Patanjali Yoga Sutra II - 51

When the breath becomes still

Bahya Abhyanthara Vishaya Aakshepi Chaturthaha|

This is the fourth type of Pranayama where the outgoing breath is not holding on to any thought or object outside and the incoming breath is not holding on to any ideas inside. The flow of the breath in and out hence becomes very smooth and takes the mind to a transcendental state of existence. - Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 50

Watching the breath within and without

Bahyaabhyantara stambhavrittirdesha kala sankhyabhihi paridrishto deergha sukshmaha|

Sri Patanjali speaks about the process of Pranayama here. He says, pranayama is the process of observing the breath as it travels in from out and out from within and stays still and moves too as it is directed to a particular place in the body for a regulated period of time (counts). It is also long, deep and subtle. Practice of Pranayama increases the prana. This Prana in turn energises the mind and increases awareness. In a heightened state of awareness, the mind becomes subtle and the intellect sharp, emotions stable and the body health.

- Text and Pix: Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 49

When the breath in meets the breath out

Tasmin Sati Shwasa Prashwasayoho Gativicchedaha Pranayamaha|

Once established in the right yogic posture of asana, the focus can now be shifted to the Prana or life force. The Sutras begin with Yama and Niyama which purify and move on to steadying the physical body with asana and a focus on the inhalation and exhalation of the breath.

Breath is like a container for Prana which is subtle life energy. By regulating the inhalation and exhalation, Prana is regulated.

This Sutra speaks of stopping the flow of Prana or rather making it so quiet and steady that there is no inhalation and exhalation. There is a state of fullness and stillness of the breath. This reflects in a stillness in the state of mind too.

(Participants at a yoga event in Chennai's Jiva Park, organised by the Bharatiya Yog Sansthan on Gandhi Jayanthi. - Pix. Swahilya Shambhavi.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 48

Transcending the primordial disease

Tato Dwandwa Anabhigataha|

Perfection and practice of Asana turns the mind inward to the presence of one truth. When the mind is turned outward, there is duality or dwandwa - day-night, heat-cold, high-low, rich-poor, happy and sad. But when the mind is turned inward - there is only the seer of every action, word and thought. This seer is the same in everyone. Practice of a steady and comfortable posture helps you to transcend duality. Duality is the Adi Vyadhi or the primordial disease of the sense of separatedness from the rest of the Universe. - Swahilya Shambhavi (Pic. Teachers at Vasantham Home for Special Children doing the Surya Namaskar.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 47

No gain without pain

Prayathna Shaithilya Ananta Samapattibhyam|

Once seated in a steady and comfortable posture, there should be a loosening of all effort. In this state of a yoga asana of the body, breath and mind, the mind enters into an infinite state of unity with the cosmic consciousness. (Pix. and Text by Swahilya Shambhavi. Workers breaking stones to lay a proper pathway for pilgrims enroute Tungnath, the mountain in the Himalayas which has a Shiva temple at the highest elevation in India.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 46

Steady and comfortable

Sthira Sukham Aasanam|

Asana is seat. It means posture. It is from the root word As - means to Be. It is from this word that Asti or Is in Sanskrit is derived. Asana is the posture that helps to keep the body, breath, mind and intellect in a state of being. This state is naturally calm, tranquil and quiet. Today we have people recommending Asanas for this disease or that. Ultimately, all that the Asana or meditative posture does is to keep the body and mind still and steady in a meditative state. In that state, all healing happens. The Yoga Sutra states the only meaning for Asana here as a posture of way of keeping yourself steady yet comfortable all the time. (Pix: Teachers at the Vasantham Home for Special Children being in Prashanthasana or Shavasana, befor the beginning of the other asana practices. Text and Pix by Swahilya Shambhavi.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 44

Surrender to the supreme

Samadhi Siddhihi Ishwara Pranidhanaath|

When you surrender or offer yourself totally to God, you attain a state of samadhi, or the merger of your mind and intellect, with the cosmic awareness and the supreme self. Just as a handful of water taken out of the river looks apparently different, is offered back to the river and it merges, the mind is only an apparent individual wave in the ocean. In the state of samadhi, the wave forgets it is a wave and revels in its oceanic self.

- Swahilya Shambhavi.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II: 44

Study your self

Swadhyayadishtadevatasamprayogaha|

By Swadhyaya - contemplating on the essence of your being, you achieve union with the deity you worship. Swadhyaya means many things, but everything leads to the same essence. It means study of the self. The Upanishads are books that speak of the self. Studying the Upanishads is Swadhyaya. Meditation in silence is also Swadhyaya as in meditation you get to know who you are. Studying your thoughts, your emotions, your physical body and all its components - so deeply that from whichever way you go, you arrive at yourself, which is the self in all. You come to that space in you where you, me and it vanishes. - Swahilya Shambhavi
(Pic: Swahilya Shambhavi - Gangaji at Rudraprayag.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II: 48

Austerity purifies

Kaya Indriya Siddhihi Ashuddhikshayath Tapasaha|

Tapas means austere practices. It emerges from the root word Thap, meaning to burn. Any austerity practiced or endured through the body, breath, speech and mind is Tapas. It is the yoga of plain acceptance. As Manikkavasagar, a Tamil saint says in Tiruvasagam - Uninai Urukki Ulloli Perukki Ulappila Aananda Aaya - when the body is melted through that heat of tapasya, the light within shines more and more. This heat of cheerful endurance makes the body and sense organs adept and skillful and destroys impurities. Many forms of tapasya include yoga asanas, pranayama, concentration on a point, symbol, mantra or person of noble qualities or a god, even enduring harsh words and pain is a form of tapasya. The secret of this yoga of tapas is - accept and grow. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Pic. Swahilya Shambhavi. Students of the Vasantham Home for Special Children doing Surya Namaskar.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - II - 42

Unparalleled joy

Santoshathuttama Sukhalabhaha|

Santosha means contentment or happiness within. What one is and has in the present moment, with the practice of Santosha, one attains to unparalleled gain of happiness and comfort says Sri Patanjali. When there is Santosha, the mind is not hankering for this or that. It is totally content with what you have - the clothes, the food, the house, the footwear, the vehicles or the knowledge. When the mind is at rest with Santosha, it is totally present to the Presence, which is the source of all joy, happiness and comfort. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Picture: Happy faces in Kali Shila, Uttarakhand, Himalayas. Pic. Swahilya Shambhavi.)