3. The Religions of Man The Four Yogas
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2,702 views Mar 24, 2020 Religions of Man
Yoga, a word that smacks of the bizarre to Westerners, is the phase of Hinduism to be taken up in the second episode of the series. In its religious sense, yoga refers to a method of union with God. The episode explains the four yogas: the way of God through knowledge, the way of God through work, through love, and by way of psychological exercises.
With the recent rebirth of interest in spirituality and religion, and its effect on the life people live, the 1955 NET Series, Religions of Man is a timely and informative example of early educational television. The programs give a clear insight into the great living religious of our world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Dr. Huston Smith discusses their origin, founders and what each teaches as to life’s meaning and the way to its fulfillment.
The first college accredited course given on TV in St. Louis, this series features Dr. Huston Smith, at the time, the associate professor of philosophy at Washington University.
Born in China of missionary parents, Dr. Huston Smith has had first-hand acquaintance with the religions of both East and West. Dr. Smiths graduate studies were completed at the University of California and the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD in 1945. He was president of the Missouri Philosophy Association and is the author of The Purpose of Higher Education, published in 1955 by Harper and Brothers. Dr. Smith taught at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado before joining the Washington University faculty. His course on The Religions of Man grew from 13 to 140 students in the first seven years he taught it. The 17 episodes that comprise this series were originally recorded on kinescope, and was broadcast nationally to millions of viewers.
For other films of Huston Smith, Please visit www.HustonSmith.org
Key moments
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===
Key moments
Symbols for God
6:11
Yogi Bird
9:11
The Work and the Results of Work
13:33
Yoga the Lotus Posture
21:36
Third Principle Is that of Breathing
22:37![]()
To Bring Together the Mind in Focus by Shutting Out the Senses
23:28![]()
The Mystic Experience
26:23Featured playlist
===
Transcript
0:03
this is national Educational Television
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a program distributed by the educational
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television and radio Center the
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religions of man with dr. Houston Smith
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you
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[Music]
1:00
[Music]
1:04
last week we noted that Hinduism says to
1:08
its followers you can have what you want
1:11
as long as you want to so call desires
1:14
of this world wealth fame pleasure power
1:20
go after these things there's nothing
1:23
wrong in doing so at all the only point
1:26
is that sooner or later you will come to
1:29
the realization that these things are
1:31
not enough even when they're translated
1:34
into the so called finer things of life
1:37
there comes a time in which in the words
1:40
of Aldous Huxley one asks even of
1:44
Shakespeare even of Beethoven is this
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odd now when that time comes
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what does Hinduism answer is there
1:57
anything beyond Beethoven and Hinduism
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says there is so what is it well it must
2:06
be something which satisfies the deepest
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desires of man and this brings us once
2:13
more to the question of what we really
2:16
want what do you really want we answered
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this on one level last time but Hinduism
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says that these things that men think
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they want are really only means to
2:30
deeper desires what you really want how
2:35
do you answer that question when you're
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not distracted when you have time to
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think about when you're alone perhaps at
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night well Hinduism says that men
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ultimately want three things first of
2:53
all it won't be we want to exist rather
2:58
than not to exist we don't want to die
3:02
ernie pyle that great war correspondent
3:05
shortly before his death was spending an
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evening with a group of men just before
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they went the next day in
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to some action where it was known that
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3/4 of them would surely lose their
3:17
lives and ernie pyle was trying to
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gather together the feel the thoughts
3:24
the mood of that room and I'll never
3:27
forget the way he put it he said these
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men really weren't afraid to die no that
3:32
wasn't the way to put it at all but
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rather he sensed in them deep underlying
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reluctance to give up the future
3:41
well that's true with all of us we don't
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want to be dropped out of existence as
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it moves a lot second they say we want
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to know we want awareness people are
3:53
infinitely sure they don't like to be in
3:56
the dark they don't like to be left out
3:59
of what's going on and finally the third
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of our deep desires we want happiness we
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want to joy unlimited joy ideally what
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you might call bliss or ecstasy well now
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is there anything which answers to these
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designs Hinduism adds one point it says
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not only do we want being awareness and
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joy but we want these things to an
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infinite degree because man's mind can
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always imagine infinity and as long as
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these things are short of infinity so he
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can imagine more he will always want
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them take for example being the span of
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life has been doubled in our generation
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does that mean we're any more eager to
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die no we want these things and really
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we would like to have them to an
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infinite degree now is there anything
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which answers to man's infinite outreach
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and Hinduism says yes there is what is
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it well as we know that last time it's
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gone and what is God well being infinite
5:16
we can't imagine him in our finite
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concept the mind is equipped to deal
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with limited things and can't lay hold
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of in
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the Hindus dramatize this with the word
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with a concept neti neti which means
5:32
really not this not this what is God
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well they say you go all around this
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phenomenal world it's universe that our
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senses can pick up and we say of
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everything in it not this not this he's
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not this he's not this and when you've
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exhausted the whole world of the senses
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then what's left that is gone but this
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after all isn't adequate our minds do
5:59
need to reach out in the direction of
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this infinite being and so in order to
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do that they introduce symbol and one of
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the profoundest the most beautiful
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symbols for God is this symbol all as we
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noted last time being in the background
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awareness symbolized by the Rays going
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out and this effulgent quality in the
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middle signifying joy they call it all
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this much is very close to our Western
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concepts of God in the great tradition
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implement being awareness and joy but
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the Hindus add one last quality they say
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this infinite being is latent within
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every individual life this whole world
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has that as its soul that is reality
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that art thou well this sounds very good
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but we're tempted to say I don't happen
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to feel very divine today nor do I
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notice this quality conspicuously in my
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neighbor in the way he acts the morning
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newspapers don't declare the divinity of
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man at our breakfast table how does this
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go together and the Hindus would agree
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but what they would add is what they
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would say is that this divinity is very
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deep line
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in May it's obscured just as a mirror
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covered with enough soft enough dust
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enough mud can fail completely to
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reflect the Sun so similarly that
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luminous being which is latent within
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man is covered up by all kinds of
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distractions by impurities of stopped by
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malice by Inlet we have then the Hindu
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say to make a journey between from
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ourselves as we now are to our real
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selves which is divine and that brings
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us to our topic for this evening
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let me summarize it with a word we're
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going to talk tonight about the yoga's
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now this is a very strange word to us in
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fact I find myself smiling in a Western
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contact whenever I turn to this word
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because well we associated with the
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bizarre the fantastic the occult maybe
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even the fraudulent a little bit the
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fakers I brought along to the studio
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this evening a symbol of what yoga means
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to us here is a bird it hit the market
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as far as I know about last about a year
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ago and it has suction cups on the
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bottom so it will climb up walls well
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what is the name of this bird here is
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the cardboard it came wrapped in this is
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the yogi bird and on this we find the
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usual things that we associate with yogi
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climbs walls walk ceilings completely
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defies gravity
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yogi bird from eastern India well yogi
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strange different odd peculiar not
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entirely because if we look at this word
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we find a very into
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Sting's thing actually it comes from the
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same root as a word which is very
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familiar to us and that word is yo-yo
9:56
girl really means human and in its
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religious sense it means a path to union
10:05
with God the yoga's then are paths they
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are paths from finite to infinity
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they are paths from the way of desire to
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a completely different kind of life they
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are paths to what lies beyond Beethoven
10:25
now note that I've been saying
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yoga's I've been saying paths in the
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plural because that's the way they view
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it according to their view men are
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different and being different they will
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have different they start from different
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places and therefore the routes which
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they travel to God will be somewhat
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different specifically they say people
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tend to fall into the four classes four
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kinds first of all some people are very
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reflective and very intellectual these
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are the philosophers there aren't very
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many of them around so we don't have to
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spend much time on them but there are
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some people for whom the mind plays a
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very important part in their life when
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they're intellectually convinced of
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something this is the green light and
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their whole lives follow according to
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their minds dictates now to these people
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Hinduism says use this mental endowment
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to bring you closer to God how does it
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proceed well specifically it proceeds
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through a systematic reasoning cleaving
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the acts of discrimination so as to
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bring man to the realization that he is
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not basically his body he is not
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basically this brittle mind and
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personality those
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not him he is something else
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deeper line after all who Emma am i my
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body that biologists tell us that
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there's nothing in my body now that was
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here seven years ago my mind my
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personality changed even more rapidly no
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yet I somehow have endured through these
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changes that which endures through its
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manifestations cannot be equated with
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not equated exhaustively with the
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manifestations
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well we won't spend more time with this
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but just to note that for them for they
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say to those who are philosophically
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minded here are some exercises here are
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some reasoning processes which lead you
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to realize that you basically are not
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this body not this personality but
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something more than either now there's a
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second kind of person and they're more
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in this class these are the people who
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work they are really immersed in their
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livelihood some of them work because
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they can't escape from it more of them
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work because they really love to work
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now again
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hinduism says to these people go ahead
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with your work don't try to withdraw and
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go up to the himalayas you would just be
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frustrated if you couldn't be involved
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in activity but use this work as a means
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of spiritual progress turn it to
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spiritual benefit and how do you do that
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well by distinguishing between the work
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and the results of work both things are
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involved in every act we do there is the
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work itself and the results now they say
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most people have their minds split half
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their mind is on what they're doing half
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the mind is on what they hope to get out
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of it by way of pay by way of
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recognition now this kind of distraction
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this kind of centering on the results to
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me
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which will come to my work immerse us
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further in this world and in our
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ignorant about ourselves let me give you
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an example
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when I was a student student days I used
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to pick up a dollar now and then by
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waiting on tables for dinners I remember
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very clearly waiting on a woman's dinner
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dinner of a woman's club and as I was
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pouring that second cup of coffee you
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overhear snatches of the conversation
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and this woman was saying to the lady
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next to her I've worked and I've worked
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and I've worked on this project and if I
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don't get my picture in Sunday's paper
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I'm through with it forever well this is
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the way we work with one eye on the
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consequences to us very well but it's
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not the way they say to enlighten no he
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who does the tasks dictated by duty
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carrying nothing for the fruits of
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action he is a yogi in this way given
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our strokes but letting the chips fall
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where they may
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this is the way in which our work can
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progressively be turned towards
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spiritual advantage now there is a third
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kind of person this third type is the
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person who is very emotionally inclined
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I hesitate to use that word because
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emotional has some qualities I don't
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quite mean I don't mean over emotional
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but this is the kind of person for whom
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human relations mean a great deal
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they're very affectionate very loving in
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their nature very sensitive people often
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they're great artists great poet now
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love is a deep one of the fundamental
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qualities in life we're always reaching
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out for something to love and some
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people this is the dominant quality in
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their life now to those people Hinduism
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again says use this resource which is in
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but use it again to
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spiritual benefit and the way to do this
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the best way is to focus your love on
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God on the infinite that which is
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infinitely worthy of love but it's very
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difficult to love an abstraction it's
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very difficult to love a symbol and so
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they say here is where the incarnations
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of God are of supreme value because when
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we find God in human life as
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occasionally happens in history then
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this pulls forth our love and it's easy
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to love them and so they say keep your
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mind on God throughout the day and keep
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your affections directed upon him you do
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this by saying his name over and over
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during the day keep the name of the Lord
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spinning in the midst of all your
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activities while you're washing the
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dishes while you're vacuuming the rug
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keep repeating the name of God singing
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of hymns also helps the saying of
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prayers and Psalms all this will help to
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direct the devotion towards him they go
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on to add however the man is an
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interesting creature in that his love
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has many dimensions and they will say
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tap all these directions of your love
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towards God think of him as your father
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and this will draw the emotions of a
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child for his father and for his mother
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so the Hindus think of God also in terms
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of the divine mother tapping our
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impulses as children and our feelings of
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dependence
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they also say think of God as your
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friend this is another time another
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quality of love think of him as your
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lover this is more remote from us but we
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find it to Anna mystical tradition of
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the marriage of the soul to Christ think
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of God
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also as
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your master and here again in Christian
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liturgy we have hymns that say my master
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and my friend all tapping these
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qualities of love and as we think of him
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as our master we go about doing all our
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work for him
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dedicating it to him as we would as
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would a servant devoted servant
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dedicating his Labor's to his beloved
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master finally they say it's good at
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times to think of God in the form of a
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child because this will tap our impulses
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as parents on the surface we have
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nothing like this in the West but I
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would like to suggest the part of the
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power of the Christmas story comes from
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just this fact that it's the one
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occasion during the year when Christians
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deliberately think of God in the form of
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a little baby this then is the third
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you'll go the way to God through love
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and finally there's a fourth kind of
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person this is a kind of interesting
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type basically experimental he doesn't
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want to believe anything on faith he
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doesn't want to become involved in
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rituals and they say all right this
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experimental outreach too can be tapped
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to divine purposes to carry you towards
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God and so we come to the fourth yoga
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the yoga I think the best word I can
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think of is the yoga of psycho physical
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exercises
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now this yoga involves traditionally
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eight steps I'm going to collapse them a
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little bit of for brevity of time but
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bring out the main points is the first
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step is moral living as a matter of fact
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the moral light is the preface to each
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of these ways as long as you are not at
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peace with your neighbor the
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distractions the tensions there will
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frustrate your further activity we begin
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then in this fourth way with moral
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behavior then we go on next to a very
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interesting of point
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this involves you see they're going to
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bring the mind to a different state a
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different quality of consciousness but
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you can't work only with the mind they
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say because the mind is related to the
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body and so they say posture when you're
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meditating posture is very important
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otherwise a body will end true and will
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frustrate distract your thinking now
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this is where they come to we come to
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the famous yoga position and I want to
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just show you what this is is always a
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little tumor involved in this because
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it's so strange to us but nevertheless I
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think we ought to know what this is they
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say the most effective position which
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will still Lamont is the so-called yoga
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the Lotus posture you it doesn't go very
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well with shoes which is why I've taken
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mine off actually it doesn't go very
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well with trousers either but we all
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forget about that tonight you put one
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foot up here in the lap then all you
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have to do is to bring the other foot
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around like that the spine must be
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completely straight
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now they say when you get used to this
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the point is that this will put your
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mind at rest and keep out the bodily
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distractions better than any other
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position well it sounds strange it looks
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strange but we mustn't forget that we to
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work with the body when we're working
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with the spirit our position is
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different our position by and large is
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kneeling the position of kneeling but
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the same principle of mind body
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coordination as effective for spiritual
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purposes is involved all right postures
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then is the second principle the third
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principle is that of breathing the
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breath has a very intimate quality in
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life
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and again it has an effect on our mental
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states they would say and so breathing
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practice is important so they engage as
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part of their religion as part of their
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spiritual development training and
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breathing some of it is there
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a good sense to us evenness of breath
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but then they also bring in things which
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are strange to us you learn to breathe
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in one nostril and out the other nostril
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and a number of very different exercises
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which in the end sound sometimes sound
23:18
very strange but keep in mind the
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principle the principle is that
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breathing affects the condition of the
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month now the third point is to bring
23:31
together the mind in focus by shutting
23:35
out the senses and here they try to
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disconnect the senses from the external
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stimuli I know a friend who practiced
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this he was from India taught on our
23:47
faculty here for a while and he said
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that he actually developed this to the
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point where a drum could be beating in
23:54
the room and he would not hear it well
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there's really nothing so bizarre about
23:59
this if you practice because
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concentration does shut out stimuli my
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wife says I'm very good at this this
24:06
step of yoga sometime when I'm really
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concentrating on what I'm doing she
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calls me to lunch and I don't hear her
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at all withdrawing then of the senses so
24:16
the mind can be turned in and then this
24:19
is followed by the next three steps
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really I'll speak of them as one of
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concentration bringing the mind to focus
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on a single point the mind is eternally
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restless they would say they have a lot
24:33
of images for this they say the mind is
24:36
like a like a monkey prancing around the
24:40
cage never still but that doesn't do it
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justice we have to add that it's like a
24:46
drunk monkey but even this doesn't do
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justice to the restlessness restlessness
24:51
of the mind we have to say that it's
24:54
like a drunk monkey that has the st.
24:57
Vitus dance but again even this doesn't
25:00
do real justice to how Restless our mind
25:03
is we have to say it's like a drunk
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monkey that has been has st. Vitus dance
25:10
that has been stung by a wasp and then
25:12
you get some picture
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of how restless the mind is how long can
25:17
you keep your mind on one point before
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first of all you start thinking not
25:23
about that but about thinking about that
25:26
well three and a half seconds is the
25:29
usual span you buy practice though can
25:33
increase lips you can develop the mind
25:36
so your will has control over it so that
25:39
instead of being like a ping-pong ball
25:40
which bounces from one thing to another
25:42
it's like a lump of dough you throw it
25:45
at an object and it sticks there until
25:48
you buy will extract it the flame of a
25:55
lantern clickers not in a windless place
25:58
and that ultimately is what they're
26:01
trying to get to in this stage of
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meditation where it is divorced from all
26:09
kinds of external distractions well in
26:14
the end you see this leads to an
26:16
experience which is totally different in
26:19
kind it leads to what and we in the
26:21
Western tradition called the mystic
26:25
experience but they feel that this can
26:30
be produced actually by training
26:33
involving the moral life involving
26:36
postures thought and training and
26:39
breathing in withdrawing the senses from
26:42
external objects and finally in
26:45
concentrating them on one point until in
26:47
the end you lose all sense of your
26:49
separate identity and what is left
26:52
you're plunged you're plunged into being
26:56
itself well these are the four yoga's
27:02
and briefest compass the pour of paths
27:04
to union with God they're not easy
27:08
enough to be traversed in a day but in
27:11
the end so they Hindu say in the end
27:13
everybody gets there in order to
27:17
understand how this can be so we shall
27:19
need to bring in several other important
27:23
new concepts the idea of reincarnation
27:26
the idea of transmigration the idea of
27:30
karma the idea of liberation this is for
27:33
next week but tonight we have looked at
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the four yoga's
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I've tried to tell you about them
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briefly in my own words now in closing
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let's let the religion itself speak to
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them I close with a few lines from Swami
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Vivekananda's yoga works followed by one
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verse from the Mundaka Upanishad each
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soul is potentially Diwan the goal is to
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manifest this divine within do this
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either by work or by worship or by
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psychic control or by philosophy by one
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or more or all four this is the whole of
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religion doctrines or dogmas or rituals
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or books or temples or forms are but
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secondary detail as flowing rivers go to
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rest in the ocean and there leave behind
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them name and form so likewise man makes
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his way to the divine which is beyond
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the beyond which is higher than the
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highest which transcends the
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transcendent
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[Music]
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[Music]
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the preceding program was distributed by
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the educational television and radio
29:27
Center this is national Educational
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Television
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you
