Ep #204: Yoga Sutras: The 5 Kleshas Stealing Your Inner Peace

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
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(00:23):
and then give us some love. Thank you so much.
And let's get started with this week's episode.
Welcome back to the In Movement podcast.
I am your host, Michael Henry. And today we have a returning
guest. Akshay Bhatt is back in the
studio. Hi, Akshay, How are you?
Namaste. Yes, feeling very good.

(00:44):
Yeah, so Akshay hasn't been on the podcast in a while.
And I had a little visit to Uluwatu and we ran into each
other and then we were looking at a whole bunch of books on
yoga. And we thought, you know what?
Why don't we get on the microphone again and start
talking about some yoga again? Yes, So here we are.
Yes. So what are we going to talk
about today? We'll talk about Yoga Sutras,

(01:05):
one of my favorite subject. I remember studying them.
I started when I was in the school.
How old were you when you first started this learning about the
sutras? I think 11 year. 11 years old.
OK I'm I'm like in my 40s and I'm still having a hard time
figuring out what the sutras arebut.

(01:26):
Yeah, and I used to go to this Swamiji's who is practicing
meditation every day, like few hours and go to him and learn
about yoga sutras. There's something really
interesting it it seems like yoga psychology and where to

(01:47):
understand our mind and our samskaras, what we are bringing
up in our conscious space in themind.
That is all explained in the Yoga Sutras.
It's a beautiful text. And how many?
Just reminding everyone, including myself.

(02:07):
How many sutras are there? There are 196 sutras are there?
We will. There are 4 chapters.
First chapter Patanjali speaks about Samadhi which is the
highest of the yoga practitionercan achieve the transcendental
state. 2nd chapter Sadhana Pada where Patanjali speaks about the

(02:31):
practice. All the preliminary things that
we need to know before practicing yoga Sadhana Pada.
This is where the 8 limbs of yoga is explained and many of
the yoga schools people study about 8 limbs.
It's coming from 2nd chapter of Yoga Sutras and the 3rd chapter

(02:56):
Vibhuti Pada which is talking about this like a special
knowledge we can acquire from practicing yoga.
Well, I was very interested to study the 3rd chapter and 4th
chapter because thinking that maybe practicing yoga I can walk
on the water or levitate. Like the superpowers?

(03:19):
Yes the superpowers vibhuti padaand the last chapter is the
kaivalyada which is like the transcendental state explained
I. I still don't understand what is
kaivalya pada and how to perceive it in life. 2nd chapter

(03:41):
is always good to, you know, read and practice.
But that's where we're going, right?
Yes, second chapter today. Well, the second chapter
basically is talking about the kriyas.
So it it starts with the Tapas Swadhyaya, Ishwar Pranidhanani,

(04:04):
Kriya Yoga. This is the first sutra of the
second chapter. And those are three niyamas,
yeah. Yes, yes.
And tapas, OK, yes, this. So why those three, particularly
4? This is very important to as
self growth is considered one who is in the spiritual path.

(04:29):
He wants to achieve the peace and harmony with oneself.
We need to go through this, thisthree very particularly first is
the tapas. That is discipline.
Swadhyaya means, you know, always bringing the awareness

(04:49):
back to the self. These days we are consciously.
We have to do that because our mind is consciously going and
seeing like yes, how is my neighbor practicing yoga?
How is their posture or some Instagram yogis where we have

(05:10):
forgotten how to look at our self, our body, our way of
understanding yoga that that's going away.
So self study is to bring back that awareness where we can
understand our body, our mind and how we are functioning more

(05:30):
precisely that that is the SwatiHaya self study and Ishwara
Pranidhan is the most important of all the, you know, principle
Patanjali explaining because it's a total surrendrance to
whatever the flow that we are experiencing.

(05:53):
Imagine you are in the ocean andyou are snorkeling and you will
find yourself the ocean is having some currents and
sometimes it's small currents. It's just taking you here and
there. And if we panic and we cannot

(06:15):
enjoy, you know the fear comes up and what if there is
something comes and attacks me like this?
So as long as we totally surrender, like total
surrenderance is not there, we don't enjoy life.
The complete enjoyment is not going to happen.

(06:39):
That's why these three are very important to begin Kriya Yoga.
To begin, Kriya. So let me see if I can make sure
I can translate a little bit. So tapas discipline practice, I
understand it as purification through heat.
So kind of like building or letting the energy kind of arise
or come come out ultimately, then through that purification

(07:01):
kind of happens, clarity comes, happens and things like that.
Svad yeah, yeah. Self study You, you.
I thought you explained it pretty good as well, actually.
But just, I think about that as just like looking inward instead
of looking outward, you know, instead of looking at your
neighbor and looking at the people in the yoga class or, you
know, anywhere outside of you, just like look in, in the, in
such a way, like reflecting on yourself, reflecting on how you

(07:22):
feel, reflecting on the things that you might be wanting or
desiring. So that self study component,
which is, I think, very powerful.
And then the last one, Ishwara Pranidana.
Ishwara Pranidana. Which is, yeah, I see that as
like the higher self, the the ability to just completely
surrender to you, the higher source of you.

(07:45):
And from that there's, yeah, there's just so much positive
that can come from it. And that's the area that I kind
of focus a lot on these days is just kind of letting go anytime
there's challenges that come my way or resistance or friction, I
just think to myself, well, the more that I resist that
challenge, the harder it's goingto be.
So I might as well just accept it as it is, yes.

(08:07):
And then I find peace in that. Correct.
Yeah. So that's what I see those three
as. And those are the three
prerequisites for Kriya Yoga, you said?
Yes, yes, OK. And Kriya yoga is the beginning
of the the sadhana means if we are practicing kriyas, that
means we need this near mass with the kriyas.

(08:31):
Otherwise, what happens, the energy that is coming from the
Kriyas, what we are in a building up the the positive
energy can go into somewhere like negative emotions and
desires and we don't know how tomanage when it comes up.

(08:54):
That's why the letting go process the issuer printed on is
also letting go. I don't need to always need to
hold on to my emotions. So when the emotion is there,
I'm there with the emotion. I breathe and I let go as soon
as possible. I let go.

(09:15):
It's good because something goodis going to appear from the
consciousness. The Ishwara means actually the
consciousness. So it's really nice to, you
know, practice this three beforewe get into the Kriyas.
And with the Kriyas, the practice is amplified.

(09:39):
We we can really experience in daily lives.
We experience samadhi, the peaceand harmony within ourselves.
So how would you quickly describe what Kriyas are in like
to someone who doesn't understand anything?
Like what would you say Kriyas are so.
In the Kriya yoga tradition, it's starting from Mahatar.

(10:02):
Babaji is one of the babas of the India.
They they give kriyas as like through the mantras.
Like some mantra is given to youfrom your guru to find light
within yourself. So and there are different

(10:25):
kriyas like hata yoga have a different kriyas.
Like there can be breathing kriyas or practice of cleansing.
So Hata yoga kriyas are more forthe cleansing and when you go
little bit higher like Raja yogakriyas, that kriyas are more

(10:47):
like achieving the truth, truth with our self and really find
out that consciousness, that which whole existence is made
out of this consciousness that we know.
And how can I find out in withinmyself?

(11:09):
That's why the kriyas are there.That's why the guru is there.
Guru can guide you there to findout this consciousness.
So then the Hatha Kriya style, it sounds like it's almost like
breath work to some degree. We wouldn't necessarily call it
breath work in that simple way, but just to kind of make it more
relatable and accessible for people to understand.

(11:30):
Basically kind of moving energy through breathing practices,
Chroniyama practices. And then he said the next level,
Raja yoga, or I guess a different style of the Kriya's.
Through mantras. Through mantras, yeah.
Repetition of vibration, ultimately.
Yes, yeah. My understanding having done
podcasts with you before, but mantras it's less about the

(11:52):
word, it's more about the intention, the energy of the
frequency, the. Yeah, vibration frequency.
Yeah. So the Hatayoga Kriyas purifies
the Nadis, especially Ida Pingala and Sushumna Nadis.
Ida is the lunar channel, singleize the sun channel and

(12:13):
Sushumna is the channel of the center channel which moves the
energy up towards the universe. So Idanadi is like connected to
all the right brain activity, Pingala ID connected to left
brain activities. So it kind of balances our way

(12:35):
of thinking and our energy flow towards the brain.
How do you connect this to, if at all, when people talk about
the left side being more feminine, the right side being
more masculine? Is that kind of similar in the
saying of the moon, the sun? Basically cleansing this nardis
means left nostril. If you observe like left nostril

(13:00):
sometimes blocked, you know. Yeah, my left one's blocked
right now. Left ones are blocked.
So when the left nostril opens up, it's easy for us to learn
things. It's moon energy, you know,
learning and going inward ourself and right, right nostril
is blocked. Then we'll be having a mind like

(13:23):
OK, I'm just lazy today. I don't want to do you know some
physical activities. So right nostril activated then
you are ready to do the physicalactivities.
So more than doing the directional energy, so which is
more than what would be described as masculine.
And then the left, when it's open, not blocked, is more

(13:45):
receiving, receiving, learning, reception, stillness.
OK, cool. So that's more of the feminine
energy or would be described as feminine energy.
Yes, yes, feminine musculine energy both has to be balanced
and then the energy flows in thecentre channel like the yogi's
explain the channel of the transcendence that is the

(14:08):
Sushumna Nadi. So when all this nadis are
cleansed then we can practice the Raja Yoga where Guru can
guide us, you know with the mantras and they have different
kriyas also that you know there is mudra like a Shambhavi mudra,

(14:30):
you are focusing on the third eye and Ketchari mudra.
Like there are many different body gestures that yogi's
practice to achieve the the stillness, what's there inside.
So like that cleansing is the process to begin to enter the

(14:54):
Rajayoga. So Patanjali's yoga is actually
Rajayoga. It is not Hatayoga means if my
body and mind is not purified, I'm not eligible to read the
Patanjali yoga sutras. So Yoga Sutras are little bit
advanced but the second chapter of Yoga Sutra is giving all this

(15:17):
guidance for even for the Hatha yogis there is guidance in the
2nd chapter. That's why it's very relevant to
study this text. We talked about tapas, the
discipline, we talked about Swatyaya, the self study, and
then hatha. Hatha Kriyas in the sense of

(15:40):
breath work, rising energy and then Raja Yoga, as in the sense
of releasing or letting go. Is that right?
Yes, Raja yoga is too path to Samadhi.
So is it that the tapas, the Svadhyaya and Ishvadapanya is a
prerequisite for practicing krius?
Is that right? Yeah, yeah.
OK, so how do so in like a simple way, like what does that

(16:03):
look like? How do I, how do I do the first
three? Like it's, I know, I know
somewhat of the answer, but I want to hear what you'd say.
Like is it practicing asana through that disciplinary
practice, doing something difficult?
Is it reflecting on how you feelwhile you're doing it?
Is there any things that come up?
And is it letting go and being unattached to it in like a very
simple way? Or how would you describe the
process of preparing for Kriya Yoga for somebody?

(16:27):
It can be depending on where they are right, where they are
in life. So depending on that, they have
to take up the practice. If somebody is working in the
restaurant for him, maybe it's it's easy for him to just sit

(16:50):
down and do some breathing practice and he's standing all
day. So he had to take his legs up on
the wall and you know release all tension from the legs.
So first is the the awareness ofthe body.
So one have to 1st create the awareness of body, what's

(17:13):
happening in my body, physical body, chronic body and then the
ones under you understand the chronic body.
You can go into this process or there is some energy going up
and down. So I will begin my practice, as
Patanjali mentions, going through this Kriyas and all of

(17:37):
this prerequisite practice. Tapaswadiya Ishwar of Trinidad
has to remove the suffering and some other people who are in
front of computer, they're working a lot.
Maybe for them it's more mental challenges.
Physically they're very fit, butmentally they are going through

(18:01):
something. Mentally stress is there.
So depending on where we are, where the tension is building
up, we had to take up the practice.
If I were to kind of simplify itfrom like a science perspective,
it's kind of like finding balance within your nervous
system to be able to be ready for the next stage of, let's

(18:24):
say, the creas or the process ofrising.
Yeah. So would a morning practice be
almost like you're a little bit more prepared because you
haven't accumulated stresses of the day yet.
You've kind of woken up. Maybe there's some tension in
the body, probably some tension in the body, but less so than if
it was at the end of the day when you've kind of gone through

(18:45):
it, you've interacted with people, you've had challenges,
you've, you know, been on the computer, the devices.
So is that, does that kind of resonate a little bit where the
morning practice might be a little bit more liberated to
access more easily than let's say later in the day?
Yeah, yeah. So morning time is good for
meditations, practicing pranayam.

(19:07):
It's always good to do breathingpractice in the morning.
So slowly waking up the nervous system and slowly at least 10
minutes of just sitting meditation like this.
And evening of course, again from the whole day, some tension
have built up releasing practices to end the day.

(19:31):
And of course the social media detox and mobile detox before
sleeping. That's very important these days
to the to achieve the deep sleep.
So the whole idea of doing this,Patanjali's yoga is actually to

(19:54):
go a little bit towards positivehealth.
Once the health is achieved, overall well-being is achieved,
then we go from health to positive health that is in in
our simple doing things simple but experiencing immense joy in
it for that what is blocking allof all of the joy that we have

(20:22):
in our day like. When I wake up, I have to be
joyful because there are many people who don't wake up, right?
Many people, no more life. So that joy is sometime
disappears. When I wake up, I am thinking

(20:43):
about yesterday, or I'm thinkingabout my holidays or I'm
thinking about something else. I'm not, I'm not aware that this
joy is existing in me. This universe is existing in me,
is forgotten that all of this isforgotten.

(21:04):
We don't experience the joy. That is because the clashes are
there. Clashes are like the the dust in
the mirror. Once clashes are there, we
cannot achieve the inner joy. We are caught up in our
thoughts. We are caught up in our, you

(21:25):
know, in the dust. So then part of the cleansing,
the preparing for the Koreas, isactually clearing out the
clashes. Is that what I'm hearing?
Yes. Yes.
OK, so then let's talk about clashes.
What are what are the clashes? The clashes are like the dust in
the mirror. They are like the consciousness

(21:46):
is there, the pure joy and blissis there, but it is not
appearing here in this moment. I am not able to experience the
the wholeness I am. I am actually divided myself and

(22:07):
that is divided and sometime toofar away.
That is because the glacier is there.
So 5 glaciers according to Patanjali, avidya means the
ignorance, Asmita the egocentricmind, avidya asmita raga,

(22:31):
dwesha. Raga is the attachment and
dwesha is the hatredness and abhinivesha the last one is the
fear of death. So this five clashes are there,
so our joy is taken from us. OK, so let's, I'm not sure where

(22:52):
you wanted to go, but can we go through those?
Can we go through the? So I got three of them, Evidya,
Asmita Raga. What was the?
Raga and Dwisha. Dwisha.
Dwisha. And then the last one just so I
could. Write Abini Visha.
Abini. Visha, I'm.
Sure, my spelling's not right, but that's OK, so let's go
through one at a time. So Evidya.

(23:14):
Avidya. Yeah, Avidya is the the root
cause of the suffering. The most of the time I don't
experience joy because I have forgotten my true identity.
There is many people go through the identity crisis or like

(23:38):
what's going on with my life. You know, like I come to Bali,
I'm doing yoga, taking a massage, everything is going
well, but I don't feel happy, like people are going through
something. Is it like a sense of feeling
lost? To some degree, yes, and like an

(23:59):
identity crisis is sometimes what people refer to that as.
Yes, sometime in a bigger way, in a subtle way.
What is happening in actually inthe consciousness level that we
are disconnected from the truth that we identify ourself with

(24:20):
our daily activities or worldly pleasures or whatever outside
that we are seeking. We identify ourself there in
some experiences, but we have forgotten our fundamental nature
because the avidya is there. We forget the truth, the the

(24:46):
truth of our fundamental consciousness which is made out
of joy and bliss, which has to one has to experience in every
moment is is not coming up. So avidya is the root cause.
Avidya is like a you can imaginelike the Paddy field and avidya

(25:10):
is where it's the ground of suffering.
I first misunderstanding and 1stthinking I am that you know with
the wrong eye not the right eye.The right eye is always quiet,

(25:34):
means when I think about eye there is no thoughts, there is
no identification to I, which isbasically I is here in this
moment and it is always here with us.
But the wrong guy. Oh, I was doing that.

(25:58):
So it's kind of like forgetting or being disconnected from the
truth of union ultimately, or yoga, which is we are all the
same. We are pure consciousness and
losing connection to that, losing sight of that, losing the
truth of that, or, you know, whether we forgot it or we're

(26:18):
just, you know, working from oursubconscious patterns and
conditions, that's the foundation of the suffering and
ultimately blocks us. So anitya ashuti dukkha anath
masu. So Patanjali explains like this.
So thinking misidentifying impermanence as permanence.

(26:41):
OK, so like my job is temporary job, you know, maybe I'm
teaching for few years or I'm driver or whatever it is that
I'm seeing that as my permanent things.

(27:02):
So impermanence we have to understand.
So how do you understand the impermanence?
That nothing lasts forever and everything is in changing,
fluctuation, adjusting. So when it comes to when I was

(27:23):
talking before about whenever I'm experiencing challenges or
friction or a lot of let's say negative things, I try to remind
myself like whatever it is is temporary and it will pass and
I'll move on. And on the same side, I also
think what is very blissful and enjoy full and happy and you
know, when there's moments whereeverything feels like it's just

(27:45):
going great, I try to remember to be grateful in those moments
'cause I also know that this won't last forever either.
Something will come through, a storm will come through,
friction will come through, a challenge is just waiting on the
other side. And then that's just the
fluctuation. It's just nothing is ever
permanent. It's always kind of changing,
and that's what allows me to surrender is just recognizing

(28:07):
that I have no control of these changes.
Correct, correct. And and the growth right.
The growth also happens because it's it's impermanent.
The the change of like ditch Nathan, he explains very
beautifully that the the processof becoming flower from the

(28:30):
earth, the seed is planted and then slowly it's a plant and
then it becomes the flower. When we see the flower it's like
wow so beautiful. But the flower is made out of
all non flower element. It is it is looking like a

(28:51):
flower in the beauty, but it is made out of all everything.
So the impermanence is there. That's why this this growth is
happening. Like, you know, we are all not
perfect. That's why there is chance to

(29:11):
grow. If imagine we are perfect self.
Yeah, I'm doing this. I know this.
There is no way we can grow. You know, it's the full stop.
So we have to recognize the impermanence so then we can grow
in whatever things we are doing.We are cooking food.

(29:35):
You recognize there or you are seeing somebody like, yes, today
is the only day I'm seeing you because the next moment may come
or may not come, but the next movement itself is not real.
It is the future, right? Future is made from the mind in

(29:58):
the reality it is. It's not there.
It doesn't exist. It doesn't exist.
So that's what Patanjali is saying.
The first ignorance of us is we are not understanding the
impermanence that we are also here for a few years and this
planet exists for thousands of years.

(30:21):
So we have to recognize impermanence in the Earth also.
And this planet Earth is also having the life like like us.
So that's what makes our life more beautiful and we can grow
from where we are to something. And when there is this life is,

(30:43):
you know, throwing challenge to us that hey, it's time for you
to leave this job and do something else, We had to be
ready. That's like the teachings of the
Avidya that we had to be ready to grow and let go of.

(31:06):
You know, whatever the challengeis coming, you take that, but
know that this is all not permanent.
And it could be leading to something else that when we
resist that challenge or resist that friction or whatever it is,
then we're actually potentially limiting ourselves from other

(31:28):
possibilities, other opportunities that are meant to
show themselves to us. And that's actually gives me
peace sometimes is when I'm going through some challenges or
friction or things like that, even though it sucks and I'm
just like, man, I don't know what to do here.
I don't know what the solution is.
Yes, I go through that process of just kind of accepting and
letting go. But then I also think to myself

(31:49):
that what this is happening for a reason that I don't understand
and I don't have to understand. But I can trust that on the
other side of this, something will show itself and then I
will, then I will understand. And when I can get to that
place, it allows me to kind of endure or feel like I can have
resistance or resilience to continue forward and move

(32:12):
through the challenge with a little bit more joy, let's just
say, or gratitude, instead of itbeing more consuming and, and
like narrowing my focus and making me not enjoyable to be
around so that I can, yeah, still be able to relate with
people, but also move on throughlife.
Because that's kind of the wholepoint is you have to move on at

(32:33):
some point no matter what happens.
Yes, yes. Whether it's small or large. 100
percent, 100% we, we should always love what gives us the
joy. And if we continue to love the
desires and like attachments, ofcourse there is also love.

(32:54):
But see the joy is permanent because you will experience joy
maybe looking at the ocean, which is the, the real joy is
like without any, any stimulation, you are
experiencing the joy. Or maybe in some moments you are

(33:16):
looking at the birds or you are just sitting and you're doing
nothing. You can be super joyful.
So we should love what gives us the joy that will take us to the
truth. But thinking that the the
desires and the sensory pleasures can make me more happy

(33:41):
is not the true, it's not the true joy.
It may be, you know, last for a few minutes, maybe much.
A kick will last few hours and then it fades away and it's
going to take us more down. So that's like like that we have

(34:02):
to understand what gives joy to us.
Then it is connecting to the truth.
That's the ignorance. So ignorance in terms of finding
growth. So we have to find growth.
The ignorance is there. That's why we move towards the

(34:24):
knowledge. It's like the support for the
mind. Mind is growing from there.
So Patanjali speaking, this is adeep psychology you can see from
maybe 3000 years ago Patanjali existed and he explained all of
this in just few words. It's really fascinating to study

(34:47):
the sutras. So this is the Avidya.
Avidya. Avidya.
The first of the the clashes, the foundation, yes, in a in a
not a good way foundation, OK. And then second one, Asmita,
which is related to ego, yeah. Eco, OK.

(35:09):
So let's deconstruct that one a little bit.
So tell me about Asmita. So Asmita is we have to
understand Asmita first. There is this side, there is
pure consciousness and other side of the consciousness is
where mind is. There mind is also considered as

(35:34):
the census. We think mind is not the sense
but in Yoga Sutra mind is also is called as antakarana.
Mind is a inner sense. So other side mind is there and
our eyes, nose and all of our sensory organs are there, OK.

(35:57):
And we experience life with bothof this together.
Consciousness, mind and our senses coming together creates
the experience. So Asmita is actually a
misunderstanding that we have toourself that the experiencer is

(36:23):
the mind, the experiencer is thethought, but the experience who
is really experiencing is just an observer is merely not
involved with anything. That's the one thing that the
consciousness is experiencing all of this.

(36:46):
But I misunderstand, it was me, you know, it was I that I've
experienced that. So the false ego, ego
identification with the mind or with the sensory experiences,
that is a smita. The false ego.

(37:08):
The false ego. So let's see if I understand
this because I'm not sure fully,but it's a confusion between
identifying with whatever is happening as it's happening to
me or separating myself. Ultimately coming back to a
video from just consciousness initself.
Because you mentioned consciousness, you mentioned the

(37:30):
mind and like the physical body,which is kind of like body,
mind, spirit, if you will, soul.So Asmita is is almost like
holding on to that identity again.
Yes, like for example, like yogateachers, you know, teach some,
some of my friends, they teach really good yoga classes, very

(37:52):
good preparation, waking up early morning doing yoga,
prepare and go and teach a class.
OK, they have done their best, but there will be some people
who will come and say, you know,this class was not great,
something can be better, blah, blah, blah.
Something somebody will say. And how does it feels for you as

(38:15):
a teacher? Oh, it made me feel like
sometimes feels like why they are doing this, you know, like
this. The question is coming.
Or I might feel like I'm doing my best and people are being so
rude, you know, bad students, something like this.
So this is actually a SMITA thatI am attached to the things what

(38:41):
I am doing. I am doing not for the sake of
doing, not for the sake of joy, but I'm doing for the sake of
something. Which could that be related to?
Like self worth. Yes.
So I'm doing this and I, if I'm doing it and I'm getting, let's
say, negative or criticism, thenI take that as a reflection of

(39:06):
my own identity as I'm not good enough as opposed to recognizing
that I am not actually, I as opposed to I'm just a, a vessel
of consciousness, you know, sharing this experience and how
it's received is completely out of our control.

(39:26):
Yes, yes, the the intuition is there and it's OK.
Some people don't like the yoga class of you, no problem.
Maybe they were going through something or maybe you know,
some things we have done mistakes.
Whatever it is, it's OK. But the ex.

(39:47):
What feedback I am getting, I amactually like seeing it as like
judgment or like a validation. Like it means something yes.
Like if I get that feedback it means whatever XYZ.
Yeah. So that itself is a Asmita

(40:09):
because the Asmita is there, we are wanting things in certain
way, you know, this, the standards, this and that.
So Asmita, when it is cleared, then whatever happens, Krishna
says in Bhagavad Gita suka Duke samekhritwa la baa la Bao Jaya

(40:34):
jayao, you know suka and dukas. The happiness or sadness comes.
You will learn how to balance. There will be some time profit,
sometime no profit loss. You will balance.
So you will learn how to balanceall of these dualities up and

(40:56):
down, up and down. When we are not, you know,
strongly connected to eco. But when the ego is there, oh,
there is like everything small problem appears very big.
That's why Patanjali is saying Avidya Asmita is 1 is connected

(41:19):
to another. These two are like together.
Yeah, they're, they're, they're very closely, they feel very
close. Yes, identity, false ego
disconnected from truth, but they're, they're slightly
different, but they're very close.
So that's helpful to hear you say that and potentially to
acknowledge it of course as well.

(41:40):
OK, Raga. Raga Dwesha.
Yeah, Raga Dwesha are like, you know, they are.
These two are also together. OK, Raga and Dwesha's raga is
the experience of the pleasure experience of the, the, the
happiness that remains in me. Like I think like if you have a

(42:07):
coffee today, like 9 AM 10 AM, next day, 10 AM again we are
thinking about oh that cappuccino was great.
Maybe I will go get next one andthen you will repeat that for a
week. Then be like, oh, there's
something happening in the body,you know, in Bali, whether

(42:29):
coffee is not good. So like this, like the
attachment is growing, right? Like I'm getting so attached
that without coffee that I cannot function.
I will come there in in some part of the life.
We come there. Without that, I cannot function.

(42:51):
Like this is the very, very connection to the ragas.
Sukhanu Shahi ragaha Patanjali says this Sukhanu Shahi ragaha
sukha means all that pleasure and you know happiness that we
are getting from sensory things that causes the ragah.

(43:15):
And when we sit in the meditation, OK after a few deep
breath, I will think about chocolate brownie.
You know that is because like raga is there, raga is bringing
up or you smell a nice food. 8:00 AM you are smelling

(43:35):
something nice and then the mindis like let's go get the
breakfast. So Raga is the experience of
this. All this pleasure remains in me
that also we have to let go. That is also blocking us to see
the real existence. So would you say that that's

(44:00):
kind of related to desires, wants almost like dopamine,
pleasurable things that through our life experience, we
obviously have a remembering of those experiences and then
wanting more, desiring more. It's almost like more.
It's like, I just want more, more, more.
Is that kind of what it's related to?
100 percent, 100%. And this desire, as everybody

(44:24):
knows this, like Buddha's teaching, says that the desire
is the root cause of suffering, and we go behind the desires
first, thinking wrong. That desire is me so.
I desire. I desire.
Right, I want. And if we really see the real

(44:49):
eye, real eye is just pure existence there.
Everything is there. The desire arises from the mind
and so we go behind the desire. Like Bhagavad Gita says, you
know, so it's a way to downfall ourself.

(45:14):
Our fundamental joy is also lost.
That is the raka. It's like I want and Dwisha is
opposite. I really don't want this.
I, you know, some somebody has said something to me, humiliated

(45:34):
me in front of the people. First of all, how can I get
humiliated because I am attachedto the Asmita, the identity I
connected to. I am very attached.
So somebody can humiliate me andthen it caused suffering in me.

(45:55):
That why they are doing this. This people is a idiot.
I blame in my mind to him. I don't want to blame, you know.
So then all this thing, what we are going through that caused
some experience in me that I don't want to see this guy

(46:15):
anymore. He's piece of shit.
Something that we are thinking, you know.
So this is actually the oppositeof the Raga Dwesha.
Right. So it's like the the not
wanting, the not desiring. It's like if I were to kind of
put those two together, it's like, hey, I want that.

(46:36):
I don't want that. This is what I'm desiring.
I do not desire that. And I think I've heard it as the
term aversion before divisions like aversion.
Aversions. Yes.
Trying to resist or maybe not accepting things which could be
related to like truths or just realities.
It's like I don't want this to be happening to me.

(46:58):
I you know, why is this happening to me and resisting it
as opposed to just accepting it as it is, as it's coming, Yes,
right. Mentally, we have to be free
from all of this. You know, it's, it's not like
Patanjali is not saying you shouldn't have desires or you

(47:18):
should should not have like experience.
You don't want this, you know it.
But in the mental level, we are experiencing pain because of
this. So we have to let go of this
mentally. But we know it anyway from the
past experience, we already knowthat, but we are holding on to

(47:43):
that mentally. We have to detach ourselves from
the both. I want and you know, I hate this
both we have to detach that willcreate the, you know, the
harmony within oneself. The mind becomes connected to
heart, heart becomes connected to hands.

(48:06):
And then one can do things more holistically and feel more
connected to oneself in whateverhe's doing, can be cooking or
walking, doing yoga, or maybe you are getting a coffee, no
problem. But attachment is going there

(48:29):
that we have to realize. So you have to consciously let
go. So this is these are the four
things, Avidya, asmita, raga, dvesha.
So the last one is the Abhinivesha.
Abhinivesha. Abhinivesha.

(48:51):
So the Binivesha is the fear of death and this fear is really
existing in all the animals. And we see, you know, when
animals are sometime passing away and how much the body

(49:14):
shivers. And then there is like this like
a panic, panic mode. You know, this panic have taken
lives of people. We know that getting panic in
the water, getting panic in the elevators.

(49:34):
And imagine the elevator stops, you're going elevator stops for
a few minutes and we are like, Oh my God, what's going to
happen? This is dark, there is no power
and then we start to panic. That will cause more troubles.

(49:54):
So we have heard the stories of people, you know, surviving in
the Himalayan caves, like Milarepa is one of the Yogi of
the Tibet and he survived insidethe caves for like 6 months.

(50:17):
His cave is covered outside, is totally covered in the snow and
he's sitting inside for six month.
There is no source of, you know,food or anything is not there.
Whatever he stored, whatever he has, that's all he has.

(50:37):
How did he do it? There must have been a lot of
rats or something in The Cave for him to eat.
I don't know. Yeah, I'm probably just
accepting and enduring and trusting to just move through
for as long as can and just enjoying what is, which is maybe

(50:58):
each breath in that moment. Who knows?
Yes, yes. So this panicking is actually,
you know, a because we many timeit's not required.
So what we have to understand iswe have to let go of this fear

(51:20):
also. How do I let go of the fear of
death? So this is the practice of the
Abhinivasa. Easier said than done.
It makes me think of, and I'll just share a little story.
When I was in Nepal about a yearand a half ago about to do a
trek the Anaporna circuit and wewere taking a vehicle to get to

(51:45):
the starting point. And the, I think it was like
kind of like a, it wasn't a Jeep, but it might have been
kind of like a Jeep. And so it was like a four wheel
drive kind of thing. And we were driving right along
the edge of this mountain. And if you just look out the
window to your left, it's just acomplete drop thousands and

(52:07):
thousands of feet or meters. Like you just look down and
you're just like, oh, my goodness.
And you look ahead and you see the road is doesn't look like
the most secure, stable road. And there's also, you know,
rubble from like landslides and rock.
So I remember being in that moment and this was several

(52:27):
hours being in this vehicle justdriving.
I just remember holding on to this energy of what we're
talking about right now, this Ebony Visha, just this fear of
being like, I wasn't. I was trying to work through it
and trying to like breathe through it, but it was so strong
within me that I was just like, Oh my God, like I could die any
second now. And, and, and it felt more real

(52:49):
in that moment than any other moment.
But, you know, you could die anysecond anytime.
But in that particular moment, it felt more like more, more
likely, more probable. And I remember like, I just, you
know, all the yoga, all the things that I've studied, it's,
it was still so strong there. And I was sitting there reading
and everyone else seemed to be mostly pretty relaxed.

(53:10):
And I don't know if they were just hiding it, but in my
experience, I was just like, wow, this is really intense for
me. Like I don't, I'm not enjoying
this at all. Like I really don't.
I just want to get this over with so we can get on the, I can
put my feet on the ground and I can have control of where I'm
going in case like the, I don't know, who knows, the wheels or
rocks fall or something like that.
But I remember having that energy of just like fear, panic

(53:34):
wasn't quite panic, but it was almost panic.
It was to the point where I was just like, I just have to accept
this because he's driving. I can't do anything, just
breathe. It'll be over soon.
Impermanence kind of thing. Yes, yes.
But I had to hold on to that pain, that suffering for a long
time, couple hours. It's, it's really intense what
many people, you know, my friend, my friend's friend, he

(53:56):
was locked inside the bathroom and somehow the doors are locked
and he's so panicking there thatthey have to break the door to
get him out. Because you see this fear of

(54:16):
death is very strong in some people.
It is really strong. So in in our tradition in India,
we always have this mantra that we chant, you know, it is the
Mahamrityunjaya mantra we call and it's one of the powerful

(54:38):
mantra to connect to the healingenergy, nourishing energy.
When we go through this, you know, fear arises.
So I almost chant this every day.
It's like my ritual, practicing every day.
In the morning or the evening ormiddle of the day, anytime.

(55:01):
Especially before going to the sleep, because there is so many
things I am attached to. I can observe all of these
things is it's very good to takea note before going to the sleep
that what I am getting attached to today, there are certain

(55:21):
things that we felt very attached and you know, some
certain things we don't like certain moments of downs in the
day, certain moments of UPS in the day.
And what I was learning, right? Ignorance is moving from

(55:42):
ignorance to learning and misidentification that I
identify, you know, like classical Vedanta example is you
are walking in the evening and you will see suddenly a snake.
It is a little bit dark and you recognize, oh, it's a snake for

(56:06):
for that moment it is real. It's a snake for us.
It is real. But I put the torch or it is
just the rope. That is what is like the asmita
is like that. When the light comes, then we
can really see, oh, you know, when you are in that moment of

(56:29):
fear, it's so real that it is like, oh, I can die in this
moment. It's so real.
It's the truth. But we are not able to be in
that, you know, reality. That's why Patanjali is
revealing all of this to us, that it is the real truth.

(56:52):
And with that you can chant the Mahamrityunjaya mantra, which is
like it goes like Trayambakkam Yaja mahe sugandim pushti
vartanam urvaru Kamiva bandanathmrityur mukhsiya Mamritat means

(57:13):
to to let go of the fear of death and move towards
immortality, move towards immortal self.
So mantra says that the self wasnever born and never it dies,
which is always exist in all thetime in in all the moments of

(57:37):
our life, the the self is available.
We are the one who are, you know, connecting to this
glaciers. That's why it is appears like it
is not accessible, but it is there.
So that's the truth with with this, all of this glaciers, we

(58:03):
can really understand and study our own mind what is happening
to our self and what is the truth we can see.
It's like the Yoga Sutras is also called as yoga darshanas.
It is giving us the reflection of the truth.

(58:25):
Darshana means it is giving us like a mirror where we can see,
oh, this is what is happening. I can use Yoga Sutras to study
myself. I can use Yoga Sutra to reflect
what's what's going on in my mind.
That's how the Yoga Sutras can be beneficial to us.

(58:51):
OK, So these glaciers, that's bringing it back to kind of
where we were at the beginning, which is forms of suffering
ultimately. And those are the elements that
block us from being able to evenmove into the, let's say, the
crias. So the practices of tapas,

(59:12):
Svadyaya, Ishvada, Pinanadana, which is disciplinary practice,
energy rising, purification, Svadyaya, self reflection, kind
of looking inward, and then Ishvarapranidhana, letting go,
surrendering to your higher self.
Yes, When we work through that, we can we can dissolve some of

(59:33):
this. And when I'm pointing at the
clashes right now, yes. And that allows us to move into
the ability or the opportunity to, let's say, ascend further
through the practice of Krius. Is that right?
Just to kind of connect it all together or did I say that
wrong? Yeah, yeah.
Krius are the preliminary practice and you do all of this

(59:57):
to move to Raja Yoga in the RajaYoga because with this glaciers
are there, we practice 8 limbs of yoga.
So just to be clear, because Raja and Raga are very close
together, yes, And I can imaginesomeone heard it and is
confused. So Raga.
Yeah. Is one of the clashes, yeah,

(01:00:20):
which is that experience of pleasure, happiness and kind of
attached to the desires and wants, correct.
Raja Yoga is. Is the king among all the yogas?
Raja means king. Raja means the king.
Yeah, OK. So RAGARAJA, slightly different,
just to make sure people understand that.

(01:00:40):
OK, so the king of yoga go. On King of Yoga, that's why we
begin the 8 limbs of Yoga. So 8 limbs of yoga is the
systematic method that one can achieve the inner peace by
practicing all this Yama, Niyama, Asan, pranayam, dharan,

(01:01:03):
dhyan, samadhi. So systematically we move
towards the ultimate peace by understanding the truth, by
understanding glaciers exist in me and by doing the preliminary
kriyas, the preliminary practices.

(01:01:25):
From there I move towards the Raja Yoga.
OK. And then moving towards the Raja
Yoga, is that that's that's likein process of the Kriyas or is
that like it's the next steps? It's the next steps, OK.

(01:01:47):
Yeah, cool. So Raja Yoga is of course it's a
higher practice, higher for the mind.
It is it's mind level practice. So that's why it is Raja Yoga.
So once we maybe next podcast wecan talk about, you know, what

(01:02:11):
are the ways to connect to Raja Yoga practice.
So elements of Raja Yoga, it hasfirst using willpower to
transcend. What's all these glaciers are
there? We use willpower to transcend.
So the practice begins with yamas and the niyamas, yama

(01:02:35):
niyama and then the asanas Pranayama.
Pratyahara is the way to turn inwards and Dharana Dhyana
samadhi is the meditation. So the 8 limbs is basically. 8
limbs. OK, but it is the means to
meditation right? One person has if the Raja Yogi

(01:02:59):
is there, he need to sit at least one hour, one hour in the
same posture for meditation. So I have a question before we
wrap it up because I was just teaching in the meditation
training with Leia and Paul and I talked about posture.

(01:03:20):
I came in and I talked about thephysical aspect of posture,
sitting and you know, being ableto adjust your your body
position and things like that. And then hearing you say like,
you know, being able to sit in one position for the meditative
practice. Some people have a really hard
time with that, myself included.Like sitting cross legged
Sukasana is very difficult for me, so I often have to be in,

(01:03:42):
you know, either sitting in likelike a Thunderbolt vajrasana.
Vajrasana. Yeah, sitting on a couple
bolsters just so that my feet don't fall asleep or I just lie
down. So yeah, I'm just curious to
know what your thoughts are about the need to be in one
position and not move for long periods of time 'cause I know
that, you know, there's different schools of thought on

(01:04:02):
why that might be, especially with like even Vipassana, you
know, you, you sit for probably even longer than an hour.
Yes, yes. So, so maybe just speak a little
bit to that just just so that because it's fresh on my mind,
I'm just curious to hear what you think.
Yeah, the head, neck and spine in one straight line, Yeah, that
is the fundamental of the meditative postures.

(01:04:25):
So especially if vajrasana you are using take a two block and a
blanket and sit there. And 1st is the element of like
OK, I am seated in the which part of the sit bone when I am
properly sitting in the, the bottom of the sit bone is

(01:04:47):
connected to earth, then it's a natural upright position.
So lying down is not suggested because we have a habit of sleep
and also the energy that is moving.
You know, meditation is the way to connect to ultimate.

(01:05:07):
So energy had to move from earthto more towards the sky like the
fire. So that's why the mind has to go
upward direction. So we suggest the upright
positions. OK, perfect.
That's what I said in my lecture, so thank you for

(01:05:30):
validating that. But I was just always open to
hearing if, you know, there was a slight adjustment that I might
need to make. So awesome.
Yeah. Straight spine is what I kind of
imagined for, to allow the energy to kind of climb and
rise, ultimately finding a nice supportive physical posture.
And then I said laying down is something that, you know, if you
need to do it, you need to do it.
But you, you are kind of disconnecting from the source

(01:05:52):
energy of the earth, if you will, or just, you know, the
ground. So that's kind of the way I saw
it as well. Gita also mentions as like you
know Samang Kayashiro grievam dharayan achalam stiraha sampreh
shanasika gramsam dishes Chand avalokayan means after keeping

(01:06:13):
sitting straight we have to become still.
Also body had to become more still and relaxed like
absolutely relaxed is also very important for body to feel safe
and connected here. After that, focusing on the tip
of the nostril and let go of allthe unnecessary thinking, let

(01:06:39):
letting go of that. That's what the Gita mentions
about, you know, sitting straight for preparing for
meditation. OK.
Thank you for that. All right, without getting into
a whole other topic, I think maybe we can wrap it up for
today. So yeah, thank you for that.
It was really helpful to kind oflearn a little bit more.

(01:06:59):
We talked, we're basically went into the a, a small part of the
2nd chapter sutras talking aboutKriyas or at least getting into
the Kriyas or what is the prerequisite for Kriyas, which
again top US. Disciplinary practice,
purification through heat. Svidya.
Yeah. Self reflection, self study,
looking inward. Ishvarapraneydhana related to

(01:07:23):
surrender, ultimate surrender toyour higher self, your higher
being and then allowing us to move into Raja Yoga or not Raja
Yoga eventually, yes, Raja Yoga,but Kriya's Hatha we talked
about like breath work related style for Kriya.
And then Raja Yoga being more ofjust like the letting go, the

(01:07:45):
surrendering and ultimately the ascending, if you will.
And then the obstacles in the way of all of that being the
clashes, the five clashes. So Evidya, which is kind of the
disconnected from the truth being lost, ultimately
identifying with yourself or thinking that you are or you I
am I. And then Asmita being very

(01:08:05):
closely related to that, the false ego wanting having
expectations. So very closely connected to a
video, Raga yoga, raga raga yogaand Devesha, which is the
experience of pleasure, wanting,happiness, desires, being
attached to those things. And then devesha being the

(01:08:28):
opposite of that, the aversion of it, not wanting, not
desiring, but ultimately trying to control the in and the out of
what comes to you in your experience.
And then the last one, ebenevacia, which is the fear of
death, basically safety of survival, kind of that panic
mode. We had a few examples to kind of
connect to that, which I'm sure listeners have their own

(01:08:49):
examples of when that may have happened to them.
And I think that's really helpful to kind of just reflect
on those, let's say, points of suffering so that we can do the
self reflection, the swagya to connect to me.
Like, Oh yeah, I do remember that moment whenever that was
happening. And yeah, it was scary and it
was freaky. Or I do remember when I wanted a

(01:09:11):
lot of things and how when I wasn't getting those things, it
was causing a lot of pain for me.
So I think that's kind of the point.
It's just like taking some of this information, absorbing it
and just reflecting yourself. How is this relating to me?
How does this helpful for me? You know, we didn't really get
into the Kriyas too much, but I think the whole point is
everything prerequisite to that is actually helpful in itself.

(01:09:32):
The Kriyas themself can obviously do more, but there's
so much power and so much beautyin some of the steps that we've
already talked about that I think, yeah, there's a lot to
take away. Yes, yes, always.
Whenever I read Yoga Sutras, every time I come back and
reflect on the sutras, there is something to learn.
I started very young and I can tell in many situations of my

(01:09:59):
life whenever I'm thinking aboutYoga Sutras, I found the light,
you know it. It just removes all my
misunderstanding. Finding more peace?
More peace, yeah. More peace, maybe bliss.
OK, thank you, Akshay. I appreciate you with all your
wisdom, your presence. Do you have any final thoughts

(01:10:22):
before we sign off for today? So my teacher always told me
that, you know, always connect to the source behind the eye.
What is the source behind the eye?
That's where everything is there.
So when I think I, I had to think about the source.

(01:10:50):
So that's like the, the teachings of my teacher.
He used to say that many times. So take that with you and
interpret what that means. Maybe journal about it.
OK. Thank you one more time.
Thank you, listeners, for tuningin this week.
If you have any questions, you want to connect with Akshay,
we'll put his Instagram probablyin the show notes.

(01:11:11):
You can always reach out to him if you have any questions, if
you want to see what he's up to.Otherwise, Yeah, I think that's
it for this week. You'll be back soon.
We'll continue the conversation,probably talk about Raja Yoga,
King of Yoga, and probably many more topics to come.
So thank you again. And we'll speak to you next
week. Take care.
Thank you.

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Ep #204: Yoga Sutras: The 5 Kleshas Stealing Your Inner Peace

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