#36. A Million Is One, The One Is None | Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

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

Dehansi.

We are going through yoga sutras of Patanjali in these sessions at the moment.

It is important at this stage to understand what is yoga.

We call yoga as union.

But what is this union?

What is being united?

Was it separate before that is being united or is it just a realization that it was always united?

So is yoga a union of something that is separate or is yoga just a realization that everything is already in union?

Different meanings for different situations in life,

Different ways of utilizing this sacred knowledge of yoga helps us to bring us out of our misery and to create that inner space in ourselves where there is peace,

Where there is happiness,

Where there is bliss,

Where there is liberation,

Love,

Harmony,

Compassion.

What is this union?

You are looking in the mirror at your own image.

You see there is one image.

You recognize that image as yourself and suddenly that mirror breaks.

It falls on the ground.

It breaks.

It shatters into a million pieces.

In those million pieces,

You see a million images.

What to do?

You start giving each of those pieces a label.

You call what you see in one piece Tom,

The other one Harry,

The other one Sally and so on and you have a million images and by giving this label to each and every piece of mirror,

You see a million different images and sooner or later you forget that these are all arising out of one.

You see a million distinct images.

You see a million distinct manifestations of something that was one.

And yoga is that process first of all for you to recognize that you have given labels to all these million pieces and secondly to do the very impossible.

That impossibility of yoga is to put together all those shattered pieces once again for you so that you can see that in the image there is only one.

In the image there is only one and that image is of yours,

Is of nobody else.

There is no other in the image.

It's always you.

There is only you.

There is only one.

We all are labels of different shattered pieces of glasses but we are all one in the exact same sense as the mirror which breaks on into a million pieces and if you could somehow put it together you will see that there is only one image and if you have the eye to see then you can also realize that there is no image.

It's only you who is reflecting everywhere.

There is no even the other.

But this journey from a million pieces,

From a million labels to no label to a union to all these pieces of the mirror being shattered and being now united and you can see once again the oneness in all of it,

The image that you are everywhere,

You are the one that is in all that requires a process.

That process is yoga,

The technique is meditation and this session is where we contemplate over these sutras that are presented by Patanjali in order for us to move towards that union,

In order for us to experience these union step by step and taking us to a place where finally there is only one,

There is union.

The sutra for today is a continuation for what we have been discussing in the past sutras about the seen that is this perceived world and the seer who is perceiving the world and Patanjali continues to say he says,

Tasyahetu Avidya.

He says the cause of this union which we just described is ignorance.

It is a strange way to put,

He says the cause of this union is ignorance.

In a way he is trying to say that because of this ignorance there is the need for this union,

There is the need to take the journey all the way back to union.

Otherwise in the very first place there was always union so there was not even the idea and the necessity to take that process towards the union.

This ignorance that we have somehow found ourselves into where we see a million shattered pieces,

Where we see a million labels to those million shattered pieces,

That ignorance which make us see in all those million shattered pieces a different image and unable to recognize that this is all me,

This is all you,

This is all one and the same.

This ignorance unable to recognize yourself in million pieces is what causes the necessity to have this process of union,

To have this reverse march towards home,

To move back to one's own true nature.

Then Patanjali says,

Tad abhavat samyoga abhava hanam tadraste kevalim.

Without this ignorance no such union occurs,

This is the independence of the seer.

He is once again saying that without this ignorance there is no such union that occurs.

So if there would be no ignorance there will be no concept of union anymore because you will be always in union and you recognize that you were always in this union.

There was always one,

There was never two.

With the concept of two,

With the duality that has arisen in our consciousness,

There is a necessity for a union.

So the science of yoga,

The whole path,

The sacred knowledge of yoga is in response to the ignorance.

Otherwise we were always in bliss,

We were always in peace,

We were always in union and there was not even a thought that we are broken,

We need to move towards somewhere.

This is not only the case in the past but this is the case also now.

We are always in union,

We are always one.

We only have to realize that,

We only have to move away from the ignorance.

And what is this ignorance?

This ignorance is the lack of awareness.

This ignorance is not the lack of knowledge,

It is not something that you don't know.

You know that deep down you know that you are one with everyone.

There is only one.

No matter what your culture is,

No matter what your religion is,

No matter what your conditioning is,

Deep down we all live this truth,

We all know it.

There is this truth always existing in us.

It doesn't have to be created,

It doesn't have to be coming from the outside.

The only thing needed is to discover it,

The only thing needed is to have that awareness which takes us from a state of ignorance to a state of knowing oneself.

In that knowing oneself,

Everything is one.

There can be a lot said about this oneness but unless you taste this oneness in your own experience,

Unless you give yourself those moments of silence where your mind that is coming in the way,

That is giving you all these one million explanations,

One million differences between you and the other and all these labels that you are carrying all throughout your life,

Unless that settles and you give yourself the time in those moments where you can experience this union,

All this talk is somewhat theory.

So let us convert this theory into a realization,

Into a practice so that we are not speaking out of sutras or out of scriptures but we speak out of our own truth.

We live out of our own truth.

Out of our own truth,

We become independent of the seen,

We become independent of the seer,

We become independent of all concepts,

All knowledge and the only thing that remains is awareness.

In that awareness,

The realization of the truth.

With that,

I invite you to close your eyes and move into silence with me.

Make sure that your posture is comfortable and allows you to let go of your body,

To sit in a state which is stable,

Which is alert.

The body and the mind will rest and the awareness will rise.

Therefore,

Meditation is when you are alert.

You don't move towards lethargy,

You don't move towards sleep,

You move towards alertness,

Effortless alertness.

Alertness of your mind,

Alertness of your body,

Alertness of this very moment,

Alertness of this very moment.

In this alertness,

You notice that the awareness is divided in a million pieces,

Some taken by thoughts,

Some taken by your body,

Some by the noises.

Your awareness is divided into a million pieces.

Recognize that,

Let that become your truth.

Don't try to fight with anything,

Change,

Anything.

No inner conflict,

Simply observing your inner space,

Getting to know your inner space.

Acknowledge your awareness broken into all these different parts,

Thoughts,

Emotions,

Sensations.

Ideas,

Inner chatter,

Body movements.

As your awareness becomes brighter and sees all these divisions,

Which you call as thoughts,

Senses,

Physical movements,

Anything which you see,

Hear,

Smell,

Taste,

Anything,

All these divisions are by your mind.

Your mind is giving all these labels.

They are all one.

The thought is also awareness.

The ambient noises are also awareness.

The sensations in your body are also awareness.

The whole body is just also awareness.

Even the mind,

The division creator,

Is also awareness.

This whole sense of self,

I am,

Is also awareness.

Without labels,

Everything is one awareness.

No more division.

In this oneness,

In this union,

There is also no need for one.

Drop the one and only pure awareness remains.

The only pure awareness,

No ideas,

No boundaries,

No divisions,

Not even one.

From a million images to one image,

From one image to no image.

This state is yoga.

In this state,

You are home,

Always at peace and bliss in truth.

Let this taste remain with you as you move back into the world with a million images.

Very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes and see the one in a million images.

See the none in the one.

I will see you tomorrow at 7am Central European Time.

Namaste.