-4th chapter: verses 40, 41, 42
-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on July 3, 2020.
-Shraddha refers to a sense of sanctity and sacredness, sincerity, integrity and honesty. When all these attitudes are combined, it is referred to as shraddha (श्रद्धा).
-Patanjali refers to the following obstacles in the 30th verse of Yoga Sutras. Doubt is one of them. “Disease, mental laziness, doubt, lack of interest, sloth, clinging to sense pleasures, false perception, lack of concentration, and unsteadiness in concentration – these distractions are the obstacles to knowledge.”
-Doubt can be of two types. (1) Creative doubt, which is coupled with shraddha (श्रद्धा), and demonstrates a true thirst for knowledge. Buddha, Swami Vivekananda and Shankaracharya had creative doubts. (2) Negative doubt – seekers who ask questions without any shraddha (श्रद्धा). Their mind is closed, they don’t derive any benefits from answers to their questions, and they keep asking the same questions again and again.
-40th verse gives a stern warning referring to those who do not know how to practice constructive doubt: “An ignorant person, who has no shraddha(श्रद्धा), who is always doubtful and skeptical – he is spiritually doomed and headed towards his own destruction.”
-Negative doubts can be due to past samskaras. It can have the most crippling effect on one’s personality, as it causes one’s attention and energy to be dissipated.
-Doubts(संशय) are natural for a sincere spiritual seeker. Doubts and conflicts don’t exist for people in two categories: (1) Those who are absolutely foolish and live in enjoyment of their ignorance (2) Those who are highly evolved and live in an unshakeable state of inner bliss.
-After some spiritual practice, doubts arise for sincere spiritual seekers. Those who are struggling against the natural flow of the senses will feel these conflicts because they are going against the current. They should remind themselves of the risks of being doubtful and turn their mind to something sublime.
-Buddha conquered his doubts with strong determination. As described in Lalitavistara, he sat under a tree with the following vow: “Let this body dry up; let the skin, bones and flesh of the body fall apart; but I will not leave this seat until I attain that supreme knowledge.”
-Jnanam is the spiritual awareness of our true nature, that we are Atman, that our true nature is not the body, mind or intellect, which go through changes. When doubt is combined with shraddha(श्रद्धा), we develop this Jnanam, which (1) becomes a boat to take us across the ocean of samsara (2) becomes a fire that reduces our karmas to ashes (3) becomes the ultimate purifier that removes the curtain of ignorance.
-41st verse: “Actions will not bind us when we are established in our true identity, when we perform actions with a sense of renunciation, and when our doubts are destroyed with shraddha(श्रद्धा) and Jnanam. We are then able to do our duty efficiently without being bound.”
-We feel we are bound when we identify ourselves with the body, mind and the empirical world. Bondages are washed away with the conviction that the world is not permanent, that our life is changeable, and that Atman is the only permanent reality. Then we can look at ups and downs in the empirical world with a sense of equanimity.
-The story of Nachiketa’s great shraddha(श्रद्धा) and his three boons from Kathopanishad represent the creative value of doubt in spiritual evolution. Proper questions are needed to evolve further. The three boons that Nachiketa asks are: (1) Let my father not scold me when I return (2) Teach me rituals to get to heaven and (3) Teach me the reality beyond death. Yama then describes life as a journey for highest spiritual enlightenment.
-An ideal seeker of truth should have the following characteristics as described in verse 16 of Vivekachudamani: (1) Pure intelligence (मेधावी), which is not cluttered by worldly objects, and which is dedicated to the pursuit of higher ideal; he should be able to read or listen to ideas and grasp their true meaning (2) Ability to accept what is good for him, and reject what is undesirable. (उहापोहविचक्षणः)
-42nd verse: “Therefore, you should cut this constant doubt with the sword of Jnanam and shraddha. Then you will be established in Yoga and have the right spiritual attitude.”
-Combination of Karma and Jnanam helps us conquer the confusion in our mind. Be established in Jnanam – that you are the Atman – and do all karmas as service to God. This combination allows us to spiritualize all secular activities - renuncation and service together.