Patanjali Yoga Sutra Part-16

Is your breath steady?

Yathapimatha Dhyanatvad (Sutra 39)
''Or by meditating as per your choice''
There are many different types of meditations . You can take on whichever suits you, whichever you love. Take one path and go into one path. All ways are good, but, you take one way and go deep into it without criticizing others.

Paramanu Parama
mahatvanthayoranyah (Sutra 40)
''Then the minutest atom, to the greatest and the infinite comes under your purview''

The nature loves you, starts supporting you. When earth shakes for few seconds, you know how much disaster happens. You exist in this planet because earth is steady. Once in a while earth shakes and it throws you off your place, a few seconds can make your life stand still for many days. Any type of natural calamity, whether floods or torrential rain or scorching heat disturbs life. You can be at peace when nature is at peace, when nature is steady, when nature doesn't behave in a funny manner. Few years ago, in the middle of the summer in Sahara desert there was snowfall. And in the same year, you also have read in the papers the usually cold England was so hot. Winter months & the day became so hot, never heard of before, first time in the century. Once in a while nature shakes, but your senses are shaking every day. When the senses are shaky, it is unable to behold the Lord within. It disturbs the peace in you. Like nature when it is steady, there is peace, when your senses are steady, there is peace. Meditation can happen when there is harmony in nature and there is harmony in your senses. If your eyes are going all over the place, the mind is not in a meditative state. Is your breath steady? Is the prana going smooth and normal or going haphazard? When your senses are steady, your soul also becomes peaceful, your being, your spirit inside you becomes steady.

Instead of realizing that joy is the nature of self, the senses see joy in the objects that are outside That is when the senses shake. Senses are the bridge, one side is the object and the other side is the Self. When senses think pleasure is coming to me from the objects or more pleasure will come from the object, they shake. Even during the few minutes when the senses shake, they become tired and they become unable to enjoy or experience joy. Are you getting what I am saying? I had been to a Blind school in Bangalore; they sang bhajans for half an hour with all their heart. It was so powerful because there was no distraction for them, they didn't have to look here and there. It was as though they were singing from a very deep meditative state. There whole being was in those songs. Because the eyes were steady already, there was no way for the eyes to move here and there. The same eyes which you think guide you and bring you light can shake you and bring you darkness too .It is also the same with ears. See, some time people switch on the radio and every five minutes they go on moving the tuning, keep on tuning to different stations. Their entire time would be spent in tuning, little bit from here, little bit from there, may be a better song will be played in that station, they will change the band ! Same could be true for some people with the the sense of smell. They put this perfume on and then use the other one.

When the senses are steady, then the prana, which is shaking inside you also becomes straight. Those of you who are introduced to Pranayama, you would have noticed when you do pranayama see how your prana becomes steady. And all those moments when you are feeling not so good, when you are unhappy or when fear is there, observe the prana. These states are nothing but indications that the prana is shaky. And samadhi is steadiness in prana.