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