Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 26

Meditate on the sun to know about the world

Bhuvana Jnanam Surye Samyamath|

By doing meditation on the sun without in its rising and setting or on the solar energy channel that flows in and out through the right nostril, the yogi gains an understanding of the functioning of the Earth and the different worlds of consciousness in and above the earth plane. These secrets are not for boasting, but to gain a wholesome understanding about the world we live in. - SS

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 25

Clairvoyance and hidden secrets

Pravrithyalokanyasat Sukshmavyavahita Viprakrishta Jnanam|

The mind is constantly engaged in activities called thoughts. When these thoughts cease to be influenced by the sense objects of the world through the sense organs, they become internalised contemplations. When such a powerful thought is happening and one practices Samyama on that then, it begins to reveal subtle secrets of the world outside and in the consciousness within. This also gives the mind the power to view events and situations happening in distant lands too. The supra-physical apprehension of the mind is a direct result of many types of Sadhana. – SS

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 24

Gaining power

Maitryadishu Balani

Earlier Patanjali Maharshi explained the qualities such as practice of Maitri Karuna Mudita and Upeksha for Sukha, Dukha, Punya and Apunya respectively. Be friendly towards those who mean well, show compassion towards those who are sorrowful, express happiness towards those who do good deeds and indifference to those who trouble us. Meditating on these qualities make the mind strong and steady. This is the mental attitude to be taken towards these kinds of people. Qualities such as competitiveness, jealousy, hatred, anger and untruthfulness can fritter away our mental energies and leave us without any peace of mind. – SS.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – 23

Watch what you do

Sopakramam nirupakramam cha karma tatsamyamadaparantha jnanam arishtebhyaha||

We are all the time doing actions. When we bring our mind’s attention to the actions that are happening within the body and the actions performed with the body, the results produced by those actions and our response to them, there is a subtle knowledge that is generated about the functions of the body. This meditative observation will also reveal to us the latent experience and actions that we may go through in the future.

This knowledge in due course of time will reveal to us the time of death through signs and omens. These siddhis need not be specially practised. They are a natural result of a slow, meditative, aware and experiential living. – SS

Patanjali Yoga SUTRA – II – 22

 Same for the other senses too

Etena Shabdaadi Antardanam Uktam|

By the same process mentioned in the previous sutra, one can meditate on one’s own experiences of sound, taste, smell and touch. When the focus is brought to the vibrations caused in the mind, the disconnection with the outside source soon makes us disconnect with all the sounds, taste, touch and smell. - SS

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 21

 The Invisible Man

Kaya Rupa Samyamath Tadagrahya Shakti Sthambhe Chakshuh Prakasha Samprayoge Antardhanam|

When the yogi is meditating on his own body first with eyes open, either seeing the form in the mirror or seeing directly and then with the eyes closed, bringing the form to the mind’s eye – it soon dissolves in consciousness. With constant practice, the consciousness of a physical form vanishes for the Sadhaka. This invisibility of the body experienced by oneself, with constant practice, will soon begin to influence other minds too and they also experience that invisibility. The aim of this practice is to simply transcend body consciousness and not make any H.G. Wells science fiction attempt of becoming invisible! No separate time needs to be set apart for this too. Each day we do take a look at the mirror to set ourselves right. Instead of getting lost in the image in the mirror, we can take a few seconds to keep the eyes closed and see that the form is actually not there! – SS

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 20

No general images can be known

Na cha tat salambanam tasyavishayi bhutathwath|

Continuing from the previous Sutra, Patanjali Maharshi says that while knowing the general repetition of thoughts and emotions can reveal only a general nature of another’s mind, it is not possible to know all the specific thoughts as even the other person’s mind has not full grasped the specific details. There is hence an objectless state of existence for such thoughts.

For instance, a person’s anger, hatred and jealousy can be easily seen as a repeated thought as it has an object to focus on. Without such an object, the general thoughts of another’s mind cannot be understood. If I am angry with someone it is easy for the one who knows this anger movement. If I am contemplating on the nature of human life, then it is very difficult as it is a general idea.
To know another”s mind is to know the contents of one”s own mind. Then it is worth the effort to know only the mind of God and the saints. Staying in tune with the repeated thought of the Lord or the Guru, uplifts us to their heights. Tuning in to ordinary minds with their ego< hatred and greed drags us down -  SS

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 19

Knowing the mind better

Pratyayasya Parachitta Jnanam

When the Sadhaka perceives the repeated flow of thoughts, he gets a knowledge of what is going on in another personn’s mind. What is going on in our mind when we are in a group or with another person, reveals what is oing on in the other mind too. This is not to jump into the dirty job of reading others’ minds. No respectful yogi would risk his sadhana by indulging in such wastage of mental energy. Patanjali Maharshi outlines the process of how the mind works and this knowledge can be applied in uplifting ourselves from difficult situations and helping others who approach us for guidance. – SS.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 18

Watching your impressions

Samskara Sakshathkaranath Purva Jati Jnanam|

By constantly watching one’s own Samskara or deep thought impressions, the Yogi gets to know one’s own past birth or lives. By focussing on our own Samskaras, the perception soon extends to a similar knowledge about others’ past lives too.

What one has been constantly thinking in a lifetime gets stored as a Samskara or a deep thought impression. Our past actions gave  us our Samskaras or impressions that govern the present life and our present Samskaras or thought formations that we make will govern our future life or lifetimes. - SS

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – III – 17

Separate the sound, form and meaning

Shabdartha Pratyayanam Itaretaradhyasath Sankaram Tatpravibhagasamyamath Sarva Bhoootha Rupa Jnanam

Every object, person or creature has three things in them. They have a name, a form and together they generate an idea in the mind of the perceiver. For instance – take a guava fruit. It has a name – Guava which is a sound vibration. It has an almost round shape and is either green, yellow or a mixed colour. It brings up many ideas in the mind – sweet, sour, seeds that can get caught between the teeth – the ideas are different according to our different preferences and past experiences with the fruit.

This practice of samyama which Patanjali Maharshi tells us to do is to meditate on the word of an object alone, on its form alone or the idea it brings to our mind separately. Usually, there is a confusion born out of a natural superimposition of the name, form and our ideas.

This practice when done constantly gives rise to a knowledge of the sounds produced by humans, animals and even inert objects which are constantly communicating through sound vibrations. - SS