Lecture 2/5. Netherlands, 2019

Interpretation

What follows is part transcript, part interpretation…

Why not lose so the other can win? The other side is just playing; he’s not wanting to win.

Three possibilities always exist: there is positive, negative or equal.

In life, it is necessary to pass the exam, or to win at sports. Success in the exam; to win the game, what is the difference?

Either way you must evaluate your own limitations. You must decide upon a goal to see what achievements to make. Only then can you say the grapes the sour. But where does the blame go?

Failure is difficult to accept: it is easy to make a goal for success in the game or exam. But when you set the goal to pass, you must be ready for failure. We prepare for success, but we don’t prepare for failure. It is difficult to accept failure.

Ambitions. You should have desire and expectations. But be prepared for the other side as well. Remember, a high-jumper prepares for the leap AND they also prepare for the fall.

For some the decision to set upon a goal is not easy: either you motivate yourself, or someone else will fix the carrot in front of you. You can change the carrot whenever, but if someone else fixes it, they may forget it. What do you prefer? It depends on the ego. Motivate yourself, or wait for another to do it, because there is no curiosity.

A person must ask whether has the “I” become the cause of my curiosity, or has someone else motivated me to do it. Is it because of temptation, or greediness, or necessity? And, why do I keep a goal as a top priority for me?

Once it is at it is at the top, everything else is secondary. First come, first served. How long does that goal need to be at the top? Why not be ready to change? Because you are not ready to find anything more attractive. Once something better comes along, you can change immediately.

Change is the nature of the person – it is inherited. That is why it is difficult to remain in continuity. And in the name of change we do repetition. How is this? Culture is changing, your house is changing, you change the job. They all change, but your habits are not changing.

What gives pain? Old habits. They are part of you. Both nurture and culture, and it becomes part of our nature. When difficulty comes, we need to change our habits. But instead, what do we say – it is part of our nature.

Now, do we need to change the tyre or get a new bike? It is better to change the tyre, than get a new bike. A person is born without habits. Habits arise from nurture and culture. Part as a whole, and the whole as a whole is different. Like a dog with a bent tail. Do we say our tail is part of us, or is it something we can change?

Our standard of living increases, but does it mean the mental condition of the mind is also increasing? The more physically flexible you are, does it mean you are psychologically flexible? Where is the rigidity? Is the mind stable, or the body? Which is stable? Who is listening to whom? Who is compelling whom? Body or mind? Is it psycho-somatic or somatico-psycho? The mind comes before the body.

Therefore, cognitive therapy can help us bring the change from the inside to the outside. The mind is affecting the body: the body is a good friend of the mind. The body is the gross manifestation of the mind, the ego – the “I”.

In Yoga and Samkhya we have the five elements. The “I”, the ego is using the tools it is given; playing. It has two tools, the intellect and the emotion. And to come out into this world it has five motor organs (karmendriyas). To go in it has five sensory organs (jnanendriyas).

The ego can use the emotion or the intellect. Then “I” says “I am intellectual”, and so having logic and reasoning to move further, or “I am emotional”.

The intellect is having logic and reasoning. The emotional is having a totally different way: it has a flow, but not yet Freeflow. Just guided flow, protected flow like a river. Two formations of energy – intellect and emotion.

They are like a flow – when it is smooth it is good, but when it comes becomes chaotic it creates disaster. Both are part of nature. Wind and water are in nature; in the body it has the form of intellect and emotions. So, “I” handles the emotions. Remote control happens. The intellect tries to manage and control the emotions.

It is easy to play with the sentiments, feelings, emotions of others. It is very easy for an intellectual person to do so.

Rational and emotional, there is a big difference between the two. But the “I” makes mistakes and creates confusion. It gets the job because of the rational approach, and afterwards to prove, “I am better” than others that “I” puts the emotions in there, too.

We always ask whether something is necessary, yet, at this point we don’t. And so, we make a fundamental mistake. It is not necessary to put the emotions there, too.

There is the Ego, the doer and the doing. In duality there is the cause on one side; the effect is on the other. When “doing” is there, happening is also there. Cause and effect. Doing and Happening. Cause is a cause; effect is an effect. In the same was doing is a doing and happening is a happening. Mountain is mountain and a river is a river.

Who is mixing it up? The “I”. Because you cannot “do” a “happening” – when you “do”, it is not “happening”. The means an the end. The means are the tools to get to the end.

Can you say yoga is a means, or as an end to reach there? The means – the tools, Yama, Niyama, etc and Yoga an end – as the connection.

Meditation as a doing, and as a happening. The doing is different from the happening, but the understanding is, it is the same. So, person is very happy to do meditation, but not aware of the happening.

To understand this, look at eating. You can choose what to eat, when to eat, where and how to eat. You can prepare the program, but you cannot tell the stomach how to digest it. The digestive system is a system; not one organ. And that system starts, but you are not the controller. You cannot say “I am digesting food”. Can you say there is indigestion in the stomach? Digestion is a happening. In Chapter 15 of the Bhagavad-Gita it says: I am the ultimate fire. You can eat, but without me, you cannot digest.

So, doer is doing and happening is taking place. It takes place as part of the doing. So what can the doer do? They can have an expectation and ambitions for a “happening”. They can plan and program, they can do the doing perfectly. But, the Bhagavad Gita says: your work is just to do. The result is in my hand.

Apply for a Visa. You have the right, but we have the right to deny it. You see others getting the Visa, does it mean you will get it? The eye tries to equate what others get with its own case, but whether it happens depends.

We can protect ourselves by saying “it depends” to others, but at the crucial moment, we are unable to say, “it depends” to ourselves. Why? Why can’t we protect ourselves? Why can’t we show the sympathy care and compassion to ourselves. It is simple to show it to others, why not to ourselves?

Because I give; you give. When you were in, need, I give you sympathy, compassion. Then, when I am in, need, you should show me sympathy and compassion to me. And then, I’m not getting the sympathy and compassion back as then investment you have made. You are not getting it back. Who is having the problem?
You now have additional suffering: the original suffering and because no one else has shown you any sympathy. Yet, the same person says “I am independent”. Why then, are you looking for sympathy? Why are you in need of others, when you have shown you go out and help others?

Do you best according to your capacity and limitations, NOT according to the expectations of others. The happening we can not know whether it will bring happiness of unhappiness while we are doing it. We have to wait and sees the result. Wait and accept whatever the comes with the result – whatever the happening brings.