The Secrets of Yoga
Philosophical system in Indian religious tradition and one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu thought, directed at divine knowledge and liberation through physical, mental, and spiritual discipline. The term (Sanskrit for "union" or "yoke") implies the attainment of oneness with the Absolute by means of disciplined practice. The Yoga Sutras, attributed to the sage Patanjali ( 2 B.C.E.), define the goal of yoga as "cessation of the mental whirlwind." Yoga is based on the Dualistic Samkhya philosophy of Hinduisam, which holds that mind (or SOUL) and matter are separate entities and that union with the divine can be achieved only when Consciousness is liberated from its mundane entanglements.
The practice of yoga involves a variety of exercises and techniques, which Patanjali divided into eight stages, comprising raja (royal) yoga.Yam, Niyam, Asana, Pranayam, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
Yam (restraint) and Niyam (discipline) entail abstinence from immoral behavior, physical and mental purification, and religious devotions; Asana (posture), Pranayam (breath control), and Pratyahara (sensory detachment) prepare the physical body for the three progressively rarefied meditative states which are; Dharana (meditation), Dhyana (contemplation), and Samadhi (absorption).
Yogic systems are many and varied, stressing different parts of the royal path; among the best known are hatha yoga (physical discipline), bhakti yoga (devotion), jnana yoga (knowledge and intellect), karma yoga (works), and kundalini yoga (awakening of subtle energies through Tantric practice).
The meaning of our self is not to be found in
its separateness from God and others, but in
the ceaseless realization of yoga, of union.
- Rabindranath Tagore
Om Satyam Param Dhimahi !
If you could be alone, totally alone - when you are not aware of your body, when you are not aware of your breath, when sights and sounds around you do not exist for you, though you may be in a busy metropolis, when your brain and your self-mind have lost their appetite to wander, when your ears cannot hear the melodies, the music, the noises and your eyes have ceased to see the colors, the lights, when you are alone without your senses being able to make an impact on you, when a single lone star in wide empty space is not as much alone, when black is not black enough before awful unfathomable blackness -
you are alone with the Alone,
in true emptiness and nothingness,
when there is nothing to be done and nothing remains undone -
you have learnt the true meaning of the Yoga Sutra.
Patanjali Yoga Sutra
Book.Nos.Slok
Book I
I.1 : Now we shall begin the revised instructions in the science of union (yoga).
I.2 : Yoga is achieved through the subjugation (healing) of the psychic nature and the restraint (calming) of the chitta, the thinking instrument.
I.3 : When this has been accomplished, the yogi knows himself as he is in reality (his essential and fundamental nature tands out supremely).
I.4 : Up till now the inner man has identified himself with his forms and with their active modifications.
I.5 : The mind (the thinking instrument) states are five and are subject to pleasure or pain; they are painful or not painful.
I.6 : These modifications (activities) are correct knowledge, incorrect knowledge, fancy or imagination, passivity (sleep) and memory.
I.7 : The basis of correct knowledge is correct perception (understanding), correct deduction and correct withness (or accurate evidence).
I.8 : Incorrect knowledge is based upon perception (mere seeing without understanding) of the form and not upon the state of being.
I.9 : Fancy rests upon images which have no real existence.
I.10 : Passivity (sleep) is based upon the quiescent state of the vrittis (or upon the non-registration of the senses).
I.11 : Memory is the holding on to that which has been known.
I.12 : The control (calming) of these modifications of the internal organ (the mind) is to be brought about through tireless endeavor and through non-attachment.
I.13 : Tireless endeavor is the constant effort to restrain the modifications of the thinking instrument.
I.14 : When the object to be gained is sufficiently valued, and efforts towards its attainment are persistently followed without intermission, then the steadiness of the thinking instrument (restraint of the vrittis) is secured.
I.15 : Non-attachment is the freedom from longing for all objects of desire, either earthly or traditional, either here ore hereafter.
I.16 : The consummation of this non-attachment results in an exact knowledge of the spiritual man when liberated from the qualities or gunas.
I.30 : The obstacles to soul cognition are bodily disability, mental inertia, wrong questioning, carelessness, laziness, lack of dispassion, erroneous perception, inability to achieve concentration, and failure to hold the meditative attitude (one-pointed-ness) when achieved.
I.31 : Pain, despair, misplaced bodily activity and wrong direction (or control) of the life currents are the results of the obstacles in the lower psychic nature.
I.32 : To overcome the obstacles and their accompanishment, the intense application of the will to some one truth (or principle) is required.
I.33 : The peace of the chitta (or thinking instrument) can be brought about through the practice of sympathy, tenderness, steadiness of purpose, and dispassion in regard to pleasure or pain, and towards all forms of good and evil.
Book II
II.3 : These are the difficulty - producing hindrances: avidya (ignorance), the sense of personality, desire, hate and the sense of attachment.
II.4 : Avidya is the cause of all the other obstructions whether they be latent, in process of elimination, overcome, or in full operation.
II.5 : Avidya is the condition of confusing the permanent, pure, blissful and the Self with that which is impermanent, impure, painful and the not-Self.
II.6 : The sense of personality is due to the identification of the knower with the instruments of knowledge.
II.7 : Desire is attachment to objects of pleasure.
II.8 : Hate is aversion for any object of the senses.
II.9 : Intense desire for sentient existence is attachment. This is inherent in every form, is self-perpetuating, and known even to the very wise.
II.10 : These five hindrances, when subtly known, can be overcome by an opposing mental attitude.
II.11 : Their activities are to be done away with, through the meditation process.
II.12 : Karma itself has its roots in these five hindrances and must come to fruition in this life or in some later life.
II.13 : So long as the roots (or sanskaras) exist, their fruition will be birth, life and experiences resulting in pleasure or pain.
II.14 : These seeds (sanskaras) produce pleasure or pain according to their originating cause being good or evil.
II.15 : To the illuminated man all existence (in the three world) is considered pain owing to the activities of the gunas. These activities are threefold, producing consequences, anxieties and subliminal impressions.
II.18 : That which is experienced has three qualities, sattva, rajas, and tamas (rhythm, mobility and inertia). It consists of the elements and the sense organs. The use of these produces experience and also eventual liberation.
II.19 : The divisions of the gunas (or qualities of matter) are fourfold; the specific, the non-specific, the indicated and the untouchable.
Book II
Book II
I.34 : The peace of the chitta (or thinking instrument) is also brought about by the regulation of the prana or life breath.
I.35 : The chitta can be trained to steadiness through those forms of concentration which have relation to the sense perceptions.
I.37 : The chitta is stabilized and rendered free from illusion as the lower nature is purified and no longer indulged in.
Book II
II.28 : When the eight means or steps to yoga have been steadily practised, and when impurity has been overcome, enlightenment takes place leading upto full illumination.
II.29 : The eight means of yoga are: yama or the five commandments, niyama or the five rules, asana or posture (especially of the thinking instrument), pranayama or right control of life-force, pratyahara or abstraction, dharana or attention, dhyana or meditation, and samadhi or contemplation.
II.30 : Harmlessness, truth to all beings, abstention from theft, from incontinence and from avarice, constitute yama or the five commandments.
II.31 : Yama (or the five commandments) constitutes the universal duty and is irrespective of race, place, time or emergency.
II.32 : Internal and external purification, contentment, fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishavara constitute niyama ( or the five rules of life).
II.33 : When thoughts which are contrary to yoga are present, there should be the cultivation of their opposite.
II.34 : Thoughts that are contrary to yoga are: harmfulness, falsehood, theft, incontinence and avarice, whether committed personally, caused to be committed or approved of, whether arising from avarice, anger or ignorance; whether slight in doing, middling or great. These result always in excessive pain and ignorance. For this reason, the contrary thoughts must be cultivated.
II.35 : In the presence of him who has perfected harmlessness, all enmity censes.
II.36 : When truth to all beings is perfected, the effectiveness of his words and acts is immediately to be seen.
II.37 : When abstention from theft is perfected, the yogi can have whatever he desires.
II.38 : By abstention from incontinence, creative energy is acquired.
II.39 : When abstention from avarice is perfected, there comes an understanding of the law of rebirth.
II.40 : Internal and external purification produces aversion for (or desire to be free from) form, both one's own and all forms in the three worlds.
II.41 : Through purification comes also a quiet spirit, concentration, conquest of the organs, and ability to see the Self.
II.42 : As a result of contentment bliss is achieved.
II.43 : Through fiery aspiration and through the removal of all impurity, comes the perfecting of the bodily powers and of the senses.
II.46 : The posture assumed must be steady and easy.
II.47 : Steadiness and ease of posture is to be achieved through persistent slight effort and through concentration of the thinking instrument (chitta) upon the Infinite.
II.48 : When this is achieved, the pairs of opposites no longer limit.
II.49 : When right posture (asana) has been attained there follows right control of prana and proper inspiration and expiration of breath.
II.50 : Right control of prana (or the life-force) is external, internal or motionless; it is subject to place, time and number and is also protracted or brief.
II.54 : Abstraction (or pratyahara) is the subjugation (calming) of the senses by the thinking principle and their withdrawal from that which has hitherto been their object.
II.55 : As a result of these means there follows the complete subjugation of the sense organs.
Book III
III.9 : The sequence of mental states (of the thinking instrument) is as follow: the mind reacts to that which is seen; then follows the moment of mind control. Then ensues a moment wherein the chitta (mind stuff) responds to both these factors. Finally these pass away and the perceiving consciousness has full sway.
III.10 : Through the cultivation of this habit of chitta there will eventually occur a steadiness of spiritual perception.
III.11 : The establishing of this habit and the restraining of the mind (calming of the thinking instrument) from its thought-form-making tendency, results eventually in the constant power to contemplate.
III.46 : Symmetry of form, beauty of color, strength and the compactness of the diamond constitute bodily perfection.
Book IV
IV.2 : The transfer of consciousness from a lower vehicle into a higher is part of the great creative and evolutionary process.
IV.7 : The activities of the liberated soul are free from the pairs of opposites. Those of other people are of three kinds.
IV.8 : From these three kinds of karma emerge those forms which are necessary for the fruition of the effects.
IV.10 : Desire to live being eternal, these mind-created forms are without known beginning.
IV.11 : These forms are created and held together through desire, the basic cause, personality, the effective result, mental vitality or the will to live, and the support of the outward going life; when these cease to attract, then the forms cease likewise to be.
Book III
Book I
I.21 : The attainment of spiritual consciousness is rapid for those whose will is intensely alive.
I.22 : Those who employ the will likewise differ, for its use may be intense, moderate or gentle. In respect to the attainment of true spiritual consciousness there is yet another way.
I.42 : When the perceiver blends the word, the idea (or meaning) and the object, this is called the mental condition of judicial reasoning.
I.43 : Perception without judicial reasoning (or intuition) is arrived at when the memory no longer holds control, the word and the object are transcended, and only the idea is present.
I.44 : The same tow processes of concentration, with and without judicial action of the mind (the thinking instrument), can be applied also to things subtle.
Book II
II.1 : The yoga of action, leading to union with the soul, is fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara.
II.2 : The aim of these there is to bring about soul vision and to eliminate obstructions.
II.22 : In the case of the man who has achieved yoga (or union) the objective universe has ceased to be. Yet it existed still for those who are not free.
II.23 : The association of the soul with the mind and thus with that which the mind perceives, produces an understanding of the nature of that which is perceived and likewise of the Perceiver.
II.24 : The cause of this association is ignorance or avidya. This has to be overcome.
II.25 : When ignorance is brought to an end through non-association with the things perceived, this is the great liberation.
II.26 : The stage of bondage is overcome through perfectly maintained discrimination.
II.27 : The knowledge (or illumination) achieved is sevenfold and is attained progressively.
II.44 : Spiritual reading results in a contact with the soul (or divine One).
II.45 : Through devotion to Ishvara the goal of meditation (or samadhi) is reached.
Book III
III.12 : When mind control and the controlling factor are equally balanced, then comes the condition of one-pointed-ness.
III.13 : Through this process the aspects of every object are known, their characteristics (or form), their symbolic nature, and their specific use in time-conditions (stage of development) are known and realized.
III.14 : The characteristics of every object are acquired, manifesting or latent.
III.49 : The man who can discriminate between the soul and Spirit achieves supremacy over all conditions and becomes omniscient.
III.54 : This intuitive knowledge, which is the great Deliverer, is omnipresent and omniscient and includes the past, the present and the future in the Eternal Now.
III.55 : When the objective forms and the soul have reached a condition of equal purity, then is At-One-ment is achieved and liberation results.
Book IV
IV.1 : The higher and lower siddhis (or powers) are gained by incarnation, or by drugs, words of power, intense desire (obsession) or by meditation.
IV.3 : The practices and methods are not the true cause of the transfer of consciousness, but they serve to remove obstacles, just as the husbandman prepares his ground for sowing.
IV.4 : The 'I am' consciousness is responsible for the creating of the organs through which the sense of individuality is enjoyed.
IV.9 : There is identity of relation between memory and effect-producing cause, even when separated by species, time and place.
IV.12 : The past and the future exist in the present. The form assumed in the time concept of the present is the result of developed characteristics and holds latent seeds of future quality.
IV.13 : The characteristics, whether latent or potent, partake of the nature of the three gunas.
IV.14 : The manifestation of the objective form is due to the one-pointedness of the (long-prevailing) effect - producing cause (the unification of the modifications of the chitta or mind stuff, the thinking instrument).
IV.16 : The many modifications of the one mind produce the diverse forms which depend for existence upon those many mind impulses.
IV.17 : These forms are cognized or not cognized according to the qualities latent in the level of awareness.
Book IV - Book I
I.17 : The awareness of an object is attained by concentration on its fourfold nature: the form through examination, the quality (or guna) through discriminative participation, the purpose through inspiration and the soul through identification.
I.18 : A further stage of samadhi is achieved when through one-pointed thought the outer activity is quieted. In this stage the chitta (the thinking instrument) is responsive only to subjective impressions.
I.19 : The samadhi just described passes not beyond the bounds of the phenomenal world; it passes not beyond the gods and those concerned with the concrete world.
I.20 : Other yogins achieve samadhi and arrive at a discrimination of pure Spirit through belief, followed by energy, memory, meditation and right perception.
I.23 : By intense devotion to Ishvara, knowledge of Ishvara is gained.
I.24 : This Ishvara is the soul (Divine Fragment), untouched by limitation, free from karma and desire.
I.25 : In Ishvara, the Gurudeva, the germ of all knowledge expands into infinity.
I.26 : Ishvara, the Gurudeva, being unlimited by time conditions, is the teacher of the primeval Lords.
I.38 : Peace (steadiness of the chitta, the thinking instrument) can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give.
I.39 : Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart.
I.46 : All this constitutes meditation with seed.
I.48 : The yogi's perception is now unfailingly exact (or his mind reveals only the Truth).
I.49 : This particular perception is unique and reveals that which the rational mind (using testimony, inference and deduction) cannot reveal.
I.50 : It is totally different from or supersedes all other impressions.
I.51 : When this state of perception is itself also restrained or superseded, then is pure ssamadhi achieved.
Book II
II.20 : The seer is pure knowledge. Though pure, he looks upon the presented idea through the medium of the mind.
II.21 : All that is exists for the sake of the soul.
Book III
III.1 : Concentration is the fixing of the chitta (the thinking instrument) upon a particular object. This is dharana.
III.2 : Sustained concentration is meditation, dhyana.
III.3 : When the chitta (the thinking instrument) be comes absorbed in that which is the reality (or the idea embodied in the form) and is unaware of separateness or of the personal self, this is contemplation or samadhi.
III.15 : The stage of development is responsible for the various modifications of the versatile psychic nature and of the thinking principle.
III.16 : Through concentrated meditation upon the triple nature of every form, comes the revelation of that which has been and of that which will be.
III.17 : The sound (or word), that which it denotes (the object) and the embodied spiritual essence (or idea) are usually confused in the mind of the perceiver. By concentrated meditation on these three aspects comes an intuitive comprehension of the sound uttered by all forms of life.
III.22 : Karma is of two kinds: immediate karma and future karma. By perfectly concentrated meditation on these, the yogi knows the term of his experience in the three worlds. This knowledge comes also from signs.
III.23 : Union with others is to be gained through one-pointed meditation upon the three states of feelings - compassion, tenderness and dispassion.
Book IV
IV.18 : The Lord of the mind, the Perceiver, is ever aware of the constantly active mind stuff, the effect-producing cause.
IV.19 : Because it can be seen or cognized, it is apparent that the mind is not the source of illumination.
IV.20 : Neither can it know two objects simultaneously, itself and that which is external to itself.
IV.21 : If knowledge of the mind (chitta) by a remoter mind is postulated, an infinite number of knowers must be inferred and the sequence of memory reactions would tend to infinite confusion.
IV.22 : When the spiritual intelligence, which stands alone and freed from objects, reflects itself in the mind stuff (chitta), then comes awareness of the Self.
IV.23 : Then the mind stuff, reflecting both the knower and the knowable, becomes omniscient.
Book V - Part I - Book I
I.27 : The Word of Ishvara is AUM (or OM). This is the Pranava.
I.28 : Through the sounding of the Word and through reflection upon its meaning, the Way is found.
I.29 : From this comes the realization of the Self and the removal of all obstacles.
I.36 : By meditation upon Light and upon Radiance, knowledge of the Spirit can be reached and thus peace can be achieved.
I.40 : Thus the yogi's realization extends from the infinitely small to the infinitely great and from anu ( the atom) to Atman (or Spirit) his knowledge is perfected.
I.41 : To him whose vrittis (modifications of the mind stuff) are entirely controlled, there eventuates a state of identity with, and similarity to that which is realized. The knower, knowledge and field of knowledge become one, just as a crystal takes to itself the colors of that which is reflected in it.
I.45 : The gross leads into the subtle and the subtle leads in progressive stages that state of pure spiritual being called Pradhana.
I.47 : When the super-contemplative state is reached, the yogi acquires pure spiritual realization through the balanced quiet of the chitta (the thinking instrument or mind stuff).
Book II
II.16 : Pain which is yet to come can be warded off.
II.17 : The illusion that the Perceiver and that which is perceived are one and the same, is the cause of the pain-producing effects which must be warded off.
II.51 : There is a fourth stage of pranayama which transcends those dealing with the internal and external phases.
II.52 : Through this, that which obscures the light is gradually removed.
II.53 : And the mind (the thinking instrument) is prepared for the meditative attitude.
Book III
III.4 : When dharana, dhyana and samadhi form one sequential act (the meditative attitude), then that is sanyama achieved.
III.5 : As a result of sanyama comes the shining forth of the light.
III.6 : This illumination is gradual, it is developed stage by stage, plane by plane.
III.7 : These last three means (steps) of yoga have a more intimate subjective effect than the previous five.
III.8 : Even these three, however, are external to the true seedless samadhi which is not based on an object. It is free from the effects of the discriminative nature of the chitta (the thinking instrument).
III.18 : Knowledge of previous incarnations becomes available when the ability to see thought-images is acquired.
III.19 : Through concentrated meditation, the thought images in the minds of other people become apparent.
III.20 : As, however, the object of those thoughts is not apparent to the perceiver, he sees only the thought and not the object. His meditation excludes the tangible.
III.21 : By concentrated meditation upon the distinction between form and body, those properties of the body which make it visible to the human eye are negated and the yogi can render himself invisible.
III.24 : Meditation, one-pointedly centred upon the power of the elephant, will awaken that force or light.
III.25 : Perfectly concentrated meditation upon the awakened light will produce the pure awareness of that which is subtle, hidden or remote.
III.26 : Through meditation, one - pointedly fixed upon the sun, will come a consciousness (or knowledge) of the seven worlds.
III.27 : A knowledge of all lunar forms arises through one - pointed meditation upon the moon.
III.29 : By concentrated attention upon the centre called the solar plexus, comes perfected knowledge as to the condition of the body.
III.28 : Concentration upon the Pole Star will give knowledge of the orbits of the planets and the stars.
III.34 : Understanding of the mind - awareness comes from one-pointed meditation upon the heart center.
Book V - Part II - Book III
III.30 : By fixing the attention upon the throat-well center, cessation of hunger and thirst will ensue.
III.31 : Be fixing the attention upon the tube or nerve below the throat center, equilibrium is achieved.
III.32 : Those who have attained self-mastery can be seen and contacted through focusing the light in the hand. This power is developed in one-pointed meditation.
III.33 : All things can be known in the vivid light of intuition.
III.35 : Experience (of the pairs of opposites) comes from the inability to distinguish between the personal self and the Purusha (or Spirit). (Sanyama on Self clarifies all confusion). The objective forms exist for the use (and experience) of the spiritual man. By meditation upon this arises the intuitive perception of the spiritual nature (the Purusha).
III.36 : As the result of this experience and meditation, the higher hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell are developed, producing intuitional knowledge.
III.37 : These powers are obstacles to the highest spiritual realization, but serve as magical powers in the objective world.
III.38 : By liberation from the causes of bondage and through their weakening and by an understanding of the mode of transference (withdrawal and entrance), the mind stuff or chitta can enter or synchronize with another body.
III.39 : By subjugation of the upward life (udana) there is liberation from water, the thorny path and mire, and the power of ascension is gained.
III.40 : Through subjugation of the samana, the spark becomes the flame.
III.41 : By means of one-pointed meditation upon the relationship between akasha and sound, an organ for spiritual hearing will be developed.
III.42 : Be one-pointed meditation upon the relationship existing between the body and akasha, ascension out of matter (of the three worlds) and the power to travel in space is gained.
III.43 : When that which veils the light is done away with, then comes the state of being called discarnate (or disembodied), freed from the modifications of the thinking instrument. This is the state of illumination.
III.44 : One-pointed meditation upon the five forms which every element takes, produces mastery over every element. These five forms are the gross nature, the elemental form, the quality, the pervasiveness and the basic purpose.
III.45 : Through this mastery, minuteness and the other siddhis (or powers) are attained, likewise bodily perfection and freedom from all hindrances.
III.47 : Mastery over the senses is brought about through concentrated meditation upon their nature, peculiar attributes, egoism, pervasiveness and useful purpose.
III.48 : As a result of this perfection there comes rapidity of action like that of the mind, perception independent of the organs, and mastery over root substance.
III.50 : By a passionless attitude towards this attainment and towards all soul powers, the one who is free from the seeds of bondage, attains the condition of isolated unity.
III.51 : There should be entire rejection of all allurements from all forms of being, even the celestial, for the recurrence of evil contacts remains possible.
III.52 : Intuitive knowledge is developed through the use of the discriminative faculty when there is one-pointed concentration upon moments and their continuous succession.
III.53 : From this intuitive knowledge is born the capacity to distinguish between all beings and to cognize their genus, qualities and position on the evolutionary ladder.
Book IV
IV.5 : Consciousness is One, yet produces the varied forms of the many.
IV.6 : Among the forms which consciousness assumes, only that which is the result of meditation is free from latent karma.
IV.15 : These two, consciousness and form, are distinct and separate; though forms may be similar, the consciousness may function on differing levels of being.
IV.24 : The mind-stuff also, reflecting as it does an infinity of mind impressions, becomes the instrument of the Self and acts as a unifying agent.
IV.25 : The state of isolated unity (withdrawn into the true nature of Self) is the reward of the man who can discriminate between the mind stuff and the Self, or spiritual man.
IV.26 : The mind then tends towards discrimination and increasing illumination as to the true nature of the one Self.
IV.27 : Through force of habit, however, the mind will reflect other mental impressions and perceive objects of sensuous perception.
IV.28 : These reflections are of the nature of hindrances, and the method of their overcoming is the same.
IV.29 : The man who develops non-attachment even in his aspiration after illumination and isolated unity becomes aware, eventually, through practised discrimination, of the over-shadowing cloud of spiritual knowledge.
IV.30 : When this stage is reached then the hindrances and karma are overcome.
IV.31 : When, through the removal of hindrances and the purification of the sheaths, the totality of knowledge becomes available, naught further remains for the man to do.
IV.32 : The modifications of the mind stuff through the inherent nature of the three gunas come to an end, for they have served their purpose.
IV.33 : Time, which is the sequence of the modifications of the mind, likewise terminates, giving place to the Eternal Now.
IV.34 : The state of isolated unity becomes possible, when the three qualities of matter (the three gunas) no longer exercise any hold over the Self. The pure Spiritual Consciousness withdraws into the One.
Om Satyam Param Dhimahi !