Change is Inevitable

Patanjali Yoga Sutra Knowledge Sheet 64

There is another story. There was a very great monk who lived in the Himalayas. He had free access anywhere because people loved him, welcomed him. This monk would go to the King's palace and have his lunch there every day. The queen would serve him lunch in a golden plate and cup and all that. He would just go and eat there and walk away. This was a routine. Once, what happened was, after his meal he just grabbed a silver glass and a golden spoon. He grabbed it and took it with him. He did not tell anybody, "I am taking this, I want this", or anything. Now, people in the palace got irritated. The thought, "he never takes anything. What happened today? That too without informing anybody he just put it in his bag and just left." Three days later, he brought the cup and spoon and left it. This was even more puzzling. Before they thought that maybe he needed these things and he took it, but he came back and put it away. They were more puzzled now.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Then the King called all the wise people and put an enquiry to them. "Why did this happen. Why did he take and why did he bring it back?" Then, the wise people thought and finally said, "okay find out what did you feed him when he came two days back" .So they found out all that. Then they found out that the food they fed him was confiscated from same robbers, from dacoits. Few dacoits were arrested couple of days ago and they have confiscated lot of grains from them and that was made into food served to the saint. That had made him role the cup and the spoon.Then the King called all the wise people and put an enquiry to them. "Why did this happen.

Why did he take and why did he bring it back?" Then, the wise people thought and finally said, "okay find out what did you feed him when he came two days back" .So they found out all that. Then they found out that the food they fed him was confiscated from same robbers, from dacoits. Few dacoits were arrested couple of days ago and they have confiscated lot of grains from them and that was made into food served to the saint. That had made him role the cup and the spoon.

So in ancient days, people would look into these things, that if somebody does something which is unusual, then they go into the root cause of it, "why it happened?" instead of discussing that this monk has started stealing, they asked, "what made the monk steal?". The food, who cooked food and what was wrong with it? And what happened? They went into those details and then found out the cause, "Oh! This is the cause. That is the answer".

"Tasya heturavidya" (II Sutra 24)

tasya = its, hetuhu = cause, avidya = ignorance

"Thinking that these causes are yours is ignorance"

If you think that these vruttis are yours - that is ignorance. What is the way to come out of ignorance? It is a definite understanding. Definite knowledge is in the mind that "my body is undergoing change all the time. The world is undergoing change all the time". The entire universe is in the form of fluid, is in the state of fluidity. It is all full of change and it is going on and on, on its own, according to its nature. This definite knowledge that, "I am not the body. I am the self. I am the self. I am imperishable, untouched, untamed by the probabilities, by this world around. This body is all hollow and empty. It is changing, changing, changing. Every particle in this body is changing and changing and changing! The mind is changing!" This definite knowledge is the way to get out of the circle.

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(This is part of a series of knowledge sheets based on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's commentaries on Patanjali Yoga Sutras.)