SAMADHIPAD SUTRA-13

                                              TATRA STHITAU YATNO ABHYASAH

           THE EFFORT DONE TO ACHIEVE THAT STATUS OF MIND IS CALLED ABHYAS

        In the last sutra ,it was stated that efforts or practice and dispassion will lead to the success.So in this one it is stated that the the effort that is done is called the abhyas.In regular talk the Abhyas is translated as 'study' .So One may not know as to how do you study?Do you read scripture?Or do we do more rituals or do we change our behaviour or do we donate to charity?This sutra stated that persistent practice to control the thought waves . By reading religious books or scriptures we will not achieve our goal. By doing charity we will not  achieve goals. Even though all these things will help, WE MUST PRACTICE TECHNIQUES OF CONCENTRATION.One can not become brain surgeon, by reading surgical text book.One has to learn in the books and then PRACTICE  the surgical techniques. After doing it for number of times only , he can do it better and more practice will make it perfect. Same is true of controlling mind.We are not going to be successful at our first attempt or second attempt and this should not discourage  us . But we should continue the practice .
        To expand on the efforts just doing meditation is not enough. The various other day to day life changes that need to be done will be described in latter sutras . But to understand this limitation on our daily life activity, I am going to tell a story. To prevents the different thoughts arising in our mind , we need to know why we get thoughts . We get thoughts as we have attachments to different things.I am attached to my job , income , possessions, family,health and many other things . So as long as we have these attachments , the thoughts can not be prevented from arising. So the dispassion is the solution.Even if we have dispassion , we got to practice thought control, as some thoughts come and go unrelated to our attachments.So the repeated practice is essential.
       So now the story. Maharishi Vyas had a son. His name was SHUKA , also called SHUKAMUNI.When he was conceived and was in the mother's womb , he did not want to come out as the world that he would have to face was not good . So the mother continued to carry the pregnancy for 12 years . She got tired and could not carry it any further.So she told Vyas and he requested the son  to come out . He told him that he had such great dispassion , that he would not be affected by the temptations in this world.So the Shuka came out . His father taught what he knew , but it was apparent to him soon that the son knew everything.So he told him to go to a king JANAKA. (think about it The saint was sending him to a king , who enjoys everything in like, living in luxury and having all the sense satisfactions. So do not have to go to forest to practice dispassion).So the SHUKA went to the king .While they were going to the king, they were passing through a jungle and there was a lake.There were some ladies were swimming  in it . As the SHUKA muni passed by the ladies did not do anything. But when the Vyas passed by , the ladies covered themselves.So the Shuka felt that he is even better than his older father as the ladies knew that their nudity would not bother him , but they were not sure about his older father.So his ego was inflated.He went to the king and sent a message to the king that said,'I SHUKA muni has come to him leaving everything.' The king sent a message back that 'You can come in only when you left everything.'SHUKA could not understand. So he sent the same message again and got the same reply. Then it struck him . As long as he was identifying himself with the body -mortal body as SHUKA , he had not 'left; everything.
      Then the king asked the SHUKA to to carry a cup filed with oil up to the brim, without spilling a drop and do 7 rounds around the palatial room . There was singing and dancing going around . But without paying any attention to all the things that were going on he did go around with no problem.(The  moral was that you can stay in this mortal world and not get attached and keep your attention on the same goal all the time even if you are doing day to day chores,)Then he asked him to put in the mouth a candy for 30 minutes . When the king took it out it was not even wet. This proved that SHUKA had complete dispassion . So the king told him that he could not teach him anything more .
This is true dispassion . 

SAMADHIPAD SUTRA 12

                               ABHYSA VAIRAGYA ABHYAM TAD NIRODHAH

         THESE VRITIES(TENDENCIES )ARE CONTROLLED BY PRACTICE(STUDY)AND                  DISPASSION.
        We saw in the previous sutras that the waves of the thoughts arise related to 5 different things.As long as these thoughts continue to be there , we can not uncover the real ME.As we saw it as long as the thoughts are there then the real ME aligns itself with the body and so it is unable to realise that it is independent of the body.(And I mean all 5 bodies.)So this sutra tells us how to control these vrities or the thoughts. So it says that if we 'practice' and develop 'dispassion' then we can achieve it. The mind is compared to flow of river. We may think that the water is same , but in reality the water is flowing continuously and is changing all  the time .So are the thoughts. If you analyse the last 15 minutes of the thoughts that you had , you will realise that you started with one thought and then it gives rise to another and an a another and so on . I may think about this blog , then it takes me to second thought as to who is going to read it , that leads to next one as to am I being clear enough  for any one to understand it , or can I ever make an E-book out of it or make money , then donate it or whatever. So the 'flow of thoughts is like flow of water in a river, constantly changing and constantly present , with no break. Second similarity is that as much as river can flow downstream . we can go upstream. So as much as our thoughts are related to the 'OUT SIDE' world, we can reverse and make it upstream towards our ORIGIN.
      One fact comes out of the chain of thoughts that may not be obvious without pointing out, is that first thought has to disappear or die, before next one comes . So even though it is a chain , there is a extremely short time interval that there is NO THOUGHT. It is so small that we don't perceive it It is like series of still photographs, if we see them rapidly, we will see a motion picture.When we watch a movie, we don't perceive it as series of several, pictures.Same is with thoughts. So even though we don't know or feel there little gap and we need to learn to increase that gap with practice .This called 'study' or ABHYAS., which is nothing more than practice .
      Now why do we get thoughts . If we know as to the origin of the thoughts , then we can stop it.So let us go back to the previous sutras. So if I see thing it provoke a thought. Let us say I see ice cream , I will have desire to eat it , then next one will tell me that it is fattening or not good for cholesterol etc. But let us say I have never seen ice cream , would I have any thoughts?Let us say I don't have any 'desire to eat it ,no thoughts would come.So having no desires will lead to stoppage of our thoughts. Sometimes we create thought by the attachments. Let me clarify . I buy an expensive car. So I will have thoughts of , how I am going to maintain it , how am I going to drive , take care of it , where am I going to get money for repairs .But if I do not own a car I don't have to worry about any of these and I will have no thoughts related to car . This is called dispassion .
     So by doing the study or practice and by dispassion we can control our thoughts or not have them arise at all .

SAMADHIPAD SUTRA-11

                            ANUBHUTA VISHSYA ASAMPRAMOSHAH SMRITI

               MEMORY IS RECOLLECTION OF PREVIOUSLY EXPERIENCED THINGS
      The five different things that create the waves in our mind were mentioned in past sutras. Now this one explains the 5th and the last one.Memory is recollections of previously experienced things. So we can not remember thing that we have never experienced. In the process of recollection,we may depend upon any of the previous;y mentioned things that we normally use to come to a conclusion. Say for example we are in a house and hear the sounds of screeching tires . We conclude that some car went by with sudden increase in speed . Or it is 4th of July and we hear sounds out side , we conclude that there must be fire crackers going on .In the first case we base our conclusion based on previous experience and our conclusion was right . In second case same thing was applied , but we could be wrong as the sound that we hear may be a gun fire and not fire crackers.(SEE SUTRA7 FOR THE 3 DIFFERENT WAYS THAT WE CONCLUDE.)
         In any case we must have had experienced it before. Now some one may state that the recent research had shown that false memory can be implanted in anyone by telling a story. Young kids who were told about getting lost in moll ( false story ),in series of different childhood memories that were real, could recollect the false memories in great detail, when asked about it in future. In this case it is still a memory and it may not be actually experienced by them , but it still was memory that was created by repeatedly being told. We can not recollect anything that we have never heard , or seen or experienced with any one of our 5 sense perception organs .
       So these are 5 different categories of the thought waves.
       In the next one we will know how to control these waves .

SAMADHI PAD-SUTRA 10

                             ABHAV  PRATYAYA  AALAMBAN  VRITTI  NIDRA
         EXPERIENCE OF ABSENCE OF ANY TENDENCIES OF THE MIND IS THE BASIS -IS            SLEEP.
   We believe that during the sleep we have no thoughts or no experience that our sense organs give to us .So we may have no mental  tendencies.And if we have the mind which is without the waves of the thoughts , then this would become SAMADHI, as is seen in Nirudha state of mind as described before . So we don't have to try hard , doing all the practices of all the 'DOES' AND 'DON'TS'. We can just fall asleep and be done with it . But this is far from the truth. In sleep there are tendencies and even though there are no external stimuli to provoke thoughts , we still have thoughts.So sleep is tendency of the mind , and when we experience 'nothing', it is also an experience .
    The different states of mind is described in earlier sutra-2.The first 3 of them , MUDHA ,KSHIPTA, AND VIKSHIPTA are are related to predominance of one or other GUNAS.So when the TAMOGUNA is dominant then we have MUDHA state.When the RAJOGUNA is dominant then we have KSHIPTA state.When the SATWA GUNA starts getting stronger , then the VIKSHIPTA state is there.This is when we are awake. When we start having TAMOGUNA dominance , then we feel LAZY, , little more of it leads to drowsiness(in these two states we still have some contact with external stimuli),and then comes the sleep These 3 states are 'natural'states . The two other states , which are known , one is state of mind is HYPNOTISM, and second is unconscious state, are not normal states of sleep.Our previous experiences in this and previous lives are not all active in this life and do not come to surface in this life . But under hypnosis, (called TANDRA STATE), some of these thoughts or memories can be brought to surface , but like sleep when the person wakes up ,he can not remember them .
      I wanted to clear one thing. The Tamoguna is INACTIVITY, the Rajoguna is Activity, and in Satwic , there is KNOWLEDGE . So sleep is predominance of Tamoguna.
      In sleep we may not remember anything , but when we don't remember anything , we are actually REMEMBERING nothing .Since we can not remember anything that we have not experienced , we must have experienced Nothing 'before.So if our mind is continuous state of single minded state, are we not in the state of EKAGRA mind state, which precursor to SAMADHI? The answer is no .Unless we try it with disciplined mind , it can not be samadhi. And in samadhi , we have 3 things, the observer, the the object that is observed(or concentrated upon), and the thing that holds.None of these things are in sleep .To state in another, when a weak , coward person decides not to fight, it is not out of control of mind and can not be credited.
      So in short, sleep is tendency of mind . We do have thoughts in spite of absence of external stimuli.And there are 5 different states laziness, drowsiness and sleep which are normal and 2 abnormal hypnosis and unconscious.

SAMADHI PAD SUTRA-9

                     SHABDA DYANANUPATI VASTU SHUNYO VIKALPAH

THE VIKALPA MEANS THERE ARE WORDS, BUT NO REALITY,ONLY IMAGINATION

The nest one that is explained here is called VIKALPA.When one says a word , it conveys a meaning. So if I say a word 'DOG' ,it tells me exactly what it means . So the words explain the meaning. But sometimes when we say certain thing , it conveys the meaning, but it is not real .If I would say 'ICECOLD SUN'.It does convey the meaning. But there is no cold sun. So even though words have meaning, they do not convey any real knowledge.Similar examples can be given, 'horn of a rabbit',would be an another example..So why would we use these kinds of words? We tend to use them sometimes to prove a point If one wants to prove that in case of a triangle, sum of two sides is greater than the third side . So we suppose that the sum is less than the third side or it is same . And then disprove it and that prove our original point.This is also used to find out what is soul. This type of thinking to find out certain things that we can't what they exactly are , we suppose that they are something different than what they are and then disprove it. This will become more clear when we talk about the PURUSHA .

SAMADHIPAD SUTRA-8

                   VIPARYAYO MITHYA DYANAM ATADRUPA PRATHISHTITHAM

                                        VIPARYA IS WRONG KNOWLEDGE

      The second cause of the thought waves in our mind-chitta, is VIPARYA. This is not ethically or morally wrong knowledge or inference. But it is different than what the things are. The standard example is that of a rope looking like snake in dark or the light pole looking like ghost. So there is a pole but due to decreased visibility in darkness, it appears to be a ghost . So when the light is bright and adequate, we can see the pole and the ghost disappears. Now the wrong knowledge can be either painful or not painful.If we think that we are seeing a ghost or a snake it will cause the fear and it is painful. But in case of sky , looking blue, it causes pleasure as the color blue is pleasing to the eyes. So even though the sky is not blue , so the inference or the knowledge is ;wrong;, it is not painful.

SAMADHIPAD SUTRA-7

                                  PRATYAKSH ANUMAN AAGAM PRAMANANI

DIRECT PERCEPTION,INFERENCE (INDIRECT) AND TESTIMONY, ARE THE WAYS TO GET KNOWLEDGE.

   In this5 sutra we are told about the 1st of the 5 vrities or the tendencies . So how do we get the 'knowledge'? The answer is it could be direct  or indirect or it could be told to us by someone that 'knows'.
   The Direct way is the one which we all tend to believe . So When I have seen a car and I see it I can recognise it as a car. If I see a snake , I can know that it is snake . I don't need anyone to tell me that this is a snake . But our eyes can be deceived and the conclusion that we draw, after seeing something or someone can be wrong . But I could be wrong as the snake that I saw can be a rope. Think about a magic show . The magician   makes thing appear and disappear. But is it a reality?So this is not the best way.If we look in the sky and look at the moon, it does not look bigger than our palm. But in reality it is much larger . And what about the other planets that are larger than our earth, they do not appear to be large at all.
   The Indirect way is the other way that we get the information or the knowledge.The standard example is that of smoke and the fire . If we see smoke , then there must be a fire , even though we may not see the fire . But this conclusion can be wrong. What we see and conclude as smoke , may be actually fog and so there may be no fire. These are the things that we can at least see. But what about the things like love or hatred or shy. These things can not be seen but only concluded by person's behaviour only.So here we have no choice.
     Testimony is the third way of to get the knowledge. This is the best way .When a knowledgeable person tells us , we believe it . Lot of people have difficulty with this type of knowledge as they want to experience it themselves.We have no problem accepting that the time is not a fixed measurement, but can be stopped or slowed ,as it was stated by Einstein But if someone says that this was told by Jesus or by someone  who was 'realised' soul , then we have thousand questions . We want it to be experienced by our self . But we don't want to put the hard efforts that will be needed to experience it our self.