#84. Living With Desires | Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

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

Dehansi.

We are meditating on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

These Yoga Sutras are taking us to a state of Kevalya.

We have been talking about what this state of Kevalya is.

This ultimate freedom which Patanjali is setting as a vision in his Yoga Sutras.

What is this ultimate freedom,

This nothingness,

This emptiness?

And we have been discussing different facets of this Kevalya,

Of this nothingness,

Of this emptiness.

And what I would like you to focus on,

Meditate on,

Is on the facet of desirelessness.

Desirelessness is a facet of Kevalya which is always misunderstood across different teachings,

Across different traditions.

When someone talks about desirelessness,

Immediately there is a turn off.

Because on one hand it appears to be unreachable,

A state of desirelessness where there are no desires.

On the other hand,

This state appears to be not compatible with our life.

We would say,

If we are in a state of desirelessness,

How can we then proceed in our life?

Where is the motivation to live?

If there is no desire,

Then how can we take the next step in our life?

This is why desirelessness as a facet of Kevalya,

Of Moksha,

Of Nirvana is misunderstood.

And I would like us to meditate.

Patanjali would like us to have this clarified,

Very crystal clear at this milestone.

We have stopped at this milestone of desirelessness in some sessions from the past as well.

So that this is very very clear in our consciousness.

What is desirelessness?

How we can live desirelessness?

How this desirelessness leads to emptiness,

Leads to Kevalya?

So what is this desirelessness?

Is this having no desire?

That would be the simplest English translation of desirelessness.

Because there is a lack of words that we could use to denote what desirelessness is,

We simply translate desirelessness as having no desires.

But think of it like this,

Understand it like this.

Desirelessness is a state where you are at a distance from the desires,

Where you are dis-identified with the desires.

Desires are there or not there,

It does not matter.

If the desires are there,

You are motivated by the desires.

If the desires are not there,

You are motivated by the emptiness.

Your life keeps on moving,

The flow of life does not stop,

The flow of life does not depend on desires.

Only when you are dis-identified with the desires.

So the emphasis of desirelessness is on dis-identification.

Having the desires at a distance.

Being the master of desires,

Not the slave of desires.

When the desires are there,

You know what to do.

You know how to be on top of the desire.

Whether to execute the desire,

Whether not to execute the desire,

And whether to just let it be.

Let it come and let it be.

So how to deal with desires,

How to operate with desires,

How to be in that state of desirelessness,

Where you are at a distance from desires.

Not that desires are good or desires are bad,

Desires are desires.

And if the desire has arisen in you,

It will most likely take you towards its fulfillment.

Because desire by its nature is made to be fulfilled.

And all you have to do is to remain dis-identified with it.

Even while the desire is being fulfilled or is in the process of moving towards that fulfillment.

How to be in this state of desirelessness,

Of being at a distance from desires.

Two components are needed.

Silence and awareness.

Silence so that you have a clear mind.

So that you have so much depth,

So much silence in you that you are rooted,

You are seated in that silence.

And no desire can come and attract you and take you along.

You remain rooted,

You remain absolutely quiet.

You remain a witness of those desires.

Four monks,

They decided to be in silence.

So they sat down in their hut,

They put a candle in the middle.

And they said,

We will remain in silence for a week,

We will meditate in silence for a week.

Few hours passed by,

The evening came,

There was total darkness.

The candle was the only source of light.

And from the window,

An air came and blew the candle away.

Just as that candle was blown away,

One of the monks said,

Oh,

The candle is off.

The second monk said,

Aren't we supposed to not talk?

Immediately,

The third monk replied,

Why are you two talking?

And the fourth monk laughed.

He said,

Am I the only one who is keeping the vow of not talking?

Such is our silence.

Such thin is our silence that anything comes,

Even a thought comes,

And we are getting carried away.

When a desire will come like a wave,

How will you remain seated in silence?

For that,

You have to have this depth of silence in you,

The centeredness of silence in you that only arises when you practice.

When you allow yourself these moments of meditation,

These moments of letting go,

These moments of silence every day,

So that all this madness of thoughts that come along and take you along,

All these waves of desire that come and take you along,

They are unable to touch you.

They are there,

Thoughts are there,

Desires are there,

But you are untouched.

You remain like a lotus on the mud.

You remain above everything else.

You remain above the mud just like a lotus that is there silently blossoming its 1000 petals.

So the silence is one component that is a must,

That is definitely needed and has to be developed over time.

And the second is awareness.

We have been talking about awareness in depth in the past two sessions,

Where what we are saying is when you are aware,

The actions that you do,

They do not result in new desires,

And you don't create the circle of actions and desires.

In unawareness,

Whatever you do,

It produces more and more desires,

Leading to more and more action that is required to fulfill those desires.

So these two things,

Silence and awareness,

Remember these two things,

Take these two things as your tools as you move forward towards kevalya,

Towards desirelessness.

Let us very shortly hear what Patanjali has to say in this context before we sit in silence,

Before we sit in meditation.

Patanjali says,

TASAN ANADITVAM CHA ASHISHO NITYATVAT What that means is,

Since the desire to live is eternal,

Impressions are also beginningless.

Here,

Patanjali is setting the direction.

He is saying,

The world is busy in finding out when the world began.

He is saying,

That is the direction towards the past,

That is the direction which you should not take.

You should look in the front,

Because the desire to live is eternal.

This ultimate desire that we have in us,

This desire to live is eternal.

These impressions are also beginningless.

So don't look for the beginning of the impressions,

Don't look for the cause of the impressions.

Look at the end of these impressions.

Don't look at the beginning,

Look at the end.

Because the beginning,

There is beginningless.

These impressions are beginningless.

You cannot go back into the past and see where these impressions started to come from and why they are there and so on.

Rather,

You move towards their end.

You move towards the end of impressions that are disturbing your silence,

That are disturbing your awareness,

Putting you into an unaware action.

He tu phala astraya albaniya samgrahi tatvat e sam abhava tad abhava.

Being bound together as cause,

Effect,

Substratum,

Object.

These impressions disappear on the disappearance of unawareness.

So once again,

He goes into details,

But the crux,

The message here is that be aware,

Be silent.

Once you have this silence,

Once you have this awareness,

You are on the right track,

You are on the path of desirelessness.

Otherwise,

You are caught in unawareness.

Otherwise,

Your entire life is moving with unawareness.

A drunkard,

He was after his session at the pub,

After his daily routine at the pub,

He was walking down the street in the middle of the night,

Where he was bumping hard on every pole that he was coming across.

And after hitting all these several poles,

A man was sitting by on that street,

He was watching this man getting bumped on every pole.

And as this man hit the next pole,

Even harder,

Even so stronger that the man sitting at the corner,

He couldn't bear that.

He said,

What are you doing?

Are you okay?

This drunkard said,

Yeah,

Thank you very much for asking.

I am okay.

Can you do me a favor?

The man said,

Yes,

Of course.

Can you count how many boils do I have on my forehead?

The man said,

He looked at the man,

First of all,

He couldn't believe that this drunkard is asking to count the boils,

But he did count the boils.

He said,

You have 14 boils on your forehead.

The man said,

Well,

Good,

Six more to go before I reach home.

This is how we are moving in life,

In unawareness.

We are counting the boils on our forehead as we stumble upon many things in life.

So the message here of Patanjali is to be aware,

To have a life full of awareness,

To have a life full of silence.

With that message from Patanjali,

Let us move into silence,

Into meditation.

And for today's technique,

We will use breath as the bridge,

As a reminder,

As a focal point of our awareness.

Where,

When you breathe in and you breathe out,

There is a loop that is created.

There is a rhythm that is created.

There is a flow that is there in your breath.

That flow will remind us to be aware.

Not the boils on our forehead,

But the flow of the breath,

The inhalation and the exhalation,

Will remind us of our awareness.

Will remind us to be aware at all times.

And in this flow of breath,

In this flow of inhalation and exhalation,

In the middle,

There is silence.

The circle,

If you see,

That is created by the flow of the breath,

In the middle of that circle is silence.

If you keep that visualization in mind,

If you take this as a technique in your silence,

In your meditation,

It will help you to find your track,

To find your track towards silence,

To find your track all along the awareness of your breath.

So let us practice that.

It is very simple as a technique and you can practice this not only in today's session,

But otherwise as well,

Before going to sleep or otherwise during the day as well.

Please close your eyes.

Take a posture that is easy for you,

Allowing your head,

Your neck,

Shoulders,

Back,

Legs,

All your body to be at rest.

Giving these moments for your body to find a restful posture.

And as the body settles,

The mind comes down.

Take a nice deep breath.

Inhale from the nose and exhale from the nose.

Allowing the breath to find its natural pace.

Flowing in silently on its own.

Allowing the breath to find its natural pace.

Allowing the breath to find its natural pace.

Shifting your awareness to your breath,

To the flow of your breath,

Of inhalation and exhalation.

And simply flowing along with this flow of your breath.

Breath flows in,

Your awareness flows along,

Your breath flows out,

Your awareness flows along.

At all times reminding you,

Keeping you aware.

Not trying to concentrate.

Not trying to focus.

Simply flowing along with your breath.

From the feeling of the breath.

Flowing with every inhalation,

With every exhalation.

Remaining aware of the flow.

Allowing your awareness to your breath.

Thoughts may arise and fall.

Images may arise and fall.

Inner chatter may arise and fall.

You simply flow along with your breath.

Without trying to change anything.

Without trying to force anything.

You simply flow along with your breath.

With every exhalation.

The flow of your breath happening on its own.

You simply flow along.

With every exhalation.

With every exhalation.

As your awareness flows along with your breath.

Silence arises from nowhere into your being.

Stillness in your body.

Calmness in your mind.

And a deep silence in your spirit.

Thank you.

Stay in this silence.

This flow of breath and awareness without any effort.

Let go of your breath.

Take a breath.

And only silence and awareness remains.

Let everything go in this silent awareness.

Let go of your breath.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

This silent awareness is your true nature.

Is your default state.

And very gently and slowly.

You may open your eyes.

Seated in silence,

In awareness.

At a distance from all desires.

From all thoughts.

From all manifestations of this world.

And as you interact with these manifestations,

These thoughts,

These desires,

Your awareness and your silence remains your guide.

Your light as you proceed in your day.

Thank you very much for joining.

Namaste.