March 3, 2022 – Class Notes by Siddharth Kashinath

Introduction

How do you know that you are practicing yoga? What does teaching yoga entail? Yogeshwara, Bhagavan Krishna, the original teacher of yoga has shared: sarva sankalpa sanyasi – renouncing, dis-identifying from every thought- and yoga aarudaha tatha ucyate – the one who has completed this has practiced yoga. If one has quietened one’s mind completely, that is called yoga.

The focus of our course is Infinity. Infinity means past the finite. The mind is finite. We are going past the mind one step at a time. Our class -100 steps to Infinity- is also a class in yoga. 

Review

Step 57 – guṇa (temperament)  is a rope pulling our personality lower or higher. The gunas condition the mood of our minds. Sattva guna (calmness) pulls us to purity. Rajo guna (aggressiveness) pulls us to power. Tamo guna (laziness) pulls us to postponement. By living intentionally, we evolve from tamas to rajas to sattva and beyond all conditions to peace. 

Step 58 – tamas (laziness) is when one engages in harm to others. For example, when one litters, some humans may be harmed, animals are definitely harmed, and plants even more so. 

Step 59 –  rajas (selfishness) is when we harm ourselves. How do we do this? By inputting chemicals for example (cigarettes, processed food, etc.). But, we are all interdependent. If one harms themselves, they are also harming others indirectly.

Step 60 – sattva (quietness) is not harming oneself or others, but rather living in harmony. If sadachara (one’s lifestyle) is one of nobility, then it creates inner and outer sahachara (harmony).

Discourse

Step 61 – prakṛti (matter)

Krti means creation similar to bhuti. Prakrti means special creation similar to vibhuti. For a practical perspective, have a look at your room and see all the things in it. Only a childish personality will look at the things and not wonder – what is this made of? They will not even enquire. 

Even looking at the periodic table, one can see that there is the fundamental creation and then it becomes more and more functional. In biology, there is domain, kingdom, etc. on the left and as one keeps going to the right it becomes more prakrti or more special or functional creation. 

Matter is also made up of matter. Matter is made up of elements. In our culture / science, there are 5 elements. 

The 5 elements are – space, air, fire, water and earth – from most causal to most gross. They make up all of the outer matter in our lives and make up the inner matter in our lives – the memory, mind, intellect and ego. Matter is made up of elements, which create our outer and inner worlds. 

How would one describe matter other than the above definition? It is changing. For example, our inner world is changing. Step by step, even if it is becoming quieter, it is still changing. Our outer world is also changing – the word ‘kali’ means fast. That which is changing cannot be that which is ‘completing’. With prakrti or matter, we should use it – both for our inner (to think) and outer (to help) worlds. But we must not expect completion from it. So, exercise, but do not expect – because that is not the nature of prakrti. Life becomes much simpler with this knowledge.

Knowledge (that which we are engaged in) + Seeing (i.e. everything we do with our equipments) = Vision. How to interact with prakrti – with a vision that it is to be used, but it will not complete me. If we remove that knowledge, then we are only seeing. The only creatures that live just by seeing are pashu (i.e. animals). Because they live by pasyati – i.e. whatever they see they believe in. We are trying to nurture vision. 

To understand prakrti well, we have to look into purusa.

Step 62 – purusa (completeness)

Sattva is also a rope or a limit. Purusa fits into this as follows. Laziness is to evolve into aggressiveness, which is to evolve into quietness, which is to evolve into completeness. This is called gunatita – to go beyond the gunas. 

The etymology of purusa is from purnatva, which is bigness or fullness or completeness. All of the entities that we engage with – outer entities such as articles, beings and circumstances or inner entities such as body, mind and intellect – these entities are made up of the five elements (as discussed in prakrti), which actually also depend on existence. Purusa, purnatva, bigness, completeness, etc. all of these are existence. Existence is foundational and expresses as elements, which express as entities.

The entities are creation. Deeper than that is that the elements are the creator. And deeper than that is that Existence is Consciousness. From creation to creator to Consciousness. Or prakriti to krti to purusa. Why this is relevant is because the further one expresses, the more change there is. The more change there is the less completion there is. So if one evolves in their vision, i.e. they are more authentic and deep in how they interact, they will tune into that which is changeless. Purusa is that which is changeless. Hence, why the nature of purusa or existence is changelessness. Existence never changes. 

Does awareness ever change? When one is awake, they are aware of things around them. When they are asleep, they are aware of the lack of things around them. 

Joy is the complicated nature of changelessness for us. It is complicated because we keep feeling joy, but attributing that to entities. Our pursuit for joy never changes – for example, whether one eats ice cream for joy or doesn’t eat ice cream for joy, it is still the same pursuit. It never changes. Purusa being the foundation, it pervades and permeates all of prakrti. It expresses as stones, plants, animals and humans. Their abilities are the same, but the difference is their capabilities. Stones express as existence and so do humans. However, stones do not have the capability to express awareness and joy, whereas humans can. Hence, those who are most sattvic (quiet) can express joy more than one who is rajasic (aggressive) or tamasic (lazy). In other words, a lazy person, an aggressive person and a quiet person are all capable of existence, but it is only the quiet person that captures the ability of being Joy. 

The most practical perspective is our learning on contemplation. Contemplation is a changing of identification. Instinctually, we identify with matter. But those who are preparing and contemplating are changing their identification from matter to the Spirit. Externally, nothing changes. But one’s identification changes. We must change our identification from that which is limited to that which is limitless or at least that which has less limits. To go deeper, all of these entities are made up of elements and all of these elements are made up of existence. We must identify with that. 

To celebrate Mahashivaratri is to live like Bhagavan Shiva. Shiva is an acrostic poem for simple living (as discussed in the previous class). Looking particularly at ‘A’ in SHIVA. A – Absorb the shallow. If one wants to change one’s identification from the matter to the Spirit, all of the shallowness in one’s outer world and inner world must be absorbed, which means that one must not depend on those or focus on those. 

What annoys one about someone they live with or work with is probably shallow. If we get annoyed by them or they get annoyed by us, then everything after that annoyance occurs is lost. So, we must absorb that more – absorb that which is changing to that which is less changing. This is how prakrti and purusa become more than words. But, importantly, how are we living this? This is a karma yoga class. 

Summary

Step 61 – prakṛti (matter) Practice – Live with the vision that matter is to be used, but it will not complete us. 

Step 62 – purusa (completeness) Practice – Absorb the shallow

Discussion subject

Share an experience that annoyed you today. Another group member shares a solution to “absorb the shallow” and then share an experience about what annoyed them. And so on…

Vivekji’s observations

When we are annoyed, it is because we are distracted. Annoyed = distracted. What to do? Purpose. Purpose pulls performance. If one is solid about one’s purpose, then one will not be distracted and hence one will not be annoyed. Even the greatest adversity will be treated as training then.

Questions

Q: Will karma sadhana (dedication towards work) ever lead one to be sattvic?

A: Yes, it will. One who is rajasic or aggressive works hard, but doesn’t work smart. But eventually, one will start to work hard and smart, which is a sattvic quality. The more one immerses oneself in rajas, one will come to feel an inefficiency. In that inefficiency, one will detect that they are not working smart. Their purpose is not clear, there is a sense of doer-ship, etc. That will come to you. Majority of us are privileged, yet we are part of this class. We are already politically and financially free. But we know there is more. We do not feel egotistically free. But that immersion in rajas will evolve and cause one to start to work smart. Which means we will go from deservership to instrumentship to non-doer-ship.   

Q: Purusa reminds one of atman and brahman. Is there a difference?

A: There is no difference between atman and brahman. They are synonyms. When one knows that, then they attain moksha. They are free. Now if we look at the difference between a jiva and brahma – a jiva has forgotten their nature. Brahma means – brihat – unqualified bigness, which is infinity. Likewise, atma is also existence and it is ever-present. The entities come and go and so do the elements. However, existence is permanent. 

RAWs from last week

Donate to a charity that you feel is doing pure work. Offer an amount that gives you an initial feeling of discomfort. In the message field write: simple living high thinking. 

Vivekji’s observation: Everyone of us repeatedly shares and thinks that we are bhagya (fortunate). The way we live must be more than words. Our gratitude has to express as generosity. Dakshina (gratitude) is not complete without Dana (offering). Everytime there is an opportunity to be generous, one must give. There should not be vikalpa in one’s mind. This is for one’s own training. In the last verse of Ch 5, Shri Krishna shares about tapa and yagna – tapa means to save and yagna means to serve. Only when one’s lifestyle is like that can one contemplate. Contemplation is the final means to contentment. 

RAWs for next week:

Every morning think about one major mistake and one minor mistake that you have made. Openly share these mistakes with someone you respect greatly. 

Take an entertainment medium that you enjoy most. Test yourself by refraining from using it.