#88. Follow The Sun | Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

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

The answer in meditating on yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Today is Diwali,

The biggest festival in India.

This festival is the festival of lights.

It is a representation of the victory of light over darkness,

Of the good over the evil,

Of the divine over the bad.

And this victory over light over darkness,

You could see this in all traditions,

Not just in India,

In all other countries,

In all other traditions,

In all religions,

In some form,

There is a victory of light over darkness.

And we have been listening to these stories,

Listening to these victories of light over darkness,

To have hope,

To have inspiration,

To know that light in the end always wins.

In this battle between light and darkness,

No matter how strong the darkness appears,

Light always wins.

And this message is so much more important even today,

Far more important today than ever before.

So this is what the tradition brings in.

What has this to do with meditation?

What has to do with the meditator,

With the yogi?

To understand this light and darkness in fight and the light winning over darkness is one way of understanding what is happening in this cosmos.

But there is a higher wisdom on top of that,

Which to a yogi becomes clear in meditation,

In silence.

In yoga,

On this path of kevalaya,

On this path of emptiness,

On this path towards light,

What the yogi discovers,

What the meditator discovers,

That there is only light.

Darkness has no existence of its own.

Light has its own existence.

Darkness is simply the absence of light.

Light has a presence.

This consciousness has a presence.

Darkness,

The ignorance,

The absence of consciousness has no existence,

No intrinsic existence of its own.

It only exists as the absence of light.

So for a meditator,

For a yogi,

There is actually no conflict between light and darkness.

For a yogi,

For a meditator,

For someone on the path of kevala,

On the path of yoga,

There is only light.

And whatever is the rest,

The absence of light,

The darkness,

Is not in conflict with the light.

It is about to be enlightened.

It is about to become a part of the light.

With that perspective,

We move towards these final stages,

Final steps of kevala to understand what is this emptiness,

To feel this emptiness,

To be in this emptiness,

To realize this empty space is always filled with light.

The nature of this empty space is not darkness.

The nature of this empty space is light.

Let us hear what Patanjali has to say in this regard on this festival of Diwali,

On this festival of light,

To guide us towards this light for today,

Before we sit in meditation and in our silence.

Patanjali says,

Na tat subhasan drasyatvat,

The mind stuff is not self-luminous because it is an object of perception by the purusha.

The mind has no light of its own.

This is what Patanjali is trying to say through this sutra.

We have been guiding ourselves,

We have been guided by the mind throughout our lives,

But mind has no light of its own.

Mind has no energy of its own.

It is borrowing the light from somewhere else.

What is that source from which the mind is borrowing the light?

That source is consciousness.

And here Patanjali is saying,

The mind is not self-luminous because it is an object of perception by the purusha.

Meaning,

In the reference frame of consciousness,

In the light of consciousness,

You can see the mind.

When you close your eyes,

When you are in silence,

When you move within,

You see your mind activity,

You see all the thoughts,

All the ideas,

All the images,

All the past,

All the future arising in your inner space.

You can see it that seeing is in the light of your consciousness.

You can see the mind,

Therefore,

Mind has no luminosity of its own.

Mind has no light of its own.

And the whole effort on this journey towards emptiness is to say,

Move towards what is more real.

Move towards the source,

Towards the consciousness.

Along the journey,

You will come across the body.

Along the journey,

You will come across the mind.

But all these are not the source.

The source of the light is the consciousness.

There is another way to understand this,

Which is simply an analogy,

Not really the truth,

But just to understand this.

See it like this,

The way it is in the cosmos is exactly the way it is in our inner space.

The outer is the inner.

The inner is exactly the same as the outer.

In the outer cosmos,

You have the sun,

The source of the light,

You have the earth,

And you have the moon.

Three things,

If you just for now keep these three things in your understanding that there is the sun,

There is the moon,

And there is the earth.

You are on the earth,

On the body.

On the physical,

The earth is the body,

The representation of the physical.

Your experience,

All your experience,

All your existence that you think is on the earth is on the very physical.

Every experience that you do,

That you have in your life happens on the earth.

So therefore,

This earth is the body.

All these experiences that you have in your body,

The pain,

The pleasure,

And all sorts of sensations that you have in your body,

That body represents the earth,

The experience that you have.

Then the source of light,

The source of energy,

The sun,

Your consciousness.

And what is the moon?

Moon is the mind.

Moon is that influences everything that is happening on the earth.

Moon that has a very strong control over the earth.

Moon that has no light of its own.

Still we say there is moonlight.

We know there is no intrinsic light in the moon.

The light of the moon is a reflection.

It is the luminosity of the sun,

But we still say moonlight.

And we are living as if we are living on earth in the night.

In the time when we are not having the light,

The direct light of the sun,

And we are only living in the moonlight.

Therefore we look at the moonlight to show us the way,

And it can only show you a very limited version.

In the moonlight,

You may think that there are things in your way.

You may have confusions.

You may not see clearly everything.

But when the sun rises,

When the consciousness rises in you,

There is no place for the moon.

You don't even look at the moon,

Even if it is there,

You directly live in the light of the sun.

And this is the whole message of Patanjali through this sutra,

For you to recognize that mind has no light of its own.

It is your consciousness,

The purusha,

The one who can illuminate everything,

The body,

The mind,

That turned towards that,

Turned towards that source of consciousness from which all the light arises,

And there is no conflict between light and darkness.

There is only light and the possibility of enlightenment.

If you keep that perspective that there is only light and there is the possibility of enlightenment,

How that happens is to move towards light,

Move towards the source.

Not look at the moon,

Not let the moon,

The mind,

Guide you,

Direct you,

But rather look at the sun.

Be the sun,

Be the light,

Look at that as the source of your life,

As the source of what should guide you in your journey of life.

Let us take this analogy,

Let us take this understanding into our meditation,

Into our silence,

And move towards light,

Move towards the source.

Please close your eyes.

Take a posture that is comfortable for you.

Allowing your body to find rest in your posture.

Keeping your head straight,

Shoulders down,

Spine erect,

Face relaxed,

And a gentle smile on your face.

Allowing your body to find rest in your awareness to turn inwards.

Allowing your awareness to turn inwards and settle in your inner space.

Begin by bringing your awareness to the body,

To the earth,

To the physical,

To all the sensations,

The physical in you.

With every breath,

Simply observing the physical,

The earth,

The body,

The subtle movements,

Sensations,

Expansion and contractions,

The aliveness of your body.

Don't imagine the presence of aBl trick video.

Don't imagine.

Be aware.

In the light of your consciousness,

Be aware of your body.

Be aware of your mind.

The awareness becoming brighter.

The light shining on your body.

This awareness,

The entire body illuminates.

The light of your consciousness.

And become aware of the moon.

The moon of the mind.

The light shining on your body.

Simply observe your mind.

The light shining on your body.

The light of your consciousness.

Falling on your mind.

You becoming aware of your mind.

The light shining on your body.

See,

There is only light and space to be enlightened.

As you observe your mind,

Your inner space.

The light shining on your body.

Shift your awareness towards the light.

Away from the object,

Away from the mind.

Simply observe this inner light.

As you observe inner light,

You move closer to the source,

To the sun,

To your consciousness.

Your consciousness.

Away from all objects.

Towards the source.

Leave all effort.

Let go of everything.

And simply stay in this light,

In this emptiness,

In this silence for the next minutes.

Let go of everything.

Remaining aware of the light.

Shift your attention to what you see behind your closed eyes.

The light that you see behind your closed eyes.

The light that you see behind your closed eyes.

And with that awareness,

Very gently and slowly,

You may open your eyes.

Remaining connected to the inner light,

To the silence,

The emptiness,

And this light that guides us throughout our life.

Take this message,

This experience in your day as well.

Thank you very much.

Namaste.