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Patanjalis Yogasutras - Vairagya and satsang

A satsang on Yoga in Daily Life, exploring consciousness, universal knowledge, and the path of non-attachment.

"It was the yogīs who understood what life is—the entire creation on this planet."

"Ahimsa is love. We say God is love and love is God. That love which is known as a universal love to every creature, to every plant, every tree, and to thyself too."

The speaker guides the seminar, discussing the yogic understanding of life—from stone consciousness to cosmic consciousness—and the knowledge of the Vedas. Using a personal experiment with stones and flowers, a story about two brothers and a mango, and teachings from Patañjali, the discourse examines themes of universal love, attachment (rāga), and the essential spiritual practice of detachment (vairāgya) for self-realization.

Filming location: Strilky, Cz.

DVD 556

Good evening to everyone. Welcome to our afternoon program. Our subject is always Yoga in Daily Life. Yoga in Daily Life is an authentic and scientific system based on ancient, authentic yogic literature. In this seminar, we have Patañjali, the great ṛṣi, leading his disciples toward self-realization, giving many examples. Patañjali is known as the father of psychology. It was the yogīs who understood what life is—the entire creation on this planet. It was yogīs who said there are 8.4 million different creatures on this planet, divided into three categories: Jalchar, Thalchar, and Nabchar—creatures in the water, on the earth, and in the space. They understood the life of each and every entity, as well as the life within the vegetation. In the Vedas, it is said that even the tree has a soul. A tree is life, but there is a different level of consciousness. That is true. And so the yogis followed from the stone consciousness to the cosmic consciousness. The stone—and many of you know about stoneology, different kinds of stones, how they influence our life—they were the ones who made the experiment, researched, and found that every planet has a particular stone, and every planet has a very individual influence on every creature, not only humans. Also, there are stones, and through those stones, water flows. It creates such energy that our plants, our vegetation, can survive long. For the last three years, I have been making an experiment, or witnessing. Someone gave me a glass bowl. Inside, there are some kind of stones and water. When I get some flowers, half flowers, or two or three cut flowers, I put them in a flower vase with the same water. And some flowers I put in that glass bowl where the stones are. The flowers which are in the flower vase survive a maximum of five days. If you change the water and take more care, and it's cold weather, then one week. But the flowers which are in the glass bowl, which is having stones inside, they survive more than six months and begin to get roots sometimes. Because it's boring in the same flower, you may change them. There was a leaf of one plant which survived in that water about one and a half years. And the roots came about 15 centimeters, so we put it in the earth. But it couldn't sprout, couldn't give some branches, because the leaves, they don't have in the stem the knot. Where there is no knot, it cannot come out as any branch. The leaf itself became thicker and stronger. It was like leather. I went to India. Someone put that flower near the cold draft, near the window. And 20% was damaged from cold. It survived nearly two and a half years. Now, this is not what I want to talk about, the plants, but the prāṇa, which is created through the stones, is indescribable and is for our health too. So whenever possible, I drink water from such a stone, which is put in one glass pot or glass jar. But my problem is that I'm hardly four nights in one place. And to carry the stone everywhere with you, it would be a little bit funny. It's good, but certain countries have strict securities. They don't allow you to bring any rocks, stones, and this. So what I want to tell you is that stones also have life. They have energy, and the stone is growing, the crystal. So it was the yogīs who researched the entire planet's life, astronomy, and astrology. Astrology is known as the third eye of God. If you know very good astrology, you can see everything, past and present, through astrology. But there is a practice, a very concentrated practice, and palmistry. Palmistry is known as the philosophy of the ocean. On the top or on the surface, the ocean has many waves, but at the bottom, it's very peaceful. Through your different lines on your hands, on foot soles, on your forehead, on your cheeks, on your chin—they all indicate something about your destiny. Also, the wrist and the lines here on the wrist, and every ten years the lines change your destiny. They take some curve. If you know palmistry, you can try to direct your life. The lines which are disappearing will again appear if you change the way of your life. This is the knowledge. It was the Yogīs who gave the knowledge of the Vedas, Anant Brahmāṇḍa Śāstra, Sūrya—the endless universe, and thousands of the Sun systems, thousands and thousands of the Suns. The 14 different worlds and 2100 Sun systems were witnessed by yogīs. When you practice Nāḍī yoga, when you practice self-inquiry meditation, when you come to the higher level of your consciousness, your self becomes that instrument which is able to collect all the information in this universe. Life on the planet—and we know from the modern scientists, and we know all of us, we call our beautiful mother earth. First god is mother: matri deva bhava. Are you kind to your mother? Are you good to your mother? We have two mothers: one is the planet, the Earth, and one is our mother who carried us nine months in her body. Through her body, we were nourished and got this beautiful, healthy body. We in this Kali Yuga neither care about our mother nor about our mother planet. What kind of children are we? Many yogīs used to say now, and many wise people said, Mother Earth is crying. Mother Earth is ill. And all this pesticide created cancer on her body, like skin cancer. Guilty are the humans. The human greed, the pollution of the human mind. So the life, the soul, and the origin of the soul, which is known as Mother Earth, our beautiful planet, and all creatures on this planet, and which is departing from this, coming to the different worlds, different lokas, is originated from one divine consciousness. I'm very happy that you see the Śiva Purāṇa, and it may become clear to you. The very first in this creation is that Śiva, in the form of light and sound, Oṁ. And that light is the light of our ātmā, our soul, our ātmā. This is the light of the creation. Everything is manifested from this. And therefore, the yogis discovered: if you cause a pain, doesn't matter in which way—physically, mentally, intellectually, emotionally, socially, economically, and so on—it is a violence. And those who are doing violence in society will be punished by the judge. We will be known as criminals. But there are certain violences which they can't see, but God sees. So karmic punishment comes back to every creature, and therefore it is a non-violence, ahiṃsā. And that ahiṃsā is the way to God. Ahimsa is love. We say God is love and love is God. That love which is known as a universal love to every creature, to every plant, every tree, and to thyself too. And that was the middle point of Patañjali's teachings. And so the disciples, like all of us, were very curious and inspired. We became disciples, aspirants, spiritual seekers, God-lovers, life-lovers. The heart full of love, thoughts full of love, actions full of love. We would like to know more about this and more about our origin. It is a svabhāva, the nature of every creature to know its origin. You saw, very beginning in Śiva Purāṇa, the Brahmā, the creator, whom Śiva told to create this beautiful planet and gave the duty to Viṣṇu to take care. The Brahmā who came on the lotus went to see, "Where is my origin?" It took the ages, but couldn't find where the origin is. Similarly, it will take us ages, lives and lives, to know where is our origin, that Brahman, that we can come and become one with that. As soon as Brahmā begins to create, first what he experienced? Disappointment. You remember? Yes or no? Yes. And so, even Brahmā himself was disappointed. Vishnu was disappointed. Shiva also sometimes had to think over and do what all requested him to do. Then, from which gardens are we carrots? In India, we said, Kaunse khet kī mūlī ho tum? So the radish, you know, or the carrot. From which garden are you? That's it. Who are we in this endless universe? We are such tiny bacteria that are not even visible with a telescope, and you think that you will be the governor of this world. That was the human's ego, and that is the cause of all the wars. The times in the past, in every century, there was a war because those people who led the war did not know what they wanted. They would like to be the ruler of the entire planet, and where are they now? Again in the womb of the mother, this planet. We are here temporarily. Day before yesterday, we spoke about time. Yesterday also, here we spoke about the time. You cannot buy the time, you cannot stop the time, and you cannot step out of the time. So time will bring the truth, and we will see. Therefore, do not ignore the time. Be aware of this time with this kind of thinking. Patañjali, with a loving heart, very gently but giving so direct instructions—someone likes and some may not like—but nothing that he told was disliked. Everything was truth. Such beautiful thoughts. That disciple became thirsty again, like a thirsty man waiting for every drop of water, or a thirsty bird waiting for a drop of water. And so we all, we are all practitioners, we all are the seekers, and we nourish and we drink the nectar of the wisdom from this all—Āgamas, Vedas, Upaniṣads, and the words of great saints. That's called Śruti and Smṛti. Śruti means what we heard, the knowledge from the masters. Brahmaniṣṭha Śrotriya, the Satguru is that. Brahmaniṣṭha means who is one with the Brahman, knower of the Brahman. And Śrotriya, that he or she can speak and inspire us, motivate us, answer all our questions, and lead us towards Brahman. Śrotriya, that is the saint who is speaking. And Śruti is that which he spoke, and Smṛti is memory. Now, how much you preserve, that much you will give further. If your memory is not good, you may give wrong information. Therefore, Patañjali is speaking about different kinds of vṛttis. There are many, many vṛttis. Kliṣṭa-akliṣṭa vṛttis. The good vṛttis and bad vṛttis. The good vṛttis, the thoughts which inspire us to walk comfortably on our spiritual path, which support, which help, which guide, which protect, which strengthen our Vairāgya. Without Vairāgya, you cannot come through. And Vairāgya cannot be realized without Satsaṅg. Mahāprabhujī said in one of the bhajans, Vairāgya nahīṁ hove lāl, binā Satsaṅg. Oh, my dear, you cannot realize the Vairāgya without satsaṅg. Vairāgya means detachment. Vairāg and rāga, these are two. Vairāg is detachment, and rāg is attachment. When we see a small baby, it doesn't matter from whom—human, pig, dog, cat, donkey, horse, cow—any, immediately we have a feeling of love, and we say, "Oh, how beautiful this may be." Yes, it is true. That is the pure love. That's a pure love, and that pure love is on the vairāgya side. But then comes the attachment, and now how the attachment is influencing your selfishness. A small story: there were two brothers, loving each other very much. Of course, brothers are brothers. They wouldn't eat without seeing each other. The youngest brother... The elderly brother tells him, "Everything is yours, brother. I don't need anything." The elderly one says, "No, no, all is yours. I don't need anything." No fighting for property. And now, you know, when the brothers grow, he even tells the parents, "Write all property in my name." Just now, happened twenty days ago, one man who was working in the army came home, and his father was also working, retired now, and he had one brother also. So the young man who came from the army... He took the gun and said to his father, "Write all property on my name, not on my second, not half-half. Otherwise, I will be a fatherless son. You see, the bullet is inside." The son says to the father. The father said, "Well, I have another bullet too. I will be sonless, fatherless." What do you think? Is this a relation of father and son? No, that is something terrible. If brother, like God Rāma and his brother Bharata, that's it, ready to give everything to the brother or the sister, of course. Okay, sisters, but the rules are like this: the sister's gates already more than half of the properties, you know, gold and these. And when married, she gets so much. But now, even if she gets married, she still has the right to share the ancestors' property. So these both brothers, they were loving each other so much. Living together, one kitchen. Living together means one kitchen. His family and his other brother's family are living together, eating all this together, sharing everything. So one kitchen means they are sharing all together. One day, the youngest brother was sitting on the roof of his house, and both of them had one child each, one son each. Now, the elderly brother went to the market, and on the way he saw a nice, beautiful, big mango. Oh, beautiful. You can say nice apple, or you can say some nice peach, but mango is known as the king of fruits. Lotus is the king of flowers. Peacock is the king of the birds. So he had one mango in both hands. One mango was a little bigger, the other one was a little smaller, but both were mangoes. He came from the market with mangoes in his hands. And both children, his son and the son of his brother, they ran and said, one said, "Father, father, mango." Other was, "Uncle, uncle, beautiful mangoes." And he loved the children very much also. So in the right hand he had a big mango, and in the left hand, a smaller one. Children came towards him. The right side was the son of his brother. And the left side was his own son. Now the big mango is on the side of his brother's son. So he said, "Yes, my children, come, come, here you are." The other brother was sitting up and had tears in his eyes. How did these differences appear in my brother's consciousness? He made the differences between both children. Well, next day, the younger brother tells the elder one, "Brother, don't you think that we should separate, have a separate flat?" And the elder one says, "What do you think? How could you think such things? Separate? We are always together. Everything is yours. What more do you want?" "But I want to know, how did these thoughts come into your mind to separate?" He said, "Brother, my thoughts came to my mind since your hands were turned over." He said, "What do you mean, my hands turned over?" Look, even he was not aware of that, and he doesn't remember. He said, "Brother, I was sitting on the roof of the house yesterday when you came. Your both children came to you—my son and your son—and you had mangoes." He said, "Yes." "And they asked to give you mango." He said, "Yes." "Your son was right side." He said, "Yes." "And you had this. My son was right side." He said, "Yes." "And left side was your son." He said, "Yes." "You had bigger mango on the right hand." He said, "Yes." "Then why did you make hands like this, my brother?" He couldn't look into the eyes of his brother; he looked down. "Yes, brother, it was my selfishness, my attachment. My, that is the biggest rock on our path." That means the discrimination. When I say it is mine, now who are they? Duality, and we must have a non-duality. We should have a love like, immediately, our love awakes in the heart for a small baby of any creature or our human baby. That is a universal love. That's pure love. Attachment is that where you say, "It's mine." You give the big portion to yours. And this big portion, because it's our attachment, Moha. Moha is the cause of all troubles. And moha is the biggest obstacle on your spiritual path, or your journey towards the universe. Yes, blood is thicker than water. Blood relation has more nearness. But a wise one who realizes will say, without water, there is no blood. And there is the wisdom, so renounce. Therefore, Holy Gurujī, our Satguru Dev, Hindu Dharm Samrāṭ Swāmī Madhavānandjī used to say, "Enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice." What did you sacrifice in your life? Without Vairāgya, you cannot. So Raga and Vairagya. So Raga is attachment. Where there's a rāga, there's a disappointment. Where there's a rāga, there's pain. Where there's rāga, there's anger. Where there's a rāga, there's hate. Where there's a rāga, there is jealousy. Where the rāga is, there is greediness. And where the rāga is, there is cruelty. And where the rāga is a separation. But where the ājñā is, there is love, there is understanding, there is beauty, there is no sign of disappointment. There is no fear. But where there is rāga, there is fear. That Raga, attachment, is so deep in our heart. Who dares to say something to my child? Who dares to say something to my wife, to my husband, to my parents, to my property? This is this. How long are you here? This is a hotel. You have to check out. If you take something with you from the hotel, you have to pay. That's it. So, this bird—we are a bird sitting temporarily for one night on the tree. Rain basera. Rain basera means one night rest. Morning dawn will come, and birds will fly. Similarly, the dawn of the astral world will appear, and this body will remain. This body is the tree, and that's all. The bird will fly. What did you gain from here? What did you take with you from here? Only one: your karma, your deeds. Good deeds, you took the good things with you; bad, you took the bad things. The name of God, your mantra, your spiritual work, that will create the beautiful destiny, and you will be welcomed somewhere. Or bad things, you will be welcomed by different ones that perhaps we will see today in Śiva Purāṇa, how are the different ones? So Patañjali is talking about vṛttis. Patañjali researched from the body, mind, emotion, intellect, memory, thoughts, the soul, consciousness, ātmā, and Pramātmā—how is this individual linked to the cosmic one, and which is the safe way to come through? That's why we call it yoga. So think over what I said. How much attachment do you have? Can you convert your attachment in love? Or are you not able to do it? That depends on you. That's not my subject. That's your problem, not my problem. So I wouldn't say problem, the subject. Some people used to say, "It's your coffee." It's not my coffee. So, drink up your coffee, okay? So, attachment, detachment. So, which kind of quality would you like to have for the attainment to come to the Supreme? Therefore, Patañjali said, "That draṣṭā, you are the draṣṭā." That has a vṛtti, who am I? And fix yourself on that ātmā, then automatically all vṛttis will merge and become one strength for you to go towards the ātmā.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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