Yat Bhavam tat bhavati! The way we think, we become

Bhavani bhavana gamyam

Meaning the universal power which is shakti swarupini, Bhavani, Follows the Bhavana. The thought flow or emotions of Bhakta.

If universal mother follows the thought flow then everything else also follows.

Then why is it that we get diseases, why is our Sankalpa shakti not strong?

Let us try to understand the process that goes within us, day in and day out without our notice.

All the Devatas enter our body when we inhale.

They do their allocated work within our body these divine being work in an orderly manner as per universal command, they are responsible for the functioning of various organs and systems within us.

They all exit us when we exhale.

Between an inhale and an exhale these Devatas do their work.

This happens with each respiration that we take daily.

We fail to acknowledge their presence within our body, we also fail to understand the functioning within us, we tend to misuse the apparatus of Body, Mind and Intellect. This is primarily due to our ignorance as well as temptations for our mind to follow the senses and desires.

This is what leads us to disease.

The moment we value the body given to us to be an equivalent of a temple, he moment we entertain pious thoughts like those when we enter the temple, the moment we recognize the divine mother in the form of Shakti within us, that very moment we are blessed with good health.The Devatas bless us with prosperity. They bless us with happiness. They bless us with Sankalpa Shakti.

Whatever we think gets manifested

What we desire, that we become.

This is the universal secret.

This is what needs to be learnt during Dussehera.

We worship mother shakti in different forms

Ultimately all these forms merge within us.

Within each one of us is a spark of divinity.

It is the same spark that is universal

Each one of us has to conquer demons within us in the form of:

Kama vasana (Lust), Krodha (Anger), Moha (Attachment), Lobha (Greed), Mada (Over Pride), Matsara (Jealousy), Swartha (Selfishness), Anyaaya (Injustice), Amanavta (Cruelty), Ahankara (Ego),

If you have read Lalita sahasranama these are all deemed as weapons of divine mother

Why do you think she needs these as weapons instead of a sudarshana chakra or a trisula

It is because poison needs to be treated with another poison as an antidote

A thorn needs to be taken out using a needle hence the benevolent mother makes use of the same ones to drive away these within us. 

In place of these we are blessed with Bhakti, Gnana and Vairagya

Bhakti is required to cleanse our emotional body.

Hence bhaktas are emotional initially

Our eyes get tears when we read good Bhakti literature or hear songs. Gnana is required to cleanse our intellect. Our logic, reasoning needs to be lead by knowledge

Reading scriptures provides us the knowledge.

Vairagya cleanses our causal body or karana sharira.

We take births due to unfulfilled desires

Desires are endless and cause miseries.

Hence the route of Tyaga and vairagya, detachment from material and attachment to real or permanent form of us which is the spark of divinity.3

This is the subtle meaning conveyed in Lalita.

Realize that oir body is a temple where the spirit of divinity resides

Realize that it is the same spirit that is existing in all visible and invisible world

Realize that crores of Devatas enter our body with each breath we take since it is a temple of that omnipresent spirit which has taken a form.

 When we start to live in this awareness we will start experiencing the beauty of life, we would have grown in this birth.

We would have taken an elevator and next birth is going to be more beautiful towards the ultimate goal.

The moment we are able to break these shackles that bind you using the knowledge provided just now, our Sankalpa shakti will increase

We will be able to achieve anything that we desire

 Of course we will still need a guru to guide us since with great power comes greater responsibility.

Just imagine the great change that comes with just being aware of this moment, just by the thought that crores of Devatas enter our body with this very breath. Each breath we take becomes filled with devotion towards supreme self that resides within us.

This is the ahuti to the yagna within us.

The way we pour ghee in yagna, as an ahuti

Each breath is a sacrifice that we make towards this life.

With each breath our life span decreases Since we are making a sacrifice of this life to the supreme spirit residing within us.

With each ahuti we say Edam na mama when we do an external yagna.

External yagna is  make us understand the internal process.

Any ritual has a hidden meaning.

When we are aware that a sacred yagna is going on within ourself then we will try to remain with pure thoughts.

That is when we recognize those Devatas that are doing thankless job for us.

By showing our respect to them, we are entitled to their blessings.We become hale and healthy.

Mind controls the matter.

The way you think you will become.

Your mind will guide you towards your desired goal.

Yad bhaavam tad bhavati.

Freedom!!!

You are never given an idea without the energy/power to achieve it

Believe in destiny and accept things as they come, be truthful to what comes to you

Whatever you are destined will come to you. What you are not, will always run away from you and eventually even without your knowledge you will end up doing what comes to you (destiny) however since this is not what you are running after, you tend to do it half heartedly

If you really want to create a future that is drastically different from what is happening then all references to past need to be removed. Unconsciously our actions are a resultant of our impressions and tendencies of past. Our mind will always cling to past memories, experiences, wants, desires(fulfilled and unfulfilled) hence we are always bonded to our past unknowingly. Breaking these bonds and realising our true nature unclouded by our past memories of all births is the real freedom.

A yogi creates his future or rather chooses a future while mundane beings are hostages to their past since the actions in present are out of bondage to past. 

This is my learning for this Independence Day

The above Karma theory is of no use unless we can implement the lesson drawn from it. How to break our shackles or bonds of the past association which lie in deep layers of memory often unknown to conscious mind, is the science that Patanjali Maharishi teaches in Yogasutras and Maharishi Veda Vyasa scrolls in Mahabharata through Lord Krishna in Bhagawad Geeta.

If we take a look at Lord Krishna's character depicted in Mahabharata, we will notice that he didn't have a personality of his own. Each person could see a reflection of his own personality in Krishna

With Arjuna, he was a friend and Guru at time of need

With Shakuni , he was a better at Cunning even Shakuni

With Dhritarashtra, Krishna was a better politician

He even arm twisted Bhishma during war and lead him to reveal how he could be defeated and that was the purpose he took the wheel of the Chariot and acted to hurl the same at Bhishma. In the process he empowered Arjuna to battle with Bhishma

With Duryodhana, he gave away his own army and gave himself to Arjuna to be his charioteer. Since Duryodhana and Arjuna wanted the same.

He never had his agenda. He never created any motive, people around him flocked around him and got what they needed.

This is real freedom

We all can be free from clutches of the past

By going to the source

Tasya vachakah pranavaha

Tapah swadhayayah eswara pranidhanani eti kriya yogaha

The above two are the true means through which we can gain independence in our thought and action

An action without a motive creates no karma and is often directed from source for the benefit of humanity, a self less action is possible for all of us through the path of Yoga. We don't need an special qualification to be liberated. Liberation is here and now!!!

Let us celebrate our independence.

If we do a logical analysis. Who am I? We will be able to weed out our physical body, our energy body (pranic), mind, intellect and finally reach our consciousness or energy. Same is the case with all living and non living. Since everything is formed out of Atoms. When we go deeper, atoms are formed by sub atomic particles of protons, neutrons and electrons. These are further formed through atomic vibrations or energy. In essence this energy is taking all forms in the visible and mental world. The same energy can also be called consciousness. We can term the same a Antaryami. Same Antaryami is every where.

So, consciousness is everywhere in both manifested and un manifested forms. Like for example there is a mango tree that has mangoes, within the same mangoes there are mango seeds. Not all mango seeds become mango trees, yet a potential mango tree resides in every mango seed. Once when a mango seed falls on a fertile land and it is tended by nature, it grows into a mango tree.

Similarly we are all due to a causal body that comprises of impressions of past births and those impressions that have gained strength and have become tendencies have been nurtured by nature through provision of body is what we are through our body,mind and intellect. This way we are caged in our past Karma, a part of which we are seeing as a fruit in the form of prarabdha karma in the current birth.

Similarly entire universe resides in all of us in the form of potential. This is truly Vishwa roopam. 

Coming back to ourselves, we are alive because consciousness has manifested itself within our body, mind, intellect apparatus. We have been provided sense organs which interact with the world. There is no sin in that, when a sense organ interacts with world.

Example: when i see a Rose. There is no harm in seeing. Yet, something else happens without our conscious knowledge. Let us analyse the process of seeing. There are 3 entities involved- Seer, Seen, process of seeing.

When consciousness through the sense organ of eye falls on  an external entity Rose. It takes the form of a Rose. When external form thus created enters our body through eye, without our knowledge a mind gets created. This happens unknowingly because through all the previous births this has become our nature. However if we analyse this mind was not there before and it got created just now, how did it get created? The answer is we have a mental body, just like our physical body. The mental body is a store house of all our thoughts of present and past births. This doesn't get destroyed by death of physical body. This mental body is based on a subtle causal body. This causal body is a storehouse of all our past lives impressions, sanchita karma.

Now, we understand that the newly created mind on seeing a Rose is having its roots in the mental and causal body hence it is trapped in the past. It instantaneously associates itself with the past memories with Rose. If we have good memory of gifting a rose to our beloved, this mind creates positive emotions and we are drawn to past emotions that were prevent when we gifted the Rose to beloved. If our past association with a Rose is that it was put on a grave then the mind clings to emotion of lose or despair at the lose of a beloved one.

Let us be mindful that the physical rose has nothing to do with both type of emotions created within us. This rose was not even existing at the time of those emotions. Yet we associate this with same emotions.

The above is just an analogy, our thought process is similarly clouded with past association, whether know to conscious mind or subconscious mind or unconscious mind.

This is the trap we all are living in. Is there an escape?

Answer is yes.

Then how?

This is where meditation comes into picture. What is meditation?

Please don't fancy yourselves that meditation is done by sitting in some antiseptic corner of the universe.

Meditation comes into picture the moment we start observing this newly created mind. The moment we observe, we disconnect with that mind. We disconnect with past. This mind disappears instantaneously. Then what happens is pure consciousness acts in the absence of mind trapped in the past. During these moments we act through inspiration and freedom. The actions come directly from source, Antaryami.

We just observe Antaryami acting through us. We have no motives hence no karma is created. Our personality shell breaks and we start reflecting others around us. We still continue to act, yet this is not out of bondage, this is out of freedom. This is the life of a Yogi.

Be free! Embrace real freedom eternally. This is moksha. It doesn't mean we cease to exist, it doesn't mean there won't be further births. It means we are free to choose. We existed even before creation of universe and we continue to exists.

Does a wave not exist? It would continue its existence as water.

Slaves of Past or Masters of future? Choice is ours!

Veda essentially means knowledge, it doesn’t denote a book. It is the knowledge that got revealed to masters who dedicated their lives in the quest of the same. To those dedicated masters who achieved the highest degree of concentration, the knowledge got revealed in the form of a flash of illumination.

Modern minds can correlate the same with Archimedes, the great Greek philosopher/scientist who in one such flash of illumination exclaimed “Eureka”, and went on to propound the famous Archimedes Principle that we study in Physics.

All of us are curious about our future. Deep inside us this curiosity takes us towards occult sciences such as Astrology. Astrology is also known as Jyotish and it is a Vedanga. Which means it is a limb of Vedas. Is it really possible to know the future? Do planets far away from us have a bearing on our lives? Why should some planets be beneficial and why should some bring in ill results?

What harm did a newly born Baby could have possibly caused to the planets? Why is it that Babies born in the same hospital and at equal distances from planets have different futures?

Is there a possible way to know the future or is Astrology a mere superstition?

For now, let us presume that Jyotish is a real possibility and there is a way to find what lies in store for us in the future. We will explore other questions on Astrology in a separate blog since this is a huge debate in itself. I seek you to be with me in believing that Astrology is indeed a science and it does provide us with a ray of hope.

If this position is acceptable, then let me also add to it that planets just do their jobs. They are governed by their duty without any prejudices against anyone of us. Their position at the time of our birth is an indication of a combination of our past lives actions. This is otherwise known as “Karma”. The planets do the duty of dispelling the fruits of our past actions. They are impartial in doing their duties. As mentioned earlier, we will explore some other time in more detail on how to appease the planets and how to atone the deeds of past lives.

For now, let us realize the intricacies of our Karma & how it affects us in our day to day lives.

If you consider life to be reflection of thoughts then you also need to analyze which type of thoughts you are getting and why is it that you alone get such thoughts?

Thoughts are based on past actions and unfulfilled desires which are deep rooted and often not known even to your conscious mind. These are hidden in deeper layers of memory that we carry from one birth to another.

"Buddhi Karma anusarena”

‘Intellect or Buddhi follows Karma’.

Meaning, we get exactly the same kind of thoughts that are in accordance to our past Karma. So where is the escape? Are we hostages to our past or is there any freedom provided to us?

The next question that comes to us is how we can change the pattern of thoughts, so that we come to lead a life like the one that we want to, instead of getting trapped in the past patterns lying deep in our memory or so to say subconscious.

Unless we answer these questions, the future is not ours. That is we can't create our future. It will just be continuation of our present thoughts that sprouted out of past actions.

So, how do we change the pattern of thoughts that come to us? We often react instinctively to the circumstances. We are often speechless when someone asks us about our likes and dislikes about certain persons or things. Why is it that we get good vibes on meeting someone for the first time even before we may have interacted with that person or we may instinctively dislike a person? A psychologist tends to point fingers towards the subconscious mind.

I would want to introduce to you the concept of memory. We carry a record of each of our interaction, feeling, emotion, perception etc, through memory. We record even though we may not be conscious. Hypnotists unlock the same memory. I would go one step further and say that this memory keeps a record of all our past lives.

You may want to study a book by a famous Psychologist Dr.Brain Weiss “Many Masters Many Lives”. In this book, he records his sessions with his patients whom he takes into past using hypnotism and accidentally uncovers past life regression.

Let us come back to our subject on taking control over our thoughts.

Let us analyze what actually happens when we come in contact with a person or object in the external world. When our senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing, taste come in contact with the external world, a stimulus reaches to our localized version of mind. The mind immediately responds to this external stimulus by checking the records in our memory to see if there is any past record for this stimulus. Almost 99.99% times the mind finds a record and responds to the stimulus basis its past association. This way, the thought patterns are almost always the same and in accordance to the past association. All the processes mentioned above happen in a minuscule fraction of a second without the realization of our conscious mind even.

The above process in itself can be a part of a separate discussion and lead us to fundamentals of meditation and how to meditate. For now, I confine myself to the present topic.

 "What you are getting in your life is pre-decided". However, what you are doing with what you are getting is within your control. This decides what you are going to get in future. Astrology gives us a glimpse about what we have been getting as well as what we are going to get. Planets show the same.

Unless we take a conscious decision and think deeper and get the correct guidance, what happens is that "what you are doing with what you are getting" also will fall in the same old thought pattern and we remain a slave of our past.

This happens to 97% of people and once this happens, there is no conscious effort. The first statement "what you are getting in your life is pre-decided" becomes true.

So the choice is ours; whether we want to be trapped like 97% of people and remain a slave of our past or want to be among 3% of people who consciously create their future.

How can we control thoughts? The moment we want to control a thought at that same moment we are creating another thought that I should control my thoughts. So, is the key in controlling thoughts or modifying the thoughts?

Is there an escape to us?

"Asamsahyam maha baho mano durnigraham chalam, abhyasena tu kaunteya vairagyencha guhyate” is what Krishna told Arjuna when a great yogi like Arjuna asked Krishna about how to control mind. Now Arjuna was no lesser yogi himself; he possessed the knowledge of all the divine weapons and he pleased even lord Shiva.

If someone as accomplished as Arjuna couldn't control his mind, mere mortals like us need to think twice before even attempt. Controlling mind the hasn't got to do with concentration since Arjuna possessed such a high degree of concentration that his arrow would never miss its mark.

So, to translate what Krishna told Arjuna, the one I put in Sanskrit, "There is no doubt Arjuna; mind is very fickle, it can't be controlled as such. However, through continuous and repetitive self effort and through non attachment to present circumstances, the same mind can be tamed”.

So, the key to be in 3% of people is not to get bogged down by the circumstances around us. We need to detach ourselves from the circumstances. Circumstances are all in our mind. In the outer world there are only people and things. Our thoughts, presumptions, judgments, perceptions about the external people and things are what create circumstances in the first place. The moment we make a conscious self effort to detach from our circumstances and thought pattern and create a new habit or thought pattern and keep doing the same thought pattern through the application of this new habit; we create a new world for ourselves. You are a wonderful creator made with the same substance that Almighty is made up of, since Almighty is omnipresent and all pervading. You are the reflection of the same consciousness. ‘God created us in the same mould that he is made up of’.

Awake and take control of your life without getting bogged down by the so called circumstances which are nothing but your own mental creations. Detach yourself (Vairagya) from the circumstances bogging you down. Create new thought patterns through a conscious self effort and make it a habit (Abhayasa).

“Abhayasa Vairagyabhayam tannirodaha” is what the great Sage Patanjali propounds. Using these tools, try to find a new center for our activity that breaks the chains of our past. Irrespective of the people and things around us, we can change ourselves the moment we take a step back in reacting to the stimulus that comes within us from external world and chose to act in a certain way. We can surround ourselves with positive thoughts and can exhort ourselves in developing good habits. Nature gives us this freedom since it always accentuates our progress. We can learn lessons out of our past actions and fruits we got out of the same in the same birth. We can develop faith and involve in holistic spiritual practices and studies.

“Tapah, Swadhyayah & Eswara Pranidhanani eti kriya yogaha”. Tapas is fiery determination (there are 3 types of Tapas: (1) Done through physical body, one can indulge in acts of selfless service (2) Done through mind, through constant maintenance of pure and higher thoughts forms (3) Done through speech, kindness shown through words when we speak to others. Swadhaya means reading scriptures which in turn uplift our thoughts through a story and its characters or through providing info on how to lead life. Following which, we can create new thought patterns or ape what has been successfully followed by our forefathers in the past. Eswara Pranidhanani is a huge subject in itself; however, in our context, let us say it means surrendering ourselves at the mercy of the Almighty. This helps in keeping a check of our egoistic thought forms and actions and ultimately, toward equanimity of seeing the same lord in all beings.

Abhyasa (continuous effort till it becomes a habit) of the above and detachment from the so called circumstances leads us towards a new center and new thought forms and breaks our past patterns.

 This is the ‘purushartha’ that Sage Vasistha refers to in Yoga Vasistyam, where he expounds the truths to none other than Rama on Karma & Purushartha (self-effort)

Don't be a slave of your past. Be a master of your future.

Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Dear All, I pray to the Lord and Masters to lead us to a deeper understanding of way to lead our lives. During the course of this study we will try to understand what is Yoga, practice of yoga and yogic life. Our source of knowledge will be Patanjali yoga sutras, Bhagavad Geeta and the ever fresh wisdom passed to us through a lineage of Himalayan masters. Once such great master who gave the world matchless understanding of Patanjali yoga sutras is Master Djwal Khul through telepathic teachings to Alice A Bailey and lectures of Master EK. I would request you to google these great personalities. I will try to take you people through Yoga Sutras, please bear with my limited knowledge and don't judge the Masters due to my frailties. May we be lead from unreal to real, May we be lead from darkness to light, May we be lead from mortality to immortality.
Dear friends, let us foray into the world of Yoga Sutras
Maharishi Patanjali gave us Sutras on Yoga. This is also known as Astanga Yoga or Raja Yoga

Total Number of Sutra = 162

These are classified into 4 parts. (Pada - one pada is 1/4 th part)

Let us see the 4 parts & what they deal with:

1) Samadhi Pada (51 sutras) -  Stability in Practice.

2) Sadhana Pada (55 sutras) - rudiments of Practice.

3) Vibhuti Pada (22 sutras) - Splendors of achievement.

4) Kaivalya Pada (34 sutras)  - realization of the divine life, One Existence.

Patanjali Yoga Sutras are given in the form of instructions.

A sutra as per its definition is a sentence along with the below mentioned characteristics:

1) Usage of minimum possible syllables & words.

2) In-ambiguity regarding statement

3) Expounding only essential bases

4) Should be applicable universally

5) Succinct statements

In short the first part explains us our true nature and how we create complications due to ignorance of how to use the given apparatus. The purpose of this part is to introduce our gross mind to our true selves.
Once we understand our true self we need to begin our journey into inner realms here comes the second part where we provide knowledge of path to be followed. Third part deals with various powers that come naturally during the course of this journey this is intended to check whether we are progressing in the correct path or not however we are cautioned not to get struck to these powers and move towards the final destination.
Fourth part describes the Glory of our destination and various levels of self realization.

Request you all to research on the path we are going to traverse with child like enthusiasm. We resume our journey tomorrow with the first Sutra.
I have a request to all of you, please allow me to take you through meaning of a sutra and once I am done I leave the forum open for discussion, that way there will be continuity of thought and we get a chance to express ourselves. Believe me there is a scientific process involved and each sutra builds on the previous one and sometime there could be some challenges to our belief system since in order to learn we may have to unlearn and approach with an open mind. We will base our learnings strictly in accordance to Shastras and not on our prejudices. Hope that is acceptable to all.

Adaha yoganushashanam.
Meaning, now the knowledge of yogavidya is being given.
Yogic way of life is the goal of these aphorisms.
As we study the subsequent aphorisms we will understand this knowledge.
Usually our mind identifies itself was the vagaries of the sense organs. Mind loses its true state due to this identification to external stimuli.
This needs to change in us our mind should be in its true state 24 x 7 irrespective of what we do.
Yoga doesn't mean we shun work, it means living in the present eternally and doing the work without losing our true state. Yoga is not for lazy bugs, it is a dynamic state where we are fully conscious of what we are doing and our energies get channelized to the work on hand. Geetha says, sarvadha vartamano pi sa yogi.
To understand the above sentence, try to recollect all the people you might have met today and analyze that during the course of your interaction with them you would have interacted with each of them according to your perception about them. Did you ever realize that every person has left a stamp on you and your mind has kept on changing with each person during the course of the day. This leaves us exhausted, we are carrying so many perceptions although the actual persons might have left us, we still ponder about what the other person told us, whether it was right or wrong.
Yoga is a change in our attitude towards life. We need to understand who we are and with that constant understanding interact with the world. That way we don't change according to the person we interact with.
Sounds tough and confusion, right? That is because we have long been accustomed to false identification and do not realize who we truly are. Are we the body? Are we the Prana or the life force? Are we the mind? Are we the intellect? What is our true nature.
Ponder on this, right now you are looking at your mobile. Who is seeing this mobile? Is it your eyes? No, since eyes are only an instruments given to you. Have you ever realized that you will be able to walk in your bedroom in the night in total darkness, totally aware of where the switch is and can carefully avoid your legs hitting corners of your bed. Now coming back to eyes, if eyes can see on their own then why can't a dead man see? So certainly there is someone else that is seeing through eyes. Who can that be? Is that the Prana that sees? That being the case we can still see when we behold a breath taking view. So there is someone else that see. Who is that? Can that be the mind? But in that case a mentally challenged person also sees, also we refer to mind as my mind. So even mind is different from who we are else we would not refer to it as my mind. So when you say, I see, who is actually seeing? There is some process that is taking place and we are calling it seeing. So in that process we are losing track of who is seeing actually and getting involved in what is being seen. We further complicate this process of seeing with our perception of the object and our past association with that object. With every change in object we get influenced thus creating a headache to us.
Seeing is just an example, same can be applied to other senses like hearing, taste, smell, touch. Through the faculty of 5 sense organs called as gyanendriya and 5 organs of action like hands, legs, excretion, procreation, Speech called karmendriyas we express ourselves in our worldly interaction.
Adishankara puts this beautifully in Nirvana Shatakam:
"Na cha Prana sangyo na vai pancha vayuh
Na va saptadhatur na va panchakosha
Na vakpanipadam na chopasthapayu
Chidananda roopah sivoham sivoham.
One who sees an object cannot be that object. One who is aware of a certain thing is different from that thing. Therefore, I, who am aware of Prana, am not that Prana.
Here Prana means 5 vital airs (Prana, Apana, vyana,Udana,Samana) we will understand these some other time.
Our physical body has 7 material components (sapta dhatuh): skin,flesh,fat,blood,muscle,bone and marrow.
We are expressed in 5 sheaths(pancha kosha) Food sheath i.e physical body, Vital air sheath or energy body, mental sheath, intellectual sheath, bliss sheath also known as causal body which contains all vasanas that prompt jeeva to act.
We have 5 organs of action also known as karmendriyas.
All the above together (panchapranas,saptha dhatus,pancha kosha and karmendriyas) constitute the physical body of the Jeeva. All these are negated as not-self in the verse, as it is something that the inner self, the pure consciousness sees or is aware of.

Yoga teaches us a new outlook through which we identify with our true unchanging eternal selves and simplifies this process.
We will get there in a while. It also teaches us purpose of these equipments and right way to use them.

For the purpose of this Sutra it is enough if we understand that there is a possible state of existence where we can identify to our true self and still can carry on our daily interactions ensuring our dynamic presence. Yoga is going to take us there. Following the instructions given by Patanjali we can easily reach there. When the destination is known, the way to reach that destination is provided and we are also provided with landmarks to reach the destination, our journey becomes easier. Caveat is Master will provide all these yet it is through our self effort the journey would be possible.
Just like using IRCTC and booking a ticket to Kanyakumari, choosing the train, taking a look at schedule and various stations, paying money online, purchasing the ticket does not ensure that you are at Kanyakumari unless you boarded the train and ensured that you undertook the journey and actually reached the destination, similarly we studying all the instructions and intellectually understanding those wouldn't mean we have achieved Yoga. Having said that understanding the bigger picture through this study and embarking the journey by following the instructions will alone lead us to Yoga.
These instructions are required else our mind indulges in its vagaries, sense would have their own demands and entire being is in a state of disorder.
Yoga means unity. It doesn't however mean making different things alike. It means streamlining different components to act in unison for one purpose.

I may be excused for introducing new terms with the first aphorism. Patanjali indeed has simplified the subject for us and it doesn't matter if we don't even want to delve deep into technicalities. Please don't be awed and think this is a very difficult subject. It may be due to my inefficiency that the topic could have become difficult.
We will get to define what is Yoga as per Patanjali with the next aphorism.
I now leave the forum open for discussion, Q & A if any.

Today we will try to understand the meaning of: Yoga, Yogic Practice and Yogic life. They seem to be same yet according to our Shastras they aren't.
Yogic Practice has been dealt by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. We have been provided step by step instructions.
His first aphorism is " Yogah Chitta Vritti Nirodaha" and Yogic practice to achieve the same has 8 parts namely: Yama, Niyama,Asana,Pranayama,Pratyahara,Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. The Yogic Practice comprises of instructions given for the 8 parts or limbs. None among them in isolation can be termed as complete practice. Also practicing one limb out of 8 doesn't lead one towards Yogic Life and there by to culmination into yoga. So we should not conclude that if we are practicing an asana for 1 hour a day or if we are doing pranayama for 30 minutes a day or doing dhyana for an hour a day, we are into a yogic practice. It may be a part of yogic practice but not the whole. Yoga is an attitude it is not an achievement as per Master EK.
When a person indulges in Yogic practice then it reflects in his daily interaction with People around, it shows in his work. The attitude of the person towards life and people around changes. When these changes take place our mental agitations automatically get dissolved. Anger, frustration, misunderstanding, misbehavior,carelessness,inefficiency, laziness etc get dissolved in the person, when this change happens then it indicates that person is proceeding in right direction with his Yogic Practice, this is done 24x7 and not just for a few hours a day. Complete change in attitude towards universality indicates that the person is advancing towards Yogic life. This is Yoga Vidya.
In Bhagavad Geetha one can find both Yogic Practice and Yogic life.
Hence we are going to see an amalgamation of both Bhagavad Geetha with Patanjali Yoga Sutras as we traverse the path.
The understanding of these terms is very important since it is commonly found that when there is no strong foundation the building may collapse. Similarly indulging in some yogic practice without the holistic approach could result in pitfall. When we indulge in a yogic practice our senses become subtler and they are then like a double edged knife. Unless there is proper discipline the knife can result in cutting our own finger. Subtler senses mean we can attract good or bad equally faster and resultant action has a bigger impact.
Also we the students must understand the difference between discipline and control. While discipline comes with holistic understanding of the approach and end result, control or suppression can lead to unwarranted diseases on a longer run. Discipline is at a human level while control is at a veterinary level.
Coming back to Yogic practice and Yogic life, to cite an example; Suppose you took sankalp to perform pooja at 6 am every day. Then you are to wake up, take bath, arrange for pooja articles, provide yourself a mattress to sit, keep the book of hymn you want to chant and perform pooja. When you start, you would find that you have missed some preparation, you call your spouse for help if there is no response you would get angry, during your pooja if you get a phone call you would curse either your self or the person who called, if milkman rings calling bell you feel disturbed. At times you are unable to wakeup and hence can't start pooja at 6.
When a person indulges in practice of 8 limbs of yoga, slowly an order sets in, planning and execution improves, anger and frustration on facing a hurdle in the form of response from spouse or phone call or door bell goes away. This shows that you are progressing in Yogic practice. When a wider acceptance and understanding of God's manifestation in all living and non living sinks in, an order is restored in life, one is able to see existence as lord's creation, when a person lives in Antaryami tatwa, able to speak and hear to antaryami in others then that is Yogic life.
Yoga is unison in life, bringing perfect order. Just like the creator made this entire creation with perfect planning and execution. Our journey should be towards that objective. The Practice of Yoga is not for 1 hour a day, it is reflected 24 hours in daily life. If someone asks till which duration or timeline this needs to be practiced then the answer is it is for life time. This is just like taking bath, if someone asks till what length of time one needs to bath daily, the answer is simple- Daily. Else one would become unclean. Similarly Yogic practice is for life time hence one needs to follow instructions as given in Yoga sutras and all 8 limbs are essential without a limb it can't be complete and one limb is not whole.
Here we will be understanding how our mind works and also to make it work the right way. We will undergo a process of rectification and simplification. Our wires are currently either connected wrongly or have got entangled, we will understand the right connections.
Yoga is like an induction process, when the iron particle is continuously rubbed with a magnet there is a realignment internally within the iron particle and it becomes a magnet. Similarly when we follow the instructions as given be Patanjali and continuously repeatedly practice those a realignment happens internally within us culminating into ultimate unison.
Many concepts or terms could either be new to us or we have a different notion, in order to reap the full benefit of instructions by Patanjali, let our minds be like a parachute (it works only when it is open :))

"Yogah Chitta Vritti Nirodaha".
Yoga means Union,
Chitta means mind including sense organs,
Vritti means behavior,
Nirodaha means restraint.

This union is achieved through subjugation of the psychic nature and the restraint of mind.

Through the instructions given by Patanjali, this restraint is possible. Here again it needs to be emphasized that we are talking about the discipline and not controlling or suppressing. The lower nature of mind if suppressed or controlled can lead to diseases like BP etc. Moreover the forceful suppression doesn't eliminate the seed, the lower tendencies flourish the moment condition for germination are favorable. Just like the grass dries during summer and not a blade of grass is visible, to think that grass is gone would be foolish since the moment rainy season sets in the grass grows again. Similarly suppose someone want to control anger and his boss bangs him and he is helpless, in such a state for us to think he has controlled his anger would be incorrect, since he can't be angry on his boss the anger didn't spring up, it is still inherent in him and if an opportunity comes then the same sprouts in front of his subordinates.
Yoga is a change in attitude towards life. Restraining the behavior through modification of mind and senses is the goal of Yogic Practice.

It should not be understood as control of mind. It is disciplining the mind and sense organs. It is bringing the mind and heart together.
A simpler example to understand this would be, let us imagine a beautiful rose flower is in front of our eyes. Yoga doesn't mean that we should not see the rose or appreciate its beauty. Let us analyze the process that happens when mind through the sense organ eye receives the image of rose, its can behold the beauty of the rose and appreciate the creation and that is perfectly acceptable, else Lord would not have done this creation, similarly he would not have given us eyes unless he wanted us to see, so up till now these is neither sin nor any correction required. However after seeing the rose here comes the discipline part, the restraint is required from further thoughts or mental vagaries like wanting to possess that rose or thought of your rose looking better that your neighbor's or if you had a past association if getting slapped by a girl when you wanted to profess your love by gifting a rose then the emotion of heartbreak overwhelming you at the sight of a rose.
If we look carefully only you and rose are God's creations but rest of the process in above examples are your own thoughts.
Yoga is restraining or disciplining the mind when it gets modified while interacting with the external world through the faculty of senses.

Master Patanjali describes the state of existence of a person who is successful at Chitta Vritti Nirodaha as
" tatha drasthu swarupe awasthanam"
Meaning when Chitta Vritti Nirodaha has been accomplished, the Yogi knows himself as he is in reality.
He sees the self. Realizes the true nature of the soul. Identifies himself with the inner reality, achieves spiritual consciousness and awakens to recognition of God within.
In the above 3 verses the method and Goal are described clearly and path prepared for more detailed instructions to follow.

Verse-4: "Vritti Sarupyam itaratra"
This describes the state when Chitta Vritti Nirodaha hasn't happened. It means up till now the inner man has identified himself with mental vagaries in conjunction with senses. In the example of rose we have seen how mind wanders seeing the rose either through its past association or with desire to possess it and loses its true state of happiness at the very sight of rose.
Same can be seen with another example, suppose we sat of dinner, at the time of partaking the food we have been instructed by Shastras that Annam is verily Brahman and hence we must take food with devotional attitude. But if during eating we start thinking about office work or watch TV serial the very attitude required is lost because with our thought process we bring in emotions suppose the TV serial is about a murder mystery then same emotions flow through us. We forget what we are eating or why we are eating and the devotional attitude required, this precisely happens to those who do not have Chitta Vritti Nirodaha. The person gets intertwined to his senses and loses his true self.
We will be in the course of further instructions understanding more about psychology in true sense. We will understand that Yoga is a process of simplification of our self created complications. We will know that it is just not for ascetics sitting in Himalayas and we don't need to become sanyasis. We continue living in this material world and undergo process of rectification in our daily course of interactions. A self realized person can exist in this very society.
We will also understand certain practices and why we are asked to do so by shastras. That is to say that my endeavor is not only to take you through true meaning of yoga sutras but also to introduce you to our traditions and Vedic knowledge.
Coming back to the example of attitude towards food, why we are to adopt a devotional attitude while taking food? The likely explanation we get out of our tradition is we have physical body also known as Annamaya Kosha or the food sheath which is matter and food is known as dravya or provider of energy. When we eat food with pious thoughts these thoughts energize the food which is consumed by our body and the same energy gets distributed through out our body and keeps us healthy. If food is taken when in a hurry, tension, agitation, anger or other emotion then these effect the food too and unknowingly we produce negative energy and same is distributed through out the body leading to disease, stress and agitation. This is how a person not in the path of yoga acts.
A Yogi rectifies him once he knows the pitfalls of food taken without proper attitude, this knowledge helps him in disciplining himself and there is no need of external pressure or control. There is no suppression there is only internal expansion.
Similarly Yogi's attitude changes because he knows that he needs food to survive and hence he needs to eat. Since he needs to eat he prepares food that is tasty, he doesn't prepare what is not tasty, he is able to take care because his mind is with him during the process of food preparation. It is not like the other way that we generally indulge, i.e we want to eat more because the food is tasty and for us the taste of food is deciding factor about what to eat. But at the time of preparation of food our mind is at office or TV serial and thereby spoiling the food and then arguing over how badly the food was prepared and finally ending in a fight.
Clarity emerges in our lives when we understand priorities and why we are doing something. Hence Patanjali has in his 4 sutras shown us a trailer of what is Yoga, what needs to be done, what happens when mind is used correctly and what happens when the same indulges with senses without discipline.
Ponder on the above as we prepare for further set of instructions.

We will get to know more about Vritti in the coming aphorism. Patanjali classifies Vrittis to be of 5 types. You get the understanding as given in Shastras
For the time being we can say behavior or modification of mind when it  comes on contact with sense organs in a way that is not its true nature.