#89. The Space Of No-Mind | Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali

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

Dhyana Se.

We're meditating on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

On these last few steps,

On the path of kevala,

On the peak of yoga where there is only emptiness,

Where there is only nothingness,

On these peaks,

On these last steps,

The air is thin,

One has to be very careful,

Very focused.

All what has to be said,

All what had to be learned,

All what had to be unlearned,

Patanjali has delivered that to you.

Now it's only the reminders.

Now it's only revising in your mind,

In your heart,

In your spirit,

Something that you do not miss out on while you are on this peak,

While you are reaching to emptiness,

To nothingness.

And one of those reminders is about the mind.

Because mind you put aside and it comes back.

Mind is something that is the last to be dropped or is dropped in this process of transformation.

It should be the first to be dropped but it always comes back.

From somewhere the mind comes back with its questions,

With its views,

With its interpretations and tells you that what you are doing,

Where you are going on this path,

It should not be this way,

It should be that way.

Mind becomes a barrier.

And that is why on this last part,

On these last steps towards kevalya,

Patanjali is so focused on ensuring that you drop the mind.

And this is the hardest part,

This is the last load that you have to drop in order to rise to kevalya,

In order to rise to nothingness,

To emptiness.

This mind that we have gathered all throughout our life.

This is the hardest challenge to all spiritual practices.

It does not matter which spiritual practice that you take,

The hardest challenge for any spiritual practice,

Any spiritual master,

Any teaching is to take you out of your mind into something called as no mind,

Into a space where mind has no reach,

Into a space where mind has no control.

And all along this journey from mind to no mind,

Your mind will hold you back.

It will pull you down,

It will say do not listen,

It will say what you are listening is not worth,

Here is something more interesting.

It will always take you towards itself,

Keeping you rooted in its past.

It will never allow you to be in the no mind.

So the greatest challenge in spirituality for the meditator and for the master,

For the teacher,

For the knowledge itself is to take you out of the mind and be in the state of no mind.

Let us hear what Patanjali has to say today in order to give us that last nudge towards the no mind,

To move from the mind to the no mind where there is vast emptiness,

Nothingness,

Pure consciousness.

Patanjali says,

Eka Samyecha Ubhaya Anavadhara Nam.

The mind cannot perceive both subject and object simultaneously.

A small sutra but contains a lot of wisdom which has been imparted in the previous sutras as well but now this is a reminder if you have not yet got it.

If you have still missed all along this journey of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,

This is the last call for you to remember,

To understand,

To have this realization that the mind cannot perceive both the subject and the object simultaneously.

What that means is,

When you see from the mind,

You either see the object,

You see the whole world through the mind,

All your interpretations,

All your experiences of the outside is through the mind and mind is busy in this perception of the objects.

Mind never pays attention to who is the subject,

Who is this I,

Who is behind the mind,

Who is in our inner space that is watching,

That is experiencing,

That is going through this journey called life.

So mind is keeping you busy either with the objects,

It is constantly showing you one object and the second object and you are either caught up in the desires or trying to avoid something in life or trying to move towards something in life,

It is constantly replacing the objects,

It is keeping your attention occupied with the object,

That is its comfort zone.

Mind's comfort zone is in the object,

It is in the outside.

But the moment you start to see that these objects are not enough and you want more inner peace,

You want more love,

You want more joy in life,

You want more of the intrinsic qualities of life,

Then everything,

All teachings,

All teachers,

All practices say turn inwards.

The mind is then forced to turn inwards,

To look at the subject,

Who is this subject.

It is pushed away from all the objects and turned towards the subject.

In the turning,

The mind does not like this turning.

It turns,

But what it does is,

It renounces everything that is outside and therefore are born all the monks who renounce the whole world,

Who say,

Okay,

The truth of life is not in material,

The truth of life is in the spiritual.

So they renounce everything that is there from the outside,

They turn completely inwards towards the subject.

Basically their mind is focused on the subject.

They want to feel who is this,

Who is feeling,

Who is experiencing,

And in this process they also miss.

See the point of Patanjali.

Patanjali is so complete,

He is not saying that you choose one over the other.

He is showing you the nature,

The characteristic of the mind,

That mind cannot hold the entirety of life.

Mind cannot hold the entirety of the experience,

Of the mechanisms that are happening.

So what it does is,

It either keeps its attention towards the object,

Towards the outside,

Or it rejects the outside,

It rejects the object,

And it starts to focus only on the subject.

It starts to think about the subject,

It starts to imagine the subject,

It starts to create its own version of the subject.

Earlier it was having imaginations,

Thinkings,

Images of the outside.

Now it has these objects are becoming of the inside.

It is now using the subject as its imagination,

As its thinking.

So what Patanjali is saying that mind remains in this outside,

Inside,

It cannot combine the both,

It cannot hold the both.

Then what to do?

Then how to be,

And the only answer to that,

The only way to be complete in our experience,

In our view,

Is to be in a state called no mind.

To come out of the mind,

To be in no mind.

In no mind there is only awareness.

So what is the meaning of no mind?

No mind is a state where there is only awareness.

In that awareness there is completion.

In that awareness there is the object,

There is the subject,

There is the mind,

And the entire space.

So the only way to contain everything is through the no mind,

Through the emptiness,

Through the nothingness,

Through kevaldom.

So on this last step of kevaldom,

Of this journey towards nothingness,

Here Patanjali is reminding the importance of moving out of the mind,

Moving beyond the mind,

Not remaining just stuck in the mind.

Because what mind is showing you is good,

Is fine,

But it is not enough.

There is a lot to experience that is there beyond the mind and that can only happen when you are in no mind.

That can only happen when you are in awareness.

This has been the effort all throughout the steps of Patanjali towards Kevalya and we will practice this in our meditation today,

In our silence,

To move away from the object,

Away from the subject,

Away from everything to a space that is empty,

To a space that is no mind and you will discover that in that no mind,

In that space of emptiness,

Everything is included.

It is an all-inclusive space but it can only happen once you allow yourself to move beyond the mind into no mind.

Let us take this teaching,

Let us take this wisdom into our own experience,

Into our own silence,

Into our own awareness.

Please close your eyes.

Take a posture that allows you to have your body at rest.

Keeping your head straight,

Shoulders down,

Back straight.

Face relaxed.

Take a nice deep breath.

Inhale from the nose and exhale from the nose and allowing your body to rest deeper,

To settle,

Your mind to settle and your awareness to rise.

Let us take a deep breath.

Begin by becoming aware of the outside,

Of what you hear,

Of what you hear.

Of what you smell,

Of what you feel on your skin.

Take these moments to be aware of your surroundings.

The ambient noises,

Movements,

Anything that comes to your awareness.

Your awareness to your attention as you sit silently allowing your body,

Your mind to settle.

Know your surroundings with awareness.

Less and less with thought,

More and more with awareness.

Take a deep breath.

And shifting this awareness to your inner space.

From outside to inside.

Noticing sensations,

Movements,

Feelings,

Thoughts,

Anything that arise in your inner space.

Take a deep breath.

Don't focus.

Let it be a restful awareness in your inner space.

Really witnessing whatever arises in your inner space.

Let it be a restful awareness in your inner space.

Thoughts may arise and fall.

Images,

Sounds,

Ideas,

Anything may arise and fall.

You simply remain a witness silently observing your inner space.

Let it be a restful awareness in your inner space.

This shift from thinking to awareness.

More and more awareness.

Allowing this awareness to expand,

To rise,

To become brighter in your inner space.

And all your attention on the awareness itself.

Let it be a restful awareness in your inner space.

Everything else in the background.

Only awareness in your foreground,

In your experience.

Allow this awareness to expand,

To go beyond your body.

Let alone your mind expand in all directions.

Let it be a restful awareness in your inner space.

Leave all effort.

Really stay in this silence,

In this awareness.

Not trying to do anything.

Not trying to change anything.

Let it be a restful awareness in your inner space.

Let it be a restful awareness in your inner space.

And awareness back to your breath.

Back to your body.

Very gently and slowly you may open your eyes.

Maintaining the centeredness.

This expanded awareness in a silence.

And this sense of being in an expansion,

In this expanded awareness.

Taking this sense as you move in your day.

Thank you very much.

Namaste.