Neither Too Much Nor Too Little

6.15 Always practicing control over the mind and situated in the Self,

The yogi attains peace, the supreme liberation and My kingdom.

6.16 Yoga is neither eating too much nor eating too little;

It is neither sleeping too much nor sleeping too little, Oh Arjuna.

6.17 One who is regulated in food, rest, recreation and work, Sleep and wakefulness can reduce misery.

6.18 When the mind is disciplined and one is situated in the Self, free from all desires,

Then one is said to be situated in yoga.

6.19 As a lamp in a place without wind does not waver,

So also the yogi whose mind is controlled remains steady, engaged in yoga, in the Self.

Krishna talks here about control of the mind and being situated in the Self. He talks about the path and the goal of yoga. The first line of the Yoga Sutras starts with, 'yogaha chitta vritti nirodhaha.' Yoga is cessation of the mind. The very first line gives the path and the goal of yoga. The word yoga means uniting with the Divine. To reach the Ultimate, the goal is yoga, and the path is also yoga, which is the practice of yoga, dropping the mind.

The goal is uniting with the Ultimate or experiencing the ultimate spiritual energy, universal energy, cosmic energy or experiencing the cosmic Intelligence. The path is dropping the mind, which means going beyond thoughts. The ultimate goal of yoga is uniting with Existence or the Divine and to realize our true inherent nature. We are spiritual beings having a human experience; we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. That is the truth. If we consider ourselves to be human beings striving for a spiritual experience, we will be striving to achieve something that is not our true nature. But I tell you bliss is our very nature. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. All that we need to do is go back to the Source and realize our true nature.

The mind pulls us towards the temporary happiness that we experienced by pursuing the pleasures of our sense organs. For example, there might be some particular sweet that we like. We are attracted to its taste. When we sit down to eat it, for a few minutes our mind seems to stop thinking about it. There seems to appear a sense of peace when we are eating the sweet. Actually, we are at peace because the number of thoughts has come down for those few minutes. But without realizing this, we think the peace experience is due to the sweet itself.

Understand that there is nothing wrong with liking the sweetness. We feel fulfilled with the sweetness. But if we are attracted to the sweet thinking that the sweet is the cause of our fulfillment, then the problem starts, because the next time the same sweet may not give us the same experience of fulfillment. The experience is different and the object of experience is different.

In the same way, if we hold onto an object that we think gives us bliss, we will create an attachment to that object. But the experience of bliss is different from the object. It is in no way related to the object. Bliss is beyond attachment to any object, material or spiritual. Bliss is beyond the pairs of opposites. When we are happy due to some pleasurable event or person, the momentary joy is coming because the number of our thoughts comes down when we meet the person. But the bliss itself happens only from our own being, not from the person. In fact, it continuously happens within us, irrespective of anything that goes on outside. Then why do we not feel the bliss continuously? It is because we are under the control of the mind, which needs the pairs of opposites to survive. We can, however, go beyond the mind.

We can stop the stopping of the fountain of bliss that is happening every moment in us. Our first level program, Ananda Spurana Program or the Life Bliss Program Level 1, is all about how to unlock and energize the seven major energy centers, the seven chakras. In this program, participants learn how to bring forth the eternal fountain of bliss in us.

When I say 'eternal bliss', what do I mean? 'Nithya' or 'eternal' means the past, present and future all put together, because it is beyond time. It cannot be called new or old because it always existed. It is beyond time. But, the eternal can be touched only in the present. Being in the present is what eternity is. Bliss cannot be experienced in the past or future because these are not reality. The only reality is the present. So, bliss can be experienced only in the present.

When we are not completely in tune with the present, we have an idea in our mind as to how the present moment should be, how it could be better or different. Be very clear, this indicates that we are not completely in the present because how can we completely experience the present when we have fantasies in that moment about how that moment should be?

When we are completely in reality, in the present, we are completely in tune with Existence and we are in bliss. This is eternal bliss. The present blissful moment gives

birth to the next moment, which will be blissful. It will automatically give rise to the next blissful moment. But if we try to look for bliss in the future thinking we can do various things to create a blissful future, it will never happen. When we are not in reality now, we are creating the blissful future from our fantasies in our fantasy world. Accept reality here and now and be blissful; automatically the future will also be blissful.

Bliss is like water in a river. We can keep our open hands in it and enjoy it but if we try to hold the water with closed hands, it will simply flow away from us leaving our hands empty. If we want to be in eternal bliss, we need to be blissful in this very moment. We should not bother about whether we had bliss in the past or whether we will have it in the future. Just be blissful now.

When Krishna talks about the mind and the senses being controlled, He is not talking about suppressing the mind and senses. This is impossible to do. People who claim to renounce the world and its material aspects still cling to desires. Their efforts to suppress these desires do not work and result in misery and unacceptable action. All we can do is to transform those desires. Instead of directing our senses towards external objects and pleasure derived from these objects, it is possible to focus inwards and experience inner joy. Once the senses and the mind discover this inner joy, on their own they will give up their attachment to external pleasures. Suppression never works; what works is transformation.

Part 3: Bhagavad Gita, Commentary by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM - Chapter 6 - Look In_english_part_3.md

To be balanced in what we do and to act without attachment is the path of a yogi. For any activity, moderation is needed. This is what Buddha meant by the 'Middle Way'. Whether it is eating or sleeping or working, we should be sensitive to our body's intelligence. Understand, when we are aware, we will be sensitive in all our actions. The awareness will show us what is conducive to our system. Only when we are not completely aware or conscious, we will be caught in confusion.

Yoga manuals will not tell us what Krishna tells Arjuna here. Guidelines on sleeping too much or too little or eating too much or too little is in no way a prescribed method for yoga. Controlling or regulating the senses does not mean we should suppress the senses. Eating too much will only make us lethargic - tamasic. Eating too little will make us crave more food. If we sleep too much, it will lead to laziness and lethargy, tamas. If we sleep too little, we will end up feeling tired because the body-mind is not rejuvenated enough.

How do we know what is too much or too little? Here, Krishna actually refers to our body intelligence. The body has intelligence to maintain itself. But we do not trust our inherent body intelligence. We run our body according to the mind or according to our desires and senses. Otherwise, why would we stay up in the night watching television when our eyes are already tired and our body is begging for some sleep? Why would we overeat? Has anyone seen any animal ever overeat? Have we seen an obese animal in the wild? Maybe the pets and

animals in zoos become obese because we feed them the way we eat. But have we seen an obese wild animal? They eat according to their body intelligence. When the body signals that it needs food, they eat. When the body signals that it needs sleep, they sleep. The problem is that we have forgotten how to relate with our own body intelligence.

After eating, after giving energy to the body, we should feel energetic. But, do we feel energetic after lunch? Why do we feel lazy and sleepy after eating? It is because we do not eat the right type and amount of food. Most often, we eat much more than what we need. We don't need to eat the amount we do for our body to run. Just try this for a few days: when you eat, eat just enough until you are about full but not completely full. When you feel you can eat one more handful of rice or food, stop. Try this for a few days and you will see a difference.

Similarly, we do not need to sleep for as long as eight hours as most of us do. Even science has established that there are periods in our sleep - the dream and deep sleep states that determine our holistic health. The deep sleep state is what rejuvenates us. Actually, it is in the deep sleep state that we access the causal body, the karana sareera. This is where we derive our energy from, where we touch the source of our energy. Touching this layer of energy is what gives us energy. This state can be achieved through meditation as well. In the course of an eight-hour sleep cycle, we are in the deep sleep state only for a couple of hours. That is why even a few minutes of meditation can actually refresh us as much as a few hours of sleep because we access the same energy of the causal body layer through meditation.

Once the mind comes in between and forces either too much sleep or too little sleep or too much eating or fasting, then we are ignoring the body intelligence and we are going with the mind. We should trust our body intelligence and just try living by becoming sensitive to the body rather than be driven by the mind, senses and our routine.

Krishna talks about ahara in these verses. Ahara in Sanskrit means food. It is not merely what is consumed through the mouth. It is the food that is taken in by our five senses. It includes all that we take in through all the senses, the sights we see through the eyes, the sounds that we hear through our ears, the fragrances that we smell, the sensation of touch and even the memories that we store and access.

Pratyahara, one of the eight parts of yoga is the control of sensory inputs. It means getting beyond these ahara, beyond the sense objects so that the higher level of Consciousness can be awakened. When we move away from the senses and experience bliss, we will automatically realize that what we experience through external sense objects is not bliss. What we experience through the senses can be called pleasure or joy, some external object that gives us joy. That is why, the opposite of joy, pain, is bound to follow this temporary pleasure. Bliss is beyond the pairs of opposites like pleasure and

pain; it is not related to external incidents or people. It is internally generated.

The main aim of all our yoga and meditation techniques is to reach the level of our being. When we reach the being, we are in 'nithya ananda' or 'eternal bliss'. We are in union with the Divine. As of now, we are running behind something in the outer world because we think it can give us what we are ultimately looking for, bliss. Bliss is actually what we are running after but we think it can be achieved through money, comforts, relations and what not. We do not realize that all of these objects only give us temporary states of pleasure and happiness. Our inherent nature is bliss and that is the reason why we are constantly searching for this state of bliss. When we realize that bliss is happening inside us all the time, the desires will drop automatically. You cannot drop desires. You cannot suppress them because they will surface again with greater intensity. The desire has to drop you.

When we are aware of our actions, we can never be addicted. Be very clear, all addictions, whether smoking or drinking, drugs or anything else, cannot exist if we are conscious and aware when we are engaged in the action. We try to suppress the desire instead of being aware and that is where the problem starts. Because we repeat the words, 'I want to quit smoking,' we are actually giving power to the word 'smoking' without even being aware of it. Words are energy. What we speak, what our mind thinks gets inscribed in our body. Our body gets prepared to execute the action.

A beautiful incident from Ramakrishna's life:

Once a devotee came to Ramakrishna saying that he was addicted to drinking and did not know how to give it up. Ramakrishna gave him a simple though surprising remedy. He told the devotee to surrender the drinking habit to Goddess Kali. The man was obviously shocked but he started offering the drink to Mother Kali and then drank intensely. You'll be surprised but the devotee came back in just three days to Ramakrishna saying that he had given up drinking. The drinking habit had dropped him.

An addiction has power over us because of a feeling of guilt, or a feeling of regret, or a feeling of unfulfillment. Through the addiction we are trying to close a gap, to rectify an error. As long as we are not aware of the fact that we need not carry guilt for anything that we have done, the addiction will persist.

I say that guilt is the greatest sin we can commit and carry. Whatever we did in the past was with the wisdom we then had. We realize it was a mistake because now, we have updated intelligence now to realize it. It is great, but do not commit that error again. And also drop that guilt. When we drop the guilt that we have been shouldering, many of our repetitive negative behaviour patterns stop automatically.

Moreover, we cannot consciously send something harmful into our system. We cannot consciously inhale harmful smoke into our system. As long as we drink or smoke as a ritual, it becomes an addiction. To those who

come to me for help with addictions, I say, 'Smoke as much as you want. Drink as much as you want. But do it with awareness. Do it with enjoyment.' In a few days, they come back and say they cannot smoke or drink anymore. That is because the innate body intelligence refuses to cooperate with the disastrous activity.

Awareness is the key to bring the mind under control because then we become the master of our mind, instead of the mind being our master. Normally, our mind oscillates between the past and future just like the flame of a lamp that's wavering in the wind. When the same lamp is placed in a windless place, it stops flickering. By nature, the mind is in dilemma. We cannot suppress it or control it by just allowing it to wander either. All we can do to still the mind is to stop bothering about it and just witness it. So just relax.

If we look deeply, every thought that occurs in us occurs as an independent thought. Each and every thought is completely unrelated, illogical and unconnected to any other thought. Thoughts appear in us just like individual bubbles in a fish tank. The mind holds on to these thoughts and starts connecting them and comes to conclusions and opinions. by connecting painful thoughts, we form pain shafts and by connecting pleasurable thoughts, we create joy shafts. Once we start believing our life is pain, we are waiting unconsciously for painful incidents to occur and strengthen that belief, to strengthen that judgment. Whenever we are adding painful incidents unconsciously, then constantly at the conscious level, we attempt to break that shaft that we created as well.

If we believe our whole life is a shaft of joyful experiences, which we rarely do, we are constantly in fear thinking, 'Will it continue?' But the important thing that we forget is that we can neither break the shaft nor elongate it, because the shaft itself does not exist! The problem starts with our fantasies, whether they are driven by greed or fear. If we can accept reality, not just accept it, but welcome it, only then can we start living life.

All of our desires and fears arise because, at the root, we feel that life has some goal, some purpose. Understand that life has no purpose. It has only meaning. Life has no goal; the path itself is the goal. Enjoy the path. Enjoy life as it comes. We think life is as we are living now. Understand that the way we are living life in our world of fantasies is actually like living in our dream world. Each of us has created a cocoon for ourselves, a web of desires, and we try to protect our false identity, our ego in this web. Only when we break out of the web, when we drop the ego, can we even see what life really is. Otherwise, we will only be projecting our imagination. When we realize the purposelessness of life, we can drop our desires and fears, we can plunge into reality, into the present and we can just watch our thoughts in a completely detached manner without connecting them.

The moment we decide to stay in the present, without the need to connect any thoughts with the past, the mind stops oscillating or flickering back and forth. When the mind does not flicker and stands still in the present moment, then we reach the state of 'no-mind'. In this

state of 'no-mind,' we don't create a thought, we don't try to sustain any thought and we don't try to destroy any thought. If we relax from all these three things, then we will see that there will be no-mind.

Our mind is like a lake. When we throw a stone in a lake, many ripples will be created. If we want to stop these ripples, we cannot put our hand in the lake to try to smoothen out the ripples. This will only cause more ripples. This is what we end up doing when we try to still our minds. Instead if we just watch the lake, and ensure no more stones are thrown in, the ripples will disappear and the lake will become still. We try to control or still our minds by trying to destroy and suppress thoughts. We can never be successful in this way. If we just relax and watch our mind with complete awareness, then no new thoughts will be created.

In Bharat we say that God has three roles. The three roles are that of a creator, sustainer and destroyer. Brahma is called the Creator or God of creation. Vishnu is known as the Sustainer or the God of maintenance. Shiva is called the Destroyer or the God of rejuvenation. With respect to our thoughts, when we stop performing these three roles of creation, sustenance and rejuvenation, when we transcend all these three, we become Parabrahma – Supreme Self. When there are no new thoughts being created, sustained or destroyed, then the mind is absolutely still.

There is a beautiful story described in the Bhagavatam:

The devas (demigods) were oppressed by the asuras

(demons) and appealed to Lord Vishnu for help. According to his directions, the devas were to churn the ocean of milk using the Maha Meru Mountain as the staff and Vasuki, the serpent, as the rope. During the churning, many products emerged out of the ocean of milk including an elephant, a horse, a divine chariot and many other divine things. Then, a deadly poison emerged that threatened to take the lives of everyone. Shiva came to rescue everyone by consuming the poison himself. He drank the poison but he did not completely take it in, he just held it in his throat. That is why he is referred to as neelakanta, the one with a blue throat.

This is actually a metaphysical representation. Life is like the churning of the ocean of milk where we are churned, pulled by desires and fear. We are pulled towards the desires and away from fear. There are various products that emerge out of the churning and decisions and choices we make in life. Some of these products appear pleasing while some others appear dangerous like the poison. When we exist without taking in the poison or throwing it out, meaning without running towards the desires or running away with fear, we become Shiva and we live life blissfully, irrespective of what comes our way.

Q: I find that some days I can meditate well and on other days I cannot. How can I make sure that that I am always successful in meditating well?

The moment we start labeling meditation as good and bad, doing well and not so well, we start losing the whole meaning of meditation. Meditation is being in the present moment. There is nothing to define this experience by. We just are. That is all. There are people who insist on all kinds of conditions before they can meditate. Absolute silence is a requirement. Even the slightest noise will disturb them. All this is just a mere fuss.

A small story:

A man got upset that a neighbor living in the apartment above him came home late every night, making a lot of noise banging the doors and such. What really bothered the man most was the way the neighbor dropped his shoes one after another, making a loud thud. All this woke him up, and then he could not go to sleep until the man was done with all the usual noise. After many such sleepless nights, he gathered up some courage to confront his neighbour.

He told him not to make all that noise at night, and specifically not to drop his shoes. The neighbor politely apologized and that night moved about quietly when he came home. It became so quiet that the man could not sleep! He was so used to being awakened by the banging door and the falling shoes. He was just waiting to hear the door bang. It did not happen. But suddenly one shoe dropped and nothing more. This guy was really tense and couldn't relax into sleep.

After waiting a few minutes, he shouted, 'Drop the other shoe and get it over with, you fool!'

If that is the attitude we take in meditation, we will be waiting for every sound to disturb us. Even if there is no sound, the sheer tension of waiting for a sound will take us away from the present moment. Remember, meditation does not make us deaf. In fact it makes us more sensitive. Meditation is about focusing inwards and including everything that happens around us. It is witnessing without getting involved in what happens outside, and even in our mind. We just witness our thoughts. We do not try to stop them, or get carried away by them.

If we try and capture any particular feeling during meditating, it will be a fruitless effort. Many people ask me, 'Master, how can we hold on to the bliss of being with you?' The truth is that you cannot. The moment we try to hold it, bliss slips away. It is like holding our hands in flowing water. As long as our hands are open, the water will stay in them. The moment we try to hold that water by closing our hands, we will find that there is no water.

So just flow with your meditation. Be relaxed and be comfortable in your body. Focus on your breath without controlling it. Or use any other technique that you are comfortable with. Stop worrying about any experience you have had before or one that you want to have now. Whatever experience you have is the right experience. Meditation has no goal. You cannot set target experiences. The process is the meaning of meditation. The experience is whatever you experience.

Self Is Satisfied by the Self in the Self

6.20 In yoga, the mind becomes quiet and the Self is satisfied by the Self in the Self.

6.21 Supreme bliss is grasped by intelligence transcending the senses.

The person who knows this is based in reality.

6.22 By attaining that Supreme, one does not consider any other gain as being greater. By being situated in the Supreme, one is not shaken by the greatest of misery.

6.23 When yoga is practiced with determination without deviating, the misery by contact with material senses is removed.

6.24 Giving up completely all the fantasies born of the mind, one can regulate all the senses from all the sides by the mind.

Krishna talks about two important things, practice with determination and practice without deviating from the prescribed way. Both are key elements to experience yoga. After a few days of practice it is easy to fall into inertia, tamas, and give up. We fall back into our old ways and give up. Our mind has been programmed with our old routine for years. Naturally, our mind will draw us back to the old ways. This is where determination is needed. Determination driven by the curiosity and the quest to see and experience the truth is what will give us the energy to practice yoga.

The other important element is practice without deviating from the prescribed way. We are re-introducing, re-presenting yoga in the form of Nithya Yoga, the Yoga of Eternity. I can say re-presenting because it is a new expression or teaching method. The method has evolved but the system, the truth itself is the same as the original system offered by the great Master, Patanjali. It is so complete we can't add even a single word to the sutra, the techniques. It is the experience of the truth. Truth cannot be developed. Only lies can be developed. All we can do is help evolve the teaching of truth to suit the current minds. The system itself cannot and need not be changed.

Krishna emphasizes here that yoga should be practiced in the prescribed way. All eight parts of yoga need to be practiced, but not as the eight steps as interpreted today. Even one part of Ashtanga Yoga will take many lifetimes to achieve, given the modern man's mindset.

Satya, truth, is a part of yama, the first of the eight steps. If we consistently practice satya alone, we will reach samadhi, the state of liberation or enlightenment. The problem is that it is only at the enlightened state that one truly becomes truthful. Our thoughts, words and actions become pure and truthful only when we are enlightened. This is what Krishna means when He says, 'Self is satisfied by the Self in the Self.' All of this has to happen together, not part by part. When one aspect is fulfilled, all others also become fulfilled.

This is the state of purna, complete fulfillment. Nothing can be taken away from it. Nothing can be added to it that would make any difference to its state of completeness. No joy can make it more blissful, no sorrow can make it less blissful. One becomes centered in bliss. When centered in bliss, it is forever!

These days, yoga is no longer a spiritual quest. It is merely a form of commercial exploitation. It is a fashion statement, a fashion accessory. The people doing yoga and those teaching it don't even know what the true purpose of yoga is. We need to be able to say, 'I do yoga.' I believe in many parts of world, cosmetic surgery is accepted socially. Similarly, in some other parts, being a student of yoga sometimes becomes a necessary prequalification for social acceptability.

So, today there is hot yoga, very hot yoga, temperate yoga, cold yoga, very cold yoga and so on. I saw a documentary some time ago by some professors from Harvard on Tibetan Buddhist monks being able to raise their body temperatures so much that the wet clothes they were wearing dried by increased body temperature. These monks were sitting in the open, in the harsh Tibetan winter of minus zero temperatures!

All these do not lead us anywhere near the truth. It is good business for those who conduct these programs. That is all. Very little can be gained spiritually by doing the physical postures and breathing exercises. These may provide some physical health improvement in the short term if done carefully. But actually, unregulated breathing exercises and physical contortions can do more harm than good.

Krishna talks about moving into reality, transcending the senses and the mind. The way yoga is taught and practiced in many places, one is moved away from reality into a fantasy world, to fulfill one's speculative needs. The senses and mind wander aimlessly.

We cannot suppress desires because anything suppressed will surface with more intensity. But the expression of desires is not the solution either. As we must have experienced in our own lives, a desire may be satisfied momentarily by expressing or fulfilling it but

soon afterwards, the desire arises again. Instead we need to understand what is happening and how it is happening.

A small story:

Buddha had ten thousand disciples that he used to address every morning. One day, he brought a tightly knotted rope with him and placed it before them and asked, 'Can someone untie this rope?'

Many disciples came and they tried pushing and pulling at the rope but the knot became tighter.

Finally, one disciple came up, looked at the knot for a while, and then undid the knot.

We need to look at the knot and see how it has been created. Once we do that, we just have to simply reverse the process of creating the knot and we have untied it. Instead of doing this, if we simply pull and push, we will never be able to untie the knot. It will only become tighter. The way out of the mind is also through the mind and not by avoiding it. Awareness is the key through which all our emotions can be handled. They basically originate from greed and fear. As we witness with awareness, the fear and greed loose their grasp on the mind.