to do.
'hen you find a %artner with who& you find %eace, it is e(actly like that.
So you recogniIe hi&:her. And there is no way of denying it. You ha#e no choice.
And e#en though you &ay ha#e trouble with your %artner, and so&eti&es it is difficult, still, if
in the end you are satisfied, it &eans that you ha#e taken the right actions and &ade the right
choice.
'hen do you know that you ha#e found the right %artnerH
'ell, after about 1 years, because there is a lot of e#il in a hu&an being.
That is what we call %ersonality, ego %laying u% for e(a&%le. Then you ha#e conflicts of egos.
9ut if you can o#erco&e that, &ake an abstraction of it, set %riorities to what is really
i&%ortant, with feeling in your heart, then you will suddenly notice that, e#en though you had a
fight with hi&:her, you will think =there is no other way> , G it is &y %artner G.
'hen you say that, there will suddenly be %eace, just like that.
On causal level nothing is bad
9ut you do ha#e to recogniIe thatH
Yes, if you cant recogniIe that G +i#orceH
9ecause then it is not for you. That is the whole %roble& with &arriage. <o, that is the whole
%roble& with life. 9ecause %eo%le %urchase things, enter into res%onsibilities:co&&it&ents
that are not &eant for the&. That is when trouble starts.
+oes that &ean that recognition is a &e&oryH
It is a &e&ory. 9ut it co&es fro& the future.
There is only eternity
01
'e, with our li&ited consciousness, still li#e in a %rison that we call ti&e. 9ut if you can arise
abo#e this condition, you just know. You just know %ast:you just know future.
I know %ast and I know future. I know where we are going. I also know where I %ersonally will
be. And if I take a glance at you I know where you will end u% too.
Aecognition of %ast and future L it doesnt &atterH
You only ha#e to deter&ine which one of the two it is.
All you ha#e to do is change the flow.
Then you just go to the one or the other.
That is one of the Sa&ya&as.
+oes recognition occur in drea&s tooH
Yes, it ha%%ens in drea&s too. Eee% a close eye on it.
You could say that it is right knowledge but it is still tied to thoughts, and a thought as we now
know is %rison.
You ha#e to try to get rid of the thoughts as &uch as you can and instead a%%eal to the
intuition, which sits behind it.
That is why you learn to %erfor& +hyana, &editation, to be able to do just that.
So dedicate yourself to +hyana.
+hyana does not e(ist to torture tease you. It e(ists to allow you to disco#er the way to your
intuition, so that at any ti&e you will be able to use your intuition and can detach yourself fro&
the tyranny of the thoughts =&ind>.
All these thoughts are no &ore than rubbish, one e#en worse than the other.
You ha#ent noticed yetH
Thoughts ha#e a %ower of the&sel#es, which tyranniIe you just like that. They &ake you do
things and say things that you actually dont su%%ort with your heart. That is why the &ind
should function under the authority of the intuition.
Your feeling is what should be &ost i&%ortant. That is what you should focus on.
The %ractice of that is called conte&%lation.
So that is all right knowledge. A beautiful %rogra&.
9ut the control of this Dritti of right knowledge contains &any issues inside.
,! $rtta+ah Pancata++ah -.ishta/.ishtah
The &odifications of the &ind are fi#e3fold and are %ainful or not3%ainful.
To tackle the ene&y, which we know now to be the Drittis, it is necessary that we know hi&,
and recogniIe hi& when he &anifests hi&self.
Those Drittis a%%ear in " different for&s. And, roughly s%eaking, we can say that so&eti&es
they are %ainful and so&eti&es they are not3%ainful. It is %ainful when a Dritti is related to our
ego and it is not3%ainful when it is not related to ego.
0
An e(a&%le of a Dritti that is related to our ego is an e&otion.
'e feel affected by so&ething. 'hen it affects us, it e#entually results in %ain. 9ut when it is
not connected with ego L a casual thought 3 then it is not %ainful.
As soon as you fail to detach it is %ainful. 'hen there is attach&ent, it is %ainful. So, once
&ore a descri%tion of a %roble&: a %roble& can hurt you, and a %roble& can e(ist without
causing you %ain.
0! Pramana $ipar+a+a $i/a.pa %idra Smrta+ah
They are right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy =fantasy, i&agination>, slee%
and &e&ory.
The first three Drittis, right knowledge, wrong knowledge and i&agination a%%ear in 9uddhi,
the intellect. The following two Drittis, slee% and &e&ory a%%ear in /itta. +o you re&e&ber
this fro& &y book ,Science of SoulH.
These are the big e#ildoers, the cul%rits. It is actually these things that we are going to deal
with in Yoga. If we can tackle these and control the&, then we ha#e e#erything under control.
All the #arious techni*ues that we use L those 7 ste%s L are all &eant to e#entually take control
of these " different Drittis. +own to their roots.
Is there a %ossibility that there are &ore than those " DrittisH
<o, all %ossible Drittis can be traced back to these ": right knowledge, wrong knowledge,
i&agination, slee% and &e&ory.
So, basically, the world e(ists out of: right things, but wrong things can also e(ist inside your
head, or notH Then we ha#e left i&agination, slee% and &e&ory.
This a total descri%tion of what can take %lace within your consciousness, isnt itH A &ar#elous
analyses indeedJ
)ere we ha#e another %roof of the science of Yoga at its best.
?or&ulation of the %roble&: descri%tion of the essence of the %roble&M and because you ha#e a
#ery clear %icture of the %roble& L its al&ost like syste&3analysis L you can directly &o#e to
the solution.
If you dont understand the reason for a disease, it is ob#ious that healing will not take %lace,
or does itH The treat&ent then is sy&%to&atic and shallow. Bust %ut a bandage on it and ho%e
for the best, huhH 9ut you will ne#er really be cured.
)a#e a look at this: what is the essence of the %roble& of a hu&an beingH
<o control of his consciousness. )e allows hi&self to be absorbed by his thoughts.
'hat can we do about thisH
'e ha#e to take control of these thoughts back until their #ery roots.
This &eans: to e#entually recogniIe, trace and arrest the " different kinds of
thoughts:e&otions.
Are you kee%ing track of the nu&ber of words being used in this book to e(%lain all thisH
'hile I& sitting here talking and talking, a cou%le of words a%%ear: Sto% G definition of
Yoga: 8 words G sto% G this one: " words G sto%.
00
'hat e(actly are those DrittisH
1! Prat+a/sanumanagamah Pramanani
=?acts of> right knowledge =are based on> direct cognition, inference or
testi&ony.
'e are now in the first Dritti of 9uddhi, which we called right knowledge. That Dritti is
di#ided into 2 different Drittis. There are 2 ways to co&e to right knowledge: by direct
cognition =K direct insight>, by inference =Kdeduction> and by testi&ony. Aight knowledge can
directly be %resent =cognition>, but it can also grow gradually =inference> or #ery slowly. This
last one is testi&ony.
Is it of any i&%ortance to know all thisH
Yes, it is i&%ortant to know. There are #arious %eo%le who %ossess direct knowledge, but they
doubt about the&sel#es, because all around the& there are %eo%le telling the&: ,9ut you
should go to school, get a di%lo&a. If you dont, you will know nothing.. 9ut a %erson with
direct insight doesnt need to go to school because he already knows. 5aybe he doesnt know
e#erything, but anyway he knows a lot. To call u% direct insight in a %erson all you ha#e to do
is ask: ,And what do you think about thisH. I find the direct answer to that *uestion the &ost
beautiful as%ect of a hu&an being.
So, this &eans that, fro& now on, you ha#e to look at %eo%le in a s%ecial way. It could be that
certain talents are %resent that you should recogniIe. And you should not i&%air those talentsJ
Fn the contrary, you &ust sti&ulate this %otential so it can be de#elo%ed.
Is right knowledge e*ual to truthH
Yes, I translate it into talent, inborn talent to be %recise.
+o you ha#e an inborn talentH
,<e#er heard of itJ 'hat are you talking aboutH. =just kidding>
I& talking about talented %eo%leJ
<obodyH
'hat a disaster.
9ut anyway, it can ha%%en that while de#elo%ing in your life you suddenly disco#er that you
ha#e a talent. You are doing so&ething:learning so&ething and you feel that so&ething o%ens
u% within you. 6t #oila, there you ha#e itJ
<ow, when this day co&es, this te(t is actually hel%ing you to say ,Fh, how nice it isJ I ha#e
to res%ect this.. +ont dis%ute what you ha#e found. /heck it a cou%le of ti&es and carry on.
You realiIe that if you can let this talent arise in you, &aybe you can let the rest arise in you
too, that &aybe you ha#e e#en &ore talents inside youJ
You use testi&ony or deduction to achie#e right knowledge.
02
So, dont stick only to testi&ony, like &any %eo%le, whose whole blessed li#es they ha#e
nothing better to do than to refer to other %eo%les wisdo&. They ha#e nothing of the&sel#es,
really. They say: ,Yes, but he said this and that, so thats how I do it tooJ G and it is written
that so and so, so G and when I %ut this and that together of hi& and the other, G then that is
&y truthJ
+o you know any of these kinds of %ersonsH They are intellectuals, uni#ersity %rofessors. I call
the& trained or certified ,du&bos., foolish scribes.
Bust read any of their booksJ The botto&s of the %ages are full of footnotes. As if we could use
the&H ?ootnotesH And in the back of their books you find bibliogra%hies L there you can find
doIens of books and research %a%ers used as references. It &akes you ask yourself: ,Fkay, but
what in this book is actually hisH.
I ha#e been digging dee% into &arketing literature. At a certain &o&ent I realiIed that the story
is actually always the sa&e. Bust add a little sauce to it, you know, because otherwise it is
%lagiaris&J 9ut so&ething original, so&ething newH 5any %eo%le do not e#en do effort. Those
%eo%le li#e their life co&%letely based u%on testi&ony.
It is &uch &ore interesting to use deduction. Try to find a cle#er connection and be renewing,
original, try and find new co&binations. And bring that forward, that is &uch &ore fun. A new
flow of thought has been created. A new theory has been created. ?or e(a&%le the Su%er3string
theory, or the -uantu& theory that lies at the basis of it.
'hat I think of itH -uantu& theory, String theory, Su%er3string theory, they are all ideas based
on deduction.
5aybe you are &ore fa&iliar with the 6#olution theoryH
It is all deduction.
/oincidentally the 6#olution theory belongs under wrong knowledge, so lets not e#en talk
about that. String and Su%er3string are also *uite faulty.
You ha#ent heard of all thisH 'ell, &aybe education in 9elgiu& is si&%ly better.
@et us take a look at science. The latest disco#eries in science are #ery closely linked to Yoga.
So now you can tell the scientist: ,9ut boys, you ha#e to look there, because that is itJ 'e are
already doing this in %racticeJ <ot just in theory, but in %ractice reallyJ.
?or e(a&%le, all %hysicists are searching for the ,Nrand $nified 6nergy Theory.. They know
that there &ust be one large, interconnected syste& of energy in the world of which all beings
are %art. That is what our scientists sus%ect. They are drea&ing of it. 9ut they ha#e already
gi#en it a na&e: Nrand $nified 6nergy Theory.
9ut they ha#ent found it yet.
9ut we didJ
At least, Yoga found it.
'hen you read the ,Subtle Anato&y. that I wrote, this theory is e(%lained. This will enable
ato&ic scientists to finally control nuclear e(%losions. 9ut I& afraid that it will take a long
ti&e before they are willing to read &y booklet the ,Subtle Anato&y..
Fne day it will draw their attention, because this booklet can be downloaded for free fro& our
website www.raja3yoga.org
+o you understand now what we are talking aboutH <ot yetH
08
Aight knowledge is not si&%ly what we know in our world as right knowledge. It e(ists out of
2 different as%ects: shallow: testi&onyM dee%er: deductionM dee%est: direct insight.
'hen we ha#e to &ake an e(a& for so&e subject and we ha#e to %roof our knowledge in a
certain field, we ha#e already co&e to the %oint of degradation that in our 'estern world it
suffices to si&%ly ,%arrot., recite the te(ts written in our study books. ?ortunately there are
also so&e e(a&iners that take the&sel#es serious and ask: ,'hat is your %ersonal o%inion
about this or that subjectH.
This kind of e(a&iner tries to %ersuade you into deduction, which will gi#e hi& the chance to
better see whether you are fa&iliar with the &atter or not, whether you ha#e actually
understood the &atter in your heart.
9ut %arroting G well, it is like with a lawyer who studied @aw. This &eans 8 or " years of rote
&e&oriIation. A cou%le of years later it has all faded away and he knows nothing about it
any&ore. You know that it works like this, or dont youH
The du&best of all students in uni#ersity is the lawyer, or at least the %erson studying @aw.
)a#e you e#er talked with such a %ersonH Is there by any chance so&ebody who triedH
It is really du&b: you dont ha#e to understand anything, only rote &e&oriIation. And when
you start asking *uestions about articles of the law, you will end u% being co&%letely lost, you
will not understand a thing of it.
It is all just incoherent. Ff course there are e(ce%tions, like the /ode <a%oleon. 9ut you can
ask any s%ecialist: at the &o&ent there isnt a soul that understands @aw.
So, what this Sutra is telling us is that you are not *uite finished yet once you ha#e just reached
the le#el of testi&ony. You &ust go on, u% until the le#el of deduction, and fro& that %oint u%
to direct insight. 'hat is a lawyer then su%%osed to do with this SutraH )e should work on @aw
to the %oint at which he gains direct insight in that fieldJ Then he will ha#e beco&e a brilliant
lawyer.
?or e(a&%le: %ro%erty.
This afternoon we walked in Pur&erend and %assed by a jewelry sho%. The show3window was
broken: clearly an atte&%t of robbery. 'ell, they did not succeed to break through. The
window was %atched u% a little and a new %iece of glass was glued to the da&aged one.
+irect insight awakens a sense of justice when you see that. You feel that %eo%le should kee%
their hands of other %eo%les %ro%erties. You also feel the duty that you ha#e to defend your
own %ro%erty, if necessary by all &eans.
5y wife @ida told &e: ,If I would see so&ething like this ha%%ening, &y sho% being ransacked
like this, I would be ca%able of killingJ.
Ff course, the reaction is *uite e&otional, but it is based on direct insight.
You just cannot attack so&eones %ro%erty, act aggressi#ely, or try to steal so&ething. A
nor&al and sane hu&an being has to defend hi&self. This is a di#ine right. 9ut unfortunately
that is far fro& the reality of the law in )olland. You are only allowed to defend yourself when
you are %hysically under attack but not when your %ro%erty is under attack. That is not allowed.
You ha#e no right to inflict har& on the offendersJ
+oesnt this cause a conflictH
0"
Ff course it does, because it goes co&%letely against all co&&on sense with &eJ
+o not trust the law of &an, because it is i&%erfect, but trust the law of Nod. So stick with
your own right knowledge, e#en though it de%ends on the %erson and the circu&stances. The
only *uestion that re&ains is, whether your truth is in co&%liance with the big Truth or not.
I ha#e tried to e(%lain that abo#e all you should try to not only rely on testi&ony. Also that you
should try to think, and that you should at least ac*uire right knowledge by &eans of
deduction.
So think about the things that are %resented to you, and if %ossible try to find so&e recognition
in the subjects that we discuss, in such a way that at a certain %oint you can use direct
knowledge to co&e to right knowledge. Put es%ecially accents on the feeling that you ha#e
when you look at things in life.
+o you recogniIe thisH You walk in sho%s, talk with %eo%le and you ha#e a feeling like: ,)ey,
this is for &eJ This belongs to &e. This is fit for &eJ.
Aecently I strolled through )oorn and saw a coat:%ants:shirt. ,That is what I ha#e to ha#eJ. I
e(clai&ed standing in front of the sho%%ing window. I e#en recogniIed the o#ercoatJ
6#en though I was al&ost bankru%t when I left the sho%, it ga#e &e a good feeling. )ow is that
%ossibleH +o you understand itH And e#erything fitted nicelyJ It was really there for &e. Ff
course this is all #ery %ersonal.
Is 9uddhi res%onsible for thisH
Yes, it is 9uddhi
9ut how is it %ossible that 9uddhi recogniIes so&ething like thisH 9ecause recogniIing
so&ething &eans that it actually is already %art of you. It is already inside you, because the
causal #ibration is faster than ti&e. You just fill in the %art that you ha#e to do. So recognition
is si&%ly filling in your lot.
)ow do we relate this to wishesH
There is nothing to be wished for. That is the whole %oint.
You just ha#e to do L what you feel, suddenly 3 because it has already been written.
If you dont fill it in you shortchange yourself.
The causal #ibration is faster than ti&e, so it already actually ha%%ened.
It is in you, and your being actually only e(%eriences the future.
9efore you co&e ho%%ing into that street, your causal body has already done that.
Is that what we call dOjP #uH
Yes, it is indeed what we call ,dOjP #u.
So e#erything has already been decidedH
04
6#erything has been laid down, but being a hu&an being you ha#e, and that is the fantastic side
of it, the %ossibility to ,tinker. with your Ear&a. And, if you wish to, you can &ake alterations
to your lot =fate>. That is what you ha#e to learn in Yoga. This is a%%lying 5antra Yoga when
you e(%ress your wish and Ear&a Yoga when you take res%onsibility for your actions.
You can only be in har&ony at the &o&ent that you do what you ha#e to do and when you li#e
on the basis of these kinds of recognitions, with direct insight.
So you are not allowed to solely use thoughtH
Yes, e(actly. Ftherwise you are on the wrong track. Then you will ha#e the feeling that you
are not li#ing your life the way it should be li#ed and you will beco&e restless and searching.
That is ty%ically a nor&al hu&an being L one that is searching. 'hyH
9ecause you dont %ay attention to direct insight. You just %ass by that suit in that sho%%ing
center in )oorn. That is the du&bo.
The %erson who recogniIes and s%ends "11 euros G just like that G that is the wise &an.
Although, when I heard the %riceJ I felt like sinking through the ground of sha&eJ
Strange enough: I felt ha%%y anyway.
You just cant belie#e it.
<e#er, e#er did I s%end so &uch &oney in &y life on clothes.
+o you see the fun of what ha%%enedH
It is really %leasant.
It really gi#es you a good feeling because it fits in with what you ha#e to do.
'hen you find a %artner with who& you find %eace, it is e(actly like that.
So you recogniIe hi&:her. And there is no way of denying it. You ha#e no choice.
And e#en though you &ay ha#e trouble with your %artner, and so&eti&es it is difficult, still, if
in the end you are satisfied, it &eans that you ha#e taken the right actions and &ade the right
choice.
'hen do you know that you ha#e found the right %artnerH
'ell, after about 1 years, because there is a lot of e#il in a hu&an being.
That is what we call %ersonality, ego %laying u% for e(a&%le. Then you ha#e conflicts of egos.
9ut if you can o#erco&e that, &ake an abstraction of it, set %riorities to what is really
i&%ortant, with feeling in your heart, then you will suddenly notice that, e#en though you had a
fight with hi&:her, you will think =there is no other way> , G it is &y %artner G.
'hen you say that, there will suddenly be %eace, just like that.
On causal level nothing is bad
9ut you do ha#e to recogniIe thatH
Yes, if you cant recogniIe that G +i#orceH
0C
9ecause then it is not for you. That is the whole %roble& with &arriage. <o, that is the whole
%roble& with life. 9ecause %eo%le %urchase things, enter into res%onsibilities:co&&it&ents
that are not &eant for the&. That is when trouble starts.
+oes that &ean that recognition is a &e&oryH
It is a &e&ory. 9ut it co&es fro& the future.
There is only eternity
'e, with our li&ited consciousness, still li#e in a %rison that we call ti&e. 9ut if you can arise
abo#e this condition, you just know. You just know %ast:you just know future.
I know %ast and I know future. I know where we are going. I also know where I %ersonally will
be. And if I take a glance at you I know where you will end u% too.
Aecognition of %ast and future L it doesnt &atterH
You only ha#e to deter&ine which one of the two it is.
All you ha#e to do is change the flow.
Then you just go to the one or the other.
That is one of the Sa&ya&as.
+oes recognition occur in drea&s tooH
Yes, it ha%%ens in drea&s too. Eee% a close eye on it.
You could say that it is right knowledge but it is still tied to thoughts, and a thought as we now
know is %rison.
You ha#e to try to get rid of the thoughts as &uch as you can and instead a%%eal to the
intuition, which sits behind it.
That is why you learn to %erfor& +hyana, &editation, to be able to do just that.
So dedicate yourself to +hyana.
+hyana does not e(ist to torture tease you. It e(ists to allow you to disco#er the way to your
intuition, so that at any ti&e you will be able to use your intuition and can detach yourself fro&
the tyranny of the thoughts =&ind>.
All these thoughts are no &ore than rubbish, one e#en worse than the other.
You ha#ent noticed yetH
Thoughts ha#e a %ower of the&sel#es, which tyranniIe you just like that. They &ake you do
things and say things that you actually dont su%%ort with your heart. That is why the &ind
should function under the authority of the intuition.
Your feeling is what should be &ost i&%ortant. That is what you should focus on.
The %ractice of that is called conte&%lation.
So that is all right knowledge. A beautiful %rogra&.
9ut the control of this Dritti of right knowledge contains &any issues inside.
07
"! Abh+asa $airag+abh+am 'an %irodha
Their su%%ression =is brought about> by the %ersistent %ractice and non3
attach&ent!
+o you re&e&ber the definition of Yoga: ,Yoga3/itta3Drtti3<irodhah..
Yoga is the control of the Drittis u% to the le#el of /itta.
In this Sutra the word ,<irodha. is further clarified.
'hat is this ,<irodha.H
To gain control.
)ow do you do thatH
Tai&ni translates this Sutra as follows: 2Their su%%ression =is brought about> by the %ersistent
%ractice and non3attach&ent.. )e translates <irodha as ,su%%ression.. This is not correct so
you better re%lace su%%ression by ,control., because, when you use the word su%%ression, the
dyna&ics of the word ,<irodha. disa%%ear co&%letely.
The word ,<irodha. i&%lies a %rocess of gaining control, e#entually u% until the %oint of
su%%ression:abolish&ent. T)AT is <irodha.
So it is <FT su%%ression, because that would suggest that you would achie#e Yoga, si&%ly by
s*uashing things.
So&e translators really belie#e this, but that is caused by ignorance.
They say: ,@ook, I& %racticing YogaJ. with contorted e(%ression on their faces.
,I su%%ressed:abolished e#erything. Isnt that what is writtenH. they say.
9ut in fact they ha#ent done a thing. 9locking things does not stand for control.
/ontrol &eans kee%ing things in control in the A&erican sense of the word, to hold a gri% on
so&ething to such an e(tent that you can do with it what you want, u% to the %oint that you can
decide: ,I now abolish the whole thing..
)ow can you achie#e thatH
9y %ersistent %ractice and detach&ent. 9y constantly kee%ing yourself busy with it, and, at the
sa&e ti&e detach&ent. Those are the techni*ues, and the circu&stances under which they
should be %erfor&ed.
)ere we touch u%on the big %roble& of &ost students: they are &uch too serious about their
Yoga %ractice. According to this Sutra that is conflicting with Yoga.
'hat ha%%ens when you are too serious about certain thingsH
This causes you to be blocked and Ta&as arisesM your fle(ibility is affected and you beco&e
dog&atic. The right a%%roach is to let things ha%%en loosely, while at the sa&e ti&e being
concerned with it. 'e translate this a%%roach as: ,Playing..
Actually you should not be serious about anything. 'e talk about the biggest issues in a light3
hearted way. At least it see&s to be light3hearted. 'e touch u%on e#erything. 'e lea#e no
stone unturned. 'e deal with e#erything without beco&ing attached to it. Then we lea#e it for
what it is and we try so&ething else. @ater we &ay co&e back to it, if we like.
That re&inds &e of a co&%uter freak, but then a good3natured oneM one who really enjoys
handling the &achineM one who is engaged with it all day long, week after week and enjoys it.
0!
'hen the Yoga %ractitioner does not really enjoy his %ractice I cannot consider it Yoga. It
already goes wrong at the basisM it is as si&%le as that.
)ow can we resol#e this %roble&H
You resol#e this %roble& by %utting u% a &irror in the roo& in which you %ractice, to once in a
while take a look at yourself. Then, when you find yourself #ery i&%ortant, or when you think
you are on the #erge of beco&ing holy =,didnt I just see so&ething like a brilliant light
a%%earing on &y head.>, then you re3read this Sutra. And &aybe additionally you watch a
&o#ie of 5r. 9ean, or one of the other co&edians.
Then you just try to see the relati#ity in e#erything and take the %ressure of the kettle.
'hat else is i&%ortant in the light of InfinityH
'hat is the rele#ance of one3year faster or slower de#elo%&ent in light of InfinityH
'hen you %lay, you are always, one way or the other, engaged with the ga&e.
You are interested in the ga&e, but you re&ain detached in the ga&e. ?or attach&ent disturbs.
Si&on says for e(a&%le that he is interested in Auras but that he can hardly %lay with it
because he does not see the& yet.
?irst and fore&ost do not e#er tie yourself down. Aather say so&ething like: ,At this &o&ent I
do not see anything yet.. +o not say: ,I cannot do this.. Say instead: ,I cannot do this Y6T..
@ea#e it o%en, continue and just wait and see: Fb#iously so&ething like an aura is #isible
under certain circu&stances. 'ell, we will deal with it the &o&ent it a%%ears. Fne day the
sensiti#ity of your eyes will ha#e de#elo%ed to such an e(tent that you will say: ,)ey, it is like
as if I indeed see so&ething G.
9ut then you will %robably say: ,Ah, I &ust ha#e been &istaken G.
You ha#e to re%eat, re%eat and re%eat.
@et us go back to the ele&ent of %laying. I learned to %lay fro& &y uncle.
5y father was the eldest out of 8 children, and since he was 4 years old he was the wage
earner of the fa&ily, an e(a&%le in e#erything. 9ut after "2 years he got a heart attack and he
was gone.
<ow you can ask yourself: ,+id he actually enjoy his lifeH.
<o, he just worked #ery hard his entire life.
)ow about &y uncleH
)e was not interested a bit: /areerH Net out of hereJ Bust go and ha#e fun.
)owe#er his life was shorter than &y dads, he did ha#e a full life, #ery intense indeed.
I think it is &agnificent.
+ont you ha#e any such %eo%le in your fa&ilyH Such a natural born jokerH
)e was at its best a&ong dignitaries. )e would %lay with the& and fool the& until nothing was
left of the&.
Fne day he a%%eared fully decorated with gold necklaces and rings. ,'hats the &atter with
youH +id you get rich or soH. )e said: ,You know, I got this girlfriend..
21
The ne(t ti&e he showed u% in a s%orts car L a ?iat cabriolet =con#ertible>.
A little while later he showed u%: no s%orts car, no rings G
,<ow, what ha%%ened to youH.
,'ell, you know, lost &y girlfriend, you know..
Fr he went out to buy so&e cigarettes. After " years he ca&e back, knocking on his wifes
front door. Ff course so&eone else had &o#ed in, in the &eanti&e.
,You know, I need a %lace to slee%., he said. After which he laid hi&self to slee% in the
bathtub.
I ha#e watched hi& a lot and thought a lot about hi&.
<ow, who is rightH
You can do whate#er you want, but just kee% e#erything relati#e. <othing is serious.
At least this a%%roach will ensure you of one thing: you can go on, at ease, rela(ed, with that
what you think really &atters. This is the true &ethod of control.
It see&s to be so contradicting: on the one hand you should do things with heart and soul,
while on the other hand you should re&ain detachedH
?irst of all there is nothing that you ha#e to do. )owe#er, you do notice that it ca%tures your
concern e#en when you %lay. The %oint is that it should go natural. You are not su%%osed to %ut
%ressure on it, e#er.
+oes this &ean that you do so&ething because it is &ore fun than doing so&ething elseH
Yes, e(actly, because you feel for it and because it attracts you.
I think it is #ery &uch related to the way so&ething touches you. 'hen so&ething touches
you, you can a%%ly this a%%roach, but as long as you are not touched by so&ething you just try
a little bit here and there. You stu&ble and fall and get u% again, and you try to co&e to
%laying. Fnce you realiIe that you are %laying with it G things start to take off.
Instead of 2 years it took &e 4 years to finish &y 5arketing study. 6#erybody asked: ,'hyH Is
he du&b or whatH.
That was not it. I enjoyed it so &uch that I didnt want it to go so fast. So I did e#ery year
twice. /onsciously.
6#erybody said: ,You are craIy G.
I had a wonderful ti&eJ 'ith the result that I got so &uch &ore out of &y study than usual,
which later &ade &e an e(%ert in 5arketing.
&! 'atra Sthitau Yatno3bh+asah
Abhyasa is the effort for being fir&ly established in that state =of /itta3Drtti3
<irodha>.
)ow do you do thatH
'hy ,%ersistent %ractice.H +o you always ha#e to re&ain engaged with itH
2
'ell, if you re&ain engaged with so&ething you obtain certain solidity. You will be fa&iliar.
The &atter beco&es fa&iliar. The knowledge is fa&iliar. And as you beco&e &ore fa&iliar, it
beco&es easier at a certain %oint to transfor& to %laying.
I ha#e seen the sa&e with 5athe&atics.
In 5athe&atics I didnt do it. I did study the subject, but with a terrible result.
I was always behind. I ne#er studied the theories. I saw how the other students and the teacher
%layed with it. I wanted to do that too, but I ne#er had enough to hold on toM I ne#er did &y
ho&ework, and that is why it all went wrong.
So, first you engage yourself dee%ly =with the &atter that you ha#e chosen>, until it has beco&e
fa&iliar. You really dont ha#e to kee% yourself engaged in such a co&%licated &annerM just
confront yourself with the &aterial: refresh, talk about it with other %eo%le so that it co&es to
life again. In whate#er way you engage yourself in it, it is always good. You will notice that, as
the &ore you engage yourself with it in this way, you auto&atically start asking &ore
*uestions, you will go dee%er into the &atter and you will gain &ore and &ore e(%ertise.
And that is what I resent about the 'estern style of educationM that no e(%erts are nurtured
any&ore. All it %roduces is owners of di%lo&as and certificates.
9ut it has beco&e #ery hard to find %eo%le these days that %lay with the &atter and their
knowledge. And if you find so&ebody who %lays, it is usually so&ebody who de#elo%ed on his
own, in s%ite of the educational syste&.

*! Sa 'u (irgha -a.a %airantar+a Sat/arase)ito (rdha 4humih
It =Abhyasa) beco&es fir&ly grounded on being continued for a long ti&e,
without interu%tion and with re#erent de#otion.
This Sutra elaborates on the i&%ortance of ne#er ceasing %ractice:
So we need to consider 2 ele&ents:
> It will take a long ti&e =it takes &any years before you beco&e an e(%ert>.
0> 'ithout interru%tion.
2> 'ith re#erent de#otion.
'ithout interru%tionH
'hen you interru%t the %rocess of integration because ,you go on a #acation. or ,you are in
search of a new job. or ,I& going to focus on so&ething else for a while., you break the
&agic.
The a%%ro%riation of knowledge is a kind of &agic %rocess that %enetrates dee% into your
genes. 'hen you interru%t that, obli#ion will be the result. Then you will ha#e to re%eat so
&any things of what you realiIed in the %ast, which is a terrible sha&e.
20
?or e(a&%le: I find it terrible that you ha#e only one class %er week, after which you go ho&e,
loaf around for 4." days, and a week later you co&e back to %ick u% %ractice again. If I
co&%are this with the full3ti&e %rogra& where we dont ha#e this handica%J 'e %rogress with
the s%eed of an e(%ress train and we reach unbelie#able heights within only a short %eriod. In
the %art3ti&e %rogra& you see a de#elo%&ent that rese&bles the %rofile of a saw: ?inally, at the
end of the class, you ha#e reached considerable heights, and then it is o#er again: you go ho&e.
<e(t week, when you co&e again, we ha#e to start all o#er again to reach the sa&e le#el: then
you go ho&e again.
I& also against #acations.
I& against shorter working hours.
I& against labor unions.
I a& against e#erything.
,You will workJ. is what &y father said.
All right G I& just teaching you the theory in order to &ake you understand. )ow do you get
to work with thisH )ow do you take controlH )ow do kee% yourself focused on thisH That is the
enor&ous difference between theory and %ractice. A totally different &atter is how you
integrate that into your own life.
The 2
rd
issue we &entioned, to &ake this ne#er ceasing %ractice successful, is often forgotten:
re#erent de#otion. Ae#erence is a kind of old fashioned word, an old fashioned conce%tion that
not &any %eo%le use any&ore these days. Bust look at all the satire and defa&ation in the
&edia. 'hen you are focused on so&ething, the subject you are focused on is holy. That is
what is so &agnificent.
I a& %resently working with the International Yoga ?ederation. I just #oted in the election of
the President. I find it so &agnificent. I just i&agine, 211 &illion %ractitioners worldwide and
all those schools. And all those na&es that I ha#e known and heard of in the %ast. A lot of
those %eo%le are in#ol#ed in this federation too. They e(change ideas and thoughts with each
other. I feel re#erence for all this. So that is how it should be a%%roached: you get in#ol#ed
because you feel for it, fro& your heart.
?or e(a&%le: &y son Theseus is studying ?rench 3 ow, so difficult, difficult, difficultG So his
&other asks &e: ,Please hel% hi& study ?rench G. 9ut I a& not going to sit there re%eating
#ocabulary with hi&. So what do I doH Fne of these 2 as%ectsJ So I tried to teach hi&
re#erence for the ?rench language, how beautiful that language isJ I tried to show how &uch in
lo#e I &yself a& with that languageM a feeling. I& %ositi#e that it hel%ed hi&. It gi#es hi& a
certain fra&ework that &akes it easier.
In su&&ary: ne#er ceasing %ractice, no interru%tions, and re#erent de#otion.
9eautiful, this is the way to go.
'ell, I used to study differently &yself. I said: ,That is not true.. Bust like so&e of you
students now do. That is how I always studied. I would say: ,That is not true, but I gi#e you the
benefit of the doubt. I a& going to try to &ake so&ething out of it.. Then I would try to do it in
a totally different way, just to see what the result would be. Then I would also do it the way it
22
was told and then %ut the two together to co&%are. I wouldnt ad#ice you to do it in this way
too, because I& full of lu&%s and scratches of all the things that I went through because of this
a%%roach. 9ut at least I was utterly con#inced because of it. So when you doubt then do it in
this way.
,! (rshtanusra)i/a $isha+a $itrshnas+a $ast/ara Samjna $airag+am
The consciousness of %erfect &astery =of desires> in the case of one who has
ceased to cra#e for objects, seen or unseen is Dairagya.
/onsidering your %ractice so far, you are e(%ected to ha#e no trouble with the %ractice of
detach&ent any&ore. The only %roble& is to know when we ha#e succeeded to be detached.
That is what is e(%lained in this Sutra: 'hen you ha#e the feeling that you can go in any
direction. ?or e(a&%le when you ha#e a certain desire, lets say you are cra#ing a big %ortion
of fries. A %ortion of ?le&ish fries =like ?rench fries but then &ore delicious>, with tartar
sauce. At the &o&ent I #isualiIe that i&age I feel the attraction occur in &e i&&ediately. +o
you feel that tooH 9ut at the sa&e ti&e I ha#e the assurance within &e, through %ractice, that I
can detach &yself fro& it entirelyM that I can transfor& it in such a way that it doesnt affect at
all. That gi#es &e such a kick.
+o you hear the difference when I talk about thisH ?irst there is this huge attraction, and then,
suddenly a kind of neutral situation occurs, in which it see&s that it doesnt affect &e after all:
a> )&&& G nice %ortion of ?le&ish fries, hot, cris%y, little bit of salt and tartar sauce G
/an you see the %ictureH
b> +o you want &y %ortion of friesH You can ha#e it G I dont really need it G
So that gi#es you the freedo& to decide: Yes or <oH
Yes. So you go as far in your %ractice of detach&ent that you get the feeling that you ha#e the
freedo& to say yes or no. That is when you ha#e the right fra&e of &ind: when you are able to
chose either one or the otherM whate#er, there is no difference. That is detach&ent. I ha#e
%ushed it so far &yself that that detach&ent also a%%lies to life itself. You should try that
yourself. +etach&ent of life, not fro& desires or objects but life itself. Thats what he says in
this Sutra: objects, not only #isible but also in#isible.
@ife is in#isible.
This also a%%lies to ideas, conce%tions. All kinds of attach&ents are %ossible. You can also be
attached to culture. )owe#er, )olland and culture is a contradiction in itself G +o you
understandH
Indeed there are &any attach&ents: habits, ideas, religionsG These are all in#isible objects to
which you can be attached. You can be stuck to an idea for e(a&%le. The idea I ha#e about
dri#ing a 5ercedes 9enI. Ff course I ha#e o#erco&e this idea long ti&e ago. I a& just
28
%retending to hel% you on your way. Although, a 5ercedes 9enI and a big %ortion of fries G
the two co&bined &ay turn the scale after all G
You dont ha#e to a#oid that %ortion of fries co&%letely, or do youH
+o I a#oid the friesH <o, I %lay with the&. So it is not like in the beginning, kee%ing desires
out. )ere we %lay with the Drttis. 9ut in the beginning you are not able to do that. In the
beginning that was far too dangerous, so you had to &ake so&e roo&, roo& to li#e, to create
har&ony. And now, slowly, the ti&e has co&e for you to say: ,Fkay, I feel good, I look at
things &uch &ore relati#ely and I challenge &y %owers and face it head on.. That is why Yoga
is not dog&atic. 9ut those %eo%le who get stuck at the le#el of Ya&a and <iya&a face the risk
of beco&ing dog&atic. $nfortunately this is what ha%%ened in Yoga too. A lot of schools ha#e
beco&e dog&atic. 6ntire )induis&, which s%routed fro& Yoga, has beco&e dog&atic itself.
9ecause they didnt do the effort to find out for the&sel#es, or because they are ignorant of all
the as%ects of Yoga. They got stuck in the initial %hase. In that %hase %eo%le handle the
conce%ts and theories only to radicaliIe auto&atically. They beco&e conce%ts and #alues that
start to lead their own li#es.
Then they say about each other: ,9ut you do not co&%ly with this Ya&a:<iya&a, so why do
you do itH. So they start judging each other as well. 9ut that is si&%ly not %ossible if you
understand this. It is i&%ossible to lecture %eo%le in Yoga, for it is a %rocess that each
indi#idual has to go through in his own indi#idual way. It is a %ersonal &atter. You just dont
ha#e the right and the knowledge to judge one another. Isnt that interestingH
0! 'at Param Purusha -h+ater Guna)aitrshn+am
That is the highest Dairagya in which, on account of the awareness of the
Purusha, there is cessation of the least desire for the Gunas.
+etach&ent goes #ery dee%. In the end you will ha#e to detach fro& anything that has a for&.
?or& is a result of the 2 Nunas. That can be &ental for&s. That can be e&otions L also for&s.
That can be &oods. These are all for&s, all illusions. It is all a %lay that co#ers u% the great
reality, and behind all this is of course the word ,Para#airagya. L su%re&e detach&ent, that
directs you straight into the Soul, Purusha. Then when you co&e across it, arri#e at it, when
suddenly it arises in you, then you try to %lay with that too. Then you will notice that it
beco&es &anageable.
To %lay with e#erything: @ife is a %layground.
9ut dont be sur%rised when ne(t week I try to &ake you belie#e that life is so&ething that you
ha#e work hard for, shedding blood, sweat and tears. 9ut e#ery week is different, you knowH
You realiIe that by now.
2"
1! $itar/a $icaranandasmitanugamat Samprajnatah
Samprajnata Samadhi is that which is acco&%anied by reasoning, reflection, bliss
and sense of %ure being.
'e ha#e not dealt with Sa&%rajnata yet: There are 0 kinds of Sabija Sa&adhi3for&s, which are
Sa&adhi3for&s ,with seed., which &eans with a &ood or e&otional #alue L you feel it in your
heartM it is concrete: Fn one side there is Sa&%rajnata and on the other side there is
Asa&%rajnata. Sa&%rajnata literally &eans, ,bundled higher consciousness.. It is what we call
a static for& of Sa&adhi, in which the &ood re&ains within you. 'e can hold on to it, so to
s%eak. Asa&%rajnata on the other hand &eans ,not3bundled higher consciousness..
A K not, like the A in Ajita L ,not con*uered..
So this is a dyna&ic Sa&adhi in which your consciousness does not ha#e so&ething to hold on
to. There is a &ood, howe#er, but it changesM it changes constantly.
Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhi is there in 8 fla#ors. It is like with ice crea& in different fla#ors: Ditarka,
Dicara, Ananda and As&ita.
Ditarka K reasoning.
Dicara K conte&%lation.
Ananda K bliss.
As&ita K realiIation of sheer being.
Ditarka:
)elico%ter #iew. 'hen you ha#e a &anaging %osition in a co&%any, you so&eti&es ha#e to
rise abo#e certain situations and #iew the whole fro& abo#e. That is the nature of Sa#itarka
Sa&adhi. It is a #iewing fro& the causal world down u%on the &ental %rocess. This is also
known as brainstor&ing. )a#e you e#er done that, brainstor&ingH You all co&e together and
you %ut all kinds of %ossible thoughts together.
In %ractice it is a terrible e(%erience. Its total chaos, which is the result of %eo%les inability to
re&ain ele#ated abo#e the &ind. A brainstor& session always needs a leader who says: ,'e
will now ha#e a brainstor&. @ets ha#e a shoot3out with all your %ossible thoughts.. 9ut the
critical %oint here is that you should not go into the words:thoughts.
Actually the subject that you focus on is the object of the &editation that you %ractice in
ad#ance. ?irst you concentrate on the subject, followed by &editation, in which you try to find
the e&otional #alue of the subject. Fnly then it can be called conte&%lation. You hold on to the
e&otional #alue and you look fro& it towards the thoughts, which are %roduced inside your
&ind because of the e&otional #alue. )a#ent you noticed already that when you are in a
certain &ood that certain thoughts go through your &indH You try to re&ain in the &ood, but
stillG These are e(actly the things that you should e(%ress and:or write down.
24
It is not just that certain thoughts s%rout fro& the &ood that you are inM they are related to it.
Fnly at that #ery &o&ent you do not understand the connection between the two. If you work
with it constantly and by letting it ha%%en, you will slowly start to disco#er that there is a
certain thread. The result is so enor&ously strong L it sol#es all %roble&s.
6(a&%le:
I ha#e a %roble& with &y co&%uter. I sit down and recall that %roble&, and then I try to
for&ulate the %roble& as clearly as %ossible. I try to find the &ood in it, the e&otional #alue. I
try to for&ulate that &ood in thoughts. Then I let it ha%%en: I &aintain the &ood. I& already
e(%erienced in this: within no ti&e I concei#e the &ost original ideas. +o you realiIe that this
is the solutionH This is actually the way in which I ha#e always sol#ed %roble&s in &y work. I
was educated in this field, but with this techni*ue I can a%%ly it to any kind of field and I will
go #ery dee% with &y e&otion to sol#e %roble&s. All %roble&sJ
This is &ore than si&%ly sol#ing a %roble&. It is in fact the first ste% to the disco#ery of
yourself. It is the first Sa&adhi.
?ro& your &editation you search for an e&otional #alue, which you then hold on to. That last
ele&ent is #ery i&%ortantM it is your anchoring ground. It is the helico%ter that is u% in the air,
and fro& high u% there you look at what is ha%%ening below. If there is anything that you
cannot use, you dis%ose of itM you just stick with that e&otional #alue. In the &eanti&e you
acce%t that there are thoughts that are related to the object:subject.
+id you fall back into your thoughts againH
That usually ha%%ens because went along with the occurring thoughts. You should not do that.
Bust si&%ly acce%t that the thoughts are there, but stay high u% there, ele#ated abo#e the
situation. The %rocessing and co&bining of the thoughts into a solution usually occurs towards
the end of the session. It is a &atter of %ure obser#ation. And the re&arkable thing is that,
while you are in this obser#ation %osition, things will arrange the&sel#es auto&atically to
where they belong. Things will get together, si&%ly because you dont ask, because you dont
a%%ly %ressure. Then at a certain %oint there is no other way: This is the solutionJ 9ecause the
energy of your consciousness finds its own way, and suddenly the solution co&es
auto&atically. You do nothing in the %rocess. Actually you are only scanning. And
auto&atically the things that rese&ble:&atch are attracted to each other.
?unny is that when you understand how this works you can a%%ly it to #ery critical situations,
e#en while you are %ut under %ressure, while, as a &atter of s%eech, the world around you is
falling a%art.
Story of a big co&%any in 9russels.
A big co&%uter had crashed. It ha%%ened with the %rogra& that I had sold the&. There I was,
with all those s%ecialists around &e. I didnt know anything about these things and I was
su%%osed to sol#e the %roble&. I used the following techni*ue: Proble&H The whole syste&
was blocked after they downloaded &y %rogra&. Suddenly so&ething shot into &y
consciousness that said: ,Security.. SecurityH I didnt e#en know such a thing e(istedJ So I
2C
asked the&: ,Is your co&%uter %rotectedH. They said: ,Ff course our co&%uter is %rotected..
So I asked: ,Are you sure you didnt turn off the security %rogra&H. They said: ,<oJ. So I
said: ,You should ha#e turned it offJ It is what caused the %roble&.. Those folks just looked at
&e and said: ,This is an e(%ert, a true e(%ertJ.
Indeed, the true e(%ert is like this. It is the characteristic of an e(%ert. <ot his education but the
e(tent of his use of his intuition L that is what &akes a true e(%ert. In this way you can sol#e
any %roble&, the rest is a &atter of logic.
So&eti&es I notice that, the &ore I try to sol#e a %roble&, the &ore difficult it
beco&es. 'hen I let it go the %roble&s often sol#e the&sel#es.
This is e(actly the way to a%%roach %roble&s: ?ind the e&otional #alue of the %roble&, what
e(actly it is we are talking about. 'hat is itH 'hat is it aboutH Then you get a feeling about it,
followed by the thoughts, howe#er, you do not go along with the thoughts instead you re&ain
detached.
/an this ha%%en at nightH
Yes. 5ost %eo%le say: ,I will slee% on it.. That is actually the a%%roach to &ake this &ethod
ha%%en as described abo#e. The difference is that nor&al %eo%le need all night to sol#e the
%roble& while we just sit down for 21 &inutes and it is all done.
I was once hired to ad#ice a certain co&%any. This was &y trade after all, being a &arketing
s%ecialist and co&%any ad#isor. All I needed to do was to walk through the co&%any, look the
%ersonnel in the eyes and listen to their co&&ents and stories, to know what was boiling. It
was so clear that I i&&ediately knew the solution to the %roble&s of this co&%any.
This led &e to a re&arkable %roble&: I couldnt just tell the &anage&ent directly what to do to
sol#e the %roble&, for they would ne#er ha#e belie#ed &e. So I waited for 0 weeks and wrote
an e(tensi#e re%ort describing all the ele&ents in#ol#ed to sound credible. They said: ,Nosh,
that was *uickJ Fnly 0 weeks and you did &ore than all those ad#isors that ha#e been here
throughout the yearsJ )ow is it %ossible you saw it so *uicklyJ. So I re%lied: ,It was already
during &y first tour of the co&%any that I realiIed it..
You will realiIe yourself the %ractical use of this Sa&adhi in life and in cor%orate life. It can
su%%ort the decision &aking %rocess considerably. If youd only see what kind of &istakes are
&adeJ The gra#est disasters are caused by bad decisions. It doesnt only ha%%en in co&%anies.
Bust think about the go#ern&ent, s%ecialists in wasting &oney. 'hen I read the news%a%ers
and see how &uch is being s%ent, how it is s%ent and on what is s%entG Bust terribleJ I think
we could achie#e the sa&e outco&e in this country with only 1Q %ercent of the e(%enses as
they now are. In &y o%inion this &eans that !1Q of the %resent e(%enses are wasted.
The second kind of Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhi is Dicara:
27
,Aeflection., but I would rather call it ,delicacy.. It is Aajas do&ination on the causal le#el
and the %erce%tion of it. The true &eaning of the word conte&%lation is really what we call to
#iew or to behold, but I chose the word ,conte&%lation. in !78 as the least bad translation to
reflect the &eaning of all the for&s of Sa&adhi. $ntil that ti&e there were different o%inions L
the *uestion re&ains how can we gi#e Sa&adhi a better translationH
Dicara Sa&adhi L reflecting.
This is a condition that &any %eo%le can e(%erience. ?or e(a&%le %eo%le who are acti#e in
their hobby, who are co&%letely taken by their hobby and &aintain this condition. A &o&ent
will co&e in their e(%eriencing their hobby that they will sto% their acti#ity and just sit down.
?or e(a&%le with toy trains: You just sit at the table with all those trains in front of you. You
ha#e a #ision of all those beautiful tracks and landsca%es. And you just sit there, full of bliss.
+o you know this conditionH
'hene#er you do so&ething with your heart and soul, you go beyond it. Then you start to
reflect. You dont ha#e to do anything any&ore.

'hat we are doing, %racticing concentration and &editation as a %re%aration, is an aide to
enable you to hold on to that feeling. <or&al %eo%le &ay get this feeling just like that, but they
lose it again #ery easily. 'hen they start to think it is gone. You start to talk with each other
and it is gone. 'ith our %ractice we try to &aintain that feeling.
And that is what brings in a condition of delight. This conte&%lati#e condition leads us to
ecstasy. I often call this Sa&adhi the ,'F'J L /onte&%lation..
It is not the i&agination of this 'F' that countsM it is the e&otional #alue of it. You are
co&%letely absorbed by that e&otional #alue. You are actually using Shakti3do&ination. You
really enjoy, at the fullest. 9ecause of that you are %ushed u%. 6s%ecially things that you find
beautiful hel% you in this %rocess.
?or &e that is the 6iffel tower in Paris. 'hen I& standing before it: 'F'J Then I go into
Dicara, just like that: Pure ecstasy.
In the %ast te&%les were always built in beautiful %laces. 'hen you go to Italy you will see that
too, in the &ountains, it is breathtaking. It is to recall that ecstasy with the faithful.
Ananda L that is bliss:lo#e.
This is Ta&as3do&ination on the causal le#el. 'hen you are in lo#e, you are in a
conte&%lati#e condition too. You always want to e(%erience that again. $nfortunately it is a
fact that &ost %eo%le hardly e#er e(%erience that in their li#es. In this techni*ue you learn to
e(%erience that at will.
Ditarka: a co&bination of the 2 Nunas
Dicara: Aajas
Ananda: Ta&as
2!
As&ita: Satt#a
5! $irama Prat+a+abh+asa Pur)ah Sams/arasesho3n+ah
The re&nant i&%ression left in the &ind on the dro%%ing of the Pratyaya
=contents of consciousness> after %re#ious %ractice is the other =i.e.,
Asamprajnata Samadhi>.
'hat does this Sutra tell usH
It is actually fairly si&%le if you look back at last weeks subject of Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhi.
Samprajnata = aggregated/bundled higher consciousness
'hich is a static condition of &oods.
It is a Sabija3ty%e conte&%lation with real &oods:feelings
Sabija &eans ,with seed., but it is actually what we call a &ood or feeling or an e&otional
#alue or an e&otional condition.
There are 8 different e&otional conditions:
itar!a, icara, Ananda, Asmita
These stand for: AeasoningM reflection, bliss and awareness of sheer being
)ow can we describe thisH
)ow can we describe reasoning:&ood of reasoningH
It is a ty%ical conte&%lati#e &ood of watching the reasoning %rocessM looking down u%on the
%rocess of thought within your &ind.
AeflectionH
Aeflection is the &ood that brings ecstasy with itM the &ood of delight: ,'ow, this is so
beautifulJ. This is called Dicara.
)ow about AnandaH
Ananda is the &ood of bliss:being in lo#e:lo#e in general.
This is all fa&iliar, isnt itH
)ow about As&itaH
This one is &aybe not so fa&iliar. It is the &ood of just ,being..
Fnly few %eo%le look for this &ood but &any %eo%le still talk about it: ,Peace be with you.,
which is a #ery wonderful wish.
The %eace e(%ressed:&eant within such a wish, is actually the awareness of si&%ly being, the
&ood of si&%ly being: As&ita Sa&adhi.
81
Those are the 8 static or Sa&%rajnata3ty%e Sa&adhis.
Asa&%rajnata is a dyna&ic ty%e of Sa&adhiM you ha#e a &ood, but it doesnt stand still.
Try to look at it in this way: when you %ractice conte&%lation, before you reach a &ood, you
undergo a dyna&ic %rocessM the &ood within you changes, it e#ol#es into so&ething.
That is Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi. And when you e(it a &ood and, because of the acceleration of
the energies in your being, suddenly enter into another &ood, the stage between the 0 &oods
=the change of &oods> is Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi.
You e(%erience this each ti&e your being changes energetically because of the e(ercise.
Actually there is already an Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi between &editation and the st
Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhi. This is e(%lained in the table in the book on %age 27 =in which you see
all the Sa&adhis lined u% #ertically with all those circles and arrows>.
The ,re&nant i&%ression in the &ind. L Pratyaya L is what your consciousness does during
conte&%lation in between the &oods.
You feel so&ething while you tra#el in between the &oodsM like an ,inter&ediate Sabija..
Asa&%rajnata.
Sabija contains Sa&%rajnata and Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi.
They are all loaded with a ,9ija. or ,seed..
Seed K &ood:e&otional #alue.
/arl Bung is one of the scientists who was #ery &uch on this track. )e too &akes &ention of
this.
Archetypes
This is what it co&es down to =archety%es>.
/arl Bung disco#ered that this lies at the basis of e#erything.
?reud disco#ered that %eo%le are %articularly &oti#ated by fear and se(, while /arl Bung
disco#ered the causes of this hu&an beha#ior.
It co&es down to what we are dealing with at the &o&ent:
"ija
Fn a &ood:e&otional #alue that lies at the basis of e#erything.
If you are able to handle this, you will ha#e control o#er e#erything, because it is the cause of
e#erything.
?or e(a&%le, you walk towards a horse, and full of lo#e you say to this horse: ,)ey, old
fellowJ @ook at you, you ugly son of a b....J.
The horse will really like to hear that. You#e ne#er tried this beforeH
It &eans that the horse is not listening to the actual words, but she feels what you say, she feels
the charge in your words.
8
Ff course she is listening to your words, but she is es%ecially feeling whats behind the&. She
feels the lo#e e&anating fro& you, and that is what she reacts u%on, not the strange words you
s%eak, which in fact are #ery negati#e.
Peo%le fro& A&sterda& are e(actly like that: when they lo#e you they call you na&es in the
worst &anner. 9ut they do it in a #ery lo#ing way. You ha#ent noticed this yetH Totally nuts
those ,A&sterda&&ers..
So, &ood actually deter&ines the co&&unication
Yes, not so &uch the words.
You can safely say that the charge is &ore i&%ortant than the for&.
'hat we do when we %ractice Sa&adhi is an atte&%t to gain control o#er that chargeM you feel,
by constantly e(%eriencing that charge:e&otional #alue.
And that is what we call conte&%lation.
+oes that &ean that the charge is always there, with or without the for& =inde%endently fro&
it>H
Yes, e(actly.
So&eti&es the charge has trouble taking sha%e: for&
Yes, so %eo%le co&e to you but they cannot e(%ress the&sel#es. In that case you dont ha#e to
wait for a for& of e(%ressionM just feel with your heart, because the heart is the %re3e&inent
recei#er of &oods.
You just know because you feel it, so you just say: ,You dont ha#e to say anything..
This is the &ost beautiful way of co&&unication because it is &ost %ure. It occurs in silence.
The highest teachings in Yoga therefore are gi#en in silence and this is their &ain subject: that
you feel one another and that you go along in the feeling of the &ood:feeling.
)owe#er, in between the &oods there is a change, which can last for a while.
That is what we call Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi.
There is a #ery nice trick to recall Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi yourself: it is a 5antra: ,<eti, <eti,
<eti..
It &eans: ,This is not I, This is not I, This is not I..
)ow does this workH
?or e(a&%le, your consciousness is so&ewhere on the &ental le#el and thoughts are entering.
<ow and then you are inclined to take a thought:to identify with the thought:to a%%ro%riate the
thought.
At that &o&ent that you notice: ,)ey, look, I beco&e one with the thoughtJ I& beco&ing
absorbed by that object., then you say to yourself: ,<o, that is not IJ I actually ha#e nothing to
do with that thought. I cant beco&e one with that thought. That is not I. I a& only the
onlooker of the thought, so I cannot be the thought..
So you say: ,<eti..
80
Then an e&otion co&es along. And #ery soon you identify yourself with that e&otion =you
were angry at so&eone, e(%erienced so&ething or you were sad>.
9ut also in this case you just obser#e =for e(a&%le the sadness>. As a result you cannot be that
sadness because you are looking at it.
So you are aware of that sadness and therefore you cant be sadH
So&ething that looks down u%on.
A &e&ory co&es along. 9ut you look down u%on that &e&ory so you cant be that &e&ory:
<eti.
In this way you continue to say to whate#er co&es along: ,<eti. <eti..
6#ery ti&e when you say ,<eti., and your consciousness withdraws fro& &e&ory, thought
and e&otion, your consciousness goes to a higher le#el.
Slowly but certainly you transcend. You &o#e yourself. You &o#e your consciousness.
This is what we call controlled detach&ent. This is Pratyahara.
The #astest $ay to %ur &ord
Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi.
The fastest way to hea#en.
Fnly there is a nasty side to this e(ercise: when you suddenly do it too &uch you beco&e
totally nuts because you abolish all the contents that kee% you together. You just dont know
any&ore how and what
You will co&e out of the e(ercise: ,)uhH.
9ecause e#ery ti&e you kee% saying: ,That is not I. That is not I., while your nor&al life was
just a %roduct of all those identifications.
So when you do this too often you cannot %ortray yourself as a nor&al hu&an being. 9ecause
of this I ad#ice %eo%le to do this only when they are in a need of a good %e%%er3u%, when you
ha#e a feeling that got you stuck, when you ha#e the feeling that you ha#e beco&e i&%risoned
in certain things. It will hel% you to detach yourself fro& it and to gi#e your life a new i&%ulse,
in the right direction.
You will co&e out of it totally refreshed, I guarantee you that.
You go further each ti&e.
You &ust try e#ery ti&e to distil further.
You &ust notice that there is a subject, a #erb and an objecti#e.
As long as you e(%erience these 2 you are not there yet.
That is #ery nice, you knowH
'hat +ou are on.+ there at the moment that +ou cannot p.a+ this game an+more
'hen it is not %ossible any&ore to dissect things any furtherM when you are not able any&ore
to say: ,<eti., then you are done.
You dont kee% things out and it is not a fight either.
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You abolish e#erything by saying to yourself: ,This is not I..
You ,dis3identify. so&ething syste&atically, with e(isting thoughts, e&otions, &e&ories and
e#erything that li#es inside you.
'ith this e(ercise you will also beco&e aware of the natural inclination that you ha#e as a
hu&an being, to identify yourself with so &any things.
A beautiful realiIation L that you show this kind of beha#ior.
It is worse than a sla#e, isnt itH @ike scotch ta%e or a &agnet L so&ething %asses by and L
clangJ You are caught.
Fnce you understand that it works like this, and you recei#e an instru&ent to do e(actly the
o%%osite, life can go in a totally different direction.
?ro& that &o&ent on you will start to use life.
'hen you ha#e understood Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi, you cannot be &ani%ulated any&ore by
lifeM you can decide for yourself what is of interest to you.
@et &e gi#e you an e(a&%le:
The thought arises: ,I a& a teacher..
,<o, <eti, I a& not a teacher, because ' reali(e that I a& a teacher, which is an entity that
obser#es, so I a& so&ething different than a teacher. Peo%le call &e a teacher, but so&ething
inside &e looks at ... 'ell, then what a& IH I dont know, but in any way, I a& not a teacher..
Fkay, so the thought ,I a& a teacher. disa%%ears. And I continue &y tra#el with Asa&%rajnata
Sa&adhi:with a certain &ood.
Then the thought arises: ,Fh yeah, but I a& a father. I a& not a teacher, but a father. 9ut no,
so&ething is looking down, so I a& not a father either..
5y being in itself has nothing to do with that label. It is the obser#er.
Then what a& IH ,Ah, I a& a husbandJ I a& a husband..
,<o, I a& not a husband either..
And so you continue. It beco&es &ore and &ore rarefied, higher and higher.
Then what a& IH ,Ah, I a& enlightened. =to just take another e(a&%le>.
<o, you are not enlightened, because you are obser#ing it.
%nly he is )nlightened $ho cannot see his o$n light
If you cannot see yourself that you are 6nlightened, then you cannot also not say: ,I a&
enlightened.H
Yes, because you dont see itJ And that is how you can recogniIe an 6nlightened one.
That is e*actly that person $ho does not proclaim to be )nlightened+
+o you understand thisH A &an %roclai&s to be a &aster, that he is 6nlightened, that he is Self3
realiIed, that he is @i#ingly @iberated, or whate#er ter&s you ha#e: )e is no &ore than an
i&%oster.
Is it not %ossible for an outsider to feel thatH
88
<oJ As long as you are not 6nlightened yourself, you cannot judge whether another %erson is
6nlightened or not.
/an you see how &uch he has %rogressed or that he has %rogressed a lotH
ProgressH Fkay, but how &uchH
It is just like looking at a &ountain standing at the foot of it. )ow high is that &ountainH You
dont know. You notice that it is higher than you L that is not so difficult to see L but how
highH
Fnly he who is 6nlightened can judge another %erson to be 6nlightened.
Asa&%rajnata is just a #ery interesting e(erciseM you ha#e the &eans of control:trans%ort, the
&eans of trans%ortation of the consciousness of the Yogi.
This is the way a Yogi tra#els through s%ace:ti&e.
That is *uite so&ething, huhH It is &uch better than 6instein.
If this would only be tested on a large scale one day, you will ha#e the day of your life.
?or your being is in fact a lu&% of energy, containing consciousness, which can detach itself
fro& this &aterial sheath at will. Through ti&e.
'hat is the relationshi% with Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhiH
It is related to Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhi in the sense that, just like with a stair, there is
inter&ittently a #ertical %art and a horiIontal %art.
Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhi is the horiIontal %art L it stabiliIes you.
And the #ertical %art L it &o#es you.
Then you stabiliIe and then you &o#e againM StabiliIation, &o#ing.
This way you go u%, or you go down.
9ut what actually is directionH
There is only infinity.
All directions are good
They are both related to a &ood: Fne is the stabiliIation of the &ood, while the other is the
change of the &ood.
This is all you need: just focus on &oods:e&otional #alueM that it beco&es the &ost i&%ortant
issue in your lifeM that the charge of your heart:your feelings takes first %lace. Instead of your
thoughts. 9ecause those feelings:e&otional #alues:&oods determine your thoughts
'hat if I beco&e e&otionalH
Yes, but that is to bla&e on a lack of control of Aha&kara.
You &ust sol#e this lack of control by guiding Aha&kara in the right direction, with the hel%
of a Sabija Sa&adhi3e(ercise, called Ananda Sa&adhi.
You grab Aha&kara and you say: ,You go into har&ony nowM I will sit here for an hour, and I
will just feel lo#e, and continue to feel it..
8"
You try to a#oid all other e&otions, because they are &ostly false e&otions.
There are lower e&otions and higher e&otions.
@ower e&otions occur by a lack of control o#er 5anas, Aha&kara, 9uddhi and /itta.
,ontrol o# these - brings a sublimation o# the emotions
@ower e&otions transfor& into higher e&otions
And the %roble& is sol#edJ
5anas, 9uddhi, Aha&kara and /itta: you learn to get the& under control.
/ontrol of 5anas with concentration and &editation.
/ontrol of 9uddhi with Dicara Sa&adhi.
/ontrol of Aha&kara with Ananda Sa&adhi.
/ontrol of /itta with As&ita Sa&adhi.
)igher e&otions are:
)a%%iness, delight L Dicara Sa&adhi, 9uddhi.
9liss, lo#e L Ananda Sa&adhi, Aha&kara.
Sheer 9eing L As&ita Sa&adhi, /itta
And how about Ditarka Sa&adhiH
I lea#e that one out all the ti&e, because it is an inter&ediary for&.
Patanjali &entions that one first all the ti&e, but for &e it is the &ost difficult one a&ong the 8.
6s%ecially because it is an inter&ediary for&.
Fn the one hand you could say: ,Yes, but it is easier, because it is an i&%ure Sa&adhi..
So in this Sa&adhi you are still allowed to think.
Fn the other hand you are also in a &ood. 9ut %ersonally I find it difficult to look down on a
thought %rocess fro& a &ood because there is the tendency to beco&e absorbed by these
thoughts again and again.
Ff course it is %ossible that so&e %eo%le find this easier to do than others.
It is actually a &i( in which the 2 Nunas a%%ear.
In the other 2 Sa&adhi for&s =Sabija Sa&adhi for&s> there is always e&%hasis on Nuna:
In Dicara Sa&adhi L 9uddhi L Aajas.
In Ananda Sa&adhi L Aha&kara L Ta&as.
In As&ita Sa&adhi L /itta L Satt#a.
You can already see that it is difficult because there are different sorts of Nunas at work at the
sa&e ti&e.
Are there &ore &oods in a hu&an being other than these 8H
<o, actually not. 9ut &aybe there are #ariations of the&.
It cannot be any different.
It is really re&arkable.
84
The causality does not carry any duality in itself, at least not the duality as we know it, in our
&ind. ?unctioning on causal le#el si&%ly &eans functioning har&oniously.
+oes that &ean reacting s%ontaneouslyH
It &eans reacting fro& your heart.
'hat if you beco&e angryH
'ell, the heart can beco&e angry too. Anger can originate in the heart. In that case it is an
accelerated contraction of Aha&ara that occurs, and causes an e(%losion in 5ani%ura /akra,
which clearly shows that it is a ty%ical lower e&otion.
This &eans that you dont control the unconditionality of the &ood: there are rules in dealing
with the causal world and one of the& is that you are not allowed to lay down restrictions or
conditions.
In the lo#e that you e(%erience you are not allowed to set conditions
In joy you cannot say: ,It is 0 oclock now, so I will now sto% %artying..
That si&%ly cant be done. It is not allowed.
In the sense of %eace:sheer being you are not allowed to say: ,I will li&it this only to
Sundays..
If you insist to set such conditions you directly affect the e(%erience of it. ?or such an
e(%erience is infinite, and by li&iting it you will descend with your consciousness to a lower
le#el. It is this what has &ade &an fall fro& hea#en, because at a certain &o&ent he focused
on li&itations. A sounding stereoty%e of li&itation is the story of Ada& who grabs an a%%le.
Fnly one a%%le.
'as Nod angry then, when he threw &an out of %aradiseH
<o, that is an absolute error. It is the reasoning of a lower being.
A wise &an who tries to let %eo%le co&e to a higher le#el, to the e(%erience of a beautiful
&ood, would try to kee% the& in it for as long as %ossible.
Are there only 8 natural &oods, while other &oods are unnaturalH
The 8 &oods &entioned are the &ain, beautiful, basic &oods.
)owe#er, you can call sadness a &ood as well, which is a lower e&otion.
9ut it does not always touch your ego.
'e ha#e to be #ery aware of ego here.
That is why we ha#e discussed about Aha&kara so elaborately in the ,Science of Soul.. It has
to be ta&ed.
'e say: ,you ha#e to die.. You ha#e to gi#e u% your ego.
You ha#e to get your ego in har&ony
8C
You ha#e to re%lace the lower Self by the )igher Self.
That is why you co&&it yourself to unconditionality.
6! 4ha)a Prat+a+o $ideha Pra/riti.a+anam
Ff those who are idehas =those who are without body> and Pra!rtilayas =those
who are absorbed in the &atter> birth is the cause.
This Sutra refers to %eo%le who naturally %ossess Sa&adhi, who got it by birth. This is usually
based u%on training they recei#ed in a %re#ious life.
A Dideha is a %erson who is not only able to go out of his body, but who can also &ake an
abstraction of his:her body. This usually leads to neglect of the %hysical body. In a %re#ious
life he has not &ade all the connections, but he did reach a high s%iritual le#el. )e has not
co&%letely built his energy bridges.
Prakrtilayas are %eo%le who are causal, but focused downwards, who end u% co&%letely in the
&atter and beco&e one with this &atter. As a conse*uence those %eo%le lack AntahkaranaM
%hysically they look good, they ha#e %racticed a lot, but they lack s%iritually. This re&inds &e
of the Iyengar Yoga school in A&sterda& that I once #isited. The teachers were able to
%erfor& the Asanas %ro%erly, but their a%%roach was %urely %hysical. They used all kinds of
tools and aides to %erfor& the %ostures %ro%erly, but they did not a%%ly the Ya&as and the
<iya&as. 9ecause of that they syste&atically co&&itted #iolence. The ,assistance. of one of
their teachers to %erfor& the torsion e(ercise 5atsyendrasana caused a dislocation of C
#ertebrae in &y s%ine, in the %resence of witnesses. 'hen I confronted her with her #iolence
she denied her res%onsibility and beca&e #ery angry with &e. That is not Yoga at all.
@aya K fusion. Prakrti K %ri&ordial energy =but this is fusion of energy only on the le#el of
&atter>.
Sa&adhi of the Prakrtilaya is an e(%erience with too &uch e&%hasis on the &atter. Sa&adhi of
a Dideha is an e(%erience with too &uch e&%hasis on the s%irit.
So this Sutra is an indication of what we should not do with Sa&adhi but also of what we
should do, na&ely to co&e to a ho&ogenous fusion of &atter and s%irit.

"7! Sraddha $ir+a Smrti Samadhi Prajnapur)a/a Itaresham
=In the case> of others =.paya/Pratyaya 0ogis> it is %receded by faith, energy,
&e&ory and high intelligence necessary for Samadhi.
?aith and trust K Sraddha. In religion this is known as faith, but the original &eaning is trust.
87
Aes%ect is so&ething that you ha#e to earn and it e(%resses itself in trust. Therefore this is
so&ething that needs ti&e to grown.
<e#er go too fast in building of Sraddha =also not in the teacher L student relation>, but do it
ste% by ste%. So do not hea% %raise on your teachers or su%eriors. Ni#e the e&%eror what he
deser#es, not &ore and not less. A su%erior can ha#e a tendency of forcing trust, but &ost of
the ti&es this is the result of the ego being in#ol#ed.
A%art fro& the first condition, which is trust, the second condition is energy: you &ust ha#e
strength. All the %receding ste%s gi#e you this strength.
The third condition is a strong &e&ory =/itta>, which you can build u%on recollection. The
definition of intelligence is: 'hen you &ake a &istake you use your &e&ory and co&&on
sense to co&%are what went right and what went wrong, and conse*uently you a#oid &aking
the sa&e &istake again. 5aking the sa&e &istake twice &eans that you are not aware of what
you are doing. Ff course it is allowed to &ake &istakesM you need the& to learn and beco&e
e(%erienced. )owe#er, you are su%%osed to %rocess and integrate the e(%erience instantly.

"! 'i)ra Sam)eganam Asannah
It =Samadhi> is nearest to those whose desire =#or Samadhi> is intensely strong.
Peo%le who are totally absorbed in %rayer can s%ontaneously enter into Sa&adhi or ha#e so&e
wonderful &ystical e(%erience. Patanjali confir&s that in this Sutra. In Yoga this is called
,9hakti., which literally &eans, ,the s&ashing =of Ear&a>..
)ow can such an intensely strong desire be createdH ?or this %ur%ose I %refer to use Yajna,
sacrifice, which is a s%ecial for& of Surrender. I sacrifice &yself, co&%letely, with heart and
soul, with e#erything I ha#e and with e#erything I a&. This is e(actly the %ur%ose of an altar.
?or this reason I ha#e always had an altar ne(t to &e in the classroo&, and before each class I
burn so&e incense and I bow before the altar. As a result an i&&ense silence occurs in &e, as
if I a& being reinforced and recei#e ins%iration. At the sa&e ti&e fro& that &o&ent on I a&
totally focused u%on the Al&ighty.
Pay attentionJ This intensely strong desire &ust not result in the creation of a field of tension,
otherwise nothing will ha%%en. The reason for this is that a field of tension causes Ta&as
energy. Therefore it has to be a natural and dee% feeling of total ra%ture for the higher %owers,
which &eans there will be Satt#a. /hristian &ysticis& is full of these kinds of e(a&%les,
es%ecially the holy ?rances for e(a&%le, who cheerfully sang for )i& and addressed hi& with
,you. and ,your. instead of Thou and Thigh.
""! 8rdu 8adh+adhimatrat)at 'ato 9Pi $iseshah
8!
A further differentiation =arises> by reason of the &ild, &ediu& and intense
=nature of &eans e&%loyed>.
There are %eo%le who easily co&e to Sa&adhi, often as a result of intense %ractice. )owe#er,
this does not a%%ly to e#erybody. 6ach %erson has his own %ace. Ff course it is logic that when
the %ace is slow successful Sa&adhi takes a little longer to achie#e.
"&! Is)ara Pranidhanad $a
Fr by self3surrender to Nod.
AecogniIing the energy flow of the Al&ighty in all %heno&ena in nature and in oursel#es, and
tasting the intensity of it results in a re&arkable way of li#ing. The best a%%roach is that you let
yourself float u%on that flow. And based u%on this dyna&ic %osition you try to do the things
you think you ha#e to do. In this way you sol#e a double %roble&: The %roble& of: ,'hat a& I
su%%osed to doH. is auto&atically reduced to where the flow %asses by. )owe#er, the strange
twists and kinks often de&and a lot of %atience. The %roble& of: ,+o I ha#e sufficient %ower
to do thisH. is auto&atically sol#ed by the strong flow of the Al&ighty. Ae&arkable fact is that
you always recei#e the e(act right a&ount of energy for the right action.
)owe#er, the &ain obstacles to reach hea#en in such a si&%le way as described abo#e are
desires and thoughts.
"*! -.esa -arma $ipa/asa+air Aparamrshtah Purusha $isesha Is)arah
's1ara is a %articular Purusa who is untouched by the afflictions of life, actions
and the results and i&%ressions %roduced by these actions.
,)ere I a&J )ere I a&J )ere I a&J )ere I a&J.
That is what I heard. It was said in a #ery lo#ely and friendly way. In +utchJ
I was walking on the beach of /astricu&. The #oice ca&e fro& the wa#es. Then it also ca&e
fro& the sand of the beach. And fro& the wind. And of course it also ca&e fro& &y bellyJ
'ell, that is Is#ara.
There are old scri%tures and I#e read one of the& with sur%rise. It says: ,If you sing the A3$3
5 &antra long enough, Nod will talk to you in your own language..
Nod K Is#ara.
And it was the +utch language in which )e addressed &eJ /an you belie#e thatJ And I thought
that ?rench was &y &other tongue. It see&s that I beca&e +utch after all. )ow terribleJ
That of course is the down side of this story, and &aybe I should just a%%ly for +utch
citiIenshi%. 9e conse*uentM be %ure.
I thought that if e#en our +ear @ord addresses &e in +utch, well, then I guess I will ha#e to.
"1
I can recall that e(%erience e#er since and it works so tre&endously well within &e. It causes a
gigantic energy to flood &e.
9ut where is that energy thenH 'here does it co&e fro&H
'ell, I#e said it before: it is e#erywhere.
)1erything is the product o# 's1ara
All the energies that we ha#e here on 6arth are related to Is#ara. Is#ara is actually the su& of
energies of the entire %lanet:being 6arth.
A being $ith a consciousness
That he could also s%eak, well, I didnt know that either.
9ut what is this s%eaking thenH
That is what we call Sandhya 9hasa L the language of the dawn.
So they are i&%ulses that co&e to fro& the intelligence of that being, and which ha#e been
translated into sy&bols =because I a& still colored>. So they ha#e co&e to &e by &eans of a
sort of translation %rogra&. /an you follow thatH
This &eans that there is an intelligence, and that through %ractice you beco&e susce%tible for a
lot of things. You beco&e %urer.
At a certain %oint you can e#en discern your own functioning, and you can beco&e rece%ti#e
for i&%ulses of that large being.
'hat does ,he. doH
)e doesnt really talk to you but he sends Sa&skaras =i&%ressions>. )e lets those i&%ressions
co&e into you. Then those i&%ressions are translated into sy&bols:words:i&ages =because you
are colored>, which are understandable to you.
That &ust ha#e been the &o&ent that I heard the #oices on the beach.
+oes this &ean that Is#ara is +utchH
<o, too bad for the +utch but Is#ara is not +utchJ
Then how is it %ossible that )e s%oke +utchH
The reason for that is &y coloring, in the sa&e way I saw the Eing with the face of Aonald
Aeagan. +oes this Eing ha#e the face of Aonald AeaganH <o, of course notJ
It was &y %erce%tion:e(%erience that is res%onsible for that.
I ha#e also seen the Eing as Eing 9oudewijn =Eing of 9elgiu&> and, later e#en as -ueen
9eatri( =-ueen of )olland>.
)ow a&aIing this is, dont you thinkJ
This si&%ly &eans that you shouldnt take things literally. Please try to understand the essence
of this story. If you can you will gradually get an idea what it is all about with this Is#ara.
Yogis call )i& ?ather. 9ut in the Ara&ic language, which is the language of Besus, there is no
&ention of ?ather. It see&s to ha#e been a bad translation.
"
'hat is &entioned is ?ather35other, or the %arent3%rinci%le. It is a reference to that fro&
which we created and of which we are all de%endent.
It is not a hu&an being. It is a celestial body, in this case, as I said before, the being 6arth.
Is this only about the being 6arth or are we also talking about other celestial bodiesH
6#ery celestial body has its own life and is such a force of its own, so there is celestial body
called Peter and there is one called Paul, just to gi#e it a na&e.
6#en though we call our celestial body ,earth., it is not the real na&e of the earth. The real
na&e of the being earth is, if I listen #ery carefully: ,Is#ara. =sung in a #ery high tone of
#oice>.
So Is#ara is only related to earthH
Yes, at least thats what I think.
There are %eo%le who say: ,Is#ara is the solar syste&J.
If you think you can listen that far, well than its okay with &e.
I wouldnt be able to tell, so for &e it is the being earth.
'hat I do know is that all those celestial bodies are na&ed in the old scri%tures. They are all
na&ed after Nods.
'hy is it said in the 02
rd
Sutra that you &ust surrender to this Is#ara =Is#ara Pranidhana> as a
way to co&e to Sa&adhi:YogaH
The reason for that is that if you are able to tune in to the flow and get a gri% on the dyna&ics
of the energy flow of that being, instead of rowing u%strea& and being recalcitrant, you can use
it to your ad#antage, going along with it. I a& of the o%inion that if you can do that, you can
*uickly co&e to ele#ation and to Yoga.
That is the real %ractice of Is#ara Pranidhana.

@ast I told you that you should reconsider your attitude towards the beingM that the wind is in
fact a &anifestation of Is#ara. It is the energy flow of the air in which there is &ostly Shakti
do&ination. )owe#er, when the wind co&es fro& the west there is Shi#a do&ination. It is #ery
interesting to %ay attention to this.
'hen you are a little bit too &uch ,Shakti.:e(cited your self, it is good to &ake a walk on the
beach during a southwestern stor&, because you will recei#e an enor&ous a&ount of Shi#a.
That is Is#ara Pranidhana.
To understand this and to use it to achie#e balance, that is what Is#ara Pranidhana is all about.
That is the %ur%ose of the wind.
The Nulf Strea& that flows fro& A&erica to 6uro%e is Shi#a do&inated, while fro& 6uro%e to
A&erica it is Shakti do&inated.
Is this all a little bit #agueH
'ind is energy, or isnt itH
"0
I also e(%lained that the direction of rotation of the earth is caused by the %redo&inating trade
winds =which are Shi#a do&inated>.
So the winds that are co&ing fro& the west:southwest are Shi#a do&inated. You can benefit
fro& the&.
All %eo%le who are stressed out just need to go out and walk and get a breath of fresh air.
They should not walk, noM actually theyd better stand still with their noses in the wind. 'hen
you walk, you cause Shakti, so you better stand still and be rece%ti#e.
)a#e you e#er done such a thingH )a#e you e#er stood out in the rain and let it %oor all o#er
youH +eliberatelyH
That feels so good.
'ell, it doesnt always feel good. 'hen you ha#e too &uch Shi#a and you stand in the %ouring
rain, co&bined with a southwestern wind, it is not that good. It is because you already ha#e
enough Shi#a.
Fkay, but when you realiIe this and you acce%t it, it is also Is#ara Pranidhana.
You then si&%ly say: ,?ather, ?ather I ha#e enough of Shi#a, I will now look for Shakti..
'hen you realiIe that, that is what counts.
Talking with Is#ara:co&&unicating with Is#ara:%raying =in the catholic church L in Yoga we
call it Sa&ya&a> is based on the recognition of Is#ara.
It is in fact a realiIation of what all this actually &eans, for otherwise you would ne#er succeed
to %ractice Sa&ya&a, or to %ray for that &atter. So gi#e this a second thought.
/li&b u% to the to% of a dune whene#er you ha#e the chance to do so and look at the horiIon.
This is so&ething I always like to do when I a& the see side. Then you can see the cur#e of the
earth, and you can see the sky and the clouds. This &ay gi#e you a better understanding of the
beauty of the being we call earth.
Then you can also get a better notion of the &eaning of the 08
th
Sutra:
's1ara is a particular Purusa $ho is untouched by the a##lictions o# li#e, actions
and the results and impressions produced by these actions.
If you would be in a %osition to fly in a rocket and look down fro& s%ace on the being earth L a
beautiful blue %lanet with its clouds, contents and its oceans L &aybe then you would be able
to better understand.
The %lanet is a Purusha tooJ @ike we are Purushas. Fnly it is a &uch bigger Purusha than we
are. Therefore it is a s%ecial Purusha.
The %eculiarity of this is:
'e %ossess a construction that is si&ilar to the construction of the %lanetM howe#er, we de%end
on the gra#ity of that bigger being.
"2
Is#ara or earth =aarde> and hu&an being =&ens>
So they influence one anotherH
Yes, e#erything influences one another. That is what &akes it so s%ecial. )is %ower also is
&uch larger than ours. This shows fro& the fact that he is untouched by the afflictions of life.
'e say about this in Yoga that Is#ara is in conte&%lation. /onstantly. So the being earth is in
conte&%lation in the sa&e way a hu&an being can be in conte&%lation.
)owe#er, it is not a holy %lanet =according to the old scri%tures>.
It &eans that the being earth has not yet co&e to co&%lete har&ony. So&ething other celestial
bodies ha#e achie#ed.
Fur %lanet is not Satt#ic, so we are not the only ones to bla&eM the %lanet too is to bla&e.
Fur har&ony, if we are able to obtain har&ony that is, has an influence on the har&ony of the
%lanet as well. It is a &atter of reci%rocity.
6#entually we can hel% to &ake the %lanet co&%letely har&onious.
9ecause of its sha%e the being earth looks *uite har&onious, doesnt itH
At least it is &ore har&onious than we are, but the fact that it is s%herical doesnt &ean that it
is entirely all right. This shows also fro& the fact that the %oles are kind of flat, resulting in an
oblate s%here. So the %lanet earth is not co&%letely s%herical, it is oblate.
"8
A per#ect, a holy being, is completely spherical
This &eans that if you would check all the %lanets in our solar syste&, and &easure e(actly
whether they are %erfectly s%herical or not, you would ha#e an indication of their le#el of
de#elo%&ent.
In hu&ans you can check this by &easuring their sy&&etryM the &ore sy&&etric you beco&e,
the &ore har&onious you beco&e.
The interesting thing is, and that is the good news: through %ractice of Yoga you create a &ore
sy&&etric and &ore beautiful being.
It is that %erfect s%here that will %rotect you against the afflictions:Eleshas.
In &y childhood Fur +ear @ord was described as a kind of eye that looks down on you:
,9eware, because Nod is watching you..
This was &eant to scare you so you wouldnt do anything e#il, because you would think: ,wait
a &inute, there is an eye so&ewhere, watching &e..
'ell, Is#ara indeed ,sees. you.
There is an obser#ation co&ing fro& that susce%tibility of that s%herical sha%e. And the least
acti#ity fro& you within that being will reflect, energetically, and will be recei#ed, translated,
scanned, and categoriIed.
So Is#ara is a being with a #ery high degree of intelligence. That also shows fro& the
ecological coherence, as we know it.
,$ntouched by the afflictions of life, actions and the results and i&%ressions %roduced by these
actions.
'hate#er you do on this earth, it see&s as if the being earth does not res%ond to it, but that is
not so. You do actually cause interaction:reaction.
+oes the being earth hel% us, or do we hel% the being earthH
That is of course the *uestion: who nurtures who&H
Is it the %arents that educate their children or is it the children that educate the %arentsH I&
%ositi#e that in our ho&e we educated our %arents, but of course it was the other way round in
the beginning.
'hen I listen to this story, I cant hel% but ha#e the feeling that we are *uite a burden to the
being earth.
'e are only &icrobes %rowling about, endangering the whole thing. It see&s to &e that the
being earth would rather get rid of us. That it would search for a detergent or disinfectant to get
rid of us and to abolish the da&age we cause.
At this &o&ent all we do is da&age to the %lanet.
/onse*uently the earth reacts in the for& of #olcanic eru%tions, earth *uakes, and so on.
Peo%le still dont see& to understand that these are reactions of the being earth: stor&s,
disasters, cyclones, etc. Bust look at where those e#ents ha%%enJ
""
Dery interesting indeed.
+oes this &ean that going with the flow of Is#ara &eans going with flow of 5other <atureH
Yes, e(actly. No with the flow of nature. A wonderful e(a&%le of this is the culture of the
Indians =nati#e A&ericans> in <orth A&erica. That culture is such a &agnificent e(a&%le of
res%ect for the forces of nature and the interaction of nature. They try to beco&e one with it,
full of res%ect for it. You can find this as%ect in &any other cultures.
And we call those cultures %ri&iti#e.
'hat about western cultureH That is not culture any&ore. It is %ure barbaris&. 'e just destroy
e#erything and dont %ay any attention at all to the en#iron&ent:nature:weather. The only thing
we are concerned about is: ,Fch, it is raining. The weather re%ort said that the weather would
be bad. I %robably end u% in a traffic3ja&..
The way %eo%le li#ed in the county side, in har&ony with the seasons L s%ring is a%%roaching,
FE, big cleanu% and be ha%%y and go outside, etc. L that just doesnt e(ist any&ore.
Such a sha&e.
Try to go back to nature as &uch as you can. ?or that reason I #alue ca&%ing out #ery &uch,
back to being between the trees, close to a ri#er, in between the &ountains.
2a!e contact
9efore we had a cara#an =trailer>, it was actually e#en &ore fun, with a tent. You just sle%t on
the ground and the contact was e#en &ore intense. Thats what I all call surrender to Ish#ara.
And if you do insist on ha#ing:wanting to ride a boat, then use a %addle and go with the flow.
Fr use a sail and go with the wind. 9ut dont go using a &otor to go against the flow of the
water or against the flow of the wind. $nless you ha#e no choice of course G
I a& talking here about recreational use of a boat, huhH Try to go $ith it.
Go along, go along
And dont co&%lain when there is a gust of wind or a hailstor&. Bust e(%erience it as energy
with which you can %lay.
9ack to Is#ara:
So Is#ara sees e#erything. It &o#es on all sides within )i&.
9ut he see&s to be #ery *uiet, and rightly so, because )e is in conte&%lation.
/an Is#ara also co&e out of itH
Yes, of course he can co&e out of conte&%lation, because he can e(%and and contract, you
knowH And thats when real trouble starts.
I found an e(a&%le of this in the Aa&ayana.
"4
There is the 5ahabharata L ha#e you heard of itH L a huge e%ic %oe& L the story of Erishna.
9ut before that ti&e there was another #ery big e%ic %oe& styled in Yoga tradition. It is called
the Aa&ayana.
It is about the story, not of the 9uddha Erishna but of the 9uddha Aa&a.
In it there is a descri%tion about the clouds that %ass by being the thoughts of Is#ara.
This %assage totally struck &e. It &ade &e look at the clouds in a totally new way.
'hat is it actually that &akes a cloudH 'hat causes a cloud to beH $sually you will see that
cloud is just #a%or.
A cloud is brought together by Tamas
9ut a thought is &ental Ta&as. Then couldnt a thought be the cause of so&ething that
rese&bles a cloudH
'ould the Aa&aya&a &aybe be rightH That, by looking at:o%ening yourself u% to the clouds
&entally, you would suddenly be able to read the &ind of Is#araH
That is just one you ha#e to think about dee%ly.
Ae&ark:
'hen you ha#e a lot of thoughts you say L ,&y &ind is clouded..
",! 'atra %iratisa+am Sar)ajna 4ijam
In )i& is the highest li&it of F&niscience.
So Is#ara is not only intelligent. )e also %ossesses Sar#ajna or Sar#a Bnana: All knowledge.
Bnana K knowledge.
%mniscience
+id you notice that when you yourself are #ery *uiet, you are &uch &ore %erce%ti#eH And that
you beco&e &uch &ore rece%ti#e for e#erything that ha%%ens in your surroundingsH
'hen you look at a s%herical structure, as was drawn before, and you i&agine that the outer
layer is totally har&onious, and that the &ore you go to the center, the &ore irregularities
occurH Then can you i&agine that fro& this layer you can obtain total knowledgeH
This knowledge arises according to the %rinci%le of the stone that falls into the water: 'hen a
stone falls into the water it causes ri%%ling rings of water, which &o#e farther and farter away.
In the sa&e #ein, when a &o#e&ent occurs within the center of the s%here, the conse*uences of
that &o#e&ent:ha%%ening will e#entually be felt all the way at the outer layer of that s%here.
9eware not look at the outer layer of that s%here as being the li&its of the at&os%here. The
outer layer is &uch farther, &uch farther than the at&os%here. In fact it is as far as the
gra#itational %ull of the earth reaches, which also &eans that the &oon lies within the being
earth, because the &oon is still attracted by it. She re&ains connected to the earth.
"C
The &oon is Ear&a of the earth.
It is kind of a wart of the earth.
It is in fact large Ear&a of the earth.
/an you follow this reasoningH
Is the &oon located in the causal body of the earthH
I dont think that it is located in the causal body. )owe#er, I do think that it is located either in
the subtle body or the ethereal body.
The etherical body of the earth in &y o%inion is the Dan Allen3belt, which can be found abo#e
the at&os%here surrounding the earth.
At that location you get in trouble with radio wa#es, which is ty%ical for a sound3body.
Actually it is &ore likely that the &oon is located within the ethereal body of the earth, while
the subtle body of the earth:&ind3body of the earth is &uch, &uch farther than the &oon, and
the causal is certainly &uch farther than that.
+oesnt this gi#e you a whole new #ision on astrono&yH
Is the relationshi% between the earth and the &oon like the relationshi% between teacher and
studentH
'ell, the flow of a ri#er is caused by Ta&as, but each &o#e&ent itself is Aajas. 9ut your
identification with:res%ect for the flows is &ore i&%ortant than anything else, huhH
You know that if you go against the flow and show no res%ect for it, you will cause trouble.
9ecause you ,se%arate fro& your %arents.. You should always res%ect your %arents. Then you
will also recei#e the strength of your %arents.
You should always res%ect your teachers, because they ser#e you like %arents.
The worst thing that can ha%%en to you is that your teacher rejects you and says: ,I dont want
you any&ore., because a breach occurs in the energetic u&bilical cord that you share with hi&,
with the result that you wont be fed any&ore. This will %ut you in a situation of star#ation,
which is #ery se#ere.
So, ne#er break with a %arent.
<e#er break with Fur +ear @ord.
3e1er brea! $ith a teacher
In the 'est we think we can do anything, that we can %er&it oursel#es e#erything and that we,
oursel#es are in charge. 'e deter&ine our own way based u%on egois& and because of that we
create our own &isery.
'ell, if Fur +ear @ord is the creator of a racing car, you are allowed to ride it.
9ut I a& not so sure which cars Fur +ear @ord has &ade. 5ust be so&ething like the
5ercedes 5c@aren, or wouldnt itH
/hoose a car with a soul, which is not %roduced fro& the &ind.
A ?errari L that is a soul3car. So that is a car of Fur +ear @ord.
You seeH
"7
So you should always choose so&ething that was &ade with heart and soulH
Yes, that is the connection.
Bust look at a +aewoo L is there anybody who owns a +aewooH L that is such a drag of a car.
$nbelie#able, I a& so annoyed by this car.
It ca&e into e(istence when a &illionaire one day said: ,'ell, I ha#e these #ery big steel
%lants. You know whatH I too can %roduce a car. I too want to ha#e a car =factory>. They all
ha#e car factoriesG so I want one too..
This is a big disgraceJ I &ean, this has nothing to do with heart and soulM it %ure
calculation:%ure greed. Those cars ha#e no sha%e. Bust look at /itroen and you know what I&
talking aboutGJ
Are you starting to understand a little bitH
'ell, that was the %ur%ose of this story.
"0! Sa Pur)esham Api Guruh -a.enana)acchedat
9eing unconditioned by ti&e )e is Teacher e#en of the ancients.
'e were talking about Is#ara. 'e s%oke about surrender and we were also analyIing this
surrender.
'hen you %ractice surrender, shouldnt you ha#e to know to who& you actually surrenderH
If you are not fa&iliar with the notion of Is#ara, or the notion of Nod, as we translate it, well,
then you are lost.
'e are looking at the %roble& here that the notion of Nod is unknown to &ost of the %eo%le.
+uring the ti&e of 9uddha there was no &ention of Nod at all in Yoga.
That is what I always find so &agnificent about it: there was &ention of the %owers of the
uni#erse. The %heno&ena and the %owers of the uni#erse were discussed in a scientific way,
like the star syste&s, uni#erses and %lanets.
Those are beings.
In &any old scri%tures Is#ara is %ercei#ed as the being solar syste&.
Therefore a solar syste& in which %eo%le li#e is a di#ine being, with C /akras, and we are %art
of it.
There are others who %roclai& that Is#ara is the being earth.
As far as I a& concerned you figure it out yourself.
It is not so i&%ortant. 'hat is i&%ortant though, is that you understand how enor&ous these
kinds of celestial bodies are. That you understand that the being earth stretches &uch farther
than the &oon.
You should look at it in such way that the li&it of the being earth is located where there is still
a little bit of gra#itational force %resent.
"!
The &oon is within the gra#itational force of the earth, so the being earth stretches farther than
the &oon. The earth itself is only the #isible, &aterial %art of the being earth. That gra#itational
force or that field of gra#itational force surrounding the earth is actually a field of energy that
is %resent and belongs to the earth.
That energy is consciousness.
<e(t ti&e when you look at the &oon, stand still and think about it: 'e are here, while the
energy that flows beyond the &oon affects us. It is such a high consciousness, so silent, and
therefore untouched. It is not conditioned by ti&e, as stated in the 04
th
Sutra.
It is causal energy.
The being earth therefore also has a Earana Sharira:causal body.
9y the way, it is said that the earth is in conte&%lation:Sa&adhi.
So there is rece%ti#ity, a consciousness.
/ausal is faster than ti&e.
'hen the consciousness of the earth is &ainly there it functions outside of ti&e, faster than
ti&e. Thats one.
And secondly, we are within that being and recei#e ins%iration, once in a while. 'e recei#e
things.
'hat is the source of those thingsH
'ell, for that you dont ha#e to look #ery far, because it co&es fro& that being in which we
li#eJ ?or it too has certain Ear&a.
Then what do we recei#eH
'ell, what is %resent within the being earthJ
It is written here that Is#ara is the teacher of ,e#en the Fld..
That is because )e is not conditioned by ti&e.
So, those Sa&skaras are on the /itta of the being earth.
9ut &aybe %eo%le who li#e in the future ha#e &ade those Sa&skaras. And when we sit here in
conte&%lation, through which we suddenly connect with the /itta of Is#ara, we too can
beco&e aware of those i&%ressions, which actually find their origin in the future.
Then we say: ,)ey, that is a wonderful ideaJ.
And then we call it an in#ention.
Bust study the biogra%hies of in#entors. They often &ention that they suddenly recei#ed
so&ething. If they would be honest =so&e of the& are>, then they would ad&it: ,)ey, this is so
funny, I would ne#er thought of it &yself..
+o you follow &y reasoningH
'hene#er we try to disco#er:in#ent things and succeed L usually we attract it L it is actually
thanks to the ins%iration of Is#ara. That is also why this Sutra says that Is#ara is also the
teacher of the Fld, for the knowledge that the Fld had in ancient ti&es, is fro& Is#ara. This
also &eans that the knowledge that we will ha#e in the future will originate fro& Is#ara.
So, that knowledge is always %resent.
It is just that %eo%le are either &ore or rece%ti#e for that knowledge.
This is #ery different fro& what you learn in school, huhH
41
@ets look back at the lesson about Self3study, do you re&e&berH +idnt I tell you that you
dont ac*uire knowledge in school, but that you recei#e itH
"ecause he $as al$ays there
And that you only ha#e to sing A$5, and that he will co&e =in> to youH
'hy A$5H
9ecause A$5 abolishes &ental dishar&onies, and o%ens you u%:o%ens a window to the
obser#ation of the causal #ibration of Is#ara, but of course also to the causal #ibration of your
self, because you are i&%ressed by Is#ara. You are sta&%ed.
So you use A$5 to tune in on the sa&e #ibrationH
Yes, to &ake a connection.
A$5 is actually the %lugging the %lug into the socket of a P/ with a hu&an being inside.
'e are se%arated fro& that #ibration through the acti#ity of the &ind, es%ecially because of our
thoughts, but also because of our ego.
9ut when you sing A$5, with dedication =dedication to abolish your ego:thought> and you are
in a %retty good %hysical condition, then you recei#e knowledge just like that L cloinkJ
The teacher is 's1ara
It is not the Yoga teacher.
A Yoga teacher is only the %erson who says: ,The teacher is Is#araJ.
'hat a dece%tionJ
The task of e#ery teacher, and this is so&ething I can be angry about, because so &any
teachers dont e#en know this, is to bring the %eo%le back to the original source of knowledge.
So: Is#ara, or whate#er you want to call )i&, is the teacher.
It has always been like that, and it will always be so, just because we li#e inside that being,
%eriodJ
0ou cant escape #rom it
'hen you say: ,<o, it is okay like this., you estrange yourself fro& reality and fro& that
&o&ent on your de#elo%&ent has sto%%ed. You will not recei#e nourish&ent any&ore, which
will be your downfall.
There is not e#en an alternati#e for this. The only thing you can do fro& that %oint on, is to
say: ,Yes, but wait a &inute, I ha#e to disco#er this all by &yself. You can tell &e all this and
it all sounds #ery logical, butG.
FE, well, do your e(ercises and you will notice one day that e#erything I a& telling you is
indeed true after all.
+oes Is#ara ageH
4
'e are talking about aging %roble&s. +oes the being earth ageH Yes, it does. In the %ast the
being earth was &uch bigger, &uch less condensed. It was &ore rarefied:gaseous.
Then slowly it turned into a hot ball, and then it beca&e fluid.
A &anifestation like earth L earth3ele&ent L is actually of #ery recent date.
Still our %lanet e(ists for &ost %art out of water.
This indicates that there is in#olution taking %lace: In#olution, so Shi#a3do&inated.
Fn certain %laces on the earth there is Shakti, es%ecially in the deserts. Those are the %laces
where the earth ages, %laces where the air is #ery dry.
9ut doesnt it fluctuateH
Yes, indeed it fluctuates.
'asnt the Sahara water beforeH
Yes.
So what are we su%%osed to do nowH 'e shouldnt %ractice Di%arita Earani 5udra only for
oursel#es, but we should a%%ly it also to our surroundings.
That is the wonder of a hu&an being: what you a%%ly to yourself you can also a%%ly in a wider
s%here for &an kingdo&:%lant kingdo&:ani&al kingdo&:&ineral kingdo&.
The %lanet can co&e to har&ony with the hel% of hu&an kind and sto% the aging %rocess.
'hether I ha#e e(%erience in this fieldH

@ets say I ha#e done it, nu&erous ti&es, and I always recei#ed wonderful answers, usually
with drawings, since I a& kind of a #isually geared %erson.
I recei#ed it just like that. +oes that &ean that I& s%ecialH I& not s%ecial at allJ I a& not
better or worse than any of you. It is just that I disco#ered so&ething that &ost %eo%le dont
know of, that it kind of works like this.
So you can do the sa&e. 'ouldnt it work with youH
And then we start disco#ering &any &ore things, on all sides. And if we %ut all this together
entire hu&an kind will ad#ance forward, wouldnt itH
So instead of %olluting the %lanet, wed better start &aking it a little bit &ore beautiful.
't all starts $ith oursel1es
Thats beautiful: we first try it out on oursel#es.
'ithout ad#ance clinical testing, &edicine would not be %ut onto the &arket. There are
thousands of %eo%le who test these &edicines, and only when the results are satisfactory theyd
be gi#en to all %eo%le.
'e do e(actly the sa&e: we first try it out on oursel#es.
As it %ro#es to be working and we %ut our e(%eriences together, we will be able to a%%ly it for
general %ur%ose. Isnt that a fantastic %rogra&H It &akes &e totally ,high. to think of it.
40
"1! 'as+a $aca/ah Prana)ah
)is designator is RF5.
Pra#anah is the )oly 'ord, in which we once &ore recogniIe the word ,Prana..
5y %ronunciation =of A$5> is %retty bad, but I ha#e heard it, and it feels as a %resence:a
lo#er:an intelligence.
The sound can be heard a lot in Tibet:<e%al during rituals. It is &i&icked by &usic
instru&ents:horns.
,'hile riding on &y way to school I would always %roduce that A$5 sound G ah G niceJ.
'hen I was 4 I disco#ered that the &icrocos& and the &acrocos& were the sa&e as this
cos&os.
Its just a theory.
"5! 'ajjapas 'ad Artha 4ha)anam
In constant re%etition and &editation on its &eaning.
"6! 'atah Prat+a/ Cetanadhigamo Pi Antara+a 4ha)as Ca
?ro& it =result> the disa%%earance of obstacles and turning inward of
consciousness.
That is &editation.
As soon as you ha#e a feeling with it of A$5, then it beco&es conte&%lation.
?ro& the &o&ent that you %ick u% &editation it &eans that you ha#e abolished all the Drittis
within you, that there are no other Drittis left besides A$5.
It also &eans that you conse*uently are not subjected to Drittis any&ore, co&ing towards you
fro& your surroundings. So the Eleshas sto%, through &editation.
You dont only obtain health =%hysical and &ental health>, but your &isery ends as well. It will
sto% descending on you.
'hat kind of &isery are we talking aboutH
All &iseryJ
Ignorance, egois&, attach&ent, hate =re%ulsion> and fear of death, these are the " different
kinds of Eleshas that descend on you. They are all related to Drittis, so Drittis cannot attract
the& any&ore, so the obstacles disa%%ear.
'owJ
42
'hy dont %eo%le know about thisHJ 'hat is thisHJ
6#erything is for sale L a #acation to )awaii or a 5ercedes 9enI or I dont know what L and
%eo%le just drea& of ha%%iness.
)ere it is written in the 0!
th
Sutra: ,the obstacles disa%%ear.J
'hat is thisHJ Are %eo%le craIy, or whatH 5ore and &ore I fear that that is the case.
'hat a &essJ
This has been waiting in storage for us for agesJ
This is also to bla&e on the %eo%le who had the res%onsibility to %ass it on. Personally I feel
that they failed &iserably at their task, because this knowledge is just unknown by the %eo%le.
'hy did they fail to do their workH
I will tell you: because they too didnt understand it %ro%erly. 'hen you dont understand
so&ething %ro%erly, you will be unable to %ass it on.
Fb#iously it doesnt work like that with you, so, what will you tell the othersH
)ere you see the beauty of Yoga: it is a %ractice. You first ha#e to e(%erience it yourself. And
you also ha#e to understand $hy.
Fnly then can you =well, you ha#e no other choice> a%%roach your fellow &an and %ass it on.
9ecause if it works for you, wouldnt it work for others tooH
It would be so nice if all those obstacles could disa%%ear.
It is one of the nicest things one could i&agine. It is &uch &ore interesting than to focus on:
,'hich additional insurance %olicy do I need to conclude this yearH.
Fr: ,)ow can I better %rotect &yself against burglary or infringe&ent of &y %ro%ertyH.
Peo%le are constantly occu%ied with these kinds of concerns. They fail to understand that the
cause of all this &isery lies within the&.
That is e(actly what this is all about.
So go, and &ake yourself har&oniousJ 'ell, why dont you sit down in &editation until you
chokeG you will &editateJ 'ell, of course this is not co&%letely the style of Yoga as it was
intendedG
5ost of all I would like to get %eo%le by their short hairs, %re%are a &editation cushion for
the& and tsjakJ G tsjakJ And glue the& to their %osition. They ha#e to stay %ut.
,+isa%%earing of the obstacles., and L as if it is not enough yet L ,the turning inward of
consciousness.. 'hat can be described as a feeling of e&%tiness, that is the turning inward of
the consciousness.
Inward flow
And what is thatH
Suddenly you say: ,)ey, what is going on hereH.
And it feels so goodJ
Thats the moment you $ill be completely sold on it
Thats itJ That is the &o&entJ
?ro& now on there is no turning back any&ore.
48
This is so goodJ
There are students in our school who co&e back after 1:0 years and say: ,I just couldnt get
if out of &y syste&. I e(%erienced it here, and I need &ore of it.. So they join us for another
cou%le of years.
/ant they do it on their ownH
It is #ery difficult to do it on your own, because the surroundings dont su%%ort you.
There are *uestions. There are a lot of e(ercises that you dont know.
)ere e#erything is offered ready3&ade.
Your nest has been &ade
There is no other o%tion than to beco&e a big white swan.
At a certain %oint %eo%le walk away because due to circu&stances, but so&ewhere dee% in
their heart they know that the way is in them.
And then they co&e back.
And they beco&e white.
And then they fly out into the world.
It is such a good feeling L ,to turn the consciousness inward..
?ro& that &o&ent on you notice: ,)ey, no$ I know what life is worth..
'hy life is worth to be li#ed
Such a feeling, and youll be sold on it, so delicious, so good.
<ow you are a Yoga3freak:junky.
That is actually the %roduct that you sell to other %eo%leM all e(ercises are designed to co&e to
this %oint.
If you can let your friends, ac*uaintances and students e(%erience this, you will see that there
is great ha%%iness in you too. You will ha#e the feeling of acco&%lish&ent, of doing so&ething
#aluable in your life:
To show another hu&an being the way to ha%%iness
This is &uch better than to show so&ebody the way to &oney.
'hen you co&e out of &editation, will the &isery returnH
Yes, in %rinci%le it will, because as soon as you are working with Drittis, tsjakJ And you
beco&e conta&inated again.
I can i&agine that those Drittis will be less attracted when you ha#e a certain har&onyH
Yes, thats how it is.
You will find that less Eleshas will be co&ing to you as you %ractice &ore often and s%end
&ore ti&e in these kinds of har&onious circu&stances.
4"
?ro& the &o&ent you ha#e understood this ga&e, you will %ush through, and you will not
settle for less than co&%lete har&ony.
The ne(t stage will be to go to co&%lete abolish&ent of the Sa&skaras:causes of e#erything.
You will: ,'ait a &inute, when I do it, I want to do it right..
?ro& that &o&ent on the &ost enor&ous changes will start ha%%ening in your life.
5eta&or%hosis of your being
You #isit your &o& and she says: ,Are you &y sonH.

/an &editation u%on A$5 abolish diseaseH
I ha#e a lot of e(a&%les of this &yself.
Fne of the &ost re&arkable e(a&%les of abolish&ent of diseases through &editation on A$5
ha%%ened when I was in ?rance to go hiking in the &ountains with a cou%le of %eo%le. 'e had
to go the starting %oint by car first.
The dri#er of the car =I was in the back> said: ,5y right shoulder is aching..
I couldnt resist and said: ,You know, there are certain solutions for that. It will disa%%ear
when you %ractice A$53&editation. If youd only %ronounce A$5, it would already be
sufficient. It will disa%%ear co&%letely when you beco&e totally absorbed by it, creating
har&ony.
)e said: ,I dont belie#e a word of what you say..
I said: ,Fkay., and I started to sing A$5.
)is %ain disa%%earedJ
,'hat is thisH 'hat ha#e I doneH )ow is this %ossibleH.
Indeed this is #ery difficult to e(%lain to %eo%le.
Bust for a &o&ent all the Drittis were re&o#ed.
If you e(tend the line of this you will understand esoteric &edicine: Total guidance:treat&ent
of %eo%le.
That is what we successfully do in the Aaja Yoga Institute in )olland, in co&bating cancer.
It is also &entioned in the 21
th
Sutra:
&7! $+adhi St+ana Samsa+a Pramada.as+a $irati 4hranti
(arsana.abdhabhumi/at)ana)asthitat)ani Citta $i/shepas 'e %tara+ah
+isease, languor, doubt, carelessness, laIiness, worldly3&indedness, delusion,
non3achie#e&ent of a stage, instability, these =nine> cause the distraction of the
&ind they are the obstacles.
This is a descri%tion of the i&%edi&ents:obstructions:Eleshas in the for& of ! different
afflictions.
'e were talking about disease only, but it is ob#ious that &editation can acco&%lish &uch
&ore than that.
44
Is worldly3&indedness an obstacleH
Yes, although &aybe hard to understand. /ant you i&agine howH
,Fh, I got to go out tonight. 'hat ha#e you done last weekendH <ice dress I ha#e, huhH I got
to see the hairdresser to&orrow. 'hat did you buyH.
And you always see those glossy fashion &agaIines on the table, and those &ake3u% bo(es etc.
There are %eo%le li#ing *uite shallowly. They usually a#oid serious *uestions about life. A lot
of %eo%le are worldly3&inded. Their li#es are based u%on sensory %leasures.
)ow is it %ossible that all this can be sol#ed by &editationH
'hat actually are all these things that we are talking aboutH
They are all Drittis, whirls of energy, ideas.
They are the results of the functioning of the senses:i&ages:objects that co&e towards you, to
which you cling.
So you abolish those DrittisH
Yes, that is basically what you do.
'e#e got %eo%le here L worldly &inded %eo%le L who beco&e engaged in what we are doing,
and then feel as if they were scared the li#ing daylights out of the&, because suddenly their
world disa%%earsJ There is nothing leftJ
They were so attached to outward a%%earances, and then they notice how transient they are,
that it actually doesnt &ean a thing.
Then they run away as fast as they can.
It is #ery difficult to con#ince these kinds of %eo%le that they should try anyway, that actually
there is so&ething #ery interesting behind these a%%earances.
Then you ha#e to co&e to the conclusion that those %eo%le actually hardly know the&sel#es.
They ha#ent got the faintest idea of what they really are. Thats really too bad. )owe#er, if
they want they can get the techni*ues to the&.
Training is slow and increasingly %rofound. If they wish they can co&e to us.
&anguor4
+o you know languorH
I call it Sunday &orning3laIiness. It occurs for e(a&%le when you stay in your bed too long
causing you to beco&e Ta&as.
$sually you sol#e this %roble& by drinking a cu% of coffee, gi#ing you a shock that brings you
,u%.. )owe#er, soon after you %ay back with a bad %atch, bringing you ,down. again. 9ecause
that is how caffeine works.
It would be better to %ractice Surya 9edhana Pranaya&a because that will bring Shakti into
you, or &ake a walk. You can also drink a %e% drink on a natural basis.
)ow about /oca3/olaH
/oca3/ola contains caffeine too. 5aybe it is delicious, howe#er, e#erybody should &ake his
own choices. 5editation really is the best solution.
4C
5oubt4
'hat is doubtH
It is a for& of fear.
Aestlessness, doubt L they are all for&s of fear, albeit light for&s of it, but caused as such by
the acti#ity of your Aha&kara, which is also Ta&as.
In the ar&y they say: ,+oubt is the biggest ene&y of a soldier..
'hen you start to doubt you are dead, because you beco&e %aralyIed, so you cant do
anything any&ore.
So&e %eo%le e#en say =howe#er stu%id this is ... >: ,It is better that you at least do so&ething, it
doesnt &atter what, than that you doubt..
There is certain wisdo& in such a %rocla&ation, because when you do so&ething L only the
fact of doing so&ething is already sufficient to fight Ta&as, so the idea is not so bad after all.
)owe#er, it would be cle#erer to e&%loy a Yoga techni*ue that &akes Ta&as disa%%ear. Ff
course the best way is &editation.
That is what is &eant here in this Sutra, and it is guaranteed to get you rid of doubt.
'hene#er I feel restless =when I e(%erience so&ething that causes &e not to know any&ore
how to handle it and causes a lot of doubt, e#en %anic> I sit down. I go into &editation and
co&e back to %eace again co&%letely. Then, after half an hour, I get u% and go about what is
bothering &e.
)a#e you e#er e(%erienced thisH )a#e you e(%erienced %eriods of se#ere fear, doubt, e#en
%anic, and dont know any&ore which way to turnH
I can tell you what to do, but only when you ha#e done it yourself in %ractice a cou%le of ti&es
that you will be able to understand that it indeed works like this, that this isnt hot air but really
true.
,arelessness4
I ha#e a striking e(a&%le of carelessness at ho&e. It is about &y ste%daughter.
?or &ore than 1 years I a& trying to teach to watch what she is doing, e.g. to close the door
after her. There is a soa% dish in the bathroo& that belongs to the bathtub. )owe#er, it is under
the shower. 'hen she takes a shower the soa% dish naturally fills u% with water. Then I tell
her: ,+ont you see that there is water in the soa% dish, why dont you turn it o#er to e&%ty
before you lea#e the showerH. Too bad that there isnt a little whole in the dish to drain the
water out. )owe#er, e#erybody with co&&on sense e&%ties the dish and %uts it back in its
%lace.
It is a &atter of dealing with your surroundings with care and engage&ent.
'hen you ha#e been so&ewhere, using so&ething, you just lea#e it behind in the sa&e way
you found it when you ca&e in, and if %ossible e#en a little bit nicer. I learned that with the sea
scouts.
'hene#er &y ste%daughter has been so&ewhere youll know it by all kinds of %ossible traces
she lea#es behind.
Those are the %eo%le who, riding a bicycle for e(a&%le, bu&% straight into a garage door, just
because they dont %ay attentionM highly dangerous.
'hene#er she was riding her bike out on the street I was scared to death, so dangerous.
47
So, taking this as a fact, what can you do about itH 'hat would you do about itH
+etach&entH
,No aheadJ There is the garage doorJ No that directionJ.
Ff course not, in %ractice you &ake re&arks, try to hel% and so&eti&es, when it all beco&es
too &uch, you shout. At least, that is what one usually does.
)owe#er, here you learn &editation. You just sit down.
And that tendency to carelessness you abolish by &editation.
'hat actually is carelessnessH
It is because your aura is full of irregularities that you cannot focus. +o you understandH
It is all a little bit &urky. <or&ally focusing on so&ething and considering it for a long ti&e is
just not %ossible in %ractice.
5y ste%daughter just cannot sit still and listen to a con#ersation, like e#ery other hu&an being
does, e#en when she is in#ited to %artici%ate. She has to go out. 'hyH So I ask her: ,'hy did
you lea#eH. and she says: ,I dont know..
,'e had a con#ersation together and you left 8 ti&es. Tell &e, those 8 ti&es, why was thatH.
,I dont understand. I just cant stay with it..
All kinds of strange things going on and then she has to &o#e. )er attention is &o#ing fro&
here to there and anywhereG ho%eless.
If you go on like this in life it will be really se#ere, you knowJ
You are not going to achie#e anything in your life. <obody can count on you and you &ake
lots of &istakes. You dont %ay attention.
Youre a haIard to your surroundings:e&%loyer:e#erybody.
+o you know what ha%%ens when you work in a factory and you are carelessH Producti#ity will
skydi#e.
/o&%anies work on the basis of %roducti#ity: the nu&ber of %roducts %roduced %er hour %er
e&%loyee.
'hen you dont %roduce enough youll be kicked outJ
/ould it be a for& of A+)+H A lack of concentration:lot of &o#e&entH
I guess you could co&%are it with that.
I think A+)+ can be a%%roached in the sa&e way, and cured.
I#e worked with these kinds of kids and treated the&. They indeed beca&e #ery *uiet. Their
surroundings are not able to gi#e the& that, they just re&ain restless.
)ow did you treat the&H
I treated the& with &editation.
It is best to bring kids suffering fro& A+)+ to so&ebody who can &editate. That already has
an effect. 9ut you can also think of bringing the& to a har&onious en#iron&ent. That too
already gi#es an effect. 5ost of the ti&es you see that those kids grew u% in a dishar&onic
en#iron&ent.
4!
&a(iness4
Fo%s G
That is one of the afflictions that e(ist. A lot of %eo%le in Africa suffer fro& it. I can tell,
because I& still suffering fro& it G
'e called it =li#ing according to> Africa3ti&e.
I lo#e to ha#e other %eo%le do the work for &e. In Africa we had " boys. You just sna%%ed
your fingers and said: ,boy, do this, boy, do that., and for the rest of the ti&e you just sit there
doing nothing. I& trying to ha#e the sa&e situation here too, but &y wife doesnt coo%erate G
9ut what is laIiness actuallyH
It is a deceleration:a laIiness out of con#enience:Ta&as.
It is a Ta&as3habit. And a Ta&as3habit is e#en worse than a nor&al Ta&as3sy&%to&.
It is so&ething that has beco&e dee%ly ingrained into your beha#ior, so&ething that has stuck
to you on the way. And it is going to cost a lot of ti&e to get rid of it. It &eans that you ha#e to
take out the entire re%ertory of Yoga techni*ues fro& the closet to get rid of that laIiness.
9ut thanks to, again, &editation, it is %ossible to also e#entually get rid of this %roble&. And
e#en though I still so&eti&es ha#e a %roble& with this, you hardly notice it.
5elusion4
There is for e(a&%le the delusion that )olland is a welfare state, or the delusion that in
)olland you are being taken care of fro& the cradle to the gra#e. Initially that was indeed
intended that way, but they didnt finish it. And nowadays it is e#en slowly but certainly
dis&antled. 9ut ne#ertheless %eo%le still li#e with this delusion.
+elusion is an idea that li#es within you.
It stands on its own.
A delusion, an idea about life.
6.g. the notion: all %eo%le are good. 5any %eo%le still belie#e this.
Tonight it was in the news that a teacher was shot to death by a %u%il. 6#en worse, it was not
only written that a %u%il shot a teacher, but also that all Turkish fellow students were
celebrating ha%%ily because the teacher was shot.
Peo%le just dont understand any&ore. It totally esca%es their notice. 'hyH
9ecause they are deluded by the notion that life is *uiet and %eaceful and that %eo%le go to
school ha%%ily and joyfullyM and that for the rest you are only su%%osed to %ay your ta(esM and
that you will be looked after and taken care of.
+elusion.
'hat can be the cause of this situationH
It de%ends on one or &ulti%le thoughts that beco&e a %ower in itself, do&inated by Ta&as.
Again Ta&as.
'e ha#e to break out of this.
C1
9ut as soon as you confront %eo%le with such a delusion, they just dont want to get rid of it.
They e#en beco&e angry, because they dont want the sacred cows within the& to be dealt
with. These are their #alues and their &eanings. They just dont want to lose the&.
The solution is that you take it out yourself, with &editation.
'hich Pranaya&a is a%%licable in this situationH
You can use all Shakti3Pranaya&as: Surya 9hedana, $jjayi, and also the 5udras that in#ol#e
Shakti energy. 9asically anything that in#ol#es Shakti energy.
Peo%le who are as craIy as a loon:are schiIo%hrenic:ha#e neuroses and %sychoses L which are
all Ta&as sy&%to&s L and who are not able to co&e to class L I ad#ice the& to &ake a nice
walk on the beach. Id ad#ice the& to kee% &o#ing, do #oluntary work. The &ost i&%ortant is
that they re&ain acti#e. As soon as they sto% being acti#e they i&&ediately fall back into a
%sychosis.
It is at least re&arkable that %sychiatrists L who do not deser#e that title L gi#e the& narcotics
that are Ta&as, with the underlying idea that that will sol#e the %roble&.
Instead they worsen the %sychosis.
9ut when you su%%ress the sy&%to&s with those drugs, you can sit down with the& and ha#e a
*uiet talkH
Yes, but the %roble& is that you use Ta&as to su%%ress the sy&%to&s. As soon as you sto%
using that drug the %sychosis co&es back just like that. And it co&es back with a #engeance: it
will be worse than before, because they ha#e added Ta&as to Ta&as.
A better solution is to ad&inister a sti&ulating drug, but then there is a chance that they
beco&e nuts entirely G because they &ay lose control co&%letely.
)owe#er, still that is the cure they need and ad&inistering the right dose can sol#e the
%roble&. An e#en better solution is to drag these kinds of %eo%le along to a training like ours,
and gradually teach the& to focus:concentrate.
@ets get back to delusion.
'e are talking about the re%etition of A$5, the &editation on the &eaning of it. Actually this
is the %ro%er descri%tion of the nature of &editation, and that kind of &editation is what we
%ractice here.
'hat does A$5 &eanH
A$5 is the holy tri%artite sound.
Actually it is the sound of the three Nunas.
A K Aajas
$ K Ta&as
5 K Satt#a
'hen you listen carefully to the uni#erse you can hear the basis of all &o#e&ent of the energy
flows in it.
A$5 is also called the sound of the /reation, because we all originate fro& the Trinity.
C
'hen you listen to that A$5, you actually abolish it. It beco&es increasingly subtle and flat
and fusion will occur. That is when you will enter into thoughtlessness.
9ut when you &editate on the &eaning of it, do you actually ha#e to hearH
<o, but that is a &atter of s%eech, but it &eans that you ha#e to know e(actly what you are
doing. It &eans that you definitely ha#e to ha#e an interest the essence of what you are
listening to. It does not &ean that you should start thinkingM it &eans that you should just go for
it, si&%ly because you know what it is and what it enco&%asses.
I ho%e that by the way I a& telling you about this, you can feel that I& totally obsessed by the
subject, that I actually wouldnt want anything else but it. That is reflecting u%on the &eaning
of A$5.
'hile you are at it, this is your &oti#ation to stay focused on it.
'hen you just dryly sit to listen to it G A$5 G well, it &ight as well be ,A$<T.G because
you are not %assionate, so you wont go u% to higher le#els. Your energy will not be cranked
u%, so you will not be able to &aintain it. 6#en worse: youll %robably not e#en reach it, lea#e
alone &aintain it.
5aintaining it is constantly going back to it.
The Sutra says, ,re%eat., but actually it is not A$5, A$5, A$5, as &any think, but it is
there constantly: A $ 5 G
)owe#er, our consciousness is not strong enoughM whene#er we touch u%on it, we hear it only
for a &o&ent G A G and the consciousness already falls back again. 'e ha#e to effort to
snatch it back, to hear it again. 'e shouldnt e(%ress itM instead we should try to hear it again,
in its location.
And then we fall back again.
And then we try again.
This is what we call 6kagrata.
6ka K one
Nrata K grab
Nrab, snatch back and snatch back again, until it all beco&es one.
Is this understandableH This is the way to &editate. I thought I already e(%lained that, but there
are &any &isunderstandings related to this subject.
3on/achie1ement o# a state4
This is included in 6kagrata: the fact that you cant get 6ka. You continue to grab, and you do
so &uch effort and still it doesnt beco&e one, still there is no sense of unity.
You will beco&e des%erate.
)ow can you a#oid thisH
You beco&e des%erate which causes Ta&as in you, causing you to fall back again.
The solution to this %roble& is that you &ust try to establish &ore Satt#a within you. So
%ro#ide yourself with a stronger basis: 5editateJ
C0
If e#ery ti&e you fail to achie#e a state:&aintain focus:stay &ore than 1 seconds in the feeling
of the cheese do&e before you fall back again, you &ust see to it that you obtain a stronger
basis. /heck whether you ha#e trouble with the Ya&as and <iya&as. 5aybe your %ractice of
Asana is not correct. Fr &aybe there is still a thought or an e&otion that you cannot let go of.
/heck all these ele&ents. Thats why learned about the ladder, didnt weH
And when things really dont see& to work, I say to &yself: ,It all see&s FE =&y basis>. 'ell,
then I will re#ert to concentration u%on <ada and try to listen to the 8 sounds..
This will set &y being at %eace again. It always works like this, without fail. Then I can
achie#e to gain a foothold onto the &ental #ibration and stay there.
So, the inability to do it lies in the fact so&ewhere down there so&e error has occurred,
so&ething that you o#erlooked.
'nstability4
Instability is not just an error so&ewhere in the syste&, but it is related to your general attitude.
It lies within the *uestion: ,'hat is your &oti#ation to do all thisH.
That is where we find the error.
Are you really going for itH Is this really what you wantH
Fb#iously not, because you are unstable.
'hen you really want so&ething you auto&atically beco&e stable, wouldnt youH
You will be able to focus for hours at a ti&e. Bust look at how you engage in your hobbies.
Arent you stable in the&H Bust because you are engaged in it.
'hen you are unstable you &ust ask yourself the *uestion: ,'ait a &inute, is this really what I
wantH +id I allow &y &oti#ation to slacken offH 5aybe I ha#e to brush it u% a little bit. 5aybe
I ha#e to ad&onish &yself and call &yself to order again..
This is #ery hu&an, you knowH It ha%%ens to e#erybody, as we are no robotsJ
'hen we engage oursel#es with so&ething we often lose the true sense of what we are doing.
'e end u% doing things as an auto&atis& and slowly we e&asculate it.
'e then say: ,)eyH It doesnt work any&oreJ )ow can that ha%%enH.
'ell, you are just not focused on the essence any&ore. 9asically you are just doing so&ething.
Is this related to %eo%le who do so&ething one day and so&ething else the following dayH
Yes, it can be related to that. 5ost %eo%le li#e but they dont know why they li#e and what for
and why they do what they do. They are just doing so&ething. They just frolic around a little.
5ost %eo%le li#e according to the rhyth& of soccer on TD and the cases of beer fro& the
su%er&arket.
This is really terrible, you knowJ
'hen you know the li&itations, when you are able to acknowledge:describe the ene&ies you
already ha#e half of the solution. ?or when things go wrong, you will be able to na&e the
%roble&. Then, with a little bit of thinking, you will be able to deter&ine the essence, and by
knowing the descri%tion of the cause of the %roble& you will able to engage it and sol#e it.
This is how it works.
C2
This is real science.
Is this the sa&e %roble& as non3achie#e&ent of a stateH
<o, ,<on3achie#e&ent of a state. is one single dishar&ony or &ore dishar&onies in you that
erode your basis.
,Instability. is ,finding your &oti#ation..
,<on3achie#e&ent of a state. is so&ething that is churning u% in s%ite of ha#ing a %ro%er
&oti#ation, but still you beco&e disturbed. It is &uch co&%leter, &uch &ore %rofound.
&! (u/ha (aumanas+angameja+at)a S)asa Pras)asa $i/shepa
Sahabhu)ah
=5ental> Pain, des%air, ner#ousness and hard breathing are the sy&%to&s of a
distracted condition of the &ind.
+o you understand thisH
Then, what do these 8 notions &eanH
'hat is &eant by ,distracted.H
,+istracted. &eans ,not %erse#erant..
'hene#er you try to &editate you notice that you are distracted and it takes *uite a while
before you get rid of it.
Sutra 2 gi#es 8 sy&%to&s that indicate the seriousness of your %roble&.
The first one, which is the least serious lightest for& of absent3&indedness, is caused by %ain.
This &eans that there are breaches in the energy #ibration, which cause your inability to focus:
the %hone rings une(%ectedly: you are distracted.
)owe#er, if you do a little effort it will go away and you will regain your focus.
/an it also be %hysical %ainH
It can be %hysical %ain, but because you are on the &ental %lane here, it is &ore related to the
&ental %lane. )owe#er, it can also %ossibly be %hysical.
9ut that is least serious, because &aybe you ha#e already noticed that you can abolish %hysical
%ain with &editationH +id you already e(%erience thisH 'ell, then it is not so difficult.
The ne(t one, howe#er, is &ore %roble&atic:
+es%air.
+es%air is the result of re%eated %ainM you are disturbed to such an e(tent by that ringing %hone
=or other issues>, that you feel as if you are loosing control, and that you are unable to reco#er
that control. <o &atter how hard you try, at a certain &o&ent you feel that the whole ga&e has
s%un out of control. 6#erything goes wrong, and then you start to des%air.
C8
This is worse than %ain because to co&e back to &editation fro& this condition is &ore
difficult.
The third sy&%to& is e#en worse.
The Sutra calls it ,ner#ousness..
'hat ha%%ens when for days and weeks you are confronted with this des%air caused by all
those disturbancesH 'hen you li#e ne(t to the railway station:air%ort and ti&e and ti&e again
you are disturbed by trains:%lanes %assing by, constantlyH
I&agine this ha%%ening day by day, week after week. You will tense u% co&%letely, and your
ner#e syste& will %rotest because the des%air re&ains and starts to wear down on the ner#es.
+oes that result in a ner#ous breakdownH
Yes. That is one of the interesting things you can a%%ly in neurology, if we want to talk about
that. 9ut this =theses> is not known in the 'estern world.
You can understand it when I e(%lain it this way. Then it is #ery logical.
So first you ha#e %ain, then des%air and then you ha#e a ner#e %roble&.
<er#ousness is actually not the right use of words hereM they are really actually ner#e3
%roble&s, like hy%ersensiti#ity.
'hen you see:obser#e %eo%le around you, you can hear the& co&%laining. That is the result of
%ain. They are telling you tales full of des%air, which is the second sy&%to&. And you will also
notice that they are o#erly irritated. They e#en stab down their teachers, or si&%ly shoot the&
=today a teacher has been stabbed in a school in A&sterda&>. 'hen you look around you, you
can see it e#erywhere. Peo%le just li#e like this.
The sy&%to&s &entioned here are the sy&%to&s of a ,distracted condition of the &ind..
'e call it distracted, but this is actually about a &ental field that is totally out of control,
because of %ain, des%air and ner#e3%roble&sM it is just an enu&erati#e descri%tion.
The fourth %roble& is the result of ner#e %roble&s: it is called ,hea#y breathing..
'hene#er you are riding a bus:train:subway surrounded by %eo%le, and you are sitting ne(t to
so&eone who sighs dee%ly, you think: ,'hat is wrong with that fellowH +id his nose get
cloggedH.
)a#e you e#er e(%erienced so&ething like thisH It is not his nose that got clogged. It is the
contortions caused by ner#e %roble&s that ha#e their i&%act on the &uscles. It just doesnt
function at all any&ore. That %erson has gotten stuck co&%letely. If this %rocess continues the
ne(t ste% will be a heart attack, you know. The heart &uscle will sto% to work.
)ea#y breathing is the se#erest sy&%to& of an uncontrolled &ind.
You can see the sa&e list of sy&%to&s in an asth&a attackJ
In asth&a you can e(actly see how this list of sy&%to&s acts.
'hy does Patanjali &ention thisH
C"
'ith this he is urging us to be aware of those sy&%to&s and kee% an eye on the&, and to sit
down on a &editation cushion as fast as %ossible to fully co&%rehend the se#erity of the
situation, es%ecially when it in#ol#es the &ore serious sy&%to&s.
)e wants us to say to oursel#es: ,'ell, we just continue to sit here and listen to <ada, and we
will do our best to detach oursel#es and focus on e#erything we ha#e learned so far, until these
kinds of sy&%to&s do not occur any&ore.. And you do this until e#en the first sy&%to& is not
%al%able any&ore.
)ea#y breathing L that is a %erson who is inhibited and contorted. Ff course you can ha#e
accelerated breathing, but that can also ha#e another cause.
+o you think this knowledge is usefulH In the 20
nd
Sutra Patanjali %ro#ides us with another ti%
to gain control:
&"! 'at Pratishedharthartam :/a 'att)abh+asah
?or re&o#ing these obstacles there =should be> constant %ractice of one truth or
%rinci%le.
?ocusJ +o not follow e#ery single bird that flies byM just %ick one.
+o one thing at a ti&e.
You &ay argue: ,Yes, but &y boss wants &e toG. FE, that is your %roble&.
'e assu&e that you are in the %rocess of de#elo%&ent, and a %erson who tries to de#elo%
better focuses on one thing at a ti&e. Fnly when he is ready with that, he will %roceed to the
ne(t.
It is interesting to obser#e here that Patanjali does not tell you what you should take as a
%rinci%le. Personally I would i&&ediately say: ,?ocus on Yoga. PeriodJ.
9ut no, Patanjali is saying: ,<o &atter what, focus yourself. Bust take whate#er it is that you
like..
The best way is to focus on your self.
+o you like fishingH
If so, then indulge yourself entirely in the fishing you like so &uch.
/ollect tools and rods and read books about fishing, but &ake sure that your being L just
i&agine a bow, bent to shoot an arrow L is bent:engaged.
+ont let it hang looseJ
In the search for &ental control fle(ibility L mental fle(ibility L is #ery i&%ortant.
In the Asanas we ha#e learned that you &ust stretch %hysically.
This Sutra i&%lies &ental stretching, i.e. being goal3oriented.
'hen you start a new job, the first thing asked of you is whether you are goal3oriented. ,+o
you know where you are goingH Show us your business %lanH 'hat do you want to achie#e
and what goals did you set yourselfH. Thats just e(actly what we are talking about here.
C4
/an it be any goalH
<ot just ,a. goal.
6ka &eans ,one..
6ka K one
Di K two
Tri K three
You ha#e to learn to count a little bit in Sanskrit.
If you really want to learn Sanskrit, you also ha#e to learn the <agari characters, because it is
not like the A9/ syste&, as we know it fro& our dictionaries. They are the "" characters of the
Sanskrit al%habet, in curly characters, which for& the basis. You really ha#e to sit down and
learn the& and then you can use the&.
You will need the dictionary of 5onier3'illia&s =the standard work>, but an easy one for
students is the dictionary of A%te.
&"! 'at Pratishedharthartam :/a 'att)abh+asah
?or re&o#ing these obstacles there =should be> constant %ractice of one truth or
%rinci%le.
It says ,constant.. )ow &uch do you ha#e to %ractice for thisH
If you want to clean u% the obstacles that we are discussing, you should just focus on one
subject.
?or e(a&%le, we were in Scotland with the ar&y where we were su%%osed to s%end a nu&ber
of days in the &ountains as a &atter of training.
I start to cli&b the first &ountain L loaded with back%ack and so on L and not e#en 01 &eters
down the %ath L I ha#ent got a clue why L I started to hy%er#entilate.
<e#er before in &y life did I e(%erience this, but at that #ery &o&ent it ca&e o#er &e.
I reached the to% of the &ountain 3 which was &ore like a hill, about 811:"11 &eters in height 3
&ore dead than ali#e.
The sergeant walked u% ne(t to &e and said: ,Ni#e u%. Sit down. 'ait for hel%. You are
finished.. And I said: ,<o, I wont. I wont gi#e u%..
I figure I was looking green and blue. If you ha#e e#er hy%er#entilated you will know how bad
it is. It feels like as if you are dying. It is a &atter of air that just cant find a way out.
I decided to follow &y co&rade. 'e were walking in colu&n and for the ne(t 2 or 8 days, all I
saw were his heels. Fnly by focusing on his heels I succeeded to &anage this ordeal.
Physically I was totally worn out, but I &anaged to reco#er through concentration. That is what
this Sutra is telling us.
You can achie#e &uch &ore if you &aintain focus. The abo#e is an e(a&%le of %hysical %ower
that you can obtain by &aintaining your focus, resulting in the abolish&ent of all obstacles.
CC
9ut also when you work in a co&%any, you ha#e to set yourself =or for the co&%any> goals to
kee% yourself focused, because as soon as you start to wander and loaf around and s%read your
energies around, you take a lot of risks.
If you ha#e to deal with the obstacles we ha#e seen before L disease, languor, doubt,
carelessness, laIiness, worldly3&indedness, delusion, non3achie#e&ent of a stage, instability L
just do this: ,a constant %ractice of one truth or %rinci%le..
It doesnt &atter what you choose, as long as you &ake a choice.
)ow far do you %ush thisH
I once s%oke to a billionaire, Aal%h Fats, who told &e that in !78 he had set hi&self only one
goal. )e was a truck dri#er who had no &oney and wanted to earn &oney by selling water
filters. ?or he had only one goal: sending his daughter to college, and to do so he needed to
gather the funds. 'hich ob#iously he didnt ha#e.
So he worked and sold his water filters to send his daughter to college. That was his goal, and
that is what he focused on.
So as long as you ha#e a goal, it really doesnt &atter what it is. All the difficult things in life
can be sol#ed in this &anner: set yourself a goal.
6nergetically it is only logical, because it gi#es concentrationM your entire syste& functions for
the benefit of it =the goal>.
This results in a &ini&al waste of energy. It is not a kind of lu(uryM it is just a #ery efficient
way of handling things which cant be learned anywhere.
Ff course, in cor%orate life it is said that you need to ha#e objecti#es and strategies L which is
actually %lanning L but the i&%ortance of it is still not fully understood.
It is not only for your co&%any that you should do this, but also for yourself.
If you want to achie#e so&ething you ha#e to choose one line, and you follow that line, until
you ha#e achie#ed it. And you do not de#iate fro& that lineJ
+o you know the characteristics of a 9ullterrierH /on#ert yourself into a 9ullterrier: sink your
teeth in, and dont let goJ
+oesnt this result in the neglect of other goalsH
'ell, &aybe, but what o%tions do you ha#eH If you start focusing on other factors at the sa&e
ti&e, you will end u% doing nothing.
'hen you see &any birds flying high u% in the air, and you try to follow the& all, where will
you end u%H <owhere.
This &eans that you &ust try to integrate austerity into your life. You ha#e to &ake choices:
,now I& going for this, and when it is finished I will go for that.. 9ut you cant do e#erything
at the sa&e ti&e. It is %urely a &atter of efficiency.
At the first co&%any I was e&%loyed, I had a colleague for which I felt boundless ad&iration.
)e was in charge of %ublic relations for the co&%any. )e had 0 tele%hones and he would call
here and there at the sa&e ti&e, while at the sa&e ti&e he would be talking with &e and
s&oke a cigarette.
C7
I thought: ,Nee, so cle#erJ I could ne#er do thatJ.
9ut this guy only %layed fire fighter. There was no de%th, no originality, and no %roble&3
sol#ing ability in his con#ersations whatsoe#er.
The only thing was that he was talking here and there. 9ut there was no sense in his talk at all.
Ff course notJ ?or how can you think when you do 2 or 8 things at the sa&e ti&eJ
)e thought it was #ery interesting.
It was all %ure show.
)e owned a Porsche as well, but in the end it didnt a&ount to anything.
Fne is free to choose.
6#erybody does as he:she %leases.
Thats &ore fun.
Patanjali doesnt oblige anyone.
9ut he does say: ,@ook, if you want to work efficiently, then follow this way..
Fne %rinci%le:truth.
'hat is a %rinci%leH
@ets test your #ocabulary.
A %rinci%le is an indi#idual %heno&enon that does not need any su%%ort fro& outside. It is
strong enough to stand on its own.
A law or regularity can be a %rinci%le.
A %rinci%le is a rule. A %rinci%le is a being, a totality.
An e(a&%le of what is not a %rinci%le is the %hysical body. That is not a %rinci%le, for a
%hysical body is transient.
An e(a&%le of what is a %rinci%le is a gross body.
So, the %hysical body, together with air and sound L that is a %rinci%le.
Isnt that transient as wellH
<o, because the ethereal #ibration in itself is har&onious by nature. )owe#er, it is being
destroyed by all the dishar&onies that we ha#e down here, in our gross bodies.
It is a %rinci%le indeed, but not a %rinci%le that is gi#en due recognition. That is why we die.
9ut in %rinci%le it is a %rinci%le.
+oes this &ean it is a kind of blue%rint, a kind of truthH
Yes, it is an indi#idual the&e, which is able to stand on its own.
Is it so&ething in#iolableH
It is #iolable. The gross body is #iolable, but it has the %otency to re&ain on its own.
)ence, it is not said that you should choose a futility as the object of your concentration. It has
to be a truth, or a %rinci%le.
So&ething infiniteH
C!
Indeed it can be so&ething infinite.
The heels of so&eone, that is absolutely infiniteJ )e he he G
I &ust ha#e suffered *uite a trau&a there, I guessJ
I#e got a fancy for heels now. 6s%ecially when you include so&e hea#y ar&y boots in it.
/lu&%J /lu&%J /lu&%J
That guy in front of &e was totally ignorant of the fact that so&eone was clinging to his heels.

&&! 8aitri#-aruna#8uditope/sanam Su/ha#(u/ha#Pun+apun+a#
$isa+anam 4ha)anatas Citta#Prasadanam
The &ind beco&es clarified by culti#ating attitudes of friendliness, co&%assion,
gladness and indifference res%ecti#ely towards ha%%iness, &isery, #irtue and
#ice.
So&eti&es translations are #ery unfortunate: In this Sutra it is better to re%lace ,indifference.
by ,e#en3te&%eredness., because a Yogi is ne#er indifferent, on the contrary, he senses
e#erything #ery accurately and in the &eanti&e he is e#en3te&%ered.
There is a wonderful %iece of ad#ice here fro& Patanjali that we can ado%t into our li#es: strife
for friendliness, co&%assion, and gladness.
These reco&&endations ha#e beco&e #ery i&%ortant in 9uddhis&: /o&%assion is called
,Earuna. in Sanskrit, and friendliness is called ,5aitri., and gladness is called ,5udita..
Those are beautiful %hrases.
+o you know the following e(%ression: ,5anners 5aketh 5an.H 'ell, that is e(actly what
this Sutra is about. So when you ado%t an attitude of friendliness e#erything in life beco&es
&uch easier and %roble&s in life are easier to be o#erco&e.
You can draw the line further: ,5anners 5aketh 5an.. That is also co&%assion. And it is also
gladness.
So&ething that I %ersonally ha#e trouble with acce%ting is when I a& confronted with
corru%tion:#ice:wickedness. In that case I ha#e a tendency to easily beco&e irritated and
rejecti#e. I e#en so&eti&es feel tendencies towards #iolence.
Fnce again it was the &other of &y son Theseus who taught &e the following: You dont ha#e
to necessarily grouse about the heroine junkies that are so %resent in the center of A&sterda&,
like I always did. They were sitting there in the doorways and stairs s&oking their stuff. +irty
to the bone. So disgusting, they &ade &e sick. Then she would say to &e: ,<ot at all, cute..
/uteH
'ell, cute, funny. Those %eo%le ha#e chosen to li#e this way. Bust funny.
So this is how I ca&e to understand this Sutra.
Towards corru%tion you can also ha#e an attitude like: 'ell, FE, it is just as it is.
Fn the other hand it is also #ery difficult when you e(%erience ha%%iness. This is also written
in this Sutra. I then ha#e the tendency to beco&e #ery e&otional.
71
I will a%%ear on T.D. soon. I didnt tell this yet, but I ha#e already done the first inter#iew.
There are 8 e%isodes on channels :0:2 by the F)5 foundation. +o you watch these channelsH
They want to infor& %eo%le about self3realiIation and in res%ect to that they want to know
&ore about the four different ways to achie#e that: Ear&a YogaM 9hakti YogaM Aaja Yoga and
Bnana Yoga. They couldnt find anybody for these %rogra&s until one of &y students
introduced &e.
Anyway, the %oint is that I ha#e a tendency to beco&e e&otional, while this Sutra is telling us
in that case: ,-uietG *uietG e#en3te&%eredG nothing s%ecial going on here.. This is #ery
i&%ortant for the %urification of the &ind.
+oesnt this &ean that you condone heroine junkiesH
<o, they ha#e chosen to use drugs the&sel#es. They are res%onsible for their choices and
beha#ior. I only res%ect their choice.
9ut I can i&agine that when you grow u% in certain circu&stances, for e(a&%le in a third3
world country, you &ay beco&e a co&%letely different %ersonH
Yes, you are right about the fact that a lot of %eo%le just follow trends and are not aware of
what they are actually doing. 9ut we a%%roach this by saying: well, &aybe you didnt ha#e a
choice, too bad for you, but you still carry the res%onsibility for it.
Anyway, the %oint is that you can worry a lot o#er these kinds of things, but you can also say:
FE, it is just as it is.
)a#e I already told you that I will go to 9arcelona =S%ain> in Bune to gi#e a lecture and another
one in 5adrid in FctoberH 9ut &y ar&s are not going u% in the air nowM I& just going on a
#acation to S%ain, thats all.
'ill you recei#e tra#el e(%ensesH
<o, but it is ta(3deductible. Those +utchJ
+o you ha#e the sa&e %roble&H +o you also ha#e trouble to re&ain e#en3te&%ered in the face
of ha%%iness, &isery, #irtue and #iceH
There are &any %eo%le who do not know how to deal with this at all. 'ith the slightest thing
ha%%ening outside the boundaries of what is ,nor&al. they beco&e #ery u%set and ha#e
slee%less nights and so on.
This is related to the choices you &ake concerning your attitude towards things. It is a &atter
of culti#ating an attitude of friendliness, co&%assion and gladness. You dont ha#e to allow
yourself to be %ut off balance e&otionally. It is u% to you to decide. You can choose yourself.
5ost %eo%le si&%ly fail to &ake choices. They just go along with e#erything that is ha%%ening.
It is %erfectly okay to say to yourself: ,I& not going along with this.. This is your ga&e. It is
not &y ga&e. I will stay with &yself, thats it. And in that way it beco&es silent inside. You
7
&ay choose to beco&e u%set, but I ha#e chosen for inner silence. Thats all it is: a choice, and
you are the one to decide. )a#ent you noticed this yetH
Isnt this also a for& of surrenderH In the sense of ,things are bad, thats just the way it isH
<o, you &ust re&ain with yourself. It is the di#ine within you to which you should surrender.
That is i&%ortant. Surrender to that infinity within you and follow that. 9ut dont follow the
fluctuations in your surroundings.
+o the things that ha%%en around you always relate to youH
Yes, it always relates to you. 'hen it ha%%ens in your surroundings it &eans that you are
in#ol#ed in it. )owe#er, it does not &ean that you are obliged to go along with the u%s and
downs that are in#ol#ed in it, but that is a little bit difficult. You &ust deter&ine your %osition:
'hat do you chooseHS
Erishna&urti once said: ,Fbser#e.. 9e the obser#er. Sto%J
Peo%le co&e increasingly closer to you and %ull you out of your shed. They %ro#oke you and
tor&ent you and theyG I dont know what it all is they do. It is all about re&aining *uiet under
these situations, that is the e(ercise, and that is what you are trained to do.
If it is e(actly co&%assion that you ha#e to culti#ate, how is it %ossible to re&ain e#en3
te&%eredH
Stay with yourself. So, kee% yourself engaged in friendliness and co&%assion but stay with
your self. Ae&ain cal& within. This see&s to be in contradiction with our 'estern &entality.
Youre su%%osed to be e&otional, and to share e&otions with the other. In this Sutra we read
that you &ay sy&%athiIe:e&%athiIe with the other, but not e&otionally.
So you are allowed to griefH
<o. You &ust #eel the grief of the other %erson, without ado%ting that grief yourself. So, %lay
the ga&e with the other %erson and co&fort hi& because he is sad. You cannot co&fort the
other %erson if you are sad yourself.
You can also be of any &eaning if you are in Satt#aH
6(actly.
)ow about when you are grie#ing yourselfH
'hen you are grie#ing yourself it is %ure ego that is at work. That is absolutely rubbish. It is
nothing less than self3%ity that you are suffering fro&.
Introduce %eace:silence, and the sadness will disa%%ear, just like that. Sadness is based on a
thought linked with ego. 'hen you le#el that out with &editation it disa%%ears.
70
9ut you see& to grow through your u%s and downsJ
<o, you dont grow because of it. It destroys you, because of the u%s and downs.
$nderstanding that you should transfor& those u%s and downs into silence within you L that is
what &akes you grow. It is through the har&ony in you that beco&es increasingly bigger, that
your being beco&es increasingly healthier, &ore beautiful, that you can li#e longer, know
increasingly &ore and de#elo% &ore and &ore consciousness. That is de#elo%&ent:growth.
9ut to culti#ate such an attitude not only towards e&otions that are not so %leasant, but also
towards e&otions that are #ery %leasant L success, co&%li&ents and so on L that is difficult.
+o I e#er gi#e you co&%li&entsH Aarely, do IH It is because of thisJ ?or thisJ
9ecause there is nothing &ore dangerous for a de#elo%ing being than a co&%li&ent, because it
%uts you totally off balance.
It is better resistant against cursing and swearing and re%roach, and those kinds of thingsM
negati#e things. You know how to deal with negati#e things, but a nor&al hu&an being does
not know how to deal with co&%li&ents. It %uts hi& off balance. )e then walks ho&e and
says: ,Foh, Ajita told &e that I did wellJ. 'ith the result that the rest of the week is ruined.
+oes this also a%%ly to co&%li&ents that you gi#e to your surroundingsH
Yes, you should refrain fro& that too.
+ont do itJ 3o co&%li&ents.
Ff course you should also not start calling %eo%le na&esG but, look, gi#ing co&%li&ents is
nothing else than &ani%ulation of a %erson. 'hen you need so&ebodys fa#or, then you use
co&%li&ents. Thats how I see it.
'hat about when you do it intentionalH
Ff course, you can do anything you want. You are a free being in all as%ects, but you should
know what the conse*uences are.
Isnt a co&%li&ent once a while goodH
Yes, that is true, FE, but if you do it then be #ery s%arse in your %raise.
I#e e(%erienced circles in which %eo%le would o#erload one another with co&%li&ents: ,Ah,
sweetheart G. and ,/o&e here, big hug G.
9eautiful, all this, and I said to &yself: ,I ha#e arri#ed in hea#enJ.
$ntil I realiIed the true nature of the situation.
It was nothing &ore than a di#ersion.
And a way to take you in.
And to silence you.
And to get you to do so&eone elses dirty work.
And I dont know what kinds of strange ga&es were %layed thereJ
<o, no G sto% G %eace G <a&aste G
A hugH Ill %unch you on your noseJ
72
You can %ut this within the fra&ework of non3#iolence. ?ro& your %eaceful %osition you can
easily say: ,You cant dri#e &e craIy. +o you actually realiIe what you just toldH +o you
think you actually %lease %eo%le with what you are telling nowH. Dery *uietly.
You confront %eo%le with a &irror L which you are for the&: ,See what you are doingH.
That is %erfectly %ossible fro& the %osition of the obser#er. It is in fact a &ar#elous techni*ue:
You do gi#e so&ething to your surroundings, but you re&ain cal& yourself. You dont choose
sides.
I e(%erience the biggest %roble&s when there is success.
'hene#er I ha#e a nice occasion and I a& #ery ha%%y, and there is only one bastard that
sho#es this Sutra in front of &y face, that is really, really %athetic. 9ecause I would really like
to e(%ress:show &y ha%%iness. And I a& still bothering e#erybody with it. 'hen I call &y
&other and say: ,5o&&y, you know, I& going to be on TDJ.
,F Nod, F Nod., I then tell &yself, ,22
rd
Sutra,
st
%art: again I ha#ent been able to re&ain
e#en3te&%eredJ.
I& still not able to si&%ly say: ,5o&&y, you know, and yes, there is so&ething new: I will be
on TD soon..
I still cant do it. 9ut I ha#e to learn it thenJ And when I do that, she will say: ,Fkay, okay,
well, I guess I just continue watching that &o#ie on TDG it is &ore interesting than your
story..
So in the ga&e of co&&unication this is #ery difficult to fit in.
9ut if you ha#e to be like a child, arent children #ery enthusiastic like thisH
Yes, but that is the bad as%ect of a child when you look at it fro& the Yoga %oint of #iew.
There is a lack of e&otional control.
Isnt that one of the char&s of a childJ
'ell, I& not so sure about that G
9ut isnt it %ossible to be enthusiastic to a certain e(tent and still be detachedH
<o, it is either one or the other.
Then &aybe it is a kind of %lay3act.
Yes, that is what I ha#e been %roclai&ing for a long ti&e: ,I& just %laying.. 9ut it is not %ure.
So Yoga %rohibits you fro& watching %rogra&s that &ake you laughH
<o, of course not. That is not what I a& saying, is itH
You watch, but you watch with a bland face =e(%ressionless>. That is the 6astern way of
watchingM &aintain a %oker face. That is what we should doJ Play %oker togetherJ
78
9ut whene#er you are going through a bad %atch =Ta&as>, and you watch a %rogra& that
&akes you laugh =Aajas>, it brings you to Satt#a, doesnt itH
Yes, that is %ossible. 9ut you are not allowed to beco&e e(itedJ
It is so hard to fatho& that that would %ut you into direct dangerJ
It is the &ost dangerous. It is e#en &ore dangerous than those #ices and so on. It %uts you off
balance e#en &ore than all those other things.
'hyH 9ecause you dont see the dangerJ You think that it is good and that is what &akes it so
badJ
And there is not a %ossibility of doing that in a controlled wayH
6(actly, youll lose control entirely because you are so ha%%y.
?rankly, I dont see the %oint G why not just be ha%%y, lose control and then afterwards get
things together againH
@ook how well I ha#e done thisJ
Its all ego3related ga&es.
9ut you dont ha#e a need for the& any&ore, at least if things work out well, that is.
$nderstand: it is #ery dee%:difficult to a%%ly.
The sting is in the tail. The Ao&ans said: In /auda Denenu& 6st =the #eno& is in the tail>. It is
not a task you would gladly gi#e to so&eone: re&ain e#en3te&%ered, e#en when you are
ha%%y. This is such a different %oint of #iew L reconditioning of your being. Bust thinking of it
goes against the grain.
Bust think it o#er. I a& #ery curious what you &ake out of it.
&*! Pracchardana $idharanabh+am $a Pranas+s
Fr by the e(%iration and retention of breath.
=Fr by the outflow and retention of the subtle energy>
A direct reference, but of course it is not referring to breath because it says ,Pranasya.. The
translation of ,Prana. is not ,breath., but ,subtle energy.. =<ot the first but the fourth %ossible
translation out of fourteen, according to the dictionary of A%te>.
So by %racticing Pranaya&a you can %urify the &ind. 'e ha#e also read that in the )atha
Yoga Pradi%ika. That is one of the objecti#es of the %ractice of Pranaya&aM that e(ce%t
establishing %hysical health, you also %re%are for concentration, &editation and conte&%lation.
In this Sutra you hear the sa&e &essage again but now fro& another source.
Then what do you doH
7"
You are in a situation, in which you are #ery confused:chaotic inside, and there is neither heads
nor tail to it L then what do you doH
A #ery si&%le Pranaya&a e(ercise is: counting.
+uring Puraka, Aechaka and Eu&bhaka =inflow:outflow:retention> we also count. 9ut you can
gain control o#er situations by co&ing back to your self and say: ,Fne, two, three G.
'hyH 9ecause you focus your energies &entally. The energies in your being just %ass by those
nu&bers. You reduce the& all to nothing. That is Pranaya&aJ
So this is all focusing the energy: /ount.
Fr, e#en better: +o you want to restore har&ony at the dinner tableH +o you ha#e a
troubleso&e fa&ilyH Then you just ask your daughter =to silence her>: ,)ow &uch is 88
di#ided into 0H. Silence will fall i&&ediately and e#erything will be in har&ony.
Dery interesting, Pranaya&aJ 9ecause it affects you, doesnt itH So you ha#e to %ay attention.
Bust the *uestion in itself L you start calculating yourself: ,I was doing so&ething so&ewhere,
but what would be the solutionH.
This is an e(a&%le of the a%%lication of this 28
th
Sutra.
Actually you can a%%ly Pranaya&a to e#ery thought, but the %roble& with %eo%le is that they
are unable to hold one thought. They de#iate fro& it i&&ediately. The counting is interesting
because it is a &ethod to hold onM you go on: count to 11. /ount to 211.
'hen they tried to %ut &e aslee%G
'hen they were going to re&o#e &y tonsils in the hos%ital L I was 8 years of age then, and
those tonsils had to be taken out L actually they didnt ha#e to be taken out at all, but that was
the %re#ailing idea at that ti&e, they said to &e: ,Say a )ail 5aryG. So I was distracted, they
%ut a &ask on &y nose and I was gone. Thats the sa&e idea.
'hen you start to think and %anic L ,Fh, they want to choke &e. and so on L you &ake things
#ery difficult. So they distract youM just %ray.
So when they are counting they cant ha#e other thoughtsH
That would ha#e the sa&e effect.
'hat if they are distractedH
Then you ha#e to gi#e the& a &ore difficult task: &ake the& count faster or let the& count
backwards. You can find e(a&%les like this in biogra%hies of %eo%le who e(%erienced #ery
serious %roble&s in their li#es. 'hen you look at how they o#erca&e these %roble&s you find
these kinds of things. Dery re&arkable conclusions.
That is Pranaya&a.
Is it a for& of self3hy%nosisH
Yes, it is a for& of self3hy%nosis. It is the focusing of the attention. Peo%le who ha#e sur#i#ed
concentration ca&%s for e(a&%le, ha#e a%%lied such tricks, counting &arks =indicating the
days %ast> a&ong other things. They had all kinds of strange tricks, but they didnt know $hy it
74
worked. )owe#er, you know now how it works. So today you ha#e learned so&ething new:
)ow to sur#i#e a concentration ca&%.
Isnt ha%%iness AajasH
@ook at it in this way: your condition, initially, is usually Ta&as. And you are disturbed by
thoughts, which are all Ta&as. Then when you are ha%%y, you introduce Aajas and you can
counter it and create a balance between Ta&as and Aajas. In that way you can always co&e to
balance and also to e#en3te&%eredness. )owe#er, you should not e&%loy ha%%iness when your
condition is already Aajas. So it is a &eans to get you out of Ta&as.
9ut I can be in a condition of Satt#a, and be ha%%y at the sa&e ti&e, while not ha#ing the idea
that I a& out of balance.
Think about a %arty. It always re&inds &e of &y in3laws, the ones fro& &y first &arriage. It
was our wedding and e#erybody was ha#ing so &uch fun. 6#erybody was ha#ing great fun on
the dance floor. At 0 oclock &y father3in3law ca&e along and said: ,The %arty is o#er.. I
asked hi&: ,'hat do you &ean, o#erH. and he re%lied: ,'ell, a %arty should ne#er go on for
too long because %eo%le then get carried away. <ow e#erything is still nice and coIy, but
%eo%le will soon get drunk..
)e threw e#erybody out. At 0 oclock.
If Id had another attitude, I would ha#e %unched hi& straight in theG 9ut he was rightM also
with ha%%iness you &ust deal with &oderation.
9ut you#e once said that when you are so&ewhere and you are enjoying yourself, that you
&ust stay there.
Yes, but then you ha#e to try to work your way towards silence. So you gradually let ha%%iness
transfor& into a #ery big %eace and har&ony. This is so&ething that you can hold on for a long
ti&e if you ha#e had so&e training. )owe#er, ha%%iness in itself cannot be &aintained for so
long, the sa&e way bliss or lo#e cant be &aintained for long.
So&eti&es you see %eo%le who ha#e s&oked &arihuana who ha#e an uncontrollable fit of
laughter. They just continue laughing, see&ingly about nothing in %articular.
)u&, but you are talking about so&e other substance. That is not fair. This is about searching
for the establish&ent of har&ony of all your energies and you should not do that with the hel%
of all kinds of substances. Its already difficult enough to obtain it naturally.
$nless of course you ha#e sunken so dee%, then you can use so&e of it. I will then be the first
to reco&&end a glass of alcohol to get you out of it. Fr so&ething else.
)ow da&aging is if for your Ear&a when you are out of balance for a whileH
As long as you do this, you will continue to do it this way. Then you will ne#er gain control.
So what you ha#e to do is to reduce the fluctuations =wa#es>M try to reduce the u%s and downs.
7C
It doesnt &atter if they are still there, as long as they beco&e less. Then you are well on your
way in your %rocess of de#elo%&ent.
/ould it be ha#ing a certain effect on the rest of &y future if I were off balance yesterdayH
Yes, because whene#er you ha#e such %eaks, whether u% or down, you usually %roduce Ear&a.
Scars will then re&ain.
A wa#e then goes to the 5ost )igh, which then at a certain &o&ent co&es backH
Yes. Therefore the wise will always function slowly, to a#oid u%s and down as &uch as
%ossible. They will ha#e no interest in #iolent e(ertions and acti#ities like intense ha%%iness or
se#ere sadness and %ut e#erything into %ers%ecti#e.
I ha#e to think about Besus who said that, when so&ebody sla%s your cheek you should turn the
other cheek. )ow does this work and what does it &eanH
That is so&ething totally different. The essence of the 28
th
Sutra is to culti#ate an attitude to
%urify the &ind. The e(a&%le of this sla% on the cheek of Besus goes &uch dee%er. That is
&uch &ore co&%licated. That is &astershi%. It is about the control of the energies, to such an
e(tent that you register what e(actly caused the first sla%, and this infor&ation enables you to
tune in so well on this %erson and that you can transfor& and bend the energies of hi& to such
an e(tent to %eace and har&ony that he will not be able to gi#e you a second sla%.
So you catch the energiesH
<o, you dont catch the&. They are affected and then brought to co&%lete %eace, which you do
with only an intention. So it is not a wish but an intention.
This is At&ic consciousness. You ha#e an intention of co&%assion, which &akes you
understand the aggressor so well. It is a for& of lo#e. And through understanding the aggressor
you enter into his energy syste&. Bust try it for yourself to hit so&ebody who understands you
and looks at you and shows sy&%athy for you. That is al&ost i&%ossible.
5y %ast is full of #iolence, &urder and bloodshed. 'hen you kill so&ebody:want to kill
so&ebody, and he looks you straight in the eye, he &akes it #ery difficult on you. It is &uch
easier to knock so&eone down who turns his head away, but not so&ebody who looks you
straight in the eyeJ If then you can still %ull the trigger or thrust the daggerG
Bust think about it: when so&ebody is not just only looking at you, but also affects you
energetically and soothes your aggression and anger, you lose your strength and you cant do a
thing any&ore.
Anyway, this doesnt &ean that fro& now on you walk in the streets and look straight into the
eyes of anyone who acts strangelyG
That usually leads to %ro#ocations of #iolence.
You can only do that when you are a real &aster.
I ha#e often witnessed that so&ebody attacks e(actly because he feels &isunderstood by the
other. That is considered a reason to attack so&ebody.
77
Yes.
9ut it also de%ends on who& it is you are facing. It will be &ore difficult when you are facing
a serial killer. Then you really ha#e to be a good &aster.
There are &any kinds of #iolent %eo%le. This can be a%%lied relati#ely easily on the lighter
ones, but as the kind beco&es worse you ha#e to be better able to &aster circu&stances.
This is the test of the tiger. There is no bigger killer than a tiger. 'hen you succeed this test,
with such an ani&al =a tiger is about the &ost beautiful ani&al that e(ists L Id lo#e to ha#e one
as a %et>, thenG
I ha#e difficulty co&%rehending ,/o&%assion..
+ifficult, huhH Too far to be of any concern, huhH
?riendliness and co&%assion are causal *ualities. So you bring the energies to causal le#el, by
e(%ressing those, with the result that you will i&&ediately be a lot &ore har&onious.
Is co&%assion kind of Ta&as3likeH
Although it &aybe a little bit Ta&as3like, it is causal. As friendliness is a for& of Ta&as. It is a
for& of lo#e. You ha#e a choice. Pick one of these: for e(a&%le friendliness, co&%assion or
gladness, which can be of use at that #ery &o&ent.
@ast week you talked about =not> gi#ing co&%li&ents to %eo%le. Isnt that a for& of
friendliness within a relationshi%H
I was talking about gi#ing co&%li&ents in co&&on, in the sense of how %eo%le use the& to
&ani%ulate their surroundings. I ha#e seen it so &any ti&es in the en#iron&ent in which I grew
u% L that %eo%le &isused co&%li&ents to &ani%ulate situations. I&&ediately when theyd gi#e
a co&%li&ent you beca&e kind of sus%icious as to their intentions: ,'hat the heck does he
want fro& &eH. and ,'here is he going with thisH.
I grew u% in an en#iron&ent of hy%ocrisy and fancy airs, full of outward a%%earances, #ery
%olite, a world of fancy words. 9ut behind the scenesG so s&all3&inded with such a s&all3
town3&entality. This e(ists a lot.
The only city where I ha#ent e(%erienced this is A&sterda&. That is why I ha#e sold &y heart
to A&sterda&. It is such a weird and wonderful city. It is a city that is free. Ff course for you
who li#e there that is only nor&al.
This freedo& to &e is the &ost wonderful s%iritual basis you can i&agine.
It is said that the town of Aishikesh in India in the foothills of the )i&alayas is the ca%ital of
Yoga, but I ha#e serious doubts about that because the ca%ital of Yoga should gi#e you a sense
of freedo&. There should be a s%iritual #ibration. )owe#er, I ha#e ne#er been to Aishikesh, but
I will one day, e#en if it is only to get a taste of it. So that I can say that is not good G
7!
&,! $isa+a)ati $a Pra)rttir ;tpanna 8anasah Sthiti %ibhandhani
/o&ing into acti#ity of =higher> senses also beco&es hel%ful in establishing
steadiness of the &ind.
The best e(a&%le I can gi#e here is fro& the C1s when I was fully engaged in &ilitary training
to obtain &y bonnet L &y red beret. I was ha#ing such a hard ti&e and it was so difficult. 5y
body refused. ?or instance I totally failed to co&%lete one of the tests on the ro%e track =assault
course with ro%es>. There was a tree I see&ed unable to scale and grab the ro%e within the
%ro%er ti&e fra&e. You were su%%osed to crawl o#er the ro%e with your gun and your
&arching kit and then swing to another tree and so on. It was so terrible.
So, there I was on the e#e before the tests. The ne(t day was the big day. I said to &yself: ,I&
lost, its o#er and out, I& done. I& ne#er going to &ake it..
I was standing at the corner of the barracks and suddenly the clouds %arted and a ray of
sunshine a%%eared, shining right on &e. I felt a kind of war&th arise in &e and e#erything
beca&e light. An intense %eace ca&e o#er &e. At once the %anic disa%%eared and I found
&yself in the &iddle of a &ystical e(%erience.
That sa&e night I had a drea&: once again I saw that tree, and I saw e(actly how to %lace &y
hands and feet. It was like a wonderful slow3&otion &o#ie that showed &y how to do this. It
also felt as if I was actually doing it and it filled &e with a #ery large sense of confidence.
The ne(t day e#erything went #ery natural. I was standing in front of that tree, re&e&bered
and did e(actly as in &y drea&, and within no ti&e I was u% thereJ I had done itJ You should
ha#e seen the look on &y sergeants faceJ )e said: ,'hat is going on hereH 6#en the worst of
the tea& succeededJ.
This is not just a nor&al ha%%ening, but it is e(actly what this Sutra is telling us. This can
ha%%en to anyone, just like that. )owH 'hyH I dont know. I only know that once in a while
such e#ents ha%%en in &y life, but I& sure they ha%%en in your li#es too. I& not saying that
you should count on this. All I want to say is that it is %ossible. And e#en when e#erything
see&s to be lost, there is still this one %ossibility, that is, the 2"
th
Sutra. So ne#er gi#e u% and
lose ho%eJ
I think this has so&ething to do with good Ear&a that you carry in you, which is acti#ated
when you surrender. Actually that is all I did at the ti&e: I surrendered. Instead of &aintaining
that field of tension L the worries and %anic I suffered L I just said to &yself: ,Fkay, I& lost. I
wont &ake it. Ill just acce%t that I a& lost..
The fact that I surrendered o%ened the door for the Eleshas to do their work. At that &o&ent L
because you o%en u% L your good Ear&a finally attracts a Dritti that corres%onds with it. Fn
the other hand, when you re&ain closed L continue to worry and not being able to surrender L
you block the functioning of the Eleshas.
Peo%le can %ut a #ery big label on these kinds of e#ents, like: ,Fur +ear @ord has hel%ed &e.,
and so on. It is FE, you can call it like this, but you can also look at it fro& an energetic %oint
!1
of #iew. There are forces interacting u%on one another. Fnce you ha#e a better understanding
of how this works, it will be easier to a%%ly it.
This ha%%ens to you a cou%le of ti&es s%ontaneously. Then one day, when you are in trouble
again and your situation is ho%eless, you re&e&ber: ,Fh yeah, I dont see a way out at this
&o&ent, but ne#ertheless, lets just kee% all the channels o%en..
'hat e(actly is &eant with those higher sensesH
Those higher senses are actually the senses, and the functioning of the Eleshas as I e(%lain
the& to you, Drittis. They are the Sa&skaras in you that %roduce Drittis, which then attract
Drittis of the sa&e kind. Those are the higher senses, the world of the Bnanendriyas and the
Ear&endriyas.
&0! $iso/a $a J+otishmati
Also =through> serene or lu&inous =states e(%erienced within>.
This can bring %eace into you too. Actually it is the reaction of %eo%le that care about you, who
lo#e you. You are going through a rough ti&e and get u%set: then what do those %eo%le doH
They co&e close to you and say: ,Its alright. Bust forget it. 6#erything will be okay. +ont
worry. /al& down..
/o&fortingH
It is co&forting, yes. That is for e(a&%le one of the things you do when so&ebody asks for
your hel%, like a ter&inal %atient, so&ebody who is close to death. This is a terrible situation.
I& not sure if you e#er e(%erienced so&ething like that. So&ebody who knows that he is near
death: he wakes u% e#ery &orning and the first thing he thinks about is: ,I will die.. And all
day long he will walk around thinking: ,I will die.. This is like li#ing in hell. An absolute hell.
$ntil he goes to slee% again at night. And &ost of the ti&e he has night&ares. 'ith those
%eo%le in %articular you can a%%ly this Sutra.
It see&s like a coincidence that you talk about this, because this week I e(%erienced the sa&e
with a girl friend. It is the second ti&e that she has cancer and doctors ga#e u% on her. It is a
ho%eless situation.
'ell, it is one of the hobbies I ha#e: to guide ter&inal %atients. This society has nothing to
offer for those %eo%le, but Yoga can gi#e the& a lot of co&fort. The a%%roach is with esoteric
healing, a treat&ent that installs har&ony within the&. A har&ony that is such that enables
the& to go through the %rocess, well, I wouldnt call it ,nor&al., but at least they re&ain
hu&an under the circu&stances and it lets the& kee% their dignity. At least they dont go
down groaning and bawling and calling. They can see the &erits. They dont lose their ability
to discri&inate. Ff course it isnt that si&%le, there is a long story attached to it: you &ust
!
guide the& and e(%lain e#erything, and so on, but after a while they are totally con#inced and
then they can do it.
The first thing you ha#e to tell a %erson who is dying is that he is not going to die, because
%eo%le ha#ent got the slightest idea what dying &eans. They think that e#erything sto%s fro&
that &o&ent on, but that is not trueM you always kee% your consciousness. ?ore#er. So dying is
like losing your consciousness for a &o&ent. 9ut then your consciousness wakes u% again,
only you will not be in your body any&ore. And it is the sa&e consciousness that you ha#e at
this #ery &o&ent, while you are still in this body. It is e(actly the sa&e.
I know this #ery well, because I ha#e transcended fro& &y body se#eral ti&es. So the first
thing you ha#e to take care of is that nonsensical fear of death, and relegate it to the world of
fantasies.
/onsciousness is energy, and energy ne#er gets lost according to science. Your consciousness
has always e(isted and will always e(ist. It &ay show u% in another for& though, but that is
so&ething to worry about later. 9ut dont be afraid, because your consciousness wont
disa%%ear. Yes, it is like taking off all your clothes.
'hat good is the use of a body that doesnt function %ro%erly any&oreH 'hen it is co&%letely
e&aciated, and it hurts so &uchH It will be a relief to be allowed to ste% out of it =life>J That is
e(actly the understanding that you ha#e to %lant within those %eo%le, as o%%osed to sowing fear
and %anic for dying. <o, the idea of liberation is better. It is a sal#ation. ?inally you will be rid
of the &isery, all the &isery that is here on earth. And the astral world where you are going is a
#acation. There are no %roble&s there and you dont ha#e to work there at all.
+o you ha#e a &e&ory of the astral worldH I do. It really is a #acation, unbelie#able. I would
gladly return there right away, no %roble&, just right away, right now. 9ut down here on earthH
6ach ti&e when I see a child is born G ouch G and whene#er I see a hu&an die G yesJ
+o you see the difference in a%%roachH And with that a%%roach you gradually try to hel%
restore control in that %erson, with the techni*ues, as we know the&. And with all the other
techni*ues of esoteric healing, in order to allow the ru%ture that occurs =during the %rocess of
decline> to take %lace as *uiet as %ossible, as to reduce the %ain as &uch as %ossible, and the
disco&forts:incon#eniences and so on.
'ith this a%%roach you are e&%loying an a%%roach of alle#iation and relie#e, as o%%osed to an
anesthetics3a%%roach:su%%ort.
There is also the %ossibility in certain cases, when the kar&ic *uestion is fa#orable, that you
can change the course of the disease and that that %erson heals, e#en fro& a #ery serious
disease =e.g. fro& li#er cancer, which ha%%ened in our center>. 9ut this de%ends on certain
influences L causal, subtle and gross, which is realiIed with certain techni*ues of &agnetic
nature and:or radiation techni*ues. /an you follow this a little bitH
I find esoteric healing interesting anyway, but when it concerns a close friend, you ha#e to
swallow once or twice, and think it o#er seriously.
!0
That is real healing.
6#erything has its function. So the function of that friend in any case is that you will %ay &ore
attention to these kinds of things, because it affects:touches you. ?or e(a&%le, I entered into all
these &edical situations because I got sort of trau&atiIed by the %assing away of &y father of a
heart disease. It still bothers &e. It is so&ething that really goes against the grain with &e L
that a young &an, he was only "2 years old, just dies of so&ething so stu%id as a heart attack.
9ut he died of it %urely because he didnt know how to deal with it and didnt know what his
chances were. )is beha#ior in life was wrong and so on. There were so &any things he could
ha#e done. So, I a& working now, and telling e#erybody about it. I ha#e e(%erience with it, in
the &ean ti&e, but actually it is in the na&e of &y father that I do it. That is the reason why it
is so %owerful. So his function in this &atter is for hi& to hel% &e carry on with this. In this
regard you could al&ost say that his disease has ser#ed a %ur%ose.
'hat is the &eaning of ,enlighten&ent. hereH
,Byoti. K light.
It is a condition in which there is Satt#a. In general ter&s. So it can be !"Q of Satt#a, or it can
be !CQ of Satt#a. It can also be !!Q, !!.!Q, but it can also be 11Q. @ike the Phili%s3light
bulbs there are #arious strengths. 'hat is i&%ortant is the e(tent of Satt#a L that is light.
'hate#er situation there is: whene#er you are tur&oil, suddenly because of the circu&stances
light will occur. 6#en the light of understanding will doM that suddenly you see through
so&ething. That light is often enough to &ake you cal&.
&1! $ita Raga $isha+am $a Cittam
Also the &ind fi(ed on those who are free fro& attach&ent =ac*uires steadiness>.
+o you know anybody who is free fro& attach&entsH
5y role &odel was &y fathers brother, uncle Pol. )e wi%ed his feet on e#erything. )e li#ed
like Nod in ?rance. )e had his own nor&s and #alues, a little bit like that guy that li#es in +en
Il% . +o you know hi&H )es one who is detached.
Fne day &y uncle went out to buy so&e cigarettes. It was not before fi#e years before he
returned. )e knocked on the door of his e(3wifeG his %lace in bed was occu%iedG ,'ell., he
said, ,it doesnt &atter.. )e went to slee% in the bathtubJ )e did all kinds of silly things. Fne
day L he was %oor, had no *ualifications since he %erfor&ed badly in school L he a%%eared
dra%ed with golden rings and necklaces, e(%ensi#e sunglasses, dri#ing an Italian con#ertible.
,So, nonkel =which &eans uncle in ?le&ish> Pol, what ha%%ened to youH. ,'ell,. he said ,a
rich widowG. )e chu&&ed u% with a rich old widow who co#ered hi& in jewelry. A cou%le
of &onths later we saw hi& again, without con#ertible and without jewels. ,'hat ha%%ened to
youH. we asked. And he said: ,'ell, I& a free &an again, you know.. And it didnt bother
hi& at all. The only thing he did in li#e was %ulling jokes, telling stories and doing silly things.
You were just ne#er safe when he was in the #icinityM you always had to watch your ste%s. )e
had nothing at all, totally nothing. 9ut he shook u% e#eryone and e#erybody. And if so&ebody
!2
ca&e to gi#e hi& trouble, he would walk u% to this guy and whis%er in his ear: ,You better
watch it buddy, I know so&ething about you.. )e didnt know anything at all, you knowJ 9ut
when he said so, e#erybody was *uiet, wondering: ,'hat could he %ossibly knowH. You can
i&agine: in an en#iron&ent of hy%ocrite swank and fancy airs and s&all3town &entality L
so&ebody like hi& going against and breaking through all the con#entions.
It is a sha&e that he died so early. )e organiIed snail3races. Snail/racesJ That is so e(citing
when you are a child. You bring a snail L to the &ark L finish L and the first snail to get there
would win. )e guided the& with burning cigarettesJ
'hene#er you get stuck in all kinds of things and you re&e&ber the i&age of such a %erson it
is sufficient: you will be liberated. Bust such an e(a&%le in itself is enoughM because he &ade it
this way:he did it like this. And it worked. And you are detached. <o, e#en worse, youll
beco&e like that yourself.
This is the a%%roach of the drunken &aster as they call it in the 6ast. That is one of the &ost
dangerous &artial arts that e(ist. +o you know this styleH It is the &ost dangerous o%%onent
that you can i&agine. It is called the o%%onent who is already dead. An o%%onent who is
already dead has no fear of death any&ore for he is dead already. Thats his greatest strength.
You cant %lace so&eone like thatM he swings around:acts #ery strange, %utting you off guard,
also because you will %lace hi&:%igeon3hole hi&, as you are used to do. 9ut he has no
%igeonholesJ So better beware ne#er to enter the arena with a drunken &aster. Yoga is not so
&uch related to al that fighting3stuff, but if %ush co&es to sho#e, fighting is %art of the ga&e
too. So, %eo%le who act strange and so on: there is &ore behind it than you can i&agine.
&5! S)apna %idra Jnana.ambanam $a
Also =the &ind> de%ending u%on the knowledge deri#ed fro& drea&s or
drea&less slee% =will ac*uire steadiness>
A re&arkable drea& that you ha#e, can touch you so dee%ly that it can bring you to %eace, like
a %ortentous drea&, or a warning drea&. Suddenly things are &ade clear, &aking it %ossible to
take the %ressure of the kettle.
?or so long I#e been occu%ied with the *uestion: ,'here a& I nowH., ,+o I ha#e any
authority in the field of YogaH., ,A& I a good Yoga teacherH. ?or &any years this has been
bothering &e. Then one night +r Pukh Aaj Shar&a, one of the great Yogis who hel%ed &e,
a%%eared before &e in a drea&. )e carried a %iece of cloth in his hands and offered it to &e. I
thought to &yself: ,'hat a& I su%%osed to do with thatH. ,It is for you., he said, ,and you
&ay %ick a color.. Pick a colorH Then suddenly, as *uick as lightning, all kinds of %ossible
colors a%%eared before &e, all at once. Then I chose the color of the car%et in our Yoga roo&:
gray3blue:#iolet. And then he left. This brought &e to co&%lete cal&. This &an ga#e &e
so&ething of great i&%ortance: the sy&bol of &astershi%. )e offered &e the cloak of the
&aster. I had to choose the color &yself. I was not told with as &any words, but I re&e&ber it
as such. And the effect on &y &ood was #ery big.
!8
)ow about this ,drea&less slee%.H
Also fro& drea&less slee% you can deri#e knowledge, because it is a Satt#ic e#ent in which
you get u% in the &orning and while awaking you ha#e the feeling: ,I knowJ Thats itJ.
This is so&ething that doesnt co&e to you in a drea&, but it has co&e to you through
drea&less slee%.
Peo%le often say: ,I will slee% on it..
?or nor&al %eo%le that is a #ery, #ery interesting factor.
And according to the following Sutra you can also %urify the &ind:
&6! Yathabhimata (h+anad $a
Fr by &editation as desired.
Thats interesting: ,as desired.. You dont ha1e to necessarily %ractice &editation. 9ut if
nothing hel%s, after ha#ing tried all %receding suggestions, and still you cant figure it out, and
your thoughts continue to %lay tricks on you, and only when you feel like it, then you %ractice
&editation.
)ere you are confronted with the sa&e idea as with a 5udra: you can only successfully
%erfor& when you feel like doing it. There is no way that it can be i&%osed u%on you.
I was always of the idea that &editation was an obligation, that it was i&%ossible to reach
enlighten&ent without &editation.
'ell, in %ractice it see&s to be working like that. 5any of the %receding ele&ents can be used,
but they do not always work out like that. 'ith &editation that is different: you ha#e it in your
own hands. You can a%%ly it just like that.
?irst a whole range of %ossible suggestions are offered to &ake your &ind &ore %eaceful, but
the &ost effecti#e one, which is also the &ost %ractical one, co&es last.
'hat is it that he i&%lies with thisH )e i&%lies control. )e tries to &o#e you closer to control.
)e indicates: ,Fh yeah, thats what you could ha#e, and thats a natural condition too, and
thats what you can get., after which you say: ,Yeah, nice, I want to ha#e that too. 9ut when
will it occur to &e againH.
In this way he gradually war&s you u% for the final solution: &editation: the &ost %ractical
solution after all.
*7! Paramanu Parama 8ahatt)anto 9S+a $asi/arah
!"
)is &astery e(tends fro& the finest ato& to the greatest infinity.
'hen you are engaged in &editation, when you %roceed on the %ath of Yoga, as he indicates,
you will reach &astershi%. )owe#er, &astershi% is not ha#ing a sign on your front door that
says: ,5aster.. <o, it is not like that at all, but then what is itH It is control of life. And that is
what ,e(tends fro& the finest ato& to the greatest infinity.: @ife as a whole, including death, to
infinity.
So you ha#e to ha#e a gri% on the course of life, the occurrence of death, and the uncertainties.
You also ha#e to be able to rise abo#e ti&e.
'hat else does &astershi% &eanH
It &eans that you can transfor& things at will, according to your liking. As a &aster you can
transfor& things that are una#oidable to nor&al %eo%le. 'hat you are dealing with in Yoga is
actually the control o#er Ear&a. 'e try to understand how Ear&a de#elo%s, how it influences
us, how we are e#entually guided into Sa&skara by Ear&a =the %ath of re3birth>, but we also
learn how we can burn Ear&a, with the #arious e(ercises of Sa&adhi and Sa&ya&a, which
e#entually results in the control of and &astershi% of life. If you want to establish things, you
first ha#e to take care of %lanting the necessary Sa&skaras before you start. Planting
Sa&skaras is basically a wish. 'e also know this in the sense of ,&aking a suggestion., so
you %ro%ose so&ething to so&ebody. That in itself is already strong enough to %ut hi& in
&otion, to &ake hi& think about the things that you ha#e said. That is the idea of %lanting,
which then can result in actions. And the Sa&skaras that stand in your way, that can block you
fro& achie#ing so&ething, you take care of the&: you burn the&. This can a%%ly to a %erson
who carries certain characteristics that bother you, but it can also be a situation.
An e(a&%le of burning that we %articularly use in this school is the treat&ent of %eo%le who
are ill. 'e ask the Ear&ic *uestion, we check if that %erson has understood why he is
confronted with that disease and whether he has drawn the necessary lessons fro& it, but also
whether he is allowed to be hel%ed. 'hen the answer is ,<o., we are not allowed to treat hi&.
In that case we can only guide hi& and try to &ake hi& understand. In case he has already
understood and deser#es hel%, we can treat hi&. Then we will burn this %ersons Sa&skaras
and he will reco#er and beco&e &ore har&onious.
That is &astershi%: you %erfor& so&ething that is actually not %ossible. A &aster distinguishes
hi&self fro& others by doing i&%ossible things. Peo%le who attend our 5aster training are
asked to %erfor& i&%ossible tasks and then bring the& in front of &e, after which I say: ,)uh,
I can do that too, you knowJ. Bust kiddingG I& not that difficult at allJ 9ut it has to be
so&ething that is i&%ossible, and when you consider it, there ha#e been se#eral %eo%le who
ha#e done so. They ha#e done ad&irable things, %ro#ing that a hu&an being can do &uch &ore
than he thinks. The %re%aration:e(ercises:understanding of all these actions, and so on, that is
what I a& offering you in this school.
5astershi% cannot only be li&ited to this world:the nor&al world, but e(tends into the causal
worldM the world abo#e ti&e L the causal world L is in#ol#ed too.
!4
Pay attentionJ In &ost cases the disease of a %erson is good for hi&, and you should stay out of
it. ?or &e that is always a big %roble&.
To say ,no.H
<o, that is not the %roble&. It is difficult to acce%t that so&ebody is suffering and that it is
actually good for hi& to suffer and that he actually has to suffer. That really goes against the
grain with &e. )owe#er, that is how the law is: you ask the Ear&ic *uestion =so you ask with
your heart:intuition: ,Is this goodH A& I allowed to hel% this %erson in relation with his
Sa&skarasH.> and you will get a direct answer. 5ost of the ti&es the answer is ,<o., or at
least in 41:C1 Q %ercent of the cases. In that case you &ust guide the& with talking,
co&forting and other &eans, e.g. a %ill. You can attenuate:hel% to attenuate the suffering, but
you are not allowed to sol#e the %roble& for hi&. 'hyH 9ecause a disease carries a lesson
within, and as long as a hu&an has not understood this you ha#e to grant hi& the o%%ortunity
to learn. If you take that away he will learn nothing at all. The sa&e &istake will be &ade o#er
and o#er again. The result will be that you find yourself in a situation in which you can
continue to interfere and take away the %roble& for hi&. So it is of no use that you hel% the
%erson burn his Sa&skaras. )owe#er, that is the theory behind this. In %ractice, at least in the
beginning, I was always ho%elessly frustrated whene#er I worked with such a %atient.
So, there are still li&itations. 5astershi% is nice and it e(tends into infinity, but you cannot
ignore certain laws. In the beginning &any %eo%le think: ,Yeah, &astershi%, then you can do
anything.. 9ut that is not realistic. A 9uddha too has its li&itations. A 9uddha for e(a&%le has
&astershi% o#er all his li#es =in the %ast and in the future>, but he has for e(a&%le no
knowledge about the li#es of the celestial bodies. That is so&ething that goes beyond his
%owers. Its only logical, because a 9uddha e(tends u% to a certain le#el of consciousness.
9eyond that le#el, a /honan or a 5aha /honan does enco&%ass this. So, the *uestion is: how
far does your &astery:control e(tendH
*! -shina $rtter Abhijatas+e)a 8aner Grahitr Grahana Grah+eshu
'atstha 'adanjanata Samapattih
In the case of one whose /itta3Drittis ha#e been al&ost annihilated, fusion or
entire absor%tion in one another of the cogniIer, cognition and cogniIed is
brought about as in the case of a trans%arent jewel =resting on a colored surface>.
)ow do you reach &astershi%H
9y Yoga /itta Drtti <irodhah L the definition of Yoga.
In this Sutra you find back the /itta Drttis.
So you ha#e gained control o#er the Drttis in your being u% to their origin L which are the
Sa&skaras that can be found in /itta. As regards the consciousness you ha#e beco&e so
har&onious through this that knower =cogniIer>, knowing =cognition> and the known
=cogniIed> fuse with one another. This is actually co&&unication &anage&ent. 'hen you are
!C
engaged into so&ething, you see the object in which you are engaged. You are the seer, while
there is also seeing of what is in#ol#ed in the %rocess. This trinity slowly disa%%ears along with
the disa%%earing of the Sa&skaras in your /itta. 'hyH It is #ery si&%le: because the trinity is
de%ending on Drttis, thoughts. 'hen you ha#e no Sa&skaras any&ore, there is no %roduction
of thoughts any&ore and thus obser#ation ha%%ens directly, through resonance.
So you dont ha#e an i&age, which is a Drtti, and a self3i&age, of your own, and flow of
energy going fro& one to the other =which is the knower, the knowing and the known>, but you
just ha#e a cou%le of Sa&skaras in your being that resonate with Sa&skaras of the other. 6t
#oilaJ It is doneJ That is the fusion, and it is as easy as can be. 5any ti&es easier than the
%rocess of thought as we follow it. ?or &e this &eans that in %ractice we should %ay &uch
&ore attention to this than to the &ind. So we &ust learn to function &uch &ore fro& our heart
=at least that is what it is called>. 9ecause that is the resonance. 'hat would you like to doH
'hat is it that attracts youH Bust do what you like. I& not talking about desire. I& talking
about what &o#es you, what touches you in lifeH
I a& constantly confronted with the sa&e situation: I see %eo%le around &e =but often I also see
&yself> functioning according to a %attern like: ,<ow I a& su%%osed to do this. And now I a&
e(%ected to act like that, so I will do so accordingly.. Ti&e and ti&e again I notice that I forget
to listen to that little #oice within &e, that says: ,And what would you like &ostH. which could
be so&ething #ery si&%le, like strolling through downtown watching the sho% windows for
e(a&%le. +ont allow your desire to %ush you. +ont allow yourself to be dragged along by
your %artner. Instead feel for yourself and deter&ine what it is that you think is interesting. ?or
once ask the *uestion yoursel#. And &aybe you will co&e to the conclusion that you dont feel
like strolling through town at all. 'ell, then you just go out, wouldnt youH Bust like that,
i&&ediatelyJ )o% in the car, behind the wheel: ask: ,in what directionH Scan, scanJ In which
direction do you want to goH. You should try this. It is really fun. You turn around the
roundabout until suddenly you feel attracted by so&ething. 'ell, that is the direction you goJ
The road to ad#enture. <o, +har&aJ That is your +har&aJ It is in that direction that you will
find a new e(%erience &eant for you.
9ut in %ractice we dont ha#e the courage to function like this. 'e are concerned: ,'hat will
&y relati#es think of thisH That I a& craIy.. I just go without e#en a %lan or gi#ing a
justification to do this or that. There is no need to account for your actions. 'hat kind of
strange issue are we talking aboutH +oes it all ha#e to be so rationalH
I often re&e&ber the story of Ba&es Aedfield, who is the author of the /elestine Pro%hesies,
who at the start of the book stays in his cabin and who suddenly gets an ins%iration, and then
also has the courage to just follow u% on it. That ins%iration was: No now. Take a %lane to
South3A&erica. This is so %erfect, you knowH That is what it is all about. 5o like that.

In his book he describes it strikingly: )e e(%eriences the craIiest things. )e &eets %eo%le. It is
an a&aIing ad#enture and so dee%. )e allows hi&self to be guided syste&atically by that
feeling in his heart. )e asks hi&self as little *uestions as %ossible. )e too is confused, because
he doesnt understand a thing of it. 9ut along the way he disco#ers that there is a connecting
thread. /onnecting thread. Bust a &inuteJ A SutraJ Sutra. That is the &eaning of a Sutra. So
!7
beyond reason there is still a logic so&ewhere that guides you IigIag, see&ingly fro& %illar to
%ost, through lifeM #ery chaotic but &eaningful.
Fnly so&ebody who is able to do Yoga /itta Drtti <irodhah can achie#e so&ething like that.
+o you ha#e a feeling that you ha#e to goH
Then you just go. Its %ossible, isnt itH
5aybe you feel attracted to a boat. 5aybe you beco&e enthusiastic for knowledge. 5aybe you
feel attracted to far& life. Bust choose in accordance with it.
+oesnt your &ind agreeH
FE, when you notice that, than you ha#e to %ut e#erything aside. Then you scan. /ontinue to
focus around you to detect %ossibilities. 6#en if it was only to deter&ine: in what direction do I
walkH 3o$, at this #ery &o&ent. +raw a circle of 241 degrees, after which you will feel
so&ething indicating a certain direction. The ne(t ste% is to try to deter&ine the distance. Bust
esti&ate: 1 k&, " k&, 11 k& G It is like with the artillery you knowH Then your heart will
react and you will suddenly say: ,9ingoJ ThereJ And for the rest you know nothing. You dont
e#en know what will ha%%en there. You just go there and then you say: ,'ell, this &ust be
about it..
/ant you, while being occu%ied with the things that you are ,su%%osed. to do, o%en yourself
u% and watch what is co&ing your wayH
Yes, that is agility. So it is trying to re&ain on causal le#el and be rece%ti#e for i&%ressions,
which is in fact resonance, with a certain direction. That is agility.
It actually doesnt &atter what you do.
<o, it doesnt &atter at all. 5aybe at a certain %oint it is crucial for you to eat a %ortion of fries,
that that is the &eaning of your life at that #ery &o&ent. 'ell, that would of course be a
fantastic fulfill&ent of your life G but dont forget to order with tartare sauce G
9ut beware of desire, huhJ
Yes, that is the dancing we discussed before. So you dont get stuck to anything. And you can
&ake decisions #ery *uickly, fro& one &o&ent to another. Suddenly you feel an urge. You
chase downtown, into +ynabyte =co&%uter sho%>, straight to the shel#e where you ha#e to be
and you see what you need, take it off the shel#e and settle the bill at the check out. If it is to
your liking. If not, or if the %roduct is not a#ailable, you chase back to your car and 01 &inutes
later you find yourself in front of your co&%uter again. Totally nuts in the eyes of an outsider.
9ut that is what this is about, and I can assure that this is interesting. It is fun. It gi#es you a
sense of freedo& and you touch u%on the essence of your own being and you will feel ali1e.
'hen you do it in another way, with reason, you will find yourself ha#ing your life li#ed for
you. This is for sla#es.
!!
In the beginning when you start functioning like this you will find yourself saying to yourself:
,Nee, I a& absolutely craIyJ. And you check afterwards. At least that is how I did it. I couldnt
resist to let reason ste% in afterwards and ask: ,'hy did I do thatH. and: ,Is this really that
good for &eH. And each ti&e I did so I was able to find rational:sensible justification that was
%erfect, one that I couldnt ha#e thought of &yself.
As fast as lightning you go straight through e#erything, with i&%ressions. So you just scan. It is
co&%arable with the difference between analog co&&unication and digital co&&unication. As
you know analog co&&unication works with little wa#es, while digital co&&unication works
with s&all bits and bytes. That is the difference, and there is nobody left in teleco&&unication
who still has an interest in analog co&&unication. That is good for sla#es.
A Drtti is a thought, which is a s%here, a whirl of energy that li&its you. 9ecause of that
cogniIer, cognition and cogniIed =which is the relation between the two> occur. 9ut here you
are working on the #ibration of the energy itself, with the i&%ressions that it carries with it.
And you resonate with an i&%ression here for an i&%ression there. It is done at once, so you
are not li&ited.
In the sa&e way you can also do:e(%erience:see:notice se#eral things at the sa&e ti&e. Your
ability to react is considerably bigger. If a ?or&ula dri#er does not dri#e his car in this way L
Yoga /itta Drtti <irodhah 3 he will ne#er win, because the biggest obstacle for a for&ula
dri#er is thoughtM as soon as he starts to think, he is lost because his car goes too fast. The sa&e
a%%lies to fighter jet %ilots, but also to any other kind of job in which you #ery s%eedily ha#e
lots of res%onsibilities, e.g. the director of a co&%any. As soon as he starts to think he is lost. A
really good &erchant:director does his job intuiti#ely. )e is a real e(%ert and that is so&ething
that you cannot learn in school.
Is it %ossible to ha#e such an intuiti#e co&&unication with a hu&anH
It resonates, so you recogniIe the sa&e infor&ation within the other.
9ut can you a%%ly this also to %roductsH I had a feeling that when you are dealing with
Sa&skaras it is always about a hu&an.
<o, you find the& in objects too. Then you feel that that certain object fits with you. I owned a
/itroen 9T3ty%e. Then one day I, while walking in a %arking lot in )oorn =a town in )olland>
I see a white T53ty%e, so low to the ground L ,'hat is thisHJ I ha#e no s%ecial interest for this
car at all. 5y desire is &ore on the le#el of 5ercedes 9enI. ,9ut what is it that I ha1e with
that carHJ. 'ell, later it beca&e clear to &e, you knowJ I got one &yself. I was not able to get
around it. It ha%%ened so fast: second hand L under s%ecial conditions L i&&ediate test dri#e L
coincidentally wife and kids acco&%anied &e L all the circu&stances were right. In hindsight I
realiIe: it was about the best %ossible car for &e, to teach &e things. ?or e(a&%le the enor&ous
s%ace insideM econo&ic useM e(ce%t for the garage bills, but that is another story G
Fnly years later a nu&ber of things fall e(actly in their %lace. <ow I ha#e understood why this
was the best car for &e. The e(%erience in that %arking lot in )oorn was a signal for &e, and if
11
I had been cle#er, I would ha#e started looking for such a car immediately, at that #ery
&o&ent. I wouldnt ha#e waited. So, the %oint is not that these things dont ha%%en, because it
ha%%ens to e#erybody. The %roble& is that we do not gi#e any %riority to these kinds of
things:signals. 'e dont understand the &essage, while it is actually the &ost i&%ortant as%ect
of our li#es. This is what &o#es us. You ha#e to use that to your ad#antage. That is why it is
called +har&a L duty.
Si&on says that, after considering it thoroughly, already for a few weeks he is looking for a
new car.
)a#e you felt so&ething in your heartH +id you feel so&ething at the #ery &o&ent he
called:infor&ed youH You didntH Then it is not your car.
9ut I ha#e ne#er felt so&ething like that.
)a haJ That is why you %ay &e: to hear things that you ha#e ne#er heard before. 'hat else
would be the %ur%ose of &y e(istence if I would tell you things you already %ut in %racticeH
The *uestion now is: ,Is this actually true what I a& telling youH Is it indeed so interesting for
&e to do it in this wayH.
I a& e(%laining you how to do it: you &ust scan. You want to ha#e a car, well, scan. )ow can
you scanH No to the Internet and click all kinds of %ossible car brands and #eel. Start with
nationalities of cars. Then already you should feel a click. 'hen you deter&ine nationality
you#e already done a large %art of the selection %rocess. Then you click on se#eral brands of
that nationality and you will soon know &ore.
It can be that you feel a #ery subtle click, &eaning that it is not so i&%ortant for you. 9ut if it is
a hea#y Sa&skara in you the click will be substantial.
'hat if you decide to ignore the clickH
Then you are a thief. You are being dishonest.
Are you then &o#ing away fro& your +har&aH
Yes, your life will beco&e &eaningless.
Is that co&%arable to so&eone who beco&es %hysician only because his dad wants hi& to beH
)e is a fool. Totally foolish. ?ro& that &o&ent he will not be able any&ore to follow the line
that enables hi& to de#elo%. ?or your de#elo%&ent is directly connected to your Ear&a. You
ha#e co&e down to earth to co&%ly with your Ear&a and to learn to deal with it. And to
e#entually e#en burn it.
'hat if I continue to doubtH
1
That is the &ind. You ha#e to beware of that because it &akes you doubt. In these kinds of
situations it is rather si&%le: dont think, dont doubt, you feel a click and i&&ediately you
co&e into action following the direction of that click. There are no alternati#es.
+ont try to e#aluate, just go for it. Then afterwards, after it is done, after you ha#e done it, you
are free to e#aluate, but the #irst thing you ha#e to do is to go for it.
So you shouldnt read re#iews of %roductsH
That is killing. It &ay be true what is written and it is all fine that %eo%le gi#e #ery interesting
infor&ation, but it doesnt add anything to your situation. You look straight through all this.
You dont need all this. There is so&ething that is e(actly fit for you and that is the direction
you ha#e to go. It shouldnt be u% to the consu&ers organiIations to deter&ine e(actly what is
fit for you and what it not. There is a cocktail of characteristics in you that fits e(actly with
certain things.
Try to do as I a& suggesting you. It works and you will see that you will be able to *uickly,
#ery *uickly, &ake decisions. It is unbelie#ableJ It will e#en ha%%en so *uickly that it will
scare you. In the sense of: did I actually &ake the right decisionH You will know afterwards.
+ont think in ad#anceM think afterwards instead. I worked like this in the business world: I
already knew what to do with &y %roducts:which ones to launch:how %eo%le would react. I
knew e#erything in ad#ance. I scanned e#erything and on that basis I &ade a rational
decision:declaration of thought in the for& of a co&%lete &arketing %lan. And that always
looked #ery slick. There was only one thing &y boss didnt like about it: I ne#er had an
alternati#e. It was either that or nothing else, %eriod. ,Yes, but., he used to say ,I would like to
see this different this ti&e.. And ,'hy didnt you follow that directionH. And ,'ouldnt that
be betterH. To which I would say: ,<o, this is it, or there is nothing.. 'ell, that is working
intuiti#ely. It is intuiti#e &anage&ent.
Is this also the way to deal with job3a%%lication lettersH
Yes. 'hen you look at a na&e you already know. 6#ery e(%ression of a %erson carries a
Ear&ic charge of that %erson.
)ow do you a%%roach this if you are not so well de#elo%ed yetH
Bust %ray G <o, of course not. The answer should be: PracticeJ Practice to de#elo% this skill
yourself. 9ecause as long as you dont ha#e it you are in danger, you are in the &iddle of a fog,
i&%risoned in thoughts.
)ow can I know for sure that it is a click and not desireH
That can ha%%en too, that you &istake desire for a click. 9ut desire is located in the belly,
while a click is located in the heart. There is *uite a distance between the&. 9ut if you are too
hasty and you dont %ay attention it can ha%%en just like that. Then you ha#e to %ay the %rice
and you try to not &ake the sa&e &istake again ne(t ti&e L that is all you can do.
10
'hat if this click brings &e in troubleH
That too is %ossible, that you get in trouble through a click. So&eti&es they are not so nice at
all, but in hindsight you realiIe that it was good for you, &aking you a better %erson. That is all
+har&a:the %ath of +har&a.
'hat if there is so&e certain connectionH
Yeah, yeah. I ha#e so&ething like that with you, @ennartJ I guess youll just ha#e to %ut u%
with &e G This is also called friendshi%, which carries certain sy&%athy in it. The fact that it
is %ossible to li#e based on this L that is si&%ly wonderful. And real Yoga. And then, indeed, it
is not i&%ortant any&ore whether there is an object o#er there. It all &elts into one. The
obser#ation beco&es si&%le in this way and una&biguous. Then you dont use subject,
objecti#e or #erb any&ore. You acce%t the situation as it is. That is the dia&ond resting on a
colored surface, so the background will stand out. The dia&ond will allow e#erything through.
Suddenly your life is liberatedM you li#e so easily.
Practice.
Net going with &editation and conte&%lation and you will get it just like that. 9ut re&e&ber at
a certain %oint that functioning in this way is the &ost i&%ortant.
The %recious stone L isnt that a wonderful i&ageH If you would %ut it on the floor in this roo&
and you can hardly see it L you si&%ly see the color of the car%et shining through L what does
this &eanH 'ell, it &eans that either the stone is a fake =a %iece of glass or so&ething>, or that
it is of an unbelie#able flawless *uality. There are different grades of *uality: yellow dia&ond,
white dia&ond, blue3white dia&ond, etc. 'hen you are engaged in Yoga all
irregularities:Sa&skaras will be ter&inated in you. All the i&%ressions. And it will beco&e
increasingly *uieter inside you. This silence is characteriIed by the change of %erce%tion that
occurs. A nor&al hu&an being %ercei#es by &eans of i&ages and thoughts, which are
translated #ia this &ethod. 9ut the Yogi doesnt need that any&ore at a certain %oint L those
i&ages and thoughts. )e functions directly on i&%ressions. This is functioning
intuiti#ely:causally.
So that is what you feelH
That is what you feel. That is the a%%roach of the heart. In the beginning you will deal with it
with your &ind, and then you try to gradually switch to the a%%roach with the heart. And with
the a%%roach of the heart there is no cogniIer, cogniIed and cognition any&ore. At that %oint
e#erything is %resent right away. It all &elts together. Also it will be #ery difficult for you to
e(%lain why you understand things the way you understand the&, but that it works like that is a
fact. It is e#en &uch &ore accurate than the usual way of thinking:functioning like nor&al
%eo%le do. 9ut it can only ha%%en when your /itta Drttis ha#e been al&ost co&%letely
eradicated. This &eans that you actually ha#e a lot of work to do before you are ready to
12
function like this. All those Drttis, and all those Sa&skaras, which are the cause of al those
Drttis, ha#e to slowly but certainly disa%%ear.
'hat are all those /itta Drttis actuallyH
They are the Drttis in /itta: Yogas /itta3Drtti3<irodhah. Yoga is the %rocess of the bringing
under control of the Drttis u% to the le#el of /itta. Actually there are no real Drttis in /itta, but
they originate there, in the for& of &o#e&ents in Sa&skaras.
)ow about %resenti&entH
That already is not good. 'ell, ,not good. is a little bit an o#erstate&ent, but we are trying to
di&inish the i&%ortance of it, so that you %ay less and less attention to those kinds of things.
Then you try to shift your attention &ore and &ore towards the feeling that you ha#e no$. And
that feeling no$, that is actually a %erce%tion of eternity. It also enco&%asses your train3
journeys and all e(%eriences. It also enco&%asses your way back, or the things that you will
e(%erience to&orrow or the day after to&orrow. And also the things that you already feel will
ha%%en. That is it. 9ut to be able to do that we ha#e to learn concentration, &editation, and
conte&%lation and the whole %rocess of the " ste%s that co&e before it. And those are difficult,
and they are annoying, and you fall aslee%, and you cant kee% count any&ore, and you get fed
u% with it and you couldnt care less for it any&oreG 9ut still it is good. And still you
continue, %leaseJ I did it and I a& still doing it =I a& just a little bit further down the road>, and
I& telling you: it is worth e1ery single bit o# it to hang in there. At a certain %oint you will go
beyond a certain breaking %oint where the troubleso&e:difficulty will transfor& &ore and
&ore into enjoy&ent. That is the %oint that you ha#e won. ?ro& that &o&ent on the enjoy&ent
can only beco&e bigger and bigger as you continue to %ractice.
'ill that also bring &ore %eace in your lifeH
Yes, &ore %eace. I a& not saying that e#erything will i&&ediately be sol#ed, because that is
not true.
Peo%le around &e dont understand &e any&oreJ
That is also %art of the journey: )ow can you integrate this into your lifeH It is better to
integrate this into your life than to be a drunk who tries to con#ince his surroundings that they
should lea#e hi& alone with his bottle of booIe. +ont you agreeH There are %eo%le who ha#e
all kinds of inclinations and hobbies. 'ell, why not ha#ing this insteadH I &ean, a good health
,incidentally. is included in the bargain too, and it is beneficial for your surroundings and for
you, and so on.
)ow about sound:&usic:noise that co&es your way where#er you go, while actually all you
want is silenceH
There is an alternati#e. <ow and again you arri#e at that alternati#e, and e#ery ti&e you
co&%are: what is more #aluableH That is where you draw strength fro&, and that is your
18
e(%erience. That is the best %roof you can ha#e: what others tell you can ne#er be as %owerful
as your own e(%erience.
*"! 'atra Sabdartha Jnana $i/a.paih Sam/irna Sa)itar/a
Sa1itar!a Samadhi is that in which =a> knowledge based only on wordsM =b> real
knowledge and =c> ordinary knowledge based on sense %erce%tion or reasoning
are %resent in a &i(ed state and the &ind alternates between the&.
This Sutra gi#es us the initiation into the first kind of Sa&adhi: Sa#itarka Sa&adhi.
Sa K with
Ditarka K reasoning
Sa&adhi K condition of higher consciousness
In this Sutra you recei#e a definition: Sabda, Artha and Bnana, which are the three keywords.
Sabda K knowledge based only on words
Bnana K ordinary knowledge
Artha K real knowledge, or the essence
+idnt I &ention the &antra ,Artha 5atra. when we discussed the ,Science of SoulH. 'ell, it
is that sa&e Artha we are talking about. It is what we call the e&otional #alue or the &ood.
The word ,Artha. is the &ost i&%ortant word in this Sutra. It is the essence, the emotional
#alue. In your %erce%tion of the world around you, for e(a&%le in your %erce%tion of the things
I a& now trying to tell you, you can distinguish three ele&ents. /an you #eel &y intentionH
So&eone just said: ,I will just go to work on conte&%lation with intention.. 'ell, that is
Artha. /an you feel &y intention to &ake so&ething clear to youH That is Artha.
+o you hear &eH +o you hear the sounds I s%eakH That is Sabda. And if you are able to follow
the reasoning that I a& trying to &ake you follow, it is Bnana.
'hen you &i( those three ele&ents, and you obser#e the& fro& a high %oint, like: ,)ey, look,
I can see that there are 2 of the&J. then you are talking about Sa#itarka Sa&adhi.
Is this all so difficultH <ot at all. 9ut our friend Tai&ni &akes a little &ess out of it, which is
indeed an indication that he hasnt really *uite understood what it is about here. This brings us
to the %roble& we are often facing: &any %eo%le talk about these kinds of things L there are
countless nu&bers of authors who babble about Sa&adhi L but none of the& has actually %ut
this into &atter:%ut it down. 9ecause actually Sa&adhi is *uite si&%le.
If only one or two of the ele&ents are %resent, are we still talking about Sa#itarka Sa&adhiH
1"
<o, we only s%eak of Sa#itarka Sa&adhi when all three ele&ents are %resent, they alternate and
you are =still> not able to distill the&. This is the %oint where the &ost i&%ortant ele&ent
co&es %ee%ing around the corner. That is why I said before: the &ost i&%ortant ele&ent a&ong
the three is Artha. So when I talk like this:talk to you so long, you will gradually ha#e less and
less interest in the sounds that I utter, and %ut aside the reasoning &ore and &ore, and
increasingly switch to a kind of drea&like state: you allow yourself to float u%on the feeling
that I a& trying to con#ey to you. And then we switch to a lesson in silence.
That is Artha. So Sa#itarka Sa&adhi is a %re%aration in all this. You take it as it is: it is all
&i(ed and your consciousness obser#es about e#erything, while looking at those three. Then
your interest in Artha is growing increasingly L it is already &entioned in the ne(t Sutra. So
&any lessons:%ages are needed to e(%lain all thisJ 9y the way, the %icture on %age 17 =fig. 4>
is *uite interesting.
*"! 'atra Sabdartha Jnana $i/a.paih Sam/irna Sa)itar/a
Fn the clarification of &e&ory, when the &ind loses its essential nature
=subjecti#ity>, as it were, and the real knowledge of the object alone shines
=through the &ind> 3ir1itar!a Samadhi is attained.
)ere you let the distillation %rocess find its way and you es%ecially try to kee% an eye on Artha.
This is what has beco&e &y &antra:&essage:task, to let the world know that we &ake the
connection with 5atra thanks to watching Artha, and that with the hel% of Artha 5atra we can
sol#e all the %roble&s of the duality.
+ont we all know thisH 'e just call it: ,Net to the %ointJ 'hich way do you want to goH Tell
&e in shortJ +ont beat around the bushJ. That is this. There is nothing &ore to it. So, you are
engagedM you ha#e started with the third ele&entM you watch Artha &ore an &ore closelyM and
then you arri#e at the 82
rd
Sutra, where it is not Sa#itarka Sa&adhi any&ore, but it has beco&e
<ir#itarka Sa&adhi.
'hat is the &eaning of ,<ir.H That is when at a certain &o&ent you forget all your
surroundings.
<ir K without
You forget your surroundings because you are so absorbed with obser#ing Artha. Ff course
there is so&e Sabda and Bnana around, but you forget e#erything else because you are so
occu%ied.
An 6(a&%leJ
You are so absorbed by your hobby: you lock yourself u% in your studio:attic. In the beginning
all the different things are there, but along the way you beco&e &ore and &ore absorbed by
that which interests you so &uch at that &o&ent, while forgetting about e#erything else.
14
This is so nice, you knowJ Ti&e co&es to a standstill. Ff course it is, because you ha#e entered
into infinity. Sa&adhi is your initiation into infinity: you ha#e arri#ed at causal le#el. And
so&ewhere, #ery faint, you still discern sounds, but they see& to be #ery far away. And there is
also still so&e reasoning, but you dont feel &uch interest for it any&ore. @ogic and so on, it
doesnt interest you any&ore. There is only the feeling. That is <ir#itarka Sa&adhi.
The Sutra says literally: ,Fn the clarification of &e&ory, when the &ind loses its essential
nature =subjecti#ity>, as it were, and the real knowledge of the object alone shines =through the
&ind> 3ir1itar!a Samadhi is attained..
If you ha#e a %roble& with the conce%t of ,essential nature., you can erase it and re%lace it by
,own:nor&al nature., because I use the word ,essence. for Artha. 'hen you use that here you
create confusion. So, nor&al thinking ends u% in the background, and true knowledge L Artha
L beco&es increasingly %ro&inent.
If for e(a&%le I beco&e co&%letely absorbed by your teaching, does that &ean that I a& in
Sa&adhiH
Yes of courseJ That is all Sa&adhi. 'hen you &eet your sweetheart and you start staring, you
are in Sa&adhi. 5y son Theseus was only one year old when he saw a tree for the first ti&e in
his life. )e was bea&ing in wonder and I thought it was his first Sa&adhi. 'ell, %robably not,
because already before that ti&e, as a baby, you are born in Sa&adhi. This is not unco&&on
knowledge. It just recalls a &e&ory. That is the drea&:&ood in which you dwell during your
youth to which you often ha#e such wonderful &e&ories. As a nor&al hu&an being you lose
all that, because our society doesnt know it:use it:doesnt know the %ower of it, and so on, and
e#erything that is unknown is unlo#ed:is destroyed.
That is when you ha#e beco&e allegedly nor&al. And then you are dead, because a %erson who
does not e(%erience:%ractices Sa&adhi any&ore &ight as well go to rest in the ce&etery
without delay. To &e such a %erson does not li#e any&ore. 'hat you see in the streets is just
li#ing cor%ses. They ha#e no e&otion any&oreM it is all gone. They ha#e no heart any&ore.
They do ha#e a lot of thoughts and based on their thoughts they think they li#e. )owe#er, they
just dont enjoy =life> any&oreJ I can see the& in the bar L e#en while drinking the &ost
delicious drinks they cant enjoy any&oreJ All they know is to get dead drunkJ
I feel like going to a cafO and order a ,tra%%iste. L @effe =9elgian beer>. I get seated. You know
whatH TantraJ Tantra. Yoga is %art of Tantra. @ets find Artha at the hand of a glass of @effeJ It
is like a school tri%. Test: You firstH <o, &e first =Ajita is acting like as if he is
drinking:tasting>. 'ell, I dont taste that &uch hereG 'here is this Artha nowH =Tastes again>
Fh, yeah, wait a &inuteG Ff course Sabda is re%laced in this e(a&%le by taste =the sound has
beco&e taste>. So you distinguish taste, but you also distinguish the essence of the drink, and
you try to %ut aside the color:s&ell:glass:e#erything that is in#ol#ed in it:logic:and taste too,
and try to find what e(actly it is that is touching you:so delicious. In this way you &ake a
conte&%lati#e action out of drinking. That is the &o&ent that li#e starts, and when you a%%ly
1C
this to e#erything you do in life, a god is borne, because you bring %aradise into the &atterM you
bring hea#en to earth.
So, in this way you arrange di#ine inflow. /an you follow thisH 9ecause when you %ut Artha
into it you can %ut back the soul into it. ?or we ha#e lost our souls. 9ut how do we bring back
this soulH 9y ArthaJ 9y finding back the essence within e#erything.
?or e(a&%le: I a& craIy about cars. So, okay, I a%%roach that fondness in the following way: I
say to &yself: ,'ait a &inute, what is it actually about with a carH 'hat is the essence of the
carH @ets be co&&onsensical. You seeH And then I see that all those
i&ages:%rejudice:i&%ressions that I got along the way are reduced to a #ery si&%le &atter: it is
a &eans of trans%ortation. It is just a &eans of trans%ortation. And if on to% of that it is also %ut
together in a #ery neat way, well, then it should be okay or wouldnt itH That is all you need.
/an you feel the ad#antage of this a%%roachH
+oes this &ean that it a%%lies to all sensesH
Yes, in this e(a&%le Sabda re%resents the hearing, but it also co#ers the other four senses.
You will notice: ,Fh, &y %erce%tion is indeed in so&e state of disarray, in which I see the
three kinds L three worlds actually, because Sabda re%resents the gross world, Bnana re%resents
the subtle world and Artha re%resents the causal world L &i(ed.
So I ha#e a %erce%tion of those three worlds, which is really chaotic =e#erything is whirling in
a &i(>, and &y %roble& in life is that I a& not able to see any structure in it. And I a& also not
able to deter&ine what is actually i&%ortant and what isnt. And %eo%le in#ariably &ake the
wrong choices, while it is actually so ob#ious that you should focus on the causal factor.
Always focus on the causal factor, Artha, in e1erything. And dont gi#e %reference to the subtle
or the grossJ
So&ebody calls you na&es. Then you beco&e angry. Then you go ho&e and you say: ,I ne#er
want to see hi& again.. This &eans that you ha#e concluded the situation solely on the basis of
subtle and gross %erce%tion. 9ut ha#e you e#en considered the fact that this %erson calling you
na&es &ay ha#e had an Artha in his scolding out of lo#e for youH You think this is impossibleH
/ertainly it is possible. And when you realiIe that, you will look at the scolding fro& a totally
different %oint of #iew. You will actually want to thank this %erson for this scolding: ,Fh, you
brought &e back to &y senses. I deser#ed this. Thanks.. And you just go about your daily
business.
+o you &ean that it was this %ersons %ur%ose to hel% youH
6(actly. 9ut you will only realiIe that if you are aware of Artha.
And what if you dont notice itH
17
Then you ha#e created a considerable %roble& in your life. A %roble& that would not ha#e
been necessary and that can be bla&ed on your faulty, shallow %erce%tion. That is the lesson
that Ditarka Sa&adhi carries with it: for Nods sake, %lease learn to discern the essence of all
that is ha%%ening around you, and especially to take it into consideration. That is so&ething
that you can base your life u%on. Then, with the essence as a basis, you can %lay. The *uestion
then is: ,)ow on earth can I %lay when I a& called na&esH. 'ell, when you realiIe that he
lo#es you and he calls you na&es, you gi#e hi& a big &outh too. You say: ,Yes, I lo#e you
too.. That is %ossible. You get tuned in on each other. You can #eel that. You will be able to
feel straight through e#erything what it is really about.
'ho is the one that %ercei#es this, in youH
The soulH
<o, no, not yet, you are going a little bit too fast. It is 9uddhi of course. Ditarka Sa&adhi is
actually your first training in the use of 9uddhi.
Is that so&ething e#erybody %ossessesH
6#erybody.
<o &atter how bad you areH
<o &atter how bad you are.
I would lo#e to be in Arlon at this &o&ent and tell this story to 5arc +utrou( =a notorious
child abuser:killer>, because his %roble& is e(actly related to this. And because nobody knows
how to deal with this his whole %rocess is beco&ing an incredible chaos, rife with
&ani%ulation. 9ut when you are able to e&%loy this techni*ue, &ani%ulation will not be
%ossible any&ore: ,'hat is this all about =the essence of the %rocess>H This =straight to the
%oint>. All the nonsense and fabrications you co&e u% with, you &ight as well lea#e the& out
of this all, because I #eel that this is what this is all about. This is it =the essence of the case>..
Then you directly touch u%on the heart of the &atter. You arri#e at the essence i&&ediately.
You clean u% e#erything and you oblige the ad#ersary.
9ut that is what this e(ercise is about, huhH That is why a judge should be trained in these
kinds of techni*ues. 9ecause when you work with 9uddhi there is no roo& for discussion. It is
it, or it is not it. There is nothing in between. There is recognition or there is no such thing, but
that recognition will occur with the %er%etrator, with the #icti&, with the &e&bers of the jury
and with the judge, or not. And then you i&&ediately know the essence of what is %laying.
'ith these kinds of e(a&%les I a& trying to show that it is not that difficult at allM that we
know it, that we know what it is about, but that it offers a new %ers%ecti#e on life. It also shows
that it is so&ething that you can choose. 'hen you do this you will notice that in %ractice you
1!
will increasingly shift to Sa#itarka:<ir#itarka Sa&adhi, e#en when you dont ha#e a &editation
cushion a#ailable, or a nice *uiet &editation roo&. That too is Yoga.
You can do the training for this on a cushion. Then you say: ,@ook, I ha#e this
%roble&:%roject. )ow can I sol#e thisH 'hat solution can I co&e u% withH. Then you look at
all the ele&entsM you go into the silenceM fro& 9uddhi you let things co&e along L a kind of
brainstor&ing L and then you suddenly say: ,Fh yeah, now I recogniIe so&ething hereG
yeah, that is what this is aboutG tjakJ. And &aybe it will take a day, a week, a year, or 1
years L because that is how long this e(ercise can last L but sooner or later you $ill arri#e at
Artha.
Peo%le call this worrying.
Arent you su%%osed to %ut e#erything to a halt in &editationH
If you are able to sto% e#erything it will be &uch &ore efficient. <or&al %eo%le worry and in
the %rocess waste enor&ous a&ounts of energy. 9ut we do it in &editation, and fro& that
&editation we try to feel. It is a kind of distilling %rocess.
@ooking for Artha. 'ell, that is an initiation. +o you understand thisH I ha#e shown you the
way to a new world. And you ha#e felt what this new world could be like. Then you ha#e
beco&e an ade%t, initiate.
)a#e you by chance read the %art in the book about the techni*ue of Sa&adhi by Tai&niH It is
#ery cute, nice try, but the %roble& is e(actly the fact that he a%%roaches Sa&adhi #ery, #ery
&ental: a ga&e of action:reaction =that is the e(%lanation in the book L you can read it yourself,
it is *uite funny> brings about certain effects, but at the sa&e ti&e it ties you u% in the &ind,
while Sa&adhi is e(%licitly &eant to hel% you rise abo1e the &ind. So, for &e, looking at it
fro& a %ractical %oint of #iew, you need to follow another &ethod, because the &ethod he is
gi#ing you in the book will ne#er bring you to Sa&adhi.
Then ho$ do we ha#e to do itH In this res%ect the literal te(t, the Sutra itself, is interesting,
together with the drawing on %age 17. In it you see Sabda, Artha and Bnana. 'e ha#e already
discussed those. I tried to &ake clear to you that the core of the e(ercise of Sa&adhi lays
within the fact that you slowly learn to distinguish the e&otional #alue within your %erce%tions.
So, when you listen to the #oice you can detect a certain feeling that I a& trying to gi#e you.
5y enthusias& and &y understanding of the different techni*ues are not so &uch intellectual
as it is a &atter of the heart. 'ell, when you can feel that, you ha#e Artha, and that is what
Sa&adhi is all aboutM it is the &ood that I a& bringing. The intellectual as%ect &ay be
interesting L that is Bnana L but you should try to see that se%arate fro& it. And you should do
the sa&e with the words I a& s%eaking. That is Sabda.
The distilling %rocess will e#entually lead to the %reser#ation of the core, or Artha, the essence,
which is the e&otional #alue. This is actually the %rocess of learning to co&&unicate through
the heart. The co&&unication in this %rocess begins with the %erce%tion of that what li#es in
1
the heart of the other, but also in all objects. All objects radiate so&ething of a heart, or can
touch you =in your heart>.
The e(a&%le I like to gi#e is that of a 95' L a nice car =certain ty%es>. /ertain objects are
&ade with lo#e. You can taste that lo#e si&%ly by looking at it. The re*uest to you now is: go
into Sa#itarka Sa&adhi by slowly allowing the heart to be engaged in the %erce%tion of the
objects that surround you. Then focus only on that, inde%endent fro& all others. And when
you succeed to be solely engaged with the core, you end u% in <ir#itarka Sa&adhi.
I asked you to erase the word ,essence. and re%lace it by ,nor&al., because &y use of the
word ,essence. &ight bring you into further confusion. So the essence here is ,true
knowledge.. 9ut it isnt knowledge to &e L so it would also be %ossible to erase the word
,knowledge., and also the word ,true.. Those two words should be re%laced by ,essence.. The
essence of the object: that is what it is all about. And the nor&al nature of the &ind:thought L
that is just dualis&: the fluctuations that are found in it, in which the intellectual %rocess L
Bnana L and the sound:sensory %erce%tion occur. That is the nor&al %rocess of thought.
You ha#e had 0 weeks ti&e to function in this way. +id you succeedH )a#e you been able to
work with thisH
Yes, but I ha#e a feeling that it actually %uts &e off balance. To get to the heart of the essence
of %eo%le:objects %uts &e off balance.
Yes, that is because it is another way of life. That is why it is called an initiation, because you
are actually talked into a lifestyle that is concerned with the causal worldM the world of the
crown chakra. So when I a& trying to e(%lain these kinds of things, I a& actually trying to
&ake you rise abo#e the thought:&ind, and to &ake you fa&iliar with so&ething that you ha1e
already e(%erienced, but what you ha#e not yet used as a basis for your functioning in your
life. 'hat I a& doing is trying to &ake you ,buy. this last ele&ent, so that you can go through
a re3birth. So that you learn anew to function in your life based on other %riorities. The fact that
you feel resistance at first is not sur%rising. Fn the contraryJ It would ha#e sur%rised &e if you
had found it easy. It is a re3birthM you ha#e to be guided:hel%ed.
Bust see what will ha%%en when you confront your surroundings with this new way of lifeJ
Peo%le will co&%letely cla& u% because of youJ You a%%roach so&ebody and say: ,gosh, I
think I lo#e you.. You are not supposed to say a thing like thatJ 'hat is thisJ Are you sick or
so&ethingH Are you trying to fool &eH And you say: ,<o, no, it is just so, fro& &y heartG I
like being around youG
Peo%le cannot stand it. Then how are you su%%osed to functionH )ow do you sol#e this
%roble&H
9y re&aining silentH
6(actly. 5ost of the ti&es you better face the world by kee%ing silent. So fro& now on you
beco&e &ore and &ore silent, and you wait until an o%%ortunity:o%ening %resents itself, and

only then you show your feeling. Ftherwise you &ay end u% in co&&itting so &uch
#iolence:taking %eo%le by sur%rise, while no one is actually asking for such a situation.
Then how e(actly are you su%%osed to functionH If I only take a look at the %ast 0 weeks
Trust your feelings. So #irst you &ust listen to the #oice of your heart and follow it, and then
you follow the #oice in your head.
6(a&%le:
You ha#e a co&%any:business. So&ebody enters. You dont know who it is or what the
situation is, and so on. 9ut your feeling is good. I&&ediately you ju&% on it:do e#erything.
And afterwards you think to yourself: Nosh, we ha#ent e#en had an introduction talk yetJ I
dont e#en know what this is all about, and I#e already gotten this farJ Then you are terrifiedJ
+ont do that. Your heart is right. And your &ind should beha#e well:hold its tongue, because
the #oice of the heart is &ore i&%ortant. And the &ind ho%s along &iles behind.
I ha#e always functioned like this in business. I got the hea#iest tasks, but it wasnt a %roble&
at all because I didnt thinkM I used &y feelings. So, &ost of the ti&e I was not busy sol#ing
%roble&s or launching the %roducts that I was su%%osed to %ut onto the &arket L that was a
%iece of cake 3, but to find the rational justification to &ake &y decisions %alatable to &y
surroundings. ?or &e, I had sol#ed the %roble&s long sinceJ
So, this is the new way of functioning. Pretty troubleso&e, huhJ It is because you are &iles
ahead of anyone near you, si&%ly because you feel e#erythingM e#erything is clear to you.
The *uestion is how you are going to %ut that down, how are you going to talk about itH 'ell,
first of all by kee%ing silent, es%ecially as long as you ha#ent found the reasoning that can
justify:e(%lain:&ake things clear. You see& to be a #ery irritating %erson because you radiate
self3confidence:&ake state&entsJ Thats no childs %lay, you knowH It &eans that in the short
ter& the &anage&ent will consider you to be a threat. This initiation that you get here is the
guarantee that you, when you are an e&%loyee, are going to lose your job.
)ow do you deal with thatH
You cant. It is once again so&ething that you ha#e to reckon with. A logical conse*uence of
this is that you will ha#e to ad&it to yourself that you are a &aster and that as a result of that
you will not be able to work as a sla#e any&oreM you will ha#e to beco&e your own boss. A
&aster cannot %ose as a sla#e. If he does so he destroys hi&self, he belies:denies his nature. I
ha#e tried to do that in %ractice. It doesnt work.
Tea&work with such a %erson is i&%ossible, because when you are %art of a tea& and the other
&e&bers function in a nor&al way while you function in this way, there will be a &o&ent L
#ery soon L that only one %erson in that tea& is actually functioning:working. Then all the
others will de%end on you, and wait until you ha#e sol#ed the %roble&s. And they will say: ,It
is good.. 5aybe. 2aybe. 9ut you are going to ha#e to s%end a lot of ti&e e(%laining to the
0
other tea& &e&bers why this is the right solution and not so&ething else, than that you are
actually working on i&%ro#e&ents of the solution.
Tea&work beco&es i&%ossible. You#e got to take charge because you ha#e beco&e a leader.
You#e got to asse&ble %eo%le belo$ you, and ins%ire:instruct the& for growth. You#e got to
try to con#ey your a%%roach to the&. That is the only way, and if there is no %ossibility to do
so, it is all o#er and out. 6ither you are %ro&oted =you &ake a %ro&otionH So you are
a%%ointed the %osition of a boss> or you will ha#e to resign.
?or &e it always turned out to be the last o%tion: I got sacked. All &y e&%loyers sacked &e.
9ut that, too is %art of your initiation into this world. You ha#e to look carefully at the
situation, and you &ust realiIe that those %eo%le, who are su%%osedly at the to%, are no &atch
for youM they cant co&e u% to your le#el. This is not a &atter of haughtiness. It is just that
when you get in#ol#ed in these kinds of things you ha#e beco&e the boss, while those %eo%le
who are su%%osed to be your boss, in %ractice usually are not.
In so&e instances I ha#e actually &et so&e of those %eo%le. I ha#e tried to join the&:work for
the&, but I ne#er succeeded. Fne of those %eo%le I ha#e &et was /or 9oonstra. You &ight
know hi& fro& the news about fraud and so on. To &e it was
radiation:feeling:s%eed:ca%acity:co&%etence L I would ha#e gone down on &y knees to work
with this &an. ?or the rest I ha#e only known loafers, with big egos, who i&&ediately felt
threatened by &e, and so they tried anything they could to destroy &e.
It is si&%le: when you ha#e a taste of Artha, and you ha#e a %roble& that you ha#e to sol#e
together with your boss, there will be &eetings and sessions in which you clearly stick out
abo#e all the others attending. 'hyH 9ecause you #eel what it is aboutJ You #eel the solution,
and you will tell the others: .Its like thisG and I think thatG. and you try to rationaliIe and
e#entually you co&e u% with a solution. Then your boss will stare at you, and e#erybody will
be staring at you, and say: ,You are rightJ. And your boss too =he has no other choice> will
say: ,Yeah, you are rightJ. 9ut at the #ery &o&ent that he says: ,You are right., you are
actually already fired, because you had the ner#e to take o#er his function. You took charge of
things, and about a week later L %eo%le are *uite slow L when things register, he will say:
,+arn, 9arbier took o#er in the &eeting. 'hat about &eH Thats su%%osed to be &y %osition,
isnt itH. And fro& that &o&ent on all kinds of ga&es follow. They can ne#er
ad&it:acknowledge directly that they are less co&%etent, so, there you go: firedJ That is &y
e(%erience.
)ow is it %ossible that, in s%ite of those e(%eriences, you kee% hanging onH You ha#e to find a
new way of functioning. And that is *uite difficult.
Youre constantly %ressured to e(%lain things that are actually i&%ossible to e(%lain.
'hen you are boss yourself, so&ething I e#entually beca&e, there is no need any&ore for
e(%lanations. I didnt ha#e any %ersonnel any&ore. I set u% a consultancy fir& alone. I tra#eled
all o#er 6uro%e, and I &ade a lot of &oneyJ $nbelie#ableJ It was all guided by feeling. And
only after I was on &y way back fro& a client did I realiIe what kinds of fantastic things I had
2
done:said. And &ore than once I would tre&ble with shock, asking &yself: how on earth did I
ha#e the courage to do thisH And I did it all on &y own.
In relation to doing business I can see how this works, but how about friendsG
'ell, they dont understand a thing of it.
You tell the& it is like this or that, and they ha#ent got the slightest idea of what you are
talking about, and then you ha#e to e(%lain again.
Yes. So you &ust beco&e #ery soft when you work with other %eo%le. 'hen you e(%erience
this, and thus when you know how to deal with the core of things, you &ust, for the sake of
kee%ing the %eace, beco&e incredibly soft and sweet and friendly with your surroundings. That
is why I ha#e been at work in this school for &ore than 01 years, doing things, usually, in a
#ery sweet, soft, friendly way. )owe#er, so&eti&es I a& o#erflowing and I e(%lode. 'hy do I
e(%lodeH 9ecause I kee% running into a brick wall of ignorance.
)ow can you con#ey this clearly to other %eo%leH )ow do you awaken thisH Teach the& Sabija
Sa&adhi, which &eans tasting the core, the seed in %eo%le and things. 9ut it also &eans to
learn to deal with it, and not just with the for& or outward a%%earances of it. Ff course, the
for& and the outward a%%earance %lay a role, but it is about what ha%%ens a#ter/beyond that.
Yes, you i&&ediately %ut the finger on the sore s%ot. You talk with so&ebody and you
i&&ediately establish what his %roble& is. 9ut you &ake it discussable. 5any %eo%le dont
want that at all. They li#e under the u&brella of a kind of %rotected stereoty%e. I ha#e had to
learn to reckon with that. You ha#e to be #ery careful and that is #ery difficult. 9ut the reward,
when you succeed is the control of an entire %ersonality, so with it you become a %ersonality
yourself. You base your life on the feeling that you ha#e, and the &ind and the %hysical &atters
beco&e &ore and &ore subordinate to it. That is the integration of a co&%lete %ersonality. This
is Antahkarana co&ing into e(istence, in its entire s%lendor, and at a certain %oint in ti&e it
will enable you to &ake the connection with the di#ine, if you can &anage to e#en abolish that
seed as well and to rationaliIe that feeling too. 9ut until now that is still a ste% ahead of us.
You realiIe now that Sa&adhi isnt just so&e kind of &editation. It is not a &atter of floating
around and being nonco&&ittal. It affects your life #ery dee%ly. It changes you. Fnce you
understand this and a%%ly it in your life you dont recogni(e yourself any&ore. And when you
sit down and take a subject, you wont e(%erience that subject as shallow as you did before L
which is easy L but you will culti#ate yourself a habit of seeing through:insight:distinguish
feelings in that subject.
IntuitionH
That is the budding of the intuition, as a result.
The intuition, thus, is the functioning in that causal world. 9ut because of that it is also the
%erce%tion of all those i&%ressions that are %resent in that causal #ibration. That is intuition.
8
9ut before you do that, you &ust first %enetrate into that world, which you do through an
object.
I a& always talking about cars. 'ell, okay, I ho%e you wont resent &e for that. A car is a
creation of &an, and there are beautiful cars and there are ugly ones. +id you see the latest
&odel of ?errari in the news%a%erH 'ell, that is not a ?errariJ That sha%eJ <obody will bother
to look at it. As if it has been stretched to long. Although technically it is a beautiful car and so
on, but it doesnt touch &e at all. 9ut when you look at the latest &odels of @a&borghini or
5aserati =a beautiful &odel L con#ertible>J /ertain cars are like %ieces of art. That is what I
&ean. Fnce I saw a @a&borghini alongside the road with its doors straight u%. "right yellow
this car was, and so &any &en surrounded itG Then you can just #eel: the %erson who
designed that car, he &ust ha#e been totally in lo#e with that technology and with those lines.
)e %ut so&ething down there: %ure art.
?unctioning in this wayM that you can #eel it. 5aybe you feel an interest in so&ething else, for
e(a&%le you like to watch %aintings. 6#ery %erson has its own interests, and that is your
starting %oint. Start with your hobby, your interest. And then you try to distinguish that
e&otional #alue in it. And once you ha#e a%%lied that in this way first, you will be able to
a%%ly it to e#erything else L to houses, to %eo%le, to books, to e#erything. I like to watch
gardens and flowers. /ertain flowers si&%ly &ake &e feel weak inside. +ont youH
+oesnt this &ean that you are engaged in Sa&adhi all dayH
6(actly. So that is the new way of life that you try to ado%t. It is not about once in a while
doing so&ething outrageous and to decide to go into conte&%lation once. It is about forcing a
breakthrough to a new world. I& telling you: this is an initiation, a new life, and a new birth.
Bust like when you learned to ride a bicycle for the first ti&e: you entered into a new life in
which cycling changed a lot of things, because fro& that &o&ent on you could &o#e yourself
fro& %lace to %lace &uch faster and also to &uch farther destinations. This is the same. This
initiation enables you to do so &any beautiful things in life. Fnce you realiIe that, you
wouldnt want different any&oreM you will always use it.
+oes this also relate to those clicksH
That click is the #oice of the heart, or actually it is 9uddhi reflecting in the heart. So in %ractice
I just say: you &ust learn to listen to the heart. Then at a certain &o&ent it really will beco&e a
clear little #oice. It is what we call the conscience, which will tell you: it is goodM it is not good.
In the beginning it will not be easy. So&ething is ha%%ening and you a%%roach it with your
&ind, because you are used to a%%roach issues with the &ind, which is fine, but take a little
ti&e to listen to what your heart has to say about it. In case you dont hear anything, you dont
do anything. You $ait, and you switch off the &ind, which is e(actly the function of
&editation: to teach you just that: FE, it is silent now G what does &y heart ha#e to say about
this subject:this %ro%osition:this %erson:this %roble&H Then in the silence that you ha#e
created, so&ething will suddenly bubble u%M suddenly you will ha#e a feeling:e#en hear a
"
#oice, and your conscience will tell you: ,You should not do this., or ,you should a%%roach it
li!e that..
Fr you ha#e a drea&. The heart often s%eaks through drea&s, es%ecially early in the &orning.
And because you are still kind of foggy in the &orning, and not able to break through, e(ce%t
when you are 1ery $ell rested. 6arly in the &orning, when you are in har&ony and actually
dont need e(tra energy any&ore. 'hen you are ready to wake u%, but not *uite awake yet.
Thats the ti&e when it co&es into you, and you will say: ,Fh, I just had such a re&arkable
drea&J. It is an atte&%t of /itta to &ake so&ething clear to you, &ostly through sy&bols. And
that is Sandhya 9hasa, the language of the dawn.
So you learn to understand what it is about, you recei#e e(%lanations, and solutions are offered
to you L just go to work. &earn to listen. &earn to inter%ret. And when you ha#e fully
understood you will beco&e war& in the heart. Say it:%hrase it in your own ter&s and see if
there is a reaction in the heart. Then you will say: ,Fh yeah, this feels goodG yesJ. SuccessJ
This is the %ur%ose of Sa&adhiM to learn to li#e like this.
Ditarka Sa&adhi, that is the beginning. That is learning to distinguish the core of e#erything.
And later we will e(%and this &ore and &ore. <e(t week I a& going to try to e(%lain to you
about Dicara, Ananda and As&ita, and how you can refine e#erything &ore and &ore, to such
an e(tent that you achie#e co&%lete, o%en co&&unication on causal le#el. 'hat we learned
today is only to get on causal le#el, finding back the core L Artha L in things, e#erywhere, and
not acce%ting to deal with things in a shallow, &ental or %hysical way. Sto%J 'e dont do that
any&oreJ
That is the %ur%ose of todays lesson.
6irst feel: $hat is it aboutH +o I ha#e any feeling about itH FE. And then try L as a kind of
archeology L to free that feeling of all other things, and then to go on with that feeling only.
So if I understand this clearly, you &ust just throw away the first and the second ele&ents
=Bnana and Sabda> i&&ediatelyH
If %ossible, yes. 9ut in %ractice it doesnt go that fast. So in the beginning it is &ore like: just
recogniIe the 2, to such an e(tent that you can eli&inate 0 out of the 2 and stay with the 2
rd
ele&ent only.
/an any of you do thatH
I a& con#inced that anybody can do thatM es%ecially babies ha#e got what it takes. Thats why I
like children so &uch. If one co&es along I hurry towards hi&, but as soon as they turn 0:2
years old, they beco&e ble&ished. Then they learn to talk and e#erybody thinks that is
fantastic: ,5y child can talkJ. And then I say: ,Fh noJ )e can talk G. You understandH
4
It gets e#en worse when he starts to thinkJ ,Fh, &y child goes to school, and he is doing his
best, and the teacher is so satisfied about hi&.. Then I say: ,Fh NodG. you see what I &eanH
I saw &y son Theseus growing u%: when he was year old he was &ost beautiful. <ow G
well, you just take hi& as he is G =just kidding> G " years later G " years of ble&ishes
later G well, actually we should now try to %olish these " years away a little.
Fne day he showed &e a %erfect Dicara =Sa&adhi>, when he so ad&ired this tree I told you
about before. )e bea&ed with bliss and joy L so the essence of the obser#ation of that tree L it
was so &agnificently illu&inating. This will be %rinted in &y &e&ory fore#er. 9ut if I tell hi&
about it he doesnt e#en know what I a& talking aboutJ
Anyway, it is the sa&e for e#eryone: 'e ha#e e(%erienced it. 'hen I tell you about this
e(%erience it &ust ine#itably recall so&e &e&ory or recognition in you. <ow the %oint is to
bring it all u% again, and to re&o#e all the %ollution that you ha#e gathered o#er ti&e, or at
least &ake it secondary. Ae&o#ing is not %ossible, because you will need it. 'e need
rationalis& to co&&unicate. 'e need e&otions because e#erybody is e&otional. 'e need
sounds. 'e need al those sensual ele&ents. 9ut now, for the first ti&e, they will be subordinate
to your feeling. And that is the big change. That is the way of the heart. That is the way of
+har&a, as 9uddha has also tried to e(%lain. +har&a is your #ocation. So when you ha#e that
feeling, you will rely &ore and &ore on your feelings, and find your #ocation there. 9ecause
you $ill ha#e a job that a%%eals to the heart. 'ell, that is your #ocationJ You will &eet %eo%le
that really a%%eal to you, that touch you in your heart. You will ha#e friends who will be totally
different fro& what you had before. That is the downside of this &atter: you will actually lose
all your friends if you follow &y words. So, you will lose your job and you will lose all your
friends. Are you sure you want to do thisH )uhG <ew life.
The difficult %art is the integration of this. 5any %eo%le are taken aback by it. Then they
change their &ind and try to water down the wine and they corru%t the&sel#es, not realiIing
that this is the &ost i&%ortant, and they will continue to use the &ind and the reason as their
guide. 'ell, then they are lost.
It beco&es easier once you ha#e co&e through. 9ut during the transitional stage there are
&any things that need adjust&ent. It is just the sa&e as when you were a little child. You had
to learn to walk, learn to eat and you had to learn to beha#e in nor&al way and so on. That is
what you are doing now. And you will ha#e to do it and start all the way fro& the beginning.
'e studied only one Sutra. That is not &uch. 9ad grou% of students G slow of understanding
G it takes so &any years G
/oncerning Sa#itarka Sa&adhi, in which Bnana, Sabda and Artha are %resent, it is hard for &e
to create an i&age, i.e. when I take a car as an object.
'ell, you see the for&, which is the gross:%hysical obser#ation. That is co#ered by the word
,Sabda.. Sabda literally &eans ,sound.. There is sound L ether 3 but there is also air, fire,
water and earth. The %erce%tion of the gross ele&ents: that is Sabda.
C
9ut this car carries with it a nu&ber of thoughts, for e(a&%le the thought: ,)ey, that is not
e(actly the color I like.. That is Bnana.
9ut the car also gi#es you a certain feeling. 'hen you see a 95' you say: ,'hat a %i&%3
car.. Isnt that a feelingH
In this way you can distinguish three different le#els: A feeling, which e&anates fro& the
objectM the thoughts that are linked with itM and the %ure %hysical %erce%tion of it. Is there
anything &ore to an objectH <o.
Fn which criteria do you choose a carH 'hat is the &ost i&%ortant criterionH
Trans%ortation. That is Bnana.
+o you choose a car for trans%ortationH Thats what they all say, but they dont really do that.
Then what do they doH )ow do they choose a carH
9y feeling, which is Artha.
You are thinking about a nice tri% L how will you assess herH Tell &eH +idnt you e#er look at
a girlH
Artha
'hatHJ
+o you know Pa&ela AndersonH
Yes, it doesnt really touch &e L little bit fake.
Ah+ 7nana+
So, you judge the world entirely fro& Bnana.
'hat is thisH
Another e(a&%le: 'hat do you likeH 9oats, bicycles, co&%utersH 'hich co&%uter is best
co&%atible for youH
After &any jokes and so&e discussion about co&%uters we continue:
<ow we are arri#ing at the %oint were we ha#e to be: enter the feeling. This you really like to
do. So, what are we using this Ditarka3theory forH To teach you the i&%ortance of the feeling
within those things, and to base your choices upon the&. The &ind and the gross %erce%tion
can %lay a role too, but you ha#e to be able to discern the&, %ick the& out, and to co&e to the
essence L Artha L the feeling. This a%%lies to co&%uters, cars, wo&en, and it a%%lies to
e1erything. That is what this e(ercise is about.
7
Isnt it %ossible to go directly to ArthaH I ha#e a feeling that I dont need the first 0 ele&ents.
It is as Patanjali e(%lains: the 2 ele&ents are %resent in a &i(. And you ha#e to do an effort to
go through the& =the &i(>, and reach the essence. That is what is called insight.
?or e(a&%le, a girl is standing in front of you. You look at her in the Patanjali3way and you
say: ,I know what you are u% to., because you can figure %eo%le out.
So in e#erything you work with those 2 ele&ents to get to ArthaH
There is no other way, because all three of the& are %resent, always. )owe#er, those two other
ones are dis%osableM the only one i&%ortant is Artha. 'hat is this really aboutH
A student ca&e to &e and said: ,I had a fight with &y boy friend and I threw hi& out and G I
a& so utterly &iserable G &y children are so attached to hi&, e#en though they are not his,
but they think he is such a nice dude G but I dont want anything to do with hi& any&ore G.
So I told her: ,These are you thoughts. ?ighting, thats usually an astral &atter, es%ecially on
the le#el of Bnana. The Drttis dont rese&ble.. And I said: ,You know what you should doH
You should just go back to this guyJ 9ecause he is your guyJ Fb#iously you feel so&ething for
hi&, because you are unha%%y without hi&. So you ha#e to re3establish contact..
In lo#e e#erything is %er&itted.
A week later she ca&e to &e again and said: ,I followed your ad#ice. ?antasticJ G. She had
gone beyond her trouble, which arose because she had forgotten to stay with the core. She ga#e
%riority to the shallow secondary things of life.
It is like with those idiots in the en#iron&ent in which I grew u%. They would be in lo#e with
each other:socialiIe with each other, and then the *uestion would fall: ,'hat are your
*ualificationsH. ,Fh, thats all you ha#eH <o, I dont think that is interesting to &e G. Fr
those other %eo%le who would just choose a %artner because of his nice s%orts car, like &y
sister. It is like begging for trouble.
So the theory of Ditarka Sa&adhi hel%s you gain insight in life and to ele#ate your
consciousness to the highest le#el, at least to the causal le#el. Thats what it is all about L to be
able to find the causality within e#erything.
So you ha#e to deal with the 2 ele&ents, but in the end it is all about the s%eed with which you
are able to arri#e at ArthaH
6(actly, and you should train yourself to such an e(tent that you need only one second with
whiche#er object:%erson:situation:whate#er situation in life, to arri#e at Artha. You ask
yourself directly: ,'hat is this aboutH 'hat:how does this #eel to &eH. And you need to be
trained to such an e(tent that it beco&es a concrete e(%erience in you, that you are completely
certain of yourself. Thats itJ And thats how it isJ And that can be totally different fro& what
!
your &ind is trying to &ake you belie#e, or to what the for& is suggesting. That is what is so
interesting about this e(ercise: <o one will e#er %ull you a leg any&oreJ
I a%%ly this techni*ue to wine. I look at the bottles of wine in the su%er&arket, and I do not
only look with &y eyes and:or &y &ind, I also look with &y heart. Then once in a while there
is a bottle a&ong the&: ,YesJ That oneJ.
It is also %ossible that a %erson already a%%lies this techni*ue. This %erson is already able to
%ick out Artha, just like that. So it &eans that he engages hi&self in so&ething he is already
able to doH
That is %ossible. The %oint is that you &ake it scientific, so that you dont &ake &istakes
any&ore.
9ut what I &ean is that so&eti&es one can %ick out Artha so *uickly that it see&s that there is
only Artha, and no Sabda or Bnana.
Yes.
5ost %eo%le do feel that there is Artha so&ewhere, but they dont understand yet that it is the
&ost i&%ortant of all. They ha#e no idea about the difference between a co&&on e&otion, a
gentle caress of the senses, an instinct or a desire. They &i( the& all u%, and they are
conditioned:used to function &ainly on their &ind. So if it doesnt corres%ond with what their
&ind is telling the&, they ignore it. It is &ostly because of this that they beco&e unha%%y.
They buy a car and their &ind tells the&: ,@ook, this is just a &eans of trans%ortation, thats
all.. Then they dri#e this car for &any years while ne#er being ha%%y with it. Their life is
sli%%ing by. They s*uander away their li#es. +are to stick out your neck when you feel in your
heart: ,This is itJ.

I saw an e(a&%le recently: This guy had a Pontiac. ,5an., he said, ,it does 2 kilo&eters to the
liter. If I go to Aotterda& I ha#e to fill u% &y gas tank at least 8 ti&es.. 9ut the way this guy
talked about it, it was %ure lo#e. So I said to hi&: ,You just go and fill u% your tank 8 ti&es
when you go to Aotterda&. That is the %rice you %ay for your %assion. ?or the life that you feel
inside you its worth it. +o itJ If you want to ha#e such a car, well, why dont you just do itH
And nobody has a right to co&&ent on it.. I would ne#er choose to do so &yself, but
e#erybody is different.
There is a &an in 9elgiu& who s%ontaneously starts to cry when he hears the na&e 9ugatti
=e(otic Italian s%orts car>
'ell, 9elgians are &ore ad#anced in this res%ect than the +utch G that is why I a& sitting
here teaching you. I understand that. It is %erfectly %ossible. 9ut the crying you &ention, that is
%ure e&otion that is in#ol#ed. 'hich is ego, and that is not allowed, because you are su%%osed
to co&&unicate with the core without underlining your ego. 6&otion &i(ed with crying is ego.
It &eans that there is lack of control of oneself. /rying is an e&otion, a thought thats loaded
01
with ego, which dro%s down and e(%lodes down in the na#el chakra. It is an astral
%heno&enon. At that &o&ent there is %hysical reaction, like shedding tears.
Fur whole society is built on e&otion, so e#erything is %ro&oted and reco&&ended on
e&otions. Your e&otions are &ani%ulated, and this is only %ossible because %eo%le are weak in
this res%ect. 'hat I a& trying to tell you here is that it is %ossible to sto% it. +ont do itJ
<eutraliIe the &ind. +ont allow Bnana to %lay a &ajor role. 5o allow roo& for the feeling, the
real, deep feeling. The real e&otion in youM that is what you ha#e to re3disco#er. And when
you cry o#er a 9ugatti I a& wondering if you really lo#e 9ugatti. Fr whether it isnt just a
result of a conditioning:&e&ory. Aeal lo#e is neutral:infinite.
The first ti&e I fully enjoyed the 95' 23series L old &odel 23series, of which I was:a&
totally craIy L it had real a%%eal. I sat down in front of the car, on the sidewalk. The owner
arri#ed and thought: ,'hats going on hereH So&ethings not right about this.. So I told hi&:
,Please let &e be, I wont touch your car, I a& just ad&iring it as if it was a %iece of art. I&
just enjoying the sight of it. I dont want it. I wont take it. ?or it is just a %iece of
infinity:eternity.. Ti&e was standing still. That is real lo#e.
Then what is lo#eH It is the i&%ressions that you carry with you that find resonating
i&%ressions on causal le#el within that object. So there is a kind of ,&atching. going on.
It is the sa&e as what is going on when you look at your own child, for e(a&%le when he
returns after a certain %eriod of absence. At that &o&ent so&ething is ha%%ening.
+oes this also ha%%en with a carH
YesJ There are the characteristics of the creators in this car. That is what you feel.
)ow can you establish e(actly where that feeling is co&ing fro&H
If you cant find an answer, you can scan. There are a nu&ber of #ery interesting tricks. You
can scan geogra%hically L in what direction do I feel so&ethingH And you will see that you feel
&ore attracted to one direction than to another. Then you know: it is going to ha%%en
so&ewhere in that direction. Then you can &ake the second test: how farH " k&H 1 k&H 01
k&H And suddenly you will feel a click on one of those distances: direction southeast at C1
kilo&eters fro& here. 'hat is thereH And then you look it u% on the &a%.
So its like standing in the library in front of the bookshelf and grabbing a book with a feeling
like: I ha#e to read this bookH
Thats it.
And how do you co&e to ArthaH )ow do you unra#el itH ?irst of all by knowing that Artha is
the best. That is what you ha#e to be looking for. And then you start searching, and you dont
sto% until you are done. And you dont acce%t a rational solution, huhH +o kee% that in &ind,
because a rational solution, which is a%%ro#ed of by e#erybody, e#en by you: ,Fh, that is
0
cle#er. Yes, do it like that, its cle#er. Bust buy this s%ecial offer because the sho% will close
soon.. 'ell, if you sol#e %roble&s in this wayG wellG
I stood at the checkout this &orning. I bought a tray of those little %ouches with orange juice.
Said the checkout3girl to &e: ,Sir, this is a s%ecial offerJ If you buy two, you will get the third
one for free.. I&&ediately I felt &y &ind:Bnana talking to &e: ,'ell, in that case, I ha#e to go
back and get &e so&e &ore G. 9ut #ortunately &y feeling told &e: ,'hat a& I su%%osed to
do with so &uch orange juiceH Ill be drinking orange juice until ne(t yearJ. Isnt it soH It is a
&atter of kee%ing things in %ers%ecti#e. The checkout girl didnt understand &e at all. I said:
,I& fine, thanks.. ,?ool., she said. ,You are a foolJ.
People are craIyJ 9ecause they base their li#es u%on this one little bargain. 9ecause they base
their li#es u%on thought. They are ill. They totally ignore real li#e. @osersJ 5ortal soulsJ
+isease will strike the&J 9rain tu&ors. ?ull of s%ecial offersJ
Yes, it can also be done in another way. In theory it is %ossible. Those who can are the %urely
intuiti#e %eo%le a&ong us. They see through e#erything and they clarify anything. They are not
distracted by anything. 9ut that is a #ery high for& of art, you knowJ
9ut anyway, we can &ake a start here, huhH And as long as you are conscious of this %rocess L
distilling is what I call it L it is called Sa#itarka Sa&adhi. And one day, when you are going
through it easily, when it beco&es natural to you so that you can %ick out the core, Artha,
*uickly, then it is called <ir#itarka Sa&adhi.
I dont e#en think any&ore when I a& in the su%er&arket or when I look at beautiful cars. I
just e*perience it and I e(%erience it directly. That is <ir#itarka.
Is a real e&otion #oid of egoH
Yes, that is a real e&otion, while a false e&otion is one that is colored by your ego. It is *uite
%ossible to check that. 'hen you lea#e ego out of it, the false e&otion will auto&atically dro%
out. And when you lea#e ego out and it a%%ears to be a real:dee% e&otion, then that e&otion
will re&ain.
In case you doubt, you say to yourself: I dont care. +o what you feel like doing. So detach
yourself. +etach yourself co&%letely, and then see if it is still touching you.
**! :ta+ai)a Sa)icara %ir)icara Ca Su/shma)isha+a $+a/h+ata
9y this =what has been said in the two %re#ious Sutras> Samadhis o# Sa1icara,
3ir1icara and subtler stages =I L C> ha#e also been e(%lained.
'hat does this &eanH 'hat is DicaraH @iterally Dicara &eans ,reflection., which is the Aajas3
factor on causal le#el that you e(%erience. So you %ut your causal body in Aajas3&ode. 'e
e(%erience this as a sense of ecstasy:bliss:ha%%iness. In the sa&e way you ha#e done the
00
%re#ious e(ercises, you can search for the Artha of ecstasy:ha%%iness in this e(ercise, which is
%resent in e#erything as $ell. It is only a &atter of how you look that will &ake you find it.
Yesterday I was at &y &other3in3laws, so&ething that in itself is si&ilar to torture. And I was
wondering: ,'hat is the fun of thisH. 'ell, the sun was shining and she had %re%ared this
chair for &e. These days she is really %a&%ering &e when I #isit her, which is not so bad at all
in &y o%inion. So I settled &yself co&fortably, catching so&e rays of sun, co&%leted by a
footstool. This was so &agnificentJ That is real lifeJ I a& &ore at ease at &y &other3in3laws
than I a& hereJ And in that situation I felt a %iece of ecstasy. 'hat I a& trying to say is that
e#en in the &ost terrible situation there is always so&ething %leasant, de%ending on your
ability to find it.
Then I got u% and walked towards the %layground. A &u& and her 03year3old daughter ca&e
by. Says this little girl to &e: ,@ookJ. and she showed &e a flower. ,Yes., she said, ,and I got
it fro& herJ. I was fully in ecstasy. It touched &e dee%ly, you knowH These kinds of things can
ha%%en. If you %ay attention, they just ha%%en. <or&al %eo%le are obli#ious to all these kinds
of wonderful things. They wouldnt e#en loo! at such a little girlJ And they wouldnt e#en
ad&ire her flowerJ They just %ass by. 'here are they with their thoughtsH I dont know, they
&ust be totally occu%ied by Drttis. They are not able to deter&ine what is really i&%ortant.
So, deter&ine: what do you feel like doing todayH +o you want to be in Aajas3do&ination on
causal le#el, Satt#a3do&ination on causal le#el, or Ta&as3do&ination on causal le#elH
Aajas is Dicara L ecstasy.
Satt#a is %eace =so&eone told &e that the world has a need for this>.
Ta&as is bliss:lo#e =of which I can ne#er get enough>.
+o you want this tooH 'ell, it is all around youJ You can taste it in the objects, in nature, in the
%eo%le and in the houses. <o, not the houses in this country =)olland> L they taste too &uch
like fraud, but in 9elgiu& G and the beer in that countryJ And in )ollandH /heeseJ The %lace
I like to be &ost is that little cheese sho%. They sell the best stuff in the entire country. <uts
and cheese, si&%ly fantasticJ
+o you understandH
The start is the &ost difficult, but once you see through the trick with Ditarka, you ha#e an
entrance. And then you can also gi#e it a fla#or if you like, which would be Dicara, Ananda
and As&ita Sa&adhi. Thats all.
'hy are there different colorsH
9ecause your needs can #ary. So&eti&es you are in need of lo#e, while another ti&e you are in
a need of bliss. 'hen your causal body has been in Ta&as for too long L when you ha#e
recei#ed too &uch lo#e L then you would like to go out with a friend to let it all hang out and
&ake so&e fun. Then suddenly so&eone #isits, and you e(%erience Dicara. )owe#er, at a
02
certain %oint you get tired of it and you suggest: ,You know whatH @ets go fishing together..
'hile fishing you e(%erience %eace.
This is how you can control things in lifeM by hel%ing to install the *uality at the causal le#el
that you need at that #ery &o&ent. This then is the causal %ulsation that co&es under your
control. You dont ha#e your life li#ed for you any&ore, causally, but you are in charge of life
yourself. And while you are at it, you try to co&e increasingly &ore to har&ony and silence, to
e#entually achie#e At&an.
Ditarka is an ob#ious introduction. At the start you ha#e no idea how to handle it. )ow are you
su%%osed to get insight into that &essH 'ell, just as we said: throw out the %erce%tion of the
gross, and throw out also the %erce%tion of the subtle, the &ental and the e&otional, and find
back the real, dee% e&otional #alue.
Bung called the& archety%es. )e knew what he was talking about. )e said: Peo%le should kee%
the&sel#es concerned with the archety%es.
+id he also designate it like this concretelyH
<o, he was not ready yet. )e did howe#er ha#e an idea that you should go to the core of things.
9ut what is that coreH 'e know: it is the taste of the Sa&skara itself. That is Artha.
+id you e(%eri&ent with the infor&ation that you recei#ed last weekH
Peo%le let the&sel#es be distracted by the for& all the ti&e, huhH They de#iate fro& the
essence. 9ut that is e(actly what the e(ercise is about. You &ust &ake a lifestyle out of it: to
go to the core.
Ae&ark about the Anne ?rank35useu&: I #isited it to feel the essence of her house. )owe#er, I
didnt feel a thing.
You had better looked at a %icture of this girl. 9ecause %eo%le %ut interest in certain things that
are related to her life L indirectly L you go along with the&. This doesnt &ean that there
actually is so&ething. And you look, but there is nothing. It is the people who think that there
should be so&ething. They would $ant so&ething to be there, but there is nothing at all.
Ae%eat that e(ercise with a %icture of that girl, but dont use a %icture on which she looks #ery
ha%%y when it was &ade. 'ell, you will e(%erience so&ething co&%letely different. This is
#ery i&%ortant: that you can taste the core of the &isery, because then you shall e(%erience
so&ething #ery re&arkable: that the core of &isery tastes the sa&e:si&ilar as the core of
ha%%iness. Bust try it for yourself. There is no other way, because it arises abo#e the duality.
You si&%ly go straight to the i&%ressions, which carry no good or bad in the&M they are just
i&%ressions.
That is also how it feels. That is the reason that by %racticing this e(ercise a Yogi reaches the
%oint that he beco&es e#en3te&%ered. )e ne#er beco&es ha%%y any&ore, but he also doesnt
08
get sad any&ore either. It is just e#en. This e#okes *uite so&e resistance, because this is not
what we $ant at all.
Is this the road to %aradiseH
Yes, this is the gate to %aradise, which is %eaceM the feeling of being.
9ut let us first ha#e a look at Sutra 8":
*,! Su/shma $isha+at)am Ca.inga Par+a)asanam
The %ro#ince of Samadhi concerned with subtle objects e(tends u% to the Alinga
stage of the Gunas.
So until the last stage of this kind of Sa&adhi you can e&%loy the feeling:the &ood. This
&eans that you look for all %ossible e&otional #alues. There are a lot of #ariations of the&,
which de%end on the Nunas. There are three Nunas, so there are three &ain fla#ors:
Satt#a is the fla#or of har&ony:%eace.
Aajas is the fla#or of delight:bliss:joy.
Ta&as is the fla#or of bliss:ha%%iness:feeling good:lo#e.
Then there are the #ariations of those three.
Your life should actually contain &ainly these ele&entsM the %erce%tion of all those different
&oods, and that you always try to distinguish those &oods, in e#erything that surrounds you
but also within yourself.
Acce%t the #ariety of i&%ressions and the feelings that co&e towards you, and reckon with
the&. In this way life beco&es 1ery %leasant.
?or e(a&%le, you ha#e a #isitor. It is a #isitor you really feel for, but you also ha#e a #ery
interesting co&%uter ga&e. 'hat will you chooseH
The #isitorH
Yes, but why would you do thatH 9ecause in the ga&e you cannot feel that e&otion as &uch as
you would feel it in that %erson. It is &uch &ore enriching to be engaged with that %erson and
that feeling with hi&, than it is %laying that ga&e. Ff course you can also ask that %erson to
%lay the ga&e together with you on another co&%uter. That would of course be fantastic.
'hat is i&%ortant is that you see the difference and reckon with it. That you forsake the for&
in fa#or of the content. 9ut so&eti&es the for& can be so utterly beautiful L e(ternally
attracti#e L but you &ust #eel, #eelG
0"
I like to watch all the beautiful things in life. )owe#er, all those beautiful ladies for e(a&%le,
ha#e no content &ost of the ti&eM they are e&%ty. 'hene#er you are in a booksho% and you
look at the %ictures of the authors of the books, you should try to ,tune in. on the& and ask
yourself: is there one interesting character a&ong all theseH It is rare, rareG
'hat about IdolsH
Yes, that is the #ictory of the for&, but I a& sure you already ca&e to that conclusion yourself,
huhH
6#erybody should judge for hi&self. Situations are always different and %ersonal, but what is
i&%ortant is that you set:see %riorities: what is i&%ortant and what is not i&%ortant. There is a
#ery big, wide s%ectru&.
9ut &aybe the solution could be to try to gi#e a different twist to thingsH
6(actly. You can deify the &atter.
?or e(a&%le:
There is the story of the do3gooder who ga#e &e a la%to%. She was a real good %erson, full of
lo#e. I &anaged to start u% the co&%uter and I showed her our 'in3website L ho%ing to oblige
her: I was offering her so&ething #ery &aterialistic:for&al, seeing that she took it e(actly the
way it was &eant to be: as a deed fro& the heart. So, it is &atter indeed, but it is so because I
li!e it. And there are not so &any likable things in life.
So I said to her: ,)ere, look, this is what we found G I think you will like this too.. This
a%%roach is so co&%letely different co&%ared to the slick and businesslike %resentation we
ga#e about the %roducts before. That was only for&, but actually the for& e(ists only to be
&ade &ore intense, to bring you to the core. 9ut %eo%le are so terribly cunning. They twist
e#erything and they turn it into so&ething &aterialistic:&echanic:so&ething that is only about
&oney. And so they take off on the left %ath, the %ath downwards.
So, you can &ake &atter as &eaningful or as &eaningless as you %leaseH
6(actly. In the sa&e way I understood:felt this whole 'in3&atter once I talked with the
founder of that co&%any. )e is a billionaire. And we ca&e together just like that, and we #elt.
)e was a truck dri#er before. /lick, click, click, click G we are talking about well being here,
and about to bring the good things that you in#ent to other %eo%le. Solutions to %roble&s. I
really wanted to hug that guyJ So&eti&es you really ha#e to hold &e back, you knowJ I dont
often act like this, but when I do I fly straight into it.
/an we find this with anybodyH
Yes, as long as you kee% scratching L I call it scratching L you can find it with anyone. 'hen I
was young it &ade &e *uite confused, because I did like that, auto&atically, with the result
that I was in lo#e with all wo&en. That is *uite troubleso&e, but I also noticed that nobody did
04
things like I did, with the result that I always ended u% in trouble. So I recalled it, and that is
really a sha&e, it is a big sha&e because it was %lain %ure. And because of the negati#e
e(%eriences it all beca&e artificial, with conditions.
This is the field of Sa&adhi. It is a #ery large %laying field, which is also called Sabija
Sa&adhi in which you engage yourself with ,seed. =of things>. I %refer to call it the core of
things, though. ,9ija. is actually the Sa&skara that carries within it the %ro&ise of further
growth, so it is not si&%ly the Sa&skara as we usually see it, but it is a Sa&skara that can ri%en
into fruit. There are also a lot of Sa&skaras that ne#er end u% beco&ing a 9ija. They are
%resent but they ne#er ri%en.
*0! 'a :)a Sabijah Samadhih
They =stages corres%onding to subtle objects> constitute only Samadhi with
Rseed.
The authors way of looking at it is *uite condescending, which he then re%eats in the 8C
th
Sutra:
*1! %ir)icara#$aisarad+e (h+atma#Prasadah
Fn attaining the ut&ost %urity of the 3ir1icara stage =of Samadhi> there is the
dawning of the s%iritual light.
The %ur%ose of this Sabija Sa&adhi is to allow the de#elo%&ent of 6nlighten&ent. Fnly the
start of 6nlighten&ent. And what &ay that beH Actually it is the awakening of your 9uddhi. It
is the disco#ery of your own 9uddhi: intellect. And a %erson who is totally awakened, and who
has installed total har&ony in his 9uddhi and uses it fully, that is a 9uddha: an awakened.
'hat do we understand to be the awakening of the function of 9uddhiH @et us just say it
%lainly: it is the de#elo%&ent of co&&on senseM it is the intellect:intellectual faculties that start
to arise in you, the start of you beco&ing intelligent. I ha#e told you before when we discussed
the ,Science of Soul. that it is %ossible to &ake your intelligence grow. And we dont do this
by gathering di%lo&as, but by %racticing Dicara Sa&adhi, which cannot be %racticed on its
own: we also need to %ractice its counter%art: Ananda Sa&adhi, and between the two we also
need As&ita Sa&adhi. 9ut the e(ercise that really directly engages the intellect on causal le#el
L the ,clicking. that we &entioned last week L that is Dicara Sa&adhi.
)ow do you do thatH
You do that by introducing ha%%iness into your life. 9y %artying. At the ?ree School they
alternate the %arties with con#i#iality and they do that for this reason. Partying is actually a tool
0C
to bring the children into Dicara Sa&adhi. $nfortunately they &iserably failed because they do
not e(actly know what the %ur%ose, e#er, was of Steiner =Audolf Steiner>. The teachers should
first %ractice all those things:control Sa&adhi themsel1es to be able to con#ey it to their
students.
Fn the other hand there is the con#i#iality, which stands for Ananda Sa&adhi or socialiIing
with each other sy&%athetically. If there is no lo#e, then &aybe sy&%athy, friendshi% L which
is also a for& of Ananda. /on#i#iality is %leasant: it gi#es a sense of being at ho&e. ?or
e(a&%le that you can bring yourself an object into the classroo& that &akes you feel good.
That is Ananda Sa&adhi.
That #ariation brings your causal body into %ulsation: slight contraction, with con#i#iality, and
e(%ansion with %arties. And that is real u%bringing, the real de#elo%&ent of a child. The
intelligence of children, who finished the ?ree School, is considerable. It is &uch higher than
in co&&on education.
I guess you could say e&otional intelligence. 5aturity also. In the 'est it is thought that
intelligence is %urely a &atter of sol#ing %roble&s, but ob#iously there is &ore to it.
Intelligence &eans understanding of life, and to be able to draw lessons fro& life. That is true
intelligence, in such a way that you dont &ake the sa&e &istake twice. In Yoga this is literally
the definition of intelligence, and e#en that of &e&ory.
'e ha#e all been in school and we were all graded according to our intelligence. )ow were
your gradesH And on what were they foundedH 'as intelligence used a lotH There is too &uch
e&%hasis on acade&ic %erfor&ance.
'hat do you think is of &ore use in lifeH <ot those things you had to do in school. Fnce the
school doors were closed behind you, the reality closed in on you: the first thing your e&%loyer
told you was: ,?irst of all you ha#e to do e#erything o#er again, because you know nothing..
This is what e#ery e&%loyer tells e#ery newco&er. It is really a cold showerJ 'hat ha#e you
studied for all those yearsH Peo%le in school told &e that at the &o&ent I would enter business3
life I would be recei#ed with all regardsJ They would heartily welco&e &e and ask for &y
ad#ice i&&ediately. In %ractice it was of course totally different.
@ook, whene#er you are engaged with e(%erience and knowledge, it always has #alue. The
only thing I want to &ake clear is that what you really need is not co#ered in co&&on
education. So one is engaged, good willed, with good intentions, but if we would ha#e this
knowledge in the uni#ersities, the structure would be co&%letely different. It would then
connect &uch &ore to %ractice.
So it is %ossible to enlarge our intelligence. <ot by learning &athe&atical calculations, sol#ing
%roble&s, writing thesis and so on, but by ecstasy.
There is so&ebody in )olland who is doing that. )is na&e is Sutorius =+hyan Sutorius, a
doctor>. )e teaches laughing3&editation. It is so good. In this way, by laughing, you bring
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joy:bliss into your life. Si&%ly by watching co&edians, laughing and screa&ing, you build
&ore intelligence than by reading of lots of books.
It is kind of awkward, but if you understand the essence of this, you would just sit down and
build u% this ha%%iness in you. And then you will actually #eel that ha%%iness. Then, if you let
this bliss grow &ore and &ore you will go co&%letely into ecstasy. Then your 9uddhi will
a%%ear and you kee% your 9uddhi. FhJ ?antasticJ So deliciousJ .nbelie1ableJ
As you see &e sitting here, I a& in Dicara Sa&adhi, and you can #eel that. That is what I a&
trying to &ake clear to you. You beco&e affected by it yourself, and you go ho&e walking on
air: ,'ow, that was such a good classJ. It was not a good class at allJ You just beca&e
affected, thats allJ Your head beca&e so bigJ 6(%anding e#enJ 'hen you ride a bus:get into
your car this will continue. The %eo%le in your en#iron&ent will say: ,Fh, he is back again..
Shoot the&, huhH 9ecause =&ostly> they are not %art of it.
Try to build yourself a new lifestyle. Then, slowly G Aita&bhara. The %roduct of this
ha%%iness and this ecstatic way of life is ,the carrier of Truth and Aight3bearing =justice>..
*1! %ir)icara $aisarad+e (h+atma Prasadah
Fn attaining the ut&ost %urity of the 3ir1icara stage =of Samadhi> there is the
dawning of the s%iritual light.
*5! Rtambhara 'atra Prajna
There, the consciousness is Truth3 and Aight3bearing.
&iterally. You will beco&e the carrier of Truth and Aight3bearing =justice>, which is a %erson
who, through an o%en crown cakra L with a crown on the head L has recei#ed insight, and a
shar%ness, to which no %roble& can &atch.
Are social %eo%le also &ore intelligentH
I think that cabaret artists &ust reach the highest %oint of intelligence. Budge for yourself when
you see those %eo%le on TD. They always affect you. There is always recognition. You just
cant hel% laughing about their foolishness =if they are any good that is>. Those %eo%le should
recei#e go#ern&ent su%%ort, because they ha#e &ore &eaning in educating the %eo%le than
education as we recei#e it in ele&entary or secondary school.
It see&s to a%%eal to %eo%le because they look at society with so &uch insight.
0!
Yes, they touch u%on so&ething. They awaken so&ething inside you, gi#e it a twist, you cant
but laugh. Pay attention to the s%eed with which they do this. 5ostly those kinds of %eo%le are
#ery swift. 9uddhi L s%eed L Aajas.
The reward for ecstatic life, alternated by other things, is an o%en crown /akra. 'isdo&,
co&%lete wisdo&. <ow you will beco&e king, or a real judge. You will ha#e the *uality to
ad&inister justice. You dont ha#e to wait for one of those crack3%ot ci#il ser#ants calling
the&sel#es judges =whose co&%uters are often full of downloaded %orn>J Those kinds of
%eo%le do not deser#e the %osition of a judge. They are la&e dogs that earned their %ro&otions
through inco&%etence. It is the lack of insight in the hu&an being that is res%onsible for these
kinds of %eo%le to be a%%ointed the %osition of judge.
'e see the sa&e %roble& with kings and *ueens. They are not king or *ueen. This is in fact a
relic that we should ha#e %ut in a &useu& long ti&e ago. 5ost of the ci#il ser#ants in high
%ositions:leading %ositions do not get any res%ect, which is a clear sign: %eo%le do not listen
any&ore to these kinds of false leaders. They ha#e no authority any&ore. Peo%le say: ,'ell,
this &ay be authority. I will reckon with it, but whene#er the chance arises I will take care of
things my way.. This ha%%ens &ore and &ore: corru%tion and decay of &oral %rinci%les. The
cause of this lies not only with the %eo%le, but also and for a large %art with the false leaders.
Fne day, when wrongs will be righted and %eo%le who deser#e those %ositions take charge of
affairs, because they %ossess the necessary insights:intelligence because they ha#e the %ro%er
background:training, well, then you will see great changes taking %lace in society.
Eing Solo&on fro& the bible was such a %erson we see as a real king. )e ad&inistered justice.
+o you know this story of two wo&en clai&ing the sa&e childH 9oth wo&en said: ,This is &y
child.. So a situation occurred like: ,Fkay, we cant co&e to a conclusion about whose child
this is, so lets cut the child in half.. It is what we call ,A Solo&ons judg&ent. I&&ediately
when the judg&ent fell the real &other reacted: ,<o, dont do thatJ Id rather lea#e &y child to
the other wo&an than to kill hi&.. After which king Solo&on said: ,It is okay. It is your child,
because you show real lo#e.. So, it goes #ery dee%, huhH A real judge sees through all the
Drttis:stories and goes straight to the core of things, to the 9ija. And in this e(a&%le the 9ija
ca&e out because the wo&an said: ,<o, forget about it, I lo#e &y child and I dont want it to
be cut in two.. And so she got to kee% the child.
The goal is that you, too base your life on this idea.
The judges that I ha#e seen in &y lifeJ Nood @ordJ They hide behind laws, instead of being
tough enough to say: ,'ell, this is &y decision. I use the laws and so G. Instead they say:
,The laws are as follows and that is how we decide. I a& not allowed to do otherwise..
There is the e(a&%le of Ae&co /a&%ert =+utch writer and news%a%er colu&nist> I %laced an
ad#ertise&ent in the Dolkskrant =national news%a%er>: you could beco&e #ery old with Yoga,
&aybe e#en "1 years old. )e used that ad and that story of a long and healthy life to &ake the
Aaja Yoga Institute co&%letely ridiculous. I addressed &y concerns to this news%a%er: ,You
ha#e da&aged the credibility of &y co&%anyG it is a big disgraceG I de&and a co&%ensation
for the da&age.. They reacted as follows: ,It is our right. It is called freedo& of s%eech in this
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country.. The Tra#eling Budge got in#ol#ed =judge who sol#es %roble&s on TD> and he said:
,Yes, I a& so sorry, but they ha#e the right to e(%ress their o%inion freely.. So I countered:
,Yes, but they da&aged &y co&%any.. And he said: ,You cant &ake that concrete.. To
which I said: ,'hat do you &eanH The nu&ber of registrations has dro%%ed considerably..
And he concluded: ,I dont belie#e you.. ?inished, just like that.
That was the Tra#eling Budge. I call hi& the ?loating Budge. $nbelie#able that these kinds of
%eo%le &aintain law and order. It is sad. @isten, only those that are against &e are worthless,
you got the %icture, huhH
+o you understand what this is aboutH +o you understand the ga&es that are playedH )ow you
are being taken ad#antage offH Peo%le are %laying tricks with status, %eo%le who are absolutely
worthless. Fne day, I know, %eo%le will re#olt and abolish these kinds of injustices. You can
wield freedo& of s%eech, but you ha#e to found it solidly with insight. Is it clear so farH
Fkay, then we can go on with the crown /akra:real crown. You can see this crown around
Besus head. It is the halo of a holy &an, an aura, and you can actually see and also feel it. It
can also be kind of low L &ore like Ajna /akra, but the higher it gets it beco&es the crown
/akra. The day it o%ened u% in &e it felt like I was scal%ed, co&%letely nude, with a cool wind
blowing o#er it. It was #ery awkward and I dont think that it necessarily has to be like this.
5aybe it was a bad e(a&%le, because a good e(a&%le is one of a crown /akra o%ening
gradually. 9ut you do see your insight growing, so that you will not be %ulled a leg any&ore.
You see through e#erything. Anything %eo%le tell you, anything that crosses your %ath.
9ut the %ulsation should slowly but certainly co&e to an end. ?irst it is %ulsating like a
heartbeat around the head. The ne(t ste% is to use certain alternating e(ercises to try to cal& it
down, until it co&es to a standstill. At that %oint the heart also co&es to a standstill. That is the
criterion: the heartbeat. So when in conte&%lation you check once in a while: what is &y
heartbeat doingH 'hen it beco&es #ery *uiet it &eans that you are on the right %ath, and when
it is hardly %erce%tible it is e1en better.
You &ust try to gain control o#er a &ood, and then try to create another &ood, and the third
ti&e you try a third &ood. Then, when you beco&e e(%erienced, alternate the &oods. 9ut first
you ha#e to focus on it one at a ti&e. It is just like learning to write: you start by writing down
one letter at a ti&e and when you &aster that you start connecting the letters.
+id we talk about the 88th Sutra yetH Tell &e, what was it aboutH Fh, it is not &y day today,
so you better roll u% your slee#esG
It &eans that Sa#icara and <ir#icara Sa&adhi follow the sa&e &ethod as Ditarka.
'hat do you &eanH 'hat sa&e &ethodH
That you ha#e to arri#e at the essence tooH
9ut then it should ha#e the sa&e na&e. 'hy does it ha#e another na&eH
2
In Ditarka you ha#e to find Artha and in Dicara and <ir#icara you &ust find the 2
&oods:e&otions.
'hich &oods:e&otions are theyH
Dicara, Ananda and As&ita.
And what then is the ArthaH
In Dicara Sa&adhi the Artha is ecstasy.
So does this &ean that you ha#e 2 &oods:e&otions, but that you ha#e to follow Artha to co&e
to those &oods:e&otionsH
YesJ
'hat about AnandaH
9liss or lo#e.
Then the Artha is 9liss.
'hat about As&itaH
Then the Artha is sheer being.
Then what is the Artha in DitarkaH
Then it de%ends on the subject:object you choose. It de%ends on the feeling found in it.
9ut it is a feeling that is %articularly connected to your thought:&ind, thence the word
reasoning. So you gain insight in the core:e&otional #alue of the object.
There is a clear difference between the 8 e(ercises. Then why are there 8 e(ercises, and what is
the ai& of those 8 e(ercisesH Is it to &ake your life &iserable with those Artha3thingsH It is a
trick to ele#ate your consciousness to causal le#el, to the %erce%tion of the i&%ressions. Those
are the &oods or e&otional #alues, which are recogniIable by one or &ore of the Nunas that
are acti#e there. 5aintaining such a consciousness at that le#el will be res%onsible for your
control at intuiti#e, causal le#el. So you learn to li#e at that le#el.
So it doesnt &ean that one is &ore i&%ortant than the otherH
<o, you ha#e to do all four of the&, because the causal body %ulsates just like the other bodies.
'hen you are engaged in Ananda, you are %articularly working on contraction, while when
you are engaged in Dicara, you are working on e(%ansion. In As&ita you are working on
balance and in Ditarka you are focused downwards L towards the &ind.
In the %rocess you learn to control cos&ic breathing on causal le#el. )abituation grown by
your enduring stay in one of those four conditions, will gradually culti#ate &ore feeling for this
cos&ic breathing at that le#el. Then you will start li#ing your life based on that. It will beco&e
20
your station, instead of the &ind:thought, which is #ery fa&iliar because you use it e#ery day.
So it is only logical that that =the &ind> is your station now.
)ow on earth can we re%lace this station for anotherH That is the big *uestion we are faced
with. ?or that the old Aishis ha#e disco#ered this.
'e learned that in Dicara you feel that you continue to e(%and. At a certain %oint it has
e(%anded to such an e(tent that you cannot kee% it any&ore. Then it will disintegrate and you
will ha#e to co&e back. Anyway, this is so&ething that doesnt occur in one ti&e. I can stay in
Dicara for about 21:8" &inutes. It beco&es of gigantic %ro%ortions =the e(%ansion>.
Arent you su%%osed to re&ain in Satt#aH
This is beyond )atha Yoga. )atha Yoga is always directed towards Satt#a, while Aaja Yoga
re#ol#es around all the Nunas and the starting %oint is Satt#a. The ecstasy causes you to
beco&e gigantic of siIe, and your body:aura changes into gold, beco&es gold color. I ha#e
seen it once or twice with &yself. It is &agnificentJ It is not like just ha#ing so&e new
e(%erience, you know, it is &ore like installing a co&%letely new custo&:dis%osition, a new
way of life. A life that you li#e based u%on the crown /akra. That is the %roble&. To go u% just
once is so&ething anybody can do, that is not so difficult. The %erfor&ance of one of those
four e(ercises is not such a big deal. The big deal is to use those four e(ercisesJ That is
so&ething of *uite a different &agnitude.
+o you also %hysically feel this e(%ansionH
Yes, you certainly e(%erience this e(%ansion %hysically. 9ut in these Sa&adhis L %articularly
in the <ir3#ariations L you will lose your sense of body co&%letely. It just beco&es abstracted.
Are these things now clear to e#erybodyH <ot *uite yetH
Ditarka is Satt#aM a &i( of Aajas and Ta&as, so you are still in an irregular condition. You just
start with Ditarka, which is si&%ly obser#ing what is kee%ing you occu%ied. 9ut within what
kee%s you occu%ied, you go to the core:essence. And what kee%s you occu%ied is related to the
three Nunas, &i(ed together. You do not choose one %articular kind of Nuna, you just grab
what is a#ailable and you go straight to the core:essence of it. The idea behind all this is that
you walk in the street and that you are in Ditarka. Bust like that. The idea is that your way of
looking at things:functioning in life beco&es %urely Ditarka, permanently.
Fnce you ha#e achie#ed this thanks to Ditarka, the ne(t ste% is to regulate:control the cos&ic
breath.
So, Ditarka is looking for the core:essence, which is a Sa&skara:i&%ression that can be found
so&ewhere on your causal le#el. So, thanks to Ditarka you ha#e entered into the causal body.
The irregular condition of the start of it will slowly but certainly cal& down, and then you can
choose: Dicara, Ananda or As&ita.
22
'hat do you use as your subjectH /an you use your %hysical body for itH
<o. In Ditarka you can choose any subject, of which you search the e&otional #alue. 9ut in
Dicara, Ananda and As&ita it is a feeling. It is %urely a feeling that is always the sa&e. It is not
a subject any&ore that you ha#e to %ick. So you can say that the subject has beco&e the idea of
bliss:sheer being:ecstasy, but that is not a word any&ore, just a feeling. You &ust try to
re&e&ber what that feeling is. If you get stuck on a word you will not be able to get into that
desired Sa&adhi3condition.
So you use Ditarka as a sort of entrOe to arri#e at the other 2, rightH It is actually not %ossible to
%ractice those 2 without being able to %ractice DitarkaH
6(actly. That is what Patanjali is %ointing out. And I can confir& that it is a #ery cle#er entrOe.
You use Ditarka to bring your consciousness to the causal body. This brings you, thanks to
Ditarka, to Artha. So you ha#e distilled: Sabda L Bnana L Artha. You ha#e found the Artha L
essence. DoilaJ And you are thereJ And after that you are free to choose to follow u% with one
of the other Sa&adhis.
Is it %ossible to co&e to one of the 2 s%ontaneouslyH
That is also %ossible. 9ut the *uestion is: does it always ha%%enH <o. So you ha#e to wait until
that condition occurs. The interesting thing of the Ditarka Sa&adhi3&ethod is: whate#er
condition you are in, it doesnt &atter. You look at your cat, and by looking at your cat you
say: ,There are 2 %arts in the cat., and suddenly you feel the Artha of the cat and, #oila, you
are already u% =causal le#el>.
It is a &atter of using insight. You obser#e the object non3co&&ittal, and within the object the
distilling takes %lace. It ha%%ens auto&atically. ?or e(a&%le when I look at a 95' 23series
that really a%%eals to &e: I look at itM I see the lines =Sabda L gross &aterial>M I think about how
the car is build =Bnana>M the enjoy&ent =Artha>, and then I just #eel so&ething. I erase the other
co&%onents and kee% only that feeling. That is Artha. This entire %rocess together constitutes
Ditarka Sa&adhi.
+oes this a%%ly to %ositi#e things only, or does it also include negati#e thingsH
9uddha says: ,begin with %ositi#e things.. That is a little bit easier. 9ut you are su%%osed to
e(%and it. Ty%ically for 9uddha is that he tells you to e(%and e#en into dog shitJ You walk on
the sidewalk and you see dog shit, and you go straight into hea#en, thanks to dog shit. You
&ust train yourself to gain insight in e#erything. Into e1erything, as a &atter of lifestyle. That
is the first ste%. The second ste% is to stay there, and for that you ha#e the use of the other 2.
You are recei#ing the best %ossible Sa&adhi training in the world. This training that you are
recei#ing now is %ure gold. It doesnt look like it, does itH It see&s so easy.
'e had arri#ed at the 87
th
Sutra. There is the consciousness of the bearer of Truth and Bustice.
28
Aita&bhara. You can i&agine this, cant youH 9ut can you also stay in itH It is not a &atter of
o%ening u%, but of !eeping it o%en. The &ost striking e(a&%le of a Aita&bhara is the headdress
of the <orth3A&erican Indian chiefs. They are so big and that is e(actly ho$ it #eels. The
bigger the headdress, the bigger the chief. Actually it is a %ity they needed headdresses. The
%ur%ose is actually to be that big $ithout a headdress.
+o you understand that you are the bearer of ,Truth and Bustice.H You ha#e no other o%tion
than to tell the truth and feel justice. You just dont ha#e any o%tion any&ore. 6#erything has
beco&e clear now, which &eans that you ha#e obtained the condition of Di#eka3Ehyati L the
su%re&e %ower of judg&ent:discern&ent =Science of Soul>. It is 9uddhi that is fully engaged
and in Satt#a.
*6! Srutanumana Prajnabh+am An+a $isha+a $isesharthat)at
The knowledge based on inference or testi&ony is different fro& direct
knowledge obtained in the higher states of consciousness =I387> because it is
confined to a %articular object =or as%ect>.
'hat bearer of Truth and BusticeH 'ell, the e(%lanation is in the 8!
th
Sutra.
+o you re&e&ber the Drttis of 9uddhiH Anu&ana, Aga&a and PratyakshaH Inference,
testi&ony and direct knowledgeH The least #aluable of the 2 is knowledge obtained through
testi&ony: knowledge obtained through books. Plagiaris&, co%ying, you si&%ly %arrot other
%eo%les knowledge.
There are tens, hundreds of Yoga3teachers in the country and abroad who re%eat &y words
literally since &any years. I dont ha#e a %roble& with that, but its too bad, because they
ha#ent gotten any further than testi&ony because they ha#ent done any work:research
themsel1es.
They did not de#elo% further the knowledge as I ha#e gi#en it to the&. They ha#e not drawn
their own conclusions. If they had, it would ha#e been a little bit better. Ff course so&e ha#e
drawn so&e conclusions on their own, but they were the wrong conclusions. It doesnt &atterM
they are only conclusions. So&ebody, for e(a&%le, has gi#en &y Yin3Yang3&odel his own
twist, in which he connected the two ends at the to% and the botto&, where the energy
disa%%ears into the 9indus: ,You see, now we ha#e a closed3syste&J. They work on the
&odel and go into the wrong direction. It can ha%%en. 9ut the good %art of the story is that this
%erson at least tried to do so&ething with the &odelM he started to think about it. 9ut if he
would continue to draw conclusions, he could not but arri#e at the truth sooner or later.
The truth is easiest:fastest found through direct knowledge: Pratyaksha. You see it, and then
you !no$ it. The day in !74 that I saw the Yin3Yang3&odel in a #ision L in broad daylight,
fully conscious L it was so striking. I knew i&&ediately: this is it. This is the basis on which all
2"
the rest de#elo%ed. 9oo&J )ow could I knowH It was a #eeling: this is it. It was only years later
before e#erything settled and found its %lace.
It was like when I got attracted to Yoga when I was 4 years of age. I had bought a book. It
was on &y table. I looked at it and suddenly there was light. That, too is Pratyaksha: this is itJ
At that &o&ent I didnt understand at all what ha%%enedJ So, what did ha%%enH 'hat is that
lightH 'hat is that recognitionH It is the %rocess of your 9uddhi scanning, suddenly %icking u%
si&ilar i&%ressions. That is recognition. The i&%ressions of that book, or the i&%ression that
the Yin3Yang3&odel &ade on &e, &atched the i&%ressions that I carried within &e. At such a
&o&ent there is no need for reasoning, si&%ly because it all &akes sense. Thats it. That is
direct knowledge.
In the lesson about 9uddhi I told you that it is a &atter of clicking and scanning. That you &ust
scan in the world around you, and just let your senses roa& about the objects:%eo%le. And then
you see what the effect is that it has on you. If there is no effect at all you just lea#e it as it is. It
&eans that it is not &eant for you. 9ut now and then you will notice that there are
%eo%le:situations:cars:objects, whate#er there is, that $ill react. +irect knowledge is actually
the recognition.
Also when you wish to beco&e a Yoga teacher, you re%ort to &e and you a%%ear before &e
=although so&eti&es this is not e#en necessary>, and I let this %rocess ha%%en. And 0 &inutes
later it is all done. Ff course we chat a little bit, but actually I know it i&&ediately. So easy,
huhH It is not like the %rogra& Idols, in which you are %ut to the test. In Yoga it is i&&ediate:
recognition. The %resident and the #ice3%resident of the International Yoga ?ederation
recogniIed &e in e(actly the sa&e way: ,ThereJ You are the oneJ. <o fuss, no cere&ony. It
clicks or it doesnt, it is as si&%le as that. Then there are %eo%le who co&e to &e and say:
,Please do so&e effort in order to &ake a click.. Fr they bring so&e %resents:%astries,
thinking: ,now it will work well, wouldnt itH. 9ut all to no a#ail. It is there or it is not, click
or no click.
It is like falling in lo#e: it ha%%ens or it doesnt. Fr are you in lo#e with e#eryone of the
o%%osite se(H I certainly ho%e notJ It is the sa&e. It is direct knowledge. The ,cou% de foudre.
L lo#e at first sight L is direct knowledge. And that is what you ha#e to %ursue. And you lea#e
the knowledge obtained by testi&ony for what it is. And the knowledge that you gather by
inference L which is all related to studying =what has been so i&%ressed u%on you in
school:uni#ersity> L is secondary. It can also hel% you, I wont deny that, but the &ost
i&%ortant is direct knowledge: If you can base your life u%on the full engage&ent of 9uddhi, it
will lead to Ata&bhara.
The re&arkable thing is that with this direct knowledge you can learn considerably &ore than
in case of knowledge through testi&ony or inference. Enowledge through testi&ony or
inference is tied to the Drtti:i&ages:thoughts. They are all whirls. 'hen you are engaged in
each of those Drttis they i&%rison you, and it costs a lot of effort to &o#e fro& one
thought:i&age to another. 9ut you dont ha#e this %roble& with direct knowledge:Pratyaksha,
because you are not in that Drtti at all. You just scan, and you see faster than ti&e, because the
causal #ibration is faster than ti&e. You see e#erything at onceJ
24
Thats interestingJ @ets ha#e a look at our e&%loyees today: to who& shall we gi#e a %ay3
raiseH There are "1,111 e&%loyees. 'ell, I& not so sure who&Gthis one, that one, how about
hi& Gher G hi&, that one, this one G <ot him. Thats a *uick jobJ And if it is also done
correctly, youll be baffled. 'ith this a%%roach the %roducti#ity in this country will increase
considerably.
9ut it &eans that you are too fast for others
You are always too fast for others. They just cant kee% u% with you. That is e(actly why the
*uality of your %erson beco&es so high and so correct and so right that you will take a leading
%osition. It ha%%ened to &e when I was a &anager. I was su%%osed to gi#e account to the
bosses abo#e &e, but they all threw &e out. 9ecause they all felt that I was sawing the legs
fro& under their chairs. Ti&e and ti&e again the sa&e argu&ents. It is not that they were not
satisfied, you knowJ The work I did was %erfect. 9ut it was always so e&barrassing that in &y
re%orts I always saw through things that they were su%%osed to see. "e#ore they saw it. So I
didnt only do &y work but also theirs, which creates an i&%ossible situation. It is si&%ly
i&%ossible to continue working as a sla#e when you function like this. In the beginning I
couldnt understand this. I thought it wasnt fair. I didnt e#en ha#e an a&bition to be a boss.
9ut then again, at that %oint it is not a &atter of choice any&oreM you must.
That is why you ha#e to learn to detach, and all the things that co&e be#ore it. That your
attitude towards life is lighthearted, and that you function in a %layful way, o%en like a child.
Then you are on the right track. 9ut it re*uires an enor&ous le#el of control of your being.
'ith the a%%earance of the slightest e&otion you get blocked and you cant function any&ore.
The entire %rocess beco&es #eiled, and you are nowhere.
It &ay all sound so si&%le, but it de&ands a &a(i&u& of control. Then you will say: ,Yes,
okay, I ha#e that control now.. And you will concur: ,Indeed, you are right, it is *uite si&%le..
5aybe at that #ery &o&ent it &ay feel like that, but you &ust take into account what has
%receded all this, you knowH
It is like those %eo%le who scale &ountains without ro%es. )a#e you e#er seen thatH It all looks
so si&%le. And you say: ,Fh, I can do that too.. 'ell, I challenge you to try. Its the sa&e:
once you can do it, it is si&%le.
,7! 'aj Jah Sams/aro %+a Sams/ara Pratibandhi
The i&%ression %roduced by it =Sabija Samadhi> stands in the way of other
i&%ressions.
I just &entioned the Drtti that can i&%rison you, disabling you fro& getting a co&%lete
o#ersight. 9ut a si&ilar %heno&enon can occur when you are focused on the i&%ressions
the&sel#es, and you find the e&otional #alue of an i&%ression. You notice a co&bination of
2C
Nunas that are %resent within the i&%ression, causing you to e(%erience that &ood. 'ell, the
e(%erience of the &ood can %re#ent you fro& recei#ing knowledge fro& the other i&%ressions,
because you are so %ointedly attracted by what is released fro& that one i&%ression. It is not as
strong as holding of a Drtti:by a Drtti, but it does li&it you. It colors your being. ?or e(a&%le,
you are ha%%y, so you %ercei#e e#erything around you through those ha%%y eyes, changing
those things as a conse*uence of it. +o you understandH You color e#erything. And then you
will say: ,Today is my day. I will treat youJ. <obody asked for it.
'hat he actually wants to indicate here is that Sabija Sa&adhi, which is Sa&adhi with a &ood,
which we regarded u% to this %oint as the a%e(, is not ideal yet because it li&its us. And we are
on our way to @iberation, to total freedo&, to the connection with the +i#ine. So we &ust
ignore it, and only, as he is saying in the "
st
Sutra:
,! 'as+api %irodhe Sar)a %irodhan %irbijah Samadhih
Fn su%%ression of e#en that owing to su%%ression of all =&odifications of the
&ind> Rseedless Samadhi =is attained>.
This is the to%. This is the #oid: Sunyata, the #oid of 9uddha. The &oods ga#e us so&ething to
hold on to, but we &ust let go of these holds:su%%orts. It &eans that we &ust %ractice Para
Dairagya: Su%re&e detach&ent, &eaning that this e(%erience is of no concern at all: Aah G
ecstasyH I used to antici%ate: ,I will sit down and I will go into ecstasy, because it is so
fantasticJ. I would go out of &y &ind. 9ut nowH )& Gh& Git all doesnt &atter to &eG I do
e(%erience that ecstasy once in a while, but I abstract fro& it:let go of it. Then I enter into a
colorless condition. Actually it is indescribable. That is <irbija Sa&adhi, which is e#en higher.
'hyH 9ecause you are not attached any&ore to the i&%ressions of the causal body: you are in
At&an.
If you are able to detach and let go of the &ood, which has been so instru&ental in hel%ing you
to go fro& the &ental to the causal, and if you are able to see that you can lea#e that effort
behind, you will auto&atically end u% in At&an. So <irbija Sa&adhi is Sa&adhi &eant to
co&e to At&an, and to stay there.
All this is so contradictory, because e(%eriencing the to%, to e(%erience the &ystical
cli&a(:At&ic consciousness:soul3consciousness, is nothing s%ecial. At the &o&ent you
achie#e it, you recogniIe it: thats itJ Thats allJ Tat Aha& As&i: ,That is I..
Fther than that there is nothing at all. And then it is done, finished. The circle is co&%lete and
there is nothing left to doM nothing that you ha1e to do. The %ressure in your life, the
e(cite&ent, your search, is o#er. This is Self3realiIation, which has been &ade %ossible by
<irbija Sa&adhi.
This is difficult, because it de&ands fro& you that you are willing to refute and lea#e behind
e#erything, e1erything that was of any concern to you. There are %eo%le who then say: ,Yes,
but what about &y children G. And &y %roble& has been: ,Yes, but what about &y Yoga
27
school GJ. I ha#e already detached &yself fro& &y children, and also fro& &y =e(3> wi#es,
but I was still attached to the school. 5y school G 5y school G +ont you e#er touch &y
schoolJ +ont you dare s%eaking ill of &y schoolJ Bust ask &y students of %re#ious years for
their e(%eriences in this &atter. 6#erything was allowed to the&, but dont you touch &y
school, ehH <ow it is all gone, I ha#e nothing left any&ore. I ha#e no school any&ore. I a&
li#ing here as if I were li#ing in a hotel.
The only thing that %issed &e off =years ago> was when I got this car. I went to the %ost office
to register it and I found out I didnt bring &y identity card. 5y wife was with &e, and she
said: ,doesnt &atter, just register it in &y na&eJ. 5e, being so craIy about cars, ha#ing this
car registered in &y wifes na&e GJ I& still %issed off about it G This is such a good
e(erciseJ Bust %erfect. 9angJ They are so cle#er u% thereJ ,I know Ajitas weak %oint: 9angJ.
Proble& sol#ed.
@ook at things in your life: the least thing that attracts your interest obstructs the transition.
You cannot e(%erience the #oid if there is still so&ething in your life that attracts you. I e#en
lost &y knack for fries. Isnt that horribleHJ So delicious: ?rench fries with tartar sauceG
Is it this what Para&ahansa Yogananda &eant when he said that you ha#e to fulfill all your
desires first before you can %rogressH
That is what 'estern %eo%le like to belie#e. 9ut it is absolutely not like this, because your
desires are infinite and ine(haustible. 'hen you are focused on a desire and you fulfill it, for
e(a&%le eating sweets:snacks, it will ne#er lead tot the abolish&ent of your desire for
sweets:snacks. That will ne#er ha%%en, on the contrary: the &ore you focus on your desires, the
&ore you are in danger of those desires de#elo%ing. So, forget about this theory. 5aybe that is
the reason why he =Yogananda> died. +esire is the reason for reincarnation and death, you
knowH 9ecause you feed your %ulsations with desires.
The gradual reduction of desire is a #ery delicate &atter, so you &ust %ractice, %ractice and
%ractice, and then you will indeed see that you care less and less.
'ell, resign yourself to this &atter and try to enjoy the truly #aluable things, that is the inner
%eace that beco&es increasingly bigger, and enjoy the har&ony, your i&%ro#ed %erce%ti#ity,
your i&%ro#ed functioning in life and your greater contribution to your surroundings. Youd
better kee% yourself occu%ied with those kinds of &atters, instead of focusing on your desires:
,'hat can I do for &y surroundingsH 'hat do %eo%le needH )ow can I assistH.
Shift your desires to the s%iritual le#el. That is the &essage here. Then, at a certain &o&ent,
after lots of %ractice, you will arri#e at <irbija Sa&adhi.
There are only few %eo%le in the school who ha#e achie#ed <irbija Sa&adhi, and that will
always re&ain so. 9ut realiIe that it has to do with the e(%lanation: if the e(%lanation is right it
&ust be %ossible to achie#e it. And I know that in the %ast I wasnt able to e(%lain it so well,
which &ay be the reason why not so &any %eo%le ha#e achie#ed it.
2!
)ow can this condition be describedH
You can call it whate#er you want. The na&e you gi#e it is not i&%ortant any&ore. As a &atter
of fact, your own na&e, your own self3i&age, disa%%ears in <irbija Sa&adhi. 6#erything
disa%%ears. <othing will be left. That is the difference with &editation: in &editation you are
still conscious of yourself.
Fnce I e(%erienced a condition in which I didnt see any colors any&ore. Is that itH
9ut still there is the %erce%tion of the fact that you didnt see colors, so you are still attached to
color, which is conte&%lation of the Sabija3ty%e. So then it is still &editation. /onte&%lation is
without for& and without color. There are no i&ages and no colors any&ore. There is nothing
any&ore L no e(%erience, no &ood L that is the <irbija3ty%e.
'hat is the difference between Sa and <irH
<ir#icara is a dee%ening of Sa#icara. In Sa#icara you see the ecstasy: you are here and you see
the ecstasy there. <ir#icara is when you i&&erse yourself in the ecstasy.
In Sananda and <irananda we see the sa&e: you are here and you see the bliss there when you
are in Sananda, while in <irananda you become lo#e, entirely. Fnly lo#e.
Also in Sas&ita and <iras&ita we see this: You are here and you notice the notion of sheer
being there. The duality is ob#ious: one who is watching the conce%t of being, while the
e(%erience of being is o#er there. In <iras&ita e#erything is being.
Then we ha#e Asa&%rajnata as o%%osed to Sa&%rajnata: ,A. &eans ,not., so ,<ot3
Sa&%rajnata.. So it is different fro& Sa&%rajnata. 'e ha#e seen this at the start of this cha%ter,
can you re&e&berH It was a static e(%erience. Sa&%rajnata is a static e(%erience. So ecstasy,
bliss:lo#e, and sense of sheer being L those are all ty%ical static e(%eriences: it is fi(ed. 9ut
Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi, as we can see with controlled Pratyahara =detach&ent>, is a dyna&ic
for& of e(%erience, i.e. your consciousness is still &o#ing. +o you still re&e&ber how
controlled Pratyahara is conductedH <eti, <eti, <eti G So, e#ery ti&e so&ething co&es along
that causes a reaction in you:touches you, you say: ,This is not &eG this is not &eG. You let
it go and &o#e on to another object. 6ach ti&e there is the e(%erience of another object.
Is Asa&%rajnata like a stairwayH
Yes, it is like a reaction engine. So you gobble u% the e(%erience of so&ething L you use
so&ething L and then let go of itM you detach fro& it. This will %ro%el you forward towards
so&ething else, to a higher le#el. Soon you will co&e across so&ething else that you grab on
to, and then you detach yourself fro& that too. Bust like a reaction engine.
/an you e(%lain the ety&ology of the word Asa&%rajnataH
A K not.
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Sa&%rajnata K joint higher consciousness, although this %robably doesnt &ean &uch to you.
'hat you ha1e to know, though, is that Sa&%rajnata and Asa&%rajnata are two different kinds
of Sabija Sa&adhi. That is what you ha#e to know. That is what is i&%ortant. They are both
dealing with a 9ija, a &ood. In Asa&%rajnata you alternate the &oods #ery *uickly, which is
the direct way to <irbija: If I want to co&e into <irbija *uickly, I always use Asa&%rajnata.
+oes that &ean that it is the best &ethod, or is it the fastestH
It is the fastest &ethod.
)a#e you understood the rest of Sa&adhiH 'e ha#e now seen Sabija Sa&adhi, the 8 different
sorts, and how they bring us u%. And last week we finished with <irbija Sa&adhi.
Bust a little &ore about <irbija Sa&adhi:
In 9uddhis& it is called Sunyata, the condition of the #oid, also <ir#ana. It is a notion that
suggests a %aradisiacal:hea#enly condition of the consciousness. Fther %eo%le call it
,<othing., but any descri%tion is inade*uate. 6#en the word indescribable is not a%%licable,
si&%ly because you end u% in a condition that goes beyond any understanding. 9ut in fact it is
a condition that is utterly easy. 'hen you achie#e it you will say: ,Nosh, thats i&%ossibleJ It
is so easyJ 'hat is it that I actually did to get to thisH 'hy did I do so &uch effortH It is so
close, so si&%le. I should ha#e done that long ti&e ago.. 9ut as soon as you start ha#ing these
kinds of thoughts, you ha#e been ,kicked out. of that condition long since, ehH
The e(%erience of <irbija Sa&adhi is soul3consciousness, which is your true natureM what you
actually always should ha#e been as a being: <o feeling, no &ood: totally free. There is
nothing. /onsciousness is a notion that has been sur%assed, because consciousness suggests
reflection. This is actually the fluctuation of the #ibration. And because you fluctuate, you
notice fro& one %article of the #ibration that another %article is beha#ing differently than the
location fro& which you obser#e. This in short is actually consciousness: you are aware that
you are.
'ell, when that #ibration gradually le#els out, the reflection of this one %art of the #ibration
towards the other will also slowly disa%%ear. As a result the trinity of knower, known and
knowing will also be abolished, which is <irbija Sa&adhi. It &eans that your being is
strea&ing #ery fast, so fast that you cannot %ercei#e anything any longer. You could say that
you are riding a rocket that is tra#eling so fast that you cannot see anything any&ore.
The energy of the lower le#els withdraws itself gradually and co&es increasingly to higher
le#els. 9efore you reach that stage you will be filled with a sense of well3being. Then, in
<irbija Sa&adhi, there is 5aha Dideha L the su%re&e bodiless3ness, just like as if you ha#e no
for& any&ore. And indeed, this condition will be res%onsible for you to gradually arise abo#e
for&. So, there will be no sense of your %hysical or &ental body. 6#en your causal body will
gradually beco&e less i&%ortant. You will not realiIe it any&ore. And you will also forget
e#erything you had. You will also forget your training. And you will also forget all those years
of hard work to e(%erience this condition, which is so self3e#ident and so natural. Then also
8
you cant teach any&ore. It will be difficult to co&&unicate with your surroundings, because
you ha#e been reduced to a #ery si&%le being. And you just sit. )owe#er, at that &o&ent you
will be able to hel% %eo%le best, if it was only by induction. So, the har&ony that you ha#e
achie#ed yourself is so o#erwhel&ing that it influences your surroundings auto&atically. And
once one %erson has achie#ed this, which is actually the condition of enlighten&ent installing
itself, the $ni#erse will rejoice, as the Fld say. This is a beautiful e(a&%le and it is our goal.
There is a &istake in this: I& e(%ressing &yself in co&&on hu&an language. I say: ,it =this>
is our goal.. If as a nor&al hu&an being you e&%loy the &ethod of objecti#e, you can assu&e
that you will ne#er reach it, because objecti#e &eans that you build a field of tension. Enower,
known, the knowing. And as long as you hang on to a goal:objecti#e you will ne#er reach that
goal, because this field of tension will %re#ent you fro& achie#ing your objecti#e.
To achie#e a goal, it is better that you e(%ress a wish, choose a direction, and then chiefly
focus on detach&ent:letting go. @et go. And to your big sur%rise you will notice that you are on
your way to your goal. It will ha%%en naturally.
'hat about those %eo%le who achie#e their objecti#e with a lot of effortH
Yes, but they are co&%letely e(hausted, tensed, e#en stressed. They &ay ha#e achie#ed their
objecti#e, but at what costH It is not enjoyable and it is not efficient either. At that &o&ent they
are not ca%able any&ore to set the& sel#es a new goal. The &ethod they used to actually ta!e a
goal has e(hausted the&, while you are su%%osed to reach the end refreshed and full of joy.
This is the Yoga3 and Ayur#eda3&ethod: you arri#e at your objecti#e, and i&&ediately you are
able to choose a new objecti#e and take3off, without a break, without #acationM e#erything
continues and you %ossess an incredible endurance.
9ut it is because there is no labor union s%oiling the %arty. @abor unions are a %lague for
&ankind. Are there any union &e&bers a&ongst youGH
)ow do you a%%roach this in case of budgeting for a co&%any in relation to objecti#esH
You take your budget and your %lanning L you do e#erything as it is nor&ally done, to your
best abilities and esti&ates and so on L and after you ha#e done all that, you just let go of it.
And you do it on your intuition. Then, once in while you look back, but be cautious not to
beco&e attached to the your budget and not to beco&e attached to your %lan, because that will
li&it you in your action, while it is su%%osed to hel% you as a sort of a &easure. This is a big
&isunderstanding in &odern &anage&ent: the &eans to achie#e the goal ha#e been &ade &ore
i&%ortant than the actual goal itself.
And be careful not to look at your budget:%lanning too oftenJ 9ecause then the %roble& will
occur auto&atically. Fnly fro& ti&e to ti&e, when you feel that you would like to take control
anew L when you ha#e the feeling that you are losing control L only then you take a look, and
ask yourself what you could do about it: ,Fh yeah, &y budget:%lanning tells &e that I should
now be at this le#el and that that should ha#e been realiIedG oh, look, you didnt &ake itJG
80
why didnt I &ake itHG where did we failHG what caused itH. And then you use your %lan and
budget for the %ur%ose they were &eant for.
@ets establish the staircase:connection:
'e talked about Sabija, with a &ood. Then you ha#e a seed, a hold3on. 'ell, <irbija &eans to
be able to let go of that seed. This &eans to be able to let go of anything, e1erything in life.
Fnly the courageous are able to do this. /o&&on %eo%le dont do this, because they are
attached to certain &oods, #alues, e&otions. That is their life, and %eo%le just dont like the
unfa&iliar G: ,9ut what will I get in returnH G <othingHJ G 'ell, no, I wont do this G.
<obody wants that.
So, what is it actually that you want to do with this ,nothing. =#oid>H <ow it is indeed a &atter
of surrendering your fate to the higher %owers. This is ,co&ing ho&e., the )ouse of the
?ather, as Besus said. And the feeling that acco&%anies it is literally the feeling of co&ing
ho&e. And I think that the feeling that you ha#e now, is the feeling of ho&esickness:nostalgia.
That is what you feel. So&ewhere on the way your intuition got touched L I a& con#inced that
ha%%ened to e#eryone of you L ,eh, I cannot fully co&%rehend this, but I think I will continue,
because so&ehow this just feels good.. Thats it: you follow the way ho&e:the %lace where
you belong. It is the condition in which you, once, were. That is Self3realiIation.
'ell, at the &o&ent that you ha#e to &ake the choice, you think about such things. At the
&o&ent that you get there, you will not say any&ore: ,I lost e#erything., but instead you will
say: ,I found back e#erything.. And fro& that &o&ent on, e#erything that you were interested
in beco&es so second3hand:futile in co&%arison to what you get in return, to what you are
yourself.
'here do you think I ta% &y strengthH 'here do you think I get the endurance:energy to
o#erwhel& you, students, week after week, year after yearH This is not nor&al, is itH There is
not one hu&an being who would do like thisH I &ay see& to be so&e kind of &ad&anJ Fr
dont IH 6h, Fsa&a G Swa&i Fsa&a G
Anyway, kee% it in your &ind: let your feeling guide you. You cannot rationaliIe:understand
e#erything at this #ery &o&ent. It is only the e(%erience:the ad#enture itsel# that will %ro#ide
you with answers. I ha#e only tried to %icture before you the idea of <irbija Sa&adhi. I ha#e
tried to sti&ulate your intuition. It will hel% you to go on.
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Chapter II: Sadhana Pada
The %art that deals with %ractice.
Sadhana is the Sanskrit word for ,%ractice.. So, you, and I, we all ha#e our Sadhana, and we
all are ,Sadhakas., &eaning ,%ractitioner.. All %eo%le who are engaged in Yoga %ractice are
Sadhakas. So&eti&es you are successful:reach a certain le#el:ha#e an initiation:a realiIation,
which %uts you a grade higher on the ladder.
A Yogi is a %erson who has succeeded to o%en his heart /akra. This e#ent gi#es hi& an idea
like: ,)ey, wait a &inute, there is &ore than I thought there was.. This is the first initiation.
The second initiation is the o%ening of the forehead /akra. That is when, ne(t to your ability to
understand things intuiti#ely, you start to understand things intellectually, which is like the
de#elo%&ent of insight.
The third initiation is the o%ening of the crown /akra. This &eans that you o#erco&e ego. This
is the &ost grueso&e initiation, for it si&%ly &eans that you die. To con*uer the causal you
&ust con*uer the ego. This &eans that the functioning of your Aha&kara &ust be brought
under control. Your Aha&kara is your basis of fear, of lo#e L your life3%rinci%le. To &e this
ha%%ened in !!2, when I really died. It was a terrible situation. 'ell, those are all ste%s
belonging to Sadhana.
+e%ending on the #arious initiations you will be able to co&e out and hel%:tell others: ,Bust a
&inute, shall I lend a handH You can sol#e this in the following way G.
The si&%lest le#el is that of the Nuru, who is a teacher =ele&entary school> teaching you the
ele&entary %rinci%les of Yoga: Ya&as, <iya&as, Asanas, and so on.
Then there is the $%adyaya, a teacher =secondary school>, who teaches you a little bit of
%hiloso%hy, concentration, &editation and conte&%lation. This gi#es you a clear o#er#iew and
you know &ore and &ore how to build your own Sadhana.
Then the Acharya is a %rofessor =uni#ersity> who is able to e(%lain to you the
refine&ent:co&%letion:%erfection.
These are all le#els of Sadhana.
A cou%le of students ha#e sent &e e&ails congratulating &e for recei#ing the title of Acharya L
not only Acharya but Shri Acharya, or ,lord %rofessor.. The %eo%le of the International Yoga
?ederation felt it %ro%er to a%%oint &e as such L but I do not feel like a Shri and also not like an
Acharya, because that would entail that I ha#e reached the to% of knowledge, which I ha#e not,
because I still ha#ent gi#en the de&onstration of the control of life. They think that I can
control it, but that is so&ething different. It is not sufficient to be allowed to carry the title of
88
Acharya in &y o%inion. Fnly when the de&onstration is irrefutable it is allowed to carry the
title.
Anyhow, here you can see the different le#els of knowledge:co&&and of knowledge.
There is also the Swa&i L &aster. It is a syste& that was introduced by an Acharya in the
&iddle ages. )is na&e was Sankara, widely known as Sankaracharya, so Sankara the Acharya.
)e introduced the orange dresses that still roa& about. I belie#e that there are about 4 &illion
Swa&is. 'hen two Swa&is recogniIe you as a Swa&i then you are a Swa&i too. So it is
s%reading like a disease, e#en though it suggests &astershi%. So, when you are a Sadhaka and
you achie#e the title of Swa&i, well G then you are higher than an Acharya.
So&eti&es you see ,Shri Shri.G what does that &eanH
)e he, those are the %eo%le that stutter G they ha#e this inclination to blow titles out of
%ro%ortion so they re%eat the&.
So it is just a %ile3u% of titlesH
Yes, it is a habit in India. As soon as they know you and they ha#e &et you three ti&es, you
are already lord3doctor3%rofessor.
Anyway, the second cha%ter is called Sadhana Pada: literally the %art that deals with %ractice. It
gi#es an answer to the urgent *uestions that slowly ha#e risen in the first cha%ter, in which we
were gi#en account of what Yoga entails, and that it actually and es%ecially all re#ol#es around
conte&%lation =Sa&adhi>.
In the &ean ti&e you &ust be #ery curious: ,Nee, now how a& I going to achie#e Sa&adhiH
9ecause I really want thatJ 'hat do you &ean <irbija Sa&adhi, the #oid, the nothing, and so
onH 'ell, tell &e: what should I doH. That is Sadhana.
It is #ery beautiful:cle#er you knowJ ?or it is not a class in which a teacher guides children to
co&e into the classroo& and says: ,Fkay, first class. <ow we learn to write, and when you are
able to write I will teach you &athe&atics and reading books and doing su&s. etc. <o, in Yoga
things are done differently. In Yoga you are first &oti#ated by the creation of an i&age of what
it all could be. You are not told what to do. You are told what it could be, in such a way that
you beco&e interested. Then, when you are all war&ed u% and you feel a need to ask, then the
e(%lanation of Sadhana starts. 'ell, isnt this a%%roach a watertight caseH 9ut if you co&%are
this to how we a%%roach education in the 'estJ Then we ha#e a long way to go. This a%%roach
is thousands of years oldJ /an you i&agineH Isnt it beautifulH And so si&%le. It starts with a
lesson that sti&ulates %eo%le to thinkM a nice &o#ie:story, so&ething that really enthralls the&.
So&ething that gri%s the& and that leads to *uestions. And only when this %rocess has started,
you start with the lesson.
<ow what do you think which lesson would co&e firstH Ya&asH <iya&asH The way I taught
youH <o. This is still an error in the training as I a& offering it. At least I consider this an error.
8"
Patanjali starts with:
! 'apah S)adh+a+es)ara Pranidhanani -ri+a Yogah
Austerity, self3study and resignation to Is#ara constitute %reli&inary Yoga.
9ecause you are engaged in action, he says: ,You know whatH 'e will strea&line your action:
on %hysical le#el with austerity, on &ental le#el with self3study, and on causal le#el with
surrender.. So, he is saying: ,Bust continue Rdoing. Bust go on. <iceJ Bust do as you %leaseJ
9ut since you are engaged %hysically anyway, &aybe you could consider the %ossibility to
suffice with only 2 acts instead of C =to do what you are doing>J That is austerity.
Then the %ractitioner says: ,)ey, thats not badJ I had ne#er thought about thisJ )ow niceJ So
that is how it can be doneJ. After which Patanjali says: ,Yes, and do you know why we do it
this wayH In the first %lace it is because you are used to act:react. So, we will link it with our
Yoga. And secondly it is because you need %ower, because it is a #ery hard training. At the
start of it you ha#e to build strength to be able to be u% to the task.. Austerity, self3study and
surrender together each gi#e you strength at their le#el.
'owJ It is getting better and better, dont you think soH This is so goodJ You recei#e fro& the
start of it. Tell &e, what did you recei#e fro& your teacher when you learned to read, write and
doing su&sH Stickers. 'ell, that is niceJ After recei#ing your third sticker you just threw it
away. 'hat kind of reward is thisH This is not a rewardJ It is fakeJ ?ake3education. 9ut here:
austerity, efficient functioning. You feel the %ower within you. <ow that is a rewardJ That is
concrete and it con#inces too. This is what builds confidenceM the student, Sadhaka,
i&&ediately feels: ,)ey, this is serious. I can use thisJ This is adding so&ething to &y life..
'hat Self3studyH G aaargh G of no use G Self3studyJ <ow that you tell &e in this way:
austerity did work, and &aybe Self3study is going to work well tooJ
Tell &e, what is Self3studyH 'ell, it &eans that you &entally engage yourself es%ecially with
the conce%t of Self. 'ho are you as a hu&an beingH 'here are you goingH )ow do you
functionH )ow are you ,constructed.H 'hy do you do what you doH 6h G okay G and what
about the restH 'ell, you just lea#e the rest for what it is and you focus es%ecially on those
*uestions.
'here does &y energy co&e fro& when I a& following this wayH 'ell, it is already thereJ
You dont s%read it to the left and right any&ore: ,Yes, but &y boss said that the friend of the
janitor of the cat of the neighbor G. This is how %eo%le lose their energies. And then they
co&e ho&e and say: ,oh Nod G I ha#e to lie down for a while G. Ff course you are tired,
&entally. And when you co&e ho&e you watch a little TD and so on, drawing you &entally
away into all kinds of stories too. <o, focus on yourself.
Then are you not allowed to react e&otionally any&oreH
84
+o as you %lease. 9ut always watch: ,'hy do I react to what the other is sayingH. You ha#e to
culti#ate yourself an obser#ers &entality. <iceJ Power.
Yes, but wait a &inute, &y heartGI dont ha#e to touch that. 5y heart is only &eant for the
%eo%le that I lo#e. So, the ignorance:ine(%erience of %eo%le to deal with the heart, es%ecially in
the beginning, is dealt with #ery cle#erly: with surrender. That i&&ediately takes care of the
o%ening u% of the %rison in which the heart is enclosed. You learn to gi#e your heart to the
5ost )igh. And that is why you break o%en. 9ut because you break o%en, causally, you
recei#e that energy too. Then for the first ti&e you will be able to ha#e your entire being
e&%owered. I learned about this kind of surrender in &y youth and when I was in the ar&y: at
the occurrence of the biggest %roble&s L when you really dont know any&ore how to sol#e
the& L surrender. And then it does see& like you recei#e %ower, si&%ly because you o%en u%.
Those %eo%le, who are tired, are ignorant about this.
So they actually lose their energy because they cling to the %roble&sH
Yes. And what will the %ractitioner do in the beginningH )e will ha#e to establish: this worksJ
You ha#e e(%erienced yourself what this &eans.
?ro& the &o&ent you ha#e o%ened u% you can do &uch &ore with your heart. )owe#er, the
e&%hasis is on o%ening u%, surrender, which &eans that you ha#e to ha#e faith in e#erything.
Peo%le dont trust anyone. They are scared. So they close the&sel#es again. Then you ha#e to
o%en yoursel#es again, and when you do so, you will recei#e. And each ti&e you recei#e you
will say: ,+arn, that Eriya Yoga, the Yoga of Rdoing L because of your action L it really
worksJ.
There are large &o#e&ents that call the&sel#es Eriya Yoga3&o#e&ents, with a whole series of
teachers of which so&e are #ery, #ery fa&ous. Para&ahansa Yogananda is one of the&, for
e(a&%le. )e is the author of the book ,Autobiogra%hy of a Yogi.. )e is a Eriya Yogi, trained
by Sri Yukteswar, who was hi&self a %u%il of 9abaji. That is one lineGwowGJ 9ut often you
see, when you follow a line backwards, that it dilutes &ore and &ore. Fften the knowledge
goes lost so&ewhere along the way.
+o you know that ga&e in which you &ake a circle and one %erson whis%ers so&ething into
the ear of the ne(t %erson, and then you listen to what is left of the story after it went all the
way round the circleH 'ell, this shows the big %roble& with lines, with &outh3to3ear3
education. I ha#e not been in such a line &yself because I didnt recei#e it fro& anybodyM I just
recei#ed it through &y soul. So that is #ery refreshing now and then. 9ut usually a line
originates fro& such a %erson, so&ething I a& already dreading: what the descendants of the
descendants of &e are going to tell about what I told the& about Eriya YogaJ It is just too
awful to think about what &ight ha%%en. So I a& not so &uch in fa#or of lines. I had rather that
you would look inside your own soul and disco#er the teacher there. And &aybe in this way
you will start your own line.
Is it true that it is easier to surrender when you start with Austerity and Self3studyH
8C
Yes, because there is consolidation in it. You start with austerity. That is always a good start.
And then you auto&atically enter into Self3study, because you want so&ething at the &ental
le#el too. And then you find out the enor&ous chaos that you ha#e at that le#el. 9ut &aybe you
ha#e recei#ed a little bit of strength %hysically, so you will start focusing on the &ental.
)owe#er, you are actually tackling the three bodies, right fro& the start. And the te(t is saying
that after ha#ing done this you will be able to influence the Eleshas, which will di&inish
because of it. And because they di&inish, you ha#e for&ed a basis for real Sadhana. That is the
idea. And only then you will start with the Ya&as and the <iya&as, the ste%s that we call the 7
ste%s of Patanjali.
'e started with cha%ter II. +o you understand the idea behind Eriya YogaH /an you feel the
%ower within this a%%roachH Actually it is a brilliant start.
'hat is the co&&on reaction of %eo%le when you talk with the& about YogaH
,It see&s so nice to &e to rela( like that.. ,Are you going all the way to Il%enda&H Isnt there
a %lace closer byH. or ,I a& not e#en thinking about starting, because I wont be fit for it..
Aside fro& these kinds of %roble&s, you are actually confronted at the basis with the %roble&s
of the %eo%le who refuse to sit still, who do not understand the %rinci%le of sitting still, or the
culture of the silence. They see so&eone sitting with the legs crossed, like in our logo, and then
they say: ,I a& not interested in so&ething like that. Id rather do so&ething. I will %lay s%orts,
that is what interests &e.. So Patanjali says: ,Start with Yoga by doing.. You are used to do,
you dont want to sit down G well, okay, here you ha#e so&ething that you can do.
Er3 K ste& of the #erb do. Eriya Yoga.
And with what are you going to engage yourselfH 'ith austerity on gross:%hysical le#el. 'ith
Self3study on &ental le#el, and with surrender on causal le#el. 'ell, then you ha#e an awful
lot to do. 9ut in the %rocess you learn to obtain a certain har&ony #ia that s%ecific goal,
through which you grow still.
So, he doesnt say: ,Sit down, be *uietJ. That is &ore or less &y a%%roach. Patanjali is &uch
cle#erer: ,You are used to doH <o %roble&G. Ae&arkably %hysically doing L austerity L is
sufficiently efficient. Fr integrating of efficiency in your doing. Isnt that what austerity is
aboutH To try to ha#e an as big as %ossible effect with as little as %ossible action. Isnt that
what we all try to achie#eH Isnt that what a%%eals to us in our do3societyH )ere you ha#e a
co&%lete training to si&%ly learn to function efficiently. That is austerity in Yoga.
Then we ha#e Self3study. Isnt that beautifulH @i&it your study. +o not think about anything
and e#erything. +o study, but things that are related to the Self. 'hat do you think will be the
effect of this, as o%%osed to studying all %ossible fieldsH Your &ental energy stays with you.
You do not s%read your &ental energy around. That is the trick.
87
So austerity sees to it that you retain your %hysical energy and that, whate#er you do at
%hysical le#el beco&es %owerful.
Self3study sees to it that you beco&e &ore %owerful at &ental le#el.
Surrender increases your %ower at causal le#el.
The last one is &aybe not so easy to understand, but what is it that constantly e(hausts you at
causal le#elH It is the %roble&s that you ha#e and because your ego is acti#e. Your ego blocks
you, and it isolates you fro& the di#ine inflow. It causes se%arateness.
Is your ego res%onsible for your clinging on to the %roble&sH
Yes, a&ong other things. And surrender is si&%ly the e(ercise:action:o%ening u%:learning to
continuously o%en u%, causing inflow of the di#ine energy, which adds:&akes you stronger on
causal le#el. 9ut it &akes you stronger on &ental and %hysical le#el too. It is &iraculous, Eriya
Yoga, and so si&%le: 2 conce%ts:2%rinci%les. They are only 2 <iya&as.
9ut they are res%onsible for a whole lot, as the 0nd Sutra is saying:
"! Samadhi 4ha)anarthah -.esa 'anu/aranarthas Ca
=8riya/0oga> is %racticed for attenuating 8leshas and bringing about Samadhi.
@ast week I e(%lained that Eriya Yoga is &eant to build %ower, to let you e(%erience
i&&ediate effect of increasing %ower in your being. 9ut that is not what Patanjali says in this
SutraM he says that the Eleshas are attenuated, softened. So in fact he is saying that you will
ha#e less and less &isery in your life because of the %ractice of Yoga. )a#e you noticed that
Yoga has this effect on your lifeH You say that you could not ha#e sur#i#ed without YogaH
Yes, lord 9uddha is saying the sa&e: Yoga is a refuge. )e has %ut a big e&%hasis u%on the
struggle against &isery, so 9uddhis& is known for that. 9ut that is indeed Yoga. It is the effect
that already takes %lace fro& the beginning of the %ractice of Eriya Yoga.
)ow is this %ossibleH 'hat is ha%%ening in youH 'hat is this &agicH You are di&inishing the
acti#ity of the nu&ber of your Sa&skaras. As a result the corres%onding Eleshas, which are
Drittis fro& the outside world, tend to not be attracted so &uch any&ore towards you. That is
the si&%le reason for this: 0ou are the %roble&. It is your beha#ior, your lack of control that
brings &isery u%on you. 'owJ ?ro& now on, it is a %ity, but we cannot say any&ore: ,5y
%arents are to bla&e for &y &isery. Fr &y boss or &y children are res%onsible for &y &isery..
Peo%le usually do this all the ti&eM they also bla&e others while finding they the&sel#es are
not to bla&e at all. This %hiloso%hy is telling us that we &ust feel res%onsible for our own
deeds, beha#ior and attitude. 'e are oursel#es the cause for our &isery. Si&%ly %racticing
Eriya Yoga can %ro#e this. The fi#e different Eleshas, ignorance, egois&, attach&ent, hatred
and fear of death will di&inish and finally they will disa%%ear.
8!
Patanjali is also telling us that we can achie#e Sa&adhi because of %ractice of Eriya Yoga.
'ell, if we go to the &a(i&u& of reduction of the Eleshas, auto&atically you will bring so
&uch *uietness in your life that you create the condition to co&e to Sa&adhi. This is only
logical.
&!A)id+asmita Raga ()edsabhini)esah -.esah
The lack of awareness of Aeality, the sense of egois& or RI3a&3ness, attractions
and re%ulsions towards objects and the strong desire for life are the great
afflictions or causes of all &iseries in life.
)a#e you e#er read a scientific %a%er describing you the reasons of &iseryH Is there a
uni#ersity in the world or a scholar able to e(%lain why there is &isery in the worldH
6#erybody is co&%laining about &isery and e#erybody is working to hel% &isery out of the
world. 'e ha#e huge organiIations that cost billions, working to hel% other %eo%le to get rid of
&isery. Yet nobody is able to define what &isery is and what the causes of &isery are. So I ask
you: /an you gi#e credit to those organiIations and their endea#orsH They will ne#er succeed
because they do not know the %roble&. 'e &ust abolish all those organiIations and reorganiIe
the&. A& I craIyH I dont think so. I will gi#e you an e(a&%le: There is A&nesty International
%rotesting against all sorts of war cri&es and war cri&inals. That is #ery nice, but do they
actually hel% that %roble& to be sol#edH <o. They do %lay an i&%ortant and %ositi#e role in
&aking %eo%le conscious of this %roble& but they do not sol#e the %roble&. They cant,
because the %roble& lies in the #iolence in hu&an beings. Fnly the %ractice of <on3#iolence,
the first %rinci%le in Yoga, could be a solution.
Also if we look at the 'orld 'ild @ife ?und or Nreen%eace or whate#er organiIations we
know with a big na&e and a lot of &oney, we always see the sa&e thing: they only a%%roach
the %roble& su%erficially while ignoring the cause. They do not understand that there are fi#e
reasons for &isery. And unless they tackle those fi#e reasons, nothing will be sol#ed. Bust look
at the first Elesha, which is the first %roble&: ignorance. It is not si&%le ignorance, but it is the
lack of knowledge about the realityM the reality that you now already are able to %ercei#e
during &editation, which will be different fro& the reality that you will be able to %ercei#e in
your conte&%lation, which is eternity.
6#erything is &uch &ore relati#e in the ulti&ate reality: There is no such thing as good and
bad. There is no such thing as black and white, friend or foe. 6#erything is there as it is: it is
energy, di#ine energy, a flow of di#ine energy in e#ery being. That is reality.
9ut %eo%le are engaged in duality, which for the& is the reality, causing another Elesha, which
is egoism. As a result of duality, energy is gathering and one beco&es &ore and &ore focused
u%on oneself. )e sees the difference between hi&self and the outside world, and then he
beco&es attracted to the notion of hi&self, building of Aha&kara. Then he distorts e#erything,
trying to attract %eo%le toward hi& instead of letting e#erybody free. So I see &any &others
and fathers %utting a clai& u%on their children, saying: ,You are &y child so I will take care of
you.. 9ut it is not an offerM it is a clai& instead. And if you are a child in such a situation you
"1
feel the clai& u%on your shoulders. Indeed it is well &eant, but it is a Elesha and it is wrong. It
is doing you wrong because it is li&iting you in your action. It is not gi#ing you the freedo& to
li#e. You feel so&ething like: ,Fh, &y father. )e is taking care of &e and he wants &e to go to
uni#ersity.. 9ut you forget what you feel yourself. It is the clai& of your father u%on you that
is %ushing you to uni#ersity. Then after your graduation you show your degree to your father
who says: ,it is good &y son., and then you co&e to yourself: ,'hat ha#e I doneH )ere I ha#e
a degree of uni#ersity and I a& not interested in it. I ha#e done it for &y fatherJ. It is a tragedy.
You are a stu%id &an and you say: ,<o, I a& not stu%id, I listened to &y father.. 9ut that is
also stu%id. You &ust listen to the reality, the ulti&ate reality and your father is a cri&inal G
do you understand what I &eanH It is #ery difficult to educate %eo%le in freedo&, without
clai&s. That is only %ossible when you are not bothered by the second Elesha of egois&.
The third Elesha is e#en worse because the farther on the %ath of the Eleshas the worse:
starting with ignorance. Ignorance gi#es birth to egois&, which then gi#es birth to attachment.
Attach&ent &eans that you ha#e a car, a house, cloths, belongings, and you take care of those
things. You are worried about those %ossessions so you take out insurance %olicies. You are
scared of burglars. 'hy is thatH It is because you are attached. 'hen you are not attached you
let it free and o%en and you can li#e a &uch better life. 'hen you ha#e dishonesty within
yourself you will see that all your belongings will be stolen. So instead of insuring yourself it is
better to work to beco&e &ore honest. This is better than insuring yourself and it does not cost
so &uch.
Peo%le li#e in attach&ent and they create &isery because of it. Aesulting fro& attach&ent is
hatred, the fourth Elesha, because when you encounter %eo%le who do not agree with your
attach&ent you start hating the&.
I started in this life liking e#erybody. <aturally at a certain &o&ent I ca&e across %eo%le who
were unfriendly. 9ecause they were unfriendly they hurt &e. <o, they hurt &y egoM they hurt
&y attach&ent to the&. I could not understand. I a& attached to you and you are such a #illain.
I hate youJ And in &y %re#ious life that feeling in &e was so strong that I was able to
i&&ediately kill such a %erson, e#en &y best friend because he said so&ething that I =big ,I.>
disliked. <ow I a& trying to understand what &isery I ha#e caused, and how I can sol#e it and
also how I can sol#e hatred.
+o you so&eti&es ha#e such a feeling co&ing u%, e(%loding in youH I a& ha%%y to &eet other
&urderers G he he G ?irst let us try to understand: I a& not saying that it is bad. It is energy,
but because of ignorance that energy is going in the wrong direction. It is not beneficial and it
is not hel%ing you to co&e to har&ony and go to hea#en. So you ha#e to deal with it and
transfor& that energy. )atred co&es to you because there is hatred within you. 'ork with
Eriya Yoga and with the whole of Yoga to di&inish that.
'hat do you do %racticallyH There is a &o&ent that you are e(tre&ely angry and there is an
e(%losion of hate. 'hat can you do in this situationH Try i&&ediately to look out of the
window and si&%ly obser#e. Try to sto% Rdoing anything and co&e back to Satt#a, the Satt#a
of %erce%tion. Si&%ly %ercei#e, it doesnt &atter what: watch the trees, watch the birds, and
look at the sky, whate#er, just look. Si&%ly watch and detach yourself fro& e#erything. If
"
%ossible, slowly go to concentration followed by &editation to bring your heart in %eace. And
if %ossible, later, go into Sa&adhi, at least to Dicara Sa&adhi, go to ecstasy and gi#e your
&istakes and you anger to the @ord. 9eg for forgi#eness. @et the joy of the ecstasy fill your
heart and wash away the Sa&skaras res%onsible for your hatred.
This is what I a& doing and it hel%s. It hel%s also when I a& scared. I can tell you as a #ery
#iolent %erson in %re#ious li#es, I bear the result of that as fear, a lot of fear, which is the last
Elesha. 'hen I was a child &y fear was enor&ous, I was scared of e#erything. Slowly, with
ti&e, I learned to deal with fear. Instead of hiding I tried to o%en u%, and because of Yoga I
slowly started to control it. The &ost terrible e(a&%le I ha#e in trying to control fear was
ju&%ing fro& an air%lane by %arachute. I a& #ery fond now of that e(ercise and I can ad#ice it
to you: you can talk about fear and talk again, but that will not sol#e your fear. No to your fear
and go to your %ain. Acce%t the& and be friends with the&. Then try to control and di&inish
the& and find in yourself who the &aster is. ?ear is a signal: there is so&ething wrong in &y
being. So acce%t the signal and deal with it. 'hen standing in the door o%ening, ready to ju&%
out, the heart beating o#er 011 beats %er &inute and &ore, I said to &yself: ,Eee% *uiet, kee%
*uiet. It is okay. There is only eternity, eternity., and then you ju&% and you see the air%lane
while you are falling and all the co&rades co&ing out of its belly and their chutes o%ening u%.
5ar#elousJ If e#er you ha#e a chance to do this, do itM it is %ractice of Yoga. Then you will see
that there is so&ething &ore behind fear. It is so %owerful that one day you will find that the
%ri&al reason of fear is ignorance according to this %hiloso%hy of the Eleshas.
In your book of the Yoga Sutras there is a #ery nice su&&ary on %ages 2C:27. It #ery
interestingly e(%lains you the structure of this %hiloso%hy. I ask you to study this for the lesson
of ne(t week. You can see 0 different *uestions on what, how, why and so on. It is #ery
interesting. If you read it yourself then we can discuss it ne(t week.

I can understand what you are saying about how to deal with anger and hate, but these
e&otions are always related to other %ersons. So &y *uestion is that, when the other %erson
doesnt also deal with it in the sa&e way, how do you deal with thatH I can understand that
when you go into concentration:&editation that it &akes you feel better, but how do you deal
with the other %ersons e&otionsH
Tell this other %erson to find and follow a good Yoga course. Ftherwise I think it is i&%ossible
to sol#e this %roble&. Ftherwise you ha#e to beco&e the teacher, but that is difficult when you
are in#ol#ed in the *uarrel yourself. You cant just say: ,now you ha#e to sto% arguing and
listen to &e: I will tell you how to beha#e.. This is #ery difficult. I dont see any other
solution. Try to con#ince the other %erson to study and %ractice this sort of Yoga. 5aybe you
can be s&art and suggest the& to study 9uddhis&. It could be a &ore di%lo&atic solution.
9uddhis& will e(%lain the sa&e story.
*! A)id+a -setram ;ttaresham Prasupta 'anu $icchinnodaranam
A1idya is the source of those that are &entioned after it, whether they be in the
dor&ant, attenuated, alternating or e(%anded condition.
"0
The Eleshas can occur in different ways. It does not always ha#e to be so ob#ious. It also does
not ha#e to be constant, on the contrary, it is often incidental. Fften I notice that it is so&e kind
of subcutaneous current. You can feel the Elesha cree%ing u% on you, as it were.
A#idya is the cause of the other 8. All Eleshas occur fro& an obscurity L a Ear&ic obscurity L
of the energy currents. Fnce you were in ,knowing., you ,knew..
Didya K knowing
)ence the DedasM those are the books that deal with knowing:Didya. The +utch word for
knowing =,weten.> is the sa&e as the word ,Didya.. The ,#. in Sanskrit has the sa&e
%ronunciation as the ,w..
Fnce we ,knew.. 9ut because collisions occurred:because contractions took %lace L subtle
desires as the 9ible says L about the a%%le and that stu%id 6#e L we ha#e fallen fro& our
watchful condition into a slee%, which is ignorance. So it is not because of the stu%idity of
&any %eo%le that they do not realiIe what they are doing. It is &uch subtler than that:
Ignorance in this sense &eans that you fail to see the reality as it really is. )ardly anyone can
clai& that he sees the reality as it really is, because it would &ean that your di#ine senses
would be o%ened, and that you would be able to %ercei#e all the %heno&ena, including the
subtle ones, and that you would be able to understand the uni#erse in its entirety, and the
%ur%ose of life and other related things. That is knowing. It is also called ,Bnana.. In Nreek it is
called ,Nnosos.. The Nnostic &o#e&ent and the ?ree&asons ha#e ado%ted the inheritance, but
it all originates fro& Yoga.
'hen you talk about these kinds of things with a ?ree&ason, he will say: ,)ey, I know what
you are talking aboutJ 'hat are you engaged inH. The only %roble& with this is that the
Nnostic and ?ree&ason &o#e&ents ha#e crystalliIedM they ha#e beco&e ,&useu& kee%ers..
They e&%loy all those sy&bols, but they do not know any&ore e(actly what to do with the&.
The e(%eri&ent is gone, and because of that it has no #alue any&ore, because it is all
e(%eri&ental scienceM e#erything has to be realiIed by the %ractitioner. If you do not %ractically
realiIe things by e(%erience, you know nothing. 9eal knowing is achie#ed, not by studying
books, but only through AealiIation: by recognition: ,Fh, I know thisJ. and ,Fh, this resonates
with &eJ. This is the way to go.
)owe#er, at a certain &o&ent this got lost, and so&ething we call ignorance occurred. The
whole world is i&&ersed in this ignorance. Fur %ri&ary task is: to hel% abolish this ignorance.
And that can only be done by education, the way we do in our Yoga school. 5ay it ha#e a
thousand descendantsJ And more. <ot because it is so nice to ha#e a Yoga school L a real
Yoga school L but to take away the ignorance fro& the %eo%le. To hel% the& wake u%. As the
Eing told &e when I &et hi& in his throne roo&: ,I ha#e such a %roble& G I cant see& to
$a!e up G. That is this, this. )e is the chieftain of all hu&an kind. )e carries the disease, the
condition of all %eo%le in hi&. I call it a disease. 9y the way, in the #ision he was lying in his
bed, sick G
"2
'e are entering u%on a golden era. )owe#er, we do ha#e to deser#e that era. It is not because
one of us sees:because one is able to esca%e fro& it, that all are sa#ed. It has to be s%read all
around. 6#erybody has to go to work. The awaking of &ankind is a uni#ersal &atter. <ot one
is to stay behindJ In %ractice it can be done in &any ways, for e(a&%le by alerting %eo%le to
this &atter, or by being #igilant and %ay attention. 9y trying to a#oid carelessness. You can
%lay ga&es to test one another: See if he falls in your tra% because he does not %ay attention,
and then you grab hi&.
Then what can I readH
'hen you read so&ething, read so&ething that is related to this, so&ething that a$a!ens you.
That is awaking. That is fine, but realiIe that it could be anything, huhH You could read the
9ible too. 9ut beware when you listen to the %astorJ 9ecause when he deli#ers his %reach:
,+ear %arishioners G today is the third Sunday of the Ad#ent G and then Besus said G. <o,
no G feel, feel, and check with your heart: does this &an really belie#e what he is sayingH
+oes he really understand what he is talking aboutH Fr is he only bullshittingH Is he %laying
actH 6#en in a #ery %oor wayH These are )oly Scri%tures, you knowJ And they should be
considered and treated as if they were )oly. It has to co&e straight fro& the heart. If it does not
co&e fro& the heart, it is blas%he&y.
I ha#e seen this ti&e and ti&e again. They are %astor:%riest, or they ha#e so&e kind of a
,status., and then they think they can %er&it the&sel#es anything. 6#en 9isho%s, ehHJ 6#en
the Po%eJ +o you know that the Po%e during the 0" years that he was Po%e, declared 870
%eo%le to SainthoodH )e declared 870 %eo%le holyJ A%art fro& the fact that: who is he that he
could do so&ething like thisH =because a Saint is %erfect>. The last canoniIation was about a
%regnant wo&an who was told by her %hysician that she had to &ake a choice: either the child
had to be killed so that she could li#eM or she would die in order to let the child li#e. She chose
the life of the child and to die herself. And because of that decision she was declared a SaintJ
Fkay, it is #ery noble to do this for that child, but it is so&ething co&%letely different fro&
being a SaintJ
'e talk about a lot of things fro& the %ast L lots of ruins L and they all ha#e to be restored. To
hel% you in this %rocess Patanjali says:
,! Anit+asuci (u/hanatmasu %it+a Suci Su/hatma -h+atir A)id+a
A1idya is taking the non3eternal, i&%ure, e#il and non3Atman to be eternal, %ure,
good and Atman res%ecti#ely.
)e does not %ut the& in %airs: instead he %uts the negati#es together first, followed by the
%ositi#es.
@et us analyIe:
"8
A1idya is ta!ing the non/eternal to be eternal
The outstanding e(a&%le of this is a house for &e. I always considered houses as if they were
eternal. That is also the way I was raised. A house, you know G hehH 6ternal. 'hen you grow
u% in a city like 9ruges, where stones indeed date back to the &iddle ages, you do ha#e a
feeling like: this will re&ain fore#er. $ntil I learned that the a#erage life of a house is 71 yearsJ
?ro& that &o&ent on I started to %ay attention, and I saw a%art&ent buildings of 1 years old
being de&olishedJ Fnly 1 years oldJ +e&olishedJ 9ut how do we li#e in a houseH )ow do
you li#e in a houseH +ont you li#e there with the feeling that it is eternalH <ot soH 'ell, in that
case I only ha#e &yself as an e(a&%le. You all see& to be #ery ad#anced already.
I did so when I was a child.
'hen you were a childH Yes, with the %arental ho&e. It feels like as if it will re&ain fore#er. It
see&s that that is life. There is no idea of the future. 'ell, that is ignorance.
Ta!ing the impure to be pure
'hat is taking the i&%ure to be %ureH 'ell, for e(a&%le, %eo%le go to the hos%ital and %ut their
whole heart and fate in the hands of the %eo%le roa&ing about those %laces, who act like as if
they know all. Peo%le do not think any&ore. The &o&ent they enter the hos%ital it is like as if
they ha#e %ut their fate in so&eone elses hands, and they fail to think. They are only people,
you knowJ Those you get to deal withJ They &ay be dressed in white, but they too &ake
&istakes. And if you fail to %ay attention, you will end u% in trouble, ehH 6ither they register
so&ething wrongly, or they forget so&ething, or the %hysician has not heard e*actly what you
said, and you, by coincidence, failed to hear what he said. NeeJ And not to &ention all %ossible
&istakes that can ha%%en.
Yesterday I s%oke with a for&er neighbor. )e went to the hos%ital for a s&all check3u%. It
would only take 1 days. 'hat do you &ean, s&all check3u%H )e stayed in hos%ital for 2
&onthsJ )e al&ost died about 8 or " ti&es. )e caught a fungal infection. ?ungus runs wild in
the hos%ital. 9angJ Pay attentionJ Pay attentionJ 'e thin! they are %ure. And because they
ha#e such an i&age, they $ould li!e to be %ure. 9ut a hos%ital is not %ure.
I grew u% with &y aunt, who was so Nod3fearing. The %astor was e#erything to her. 5y &o&
saw the %astor entering our house. She said to hi&: ,Fn your wayJ. She sent hi& outJ I was
shockedJ And &y &o& told &e later: ,+o you know what he askedH )e asked &e, ,how about
the childrenH Isnt there another one on its wayH. To which &y &o& answered: ,Isnt 8
children enough yetH. It was in the ti&e when fa&ily %lanning was not done. 5y &o& said:
,That &an is deciding &y fa&ily %lanning:se(uality, while he hi&self knows nothing about itJ
And he is not e#en supposed to knowJ. She sent hi& out. ?ro& that &o&ent we had a lot of
discussions in the house, like, ,'hat is thisH And ho$H. It was when I started to realiIe that
&y notion of the %astor was not necessarily the right one, and that they were only hu&an
the&sel#es. 9ut they %ut the&sel#es on a higher footing than others: The &ayor, the %astor, the
%hysician, the dignitariesM watch out, ehJ
""
'e all grew u% with status sy&bols. I always said: ,2ercedes "en(J G 'hoaJ. As ti&e went
by I understood that a 5ercedes 9enI needs a lot of &aintenance in the garage. So it is not
T)6 5ercedes 9enI any&ore it used to be. This al&ost hurt &e: &y drea& was destroyed.
And now all the /3 and 63&odels ha#e been recalled to the garage because they show all kinds
of defects. The sa&e with DolkswagenJ And /itroen, I e(%erienced this &yself, full of defects.
And what disturbs &e &ost is that Ba%anese cars are the best. I cant stand it: Toyota is the car
with the least %roble&s. 'ho on earth dri#es a Toyota GHJ 9ut e#er since I ask anyone dri#ing
a Toyota: ,AndH Are you satisfiedH. And they all answer: ,Yes, I ne#er ha#e to worry, you
knowJ. And another one saying: ,I ne#er ha#e to worry G. Says the new husband of &y e(3
wife =who is a better husband than I was>: ,You ne#er see a Toyota in the garage.. I ha#e been
s%ending about two years reco#ering fro& his re&ark G That is the %rice you ha#e to %ay for
ignorance. Toyota, the best carJ )ow is that %ossibleH ToyotaH
5y first car was a Toyota. I dro#e al&ost 011,111 kilo&eters with it while hardly e#er seeing a
garage fro& the inside. In Africa you need a reliable car.
Yes, whate#er you are looking for, ehH As far as reliability goes. 'hen you highly #alue
reliability L it is only a &eans of trans%ortation after allM it has to ride L well, then you end u%
with this. 6uro%ean cars were absolutely not done in Africa. The only cars that ke%t going in
the ti&e when I was there were the A&erican cars.
So&eti&es %eo%le are already reading about all kinds of sy&%to&s and diseases while in the
waiting roo&: ,Fh, but wait a &inute G that is what I got, too J.
That is also a &atter of taking the i&%ure to be %ure. ?or it is not that you recogniIe a cou%le of
sy&%to&s, and based on that you can &ake a diagnosis, as a lay&an, because there are studies
like a &edical study, that engage in that %ractice &uch &ore thoroughly than a cou%le of
%o%ular &agaIines you find in the waiting roo&. Pay attention. It is i&%ure, e#en though we
think it is %ure. 'hen you are in doubt, just say: ,According to this &agaIine I &ay be
suffering fro& this, but to be honest, I really dont know.. This a%%roach is correct:%ure. You
can also say it in this way to the %hysician. )e will then %robably ask you, friendly though
earnestly, to listen to his e(%lanation: this and that, fro& this and that %oint of #iew. And then
the situation will either be co&%letely different, or he will #indicate your o%inion.
Anyway, the %oint is the tendencies we show as soon as we think so&ething is %ure.
To ta!e the e1il #or the good4
The e(a&%le for &e is still )itler. They can say about this whate#er they want, but in the
!21s #irtually the entire Ner&an %o%ulation followed )itler on his tails. And in !8"
su%%osedly nobody su%%orted hi&. The Ner&ans &ade a huge &istake here. They followed a
leader who e#entually a%%eared e#il. 9ut doesnt this kind of situation occur regularlyH +ocile
shee% and one with a big &outh: so we follow. And we think: ,It is good, because he says so..
That too is ignorance.
Ae&arks about the &isbeha#ior of A&erican soldiers in Ira*:
"4
Yes, it see&s syste&atic. 9ut there are so &any dirty ga&es. And dont forget that it is election
ti&e at this &o&ent in A&erica, so who is actually s%eaking the truthH 'hat is really going
onH ?or all these dirty stories %lay into the hands of the ad#ersaries.
So kee% your eyes wide o%en. Ae&ain critical and ske%tical. +ont run it down, of course, but
%ay attention, %ay attention, %ay attention. Are all the facts correctH Ask *uestions.
9ut %eo%le take it ill of you if you a%%roach it in this wayJ
It is for your own safety and bliss, and it is 1ery i&%ortant. And if you dont do it:ha#e this as
your attitude towards life, you will get stuck in egois& before you know it.
6gois& 3 attach&ent.
Attach&ent L hatred.
)atred L fear.
So, li#e #igilantly is of #ital i&%ortance. To learn just this, %eo%le should recei#e &uch &ore
education, attend school &uch &ore. <ot to learn &athe&atics or biology, but to learn to be
shar%:#igilant.
I a& told that I a& beco&ing increasingly intolerant.
Yeah, I a& told regularly that I should not discri&inate so &uch. 9ut in &y o%inion it is a
%ositi#e characteristic. 5any %eo%le do not know this. It &eans, ,to distinguish.. %# course
there is a difference. I discri&inate all the ti&e. 9ut I do not judgeM that is so&ething different.
9ut you are su%%osed to stay awakeHJ
Ae&ark about how difficult it is not to sound judg&ental, while still &aking clear that certain
beha#ior is not acce%ted. )ow do you a%%roach thisH
Yes, constantly react. 9ut without attach&ent, like in a ga&e.
Ae&ark about the anti3#egetarian attitudes you are confronted with.
I would do it in this way too. Then you say: ,'ell, I noticed that you %eo%le ha#e an obsession
G. Thats shar%. +o you know how obsessions can be treatedH Send the& to Yoga. Take
initiati#e. This is re&arkable: discri&inati#e %ower L to be shar%M to be wise L is directly
related to kee%ing the initiati#e. ?or as soon as you let so&ething ha%%en, there is the tendency
to end u% in Ta&as, which is the cause of ignorance. 'hen you are able to kee% the initiati#e to
yourself:stay in charge by %osing new suggestions:*uestions, then you ha#e Aajas.
I a& in contact with %eo%le fro& the International Yoga ?ederation. They are in an e3grou% of
Yahoo with about "11 schools worldwide. They wine and drone onJ And it is about all kinds of
tri#ial things. Then I start to think: 'hat is it that they needH 'hat would be of interest to
the&H And then I offer the& so&ething constructi#e. Then i&&ediately the whole grou% is
"C
*uietJ They throw the&sel#es at &y website en &asse to see and download. If I send out a
&essage now, it takes about 4 hours before the whole grou% has ado%ted it. In the beginning it
took a cou%le of days. ,Fh, Ajita has so&ething to say again G oh yeah G. I&&ediately it
co&es throughJ
This is itJ This is waking the& u%. There has to be only one. That is sufficient. You ha#e to
ha#e only one idea, one word, straight to the %oint, and you bring the light. To light one &atch
is enough to light a dark roo&. The entire dark roo& will be illu&inated. You need only one
&atch. So, dont talk about being a &inority. It has always been like that. 5ake it a s%ort to
bring light.
I recogniIe this story about intolerance clearly. 'hene#er I see so&eone eating &eat or getting
drunk, I beco&e rebellious, while actually I a& not entitled to interfere. It is his:her life after
all. )ow do I a%%roach thisH
Take the initiati#e.
9ut howH 'hat a& I su%%osed to sayH
Bust say: ,'hen will you dieH. 'ell, of course you ha#e to decide yourself what to say and
how to react, but dont let it ha%%en, ehH
So you do confront the other with his beha#iorH
Yes, but danceJ You dont ha#e to cause %ain, just dance: ,Are you alrightH.
9ut dont you contract Ear&a when you interfere in other %eo%les businessH
<o, you &ust re&ain detached. It is called ,dancing.. So, you touch u%on things and you are
in#ol#ed with e#eryone, but you do not bother about it. 'hen you are detached L &eaning that
actually you couldnt care less L but you do want to address an issue, you co&e across
co&%letely differently than when you co&&ent and this %erson gets the i&%ression that you
are attached to hi&.
It is like with &y brother3in3law, who is an alcoholic. 'ell, I dance with the
situation. 9ut it is because I dance with it that I can say to hi&: ,5an, take it easy G. It is
different L a friend talking L than when &y wife talks to hi&. She beco&es enraged, because
she is attached to the idea: ,5y brother an alcoholicH That is not %ossibleJ. It is too hea#y.
Fnly one who is detached is able to kee% the %roble& subject of discussion. +o you understand
how it worksH
Yes, we are to use co&&on sense. A lot of issues are delicate.
The last A#idya3e(a&%le is:
To ta!e the non/Sel# #or Atman4
"7
5ost %eo%le, when they talk about the&sel#es, %oint a finger towards the&sel#es: ,I, &e..
They %oint towards the %hysical body. So they identify the&sel#es with the %hysical body.
They take the %hysical body for the Self. 9ut that is not what it is. In fact it has little to do with
the Self. The %hysical body is only the ti% of the iceberg. It is difficult to show the entire
iceberg by only %ointing out the ti%. If you co&e a little bit too close in your boat L just ask the
Titanic =,@ook honey, an icebergJ AaaaarrghJ.> L you are already crashing into it.
'hat is the SelfH 'e ha#e to try to na&e things %ro%erly. ,Fh, I a& talking about &y %hysical
bodyG. Fkay, then it is correctG 9ut when I talk about &y Self, I do like this: I %oint at a
%lace abo1e &y headGhehehG, but anyway, it is difficult to talk about it if you ha#e ne#er
had a notion of your At&an. So better wait a little &ore, until you ha#e reached the state of
Su%re&e Power of +iscri&ination.
There are only few &o&ents that we are in Didya, if at all.
0! (rg (arsana Sa/t+or :/atmate)asmita
Asmita is the identity or blending together, as it were, of the %ower of
consciousness =Purusha> with the %ower of cognition ="uddhi>.
As&itaH Is that the sense of sheer beingH
That is As&ita Sa&adhi, but here we inter%ret it as ,egois&.. )owe#er, it is not the kind of
egois& that we usually refer to. )ere it &eans: related to your ,I..
+o you re&e&ber the Drttis of Aha&karaH
Aha&ta K I3ness
5a&at#a K &y3ness
Adana K gi#e
Pradana K take
=?ro& the Science of Soul>
Aha&kara in Satt#a, this was actually the function of self3%rotection: kee%ing you together, so
that you are one, a unity. Satt#ic Aha&kara. <e#er does anybody ask the *uestion: how is it
%ossible that I a& ke%t togetherH )ow is that %ossible that ar&s re&ain attached to the body
and the nose re&ains attached to the faceH 'e take this for granted. 'e ne#er ask the *uestion:
,how is this %ossibleH.
@et &e %ut it another way: there are %eo%le who let the&sel#es be bullied:dont look after
the&sel#es %ro%erly. +o you know such %eo%leH They lack Satt#a at the le#el of Aha&kara,
and because of that they har& the&sel#es. They beco&e sick and they &eet with disaster,
because they lose their energy. If you do not look after your car, it will deteriorate and fall
a%art. The sa&e thing ha%%ens with the body. In fact it ha%%ens with your entire being. So, if
you do not %ay attention to your thoughts, your s%eech, your %hysical body 3 which are all
"!
Aha&kara Satt#a3functions L then things go wrong. <ow this Sutra is telling us: ,Satt#ic
Aha&kara, that is egois&., because you are actually taking care of yourself, but in doing so
there is the danger of egocentricity: that you function as if you were the na#el of the world.
<ow you say: there is nothing wrong with that. You ha#e to look after yourself. It is good for
your self, etcetera. 9ut the danger is that you forget about the rest of the world.
?or &e the best e(a&%le of egocentricity is a ?rench&an. )e is absolutely the na#el of the
world and he si&%ly cannot i&agine that there is so&ething else than a ?rench&an. That is
also the reason that he refuses to s%eak another language but ?rench. That is As&ita. As
Patanjali is saying: the %ower of cognition =what you use to discri&inate> fuses with the %ower
of the consciousness. All your energy is focused on si&%ly your ,I.. +o you know a lot of
%eo%le functioning like thisH I ga#e you an e(a&%le of a ?rench&an, but I think there are a lot
of %eo%le like this.
The Frange3craIe during the 6uro%ean soccer cha&%ionshi%s, that is %ure As&ita. Those
%eo%les li#es re#ol#e solely around the <ational +utch soccer tea&. Ask those %eo%le to
consider looking at the *ualities and %erfor&ances of other tea&s.
5y brother3in3law send &e a #ery interesting #ideocli% by e&ail: An elderly +utch cou%le ride
their car on the highway with a cara#an in tow. Suddenly they end u% dri#ing behind a Ner&an
car of which the dri#er is an old wo&an. The +utch wo&an tells her husband, who is behind
the wheel: ,AndH PassJ She is holding us u%J. So the &an %asses the Ner&an wo&an. The
wo&an sees what is ha%%ening. The 0 +utch %eo%le watch the Ner&an wo&an. They see& to
e#aluate each other. Then what does the Ner&an wo&anH 9angJ /rashJ She hits the car of the
+utch cou%leJ Says the +utch wo&an: ,+ont let her walk allo#er youJ )it her backJJ. And
bangJ :ith the cara#an and all, swee%ing all aroundJ The cli% ends with the co&&ent: ,The
feud between the +utch and the Ner&ans will now be fought in the soccer /ha&%ionshi%s..
This is it: we lose sight of the reality through egois&.
It is good to focus on yourself, fine, but beware that you do not forget the others. There is also
the idea that: an egoist is not able to show sy&%athy:is not able to show e&%athy. +o you
know what e&%athy &eansH It is your ability to %lace yourself in another %ersons situationM to
feel what the other feels. It is a wonderful trick to get rid of As&ita: %lace yourself in the
others situation. Try to see the world fro& the eyes of the other. In warfare this ability is
absolutely funda&ental. Try to fight the battle fro& the eyes of the o%%onent. 'hen you %lay
chess, you know about this too.
1! Su/hanusa+ai Ragah
That attraction, which acco&%anies %leasure, is 9aga.
After ignorance and egois&, we now ha#e attach&ent. 6#erything ste&s fro& ignorance. The
first result is egois&, and fro& egois& arises attach&ent, which we call Aaga. Fnce &ore a
%oor translation of the word Aaga, but there are not &any words a#ailable in 6nglish to
41
describe it. Try to understand what e(actly is &eant: 6#erything that is attracti#e:%leasant is
Aaga.
I started to understand the idea of Aaga when a &usician who studied Indian &usic told &e:
,@isten to the wonderful Aagas I a& %laying.. I said: ,'hatHJ. And she re%lied: ,'ell, Aagas
are the &elodies to reflect each &o&ent of the day, but also &elodies that corres%ond with a
season, or with day and night. 6ach %eriod has a certain &ood that can be e(%ressed in &usic.
She said: ,@isten. +o you recogniIe thisH This is a Aaga of the &orning.. And it was so fresh
and so cheerful. It was as if the birds were waking u%. I was so co&%elled by it. 'as it wrongH
<o, not for &e at that &o&ent: it was so goodJ That is Aaga. You go along with a &ood:get on
the sa&e wa#elength with so&ething that you find %leasant.
Then where is the danger in thisH The danger is that we can be caught by it, by beautiful things.
The 'estern hu&an being li1es by Aaga. @ets say that his reason for li#ing is Aaga. 9ut
Patanjali says: ,'atch outJ Aaga is the result of egois&, which is the result fro& ignorance..
So you can enjoy Aaga L listening to beautiful sounds and the attractions of life and so on L but
dont let it %in you down, because it is 5aya: it is an illusion. It is a lesser reality.
+oes this &ean that when it ha%%ens it does not &atter, but you should not want it all the ti&eH
You can obser#e it when it is there, but do not get caught by it. Always %ut things into
%ers%ecti#e.
,Yes, but I a& on a #acation now and I a& ha#ing such fantastic e(%eriences, so %lease allow
&e to fully enjoy thisJ. <oJ You are stu%idJ ,'hat do you &eanH I %aid for this and I really
want to let it all hang out. This is what Fur +ear @ord has %resented, and so on. Shouldnt I do
thisHJ. Yes, but watch:obser#e the good things as well as the bad things. 6#erything is Fur
+ear @ord. +o not li&it it to only the good things. There is no one I know of who can do that.
6njoy e1erything. <ot like: I only like what is in this bo(: ,Fnly if the national soccer tea&
wins I will be ha%%y.. 'hat baloney is this, fro& a ca#e&anJH 9e ha%%y that %eo%le play and
are engaged in s%ortsJ 9ut also that they are not engaged in s%ortsJ That they are in front of the
TD. And be ha%%y with the TD e(%loding. 9e ha%%y with the rain falling down. 9e ha%%y with
the fact that you are also not ha%%y. Isnt it all %art of the wholeH 'hat is thisHJ
9ut we %erfor& so %oorly in li#ing our li#es that we constantly %in oursel#es down. The fact
that we %in oursel#es down in itself is not so bad, but it is the condition fro& which %roble&s
arise. That is the danger. So you are fairly warned. It feels like /al#ijn %reachingJ
Are you saying that if today by chance you drink a lo#ely glass of wine, and to&orrow there is
only water to drink, you should be able to enjoy both e*uallyH
Yes, that is the e(ercise. And it is *uite a difficult disci%line at that. It is not about rejecting
beautiful and nice things L because that in itself would be a denial of the +i#ine L but it is an
e(ercise in the ability to discri&inateM that there is one, but there is also the other. And that
e#erything is e*ually #aluable. And that you should not li#e a one3sided life. The danger of
4
/al#ijn =the founder of /al#inis&>, or what %eo%le ha#e &ade of his %hiloso%hy, is that they
ha#e said: ,The %leasant things of life are not good. So I just ha#e to kee% &yself occu%ied
with atone&ent.. <o. If that is what he said L which I doubt L they should ha#e killed the &an
on the s%ot.
9ut /al#ijn $as right when he said: ,All the statues should be abolished. The statues in the
churches are %ure idolatry.. This is absolutely true, because it is Aaga. In Isla& it is not
allowed to show %ictures of %eo%le in the te&%le:&os*ue, which is absolutely and really true.
)owe#er, when you &ake a dog&a out of it, it is wrong again. /an you see now how difficult
it isH 6#en the ban on %ictures in the &os*ue is a Aaga:attach&ent, because as soon as you
build a structure, it is wrong. The only thing you should try to do following this a%%roach is:
+ont attach to anythingJ Bust notice the %resence of it all, without building li&itations. Try to
e(%erience e#erything rationally. Then you will e(%erience the #ery *uiet, serene sage inside
you, who sees e#erything: )e who does not go along in sadness, but also not in joy. )e just
obser#es e#erything. And he says: ,Fh, look, what a funny ga&e that is G.
Fne day, when I saw a heroine junky, &y for&er wife said: ,Fh, how cute G a junky G.. I
was irritated. 9ut she was &y teacher in this. A junky too, is %art of life and also %art of the
+i#ine. 'atch out, ehJ 9e careful not to run the junky downJ These days I see& to be running
down on i&&igrants, of which, by the way I a& one &yself. 9ut you could also say: ,?ine, our
society is going towards the golden race. 'e will all be &i(ed.. 5y nice &arried a 5oroccan
guy. 'hat if &y daughter co&es ho&e with a black guy, what the hell do I knowH Id be
shockedG 9ut you can also say: ,'ell, we are beco&ing a &elting %ot, which will %roduce a
golden race. You know whatH @ets not talk about it any&ore. @ets just wait and see. @ets not
attach to this or that. It is fine G. +o you see the ad#antage of this wisdo&H
It is okay to be ha%%y, or isnt itH
Yes, in this fra&ework it is true. 9ut in the sco%e of the Eleshas it is a caution for
ha%%iness:%leasant things. So take on the nice things, fine, they can hel% you in certain
circu&stances, but dont let the& %in you down. 9eware to not &ake it so&e kind of a lifes
ideal: %ursuing nice and %leasant things. ,I decorated &y li#ing roo&, so niceJ Shaded lights,
nice &usic, white 5artini on the rocks, nice &o#ie G. That is what has beco&e of our societyJ
'ell, that is what is dangerous. It is dangerous because we think: ,This is itJ There is nothing
left to desire G. And then we get stuck.
I re&e&ber fro& one of the lessons:one of the Sutras, that when you e(%erience &isery you
should be ha%%y, and that when you e(%erience ha%%iness you &ust %ut it into %ers%ecti#eH
Yeah, so ridiculous, ehJH ?inally we ha#e so&e ha%%iness and then we are su%%osed to kee%
things in %ers%ecti#eJ
6njoy e#erything, without it beco&ing an obligation or co&%ulsion. Try for yourself to see that
it is also %ossible to enjoy watching a &o#ie without all those %leasantries, with all the lights
out, and only the TD on. 6#en better: you can also enjoy by turning e1erything off, and just sit
there in %itch dark in your li#ing roo&, without &usic. Bust try, and look out of the window.
40
Suddenly you will say: ,Nod Al&ightyJ @ook at thatJ I ha#e ne#er seen the &oon so
beautifulJ.
+ont get caughtJ 9y nothing and by nobodyJ I like to #isit &y &other. I enter and I e&brace
her. Then, slowly, I feel as if I a& i&%risoned. So after a cou%le of days I a& so ha%%y to lea#e
again. Also here at ho&e I often feel like being in %rison. )ow is that %ossibleH +ont I ha#e all
the co&fort I wish forHJ It is because it is %leasant to &e. The co&fort restricts &y life. It is the
cause for &y no longer being able to see the totality of life. And I dont want to acce%t that
any&ore. So, I li#e in this house, which was gi#en to &e by Fur +ear @ord, but I li#e her as if
I were li#ing in a hotel.
So the danger lies within the co&fort IoneH
Yes. It is a #ery difficult con#ersion. If you dont do it, it is also okay, you knowH 5ost %eo%le
listen to this and go on with their li#es as usual, but you will see that life in li&itations is a
dead end. You will not be able to understand the &eaning of your life any&ore. And then you
will re&e&ber: oh, wait a &inute G %hiloso%hy of the Eleshas G it was like this and like that
G if I really want to li#e a useful life, I will ha#e to abolish all those li&itations.
5! (uh/hanusa+i ()eshah
That re%ulsion which acco&%anies %ain is 51esa.
This is an auto&atic result of the %receding: I a& co&fortably seated in front of &y co&%uter.
The lights in the li#ing roo& are low. The TD is on. The children are slee%ing. It is all #ery
co&fortable G blah G blah G blah. Then, suddenly there is a %ower breakdown. <ow tell &e:
what will be your reactionH ,+a&nJ 'hy does this ha%%en to &eH AgainHJ. I&&ediately you
check the fuses G nothing. Then you go outside: oh, the lights are off e#erywhere. And
together you start gru&bling: ,Isnt it outrageousHJ 'e %ay so much for electricityJ. You dont
do like thisH 'ell, you &ust be a better hu&an being thenJ
This is a de&onstration that you#e got stuck. And you notice this only once hate arises in you:
+#esha. You dont get it your way. It doesnt all work out the way you wanted it to. Then:
,UVQWXJ. You should see &e in the &orning when the news%a%er was not deli#eredJ I co&e
down, breakfast on the table L it should be acco&%anied by a news%a%er L which is not there
G
9eware that your life is not li#ed for you any&ore and see to it that you li#e it yoursel#, that
you !no$ what life is. Therefore life is not: co&%laining, hating, being angry, being attached,
always be co&fortable, constantly be focused on yourself. @ife is also: not understanding that
you do not know anything. @ife is a kind of a neutral &ood, in which e#erything is fine as it is,
and that you are one with e#erything, integrated with e#erything. At night, in the &orning, at
ho&e, abroad, in good ti&es and in bad ti&es. Nosh, that is how I got &arriedJ Are you
starting to understand nowH
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Is there such thing as unattached ha%%iness, or unattached joyH
<o. This is one of those &odern fashion trends: you &ust try to think %ositi#ely and be ha%%y
with what you ha#e and so on. <o, all this %ositi#is& is just a reaction to negati#is&, so it is
just as bad as being negati#e. 3o one is able to always be %ositi#e. The church is facing the
sa&e %roble&. The #irtues are %ut first, and they say: ,'ell, if you obey the #irtues you will go
to hea#en.. 9ut there is not one soul able to be constantly #irtuous. It is si&%ly i&%ossible.
Then we start co&%ro&ising, which then is the cause of corru%tion. Fr isnt itH @ife is always
fluctuating. Always. And when you do so&ething wrong, it does not &ean that you are worth
less than when you do so&ething right. Those #irtues were once suggestions, but we ha#e
&ade dog&as out of the&. It is all so difficultJ
The i&age or sy&bol of what you are to beco&e with all this wisdo&, is that of the Nod Shi#a
dancing. Actually the &essage behind it is: dance with life. +ance in ti&es of difficulty. +ance
in good ti&es. +ance, and continue to dance with e#erything and e#erybody. Action, reaction.
So, there is nothing wrong when you go to so&eone, and there is also nothing wrong when you
lea#e so&eone. It is %art of dancing.
Attach&ent and hate, it is only a ga&e. 'hat ha%%ens once you realiIe thisH You start to %lay.
That was also Besus &essage: 9e like a child. PlayJ I dont care if you fight in the %layground.
/hildren so&eti&es fight. Then when you, as an adult, a%%roach the&, saying: ,F gosh, you
guys ha#e been fighting G., then you are already too late, ehH 9ecause by the ti&e you start to
be concerned about that fight, the *uarrel is already settled. 9ut we adults ha#e beco&e
corru%ted to such an e(tent that we %ut oursel#es stuck. 'e %ut oursel#es stuck in this, and in
that. A child does not do that. )e just continues and feels great. 6#en when so&eone dies he
has funJ +o you ha#e fun when so&eone diesH Fnly a child can do that. So, who is rightH The
child of courseJ
'hen you walk in the street with a child and you co&e across a heroine addict, you see a
junky, while the child only sees so&eone who is s&iling at hi&.
Yes, he sees so&ething funny. So, beco&e child again. @ittle boy, little girl: that is being
detached. I was like that when I was a little boy. I would enter the school to do a %sychological
test. I was told: ,childish beha#ior, irres%onsible, unbridled fantasy: nothing good will co&e
out of hi&.. 9ecause being a ?le&ing, eh, that is about hard work and &aking &oney.
'orking hard. I saw it with &y own dad G and more, and pushing harder, and #ighting, and
e#erybody bad and good, and stuc!: he died at the age of "2, fro& a heart attack. That is the
%rice there is to %ay. So, who is rightH 3ot &y dadJ If we look around we see it all around us.
<o, no, no. +etached. Eee% things in %ers%ecti#e. Pleasant thingsH Painful thingsH Fkay, they
e(ist, but we do not worry about the&. 9ad luck todayH 'ell, okay, I had bad luck today G
@ets see to&orrow.
9ut no, not in our society: you ha#e bad luck, %roble&s arise, you know what, we go in
thera%y. Nrou% thera%y. And you know what we are going to doH 'e are going to discuss our
&isery. 'e %ut all our &isery together, and we share all that &isery a&ongst one another. 6ach
48
of you has a back%ack of his own &isery when entering, and when lea#ing you are carrying 1
of those back%acks. ?or now you also carry the &isery of all those others in the grou%.
+id you hear of thisH
Yes, that is why it is also co&ing into him, and he has to carry that Ear&a with hi&. And that
thera%ist is not going to li#e long. 'hat is thisHJ This is our society. Put things into
%ers%ecti#eJ 'hen you are sad, watch a co&edy. 'hen you are ha%%y, watch dra&a. 'hen
you are in a corny &ood:senti&ental, watch a &o#ie about war, with lots of #iolence. Play,
play. Abstract yourself. Practice, dont stay stuck.
So, when you are attached you &ust deter&ine for yourself whether you can do withoutH
Always be ready, at any &o&ent, to die. +o you understand thisH That you couldnt care lessH
At any &o&ent, and that you ha#e li1ed, at the #ullest, and that you ha#e played, actually, and
also that you are able to %ut a sto% on it and lea#e it behind. Then when you are able to be like
that, you will see the reality as it is. And when you see the reality as it is, you ha#e beco&e a
full hu&an being, and 1ery #aluable to society. Then at least there is one awakened a&ongst all
the slee%ing ones.
6! S)arasa)ahi $idusho3Pi 'atha Rudho 94hini)eshah
Abhini1esa is the strong desire for life which do&inates e#en the learned =or the
wise>.
Abhini#esah is fear of death. +o you ha#e fear of deathH )a#e you already felt such fearH
'ell, I reco&&end you to beco&e fa&iliar with it, otherwise it is hard to talk about it, for you
will ha#e no idea how it can do&inate your being.
In the air%lanes in our ar&y L /3! ?lying 9o(cars L there were two e(its in the rear. Fn each
side 7 &en would be standing in line to ju&% si&ultaneously. In between the 0 doors, in the
tail, a dis%atcher was %osted =so&ebody res%onsible for the orderly %assage of the ju&%ing
%rocess>. Fne day there was a &an standing at the door, ready for an o%erational ju&%. )e did
not want to ju&% and so he blocked the door. )e froIe in fear. I dont know if you can i&agine
what it &eans to %arachute out of a %lane. There is a hole, with nothing in it, and that is where
you ha#e to ju&% into. The dis%atcher tried to throw this guy out of the door. So &uch strength,
ehH 5ortal fear. Then what ha%%enedH They started to struggle, and both fell out of the %lane.
Two %eo%le dead. 6#er since that e#ent the /3! has 2 dis%atchers in its tail. If such a thing
would occur again, then 2 guys &ay be enough to o#er%ower the one that is o#erco&e by
&ortal fear. I&agine so&ething goes wrong, and you fail to e(ecute the o%eration %ro%erly,
then you will be hanging out of the %lane, while your %arachute o%ens. The air%lane then loses
s%eed and because of that it will crash.
4"
Anyway, I a& only trying to e(%lain what &ortal fear is. It is an enor&ously %owerful e#ent
that you can only find in critical situations. So I suggest you to find such a critical situation.
)owe#er, I dont see &any %eo%le doing this. Eee% in &ind: this is a struggle of tre&endous
%ro%ortions, which is in you. It is in e#ery hu&an being. 6#en in %eo%le who talk a lot, like &e,
and scribes and so3called wise &en. You will only know with who& you are dealing when it
co&es down to dealing with such a critical situation.
'hat is fearH
?ear is the result of breaches in your energy #ibration. It is the result of #iolence that you incur
during your li#es. Your consciousness discerns this and relays a signal: ,)ey, I a& out of
control here.. This signal of ha#ing no control, this is what we call fear. It starts with doubt,
insecurity, a%%rehension, which can e#entually de#elo% into a terrible %anic. It is all the sa&e.
It is the result of all the %re#ious Eleshas that ha#e not been dealt with. So you ha#e li#ed
your li#e in attach&ent, in hate, and in fear. You ha#e broken &ore and &ore things in you,
and because of that you ha#e beco&e angst3ridden.
Society is do&inated by fear on all sides. ?or that reason insurance co&%anies are thri#ing #ery
well. So either you a%%ly the %hiloso%hy of the Eleshas or you take out another insurance
%olicy.
)ow do we sol#e this %roble&H You &ust acknowledge the breach. )ow do you do thatH ?irst
and fore&ost: %ractice non3#iolence. Install softness in your life. Then, when it has beco&e
%art of your life, you start to weld, which is what you are doing with all the e(ercises a#ailable,
%re3e&inently with lo#e.
If for e(a&%le you drowned in a %re#ious life, and you ha#e fear of water in this %resent life,
should you, without forcing yourself =like in the case with children who refuse to take
swi&&ing lessons>, deal with water with a soft a%%roachH No near water or %lay with itH To
o#erco&e this fearH
You fa&iliariIe yourself with going to the water, and you deal with water #ery softly. <e#er
force it. 9ut this does not &ean that you a#oid it, on the contrary. You e#en take a bowl of
water and %ut your hands in it, sensing the water with great care to fa&iliariIe yourself with it.
6#entually, when the child has no fear of water any&ore, the fear has been con*ueredH
Then you are done. So, fear is interesting because it indicates to what e(tent you ha#e sol#ed
things. 'hen fear does not occur any&ore, you are de#elo%ing well. Fr not. And so&eone who
is resolute and fearless is the highest de#elo%ed %erson.
+oes this relate to all kinds of fearsH
Yes, all kinds of fears. 9ut we call it fear of death because that is the &ost i&%ressi#e kind of
fear.
44
5any %eo%le say: ,'ell, I ha#e no fear.. Then I dare the& to ste% on a %lane L each with a
%arachute: ,Are you co&ing yetH I go first and you followG. Then just see, and i&&ediately
you know.
=Theseus caught a s%ider under a cu%>
@ittle s%iderH I a& afraid of s%iders, so that is where I ha#e so&ething to sol#eM I ha#e to do
so&ething with s%iders. It is #ery interesting: in fact your life is a succession of o%%ortunities
and %ossibilities to grow. So, res%ect the signals you recei#e. That is the ga&e, you see.
So you know what you ha#e to work on by looking at your fearsH
Yes, that is the ga&e. &oo!, loo!: what are the signalsH And then you react accordingly. 9ut do
not force anythingM be soft. And you o%en the bo( of tricks you ha#e learned in Yoga to hel%
you.
@ennart is telling about his e(%eriences with water. )e thinks he has got so&ething with water,
and it re&ains, in s%ite of the fact that he joined a swi&&ing tea&.
'ell, just go dee%3sea di#ingJ
So it &eans that you ha#e to confront the %roble&sH
6(actly, because it gi#es you a chance to weld the breaches. So that is what you ha#e to be
looking for.
There is no wrong and no right. There is only har&ony. Try to create har&ony in all the %arts
of your being. You cannot achie#e this by a#oiding it.
?or e(a&%le: I ha#e a %roble& with the Pro#ince of +renthe. I do not want to go to the
Pro#ince of +renthe any&ore. 'hyH 9ecause I had bad e(%eriences there. I &et &y first wife
there and I ha#e li#ed there and so on, but it all went wrong, so I absolutely do not want to go
there any&ore. This is so ungodly. The Pro#ince of +renthe is as &uch %art of the +i#ine as
the rest, so I try to change so&ething in &yself to get to the %oint to, one day, &ake a tri% to
6&&en =town in +renthe> and stroll through the sho%%ing district.
9ut to do so de&ands a lot fro& a hu&an being, you see. A &an has got a lot of things to do in
life, ehH That is the idea. And if you dont do this, you will re&ain a sla#e, and your life will be
li#ed for you and you do not deter&ine life for yourself.
+oes that &ean that you will e(%erience the sa&e in the ne(t lifeH
You will constantly co&e across the sa&e %roble&s on your %ath: You ha#e a back%ackM deal
with the back%ack once and for all.
4C
I suffered fro& fear of heights. I still do, by the way. So I cli&bed &ountains. And now, after
&any years, I can see that I a& able to a lot of things in the &ountains that I ne#er thought
%ossible. That is the o%%ortunity.
Is it clear so farH The %oint is to beco&e child again, without being childish, so as to lea#e no
doubt.
'e ha#e arri#ed at the !
th
Sutra:
+o you understand the fear of deathH
Is fear of death the ulti&ate attach&ent =to life>H
It is not the ulti&ate attach&ent, but it is an ulti&ate stadiu& of chance of &isery. 'hen you
are afraid =in whate#er for&>, it &eans you carry all the %receding Eleshas within you. So you
can be sure to e(%erience a lot of trouble in your life. So&ebody who liberates hi&self fro&
fear still has to deal with the 8 %receding causes of &isery, but he will ha#e less &isery. In this
way you slowly cut back.
You are just not afraid any&ore, but who can say that he is not afraidH
9ut I belie#e that so&e %eo%le are &ore afraid of death than others.
Yes, but it is not only fear of death. It is all kinds of fear.
/ant you also ha#e fear to li#eH
There are all kinds of %ossible fears, for e(a&%le towards objects, %eo%le, situations, and
towards your self.
Is fear often based on the attach&ent to othersH
Yes, fear is related to:a result of the %receding Eleshas. So it is not an ,either:or.3 situation. It
consolidates itself: it stacks u%. So when you ha#e arri#ed at the stage of fear, you ha#e all the
Eleshas.
The re&arkable thing is that the &ore you go down the ladder of the Eleshas, the &ore Ta&as
you ha#e.
So, so&ebody who is de%ressed is in Ta&as, and because of that suffers lots of fearsH
Yes. 'hen you understand that this whole %rocess is in fact a downward whirl:a contraction:a
Ta&as3%heno&enon, then you also understand why all the Aajas3e(ercises are so interesting.
And then you will also understand why the whole Yoga3a%%roach L Aaja Yoga =Aaja is also
Aajas> L is ideal to abolish all this. It is a direct a%%roach: you %ut your entire being in scaffolds
and %ull yourself u% again. It is so strong that you, $hoe1er you are, in $hate1er condition you
47
are, no &atter how dangerous the situation is, can be %ulled out of it. It is a for&idable thera%y.
I do not know of any other &edicine that has the %ower to cure all %atients.
7! 'e Pratiprasa)a <e+ah Su/shmah
These, the subtle ones, can be reduced by resol#ing the& backward into their
origin.
'hen the Eleshas are subtle =not to hea#y>, this is the &ethod to abolish the&, to bring the&
back to their origin. 'e ha#e already discussed this. ?or e(a&%le: you are #ery scared, but you
are still able to think. Then what do you doH You let yourself beco&e angry. Your friend is in
fear, but he is still able to reason:talk with you: you hel% your friend by &aking hi& angry.
6#en if that &eans that he gets angry with you. It does not &atter, as long as he is angry. Then
he will co&e out of his fear.
Then what do you do with hi& when he is angry and he re&ains in his angerH
+oes he ha#e to hate thenH
'ell, anger is hate. You cannot lea#e hi& in this anger, can youH So then you bring hi& back
to attach&entJ /o&e onJ 'hat ha#e we been talking about the %ast cou%le of weeksHJ 5ake
hi& go fro& anger towards attach&ent. )ow do you do thatH You tell hi& that although you
&ade hi& angry, you do like to be with hi&. And you also tell hi& that you actually &ade hi&
angry because you like to be with hi&.
9ut then he is in attach&ent. )ow do you get hi& out of his attach&entH
+o you ha#e to a%%eal to his egoH
Yes, awaken egois& in hi&: ,You are a real &an, arent youH. 9engJ None is his attach&ent
=towards you>, because now he is in his ego. +o you lea#e hi& in his egoH Then what do you
do with hi&H
'ell, I guess you ha#e to bring hi& back to ignorance, but I ha#ent got the faintest idea how
to do that.
Then you say: ,9ut you dont know e#erything, do youH You are a real nice bloke, the best, but
actually you do not know e#erything yet.. None with the ego.
'ont he beco&e angry again with such an a%%roachH
'ell, of course you do this di%lo&atically, friendly and soft. I a& just offering you the idea.
9ut you do not lea#e hi& in his Elesha3condition. You dont do that with yourself when you
feel that it is ha%%ening inside you, but also not with your ac*uaintances, friends around you.
This is a #ery interesting e(ercise for you. And you will see that it $or!s, e(actly the way I a&
4!
telling you. It works #ery well. And of course, it is &ani%ulation, certainly, and %eo%le do not
understand a thing of it, that is certain too, but it $or!s. It helps %eo%le.
In the %ast, whene#er I was #ery scared, I would walk through the red3light district in
A&sterda&. All those ladies behind the windows. And I can assure you that, when I arri#ed at
the 9ijenkorf =de%art&ent store>, &y fear was gone. You do not understandH Then it is ti&e for
a little e(cursionJ 9ut only the boys, the girls ha#e to stay hereG
+o you &ean that you beca&e angryH Arent you su%%osed to call u% anger in case of fearH
Yes, but not necessarily. You can ski% one stage.
In other words, you called u% attach&entH
Yes, so you %lay with these things.
)ow can you call u% ego in yourselfH
Dery si&%le: your ego is your na&e. It is sufficient to take a business card fro& your %ocket
with your na&e, your title and e#en your address on it. And what do you think about a %icture
of yourself, ehH You should see how %eo%le change as soon as they look at a %icture of
the&sel#esJ Suddenly they are not nice at all towards othersJ Attach&ent disa%%eared,
re&e&berH Bust look at the #acation %icturesJ 6#erybody flocks around the& and nobody has
any interest for the other: ,)ow do ' lookH. )orribleJ Bust outrageousJ The worst thing is to be
#isiting so&ebody who starts showing all his %ictures. )e thinks he is %leasing you by doing
so, but while showing you those %ictures, it calls u% egois& within hi&:her. )e has no attention
for you at all. I hate %hoto albu&s.
I once heard so&eone saying: the &ost interesting %ictures are your own #acation %ictures,
while the &ost terrible are the ones fro& anotherJ
Yes, that is the sa&e. Fne day we were in#ited to attend a #ideo showing of the wedding
cere&ony:%arty of &y brother3in3law. The %eo%le who &ade the #ideo organiIed it. It was one
of the &ost horrible %arties I e1er attended. They didnt e#en notice you, as if you did not e#en
e*istJ It was not e#en %ossible to ha#e nor&al con#ersation. Al those %eo%le watching: ,@ookJ
This is &eJ.
+idnt you attend the wedding yourselfH
<o, I wasnt there.
'ouldnt you ha#e enjoyed yourself &ore if you hadH
ery shar% of youJ I %robably $ould ha#e enjoyed it G
C1
'hat would you do when you find yourself in such a situationH 'hat is the solutionH Bust get
u% and sla& the door behind youH <o, because you si&%ly go down when you do that. It is the
way towards fear. It is our %ur%ose to go u%. So what do you do thenH You %retend to be a
researcher =as if you are doing scientific research>. Pretend to be working on a docu&entary
about the traditions and custo&s of those strange +utchies. Your starting %oint is that you do
not understand anything about those %eo%le, and you try to understand what it is all about and
what it is they are talking about.
And fro& egois& you go towards GH
?ro& egois& you go towards ignorance. So you absorb ignorance. You install it as the basis of
your functioning. And that is actually what a researcher is all about.
9ut you are actually a%%lying this to yourselfH
Yes, you a%%ly it to yourself: The &indset of a researcher L scientific researcher =e1en better> L
is ideal to fight the Eleshas.
'hat if they =the scientific researchers> are egoistic the&sel#esH
That is al&ost i&%ossible when you are a scientific researcher, because that goes against the
%rinci%les of scientific research itself.
I a& gi#ing you the e(a&%le of your self. 'hen you are dealing with %eo%le in this way, there
are other &ethods, but always based on the sa&e the&e. Ignorance3de#elo%&ent, or
understanding of ignorance.
'hen you &eet a 9uddhist, a real one, he will tell you ti&e and ti&e again the sa&e story:
That he actually does not know anything. If you would belie#e hi&, he is just doing things, just
like that. 9ut you &ust actually look at what he is doing. +arn, #ery cle#er you knowJ 9ut he
has an attitude like: )uh, what do I know, I a& just doing, you knowJ 6#erybody is &uch
cle#erer than &e G I a& just a G So, it is an attitude of &odesty, of uncertainty, of being an
,underdog. you would al&ost say. 9ut it is 1ery %owerful.
+oes that &ean that a %erson who knows a lot will always say that he knows nothingH
Yes. 9emember thatJ 9eware of those kinds of %eo%leJ ?or often they are &asters.
9ut they are not so uncertain at all, while just before you said that they ha#e an attitude of
uncertaintyH
<o, but that is the difference: it is intentional. It is initiated on %ur%ose.
+oes that &ean that you ha#e beco&e untouchableH
C
Yes, you ha#e beco&e untouchable. )ate, attach&ent, fear, and ego L you couldnt care less.
?or you are nothing and you know nothing. And you &ake a #ery nice i&%ression on %eo%le. It
is the basis for de#elo%ing wisdo&. 9ut %ay attention, eh, do not get stuck in it: once in a while
you sit down and you shed yourself of that ga&e of being the ,underdog.. ?or that too is a
ga&e:a Elesha. It &eans that you install silence fro& this ignorance. And you o%en yourself
=surrender>, followed by concentration, &editation, conte&%lation, and i&&ediately you are in
hea#en.
! (h+ana <e+as 'ad $rtta+ah
Their active modifications are to be suppressed by meditation.
The Eleshas are not always subtle or weak. So&eti&es the situation occurs that you are not
e#en able to use your co&&on sense. Patanjali calls this ,acti#e &odifications. in this Sutra.
So, when the Eleshas are acti#e to such an e(tent that they totally &ess you u%, they &ust be
,su%%ressed by &editation..
)ow do you do thatH
?or e(a&%le: you are so angry that you e(%lode. You can feel: ,I a& going to s&ash
e#erythingM whate#er co&es &y way., *uick L *uickJ L No u%stairs, find your &editation
cushion, sit down G and try, thanks to your training, to go into &editation. That is the solution
to intense fear, se#ere %anic, and dee% hatredG
It can also ha%%en that, while going about your business as usual, you suddenly fall &adly in
lo#e with:beco&e co&%letely &ad about so&e beautiful a%%earance. And it %uts you totally off
balance. 5o not re&ain standing u%J Bust sit downJ
I would be inclined to think that in such a situation you would instead ste% u% to it:%ursue itJ
<o. I know all that. Stay in control of yourself. If it is really so&ething:so&eone &eant for
you, you will find out, but stay in charge of yourself, for e(a&%le when you feel that you are
going to do foolish things just because so&e nice bloke co&es along. I do that regularly: you
will then see &e standing in the street, on one leg and cross3eyed G he he he G Again a
Elesha has gone %assed G
This is the &ethod to sol#e se#ere situations.
"ut the Eleshas will return any$ay. 5editation, also in this case, is only a te&%orary solutionM
it gi#es you back your %eace of &ind. This %eace of &ind you then ha#e to use to deal with
Ear&a by conte&%lation. Fnly then you will find that your life beco&es *uieter. Eleshas are
Drttis, and &editation causes har&oniIation of Drttis. It is #ery logical: you deal with it at the
le#el where it is taking %lace, the way it is taking %lace. Then you take refuge L as 9uddha
always used to say L in &editation. 5editation is your shelter, where you are safe for those
kinds of things. It is also #ery interesting, because your being will recogniIe and re&e&ber this
C0
at a certain &o&ent, and s%ontaneously L whene#er you are caught by a Elesha L and
auto&atically want to go to that &editation cushion. And then you just sit down and co&e back
to co&%lete %eace and *uiet. Isnt this &uch better than to function like so&e kind of a
&ad&an and &ake all kinds of i&aginable &istakesHJ
That is what your training is all about, ehH
?or a beginner it is not %ossible to a%%roach it in this way.
'hat if you cant &editateH
Then you can try to a%%roach it with other &eans: with Ya&as, <iya&as, Asanas, and
Pranaya&a =&aybe>. The least thing you &ust do, though, is to di#ert your attention.
Isnt that like ignoring the realityH
Yes, that is what &any %eo%le thin!. 'ell, okay, then you are going to ha#e to learn in %ractice
whether it is true or not. In a situation that is beyond your control you %ull out all the sto%s.
The *uicker you can co&e out of it, the better. According to &y e(%erience the best solution is
to sit down and &editate.
+o you know of any other solutionH
)ow about counting to 1, like a ,ti&e3out.H That too is a di#ersion, or a kind of Pranaya&aH
Yes.
In our society there are no solutions for these kinds of %roble&s. Peo%le just say: this is life:
enjoy your e&otions, e(%lode L then e#erything will be better afterwards, and you will be
relie#ed. 9ut the da&age that e#erybody and e#erything incurs because of these kinds of
outbursts are not taken into account.
So&e %eo%le %lay s%orts to get rid of this.
Yes.
And watch outJ Peo%le bottle it u% ehH The wo&an in this news%a%er article, who just killed
her 2 childrenJ This is a striking e(a&%le. It should not ha#e to be like thisJ If she had learned
these kinds of things, her children would still be ali#eJ And she would %robably ha#e been less
unha%%y. /an you i&agine that you are so unha%%y, and that you are confronted with &isery
u%on &iseryH At a certain &o&ent you dont see a way out any&oreM whiche#er way you look
at the:your situation, it all looks terrible. Therefore it is only logical that suicide occurs &ore
and &ore.
6#erybody e(%eriences fear, but at a certain %oint you are not able to use co&&on sense
any&ore, and indeed you &ay see death as the only o%tion that is left to you. Pay attentionJ ?or
then you also beco&e a &urdererJ 9ecause you feel that you ha#e been treated badly, that the
C2
world is e#il, that you are a #icti& of e#erything and e#erybody. Then you &ay e#en beco&e a
serial killer.
Anyway, society still does not know what Eleshas are, and how dangerous they can be. The
entire sector of welfare still does not know how to deal with this. Psychiatrists still do not
know their %rofession. This is the old &ethod and it $or!s. Its %otential &eaning for society is
enor&ous.
"! -.esa 8u.ah -armasa+o (rstadrsta Janma $edani+ah
The reser#oir of 8armas which are rooted in 8lesas brings al kinds of
e(%eriences in the %resent and future li#es.
So we are dealing with Ear&a as being the cause of the Eleshas. Those i&%ressions that are
i&%rinted in our energy strea&s: they for& %atterns whene#er they are brought to life by our
functioning. Those %atterns attract si&ilar energy %atterns fro& the en#iron&ent, and it
ha%%ens again and again. SolutionH Sto% doing anythingH 'ill those things not beco&e acti#e
any&ore:will those %atterns then not arise any&oreH Fkay, just do it like that. Ale(andre le
bien heureu( =the blissful> sle%t all day. Stay in bed. @i#e in your bed. +o nothing. Is this a
solutionH <ot really, ehH
5y niece had a #ery unfortunate &arriage. She was &arried for a &onth when a train hit her
husband. It was an accident. @ater on she &et another &an. And, he too, soon after they &et,
died. At a certain &o&ent she said: ,I dont want another &anJ They all die. I a& doo&ed,
because as soon as I &eet so&eone he dies. It will not ha%%en again.. So, what did she doH She
let herself go and ended u% in a dee% de%ression. She just sto%%ed li#ing. Is this a solutionH <o.
Solution &eans realiIing: ,'ait a &inute, this has so&ething to do with Ear&a inside of &e.
And it is #ery dee%. And if I a& not able to get rid of it =this Ear&a>, it will not only be like
this in this life L that e#ery &an I &eet dies L but it will also ha%%en in the ne(t life, and the
ne(t and the ne(t after that. I would like to shout at her: ,<icolette, %ractice YogaJ Sit down G
e(%erience the &ood G Ear&a gets burned G and suddenly a bloke co&es along, and he does
not die any&oreJ.
So what we are dealing with, the real %roble& is our back%ack full of Ear&a. It is our
burden:genetic infor&ation.
The 2
th
Sutra gi#es us so&e idea of the sco%e of this %roble&:
&! Sati 8u.e 'ad $ipa/o Jat+ A+ur 4hogah
As long as the root is there it &ust ri%en and result in li#es of different class,
length and e(%eriences.
C8
?or &e Ear&a is like weeds in a garden. In Pur&erend I had #ery nice lawns in the front and in
the back of the house. It was the first thing I took care of after &o#ing into that house. I was so
%roud of &y lawn, but soon it was infested with weeds. I had so&e kind of tool with a little
fork attached to a steel rod, to dig out the weeds. And I was so busy G #ery dee% G trying to
dig u% the roots G and then I would %ull G %ull it out G but of course so&e %art of it stayed
behindJ Then I got angry, and with a lawn&ower I &owed the grass as well as the weeds as
short as %ossible. This ga#e &e the i&%ression: ,ah, I got rid of it.. 9ut that lasted only for two
days: weeds againJ It was horribleJ 'hat I a& trying to say is: this is the story of the struggle
with Ear&a. It is e(actly this.
'e ha#e to weed out Ear&a with root and all. This &eans that, if only the slightest trace of an
i&%ression stays behind, the Elesha that is related to that Sa&skara will be thrown at us again.
'e &ust burn those Sa&skaras so incredibly thoroughly, you just cant i&agine. In the
beginning I too thought: ,You know what, I will sit and burn, and then it will all be gone.. I
saw this huge Ear&a =I see Ear&a> in &e L as an enor&ous tar stain. +uring conte&%lation I
would see this stain slowly disa%%ear, and it would beco&e wonderfully white. I a& not going
to tell you which sin I a& talking aboutJ @ets just say that I was a #ery big sinner. <ot
any&ore of courseJ I ca&e out of it and rejoiced: ,)urray, hurray, hurray, I#e burned itJJ.
And I felt great relie#e and so on. )owe#er, soon afterwards I was in the &iddle of it again.
<ot so se#ere, but still. It was not gone co&%letely, so it re#i#ed. That is the reality.
/an it grow againH
If you do not %ay attention it will grow againJ
So you always ha#e to u%dateH
Yes. This is Ear&a Yoga. I call it ,Ear&a 5anage&ent.. 6#eryday you &ake Ear&a. Ear&a
5anage&ent &eans that each day you try to burn &ore Ear&a than you %roduce. ?or me this is
Ear&a Yoga. 9ut it &eans that you ha#e to continue to sit/practice. And you ha#e to continue
until you feel: ,)ey, now I a& better than yesterday.. The way I function now L e#ery day I
%ractice at least for an hour: &editation, conte&%lation, and Sa&ya&a L creates for &e e*actly
the %ossibility to %rogress. If I did not do that, I would ha#e &ore Ear&a with each %assing
day.
Is it also %ossible to burn Ear&a during your daily acti#itiesH
<o, no, no, you really ha#e to sit down.
9ut in the end you can also do it while walkingH
<o, that is baloney. There are %eo%le who clai& this, but it is baloney. I a& talking about
actually, really sitting. 5editation while you walk is really not %ossible. ?or it is in
contradiction with the definition of &editation. It si&%ly is not %ossible. 9urning Ear&a
&ust:can only be done by sitting still.
C"
+o you understand Ear&a 5anage&entH It is #ery si&%le, isnt itH It is like accounting. And
you will know whether you are getting better =or not> because you will feel better.
Isnt 9hakti Yoga a good alternati#eH
Yes, but 9hakti Yoga is for fools. 'ith all res%ect for 9hakti Yoga, for it is a wonderful
&ethod.
'hat about 5other TheresaH
Perfect G but she is a fool. 9ut the adoration, the de#otion, and the dedication, that is 9hakti.
It is a Shi#a3strea&. And it is %ossible that you %ul#eriIe Sa&skaras L 9hakti &eans ,Self3
%ul#eriIation. L by the +i#ine energy that co&es into you. 9ut it is an a%%roach without
action. It is an a%%roach of recei#ing. 9ut I doubt that 5other Theresa is doing it this way. I
wouldnt be sur%rised if she is actually a Ear&a Yogi=ni>. 9ecause she takes on things. 9ut
there are a lot of %eo%le who %ractice 9hakti Yoga to$ards 5other Theresa. Ear&a Yoga is in
fact a Aajas3&ethod. It is in fact higher than Aaja Yoga, and it fits &e better. I think it would fit
better with e#eryone, but it is si&%ly not %ossible to &ake e#eryone understand all these
theories. Therefore a &ethod has been found for the less gifted a&ong us: which is 9hakti
Yoga.
I ha#e the i&%ression that it is kind of the sa&e.
The effect is the sa&e: with both a%%roaches there is burning. The goal of all Yoga is: burning
of Ear&a. So&eti&es this &ethod is better fit for you, and another ti&e another &ethod is
better fit for you. You ha#e to %ick it yourself. 6#eryone has his own ty%ical attitude.
<ow that we know that you &ake Ear&a anyway. +oes this &ean that with good deeds you
&ake less:lighter Ear&aH If so, isnt it better to do good things in your lifeH
Yes, but when you do so&ething good, as you so nicely say, you &ust do it in dedication of the
5ost )igh. That is how it is done in 9hakti Yoga, but also in Ear&a Yoga. It is this a%%roach
that enables you to burn. 9ut as long as you do not in#ol#e the ,Fld 5an. in this %rocess, how
can your good deed burn your Ear&aH You ha#e taken action, so you will ha#e Ear&a as a
result of it, thats all. It is es%ecially the circulation caused by: ,I do this good deed in
dedication to Fur +ear @ord.. Then I agree =with the 9hakti a%%roach>. No ahead. It is not the
cle#erest thing to do, but it works. 9ut do not do good deeds just for the sake of doing a good
deed. I reject that. In that case you &ight as well do bad things, for they are &uch &ore fun.
+ont you think soH
There is this story of Besus, with 5aria at his feet listening to hi&H +idnt he say that she had
done better than 5artha, who was running around all day to ser#e the otherH =@ukas 1>
'ell, I can understand #ery well why he said that. I would ha#e said the sa&e. 9ut whether it
is true or not, that is another &atterJ
C4
9ut you &ust understand Ear&a: it is your burden, your genetic infor&ation. It deter&ines
your life, with the desires and the whole %ackage. It causes the %ulsation, and that %ulsation
continues to e(ist. The %ulsation of your being is the %roduct of your Ear&a. As long as you
ha#e Ear&a, you will %ulsate. As long as you %ulsate, you will die and be re3born. 'hene#er
the %ulsation cannot occur nor&ally in that te&%oral body, a breach occurs: 9angJ You are
dead. 9ut it continues to %ulsate further, u% in the astral world. And that %ulsation is related to
a cou%le down there, &aking lo#e, and bangJ They attract each other L this is called conce%tion
L and you a%%ear again, ehH +uh G duh G duh G and 1 &illion years later it ha%%ens again.
+uh Gduh Gduh G I like Andre #an +uin so &uch =+utch co&edian>. @ong ti&e ago, with
his hel&et on his head: +uh G duh G duh G ty%ical for &ankind. And they do not understand
a thing of it. They ha#e been reincarnating for &illions of years in this way with their foolish
brains. It is so tragic. At the sa&e ti&e it is co&ical too, but it is so terribly tragic. 'hat in
Nods na&e are we doingHJ 'e do not understand a thingJ 'e stack one stu%idity u%on the
other, and we re&ain in &isery.
'ell, deal with itJ 5ake those %ulsations stop. You &ust understand that these %ulsations are
related to the genetic infor&ation. "urn itJ Start by burning your #ices. Start stri#ing for
har&ony. Start conte&%lating. PleaseJ :or!J PracticeJ Practice Yoga.
And if you dont, I will kill youJ Anyway, Ear&a will see to it that you will not li#e long.
Fne life is short, while the other is long. Then it is short again, and then it is long. /ycles. In
one life you are a &an, while in the other you are auto&atically a wo&an. All you wo&en were
all &en in your %re#ious li#es, and all you &en were all wo&en in your %re#ious li#es. 6(ce%t
&e: I was a &an in &y %re#ious life G la la la la laJ And do you know $hy a wo&an co&es
back as a &an ne(t ti&eH
9ecause she is obsessed by it in this lifeH
Yes, because she longs for a &an now. And if we &en &ake the &istake to long for wo&en,
we will conse*uently confir& the #erdict: we will co&e back ne(t ti&e as a wo&an.
I a& a little bit in between both. 5y sister en#ied &y hands. She would say: ,Your hands are
&ore beautiful than &ine. )ow is that %ossibleH You are a boy.. I ha#e a lot of fe&inine
characteristics. I had a lot of trouble o#er the& in the %ast. I would think: ,Fh, I a& not
nor&al., and so on. 9ut as you %rogress in Yoga, you will see that you beco&e &an3wo&an.
You will see that you can understand one as well as the other, and that it is e*ually %resent in
you, as a &atter of s%eech.
+oes that &ean that you beco&e bi3se(ualH
<o, not bi3se(ual. 9ut lets say you will not be so &acho3like, a &ore refined kind of
co&%ro&ise.
I do not understand
CC
<o, not again. You always say that.
About those %ulsations G I do not really belie#e that.
+oesnt your heart beatH That is the %ulsation, that heartbeat.
Yes, but I still do not belie#e it.
'hy notH All %ulsations are related with Ear&a.
Yes, but wait a &inute, when you are the 5ost )igh, there is no %ulsation. It does not &ean a
thingJ
<o, no, the 5ost )igh is energyM all energy, in whate#er for&.
Isnt energy a %ulsation tooH
Yes, of course. 9ut to connect with the 5ost )igh you &ust neutraliIe all the %ulsations,
otherwise you will not be able to see:beco&e awareJ 9ut he is e#erywhere, always, going along
$ith the %ulsation.
9ut now again we are talking about that /hristian thing, with the 5ost )igh who is u% there.
Su%re&e consciousness. If that is not a %ulsation, than it just isnt anything. It does not &ean a
thing.
<o, 9rah&an, as we call it in Yoga, is the Absolute. The Absolute &eans e1erything.
6#erything that is, is 9rah&an, including you. Ff course that is a de&erit that we ha#e to
acce%tG 6#erything. So no &atter what ca%acity it co&es in, e#erything is 9rah&an. 9ut to
understand this as a hu&an being, to connect with that idea, we &ust create an enor&ous %eace
and let all %ulsations be neutraliIed. Then, suddenly, we will say: ,)ey, look, )e is thereJ. )e
has al$ays been thereJ 9ut it is because of all the dirt in your eyes that you failed to see itJ
'hen you get rid of your Ear&a, you ha#e no %ulsation any&oreH
Yes.
And what if you ha#e no %ulsation any&ore G
Then you will ha#e no sha%e any&ore.
9ut then you ha#e no consciousness eitherJ Then you are nothing. 'hat good is that to youJ
I know that this is a #ery annoying story. 'hen you tell %eo%le: ,SaleJ " euro discount, buy
this %roductJ., they i&&ediately rush to the sho% to buy it. 9ut not this story: it is so difficult to
co&%rehend.
C7
9ut it is because it is not co&%letely &aking sense.
It is &aking %erfect sense, but we dont like it this way. 'e ha#e a certain #ision of life as we
like to ha#e it: A nice 5editerranean beach, with a beautiful sea, blue sky, %al& trees, cola3ru&
in our hands, a deck chair, nice &usic. That is what we want.
9ut I ha#e the feeling that what you are telling us is only %art of the truth.
Then I ha#e to tell it in a better way.
5aybe you ha#ent *uite understood yourself.
Sure, I a& #ery ignorant.
9ut we were talking about the Eleshas.
*! 'e <.ada Paripata Pha.ah Pun+a Apun+a <etut)at
They ha#e joy or sorrow for their fruit according as their cause is #irtue or #ice.
)ow can you deter&ine whether you are full of white Ear&a, as the Tibetans call it, or black
Ear&aH 9lack Ear&a is what is called ,#ices.. This is co&%arable to what in /hristianity is
called ,sins.. )owe#er, /hristianity has li&ited sin to bad things, but originally good things
too are #ices, so it a%%lies to all infor&ation. The *uestion now is: how do you recogniIe
whether it is white or blackH 'ell, in this Sutra is written: when you e(%erience un%leasant
things in life, it &eans that you %ossess a whole lot of black Ear&a. /onse*uently this &eans
that when you e(%erience %leasant things in life, it &eans that you ha#e a lot of white Ear&a.
The easiest thing to do, in the beginning, is to get rid of the black Ear&a. 6#erybody can
i&&ediately understand this. 9ut later on, as you are told, you also ha#e to try to get rid of this
white Ear&a. And that is difficult. To do so you &ust go farther and farther in your
detach&ent. And you &ust also go increasingly farther in your austerity: si&%lification of
e#erything, u% to the s&allest details in your life. So you sit down, and you sit down, and you
sit down, and you burn. Then slowly but certainly your body beco&es &ore sy&&etric, and
then co&%letely sy&&etric, e#en %erfect as far as for& goes. As a result the oddities, the
ty%ical characteristics, slowly disa%%ear. Then you beco&e a kind of unifor&ity. It is #ery
funny:interesting.
The syste& of Yoga works beautifully in this res%ect: first it takes care of re&o#ing black
Ear&a. And look, the things that I %ut on the blackboard are white Ear&a, so I a& %lanting
white Ear&a in you. And the e(ercises etc. cause black Ear&a to be gradually eroded. The
attention beco&es focused u%on white Ear&a. 'hite Ear&a beco&es &ore dee%ly i&%rinted
and because of that the others are neutraliIed, which &akes it &uch easier to re&o#e the&.
So you end u% with gray Ear&aH
C!
Nray Ear&a e(ists too.
)ow is it %ossible that black Ear&a is easier to re&o#eH
9ecause it beco&es less i&%rinted. You do not focus so &uch on your #ices any&ore and
because of that it beco&es easier to burn the& away.
)ow do you know that you are being successfulH
In the beginning you ha#e the feeling that you are functioning in a better way, but then, when
you scratch a little bit inside yourself, you notice: ,Fh Nod, all &y #ices are still there.. 9ut
you do not focus on the&. This is a #ery distinct a%%roach. It is in co&%lete contradiction with
%sychothera%y. In Yoga %roble&s are ty%ically sol#ed by not focusing on the&. Ff course I a&
talking about your own %roble&s, ehH 'hile the %sychiatrist lets %atients lie down on a bed, he
talks about nothing else than the %roble&s of the %atient. 'ith the result that this %atient goes
co&%letely crac!ers. And the %sychiatrist tooJ So this is the o%%osite, faulty a%%roach. In Yoga
the a%%roach is different: you a%%roach it by focusing on the #irtues.
,! Parinama 'apa Sams/ara (uh/hair Guna $rtti $irodhac Ca (u/ham
:)a Sar)am $i)e/inah
To the %eo%le who ha#e de#elo%ed discri&ination all is &isery on account of the
%ains resulting fro& change, an(iety and tendencies, as also on account of the
conflicts between the functioning of the Gunas and rttis =of the &ind>.
'hat a %essi&istic #iew on the &atterJ This is a Sutra with which only few %eo%le will agree.
<onetheless, these are the e(act words of 9uddha. If you ha#e understood what it is all about,
you cannot but conclude that it turns into &isery all the ti&e. Is there anyone who can say that
his life is flawlessH
)ow about a YogiH
<ot e#en a Yogi. A Yogi will ha#e fought his way out of it, and he will ha#e established
har&ony, but he could ne#er say, in &y o%inion, that e#erything went flawless. I can tell you
that I resisted when I had to be born here. ?or I felt: Fh oh G there is a lot of %ain that will
occur there.. And this a%%lies to e#erybody. It sounds *uite negati#e, but actually you should
look at it in this way: that life is a succession of joy and %ain, and that these 0 for& a duality.
9ut also this %ain is actually your teacherM you learn your lessons through %ain. You are
confronted with the %roble&s through %ain, and you are obliged to sol#e the&, which then is
followed again by a &o&ent of har&ony, bliss or joy. 9ut what you see ha%%ening in general is
that %eo%le get stuck in this and think: ,YesJ I ha#e &ade itJ. And then they dont %ay
attention any&ore, which is an ideal %recursor to a ne(t %eriod of suffering co&ing u%. You
can also translate this as: C fat years, C &eager years.
71
So when you e(%erience joy it is only a &atter of ti&e before you will e(%erience &iseryH
It is a &atter of ti&e. It will turn around. 9ut the sa&e a%%lies to &isery, because you know: it
is only te&%oraryM it will %ass.
+o you co&e to %eace by dealing with things with YogaH
6(actly. 9ut then you are through, and that is e(actly what the author is ai&ing at. If you dont
do anything, you can be assured that e#entually, again and again, you will e(%erience &isery.
'hen you deal with it, you will slowly re&o#e it, and e#entually, you will e#en re&o#e it
co&%letely. 9ut as long as it is not finished yet, you will be stuck to it.
The author also gi#es the reasons why: because of the %ains that result fro& change, an(iety
and tendencies and also because of the conflicts between the Nunas and the Drttis. 9ecause
each ti&e again you are confronted with change in your life. You change jobs. Is this
so&ething that ha%%ens auto&aticallyH I cannot recall anybody who changed jobs without any
%roble&s. ?irst you ha#e to say goodbye to your %re#ious job, and then you ha#e to get settled
into your new job. Su%%ose that you also ha#e to look for a new job G a lot of &isery.
And what do you think about changing relationshi%sH You brake u% with your lo#e. 'ill this
all go s&oothlyH I do not think soJ And what about finding a new lo#eH Nee, ehH That is *uite
a different &atter, ehH And not to &ention that &ost new lo#es are e*ui%%ed with the necessary
children. You get the& for free as %art of the %ackage. I a& not sure if you can i&agine what
kinds of %roble&s this can cause.
/hange of house. 'ho can say that he likes to &o#eH 'ell, I attended 2 different schools. I
&ust ha#e li#ed on 01:0" different locations. If there is one thing I do not like, it is &o#ing.
)a#e you e#er left your countryH +id you e#er li#e abroadH Then &aybe you know what I a&
talking about. Peo%le who ha#e li#ed their entire life in their own #illage do not understand all
of this. Instead they drea&: ,<iceJ A house in ?ranceJ. Then they &o#e to ?rance. And a year
later they co&e back with their tail between their legs: ,I couldnt adjust G. And what about
all those %eo%le who s%end their retire&ent in S%ainH If they ha#e not already been cheated out
of their &oney by those realtors. You can find co&%lete concentration ca&%s of retirees o#er
thereJ /hange.
'hy is change so %ainfulH
9ecause you lose all your securities.
The nor&al, basic functions do not function any&ore, so an(iety arises, and insecurity, doubt,
and e(%ectations are often unfulfilled.
I do not recogniIe what you say here. 5aybe I was lucky. ?or e(a&%le, I do not ha#e so &uch
trouble &o#ing. I just let it co&e o#er &e.
That is %ossible. 9ut is that really trueH +o you really just let it co&e o#er youH
7
I was born in Africa. 'hen I was 7 years old I had to go back to 6uro%e. I was so happy to be
in 6uro%e. 9ut at the sa&e ti&e I ha#e always felt ho&esick for &y country of birth. Then
fro& 9elgiu& I had to &o#e to )olland, and I ha#e always felt ho&esick for &y language,
which is ?rench. Then it can ha%%en that it gets to you, dee%er and dee%er into your roots it
affects you L at least that is how it works with &e. There is *uite a difference between
changing ho&es here in )olland and lea#ing your ho&e in Africa, you knowJ It is a totally
different at&os%here. 'e li#ed there in the s%irit of %ioneersM the world was at our feet. You
took care of e#erything yourself, and there was no go#ern&ent interfering in your life.
So&ething ha%%ens within you. Bust assu&e that it does. 9ut what ha%%ens within youH 'ell,
you are &arked, if only by the &e&ories. You carry that with you all the ti&e. ?or e(a&%le: in
your new house you ha#e another kind of li#ing roo&, another #iew, another butcher, another
bakery, other routes fro& your work back ho&e and other %eo%le that you &eetG
Is this all Ear&aH
This is all Ear&a. And you carry it with you. The &ore changes you ha#e in your life, the
hea#ier your back%ack beco&es: It re&ains in your &e&ory.
Is Ear&a identifiable through %ainH
<o, it does not necessarily ha#e to hurt. 9ut e#en when you think about so&ething with
nostalgia, it causes %ain, like: ,)ey, it was so great there G. This is %ain. 9ecause you do
co&%are. And you do the sa&e in relations: ,Fh, how lucky I a& G 'hat a difference with
the last oneJ.
'hat about the re#erse situation, in which you do not feel nostalgia towards
so&eone:so&ething because it was not %leasant at allH
That, too is %ain, only you ha#e su%%ressed it.
The &ore changes you &ake, the bigger:hea#ier your back%ack beco&es. They are all
Sa&skaras. So, Id rather say: ,+o you want to li#e a ha%%y lifeH +o not change a thingJ Stay
where you are. @ie low. +o not read the news%a%er. +o not watch TD.. This is e(actly what
you find with si&%le %eo%le L who li#e in the &ountains for e(a&%le L who ha#e no interest in
anything and who ha#e just stayed where they were: they %ossess a certain har&ony that we
cannot gras%.
9ut a hu&an being should be able to &aintain hi&self in a big cityH
Yes, that is what you are told. You were told that you ha#e to learn to li#e life by e(%eriencing
things and go into ad#entures, by tra#eling and so on. 9ut this is not true.
9ut dont you learn fro& e(%eriencesH
70
Yes, that is true, but it does not &ean that you should base your life on changes.
9ut I can also i&agine change without ho&esickness:nostalgia
)o&esickness:nostalgia without %ainH That is i&%ossible: ho&e3sic!. Sick is %ain and the
&eaning of ho&e is ob#ious. There are different grades of %ain. In the !41s I was on a
#acation at the Narda3lake. It was fantasticJ I ha#e also been at the 5editerranean sea, at
9or&es les 5i&osas, @e @a#andou =?rance>. The sea was so beautifulJ @ater I went back there
G well, I can tell you that it hurt. 'hyH 9ecause e#erything was destroyed. You seeH 9ut if I
had ne#er been there before, I would not ha#e e(%erienced %ain. The conclusion is that with
e#erything you do, you co&%are:e#aluate, and then you &ake a judg&ent.
'hat I wanted to say is: our consu&%ti#e beha#ior is res%onsible for &any changes. 2ore.
5i##erent. ?or e(a&%le, when we li#ed in Africa &y father bought a new car e#ery year. 'hyH
9ecause it was a #ery nor&al thing to do: the roads there were so bad that after year a car
was worn3out. So when we were little children we would see a brand3new ?ord in front of the
house e#ery year. And early in the &orning L on Sunday L dressed in our %aja&as, we would
&ake a ride to break3in the car. These are things that lea#e traces in your &e&ory.
I only want to indicate that our attitude towards life carries the %ro&ise of &isery within. It is
due to our attitude of consu&ing, and assu&ing that that is life. This also a%%lies to change: of
another, better car, of another, better house, of another #acation G 'e assu&e that e#erything
is fine, while it all lea#es traces and it affects us one way or the other.
The sa&e with %eo%le who ha#e had innu&erable relationshi%s in their li#es: They ha#e to see
how they can get rid of all those &e&ories. This is dangerous.
I a& not i&%lying that you should not do it, but that at least you should not %ut e&%hasis on it
=on change>. If it has to be done, then you do it, but be aware of the fact that it has
conse*uences. Also be wise. That is all. ?or the rest you li#e your life and you do what you
ha#e to do. <o one can co&&ent on it.
This is a conte&%orary %roble&.
Yes, consu&er beha#ior. I ha#e an ac*uaintance: whene#er new audio3e*ui%&ent co&es into
the &arket, he needs to ha#e it. <ew louds%eakers, new +D+3burner, and I dont know what.
)is li#ing roo& looks like a TD3studio. <ot that this is wrong, but he is always looking for
other, better, newer e*ui%&ent. /hange, change.
You just &entioned the conse*uences that co&e with change. I guess you are right about that,
and one ne#er knows in ad#ance with what kind of conse*uences one is confronted. It is
i&%ossible to say, until it is too late.
Yes.
72
9ut &isery is not only caused by change. 5isery is also caused by worry =an(iety>. This is the
second of the &ain cul%rits. 5y &other li#es in a wonderful a%art&ent in the center of 9ruges.
She actually has e#erything she could wish for. )er children watch o#er her. 6#erything is
fine. 9ut she kee%s herself occu%ied with what her children are all doingJ So she ado%ts all the
worries of her 8 children, and their s%ouses, and her grandchildren G /an you i&agineH This
&eans that she is always restless, and always in %ain. There are always %roble&s. )ow is this
%ossibleH She has e#erything she could %ossibly wish forJ 'ell, it is si&%ly caused by her
concern. She thinks that she should be worried about the u%s and downs of e#erybody. Then
we #isit her and say: ,+ont botherJ It is their life.. She ruins her own life by worrying.
In this way she is building Ear&a. If only you think about so&eone elses %roble&s, it is
already enough to be affected by it. You should not think about so&eone elses %roble&s. Fnly
when this %erson asks for your hel%, then the ti&e is right. Then you ha#e to see if there is
anything you can do to hel%, and whether there is so&ething in your baggage:life that could be
of any hel%. 9ut %eo%le are si&%ly conditioned this way =a kind of &eddleso&e3ness>: without
being asked they co&e to you and say: ,'ell, you should do this G.
+ont you ha#e this with your &other3in3lawH I a& just taking so&e e(a&%leG She just feels
that it is her duty, in the house of her child, to gi#e ad#ice, because, who knows, &aybe her
son:daughter3in3law &ay har& her own child. You dont know of thisH You dont ha1e to. I
only said that it could ha%%en. ?ortunately it does not ha%%en all the ti&e. It is only a
stereoty%e3e(a&%le.
/oncern: concern of a &other o#er her kid=s>M #ery ty%ical.
/oncern of a doctor o#er his %atients. +o you recogniIe thisH Probably not, ehH There are
hardly any doctors left who are concerned about their %atients. I was born in a doctors fa&ily,
and we did care.
You are talking about concern when you feel co&%assion for your %atients, and that you do
&ore than just a consult and that you are in#ol#ed in their %roble&s. It also &eans that you
co&e ho&e fro& your work and cannot lea#e it behind.
9ut if you bring your work ho&e with you, it does not necessarily &ean that it is out of
concern, does itH
9ut this is concern.
'hen you are co&&itted to your work, you are concerned. )ow is it %ossible that you are not
co&&itted to your workH Fnly a Yogi is able to say at a certain &o&ent: ,@ook, I a&
%racticing Pratyahara and I a& co&ing ho&e and there is no such thing as an attach&ent to &y
work.. It is %ossible, but it is a #ery high for& of art. A nor&al hu&an being &ay want to be
able to do so, but he si&%ly cant. Always and e#erywhere he is occu%ied with his work. And if
he says that this is not true, he is lying.
78
Isnt it %ossible to just hel% so&eoneH I think concern goes too far. There is also a little bit of
fear in#ol#ed.
<o, attach&ent is in#ol#ed.
9ut there is gradation in#ol#ed, and you dont &ake that gradation.
<o, no, it is %ossible that you are not attached. 9ut what I see so often is: %eo%le who ha#e a
heart for their work beco&e attached to their work. So what is the difference between lo#e and
attach&entH They fail to see that, so they hangJ This is the #ery reason that heart surgeons L
good heart surgeons 3 statistically ha#e a higher chance of dying fro& heart disease than
nor&al %eo%le. Psychiatrists, in general, statistically, go craIy faster than other %eo%le. This is
a ty%ical case of Ear&a they recei#e through their work. I would rather say: %eo%le in
healthcare get sick &ore easily than %eo%le who do not work in healthcare.
9ut the *uestion is whether this is caused by their %atients or by their attitudeH
The &ore in#ol#ed you are with your work, and the &ore you lo#e to do your job, the &ore
sensiti#e:#ulnerable you beco&e to it. This is because you ado%t Ear&a fro& it. The only way
to lock yourself off is to beco&e indifferent towards your work. $nfortunately there are a lot of
%eo%le like this. It is their way of %rotecting the&sel#es, but in the %rocess they lose their
co&&it&ent to their work, and fro& that &o&ent on they cannot do their work %ro%erly
any&ore.
9ut you can also be concerned about so&ebody while not ha#ing any ties to this %erson.
This is the sa&e. It is already enough to get Ear&a. 'hen you lo#e so&eone, it is the ideal
circu&stance to ado%t Ear&a. Eee% it, ehH So actually this is so&ething *uite wonderful. @o#e
is the ideal for us. )1en better L you can take this %ersons Ear&a so that he is rid of it and you
ha#e it.
9ut does it ha%%en because you want to take it o#er, or because it ha%%ens auto&aticallyH
Peo%le are not ca%able yet to regulate this the&sel#es. It just ha%%ens. In esoteric healing I try
to %re%are you for these kinds of things L so that it will not ha%%en. Then you will also learn
how difficult it is to install yourself and li#e in a neutral situation, while still being in#ol#ed
with your surroundings. This is terribly difficult.
?or e(a&%le: I see a child with difficulties. I ha#e no ties with this child whatsoe#er, but
i&&ediately I a& right in the &iddle of it. This is #ery difficult for &e, and I would like to
know how to sol#e this.
Fkay, then you ha#e to do what you ha#e to do. And you ha#e to play. The solution is always
to %lay. Play. Fffer hel%, but do it with ease, and with ease you distract yourself again fro& the
situation, you knowH
7"
Playfully, at ease, you go to your custo&er, and %layfully, at ease you go back again. Playfully,
at ease you go to your su%%lier, a%%roach your e&%loyees, your wife, and your children: All
%layful and at ease.
I understand, but I a& unable to do this. I lose &y slee% o#er it.
Fkay, then you are not talking about %laying any&ore. It is because you ha#e no control o#er
the fire ele&ent. You ha#e to learn to &ake the fire L e(%ansion, contraction, action, and
reaction L &ore fle(ible.
<ow about tendencies: So we had a look at changes, an(iety =concern:worry> and now we will
ha#e a look at the influence of tendencies. )abits. :hatH :hyH ;abitsH I do ha#e habits, but
habits &ake life easier for &eJ +ont they &ake life easier for youH
Yes, but only when you ha#e no other choice.
Ah, there you ha#e itJ Su%%ose so&ething interferes: The &orning news%a%er was not
deli#ered. I a& used to read &y news%a%er, and now it didnt arri#e. 'ell, then I a& really in a
bad mood. You should see how fast I grab the tele%hone to call the news%a%er district officeJ
,A& I going to get &y news%a%er, or whatJH. And listen to the tone in &y #oice, ehH ,Always
the sa&eJ Again I didnt recei#e &y %a%erJ. /usto&er ser#iceG %uh, ehH Peo%le are caught in
a kind of routine:kind of Ta&as, and you are not su%%osed to disturb the&. They are used to do
things their way L like that 3 and as soon so&ething is different it beco&es a
threat:infringe&ent.
Bust look at our school here in Il%enda& L I a& not sure if you noticed:felt it L but locals still
stand aloof fro& us. In this #illage we are the only ones that are called ,5ister:5iss.. I noticed
it today at the ele&entary school that &y children attend. 'e had registered to hel% out and so
on. All the na&e cards included %eo%les first na&es and surna&es. 9ut not ours: &y wife and
I were called ,5ister and 5iss.. <ow what did we do to cause thisH 'e did nothing at all. The
only thing is that we are different fro& what they are used to. If we had o%ened a restaurant in
this #illage, there wouldnt ha#e been any %roble& at all. This is so recogniIable: not a
restaurant but a 0oga schoolHJ That is just how %eo%le are. 9ut because of such an attitude
huge %roble&s can arise L for those with these tendencies. ?or it is i&%ossible to hang on to
your habits.
You gi#e the& Ear&a.
I take care of Ear&a. 9ut because of that they react towards &e in a negati#e way. 5ao Tse
Tung once said: ,You &ust try to integrate without &aking wrinkles.. 9ut already the day that
I %ut out the signboard: ,6ducational Institute of the Aaja Yoga Institute., it was already
da&aged. Abo#e that sign was the na&e of the school: ,Swans <est., I had already thought
that out: it fits in with the character of this region, so it should be okay. Peo%le lo#ed it. 9ut not
the signboard below it. And still they say, when they see it: ,Isnt that a restaurantH.
Aestaurant Swans <est. So &any %eo%le reacted like this. They are so used to this: they see a
na&e acco&%anied by 0 e&ble&s, left and right, and they think: ,)einekenJ. 'ell, in case of
74
our school it is %ortrait of so&eone in &editation, but %eo%le see it as the sy&bol of )eineken
beer. They are used to see it like that, and so they $ill see it like thatJ
Then I did not e#en &ention language. Peo%le are used to talk in a s%ecific way. Then I say:
,A& I not s%eaking 5utchH Nra&&atically I say things correctly.. At least I thought I did. 9ut
when I s%eak to %eo%le in this #illage, they in#ariably say: ,'hat did you sayH. So I say: ,I
just told youJ. 9ut because it is not s%oken e(actly in the way they are used to, %honetically,
they do not understand. It is e(actly these kinds of %eo%le that feel &ost %ain when their
habits:tendencies are affected. Those %eo%le are really conser#ati#e.
)ow in Nods na&e can we &ake it clear to %eo%le that they ha#e to watch out for
tendencies:habitsH
Then there is another reason for &isery: the conflicts between the functioning of the Nunas
and the Drttis.
And the e(a&%le before that L before the conflicts between the functioning of the Nunas
=Satt#a, Aajas and Ta&as> and the Drttis =whirls of energy> L is the alar& clock. You are
slee%ing, you are in Ta&as, and your Ta&as is brutally disturbed by the Drtti of the alar&
clock. There is a confrontation here, energetically. It does not &atch.
9ut how &any ti&es doesnt this ha%%en in our li#esH 'e then say: ,Yeah, I a& not in the
&ood. I a& gloo&y. And &y %artner wants to go for a walk, but I a& gloo&y. I dont feel like
going out.. Then the %artner starts nagging: ,Yes, but I want to G. and you say: ,/o&e on,
lea#e &e alone. I a& just sitting here co&fortably G lea#e &e alone, will you G.
)ow can we sol#e thisH The solution is to better consider one anothers interests. To the e(tent
that you feel in which Nuna he:she is, and that you adjust the Drtti that you send to this %erson
according to his condition. So, when he is gloo&y, while you would like to &ake a walk, you
say: ,Nosh, are you okayH You see& to be a little bit tiredH 'ell, I understand that you are
tired. You ha#e been so busy lately. Nood guy G 9ut wouldnt it be nice to &aybe go out and
&o#e a little bitH.
+o you understand how this worksH ?irst you go along with the #ibration, and then slowly you
try, a#ter ha#ing been at the sa&e wa#elength, to bend the #ibration, and &oti#ate the other to
go o#er into so&ething else. Is this how it is usually doneH <ot so, ehH 'e are constantly
confronted with shocks. <ot good.
'hen the ta( assess&ent arri#es, the sa&e situation occurs again and again. I do not know of
anybody who is ha%%y to recei#e the blue en#elo%e. And you always recei#e it right before
your #acationJ In the %ast, when I was in business, I would go on a #acation, and e#ery ti&e
the sa&e thing ha%%ened to &e: u%on &y return &y boss was waiting for &e and fired &e. I
ha#e no idea why they always did this a#ter the holidaysH +uring the #acation %eriod they
thought: ,'e want to ha#e a better year this ti&e after the holidays. )ow do we acco&%lish
thatH 'ell, #ery si&%le: lets kick 9arbier out..
7C
At last they would be in %eaceG
Yes, they were in %eace. TerribleJ 9arbier in business G well, nothings %erfect, you knowH
6arn a lot of &oney and ha#e so&eone kiss your feet.
So, if you add it all u%, there are clear reasons for &isery: change, an(iety, tendencies, and the
conflicts between Nunas and Drttis.
9ut it does not ha#e to be so hea#y. You walk in the street and a car %asses by, and there is a
%uddle of water on the road. )e dri#es with his wheel through the %uddle of water and you are
soaking wet. 'ell, this is a conflict of Nunas and Drttis. You didnt ask for it, but it ha%%ens
any way.
Bust for once say: ,Fkay, no &atter how you look at it, e#erything re#ol#es around &isery in
life.. And now all together: ,All re#ol#es around &iseryJ. Is this clearH Actually you should
see that life, the way it is li#ed, re#ol#es around &isery. It is the wise &an that co&es to this
conclusion. )e has no illusions left.
Peo%le kee% the&sel#es going by watching the co&&ercial of the lottery. They li#e in a drea&.
They %in the&sel#es down on this. Fr they buy books fro& the 9ou*uet3series. And they
watch soa% o%eras. Fr they co&e to Aaja Yoga and e(%ect to hear the story that %eace reigns. It
is not like thisJ And e(actly because of that we ha#e to set to work on this. +eal with itJ And
incidentally I think this syste& is a #ery good syste& to do so. It is the actual reason to %ractice
Yoga. +o not %ractice Yoga for rela(ation, ehH 'hen %eo%le call &e, I hear the& asking: ,+o
you ha#e so&e Yoga on offerH /an I join too, because I too want so&e rela(ationGH. Then I
re%ly: ,Yeah, youd better go to the co&&unity center. )ere we do things for real..
So why is there an e&%hasis on %ainH 'ell, it is to ensure that you dont ha#e any illusions. It
is not co&%letely correct to say it in this way, but e#entually, in hindsight, you &ust conclude:
5y %ain always returns.
9ut doesnt this a%%ly to ha%%iness as wellH
)a%%iness too always returns, that is true.
'hen you take out Ear&a through Yoga3%ractice, you can take away the %ain. And you are
taught to end u% in a stable condition, in which less and less ha%%ens and in which you can
re&ain in blissful s%heres for longer %eriods of ti&e. That is the reason why it is e&%hasiIed:
this is &isery. So that later on we can e&%hasiIe: this is bliss. 9ut this too is not entirely true,
because it is not all bliss u% there. ?or e1en there you still ha#e to deal with the remainder of
your Ear&a. )owe#er, &isery beco&es less and less %ro&inent. There is a gradual
transfor&ation.
0! <e+am (u/ham Anagatam
77
The &isery which has not yet co&e can and is to be a#oided.
There is a li&itation here: there is nothing you can do about the &isery of the %astM it is done.
9ut now it is your res%onsibility to decide whether you are going to let the &isery of the future
descend u%on you or whether you are going to do so&ething about it to %re#ent it. This is an
o%%ortunity for you, and Patanjali is si&%ly saying that it is %ossible. <o, he is e#en saying that
you should. The o%%ortunity is there. This is the &eaning of life. If you #ail to learn to do this,
no$, if you #ail to understand this, that this is what your life is about, then you fail to li#e life.
You lose a chance to %ut things in order and to %ut your sins behind you, as you can also %ut it.
?or &e this has absolutely nothing to do with religion. Instead it is only a &atter of daily
occurrence. It is also a #ery %ractical &atter, al&ost like a household3&anual. 9ut we ha#e
already understood that it goes &uch farther than thatM that we will auto&atically, through this,
arri#e at the highest le#els of religion.
Then arent you allowed to be ha%%y when the weather is niceH
<o &ore than when it rains. It is beautifulM e#erything that is, is fine.
So you are not e#en allowed to obser#e itH
Yes, yes, I obser#e:see e#erything. And I see #ery sharp, e1erything, but I do not judge it
any&ore the way I used to. I do not judge anything any&ore.
)ow about weighing %ros and consH
Yes G e#erything has its %ros:&erits G I understand. The weather condition, the %eo%le who
are differentM I take all those differences into account. 9ut that is all. 9ut I do not get e(cited
any&ore. 5y life has indeed beco&e &uch *uieter, with fewer fluctuations, which is actually
the result of gradually settling the score with the Nunas. Things did not beco&e less sensiti#e.
Fn the contraryJ You beco&e &ore and &ore sensiti#e. 9ut it is the degree of control o#er the
Nunas that is i&%ro#ing. You are better able to see:understand your self, and you are better
able to transfor& yourself. You do not go along any&ore. 'hen %eo%le are
co&%laining:whining: in the %ast I would tell the& to cut it outJ <ow I ha#e beco&e &uch
&ilder. I listen to the& %atiently, and I try to add so&e constructi#e words to the&. I a& %atient
and as a result I beca&e &uch &ore bearable.
And how is all this %ossibleH )ow is it %ossible that we li#e like thisH )ow is it %ossible that a
nor&al hu&an being always ends u% in &iseryH
1! (rashtr (rs+a+oh Sam+ogo <e+a <etuh
The cause of that which is to be a#oided is the union of the Seer and the Seen.
The Seer is the obser#er within us. As a nor&al hu&an being you ha#e the a%%alling tendency
to react to anything you see. The neighbor is telling that the wife of the neighbor of across the
7!
street has died. You listen to it. Then what do you askH ,Fh, are those the %eo%le that look like
this and thatH.
,Yeah, and the a&bulance ca&e last week, and suddenly G just like that G that %erson died..
9efore you know it you are right in the &iddle of it. You ha#e ne1er e#en %aid any attention to
these %eo%leJ Bust because your neighbor is telling you about it: 9angJ, in your back%ack.
So, our foolish habit to let the Seer and the Seen get together and fuse with each other is the
funda&ental cause of all &isery. It is just because we take things to heart, again and again. 'e
are unable to si&%ly and neutrally obser#e:look at what is taking %lace around us, without
beco&ing %art of it. 'e ha#e to stick our noses into e#erything. That is our nature.
Fr dont you ha#e this %roble&H
'ell, whene#er I tell these kinds of stories, I can see your reactions. You just beco&e one with
all I a& saying. So you are so $ea!J I play with you as if it were nothing. +o not allow this to
ha%%en, ehH +o not allow this to ha%%enJ Eee% your distance. +o you know how to do thatH
'hile I a& talking like this, you &ust constantly ask yourself *uestions: ,'hat is he telling us
nowH. ,'hat is &y neighbor telling &e nowH. ,'hat is her relationshi% with the neighbor of
across the streetH. ,'hat attitude:feeling does she ha#e about thisH. As long as you ask
*uestions, you will not fuse, because %hrasing *uestions is the 9uddhi3function within you.
+oes this create the needed distanceH
This creates the distance. So re&ain ske%tical, also towards &e. I a& not saying that you
should not belie#e &e, but re&ain ske%tical. You can be critical without criticiIing.
'e read in the "
th
Sutra that, if you are $ise, you draw the conclusion that all is &isery. Then
the 4
th
Sutra said that, when we know where the &isery co&es fro&, it is our duty to a#oid the
&isery that is yet to co&e. It is as %lain as the nose on your face.
5isery is caused by the Eleshas, which co&e to us because of si&ilar Drttis in oursel#es,
which are caused by our own Ear&a. 'e ha#e co&e to the conclusion that, to attenuate this L
to not let those Eleshas co&e to us L you &ust reduce the& to their origin when they are
subtle, or sit down in &editation when they are too strong. This is a te&%orary solution. This is
what you &ust do according to Patanjali. You do not know how to &ake it *uietH This terrible
addition of &iseryH Sit down. Is it difficultH 5editationH It is difficult, but you will do it
any$ay. 9ecause you ha#e so &uch to gain. You do not &editate just for the &editation. You
&editate %ri&arily to sto% the &isery fro& co&ing to you. It is so beautiful.
This C
th
Sutra is an atte&%t to &ake it e#en clearer. It is because we identify with the
%heno&ena:a%%earances that we constantly &ake &istakes.
A wonderful /itroen /" was %arked in front of the school L &etallic gray. It was %arked in &y
s%ace. I could not ignore it. I looked at the wide headlights, ad&ire the color, and look at the
interior. It had an auto&atic trans&ission.
!1
Eee% distance, kee% distance, kee% distanceJ 6#ery ti&e you di#e into so&ething, when you
beco&e one with so&ething, there is danger. ?ortunately I a& able to *uickly correct. I say to
&yself: ,'ell, nice car G nice rear end G but the trunk cannot carry as &uch luggage as &y
own car, and &y children would not ha#e as &uch s%ace in a /" G So, I a& trying to regain
&y co&&on sense again, and %ower of discri&ination. Then I a& able to let go.
This ha%%ens with a car, but it ha%%ens with %eo%le too. It also ha%%ens with habits. And it also
ha%%ens with attitudes in life. In fact it ha%%ens with e1erything.
5y father noticed that it was in &y character to easily identify with anything. )e also noticed
that I was #ery sensiti#e for fe&inine beauty. Fne day he told &e: ,5y son, the things that you
are interested in L those girls L I do understand you, they all look so %retty and so on,
especially when the su&&er is a%%roaching, but kee% in &ind that a wo&an is like a bag filled
with dung.. And I told hi&: ,That a #ery rude thing to sayJ. 'hen we read the 7
th
Sutra,
Patanjali is actually saying the sa&e as &y father, but then a little bit subtler:
5! Pra/asa -ri+a Sthiti Si.am 4hutendri+atma/am 4hogapa)argartham
(rs+am
The seen =objecti#e side of &anifestation> consists of the ele&ents and sense3
organs, is of the nature of cognition, acti#ity and stability =Satt1a, 9ajas and
Tamas> and has for its %ur%ose =%ro#iding Purusha with> e(%erience and
liberation.
5an is a bag filled with dung. In other words: look beyond the colors. @ook beyond the &ake3
u%, or the %eculiar ways of wo&en. And see the building blocks of &an. See the ele&ent earth,
water, fire, air and ether, and the coherence between the&. See that there is sensory
functioning. See that there is &otor functioning. See that there are Tan&atras, which for&
gross &atter. See that the whole re#ol#es around Aajas, Ta&as and Satt#a. +eter&ine as soon
as you see a hu&an being: is he in Aajas, Ta&as or Satt#aH If he is acti#e, he is in Aajas. If he
is tired:sluggish, then he is in Ta&as. <ot so &any %eo%le are in Satt#a.
Your way of looking at %eo%le will hel% you to a#oid the fusion. This is because you are using
your &ind to analyIe: ,'ell, this one looks like that and so and soG.
So you ask *uestions to &aintain your objecti#ityH
Yes, e(actly.
So you do not really look at the %ersonH
<o, you are going to try to see the res%ecti#e ele&ents, actually the %erson in its totality. 3ot
just the surface. It is also %ossible to get a gras% on his ca%acity on causal le#el, or his
functioning on &ental le#el or e&otional le#el.
!
+eter&ine: well, are there e&otions or are there no e&otionsH This is so&ething you can see in
an instant. Is it a *uiet %erson or is it not a *uiet %ersonH
You can also #eel at causal le#el. 'hene#er &y brother3:sister3in3law co&es to #isit, or e#en
&y &other3in3law L I a& not sure what it is between the& and &e L but I #eel for those %eo%le.
They are not to bla&e. I a& not to bla&e. There is just so&ething between us. If I would &eet
one of you in town:so&ewhere, I will react too. I will feel too. 'e are friends:a kind of fa&ily.
There is so&ething that ties us together #ery closely. 'ell, %ay attention to these kinds of
things. It will hel% you to a#oid fusion. @ook further. 'hat else is there to itH And do this with
e1erything. In this way you will understand e#erything better and you will not get caught by
anything.
So, it is not about the first i&%ression you get fro& a %ersonH
You always look for other i&%ressions.
Is it not good to trust your first i&%ressionH
Yes, it is good G it is your intuition s%eaking. 'ell, try to %ut a label on it: what is this
su%%osed to &eanH ,'ell, ob#iously the sa&e &ood as I G causal she has Ta&as, ob#iously
G I too ha#e Ta&as G so we can function *uietly at the sa&e wa#elength..
9ut now you ha#e recogniIed so&ething, which &akes it &uch safer to associate with than to
allow fusion to occur. To be guided. To be li1ed. There were ti&es that fe&inine beauty left &e
absolutely %aralyIed. 'ith the eyes wide o%en. The tongue al&ost hanging out of &y &outh.
You just cannot i&agine. 'ell, if you ha#e no controlG
+oes this &ean that you are out of your &ind or soH
'ell, it &eans that your &ind is not in charge. 5aybe you ha1e a &ind, but you do not use it.
So, when &y father said: ,A wo&an is a bag of dung., I was shocked, but at the sa&e he was
trying to tell &e this. 9ut Patanjali continues. )e says that insight L the recognition of those
ele&ents in life L is what you need to %ossess to gi#e &eaning to life. )e says, literally, it ,has
for its %ur%ose e(%erience and liberation.. So, li#e your life, %lay with all those things, but %ay
attention that they do not absorb you, that you, at a certain &o&ent, are free fro& the&. And
now I a& able, thank Nod, to socialiIe freely with ladies.
S%ontaneousH
S%ontaneous. <ot artificially. 9ut I see it now, you knowH I do not allo$ &yself to be absorbed
any&ore. It is a play. 5en are toys for wo&en. 'o&en are toys for &en. It is that si&%le. And
it is so a&using when you understand this. 'e are &ade for each other, so, lets enjoy one
another.

!0
You should not only focus on all those =se(ual> hassles. I ha#e s%oken to &any wo&en about
this, and they told &e: ,'e like it. 'e like a &an who can associate with us freely and ha#e a
good laugh and so on. <ot one who i&&ediately has all kinds of thoughts and e(%ectations..
This is a #ery wise lesson of life. It offers liberation. Fr it is the road to liberation. And this is
what is glorified in Yoga, in the te&%les of India. And this is the Ea&a Sutra, the scri%ture
about dealing with desire. So it is about using se( or se(ual interaction with one another with
the goal to go to hea#en:achie#e liberation.
<ow try telling this to the Po%e, ehH )e will be struck by an acute cardiac arrest. It is not &y
fault that the /hurch ?athers at the ?irst /ouncil of /onstantino%le in the year 411 A.+. started
to deliberate: ,Yes, and what is it that is bothering youH. ,'ell, %robably the sa&e as what is
bothering you.. And indeed they all ca&e to the sa&e conclusion: Se( was the biggest e#il for
these &en. 6#en if it is true, at that #ery &o&ent these fools banned se(. The church is still
weighed down under this ban. 9efore that ti&e celibacy si&%ly did not e(ist.
'hat if you dont get itH
It is i&%ossible to li#e with so&ebody that sticks to you like glue, ehH I re&e&ber &y first
girlfriends: they couldnt stand the sight of &e because I was on to% of the& like a dog. Is that
so&ething you want to ha#e on your tailH It &akes your li#e &iserable. That is not what wo&en
$ant. And neither do &en. In fact nobody wants thisJ
In case you run a sho% you would not want to a %articular custo&er to constantly roa& your
doorste% because he likes you so &uch or because he finds your %roducts so fantastic. You will
say: ,No awayJ I do not need you.. You %ark your beautiful /itroen /" in the street and so&e
%uddinghead sits in front of it sali#ating, licking his li%sJ 'hat is thisHJ You would not want
that, would youH =I was constantly on &y guard for the owner to co&e backG>
5aybe he is only %roud of his carH
I once %ulled this kind of trick when I saw a 95' 2 &odel, years ago L I sat on the sidewalk
watching this car. The owner returned and said: ,+o you need the keysH. Play, play and do not
be afraid. Play. Try, e(%eri&ent. Action, reaction. AnalyIe constantly. /onstantly %lace things,
a%%oint things: big, s&all, thick, thinG
'hat if you like to eatH
Then you enjoy this eating. Then you let this eating enchant you. Then you ask yourself: ,)ey,
what is it that enchants &e nowH 'ait a &inute, I think it is the basil they %ut in the sauce G.
?rench cuisine is so terrible in this res%ect: the cook is trained to a#oid these kinds of things: he
obscures the recognition of the #arious ingredients. This is how you recogniIe the best cuisine:
indistinguishable. So it beco&es a sport, ehH 6#erybody di#es into it in a restaurant with a
cou%le of 5ichelin3stars. Two bites and they can e(actly analyIe what is on their %late. Fr not.
In the last instance the cook wins the ga&e. 9ut actually this is a ga&e of liberation.
!2
Yoga is an a&using affair. It does not cause the &atter. Fn the contrary, it tells you: get
ac*uainted with the &atter. 9eco&e ac*uainted, but do not get absorbed by it. And once you
ha#e understood:are able to %lace it, it will enable you to reach liberation.
Fnly he, who has li#ed:has e(%erienced things in life, has a chance to achie#e e&anci%ation.
+ont you think soH 6&anci%ation goes through e(%erience, so it is so&ething you earn
through e(%erience. An e&anci%ated wo&an is a wo&an who knows how &en function. She
does not fall for any &an. She is liberated and she shakes u% &en. And now, I think, it is ti&e
for so&e e&anci%ated &en to arise. ?or in &y o%inion there are to few e&anci%ated &en in this
country. In this field wo&en are L I a& not sure if you agree to this L stronger than &en.
)olland has a &atriarchal syste&, while ?rance and 9elgiu& are %atriarchal. 9ut it is an
interesting &atriarchal situation: they ha#e achie#ed this by e&anci%ation. They ha#e liberated
the&sel#es.
I co&%are the situation in )olland with that of Southern 6uro%ean countries, where wo&en are
not e#en asked for their o%inion. In )olland reigns the custo& of deliberation. 'ell, not in &y
house. ' decide the &atter, thats it, o#er and out, %eriodJ )a ha haJ
'hen &y wife says: ,Yes, but that is not the way to go. These are i&%ortant decisions. You
&ust discuss that with &e first before you &ake a decision., then I say: ,)&&, could be, but
this is my house and it will be done in my way.. It is ob#ious that we ha#e *uite so&e
argu&ents about this, and she is right. I was raised differently.
9ut you dont ha#e to hold on tight to your u%bringingH
<o, but that is what the ga&e is about here. I should a#oid to fuse with so&ething. Si&%ly the
fact that I say: ,She is right., detaches &e fro& &y conditioning. It is the start of &y liberation
fro& that conditioning.
9ut you still react like thatH
Yes, and I will continue to do so as long as it is in &e, with the difference that I !no$.
+o you tell her this tooH
Ff course, I tell herJ 9ut then it beco&es a ga&e. And then it beco&es interesting, because she
knows on forehand that I dont want to deliberate. Then she co&es to &e and says: ,+id
so&ething ha%%en, so&ething in which you were about to &ake a decision, or &aybe you
already &ade a decision, whats u%H. And then I s&ile: ,well, I guess you are rightG. This
has such a liberating effect. You see what I a& trying to tell youH You gradually let go of those
things that you are stuck to. And indeed I ho%e that it wont be for long before we end u% in a
situation of e*uality, and that we can deliberate.
It is dee%ly ingrained in the genes, so the %hysical body still has its say. +o you understandH
!8
Fne ti&e it is like this, and another ti&e it is like thatM it does not &atter as long as it is ali1e.
As long as you co&&unicate, you &ake %rogress and you hel% each other towards liberation.
Then again it is Ea&a Sutra. The reason of the contradictions:the two se(es L &ale and fe&ale
L is to &ake co&%arisons:to co&%are. This creates a kind of &irror that offers the %ossibility of
%rogress. 9ut the condition is, and this is #ery clearly stated in the Ea&a Sutra, do not fuseJ As
soon as you fuse, you are not %laying any&ore. It =the Ea&a Sutra> goes #ery dee%. The &an or
the wo&an tries to find all kinds of #ery subtle tricks to outs&art the other on the se(ual field.
9ut the other is aware and does not fall for it. That is the ga&e: /ontrolled Pratyahara,
re&e&berH It &eans that you, when you are strong, test yourselfJ
I think high heels are cute. )owe#er, I should be careful not to tell you too &uch G
+o you like to wear the& yourself or see others wear the&H
<o, not to wear the& &yself: I a& not that kinky. That is so&ething I do not understand so
well &yself, but anywayG In &y o%inion a wo&an can look so &uch better wearing high
heels. 5y wife !no$s this, so so&eti&es she %uts on high heels. 9ut then I know on forehand:
watch out, %ay attentionG you understandH And that is the ga&e. <ow I ha#e to go find
so&ething she thinks is cute.
And thenH
Teasing.
'hen you continue to %lay this ga&e in this way, can you re&ain inde%endent fro& one
anotherH You learn to beco&e inde%endent. That is liberation.
Are you not su%%osed to share e#erything with each otherH
That is what %eo%le think. 9ut it is not true. It is not that, because you li#e together, that you
ha#e to share e#erything with each other. There is no ,ha#e to.. <o obligations.
So use this attraction to draw the necessary lessons about inde%endence.
6! $isesha)isesha =ingamatra.ingani Guna Par)ani
The stages of the Gunas are the %articular, the uni#ersal, the differentiated and
the undifferentiated.
In your study of the Seen you ha#e also seen:recogniIed the Nunas. ?or e(a&%le: you notice
that your %artner is co&%letely washed3out, does not feel like doing anything, and looks a little
bit sickly out of her eyes. In that case you a%%roach her differently than when she is full of joy
and in high s%irits. That is what this Sutra is about. And the descri%tion here is *uite
re&arkable. It is not the brute and rough a%%roach, the way I always do: Ta&as, contractingM
Aajas, e(%andingM Satt#a, har&onic. Instead Patanjali e(%lains it differently: The %articular, the
!"
uni#ersal, the differentiated and the undifferentiated. Those are the stages of fusion of the
Nunas.
The particular4
The %articular is the coarsest stage, in which a lot of Nunas together are co&bined, and for&
%recisely the %articular as%ect of a hu&an being, an object or a situation. So, the su& of
characteristics &akes so&ething %articular. Fr it &akes a human being %articular. Fr doesnt
itH 9lue eyes, blond hair, long legs, and na&e a few &ore. That is %articular. And within that
%articular there is a little %iece of Satt#a, a little %iece of Ta&as, and a little %iece of Aajas. And
they are all co&bined. It is this %articular co&bination that &akes an object:%erson what it:he
is.
The uni1ersal4
In the uni#ersal stage one of the Nunas has the u%%er hand. They are not &i(ed =it is al&ost
i&%ossible to deter&ine which one is the &ost i&%ortant>. It is a uni#ersal condition. ?or
e(a&%le: she is nu&b, totally e(hausted. Then you can say: the uni#ersal condition K Ta&as.
So, she is blond, and she has blue eyes and long legs L #ery %articular L but at this #ery
&o&ent she is in Ta&as. Predominantly Ta&as.
The di##erentiated4
9ut you can see it e#en more rarified, such that you see differentiation. Then you say: ,'ell,
she &ay be %articular, and in Ta&as, but she is &y wife. She is different than other wo&en..
You differentiate =her>. You do not look at details =%articulars> any&oreM you si&%ly see
so&ething different.
The undi##erentiated4
The last stage of the assess&ent of the Nunas is the stage of the undifferentiated. Then you
say: ,@ook, this is &y wife. She is a hu&an being like all others.. <ow you do not say that she
is different fro& all other wo&en, and you do not say that she is nu&b:e(hausted, or that she
has blue eyes, long legs and blond hair. <o. You look fro& a higher le#el: she is like all other
%eo%le.
These are the 8 different ways to look at the Nunas, each ti&e fro& a higher le#el. 'hy is it
%resented to you in this wayH It is to %resent you the rules of the ga&e in your confrontation
with the &atter. You &ust try to go as far as %ossible, &ore rarified, create &ore distance. And
this is the way to do it.
You can also a%%roach it differently. You can say: the %articular, that is the tacticM the
uni#ersal, that is the strategyM the differentiated, that is the world of %olitics, and the
undifferentiated, that is the king:state.
!4
The king is not bound to u%hold laws, for he is abo#e the law. This is a clear undifferentiated
situation.
9ut %olitics is a choice, an outlined %olicy. The basis of the %olicy is for&ed by choices, so
there is a differentiation.
9ut through these %olitical choices certain strategies are de#elo%ed, for e(a&%le to bring the
econo&y of a nation back to life, to reduce une&%loy&ent, or to bring balance in the balance
of %ay&ents. There are different instru&ents that you can use: @owering of dutiesM ta(
reductionM sus%ension of subsidies, and trade relations with /hina. And u% goes the econo&y.
So, this is %olitics de#elo%ing into certain strategic choices.
The tactic that you could use in this &atter is for e(a&%le: introducing trade delegates to
/hinese &anufacturers. The /ha&ber of /o&&erce can organiIe this. Then e#erybody can go
aboard a large boat L as is custo& in this country L which then berths in the harbor of
Shanghai. Then all those business&en can talk with one another and de&onstrate the
%ossibilities of what could be done. That is tactics: #ery %articular.
So you can see that the Nunas ha#e their effects on different le#els. 9ut the underlying lesson
is that you &ust learn to %lay with these kinds of things, and also that you ha#e to be well
#ersed in a tactical sense, as well as in strategic and %olitical sense. It &eans that you &ust be
able to deal with the Nunas at all le#els.
Those are also the 8 Sabija Sa&adhi for&s: Ditarka Sa&adhi, Dicara Sa&adhi, Ananda
Sa&adhi and As&ita Sa&adhi.
So, the %ur%ose of Sa&adhi is to teach you to deal with the Nunas on causal le#el in the first
%lace. To reduce the Nunas, #ia the different le#els, to the si&%lest le#el, that is the awareness
of sheer being.
'e ha#e this fa&ous sentence: ,That I a&. =trinity>. You try to reduce this to: ,I a&.. So you
delete ,That.. And the following ste% is to reduce it once &ore to: ,a&.. Then you ha#e the
following succession: ,That I a&. L ,I a&. L ,A&..
This is another e(a&%le of dealing with the Nunas:reducing the Nunas to the si&%lest
e(%ression. 'here does this lead youH In <irgunaJ The #oid. This is what 9uddha was so craIy
about. 9ut to do so, you &ust %lay with the &atter. There is no other way. If you
deny:disa%%ro#e of the &atter, the way %seudo3s%iritual:intellectual %eo%le think they can do
=also the church>, then you si&%ly ha#e not understood what it is all about: na&ely, how you
can co&e to the s%irit thanks to the &atter.
There is only one way to reach the s%irit. This is also e(%ressed in the &antra: ,Artha 5atra..
The essence is joined with the &atter. The connection of the essence with the &atter L that is
what is i&%ortant. That is what we do, and it goes #ia the Nunas. The Nunas are si&%ly
for&s: the ty%ical for&s that energy currents can ha#e. 6#erything is a %lay of energy. Fnce
you understand this, well, then you control it, and you liberate yourself. @ogical, isnt itH
!C
So, let it settle. @et it co&e ali#e in you. 'e will co&e back to this again and again. It is not as
si&%le as you &ay think. It is a s%ecial way of looking at things, but &ighty interesting.
If I a& not &istaken, you &ust ha#e recogniIed things. 'hat I %ersonally like &ost, is: life for
&e beco&es &ore sa#ory, &ore interesting. It is not so dog&atic and not so stig&atiIed as it
used to be. I was raised in /atholic way: this was bad, and that was good. It beco&es so &uch
*uieter and so self3e#ident. It beco&es so natural and so %leasant. You are not afraid any&ore.
There are no threats any&ore. You are the boss and you use e#erything. And you know $hy.
And you just sail on. You decide the %ace.
'e had arri#ed at the !
th
Sutra. There are four different for&s of Sa&adhi that corres%ond
with the stages of the Nunas. At intuiti#e le#el they will enable us to control the intuition. That
in itself is actually *uite logical, because what is the cause of your inability to function
intuiti#elyH It is because there are fluctuations in you. And when you are able to distinguish,
recogniIe and %roduce the nature of the fluctuations Lthere are 8 different for&s L then you
will also gradually build the %ower to neutraliIe the&.
A& I going too fastH
So, first distinguish, and fro& that distinguishing you can also &aintain it in you, %rolonged,
and when you can &aintain it %rolonged, you can also %roduce it. 9ut that then is the for& of
the energy #ibrations on causal le#el that is gi#en a for& by you. And you do it at will, ehH So,
you can also neutraliIe the for&. And when the fluctuations:for&s do not occur any&ore, then
what is leftH The cause of the for&s. And what is thatH They are the i&%ressions. This is
intuiti#e functioning. It is only obser#ation this ti&e. <ot obser#ation of the education, ehH It is
obser#ation of the i&%ressions. And through the obser#ation of the i&%ressions you will
obser#e:beco&e aware of the functioning of the i&%ressions, learn to &aintain the& %rolonged,
and then neutraliIe the&. It is all #ery logical.
I a& telling you so&ething that is incredibly beautiful. ?or it is %sychology of the highest le#el.
)ow can you control your own %sycheH Incredibly wonderful. 'hat is the language of your
%syche:your beingH The language of your being is written in Satt#a, Aajas and Ta&as. That is
the al%habet. And the co&binations of the three L &eaning the Nunas L &ake you what you
are. In this way the %articular, the uni#ersal, the differentiated and the undifferentiated beco&e
clearer. At least that is what I ho%e.
Nood. Is there anyone who absolutely cannot understand what this is aboutH In that case we
ha#e to go back to the 7
th
Sutra. 'e are dealing with an analysis of the Seen. And in the C
th
Sutra we learnt that the &ain cause of &isery does not necessarily ha#e to be the Eleshas in
itself, but the fact that we let the Seer and the Seen fuse with each other.
=Si&on cru&%les u% a %iece of %a%er>
So, when we all identify with the cru&%ling of Si&ons %iece of %a%er we will ha#e a %roble&.
+o you understand what I &eanH 9ut if we are able to detach fro& it L that is why we learn
!7
Pratyahara L it does not affect us and we go on. 9ut the reason of our obstruction:&isery in life
is that we are absorbed in these kinds of things.
'ell, FE, that is the Seer and the Seen.
<ow, what is the SeenH 'e ha#e learnt about that in the 7
th
Sutra: it is for&ed by the
ele&ents, by the Bnanendriyas, the Ear&endriyas, and the Tan&atras. 'e ha#e also learnt
that it is related to Aajas, Ta&as and Satt#a, and that its %ur%ose is to offer e(%erience and
liberation. I e(%lained that it is actually an analysis of the toysho% that we ha#e to learn to deal
with, and that we sto% judging things on first i&%ression. The reality as we see it, we usually
con#ert it into %rejudice:habits:stereoty%es. And we assu&e, at a certain &o&ent, that these
#alues are fi(ed. That is ho$ we see it. That is when it starts to li#e a life of its own.
?or e(a&%le: the earth is flat. So the way the earth was seen in the %ast was that of a flat disk.
6#erybody thought that the earth was a flat disk. And you were not allowed to say that the
earth was s%hericalJ <o, it was a flat disk.
So, it is your way of looking at the reality: what is wrong about thatH The only &istake that is
&ade is that %eo%le set the&sel#es stuck in that %reconcei#ed idea. It is only %rejudice. Instead
of looking at things as being an accu&ulation of ele&ents L the earth e(ists out of earth, water,
fire, air and ether, and e(ists out of Bnanendriyas, Ear&endriyas and Tan&atras, and it all
actually e(ists out of Aajas, Ta&as and Satt#a. The coherence, the differentiation, and the
#ariations of these that occur are nu&erous. So, you lea#e it o%en. And then at a certain
&o&ent you notice: oh G wait a &o&ent, it is also round. The earth is round.
So the danger lies in the fact that you think that what you see is the only realityH
Yes. As soon as you notice that you fi( things in your &ind, you are not %laying with the&
any&ore. Then you do not use the world:reality to gi#e you e(%erience and liberation. Then the
world:reality has caught you. 0ou should always kee% the initiati#e.
I ha#e also told you the story of &y father who said: ,A wo&anH That is only a bag of dung..
This was a great relie#e for &e, for I had a totally different i&age of a wo&an. An i&age that
was wrong. It was an i&age ins%ired by ro&anticis&, by all kinds of lies. @ook at things
rationally, that is what this is about.
@ook at &e, a 9elgian, teaching +utch %eo%le about rationalityJ
It is an analytical, scientific, in#estigati#e &ind that is re*uired. It is that si&%le. And if you
%ush this through *uite dee%ly, you will notice that this is also e&%loyable at the highest le#els.
And that is what the !
th
Sutra is about. That &entality of scientific research of anything that
could be reality can be di#ided into 8 grou%s: the %articular, the uni#ersal, the differentiated
and the undifferentiated. In the ar&y we say: the %articular, that is the tacticM the uni#ersal, that
is the strategyM the differentiated, that is the goalM the undifferentiated, that is the situation.
9ut do these 8 corres%ond with the 8 stages of Sabija Sa&adhiH
!!
Yes, e(actly. 'e go through the& in these Sa&adhis. And because of this we obtain control
o#er the strange %heno&ena of energy.
9ut when you e(%lained the stages of the Sa&adhis, I understood &uch better. <ow I do not
understand it at all.
Fkay. I always start e(%laining it in a relati#ely si&%le way. The first e(%lanation is the
e(%lanation of ,hu&bug., and as you go further, I try to let you understand these things &ore
and &ore accurately. The feeling that you e(%erience when Aajas occurs in you L when Aajas
occurs predominantly on causal le#el L is ha%%iness. 9ut it can also be bliss or ad&iration. 9ut
it is ty%ically Aajas. And when you recall it, you feel: ,'owJ. And you feel that you e(%and
=beco&e bigger>. Aoo& is created and you o%en u%. 'ell, the feeling is one thing, and it has a
function, but the s%ecific e(%lanation of what it e*actly is, is interesting too. ?or when you %ut
those two together, you control your e&otion. That is not to be sneeIed at, you knowJ
Fr for e(a&%le lo#e: you see a beautiful girl, and suddenly: ,aaahJ G. Fr you see a beautiful
boy. Then you say: ,'hat is thisHJ Fh, this is so good G I a& in lo#e..
Then you co&e across &e. I see:feel it, but I will then %robably casually say so&ething like:
,'ell, eh, on causal le#el you are %retty &uch in Ta&as, ehH. 'hooooshJJ It is as if flushing
the toilet, you knowH All the ro&ance down the drain. And there I sit, in Ta&as on causal
le#el. Then what do you noticeH I co&e and sit right ne(t to you, and I establish &yself in
e(actly the sa&e &ood. ,)ey, so goodJ Is he in lo#e tooH. ,SureJ I a& in lo#e tooJ. 9angJ In
lo#eJ 'hat do you &eanH This is not human any&oreJ If you can be in lo#e at will like thisJ
And instead of a beautiful hu&an being of the o%%osite se(, you see a tree. And you do the
sa&e. And this tree reacts, ehH Bust like that girl. 'hat is this tree going to do thenH It will
stretch out towards you. 5agnetis&. Ta&as is &agnetis&. So this tree will co&e to you.
So, lo#e is Ta&asH
Yes. @o#e is si&%ly %ure Ta&as. Sli&y G aaaarghJ 9ut it is so good G &&&&& G A
%ortion of fries: that is delicious because it is Ta&as. And if you want so&e &ore of it, you
take &ayonnaise: 2ore Ta&as.
Is it a kind of lo#e3at3first3sight, a direct realiIationH
Yes, you are directly on causal le#el. There are i&%ressions of you that &atch the i&%ressions
of the %erson you watch. There is a click. And both of you are in Ta&as. 'atch outJ 'hen you
feel lo#e for so&eone, it bolts o#er, and the other %erson can feel this too. Fr &aybe not, if he
is in a &ist.
So, you do not ha#e to be afraid. 'hen you feel lo#e for so&eone: ste% right u% and gi#e your
tele%hone nu&ber. That is the first thing you &ust do. They can then decide what to do. Ni#e
your tele%hone nu&ber, I &ean e&ail addressM is chea%erG
011
+o you understand the %layH It is interesting. 'ell, it is a sobering ga&e, but it beco&es
interesting because you can &ani%ulate things. You can take charge. /harge that you lost.
And in case of Satt#a L Satt#a on causal le#el, which is actually the &ost #aluable of all four
conditions L it is just %eace:just being. It is better than bliss and better than ha%%iness and
better than lo#e. 9ut when you know this, you use ha%%iness and lo#e to go to %eace. So when
0 %eo%le are at ease when they are together, if they can find %eace, together, then I always say:
,9oys, kee% *uiet, do not &o#e any&ore, because this is itJ This is your %artner. )e belongs to
you.. The feeling of si&%ly being, of being in %eace, to share that with each other, is the %roof
of a &arriage. The %roof of a &arriage is not a booklet full of signatures. That is all baloney.
'hat I a& talking about is the &arriage before Nod. That is the only &arriage of i&%ortance.
And why is thatH 'ell, because you then fulfill the %ur%ose of the duality:the 0 se(es. 'hich is
to hel% each other go towards the +i#ine. You hel% each other to gain control o#er the for&s of
Satt#a, Aajas and Ta&as. To neutraliIe the&. And to realiIe the obser#ation of the i&%ressions
the&sel#es within you. And for your %artner to realiIe it within hi&:her of course. So when it
is a good &arriage:good cou%le, those %eo%le will recei#e a boost:an ele#ation in their
consciousness. This results in the& being better off together than when they were alone before.
That is the reason why we study this. It is not easy to learn Sanskrit words. 9ut it is to be able
to use this, with the e(ercises and so on, to adjust:control our condition and %rogress in life.
And to, e#entually, one day, end u% at the 01
th
Sutra.
9ut this does not only a%%ly to your %artner, does itH +oesnt it also a%%ly to other
relationshi%sH
It a%%lies to your cat, to your job, to the house you li#e in, to e#erything. 6#erything is =subject
to> the Nunas. 6#erything gi#es a feeling. So, you can a%%roach it coarsely, but you can also
beco&e &ore and &ore subtle. 9ut once you understand the logic behind it, you will
increasingly ha#e the tendency to lea#e the %articular for what it is and ignore it. The %articular
is actually nothing else than %utting labels on e#erything, na&e things and %igeonhole things. It
is this %igeonhole thing =%utting things in certain bo(es> that is so widely s%read around us.
You will get rid of this habit &ore and &ore. Your attention will shift &ore and &ore towards
uni#ersal things, and you will &ake synthesis of situations and %eo%le. Is it %ossible to
synthesiIe a %erson with only one wordH So, e(actly one word: ,This %erson is such.. I found
one for &y ste%daughter: turkey G just kidding G
So far about the Seen. Is it clearer nowH So, the ga&e between the Seen and Seer, that is what
it is all about. Pay attention that your Seer does not fuse with the Seen. And when you are
better able to understand the Seen, there is no %ossibility left to fuse with it. Fr is thereH
Then what is the SeerH
"7! (rashta (rsimatrah Suddho Pi Prat+a+a %upas+ah
The Seer is %ure consciousness but though %ure, a%%ears to see through the &ind.
01
Pratyaya is content of consciousness. So, we ha#e content of consciousness, and through this
content of consciousness we &ake the Seer function. 9ut who is this SeerH 'ell, first and
fore&ost it is 9uddhi L our discri&inati#e %ower L that recogniIes things. In other words, it is
the #ibration of the causal being in Aajas. +o you re&e&berH 9uddhi is a Aajas3function of the
causal #ibration. Aha&kara is the sa&e kind of #ibration, but then in Ta&as. In this case I refer
to the lessons on 9uddhi, Aha&kara and /itta, and I re&ind you that you always use either
Aha&kara or 9uddhi, but that you cannot use the& at the sa&e ti&e. ?ortunately for you this
ha%%ens as *uick as lightning, faster than ti&e, and so they see& to be %resent at the sa&e ti&e.
)owe#er, you can do a test on your own when you are in lo#e L now that we are &entioning it.
This is Aha&kara at work: it is %leasant for your ego and so on. At that &o&ent it is #ery
difficult to use co&&on sense. )a#e you already noticed thisH
'orking in the office this is an absolute no3no. You are not to fall in lo#e with your boss, or
the boss falling in lo#e with his secretary and so on. 9usiness should be ke%t se%arate fro&
%ri#ate affairs. The reason is e(actly this. It is because your discri&inati#e %owers are affected
negati#ely when you fall in lo#e. Suddenly things do not function any&ore as they are
su%%osed to. )ow do you know thisH You beco&e slower in your judg&ent:recognition. Your
&e&ory is affected. You li#e in a kind of &ist. You do not know anything and you &ake
stu%id &istakes. So, %roducti#ity falls back. Fr doesnt itH 'hen you &ake &istakes,
%roduction stagnates.
Fn TD there was a %rogra& in which it was said that: ,/o&%anies are #ery ha%%y with the
#ictory of the national soccer tea& because the %roducti#ity has increased considerably.. =The
director and the workers of a &etal &anufacturer were inter#iewed>. ,'e ha#e ne#er before
had such a high %roducti#ityJ. )ow could this ha%%enH Through ha%%iness of courseJ
6&%loyees should be ha%%yJ <ot in lo#eJ That should be a#oided by all &eans. Bust be ha%%yJ
+o anything you can to &ake the& ha%%y. )a%%y, ha%%y, ha%%y G so that they co&e in, in the
&orning, hu&&ing ha%%ily. ?or when they are ha%%y, their 9uddhi is functioning, and when
their 9uddhi is functioning they &ake less &istakes, and they see things clearly. That is a Seer.
Isnt that funnyH
9ut isnt ha%%iness an e&otion, and not a feelingH
That is the sa&e: e&otion or feeling. To &e it is a real e&otion: ha%%iness.
'hat about the egoH
Aha&kara is the I3notion, which %roduces a lot of %ossible &oods.
'hen the sun shines e#erybody is ha%%y, and %roducti#ity increases.
Yes, you &ust install a sun in the office i&&ediately. It is #ery i&%ortant that it is a beautiful
office, because beauty e#okes ha%%iness. +o you re&e&ber ad&irationH So co&%anies should
all beco&e a &e&ber of the art library, but then with real art. Then they should ask the
010
e&%loyees: ,'hat do you likeH 'e will lea#e it on the wall a little bit longer because you like
it.. Also %lace nice %lants and flowers.
This is actually the idea of an altar. 'ell, I do not ha#e any flowers at the &o&ent, but
anywayG $sually there should be a candle and so&e flowers. /andle K fire. That is i&%ortant
because it also e#okes the fire to rise in %eo%le. <o artificial fla&es, but real fire. And do not
use those easy3to3&aintain floors, which are dark3blue or gray. 'hat ha%%ens with dark3blue
and gray floorsH 'hooshJ ?or they are Ta&as3 colors, so they bring %eo%le down. If it was for
&e, you ha#e orange or yellow wallsJ
9ut that too can distract. In this roo& for e(a&%le you chose to decorate with *uiet colors and
an austere interior. Isnt that betterH
That is so&ething you ha#e to figure out for yourself. I gi#e you the ele&ents and how you
%ick and %resent the& is another &atter. In any case there are &ulti%le %ossibilities.
)os%ital floors are always in cold colors. Should you color the& orangeH
<o, in a hos%ital the &ain objecti#e is to &ake it look as Satt#ic as %ossible. So e#erything is
white, e#erything white, white, white, and no decorations on the walls.
9ut %atients are in Ta&as. They are either sick or dying.
That is another &atter. Then you can use the color orange. So in the de%art&ent with %eo%le
who are beyond treat&ent you %aint all the walls orange. And you %lay so&e nice &arching
&usicG all those cor%ses &archingGJ
'hat is the SeerH
The Seer is actually a certain condition of your being in Aajas, which can be %ercei#ed through
the &ind =thought>. /ertain %eo%le, like +escartes, concluded that thinking is what a hu&an
being is about, and that thinking is the &ost i&%ortant. It has beco&e a big &isconce%tion. The
original %ur%ose of +escartes was to show that there was so&ething in a hu&an that &akes
hu&an beings think. And this connection was *uite interesting. 9ut %eo%le ha#e only ke%t the
idea of thinking and said: ,'ellG okayG so e#erything is thinking.. <o, the cause for
thinking, that is what is i&%ortant. Are you able to look inside yourself at that what is
thinkingH You think constantly. )a#e you e#er %aid attention to what:who is behind your
thoughtH And who is causing you to thinkH That is interesting. You just watch. 9ut it is a new
way of watching. 'hen you do that, ho$ do you watchH And with $hat do you watchH 'ell,
when you watch your thought, you are already functioning on causal le#el. Then you are
already in 9uddhi. Si&%ly watching your thought &eans that you are already functioning at the
le#el of 9uddhi. 9ut watching at what it is that acti#ates 9uddhi, that is e#en more interesting.
So obser#ing your own ha%%iness:bliss =what causes it and what the background is for your
ha%%iness> is as if you are not in your body any&ore:as if you are not your usual self any&ore.
Is it then still %ossible to be content:ha%%yH <o. ?or you withdraw the energy fro& e#erything.
'ell, what I a& e(%laining now is in fact Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi.
012
And that is not interesting at allH
<o. You know what, youd better stay in the &atter, and %lay with all the bags full of dung and
so on. 6(changing e&ails.
Then what is it that &akes watching so interestingH
'hen you look at ha%%iness you are in At&an.
'hat I a& trying to tell you is that you should not ha#e so&e %reconcei#ed idea or so, or that
you are not allowed to do this or that, but that you see it:that you see through the ga&e in its
totality. You choose yourself where you want to be in this %rocess. 9ut I a& trying to let you
get rid of this shallow way of obser#ation of the nor&al hu&an being, those without insight.
Nross:coarse. Fnly when so&eone ste%s u% to the& and says: ,You are an asshole. they
understand. 9ut refine&ent:sensiti#ity towards the fact that there &ight be so&ething of
irritation:conflict:different thoughts:feelings, that is *uite rare you knowJ
9ut we are talking about the subject of Yoga: that you start to li#e your life that way. The fact
that you notice that the world around you has &any layers:can go #ery dee%. And because of
that you notice that you too ha#e #arious layers. And by noticing those #arious layers you will
e#entually be able to neutraliIe those layers and go back to the essence itself. And that is when
it really beco&es interestingJ That is when you actually arri#e in the soul L At&an, and e#en
Purusha, if you go on a little further.
If for e(a&%le you notice that you ha#e #ery negati#e thoughts and you say to yourself: ,You
should not think like that., is it the Seer who is talking to youH
It is your conscience, and that in itself is already good.
Is this already a ste% higher than your thoughtH
Yes, the #oice of your conscience is actually already the Seer e(%ressing hi&self. That is good.
9ut it would be &ore correct that when you notice the negati#e in life, that you, fro& the
#iew%oint of honesty, also should notice the %ositi#e. And that is #ery dee%. It is sufficiently
%owerful to alter our entire #ision on life. So you re%lace your shallow, uni#ocal way of
looking at things by a &uch &ore rational:relati#e way of looking. Your growth on s%iritual
le#el will kee% %ace with your increasing &ildness in judg&ent.
Fne day you will co&e to the conclusion that you should not judge a cri&inal like Bac*ues
+utrou( =notorious se(3offender:child &urderer in 9elgiu&> the way %eo%le do, and re&ain
full of hatred towards this &an. You will find that you look at hi& as a sick &an, and that you
will feel sorry for hi& because you are able to see the good and bad characteristics at the sa&e
ti&e. And you will find regrettable the fact that he has not yet used the o%%ortunities in hi& for
the sake of &ankind. 'here did the hitch occurH I a& con#inced that I, if I would ha#e the
o%%ortunity to s%end so&e ti&e with this &an, could teach hi& a lot, %ossibly e#en leading hi&
to beco&e a great YogiJ ?or the only thing i&%ortant is e(%erience and understanding.
018
$nderstanding can be taught:learned and e(%erience he has already had. Then you can
&ani%ulate and e(%lain and so on. 9ut this is so&ething that is lac!ing in our society, and that
is really a sha&e.
'e treat our fellow &an #ery strangely. ?or as soon as they beco&e a little bit old they ha#e no
#alue any&ore in the job &arket. And when they are too young they ha#e the sa&e %roble&
because they are not &ature enough yet. And when they ha#e a handica% they are also
unwished3for. And when they are fe&ale we also ha#e a %roble&. And we also do not want
%eo%le when they ha#e another color on their skin. And when they are aged we %ut the& away
in ghettos. At a certain %oint we just finish the& off: good riddance. And we %re#ent the& fro&
suffering %ain. <ot soH +ont we all do thisH
'ell, not *uite G
<ot *uite. 9ut still a little bitH
'hat was it again that you said about +utrou( and e(%erienceH
)e already has the e(%erience, but the understanding, that is so&ething that can be shar%ened
in hi&.
Isnt that already ha%%eningH
Yes, with the techni*ues they e&%loy. 9ut the techni*ues that we %ossess are &uch hea#ier
than theirs.
'hy should we do so &uch effort for a cri&inalH
'ell, it can be for the good of society, but on the other hand I think it is such a waste to lose
the %otency of e#en one hu&an being. ?or one &an can do a whole lot:change a whole lot in
this worldJ Fnly one &anJ
"! 'ad Artha :)a (rs+as+atma
The #ery being of the Seen is for his sake =i.e. Pra!rti e(ists for his sake>.
'ho is )eH It is Purusha, the soul. 'ait a &o&ent, this is good news for us: the world e(ists:is
created for us, for our soul. That is so&ething different fro& what &y father told &e: that I was
born in this world, by accident, and that I ha#e to learn to ada%t, and ha#e to do as others tell
&e to. ?ortunately I ha#e understood, at last, that the ga&e is totally different. <o, the
world:life is there for &y sake, as it is there for your sake. This toysho% is offered to you to
%lay in. The Seen is there for the sake of the Seer.
9ut for what %ur%oseH
01"
To obtain liberationH
6(%erience and liberation: That you suddenly obtain the skill to li#e:function:flourish in this
society, by %laying with life:this reality:the Seen, as we call it. And that you e&anci%ate
yourself: That you do not attach yourself any&ore to all those thingsM that you free yourself as
a hu&an being, and that you can %lace things as you %lease. This is the basis for the creation of
a &aster:sorcerer:creator.
/an you gi#e us an e(a&%leH
Yes, an e(a&%le is *uite si&%le: the %ro#incial &indset of &y fellow citiIens in the city of
9ruges, where I grew u%. It was all like: ,You ought to do as you are told.. So you beha#e.
And you say: ,Nood day.. It is a structure of bourgeois:s&all3&inded &entality. And I was
choking in it. I could not li#e in it and I could not understand it. They also could not understand
&e. ?or I did not want to confor& to this suffocating way of functioning, because it could
hardly be called ,life.J It is &ore like being buried ali#eJ 'hat is left for you to do for
yourselfH <othingJ It is all decided for you by your surroundingsJ
So I &o#ed. And a&ong strange %eo%le, in strange countries, like )olland =)ollandJ Probably
a &istake too> I was able to break o%en. And what was in store ca&e out. 9ut this would ne#er
ha#e been %ossible in 9ruges. That is this. I was able to %lay. )owe#er, &ostly, %eo%le do not
%lay. They do not co&e out. They are stuck. They ha#e %ut the&sel#es stuck. In Il%enda& the
%eo%le a&ongst each other %ut each other stuck. There are &any things that they would li!e to
do, but they do not dare, considering what others &ight say about it. @et your hair hand down
and ha#e a %artyJ
Party. 'hat is the %ur%ose of a %artyH 9uddhi, 9uddhiJ I a& so ha%%y with the bar o%%osite the
Yoga school. It is a %lace of %artiesJ It is the real te&%le of this #illage and its inhabitants, and
not the 0 or 2 churches that are hereJ <o, the bar is the %lace to beJ You should see the&: the
cere&ony of the 6uro%ean Soccer /ha&%ionshi% in Portugal. It is really a cere&ony. Si&%ly
fantastic, and so ha%%y. This is contact with the +i#ine.
And they do it s%ontaneously. I a& sitting here at &y window watching and I would like to say
to the&: ,And this is the %lace where you can learn how to do it, you knowJ. And they will
say: ,'ell, but $e are doing itJ. So, what on earth a& I sitting here forHJ
Isnt this a little bit a hedonistic #iew on lifeH A ,car%e die&.3#iewH <o, it goes &uch dee%er
than that. It is about setting res%onsibilities in the right %lace. You, as a hu&an being, ha#e the
res%onsibility to &ake so&ething out of life. It is not societys res%onsibility. <o, youJ The
indi#idual deter&ines the ga&e. This is a re#olutionary a%%roachJ It has ne#er ha%%ened like
this before. 3obody has e#er done this before. All the leaders ha#e always a#oided this as
&uch as %ossible. 'hyH 'hat will co&e forth fro& this if we s%read itH Articulate citiIensJ
BeeI, an articulate citiIen. 'ell, if that ha%%ens, the %oliticians in The )ague will be shockedJ
'hatHJ <ot only one Pi& ?ortyun =rebellious %olitician who was killed>, but 4 &illion Pi&
?ortuynsJ <ow, this is going to beco&e criticalJ 6s%ecially for corru%tion and e&beIIle&ents,
014
and I/T3%rojects that are no good for anything. 'hen citiIens beco&e articulate, these things
cannot just ha%%en like that any&ore.
9ut isnt this thwarted fro& all directions by: church, education, %olitics, health care and so
onH
Yes, look, in e#ery #illage there were always 2 %eo%le: the %astor who ke%t %eo%le s&all on
s%iritual le#elM the %hysician who ke%t the& s&all on %hysical le#elM and the &ayor who ke%t
the& s&all for the re&ainder. This was a trio that decided what it was going to be. They were
called the dignitaries of the #illage. <o, no, no G 6#ery citiIen is res%onsible. These 2 %eo%le
are officials who %ro#ide ser#ices. Ser1ices. Their task is to ser#e society. It is their duty to
hel% %eo%le. And e#ery &an is res%onsible. The %hysician should not say: ,You should do this,
and you should do thatG. )e can gi#e a suggestion: ,If I were you I would now *uit s&oking,
otherwise you get lung cancer before you know it..
'here are we going fro& hereH 'e are going towards a %artici%ati#e society in which
e#erybody has a #oice. And these days that can also be done with infor&ation technology.
6#ery fa&ily can ha#e its own co&%uter, and they can #ote for all kinds of subjects fro& the
li#ing roo&, and deter&ine national %olicy. ?or the rest it is authorities that are to coordinate
these o%inions. 'e should not kee% any referenda at all, and all %olitical %arties should be
abolished because they are the result of the 5iddle Ages, fro& a ti&e when were not articulate.
?or that reason we chose others to re%resent us. 9ut now we do not need anyone to re%resent us
any&ore, do weJ 'hat kind of nonsense is thisHJ <ow you run a co&%uter %rogra& and all
o%inions are being &atched, just like that. And e#entually it distills: this is the o%inion of the
%eo%le. A& I stu%id or a& I saying weird thingsH
Isnt it necessary for %eo%le to change their attitudeH
Yes, o# course they ha#e to change. They ha#e to get rid of that s&all3&inded3ness. They ha#e
to recogniIe their own %otencies.
Fooo%sJ 'e were discussing Patanjalis Sutras, and #ia Pi& ?ortuyn we now ended u%
discussing national %olitics. Anyway, this is all about leadershi%. Eing3shi%, and it is related to
%olitics. /ontrol of e#erything e#entually leads to %olitics. $ni#ersity is offering studies L if
you feel like L that in 9elgiu& are called ,Political and Social.. It used to take 8 years to
co&%lete. 8 years of candidature and 0 years of licentiate. $%on co&%letion you would recei#e
a nice di%lo&a and you would enter ci#il ser#ice. And indeed you would end u% in %olitics. It
was such a bad *uality studyJ 5ake sure that a lot of wrongs re&ain in life. This is a training
for %oliticianJ In this school: training to beco&e king:Aaja. Aaja Yoga.
""! -rtartham Prati %ashtam Api Anashtam 'ad An+a Sadharanat)at
Although it beco&es non3e(istent for hi& whose %ur%ose has been fulfilled it
continues to e(ist for others on account of being co&&on to others =besides hi&>.
01C
?or &e, sitting here during the e(ercise, the Seen in &e was eli&inated. I was si&%ly in the
#oid. I had beco&e the Seer. And then e#erything is gone. <o, e#en better: it does not e(ist
any&ore because you are ,self3sufficient.. You do not need anything any&ore. You are all
har&ony. The final destination: you are in At&an. It #eels #ery co&fortable too =also called
Sahaja L by the way, there is a Yoga3grou% that calls itself ,Sahaja Yoga. L a synony& for
Aaja Yoga L the royal condition>, but %eo%le who are not aware of this:ha#e ne#er e(%erienced
this, do not understand. ?or they are dealing with the duality:the Nunas. They say: ,The world
is as it is. 'hat on earth are you talking aboutH.
There is a scientific theory that e(%lains that the world only e(ists because we ,see.M that it is
there because we create it.
<o, this is nonsense, because other %eo%le see it too. So it does e(ist. If one sto%s ,seeing., it
still continues to e(ist. And it can still be &easured as well. @ook, when an island is
uninhabited, and nobody knows of its e(istence:sees it, this island does not disa%%ear. This is
only talk fro& %eo%le who are totally &isguided.
So only in &editation it does not ,e(ist. because you are not aware of itH
6(actly. So, you ha#e the feeling that it does not e(ist any&ore. 9ut there is &ore than that:
there is the eli&ination of all the connections that occurs. The entire string of Eleshas that we
ha#e seen L %roduction of ignoranceM out of ignorance egois&, attach&ent, hate and fear of
dead L is gone. You ha#e broken the cycle. And then it does not work any&ore. Then you
re&o#e yourself fro& the logic of the law of Ear&a, and conse*uently fro& the %rocess of
&isery.
9ut then you are not aware of life any&ore, or are youH
<o, not at all. You are su%er3conscious. You are the Seer hi&self. You si&%ly eli&inated the
entire world and the functioning of what you thought yourself to be. This is actually 9uddhas
&essage, which is detailed in its entirety in the 8
th
cha%ter.
So, you withdraw yourself, and because you do that, you neutraliIe the worldH
@ook, the way you are functioning now, with your thoughts, with the feeling of yourself, you
are functioning si&%ly in the duality. This is what we try to neutraliIe through &editation on
&ental le#el. And with conte&%lation we also try to sto% it at intuiti#e le#el: Yoga /itta3Drtti3
<irodhah. And the final eli&ination is that you e#en eli&inate yourself. Actually you eli&inate
that what is aware of e#erything, but that is actually your lower self, because it is colored by
Ear&a. There is a reflection. You eli&inate it. You refuse to let it continue to function. You
si&%ly refuse to be it:hi&.
So, I sat here, but I was not e#en Ajita any&ore. I ,blew u%. Ajita. This is Yajna: sacrifice. It is
the ulti&ate sacrifice of your self. This self, which is actually the lower self, is the functioning
of Aha&kara =but not co&%letely in har&ony>, which is the reason for ignorance. So you know
017
about yourself that you do not see things entirely. 'ell, the solution is: to eli&inate this idea
that you ha#e about yourself. Then it will not function any&ore.
9ut then what will ha%%en with your energy. Your energy will store itself in At&an, because
you reject e#ery function, e#ery effect of At&an, so it will stay with itself. 9ut in that case
there is no obser#er:no function any&ore. There is nothing left. Then you will e(%erience the
#oid, which is <irbija Sa&adhi. This is what we call, ,to be within the Seer.. 9ut then, if you
try to see fro& the le#el of the Seer, it is your lower self again that is functioning. The whole
%rocess will then start again in the duality. The effect of the e(ercise sto%s at that &o&ent.
And it is 1ery easy, this. 9ut it is so easy that it is incredibly difficult. And it is only through
%ractice:study that at a certain %oint you will co&e to the conclusion: ,)ey, darn, this is itJ.
And then it ha%%ens. And it feels, literally, as if your being awakens, and that you finally are
what you always should ha#e been. As a result a tre&endous burning of Ear&a occurs. The
enor&ous har&ony that co&es o#er you causes a tre&endous wisdo& to arise in you. That is
why such a %erson is called a 9uddha.
'ell, actually all this is %retty ob#ious, but the biggest %roble& is the change of the rules of the
ga&e. $% to now e#erything has been e(%lained and is understandable, &entally, but ,he who
thinks., ,)i&., is now asked to eli&inate hi&self. The li&it has been reached. Sto%J To
continue, eli&ination of the self is necessary, or actually it is the lower self, or the functioning
of 9uddhi3Aha&kara. +o you understand a little bit what this is aboutH
Suddenly there is no use any&ore for the Seen, because you are done. The Seen has hel%ed
you:has ser#ed its %ur%oseM you ha#e reached your goal. So, what is still interesting about the
SeenH <othing. This is su%re&e detach&ent.
+oes this &ean that you ha#e arri#ed in At&anH
You are At&an.
And it all ha%%ens auto&atically. Then you ha#e all the characteristics of a saint. +ifficultH <o,
no, no G To be a saint is the easiest thing in the world. It is only this little ste% that you ha#e to
&ake: the creation of distance: su%re&e detach&ent. The click that occurs is like: ,Fh, yeah, of
course, this is what is bothering &e. I a& always functioning fro& &y ,I., and I a& e#en
trying to go dee%er into Yoga fro& &y ,I.. <o. At a certain %oint you ha#e to sto% doing this.
You just sit down, and G bang G you are goneJ 'hy should I careJ I do not need &y self3
i&age any&ore. And you ha#e succeeded. It is so si&%le. Actually you should be able to
understand this i&&ediately. A nor&al hu&an being fro& the street would be able to
understand this i&&ediately if he would only listen carefully:had insight. In that case all those
years of training are redundant. 9ut in %ractice this is #ery difficult. 6s%ecially, as Patanjali
says, because you are used to this worldly life, the houses, the trees, sho%%ing. That is the
reality for you. 'ithout realiIing it you are stuck in it, and your life is li#ed for you by all the
Seen. It deter&ines your life. 'ho would e#er think about a solution for e#erything by blowing
yourself u%H It looks like suicide, ehH <o, not at all. It is su%re&e control. It is su%re&e
understanding that the big e#ildoer in us actually functions fro& the Seer:the self. The
01!
%roduction of e&otions, of thoughts, and of deeds L it is the res%onsibility of the e#ildoer. And
you can slowly eli&inate, eli&inate, eli&inate, but if you do not eli&inate the root of this
whole %rocess, you ha#e not achie#ed anything. So, what we are doing here is so&ething other
%eo%le do not understand: you deal with the root: ,Fut you go G 9angJ.
<othing else changes, you knowJ The difference is that you ha#e taken charge of the
functioning of your being. And if you do not want all the fluctuations to occur fro& At&an, it
will not ha%%en any&ore. 'ith nor&al %eo%le it ha%%ens auto&atically. It is uncontrolled.
At&an goes to 9uddhi, and to Aha&kara, and Aha&kara goes to 5anas, and it continues like
this %er%etually. This is the reason why all the &isery washes o#er you.
So the biggest ene&y is within our selfH
Fur biggest ene&y is our self, literally. And if you succeed, you will ha#e disco#ered:filled in
the %ur%ose of your life. And you will ha#e sto%%ed the cycle of reincarnation, which you are
e(%eriencing for &any, &any li#es. You are done, finished. Then it is ti&e to work towards
@iberation. Aede&%tion. And, boy, this is so goodJ ?or it is Paradise installing within you. It is
si&%ly the eli&ination of this self. @i#ing in the #oid, or fro& the #oid: it is such a gigantic
blessing. So, you ha#e installed har&ony in you, and on to% of that you do not get any &isery
fro& outside any&ore. ?or the condition of your body beco&es increasingly better because of
this har&ony. You will radiate. And you will be able to use your intellect again, like you ha#e
ne#er used it before. And it is going to be so &uch funJ DacationH It is nothing co&%ared to
this.
In this condition Ear&a is co&%letely burned u%. It is just like <irbija Sa&adhi. So, e#en
though you still ha#e Ear&a, re%eat this e(ercise, re%eat this e(ercise. Ste% into it, and G
wroe&&& G you will &ake %rogress in big ste%s. 'hile in the beginning L re&e&berH L you
ad#anced only one centi&eter with a great deal of trouble, now you sit here at the end of the
cur#e going straight u%. YesJ 9ut %ay attention when you look at others, for they are orientated
differentlyM they do not understand a thing. They say: ,+id you watch the soccer ga&e tooH.
,Yes, I watched the ga&e too.. ?ine. 9ut that is just the way their life is. There is nothing they
could do with all that I ha#e told you. It is this difference that you ha#e to beware of. Although
I cannot hel% it, still it is there, and it can %ull you all the way down.
Thus, enjoying the #oid is dangerousH
Yes, that is true, but as soon as you notice that it is ha%%ening, you eli&inate that enjoy&ent
too. 9ut still there is so &uch unrest, so you are constantly doing Yoga3/itta3Drtti3<irodhah.
6li&inate, eli&inate, eli&inate. 'hat do you eli&inateH The causes of enjoy&ent:9hoga. And
at a certain &o&ent there is no 9hoga any&ore and e#erything has beco&e har&ony. Then you
sit, thanks to 9hoga it see&s, in hea#en. So as long as there is enjoy&ent, you are still in the
%rocess of %urification.
The function of %aradise is to bring you to the +i#ine, so you &ust detach fro& this enjoy&ent.
<o, use the enjoy&ent and continue to eli&inateG <othing, nothing, nothingG <ot e#en
yourself, because that enjoy&ent is caused by yet another function of you.
01
I a& not o%%osed to enjoy&ent, ehH +o not get &e wrong. I a& not o%%osed to ha#ing a beer in
a %ub or so. So, you do e#erything that you ha#e always done, but when you sit down, you
realiIe: ,Fh, wait a &inute, for now I a& going to sto% all those functions of &e, and return to
the real Self, and not the %hanto&, which is not &y real Self.. 9ut to do this you &ust switch
off:eli&inate e#erything. This is *uite logical, because At&an itself is only the har&ony of
your being. The least acti#ity of it is the cause for the de#elo%&ent of the lower self.
Total detach&entH
Yes. Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi, which is the fastest way to hea#en. 9ut the dyna&ics of
Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi brings you at a certain %oint of the e(ercise in <irbija Sa&adhi, in
which you ha#e no seeds any&ore.
<ir K no.
9ija K seed.
9ut seed is actually &ore like a feeling. So as long as you ha#e that enjoy&ent, you still ha#e a
9ija. 9ut when that enjoy&ent disa%%ears by your action of eli&ination, <irbija will occur,
which is so stable, and so eternal. You ha#e si&%ly beco&e eternal. Your life cannot be
destroyed any&ore. You ha#e beco&e i&&ortal:a god &an: Son of Nod.
Theoretically e#ery hu&an being can do this, now, i&&ediately, %ro#ided that he understands
and that it is e(%lained %ro%erly. This is how it ha%%ened in the %ast. 'hen 9uddha went
around and told this story, he brought nu&erous %eo%le directly to 6nlighten&ent, because he
knew e(actly how to touch the right chord with the&. 9ut I need years to gi#e you an idea of
what it could be like, but that is because I a& actually ?rench s%eakingJ That is not &y fault. It
is &y &others fault.
I ha#e a feeling that what you tell us is not the whole story.
<o, it is not the whole story. @ike I said: I need years to tell you the whole story, but here I a&,
si&%ly trying to e(%lain the Sutra, within the sco%e of the Sutra, and how you can work with
the Eleshas. It si&%ly is the story of the Seer and the Seen.
"&! S)a S)ami Sa/t+oh S)arupopa.abdhi <etub Sam+ogah
The true %ur%ose of the co&ing together of the Purusa and Pra!rti is gaining by
the Purusa of the awareness of his true nature and the unfold&ent of %owers
inherent in hi& and Pra!rti.
'hat I ha#e told you just before is actually the essence of our life, and why we are here on this
earth, and to understand this and to deal $ith it. 'hat ha%%ened to the wheel of reincarnation L
dont we ha#e to follow that any&ore thenH +o you re&e&ber the wheel of reincarnationH
)ow does it workH Tell &e G
0
Yes, because this Ear&a causes %ulsation, ehH And it is this %ulsation that actually causes you
to co&e and go. 'hen this %ulsation is obstructed in the %hysical body, when it cannot ha%%en
nor&ally any&ore because the blockages ha#e beco&e too big, you are what we call dying.
The %ulsation will go its own way, and you will continue to %ulsate in the astral world. 9ut the
%ulsation will e#entually find &aterialiIation again, and then you will be reborn. It is because
you %ulsate that you will co&e back.
9ut arent we di#ineH
<o. The +i#ine is %ure har&ony. )owe#er, this %ure har&ony has been affected by s&all
fluctuationsM #ery s&all fluctuations ha#e arisen. That is Prakrti. And out of Prakrti &ore and
&ore fluctuations arise, and e#entually beings arose fro& it. It is the wa#e that suddenly turned
into a ball. So, once we were %art of this %ure, straight line, but now we are balls. 9ut to return
to where we ca&e fro&, we first ha#e to sto% the &o#e&ents of the ball. This is the %rocess of
reincarnation. And then we try to reduce the ball to fluctuations =Prakrti>, and the fluctuations
to a straight line. It is the way back, fro& the dro% back to the ocean.
+o the fluctuations cause Ear&a, or does Ear&a cause the fluctuationsH
Friginally the fluctuations ha#e caused the i&%ressions: they started to collide with each other
and left i&%ressions behind. The i&%ressions then caused fluctuations again. It has really
turned into chaos. So, we say: 'ell, first start eli&inating the i&%ressions in you L to such an
e(tent that &ore and &ore har&ony occurs:less %ulsations re&ain =with the result of reduced
breathing, reduced brain acti#ity L al%ha3wa#es, beta3wa#es and so on L and that your
heartbeat reduces>. As you are able to reduce that, you will ha#e &ore and &ore indications
that you are controlling the %ulsations of your being and reduce the&. The way I sat here just
before in <irbija Sa&adhi, I a& con#inced that, at certain &o&ents, &y heartbeat sto%%ed.
That is ,being in At&an.. It is Yoga /itta3Drtti3<irodhah: total control L <irodhah L o#er the
%ulsations. Then you try to &aintain that condition you are in, as &uch:long as %ossible, in
order to get rid of all the %ossibly re&aining Ear&a L i&%urities L in you too.
As a result your aura will beco&e increasingly bigger. The har&ony that e&anates fro& you
beco&es &ore and &ore gigantic. And your wisdo& and %owers arise. 6nor&ous changes will
occur. Nradually this gigantic ball is e*ui%%ed with less and less characteristics. Actually you
beco&e increasingly si&%ler. You will also s%eak with fewer words, and you will &o#e less.
6#erything will be reduced to what is strictly necessary. ?or it all is su%erfluous. 9ut for an
outsider it beco&es &ore difficult, because %eo%le in this condition e(%ress the&sel#es in
Sutras: #ery succinctly but cry%tically in the eyes of the outsider. It is sy&bolic language,
called the language of the Aishis.
And then, slowly, you eli&inate the for&: <irguna, and then you si&%ly disa%%earM you will
not die any&ore. Your energy still e(ists, but #isually you ha#e disa%%eared. Subtly you
%robably still e(ist, so&ewhere. Then you &ust eli&inate this subtle for& and causally you
&ust eli&inate the for& as well. After that you &ust eli&inate the ball of At&an and Purusha.
And then, bangJ you will co&e back to the origin.
00
To see:understand all this it is necessary to understand Purusha and Prakrti, and the story of
creation and so on. The infor&ation that I recei#ed about this in #isions is so incredibly
hel%ful. ?or e(a&%le the &odel of the straight line: it started to rock slowly, and then
increasingly &ore. And it is such a si&%le &odel, but it actually establishes the link between
)induis& and 9uddhis& for e(a&%le. Such answers &ake you actually talk about only one big
religious e(%erience. /hristianity has been %art of this for a long ti&e. It is the story of
/hristianity, but interestingly you see a co&%lete association with 9uddhis&.
5iraculous G &iraculous G
"*! 'as+a <etur A)id+a
Its cause is the lack of awareness of his Aeal nature.
The cause of whatH 'ell, the cause of &isery. Arent we still discussing the EleshasH 9ut it is
also the cause of the fusion of the Seer with the Seen. )ow is it %ossible that we hu&ans ha#e
gone so wrongH And that we still are going wrongH It is because we do not understand who we
really are. 'e assu&e: we thin! we are. Fur thinking has %ut us into such dee% trouble. And
there isnt anybody who says differently, is thereH So we assu&ed that we were right. And the
words of the great Yogis fro& the %ast ha#e faded away since long, or ha#e beco&e distorted.
And we just go on.
And it is re&arkable, but when you understand this, it will &ean that we do not ha#e to li#e in
a world full of &isery any&ore. It will &ean that we do not ha#e to li#e in a world of disease
any&ore. It will &ean that %eo%le can li#e long and ha%%ily, and stay healthy, and li#e in
%eace. 9ut when you tell this to %eo%le, they say: ,Ah, you are such a drea&er. It is indeed
interesting to listen to you, but lets go back to the order of the day, which is the harsh reality,
yesH And there is no roo& for drea&s like yours in it.. So %eo%le take you for an i&becile, and
they go on with their &eaningless e(istence. Fkay. 5y answer then always is: ,It is hard to
belie#e. I understand that. 9ut a%%roach it fro& a scientific %osition. Presu&e that this would
be trueH Bust presume. Then wouldnt you %ity yourself knowing that you did not gi#e it a tryH
That 1 years fro& now you will say: ,Nosh, long ti&e ago I &et so&eone in Il%enda& L I do
not re&e&ber his na&e any&ore L who told &e such a wonderful story. 9ut at that ti&e I
didnt buy it. 9ut, darn, I do regret that I didnt. Assu&e that he was rightH.
You ha#e a &essage here that is full of ho%e. ,It cannot be realiIed, yet, but it sounds so good,
it looks logical, and, jeeI, so con#incing, you would al&ost think that it was real. 'ell, I a&
going to try it any$ay, and I will see what ha%%ens.. You dont ha#e anything else to do in
your life after allJ ?or when you continue to do the things as you always did, you will co&e
back in your ne(t life, wouldnt youH And the life after that. 'ell, &aybe this is true: that you
will sto% with this nonsense.
9ut basically Patanjali is saying that, why we really go wrong, is because we don not know
oursel#es. The big e#il is ignorance. 'e ha#e blinkers on, and &any %eo%le still ha#e blinkers
02
onM they just do not $ant to see, ehH ?ortunately there are a lot of %eo%le who do want to
see:are willing to say: ,'ell, nice, &aybe it is a good idea G lets try it..
",! 'ad Abha)at Sam+ogabha)o <anam 'ad (rseh -ai)a.+am
The dissociation of Purusa and Pra!rti brought about by the dis%ersion of
A#idya is the re&edy and that is the @iberation of the Seer.
A#idya K ignorance.
'hat is ignoranceH It is e#ery acti#ity, e1ery acti#ity, of the &ind and of the senses and of the
intuition. 6#ery acti#ity. You refuse this. 9angJ You got itJ ?inishedJ That is ,<irodhah.: to
gain control of the Drttis u% to the le#el of the Sa&skaras.
Intuition, too, is ignorance. In the sense of A#idya it is. Didya &eans wisdo&M really knowing.
It is not intellectually knowing but really knowing, or to see the reality as the reality is. 9ut this
is only %ossible if the windows of your consciousness are not colored. ?or the coloring as we
ha#e it, is caused by our Ear&a. The Seeing, real wisdo&, &eans that you only look fro&
At&an, in total Satt#a.
Is it %ossible to co&%are this %rocess of ignorance:A#idya with the ?all of &an:+ownfallH
Yes, absolutely.
+is%elling A#idya, that is what it is about.
You yourself are the Fbser#er. So you first ha#e to install yourself within the Fbser#er. Then
you will be able to function fro& the Fbser#er. This will enable you to ha#e &ultidi&ensional
%erce%tion, and you will see e#erything at the sa&e ti&e. And see as you see now, ehH You
will be able to see through ti&e. The result is that your instru&ent of knowledge has beco&e
inco&%arable with that of a nor&al hu&an being. The nor&al function of the Seer is
eli&inated, and it is changed into the ideal status of the Seer.
Actually nor&al %erce%tion is eli&inated. Perce%tion still e(ists, but without object. So that is
what you try to do as a new starting %oint. To beco&e boss again o#er your being, you &ust
install yourself in this Self, and at a certain %oint you ha#e to be so good at it that you can turn
it on and switch it off at will. You &ust be so good at it that the tentacles co&ing fro& At&an,
reaching for Aha&kara, 9uddhi, /itta, etc. can be withdrawn as you %lease, and that you can
say: ,<ow I a& in &y Self again. All the functions ha#e sto%%ed.. And then you are in
har&ony again, and you restore e#erything. At that %oint you will be able to go to cos&ic
consciousness at will, or to the de#elo%&ent on %ersonality3le#el, or conte&%late fusion with
the +i#ine. Those are the acti#ities:things that still ha#e your interest.
Then you are established in knowing. Then you are knowing. +o you understandH This &eans
that you ha#e the %otency of knowing. If you want to use it, it is %ossible, but you ha#e to %ay
attention that you do that #ery carefully.
08
So it is a road towardsH
Yes.
9ut, considering the functioning of the lower self, it is now i&%ossible to co&e to wisdo&:to
knowing. It is because you are constantly colored. You can say: well, I &ade this obser#ation,
and it looks like this and that, and it is like this and that, but any other hu&an being could say:
well, I ha#e done such an obser#ation too, but to &e it was different. So and so and so. And he
is right, but you are right too. And then you end u% in those endless discussions. )ow is it
%ossible that they see it differentlyH Yes, of courseJ They are colored differentlyJ You can say:
,'ell, e#eryone &oderates his de&ands a little and e#entually we co&e to the sa&e
conclusions.. 6#en though this is correct, it is &uch &ore interesting to eli&inate the colorings
of both %arties and that they co&e together at so&e %oint and say: ,)ey, did you see it this way
tooH.
,Yes..
,'ell, it is e(actly what I saw tooJ.
,+oes this &ake us differentH.
,<o, actually notG.
,You know what, we look like brothersJ.
,Yes, of courseJ.
All At&ans that ha#e found the&sel#es are brothers of the other At&ans. Nreat 'hite
9rotherhood. ?inishedJ In other words, the Eingdo& of Angels. You ha#e beco&e an angel, a
+e#a. You can glue the wings to it if you %lease. 9ut I do know that I can fly. 9ut those wings
are objects that can be %ercei#ed in your aura. I e(%lained this before, ha#ent IH
"0! $i)e/a -h+atir A)ip.a)a <anopa+ah
The uninterru%ted %ractice of the awareness of the Aeal is the &eans of
dis%ersion =of A1idya>.
)ow in Nods na&e can you eli&inate this ignoranceH 'ell, by realiIing what the reality is.
9y seeing the difference between the big reality and the lesser reality. )ow do you do thisH
'ell, by sitting in At&anJ 9y doing so you de#elo% the %ower of knowledge: what is real
knowledge, and what is lesser knowledge. At a certain &o&ent you get used to it. This is
called the rebirth. It is a co&%letely different life that you ha#e to start. You ha#e to learn to
crawl again and walk, ride a bike and so on. 6#erything feels awkward in the beginning. And,
as I said, the earliest stages that announce your arri#al, characteriIe the&sel#es through 9hoga.
You will e(%erience enjoy&ent. You will really feel like: ,Aaaah G wow JG this is %aradiseJ
?antasticJ <iceJ. 9ut then you detach yourself fro& it and you eli&inate e#erything to end u%
with your Self, your real Self. And then you feel: ,'hat ha%%ened to &eHJ It is so different
fro& usual.. It &eans that finally so&eone has awakened again. You ha#e to get used a little,
for it is a new birth, and gi#e it so&e ti&e. Then he re#eals hi&self as a for&idable character
who can hel% other %eo%le, etc, etc. Si&%ly beautiful.
0"
"1! 'as+a Saptadha Pranta 4humih Prajna
In his case the highest stage of 6nlighten&ent is reached by se#en stages.
There are 7 ste%s in Yoga. 6nlighten&ent is reached during Sa&adhi. So, be#ore Sa&adhi there
are C ste%s: Ya&a, <iya&a, Asana, Pratyahara, Pranaya&a, +harana and +hyana. So you
%ractice these as aides to solidify yourself in the new condition and the new birth. This will
bring you to total har&onyM total light. This is original Yoga. This is what it is about. This is
really interesting. To stand on your head and &ake so&e awkward kind of twist and so on,
okay, that is %art of it, but to be so enthusiastic about this alone GH You do it, and you
understand that so&ething is ha%%ening and so on, but %ersonally I think this is really
interesting. +ont you think soH Yes, of course you doJ )specially youJ The bad %u%ils G
It is &ore i&%ortant that you understand this than that you are able to turn yourself into so&e
kind of twist, you knowJ I ha#e seen it so often: %eo%le with bodies like snakes, but they got
stuck within their bodies. They were so %roud of their body L and what they could do with it L
but they had no idea about all this at allJ And they had no interest in it either. The only thing
they cared about was showing others how good they were with their bodies.
9efore this really sinks in with a hu&an it has to be re%eated #ery often. I a& doing it already
&ore than 81 years. And I can tell you, I really couldnt &iss one year of itJ The difference is
that I did it alone. And you are hel%ed, I hope. 9ut anyway, &any years will %ass before it
sinks down. So, take your ti&e, and try to constantly work on it. Then e#erything will find its
right %lace. And realiIations will occur. It is also good that you &eet, ehH And that you kee%
contact with like&inded %eo%le. And that you e(change ideas:thoughts with one another. And
that you socialiIe and %ractice together.
Are the C ste%s related to the C /akrasH
<o. It is related to the 7 ste%s of Yoga, because in the 7
th
ste% you obtain enlighten&ent, which
is the ste% of Sa&adhi. 9ut to achie#e this you need the other C ste%s. That is the &eaning of
this Sutra.
I a& trying to kee% it si&%le. The &essage behind this Sutra is: the syste& of the 7 ste%s e(ists
to bring you to enlighten&ent. Period.
It is like a ladder. If you do not know how to use a ladder, well, then you are in trouble. 9ut if
you know e(actly: I ha#e to %lace it like this, and %ut &y foot on the first ste%, and then the
second, and hold on with &y hands, and that is ho$ I ha#e to cli&b the stairs. So&ebody
shows you how to do it, and you will use that ladder. Then you will arri#e at a le#el that you
would ne#er ha#e reached $ithout this ladder. This is a ty%ical e(a&%le of what we are doing.
It is hard to i&agine %eo%le reaching these le#els that we reach without this aide, e(ce%t when
they are talented L fro& birth.
04
9ut you ha#e to &ake sure that your ladder is %laced against the right wall. It is such a waste to
arri#e at the to%, only to disco#er that you ha#e %ut your ladder u% against the wrong wall.
Yes, then you arri#e at the to% only to see a sign saying: ,/losed..
So, enlighten&ent is actually the condition of Satt#a that installs itself in this way. A light bulb
starts to glow L the fila&ent inside the bulb L and illu&inates the entire light bulb, fro& the
center to the outer surface. )owe#er, we ha#e an in#erse light bulb. 'e start at the surface
=where it is actually al$ays light>, but it should gradually %enetrate into the center. And,
theoretically, when you ha#e obtained control o#er all those different layers L you ha#e
ac*uainted yourself with al those layers and you can ha#e the& without any trouble L then you
just let it ha%%en and you a#oid any for&ation of a %icture, and any for&ation of thought, and
i&&ediately: PlunkJ Your body undergoes the effect of it. And there is no fuss about At&an
and related things. There is no theoriIing any&ore, and it is not an intellectual occasion
any&ore. <o, because you are it. 'hen you work fro& your body, fro& your lower self, and
you try to gras% so&ething that you do not *uite understand, you are &aking a &istake. The
&essage here is: At&an is always there. 'hat you &ust do is gi#e At&an a chance to function.
Then he will take o#er. 9ut you ha#e to be %atient. The only thing you can do is: sto% doing,
sto% thinking. It is your duty to do that. And the &ore twisted you are, the &ore ti&e At&an
needs to beco&e functional, the &ore %atience you need to ha#e. )a#e faith: At&an is %erfect.
So the first %roble&s arise at the causal bodyH
6(actly.
At&an is always %erfect, that is the re&arkable thing about it. And all our At&ans are the
sa&e. They ha#e the sa&e condition. Fnly the interior is differentiated.

"5! Yoganganusthanad Asuddhi -sha+e Jnana (iptir A $i)e/a -h+ateh
?ro& the %ractice of the co&%onent e(ercises of 0oga, on the destruction of
i&%urity, arises s%iritual illu&ination which de#elo%s into awareness of Aeality.
'hich is knowing:wisdo&. The ulti&ate indication that you are enlightened is, %re3e&inently,
that you are utterly wise. 'hat do you &ean, wiseH 'hat is wisdo&H 'isdo& &eans that you
are able to find solutions to e#erything, and that actually you know e#erything, literally. A little
bit further on in the book we will co&e across a Sutra that uses the word: ,o&niscience.: You
know e1erything.
)ow is this possibleH This is %ossible because you are in At&an, which &eans that your
consciousness, if you could still call it as such, is at the highest le#el and sees all %ossible
i&%ressions within you, on the inside. It is scanning, but it is so fast that it has scanned all
those i&%ressions in an instant. So your knowledge about yourself will be co&%lete. 'hat is it
that is stored within youH They are all i&%ressions of all your li#es, also your future li#es. This
0C
is all stored within your causal body, for it goes through ti&e. It is in the %ast, but it is also in
the future, so you know all your li#es.
9ut the har&ony of At&an is also a consciousness that can be directed outward. )ow does this
workH 'ell, look: if all At&ans are e*ual =it is also said that: ,At&an is e*ual to 9rah&an.>
then we say: ,'ait a &o&ent, if there is a su%er3big ball, which is har&onious, and our balls,
which are all har&onious too, transferring infor&ation si&ultaneously a&ong all those
At&ans, then there is a kind of a resonance. They resonate a&ong the&sel#es.. /an you
i&agine thisH They are all at the sa&e wa#elength. This is the sense of brotherhood or the
sense of unity. In other words: the fact of being holy is si&%ly getting ac*uainted with:be %art
of the uni#erse, which is 5ahat&an: /os&ic /onsciousness.
So your har&ony is connected with the har&ony of all others, also with the higher ones. 9ut it
&eans that auto&atically you will %ercei#e all the %eculiarities that occur there too. The way
you scan within yourself, you will also be able, #ia resonance, to scan what is within all these
other beings. Then you will be able to ,see. all those li#es L %ast, future or %resent. )owe#er,
there is a li&itation: you cannot look inside higher beings. It is %ossible to ha#e a sense of
unity with the&, but you cannot look inside the& because they are bigger and stronger than
you.
?or e(a&%le: you ha#e a ball of about 2 to 8 &eter, but Bu%iter =who is also a being> has an
At&an that is &uch bigger than our At&an. So, it is i&%ossible to know about Bu%iters
%re#ious li#es:future li#es, because you are not able to see inside hi&M he is s%inning too fast.
Your consciousness cannot o#erco&e this difference. Fn the other hand, it is %ossible to go
along in the har&ony of that being.
+oes this carry the conclusion that, when you know yourself #ery thoroughly:ha#e co&%lete
knowledge of yourself, that you also understand all other %eo%le:beings and ha#e co&%lete
knowledge of the& as wellH
You will see through all %eo%le L any %eo%le. 'owJ /an you i&agine the i&%lications of thisH
'e are talking about the ulti&ate %sychology, #inally. ;o$ can you know so&ebodyH Si&%ly
go to the le#el of At&anJ Is this difficultH 'ell, it is si&%ly a &atter of a wish, and there you
goJ You %roject yourself and you connect, and you si&%ly understand others. You will be able
to draw a blue%rint of hi&.
)ow did we achie#e thisH The answer to this is e(%ressed beautifully:%erfectly in this Sutra: by
,the destruction of i&%urity.. 'e are to re&o#e all %ossible dishar&onies. 'hat are these
dishar&oniesH 'hat is the cause of dishar&ony in usH To start with, it is caused by the
Sa&skaras:i&%ressions L infor&ation3ele&ents, so we &ust sto% considering the& to be of
any i&%ortance.
Then there are the Drttis:whirls, which are the result of the acti#ity of those i&%ressions. ?irst
we ha#e to ,kill. the Drttis. 'hich were the " sorts of Drttis againH Aight knowledge, false
knowledge, slee%, fantasy:i&agination, and &e&ory. Try to re&e&ber this, for it is so&ething
07
that you constantly need. 'hen you ,ride. Yoga it is so&ething that is actually %art of your
,dashboard.. These are the " Drttis, the cause of i&%urity.
'hat if I enjoy going to the %ark to listen to the birds singingH
If those birds &ake an i&%ression in you, you are doing the wrong thing. You &ust si&%ly
look without seeing. You only engage yourself in the %erce%tion:obser#ation, but not with the
object of your %erce%tion:obser#ation. You &ust %ut yourself in a %erce%ti#e &ode, but you do
not necessarily ha#e to go to the %ark to do this. You can si&%ly sit in %erce%tion:obser#ation
in your li#ing roo&:in your office:in your bed L e#en on the toilet.
'hen you do this, then you do it like this, but try to see it as the &ost i&%ortant thing in your
life. Then, when you are doing your daily sho%%ing, you say: ,Fkay, alright, now I a& going to
engage in sho%%ing but I know what is i&%ortant for &e. 'hen I a& finished sho%%ing, I do
not know how fast I &ust sit down again G. detached fro& e#erything.
Is it %ossible to do this while walkingH
Yes, it is %ossible, but you will not be able to walk any&ore: your loco&otor syste& will be
disengaged. You are riding a bicycle and then suddenly you ha#e to sto%. It is either this or
that. You can also try to share your attention between both, but then you will notice that you do
not know any&ore that you are cycling. Then it is %ure. 6ither you do it co&%letely, or you do
not do it at all. Ftherwise you will not enjoy cycling any&ore L you will beco&e frustrated:
what a& I doing hereH Therefore I think it is best to do your sho%%ing as usual, with this
&e&ory in the back of your head:%ro&ise to yourself: , G later I can do it again G when I
ha#e so&e ti&e G .. Then you co&e ho&e G find yourself a nice %lace G you sit down G
switch off the %hone G And you dont let yourself be disturbed. And you si&%ly enjoy this
condition of %ure obser#ation, for about two hours or so, whate#er ti&e you think you need,
because at a certain %oint you cannot continue any&ore. Then you co&e back and say: ,Fkay,
I will continue ne(t ti&e. <ow I will take care of housekee%ing:see after &y child, or whate#er
has to be done in this world.. And then you do that. And in this way you try to guide your life,
slowly but certainly, into the right direction.
'hat if you are carried away by an e&otionH
Yes, but because you know this =what I just told you>, you do not go along with this e&otion.
You only register:record what is ha%%ening.
?or e(a&%le: so&ebody asks for your ad#ice. You gi#e hi& ad#ice, and i&&ediately after he
has left with that wonderful story you are already not able any&ore to re%eat it. You ha#e
already forgotten it:hi&. Actually it does not interest you at all.
9ut then you end u% with frag&ented thinking. Then you will not be able to &ake connections
any&ore.
0!
<o, because if you return to the basis in At&an e#ery ti&e you find all the connections there. It
is what we call the &ain fra&e3entrance. You do not need an acti#e &e&ory and all that other
nonsense at all, so&ething a nor&al hu&an does need indeed. You are working constantly with
an e&%ty hard disc.
Yes, but this knowledge, arent they just thoughts, i&%ressions, and so onH
Yes, you incur i&%ressions within you. There is a %erce%tion of a nu&ber of infor&ation3
ele&ents. You can co&bine the& #ery swiftly, and draw a conclusion to the fore, while not
being interested in the fruits. So, you listen to yourself when you say: ,)ey, look, this is a
wonderful reasoning:wonderful solution., and while you ha#e barely finished s%eaking, you
ha#e already lost it again. Then you say: ,Fh, darn, actually I should ha#e used a #oice
recorder to record all this, for it is absolutely i&%ossible to re%eat what I just said.. It is
co&bined:interwo#en, and you are not interested in holding on to it or re%eat it, or whate#er.
'hy notH 9ecause you would be able si&%ly to %ick it u% at the basis again whene#er you
would need to do so. I would be able to lecture %eo%le and bring the& an absolutely original
story in any co&%any, in a theatre or e#en in the Arena =soccer stadiu&>. It is because I a& not
tied u% any&ore by the Drttis:Sa&skaras. I si&%ly go back to &y basis.
5y wife always tells &e: ,The way you do that is incredible, and what you say is always
interestingJ There is an o%en day:class, and, well, I just cannot understand how you do itJ. A&
I acting in a co&%licated wayH +oes it a%%ear to be difficult what I doH It is the &ost
nor&al:easiest thing in the world: si&%ly because this is what I do. I a& not thin!ing at allJ I
use the thought, #ia that feeling. 9ut at the sa&e ti&e I a& not sitting in that feeling. I a& just
sitting here, in contact with all of you, and I recei#e your *uestion &arks, your frowning
eyebrows, your s&iles, and so&ething co&es out of it, which is Yoga.
Are you still able to slee%H
I slee% less and less. I s%end a large %art of the night in full awareness, although &y body is
lying down. I try to confor& to the rhyth& of the fa&ily.
Slee% changes your condition into Ta&as. That is terrible, for it affects your condition. 9ut a
nor&al hu&an si&%ly needs it, for he cannot reco#er without it. To de%ri#e so&eone of slee% is
a notorious &ethod of torture.
"6! Yama %i+ama Asana Prana+ama Prat+ahara (harana (h+ana
Samadha+o3Shta) Angani
Self3restraints, fi(ed obser#ances, %osture, regulation of breath, abstraction,
concentration, conte&%lation, trance are the eight %arts =of self3disci%line of
0oga>.
This Sutra is a su&&ary of the fa&ous eight ste%s that for& the Yoga syste&.
001
'e ha#e found other translations for the&.
' thin! sel#/restraint is not such a good translation. ' pre#er <principles= instead4
moral principles.
9inding %rece%ts, %erha%s, although they are not e(actly binding either, and they are not
%rece%ts either, for in Yoga they are all suggestions. They are handles to gi#e you so&ething to
hold on to, howe#er, you are free to use the& or lea#e the& for what they are. That is the
interesting as%ect of Yoga. You &ust res%ect this feeling of freedo& fro& the start. 'hyH
9ecause At&an is free. And you should not act in a co&%licated way and force yourself and so
on. <o, try to kee% it within the s%here of At&an as &uch as %ossible, right fro& the start:
natural, agreeable, self3e#ident and easy. And while it can be that the e(ercises are difficult,
you kee% your a%%roach of the %roble&s as si&%le and as easy as %ossible. Then you will ha#e
the &ost %owerful a%%roach, and you will be able to deal with the %roble&s boldly. You will
ha#e the strongest ally %ossible. In /hristianity this is called: ,Nott &it $ns. =Ner&an for Nod
with $s>. Ner&an soldiers in 'orld 'ar I carried this e(%ression on their belts. That is this.
Physical posture4
The word ,Asana. does not contain the word ,%hysical.. Asana is deri#ed fro& the ste& of the
#erb ,As3., which literally &eans, ,to sit.. So how can we describe ,Asana.H It is a condition,
a static condition. ,Sitting. is a condition of your being, i.e. you introduce a certain static for&
into your being that e(%resses itself in a %hysical %osture. 9ut it does not say ,%hysical., ehH
Peo%le talking about %hysical %ostures are incorrect. A static %osture, the static ele&ent, is so
incredibly i&%ortant, because it is res%onsible for the a%%roach to At&an. It gi#es At&an a
chance to co&e through. /an you understand thisH
+oes this &ean that you beco&e &ore rece%ti#eH
6(actlyJ
At the &o&ent in A&erica there is so&ething called Ashtanga Yoga. They call it Ashtanga
Yoga: a flowing, continuous &otion fro& one for& into the other. 9ut those %eo%le should be
shotJ 'hat is thisHJ 9unch of idiot foolsJ
Fr they %ractice Power YogaJ They too should be shotJ 'ell, you know whatH If we start by
shooting the& all, we will be finishedJ Anyway, because of the #ow of non3#iolence I should
not be talking about shooting %eo%le in the first %laceG so I withdraw all I just saidG
'ouldnt it &ake you ner#ousH 'here on earth did they get thisH
9ut there are so&e Asanas in which you &o#e a little bitH
<o.
)ow about the crocodile %ose =<akrasana>, in which you ju&% for e(a&%leH
00
<o, that is just for fun. A %osture is stable:static, without &o#e&ent, &otionless. So you
choose a %osture, for e(a&%le the crocodile, and then you stay on your hands and on bent toes,
&otionless. 9ut with ti&e you will bring your energy co&%letely to ethereal le#el, and it will
beco&e so %owerful that you will co&e off the ground, automatically. )owe#er, we do it by
ju&%ing here and there and so on, but it looks terrible of courseJ
Take for e(a&%le the forward3roll =/akrasana>: while doing it you &ust be able to stop &o#ing
at any gi#en &o&ent during the &otion. 'e a%%roach this by doing it slower and slower each
ti&e we try. 5aybe we ha#e not done it together, but the ga&e is: you %erfor& the e(ercise and
at &y indication you all sto% at the #ery &o&ent and stay in that %osition.
9ut isnt the ulti&ate %ur%ose of Asana to enable you to sit co&fortably in &editationH
<o. The ulti&ate goal is to let At&an descend into the %hysical body. It is the %resenting of a
welco&ing co&&ittee to At&an, which is so in#iting that At&an will say: ,'ow, how nice, I
think I will stayJ. You &ust co&e to har&ony in your Asana to such an e(tent, at all le#els,
that At&an will take %ossession of his rightful %ro%erty, which is your body: the tabernacle of
your being, the te&%le of Nod. So At&an is in fact a %art of Nod.
So it is %ossible to re#erse the whole %rocessH You start with a good &editation and then you
will be able to do all Asanas anyhowH
Yes, that is how I did it in the %ast. 5y lessons always started with &editation, then Asanas,
followed by the lecture. 9ut one day I decided to re#erse it because the effect was not so good.
9ut once you ha#e co&e that far, and you ha#e gi#en substance to what I a& telling you now,
and you understand it dee%ly, then there is nothing left and you do it like this. Then you always
start with &editation, which is the &agical road. The &ystical way is: %hysical %ractice,
Pranaya&a G 9ut fro& the 5aster training course we try the &agical way: first take care of
the s%iritual, and then the &ental followed by the %hysical.
Is it like 'endy told about the Silent Aetreat: the e(ercises work &uch better after a long
&editationH
Yes, thats it. That is the &agical way. You can try it for yourself. 5aybe it does not work, but
who knows, &aybe it does work. The %oint is that when you think about the i&age, you ha#e a
large ad#antageJ
'e do not ha#e to waste any words on breath3control: it is totally wrong.
Abstraction4
I do not like to see Pratyahara translated into ,abstraction.. It should be ,detach&ent.. There is
a difference between abstraction and detach&ent. I find the &eaning of Pratyahara &uch
clearer reflected by detach&ent, because it also indicates what the %roble& isM na&ely your
attach&ent. You let go of that attach&ent, and because of that abstraction occurs.
000
,oncentration is #ine4
Then Tai&ni translates what we call &editation L +hyana L into conte&%lation. There is a lot
of confusion in this field. Peo%le call &editation ,focused thinking.. 9ut that is not &editation
at all. It is &ore a %etrifying of the attention, and that does not e#en co&e close to what we are
doing. So you &ust be careful with these words, for there are #arious ways to define the&.
In the +utch translation he gi#es an interesting translation for conte&%lation: ecstasy.
)owe#er, in the 6nglish translation it is called ,trance.. Trance is wrong, but ecstasy is used as
a translation for Dicara Sa&adhi. )owe#er, I still ha#e not been able to find a %ro%er
translation for Sa&adhi. /onte&%lation co&es closest, but that too is not wholly correct. A
conte&%lati#e condition is indeed kind of ecstatic.
Isnt that Sa&ya&aH
<o, Sa&ya&a is a co&bination of the 7 ste%s, actually all 7 ste%s together. 9ut for the sake of
con#enience Patanjali tells us that it is a co&bination of the 2 highest ste%s. Actually it is all 7
ste%s together, integrated, which you then e&%loy. It is how you de&onstrate your total control
of the Yoga3syste&, which e#entually is the %re%aration to bring you to 6nlighten&ent.
+oes it ha#e to be this difficultH +o we need all thisH 'ell, if you look at the blue%rint for
,hu&an3being., you need those 7 ste%s. There is no way that you can a#oid it. ,Yes, but those
Ya&as and <iya&as are not included in that %icture.. 'hat do you &ean they are not
included in that %ictureH
'hen you co&&it #iolence, eh L ha#e you noticed already what ha%%ens with your beingH So,
you engage in an act in the outside world, which i&&ediately affects you dee%ly in your
energy3syste&. You break your Self. The har&ony of your being is i&&ediately affected by
#iolence, e#en when you only loo! at #iolence. You see #iolence ha%%ening in your
surroundings L for e(a&%le on TD L then it already affects you in your being. So, the %ractice
of non3#iolence L when it occurs on TD L &eans that you i&&ediately co&e back to yourself,
and that you do not allow yourself to be %ut off balance. +o not allow yourself to be affected.
So at the basis of this %ractice lays a refusal: a refusal to not go along with the #iolence. +o
you understand thisH
You can a%%roach e#erything in this way. And instead of going along, you will rather try to
bring the tyrants around you to har&ony. ?or you will find this &uch &ore interesting.
Actually it is %ure self3interest, because it feels &uch better to you, you want the sa&e for your
surroundings. 6#erything around you beco&es lo#ely, *uiet and friendly, because it is
i&%ortant to you.
So it is &ore of a kind of self3%rotection, for when it re&ains cal&, your being does not get
affected.
002
6(actly: your insight in the functioning of life ,forces. you to, strangely enough, beco&e a
#ery friendly %erson. There is no other way. So, you recogniIe highly de#elo%ed %eo%le by the
degree of friendliness. The higher they ha#e de#elo%ed, the friendlier they are, the sweeter they
are, the softer they are, and the &ore &odest they are. BeeI, what a difference with what we
usually e(%erience in our societyJ ?or usually it is: the higher %eo%le ,de#elo%., the &ore
terrible they beco&eJ Arrogant, %retentious and na&e a few &ore.
Aesearch has been done to I-. )a#ent you read it in the news%a%erH They did research a&ong
laborers, &anagers, directors, and so on. The a#erage I- of &anagers is 18. 18J 2anagersJ
They are the ones with res%onsibilitiesJ The higher you go, the lo$er the I-J )e he G The
highest I- was found in %eo%le who are self3e&%loyed. They are ca%able of taking care of
the&sel#es. And this a%%lies also to construction workers and si&ilar =business3> %eo%le.
That I find hard to belie#eJ
Yes, &e tooJ It is 1ery re&arkable indeed. 6nglish research into I- yielded these kinds of
results. It is a total re#ersal of what we are used to belie#e.
It is true that the higher you get, the easier it is to beco&e arrogant.
Yes, and then you beco&e blocked: your ego kicks in and your ca%acities di&inish, just like
that. Fn the other hand howe#er, %eo%le who do not ha#e an inflated idea about the&sel#es,
and who ha#e to %ay attention all the ti&e and take risks and so on, they are shar%.
I ha#e worked with laborers who are only concerned about: ,I can do it half a second *uicker
than youJ. So I think we should not e(%ect too &uch fro& this intelligence, you knowJ And
&odesty was also hard to find.
'ell, you &ust look at what their criterion for I- is: which tests did they e&%loy, and so onH
9ut it was re&arkable to say the least. It is in total contradiction of what we think. Then I ask
&yself the *uestion: wait a &inute, is what I always thought actually correctH 'ell, I a&
starting to belie#e &ore and &ore that it is not as I thought it would be. 5aybe the results of
this research are far beside the reality, but G
9ut &aybe a &anager knows a lot about one subject, while a regular ele&entary school teacher
or a &other knows a lot &ore about a lot of subjects.
'ell, anyway, what is intelligence after allH These are 'estern ideas of what intelligence is,
ehH 'hen you &easure according to the criteria of Yoga3intelligence I think we will end u%
with e1en different results.
So&e re&arks about the conse*uences of Sa#icara Sa&adhi and its %ractice:
?ro& a &ere shadow of a hu&an being you transfor& into a full hu&an being. You beco&e
untouchable. 9ut what is ha%%ening is actually that the Ta&as, which you carry in you, is
re&o#ed, with the result that you co&e into Satt#a. So you sto% %racticing when you
008
e(%erience a sense of %eace, a #ery dee% silence, and eternity. Then you are ready. So when the
sense of bliss di&inishes &ore and &ore, it is an indication that you are &aking %rogress in the
e(ercise. At the start it is %leasant, then it intensifies, and then it slows down, because you
beco&e co&%letely filled u%. Then you &ust try to re%eat it regularly, for so long that it starts
to occur naturally, and that you ha#e the feeling that you can control it at will. Then you are
awakened. Then you ha#e beco&e a 9uddha. The status of 9uddha is about the highest we can
na&e, and that we as hu&an beings can achie#e. Actually there are higher statuses, but let us
kee% things in a %ractical %ers%ecti#e. After 9uddha there is /hohan, followed by 5aha
/hohan, which is e1en higher. And before you reach the status of 9uddha, you are 9odhisatt#a.
Besus was a 9odhisatt#a, for )e had &anaged to bring )is 9uddhi into Satt#a, which &eans
that )e had achie#ed total control o#er his 9uddhi. $nfortunately, for if )e had had an
additional nu&ber of years in his life )e would %robably ha#e beco&e a 9uddha too. )e had
all the characteristics of a 9odhisatt#a L if you %ut the 9ible ne(t to the Yoga Sutras and
co&%are the&. )owe#er, )e did not get to the status of a 9uddha yet.
And what is )e doing nowH
<ow )e is trying to &ake u% for what he did before.
And 9uddha hi&self, who is still ali#e, albeit not in a &aterial for&, also tries to %rogress:
towards @iberation. )owe#er, that is a little bit &ore and longer work than the trajectory
towards 9uddha shi%.
'hen will so&eone like hi& co&e to earth againH
'ell, we ha#e you, dont weH
It is not so i&%ortant. 'hat is i&%ortant is that you understand, and that you %ass it on, and that
as &any %eo%le as %ossible beco&e 9uddha. 'e ha#e arri#ed in the age of Thousand
9uddhas. And I ho%e that we here, fro& )olland, initiate those thousand 9uddhas. I a& #ery
a&bitious, you knowH I can see a future 9uddha in a nu&ber of you L I a& not going to tell
you who, or would IH 5y Nod, if that bunch has to beco&e 9uddhasJ )e he G
9ut anywayG do you understand the story a little bitH It is about bringing total har&ony in
9uddhi L the function of the intellect. 9ut that does not &ean that you ha#e total control o#er
the causal body, because then you &ust ha#e har&ony in Aha&kara and /itta as well. And that
is $here all the work has to be done by the 9odhisatt#a to beco&e 9uddha.
So first we deal with 9uddhi, and then with Aha&kara and /ittaH
That is the easiest way, because you are do&inated by Ta&as after all, and so it is only natural
that you a%%roach it in this way. It o%ens u% the causal body, and fro& there you can %roceed.
Personally I find this &uch &ore %ractical than to a%%roach it #ia Aha&kara, as 9hakti Yoga
suggests. In 9hakti Yoga you si&%ly let bliss:Shi#a co&e o#er you, and then you try to obtain
har&ony in Aha&kara. And although it is a %ossible a%%roach, there is a substantial danger that
you condensate.
00"
So 9hakti Yoga is actually the difficult a%%roachH
I find it, well, &ore difficult, and less successful. I ha#e &et &any 9haktas, =%ractitioners of
9hakti Yoga>, and each ti&e I felt that it was acco&%anied by a dull and hea#y at&os%here.
There are &any of these clubs, who usually %ractice by singing 5antras, or better to say,
lilting 5antras, so&ething that really irritates &e. And then you feel it: whooshJ And the
de#elo%&ent has co&e to a halt.
@ook, if 9hakti Yoga is %erfor&ed correctly, you feel the sa&e ty%e of energy as you feel here:
*uiet, neutral, har&onious and %eaceful. That is correct, but as soon as you are either
e(cited:ha#e too &uch Aajas =so&ething you see with %articular clubs, for e(a&%le the
Eundalini Yoga club>, or you ha#e too &uch Ta&as, it is not correct. )ow about the /atholic
/hurchH It is Ta&as. It is also a for& of 9hakti Yoga. The result of which is crystalliIation:
dog&a. And that is e(actly what has ha%%ened, but you see that in 9uddhis& too. )inayana,
the ,@ower Dehicle., is do&inantly %resent in 9uddhis&, in s%ite of all the efforts by the
5ahayana3&o#e&ent, which is the ,)igher Dehicle. L so&ething that rese&bles what we do.
9ecause of this 9uddhis& got bogged down in rituals, i&ages and dog&as, and they ha#e
introduced statues that got %eo%le bogged down in idolatry. There is for e(a&%le the culture of
the Nuru, which is #ery co&&on in 9hakti Yoga, which is nothing less than idolatry. Then
they say: ,The Nuru will take care of it., and then they &ake a statue of hi& of about "
&eters tall, and in gold. There is for e(a&%le the Nolden Te&%le of A&ritsar, of which the
Sikhs are totally idolatrous. And now they are angry because their te&%le was not included in
the list of 'orld )eritage Sites. This te&%le should be destroyedJ In this &atter I a& just like
@uther and /al#ijn, ehH All those statues are nothing less than obstacles towards the
blissful:ecstatic condition. 'hyH 9ecause they tie you down in an i&age: Ta&as, while you
should actually go towards that feeling, while being detached of that i&age. +o you understand
thisH That is the &ost i&%ortant, and that is what will &ake you better.
+oes it also hel% so&eone who is de%ressedH
In fact this is the solution for de%ressions. It is #ery difficult to eli&inate a de%ression, because
it is a condition of the causal body. In fact it is a Ta&as3condition of the causal body.
@et us go back to the 0!
th
Sutra.
This Sutra is actually a su&&ary of the 7 ste%s of YogaM the descri%tion of the 7 ste%s of Yoga
by Patanjali. To re&ind you: whene#er you s%eak of Yoga L where#er and howe#er that &ay
be L all 7 ste%s should be re%resented. Yoga that &isses one of these 7 ste%s is not Yoga
any&ore. I know that this is a bold state&ent, but it can hel% you to se%arate the wheat fro& the
chaff. 6#erybody is free to %lay with these 7 ste%s and gi#e the& other accents:e&%hasis and
gi#e the& whate#er na&es, but the 7 ste%s always ha#e to co&e back again. 'hyH It is because
a hu&an e(ists out of se#eral different le#els. In the de#elo%&ent of a hu&an L because a
hu&an is actually a unity of %arts stuck together =a thread of energy> L you &ust deal with the
totality of all those energies. Ftherwise you will not achie#e anything. The 7 ste%s re%resent
e(actly 7 entrances to tackle:deal with all these energies. If you ignore one of the&, you &iss a
004
%art of the whole. That is why there is no other way than to %ractice Yoga following the 7
ste%s. It cannot be done with 4 ste%s, or C, or with 0 or 2. 9ut you also do not ha#e to %ractice !
ste%sM %ractice with 7 ste%s is sufficient. There is no need to incor%orate a !
th
ste%. The syste&
is so cle#erly designed that you can suffice with 7.
Yes, but when you look at those <iya&as G
Yes, you do not need the&, ehH Fr do youH
Yes, it gi#es you a certain %eace of &ind.
+o they gi#e you %eace of &indH Bust thatH
'ell, for e(a&%le when you ne#er lie.
They are &ere reflections of the laws of the uni#erse. It is like on a soccer field, with 0 tea&s
of &en each, who try to %ut a ball in each others goal. 9ut there are lines&en and there is
also a referee in the &iddle. There are also clearly outlined goal%osts and lines on the ground to
de&arcate the field. 'ell, they are like the Ya&as and the <iya&as, and within the borders of
the& you just %lay to your hearts content. You know: ,This is the fra&ework within which I
can work.. You can also say: yes, but I can also %lay soccer outside the lines. That too is
%ossible, but then it is not soccer any&ore. So, for e(a&%le, when you say: I will lie G there
should be no %roble& with that G Yoga is suggesting you to s%eak the truth. )owe#er, it does
not oblige you, ehH It is only suggesting. 'hen you s%eak the truth, you work in accordance
with the energy strea&s. You res%ect the energy strea&s, as they were built:laid down in the
uni#erse. That is all Yoga is telling you. If you want to go beyond that, okay, but then you will
notice that certain things start to go wrong. You will get a kind of feeling like: well, I a& no
%art of it any&ore. Fkay, so, that is all. And if you do not want to, then you dont do it.
If you feel like being #iolent, G well, go ahead. 9ut look at the logic of the whole. Study the
uni#erse and your %lace within it. Then you will notice that, when you are soft, e#erything will
go &uch s&oother, and that you are aligned with e#erything. Then you will see that you find
this softness in e#erything. <ature is full of softness, as are other %eo%le, stones, e#erything.
SoftnessM #ery strange.
,Yes, but G what about cri&inality and so on G and all those e(cesses that we know and read
about in the news%a%ersH. Those are %eo%le who ha#e not understood how to %lay the ga&e,
and who ignore e#erything. $nfortunately they recei#e too &uch attention. It would be better
to start filling news%a%ers with infor&ation that hel%s %eo%le stay aligned with the uni#erse,
instead of constantly infor&ing us about who did wrong and where it ha%%ened. And when you
are aligned with all the energies of the uni#erse, you ha#e actually fulfilled the condition to
e(%erience 6nlighten&ent. ?or what else is 6nlighten&ent other than si&%le har&onyH The
e(%ression of your har&ony is light. <ot only light in substance, but also lu&inous light:
awareness of the Aeality.
00C
Ya&as, <iya&as, Asana, Pranaya&a, Pratyahara, +harana, +hyana, and Sa&adhi. Sa&adhi
deals with the causal #ibration. +harana and +hyana deal with the subtle #ibration. Pratyahara,
you already know. Pranaya&a %erfects the energies on gross and subtle le#el. Asana deals with
the energy on gross le#el. And the Ya&as and the <iya&as take care of the o#erall
fra&ework in which all this is taking %lace, so it enco&%asses all energies.
&7! Ahimsa Sat+a Aste+a 4rahmacar+a Aparigraha Yamah
Dows of self3restraint co&%rise abstention fro& #iolence, falsehood, theft,
incontinence and ac*uisiti#eness.
'hat is the literal &eaning of Ya&aH +oes anyone re&e&berH
5oral %rinci%lesH
Yes, that is how we translated it, but literally the word Ya&a &eans: ,refusal.. You should see
this in a sense of: I refuse to %artici%ate in things as they are:e(ist. I a& not a =ca&%3> follower
any&ore. I a& going to sto% doing what %eo%le tell &e to do, what I a& su%%osed to do and all
those kinds of things. Sto%. ?ro& now on I will stand fir&. That is Ya&a. And whyH 'hat is
the goal of Ya&aH The goal is to create a distance between you and the things that ha%%en, and
that, because of that distance, within the s%ace that you create, you can &ake a decision in
accordance with what you really want, in accordance with what you really, %ersonally feel for,
and to see with what kind of original solution you can co&e u% in that %articular situation. It is
si&%ly an atte&%t to de3condition your self.
9ecause through the whole syste& of life L by your u%bringing, by your education, by your
e&%loyer and by your %artner L you are actually %rogra&&ed to li#e life in a certain way in
which you are cornered. I s%eak with so &any %eo%le who say: ,Yes, you ha#e a #ery nice
story, I ha#e seen your website, but I si&%ly cannot do it. I ha#e so &any co&&it&ents. I ha#e
this, and that and here and yonder, and so and so, and I si&%ly cannot get away fro& it.. 'ell,
you had better re%lace this by: ,I do not want to get away fro& it.. This is a big factor: %eo%le
are stuck.
5y brother is a good e(a&%le: he works hi&self to death. And it is all for &aterial gain. ,'hat
are you doing it orH You are getting rich. You earn fortunes. 'hat does this add to your
ha%%inessH 'hat is the %ur%ose of your lifeH. 5ore, &ore, &ore and &oreG
/ant you tell hi& about YogaH
Yes, but he just does not understand it. 'ell, Yoga says: watch out, for there is no end to it,
ehH /arefully e#aluate e#erything again. You can do what you want. If you insist on dri#ing
that 5ercedes 9enI, you just do that, but do not allow yourself to be taken in by the desire #or
it. Sto% that. Aefuse. 'ait a &inute: 'hat do I really wantH /reate that s%ace for yourself. That
is Ya&a.
007
+o you really want to beat u% that guyH Is that really what you wantH Fr is there so&ething
else you could doH )ey, this is *uite interesting: so&ebody who thinks before he starts beatingJ
+ont you agreeH It will &ake a significant difference in cri&e rates, I think, when %eo%le start
to use their co&&on sense. )ow &any cri&inals ha#e a%%eared in court telling the judge:
,'ell, before I knew it, it had already ha%%enedJ Actually it is not what I wanted at allJ And
suddenly, well, there he was, lying on the %a#e&entJ 9eaten to death. I could not hel% itJ. 'e
see this ha%%ening again and again. Peo%le just act without &aking any sense. They are so
caught u% in all kinds of &o#e&ents: action, reaction, and, 9angJ It ha%%ened before they
know it. 'ho is to bla&eH The conditioning. The %rogra&&ing. The way of life. The way
%eo%le follow each others beha#ior. So, says Yoga, start first of all by saying: Sto%J <oJ
/reate roo&, and within that roo& you ha#e the %ossibility to use your co&&on sense, and to
choose yoursel#.
This is in fact already an a%%eal to 9uddhi. So you do not let e&otions, habits, tendencies of
the body, the senses and so on follow their course no, use co&&on senseM use 9uddhi. ?ro&
now on.
So we ha#e non3#iolence. Then we ha#e truthfulness, and non3stealing, as it is described L
Asteya. And then we ha#e chastity. The word ,chastity. is not correct, as you &ay re&e&ber.
The Sanskrit word for it is, ,9rah&acharya., which &eans as &uch as: to be engaged in:with
9rah&an. In other words: to see 9rah&an within e#erything.
Yes, and just before, when I o%ened the website of ,The 9anana 9ar. =kinky night club in
A&sterda&>, I was actually about to tell &y wife: ,@ook, see the di#ine in that wo&an who is
standing:sitting there in this %eculiar way G. he he G 9rah&acharya then &eans that you say:
,@ook, if you look carefully, you will see that there is a certain har&ony of &o#e&ent G a
festi#al of colors G and I dont know what G. Bust &ake so&ething u% yourself. 'hat this is
about is that you do not resort to auto&atis&s. It is so easy to reject. It is so easy to judge.
9etter kee% your o%inion to yourself for a &o&ent. 'hat is ha%%ening hereH 'hat are the
ad#antagesH 'hat are the disad#antagesH +o you understandH 'e do not e#en think about this
any&ore. 'ell, okay, aesthetically s%oken I would do it differently, but anyway. 9ut how
would you do itH That is what it is about: that is 9rah&acharya.
9ut 9rah&acharya is e(actly not about being celibately, ehH Fr about rejecting e#erything that
is related to se(. That is si&ilar to cutting off an ar&. Se(uality is %art of life, so it can ne#er be
that Yoga had the intention to translate it in this way. This also shows fro& the 81 %lus years of
e(%erience that I ha#e had in Yoga. Those %eo%le who translated 9rah&acharya as being
indecency or the %ursuit of celibacy all screw u%M without fail. And it is only logical, because
they co&&it #iolence to their se(uality.
So it is actually about seeing the di#ine within the otherH
Yes, e(actly. 9rah&acharya is about ele#atingM through that understanding of the function of
the se(uality. That is the learning of res%ect on this le#el. It is not about saying: ,it is taboo, so
we do not talk about it.. )olland is #ery %rogressi#e in that res%ect, si&%ly because se(uality is
00!
discussable and o%en. 9ut still there are too &any taboos. And still there is the ghost of
celibacy roa&ing about.
Also within Yoga this ghost roa&s about. A Swa&i, or a )indu3yoga teacher, is not &arried
following tradition, as you know, and he also does not ha#e a girlfriend. This &eans that he is
bound by this idiotic celibacy3idea. All those orange3dresses are all, in theory, celibate.
)owe#er, I know of a $hole lot of those orange3dresses who #iolate this celibacy3idea to a
large e(tent. And it is in the sa&e way as %eo%le in the /atholic /hurch, %riests, ha#e trouble
with this. 9ut @a&as, Yoga teachers in Tibet, are allowed to &arry. +id you know thisH There
the idea of celibacy is different and &uch &ore in co&%liance with the origin. I really like that.
It &eans that at least so&ewhere an effort is done to set things right.
+ishonesty.
Theft.
+enying of theft.
Nreed.
<ot3Nraha.
And Par &eans ,&ore..
Nraha is our #erb for ,grabbing..
Par is &ore than grabbing.
5ore than grabbing. That is the tendency we can %ercei#e when there are the ,/raIy +ays. in
the 9ijenkorf =yearly e#ent in a fa&ous lu(ury de%art&ent store in A&sterda& during which
huge discounts are gi#en, dri#ing %eo%le insane>. 6#ery year there are ,/raIy +ays., dont you
know of this %heno&enonH All wo&en in )olland, I assu&e, know the /raIy +ays of the
9ijenkorf. I think that we are going to &ake a school tri% there. 'e will %osition oursel#es on
+a& s*uare, on the o%%osite side, when it starts, early in the &orning, just to see the
greed:desire of the wo&en =of courseG>. Ff course the ladies are allowed to join us, but they
ha#e to stay on our side of the s*uareG
There is going to be such a long *ueue of %eo%le that you will not e#en ha#e access to the +a&
=s*uare facing the 9ijenkorf>.
I think so too, yeah. I think that you &ight not e#en be able to find yourself a %lace in the train.
9ut anyway, you &ust see it for yourself. 9eally. It is just like with non3#iolence: once you
#isit the abattoir you will be cured fro& #iolence, ehH To be cured fro& greed you &ust go to
the +a& to see the %eo%le at the 9ijenkorf. It is si&%ly disgusting. 'ould you like to see
so&ethingH 'ill you co&e with us to the +a&, or will you line u% with the other %eo%le to
enter the 9ijenkorfH
'hat I find &ost worriso&e is the fact that so &any %eo%le base their li#es u%on desire. I
re&e&ber how I &yself as a youngster did not know better than that you, #ia your desire, had
to set out lines in life, that you &ake use of to grow along. <obody told &e differently. I just
did like e#eryone else did. I si&%ly li#ed for those &o&ents. ?or e(a&%le: that I could %ass by
the toysho% on &y way ho&e fro& school. In the s&all sho% window of a s&all sho% I would
021
look at this wonderful %lastic &odel of an aircraft carrier. At that ti&e it cost "11 9elgian
?ranks, which of course I did not ha#e. And I would look at it: all those little jetfighters on its
deck. It was so beautiful. And after watching it, I would continue on &y way ho&e, on &y
little bicycle, to do &y ho&ework, and &y day was %erfect. So I was li#ing in the function of
&y desire for that thing. +idnt you ha#e si&ilar e(%eriencesH +ont you recogniIe thisH
9ut, you know, it would be sad if you had to continue to li#e like this, that this would be the
way to li#e for you. This cannot be true, can itHJ It destroys you. <oJ Sto%J It would be nice
ifG but isnt there so&ething elseH And what is i&%ortantH 'hat really adds so&ething
#aluableH And then your co&&on sense kicks in. +esire, like so &any other things, blocks you.
It %uts you stuck. And it causes you to li#e in ignorance. The cessation of this is the start of
awakening.
As &y brother said: ,Turn your tongue around in your &outh C ti&es before you say
so&ething.. 6#er since that ti&e I ha#e been s%eaking less and less. 9ecause talking, too, is
caused by desire.
&! Jati (esa -a.a Sama+ana)acchinnah Sar)abhauma 8aha $ratam
These =the fi#e #ows>, not conditioned by class, %lace, ti&e or occasion and
e(tending to all stages constitute the Nreat Dow.
This re&inds &e e#ery ti&e of the #ow &onks ha#e to &ake before entering a &onastery.
)a#e you e#er had a close look at thatH Actually he has to renounce the worldly, and decide for
hi&self that he wants to dedicate his life to the )igher /ause. This looks like what is written in
this Sutra. That is how you should see it, but then without the dog&as. And also without being
forced to anything. If the abbot who is in charge is a good %erson, he will ensure that the future
&onk will do this #ery honestly and that he will decide fro& his heart. 9ut we should do the
sa&e. 'e, too, are asked to deter&ine our %oint of #iew, and decide in this &atter. 'ait a
&inute, this feels good: this is how I want to do it. Thats all. 9ut the great #ow is actually
%utting e&%hasis on the function of 9uddhi, co&%letely. ?ro& now on I will use co&&on
sense. And I will not allow &yself to be screwed any&ore by whate#er. @aws, and so on, of the
%eo%le, are secondary to &e. ?ro& now on the law of the 5ost )igh is the &ost i&%ortant.
Ya&as and <iya&as: all that you are studying here. It is your choice. I choose. I stand for
this. That is the Nreat Dow. And it is so i&%ortantM not subdued by ti&e and not li&ited by
circu&stances, location and so on. You are %oor, you are rich, you are big, you are s&all, thin,
healthy or sick. It does not &atter. You li#e in A&erica or you li#e at the <orth Pole: this
a%%lies always.
In certain ti&es the authorities announced that they were allowed to be abo#e the law. The Sun
king for e(a&%le. And still the -ueen in )olland, she is still abo#e the law. She cannot be
subjected to %unish&ent, as are certain di%lo&ats and so. They are i&&une. /ertain %eo%le in
the @ower /ha&ber ha#e a status according to which they cannot be subjected to %unish&ent.
)ow about the Pri&e35inisterH
02
+uring his ter& of office he cannot be %unished.
This is hardly e#er &entioned in the news.
<o G
9ut this a%%lies only to the laws of &an. It does not a%%ly to the laws of the uni#erse, the laws
of Nod, for which e#erybody is e*ual. I find it *uite %resu&%tuous when a -ueen says that she
is abo#e the law. >uite %resu&%tuous indeed. 'e all stand in the ser#ice of the 5ost )igh, and
coincidentally we ha#e a leaders %osition. 5aybe. Fkay, so that &eans that we ha#e &ore
res%onsibilities and stand &ore at the ser#ice of our fellow &an. Sto%.
And that is what this Sutra is saying. BeeI, at that ti&e /o&&unis& did not e(ist yetJ
Partici%ati#e de&ocracy L that is &y drea&. +e&ocracy with %artici%ation, or direct
de&ocracy, is not actually any different fro& this. 'e are all faced with the laws of the
uni#erse, and e#erybody co&%lies and considers that. Period, out. And e#erybody is e*ual.
That does not only a%%ly to ancient ti&es, and also not only for now, but for all ti&es.
+o you re&e&ber that in Athens one day suddenly so&eone arose =Plato> and set the
foundations for de&ocracyH 'ell, it was just as if L when you read the historiogra%hy L this
one %erson disco#ered so&ething that until then ne#er e(isted: that the %ower would be to the
%eo%le, and that e#eryone was entitled to #ote. 9ut there was nothing new under the sun. 'hen
you ha#e an enlightened absolutist L an enlightened ruler L, which was the way of go#erning in
ancient ti&es L he would always consider his subjects. 'e s%eak of referenda and gi#ing
%eo%le a say, but in those ti&es that was only nor&al. To be enlightened as a ruler
auto&atically &eans that you consider the o%inion of e#erybody. It is just that coincidentally
you are the leader, but you rule in the ser#ice of the %eo%le. This for& of go#erning is a lot
healthier in &y o%inion than ha#ing a Pri&e 5inister surrounded by a bunch of 5inisters, as
we know it today.
)ey, this all looks like %olitics dont you think soH 'ell, what do you thinkH That this would
not be of any i&%ortanceH To build:hel%:restructure:rule a countryH +ont we ha#e the entire
science of Eings hereH 5anu also described this. It is #ery old. 5anu was the first 9uddha,
who long, long ti&e ago described a for& of go#erning, a way of life in India that was
followed for a long ti&e. It described who was su%%osed to do what, and how it should be
done. Those scri%tures still e(ist, and are strongly reco&&ended. 'e are talking about
so&ething 1,111 years ago, ehH And it is only since a cou%le of years that indeed a highly
de#elo%ed ci#iliIation already e(isted in that era, in %articular in the Indus3#alley, called the
5ohenjo3+aro3ci#iliIation.
&"! Sauca Santosha 'apah S)adh+a+es)ara Pranidhanani %i+amah
Purity, content&ent, austerity, self3study and self3surrender constitute
obser#ances.
020
'e all know about this: the &ost i&%ortant is at the to%. Actually it is further refine&ent:
actually you start with non3#iolence and you end with surrender, and in between there is each
ti&e a &o&ent of increasing %urification. The &ost i&%ortant of all is non3#iolence. In this
20
nd
Sutra the &ost i&%ortant is %urity.
Personally I find surrender *uite i&%ortant too.
Fkay, but if you ask &e: is there a se*uenceH Then I can only confir& that there clearly is a
se*uence. 9ut of course it is %ossible that in a certain situation at a certain &o&ent surrender is
&ore i&%ortant to you. I guess you should look at this ad hoc.
Is #iolence the big sinH
Yes, generally s%oken #iolence is the worst.
9ut you can also see a se*uential logic in it: that when you start with non3#iolence, you can
i&%ro#e e#erything and bring it in har&ony with truthfulness, honestyG and with surrender, at
last. Auto&atically har&oniIation occur.
The <iya&as are &oral ideals, while the Ya&as are &oral %rinci%les. Try to understand the
difference between %rinci%les and ideals. Princi%les are so&ething that you %rotect against
auto&atis&s, which gi#es you the chance to stay &ore with yourself. Ideals are a %ower that
you gi#e yourself to %rogress. Princi%les %rotect you, and with ideals you attack. So a Ya&a is
%articularly indi#idual, while a <iya&a is uni#ersal. You could also say: a Ya&a is
%sychological and a <iya&a is sociological. You can call the& %rece%ts L &oral %rece%ts L
<iya&as L but Id rather call the& &oral ideals, i&%lying that you are suggested a straight
line, and that you #ollo$ it, to the goal. It is about setting u% lines of growth. This is ty%ical for
<iya&a. It is like letting i#y grow u% to the walls of your house by setting u% a fra&ework.
This fra&ework is ty%ical for the <iya&as.
'hen you are handica%%ed you wouldnt be able to %ractice Yoga, would youH
'ho says soH This can ne#er be a state&ent of a Yoga e(%ert. If you ha#e certain handica%s
you work on the&. The handica%s will disa%%ear through the %ractice of Yoga.
9ut things like genetic engineering would not be %ossibleH
<o, certainly not, for it is e*ual to &urder.
Pay attention to the #egetables you eat, ehH Soon the i&%ort restrictions of #egetables and
fruits fro& the $nited States will be abolished. @ots of these %roducts ha#e been genetically
engineered. @ook for the labels of origin. 'hen you ingest genetically &ani%ulated foods you
are an accessory to #iolence. This will not be #ery sti&ulating in installing Sa&adhi in a Yogi.
9ut anywaysG
022
The logic of these " <iya&as:
Practicing %urity is actually: dealing with all those little, annoying dishar&onies that are s%read
e#erywhere. It is like &aking it a s%ort to arrange e#erything in your life according to the rules.
<o rebellion any&ore and no &ore functioning coarsely. Aound off and %olish e#erything. Are
you conse*uent now in thoughts, words and deeds and in all fieldsH Is it really true that you
li#e your life according to what you were taughtH 'ell, it is *uite difficult. ?or a long ti&e I
ha#e been telling how to do things, while not being able to do it &yself. This is i&%urity, so I
had to deal with it, and I a& still working on it, aligning things: %erfect and solid. @ight arises
fro& %urity. As long as you are in darkness, you ha#e a %roble& with %urity.
I a& also trying to %urify &y use of language. 'hen I a& being sarcastic, or ironic, or when I
&ake obscene jokes, it is all i&%urity. 'ell, this guy has a lot of work to doJ It is getting less
and less juicy.
I a& already dri#ing #ery nice and soft. In the %ast, when in li#ed in 9russels, it was &ore like
%laying ,bu&%er cars.. 5y daughter now says that I ha#e beco&e like a bus dri#er. So I ha#e
taken care of that already. <ow I still ha#e to take care of &y use of language, and then this,
and then thatG The last thing that has to ha%%en is to create so&e order on &y desk, for it is
usually a hea% of rubble. I dont know what is wrong with &e: I like order, but I always &ake a
&ess of it. I ha#e no %roble& finding things, you know, but it gi#es &y wife white hair. 9ut
one day it will gradually beco&e a ,clean desk., a day for &y wife to celebrate.
+uring the 9asic /ourse we were discussing Se%te&ber, and that it is %ro%er to take action
as long as it ha%%ens within a certain %eriod of ti&eH @ike 9ush for e(a&%leHH
'ell, since Se%te&ber he did a lot already.
Yes, but what if for e(a&%le he would not ha#e done anything for a half yearH
That would ha#e &ade hi& an accessory to the #iolence.
9ut how can you &easure thatH )ow fast do you ha#e to co&e into actionH
Fnly co&&on sense can indicate this: each case is different. If you ha#e a bad feeling with it, I
ad#ice you to watch &ore carefully and take &ore action. So, you should always check your
feeling: +o I ha#e a clean conscienceH 'hen you ha#e a kind of feeling like: ,well, it did not
e(actly work out the way I %lanned, but I did &y best and it feels good to &e., then you are in
line with non3#iolence.
Fne day you will disco#er that your ene&ies, who function according to their own #alues, are
our teachers. And we are the teachers of those ene&ies. 6#entually we will all grow towards
unity, so you &ust not hate your ene&ies. Instead try to understand the&. Try to understand the
Taliban for& the %ers%ecti#e of the ideology of the Taliban. Try to understand Fsa&a 9in
@aden fro& his the %ers%ecti#e of his own ideas. Try to understand the Palestinians, )a&as,
the /hechen terrorists. It will enable you to react %ro%erly, considering their #ibrations. And
you will be able to &uch better deal with the breaches that occur in the confrontation.
028
And %ay attention: the settling of #iolence does not ha%%en fro& behind a desk you knowJ ?or
e(a&%le: The 5inistry of +efense in The )ague is res%onsible for the catastro%he of
Srebrenica, ehH =C111 %eo%le were killed while guarded by +utch <ATF troo%s> Those %eo%le
were totally not aware of what was ha%%ening out there in the field. They issued orders fro&
behind their desks in The )ague: ,'e think we should carry a &ini&u& of ar&s G. ,'e
think that G., and so on. And all those bureaucrats are the worst contributors to the solution of
the %roble&. So, before you interfere, you &ust indeed tune3in #ery dee%ly, feel and go out in
the field, %artici%ate, see:&easure the at&os%here, and then, with as &uch co&&on sense as
%ossible, and if %ossible in good consideration:consultation, deal with it. A good e(a&%le of
this is the +utch Ar&y contingent in Ira* these days. Although so&e trifles ha%%ened, their
actions are e(e&%lary. Absolutely e(e&%lary. They ha#e the courage to &eet with the local
%o%ulation without wearing their hel&ets, their guns %ointing down and without %ro#ocations.
This is so threatening to the terrorists that they now want to get to the +utch by setting booby
tra%s and so on. 9ut this is how to &ake a difference. Aole u% your slee#es.
9ut actually they ha#e no business thereG
6arth has beco&e like a #illage. 'hat is ha%%ening in Ira* is just as &uch our concern as what
is ha%%ening at the corner of the street. And do you know whyH 9ecause at the corner of the
street is a gas station where you fill u% your car with gasoline. I&%orted fro& Ira*. That is why
the world is a #illage and e#erything is e#erybodys concern. The %rinci%le of so#ereignty is
beyond the discussion, si&%ly because there are things that ha#e grown beyond the ability of
so#ereign states to deal with the&sel#es. 'e ha#e seen se#eral e(a&%les of this: @ibya was
dealt with, and Israel is regularly called to reason. 9ut a lot &ore will ha#e to be done before
har&ony will occur. 'e know South Africa. The whole world has interfered with South
Africa, )olland first. <ow we are doing the sa&e with /hina. If you would only know how
&any %eo%le tra#el to /hina these daysJ It is a true rush.
9ut now we ha#e Sudan, which again they try to sol#e fro& behind their desks. It see&s to
ha#e no %riority.
'here were weH
/ontent&ent. It is i&%ortant to stri#e for the ele&ent of content&ent, a#ter %urity. It is the
confir&ation of your %urity, and the install&ent of a causal feeling. It is the installation of the
feeling, as it were, of your #ictory. The %urification %rocess is not co&%lete if it does not bring
%eace. And I a& not talking about ethnic %urification. I a& talking about real %urification,
about trying to bring har&ony in the dishar&onies:contradictions, and then install %eace. There
is no %eace as long as there are contradictions: conflicts, inhibitions and obstacles. This a%%lies
to your body, it a%%lies to your whole being and it a%%lies to society. It a%%lies to e#erybody.
'e want %eace on this earth. Fr dont weH 9ut &any %eo%le belie#e they can achie#e that by
sending troo%s. 9ut it does not work like that, not with soldiers. It would be better to o%en a
can of Yogis and send the& there. They are the soldiers of %eace, not the 9lue3hel&ets. +o you
understandH
02"
'e think that de#elo%&ent aid will sol#e the %roble&s. 'hen they do not need the 9lue3
hel&ets any&ore, we send in a bunch of aid3workers. +o you know any of these %eo%leH )a#e
you had a chance to talk with the&H 5y sister and her husband are aid3workers. In fact, a lot of
%eo%le in the fa&ily are. 'ell, you should see the&: they ha#e to do e#erything on their own.
'hen they talk with %eo%le o#er here there is not any connection at all. It is all %ri#ate3
initiati#e. 'hy isnt there a large3scale coordinationH Then there is the insane idea of &any
countries that think: ,oh, lets si&%ly send &oney G. It is the $orst thing to do. This &oney
i&&ediately disa%%ears into the %ockets of the ones in charge and nothing e#er ha%%ens.
FrganiIations that are coordinated by the $nited <ations and that gi#e &oney L @ubbers for
e(a&%le L do a hell of a good job. S*ueeIe a buttock here and there G is allowed, I think G he
he G @ook =cynical>, of course it is less serious if you s*ueeIe the buttocks of a black African,
than when you s*ueeIe the buttock of a 'hite A&erican in <ew York G
Peace.
After you ha#e installed %eace, you can i&%ro#e things e#en &ore by adding austerity.
Austerity is actually the %utting to the test of the %eace3condition, to see whether this %eace is
solid enough. /an you re&ain in %eace in s%ite of a %roble&atic, critical attack:confrontationH
So what is austerity after allH Austerity is an e(ercise in disasters, an e(ercise in trouble: to see
if you are able to re&ain %eaceful in s%ite of the situation.
So, you test yourselfH
Yes, because learning is li#ing, ehH All the ti&e so&ething ha%%ens, and it is of no use that,
once you ha#e achie#ed %eace, that the first bit of ,head wind. &akes you lose your %eace
co&%letely. That is the reason for austerity: to solidify that %eace. I still ha#e to see that with
&ost %eo%leJ 6#en with %u%ils of this school. Fne day they ha#e a %roble& L they are
co&%letely in the doldru&s L and all they do is complainingG 'ellG $hat did you learnHJ It
was in the C
th
or 7
th
lesson of the 9asic /ourse. 'ere you absent, or whatH 9ut %eo%le think that
they ha#e to react e&otionally, and that they ha#e to go along in those doldru&s. All I do is
treat the& to a fair %ortion of scolding. BeeI, al&ighty, why do you lose your %eaceHJ 'hy do
you lose controlH 6s%ecially no$ you ha#e to do effort to &aintain that %eaceJ And face the
%roble& head3onJ Eee% your chin u%J And go onJ Al&ightyJ 9unch of sissiesJ As soon as
so&ething is not going their way: co&%laining, and &ore co&%lainingG You know whatH
/o&%lainingH I do not want to hear about it any&ore, all this co&%lainingJ
+o you feel itH Peace, austerity. 9ut it does not &ean that you ha#e &ade it yet.
)ow about your feelingsH
?eelingsH ?ine, but you kee% the& to yourself. It is a &atter of austerity.
Then you o%en u% e#erything. 'hen you ha#e beco&e stronger in this way of &aintaining
%eace, and that you ha#e beco&e stable as a hu&an, then you are ready for surrender. 3ot
be#ore you ha#e reached that %oint. Then you are ready to recei#e +i#ine 6nergy. Ftherwise
you just do not deser1e itJ 'e are not going to abuse the +i#ine 6nergy, are weH ,'ell, Fur
+ear @ord is %aying for it G so G I can %er&it &yself anything..
024
'hat do you think about the latest hostage crisis in AussiaH
)ow &any %eo%le diedH
They are still counting G the nu&ber of casualties is now at "1 G the roof ca&e down.
So they caused an e(%losionH
Yes, they deliberately blew u% the gy&nasiu& G
'ho didH
The rebels.
Fkay, now, try to look at things rationally. +utch %eo%le are a rational %eo%le, so now you can
release your rationality on this issue. Eee% your %eace. ?ro& your rationality you can in#ol#e
the +i#ine energy, which is useful to &aintain co&&on sense: )ow can I hel% in this &atterH
'hat can we do fro& hereH Are there any %eo%le that need to be taken care ofH And so on. Is
there a critical situationH Stay cal&. It is difficult, #ery difficult, but can you do thatH
It see&s so awkward when you re&ain cal& in a crisis situation.
So you find it &ore i&%ortant what i&%ression you gi#e to othersH Yes, that is what you say,
but that is e(actly the %roble&, you knowH Peo%le %ay too &uch attention to the for&, while
you should gi#e &uch &ore attention to the contents. That is what is i&%ortant. You shouldnt
care walking around there in your underwear because you did not ha#e the ti&e to get dressed
%ro%erly. All that counts is that you can hel% efficiently.
'ell, that is e(actly what did not ha%%en this afternoon. There was co&%lete chaos that did not
do any good.
Yes. Accident on the Autobahn =Ner&an highways>H 9rain tissue on the groundH Stay cal&.
/al&.
That is the role of a Yogi: to be an e(a&%le for others. ?or other %eo%le si&%ly do not know.
The difference with other %eo%le is that $e do know: Aes%onsibility.
&&! $itar/a 4adhane Pratipa/sha 4ha)anam
'hen the &ind is disturbed by i&%ro%er thoughts constant %ondering o#er the
o%%osites =is the re&edy>.
Ah, I find this such a nice Sutra. All those nice things we ha#e discussed so far, that is not so
difficult at all. 9ut in %ractice you notice that so&eti&es things de#elo% in the o%%osite
02C
direction of what is desired. Then when you realiIe what you are doing:thinking you abhor
yourself. +o you recogniIe thisH Then you say: ,Fh, I a& so asha&ed of &yselfJ Please do not
let &y teacher find out about this. G he he G It is &y bad luck that I also trained &y wife. As
soon as I do so&ething wrong, or e#en thin! so&ething wrong, she sees through it. 5y life is
so &iserableJ
'hat about herH
Yes, her life is &iserable too. I i&&ediately ju&% on it. 9ut you can a#oid that by using this
Sutra and beco&e your own conductor. 'hen you notice that you are losing track, Patanjali
says: ,think about the o%%osite.. It is a &eans to %ut a halt to your
e(%erience:feelings:thoughts:deeds.
Patanjali says:
+o the o%%osite.
Think the o%%osite.
Say the o%%osite.
So, kee% yourself engaged with the o%%osite.
This &orning I could not esca%e: I %assed by the Toyota dealer. This guy is so full of %roble&s.
I looked at a wonderful car: a Toyota A#ensis. 'e discussed about it and so on. It has 4 adult
seats. It has sufficient %ulling %ower to %ull a trailer. 5ileage, %rice G +o you know thisH
+esiresH 'hen I ca&e ho&e, I #ery clearly said: ,9ut &y %resent car is so #ery good after all.
Its sus%ension is working so co&fortably.. And es%ecially because I turned 71 degrees in the
other direction, I lost it. Play like this. Turn 71 degrees. If not, you will si&%ly get stuck in
things that you do not really su%%ort. Then you end u% at a certain &o&ent, finding your life
being li#ed for. So the %rinci%le of creating roo& for yourself, which we saw in the Ya&as,
setting out lines of force with the <iya&as, can be established by e&%loying the o%%osite.
At this #ery &o&ent there is the )iswa boat show in IB&uiden. There are 821 beautiful boats.
'hen I think about it, I i&&ediately think: h&&, there are also nice air%lanes. And so I a&
released fro& the )iswaJ +o you understand thisH It is only a trick. As soon as you notice this,
i&&ediately e&%loy the o%%osite.
Ff course it also works the other way round. ?or e(a&%le when you ha#e negati#e thoughts,
and you say to yourself: ,I cannot do that., then you &ust find other words to think the
o%%osite.
Yes, then you think about things that you are #ery ca%able of doing. So do not get stuck in a
thought that does not feel good. The &ethod to get rid of it is: think the o%%osite. Fne who has
%ut that in words in a book is the A&erican author @ouise )ayes. It is the %ower of %ositi#e
thinking. I a& not a su%%orter of that %erson, and I ha#e so&e doubts about %ositi#e thinking,
but the trick is good indeed. You sto% the %rocess, which is a necessity. And why would you
ha#e to sto% itH
027
That is written in the 28
th
Sutra:
&*! $itar/a <imsada+ah -rt -aritanumodita=obha -rodha 8oha Pur)a/a
8rdumadh+adimatra (u/ha Jnananantapha.a Iti Pratipa/sha 4ha)anam
As i&%ro%er thoughts, e&otions =and actions> such as those of #iolence etc.,
whether they are done =indulged in>, caused to be done or abetted, whether &ild,
&ediu& or intense degree, result in endless %ain and ignoranceM so there is the
necessity of %ondering o#er the o%%osites.
If you do not sto% the %rocess, it will in#ol#e you into Sa&sara, the wheel of rebirth. Then you
ha#e your life li#ed for you, not only in this life, but also in following li#es. So it is not as
innocent as you thought, ehH There are &any ele&ents attached.
So Ya&as and <iya&as are actually of #ery great i&%ortance, and in the a%%lication of the&,
which is difficult, we e&%loy o%%osites. The funny thing is that Patanjali gi#es an analysis in
this Sutra of the reach of the Ya&as and the <iya&as. )e says: ,in thoughts, in words and in
deeds.. 6#en the intention to co&&it #iolence, a lie, or desire is sufficient. /herish&ent. If
so&eone else causes it while you are a witness, you are an acco&%lice.
So, we are all %artly to bla&e for the bloodbaths co&&itted by terrorists these days, because
we ha#e not integrated those %eo%le fully into our society. Fsa&a 9in @aden is an e(%onent of
our G h&& G our societal %roble&s. If you look at the breeding grounds fro& which these
terrorists s%routedJ ?irst and fore&ost %o#ertyM frustration G They cannot get the things they
would like to ha#e so badly, like recognition, %ower, &oney, and so on. 'ell, e#entually it
turns against us. And so terrorists are createdJ So we create terroris& oursel#es, and as long as
we continue to do that, it will not be sol#ed. Fne way or the other we ha#e frustrated those
%eo%le:troubled the&, and now we ha#e to try to sol#e it. And all the Ya&as and <iya&as
can be caused as well, or at least you can cause the&, without being directly in#ol#ed in it.
Indirectly. So, when #iolence occurs in your surroundings you cannot beat around the bush
any&ore and say: ,that is none of &y concern.. The fact alone that it is ha%%ening in your
surroundings, &eans that you are an acco&%lice.
'hat should you do when you see it in your surroundingsH
You should use your co&&on sense, and try to deal with:har&oniIe:talk:con#ince. +o
so&ething. The least you should do is to do so&ething.

'hat if that does not hel%H
Then at least you did what you could, and you ha#e build e(%erience. 5aybe you e#en lose
your life, but it is for charityG So you always win. Ftherwise you will be branded, and you
will recei#e &ore Ear&a, which you will ha#e to burn again later on. It is better to try to do
so&ething about the situation now.
02!
It is like the girl fro& <ulde: the &other is e*ually guilty to her death as the &an who killed
her. She did nothing to hel% her.
Yes.
The causes behind the dishar&onies are also indicated in the Sutra: Nreed, wrath and delusion.
Those are the 2 &ain causes of %roble&s. Nreed, wrath and delusion =so %eo%le i&agine
so&ething, and think that that is it, causing gigantic %roble&s because of it>. A #ery nice
analysis. If you really want to sol#e so&ething, you ha#e to know the &oti#e behind it, and
what the cause is. If the cause is greed, you &ust try to re&o#e it, otherwise it will co&e back.
If the cause of the %roble& is wrath:anger, you &ust address that: ,:hy are you so angryH You
co&&itted &urderJ. Fur jurisdiction is saying: ,'ell, you are a &urderer, because you ha#e
killed. FkayG. )ow &any years do they get in )ollandH 4 years, ehH This is a #ery chea%
country when it co&es down to that. It is like as if they sti&ulate you to kill. 9ut that is not the
%roble&. The %roble& is that the judge does not ask: ,'hy did you do itH. And when the killer
re%lies: ,I was angry., then the judge should say: ,@ets deal with that anger, and see what is
the cause of it, and how we can re&edy it, and then design the treat&ent to deal with that
anger.. And you release this %erson only back into society if he indicates that he is not angry
any&oreJ That is an a%%roachJ Dery dee%.
+elusion is the &ost difficult of all. ,Yes, but I thought it was like this G. ,In &y o%inion it
should be done in this way G. And that is why an enor&ous dishar&ony occurs. 6ducation
then beco&es i&%ortant, to re&o#e %eo%les erroneous ideas. Structure, %urity and truthfulness
ha#e to be %racticed here. 'ell, we are going to be #ery busy here, with a work that is already
thousands of years old. It is %ossible indeed that wed a%%ly this in our society.
And these ele&ents can be %resent in a s&all, a#erage or intense e(tent. So you can suffer fro&
bottled u% anger. You can ha#e a latent anger. You can ha#e an e(%ressed anger. ?or e(a&%le:
one and a half year ago 5oroccan youths terroriIed the theatres. Then you could feel the latent
anger of the youths. So the right a%%roach would be: h&&, anger G whyH It has not been
e(%ressed, but it could e(%lode, any &o&ent, like a ti&e bo&b. And it is ha%%ening &ore and
&ore, ehH
9ut anger can be latent without being a ti&e bo&b. 5aybe it will ne#er co&e to an e(%losion.
That is also a %ossibilityM that it continues to si&&er. 9ut &aybe that is e#en more dangerous,
when you hardly notice its %resence but that it continues to grow.
Yes, but there are %eo%le whod rather kee% things inside, without e(%loding.
Then you ha#e to dig: thera%y, and gi#e those %eo%le an o%%ortunity to s%eak out.
+o you like this SutraH It is a co&%lete %rogra& on its ownJ 'ncredible. Those %eo%le in these
ancient ti&es created for&ulas, ehH It is really &athe&atical. 'ell, you are busy all day long to
unra#el itJ
081
So, we ha#e Ya&as and <iya&as. 'e also ha#e the &ethod of using o%%osites. And we ha#e
the reach.
If you ha#e understood all this, you ha#e no other choice than to li#e a #irtuous life. There is
no other way than to honor the Ya&as and the <iya&as. And Yoga is so sweet, for it says:
,There are no obligations. You are free. $se this as a suggestion, a source of ins%iration. $se
this as a fra&ework with which you can de#elo% yourself..
In Sutra 28 ,Ditarka. =the sa&e word as in Ditarka Sa&adhi> is translated into ,i&%ro%er
thoughts and e&otions.. 'hy is thatH
Ditarka Sa&adhi is &i(ed. It is a &i(ed Sa&adhi. The word is the sa&e, and indeed it is
correct. It is a &i( of Satt#a, Aajas and Ta&as.
Yes, but it see&s that it is being %ut in a negati#e light here.
Yes, indeed, in this fra&ework it is really negati#e. 9ut when you take Ditarka Sa&adhi, it is a
Sa&adhi in which &i(ed #ibrations are %resent: Satt#a3, Aajas,3 and Ta&as3#ibrations.
9ut what would you do with those 5oroccan youthsH 'ould you take a chair and sit down and
talk with the&H
'ell, first and fore&ost I would try to do so&ething about this as a go#ern&ent. The least that
can be done is to show a &ini&u& of interest in the %roble& of the youth. 'hat is it that they
want: 'hat are they e(%eriencingH 'hat are their %roble&sH Is anyone aware of thisH <o,
nobody knows about it. There is no one in this country who understands the %roble& of an
u%rooted %erson. +o you know what that &eans, u%rootedH It &eans that you are cut loose
fro& your basis. Those %eo%le ha#e no basis any&ore. They are neither 5usli& nor +utch.
They are hanging so&ewhere in between. They are rejected when they go back to 5orocco.
They cannot find their niche there any&ore. And when they try to be +utch here, they are also
rejected. So, what are they su%%osed to doH +o you understand thisH They are in between the
ha&&er and the an#il. 'ell, then they beco&e terrorists. And we are just as &uch to bla&e for
it.
'ould this also ha%%en in other culturesH
It happens with other cultures tooJ It ha%%ens to &e tooJ Actually, I a& a terrorist. As a
?rench3s%eaking ?le&ish I li#ed in ?landers, between the ?rench3s%eaking and the ?le&ish. I
did not belong to either one of the&. 'hen I li#ed in Africa as a ?rench s%eaker, I did not
belong to the black %eo%le either, and I also did not belong anywhere else. In )olland I a&
nothing. I a& and I will re&ain a terrorist. And that is really good. ?or I know the solution. +o
you want to know the solutionH That you gi#e &e &oneyJ... hehe... <ah, just kiddingG The
solution is integration, acce%tance and co&&unication. There has to be &utual understanding.
'hen you talk with so&eone, he si&%ly cannot kill you. You can take away fields of tension
by co&&unication.
08
Then why arent you going to teach Aaja Yoga in 'est3A&sterda&H
That is #ery well %ossible. And also in 6ast3A&sterda&, and in South3east, half of the country
G the whole world.
&,! Ahimsa Pratishtha+am 'at Samnidhau $airat+agah
Fn being fir&ly established in non3#iolence there is abandon&ent of hostility in
=his> %resence.
The Sanskrit word Ahi&sa &eans ,<on3#iolence.. ,A. &eans ,not., ,)i&sa. &eans
,#iolence..
This is the first refusal or Ya&a of a grou% of fi#e: non3#iolence, truthfulness, honesty, chastity
and non3desire. Together they can be #iewed as #ows that you e(%ress at the start of your
s%iritual de#elo%&ent. This old tradition of #ows has also been %reser#ed in /hristianity and
other s%iritual %ractices.
The idea behind the Ya&as is actually si&%le:
You refuse anything that you do not want, do not understand or do not want to think about.
In this way you create roo& for yourself to first think before you act. It enlarges your critical
%owers. You do not allow yourself to be dragged into things any&ore that you do not want.
You will do things your own way and beco&e argu&entati#e, in the first %lace against
#iolence.
'hat is #iolenceH
To be able to refuse #iolence you ha#e to know what #iolence is:
080
Diolence is disturbance, a breach. Diolence causes %ain, %hysically, e&otionally and:or
&entally. Diolence can be co&&itted against anything.
'hat is ,anything.H
In the end e#erything is energy. It &o#es:a%%ears in the *uality of a #ibration.
In the beginning, says the Sankhya %hiloso%hy, there was only 9rah&an, Nod. And 9rah&an
was energy, Prana. 'e #isualiIe this as a straight line of energy, undisturbed, eternal and
infinite.
082
As ti&e goes by a light #ibration occurs with s&all wa#es, caused by subtle desire, Dasana.
The wa#es beco&e bigger, fli% o#er, and little balls or %articles arise, called Anus in Sanskrit.
The Nreeks called the& inse%arable: ato&os, or ato&. There are big and s&all Anus that s%in
around. This is the energy that has turned into &ass. They are called Sharira or body, or
/hakra, eddy:whirl. @ong ago Aishis or seers saw this this way.
Albert 6instein for&ulated this in his relati#ity theory and world fa&ous 6K&c0, or energy ,6.
is e*ual to &ass ,&., &ulti%lied by the s*uare of the acceleration ,c.. 'ith this he %ro#es that
energy can &o#e in a straight line as well as that it can re&ain s%inning on its own for&ing
&ass. )e also indicates that you can &o#e fro& one condition into the other. And re&arkably,
that is e(actly what we do in Yoga: #ia %urifying e(ercises we accelerate our energy, reduce
the condensation of our being, which is also an Anu, and at last we achie#e 5oksha, liberation.
The Sankhya %hiloso%hy is the second oldest %hiloso%hy, after Yoga, of the si( %hiloso%hical
funda&ents of )induis&: Yoga, Sankhya, <yaya, Daiseshika, Pur#a&i&ansa and
$ttara&i&ansa.
It tries to e(%lain the %rinci%les of Yoga in a scientific way.
'hy should you refuse #iolenceH
088
A %erson, who has been in#ol#ed in #iolence a lot, is &arked by it and beco&es nu&b. )is
%owers of %erce%tion beco&e affected. )e beco&es an(ious. All the collisions that he
e(%erienced cause a condensation in hi&. +arkness a%%ears in that %erson, ignorance. )is
world condenses. )e is losing control, and subconsciously he is aware of that. This e(%resses
itself in different ways: in the for& of insecurity, doubt, fear or e#en in the for& of %hobia or
%anic. The &ajority of &ankind suffers fro& this. Aesearch indicates !"Q and &ore.
So #iolence is a disturbance or breach in energy. 6nergy can be #isualiIed as an undulating
flow. You can see #iolence as so&ething that is caused by a coil or a Dritti that collides with
this wa#e or #ibration and &akes a dent in it. This dent causes a change in the course of the
energyM the energy #ibration starts to wa#e &ore strongly, %roduces loo%s:energy balls *uicker
and thoroughly disru%ts the original straight lined energy strea&.
/o&&itting #iolence is like throwing a %ebble into the water: ri%%les occur that s%read all the
way out to the borders of the water and then return back to the %lace where the %ebble hit the
water. That is also how #iolence beha#es: it always co&es back to you. 6#erything you do
always co&es back to you.
'hat we do in Yoga is to a#oid incurring dents and re&o#ing of the dents that you ha#e
already incurred. To a#oid inciting others to #iolence is also %art of the %ractice of non3
#iolence.
)ow do you act when you co&e across #iolenceH
The 9ible says: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This &eans that when so&ebody hits
you, you i&&ediately hit hi& back. You res%ond with the sa&e kind of force. +o not res%ond
with &ore force, because then you %ut the s%iral of #iolence in &otion. If you hit back
i&&ediately, with the sa&e force, it is not #iolence. 'hen you wait, you are too late and you
%roduce another breach, co&&itting #iolence.
In this way you learn to deal with #iolence, to beco&e one with #iolence. You learn to
accurately dose and %re%are yourself for the ad#anced stage of non3#iolence: 'hen you get hit,
turn the other cheek. This is a considerable ste% forward, in which you try to %rocess the hit
that you recei#ed as infor&ation about the %erson that hit you: you try to feel the %erson and
08"
his %roble&s. Then, when you continue to ,weld. his energy breaches or influence the& with
lo#e, so&ething essential will change in that %erson. Fnly then you turn the other cheek.
9ecause of the sy&%athy that arises he will not be able to hit you any longer.
This trick works according to the three transfor&ations or Parina&as of Patanjali: Sa&adhi3,
6kagrata3 and <irodha Parina&a: No along in the #ibration, beco&e one with the situation,
sense the situation, continue to e&%athiIe, shout back if necessary, and continue to follow it. If
you want to go directly into another direction, you ha#e &issed the contact and your atte&%t
will be futileM you break so&ething. 'hen you sense that you ha#e the situation under control,
you transfor& in the direction of &itigation. So you slowly reconcile. 9ecause you first
beca&e one with the #iolence you were able to gi#e it another direction.
'o practice non#)io.ence in thoughts:
Practice e&%athy and de#elo% the art of forgi#eness.
'hen your energy flows in a straight line you will feel #ery balanced, #ery har&onious as a
result. You then beco&e #ery serene as well. As soon as your energy flows in all kinds of
awkward wa#es and coils, you will not feel so balanced any&ore and you will e(%erience u%s
and downs. These dents are called i&%ressions, Sa&skaras. The total su& of your Sa&skaras
for&s your Ear&a. A car with few scratches is attracti#e and &akes you treat it carefully. Fn
the other hand, a car full of scratches is not attracti#e and you will not be careful with it at allM a
scratch &ore or less does not &ake &uch of a difference any&ore. You treat a %erson with
little Ear&a auto&atically carefully. You treat so&eone who is soft auto&atically with
softness.
You achie#e %erfection in the %ractice of non3#iolence in thoughts when you are able to
%re#ent the feeling or the e&otional #alue of #iolence to enter your &ind. Fnly e&%athy
re&ains in you.
'o practice non#)io.ence in >ords:
You can %ractice non3#iolence in words in #arious ways. ?irst and fore&ost %ay attention to
how often you raise your #oice, shout, and call others all kinds of ugly things. @ook at how
easily you accuse or curse so&eone if he does not do things e(actly the way you like it. 'hen
was the last ti&e that you were angry and *uarreledH +id you e#er ad#ise so&ebody to hurt
so&eone elseH
The &ethods to get rid of these bad habits are: learn to s%eak softly and sweetly, without being
hy%ocrite or wanting to threaten the otherM learn to be silent as &uch and often as %ossible,
de%ending on your own ca%acities and the circu&stances.
+o not forget the fact that a wound caused by force of ar&s can heal with ti&e, but a wound
caused by a cou%le of bitter words can be felt until the end of ti&e. )ow &any %eo%le co&&it
suicide as a result of a #iolent argu&entH
'o practice non#)io.ence in deeds:
084
<on3#iolence in deeds &eans not killing.
'e kill out of self3interest. This can ha%%en in different ways: you can kill an ani&al because
you are hungry, you can kill ani&als as a &atter of s%orts, or you can kill so&eone to defend
yourself.
The great wise 5anu says about this =5anu D, 8">: ,)e who kills other beings, that are not
#iolent, out of selfish enjoy&ent, will not find ha%%iness in this life, nor in the life after this..
And he said also =5anu D, ">: ,6ight kinds of &urderers e(ist: those who a%%ro#e of killing,
cut of %arts of the body, take the life of a %hysical body, buy or sell &eat, cook &eat, ser#e and
eat it..
)ow do you deal with thisH
@o#e e#erything that surrounds you. AealiIe that you are %art of the whole. ?eel that so&eone
elses %ain is also your %ain. Aes%ect life and the beings around you.
A child does not want to slee%. 'hat do you doH
You go to the child, &ake contact with it and try to find out why it does not want to slee%. Try
to beco&e one with the child and with what it feels. Then try to gi#e the childs feeling a twist
in order to enable it to slee%. A child that is not tired cannot slee% and is in its right to %rotest.
You just returned fro& a funeral and you are in sad &ood. You walk into a %ub where
incidentally a big %arty is taking %lace. If you bring your sadness inside with you and disru%t
the %arty, you co&&it #iolence. 6ither you %ut your sadness aside and res%ect the at&os%here
as it is, or you lea#e and find yourself a *uieter %ub.
6#ery rule is a for& of #iolence. @aws are %ure #iolence when you literally li#e u% to the&.
@aws are &eant as reco&&endations, thats all. @i#e u% to the s%irit of the law. If you hate
laws you are healthy. Aules are o#er#alued because of fear. Ahi&sa is not a rule but a
reco&&endation, a guideline, an e(%lanation, an aide. It is not a dog&a, for there is no good
and no e#il. So&eti&es it can e#en be good to cause a breach. 9ecause of the refusal you learn
to decide for yourself whether you want to cause a breach or not. So&eti&es you need to
thoroughly shake3u% so&eone with the hel% of a little bit of #iolence.
Nandhi co&&itted #iolence when he %roclai&ed a general strike against the 6nglish coloniIer.
This was a #ery %ainful e(%erience and the reaction was accordingly: a terrible s%iral of
#iolence occurred. Pursuing %eace should not be done in such a brutal way, but should be done
in a dyna&ic, %owerful and constructi#e way.
The +alai @a&a too co&&itted indirect #iolence when he ordered his %eo%le to surrender to
the /hinese. )e should ha#e ad#ised the& to be disobedient. )is &istake has led to the
e(tinction of the Tibetans. $nfortunately he still does not understand this.
08C
Fften you ha#e to fight when you stand u% for your rights. /onstantly you ha#e to &ake it
clear that you do not acce%t it, but it should ne#er lead to &ore #iolence. An e(a&%le of this
was the resistance during the war: +o not let the& walk o#er you, and resist the occu%iers. 9ut
when retaliation is too se#ere, you &ust be e(tra careful, sto% your resistance and then follow
another a%%roach. Try to be o%en to let the energy of the cos&os flow freely. 'hen you close a
door, you are %owerless.
Try to sense %eo%le, try to understand the& and de#elo% lo#e for the&. 9e soft, in e#erything
you do. +o not clu&% down the stairs, instead ti%toe down. Treat nature in its entirety with
res%ect and try to feel one with e#erything. Peo%le who feel alone ha#e co&&itted #iolence.
They ha#e beco&e estranged fro& the rest of the world caused by breaches in the #ibrations.
The solution for loneliness thus is to be soft. So it really %ays back to be non3#iolent: you will
ne#er be alone any&ore, you will feel unity between you and the world around you.
9e non3#iolent to yourself too, be your own friend. Ae%air breaches with lo#e.
Practice %atience and tolerance whene#er you are confronted with #iolence. 9eware of
i&%ulsi#e reactions on your side.
You recogniIe the real Yogi by his correct %ractice of non3#iolence.
The ulti&ate test of Ahi&sa is the test of the tiger. To do this you &ust go to a country with
tigers.
'hen there is no #iolence in you any&ore =fear is a result of #iolence>, the tiger will not har&
you. You can o#erco&e your fear for the tiger by addressing it *uietly. The %roble& howe#er
is that you get only one chance to try this outJ
'hat does it &ean to be fir&ly established in non3#iolenceH
It &eans that you ha#e integrated non3#iolence co&%letely into your being and in your life. It
&eans that you ha#e become non3#iolence. 9ut not only that: it also &eans that you see the
world and the order of the uni#erse in the condition of non3#iolenceM as being non3#iolence.
There si&%ly is no #iolence in the strea&s of energy in the uni#erse, at least originally, ehH
6#erything nicely flows alongside each other. 6#en water in a ri#er or the ocean does not cause
trouble: when there are obstacles, the water flows around it. So that is the non3#iolence as you
see it in life, and that is how you will beco&e. So, you deal with the obstacles, the %eo%le L
e#en the angry %eo%le L around you in a #ery tactful, soft and di%lo&atic way. That is what you
ha#e beco&e by nature. There is no notion inside you any&ore that says: %unch, and another
087
%unchG it all beco&es so soft. 6#erything is flowing. It will influence all your surroundings
fro& the causal body:fro& your soul. You will e*ualiIe all hostility:all dishar&onies:all
affections of those beautiful, flowing lines. So e#erybody in your surroundings will beco&e
soft, but they do not realiIe what causes it.
'ell, then you are ready for the test with the tiger. 9ut eh, better try3out first, ehH Start with a
cat, and then slowly build it u%. 6#entually you will reach the tiger, if by chance there are still
so&e tigers left by then.
It is a #ery ad#anced art to achie#e this le#el. +o you re&e&ber how we e(%lained thisH )ow
do you achie#e non3#iolenceH 'hat was the a%%roachH
The stage of an3eye3for3an3eye, a3tooth3for3a3tooth is a training stage. )ow do you do that with
#iolenceH 'hat is #iolence actually, and how do you dose it e(actlyH It is i&%ortant to get
fa&iliar with the %roble&. You &ust #ery accurately try to realiIe what it actually contains.
Fnce you ha#e understood that thoroughly, the %rinci%le of an3eye3for3an3eye, a3tooth3for3a3
tooth, you can start with transfor&ations, which is the use of Sa&ya&a: concentration,
&editation and conte&%lation. Besus e(%lained it in the following way: you are hit on one
cheek, and you are ca%able of turning the aggressor the other cheek. 9ut you do it in such way,
that he is not able any&ore to hit you on the other cheek. At that &o&ent you are not %assi#ely
in#ol#ed. In the first stage you recei#e the hit on your cheek. You register this. You see
through all the #ariables and %ara&eters. You see through the energies and dishar&ony of the
aggressor. Then, before he can gi#e you a second hit, you consider this, and you influence his
%roble&s with your har&ony, thus transfor&ing his dishar&ony into har&ony.
To go through the abo#e you use the Parina&as, the transfor&ations: <irodha Parina&a,
6kagrata Parina&a and Sa&adhi Parina&a. 'e ha#ent seen this yet: they are the 2
transfor&ations. The first transfor&ation:Parina&a is Sa&adhi Parina&a. It is the sa&e word
as in Sa&adhi, which is a condition of higher consciousness. It is the sensing L gradually L of
the focus of what is ha%%ening, the reducing of all the circu&stances to the focus. So your
attention shifts &ore and &ore to the aggressor or the aggression, and all the rest disa%%ears.
Aoughly translated 6kagrata &eans ,one3%ointed.. You beco&e one with the dishar&ony to
better understand hi&. You go along in the dishar&ony. You go along in the %roble&atic issue.
Then, when you sense the *ualities:characteristics of the dishar&ony well enough, because you
beca&e one with the& =when you feel that you are able to, at will, do so&ething with it, bend it
either to the right or to the left> L only then the transfor&ation will occur. This is <irodha
Parina&a. 'e will discuss this subject thoroughly in future classes.
This is what you do with your Sa&ya&a to e#entually turn the #iolence. Ff course, if you first
ha#e to start thin!ing in such a situation, and this tiger is co&ing towards youG he will not
ha#e the %atience to wait, ehH To sol#e this %roble& the thought is too slow, too sluggish. At
this %oint it &ust be integrated in you to such an e(tent that your life is built u%on the basis of
the Parina&as, and that you control e#erything with it.
08!
Fkay, but now you want to know whether you are good at itH So, you call hi& =the tiger> first.
If not then I will call hi& for you. You tell hi& that you are ready with non3#iolence, okay, G
=whistle >G Fr I will acco&%any you to the Ioo and will see to it that the door o%ens. I will %ut
you inside, while I will stay outside G he he G Those tigers are such beautiful ani&als G out
of sightJ G
&0! Sat+a Pratishtha+am -ri+a Pha.asra+at)am
Fn being fir&ly established in truthfulness fruit =of action> rests in action =of the
0ogi> only.
In the e#ent of #iolence there is a breach in the #ibration. In the e#ent of untruthfulness or lie
the energies do not connect: you are at different wa#elengths:
The definition of Satya is ,lo#e for the truth.. Satya is refusing of lies. Satya &eans to stand
for the truth for the good. )owe#er, to tell so&eone the truth s*uarely can be #iolence.
)ow do you know what the truth isH Your truth is not always so&eone elses truth. Ni#e
yourself the benefit of the doubt: you are right until so&ebody else can %ro#e you wrong.
+eter&ine your truth and stand for it. That is how it is for you, and not otherwise. This is what
you stri#e for and what you stand for. +eter&ine your %osition. A lot of courage is needed to
do this. A lot of courage is needed to not %artici%ate any&ore in all kinds of lies.
@et us take birthday %arties for an e(a&%le: You are su%%osed to be ha%%y. 6#erybody co&es
to congratulate you, but &ost of the& do not wish to see you being ha%%y: it is only for&alM
they talk with you, but they are not really %resentM they gi#e you a %resent, but actually it is
nothing &ore than a for&alityM they laugh, while theyd rather cryM howe#er, the at&os%here
gets started once they can gossi%, talk about their desires, like #acation, new sofa, wo&en =for
the &en>, and &en =for the wo&en>, carsG
0"1
Are you able to benefit fro& this and &ake so&ething nice out of itH
If you doubt %er%etually and ne#er achie#e anything because of it, there is nothing for you to
learn. 'hen you stand for so&ething, there is the risk of failure, but you learn fro& that. In that
case you say: ,Fkay, so it was not the truth..
9ut go on, and dare. Success in life is for %eo%le with courage.
In sha%ing your own truth you always try to trust your intuition and your feeling. If you ha#e
so&e kind of a bitter feeling with so&ething, so&ething is not right. Strong3willed3ness is a
building block. You learn fro& bu&%ing your nose into so&ething. Ff course you take a risk,
but you ha#e got to start so&ewhere, dont youH That is how you de#elo% security.
The following sche&e can gi#e you so&e hold3on in deter&ining your truth.
=+ing in thoughts:
+elusions, like ,I will not die., ,I will not age., ,the world re#ol#es around &e., ,if I had
&ore ti&e, I would be able to acco&%lish &ore., ,e#erything I do, I do wrong., ,I a& ugly., is
a &atter of being i&%risoned in a thought and li#ing in accordance with it.
'hen you create a delusion and li#e in accordance with it, you neglect your own %ersonality.
'hat you are doing is unreal. ?or e(a&%le: let a wo&an %ush a baby buggy and i&&ediately
she loses her own identity, %retending to be a &u&.
Prejudice, like ,5en are of &ore #alue than wo&en., ,A handica%%ed %erson is %itiful.,
,Peo%le %racticing Yoga are a little bit craIy.G
+iscri&ination, like ,'hite %eo%le are su%erior to black %eo%le., ,Turkish %eo%le are dirty.G
6(%ectations, like ,I will beco&e ha%%y with this &an., Fne day so&ebody will co&e along
and &ake &e ha%%y., ,I will &ake hi& sto% s&oking.G
)abits G
=+ing in >ords:
To tell half3truths.
0"
To tell %leasant untruths to get so&ething done.
Twisting of the truth, telling grand stories, saying ,yes. while you &ean ,no., to sa#e the
%eace, ,I cannot hel% it., ,better not to tell.G
6(aggeration, ,It was so se#ere., ,So big.G
Fne3sidedness, co&&ercials and the news, sales&en G
Slander, to &ake so&eone look black out of en#y or jealousy, gossi% G
9elittling, refusal to acce%t the truth, e(tenuate the reality G
+ece%tion G
@ies G
+ri#eling, asking *uestions while you are not interested at all, kee%ing con#ersation going G
Insinuation G
S%eaking #aguely, not doing any effort to articulate clearly.
=+ing in deeds:
Ignoring, %laying du&b, acting as innocent as a new3born baby, acting as if you dont know
anything about what ha%%ened.
To err, forget, not kee%ing of agree&ents G
0"0
+oing things against your will, doing things because you are su%%osed to G
To ha#e an attitude in a certain co&%any, go around with a false i&age, %retend to be a director
walking around with your briefcase while it is only containing your lunchbo(G
To follow fashion G
'hat solutions are there for all these kinds of liesH
'ruthfu.ness in thoughts:
+e#elo% your intuition, follow your feelings. If so&ething gi#es you a strange feeling,
so&ething is not right. @et your %ri&ordial instincts function again and listen to your feelings.
Intuition &eans to be able to re&ain yourself, regardless of all the dece%ti#e layers, not doing
things auto&atically. So, continue to e(%eri&ent.
Ado%t an attitude of agility, which is better than a critical attitude, because criticis& is deadly
and denies a hu&an e#ery de#elo%&ent. It is said that criticis& is like accusing Nod of
inco&%etence. 9y taking on an attitude of agility, on the other hand, you de#elo% the %ower of
discri&ination: you do not ,buy. things any&ore.
6li&inating habits gi#es you a sense of security and clarity. 6#erything beco&es realer.
AealiIe for e(a&%le that following fashion often ha%%ens out of ignorance. 9ecause of it you
introduce a li&itationM you block your way to look further. )abits &ake you lose your gri% on
reality.
'ruthfu.ness in >ords:
Telling the truth tactfully, to tell the truth s*uarely, bluntly, can be #iolence. Always use tact,
lo#e and softness.
Pro#ide full infor&ation, look at things fro& all %oints of #iew, gi#e understandable
infor&ation.
6ncourage&ent, encourage %eo%le to do things right.
Silence, s%eak only when you ha#e so&ething to say.
Acknowledge your &istakes, correct your lies.
6(%ress doubt in reaction to one3sidedness and twisting of the truth. It buys you #aluable ti&e
that can hel% you.
Humor helps to put things into perspective.
0"2
'ruthfu.ness in deeds:
9e s%ontaneous, li#e fro& your heart and be fle(ible.
@i#e with hu&or, laugh at yourself, &ock yourself and do not take yourself too serious.
You are who you are, you ha#e as &uch #alue as the %resident:director, dare to be who you are.
Slee% when you are slee%y, eat when you are hungry.
The result of truthfulness is that %eo%le will res%ect you. 'hen you s%eak, %eo%le will %ay
attention, because they know that when you say so&ething it is the truth. Peo%le will trust you
and see you as a tower of strength. Aes%ect is so&ething that you ha#e to earn. It is not
so&ething that you recei#e just like thatM you ha#e to do so&ething for it. You will beco&e
certain of yourself and it will take all your fears away. If you ha#e no e(%ectations, you cannot
be disa%%ointed. If you do not e(%ect other %eo%le to &ake your life interesting, you will ha#e
to work on it your self and not sit and wait until so&eone else is going to do it for you. Self3
confidence and res%ect will cause you to deter&ine and organiIe your life. Fthers will not li#e
your life for you any&ore when you take res%onsibility for your actions.
As you can see, the result of %racticing truthfulness is that the fruit of your action rests solely
on your action. As a conse*uence your life beco&es increasingly si&%ler when you always
stri#e to s%eak the truth. The things that you do or not do ha#e direct conse*uences. So that is
#ery efficient.
Pay attention: %racticing truthfulness re&ains a difficult thing to do, for in the end e#ery word
and e#ery i&age is a lie, because it does not fully reflect the essence of the original truth.
The %receding Sutra e(%lains the following: you &ust engage yourself in non3#iolence until all
hostility disa%%ears fro& your surrounding. That is *uite a job. It is not just: ,yes, but &y
%rinci%le in life is non3#iolence.. It is &uch &ore than that. 'hat about truthfulnessH 5y
%rinci%le is truthfulness, okay, you can say so, but how far do you goH 'hen are you readyH
That is what is interesting. +id you finish alreadyH )a#e you finished alreadyH Nosh, so &uch
ti&e has %assed since you studied this subject for the first ti&eJ You %robably forgot all. <oJ
You &ust %ut and lea#e it on the nightstandJ, together with all your other e(ercises, by the
way. This is really i&%ortant. This is really essential. You &ust be the Ya&as and the
<iya&as. If you are not, I wonder if you know what you are talking about.
So, how do you recogniIe so&eone who is truthfulH 'hen his words and the truth that he
e(%resses, bear fruit. This &eans, when there is a reaction to what he says:is:does. To %ut it
differently: in &y childhood, at the dinner table, with the fa&ily, %arents, brother, cat, dog,
canary bird G I could talk like craIy, but nobody %aid any attention. +oes this sound fa&iliarH
All the others were talking too, but nobody listened. 6#erybody was talking si&ultaneously.
And I thought: ,how is this %ossibleHJ. That is when I understood truthfulness. I e(%erienced it
in a real3life situation that I, fro& that &o&ent on, through this %ractice, was heard whene#er I
asked so&ething or s%oke. This is so&ething #ery i&%ortant in life, that when you say
0"8
so&ething, %eo%le actually listen, and that when you do so&ething, %eo%le consider you and
what you do, automatically. You do not ha#e to do anything else than being truthful.
)ow is this %ossibleH
'hen you are truthful, what you say is in a flow of energy. So it is not just a si&%le word. It is
a se*uence of a whole line of energy flows. It is a co&%lete %rocess that you e&%hasiIe. And a
deed of truthfulness is the sa&e. It is not just si&%ly so&ething. A %erson %racticing
truthfulness does not talk rubbish. 'hen he s%eaks, it is of #alue. That is why %eo%le listen.
They ha1e to consider what you do, for it has &eaning. Your thoughtsG they are curious for
the&, for they can e(actly feel this line of energy. It is a %rocess. It is not just like that. It
occurred fro& a great nu&ber of things. That is the fantastic story of truthfulness. And if you
succeed to install this in your life, it is as if e#erything beco&es easier and &ore beautiful.
9ut this &eans that Yogis will not a%%ly for a %atent so easily, because that %rocess takes too
&uch ti&e L e#en years L and then they ha#e to kee% it a secret.
That is a weakness of the syste&. @ook, if it takes too long, there is a %roble& indeed.
9ut isnt this Sutra also related to the fact that &any %eo%le feel:co&%lain about not being
taken seriousH +oes this &ean that if you want to be taken serious, you ha#e to be truthfulH
6(actly. So you know directly: that is $here to go wrong. 'hen a child says: ,nobody wants to
listen to &e., well, then you e(%lain truthfulness to the child. Proble& sol#ed.
&1! Aste+a Pratishtha+am Sar)a Ratnopasthanam
Fn being fir&ly established in honesty all kinds of ge&s %resent the&sel#es
=before the 0ogi>.
<ot stealing or Asteya =,A. K not, ,Steya. K stealing> &eans that you do not a%%ro%riate
anything without the %er&ission of the owner. You refuse to %artici%ate in theft. You stri#e for
honesty.
This is the ne(t atte&%t, suggestion, guideline, direction, wish to get a better gri% on the world
around you. Ya&as are rehabilitation techni*ues. They %ull you straight into your dee%est
funda&ents.
'hat is theftH
0""
)ow do you recogniIe theftH
The way you can recogniIe #iolence by %ain, and lies by a bitter feeling, so you can recogniIe
theft by a feeling that so&ething is not right. You feel that there is a distortion of the e(isting
#ibration. You a%%ro%riate yourself a #ibration that is not yours. You co&e to another
wa#elength, one that does not belong to you, and feels like it is not yours, as if it is alien.
So&ething that you steel will ne#er really beco&e yours. It will always continue to feel alien.
You will not feel co&fortable with it, and you will not feel at ho&e in it. Ill3gotten gains ne#er
%ros%er. You are also not careful with it. In fact you try to hide it a little bit.
<onest+ in thoughts:
)iding knowledge is theft. ?or e(a&%le the way %oliticians regularly withhold infor&ation out
of self3interest, not con#eying it to %arlia&ent. <obody has the right to hide knowledge, for
knowledge belongs to e#eryone. Secrets are all based u%on fear and desire. )owe#er,
so&eti&es sharing of knowledge can lead to #iolence. ?or e(a&%le when you tell so&ething to
so&eone who is not ready for it yet, when it does not &atch with his wa#elength. S%iritual
knowledge is so&ething that has to be earned: you ha#e to be ready for it.
Enowledge can also be stolen. 'hen so&ebody has in#ented so&ething he has no right to hide
this knowledge. )owe#er, if he a%%lies for a %atent you do ha#e to %ay hi& for this knowledge.
You are not allowed to si&%ly use this knowledge for yourself. It is a &atter of ,you scratch
&y back and I will scratch yours., so knowledge also has to be bought, unless the in#entor
si&%ly releases it. If large co&%anies would e(change their knowledge a&ong the&sel#es
techni*ue would ha#e already %rogressed &uch &ore. <ow we are in a situation in which they
are all behind closed doors trying to re3in#ent the wheel.
9eing dishonest to yourself. 'hen you do not want to acknowledge certain things, when you
do not listen to your heart, you steel fro& yourself. You deny yourself the %ossibility to sol#e
%roble&s, to de#elo% yourself, and to be ha%%y.
0"4
To fantasiIe about so&eone is theft. You engross that %erson on astral or &ental le#el. 'hen
you beco&e &ore sensiti#e you will notice what i&%act it has when so&ebody thinks about
you #ery strongly.
To steel your neighbors wife in thought, is also a fre*uently recurring %heno&enon that we
take #ery lightly. )owe#er, it is theft and it causes dishar&ony with the %er%etrator as well as
with the #icti&.
<onest+ in >ords:
6#ading of a *uestion. If you do not answer a *uestion, you steel the answer fro& the %erson
who is asking, for he has a right to an answer as a result of the law of Ear&a: the law of action
and reaction. ?or e(a&%le, so&ebody asks his %artner: ,'hat is wrongH. The %artner answers:
,<othing.. This is a lie, in the first %lace because there is always so&ething. Additionally it is
also theft, to you as well as towards the other. Secrets only e(ist to decei#e, to &aintain the
ego, out of desire and out of fear. +are to be honest. )owe#er, asking certain *uestions can
also result in #iolence if it &eans that you hurt so&eone with it. 9ut #alues and standards are
also lies.
'hen so&ebody asks you a *uestion but you ha#e the feeling that he is only testing you, trying
to &ake things difficult for you or that he is not genuinely interested, you answer hi&, but you
also teach hi& a lesson.
+are to s%eak out and say that you feel lousy. 9ut, watch out, those who %lay at bowls &ust
look out for rubbers =when you throw a ball against a wall it will bounce back>.
<onest+ in deeds:
To %ut a clai& on so&eone elses ti&e without %er&ission. ?inishing the lesson too late. To
call so&eone and tell a long story without asking whether your call is con#enient at that
s%ecific ti&e. Disiting so&ebody without asking whether your #isit is con#enient at that ti&e.
Fn the other hand, when so&ebody does this to you and you do not co&&ent on it, you steel
fro& yourself, or rather you ha#e beco&e an accessory to theft on yourself. 'hen so&ebody
calls you while you are ha#ing dinner and you do not co&&ent on it, you rob yourself fro& a
war& &eal. 9etter to ask the& if they do not &ind to call back later.
A%%ro%riation of so&eones goods without %er&ission.
Intruding within so&eones %ri#ate s%ace:roo& without %er&ission.
To o%en so&eones &ail, to snoo% about in so&eones drawers.
/o%ying of brand3articles, logos, state&ents and so on.
Trying3on a fur coat while knowing that you are not going to buy it.
0"C
/o%ying of &usic, books and so forth.
/o%ying during tests.
To ask too high a %rice for goods or ser#ices. Dery high %rices are often de&anded es%ecially
for s%iritual affairs. This is %ure theft. It is %ure desire on the %art of the author and
conse*uently a %roof of his lack of s%irituality. 9ad *uality in any case. The &ore e(%ensi#e a
course, the &ore dishonest the teacher.
Sectarianis&. As soon as you dissociate yourself fro& the world and only allow entrance under
certain conditions, you steel. It &eans that you ha#e so&ething to hide.
9ribery:corru%tion.
To deny so&ething to so&ebody in need, while ha#ing %lenty yourself.
@ibraries are a for& of institutionaliIed theft, because they s%read authors books without their
%er&ission.
Public trans%ort is also theft, because the %rice of the ticket co#ers a &ere "1 to C1Q of the cost
%rice. The re&ainder has to be co#ered by ta(es, which ha#e to be %aid by %eo%le who
generally do not agree to the height of their ta( burden. In that case those %eo%le are #icti& of
theft.
To double3%ark your car.
'hen you do not steal any&ore you will not be robbed any&ore. 9ut first you will ha#e to %ay
back for all that you ha#e stolen before. Noods that belong to you also carry your #ibration
with the&: it belongs to you. 'hen so&ething feels har&onious you will not steal it so easily.
A thief instincti#ely steals things that do not feel #ery har&onious.
'hen you do not steal, %eo%le will trust you and you will be successful. /heats ne#er %ros%er.
Peo%le who gather wealth in a dishonest way always lose it again *uickly.
You can recogniIe %eo%le who earn their &oney in an honest way by their elegance, dignity
and their high &orality. Those %eo%le often li#e a secluded life and kee% *uiet about their
wealth.
In a good co&%any %ro&otion is granted to honest %eo%le and not to the cunning ones. If it
a%%ears that the co&%any you work in %ro&otes dishonest %eo%le, you ha#e to get out of there
as soon as %ossible. /hances are that there are only few good co&%anies.
@ook around you carefully, and see who achie#es &ost in li#e, who is ha%%iest and who is
healthiest. It is the %eo%le with high &oral standards.
0"7
)onesty results in wealth, first s%iritually, then &aterially. All good Yoga teachers dri#e a
Aolls Aoyce, he he G I dri#e a /itroen T53ty%e &yself, so I a& not that good &yself yet.
Take that as a starting %oint.
Patanjali says in this 2C
th
Sutra:
,Fn being fir&ly established in honesty all kinds of ge&s %resent the&sel#es =before the
0ogi>..
)owe#er, ,ge&s. is not e(actly what is written in the original Sanskrit te(t, it is a &ere
addition of the author. The Sanskrit te(t says: ,%recious.. 'hen nothing follows an adjecti#e it
is best to add ,things. to it: ,Precious things. in this case, which could be anything. And all
%recious things that co&e u%: well, in &y e(%erience that is, in daily language, that they ,co&e
falling fro& the sky..
I recei#ed a %hone call today fro& a student: ,Please, gi#e &e your bank account nu&berH I
re&itted &oney to s%onsor your tri% to 5adrid. )owe#er, the &oney was returned because the
account nu&ber was wrong.. It just falls fro& the sky. +id I do anything to cause thisH <o,
nothing at all. It is the result of honesty. 'hy is it the result of honestyH 9ecause in honesty
you return to the e&%eror what belongs to the e&%eror, e(%lained Besus so wonderfully. You
further the energy in line of the fluctuation of the energy. You res%ect any course of the energy.
You na&e, you describe, and you say: ,@ook, that is this energy flow, and that is the other, this
is &ine and that is yours G. And you absolutely cannot transfor& it. So you do not try to
a%%ro%riate it:&ani%ulate it to your own liking. 'hen you say for e(a&%le: ,@ook, what I a&
telling you now G %art of it is fro& the book RScience of Soul, and I use a s&all %art of
Tai&ni, and the &ain %art I ha#e fro& &yself, recei#ed in #isions and so on G then you &ake
full use of those energy strea&s, which originate fro& those authors.
There are websites on the Internet fro& students who graduated fro& this school, who say: ,I
had a Aaja Yoga training., but they do not &ention where and who taught the&. 'ell, that is
theft. +o you understandH So they do &ention that they had the training, but they do not
&ention e(actly this and that. I do not need %ublicity, you know, but it is this flow of energy
that is so i&%ortant. You ha#e to be honestM it is as si&%le as that. And when so&ebody has
gi#en you so&ething, well, then you just say: ,I got this fro& hi&.. It is only correct to do this.
You do not ha#e to &ention his %hone nu&ber, just his na&e. 9ut %eo%le are so strange: they
distort things. And they try to look better through it. Then they say: ,'ell, I did recei#e
so&ething now and then, but take a good look at &e, for I did it all on &y ownJ. 'ell, that is
%ossible too, but if it is not the case:or doubtful, you can i&&ediately feel: so&ething is not
right here. This guy %robably got his wisdo& there and then got into a dis%ute or so&ething
wrong ha%%ened, but he does not want tell all about it. This is not right. And e#entually it will
turn against you, because %eo%le can feel it, and they will feel distrust.
0"!
)owe#er, if you are always straight, and if you, e#en when it is detri&ental to yourself, say:
,This is how it is G I did so&ething wrong G and it is like this and that and, so, that is why I
&ade a &istake., then %eo%le will say: ,Fkay, no %roble& G I can understand that. I can li#e
with that. 5y trust in you is unscathed because you are a decent guy..
Then one day so&ebody says: ,BeeIe, I ha#e 48",111 guilders that I want to in#est so&ewhere.
'hat would be the best way to let this &oney find a good destinationH You know whatH I will
buy real estate. 9ut now it has to be inhabited. 'ell, incidentally Ajita fro& the Yoga school
needs a school and a house. I will let hi& li#e in it. )e was looking for so&ething after all..
And bangJ The tele%hone rings and it is offered to &e just like that. 'hy was it offered to &eH
9ecause there is trust. Peo%le detest thie#es. The world distrusts the&. 9ut once in a while they
&eet so&ebody of who& they say: ,'e can rely on hi&.. It does not sound i&%ressi#e, does
itH It sounds so ob#ious. 'e know what we can e(%ect fro& this %erson. 9ut this is #ery rare in
the world. This is what you try to achie#e with the %ractice of honesty. It will auto&atically
take care of your needs. You will get what you wish for.
So honesty does not only &ean ,not3a%%ro%riating., but also ,gi#ing. when so&eone is
entitled to itH
'hen you set u% an enter%rise based u%on a drea&, like I ha#e done here, you create a #acuu&
in which an enor&ous a&ount of energy can strea&. )owe#er, you connect with the uni#erse.
And auto&atically #ia the %rinci%le of co&&unicating #essels, this for&, this fra&e of &ind,
this attitude, this organiIation fills u% with energy, according to the %rinci%le of honesty.
9ut you should refrain fro& &ani%ulation.
You stick to your drea&. You go for it. You do anything you can for it. 9ut you let it ha%%en.
In the first year of the 5asters Training this %rinci%le is e(tensi#ely e(%lained. It is called
'hite 5agic.
+oes this &ean that you will not be stolen any&oreH
Yes, that is certain. 9irds of a kind flock together. So you will be less and less confronted with
thie#es and so. 'ell, isnt that fineH $nless you ha#e a %reference for these kinds of %eo%le.
9ut you will indeed notice that you will get into trouble with a lot of %eo%le who do not
su%%ort these kinds of things. Peo%le who ha#e a &entality like: co&e on, be cle#er in all
%ossible ways, and hustle here and hustle there, and arrange so&ething hereG
=Ajita is telling a story of a neighbor in 5aarssenbroek who tried to %ersuade hi& to %ick u%
%lanks fro& a nearby construction site. And the story of another neighbor in Pur&erend who,
while the roads were under construction, stole a wheelbarrow full of %a#ing stones G>
And what ha%%ens when you call such a %erson to accountH They say so&ething like: ,'ell,
there are &ore than enough of the&J. That kind of &entality. In )olland we call this
,grabbing3culture..
041
&5! 4rahmacar+a Pratishtha+am )ir+a =abhah
Fn being fir&ly established in se(ual continence #igor =is> gained.
Shri Aa&ana 5aharshi answers to the *uestion ,Isnt 9rah&acarya or chastity necessary to
realiIe the SelfH. the following:
,9rah&acarya &eans to li#e in 9rah&an. It has no relation at all with celibacy. A real
9rah&acari is so&eone who li#es in 9rah&an and who finds bliss within 9rah&an, which is
identical to the Self. 'hy would he be looking for other sources of ha%%inessH It is in fact the
li#ing outside the Self that causes all &isery..
/hastity or 9rah&acarya is to feel lo#e for the 5ost )igh, the di#ine. It is the beha#ior that
leads to the 5ost )igh. It is the u%lifting of your attention to higher s%iritual #alues. It is often
translated as chastity, a translation that is *uestionable, or with abstinence, which is e#en a
bigger &isunderstanding. This has resulted in dra&atic situations in all religions and in Yoga.
It is res%onsible for the co&&on &isa%%rehension that ,se( is wrong., while it was ne#er
&eant that way. Se( is like eating, drinking and slee%ing: it is one of the &ost ele&ental
functions of a hu&an being. 'hen you i&&obiliIe or o%%ress that, you deny an i&%ortant %art
of you. 'hen you o%%ress se( you co&&it #iolence to yourself and sooner or later you will
end u% ha#ing big trouble.
?reud said: ,The basis of all actions is se( or fear..
The %ractice of Yoga causes a transfor&ation in your se(uality. The fre*uency of se(ual
intercourse reduces. 'hen you a%%ly the Ya&as and the <iya&as, the energy will strea& to
the higher /akras and you will learn to deal with se(uality #ery differently as a result. 9ut this
is not the o%%ression of se(M it is a re%ositioning of your attention.
Chastit+ in thoughts:
The 9haga#ad Nita =II, 40> says:
,)e who thinks about what delights the senses feels attracted by the&, fro& which arises a
desire, that begets wrath because of its intensity..
The big %roble& is indeed that the outside world constantly %ulls our attention to se(uality.
6#erywhere you look around you, you see se(uality. All the big co&%anies %ro&ote their
%roducts using se(uality. All the &agaIines, ad#ertise&ents, TD3%rogra&s and so, on confront
you with se(uality again and again.
'e are ad#ised not to go along with this. 9ecause se(uality is dealing with wo&en =for &en>,
Sushrut says that thinking about wo&en, s%eaking with wo&en, looking at wo&en re%eatedly,
or to be together with wo&en, leads to the desire of their %resence. All these deeds can
sti&ulate or %ro#oke the se(ual act. It is better not to go along with this when you think you
can use your ti&e &ore usefully.
04
Chastit+ in >ords:
As a %ractitioner of Yoga you had better watch your words. )ow often does a con#ersation end
u% in the subject of se(H )ow often are obscene re&arks &adeH Fr jokesH So&eti&es, in an
i&%ulse, you call out: ,You cock3suckerJ. or ,9itchJ. ?ro& now on we do not %artici%ate in
this any&ore. 'hat is the use of it anywayH These kinds of ,#erdicts. can only lead to
situations in which se(ual desire will %re#ail. 5o#ies, TD and radio often confront us with
these kinds of things. 'ell, it is #ery si&%leM we si&%ly a#oid the cine&a, TD and the radio as
&uch as %ossibleJ
Chastit+ in deeds:
The way in which we deal with se(uality in this society is horrible, to the %oint of nausea. It is
e&%ty, %urely bestial %hysical #iolence. It is a degrading situation that we ha#e co&e to acce%t
as being nor&al. Se( is full of #iolence, lies and dishonesty, while it can actually be so&ething
so %ure, so full, so beautiful and so u%lifting.
'o&en are used by &en, or let the&sel#es be used by &en. They si&%ly acce%t the fact that he
wants to do ,it. three ti&es a week, because they think it is nor&al, because they do not want
to be abnor&al, because they are afraid to lose hi&, because they do not know that there is also
another way. They find it uninteresting, but they acce%t it. 5en ha#e their orgas& with their
wife while thinking about the girls fro& Playboy &agaIine. All kinds of aides are %urchased to
arouse one another. 5adnessJ /ontrol of the se(3organs has beco&e an unworldly factor.
<e#ertheless, this is the basis of healthy se(uality and s%irituality.
'hen lo#e flows between two %eo%le, when they feel attracted to one another, then this
e(cite&ent arises naturally. 'hen this e(cite&ent is not %resent, it is not %resent, so do not try
to force it. Ask yourself the reason for the absence of e(cite&ent. 'hat is wrong, why dont
you want toH Your body is #ery honest, &uch &ore honest than you are. @isten to it. 9e honest.
,A#oid touching wo&en., says Swa&i Yogesh#arananda Saras#ati. ,A#oid e&bracing the&,
to kiss the& or to enjoy their co&%any. +o not tra#el together with the&, do not #isit a carni#al
with the&, or a %arty where wo&en are %resent, and also do not acce%t care fro& fe&ale
nurses, because this will trouble your %ractice of chastity.. Try telling this to the Association
for Se(ual Aefor&J This is how &isery always starts. These acts can si&%ly be regarded as a
subtle fore%lay.
)ow do you deal with chastityH 9y studying a nu&ber of ele&ents and realiIe the&. In &ost
%eo%le the energy in the lowest /akras does not flow as it is su%%osed to, hence all this strange
040
beha#ior. 9rah&acarya is lo#e of the di#ine: the di#ine in one another. 9rah&acarya is the
%urification of your se(ual life fro& lies, #iolence and dishonesty. +o not continue to
%artici%ate in these lies, and %ut things right again. Ni#e &eaning to your relationshi% again.
+o interesting things with each other, fall in lo#e again, and you will see that a natural
attraction between each other will occur again.
@earn to seduce one another.
AealiIe that your %artner is re%resentati#e of 9rah&an. 5arriage is holy. +o you want se(H
Then do it rightJ 5ake it di#ine, in honor of 9rah&an. /onsider the following instructions
fro& the Tantras:
A wo&an seduces a &an with Shakti, &asculine energy, by &o#e&ent. ?e&ininity arises fro&
&asculine energy. So start &o#ing, walk on by, turn around, dance, and a &an will feel
attracted.
A &an seduces a wo&an with Shi#a, fe&inine energy. 5asculinity arises fro& fe&inine
energy. 'hen a &an is soft, s%eaks soft, caresses, is sweet, gi#es a sense of security, is
attenti#e, gi#es %resents, then a wo&an will &elt without a doubtJ 9ut when a &an acts tough,
he %uts off wo&en. )owe#er, he will get attention fro& other &en.
Aefuse to be &ani%ulated. Pay attention to the sha%e of cars, %ackaging of %roducts and so on.
They %in you down on your se(ual lust. ?or e(a&%le: The ?ord /a%ri with its long nose was
built to be sold to &en or older wo&en. I&%otent &en and needy wo&en feel a %reference for
the %hallus, the sy&bol of &asculinity.
The sha&%oo flacon fro& Pal&oli#e with the three fingers is also a hidden %ersuader. You can
find &ore of these e(a&%les in Dance Packards bestseller ,The hidden Persuaders..
Aefuse to &ani%ulate yourself by &aking certain state&ents or by &aking certain &o#e&ents
that &ake you do so&ething that you are actually not in the &ood for.
'hen you ha#e %urified your se(ual life fro& #iolence, lies and dishonesty, you can think
about doing other Tantra Yoga e(ercises that hel% you transfor& the se(ual energy to higher
/akras in order to re#i#e the&. If you would already start doing this you will end u% in a
&ess. The %owers are too great to already work with the&M you would end u% co&&itting
#iolence. It is difficult racing on a winding road, full of shar% cur#es and with a ra&shackle
car.
042
You only kiss so&eone when you really feel so&ething for that %erson. +o not kiss out of
habit, for it is a lie. And when you do it, let it beco&e an unforgettable kiss. A kiss with heart
and soul, that e#en turns saints u%side down. If you cannot control it, study the subject of your
i&%urity =&agaIine, se( book, &o#ie> accurately and co&e back to the reality by the %ower of
your &ind. /o&%are, &ake the best choice, calculate, these all can hel% to bring a se(3addict
back to the reality.
In Yoga you do not de%end on each other, for that is attach&ent, so&ething that is often
confused with lo#e.
You can also deal with food as an e(ercise in chastity: eat es%ecially easily digestible and
nutritious food. S%icy foods and hea#ily digestible foods are better to be a#oided, for they can
cause wet drea&s.
The benefit of chastity is considerably increased %ower, originating fro& the lower desires,
then subli&ated to higher le#els of consciousness. The trick is to transfor& the lower energies
to higher ones, and certainly not to o%%ress the lower energies, as is often the case.
Therefore, the %rinci%le of celibacy, as adhered to by the /hurch, is actually %ure #iolence.
Fnce in Palestine, Besus %reached the abo#e, original %rinci%le of chastity, beautifully, %ure and
ele#ated. )owe#er, the /hurch fathers in the first council of /onstantino%le ca&e to the
conclusion that se( was their fore&ost ene&y. 'hen you are unable to deal with a %roble&,
isnt the easiest solution to denounce itH Thus this has beco&e a sad habit of the church in the
following centuries. Ti&e usually results in rigidity and the &ost beautiful things can turn into
horrible &onsters, &aking &any %eo%le unha%%y. 9ut fro& now on we will %ut things right
again by going back to the source fro& which Besus drew: Yoga.
It is rather difficult to understand this Sutra, but it is e#en &ore difficult to %ut it into %ractice.
Se(ual abstinence is translated into chastity, which is also not accurate. Then what is the right
inter%retation of 9rah&acaryaH /are for the di#ine. Always ensure that you are aware of the
di#ine when you are in a relationshi%. So, when you see a really attracti#e %erson, you do not
let your tongue hang down to your knees, but instead you say: ,Nosh, what a beautiful
creatures Fur +ear @ord created.. That is 9rah&acarya. So you in#ol#e Fur +ear @ord in it.
And you do that in e#erything. 'hyH This is sounding a little bit odd. 'hat will ha%%en when
you take on such an attitudeH The energy that usually re&ains stuck in the lower regions of
your body, caused by desire, can be connected with the highest #ibrations by such an attitude.
So, you ensure circulation. And because of that circulation you &aintain your har&ony. <o,
e#en better, you rein#orce your har&ony. Se(ual sti&ulation is one of the strongest
sti&ulations that we as hu&an beings know. 9ut if you can re&ain o%en, and are able to use
that accelerated Ta&as to bring energy in, well, then you will recei#e enor&ous energy. It is a
%erfect trick to get a lot of energy: 9rah&acarya.
'hen you do this, do you build a bridge between the lowest and highest /akrasH
048
To be able to do this you &ust be o%en. Initially that is not the case. I a& talking about a ste%
that is only %ossible a#ter the 7
th
ste% of Yoga, when you ha#e o%ened 9rah&arandhra. Then
you ha#e full 9rah&acarya. So it is a kind of for&ing a #acuu&: you in#ol#e Fur +ear @ord
into the &atter. Then where is )eH 'ell, in youJ
And I e(%ect to see all of you on the beach ne(t year, all sitting in a row watching %retty girls.
And %ay attention that your tongue does not hang on your knees, ehH ?or then you ha#e lost.
So, in life there is nothing neither bad nor good. The only thing that counts is the way you deal
with things that could be bad, and this trick will ensure that circulation continues and that you
will use it in a useful way. It is so&ething co&%letely different fro& celibacy, or tying u% the
belt, or %ut a knot in ,it., which is absolutely cri&inal.
&6! Aparigraha Sthair+e Janma -athamta Sambodhah
<on3%ossessi#eness being confir&ed there arises knowledge of the Rhow and
Rwherefore of e(istence.
A%arigraha &eans: ,<on3co#eting.. This is the fifth Ya&a. At the hand of this refusal we try to
get a little bit &ore gri% on our li#es. ?or often our li#es are li#ed for by our desires, dictated
by our senses. 'e cannot control it: we eat so&ething or buy so&ething before we know it. 'e
are bo&barded all day long with things that sti&ulate our desires: co&&ercial flyers, sho%
windows, s%ecial offers, *uiIIes, lotteries, s&ell of %astries or ?rench fries, and so on.
The &ore you get tra%%ed into your desires, the less you understand reality. You do not li#e in
the reality any&ore, but in your desire3addiction3fulfill&ent. This will cause the feeling that
you ha#e no control any&ore, although you do feel that so&ething is not entirely right about
the situation. An(ieties occur, which &ake insurance co&%anies thri#e #ery well. Peo%le
beco&e frustrated when they do not ha#e it.
Peo%le ask the&sel#es why they li#eM they do not see the use of li#ing and start fulfilling &ore
desires in their *uest for ha%%iness and %eace of &ind. They search and search and search
e#erything in the outside world and the fulfill&ent they find is always te&%orarily. The &ore
04"
they %ossess, the &ore worries they ha#e to kee% those %ossessions and to %rotect the& fro&
getting lost.
+esire leads to diseases. The free circulation of energy is obstructed and in this way &any
,ci#iliIation diseases. occur.
That is why you learn to <ot3desire here. This does not &ean that you are not allowed to co#et
any&ore. If you would not co#et anything any&ore, you would not do anything any&ore. 6ach
and e#ery action is caused by desire. If you do not desire, you would die. So desire is not
necessarily a bad thing, as long as you decide what you co#et. )owe#er, &any desires are
dictated by the consu&er society we li#e in, &ani%ulating us to desire and consu&e &ore and
&ore.
6#ery /akra re%resents desires:

st
: +esire for the first necessities of life, like food, slee%, shelter, safety and %hysical se(.
0
nd
: Se(ual desire, greed, jealousy, collecting things, but also drinking in general.
2
rd
: 'ill to sur#i#e, a&bition, co&bati#eness, to con*uer a %lace in society, but also need of
war&th in general.
8
th
: @o#e, hate, #ocation, ideals, higher desires, but also desire to be cuddled and caressed.
"
th
: 6(%ression, creati#ity, teaching and the need for &usic and har&onious sounds.
4
th
: 'ill, &ental desire.
C
th
: S%iritual desire.
So we are all full of desires, which is a good thing, for otherwise we would ne#er de#elo%.
9ut how do we deal with these desiresH
'hen you o%%ress desires you will slowly beco&e sick. /ancer is the result of o%%ressed
desires. In addition it is a fact that you want es%ecially those things that you are not allowed.
So ne#er forbid yourself anything. )owe#er, if you allow all desires inad#ertently, you will
end u% following yourselfM you beco&e a sla#e of your senses and of society and e#entually
that too will &ake you sick.
(esire in thoughts:
Ae%lace &ental desire by ho%e, an o%en attitude. /ontinue to focus ho%e, ho%ing that it will go
in that direction, that things will get better and you will get flushed with #ictory. 'hen you
co#et you ha#e a&bition, which results in struggle. Struggle &eans that you doubt your being.
A struggling %erson will e(%erience &isery. You &ust fight %ro%erlyJ F%en yourself u%, and do
your best to achie#e a good outco&e. 'hen you do like this, your functioning will increasingly
i&%ro#e and you will feel like as if you were li#ing in a constant flush of #ictory.
<on3co#eting &eans to go back to your co&&on sense and to your real feeling to decide for
yourself whether you really want so&ething to ha%%en or not. As soon as you are confronted
with desire, you refuse: Sto%J 'hat is going on hereH +o I really want thisH )ow &uch &oney
do I ha#e a#ailable until the end of the &onthH In this way you create roo& for yourself to
&ake your own decisions. You buy yourself ti&e to rationaliIe, to feel and to think. Fften the
044
desire will then disa%%ear naturally. If the desire %ersists you just gi#e in to it, without a fuss,
thinking: ,ne(t ti&e better..
Fften there is a hidden cause behind the desire: ,I want to ha#e a cookie. can also &ean ,I a&
ner#ous.. So&eti&es you ha#e desires that are so strong that you ha#e no control o#er the&.
Take that tin of cookies for e(a&%le, es%ecially after the first cookie. If that ha%%ens, then
continue to fulfill your desire, but re&ain aware of the fact that it is a desire and that essentially
you do not agree with it. Fne day the ti&e will co&e that you ha#e no desire any&ore, because
you see that it does not really satisfy you any&ore.
'hat you are looking for can only be found in yourself, once you sit down *uietly and look for
the answers within yourself. ?eel in your heart what you want and what is good for you. @earn
to listen to and understand yourself.
(esire in >ords:
+esire in words often e(%resses itself in dishonesty and treacherousness to acco&%lish what
you desire, for e(a&%le a higher function. 9ut you always get back what you e(%ress and you
easily lose what you did not earn honestly.
)ot te&%er or anger is also often the result of not getting what you desire, what you want. The
sa&e with whining or drawing attention. +o not talk out of desire, to let others notice that you
are %resent.
(esire in deeds:
<on3desire e(%resses itself in deeds by being satisfied, not gathering &ore than you actually
need, not %artici%ating in i&%osed desires, like e#en &ore e(%ensi#e cars, thick golden
necklaces and so on.
The &ore you %ossess, the &ore difficult you &ake it for yourself. A Yogi searches for a tree
or a ca#e and is satisfied. ?ocus on higher desires and &ake it your desire to hel% this %lanet
forward a little bit &ore.
In the !!1s in 6uro%e there was a &ilk sur%lus, a butter sur%lus, a &eat sur%lus and a sur%lus
in &anure. This is all the result of desire.
9e yourself. +o not allow others to ,%ush. you. +ecide yourself what is a real need for you. It
is a &atter of authenticity of life. Then you will widen your s%iritual ca%acity. You will re&o#e
the fear of death. +o not gi#e in to wrong thoughts. In su&&ary there is desire on &any le#els
and there is a way to deal with it effecti#ely:
/AEAA +F <FT +F
?orehead to want to ho%e
Throat to talk to be silent
04C
)eart to hate to lo#e
<a#el to fight to %lay
Sacru& to ha#e lust for to wish for
Tailbone %hysical se( total lo#e
'hen you suffer fro& desire it is good to %ractice Pratyahara =detach&ent> and +harana
=concentration> on the center of the scull to co&e back to yourself. The desire will then
disa%%ear. +esire is an astral %roble& that disturbs the functioning of Suksh&a Sharira or the
subtle body.
These essential *uestions of life will recei#e an answer because the #eil, caused by desire, is
re&o#ed and clarity will occur. This is worth trying, dont you think soH
)ow do you know when you are ready with A%arigrahaH 'hen you ha#e beco&e a gri&
rea%erH Fne who does not feel like doing anythingH Is this the criterionH It could be, but that is
not what Patanjali is saying. I think that he wants to honor the #ital %art of the hu&an being:
you &ust be able to continue to function. $% and down. 'ith e&otions. And also that you
e#entually &aintain the ga&e of desire. 9ut what is i&%ortant is that you obtain har&ony. And
when you are able to lose less and less energy due to those obstacles that are caused by desire,
if you can let go of that, when e#erything strea&s better in you, when there is &ore har&ony,
then, suddenly, clarity will arise in you. Your #ision will beco&e clearer and your &e&ory too.
You will si&%ly function better. You will e#en obtain wisdo&. And that is the understanding
of the ,how. and the ,wherefore. of e(istence.
So the &ethod to co&e to Self3realiIation, because that is what it actually is, can be reduced to
con*uering desire. You ne#er thought about it this wayH $se the desires, so that they will work
for you. @et the& hel% you. And as you %lay &ore with desire, you will increasingly
understand that in &any cases there is no need for the desires. And then you will reduce. $ntil
you will only use the& to %erfor& acts that are really necessary. ?or e#ery action cannot be but
initiated by a desire. So you &aintain the desire for an action. And when you ha#e nothing to
do, well, then you try to detach fro& that desire.
)ow about the desire for 6nlighten&ent for e(a&%leH
That is one of those actions that you chose. It is still desire, but e#entually you will detach fro&
that too.
I a& trying to tell you e#erything that I think I know. I a& trying to awake you. )owe#er,
gradually there is also a kind of shift taking %lace in &e. There is increasingly &ore silence. I
withdraw &yself &ore and &ore fro& the &aterial world. At a certain %oint you too will
e(%erience this. You &ust see to it that there are sufficient %eo%le surrounding you that con#ey
this the&sel#es, to such an e(tent that you too can withdraw yourself. Fne day I will be sitting
here, and I will do nothing at all. I will be totally detached fro& desire. I will be only in
silence. Then, here and there, a cou%le of years later, other %eo%le too will co&e to a standstill.
9ut in the &eanti&e it will beco&e increasingly &ore %owerful. 9igger and bigger. I ha#e
already ordered one: a dis%lay case, in which they can %ut &e, so they can %olish &e. And in
047
the &eanti&e so&ebody will ha#e taken o#er this %lace. And once in a while he will be
checking whether I a& not shedding any tears. Then he will ha#e no need for the 9uddha
statue any&ore. At least, that is what I hope. That is what I see in the future.
5aybe a statue at the #illage s*uare in Il%enda&H
5aybe that would be e1en betterJ
So you want to %ut &e out in the rainH I %refer a dis%lay case, with air3conditioning and so on.
Fkay, okay, I see: the future is not in good hands with you %eo%le.
A?T6AT)F$N)T
The %ro%er way to %ractice Ya&a is a %ersonal &atter. The inter%retation of what is right is
always left to you. You &ust do whate#er it is that you think is right, and not what others
%rescribe you.
+o what you feel like.
Percei#e the Ya&as as directions or aides for your life. 9y the way, in case you would
%ercei#e these Ya&as as an obligation or as dog&as, it would be in contradiction with the
%rinci%le of non3#iolence or Ahi&sa. So you ha#e to a%%ly the Ya&as relati#ely and with
co&&on sense. 'hen you do the right thing assu&ing that it was right, nature will teach you
through suffering. )owe#er, the will to do the right thing, whate#er the cost, will increasingly
clarify your insights. It will bring you to the stage in which you will be able to infallibly see
what is right.
+o not forget that Patanjali also says =Yoga Sutras II, 2>:
,These =the fi#e #ows>, not conditioned by class, %lace, ti&e or occasion and e(tending to all
stages constitute the Nreat Dow..
This additional ad#ice in the %ractice of the Ya&as can hel% you find the right a%%roach in
difficult cases, when doubt arises in you. /onsiderations regarding class, %lace, ti&e and
occasion can &ake it difficult for you to &ake the right decision.
'hat, for e(a&%le, will you do when an esca%ed %risoner %asses you by and asks you for
directionsH Fr when his %ursuers, ar&ed and trigger3ha%%y, show u% a little bit later and ask
you whether you ha#e seen a %risonerH )undreds of si&ilar *uestions will arise in your life and
so&eti&es you will doubt whether you should always actually co&%ly with those fi#e Ya&as,
or whether e(ce%tions are tolerated under certain s%ecial circu&stances. This #erse or Sutra
silences all si&ilar doubts by &aking it absolutely clear that no e(ce%tions are allowed in the
%ursuit of the Nreat Dow, as the fi#e Ya&as together are called. You can end u% in big
trouble, &aybe you will ha#e to %ay hea#ily in u%holding these #ows L &aybe e#en with your
life L but, it is not allowed, no &atter what the circu&stances, to e#er break one of these #ows
=Tai&ni>.
04!
)owe#er, %ay attention that you do not beco&e de%endant on these %rinci%les. They are there
to hel% you and not to %ut you in a new %rison. In the end, the %ur%ose of the& is to su%%ly you
with so&e handy tools to reach liberation, the goal of Yoga, *uicker. 5any %eo%le, also in the
Yoga world, ha#e beco&e stuck in the idea that these %rinci%les are absolute. 'rongJ You are
and you will re&ain your own boss. Fnly you are the judge of your thoughts, words and deeds,
and nobody could or is allowed to judge you in this. This freedo& will hel% you to take your
res%onsibilities &ore than whate#er coercion. And once, after a lot of e(%eriences, you will
deter&ine that without effort, in a %layful way, you ha#e beco&e an e(e&%lary, &oral hu&an
being, the sy&bol of which is a white horse.
/onclusion:
You a%%ly the Ya&as in a soft and relati#e way, but e#erywhere and always, whate#er the
circu&stances.
Aesult:
A drastic si&%lification of your life will take %lace. The Ya&as will clarify &any issues. You
understand &ore and &ore of the uni#ersal laws and you will li#e &ore and &ore in
accordance with the&. This will bring you into contact with the great lines of force of the
uni#erse, the will of Nod, and you will ha#e the feeling as if those forces carried you in your
daily functioning. This is an ideal basis to build on.

*7! Saucat S)anga Jugupsa Parair Asamsargah
?ro& %hysical %urity =arises> disgust for ones own body and disinclination to
co&e in %hysical contact with others.
Purity or Shaucha is the first <iya&a, the first ideal.
The Ya&as are &oral %rinci%les that can hel% you to be &ore conscious of your indi#idual
life. They are refusals that can hel% you to %ut a sto% to the whi&s of the outside world and
yourself. If you wish to de#elo% you &ust first sto% all the influences that you actually do not
agree with. It is nor&al then that you are *uite unstable. So&eti&es it &ay e#en see& as if
your life has turned into a big &ess. <othing is in the right %lace any&ore, &uch is thrown
away, there are &any *uestions and you are doing a lot of thinking, and you are searching for
new ways and &ethods in which things should be done.
That is when the ideals show u%, the <iya&as. Bust like with a house: you ha#e relocated
e#erything and now you are going to clean it and &aintain it. The <iya&as go farther than the
Ya&asM they are %er&anent %rece%ts, ideals. You a%%ly a Ya&a occasionally, incidentally,
when the situation re*uires it. The <iya&as are always in use. The Ya&as are the &o#ers,
while the <iya&as are the residents.
The <iya&as are uni#ersal lines of force that guarantee growth and success. 'hen you do
so&ething, you do it in accordance with an ideal. The %ower of the <iya&as will &ake it a
reality. <iya&as are offensi#e by nature, while the Ya&as are defensi#e. 9y using the
0C1
<iya&as you will increasingly %urify and control yourself. <iya&as are rules of conduct to
better function in society, while Ya&as are rules of conduct to beco&e a better hu&an being.
'ith the <iya&as you reorganiIe your life, set u% a new structure, in which the Ya&as are
integrated.
The first ele&ent of the new structure is Purity.
Purity can be described as being conse*uent in thoughts, words and deeds.
9eing conse*uent &eans doing what you want or think. 'hen you feel like slee%ing, you
should not continue to watch TDM you &ust go to slee%. 'hen your &other in#ites you for
dinner and you do not feel like acce%ting the in#itation, you say so and you do not #isit her.
Youd rather not study this lesson if you feel that there are other things you could do instead. If
you would do it anyway, you would %robably lie, steal and co&&it #iolence. You would not be
fully engaged, you would not be focused and you could &ake &istakes. Pay attention to what
you want, and res%ect that, for there is a reason. If you ha#e to cry, you ha#e to cry. Try to feel
why you ha#e to cry and then try to sol#e that.
It all co&es down to doing what feels good to you and what you feel like doing. 9ut %ay
attentionJ You can only a%%ly this %rinci%le when you are already e&%loying the Ya&as. The
result will be that you beco&e real. 6#erything that you think, say and do beco&es 11Q real.
Purity also &eans to be unco&%licated in thoughts, words and deeds.
Purit+ in thoughts:
/o&%licated thinking is acting troubleso&ely and causing %roble&s to yourself. ?retting and
worrying lead to di&inished #itality and resistance, and you beco&e %rone to colds, flu and so
on. It can also lead to infections. Aes%ect your own #alues. +iscard thoughts that do not &atterJ
If it is not in line with your own ideas, throw the& outJ Abandon that greed, that attach&ent,
those detri&ental needs, those weird i&%ressions of things and that delusion. 'hen you are
angry with other %eo%le because they hurt you, try to let go of this anger. If you do not do that
you will under&ine your own functioning as a hu&an being because you carry i&%urity with
you.
Ignore jealousy that co&es o#er you, and hate, desire and %ride. Ignore trau&as too, unless you
ha#e &asochistic tendenciesH 9anish all negati#e ele&ents out of your life. They really do not
hel% you forward.
This also a%%lies to feelings of guilt: lea#e the& out. You ha#e learned a lesson out of the e#ent
for this life or for the ne(t life. ?or the rest you &ight as well forget about it.
?ocus your energy on constructionJ Practice sy&%athy, justice, &odesty and %ositi#e thinking.
'ithout ,wanting., for it stands in the way of %urity. 9y ,tuning3in. you will feel how difficult
it is to &ake contact with other %eo%le. ,'anting. kee%s you fro& ,feeling. the other. 9y
&eans of sy&%athy you will disco#er your own i&%urities. You see through all odd things and
0C
gain res%ect for all beings. ?eel the soul, At&an, in e#ery being. ?iction in books is i&%ure and
artificial. Aead books which are %ure.
Purit+ in >ords:
The use of difficult words is often only &eant to i&%ress and act interestingly. It co&es forth
out of a desire for a%%reciation and attention. The &ost difficult things can be e(%lained *uite
si&%ly. You recogniIe a good teacher by his si&%le e(%lanations.
Purity in words &eans that you use si&%le, soft, sweet and co&forting words instead of hard,
hy%ocrite words. An e(a&%le of hy%ocrisy is saying one thing while acting differently. If you
ha#e a %roble& with this, it &ay be better to acknowledge that it is *uite difficult, but you
continue to try anyway. +o not be angry if there is no reason for it. +o not %ut %ressure on
so&eone by raising your #oice.
A&biguous jokes can be i&%ure. Sarcas& too is i&%ure. Instead of telling your children
fairytales, it is better to tell the& true stories, for e(a&%le fro& your own e(%eriences. Those
stories will touch their heart. 'hen you sti&ulate their fantasy they will go &ad.
Try to a#oid tears, and do not gloat o#er the&. In thera%eutic discussion grou%s the energy
turns dra&atic. So do not do thisJ Fn the other hand, do not o%%ress your sadness.
Purit+ on ph+sica. .e)e. means:
'ash yourself %ro%erly. 5ake a s%ort of your daily hygiene and &ake certain that you are
always clean. According to Patanjali disgust of your own body is the %innacle of %urity.
Indeed, when you ask 5iss 'orld whether she finds herself beautiful, you will get the answer:
,<o, I find &yself ugly.. That is because she obser#es herself in the &irror so fre*uently. She
knows e#ery i&%erfection of her body. 6#entually she is only able to see those i&%erfectionsJ
/lean clothes, a clean house, washing your windows, swee% your doorste%, e#ery %lace you go,
you lea#e behind a little bit cleaner than it was before. This gi#es a good feeling. Another aide
in %racticing the ideal of %urity is wearing white clothes.
?ast, but do it in a natural and gentle way: eat when you are hungry. 'hen you ha#e no need
for food any&ore you sto% eating instead of eating another sandwich. 9y the %ractice of Yoga
0C0
you will &ore and &ore li#e directly on energy, and you will ha#e less and less need for solid
food.
'hen you eat, eat %ure food that contains as little additi#es as %ossible and that has undergone
as little %rocessing as %ossible. 6at until the %oint that you just do not feel hungry any&ore.
)owe#er, when you are hungry, you eat. Try to learn to distinguish the difference between
hunger and a%%etite: hunger co&es fro& the sto&ach, while a%%etite co&es fro& the &outh.
So In Yoga e&%hasis is laid u%on eating little, to sti&ulate the %rocess of dealing with solid
&atter through the inner energy %rocess. The )atha Yoga Pradi%ika reco&&ends: ,?ill half of
your sto&ach with solid food, a *uarter with li*uid and lea#e the last %art o%en for the Nod
Shi#a.. This allows better circulation of Shi#a3energy.
In any case, eating too &uch is catastro%hic for the energy circulation. A%art fro& this there is
also attention in Yoga for the good and healthy *ualities of food. It is said for e(a&%le that it is
best for a Yogi to feed hi&self es%ecially with fruits =also grains, seeds, %eas G> and carrots
=also nuts and %otatoes G>, later on with &ilk, and in an e#en later stage only with water and
e#entually only with air. )ealthy and %ure food also &eans non3cooked or non3%rocessed food.
6ti*uette is also a clear e(a&%le of how not to do things. ?or it is a &ere &atter of acting3
co&%licatedly and attaching3i&%ortance3to3artificial3acts. It is a way of deri#ing security fro&
certain artificial acts.
<adi Sodhana Pranaya&a is a %owerful %urification e(ercise reco&&ended to clean u% your
energy channels. You learn this e(ercise during the 9asic course.
:hen you do things against your $ill, #atigue and #ear $ill soon arise
'nconsistency leads to #atigue4
9ecause only a %art of you is acti#ely engaged in what you are doing while another %art
re&ains %assi#e, a %roble& will arise in you that &akes you so tired. 'hen you do things that
you do not really su%%ort, you cause dishar&ony between the different layers in you. This also
ha%%ens when you forget or deny a certain %art:as%ect of yourself. 'hen you ignore the child
in you and beco&e too serious, you will see that at a certain %oint you will get stuck. At a
certain le#el in you the energy cannot flow any&ore and beco&es blocked, with the result that
you beco&e tired, listless, hea#y, sad or gray.
'nconsistency leads to #ear4
'hen you feel so&ething while not acting accordingly, you &ake yourself insecure, at a
certain %oint you do not trust yourself any&ore and you beco&e an(ious.
/hildren need a consistent u%bringing to de#elo% security:confidence. 9ut %ay attention: a
consistent u%bringing &eans that the feelings of the child are res%ected, and that it is fed with
the Ya&as and the <iya&as, and that is educated with knowledge about how things really are
and not with dog&asJ 'hen a child refuses to eat at the dinner table, then it just does not eat.
You wait until the child beco&es hungry before you feed it. Then slowly you try to work
towards a regular food3%attern. You look at what the child likes and try to ser#e that.
0C2
Purity in deeds &eans to si&%ly do what you feel and do what is good for you.
To be consistent in thoughts, words and deeds &eans that you learn to use all your bodies in
har&ony with each other.
?hat is purification@
6s%ecially in Shaucha we try to consciously burn and %urify the knots, e&otions, &e&ories of
the %ast, e#ents, trau&as and e#erything that is bothering us. Those things are called
Sa&skaras, which are i&%ressions or scratches. All Sa&skaras together are what is known as
Ear&a. Purification actually occurs during any Yoga %ractice. )owe#er, es%ecially fro& the
%ractice of +harana or concentration the effects start to beco&e significant. You will feel heat
occurring in the head as a result of the concentration. This heat is caused by the acceleration of
&ental energy, which collides with s&all i&%ressions. It is su%%osed to feel rather %leasant.
Purification is the result of this heat. It is called ,the %urification by fire..
Thanks to the %urification by fire, you will beco&e increasingly cleaner, increasingly %urer,
and e#entually you will realiIe what you really are. <ot you with all your defects, but you in its
totality. It is the road to Self3realiIation: to be seated in your true essential nature. You will
look for this %leasant heat in all the techni*ues of Yoga. Yoga %ractice is based u%on an
interaction between control and %urification. They co&%le&ent each other well. A larger
a&ount of %urity will gi#e you &ore &eans to control, and &ore control will &ake you realiIe
where &ore %urification is needed. In this way you build your being and you adjust your
kar&ic load. In the 'est Ear&a is called factor of heredity. So in fact, Yoga %ractice interferes
in our hereditary:genetic &aterial. This is an i&%ressi#e thought: it would be %ossible to
&ani%ulate our genes in a natural way, and this science would already be thousands of years
old and %ro#en by ti&eJ Taking this into account, where do we stand now with all our
e(%ensi#e &achinesH
In Yoga we s%eak of the transfor&ation, &eta&or%hosis that occurs during %ractice. 9ecause
of the acceleration, all hu&an as%ects and all the defects di&inish &ore and &ore, and you
dedicate yourself to co&%letely burning of Ear&a in all the %arts of your being. 6#en
%urification of your &e&ory could e#entually take %lace, es%ecially during Sa&adhi or
conte&%lation. /o&%are this with a co&%uter: to &ake a co&%uter o%erate &ore effecti#ely
you try to store as little infor&ation as %ossible in its buffer &e&ory, where all the %rocesses of
the screen take %lace. The less infor&ation is stored in this &e&ory, the faster the %rocesses
can take %lace. At a certain %oint e#erything is re&o#ed fro& your &e&ory and you &ake a
switch to the big co&%uter, the &ainfra&e. You do not function as a %ersonal co&%uter
any&ore, but you are connected to the &ainfra&e. Translated into Yoga ter&s this &eans: you
%urify yourself so thoroughly that one day you will beco&e connected to the higher being.
There are white Sa&skaras and there are black Sa&skaras. As a Yogi you first re&o#e the
black Sa&skaras, the &e&ories that you do not need. You sacrifice the&M you &ake a #ow not
to be engaged with the& any&ore. If you do engage with the&, the Sa&skara, the &e&ory will
beco&e bigger and bigger. Instead you weaken it and at a certain %oint it will disa%%ear.
0C8
Fnly when you are able to obtain 6kagrata, one3%ointed3ness, you will be able to achie#e the
eighth ste% of Yoga, which is Sa&adhi. 5any %eo%le %ractice 6kagrata with Trataka, &ental
concentration, on a needle. They look at the ti% of the needle, which is clearly one of the
s&allest objects. Trataka is one of the si( Eriya e(ercises, which are the %urification e(ercises
of the )atha Yoga Pradi%ika, which is %re3e&inently fit as an instru&ent of Shaucha, %urity.
The heat caused by the &ental concentration will cause %urification. )owe#er, in later stages it
will lose out to the e#en stronger and &ore effecti#e %ractice of +harana, concentration,
because in Trataka the object of concentration is still outside your being. This is a &ethod that
you can a%%ly when you are unable to %in%oint the center of your head. The techni*ue is
slower, but e#entually the result is the sa&e. Please do not use a candle, for the fire of the
fla&e can da&age your eyes. The &ethod of the candle is unfit for beginners. You could start
for e(a&%le with an a%%le, followed by a Ping3Pong ball, which has less #ariation. /hoose
increasingly s&aller objects until you end u% with the ti% of a needle. )owe#er, the best
&ethod is the %ractice of +harana, in which you enjoy the energy, and you learn to look at
things that you would usually not %ay any attention to. As a result you will control &ore and
&ore %arts in your body. You can learn all this in detail in the Teachers course.
5editation brings %urification of the &ental body and with conte&%lation you %urify the causal
body. You ha#e &any different bodies, called Shariras that you can %urify with different
techni*ues. The %ractice of Shaucha is focused u%on Satt#a, har&ony.
6(%ressing the di#ine can only be done through %urity. The highest science is astrologyM it is
the a%%lication of Yoga. Thanks to %urity you will be able to feel the radiations of the celestial
bodies. Your Self, At&an is related to the sun, which in Sanskrit is also called ,At&a /araka.,
or the friend of the soul. +o you feel so&ething of the total being that we are %art ofH Slowly
but certainly you will understand it all. )owe#er, the &ore you ha#e e(%erienced in your life,
the &ore difficult it will be to see all this.

In conclusion you &ay %onder the words of 5anu, the first 9uddha =5anu, "31!>:
,The body is %urified by water, the &ind by truthfulness, the intellect by knowing, free fro&
false knowledge and delusion, and the soul by wisdo& and austerity..
A lot of students ha#e %roble&s with this Sutra about Purity. )ow can you know that you
%ractice %urity correctlyH )ow can you know whether you are successful in your %ractice of
%urity:ShauchaH It is the first <iya&a and it is a *uite difficult one. +o you re&e&ber what
,%ractice of %urity. enco&%assesH It &eans to be consistent in words, thoughts and deeds. It
&eans that when you choose to do so&ething, you do not gi#e yourself for C1Q or 4"Q, but
you either go for it co&%letely, or you do not do it at all. That is %ure. 'hen you are not clear
in e(%ressing yourself, you are i&%ure, because you do not %ay attention to the fact that you
&ay be totally &isunderstood.
9ut this see&s like truthfulness.
It goes e#en #urther than truthfulness. You cannot say that so&ebody is lying because he is
trying to do his best to e(%ress hi&self, while not being clear. )e is doing his best. Purity is: to
0C"
do your best e1en &ore to ensure that whate#er co&es fro& your &outh, if it is co&ing fro&
your &outh a#ter all, is si&%ly nice, structured, clear L subject, #erb, object. That is %urity, in
words, in writing, in thoughts and of course also in deeds.
Purity in deeds si&%ly &eans that you are %redictable, so that %eo%le know what to e(%ect fro&
you and that they do not ha#e to doubt you. 'hen so&ebody doubts you, there is i&%urity, on
your %art. It is #ery difficult. It is difficult because it in#ol#es all the le#els of your being:
e&otionally, &entally, s%iritually and %hysically. The %oint is that you ha#e to try to control
e#erything down to the details: whether e#erything is okay and ordered and in line with the
rest.
?or e(a&%le: *uite often I a& sarcastic.
Sarcas& is i&%ure.
6#en irony is i&%ure.
Insinuation is i&%ure.
Bust say things as they are, that is it, si&%le.
That is %ure.
I used to use a lot of difficult words in the %ast. I ha#e read a lot, a&ong which a lot of difficult
books. 5y head was full and I just unloaded it. 9ut &any %eo%le did not understand those
words, so ' was i&%ure, because I did not consider %eo%les co&%rehension.
Purity is #ery difficult and this Sutra is #ery hel%ful in it. ?or if it is such a difficult task, it is
indeed interesting to know whether you are on the right track or not, ehH You will know at the
&o&ent that the %hysical body disgusts you.
There is %ractice of %urity on %hysical le#el and there is %ractice of %urity on subtle le#el.
'hen you succeed on gross le#el, you feel disgust of a hu&an body. A lot of %eo%le shake
hands when they &eet and they hug each other. In Yoga this does not e(ist: 9ecause of this.
'e are actually looking at the gross body with all its i&%erfections, because we are so focused
u%on the %erfection:%urification of the gross body.
Take the e(a&%le of a beautiful &odel in front of a &irror: she looks closer and closer in the
&irror. 9ecause she looks in the &irror she disco#ers &ore and &ore of her little
i&%erfections. At a certain %oint she will see only those i&%erfections. 'hen %eo%le in her
surroundings say: ,Nosh, you are such a beautiful girl G beautiful hair G beautiful eyes G
dont you think you are beautifulH. She will answer: ,'ell, no, I do not think I a& beautiful..
'hy does this ha%%enH 9ecause she constantly sees the i&%erfections in the &irrorJ Fr notH
'ell, of course, I shouldnt tell you all thisJ You are as ugly as they co&e G
9ut I do not look in the &irror.
Fkay, you can a%%roach it in that way too. It is what we call ostrich3%olitics: just stick your
head in the sand.
9ut lets assume that you would be beautiful G
0C4
'ill you then be rejected because of the &atter, because it is a condensationH
<o. A reaction will occur: you si&%ly see your i&%erfection and because of that gross
&atter:le#el will not attract you any&ore.
)ow about si&%ly acce%ting these i&%erfectionsH
Yes, but it is like with &y aunt: She had a #ery nice house. And she was so #ond of %olishing
that her house was always shinyM the floors, the woodwork, the co%%er, e#erything was
%olished. +o you know old co%%erH +o you know how &uch work it takes to %olish co%%erH It
is such a hard jobJ And then the cutlery and other thingsG BeeIH 'hene#er we #isited we had
a ball: when you entered: sli%%ersJ She had s%ecial sli%%ers. 'e had to take off our shoes and
di#e into those sli%%ers. Fnly then we were allowed into the house. 'e always &ade fun of it,
but in fact she was ne#er satisfied about her house. She would always see so&ething: a s%eck
of dust hereG and that still has to be taken care ofG She would go through the house
re%ositioning thisG and then thatG or a #ase that she would slightly &o#e. If you really
wanted to &ake her &ad L and when were children we lo#ed doing just that of course L you
just &o#ed so&e things around the house. Fr you would just %ut on the sli%%ers slightly
incorrectly. She would go out of her &ind. That is what this Sutra is about.
You ought to ha#e a reaction u%on e#erything that is related to the gross, like: ,)ey, so&ething
is not alright thereG I ha#e got to take care of it *uicklyG. Bust %ay attention to this reaction.
'hen are you ready at gross le#elH You are ready when you notice so&ething like: ,)ey, I a&
abhorred when things are not in order.. 'hen &y bathroo& is not in order and I see all the
i&%erfections, I see only that. ?or this reason the bathroo& is clean enough for others, but not
for &e. That is %roof that I a& doing well at gross le#el.
'hen you see the i&%erfectionH
6(actly. And also when you are abhorred by it. 9ut you go further: do not %ay attention to that
abhorrenceM you only consider it a signal. +o you understand thisH You just lea#e it for what it
is and only register the signal. It is a confir&ation to you, saying: ,Fkay, sto% now, for
otherwise it will beco&e an obsessi#e3co&%ulsi#e neurosis., which is not what we intended.
)owe#er, you ha#e co&e close to going o#er the to%: sto%.
Take %olishing cars for e(a&%le. I ha#e ne#er %olished a car in the way I would really like to
do it. It has always been i&%erfect. I was #ed up with it. Fne day I saw a garage L so&ewhere
in Aals&eer, where you could ha#e your car %olished for the %rice of 07 guilders. 'hen it is
done your car co&es out like new. You would absolutely not be able to see that it was only a
second hand car. The car shone so brilliantly, you just couldnt belie#e your eyes. 9ut I looked
at it through these eyes, so I still saw i&%erfections. This was the %roof that I was %racticing
%urity %ro%erly concerning &y car. 9ut you ha#e to %ush it further: not only to your car, but
also to your body, to your en#iron&ent, and to e#erything. That is %urity.
0CC
9ut it see&s to &e that this is in contradiction with the %ractice of content&ent.
You %ractice satisfaction, howe#er, here you ha#e a little e(ce%tion.
+oes that &ean that it is so&e kind of a trickH
It is only a little trick. It is like the conce%t of %ride that you use in Sa&bha#i 5udra. You can
see it as a little bit of %oison that you use as a &edicine, also in this case.
I understand the conce%t of registering, but rejection see&s so e(tre&e.
9ut it is indeed real rejection:abhorrence. )owe#er, it is not &eant as an absolute. It is only
&eant as a signal, which you then register. Thats itJ And then you are satisfied again. Then
you are satisfied with your car again as it is: %oorly %olished. And you are satisfied again with
the bathroo& that has not been %olished to %erfection. And you are satisfied again with your
body that is not co&%letely as you would like to see it. After that you si&%ly install the rest,
but it &eans that you ha#e reached the li&it of your %ractice of %urity. Then you say: it is
enough as far as %urity is concerned. This is the li&it.
<ow tell &e: what criterion could you think of in order to deter&ine whether you are ready
with the %ractice of %urity or notH I would not know, for it is so #ague. 'hat does %urity &ean
after allH )ow can you know that you are finished with %racticing %urityH It is ne#er enough, is
itH At that #ery &o&ent this is #ery useful infor&ation that hel%s you.
It hel%s you to get there, but it does not hel% to deter&ine whether you are %ure.
It hel%s you by setting a boundary: @ook, so far. You do not ha#e to go farther. You ha#e
arri#ed at the %oint where you wanted to go.
So, now I wash &y car in this way too. I wash it #ery carefully, with lo#e L not always enough,
by the way, but anyway L and then this starts. I can #eel it co&ing: there is a little scratch that I
would really like to re&o#e. Then I check with &y thu&b L nothing &ore than a bird dro%%ing
or so. Then I say to &yself: ,'ait a &inute, be cal&, is the car cleanH Yes, the car is clean, for
now I feel the rejection.. I &ight as well throw this car awayJ It looks terrible. 9ut actually I
a& only able to see those re&nants of bird dro%%ings. Sto%. The car3wash3o%eration has been
co&%leted successfully. I do not need to go on. This is how I do it. Then so&ebody s%ots &y
car and says: ,Nosh, what a beautiful carJ.
+o not search for all these little details. You will notice the& auto&atically, si&%ly because
you are doing things right. As soon as the signal co&es, or when all these little details cause a
signal of abhorrence of your car to occur, or of your self, or of your house, whate#er, then you
say: ,Sto%..
Ftherwise you s%end too &uch energy on it.
0C7
6(actly. Then you go o#er the to%, and that is not necessary because then you %ercei#e it one3
sidedly and see only bad things. It will o#erwhel& you, and then you will be absorbed by lie
and dishonesty, because the car is not a bird dro%%ing. The car is co&%lete, for it is just what it
is. ,Accidentally there is only one little s%ot of bird dro%%ing. +o not &ake a dra&a out of it.
+oes this &ean that %urity is a Ya&aH
It is a <iya&a. I call it a &oral ideal, while Ya&a is a &oral %rinci%le, a refusal. In fact it is a
refusal su%%orted by a %rinci%le: ,This is &y %rinci%le in life and I will not de#iate fro& it..
@ike &oral #alues and standardsH
Ya&as and <iya&as are indeed #alues and standards. 9ut the difference is that Ya&a is
incidental, so you react u%on so&ething, you refuse =in order to create roo& for yourself to
deter&ine your own %oint of #iew>, while a <iya&a is so&ething that is constant, always,
which is the reason for &e to call it an ideal. This &eans that you ha#e to in#est &uch &ore
ti&e and effort into the <iya&as than into the Ya&asM it is &uch &ore difficult to fill it in. It
is also said that a Ya&a is %articularly %ersonal:indi#idual, while a <iya&a is &uch &ore
related to your relationshi% with the grou%:en#iron&ent.
I co&%are a <iya&a with a fra&ework along which a cli&bing %lant can grow, as a kind of
su%%ort, like with #ines growing u% sticks. I call such a stick a <iya&a. It is a kind of a
guideline for you that hel%s you to direct your energy into the right direction. You want to
de#elo% yourself but you do not know e*actly in what direction and what the result will beH
Then go into the right direction anyway: use the <iya&as: Purity, satisfaction, austerity, Self3
study and surrender. These are all ideals.
Peo%le need ideals. If you do not ha#e ideals you will grow o#er the ground. )a#e you e#er
seen i#y growing o#er the groundH It looks terribleM it gets tra&%led and e#entually destroyed.
It does not li#e long. That is what &ost %eo%le are like. It is the way bugs li#e: they do not face
u%ward, towards the light.
+o you ha#e idealsH I used to ha#e an ideal in the %ast: ,+o not do what &y father tells &e to
do.. 5y father told: ,You ha#e to ada%t to society.. It was so terrible. I re&e&ber hi& saying
that so often. ,+o you know what your %roble& isH It is that you always think you know better.
It is ti&e that you confor& to what other %eo%le say. And society. You &ust act a little bit
social3&inded, ehH So&ething that I re#used. ?or it is not an ideal. /onfor&ation to society is
not an ideal. 'hat is that, societyH Fne big hea% of dungJ +o I ha#e to confor& to thatHJ
0C!
9ut here you ha#e so&ething with &eaning: %urity has &eaning, as do content&ent, austerity
G Those are conce%ts that do not need discussion.
5ental or subtle %urity: how do you deal with thatH )ow do you know whether you are
successful in it or notH
Patanjali says:
*! Satt)asuddhi Saumanas+ai/agr+endri+a ja+atmadarsana Yog+at)ani Ca
?ro& &ental %urity =arises> %urity of Satt1a, cheerful3&indedness, one3
%ointedness, control of the senses and fitness for the #ision of the Self.
+id you register all thisH 'ell, then you are at least %ure on subtle le#el. If you did not register
this, thenG
'hat does %urity of Satt#a &eanH Isnt Satt#a already %ureH
Yes, this is just a descri%tion of Satt#a. Satt#a is %urity. 9y being consistent in thoughts, words
and deeds: that you, when you ha#e a thought, res%ect that thought and react accordingly, and
that you auto&atically connect that with the %ro%er words. That is &ental %urity.
?or e(a&%le: 'hen you look at so&eone, and you look at this %erson with distrust, like: ,I a&
not so sureG., and that %erson asks you: ,+o you like &eH., after which you re%ly with ,yes..
5aybe it is not co&%letely a lie, but so&ething is not right, ehHJ In co&%arison with the rest,
your thoughts were not %ro%er.
The other %erson can feel this.
Yes, the other can indeed feel this.
'hen you are in a con#ersation with so&eone, and suddenly you are ,gone., thinking about
so&ething else, it is also &ental i&%urity. It is not e(actly a lie, but you are not there any&oreM
the attention is gone. You talk with that %erson, but at the sa&e ti&e, for a short &o&ent, you
are so&ewhere else with your &ind, or you are drea&ing. This is &ental i&%urity.
071
You &ust stri#e to be una&biguous:uni#ocal. That is Satt#a, &entally. This is ?uite a job.
)ow do you know that you are successful in this %racticeH 'ell, cheerfulness. 'hat do you
&ean, cheerfulnessH /heerfulness a%%ears auto&atically when you ha#e &ore &ental strength
L uni#ocally. 'hen you talk to so&eone, you are fully %resent, constantly. And you play in
that con#ersation. Then you can %er&it yourself to be cheerfulJ Then it is only nor&al that you
are ha%%yJ ?or your intellect starts to function. There is no breach. 6ach breach in your flow of
thoughts causes Ta&as. 'hen there is no breach, you can #ery *uickly switch to cheerfulness,
to Aajas, to 9uddhiM cle#er, and sharp in your argu&ent, with hu&or, auto&atically, because it
is all so tragic and co&ical at the sa&e ti&e. Then you auto&atically ha#e to laugh, which you
trans&it, because you e(%erience it dee%ly. 'hen you lose your attention L causing Ta&as3
you lose your cheerfulness too. Dery interestingly you recogniIe so&eone who %ractices
diligently in subtle and &ental %urity by the fact that he is cheerful.
Ff course he is also able to be one3%ointedly focused. )e is goal3oriented, so that he does not
lose his way, literally and figurati#ely, which &eans he also has %ower of orientation.
'e arri#e at a sho%%ing center and &y wife asks: ,'hich way do we ha#e to go for the carH. I
ha#e no %roble& with that, for I know e*actly where the car is located, $here1er we are.
It see&s that when you had &ilitary training you are &ore skillful at these things.
<o, there is no relationshi% with &ilitary training. It is related to &ental %urity: the interaction
with the &iddle ear functions &uch better because there is har&ony on &ental le#el. As a
result the coordination functions &uch better. The result of &editation is that you ha#e &uch
better %ower of orientation.
/ontrol of the senses. Fo%sJ The result of &ental %urity is better control of the senses, which is
logical. 'hen you are able to &aintain Satt#a on &ental le#el, it beco&es an asset in which
you find yourself back &ore co&fortably than anywhere else. As soon as you notice that you
sli% away, into an addiction of any sort for e(a&%le, or because the &atter attracts you, you are
able to co&e back to it #ery *uickly.
It is indicated here: if you want to know whether you are finished with the %ractice of &ental
%urification you ha#e to confir& that you are indeed able to detach well. Aecently we #isited a
sho%%ing center where good *uality ice crea& is sold. 5any %eo%le go there. The children
asked: ,)ow about ha#ing so&e ice crea&H. I felt attracted to that ice crea&, you knowH Aight
before the sho% I said to the kids: ,Bust a &inute, here you ha#e so&e &oney, buy yoursel#es
so&e ice crea&. I will wait here on this bench.. <o ice crea& for &e. I looked at &yself and
said: ,Fh, oh, now &y whole body will %rotest.. 9ut nothing ha%%ened. 3othing at all
ha%%ened. It was so *uiet in &eM no %rotestM nothing. I succeeded in &ental %urity.
'ould you ha#e been #iolent to yourself if there had been a %rotestH
Yes, you &ust %ay attention, for %rotest can arise.
07
In which case you just ha#e an ice crea&H
Yes. And reach 6nlighten&ent in your ne(t life, one day, but I do not know if and when. +o
you understand the ga&e hereH @ook at yourself: see if you can do this, once in a while,
without any %rior notice, suddenly. A& I &entally %ure enoughH <o ice crea&, while
re&aining calm. <o sound, no co&%laint. Pay attention. <othingJ That is the e(ercise.
The result of this e(ercise is that you ha#e a feeling like: ,)ey, wait a &inute G this is so good
G I ha#e e#erything under control.. 'hich is &uch better than that ice crea& and &uch &ore
interesting too. 6s%ecially because you know, as is written here, that this %ower, this success in
the %ractice of &ental %urity will enable you:&ake you fit, fro& now on, to #iew the Self. <ow
you deser1e Self3realiIation, because you are so *uiet.
'hen the windows ha#e been washed, you ha#e a clear #iew. In the sa&e way, when you ha#e
Satt#a on &ental le#el you will be able to finally look through the &aIe of Drttis and obser#e
what is really your Self.
Is it %ossible, when you are in Satt#a, to tell %eo%le what you think of the&H
'ell, I ha#e no %roble&s with thatJ I can always do that.
In this condition you can say anything. )owe#er, be#ore you ha#e reached that state you &ust
be careful not to co&&it #iolence. Always the sa&e, but we ha#e to acce%t it. 9ut to a#oid
always being engaged with non3#iolence, truthfulness and all those things, there are
criteria:signals. You know when you are done with the&, and then you can %roceed. It is okay
like that. You do not ha#e to go on with the&. This is what is so good about these SutrasM they
offer you clear li&its. So fro& now on: always be cheerful.
*"! Samtoshad Anuttamah Su/ha =abhah
Su%erlati#e ha%%iness fro& content&ent.
/ontent&ent is called Santosha in Sanskrit. Swa&i Yogesh#arananda Saras#ati described it as
follows:
2(o not desire more than >hat +ou deser)e through +our honest .abor!A
This &eans that you do not feel disa%%ointed when you recei#e less than you antici%ated, nor do
you feel elated when you recei#e &ore than you e(%ected.
9y integrating content&ent in your life you will find the %eace and ha%%iness that you ha#e always
been looking for. The ha%%iness that you are looking for will not be found outside yourself by
satisfying all kinds of desires, for this will only gi#e a te&%orary sense of ha%%iness and
satisfaction. 6ternal ha%%iness lies within you, in your heart. It is an e#er3%resent %eace in you,
070
which we fail to %ercei#e because we are always e(ternally focused. /ontent&ent is the key to
o%en the door to real ha%%iness.
Peo%le often suffer fro& stress and ask &e for rela(ation e(ercises. They would rather be talked
into a state of half3slee% with so&e kind of s&ooth story. )owe#er, the %eace they obtain in that
way is o#er as soon as one single thought occurs related to daily situations. To rela( in this way
actually &eans to ignore the stress and to flee into so&e nice story. 'hat is &ore i&%ortant is that
%eo%le learn to see why they are so tensed. Then they can learn to integrate rela(ation in all their
actions and stay rela(ed all day. To achie#e this so&ething structural has to change in their
&entality and their &ind. The best rela(ation e(ercise that we ha#e is the %ractice of content&ent.
A lot of %eo%le arri#e at a %oint in their li#es at which they ask the&sel#es: ,Is this itH. and they
ha#e a feeling that they are &issing so&ething. It is e#en &ore tragic when they co&e to realiIe
this once they are aged, ha#e a %otbelly, a fat 5ercedes39enI and a fat bank account. Fften they
are left with a dee% sense of e&%tiness, which they do not dare to acknowledge, and so they
anaesthetiIe the&sel#es with a new need for gratification. These %eo%le ha#e indeed &issed
so&ething: they ha#e o#erlooked the essence of the&sel#es, of life, which is #ery tragic indeed.
/ontent&ent is the road to the essence.
Santosha is a <iya&a. This &eans that it is an ideal that we continually try to a%%ly. Santosha
follows Purity, the first ideal, and it can only arise fro& %urity. If you are not %ure, it is i&%ossible
to be content and to e(%erience %ure ha%%iness within you.
Contentment in thoughts:
You can be restless or co&%lain to Nod and e#erybody that you do not get enough. <oJ You
choose so&ething &uch better: you ado%t a %ositi#e attitude and you are %re%ared to share
e#erything that you do not really need. This is content&ent in thoughts. It only occurs when your
&ind has abandoned the desire for sensation, for worldly %leasures, as the Dedas and other holy
scri%tures tell. The Dedas literally say that you should not desire so&eone elses %ro%erty. This is
%ossible when you understand that you cannot recei#e &ore than you are entitled to. 9e in %eace
with that situation, with the things that ha%%en to you. You can only react ade*uately and change
the situation to your ad#antage fro& an attitude of rela(ation. ?or a situation is gi#en to you to
teach you so&ething. If you do not acce%t the situation and kee% running away fro& it, you will not
learn the lesson that it wants to teach you, and as a result the situation will %ersist. ?or e(a&%le:
You are alone, but you are #ery scared to be lonely, so you always &ake sure that you are occu%ied
with so&ething in order not to feel the loneliness. In this way you will ne#er learn to ha#e %eace
with being alone and learn fro& the situation, enrich yourself and de#elo%. Fn the other hand, if
you acce%t the situation and really start to %ercei#e being alone as a challenge, you will deal with it,
go beyond your fear and sadness and realiIe the essence of being alone. You can draw a lot of
strength fro& this.
In his book ,?irst Ste%s to )igher Yoga. Swa&i Yogesh#arananda Saras#ati tells a story about
the holy @a(&an Singh Bi, who li#ed along the canal in A&ritsar: In the nearby #illage of Narwali
he begged for food, but ne#er &ore than 8 %ieces, called /ha%atis, and ke%t hi&self ali#e in this
way. )e ne#er acce%ted &ore than those 8 /ha%atis. Fne day so&e rich %eo%le forced hi& to
072
acce%t &oney and %ut it in his hand. )e was inclined to acce%t it, until the &o&ent that one of the&
sli%%ed so&e &oney into a %leat of his robe and left. This suddenly brought the holy &an to his
senses. )e stood u% and threw away not only the &oney, but also his robe, into the channel. ,'hat
a& I to do with all these %ossessions that I ha#e no need forH. he said.
Pro%erty only disturbs the %eace. Peo%le who forsake worldly %leasures find %eace. Another good
e(a&%le of this is the story of the wise Eanada: Fne day the well3known sage Eanada went
tra#eling with his wife. The journey was long and they %aused so&ewhere along the road. Eanada
felt a need to go into the bushes. 'hile sitting there he saw so&ething glittering in the shrubs:
,Nold, a %ot full of golden coinsJ.
)e stood u% and co#ered the %ot with so&e soil to block it fro& his desirous eyes. )a%%y with
the %eace he had found again he went back to his wife. She asked hi& what he was looking for.
)e answered: ,I do not ha#e to tell you that.. Ff course she i&&ediately went to look for it
herself and said: ,You still distinguish between gold and soil. You ha#e co#ered the %ot in
order to a#oid being attracted by it.. 'ith this Eanadas wife de&onstrated the highest for& of
content&ent.
+oing nothing is a %erfect e(a&%le of content&ent. 'e are always busy, we always ha#e to ha#e
so&ething on our hands, otherwise the &ind starts grinding, we beco&e bored or we feel lousy. Ff
course it is a good thing to do things and acco&%lish a lot, howe#er, it should not turn into a
co&%ulsi#e &atter or a flight. +are to sit still for an hour on the sofa and try to be content. You will
see how difficult this is. Try to find out what kee%s you fro& being satisfied, fro& si&%ly just
being.
/ontent&ent with the fact that our worldly e(istence will one day co&e to an end would gi#e a lot
of %eace in this world. 9ut %eo%le do not know the &eaning of dying, are afraid of it and run as
hard as they can fro& getting older. As a result they beco&e tensed and sick and then ask for
another nice fairytale in order to flee again. 9e satisfied with the fact that one day you will lose
your %hysical body. 9e ha%%y about itJ In Yoga one is ha%%y when so&ebody dies, for the %erson
has been released fro& the li&itations of %hysical life and has entered the astral world.
/ontent&ent &eans that you not only re&ain cal& in difficult situations, but also for e(a&%le
when you win the lottery3jack%ot. Bust i&agine what would ha%%en if you would win a &illion
dollars: gone is your content&ent.
078
Ae&ain e#en3te&%ered and serene in any situation. /onsciously choose content&ent. In
content&ent, in %eace arises %ower. The %ower of the soul can only descend u%on you when
e#erything is %eaceful. 'hen the %ower of the soul gets a chance to flow in you, your intuition will
start to function. You will beco&e creati#e. You will beco&e &uch &ore effecti#e, thus &ore
%roducti#e.
6ach ti&e when you start so&ething new, you should actually &ark ti&e, &ake yourself e&%ty and
*uiet, gather all your energy and concentration and only then you start so&ething new. You are
like a co&%uter: you &ust first safe:store all the used data and clean u% the screen before you can
start so&ething else.
Contentment in >ords:
/ontent&ent in words is to be *uietM silence. 9itter words, insults and angry words should not be
allowed to incite you to react harshly. Fn the contrary, you should suffice with only few words,
a#oid discussions and be silent a lot. That is content&ent in words. 6s%ecially when you are %rone
to irony or sarcas& you can beco&e *uite unsatisfied. The best a%%roach is to think before you
s%eak. You will be es%ecially able to do this when you &ake the #ow of silence: 5auna. Instead of
s%eaking you oblige yourself to write down your thoughts. As a result you think about things &ore
thoroughly and you a#oid saying stu%id things.

Practically you can %ractice 5auna one day %er week, for e(a&%le on Sunday. Bust %ut a sign
around your neck that says: ,I ha#e #owed to be silent today..
'hether the other &e&bers of the fa&ily are going to be ha%%y with your resol#e should be a
&atter of careful consideration. )owe#er, you will learn fro& this enor&ously.
Contentment in deeds:
To do a good deed whene#er the occasion occurs is content&ent. You will see that you will
recei#e what you are entitled to, what you deser#e. You always get back what you gi#e.
'hen you ha#e so&ething in abundance, you share it with others. They will then share with
you what you need.
The law of co&&unicating #essels occurs and you will always get what you need, %ro#ided
that you are o%en, that you o%en yourself to the world and enter into contact with it.
07"
You can recogniIe a content %erson by the soft s&ile on his face.
A content %erson has no fear.
To show forgi#eness is also an e(a&%le of content&ent in deeds. )owe#er, actually it is not
%ossible to grant forgi#eness yourself. Instead one should ask Fur +ear @ord to grant
forgi#eness, like Besus called out while he was nailed to the cross:
,?ather, forgi#e the&, for they know not what they are doingJ.
?or forgi#eness is a &ercy co&ing o#er you. It is a &ass Shi#a3energy that a hu&an being
cannot %roduce hi&self. This energy is able to flush out all the i&%urities in your energy
channels, resulting in an enor&ous %eace.
Pingala, who was a %rostitute, was only able to slee% %eacefully after she had co&%letely
fulfilled her lusts. Fne day, or rather one night, she could not slee%. She was waiting for her
lo#er. She waited in #ain all night, but e#entually she did fall aslee%. )owe#er, she beca&e
aware of her discontent&ent, causing her to gi#e u% her %rofession and she beca&e #ery ha%%y
later in life.
'hat a beautiful %rogra& we are in: in se#en lessons in which you learned about the fi#e
Ya&as followed by two <iya&as, you can co&e to %eaceM in fact the whole world could
co&e to %eaceJ
9uild %eace in yourself. Then function like a king, in the crown, in your crown3center. 9eyond
good and e#il there is a world, the world of intuition. 9y being there, you are &uch better able
to hel% others. ?or we li#e in a world that is s%inning into total lunacy.
I find this a #ery good Sutra. )a#e any of you tasted the highest ha%%iness yetH
?or a &o&ent G
A #ery brief &o&ent I assu&e.
The highest ha%%iness: who can say that he e#er reached itH <ot so &any %eo%le, I guess. And
I &ust say that I ha#e a feeling that this is co&ing to &e. )owe#er, I a& still so terribly
unsatisfied, you cannot imagine. This has to be i&%ro#ed G and that has to be finished G
)ow do you deal with thisH 'ell, it is just an attitude. It is an ideal. Ti&e and ti&e again I
forget the ideal of %eace. 6#ery ti&e I allow circu&stances to disturb &y %eace, instead of
using the circu&stances:%eo%le to solidify &y %eace. So it is a &atter of &entality.
So it is kind of a &atter of content&ent in s%ite of GH
It is a &atter of satisfaction being a choice in life. I choose content&ent. )owe#er, a nor&al
'estern hu&an being chooses discontent&ent. )e uses e#ery o%%ortunity to be dissatisfied in
his life. It is a s%ort for hi& to ruin his life. And that is what I a& doing too. I still ha#e not
074
learned. 9ut I know: this is it. You ha#e to &ake a switch: ,<o, it is about %eace. I would like
so &uch to go into %eace..
The greeting: ,Peace be with you., is actually this, based u%on the awareness of the
tre&endous #alue of this. The %re#ious Sutra already brought you to your Self. This one brings
you to the highest ha%%iness. 'hen you wish so&eone %eace, or ins%ire so&eone to &aintain
%eace in his life, you wish hi& the highest ha%%iness. ?or in this condition of %eace L which is
the neutraliIation of the whirls:installing of Satt#a L the do&inating, causal Ta&as will slowly
take o#er. And it will be #elt. You e(%erience that as ha%%iness, but then real ha%%iness. So
your ideal of %eace should be the e#entual install&ent of su%re&e ha%%iness in your entire life.
Then you are finished with this <iya&a.
*&! -a+endri+a Siddhir Asuddhi -sha+at 'apasah
Perfection of the sense3organs and body after destruction of i&%urity by
austerities.
Austerity is a continuation of the %ractice of content&ent. Ta%as or austerity &eans to be
content in difficult situations. The literal &eaning of the word ,Ta%as. is ,strength.. To train
yourself in austerity thus, is in fact %ower training. The %ractice of austerity &akes you de#elo%
a tre&endous %ower, %eace will settle dee%er and dee%er in you and the %ower of At&an, the
Self or the soul, will &anifest itself increasingly clearer.
Futsiders %ercei#e the %ractice of austerity as &asochis&. )owe#er, it gi#es a great feeling.
Austerity is an ideal that is o%%osite to lu(ury, the ideal of &ost 'estern %eo%le.
Austerit+ in thoughts:
All the things that we %ossess, co#et and that ca%ture our attention cause us to not e(%erience
the reality any&ore. 'ith the %ractice of austerity you try to focus your &ind into another
direction. 9y not being engaged any&ore in unnecessary things the %eace in you will beco&e
increasingly larger. 'e ha#e beco&e de%endant on all the lu(ury. 'e are so used to sho%s full
07C
of goods, a house fitted with gas, water and electricity. 'e cannot li#e without it any&ore. Ff
course, &an has de#elo%ed these things throughout the years and it is good to &ake use of
the&. ?or when you would constantly be occu%ied with the *uest for food and a safe %lace to
slee%, there would be little ti&e left to focus on your de#elo%&ent. Therefore it is %erfectly
okay to &ake use of these things, but you &ust not beco&e a sla#e of the&. 5atter is there for
youM you are not there for the &atter. So do not allow yourself to be absorbed by the &atter and
use only what you need.
'hen you reduce e#erything that kee%s you occu%ied, you will auto&atically ha#e fewer
thoughts. 9ecause it beco&es *uiet, the %ower of the soul gets a chance to break through. That
is the result of austerityM it o%ens the door to the great truth, to inner life and %eace.
Therefore try to ha#e as little thoughts and e&otions as %ossible. All those useless thoughts
distract your &ind fro& the things that are really i&%ortant. 'hich thoughts and e&otions are
we talking aboutH It is about the thoughts that are related to greed, attach&ent or haughtiness.
It is about the e&otions that are related to anger and rage. Thoughts about insults, loss,
accusations and bla&e %ut you off balance. Put the& away. Thoughts of #iolence, &alice or
dishonesty kee% disturbing you. +o not get carried away by the&. Austerity is your ability to
stand hate and en#y, while still being able to function nor&ally.
Austerity is not only being satisfied with less &aterialM it also &eans to be content in
un%leasant situations.
9e content when the sun shines while you ha#e to go to work. 9e content when you ha#e a
holiday while it is raining outside. 9e content when you ha#e to clean the cats litter bo( again.
9e content when you ha#e to do your sho%%ing in the rain. 9e content when you go out to
dance but you suffer a sto&ach age all night, so that you can only stand aside and watch other
%eo%le enjoying the&sel#es.
Austerit+ in >ords:
There is so &uch talk: %eo%le do not e#en listen to one another any&ore because they know
that it is only rubbish. +o not go along with this. S%eak only when you really ha#e so&ething
to say. If not, then kee% *uiet. 'hat a wonderful ideal this is: the world will beco&e so *uietJ
077
There are &any ad#antages: first and fore&ost you do not run the risk any&ore to hurt others
by carelessly using certain words, or by saying things in an e&otional outburst that you later
regret. Then there is also less chance for confusion. And there is es%ecially the ad#antage that
%eo%le will finally listen when you do ha#e so&ething to say. It is e#en said that you can
beco&e a %ro%het through the %ractice of austerity in words, like the great Seth Tulsi Aa&nit in
9o&bay: e#erything he said ca&e trueJ )e did not say so &uch, but e#erything started to go
wrong fro& the &o&ent he started to find hi&self #ery interesting. As a result he lost his
ability.
Patanjali has su&&ariIed the whole science of Yoga in a &ere 011 #erses. Thereby he sufficed
to write these Yoga Sutras with no &ore than "11 different Sanskrit words. You can recogniIe
&astershi% by si&%licity and clarity. Try to for&ulate succinctly, talk less and do not use
difficult words unnecessarily.
Austerit+ in deeds:
Austerity in deeds can be described as follows: as a Yogi you generally do not acce%t any
&e&bershi% of an organiIation or a grou%, because that is a su%erfluous lu(ury for you. You
know that you ha#e to earn Self3realiIation and liberation by yourself. You will not recei#e it
fro& a grou%. A golden ribbon is also not wanted, for it %uts you off balance. So you do not
acce%t flowers and %resents any&ore.
You %a&%er your body to such an e(tent that you beco&e increasingly weaker and &ore
susce%tible to diseases. 9y %racticing Ta%as you will be guided to %erfection, to %hysical and
&ental %erfection.
Austerity in deeds can be %racticed in #arious ways: go through your house and ascertain what
you really need. $se a bit of chalk and %ut a cross on e#erything that you ha#e no need for.
<aturally ,no need. is not an easy conce%t. Therefore do not e#er judge about what other
%eo%les needs are, or what they dont need. It is %erfectly %ossible that so&eone needs 01
#ases to e(%ress his creati#ity by arranging flowers.
Take a critical look at your bookshel#es. 'hich books do you need and which books are just
standing there, si&%ly because you bought the& one dayH 'hy do you kee% those booksH
@ectura&a series &ay look interesting on your bookshelf, but do you e#er read the&H After
reading books you can sell the& again or gi#e the& to so&eone else. In that way we can safe a
lot of trees.
F%en u% your wardrobe and see which clothes you ha#ent worn for o#er a year. )ow &any of
your clothes do you actually wear &ore than once a year anywayH )ow &any %airs of shoes do
you %ossessH And how &any of the& do you really needH )ow &any %airs of earrings do you
ha#eH And how &any colors of eye shadowH )ow often do you wash your hairH )ow &any
%ots of crea&:lotion do you ha#eH And how &any %erfu&esH Try to li#e with less. <ice %ieces
of art decorate your house nicely, but do not &ake a &useu& of your ho&e.
07!
'hen you go sho%%ing, try to buy only what you need. You will see how difficult this is. +id
you e#er consciously look at those fully loaded sho%%ing carts at the su%er &arketH It is
incredibleJ )ow often do you throw away food because you cooked too &uch or because the
bread has beco&e &oldyH )ow often do you ride your car, while you could easily walk the
distance or ride it with your bikeH Austerity is #ery beneficial for nature. If we would consu&e
less, we would not ha#e to a%%eal so &uch to the earth and her resources, and we would
%roduce &uch less waste. )a#e you e#er noticed how &uch %eo%le bring along when they go
to the beach for a dayH It looks like a &ass &igrationJ /hairs, tables, wind:sun screens, ten
ga&es, fi#e &agaIines, three books, two different crea&s, a ther&os bag full of food and
drinks, and last but not least a radio. )ow can these %eo%le e#en find ti&e to enjoyH )ow can
you e#er co&e to %eace if all day you ha#e to eat, drink, %lay and read and so onH
Practice of Ta%as is far away in the industrialiIed world. +ue to co&%uters the use of %a%er has
tri%led. 5ore and &ore trees are needed for the %a%er industry. =)owe#er, the introduction of
the Internet has reduced the use of %a%er again>.
In the o.d scriptures austerit+ is described as the po>er to resist hungerB thirstB co.d and
heatB si.ence and uncomfortab.e postures or p.aces!
)owe#er, you &ust watch out for #iolence, and continue to listen to your content&ent. As soon
as you are not content any&ore, you go too far. You &ust see it as a s%ort, to see how far you
can go and how long you can &aintain your content&ent. It is a challenge, a ga&e to function
with as little as %ossible, and to be satisfied as &uch and as often as %ossible.
'o resist co.d and heat:
Train yourself carefully in hardshi%, for e(a&%le by lowering the te&%erature of your shower a
notch each ti&e, in order to sti&ulate your body to %roduce heat on its own. As a result you
will be less cold because you will start using your inner ther&ostat again. 9eware, howe#er, do
not co&&it #iolence and &aintain content&ent. )ow long will you then re&ain contentH
'atch outJ +o not e#er %ractice austerity to the e(tent that you hurt yourself, for then you
#iolate the %rinci%les of Shaucha, %urity and:or Ahi&sa, non3#iolence. +o not lose sight of
those %rinci%lesJ Aeco#er your own heat %roduction gradually, ste% by ste%, and learn again to
function correctly fro& your fire3center, 5ani%ura /hakra. Then you will ha#e all the heat you
need naturally.
Try also to resist heat without drinking cold drinks or by cooling off with a cold shower. Try to
re&ain as cal& as %ossible to a#oid %ers%iration. As a result you will gain ther&al stability.
Practice austerity in the su&&er by wearing a war& sweater, while dressing insufficiently
war& in the winter.
;ncomfortab.e p.aces and postures:
No to a %lace in#ested with &os*uitoes. 5aybe you know of any swa&%. No there and try to
read a book undisturbed. 5ake it bearable by kee%ing a %ositi#e attitude. Try to function as
0!1
natural as %ossible. Then, when you really cannot bear it any longer, but only then, you lea#e.
+o you understand the e(erciseH
$nco&fortable %ostures in the beginning are the %hysical %ostures, Asanas. The %ractice of the
Asanas %re%ares you to re&ain content in difficult %ostures. You take on these %ostures to
rehabilitate your being %hysically, to strengthen it, and to lead it to %erfection on %hysical le#el.
Si.ence and fasting at regu.ar inter)a.s:
To bear silence is the &ost difficult test of all, for you will lose your sense of ti&e. Your being
needs sound to function. You feed yourself with food but also with sound. You need &ore
sound, as you are &ore dishar&onious in the throat center, Dishuddhi /akra. The %ractice of
silence is often %racticed in &onasteries. Silence &eans feeding yourself with celestial energy,
gi#ing you +i#ine %ower.
?asting is a &atter of learning to use your Shi#a3energy, instead of earthly food. The last thing
you want to do is fasting by re%lacing earthly food by juices or herbal tea, because you gi#e
your body so&ething else than it is asking for and what it needs. This results in untruthfulness
and it can cause confusion of your sense of hunger. The ability to sense hunger gets lost and a
disease like anore(ia ner#osa can occur. Therefore do not %artici%ate in those ty%ical
%urification cures in which you ha#e to fast for a week. Instead of bringing you in har&ony, it
will acti#ate your e&ergency &echanis&s and the %ollution re&ains. 5aybe the intestines are
cleaned u%, but they will beco&e %olluted just the sa&e as you are not Satt#ic yet. So in the
end you ha#e not achie#ed anything and there is a considerable risk that you da&age your
being.
Aeal fasting is co&%letely different: you si&%ly continue a little bit longer with less food. You
eat just so &uch that you are still a little bit hungry. +o not stuff yourself with food any&ore
until you are about to e(%lode. A#oid the sense of co&%lete satisfaction. Stuffing yourself with
food has nothing to do with YogaM it belongs in a course on ,)ow to beco&e a good sla#e..
?or you culti#ate a de%endence on earthly food, and you lea#e no roo& for the hea#enly nectar,
5anna. So fill your sto&ach half with solid food, for a *uarter with li*uid and lea#e one
*uarter free for Shi#a. You will notice that you can suffice with less food. In return you will
gradually feed yourself increasingly with hea#enly food through the &oon gate, /andra
9indhu, which is located about " centi&eter abo#e the crown. In this way you train yourself
0!
to &ake do with less food. Instead of fi#e slices of bread, you eat only four. If you can control
this you will see that you beco&e #ery %owerful.
<aturally you should not forget that %urity has taught you to only do what you want to do. In
the %ractice of austerity you still do that, with the difference that you %ost%one your need, or
you satisfy your need with less than usual.
To train yourself in austerity can only be done after you ha#e trained yourself to a certain
e(tent in the %receding Ya&as and <iya&as. Also do not try to introduce austerity fro& one
&o&ent to the other, for it is a training that takes decades, and it is so&ething that will you will
kee% doing for the rest of your life.
The ti&e will co&e that you beco&e better and better at %racticing austerity. That is the ti&e
when a &agnificent %itfall is awaiting youJ 5aybe you ha#e read about it already: about this
Yogi who was so ha%%y with his acco&%lish&ents, that he had to tell e#erybody about it, and
again and again he de&onstrated before the ad&iring eyes of the %eo%le, de&anded res%ect
fro& his surroundings and de#elo%ed haughtiness, to e#entually end u% back to s*uare one,
losing e#erything e(ce%t his ego, which had grown so &uch bigger.
The %ractice of Ta%as therefore has to re&ain a s%ort.
You will beco&e #ery well3balanced, and nothing can %ut you off balance. Then you will also
beco&e #aluable for your surroundings.
In this Sutra Patanjali correctly co&&ents: ,Perfection of the sense3organs and body after
destruction of i&%urity by austerities.. )ow do you know when you are finished with the
%ractice of austerityH You know it when the Indriyas are %erfect, which are the Bnanendriyas
as well as the Ear&endriyas. The " senses ha#e to be %erfect, and the " &otor organs ha#e to
be %erfect too. The " senses are eyesight, touch, hearing, taste and s&ell. Your
e(%ression:s%eech &ust be %erfect. Your gras%:&o#e&ent with the hands &ust be %erfect. Your
%ro%ulsion &ust be %erfect. Your %rocreation &ust be %erfect, so you &ust beco&e a %erfect
lo#er. Your e(cretion &ust be %erfect. 'hat does this last one &eanH Is it i&%ortant to ha#e a
%erfect stoolH Yes, it is #ery i&%ortant. A %erfect stool is a stool of s&all %ro%ortion. You still
%roduce e(cre&ent, but they beco&e little turds and they &ust be dark. As long as they are
large, thick, long and brown there is a lot of work still to be done. The sa&e goes for the urine,
which has to beco&e increasingly clearer and s&aller in #olu&e. You should also ha#e no
%roble&s with your stool. As they get older, &any %eo%le ha#e trouble with their stool.
This is all %erfection of the sense organs, and %erfection of the %hysical body. Physically you
&ust beco&e sy&&etric, and you &ust beco&e strong. Actually you should beco&e beautiful,
but es%ecially %owerful. This is the result of austerity.
)ow is this %ossibleH )ow is it %ossible to achie#e this through the %ractice of austerityH 'e
first ha#e to ask oursel#es what austerity is: it &eans that you are able to re&ain in %eace e#en
under the &ost difficult circu&stances. You %ut yourself to the test.
0!0
Fn which le#els do you %ut yourself to the testH There are " ele&ents: the world of solid
&atterM the world of li*uidsM the world of fireM the world of air and the world of sound. At the
le#el of gross &atter, that is where you %ut yourself to the test. Isnt it only logical that when
you succeed to &aintain har&ony, the Bnanendriyas beco&e indeed strongerH Then you know
that you are on the right track with your %ractice of austerity. If one of the ele&ents see&s to
be not in order, you start %racticing:testing yourself at that #ery le#el.
This is so&ething that you do $ithout any aides. ?or the ladies and gentle&en wearing glasses
this &eans to %ractice with cold and heat, but $ithout your glasses. You work with fire and
te&%erature fluctuations, for e(a&%le by sitting in a bathtub filled with cold water, or by going
outside without a sweater, or by looking straight into the light of the sun, or by going to the
sauna. If it is correct, you will notice that your body reacts to such acts. 5ost of the ti&es you
will not find it %leasant, but then it is u% to you to decide: )ow &uch can I standH )ow can I
kee% &y %eace under these circu&stancesH All this will benefit your fire center, but the
a%%roach to each of the centers is si&ilar.
So eyesight belongs to %ro%ulsion:fire, touch with air, taste with water, s&ell with earth and
hearing with etherH
Yes, eyesight is %ro%ulsion, so your %ro%ulsion &ust be %erfect. The trick is to always start
with the Ear&endriya and then to gradually switch fro& the Ear&endriya to the Bnanendriya.
**! S)adh+a+ad Ishta (e)ata Sampra+ogah
9y =or fro&> self3study union with the desired deity.
The fourth ideal that we %ractice is the study of the Self, dee%ly understanding yourself as a
hu&an being. You will try to find out who you really are. This is actually the first goal in
Yoga: to co&e to Self3realiIation.
You can a%%roach this in different ways.
Se.f#stud+ in thoughts:
You can %ractice Self3study for e(a&%le by reading books that deal with %hiloso%hy, Yoga,
occult affairs, a&ong othersM old scri%tures like the Dedas, the Sutras and the 9haga#ad Nita.
At the beginning these books are #ery difficult to read, es%ecially if you read the& fro& the
start to the finish. It &ay be better to start with so&e si&%ler books to get into the right &ood.
You ha#e to ado%t a new way of studying. You do not study any&ore the way you did it in
school, when actually you were not interested, so you si&%ly cra&&ed all the study &aterials
into your head but the day after the tests you had forgotten e#erything already. After recei#ing
your di%lo&a you did not e#en re&e&ber what you learned in first grade. As a conse*uence
you were absolutely not ca%able for the function you *ualified for, with the result that in the
0!2
first years of your job you had to go through all your books again to a#oid &ajor blunders in
your work.
Aeal study starts with an interest: you ha#e a *uestion and you start looking for the answer. To
do this you could use ten sources at the sa&e ti&e: what is written in this book, what is written
in that book, what do I feel about this, what did that %erson ha#e to say about the subject, and
what about the others co&&ents, and, yeah, now I start to understandM this is how it is. 'hen
you read a book si&%ly because it is the one that is used in the course, you &ight as well not
read it. 'hen you study a difficult book, do not read it for too long at a ti&e. 'hen you are
full, you do not absorb anything any&ore.
Put the book in a %lace where you often sit so that you constantly ha#e it around you and see it
often. Then each ti&e you can ask yourself whether you feel like reading another bit, and if you do,
you read a little bit &ore and you try to let it sink in well. Trying to write it down in your own
words or to recount it to so&eone else will &ake that the &aterial you read beco&es yours. If
additionally you can relate to it with an e(%erience of your own, it beco&es wisdo&M then you
know that it is right: Enowledge Y 6(%erience K 'isdo&.
Take into account ,cogniti#e dissonance.: certain words or certain infor&ation can be
dishar&onious with what you knowM dissonance can occur with what is already %resent in you.
6ither it clicks with you or it does not click. Pay attention to this. In this way you can deter&ine
whether so&ething fits with you or not, and whether so&ething is useful to you or not. It is a
&ethod to e#aluate authenticity or usefulness. +eal only with things that click with you. +odge
difficult words and do not be distracted by the&.
,Selecti#e %erce%tion. is of the sa&e order: you are auto&atically attracted to those things that
belong to you, that you need now. Pay attention es%ecially to those things that you beco&e
in#ol#ed in s%ontaneously. ?or e(a&%le: you feel that you ha#e to go downtown this afternoon,
then you do thatM you feel that you ha#e to turn into a certain street, then you do thatM you feel
that you ha#e to enter that %articular sho%, then you do thatM you feel that you should ha#e a
look at a certain book, then you do that. 'hat will ha%%en if you do thisH You will find that it
was e(actly what you were looking forJ
A/./2
0!8
Another for& of Self3study is the re%etition of the A$5 5antra. 5any books ha#e been filled
about the &eaning of the word A$5, but in short it &eans that it re&o#es the #eil that is between
you and your Soul. It har&oniIes the &ental layer, allowing you to connect to the higher layers.
/itta, the &e&ory, is located in the layer abo#e the &ental layer. 'hene#er you want to re&e&ber
so&ething you always ha#e to be *uiet for a &o&entM then it will a%%ear naturally.
9y re%eating the A$5 5antra you connect with this causal layer. <ot only the &e&ories of this
life are stored within /itta, but also all your %re#ious li#es, &aybe e#en since " &illion years.
Also the infor&ation of all that is yet to co&e is stored there. ?or the #ibration of /itta is &uch
higher than the #ibration of our nor&al consciousness. Things that do not e(ist yet in the nor&al
consciousness are already %resent in /itta.
'hen you are able to connect with /itta and you ask a *uestion, you will recei#e an answer. This
*uestion has to be #ery clear and #ery sincere. It has to be a dee% wish of you to recei#e an answer.
?or wishing co&es fro& the heart, and the heart is connected with the causal body in which /itta is
located. If you want to know so&ething, it will not work, because wanting is a &ental &atter, and it
is es%ecially the shell of the &ental layer that we ha#e to %ierce through to connect with /itta. Your
*uestion has to be so&ething like: ,I wish to know why I react like this. 'hat is going onH. And
suddenly you will know the answer.
Pay attention to what you wish, for all real wishes co&e true. Fften it is only a &atter of ti&e. If a
wish does not &aterialiIe it is because your desire or your ego is s%oiling the fun G 'ish for a
house or another job dee% fro& your heart. Sooner or later it will &aterialiIe.
Study =Adhyaya> of the Self =S#a>, is only %ossible after Shaucha =%urity> and Santosha
=content&ent>. So&eone who is unsatisfied cannot learn to know his Self. The %ractice of Shaucha
is the atte&%t to obtain %urity in your #ibrations. The %ractice of Santosha &eans that you ha#e
i&%ro#ed #ibrations, but there are still %roble&s. There are %eriods in which %eace %re#ails.
6#entually a larger %urification takes %lace and fro& then you will encounter a &ini&u& of
i&%urities. The largest i&%urities that then re&ain are characteristic for your Self. 6#entually you
will be confronted with your largest i&%urity, which is the funda&ental characteristic of your Self:
It is your Self. Then you will be able to distinguish the biggest characteristics, the biggest
deficiencies. That is when you achie#e Self3realiIation, the
st
stage, which is !1Q of a Yoga3
training. In the 0
nd
stage you try, by gi#ing u% e#erything, to reach deli#erance or liberation. ?or
you ha#e to find out first $hat you ha#e to be liberated fro&.
Se.f#stud+ in >ords:
Self3study in words is reading of holy books, like the Dedas, the S&ritis, the $%anishads, the
Puranas, the Aa&ayana, the 5ahabharata, the si( schools of %hiloso%hy of )induis& under the
guidance of a teacher, Nuru. Self3study in words is also teaching, which causes the knowledge to
flow through you and to better integrate within you. Self3study is the recounting of the te(ts, the
holy %ronounce&ents, 5antras. It is talking about the &atter, and going into discussions with
friends and others you know. It is %raying, for e(a&%le the %ri&ordial ,Fur ?ather. %rayer.
Se.f#stud+ in deeds:
0!"
Self3study in deeds is to study in a %hysical way, to
let your &otor syste& %artici%ate, to &o#e while
studying.
Self3study in words is writing words on the blackboard, walking o#er to the window to %onder
u%on what you just learned. It is co&ing back again, take another book, and underline a cou%le
of i&%ortant %assages. It is reading while following the words with your fingerG Physical
study is sti&ulated in Yoga, but not in 'estern schools =e(ce%t for the ?ree School of Audolf
Steiner>.
The %erce%tion of studying in Yoga is totally the o%%osite of the 'estern idea of studying.
'estern3style studying is Ear&ic burdening.
It is too bad that in the 'estern world studying is &andatory. You are co&%elled to go to
school. This is a gra#e &istake, for it is %ure #iolence.
Dandalis& can be related to thisM a confusing situation occurs by our &andatory education
syste&. Students are unsatisfied, feel insecure, and the knowledge ac*uired is inferior, which
shows fro& the criticis& of the students the&sel#es and the business world.
6ducation stuffs students with infor&ation. It is a &ere consu&%tion of infor&ation. )owe#er,
if you really want to learn a skill, &ore is needed than si&%ly obtaining infor&ation. Practice3
oriented education therefore is &uch better. At least you then learn to deal with real3life
situations.
At the least the basic %rinci%les of 'estern education are wrong. You do not ha#e to absorb
knowledge, for it is already in you, literally. The future, the %resent and the %ast lay within you
and e(%ress the&sel#es through intuition, %re3senti&ent or recognition. The function of the
teacher is not to i&%rint the &aterial in you, but to bring you back to the Self, to &ake you re3
disco#er your di#ine inheritance, in order to &ake you see the connection, the &eaning of your
life. In this way you will gain enor&ous self3confidence and self3security.
6njoy what is within your Self, e#en though others &ay think you are arrogant.
0!4
Indeed when you study a certain subject for a long ti&e, you are co&%letely absorbed by it, and
you beco&e the subject, as it were. This is an indication that you are successful in your study.
It &eans that you beco&e one with the desired %heno&enonM that identification occurs with
your ideal, awareness of the di#inity you are longing for. 9ecause of this you will e#entually
obtain unity with your Self: you achie#e Self3realiIation.
I ha#e e(%erienced all this &yself, first when I studied &arketing. I was totally craIy about this
subject.
I was so craIy about it that I was able to %roject &yself in the &ind of the author of the leading
bookwork on &arketing. )is na&e is Phili% Eotler, an A&erican. To attend one of his lectures
you ha#e to %ay about 111 6uros, and 811:"11 %eo%le attend. It is si&%ly incredible. I could
#eel this guy. I had beco&e one with the desired di#inity. The word ,&arketing., it had in fact
beco&e &y na&e. ?or as soon as so&ebody, so&ewhere uttered the word ,&arketing., I felt I
was %ersonally s%oken to. $nification with the desired di#inityM it is an indication that you ha#e
really and co&%letely studied the subject.
+oes it beco&e a kind of obsessionH
Yes, it see&s like a kind of obsession, but fortunately we know that we can deal with
obsessions with the %ractice of detach&ent. I also had to detach fro& the business, to be able to
%lace it within a larger fra&ework, and to be able to &aster it e#en better.
9ut how do you know how far you can go with studyH This far, and not until you get your
di%lo&a. ?or a di%lo&a is not &entioned here. In our 'estern society you continue until you
recei#e your di%lo&a. Fnce you recei#e your di%lo&a, you do not e#en look at your books
any&ore. 'e go as far as the unification with the desired di#inity.
Is this Self3studyH You are co&%letely absorbed by the subject, but how do you look at your
Self in all thisH
You will notice that you ha#e actually been occu%ied with your Self, in hindsight. To your
a&aIe&ent you will see that you function like ,&arketing., and that your life has beco&e
&arketing. You ha#e sha%ed yourself to &arketing. )owe#er, because you ha#e sha%ed
yourself to &arketing, and you deter&ine the fact, you will co&e to a 0
nd
conclusion: ,)ey,
wait a &inute, if I can do this li!e this, if I can beco&e &arketing in this $ay, then I could
beco&e astrology as wellJ. or Ayur#eda for that &atter, or infor&atics. That is what I did ne(t:
then I beca&e infor&atics =IT>. And then: I can beco&e whate#er I wantJ
9ut who a& ' if I can beco&e whate#er I wantH I a& not &arketing. I a& not infor&atics. I a&
infinite. I a& Nod. ?or I can do anything, being a hu&an being. This is the result of Self3study.
'hich is the redisco#ery of your Self, of the unli&ited o%%ortunities of At&an.
This is the reason why I de&and so &uch fro& you. And this is the reason why you &ust
de&and so &uch fro& your students. +e&and e#erything. +e&and heart and soul, and no lessJ
'hyH 9ecause it is At&an. It is not allowed to call %eo%le to account on their %ersonality. You
0!C
&ust call the& to account on their soul. And although they do not know this, you do. That is
why you de&and e#erything fro& the&. And if you do not do that, you are not guiding your
students correctly. Then it is not Yoga.
If you ha#e this kind of attitude towards your students they will feel the direction you want to
take the&. They &ay not understand it, and they &ight say: ,Nosh, what a tyrant. It feels like I
a& in the ar&y. So fanatic.. 9ut so&ehow they taste the enthusias&, and they will go along,
for it is so contagious. It is so %owerfulM they will beco&e addicted. That is $hy they attend. It
is not a cou%le of e(ercises that will get the& there, nor is the theory they are learning. They
get there because of your ty%ical way of bringing it to the&, and the trust:faith you ha#e in
their At&an. And you ha#e achie#ed this by Self3study.
So Self3study brings you to the conclusion that you are &oldable, and that you ha#e creating3
%owers.
6(actly. ?irst you think that you ha#e li&itations and that you are only li&ited to one field of
business:science, that you only ha#e a talent for that and for nothing else. At least that is what I
was told: ,You cannot do anything co&%licated. $ni#ersity is so&ething you are not fit for.
Bust do a little bit of tradeG. 'ell, just do. And you will see that it will work. )owe#er, do not
look at the subject:business itself, but to the way you ha#e a%%roached it. Then you can a%%ly it
to other things, $hate1er it is that a%%eals to you. And then you say: ,Nosh, how interestingJ I
can do this tooJ. ?ollowed by: ,You know whatH <ow I will a%%ly this to so&ething that I do
not like so &uch.. And then it will work just as $ell. And then you say: ,I a& now going to
a%%ly this to so&ething that I really abhor.. Bust for fun. Bust to try it out. And then you will
see: ,)ey, it works e#en thereJ.
'hat is it that I want to doH 'hat is the &eaning of feeling like doing so&ethingH It is totally
uni&%ortant. Yes, you can use it, the %ath of +har&a, but who a& I after all these e(%eriencesH
'hat are &y o%tions thenH Anything, as long as you can dedicate yourself to it.
9uddha understood this too. )e said: ,5editate on dog shit.. 5editation on dog shitHJ 'ho on
earth is going to do thatHJ 'ell, he who has %racticed Self3study and has disco#ered the di#ine
within e#erything. 9ecause that is actually what it is about: disco#ering the di#ine within
e#erything. I disco#ered the di#ine within &arketing. I disco#ered the di#ine within
infor&atics. I disco#ered the di#ine within Artificial Intelligence. I ha#e disco#ered the di#ine
within so &any things. And then you see dog shit before you, and you %ercei#e it totally
differently than other %eo%le do. Suddenly you realiIe the di#ine in dog shit. And the entire
creation transfor&s into a di#ine uni#erse. That is Self3study. So allow this unification to take
%lace. 'ork to$ards that unification. +o not let go of your books:the subject until you ha#e
really beco&e one with it. And only after that has ha%%ened and you are finished with that
subject, you &ay, if you feel like it, choose another subject. 9ut do not do this while you are
still in the %rocess.
This is the big error of our education. In secondary school we had 8 or " different subjects.
This is totally nuts. ?or "1 &inutes we had one subject, and then another "1 &inutes we had
another subject. 'e had C different subjects in one day. There is no ti&e to beco&e one with it,
0!7
and before you know it, it has already changed. It re&ains su%erficial:shallow. It is %urely a
&ental affair, for it has no chance to reach the heart. The e(ce%tion is when so&eti&es you
ha#e a teacher who teaches with ins%iration and %assion. You hang on to his e#ery word and
you say: ,Nosh, this was a good class..
'hat then is the definition of a teacherH Is he:she so&eone who si&%ly follows the %rogra&,
obeying strictly the go#ern&ent guidelines on the curriculu&H <o. A teacher is so&eone who
can &ake you craIy about his subject. That is a teacher. )e has the ability to awaken
so&ething in %eo%le that &akes the& di#e into their books u%on co&ing ho&e, wanting to find
answers to their *uestions. That is a teacher, and that is also the student. ?or as long as you do
not beha#e like this as a student, you are not a real student either, for you si&%ly do not ha#e
that enthusias&.
The subject always has to be new, and it has to be fascinating. Fr at least it should feel as such.
And it can be the driest &atter in the world. ?or e(a&%le, I took u% the %lan to study law, just
for fun. A craIy %lan, of course, for what can you do with lawH
'e thought you were studying &edicine G
I a& interested in that too. I feel attracted to all of it. 9ut what I wanted to e(%lain is that law is
such a boring subject. You ha#e to learn e#erything by heart, all those law books. 'ell, then I
look at the <a%oleon /ode, and then I look at 5anus laws fro& old India:Yoga, and then I
co&%are: 'ho says whatH And why does he say thatH I add &y own contribution and then I
&ake a new code(: the /ode( Ajita. This is real fun, and it is e(citing too. This is all Self3
study.
+id you study in this wayH Are you learning Yoga in this wayH If you do not learn like this,
you will not understand Yoga.
The recognition that you could recei#e after this training is actually the deter&ination of a
bystander that you %ossess this *uality. )e deter&ines that you are so #ull of it. The sa&e
a%%lies to the recognition after the &aster training, when you %ro#e to ha#e reached that le#el
and that you radiate it as such. You yourself are totally con#inced that it is as it is =you do not
need anybody to tell you that you ha#e achie#ed it, for you know best yourself> while the
bystander does nothing &ore than establishing that it is indeed like that: that is a recognition. It
is not an e(a&. Aecognition takes %lace in the &o&ent of a glance: you tune in on the %erson
fro& a distance L cloinkJ L recogniIed. Fr notG
Peo%le so&eti&es say: ,6h, I did not recei#e recognition yet, and I think that it is about ti&e,
for in Se%te&ber I want to start teaching. /ant you see to it that I beco&e recogniIedH.
I&%ossible. It does not work like this. ,Yes, I see, but then tell &e what I should study to get it
after allH. That is a *uestion that you cannot answer. 'hat can you sayH ,Study the unification
with the desired di#inity.H If he does not know about that, thenG yesG then what did he
learnH So now you know how it works. Sub&erge yoursel#es in it.
0!!
*,! Samadhi Siddhir Is)ara Pranidhanat
Acco&%lish&ent of Samadhi fro& resignation to Nod.
'e translate the ter& ,Ish#ara Pranidhana. si&%ly into ,Surrender.. Ish#ara actually &eans
so&ething like Nod or the 5ost )igh. Pranidhana is deri#ed fro& Prana, which is energy, and
it i&%lies the circulation of Prana. Therefore the &eaning of Ish#ara Pranidhana is: ,@etting the
energy of the 5ost )igh circulate in you.. 9ut to be able to let this ha%%en you &ust %ractice
the fifth <iya&a or &oral ideal, na&ely surrender to the highest energy.
$sually Ish#ara Pranidhana is inter%reted as sacrificing all our deeds to Nod, whether they are
big or s&all, whether they are %erfor&ed by the intellect, the s%eech or by deeds. At the sa&e it
is said that all the conse*uences of such deeds should be dedicated to )i&.
'here did you actually co&e fro&H 'here are you fro&H ?ro& Ish#ara, or notH 'hy are you
here on this earthH 'hat is it that you ca&e here to doH 'hat is your goal hereH You are here
on this earth to realiIe that you too are Ish#ara, and that you are not your ego, your ,I.. You
are here to gi#e u% that ego and beco&e Ish#ara.
)ow do you recogniIe egoH 'hich characteristics does the ego ha#eH Through the ego you
distinguish yourself fro& the rest of the world. It discri&inates between good and e#il. It is the
%ersonality that is after %ersonal fulfill&ent. It &aintains itself by desires, like ,I want..
Surrender in thoughts:
If you carefully consider, you will co&e to the conclusion that there is no act without ego
in#ol#ed, and that ego is res%onsible for desire. 6#en a fool would not co&e into action, unless
he was urged by a desire. 6#ery act you co&&it is urged by a certain desire. 6#en
deter&ination is based u%on desire.
)ow can you go beyond the egoH You can go beyond the ego by redirecting your desires to the
,higher. instead of the %ersonal. You can go beyond the ego by gi#ing u% your %ersonal will,
by ado%ting the characteristics of the 5ost )igh and by atte&%ting to accelerate the fre*uency
of your #ibration to the fre*uency of the 5ost )igh. You do this by obser#ing the Ya&aZs and
the <iya&aZs, by )atha Yoga, by concentration and &editation and by singing of 5antras. 9ut
the &ost i&%ortant ele&ent re&ains: surrender.
You cannot beco&e one with that higher energy by wanting, because then you lock yourself
out if it instead. The ego, wanting, for&s a thick shell that higher energies cannot %ierce
through. This thick shell consists of thoughts, i&ages and e&otions. Your will is disturbing the
%rocess, and therefore you surrender to the )igher, +i#ine 'ill. You say to yourself: ,Thy
'ill be done..
)a#e faith that the big boss u% there has good intentions with you and that he will do anything
to hel% you co&e back to )i& again. Ff course the big boss does not work alone: he recei#es
211
assistance fro& &any beings fro& the higher worlds, and also by %eo%le who ha#e already
realiIed their +i#ine essence or who are in the %rocess. 'e know these beings as angels or
saints. This &eans that there is hel% a#ailable e#erywhere. The angels and the saints always
reach out their hands to you. All you ha#e to do is to surrender and to acce%t those hands.
You ha#e this +i#ine essence in you. 'e call it the soul. 'hen you surrender to your soul, this
energy will &anifest itself in the lower %arts of your being, after which this energy can
%er&eate your &ental, astral and %hysical bodies. Those bodies will then gradually ado%t the
#ibration fre*uency of this higher energy. As a result you will know and do things intuiti#ely.
You will realiIe that you end u% in certain situations for a reason. Your soul brings you in
those situations with a %ur%ose: to teach you so&ething. )a#e faith that such situations will
end well if you a%%ly the %rinci%les that you learned.
'hen you surrender to the )ighest you will recei#e what you need. 'hen your soul tells you
that you &ust go to a retreat in <ew [ealand, you &ust trust that this soul has also arranged
that your finances will be sufficient to do so. 'hen you &eet so&ebody, it is ne#er without
reason. Always try to find out what it is that you are su%%osed to learn fro& an encounter. +o
anything you can to learn. +o not lock yourself out, but o%en yourself u% instead. 'hen you
ha#e *uestions, ask the& dee% fro& your heart, in surrender, and the answer will co&e.
?or e(a&%le: ,Please let &e know what lo#e is.. 9ut beware of what you ask, for you $ill find
out what lo#e isJ Fr: ,/an I ha#e such an old inland barge to li#e onH. 'atch out, for you &ay
ha#e it within two &onths. 9ut do not co&e to co&%lain that it is a rusty wreck that is going to
cost you fortunes in re%air and &aintenance, and when suddenly it starts to sink at nightJ
To li#e in surrender does not &ean that you beco&e like a ragJ It does not &ean that fro& now
on you can allow anything that ha%%ens to roll o#er you. Allow things to ha%%en, but act in
accordance with the %rinci%les that you ha#e learned. Surrender &eans to %ut yourself in the
ser#ice of the ,)ighest.. <obody can benefit fro& you when you are like a rag. 'hen you are
not fir&ly grounded, if you do not stand u% for yourself, if you dont stand for your %rinci%les,
you are first going to ha#e to do a course on self3assertion.
You can look at it as riding a canoe on a ri#er:
An oriental %erson goes with the flow, crashes into the rocks on his way, saying that it is his
Ear&a and then asks hi&self what &akes hi& deser#e such faith.
An occidental %erson rows with all &eans, usually u%strea&, for he wants to deter&ine where
he wants to go, and arri#es at his destination totally e(hausted.
A Yogi goes downstrea&, but he is #ery alert and a#oids crashing into all the rocks by cle#erly
using his %addle, and he arri#es fit and cheerful at his destination.
Try to be like a little lake, that is fed by a &ountain strea& and has its o#erflow to a little ri#er
that &eanders laIily through a #alley with fields and grasslands. 'hen you lock yourself out
fro& the su%%ly of the strea&, you ha#e nothing left to su%%ly yourself. Your water will co&e
to a standstill and you will beco&e a rotting, stinking %ool. 5any %eo%le are like stinking
21
%ools. A ty%ical indication of this is the health condition %eo%le are in. 'hen you check u%on
these %eo%le, you can easily establish that they %ractice little or no surrender.
So do not forget: Surrender has healing *ualities.
'e are energy, and we can let it circulate. The connection that we ha#e with the being earth is
the sil#er thread, the thread of the soul called Sutrat&a. It co&es fro& your being, stretching
out u%wards. 9e aware of this, for it will enable a better in3 and outflow of the energy, which is
Surrender: letting it ha%%en. This is the o%%osite of our egoistic, se%arated, heathen society.
This society does not acknowledge higher beings. The hu&an being is considered to stand at
the basis of creation, which is an incorrect assu&%tion. The result of this
se%aration:disconnection is disease. If there is no fresh water su%%ly, if there is no drainage,
there will be less energy and &ore bad s&ell. Fur society s&ells bad. You s&ell tooM there is
no %urification.
Putting into %ers%ecti#e of the ego is the goal. You are not allowed to idealiIe your %erson and
your self3interest, but only circulation of forces. Your %erson is not i&%ortant any&ore. @earn
to trust &ore in the things that ha%%en naturally: that is Ear&a. That is Yoga, the Yoga of
,doing.. Try to get into tune again with ,abo#e., the great reality. Try to restore the sil#er
thread, Sutrat&a.
As a result the ca#ity of 9rah&an, 9rah&a Aandhra, will occur in your being. This is the
chalice of the eternal co#enant, as it is called in the /hurch. Actually this is a %heno&enon that
occurs when you are #ery %ure and #ery ad#anced: your /akras connect with each other,
together for&ing the great funnel that is o%en to hea#en, like a giant chalice, that connects you
with hea#en. You will sto% doing things based u%on your own will. ?ro& that &o&ent on you
will let it ha%%en. In the end you will ha#e beco&e an o%en channel.
Pri&iti#e tribes are actually better off: they are less astray. 'e call oursel#es ci#iliIed, but that
is a lie. /i#iliIation i&%lies understanding of the reality. 'e are unable to control our diseases
and our thought3%rocesses. 'e are able to generate electricity with the hel% of a nuclear
reactor, but we cannot control the forces of nature.
Air3conditioning is bad tooM we do not know that it breaks down the air. 'e ha#e no idea how
air affects us. The &ost essential things are unknown to us. ?or e(a&%le: death, dying and
creation. Aeal ci#iliIation &eans to be in contact with the en#iron&entM circulating and being
in tune with energy of water, fire, air, sound, earth, with thoughts, intuition, tendency, un3
&anifested tendency, souls, Ish#ara itself, and %lanetary consciousness. Aeal ci#iliIation &eans
to be able to feel e#erything that is related to the %lanet.
Planetary consciousness is the state of consciousness of a 5ahat&a, a great soul, who li#es all3
enco&%assing. 'hen we take a look at the ene&y, our thoughts, we co&e to the conclusion
that it is e(actly those thoughts that are the cause of our actions. And it is e(actly those
thoughts that caused our se%aration fro& the great reality. Fur 'estern consciousness has now
been di&inished to &ere thinking.

210
+escartes once said: ,Be %ense, donc je suisJ. =I think, therefore I a&>. )e is still widely
ad&ired, but his e(cla&ation was utterly heathen. ?or it is not because you think, that you areJ
+oes ,feeling. not e(ist any&oreH
To neutraliIe this wrong conditioning you go back to the &ind. Then you learn to control the
&ind with &editation, +hyana, and later you learn to neutraliIe it with conte&%lation,
Sa&adhi. 'ith this you negate the +escartes e(cla&ation. You will realiIe that you are &ore
than your thoughts. The &ethod to return fro& the &ind back to the essence is the &ethod of
,letting it ha%%en..
In thought we %ractice the %rinci%le of surrender, by culti#ating grou%3awareness. The grou% is
&ore i&%ortant than the indi#idual. Fur thoughts are constantly focused u%on the indi#idual: to
ha#e a good life, your own interests: e#il %eo%le against ,I.. @et the interest of the grou%, city,
fa&ily, country %re#ail in your thoughts. As you beco&e better, you will be able to sense at an
increasingly higher le#el. 'ith that you &ust first and fore&ost take care of the har&ony
within you. Try to sto% co&&itting #iolence, try to ha#e less desires, and so on. Fnly then will
you be able to let the hea#enly energy circulate in you and grow fro& self3interest towards
grou%3interest.
6#ery thought is related to ego. 9ecause you ha#e an ego, you think and you are incited to
action. So e#erything re#ol#es around abolishing the ego. The teacher will deal with your ego.
/oo%erate and learn to let go of that ego. It is said that a Yoga teacher is an ego3destroyer.
6#erything is allowed in the %rocess, like lo#e, but e#en a rough a%%roach when necessary. To
beco&e a &aster of your &ind, you &ust gi#e u% your ego.
Thoughts will then not be in control of you any&ore. You will still think, but in another way:
You will think what your higher consciousness infuses into you.
Surrender in >ords:
$se &uch less words than I do. Ae&o#e the indi#idual and ele#ate it to grou%3interest.
5uch is unreal in usual courteous interaction. A#oid co&%li&ents, for &ost of the ti&e they
are only boosting the ego. Take your ego into account when you s%eak, and realiIe that the
intuition cannot function any&ore when the ego is boosted.
9oosting the ego of an ene&y %uts hi& te&%orarily in a cage. At that &o&ent that %erson is of
no danger any&ore. ?or e(a&%le: in the &iddle of a discussion you stand u% and you e(%licitly
call out the na&e of the %erson with who& you do not agree: ,5isterGJ. The &an will be
slightly shocked, and he is &ost likely to lose the thread of his thoughts, %ossibly gi#ing you
so&e ti&e to sow doubt in case you are not able to co&e u% with a successful argu&ent. ,You
just said thatG, but in &y o%inion that is not the case. I doubt your storyJ. And then you sit
down again. In fact you ha#e not said anything, but e#erybody in the roo& will also start to
doubt. Pay attention, howe#er, for it is #iolence, )i&sa, that you ha#e co&&ittedJ In case the
s%eaker in#ol#ed would be a Yogi, he would &ost %robably react to your interru%tion with the
re&ark: ,You can ask *uestions later., or ,'hat is actually your *uestionH If you ha#e nothing
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to ask, then %lease take your seat again.. The Yogi &asters the situationM he is sure of hi&self
and he is in#ulnerable.
You would rather kee% yourself occu%ied with the &antra A$5, of which Patanjali says =Yoga
Sutras I, 0C> that it is the na&e of Nod:
2CIsh)araD <is designator is A;8!A
@et yourself fuse entirely with that 5antra. Absorb the 5antra in you, gi#ing you back the
right touch again so that you can get to work. Sing of the characteristics of Nod, as ?rancisco
of Assisi did with his song about brother Sun and sister 5oon. ?rancisco was a wonderful
&ystical figure fro& the 'est. )e roa&ed around and did not address Fur +ear @ord in
res%ectful ter&s. )e had har&ony in hi&, such unity, that the +i#ine #ibration was #ery close
to hi&. Therefore he talked to Nod as being on friendly footing with )i&.
'hen you ha#e an inferiority co&%le(, or when you doubt about yourself, be stubborn. If
necessary you ha#e a big &outh again. Bust gi#e yourself the benefit of the doubt: ,All I say is
+i#ine, until %ro#en wrongJ. In this way you switch to a new, strict and syste&atic a%%roach
of your life. You will ha#e solid ground under your feet again, and you will beco&e &ore
certainM you will de#elo% your intuition and your knowledge and abilities grow.
Surrender in deeds:
You can best see this as: To dedicate e#erything you do to Ish#ara. +o not work under the
orders of anybody or anything, but work in line with your #ocation. Add content to your
#ocation. This is the &eaning of acce%ting the task fro& Nod or to dedicate e#erything to Nod.
AealiIe that you are a ser#ant of the great di#ine %lan, of the realiIation of your #ocation. 'e
usually si&%ly call this ,finding your niche.. So&eti&es you are able to understand a s&all
%art of it. It is so&ething that is gi#en to you, and the %ower to do it is not your %owerM it co&es
into you. It ha%%ens, just like that. 'hen there is a connection, any shortage in you will
i&&ediately be su%%le&ented. You recei#e strength because there is a connection. That is why
a Yogi is inde%endent fro& other %eo%le. 'hate#er co&es fro& his hands, he dedicates. )e
does not feel res%onsible for it. +o what you ha#e to do, without fear, and dedicate itM it co&es
fro& abo#e.
In the 9haga#ad Nita Erishna gi#es us a wonderful e(a&%le of this in the song of the @ord. In
the &idst of the battlefield he s%urs on Arjuna, his frightened friend, to fightJ )e says =ID, 80>:
2(o +our dut+! It is +our Yoga! %o>B stand upEA
This is an e(a&%le of Ear&a Yoga: to act abo#e and beyond the law of cause and effect,
without conse*uences. A Ear&a Yogi can do anything. You too are allowed to fight, as long as
you feel the link of the chain. It co&es fro& abo#e.
Try this test: Put a halt to so&ething of which you think that it is not conduci#e to your
har&ony, and see what ha%%ensJ Fften you will notice that the situation only gets worse. )ow
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is this %ossibleH It is %ossible because often it is difficult for you to understand how e#erything
is actually affecting e#erything, si&%ly because you lack sufficient o#ersight. Then it is better
to let it ha%%en. In conte&%lation you will later learn to &ake s&all corrections on what is
ha%%ening and to %lay with the law of Ear&a, or to dance, like Nod Shi#a.
6(a&%les of surrender in deeds:
You arri#e at your work and a load of work is awaiting you. Take your ti&e to select all the
work in three %iles: the first %ile is the s&allest:
The first %ile is urgent and has to be done today.
The second %ile is urgent but does not ha#e to be done today.
The third %ile is not urgent.
The least thing you &ust do is to work through the first %ile and finish it. 71Q of the rest is
sol#ed auto&atically. This is in fact Self3study. You di#ide your acti#ities and you do not
worry any&ore about things that are actually not i&%ortant. As a result you will feel
co&fortable, so the *uality of your work i&%ro#es. The *uality and the &oti#ation i&%ro#e.
This is called ti&e3&anage&ent.
The reward for the %ro%er %ractice of surrender is great.
9y the %ractice of surrender alone, you can reach the highest le#el of consciousness, Sa&adhi
or conte&%lation. Isnt that wonderfulJ
The idea is so a%%ealing that a co&%lete Yoga style has grown out of it: 9hakti Yoga or 5antra
Yoga. According to the Shi#a Sa&hita =D, > it is the &ost %o%ular of all styles, and fit for
absolutely anyone, although it does take the &ost ti&e to reach the goal:
2Peop.e >ith .itt.e initiati)eF the forgetfu. peop.eB >ho morbid.+ comment on their
teachers a.. the timeF greed+ peop.eF sinfu. gourmetsF those >ho he.p.ess.+ cannot ma/e it
>ithout their >i)esF fic/.e peop.eF timid peop.eF >ea/.ings G /no> that the+ a.. are >ea/
pupi.s! 'hese peop.e can succeed after t>e.)e +earsB be it >ith an utmost effort! 'he+
shou.d be deemed fit for 8antra Yoga b+ the teacher!A
Aefer also to the descri%tions of <arada in the <arada 9hakti Sutra, the bible of 9hakti Yoga.
21"
The "
th
<iya&a L surrender to the 5ost )igh L is of the highest order. Actually you find Yoga
in its entirety in this ideal, for if you are able to reach Sa&adhi, well, then you are finished,
arent youH
Si&%ly surrender. 'e ha#e co&e to the conclusion that surrender is not the fatalistic attitude
that &any %eo%le %ortray. A faulty inter%retation of this %ractice has led to fatalis&. The
attitude that &any Friental %eo%le %ortray, saying: ,Fh, just acce%t it, it is &y Ear&a. Bust let it
co&e o#er &e. I deser#e this., is not the correct a%%roach. Then what is the correct a%%roach to
%ractice surrenderH
Is it li#ing in the %resent =here and now>H
'hat are you sayingH ,)ere and now., as &any %eo%le say, &eans that you are not allowed to
think about yesterday, and that you are not allowed to think about to&orrow. +o not think
about the %laces you go, for you are su%%osed to think ,here., and not the %laces that you ha#e
been. This has an absolute nu&bing effect on the &o&ent itself, which is actually #ery
shallow, for if you are only occu%ied with the &o&ent itself, it is already o#er.
,)ere and now. is totally &eaningless. The &eaning of li#ing in the ,here and now. actually
&eans that you are functioning ti&elessly, in the %ast as well as in the future. That &eans
causal. 9ut then again: also &ental, as well as gross. The way I say it is as follows: ,To li#e
with your feet down on earth, while the head is in the clouds.. So #ery realistic, but #ery
s%iritual indeed: you li#e uni#ersally, which is surrender, because you acce%t the +i#ine in
e#erything and on all le#els as it is, and go along with it. 'orries then si&%ly are irrele#ant, for
they are the %roducts of your &ind. <o, focus on the &ental #ibration. ?ocus on the causal
#ibration. And focus on the #arious &aterial:gross #ibrations. ?ocus on the nature:essence
itself, and not so &uch on the abnor&alities that occur.
)owe#er, as hu&an beings we ha#e the tendency to forget the essence, fro& which it all ste&s,
and to focus on the aberrations and dishar&onies, the incidents and the e#ents, and direct all
our attention to$ards these. 9ut no, you &ust see e#ents within the fra&ework of cause and
effect, in a line of currents. That is surrender. To look at things in this way, is si&%ly sensing:
,)ey, this will ha%%en in this way.. You are not e#en sur%rised any&ore that things
ha%%en:occur, because you sense it. You are tuned3in on the +i#ine:the total:the uni#erseM you
go with the flow, and as a result you will ha#e no %roble&s any&ore, for it has all beco&e so
self3e#ident and so natural. All that is left is that you si&%ly cannot understand any&ore how
other %eo%le let the&sel#es get caught in the web of illusion:&atter:e&otions:thoughts.
/ould you gi#e us so&e %ractical hintsH
?or e(a&%le: in your relationshi% with the ele&ent earth, you do not reject the earth any&ore,
instead you acce%t her and cherish her and you beco&e a friend of the earth. In the sa&e way
you beco&e a friend of the water when you are swi&&ing, and that you feel good with it.
There are nu&erous %eo%le who would not e#en think of sitting on the floor, for it is dirty, thus
so&ething you ought not do. It is soil. <ow why would soil be dirtyH 9ut when there is a car%et
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on the floor and you sit on it, you feel co&fortable. This is a &atter of res%ect of the &atter in
general.
Then there is res%ect for war&th: 'ar&th is not so&ething that you ac*uire, for which you %ay
a bill, after which you can enjoy it. There is also the war&th of the sun, which is beautiful, and
for which you are grateful. This is a &atter of li#ing in har&ony with the fire3ele&ent. There
are nu&erous %eo%le who notice that the sun is out and i&&ediately %ut u% a hat, acco&%anied
by a %arasol, and they are afraid. 9ut no, the sun is your friend. Try to &aintain that
relationshi%. 5ake friends with sounds, the wind and e#erything, thus finding the +i#ine
within the ele&ents. That is surrender.
At the beginning the different Sa&adhi3e(ercises are focused u%on the different Nunas, which
is actually the to% of the sa&e. So there are different differentiations of the Nunas within the
ele&ents. And you can indeed gradually start sensing the Nunas #ia the ele&ents, and the to%
of the&, which are our 2 Sabija Sa&adhis: one that is focused u%on Aajas, one focuses u%on
Ta&as and one that is focused u%on Satt#a.
At the to% you actually sense the %eculiarity of creation. )owe#er, to be able to &ake it
co&%lete, you &ust ha#e also sensed it at the basis and in between. So, when you surrender to
the energy, for the energy is the +i#ine, you will increasingly be able to sense how those
currents are constructed, and what the for&s of those currents are. Then you will be able to
%ercei#e those differentiations at increasingly finer le#els. This is Sa&adhi. $ntil the &o&ent
that you will conclude: ,Fkay, I a& finished with al those differentiations. I will now go on to
the $ndifferentiated.. And u% you goJ Into <irbija.
?or &yself, to start with, I ha#e always %ut it si&%ly: try to %ercei#e the currents. 'hat, where
and which energy currents are at work, no$, and hereH 'ell, which energy currents do you
%ercei#e no$, at this 1ery &o&entH Since there is a fun fair in the #illage there is a lot of
energy %resent, ehH /an you feel itH +o you feel the &usicH That is energy, or isnt itH 'hen
you are a ,nor&al. hu&an being, you will start to struggle and say: ,<o, I do not want this..
This is sinful, for it is not the %ractice of surrender. Practice of surrender &eans to acce%t this
energy, and to be able to see the +i#ine within it.
And to sto% co&%laining G
You si&%ly cannot co&%lain any&ore when you %ractice surrender. <o &ore. And e#erything
that flows:that is:that co&es to you, is energy, and you will disco#er:find the +i#ine within it.
This =&usic fro& the fun fair> is +i#ine energy.
6#erything is +i#ine energy. It is all threads of Fur +ear @ord, hanging down, which you can
use, or ignore. And once you realiIe this, you will be eager to use the& all, e#en dog shit.
And use it to learn acce%tanceH
<o, you will use it because, thanks to Self3study, you will recogniIe in the %heno&enon:
,Nosh, that is Fur +ear @ord.. ,Nosh, isnt this oddH I a& in co&%lete ecstasy before that dog
21C
shitJ 'owJ. 6antastic. And that is what it is, for that too is energy, or notH So you go beyond
any duality, and you will co&e to the essence. ?ro& that &o&ent on you will li#e in hea#en.
That is 9hakti Yoga.
+o you use Sutras to co&e into hea#enH
Yes, for they are &eans to e#oke this condition of higher consciousness. 6#ery ti&e when I a&
reading a Sutra, I a& actually %raying. 'hen I talk like that, it is %raying.
+oes the +i#ine energy descend when you %rayH
You &ake a connection. You cause a connection, and at the &o&ent that you cause a
connection, it is %raying. )owe#er, in Yoga we do not call this %raying. 'e call it Sa&ya&a,
which is concentration, &ediation and conte&%lation at the sa&e ti&e. In &y argu&ent just
before, there was a lot of gross3&aterial, but there was also &y reasoning, and there was so&e
ins%iration. The co&bination of the threeM that is Sa&ya&a.
9ut then it is focused on a subjectH
Yes, you start a subject and gradually you bring e#erything under the sa&e heading, you
generaliIe: in the end e#erything is +i#ine.
Isnt this wonderfulH 9ut why didnt I tell you this in lesson 1, the lesson about surrenderH
'ell, would you ha#e understood all this at that ti&eH Probably not G At that ti&e I ke%t it
si&%le and sche&atic, so that %ractically you could do so&ething with that infor&ation.
'hen, after 1 years, you co&e back and study the subject of surrender again, it will co&e
ali#e again, and it will be co&%letely different. It will be e#en subtler than it is now. And so
Yoga3education is like a s%iral in which you re%eat the sa&e again and again, but consolidating
things ne#ertheless, intensify, and end u% a ste% higher each ti&e. )igher and higher. 9etter
and better. And this is so %owerful. You can occu%y yourself with Yoga for decades, e#en
centuries. 6#en until you are 211 or 811 years old, but it will always continue to fascinate.
6ach ti&e you will be full of it. A Yoga teacher is like a good wine: the older he gets, the
better. $suallyG
)el%J )ow a& I su%%osed to do all thisH Patanjali suggests =Yoga Sutras II, 22>:
2?hen the mind is disturbed b+ improper thoughts constant pondering o)er the
opposites Cis the remed+D!A
There is an urge in you and all kinds of tendencies, also fro& %re#ious li#es, that o#erwhel&
you on a regular basis. They &ake you do, say, think and feel things that are not in kee%ing
with your ideals. )ow do you deal with thisH Instead of fighting with the thoughts, which are
not in kee%ing with the correct %ractice of the Ya&as and the <iya&as, you can think ti&e and
ti&e again about the o%%osites of these thoughts.
217
This is an effecti#e way to go forward, and one of the &ost i&%ortant laws of character
building, recogniIed and reco&&ended by &odern %sychology to sol#e the %roble&s of self3
u%bringing:self3education.
Tai&ni says that the basis of this techni*ue to o#erco&e bad habits and unwanted tendencies
lies in the fact that all bad tendencies are rooted in wrong habits of thinking and attitudes.
Therefore the only effecti#e way to get rid of the& %er&anently and co&%letely is to take the
roots of the e#il and change the thoughts and attitudes that lay at the basis of this unwanted
&anifestation.
As you &ay know, an unwanted thought could only be altered by re%lacing it by an e(actly
o%%osite way of thinking L hate by lo#e, dishonesty by honesty.
You can create new and desirable ways of thinking by creating new thoughts, in which through
re%etition &ore and &ore &ental energy will start to flow. The unwanted ways of thinking and
the faulty attitudes will gradually languish and be re%laced.
So build a refle( in your life: when a negati#e thought arises, you call u% a %ositi#e
counter%art. ?or e(a&%le: when you co&e across a heroin3junky in the street, you let the
feeling of co&%assion o#erwhel& the feeling of re%ulsion.
The gra#ity of the situation is big, as Patanjali indicates in the following Sutra =Yoga Sutras II,
28>, as we ha#e seen:
2As improper thoughtsB emotions Cand actionsD such as those of )io.ence etc!B >hether
the+ are done Cindu.ged inDB caused to be done or abettedB >hether mi.dB medium or
intense degreeB resu.t in end.ess pain and ignoranceF so there is the necessit+ of pondering
o)er the opposites!A
It is indeed i&%ortant to %onder o#er o%%osites, otherwise you will re&ain tra%%ed in a #icious
circle of habits, that will cause you to endure all the %ains and sorrows of this life in your ne(t
life.
In addition in this Sutra Patanjali %oints out to us that the causes of these i&%ro%er thoughts
can be found in our greed, anger and delusion =in the +utch inter%retation: not in the 6nglish
inter%retation>. Therefore the root of the e#il can be dealt with by learning to share, to be
friendly and to re&ain rational.
*0! Sthira Su/ham Asanam
Posture =should be> steady and co&fortable.
'e already know what Sukha &eans: ,easy..
The &eaning of Sthira is: ,outstretched..
21!
You can directly feel the &eaning of the word ,Sthira.: outstretched, steady and solid. An
Asana &ust be steady, well3balanced and easy L according to the translation of Tai&ni. I ha#e
tried to e(%lain this when I told you the story of the ?le&ish fries: Asana is like a ?le&ish fry:
your body &ust be outstretched, fir& on the outside and soft on the inside. 'hyH The reason is
because you fry fries with hot and good *uality frying fat. +o not fry the& too long and &ake
sure that they re&ain soft inside. That is what real ?le&ish ?ries are about. The sa&e a%%lies to
AsanaM therefore I belie#e that it &ust ha#e been a 9elgian who in#ented it G
Asana carries you along, is actually guided by At&an. You only reach the true ,outstretch.
once you are in Sa&adhi. You reach the %innacle of Asana in Sa&adhi. The balloon beco&es
%erfectly s%herical because the aura beco&es beautifully %erfectM the body assu&es its real
for&. That is the stretching that is &eant here. The rela(ation you e(%erience within is actually
Satt#aM it is the sense of har&ony, the sense of well3being, which indeed occurs during
Sa&adhi.
The word ,Asana. is also *uite interesting for it ste&s fro& the #erb ,As3. =sitting:standing
still>. This e(%resses #ery accurately what Asana is about, and also how you can recogniIe
whether an Asana is %erfor&ed correctly. The Asana &ust be co&%letely &otionless. You &ust
co&e to a total standstill. The breath co&es to a halt. The brain co&es to a halt. This is the
%innacle of Asana %racticeM as long as you &o#e in Asana, you ha#e not succeeded.
9reath co&es to a haltH
In the beginning it beco&es increasingly weaker, but at a certain %oint it &ust disa%%ear, for
breath is only a co&%ensatory acti#ity. 'hen you are in Satt#a L total Satt#a L there is no need
for co&%ensation. This a%%lies to the heartbeat too, as well as to the brain function. That is the
logic behind this. And once you see this, you will be able to understand the words &uch better.
So it is not just a for&, nor is it a %icture or an i&age that you si&%ly try to co%y. It is
so&ething that enco&%asses the 7 ste%s of Yoga, of which it is the wra%%ing. Your being,
#isible as a body, shows that in this way: outstretched and easy, you could say.
This is also the reason why I told you that it is not allowed to %ers%ire when you %ractice
Asana. You should not ha#e Aajas. 9ut you should also not ha#e Ta&as. That is the reason
why I abandoned the <orth3Indian style, which is a feeble style of Yoga %ractice. In this style
%eo%le hang in the %ostures. +o you know the <orth3Indian styleH +o you know the +i#ine
@ife Society, the School of Shi#ananda and so onH They are &ostly s%read all o#er 6uro%e.
They are all weak and feeble.
I disco#ered the Iyengar3style, which is &uch &ore outstretched L South3Indian style.
)owe#er, also in this style the scale has ti%%ed too &uch to one side, for there is too &uch
Aajas in it. Therefore it has beco&e &ere gy&nastics, laced with #iolence. 9ut the
outstretching in the %erfor&ance of the %ostures in this style has struck a chord in &e, &aking
&e realiIe so&ething. Through this a%%roach I disco#ered that there was so&ething not right
about the <orth3Indian style. I co&%ared it and %racticed it and so on, and gradually it led &e
to the abo#e conclusion. I asked &yself: ,'hat is an AsanaH )ow should an Asana really be
%racticedH.
21
All this can only be understood and taught in the correct way a#ter going through the whole
Yoga3%ackage. This is hardly the case in &ost %laces. Peo%le learn to do those things
%hysically, set u% their own school and say: ,This is Asana.. 9ut it si&%ly is not Asana. It is
only what you thin! Asana isJ You better co&e back again after you ha#e studied, understood
and integrated all 7 ste%s of Yoga, and for&ed yourself your o$n o%inion about the subject.
Fnly then you ha#e the authority to s%eak about Asana.
And you know directly: e#eryone who &o#es too &uch, one way or the other, dro%s out. All
the %eo%le %ers%iring and o#erheating dro% out. That includes all the %eo%le who are engaged
in Power Yoga. Aecently I was on the %hone with one of the&: ,/an you %lease ad#ice &e
where to %ractice Power YogaH. So I answered: ,Are you aware of what you are asking &eHJ
That is not YogaJ. Ff course, I co&&itted #iolence by reacting like that.
So the &eaning of ,Asana. is ,co&ing:bringing to a standstill.H
Yes, total stillness. Stillness at gross, subtle and causal le#els: that is Asana. It is a %erson being
in dee% conte&%lation while doing a %ose. That is Asana.
The International Yoga ?ederation organiIes cha&%ionshi%s, and, thank Nod, they do it in this
way. I a& totally baffled. So I said: ,Nosh, I a& so ha%%y to find that I a& not the only one
who a%%roaches it like thisJ. It is the only s%iritual s%ort:%hysical s%iritual s%ort in the world:
Yoga. And now they want to %ro&ote this all around the world.
And the ne(t ste% is to %artici%ate in the Fly&%ic Na&esH
Yes, I think so. Then they will announce: ,<ow %ay attention to the &agnificent test of 2 hours
and 01 &inutes G in Drksasana. There are C %artici%ants G.

*1! Pra+atna Saithi.+ananta Samapattibh+am
9y rela(ation of effort and &editation on the R6ndless =%osture is &astered>.
)ow do you deter&ine when you are ready with an e(ercise:AsanaH Thanks to this Sutra we
know. I found a cou%le of things in#ol#ed, for e(a&%le when it looks easy. )a#e you e#er seen
the /hinese State /ircus or /ir*ue de SoleilH The way those artists %erfor& their actsJ It looks
#ery easy. That is this, what this Sutra is telling us: ,rela(ation of effort.. 'hen you &aster
so&ething, it looks #ery easy, and natural.
You can see this %rinci%le in dancing too. In good dances you do not notice the techni*ue
any&ore. You are si&%ly &o#ed by the at&os%here that is e(%ressed in the &usic.
A good actor con#eys an at&os%here. A bad actor causes friction. Then you say: ,Fh, co&e on
&an, get out of hereJ You cannot act G. That is this: rela(ation of effort.
2
Another ele&ent that I added is that the Asana is geo&etric. The for& confor&s to for&s that
we find in nature. The %innacle is: Aesthetics. 'hen an Asana is %erfor&ed right, you can see:
it is beautiful. It #eels beautiful, regarding content as well as for&. There is no other way: This
is %erfection. It is all rela(ation of effort. It is all included.
The *uestion now is how you achie#e this, how do you get to that le#elH That, too, is indicated.
It is #ery si&%le: the infinite: ,Ananta.. 'hat is that, Ananta, the infiniteH 'ell, it is called the
Nod of Snakes. It is a na&e gi#en to Shi#a, but it refers to the energy current in which you go
along. This is the geo&etry of nature. So, let your body go along in the geo&etry of nature,
allowing you to connect with nature. Then it beco&es infiniteM that you e(%ress what you are is
infinity. You radiate infinity. You are infinity. That is Asana.
+oes this snake ha#e a relation with EundaliniH
<o, it is only the energy of Shi#a.
The Asana is in fact a connection that you &ake between hea#en and earth. You ha#e
disco#ered the infinite current of Shi#a energy, and you let it occur. That is Asana, and that is
what you e(%ress. If you go that far, you do justice to Asana. If you are not able to bring it this
far, you are engaged in %ractice. 9ut fro& now on you know: this is the to%. And as long as you
ha#e not achie#ed it, you are still working on it, ehH And then 2 hours and 01 &inutes is not
so&ething unreachable. 9efore you know it " &inutes ha#e %assed, and it does not cost you
any effort. And you stay in it. Then, C hours later, so&eone %asses by and says: ,)ey, are you
still standing thereHJ. That is Asana: a total loss of sense of ti&e. Ti&e:s%ace transcended.
It is getting &ore and &ore fun, dont you thinkH
'hat is the effect of all thisH
*5! 'ato ()and)anabhighatah
?ro& that no assaults fro& the %airs of o%%osites.
The big %roble& for a %erson in this world:life is the duality. Nood Ti&es, 9ad Ti&es, isnt itH
=This is the title of a conte&%orary soa% o%era on +utch TD>. That fa&ous TD3%rogra&.
$nfortunately, I noticed, those actors are far fro& di#ine G 9ut it is consu&ed anyway.
Practice of Yoga neutraliIes the duality. 'ell, when you are in infinity, you would think there
is no dualityH The Eleshas cannot be acti#e any&ore and you will not get caught any&ore.
Then you are not afraid any&ore, and you will beco&e cal&. This is the &agic of Yoga. You
withdraw yourself L what we call transcendence 3 fro& the world of for&:illusion. The &ore
you reduce this duality, by %racticing Yoga, into the &atter L Asana 3, the &ore you feel what
is i&%ortant and what is essential. 9ecause of this your growth is accelerated.
20
The &ost difficult ele&ent is to get started with Yoga: ,'hat in Nods na&e are you doing
these daysJH 'hy dont you go %lay tennis or #olleyballH At least that is fun..
,:hatHJ +o you s%end 2 hours in one lessonH 'hat on earth are you doing during that ti&eHJ.
'ell, theory G %ractice G well, *uite a lot, you knowJ ,And what effects do you get fro& itH
)a#e you beco&e a saint alreadyH. <o, not yet G Terrible, huhJ Year after year G $ithout
interru%tions G just continuing G
Fne day &y brother %asses by, saying: ,Arent you done yetH If I take a closer look at your
school, well, I see only %eo%le with %roble&sJ At least I a& surrounded by, well, the jet set,
you know, all nicely dressed, fabulous auto&obiles, beautiful wo&en. That is what I call li#eJ
And you, you sit here with all those %oor souls, all the ti&eJ And they cannot acco&%lish
anythingJ And you enjoy thisH.
And I say: ,Yes, difficult to understand, ehH.
And he says: ,Yes, #ery difficult. /ertainly this is not for &e G., and off he dro#e in his car L
a wonderful s%orts car, as usual. The difference is: he will die.
And then you will inherit his s%orts car G
Success is best &easurable by the %hysical sy&&etry. 'hen there are no conflicts of the %airs
of contradictions you can write just as well with your left hand as you could with your right
hand. This is the %roof of being successful in the %ractice of Asana. Fur benefactor here is able
to do this. )e was born with it. I was so u%setJ Fne day he %aid a #isit, ne#er %racticed any
Yoga, and said: ,Fh, well, I can do that.. And I said: ,I ha#e been trying for 81 years, and still
there is a difference.. These are the conflicts of the %airs of contradictionsM the difference
between left and right, a lack of sy&&etry. You can look at your body in the &irror and see it
for yourself: I can see it with &y own bodyM it is beco&ing &ore and &ore sy&&etric, but it is
such a terribly slow %rocess. 5y one ear is higher than the other. So&e wo&en ha#e one breast
bigger than the other.
'hen you take a closer look at &odels, you will soon notice that their faces are sy&&etric.
This is a criterion for beauty.
This is one of the canons of Nreek Aesthetics: Perfect sy&&etry.
Yes, there are &any wrongly %erfor&ed e(ercises in the book =the Yoga +i%ika>. You &ust try
to look for yourself, using your feeling. I already told you what I &ade out of it during all those
years, but &aybe it needs so&e &ore refine&ent. It is li#ing &atter, so you continue
%er%etually, ehH Fne thing you should si&%ly kee% in &ind: it is not they way it see&s fro&
the books, also not fro& Tai&ni. And it is also not as it is written in the Yoga +i%ika. Actually
it is e#en better than that: it is as Ajita tells us.
Fkay, this was again one of those outbursts G
I cannot understand that you do not get tired of &eJ
*6! 'asmin Sati S)asa Pras)asa+or Gati)icchedah Prana+amah
22
This ha#ing been =acco&%lished> Pranayama which is cessation of ins%iration
and e(%iration =follows>.
Pranaya&a, often translated as breath3control, should be: energy3control.
/essation should be: control.
In3 and e(%iration should be: in3 and outflow.
I corrected all this in the te(t.
'hat we see here is the classical error that is &ade by so &any %eo%le in Yoga.
It is only logical that you first neutraliIe the low and high tides L the contradictions that affect
your gross and subtle bodies L with Asanas, and only after that you %roceed on a &ore refined
le#el.
You see the sa&e in air%lanes: 'hen an air%lane wants to change direction he uses his big
,fla%s. on his wings, and if he wants to correct on a finer le#el, you see that there are also
s&all ,fla%s. a#ailable with which he can &aneu#er and &ake corrections #ery subtly.
So Asanas are in fact an atte&%t on gross le#el to try to find the energetic balance. Pranaya&a
is the atte&%t to do this on a &ore subtle le#el. And, indeed, in3 and outflow L Shi#a and
Shakti L are regulated in this way.
The beauty of Pranaya&a is actually within the 9indus, the 0 ,nostrils.. They are the cos&ic
nostrils, located in the botto& of the %el#is and abo#e the head. Thanks to the #ision of the
Yin3Yang &odel that I recei#ed, I &ade this &ajor disco#ery. In it I saw two tail ends, and I
asked &yself: ,'hat is thisH )ow can I fit this in within the anato&y of &y bodyH 'here
e(actly would this be locatedH.
At first I thought that it would be located at the le#el of &y feet, but there was so&ething that
did not &ake sense. There was no logic in it. So I looked &ore and &ore into it, and at a certain
&o&ent, by &aking co&%arisons with the %hysical ner#es, I found it. ?ro& that &o&ent I
knew: the botto& in the &odel to which all the energy currents reach is si&%ly the %el#ic
botto&. And since that ti&e I know for certain: This is it. 9ut it &eans that the 9indu is located
in the %el#ic botto&, at the end of 5uladhara /akra. In fact it is a rotation of the /akra, so not
e(actly in the center.
The u%%er 9indu is about " centi&eters abo#e the head. I disco#ered this %oint when a
Ner&an doctor, only Nod knows how he ended u% contacting &e, #isited &e. )e called &e and
said: ,/an you hel% &eH I a& a %sychiatrist, and I ha#e disco#ered so&ething strange with &y
%atients that I now a%%ly.. )e said: ,@ook, there is a %oint u% here, and when I touch it with
&y attention or with &y fingers, I beco&e #ery *uiet. I told this to &y %atients and they, too,
beco&e #ery *uiet when they do this. )ow is this possibleH.
I said to hi&: ,That is Surya 9indu. There is no other way.. Fb#iously this guy disco#ered, in
a %rag&atic way, how this works, and i&&ediately I started to e(%eri&ent with this. And, yes,
indeed, when you touch it, then strange enough, you create balance. In Yoga it is said that the
28
duality co&es into us through a %oint: /andra 9indu. 9ut when you are in that %oint with your
awareness you %re#ent the de#elo%&ent of the duality, because the energy co&es fro& the
causal world. So you are at the boundary: you reduce e#erything back to its nor&al origin.
Then I also understood why sorcerers ha#e a stee%le3crowned hat, for this 9indu goes higher
and higher as your aura beco&es bigger. So a great sorcerer can be recogniIed by the fact that
he is wearing a big3siIe %ointed hat.
/ontrol of 0 %oints, which thus are the 0 entrances L energetically L of our being. )owe#er,
there are &ore of the&, but here we look at it fro& a linear %ers%ecti#e. Then you see that there
is this circulation that can be co&%letely controlled.
'hen you %ut your hand on so&eones forehead, he beco&es &uch lighter. 'e often did this
while I worked as a nurse.
Yes, I tried it &yself too, and indeed it works.
+oes this &ean that you sto% Shi#a fro& flowing inH
Yes, absolutely, and Shakti cannot lea#e. It is contained within you, and so you beco&e lighter.
Actually it is the %ractice of Surya 9edhana Pranaya&a.
This is what is %racticed to achie#e le#itation: Surya 9edhana Pranaya&a, co&bined with a
Balandhara 9andha 5udra. That is the solution in Yoga. It is not with a hand on the forehead
but with a throat lock. 'hen you %ractice Surya 9edhana with a high rhyth& L 71 for e(a&%le
L with Balandhara 9andha 5udra added to it, well, then it is %ossible. I once laid &y eyes on a
book:old scri%ture in which this was e(%lained. I found it so&ewhere in a library. I tried it
&yself, and indeed it ga#e a feeling in that direction. If you would %ractice it intensely, I think
you would ha#e results.
So the 0 9indus are cos&ic nostrilsH And all those %eo%le with their fingers u% their noses are
all wrongH
Yes, it is #ery nice for the&, but it is not getting the& anywhere.
It is so si&%le. 9ut, by the way, there are a cou%le of errors %ossible: na&ely the /akras
the&sel#es, for they can recei#e energy fro& the outside. 6ach /akra is actually a
window:back door to a certain world. 6nergies can co&e in through the /akras, but you can
also get rid of the&. So, energetically you do not only function through the 9indus. )owe#er,
with those /akras, when we work with Pranaya&a, we ha#e learned to %ractice Pratyahara,
which is es%ecially a%%licable to lock all the back doors or windows. Then the effect of the
Pranaya&a through the 9indus is &uch better.
Then there is so&ething else you should know: in Yoga you do not work directly u%on the
/akras. 'hen so&ebody tells you to work directly u%on a /akra, &eaning that you should
concentrate on the /akra, you should absolutely not do this. ?or the si&%le reason that, when
2"
you concentrate directly u%on a /akra, the &ental wa#elength of Ajna /akra is different fro&
the wa#elength of each of the underlying /akras, and also abo#e it. So actually you disru%t the
acti#ity of the /akra by concentrating on it. 'hat we do in Yoga is only obser#ing what the
effect is on the /akra, but not concentrating on it.
I understand, but in so&e Pranaya&a e(ercise you are su%%osed to concentrate on certain
/akras =like the heart /akra in 9hastrika Pranaya&a, and the forehead in $jjayi Pranaya&a>H
Fr do you si&%ly ha#e to obser#e in those instances as wellH
?ocusing u%on the forehead center is %ossible, but that is the only one allowed. It is the &ental
body.
Then what do you do in 9hastrikaH
You bring the energy to the le#el of the heart, but you do not focus u%on the heart centerM you
bring the energy there and then you let go of it.
You will see that these kinds of things beco&e increasingly i&%ortant. In the end, all that
&atters is the fine3tuning of the /akras. They are to %lay in concert with each other like the
instru&ents in an orchestra. You &ust a#oid that one instru&ent %lays louder than the other.
They &ust all %lay nicely si&ultaneous, and at the right ti&e.
It is #ery difficult to connect the /akras with each other nicely and coordinate the&. This is
actually a %roble& of Antahkarana, the inner organ. So, as soon as you &ake the &istake,
through so&e &isguided idea or thera%y, to focus u%on a s%ecific /akra, there is a considerable
risk of causing gra#e i&balance in your being, resulting in har&ing yourself.
In esoteric healing L which we learn in the C
th
year of the course L this is e(%licitly e(%lained
each ti&e. Therefore I a& strongly o%%osed to so3called /akra3thera%y, and all the other
e(cesses that occur.
,7! 4ah+abh+antara Stambha $rttir (esa/a.a Sam/h+abhih Paridrshto
(irghasu/shmah
=It is in> e(ternal, internal or su%%ressed &odificationM is regulated by %lace, ti&e
and nu&ber, =and beco&es %rogressi#ely> %rolonged and subtle.
InternalH 6(ternalH There is an e(ternal Eu&bhaka, and there is an internal Eu&bhaka. The
first Eu&bhaka is always e(ternal, or you could say: directed toward the outside world. This
&eans that the second Eu&bhaka &ust ha#e in inwardly directed current. +o you re&e&ber
the inward currentH Antar&ukhi DrttiH The outgoing current is called: Dahir&ukhi Drtti.
The Futgoing current is taking %lace when there is i&balance between the energies, i&balance
between Shi#a and Shakti, which &eans that you are distracted and therefore %roducing
24
Ear&a. 'hen the energies are in balance L inward current L you go towards Satt#a, and you
grow:de#elo%.
Science of Soul.
Dahir&ukhi Drtti and Antar&ukhi DrttiM the two currents of /itta. These are actually the 0
Eu&bhakas &entioned here. It is only nor&al that you do not achie#e balance yet in the
beginning, after the inflow, or after the first stage. 9ut it is also logical that when you finish the
Pranaya&a, you should achie#e co&%lete har&ony in the 0
nd
Eu&bhaka, for the goal of
Pranaya&a is har&ony, so you &ust ha#e achie#ed at least that. And that is Antar&ukhi Drtti.
At that stage it should be %ossible that Antar L internaliIation L occurs. If you cannot %ercei#e
this, you ha#e not succeeded in your Pranaya&a. Then you &ay ha#e to add another
Pranaya&a, or think carefully about whether you ha#e chosen the wrong Pranaya&a for that
#ery &o&ent.
,Su%%ressed &odification. L this is in fact Eu&bhaka L ,is regulated by %lace, ti&e and
nu&ber.. The %lace: de%ending on the location where you are, the effect of your Pranaya&a
will be different. )ow is this %ossibleH At certain %laces, for e(a&%le by the seaside, with a
southwestern wind that introduces Shi#a energy =hu&id K Shi#a>, the condition of your
surroundings and the condition of your being is different. It is energy after all, so de%ending on
the location, you will ha#e to a%%roach it differently when you %ractice Pranaya&a by the
seaside, and %ractice other Pranaya&as e#entually, than when you %ractice so&ewhere high
u% in the Al%s, at the side of Austria:Italy for e(a&%le, where suddenly there is wind fro& the
east, which is a Shakti3current, and you are at a #ery high altitude. This is a total different
situation.
'hen you %ractice in the base&ent the conditions are also totally different. A base&ent is
hea#y L a lot of Ta&as. Then you need &ore Shakti e(ercises. This &eans that you ha#e to %ay
close attention, and do not be sur%rised when you sit down to do your Pranaya&a e(ercise and
you end u% totally disoriented. <othing is workingJ So fro& now on you %ay attention to your
surroundings and circu&stances: 'here are youH 'hat do you feelH It is also %ossible to
%ractice in water, which is totally different fro& %racticing on land.
Ti&e also deter&ines which Pranaya&a is %referable to be %racticed. You already know what
to do in the &orning: usually, after a good slee%, you do a Shakti3e(ercise, because at that ti&e
in your en#iron&ent Shakti slowly co&es u%, while you are still in the Ta&as of the night. So
there is the need to awaken.
In the e#ening you are tired: the en#iron&ent is slowly beco&ing Ta&as, and you ha#e a need
for Shi#a energy. So the &orning, afternoon, e#ening and night are the 8 ty%ical ti&e %hases
that you can take into account.
'e ha#e learned fro& the )atha Yoga Pradi%ika that we can distinguish 7 different %hases in a
day. These are %hases of 2 hours each, which are clearly different fro& each other when you
%ractice. Bust as an e(%eri&ent it would be interesting to %ractice the sa&e Pranaya&a e(ercise
7 ti&es a day in each of those 23hour %hases, if only to e(%erience the difference each ti&e.
2C
I was told that there are only 8 %hases.
You can assu&e 8 %hases, but you can also assu&e 7 %hases: you are working increasingly
towards refine&ent.
And the nu&ber &entioned in the SutraH That is the counting3rhyth& that increases. I told you
before that the o%ti&al rhyth& is 71. The added #alue is not interesting any&ore when you go
beyond 71. 9uild it u% until you arri#e at 71. And thenH /ontinue to do that until you ha#e
enough of it. This will take you an enormous a&ount of ti&e. After that you gradually try to
switch towards s%ontaneous Pranaya&a. This is described in the "
st
Sutra:
,! 4ah+abh+antara $isa+a/shept Caturthah
That Pranayama which goes beyond the s%here of internal and e(ternal is the
fourth =#ariety>.
The use of the 0 Eu&bhakas that we %racticed in Sahita Eu&bhaka =artificial a%%roach to
Pranaya&a %ractice with counting> actually beco&es redundant, because you try to stabiliIe the
energies by touch. )owe#er, they still re&ain the 7 Pranaya&as that we know so well. At
%resent I now al&ost always %ractice Ee#ala Eu&bhaka. I always regulate &y energies in this
way, already since &any years. )ardly e#er do I fall back on counting. )owe#er, for &any,
&any years I ha#e %racticed the rhyth& of 71 =ti&es A$5 at inflow>.
'hy actually is counting so usefulH
The counting is needed to bring you into the Sa&skaras. )abituation, you knowH At a certain
%oint you ought to dream the e(ercise. That is the &o&ent that you are ready for Ee#ala
Eu&bhaka. 9ut for as long as you do not clearly recall the Pranaya&a3techni*ue, you &ust
continue the artificial a%%roach. I belie#e that when you ha#e build u% the e(ercise until 71 you
ought to be able to drea& that e(ercise.
,"! 'atah -sht+ate Pra/asa)aranam
?ro& that is dissol#ed the co#ering of light.
The light beco&es obfuscated by the instabilities in the energy3household. 9ut that is all gross
le#el, ehH So, fro& now on you re&o#e the &ajor blockages with Pranaya&a. 9ut this does not
&ean that the Sa&skaras ha#e been re&o#ed yet. )owe#er, according to Sutra "2 it does &ean
that you are ready to %ractice concentration:
27
,&! (haranasu Ca Yog+ata 8anasah
And the fitness of the &ind for concentration.
9y the %ractice of Pranaya&a in general you re&o#e the #eil fro& the light, and as such, it is a
wonderful %re%aration for concentration. @ight is nothing else than energies in balance. 'hen
energies are in balance, you will be able to concentrate &uch &ore effecti#ely. I think that,
when the energies are not in balance, you will ne#er, e#er succeed in concentration. You can
continue to try until you are blue in the face: it will not work. It will be like swi&&ing
u%strea&.
This is one of the reasons why there are so few %eo%le who are good at &ental control. It is
because the circu&stances are not fa#orable. They are si&%ly unable to do it. I a& always #ery
a&used when %eo%le say:
,)ey, I attended a &editation3course. 'onderful things G #isualiIations G songs G.
9ut it is not fair. Peo%le are being decei#ed, for you cannot learn to &editate just like that if
you do not follow the %receding ste%s. You will not stand a chance at success.
,Yes, but I learned a #ery good techni*ue of blah, blah, and so G.
<o wayJ I&%ossibleJ +id it bring the light into youH +id you obtain L energetic L balanceH
"e#ore you startedH
,Yes, but we kee% it si&%le, you knowJ 'e just sit down G.
Fkay, but do you actually &editateH
,Yes, we listen to a story that is told G and then we reflect on that..
That is not &editationJ
And so there are so &any wrongs in this world. Peo%le only yell about: &editation this way,
&editation that way G
There is this teachers course of 4 weeks in India. Bust like that: one &onth, si( weeks, and you
are a teacher. They are either 1ery good, or they are worthless. You choose.
,*! S)a $isha+asampra+oge Citta S)arupanu/ara I)endri+anam
Prat+aharah
Pratyahara or abstraction is, as it were, the i&itation by the senses of the &ind
by withdrawing the&sel#es fro& their objects.
This is an e(a&%le of bad use of language. The senses are the Indriyas, which are in fact the
origin of the senses. 9ut not only of the senses, also of the &otor syste&, and also of the subtle
ele&ents: the Tan&atras, the Ear&endriyas and the Bnanendriyas. Those are the Indriyas.
Pratyahara is the art of detach&ent.
2!
Are you in troubleH +o you know what you should doH You &ust let go. Fnly then you will be
able to cal&ly o#ersee things.
'ho has not heard this ad#ice beforeH It &akes you craIy, es%ecially because e(actly at such a
&o&ent you are not able to let go.
It is like &y sister, gi#ing &e ad#ice when I was #ery tensed: ,+o you know what you should
doH You &ust re3la(J. It felt like a sla% in the face. I could ha#e killed her.
If only I had known that the core of the %roble& lies in our habit to attach to the %eo%le and the
things in our li#es. If only I had known that a hu&an can li#e a better life by dealing with it
loosely. If I had known that, I would not ha#e had so &uch trouble. 9ut now I knowJ And it
&akes &e so ha%%y. I would not be able to li#e any&ore without this knowledge, which is
clearly and e(actly described by the science of Yoga. Therefore, read the following with great
attention:
This is the least known ste% of Yoga. In the 'est this %art of Yoga is actually unknown. There
is hardly any re%ort of this ste% within conte&%orary so3called 'estern Yoga literature.
)owe#er, this ste% is absolutely essential to ha#e any chance to e#er reach the goal of Yoga:
liberation. <aturally, at the sa&e ti&e, it is also an indis%ensable tool to realiIe the higher
=si(th, se#enth and eighth> ste%s of Yoga, na&ely concentration, &editation and conte&%lation.
Ff significant i&%ortance is also the fact that this fifth ste% of Yoga can also hel% you to gain
control o#er your e&otions and desires. According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali it is e#en
%ossible to obtain %hysical %erfection with thisJ
This te(t is based u%on a %art of the book, ,?irst ste%s to )igher Yoga. by Swa&i
Yogesh#erananda Saras#ati =/ha%ter DII, %age 24"32C">, that I ha#e adjusted and %ro#ided
with e(%lanations:clarifications.
201
'hat is PratyaharaH
In the 'est we deal with %eo%le and things *uite %ri&iti#ely. 9efore we know it we beco&e
attached to the&, and often we cannot li#e without any&ore. 'e either gi#e in to it, or we
o%%ress it. In both instances we get into trouble because we do not know how to kee% balance.
)abits, obsessions and addictions occur on one side, while contortions, frustrations and
cla&&ing u% occur on the other side. Society turns into chaos G
In Yoga we deal with %eo%le and things in a #ery refined way. 'e %ay attention to the energy
that we use in our co&&unications and withdraw that energy back to oursel#es in case we need
to. In doing so we neutraliIe the forces that could kee% us i&%risoned. This is what we call
detach&ent.
The old scri%tures describe +etach&ent =Pratyahara> in different ways:
3The Dishnu Purana says: ,Pratyahara is the action of controlling the sense
organs =Indriyas> which feel naturally drawn towards their objects.. The Indriyas
refer to the senses: the Ear&endriyas =the &otor syste& of e(cretion, %rocreation, %ro%ulsion,
gras% and s%eech> and the Bnanedriyas =s&ell, taste, touch, sight and
hearing.
3The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali say: ,To &ake the sense organs follow the intellect
and to withdraw the& fro& their objects is Pratyahara..
3The Eato%anishad, 2303! say: ,'hen &an is inde%endent, and his 5anas controls his senses
like a whi%, holding the reins fir&ly in his hands, his road will be successful and he will be
liberated..
Fur descri%tion is as follows:
,Pratyahara is the art of choosing to detach fro& the contra%tions of life whene#er the need
arises.. In this %rocess it is not only a &atter of controlling the functioning of the senses, but
also a &atter of controlling the functioning of the &ind:thoughts and the e&otions.
So in the %ractice of Pratyahara the Indriyas are not allowed to stay in contact with the objects,
but they &ust be trained to follow the intellect. This &eans that you &ust gain control o#er the
following ele&ents:
. 5otor syste& of e(cretion, like urinating, defecating and %ers%iration.
0. 5otor syste& of %rocreation, or the acti#ity of the se(3organ.
2. 5otor syste& of %ro%ulsion, or the &o#e&ent of the legs while walking and running.
8. 5otor syste& of gras%, or the &o#e&ent of the hands and ar&s.
". 5otor syste& of s%eech, or the use of the #oice while s%eaking, calling out and singing.
4. Sense of s&ell, or %icking u% s&ells with the nose.
C. Sense of taste, or tasting with the tongue.
7. Sense of touch, or feeling with the fingers.
!. Sense of sight, or seeing with the eyes.
1. Sense of hearing, or listening with the ears.
20
'hat e(actly ha%%ens in PratyaharaH
Swa&i Yogesh#eranand Saras#ati says: ,To understand what ha%%ens in Pratyahara you &ust
first see the following: 5anas =%ower of reason>, Aha&kara =ego> and /itta =&e&ory> are
%ercei#ed as three different ele&ents because the effect of the three Nunas =*ualities> na&ely
Satt#a =har&ony>, Aajas =acti#ity> and Ta&as =inertia> has a different effect on the&..
,The Indriyas co&e in contact with 5anas and 9uddhi =intellect> #ia the Tan&atras =subtle
ele&ents>, when they transfer the knowledge of the e(ternal objects to 5anas and 9uddhi. The
Indriyas recei#e knowledge of the e(ternal objects and %ass it on to 5anas. Subse*uently
5anas %asses it on to 9uddhi. 9uddhi for its %art distinguishes and refines the known and
%asses it on in the for& of Sa&skaras to /itta in Earana Sharira =causal body> that can be felt
in the region of the heart. +uring this %rocess the Indriyas co&e into contact with 5anas and
9uddhi.
)owe#er, /itta does not ha#e a direct contact with the Indriyas. +uring conte&%lation or
&editation 5anas and 9uddhi co&e only in contact with the Tan&atras, so there is no contact
with the e(ternal organs that are not acti#e either. The result of this is that the o%en eyes do not
see, the ears do not hear, the hands do not gras% and the feet do not &o#e. Then 5anas will
engage itself in the thought of the Self, i.e. 5anas is li&ited and therefore it beco&es silent.
9uddhi is cal&ed in the sa&e way. The Indriyas sto% gathering knowledge of their objects
because their &aster =5anas> is silent or inacti#e. As a result the Bnanendriyas are not fed.
Their contact with the objects disa%%ears and as a result the Indriyas beco&e as *uiet as
5anas.
This is Pratyahara. This e(%lains why the author of the Yoga Sutras considers Pratyahara as
one of the e(ternal ste%s of Yoga, because the e&%hasis lies on the functioning of the e(ternal
organs. Fn the other hand the Yajna#alkya Sa&hita %uts e&%hasis on the gross and subtle
organs and therefore %ercei#es Pratyahara as an internal ste%. Fnly when a Yogi %erfects the
first four ste%s of Yoga will he be able to understand the subtle organs and the fi#e Tan&atras.
'ithout this knowledge it is i&%ossible to understand the function of the subtle organs and
objects. Therefore if we do not consider this function, Pratyahara a%%ears to be an e(ternal
ste%..
)ow can we best %ractice PratyaharaH
Fur a%%roach in si&%le words:
. ?irst establish the fact that you are attached to so&ething or so&ebody. ?eel the
li&itation of this attach&ent. You dont knowH Then it is #ery si&%le: you only ha#e to
look at all those things that attract you. Then you ask yourself the *uestion: /an I do
withoutH 'hen the answer is ,no., then you ha#e an attach&ent. Trick *uestion: /an
you do without brushing your teethH You can also check whether you are ha#ing your
life li#ed for you by others. @i#ing in the drag of daily life is also the result of
attach&ent.
200
0. 6stablish the fact: ,I want to be free of this attach&ent.. 9e con#inced of your decision.
Take control in your own hands again: ,9y the way, I a& the one who deter&ines what
ha%%ens hereJ. 'hen you do that you actually &ake your intellect function. That in
itself is enough to co&e loose fro& attach&ent. Subse*uently you always kee% the
initiati#e. That is safer for you. )a#e you e#er asked yourself the *uestion: ,'hat a& I
actually doing hereH. or ,+o I su%%ort thisH. This is #ery healthy, you know. It hel%s
you to detach.
2. @et the detach&ent that follows arise slowly. @et go little by little. +o not let go all at
once, for that would be #iolence. To let go of e#erything at once is not so good for your
being. +o it slowly, so that you can get used to it. It is easier this way. 6s%ecially when
you %lay with it and rationaliIe it. ?eel co&fortable to say: ,To&orrow I will continue
with this detach&entJ.
8. ?ocus on a new object or %erson. +i#e into so&ething co&%letely different, so&ething
that really a%%eals to you. Transfer your attention &ore and &ore towards another
interesting subject:object. Sniff the s&ell, feel the touch and then co&e back each ti&e,
until you ha#e &ade the object your own. At the sa&e ti&e you will ha#e detached
yourself fro& your for&er attach&ent.
Swa&i Yogesh#aranand Saras#ati e(%lains in detail:
,It is said that when 9uddhi is in#ol#ed in e(ternal objects, the Indriyas will focus on those
objects. 'hen 9uddhi sto%s being in#ol#ed, the Indriyas will follow 9uddhi. So 9uddhi
acti#ates the Indriyas.
This %rocess is e(%lained at the hand of the e(a&%le of the *ueen bee. The bees follow the
*ueen. They gather where she settles. 'hen she lea#es, the bees will follow her. In the sa&e
way the Indriyas will follow 9uddhi.
Yogi Noraksha says: As a tortoise withdraws its e(tre&ities, so should a Yogi withdraw his
Indriyas. <aturally 9uddhi will re&ain acti#e. It will continue to discri&inate, but the
Indriyas will %ull away fro& the e(ternal objects and re&ain cal&. )owe#er it &ay be, the
Indriyas are not in direct contact with the soul. The author rightly notices that the Indriyas
only follow or i&itate 9uddhi. /onse*uently, when 9uddhi is under control, the senses are
auto&atically under control as well. To control the senses in another way is therefore not
necessary.
The 9haga#ad Nita warns for the tre&endous %ower of the Indriyas. As soon as an object
attracts a hu&an, that object will affect hi& and 5anas will also be attracted by it as a result. A
sensible hu&an therefore kee%s his Indriyas constantly under control. 'hen they are under
control, 9uddhi will beco&e cal& =Nita 0341, 4>. A sensible Yogi therefore should kee% his
Indriyas under control with &ental and %hysical efforts. Fnly then will he be able to reach
%erfection in Yoga. Fne single uncontrolled sense is enough to let hi& fall. )is intellect or
knowledge will beco&e, as it were, like water in a leaking barrel.
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The senses usually go towards their objects. If 5anas would follow, it would go down like a
shi% in a stor& =Nita, 034C>. If a hu&an has co&&on sense and he has trained his 5anas well,
his senses will be controlled, like trained horses are well controlled by a trained charioteer. In
an unwise hu&an, who does not control his 5anas, the senses will run wild like a sta&%eding,
%etulant horse =Eatho%anishad, 033",4>.
'ithout control of the Indriyas it is i&%ossible to free oneself of the shackles of worldly life.
The causes of this attach&ent are the senses that follow their objects. Fnly when 5anas is
under total control Pratyahara can be %erfected. 'ithout this, one cannot succeed in Yoga..
?ro& what should we detachH
Swa&i: ,The objects that we should detach fro& can be di#ided into two categories according
to the old scri%tures:
. The gross objects, +ristha, or all that is #isible.
0. The subtle objects, Anushra#ika.
If one wants to achie#e realiIation of the Self, to be free of suffering and successful in Yoga, it
is absolutely i&%erati#e that you free yourself fro& the gross objects as well as the subtle
objects. Pratyahara could only be %erfect when 9uddhi is co&%letely free fro& attach&ent of
the objects. The reason for this being that 9uddhi is solely res%onsible for the attach&ent.
'ould you be able to *uietly %ass by these gross objectsH
In this conte(t the Yoga %hiloso%hy says the following: The +rishta objects are those objects
that gi#e enjoy&ent to the gross senses, are #isible e#erywhere and are used on a daily basis by
e#erybody. ?or e(a&%le bad and good s&ells, foodstuff with #ariable tastes and objects that
are %leasant for the eyes and %leasant to touch. 9elonging to this category is also: wealth,
%ossession, %arents, s%ouse, son, daughter, friends, %eo%le, disci%les, and e#en ani&als.
The nature of Anushra#ika objects can be studied in the scri%tures or it can be learned fro&
res%ectable %ersons. They cannot be %ercei#ed %hysically. Fnly the Yogi in Sa&%rajnata
Sa&adhi can %ercei#e and know the&. Fnly the subtle body can enjoy the&. /onse*uently
subtle words, touches, for&s, tastes and s&ells are things that can only be enjoyed by the best
of Yogis. The Yogi uses the& in Sa&%rajnata Sa&adhi, but only by those who ha#e a total
control of the fi#e subtle ele&ents =Tan&atras>.
'hen one is totally detached fro& the enjoy&ents of the objects =of both categories> one will
achie#e Dashikara Pratyahara. Fn the basis of the two abo#e categories of objects one can
classify Pratyahara as an internal or an e(ternal ste%. Fnly when the Yogi controls the fi#e
Tan&atras and obtains knowledge about the&, will it be useful to s%eak of detach&ent fro&
Anushra#ika. Therefore there is usually only &ention of the contact of the Indriyas with their
objects =Pratyahara as an e(ternal ste%>. This is in accordance with Patanjalis #iews..
Sorts of Pratyahara
208
To achie#e successful Pratyahara it is utterly essential to %ractice detach&ent in its four for&s:
. Progressi#e =Yata&ana> detach&ent. The feelings of lo#e and hate ha#e beco&e one
with =or rooted in> our organs forcing the& towards their objects. ?irst you beco&e
aware of how these feelings affect the senses, followed by the withdrawal, as o%%osed
to your being attached, of the senses fro& the objects.
0. 6(clusi#e =Diyatireka> detach&ent. 'hen you are engaged in abo#e &entioned
%rogressi#e detach&ent you beco&e aware of &any of your attach&ents. You decide
fro& which attach&ents you want to distance yourself first, after which you e(clusi#ely
focus u%on that task. 'ith this a%%roach you can deal with each of your attach&ents
ste% by ste% until you are not attached to anything any&ore.
2. Fne3sense =6kendriya> detach&ent. In case of a stubborn attach&ent it can ha%%en that
you are not able to detach yourself. The intellect see&s to ha#e no %ower of
%ersuasi#eness and the i&%ressions touch you into the de%ths of /itta. 6nsure that such
disturbances cannot take %lace. S&oking can be such a stubborn attach&ent. /hoose
one ele&ent =one3sense> of s&oking. ?or e(a&%le the lighting u% of the cigarette, the
buying of cigarettes or the inhaling of the s&oke. You take this one sense as the target
of your detach&ent. 'hen you are finished, you focus u%on the ne(t sense, and you
continue in this way until you are co&%letely finished with your attach&ent.
8. /ontrolled =Dashikara> detach&ent. The Yogi reaches the stage in which there are only
so&e dee%3lying i&%ressions left. They do not a%%ear easily. 6#en when the senses
co&e close to their objects the intellect re&ains cal&. As a result the senses will re&ain
cal& as well. 'hen this state of detach&ent is achie#ed with the following four
ele&ents, /itta, 9uddhi, 5anas and Indriyas, it is called Dashikara. As a &atter of
e(ercise you can challenge the Indriyas by #isiting the for&er object of attach&ent and
to see to what e(tent you succeed in controlling yourself.
'hy is %racticing Pratyahara of #ital i&%ortanceH
Fne night, early August 0111, I had a drea&. I found &yself being in A&sterda& again, on the
Prins )endrikkade, where I taught Yoga for ! years. There were a lot of %eo%le. 9ut not all of
the& had good intentions. ?our young &en, with Arabic a%%earances closed in on &e.
Threatening. I walked away, but that did not hel%. They continued to follow &e. Then I
realiIed that I was lost. I could not esca%e fro& the&. They surrounded &e, and the leader, the
oldest in the grou%, %ulled out a knife. I asked the& des%erately: ,'hy do you want to kill
&eH. To which he &u&bled so&ething in ?rench: ,'e do not care G 6ngage&ent G
6ngage&ent G. And just before he stabbed &e I woke u%.
'hat was this all aboutJ )ow was I su%%osed to inter%ret this drea&H The beautiful, cal&
nature of Southern ?rance hel%ed &e. I realiIed that I had wandered off fro& &y task, to which
I had engaged &yself: hel% %eo%le. Instead I had been %ri&arily occu%ied with &yself, how to
get by financially, whether I recei#ed enough recognition, how troubleso&e &y little daughters
were and how few %eo%le reacted to ad#ertise&ents of the school. The &essage was e(actly
what I needed. It was clear: to stray fro& your task &eans death. 'hat a warning indeedJ
20"
That afternoon I went into conte&%lation. The 6nglish word ,Aenunciation. =detach&ent> had
taken total %ossession of &e. I had ne#er before e(%erienced Pratyahara so intensely. Then
suddenly I felt an enor&ous liberation. @ight broke through. 9liss installed within &e. I ca&e
loose fro& all attach&ent. I was ali#e again. )ow stu%id had I beenJ
Swa&i: ,It is said in the Nita that one acts in co&%liance with his nature and that nothing can
be done about it. As is the tongue naturally fit to taste. 'hen so&ething tastes delicious it is
good for the Yogi and also for the cook. The e(%erience of their tongues is identical. 'hat
tastes sour to the tongue of the Yogi, tastes sour for the others and what tastes sweet for his
tongue tastes sweet to others as well. The tongue cannot go against its nature. Then why would
one do so&ething as difficult as trying to control the senses the&sel#esH The answer according
to the Nita: ,+ee% in the Indriyas there will always be hate, lo#e, attraction and re%ulsion.
+esirous objects attract while non3desirous objects re%el..
Attach&ent and a#ersion are o%%osites of har&ony =Satt#a> and are wise &ens ene&ies.
Therefore these e&otions should be a#oided in order to not disturb the intellect. Fne should not
fall %rey to e&otions hiding dee% within the intellect, always seek the %leasurable or be
re%elled by the un%leasant. 'e should not allow oursel#es to be u%set when so&ething
un%leasant ha%%ens, but also should the %leasurable things not delight us. The e(%erience of
taste belongs to the senses, and this taste is res%onsible for the attraction and re%ulsion in the
intellect. This should not be allowed to ha%%en. Fne should re&ain totally detached.
'hen the intellect sticks to objects, it is caused by feelings of attraction and re%ulsion. These
are the &other and father of all sorrows =afflictions>. Attraction and re%ulsion destroy the
discri&inati#e %owers of the intellect. This &akes e#en Yogis and wise %eo%le go astray fro&
their %aths. This re&inds &e of an e#ent that ha%%ened during &y student days. Swa&i Dijnan
9hikshu studied together with us. )e had a thorough knowledge of $rdu, Arabic and Sanskrit.
)e was good at debating, was a gifted %erson, detached and always joyful, but he was not a
Sannyasin of cal& intellect. Years later I &et hi& in +har&ashala hill, dressed in white, and he
told &e that he had changed his na&e and returned to nor&al fa&ily life. This change was
caused by attach&ent. +o beware of your intellect. Fnly then will you be able to %erfect your
%ractice of Pratyahara.
Another e(a&%le: The wise Parashara crossed a ri#er with his boat. The young and char&ing
daughter of the owner of the boat sat ne(t to hi& and he felt enchanted by her %resence. This
beca&e his s%iritual downfall. 6le#ated %ersons fall dee% when they allow the&sel#es to be
influenced by feelings of attach&ent. Therefore it is desirable to %rotect yourself against such
strong feelings.
According to the Nita it is the strong feelings of attraction and re%ulsion that cause the senses
to be attracted to their objects. 9ut those who %ossess self3control and engage in &editation on
the higher Self and on the )ighest Self will not be distracted by such feelings. In the& those
feelings will e#en be totally destroyed. =Nita, 0348>
The $%anishad says: ,'hen the fi#e senses together with 5anas and 9uddhi are *uiet one is in
the &ost %leasant state..
204
The $%anishad defines Pratyahara as follows: ,The Yogi who has attained this state is free of
the chain of life and death. $%on reaching this final ste% of e(ternal Yoga concentration,
conte&%lation and Sa&adhi are *uickly attained..

'hat else can hel% &e %ractice PratyaharaH
,Pranaya&a hel%s to achie#e Pratyahara. A student, who is attached to so&ething, so&eti&es
fails to go dee%er into the reciting of a 5antra. 'hen nothing else hel%s, he can %ractice
Pratyahara. )owe#er, it is less subtle than recitation or conte&%lation..
Pranaya&a hel%s 5anas and 9uddhi to take distance fro& those things that attract your
attention, so that it can be brought back to reciting. Pranaya&a %urifies the senses and hel%s
controlling the&. It is for this that the S&ritis and other scri%tures %raise Pranaya&a. 5anu
says that as &etal is %urified by the fire, the senses are %urified by control of the energy =5anu
43C>. Fne should destroy attach&ent and so on by Pranaya&a and Pratyahara and his sins by
concentration =+harana>.
9y %racticing conte&%lation one can rid oneself of atheis&, anger, greed and jealousy =5anu
43C0>. A deter&ined Yogi cannot be careful enough when dealing with the control of the
senses. A single uncontrolled sense can be the cause of total destruction. 'e take an incident in
A&ritsar as an e(a&%le:
,The holy Aa&u %racticed austerity by a little %ond for 04 years. 'hen this did not hel% hi& to
&aster his desires, he &o#ed to a s%ring. )ere too he did not s%eak a word and he only stood
there. )owe#er, he did beckon to the wo&en that ca&e to collect water. )is beha#ior did not
&ake hi& #ery %o%ular. Peo%le insulted hi& and threw shoes and stones at hi&. )e did not
react. Fne day I asked hi&: ,'hy doesnt this bother youH. and he re%lied: ,I %ractice this to
destroy &y dee%ly rooted se(ual desires.. And I said: ,?or sure you can deal with those e#il
desires with the right knowledgeH. to which he re%lied: ,?or the %ast 04 years I ha#e tried to
control &y genitals and I failed. I ho%e that I can be successful through all &y sufferings
=bruises, insults and so on>. If %eo%le attack &e like this when I %ractice Pratyahara on other
objects, what will ha%%enH. )e &ade it a habit to fast 1 days without interru%tion and without
begging for food. )e obser#ed the things around hi& in silence without going anywhere. )e
would not %ut on clothes when it was cold. 'hen so&eone offered hi& a blanket, he did acce%t
it, for otherwise he would slee% without co#er. I had the i&%ression that he was stri#ing for
%erfection. )e could sit for hours, or wash hi& for lengthy stretches of ti&e. )e drank together
with the ani&als and acce%ted food fro& anyone. Peo%le thought that he had beco&e insane.
@ater they %ut hi& into an iron cage because he beha#ed =outwardly> like an ani&al. Sitting in
the iron cage he &u&bled: ,)owe#er a hu&an being, I ha#e lost &y way. I ha#e seen other
%eo%le torturing the&sel#es to gain control o#er one single sense. The cause of all &isery lies
within sensual %leasures..
20C
The Nita =2a38> says:
F Arjuna, control your senses first and kill the desire that is hidden within you, for it will
destroy your knowledge. Subdue desire, for it is the ene&y.
Fther citations that can be of hel%, Nita =0341,4,4C>:
?or know: the senses %ro#oke tor&enting the brain L e#en of he who is wise and stri#es for the
subli&e and tear away his thoughts.
Though he who has all under control, re%ose in &e the highest #irtue, for being the &aster of
his senses, his intellect is in balance.
?or he who lets his s%irit be dri#en by flurries of his lust, his knowledge will be washed away
like a shi% in a stor& at sea.
Eatho%anishad =32,8,",4>:
Enow that the Self is the rider, the body the #ehicle, the regulating intellect the dri#er, and the
willing s%irit the rein.
The senses are called horses, the objects their terrain, that what is connected with senses and
s%irit, the wise call the Self, the hedonist =the obser#er of the i&%ressions>.
9ut who has insight, and is reined in by the s%irit, with his senses obedient as horses obedient
to their dri#er.
The biggest problems
A&ong the senses two are &ost difficult to con*uer: the tongue a&ong the Bnanendriyas and
the genitals a&ong the Ear&endriyas. If you con*uer these two, the re&aining senses will be
easier to deal with.
Swa&i: ,In the %ast I once &ade oil with the following ingredients: %otassiu& nitrate, sulfur,
a&&oniu& chloride, the ashes of a whole barley %lant and de#ils dirt =asafoetida, which
sti&ulates a%%etite>. I %ut it in a bottle. Years afterward, by coincidence, I s%otted that bottle
again, of which the contents had beco&e a sort of acid. Fnly two dro%s I dro%%ed u%on &y
tongue, with the result that I lost &y taste for fi#e &onths. +uring that ti&e I e#en forgot what
207
taste was. This e#ent &ade &e realiIe that Pratyahara can only be %erfect when all the senses
are forgotten as I forgot &y taste..
'hen you control your se(ual lusts as abo#e, you are already halfway. That is what the holy
Aa&u thought about this. 'hen you do not control the senses you will not be able to go to
hea#en. The author of the Yoga Sutras says that Pratyahara can gi#e you total control of your
senses. )o%efully he who wants to achie#e Self3realiIation will bring his beha#ior in
accordance with abo#e instructions.
,onclusion
,The %rocure&ent of a good funda&ent is i&%ortant for the durability of the building that is
built u%on it, as are the eight ste%s of Yoga the funda&ent of a s%iritual building..
The Ya&as and the <iya&as are the =e(ternal> ste%s to reach Self3realiIation. Fnce you ha#e
reached Self3realiIation, the Ya&as and the <iya&as will be &ore in the background, but
they will re&ain #ery i&%ortant. This is co&%arable to the funda&ents, which are in#isible but
#ery i&%ortant indeed. Therefore it is i&%ortant that you kee% an eye on these controls, for
they lead you to the realiIation of the Self.
It is also true that all Yoga endea#ors are only %ossible when you %ossess a healthy body,
strong Prana and trained organs. That is the reason why there is so &uch attention in the old
scri%tures for %hysical %ostures, the science of the subtle energy and the total detach&ent of the
senses. The %ostures are hel%ful for &editation and de#elo%&ent of the su%er3consciousness,
while at the sa&e ti&e they &ake and kee% the body healthy and strong.
)owe#er, %hysical health alone is not sufficient. Prana too has to be %owerful. ?or this %ur%ose
our ancestors ha#e disco#ered and de#elo%ed the science of the subtle energy. Subtle energy
a%%arently is the inter&ediary between 5anas =&ind> and body. The Prana&aya Eosha or the
#ital sheath is res%onsible for the e(ecution of %hysical action and for the gathering of
knowledge. /onse*uently 5anas and subtle energy are %rofoundly connected. In the sa&e way
Prana is related to the Indriyas =senses> and fills the&. So the %utting into %ractice of the
science of the subtle energy %urifies and de#elo%s the body and its organs, and throws in an
additional healthy effect u%on 5anas for free.
Fld sages tell us unani&ously that 5anas %ossesses &iraculous %owers. It can %ut objects into
&otion without %roble&s, and break through the li&its of ti&e and s%ace. It can absorb worldly
as well as celestial knowledge. It can &ake all %eo%le dance to its %i%ing. At the sa&e ti&e it is
e(tre&ely subtle and, like air, it cannot be grabbed. A distracted and uncontrolled 5anas
ignores the decisions of the intellect L his &istress L and goes his own way. As a result the
hu&an beco&es restless and full of grie#es. )e does not know what to do. All the great souls
ha#e ad&itted that the %ower of 5anas is uncontrollable. To illustrate this is the following
%rayer of Tulasi +as:
Fh @ordJ 5y 5anas is uncontrollable
I ad#ice it day and night, but still it goes its own way
I ha#e tried e#erything, but without result
20!
9ecause it is so %owerful and in#incibleJ
@ordJ It can only be controlled if you con*uer and frighten it.
9ut that is not all. There is a %oe& in the Yajur Deda with the title: ,The %oe& of right
decision. =Shi#a Sankal%a Sukta>. It describes the %owers of 5anas. It is a %rayer to ask Nod
for the %ower to con*uer 5anas. Those who control 5anas are truly greatJ
Yoga %hiloso%hy says that Pranaya&a re&o#es the #eils of darkness and re#eals the light.
Additionally it cal&s 5anas to a certain e(tent. The second &ethod to cal& 5anas is the
%ractice of detach&ent. 'ith this a%%roach you do not only deal with 5anas, but also with the
intellect and /itta. 5anas, controlled by &ulti%le, %rotracted &ethods, will lead to bliss and
will control the senses.
+iogene, the fa&ous Nreek %hiloso%her, decided to renounce the attraction of the senses.
Suiting the action to his words, he li#ed in a wooden barrel.
The senses are like the subjects of the &ind. The subjects follow the &aster. The senses will
follow the right %ath in the sa&e way when the &ind is %urifiedM it will go in the right direction
when the intellect is enlightened. 9uddhi will guide 5anas %ro%erly when /itta is enlightened,
detached and under the guidance of the soul. The reach of e(ternal Yoga =9ahiranga Yoga> is
li&ited by the &ind and the senses. You can control the senses by &eans of Pratyahara when
the &ind is brought under control with Pranaya&a. The senses &ust be brought under control
to such an e(tent that they will not function inde%endently, but instead will function like ta&ed
stallions %ulling the chariot of your ,functioning in life. and kee% the& on the right track. That
is Pratyahara.
The first ste% to realiIe this is the control of the senses. The senses are directed towards the
outside world because their %ur%ose is the enjoy&ent of the &aterial objects. The enjoyed
objects can be good, bad or just nor&al. )owe#er, the senses will grab the& and bring the& to
the &ind and e#entually to /itta, the &e&ory. This has ha%%ened since the beginning of ti&es.
Therefore the &ind is directed towards the outside world. <eutraliIing the& controls this
tendency of the &ind.
221
Since a si&%le control of the &ind will not lead to co&%lete success, it is reco&&ended to
totally control the senses as well.
Since sheer control of the &ind is not co&%letely successful, it is reco&&ended to co&%letely
neutraliIe the senses as well. 'hen the senses are forced to abstain fro& so&ething, the
o%%osite of what is desired will usually ha%%en. The reins are broken and the senses drag us
fro& one side to the other relentlessly. It often ha%%ens that a %atient, who knows that a certain
food is bad for hi&, consu&es that food, because he is the sla#e of his tongue, and therefore
worsens his condition hi&self. The objects of his senses attract hi& because he does not ha#e
the senses under control. Such control de&ands enlighten&ent. Fur intellect is the &istress of
the &ind and the senses. 'hen it is freed fro& the enjoyed objects, it affects the &ind, /itta
and the senses. 'hen it is fully realiIed, by relentless %ractice, that the enjoy&ents do not lead
to ha%%iness, the intellect will detach itself and will sub&erge itself dee%ly in the knowledge of
the Self. Pratyahara beco&es steadier as the intellect sub&erges dee%er. It is deter&ined that
%erfection in this direction is achie#ed when the horses of the senses sto% to ho%elessly follow
the %leasures and enjoy&ents, e#en though the senses are acti#e.
)owe#er, there is one ele&ent that can be an i&%edi&ent in reaching Pratyahara, which is fate.
6#ery consecuti#e birth we ha#e enjoyed the objects, but our desires towards the& ha#e not
ceased. Instead they ha#e accu&ulated within the de%ths of our being. Then at the &o&ent that
the objects of enjoy&ent a%%ear our senses follow the& directly. Thence a hu&an being, in
s%ite of hi&self, is dragged along in e#il. +uryodana =the leading figure in the 9haga#ad Nita>
said: ,So&ebody, residing in &y heart, forces &e to do certain things and I cannot do anything
about it.. This so&ebody is fate that, as a result of the accu&ulated e(%eriences forces a hu&an
to do e#il. And the senses fulfill that lust. The sudden burst of this desire causes a hu&an to
de#iate fro& the right %athM then austerity, &editation and knowledge are of no hel%. The
longing for these objects of the senses sto%s when the intellect finds the enjoy&ents of the
e(ternal %leasures un%leasant. Therefore Yoga %hiloso%hy says: ,+ecide with the hel% of your
controlled intellect and forsake the habit of enjoying e(ternal %leasures. 6nsure that the dee%
rooted i&%ressions are u%rooted like with seed that is not allowed to grow.. This double
&ethod %erfects Pratyahara. Pratyahara is indis%ensable as a funda&ent to build the %alace of
concentration, &editation, conte&%lation and the condition of su%er3consciousness L the %alace
of the %owers of Yoga. ?or the& wanting to be liberated fro& the cycle of birth and death
=5ukti>, %erfection of Pratyahara is essential..
F& Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
22
'hat see&s to be the %roble&H In nor&al %eo%le the &ind actually settles in the Indriyas.
Those %eo%le therefore do not li#e with their energy in their 5anas, but with their
consciousness:energy in the Indriyas instead. Those Indriyas are tuned in on the objects.
The best e(a&%le of this is lea#ing the TD on while ha#ing #isitors. Then you notice that the
%eo%le, in s%ite of the& talking to you, still constantly %ee% at the screen. As a result they just
cannot think straight any&ore. 'hyH 'ell, it is #ery si&%le: because their consciousness is
settled in their eyes, so in their Satt#ic fire ele&ent. And they are ca%tured by that i&age. )a#e
you had the e(%erience of talking to so&ebody who constantly looks o#er your shoulder to see
what is on the TD3screen behind youH You should try to do this yourself in order to understand
the %roble& of Pratyahara. Turn on the TD, and ask your %artner to stand before it. Then you
talk, or you try to talk, with your %artner. And you %referably chose <ickelodeon, $ith sound.
The conclusion is that our consciousness de%arts fro& 5anas, and the Indriyas that function as
5anas. Pratyahara is the withdrawal of that consciousness fro& those Indriyas and re3
installing it again in 5anas. 'here it belongsJ It is not for the Indriyas to ha#e an intellectual
function.
'hat were the Indriyas againH
They are the senses: the subtle organs of %erce%tion and action. And the subtle ele&ents, which
were the s%heres, re&e&berH 'e %ictured those as being s%heres, the subtle s%heres. 'hen the
subtle s%heres contract, they are the Tan&atras. 'hen they are in balance, they are the
Bnanendriyas: the cause of the functioning of our senses. And when they e(%and, they are the
Ear&endriyas, or those who are res%onsible for our &otor syste&.
The earth3s%here K 1 centi&eter in dia&eter.
The water3s%here K 01 centi&eter in dia&eter.
The fire3s%here K 21 centi&eter in dia&eter.
The air3s%here K 81 centi&eter in dia&eter.
The ethereal3s%here K "1 centi&eter in dia&eter.
The &ental3s%here K 41 centi&eter in dia&eter.
The causal s%here K C1 centi&eter in dia&eter.
Bnanendriyas are the Indriyas of Bnana: knowledge, obser#ation.
Ear&endriyas are the Indriyas of Ear&a: action, &o#e&ent.
The siIe of 5anas at subtle le#el, the &ental le#el, is about 41 centi&eters in dia&eter. It is a
s%here in which there are " s&aller s%heres. Those s&aller s%heres are the Indriyas. The
%roble& that we see with detach&ent:nor&al %eo%le is that the functions of those Indriyas
indeed gain the u%%er hand, and that, as a result, %eo%le do not think any&ore and fail to use
their &ind. They ha#e their li#es li#ed for the&.
Then we ha#e Pratyahara. You clearly see this %roble&, and you say: ,'ait a &inute, I do not
want to be identified with objects through &y senses. I will not allow &y senses to run free
any&ore. I %ull the switch, and I bring that energy back to 5anas..
220
+oes this &ean that you take the energy out, and bring it outsideH
Yes, that is actually what you do. 9ut it feels as if you bring it u%wards again.
9ut %ractically, when you see so&ething for e(a&%le, and you reach out with your hand to
grab it, is your &ind e(%ected to say: <o, do not take itH
@ook at it this way: acting i&%ulsi#ely is ty%ically functioning based u%on your Indriyas. So,
doing an i&%ulse3%urchase &eans that you are not with 5anas and that you lack in Pratyahara:
you ha#e your life li#ed for you.
?irst we learned to refuse to go along =Ya&as>. Then we learned to set u% the <iya&as L
ideals L to enable circulation. 9ut Pratyahara is si&%ly the control o#er the whole %rocess. This
&eans that when so&ebody shouts at you or is angry, that you do not react in the usual
action:reaction way, and shout back at hi& in an i&%ulse. You think for a &o&ent. And you
ask yourself for a &o&ent: ,'hat kind of situation do we actually ha#e hereH. 9ut this is only
%ossible if you detachJ You &ust detach yourself fro& the anger welling u% in you, and you
&ust detach yourself fro& the functioning of your senses. So, neutraliIe and bring it where it is
needed: in 5anas, 9uddhi: ,Fh, wait a &inute G he &ust ha#e had a lousy nights rest G
*uarreled with his wife G that is why he is acting so &oody G. This a%%roach %uts you in a
totally different %osition as co&%ared to when you would react i&%ulsi#ely. So, e(%loding
i&%ulsi#ely is for sla#es and for the weak.
/onsidering the abo#e you &ust be going through this %rocess #ery consciously to be able to
&aster Pratyahara.
'hich Indriyas are in#ol#edH
Bnanendriyas: s&ell, taste, sight, touch and hearing.
Ear&endriyas: e(cretion, %rocreation, %ro%ulsion, gras% and s%eech.
Those are the 1 Indriyas.
Then there are the " Tan&atras who are res%onsible for the co&ing into being of the " gross
ele&ents: earth, water, fire, air and ether.
You &ust feel this:be aware of this #ery well, antici%ate on the& and gain control o#er the
whole affair. 'hich is a gigantic task indeedJ
Fkay. +o you ha#e %roble&s with PratyaharaH You are su%%osed to ha#e dealt with that long
ti&e G you &ust train yourself. You &ust train yourself in controlled Pratyahara, re&e&berH
There are 8 kinds of Pratyahara.
?irst and fore&ost there is the techni*ue of Pratyahara, to be e(ecuted in 8 ste%s:
. The realiIation that you are attached.
0. The decision to detach. +ecision is the work of 9uddhi.
2. The &ost i&%ortant characteristic:
8. Nradual withdrawal.
222
". ?ocusing, concentrating, finding a new object.
The 8 different kinds of Pratyahara:
. Nradual Pratyahara.
0. 6(clusi#e Pratyahara, in which you e(clusi#ely focus on a certain as%ect. If this
a%%roach fails, then you go on with the 2
rd
ste%:
2. Fne3sense Pratyahara, in which you dissect into the " different Indriyas to see whether
you can detach in each of the&. You focus on each sense se%arately.
8. /ontrolled Pratyahara, which is the one we are talking about in the abo#e te(t.
/ould you e(%lain the 2
rd
ste% againH
%ne organ.
%ne sense, actually.
%ne Indriya.
You check whether each of your Indriyas is under control against any %ossible attraction.
9ecause so&eti&es you are not so certain. ,I do not feel #ery well these days. I beco&e
inad#ertently attached all the ti&e. )ow could this ha%%enH. 'ell, this is a ty%ical &o&ent to
release one3sense Pratyahara on the %roble& and find out e(actly where your %roble& is
located. There are " %ossibilities. You in#estigate, and you will certainly find one =or
&ulti%le> senses where you are weak. Then you %ractice Pratyahara with s%ecial focus on those
senses.
'hen you think you ha#e gone through the whole %rocess and that you are ready, and you feel:
,I a& in charge., well, then you ha#e to %ro#e itJ )owH 'ith controlled Pratyahara. It is the
best a&ong the 8 ste%s, because what do you doH You seek out the %roble&s. <ot too &uch in
the beginning, but you test yourself on your ability and the e(tent to which you can detach.
+o you think that you are strong in detaching yourself fro& soundH 'ell, then you let water
dri% fro& the faucet, right ne*t to you. 6#en better, you let the water dri% onto a tin. This is
#ery subtle. And as you close the ta%, so that less dro%s co&e fro& it, it beco&es increasingly
difficult. 6#ery ti&e a dro% falls on the tin it causes you shock. So&ewhere inside you a #oice
tells you: now it co&es G now it co&es G and you should be able to co&%letely neutraliIe
that. It is a %erfect e(ercise.
Dery &asochistically you search for: what is it that I cannot doH 'hat is it that I know I will
not be able to controlH And that is e(actly what you do. $ntil you are able to control. That is
the e(ercise. That is controlled Pratyahara. And it is also Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi: <eti G <eti
G <eti G this is not &e G this is not &e G this is not &e G It is the sa&e but it carries
another na&e.
The &ore you %rogress the &ore #ital the %ractice of Pratyahara beco&es. It is co&%arable to
when you buy a car with a big engine, and then e#ery following year you buy a bigger car with
a bigger engine that dri#es faster: The breaks &ust be better then too.
228
There is a great %rogra& on TD: To% Near. I lo#e it. 'ell, there was this guy dri#ing a car, an
old car that he got for free, but the breaks did not work. )e could not sto% the car. It was really
dangerous. Such a big car G stu&%ing around G and it would not sto% any&ore. @ife
threatening indeedJ
It is co&%arable to our consciousness: when energy in you flows increasingly faster, you &ust
be able to *uickly change direction:detach, and %oint your focus towards so&ething else. If you
are not able to do this, you will end u% in trouble. So, &ental control is nice:beautiful, but it is
not only focusing on so&ething, but also detaching fro& it. And those 0 &ust be in balance.
That is what controlled Pratyahara is all about.
,,! 'atah Parama $as+atendri+anam
Then follows the greatest &astery o#er the senses.
'hat is the criterion for success in PratyaharaH It is total control of the senses: that #inally they
do what you want the& to do.
In %ractice this &eans that you ha#e %erfect e(cre&ent, because e(cre&ent is one of the
Indriyas. 'hat does it &ean to ha#e %erfect e(cre&entH It &eans that it goes with ease,
naturally, and in s&all a&ounts, and there is hardly any s&ell co&ing fro& it.
It also &eans that there should be %erfect %rocreation. This is interesting. 'hat is %erfect
%rocreationH It &eans to be a lo#er who has control o#er hi& self and who can %lay the lo#e3
ga&e at "3star le#el. That is %erfect %rocreation. Is this related to YogaH Yes, indeed it is %art
of it. Yoga is %art of Tantra and this is a fi(ed %art of that. So if you are not good in bed, you
go back to Pratyahara and you %ractice u%on the water ele&ent.
It also &eans that there should be %erfect %ro%ulsion. +o you ha#e %roble&s with walkingH +o
you ha#e control o#er walkingH Are you e(hausted when you runH It &ust be %erfect. )ow can
we learn to do thatH 'e learn this with all the crossed3legs %ostures, which are ty%ical
Pratyahara e(ercises u%on the fire ele&ent.
It also &eans that gras% should be %erfect. Is the &otor syste& of your hands %erfectH +o you
e#er dro% so&ething fro& your handsH Are you deft with your handsH +ont you ha#e 0 left
handsH Peo%le with 0 left hands &ust focus and work u%on the air ele&ent.
It also &eans that s%eech should be %erfect. Is your #oice all rightH +oes it sound wellH
Then we ha#e to focus u%on the senses: train the s&ellM train the tasteM train the eyesightM train
the touch and train the hearing. They all should be trained with Pratyahara.
)ow do you train the eyesH
You train your eyes by watching. You train the& by learning to watch and to not watchM to
watch or not watch at will. This &eans to send energy to your Indriyas of the fire L
22"
Bnanendriyas of the fire L or withdrawing energy fro& the Bnanendriyas of the fire. 9ad
eyesight is always caused by a lack of energy in the eyes, i.e. bad *uality of energy. That is the
only reason of bad eyesight. So at a certain %oint you can take off your glasses, si&%ly by
doing this: watching, learning to watch.
The %roble& is that we usually undergo watching: it just ha%%ens, in#oluntarily, because we do
not choose to watch. 'e are si&%ly subjected by it, inad#ertently. ?ro& now on you choose to
watch at so&ebodyG and then you watchG and then there is energy in your eyes. Then you
decide not to watch that %erson, so you withdraw your energy. The eyes &ay be focused, but
you do not see any&ore. You look at that %erson, but you do not see hi&, because you
withdraw. And you control:withdraw in a %layful way.
You do the sa&e with the ears, taste, and e#ery other sense, but also with e#ery other &otor
function.
/oncentration, withdrawal, concentration, withdrawal: these are the 0 different sides of the
sa&e coin, and they are always the sa&e. That is controlled Pratyahara.
Isnt this related to another way of looking at thingsH ?or e(a&%le: I a& now #ery focused
u%on &y eyes L without glasses 3 and when I watch #ery tightly, I suddenly see totally different
things.
<o, you only ha#e to train yourself in the *uantity of the energies. To %ractice *uality you only
ha#e to watch *uietly in order to assure that the /akra is in har&ony, while *uantity is about
focusing as long as %ossible, or withdrawing.
So when you watch #ery focused, you are on the right %athH
Yes, but then you &ust watch intensely, and #ia this intensity you actually treat your eyes. That
is how you can &ake your eyes reco#er. That is how I reco#ered &y eyes, and you can do it
too. Then you will see that this Sutra co&es true: the highest &astery of the senses. Then you
will not just see #ery well, but you beco&e clair#oyant, ,clairhearing., clairtasting., and so on.
'hat does that &ean, ,clairtasting.H
That &eans that, when you walk around in the su%er&arket, and you look at the assort&ent of
wines, you actually taste the contents. You already know what is in the bottle before you e#en
bought it.
So it is not because you ha#e tasted it before that you knowH
<o, for it is actually that you ha#e beco&e aware of the subtle energies of the li*uids on a
subtle le#el:in a subtle way. /lair3awareness. It is the result of the direct functioning of the
Indriyas, but ski%%ing the 9hutas.
224
22C
Chapter III: $ibhuti Pada
! (esa 4andhas Cittas+a (harana
/oncentration is the confining of the &ind within a li&ited &ental area =object of
concentration>.
5y 03year3old daughter 5airika has trouble to concentrate on her ho&ework. 'hat can you
do about that as a fatherH Should I send her to her roo&H Should I watch o#er her shoulder to
see whether she is actually studyingH
<one of all this. The &ost i&%ortant is to enthuse her for the subject in#ol#ed, in such a way
that her &ind beco&es occu%ied with it. So we bring u% the subject at the dinner table and then
I tell her so&ething about it that has &y own interest. In this way she gets a sense for the
subject and her thoughts auto&atically follow that feeling. ?ro& that &o&ent her concentration
starts.
Along the way you try to li&it the field of concentration. You ha#e started with concentration
on all the ho&ework =6nglish and Ner&an language>, and then you first focus on the Ner&an
language %art of it. In that Ner&an %art you take a look at the first *uestion. Then you try to
understand the *uestion, and slowly you let the subject slowly integrate after which you co&e
to an answer.
In the %rocess of concentration the &ind a%%ears to constantly wander away fro& the subject.
Therefore the ad#ice is gi#en to choose a li&ited s%ace =+esa> within which the &ind is
allowed to wander. 6#ery ti&e you notice that the &ind has wandered away fro& this li&ited
s%ace you are to bring it back to the subject of concentration. This is called ,9andha. or
binding. The difficult as%ect of the e(ercise is that you &ust bring back your focus again and
again, u% to the %oint that you get fed u% with it. That is what the e(ercise is about. Along the
way and terribly slowly it see&s you will be rewarded with the increasingly good beha#ior of
your &ind and the fact that it will e#entually be inclined to stick with the subject of
concentration.
After all these years of %ractice I consider concentration as the &ost difficult ste% a&ong the
eight ste%s of Yoga. If you are able to handle this ste%, the road to hea#en o%ens u% to you. I
a& con#inced of that.
227
"! 'atra Prat+a+ai/atanata (h+anam
$ninterru%ted flow =of the &ind> towards the object =chosen for &editation> is
conte&%lation.
'hen only this one subject is %resent in the consciousness and no other thoughts arise it is
called &editation.
A thought is a Dritti, an energy whirl that nestles itself in your subtle body. 9y gi#ing it
attention =+harana> this thought is reinforced. 9y letting go of other thoughts in your subtle
body =Pratyahara> you withdraw your energy fro& the&. This goes so far that those thoughts
ha#e no other choice than to disa%%ear because of a lack of energy.
The feeling that you ha#e in &editation is re&arkable. It feels like as if you are under a cheese
co#er, the aura of your subtle body. This feels so *uiet and solid, as if you ha#e entered
eternity. This last %heno&enon is so&ething that ha%%ens e#en literally.
Although a lot of %eo%le talk a lot about &editation, there are only few who really understand
it. Professor +r. )arry $%adhyay of 9enares who su%%orted &e for a %eriod of ti&e
%roclai&ed that nobody in the world actually &editates. ,All they are doing is not &ore than a
little bit of daydrea&ing,. he said. It is a fact that since ti&e i&&e&orial all those so3called
&editators die. +oes this &ean that his esti&ate could ha#e been *uite accurateH
'hy isnt there anyone %racticing +hyana correctly until nowH It is because a %ro%er
%re%aration is lacking. The Ya&as and the <iya&as ha#e been &isunderstood and ended u%
as dog&as. The Asanas ha#e been degraded to &ere gy&nastics. 9ecause of bad inter%retations
Pranaya&a has been degraded to breathing techni*ues. Pratyahara has been turned into a show
of distorted reality. And +harana cannot &o#e %eo%le any&ore.
&! 'ad :)arthamatra %irbhasam S)arupa Sun+am I)a Samadhih
The sa&e =conte&%lation> when there is consciousness only of the object of
&editation and not of itself =the &ind> is Samadhi.
At the basis of a Dritti, which is a thought, lays a Sa&skara, which is an i&%ression. The Dritti
originated fro& that Sa&skara. The energy whirl arises fro& that little s%ecific %attern in the
energy strea&, which is the essence of the thought. Sa&adhi or conte&%lation is in the first
%lace the obser#ation of this essence instead of the thought. ?ro& now on this is %ossibleJ
Thanks to your correct &editation there is only one thought left in your subtle body. All you
ha#e to do now is to find the e&otional #alue of that thought. That is the essence. 'ith this
a%%roach you will co&e to a feeling, a &ood, in which no thought arises any longer. 'ith ti&e
this will beco&e &ore and &ore %rotracted and with &ore and &ore effect on your entire
22!
being, e#en u% to the %oint that all your Ear&a is burnt. This is a short e(%lanation of Sa&adhi,
of which the %ractice is actually *uite si&%le %ro#ided that the %re%aration is correct.
*! 'ra+am :/atra Sam+amah
The three taken together constitute Samyama.
:hat is Samyama@
'hile reading the book ,<ew Psychology. %art I by Alice 9ailey in s%ring 0110 I was struck
by a te(t *uite in the beginning of the book. In it I recogniIed a re&arkable descri%tion of
Sa&ya&a, the fabulous techni*ue of concentration3&editation3conte&%lation3at the sa&e ti&e.
$ntil then nobody had see&ed to be able to &ake a %ractical e(ercise out of it.
?reely translated this te(t said that you &ust first try to beco&e aware of the %resence of a
lo#ed3one. This is the conte&%lation %art, in fact Sabija Sa&adhi that should gradually
change o#er into <irbija Sa&adhi, #ery subtly. ?ro& that &o&ent on the awareness of the
%resence of a lo#ed3one is ke%t in the background.
Then you e#oke fro& your own e(%eriences a concrete e(%erience of the di#ine that you
hold in your &ind without interru%tions. This is the &editation %art.
At last you focus your attention on the object. Alternate thoughts &ay a%%ear in this
%rocess. This is the concentration %art.
Initially you &o#e fro& one to the other ele&ent. As a result the three ele&ents will
gradually connect with each other &ore and &ore. You continue doing this until the
connection is co&%lete and e#erything beco&es one. This is acco&%lished when
e#erything beco&es light. Then you will also notice that the %rocess that was *uite fickle at
the start has beco&e *uiet and serene.
;o$ is Samyama per#ormed correctly@
The &ost essential %oint in the %ractice of Sa&ya&a is that you &aster the se%arate %arts of the
e(ercise first. In <irbija Sa&adhi you &ust first and fore&ost ha#e a %retty good understanding
of what the &eaning of the energy field of a being actually is. In the &editation %art you &ust
ha#e had a %rior &ystical e(%erience of Nod. 'ithout these conditions it cannot succeed.
5aybe the following e(a&%le can ins%ire you:
?or so&e ti&e I was engaged in the %ractice of Sa&ya&a =concentration3&editation3
conte&%lation> on the light under the crown =forehead3/akra>. 5y real& of thoughts beca&e
*uieter and &y eyesight i&%ro#ed clearly, to such an e(tent that I did not need &y recently
ac*uired reading glasses. And then it ha%%ened: Fn 'ednesday 08 Fctober 011, during
autu&n break, I was walking on the beach of /astricu& by the Sea with &y wife and children.
The weather was nice for &o&ent. The sun reflected on the water and the wa#es glittered.
Suddenly the wa#es whis%ered: ,)ere I a& G here I a& G here I a& G. And as if that was
281
not enough, the sand at &y feet whis%ered the sa&e: ,)ere I a& G., the soft breeIe that
caressed &y face joined in as well: ,)ere I a& G., and e#en &y belly joined in, softly
whis%ering: ,)ere I a& G. It sounded so delicate and fragile, but at the sa&e ti&e natural,
easy and s%ontaneous. I realiIed that )e had always been there and that I &anaged to ,see. or
actually ,hear. )i& only now.
You &ay indeed assu&e that this e(%erience, which I a& able to re%eat fre*uently now, has
changed *uite a lot in &y life. ?irst and fore&ost I &ust %oint out that this e(%erience did not
occur just like that. It was a clear result of that Sa&ya&a on the light under the crown. As a
result Patanjalis %hrase: ,Then you will obtain the #ision of the ade%ts. turned into ,Then you
will obtain the %ower of obser#ation of the ade%ts =great Yogis>..
Fur +ear @ord has s%okenJ
As a result &y senses ha#e beco&e e(ce%tionally shar%. I hear e#erything and see &uch &ore
of e#erything than I used to in the %ast. The world now a%%ears before &e in &any &ore ranges
of colors. 5y real& of thoughts has beco&e considerably *uieter, without all those highs and
lows.
You would think that I could ha#e &any years to li#e on this e(%erience, but the Nods ha#e
decided differently. A little while ago I started to focus u%on the ne(t Sa&ya&a e(ercise,
which is the one focusing u%on the heart. Nradually I started to feel &y intestines tossing
about, as if dee% Ear&a ca&e to life. Tensions unknown to &e in the neck and the shoulders
arose, and I realiIed that still there &ust ha#e been a lot under the skin that re&ained
unresol#ed. 6ach ti&e I re%eated the e(ercise &y body a%%eared to react less and &ore roo&
a%%eared. /o&%ared to the %ast &y inner life is &uch *uieter now.
:hat is the goal o# Samyama@
The goal of Sa&ya&a %ractice is to install light in your being and to hel% you achie#e
liberation.
:hat !inds o# Samyama e*ist@
In the &iddle of a beautiful nature reser#e in the su&&er of 0110 a nu&ber of issues about the
different kinds of Sa&ya&a suddenly beca&e clear to &e that I feel I ha#e to share with you,
for it is too brilliant.
The te(t about Sa&ya&a in the ,Yoga Sutras. of Patanjali a%%ears to ha#e a striking logic.
The 21 different Sa&ya&as that lead to @iberation can be considered as being different
sections:
,Physical curiosity. =the first 7 Sa&ya&as>
,Astral %rojections. =the 7 following Sa&ya&as>
,/ausal disco#ery. =only 0 Sa&ya&as>
,Self3realiIation. is achie#ed by Sa&ya&a.
This is followed by a considerable ,warning., before you are allowed to go on.
The C following Sa&ya&as I na&ed ,5astershi%..
28
Fnly after that ,9uddha3shi%. can be achie#ed.
?ollowed by Sa&ya&a to achie#e ,@iberation..
'hich is followed by a ,last warning..
And then there is ,I&%le&entation of @iberation. with Sa&ya&a.
Sche&atically %resented and di#ided into concentration objects of the Sa&ya&a it looks as
follows:
Concentration object Resu.t
Physical curiosity:
Parina&as \ knowledge of %ast and future
Sabdartha \ understanding of the &eaning of sound
Sa&skara \ knowledge of %re#ious birth
Pratyaya \ knowledge of the awareness of others
Au%a =for&> \ control of light, sound, taste, s&ell, taste
So%akra&a and <iru%a Era&a \ knowledge of the end =finality &atter>
=latent and acti#e Ear&a>
5aitry =friendliness> \ strength in the field of friendliness
9aleshu =strength> \ strength of an ele%hant
Astral %rojection:
Pra#rtty Aloka =su%ernatural light> \ knowledge of the s&all, the hidden,
the re&ote
Surya =sun 9indu> \ knowledge about the subtle body
/andra =&oon 9indu> \ knowledge about the stars =other subtle
bodies through the %ers%ecti#e of the
9indus>
+hru#a =law of &o#e&ent> \ control of &o#e&ent
<abhi /akra =na#el center> \ knowledge about the structure of the body
=to be seen fro& the centers through
cascade effects>
Eantha ku%e =eso%hagus> \ cessation of hunger and thirst
Eur&a <adi \ %erse#erance
5urdha Byotishi =light under the crown> \ eyesight of the ade%ts
/ausal disco#ery:
Pratibha =intuiti#e knowledge> \ knowledge about e#erything
)rdaye =heart> \ knowledge about consciousness
Self3realiIation:
Pararthat S#artha \ knowledge about the soul, intuiti#e
=concern of other things: hearing, touch, seeing, tasting and
concern of the self> s&elling
'arning:
280
$%asarga Dyutthane
=obstructions in the condition caused by e(ternal flow>
5astershi%:
9andha Earana Saithilyat Pracara \ access to another body =cause
attach&ent, because of loosening
the channels>
$dana =Prana> \ a#oiding contact with water, &ud
thornsG
Sa&ana =Prana> \ control o#er the fire
Srotra Akashayoh Sa&bandha \ su%er3sensorial hearing
=ear and ether relation>
Eaya Akashayoh Sa&bandha, \ &o#ing through s%ace without body
@aghu Tula Sa&%attes \ #eil of light fades away
=relation of body and ether,
coinciding of light cotton fuII>
Sthula S#aru%a Suksh&a \ control o#er the " ele&ents
An#aya Artha#atta =gross, \ 7 &ajor Siddhis, %erfection, not
constant, subtle, all3%er#ading hindered by the functions of the
state, subordinate to the goal> ele&ents
\ beauty, fresh co&%le(ion, strength
and toughness of a dia&ond
Nrahana S#aru%a As&ita
An#aya Artha#att#a
=their ability to co&%rehend, true nature,
egocentricity, all3%enetrability and
subser#ience to the goal>
\ &astery of the senses
\ direct knowledge, co&%lete &astery
o#er Pradhana
9uddha3shi%:
Satt#a Purusha Anyata Ehyati \ o&ni%otence and o&niscience
5atrasya =har&ony soul distinction
being aware alone>
@iberation:
Tad Dairagyat A%i +osha 9ija Eshaye \ @iberation
=on that detach&ent also seed, by
co&ing to nought>
@ast warning:
Sthany $%ani&antrane Sanga S&aya Earana& Punar Anishta Prasangat
=local authority, when one is in#ited, %roud through enjoy&ent, a#oiding again of e#il, by
returning>
282
I&%le&entation of @iberation:
Eshana Tat Era&ayoh \ %ower of discri&ination
=&o&ent of consciousness \ knowledge of discri&ination
and its %rocess> between e*ual &atters
\ su%re&e knowledge, transcendent,
all enco&%assing, including ti&e
\ @iberation
I ha#e e(%lained Sa&ya&a. +o you still understand that, or ha#e you forgottenH
The %roble& is how you %ut into %ractice the &atters that are e(%lained here. I ha#e found an
entrance to a%%ly it in the way that I described: You start with the %resence of a lo#ed one, not
the i&age but si&%ly the feeling. I always use the feeling of &y &other, and always when I do
that I ha#e the feeling that she is actually %resent. In reality she is about 011:211 kilo&eters
away fro& here, but this is how the e(ercise starts. It is the conte&%lati#e %art of the Sa&ya&a.
?or the ne(t ste% I draw in a realiIation that I e(%erienced with the 5ost )igh as the subject of
the &editation =the e(%erience on the beach in /astricu& by the Sea>. 'hen I do that, &y &ind
is focused u%on the 5ost )igh, but I a& o%en on causal le#el #ia the feeling of the %resence of
&y &other. To do this I add the thought of the 5ost )igh. 9ecause of this I connect with the
energy of the 5ost )igh, who therefore flows into &y being, because I a& totally o%en =I %ut
down &y ego L for usually I a& blocked fro& the Nreat Aeality by &y Aha&kara>.
9ut it is sufficient to be aware of the %resence of a lo#ed %erson, and then to be o%en. The 5ost
)igh co&es into you, e&%owering you, and the energy that is %resent in this way will bring
you so&ewhere into the gross3&atter through concentration: you choose a concentration3
object. This &eans that you s%iritualiIe the &atter in this %rocess, which is Artha 5atra: Artha,
the essence, co&ing into the &atter, 5atra. The s%irit co&es down into the &atter. You
connect the two in this %rocess, and that is Sa&ya&a.
The goal of this is to bring har&ony in the &atter, and you do that consciously. You are
&aking a triangle, for you are connecting 2 different things that usually do not beco&e
connected. 9ecause of that an e(change:circulation of energy begins, &o#ing fro& one to the
other, because they are at 2 different le#els. In the beginning you &ust constantly switch fro&
the one to the other to &aintain this triangle. It is a kind of a ho%, ste% and ju&% condition, or a
tri%le ju&%. 9ut with ti&e it connects &ore and &ore, and you will feel that it is ha%%ening
with less and less shocks. You &aintain this and you continue to &aintain it, until it beco&es
line, until it beco&es a white strea&:connection, and until it fuses with one another. 'hen the
2 worlds fuse into one you ha#e succeeded in your Sa&ya&a. Ff course this will consu&e
*uite so&e ti&e, es%ecially in the beginning, but if you %ersist it has to occur.
'hat object do you kee%H +o you kee% the concentration3objectH
<o, you do not kee% anything. There is only light.
288
In %ractice the following has ha%%ened: You ha#e actually brought the 5ost )igh into that
concentration3object, through your being, or actually %ast your being. There are 21 of these
concentration3objects, so there are 21 different Sa&ya&a e(ercises, which e#entually co#er
your entire being. As a result you will beco&e entirely %urified, &aterially. Perfectly %ureJ
'hen you ha#e reached this le#el you will start to understand that all the %re%arations with the
7 ste%s of Yoga are only a laugh, for it is at the to% of the 7 ste%s of the ladder that the real
work begins, which is this: 21 e(ercises that lead you to 6nlighten&ent. They will co&%letely
%ut you in the @ight, by reaching into the @ight 21 ti&es, each ti&e through another entrance.
@ook at it this way: you ha#e a dirty %an, and you will clean this %an in 21 different ways. This
%an &ust be really clean when you are finishedJ
I said: ,be aware of the %resence of a lo#ed %erson.. It is e(actly like that: when you lo#e
so&eone, you connect with that %erson. Then you can feel that this %erson is %resent. You ha#e
&ade a causal connection. There is no for&, no i&age, no na&e and no color: only feeling. Ff
course I said that you take a lo#ed %erson because that is easier, so you %ick so&ebody in your
life that you really like to be with. I wouldnt &ind if you %icked your cat for this. Then you go
to &editation: you add the &editation3ele&ent to it. )owe#er, this re*uires a certain Nod3
realiIation, and that is so&ething a lot of students ha#e trouble with. 9ut recently a student told
&e that it worked for hi& to %ick the stars as his object of Nod3realiIation, or the sun. This can
work too, because they are higher energies. It is not *uite the Nodly, but it is at least in that
direction, and it see&s to work. This is confir&ed also by the %rogress this student is &aking.
At night he looked at the 5ilky 'ay and seeing all these stars he rightly felt:realiIed it =in the
sense of: ,Nod Al&ighty, this is indeed *uite so&ethingJ.>. )e uses this &e&ory and brings it
in as the object of his &editation, gi#ing hi& a renewed flow of energy. )e o%ens u%, and the
energy that co&es fro& the stars, with which he connects, flows through hi&. Ff course you
take the e(%erience of the Nodly itself if you e#er had one.
It is indeed strange in the beginning. 6#erything you ha#e e#er e(%erienced in the sense of
&ystical e(%eriences is hel%ful: it reduces your handica%. The re&aining %art is &ore or less a
&atter of sensing and searching. A lot of things ha%%en s%ontaneously.
/an you %ercei#e this triangle as a kind of )oly TrinityH
Although you can %hiloso%hy about it, Id rather not call it a )oly Trinity. I %refer to kee% it in
line with the %hysical =science> %heno&ena, as si&%le as %ossible. )owe#er, in the future you
will see that &any things can be reduced to triangles. In fact the whole science of esoteric
&edicine is based u%on triangles. 'hat are trianglesH They are si&%ly the connection of the 2
worlds. 6ach of the 2 %oints is related to one of these 2 worlds. That is what you do in
Sa&ya&a. 9ut you do it in a 5udra too, for a 5udra is also a triangle. 6ach 5udra is a
triangle, but if you reflect on this a little bit &ore, you will soon realiIe that e#ery Yoga
e(ercise actually contains a unity of the 2 worlds, for you are su%%osed to a%%ly the 7 ste%s of
Yoga in e1ery %osture and in e1ery e(ercise. <ot the 7 ste%s se%arately, but integrated. The
integration of the 7 ste%s is in fact Sa&ya&a.
28"
)ow do you deter&ine when to switch to the ne(t of the 2 ste%sH
You always try to kee% one eye on the other 0 %oints of the triangle. At a certain %oint you will
notice: ,G I a& focusing too &uch on one G I ha#e lost one of the& G I ha#e lost 0 of the&
out of sight.. 'hen you notice that, you try to regain the lost ones and you co&e back to the
one that you focused on before, but that then got lost. Therefore, in the beginning, it is a &atter
of sheer concentration, but focused u%on the 2 different ele&ents.
Eee% in &ind that the &ost i&%ortant ele&ent is the %resence of a lo#ed %erson, because it is
the &ost solid. It will gi#e you the highest %robability to establish a funda&ent, to try to &ake
that feeling %er&anent.
'hat you actually do in this Sa&adhi is not just a Sabija Sa&adhi L it is not lo#e or ha%%iness
L but it is a <irbija Sa&adhi, which is abo#e that feeling. It is a #ery subtle realiIation of that
%resence. So you do not judge, assess or feel anything. That %erson is simply there, but you do
not thin! of her. You know: she is in the background. She sy&%athiIes with you, and she
sy&%athiIes with &e. That is what we feel when we co&e together, &y &other and I, since I
started doing this. Then we are so close together, like we ha#e ne#er been before. It is si&%ly
&agnificent.
9ut you ha#e to take care of this yourselfM I a& only gi#ing you an e(a&%le.
This is your basis, which you install as solidly as %ossible, and then you try to go on with the
second ele&ent: the &editation. 9ut this %erson re&ains in the background, and then you focus
your thoughts u%on the 5ost )igh.
9ut when do you take the decision to switch to the ne(t le#elH 'hen it feels solidH
Yes, and then you let this &editation gradually beco&e stronger in order to let you re&ain in
this one thought =of the 5ost )igh>, while in the background the %resence re&ains %erce%tible.
It is %ossible this way. It is difficult to do it together, but also that is %ossible, and Sa#itarka
Sa&adhi is a #ery interesting e(ercise to learn this, as are the other Sa&adhi e(ercises. Fnce
you ha#e installed it solidly, you take a look now and then at the concentration3object that you
ha#e chosen, and see if you ha#e so&e roo& to focus on that now and then. And you also look
whether you can send the energy to it that you ha#e generated with the %receding 0 ste%s.
Then indeed you will notice that there is a %lay of energies that rises far abo#e your own
energies. You are actually connected to the big co&%uter of the uni#erse, and you let enor&ous
a&ounts of energy flow through you, towards that concentration3object. It is e(actly this
gigantic flow of energy, which is har&onious, because you ha#e &odeled it in accordance with
the 5ost )igh =which is har&ony itself> that will take care of burning Ear&a. It is the
ter&inator of Ear&aJ Sa&ya&a destroys Ear&a. This is the %urification %rocess.
+oes it burn Ear&a better then Sa&adhiH
/ertainly. /o&%ared to this Sa&adhi is just like A9/.
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+oesnt Sa&adhi burn Ear&a as wellH
'ith Sa&adhi, the way we ha#e learned it until now, you indeed burn L fro& the <ir3le#el L
with your own energies. Sa&ya&a, howe#er, is the destroyer of Ear&a, but then su%%orted by
a ,benefactor..
So, that energy is %resent, and now you are allowed access to itH
6(actly. The st %oint of the triangle builds this access. You use <irbija Sa&adhi to o%en it,
the &editation then is the connection and the concentration causes the circulation to occur,
towards the %oint that you ha#e chosen. This is in accordance with the %hysical law of the
co&&unicating #essels. Aeal circulation thus occurs. Those s%ots that ha#e too little energy,
which are in a %oor condition, dishar&onious, will recei#e a lot of energy. The e(%erience you
ha#e as a result is an e(%erience of light: har&oniIing is nothing &ore than to bring light, but it
will be &ore intense than e#er.
You can only share these e(%eriences with like3&inded %eo%leH
Yes, indeed, but you &ust know thoroughly what is needed to re%eat this, because so&ebody
who is not %re%ared could turn half3&ad. )e &ight for e(a&%le &ake the &ost stu%id ste% that
can be &ade in this &atter, which is to walk o#er to the neighbor and say: ,'ow, I just
e(%erienced so&ething so interestingJ. This is so&ething you really cannot doJ You can share
this e(%erience here in class, but do not tell it to your neighbors. They will declare you insane,
and when you share this e(%erience to se#eral other neighbors as well, I guarantee that you will
be locked u%J /ertainly they will find a %sychiatrist who will &ake the diagnosis, %ut an
inco&%rehensible ter& =for hi&self too> on it, and sign the docu&ents.
'e had a %sychiatrist in this school who followed all the courses and told us that this is the
reality in %sychiatryJ They do not know anything about lifeJ They do not know anything about
being hu&an. And they destroy %eo%le. 'orst is that they know =that they destroy %eo%le>.
)owe#er, they ha#e no other way, for they are asked to %ass judg&ent. And they do not
understand a thing of what is ha%%ening. It is al&ost like tossing a coin into the air: ,Throw
hi& in jail, or not throw hi& in jailH I ha#e %ut 2 of the& in jail this &onth, so lets release this
oneG. That is ho$ they do it. You just cannot belie#e in what an incredible chaos our
healthcare is. And e#eryone hangs a sword abo#e the head of the other. ,'e ha#e authority,
and we ha#e to &aintain that G ssssjjjttJ
+o you understand Sa&ya&a nowH It truly is incredibly wonderful. It is brilliant, again, that
you strengthen your own growth, and actually enable it, towards the end with the hel%, as Besus
also &entioned, of Nod. Besus called it: ,@et Fur +ear @ords &ercy co&e o#er you..
'hat he taught to his disci%les by %raying is e(actly thisJ A %rayer is in fact a &eans to induce
Sa&ya&a. That is the purpose of %raying. The concentration3object in %raying is the te(t itselfJ
You say out loud what is written, or you do it in thought, it really does not &atter. 'hat is
i&%ortant is the other two ele&ents.
28C
That is what Besus taught his a%ostles. 9ut a%%arently it did not lea#e a lasting i&%ression,
because to &e it see&s &ore like a badly affected anti*uity. I can still see &yself standing
before the confessional bo(, listening to the confessor telling &e: , G h&& G you ha#e
beha#ed #ery bad G %ray " ti&es Fur ?ather, and " )ail 5arys G. And a lot of additional
%unish&ents. There I sat, &u&bling, thinking, &istakenly, that I would be done after rattling it
off. And all %eo%le who ha#e been before the confessor and ha#e done this can confir& this.
There is no result, and I ha#e %ut it beside &e, for it does not work. All other %eo%le did
likewise.
This is too bad, for had it been told properly, it $ould ha#e shown resultsJ And indeed your
sins would ha#e been forgi#en. 'hat I a& telling you is actually burning of Ear&a:forgi#ing
of sins. Fo%sJ
9ut wait a &inute G if it is that easy, we can take care of all our sinsG This is called Ear&a
YogaJ You go to work, and you sha%e yourself according to what you ha#e in &ind, according
to what can be of ser#ice to society and of what can be useful for you to reach your ideal. If
you want to beco&e 5ister 'orld, well, than you instantly change into 5ister 'orldJ Bust like
that. And when you say: I want to beco&e a %otatoG then you beco&e a %otato. 9ut it &ust all
be in ser#ice of the 5ost )igh. The interesting %art of this a%%roach is that, because of this
burning, and because of the connection that you &ake with the 5ost )igh e#ery ti&e, you
beco&e &ore and &ore sensiti#e to what is of &ost interest to you. So it is not choosing to be
5ister 'orld or a %otato.
You will notice that in this triangle one ele&ent ,tastes. best. Fb#iously that is the %resence of
a lo#ed one, the At&ic e(%erience which will attract you &ost. 9ut by that ti&e it will ha#e
%er&eated you dee% into your big toe #ia those 21 different Sa&ya&as. It will beco&e &ore
and &ore fa&iliar. As you go through all those 21 e(ercises, no &atter how difficult it was in
the beginning to &aintain that feeling, it will beco&e easier and easier. There is talk about
6nlighten&ent, but instead it would be better to s%eak about beco&ing light auto&atically,
dri#en by ho&esickness that will gradually bring you back to your di#ine house.
Is it difficult to go back ho&eH The ?ather, waiting there for you G You can #eel his lo#e, and
you can #eel the relationshi%, for you !no$ that you are )is son. )a#e you e#er #isited your
=%arental> ho&e after a long absenceH It goes natural. You dont ha#e to do anythingJ At a
certain %oint you would rather run than anything else. The road to hea#en, the road to
6nlighten&ent L total enlighten&ent L is a road that you take running.
Is it this what Besus &eant when he said that there is faith, ho%e and lo#e, but that the greatest
of the 2 is lo#eH
That is this. ?or &e the greatest criterion is always ho&esickness. I always look at you, to see
if there is this ho&esickness, and whether you react when I use that word. 'hen you are
looking for your %lace in this world, and you unable to find that %lace, e#en though you !no$
that so&ewhere there is a %lace for you, that is what I a& talking about when I &ention
ho&esickness: ho&esickness for the ?ather.
287
Fkay, I can see that, but you &ention ho&esickness for ho&e, but you do not e#en know what
this ho&e looks like, or what it is.
It is called ,ho&e., but it is in fact infinity. )owe#er, they are all sy&bols, just like we s%eak
of ,?ather., while we &ight as well call it ,origin., the energy fro& which we originate. That
is what is i&%ortant, and that is Sa&ya&a, which is 6nlighten&ent, the %ath to follow. Peo%le
ha#e written this down in books, but so far it has not been understood. Also Tai&ni, the author
of this book, has not understood Sa&ya&a. If you ha#e read it yourself you can see that is has
nothing to do with his e(%lanation. I do not e#e reco&&end reading it. 'e are using this book
because it is the least bad, and because it has a transliteration and a word for word translation
of the Sanskrit te(t. This allows the chance to get a gri% on the origin so that you can gi#e your
own inter%retation and co&&ent. This is a ty%ical characteristic of the de%lorable situation in
the world in this field at the &o&ent. ?or that is what we are dealing with.
Is the e(%lanation of Sa&ya&a understoodH
I ha#e trouble with the e(%lanation of the conce%t of ,&ercy.. I ga#e it &uch thought, howe#er
I was not able to co&e to a conclusion and therefore decided that it %robably does not e(ist.
<ow it see&s to e(ist as a %art of Sa&ya&a. +o you ha#e access to it when you are able to
%ractice Sa&ya&aH
Yes, you will recei#e &ercy in Sa&ya&a, fro& Fur +ear @ord.
Then you do not ha#e to do it all by yourself any&oreH
Yes, so what you recei#e is a confir&ation.
So, actually you recei#e so&ething that you do not deser#eH
<o, you do deser#e it.
Fnly when you %ractice Sa&ya&aH
<o, let &e e(%lain it differently: Actually we are all #ery thirsty for energy, for we are so
terribly barren that you &ust rese&ble a desert3like landsca%e. That is what a hu&an being
looks like. There is a gra#e lack of irrigation. It is a miracle that this life, this land continues to
function.
'hat is it actually that you do in Sa&ya&aH You o%en this landM you o%en its borders. You
build roads and other infrastructure, enabling circulation. <ot only for cars, but also waterways
and airways, so you o%en yourself, completely. This is <irbija Sa&adhi L the sensing of the
%resence of a lo#ed %erson. %nce you are co&%letely o%en, the o%en borders, connected with
the 5ost )igh in &editation, will allow the necessary su%%ly of shi%s, air%lanes, trucks and
cars to flow through you, and %ro#ide you with all that you need, in accordance with the
%hysical law of the co&&unicating #essels.
28!
It is so si&%le: you get what you need. This is the &ercy. The only condition is that you o%en
u% yourself. Therefore not e#eryone can recei#e &ercy, only the %erson who o%ens u% hi&self.
This is the sa&e as sacrificing yourself, called Yajna. So connecting to the %resence of a lo#ed
%erson is e*ual to gi#ing u%:%assing by your own ego. 9y obser#ing the %resence of the other,
you %ut yourself on a %erce%tion le#el that is #ery high. This is actually At&an. 9ut because
you use that to beco&e aware of the others, you gain access to yourself. So, you are co&%letely
o%en, and then he co&es in. And you can use this energy for a certain concentration3object, if
you feel like, but you do not ha#e to. Instead you can also fill u% on energy and focus %urely on
confir&ation, which is so&ething that you can do directly with Fur +ear @ord during
Sa&ya&a, but you can also do it with another %erson.
So you o%en yourself with, not es%ecially lo#e, but the beco&ing aware of the %resence of a
lo#ed %erson. )owe#er, we ha#e been designed in such way that we can only do this with a
lo#ed %erson.
I considered &ercy to be a kind of %resent, so&ething through which you recei#e hel% fro&
higher energies to burn Ear&a, as o%%osed to only using your own energies and doing it all on
your own.
That is indeed what it is. In Sa&ya&a you burn Ear&a, but it is not your energy that burns the
Ear&aM it is the energy that you bring in, with the result that you de#elo% *uicker because it is
not your own energy. It is a &iraculous trick to %rogress faster and to actually lose the hu&an
condition at a certain %oint. 'hat you can do is si&%ly not nor&al any&ore. You cannot e#en
co&%are it with a nor&al hu&an being. )owe#er, Yoga then says: ,'ait a &inute, what a
nor&al hu&an being does, that is not nor&alJ. ?or who is so du&b to lea#e his land so sterile,
while there are %ossibilities to co&%letely culti#ate and de#elo% it. The only thing you ha#e to
do is to o%en your borders. 9ut nor&al %eo%le do not know this, which brings us to the core of
this issue: %eo%le are ignorant: A#idya.
9y transfer of knowledge and by %ractice, as we are doing, we try to take away this ignorance,
and re%lace it by knowing. Peo%le will react: ,)ey, that story of yours sounds logical. @et us
try it outG. And you notice: ,'ell, it e#en see&s to workJ 'ould he be right after allH. And
it does work. It is described like this, and it brings you to 6nlighten&ent, by burning Ear&a,
according to the "
th
Sutra:

,! 'aj Ja+at Prajna.o/ah
9y &astering it =Samyama> the light of the higher consciousness.
The #erb ,Bay. &eans ,to con*uer..
,Prajna. K ,@ight of the higher consciousness..
,@okah. K ,@ocation..
2"1
Interesting is that, if we %ractice Sa&ya&a correctly, we will grow toward the light. In each
Sa&ya&a you &ust &aintain the triangle that you build for so long that the energies fuse with
each other, until gradually light a%%ears in you. And although you ha#e not e(%erienced this
yet, it $ill ha%%en. If it does not ha%%en, it &eans that you ha#e not finished the Sa&ya&a
%ro%erly, and that you ha#e not used it for its actual goal. And that would be a big sha&e,
because it &eans that it has failed.
'hat do you do so that this can always bring lightH You &ake sure that the *uality of energy is
#ery goodM in Satt#a, because you are in a %ure condition of obser#ation, which is Satt#a. So
you do not do anything, or hardly anything. It is all based u%on your feeling, and for the rest
you focus your attention u%on the 2 different %oints. Fbser#ation. Satt#a. And the *uantitati#e
ele&ent is also taken care of, because it co&es fro& outside: it is the energy of Fur +ear @ord.
So what you get is large a&ounts of #ery good *uality energy. This is all you need and that is
what ,light. is about.
)owe#er, you &ust take into consideration that there are obstacles in the e(erciseM obstacles
between the 2 worlds that you are trying to connect. These are the obstacles that lie within the
concentration3object, because, of course, it is not all that har&onious yet. The concentration
object &ight %erha%s be so&ething within your body, but it is lacking %urity. These roads ha#e
to be built, and those trenches ha#e to be dug first, and that takes a lot of effort. The e(ercise is
that you just get to work on it, and slowly but certainlyG if you %ersistG and %ersistG and
%ersistG and after doing it so &any ti&es, sitting in the e(ercise, it beco&es better and better,
&ore and &ore beautiful, and easier and easier.
/an you feel it when Ear&a is burntH
You do not feel it. )owe#er, if you %ay #ery close attention, you &ay notice that there are
changes. You &ay feel that the sense of co&fort increases. In the beginning you will notice
that there are tensions, that there are %roble&s in you. You ha#e to do effort, for it does not
ha%%en auto&atically. )owe#er, if you continue to engage yourself in this %ractice, it will
beco&e easier and easier, and circulation will occur. So&eti&es you lose it, and then again you
will get back into it, and you lose it again, and get back into it again. This will ha%%en &any
ti&es, but it is the go3getter that wins the race.
So you do not #eel any burning. It is only called burning. The e(%erience of a burning sensation
in the heart region is %ossible, but it is not a burning of Ear&a that is felt. It is &ore likely to be
an o%ening u% of the heart /akra. I ha#e e(%erienced that &yself, and it was also an e(%losion,
literally burning. I thought that I would die, that I was finished. There was such a white:yellow
s%here around the heart and it was *uite %ainful. I checked to see if I was burned because I
really thought I $as. This is the knot of 9rah&a o%ening u%, but although this knot is located
within 5uladhara /akra, it e(%resses itself in the heart.
'hat are the locations of the knotsH
They are located in the tailbone, the throat and the head. They are called 9rah&a Nranthi,
Dishnu Nranthi, and Audra Nranthi. This is related to burning of grou%3Ear&a, but that is
2"
so&ething else than what we are dealing with here. In fact you should already ha#e rid yourself
of the 2 knots be#ore e#en thinking of seriously %racticing Sa&ya&a.
If you already ha#e a sense of being a world citiIen instead of a national, you ha#e %robably
succeeded in burning a considerable a&ount of 9rah&a Nranthi.
And if you do not ha#e %roble&s e(%ressing yourself any&ore, being able to e(%ress what lies
within you, then it is %ossible that you ha#e sol#ed Dishnu Nranthi.
And if you feel that your &ind is free, that you are free to think whate#er you want, and that
you are not ha&%ered in your thinking =because there are &any conditions in the &ind that can
%ut you stuck:i&%rison you, like habits, taboos and so on>, then you ha#e sol#ed Audra
Nranthi.
These are all grou% Ear&a, and with Sa&ya&a you deal with all Ear&a, es%ecially with
indi#idual Ear&a.
0! 'as+a 4humishu $ini+ogah
Its =of Samyama> use by stages.
This e(%lanation of this Sutra in Tai&nis book is kind of hilarious. You can read it if you feel
like, so that you can for& your own o%inion about it, but I do not like it at all. 'e ha#e already
had an e(%lanation about it: At the start of Sa&ya&a you clearly ha#e 2 different %oints, on
which you alternately focus to see whether they are still %resent. Then, slowly, they will start to
fuse, and a correlation occurs between the&. ?irst you are able to &aintain 0 of the& in your
consciousness, and when this solidifies, you in#ol#e the 2
rd
one, which is concentration, in the
%rocess. So&eti&es you lose your concentration, but gradually it increasingly beco&es one.
These are the different stages &entioned in this Sutra.
You can also #iew these stages in the following way: You start to focus %urely on each
se%arate %oint, then alternately, and in a later stage you gradually go towards &editation.
<otice that there is a unity between the 2, and then you do not distinguish the 2 any&ore,
because through the 2, with the 2, you ha#e co&e into a certain &ood and e#erything has
beco&e di#ine. At that &o&ent you are di#ine:Nod. And you are light. You do not e#en
e(%erience lightM there is unity all around.
Prayer as we know it in /hristianity, for e(a&%le the @ords Prayer, but also other %rayers, also
those in Isla&, and in fact in any other religion, is actually a &ethod to bring about Sa&ya&a.
If you take a close look, you will see that the 2 ele&ents are all %resent. You are re*uested to
connect with the +i#ine, but also to feel. 5aybe it is not so s%ecifically suggested that you
should feel ,the %resence of a lo#ed %erson., but it is #ery ob#ious in a )ail 5ary that you are
to try to feel the %resence of 5other 5ary. You ,hail. 5other 5ary. In the @ords Prayer you
hail Fur ?ather, so you try to establish a connection. The feeling is %resent, the &editati#e
ele&ent is %resent, and as a result the energy of it can co&e to you. There is %roof that these
2"0
kinds of %rayer actually work. In %rayer there is always a concrete ele&ent, a %oint of
reflection, and those are the 2 %oints as we know the& in Sa&ya&a.
The @ords Prayer &ay see& a little bit clu&sy and a little bit laborious if you co&%are it with
what we are learning now, because there are a lot of a%horis&s and words that actually disturb
the %rocess. So&eti&es I drea& about restoring the real %ur%ose of %rayer. Peo%le would be
able to learn real %rayer again, based u%on the knowledge of Sa&ya&a. In &y o%inion the old
5antras can be useful, but I a& afraid that the %riests of the /atholic /hurch are not able
any&ore to con#ey this %ro%erly. ?or they do not know any&ore what %raying is, and then it
does not work any&ore.
I would e#en go further than that: when you do not understand &atters like this any&ore, and if
you do not ha#e a clear #iew of the essence, while uttering all kinds of slogans =as the Po%e
uses slogans:celebrates 5ass in the na&e of Fur +ear @ord>, you are abusing those %owers,
and as a result they will turn against you. That is the %rice that e#erybody who slanders Nod
&ust %ay. 6(actly the sa&e is written in the Eoran: all %eo%le who slander Nod will die. <ot
necessarily by a 21 centi&eter long knife, but this is the &eaning anyway. 'hen you draw the
line further you will see that this ele&ent also co&es back in 9uddhis&, Budais& and in any
other religion: all who abuse these &atters will die.
'hen you use the na&e of Nod, it is to call on )i&, and as a result the energy will co&e to
you. 6nergy will co&e, saying: ,I was called u%on, here I a&.. )owe#er, a nor&al hu&an
being is not %ureM he calls on Nod but he is not %ro%erly %re%ared, so what will ha%%en with
this energyH There is no difference to this energyM it will co&e into that %erson regardless.
)owe#er, it will destroy this %ersonM it will si&%ly burn this %ersonJ And that is not the burning
of Ear&aJ It will destroy hi&, and as a result accelerated aging will occur. That is the
%unish&ent. Then I ha#e not e#en &entioned the fact of wrongly handling the +i#ine, or all
kinds of i&agination:delusion and false knowledge, that occurs in /atholic +octrine, which by
the way $as %ure originally. So beware, for Besus has e(%lained #ery well, but a%%arently )e
did not ha#e enough ti&e to e(%lain e#erything $ell enough. Then there were also the a%ostles
that went out into the world with each their own colored %erce%tion of the sa&e idea. 'hen
you co&%are 5atthew with Bohn there are such strange differences that you wonder who is
right.
'hen you are cut off fro& your roots, and if you do not e#en know that all this is in fact Yoga,
and there is no %ossibility to fall back on the old scri%tures of Yoga, you ha#e a %roble&.
Those 0 a%ostles co&&itted the&sel#es without ha#ing the least funda&ental doctrine in
writing. Besus should at least ha#e told the&: ,@ook, this is written here and there. ?all back
u%on it when you think of &e. Practice this.. )e did not gi#e the& e(ercises either, at least no
%hysical e(ercises. In fact he brought the& 9hakti Yoga, which does not contain any, or #ery
little Asanas,
'hat I a& trying to &ake clear is that %raying is fine, but %ay attention, for it is energy. It is
just like electricity. You can deal with it confidently if you would only know what you are
dealing with. And then you can ha#e all kinds of benefits fro& it. 9ut when you forget to turn
2"2
off the switch when you turn in a light bulb, you &ay recei#e a substantial electric shock. This
also a%%lies to %raying.
If you do what Theo #an Nogh did =+utch fil& director, killed by a religious fanatic>,
offending the Isla&, you will indeed end u% being sentenced to death within the laws of the
uni#erse. 'e react by saying: ,It is outrageous. It was done by e(tre&istsG. Fkay, but there
are &any wrongs in our society. 'e think that we are Nod oursel#es, and that we as hu&an
beings can deter&ine e#erything. 9ut this is not true: there is still the law of cause and effect
that we ha#e to deal with.
)e, who %lies the sword, will die by the sword.
It is interesting to see how e#erybody talks about the freedo& of s%eech, and that that &ay not
be countered by #iolence, but how about #erbal #iolenceH
Those are the wrongs of our society. 'e think: ,?reedo& of s%eech is absolute.. 9ut this does
not e(ist, for it is so&ething %eo%le ha#e &ade u% the&sel#es. 'hen you say so&ething, you
&ust also be ready to take res%onsibility for the conse*uences of what you say. That is all.
To go into an o%en discussion with %eo%le is so&ething totally different fro& calling %eo%le
na&es and offending the&. Theo #an Noghs e(changes of abuse, and the insults he uttered
were not well3founded. It was not a &atter of ha#ing a nor&al discussion. 'hene#er you
talked with this guy, the third sentence already ended u% in a flood of abuse. 'ell, like that
there is nothing to itM anybody can do thisJ 5aybe he lacked %ro%er %arenting.
The sa&e goes for Pi& ?ortuyn =+utch %olitician slain by an en#iron&ental e(tre&ist>. 'hat
he did is in fact the sa&e as Dan Nogh did. Although he was less crude, he always &anaged to
%ro#oke %eo%le, to the e(tent that you felt that %eo%le would really be offended by his
argu&ents. )owe#er, he was better able to substantiate his %oint of #iew, and he was o%en for
discussion. ?or this reason I %ersonally find the &urder of ?ortuyn &ore serious than the
&urder of Dan Nogh. The last one was not e#en &urderM it was an e(ecution, %robably ordered
by a clergy&an. It has all the characteristics of an e(ecution. It was a ?atwa.
Anyway, we were dealing with Sa&ya&a and ended u% with 21 centi&eter long knifesJ 9ut
that is what this is about, ehH +o not forget the %ower of Sa&ya&a. I would like to in#ite you
to %ray, to %ray again, but then the way you ha#e learned here, with Sa&ya&a. You will see
that it really works. And I a& con#inced: we can do it in this way. Fur /hristian traditions L
and Isla& traditions too L and all the other different traditions can be renewed with this
knowledge.
1! 'ra+am Antar Angam Pur)ebh+ah
The three are internal in relation to the %receding ones.
2"8
Antar Anga&: Tai&nis e(%lanation is rather short, howe#er, I could write an entire book
about this subject. The &eaning of this Sutra is that the entire Yoga3doctrine, the entire Yoga3
%re%aration with the 7 ste%s, actually including the 2 ste%s that fuse within Sa&ya&a, reaches
its goal, which is total internaliIation: the road to Fur +ear @ord, which is the &ost difficult. It
is interesting to realiIe that this ele&ent has not been understood throughout the entire world,
until now, that is. In the &ost fa#orable situation %eo%le a%%ly only the 7 ste%s, but do not ask
ho$ they a%%ly it. It is only %ossible to succeed in Sa&ya&a by the integration of the 7 ste%s.
6s%ecially when you &aster +harana, +hyana and Sa&adhi and %ractice the " %receding ste%s
L Ya&a, <iya&a, Asana, Pranaya&a and Pratyahara.
In %ast ages &any %eo%le thought: ,The highest of what I ha#e to reach in Yoga is to actually
%ractice Sa&adhi., and, ,If I can &aster Sa&adhi, I can reach hea#en.. 9ut this is not true.
Sa&adhi &eans to disco#er the causal world and the world of At&an, but that does not &ean
that you are finished. It is only through the unification of all the worlds =real&s> in Sa&ya&a
that you can co&%letely %urify e#erything. +o you understand the %roble& nowH It is *uite
tragic that all this is described here but that the inter%retations are wrong.
5! 'ad Api 4ahir Angam %irbijas+a
6#en that =Sabija Samadhi> is e(ternal to the Seedless =3irbija Samadhi>.
In this inter%retation of the Sutra you can erase =Sabija Sa&adhi>, for this does not a%%ly to
Sabija Sa&adhi at all. This is another &istake, for these Sutras are dealing with Samyama, and
that is what this is aboutJ Therefore this should be inter%reted as follows: ,6#en Sa&ya&a is
e(ternal to the Seedless =<irbija Sa&adhi>.. This is only e#ident, because Sa&ya&a is the road
to co&%lete <irbija Sa&adhi.
9ecause there is a little %iece of <irbija in each Sa&ya&a L the %resence of a lo#ed %erson L it
beco&es &ore and &ore fa&iliar. 9ut because it is *ualitati#ely the highest in the e(ercise, it
gradually takes the u%%er hand. Then it brings you, through the &atter actually L with the hel%
of concentration and &editation L to a state of a &ore natural e(%erience of <irbija Sa&adhi.
This is the way:training to attain <irbija Sa&adhi, which is called Sa&ya&a, in which there are
#ery clear e(ternal characteristics. ?or isnt the trinity e(ternalH /oncentration is e(ternal, as is
the object that you in#ol#e in it, a %art of your body or a condition, which are all e(ternal as
well. 'hile in <irbija Sa&adhi you let go of e#erything: it &eans ,without seed.. You e#en let
go of the seed.
There is also the %ossibility to get there directly, without seed. This is called Ati Yoga, or
Satt#a Yoga as it is also called. It is the original:first Yoga that deals with Satt#a, which is
e(%lained, in the 9rah&a Sutras and the Dedanta. It is #ery si&%le: You look at &e. +o you see
&eH 'ell, instead of continuing to look at &e, you look at what it is inside you that is looking.
'ill you still see &e thenH <o. You ha#e directly entered the obser#er, which in the end is
At&an. That is Ati Yoga, or %ri&ordial Yoga.
2""
'hen you read the 9rah&a Sutras you will see that they &ake *uite a co&%licated issue out of
it, but in fact it is rather si&%le.
)owe#er, in %ractice this is *uite difficult to achie#e, therefore the eight3folded %ath was
established. They said: ,'hat are actually the %roble&s in e(%eriencing the obser#erH It is
gross3&atter, &ental, e&otional and #ital %roble&s and so on.. This is where the 7 ste%s
originated fro&: to hel% you to go through the obstacles s&oothly, and to hel% you to reach the
goal in a certain and relati#ely easy way.
Ff course it can be done without the hel% of the ladder of 7 ste%s. You can directly ju&% into
hea#en, with Ati Yoga.
Is that what ha%%ened with Saul on his way to +a&ascusH
Possibly. 9ut if you do not ha#e all this, then how can you reach hea#enH That is the *uestion.
You can re%eat 1 ti&es what I a& now telling you, na&ely: look at &e, and then look at that
what is looking inside you, and that is it. At a certain &o&ent you get so tired of it that you
will let it go, and e#erything is lost. Then nothing will ha%%en any&ore.
Still !"Q of Yoga3%ractice in this world is based u%on that idea fro& the Dedanta: to go u%
into hea#en, just like thatJ 'e look at the obser#er, and, 9angJ G we arri#e there in an instant.
They hardly use the %ath of Patanjali.
Patanjalis %ath is the Tantric %ath: it uses duality, as does the )atha Yoga Pradi%ika fro&
S#at&ara&a, which is also ty%ically Tantric. It acce%ts the %roble&atic nature of the world, and
si&%ly &akes the best out of it.
The Dedanta says: ,You e(%erience the unity, and that is it.. 9ut the danger of delusion is so
big. This is the disease within the Yoga3world: delusion: ,@ook, I a& so ca%able to talk and
%hiloso%hy about unity and so =Ad#aita>, and because I a& so ca%able I should be the one..
)owe#er, they always ignore the fact that they are occu%ied in the &ind. It is all thoughts,
nicely constructed, with which e#erything can be justified. This is not difficult. To e(%lain the
e(%erience of unity:At&an, because he was fed u% with the scribes with their Dedanta, he
=9uddha> said: ,Anatta, Anatta, Anatta., which in Pali stands for: ,There is no At&an, there is
no At&an, there is no At&an.. 9ut what he &eant was, that the solution to find At&an is to not
be occu%ied with At&an, for as long as you are occu%ied with it there is delusion. 'ith this,
only one state&ent, he wi%ed the entire world of Yoga of that ti&e off the &a%. )e was #ery
successful in it, and rightly so. )e was the last great Yogi, for he really understood: it is the
condition of being without seed3thought. 9ut also in 9uddhis& there are
%rayers:in#ocations:techni*ues that rese&ble what we e&%loy in Sa&ya&a.
This brings us to a beautiful %art, which is so&ething totally different. It is what you do while
building u% your Sa&ya&a, but also what you do in general to li#e life. Sa&ya&a is not si&%ly
a &ethod to reach 6nlighten&entM the a%%lication of Sa&ya&a takes %lace in a s%ecific way.
This s%ecific way is the a%%roach with the Parina&as L the transfor&ations L or, how to deal
with the obstacles. This will enable you to control life. 'hen saying: ,control life., it &eans
2"4
that you will finally be able to deal in a good way with other %eo%le, ele&ents, %roble&s and so
on.
Theo #an Nogh was killed in the street with a huge knife, which %ut the entire +utch
%o%ulation on its hind legs: ,'hat is thisHJ FutrageousJ. and so on. 5y reaction was one of
e(%laining: ,This was a ritual &urder, or at least a ritual e(ecution. There is a ?atwa =religious
decree>.. So I started to study the &atter with the doctrine of Isla& in &ind: what e*actly
ha%%enedH 'hy did it ha%%enH ,Fh, but he did this G and that G and so, the transfor&ation or
the control of that situation can occur fro& understanding the circu&stances.. If you are able to
accurately deter&ine what is going on and how it could ha#e ha%%ened, only then there is the
%ossibility to %re#ent such e#ents fro& re%eating itself in the future. Fn the other hand, when
you react si&%ly e&otionally, like: ,All 5oroccans are bastards. you will not sol#e anything.
That is what %eo%le say at this &o&ent. If you are fro& 5oroccan origin now, walking in the
street, %eo%le look down on you.
It is not as bad as you %icture.
9ut nothing is sol#ed and e&otions are stirred u%, with the risk that 5oroccan %eo%le are going
to get lynchedJ And it is escalating in a downward s%iral of #iolence. This all does not hel% to
sol#e the %roble&. Fur usual a%%roach to try to sol#e %roble&s si&%ly does not work. Fur
society is unable to sol#e the %roble&s, and it has ne#er learnt to sol#e %roble&s either.
$sing the transfor&ations, which we will study together and which stand at the basis of the
functioning of Sa&ya&a, we will gradually learn to focus u%on a %roble&, Sa&adhi Parina&a,
6kagrata Parina&a, and beco&e one with that %heno&enon. 'ith great %leasure I want to
beco&e one with the Eoran and the Isla&. I ha#e great res%ect for those doctrines. 9ased u%on
this beco&ing one and understanding and knowing what you are talking about: ,Fh, but wait a
&inute, this ha%%ened, and that ha%%ened., and, with insight in what is going on,
transfor&ation of the e#ents takes %lace. This will ha%%en at the #ery &o&ent that you #eel that
you can do that, si&%ly because you ha#e beco&e one with it. This is <irodha Parina&a.
This is the basis of all 6astern &artial arts, which is also the basis of the control of life. Already
for &any years one of &y students teaches this &ethod at the %olice acade&y, and I a&
delighted to see that e#en the +utch soldiers in Ira* are con#inced of the necessity of these
doctrines. ?or this reason they are #ery successful in Ira*, and that is a #ictory for Yoga. It is a
totally different a%%roach co&%ared to the A&erican a%%roach: hea#ily ar&ed, with hel&ets
and all the accessories, antagoniIing %eo%le. The +utch a%%roach in Ira* is that of staying in
contact with the local %o%ulation, which is Parina&a. 9ased u%on these contacts we obtain
infor&ation. 'e &ust be friendly and o%en. Think about the %ossibilities that this o%ens,
o%%osed to a sterile country. You break it o%en and ensure circulation. Fnly then we can win.
And you can a%%ly this to all %roble&s. You dont e#en know half how beautiful this isJ
'e were at the 7
th
Sutra: a #ery s%ecial %art that directly connects with Sa&ya&a. It is about
the Parina&as:transfor&ations. It is actually about the &ethod of transfor&ation we a%%ly
during Sa&ya&a, for I ha#e already e(%lained that Sa&ya&a is in fact a %rocess of
%urification. I ha#e e(%lained that this %urification is in fact burning of Ear&a that takes %lace
2"C
through the inflow of di#ine energy, which focuses u%on any object. And there are 21 different
kinds of these Sa&ya&a3e(ercises. The e(%lanation how this %rocess is %ut together is
e(%lained a little bit sche&atically, but to accurately understand how e(actly this works you
should actually take these 2 Sutras into consideration. It e(%lains ho$ this di#ine energy is
ca%able of burning Ear&a.
There are 2 Parina&as:
The first is Sa&adhi Parina&a.
The second is 6kagrata Parina&a.
And the third is <irodha Parina&a.
?irst you focus u%on the object. You ,Sa&3Adhi., or you gather your consciousness L which is
the literal &eaning of the word Sa&adhi here, towards the object. You eli&inate all
distractions, and you si&%ly go toward the object. The transfor&ation is here in the sense that
you increasingly &o#e toward the object.
The second transfor&ation is 6kagrata, or one3%ointed3ness: you beco&e one with the object.
6ka K one.
Nrata K =Nrahar K> grabbing.
This reflects the fact that you constantly try to grab back the object with your consciousness,
for you can focus u%on an object, but the object soon has a tendency to ,walk away. fro& you.
Nrabbing back the object is called Nraha, and you continue to grab back to it until it beco&es
one flow, until you feel that you are not constantly grabbing the object back any&ore. And L
by re%etition L you beco&e so absorbed in this %rocess that it see&s to beco&e uninterru%ted.
Then you beco&e one with the object, and once you ha#e felt that you ha#e beco&e #ery
fa&iliar with that object, and that you can &o#e it in any direction you wish, you go on to the
third kind of transfor&ation: the transfor&ation of control L <irodha. Then you &odify
whate#er needs to be &odified, with or through this object, with the result that %urification
occurs. As a result of the co&%lete control of the object L &eaning that it needs no looking
after any&ore L the di#ine energy can co&e through without any disturbances, and you will
absorb:integrate it into your being.
5y first e(%erience with Parina&a was through &artial arts, es%ecially with judo. As a
youngster L at the age of :0 L I was sur%rised by the fact that judo was considered an art of
defense instead of being of an attacking nature. I was told: ,@ook, your ene&y a%%roaches you,
you focus on your ene&y, he co&es toward you, you e#ade hi& a little bit, but you watch hi&
closely, and at the &o&ent that he is close to you, you see hi& so well that you will &ake the
right &o#e at the right ti&e as necessary. You use the force of your o%%onent, and you turn that
force against hi&..
This is an e(a&%le of the a%%lication of the Parina&as. The three transfor&ations: focus u%on
your assailant L Sa&adhi Parina&aM beco&ing one with your assailant L 6kagrata Parina&aM
and transfor&ation of the energy of your assailant, in the direction that you deter&ine, by
a%%lying a certain techni*ue L <irodha Parina&a.
2"7
/an you i&agine when you a%%ly this %rinci%le in Sa&ya&a, and you do this fed by di#ine
energy, while you are totally o%ened u% in <irbija Sa&adhiH This energy will go towards the
incident. Then what will ha%%en with the assailantH )e will be o#erco&e by di#ine energy.
'here will that lea#e his anger and aggression in this %rocessH It si&%ly cannot holdJ ?or this
reason it is said in oriental &artial arts: ,The best warrior is the one who does not fight.. 9ut
this does not &ean that he is a %acifistM he knows how to fight, but he a%%lies this techni*ue.
9ut it does not always work this wayJ You do ha#e to kee% your sword or s%ear within reach,
in case he does break through. In case he is strong, and well #ersed in &editation as well, then
you will ha#e *uite a job to do. 9ut with nor&al %eo%le G &&%ffJ
+oesnt Aikido use the energy to kee% the assailant at a distanceH
It is co&&on %racticeM in all oriental &artial arts this is the basis. So it is not based u%on
aggressionM it is &artial arts based u%on defense. Ff course this has been founded by Yogis, so
it is only nor&al that you find back here the %rinci%les as they were written.
'hat does the te(t sayH It does not start with Sa&adhi Parina&a as we do, but instead it starts
with <irodha Parina&a, for it is the &ost i&%ortant.
6! $+utthana %irodha Sams/ara+or Abhibha)a Pradurbha)au %irodha
-shana Cittan)a+o %irodha Parinamah
3irodha Parinama is that transfor&ation of the &ind in which it beco&es
%rogressi#ely %er&eated by that condition of 3irodha which inter#enes
&o&entarily between an i&%ression which is disa%%earing and the i&%ression
which is taking its %lace.
This is actually the critical &o&ent: do I control this:the ene&y, or do I ha#e no controlH The
descri%tion is re&arkable: you are %er&eated by that condition of control L <irodha L that
occurs for a &o&ent in between the disa%%earing i&%ression and the i&%ression that co&es in
its %lace. So, it is a flash, in which you say: ,)ey, I got hi&J I see hi& throughJ. You #eel hi&
co&ing. ,'ill I get hi&H 'ill I notH +o I feel hi&H +o I not feel hi&H. And then suddenly:
,Yes, I got hi&J. In &artial arts:this %rocess, and also in sol#ing %roble&s in life you ha#e this
&o&ent =just be#ore it is sol#ed, nothing has ha%%ened yet> that you know: ,I got itJ.
'hen I %ut %roducts out in the &arket as a %roduct &anager, I a%%roached &y work in this
way: I would beco&e one with the &arket. I would focus entirely on the &arket, the
%ossibilities, the %roduct, the %rice, the %ro&otion, and so on. I would be co&%letely absorbed
by it, #ery dee%ly. And the ne(t ste% was to study the consu&er. I would walk in the street and
obser#e %eo%le. ThenG ,yes, they will buy itG I can feel itG., which was the starting signal
for &e. I did it like this, again and again, and &y boss did not understand how I did itJ )e
a%%roached it with %urely &echanical techni*ues. These kinds of &atters were far beyond his
co&%rehension, and I ne#er had a %ro%er chance to e(%lain this to hi&.
2"!
It see&s to &e that you &ust be #ery rela(ed to do like this G
You &ust be rela(ed during the entire %rocess. It will not work when you are tensed. And you
&ust always be %atient, %atient, until that one &o&ent. And that is #ery difficult: the %hone
rings, colleagues walk in and out, %ressure is a%%lied u%on you G when will it co&eH G 'hen
will it be thereH G And this and that G the nor&al contra%tions of life G and a wife that does
not lea#e you alone G <o, I wait until the feeling is %resent, otherwise I will not go.
Erishna was like this, on the battlefield of Euruksetra, where 0 enor&ous ar&ies stood
o%%osite each other. Erishnas soldiers were allowed to join one ar&y, while Erishna was
allowed to join the other. Erishna had joined the right side, but all his &en were attached to the
ene&y ar&y. A strange situation occurred as a result: all &utual friends:ac*uaintances, fighting
each other. It was a real ci#il war.
9ecause Shi#a was a 9uddha, all the gods were on his side, and Erishna was to deter&ine
when the battle would begin. At that ti&e it was not allowed to fight at night, but one hour
before sunset he ga#e the co&&and to start battle. 'hy would he do thatH 9ecause he #elt, and
tuned in on the energies of the stars:the energies %resent. 'hen is the right &o&entH 'hat do I
want to achie#eH This is what I want to achie#e. I want &y ar&y to win. )owH They are #ery
strong, and there are &illions of soldiers on both sides. ,G yesJ G nowJ G.
This #ery &o&ent L nowJ As in the e(a&%le abo#e L can be found back with &any great
states&en, generals, and big battles, which are witnesses to that one &o&ent. You can say that
it is intuition. Ff course it is intuition, but it is within this fra&ework. You feel at that #ery
&o&ent that the situation is under control, and that you can &ani%ulate it at will. 'hyH
9ecause you ha#e %re%ared yourself, with a Sa&adhi Parina&a, followed by an 6kagrata
Parina&a. And slowly, thanks to being3one3with it, you see through the weak %oints of the
ar&y:assailant:consu&er. And then you know: nowJ
9ut in case of an assailant a%%roaching you, you &ust be #ery fast in this %rocess.
Yes, for that reason it is i&%ortant that you learn it %ro%erly, in ad#ance, for when you see your
ene&y a%%roaching and you say: ,Bust a &inute, I a& working on &y 6kagrata Parina&a, stand
still, will youH G., then you lose.
7! 'as+a Prasanta $ahita Sams/arat
Its flow beco&es tran*uil by re%eated i&%ression.
If you do it regularly, you can indeed &ake the control o#er the flow of energy tran*uil and
co&%osed, but you ha#e to be occu%ied with it #ery often, and understand this %rocess and
integrate it into your functioning. Then you will deal with e#ents in this wayM #ery naturally.
241
9ut not in what I call the A&erican way, which I think is for idiots. I ha#e ne#er seen such
stu%id soldiers as the A&ericans. They ca&e to 9elgiu& to see how we did things. Neneral
'est&oreland was standing ne(t to &e when we were rock cli&bing. Neneral 'est&oreland,
the one who was res%onsible for the ar&y during the Dietna& 'arJ )e was looking at us as if
we were doing so&ething s%ecialJ It was only a s&all rock of about 81 &eters in height, and it
was a %ractice rock as wellJ 'e scaled it in a blink of the eye. The A&erican ar&y is fantastic,
at least if you belie#e the Aa&bo3&o#iesG %ublicity for bu&s.
+ont the energies turn against an ar&y like that at a certain &o&entH
Yes, of course it will, without fail, for it is %recision work that I call s%iritual surgery.
Sa&ya&a is s%iritual surgery, and you ha#e to deal with it #ery delicately, and #ery accurately.
You %re%are yourself #ery thoroughly, li#ing like a &onk. And you are so incredibly %ure. And
you &ust try to be un3colored, for your biggest ene&y is the colored condition of your
consciousness. All this is high3tech. The least a&ount of coloring causes aberration. It all
re#ol#es around the unity:your ability to %lace yourself #ully in the object:in the %roble& at
hand. It is a &atter of total renunciation of your self. 9ut these are all ele&ents that occur in
Sa&ya&a, or notH <ow, for the first ti&e, you do not do it $ithin you, but you in#ol#e
so&ething fro& the surrounding in this %rocess.
)ere you can see which direction we are going: the control of all energies. All %heno&ena:all
objects:all %eo%le are energy. You are learning how to deal with this L with these Parina&as
and the Sa&ya&a3techni*ue L which &eans that you will slowly ac*uire the tools that will
enable you to &aster e#erything. And when you succeed, you ha#e beco&e a real &aster. A
real &aster is not a %erson carrying a title before his na&e, or with a docu&ent that states,
,5aster.. <o, a &aster is a guy who &asters li#e. 'ell G of course, wo&en can also G Ff
course there is no discri&ination, but I wouldnt want a religious funda&entalist hear &e say
all this G
9ut when you belie#e:do all this, you could not beco&e a funda&entalist.
Indeed this could not work with funda&entalis&, but on the other hand, black &agic is also
%ossible: then you distort these %rinci%les.
! Sar)arthatai/agrata+oh -sha+oda+au Cittas+a Samadhi Parinamah
Samadhi transfor&ation is the =gradual> setting of the distractions and
si&ultaneous rising of one3%ointedness.
The core3word in this Sutra is gradual. You do not %lunge yourself into so&ething like a
&ad&an. Your a%%roach is slow, and you slowly shine the light of your interest o#er that
object. Then you include this in your consciousness, and, sensing, you go into it a little bit
dee%er, which &akes it &ore and &ore one3%ointed. It is like a funnel occurring.
24
'hy do we need a gradual a%%roachH 'hy cant we %lunge into it directlyH 9ecause when you
%lunge into it, you are in Aajas, and in Aajas you lose your %ower of %erce%tion. It is es%ecially
the %ower of %erce%tion L the e(tent to which you are able to e&%loy Satt#a L that enables you
to control. Therefore, e#erything you do, also a %hysical %osture, is done with a &ini&u&
a&ount of Satt#a, and you try to enlarge this Satt#a in the %osture, towards the object. You
enlarge the Satt#a continuously. And that is actually what Asana is about.
/an you i&agine so&eone entering a co&%any who says: ,I got it. I can do it. I #eel it. 'hat
%roble&s do we ha#e hereH Fkay, G I can see that G and I can also feel the solution to this
&atter.. )ow do you think will the &anage&ent feel about this, when such a guy ste%s into
their co&%anyH They recei#e hi& with o%en ar&s, because that is e(actly what they are
looking for, what they drea& about, and what they ob#iously cannot do the&sel#es. It can also
be bluff. 5ostly it is bluff. Peo%le who can really do this are rare. 9ut this is what it is about.
"! 'atah Punah Santoditau 'u.+a Prat+a+au Cittas+a :/agrata Parinamah
Then, again, the condition of the &ind in which the Robject =in the &ind> which
subsides is always e(actly si&ilar to the Robject which rises =in the ne(t
&o&ent> is called )!agrata Parinama.
You are engaged with an object, so you study the object, but you actually raise the s%eed of
your obser#ation. Fbser#ation goes as follows: you grab:notice:see so&ething of the object,
the infor&ation of what you see &o#es *uickly to the brain, 9uddhi, and there you recogniIe it.
This %rocess is #ery swift. )owe#er, there is an interru%tion between the obser#ation of the
object and the %rocessing of that obser#ation, es%ecially when so&e reasoning is in#ol#ed to
recogniIe the object. You &ust co&e to the %oint that you see the object and that the
%rocessing of it goes increasingly faster, to the e(tent that it see&s as if there is no interru%tion
any&ore in the %rocess. This &eans that you do not obser#e with your &ind any&ore, but with
the crown /akra instead. It is an intuiti#e obser#ation. Intuiti#e obser#ation is the only for&
that goes beyond ti&e, and that is what you ai& for. As long as you are ca%tured in the &ind,
and this is a known fact in &artial arts, you run #ery great risks. Therefore you &ust rise abo1e
the &ind. You do this by obser#ing the ene&y on causal le#el. 'e re#ert to the words of Besus,
who said: ,@o#e your ene&y., which is a totally different inter%retation of what we learned in
the /atholic /hurch. You con*uer your ene&y by &eeting hi& on causal le#el, and by taking
the ti&e to feel hi& #rom that le#el. Then you will be able to do a <irodha Parina&a.
It is the le#el of lo#e =causal le#el>, where there is no duality, and there is neither friend nor
foe. All you ha#e is a being, so you &ust be able to rise abo#e your e&otions, so that
friendshi%:ani&osity do not e(ist any&ore. Then you are on the right wa#elength, and you can
understand hi&. So the first thing you ha#e to do in &artial arts is to understand your o%%onent,
beco&e one with your o%%onent: 6kagrata Parina&a. If you do not beco&e one with your
o%%onent, you will ne1er be able to con*uer hi&.
240
&! :tena 4hutendri+eshu (harma =a/shana)astha Parinama $+a/h+tah
9y this =by what has been said in the last four Sutras> the %ro%erty, character,
and condition3transfor&ations in the ele&ents and the sense3organs are also
e(%lained.
The te(t of this sutra see&s a little bit co&%licated. 'hat is the &eaning of itH 'hen you
understand the &eaning of the Parina&as, you can release the& u%on ,+har&a @akshana
A#astha.. You can release the& u%on the 9hutas and the Indriyas. )owH
The 9hutas are the gross ele&ents, so you control the gross &atter with this &ethod.
The Indriyas are the subtle ele&ents, to which belong the Ear&endriyas, the Bnanendriyas
and the Tan&atras. These are under your control too.
9ut the subtle ele&ents are the cause of the 9hutas, the gross ele&ents. So, you can directly
deter&ine your %reference: a Yogi %refers not to interfere at gross le#el. It is &uch easier to
interfere at subtle le#el.
To deter&ine how to do that we first ha#e to establish what Indriyas are. 'hat is the real& of
the IndriyasH It is the &ental world, the world of thought. So, by controlling the Drttis you
&ani%ulate the Indriyas into another direction than they would otherwise go: you can sto%
%eo%les &otor syste&, and you can obscure %eo%les %erce%tion. 9ut on the other hand you
can also %ut it in &otion, as you can whi% u% the wa#es of the sea, and as you can stir u% the
wind and &ake rain fall fro& the clouds.
'hat are +har&a, @akshana and A#asthaH
+har&a is the charge of a Sa&skara, called %ro%erty. 'hen you notice it, you can identify it
with a &e&ory:your calling. 9ut here we are talking about it in the sense of: when you study
your ene&y during 6kagrata Parina&a you will feel how he deals with his consciousness. As a
result you will be aware of his ideas on how to attack you. And you recogniIe that so&ething
in hi& is awakened L a Sa&skara:i&%ression, for you see through your di#ine eyes. You can
feel: ,)ey, I can feel that he is getting so&ething like G er G a %ro%erty =+har&a> of such
nature G oh, wait, gradually it is beco&ing a characteristic =@akshana> G now it is beco&ing
a thought G it is co&ing G he is going to kick &e with his left leg to the lower %art of &y
body =A#astha> G look, he is readying his leg G that is it G I saw it allJ.
If you are able to ,see. things de#elo% in this way, you &ust be a real donkey if you do not
react with a %ro%er defense. Point is that you are not just looking at his %hysical body only, but
you obser#e his consciousness as well. And in his consciousness you read as it were the
%roduction of his deed, which is created fro& a Sa&skara that beco&es a Drtti, which goes to
body through the ner#es. It is therefore that in &artial arts it is said that it is in the twinkle of
the attackers eyes that you see the signal of the attack. That is this.
242
It is also said that the eyes are the &irrors of the soul: they always betray a hu&an, for he has
no control o#er his eyes. So kee% a close look at the eyesJ And through the eyes you thus ha#e
the i&age that you need, intuiti#ely, of the consciousness of this %erson: ,what is ha%%ening
hereH Fh, G it is growing G, oh, he is going to do that G. 'hen you know this beforehand
and you already ha#e your %lan:reaction %re%ared, e#en before he starts with his action, this is
the ulti&ate way of fightingJ <ot this stu%id whacking called bo(ing. )a#e you already seen
thatH It is just a bunch of &orons together, whacking one anotherJ They say it is about the
ability to take blowsG you know what it is to get whacked like thatH %ne %unch and you are
half3deadJ 9ut they say you &ust take the blows. If you recei#e 1 of these blows in one
&atch, you are ready for the ce&etery after 1 &atches. So either you do it right or you dont
do it at all. 'e do not let oursel#es be slaughtered like this.
I a& constantly talking about &artial arts, but do you understand thisH 'e will see that this
a%%roach does not only a%%ly to &artial arts, but also in a lot of other useful &atters. It is
because it was &y first e(%erience with this %hiloso%hy. This Sutra indicates the field within
which we can use this: in the gross world, in the subtle world, and also in the world of the
%roduction of the act, of which this last one is of course the &ost interesting.
'hat is this field in which these %ro%erties co&e into beingH 'hat is this field in which this
+har&a:those seeds co&e to &aturity:those ideas ariseH This is called +har&i. In the following
Sutra it is translated as ,substratu&., but I would rather call it ,field..
*! Santodita)+apades+a (harmanupati (harmi
The substratu& is that in which the %ro%erties L latent, acti#e or un&anifest L
inhere.
Inhere K to be %resent. So, when you understand all this, your %erce%tion goes so far that it is
able to %ercei#e the causal s%here, including its %ro%erties.
/ausal s%here K +har&i. This &eans that you a%%roach objects and %eo%le using your heart,
actually with the crown /akra: %erce%tion fro& the crown /akra. 9ecause we feel a reflection
in the heart we say: ,with the heart., but actually it is e(actly as it is said: you a%%roach
%eo%le:circu&stances:life with your crown /akra. And what do you think occurs on to% of your
head when there is constant energyH @ight: the crown of a king:Aaja. That is Aaja Yoga. @ight
will start to shine.
It is beyond ti&e. It is eternity. You see in eternity. That is the feeling you get, and you notice
what is i&%ortant and what is not i&%ortant. 9ut abo#e all you notice, or at least that is what
Patanjali wants, that you beco&e shar%er in the %erce%tion of that s%here and you distinguish
that there are objects L Sa&skaras L that are latent, Sa&skaras that are acti#e, and Sa&skaras
that are i&%erce%tible =Sa&skaras of which you know they are %resent, but you cannot see
the&>. 'hy is this i&%ortantH It is i&%ortant because one day they could co&e to the surface
and co&e to ri%ening.
248
5ost dangerous are the Sa&skaras that are acti#e. You can recogniIe the& in an instant.
Those that slee% at the surface only need a little %rodding to co&e to life as well. And why is
this of any interestH It could be #ery interesting when you &ani%ulate so&ething:so&ebody
fro& a distance without e#en ha#ing to interfere on subtle le#el, but si&%ly by o#erruling an
acti#e Sa&skara, and by waking u% another latent Sa&skara in that %erson that says e(actly the
o%%ositeJ 'hat ha#e you done to do thisH Al&ost nothing. At least, see&ingly nothing, but
actually you ha#e done *uite a lot, but with a &ini&u& of interference.
This is the high art: it is the le#el of what we call 'hite 5agic. It is in fact total control of life:
antici%ation, changing, rearranging, and aligning. And when you are good at this ga&e, nobody
will e#er sus%ect that you, sitting in your chair or lying on your cushion, are &ani%ulating
things far away fro& so&ewhere in Il%enda& L Nod knows what it is all about.
It see&s to &e that you do not ha#e to be that good to ha#e any influenceH
'ell, if you do not think so, I guess you could try it for yourself.
9ut I &ean that you do not ha#e to necessarily be a Siddha.
This is a Siddha:a %erfect one. Fne who has understood life, and is able to ca%italiIe on it.
)owe#er, it is %ossible that you ha#e dee% insight, but to ca%italiIe on it, that is *uite another
&atter.
)ow do you know whether you indeed %ercei#e things wellH +o you %ossess a totally %ure
%erce%tionH Is your %erce%tion not colored any&oreH )ere we already ha#e the biggest
%roble&, on which failure or success de%ends. The day that you are not colored any&ore, you
will be able to recogniIe, dose accurately, and gi#e i&%ulses with the slightest bit of energy.
,! -raman+at)am Parinaman+at)e <etuh
The cause of the difference in transfor&ation is the difference in the underlying
%rocess.
I ha#e already e(%lained that we a%%ly this rule in the %erfor&ance of Sa&ya&a. As a
Yogi:Yogini you try to interfere u%strea& as &uch as %ossible. $%strea& &eans: in line with
+har&a @akshana A#astha. Preferably you do not wait until it has condensed into &atter
=A#astha:until it has obtained a solid state, or has settled into whate#er condition. You always
look at the cause. You do not only %ercei#e the conse*uences. You try to kee% an eye on the
causes of these &atters. This Sutra indeed also e(%lains that the cause of transfor&ation L of
that what changes L goes beyond the %heno&enon when it recei#es an i&%ulse to change fro&
causal le#el.
24"
A #ery good e(a&%le is that of a &ood: the e&%loyees of a co&%any ha#e a certain #alue, but
so&eti&es you enter a co&%any and you feel that e#erybody is so low3s%irited. They are in fact
#ery ca%able, but they suffer fro& a co&%lete lack of enthusias&, and e#erything is so hea#y.
)a#e you e#er seen thisH You can in fact a%%ly this to 71Q of all co&%anies.
?or e(a&%le: you enter the co&%any and you feel the at&os%here. You recei#e the task to %ut
it all together again. You sit at your desk, you tune in on the last &eeting in which you s%oke to
the %eo%le, and then you change the &ood. You change the &ood in you, but in fact through
you, you change the &ood of all the e&%loyees. The low at&os%here is a result of Ta&as, so
you sit at your desk in Sa&ya&a, and you add ecstasy to it: Dicara Sa&adhi. 9angJ Aajas on
causal le#el. Then you walk around in the co&%any and you ask around: ,)ow is e#erything
going hereHJ. 'hat do you think will ha%%en in this co&%anyH 6(actly: transfor&ation.
That is also what I did with &y &en in a %re#ious life. They couldnt see straight any&ore: one
battle after the other. They were going &ad. And they had to constantly fall back to their egos.
All they did was co&%laining and &oaningJ ,Fkay boysJ There is one &ore battle ahead of usJ
Shall we go for itHJ. This is really interesting. It is called &anage&ent.
+o not think that there is no res%ect for the &en, for that is si&%ly not true. 'ithout res%ect it
wouldnt $or!. There has to be a #ery tight bond between each other. 6kagrata Parina&a. So
you ha#e to be one with each other. 'hen you sit in your office and you are not one with your
&en, and you do so&ething like that, they will all %ull out. They &ust feel you too. They &ust
hang on to you.
I ha#e an e(a&%le fro& this %resent life as well. I was on a ca&% with &y soldiers, and an
ar&ored infantry %latoon fro& )olland #isited us. They had such &ar#elous #ehicles with
the&, but they all carried long hair. I was so irritated by that factJ
I blew u% against &y &en: ,5en, these guys are not real soldiersJ They do not deser#e to ser#e
in the ar&yJ It would be best if their hair was cut right away G. At night &y &en broke into
their barracks, trying to cut their hair G It turned out into an enor&ous riotJ 5y &en al&ost
killed those +utch guys. 'hose fault was thisH It was &y fault, because I influenced the& at
that le#el. That is the %roble& with these things. You understand how it works, but the
res%onsibility that you ha#e to carry in %ractice is enor&ous. And it is beco&ing increasingly
bigger. As you a%%ly this &ore and &ore, your field of action e(%ands, but in the %rocess your
res%onsibility beco&es bigger and bigger too.
Actually you can only act when you are certain that you ha#e all the infor&ation.
That is not the only %ointM you &ust also be #ery cautious and %ay attention when you do this.
You &ust ha#e eyes e#erywhere, and always re&ain cal&, to a#oid blunders. It beco&es really
dangerous when you beco&e e&otional. At that &o&ent I beca&e e&otional, and it al&ost
turned into a disaster. You &ust deal with e#erything fro& Satt#aJ That is the crucial %oint.
6#en when you do not ha#e so &uch of it, you &ust build u%on your Satt#a.
244
0! Parinama 'ra+a Sam+amad Atitanagata Jnanam
9y %erfor&ing Samyama on the three kinds of transfor&ations =3irodha,
Samadhi and )!agrata> knowledge of the %ast and future.
This is the first Sa&ya&a.
There are about 21 Sa&ya&as, which are all a%%lications of the laws:%atterns that we ha#e
discussed in the %re#ious weeks, with the goal to integrate the 2 worlds within your being, to
such an e(tent that you do not ha#e to %ay attention to the& indi#idually any&ore. And by
always connecting with At&an in those 21 e(ercises =#ia the <irbija Sa&adhi ele&ent L
%resence of a lo#ed %erson> you will get an increasingly better feeling for this
indescribable:untouchable:ineligible, which is At&an. 6#entually it will lead you to ha#e such
great e(%erience with At&an after those 21 e(ercises that there is a chance that you will re&ain
in At&an %er&anently. 'hich is 6nlighten&ent.
@et us ha#e a look at the first Sa&ya&a:
9etween brackets is written: ,<irodha, Sa&adhi en 6kagrata., which we discussed before.
This Sa&ya&a is in fact the obser#ation of this whole %rocess taking %lace in he aggressor.
You actually see within his consciousness that a certain action will occur. You can #eel it =that
for e(a&%le he is going to &o#e his leg>. This is actually the ability to read the future, but also
the %ast, for it ha%%ens in e(actly the sa&e way.
So, you obser#e the ri%ening of the Sa&skaras, or the de#elo%&ent of that ri%ening, u% to the
action itself. In fact, e#erything in the world is in this %rocess of ri%ening, for it arose one day,
and one day it will be destroyed. All you ha#e to do is to look in the %ast, the future and the
%resent: you will see %rocesses of ri%ening e#erywhere. You will also see %eo%le being
occu%ied with so&ethingM you see %eo%le focusing:%ractice 6kagrata. You will also disco#er
%eo%le trying to &ani%ulate %heno&ena. You do not look any&ore at facts, like studying
history for e(a&%le, but you &ust look at the %rocesses. This is &ighty interesting. There are
#ery nice and interesting %rocesses going on.
?or e(a&%le: there is the current %rocess of the dollar losing #alue against the euro. +o you
think this is only a coincidenceH There are %eo%le in the $nited States who influence the dollar.
They %lay with the balance of %ay&ents. The International 5onetary ?und %lays an ugly role
in this %rocess too, and the ?ederal Aeser#e 9ank is the &ain cul%rit L they &ani%ulate the
in#estors and the &oney flows L with the result that the #alue of the dollar declines. You can
also see that nobody interferes. 6uro%e is now on its hind legs, saying: ,'e cannot tolerate
thisJ. 'hat can we e(%ect if we do not interfereH You do not ha#e to be a genius to know what
will ha%%en. A&erica funds the costs of its econo&y with our &oney. )ow is this %ossibleH Ff
course, the A&erican %roducts are so interesting that we cannot but buy the&J They are already
21Q chea%er than one and a half:two years agoJ /an you i&agine thisH There are +ell
co&%uters e#erywhere these days, and there is no defense against it at this &o&ent. It will
ha%%en: we will be taken o#er by the A&ericans. They co&&it robbery on the world econo&y.
24C
It is that si&%le. Purely theftJ This has nothing to do with honesty any&oreJ 'hat I a& telling
you &ay sound fantastic, but the econo&ic s%ecialists, like Aienk Ea&er, ha#e foreseen this.
They are warning us for this. )ow do they do thatH 'ell, si&%ly by looking at the %rocesses.
The 2 Parina&as in the %rocesses: what is brewing at this &o&entH 'hat is growingH
In the sa&e #ein we can obser#e that a #ery clear Sa&adhi Parina&a is occurring in /hina.
They are heading straight for a ca%italistic econo&y. They ha#e already a nu&ber of laws, for
e(a&%le concerning the right of ownershi%, which is now allowed. They are strea&lining &ore
and &ore towards ca%italis&. /an you i&agineH 'ithout any resistanceG a change here and
thereG ho%JG /hina is beco&ing the &ost i&%ortant country in the world within 1 years.
You can see that because at this &o&ent a Sa&adhi Parina&a is occurring, which will
gradually shift into an 6kagrata Parina&a. They will go through a %rocess of ongoing
econo&ic de#elo%&ent, thanks to ca%italis&. It is also easy to foresee that a <irodha Parina&a
will occur once they are the &ost %owerful in the world. 1 years. I would say: you better start
learning /hinese now. The Yogi will say: ,Fkay, this is the situationG nice, niceG lets start
a little school where %eo%le can learn /hinese languageG we can &ake so&e &oney out of
itG. I ha#e already recei#ed an in#itation fro& /hina to teach Yoga there in a school that is
currently being established.
+o you understand what is written here with these e(a&%lesH
All the %rocesses in the world co&%ly with these 2 transfor&ations. All you ha#e to do is
watch.
)olland at the &o&ent of writing is in a Sa&adhi Parina&a3%rocess, leading towards a new
integration %olicy. Peo%le beco&e &ore and &ore interested in the *uestion: how in Nods
na&e do we integrate a &ulticultural societyH 'e ha#e already seen that certain things are
si&%ly not %ossible. ?or e(a&%le, the @aw on ?reedo& of 6(%ression is not in line with a
&ulticultural society, for it is too o%en and too liberal. 'e need an alternati#e in which %eo%le
realiIe that they are free to e(%ress their o%inions, while res%ecting other %eo%les feelings at
the sa&e ti&e. Such a law does not e(ist yet, but %eo%le beco&e &ore and &ore aware of the
need for it. And that is so&ething that you can see growing. At a certain %oint it will lead to
this conclusion, and then the law will be changed.
'hat is the relationshi% with Sa&adhi and 6kagrata Parina&aH
6kagrata Parina&a &eans: you ha#e a new law based u%on the freedo& of e(%ression, with the
inclusion that you res%ect others, and you let this law fully %enetrate into society. 6#erybody
has to ada%t to this new law. 'e will not go towards that new situation againM we already are
in that new situation, which continues.
'hat about <irodha Parina&aH
<irodha Parina&a &eans: a correction that could occur as a result of it.
9ut what does Sa&adhi &ean in the sense of Parina&aH
247
The Sanskrit word used for conte&%lation, but then in the literal &eaning of the word, &eans:
Sa& K joint:bundled, and +hi K consciousness. So consciousness is concentrated:joint. To
#isualiIe this you can think about a funnel. You try to focus. And 6kagrata &eans that you are
focused. 'hen you remain focused there is a constant awareness in you that understands the
object again, in order to hold it. Your consciousness works with i&%ulses.
/an you see that e#erything in life is a %rocessH
'hen you see a child, you can see what kind of life it will ha#e, si&%ly by studying:obser#ing
the child, in relation to its %rofession, its fa&ily, and e#erything. All you ha#e to do is to look
at that %erson. You do not look at the ,%icture. of that %erson, but at his functioning. After
obser#ing the child for a while, you will say: ,You will ha#e a big fa&ily:s&all fa&ily, and
you will do this kind of workG. This is the fortuneteller. You can o%en your own stall at the
baIaar, sit down on a chair and obser#e %eo%le. 9ut you do not obser#e as usual, but based
u%on the %rocesses.
Is this based u%on gross &atterH
You can also do it based u%on subtle &atter. And as you co&e closer to the origin:work &ore
subtly in this, your reach beco&es bigger. ?ollowing this a%%roach it is e#en %ossible to see
%re#ious li#es. Fr future li#es, for that &atter, because e#erything is in line with each other. It
is all energy in %rogress: energy that contracts =Sa&adhi Parina&a>, energy that re&ains
uni#ocal =6kagrata Parina&a>, or energy that undergoes a change of direction =<irodha
Parina&a>.
It see&s difficult to a%%ly this to &yself G
It is not so difficult to a%%ly this to yourself. 'hat is difficult is to deter&ine your own date of
death.
9ut that is so&ething we do not want to know.
Yes. That is e(actly the %oint: there is so&ething in our ego L Aha&kara L that kee%s us fro&
obtaining that s%ecific knowledge.
It is also #ery difficult to look at your own beha#ior.
That is true for nor&al %eo%le, but when you understand and also a%%ly surrender L being able
to lay down your ego L it is %ossible. )owe#er, the ego i&&ediately %o%s u% when it concerns
your own death.
I also &ean other &atters G like looking ahead of yourself, or looking back of yourself.
24!
That is indeed the case, but at the &o&ent that you lose interest in your self, you can see your
own life. 9ut as long as you are focused u%on your ego you will not be able to see anything
fro& your self.
If you ha#e no interest in your self, how is it %ossible to o%en u% yourselfH
See if you are able to rationaliIe yourself. A #ery good e(ercise in this res%ect is to laugh at
your self.
9ut that is so&ething else than ha#ing no interestG
It is different fro& not ha#ing interest, but what we are talking about is the e(aggerated interest
%eo%le ha#e, usually in the&sel#es.
AationaliIe yourself, and then you will be able to obser#e, and you will really see. It is #ery
i&%ortant. And this is what your first Sa&ya&a is about: you build radar in you, to feel what
will ha%%en, and you can a%%ly it to friend and foe. Then, de%ending on the obser#ation of the
%rocesses, you decide what you will do:&ake decisions. +ecisions are always relati#e,
de%ending on what is taking %lace in your en#iron&ent, in the field in which you function.
This is actually the sa&e as the si(th sense.
Yes, it is what %eo%le call the si(th sense. )owe#er, it is not the si(th sense. It is the
connection between the 2 worlds, through which you rise abo#e nor&al thought so that you
!no$ things, e#en be#ore they ha%%en, but you also obtain insight in &atters of the %ast. It is
the de#elo%&ent of %re3senti&ent, #ision and understanding, also towards the %ast. And when
you understand the %ast, you can also understand the future through this &ethod.
All the functions work well in this e(ercise, not only the senses. )ere the 2 worlds are one.
Ae&arkable is that i&%al%able things, like the story about /hina, are reality for &e. I can
already feel their breathing in &y neck G <othing has ha%%ened so far, but it is already a
certainty. This is the result of Sa&ya&a. Interesting is that, when you are able to do this, you
are able to antici%ate on forehand situations that you feel for, whether you agree with it or not.
And in this way you can deter&ine your own life, long before things ha%%en you are already
%re%ared. This is called ,%re3#isional &anage&ent. in the cor%orate world, a new a%%roach
towards &anage&ent the +utch ha#e hardly heard of.
'ith this Sa&ya&a you li#e in eternity. Your eyes are e#erywhere, and you o#ersee the
%rocesses. And although you are see&ingly not acting at the &o&ent, the obser#ation of
e#erything L in the %ast and the future L will &ake you act %ro%erly at the right ti&e. It can
ha%%en that so&ebody ne(t to you re&arks: ,Nosh, you are not doing a thingJ All day you are
doing nothingJ )ow do you earn your &oneyHJ. If you are able to do this, 71Q of the ti&e is
#acation ti&e for you. And the idiots that wear the&sel#es out, and who do not see &uch
farther than the ti%s of their noses si&%ly ha#e bad luck. There is no other way for the& than to
work hard. ?or when you are not cle#er, you &ust work hard. This is an established fact.
2C1
Insight in this %rocess offers you the %ossibility to be there at the right &o&ent and with the
right transfor&ations.
'erent we on our way to 6nlighten&entH 9ut now we see& to be co&%letely in#ol#ed with
&atter: radar, feeling and so on. 'hen you engage yourself in this way, what will your life
here on earth be likeH 'hat will you feelH You will see through e#erythingJ Isnt that
interestingH <o, of course not. It is all so ob#ious. You see through e#erything, before it
ha%%ensJ
Then what is interesting about all thisH It is the feeling of eternity that is interesting, and the
%resence of energy, the connection of &atter with the s%irit that you induce in this way. You
#eel that the di#ine beco&es connected within the &atter. You feel that the &atter deifies. That
is Sa&ya&a. You continue to %ractice Sa&ya&a:you continue to %ractice that obser#ation
techni*ue, because it &akes you stronger. You do not do it for &aterial reasons any&ore, but
for the sense of di#inity that lies within it. That is what it is about in the %ractice of Sa&ya&a.
That is the goal of Sa&ya&a. And that is what brings you to 6nlighten&ent.
So you feel the %resence of the +i#ine all around youH
Yes. You see the changes in the energy strea&s. You see all the %seudo3Yoga schools waste
away. And then you say: ,Fh, how interesting, they were &y teachersJ I used to fight those
%seudo3characters, but in fact they hel%ed &e to raise the *uality of &y own school. They, too,
are %art of the +i#ine %rocess, and I a& ha%%y about that. I a& curious what is going to ha%%en
ne(t.. Alleged ene&ies beco&e teachers with #ision. Proble&s beco&e o%%ortunities.
6#erything leads so&ewhere, and you can choose whether, and if so, what you want to do in
the %rocess.
Practically you a%%roach this as follows: There are 2 ele&ents in Sa&ya&a: the %resence of a
lo#ed %erson =<irbija Sa&adhi>, +hyana on the +i#ine, and the concentration, +harana on this.
So, you look for an object so&ewhere in the &atter that raises *uestions for you, and in which
there is the %ossibility for you to trace those Parina&as. Your %owers of %erce%tion are
heightened to the &a(i&u& because of the first two %oints of the triangle. Then you focus your
concentration u%on the transfor&ations. This will highlight the transfor&ations to a &uch
shar%er and &ore intense le#el than you ha#e e#er e(%erienced before, because the +i#ine and
all the other ele&ents are in#ol#ed. The *uality and the *uantity are so large that you
e(%erience clarity. Then you will see /hina taking o#er the entire world.
)ow do you achie#e thisH
Bust the way I a& telling you: the %resence of a lo#ed %erson, the +i#ine energy L &editation L
and then for e(a&%le you focus u%on this whole %rocess of growth of the /hinese econo&y, as
a &atter of Parina&as. Then you deter&ine: ,'hat kind of Parina&a is thisH. and you
conclude: ,They are ob#iously engaged with a Sa&adhi Parina&a.. And indeed they beco&e
&ore and &ore ca%italistic. 'ait a &inuteM they are shifting towards an 6kagrata Parina&a, a
focus3situation. 'hen they are in a long3ter& focus3situation, I can see it ha%%ening: then there
is the o%%ortunity for the& to do a <irodha Parina&a. And that &eans that they will take o#er
2C
the world econo&y. And that &eans taking o#er world hege&ony. Suddenly light a%%ears and
you understand what will ha%%en. That is this.
This is only Sa&ya&a, but you said that there are 21 of the&.
+o not worryM I will e(%lain the other 0!, but not this ti&e. I a& only trying to e(%lain this one
%ro%erly. And in the %rocess you are of course e(%ected to tell us such a story yourself.
Dery interesting is the fact that at a certain %oint you do not ha#e to %erfor& such Sa&ya&as
any&ore. You will e(%erience the& in your daily life, while functioning as you usually do. It is
the way you will start functioning: you will connect things, and suddenly you look at
so&ebody and say: ,Nosh, he will not li#e &uch longer.. I saw this with &y &other3in3law.
5y &other is a #ery sy&%athetic %erson, e#en though she acts #ery nastily towards &e. 9ut I
forgi#e her for that. She caught @egionella %neu&o%hila. She beca&e infected and she
withered away. I saw it ha%%ening e#en before doctors beca&e in#ol#ed. I treated her
i&&ediately L <irodha Parina&a. And now she is still nagging e#eryone. In hindsight I a& not
so sure I did the right thingG but this is the o%%ortunity that you are gi#en.
So&eti&es you directly see that so&ebody in the street or the su%er&arket is se#erely sick.
You can es%ecially see it when you ha#e se#eral registrations, for e(a&%le when you saw
so&eone one &onth ago, then one week ago, and then today. It gi#es you the o%%ortunity to
see the %rogression, and you %rocess that: you see a %rocess within those 2 registrations. The
obser#ation of a %rocess is crucial.
So it is not only about the registration of the fact so&ebody is ill, but also how fast it de#elo%s
or how it de#elo%sH
Yes. ?or e(a&%le: ?or years I obser#ed &y alcohol addicted brother3in3law, always with the
idea in the back of &y head: ,what can we do about thisH. 5y wife always said: ,'e should
si&%ly deal with the %roble&, because we cannot allow this to be.. 9ut based u%on &y
obser#ation L for I saw an 6kagrata Parina&a with hi& =he was stuck in his addiction> L I told
her: ,You &ust lea#e it alone, and then try to influence it in a #ery gentle way, fro& the
outside., so, not with shocks, but by har&oniIing his en#iron&ent as &uch as %ossible, being
#ery tolerant towards hi&, and affectionate. At a certain &o&ent it wears off, and a &iracle
took %lace. )is house was like a slu&, but the %ast cou%le of weeks he started
reno#ating:redecorating his entire house. Together with his sisters he goes u% and down to Ikea
to buy all kinds of furniture and other things. ?or years he had not done anything to &aintain
his house. It was totally neglected. And suddenly the &iracle ha%%enedJ
So you see the %rocess, and you say: ,this is what has to be done G &ake the en#iron&ent as
har&onious as %ossible G in order to &ake hi& feel good G and then suggest hi&G hand hi&
so&e suggestions G but no %ressure allowed.. And then suddenly he is ready, and a <irodha
Parina&a can occur. <ow this guy is starting a new life. )ad we a%%roached hi& in a #iolent
way, and sent hi& to a clinic, with all kinds of thera%ies and so on, he would ha#e been
2C0
destroyed co&%letely. )e would ha#e reacted against it in re#olt, and he would ne#er ha#e
found his balance.
Sa&ya&a nu&ber is of funda&ental i&%ortance. At a certain %oint you get a feel for it, in
your association with %eo%le:situations:co&%anies:%roducts. Then you feel: this will be
successful, and this will fail.
I know when I see a bottle of wine: when I o%en this bottle, I ha#e to finish it directly, for if I
dont it will turn, and it will beco&e bad as a result. I si&%ly #eel that. And indeed, you return
to that bottle, and you can throw away the rest. 9ut now I a& talking about Yogi3drinkingJ
It ha%%ened one day: I bought a bottle of wine as a gift for a %rofessor in %hiloso%hy, who& I
#isited in A&sterda&. 'e talked about Yoga and %hiloso%hy. 'hen I bought the bottle, I
!ne$: ,Fh, oh G this wine is not good G. 9ut I had to buy it anyway. So I bought a bottle
filled with bad wine, and it was an e(%ensi#e wine too. In hindsight, when I returned fro& &y
#isit, I !ne$ why I had to do this, for this guy was a real %ain in the ass. So&ething I did not
know before I #isited hi& G
There are &any things the &ind cannot e(%lain. Therefore you &ust do things that rise abo#e
yourself. And then you follow, si&%ly following your feeling. So&ewhere there is this
obser#er in you, that says: ,G this G thatG., and so it all beco&es a ga&e.
1! Sabdartha Prat+a+anam Itaretaradh+asat Sams/aras 'at Pra)ibhaga
Sam+amat Sar)a 4huta Ruta Jnanam
The sound, the &eaning =behind it> and the idea =which is %resent in the &ind at
the ti&e> are %resent together in a confused state. 9y %erfor&ing Samyama =on
the sound> they are resol#ed and there arises co&%rehension of the &eaning of
sounds uttered by any li#ing being.
Sabda L sound.
Artha L essence.
Bnana L knowledge.
In one of the %re#ious Sutras you were to learn to distinguish these 2 within any
Drtti:thought:object.
Sabda is actually the obser#ation of the gross real& =gross body:gross functions>. This
enco&%asses not only the obser#ation of sound, but also of air, fire, water and earth.
Artha is the obser#ation of the causal real&.
Bnana is the obser#ation of the subtle real&.
Those are the 2 worlds and we called this the %rocess of distillation: you try to find the essence
within anything. 'hen you listen to a %ersons #oice, this %erson can %ronounce #ery strange
2C2
words, but you can #eel what he really &eans. The &eaning is behind the words. That is Artha,
while the words are in fact Sabda, and the reasoning, albeit &aybe confused, is Bnana.
At the ti&e you were told to obser#e Artha as &uch as %ossible in other %eo%le, and not to
focus too &uch on other things, for e#erything re#ol#es around the essence, the feeling that lies
at its basis. You could say, the %ersons intended %ur%ose.
Then you react to what lies within the core, and not to what lies at the surface. This &ay u%set
%eo%le a little bit, for they know that you see the& through. This is the &ethod to function. In
this Sutra you do not only a%%ly this to %eo%le, but also to other beings, for e(a&%le to ani&als.
And then you will indeed be able to co&&unicate with those other beings: fish, birds,
&a&&als, and so on.
You can co&&unicate with your %et, with your cat for e(a&%le. Bust obser#e your cat. )e is
looking at you and so on: body language, which you can %ercei#e as Sabda. Softly &iaowing
and %laying L Sabda.
It is also %ossible to follow the thoughts of this cat, behind which is Artha. You can feel that
the cat is %leased to see you, the sa&e way you can feel when she is angry, when you find her
on your chair, and grab her to &o#e her to another chair. Take this into consideration, and
s%eak in function of what you ha#e felt. As a result you will notice that co&&unication
occurs:that a reaction is %ro#oked. She will be #ery sur%rised that she has been understood L
especially the first ti&e when you do this. You always try to feel: ,what is in the coreH. To do
this it can hel% to si&%ly guess: ,what could she %robably be telling &eH. And you e(%eri&ent.
If there is no click, you got it wrong. Then you say to yourself: well, she is thinking thisG or
thatG And at the &o&ent that you got it right, there will be a click.
?or e(a&%le: once I saw a little ele%hant in &y drea&. ?irst I asked: ,Are you ErishnaH. 'hat
I did was guessing, but there was no click, so I asked: ,Are you NaneshaH. After which I felt a
click, and with the click ca&e the energy and a nu&ber of e#ents ensued. It is also %ossible to
just think, as long as there is a click. So, look for the clicks, and base your learning %rocess
u%on those clicks. In this way you will gradually learn to talk with ani&als.
+oes this &ean that you will beco&e a whis%erer, like a horse3whis%ererH
Yes.
This is the %ro%er way to deal with ani&als. The fact that other %eo%le do not know this is their
%roble&, but this is the correct way. This is how it was done in the %ast, and it can also be done
like this in the %resent, and in the future as well. Actually it is #ery si&%le: do not &ind the
surface, but see what is behind it. The interesting thing of Yoga is that you ha#e the %ossibility
to do this, thanks to Sa&ya&a. You ha#e been reinforced in your %erce%tion: you are
connected to the %resence of a lo#ed %erson, and di#ine energy is flowing in, and as a result
your %erce%tion is &a(i&al, after which you look for the core:essence. In this way you cannot
but succeed.
2C8
In the beginning it is indeed a little bit &uddled: ,'hat does he actually &eanH. So&eti&es I
talk with a fly or a beeJ Dery a&using. To co&&unicate with a bee is *uite easy. 'hen I a&
&aking a walk, and there is a %eacock sitting on a %ole L he remains where he isJ ?or as soon
as you a%%roach the& in this way, they are #ery sur%rised. They stand still and think: ,)ey,
what is thisH. I find this &ost interesting.
Fnce I had a girlfriend in the Ardennes, a gooseJ 6ach ti&e when I walked by, she would co&e
fro& the &eadow towards the road, loudly calling. And she continued to call fro& behind the
fence. ,6asy, easy, &y dear., I said, ,tell &e again G.
'ith horses it is the sa&e, and they are so great. They too would co&e running to &e
whene#er I was %assing by. In this way you can &ake a lot of friends, and you will be
astonished by the friendliness of ani&als. They find it so great that finally a human has so&e
attention for the&M that finally so&ebody wants to tal! with the&J
This is not as difficult as it &ay see&. Fn the contraryJ
So, now we ha#e o%ened the way to a lot of new disco#eries. A striking e(a&%le of all this is
that of the holy ?rancisco =of Assisi>, who was indeed able to talk with ani&als. )e was in
contact with Fur +ear @ord, but he s%oke to ani&als as $ell. In fact the two are related. )ow
can this be relatedH 'ell, the circulation in a saint enables his %erce%tion %owers to be
&a(i&al, and it enables hi& to see through &atters:see the core. In this way you often find a
righteous hu&an, so&eone who is able to ad&inister justice.
'hat is the use of this in your search for 6nlighten&entH Is it to just ha#e a nice chat with
e#erything and e#erybodyH <o, of course not: it is to teach you to stay with the core, and not to
be the sla#e any&ore of Sabda or Bnana. 6#erything re#ol#es around Artha.
Fften when I ha#e so&ething i&%ortant to do, before I start, I recite the 5antra ,Artha 5atra.
within &e. This 5antra reflects the connection of the essence with the &atter, which in fact
&eans to control the &atter by touching u%on the essence of it. If you can do this, it will always
be successful, whate#er you do. 'hether you gi#e a lecture, or a difficult %resentation in a
co&%any, or whate#er: ,Artha 5atra.. Stay with the core: ,'hat is this aboutH. 'hen you ask
yourself this *uestion, you obser#e the %eo%le around you, and as a result you #eel where they
are co&ing fro&. You will be able to i&&ediately take u% on what they, in essence, are
reflecting. The transfer of knowledge beco&es #antastic at that &o&ent. That is what
teaching:&anaging is all about.
Although this Sutra is about ani&als and birds, it a%%lies in fact to all beings. Interestingly
enough, you can de#elo% this in this way, but then you a%%ly this to all le#els. In this way you
will obtain a sort of %ower of synthesis, which is in fact insight, a #abulous %ower.
<ot long ago I saw a ?rench s%y on TD who was fro& Isla&ic descent. )e was s%ecialiIed in
es%ionage a&ong Isla&ite %eo%le:Isla&ite countries, working for the ?rench ar&y. )e talked
about the &urder of Theo #an Nogh =+utch fil& director> and the Isla&ic terrorist3situations.
)is argu&ent was #ery concise: he really saw through the essence of the &atter. ,Those
2C"
%eo%les intentions., he said, ,is not to kill so&eone, but to se#erely disru%t society by killing
so&ebody here and there, %ro#oking a sort of u%rising, %itting %eo%le:different religions
against each other, causing chaos all o#er. And within this ensuing chaos the Fsa&a bin
@aden3characters in this world will take their chances. 'hen the countries in#ol#ed are
weakened:in total tur&oil, they can take o#er %ower. It is a ga&e for %ower.. )e e(%ressed it
in words so &agnificently. All they want is to destroy our way of li#ing. That is what this is
about. It is not about the &urder of one single %erson.
It was &uch &ore interesting co&%ared to what you usually see on TD: ,e&otional this,
e&otional that, and it is an outrage, and it should not be allowedG we &ust go out in the
streets and %rotestG enough is enoughG. This is not what this is about. This is about the
ability to ,get to the %oint.. That is the e(ercise here: you look at so&eone and you ask
yourself: ,'hat is it that he is really telling usH. ,:here is he co&ing fro&H. ,'hat is really
his %roble&H. ?or once ask yourself this *uestion while talking with so&eone. As a result the
co&&unication will be totally different.
Fnce you understand the trick and you follow the instructions, you will *uickly get it rightJ
You will see through e#erything at once. Peo%le cannot fool you any&ore, and you will be able
to see whether certain %eo%le are totally %ur%oseless:confused, but at the sa&e ti&e surround
the&sel#es with nice talk. So you will feel: ,I should certainly not follow this %erson.. Fther
%eo%le will say: ,Yes, but what he is saying really sounds #ery nice.. Ff course, the reasoning
behind his argu&ent can be nice, but you feel and say: ,)ey, there is nothing, nothing at allG.
There is also the %ossibility of ha#ing bad intentions. In 6nglish this is called ,ha#ing a hidden
agenda., &eaning that so&eone has #ery different intentions than he is actually showing. That
is what it is all about in this e(ercise.
'hen you work in di%lo&acy, and deal with #ery i&%ortant %eo%le on state le#el, and you are
able to do this, then you %ossess an enormous %ower. $sually heads of state need a secret
ser#ice and a lot of officials to be able to deci%her what others e(actly want to say and how
they really &ean it, to co&e to a conclusion about what it could be about.
?or&er Aussian %resident Norbache# was one of those %eo%le who were skillful at this. )e
sensed: ,This is what it is about.. )e saw straight through e#erything. /an you do this, can you
see straight through e#erythingH Probably not yet, but once you start to think of it, and you say:
,)ey, this is not so bad at allG all the ti&e I a& wasting with all those futilitiesG lets just go
straight to the core.. And indeed you will safe yourself a lot of ti&e. 5eetingsH They talk a lot
of rubbish, so you si&%ly ask the *uestion: ,'hat is it actually that you are ai&ing forH 'hat
are you sayingH. And what about all these long re%ortsH You can say: ,)alf A83siIe L &ake
&e a su&&ary.. This i&%lies that you can teach other %eo%le to function in this way as $ell.
In this way you will notice that your words beco&e sacred. 'hene#er you &ake a state&ent, it
will ha#e $eight. ?or you do not o%en your &outh any&ore to utter futilities. 'hen you say
so&ething, it directly touches u%on the core of things, and as a result it has i&%act. ?ro& that
&o&ent on %eo%le will start listening to you, because whene#er you o%en your &outh to say
so&ething, it is indeed to say something, and not, as is &ostly the case, to talk a lot of rubbish.
2C4
@ong ti&e ago we started out on this issue when we learned about truthfulness. <ow we co&e
to so&e kind of ,su%er3truthfulness.: Artha, which is the %erce%tion of the Sa&skaras:the
sensing of the Sa&skaras in the other. It is intuiti#e sensing. )owe#er, you a%%ly this to
yourself as well, for often you are suffering fro& chatter, and therefore it is %erfectly sensible
to ask yourself the *uestion too: ,'hat is it that I really stand forH. It is #ery i&%ortant that
you find back your own %ath. ,'here is &y +har&a nowH 'hat do I ha#e to do hereH. @ook
for the core. You can say: ,Yes, but I already found &y %ath., but you &ust realiIe that it is so
easy to go astray fro& your %ath againJ This is a #ery good e(ercise to re%eat once in a while to
ensure yourself that you are still following the right track. As a result you will ha#e a sense of
solidity.
Arent you su%%osed to shield yourself fro& other %eo%le when you recei#e all those signals
fro& the&H
<o, you do not shield yourself fro& anything in Yoga. 'hen you shield yourself, you block
out all the signals.
So you recei#e all the signals but you do not react u%on the&H
That is e(actly what you doM you do not nourish the&. )owe#er, you shield yourself fro&
the&, because if you do so, you se%arate yourself. 'hen this ha%%ens, you abolish the energy
circulation, and with it you abolish the %ower su%%ly, and you will be destroyed as a result.
5! Sams/ara Sa/shat/aranat Pur)a Jatijnanam
9y direct %erce%tions of the i&%ressions a knowledge of the %re#ious birth.
You were already looking at the Sa&skaras. <ow you go further and you start looking at the
Sa&skaras that are related to a dOjP #u3e(%erience. +id you e#er e(%erience that you arri#e in a
certain %art of a country, or &aybe that you &eet %eo%le, and that you say: ,)eyJ I know youJ I
know this %laceJ. At the &o&ent that this ha%%ens it would be #ery interesting to relate this
feeling L the click that occurs in you L to a Sa&skara. If there is one Sa&skara, there &ay be
&ulti%le Sa&skaras. The chance arises here to re&e&ber an entire %re#ious life at the &o&ent
that this ha%%ens. This %articular Sa&skara has certain %ro%erties that can often be found back
in others, that on their turn carry %ro%erties that relate to e#en other %eo%le. Soon so&e tale will
be for&ed out of this, and it is the &ost trau&atic anecdotes of %re#ious li#es that you will be
able to recall. I did not do it in this way, though, for it ca&e to &e in drea&s. )owe#er,
afterwards I checked: ,)ow is this possibleH :hy do I ha#e thisH. I a& e(%laining now that
you can trace it back by scanning:searching. Take the e(a&%le of countries: you take an atlas
and you see which country a%%eals to you. So&eti&es you &ay go there on a #acation, which
will &ake you feel attracted. Then you go on and study:look at the country a little bit closer.
Then you #iew %ictures and so on, until you e(%erience such a click:recognition again.
2CC
This ha%%ened to &e with )olland. I studied +utch and read +utch books for 1 years before I
knew that I would co&e to )olland.
Nosh, how terrible for you G =he he he G>. +id you notice the terrible weather in this
countryH 'ouldnt it ha#e been wiser to choose another country than )ollandH The weather in
South Africa is a&ong the nicest weather in the worldJ You &ust ha#e been out of your &ind
when you chose to co&e to )olland.
'hene#er I a& in Southern ?rance, in the region of the /athars and the @anguedoc, I feel
co&%letely at ho&e. At that &o&ent I ha#e the feeling: ,This is my country.. It is %ersonal and
related to your ego. This is #ery ty%ical for a Sa&skara fro& a %re#ious life: you really feel at
ho&e.
'hen you look carefully at the %eo%le around you, you will e(%erience this &ore often than
you can fatho&. ?or the kar&ic %atterns that we all %ossess ensure that we will be brought
together again. This &eans that we are reborn, but in an en#iron&ent that is si&ilar in a kar&ic
res%ect to what we ha#e e(%erienced in our %re#ious life. This a%%lies to the %eo%le in#ol#ed
too. 5y %re#ious life was in ancient Nreece, but I was born in Africa, raised in 9elgiu& and
now I a& li#ing in )ollandJ It is si&%ly the road that I ha#e to walk. It is #ery interesting to
look back in this way and to recogniIe your roots.
There is only one thing that is really annoying &e: I re&e&ber a lot fro& %re#ious li#es, but I
cannot see& to re&e&ber where I hid that huge treasureJ =he he he G> I %ossessed such an
enor&ous treasure. I was the richest &an in the world. I had con*uered it. So I hid it
so&ewhere, but I do not re&e&ber where. Bust imagine that I would find it againJ
This does not see& to be a trau&atic e(%erience.
<o, but I was du&b enough to %ay attention at that ti&e.
9ut you obtained your treasure in a dishonest way.
<o, not at all, I only destroyed hundreds thousand of %eo%le, thats all. I fought honestly.
)owe#er, this was only a sidetrack. 'hat is the %ur%ose of this Sa&ya&a:e(erciseH Is the
%ur%ose that you realiIe that you had 2,8,",4,1 li#es before this lifeH Is the %ur%ose that you
re&e&ber all the details of all those li#esH If you think so, I %ity you. All the %roble&s of all
those li#es, they really o#erwhel& you, to such an e(tent that you cannot li#e your life
reasonably any&oreJ Is that the %ur%ose of thisH
There is an interesting incidental circu&stance here: that you start taking into account the
conclusions that you &ade in those #arious li#es. ,onsciously. I learned in &y %re#ious life
that %ride was &y biggest %roble&. I use this infor&ation in &y %resent life: I try to be as
&odest as %ossible. I still ha#e tendencies to go astray L drea&ing of a 5ercedes 9enI and so
on L but then I back down: ,'ait a &inute, do not fall for this again, for if that ha%%ens I ha#e
to co&e back for certain.. Then I try to learn how to beha#e %ro%erly, $ithout %ride.
2C7
/ertainly, this is #ery useful, but the core, what is it really about in this Sa&ya&aH
It hel%s to gain insight and to understand &atters &ore fully.
In the %re#ious e(ercise you learned how to function at the le#el of the Sa&skaras:to co&e to
the core. In this e(ercise you learn to stay with the core:to stay with the Sa&skara itsel#. You
do not learn to go there, but to stay there, because you see:read e#erything, in e#erybody, by
scanning their Ear&a, instead of their thoughts, because you are not interested in that any&ore.
,'hat is the %otency of this %ersonH 'hat is the essenceH 'hat co&es out of it, is another
&atter, but what is the contentH.
+uring the e(ercise, you &ust learn to trust those clicks:recognitions, that that beco&es the
&ost i&%ortant ele&ent in your way of functioning. That you not only are able to go to the core
#ery *uickly when you are talking with so&ebody, but that you can go #arther than that, and
that you can co&%letely see through this %erson. You are already at the le#el of the Sa&skaras,
so, why not read the rest of the Sa&skaras as wellH Then you will say: ,<ice guy G co&es
down to nothing G but still he is a nice guy G lets just take his #illains face for granted G
and for the rest it is a fantastic guy.. This &eans that you are obtaining insight into hu&an
nature.
You could also %robably look back, but that is only a &eans to kee% you with the Sa&skaras.
To try to gain insight in your %re#ious li#es is a trick L you use your ego =which ca%tures
anybodys interest> L to gain solidity:to learn to work with those clicks. You start with your
clicks, to later go on to the clicks that you e(%erience with anything and anybody. It is easy to
ha#e one such an e(%erience L e#erybody e(%eriences this L but nobody realiIes the
i&%ortance of such a &o&ent of clicking. That is what this e(ercise is about. This is so
funda&entally i&%ortant for your further de#elo%&ent. It is at this %oint that you can achie#e
#ictory, and that you can settle yourself with your consciousness at a higher le#el. And once
you relate this to the worlds:real&s, you gain rationaliIation between the 2 worlds, and so
&uch e(%erience at a certain %oint that you can say: ,I ha#e seen it all. I see through all these 2
worlds. It does not attract &y interest any&ore. All that interests &e now is beyond the 2
worlds.. 'hen you reach this %oint you ha#e succeeded. Then you will go towards
6nlighten&ent.
The +alai @a&a wrote in one of his biogra%hies that at a certain &o&ent in his life he
re&e&bered a lot of li#es, and that he was ha%%y to ha#e finished with that now, that it was
only a burden to hi&. ?or Tibetans =the @a&as> this is only *uite nor&al.
+id you watch the &o#ie ,@ittle 9uddha.H They are looking for the reincarnation of a @a&a,
and they end u% with a little boy in A&erica. Dery interesting. This is in total accordance with
this Sutra.
In conclusion I would like to highlight the &ost i&%ortant &essage of this Sutra: 9y %racticing
Sa&ya&a u%on the i&%ressions of a %re#ious birth you burn that Ear&a G
2C!
6! Prat+a+as+a Para Citta Jnanam
=9y direct %erce%tion through Samyama> of the i&age occu%ying the &ind,
knowledge of the &ind of others.
It is self3e#ident that when you are engaged in these kinds of ga&es, you soon see
through what is going on in so&eone else. 'hen you co&e to the %oint that you
are able to function at the le#el of the Sa&skaras, it a%%ears that e#ery hu&an
being is an o%en book to you.
)owe#er, there is a li&itation:
"7! %a Ca 'at Sa.ambanam 'as+a)isha+i 4hutat)at
9ut not also of other &ental factors which su%%ort the &ental i&age for that is
not the object =of Samyama>.
The addition of ,=of Samyama>. can be erased, because this is about ,the object of %erce%tion.,
and not about Sa&ya&a.
'hat this &eans is that you can read certain facts in the consciousness of the other, but you
cannot see what caused the&M you cannot see the logic behind those facts. This is so&ething
you ha#e to %ay close attention too, for it is so easy to &ake &istakes. You &ight for e(a&%le
read ,&urder. in so&eone elses consciousness, and you translate that infor&ation as: ,This
guy wants to co&&it &urder.. )owe#er, in reality this guy is dealing with a trau&a that he
sustained as a result of the &urder of another %erson that he is trying to co%e with. So, there is
*uite a difference. This Sutra is telling us that you #iew the consciousness of a hu&an and you
see certain facts, but pay attention: what you can see is only the surfaceJ
The solution to this &atter is si&%ly: kee% #iewing:kee% watching, and use the different
i&%ressions to create so&e align&ent. The %oint is that this for& of %erce%tion L e#en $ith
Sa&ya&a, as is indicated in this Sutra L does ha#e certain li&itations.
Should you interfere in those Sa&skarasH
+o not interfere, instead si&%ly read the infor&ation. It is not like hy%nosis, in which %eo%le
are brought under control:&entally ra%ed. All you do is watch, and only that.
This is #ery interesting L a Sutra that indicates, in s%ite of all those &iraculous things we are
dealing with L that it is not all so &iraculous:that it is li&ited. 'hat really &akes this #aluable
is the fact that there is logic in it. As a result all the other clai&s beco&e e#en &ore %lausible.
271
This is how I looked at it in the beginning, but now it has si&%ly beco&e %art of life, and I got
used to a%%lying it, for it is only nor&al.
It is %ossible that you are #ery highly de#elo%ed, and still there are things that you cannot do.
5y wife once in while tells &e: ,I thought you could do anything:ha#e an answer to
e#erything, why not nowJH. Too bad, but it is not because you are #ery good at certain things
that you can do e1erything. That is so&ething for later. There is a Sutra that deals with this that
says: ,Fnly when you ha#e arri#ed at the le#el of total soul3consciousness, will you really
know e1erything..
"! -a+a Rupa Sam+amat 'ad Grah+a Sa/ti Stambhe Ca/shuh
Pra/asasampra+oge 9%tardhanam
9y %erfor&ing Samyama on 9upa =one of the fi#e Tanmatras>, on sus%ension of
the rece%ti#e %ower, the contact between the eye =of the obser#er> and light =fro&
the body> is broken and the body beco&es in#isible.
,Au%a. &eans ,for&.. It is actually the %erce%tion of for&s and colors, i.e. the fire, as a result
of your eyesight.
So, you can beco&e in#isible. )a#e you e#er seen the TD3series called ,The In#isible 5an.H It
was on TD long ti&e ago. That is what this Sutra is about. I always laughed at this Sutra, not
taking it seriously, not being able to fatho& the &eaning of it L until I got into a con#ersation
with dr. Pukh Aaj Shar&a, who hel%ed the school and &e so &uch at that ti&e. )e asked &e:
,'hich Siddhi:%aranor&al %heno&enon do you find &ost interestingH. To which I answered
that I felt &ostly attracted by the ability of flying. Then I asked hi& which Siddhi he liked
&ost, to which he re%lied with this Sutra. I asked hi&: ,'hat do you &ean, beco&e in#isibleH.
Then he told &e that his &aster, who brought hi& to the light, &astered this Siddhi. )e would
sit ne(t to hi&, and suddenly he disa%%earedJ )e was able to a%%ear and disa%%ear, just like
that.
)ow is this %ossibleH You cannot just disa%%ear like that, can youH 'e already know now that
your energy re&ains intact. )e told &e that other %eo%le see you as you are because you are
constantly fluctuating:because there are constant little e(%losions:because there is &o#e&ent.
The solution to this is Satt#a. So, if you are able to neutraliIe those changes in you, es%ecially
on the le#el of the fire =to totally har&oniIe the fire ele&ent in you>, this is %ossible. As a
result what enables the %erce%tion of the for& or the i&age disa%%ears. You are still %resent,
but the eye does not catch you any&ore. If you want to beco&e in#isible, you &ust bring
Satt#a at the le#el of the fire in you. As a result you will not be %ercei#ed any&ore. The %ower
of %erce%tion will seiIe to e(ist.
Then you can beco&e a s%yH
27
G If Ba&es 9ond only knew G
Since you need total Satt#a, this &eans that, when you &o#e, you i&&ediately beco&e #isible
againH
I think that as soon as you &o#e, you will not be able to &aintain Satt#a.
""! :tena Sabdad+ Antardhanam ;/tam
?ro& the abo#e can be understood the disa%%earance of sound, etc.
This Sutra is of course related to the 0
st
Sutra, but it &ulti%lies its &eaning fi#efold. In the 0
st
Sutra there was &ention of the fire, while the 00
nd
Sutra starts with ether, but additionally
contains air, water and earth.
Practically, what does this tell usH In this res%ect the 0
st
Sutra stands out &ost: hu&an beings
are &ostly #isually oriented, so it a%%eals to us that we can &ake oursel#es in#isible:that the
%ossibility e(ists to neutraliIe #isual %erce%tion. In e(actly the sa&e way we can neutraliIe
auditi#e %erce%tion, touch, taste and s&ell, each ti&e by neutraliIing the %ower of the
%erce%ti#e ele&ent.
'hat is all this aboutHJ It is telling about a &ethod to achie#e total control of the fi#e
ele&ents:Tan&atras.
The e(%lanation in the book see&s rather %oor to &e. It all sounds too si&%le:inco&%lete.
The Sutras are indeed e(%lained %oorly in the book, but I tried to e(%lain this last week. I
e(%lained that the %ercei#ed #ibrations of the fire are dealt with and that the %ulsations of the
fire can be i&&obiliIed, to such an e(tent that they cannot cause fire3wa#elengths any&ore. I
called the& ,%hotons.. The %ulsations that occur starting fro& the ele&ents &ust be
neutraliIed, for as soon as they seiIe to &o#e they cannot be %ercei#ed any longer. You do this
by feeling where they are. So, you &ust obser#e, and you are better able to obser#e than
nor&al because you ha#e the benefit of di#ine energy, and you are connected to <irbija
Sa&adhi =the %resence of a lo#ed %erson>: you enforce the %ower of obser#ation. As a result
you are indeed able to discern the %ulsations of the ele&ents, and fro& the cal& in you, you
induce cal& into that ele&ent. At that &o&ent you are the &aster of that ele&ent, and that is
what this e(ercise is about. It is not about beco&ing in#isible, or about neutraliIing sound, but
it is about connecting with each of the le#els of your gross body and your subtle body.
The Sutras are in fact for&ulas, but they are as concise as %ossible because they are only
&eant as a re&inder. So, they are useful for you when you know their &eaning because they
refresh your &e&ory. )owe#er, solely on the basis of the Sutras it is i&%ossible to learn all
this. It has to be e(%lained. Fnce it has been e(%lained, you &ust be able to %erfor& it on your
own.
270
?ocusing u%on this, the control of the Tan&atras L for that is what all this is about L how is it
%ossible to gain control o#er the&H It is only logical:understandable that you indeed only
&aster this when you de&onstrate that they do not function any&ore. The other %oint is: where
is this ele&ent locatedH This is the subject of your obser#ation, which you look for in this
Sa&ya&a: 'here is the fire ele&ent in a hu&an beingH 'here is the ether ele&ent in a hu&an
beingH If he %roduces sound, or when you are able to %ercei#e his ethereal body, you ha#e a
starting %oint, and fro& there you carry on. In a later stage you will notice that there is
&o#e&ent in this energy, and in again another stage you will understand this energy &ore and
&ore, and you will beco&e one with it =the Parina&as>, and at a certain %oint you will create
har&ony in it =the last Parina&a of transfor&ation>. At which %oint you will start to doubt: ,I
a& not so certainJ I do not know whether I really control all this. I do ha#e a good feeling
about it, and it see&s like as if I control it G. To this Patanjali says: ,See if you can neutraliIe
the sound of this %erson. 'hen he talks, ste% in on what he is saying, neutraliIe the sound
wa#es, to such an e(tent that no one can hear hi& any&ore..
You install har&ony in this %erson, to such an e(tent that he cannot talk any&ore =which is one
of the &ost interesting techni*ues L to shut %eo%le u%, es%ecially in %olitics>. This is a &atter of
har&oniIation, because s%eech is Aajas. So when you re%lace Aajas by Satt#a he cannot s%eak
any&ore. You can a%%ly this to so&eone else, but you can also a%%ly this to yourself.
)ow can you bring Satt#a to another %ersonH
You %roject your attention with this di#ine energy towards the other %erson. Then you beco&e
one with this energy, and then you transfor& it into Satt#a.
'hen you ha#e a &oti#e to shut so&ebody u%, for e(a&%le so&ebody who is bothering you,
then you ha#e the %ossibility here. /an you i&agineH You attend a &eeting, and there is this
%erson who always &ono%oliIes the con#ersation, and you sit there in your chair a%%lying this
techni*ue: This guy will be increasingly in trouble to s%eak. This is only a drea&.
9ut you can also a%%ly this to a walking %erson. It was e(%lained in relation to the
fire:for&:seeing and so on, but you can also a%%ly this to the Ear&endriyas. This is e(%lained
in the book ,The 5asters of the ?ar 6ast. written by S%alding: Besus sees a horde of bandits
a%%roaching to raid their #illage, and it is just like as if they ride into a brick wall. This was in
fact a de&onstration of this Sa&ya&aJ 9y neutraliIing the %ower of the %erce%tible on fire3
le#el, they were unable to continue their a%%roach.
You are saying that we should look at the ethereal body.
'hen you want to ha#e an effect on the s%eech:sound, you start for e(a&%le with the ethereal
body. It is *uite easy to %ercei#e this. Then you continue, because it %er&eates your entire
%hysical body, and then you try to see the throat /akra, and the functioning of the throat /akra.
You will see it s%inning, and then you will gradually see it %ulsating.
+oes the ethereal body %er&eate the %hysical bodyH
272
Yes, you can see it in its entirety, so you will see a %hanto&. You are focused on it, and as a
result the rest will gradually disa%%ear. You are at that %articular wa#elength, so e#entually that
is all you will see.
9ut I can see only the outer layer G
That is because you do not look ,strong. enough yet, but with this Sa&ya&a, thanks to the
di#ine energy that co&es with it, it will be reinforced.
'hen we consider the Bnanendriyas there are fi#e e(ercises, howe#er, if we consider the
Ear&endriyas as well, there are fi#e &ore e(ercises, but we can also take the fi#e Tan&atras
into account. Thus there are a total of fifteen e(ercises.
I think you can consciously send it the other way. /onsidering the story by S%alding about the
bandits that a%%roach the #illage L they were &otorically engaged. 9ut if Besus had not
transfor&ed the Aajas of the fire into Satt#a of the fire, but instead into Ta&as of the fire, there
would %robably ha#e been literal fire or war&th that would ha#e occurred. So you can deal
with it gently, but you can also carry it through, in the o%%osite direction, so, instead of
neutraliIing Satt#a, turn it into Tamas.
This lea#es us with so&e *uite interesting e(%eri&entsJ 'e can %ull a lot of jokes with this,
like +ennis the 5enace with his neighbor, &ister 'ilson. I like +ennis, because he is a
naughty little boy who teases e#erywhere:tries e#erything out. Although he is a good boy, he
kicks u% rows e#erywhere. This is a little bit what you should beco&e like, without fear.
Si&%ly trying out all the things that we are discussing here. You can only beco&e con#inced of
these &atters by testing:e(%eri&enting, left and right. And, of course, the %oor neighbor will be
the first #icti&.
9ut you will not be able to do this if you do not &aster the other &aterial yetH
6(actly. 9ut you are su%%osed to &aster that already, or at least understand itJ In that case you
can start thinking about a %lan for the future, that tells you: ,F yeah, that will be %ossible.. Fr
you say: ,<ow I understand why I ha#e to do those e(ercises. 5y &oti#ation will now be
better. @ater on, when I #isit &y &other3in3law I will ha#e so&e trick to shut her u%, and I
%retend to know nothing G. This is &uch better than to say: ,You witchJ 'hy dont you shut
u%H. If you would do that, you will be in big trouble.
9ut then you create conflicts with the Ya&as and the <iya&as. As a result there will be no
&ore circulation and then it will not work.
This does not ha#e to cause conflicts with the Ya&as and the <iya&as at allJ You always
res%ect the Ya&as and the <iya&as, but they are not dog&asM you %lay with the&. You are
#ery nice, but still you e(%eri&ent with this.
It see&s to be #iolence when you &ake so&ebody shut u%H
278
In that case you %ay the bill, but at least you will ha#e learnt so&ething. It is only a ga&e you
%lay. 9e yourself, be natural, and do not li#e in a %risonJ
It see&s that you cause breaches in this way.
The only breach here is %rison, the %rison of %re&editated thoughts and so on. ?eel freeJ @i#eJ
The world is yours. It is all a %layground to you, just like +ennis. Try e#erything. Fnce in
while you will hit a wall and you $ill &ake &istakes. 'hen that ha%%ens, you say: ,Fh, a
Ya&aJ @ets &ake so&e correctionG. +o not let yourself be s%oon3fed on forehand. Stand on
your o$n.
9ut then there is no connection with Yoga any&oreJ
This is not so&ething that you learn at the beginning of the course. In the beginning I try to
&ake you belie#e that you &ust show e(e&%lary beha#ior as &uch as %ossibleJ $ntil you find
out that that is not e(actly the way I beha#e mysel#. That is when you start to ask *uestions.
And then, gradually, I will e(%lain &ore and &ore about relati#ity, and now I a& telling you:
,You &ust see all this within the fra&ework of a huge ga&e.. This is only logical, for you
should ne#er tie down an e(%lorer L a real e(%lorer. You &ust set hi& free, otherwise he will
lose his dri#e to e(%lore and in#estigate.
9ut you can also use this to a#oid #iolence.
Yes, of courseJ You can use it for good things. 9ut you also see& to react &uch better u%on
bad thingsJ 'hat is going on inside your &indH 'ell, es%ecially bad things. So, use those bad
things, but go towards the good. This is Tantra: to beco&e good, you &ust be at least a little bit
bad.
"&! Sopa/ramam %irupa/ramam Ca -arma 'ad Sam+amad Aparanta
Jnanam Arishtebh+o $a
8arma is of two kinds: acti#e and dor&antM by %erfor&ing Samyama on the& =is
gained> knowledge of the ti&e of deathM also by =%erfor&ing Samyama on>
%ortents.
This rese&bles the first Sa&ya&a, in which we went through ti&e. )owe#er, this one is
%receded by a study of the Bnanendriyas, Ear&endriyas and the Tan&atras, gi#ing a direct
indication of its nature. Actually you &ust already be finished with the %re#ious Sa&ya&a L
you &ust ha#e had realiIations of those 2 L before you can %roceed with this one.
9ut if you ha#e had realiIations of these 2, which distinguish the&sel#es by Drttis, then what
e(actly ha#e you achie#ed in those fi#e bodies of energy and the subtle body where they are
locatedH You ha#e established har&ony:control, which has o%ened the way, much &ore
thoroughly than in the first Sa&ya&a, to #iew the Sa&skaras on causal le#el. Therefore this
27"
one is &uch &ore accurate. It is not an entire life that you can see L a whole bunch of stories in
se*uence, flashes and so on L but here you can #ery accurately see the &o&ent of death. A
considerable refine&ent occurs. @ets say that fro& now on you can read Ear&a.
Ear&a is of two kinds: acti#e and latent. 'hat will you %ercei#e when you look inside /itta
=your own /itta or so&ebody elses /itta>H You will see the acti#e Sa&skaras:i&%ressions. Fr
you can say: by obser#ation you can see that there is a differenceM that certain i&%ressions are
ali#e L softly #ibrating L while others are indeed %resent but not acti#e. This is latent and
acti#e.
'hat is the significance of thisH You should realiIe that those acti#e Sa&skaras will &anifest
the&sel#es. They will %roduce so&ething, in contrast with the latent ones, which ha#e no
&eaning =yet>. 9ut when you obser#e the e(tent to which they are beco&ing acti#e L +har&a,
@akshana and A#astha L so you notice that their connotation beco&es bigger L you can say:
that one is &aturing and so&ething $ill co&e out of it. You read:scan this infor&ation and you
register the connotation in you L the e&otional #alue L and you say: ,Fh, wait a &inute, this
corres%onds with a Drtti:i&age, and then you will be able to %lace it. This is the %rocess of
learning to function intuiti#ely.
The Sa&skara #ibrates and %roduces a Drtti. All you ha#e to do is read:wait a little for the
#ibrating Sa&skara, and then you will see so&e i&age.
/an you see the ones that are latentH
Yes, they can be seen too.
/an the corres%onding i&age be seen tooH
Yes, but then you &ust let it #ibrate:awaken it yourself. Fne day I ha#e done this in the first
location of our school. I sat in the base&ent and I said to &yself: ,I a& #ery curious what this
%lace looked like in the 4
th
century.. I set a year and awakened a Sa&skara in &e that was
related to that ti&e. I&&ediately I saw so&ething *uite re&arkable: A%art fro& the fact that I
saw sailing shi%s =to which I thought that that &ust ha#e been &y own fantasy>, I saw that the
street outside the front door was ." &eter lo$er than in the %resent. <ow you ha#e to go down
the stairs to reach the door to the Yoga school, but in the 4
th
century the street, read the *uay,
was at the le#el of the door. ?irst I though that it &ust ha#e been &y own fantasy %laying tricks
on &e again, but after doing so&e research on the subject &y #ision was confir&ed: in the 4
th
century the Prins )endrikkade was indeed considerably lowerM the street le#el was raised o#er
ti&e. The stairs were indeed installed later.
These kinds of e(ercises can indeed %ro#ide you with a #ery interesting #iew of the %ast, or the
future.
So so&ething latent can deliberately be %ut into &otionH
274
Yes, but what is &ore interesting is the fact that this %ro#ides incredible %ossibilities for
research, but also of understanding of &atters. ?or e(a&%le: %eo%le tell you so&ething. Is it
true or notH You ha#e to trust their words for it. 'ell, then you do this e(ercise, and you #iewM
you scan $ithin the&, directly. You look at the acti#e things L what is &o#ing the& at this
&o&entH And you read that infor&ation. This often leads you to the conclusion that %eo%le are
often occu%ied with totally different &atters than they actually tell you.
9ut then you should read their thoughts G
'e ha#e been through that already. That is not so difficult. 'hat we are talking about here is
reading Ear&a. It is about gaining insight in that %erson:a %roble&. To do so you &ust go all
the way down to the Ear&a:Sa&skaras that lie at the basis of it.
You %ronounce a clear for&ula:wish: ,This is what I want to know.. And then you see if there
is so&ething that connects with it. You kee% that in your &ind, and it will be reinforced by
di#ine energy. As a result the answer will co&e naturally.
Then you will also be able to see, de%ending on the %ortion of latent and acti#e Sa&skaras,
whether so&ebodys Ear&a has been s%ent. 'hen there are hardly any acti#e Sa&skaras left,
it &eans that that %erson will die. You will al&ost be able to %in%oint it down to the hour of
death.
+ont you ha#e little Ear&a left as the result of %urificationH
'e are talking about the %resence of acti1e Ear&a, not just Ear&a. As long as Ear&a is acti#e,
you li#e, in this body, down here on earth. 9ut as soon as it sto%s being acti#e you can say you
are finished li#ing. That is when old %eo%le say: ,I ha#e had it. It has been enough for &e..
This is the result of s%ent Ear&a. It is the o&en of a%%roaching death.
So Ear&a is a life3energy.
<ot Ear&a is a life3energy, but acti1e Ear&a is life3energy. Ear&a can be acti#e and latent.
'hen all Ear&a is latent you are ready to go.
This all see&s a little #ague: how e(actly do you scanH
You scan with Sa&ya&a.
This is hard to fatho&. You think about that %erson G
<o, you focus on the %resence of a lo#ed %erson, you feel its %resence, then you focus in
&editation on the 5ost )igh, and then you fill yourself L so you ele#ate your %ower of
obser#ation in this way L and when you reach that condition, then you start obser#ing. All you
do is obser#ing the /itta of the %erson in#ol#ed.
)ow do you achie#e thisH
27C
This %erson is right before you. You know where the energy bodies are located. You know
where the /akras are. 'e ha#e s%ent &any lessons on this. The causal body is related to the
crown /akra, so it is abo#e your head and %er#ading all of you. Then you will slowly start to
%ercei#e all kinds of %eculiarities, and you will beco&e increasingly &ore accurate. The
a%%roach of the %re#ious e(ercises was *uite coarse L using the Drttis L but gradually you
beco&e &ore and &ore accurate. 'hich is the right condition to actually focus directly on the
Sa&skaras.
I understand what you are saying, and I know that it e(ists, but I cannot see it. All I see is the
outer layerG
In that case you %ay attention to the &o#e&ents. That is the idea behind this: obser#e acti#ity.
You will notice the acti#ity only when you are co&%letely *uiet. 'hen you are co&%letely in
Satt#a you will be able to %ercei#e anything. And through what is acti#e you go inside and
%enetrate &ore and &ore and increasingly &ore accurate.
Is this co&%licatedH 'ell, it is Sa&ya&a, the triangle. ?irst there are the two %arts of
conte&%lation and &editation. Then e#ery ti&e, by changing the third %art, which is
concentration, another sort of Sa&ya&a. Then there is the descri%tion of the concentration3
object, and function of the e(ercise. 9ut it is &ore like as if you %oint a kind of
&icrosco%e:telesco%e on a new acti#ity. That is all there is to it. So you start in the sa&e way,
through obser#ation. Then, when you understand what is going on, as a result of the
obser#ation you will gain a certain %ower o#er the %heno&enon. Then it beco&es a &atter of
a%%lying the Parina&as L go towards itM beco&e one with itM transfor& it L which will enable
you to bring changes.
It is not so difficult after all. At this &o&ent it &ay be difficult, but if you just continue to
think logically and e(%eri&ent, you will gradually understand that it really works like this.
It is i&%ossible to tell this to %eo%le who are not engaged in Yoga. This is reser#ed for those
%eo%le who start to understand what this is all about and what this is leading to. It is about
control, control of life. 'hy would we want to do thatH +o you think that life as you see it
around you at this #ery &o&ent is good enoughH I think it is &ore like hell, so it is i&%erati#e
that here and there we ha#e so&e %eo%le using these techni*ues to shut so&ebody u%
so&eti&es. 9ut not by using #iolence. That is the interesting %art of all this.
/an you i&agine walking in the @innaeus street in A&sterda& seeing this big, fat guy falling
off his bicycle, chased by a 5oroccan guy with a 21 centi&eter long knifeH 'hat will you doH
You will do nothing at allJ You stand aside and watch. If you would ha#e known this, you
would ha#e said, fro& a distance: ,'ait a &inute, what is he doingH Fh, there is so&ething
wrong with the &otor syste& of air L which &eans gras%ing. This guy is going to do so&ething
that he is not su%%osed to do. BustG =%erfor& Sa&ya&a>G so that he cannot &o#e his ar&s
any&ore.. You ha#e sto%%ed the e(%ansion of the air3ele&ent, because you si&%ly &ade it
har&onious:Ta&as. 'ouldnt that be greatH
277
I would beat his brains outM first %aralyIe hi& and then: 9angJ 9ut that is an act of #iolence, so
it is not allowed. You &ust %ay #ery close attention to the fra&ework within which you do all
this.
This brings us to the core of things. That is what this is about. The least thing we can do is to
not allow things to de#elo% the way they are now. It is %ossible L es%ecially through education
L to tell %eo%le that there is a %ossibility to deal with it differently. There is so much work to
do. That is what a Yoga teacher is all aboutJ It is not just so&ebody teaching so&e %oses to
other %eo%le.
,Perfor&ing Sa&ya&a on %ortents.. -uite so&e literature e(ists on this subject. It is a science
in itself. The Tibetan 9ook of +eath is one of its e(%onents, dealing with care of the dying. It is
%receded by large a&ounts of knowledge dealing with accurate deter&ination of indications,
and so on. If you ha#e so&e interest in this subject I can reco&&end you so&e books, but that
goes for any of the Sutras that we are co&ing across. There is only one Sutra, but co&%lete
libraries o%ening u% entire worlds back it u%.
The %ractice of Sa&ya&a on the signs of an a%%roaching death or %ortents is like reading for
e(a&%le the structure of a hu&an being and the kar&ic condition =this is in relation to the
latent and acti#e Sa&skaras, and the relationshi% between the two>. $sing different readings
you will at a certain &o&ent be able to deter&ine *uite accurately how long a %erson has left
to li#e. 'ith each obser#ation you will see that he has less acti#e Sa&skaras. You &ake the
calculations and then you will know: ,)e will die on that day..
I can see this now with &y &other. I read her Ear&a, and I ho%e that she will reach the end of
this year. I told her: ,You &ust %re%are e#erything, because this is really serious., which she
did. That is the ad#antage of this: %eo%le are better %re%ared. 9ut of course it would be
e&barrassing if she would li#e another 1 yearsJ 9ecause that is also %ossible. 'hen you incite
things again, and let Ear&a beco&e acti#e again in this %erson, you will cause this %erson to
li#e again. You are awaking latent Ear&a. 9ut this is not allowed, because you load Ear&a on
to yourself by %ossibly in#ol#ing this %erson in all kinds of &isery by doing this. 5aybe this
%erson is si&%ly ready to go. Your %ur%ose should be to bring har&ony, instead of creating
bigger &isery. 9ut it is %ossible.
+oes this &ean that a healing %rocess is actually the sa&e as gi#ing so&ebody Ear&aH
In certain instances that is indeed %ossible. So what we do in our 'estern a%%roach to &edical
science, therefore, is really bad. 'e %ro#ide %eo%le with &ore &isery than they already ha#e,
by kee%ing the& ali#e. So&e %eo%le ha#e understood this. They say: ,'ell, if I a& going to
need any &ore treat&ent I would rather die. Please sto% it..
"*! 8aitr+ Adishu 4a.ani
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on friendliness, etc. =co&es> strength =of the *uality>.
27!
You need only three words to describe the entire techni*ue of character buildingJ $ntil now we
were engaged in gross and subtle &atters, and now we co&e increasingly closer to the le#el of
the Sa&skaras. 'e still ha#e our own Sa&skaras, and this Sutra is telling us: ,If you want
you can bring about a &eta&or%hosis.. Patanjalis suggestion is to si&%ly bring a %ro%erty to
the forefront, like friendliness. A lot of %eo%le would like such a %ro%erty and benefit greatly
fro& it. Patanjali says: ,+o:%ick that, %ractice a Sa&ya&a on it, and then si&%ly reinforce the
i&%ression of friendliness to a large e(tent, with the result that, whether you like it or not, you
$ill beco&e friendly.. And although this is *uite si&%le, it would ha#e such an enormous
i&%actJ 'e were raised belie#ing: ,a hu&an being has a character, and that is what he has to
li#e with, and it is too bad for his surroundings if he has a bad character. In that case his
surroundings are du%ed, and not only this %erson. That is what you ha#e to learn to li#e with..
+o you know so&ebody in your surroundings with a bad character, or with #ery un%leasant
characteristicsH 6#erybody knows so&ebody. )owe#er, when you ha#e arri#ed at this le#el,
this e(cuse is not #alid any&oreJ Patanjali has taken away this e(cuse fro& you. You cannot
ha#e a bad character any&ore.
?ro& now on you choose and build your own character, i&%lanting it in you. And that is what
you will become. 'hen you are done with one, you can go on with the ne(t. I do not know
how &uch you needG or, if you look at it, fro& now on you can beco&e who&e#er you like.
9ut %ay attention, for i&%lanting a Sa&skara in you has conse*uences on subtle le#el. The
thoughts that you will %roduce will be related to it. Your consciousness will be engaged with
these kinds of &atters, but your gross body will also e(%ress it. So when you ha#e i&%rinted
hatred in you, your %hysical body will e(%ress hatred. Peo%le who hate are ugly.
So far we ha#e understood how to destroy Sa&skaras, but now we are recei#ing the techni*ue
to &ake Sa&skaras, and how to bring about a &eta&or%hosis or change of character.
'hat is the foundation of %hysical beautyH
Sy&&etryH
It is a cocktail of genes, har&onious genes that is res%onsible for beauty. So it is u% to you to
search: which ones do you wantH And then you de#elo% the&, and in this way you will obtain
that %ower:ability.
I a& trying to find the connection between good character and %hysical beautyG
It goes auto&atically, for a good character is actually nothing less than aligning &ore with the
uni#erse. As you beco&e able to allow the forces of the uni#erse to circulate in you in
considerably larger *uantities, har&ony will auto&atically arise at lower le#els, and as a result
also the %hysical body will be aligned.
Another %oint here is that fro& now on nobody has an e(cuse any&ore to be unfriendly: it is
all in your hands. You can &ake it or break it. If still you are unfriendly, it is only because you
2!1
choose to do so. And that of course is #ery bad, to the e(tent that in the field of Yoga you will
terribly fail. This is how you recogniIe highly de#elo%ed %eo%le. They are always si&%le,
friendly, and so on, because they ha#e no other choice. It is %ossible that they were #ery
un%leasant %eo%le in the %ast, but &eta&or%hosis took care of that.
Anyway, essentially you &ust be friendly. )ow you e(%ress that is of course another &atter.
You are sweet, and soft, and friendly, and %atient G all that I a& G <o, this is not a jokeJ
The foundation is i&%ortant. Personality is another &atter: ,)ow does he e(%ress hi&selfH.
'ell, you will see about that. It is about the basis, and with the basis you %ractice control.
You choose a %ro%erty, whiche#er you can think of, but choose one fro& the heart. ?or
e(a&%le: I was born with a big deficiency: haughtiness. I told you this before. 'ell, I can use
this a%%lying this Sutra. 'hat is the o%%osite of haughtinessH )u&ility, &odesty G In &y
%re#ious life I would not lower &yself to the sa&e le#el as youJ =I a& offering you my %ersonal
e(ercise, you know>. The Swa&i in this %icture always wanted to ha#e a %latfor&, a %odiu&.
)e said that would be %ractical. To which I said that Id rather notG 9ased u%on &y attitude of
hu&ility L which I i&%lanted in &yself =&odesty, hu&ility and so on> L I just sit down here.
6#erybody down at the sa&e le#el, without differences. 9ut that is because I i&%lanted it. It
wasnt there beforeJ If I do not %ay attention, all those old issues co&e to the surface again L
haughtiness, and %ride. You better not know about this, for it is terrible. <ow I ha#e changed.
That is the interesting %art of this ga&e: nobody is telling you what to do. 9ut Patanjali starts
with a suggestion: friendliness. It is only a hint. ?riendliness alone resol#es a lot of #iolence.
'hat do you want in lifeH ?riendliness, righteousness, honesty, and na&e a few &ore. And
then you take off. The %ractice of the Ya&as and the <iya&as is not si&%ly a refusal
any&ore, or a kind of ideal, but you implant it in you and you become it. There is no other
o%tion. It has beco&e a &odifying factor:self3e#ident in your life.
The +alai @a&a too is always friendly G
'hat about all those %eo%le he allowed to be &assacred in TibetH
That was a big &istake of his.
9ut he is always friendly.
Yes, he is always friendly. Aeally great %eo%le are always friendly. Peo%le who are arrogant
ha#e so&e weak %oint, na&ely their ego.
9ut wait a &inute, if you go on like this, and you build yourself, and you can &ake yourself
into anybody you like, how long are you going to continue doing thisH Ten years later: You
ha#e achie#ed to beco&e the %erson you wanted to be, and you say: ,You know whatH I a&
going to beco&e so&ebody else, because that is what attracts &e now.. And another 1 years
later you ha#e beco&e that %erson. And you do this 1 ti&es in a row. 'hat kind of feeling
will this gi#e youH You can go in any direction. 9ut at that %oint you will be through with it.
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You will say: ,I a& not interested in this any&ore, all those %ersonalities G trying to obtain
so&e for&, and so on.. Then you will discard of your toys and go towards the essence
auto&atically. You will go towards what this is really about, na&ely what controls all this in
you L At&an. So, by %laying L a role3%lay you could say L you go to At&an.
",! 4a.eshu <asti 4a.adini
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on the strengths =of ani&als> the strength of an
ele%hant, etc.
Actually it should not be ,=of ani&als>., for it is si&%ly Sa&ya&a on an ele%hantJ That is what
gi#es you strength. It is based u%on the sa&e idea as the %re#ious Sutra, but now it is not
character3wise, but actually %hysical. Are you not satisfied with your body as it should beH
Then you i&%lant the i&age L a Sa&skara L that co&%lies with your wishes. If for e(a&%le
you want to beco&e #ery strong, you are ad#ised to bring to life the i&age of an ele%hant. If
you want to be #ery swift:su%%le, you build yourself the i&age of a leo%ard if you like. If you
want to be #ery slow you build yourself the i&age of a sloth. And that is what you will
beco&e.
And in the obser#ation of that i&age you will #eel the %ro%erties, for e(a&%le those of an
ele%hant. At a certain %oint you will #eel the unsto%%able strength that such an ani&al
%ossesses. And that is what this is about. It is the Sa&skara, and not the i&age that is
i&%ortant. You only use the i&age to i&%lant the feeling. Then you de#elo% that feeling: ,I
%ossess unsto%%able strength G I ha#e unsto%%able strength G I ha#e G.
I did this once with &y bull terrier. This is actually why I ac*uired a bull terrier. It is an ani&al
that knows no %ain, and it is utterly %erse#erant, but also incredibly sweet. These were all
characteristics I felt attracted to. 9ut as ti&e %assed by I found &yself rese&bling this ani&alJ
Also %hysicallyG that is the drawback of this. <ow I ha#e ac*uired so&e beautiful cats. They
are #ery %layful. 'e all know about these kinds of &atters, but now we are dealing with it
consciously.
This &eans that you will not need %lastic surgery any&ore. 'hen you say: ,5y ears are too
big., you i&%lant the i&age of yourself with s&all ears, and you a%%ly that in Sa&ya&a. As a
result your ears will beco&e s&aller. Id rather not start a%%lying this to &yself, for there is too
&uch work to do G I constantly ho%e that I will beco&e &ore beautiful. Your %hysical body is
the result of the i&%ressions that are in you. 'hen you %ut e&%hasis on one of the&, it will
e#entually &aterialiIe.
You &ust acce%t the confrontation with the &atter:%lay with these toys, until you are done
%laying and you lose interest. 9ut this is only %ossible if you know the ga&e, when you control
it all, and can send it into any direction you want, to such an e(tent that you are not interested
any&ore. ?or as long as you ha#e an interest in the &atter:i&%ro#e&ents in the &atter, you
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must co&e back:you &ust be reborn. This a%%roach is #ery dee%, and it will result L in a
syste&atic way, one le#el after the other L in you dealing with all those things.
'ould it not be better to just acce%t itH
That is a %ossibility, but what does ,acce%ting it. &eanH Is it a &ental constructionH 9e
careful, for if so&ewhere dee% inside you it stays ali#e, you will still ha#e to co&e back. 9e
honest with yourself and say: ,'hat a& I interested inH 'hat I a& drea&ing ofH 'hat would I
likeH. +eal with that first. And then you start off. You sit down in Sa&ya&a L one hour:!1
&inutes L and you engage yourself in this. <ot once, but si( &onths in a row. It is &y esti&ate
that you should s%end at least si( &onths on each of the Sa&ya&as. In the Sa&ya&a you start
with the i&age as concentration, but then slowly that i&age is reduced to its essence by the two
other ele&ents of the triangle, and rein#orced. As a result the Sa&skara beco&es increasingly
bigger. And you will co&e into the light co&%letely, $ith this Sa&skara, fro& this Sa&skara.
At that %oint it will really stickJ
@ike a %illH
It is a %ill. It is whate#er you think you need. 9ut at a certain &o&ent you will be fed u% with
all those %ills, and you will lose your interest in all those %ills, which is also #ery interesting. I
think it is one of the best &ethods to withdraw yourself fro& worldly affairs.
@ike the &onk who was always restless in his &ind: An abbot ca&e by and said to hi&: ,)ere
you are, a sack full of &oney, go to town.. The &onk went to town and started s%ending
&oney G but then he started reflecting: ,what is thisHJ 'hat a& I doingHJ. )e is so engaged
in this %rocess that at a certain &o&ent he says: ,'hat I a& doing is so useless G all this
&oney, it is not important at all G. 'ith the re&ainder of the &oney he returns to the
&onastery and tells the abbot: ,)ere is the re&ainder. I ha#e understood. ?ro& now on I will
stay in the &onastery..
So&eti&es it is better to di#e into the &atter, li#e a licentious life, whate#er, to understand.
The end justifies the &eans. This is ty%ically Tantra. There are no sins when you do dedicate it
in function of the 5ost )igh. 6#erything is one. 6#erything is the sa&e. Isla& is the sa&e.
Isla& is #ery &uch related to what we are doing here, but /hristianity is too, and so is
9uddhis&.
'hat if you say that your actions are in dedication to the 5ost )igh, you highjack an air%lane,
and fly it into a buildingH
That is fine, if you feel like doing that. 'hat is i&%ortant is that you understand. It is about
transfor&ing fro& ignorance to wisdo&, and in that %rocess you can &ake &istakes. And we
&ust, as ?ernando 6ste#es3Nriego says, allow %eo%le their &istakes. 'e ha#e ended u% in a
dualistic situation L in the world. 6#erybody is building fields of tension:se%arated3ness:these
are the good ones and these are the bad ones. As far as I ha#e understood 9ush belongs to the
good ones, and Sadda& )ussein belongs to the others L ,If you are not with &e., 9ush says,
,You are against &e.. 'ell, this is 9ushs ignorance, but this is not how the reality is. 'e are
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all the %roduct of Fur +ear @ord. All energy is one. 'hy on earth would you want to create
se%arated3ness in this situationHJ It is so uselessJ To %ut %eo%le in %rison is a cri&e, because
you create se%arated3ness. To kill so&ebody is also a cri&e, of course, but we are talking about
%eo%le who do not know:understand. You &ust si&%ly guide the& and teach the& anew. 9ut
this needs a lot of %atience. They should co&e here, to this school.
9ut our fellow &an can beco&e in#ol#ed in this L it is Ear&a that belongs to all of us L and try
to restore har&ony where#er %ossible. Fnly then the world will beco&e a better %lace. As long
as we do not understand this, it will re&ain an awful chaos.
<ot one %erson is co&%letely bad. 6#erybody has certain issues that he does not
understand:that he &isunderstands. The answer is to o%en all the co&&unication channels and
tal! about it.
'hat if this is not %ossibleH
If talking is i&%ossible, okay, then you bash in so&ebodys brains. 9ut you do it in function of
what I a& telling you now. Then you say: ,There was no other way, he did not want to listen to
reasonG. 9ut such solution is the %roof of weakness, and not the %roof of strength.
Ae#erse e#erything, for it feels &uch better, or notH
"0! Pra)rtt+ A.o/a %+asat Su/shma $+a)ahita $ipra/rshta Jnanam
Enowledge of the s&all, the hidden or the distant by directing the light of
su%er%hysical faculty.
5y &other once said to &e that she had lost her red brush. I looked around ,scanning. and
,#iewed. it in the garage: )ow did I do thisH 9y doing this : You %erfor& Sa&ya&a on G on
whatH )ow did I do itH 9y using &y third eye, which is the Satt#ic fire ele&ent within &y
Ajna /hakra. So, the object of your Sa&ya&a is the Satt#ic fire ele&ent within your Ajna
/hakra. You can use this to ,see., but you can also release Sa&ya&a u%on the other ele&ents,
which will gi#e you all the ,clair.3%owers =as in ,clair#oyance.>.
+o you %ercei#e the insight that you obtain also with the third eyeH
<o, that is the result of the +i#ine eye. The third eye is on subtle le#el, while the +i#ine eye is
on causal le#el.
In this e(ercise you try to deal with the subtle le#el using the causal le#el. In fact you
co&%letely o#erhaul your being, in line with the &eta&or%hosis that you initiated L character,
a%%earance, and now sensorial, which also &eans &otoreal and the Tan&atras. You transfor&
all these ele&ents into su%er3, su%er3*uality. It is co&%arable to the s%are %arts of a 5ercedes3
9enI, which are all well3tried and thoroughly tested. It is of the highest *uality. Fr &aybe it is
better to use @e(us in this e(a&%le, for 5ercedes39enI has &any faults these days, as we
2!8
know. 9ut the *uality of @e(us is unbelie#ableJ So &uch *uality testing %recedes the co&ing
into the &arket of each new &odelJ It is kind of co&%arable to this e(ercise, which is indeed a
%erfection of your being.
'hen you %ossess this *uality le#el and so&ebody co&es along saying: ,'here is &y brushH.
the gross3le#el faculties do not li&it you any&ore. Instead you switch o#er to your subtle3le#el
faculties enabling you to see through e#erything.
+ont you a%%ly the triangle in this %rocessH
<o, at that %oint that has already been established. At that #ery &o&ent you should not start
doing this because the instru&ent is not ready yet. You &ust build the triangle first, and once it
has been built you can use it at will.
'hich &eans that you are directly established in itH
Yes. And at that %oint you will be able to see things that are #ery far, or #ery close, so you are
able to Ioo&3in. This is the instru&ent in Yoga to do research. All the drawings I &ade, all the
things that I #iewed in the uni#erse, of which you &ust be fed u% by now, ha#e been achie#ed
using this instru&ent. And this is not a %articular talent of &ine. This is a talent:%ro%erty that
e#ery Yogi can ac*uire, must ac*uire. It is %art of the %ath of de#elo%&ent. If you ha#e not
dealt with the Bnanendriyas and the Ear&endriyas, if you are not ca%able of ,clair3
%ro%ulsion.G and so on, your de#elo%&ent will co&e to a halt. 'hat is ,clair3%ro%ulsion.H It
&eans that your %ro%ulsion is mar1elous . It &eans that you are ca%able of ju&%ing and running
like a dear or an antelo%e, so *uick.
It see&s that there are %eo%le in Tibet who &o#e:run this fast.
It is said that the @a&as of Tibet &o#e like this in the &ountains. You can understand that it is
i&%ossible to kee% u% with the&, ehH You would think that, because they are in &editation all
day they ha#e beco&e a bunch of snails when it co&es to the track. 3ot so. This gi#es us so&e
idea of what this is about, and it a%%lies not only to %ro%ulsion, but also to e#ery &otor ele&ent
of your being. All the /akras beco&e stronger only by reinforcing the s%heres within Ajna
/akra.
"1! 4hu)ana Jnanam Sur+e Sam+amat
Enowledge of the Solar syste& by %erfor&ing Samyama on the Sun.
I struggled with this Sutra for a long ti&eJ )ow is it %ossible that they suddenly switch to
astrono&y in this te(t, while we are actually in the fra&ework of disco#ery of the SelfH 'hat
is the relationshi% hereH It is only since a cou%le of years that I found out that the translations
,solar syste&. and ,sun. are wrong. This Sutra is about Surya 9induJ The translation of ,solar
syste&. is not correct. ,9hu#ana. could be translated as ,solar syste&., but not necessarily.
?or it could si&%ly be translated as ,a being ridden with 9ha#a =feeling:&ood>.. As a result
2!"
one obtains knowledge concerning a being by %erfor&ing Sa&ya&a u%on this %ersons Surya
9indu. 'hich being carries your &ain interestH ?irst and fore&ost yourselfJ
You can also translate it as follows: ,Fne obtains knowledge concerning the being by
%erfor&ing Sa&ya&a on the sun., this sun &eaning the sun39indu, which &akes it so logical
and so incredibly self3e#ident. You try to get a gras% on the entrance of energy that %uts a
being in action. Through the %erce%tion of Surya 9indu you will gradually get a gras% on a
%ersons functioning, es%ecially when this %erson is in action.
?or e(a&%le: you are dealing with a colleague. )e is in another roo& and as a result you hardly
e#er see hi&. In that case you will not obtain &uch knowledge about this %erson. 9ut if he is
located not far fro& your desk and you see hi& functioning all day, you can get so&e ideas
about his being, his &oti#ation, his background and his interests, based u%on this functioning.
So as soon as so&ebody is in action you can get to know hi& better. You go dee%er into it, and
you release Sa&ya&a on it, es%ecially on his Surya 9indu. Then you will be able to see the
functioning of this %erson, &uch shar%er than e#er before. That is all there is to it.
It is not easy for a nor&al hu&an being to judge so&ebody based u%on his action, but you,
using Sa&ya&a, will see through hi& thanks to your focus u%on his Surya 9indu. )e has not
e#en started &o#ing yet, but you already know that he $ill, for suddenly you see the brilliance
of his sun39indu because the energy is arising.
So you are actually seeing the energyH
Yes. You see es%ecially the energy that arises fro& his Surya 9indu. ?or e(a&%le, he recei#es
a call, and you see hi& sitting behind his desk, talking, but G 'hooshJ G instantly you know
that so&ething i&%ortant has ha%%ened. The rest is a &atter of obser#ation, and guessing, and
reading of the &ind, and in an instant you know e(actly what he is &ade of. You can get to
know a %erson by #iewing his action.
'hat is the co&%le&ent of thisH 6ach Sutra has 0 e(ercises: the first is knowledge, Bnana,
which you start with, and the second is Eriya. 'hat is the Eriya of this SutraH You see through
it so well, e#en be#ore this %erson co&es into action. 'hat is the ne(t ste%H At a certain %oint
you can put this %erson into action yourselfJ 9ut be careful, for this is leadershi%J
'hat is usually the %roble& of &ost &anagersH To %ut his %eo%le into actionJ )a#e you ne#er
seen this in officesH It is full of Ta&asJ IncredibleJ It see&s i&%ossible to %rod these %eo%le
into actionJ They lack any &oti#ation. They are just waiting for the day of their retire&ent.
They feel that they are taken ad#antage of, or they ha#e an affair with a colleagueM they are
occu%ied with anything, e(ce%t with what they are %aid to do.
The idiot who does differently is the black shee% of the fa&ily. It is like this al&ost
e#erywhere. The %roble& of each boss is always the sa&e: ,how a& I going to %rod &y
shiftless e&%loyees into actionHJ It is only hu&an: laIiness, always trying to find the easy way
out. )ow can you get the& to do so&ethingH They just dont $ant toJ They do not want
changes. They do not want to i&%ro#e. They do not want to do anything. They want to do as
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little as %ossible and earn as &uch as %ossible at the sa&e ti&e. ?ortunately we ha#e this Sutra
and your knowledge of Sa&ya&a: You tune in, and you obser#e. 'hen you are the boss you
do not %lace your desk se%arate fro& the othersM you sit where you can see all the others. To do
e(actly thisJ And you kee% tabs on e#erything.
I a& trying to e(%lain how I functioned L not in this life, because I ha#e not been a boss L but
in &y %re#ious life. I stood 1ery close to &y %eo%le. I ne#er asked the& to do things that they
were not ca%able of doing, for I had obser#ed the& so closely that I knew what they were
ca%able of. I also did not issue orders, for they were &y %artners. They were &y co&rades:
,This is our %roble& G how do you think about itH Actually we need so&ebody who can do
this G and that G and who %ossesses such *ualities G and &aybe he would be able to sol#e it
G. Ff course I knew who %ossessed such *ualities, but e#erything was collecti#ely discussed.
Then I would wait until that %erson felt called u%on L out of himsel#, so that his Surya 9indu
was awakened. 'ith this a%%roach you obtain the best #olunteers, because it a%%ears that
%eo%le take decisions by the&sel#es.
6#entually &y %eo%le would go through fire and water for &e. 'hyH 9ecause they knew that I
would always be there for them, and because I !ne$ the&. I studied the&, and I would ne#er
ask the& so&ething i&%ossible. And if it was too difficult, they knew that I would be doing the
sa&e. Then I would si&%ly say: ,5en, I will take charge today. @ets go G. All I asked the&
to do was to close ranks with &e, for it can turn out a disaster when the ranks are not closed.
$ntil now there is no actual leadershi% course. 'hat e(ists is based u%on certain biased notions
of what a director:boss should be like. Fne course is e#en worse than the other. I see the sa&e
e#erywhere: inco&%etence abound. I ha#e rarely &et co&%etent bosses. Fne boss I really hold
in high estee& was /or 9oonstra =for&er %resident of Phili%s>. ?or &e this &an was
enlightened. These kinds of %eo%le are #ery rare. )e &oti#ated and went straight through
e#erything. Si&%ly fantastic.
"5! Candre 'ara $+uha Jnanam
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on the &oon knowledge concerning the arrange&ent
of stars.
This Sutra is only a logical conse*uence of the %re#ious one. Ff course it is dealing with the
&oon39indu, but what are the stars &entioned hereH
Are they the /akrasH
<o, they are not the /akras in %articular. Your being is built out of s%heres, as you knowM
energy s%heres. 6ach ele&ent is a s%here. In each of the s%heres there is the %ossibility of the
e(istence of a center of gra#ity and the brilliance of that center, for each s%here is a being, and
within each of the s%heres a 5ani%ura /akra can co&e into being. Those are the stars
&entioned here.
2!C
The &eaning of this Sutra is si&%le: it i&%lies that you can control the ignition of all these
s%heres based u%on the inflow of Shi#a3energy through /andra 9indu. This is based u%on the
knowledge that Shi#a3energy is the %ower su%%ly of a 5ani%ura /akra. These stars can co&e
into being as you let Shi#a3energy flow in.
As you know, war&th in your body occurs by taking in Shi#a energy, which leads to an
e(%losion in 5ani%ura /akra and results in the occurrence of fire and war&th. Aeinforce&ent
can occur as a result of this fire. 'e are not talking about &ere action L the structural inflow of
Shakti, which causes %eo%le to e(%and L but we are dealing with the %ower su%%ly of %eo%le,
the reinforce&ent that we can induce: ?or e(a&%le ins%iring and &oti#ating of your %eo%le. It
is not about %rodding the& into action and to counter laIiness, but we a%%roach it fro& a
different angle. The way I a& talking to you at this &o&ent, the way I a& teaching now, I a&
doing e(actly that. I a& trying to ins%ire you and to awaken you, to such an e(tent that stars
will a%%ear in your being. You will walk outside and say: ,)ey, I feel so lightJ I a& so %ositi#e
and I a& really going to &ake Yoga work in &y lifeJ. The Ao&ans called this ,6(hortatio..
'e call it ,%e%3talk., which is of course one of the functions of a leader: to ins%ire his %eo%le,
to fuel the&, to reinforce the&, to such an e(tent that at a certain %oint they are so full of fire
that they will say: ,And no$ we will go for it G it has been settled G we will $in G.
Isnt Shakti3energy su%%osed to reinforceH
<o, Shakti %rods you into action. It is the dis%lay of &ale energy, but the %ower of Shi#a is
&ass3%ower.
It has healing %ro%erties too.
Yes, Shi#a heals. 9ut you can electrify %eo%le, which is Shakti, but you can also rein#orce
%eo%le. 9oth are strong, but electricity is s%arkling, while Shi#a3energy is &ass, solid,
endurance, that kind of %ower. 'hen you hold a %e%3talk %eo%le feel strong. 'hen you add
so&e Shakti, %eo%le want acceleration, which is so&ething different. After Shakti inflow
%eo%le cannot sit still any&oreM they ha#e to go into action.
The e(%losion on the fire3le#el causes the legs to &o#e, which is ty%ical for Shi#a. <ot so
&uch the ar&s but the legs. Peo%le who beco&e reinforced get u% fro& their chair and walk
around a bit. 9ut %eo%le with Shakti3acceleration are &ore inclined to wa#e their hands and
talk rather than to &o#e their legs.
<ow you can understand that you actually %ro#ide guidance to %eo%le with these 0 Sa&ya&as,
and that they are co&%li&entary to each other.
At a certain %oint you will be able to reinforce or decelerate it yourself. That is also interestingJ
)ere we end u% in the field of &artial arts. You will not only be able to reinforce yourself, but
you can also influence your o%%onent:ene&y in this way. In the %ast you were close to your
ene&y, so that was easier. You would look to where his 9indus were and disturb his energy3
household. Sun TIu said about this: ,The best warrior is he who does not need to fight.. 5any
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%eo%le ha#e failed to understand this, but now we can see this fro& another angle, for the best
warrior is actually he who does not need to fight. Already fro& a distance he thinks: ,You are a
little bit too acti#e young &an. I think you are going to gi#e &e trouble. You are a little bit too
li#ely. You e#en see& to beco&e aggressi#eH You know whatH I will &ani%ulate your energy
in order to cool you down:to gain control o#er you..
You can also a%%ly this techni*ue to the ego of an ene&y, enlarging the ego. So, ty%ically for a
great warrior is that he tries to awaken the ego of the ene&y and &ake hi& angry, in order to
disturb his circulation so that he is not ready to react %ro%erly at the &o&ent that you will
indeed attack. This goes #ery far indeedJ 9y doing this you will be able to co&%letely %aralyIe
so&ebody at a certain %oint.
'e ha#e now arri#ed in high3tech warfare, not with electronics like the A&ericans do, but
using the Yin3Yang &odel insteadJ
"6! (hru)e 'ad Gati Jnanam
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on the %ole3star knowledge of their &o#e&ents.
'hat is the &eaning of +hru#eH It I not the %ole3star but the funda&ental law of &o#e&ent.
As a result of the %erfor&ance of Sa&ya&a u%on the funda&ental law of &o#e&ent you obtain
knowledge about &o#e&ent. 'hat does the funda&ental law of &o#e&ent entailH 'hen you
look at the %endulu& of a clock you can see it swinging. That is the funda&ental law of
&o#e&ent: it goes fro& left to right and back again. This is a funda&ental law. 'hen you
understand this &o#e&ent L e#ery hu&an being functioning cyclical: one ti&e Shi#a, one ti&e
Shakti =that is what you try to understand now> L you will e#entually obtain control o#er
&o#e&ent.
?irst you will obtain knowledge about &o#e&ent: you will know how so&eone is going to
beha#e:which cycle he is in. 6#erything corres%onds to a %attern of wa#es. At a certain %oint
you will be able to hel% %ut hi& in the right cycle or to sto% the cycles.
This is incredibly interesting L e#en more interesting than the %re#ious L because this enables
you to sto% all the cycles in you. You know that a being is in constant &otion. There are all
these %etals of the /akras, which all re%resent &o#e&ent. This all de%ends on Ear&a. It all
goes back and forward. ?ro& now on you engage yourself with this, which is an enor&ous
task. You beco&e aware, and you consider it &ore and &ore, until the &o&ent that, as a result
of the control that you ha#e based u%on the +i#ine L with the use of <irbija Sa&adhi L you
will bring these &o#e&ents to a standstill.
'hat is the use of bringing all &o#e&ent to a standstillH
Ff courseJ Arent you looking for Self3realiIationH Then what is At&an all aboutH Isnt that
about the neutraliIation of all these dualistic situationsH 'owJ +o you get itH 'e started with
Surya 9indu: to learn to control e(%ansion. Then we dealt with /andra 9indu: to learn to
2!!
understand the contractions. And now we are looking at the funda&ental law of &o#e&ent:
which is the %re#ious two together. 'ith the ai& to achie#e total control of &o#e&ent, in other
words, the installation of a standstill. /an you feel it co&ing closerH +o you re&e&ber where
we startedH 'hich SutrasH /ant you see the structureH Slowly but certainly we go dee%er and
dee%er, and increasingly &ore accurately.
There is wakeful3consciousness and there is slee%3consciousness. They are 0 &o#e&ents that
hu&an beings are subjected to. )ow do we deal with thatH You obser#e. 9ut because you
obser#e you neutraliIe it. 'hy do we ha#e to slee%H 'e slee% to recei#e Shi#a3energy. 'hat
do we do in the dayti&eH In the dayti&e we s%end a lot of Shakti3energy. 'hen you obser#e
this, and rein#orce this by obser#ation =with +i#ine energy>, you will auto&atically
co&%ensate e#erything and %ut e#erything in order:in Satt#a. As a result slee%ing and waking
will turn into a Satt#ic condition: You will not be acti#e any&ore in the dayti&e, but likewise
you will not slee% any&ore at night. The law of &o#e&ent will be under control.
This is co&&on knowledge in Yoga: at a certain %oint those %eo%le do not slee% any&oreM they
are in &editation all day long. There are e(ce%tions: suddenly they get u%, but only to do
so&ething that is really i&%ortant. And once it is done they go back and sit down, for 8 days.
9ut this is so&ething totally different fro& what we are used to. 'e ha1e our li#es to be li#ed
for us. 'e are occu%ied with nu&erous uni&%ortant things. 'e do not think things o#er. If
only we could deter&ine what is really i&%ortant in the %ast year, what has really been of
defining i&%ortance for our li#es in the %ast year. 'e %robably co&e to the conclusion that
there were only 1 such &o&ents that you had to do so&ething of real i&%ortance. And all the
rest G just being busy G You &ight as well not ha#e done that.
5aybe you can %re%are the ne(t Sutra yourself, because now you are starting to get it. Shine
your light on this. And arent you ha%%yH That you did not take this astrono&y courseH
&7! %abhi Ca/re -a+a $+uha Jnanam
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on the na#el centre knowledge of the organiIation of
the body.
This Sutra describes a Sa&ya&a e(ercise, which again is directly related with the %re#ious
ones. Through Sa&ya&a we ha#e seen our subtle body by checking the flow of energy co&ing
fro& Surya 9indu and /andra 9indu. As a result we ha#e each ti&e had a %artial #iew of the
subtle body. 9ecause of this we now ha#e the %ossibility of ha#ing a #iew of the whole by
focusing u%on 5ani%ura /hakra.
As a result of %re#ious e(ercises there is silence in the subtle body, a lot of Ear&a has been
burnt, and our aura, which was elli%tical, is &ore round now. In this e(ercise now it is
interesting to focus u%on the #ery &iddle %oint of all that ha%%ening, es%ecially the %oint of
gra#ity, because that is where the e(%losions take %lace, &eaning that the distribution of %ower
is taking %lace there. You can understand the whole body of energy because of this %ower
811
distribution. ?or e(a&%le: what do you do when you want to know a cityH You go to the center
of that city and you look at the buildings and in fact you do not know how to beha#e. So you
ha#e seen three streets and you conclude: ,I ha#e seen this city, %lease show &e the ne(t one..
In fact you did not see anything at all. The right way to look at a city is to look at the %ower
%oints of that city. A city has #arious %ower %oints. The &ost interesting %oint of A&sterda& is
the /entral Station. If you want to understand the city you start at the station: there is a lot of
energy going round and there are &asses of %eo%le, s%reading all o#er the city. You follow the
flow of %eo%le and as a result you will learn to understand the city. You will go through the
&ain streets. You will go to the @eidse%lein, which is another %ower %oint of the city and also a
cultural %oint.
This is the way to understand a city, so what can we do to understand a hu&an beingH You
focus on the %ower %oint=s> of that being, or you ask that being a nu&ber of *uestions to find
out where his interests lie. Then when you see that he is awakening because you touched u%on
so&e certain %oints you can start to understand this being. Ftherwise you will not be able to
know that being.
+r. Shar&a was a #ery great Yogi who ca&e to hel% &e in A&sterda&. I was trying to
understand this &an and how he was working. I asked hi& a lot of *uestions to which he
always ga#e beautiful re%lies, but I still could not understand the &an. Then one day, when we
walked through the city, I said to hi&: ,Todays lesson is finished. @ets go to a stri%tease.. In
a fraction of a second I saw a s%arkle in his eyes and fro& that &o&ent on I knew hi&. ?ro&
that &o&ent on I understood hi&. That is what this Sutra is about: 'here is the %ower %ointH If
you can find it you can understand the whole functioning of a being.
<aturally it is 5ani%ura /hakra what we are talking about. Sa&ya&a with a focus on this %oint
will gi#e you the o%%ortunity to ha#e a #ery dee% %erce%tion and see all the different le#els
together, together with the coherence of the being. 'hy were we unable to do this beforeH 'e
were unable to do this because there was not enough %eaceM first you ha#e tried to a%%roach the
%roble& with Surya and /handra 9indu. Surya 9indu showed us the acti#ity of this %erson,
and /handra 9indu showed us how he is fed. Then the %eace resulting fro& this a%%roach is
needed to understand the distribution of energy. You can only ha#e a clear %erce%tion of the
s%reading of energy when the condition is rather %eaceful.
&! -antha -upe -shut Pipasa %i)rttih
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on the gullet the cessation of hunger and thirst.
This is a #ery nice story: It was about 4 years ago that I ca&e across so&e co&&ercial =5akro
?ood Store> ad#ertising a tri% to Ner&any. It was a chea% tri% to a big hotel and a lot of
co&fort. ?ood and drinks were free and you could consu&e as &uch as you wanted. I in#ited
&y wife to go on this tri%. 'e went with the car. It was a wonderful short #acation. I brought
the $%anishads with &e, a fa&ous Yoga book. I was reading this book when I ca&e across a
Sutra that said: ,A hu&an being in his for&er condition of half Nod, Dira, ca&e into
&anifestation because of desire, and suddenly hunger and thirst occurred.. This describes that
81
subtle desire ca&e into &an and as a result hunger and thirst occurred. 9ecause of that he
&anifested as a hu&an being. It es%ecially struck &e because this Sutra of Patanjali is telling
us e(actly the o%%osite. )ere it is said that when you %erfor& Sa&ya&a on the throat there is
no hunger and thirst any&ore. I i&&ediately understood that here the way back to our for&er
condition was described. So I %racticed this e(ercise: the %resence of a lo#ed being, the
realiIation of Nod, followed by Sa&ya&a on the throat. As a result I entered the dining roo&
where there was a lot of food and drinks and I was not hungry or thirsty any&ore. I looked at
&y wife who was eating and drinking and I beca&e frustrated. +o not %erfor& this Sa&ya&a
when you want to enjoy food G Since that day &y a%%etite and thirst ha#e di&inished #ery
&uch. I a& #ery ha%%y that I a& on the #erge of beco&ing a Nod3&an.
)ow is this %ossibleH The condition of Dishuddhi /akra is the &ost Satt#ic. The energy of
Dishuddhi /akra is in fact the %ri&ary condition of energy, which is Satt#a. <ow, after all the
%re#ious Sa&ya&as, the %ossibility arises to get rid of all dishar&onies and to clean u%. This
is also the &eaning of the na&e of this /akra: ,Shud. &eans ,cleansing:%urifying., and ,Di.
&eans ,&ore., i&%lying that this is the /akra where &ore cleansing takes %lace. That is what
is ha%%ening in this Sa&ya&a. <ow you are cleaning and finaliIing the condition of your being
on this le#el. 6#ery ti&e you go a little ste% further in this %rocess.

&"! -urma %ad+am Sthair+am
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on the 8urma/3adi steadiness.
<ow there is the need to confir&, to &ake your control of Satt#a steady. To do this you &ake
the functioning of 5ani%ura /akra co&%atible with the functioning of Ajna /akra. That is
what Eur&a3<adi is about. Eur&a is in fact a turtle. This &eans that by connecting those two
/hakras, &aking the& co&%atible, you obtain the steadiness of the turtle. This &eans that you
are so co&%atible on those two le#els that you beco&e able to &anifest into worldly &atters
=%ut into %ractice> whate#er it is that you ha#e in your &ind. ?or e(a&%le: You realiIe that you
ha#e a %roble& with drying clothes in your house. You see in your &ind a fra&e installed
abo#e the flight of stairs and ne(t to your bathroo&. Then gradually you #isualiIe it and you
start constructing the fra&e with wood and screws and you just build it. Peo%le look at you
saying that they thought you would not be able to do anything like this, thinking that you ha#e
two left hands. It is so ingenious: you %ull a ro%e and the whole rack goes u% where the clothes
can dryJ Yes, it is because I ha#e Eur&a3<adi. 'hen I ha#e so&ething in &y head, it
auto&atically beco&es realiIed. +o you understand the connectionH 5any %eo%le can think
things out and #isualiIe things, but they are not able to %ut it into %ractice.
Another function of Eur&a3<adi is that when you are %hysically engaged to &entally control
your %hysical acti#ity, to understand &entally what your body in fact is doing. This is about
running, fighting and doing a lot of things with your body, while at the sa&e ti&e checking all
this &entally and understand it as a result of that. 5any %eo%le who are %hysically oriented do
not ha#e this connection, so they are unable to do so&ething intelligent. They always need to
ask other %eo%le what to do ne(t. This is the big dra&a of the sla#e. )e will ne#er beco&e a
&aster if he goes on like this. 9ecause of this 20
nd
Sutra you will now beco&e a &aster of
810
yourself: Sa&ya&a u%on Eur&a3<adi. As a result of this e(ercise your whole being beco&es
&ore steady and confident. You know that when you ha#e it in your head that it will
&aterialiIe and that when you ha#e it in your body you will understand it.
This all is only theoretical understanding. I urge you to e(%eri&ent with the Sa&ya&as in
%ractice.
&&! 8urdha J+otishi Siddha (arsanam
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama on> the light under the crown of the head #ision of
%erfected beings.
'hat is this light under the crownH It is Ajna /akra, but Ajna /akra in har&ony. It is the light
of the forehead3/akra.
'ho is looking at this lightH :hat inside you looks at the light of your Ajna /akraH It is your
+i#ine eye, which is actually the fire ele&ent in your crown center. +oes this &ean that we are
at the end of the subtle bodyH ?or now you are actually looking at the subtle body. You are
now looking at the &ost %ro&inent %ro%ulsion &echanis& of the subtle body, which is Ajna
/akra. And you obser#e it. And by cal&ly continuing to obser#e it light will a%%ear in it.
I thought the crown /akra was %art of the subtle body. +oes the abo#e &ean that it is on causal
le#elH
Yes, it is indeed on causal le#el. The crown /akra is on causal le#el: The third eye is on subtle
le#el, but the +i#ine eye is on causal le#el.
Still I thought that the crown /akra was also a %art of the subtle le#elG
Taking the Yin3Yang &odel into consideration, you can indeed find %art of the crown /akra on
subtle le#el.
?or a long ti&e I ha#e been searching for an e(%lanation for this Sutra. At a certain &o&ent it
beca&e self3e#ident. I had always been #ery close, but the reality was so &uch si&%ler than I
had e#er thought %ossible. You do not obtain #isions o# ade%ts, as is e(%lained by Tai&ni in
this Sutra. Instead you obtain the #ision of the ade%ts. That is so&ething funda&entally
different. So you do not see the ade%ts, as his original translation suggests, but you obtain the
sa&e #isionary %owers as the ade%ts.
+oes this &ean that you will be able to see what they seeH
Yes, e(actly. That is so&ething different, and it is co&&ensurate with &y e(%lanation.
812
Bust think about how cle#er this is: you are asked to look at the light under the crown G hint,
hint, hint G so, Ajna /akra G but it can only be seen when you indeed work fro& the crownJ
So, you do as such, and you say: ,)ey, I see light o#er thereJ. You see this light, but it is an
indication that you are installing har&ony all o#er the subtle body, and that you gain total
control there: Enowledge first, then %ower. 9ut at the sa&e ti&e, in this %rocess, you ha#e
&o#ed your consciousness to causal le#elM so, you use your realiIation of your subtle body as a
&eans to enter the causal body. 'here on earth did this co&e fro&HJ It all fitsJ You can only
realiIe so&ething L really realiIe it, really totally controlling so&ething L when you stand
beside:outside of it.
This &ethod co&es back all the ti&e. 'e learned that this &ethod is used to realiIe the gross
body. <ow we use it to realiIe the subtle body, and later we will use it to realiIe the causal
body. It is all done in the sa&e way. 'e learned all this in the Science of Soul.
)ow do we a%%ly this for the realiIation of the causal bodyH 'e do that by looking fro&
At&an. In the sa&e we will one day realiIe At&an itself, by looking fro& Purusha. Also
Purusha can be realiIed L one day L by looking fro& Prakriti, fro& 9rah&an. Then we will
fully realiIe the difference between Purusha and Prakriti. It is as si&%le as that. So delete the
word ,#ision. in the Sutra and re%lace it by ,sight..
<ow we ha#e arri#ed at causal le#el, and to be sure of this we ha#e the 28
th
Sutra:
&*! Pratibhad $a Sar)am
=Enowledge of> e#erything fro& intuition.
Suddenly you notice that you ac*uire knowledge of which you think: ,)ey, how a& I
su%%osed to know thisHJ I ha#e ne#er e#en learned anything about it., but at the sa&e ti&e you
ha#e the distinct con#iction that you !no$:that it is the un&istakable truth.
'hat kind of *ualification do you need for thisH <one. Then who do you think you are to say
that it is the truthH ,I a& only &e, but I know: this is how it is.. It beco&es a little bit scary
when, e#ery ti&e when you say so&ething like this, you a%%ear to be right. Then you will say:
,'hy do we need all those schoolsH 'hy do we need all those di%lo&asH. This is the result of
ha#ing arri#ed at the 28
th
Sutra: you ha#e worked your way u% to where your consciousness is,
functioning fro& your crown /akra, and you can e(%lore all those Sa&skaras indiscri&inately
L which all together constitute the knowledge =Ear&a is knowledge:infor&ation>.
)ow do you use intuiti#e knowledgeH
Fne: by not thinking.
Two: by e&%hasiIing obser#ation.
/onstantly obser#e, e#erything, and in the silence that occurs as a result you %ay attention to
all the recognitions that occur. And when you e(%erience sudden ins%iration L a sudden
out%our: ,huh, what is thisH. L you follow u% on it, because it is worthwhile. It contains
something that you ha1e to act u%on.
818
'hen you are in big trouble or when you want to sol#e big %roble&s, you &ust stop thinking
and do this. And then you wait. And then it will comeJ And you will be astonished, saying:
,This is e(actly what I need, and it ca&e to &e just like thatJ. And in your foolishness you will
doubt yourself, because of the &ental a%%roach to your u%bringing. You were told that the
&ind is the boss and that thinking is e#erything. ?orget itJ 9ecause it is for the %ri&iti#es:the
fourth race. 'e are now working towards the fifth. ]ber&enschen )itler called it G %ardon
&e G so&eti&es I &ake a little sli%.
I started to reorganiIe &y life in accordance with all this. 5y wife is aware of that. She says:
,There are a nu&ber of things we could do. This, and this, and this. )ow do you thinkH 'hat
shall we doH. So&eti&es I re%ly: ,<othing at all.. Fr suddenly I will say: ,'ell, lets do this..
Actually you are connecting with the +i#ine knowledge.
Yes, and life beco&es so &uch easier as a result, and so self3e#ident.
Is all the knowledge %resentH
All knowledge.
This also a%%lies to %eo%le: you look at %eo%le, and bang G you %lace the& G i&&ediately.
You know what they need. You know where they are going. You know what they are about.
You know their backgrounds. You know e#erything.
'hat would you do when so&ebody in the street assaulted youH 'ould you just let the&H
It si&%ly would not ha%%en, for you are %re%ared for these kinds of situation on forehand. You
see, and you are also able to alter direction of these kinds of things. Fnce again it is the ga&e
of knowledge to start with. And the result of knowledge is %ower. You see all the world e#ents
L #arious tendencies:de#elo%&ents L and you alter so&ething to the& as soon as it is bothering
you. You si&%ly %ush it into another direction. <othing will ha%%en to you if you dont want it
to ha%%en.
So you let hi& assault so&eone elseH
<o, you transfor& it. 'e learned about the Parina&as: transfor&ation. Fr you add a wish,
causing the situation to change. )owe#er, this will cause a new co&%lication: na&ely that you
recei#e &ore res%onsibilities, for when you ha#e thoughts that are not *uiet a%%ro%riate, other
%eo%le could be da&aged by it. 6#en you could be da&aged by it.
Your thought turns into a wishH
Your thoughts are auto&atically wishesJ Actually it is beco&ing increasingly dangerous.
9eware of jokes at this le#el. You look out of your window, at the lady ne(t door, and you
say:think: ,G h&& G se(y neighbor G. and suddenly she is standing on your doorste%, ehH
81"
9ut she should be able to feel this tooH
Ff course she feels it tooJ Your thoughts ha#e an enor&ous %ower, with the result that she $ill
co&e.
<ot knowing why G
9ut she does not know why. She would %robably think: ,@ets ha#e a cu% of coffee with the
neighbor..
Dia /itta there is the %ossibility to go to Sa&asti /itta, the /os&ic &e&ory. You can co&%are
this with the connection of your co&%uter with the Internet, or the &ainfra&e. At the &o&ent
you do not know so&ething, or when you thin! you do not know, you o%en yourself e#en
&ore, resulting in the connection with the cos&os. This is %ossible because you %ossess a
certain resonance:sy&%athy. If only your wish is strong enough, it will co&e fro& far and
wide, and it $ill be there.
Aecently I saw a %rogra& on TD about 5arco Polo. 5any %eo%le said that he was a liar. They
doubted all the riches that he clai&ed to ha#e seen on his journeys through /hina. So&e %erson
&ade the sa&e journey, in accordance with 5arco Polos descri%tions, to #erify the #eracity of
his clai&s. )e wanted to know for certain. )e should not ha#e done that, because I ha#e
known 5arco Polo for ages, and e#erything he told is true. 'here do I get this wisdo&H 'ell,
with this e(orbitantly e(%ensi#e e(%edition this %erson %ro#ed that all the bits of infor&ation
were rightJ I did not &ake this journey. I also did not do the research. Still, fro& the beginning,
I had this con#iction: this is right. That is this. $sing this would ha#e sa#ed a lot of work and
e(%enses.
)owe#er, you &ust not forget L which is what ' do 3 to try to rationaliIe and to find out: why
would this be rightH You &ust try to gi#e hands and feet to what you feel, and reduce it to
thought. This is the only way nor&al hu&an beings can understand you, for it is a little bit
difficult when you are calling out in the desert. The chance that you co&&it #iolence is
considerable. That is why in Yoga we say: ,e#en though you %ossess all this =knowledge>, kee%
it to yourself.. As long as you are not able to rationaliIe it you &ust not &ention itJ )owe#er,
this does not eli&inate the fact that it does indeed deter&ine your life. 0ou know. 0ou are
&o#ing in that direction. If it were only for you, you would not need to rationaliIe it.
This is how you recogniIe a successful Yoga %ractitioner: he has the ability to e(%lain #ery
co&%le( &atters in #ery short %hrases. The &ore concise he is able to e(%lain, the higher his
le#el.
+o you re&e&ber the story of the &aster who could a%%ear and disa%%ear at willH To the
*uestion %osed by his %u%il, +r. Shar&a: ,'hat is the causal bodyH. he si&%ly answered:
,Ignorance.
814
Ignorance. )ow do you co&e to understand your causal bodyH Try doing an effort. ?or once
and for all sto% thinking. )ow can you use ignorance to co&e to the realiIation of the causal
bodyH You do that by obser#ing your ignorance. 'here is your ignorance locatedH At long last,
by obser#ing your ignorance, you will end u% G whereH At causal le#elJ There is no other
way. ?or ignorance is caused by your Ear&a. Fr notH You will realiIe your
i&%erfection:foolishness:stu%idity, and as a result you will gradually co&e to knowledge, to
start with. 9y obser#ing your knowledge L which also continuously can be #iewed as a for& of
ignorance, for you think you know, but actually you do not know, because you ha#e a lot of
i&agination =then you look at that i&agination, which is ignorance> L and as you reali(e &ore,
and you continue to realiIe that you %ossess Dikal%a, you will e#entually end u% in <ir#ikal%a.
This is a result of your relentless obser#ation, and e#entually all beco&es Satt#a in you, for
obser#ation &eans installing Satt#a in you. There is no other way than that you $ill e#entually
e(%erience <ir#ikal%a Sa&adhiJ 'hen that ha%%ens you are si&%ly in your causal body. 9angJ
And then you will say: ,Fh G well G now I a& here G. That was what you wanted, wasnt
itHJ To e(%lain all this to you I need nu&erous books:doIens of classesJ
/ausal bodyH Ignorance.
<ow you can understand the &ethodology of the Sutras. They are for&ulas that work this
way: A cou%le of words in a certain conte(t, causing a shock. Pay attention, do not think too
&uchM #eel instead. At a certain %oint it will cause nu&erous things to awaken in you: intuition,
ins%iration. And you will ha#e it. And none of those %eo%le who inter%reted:translated all this
ha#e done it in this way. <e#ertheless, this is the only and right way to do it. There are doIens
of inter%retations of the Sutras, of which one is e#en worse than the otherJ I ha#e an entire
collection of the&. If I would e#er choose to be de%ressed, I would dig into these. And as a
result I will notice &ankinds foolishness. 'hile it is all so si&%le. Fr does what I e(%lain
sound difficultH It is as %lain as the nose on your face.
;o$ do you know that you are rightH )ow can you be certain that I a& not %ulling you a legH
'hat is your intuition telling youH You actually know. The thought that I would be %ulling you
a leg does not e#en appear in youJ At least G you ne#er know G 9ut when it is right, it
si&%ly hits youM you #eel it. Then you say: ,Yes G damn, yes G why didnt I think of this
mysel#HJ.
9ut there are %eo%le who %roclai& this about the Eoran, clai&ing that it is the absolute truth.
'ho is denying thisH )a#e you studied the EoranH The Eoran is a holy scri%tureJ You &ust
take it #ery serious. It has been written in the sa&e way as this book. )owe#er, you &ust %ay
attention to its translators. You should always try to read its original te(ts, and not the
translations. Ff course it is difficult to read Arabic, but then you &ust si&%ly try to get hold of
a translation that co&es as close to the original te(t as %ossible. That is the solution. You &ust
be 1ery careful with all those #arious inter%retations. As I said before: it is si&%ly de%ressing.
?ro& now on do not belie#e anybody any&ore. All liars. All false teachers. 'hen you are able
to work fro& the intuition, you focus directly on the original te(ts. Fr you use those
81C
translations that co&e as close as %ossible to the origins. Then you &ake your own translations,
and they will differ considerably fro& what is written so far.
About the gos%els: 6#erybody who Besus knew was thrown out, and the gos%els of the 9ible
were all written afterwards. Those gos%els that are not included in the 9ible are #ery &uch like
Yoga.
Yes. 9ut you can read the nor&al gos%els in the sa&e way. Then you will see that it touches
you in your heart.
9ut e#en then it is strongly distorted.
Yes, they ha#e been desecrated, but it is %ossible to see through that when you use the original
te(ts instead of the co&&ents on the&.
'hat &akes &e sad is the new 9ible as we now ha#e it. The chance that they desecrated it
again is considerable. If only %ossible, take a 9ible as old as you can find it, I would al&ost
say in Ara&aic, and try to figure it out. Fr take one written in old Nreek. You will see that
there are considerable differences. This is a &oti#ation to learn the old languages, for I think
that out of all the liars the %hilologists =language s%ecialists> are the biggest liars of all.
&,! <rda+e Citta Sam)it
=9y %erfor&ing Samyama> on the heart, awareness of the nature of the &ind.
In this Sutra Tai&ni translates /itta as ,the nature of the &ind., so %ay attention to this. It is in
fact a si&%le one that you can understand right away: your attention goes es%ecially to the
heart. 'e can also take the %hysical heart. Dia the %hysical heart you will co&e to the heart
/akra, and #ia the heart /akra you will co&e to Dikal%a Taru /akra, which will then bring you
to the crown /akra. As a result you will arri#e at the le#el of Aha&kara, 9uddhi, and /itta and
it will gi#e you an o%%ortunity to learn to know /itta.
This Sutra &entions the &ind, but when I think about the heart, I i&&ediately think about
e&otional #alue, or intuition.
Yes, but that is because of Tai&nis %oor translation.
So it is about /itta after allH
Yes: ,)rdaye /itta Sa&#it.. 5e&ory. It is often translated as ,&ind3&atter., but we translated
it into ,&e&ory.. It is a causal function L so, a local %heno&enon of the causal #ibration in
Satt#a, creating the o%%ortunity for the &e&ory3function to &anifest. )ow do you learn to
know thisH )ow can you understand thisH You can do that by e(%eriencing it, and the entrance
to that is the heart. Swa&i Yogesh#arananda Saras#ati %ointed out re%eatedly in his work
817
Science of Soul that you can co&e in through the heart, and then e(%erience /itta. It is easy,
isnt itH 'e ha#e learned about this long before.
)ow do you e(%erience /ittaH 'hat do you feel when you are in /ittaH @o#eH BoyH 9lissH You
will feel peaceJ Satt#a.
9uddhi is Satt#a, isnt itH
<o. 9uddhis nature is Aajas. )owe#er, in addition to this Aajas, Satt#a, Aajas and Ta&as can
a%%ear on to% of it. 9ut the 9uddhi %heno&enon is an e(%anding %heno&enon. If on to% of that
you add Aajas, you will ha#e those bulges. /ittas nature is Satt#a. The &e&ory3function is
%ossible as a result of that. The for& of the i&%ressions re&ains the sa&e: %eace.
9ut we also know it as a feeling of sheer being, therefore the e(ercise of As&ita Sa&adhi =the
Sa&adhi of sheer being>. As&ita Sa&adhi is ty%ical for the e(ercise we used to learn about
/itta. 'hat is the difference with this oneH It is a Samyama e(ercise and not a Sa&adhi. That is
the big difference. It is as if you co&%are a bicycle L Sa&adhi L with a racing car L Sa&ya&a.
Sa&ya&a is a racing car, for you are using +i#ine energy. The obser#ation3ca%acity is
considerably larger than in Sa&adhi. As a result you can really e(%erience /itta in this
e(ercise. 9ecause of this higher intensity of e(%erience, you will realiIe itM the idea of /itta
will beco&e concrete for you. That is what realiIation is about. @ook, realiIation is not a
&atter of stroking it a little bit and saying: ,)ey, I feel %eacefulG oh yeahG thats /ittaJ. It is
like flying o#er it and 8" &inutes later you ha#e forgotten it. In contrast, an intense e(%erience
will always re&ain with you. You will ne#er forget it. That is a realiIation. So, a Sa&ya&a
used for study %ur%oses %ro#ides a total realiIation of /itta. This &eans that you will see the
relations of /itta, that you will see the i&%ortance of /itta and that you will see:feel the
disturbances of /itta. 9ut what will you gain fro& it once you ha#e obtained thisH Your gain
will be that you obtained control o#er /ittaM that /itta has co&e under total control thanks to
this Sa&ya&a. Fo%sJ That is interestingJ 9ecause this &eans that you ha#e gained control o#er
the &ost difficult %art of the causal body. In the 2"
th
SutraJ Arent we &aking %rogressH It is
like &ountain cli&bing: secure, new gri%, re3secure, fi(, secure, cli&b. So, this is a
consolidation of e#erything we ha#e done so far.
+o you use the heart as an entrance to your causal bodyH
Yes, that is certainly the &essage. 'hen talking about /itta, he is actually also talking about
9uddhi and Aha&kara. )e is saying: ,Dia the heart you will gain understanding of /itta.. And
when you gain understanding of /itta, you auto&atically understand the other two, for while
obser#ing /itta, you see that it changes its ca%acity #ery swiftly, and then you also
auto&atically notice the &o&ent he turns into Aha&kara, when he is 9uddhi, and when he is
/itta. You beco&e ac*uainted with all three facets. Therefore it is a control techni*ue of the
entire causal body, which is a necessity to reach the 24
th
Sutra, which is the to%:


&0! Satt)a Purusha+or At+antasam/irna+oh Prat+a+a $isesho 4hogah
Pararthat S)artha Sam+amat Purusha Jnanam
81!
6(%erience is the result of inability to distinguish between the Purusha and the
Satt1a though they are absolutely distinct. Enowledge of the Purusha results
fro& Samyama on the Self3interest =of the Purusha> a%art fro& anothers interest
=of Pra!rti>.
The translation of this Sutra is 1ery %oor indeed. It is actually saying that as long as you are
engaged in e(%erience, you ha#ent understood a thing. 5any students ask &e: ,+ont we li#e
to e(%erienceH. I assu&e that is e(actly what you think, tooH
'e wouldnt dare to think like thatJ
Yes, now you do not dare any&oreG
'hat is e(%erienceH 6(%erience &eans that you are absorbed into an action, e#ent. Yoga is
trying to &ake you understand that you should let go of e(%erience, and that you &ust co&e to
total obser#ation of the source itsel#. It is this source that is the difference between /itta and
Satt#a =the highest Satt#a> and Purusha =the soul>, and at that %oint you ought not to ha#e
e(%erience any&ore at all, for it obscures e#erything and you will not be able to distinguish
any&ore. Therefore you &ust ha#e absolute silence in you. Su%re&e %ower of discri&ination L
Di#eka Ehyati L will enable you to %ercei#e the subtle difference, in a sense of: ,there is
so&ething else than what I felt to be /itta.. Futside of it there is so&ething else, which is also
related to &y being. It is such a conclusion. )owe#er, nor&al %eo%le ne#er get to this because
they are constantly occu%ied with so&ethingJ They are occu%ied with e(%erience. So, sto%
e(%erienceJ
Arent we engaged in e(%eriencing so&ething at this #ery &o&entH
That is trueM it is the ulti&ate e(%erience. 'ell, then sto% the nor&al e(%erience to &ake roo&
for the ulti&ate e(%erience. Fnly then you will notice that you co&e back to e(%erience. Then
you will play with the nor&al e(%erience, instead of being fooled by it, as ha%%ens to nor&al
%eo%le. 'hyH 9ecause you ha#e seen the source of it, you ha#e seen what
feeds:&o#es:establishes the e(%eriences and the ga&e of the e(%eriences.
Is that At&anH
It is abo#e At&an. 'ell, Purusha and At&an G it is difficult to &ake a distinction. @et us say
that it is the sa&e. 9ut then suddenly you notice that that is %resent too. Tat Aha& As&i. /itta
in Satt#a is &ore fa&iliar. It is that silence:%eace:sense of %eace. It is tangible:describable. 9ut
what is beyond:outside of it, what you so&ehow feel e(ists, is not the same, but so&ething
di##erent. 'hat is itH You cannot na&e it. +oes it ha#e a for&H <o, it does not ha#e a for&. It
is transient. It is e#erywhere. It is always. The only thing you feel is that it is #ery i&%ortant.
So&ething in you tells you that it is #ery i&%ortant:that it all re#ol#es around it. It is ulti&ate
refine&ent, which is impossible if there is &o#e&ent anywhere. And any e(%erience is
acco&%anied by &o#e&ent.
81
So&e %eo%le tell &e: ,Yes, but I &editate while walking:I &editate while working:I &editate
while G. you na&e it. To which my reaction is: ,You do not &editate at all. You do nothing
at all. You realiIe nothing at all. You are not %rogressing. You ha#e a big arrogant face, for
you think that this is %ossible. No ahead. I will lea#e you alone. I do not want to ha#e any of
this.. It is impossible. It is only %ossible with total silence. It is like an o%tical instru&ent you
use to look at the stars. It has to be so incredibly clean, and stable, and %laced on a solid
foundation. <othing should &o#e. Then you look through it and you say: ,)ey, I can see
so&ething.. 9ut the slightest occurrence of #ibration will &ake it fall a%art, and as a result you
will not see anything any&ore.
The Sa&ya&a e(ercise that can hel% you in this res%ect is the Sa&ya&a on the interest of the
Self, regardless of the i&%ortance of anything else. The interest of the Self is actually the reach
of the energy of the Self. So, you will look where Satt#a and Purusha are, and where the
distinction between the two is. As a result you will obtain that realiIation of this what is
indescribable. You will, e#entually, co&e to the conclusion that the only tool to describe:na&e
this is so&ething di##erent than what is e1en beyond that. It is like as if you can &easure:feel
the li&its of your energy reach, and feel where you are not. 'hen I feel the reach of &y At&an
G well G lets say that it is about 01 kilo&eters in circu&ference, a radius of 01 kilo&eter
around &e. 9ut not 21 kilo&eters: I feel that &y At&an does not reach that far.
Thanks to the Sa&ya&a on all this L on the difference between Satt#a and Purusha L you will
obtain an increasingly refined obser#ation, and you will also ha#e that feeling: ,5y being is
%resent u% to there.. The first ti&e I noticed this %heno&enon was when a #isiting lecturer
fro& SwitIerland, +r. Shar&a, ca&e to our school. I #elt that he was entering the country. Ff
course it was not my aura, so it &ust ha#e been his that was %al%able. The energy was so
strongJ And I was not the only one who felt it, for &y dog felt it too. 6#en a dog can feel thisJ
Ten &inutes before the &an a%%eared at the door of our school in A&sterda&, &y dog crawled
o#er the floor in the direction of the door, softly crying. She ne#er did this beforeJ It only
ha%%ened when this &an ca&e to #isit us.
+ogs si&%ly feel this. They can also feel it when their owner is about to co&e ho&e.
Thats it. You can do that too.
Fnce I indeed felt so&ebody G he was standing ne(t to &e, so to s%eak G
You felt thatH 'hen you can feel so&ebody else you si&%ly ha#e to %ay attention. Then try to
feel also how far your reach is. This is so&ething co&%letely different fro& identification with
the %hysical body. ?or that is the big %roble&: with our stu%id &ind we constantly identify:
,this =%hysical body> is &e.. This is too %ri&iti#e. 6#en scientists know that a hu&an being
has an electro&agnetic fieldJ )ow can you think you are only a %hysical bodyH And your
thoughts are in your brain, huhHJ You stu%idJ <o, no G #eel G and this is the techni*ue to do
that. You are alert to this. You %ay attention to it. You try to see so&ewhere there, using this
Sa&ya&a, fueled by this +i#ine energy, using the %resence of a lo#ed one as the third ele&ent
of the trinity, and you accelerate the energy G and suddenly you beco&e so subtle that you
say: ,'ell G indeed I ha#e the i&%ression that I a& filling this roo& G. In the beginning it is
8
not so big, but with ti&e, when you build &ore and &ore har&ony, it beco&es bigger. You will
beco&e 5ahat&a, a great soul, which is a title in Yoga.
You can feel this too. 'hen you ha#e so&e attention for a %erson, you can feel that %erson.
6#erybody can feel this. It could be 211 kilo&eters. If you ha#e any interest, you will be able
to do this, and you can a%%ly this to e#erybody you ha#e an interest in.
Pay attention: the causal body is faster than ti&e. At&an. You are there. You are there, while
also being here. This %rocess is incredibly fast. So a 5ahat&a takes u% a large chunk of the
uni#erse with his %resence.
9ut this has nothing to do with the 24
th
SutraH
That is this. Fkay, there are so&e gross #ibrations that you cannot see:feel. There are
gradations. This is the highest:subtlest le#el. A hu&an is like a cloud: the closer you get, the
&ore condensed =and slower> the energy. As you go outward &ore and &ore, the faster and the
&ore rarefied the energy is, but also stronger.
You &ust tune3in on that le#el L that is the key. 'hen you are unsus%ecting, you will not
notice it. 9ut when you &ake it really *uiet inside, and %ay attention to those high le#els, you
will say: ,)ey, there is something G. That is the beginning of it. 9ut it is only %ossible when
you do not feel any i&%ortance any&ore towards any e(%erience. 'hen you flourish in silence,
in doing nothing. 'hen doing nothing is the &ost i&%ortant in life. 'hyH So you can obser#e
this. And that this leads you to the conclusion: ,BeeI G wait a &inute G I ne#er e(%ected thisJ
G.
'hen I a& acti#e I do not feel anything. Fnly when I a& not acti#e a& I able to notice this.
9ut then I a& engaged in soul3growth. As long as I a& acti#e, I affect &y soul, for the
interaction L action:reaction L is not conduci#e for &y de#elo%&ent towards soul3
consciousness. 'hat is soulH Satt#aJ It does not tolerate Aajas and Ta&as. To %ut it another
way: the solution to the %roble& is to use Aajas and Ta&as to co&e to Satt#a. Then when you
use it and you are in Satt#a, you are doneJ After this you do not ha#e to start againM you used it
according to its %ur%ose. 9ut %eo%le are idiots: they continue to re%eat the sa&e blunders again
and again. 5y brother still goes out on Saturday night, for he still thinks it is i&%ortant to do
that. I cannot understand this. It is i&%rinted that on Saturday he has to go out, and that is how
it is su%%osed to be. I used Saturday nights to find a wo&an. <ow that I found her it is fine. I
do not ha#e to go out any&ore. <ow I ha#e other things to do at that ti&e. I co&e to a
conclusion, then a ste% further, then another conclusion, and another ste% further. As a result
there is &ore and &ore har&ony. Increasingly &ore. Slow and steady, as long as you go
towards har&onyJ Then all the things you ha#e done ha#e not been in #ain. You &ust use the
e(%erience, but you &ust not be used by the e(%erience.
It is si&%ly your +har&a G
This is +har&a. It is the %ath of +har&a. You acce%t:use e#erything that &atches with you as
an e(%erience. 9ut you do not do all kinds of things si&%ly because there are so &any things
80
left to do in this world, for that is consu&%ti#e beha#ior. It is %ure desire, the downfall of
hu&an kind.
So the fluctuations between Aajas and Ta&as should be beco&e less #iolentH
That is it.
And you can see the function of Sa&ya&a in this %rocess: it is a 1ery i&%ortant to% class3
e(ercise to hel% you deal su&&arily with e#erything, through obser#ation.
As far as I a& concerned you can read the e(%lanation in the book. It is acco&%anied by a
stu%id drawing =%age 227>.
)ow do you know that you ha#e succeededH 'hen you say: ,I succeeded.H
9y reading the 2C
th
Sutra:
&1! 'atah Pratibha Sra)ana $edanadarsas)ada)arta Ja+ante
Thence are %roduced intuitional hearing, touch, sight, taste and s&ell.
'hen you ha#e correctly %racticed the Sa&ya&a on the Self3interest, a%art fro& anothers
interest, you obtain intuitional senses. 'e call the& +i#ine senses.
'hat is the difference between ,clear.3senses =as in clair#oyance> and +i#ine sensesH The
,clear.3senses are faster than light, while the +i#ine senses are faster than ti&e. So intuiti#e
hearing &eans that you are able to hear all kinds of %ossible things si&ultaneously.
I ha#e had a nu&ber of e(%eriences of this kind, like when I told you about seeing the 2111
Sanskrit words: I heard the& #ery clearlyM se%arate and still at the sa&e ti&e. This is an
e(a&%le of +i#ine sight:hearing.
/lear senses are faster than light L a constant L but it is hard to i&agine that +i#ine senses are
faster than ti&e G does this &ean that e#erything ha%%ens at the sa&e ti&eH
It does not ha%%en all at the sa&e ti&eM it ha%%ens each on its own le#el. 9ut the %erce%tion of
it is such that you can nicely %ack it and deli#er it at the sa&e ti&e.
9ut this is so hard to fatho& G
?or e(a&%le: A &o#ie is &ade u% of different i&ages. )owe#er, you %ercei#e the& as one in
the for& of the fil& you are watching. You can see this reel of fil& as a whole, standing before
you, containing all those thousands of i&ages. You can see straight through its bo(, without
watching the &o#ie, reading in a way its i&%ressions. So you do not stay with the Drttis, the
thoughts, the i&ages, but you scan the i&%ressions enabling you to go so fast.
82
Is this what ha%%ens to %eo%le who see their li#es %ass by in a flashH
There is a relationshi%. It is the difference between analog and digital. Analog is ty%ical for the
real& of thought, while digital is ty%ical for the causal world. They are electric currents
=analog> and no electric currents =digital>.
'hat is intuiti#e s&ellingH
Intuiti#e s&elling is the ability to s&ell all kinds of s&ells si&ultaneously. This also a%%lies to
the taste, for e(a&%le when you intuiti#ely %ick a bottle of wine in the su%er&arket. 'hat is
the ad#antage of thisH 'erent we su%%osed to go to hea#enHJ <ow we are in the wine
de%art&ent againJ
The ad#antage of this is that you do not need e(%erience any&ore.
YesJ Play with and use the &atter, in order to learn how to use your consciousness at the
highest %ossible le#el, and that you try to lea#e all foregoing le#els behind. 'hen you are able
to do this, then why would you need %hysical e(%erienceH ,Please o%en that bottle, I want to
taste G. I only need to look at a wo&an and I know enough, he he he G I ho%e &y wife did
not hear thisJ
It is another ste% on which you can su%%ort:li#e your life:stabiliIe, in order to again try to go
on.
&5! 'e Samadha) ;pasarga $+utthane Siddha+ah
They are obstacles in the way of Samadhi and %owers when the &ind is outward3
turned.
This is also an i&%ortant Sutra. +o you re&e&ber Dahir&ukhi Drtti and Antar&ukhi DrttiH
They are the outward strea& and the inward strea& of /ittaH They are also referred to as the
left %ath and the right %ath. 'e s%eak of the left %ath when there are Aajas and Ta&as. Then
you get caught u% in shallowness, the real& of for&s and desire. 9ut when you choose the %ath
of har&ony:Satt#a in e#erything you do L it does not &atter what, as long as you stri#e for
Satt#a L then you are on the right %ath, and you will be able to %erfor& all these e(ercises
successfully. )owe#er, when you get caught in the tra%s, when you get caught by &atter,
%eo%le, your desire, the so3called ,e(%eriencing., you will hurl down with terrible s%eed. ?or
these are the obstacles in the way of Sa&adhi and the %owers: %eo%le are not ca%able enough to
re&ain on that ste%, for they are too &uch attached to the &aterial world.
Peo%le obtain great %owers, are able to see:understand so&ething, and end u% using this to
boost their egos or to attract attention. Fne of the first #icti&s of this is the Yoga teacherJ
Teachers in general, but es%ecially Yoga teachersJ )e is engaged in the beautiful things of this
world, and therefore he recei#es L rightly so L attention fro& a lot of %eo%le, but then ha%%ens
88
what is described in the 27
th
Sutra: at a certain &o&ent he forgets how beautiful all the things
are that he is engaged in, and standing in the s%otlight beco&es &ore i&%ortant to hi&. This
does not ha#e to take long. 'hooooshJJ ,Fh G that was another Yoga teacherJ G bye, byeJ.
?ro& that &o&ent on these %eo%le are inca%able of e(%eriencing Sa&adhi. They allow
the&sel#es to be dragged down all the ti&e. They do not %lay with it. They do not control it.
Then how can they con#ey this to othersHJ )ow can they teach others how to stay in itHJ 'hile
they cannot do it the&sel#esJ ?or the %owers obtained by the %ractice of Sa&adhi and
Sa&ya&a are transient. They &ay occur, e#en for a while, but because they go down all the
ti&e these %owers disa%%ear.
'orldwide this Sutra has been translated as a warning to not %ractice Sa&ya&a. I ha#e seen it
so &any ti&es. 5y answer to this is #ery si&%le: 'hy would Patanjali dedicate al&ost a
co&%lete cha%ter =out of four cha%ters> in his book to describe 21 Sa&ya&a e(ercises, only to
write one single Sutra to warn you not to %ractice itHJ 'hat kind of nonsense is thisHJ Ff
course we %ractice Sa&ya&aJ They are 1ery %owerful aides, but %ay attention: they are so
%owerful, there is a downside to all this. It can grab you and &ake you fall down with
incredible s%eed.
It is #ery likely that the left and right %aths are si&ilar to the narrow and wide roads of
/hristianity.
Is there consistency in all those Sa&ya&asH
Yes, there is consistency. That is what I ha#e been trying to &ake clear all these &onths. +o
you re&e&ber the first one, the Sa&ya&a on the Parina&as L the transfor&ationsH It gi#es
you knowledge %ertaining to %ast, %resent and future.
+o we always ha#e to start with the first Sa&ya&aH
<o, you see where you are with your consciousness, what attracts you, and then you grab the
ladder on that le#el, where#er that &ay be. This is your starting %oint and you build fro& there.
You will see what followsM the other e(ercises will take their own s%ot, and at a certain %oint
you will be able to see the entire ladder, which you can then start using to your hearts content.
This brings us to the 2!
th
Sutra:
&6! 4andha -arana Saithi.+at Pracara Sam)edanac Ca Cittas+a Para
Sarira)esah
The &ind can enter anothers body on rela(ation of the cause of bondage fro&
knowledge of %assages.
,The &ind. in this Sutra is of course /itta. It is not Sa&ya&a, but it is a result of the %ractice
of Sa&ya&a. It is a s%ecial e(ercise, of which I one day read the first descri%tion in a
8"
re&arkable book by @o%sang Aa&%a, an 6nglish&an who clai&s to be a Tibetan la&a. )e says
that one day he was %re%ared to transfer fro& his ailing Tibetan body into that of a #olunteer,
an 6nglish&an, who agreed:coo%erated to this consciously. )e cli&bed u% a tree and sat on a
branch, let hi&self dro% down fro& it, and as a result of the shock he de%arted his body. At the
&o&ent that he had left his body, the Tibetan @a&a ca&e into his body, using certain rituals.
?ro& that &o&ent this Tibetan la&a L called @o%sang Aa&%a L continued this life. )e e#en
&et the wife of this &an, who said to hi&: ,)ey, how co&e your eyes are so strange
suddenlyJ.
'hat ha%%ened with this 6nglish&anH
The s%irit of the 6nglish&an was %arked in the astral world.
So %ossibly, at a certain &o&ent the Tibetan could lea#e this body again and let the
6nglish&an co&e back into it. )e needed this body to do his work, na&ely writing books. I do
not a%%ro#e of e#erything about this &an, but there are a nu&ber of curious &atters of which I
ask &yself: ,)ow could he know thatH. ?or nobody knows that. 9y chance I know a cou%le of
things &yself. )owe#er, he got it co&%letely wrong on other &atters. ?or e(a&%le, he wrote a
book about the o%ening u% of the third eye, which is totally &ade u%. I ha#e no idea where he
got that infor&ation. Fr &aybe I do not understand it &yself. )e is &entioning a surgical
o%eration with which a hole is &ade in the forehead.
This was done in the si(ties of the last century G
Yes.
I recei#ed the second descri%tion fro& +r. )arry $%adhyay, for&er %rofessor of Sanskrit at the
$ni#ersity of 9enares in India, and %rofessor of 6nglish at the $ni#ersity of @ondon. )e told
&e the story of Sankaracharya, the %rogenitor of all Swa&is. )e li#ed in the &iddle ages. All
Swa&is L the ,orange dresses. L base their tradition u%on hi&, and still there are two or three
Sankaracharyas in India. Sankara was the na&e of a &an, while Acharya &eans %rofessor.
Sankaracharya was #ery young and he was the best Yoga teacher of India.
)ow was it deter&ined that you were the best Yoga teacherH
All the Yoga teachers roa&ed about the country, debating with each other. These debates were
%ublic. The winner of a debate recei#ed a higher status, one ste% higher in the hierarchy.
See&ingly a strange way L I ha#e &y own thoughts on this L but anyway, this was a custo&
those days.
+idnt 9uddha do it this way tooH
Yes, I belie#e he did indeed. It was #ery co&&on in those days.
84
Sankara was a #ery de#ote young &an. Fne day he &et a cou%le that wanted to ha#e a debate
with hi&. )e took on the &an in debate and finished hi& in three sentences. Then the wo&an
entered. )e o%ened the debate and then in#ited her to s%eak.
She asked hi&: ,)ow can you beat the big dru& like thisH You think you are the best Yoga
teacher of India, but actually you understand only half of hu&an kind..
,'hat do you &eanH.
,You only know what &en understand, but you ha#e had no e(%erience whatsoe#er with
wo&en, for you ha#e not &arried and you ha#e ne#er had a girlfriend and you do not know
what se( is G how can you understand what is on a wo&ans &indH.
Sankara had absolutely no answer to thisM he was defeated.
)ow could he sol#e this %roble&H
)e left, and on his journey he ca&e across a funeral %yre that was about to be %ut ablaIe. A
%rince was lying on it and his widows cried o#er his %assing away. Suddenly it struck Sankara:
,This is the &o&entJ. )e sat behind so&e shrub, left his body, and with the %er&ission of the
%rince he entered his body. Suddenly the %rince sat u% on the %yre, just before it was set alight.
6#erybody was shocked, saying: ,@ookJ The %rince is not deadJ The %rince is not deadJ.
Sankara li#ed the life of the %rince for a year, and beca&e fa&iliar with se(. Ar&ed with the
ac*uired knowledge he returned, after which he was not defeated any&ore.
This is in fact the story of this Sutra. So, how are you su%%osed to do thisH )ow did he do thisH
)ow would @o%sang Aa&%a ha#e done itH ?irst of all you &ust ha#e knowledge of the 2
bodies L gross body, subtle body and causal body L and of the C /akras that are connected
with the&. This is what is called ,knowledge of %assages., which is the knowledge %ertaining
to the energy channels. )ow could you enter into thatH You can when it is *uietM when there is
surrender in that being, o%ening the o%%ortunity for another energy to enter. So, it is not so
self3e#ident as it see&s. This body L or the donor L &ust already ha#e reached a substantial
le#el.
It is said that Sai 9aba L the original Sai 9aba, not the %resent one L also did this with his
%u%ils. 'hene#er he had a hea#y job to do, he would say to one of his %u%ils: ,5y body is
inca%able of this task, so, enter into &editation, &ake e#erything *uiet, I will use your body for
a &o&ent, if you will allow &e.. So, the %u%il would lea#e his body and Sai 9aba would ste%
into it. )e would do the work and si&%ly swa% body again when it was finished.
In the &ean ti&e the %u%il was ,%arked.H
Yes, he was ,%arked..
)ow does it feel to be ,%arked.H
It is as if you are slee%ing.
+oes this body ado%t the %hysical characteristics of the other tooH
'hen it lasts long it would, so it is in fact a trans%lantM a s%iritual trans%lant.
8C
'hat is ,rela(ation of the cause of bondage.H 'hat is ,the cause of bondage.H The cause of
bondage is all %ossible for&s of desire, greed and attach&ent. Also the lower Self, do&inated
by Aha&kara, the ego.
To &ake the trans%lant %ossible the donor hi&self in this instance &ust be able to reach his
)igher Self. )owe#er, the %erson who wants to lea#e his body in order to enter the other body
&ust be able to do this too. Although the other %erson in#ol#ed &ay be %assi#e in this %rocess,
the %erson who wants to use it &ust do it acti#ely.
It is a #ery %eculiar e(ercise indeed.
9ut when you donate your body for a trans%lant, it is already not good any&ore, but in this
case you actually donate your entire body G
Yes, so, what is the background of this e(erciseH 'hat is he trying to show usH Is he telling us
to donate our bodies to be trans%lantedH <oJ )e is telling us that we &ust learn to li#e abo#e
the 2 worldsJ This is the ulti&ate de&onstration of control of the 2 worlds: gross, subtle and
causal. It takes *uite a hefty training to co&e to soul3consciousnessM totally detached
=,rela(ed.> fro& the identification of what you thin! you &ust be as a nor&al hu&an being. If
you ha#e trouble with this, you should try this e(ercise, then you will find out what this is
about.
This is what is called learning to die. This is the glorification you achie#e as the result of
crucifi(ion. It is the third initiation, in which you detach fro& e1erything =which is the only
solution, by the way>.
I ha#e e(%erienced this in !!2. It is terrible. It is indeed like being destroyed. 'hat is being
destroyedH Your lower Self is destroyed, and as a result you learn to rise abo#e it. Therefore
the only solution is the ,rela(ation of the cause of bondage.. Aela(ation. Surrender. ,I ha#e
lost.. +o not fight any&ore. That is the solution. This is about the control of the causal le#el in
you.
You &ust rise abo1e your ego. 'hen you do:e(%erience this, it does not &atter any&ore that
you li#e in this body:being, or that you go into another one, or that you die. This has all
beco&e nonsense to you. And if you want, you can indeed search for a donor in e(tre&e
situations and say: ,'ell, I will co&e o#er to you G. After all, it does not &atter to you.
There are &any wild stories, saying: ,Pay attention that nobody co&es into you., and so on.
)owe#er, to enter another being takes &uch &ore than is e(%ected. As I said, both beings &ust
be utterly har&onious. They &ust ha#e co&%letely neutraliIed their lower Self, otherwise it
will fail.
So it always ha%%ens with the best of intentionsH
87
This is an e(ercise that is only %ossible between utterly har&onious %eo%le. All those stories
about: ,You will be caught:you are %ossessed by so&eone else., and so on, are so&ething
co&%letely different fro& this. They are &erely stories about obsessionsM thoughts that %eo%le
ha#e themsel1es about so&ething they allo$ to e(ist in the&, nurturing that idea. As a result a
certain entity is for&ed in their own subtle aura. That is what is called being %ossessed. It can
be neutraliIed with #ery si&%le &eans of e(orcis&:rituals. You only ha#e to go into Sa&adhi L
Dicara Sa&adhi L to destroy such obsession. This is a %iece of cake for us. 9ut for the nor&al
%eo%le in this world it is: ,FhhhJ I a& %ossessedJ A #oice is s%eaking to &eJ. and all this kind
of nonsense. In this res%ect I ha#e hel%ed a lot of %eo%le. All this 'inti and Doodoo stuff is all
nonsense, based u%on %eo%les ignorance. Peo%le like to e(aggerate things.
+o you see this &ore with black %eo%leH
Yes, of course, for they ha#e &ore knowledge about s%irits than westerners, but they do not
know how to deal with it.
In Africa you co&e across such things fre*uently G
Yes, indeed.
So, re&e&ber: if e#er so&ebody a%%roaches you with these kinds of stories, showing these
kinds of sy&%to&s, the answer is #ery si&%le: &editation already hel%s, but conte&%lation is
the solution. To hel% this %erson you go into &editation yourself, in#ol#ing the other %erson in
your energy field. The other %erson does not ha#e to know anything. )e can just let it co&e
o#er hi&, unless he resists of course, but in that case you ha#e no right to interfere. 'hen this
%erson does not undergo treat&ent #oluntarily, chances are that you co&&it #iolence. In that
case nothing can work.
/an you elaborate about this struggle that you should gi#e u% to be able to do thisH
5y struggle was to &ake the Yoga school big. I was forced to abandon that idea. I was totally
torn u% by it. I do not know how I o#erca&e this %eriod. In &e there was this #oice that told
&e: ,This is what you ha#e to do.. Since then I let go of things co&%ared to %re#ious years.
And what ha%%enedH Since then the school really &atured. 'hyH 9ecause the school is not
&ine any&ore. +o you understand thisH It beca&e an entity in itself L the %roduct of &any
%eo%le, who all contributed to it. 9ut until that &o&ent I had an attitude that it was &ine. And
because it was &ine e#erybody had to do e(actly as told. As a result the de#elo%&ent of the
school:the s%reading of the knowledge was blocked. I had in fact a%%ro%riated the doctrine that
I &yself had recei#ed. It was all about rules. It was all set u% #ery cle#erly, but at the sa&e
ti&e it was death, which I had to feel:undergo in a %rocess of trial and error. I was totally torn
a%art. I had such a %ain L literally. 5y heart broke and so on. Then I decided to let it go. ,Thy
will be done.. That 5antra has such tre&endous force: <ot my willM Thy will.
Besus had his third initiation at the cross. At that &o&ent he acknowledged the %ower of Fur
+ear @ord and said: ,They know not what they do G forgi#e the& G Thy will be done G.
and so on. 6#erybody has to go through this.
8!
Is this the ulti&ate surrenderH
It &eans that you rise abo#e yourself.
@ike a sacrificeH
It is Yajna: sacrifice. It is co&%letely Yajna and you do not know what follows. It is su%re&e
detach&ent: Para Dairagya. It is the sa&e as dying. That is why it is said in Yoga: ,You cannot
li#e as long as you do not know how to die.. That is this kind of dyingM it is the dying of the
ego. And it is 1ery %ainful indeed, literally. 9ut it is like the %hoeni( arising fro& its ashes.
And I always thought: ,That will ne#er ha%%en to &e. I ha#e already gone beyond that stage. I
a& too good.. 9ut I ne#er realiIed that so&ething like the school would be the reason for &y
attach&ent. I thought that that was allowed, because the school was dedicated to higher
%ur%oses.
<o. The third initiation is: you a%%ear naked before Fur +ear @ord. +o you want to bring your
school with youH 'hat school G 3othingJ I +o not acce%t %resents. <aked.
I can tell, I was naked indeedJ I still walk around nakedJ <ow I li#e in &y school as if it were a
hotel. 5y house is a hotel and so is the school. 5y car is a hotel too, and e#erything is fact isM I
a& only a guest.
'hich brings us to the 81
th
Sutra:
*7! ;dana Ja+aj Ja.a Pan/a -anta/adish)asanga ;t/rantis Ca
9y &astery o#er .dana le#itation and non3contact with water, &ire, thorns etc.
Ff course this is .dana Prana: Shakti do&inated functioning of air. So this is a Sa&ya&a you
%ractice on $dana Prana. 'hat is the result of %racticing Sa&ya&a on $dana PranaH After the
2!
th
SutraH This &eans that you are already abo#e the 2 worlds, and now you go back into the 2
worlds. This is the start of the &agical %ath. You %roduce an enor&ous Shakti3do&ination on
the le#el of air. In the beginning there is a nor&al a&ount of $dana Prana, say hot air, but as a
result of your Sa&ya&a you &ulti%ly it tenfold:hundredfold:thousandfold. 'hat ha%%ens is the
effect of a hot air balloon.
It risesH
It rises, but this is not about rising, but about suddenly reinforcing a %art of your being in one
%articular as%ect.
This Sutra says ,water, &ire., and so on. +oes this i&%ly that you gain control o#er the water
and earth ele&entsH
<o, it only &eans that you &ust look %ractically at the a%%lication of these kinds of e(ercises.
There is a big %uddle of water that blocks you fro& crossing and you do not feel like:there is
801
no %ossibility of going around it: you look left and right, and then you do this L when nobody
watches L you cross. This is walking on the water.
'hy do you do this when nobody watchesH
There is so&e diffidence in#ol#ed in this. You do not want to cause any fuss. You are safe in
your discretion. 'hen it beco&es known, %eo%le start to talk and you &ust e(%lain yourself.
This is #ery %ractical. )owe#er, you do understand that it takes *uite a long while before you
understand this a littleH So when you confront %eo%le with so&ething they do not understand,
you co&&it #iolence. $nless you teach the&, otherwise you ha#e a %roble&. Fr you beco&e a
circus artist G but do you think that will contribute to %eo%les de#elo%&entH I do not think soJ
They &ay %ay you for your ser#ices, but then they go ho&e, saying: ,'ell, it was a nice
trickG I wonder how he did it.. ?or the rest they are not the least interested in s%iritual
de#elo%&ent.
9ut cant you do it to hel% so&ebody, like Besus did with PeterH
Yes, of course. In a %ractical sense that is what you will do, for whate#er reason. There is an
obstacle before you, kee%ing you fro& what you are su%%osed to do =fro& what is
urgent:i&%ortant at that &o&ent>, and you o#erco&e that obstacle, doing this. You know that
this is %ossible.
You start to a%%ly the knowledge that you ha#e about all of hu&an kind, in a &agical way.
This is called &agic, but there is nothing &agic about it. It is only knowledge, the knowledge
of the hu&an being, and the e&%hasis:reinforce&ent of $dana Prana. That is all there is.
<aturally, in the beginning you will ha#e to sit down for a &o&ent before you &anage to
considerably reinforce it, but with ti&e it will go faster and faster. It will beco&e a kind of
control button, right below in your ear: gi#e it a twist, and ho%, there you go G
'hat is the function of $dana PranaH
The function of $dana Prana is to kee% your body u%right. As I said: it is the function of hot air
in a balloon. Neneric Prana is res%onsible for reinforce&ent, but this is about $dana Prana.
'ithout showing any res%ect I call it hot air, but that is in fact what is %resent in your lungs, in
your u%%er body. 'hen &y ar&s rise during &editation:conte&%lation, it is because of $dana
Prana being reinforced. 'hen I release Sa&ya&a onto it, &y ar&s go u% like thatJ And &y
botto& co&es off the floor as well. And if you would continue, you would co&e off the floor
entirely.
Saints are recogniIed by 0 characteristics: they can watch without blinking their eyes, and they
are at a certain distance fro& the floor. This ,certain distance fro& the floor. is this. It is not
le#itation, &eaning that you can actually fly, but that you are o## the floor. You do not touch
the floor any&ore. And when you walk around outside, you are at such a distance fro& the
ground. It ha%%ened to &e once, while I was in bed. I was engaged in all those e(ercises at
night, and at a certain %oint L I do not re&e&ber what I e(actly did L I felt with &y hands
under &y botto&, and I could &o#e &y hands freely under &y botto&. It was totally
80
unsus%ected. 'hat see&ed odd to &e was this hollow. I thought: ,'hat hollow is thisHJ Ff
course I felt the indent of &y buttocks in the &attress, but &y buttocks were not there
any&oreJ Fnly when I realiIed that I was about a cou%le of centi&eters abo#e the &attress, I
fell back i&&ediately. 'hate#er I tried since then to get back this e(%erience, it ne#er worked
again. Si&%ly the idea &ade &e ner#ous.
)owe#er, then you fall back u%on the 81
th
Sutra, or the 2!
th
, telling us that as soon as our ego is
in#ol#ed, one way or the other, it is finished. And I re&e&ber what Besus said to Peter, taking
hi& by the hand: ,9elie#eJ If you do not belie#e, you will fall through.. And Peter belie#ed
and he crossed o#er, but at a certain %oint he did not belie#e any&ore and he fell through. That
is this. 'hat is this beliefH It is the reason for rela(ing bondage, of the lower Self, and to
re&ain in the )igher Self. This is the &eaning of belief, in the sense of faith L Sraddha. It is
faith in that )igher Self, that soul3functioning. Ignore what lies below it.
I take a lot fro& the 9ible. It is so beautiful that it &akes &e war& whene#er I read it. +arnJ
'e knew all this all the ti&e, it was right before our eyes, and we did not understand a thing of
itJ Then you read a book fro& India that e(%lains e#erythingJ So&eti&es I could really kill this
Po%e, you knowH 9ut anyway, that is &y lower Self, rearing its ugly tail. I think that I will be
the last to be ad&itted to hea#en. You will be there long before &e, and all the #iolence within
this guy will be doo&ed to further e(%lain all these &ar#elous things, and to struggle, and to
write books until the end of ti&esJ And fro& abo#e you will say: ,Isnt he finished yetHJ.
*! Samana Ja+aj J)a.anam
9y &astery o#er Sa&ana blaIing of gastric fire.
Sa&ana Prana is the Prana of the water ele&ent L Shakti3do&ination on water le#el L thus
entailing bringing back the focus beneath the fire, $ith Shakti3do&ination. 'hat is the cause of
this ShaktiH It is caused by an u%ward strea&, which &eans that indirectly there is an effect on
the fire. )owe#er, you do not e&%hasiIe the fire if you do not want to.
'hat is the result of letting Sa&ana Prana beco&e strongerH It is not indicated here, but what
did we learn about thisH 'e learned that Sa&ana Prana acti#ates %rocreation. This &eans that
you can strongly acti#ate the se(ual function, but the criterion of success in this &atter is L
wisely L %ut u%on another le#el, for otherwise the risk of going under is too big. Therefore it is
%ut u%on the fire: subli&ate this energy, and you will see that it results in an enor&ous control
of the fire. This is the control of ,)are., as it is called in Ba%an, ,/hi. in /hina or ,Ei. in
Eorea. That is what this e(ercise is about. It is the %ower of the warrior, and re&arkably it
originates fro& the water. It has its e(%ression on the le#el of the fire, but it draws its energy
fro& the water. The source of the %ower co&es fro& the water. This is directly related to the
warrior3&onk. )a#e you heard of Shaolin3&onks, or the Enights Te&%larH They are:were
&onks, but also warriors, the last ones widely feared by the 5oha&&edans, for they had a
ferocious %owerJ ?ro& where did they draw this %owerH
?ro& 5ani%ura /akraH
800
That is what you would e(%ect, but this is really the %ower of the lower regions, and the largest
%art of your energy L as for the weight L is on the le#el of the water. That is where the source
is, which you use by bringing it u% to the fire, which is the center of %ower of your body.
6&%ower&ent all o#er. You are drawing fro& an enor&ous su%%ly, which is ine(haustible. It
is not suggested that you should be engaged in %rocreation =which is what it nor&ally would
be>, but you are directly redirected to the fire. And see what the effect is on the fire: a
subli&ation, as we ha#e learned in Dajroli 5udra. It is *uite si&ilar.
'hat you do now is to use the 2 bodies you ha#e at will and redirect certain accents. It is all of
no &atter any&ore to you, for this is %ossibleM you redirect it, and suddenly you turn out to be a
ferocious warrior instead of a nor&al, decent citiIen, as a result of this e(ercise. 9efore you
could e&erge as a kind of butterfly.
+oesnt this e(ercise arouse the lower desires of the sacral3centerH
@ower desires are indeed located on the water le#el, but when it is in Ta&as. This is about
Prana, so it is Aajas. The %roble& of the desires is a#oided here because you %roduce Aajas
instead of Ta&as.
So the ancient warriors would sit down. The Sa&urai would focus on his )are, which is belo$
5ani%ura /akra. )arekiri is the ritual of co&&itting suicide by %iercing the underbelly.
?ro& )are u%ward: So it is not 5ani%ura /akra but the water3center below it. The /hi or Ei
fro& Tai /hi is also below 5ani%ura /akra, but you learn to bring it u% to 5ani%ura /akra.
You can try it yourself.
*"! Srotra/asa+oh Sambandha Sam+amad (i)+am Srotram
9y %erfor&ing Sa&ya&a on the relation between Akasa and the ear
su%er%hysical hearing.
The ear is #ery %hysical, while Akasa is an ethereal #ibration. 'hen you %erfor& this
Sa&ya&a it see&s like as if you raise the gross %art of the ethereal le#el L which is the 9huta
of the ether L to Bnanendriya of the ether. This &eans that you lift the gross &anifestation of
your being u% to the subtle le#el. This is a #ery, #ery %leasant e(ercise. 6#erything that is
within the ethereal body co&es along. This is an e(ercise in which you bring your gross body
all the way u% to the ethereal le#el, and the ethereal le#el is brought to Satt#ic le#el =the
ethereal le#el in Satt#a>.
As a result you will obtain ,clear3hearing.. This &eans that you will obtain a for&idable
hearing. You will be able to hear &any, &any ti&es better than e#er before. Therefore I can
hear in a #ery %eculiar wayM I can hear where &y thoughts are. I only ha#e to &o#e &yself with
&y &ind to be able to hear at the %lace where I &o#ed &yself. So&eti&es there is sound at
802
night L %eo%le lea#ing the bar o%%osite the school, %artying around 2 or 8 in the &orning L then
I ste% out of &y body to go around and listen.
+o you ha#e to get out of bed, for e(a&%le to test itH
<o, you do not ha#e to get out of bed. I ha#e tested it fre*uently: to see whether it is true. 9ut
anyway, hearing is only one as%ect. To ste% out of your body is another.
Then you hear e(actly what they sayH
Yes, I can follow all of their con#ersation. 'hen %eo%le s%eak e#il about &e I know it directly.
'hat is the use of thisH This is highly interesting because you liberate yourself with this fro&
the gross3&aterial %rison. You will be able to transfor& e#erything fro& the gross body to the
ethereal. And in Satt#a. You do not need to look after the gross body any longer. The issue is
not to obtain better hearing, but to con*uer the gross body.
+o you understand the logicH The ear si&%ly re%resents the gross &anifestation L the 9huta as
we call it L and Akasa re%resents the subtle. And you will know both of the&. Therefore it is
only logical that, when you kee% watching both of the& while you are connected with the 5ost
)igh and the %resence of a lo#ed %erson, the two will gradually beco&e one. ;o$e1er, the
strongest will sur#i#e. So you draw the ear toward Akasa.
+o you actually obser#e the&H
You obser#e both of the&. That is all you do. As a result they will co&e together: not Akasa to
the ear, but the ear to Akasa, because Akasa is Satt#a while the ear is Ta&as. The obser#ation
of this is also Satt#a.
*&! -a+a/asa+oh Sambandha Sam+amat =aghu 'u.a Samapattes Ca/asa
Gamanam
9y %erfor&ing Sa&ya&a on the relation between the body and Akasa and at the
sa&e ti&e bringing about coalescence of the &ind with light =things like> cotton
down =there co&es the %ower of> %assage through s%ace.
This is one of the &ost fa&ous Sutras, widely used as a 5antra by 5aharishi 5ahesh Yogi in
his T53organiIation =Transcendent 5editation organiIation>. It is also called the ,fly3Sutra.
that enables %eo%le to &ake nice big ju&%s, called ,ho%%ing.. )a#e you e#er seen ,ho%%ing.H
Fnly on TD G
Fn a %hoto it does not look so realistic, but I ha#e really seen it. Those %eo%le &ake ju&%s,
sitting in the lotus %ose. They are ca%able of ju&%ing u% on a table, without &o#ing their knees
808
&uch. It is like, )FPJ And they are on to% of the table. They do not re&ain in the air: they
&o#e:ho%.
Fnly in the lotus %oseH
The ones that I saw did it all in the lotus %ose.
The %re%aration for doing this is &editation. ?or a long ti&e L an hour or !1 &inutes L they
&editate backstage. ?illed with this energy they co&e on stage, sit down, bring back the energy
they generated in &editation, and ju&%, by &eans of a 5antra. I think it is *uite an
achie#e&ent. 'e a%%roach it differently, but we ha#e ne#er been able to gi#e such
de&onstrations, which I find is really too bad, for I think our a%%roach is better. So I want to
urge you to work a little bit harder, so that one of you will finally be able to gi#e a
de&onstration of this.
'hat is this Sutra telling usH
It is a deri#ati#e of the %re#ious Sutra:Sa&ya&a, with the addition of the sense of lightness. So
there is the relation between the ear and Akasa L which actually &eans between the body and
Akasa L to which you add the sense of lightness. And what e(actly is ha%%ening hereH You
ha#e created a new condition, but it is Satt#a. And to ob#iously change the s%ecific gra#ity,
you change the infor&ation in you that deter&ines s%ecific gra#ity. You do this by introducing
the sense of lightness. This is actually a &atter of conditioning: you actually ha1e a new
conditionM you did become #ery light. )owe#er, in your head you are still con#inced of your
truth that you ha#e weight. That is what holds you back. You change this by introducing the
idea of the lightness of cotton. As a result you feel like as if you raise the anchors, and that you
lift u% entirelyJ
So it is a &ental conditioningH
Yes, es%ecially that. It is actually your self3i&age. You ha#e %ut yourself stuck in a body which
is subject to the force of gra#ity, and you cannot i&agine that it could be different. That is the
%roble&.
I took a grou% of C students fro& the first year of the 5asters course to the beach. I e(%lained
that with your left hand you could s%eak to the wa#es, and flatten the& with Parina&as and
energy control and so on. They &eekly listened to &e. Fne after the other stretched out their
hand, and indeed, where they stretched out their hands, the wa#es flattened. Instead of the
wa#es breaking to end u% on the beach, they re&ained rather s&all. All C of the& %erfor&ed
this. I told the&: ,?antastic G you ha#e all understoodJ. 'e walked back ho&e and neither
one of the C students could belie#e they had done thisJ ,)&& G what we ha#e e(%erienced G
it is so unreal G it &ust be coincidence G. So, they actually did this L not once, but se#eral
ti&es L but they were unable to gras% it. 9ecause of this e(%erience I sto%%ed doing this. I said:
,I will not do it any&ore. If %eo%le are so disingenuous that they e#en deny the reality, we had
better stay inside the classroo& fro& now on. I will si&%ly tell &y story, and for the rest it is
u% to youJ. I ho%e this does not ha%%en to you. I know and understand that this is a %roble&,
80"
howe#er, you too &ust try to see this. Try to study yourself and say: ,'hy a& I so stuck in
these &attersH Is it because I always looked at it this wayH. Ff course it is, but that does not
&ean that there isnt another %ossibility. I a& con#inced that one day, as a result of this
Sa&ya&a we will be able to fly. And we will not only do it here, but we will s%read it, and as a
result we will sol#e the trans%ortation %roble&s of &ankind. It is written that this is a #ery
si&%le e(ercise, a natural &atter.
Akasa and the body. 9efore we had the ear and Akasa, but now we ha#e the entire body
beco&ing ethereal. As a result of your reinforced obser#ation these two are brought together.
The obser#er is Satt#icM you &i( +i#ine energy with it because you are on At&ic le#el yourself
L so, you change the entire structure of your being L and you beco&e light. And &ore than
that: it is #ery highly likely that you will %ull u% your &at with you when co&ing off the
ground. 'hate#er is near your body will undergo the sa&e influence, and you will %ull it u%
with you. This e(%lains the legends of the flying car%ets.
I recei#ed a co&%lete course in flying at night, in &y drea&s. It stretched out o#er se#eral
years. It started when I was 7 years of age. At that ti&e I learned how to swi&. I was scared
and I sank down in the water. It was horror. That night I drea&t that I was in the sa&e
swi&&ing %ool. I sat on the edge and %ut a foot u%on the surface of the water. I %aid close
attention to the surface tension. I changed so&ething in &y body L but I do not re&e&ber what
it was L that &ade &e #ery light. I tried to be so light that I would not break the surface
tension. Then I stood on the water. The surface ga#e in where I %laced &y foot, but it did not
break. Then I &ade another ste%. It beca&e like a &attress. Then I lost &y concentration and I
fell through the surface. This was so re&arkable. After this I went to the %ool again and I was
able swi&.
I did not understand a thing of what had ha%%ened. )owe#er, it ga#e &e infor&ation on
s%ecific gra#ity, the resistance of water and the resistance of &any other things. And later L in
!7 L during a #acation in Earintie, Austria, I had &y first fly3drea&. I drea&t that I was
lying on a wooden table surrounded by %eo%le. Suddenly I ele#ated, and all %eo%le e(clai&ed:
,)ey, this is i&%ossibleJ This is a sca&J It &ust be a trickJ. Slowly I erected and &o#ed u%
further. It felt so good, so incredibly goodJ F#er ti&e I found back this good feeling each ti&e
in &y Yoga %ractice. It has beco&e a kind of gauge to &easure success in %ractice. This is the
great feeling you will e(%erience when you &anage to bring your ear to Akasa. So it is a
change of condition. 'hen you are able to bring on that feeling again, you know that you are
on the right %athM that that is the direction in which you should %roceed. It beco&es a %oint of
recognition. And for the rest it is a &atter of si&%ly working, working and working.
I had se#eral si&ilar drea&s. Also here in Il%enda& I flew o#er the canal, and I actually saw it
before the school was here. Therefore I knew that the school would be established so&ewhere
in this neighborhood.
In the last drea& I had, I had to %erfor& so&e kind of test, a kind of dri#ers license test. It was
in a forest with big trees and low3hanging branches all around. I was to fly through the trees at
high s%eed, but also u% and down through the branches, ha#ing to a#oid collisions. I clearly
804
re&e&ber the way to control flight, which was e(actly like flying an aero %lane with a flight
stick.
Then I had another re&arkable drea&, in which I was walking and felt: ,Fh yes, now I can
si&%ly co&e off the ground.. I did so&ething %articular, but I a& still not able to retrie#e
e*actly what I did, but it was so&ething rather tri#ial. 5y legs ca&e off the ground. I was
floating abo#e the ground, with &y legs u% and stretched out before &e. I would go u% to the
ceiling, doing all kinds of tricks, and e#entually I would co&e back to the ground again. Fften
%eo%le were walking about on the ground, sur%rised, saying: ,'hat are you doingH 'hat is
thisH. It was only a #ery s&all click, and &y legs would co&e off the ground.
9abies can float on the water. @ater they lose this ability, but there are also adults that can float
on the water, just like in the +ead Sea.
Yes, it &ust be so&ething of the sa&e nature.
+o the different heights on which you can fly in your drea&s ha#e different &eaningsH
<o, because you can change height at will. I forgot to tell you that control of all this is done
with the &ind.
I often drea& that I float abo#e the ground, and I e(%erience this click you &entioned just
before si&%ly as the intention to fly.
That is it: an intentionJ It is e(actly that. And it is sufficient G and you take off G That is
what is written in this 82
rd
Sutra: the sense of lightness, howe#er, it should be the intention of
the sense of lightness. This is the %rogra&&ing, the instructions that you gi#e. )owe#er, the
&ost difficult %art is si&%ly the condition. You must raise your gross body intensely to ethereal
le#el, until gi#ing the last instruction beco&es only a %iece of cake. The difficult %art of this
e(ercise is in fact the first %art L the 80
nd
Sutra. That is where the bulk of the effort is done.
@et us ha#e a look at $hy we think this is i&%ossible. It is because we are dealing with the
force of gra#ity. 6#erything re#ol#es around the force of gra#ity, but $hat is this force of
gra#ityH It is an e(cess of Ta&as that you undergo, which is the cause of weight. 9ut what
ha#e we done in all those e(ercises u% until the 80
nd
SutraH 'e got rid of Ta&as, or didnt weH
And in the 80
nd
Sutra you re&o#e Ta&as co&%letely fro& your gross body. That is the
solution. And the good feeling of the drea&s L if you had fly3drea&s L is si&%ly the feeling of
Satt#a on gross3&aterial le#el. Therefore it is indeed also the indication. 'hen you are Satt#ic,
you are actually not subjected to the force of gra#ity any&ore. It is the indication that you ha#e
risen abo#e the force of gra#ity. You ha#e beco&e inde%endent. That is the %oint in all this. So,
it is nothing s%ecial. You si&%ly withdraw yourself fro& the generally do&inating Ta&as.
Fnce you understand all this, I think it is only a &atter of sitting, %racticing, sitting, %racticing,
and continuing to do this. Then one day we must succeed. $nlike those %eo%le fro& 5aharishi
5ahesh Yogi, who only &ake so&e kind of ju&%. That day we will be #ree L like in our
drea&s L thanks to the co&%lete change of condition of our gross body. Then we will realiIe
80C
the credo of the old who clai&ed that this was so easy, because it is also so self3e#ident,
pro1ided that you ha#e obtained the right change of condition. As long as you ha#e not
obtained this condition, you can try whate#er you like, but you will not succeed. It is a &atter
of condition.
In the a#iation industry they are e(%eri&enting with a lot of things related to this field.
6#erything gradually co&es together. They are close to electro&agnetic balance. I ha#e told
you before of Nerard ?iches, with his balance %oint on 01,8" )ertI L that is this
electro&agnetic balance. If we could only bring our bodies to 01,8" )ertI, we would fly. 'hen
you bring an object to 01,8" )ertI, it will fly too. Soon cars will not need wheels any&ore.
/an you &o#e, or will you re&ain in %laceH
That is the ne(t %roble& that needs to be sol#ed: )ow do you %ro#ide %ro%ulsionH The
e(%erience in drea&s shows that it is the &ind that %ro%els you. You only need to lean in a
direction, or think about a certain s%eed, and as a result your body will auto&atically &o#e in
that direction and with that s%eed. You will arri#e #ery swiftly. It can be done #ery *uickly,
and you can go 1ery high. $nder guidance of Swa&i Yogesh#aranda Saras#ati I was dragged
incredibly far, as fast as I can tell, to the end of the uni#erse.
The #ibrations below 01,8" )ertI are &agnetic, and the #ibrations abo#e 01,8" )ertI are
electric. )ence 01,8" is the %oint of balance that we call Satt#a.
9ut they are all wa#esH
Yes, they are all wa#es. A%%arently that is the %oint where they neutraliIe each other. )ow
e(actly this works, I do not know, but I know that it &akes sense. You can also do this with
&usic, on the ,i., or the ,&e., as I learned, it is %ossible with e#ery octa#e. You always co&e
back to Satt#a: Satt#a, Satt#a. And you already learnt that we are all do&inated by Ta&as, so it
all &akes sense. Your body weight and so on, it is si&%ly the su& of your Ta&as. The ancient
said that when you are confronted with a Ea%ha3ty%e =%hleg&3ty%e>, he is &uch hea#ier. Ff
course, for he has &uch &ore Ta&asJ It is better to be a Datta3ty%e, for he has less Ta&as. 9ut
better than all this is of course Satt#a: to be co&%letely free fro& the +oshas.
So there are Ea%ha, Datta and PittaH
Yes. And they &ust be con*uered. Datta is a condensation in the &atterM Pitta is e#en a further
condensation, while Ea%ha is #ery dee%. 9ut then there are the Eriyas to hel% you. Ff course
there are the other techni*ues as well, but es%ecially the Eriyas. 'ith the Eriyas e#erybody
can return to a Satt#ic condition. And the whole syste& beco&es clear. The origin of the
%roble& also beco&es clear: the %rison in which we find oursel#es is &ainly caused by Ta&as.
And as long as we are occu%ied with desires, and with greed, we will only e(%and this %rison.
)a#e you e#er held cotton in your handsH Try to do this whene#er you ha#e a chance to do so,
for it will clarify the instructions in this Sutra. 'hat is cottonH 'ell, it has no weight, and
when you throw it in the air it stays floating in the air because it is so light. This e(%erience L if
807
you ha#e a chance to ha#e it =you can also do it with so&e other light object, like a feather or
down> L will hel% you to gi#e e(actly the right instructions at the &o&ent that you are about to
lift off the ground. It is this intention, es%ecially the intention to ,beco&e as light as that object
you e(%erienced.. It is all you need. The %rogra&&ing will occur in you si&%ly by gi#ing it
so&e thought, that is all.

**! 4ahir A/a.pita $rittir 8aha $idehaF 'atah Pra/asa)arana -sha+ah
The %ower of contacting the state of consciousness which is outside the intellect
and is therefore inconcei#able is called 5aha3Dideha. ?ro& it is destroyed the
co#ering of light.
5aha3Dideha &eans ,without body.. Thanks to the %re#ious e(ercise, you are led to a new
kind of e(istence, free fro& the gross3&aterial %rison. That is 5aha3Dideha. Indeed it is
i&%ossible for nor&al %eo%le to understand this. This is actually a &atter of &ainly li#ing in
your subtle body, or to %ut e&%hasis in your new life u%on your subtle body. You will e#en be
able to continue to use your gross body, but you will do that in a different &anner than before,
when there was still weight. Presently we identify with our gross body because we are Ta&as.
As a result we are dragged down. Fur &ind is also set in that gross body, howe#er, the
co&&and co&es fro& the subtle body, fro& which ,is destroyed the co#ering of light..
Then you ha#e a &agnificently beautiful basis to co&e into the light:to beco&e white:to
beco&e an angel: a +e#a.
<or&al hu&an being Successful Yoga %ractitioner 5aha Dideha
The three energy bodies =gross. Subtle and causal> of a nor&al hu&an being are irregular, weak
and can only work together with difficulty. In a successful Yoga %ractitioner though the energy
bodies are regular, strong and work together. In the 5aha Dideha thereby is added the fact that
he is not influenced any&ore by the gra#ity force of the earth, which results fro& his centered
energy bodies. This is why he has the feeling ,to be without body..
80!
+o you re&e&ber the Yin3Yang &odel drawn with white wingsH It reflects an o%en Ajna
/akra, with nice round subtle body, and left and right of the head you see white, but it is the
white of the subtle body. This looks like two wings, howe#er they are not wings, although you
fly. So, now you ha#e beco&e an angel:+e#a. Fnce again we see: ste% by ste% G
*,! Sthu.a S)arupa Su/shman)a+artha)att)a Sam+amad 4huta Ja+ah
5astery o#er the Panca/"hutas by %erfor&ing Samyama on their gross,
constant, subtle, all3%er#ading and functional states.
The Panca39hutas are the " gross ele&ents: Panca K ".
You study these " ele&ents fro& a %osition of %ower by releasing Sa&ya&a onto the&. So,
you are an angelM you are free fro& the gross le#el. Fnly then will you be able to understand
how to deal with each of those ele&ents because you ha#e &ade e#erything Satt#ic. This is the
&astershi% o#er the &atter that you obtain. This refers to the e(ercise I told you about before,
that we %erfor&ed in the 5asters training L to flatten the wa#es of the sea with the left hand.
6#en so can you send Shakti to the wa#es with the right hand, causing Shakti do&ination
resulting in the wa#es to beco&e bigger.
Fne day I %ulled a trick on &y girlfriend @ouise. The water was s%lashing against the dike.
'hene#er the wa#es were *uiet I would call her to co&e o#er, and then suddenly I would
&ake the wa#es co&e u% and slosh all o#er herG A kind of silly joke of course.
You can also &aster &eteorological ele&ents: for e(a&%le the clouds. 'hen you &ake a walk,
you say: ,Those are nasty rain clouds o#er there G. I ne#er carry an u&brella, #ery
%ractically, and then I think to &yself: ,I really do not want it to rain down here G. )ow do
you handle thisH
9y creating windH
Yes, you can %roduce wind to blow the clouds away, but I ha#e ne#er done it that way. ?irst of
all we should ask oursel#es: what is a cloudH A cloud is nothing less than Ta&as3do&ination.
So you focus on that cloud abo#e you, and you change its condition L but you ha#e to start
doing that first of all in yourself. If you are Ta&as yourself you can forget itM you &ust be in
Satt#a to be able to do these kinds of things, and based u%on this Satt#a you %roject Aajas u%on
that cloud. As a result the condition of this cloud will change. $sually it breaks o%en, allowing
the sun to shine u%on the s%ot fro& which you worked. This is really childs %lay, called lower
Siddhis in Yoga.
Fnly now are you ready to deal with the &atter, because you work fro& Satt#a. This &eans
that you ha#e beco&e a &aster o#er the &atter. All &aterials will do as you order the&.
)owe#er, as long as you are in a Ta&as gross body, you will not be in a %osition to issue
orders to other things that are also in Ta&as. This &eans in fact that you do not control
anything. 6#ery ti&e you see the sa&e %attern returning: it all co&es down to a change of
condition.
821
Patanjali says: ,You &ust deal with the cause. +idnt we co&e across this Sutra about the
far&er and his fieldH It was about how fields are irrigated in the 6ast. @ittle e&bank&ents
through which water flows in surround the fields. The far&er wants to see all his fields
irrigated. )e goes u% to the highest field, and fro& that %oint he sees which field below needs
water. Then he digs a little hole in the e&bank&ent at that %lace to let water to flow down to
e(actly that field that needs it. And so he %roceeds, going down to the lower fields, until the
water reaches the field that needs it.
This is actually the underlying &ethod of his action u%on the ele&ents. You always try to catch
the cause of the %heno&enon, which in general is the condition. It is the condition L Ta&as,
Aajas, or Satt#a L that deter&ines the %heno&enon to beco&e what it is. Although this is a
rough descri%tion, but this is what it co&es down to.
You can also a%%ly this to %eo%le. It is %ossible to co&%letely &ani%ulate a crowd of %eo%le.
?or e(a&%le, when you are in a soccer stadiu&, you only ha#e to %roduce a little bit of Aajas
and as a result the entire crowd will beco&e Aajas too. 9ut if you think that the crowd is a little
bit too #iolent, you introduce Ta&as and e#erything cal&s down.
I do this with the wings of air%lanes too. You know that the wings &o#eH Sitting in &y seat, I
ma!e the& &o#e, but then without e(ternal causes. )owe#er, you had better not do this too
often of course G
So you generate a certain reaction, you do not go along with it yourselfH
<o, you control it. You know what Aajas is, but you can %roject it because you are in Satt#a
yourself. It is as if acceleration occurs with Aajas, and as if deceleration occurs with Ta&as.
So, during drought you throw in a little bit of Ta&as to &ake it rain G
Yes, so when I do not feel like &aking a walk G All &y res%ecti#e %artners ha#e found out:
when this guy does not feel like it, rain is gushing fro& the sky. And when I go on a #acation
so&ewhere, the weather is nice.
Isnt this an act of #iolenceH
That is a good *uestion, for you do indeed cause an abnor&al change. Therefore you &ust
reckon with action:reaction: when you cause sunshine at a certain s%ot, another s%ot that would
otherwise ha#e had sunshine &ight recei#e rain instead. That is the less %leasant side of this.
5ilare%a, the great Tibetan Yogi, did things like this. 'hen he got angry with a far&er, he sent
a hail shower to his fields. This is %ossible too L with accelerated Ta&as. Its effects can be
*uite destructi#e. )owe#er, this far&er was not stu%id, so he went after 5ilare%a. This great
Tibetan holy &an had to run for his lifeJ Fne way or the other %eo%le see it through, with the
hel% of their intuition. You &ust %ay attention.
82
9ut anyway, this is all %art of the e(ercises. You are e(%ected to go to work with this. These
days I see& to ha#e lost &y interest, but I did %lay with this #ery fre*uently. I si&%ly lo#ed it.
<otice that it is written in this Sutra that you &ust learn to understand the different as%ects of
the 9hutas: ,their gross, constant, subtle, all3%er#ading and functional states.. This &eans that
you &ust not only understand the 9hutas L the gross ele&ents L but also the subtle ele&ents,
which are the cause of the 9hutas. You &ust also be able to see the uni#ersality of the energy
that lies at the basis of the entire %resence L &eaning this sea of energy as it were, within which
these subtle ele&ents turn gross. You &ust also si&%ly see:feel:study the different functions of
Ta&as, in which weight occurs, and Aajas, in which for e(a&%le war&th arises. The e(ercises
you %erfor& are actually focused u%on realiIing these kinds of as%ects, and not to s%lash your
girlfriend with water, or to a#oid &aking a walk, and that kind of nonsense. They are designed
to gi#e you new #ision on what we call the gross3&aterial world.
This can also ha%%en on the fire3le#el, howe#er, I do not ha#e &uch e(%erience with that.
There are stories about Yogis who can &ake fla&es occur fro& air. There are also certain
Yogis who hit a rock with a stick and &ake water co&e out of that rock. This e(a&%le is also
described in the 9ible: 5oses %erfor&ed this. In &y o%inion the %assage through the Aed Sea
&ust ha#e been an action in the sa&e #ein, o%ening a road through the sea to let the %eo%le
%ass. There is no other way than that this is an e(a&%le of this.
You ha#e an awful lot of work left to doJ
*0! 'ato %imadi Pradurbha)ah -a+a Sampat 'ad (harmanabhighatas Ca
Thence, the attain&ent of Animan etc., %erfection of the body and the non3
obstruction of its functions =of the body> by the %owers =of the ele&ents>.
The Siddhis described in the te(t are: Ani&an, 5ahi&an, @aghi&an, Nari&an, Pra%ti,
Praka&ya, Isat#a and Dasit#a.
Ani&an is the ability to beco&e as s&all as you want.
5ahi&an is the ability to beco&e as big as you want.
@aghi&an is the ability to beco&e as light as you want.
Nari&an is the ability to beco&e as hea#y as you want.
Pra%ti is the ability to beco&e as tall as you want =so tall you can touch a star>.
Praka&ya is the ability to stay underwater.
Isat#a is the ability to wake u% the death.
Dasit#a is the ability to ta&e wild ani&als.
These are the 7 great Siddhis, which are the result of the %receding Sa&ya&as u%on the
Panca39hutas, the " gross ele&ents.
820
/an you i&agine what this is aboutH Sa&ya&as on the " gross ele&entsH I was 8:" years of
age when I was swi&&ing in the 5editerranean Sea, in @e @a#andou in ?rance. I brought &y
snorkel and fli%%ersM the weather was great and war&. In those days, during the si(ties of the
last century, it was still beautiful there. I watched the ga&e the sun %layed on the water and the
fish. Then suddenly I was absorbed by the feeling of the sun, the water, the lightness and the
floating. It felt like I was entering hea#en: water was not just water any&ore to &e, but it
beca&e a li#ing being of which I was a %art. I saw it so clearly, with the reflection of the sun in
it, and it was so incredibly good. It &ust ha#e lasted 1:01 &inutes. I call this e(%erience &y
realiIation of the water ele&ent, because fro& that &o&ent on water was not so&ething
abstract any&ore, so&ething I had to struggle with, but it beca&e so&ething real, so&ething
with which I had beco&e friends, so&ething that could hel% &e, so&ething fa&iliar. This is
Sa&ya&a on the water ele&ent. It is a su%ernatural e#ent that &akes you feel what it is. )ow
does this ha%%enH )ow do you e(%erience thisH I only swa& and enjoyed it, and for the rest I
see&ed to ha#e had a %articular sense for it. This is what you &ust try to do with e#ery other
ele&ent. 'ith ti&e I e(%erienced this with &ost of the ele&ents. I a& still checking to ensure
that it is correct for the other ele&ents, but I a& certain about &y realiIation of water.
I also had this e(%erience with air. It ha%%ened when I ju&%ed %arachute. 'hen I started
ju&%ing I was shocked, for air did not ha#e any resistance, at least that is what I thought. I had
to search for a long ti&e to find out what air e(actly is, and the resistance that it gi#es. Then
one day I found it. 5aybe it was because of the clouds that were there that day, and the
enjoy&ent I e(%erienced: ,'ow, I a& going to ju&% into that cloudG. You just fall through
it, but I felt the hu&idity of the cloud. It was #ery fast and #ery subtle. At that #ery &o&ent I
realiIed the essence of air. That day the air beca&e &y friend. Since that day I only ha#e to
turn the ,switch. to e#oke that e(%erience. ?ro& that &o&ent ju&%ing fro& a %lane was not
the terrible e(%erience any&ore that it used to be.
'ould it be %ossible that the realiIation occurs dri#en by the enjoy&entH
Yes, I think you can consider the enjoy&ent as an entrance of that Sa&ya&a, but it will
%robably not be %erfect. 'ith a real Sa&ya&a there is of course the %resence of the +i#ine and
so on L because of which it will be &uch &ore intense L but it is an entrance anyway.
Think about this when you go on a #acation, deal with the " ele&ents, or work in your garden,
for e(a&%le when you %re%are it for the su&&er. +o not si&%ly work with your hands in the
soil, but try to #eel it. 6eel the soil, rub it between your fingers and s&ell it. And take the ti&e
to enjoy it. I e(%erienced it this way, in Africa, with red soil.
'hen you are #ery fa&iliar with the " gross ele&ents, and understand the& through and
through, you actually understand the " le#els of your gross body:being. It also &eans that you
can change the for& of those ele&ents.
Animan A to become as small as you $ant4
822
'hen you treat your whole structure at the sa&e ti&e with Ta&as L e#en Ta&as L you will
&ake a &uch s&aller being. Pay attention that it is not one3sided Ta&as. It &ust be
acco&%anied by a little bit of Aajas. )owe#er, it &ust be just about enough Ta&as to reduce
the siIe. 'hen you add too &uch Ta&as, you will only increase the weight. So, a little bit of
Ta&as, followed by a little bit of Aajas. Always a little bit &ore Ta&as than Aajas. As a result
you change, reduce your siIe, which you do indeed at " different le#els: earth, water, fire, air
and ether. This is the e(ercise called Ani&an. And while I a& e(%laining #ery e(actly, in
reality it is in fact a feelingM a feeling to beco&e s&aller. As a result you $ill beco&e s&aller.
2ahiman A to become as big as you $ant4
5ahi&an is the sa&e, but then the o%%osite: you add a little bit &ore Aajas, followed by
Ta&as. 'ith the result that at a certain &o&ent you can beco&e a giant being L with a head of,
say, " &eter dia&eter, enabling you to rise abo#e the forest and look o#er it L and so&ebody
sees you, is shocked and says: ,'hat the heck are you doingH. And you just %lay 5ahi&anJ
You initiate it through your feeling, which goes to the &ind, and the &ind works on your gross
body. So, you are so fa&iliar with the ele&ents that you can %lay with the&, and you change.
The %ro%ortions re&ain intact, but you Ioo& in or out.
These were the two easy ones, to start with.
Is the ability of great Yogis to disa%%ear related to Ani&anH
+isa%%earing is another Siddhi. $sing Ani&an you can beco&e so s&all that you can crawl
under a door, howe#er, the in#isible is another Siddhi that we will deal with later on.
&aghiman A to become as light as you $ant4
828
)ere you reduce Ta&as: you kee% your for&, but your body weight results fro& the e(cess of
Ta&as, which you reduce. Fr you increase Aajas: You go &ore and &ore towards Satt#a,
while &aintaining your for&. At a certain %oint you are weightless. It is the sa&e e(ercise as
we ha#e already seen in the 82
rd
Sutra.
So, you are %redo&inantly Ta&as, now, sitting here L &eaning that you weigh a certain
a&ount in kilos, caused by your Ear&a L and the e(ercise is about countering that and to go
&ore and &ore into obser#ation through the effect of Sa&ya&a towards the sense of Satt#a. As
a result the #elocity of the energy is higher, or at least, the acti#ity of the Sa&skaras is
gradually neutraliIed, because of the increasing #elocity, with the result that you feel that you
beco&e lighter. You said that you had %ain in your knees. They are all indications. At a certain
&o&ent you will feel #ery light. This is rather easy to acco&%lish.
You #isualiIe that you beco&e bigger or s&aller: so, when you beco&e s&aller, you control
with Ta&as, but not too &uch Ta&as, for there should also be so&e Aajas. Ftherwise you will
fall a%art. ?or Nari&an L to beco&e as hea#y as you want L is one3sided Ta&as. This &eans
that in the %rocess of beco&ing s&aller you should not increase the weight, but reduce the for&
instead. To increase weight is in fact #ery si&%le: it is %ure Ta&as. To beco&e s&aller is
Ta&as, but with a little bit of Aajas added.
Gariman4 to become as hea1y as you $ant4
82"
I ha#e seen e(a&%le of Nari&an when I was 0 years old. A Ba%anese judoka =2
rd
degree black
belt> of the age of 70 ca&e to #isit our +ojo in 9ruges. )e was a rather little fellow. 'e were
in a grou% of about " boys and girls and he was teaching us at this occasion. At a certain
&o&ent he said: ,<ow you will all try to &o#e &e fro& &y %lace.. )e was barely bigger than
&ost of us, so we thought that this was a %iece of cake. )owe#er, this fellow was standing on
his feet, his legs slightly bentG and he was standing there. )e stood like a rock. 'hate#er we
tried, we could not &o#e hi& a bit, no &atter how we %ushed and %ulled. It was si&%ly
i&%ossible. )e was like a block of concrete. This is Nari&an. 'hat did he doH Bust Ta&as.
Take in a lot of Shi#a. You can %lay this ga&e yourself, and let so&ebody lift you u%. You do
not tell, but beforehand you take in a lot of Shi#a, &aking you so incredibly hea#yG The
%erson who is to lift you u% will break his backJ Fn the other hand, when you are in trouble
and there is no other way then to be carried by so&ebody, who incidentally does not ha#e
&uch %ower, you try to &ake yourself as light as %ossible. You do that by %u&%ing as &uch as
%ossible Aajas into your being. As a result you will notice: you ha#e indeed beco&e lighter.
These things are #ery %ractical, and they do work.
Prapti A to become as tall as you $ant4
824
)ere the %ro%ortions are affected. You beco&e so tall that you can e#en touch a celestial body
with your fingers. You %lay with your condition: alternately Aajas and Ta&as. This &eans that
you control your for& and you &ake it alternately Aajas and Ta&as. Think of distorting
&irrors that gi#e you a #ery different i&age of yourself because they are bent. You can %ush
this #ery far: If we were to belie#e the old scri%tures, so far that you would be able to touch a
celestial body with your fingers. This re&inds &e of ,9arba%a%a., a youth series on TD of
characters who were able to take on any for& they wanted. You can see that there is coherence,
ehH Your energy bodies are still %resent here, but you act fro& the causal le#el. You influence
the subtle le#el, which for its %art influences the gross le#el. I draw only one elli%se, but you
should actually draw 2 of the&, re%resenting the 2 bodies.
You can also draw the other elli%ses:
3ormal human being/condition4
To become as light as you $ant4
/entered.
6ach of the 7 Siddhis can be drawn in this way.
To become smaller4 #irst this, and then this4
To become bigger4 #irst this, and then this4
;o$e1er, to become hea1ier is this4
Then Pra!amya A to stay under$ater4
'hat does it &ean to be able to stay underwaterH It &eans to achie#e %erfect Satt#a. It &eans
to be co&%letely *uiet, co&%letely in balance. That is the Siddhi of staying underwater. This is
e#en &ore difficult than to beco&e as tall as you want. You already understood this, for the
82C
&ost difficult ele&ent is always to si&%ly obtain that stability, and not to alter the for& or to
undertake an action. This ele&ent of stability is incredibly difficult. You need Stable and %ure
Satt#a. Also look at the logic: slowly it beco&es &ore difficult. That is Praka&ya.
'sat1a A to be able to a$a!en the dead.
To awaken dead %eo%le in Satt#a. To &ake hi& re3connect, to such an e(tent that he stands u%.
'e ha#e a #ery nice e(a&%le of this in the story of @aIar: Besus stood before the gra#e of his
good friend @aIar. Then what did he doH
At least he shouted: ,@aIar, stand u%J.
Yes, he shouted: ,@aIar G. 'hat ha%%ens when you hear your na&eH The diseased can still
hear, as the Tibetan 9ook of the +ead is telling us. You better watch out what you say when
you are close to a diseased body, for the ethereal body is still functioning and is close by, and it
re&ains close by for about 0 to 2 days after death, after which he esca%es. That is a %hanto&.
This &eans that at the &o&ent the ethereal body hears, and in %articular hears his name,
identification with his %hysical body occurs as a result. At that &o&ent all %arts of that body
acti#ate, triggered by calling out the na&e. And when you %ut the &otor syste& in &otion, in
%articular the fire3&otor syste&, and you say: ,Stand u%J., you reinforce that entire gross body.
As a result it can indeed ha%%en that the diseased wakes u%.
This is the story of a &an I &et while hiking high u% in the &ountains. )e colla%sed straight in
front of &e and died. I&&ediately I tried to hel% hi& with artificial res%iration and so on. Then
I also tried to awake hi&. )is %ulse was co&%letely gone. I called out his na&e: ,/laudeJ
/laudeJ Stand u%., and I felt his %ulse co&ing back. I did this a nu&ber of ti&es, but
e#entually he died after all. The helico%ter and the doctor did not show u%. 9ut by using this
a%%roach I ha#e clearly felt that his %ulse ca&e back a nu&ber of ti&es.
9ut if you are able to hear, you should also be able to feelH
The first thing is hearing, but then the energy &ust s%read through you.
So you do not feel anything when you are deadH
<o, you do not feel anything, you can only hear. It is only %ossible after reinforcing the entire
body, for then the other senses and other %arts of the body start to work again. Ff course you
should ask yourself whether you are co&&itting #iolence or not. It is %ossible that this %erson
is finished li#ing, while you force hi& to back to life again. That is what I felt with this
?rench&an, /laude. I felt it was better to let hi& go. 9ut this is the techni*ue for as far as I
understand it. There is no &agic or &iracle in#ol#ed. It is si&%ly using ele&ents that are
a#ailable. The energy, consciousness has left the body, and with a trick you &ake it return, and
you reinforce that being.
+o you ha#e to be Satt#ic yourself to be able to do thisH
827
I think that you &ust ha#e a little bit &ore control o#er these &atters than I do. I did not
co&%letely succeed. I did notice that so&ething ha%%ened, but it was far fro& %erfect. This is
Isat#a.
The biggest o# the B is asit1a A taming $ild animals4
?or this we go to a region at the coast of India, where there are &angro#e forests. It was on TD.
There we find the biggest %o%ulation of tigers L li#ing in the wild L and they de#our about a
thousand #illagers a year. So they are &an3eating tigers. Those #illagers %ro#ide for their li#es
by fishing and gathering bee honey in the forest. Those tigers are on the lurk, and while the
#illagers are fishing those tigers swi& towards the&.
A tiger is wild energy and not #ery tractable. All the other situations so far are tractable
situations, but here the energy leads its own life. Therefore you &ust ha#e so &uch e(%erience
in all the %re#ious to be able to install har&ony in all those craIy running energies here: Telling
a tiger that wants to eat you not to do that is of course nonsense, so you &ust %ossess a gigantic
a&ount of control o#er all those energies. You sit there, tune3in on this tiger, those energies
running wild in all directions, and your Satt#a &ust be so big, and the induction:influence on
this tiger &ust also be so big that you transfor& all this Aajas and Ta&as within hi& in a #ery
short ti&e. ?or you will not ha#e &uch ti&e to do thisJ
Fne day in Africa one of &y fathers ac*uaintances went lion hunting. After he shot a lion, he
a%%roached it and at that #ery &o&ent the %artner of that lion, the lioness, attacked hi&. 'ith
one slash of her %aw she ri%%ed o%en his entire chest. )a#e you e#er seen the %aws of these
ani&alsH A lion has a huge %aw, but the %aw of a tiger is e#en bigger. ShoofJ And you are
finished. That is what you ha#e to learn to control. As for &e you can sing A$5, but &aybe
this ani&al will beco&e e#en &ore irritated. There are indeed %eo%le who ha#e tried this, you
knowH ?or e(a&%le the /hristian3&artyrs in the arenas of Ao&e who died a &artyrs death.
They sang and they %rayed, thinking that they would be able to outwit the lions and the wild
ani&als in this way. $nfortunately they failed &iserably. Ff course they were not educated in
these Sutras.
In the Yoga school we a%%ly this Siddhi in the third year of the 5asters course in treating sick
%eo%le. A sick %erson is like a tiger: the energies are running wild in all directions. 6s%ecially
when you are dealing with cancer it is #ery, #ery difficult. You &ust already %ossess a
considerable a&ount of control. 'e &anage %retty well, resulting in *uite nice achie#e&ents in
this field. As a result of this a%%roach %eo%le were cured while they were already gi#en u%.
That is this a%%roach. ?or this you &ust know all the ins and outs of esoteric healing. You &ust
know all the laws and %atterns, which takes &e 2 years to teach you.
'e do not learn the other Siddhis. 'e only %ut into %ractice the greatest of the&, the 7
th
Siddhi. )owe#er, I ha#e ne#er &et a tiger, only sick %eo%le. +o you understand the beauty of
this e(ercise nowH
*1! Rupa =a)an+a 4a.a $ajra Samhananat)ani -a+a Sampat
82!
9eauty, fine co&%le(ion, strength and ada&antine hardness constitute the %erfection of the
body.
)ow do you know whether you ha#e succeeded with flying colors or not for those 7
Siddhis:the control of the Panca39hutasH You know this when you ha#e a %erfect body, a fine
co&%le(ion and when you are as strong as dia&ond. 'hen your &uscles are weak you know
that you still ha#e so&e work to do. 'hen you do not look so beautiful L a little bit bold or so,
or %ouches under the eyes L then there is still a lot of work to be done. It is #ery si&%le: just
look at the &irror G and ask yourself: ,'hat &ore do I ha#e to doH. This is also good for
&odesty, for &aybe you ha#e already achie#ed *uite a lot, but this shows what there is left to
be done. Think of the 01113&eter high &ountain as in &y drea&. There is still so &uch to be
done.
And yes, those &uscles &ust be hard. This hardness is the result of Satt#a. This is strange:
so&ebody in Satt#a %hysically feels #ery hard. 'ell, it is only logic when you know that
Ta&as re%resents softness. Tension:contortion is Aajas, or at least a co&bination of it.
)owe#er, so&ething that is Satt#ic is #ery hard. 9ut it is #ery easy at the sa&e ti&e.
Ae&arkably, I feel that certain %arts of &y body are already *uite hard. I also notice that the
gri% of &y hand is #ery hard, and it is beco&ing increasingly harder. I always look forward to
&eeting &y brother G )e was always stronger than &e, but now he is afraid to shake hands
with &eJ I do it with great %leasure. <ot with you, for that is no fun, but with hi& it is. This is
an indication of your %rogress.
9eauty is i&%ortant. A lot of ugly %eo%le walk around in the world of Yoga, carrying all kinds
of titles, banging the dru&s loudly. 'hen you &eet the&, you just tell yourself: 8C
th
Sutra. This
&eans that those %eo%le are not what they clai& to be, for if he is really that good, he should be
e*ually beautiful. The highest Yogi is also the &ost beautiful. Ae&e&ber this. Sy&&etric,
%erfect, young and fresh L those are indications of success. And incredibly strongJ As soon as
they ha#e a %otbelly, wear s%ectacles, ha#e a bold headG get out of hereJ
9abaji, the great Yogi also looks so incredibly beautiful and young.
Yes, the real 9abaji. The 9abaji fro& )erakhan for e(a&%le beca&e ugly. )e was beautiful
first, but he said hi&self that he had gathered too &uch Ear&a and that he beca&e ugly as a
result of it. 9ut when you gather Ear&a and you are unable to burn it, you are not that great
either. )e said: ,I a& A#atar., but that is not A#atar. An A#atar is the %ersonification of Nod.
An A#atar is not born fro& a wo&an.
*5! Grahana S)arupasmitan)a+artha)att)a Sam+amad Indri+a Ja+ah
5astery o#er the sense3organs by %erfor&ing Samyama on their %ower of
cognition, real nature, egois&, all3%er#asi#eness and functions.
881
This 87
th
Sutra is indeed the Sa&ya&a u%on the Indriyas. Ff this e(ercise I disco#ered that
you &ust use the senses, as Swa&i Yogesh#arananda Saras#ati also says.
So, if you want to deal with the Bnanendriya of the earth, you &ust focus u%on the ti% of the
nose in Sa&ya&a.
If you want to deal with the Bnanendriya of the water, you &ust focus u%on the tongue.
If you want to deal with the Bnanendriya of the fire, you &ust focus u%on the eyeballs.
If you want to deal with the Bnanendriya of the air, you &ust focus u%on the fingerti%s.
If you want to deal with the Bnanendriya of the ether, you &ust focus u%on the auricle =ear>.
Through this entrance, which is *uite gross, you auto&atically arri#e at the cause, which is
subtle. In this way you will arri#e at the Bnanendriya itself. This &ethod is incredibly %owerful
to obtain total har&ony in your being, your subtle body.
I ha#e disco#ered:seen that this is the &ethod to cure cancer. ?or cancer can occur at the fi#e
different le#els. ?irst there is a distortion, followed by a knot, and then suddenly there is a
breach, which causes the energy when it flows through, to flow in the wrong direction. The
solution to the whole %roble& co&es down to building the right bridge:welding %ro%erly. <ot
only the knot has to be re&o#ed, the breach has to be welded as well. Additionally a strong
i&%ulse &ust be gi#en to the Shi#a3energy, which is what we can do with this Sa&ya&a u%on
the Indriyas.
'hen you do not %erfor& the Sa&ya&a, the energy will follow its own course. 'hen you do
%erfor& the Sa&ya&a you reco#er:align the energy, with the result that this energy will build a
bridge.
+oes that &ean that the energy will lead its own lifeH
Yes. And it is only logical, for the energy itself has no %ower. Fnly for this reason it is logical
that it is unable to find back the other %art, the connection. This is the result of the knot that
obstructs e#erything. The energy si&%ly see%s into you.
'hen we are talking about a waste %roduct =5ala> of energy like hair growth for e(a&%le, it is
not as serious as this. There is no breach. )owe#er, there is indeed a shortage of energy. There
is a blockage so&ewhere that %re#ents the indis%ensable flow through of nutrients on to% of the
head, causing the hair to sto% growing or to beco&e white:gray.
All strange %heno&ena in your body, e#erything that is not sy&&etrical, can be e(%lained in
this way.
Then what is the e(%lanation of this SutraH It is telling us that we should be engaged with
Sa&ya&a u%on ,their %ower of cognition, real nature, egois&, all3%er#asi#eness and
functions.. 'e ha#e already seen this for a large %art in the lessons on subtle anato&y and the
Science of Soul. I e(%lained before that those Indriyas are actually balls of energy, which are
o&ni%resent, %er#ading all &atter. 9ut actually they for& the basis L the cause L of gross
&atter. And the changes of conditions of these subtle ele&ents cause the &atter to take on
another &anifestation. So, when those subtle ele&ents contract =Ta&as>, you ha#e the direct
creation of gross ele&ents, the 9hutas. 'hen you ha#e a har&onious subtle ele&ent, it results
88
in the %ossibility to %ercei#e. And when those subtle ele&ents e(%and =Aajas>, it results in
&otor acti#ity.
So, you want to drag along your troo%s and con*uer the city. )owe#er, large walls surround
this city, and they can see that if they would atte&%t to scale the walls, they will be shot down
fro& the&, which is the reason they do not dare to do that. 9ut this city &ust be con*uered
anyho$. The only thing you can do is si&%ly cli&bing the ladder first. You &ust be rather
*uickM otherwise you will be shot down yourself. And you es%ecially see to it that your &en
can #eel you doing this, in such a way that they ha#e no other choice than to say: ,)ey, he is
going G well, I guess I ha1e to go &yself then G I ha#e no other choice G for he is doing it
G so I do it too G. As a result you will see that you win. Ff course you ensure yourself that
when you cli&b the wall that is no ene&y so&ewhere on to% of it G I did this in &y %re#ious
life, but I got hurt %retty badly and still ha#e a scar of it.
+o you understand what leadershi% is aboutH It is what we call setting a good e(a&%le: you do
so&ething, and %eo%le are like shee%M they follow. 9ut it is not as si&%le as this. At the sa&e
ti&e you do this you tune3in on your &en, and you drag the& along in this way. That is what is
written here: ,6gocentricity..
Too &any %eo%le in the 'estern world are of the o%inion that they can lead %eo%le by saying:
,5en, the wall is o#er there G I a& telling you, you &ust cli&b that wall G. A lot of %eo%le
think it works this way. +irectors of co&%anies say: ,You know whatH You are being %aid to
do your job G and that is what you are going to do G. And although the e&%loyee has trouble
with his work L he cannot &anage to sol#e a %roble& L the boss still %uts hi& under %ressure:
,I want this finished by that date.. )ow will you react as an e&%loyeeH ,Screw you. I tried
already and it did not work.. Then what ha%%ens to such a leaderH )e loses his authority and
he is finished. ?ro& that &o&ent on the co&%any is without leader, e#en though this guy has
his title and his large desk and e#erything belonging to his %osition. 'hen the staff does not
obey the director any&ore it is all o#er.
I ha#e seen worse than this: I ha#e seen co&%anies in which the secretary was the directorJ She
was the least bad of all, si&%ly because she was there for e#erybody, and trying to &ake ends
&eet, which was the &ost i&%ortant of all. 'hat is the #alue of the co&%any in such a
situationH <othing. It is not #iable.
So, antici%ation on the &atter ha%%ens in Yoga using the Indriyas. Internal &e&os or an
e#aluation talk, or whate#er talks you kee% showing the& your leadershi%, can indeed function
as wra%%ing &aterial of your Sa&ya&a u%on the Indriya. This last ele&ent is the &ost
i&%ortant.
This Sa&ya&a is also the solution to eye %roble&s. You %erfor& your Sa&ya&a u%on the
eyeballs and your #ision will be restored. 5oreo#er: it is so %owerful that when you do this
when you are blind you will be able to see again. 'hen you do this when you are deaf you will
be able to hear again. 'hen you do this when you cannot s&ell any&ore you will be able to
s&ell again. 'hen you do this when you ha#e no taste you will ha#e taste again. And when
880
so&ebody %erfor&s this on you it is one of the &iracles Besus de&onstrated in which )e &ade
the blind see, and )e &ade the cri%%le walk again.
So it is actually obser#ation of the eyeballsH
It is the concentration3%art of the Sa&ya&a u%on the eyeballs. 'hat you are actually doing is a
%owerful reinforce&ent of har&onious energy u%on the subtle ele&ent of fire. 9ut your eyes L
%hysical eyes L are the result of those fireballs. 'hen those fireballs in you beco&e strong and
har&onious, they will be reinforced in their &anifestation L the senses =in this case the eyes>.
So you focus only u%on the eyeballsH
Yes, that in itself is sufficient.
?irst one, followed by the otherH
You can do howe#er you want to do it. I a& only telling you what to do. I ha#e seen a lot of
%eo%le who want to focus on all " senses in one e(ercise, howe#er, %ersonally I %refer that you
feel what you need, and to your abilities and your feeling, you focus u%on one, and e#entually
you can switch to another. $sually it is all, but you &ust be %ractical and say: ,what interests
&e &ost at this &o&entH. And you take that one as nu&ber . Along the way you will
auto&atically arri#e at the others.
?or e(a&%le, I a& working on &y skin, on all the birth&arks, which are scars that I incurred
during &y %re#ious life. I want to get rid of the&, in addition to wanting to ha#e &ore hair. So
recently I ha#e been regularly engaged in Sa&ya&a u%on the fingerti%s. 9ut now and then I
also feel a %inch of an old kidney stone in &y right kidney, so then I do Trataka Eriya in the
&orning to gi#e it renewed energy again, but I also do Sa&ya&a u%on the water. ?or it is a
ty%ical water3%heno&enon, and e#entually it is an earth3%heno&enon =the nose>. So e#erything
is related to the " ele&ents in the gross body, and with this Sa&ya&a on the causes of the gross
ele&ents you cause a co&%lete cleansing. It is a wonderful e(ercise indeed.
Ear&a Yoga is the %urest for&.
*6! 'ato 8anoja)it)am $i/arana 4ha)ah Pradhana Ja+as Ca
Thence, instantaneous cognition without the use of any #ehicle and co&%lete
&astery o#er Pradhana.
The result of this e(ercise is that you &ake the subtle body L and not only the gross body L
co&%letely har&onious. You will not be stuck with your consciousness in one of these bodies
any&ore. Your consciousness will be ca%able of functioning freely L on causal le#el, where
there are still Sa&skaras. The direct functioning, scanning the Sa&skaras, is what we call
,instantaneous cognition. =direct knowledge>. So, you look at &atters, and then those &atters
882
tell you so&ething, and you know e(actly G clack G this is it. As you %ractice Sa&ya&a
&ore often, it is logical L the criterion of success L that you recei#e &ore and &ore direct
knowledgeM there is no need to reason any&ore, you just !no$. So&ebody asks you for your
o%inion G bang G state&ent, without the use of any #ehicle. And it is instantaneous.
+o you re&e&ber PratyakshaH 'e learned about Pratyaksha, Aga&a and Anu&ana.
Aga&a K testi&ony.
Anu&ana K inference.
Pratyaksha K direct insight.
Together the three for& the Drttis of right knowledge =Pra&anas>, the Drttis of 9uddhi. 9ut
what did we learn about these Drttis of 9uddhiH 'e said that they indeed characteriIe the
functioning of 9uddhi, but that we should get rid of all of the&. 9ut this has to be done by
reducing testi&ony to inference, in order to e#entually end u% with direct knowledge. )ere,
with this Sa&ya&a u%on the Indriyas, you reduce the& all to direct knowledge.
9ut this does not &ean that we are finished yet. 'hat it does &ean, says Patanjali, is that you
obtain total control o#er Prakrti in this way. So you will finally &aster all the &anifestations of
energy. This is only logical, for you are now at the le#el of the causes of the &anifestation, at
causal le#el. 6#erything can be controlled fro& the causality, thanks to this e(ercise.
This is interesting, for when you take the ti% of the nose, the ti% of the tongue, the eyeballs, the
fingerti%s, or the ears =auricle> as your object of concentration for Sa&ya&a, you %ass through
each of the three le#els each ti&e. In this %rocess you can feel the reactions in you. You
beco&e directly fa&iliar with all those bad characteristics in you. It is an e(%erience of great
i&%ortance, so you re&e&ber it. It is i&%rinted in your &e&ory. And this will be your ca%ital
to co&e back later, and cause a re#erse %rocess in which you &aterialiIe things in the &atter.
In fact you walked fro& the botto& to the to%. You know the route. 'hen you are at the to%,
you want to co&e down again, and because you ha#e already followed that route you only ha#e
to follow it in re#erse. So, you s%eak with the #oice of e(%erience. And as those e(ercises are
not so easy that one slow cli&b to arri#e at the to% is sufficient L &eaning that you ha#e to do a
lot of effort L you ha#e disco#ered &any different routes on the slo%es of the &ountains to
reach the to%, and as a result you will ha#e a considerable knowledge of the entire surroundings
of this &ountain. 'hich is your ca%ital, your ca%ital to %erfor& &agic in the future. ?or all is
&agic. In the end you will cause those things to ha%%en that you $ant to ha%%en, anything. ?or
e#erything in this &aterial reality is caused by subtle energy:ele&ents.
?or e(a&%le when you are in a car, like &y &other one day, with a guy you do not like, and
you dri#e through S%ain on a #acation, and it a%%ears this guy is a <aIi G ,5y Nod, what
ha#e I doneHJ A friend who is a <aIiHJ BeeI G and I a& here in the &iddle of S%ain G. 5y
&other focused u%on the engine of this car, a ?iat $no, and she focused on it so intensely that
it stalled. All the electric wiring was &essed u%. And this guy was unable to get his car started
again, which created the o%%ortunity for &y &other to get out of the car and find so&ething to
get out of there.
888
It is also hel%ful when you are lying on the beach: the obser#ation of the subtle ele&ents will
enable you to s%ot an onrushing Tsuna&i before it actually hits the coast. )a#e you heard that
%ractically no wild ani&als were killed by the Tsuna&iH <ow they wonder how this is
%ossible. 'ell, &aybe because of this. In any e#ent, a Yogi will i&&ediately feel: ,)ey,
so&ething is wrong here G what is thisH G., and he will notice the %ortents of an a%%roaching
catastro%he.
If you are ca%able of doing all this, what is left to be i&%ossible for youH 3othing. And you
will notice that when %eo%le want to undertake so&ething, they want your in#ol#e&ent to
ensure success. This is what is called ,the blessing of the Nuru.. At a certain %oint it is a
function you fulfill for the %eo%le: you join the& and you say: ,)ocus Pocus Pilates Pats G.,
and e#erything is alright. 9ut it does not show on the outside. Peo%le often tell &e: ,I do not
understand. You do nothing. 3othingJ. 9ut it is in a %eculiar way that e#erything in your
en#iron&ent is &o#ing. You could e#en say that it is going through accelerations, &oti#ating
%eo%le to get to work. Then when they look at you and you are not doing anythingG well, of
course, a king indeed does nothing. That is, %hysically he does nothing, but he is doing this. So,
you %ut a throne so&ewhere L wide enough to &ake you sit cross3legged L and just let grand%a
sitG
There are stories in the 9ible about changing water into wine and fish into bread G
That is all this: Take fire fro& the air. 9eat water out of a rock. Sta&% the feet, like 9uddha
did, and cause an earth*uake. It is all the sa&e. So, you know how e#erything co&es into being
L e#erything that &o#es and flows L you notice it:see it:feel it L so, you will sto% doing effort
to deal with it at %hysical le#el. That is the %ri&iti#e way, for nor&al %eo%le. You deal with it
through the causes. That is the subtle world of the subtle ele&ents. 'hen bandits co&e to
destroy your #illage, as is described in ,The 5asters of the ?ar 6ast by S%alding, the Besus3
figure suddenly says: ,)ocus Pocus Pilates Pats G., and they all see&ingly crash into a wall, a
wall of energy. And they cannot ad#ance further. 'hat ha%%enedH They ca&e in gallo% riding
their horses G what is thisH ?ire. It is the &otor syste& of the fire. So, at the le#el of the fire
you only ha#e to G do whatH
You only ha#e to throw in so&e Ta&asH
Yes, the least thing you &ust do is ensuring that they are not in Aajas any&ore, in order to sto%
%ro%ulsion. The least thing you &ust do is to cause Satt#a to arise at fire3le#el. That is the best
but also the hardest way. You see the& stor&ing along and you influence the& to such an
e(tent L with +i#ine energy L that they co&e to a standstill.
+o you do this with a wishH
You do this with an intention. So, the ga&e here is not %layed with a wish any longer, for it is
too slow, but with an intention, which is the result of the functioning of the soul. You already
thoroughly control wishing, but the &otor syste& of the soul is intention: you only ha#e the
intention to &ake the& sto%, and G bangJ G they sto%.
88"
It see&s to ha%%en #ery fast G
It ha%%ens in an instant.
Yogesh#arananda Saras#ati, the author of Science of Soul, was also ca%able of doing this. I
learnt this fro& a witness who #isited hi& but acted annoyingly, knowing that he was annoying
=he told &e>. )e entered the classroo& while the Swa&i did not want hi& to attend any longer,
and he said to hi&: ,Please lea#e the roo&G., to which he re%lied: ,<o.. @ike a blunt
+utch&an on wooden shoes he si&%ly said no, and he did enter the roo&. )e told &e that he
felt like walking into a brick wall, that he could not %roceed to enter. 5oreo#er, he said he felt
like he was pushed out. It was so %owerful that e#entually he fell down to the ground. )e was
*uite shocked by this incident and he did not %ursue to enter the roo& any&ore. 'hen he told
&e this, I asked hi& ,'ell, are you certain you are in the right %lace hereHJ G. After that I
ha#e not seen hi& again G
That is this. These are #ery interesting e(%eri&ents you can try out. So&eti&es I try this with
&y &other3in3law. I just %retend to hel% her get out of the car or so&ething like that, and then
G =she falls>.
You would be in trouble if you would co&e across so&ebody else ca%able of doing this too.
Yes, that is when it beco&es really interesting. Fne day we should do this here. You can also
do it with Ping3Pong balls: you %ut a Ping3Pong ball in the center and then you %lay soccer.
?ro& a distance you I try to &ani%ulate the ball in the direction of a certain %erson =the target>,
and you try to %re#ent &e fro& doing that. This is a #ery interesting e(%eri&ent.
9ut we were dealing with @iberation. 'here is the ele&ent of @iberation hereH
That you are not stuck in &atter any&oreH
You do not ha#e to be bothered any&ore by &atter. That is @iberation. It %re%ares you for the
Initiation L total rebirth on causal le#el. 'hat I a& telling you for e(a&%le about disco#ering
the intention of being a &anager:&eans of control in the new world is actually a %art of a
rebirth. You disco#er a new world, with new rules: A new life. That is an Initiation, in which
you arri#e co&%letely at the le#el of the crown /akra.
,7! Satt)a Purushan+ata -h+ati 8atras+a Sar)a 4ha)adhishthatrt)am
Sar)ajnatrt)am Ca
Fnly fro& the awareness of the distinction between Satt1a and Purusha arise
su%re&acy o#er all states and for&s of e(istence =o&ni%otence> and knowledge
of e#erything =o&niscience>.
884
This Sutra is about 9uddha3shi%. So far you were a 9oddhisatt#a, and here you beco&e
9uddha: Your control of Prakrti is such that you are indeed able to be aware of /itta in satt#a,
and of the difference between that and Purusha. Abo#e /itta in Satt#a is At&an. Abo#e At&an
is A#yakta L the $n&anifested =un&anifested At&an>, and abo#e A#yakta is Purusha. At a
certain %oint you will be able to distinguish these utterly subtle layers, for actually they too are
%art of Prakrti. 'hen after all this you are engaged without the obstruction of all those Drttis,
o#er ti&e you will beco&e &ore and &ore aware of the slightest change of energy on high
le#el. At this &o&ent At&an is already *uite abstract to you. At&an L you can be aware of hi&
=the least bad word I know to describe its %erce%tion>. ?or it is the %erce%tion of the energy in
your being. It is actually a &anifestation of Prakrti, but before it &anifests itself it is also
%ossible to notice so&ething of it, albeit right before it has &anifested itself. This is A#yakta.
And Purusha is already co&%letely abstract. I cannot tell you &uch about Purusha for I ha#ent
got the slightest notion of what it could be.
A &anifestation is caused by condensation. ?ro& the =rarefied condition> #oid a condensation
occurs, a &anifestation. You &ust look at un&anifested as so&ething that was there be#ore the
&anifestation, being the cause of that &anifestation. It is energy, but with a cou%le of scratches
in it or so. The scratches are the causes for the bu&%s. And Purusha is energy $ithout
scratches, but %robably with so&e little ,cli%s. on it that in the %rocess of condensation lead to
scratches, which then beco&e bu&%s, and those bu&%s beco&e Sa&skaras, which then
beco&e Drttis.
'hen you reach the li&it of all the %heno&ena that occur within Prakrti and obtain knowledge
%ertaining to the&, at a certain %oint this knowledge turns into %ower. As a result you
understand e#erything, for e#erything has co&e into e(istence in this way. <ot only the
%hysical world in which we li#e, but also the causal world and the world abo#e that: so,
e1erything. This is how a 9uddha has knowledge of all his li#es. )e walks around ca%able of
re&e&bering all his li#es, but he can also take a look at so&eone else and see all the li#es of
that %erson. )owe#er, there are so&e li&itations here, one of which is that )e cannot see the
%re#ious li#es of celestial bodies. I find this an interesting one: /elestial bodies are other ty%es
of life that find the&sel#es at another wa#elength, or at &uch larger or higher le#el. )e &ust
wait:beco&e one with these kinds of life and gain control o#er these kinds of energies before
)e will be able to do these kinds of things there too. 9ut in res%ect to hu&an beings )e is
Al&ighty.
The world has already seen C 9uddhas of this kindM C %eo%le who ha#e reached this le#el. /an
you i&agine thisH The #ery first one was 5anu. In the 9ible he is called Ada&, the bloke that
had hi&self seduced by his wife, called 6#e. The %oor soulJ This 5anu is Sanat Eu&ara =the
@ord of the 'orld> who& I ha#e seen in a #ision. It is the king, still the king. It is said that he
is 71 &illion years old. It is a fact that scri%tures easily talk about &illions of years, but at least
this indicates that he is incredibly old. So it is said: the first hu&an being. The +e#as were
there, and they fell down. Probably he was a +e#a who fell down, but he is still ali#e and the
boss of hu&an kind: The first 9uddha. )e li#es in the astral world.
88C
'e also know the last 9uddha, who by the way does not look like a /hinese: he has Arian
features. That is the real 9uddha. )e is slender and not obese =which is also an aberration of
history>, a #ery beautiful hu&an being. It is said that he died fro& %oisoning.
+id he see that co&ing to hi&H
I do not know e(actly what ha%%ened.
Besus is not a 9uddha. )e does not ha#e the status of 9uddha but that of a 9oddhisatt#a,
actually being on his way =)e is working on it L still> to realiIe this Sutra. 9ut such %eo%le do
not die, ehH 5aybe they lea#e their body, but they continue to de#elo% the&sel#es, and they
continue to care for hu&anity. It is #ery likely that )e will one day reach 9uddha3shi%, too.
The last 9uddha L Nauta&a L li#ed about 0"11 years ago.
About "111 years ago there was the for&er 9uddha, na&ely Erishna. It is #ery i&%ortant that
you study:absorb e#erything related to Erishna.
Aa&a li#ed 1,111 years ago. )e was the 2
rd
before the last 9uddha. I do not know the na&es
of the other %receding 9uddhas e(ce%t 5anu.
I ha#e understood that we now li#e in the age of the Thousand 9uddhas, so it is a #ery s%ecial
era, which is 1ery ad#antageous for the s%iritual de#elo%&ent of %eo%le. /ountless nu&bers of
angels try to incarnate by all &eans, especially Yoga %ractitioners, for they are &ost aligned
with their kar&ic ballast. And instead of only one 9uddha e#ery cou%le of hundred or thousand
years there will be an era of thousand 9uddhas. Pay attention to this, and learn your lesson
well, for in the end a considerable nu&ber of these 9uddhas &ust co&e fro& this school here
in Il%enda&J Fr notHJ So, there we go with that little Ping3Pong ball G
010 &aybe G
<o. 010 is a year of disaster, foretold by the AItecs or the Incas. It is written on their
calendar. In that year we can e(%ect &ajor destruction, like flooding, earth*uakes, and so on.
?or the being 6arth is functioning too. 9y that ti&e we &ust be able to fly. It is the only
%ossibility, for floating in a little bathtub3boat is not so safe when such giant flood wa#e
a%%ears.
)a#e you had enough yetH Fnce &ore, you do not ha#e to belie#e e#erything I tell you. Bust
gi#e &e the benefit of the doubt, and use the things that I %ass on to you and
in#estigate:co&%are, for e(a&%le while in Ditarka Sa&adhi: ,'hat e(actly about thisH. And
you will knowM really know.
So now we ha#e beco&e 9uddhaH 9ut I do not see any light surrounding you, so it failed. 'e
should say, ,no light yet=.
'e discussed o&ni%otence. Are you able to describe o&ni%otenceH
887
'hen you ha#e %ower o#er all %eo%leH
+id you know that the Po%e should be infallible,H In the /atholic /hurch the Po%e is infallible.
The Sun Eing, @ouis TID, was infallible. That is, he said: ,I a& Eing by the grace of Nod..
And the Sun Eing, that is actually a sort of Sun Nod. You ha#e to see that in this res%ect: it is
so&ebody who is so %owerful that he has %ower o#er e#erything that li#es. This is %ossible
because he sees e#erything, and because he knows e#erything. )e does not li#e in the
&anifested world, but in the i&&anent world. +o you understand the word ,i&&anent.H It
&eans that he sees the world that $ill be, the world that it is beco&ing, but has not beco&e yet.
The &anifested already e(ists. It is the world of for& as we know it, but you can also see the
energies that surround it. And when you see all those different layers of energy, u% until
Purusha, you can also e(ercise control o#er it. ?or you know that they function in accordance
with the 2 Nunas: Aajas, Ta&as, and Satt#a. And you know how the 2 Nunas can be brought
about:
Shi#a3su%%ly is the creation of Ta&as.
Shakti3su%%ly is the creation of Aajas.
9alance between the two is the creation of Satt#a.
Is it i&%ortant that you know e#erything and that you are able to do all thisH
Yes, for otherwise so&eone:so&ething else controls you G
Yes, &eaning that you are restrained. And here you actually see the reason why you stri#e for
o&ni%otence and o&niscience: it is si&%ly to free you co&%letely fro& the %rison of
ignorance: To be free. So with all this you create the condition of @iberation. 'hen you
see:understand e#erything, and you can e(ert influence o#er it at will, then there is nothing left
to dictate the law on you. This is ty%ical for a Yogi L he does not obey any law any&ore. The
laws of Nod are indeed i&%ortant guidelines for hi&, but in the end e#en those are not
i&%ortant any&ore. ?or how can you u%hold laws when you ha#e beco&e those laws yourself,
when you ha#e beco&e the law&aker yourselfH
Fne day I was s%eeding at k&:h, while the s%eed li&it was 11 k&:h. I got a 213euro
%enalty for it. ,I wi%e &y feet on it. +o the %olice think that I will sto% dri#ing k&:hH They
will not get &e down G 'earing a safety belt in the carH I si&%ly refuse to wear one, too..
?or what ha%%ens when your car ends u% in the water while you wear your safety belt G all the
electric syste&s fail G
It is about %rinci%leM you %ortray yourself as a free hu&an being. There is nobody left to tell
you what to do and think. That is what you see:e(%erience in the "1
th
Sutra.
,! 'ad $airag+ad Api (osha 4ija -sha+e -ai)a.+am
88!
9y non3attach&ent e#en to that, on the #ery seed of bondage being destroyed,
follows 8ai1alya.
The "
st
Sutra goes e#en further than that. The way I a& talking about not wanting to stra% on
&y safety belt in the car, si&%ly because I want to &aintain &y sense of freedo&, is also
attach&entM it is yet another %rison. In this Sutra Patanjali suggests us to e#en let go of that.
Fnly then can you really be free. These are the last little tricks that you &ust understand well.
If nobody tells you about this while you are actually ready for this ste%, or you do not
coincidentally read these Sutras at that #ery &o&ent, you can re&ain stuck. And you can
re&ain stuck for &any years, causing you to be just off target: You are doing so well, and you
say: ,Nosh, I ha#e acco&%lished e#erything, and I a& ca%able of doing it all G., but you
forget the #ery last little ste%: to let go of that, too. Too bad, for you are still attached, which
&eans that the cycle of birth and death continues, if only because of this attach&ent. It is
because you are not co&%letely Satt#ic.
,Yes, but I a& attached to &y children. I a& attached to &y fa&ily. Should I let go of that,
tooH. You do not ha#e to let go of anything, but inside you the attach&ent is dissol#ed. You
can continue to lo#e e#erybody, but without conditions, and without clai&s.
I ha#e a 073year3old son who& I ha#e not seen in 0 years. I would lo#e to see hi& but he does
not want to hurt his &other. So we li&it oursel#es to e(changing e&ails. <ow I ha#e %eace
with this, for it does not di&inish our lo#e:affection. 5y heart is there and the situation si&%ly
is as it is. 'e acce%t e#erything and e#eryone as it is, acce%tance of situations as they are. <o
de&ands, no %ushing nor %ulling. 'hen the situation changes it is also okay.
Arent you fooling yourself in this wayH
This is indeed a risk. So, if you do not do this genuinely, if you are not honest with yourself,
you will fail &iserably. Then you are %laying ga&es. It is genuine or it is not genuine.
9ut arent we su%%osed to listen to our hearts, and follow the click...
<o, this was true before. 9ut now we are at the end of the lineM we are beyond the click. )ere
we are talking about the detach&ent of the click. So, you do notice &atters that a%%eal to you,
that hel%ed you before to e(ecute and work out your +har&a, but it is fine like that. And it is
logical, for you ha#e si&%ly followed the %ath of your Ear&a, until the end. You ha#e learned
to li#e in accordance with the clicks. 9ut now you &ust also abolish the cause of the clicks,
which are the Sa&skaras. )ow do you do thatH You do that by also detaching yourself fro&
the attraction:%heno&enon that occurs with the recognition of a Sa&skara. In that way you
si&%ly fulfill your +har&a. It is the end of your +har&a, the final burning of your Ear&a.
Yes, fro& now on you can li#e on in *uiet, unless you yourself initiate so&ething to do. 9ut
then you know that you are %roducing Ear&a, and that again you will ha#e to detach fro& it.
This &eans that you will only %erfor& an action in function of the +i#ine. Then you will say:
,I do nothing for &yself any&ore ... it is the 9oss u% there who told &e that this has to be
done.. And then you do that. 9ut at the sa&e ti&e you %erfor& that action the Ear&a you
8"1
%roduce in the %rocess is burned as a result of that +i#ine energy flowing through it. That is
Ear&a Yoga, the highest for& of Yoga. $nfortunately this is absolutely not understood
any&ore. Ear&a Yoga is inter%reted as subser#ience to the Nuru, washing dishes, and %ainting
the fence bordering the house of the Nuru. That is what has beco&e of Ear&a Yoga, which is
all baloney of course.
The seed of attach&ent in this Sutra is the Sa&skara. You still feel the click, but you let it go.
The clicks were the cause of Sa&sara L the %rocess of reincarnation L but you do not res%ond
to the& any&ore. 'ith ti&e you will beco&e &ore and &ore skilful at it L to lea#e things as
they are L and you si&%ly neutraliIe Sa&sara.
Are you on the right track when you ha#e less and less desiresH
That &eans that you are gradually growing in this direction. In the %ast you had so &any
desires G now it is not interesting any&ore. )owe#er, what I do know is that, when I notice
that there is so&ething that I ha1e to do, when I feel that it is &y +har&a, for e(a&%le when
writing the Science of Soul while absolutely not feeling like doing that, I search for an object
of desire. +esire is a good thing for it is the start of action. So, on %ur%ose I sought: how can I
find so&ething that s%urs &e into actionH I ha#e always had an interest in cars, so I %ut a
brochure in front of &e fro& 5ercedes 9enIG looking at it for a long ti&eG And indeed, as a
result I shot into action. I used it to write this book. And each ti&e I de#iated, or lost &y
&oti#ation, I would take another look at that brochure. I could #eel the energy flowing, but now
the book is finished, I closed the brochure for it is not needed any longer. Although, to finish
the book I now ha#e %ut a %oster on the wall of the 5ercedes S3ty%eG
This is Tantra, ty%ically Tantra. If you want to be good, you ha#e to learn to be a little bit bad.
There is no good or e#il any&ore, for you use the& to co&%le&ent one another.
,"! Sthan+ ;panimantrane Sanga Sma+a -aranam Punar Anishta
Prasangat
=There should be> a#oidance of %leasure or %ride on being in#ited by the su%er3
%hysical entities in charge of #arious %lanes because there is the %ossibility of the
re#i#al of e#il.
The things you use, or that coincidentally co&e across your %ath, can gra#ely take you in at
this le#el. That is why it is said: what you es%ecially need in the end is Turya, which is
alertness. This is #ery i&%ortant. You are dancing on the shar% edge of a knife. The slightest
e#ent can &ake you fall. 9ut now you are trained well enough to know the i&%ortance of
Satt#a, and to stay in Satt#a. To walk the right %ath L Antar&ukhi Drtti, the inward flow L is a
%iece of cake for you now. Satt#a L the &iddle %ath L as 9uddha said. And you do not allow
Aajas or Ta&as to distract you.
8"
?or e(a&%le: tonight I was so irritated by &y ste%daughter L she was nagging about #acation.
It &ade &e co&e into Aajas. So I lied down, let it go, listened to <ada, and ca&e back to
har&ony again.
+o not waitJ As soon as you notice: ,Fh G I a& losing &y balance G., ho%, interfereJ That is
alertness, and it is i&%ortant that you &ake a lifestyle out of it. And do not forget L when you
are at this le#el you ha#e gathered an enor&ous a&ount of %owers. If you &isuse those %owers,
they can turn against you and it can be %retty seriousJ So&eti&es it ha%%ens that I start to look
black, thinking negati#elyG then I feel: I a& s%iraling downG screeching down. And
e#erything you built u% is gone. It is inco&%arable to a de%ression of a nor&al hu&an being. It
is a disaster when this ha%%ens to you at this le#el. 'hen you &ake such a &istake, being at
such le#el, it is the %roof that you ha#e not really understood what it is about. You are not
ready. $sually this si&%ly &eans that you ha#e to start all o#er, all the way fro& the
beginning.
There is a board ga&e called @eela, %layed by Yogis and Tibetans. It is a ga&e like Noose3
board. All the way at the end of the ga&e you can &ake this &istake, and caused by a snake
you fall back all the way to the beginning. It is really fun to %lay, but &ore interestingly, it
really reflects the reality. I know, for I was in this situation.
Years ago I had to start all o#er again with the school. I had built u% the school so nicely, with
a 8" 9asic courses and a cou%le of Teachers courses going on at the sa&e ti&e at different
%laces in the country. Then &y ego rose to the surface and as a result I lost al&ost e#erything. I
thought I knew a lot of things, but only later, I recei#ed al&ost e#erything. ?ro& that &o&ent
on I started to %ay &uch &ore attention.
It is #ery useful for you to hear this now. At that ti&e I should ha#e %aid &ore attention to it
&yself. These are the last lessons you recei#e, and they are also the hea#iest. I learned fro& it
how things can be done, and how things fail.
'hy did I fall so dee%H I fell because I beca&e angry, and so&eone who beco&es angry gi#es
a de&onstration of i&%otence. It is si&%ly a &atter of %ure e&otion, and e&otion is controlled
by ego, so, too bad for &e G
This is the story of the Yogi sitting in his ca#e. )e is al&ost at the finish, on the edge of
@iberation, when suddenly so&ebody co&es along and stands in his sunlight. The Yogi
beco&es %issed and says: ,You are standing in &y sunJ. 'hoosh G ,Fh hellJ All those years
that I worked so hard to acco&%lish thisJ This stu%id jerk %assing byJ. Teacher: the jerk is your
teacher. And actually I should now also say: ,Thank you #ery &uch G 8" %eo%le.. Thanks to
the&, thanks to the fall, thanks to e#erything that ha%%ened, I a& now &uch &ore alert. Ti&e
for the 0
nd
atte&%t. And now we try to do it right. @et nobody co&e in &y way. I will sit in a
%lace where nobody %asses byJ
9ut still they ha#e a lot of res%ect for you G
I know, but that is all %ersonality. It all re#ol#es around the soul.
8"0
9ut it did re&ain G
Yes, I know. 9ut that is our task, for all of us, to %ut your %ersonality behind you. And in the
end this is the test.
I know &y biggest deficiency. It will not ha%%en to &e.
That is what you ho%e for, but it is guaranteed that that is the first thing you will ha#e to deal
withJ I ha#e studied this for a long ti&e: you are utterly %ure, but still there is this #ery tiny
scratch. Fne day I #isited the car e(hibition at the AAI. There was this brilliantly beautiful
5ercedes 9enI L an 63ty%e cou%e tuned by A5N. It shone fro& all sides. Then on the right
rear fender there was this enor&ous scratch. So&ebody had scratched the car with a key or soJ
?ro& that &o&ent all you would see of this &agnificent car was this scratch. You could not
see the rest of any&ore, only this scratch. It is the sa&e in this situation. The higher you go, the
&ore ob#ious your last &istake, if you still ha#e one. 9ut because it is so clear, it acti#ates the
Eleshas e#en harder, for they can see too G oh, no control o#er ego yet G and it will co&e
rushing towards you fro& the en#iron&ent. The slightest i&%urity in you i&&ediately attracts
a Elesha.
+oes this ha%%en faster than with other %eo%leH
It ha%%ens much faster, because you are so beautiful, so flawless. As a result the flaws are so
&uch &ore a%%arent. It is like with a tree in the Al%s that does not catch the eye. 9ut when you
%lant a tree in the %older =ty%ically flat +utch landsca%e> where there are no other trees around,
the only thing you see in that %older is this one single tree. Peo%le are energetically structured
like &ountains. They are just as i&%ure, full of %roble&s, but you cannot see the&. 9ut here,
with you, being so %ure, it is so Nod3awfully ob#ious. So, you better bewareJ
So you are being harassed u% until the endH
6#en $orse: In the end it beco&es e#en worse. So, the chances that you fail at this %oint are
real. You are si&%ly doomed to be har&onious. You are doomed to %ractice, to %ay attention,
to i&%ro#e, to go forward, to deal with all these Eleshas. 'hen I a& on the edge of liberation
G I can already see it co&ing G
A 5ercedes %assing by G
A student will %ass by, saying: ,I ha#e so&ething for you G a #ery interesting offer G., and
then a 5ercedes co&es dri#ing by. That is what I see ha%%ening. And that will be &y last
teacher. 'hen I fall for that G well, again I will ha#e to start all the way fro& the beginningJ
3ot again, ehHJ
8"2
,&! -shana 'at -rama+oh Sam+amad $i)e/ajam Jnanam
Enowledge born of awareness of Aeality by %erfor&ing Samyama on &o&ent
and =the %rocess of> its succession.
And yet another Sa&ya&a. Fnly now you are ready to see the to% of the to%s, which is ti&e.
'ith this e(ercise you will learn to understand ti&e. That also &eans rising abo#e ti&e.
'hat is ti&eH Are you aware of the fact that there is no e(isting definition of ti&eH 'hat if I
told you that it was hu&ankind that introduced ti&e, would that tell you so&ething in this
res%ectH
In nature G yes, there are seasons, and there is day and night and so on, and there different
angles of the sun shining in, but ti&e as we know it L hours, &inutes and seconds L it does not
e(ist. )owe#er, we e(%erience life in a flow. There are e#ents following u% one another, and
our consciousness ho%s fro& one e#ent to the other, and fro& one thought to the other, and
because of that we are aware of the %assage of ti&e. 9ut nobody forces you to function like
this, so what if you would not ha#e this awareness, what would there be insteadH It &eans that
you would not ha#e a notion of ti&e. You would be in a certain conte&%lati#e condition,
which is what you ha#e already e(%erienced here. +uring conte&%lation it a%%ears that things
ha%%en &uch faster or different than usual.
'hat are the defining factors of ti&eH Ti&e is a succession of &o&ents of consciousness.
'hen I &ake a drawing of it, it looks like a s%iral. This s%iral has loo%s, but those loo%s are not
unifor& L so&e loo%s branch of &ore shar%ly than others, es%ecially in the #icinity of
Sa&skaras =where energy is &ore slowed down than usual, for&ing a kind of hair%in cur#e>.
Those hair%in cur#es, where Ear&a arises, are the &o&ents where your consciousness is held,
the &o&ents of consciousness. If you look carefully you will see that the %assage of e#ents or
thoughts in life are si&%ly the co&%arison of each of those &o&ents of consciousness with one
another.
In this Sutra you are asked to include this in your Sa&ya&a as object of concentration, and at
the sa&e ti&e to obser#e and reinforce, with +i#ine energy, this %rocess of %ur%orted ti&e:of
what causes your ti&e3consciousness, with the result that you will see it &ore and &ore
clearly. 'hat will be the result of this when this beco&es just as concrete as eating and
drinking is to youH You will play with ti&e, for you ha#e understood ti&e. As a result you can
accelerate and slow down ti&e at will. )ow do you do thatH It is #ery si&%le: 'hen you take
the usual siIe of your consciousness =on &ental le#el>, and you want to accelerate ti&e, you go
to causal le#el, for that #ibration is &uch bigger. So, if you want to let ti&e %ass *uicker, you
go to causal le#el. As a result there will be less loo%s in the sa&e ti&efra&e. And if you want
to slow down ti&e, and enjoy &ore of the ti&e in the &aterial real&, for e(a&%le when you
enjoy a nice &eal, then you go down and focus &ore in order to enjoy it &ore. And when you
are done enjoying you *uickly go back u% again. You went down for a short &o&ent to enjoy
the &aterial contra%tions, but then you *uickly go u% again. 9ut this is only %ossible if you are
able to totally detach fro& all those contra%tions. Si&%ly discussing these &atters, as we do
8"8
here, is already an indication that I a& dealing with it like with other things, but that I a& also
able to let go of it.
9ut ti&e does not stand alone, does itH There is also ti&e3s%aceH
Yes, so you go fro& ti&e to s%ace, and fro& s%ace to direction. These are the last 2 #alues
contained in knowledge, the highest knowledge. And this is not the si&%le infor&ation3
knowledge as we know it so well, but the it is the intelligence of the whole.
Aui&te K s%aceM richting K directionM bewustIijns&o&enten K &o&ents of consciousnessM
besef #an tijd K realiIation of ti&eM tijd K ti&e.
There are three loo%s, which is ti&e, or a co&%arison between the three =for in any co&%arison
you need two L and 0 L and then 0 and 2 L and then the co&%arison of those two>. This
&eans that you need 2 &o&ents of consciousness to ha#e a sense of ti&e. 9ut when you look
for the cause of ti&e L how ti&e ca&e into e(istence L you end u% with s%ace, for it is this
cur#e of energy3#ibration that creates a de&arcation in s%ace. So it is four3di&ensional. You
8""
are seeing a four3di&ensional &o#e&ent of energy, which is the creation of s%ace. 9ut if you
add another one, and you connect the two centers of the two loo%s, you ha#e direction.
These are a&ong the few things that I understand fro& what is called ,9rah&a Didya. L the
science of the +i#ine. Dia these kinds of conce%tions L ti&e, s%ace and direction L you go
towards eli&ination of ti&e, s%ace and direction, which is the direct road to 9rah&an. ?or what
ha%%ens with the s%iral once you ha#e found the direction of itH
It does not &atter any&ore, you si&%ly follow the direction G
You do not look at the s%iral any&ore, but you look at the direction of that s%iral, or notH 9ut
the s%iral3for& is caused by Nunas, so you let go of the effects of the Nunas. You beco&e
<irguna, which is the ulti&ate knowledge.
9efore we had o&niscience, but a%%arently there is an e1en higher le#el that is %ossibly
in#ol#ed in knowledge, a#ter you ha#e #iewed &o&ents of consciousness, or in#ol#ed the& in
Sa&ya&a.
Then what is four3di&ensionalH
Ti&e3s%ace. S%ace is three3di&ensional. 'ith the ele&ent ti&e added it beco&es four3
di&ensional. This &eans that you can ha#e a %ossible acceleration or deceleration.
9ut didnt 6instein say that s%eed of ti&e is also related to your %osition:s%eedH The faster you
go, the slower ti&e GH
@et us not start about 6instein. @et us ha#e a *uiet look into this and let it sink down for a
&o&ent. Fne day you will notice that 6instein was %retty well on his way to disco#er how all
this really works. 9ut he was not there yet, and the %eo%le who inter%reted 6instein are in &ost
cases unworthy. There are &any faulty inter%retations of 6instein. Fne of which is the
assu&%tion that the s%eed of light would be a fi(ed #alue.
,*! Jati#=a/sana#desair an+atana)acchedat tu.+a+os tatah pratipattih!
?ro& it =i1e!ajam/7nanam> knowledge of distinction between si&ilars which
cannot be distinguished by class, characteristic or %osition.
)ow do we know whether we are successful in the %erce%tion of ti&e and the control of itH 'e
can tell the difference by the distinction of objects that are si&ilar. The e(a&%le I always use is
that of &ilk bottles that are lined u% %roduced one after the other within a certain ti&efra&e.
This ti&efra&e is e(%ressed through the different &ilk bottles. The energy strea&s at its origin,
which is first s%ace, then direction and then ti&e, can also be %ercei#ed in the bottles.
The bottle is a &anifestation of energyM it has a for&. 9ut before it takes on a for& it is
un&anifested but ne#ertheless it is %ossible to %ercei#e so&ethingM e#en before the
8"4
&anifestation of the object you can %ercei#e its surroundings, which is linked to the Nenesis of
energy. There is s%ace, direction and ti&e, so it is a feeling that you %ercei#e. If so&ebody
would ask you which one of those bottles was %roduced in the factory first, you look at the&
and you know: it is the bottle on the left. This is %ossible because with Sa&ya&a your
%erce%tion is trained to %ercei#e the energy of the un&anifested. This is the energy that causes
the object to &anifest:&aterialiIe. You will say, ,It is the bottle on the left.. You can look at
the %roduction date on the bottle to #erify this. And you will conclude: ,It is incredible.
6#erything about those two objects is si&ilar, but the left bottle has been %roduced in another
ti&e..
If you think that you are controlling ti&e, that you are successful in this Sa&ya&a, test
yourself with so&e bottles of &ilk G
@ast week I bought a new car. It was a car that is the sister3car of &y older car. It looks #ery
si&ilar, #ery &uch the sa&e. It was owned by an anesthetist, a /hinese &an who li#es here in
the #illage. I had already seen it before and thought, ,)ey, this is &y carJ. This was a first
i&%ression. @ast week &y old car colla%sed co&%letely and this one was on offer. Its &ileage
is 11,111 kilo&eters lower than &y old car and it is 0 years younger. It is a &odel that was a
little bit u%graded co&%ared to &y old one, it has a turbo and it is in #ery good sha%e. 5y old
car was a co&%lete wreck.
I gi#e you this e(a&%le to show that we deal with reality in a #ery su%erficial way. 5y #ery
first i&%ression when I saw it was that this car was the sa&e as &y car. 9ut looking &ore in
detail I saw that there were lots of differences. That new car is &uch better. This is the sa&e as
looking at 0 different objects as the Sutra says. Your %erce%tion &ust be &uch better, leading
you to actually see that there are differences after all between 0 objects that see& to be si&ilar.
'hen I was young I thought that all wo&en were the sa&e: #ery strange beings G 'ith ti&e I
ha#e disco#ered that there is no wo&an si&ilar to the other. 5aybe they ha#e one general
feature: they are co&%licated G =wife and &other3in3law %ass by in #iew of the web ca& G>
@et &e introduce you to &y &other3in3law G You understand that I ha#e a hard life G 5aybe
one can think that there are good things in life like buying a new car and bad things in life like
ha#ing a &other3in3law in the house G but this is all not i&%ortant.
'ith this we are building a new %hiloso%hy, a new attitude in life by understanding the
funda&entals of reality: Fne can start to joke, %lay and dance. That is the de&onstration of
control. It is easy. 'hen I was in 5adrid al&ost 2 years ago I %resented the audience &y
lecture in &y nor&al way. Peo%le there were so astonished by the si&%licity and the de%th of
&y s%eech. They o#erwhel&ed &e with honors. The %resident of the Yoga federation of India,
+r. Shar&a, said to &e: ,I ha#e not seen this in the 02 years that I ha#e been tra#eling around
in the world.. It looks so easy. That is the de&onstration of understanding the &atter. I see this
also when the +alai @a&a is s%eaking in his gentle and si&%le but accurate &anner. 'hen he
has finished his s%eech you cannot but think about his words because they ha#e touched you.
9ut they were uttered in a #ery easy way. This is the new way of life awaiting you.
8"C
,,! 'ara/am Sar)a#$isa+am Sar)atha#$isa+am A/ramam Ceti $i)e/ajam#
Jnanam
The highest knowledge born of the awareness of Aeality is transcendent, includes
the cognition of all objects si&ultaneously, %ertains to all objects and %rocesses
whatsoe#er in the %ast, %resent and future and also transcends the 'orld Process.
Enowing ti&e and the i&%ortance of ti&e is funda&ental to detach yourself fro& 5aya, the
lower reality, to set you free fro& the jail of life, or the life here in this earthly real&. Suddenly
you start to understand e#erything because you are not attached any&ore. Your 9uddhi can
wander about freely and see e#erything at the sa&e &o&ent. ?or e(a&%le when I send an
e&ail to another Yoga school, 1 &inutes or half an hour after sending the e&ail I know what
the result will be. It is like as if I feel the reaction of the %erson recei#ing the e&ail. And I
know: that %erson will not re%ly to &y e&ail. +o you understand this e(a&%leH 6#erything you
do in life you know already. As a result of this there are a lot of things in life that you do not do
because you know in ad#ance that they will not result in anything good. So you do not do that.
As a result your life beco&es #ery, #ery si&%le. You only do what you feel will ha#e so&e
i&%act. Ftherwise you do not do anything. This is austerity, Ta%as, on the highest le#el. This is
about a le#el of efficiency &ost %eo%le can only drea& of. The wise &an is #ery cal&. It looks
like as if he is not doing anything. 9ut he is scanning: ,'hat can I doH 'ill it ha#e any effectH
<o. Then I will not do it. Then &aybe I can do that.. 6tcetera. Suddenly, after day or a
cou%le of days, he finds what he can do. " &inutes later it has been done and it has effect. You
could say that this &an is li#ing " &inutes e#ery 2 days. The rest of the ti&e in these days he is
not doing anything. )e is e#en earning his li#ing in this wayJ And he e#en does it in a %ro%er
wayJ )a#e you e#er learned this in schoolH <o, %robably not. 'e are still all educated in: ,You
ha#e to get u% early in the &orning and do a lot of work and be bra#e and diligent and cal&
and gentle. Then &aybe, if you work hard during 7 or &aybe 1 hours a day =the &ore hours
you work the better it is for you> then you will ha#e so&e &oney and you can think of
retire&ent and so on.. 9ullshitJ This is for sla#esJ This is not for you. You are now controlling
%ast and future. Your %erce%tion rises beyond ti&e so you can see what the results will be of
whate#er action you initiate. So look at it before you co&e into action. And if it is not as you
wish, do not do it. If there is doubt in you, do not do it. 'hen I saw that car last week, it was
?riday &orning, I said, ,Yes.. It was sold at a s&all %rice, while ha#ing great #alue for &e. All
&y %roble&s were sol#ed and it was done for &e in 1 seconds. I ca&e to &y wife and said to
her, ,/o&e with &e, I ha#e a sur%rise. I ha#e found a new car.. I let her co&e into the lot of
the garage and told her to %ick the car of &y liking. I&&ediately she saw it, she looked at &e
and knew that it was done and decided. There was nothing &ore to say.
The i&%ortant decisions in your life are i&&ediateM they do not occur in your head but they
touch your heart. 'hen it touches your heart you &ust be fast and conclude i&&ediately. It is
the sa&e in a relationshi%. Fne &o&ent, one day, it ha%%ens. In the %ast I ha#e had &any
o%%ortunities and I was so stu%id because I started to think. 9ecause I was thinking the
o%%ortunity %assed on and I was too late. So I ha#e had such &ar#elous o%%ortunities and still I
a& feeling stu%id about &issing the& G
8"7
,0! Satt)a#Purusa+oh Suddhi#Sam+e -ai)a.+am!
8ai1alya is attained when there is e*uality of %urity between the Purusha and
Satt1a.
Eai#alya &eans @iberation. You are liberated when you are co&%letely %ure. You go on with
your life, and you ha#e noticed that I a& telling you e#erything: &y life is an o%en book to
you. This is the attitudeM there are no secrets any&ore. 9ut &y e(%ression is still not %ure
enough because I ha#e to search for words and I do not e(%ress clearly enough &y thoughts
and &y intentions. So I a& still lacking in %urity. I &ust beco&e co&%letely white, co&%letely
o%en.
6#en when I &ake a sarcastic joke it is not %ure. I can &ake a joke, but adding so&e sarcas&
or irony to it is not %ure. So I ha#e to a%ologiIe for that. This is &y e(ercise now, in the
fra&ework of this "4
th
Sutra, in the search of Purusha and /itta in Satt#a beco&ing the sa&e.
The Satt#a of &y /itta is &aybe white in general, or &aybe it is !1Q white now, but it &ust
beco&e 11Q white, 11Q Satt#a, before it can beco&e the sa&e as Purusha, that those both
are &elting together. So still I a& bound to lower reality because of &y sarcas&, and because
of &y tendency to be attached to so&e object. As long as I a& sur%rised or touched by a nice
car co&ing around the corner or a nice wo&an, nice coffee or whate#er, I a& in jail. Practicing
the consciousness of ti&e %er&its &e to rise abo#e these %roble&s. As a result these %roble&s
are di&inishing e#ery ti&e I look at the&. +ont worry be ha%%y. And slowly, #ery, #ery
slowly I feel &ore and &ore free. 6#ery year I can say that I beco&e freer. I think this also
occurs with you. /an you agree with thatH +o you feel that increase of freedo& and that you
are &ore rela(ed in lifeH This is #ery i&%ortant. If you feel this, it &eans that your Yoga
%ractice is correct. 'hen you lose it you &ust *uestion yourself. 'hen teaching %eo%le, when
gi#ing the& the knowledge of Yoga %ay attention to this. Ask the& whether they feel freer. If
the answer is yes you are %erfor&ing correctly and you are a Yoga teacher. If not, you are not a
Yoga teacher. You are there to hel% %eo%le liberate the&sel#es.
This &ust not be confused with the %ro&ise that Besus will liberate e#erybody, which is the
sa&e conce%t in fact. You are not allowed to do that for another %erson because each %erson
&ust do this hi&self. A Yoga teacher is only a %erson hel%ing the others to understand that, to
&ake the& work harder to achie#e that. It is not %er&itted to do it for another %erson. 'hyH
Theoretically it could be %ossible, but why is it not %er&ittedH If you do that for so&ebody
else, that %erson will not understand the #alue and will not &ake hi&self the effort. )e will not
hi&self ha#e the realiIations why it is needed. If you do it for so&ebody else, that %erson #ery
soon will fall back and he will fall e#en dee%er than before, achie#ing nothing and being
greatly disillusioned.
Years ago I was so enthusiastic saying: ,6#erybody will now go to %aradise., and I u%lifted
%eo%le one after the other. They all stood in the light, saying, ,5ar#elousJ Thank youJ. They
went away and they all colla%sed. They were #ery angry with &e, saying: ,You ha#e deserted
us. You sto%%ed hel%ing us.. I told the&: ,I was only hel%ing you on your way, but you ha#e
8"!
to take o#er yourself.. 9ut they could not understand this. Pay attention to this and do not
&ake this &istake yourself.
841
Chapter I$: -ai)a.+a Pada
About @iberation.
'e ha#e arri#ed at the 8
th
cha%ter of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The last Sutra of the
%re#ious lesson was actually an introduction to this 8
th
cha%ter, for the word ,Eai#alya. was
&entioned in it. @iberation. It &entioned that @iberation is achie#ed when there is e*uality of
%urity between Purusha and Satt#a. Fne would think: ,Alright, then we are finished, or arent
weH )owe#er, with this cha%ter the &ost difficult %art of the Yoga Sutras starts here, for in it
the rules of the ga&e change once again, and the chance that you understand what you are
going through de%ends on your knowledge of the rules.
Fnce &ore your beha#ior &ust change here. Thanks to all those Sa&ya&as you will be born
again here. Yet another new life is ahead of you. 'hat kind of lifeH 'hat initiationH It is the
life of li#ing on the le#el of the soul:At&an: there is the nor&al life at gross3&aterial le#el that
nor&al hu&an beings ha#e, and thanks to &editation we ha#e the initiation into life on subtle
le#el:&ental le#el, and thanks to conte&%lation we ha#e the initiation into life on causal le#el.
)owe#er, here we ha#e gone e#en beyond that. This &eans that now you &ust lay down the
ti&eless3ness of life on causal le#el L for e(a&%le the life of an anointed one. You &ust learn
to li#e in the Doid, as 9uddha taught, in the Indescribable. This is so incredibly easy and so
self3e#ident, that in the beginning it is so #ery difficult in %ractice to &aintain it, e#en to
recogniIe it. ?or that reason Patanjali s%ends the entire 8
th
and last cha%ter on Eai#alya L
liberation, for Eai#alya is the result of your ability to re&ain on the le#el of At&an, which is
the condition of <irbija Sa&adhi.
! Janmaushadhi 8antra 'apah Samadhijah Siddha+ah
The Siddhis are the result of birth, drugs, 2antras, austerities or Samadhi.
This Sutra indicates that it is not only through what we ha#e learned so far L the 21 Sa&ya&as
and the Sa&adhis L that you can reach this %oint. You can also get there as the result of birth.
This &eans that you ha#e already had a certain e(%erience in a %re#ious life in this field, and
that you are instincti#ely attracted to this e#ent. This was certainly the case for &e. I
recogniIed e#erything. Therefore it was a %iece of cake for &e to judge for &yself, ,This is
real Yoga, and this is not real Yoga.. 5y heart showed &e the way, which is a ty%ical case of
birth, while a nor&al hu&an being has to learn this. Although so&ehow his soul would
recogniIe it, but it is not that si&%le.
,+rugs. =narcotics> is a ty%ical way of entering, but you should not see drugs literally as
narcotics. You could translate it, in the $ider sense of the word, as e(ternal &eans:substances.
This could be a glass of alcohol, or it could be a cigarette G just think: e(ternal substances. It
84
could be a delicious &eal, cooked by &other:s%ouse, which %uts you in a &ood: ,AhJ G
+eliciousJ G.
/hinese &edicine L which finds its origin in Ayur#eda L gi#es us &any of such e(a&%les.
/o&binations of certain substances cause certain results:reactions within you. That is the
&eaning of ,drugs. in this Sutra.
So it is so&ething that affects youH
Yes. So you should not think of so&ebody s&oking &arihuana. $nfortunately enough, this is
the %icture that &any %eo%le ha#e, and they think that by s&oking such kinds of drugs they can
reach these results. In India you can fre*uently co&e across Saddhus who are constantly high
on drugs.
Then how should we inter%ret those substances:e(ternal substancesH 'hen you ha#e too &uch
Ta&as, it can ha%%en that by using Aajas3sti&ulating substances you obtain sudden har&ony
resulting in a breakthrough. It also works the other way round: you are too e(cited, so you
ingest a Ta&as3%roduct, resulting in another lea% forward. In this res%ect for e(a&%le I use
coffee and coca3cola because I know that I a& regularly in a Ta&as3condition. So&eti&es I
want to neutraliIe that condition by using si&%ler &eans than all &y e(ercises, so I drink a cu%
of coffee, %referably an es%resso in the &orningG bangJ Ff course this is not really a
de&onstration of &astershi%, but un&istakably it does so&ething with &e. This knowledge L
the knowledge of what can gi#e you a little %ush and what does not do that L therefore is
i&%ortant. The %roducts of 'I< for e(a&%le, which I still reco&&end L if you ha#e a need for
the& L %lay a role in this res%ect. If you think they are hel%ful to you, then you use the&, just
like that.
This &akes &e think of drinking a glass of hot &ilk before slee%ing G
That is e(actly the sa&e.
So the trick is actually to know the effect of all e(ternal substances on your beingH
Yes. And that is e(actly how you arri#e at Ayur#eda. As a result you will at once understand
the use of all the re&edies they %rescribe. An Ayur#edic doctor does nothing else than %lacing
hi&self in your condition, to feel, based u%on what it is that you &ight need. In ancient ti&es
this doctor would go into the forest after the diagnosis to %ick herb lea#es:roots, or whate#er he
could find, that corres%onded with the need you had shown to co&e into Satt#a, and &ake
so&e kind of &i(:eli(ir that you got ad&inistered. This is in short what Ayur#edic &edicin
stands for. 9ut to be able to do this, you &ust be e(tre&ely ad#anced in YogaM you &ust be
able to #eel it. ?ro& that %oint on e#erything is %ossible: acu%uncture, ho&eo%athy, allo%athy,
herbs, and teas etcetera. 9ut also #ery si&%le re&edies, for e(a&%le the ad#ice: ,Take a bath in
the &orning in ice3cold waterG. 'hyH 9ecause de doctor felt that that was the a%%ro%riate
way to deal with your condition. So, that is your thera%y. This too belongs to the e(ternal
&eans:substances here. This is the reason why in the %ast an Ayur#edic doctor was called a
,Daidya., ,so&ebody who knows..
840
'e can obtain the Siddhis by using Sa&ya&a:Sa&adhi, birth, and drugs, but we can also
obtain the& by using 5antras. This &eans tuning3in on the sounds that you detect and &i&ic
the&, or %roducing certain sounds that ha#e an effect that are focused on establishing har&ony
to start with, and fro& this knowledge and har&ony you can go further towards %ower. These
are the fa&ous &agic char&s.
)a#e you noticed that 5antras are &agic char&sH )a#e you %ersonally e(%erienced that
alreadyH Years ago, whene#er I was to gi#e a lecture to large grou%s of unfa&iliar %eo%le, I
had a habit of withdrawing &yself co&%letely and re%eat ,Artha 5atra., while at the sa&e
ti&e #isualiIing that beautiful curled drawing. This had such a strong effect on &e that I was
co&%letely focused u%on the task. I saw:felt, in fact I $as, this connection between the essence
and the &atter, enabling &e to gi#e a lecture that was really to the %oint. It was %erfect. I ha#e
also tried to a%%roach this in the nor&al way, co&ing to the conclusion that the *uality was
#ery different:&uch %oorer than when I used the 5antra in the beginning. You can try this out
for yourself and you will see. 9ut %lease do not belie#e fairytales like, ,throw a 5antra in the
air and suddenly a &iracle ha%%ensG. 5aybe this is %ossible later on, but in the beginning it is
a &atter of adjusting a situation, or changing a situation, thanks to the 5antra, that &akes you
better %re%ared for the task you ha#e to do. I ha#e ne#er %ossessed &uch strength, so I was
always looking for tricks to enable &e to draw whate#er energy I could find towards &e. In
this res%ect 5antras indeed worked #ery well for &e.
The Sutra also &entions ,austerities., Ta%as, as a %ossible &eans to bring you to Siddhis.
)ow is this %ossibleH +o you understand that you can reach %erfection by the %ractice of
austerityH As a result of austerity you lose less energyM you %reser#e &ore energy in you.
There are also &onks who eat #ery little =in so&e e(tre&e instance only the bark of trees>, and
try to %rogress in that wayH
Yes, that can also be a for& of austerity, or at least it is &eant to be that.
9ut I wonder how far those %eo%le can get G in &y o%inion this is %ure #iolence G
There are a lot of %eo%le who &ess u% because they %ush it too far. 'hen you start
shortchanging yourself in things that your body needs, it is theft. It is a &atter of dishonesty. It
&eans that you ha#e lost sight of the 2
rd
Ya&a. Austerity &ust always take the other Ya&as
into account, so, non3#iolence, honesty, truthfulness and so on.
9ut how can austerity bring you so far, si&%ly by %reser#ing your energy and not allowing
yourself to be distractedH 'ell, when you loo! at austerity you $ill obtain it. So it is not just a
&atter of %racticing austerity, but also obser#ing your own %ractice of austerity. And it is in
this last ele&ent that you obtain %erfection, because that is what causes the balance:Satt#ic
condition, leading to knowledge, and then to o&ni%otence.
+oes this &ean that those Indian Yogis that look like a fish bone ha#e gone a little bit too farH
842
That is %ossible. 9ut you &ust judge that case3by3case. I ha#e &et a lot of %eo%le of who& I
thought: ,'ell, they do not really look that healthy G if that is su%%osed to &ean healthy,
well, I a& not so sure any&oreJ. 9ut it is easy to recogniIe whether it is correct or not: when
the %erson e&anates a certain sense of beauty, and his body is har&onious L well3%ro%ortioned
L and if he shines and is su%%le and so on, then you can say that he has %racticed austerity in
the right way, at least if he %roclai&s to ha#e achie#ed that through the %ractice of austerity.
9ut if he is a fish bone, as you e(%ressed it, and his ar& has beco&e so incredibly skinny
because he ke%t it u% in the air for so long L as I once saw L and he has beco&e totally
asy&&etric, well, then Id say: ,That guy is co&%letely nutsJ They should lock hi& u%J )e is a
haIard to hu&an kind..
There are &any bad e(a&%les in Yoga as a result of lack of knowledge. Peo%le clai& all kinds
of truths, and nobody can dis%ute the&, so %eo%le go on doing whate#er it is. 'here is the last
6nlightened FneHJ 'ho at this &o&ent is 6nlightened in this worldH You cannot na&e e#en
oneJ 5e neither. I ha#e had a nu&ber of %eo%le here in the school that radiated so much light
that I would say: ,5aybe this could be a case of 6nlighten&ent.. 9ut that is only &y o%inion. I
ha#e such a big &outh. I %roclai& all kinds of things. I cannot kee% &y &outh shut any longer,
for it is stronger than &e. I si&%ly ha1e to tell. 9ut who a& IH I do not know. I only know that
I ha#e to tell. So you had better take &y words with a %inch of salt and say: ,That &ust be such
a fool again who thinks he knows. 5aybe he has understood a little bit, or he had a flash of
clarity or so G. 9ut as long as I ha#e not reached 6nlighten&ent, I actually do not know
anything. Eee% that in &ind.
9ut &aybe it is easier for those Yogis to do the e(ercises because they ha#e less &uscle tissue
G
A successful Yogi has a har&onious and well3%ro%ortioned body. )e is not skinny and he is
not asy&&etric. )e rese&bles so&ething like a Nreek god. )e looks youthful. )e does not
ha#e a bold head and so on.
9ut if you do not eat for a while, your body switches to its reser#es, and then you also lose
&uscle tissue G
<ot necessarily, but in such instances it ha%%ens a lot.
9ut I cannot i&agine that so&ebody with such an austere lifestyle falls back co&%letely into
Ta&as, being hungry all the ti&e, and his eyes losing all brightness, and not being able to think
clearly any&ore. It see&s to &e the wrong direction to %ursueG
A recent e(a&%le of a %erson who achie#ed *uite a lot through the %ractice of austerity is the
?rench&an /harles de ?oucault. )e li#ed in one of the big ?rench cities about 11 years ago.
)e was a child fro& a rich fa&ily, with &any %arties and so on. At a certain &o&ent he felt he
had to do so&ething with his life. )e did not know what to do and decided to join the ar&y,
where he continued %artying, and e#entually he was sent to <orth3Africa, Tunis, 5orocco or
Algeria, I a& not certain. Fne day he left the ar&y because he had understood so&ething. )e
ga#e away all his %ossessions and withdrew hi&self in Ta&anraset, with #ery little resources
848
and a &ini&u& of %ossessions. )e has beco&e an e(a&%le to &e. )e is a &an with such an
incredible %ersonality. )e started off in life as a bad %erson, and he al&ost turned into a
co&%lete holy &an. That is the %ractice of austerity: it is to understand that you do not need all
those worldly contra%tions, and that you can find so &uch &ore in silence. )e li#ed in the
&iddle of the desert, for Ta&anraset is really a hole in the desert.
9ut wait a &inuteM what was this about @iberationH You can tell that these are the entrances to
co&e to @iberation, but I still do not know &uch about @iberation itsel#. Su%%ose that I achie#e
this, following one of those entrances, then what a& I su%%osed to doH 'hen that ha%%ens, you
go on with the 0
nd
Sutra:
"! Jat+ Antara Parinamah Pra/rt+ Apurat
The transfor&ation fro& one s%ecies or kind into another is by the o#erflow of
natural tendencies or %otentialities.
'hat do you e(%erience on the le#el of At&anH There is nothing. 'ell, the first rule of life to
stay there is the following: that you can trust the fact that a condition auto&atically transfor&s
into the other, without ju&%s. Your condition, for e(a&%le, will not change fro& one &o&ent
to another. It will transfor&:o#erflow #ery gradually. That is the o#erflowing as &entioned in
the Sutra. It is Nod Shi#a who is dancing: ,<ataraj., the dancing god G balancing on one leg.
9alance therefore is the control of this o#erflowing, so that you co&e back to har&ony e#ery
ti&e.
9ut arent we co&%letely in Satt#a on At&ic le#elH Then what is the &eaning of ,o#erflow.H
It &eans that it is not co&%letely Satt#a yet, and those slight changes L light Aajas and light
Ta&as L constitute what is called flowing here. You si&%ly follow it. 9ut when you beco&e a
little bit fa&iliar with this, you will notice that e#erything in the world L all %heno&ena, and all
%eo%le L function in e(actly the sa&e way. And you will notice also that the changes there
occur si&%ly by o#erflowing fro& one condition into the other. This is about the graduality, the
softness, you knowH
'hat will you beco&eH You will beco&e soft. You will be soft for yourself, of course, but you
will also be soft for your surroundings, because you notice that that is si&%ly the way of li#e.
And this is the real non3#iolence. It is the highest, deepest, non3#iolence. And it is so easy, and
so self3e#ident. This is how you recogniIe the liberated %erson. It is already *uite difficult, for
it is totally different fro& what we are doing here, now.
)ow often will you be able to %reser#e such a conditionH It is not so difficult to enter such a
condition, but to stay in it is *uite another &atter G
You go ho&e and you feel like as if you are al&ost floating. 9ut often you are soon drawn
back into the &atter G bonkJ That in itself is actually *uite interesting, for it gi#es you the
o%%ortunity to disco#er the &agical road, i.e. the necessity to send this ga&e of gradually
o#erflowing directly down, in order to hel% bring this higher soul3energy in the &atter. And
84"
you do this by li#ing your life i&%assionedly. 'hate#er you do L sho%%ing in the su%er&arket,
or dri#ing a car L you will not do it &echanically any&ore, for that has beco&e a blas%he&y
fro& that &o&ent on. So you do it i&%assionedly.
'hy is dri#ing a car &echanically blas%he&ousH It is blas%he&y because you are not a%%lying
this o#erflowing, which you ha#e recently disco#ered as li#ing on soul3le#el, and as a result
you obstruct the circulation:o#erflowing to the &aterial real& =by not being aware of it>. You
do not allow this to ha%%en in your body:in your car. And the fact that you do not allow this,
&eans that you ha#e not understood. 9ut that too is in fact blas%he&y, for it belongs to the
+i#ine. You stu%id cowJ 'hy ha#e you %racticed Yoga for so longHJ You had better find
yourself another occu%ationJ
/an this o#erflowing of the di#ine to the &aterial also be %ercei#ed as transcending
so&ethingH That you rise abo#e itH
It all co&es down to this beautiful curly drawing: Artha 5atra, the connection between essence
and &atter. That is this o#erflowing. 9ut you can also say it in re#erse: learn to see the essence
in al &aterial things, instantly L which &eans we are back at &agic again. That is the +i#inity.
9ut if you are able to distinguish the essence in so&ething, you ha#e actually seen the di#ine
s%ark. And that is what is a%%ealing to you.
?or e(a&%le: you see:&eet an e#il %erson. Your nor&al reaction would be: ,You are an e#il
%erson.. <o G at this le#el your way of life is to look at this %erson, looking for his essence,
find it, a%%eal to it, and &ake a connection between you and that essence. And as a result you
will connect this %erson directly with the +i#ine. It is %ure &agic. That %erson will e(%erience
a flash, and all e#il in hi& will disa%%ear. )e will be awakened, caused by you. In fact this is
what esoteric healing is about. It is the &ethod Besus used to a%%roach %eo%le.
Isnt e#erything sol#ed with @o#eH
In this case the feeling of lo#e is not rele#ant any&ore. It is si&%ly because you notice that
there are fluctuations. It is not fro& the heart any&ore, but fro& the soul. 'e are beyond the
heart now. The heart has fulfilled its function by bringing you to the soul.
Through the Sa&ya&as you ha#e disco#ered &any things there, but how can you stay thereH
That is the %roble& we are dealing with now. You do that by li1ing in accordance with this
soul.
9ut in &y o%inion, if you are that ad#anced, all you are is @o#e G
<o, lo#e is causal. It is the sense of unity there. It is a sense of s%ace, a #oid. It is not lo#e
any&ore, but trans%arence. It is the si&%lest condition you can think of. It is the source of
@o#e. In that case you are right, but you should not descend to @o#e. $nless you say: ,Fkay, I
want to bring this di#ine energy into the &atter., and then you use @o#e. This will often be the
case, but you can also use joy, or %eace. Peace to all %eo%le of good will.
844
It is so si&%le, but it is so difficult to e(%lain.
9ut kee% in &ind: you do not ha1e to do anything G ?ro& the &o&ent you say: ,I ha#e to
G., we are not talking about the sa&e thing any&ore. You ha#e arri#ed at this %oint by doing
all your e(ercises, and the *uestion is now how you stay thereH )ow do you learn to function
hereH The answer to this is: ,do, by not doing., as it is called. This is a #ery beautiful
state&ent: ,do, by not doing.. ?ro& now on it is finished. <o &ore %lanningM no &ore wishes.
<othingJ ,9ut what will ha%%en with &y life when I do thisH. The fact that you ask this
*uestion is already too &uch. You dro% out when you ask such a *uestion. 'hat nonsense is
this, asking such *uestionsHJ You ha#e arri1edJ You ha#e arri1ed in At&anJ
And the 2
rd
Sutra indicates how it actually works on the way down:
&! %imittam Apra+oja/am Pra/rttnam $aranabhedas 'u 'atah
-shetri/a)at
The incidental cause does not &o#e or stir u% the natural tendencies into acti#ityM
it &erely re&o#es the obstacles, like a far&er =irrigating a field>.
So, you are engaged in o#erflowing and so on, and, yes, you ha#e to hold on so&ewhere in life.
6#entually you &ust elicit the law of action:reaction fro& nature, otherwise you will not ha#e
anything to eat for e(a&%le. And this is the way a Yogi does it =like in the 2
rd
Sutra>. The
&ethod of irrigation is still the sa&e in Asia. The fields are located on the slo%es of the hills,
with a water reser#oir on to% of the highest hill, surrounded by a little wall. The far&er goes u%
to the highest field, looking down in the direction of his fields to see if one of those fields
needs water. Then when he s%ots a field in need of water, he walks u% to the wall of the water
reser#oir at the to%, digs a little hole in it, to such an e(tent that a little bit of water can flow
down in the right direction. The fields are all build in terraces, so, he closes the hole when it is
enough, and he re%eats the sa&e ritual in the fields below until the water reaches the field that
needs it. This is the &ethod &entioned in this Sutra. And this is e(actly the &ethod of the
%erson who tries to function fro& his soul3consciousness, but who still wants to re&ain
connected with the &atter so&ehow. )e does not directly interfere in the &atter. A 'esterner
would take a bucket of water, carry it to the field, and %oor the water in there. This is the
&aterial a%%roach. The Yogi would #iew: ,how can I trigger a changeH. This is the reason why
we learned about Aajas, Ta&as and Satt#a. So, we change certain energetic conditions, and as a
result certain changes occur.
6(a&%le: 5y ste%daughter sits at the table L #ery e(cited L telling us that she once again got
into trouble. I know the answer, but I also know that if I tell her now, she will not hear it. 'hy
notH 9ecause she is so e(cited that it is i&%ossible to do anything with her at such a &o&ent. A
nor&al hu&an being in such circu&stances would start yelling, or use #iolence, or whate#er.
So what do I doH I influence her, to such an e(tent that her Aajas slowly turns into Satt#a. Then
84C
she beco&es *uiet, and when she is *uiet I can e(%lain: ,@ook, this is &y %oint of #iew. 5aybe
you can try to do thisH. This is the &ethod a %erson who works fro& his soul uses.
'hat is the use of thisH +o you constantly ha#e to a%%roach things in such a co&%licated
&annerH Isnt it &uch easier to be straightforwardH <o, this a%%roach guarantees you your
%lace at soul3le#el. 'hen you co&&it #iolence, and think that you can stay at soul3le#el, you
are wrong. 9eco&ing angry for e(a&%le L which still ha%%ens regularly to &e too L is the
guarantee that I a& not seated in the soul for 2 days. Fnly one ti&e beco&ing angry, and I go
down all the way. That is the difference. So you either do it in this way, or you do not do it at
all, which &eans that it is o#er.
9ut so&eti&es it ha%%ens unconsciously G
Yes, in that case it is really shitty.
?unctioning fro& the soul you do not say or do nor&al things any&ore. They beco&e holy. In
the office in the %ast they used to say to &e: ,'e are so astonished by your state&ents. They
co&e fro& so dee%, and so far, and they are so to the %oint that we are really shocked by
the&.. 5y boss warned &e to %ay attention to this, for certain %eo%le felt threatened by it.
They were like the lashes of a whi%. In this res%ect you &ust learn a for& of non3#iolence that
takes into regard the fact that your actions and words ha#e &uch &ore %ower when they co&e
fro& the soul, and also that you &ust take your surroundings into account &uch &ore. You are
not only disallowed to co&&it #iolence any longer, but you &ust also %ay attention to indirect
#iolence that you can cause. Indirect #iolence is also %ossible, for with such soul3consciousness
you set an at&os%here that incites #iolence. A certain field of tension occurs with which %eo%le
do not know how to deal. They say: ,So&ething is ha%%ening here G. So, you &ust take this
into account, e#en be#ore you o%en your &outh. All this resorts under this Sutra.
All that you say is %ure truth, e#en the solution to the %roble&, but it hits so clearly and so
hard, and it is so enlightening in all that darkness, that %eo%le show a counter3reaction: instead
of listening to what you say and follow u% on it, they resist and defend the&sel#es against the
fact that so&ething is said to the&.
So, they feel attacked, feeling the need to i&&ediately counterattackH
Yes, so in %ractice you &ust deal with this 1ery di%lo&atically, carefully and softly. I used to
say: ,This is the truthG bonkJ. 9ut with ti&e I learned that softness works better. And this is
the sa&e with your students, ehH You can act differently with your students so&eti&es, but to
hel% the& to a higher condition har&ony is the right way to go.
In your a%%roach towards outsiders you &ust be e#en softer than with your students, for they
cannot stand anything at allJ That is where the &yth in Yoga co&es fro& of %eo%le being
su%er3soft L see&ingly holy. That is where the fairytale of the holy &en originated. 9ut in
reality, when %eo%le are at about the sa&e le#el, it is nothing but whi%lashes, ehH <o cotton3
ball3soft situations: ,you ha#e understood, so that is how it is G yak, yak, yak, yakJ. A whole
life is changed in 2 words. This is about those 5antrasM you talk in 5antras. And your
847
%ostures are Asanas. And the drawings you &ake are 5andalas or Yantras. Your being will
si&%ly e(%ress those things. There is no other way. 'hene#er I &ake a drawing on the board,
it is a Yantra or a 5andala. A 5andala is &ade fro& cur#ed lines, while a Yantra is &ade fro&
angular, geo&etric lines. /an you handle thisH @i#ing in a world where your words are
5antrasH /an you li#e in &agic char&sH
*! %irmana Cittan+ Asmita 8atrat
Artificially created &inds =%roceed> fro& Regois& alone.
This is called ,<ir&ana Eaya. in 9uddhis&.
Eaya K Eosa in Sanskrit.
<ir&ana K &anifestation, &anifested.
)ow does this influencing through words:deeds fro& afore&entioned o#erflowing actually
workH It works by using your /itta, your &e&ory, your &ind3&atter, to &ake a for&, which is
a <ir&ana Eaya. So you create a Drtti, a whirl of energy. This whirl affects the &atter in its
origin, which is where Aajas:Ta&as:Satt#a occur. 9ut the onset of the Drtti, the %ower to
%roduce it fro& your /itta, lies with your Aha&kara, which is directly res%onsible for the Drtti
Aha&ta, or As&ita: ,I3a&3ness.. +o you re&e&ber thisH
Accelerated contraction K Aha&ta.
+ecelerated contraction K 5a&at#a.
5a&at#a K the cause of desire.
5a&at#a is a long s%iral, a huge tentacle that cree%s and grabs.
Aha&ta K the cause of greed.
+idnt I tell you about how to deal with %eo%le who are full of desire =to hel% the& co&e out of
their desire> without actually telling the& to sto% desiringH
You &ust tell the& they already %ossess so &any beautiful thingsH
Yes. You tell the&: ,You possess so &uch alreadyJ +o you really need this tooHJ Fr, ,Arent
you satisfied with what you already ha#eH. At that #ery &o&ent you cause a recognition in
that %erson, &aking hi& realiIe: ,Fh, yeah G I do ha1e thatJ. 9ut this is a Drtti of accelerated
contraction. Nreed. And as a result it is not %ossible to desire any longer.
)ow do you go about this with a scrooge:niggard:&iserH You hel% hi& co&e out of his
&iserliness by doing the re#erse. You say: ,Nosh, I noticed you dri#e only a co&&on Bee%
/herokeeJ 'ell, I %refer the D73&odel, the Nrand /herokee =which is considerably &ore
e(%ensi#eJ>. +ont you like that one &oreHJ And he will say: ,'ell, G h&&& G., and he
takes off. This is a 1ery effecti#e ga&e. I a%%roached and treated %eo%le in this way who were
near dead, to sti&ulate the& to li#e again. Those are %eo%le who ha#e lost e#ery interest in life.
You treat the& in this way, by suggesting. 6ach suggestion is in fact the calling into being of a
84!
s%ecial Drtti of Aha&kara. 'hy Aha&karaH 9ecause it is the strongest dri#ing force of the
hu&an being. This is so&ething you ha#e to understand thoroughly: Adana, Pradana, 5a&at#a
and Aha&ta. These are the 8 Drttis of Aha&kara. 'e studied the& in the Science of Soul.
'e were dealing with <ir&ana EayasM thought3for&s that arise fro& Aha&ta. The "
th
Sutra
goes dee%er into the subject:

,! Pra)rtti 4hede Pra+oja/am Cittam :/am Ane/esham
The one =natural> &ind is the director or &o#er of the &any =artificial> &inds in
their different acti#ities.
It is your birthdayH
I wish you to finish the training as soon as %ossible.
You are su%%osed to go through this as fast as %ossible, the goal being that it sti&ulates you to
ha#e your own realiIations and your own connectionM that you e(tract Yoga fro& this. That is
the %ur%ose. 9ut if you hang around here for too long, you will beco&e what is described in
this Sutra: an artificial &ind. You will beco&e a co%y of this guy, and you will dance to his
%i%ing. I do not &ind, you knowJ 9ut what is i&%ortant for you is not what ' think is i&%ortant,
but what you should think is i&%ortant.
So, you &ust not be a sla#eH
Indeed, that is the last terrible thing to do.
'hen you create so&ething, you %roduce Ear&a. Although this Ear&a starts to li#e a life of
its own, it is de%ending on your life. This touches u%on the %roble& we see with &any
grou%s:gurus:organiIations: It all de%ends on the boss. 'hat if that boss is not a#ailable
any&oreH <u&erous Yoga schools ha#e disa%%eared because the teacher suddenly %assed
away. 't is the %roof that this teacher has not done his job %ro%erlyJ
You can share what you ha#e, but when you see that it leads to %eo%le beco&ing laIy in the
sense of: ,)e teaches:knows e#erything G I will ask him., then it beco&es artificial, leading
to dog&as. A crystalliIation of the structure takes %lace. This is what destroyed the /atholic
/hurch and &any other religions:organiIations. 5aintain the %ower of the indi#idual. 6ach
indi#idual &ust try to feel his own freedo&, so that he can ha#e:for& his own o%inion, and
there &ust be roo& and res%ect for this. The only thing a leader should do is to try to restore
the connection of his %eo%le, so that they will not listen to him any&ore, but go u% directly.
Fur +ear @ord &ust tell the& what is good for the&, in such a way that the organiIation
beco&es a grou% of e*ual %eo%le. )?ual. <ot one who knows and s%reads it all to the others,
but all %eo%le with their own connections to hea#en, who e(change thoughts with one another,
saying: ,Say, what did you hear fro& abo#eH FhH 'ell, I did not look at it that way. And how
about youH. That is how it is su%%osed to be. This is called Sangha L the gathering of the
saints. 6#erybody is e*ual. If you do not a%%roach it in this way G well, that is also %ossible,
8C1
but e#erything that co&es fro& your hands will carry your Ear&a, and it will show the
characteristics that %oint to you.
You can recogniIe a lot of teachers that I educated by the way they teach. They are actually
%arroting &e. 'hat is botherso&e about this is that they lack their own ins%iration, and that
their ties with &e causes &e to ha#e to deal with their Ear&a. 9y their way of functioning,
they %ush their Ear&a o#er to &e. If it was acco&%anied by &oneyG, I would say: ,Fkay, I
can acce%t thatG. , but that does not ha%%en eitherJ
)e heG So, all the &isery is %ushed o#er to youM the best way to go to %ieces *uickly.
I hear a lot of negati#e things:co&%laints in &y ho&eo%athic %ractice. )ow do I kee% &yself
standing:in har&ony:%ositi#e &inded in such circu&stancesH
You kee% yourself sane with <ir#icara Sa&adhi: Boy and bliss. @augh, &ake jokes G Think
about the TD3series called 5XAXSX), about A&erican ar&y doctors in Eorea during the
Eorean 'ar. 6#en during surgery they &ake a lot of fun. This is %erfect. You are so shar% that
you constantly bea& with joy. There is no Ear&a that can co&%ete with this. You ha#e your
own o%inion about e#erything. You &ust contradict your %atients, and &ake lots of fun.
A nor&al hu&an being, no &atter what he gets in#ol#ed in, auto&atically attracts &isery. 9ut
this Sutra is telling us that whate#er you do, any work you do, re&ains inde%endent fro& you.
9ecause you did it, and because as such a Ear&ic link re&ains towards you, you will ha#e to
settle the bill.
?or e(a&%le: 5y inter%retation of the )atha Yoga Pradi%ika L there are already thousands of
co%ies L you wouldnt think it %ossible L around the whole world, downloaded for free fro&
the website in one year ti&e. )alf of the& were s%read in )olland, and the other half in the rest
of the world. So&eti&es I ha#e a nasty drea&: ,Fh NodJ +id I use the right wordsHJ That
SutraH And with that subject I was not wholly correct, and I failed to e(%lain that %ro%erly..
These are thousands lines co&ing towards &e, you knowH So&eti&es I a& crawling through
the houseJ +o you think this is innocentH )ow %eo%le who read the book react in certain waysH
It is a direct line to me. It is not because I signed it, but because %eo%le co&e onto &y
wa#elength. You could say: ,Yes, but that is good. It adds so&ething.. Yes, of course, but
e#en that you ha#e to carry, for that too is Ear&a.
So your res%onsibility beco&es so &any ti&es biggerH
Yes, you ha#e a res%onsibility. You always look at the &istakes, but the good things find their
goals as $ell. You can say: ,'onderfulJ 'onderfulJ. 9ut when you are engaged in these
#antastic things in a res%onsible way, and you %erfor& deeds:create beautiful things, kee% in
&ind: You are in#ol#ed in <ir&ana EayasJ The result of this will be that you will go into a
fight with delusion:i&agination. Your &ain ene&y of the future will be delusion, i&ages that
you ha#e created yoursel# that are co&ing back to you. Then you will ha#e &ore and &ore
need for Sa&adhis of the Dicara ty%e. If you do not &aster these kinds of Sa&adhis, you are
dead. Then it is finished, for you will be o1er #lo$n with thought3for&s.
8C
This is the reason why #ery successful artists:great %eo%le:leaders of states go down under.
They are not sick, for that &atter, but they become sick. And often they beco&e insane. Nreat
scholars, in#entors who in#ent re#olutionary things, are doo&ed to be wrecked, only in
reaction to what they ha#e done.
And you do not ha#e to worry about all those %eo%le of who& there is &ention, who
&ani%ulate &atters, or try to &ani%ulate the& L all those so3called black characters L for based
u%on this they will be wrecked. In fact they wreck the&sel#es because they do not know what
a <ir&ana Eaya is. They do not take that into account. They think it is allowed to go to work
indiscri&inately and &ani%ulate other %eo%le.
You kee% your causal health intact by regularly %racticing Sa&adhi. If %ossible, <irbija
Sa&adhi, the total #oid. So, you do so&ething. It is useful and it is good L or you ha#e done it
to your best abilities L and then you say: ,Fkay, that was itG byeJ. That is all. In this way you
si&%ly eli&inate the effects of the <ir&ana Eayas. That is Ear&a YogaM controlling of
Ear&a. You %ut down Ear&a, let it run its course, and if you do not like it L the backlash of it
L then you neutraliIe it. 9ut then you ha#e to beware that you ha#e neutraliIed the link to your
creation as wellJ And as a result it often dies off, for it is not connected any longer. So you
constantly ha#e to kee% in &ind: ,Yes, but wait a &inuteG this does &ake sense. I ha#e to
kee% an eye on this:kee% taking this into accountG.
An artist who dis%oses of his work saying: ,This was a &istake., at the sa&e ti&e e&asculates
his %iece of art, and as a conse*uence it &ight as well be trashed. As long as the artist thinks
his work is #aluable L whoe#er %ossesses it L that %ower is %resent. Then the artist is %resent in
this work.
+oes this change when he diesH
<o, e#en if he dies this connection re&ains.
'hen a father L now listen carefully, ehH L tells his son: ,I do want to see you any&ore. I
disown you., it is the $orst thing that can ha%%en to this son. Society is so cra(y, you knowH
Peo%le do not take notice of this. This is not taken into account. It is a daily occurrence. There
are thousands of such cases. It is the cruelest thing that can ha%%en to you, not only as a child,
but also as a father. It is as if a %art of your being is ripped out of you. It lea#es %er&anent
da&ageG %hewJG until eternity. That is why the ancients said: ,You &ust res%ect your
%arents and your ancestors.. ?or they are in fact res%onsible for your growth, your u%bringing,
and so forth. As a result they ha#e &ade a lot of their Ear&a in you. There is so&e kind of
creation after all.
9ut this also works the other way round: Parents should res%ect their children.
/ertainly. 9ut a child can also disown its %arentsM it is *uite the sa&e.
9ut I see it the other way round &ore oftenJ In &y o%inion children are neglected on a large
scale. 5aybe they are not disowned all together, but at least they are neglected.
8C0
At the &o&ent that those %eo%le ha#e brought you into this world, or hel% you to be brought
into this world, you ha#e a Ear&ic connection. So, fro& that &o&ent on you &ust actually
&aintain res%ect L whether you like it or not, and whether circu&stances are fa#orable or not, it
does not &atter.
9ut isnt it true that when %arents show res%ect for their children, children auto&atically show
&ore res%ect to their %arentsH
There is no such relationshi%, for this goes beyond any condition. It is intrinsic in you. It is
so&ething that is deter&ined by your genetic structure. Your funda&ental infor&ation, your
genes ha#e co&e into e(istence or ha#e been brought together also by the %arents. This is the
res%ect for your %arents:ancestors. This is a &atter of res%ect for your own genes.
)ow do we ha#e to see this in case you end u% with other %arents, for e(a&%le by ado%tionH
'hat ha%%ens to the Ear&ic connectionH
That can be added as well. You will ha#e a certain connection with those new %eo%le too, but
you undeniably ha#e to deal with your biologic %arents in the first %lace.
+o you understand this a little bitH The %oint here is: you function in life, you ha#e learned a
lot and so on, but the fra&ework in which you function, and the conse*uences of your
functioning, that is this. It is not difficult to &ake &any du%licates of your own being. You
si&%ly sta&% your Ear&a e#erywhere around you L on objects or on %eo%le L but then you
also ha#e to bear the conse*uences.
At a certain &o&ent I realiIed that I had doIens of %eo%le walking around the country who
were %arroting this guy. Then I beca&e so angry, es%ecially with &yself, that I s&ashed
e#erything to %ieces:destroyed e#erything. ?or I had &ade a &istake. Things did not turn out as
they were intended. In &y i&agination I had ho%ed:e(%ected that all those %eo%le would co&e
to the&sel#es and find direct ins%iration. It did not ha%%en. Fn the other hand you could say:
,'ell, if you had not done anything at all, nothing would ha#e ha%%ened, and you would not
ha#e understood anything about how you should ha#e done it.. So, at least I learn fro& &y
&istakes and do not re%eat the&.
You can also a%%ly this #ery well when you ha#e children. 6nsure that they beco&e
inde%endent. Sti&ulate the& in finding their own #alue, instead of &aking the& beco&e
so&ething that daddy likes the& to be and a%%ro#es of. This is indeed *uite difficultJ This
&eans that you ha#e to rise abo#e your own %references.
0! 'atra (h+anajam Anasa+am
Ff these the &ind born of &editation is free fro& i&%ressions.
8C2
This is the solution. And the result of this is real Ear&a Yoga. Pay attention with all those
acti#ities, with all those Sa&ya&as that we ha#e learned L for they can lead to great results,
but free yourself fro& the Sa&skaras that you ha#e used in the %rocess. ?or e(a&%le: I decide
to %erfor& a Sa&ya&a on the Indriyas, for there are still so&e deficits in &e, and I a& going
to i&%ro#e &y eyesight, and I a& also going to i&%ro#e &y for&G and so on. At the &o&ent
I a& in#ol#ed with &y eyesight, there are Sa&skaras. As a result you beco&e entangled in a
%rocess in which you incur Ear&a. You beco&e stuck to Ear&a, na&ely the Ear&a of the
eyesight. You see: ,)ey, &y eyesight is i&%ro#ingJ NreatJ. =That is how this Sa&ya&a
works>. 'hen that ha%%ens, do not forget this 4
th
SutraJ And after a while you will say: ,I
absolutely do not care any &ore, the eyesight G. G=?ollowed by> blissJ
In fact you ha#e detached yourself fro& the result of your e(erciseH
You detach fro& your action, and you detach fro& the result. In fact you detach fro&
e#erything that is:was related to that entire acti#ity, e#en to such an e(tent that you cannot
re&e&ber ha#ing done that.
9ut how do you continue functioningH 'ell, this is the reason why you need that connection,
why you need that ins%iration, so that within that sense of freedo& L without burden L you can
choose each ti&e again, fully acknowledging the surroundings: ,<ow I do this G or, now I do
that G., while not suffering negati#e effects fro& what you do. This is hea#y. This is #ery
dee%.
I was %re%aring to gi#e a lecture in 5ilano, Italy, where I would ha#e only half an hour to
e(%lain &y %oint. You &ust detach yourself a little bit and e&%loy this Sutra to see the irony of
it all. 9ut when you address the entire asse&bly of the $nited <ations as head of state, you
&aybe ha#e only " &inutes in which the %oint &ust be &ade. 9ut this is only reasoningM it does
not sol#e the %roble&. You really ha#e to go into this, generate this joy, and neutraliIe Ear&a.
As a result you will establish a connection L which you need to ha#e L and you say: ,Yes, this
is a %resent of 21 &inutesJ. And in those 21 &inutes you &ay ha#e a chance to change the
entire world, if only you can find the right words. Then, which words would I chooseH This
brings you back to the reality again. Ftherwise you beco&e a #icti&. 'ith this a%%roach you
are the leader againM you retake the initiati#e. At the &o&ent you lose the initiati#e, you are not
a leader any&ore. You beco&e a sla#e instead of a &aster, subject to the law of Ear&a.
/ant you e(%lain this to the& and ask the& for &ore ti&eH
That is e(actly what I thought. 9ut this also entails a danger L that you start reasoning like that
L and that you will try to get e#en &ore ti&e fro& the&. <o, no, no G 5aybe G 5aybe not
G 9ut first you ha#e to free yourself. And after freeing yourself fro& this Ear&a, you &ay
indeed ask for so&e &ore ti&e. Ftherwise you are e&otionally chargedM you are not yourself
any&ore, and as a result you &ay start acting strangely. A leader always stays on to% of it.
This is *uite intense, ehH This is Ear&a Yoga, the &ost beautiful Yoga.
8C8
Ff course you can choose to see things %ositi#ely, but it costs an enor&ous a&ount of ti&e and
energy to %ut down so&ething beautiful in only 21 &inutes ti&eG
All the things that you say now, you &ust switch off. And kee% s&iling. It is all #ery a&using
G 9ecause of this attitude of Ear&a3less3ness, you &aintain the link, and if the link continues
to e(ist, e#erything will co&e out e(actly the way it was intended. Then you will feel the
at&os%here. Since the lecture is scheduled for 4.21 on Sunday afternoon those %eo%le &ust be
e(hausted. 5aybe you ha#e to co&e on stage with a %ortion of ?rench fries in your hands:
,)ey guys, who wants to ha#e so&e friesH. 9ut if you %ut your lecture down on a %iece of
%a%er, and you si&%ly read what you ha#e written, as so &any %eo%le do, you will deal a
deathblow to those %eo%le attending. They will all be snoringG
So, you &ust ha#e an o%en attitude and taste the at&os%here. This is the &eaning of being a
%art of Nods Eingdo&. +o not get stuck in the swa&% of hu&an thought:hu&an Ear&aM rise
abo#e it. You can really be of i&%ortance to your fellow hu&an beings, and to yourself, at any
gi#en &o&ent of life, but when you are stuck in the swa&% you are unable to distinguish, and
you will not be able to create.
I ha#e worked for &ultinational co&%anies as <ew Product +e#elo%&ent 5anager. This is
when I learned how not to do things. I learned si&%ly by obser#ing &y colleagues. <ew
Product +e#elo%&ent in itself is already a huge &onster that is created by the &ind.
/o&binations, tricks, fabrications and delusionM these are the ele&ents that are %ut together and
an entire ga&e is built u%on the&, one &ore ghastly than the other. +uring that ti&e I ha#e
seen things being de#elo%ed, you would not belie#e it. 9ut actually you can see that it is
%ossible, for you can see this in the su%er&arket e#ery day: And yet another new harebrained
sche&eJ ?or a cou%le of weeks you see it on the shel#es and then it is already o#er G ho%J G
Ti&e to introduce the ne(t fabrication. )ow &any new cars:%roducts do we seeH There are
only few that re&ain genuine. 'hich %roducts re&ainH
Those %roducts that are ins%iredH
Yes, those %roducts that ha#e a certain %ower. Those that ha#e so&ething s%ecial: it has
so&ething, but %eo%le do not e(actly know what it is. 9ut if it was created by a &ind that is
free fro& Ear&a, it will ha#e the necessary %ower.
Yes, this is a Sutra with far3reaching conse*uences, but if you understand it, life beco&es
&uch lighter:easier.
1! -armasu/.a/rshnam Yoginas 'ri $idham Itaresham
8armas are neither white nor black =neither good nor bad> in the case of 0ogis,
they are of three kinds in the case of others.
This is again such a &ar#elous Sutra, for it &eans that based u%on these words, as a Yoga
%ractitioner L i.e. a serious Yoga %ractitioner L you can do whate#er you feel like doing. You
8C"
cannot be classified any&ore as being good or bad. 9ut wait a &inute, what about the Ya&as
and the <iya&asH /an you just do anythingH 'ell, like I said before: abo1e Ear&a. The
*uestion is: how do you re&ain abo#e Ear&aH You re&ain abo#e Ear&a because of the link.
9ut good and e#il, which a%%ly to nor&al hu&an beings, does not a%%ly to you any&ore,
because you ha#e this connection. Therefore you ha#e no other o%tion than to be:act in
function of the Nreat +i#ine Plan. That is what it is. You cannot e#en decide yourself any&ore.
As far as I a& concerned Fur +ear @ord tells you: ,<ow you &ust cut the throats of all the
5oroccans in A&sterda& G. ,'ell G great idea G thanks G so let us get to work then G
lets buy a knife G. This is a ridiculous e(a&%le of course, but you ha#e beco&e an e(tension,
and as for this ridiculous e(a&%le: e#erything u% there has been so neatly arranged, that these
kinds of idiotic acts will not ha%%en. I deliberately used this e(a&%leM because so&eti&es you
si&%ly do not understand what you ha#e to do:what infor&ation is %assed on to you, for it goes
against the grain with you, for one reason or the other, and if you could choose, you would
certainly not choose this e(a&%le. )owe#er, it $as %assed on to you. So you ha#e to learn not
to judge itG ,/o&ing throughJ. +o.
'hat if it leads to bad re%ercussionsH
<o, it is always right, no &atter how nasty it a%%ears to be. I ha#e learned that in hindsight it
was the right a%%roach after all. At the #ery &o&ent you are usually not able to see it. 9ased
u%on the de#elo%&ents of all the ele&ents in#ol#ed at that #ery &o&ent, co&bined with the
correct transfor&ation that you ha#e instigated, it later a%%ears that e#erything e#entually turns
out right. It is all so co&%licated that a nor&al hu&an being si&%ly cannot understand it.
@ike the terrorist killing of Theo #an Nogh in A&sterda&H
I dare not say it any&oreJ It was terrible what this guy did, but when I go to a little higher
le#el, I say: ,'ell, you know what, it ha%%ened. And I cannot say whether it is black, or white,
or gray.. That is what this Sutra is about: It just ha%%ened, and for nor&al %eo%le it is either
black or white, or gray.
Take for an e(a&%le the fraud scandal in the construction world in )olland. So&eti&es, when
reading the news%a%er, I can get so u%set about all thisJ )ow in Nods na&e is this %ossibleHJ
<ow the 8 defendants L the biggest swindlers L ha#e co&&unicated through their lawyers that
there were actually doIens of the& doing the sa&e. 'hy werent they standing in the dockH
The &agistrate could not but ad&it: ,)&&, indeed it is not correct that only you are standing
here.. This was a great #ictory for the defense tea&. Seeing all this I feel like going into the
courthouse and s&ash e#erything to %ieces. I want to #isit whoe#er has a construction co&%any
in this country with a baIooka in &y hands, including the %roject de#elo%ers, with the land
s%eculators in the front row. After I %ay the& a #isit, nothing is left standing in this country. +o
you understandH
9ut wait a &inuteM let us go back to the Sutra. 'hat is thisH 'hat is the &eaning of all thisH
This is about greed and desire, but now it all co&es to the surface. AhaG it is supposed to
co&e to the surface:in the news%a%er, in order to u%set %eo%le the way I a& u%set now. This is
a %rocess of co&ing to ter&s. It is an e&otional education that we e(%erience. 'e are meant to
8C4
gradually go fro& the Atlantic consciousness, based u%on greed, towards an intellectual,
reasonable consciousness. There is no other &ethod a#ailable than this one. @ooking at it fro&
this %ers%ecti#e, there is indeed so&e #alue in this %rocess, so we had better let this run its
course. And suddenly it all beco&es e#en to &e. It is neither black, nor white, nor gray. It is
good that it ha%%ensM I can see the use of it. It will run its course, and after a while the stor&
will blow o#er. Then what will be leftH 'ell, %eo%le will not co&&it fraud any&ore. The %rice
to &o#e towards honesty is %aid for now. The %roof that this is correct, that it is going in the
right direction, is the fact that it has co&e out in the o%en and that it is being discussed. This
was co&&on %ractice in the %ast but it was ne#er talked about. 6#erybody knew that it was
ha%%ening, but it ne#er really ca&e out in the o%en. That is our %rofit in all this. And if you are
able to see that, or when you learn to do things in this way, you are gradually beco&ing a
Ear&a Yogi.
'hat is the differenceH The baIooka3a%%roach is #ery interesting. Then there is the Ear&a
Yogi3a%%roach. 'hich one do you %referH 'hich a%%roach do you think is &ore effecti#eH
If you continue to go back and forth in the duality, you will not be able to o%erate effecti#ely at
allJ 9ut when you look at things fro& abo#e, fro& the le#el of soul3consciousness, you force
e#erything into har&ony, towards e(%osure. Truth is Satt#a. 'hen you %roduce su%er3Satt#a
by %racticing Ear&a Yoga, and by sitting in Sa&adhi regularly, you will isolate all those
strangely acting blokes. They will not sur#i#e. They will be caught by their own strange
beha#ior. You are i&&une, but &ore and &ore things beco&e har&onious. This &eans that
e#erything that is not har&onious will fall back onto itself at a certain &o&ent and destroy
itself. This is what is called the era in which %eo%le will be consu&ed by the fire. That is what I
just %ictured: it is the energy that returns to the gra#itational %oint. <egati#e energy is Ta&as,
which is condensing and therefore it &o#es toward the gra#itational %oint. The gra#itational
%oint is 5ani%ura /akra, and %eo%le go bonkersJ G So, we ha#e no reason to worry. The only
thing we can do, if you understand all this, is to sit:practice, &ore and &ore. +o you want
things to be sol#ed fasterH You need har&ony, more har&ony, and control o#er yourself. And
you should not do it for yourself, but instead consider the conse*uences it will ha#e in your
surroundings.
Satt#a is like light: It is dark all around you, and suddenly so&ebody walks in with a &atch in
his hand. )e lights this one &atch, and this tiny &atch is ca%able of illu&inating the entire
roo&. That is the %ower of Satt#aM it cuts like a war& knife through butter. Artha 5atra:
6ssence and &atter. 'e will con*uer:control:connect hea#en with the &atter through the core,
by looking for the core in the &atter and reconnect. Then light will a%%ear as a result.
@et us go back to Ear&a Yoga. You ha#e a connection and you recei#e a task that you abhor.
<e(t week is 6aster. /an we inter%ret the death on the cross in this lightH
You certainly can. +o you think Besus was enthusiastic to die on the crossH
<o, on the contrary. )e begged:%rayed to Nod to let the cu% %ass )i& byG
8CC
Yes, so he actually did not want to. )e begged to not ha#e to go through that, but it was just
like that. )e had no choice. That is Ear&a Yoga. It &eans that you ha#e to do things you do
not want to. In this case )e was the direct object. 'ell, in that case you ha#e bad luck. If that is
what has really been decided fro& abo#e within the great %lan, what will add to the
growth:de#elo%&ent of the whole of society and the beco&ing conscious and so on, well, then
you acce%t thatJ And that is how it turned out to be: )e did not die in #aneJ 'e still e&%loy
)is &essage. 'e si&%ly ha#e to use that, and follow u% on it. 6#en better, we should %ick u%
the thread where )e left it. 9ut this ti&e we ha#e to get it rightJ That is Ear&a Yoga.
And then you see so&ething re&arkable: you are the king:leader:director, and you would say:
,6#erybody down on the floor before &e G tatadataatataaJ G all wo&en co&e to &e G fat
cars G big house G. Then you hear about this story, and you will say: ,'ell, this was not &y
%ur%ose GJ It is al&ost like as if ' a& the ser#ant here for e#erything and e#erybodyJ I a& at
the to%, but now I ha#e to say ,thank you. and ,%lease. to the 9ig 9oss u% thereJ. That is the
shitty %art of this. 'hen at the to%, you are indeed res%onsible for that link. If you do not ha#e
that link, you can forget about e#erything. Then you will not be at the to% any&ore. You &ay
be at the to% for a year or two, or %ro for&a, but then you will be faded away, for there are a
doIen waiting to re%lace you. A leader is so&ething uni*ue, if e#er you can e(%erience thatJ
The intuition G the #ision G the %ower of the +i#ine that co&es through itJ It is what kee%s
an entire cor%oration:organiIation standingJ 9ut these kinds of %eo%le are hard to find these
daysJ Fur society is has beco&e one of %arasites.
Anyway, so you look down, and you see that nor&al %eo%le are constantly occu%ied with
black, white, or gray. ,)ow does this look on &eH. ,Are you going out sho%%ingH 'ill you
bring &e so&ething deliciousH. 6#erything, really e#erything they are concerned with, is
black, white or gray. ,)a#e you heard about the neighborH. Fnce you see through all this, you
will ha#e difficulty to go back to ,nor&al. life. That will be so difficult. Fften, sitting at the
dinner table, I cannot stand it any longer. Then I flee back to &y co&%uter. I had rather %lay
another ga&e then to ha#e to listen to all that nonsenseJ
5! 'atas 'ad $ipa/anugunanam :)abhi)+a/tir $asanam
?ro& these only those tendencies are &anifested for which the conditions are
fa#ourable.
This is actually what I already told you: that you will understand what it e(actly is that has to
be done. And e#ery ti&e you will ha#e to acknowledge: only those things will ha%%en, for
which the conditions are fa#orable. 6#erything will suddenly beco&e so logical. 9ut because
of our hu&an li&itations we often do not see it. So we can deri#e confidence fro& this Sutra
that e#erything that has to ha%%en $ill also ha%%en. And if you ha#e a %roble& with that, or if
you would like to ha#e things differently, that is also acce%table, but first check whether the
conditions are right. And only if conditions are right, it will ha%%en. 9ut you &ust also be able
to understand the wisdo& of this entire %rocess. You must look carefully, for you &ust realiIe
this. ?or as long as you fail to realiIe this, you cannot base you life on it.
8C7
6! Jati (esa -a.a $+a)ahitanam Ap+ Anantar+am Smrti Sams/ara+or
:/arupat)at
There is the relation of cause and effect e#en though se%arated by class, locality
and ti&e because &e&ory and i&%ressions are the sa&e in for&.
In Tai&nis book a %icture acco&%anies this Sutra on %age 2!!. This Sutra is about the
Sa&skaras, trying to e(%lain the logic behind the &anifestation. In our 'estern world we call
this ,coincidence.. This Sutra is actually an atte&%t to show that there is no such thing as
coincidence. 6#erything is based u%on the law of cause and effect, and u%on the i&%ressions
that already e(ist.
To &ake this clear you i&agine a bowl of rice %udding containing currants. The currants
re%resent the Sa&skaras, and the %udding is actually your entire being, with all the Sa&skaras
in it. 9ut the currants that you see at the surface are not all the currants that are in the %udding.
They are the currants of that #ery &o&ent. In this life there are only a few Sa&skaras
#isible:acti#e, while the rest is hidden under the surface. 'hen you stir the %udding, it changes,
with the result that &aybe so&e new currants will co&e to the surface, so&e will disa%%ear,
and so&e of the& re&ain. A%%arently it is different, but actually it is the sa&e again. The only
difference is that a cou%le of new ones ha#e &anifested. 9ut you continue stirring, and as a
result indeed so&e of the sa&e currants will now and then co&e to the surface. This is what is
8C!
shown in the %icture on %age 2!!. The characters A, 9, / and + each re%resent another
res%ecti#e life. They are four consecuti#e li#es. The s&all characters a3, b3 and c3 are the
currants. You can see in life 9 that other Sa&skaras co&e to the surface than in life A, but in
life / you see an a^ =a with an accent> resurfacing. This reflects the %ur%orted change that is the
sa&e after all.
The %resence of the Sa&skaras is related to &e&ory, which re%resent a constant factorM they
re&ain with you. 'e ha#e already seen this. So, we ha#e a ballast L an a&ount of Ear&a
together L that we carry with us since G yes G since #ery long.
9ut you can sol#e it, cant youH
You can indeed sol#e your Ear&a with Yoga, but as long as you ha#e not sol#ed it, it will
deter&ine e#erything you will e(%erience. And e#en though there is a difference of class,
locality or ti&e, the sa&e Ear&a will always co&e to the surface. Assu&e that you &o#e your
house G then you can say: ,I a& starting all o#er again.. <o, no, no, this bowl of rice %udding
with currants &ay be stirred, and you &ay notice a nu&ber of a%%arent new things in you, but
the old issues are still there too. So it see&s to be a new life, but it is not. You ha#e stirred
things u% a little bit. And where#er you go, and whether you are %oor or rich, or that you get a
new %osition at work, or that you are %ro&oted to A&erica, whate#er, you will always be
confronted with the sa&e ballast.
So this whole idea of starting all o#er is nonsenseH It is si&%ly i&%ossibleH
It is total nonsense.
9ut this Sutra is also telling us that, if you &o#e to another class, locality or ti&e, there will be
a stir3u% in your bowl as a result. So you &ust be careful with changes. You can say: ,I see
through &y Ear&a, I see through &y characteristics, I see through &y shortco&ings. I can deal
with the&. I ha#e things under control. Slowly but certainly I burn it.. 6#erything we do now.
Fkay, fine G until the day you &o#e for e(a&%le. If you do not %ay attention during the &o#e
it is #ery %ossible that you lose control, because there is a stir3u% taking %lace in you.
This is also the case when you ha#e a new relationshi%. As a result new Ear&a co&es to the
surface in you. Fr when you ha#e children. I ha#e se#eral &arriages behind &e. I ha#e
e(%erienced this first hand. 6ach ti&e it felt as if I started all anew, in &y own de#elo%&ent.
6#erything changed. Then you ha#e &ore children. I ha#e children fro& 2 generations, fro& 2
different &arriages. This &ay see& #ery interesting, but e#ery ti&e it is a change. You ha#e to
%ay close attention to that. This Sutra is there to hel% us L so that you ha#e no illusions. 5y
conclusion fro& this is: 'ait a &inuteG better not to ha#e changes any&ore. 'hich is ty%ical
in Yoga: the %ractitioner who has understood it, tries to kee% &atters as *uiet as %ossible, and
not e(%erience big e#ents any&ore, for he knows: otherwise he will ha#e to start all o#er again.
So e#ery change brings along new Ear&a or awakens new Ear&a in you. This is the last thing
you need.
Isnt it %ossible to sol#e Ear&a in another way than with YogaH
871
<o, only the Sa&adhi or Sa&ya&a e(ercises can sol#e Ear&a. 9ut you are working on that, so
what is the use of a change in the circu&stances you are inH It is only a disturbance. <obody
has to tell you that you ha#e Ear&a, for you !no$. And you are $or!ing on it.
I ha#e a son fro& &y first &arriage who one day a%%eared before &e: ,+ad, is that youH.
'hooshJ And a lot of Ear&a ca&e to the surface. That entire life with his &other and hi& G
ery dangerous. It is not that I do not like hi& to co&e back into &y lifeJ That is really great,
but it is about that whole a&ount of ballast that co&es with itJ Al those things you =thought to>
ha#e left behindJ Still, cause and effect continue to function.
So you ha#e to %ay attention with e#ery changeH
6(actly. So, you &ust bring all hands on deck in order to a%%roach the &atter with detach&ent,
concentration, control, lo#e, and so&eti&es also by talking and e(%laining. And you &ust
ascertain that you re&ain yourself, and that you can re&ain with your inner %eace. This is #ery
i&%ortant. 9ut %eo%le are so craIy that they totally ignore those things. They think e#erything
is %ossible in life, and they just &ess about. 9ut in na&e of this Sutra you will go downJ If you
generate too &uch Ear&a L %eo%le who ha#e li#ed through wars and so on know all about this
L you will go down. They gi#e this all kinds of fancy na&es, like %ost3trau&atic stress disorder
and so on.
So, in case of such a change, you &ust be able to re&ain cal&, to not allow e#erything to be
turned u%side downH
Yes. @ook for e(a&%le at those guys who &ake fantastic #oyages through s%ace on a
s%aceshi%, tra#eling to the &oon and then co&e back to earth. They ha#e incurred such an
incredible a&ount of Ear&aJ And nobody teaches the& how to deal with that. They try to
co&e back to their senses L they retire L and suddenly they are in#ited to lecture about their
s%ace #oyages. Fr they ha#e to go on tour. And all those &e&ories co&e back againJ It could
dri#e the& craIyJ And that is what is lurking around the corner for us too. $nless you ha#e
burned all the currants in the rice %udding, you &ust be %re%ared for L nasty L conse*uences as
a result of changes.
You walk in the street, and suddenly you co&e across so&ebody fro& the %ast. This afternoon
I walked around in the local sho%%ing &all, and I &et an e(3student. I&&ediately I recalled
e#erything about this &an L his %roble&s, s%ecific circu&stances and his de#elo%&ent. In such
a situation you ha#e to si&%ly adjust G adjust G and learn to deal with it. You &ust be alert.
At any gi#en &o&ent in your life L this is also a conclusion L you &ust be ready to weather a
stor& that has been caused by what you co&e across. Those are actually Eleshas. +ont you
e(%erience this, for e(a&%le when you #isit your %arents for a weekend or soH
You need a #acation after that G
You #isit your %arents L in &y case for e(a&%le &y &other in 9ruges L after which you co&e
ho&e, and it feels like as if you are torn a%art, for all those &e&ories that li#e there, which are
87
a %art of you, but now you li#e here, and actually you would like to kee% it all together. 9ut
that is not %ossible.
I would not want to kee% the& all together G
It is simply there. You really ha#e to kee% control o#er your Self.
9ut you still ha#e a %arent3child3relationshi% G
Ff course, for your &other still sees you as her little one. I a& "C =in 011">. She acts like that,
and if I do not %ay attention, I start to beha#e like a 0 year oldJ
This is all lurking around the corner. And it is not that it is so seriousM you can %lay the ga&e,
but it beco&es a %roble& if it &akes you lose your inner %eace, when you lose yourself. Then
Ear&a has taken control of you. You beco&e sad or &oody. You do not really need that.
So, you &ust re&ain in your inner %eaceH
Yes, but the *uestion is how do you do thatH You ha#e to stay with the core.
+o you ha#e to obser#e it to do thatH
'hat I do is to search for the causal ele&ent in &y &other. I focus on that, and not on all those
stories fro& the %ast. I focus on the lo#e, the lo#e that I feel fro& her towards &e, and the lo#e
that I feel in &e towards her. That is the &ost i&%ortant. I a& actually not interested in all the
rest. As a result I find %eace. That is the core. In case of &y &other it is the lo#e, but in case of
certain situations it &ight as well be joy or %eace. Those are the 2 different &oods. In &y
for&er life as a Nreek warlord, I found a #ery beautiful core: co&radeshi%. I had such an
incredibly co&radely relationshi% with &y &en. It was the &ost beautiful I had in that life.
And I kee% it. It is a #ariation on Ananda. So, when I re&e&ber so&ething of that ti&e, I
*uickly switch to that sense of ca&araderie. As a result I ha#e things under control again.
7! 'asam Anadit)am Casisho %it+at)at
And there is no beginning of the&, the desire to li#e being eternal.
This is about cause and effect. You could ask yourself: when did all this actually beginH 'ell,
what do you thinkH
Are you referring to that line of energy that started to fluctuate because of subtle desireH
The beginning of the whole ga&e is indeed related to your ,creation.:genesis, which we
discussed before, in which at a certain &o&ent during the de#elo%&ent of an Anu, also desire
arose. This is the subtle desire, the desire to li#e, which is actually the beginning. It is actually
fro& the &o&ent that fluctuation co&es into that line, that Ta&as starts. It started fro& the
870
&o&ent that there was a contracting &otion. This is the %redecessor of what will beco&e a
desire, in which that desire is related to your ego. As soon as ego co&es into e(istence, you
beco&e disconnected fro& the +i#ine. At that &o&ent you &ake a se%aration. 9ut this &eans
that you are not finished with this entire ga&e for as long as you ha#e a sense of se%arated3
ness, or e#en when you ha#e so&e fluctuation. So you ha#e to go all the way back to the
control of the energy ball that you are, &ake it totally Satt#a, and e#entually you ha#e to totally
eli&inate that ball. The #ibration it has caused &ust be ironed out L to such an e(tent that it
beco&es &ore and &ore #ague L until at last the ball will co&e back to one line. It will first
turn into a wa#e, and then it will con#ert into a line. This is the final @iberation. It is a %rocessM
fro& the &o&ent you understand $hat it is about, until the fulfill&ent of it. That is Eai#alya.
It all &akes sense, doesnt itH The &ost interesting I draw fro& this, is an i&age of: ,)ey, just
a &o&ent, no$ I understand the %oint of lifeJ <ow I understand why we ha#e to go through the
e(%eriences that we ha#e in life, and how to deal with that.. And as a result I suddenly ha#e
this feeling that I so&ehow gain control again, and that I can steer into the right direction when
I a& not satisfied, because I can understand the reason each ti&e strange things ha%%en. 'hat I
also draw fro& it is: when strange things ha%%en in &y life L and they still ha%%en now and
then L that I do not co&%lain any&ore. /o&%laining is a de&onstration of lack of
understanding. I know that it is the currants co&ing to the surface, and that they work
differently now. I know that I si&%ly recei#e what I so&ewhere carry inside &e. So, I acce%t
that. And the wonderful result of this is acce%tance. <ot the acce%tance of an idea, but the
acce%tance of insight, based u%on the understanding of the ga&e. And with ti&e you beco&e
so skillful at it that you increasingly start to sense things before they ha%%en, or that you
antici%ate the&, in the sense of: ,I feel that I still carry this within &e, so so&ething related to
it is bound to ha%%en. 'e will soon know.. You learn to know yourself better and better, and
at the sa&e ti&e, based u%on that self3knowledge, you also antici%ate the reactions fro& the
surroundings. 6nsuing fro& this is, si&%ly, %eace. ?or you know: well, this is bound to ha%%en.
And you consider it, while you go on li#ing your life at ease. As a result life beco&es &ore and
&ore %leasant.
It beco&es e(tra difficult when you additionally consider ,And it has no beginning.. This
&eans that you &ust try to rise abo#e the usual ti&e3bound thought and include the idea of
,infinity.. Then you switch fro& the too si&%listic &odel of the straight line, that slowly starts
to undulate, to a &ore abstract &odel in which this whole %rocess started an infinite long ti&e
ago, and will last an infinite long ti&e in the future.
! <etu Pha.asra+a.ambanaih Samgrhitat)ad :sham Abha)e 'ad Abha)ah
9eing bound together as cause3effect, substratu&3object, they =effects, i.e.
asanas> disa%%ear on their =cause, i.e. A1idya> disa%%earance.
The e(%lanations in these Sutras are actually &eant to &oti#ate you to wage war and to
continue to wage war against Ear&a. As long as you ha#e not dealt with those Sa&skaras, you
ha#e not done anything at all. It is like &y uncle on his deathbed telling &e: ,I ha#e the feeling
872
that I &issed so&ething G. )&&, if you ha#e not burned e#en one Sa&skara in your being,
your entire life long, and you ha#e only gathered Sa&skaras instead GJ )e owned a tra#el
agency, had 5ercedes 9enI, no children =which &ade hi& #ery sad>. All Sa&skaras. 9ut he
did not burn any of it. ?or he was not aware of the techni*ues to burn the&. I thought he li#ed a
good life L a %ortly &an with a chic auto&obile L that $as it, but he did not achie#e anything.
9ut he knew it, for he was not stu%id: ,I &ust ha#e &issed the %oint so&ewhere.. This is a
tragedy. It is terrible when so&ebody has to die in this way. )is life wasted. All that &isery, all
those e(%eriences:situations G all $astedJ
You would not want to end your life in that way, would youH If you say: ,Yes, I understand
this., you ha#e started out on the %ath of Ear&a3&anage&ent. Ear&a Yoga. This &eans that
you &ake u% a balance e#ery day: ,+id I recei#e &ore Ear&a today, or did I succeed to
recei#e a little bit less Ear&aH This ha%%enedG and that ha%%ened. So, I got &ore Ear&a. +id
I sitH +id I %ractice Yoga to burnH Fh no, I forgotJ 'ell, I guess I will ha#e to do it to&orrow
then, otherwise it will %ile u%G.
I a& so ha%%y that I can sit:work on &y Ear&a 4 out of C days a week L and I thank &y +ear
@ord for this 4
th
day, on Saturday &orning, with &y Eoreans. I do this in the fra&ework of a
class, and I go along with it. I do it for others, but I also do it for &yself. I go into &editation,
and in conte&%lation when %ossible, and afterwards I feel: ,Ah G yes G yes G yesJ. And
after a year you can &ake u% the balance: did I incur &ore or did I burn &oreH And you can
see:feel %rogress. This is so fantasticJ It gi#es the feeling that you ha#e your life under control.
'hether you die or not, is actually not i&%ortant, but the kick you get out of this, like: ,YesG
yesG yesJ I !no$ how it worksJ This is the way to function., is i&%ortant.
Then you &ust be #ery aware of the Ear&a you ha#e.
You can feel that. 5ake u% the balance in the e#ening. That is, &ake u% the balance whene#er
you wish, but at a certain &o&ent in ti&e you &ust e#aluate, in a fair &anner. And then you
will feel. And when you &aster conte&%lation, and you %ractice regularly, and especially when
you can do it together with %u%ils, you really ha#e an a&aIing ad#antage. That is why I ad#ice
e#erybody to start teaching, for I know how difficult it is to sit down on your own and %ractice.
It is &uch easier to that in the %rocess of sharing it with others.
So we can conclude that after burning Ear&a, the situations that are related to it cannot affect
you any&oreH
In the %rocess you neutraliIe the Eleshas too. You know whether you indeed got rid of those
Sa&skaras when those situations do not occur any&ore. 'hen you succeed, you will indeed
notice that it works like this, and you will beco&e just as enthusiastic as I a&. At the sa&e you
will also be i&&ensely sad when looking at other %eo%le who are ignorant of all this. You
would want to shout to the&, and grab the& by the neck, and tell the& all those beautiful
things, and how they could go about it. 9ut unfortunately this does not work. If you do not %ay
attention, you will get frustrated. You beco&e sad and frustrated. This is what is called
co&%assion:sy&%athy:&ercy. You feel so well what is going on in your surroundings L how
%eo%le are stuck L but sadly enough, in &ost cases you stand aside with your hands tied.
878
You could also si&%ly acce%t it.
<o, that is not %ossible. At least, a 9oddhisatt#a could not acce%t this. A Sra#aka could acce%t
it, for he is following the solitary %ath. A 9oddhisatt#a howe#er is so&eone %re%aring to
beco&e a 9uddha. )e looks o#er his shoulder, seeing %eo%les &isery, and he has no other way
than to return and hel% the %eo%le. You can also choose the %ath of Sra#aka, for within infinity
it does not &ake a difference, but I see &ostly %eo%le who follow the %ath of a 9oddhisatt#a.
Peo%le working in healthcare, they do not know how to deal with &isery. They were not taught
how to do that. Fnly so&eone who is well trained in Yoga can deal with it. And e#en then he
&ust ha#e *uite so&e years of e(%erience behind hi&. )el%ing other %eo%le is the hea#iest
occu%ation you can think ofJ The &ost difficult jobs are in healthcare and education. 6s%ecially
when you feel e&%athy for your fellow hu&an beings, it is e#en &ore difficultJ And those
%eo%le working in education and healthcare, %utting their hearts into their jobs, are the first
ones to %erish. 'hat re&ains are the bad ones, the heartless. And %eo%le wonder these days:
,'hat can be the cause of our low standards of education:healthcareH. It is because we do not
&aster the basic ele&entsM we do not understand at all how it worksJ And we beco&e
frustrated, seeing that large nu&bers of %eo%le, &ostly the best a&ong the&, dro% out of these
%rofessions.
So&eone a%%roaches a fellow hu&an being with heart and soul, saying: ,This is &y #ocation.
This is what I want to do.. )e is the first one to go down. Fften he is warned by others: ,+o
not do like that, otherwise you will %erish., and in this way the #ocation is killed in the bud. As
a result of this all that is left is soulless, total hell.
If you want an e(a&%le of this kind of hell, just go to your local ta( officeJ If you ha#e not
e(%erienced hell in your life yet, that is the %lace to e(%erience it, literally. Si&%ly walk
through these offices, and &eet those %eo%le. 'hat you will see is really unbelie1able. You
wonder how they could li#e thereJ In s%ite of this I know %eo%le who work there, or %eo%le
who ha#e worked there and did this with heart and soul and who were sensiti#e. They all ended
u% being burnt outJ
"! Atitanagatam S)arupato 9St+ Adh)a 4hedad (harmanam
The %ast and the future e(ist in their own =real> for&. The difference of
5harmas or %ro%erties is on account of the difference of %aths.
'e li#e here now L our consciousness is here L and all we do is think of this. 9ut if you would
only take this ball of energy that is your being, which &o#es through the uni#erse through ti&e
and s%ace, which co&es fro& the %ast and &o#es into the future L if that is how you want to
e(%ress it L and which by chance at this &o&ent is %resent in this %rocess here L you realiIe
that this #ibration has already %rogressed &uch further at causal le#el. Actually this #ibration is
already %resent in eternity L as well in the %ast, as in the future L but it is condensed, now, here,
87"
gi#ing us the i&%ression that we e(ist now and here. 'hen you are able to see that, you can
say: ,Bust a &inute, I also e(ist in the %ast, now. or ,I also e(ist in the future, now.. So, you
&ust rationaliIe with your &ind what you e(%erience in this &o&ent of conscience L you
withdraw fro& the &ind and with your feeling on causal le#el, you go along with the flow of
Shi#a to the future or with the flow of Shakti to the %ast.
You are %art of this s%iral, which carries a s%here in it. There is a condensation in this s%here,
but that s%iral actually co&es fro& the night of ti&es. It is actually an atte&%t to e(%lain that
your causal body is not si&%ly li&ited, and that the causal body is actually so&ething that is
infinite, and that it e(ists as well in the %ast as in the future. It is e#erywhere, always, at
whiche#er %lace in this uni#erse. So, with a wish you could actually tra#el around this entire
uni#erse. And that is the instru&ent to direct:control the causal real&. This is the &eaning of
,%ast and future e(ist in their own for&., &eaning that %ast and future are both here and no$.
They are e(tensions, and although na&ed differently, they are %art of the sa&e %heno&enon,
another %lace in the sa&e s%iral.
So, they are within reach, or better to say, if you li#e no$, you can a%%eal to the %ast or future
at whiche#er ti&e, and whiche#er %lace you are in the uni#erse. ?or you are there too. 'e
constantly feel li&ited by our gross body, the &aterial world and so on, but that is &ainly by
choice. 'e ha#e allowed oursel#es to be caught by that notion.
Then Patanjali says: ,The difference of 5harmas or %ro%erties is on account of the difference
of %aths.. Those are the 0 %aths &entioned before, the %aths of Shi#a and Shakti. Through
these 0 %aths you gain control o#er the whole %rocess. So, when you acti#ate the Sa&skaras
using Shi#a, you acti#ate the& in another way than when you acti#ate the& using Shakti. This
&eans that fro& the %resent ,here. you can go in all directions, but i# you go in all directions,
you &ust take into account that you acti#ate it differently in that direction co&%ared to that
direction. They are the sa&e Sa&skaras, but acti#ated just a little bit differently, and therefore
they are acco&%anied by di##erent conse*uences. So, your causal functioning, which is
e#erywhere, contains your Ear&a, no &atter whether it is in the %ast or in the future. This
Ear&a is e&bedded between these double s%irals. There is so&e kind of bridge of which I
&ade a drawing once. 9ut the inflow of energy o#er one side could be easier than the inflow
o#er the other side to bring this Sa&skara to life. It does not ha#e to %ossess the sa&e
sensiti#ity. So, it could ha%%en that this Sa&skara, when you awake hi& with Shakti, awakens
?uic!er than with Shi#a energy. 9ut that is a difference in %erce%tion of your Ear&a, when you
tra#el through s%ace like this.
874
In the fourth stage you see a full3grown Sa&skara. That is serious. You ha#e just created
so&ething, and your creation contains the sa&e Sa&skaras that you ha#e.
'hene#er I see a &o#ie about war, the Shakti3flow goes through &e and adrenaline arises.
Then I feel all the &e&ories of &y war %ast surfacing, creating related i&ages. Those
Sa&skaras beco&e fructified, and I ha#e to %ay attention not to dress &yself in &y
ca&ouflage fatigues, going down the streets with &y &achine gun to kill so&ebody who looks
like Fsa&a 9in @aden L just to na&e so&ebody. So when I a& engaged with Shi#a3energy,
e#erything is &uch cal&er for &e, and &uch softer. That is the way for &e: Shi#a. I should not
be occu%ied with Shakti too &uch. And Shi#a can flow through the sa&e Sa&skaras as Shakti,
but it has a different effect on &e. 'ith Shakti it awakens, while with Shi#a it does not awake.
It caresses it, and I beco&e #ery soft and sweet and giddy and ro&antic, and all that other
nonsense.
So, when you take Shi#a, it &akes the Sa&skaras disa%%earH
<o, the Sa&skaras only disa%%ear when you ha#e an e*ual a&ount of Shi#a and Shakti. That
is the only way to get rid of the Sa&skaras %er&anently.
87C
Then you actually drag along the energy that is %resent, you drag it out, and you neutraliIe it.
That is burning.
Besus e(%lained it this way: if the ?ather would say only one word, he =so&ebody> would be
co&%letely clean. 'ell, I did this with Sa&ya&a on Sabda Artha, the essence of the word,
a%%lied to the #oice I heard in 011 on the beach: ,)ere I a&.. I released Sa&ya&a onto it, and
#elt the Artha contained in those words. It was a fantastic feelingM sweet, co&forting,
reinforcing, I take care of you L this was all contained in that feeling. 9ut at the sa&e ti&e it
contained such an enor&ous %ower:white light. I re%eated this a cou%le of ti&es. It burns
Ear&a like no other, which is ty%ical for Sa&ya&a. Sa&ya&a is better than Sa&adhi when it
co&es to burning Ear&a, for you burn speci#ically.
&! 'e $+a/ta Su/shmah Gunatmanah
They, whether &anifest or un&anifest, are of the nature of Gunas.
The +har&a, or the e(%ression of the Sa&skara, is actually si&%ly a co&bination of the
Nunas. 6#ery Sa&skara can actually be ty%ified as a distinct co&bination of for& that can be
reduced to the Nunas: Satt#a, Aajas and Ta&as. It is like with a binary syste& L a byte is a
se*uence of Ieros and lines. )ere we do not ha#e Ieros and lines, but we ha#e 2 signs that
deter&ine e#erything:the data contained in the byte. Interestingly it is not a su%erficial
characteristic, but a natural one, na&ely the for& of the energy #ibration itself. And as these
three different for&s e(ist at different locations, they result in different infor&ation.
In %ractice it is always a succession of one Nuna after the other, and often you can see Aajas
ending in a s&all Satt#a, followed by Ta&as. So, first Aajas, then Satt#a, followed by Ta&as.
Then at the end of Ta&as another s&all Satt#a, followed again by the o%%osite. This is how it
works in %ractice. Fnly the length of each of these Nunas is different e#ery ti&e, and therefore
its s%ecific infor&ation. So, you see the a%%earance of Satt#a, each ti&e, in between Aajas and
Ta&as. And you can also see that the e(tent of dishar&ony in a being de%ends on the s&all
877
a&ount of Satt#a as one goes along. Then it see&s as if there are only #ery short breaks, while
a har&onious %erson has long breaks.
9ut this is how all infor&ation is fi(ed, &anifest and un&anifest. This also a%%lies to
thoughts:&oods as well as to &atter. This is how the ga&e is %layed. This is what is called
cos&ic breathing. This is interesting, for the infor&ation is contained in this breath. The
intelligence is contained within. So, de%ending on the &o#e&ent that occurs, there is the
e(%ression of energy as being intelligence.
This is cos&ic breathing, but is it also a Sa&skaraH
Yes. Fn &acro3cos&ic le#el it is cos&ic breathing L as is the e(%ansion of the uni#erse L but in
our genes this is the way infor&ation is stored.
9ut you &ust continue to %ercei#e this as a &o#e&ent. It is a carrier of infor&ation, but it is
always dyna&ic. 9ased u%on this, the afore&entioned breaks beco&e longer each ti&e. And
this is the fantastic effect that occurs #ery *uickly when you %ractice Yoga correctly,
influencing you u% to the de%ths of your being. Peo%le say: ,)ey, I ha#e been doing Yoga for a
cou%le of weeks, and I ha#e beco&e so cal&G. It %er#ades the entire being, on all energy
le#els.
/an you see this as a wa#e tooH
<o. Although I &ade the drawing 03di&ensional, you should actually see it 83di&ensional, for
there is also an acceleration in#ol#ed. I draw one #ibration, but you &ust actually %ercei#e this
#ibration as one s%here, while considering that on this s%here there are 4 &ore. So it is *uite a
%heno&enon that %asses along. It is &uch broader than the drawing I &ade. 5y drawing shows
only the %rogress of one s%here.
'hat are these other 4 s%heresH
There are C /akras.
If you would study a gene through a &icrosco%e, it is highly likely that you will see the earth3
%rocess =fi(ed %art>, but you &ust consider that a lot more is in#ol#ed in it, because a gene
&o#es. This is #ery interesting, for we learn to control &o#e&ent using Pranaya&a and other
Yoga techni*ues. And because those things L in the de%ths of our souls L &o#e too, we can
control:influence the&, not only through for&, but also through the flow.
+o you understand also that e#ery ti&e you try to obtain Satt#a, you si&%ly need an Asana,
and that this ha%%ens all throughout your being as a resultH You actually influence all those
flows in your being with Satt#a, e(tending those breaks as a result. The infor&ation re&ains,
but with longer breaks. You translate this as %ower to rationaliIe, so you see e#erything in a
&ore relati#e way. 'hen you %ractice Yoga, you are less i&%ulsi#e. I&%ulsi#ity is a *uick
succession L action:reaction L with few breaks in between, within your own infor&ation.
87!
9ut not all Asanas increase Satt#a. Isnt Pranaya&a also ai&ing to obtain Satt#aH
Yes. In fact e#ery techni*ue in )atha Yoga ser#es this %ur%ose.
*! Parinamai/at)ad $astu 'att)am
The essence of the object consists in the uni*ueness of transfor&ation =of the
Gunas>.
So, this is an object: The su& of the length and the circu&ference of its energy flow in Ta&as,
in Aajas and in Satt#a. These three ele&ents for& the %articular co&bination that is uni*ue for
that object, which thus is also the original sound of that object in Sanskrit.
To kee% this understandable I had better e(%lain it in the following way: In the beginning there
is si&%ly a straight line. $nder the influence of Dasana, subtle desire, &o#e&ent occurs in this
straight line. This fluctuation is the cause of the de#elo%&ent of a light s%iral, of which the
for& is Aajas. In reaction to this Satt#a and Ta&as arise. 9ut the *uestion is: 'hat was there
be#ore the straight lineHJ 'hat was there before the NunasH Since Nunas deter&ine the for&,
it &ust ha#e been so&ething without a for&. This is what is called ,<irguna.. )owe#er, in
&athe&atics there is the %oint of #iew that it is not %ossible to draw a %erfect straight line. The
idea is that it does not e(ist. There is always a slight cur#e, causing you to always return to the
%oint of de%arture L &aking a huge circle. This idea stands at the basis of s%herical3triangular
geo&etry =H>. 9ut in Yoga it is said, or at least ' say: 'hat e(isted be#ore the Nunas arose,
$as a straight line. 9ut the %roble& is that this is #ery hard to co&%rehend. It is an eternal line.
'here is this lineH And is this an e(a&%le of a %erfect straight lineHJ 5aybe as the result of our
li&ited %erce%ti#ity we can percei1e it as being a straight line, but G u& G and so you go on
G e(%loring dee%ly into the uni#erse to find e(%lanations on how all this works.
9ut what was there be#ore the NunasH
<othing. There were no Nunas. This is called <irguna. And if you are able to achie#e
<irguna, you are considered to be @iberated, for it is the Nunas that li&it us. Those for&s and
the resulting &o#e&ents of the energy flows li&it us, deter&ining our consciousness in that
way. This is what deter&ines what we call ,life.. Therefore we &ust si&%ly sto% this whole
co&%le( flow, but before you can sto% it, you &ust first fully understand $hat it is, and ho$ it
works. In this res%ect these Sutras are of great i&%ortance. And when you are able to fall back
to the funda&ents of your being, which is actually your genetic %atterns, and you understand
that this is your genetic %attern L the structure of it L then you will say: ,Fh, wait a &inute, so
Aajas and Ta&as are the cul%rits, so what I ha#e to do is install Satt#a in it.. And whene#er I
a& acting e(citedly, for whate#er reason, I &ust *uickly co&e back to &yself and say: ,'ait a
&inute, e#en when I a& right a thousand ti&es o#er, this does not add anything to the &eaning
of life for &e... As a result you beco&e &ilder. You still react, your cos&ic breath still occurs,
but you are cal&. 'hich is e(actly what is necessary to co&&unicate, and then you co&e back
to sheer being. Sheer being, which is our e(ercise today in Sas&ita Sa&adhi. /an you see how
beautifully this all fits togetherH
8!1
I just saw so&ebody throw so&e %a%er fro& his car window. Should I not react:beco&e angry
when seeing thatH
Then you dri#e in front of that %erson, slow down your car and e#entually sto%. Net out of your
car L be careful that you are not run down G
So I should not react at allH
Ff course you can react, for you &ust go on li#ing your life, but you &ust kee% in &ind that
the e(tent of your reaction &ust be as little as %ossible. You &ust re&ain totally cal&: easy,
easy, easy G
Si&%ly no reaction G
<o, we are not robots. Aeactions are caused within us. 'e &ust only try to di&inish the
fluctuations as &uch as %ossible. If we can succeed to do that, it is already good. Always try to
di&inish. And after 1 years you ha#e beco&e so cal&, but e#en then you still try to di&inish.
So, you kee% the essence of all infor&ation with you, but you increasingly control it. 0ou are
the boss. 0ou deter&ine the further de#elo%&ent of your cos&ic res%iration.
,! $astu Sam+e Citta 4hedat 'a+or $ibha/tah Panthah
The object being the sa&e the difference in the two =the object and its cognition>
are due to their =of the &inds> se%arate %ath.
@ooking at 0 e*ual objects there will always be a difference, because the %erce%tion of the 0
takes %lace fro& different angles, or fro& a different coloring. You %ercei#e things in
accordance with your coloring. Your %eculiarity, your characteristic res%iration *ualifies the
descri%tion, the %erce%tion you recei#e fro& the characteristic res%iration of the object. And
this %erce%tion is different fro& the other %erson who also sees it, but who cos&ically breathes
differently fro& you. You are confronted here with a #ery un%leasant situation, which &eans
that what $e call science beco&es incredibly difficult. ?or e#erybody %ercei#es the reality in a
different way because his coloring is different. )ow can you e#er co&e to agree&ent about
thatH
'ell, &aybe you can agree for !!Q instead of 11Q G
6(actly, but ne#ertheless, this is an indication of the direction in which you &ust try to &ake
%erfect. Therefore the language that we use is #ery inade*uate. It is a su%er3unscientific
&ethod. 'hether it is in 6nglish, ?rench or +utch, it is i&%ossible. Then there are so &any
dialects and different ways of %ronouncing. Therefore I a& in fa#or of learning Sanskrit, for it
%ro&otes the direct %erce%tion of those things described. And hearing all these things, which is
8!
already colored in itself. 9ut in s%ite of that, it co&es &uch closer to the reality, and that is
what you try to con#ey.
This is also so&ething I want to i&%ress on you: 5antras. I re%eatedly co&e across the sa&e
%roble&: Peo%le who tell &e: ,I sing 5antras G Au& <a&ah Shi#aya G Au& <a&ah
Shi#aya G. 'hat on earth are you doingHJ ,'ell, I a& %racticing 5antra Yoga G. ,You are
not %racticing 5antra Yoga at allJ You are singing falseJ. ,'hat do you &ean, singing falseH
That is how I was taught to do it.. ,Ff course, that is how you learned to do it G. 9ut if you
want to %ractice 5antra Yoga correctly, you start by listening. ?or e(a&%le, if you want to sing
,Au& <a&ah Shi#aya., you listen to the uni#erse, to ,Au&., to ,<a&ah., and to Shi#aya..
&isten to those three words. You in#oke the 5antra and you say: ,I would like to listen to G.,
which is the e(%ression of a wish. Then you wait for the reaction. And you $ill hear
so&ething, but it will be rather different fro& what you are e(%ressing with your funny throaty
sounds. You will recei#e certain things =%atterns> that you can %ercei#e. Fne way or the other,
the energies will try to align with your hearts contents, with what you ha#e $ished for with
your heart. Then you will hear the true sound. At that &o&ent you ha#e earned the right L after
e&%loying 9ha#a =the feeling:&ood> L to e&%loy Sabda =sound>. Fnly then you are allowed to
o%en your &outh in an atte&%t to co%y the sounds you heard. Fnly then you obtain unity with
the essence.
All the rest is blasphemyJ And I will ne#er sto% to %oint this outJ +o you know what ha%%ens
when you co&&it blas%he&yHJ You will die, eternal death e#enJ You will be doo&ed. +o you
know what eternal death &eansH It &eans that you go through Surya 9indu to the underworld
G just like thatJ As a result of the enor&ous dishar&ony you createJ It is because you
a%%ro%riate yourself the right to say things that are totally not in accordance with what it in
reality is, added to that your %retension that you de#ote this to the +i#ineJ As a result the
%ower of the +i#ine is distorted and will turn against youJ And you will dieJ All those clubs of
alternati#e <ew Age3%eo%le and so on, who %lay these kinds of ga&es, are doomedJ And they
are co&%letely ignorant. They sit there in their little circles, thinking that they are incredibly
cute, and that &ankind really needs the&. Si&%ly look at their health status and you will know:
he is slowly but certainly deteriorating. +id you just say that 5antra singing is har&lessH
'hen you understand this thoroughly, and %ractice it %ro%erly, it is called &agic. In the 5iddle
Ages they created the word &agic:sorcerer for this. A sorcerer therefore is so&eone who can
hear it, and then he can co%y it, but because he can hear it and co%y it, he will start to
listen:hear &ore and &ore intensely, and ha#e &ore and &ore influence on it. At a certain
&o&ent he says: ,)&&, I saw such a classy chassis %assing byJ I would lo#e to ha#e a roll in
the sack with her G Aaauuuuu&&&& G. ,Sir G can I join you in your bedH. 6#erything is
%ossible. There is nothing to itJ
Fh G I had another sack in &ind G one you use to %ack so&ething G
'hen ' talk about sacks, you should know better.
+o you understand thisH +o you understand the i&%ortance of Sanskrit in this res%ectH
8!0
I did hear 5antras &yself, and they were incredibly beautiful. I recei#ed the&, and you too
will recei#e 5antras. You will recei#e the sounds that are stored for you. F%en your heart,
&ake the connection, and recei#e. And suddenly you will recei#e what you need.
+o you actually ha#e to %ronounce the 5antra when you recei#e itH
?ro& that &o&ent on it is your 5antra. You can use it to &ake the connection. That is what
5antra Yoga really is about. Fr they are the &ost i&%ortant 5antras for your own well3being.
5y &ost i&%ortant 5antras are ,$n&ani., and ,Artha 5atra.. And I ha#e also heard
,A$5., so I can add that one to &y list too.
9ut %ractically this &eans that %eo%le should take &ore into account the %ower of their words
and their influence on others.
Yes, certainly, for the word is 1ery, 1ery %owerful. )ere is a little trick: if you want to %ut &ore
%ower into your words, in such a way that they ha#e &ore effect, then you build as &uch
Satt#a in the& as %ossible. )ow do you do thatH S%eak cal&ly, articulate clearly, and con#ey
the intensity of your thoughts through this Satt#a.
Fne day &y uncle taught &e that. )e took care of &e when I returned fro& Africa. 'hene#er
he was angry L when I &isbeha#ed or so&ething L he used to say: ,Pi%o. L at that ti&e I was
called Pi%o, the na&e of a fa&ous clown L ,-uest *ue cestH -uest *ue tu a faitH ... Tu
corriges ton attitude, et cest bon .... 'hat is thisH 'hat ha#e you doneH G You correct your
attitude, and e#erything is fine G ery cal&. I was only a little boyJ I would ha#e heart
%al%itations, but I would ne#er &ake that &istake again. +o you understandH So it is not
si&%ly a &atter of talking which is i&%ortant: ,'e &ust try to sol#e this %roble& by talking it
o#er.. If you a%%roach it in that way, you will ne#er sol#e itJ You sol#e it by the way you talk.
And in the end, $hat you say is actually not rele#ant. It is ho$ you say it.


0! %a Cai/a Citta 'antram $astu 'ad Apramana/am 'ada -im S+at
<or is an object de%endant on one &ind. 'hat would beco&e of it when not
cogniIed by that &indH
A shitty kind of Sutra here, because there are still %eo%le who %roclai& that the world is the
%roduct of our &ind:thinking, and that we constantly create that idea. This is a stubborn
&isconce%tion that see&s %er%etual. 'ith this Sutra Patanjali hel%s us to get rid of this
&isconce%tion. And you can directly see ho$ he does that: if so&ething was created by your
thoughts, what would ha%%en with that object if you sto%%ed thinking about itH It would
disa%%ear, but it does not do that. So, this whole reasoning of: ,the reality is the %roduct of our
&ind., is co&%letely falling a%art.
5aybe we create it subconsciouslyH
8!2
<o, for when you are not consciously thinking of it, you are #ery likely to think about
so&ething else, but you cannot send your energy in all directions. As a result the %heno&enon
would be neutraliIed and disa%%ear. 9ut it is not that si&%le.
/ontrasting with this is when you would say: ,Fh, wait a &inute, this is the confir&ation that
e#erything e(ists on its own, but that we can e(ert influence, at the sa&e ti&e, on e#erything..
That is the pre1ious Sutra. 'e can connect with all the %heno&ena, but that does not &ean that
they are %roducts of our &ind. So, there is the %ossibility of an e(isting relation, but not one of
cause and effect.
1! 'ad ;paragape/shit)ac Cittas+a $astu Jnata Jnatam
In conse*uence of the &ind being colored or not colored by it, an object is known
or unknown.
This is actually the Sutra that stands at the basis of the science of %erce%tion or co&&unication.
'hat is co&&unication and how does it occurH In this Sutra the word ,coloring. is used.
'hen we take this #ibration =drawing>, we can %ercei#e that as being a color. 'hen does the
&essage co&e across in usH It co&es across when %art of us has a si&ilar sha%e =as the
drawing>. This results in a certain click:connection:contact that enables us to read the rest too.
That is the coloring3%heno&enon, a nice way to describe it. 'hen you ha#e a glass of water,
and you %ut of dro% of ink in it, it slowly s%reads throughout the water. At a certain %oint the
water is e#enly colored. So, you ha1e a %heno&enon, while you are here, and there is %rete(t.
I&&ediately there is a %art of you that connects L but not e#erything L with who& is colored,
de%ending on the e*uality of the %atterns. 'hat L i&&ediately L coincides: the sa&e color. 9ut
then the rest has still to be read. Then it de&ands an effort to s%read:sense:co&%are. That is the
coloring %rocess.
9ut what ha%%ens when you see so&ething that you do not recogniIe at all , when there is no
coloringH
That is what we call ,cogniti#e dissonance.. If I would start s%eaking in ?rench, &ost of you
would dro% out. <obody would understand a word I say.
Therefore there are nu&erous things that we do not integrate because the %attern is different,
although they do occur. It ha%%ened so often to &e in this country. I talk and talk and %eo%le
look G I ask: ,And, ha#e you understoodH. They ha#e not understood a thingJ It is because
&y way of talking is different fro& what they are used to. The sa&e thing ha%%ens here in the
#illage. They look at &e L the children too L and I say so&ething in %erfectly nor&al +utch
language =but of course with &y slightly ty%ical accent>. And they re%eat e(actly the sa&e: ,Is
it that what you are talking aboutHJ. ,Yes, but that is e(actly what I said, isnt itHJ. They just
do not get it because it does not rese&ble the fi(ed %attern they are used to.
8!8
So, how do I sol#e this %roble&H I do not talk any&ore in this #illage. <ow I ask the *uestions.
I say for e(a&%le: ,5ada&, I ha#e known you for years. I saw you &any ti&es. 'here do you
actually li1eH. @oud and clear: ,'here do you li#eH. Foooh, how nice of you to ask, yes, I
know you tooJ I li#e across the street, at nu&ber ! in the +or%straatJ. I a& totally baffled.
After " years I finally co&&unicate with that wo&anJ She looks at &e and says: ,)&&, but I
find you such a curious &an G. 'hat did I do wrongH I a& only a foreignerJ G 9ut being a
foreigner &eans another %atternJ It is a little bit different L foreign. +o you understand what
the %roble& is of co&&unicationH The co&&unication %roble& can easily be reduced to the
e(act fitting in of these kinds of whirls. Go along with it, by trying to &ake contact calling
so&ething into being that is of interest to the other, or let hi& utter the sounds that in his
o%inion characteriIe that %heno&enon. ?or the %eo%le si&%ly do not listen any&ore. <ot only
the far&ersM there isnt a chicken that wants to listen.
'ell, at least a South3African can be reasonably well understoodG
Yes, but e#en then G they listen, but you should watch TD L only when there is subtitle %eo%le
understand what is said. This is so re&arkable.
There are also %eo%le who listen, and thin! that they understand, but it does not register.
6s%ecially because it is a little bit different. They say: ,Yes, but you talk so strange GJ. 6#en
though he s%eaks +utch, it is a little bit different fro& what they are used to.
So, you actually need the ability to see if fro& abo#eH
<o, you ha#e to #eel it. You &ust understand this and kee% an eye on it.
/ould this be related to a laIy 9uddhiH
AbsolutelyJ It is caused by a rigid and stiff consciousness. There is a lack of
fle(ibility:ada%tability:sy&%athy with others. Peo%le are stuck in their egos, in their %atterns,
fro& which they refuse to de#iate when others do not want to do things the way they are used
to. So&e %eo%le do not trust anything they dont know. )e does not e#en know that it e(istsJ
'e currently ha#e this %roble& with i&&igrants who should ada%t:integrate. It would be good
if it ha%%ened on both sidesJ Fne3way3trafficJ 5y 073year old son writes &e: ,Your world is
so different fro& &y world. It is so difficult to co&&unicate with you.. And this is only
written co&&unicationJ
9ut that is actually the basis of this entire integration %roble& G
6(actly. So, as long as we do not understand this, we will ne1er sol#e the integration %roble&.
To achie#e this the i&&igrants should ha#e to study 2 or 8 years before they would recei#e
their certificate of naturaliIation. And all the rest is baloney, a waste of &oney.
9ut e#en when you know, you still ha#e to learn to co&&unicate G
8!"
Yes.
So, it is a sort of %rocess of beco&ing conscious G
Yes. This is only the theory.
9ut it is also related to the intention, because if you $ant to integrate, you just do that, and if
you do not want to integrate, then you si&%ly dont G it is rather si&%le.
Yes, but it is not only about the intention of the foreigner to integrate, it is also about the
intention of the nati#e %eo%le to acco&&odate their integration. It is a double %roble&. So, you
should not only introduce naturaliIation courses for the i&&igrants, but you also need to
introduce those courses for the nati#e %eo%le, and teach the& to take care of the i&&igrants
and integrate the& or help the& to integrate.
I re&e&ber that in the last year of secondary school we were taught Ahetoric, which is the art
of s%eaking. I think this subject does not e(ist in )olland. Si( years in secondary school and at
the end, in the si(th year, we learned Ahetoric. In the year before that we learned Poetry L in
which you learn %oe&s and the %rinci%les of Poetry in general. And once you had understood
the sense of language, you could do an atte&%t to deli#er a lecture, %resent a discourse, deal
with co&&unication, and so on, which was called Ahetoric. That is the reason why ?le&ish
%eo%le always win the +utch <ational +ictation e#ery year.
5y 13year3old daughter co&es ho&e fro& school, saying: ,'e ha#e to gi#e a lecture.. 'hat
is thisH She is only 1 years old. 6#en when I was 7 I was not able to do thatJ
5! Sada Jnatas Citta $rtta+as 'at Prabhoh Purusha S+aparinamit)at
The &odifications of the &ind are always known to its lord on account of the
changelessness of the Purusha.
This Sutra is actually the answer to the *uestion: ,)ow do you co&&unicateH 'ho controls
thatH. It is Purusha. ,Yes, but I always thought it was 9uddhi.. It only seems to be 9uddhi, but
actually it is Purusha, your soul, because Purusha is a constant factor in you, who e#entually
recei#es e#erything that ha%%ens as a result of the changes inside. 6#en At&an, the Self, has a
slight #ariable. And abo#e At&an, before you arri#e at Purusha, there is A#yakta, the
un&anifested Self, where also slight changes occur. 9ut Purusha is co&%letely e#en.
Is it i&%ortant to know that Purusha e#entually is the one who is in charge of co&&unicationH
/ertainly it isJ ?or learning to s%eak has e#erything to do with what you ha#e to say fro& your
heart and fro& your soul, and not just shallow articulation, as is %rescribed by the book. That
last ele&ent is what I learned in school: It absolutely did not &atter whether you s%oke with
heart and soul. They would say: ,You &ust indeed %ut so&e feeling into it, but &ost of all you
8!4
&ust articulate wellJ. Isnt that how you learned to do itH Totally nuts, isnt itH It &eans that
you talk si&%ly to talk. 'hat kind of nonsense is thatJ This is i&%ossibleJ )ow can you talk if
you ha#e no feeling at allHJ ?or your s%eech co&es fro& your thoughts, and your thoughts
co&e fro& your feelings, and your feelings are gi#en to you by your soul. So, if you are not
in#ol#ed in so&ething with you soul, it is i&%ossible to talk about it.
5y daughter co&es to &e saying: ,I a& looking for a subject to gi#e a lecture about. 'hat
should I talk aboutH I think I will talk about the bees.. So I told her: ,You will not talk about
bees, for you ha#ent got the slightest interest in that subjectJ. ,Then what a& I su%%osed to
doH. ,'ell, what do you li!eH. ,'hat I li!e G well G fairytales G el#es.. ,6l#es G the $ay
you say that has a charge. +o so&ething with that subject.. And that is how I hel%ed her a little
bit. And she did gi#e a lecture L only 7 years old L in ele&entary school, about el#es. They are
still talking about itJ She reached le#el 7 while actually she is in le#el 4. That is how you learn
to talk. So, if you know who is in charge of co&&unication, you control co&&unication. And
you use that.
Fne day &y wife said to &e: ,Nosh, you are really gifted you knowJ @ast year in 5adrid: You
were standing there in front of hundreds of %eo%le. You ca&e u% with such a good story and
you %ut u% such a showJ Afterwards they cli&bed u%on their chairs a%%lauding youJ I would
ne#er be able to do that.. +id I do anything s%ecialH <o, I did nothing s%ecial at all. All I did
was to s%eak fro& &y soul. That does the trick. If you ha#e so&ething in your soul, so&ething
that really touches you, and you sit down before those %eo%le and tell your story, you will also
recei#e an o#ation. It is not that difficult, but &ost %eo%le are not aware of this. Peo%le ha#e
forgotten about this. And they are a#raid to talk. These days you ha#e those shitty courses:
,S%eaking in Public., which only fattens the %ockets of the organiIers. 9ut it has nothing to do
with the real solution to the %roble&.
Is this the &eaning of %reaching, or at least, shouldnt this be the &eaning of %reachingH
Yes. A ser&on is in fact the infor&ation3transfer that e#ery %riest should do in his church. 9ut
it has degenerated into a litany, and coughing u% the sa&e te(ts o#er and o#er. As a result
%eo%le fall aslee%.
In the %ast in school, with teachers who were really %assionate about their work, the connection
was &ade.
Thats it. A teacher is so&ebody who should know this through and through. And of course he
should be able to a%%ly it. And he should also ha#e the *ualities of a leader, for you send and
control things in and around you through co&&unication, so you really ha#e to co&%letely
control it. This also &eans that when you ha#e nothing to say, you kee% your &outh shut. ?or
the word is sacred. A lot of %eo%le forget that too. They babble away, but in fact they do not
say anything. It is only to %lease their egos that they continue to talk. This is a direct threat to
your authority. That is where the word desecration co&es fro&, &eaning that your charge, your
reach and the effect of your #oice are da&aged.
8!C
And as a result you slowly co&e to what is said in Yoga: that the words of the Yoga teacher
are 5antras. )is %ostures are Asanas. )is drawings are Yantras =geo&etric> or 5andalas
=cur#ed>
+oes this &ean that your words beco&e 5antrasH It &eans that your words will ha#e an
effect. You say so&ething, and bangJ G it has e(actly the effect you intended:
. It hits ho&e, e#en though you are a foreigner L %eo%le integrate your infor&ation, and
0. They use it:do so&ething useful with it.
You are not sowing on rock groundM you &ake sure the ground is fertile.
6! %a 'at S)abhasam (rs+at)at
<or is it self3illu&inati#e, for it is %erce%tible.
The &ind is concerned here.
Fne of the fre*uent %roble&s in Yoga %ractice on high le#el occurs when %eo%le reach the
light.
They see that light.
And when they co&e out of their Sa&adhi, or whate#er, they say: ,I saw a great light, so I a&
6nlightened..
9ut when you see that light, then it can only be 9uddhi who has seen that light.
So, then you i&&ediately know that you can not be 6nlightened.
9ecause when you are in 9uddhi and 9uddhi sees that light, then there is not fully light. Then
there is still duality.
Fnly when your Self has beco&e the light and the light can not be seen any&ore you are
6nlightened.
So, when so&ebody says ,I a& 6nlightened., then you can be sure he is not.
9ecause there was so&ething what saw the light and that &ust be 9uddhi. So there is still
duality and you are not 6nlightened. 5aybe you are on your way to it, but you still ha#e to do
a lot before reaching that total unity %er&itting you 6nlighten&ent.
And that is what we try to do with the <ir#itarka3, <iras&ita3, <ir#icara3 and <irananda
Sa&adhis.
Seer:Seen, that last field of tension you ha#e to let disa%%ear.
And that you do by letting yourself &elt in the obser#ation.
It is FE to see the light, but then you ha#e to beco&e one with the light.
$ntil you are the light.
Then you e(%erience nothing any&ore. This is <irbija Sa&adhi, which is #ery strange in the
beginning. You do not understand anything any&ore.
9uddha called that the #oid, but in fact there is no na&e to describe it.
And %eo%le using na&es to describe that state %ro#e at the sa&e ti&e that they ha#e not
reached it.
So a real 6nlightened one you can recogniIe by his inability to e(%ress what he has
e(%erienced. You only can feel that he has li#ed so&ething #ery s%ecial.

8!7
"7! :/a Sama+e Cobha+ana)adharanam
5oreo#er, it is i&%ossible for it is to be of both ways =as %ercei#er and
%ercei#ed> at the sa&e ti&e.
The !
th
Sutra belongs to the 01
th
Sutra. They are telling us that, when you are enlightened, you
cannot be aware any&ore of the light, for you ha#e become the light. +id you see light tonightH
As long as you see that light, we concluded last week, you ha#e not succeeded yet, for there are
still the obser#er and the obser#ed. There is so&ething inside you that watches it. This obser#er
is not the light. There is %olariIation, and there is not enough har&ony in you yet.
)ow do we sol#e thisH You see white light, so you are *uite ad#anced in your Sa&adhi
%ractice, and you say: ,Nosh, what a beautiful lightJ. Then what do you do to co&e to
6nlighten&entH You si&%ly continue to obser#e that white light, and as a result of this cal&
obser#ation L obser#ation is Satt#a L a fusion will auto&atically take %lace. As a result you
will suddenly not be aware of that light for you are the light. At that &o&ent you do not see
anything any&ore. You ha#e co&e into <irbija Sa&adhi, which is the Doid.
$nfortunately, as soon as you do not see anything any&ore, because you were told about this
in class you will i&&ediately react by saying: ,Fh, I do not see anything any&oreJ This is itJ.
'hooshJ And you fall down. Then what do you ha#e to do L additionallyH 'hen you notice
that you do not see white light any&ore, that e#erything is e&%tyM you should not do anything
at allJ +o not reactJ You ha#e reached the to%. You race your &otorcycle to the to%, and what
do you do when arri#e at the to%H You sto% racing, huhH Ftherwise you will fly o#er the to%.
+o you know how it is to fly o#er the to% of a &ountainH It is terribleJ You will fall all the way
down the &ountain. So, the closer you co&e to the to%, the &ore careful:alert you &ust be.
You &ust %ay &ore attention.
So, white light, you do not see anything any&oreG cal&G do not do anything. This is the
fa&ous: +oing by not doing. The rules of the ga&e ha#e changed. @et it ha%%en slowly.
It is si&ilar to the landing of a %lane: engines back, gas back, fla%s out, and kiss the ground.
There is no big bang at the end. I ha#e a flight si&ulator on &y co&%uterM I find it wonderful.
This is co&ing into <irbija Sa&adhi:co&ing into the light. And fro& the &o&ent that you
acti#ate your 9uddhi, or whate#er L fro& the &o&ent so&ething ha%%ens in your
consciousness L you are out of it.
So, the leit&oti# is Para Dairagya. )owe#er, ,@eit&oti#. is not such a good word in this
res%ect. <o word is a%%licable here, but it &eans so&ething like ,Su%re&e +etach&ent.. 9ut
as soon as you e#en thin! about su%re&e detach&ent, you are attached. So it has to be totally
ingrained in you. You &ust be ready:trained, in doing nothing.
At ho&e I try to train in doing nothing as &uch as %ossible, but &y wife does not like it. I
watch the& working, %ainting old garden furniture, sowing, and so on G
and I watch G
Then co&es the cooking, #acuu& cleaning, taking care of the children G
8!!
and I watch G
Then they say to &e: ,Are you going to do so&ething, or whatH.
And I say: ,I do not do anything. That is &y task.. +o you follow &e, or notH
0ou are su%%osed to do this. If you want to understand Yoga, you &ust understand this too.
This is the to%. 'hoe#er reaches the to% in Yoga cannot s%eak about Yoga, and he can also not
teach Yoga. You &ust ha#e been at the to% first. You &ust ha#e e(%erienced yourself what I
a& telling you now, at least once. So that you can say: ,Yes, I a& rightJ I know. I felt it. I ha#e
been there. I fell down i&&ediately, but at least I know the way now. There was nothing at all,
and I was ha%%y with nothing. It ha%%ened to &e and, in hindsight, it was indeed fantastic. It
does not &ean anything, but it is fantastic. The only thing I want, as I sit here, is to one way or
the other go back to that condition as fast as I can, for it was G so greatJ This beats
e#erythingJ.
'hat ha%%ens when you ha#e reached it without knowing itH Actually you should know all of
this =theory> on forehand.
I a& afraid you should. There are %eo%le who know this naturally, I know that, but in theory it
is like you say: if you do not know about all this, you do not ha#e the slightest chance. It is just
like with &ountain cli&bing: if you do not know how to cli&b, you can forget reaching the
su&&it. You will ne#er succeed.
9ut I e(%erienced it, howe#er, I did not know what it was G
And now you are faced with the handica% that you start thinking, and that that is e(actly what
will hold you back fro& reaching that condition.
So, I a& e(%laining all this as it is e(%lained in those #ery old books, and at a certain %oint the
ga&e is %layed totally differently. The rules ha#e changed. As soon as you reach beyond
&editation, as soon as you try to go fro& Sabija Sa&adhi to <irbija Sa&adhi, it is a #ery, #ery
big ste%. @ook, anyone can understand how to &aintain a &ood. Boy, lo#e, %eace L this is all
co&%rehensible. It is difficult because the &ind constantly interferes, but it is doable. It is the
final ste%J
Then you si&%ly ha#e to let go G
You ha#e to totally let go.
So, you sit in ,9eing. L which is the white <iras&ita Sa&adhi L and you wait. You do not do
anything. Fbser#er and obser#ed slowly beco&e one. And suddenly you will not see anything
any&ore. And fro& that &o&ent you will acce%t doing nothing. It is so difficult because it is
so si&%le. And at that #ery &o&ent you understand this. You ha#e always done things in a
#ery co&%licated way, you always thought that #ia this difficult way you had to achie#e:reach
so&ething L this L while in the end it is so easy.
"11
+oes an air%lane do anything while it is landingH It does not do anything any&oreJ It just waits
until it &akes contact with the ground. +oes the &ountaineer do anything %articular just a
cou%le of &eters before he reaches the su&&itH <ot really, ehH There are no difficulties
any&ore. )e just casually strolls to the to%. )a#e you e#er been at the su&&it of a &ountainH
It ha%%ens like that, and then the difficulties are sol#ed and you reach the to%, and you sit there.
'hat are you su%%osed to do thereH You do nothing, which is okay. Then you say to yourself:
,BeeI, this is so easyJ I ne#er knew that it would be so easyJ And I always acted in such a
co&%licated wayJ 'hy ha#e I always done thatHJ. 'ell, you just go on with your stu%id
reasoningJ 9efore you know it you are all the way at the botto& of the &ountain againJ So you
better acce%t the new condition, it is fine like that G e#erything is +i#ine G e#erybody is
+i#ine G
"! Cittantara (rs+e 4uddhi 4uddher Atiprasangah Smrti Sam/aras Ca
If cognition of one &ind by another =be %ostulated> we would ha#e to assu&e
cognition of cognitions and confusion of &e&ories also.
This is &ore or less a theoretic hy%othesis. This Sutra tells us that e#en though it is i&%ossible
that obser#er and obser#ed are one, it is still %ossible that there are two cognitions. )owe#er,
as a result of the fact that they %rocess the cognition di##erently fro& one another, at a certain
&o&ent this should lead to conflict. +oes this ha%%en inside youH <o, it does not. This is
ty%ical Dedanta. It is the sort of %rofound logic that is ty%ical for the 9rah&a Sutras. This
book =the 9rah&a Sutras>, together with the 9hagha#ad Nita and the $%anishads, belongs to
Dedanta, which literally &eans ,/o&&ents on the Dedas.. These 2 books try to %ro#e, using
logical constructions, that Yoga indeed is correct. The scri%tures that $e are using are abo#e all
the nor&al Yoga3school and the Sankhya3school, which e(%lain e#erything in a si&%le way.
9ut o#er ti&e there ha#e been indeed %eo%le who ha#e said: ,9ut wait a &o&entM is this all
trueH. And this is ty%ical for the Dedanta3school.
+oes it e(ist se%arately fro& YogaH
<o, it is all related to each other. Therefore it would be good if you would one day take the
o%%ortunity to study those scri%tures.
/an you ad#ice a certain edition of these books, for e(a&%le in +utchH
I a& not aware of any good translations:inter%retations of the $%anishads. There is an
interesting s&all $%anishads3translation fro& the Theoso%hical FrganiIation, called: ,1
$%anishads.. This is a selection of the 17 &ost i&%ortant $%anishads, or stories at the feet of
the &aster. )owe#er, originally there are &any hundreds of the&. A drawback of the
?le&ish:+utch edition is that it does not contain references to the original Sanskrit te(ts and
that it also lacks a word3by3word transliteration:e(%lanation. This &eans that you ha#e to
co&%letely rely on the translator, which I do not trust at all, for not one a&ong the& is a
Yogacharya.
"1
""! Citer Apratisam/rama+as 'ad A/arapattau S)a 4uddhi Sam)edanam
Enowledge of its own nature through self3cognition =is obtained> when
consciousness assu&es that for& in which it does not %ass fro& %lace to %lace.
,Enowledge of its own nature. K Self3realiIation. This Sutra %resents us the condition for Self3
realiIation, which is ,when consciousness assu&es that for& in which it does not %ass fro&
%lace to %lace.. This is a nice e(%ressi#e way to %ut it, si&%ly &eaning that the &ass of energy
that is your consciousness stays together. 9ut this energy can &o#e itself L es%ecially on higher
le#els L faster than ti&e. And when you ha#e co&e to such an e(tent of cal& that it stays
together, it is %ossible at a certain %oint that you feel the e(tent of the reach of your energy. 'e
ha#e learned fro& another Sutra that es%ecially the feeling of where you are not %resent, and
where you are %resent L which is the difference between Purusha and Prakrti, or between
Satt#a and what is different L re&e&berH L is also Self3realiIation.
I a& still sur%rised by %eo%le who clai& to teach Yoga, for e(a&%le childrens Yoga. I ask
the& for e(a&%le: ,So what do you do with those children when trying to teach the& YogaH.
,'ell, I just let the& %lay around a little.. ,)ow is that related to YogaH. ,'ell, children are
%layful, so I let the& %lay.. ,Fkay, but you just said that you teach the& 0ogaJ. ,Yes, which
we do %layfully.. This lea#es &e clueless, for Yoga is about co&ing to utter silence, which is
necessary to obtain the sense of, ,)ow far do I actually reachH. Self3realiIation. So, first light,
and with that light the sudden feeling. As long as you &o#e this is si&%ly i&%ossible.
The sa&e a%%lies to %eo%le who clai& that Yoga is related to breathing e(ercises. And they
continue to breath and %uffJ And they change the *uality of their energy L Aajas, Ta&as L
continuously fluctuating, and then they are totally e(hausted and say: ,)aJ I had a nice Yoga
session todayJ. Then there are also the %eo%le who are so busy, constantly %hysically &o#ing
about, %erfor&ing the &ost awkward circus acts, saying: ,'ell, I had a great half hour of Yoga
%racticeJ.
Then there are the ones that lilt 5antras at the to%s of their #oices G
9ut that is not Yoga at allJ It has nothing to do with YogaJ Yoga L the unification of your
being with the Su%re&e 9eing L can only occur through Satt#a, which is totally &otionless.
,Yes, but I like so&ething dyna&ic. The disad#antage of Yoga is that it is &uch too staticG.
,Yeah, rightG go to hellJ 'here there is plenty of dyna&is&J. Fr notH You dont knowH
'ell, at least there is a nice fire burningJ
So&eti&es when I a& in Sa&adhi, &y breathing distracts &e G
That is nor&al in the beginning, but the re%eated %ractice will result in &ore and &ore
har&ony in you. The need to co&%ensate at air3le#el will di&inish &ore and &ore. At a certain
"10
%oint you will not e#en %ay attention to that any&ore, and you will not breath any&ore. You
slowly ha#e to get rid of this auto&atis&.
There are also these Yogis who ha#e the&sel#es locked u% in a block of ice or they ha#e
the&sel#es buried ali#e. They do not need to breath any&ore to stay ali#eM they do that with
Pranaya&a.
They do it si&%ly as we see it here. 9reath &ust be eradicated. 9ut the drawback here is that
those %eo%le do not tell what they are doing. Therefore nobody understands it, and as a result a
new kind of %roble& is created. The *uestion is what those %eo%le add in #alue to Yoga or to
the %rogress of &ankind with their acts. In &y o%inion their in%ut is of no #alue, es%ecially
because they do not e(%lain. I %refer %eo%le who do less, but who e(%lain to %eo%le what they
do.
9ut at least this is the %roof that we are right =that Pranaya&a is not breathing>.
Yes, that is true.
You will notice that as you sit longer, and sitting beco&es easier, less and less functions of
your body will be acti#e. As for &e you go to the seaside one day to i&&erse yourself under
water to check whether you still ha#e a need for air. 9ut this is all inessential. The &ost
i&%ortant is that you %ractice yourself, and that you need &any, &any years to reach that total
silence, which is indeed of i&%ortance.
)ow &any years do you need to reach that total silenceH
)e =9uddha> said: "1 years.
'hat ha%%ens after thatH
I just told you: nothing. <othing will ha%%en to you any&ore. You will not slee% any&ore, you
will not eat any&ore G you will only sit. And as a result of the intensity of the har&ony of one
single %erson who reached 6nlighten&ent, the surroundings undergo a tre&endous
har&oniIation. This is once again an e(a&%le of ,doing by not doing.. In the surroundings of
an 6nlightened one all the trees start growing, the %lants start bloo&ing, nature starts to
beco&e har&onious, and %eo%le beco&e sweet and soft for &iles around, &ore and &ore. It is
said that when one %erson reaches 6nlighten&ent here on earth, the entire uni#erse will cheer
with joy. That is what the old te(ts tell us. So&ething incredibly beautiful co&es into
e(istence. And if you could be this 6nlightened %erson one day, which is &y:our drea&, be#ore
reaching that state %lease realiIe the enor&ous i&%ortance of it for &ankind.
I guess I ha#e to realiIe that this will not ha%%en fro& one &o&ent to another.
It is a gradual %rocess, and it is also a necessity that the %rocess is gradual. The control needed
in you to be able to re&ain in that state is tre&endous. 6ach ti&e you fall, and ha#e %roble&s,
"12
and stand u% again, you learn a little bit &ore to control. This is what you will need in the
future to enable you to stay 08 hours after 08 hours in the light.
"&! (rashtrdrs+opara/tam Cittam Sar)artham
The &ind colored by the Enower =i.e., the Purusa> and the Enown is all3
a%%rehending.
'hat do you do when you ha#e reached such stateH You are the knower L one says that you are
the knower L and you know e#erything. The %rocess of knowing is actually the %rocess of
coloring, as we noticed before. There is still a little &o#e&ent of energy in you, for you ha#e
attention for e#erything. You %ercei#e the different for&s and colors, which colors you too.
9ut your reach is unli&itedM you see, and you see through e#erything, e#erywhere, through all
ti&es L %ast, %resent and future.
Are those not the result of your thoughtsH
<o, you do not create the&. You only obser#e, and you beco&e colored by your obser#ation.
The slight a&ount of Ear&a that is still %resent in you is sent out to the world, so interaction is
taking %lace, which is the %lay of coloring. At the to%, in your state of 6nlighten&ent L Self3
realiIed, e#erything #ery *uiet L there is still so&ething ha%%ening, which is the fact that you
know. This is a 9uddha, or the %erson who has awakened to the great reality. You %ercei#e the
great reality, the great reality that we as nor&al %eo%le cannot see. 'e are blind. Although we
ha#e eyes, our #ision is #ery li&ited. Fur senses only function at gross le#el.
Is this related to seeingH
Seeing, hearing, feeling L all together L using the di#ine Indriyas.
So you are not 11Q Satt#a yet. That is your coloring, and this is the reason that you are still
here. 'hat will ha%%en when you beco&e 11Q Satt#ic, which is actually the goalH
You dissol#eH
You will si&%ly ha#e a dissolution, which is @iberation, Eai#alya.
"*! 'ad Asam/h+e+a $asanabhis Citram Api Parartham Samhat+a -arit)at
Though #ariegated by innu&erable asanas it =the &ind> acts for another
=Purusa> for it acts in association.
"18
'hat is this coloring in youH It is called ,Dasanas., which &eans subtle desires. This is the
condition that was once res%onsible for your descent, your fall fro& hea#en, and your
beco&ing hu&an.
'hat is the entity, the coloring in you, that %ercei#es thisH That is your causal body
=/itta:9uddhi>, which is actually working under orders of Purusha. It is actually Purusha that
%ercei#es the coloring, not directly, but through /itta or 9uddhi, for they are %art of your being
and they coo%erate with each other, ,jointly..
'e are sitting here looking at the *ualities of a 9uddha. A 9uddha, who indeed still has a
certain life L in the eyes of a nor&al hu&an being he does not do anything any&oreM he is just
sitting there L for in hi& there is a coloring:subtle desire %resent. And %ay attention: this subtle
desire &ust not be stirred too &uch. If he does not %ay attention L e#en when he is a #ery great
9uddha L these subtle desires can cause a real desire. As a result he will tu&ble down. So, in
&y o%inion, when so&eone a&ong us reaches 6nlighten&ent, lea#e hi& alone. +o not disturb
hi&.
Should he not be able to deal with thatH
You &ean that you dance in front of the 9uddha naked, saying: ,)e should be able to deal with
thisJ. This %oor guy suddenly o%ens his eyes in shock and you see hi& tu&ble down. Nood
jobJ /ongratulationsJ
@ike the story of the Yogi at the entrance of his ca#e, on the #erge of 6nlighten&ent, and
so&ebody stands in his sunlight G
Yes. )e too should be congratulated for disturbing hi&J And all you ha#e to say is: ,'ell, it is
a Elesha that ca&e to hi&, and he should ha#e been %re%ared for that..
9ut isnt that the %ur%ose, that e#entually you do not attract anything any&oreH
Yes, I know. So if he has Sa&skaras, the Eleshas will co&e to hi& and what has to ha%%en
will ha%%en. 9ut that you, personally and deliberately, will disturb such a %erson si&%ly
because you feel like teasing hi&, well, that is *uite a shitty thing to do.
'hat if it is a test to see whether he can handle itH
That is okay. Assu&e that I a& sitting here in the light, at least now I a& warned when you
enter the roo&. Then I will say: ,'ait a &inute, he is trying to get &e.. Thank youJ =<a&aste>
Ff course you should be able to deal with this, but what I a& trying to tell you is that you
should gi#e this %rocess a chance.
You said yourself that you when we sit here and we are disturbed by so&ething, we ought to
go back to the basis.
"1"
That is indeed %art of the training. 9ut by chance I feel like saying the o%%osite today.
9ut when you disturb such a %erson, you only generate Ear&a.
Yes, I think you are right about that.
",! $isesha (arsina Atma 4ha)a 4ha)ana $ini)rttih
The cessation for dwelling in the consciousness of Atma for one who has seen the
distinction.
You settle yourself in At&an. That is what is ha%%ening here, because your desire L the effects
of desire L is slowly %ut to a halt. And the reason for desire to sto% in you is because you ha#e
understood, because you ha#e understood the role of desire:the negati#e effects of desire.
)a#e you understood by now what desire isH +o you use desire, or do you a#oid itH As long as
you a#oid desire, it &eans that you ha#e not understood desire. Therefore you will ne#er be
able to control it. This is okay in the beginning, when you are still working on A%arigraha
=non3desire>, but not at this le#el GJ
The *uestion now arises what the function of desire is. +esire is es%ecially acti#e in the fire
center. It is the origin of each action. 6#ery action in you L whether it is in thoughts, words or
deeds L is initiated by a desire. If you understand this, and when you once in a while
consciously choose to use a desire to initiate action, you learn to deal with it. And when you
learn to deal with it, you will be increasingly better able to choose $hen you want to undertake
action, and when you do not want to take action. So you gradually and increasingly control
,acting nor&ally., which ha%%ens naturally, and your being will at a certain %oint si&%ly do
what you agree to. That is all. 9ut then you ha#e seen what desire is, for you are using it
consciouslyJ This &eans that you ha#e &astered desire. And when you are the &aster, you
&ight as well say: ,+esireH ?orget it. I do not need you now.. And you just ignore it. Fnly
then will you co&e into At&an.
At this &o&ent I regard desire as &y ene&y.
+esire is not a friend and it is also not an ene&y: it is si&%ly there, as nature, the fruits on the
trees that surround us are there to be enjoyed. 9ut you &ust not ha#e too &any of those things,
for otherwise you eat too &uch or you ha#e sunburn. That is what ha%%ens with desire too.
9ut doesnt it re*uire &ore than this to co&e to At&anH <ot only sto%%ing to desireH
Strangely enough you do not need anything &ore, for there are &any different kinds of desires,
fro& #ery gross to #ery subtle. +o you know the %yra&id of 5aslowH This is actually the
%yra&id of desire. It is about the basal desires G the lu(ury desires G but then also the desire
for Self3realiIation, recognition, etcetera. These are all desires. And when you are finished with
basal desires, you auto&atically go on to lu(ury desires, and when you are ready with lu(ury,
"14
you go on to s%iritual desires. So our entire li#es are filled with desires, and you can &easure
your %rogress in Yoga by gradually reducing desires. This is also the result of learning to deal
with the&. 9ut that results in that you see e#erything in a &ore relati#e way and that you are
not so fanatic any&ore. You still initiate actions, but the fre*uency of doing so di&inishes, for
you are &ore aware, asking yourself whether it is really necessary or not. You will also be able
to not initiate actions. As a result your actions beco&e &ore sensible and wiser. And with ti&e
you will notice that you ha#e less and less desires, and that you are increasingly better able to
deal with the&, and at a certain %oint you will still know that there are desires, but they are
&ore at a distance. They are waiting there for you, until the &o&ent co&es that you wish to
use the&. And one day, at a certain %oint, e#entually, you will still know that desires e(ist, but
you are totally not interested any&ore. They ha#e had their function to hel% you in the
confrontation with the &atter, to beco&e &aster o#er e#erything.
I ha#e the feeling that e#ery ti&e &y desires beco&e less, I a& confronted again with e(actly
that what causes &y desiresJ
Bust ask yourself the *uestion: ,'hat is it that I still wantH. And then you list it u%. 'ith ti&e
you will see that this list will beco&e shorter. This &eans that you are &aking %rogress in
Yoga. It is this si&%le, but %rogress is agoniIingly slow.
)&, I fall back all the ti&e G
Yes, that can ha%%en too. 6#erything goes in a wa#e3like &otion. +ance. Play with it. It is of
no use to su%%ress it. I a& always of the o%inion that when so&e desire is ali#e in &e, I acce%t
it and gi#e in to it. 9ut while gi#ing in to it, I watch &yself, to see how I li#e out &y desire.
And because I watch it, I can control it. I laugh with &yself and say: ,@ook at &e buying an
ice crea& againJ. I a& just gi#ing so&e e(a&%le. 5y wife is always %er%le(ed. 6#erybody is
*uiet, and suddenly her great Yogi walks u% to the ice crea& stall, buying hi&self an ice
crea&. <ot with t$o balls of ice crea&, but with three balls of ice crea&J 6#erybody is *uiet
and takes one ball. I a& ha#ing threeJ 'ell, in that case I si&%ly laugh with &yself.
Aeacting like this you ha#e already sol#ed half of the %roble&, for the ne(t ti&e you will be
less attracted and there will be less desire. And at a certain %oint you will say: ,I do not really
need this any&oreG. This is what I call dancing. It is %laying, laughing. The con*ueror of
desire is the dancer, a cheerful child. As a result you will enter At&an. @ittle children are
closer to Nod than adults. That is what this is about.
This afternoon I had a 8 &onths old child on &y la%. 9eing with his nanny, the neighbor, he
was crying his lungs out. I %layed with hi&, and soon noticed that he wanted to walk. So we
walked, and it was &ar#elous. There was no desireM it was #ery basal, but still with a direct
connection to %aradise. You are #ery close to Nod when you can li#e like that.
/an you feel what I a& talking aboutH Try to be like that. That is not so easyM you &ust get rid
of all those conditionings that are based u%on desire, and beco&e %lain and si&%le.
"1C
I always hear &y wife saying: ,)&&, what a& I going to wearHJ., and ,+oes this fit with
&eH., and ,This color does not fit with &y shoes.. +o you do this tooH Ff course you can say
things like this, but to %ut so &uch e&%hasis on it is desire.
Yes, but actually that is not the way I intended G
Bust do as you %leaseJ Nrab so&ething fro& the wardrobe, and see: ,'ell, this will be alright
G co&e on, lets go G. Si&%le.
9ut when I co&%are this with &yself, it is just as if I beco&e attracted &ore and &ore by
certain clothes. It is also as if I enjoy it &ore and &ore.
Yes, okay, now you go e#en #urther. $ntil you find it &ore relati#e, and the charge reduces.
So, do as you %lease, but then *uickly change the subject. Then lea#e it for what it is and go
on.
9ut so&eti&es you wear so&ething si&%ly because it feels good G
'ell, then you wear it for a cou%le of &onths. Peo%le will then say: ,)ey, you are always
wearing the sa&e clothes..
/o&%letely detached. +o you understand thatH +o you understand to stay in At&anH It is a
new way of life, which is what is called rebirth.
9ut &aybe we do not know what to wear because we buy clothes i&%ulsi#ely in the first %lace.
'e just buy. That is where it goes wrong already.
In that case you ha#e to go back. You will #irst ha#e to learn to res%ect desire. And you also
ha#e to learn to res%ect the signals your being is gi#ing you. That is the beginning. You use
desireM that is where you &ust start. So you &ust try to %lease yourself as &uch as %ossible.
And later on you try to deal with that easier and easier, and faster and faster, and &ore and
&ore relati#e. %nly the %erson who has e(%erienced desire, will one day be able to con*uer
desire. Fnly the %erson who has e(%erienced war, will be able to disband war fro& this world.
I a& not referring to the salon3socialists, who can only talk about %eace with their &ouths, ehH
You cannot trust the&, for they ha#e no control o#er it, for they ha#e ne#er e(%erienced it.

If you can deal with desire in this way, you will also get rid of i&%ulsi#ity.
6(actly. <ow you realiIe that desire is actually your teacher. And you res%ect and use the
teacher, to e#entually bring you to the %oint of total control. So do not fear desire. This is
Tantra, of which &ost %eo%le do not understand anything. 6s%ecially when they are confronted
with all those se(3%ictures that are shown in all the te&%les in India and South36ast3Asia. Then
they say: ,)ow is this %ossibleHJ This is utter %ro&iscuityJ. 9ut that is not what it is about. It
is about using desire consciously, to co&e to total control. In this res%ect it is also the road to
the di#ine. 9ut in the 'est we ha#e an awkward a%%roach to desire: All we do is desire, but at
the sa&e we do not $ant to desire, and consider it to be so&ething bad. This is so inconsistent,
"17
for it creates a situation that is impossible to sol#e. 9ut $hat is all this aboutH Are you allowed
to desire, or are you not allowed to desireH Peo%le s%in around in #icious circles, and as a result
they re&ain in Sa&sara, the law:cycle of rebirth.
All this is about, is to rationaliIe desire, and to gradually ele#ate your consciousness. Therefore
you learn to initiate action through desire, but rando&ly. And then you try to attune it with
each other L discri&inati#e %owers. Therefore *uality is the &ost i&%ortant ele&ent. Neishas
are the last e(%onents of this in Ba%an. 'e say: ,They are %rostitutesG. Id rather say that they
are %riestesses. The %roof of that is that traditionally they are #ery s%iritual. And Ba%anese &en,
well, they were totally craIy about those wo&en. They #isited the& as &uch as %ossible. 9ut
that collides with our 'estern way of thinking. )ere we ha#e a #ery /atholic, /hristian fra&e
of &ind. In 48" A.+., during the first /ouncil of /onstantino%le, the church fathers actually
started this fallacy that ,se( is e#il., and that ,desire is undesirable., and so on. It %ure
o%%ression, rejected, and considered de#ilish.
9ut those Neishas are actually using desire to earn &oneyH
Yes, that too is %art of it. 6#erybody has to earn a li#ing. 9ut the background of this is #ery
different fro& what we think about it. The background is: the &eaning of life, the control of
life. And the ,ca%tains of industry., the great leaders, who were their custo&ers, and still are
their custo&ers, were not really %ri&iti#es as you can e(%ect fro& the&. They want *uality,
and they too are actually engaged with control. And finally they &eet a fe&ale e*ui#alent who
has control in her %rogra& too. 'hen &en go to a %rostitute here, well, they ju&% on the&, and
when they are done they %ay and go ho&e. 'hat is thisHJ Ani&als do it e#en betterJ Fr notH
9ut Neishas recei#e a thorough training L for &any years.
Absolutely+
Please do not get &e wrong. I a& trying to e(%lain Tantra, which is actually e#en &ore
beautiful than what those Neishas do. Tantra is so&ething that got lost, for it si&%ly does not
e(ist any&ore. +o not attend Tantra coursesJ I know only one &an who has e#er been able to
e(%lain Tantra %ro%erly. That was %rofessor doctor Ea&alakar 5ishra fro& 9enares. )e
#isited &e one day, but unfortunately he died fro& a heart disease. )e wrote a book about it,
and it is in total co&%liance with what I a& telling you. 'e co&%ared things together. And he
said to &e: ,Isnt it fantasticJ I wrote an entire book about it, and I e(%lained &y entire theory
based u%on the ancient te(ts, and you li#e here in the 'est and you are si&%ly a natural
e(a&%le of Tantra, of what I ha#e described in &y book.. To which I re%lied: ,Yes G &y
teacher resides in &y heart, and I ha#e ne#er listened to anyone. All that nonsenseJ I did not
e#en listen to &y mother.. 5y &other said: ,This is such a licentious boy, it is unbelie1ableJ.
And the girls ke%t co&ing and going. $sually they called &y &other to cry, hahaJ
5an and wo&an are also %ut together to use this ga&e of desire for their growth, for their
&utual growth towards control. That is what it is &eant for. And if it works, the two will
beco&e balanced, and the action will not be necessary any&ore. You can recogniIe a
successful cou%le by the %eace that li#es between the&. /an you follow thisH So, Tantra leads
"1!
to Ad#aita, which is unity. This is At&ic consciousness:to sojourn in At&ic consciousness.
You ha#e gi#en free rein to your desire and understood it. As a result you ha#e recei#ed
wisdo& in it G so, do it as consciously as %ossible, with as &uch %ower of discri&ination as
%ossible. Ni#e %riority to *uality, and go ahead. <othing is e#il.
So, when you ha#e to do so&ething:go into action, you &ust stir u% your desire consciouslyH
You would not co&e into action if you didnt do thatH
6(actly. So, it is %ossible, at that &o&ent, for you know what it is and how it works, so you
si&%ly %ick a desire. In &y case I surf the Internet and check out the site of 5ercedes 9enI.
Then you think: ,I would want to ha#e this one.H
I can feel it G h&&, wait G and then I get back to work. 'hyH Si&%ly because I find it a
beautiful carJ 9ut I cannot afford such a car, so I ha#e to work. And that is what kee%s &e
going. 'hen I sto% with desire G well, I will not do anything any&ore. Then I sit down.
+o you ha#e to look for the desire that is still in youH
Yes. You si&%ly ha#e to look: ,'hat is &y +har&a:what is that ga&e e(actly aboutH. And
ask yourself whether you are done already. You ha#e to %ay attention to that too, for it is of no
use to surf to the 5ercedes 9enI site when you are done:are in har&ony. It is because I ha#e
not reached the %oint where I should be, that I look for aides to get &e back into action again.
/an you follow thisH This is an interesting way of li#ing. This is dancing. And laughing. And
when it is really a beautiful car I find on the Internet, like the ?ord NTG +o you know this
carH It raced in @e 5ans in the si(ties of last century. This car is #ery flat and incredibly
%owerful. ?or &e it is the &ost beautiful car in the world. So then I &ake a color %rint of it and
hang it so&ewhere in sight. And when I do not know any&ore what to do, I look at it. And
then I get back to work again. This a%%roach &ay be a little bit folkloristic, but it really works.
And it %ro#ides you with #itality. As a result the energy flows through you. The &ost
dangerous situation is when it does not flow any&ore. ?or e(a&%le, your conduct is
e(e&%lary, you are #egetarian, you &editate e#ery day, you go to church, or whate#er kind of
#irtuous things you do, G and you look %erfect G well, that is so&ething that really scares &e.
Such kinds of %eo%le really frighten &e. Then I ask &yself: is this real, or is this %erson
forcing hi&self in this situation and did he actually sto% li#ing as a resultH The danger here is
that %eo%le get stuck in i&agination, and that that beco&es holiness. ?ro& &y e(%erience I tell
you: that is not holiness. I ha#e &et other %ure %eo%le who li#ed like &e, who really li#ed and
laughed, other than those hy%ocrites.
So, there is the danger that you &istake %erfectionis& for holinessH
That danger is incredibly big. ery big. Therefore I a& a 1ery big ad#ocate of Tantra %ractice.
This &aintains your #itality and it gi#es you the guarantee that you reach your goal. ?or when
you understand this, there is no other way but to reach the final destination, because you
continuously e(%erience, and because you are 1ery shar%. You do not ha#e to feel li&ited by
anything. And all those rules that we ha#e, all those nor&s and #alues that are so &uch
"1
discussed these days, do &ore har& than good to the reco#ery of nor&s and #alue in society.
That is because %eo%le do not understand Tantra. They do not understand that life has to be
dyna&ic. It is like the shuttle of a loo&, shooting fro& left to right, connecting all the threads
of the fabric. This is the literal &eaning of the word ,Tantra.: Shuttle. +ancing between good
and e#il. It is i&%ossible to be good if you are not also a little bit bad. 9ecause of this, fear
disa%%ears, for you are constantly acti#e and nothing is forbidden. It is s%ontaneous and #ital,
so it beco&es intense. As a result you grow. This is #ery beautiful.
"0! 'ada <i $i)e/a %imnam -ai)a.+a Pragbharam Cittam
Then #erily, the &ind is inclined towards discri&ination and gra#itating towards
8ai1alya.
Eai#alya K @iberation.
As a result of li#ing in this at&os%here you will neutraliIe all li&itations, feel &ore and &ore
freedo&, be &ore and &ore self3certain, grow &ore and &ore, obtain increasingly wider reach,
and at a certain %oint you will not ha#e any li&itation any&ore. You will understand that
anything is %ossible for you. And e#erything is %er&itted. 6#erything is di#ine. And the feeling
that co&es with it is the feeling of incredibly big freedo&.
'e know that e#erything is energy. This energy is di#ine. This energy can so&eti&es ado%t
strange for&s that you do not like, &aking you say: ,That is an ene&y., or when it ado%ts a
nicer for&, you say: ,That is a friend., but it all does not &atter. It re&ains di#ine and
e#erything has a role to %lay. 6#erything is useful. The tri% to 5ilan was hell, but at the sa&e
ti&e it was di#ine. So, was it bad to go to 5ilan or notH It was si&%ly what had to be done L it
was in the line of things. 'ell, in that case you just go and you do not worry. And if that &eans
that you ha#e to s%end " hours in a car, you just s%end " hours in a car. Instead of &aking a
%roble& out of it and that you start struggling with yourself, you say to yourself: ,I a& in the
car G and it is di#ine.. ,Fh no G I can s%end &y ti&e in a &ore useful way G I wish I were
tra#eling by air%lane G You know what I would like to do at this &o&entH G I would like to
laIe away the day G not ha#ing to watch all those cars, and reno#ation sites G the beltway of
Antwer% G. +o not use the beltway of Antwer%J I %layed cowboy at night, negotiating &y
way through all the reno#ation sites. I did all kinds of forbidden things. It was fun. 'hen you
%ractice Tantra you do all kinds of %ossible things that are forbidden, ehH ?or there are no rules
any&ore. So, I e#en ended u% dri#ing on the wrong side of the roadJ 9ecause it was one big
&essJ And that is fun.
The national slogan of ?rance is: ,@ibertO, 6galitO, ?raternitO. And @ibertO L freedo& L is this
freedo&. The ?rench %hiloso%hers established this slogan, and still %eo%le do not understand it.
It is di##icult to e(%lain. You needed so&e ti&e yourself to reach that %oint, and I a& ha%%y to
tell about it e#ery ti&e.
'hy didnt you do this in the #ery first lessonH
"
I couldnt. In the first lesson you &ust learn to refuse desire. Ftherwise you kill yourself. You
will not be able to deal with it. It is a &atter of slowly fa&iliariIing yourself with the world,
and to stay out of trouble. Then when you ha#e beco&e stronger and gain control at &ental,
%hysical and e&otional le#el, through which you ha#e thus arri#ed at causal le#el L to get in
touch with At&an L only then is the right ti&e to tell you all this. Fnly then you deser#e this
freedo&. Fnly then you deser#e this res%onsibility. 9ut until then you are not able to deal with
all this.
I do re&e&ber you telling us in the first lesson that there are no rules in Yoga.
Yes. I re&e&ber telling you dri#ing through town at s%eeds u% to 1 k&:h, at night, ignoring
the red lights. That is Tantra. 'ell, dont do this, ehH 9ut the &ost i&%ortant is not to ignore all
those rules, but to increasingly feel the freedo& inside you, and to follow that. That is the road
to @iberation. And @iberation is the fusion of your being with the Su%re&e 9eing. And there is
no alternati#e.
"1! 'ac Chidreshu Prat+a+antarani Sams/arebh+ah
In the inter#als arise other Pratyayas fro& the force of Sams!aras.
Pratyaya K content of consciousness.
This is indeed the result of a Sa&skara. You are not co&%letely ready yetM there are still
Sa&skaras in you, which will arise.
I ha#e a nice e(a&%le of this. This is what is ha%%ening to &e recently. Yesterday a student
ca&e to &e after class, saying: ,@ook, I &ade a drawing. +uring the entire class I saw a
wo&an behind you. She had 8 ar&s and was just as if she was there to %rotect you.. So I did
so&e research. There is goddess by the na&e of Eali. )a#e you heard of herH Eali is the
fe&inine for& of Eala, which &eans ti&e. It is usually %ictured co&%letely black, and it is a
terrible a%%earance. 9lack is the color of all colors. All colors disa%%ear in black, and therefore
it has the &eaning of <irguna, the goddess <irguna, which &eans ,being without Nunas..
Therefore it is black, reflecting the abolish&ent of all Nunas. )owe#er, this %rocess takes
%lace through destruction. It is also said that Eali is an a%%earance of Par#ati, Shi#as wife,
taking on the a%%earance of a kind of she3de#il. )er hair is totally a &ess, and she is
bloodthirsty, co#ered in blood. The destruction that she is res%onsible for is actually the
destruction of your Ear&a. So she is actually an incredibly beautiful goddess that is there to
hel% you. Fr at least, who re%resents the last %urification that you ha#e to go through. This is
e*actly the stage I a& going through at this &o&ent. Also now I a& &ainly focused u%on
%urification.
And after hearing the story of &y 5ilan ad#enture, you ha#e understood that &y &ain %roble&
is a %roble& with co&&unication: Air%lane L was not a#ailable. /ar L was not a#ailable.
Trouble with transferring. /o&&unication through Internet and so on. This is all
"0
co&&unication, all e(%ression. So, I engaged &yself in %urification in the field of e(%ression L
ether. And this is actually what the &essage fro& the goddess Eali is about. ?or she holds a
sword in one of her hands L the sword that re%resents the %ower of judg&ent. You &ust
understand that all the &isery that co&es to you is nothing less than a teacher, gi#ing you a
lesson you deser#e, of which you are su%%osed to &ake a synthesis and say: ,)ey, wait a
&o&entJ This is related to that ele&entG or this ele&entG or thatG and I si&%ly ha#e to
%urify there.. Then you will ha#e learned your lesson, and she has beco&e your girlfriend.
And you acce%t itM it is good. <o, it is not goodM it is #antastic. 9ecause these are the last
Pratyayas in you. This is a #ery %articular ga&e in which %eo%le who are not %re%ared do not
stand a chance. They will destroy the&sel#es, which is what the bloodthirstiness stands for.
Therefore you &ust %ercei#e &isfortune as a lesson, and i&&ediately start looking inside you:
,'here did it go wrongH 'hat did I do wrongH 'hat is going on inside &eH. And you %urify
this L with conte&%lation or Sa&ya&a, or with whate#er techni*ue you can re&e&ber. Net to
work with it immediately. This &eans that you &ust use co&&on sense. This goddess
re%resents using your co&&on sense, and with that also the #ictory o#er the duality of thought.
If you stay stuck in your thoughts, you will start co&%laining. You will say: ,9oy oh boy G
what they are doing to meJ It is terrible GJ And you go running to your &other, and your
&other will say: ,Fh G you %oor soulJ.
You ha#e to ado%t a new attitude towards life here, in the sense of, ,FhJ <iceJ A %roble& is
co&ing &y wayJ 'hat is this trying to tell &eH G Fh, I seeJ That is itJ ?ire le#el G or ether
le#el G or air le#el G &ental G. =and you go to work G> 'ill I be %urified alreadyH Is there
so&ething else co&ing &y wayH A& I going to get &ore &isery on &y %lateH
That is what this is about. And I really ha#e the feeling that that is what is ha%%ening with &e
at this &o&ent. An acceleration is taking %lace. You cannot i&agine what kinds of
coincidences are taking %lace. 'e are dealing with a gigantic financial hole. The bank called to
ask if we would like to raise our continuous credit, fro& 8,"11 euro negati#e to 7,111 euro
negati#eH ,)ow did you know thatH 'hat a& I su%%osed to do for thisH. ,You do not ha#e to
do anything, and you do not ha#e to show us your account books.. )a ha, if they would see our
booksJ <ow we ha#e a credit ceiling of ",111 euro. And it ha%%ened e*actly at the &o&ent
that we needed itJ /an you i&agineH It is all controlled fro& abo#e.
I was already trying to find a solution: ,'hat can I do G what do I ha#e to doG I ha#e to do
so&ething, but $hatH. Suddenly I ca&e to the conclusion that it was &y throat /akra that is
not %ure enough. That is where it all goes wrong. To &iss a %lane, to ha#e &y I+3card
confiscated =identity is co&&unication>, and a car that breaks down G this is all
co&&unication. Added to this the whole %roble& with the schoolM the fact that %eo%le continue
to fail to recei#e this fantastic knowledgeJ 6#en though there are i&%ro#e&ents with Internet
and so on. It is all a &atter of the throat /akra. And although I could find the cul%rit in all
kinds of e(%ressions outside &yself, but it really is so&ething inside &e. If this continues I a&
going to start singingJ 9ut all I know is soldiers songs, which are not &eant for ladies ears G
9ut is this %roble& of gi#ing sha%e to the school:%rogra& not related to fireH
"2
Yes. That is your +har&a, which is also the result of Pratyaya. You feel that there are things
that you ha#e to do. That is the %ositi#e effect of the re&ainder of your Ear&a. And indeed it
works, when there is action, with fire. 9ut you are also dealing with the negati#e e(%ression of
your Ear&a, which is the &isery that befalls you. 'ell, when you are a%%ointed President, as
ha%%ened with &e, then it is of course a %ositi#e as%ect of your Ear&a. So you &ust try to %ay
attention to all the signals, and try to %urify as &uch as %ossible.
+oes this &ean that you &ust always be friendly to let things go s&oothH
<o, not necessarily, but in %ractice you do beco&e &ilder, e#en though so&eti&es you ha#e to
reject so&ebody, but you do that in a &ild way.
+oesnt that generate Ear&aH
You do not generate Ear&a if it ha%%ens out of lo#e L for the other %ersons own good =to
&ake so&ething clear that he would otherwise not understand>, because lo#e is actually a
higher feeling, &eaning that you are connected, and therefore you are functioning as an
instru&ent.
So you &ust not do it out of self3interestH
'hen you do it out of self3interest you do indeed generate Ear&a.
?or this reason I wrote the %erson in charge of SY< =organiIation of coo%erating Yoga
teachers in )olland> a cou%le of days ago to infor& hi& that I withdraw &y intercession with
the International Yoga ?ederation, because I felt that he was going in a direction that was
totally based u%on self3interest. In &y o%inion this constituted abuse of the na&e of the
International Yoga ?ederation. I do not want honorary &e&bers of the federation that beha#e
in this way, and therefore I wrote hi& a letter. This is once again about %urification, you seeH
And I really found it a terrible thing to do. The dream, what I wanted to ha%%en and what he
wanted to ha%%en: it re&ains ali#e L but suddenly I see the bare facts, and for a long ti&e I
walk around in agony. Then I decide: ,This feels good:this does not feel good. So&ething is
wrong.. And then suddenly I say: ,And now it is o#erJ. Send an e&ail, following the re*uired
%rocedures G <ow the federation and the other =#aluable> &e&bers of SY< recei#e their
honorary &e&bershi%s fro& &e directly, instead of recei#ing the& through SY<. Then I was
ha%%y, for it felt good. I did &y duty, and it was %urified.
9ut %ay attention that you do e#erything as softly as %ossible,
for if you a%%ly #iolence G
)ow about ,a%%ro%riate. #iolenceH It does not always ha#e to be friendly.
You do what you can, but you do it as ci#iliIed as %ossible and also as austere as %ossible, with
as little action in#ol#ed as %ossible. ?or the danger of the Pratyayas that are still in you, is that
they could drag you along into a lot &ore actions, with the result of a chain3reaction. This is
so&ething you better a#oid. Bust finish what is left to finish. You ha#e already co&e so far, that
"8
you regularly feel that freedo& already. That is all you need. You are close to the to% now. It is
like with so&eone whos life is co&ing to an end, and says: ,I only ha#e so&e little things left
to finish, then I can go in %eace.. That is what it is like.
This is all related to this Sutra. So, re&e&ber the Noddess EaliJ
"5! <anam :sham -.esa)ad ;/tam
Their re&o#al like that of 8lesas, as has been described.
This refers to the %hiloso%hy of the Elesas, which I assu&e you still re&e&ber #ery well.
)ow long does this go onH 'ell, it can go on for a long ti&e to co&e, as long as there are
Pratyayas:Ear&a in you.
)ere we see Yoga in its %urest for&: cleaning u%:burning away Sa&skaras. You ha#e now
arri#ed at Ear&a Yoga, in which you &ake u% a balance at the end of e#ery day: ,)ow &uch
Ear&a did I gatherH )ow &uch Ear&a did I %urifyH 'hat is the balance between the twoH
)ow &uch %rogress did I &ake todayH +o I %ossess more or less Ear&a today than
yesterdayH. And while playing with Ear&a, you &ust at the sa&e ti&e consider consciously
what causes you to still %roduce Ear&a. And you !no$ it =when you do it>, but you try to do it
while ha#ing a connection with the di#ine. You do not dare to base your functioning u%on ego
any&ore, because when that ha%%ens you need at least three full days to reco#er to your for&er
le#el. 9eco&ing angry one single ti&e &akes such a deep i&%act in you. It costs you one $ee!
of %ractice to &ake u% for thatJ And %ractice &eans e#ery day at least one hour of
conte&%lation.
So, when you beco&e angry you actually %roduce Ear&aH
I&&ediately.
/ant you sol#e this %roble& by e(%ressing itH
<o, you cannot re&o#e it. That is a fairytale told by ignorant %eo%le in the field of %sychology.
That is what is said in the 'est: ,You &ust e(%ress your e&otions, then you can get rid of
the&.. I say no, because e&otions are based u%on Sa&skaras. The only thing you do is to rid
yourself of the acco&%anying charge. This gi#es you a good feeling, but you do not rid
yourself of the Sa&skaras. Then there is another drawback: The %eo%le in your surroundings
recei#e your ,dirty laundry. when you e(%ress your e&otions, so you are s%reading your
Ear&a as well. After ha#ing an outburst of anger e#erybody is affected by you. Thanks, but no
thanksJ You did not only kee% your %roble& L in fact you &agnified it L but you ha#e also
&agnified it in othersJ You should not do that.
9ut you do not achie#e anything in this way either. I &ean that you can con#ey so&e &essage
or so&ething.
""
That is correct, but if you do that, you %roduce Ear&a, which you instill so dee%ly in the other
that you should ask yourself the *uestion: couldnt I ha#e done this differentlyH /ouldnt I
ha#e done this in a friendly wayH If you could do it in a strong way, so&ehow fed by anger, but
still e(%ressed in a friendly way, then you ha#e acted %ro%erly.
These are the %roble&s facing a Ear&a3Yogi. )ow do I a%%roach thisH I still ha#e so&e things
to take care of, but how e*actly shall I do that, in such a way that this %erson L in the
surroundings L beco&es better fro& itH That is *uite a task. Ear&a Yoga is the &ost di##icult
for& of YogaJ And it is not the kind of Ear&a Yoga as it is often taught, telling you to wash
the dishes of the teacherJ Fr telling you to be subser#ient to the Nuru. This is a
&isunderstanding that has cre%t in o#er ti&e. There is no way that you ha#e to be subser#ient
to a Nuru. The only one to who& you &ust be subser#ient is your own soulJ +o not be
subser#ient to another %ersonJ If you would be subser#ient, you reduce yourself to be a sla1e,
while the training is su%%osed to &ake you a master. To &ake you reali(e that you are a
&asterM &aster o#er yourself, &aster o#er nature:life and o#er e#erything. Therefore, a real
Nuru would ne1er acce%t your subser#ience.
This is all Ear&a Yoga, real Ear&a Yoga. You %re%are yourself for the end.
"6! Prasam/h+ane 9P+ A/usidas+a Sar)atha $i)e/a -h+ater (harma
8eghah Samadhih
In the case of one, who is able to &aintain a constant state of enlighten&ent and
to e(ercise the highest kind of discri&ination, follows 5harma/2egha/Samadhi.
+har&a35egha3Sa&adhi, the rain cloud of all knowable things, is the Sa&adhi in which you
end u% in a cloud consisting of your own #irtues. I ha#e e(%erienced this: I sat in a cloud of
friendliness, lo#eliness, softness and e#erything at the sa&e ti&e. All those feelings ca&e at the
sa&e ti&e, and &any &ore of those kinds of wonderful things. At that &o&ent I realiIed that
those *ualities characteriIe &y being. Fr e#en better: it characteriIes what I am. It is &y true
nature, &eaning that it is the do&inant Ear&a still %resent in &e. I was #ery sur%rised about
this. I had ne#er thought that I was so sweet and friendly. Therefore I asked &yself: ,Then why
a& I so aggressi#eH 'hy did I ha#e tendencies to kill so&eone so oftenH. It &ade &e realiIe
that &y friendliness L whene#er I e(%ressed this friendliness L was often &et by %eo%le who
were not friendly.
At %resent I a& dealing with a grou% of ?rench3s%eaking Yoga %ractitioners in 6uro%e that
beca&e %art of &y grou%. I a& trying to fa&iliariIe &yself with the& and to establish contact
with the&. They are utterly unfriendly, saying: ,I did not ask you anythingJ 'ho do you think
you areHJ I do not want to talk with you.. This awakened this old anger in &e: unfriendliness.
9ut after all it is only a frustration of &y own friendliness. This is so&ething the goddess Eali
has to take care of. So I ha#e to let loose the idea:conce%t of the goddess Eali and say: ,'ell,
okay, I ha#e to deal with &y own friendliness here, for it is res%onsible for &y irritation when
they are un#riendly to &e.. The world is si&%ly as it isJ So, I ha#e a %roble& because I a&
"4
friendlyJ You cannot si&%ly change the %eo%leJ ?or they are what they are. Therefore I thank
the goddess Eali, and &ake sure that so&ewhere in a Sa&ya&a I reduce those *ualities of &ine
that I found in +har&a35egha3Sa&adhi. As a result I will ha#e nothing left any&ore. She also
represents <irguna. Si&%ly nothing. So, all your characteristics &ust also disa%%ear.
,Yes, but wait a &inute, this is not what I wantJ 'hat about &y identity and so onHJ. 9ut that
is e(actly what this is aboutJ That is why the goddess Eali is nude. She is not only black, but
she is also nude, which &eans that she si&%ly has no identity any&ore. She does not re%resent
anything any&ore. She is si&%ly nude, which by the way is a re*uire&ent to enter %aradise.
This &eans that I cannot %resent &yself in %aradise L and therefore I cannot reach
6nlighten&ent L if I a& not also willing to obtain detach&ent towards friendliness, lo#eliness,
softness, and all those fantastic %ro%erties that see&ed to be a %resent fro& hea#en when I felt:
,)ey, that is IJ Foh, so beauti#ulJ Nosh, thank you for allowing &e to be like thatJ. I thought I
was such a good blokeJ I&&ediately telling &y &other: ,You know &u&,G. Net out of hereJ
You idiotJ You ha#ent understood a thingG This is a little bit a %lastic way to e(%lain thisM the
book uses a &uch &ore ,scientific. way.
Is this +har&a35egha3Sa&adhi a %ersonal Sa&adhi L different for each %ersonH
It is your consciousness that suddenly co&es into contact with the re&ainder of Ear&a in you.
9ut you ha#e gotten rid of all the bad things first, which was the easy %art =that was the &isery
that ca&e to you>. At a certain &o&ent you are rid of all that, so no &isery co&es to you
any&ore. Fnly nice things re&ain that co&e towards you. That is +har&a35egha3Sa&adhi,
which is #ery %ersonal indeed. 9ut you &ust also be able to get rid of all those nice things as
well. )owe#er, if you dont !no$ that, you si&%ly dont do that.
So you get stuck in itH
Yes, if you dont know and if you are not well %re%ared, you get stuck in it. You will not be
able to %rogress any further, e#en though you ha#e &anaged to co&e so high already. This is
the danger of all this title3gi#ing: ,Swa&i 9a&i Ananda. =ba&i &eans fried noodle in +utch
G>. ,I a& Swa&i 9a&i Ananda. Ananda, so I a& in lo#e G which &eans that I got stuck in
the delusion of lo#e G and ,9a&i. G well, nice na&e G and S$ami G I a& a master G.
So, as long as you call yourself Swa&i L whate#er Swa&i L you are certain to get stuck here, at
this 0!
th
Sutra. 'hether your Swa&ihood is correct or not correct, it does not &atterM your
i&agination kee%s you bound. You are finishedJ
9ut others can address you in that way if they would like toH
Fthers can say whate#er they want, but when they say so&ething towards you, it &eans that a
Elesha is co&ing to you. Your attitude should be one of: ,/all &e whate#er you wantM I do not
care.. In fact I %refer not to ha#e a na&e at all any&ore, for I a& nothing any&ore. You ha#e
si&%ly beco&e energy, which does not ha#e a na&e.
There is this #ery beautiful s%iritual &o#ie called ,5y <a&e is <obody.. )a#e you seen itH It
is an A&erican &o#ie with )enri ?onda and Terrence )ill. It is the ulti&ate in culture L called
"C
s%aghetti3western. ,5y <a&e is <obody.. It was not that bad =H>, but that is often the case.
)owe#er, I like the title, for there is no reason to ha#e a na&e any&ore. This is how you
recogniIe the &asterM that he is detached fro& these kinds of &atters. )e has no interest in it
because he stands abo#e it.
'hat is e(actly the translation of +har&a35egha3Sa&adhiH
+har&a35egha3Sa&adhi &eans that you are in a cloud of #irtue. 5egha &eans cloud, but
actually it &eans rain cloud. +har&a &eans #irtue, or the e(%ression of the re&ainder of your
Ear&a, which at this %oint of your de#elo%&ent can only be #irtue, for you ha#e %urified all
the trash already. 9ut so&ething #ery hu&an ha%%ens: in this %rocess you %ay attention not to
%urify all the #irtues in you. You do not %urify those beautiful things in you, or do youH You
kee% the&, so at this le#el you will bu&% into the& again.
+oesnt this look like suicideH If e#en you brush away your #irtues G nothing re&ains. Is that
what you wantH <ot really, ehH A nor&al hu&an being does not want that to ha%%en. 9ut you
&ust already ha#e de#elo%ed such a le#el of clarity, such a sense for the di#ine that you can
feel: ,YesJ All those for&s are kee%ing &e bound. And e#en though they are nice for&s, they
kee% &e bound. 9ecause they function like anchors, I constantly fail to co&e to hea#en..
Therefore, what you ha#e to do is let go of the&.
?ortunately, at this &o&ent this does not a%%ly to us L at least not to you. 9ut I fear that it will
not be for long for &e any&ore before I will ha#e to go through this stage. Si&%ly kee% in
&ind that this will also ha%%en to you one day. And %lease do not &ake the wrong decision
after ha#ing done so &uch work to reach such a high le#el.
+o you &ean to &ake decision that it is %leasant that wayH
That is all right. Then you choose the %ath of the %leasant, the left %ath. 'hen you do that, you
will crash 1ery fast, for it is your ego that considers it to be %leasant. So beware. 9eware of the
%leasant. @ook, I ha#e no objections to the %leasant, but if it &akes you a sla#e of your ego, it
&eans that you ha#e fallen fro& At&ic consciousness.
,'hy dont you co&e sit in the sun with &e. It is so nice., &y wife tells &e. And of course,
before I know it, I sit there ne(t to her in the deck chair, caught again. She walks the %ath of the
%leasant L enjoying sitting in the sun and so on L and without gi#ing it a second thought, '
follow her. 'rongJ +ont do itJ At least do not do it for the %leasure of it. +oes this &ean that
you are not allowed to enjoy the world any&oreH 'ell, at this %oint %leasure of sensorial
nature is !illing. 'hooshJ You &ust go high. You &ust go so high that you are loose fro&
e#erything. Asa&%rajnata Sa&adhi: ,This is not I ... This is not I ... This is not I ... I a& not the
one who is enjoying ... I a& not the one who enjoys sitting in the sun ... I a& not the %erson
watching the trees and listening to the birds ... no ... no ... no ... go away ... go away .... Fnly
then will you be able to ha#e a taste of the Eingdo& of Nod. +o not focus u%on that one little
bird singing its song. The uni#erse is waiting for youJ Are you craIyHJ Youd rather be bound
by a little birdH
"7
+o you understand thisH Please understand that I a& not talking about the %resent situation. I
a& talking about that %articular le#el, that %articular &o&ent that will co&e one day in the
future. At this &o&ent I si&%ly cannot ask you to &ake such a gigantic lea% as I described
before. 9ut you can antici%ate on it, for you will go in that direction, for you ha#e a certain
line, and you continue your life as it is. 9ut you will notice: e#erything ha%%ens slowly but
certainly auto&atically. You are growing towards it. At a certain &o&ent you are done here.
6s%ecially when you li#e #ery long, gi#ing you the o%%ortunity to %rocess all this and gain
control o#er it, then you will si&%ly notice that one day you are done. You do not need all that
tur&oil any&ore. The only %recious thing left for you is the e#erlasting. <ot the transient, but
the e#erlasting. That is what you are working on. And to obtain that, you &ust si&%ly reach
Para Dairagya L su%re&e detach&ent, u% until your self3i&age.
'hich actually &eans following the red thread.
Yes, which are actually the Sutras fro& Patanjali, which hel% you to follow this thread. A lot
of students ha#e this book on their night stand. And although they &ay not actually read it, but
only one glance at night before slee%ing and they say: ,Fh yeah ... just a &inute., and then
they re&e&ber again. There are also those that o%en it L once in a while L and, because
coincidence does not e(ist, their thoughts beco&e focused u%on so&e #erse that is #ery
rele#ant for the& at that #ery &o&ent. It is just as if your teacher is standing beside you, gi#ing
you directions when to do so&ething. It is #ery e(citing. I did this &yself too for so&e ti&e.
&7! 'atah -.esa -arma %i)rttih
Then follows freedo& fro& 8lesas and 8armas.
You ha#e first dealt with all the &isery by %urifying yourself in that area. You ha#e used that
as being your teacher. It &eans that you ha#e dealt with your characteristics, and nothing
re&ains as a result. It is said that the last thing that re&ains is your self3i&age. 'hat do you
think of yourselfH In the fil& called ,@ittle 9uddha. L I ho%e you saw this &o#ie L you see that
9uddha is about to reach 6nlighten&ent. Towards the end there are three dancing girls L who
in reality dance before hi& naked, but they were dressed in the fil& L but he was able to detach
fro& the&. Bust think about all the &isery that is co&ing your wayG At that &o&ent his
i&age arose fro& the water be#ore hi&, and seated hi&self o%%osite to hi&. This is actually a
wonderful way of i&agination. 'hat do you think of yourselfH Then you actually see yourself.
In the fil& it is said: ,That is 5ara, the de#il.. So, the i&age you ha#e of yourself, or what you
think of yourself is therefore #ery dangerous. This is so&ething you &ust realiIe. 'ielding the
sword of judg&ent you &ust si&%ly say: ,It is worthless. It is nothing. I a& nothing.
6#erything I think about &yself does not &ean anything..
To sol#e this %roble&, I think self3&ockery is #ery i&%ortant. I a& &aking a habit of this now.
I was a%%ointed President of the 6uro%ean Yoga /ouncil L so&ething I still ha#e trouble
%ronouncing. I&&ediately I went to &y wife, saying: ,5y first deed as President is to a%%oint
you Dice3President.. 'e both laughed about it. That is what I &ean: as long as you can laugh
"!
about it, you ha#e no %roble&s. You will not get stuck in your self3i&age. And for the rest I a&
si&%ly Ajita, but as for &e, you &ay also lea#e that out.
The sense of freedo& co&es &ore and &ore to the surface, beco&ing &ore and &ore
i&%ortant. As a result I a& less and less bothered by Pratyayas L contents of consciousness.
&! 'ada Sar)a)arana 8a.apetas+a Jnanas+anant+aj Jne+am A.pam
Then, in conse*uence of the re&o#al of all obscuration and i&%urities, that which
can be known =through the &ind> is but little in co&%arison with the infinity of
knowledge =obtained in 6nlighten&ent>.
9ecause you are not stuck any&ore in Sa&skaras you are now rece%ti#e to all Ear&as of the
uni#erse, which you can therefore see. This is called ,Bnana., or wisdo&. It &eans that you
know e#erything, &aking you o&niscient, fro& which arises o&ni%otence.
+oes this &ean that you stand abo#e all Ear&a, but that you %ercei#e all Ear&a at the sa&e
ti&eH +oesnt this affect youH
Yes, but at this %oint you are #ery strong. Therefore you do not absorb it any&ore, because you
are connected to the di#ine. )owe#er, you do indeed %ercei#e it, e#erywhere, because you are
%ure Satt#a. You are %ure light. And an 6nlightened %erson is an incredibly wise being. This is
confir&ed by a nu&ber of %eo%le who ha#e achie#ed this in our school. I ha#e watched those
%eo%les sudden changes as a result of this light in astonish&ent. They had so &uch &ore de%th
than before, %ure wisdo&. I ha#e had a nu&ber of students who reached the @ight, one of
which is &y wife. There were @ida, Tiny, )enk, 'ille& G at least four %eo%le of which I a&
certain. There were also a nu&ber of %eo%le that showed signs of 6nlighten&ent, but in their
cases I was not co&%letely certain. 9ut it ha%%ened to )enk Plaats&an in !!. )e #isited &e
in &y ho&e and said: ,I want to talk to you, for this is so fantastic. @ook G what do you
thinkH. It was so incredibly beautiful L he was surrounded by yellowish3white light. )e just
entered &y ho&e, illu&inating the entire house. And I sat there listening to hi&M he beca&e the
teacher and I the student. The best %resent you can e#er gi#e &e is to reach 6nlighten&ent
yoursel#es. The sa&e ha%%ened when @ida cli&bed the stairs together with Tiny L when the
school was still at the Prins )endrikkade in A&sterda&: at the &o&ent they entered the roo&
it was light inside, e#en though they were only with two G At a certain %oint they did nothing
any&ore during the classM no %hysical e(ercises. They would just sit down, and the entire roo&
was illu&inated. They ne#er asked: ,Are we allowed to do this, for it is sufficient for usH. I
just sat there teaching, with all this light. It was &agnificentJ The *uestion is of course what
they did to achie#e this. 'ell, suddenly it was there. You &ust ask those %eo%le yourself how
it ha%%ened. At least it was the result of their %ractice.
'hat you recei#e now is a #ery great science. As a result you resonate with the uni#erse. The
enor&ous a&ount of Satt#a in your being will cause you to be linked with all the other Satt#ic
"01
energies in the uni#erse. Dia this Satt#a you are able to go all the way to the end of eternity.
This is of course a contradiction in itself: the end of eternity.
&"! 'atah -rtarthanam Parinama -rama Samaptir Gunanam
The three Gunas ha#ing fulfilled their object, the %rocess of change =in the
Gunas> co&es to an end.
This is about the goddess Eali L <irguna, which &eans ,without Nunas.. The %ur%ose of the
Nunas is to bring you to the @ight, to @iberation.
I &ust carefully e(%lain the last 0 Sutras. They are dealing with ,Era&ah., which is a ty%ical
conce%t.
&&! -shana Prati+ogi Parinamaparanta %irgrah+ah -ramah
The %rocess, corres%onding to &o&ents which beco&e a%%rehensible at the final
end of transfor&ation =of the Gunas>, is 8ramah.
This is about the for&idable conce%t of ,Era&ah., which can be best described as ,fuss.:
'hat a fussJ In the word Era&ah we find the ste& of the #erb ,Er3., which &eans ,do.. 'e
also find this back in the word Ear&a, the word Sa&skara, and the word Eriya, which are
#ariations on the #erb ,do.. Era&ah reflects the whole fuss called life. The better way to
e(%ress its &eaning is: ,The %erce%tion or the beco&ing conscious of the %lay of all energies..
That is Era&ah.
Another %articular but so&ewhat disres%ectable co&%arison is: Sou% fro& a can with &eatballs
is co&%arable to Era&ah. 9ut this is a %ot of sou% with &eatballs that &o#es a little bit. An
e#en better co&%arison is a gigantic %late of s%aghetti, with &eatballs, and with all kinds of
little ingredients. So, all the strings of s%aghetti, &i(ed with all those &iniature &eatballs L
which are the beings. And it is all in &otion, flowing through ti&e, in different di&ensions,
&i(ed. This is all Era&ah. This is what you will beco&e aware of in the #ery last stages.
9ecause you are at the le#el of At&an, you get 5ahat&an. Your At&an has 0 %ossibilities:
Bi#at&an and 5ahat&an. Bi#at&an is the looking of At&an at your %ersonal Self L your own
being L actually a little bit Ta&as. 5ahat&an is the great soul. In this res%ect you should think
about 5ahat&a Nandhi, who recei#ed this title. 5ahat&an &eans that your At&an is %ointed
towards the cos&os. This is the reason why Yogesh#aranda Saras#ati s%eaks about ,cos&ic
consciousness., and abbre#iates it to ,5ahat.. This &eans that you will co&e to a realiIation
of the uni#erse:cos&os.
"0
9ut this is not a static %icture L a black can#as filled with lu&inous little dots L but it is si&%ly
a %rocess that is in &otion. It is a gigantic, %ulsating, enor&ous ocean. It is a sou%, which for
you beco&es ,tangible. and ,understandable.. You will realiIe that you can deal with it and
that you ha#e to take it into account, that it is the entity to which you &ust surrender. Then, at
that #ery &o&ent, the real &eaning for e(a&%le of Is#ara Pranidhana will e(%ose itself.
Pranidhana K surrender to the Pranic strea&s.
These are the Pranic strea&s of Era&ah that cause &otion, for what we know of the uni#erse.
It is incredibly big. And you are standing there, looking at it in a&aIe&ent. And at the sa&e
ti&e you feel that this is your house, and that you are %art of this. So it is not that you are so&e
kind of stranger within this whole, but that you are %art of Era&ah. 6#erything is in fact %art of
Era&ah.
)a#e you e#er looked at %ictures of the cos&osH It only gi#es you a slight idea of what it is
that we are talking about here. 'ith a )ubble3telesco%e and all those re#olutionary a%%liances
we get a #iew on outer s%ace, farther and farther, and increasingly farther. <e#ertheless, I ha#e
been &uch farther than with those a%%liances. I ha#e seen what kinds of gigantic %heno&ena
e(ist beyond what we already know, &uch bigger than we could e#er ha#e i&agined. It is all
Era&ah.
Era&ah is %ure intelligence, is felt as lo#e, is consciousness, and flows, and regulates, and is,
and creates. Fur +ear @ord is &any ti&es bigger and &any ti&es &ore beautiful than you
could e#er ha#e drea&t. At least that is what ' call Fur +ear @ord, which is not an old &an
with a beard. All I saw of )i& is energy: Era&ah. Thanks to Era&ah you can ha#e an
understanding of Prakriti, the %ri&ordial &atter, and e#entually also of 9rah&an.
=Suddenly there is a %ower outage> 'ell, that was Era&ah. As if we are not allowed to finish
the book, ehH
&*! Purushartha Sun+anam Gunanam Pratiprasa)ah -ai)a.+am S)arupa
Pratishtha $a Citi Sa/ter Iti
8ai1alya is the state =of 6nlighten&ent> following re3e&ergence of the Gunas
because of their beco&ing de#oid of the object of the Purusa. In this state the
Purusa is established in his Aeal nature which is %ure /onsciousness. ?inish.
So you %ercei#e Era&ah. You ha#e achie#ed cos&ic consciousness. 'hat will ha%%en after
thatH You see all those fantastic %heno&ena, and you realiIe that you are %art of it. Your
attention is %ointed towards all those fantastic %heno&ena. 'hat ha%%ens ne(tH As a result of
this attention towards the %heno&ena, you cause a #usion with those %heno&ena. So you lose
&ore and &ore your hu&an condition, for you see the #antastic Era&ah:the #antastic energies,
that %ulsate and li#e. It feels as being your fa&ily. It is your homeJ That is where you co&e
fro&J It is the ocean, and you are the dro% of water. So, you are si&%ly the dro% of water that
"00
finds its way back to the ocean, beco&ing one with that ocean. This is the %rocess of losing
your identity, at that &o&ent, which is the @iberation. It is the Sal#ation that Besus s%oke
about.
The Sutra &entions that the Nunas beco&e de#oid. In the beginning the Nunas were
res%onsible for the creation of your Purusha =soul>. Ta&as and Aajas were res%onsible for that
wra%, re&e&berH It was about the creation of the s%here as a result of the Nunas, within which
lay all those energy bodies. The entities ha#e reached their goal, na&ely to bring you back to
your origin. Therefore you are finished. It is as si&%le as that. 9ut at the sa&e ti&e it is so
difficult. 5ost %eo%le when they hear this story react by saying: ,Yes, but this is not what I
want. I really like the story: RThere is the gate to %aradise. Peter is waiting for you at the gate,
and you will enter L you are not allowed to carry anything L and you are allowed entrance, with
a blank soul and so on G. Yes, this is sy&bolic, but in reality it is an energetic %rocess, in
which you will e#entually touch the highest consciousness with your own consciousness while
being naked L co&%letely detached fro& e#erything L and co&%letely dissol#e in it.
Are you %re%ared to gi#e u% your identityH Pre%are yourself gradually to not %ut i&%ortance on
your na&e any&ore, or in your status and all other things of this kind. ?or as soon as you feel
you beco&e settled, when e#erything goes s&ooth and %ros%erous, when you ha#e found
yourself a nice s%ot, you &ust be &ost careful. At that &o&ent danger lurks around the corner.
@ike with &e, here in this school, at this wonderful s%ot, where e#erything has been cut out for
us L at a certain &o&ent this can frustrate &y de#elo%&ent. 9ut the gods take care of &e.
9ecause our benefactor has financial trouble, it is #ery well %ossible that we will ha#e to lea#e
by 2 +ece&ber 0114. The first reaction then is: ,F gosh G what is ha%%ening to us nowHJ.
And then we think: ,'hat a& I su%%osed to do with this GHJ., and then I co&e u% with the
following: ,/o&e onJ You beca&e attached to this %lace. It was all beco&ing too
co&fortable.. So the e(ercise continues. 'e are looking for a new %lace, and then again we try
to sol#e the %roble&s. The %oint is that you ha#e to learn that nothing is i&%ortant. ,Yes, but
now I a& the President of the 6uro%ean Yoga /ouncilJ. I still ha#e trouble %ronouncing it G
That is dangerous too. I ha#e to deal with this #ery, #ery carefully. It is only a title. 9ut a
hu&an being has a tendency to %ut #alue on that title. <o. <o Ajita. <e#ertheless, I do like
,Shri Yogacharya Ajita. G 9ut on %ur%ose I still sign &y letters si&%ly with Ajita. Fnly if I
ha#e no other choice I add other titles.
It is a new school, a new ada%tation. 6#erything is transient. It &eans nothing. 'hen you can
do this L when ' can do this L then I a& out of here. Then I will &o#e on, towards @iberation.
So it beco&es a ga&e in which you &ust %ay &ore and &ore attention, otherwise you will not
obtain this 5ahat&an3condition. Instead you will be constantly focused u%on Bi#at&an, and at
lower le#els. And @iberation will %ass you by.
)ow about 5ahat&a NandhiH
In &y o%inion he was not a 5ahat&an. Indian %eo%le are #ery generous with titlesM just look at
&e for e(a&%le. And I belie#e he hardly %racticed any Yoga. )e had only understood a cou%le
of %rinci%les, a&ong which the %rinci%le of non3#iolence. 9ut then again, I wonder whether he
had really understood that %rinci%le. I wouldnt say that I a& such a cha&%ion when it co&es
"02
to this, but when you get killed it is a clear sign that you are full of #iolence yourself. It is only
another Elesha that co&es to you, attracted by the sa&e in you. I was robbed L re%eatedly L
which &eans that there is theft in &e. So you can si&%ly notice it by what you e(%erience. And
using that as a starting %oint, you &ake corrections. You %urify &ore and &ore. Then when
you notice that #iolence does not co&e your way any&ore, and that you are not robbed
any&ore, and that %eo%le do not lie to you any&ore, you can draw the conclusion that you are
i&%ro#ing.
Then you try to get to this last le#el, in which the %lay of the Nunas is finished for you. This
&eans that you ha#e seen it, that you ha#e understood, and that you do not get caught any&ore.
You si&%ly re&ain in the #oid, like 9uddha. This is what 9uddha is doing L this 28
th
Sutra. )e
is sitting so&ewhere L I wouldnt know where L %robably in the astral real& L and he is si&%ly
trying to re&ain in 5ahat&an L cos&ic consciousness L and to reach @iberation in that way.
+o you understand the difference between 6nlighten&ent, Self3realiIation, and @iberationH
The end is the Nreat 6nlighten&entH
<o, it is not 6nlighten&ent any&ore. @iberation is the fusion of your being with the Su%re&e
9eing, which is the goal of Yoga.
Then you do not co&e back any&oreH
At that %oint you will not co&e back any&ore for a long ti&eJ The %rocess of reincarnation
sto%s when you are able to &editate well. 'hen you are able to &editate regularly for
%rolonged &o&ents of ti&e, you flatten the entire reincarnation cycle. @iberation is not a
&atter of less incarnatingM it is the loss of your for&, which is created by the Nunas. As a
result you will si&%ly enter <irguna. That is what is awaiting you in the end. It is the %lay of
the goddess Eali. You ha#e no choice any&ore. You must si&%ly go towards the fusion with
the di#ine. That is the &eaning of the word ,Yoga.: $nion. It is the union of your being with
the Su%re&e 9eing. To achie#e this you &ust go through all these stages, and realiIe that you
are fa&ily, which is one of the first e(a&%les of your consciousness in 5ahat&an.
9ut before that G you do not dieH
The first thing you ha#e to do is to try to restore your health and li#e longer. You &ust gain
control o#er your gross body. 'hen that is done, you try to gain control o#er the &ind, so that
you beco&e increasingly cal&er at that le#el, so that you do not ha#e your life li#ed for you by
others any&ore. 'hen you succeed in this, you si&%ly do not co&e back any&ore at all. Fr
you continue li#ing here on earth for eternity. You can choose.
)&& G I do not understand all this G
In %ractice you &ust be *uite ad#anced. You &ust ha#e reached the highest le#els, of
5ahat&an and so on, before so&ething like that can ha%%en. 9ut theoretically it is already
sufficient when you &aster real &editation. It brings you to the %oint that you can theoretically
"08
li#e fore#er and ste% out of the cycle of rebirth. 9ut as far as I know, nobody is able to do this
at %resentM otherwise they would be roa&ing the earth now.
'hat is the use of life when you hear thisH 'hat are we doing here, sitting here like thisH 'e
are born, and then we are told the story of: ,<ow you &ust go back to Fur +ear @ord, and then
e#erything sto%s.. )a#e I told you already that once we were angelsH +e#as. )a#e I told you
that we tried to i&%ro#e our condition, but that it was not %ossible in this world of the +e#asH
You need confrontation with &atterM we &ust clearly feel the Nunas. Then we ha#e a better
chance to gain control and create har&ony.
So, Era&ah is the tra&%oline I &entioned before. Actually we fell down fro& our condition of
half3god. Through incarnation we ju&%ed u%on that tra&%oline. 'e si&%ly chose to do that.
And now we ju&% back u% fro& this tra&%oline again, ho%ing that this ti&e we well end u%
higher than the condition we had before, %ro#ided that we ha#e understood the %lay of the
Nunas:reincarnation. 5aybe we ha#e reincarnated a thousand or a hundred thousand ti&es
already, or e#en more. 'ouldnt it be ti&e that you would draw your lessons fro& itH So, back
to the condition of half3god. Fr, if %ossible, back to the condition of Nod hi&self, of who& you
are fa&ily. )&&, I would like that, beco&e Nod. 'ouldnt youH ?ine, you can already start
calling &e Nod. In Yoga they call each other ,9aghwan.. 'hen they greet each other, the say:
,9aghwan., &eaning, ,I great the di#ine.. Fkay G but the danger here is that you start
thin!ing: ,)&& G Nod in %ersonal for& G well G Ajita G 9aghwan Ajita G and you ha#e
to add so&e &ore G Shri Yogacharya 9aghwan Ajita G h&&, nice G.
The &ore titles, the bigger the chance that you are %ulled down, so all this is irrele#ant. And
slowly you start to understand the %lay. The for& beco&es less and less i&%ortant to you, like
&arks of honor and that stuff. ?ore&ost you try to install har&ony in and around you. And you
understand that har&ony in your surroundings deter&ines your own har&ony, and that it is all
related to one another. As a result you will start carrying &ore res%onsibility for the har&ony
around you, which is ty%ical for a 5ahat&an. And it takes a long time, 1ery long indeed. ?or
&any centuries 9uddha sits in deep &editation:conte&%lation:<irbija Sa&adhi on his way to
@iberation. )e is a good e(a&%le of a hu&an being who has understood the &eaning of life,
and has learned fro& it, li#ed in accordance to it, and achie#ed results.
At a certain %oint e#erything is co&&unal. At a certain %oint you are all in har&ony. As a
result you feel a sense of brotherhood between e#erybody. You feel that there is no difference
any&ore between beings, which is the origin of what in the /atholic /hurch is still called
,brothers., and &onks who call each other ,brother.. I find this &ar#elous. To &e nobody is
higher than the other. 'e are all brothers. This is also what I found in the International Yoga
?ederation. There is no hierarchy. ?ernando and I, or ?ernando and so&ebody elseG it is all
brothers a&ong each other. 'e grab each other by the ar&, and we #eel, and we are ha%%y. Bust
like brothers who &eet after a long ti&e. It is that si&%le:so ob#ious. And you si&%ly say
whate#er you ha#e to say, without restraint, and it is also understood: ,'ell, fine G tell it as
you feel it..
+o you ha#e to gi#e account to others, for e(a&%le %eo%le that stand close to youH
"0"
You beco&e accountable:res%onsible for e1erything. 9ut this ha%%ens in such si&%licity, and
in &odesty at the sa&e ti&e. It is so natural. And it goes slow, and it goes increasingly further.
In this way it is beautiful, and it gi#es you such a great feeling. This is the road to @iberation.
+oes it sto% thereH
It will beco&e &ore and &ore di&, resulting in your di&inishing a&bition.
=After the %ower outage, %ower is restored again>
<ow we are in the world of for& again. Bust before we were entirely freed fro& the for&. <ow
you beco&e attracted by this and that: Nunas.
9eyond that there is nothing any&ore, so it is only logical that %eo%le beco&e si&%le. It is also
logical that they beco&e increasingly di&&er, and less acti#e. I a& working on this &ore and
&ore L do less and less. So I try to let &y wife do &ore workG
3o$ I understand why a king is not allowed to do anything.
That is e(actlyhow it works. The king does not do a thing any&oreJ
Isnt this laIinessH
<o G no G it is e#il tongues that clai& such nonsense G
Si&%ly the act of o%ening the blinds has beco&e such a disturbance that the *uality of the class
is badly affected. So, I should not ha#e done that &yselfM ne(t ti&e I will stay %ut.
)ow about lighting the candlesH
You are rightM I should not ha#e done that either G cal& G cal& G +o you understandH Any
action causes tur&oil, and any tur&oil causes har&.
9ut is it okay to let others do your choresH
Ff course, for they ha#e not reached such high le#el yet G
'hat if you ha#e to &o#eH That includes a lot of actions that you ha#e to %erfor& G
'ell, in that case I can ask you for hel%, couldnt IH
You can always ask, of course G
I ha#e another *uestion about the Sutras, in relation to burning Ear&a: 'ho in#ented thisH
"04
It is an e(%ression that is widely used in literature. )owe#er, when I read it for the first ti&e it
did not &ean anything to &e. So I did so&e research and asked *uestions: ,'hat is this
burning of Ear&aH. And at a certain &o&ent I realiIed it. +idnt I e(%lain this beforeH
9urning of Ear&a is a %rocess in which the 0 energy strea&s accelerate increasingly, with the
result that the little bridges in between are wi%ed out. A Sa&skara is in fact a little energy
bridge in between Ida and Pingala. So it is a whirl of energy that ca&e through, lea#ing traces
behind. Those traces L which are not si&%ly dents as I so&eti&es indicate, but connections L
are in fact false connections between Ida and Pingala. Those false connections are the cause of
one of those energies to suddenly &ake contact with the other energy. As a result the order at
this large highway is disturbed. You can i&agine what will ha%%en when at a highway
suddenly traffic breaks through the &edian stri% and goes against the flowJ ?irst and fore&ost:
that energy does not reach its goal L which is eternal L at that side. It goes back to eternity to
the other side. Additionally loo%s occur. These are co&%lete loo%s, which are actually beings
or Anus, which are in fact ato&s or Yin3Yang &odels. The loo%s occur between the two. In the
end you ha#e an increasingly accelerated flow that for&s a little ball. These are the little balls
in the sou%. Fur earth is also such a little ball, and the rotation of the earth is caused by the 0
different flows: Ida and Pingala. The earth s%ins around its a(is. You can %ercei#e it as being
its a(is, but it rotates because of the friction between the 0 strea&s. Strange enough the
astrono&ers still ha#e to disco#er that it works like this G 'hen you continue to accelerate
these strea&s, the energy will ha#e fewer tendencies to turn into a side street. So you gradually
e&asculate that being as you e#enly L %ay attention: e1enly L accelerate. In this way you
increasingly e&asculate the other. 9ut it &ust be e#enly. As a result this being dissol#es L bac!
into the strea&. This is burning of Ear&a.
The word ,burning. therefore is a little bit difficult to e(%lain. So you say: ,This is not burning
at allJ. )owe#er, this does indicate the fire3%rocess. The acceleration that occurs causes a fire3
%heno&enon within that being, and as a result of that it is called burning. It is energy that
co&es fro& below and rises u%.
Is this so&e for& of enlighten&entH
<o, it is not enlighten&ent. The fi(ed ele&ents %resent in it slowly beco&e fluid. The fluid
ele&ents beco&e war&th. 'ar&th gasifies. Nasified ele&ents beco&e ethereal. 6thereal
beco&e &ental. 5ental beco&es causal. /ausal beco&es At&ic, and the entire thing si&%ly
disa%%ears. This is the %rocess of burning.
'hy do we ha#e this tendency to go back to the cos&osH
That is difficult to say. 6nergy itself %ossesses intelligence, which auto&atically searches for
its ho&e. There is so&ething inside us that L si&ilar to a horse that s&ells its barn, or a do#e
that feels which direction to fly to find its do#e house L feels or recogniIes the way to follow.
The way is acceleration. 'e must accelerate. 'e must %urify. 'e &ust %urify, and %urify &ore
and &ore, to co&e back ho&e. That is the ga&e we %lay. And at a certain %oint we &ust
si&%ly recogniIe this ingrained intelligence. It is what we call listening to the soul, and to the
little #oice in your heart. Fnce you really realiIe this you ha#e beco&e incredibly strong. It
will be anchored so dee% inside you that you will beco&e incredibly self3assured. This is a
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ty%ical characteristic of a %erson who has realiIed hi&self. Terribly stubborn. Incredibly self3
assured. /hoking. Aidiculous. Irritating. 'here did you get the guts to do what you are doing
nowHJ You says thing that totally contradict e#erything other %eo%le say. And you %ostulate it
as being the truth. And it is indeed annoying that you are right, but the way you say it is what
irritates %eo%le. 'ell, this is #ery ty%ical, so you &ust indeed take this into account.
9ut when you ha#e reached that le#el, you &ust know what to sayH Ftherwise you %roduce
Ear&a.
You do not only know what to say, you are also &ore and &ore bent on saying it in a #ery soft
way, because you know that the truth can hurt #ery &uch. So you beco&e &ore and &ore
occu%ied with beating around the bush, to di%lo&atically %ush the %ill down the throat, than
that you are si&%ly occu%ied with e(%ressing what you know. This is all %art of the road to
@iberation.
Indeed courage is needed to take those last ste%s. You go to the condition of <irguna. At that
stage you &ust ha#e already con*uered ego. And you &ust be %re%ared to sacrifice yourself,
which is called ,Yajna.. This is a #ery i&%ortant ter&: Yajna. It still e(ists in the for& of an
altar. 'hene#er I light a candle or so&e incense, at the beginning of a class, or when %eo%le
%resent &e so&e fruit or flowers, it is actually Yajna. Its %ur%ose is to start u% the fire, the
acceleration, to such an e(tent that you e(%erience the fusion in <irguna with the 5ost )igh in
the last &o&ent. And in the beginning you ha#e the %erson who sacrifices, the sacrifice, and
the deed of sacrifice, but in the end it should all beco&e one, so that you do not ha#e this field
of tension any&ore of: ,)ere I a&, and this is what I do., but that it goes naturally. It will be
s%ontaneous. At that &o&ent your life is a sacrifice. ?ro& that &o&ent on you start to
seriously co&e close to @iberation.
'hat was this Yajna againH
Yajna is life as a sacrifice. You do not ask any&ore what you get in return. The sacrifice goes
increasingly dee%er. This is actually brought to the fore during the fire3cere&ony. The different
acts that are %art of it are actually an aide to reach this.
These are the !" Sutras of Patanjali, which for& the basis of the Science of Yoga. 'e call
this traditional Yoga. All o#er the world this is still considered to be the funda&ent of Yoga.
There ha#e been nu&erous atte&%ts to e(%lain Yoga in different ways, but none has e#er been
successful. <one, e(ce%t this one.
)ow can you recogniIe whether so&eone is %racticing or teaching Yoga correctly, or gi#ing a
teachers training that truly honors YogaH You can recogniIe it by his res%ect for this work. So,
there &ust be a goal L @iberation L and the 7 ste%s &ust be %resent. And for the rest G h&&,
e#erybody has its own inter%retation, how he sees it and how he %erfor&s it. 'ithin this
fra&ework you ha#e all the freedo& to do that. You will only be judged on your achie#e&ents.
If nobody in your school e#er reaches any considerable le#el, h&&, you &ight as well consider
choosing another %rofession. So, a good Yoga school can be recogniIed by the nu&ber of
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%eo%le that reach 6nlighten&ent:@iberation. So, now you &ust beco&e 9uddha, ehH And
produce 9uddhas yourself.
And if still you are not able to do this G I still ha#e a ten3ride ticket on offer: the tenth ride of
se#en years in &y Yoga school is for free.
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