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 - 2:3

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!)