#13 The Sixth Sense | Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

Namaste and a very warm welcome to all of you in this daily morning live meditation session with me,

Dehansi.

My salutations to Yoga,

My salutations to Patanjali for bringing this knowledge of Yoga to us and my salutations for this opportunity for us to dive in to this knowledge and improve the experience of our life.

The experience of our life is created by our perception and the first step in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that we are going through right now is to establish the right perception.

What is this right perception?

In order to understand what right perception is,

First of all we have to acknowledge that the experience of our life is created by the perception.

Two people standing on top of a hill,

Watching a view with a valley,

With the clouds,

With the sky,

They see the same objects but is their experience the same?

No,

Because the perception of what they see is completely different.

We say that we live in one universe,

We call it universe,

But actually we are living in multiverses because our perception which creates our experience and hence defines what we experience as universe is different for everyone.

We only meet at certain few points,

We only meet at the very gross of perception,

We only meet at the shape,

At the size,

At the color,

Just very gross elements of perception.

If you see an object,

A tree or a leaf,

We all agree the shape of the leaf,

We all agree at the color of the leaf,

We all agree maybe if there is fragrance in the leaf,

We agree on the fragrance of the leaf.

So these are very few parts of perception that we agree upon and we call this as one universe as if we all are always in one universe.

But if your perception fine-tunes,

If your perception becomes finer,

Then you see that we only meet at the gross and then there is a whole spectrum of fine perception that creates a unique experience of this life for each individual.

In fact,

That is our individuality which is to experience,

To perceive,

To have this taste of this world in a spectrum,

In a completely unique way,

In a completely unique permutation and combination of what we can perceive.

So there is a meeting point at the gross where we all agree,

Where we all are in agreement and what we call as universe,

The gross physical agreement of perception and then there is this ultimate perception,

The ultimate,

The final perception where there is utmost clarity,

Where there is no individuality,

Where there is no modification,

Where there is no permutation,

Combination and we all once again are in agreement.

That is where we all are one,

That is where once again the multiverse converges into one universe,

That is where the truth lies,

That is where is the source of all of us which is the same,

One consciousness,

One pure consciousness.

But along this journey we have to move from the gross where we are just agreeing on the shape,

The size,

The very basic of our perception and develop a sense,

Develop a perception which is much more finer.

Just like somebody who is a painter,

He has a highly developed sense of what he sees.

When you see a view and a painter sees a view,

He is much more deeper,

He sees the nuances,

The details which you miss out on and that is why the taste,

The experience of the view for him is completely different.

He may just be immersed in that view all the time while you will take a look at the painting and say what is in this painting or what is in this view and then you move on.

Same is with hearing.

For you,

You may hear a sound,

A song,

You may like it,

You may not like it but when a musician hears it,

He can very distinctly see where the beats are,

What all instruments are being played,

Where are the harmonies,

Where are slightly disharmonies.

He can examine the entire experience in finer detail which creates for him the taste of that experience.

Today's sutras of Patanjali,

I will discuss a couple of sutras and one of them is dedicated to developing this higher states of perception.

Let us look at what Patanjali has to say first before we sit in meditation.

Patanjali says,

Vishavativa pravarti prukpanna manasa stithi nibandhini.

Meditation produces extraordinary sense of perception.

The mind gains confidence and this helps perseverance.

What Patanjali here is saying is that along this arduous journey of yoga,

Along this discipline of yoga which requires a lot of commitment,

Maybe you need at times validations,

Maybe you need clues,

You need some assurance that you are on the right path and this is working for you.

How to get that?

While meditating,

You will see that your sense perceptions are heightened,

Are developed,

Are much more finer and your taste of life changes your experience of the same life,

The same routine that you have had before the practice of meditation,

Before the practice of yoga and after going through this practice,

Continuing this practice in life,

You see for the same ordinary things,

The experience changes.

So Patanjali is saying,

Take note of those experiences,

Use them as validation for the perseverance that is needed to move along the path of yoga and meditation gives this extraordinary sense of perception.

Another sutra for today which is also very interesting and somewhat related,

Patanjali says,

Vishoka Vajyotishmati,

What that means is meditate on the inner light which is serene and which is beyond all.

What is this inner light?

Once again while we are discussing with perception,

We know these five senses of perception that we have and we sometimes talk about this sixth sense,

This sixth sense of perception which is beyond the ordinary five senses of perception and allows us to at times know things in advance or experience perceived situation in a much deeper way where there would be no physical clue of it,

Where there would be no gross clue of it,

Where your eyes,

Your ears,

Your nose,

Your tongue,

Your skin will not capture what is happening but somewhere you know what is happening.

That sixth sense also comes along with what is known as this inner light.

With meditation not only your five senses are heightened but also you start to develop a sixth sense,

That inner light which is also very serene in nature and beyond all,

Beyond all these five senses.

So while we meditate today,

We will first of all once again examine these five senses that we have and move towards this sixth sense which is this inner light.

When we say inner light,

In the beginning we may have to imagine an inner light because the concept of inner light may be new to most of you so in the beginning you may have to imagine that there is an inner light in you seated in your heart but then you slowly realize that this is not just an imagination,

This becomes your perception.

You start to perceive that there is an inner light in you which is guiding you through your life,

Which is guiding you through different experiences,

Different situations and giving you that additional sense of perception which cannot be captured by the five senses.

So how to approach it,

How to tap that inner light,

Start with visualizing the inner light,

Moving on to building a perception that there is something like what you see as light outside,

Is there a light inside and moving on away,

Moving away from this gross perception of light,

From a sense of light which is not the way you perceive light outside,

The light of sun or the light that you see outside,

Not the same gross sense of light,

Move away from that imagination,

From your knowing of that gross sense of light to something deeper,

Something that is non-physical,

Something that is not gross,

Something that you can only sense.

You cannot explain it but you can sense it,

That there is a sense of light within and it is very serene,

The way to validate this,

The way to spot it is in silence,

The way to spot it is its serenity,

Its peace,

The taste of it is very pure,

Is very peaceful.

So in meditation we will today first of all start by becoming aware of our five senses and then move towards this inner light,

This inner sixth sense by first of all imagining,

Then creating a perception of light and then by having a sense of light beyond the gross perception.

With that I invite you to close your eyes,

Take a posture that is comfortable for you,

With your back upright,

Shoulders down,

In a nice deep breath inhale from the nose and exhale from the nose,

Allowing your body to settle,

Allowing your mind to settle.

Now,

Awareness on your five senses of perception,

Starting from your closed eyes,

Shift your awareness to what you see in front of your closed eyes.

Let this perception settle,

Let your awareness and what you see settle.

As your awareness settles,

Your mind calms down.

Without forcing anything,

Awareness in front of your closed eyes.

Simply remain an observer without interpreting what you see.

This awareness also add what you hear,

The subtle noises from your background,

The subtle sounds from your mind,

The subtle sounds from your mind,

The subtle sounds from your mind.

At all times,

No judgment,

Simply remain aware of your senses.

To this awareness,

Add what you taste on your tongue.

To this awareness,

Add what you smell in this moment.

To this awareness,

Add what you feel on your skin.

Fully aware of your five senses,

What you see,

What you hear,

What you see,

What you hear,

What you smell,

What you taste,

What you feel on your skin.

Now move inwards,

Awareness towards your heart.

Imagine that there is a source of light in the center of your heart region.

Now move inwards,

Awareness in your heart region.

Then visualize this inner light at the center of your heart region,

This peaceful,

Serene,

Luminous source.

Let this imagination become your perception,

Your inner feeling,

Your inner sensation of light arising out of your heart region,

Peaceful,

Serene,

Luminous source and with every breath spreading this light in your whole body,

In your head.

And this light moving beyond your body,

Beyond your head.

Now move inwards,

Awareness towards your heart region.

With every breath,

Remain aware of this peaceful,

Serene,

Luminous source in your heart.

And the light spreading in your body,

In your mind,

And beyond your body and mind.

Now move inwards,

Awareness towards your heart region.

Leave all effort and simply stay silent and aware.

Now move inwards,

Awareness towards your heart region.

Now move inwards,

Awareness towards your heart region.

If you wish to stay in this meditative silence,

Keep your eyes closed,

Stay in your inner state,

Stay in the silence and awareness as long as you like.

More very gently and slowly you may open your eyes while maintaining this sense of awareness,

Sense of silence,

Disconnect to your inner light,

To your five senses and as you proceed in your day,

Remain aware of your five senses and also of this sixth sense beyond the five,

Beyond the physical,

Beyond the gross and see if your experience of the same which you have been experiencing in your daily routines,

If that changes or not.

I'll see you tomorrow at 7 am Central European Time.

Namaste.