Yoga Sutras: The 5 Kleshas Stealing Your Inner Peace

0:00 Hey there, before we get started on this week's episode, I would love to ask for your support by reviewing this podcast. We want to share yoga with as many people as possible and this free resource, this podcast is one of the ways that we can do that. And the best way that you can help support us is by giving us a review.

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0:32 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. 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?

0:54 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, one of my favorite subject. I remember studying them.

1:10 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 are but.

1:26 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 understand our mind and our samskaras, what we are bringing up in our conscious space in the mind.

1:58 That is all explained in the Yoga Sutras. It's a beautiful text. And how many? Just reminding everyone, including myself. 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 practitioner can achieve the transcendental state. 2nd chapter Sadhana Pada where Patanjali speaks about the practice. All the preliminary things that we need to know before practicing yoga Sadhana Pada.

2:40 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 Vibhuti Pada which is talking about this like a special knowledge we can acquire from practicing yoga.

3:06 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? Yes the superpowers vibhuti pada and 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 is always good to, you know, read and practice.

3:45 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, Kriya Yoga. This is the first sutra of the second chapter. And those are three niyamas, yeah. Yes, yes.

4:16 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. He wants to achieve the peace and harmony with oneself. We need to go through this, this three very particularly first is the tapas. That is discipline.

4:44 Swadhyaya means, you know, always bringing the awareness 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 forgotten how to look at our self, our body, our way of understanding yoga that that's going away.

5:19 So self study is to bring back that awareness where we can understand our body, our mind and how we are functioning more precisely that that is the Swati Haya 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.

5:53 Imagine you are in the ocean and you 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 enjoy, you know the fear comes up and what if there is something comes and attacks me like this?

6:22 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. 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.

6:54 So kind of like building or letting the energy kind of arise or come come out ultimately, then through that purification kind of happens, clarity comes, happens and things like that. Svad yeah, yeah. Self study You, you.

7:07 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 feel, reflecting on the things that you might be wanting or desiring. So that self study component,

7:30 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.

7:45 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 going to be.

8:03 So I might as well just accept it as it is, yes. 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.

8:31 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 to manage when it comes up.

8:54 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.

9:15 It's good because something good is going to appear from the consciousness. The Ishwara means actually the consciousness. So it's really nice to, you know, practice this three before we get into the Kriyas. And with the Kriyas, the practice is amplified.

9:39 We we can really experience in daily lives. We experience samadhi, the peace and 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.

9:58 In the Kriya yoga tradition, it's starting from Mahatar. Babaji is one of the babas of the India. They they give kriyas as like through the mantras. Like some mantra is given to you from your guru to find light within yourself. So and there are different kriyas like hata yoga have a different kriyas.

10:28 Like there can be breathing kriyas or practice of cleansing. So Hata yoga kriyas are more for the cleansing and when you go little bit higher like Raja yoga kriyas, that kriyas are more 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.

11:04 And how can I find out in within myself? That's why the kriyas are there. That's why the guru is there. Guru can guide you there to find out 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.

11:47 Yes, yeah. My understanding having done podcasts with you before, but mantras it's less about the 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.

12:08 Ida is the lunar channel, singleize the sun channel and 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 of thinking and our energy flow towards the brain.

12:40 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 sometimes blocked, you know. Yeah, my left one's blocked right now. Left ones are blocked.

13:06 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 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 physical activities.

13:36 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 receiving, receiving, learning, reception, stillness. OK, cool. So that's more of the feminine energy or would be described as feminine energy.

13:54 Yes, yes, feminine musculine energy both has to be balanced and then the energy flows in the centre channel like the yogi's explain the channel of the transcendence that is the 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, you are focusing on the third eye and Ketchari mudra.

14:35 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 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 guidance for even for the Hatha yogis there is guidance in the

15:23 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 breath work, rising energy and then Raja Yoga, as in the sense of releasing or letting go. Is that right?

15:47 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 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.

16:08 Like is it practicing asana through that disciplinary practice, doing something difficult? Is it reflecting on how you feel while 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 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.

17:03 So first is the the awareness of the body. So one have to 1st create the awareness of body, what's 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 this prerequisite practice. Tapaswadiya Ishwar of Trinidad has to remove the suffering and some other people who are in

17:50 front of computer, they're working a lot. Maybe for them it's more mental challenges. Physically they're very fit, but mentally they are going through something. Mentally stress is there. So depending on where we are, where the tension is building up, we had to take up the practice.

18:14 If I were to kind of simplify it from 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 say, the creas or the process of rising. 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.

18:37 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 it, you've interacted with people, you've had challenges, you've, you know, been on the computer, the devices.

18:51 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 breathing practice 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 go a little bit towards positive health.

19:57 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 all of all of the joy that we have in our day like. When I wake up, I have to be joyful because there are many people who don't wake up, right?

20:32 Many people, no more life. So that joy is sometime disappears. When I wake up, I am thinking about yesterday, or I'm thinking about 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 is forgotten.

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 know, in the dust. So then part of the cleansing, the preparing for the Koreas, is actually clearing out the clashes. Is that what I'm hearing?

21:34 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 is there, the pure joy and bliss is 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 that is divided and sometime too far away.

22:12 That is because the glacier is there. So 5 glaciers according to Patanjali, avidya means the ignorance, Asmita the egocentric mind, avidya asmita raga, 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 you wanted to go, but can we go through those?

22:55 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 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 in the consciousness level that we are disconnected from the truth that we identify ourself with 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 imagine like the Paddy field and avidya is where it's the ground of suffering.

25:15 I first misunderstanding and 1st thinking I am that you know with the wrong eye not the right eye. The right eye is always quiet, means when I think about eye there is no thoughts, there is no identification to I, which is basically I is here in this moment and it is always here with us.

25:53 But the wrong guy. Oh, I was doing that. 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 just, you know, working from our subconscious patterns and conditions, that's the foundation of the suffering and ultimately blocks us. So anitya ashuti dukkha anath

26:29 masu. So Patanjali explains like this. So thinking misidentifying impermanence as permanence. 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 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

27:43 know, when there's moments where everything feels like it's just 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 process of becoming flower from the 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 grow. If imagine we are perfect self.

29:15 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. 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.

29:54 It is the future, right? Future is made from the mind in 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, 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 challenge is 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 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

31:41 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 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

32:09 resistance or resilience to continue forward and move through the challenge with a little bit more joy, let's just say, or gratitude, instead of it being 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 through life.

32:31 Because that's kind of the whole point is you have to move on at 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, of course 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 looking at the birds or you are just sitting and you're doing nothing. You can be super joyful.

33:25 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 is not the true, it's not the true joy. It may be, you know, last for a few minutes, maybe much.

33:49 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 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.

34:21 The ignorance is there. That's why we move towards the knowledge. It's like the support for the mind. Mind is growing from there. So Patanjali speaking, this is a deep 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 the sutras. So this is the Avidya.

34:53 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. So let's deconstruct that one a little bit.

35:11 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 the census. We think mind is not the sense but in Yoga Sutra mind is also is called as antakarana.

35:44 Mind is a inner sense. So other side mind is there and our eyes, nose and all of our sensory organs are there, OK. And we experience life with both of this together. Consciousness, mind and our senses coming together creates the experience. So Asmita is actually a misunderstanding that we have to ourself that the experiencer is the mind, the experiencer is the thought, but the experience who is really experiencing is just an observer is merely not

36:38 involved with anything. That's the one thing that the consciousness is experiencing all of this. 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 in itself.

37:28 Because you mentioned consciousness, you mentioned the 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 yoga teachers, you know, teach some, some of my friends, they teach really good yoga classes, very good preparation, waking up early morning doing yoga, prepare and go and teach a class.

38:01 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 a teacher? Oh, it made me feel like sometimes feels like why they are doing this, you know, like this. The question is coming.

38:24 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 that I am attached to the things what 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?

38:54 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, then I take that as a reflection of 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 am actually 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 because the Asmita is there, we are wanting things in certain way, you know, this, the standards, this and that.

40:21 So Asmita, when it is cleared, then whatever happens, Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita suka Duke samekhritwa la baa la Bao Jaya 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.

40:51 So you will learn how to balance all of these dualities up and 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.

41:14 That's why Patanjali is saying Avidya Asmita is 1 is connected 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.

41:34 So that's helpful to hear you say that and potentially to acknowledge it of course as well. 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 coffee today, like 9 AM 10 AM, next day, 10 AM again we are thinking about oh that cappuccino was great.

42:18 Maybe I will go get next one and then you will repeat that for a week. Then be like, oh, there's something happening in the body, you know, in Bali, whether 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.

42:43 I will come there in in some part of the life. We come there. Without that, I cannot function. 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 something nice and then the mind is 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.

44:16 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 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.

44:40 I desire. I desire. Right, I want. And if we really see the real 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 me in front of the people. First of all, how can I get humiliated because I am attached to the Asmita, the identity I connected to. I am very attached.

45:49 So somebody can humiliate me and then it caused suffering in me. 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 anymore. He's piece of shit.

46:19 Something that we are thinking, you know. So this is actually the opposite of 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.

46:55 It's like I don't want this to be happening to me. 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 should should not have like experience.

47:21 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 know that, but we are holding on to that mentally. We have to detach ourselves from the both. I want and you know, I hate this both we have to detach that will create 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 whatever he's doing, can be cooking or walking, doing yoga, or maybe you are getting a coffee, no problem. But attachment is going there that we have to realize. So you have to consciously let go. So this is these are the four things, Avidya, asmita, raga, dvesha.

48:44 So the last one is the Abhinivesha. Abhinivesha. Abhinivesha. 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 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 inside the caves for like 6 months. His cave is covered outside, is totally covered in the snow and he's sitting inside for six month.

50:27 There is no source of, you know, food or anything is not there. Whatever he stored, whatever he has, that's all he has. 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 each breath in that moment. Who knows?

51:01 Yes, yes. So this panicking is actually, you know, a because we many time it's not required. So what we have to understand is we have to let go of this fear also. How do I let go of the fear of death? So this is the practice of the Abhinivasa. Easier said than done.

51:34 It makes me think of, and I'll just share a little story. When I was in Nepal about a year and a half ago about to do a trek the Anaporna circuit and we were taking a vehicle to get to 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

52:01 window to your left, it's just a complete drop thousands and 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.

52:23 So I remember being in that moment and this was several hours being in this vehicle just driving. 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 in that moment than any other moment.

52:50 But, you know, you could die any second 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.

53:30 But I remember having that energy of just like fear, panic 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.

53:43 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 was locked inside the bathroom and somehow the doors are locked and he's so panicking there that they have to break the door to get him out. Because you see this fear of death is very strong in some people.

54:19 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 mantra to connect to the healing energy, nourishing energy.

54:43 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 or middle of the day, anytime. 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 take a note before going to the sleep that what I am getting attached to today, there are certain things that we felt very attached and you know, some

55:27 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 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.

56:01 It is a little bit dark and you recognize, oh, it's a snake for 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 fear, it's so real that it is like, oh, I can die in this moment. It's so real.

56:37 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. And with that you can chant the Mahamrityunjaya mantra, which is like it goes like Trayambakkam Yaja mahe sugandim pushti vartanam urvaru Kamiva bandanath mrityur mukhsiya Mamritat means to to let go of the fear of death and move towards immortality, move towards immortal self.

57:24 So mantra says that the self was never born and never it dies, which is always exist in all the time in in all the moments of 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.

57:56 So that's the truth with with this, all of this glaciers, we 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.

58:19 It is giving us the reflection of the truth. 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.

58:43 That's how the Yoga Sutras can be beneficial to us. 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 even move into the, let's say, the crias. So the practices of tapas, Svadyaya, Ishvada, Pinanadana, which is disciplinary practice, energy rising, purification, Svadyaya, self reflection, kind of looking inward, and then Ishvarapranidhana, letting go,

59:24 surrendering to your higher self. Yes, When we work through that, we can we can dissolve some of 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?

59:46 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 to move to Raja Yoga in the Raja Yoga because with this glaciers are there, we practice 8 limbs of yoga.

1:00:08 So just to be clear, because Raja and Raga are very close together, yes, And I can imagine someone heard it and is confused. So Raga. Yeah. Is one of the clashes, yeah, which is that experience of pleasure, happiness and kind of attached to the desires and wants, correct.

1:00:26 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. 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, dhyan, samadhi. So systematically we move towards the ultimate peace by understanding the truth, by

1:01:13 understanding glaciers exist in me and by doing the preliminary kriyas, the preliminary practices. From there I move towards the Raja Yoga. OK. And then moving towards the Raja Yoga, is that that's that's like in process of the Kriyas or is that like it's the next steps? It's the next steps, OK.

1:01:47 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 we can talk about, you know, what are the ways to connect to Raja Yoga practice.

1:02:15 So elements of Raja Yoga, it has first 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 niyama and then the asanas Pranayama.

1:02:41 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 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.

1:03:20 I came in and I talked about the physical aspect of posture, sitting and you know, being able to 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, you know, either sitting in like like a Thunderbolt vajrasana.

1:03:46 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 why that might be, especially with like even Vipassana, you know, you, you sit for probably even longer than an hour.

1:04:09 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.

1:04:25 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 connected to earth, then it's a natural upright position.

1:04:52 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. So energy had to move from earth to 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.

1:05:26 That's what I said in my lecture, so thank you for 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.

1:05:45 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 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 sitting straight we have to become still.

1:06:16 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 all the unnecessary thinking, let letting go of that. That's what the Gita mentions about, you know, sitting straight for preparing for meditation. OK.

1:06:50 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 of learn a little bit more. We talked, we're basically went into the a, a small part of the 2nd chapter sutras talking about Kriyas or at least getting into the Kriyas or what is the prerequisite for Kriyas, which again top US. Disciplinary practice, purification through heat. Svidya.

1:07:17 Yeah. Self reflection, self study, looking inward. Ishvarapraneydhana related to surrender, ultimate surrender to your 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.

1:07:41 And then Raja Yoga being more of just like the letting go, the 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 closely related to that, the false ego wanting having expectations. So very closely connected to a

1:08:14 video, Raga yoga, raga raga yoga and Devesha, which is the experience of pleasure, wanting, happiness, desires, being attached to those things. And then devesha being the 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.

1:08:37 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 examples of when that may have happened to them.

1:08:53 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 lot of things and how when I wasn't getting those things, it was causing a lot of pain for me.

1:09:15 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.

1:09:32 The Kriyas themself can obviously do more, but there's so much power and so much beauty in 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.

1:09:52 I started very young and I can tell in many situations of my life whenever I'm thinking about Yoga Sutras, I found the light, you know it. It just removes all my misunderstanding. Finding more peace? More peace, yeah. More peace, maybe bliss.

1:10:17 OK, thank you, Akshay. I appreciate you with all your wisdom, your presence. Do you have any final thoughts before we sign off for today? So my teacher always told me that, you know, always connect to the source behind the eye.

1:10:35 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. 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.

1:11:03 OK. Thank you one more time. Thank you, listeners, for tuning in this week. If you have any questions, you want to connect with Akshay, we'll put his Instagram probably in the show notes. 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.

1:11:20 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.