7. Yoga is Thought-Free Awareness🔗

There are three kinds of people in the world. Whenever a truth is uttered, 33% of people straightaway catch it; they straightaway have a 'click.' Another 33% need a little help, a little convincing, a technique to help them understand. The last 33% will never get it!

I am telling you this from my experience of traveling all over the world and working with all kinds of people.

The first 33% - they need to be told, that's all. They are ready, with openness, with devotion, with deep restful awareness. They just get it. Something clicks inside them – 'Yes, what he says is right'! So, for that 33%, your Yoga Sutra session is over! Relax. Your session is over. Now you need to live it, that's all! Just remember this one click - Mind is not a thing, it is an action, a subtle action. It is your own very subtle action. When you want you can do it, when you don't want you can stop it. That's all. You don't need anything more. If you are in the second 33%, you need a little logical support, you need some techniques. The following sutras are for you.

If you are in the third category, I don't know what to do! But Patanjali Yoga Sutras is such an amazing book. Patanjali has a solution even for the last 33%. Very beautifully, he takes you to the deeper and deeper layers. I can say, he is the ultimate Master. He will do anything to make you experience the Truth.

There is a beautiful story. A man was traveling on his donkey. His goat was tied to the tail of the donkey, and was following them. Three thieves saw this scene. The first thief said, ‘I will steal the goat from him.’ The second thief said, ‘I will steal the very donkey on which he is sitting!’ The third thief said, ‘I will steal the very clothes he is wearing!’ So the first thief slowly started walking behind the donkey. On the goat’s neck, there was a bell ringing continuously. The thief slowly removed the bell from the goat’s neck and tied it to the donkey’s tail. Now the man doesn’t know it is only the donkey ringing the bell, not the goat! The thief took the goat and ran away. The second thief was continuously walking behind the man. After some time, the man stopped and turned back. He saw that the goat was missing. He asked the second thief, ‘What happened to my goat?’ The second thief said, ‘Oh, is that your goat? Just now, somebody took it and ran away in that direction. Run, go and get your goat back!’ The man said, ‘Alright, please take care of my donkey, I will go and bring back my goat.’ He ran to get the goat, and the second thief ran with away the donkey. The third thief was also following the man. When he could not find the goat, he returned and saw that he had lost his donkey also. He was completely depressed and tired. Walking slowly, he reached a well. The third thief was sitting near the well with a long face. The man asked, ‘What happened to you? Why are you sitting there with a long face? Did you also lose your goat and donkey?’ The third thief said, ‘No, no! My treasure is lost in this well. I don’t know how to swim. If you can get in and take it out, we can split it fifty-fifty.’ The man thought, ‘Great! This is my chance to make up for my lost goat and donkey.’ He said to the third thief, ‘Please watch my clothes, I will jump in and bring the treasure out.’ He jumped into the well, and the third thief ran away with his clothes!

Patanjali is the third thief! He can really do his job. He can teach even the third 33% of people. Step by step, he is teaching. He is not just a scholar, he is a great Master. He is taking away everything from you. He will go to the core and leave you in nirvana, utter nakedness, the ultimate freedom. Please understand, the thief who steals your goat is only teaching you renunciation. He is taking away only your property. The thief who takes away your donkey is taking away your prestige, your power and position. He is taking away your ego, your outer image, your ahankara. Only the thief who can steal your clothes can take away your mamakara, your inner image, the very root of your ego. Patanjali is that kind of a teacher. He can take away anything, any ignorance you have.

Actually, if you lose to Patanjali, you will gain the Ultimate. There is a beautiful stotra by Ramana Maharshi, a great enlightened master from my home town, Tiruvannamalai in south India. He sings the glory of Shiva and says, ‘I lost me in you and gained you in me - so who is the real winner? You gained only me, but I gained you! Who is the real winner?’ So if you lose to Patanjali, you will lose you, but you will get the Ultimate. So, get ready to lose yourself in Patanjali. I can say this book is a manual for miracles. There are some books which create philosophers, there are some books which create kings, there are some books which create businesspeople. This is the book which can create Masters who will create religions. This is the book which can create masters who will create religions! In this book, Patanjali explains and expresses the inner science or secrets of miracles and spiritual experiences.

This sutra, yogaha chitta vritti nirodhaha, ‘Withdrawal from mental patterns is Yoga’, needs to be understood in another dimension.

When the chitta vrittis - the mental patterns - are stopped, suddenly you enter into a different zone. It is as if all the threads that are tying a balloon are cut; suddenly the balloon flies to a different space. Same way, if all the thoughts, which are pulling you down, are cut, your consciousness soars to a different height. It reaches a different zone. It stays in a different zone. When you look through the window, you see the sky, you experience the sky. But the sky itself cannot be reduced to the size of the window. Same way, when the thoughts disappear, you experience the ultimate Truth. But the Truth itself cannot be reduced to the one idea of not having thoughts! Please understand: when you don't have thoughts, you will experience the Truth, but the Truth itself cannot be defined as not having thoughts. Not having thoughts may be one of the qualities of Truth, but that itself is not the Ultimate.

In the same way, not having thoughts leads to Yoga, but that itself is not Yoga. Sometimes, people think this verse means that not having thoughts itself is Yoga! In the deep sleep, you don't have thoughts! But that is not Yoga! Not having thoughts, with awareness, is Yoga. Thought-free awareness leads you to Yoga. If the different formations taken by the mind are not happening, then Yoga is happening inside you. Yoga is happening inside you.

Today, whenever you remember, fall back again and again into the space of thought-free awareness.