Day 89

Santosha is happiness and contentment which gives great joy. Anuttama, the greatest happiness can be got by just cultivating this habit and this attitude of being happy. It will, in turn, destroy your misery. It is not just a mood-lifting process. It is an attitude. 

You develop this attitude to be happy. And it will bring you the greatest happiness - an incomparable happiness in life. The body and the senses become strong with tapas. When you fast, you are not pleasing God. 

You are not ensuring your enlightenment or a passage to heaven. When you fast and do various practices, your body becomes strong. It can withstand great heat and cold. Your resistance power increases. Ashuddhi kshyaa - the impurities are eliminated.

By self-study, swadhyaaya, the devas or divine presence is felt and experienced. By self-study, by observing and by being hollow and empty, you become a channel. You become a part of the divine. You are able to feel the presence of divinity. 

The angles and devas, which are different forms of your m consciousness, start blossoming. Samaadhi comes about by one-pointed devotion to the divine.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji 

PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS