Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II - 25

The cause disappears together with the effect!

Tad Abhavat Samyoga Abhavo Hanam Tad Drisheh Kaivalyam

When the veil of ignorance that separates the one who sees, the Purusha, from all that is perceived by the five senses - prakriti, drops with the constant practice of yoga - then the duality of this world also leaves. When the sun of awareness shines brightly, the darkness of ignorance or avidya that creates a non-existent division between the subject and object vanishes by evaporation. When there is no duality - there is nothing to separate the purusha from the prakriti - the light alone remains. This sense of separation which is the adi vyadhi or the primordial disease is dissolved - that state of mind is called Kaivalya or a liberated being. - Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 2: 24

The root cause for ignorance

Tasya Hetuh Avidya

The last sutra said that the experiences we have in the field of prakriti or nature is to get us to experience purusha or consciousness. This sutra tells us that the union of the individual human mind with the different happenings, situations and people in nature is the root cause for avidya or ignorance of the truth within. The sanga or the association of the mind has to be with the truth within and not the apparent scenes, situations and people in the world outside. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: 2 - 22

The purpose of relationship

Swa Swami Saktyoho Swaroopa Upalabdhi Hetuhu Samyogaha|

The union of the Master - consciousness and its own nature or Prakriti is for this achievement of self-realisation of the true form, which is consciousness. All the events and incidents that happen on earth and all the experiences we go through serve the only purpose of helping us to realise our true self which is the one undivided consciousness and for no other reason whatsoever. - Swahilya Shambhavi

(Pic. Floating a diya into the Ganga at Rishikesh. Relating to nature in one way or the other takes us to realise our true self.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: 2 - 22

Nature drops you to attend to others

कृतार्थं प्रतिनष्टम् अपि नष्टं तदन्य साधारणत्वात्|

Kritartham Prati Nashtam Api Anashtam Tadanya Sadharanatwat|

(On request from a few blog visitors, I have tried my hand with google transliteration! Please excuse me for some errors such as anashtam and sadharan where I am not getting the teevra Na! I promise to get better!)

The nature outside is a beautiful means through which you get to know your true self which is consciousness. But after this self realisation happens, nature no more bothers you. It continues its work however on others who require its agency for their own self transformation.

An athelete runs with and climbs atop the pole vault, cross the bar and gracefully drops the pole and jumps to the other side. The pole is of no use to him when he has crossed and has to be necessarily dropped.

Nevertheless, the pole - nature - continues to serve otyhers who want to cross the bar to fall into the ocean of self realisation. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Pic: Like this cable car in an amusement park, nature takes you on a roller-coaster trip in this world. There is all the thrill or fear until the lessons are mastered and you realise consciousness. Even after you get dropped, the cable car continues shuttling other passengers in the game!)

(swahilya.soulmate@gmail.com)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: 2 - 21

Matter only for spirit

Tadartha Eva Drishyasyatma
The prakriti or nature exists only for the sake of this purusha or consciousness. Consciousness is the only essence that pervades everything. This is still silent, colourless, odourless and the witness for all that happens. From this substance called consciousness emerges dynamic movement, light and sound called energy. Energy in turn manifests as matter and the five elements. All the five elements are enlivened by consciousness. Consciousness is the basis for their existence. They exist only for the sake of this Purusha and for nothing and nobody else.
- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra : 2: 20

The seer behind the seeing

Drashtaha Drushimatrah Shuddhopi Pratyayaanupashya

The one who sees, hears, tastes, smells and experiences the sense of touch is the seer and not the body. That seer is pure and does not go through any modifications. It has only the power to see. But the seeing happens not alone, but through the mind and the intellect. The seer is the Purusha who is like the light in a bulb. The lesser the dust and dirt on the bulb, the better the light shines. The dust and dirt are our thoughts that modify the passage of consciousness by its mere presence. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2:19

From gross to subtle

Vishesha avishesha linga matra lingam Gunaparvani

The gross world of names and forms have these four qualities - some objects can be defined as they can be perceived by the five sense organs - something like a mountain for instance.
Some cannot be defined like empty space and the particles of light emitted by people - called the aura. Some can be identified by symbolocial understanding like the world can be understood by a map.
But some have no symbols. whatsoever as these are the manifestations of different qualities.
-Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 2: 18

Nature for experience or liberation

Prakashakriyasthithi sheelam Bhootendriyatmakam Bhogapavargartham Drishyam

Nature manifests itself in three ways - a brilliant and tranquil vibration which takes the form of purity and intelligence called Satwa, a forceful and dynamic movement called Rajas or action and an inert state of stillness called Tamas or inertia.

What are the constitutes of nature that have these three qualities in various permutations and combinations? First there are the five elements of earth, water, fire, aire and space. Then there are the sense organs of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing and five sense organs of action - hands, legs, speech, excretory and reproductive organs. The first five organs of perception help in receiving information and the next five organs of action express outwardly into the world. This is the way nature is organised. There is also the mind which has four faculties called the Manas - feeling, Buddhi - intellect, Chitta - memory and Ahamkara or the sense of 'I' and 'Mine.

All these put together are outside of the self and they help in cognition of names, forms and sounds, during the conscious state of waking and sub-conscious state of dreaming.

All this perception and understanding serves two purposes. The first is to experience and derive pleasure out of it and the second is to contemplate inward and get liberated from the limiting objects of perception in nature. - Swahilya Shambhavi (Picture: Icy mountains near the lake Manasarovar in Tibet). (Swahilya Shambhavi).

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II - 17

The confusion of what sees with the seen

Drashtadrishyayoho Samyogaha Heya Hetuhu
There is one main cause for suffering which can be avoided. That is the union of the one who sees, with what is seen, heard, tasted, touched, smelt or thought about. You watch a movie. There is an emotional scene. You are so engrossed in the scene that you identify yourself with one of the characters almost like you, and begin to cry. The sorrow happens because of the total identification of the seer - the witnessing consciousness to what is seen/ What is seen is constantly changing and moving. There is joy, sorrow, hatred, anger and all sorts of emotional and physical disturbances out there. When the witness identifies itself with, or holds on to any one of these changes - then there is sorrow. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II: 16

Avoiding future sorrow

Heyam Duhkham Anagatam

We live in time and perform actions. The actions lead to results which lead to further actions.The chain link continues since the birth of man. This chain link of action is Karma. There are three types of Karma - Sanchita Karma, Prarabdha Karma and Agami Karma. Sanchita Karma is our actions, experiences of sorrow and joy in the past - in this life time and the births before. Prarabdha Karma is the life inclusive of its pains and pleasures that we experience now. The way we experience the two - reacting to sorrowful experiences and overindulging in the pleasures, sets the pace for the future lifestyle called the Agami Karma.
While the past is over and cannot be changed, the present has to be tasted as it happens. If I have a headache now, due to my wrong eating habits and emotional patterns of thought, I have to experience that fully, even if it is by taking a paracetemol.
This sutra says that practice of Yoga - Tapas (austerity) Swadhyaya (study of self) and Ishwara Pranidhana (surrender to the supreme force) helps to avoid the sorrow that can happen in the future. It helps to avoid the head aches that I am likely to have in the future. It also means that the sufficient mental training to approach the pleasurable situations of the future with a state of balance is also given by Yoga. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II: 15

Everything is filled with sorrow

Parinama Taapa Samskara Duhkhe Guna Vritti
Virodhaccha Dukhameva Sarva Vivekinaha
Pain comes to us in three ways. The first is by change. We settle down in a seemingly good relationship. A marriage happens. Suddenly after marriage, all those expressions of love are gone/ The words that the man speaks to the woman turns spiteful. The hands that caressed suddenly doesn't hesitate to slap, beat or even maul. How come? The woman may wonder. Yesterday it was so dreamlike and rosy. Today it is so ugly. That is the pain of change.
The second pain comes from sorrow inflicted upon us. There is sorrow when we don't get the toy or dress we want as a child. As a youth, we want to marry this girl or boy. It does not happen. Sorrow again. At work, we aim for a promotion but it never is there in the boss's mind. Sorrow. Neighbour buys something we can;t afford. Sorrow. The cause for pain and sorrow is endless.
The third is due to the impressions in our subtle mind. We go through some experience that gives us happiness. It creates a deep impact in our psyche. We crave for it. It may not repeat itself. There is sorrow.
Our mind too which is a constant play of three qualities of tranquility. dynamism and inertia is giving us something is givine us something when we want something else. I want to stay fit, trim and slim. The mind wants to indulge and relax. There is a conflict of interest which leadsa to sorrow. This way, the wise one understands that there is sorrow in both pleasure and pain. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II: 14

Thoughts become your biology and life

Te hlada Paritapa Phalah Punya Apunya Hetutvat

The thoughts that spring from the un-conscious and sub-conscious mind leads to actions performed by us. According to the quality of thoughts, the actions can be good or bad and this in turn brings us either joy or sorrow. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 12/13

An ocean of Karmic seeds

Klesha moolaha Karmaashayaha Drishta Adrishta Janma Vedaneeyaha
Sati Moole Tadvipaka Jati Ayuhu Bhogaha

The five impurities of ignorance, 'I' ness, attachment, hatred and clinging on to life has its roots firmly planted in a storehouse of karma or action. All our thoughts, words and actions leave deep impressions in this Karmic storehouse. So the subsequent thoughts and the flow of energies in our lives is like an eddy swirling around these impressions.
These movements of thought currents yield results that are experienced in the present moment and that will happen in the future. This decides the sort of experiences we will have in this birth and lifetime.
The pedigree, caste, class, birth, lifespan and the pleasures we experience or will experience in the future are all decided by this blueprint of Karma that we carry long with us from birth to death. Though the blueprint decides what we experience now, our attitudes and actions determine whether we continue to suffer or enjoy. - Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 11

Meditation is the solution

Dhyana Heyaha Tadvrittayaha
The mind moves in waves called vrittis or the chitta vrittis/ These waves can be quietened by constant practice of meditation. You might find yourself at the cross roads of life sometime and too many paths beckon at the same time. during such moments, dropping all the search and chasing of ideas, quiet moments of being in meditation can quieten the mind.
- Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 20

Check them with involution

Te Prati prasava heyaaha Sukshmaha
The five kleshas or impurities that cloud consciousness - Avidya, Asmita, Raga Dwesha, Abhinivesha - are present in a subtle state in the human mind. These five qualities can be subdued by the process of involution. This happens when the mind that usually spends its energies outside in the field of sense attachments to the world, closes in on itself and begins to look within the source of these five impurities which is consciousness.
- Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II - 9

Afraid to let go

Swarasavahi Vidushaha Api Tatha Aarudhaha Abhiniveshaha
First there is a false imagination that we have something - life to begin with, loved ones, property, name, fame, material possessions, beauty, good looks, knowledge....They are all travelling in us by their own force and essence. Particularly what we consider as our life, has a habit of preserving itself. Even the learned and the wise who have imbibed the non-duality of existence are not exempt from this fear. This fear of loss of life, loved ones, property and material possessions, name or fame, all born out of the primary delusion of Dwaita - two-ness - or a separate existence is unwarranted. It is a Klesha or an impurity which is a hindrance in the path of self-realisation. Practice of Kriya Yoga - Tapas, Swadhyaya and Ishwara Pranidhana (first Sutra of the second chapter) helps remove this impurity of the struggle to preserve and protect what doesn't belong to you in the first place. - Swahilya Shambhavi

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II - 7 & 8

Attachment and Hatred

Sukkhanushayi Ragaha

Duhkhanushayi Dweshaha

Out of the five kleshas or impurities that cloud our consciousness, are raga and dwesha. Where attention goes, energy flows. When a particular object person or situation gives us pleasure, our energy travels along with the mind that gets attached to it This is Raga. It comes with Avidya or ignorance that we are separate from the other. Since we think we are separate when we go through a happy time, say while eating a chocolate, we fail to realise that the chocolate has not given us any new happiness, but just triggered the happiness within. With this wrong understanding, we get attached to the chocolate and have more and more of it. This leads us to decay and that is Raga or attachment. It follows our attachment to all that gives us happiness and pleasure.
Opposite of Raga is Dwesha. The more we love someting, the more we hate something. While pleasure is the basis of getting attached, we shudder or run away from that which is unpleasant, bitter or has given us an experience of sadness. When we are averse to or hate something, the balance of energy and mind is tipped outside and we lose our centred state of being within us, which is the true reason for our happiness. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II - 6

The seer is not the seen

Drigdarshanashaktyorekatmateve Asmita
In this Sadhana Padaha, the chapter of practice, we first saw that Kriya Yoga removes impurities. The first impurity was Avidya or ignorance of the real self, which is consciousness and not the tools of expression of consciousness, namely the body, mind and intellect. Consciousness may be likened to the ink, while the body, mind and intellect are like the outer cover, tip and inner tube that holds the ink in a ball point pen.
Now, in this Sutra, Patanjali says - out of ignorance or Avidya about our true self - i.e. consciousness, imagining the seen objects, people and situations, our own body, mind, intellect and Prana Shakti and thinking all that is either 'I' or myself or mine is Asmita or Ego. It is alright to have an ego. It is alright to have a pen. But the problem comes when we think that we are the body, mind and intellect. It is as wrong as to think that the letters are written by the pen, forgetting that it is the ink that flows through the pen.
This Sutra says that, of the two, the seer and the seen, the mind, instead of realising the presence of the seer, that sees through it, thinks of it as the sen. Wne I look out of the window, it is I who see what is outside and not the window. Same way, I look through the eyes, I perceive through the mind and I am different from the eyes and other parts of the body, the mind and all its thoughts and that intellect which is the officer who segregates the different thought files and takes action on each file.
Practice of Yoga can help remove this impurity of wrong understanding of the body, mind and intellect to be one self. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2: 4 & 5

The fertile field for impurities

Avidya Kshetramuttaresham Prasupta Tanu Vicchinna Udaranam

Anithya Ashuchi Dukha Anatmasu Nithya Shuchi Sukha Athma Khyatihi Avidya

After outlining the five impurities, in these two Sutras, Patanjali says that Avidya or ignorance is the root cause for all the other four impurities.

In the fertile soil of Avidya, a conducive atmosphere is presented for the sprouting of the sapling of Asmita or the "I, Me, Myself," ego, the attachment of people, places, things and situations born out of that ego, hatred to all that doesn't act in conformity with this ego and finally an effort to preserve this false and non-existent ego are the impurities in consciousness born out of Avidya. These impurities are almost non-existent, dormant, lean, thin and weak. They express sometimes in fits and starts or are fully active. The fully active cases of these Kleshsas is what we see manifested in today's world of terrorism, killing, violence and gore.

The next sutra explains what Avidya is. Confusing or mistaking the impermanent, impure (mixed qualities), the sorrowful and material for the permanent, pure, pleasurable soul is Avidya. To quote an example - the human body and mind is impermanent - it is born and goes through phases of transformation and dies. It is impure in the sense, it is not one homogenous composition, but a mixture of matter and thoughts of innumerable frequencies ofr vibration. They are afflicted by sorrow. It is non-spirit by its sheer gross eistence. Taking this body and mind to be the permanent, pure, blissful soul is Avidya. Though the hand writes, we say, "I am writing," confusing the soul "I" here with the body. Knowledge or Vidya is a 24/7 understanding that we are the one indivisible soul and this body and mind are tools for its expression. - Swahilya Shambhavi (Pic. A garden of a Babaji's Kutir in Ukhimath, Himalayas. There is possibility for plants and weeds in the garden soil.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 2:3

The five impurities

Avidya Asmita Raga Dwesha Abhiniveshaha Kleshaha

Sutra 2 spoke of the need to do any three parts of Kriya Yoga or the Yoga of Action - Penance, Self-Study and Surrender to the Supreme for achieving a state of Samadhi and to remove impurities. This Sutra outlines the impurities. Patanjali lists five types of impurities of the mind. The first is Avidya or lack of knowledge and right understanding of the one consciousness. The second impurity is Asmita. Asmi means "I am". Asmita is an assertion of myself as the physical ego. Asmita is born of Avidya. Lack of knowledge of the real self which is consciousness leads to an erroneous and arrogant perception of oneself as intelligent, or stupid, rich or poor, handsome or ugly - all the differences. Raga is attachment born out of ego. If I like myself so much, I like to surround myself with people, things and situations that I like. My mind goes berserk in this search and loses its stability. This loss of balance is the impurity or klesha that can be fixed by Kriya Yoga. Dwesha is selective dislike and hatred. If there is a type of food I like, there is a certain thing I may hate. Same with persons, places, things and happenings. This hatred is a mental impurity.

Abhinivesha is the human nature of holding on to life. This is an impurity and impurity here is not the common understanding of uncleanliness but of something that distorts our perception or vision. When I cling on to life, I may do a lot of things that can disturb the balance of mind. Clinging to life means running away from death. Fear, born as a result of Abhinivesha is the greatest destroyer of clear perception. A clear and stable mind allows awareness to shine through. These five impurities don't let that happen. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

(Photo: Patanjali gives even my shaky pictures a chance to be here! This is Pranayama at the Robinson Park in Old Washermenpet, Chennai. The picture is here on account of its shake. To show how a balance of mind and body can result in a distorted perception!)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 2:2

The result of Yoga

Samadhi Bhavanarthaha Klesha Tanookaranarthascha

The practice of Tapas - austerities, Swadhyaya - studying one's own mind and the different aspects of one's self - the physical, bio-plasmic, mental, intellectual and bliss bodies and Ishwara Pranidhana - offering all our actions and the fruits of the action to God or the one supreme being, the three parts of Kriya Yoga is to first give us the experience of the Samadhi state of mind and to also lessen the potency of the various impurities in the mind and body. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Pic. An evening on the Ganga. The Sandhya time when the sun sets is when nature is in a state of Samadhi. - Swahilya Shambhavi.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 2:1

Sadhana Padaha

Here begins the second chapter of the Patanjali Yoga Sutra called the Sadhana Padaha. It outlines the different steps to the most famous Ashtanga Yoga. All the different Yogic practices that are being taught in the Yoga studies around the world have their beginnings in this chapter that gives us the eight steps to reach the state of Yogic union of the individual and cosmic consciousness.
Tapah Swadhyaya Ishwara Pranidhanani Kriya Yogaha
Kriya Yoga - the yoga of action has three steps or rather parts to it. The first is Tapas. Tapa is to burn. Just like how one burns calories which is converted and released as energy on the treadmill, con stant and conscious exposure of the mind to the light of consciousness generates a psychic heat that actually burns away the impressions or seeds in the mind that germinate as distorted thoughts. Taas has many variations - silence is Tapas, fasting is Tapas, physical, mental and breath workout is Taas.
The next is Swadhyaya. Swa - One's own, Adhyaya - study. To practice Swadhyaya is to study what is happening to us at five levels - body, breath, mind, intellect and bliss. These are five parts of our being. A constant attention to how these five parts are is Swadhyaya. Reading or learning aything that shows us the way to do this is also Swadhyaya.
Ishwara Pranidhana - Ishwara is Lord - consciousness. Pranidhana is to surrender. All practice bears fruit only with this complete surrender of our thoughts, words and action with love to this consciousness. Immersion into this consciousness gives us the strength. These three are the steps to the Yoga of Action. - Swahilya Shambhavi.