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P a t a n j a l i Y o g a S u t r a sS A M A D H I P A D A

OM OM OM

Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu Guru Devo MaheswarahaGuru Sakshat Parabramha Tasmai Sree Guravennamaha

Akhanda Mandalakaram Vyaptam Yena CharacharamYatpadam Darsitam Yena Tasmai Sree Guravenamaha

Introduction To Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Patanjali Yoga-sutras are very important at this present state of world affairs. Humanity has reached the peak in its intellectual understanding but unfortunately physically and emotionally it is very, very poor. The Patanjali Yoga Sutras are the best means to develop physically, emotionally, mentally, intuitionally and spiritually. In a graded way we are led, from the physical plane perfection, to emotional perfection, mental perfection, intuitional perfection, and spiritual perfection.

Because of lack of co-ordination between the body, emotions or desires, or the relationship of body and desires with the high level of present day intellectual achievements, the humanity though capable of controlling all the elements: earth, water, fire, air and space, is unable to lead a happy and peaceful life, a life of enthusiastic festive mood. To attain this state (siddhi), Patanjali, about 6000 years back gave us a system par excellence, a completely modified and well-balanced and extremely practical tips of Raja Yoga, the yoga of kings. The kings here doesn’t mean about the earthly kings but about the kingdom of which Christ spoke, about which all the Yogis speak. It is that state obtaining which, Sai is called the Rajadhi Raja, Yogi Raja. It is the Kingship, the Over-Lordship of the human consciousness on its physical, emotional, mental and intuitional levels.

Before we get into the depths of Patanjali Yoga-Sutras, we should have a clear notion of the four states of consciousness – the wakeful state, dream state, sleep state(void of dreams) and thuriya (eternal NOW).

The first is the wakeful consciousness, of which we are all aware. It is the continuity of consciousness on Physical Plane.. When you are awake, you are aware of India, U.S.A, Germany, different parts of planet Earth and also different Stars and Planets and also about Galaxies and about the Hydrogen atom; the smallest one to the greatest one, “Anoraniyan Mahatomahiyan“, therefore this is the first aspect – right from atom to the Solar Logos. This is the sweep of wakeful consciousness, to which we should reach, and

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we have already reached. We can reach any planet, we can reach any star, we can concentrate rays of any star on to the planet, but this is only the physical aspect.

We are experts in the Physics, Chemistry and Alchemy in the physical plane matters, but unfortunately we are slaves to the physical plane. Many a times we become slaves to taste and slaves to sex. These two are the most important aspects of life that disturb us. We know that it is wrong, we know that it is bad, we know that it is harming us but still we are just helpless slaves in its clutches. Before we sleep we promise ourselves to get up at 4:30AM but when the alarm strikes, we just switch it off and sleep again, though we know the importance of waking up in the early hours. Similarly we know the importance of Asanas, Pranayamas and their significance, the breath control and body control but still we do not find time to practice it. Similarly about the case of the three diseases, Diabetes, Heart troubles, High or Low B.P and then the Cancer; all these three killer diseases are only because of uncontrolled desires. We just can’t control our tastes.

The second is the dream state where we have no limitation of time or space. You can live a life of 100 years in your dream and wake up to see that you are still the same person who just slept for a few minutes. Though your dreams are affected by your subconscious, you have no direct control over them.

The third state of consciousness is the pure sleep state where you just sleep, NO dreams also. This is a state where you get connected with your innerself and get rejuvenated and wake up to find that even a few minutes of sleep can give you the relaxation you get from hours of sleep. We all have experienced such things in our daily life.

The fourth state of consciousness is the Thuriya or ETERNAL NOW. You may call it samadhi or by any other name, the fact remains that we have still not reached a point where we can really understand what it is just as a person who has never seen or tasted a mango cannot be made to realize its taste by just telling about it.

Raja Yoga means our ability to become a king, ruler of our body, desires, mind and not only that, a king of group intuition. This word Group Intuition is used here with intention because the time has now come for group approach, in yoga. The Patanjali Yoga Sutras have to be practiced in a group, not alone, because humanity has now reached a stage in evolution for group effort which was not so in previous years.

Let us now start with the first Sutra from the Samadhi pada

Sutra 1.

Atha yoganushasanam

Atha = Now, herewith.

Yoga = Yoga.


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Anushasanam = Exposition or teaching or discipline.

Now an exposition of yoga is being made.

‘Atha’ means now, when we say now, we should inculcate a habit of doing things now as Kabir Das used to say: “Kal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So Ab” – What you have to do tomorrow do it now.

This must be the spirit of understanding and practicing Patanjali yoga sutras. What ever is to be done, whatever idea comes, try to implement it immediately, of course with common sense.

‘Atha’ means now, and ‘yoga’ means a complete control of intuition, of Prajna, of Ritumbhara Prajna, the Samadhi state over “the mind, desires and body”. The definition on yoga has to be understood as, intuition, Prajna; it is also known as ‘Turiya‘; the state of Samadhi; it is also known as ‘Kootastha Chaitanya‘ and is also known as ‘Guru Consciousness‘. All the Gurus are in this state of consciousness, the Raja Yoga consciousness or the kootastha consciousness, or the Ritumbhara consciousness, or the Prajna consciousness, or the Samadhi consciousness or the Yoga consciousness.

‘Athah yoga’ means: now I am/ we are, determined to reach the state of yoga, this state of intuition, this state of ‘Ritumbhara‘, this state of Samadhi, this state of yoga. And how do we go about it: as ‘Atha Yoga Anushasanam’. Anushasanam means discipline. The best example is military discipline. We should be so perfect in our daily routines as if we are a one man, the whole humanity working in well coordinated approach to life or following the military discipline of yoga. This is the discipline of intuition, the discipline of Prajna, the discipline of Samadhi, the discipline of yoga (yoganushasanam). I do what the samadhi state commands; I do what the Ritumbhara Prajna commands; I do what the intuition commands; I have completely surrendered to the power of intuition.

With this determination, we as a group, should start the practice of Raja yoga as advocated by the science of yoga. Patanjali Yoga Sutras will make us warriors, Arjunas, fighting the Maha-Bharata, Ramas fighting Ravanas or the sadhakas fighting with their weaknesses. The discipline of surrendering (anushasana), to this high level of consciousness, the ‘thuriya’ consciousness, the consciousness, which is beyond the wakeful state, the dreaming state and the deep sleep consciousness, permeating all of them is the determination of the Raja yogi, the state which we all want to achieve.

Try to understand what we have to do while practicing the yoga-vidya, co-relating of what I want to drive into your consciousness, by thinking over the aphorism as a mathematical formula or equation. We have the formula E = mC 2. Reading a formula automatically presupposes that you have a background of a very deep study on the subject. Similarly when we say, ‘I-Sutra1: Atha yoganushasanam’, we understand that we are dealing with a science of union. We are learning a Science of Union – as described in,

Akhanda Mandalakaram Vyaptam Yena Characharam


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Yatpadam Darsitam Yena Tasmai Sree Guravennamaha

One who is expert in yoga is a yogi, a Guru. You can take yogi and guru as synonyms.

This is the science of yoga, the science of union, the science of Samadhi, where you are able to understand that the entire uni-verse is a union. Hence the name Samadhi pada is given to this portion of the book.

Sutra 2.

Yogah chitta vritti nirodhaha.

Yoga = the science of union

Chitta Vritti = Mind modifications

Nirodhaha = Suppression.

The inhibition or suppression of mind-modifications is yoga.

The three words chitta, vritti, nirodhaha define yoga. Nirodaha means inhibition or suppression. “Chitta” means mind. So the simple definition of Yoga is,

The inhibition or suppression of mind modifications.

Let us go a bit deeper into these aspects.

Always remember that I am only giving you a thread of thoughts (sutra) to follow. In Sanskrit, sutra means thread. I am giving you a thread and you have to follow the thread by group discussions and through meditation, first basing on the direction I am giving to you and later, your intuition for guidance. That is why these are called sutras.

Here the word Chitta is derived from the word Chiti. Chiti is the part of triad “Sat, Chit, Ananda”. The Divine is supposed to have three energies, the energy of Sat, the energy of Chit, and the energy of Ananda. Out of these energies, Chit is the form-side of the universe. It is from this Shakti as Chiti that the entire form world is made up of, the material worlds that we see.

Vritti is derived from the word vrit, which means to ‘exist’. Therefore in considering the ways in which a thing exists, when I consider its modification, its states, its activities, its functions etc., all are that objects vrittis. Hence vrittis mean, the various modifications of our minds in the entire life cycle, wherever we are, whatever we are. Read and understand this last sentence very carefully. Meditate on it. Let us have a clear understanding of the word vritti as used in these sutras and the difference of meaning it conveys, from the word mind that we use in daily life.


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The reflection of this chitta aspect of Paramatma in the individual soul, the Jivatma, is the instrument or medium through which the individual vrittis are formed or developed. An apple tree has an apple modification (chitta-vritti), a mango tree has a mango modification (chitta-vritti), a camel has a camel modification (chitta-vritti), a horse, a cow, a man, and all have their characteristic modifications or chitta-vrittis.

With this background we go to the third word used to define yoga: ‘nirodhaha’. It means constraint, control, and inhibition. Now ‘nirodhaha’ in the initial stages means restraints. Meaning as a restraint, in physical plane it is practice of asanas, in a bit more advanced state, it is a control of prana shakti through pranayama and in a higher system of yoga it means the complete suppression of ‘Chit’ shakti. Thus the entire practice of yoga at all levels and planes, means the inhibition or suppression of modification of mind as and when we want, and this forms the basis of the entire Samadhi Pada.

Let us try to understand more about the word Chitta here. We can say that it is one of the four levels of the Mind in a broad context – Manas, Buddhi, Ahamkara and Chitta.

Talking about manas it is like a store house of thoughts or in other words a data collector. We see something in the television, we chat with our friends, our neighbors, all the time we are surrounded by various thought processes from various sources which are just fed into and stored in the manas : the library.

The next level is the buddhi where our intellect segregates, discriminates between the good and bad, selects a few of the thoughts from the data of manas and accepts them. Buddhi is different from intelligence. Let us understand with an example of how it works – everybody reads the warning written on the cigarette packs that it is harmful and dangerous to smoke. But very few people use their buddhi (intellect) to restrain themselves from smoking. For the major part of the people who smoke, the warning written on the pack just went into their manas but their buddhi did not differentiate it. Similarly even for small decisions like should I go to a movie or college today? It’s the buddhi which decides and the person acts accordingly – Buddhi : the decision maker.

Next comes the Ahamkara or the ‘I’. Here Ahamkara is termed in the sense of the EGO which is the personality, the Jeevatma, the I-ness of a person and not the ego-ism of which we speak in general terms. We will keep learning more about this in the coming sutras of Patanjali.

The Chitta can be termed as a universal medium through which consciousness functions on all the planes of the manifested Universe. It is really tough to say what chitta essentially is. In a very crude sense


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we can correlate it to our habits which is fundamentally a nature of consciousness but is affected by matter.

Sutra 3.

Tada drashtuh swarupe avastanam

Tada = ThenDrashtuh = Seer (observer)Swarupe = in his own formAvastanam = Establishment

The seer is then established in his own form.

When you practice this ' I – 2 sutra ‘: Yogah chitta vritti nirodhaha, you will be established in your own fundamental nature as a seer of this world, the spectator of this world. This is the goal of the entire practice of yoga. So the entire practice of yoga is that we should be established in the fundamental nature of our own selves, the seer. To be established in our state of fundamental existence, the fundamental nature of the seer, is the goal of the Patanjali Yoga.

Sutra 4.

Vritti sarupyam itaratra

Vritti Sarupyam = Identifications of modifications of mind. Itaratra = When not in the yogic state.

The world is identification with the chitta vrittis. The yogi identifies himself with the various modifications of mind when not in the yogic state.

Vritti in general is a way of existing, a state, a function but here it is modification or transformation. We do many works in our daily life. We say that – I am speaking, I am walking, I and doing this and so on. What you have to question yourself is whether you are actually doing all these? Vritti saarupyam – You have been involved in doing these things so well that you feel that it was you who is doing everything. In other words we all are no less than Oscar winners who get awarded for acting so well. We have involved ourselves in our physical body so well that we are something different from it is difficult to remember for us now. This sutra tells us to remember this fact constantly.


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Sutra 5.

Vrittayaha panchatayyaha klishta aklishta

Vrittayah = Modes, modification or functions of the mind

Panchatayyah = Of Five KindsKlistha = PainfulAklisthah = Not-painful

The entire yoga is nothing but suppression of mind modifications ' I – 2 sutra‘: Yogah chitta vritti nirodhaha. Patanjali, being a great scientist and psychologist divides the mind stuff, the mind patterns in two ways.

Klishta, Aklishta. The mind modifications may be painful or not painful. See the beauty of it; he has not given a separate modification of pleasurable mind modifications. He only divides the chitta vrittis into two categories. For example if you see a tree, it is a non painful modification of mind but when you see horror film, it is a painful modification of mind, when you eat something which you like it is a pleasurable modification of your mind but patanjali gives division of only two aspects of modifications, klishta and aklishta (painful or not painful). He says that there is nothing pleasurable in this universe. It is only the wrong orientation of mind, to use a technical word, it is lack of discrimination (viveka) that makes any chitta vritti as pleasurable. All chitta vrittis if pleasurable are a sugar coated bitter pills, painful in nature.

If we have a little discriminative outlook in our daily life, we understand that each pleasure is a starting point of trouble. When you feel happy about passing an educational attempt, you have to get start with another one, another long painful course. At the maximum, a chitta vritti may be not painful, but it can never be pleasurable. This is one way of dividing your modifications of mind, chitta vrittis.

The other point of view from which the Chitta-Vrttis have been classified is the nature of the Pratyaya produced in the Chitta. The object of classifying them in this manner is to show that all our experiences in the realm of the mind consist of mental modifications and nothing else. The control and complete suppression of these modifications, therefore, extinguishes our lower life completely and leads inevitably to the dawning of the higher consciousness.


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When classified in this manner the Vrttis or modifications are stated to be of five kinds as shown in the next Sutra.

Sutra 6.

Pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra smritayaha.

Pramana = Right knowledgeViparyaya = Wrong knowledgeVikalpa = ImaginationNidra = SleepSmritayaha = Memory

All mind transformations, all vrittis fall under these five headings. Of these, pramana and viparyaya are the mind modifications that are a consequence of direct sensual contact with the world. Indirect contact with the world gives rise to the vikalpa vritti and smriti vritti. In deep sleep, nidra vritti, there is no cognition of any object. These five vrittis can be divided into three,

a. Pramana and viparyaya vritti - Direct sense cognitionb. Vikalpa and smriti vritti - Indirect sense cognition,

and c. Nidra - Where there is no sensual contact

with anything.

Have a clear idea how in your daily life you are identified with one or all these five. ‘I – 4 sutra’ : Vritti sarupyam itaratra . Try to find out in what kind of chitta vrtti(s) you are at any given moment. Record them. You will be able to know that at a given type of situation you gravitate to one type of chitta vritti.

Sutra 7.

Pratyaksha anumana aagamah pramanani

Pratyaksha = Sense evidenceAnumana = InferenceAagamah = Testimony of direct evidence, the vedasPramanani = standard

Patanjali here gives various methods of identifying pramana vritti. He says the pramana, the standard or right knowledge can be of three types.


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One is pratyaksha pramana chitta vritti, the direct cognition. For example - you are seeing your own car, directly with your own eyes; that is pratyaksha pramana vritti - Seeing with your own sense organs.

The second one is anumana pramana vritti, means an inference. You are sitting in your room and hear your car's specific sound and you say yes the car has come. Here you do not have direct sense approach but you have inferred from one of your senses that your car has arrived. This is inference, anumana pramana vritti.

The third is testimony or revelation, aagama pramana chitta vritti. Revelation or testimony need not be of rishis, or sages or scientists. Your servant may come and tell you, ’sir, the car has come'. You have the knowledge that the car has come. Your servant has testified the presence of your car. So this is 'aagama', Veda pramana, or shruti pramana.

The whole science is developed on testimony (aagama pramana), which of course is based on the direct cognition, namely experiments, pratyaksha pramana, and the inferences (anumana pramana) drawn basing on them. Thus science is the application of pramana chitta vritti or simply pramana.

The entire intelligentsia is in the grip of this chitta vritti, namely pramana. Later we will try to understand the main 7 divisions of the various planes and their subsequent 7 sub-divisions in each plane. There we will see that we can reach to that particular plane through the subdivision of that plane in the physical plane. See fig1046-1 solar system.

Sutra 8.

Viparyayo mithya jnanam atatdrupa pratishtam

Viparyayah = Wrong Knowledgemithya jnanam = False knowledge.Atadrupa pratishtam = is based on a form which is not its own.

Viparyaya vritti, wrong knowledge, is false conception (mithyajnanam) of a thing whose real form does not correspond to its own (atadrupam).

When we see a mirage, it is viparyaya, a wrong knowledge i.e., it is not water but you feel that there is water there. But actually this mind modification, viparyaya vritti, is more prevalent than we realize. Whenever there is a lack of correspondence between your impression and a thing by itself, it is always viparyaya. It is not related to the correctness of the mental impression. Just remember the story of four blind persons and the elephant. One catches tail, another the trunk, another the ears, yet another the legs and each describes his view of elephant. And all this is viparyaya. One calls it a flat surface, another a


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pot belly, another a pillar. All this is 'Atadrupa Pratishtitam'. It is based on not in its own form. And it is mithya gnyanam, false knowledge. So this Viparyaya Vritti is very common. Sometimes in semi-darkness though the object may be blurred but if it corresponds with the object it is not viparyaya vritti of chitta.

Pramana - is right knowledge of the object. Viparyaya - is wrong knowledge of the object. In both these cases we have an object outside us.

Sutra 9.

Shabdha Jnanaanupathi vastu shunyah vikalpaha

Shabda = WordJnana = CognizanceAnupathi = Following uponVastu Shunyah = Empty of substanceVikalpah = Fancy

An image that is built on words without a corresponding substance is vikalpa - Fancy.

If we just reproduce a mental modification based on a previous experience it is a case of memory. When we do ‘manana’ or review our past life events we get many mind modifications which will belong to the realm of memory. But vikalpah here is a modification which is new and does not correspond to any actual experience.

We read a novel. Though the objects with which it deals may exist but their combination does not. For example, we can imagine a man with a lion’s head. This does not exist, but lion and man do exist. So vikalpah is a mental image which does not correspond to actual experience but might be a composite image which emanates from previous memory.

Sutra 10.

Abhaava pratyaya alambana vrittir nidra

Abhava = Absence Pratyaya = Content of mindAlambana = Support Vrittir = ModificationNidra = Sleep

Nidra vritti, sleep, is a state where there is complete absence of mind content.


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In sutra 5 we learnt that there are 5 vrittis. We have learnt that pramana is right knowledge, viparyaya is a false conception, vikalpa is fancy and now we are going to the 4th vritti called nidra. During this state there is no pratyaya in the field of consciousness. We know that the mind is divided into two parts, the lower concrete mind and the higher abstract mind. The concrete mind requires the brain whereas the abstract mind does not need it. In nidra, your mind becomes blank, the connection with the brain is cut off, your mind is not contributing anything, it has nothing in it. Even the absence of any mind content is classed as a chitta-vritti.

This state resembles (in terms of appearance) chitta-vritti-nirodha i.e., nirbija samadhi. But the difference is: in nidra, sleep, the activities of mind do not stop at all, only it is disconnected with brain. In this chitta vritti of nidra the brain does not record the activities of mind. When the person wakes up the contact is established again.

Yoga is suppressing the chitta in wakeful state. So though chitta vritti nirodha and deep sleep look similar superficially, they are quite different.

Only one who has correctly understood nidra and experienced it can recollect their past births. That is the reason Patanjali has given nidra first and smriti later in the order of the virttis.

Sutra 11.

Anubhuta vishaya asampramoshaha smrutihi

Anubhuta = ExperiencedVishaya = Subject-MatterAsampramoshaha = Not allowing to escapeSmrutihi = Memory

Smruti, memory is not allowing an object which has been experienced to escape.

The remembrance of an experienced object is smruti, memory. In memory (smruti), just as in fancy (vikalpa), the object is not there. This mental modification, chitta vritti, merely reproduces previous experiences. Recalling a past experience is memory. Pramana is something which you definitely utilize in the jaagrutha state. if i see my class teacher in a dream, which vritti will it be? The teacher is present, so it should be pramana but in sleep. It is not right knowledge because he is really not there. Hence it becomes viparyaya.

But if I see the teacher having two horns on his head? It becomes vikalpa. So we get to learn a new point that these chitta vrittis can overlap one another but we have to learn to distinguish them.


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The chitta vritti in deep sleep is nidra. Smriti is recalling a past incident as it is. It is right knowledge but repetition, this is smriti.

These are the five vrittis pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra, and smruti.. The entire science of yoga, union, is based on Chitta Vritti Nirodhaha, suppression of all these vrittis.

Sutra 12.

Abhyasa vairagyabhyam tannirodhaha

Abhyasa = Persistent practiceVairagyabhyam = Non-Attachment, Tat+ Nirodhaha = Control or Suppression or inhibition of

that

The suppression of the Chitta Vrittis is possible by two methods. One is Abhyasa, persistent practice. The other is Vyragya, non-attachment. These are the two efforts which a man who wants to become a yogi or one who wants to enter the path of spiritualism should practice.

These are the two steps which were told by Lord Krishna persistently in all the 700 slokas of Bhagavad Gita. Abhyasa means constant, ceaseless practice. It takes consistent effort to impose a new rhythm upon the old, deep seated habits. The yogi is the result of patient endurance and steady effort and not spasmodic enthusiasm.

Real vairagya is automatically achieved if you have the pramana(right knowledge). There is an incident in Sri RamaKrishna Paramahamsa’s life where a group of people approach him and start praising him about his great sacrifices and vairagya. To this RamaKrishna Paramahamsa laughs at them and says that the real vairagi’s are you people who see the great rishis and devotees with your eyes but still are not attracted to that great nidhi. You are contented with your limited worldy life. So you are the real sacrificer’s.

Non-attachment is the one thing that eventually brings all sense perceptions to perform their legitimate functions. Through non-attachment to those forms of knowledge with which the senses put a man in contact, they continuously lose their hold over him; the time eventually comes when he is liberated, and is the master of his senses and of all sense contacts. This does not involve a state wherein they are atrophied and useless, but is one in which they are useful to the yogi when and as he chooses and in so far as he chooses; they are utilized by him in increasing his efficiency in group service and in group endeavor.

These are very simple well known words but what a tremendous effort of human will or determination they represent!!!


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Sutra 13.

Tatra sthithau yatno abhyasaha

Tatra = Of thoseSthithau = For being firmly established Yatno = EffortAbhyasaha = Practice

Of these two, abhyasa, practice is the effort to stay firmly fixed in the state of chitta vritti nirodha.All efforts must be centered to reach the state of chitta vritti nirodha where the light of Reality shines through the yogi continuously. Though Patanjali classifies almost all possible practices (abhyasas) into eight categories(ashtanga yoga) we should never forget that Yoga is an experimental science. In all sciences individual teachers develop new techniques. Each follows the same eight principles (ashastanga-yoga) but imparts his personal touch.

We all know that brain is the shadow or external organ of the mind. Constant effort is to be made by the spiritual man to restrain the modifications or the fluctuations of the mind and to control the lower psychic versatile nature in order fully to express his own spiritual nature. Thus, and only thus, can the spiritual man live the life of the soul each day upon the physical plane.

Whatever work we do is associated with one of the 5 indriyas. We have 5 gyanendriyas and 5 karmendriyas. And each one is associated with a tattva and chakra. Let me tabulate all this to make your job easier and to understand quickly.

Tanmaatra - Tattva -Karmendriya -Gyanendriya - Chakra

1.Shabdha - Akasha -tongue -ears - Vishuddhi2.Sparsha - Vayu -hands -skin - Anahatha3.Roopa - Agni -legs -eyes

- Manipooraka4.Rasa - Jala -sex organs -tongue - Swadhishtana5.Gandha - Prithvi -anus -nose - Muladhara


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Patanjali here is asking us to be in the chitta vritti nirodha state always. There are many techniques to control this. Let me give one of it over here. Sit erect, close your eyes and be in a relaxed state. Take a long deep breath and say OM exhaling completely with your mind concentrated on Muladhara chakra. Take another deep breath and chant OM again while exhaling but concentrate your mind on Swadhishtana chakra now. Similarly continue till you reach agna chakra and stay there for some time. Om should be chanted out all the time. Tatra sthithau yatnao abhyasaha.

Sutra 14.

Sa tu dheerga kala, nairantarya, satkara asevitaha, drudha bumihih

Sa = ThatTu = IndeedDheerga = LongKala = TimeNairantarya = Uninterrupted ContinuanceSatkara = Reverent DevotionAsevitaha = PursuedDrudha = FirmBumihi = Ground

Abhyasa becomes firmly grounded when continued with reverential devotion for a long time without breaks.


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To be firmly grounded in abhyasa, Patanjali gives three very specific and clear directions.

The first guideline is dheerga kala. It has to be practiced for a very long time, extending to life after life.

The second guide line is nairantarya. It has to be practiced continuously and uninterruptedly. Every day just as we breathe continuously, drink and eat regularly, sufficiently long and fixed hours have to be given for practice daily.

The third guideline is satkara aasevitaha. It has to done with reverent devotion and not in a haphazard, aimless, reckless way.

By the practice of abhyasa for a long time, uninterruptedly with a mood of reverential devotion, purifying the mind from its modifications(vrittis) is possible. The aim of abhyasa is to keep the mind steady without any vrittis. How long this will take will depend on many factors: our evolutionary stage, the time we have already given to the work in previous lives and the effort we make in this life.

At this present juncture of evolution, Samaya Dan (setting aside some time - preferably four hours each day) and Amsa Dan (giving the maximum possible amount from personal earnings and possessions) as enunciated by our Gurudev Pandit Sri Ram Sharma Acharya, is the best abhyasa, to put this 14th Sutra in practice. Going to a forest or going to a resort is not necessary. [READ THE LETTER OF SRI AUROBINDO TO HIS WIFE MRINALINI]

Sri Aurobindo’s letter to his wife Mrinalini Devi (1905, August 30)[Note of A.B. Purani: On 30 August 1905 Sri Aurobindo wrote a letter to Mrinalini Devi. The letter is one of those which were found and taken away by the police during the search of the Grey Street house in connection with the Alipore bomb trial and afterwards produced in court. It was in this way that these intimate documents unexpectedly saw the light of day and what was intended by Sri Aurobindo to be “secret” has become public property. The letters reveal a side of his nature which had to culminate in his great spiritual work. The letter of 30 August, translated from the Bengali, is reproduced below.]30th Aug. 1905

Dearest Mrinalini

I have received your letter of the 24th August. I am sorry to learn that the same affliction has fallen once more upon your parents. You have not written which of the boys has passed away from here. But then what can be done if the affliction comes? This is a world in which when you seek happiness, you find grief in its heart, sorrow always clinging to joy. That rule touches not only the desire of children, but all worldly desires. To offer, with a quiet heart, all happiness and grief at the feet of God is the only remedy. […]Now I will write the other thing of which I spoke before. I think you have understood by now that the man with whose fate yours has been linked is a man of a very unusual character. Mine is not the same field of action, the same purpose in life, the same mental attitude as that of the people of today in this country. I am in every respect different from them and out of the ordinary. Perhaps you know what ordinary men say of an extraordinary view, an extraordinary endeavour, an extraordinary ambition. To them it is


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madness; only, if the madman is successful in his work then he is called no longer a madman, but a great genius. But how many are successful in their life's endeavour? Among a thousand men, there are five or six who are out of the ordinary and out of the five or six one perhaps successful. Not to speak of success, I have not yet even entirely entered my field of work. There is nothing then for you but to consider me mad. And it is an evil thing for a woman to fall into the hands of a mad fellow. For woman's expectations are all bound up in worldly happiness and sorrow. A madman will not make his wife happy, he can only make her miserable.The founders of the Hindu religion understood this very well. They loved extraordinary characters, extraordinary endeavours, extraordinary ambitions. Madman or genius, they respected the extraordinary man. But all this means a terrible plight for the wife, and how could the difficulty be solved? The sages fixed upon this solution; they told the woman, “Know that the only mantra for womankind is this: 'The husband is the supreme guru.'[Up to this point the translation follows an early version by Barindra Kumar Ghose which was seen and revised lightly by Sri Aurobindo. The rest of the translation is new.] The wife shares the dharma [law of conduct] of her husband. She must help him, counsel him, encourage him in whatever work he accepts as his dharma. She should regard him as her god, take joy in his joy, and feel sorrow in his unhappiness. It is for a man to choose his work; the woman's part is to give help and encouragement.”Now, the point is this. Are you going to choose the path of the Hindu religion or follow the ideal of the new culture? Your marriage to a madman is the result of bad karma in your previous lives. It is good to come to terms with one's fate, but what sort of terms will they be? Will you also dismiss your husband as a madman on the strength of what other people think? A madman is bound to run after his mad ways. You cannot hold him back; his nature is stronger than yours. Will you then do nothing but sit in a corner and weep? Or, will you run along with him; try to be the mad wife of this madman, like the queen of the blind king who played the part of a blind woman by putting a bandage across her eyes? For all your education in a Brahmo school, you are still a woman from a Hindu home. The blood of Hindu ancestors flows in your veins. I have no doubt you will choose the latter course.I have three madnesses. The first one is this. I firmly believe that the accomplishments, genius, higher education and learning and wealth that God has given me are His. I have a right to spend for my own purposes only what is needed for the maintenance of the family and is otherwise absolutely essential. The rest must be returned to God. If I spend everything for myself, for my pleasure and luxury, I am a thief. The Hindu scriptures say that one who receives wealth from God and does not give it back to Him is a thief. So far, I have given two annas to God and used the other fourteen annas for my own pleasure; this is the way I have settled the account, remaining engrossed in worldly pleasures. Half my life has been wasted - even the beast finds fulfilment in stuffing his own belly and his family's and catering to their happiness.I have realised that I have been acting all this time as an animal and a thief. Now I realise this and am filled with remorse and disgusted with myself. No more of all this. I renounce this sin once and for all. What does giving to God mean? It means to spend on good works. The money I gave to Usha or to Sarojini causes me no regret. To help others is a sacred duty; to give protection to those who seek refuge is a yet greater sacred duty. But the account is not settled by giving only to one's brothers and sisters. In these dark days


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the whole country is seeking refuge at my door. I have three hundred million brothers and sisters in this country. Many of them are dying of starvation and the majority just manage to live, racked by sorrow and suffering. They too must be helped.What do you say, will you come along with me and share my ideal in this respect? We will eat and dress like ordinary men, buying only what is truly needed and offering the rest to God:this is what I propose to do. My purpose can be fulfilled, once you give your approval, once you are able to accept the sacrifice. You have been saying, “I have made no progress.” Here I have shown you a path towards progress. Will you take this path?My second madness has only recently seized me. It is this: by whatever means I must have the direct vision of God. Religion these days means repeating the name of God at any odd hour, praying in public, showing off how pious one is. I want nothing of this. If God exists, there must be some way to experience His existence, to meet Him face to face. However arduous this path is, I have made up my mind to follow it. The Hindu religion declares that the way lies in one's own body, in one's own mind. It has laid down the rules for following the way, and I have begun to observe them. Within a month I have realised that what the Hindu religion says is not false. I am experiencing in myself the signs of which it speaks. Now I want to take you along this way. You will not be able to keep step with me, for you do not have the requisite knowledge. But there is nothing to prevent you from following behind me. All can attain perfection on this path, but to enter it depends on one's own will. Nobody can drag you onto it. If you consent to this, I shall write more about it.My third madness is that while others look upon their country as an inert piece of matter - a few meadows and fields, forests and hills and rivers - I look upon my country as the Mother. I adore Her, I worship Her as the Mother. What would a son do if a demon sat on his mother's breast and started sucking her blood? Would he quietly sit down to his dinner, amuse himself with his wife and children, or would he rush out to deliver his mother? I know I have the strength to deliver this fallen race. It is not physical strength, - I am not going to fight with sword or gun, - but the strength of knowledge. The power of the Kshatriya is not the only one; there is also the power of the Brahmin, the power that is founded on knowledge. This feeling is not new in me, it is not of today. I was born with it, it is in my very marrow. God sent me to earth to accomplish this great mission. The seed began to sprout when I was fourteen; by the time I was eighteen the roots of the resolution had grown firm and unshakable. After listening to what my aunt said, you formed the idea that some wicked people had dragged your simple and innocent husband onto the bad path. But it was this innocent husband of yours who brought those people and hundreds of others onto that path - be it bad or good - and will yet bring thousands and thousands of others onto that same path. I do not say that the work will be accomplished during my lifetime, but it certainly will be done.Now I ask you, what are you going to do in this connection? The wife is the shakti, the strength of her husband. Will you be Usha's disciple and go on repeating the mantras of Sahib-worship? Will you diminish the strength of your husband by indifference or redouble it by your sympathy. and encouragement? You will say, “What can an ordinary woman like me do in these great matters? I have no strength of mind, no intelligence, I am afraid to think about these things.” But there is an easy way out. Take refuge in God. Enter once the path of God-realisation; He will soon make good your deficiencies. Fear


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gradually leaves one who takes refuge in God. And if you can put your trust in me, if you can listen to me alone and not to all and sundry, I can give you my own strength; that will not diminish my strength but increase it. We say that the wife is the husband's shakti, his strength. This means that the husband's strength is redoubled when he sees his own image in his wife and hears an echo of his own high aspirations in her.Will you remain like this for ever: “I shall put on fine clothes, have nice things to eat, laugh and dance and enjoy all the pleasures”? Such an attitude cannot be called progress. At the present time the life of women in this country has taken this narrow and contemptible form. Give up all this and follow after me. We have come to this world to do God's work; let us begin it.You have one defect in your nature. You are much too simple. You listen to anything anyone might say. Thus your mind is for ever restless, your intelligence cannot develop, you cannot concentrate on any work. This has to be corrected. You must acquire knowledge by listening to one person only. You must have a single aim and accomplish your work with a resolute mind. You must ignore the calumny and the ridicule of others and hold fast to your devotion.There is another defect, not so much of your personal nature, as of the times. The times are such in Bengal that people are incapable of listening to serious things in a serious manner. Religion, philanthropy, noble aspirations, high endeavour, the deliverance of the country, all that is serious, all that is high and noble is turned to ridicule. People want to laugh everything away. At your Brahmo school, you picked up a little of this fault. Bari also had it; all of us are tainted by this defect to some extent. It has grown in surprising measure among the people of Deoghar. This attitude must be rejected with a firm mind. You will be able to do it easily. And once you get into the habit of thinking, your true nature will blossom forth. You have a natural turn towards doing good for others and towards self-sacrifice. The one thing you lack is strength of mind. You will get that through worship of God.This is the secret of mine I wanted to tell you. Do not divulge it to anybody. Ponder calmly over these matters. There is nothing to be frightened of, but there is much to think about. To start with, you need do nothing but meditate on the Divine each day for half an hour, expressing to Him an ardent desire in the form of a prayer. The mind will get prepared gradually. This is the prayer you are to make to Him: “May I not be an obstacle in the path of my husband's life, his aim, his endeavour to realise God. May I always be his helper and his instrument.” Will you do this?

Yours

In A.B. Purani "The Life of Sri Aurobindo" - pages 79-84also in SABCL, Volume 4 "Writings in Bengali"

Sutra 15.

Drusta anushravika vishaya vitrushnasya vashikara samgya vairagyam

Vitrushnasya = Of him who has lack of desires


http://intyoga.online.fr/sabcl.htm

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Drusta = Seen Anushravika = Heard Vishaya = ObjectsVashikara samgya = Consciousness of complete

mastery vairagyam = Non-attachment

Vairagya, non-attachment, of him who has ceased to desire, is the consciousness of perfect mastery over objects seen or heard.

Patanjali in this sutra defines vairagya. Vairagya means non-attachment. It does not mean ignoring duties. It is a state of mind where you are not attached to anything whether it is of this world or of other worlds. He is only interested in knowing himself, in knowing the truth.

In the early stages of evolutionary progress desires are the constant driving force to develop mind. The development of mind is essential. For past 5000 years it is the desire-mind (kama-manas) that has driven humanity to reach this state of civilization. Presently mind has reached a state where it can entertain any desire and put its utmost effort to achieve the desire. Evolution has reached a stage when mind can be now transcended and the inner life be realized. To reach this state, mind should be calm which involves stopping supply of desires to the mind. Not supplying desires to mind is called non attachment. We are not asked to be free of desires but not to be attached to desires. If your desire is fulfilled you are happy or else unhappy. This should not be the case. You work towards the goal and let nature take its course. That perfect mastery over desires is known as vashikarasamgya. Abhyasa and vairagya, when persisted for a long time, suppression of all the five-chitta vrittis results.

Try to visualize which way Patanjali is pointing us in the yogasutra. He has told us that the world is made up of mental attitudes, the chitta vrittis. He has divided the vrittis broadly as Klishta and Aklishta. And then, he further divided them into five types, pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra, and smriti. And he says,”Yogah chitta vritti nirodah ". Nirodaha means complete inhibition. No modifications at all should be there in mind. It should be a calm, crystal clear surface with no waves.

To keep the mind with no waves requires persistent practice, so “tatra sthito yatnaha abhyasah”. To keep the mind in such a state always you should see that no new desires are arising. Therefore you are asked to practice non-attachment towards any seen or heard objects, "Drushta anushravika vishaya vitrushnasya vashikara samgya vairagyam". Mere absence of attraction and inactivity of body is not vairagya. Real vairagya is deliberate destruction of all attractions and the consequent destruction of all attachments resulting in conscious mastery over desires.


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It will be seen, therefore, that isolation from the world or running away from temptations does not help us in acquiring true Vairagya though this may be necessary in the very early stages of acquiring self-control. We have to learn the lesson and test ourselves in the midst of pleasures and temptations—of course not by yielding to temptations and indulging in pleasures, but by trying to pierce through the glamorous illusions which surround such pleasures while we are under their domination. Real

Vairagya is not characterized by a violent struggle with our desires. It comes naturally and in its most effective form by the exercise of our discriminative faculty which is called Viveka. Glamour plays a very great part in producing Raga or attachment and even ordinary intellectual analysis combined with reason and commonsense, can free us from many unreasonable habits and attachments. But the real weapon to be used in acquiring true Vairagya is the more penetrating light of Buddhi which expresses itself as Viveka. As our bodies are purified and our mind becomes free from the cruder de-sires this light shines with increasing brightness and destroys our attachments by exposing the illusions which underlie them. In fact Viveka and Vairagya may be considered as two aspects of the same process of dissipation of illusion through the exercise of discrimination on the one hand and renunciation on the other. As the process reaches a deeper level it merges more and more in Jnana and becomes almost indistinguishable from it.

Sutra 16.

Tat param purushakhyateh guna vaitrushnyam.

Tat = ThatParam = UltimatePurusha Khyater = From Awareness of the PurushaGuna Vaitrushnyam= Freedom from the least desire for the

gunas

The ultimate or highest non-attachment (vairagyam) is that whereby the awareness of Purusha, there is cessation of all desire for the gunas.This is the ultimate goal and can only be understood when we have the basic Knowledge of Yogic philosophy psychology. It is based that the whole creation is an expression of the three gunas on various levels.

1. Sattva Energy of Spirit: Monad rhythm or harmonious vibration2. Rajas Energy of Soul: Ego mobility or activity

3. Tamas Energy of Matter: Personality inertia


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These three correspond to the quality of each of the three aspects which express the one Life.

1. That the spiritual man is the monad, 2. That the evolutionary process when carried to its climax

produces not only the freeing of the soul from the limitations of the three worlds, but the freeing of the spiritual man from all limitations, even that of the soul itself. The goal is formlessness or freedom from objective and tangible manifestation, and the true significance of this becomes apparent as the student remembers the oneness of spirit and matter when in manifestation; i. e. our seven planes are the seven subplanes of the lowest cosmic plane, the physical. Consequently only "the time of the end" and the dissolution of a solar system will reveal the true meaning of formlessness.

3. The gunas are the three qualities of matter, the three effects produced when macrocosmic energy, the life of God which persists independently of form-taking, actuates or energizes substance.

Discrimination and renunciation mutually strengthen each other and bring about progressively the destruction of illusions and attachments which are the root cause of bondage. This results in the release of consciousness from fetters which bind it to the lower worlds and the whole process culminates as we shall see later in Kaivalya, the final objective of Yoga. In that state the Purusa having realized his true nature and having shaken off the yoke of matter has no attraction left even for the subtlest kinds of bliss experienced on the highest planes of existence. He is completely self-sufficient and above all such attractions which are based on the play of the Gunas. This Vairagya which is based upon the destruction of Avidya and the realization that everything is contained in the Purusa himself or the Purusa is the source of everything is the highest kind of Vairagya and is called Para-Vairagya. It will be seen that this Para-Vairagya which is a characteristic of the Purusic consciousness—if this word can be used—can appear only on the attainment of Kaivalya.

The entire yoga of this sutra is given in chapter 2, sloka 45 of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. From THE BHAGAVAD GITA by Annie Besant and Bhagavan Das


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From GOD TALKS WITH ARJUNA by Paramahamsa Yogananda:

Qualities of human nature —the sattvic (elevating), the rajasic (activating), and the tamasic (degrading). The ordinary devotee who understands only the surface import of the Vedas and who blindly follows the literal instruction is unawareof the truth that any man who concerns himself primarily with the phenomenal world of the three qualities is thereby subject to reincarnation through the strength of associated desires. If, for instance, a man employs certain Vedic chants in order to triumph over an enemy, his success in that aim will establish in his consciousness a desire for the power of future victories. This subconscious desire leads to the development of the activating (rajasic) quality in the devotee, and is the direct cause of another rebirth in which he must work out the unfulfilled desire. Any desire develops in man one or more of the three qualities—elevating, activating, or degrading—and ties him to the wheel of reincarnation.By remaining ever calm, a natural sequel to deep meditation, the sincere devotee frees himself from the sway of the pairs of opposite qualities coexistent with the triad of gunas: good and bad, virtue and vice, happiness and sorrow, heat and cold, like and dislike, and so forth. When man develops one quality, he is automatically required to experience its opposite. One who has pain looks forhappiness, and one who has happiness is afraid of losing it! The tranquil, evenly balanced state of mind that cannot be disturbed by pain or happiness leads the devotee to the unchangeable ever new joy hidden in the soul.Further, the soul's superconsciousness should become anchored on the immutable rock of cosmic consciousness where no waves of change make any impression; his goal should be unconditioned Existence in God.

Sutra 17.

Vitarka Vichara Ananda Asmita Anugama Samprajnataha.

Vitarka = ArgumentationVichara = Reflection


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Ananda = BlissAsmita = I-am-ness; Sense of IndividualityAnugama = By accompanimentSamprajnataha = Samadhi with consciousness

Samprajnata samadhi is that which is accompanied by argumentation, reflection, bliss and sense of pure sense of ‘I-am-ness’.

Samadhi may be defined generally as a process of diving into the deeper layers of one's consciousness which functions through different grades of the mind. Consciousness is an aspect of the Ultimate Reality in manifestation and its expression depends upon the particular grade of the mind through which it is functioning, the coarser the medium the more limited the expression. The different stages of Samadhi represent this progressive release of consciousness from the limitations in which it is involved and Kaivalya is that state in which it can again function in perfect freedom. As consciousness functions at different levels in different grades of the mind through different mechanisms which are called vehicles or Kosas its progressive release from limitations may be looked at from another point of view. It may be considered as its withdrawal from one vehicle into a subtler vehicle. Each vehicle has its own functions and limitations but the functions become more inclusive and the limitations more tenuous as the matter of which it is composed becomes more refined. This progressive withdrawal of consciousness in Samadhi into increasingly subtler vehicles is represented in the diagram showing ‘Stages of Samadhi’.


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The first aspect of Samadhi with which we deal here is the distinction between Samprajnata and Asamprajanta Samadhi. Samprajnata


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Samadhi means ‘Samadhi with Prajna’. The prefix A in Samskrta means ‘not’ and therefore Asamprajnata Samadhi means ‘not the Samadhi with Prajna’. The word Prajna in Samskrta stands for the higher consciousness working through the mind in all its stages. It is derived from Pra which means high and Jna which means to ‘know’. The distinctive characteristic of this higher consciousness which unfolds in Samadhi is that the mind is cut off completely from the physical world and the consciousness is centred in one or the other of the set of vehicles beginning with the lower mental body and ending with the Atmic vehicle.The difference between samprajnata and asamprajnata Samadhi lies in the presence or absence of a Pratyaya in the field of consciousness. Pratyaya is a technical word used in Yoga to denote the total content of the mind at any moment using the word mind in its widest sense and not merely the intellect. This Pratyaya may be of any kind and may exist on any plane of the mind. A mental image of a child, a concept of a mathematical principle, an all-embracing vision of the Unity of life are all Pratyayas of different kinds and belonging to different planes. Now, in Samprajnata Samadhi there is a Pratyaya (which is called a ‘seed’) in the field of consciousness and the consciousness is fully directed to it. So the direction of consciousness is from the centre outwards. In Asamprajnata Samadhi there is no Pratyaya and therefore there is nothing to draw the consciousness outwards and hold it there. So as soon as the Pratyaya (P) is dropped or suppressed the consciousness begins to recede automatically to its centre O and after passing momentarily through this Laya centre, tends to emerge into the next subtler vehicle. When this process has been completed the Pratyaya (P') of the next higher plane appears and the direction of consciousness again becomes from the centre outwards. The progressive stages of the re-cession of consciousness to its centre and its emergence into the next higher plane may be illustrated by the following diagram:


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From the time the Pratyaya P is suppressed to the time when the Pratyaya P' of the next plane appears the Yogi is in the stage of Asamprajnata Samadhi. During all this time he is fully conscious and his will is directing this delicate mental operation in a very subtle manner. The mind is no doubt blank but it is the blankness of Samadhi and not the blankness of an ordinary kind such as is present in deep sleep or coma. The mind is still completely cut off from the outer world, is still perfectly concentrated, is still under complete control of the will. Asamprajnata Samadhi therefore represents a very dynamic condition of the mind and differs from Samprajnata Samadhi only in the absence of Pratyaya in the field of consciousness.

As a rule, when the Yogi is still learning the technique of Samadhi, he has to spend considerable time on a particular plane in studying its phenomena and laws before he is in a position to attempt passage into the next higher plane. As the sadhak chooses with care the "objects" upon which he will meditate, he through these objects, builds himself a ladder by means of which he arrives eventually at the objectless. As his mind assumes increasingly the meditative attitude of the soul, the brain becomes also increasingly subjugated to the mind as the mind is to the soul. Thus is the lower man gradually identified with the spiritual man who is omniscient and omnipresent. This meditative attitude is assumed through a fourfold process: The vitarka level, the vichara level, ananda level, and the asmita level. You can try to understand these 4 samadhis as

Vitarka linked with the Mental body Vichara samprajnata samadhi level linked with the

Intuitional body Ananda linked with Higher intuitional body Asmita linked with Atmic level

So in Vedanta paribhasha we can call it as the manomaya, vignanamaya, anandmaya, and atmamaya samprajnata samadhis.

Vitarka relates with the Manomaya kosa, Vichara relates with the Vignanamaya Ananda relates with the Anandamaya Asmita relates with the Atmamaya

So the first variety samprajnata samadhi has been related at four different levels that is

vitarka, which means reasoning, vichara is reflection, ananda that is joy and


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asmita means, “I am ness” So samprajnata samadhi is that which is accompanied with

reasoning, reflection, bliss and a sense of pure awareness. This samprajnata samadhi leads to “asamprajnata samadhi”as we learnt just now and more will be told about this in the next sutra.

Sutra 18.

Virama Pratyaya Abhyasa Purvaha Sanskara Seshaha Anyaha

Virama = CessationPratyaya = Content of the mindAbhyasa = PracticePurvaha = Preceded bySamskara = ImpressionsSeshaha = RemnantAnyaha = The other

The remnant impression left in the mind on the dropping of the Pratyaya after previous practice is the other (i.e., Asamprajnata Samadhi).

Here anyaha means asamprajnata samadhi. Anyaha means the other. That which is not samprajnata samadhi is the other. Abhyasa purvaha means by the previous practice of samprajnata samadhi we get asamprajnata samadhi that is why he says purvaha and virama pratyaya means dropping of mind content. The mind is without any vrittis at that particular level.

At present we are talking about vrittis of concrete mind pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra, smrutayaha. These are the 5 types of vrittis, which we have, in concrete mind. We can only understand these vrittis. We have already leant in detail about these 5 vrittis, pramana vritti, vikalpa vritti, viparyaya vritti, smruti vritti, nidra vritti which is the absence of all vritti. But only these five belong to the concrete mind. The Vitarka Samprajnata samadhi belongs to the mental mind what is known as the mind without any solid concrete basis. So this virama pratyaya means the mind should not have any content in it. Try to understand what it means, dropping of the ‘seed’ held in the preceding Samprajnata Samadhi. A Yogi who is meditating on a ‘seed’ can drop it with the production of a void state of the mind but he cannot leave the ‘seed’ of Samprajnata Samadhi and start meditating on the idea of cessation.


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The Patanjali yoga sutras need a lot of meditational reflection on your part. When he says virama pratyaya, virama means stoppage, full stop. Pratyaya the content of mind. So the content of mind is completely stopped Abhyasa purvaha, by the previous exercises tatra sthitho yatnaha abhyasaha. This practice when abhyasa purvaha is done whatever samskaras are left behind is known as asamprajnata samadhi. Practice of holding in the mind the ‘seed’ of Samprajnata Samadhi. This phrase therefore serves to emphasize the fact that Asamprajnata Samadhi can be practised only after the prolonged practice of Samprajnata Samadhi.

What is happening there, the mind has no contents in it, it is completely blank but it is blank dynamically. It is an expectant silence. A silence, which is expecting something higher coming from outside its five senses. So do not say it is a blank thing. It is expectancy of something to happen. So the pragya is there the awareness is there. But there is nothing in it therefore it is known as asamprajnata samadhi. You are aware but there is no content. The current is there but there is no machine operating with that. But the current is ready to operate the higher mind. Master DK(Djwalakhul) gives six stages of meditation in the context of this sutra dealt with by Patanjali are mentioned as they give a clue to the entire process of unfoldment dealt with in this book:

1. Aspiration, 2. Concentration, 3. Meditation, 4. Contemplation, 5. Illumination, 6. Inspiration.

It is of value here to note that the student begins by aspiring to that which lies beyond his ken and ends by being inspired by that which he has sought to know. Concentration (or intense focusing) results in meditation and meditation flowers forth as contemplation.

Sutra 19.

Bhava Pratyayayo Videha Prakruti Layanam.

Bhava = Of Birth; Objective existencePratyayaha = CausedVideha = The bodilessPrakrutiLayanam = Of the merged-in-prakriti; Of the

absorbed in Prakriti


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Of those who are Videhas and Prakrtilayas birth is the cause.

In the previous sutra we learnt that pratyaya means mind content. So by birth, the mind is having the content of divine energy, avadoothas like Ramana Maharshi. We have so many naked avadoothas in India. We can call them as bhava pratyaya, by birth they are yogis. They have not practiced any thing. That does not mean they have not practiced anything. They have practiced it else where in some other space-time. But now they are not aware how they have become yogis. They cannot even tell you how you can become like them. Their presence is enough to make you like that. So do not ignore their presence. But what I want to insist is patanjali yoga sutra is directly classifying them as bhava pratyayas that is they are born with some specific mechanism.

Some people can sing well. They are born with that mechanism. Some people can act well; they are born with that particular mechanism. So do not compare them with yourselves and do not think that they are very great. By their previous samskaras videha prakruti layanam, in a bodyless state. For example the mediums, the great medium of all the time, Edgar Cayce is like that. He just could explain how he catches the yogic details, intuitional details. He just got it by birth. Bhava pratyaya, he is a yogi. Pratyaya means the content - the yogic content of mind. By birth he has got it.

Videha means he is not able to leave his physical body enter into the mediumistic state and give us beautiful explanations. But it is by birth. And why are we not going to be like that. We have to be what we call as upayapratyaya yogis about which the 20th sutra deals. Upaya pratyaya, upaya means an idea, a method. Edgar Caycee, the avadoothaas are bhava pratyaya. They are born like that. We need to learn to differentiate between the two types of yogis. First are they whose greatness is not the result of just this birth but previous samskaras from many births. The other kind of yogi is the result of regular practice of yoga deep faith and energy as will be explained in the next sutra.

Sutra 20.

Shraddha Veerya Smruti Samadhi Pragya Purvaka Itaresham.

Shraddha = FaithVeerya = Indomitable Energy or WillSmruti = MemorySamadhiPragya = Intelligence or Higher knowledge


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Purvaka = Preceded byItaresham = For others; of others

(In the case) of others (Upaya-Pratyaya Yogis) it is preceded by faith, energy, memory and high intelligence necessary for Samadhi.

For the people, who are reading and studying patanjali yoga sutras are not only with academic interest but who wants to practice it put it into abhyasa should have these four very specific characteristics: Shraddha, Veerya, Smruthi and Samadhipragya purvaha.

Shraddha - faith:

Faith means nothing should stop us whatever be the physical conditions, whatever may be the obstructions we will say no to them. We have complete faith in the path as given by Patanjali yoga sutras, yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana. These lead to samadhi. So you should have a perfect faith and practice them relentlessly with energy of will power, with unflagging will power.

Continuously you should go on practicing it day-by-day, month-by-month, year-by-year, life after life. That should be the sankalpa, will, shraddha, veerya and then smruti-memory. Here smruti is not just memory but it is being utilized as a tool to develop samadhi. Lord Buddha had seen three visions. First of a disease in man, and he asks if he will also be affected by disease and was answered yes. Immediately the viveka, the vairagya sprouted. The smruti of old diseases came back to him and when he is healthy now he wanted to make the best use of it by learning how to master these desires without becoming slave to the desires. So this smruti helps us in a way such that, when we have a terrible headache what we want is just to be free of the disease. But if we have an option to be disease free always?

Similarly Lord Buddha saw another vision of an old man and asked whether he would become old and weak and was again replied yes. Then he questioned himself about what use was this life with these afflictions. We see so many people everywhere becoming old but none of us are becoming a Buddha, why? The last vison was a dead body. He asked if he was going to die and again was answered yes. Then what is the purpose of all this life when we are going to die? So I am not asking you people to leave everything. You have to live somewhere and live where you are. You be where you are but remember these things vrittis, remember smrutis, remember that all this is transient.

How ever lucky you are or how ever diseased you are it does not matter. What matters are do not allow nature another chance to make


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you remember the same thing. Once you have gone through a particular phase of inconvenience and remember that, that phase of education from nature is not required. Some times we eat too much and get indigestion and at that time we start eating in a very controlled manner. But this remains only till the indigestion is cured. The smruti is lost. So that type of smruti where every experience of human life is understood is what is required.

Samadhi pragya, reading books like this wherein the samadhi is explained and the knowledge is explained. Samadhi pragya must be read more and more until you can understand what is the real basis of samadhi. “Shraddha, veerya, smruti samadhi pragya purvaha iterasham”. The Yogis who are not born with that particular type of special talent have to develop these 4 states:

Shraddha - a tremendous faith in executing Veerya - courage, energy will power to continue until the result is

obtained Smruthi - one experience is enough to mend your ways. Samadhi pragya purvaha -

The study of Patanjali yoga sutras in books like that, where you can learn the details of Samadhi Prajna, we have learnt today about samprajnata samadhi and about asamprajnata samadhi and Patanjali in the 21st sutra, gives the shortcut.

Sutra 21.

Teevra Samveganam Asannaha.

Teevra Samveganam = Of those whose wish is intensely strong

Asannaha = Sitting Near

It(Samadhi) is nearest to those whose desire (for Samadhi) is intensely strong.

From the above sutras if we conclude that reaching samadhi state is very difficult, it needs persistence, continuous practice for years and years and some times lives, patanjali corrects it; no if you have a very deep desire, you can at this moment, enter samadhi.

The first factor is the degree of earnestness. The more ardently he desires to reach the object of his search the swifter is his progress. A man of ambition if he wants to rise to a position of power and influence has to deal with the minds and attitudes of millions of men but the Yogi has to deal only with one mind—his own. And it is far


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easier to deal with one's own mind than that of others provided one is in earnest. Nothing really stands between the Yogi and his objective except his own desires and weaknesses which can be eliminated easily and quickly provided one earnestly wants to do so. This is so because they are mostly of a subjective nature and merely require understanding and change of attitude.

The student need hardly be reminded that in the essential practice of Yoga we are dealing with the recession of consciousness within itself and not with any material change. The process is more of the nature of ‘letting go’ than of ‘building up’ something which naturally takes time. The real trouble with most aspirants is that the degree of earnestness is very feeble and there is not sufficient pressure of will to break down all the hindrances and difficulties which stand in their way.

The samadhi at hand is for those who desire it very strongly, but naturally, for many the desire is not so strong. For such people, Patanjali gives the guidelines in the next sutra. Sutra 22.

Mridu Madhya Adhimatratvat Tataha Api Viseshaha

Mridu = Mild; SoftMadhya = MediumAdhimatratvat = Intense or PowerfulTataha = From it; After thatApi = AlsoViseshaha = Gradation; Differentiation; Distinction

A further differentiation (arises) by reason of the mild, medium and intense (nature of means employed).

The other factor which determines the rate of the Yogi's progress is the nature of the means he adopts in the pursuit of his aim. Astanga Yoga of Patanjali points out only the broad principles of the general method which has to be followed in liberating human consciousness from the limitations of Avidya and gaining Self-realization. The value of Patanjali's system of Yoga lies in its elasticity and the capacity to subserve the needs of different types of individuals who share the one common purpose of unravelling the Great Mystery which is hidden within them and are prepared to make the necessary effort and sacrifices to achieve it.

If we want to go to a place at a distance, however keen we may be to reach it, our progress will depend upon whether we use a bullock-cart, an automobile or an aeroplane. If a person is in a fit of


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temper and wants to become calm he can come back to his normal condition by an adjustment of his attitude which can be so rapid as to appear almost instantaneous. There are certain systems of Yoga which do not involve an elaborate technique.

Your desire may be mild, your desire may be medium or your desire may be intense. Depending upon that your state of reaching samadhi can be classified. So if you have ‘teevra samvegam’, a very intensest desire, immediately you can enter samadhi or you have the other three states,

Mridu – mild Madhya – medium and Adhimatratvat – intense

Sutra 23.

Ishwara Pranidhanath Va

Ishwara = GodPranidhanath = Placing Oneself in ( God); By devotional

dedication to; By self-surrender to (God)Va = Or

Or by self-surrender to God.

Till now we have learnt that the attainment of Samadhi is possible by the suppression of the chitta vrittis and now here Patanjali gives another way of attaining it. This samadhi can be attained by total surrender to God. This is what we should practice day in and day out. Whatever is happening is the Lord’s wish. Let us always remember that to work we have the right but not to the results thereof. If with this in mind we continue doing our actions, we will attain samadhi. But I request all of you to go through all that I have told till now about samprajnata samadhi, asamprajnata samadhi and then read from various books about ‘Ishwararpanam’, surrender to God.

The Patanjali yoga sutras as I have been repeatedly been telling

you, are a process of reaching a state of mind known as Samadhi. And I have told you that it is a process of science of union. From this sutra, patanjali gives probably a very dynamic and shortest route to attain samadhi state. That is the state we aspire for in our S S S Meditation – Samardha Sadguru Sparsha Meditation. So ‘eeshwara pranidhanadva’, by surrender to God also you can get the samadhi state. Here the term God has to be very clearly understood, because many people have different concepts about God. At least in Patanjali


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yoga sutras when we talk about God, we are talking about the solar system’s controller. That is exactly what Lord Krishna also mentions in the fourth chapter, ‘imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam’ this permanent yoga has been taught to the Sun God, the Sun. Here ‘Ishwara’ also means the Solar Logos. This Ishwara is more clearly defined in the next aphorism.

Sutra 24.

Klesha Karma Vipaka Ashayaih Aparamrushtaha Purusha Visheshah

Ishwaraha.

Klesha = Afflictions; Misery; Cause of MiseryKarma = Actions; ActivitiesVipaka = Maturation or FruitionAshayaih = Seed-Germs or Impressions of Desires

wherein desires sleep

Aparamrushtaha = UntouchedPurusha = Spirit; An individual unit or Centre of

Divine Consciousness

Visheshah = Special; ParticularIshwaraha = Ruler or Presiding Deity of a Solar System

Iswara is a particular Purusa who is untouched by the afflictions of life, actions and the results and impressions produced by these actions.

The Solar Logos, the ‘Ishwara’ is defined as ‘purusha visheshaha’ a special purusha. All of us being ordinary purushas, people having a particular individualized consciousness. Patanjali knows the supreme individual consciousness, which one can reach in this solar system, as solar logos or ‘Ishwara’ which is denoted by ‘purusha visheshah’ here. All of us are purushas and ‘Ishwara’ is the special purusha.

What is His specialty, viseshaha, Klesha karma vipaka ashayahi, there are four things which do not touch Him. They are the kleshas, the five kleshas that we have already discussed namely pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra, smrutihi. The ‘purusha visheshaha’ or ‘Ishwaraha’ the Supreme Lord is beyond these kleshas. He is also not touched by karma, the law of cause and effect. He is not at all worried about the law of cause and effect and he is beyond ‘vipaka’(law of fruitition). We do something now and we get its fruit sometime later.


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Sometimes they are in our consciousness as seeds to be reaped sometime in future, that is aashayaihi, reservoirs. Even that is not a hindrance to the ‘Ishwara’, the kleshas, the karmas, the vipakas or aashayaihi. He is the Supreme Ruler of a Solar system or Brahmanda. It is in His Consciousness that the Solar system lives, moves and has its being. The different planes of the Solar system are His bodies and the powers working the machinery of the Solar system are His powers. In short, He is the Reality whom we generally refer to as God.


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As we can see from the above chart that the average humanity of all degrees is at the bottom most part of the chart outside the circle and the Solar logos is at the top of the chart. This chart clearly shows how big our task is after taking birth as a human. One


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thing which we should always remember here is that this Presiding Deity of each of the Solar system who is a Purusa Vishesa has also passed through the evolutionary cycle like everyone of us and attained that inconceivably high level of a Solar Logos. This imparts a new significance to the idea of human evolution and places it on an entirely new basis.

He is stated to be

1. Untouched by limitation. He is no longer confined by the lower quaternary. The four lower sheaths - dense, etheric, emotional and mental - are no longer his prison. They are but instruments which he can use or vacate at will. His will functions freely and if he stays within the realm of the three worlds, it is of his own choice, and his self-imposed limitation can be terminated at will. He is master in the three worlds, a son of God dominating and controlling the lower creations.

2. Free from Karma. Through knowledge of the law he has adjusted all his karma, paid all his debts, cancelled all his obligations, settled all claims against him, and through his subjective realization has entered consciously into the world of causes. The world of effects is left behind, in so far as the three worlds are concerned. Thus he no longer (blindly and through ignorance) sets in motion conditions which must produce evil effects. He works ever with the law and every demonstration of energy (the spoken word and the initiated action) is undertaken with a full knowledge of the result to be attained. Thus nothing he does produces evil results and no karma is thereby entailed. Average men deal with effects and blindly work their way through them. The Master deals with causes, and the effects He produces, through the wielding of the law, do not limit or hold him.

3. Free from desire. No longer do the things of sensuous perception on any of the three planes attract or allure Him. His consciousness is inward and upward. It is no longer downward and outgoing. He is at the center and the periphery no longer attracts him. The longing for experience, the craving for physical plane existence, and the desire for the form aspect in its many variations has for him no appeal. He has experienced, He knows, He has suffered, and He has been forced into incarnation through His longing for the not-self. Now all that is ended and He is the freed soul.


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Sutra 25.

Tatra niratishayam sarvagya beejam

Tatra = In himNiratishayam = The highestSarvagya = OmniscientBeejam = The seed or principle exists

In Him is the highest limit of Omniscience.

This sutra seems self-explanatory that in him, in Ishwara is the highest limit of omniscience present. The meaning of the Sutra is easy to understand but its real significance is generally missed. In order to understand this significance it is necessary to bear in mind that each Solar system is considered to be a separate and, to a great extent, independent manifestation of the One Reality corresponding with its isolation and separation by tremendous distances from other Solar systems in space. We may imagine the innumerable Solar systems scattered throughout the Cosmos as so many centres in the Consciousness of the One Reality in manifestation which is called Saguna Brahman in Hindu philosophy. Round each such centre manifests the life of the Logos or Isvara of that Solar system much in the same way as the life of a Purusa manifests round the centre of his consciousness through a set of vehicles. Each Solar system may thus be considered as a sort of reincarnation of its Isvara bringing into each new manifestation on a macrocosmic scale the Samskaras of the previous Solar systems which have preceded it.

Since each Solar system is the manifestation of the consciousness of its Isvara and each Isvara represents a definite stage in the infinite unfoldment of consciousness in the world of the Relative, it follows that His knowledge though almost unlimited in relation to the other Purusas in the Solar system must be considered to be limited in relation to the Ultimate Reality of which He is a partial manifestation. We should not forget that manifestation always implies limitation and even an Isvara is in the realm of Maya however thin may be the veil of Illusion which separates His consciousness from that of the Nirguna Brahman who alone can be considered unlimited in the real sense of the term. So the Omniscience of an Isvara is a relative thing and has a limit and it is this limit which is referred to in this Sutra.

Now all the Purusas in a particular Solar system or Brahmanda are undergoing a process of evolution and the ‘seed’ of Omniscience in each Purusa is unfolding gradually. This unfoldment takes place slowly in the course of ordinary


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evolution. When Yoga is practised and consciousness begins to function on the subtler super physical planes the unfoldment is accelerated to a remarkable degree and the boundaries of knowledge are suddenly enlarged at each successive stage in Samadhi. When Kaivalya is attained after Dharma-Megha-Samadhi(refer Sutra 17-stages of samadhi) a tremendous expansion of consciousness takes place. Is there any limit to this expansion of knowledge in the case of the Purusas who are undergoing evolution in a Solar system and whose consciousness is a part of the consciousness of the Isvara of the system? There must be and that limit will naturally be the relative Omniscience of the Isvara, or the knowledge which is contained in His consciousness. No Purusa can cross that limit as long as he is a part of the Solar system and his consciousness is based, as it were, on the consciousness of the Isvara. His knowledge may go on expanding and may appear infinite but it cannot expand beyond the infinite knowledge of the Isvara of the system just as a fountain cannot rise higher than the reservoir which supplies water to it. Hence in the Samadhi state we become omniscient but omniscient of this solar system.

At each stage man is a master but ever beyond the point attained another possible expansion becomes apparent and ever the process is the same. This process may be summed up in the following statements:

1. An urge, or determination to achieve the new knowledge, 2. The holding of the consciousness already unfolded and its

utilization, and from the point achieved working forward towards further realization,

3. The overcoming of the difficulties incident to the limitations of the vehicles of consciousness and to karma,

4. The occult tests which are imposed upon the pupil when he shows ability,

5. The triumph of the pupil, 6. The recognition of his triumph and attainment by the guides of

the race, the planetary Hierarchy, 7. The vision of what lies ahead.

Students would do well in studying these few sutras relating to Ishvara to bear in mind that they have reference to the son of God, the second person of the Trinity as He manifests through the medium of the solar system, to the macrocosmic soul. The secondary meaning has reference also to the divine son of God, the second aspect monadic, as He manifests through the medium of a human being. This is the microcosmic soul. The following synonyms of the Ishvara aspect may be found of value.

The MacrocosmIshvara, the second Whose nature is love.


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aspectThe Son of God The revealer of the Father.The cosmic Christ God in incarnation.Vishnu Second person of the Hindu

Trimurti.The soul of all things Atoms and souls are synonymous

terms.The All-Self The sum total of all selves.I am That Group consciousness.AUM The Word of Revelation.The Word God in the Flesh.The Gurudeva The Master of all.The light of the world Shining in darkness. The Microcosm The second aspect Love wisdom.The son of the Father The revealer of the Monad.The Christ Christ in you, the hope of glory.The Soul Consciousness.The higher Self The Lord of the bodies.The Ego The Self-realizing Identity.The Word God in incarnation.AUM The Word of revelation.The Master The self on the throne.The radiant Augoeidas The light within.The spiritual Man Utilizing the lower man.

In the next aphorism a very important, interesting and tremendous disclosure is being made.

Sutra 26.

Sahapurveshamapi guruhu kalena anavachedat.

Saha = HePurvesham = Of The AncientsApi = EvenGuruhu = Teacher Kalena = By Time Anavachedath = On Account Of Not Being Limited.

Being unconditioned by time He is Teacher even of the Ancients.


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What this sutra means is the Ishwara being unconditioned by time he is the teacher even of the ancients. Tatra niratishayam sarvagya beejam. In that Ishwara the highest level of omniscience is present. So that is the maximum limit of knowledge where we can go through. In this sutra Patanjali says about the Sun, the Solar logos, the vishesam. He is the guru of guru, what we in our Hindu parlance call it as Dattatreya. Beyond the three periods of time - past, present and future. We should always remember that Ishwara pranidhana means it is the pressure of divine will and knowledge behind all our evolutionary progress. The rapid phenomenal expansion in such a short period of time which science has done and reached should be known of the divine will pushing humanity forward.

All the scientific research, which we find in our civilization is because of the divine pressure. The guru of all. Unfortunately the materialism overlooks the fact. But if this tendency is allowed to grow the mighty elements of science is bound to crash and all this knowledge learned in centuries may vanish. Therefore let us teach humanity the humility and reverence to those who are engaged in scientific pursuit. Those who want to practice yoga must always remember this truth. So “saha purveshamapi guruhu kalena anavachedat” means: Surrender to the Ishwara.

Whatever knowledge we have developed as politicians, as scientists, as economists or any other reliable and powerful personalities we should always remember that behind these personalities is the divine will. Saha purveshamapi guruhu, who is kalena anavachedat beyond the time but who is the master, who is guiding all of us especially the spiritual renaissance which we find is very important and our goal is to popularize this knowledge of solar logos, solar energy being the controller of the whole universe, One of the reasons for our studying Patanjali yoga sutras. “Saha purveshamapi guruhu kalena anavachedat”. Being unconditioned by time the solar logos the Ishwara is the supreme teacher even of the ancient.

To speak in terms of Master DK, The one Master is found within; it is the soul, the inner ruler, the thinker on his own plane. This one Master is a corporate part of the Whole, of the All-Soul. Each expansion of consciousness which a man undergoes fits him to be a Master to those who have not taken a similar expansion. Therefore - mastery being achieved - there is nothing (speaking in terms of the human kingdom) to be found except Masters who are likewise disciples. All are learners and all are teachers, differing only in degree of realization. For instance:


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a. Aspirants to the Path are disciples of lesser disciples, b. Probationers on the Path are disciples of higher ones, c. Accepted disciples are the disciples of an adept and of a Master, d. An adept is the disciple of a Master, e. A Master is the disciple of a Mahatma, f. The Mahatmas are the disciples of still higher initiates, g. These in turn are the disciples of the Christ or of that official who

is at the head of the teaching department, h. The head of the teaching department is a disciple of the Lord of

the World, i. The Lord of the World is the disciple of one of the three planetary

spirits who represent the three major aspects, j. These are again disciples of the solar Logos.

It will be apparent therefore to the careful student how interdependent all are and how the achievement of one will profoundly affect the entire body. Discipleship can be regarded as a generic term covering all those states or conditions of being in the fourth and fifth kingdoms (human and spiritual) wherein certain expansions of consciousness are brought about through specific training.

Sutra 27.

Tasya vachakaha pranavaha

Remember that the 23rd to 29th sutras are a class by themselves. If we put these 7 sutras into practice, the knowledge imparted to us in these 7 sutras is enough to enter Samadhi. So we understood till now about ‘Ishwara’ and if you can surrender to the divine will of the Ishwara, we can understand the entire evolutionary progress and Patanjali is now giving us a method to reach the Divine consciousness, solar consciousness quickly. He says in this 27th sutra,

Tasya = His Vachaka = DesignationPranavaha = AUM

His designator is ‘AUM.

It means His designator is AUM. Study deeply mantra yoga. The mantra yoga gives us an idea that each kind of vibration is matched by a corresponding state of consciousness. For example, a particular frequency of vibration gives in our consciousness recognition of colour blue. Similarly, you can understand the sensation of taste, smell, touch and sound. Since a Mantra is a composite thing, a particular


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combination of sounds arranged in a particular way, it is interesting to enquire what are the basic sounds which are utilized in these combinations. Without going into the details of this question it may be simply stated that the letters of the Samskrta alphabet are the elements from which all Mantras of Samskrta origin are derived. Each letter is supposed to be the vehicle of a basic eternal power (that is why it is called Aksara) and when introduced into a Mantra contributes its specific influence to the total effect which is the objective of the Mantra, much in the same way as the different chemical elements contribute their specific properties to the compounds which are derived from them. There are 52 letters of the Samskrta alphabet and therefore there are 52 basic elemental powers which are available for producing all kinds of effects through the agency of Mantras in their different permutations and combinations. It does not mean, of course, that the Samskrta alphabet has some favoured place in the scheme of Nature and the sounds produced by its letters alone can be utilized in constructing Mantras. All that is meant is that the effects of sounds produced by letters in the Samskrta alphabet have been investigated and evaluated and can thus be used in the construction of Mantras.

So if your vibration can change your consciousness by initiating a particular vibration the consciousness can be changed, so to reach the consciousness of Ishwara, Patanjali advices us to understand Him who is designated by AUM.

Let us try to learn a bit more about this designation. We all know that humanity is presently in its fifth root race, the Aryan race. Just as the sacred word of the previous atlantean root race was ‘TAU’, the sacred word for the present race is ‘AUM’. To learn about this word we should deeply study the Mandukya Upanishad first. Let me give a few slokas here for better understanding:

Jāgaritasthāno vaiśvānaro'kārah prathamāmātrā āpterādimatvādvāpnoti ha vai

sarvān kāmānādisca bhavati ya evam veda.

9. Vaiśvānara, whose field is the waking state, is the first sound, A, because this encompasses all, and because it is the first. He who knows thus, encompasses all desirable objects;

he becomes the first.

Svapnasthānastaijasa ukāro dvitīyamātrotkarṣhādubhayatvādvotkarṣhati ha vai

jñana-santatim, samānasca bhavatnāsyābrahmavit kule bhavati, ya evam veda.

10. Taijasa, whose field is the dream state, is the second sound, U, because this is an excellence, and contains the

qualities of the other two. He who knows thus, exalts the flow


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of knowledge and becomes equalised; in his family there will be born no one ignorant of Brahman.

Sushuptasthānah prājño makārastṛtīya mātrā miterapīter vā, minoti ha vā idam

sarvam-apītisca bhavati, ya evam veda.

11.Prājña, whose field is deep sleep, is the third sound, M, because this is the measure, and that into which all enters. He

who knows thus, measures all and becomes all.AUM is like a carrier wave which can contain any other wave. A – wakeful state - vaishvanara – Gives us the power of Akshaya paatra.U – Dream state – taijasa – Many discoveries and inventions have occurred

because of dreams – Vigyanamaya KoshaM – deep sleep state – Prajna – The power of Srushti and Pralaya

After the three states A.U.M comes SAMADHILet me digress a bit and tell you that Ramayana has been written to teach us about evolution and is said to be the commentary for “Gayatri” To understand our Chitta vrittis we should learn about Sundaraakaanda which is the complete knowledge of A.U.M.

In short, The Sacred Word, the Word of Glory, the AUM which is the Pranava, the sound of conscious Life itself as It is breathed forth into all forms. It is the Word of the second aspect, and just as the Word of Nature when rightly emanated provides the forms which are intended to reveal the soul or second aspect, so the Pranava, when rightly expressed, demonstrates the Father or Spirit through the medium of the soul. It is the Word of the incarnated sons of God. In such a short commentary as this, it is not possible to write a treatise on this secret of secrets, and this great mystery of the ages. All that can be done is to collate certain facts about the AUM, and leave the student to extend the concept and grasp the significance of the brief statements made according to the state of his intuition.

The physical aspect of OM in our body can be told as emerging from the SA Node in our heart.


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The electrical impulse from the SA node triggers a sequence of electrical events in the heart to control the orderly sequence of muscle contractions that pump the blood out of the heart. The Right HIS bundle, the Left Anterior HIS bundle and the Left Posterior HIS bundle (which is not seen in the image above) form the shape of the OM physically.

The Egoic Lotus in the mental plane extends from this point, but not in the physical plane but the mental plane.


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THE EGOIC LOTUS

I have super imposed the image of the egoic lotus in the place of the heart along with AUM for better understanding the image below.


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Sutra 28.

Tat Japaha Tat Artha Bhavanam

Tat Japaha = Its constant repetitionTat Artha = Its meaningBhavanam = Dwelling upon in mind; Realizing; Meditation

Its constant repetition and meditation on its meaning.But not as saint Kabir says –

Maala To Kar Mein Phire, Jeebh Phire Mukh Mahin

Manua To Chahun Dish Phire, Yeh To Simran Nahin

The rosary rotating by the hand (or) the tongue twisting in the mouth,


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With the mind wandering everywhere, this isn't meditation (Oh uncouth!).

Just a seed has to be sown, watered and nurtured for it to grow into a fruitful tree, similarly the mantra, the potential power which resides in a Mantra must be developed slowly by the application of the right methods before it can become available for the spiritual advancement of the Sadhaka.

The two principal means of developing the power which is latent in Pranava which are equally applicable to other similar Mantras are given in the Sutra we are considering. The first means is Japa. This is a well-known technique of Mantra-Yoga in which the Mantra is repeated again and again (first audibly, then silently and lastly mentally) in a prescribed manner until the desired results begin to appear. The other conditions—mental and emotional—are equally important. Japa begins in a mechanical repetition but it should pass by stages into a form of meditation and unfoldment of the deeper layers of consciousness.

The different aspects of Vak or ‘speech’ are called Vaikhari, Madhyama, Pasyanti and Para. Vaikhari is the audible sound which can lead through the intermediate stages to the subtlest form of Para Vak. Let us learn more about these different aspects of Vak through an easy example of shoes: Vaikhari is the physical word that you utter – the shoes that you own.Madhyama is the word that you are about to utter, it is almost on your tongue – They are your shoes but you are not wearing them.Pashyanthi – a shoe which you saw in the shop(it is not yours), but you can visualize it in the present from the past and also see it in your mind in the future.Para – The principle to protect legs.

It is really through the agency of these subtler forms of ‘sound’ that the unfoldment of consciousness takes place and the hidden potentialities become active powers. This release of powers takes a definite course according to the specific nature of the Mantra just as a seed grows into a tree, but into a particular kind of tree according to the nature of the seed. In order to make it possible for the individual consciousness to draw nearer to the Divine Consciousness we need not only attunement of the vehicles but a drawing force, an attraction which corresponds to voltage in the flow of the electric current. This force which draws together the two—the Jivatma and the Paramatma—may take different forms. In Bhakti-Yoga, for example, it takes the form of intense devotion or love. In Mantra-Yoga it takes the form of Bhavana or intense meditation on the significance of the Mantra and the object which is sought to be gained.


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The esoteric "sounding forth" of the sacred word AUM is based upon a study of the Law of Vibration, and the gradual tuning of the lower vibrations of the sheaths or vestures of consciousness so that they synchronize with the note or sound of the conscious indweller. In this case of the sounding forth of the Word we have the following factors:

1. The soul who sends, or breathes it forth, 2. The sutratma or thread along which the sound vibrates, is carried

or transmitted, 3. The vestures of consciousness, mental, emotional and etheric

which vibrate in response to the vibration or breath and are stimulated thereby,

4. The brain which can be trained to recognize that sound and vibrate in unison with the breath,

5. The subsequent act of the man in meditation. He hears the sound (called sometimes the "still small Voice," or the "Voice of the Silence"), he recognizes it for what it is and in deep reflection he assimilates the results of his soul's activity.

The repeated constant practice of japa or meditation on it’s meaning helps one to specialize in Ishwara pranidhana to surrender to the lord. So this is the specific yoga technique that patanjali is advising. The simple technique of Ishwara pranidhana is surrendering to the will of god. Whatever that is happening in the world whether there is a war in the world, a crisis in the world, a scientific discovery in the world, a picture is released, you are in love with someone, you are having a job, you are talking with someone, all this is because of the knowledge given and imparted by the Ishwara, by the solar logos. So “tat japaha tat artha bhavanaha” with this feeling AUM…………….

As you go on chanting this AUM, always try to bring the divine consciousness into the brain. That is what we should do when you are chanting the 21st AUM kara in the S.S.S. meditation(Samardha Sadguru Sparsha). With a great expectancy you should not go blank or sit idle but when you chant this AUM 21 times at the respective places in the Samardha Sadguru Sparsa Dhyana immediately after the 21st AUM is over, be very active and alert and try to catch the pulsation coming from the MMMMMMMMMM………………………….the solar logos. Let your brain surrender itself to the Ishwara and when you do this, what will happen is being explained in the 29th sutra

Sutra 29.

Tataha Pratyak Chetana Adhigamaha Api Antarayabhavaha Cha.


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Tataha = From itPratyak = In-turned; in the opposite directionChetana = ConsciousnessAdhigamaha = AttainmentApi = AlsoAntaraya = (Of) hindrances; ObstaclesAbhavaha = Absence; DisappearanceCha. = And

From it (result) the disappearance of obstacles and turning inward of consciousness.

By this practice of AUM and meditating on it’s meaning, the consciousness will turn inwards. At present our consciousness is outwards. We close our eyes to sit and meditate or do japa, we think about someone else, or ourselves and our desires and so on and on., when we go on practicing this meditation on meaning of AUM our consciousness will turn inwards. That is what is meant by this word “Tataha pratyak chetana adhigamaha”.

The turning of consciousness will happen, but that is not the only thing, something else will also happen. Api also “antarayaha abhavaha cha”. And also all the obstacles will disappear. Patanjali in his previous sutras was talking about the Kleshas.: Panchatayaha klishtaha aklishtaha - pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra smrutayaha. These five kleshas are the klishta aklishtas are the cause for obstacles and this meditation on AUM removes the obstacles, “antaraya abhavahacha”. Disappearance of obstacles will also happen. The 7 sutras grouped as one from ‘Ishwara pranidhanadwa’

Klesha Karma Vipaka Aashayaihi Aparamrishtaha Purusha Visheshaha Ishwaraha

Tatra Nirati Sayam Sarvajnya Bijam Saha Purveshamapi Guruhu Kalena Anavachedat Tasya Vachakaha Prnavaha Tat Japaha Tadardhabhavam Tataha Pratyak Chetana Adhigamaha Api Antarayabhavaha Cha

Form a special set of laws to learn, hasten and achieve the goal easily. The whole aim and process of Yoga consists in withdrawing the

consciousness from without to within, for the ultimate mystery of life is hidden in the very heart or centre of our being and can be found only there and nowhere else. In the case of the Yogi the tendency of the lower mind to run outwards and to keep itself busy with the objects of the outer world must therefore be replaced gradually by a tendency to


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return automatically to its ‘centred’ condition without effort. It is only under these conditions that it can be ‘joined’, as it were, with the higher principles. It is the actual contact with the higher principles resulting in the irradiation of the personality by the influence of these higher principles (Atma-Buddhi-Manas)(See the small yellow triangle in the chart below) which is the essence of Pratyak Cetana. The contact is no doubt indirect but it is sufficiently effective and real to enable the personality to derive from it many advantages. The strength of the Atma, the illumination of Buddhi and the knowledge of the higher mind gradually filter down into the personality in an ever-increasing measure and provide the necessary guidance and momentum for treading the path of Yoga. The contact becomes direct only in Samadhi when consciousness leaves one vehicle after another and becomes centred at deeper and deeper levels.


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When the Master within is known, the assertion of his power becomes increasingly felt, and the aspirant submits his entire lower nature to


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the control of that new ruler. It should be noted here that the eventual complete removal of all obstacles transpires after the initial flash of realization. The sequence of happenings is as follows:

1. Aspiration after knowledge of the soul, 2. Realization of the obstacles, or an understanding of the things

which prevent true knowledge. 3. Intellectual comprehension as to the nature of those obstacles, 4. Determination to eliminate them, 5. A sudden flash or vision of the soul Reality, 6. Fresh aspiration and a strong determination to make that

fleeting vision a permanent reality in the lower plane experience, 7. The battle of Kurukshetra, with Krishna, the soul, heartening

Arjuna, the aspirant, on to steady and continuous effort. The same thought is to be found in the Old Testament, in the case of Joshua before the walls of Jericho.

Thus the surrender to the Solar Logos and it’s constant japa and meditation leads you to the inward turning of consciousness and disappearance of all obstacles. Patanjali continues his treatise by giving us a list of distractions to which we are prone. He narrates them in the 30th aphorism.

Sutra 30.

Vyadhi styana samsaya pramada aalasya avirati bhrantidarsana

alabhdabhumikatva anavastitvani chitta vikshepah te antarayah.

Disease, languor, doubt, carelessness, laziness, worldly-mindedness, delusion, non-achievement of a stage, instability, these (nine) cause the distraction of the mind and they are the obstacles.

Vyadhi = DiseaseStyana = Dullness Samsaya = DoubtPramada = CarelessnessAalasya = LazinessAvirati = Worldly MindednessBhranti Darsana = DelusionAlabhdabhumikatva = Inability To Find A FootingAnavastitvani = InstabilityChitta = (of) mindVikshepah = Distractions (causes of distraction)Te = They


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Antaraayaha = Obstacles, hindrances.

A very important sutra for all the sadhakas who really want to walk on the path of yoga. It was pointed out in the last Sutra that the turning outward of consciousness is caused by Viksepa. In this Sutra Patanjali gives a number of conditions which cause the mind to be distracted and which consequently make the successful practice of Yoga impossible. This distracted condition of the mind in which it is constantly flung about in all directions, away from the centre, is called Viksepa. Since this condition of the mind is the opposite of that needed for the practice of Yoga we have to understand clearly the nature of Viksepa and the means to avoid it. To enable us to do this let us first cast a glance at the mind of the average man of the world. There are two general characteristics which we are likely to find in the large majority of people. The first is the lack of purpose. They drift through life being carried along on its currents in a helpless manner. There is no directive force within them which can modify their circumstances and give a certain direction to their life. Even when they decide to pursue any particular objective they are easily thrown off the track by any obstacles that may come in their path. In short, they have not developed concentration of purpose which enables a man to pursue an aim relentlessly until he has achieved it. Of course, there are some exceptional people who have developed a strong will and have the capacity to pursue a fixed aim till success is gained.

Now, though the Yogi has no ambitions and the pursuit of any worldly aims does not form part of his life, still, he does need concentration of purpose like any ambitious man working in the outer world. The pursuit of Yogic ideals requires in fact more concentration of purpose than that of any worldly aim can, because in the first place, the difficulties are greater and in the second place, the sphere of work is inside and the objective is to a great extent unknown and intangible. The Yogi has generally to work against great odds, the results of his efforts take a long time to appear and even when they do appear do not bring with them the kind of satisfactions for which the lower nature of man generally craves. So, only an extraordinary concentration of purpose can enable him to keep to his course in the face of difficulties and obstacles. If this is not present he is likely to suffer from frustration and the disintegration of his mental forces to which such frustration generally leads. Under these circumstances distractions of all kinds such as those mentioned in the present Sutra are likely to arise and cause the mind to be thrown constantly off the track.


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The second general characteristic of the ordinary mind is that it is constantly and completely turned outwards. It is used to taking interest only in the objects of the outer world and this habit has become so strong that any effort to reverse the direction of consciousness and to make the mind withdraw from the periphery to the centre is accompanied by a mental struggle.

Patanjali has enumerated nine conditions of the mind or body which cause Viksepa and thus serve as obstacles in the path of the Yogi. Let us briefly consider these before we proceed further.

(1) DISEASE: This is obviously a hindrance in the path of the Yogi because it draws the mind again and again to the physical body and makes it difficult to keep it directed inwards. Perfect health is a necessity for treading the path of Yoga and that is, no doubt, one of the reasons why the author has included Asana and Pranayama, two practices of Hatha-Yoga, in his system.

(2) LANGUOR: Some people have an apparently healthy physical body but lack nerve power so that they always feel below par and disinclined to take up any work requiring prolonged exertion. This chronic fatigue is in many cases psychological in origin and due to the absence of any definite and dynamic purpose in life. In other cases it is due to some defect in the Pranamaya Kosa which results in an inadequate supply of vital force to the physical body. Whatever its cause it acts as an obstacle because it undermines all efforts to practice Sadhana.

(3) DOUBT: An unshakeable faith in the efficacy of Yoga and its methods is a must for its successful practice. Such faith is needed in achieving success in any line of endeavour but more so in this line because of the peculiar conditions under which the Yogi has to work. In the Divine adventure which he has undertaken the objective is unknown and there are no clearly defined standards by which he can judge and measure his progress. Doubts of various kinds are therefore liable to arise in his mind. Is there really any Reality to be realized or is he merely pursuing a mirage? Are the methods he is using really effective? Are those methods the right methods for him? Has he the capacity to go through all the obstacles and reach the goal? These and other doubts of a similar nature are liable to assail his mind from time to time especially when he is passing through the periods of depression which come inevitably in the path of every aspirant. It is at these times that he needs Shraddha— un-shakeable faith in his objective, in himself and in the methods which he has adopted. It may not be possible to avoid these periods of depression and doubt especially in the early stages but it is his behaviour and reaction to them which show whether he has true faith or not. If he can ignore them even though he feels them, he comes out of the shade into the sunshine again and resumes his journey with renewed enthusiasm. If he allows these doubts and


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moods to interfere with his Sadhana and relaxes his efforts, they acquire an increasing hold on his mind until he is completely side-tracked and abandons the path altogether.

(4) CARELESSNESS: It has the effect of relaxing the mind and thus undermines its concentration. Some people are careless by nature and when they come into the field of Yoga they bring their carelessness with them. Carelessness is a weakness which prevents a man from achieving eminence in any line of endeavour and condemns him to a mediocre life. But in the field of Yoga it is not only an obstacle but a great danger and the careless Yogi is like a child who is allowed to play with dynamite. No one should think of treading this path who has not conquered the habit of carelessness and learnt to pay careful attention not only to important things of life but also to those which are considered unimportant.

(5) LAZINESS: This is another habit which results in a distracted condition of the mind. Although it results in the same kind of ineffectiveness in life as in the case of languor it is yet different. It is a bad mental habit acquired by continued yielding to the love of comfort and ease and tendency to avoid exertion. If we may say so, languor is a purely physical defect while laziness is generally a purely psychological condition. A restoration to health automatically cures the former but a prolonged discipline based on the execution of hard and difficult tasks is the only means of curing the latter.

(6) WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS: The worldly man is so immersed in the interests pertaining to his outer life that he does not get time even to think about the real problems of life. And there are many people who pass through life without having ever given any serious thought to these problems. When a person takes to the path of Yoga it is not so easy to shut out the interests of the worldly life suddenly and completely. These hankerings after the objects of the world still continue to trouble him and cause serious distraction in his mind. Of course, all depends upon the reality of the Viveka. If we really see the illusions which are inherent in the pursuit of worldly objects like wealth, honour, name etc. then we lose all attraction for them and naturally give up their pursuit. But if the Viveka is not real—is of the pseudo-variety—the result of mere ‘thinking’, then there is constant struggle between the desires which drag the mind outside and the will of the Yogi who tries to make the mind dive within. Thus, worldly-mindedness can be a serious cause of Viksepa.

(7) DELUSION: It is generally due to lack of intelligence and discrimination. A Sadhaka may, for example, begin to see lights and hear sounds of various kinds during his early practices. These things are very spurious and do not mean much and yet there are many Sadhakas who get excited about these trivial experiences and begin to think they have made great progress. Some think that they have reached high states of consciousness or are even foolish


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enough to think that they have seen God. This incapacity to assess our supernormal experiences at their proper worth is basically due to immaturity of soul and those who cannot distinguish between the essential and non-essential things in spiritual unfoldment find their progress blocked at a very early stage. They tend to get entangled in these spurious experiences of a psychic nature and are soon side-tracked. It is easy to see that the unhealthy excitement which accompanies such undesirable conditions of the mind will cause great distraction and prevent it from diving inwards.

(8) NON-ACHIEVEMENT OF A STATE: The essential technique of Yoga consists, in the earlier stages, in establishing the mind firmly in the stages of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi, and after Samadhi has been attained, in pushing steadily, step by step, into the deeper levels of consciousness. In all these stages change from one state to another is involved and this is brought about by persistent effort of the will. Sometimes this passage is easy and comes after a reasonable amount of effort. At other times the Yogi seems to make no progress and a dead wall appears to be facing him. This failure to obtain a footing in the next stage can cause distraction and disturb the perfect equanimity of the mind unless the Yogi has developed inexhaustible patience and capacity for self-surrender.

(9) INSTABILITY: Another kind of difficulty arises when the Yogi can get a foothold in the next stage but cannot retain it for long. The mind reverts to its previous stage and a considerable amount of effort has to be put forth in order to regain the foothold. Of course, in all such mental processes reversions of this nature are to a certain extent unavoidable. But it is one thing to lose one's foothold in the next stage because only practice makes perfect and another thing to lose it because of the inherent fickleness of the mind. It is only when the instability is due to the inherent unsteadiness of the mind that Viksepa can be said to be present and special treatment is called for.

Attachments to objects, persons or ideas frequently stand in the way of many aspirants taking to the life of Yoga. These different kinds of obstacles are dealt with in their proper places. Defectsof character, for example, in the treatment of Yama-Niyama. As we progress we also see how Patanjali gives remedies to overcome these tendencies

In the 29th sutra he has very clearly told us that the chanting and meditating of AUM (S S S meditation clearly removes the obstacles and turns the consciousness inwards) ‘tataha pratyak chetana adhigamaha api antaraya bhavaha cha’ and in the 30th aphorism he develops and clearly defines nine types of mind distractions and obstacles as disease, dullness, doubt, carelssness, lazyness, worldly mindedness, delusion, inability to find a footing and instability. In the 31st sutra he enumerates four main tendancies by which we can know whether we are distracted are not.


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Sutra 31.

Duhkha Dourmanasya Angamejayatwa Shwasa Prashwasaha Vikshepa

Saha Bhuvaha.

Duhkha = PainDourmanasya = Despair, depression etc.Angamejayatwa = Shaking of the body; Lack of

Control over the body

ShwasaPrashwasaha = Inspiration and expiration; Hard breathing

Vikshepa = DistractionSaha Bhuvaha = Accompanying

(Mental) pain, despair, nervousness and hard breathing are the symptoms of a distracted condition of mind.

In this sutra patanjali describes how you can recognize whether you have a mental ‘vikshepa’ or not. The first one is ‘duhkha’ or pain. If you have physical pain a worry, that means you have a disturbance. The presence of pain either physical or mental always shows some serious defect or disharmony in the vehicle. Physical pain is a sign of positive disease while mental pain shows definitely that the mind is not in a natural healthy state. It is either in a state of inner conflict, torn between opposite desires or under thedomination of Klesas.

When pain is combined with a consciousness of impotence or incapacity to remove it effectively it leads to despair, despair then leads to nervousness which is merely an outer physical symptom of despair. Nervousness when it reaches a certain degree of intensity disturbs the breathing because it disorganizes the flow of Pranic currents. So these four symptoms really represent the four stages which follow one another when the mind is in that undesirable condition which causes Viksepa. Since they are mere symptoms the proper way to deal with them is to treat the mind for the fundamental disease which afflicts it.

Whenever you find yourself in one of these or more states you can be sure that you are having a distraction and AUM…. will cure you of that. Pain, despair, nervousness and hard breathing are the symptoms of distracted condition of mind.

Master DK says that It is the misuse of the life breath or wrong utilization of prana that is the cause of eighty per cent of the present physical diseases. The other twenty per cent is produced through ill directed life force through the centers, and attacks primarily the twenty per cent of humanity which can be called mentally polarized.


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The clue for the student of occultism who aspires to liberation is not to be found in breathing exercises, however, nor in any work with the seven centers in the body. It will be found in an intense inner concentration upon rhythmic living and in the careful organization of the life. As he does this, coordination of the subtler bodies with the physical body on the one hand, and with the soul on the other, will eventuate in the automatic subsequent adjustment of pranic and vital energies.

In the next sutra Patanjali advises us the remedies to overcome these weaknesses.

Sutra 32.

Tat Pratishedartham Ekatatwa Abhyasaha

Tat = ThatPratishedartham = For Removal; For CheckingEka = OneTatwa = PrincipleAbhyasaha = Practice; Intense application

For removing these obstacles there (should be) constant practice of one truth or principle.

We all know how difficult it is to keep the mind calm and directed inward. The removal of the obstacles follows naturally when concentration of purpose has been developed to a sufficient degree. When a dynamic purpose enters the life of a person who has been leading a purposeless life, his mental and other forces become gradually polarized and all difficulties tend to disappear. But, of course, the aspirant for Yogic life has not only to acquire the capacity to pursue an objective with energy and perseverance but in addition his objective must be within. The exercises which Patanjali has recommended are such that both these capacities are developed simultaneously.

Patanjali now gives seven ways whereby the goal can be reached in the following sutras and each has a distinct relation to the seven obstacles earlier considered.

Obstacle Remedy1. Bodily disability Wholesome, sane living.

(1.33.)2. Mental inertia Control of the life force.

(1.34.)3. Wrong One pointed thought.


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questioning (1.35.)4. Carelessness Meditation. (1.36.)5. Laziness Self discipline. (1.37.)6. Lack of dispassion Correct analysis. (1.38.)7. Erroneous perception

Illumination. (1.39)

Only the constant, steady, enduring effort of the will, functioning through the mind, will suffice to bring the sadhaka out of darkness into light and to lead him from the condition of death into immortality. Once the principle is understood, then the disciple can work intelligently and hence the necessity of a right understanding of the principles or qualities where the truth regarding reality or God can be known.

So, Tat praatishedartham means the removal of these vikshepas. Ekatatva abhyasa means one principle which must be practiced intensively. For removing these obstacles there should be constant practice of one principle on truth and then Patanjali gives the methodology to overcome these disturbances in mind.

Sutra 33.

Maitri Karuna Mudita Upekshanam Sukha Dhukha Punyapunya

Vishayanam BhavanathChithaPrasadanam

Maitri = FriendlinessKaruna = CompassionMudita = GladnessUpekshanam = IndifferenceSukha = Joy; HappinessDhukha = SorrowPunya = VirtueApunya = ViceVishayanam = ObjectsBhavanath = By cultivating attitudesChitha = MindPrasadanam = Clarification; Purification

The mind becomes clarified by cultivating attitudes of friendliness, compassion, gladness and indifference respectively towards happiness, misery, virtue and vice.


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One of the greatest sources of disturbance to the mind is our uncontrolled reactions to our human environment, to what people do around us and to the pleasant or unpleasant conditions in which we get involved. The ordinary man has no well-defined principle for the regulation of these reactions. He reacts to these things in a haphazard manner according to his whims and moods with the result that he is being constantly disturbed by all kinds of violent emotions. Some people, finding these emotional reactions unpleasant, decide not to react at all and gradually become cold, hard-hearted and indifferent to those around them. Both these attitudes are undesirable and cannot lead to acquiring a calm, gentle and compassionate nature in accordance with the requirements of the higher life. Spiritual life can go neither with violent reactions nor with cold indifference. It requires a balanced nature in which our reactions are correctly regulated by the highest motives and are in harmony with the Great Law.

The result of following the rule given in this Sutra is to bring about clarification of the mind and to remove one of the causes of mental disturbance for the beginner. All those distortions and complexes which the average man develops in his conflicting relations with others must be combed out and the psyche made healthy and harmonious.

He gives one principle to remove the above-mentioned obstacles. For example you develop maitri, friendliness to those states of mind, which gives you sukha, joy. You develop karuna, compassion to these states of mental conditions that causes sorrow. Develop mudita, gladness to those states of mind, which are termed as punya, virtue and develop indifference, upeksha to those states of mind, which are termed as apunya. This is one of the methods that Patanjali advocates to reach the state of mental purification. You just pay a very close attention to these respectivities.

Friendliness -- Joy Compassion -- Sorrow Gladness -- Virtue Indifference -- Vice

The mind becomes purified by cultivating attitudes of friendliness, compassion, gladness and indifference towards happiness, misery, virtue, and vice respectively.

Master DK speaks about this sutra telling us that the physical body is consequently looked upon as a vehicle for the expression of:

1. Helpfulness to our fellow men, 2. Tender handling of the animal kingdom, 3. Service on the physical plane in cooperation with the Hierarchy,


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4. Discipline of the physical appetites and dispassion in regard to all forms which appeal to the appetites and to the senses, whether called harmful or not. All alike must be transcended.

Thus peace is achieved, peace of the chitta or mind stuff, peace of the brain reactions and eventually complete quiet and calm.

Patanjali gives a breathing technique to develop a strong and restful nervous system in the coming sutra to develop the condition of nervous system and which also helps in curing paralysis.

Sutra 34.

Prachhardhana vidharanabhayam va praanasya.

This is a tip for a strong and restful nervous system.

Prachhardhana = ExpirationVidharanabhyam = RetensionVa = OrPranasya = Of breath.

Or by the expiration and retention of breath,

In the Sutra Patanjali has referred about the preliminary practices for the purification of the Nadis. These Nadis are channels along which the currents of Prana or vitality flow in the Pranamaya Kosa. If these channels are not quite clear and the currents of Prana do not flow in them smoothly, various kinds of nervous disturbances are produced. These manifest chiefly in a general feeling of physical and mental restlessness which causes Viksepa. This condition can be removed by practising one of the well-known breathing exercises for the purification of the Nadis (Nadi Suddhi). It should be noted again that Patanjali does not consider these preliminary exercises for the purification of Nadis as Pranayama. He defines Pranayama in the next pada.

But this practice will give you a very strong nervous system. The japa of AUM automatically gives this Prachhardhana vidharanabhayam va pranasya because when you breathe in and then chant AUM, automatically there is expiration and remain in that state of bahya khumbaka (external khumbaka). So this AUM is an indirect method of practicing this breathing exercise given in this sutra.

Those who wish to learn more in this context can also read about the first nine techniques which explain breathing techniques in Vigyan Bhairava Tantra.

Sutra 35.


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Vishayavati Va Pravritthir Utpanna Manasaha Sthiti Nibhandani

Here he is talking about establishing steadiness of mind.

Vishayavati = SensuousVa = OrPravrithihi = OccupationUtpannaha = BornManasaha = Of The Mind Sthithihi = SteadinessNibhandani = Binder

Coming into activity of (higher) senses also becomes helpful in establishing steadiness of the mind.

The next means which Patanjali gives for making the mind steady is its absorption in some superphysical sensuous cognition. Such cognition may be brought about in a variety of ways, for example, by concentrating the mind on certain vital centres in the body. A typical example of this method is Laya-Yoga in which the mind is concentrated on Nada or superphysical sounds which can be heard at certain points within the body.

Master DK talking on this sutra gives the following tableMethod Sense Result1. Concentration upon the tip of the nose smell perfumes.

2. Concentration upon the root of the tongue hearing sounds.

3. Concentration upon the middle of the tongue taste flames.

4. Concentration upon the middle of the tongue touch vibration.

5. Concentration upon the palate sight pictures, visions.

Another method is concentrating on the charkas and naturally in the Samardha Sadguru Sparsa Dhyana we traverse all the chakras along with the recitation of AUM starting from muladhara going through each chakra with samyamana (Dharana, dhyana and samadhi). On each chakra we meditate on its colour, the qualities it gives us, the beejaksharas and the tattva. Merging with that particular tattva while meditating on that chakra gives great results for the sadhaka. We reach agna chakra and then traverse again downwards till muladhara, start ascension again and go beyond agna to buddhi, chitta and ahamkara. Now descend again to chitta and ahamkara and stay in agna in silence for a few minutes. In this way we chant AUM 21 times while exhaling the breath and feel the touch of the all mighty GURU.


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So coming into activity of higher senses in this way also becomes helpful in establishing steadiness of mind is what is told by Patanjali in this sutra.

Sutra 36.

Vishokaa Va Jyotishmati

Vishokaa = Sorrowless or sereneVa = OrJyotishmati = Luminous

Also (through) serene or luminous (states experienced within).

In Laya-Yoga the mind is made steady by absorbing it in Anahata Sabda. The same object can be gained by bringing it in contact with other superphysical sensations or states of consciousness. Man's constitution, including both the physical and superphysical bodies is very complex and there are a large number of methods available for establishing partial contact between the lower and the higher vehicles. Some of these methods depend upon purely artificial aids, others on the Japa of a Mantra and still others on meditation of a particular type.

As a result of such practice the Sadhaka may begin to see an unusual light within him or feel an utter sense of peace and tranquillity. These experiences while of no great significance in themselves can hold the mind by their attractive power and gradually bring about the required condition of steadiness. The Sadhaka should, however, keep in his mind the purpose of these practices. In the first place, he should not attach to them undue importance and significance and begin to imagine that he is making great progress on the path of Yoga. He is learning merely the ABC of Yogic science. In the second place, he should not allow these experiences to become a mere source of emotional and mental satisfactions. Many people begin to use such practices as a dope and an escape from the stress and strain of ordinary life. If such wrong attitudes are adopted these practices frequently become a hindrance instead of a help in the path of the Sadhaka.

Even beautiful sceneries or anything that causes a feeling of happiness can also be used as a method to calm our minds. And this particular sutra is the formula. So by meditating or seeing serene or luminous states experienced within will also give you mental stability.

Master DK gives beautiful methods with respect to this sutra : There are seven methods of attainment mentioned and therefore we can infer that the seven centers are involved.


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Method I. Sutra 33. Solar plexus center.The peace of the chitta (or mind stuff) can be brought about through the practice of sympathy, tenderness, steadiness of purpose, and dispassion in regard to pleasure or pain, or towards all forms of good or evil.

Method II. Sutra 34. Center at the base of the spine.The peace of the chitta is also brought about by the regulation of the prana.

Method III. Sutra 35. Center between the eyebrows.The mind can be trained to steadiness through those forms of concentration which have relation to the sense perceptions.

Method IV. Sutra 36. Head center.By meditation upon Light and upon Radiance, knowledge of the Spirit can be reached and thus peace can be achieved. [82]

Method V. Sutra 37. Sacral center.The chitta is stabilized and rendered free from illusion as the lower nature is purified and no longer indulged.

Method VI. Sutra 38. Throat center.Peace (steadiness of the chitta) can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give.

Method VII. Sutra 39. Heart center.Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart.

It should be remembered also that all these centers have their correspondences in the etheric matter found in the region of the head and that it is when these seven head centers are awakened that their counterparts are also safely awakened. These seven head centers correspond in the microcosm to the seven Rishis of the Great Bear, the prototypes of the seven Heavenly Men, and the centers above enumerated relate to the energy of the seven Heavenly Men Themselves.

It is not necessary to enlarge here upon these centers beyond indicating the following:

1. The aspirant may regard each center symbolically as a lotus.2. This lotus is formed of energy units moving or vibrating in a

specific manner and these vibration-waves assume the forms we call the petals of the lotus.


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3. Each lotus consists of:a. A certain number of petals,b. A pericarp or supporting calyx,c. A center of pure white light called the "jewel."

4. Each center corresponds to a sacred planet, the body of manifestation of one of the seven Heavenly Men.

5. Every center has to be developed through the use of the Word. This word is AUM and it must appear in the vibrant center eventually. When it shines forth perfectly within the wheel then that center has perfectly awakened.

6. Certain of the qualities of the sun are the qualities of the centers.

a. Quality of the solar plexus warmth.b. Quality of the center at the base of the spine kundalini fire.c. Quality of the ajna center between the eyebrows

illuminating light.

d. Quality of the head center cold light.e. Quality of the sacral center moisture.f. Quality of the throat center red light.g. Quality of the heart center radiant or magnetic

light.

Sutra 37.

Vitaragavishayam va chittam

Vitaraga = A Human who has transcended passions Or GuruVishayam = ObjectVa = Or Chittam = The Mind.

Also the mind fixed on those who are free from attachment (acquires steadiness).

Vitaragas are those souls who have conquered human passions and risen above Raga-Dvesa. Meditation on the life and character of such a soul will naturally help the Sadhaka to acquire freedom from Raga-Dvesa himself and thus develop serenity and steadiness of mind. It is a well-known law of life that we tend to reproduce in our life the ideas which constantly occupy our mind. The effect is heightened very greatly if we deliberately select some virtue and meditate upon it constantly.We should note that Patanjali recommends meditation not on an abstract virtue but on the virtue as embodied in a human personality.


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There is a definite reason for this. In the first place, a beginner who is still trying to acquire steadiness of mind is not likely to derive much benefit from meditation on an abstract virtue. The association of a beloved human or divine personality with a virtue increases enormously the attractive power of that virtue and hence its influence on our life. Secondly, earnest meditation on such a personality puts us in rapport with that personality and brings about a flow of power and influence which accelerates our progress. The object of meditation may be one's Master, or a great Spiritual Teacher or one of the Divine Incarnations.

This is a very important one and every human should practice this. A human object or the mind attached to a guru frees you from all the pleasures. So this tells you to meditate upon great identities as Krishna, the Buddha and the Christ, who have freed Themselves from

all sense reactions. For us it is “OM SAI VENKATESA SRI RAM OM” and meditating on their form (Shiridi Sai, Lord Venkateswaraa and Pandit Sri Rama Sharma Acharya) gives us the stability of the mind.

Sutra 38.

Swapna Nidra Jnana Aalambanam Va

Swapna = Dream StateNidra = Deep SleepJnana = KnowledgeAalambanam = SupportVa = Also

Also (the mind) depending upon the knowledge derived from dreams or dreamless sleep (will acquire steadiness).

Here it should be remembered that swapna (dream) and nidra (sleep) do not refer to condition of the brain during sleep, but to the subtler vehicles, Astral and Mental bodies into which consciousness passes during the period of sleep. When we go to sleep, the jivatma or the ‘I am’ consciousness or my consciousness leaves the physical the body and begins to function in the next subtler vehicle. A very limited contact is maintained so that the physical body carries it’s normal physiological activities. So the conscious mind in dream or sleep functions in the subtler vehicle, namely astral vehicle or the lower mental vehicle.

To understand these two states, I advice you to read the book on Astral body and Mental body by A.E.Powell of Theosophical society or


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you can read the books by Leadbeater about the astral planes and mental planes. There you can understand really the functioning of the subtler vehicles. From the first sutra, Patanjali advises to reach the state of Samadhi. Samadhi is our goal. This particular sutra doesn’t talk about your particular physical dreams and the dreamless blank sleep but your ability to function in Yama, niyama, aasana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, and dhyana which must be practiced to reach the state of Samadhi.

Already we know some inklings of it. We know that this yoga vidya will lead you to realize the state of Samadhi. Remembering that our goal is reaching the state of Samadhi, try to understand these particular sutras. Therefore this sutra refers to the definite and useful knowledge, that can be acquired in dream and sleep states. You can really acquire messages and guidance in dream and sleep state. For this I will advise you to go through the Edgar Cayce books or web sites. This aphorism means the mind depending upon the knowledge derived from dreams or dreamless sleep will acquire steadiness or indirectly from the astral world or the mental world. So in theosophical society you have really wonderful insights into these planes. In Hindu Vedanta, we call these two as Pranamaya kosa and Manomaya kosa. You can read it in the Upanishads.

The four asanas which are performed by lying on the floor: Uttana Padasan, pavan mukthasan, shuptha tadasan and katichaalasan help to develop the sleep and dream states of mind.

Mind is a reflector, and brain is the mirror which reflects it. So in the sleep state, the brain somehow becomes dulled or you can say, you have closed your mirror of mind. So the entire utilization of mind depends upon your ability of the brain being open when you are asleep. For this I advise you to hear the saranagati mantra, ‘Om Dram Sri Krishna Shyama Kamala Nayana Dattatreya Saranam Mama Dram’. As you go on hearing this mantra and go to the sleep state, slowly your mental body can be utilized just as the physical body is used.

Sutra 39.

Yatha Abhimata Dhyanad Va

Yatha = AsAbhimata = DesiredDhyanad = MeditationVa = Or


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Or by meditation as desired.

After giving a number of methods for overcoming the condition of Viksepa Patanjali concludes this subject by saying that the Sadhaka may adopt any method of meditation according to his predilection. The sadhaka must always remember that, all these are only methods to keep the mind steady and one pointed. Here, in this sutra, permission is given to the sadhaka, to select a meditation of his choice and get peace of mind, stability of mind. For ex: - on ‘Om Sai Venkatesa Sri Ram Om’ or I would advise it on ‘jagat janani mahayogesawri devi’ or ‘guru satta’ photo will naturally lead you to higher levels of consciousness, as you will understand it later when we go deeper into these patanjali yoga sutras. Any other method which serves to make the mind steady and one-pointed can also be adopted.

A Sadhaka with clairvoyant tendencies will find the method given in I-38 not only attractive but helpful. Another with an emotional temperament will feel a natural predilection for the method given in I-37. Such predilections are the result of training and experiences in previous lives and generally point to the ‘ray’ of the individual or the fundamental type to which he belongs.

The seven rays are :

Ray 1: Will or PowerRay 2: Love-Wisdom Ray 3: Activity, Adaptability or Intelligence Ray 4: Harmony, Beauty, Art and Unity attained through Conflict Ray 5: Concrete Knowledge or Science Ray 6: Abstract Idealism or Devotion Ray 7: Ceremonial Order, Magic or Ritual

Students will find it of interest to work out these seven ways to peace in relation to one or other of the seven rays, assigning the way to the ray wherever it seems to them appropriate.

Sutra 40.

Paramanu Parama Mahatva Antaha Asya Vasikaraha.

Parama = SmallestAnu = AtomParama = GreatestMahatva = Largeness, infinityAntaha = EndingAsya = HisVasikaraha = Mastery


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His mastery extends from the finest atom to the greatest infinity.

This is the result of practicing all these mental stability techniques. His mastery extends from the finest atom to the greatest infinity. This sutra thus sums up all the powers that can be attained. Yoga is science of controlling all the mind modifications i.e., vrittis and these vrittis are ‘Vrittayaha Panchatayyaha Klishta Aklishta’. So remembering this controlling mind modifications in the 40th aphorism, patanjali gives the results of practicing ‘Chitta Vritti Nirodhaha’ which is the crux of the entire Patanjali yoga sutras.

Master DK beautifully expresses this sutra that it is an occult truism that as a man arrives at a knowledge of himself, under the great law of analogy he arrives at the knowledge of God. This knowledge covers five great aspects:

1. Forms, 2. The constituents of form, 3. Forces, 4. Groups, 5. Energy.

Man must understand the nature of his body and of all his sheaths. This concerns his knowledge of form. He discovers that forms are made of atoms or "points of energy" and that all forms are alike in this respect. This knowledge concerns the constituents of form. He arrives next at an understanding of the aggregate of the energy of the atoms which constitute his forms, or, in other words, at a knowledge of the varying forces; the nature of these forces is determined by the rhythm, the activity and the quality of the atoms which form the sheath or sheaths. This knowledge concerns forces. Later he discovers analogous forms with analogous vibration and force demonstration, and this knowledge concerns groups. Consequently he finds his place and knows his work. Finally he arrives at a knowledge of that which concerns all forms, controls all forces and is the motive power of all groups. This knowledge concerns energy; it has to do with the nature of spirit. Through the medium of these five realizations man arrives at mastery, for realization entails certain factors which might be enumerated as follows:

1. Aspiration, 2. Study and investigation, 3. Experiment, 4. Discovery, 5. Identification, 6. Realization.


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The adept can identify himself with or enter into the consciousness of the infinitesimally small. He can identify himself with the atom of substance and he knows what is as yet unknown to modern scientists. He realizes also that as the human kingdom (composed of human atoms) is the midway point or station on the ladder of evolution, therefore the infinitely small is as far away from him relatively as the infinitely great.

(Image from Solar System by A.E.Powell)

From the above image we can see that earth is exactly at the center of the scheme leaving 24 globes or planets in the previous chains descending from atma to physical and 24 globes to ascend from physical to atma. That is the reason Gayatri Mantra becomes so important in the present globe, earth period as it is made up of 24 letters.

It is as far a road to travel to embrace the consciousness of the minutest of all God's manifestations as it is to embrace the greatest, a solar system. Nevertheless, in all these ranges of consciousness, the method of mastery is the same - perfectly concentrated meditation, leading to perfected power over the mind. The mind is so constituted that it serves the purpose of both a telescope, bringing the seer into touch with the macrocosm, and a microscope bringing him into touch also with the minutest atom. The video below helps us understand the anoraneeyan and mahatho maheeyan better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CWb1NiLpPA

This sutra thus sums up all the powers that can be attained and then gives the rationale, the psychology, the technology of how these vrittis, mental modifications can become weaker and weaker and make you the master of the finest atom to the greatest infinity.


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Sutra 41.

Kshinavritther abhijatasya iva maneh grahitru grahana graheshu tatsta

tadanjanata samapattihi.

Kshinavritther = Modifications Are Diluted Or AnnihilatedAbhijatasya = Becomes TransparentIva = LikeManeh = CrystalGrahitru = CognizerGrahana = CognitionGraheshu = Cognized ObjectsTatsta = On Which It RestsTadanjanata = Takes It’s Form Or ColourSamapattihi = Fusion

In the case of one whose Citta-Vrttis have been almost annihilated, fusion or entire absorption in one another of the cognizer, cognition and cognized is brought about as in the case of a transparent jewel (resting on a coloured surface).

Let us try to understand this sutra with an example –If we place a small piece of ordinary stone on a sheet of

coloured paper the stone is not at all affected by the coloured light coming from the paper. But if we place a colourless crystal on the same piece of paper we immediately see a difference in its behaviour towards the light coming from the paper. It absorbs some of the light and thus appears at least partially assimilated with the paper. The degree of absorption will depend upon the transparency of the crystal and the freedom from defects in its substance. The more perfect the crystal the more completely will it transmit the light and become assimilated with the coloured paper. The behaviour of mind in relation to an object of contemplation is remarkably similar to the behaviour of the crystal in relation to the coloured paper. Any activity, impression, or bias which the mind has apart from the object of contemplation will stand in the way of its becoming fused with it completely. It is only when the mind has, as it were, annihilated itself completely and destroyed its independent identity that it can become assimilated with the object of contemplation and shine with the pure truth enshrined in that object.

Hence to practice Samadhi one has to go through the steps of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharna and dhyana. when the vrittis are diluted, the mind becomes clear like a crystal, then the cognizer, cognition and cognized objects or the subject, object and the knowledge become one or they become tuned. These three


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aspects corresponding to the subjective and objective sides of manifestation and the relation which must exist between them are referred to in the present Sutra as Grahitr, Grahana and Grahya and may be translated into English by sets of words such as knower, knowing, known or cognizer, cognition, cognized or perceiver, perception, perceived.

(Image taken from HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY book by TONY NADER RAM)

This fundamental fact underlying manifestation, that the One has become the Three, is the basis of the mysterious identity which exists between these three apparently different components of the triplicity. It is because the One Reality has become the Three that it is possible to bring about a fusion of the Three into One, and it is this kind of fusion which is the essential technique and secret of Samadhi. This fusion can take place at four different levels of consciousness corresponding to Vitarka, Vicara, Ananda and Asmita stages of Samprajnata Samadhi but the principle underlying the fusion of the Three into One is the same at all the levels and the result also is the same, namely the attainment by the knower of perfect and complete knowledge of the known.

I would like you all to study and meditate, repeatedly on this sutra. It has three clear-cut aspects; First it throws light on the nature of Samadhi.

Secondly, gives insight into the nature of consciousness and mental perception and lastly, gives a clue to the Modus Operandi of


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the many powers which can be wielded by the yogi. If you are very thorough and if you start from now for that mental state where your mental modifications are diluted, then the third aspect can be easily understood, the methodology by which yogis use their powers, can be understood intellectually if you are sincere in your sadhana.

The third aspect is dealt in detail in the third pada, vibhuti pada. Concentrate on the meaning of the sutra which is now going to be given, In the case of one whose chitta vrittis have been almost annihilated, the fusion of the cognizer, cognized and the process of cognition is brought about, as in the case of a transparent jewel resting on a coloured surface, the light of the Divine power shines through that mind.

It may be of value here to give certain synonyms and enumerate, which will, if borne in mind, clarify much of the teaching of the sutras, and enable the student to apply these thoughts in practical fashion to his own life as given by Master DK.

Spirit Soul Body.Monad Ego Personality.Divine Self

Higher Self

Lower Self.

Perceiver Perception

That which is perceived.

Knower Knowledge

The field of knowledge.

Thinker Thought The mind (this is the crystal, reflecting the thought of the thinker).

It aids also to remember: 1. That on the physical plane the perceiver uses the five senses in

order to arrive at the field of knowledge. 2. That all our three planes in the three worlds constitute the dense

physical body of that One in Whom "we live and move and have our being."

3. That on the astral or emotional plane, the lower powers of clairvoyance and clairaudience are used by the perceiver and when misused reveal the serpent in the garden.

4. That on the mental plane psychometry and symbology (including numerology and geometry) are used by the perceiver to arrive at an understanding of the lower mental levels.

5. That only when these three are seen as lower and as constituting the form aspect does the perceiver arrive at a condition where he can begin to understand the nature of the soul and [94] comprehend the true significance of Sutras 40 and 41.


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6. That, having reached that point, he begins to discriminate and to use the mind as the sixth sense, arriving thereby at that subjective quality or life which lies back of the field of knowledge (or form). This constitutes the nature of the soul within the form, and is, potentially and in fact, omniscient and omnipresent.

7. Having reached the soul in any form and contacted it through the medium of his own soul, he finds that all souls are one and can put himself with ease in the soul of an atom or of a humming bird, or he can expand his realization in another direction and know himself one with God and with all superhuman existences.

Sutra 42.

Tatra Shabda Artha Jnana Vikalpaihi Sankirna Savitarka

Tatra = ThereShabda = WordArtha = Real MeaningJnana = Knowledge Through Sense PerceptionVikalpaihi = AlternativesSankirna = Mixed Up / ConfusedSavitarka = State of samadhi

Savitarka Samadhi is that in which knowledge based only on words, real knowledge and ordinary knowledge based on sense perception or reasoning are present in a mixed state and the mind alternates between them.

The science of union is based on the development of the mental state called samadhi. This samadhi yoga is of many types. Emptying the mind from these five vrithis: Pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra, smruthayaha. So you have to free yourself from these five tendencies.

About the Patanjali yoga sutras we should understand exactly the purpose of these efforts from so many people all over the world, especially from those self realized souls whom we call as Masters or the yogis. The intention of all these is just as we are now able to understand the world with name and form by our concrete mind i.e the lower mind, the time has come in the history of the humanity to reach a state where you can use the higher mind or the abstract mind which is a process of synthesis. Akhanda mandalakaram…. Everything in the universe is bound with a very peculiar state of chittha vrithi. To acquire that chitha vrithi you have to release these five chitha vrithis. Vrithayaha panchatayyaha klishtah aklishtah. It is a painful modification of mind or non painful modification of mind. So in the lower mind, the concrete mind what we call as the swaroopa mind, you


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have only two types of modifications. The vrithi may be painful or not painful but it is never pleasurable.

In the process of search for bliss, continous source of ananda, the yogis have found that the mind can have a particular state which is known as samadhi. This samadhi state can only be acquired when you continuously practice Chitha vruthi nirodaha - The suppression, the inhibition of the lower mind. When you start suppressing these lower mind attitudes, slowly we enter into various levels of samadhi. The lowest level being what we are now discussing.

Savitarka Samadhi is that in which knowledge based only on words, real knowledge and ordinary knowledge are present in the mixed state. The Savitarka Samadhi is based on Sabdha, Artha and Jnana. These are the three attributes of Savitarka Samadhi. I am utilizing the words Shabda and Artha. The knowledge which I have acquired to the sense perception is transferd to you without you undergoing those sense perceptions. That is what teaching is. Don’t you think so about the present mode of teaching?

Shabda–Artha : and when you understand the Shabda and the Artha you will know the Gyana. The Shabda, Artha, Gyana when these three are mixed you can have a definite level of understanding. When you know exactly what I mean then you will understand exactly what I mean. But suppose I use a word which may mean something different to you then you will not get the same meaning as I would want to convey to you, that it will be a Vikalpa, an alternative mind and when such is the case you get Sankirna, mixed up.

So this state of samadhi is the samadhi which we are utilising now, in this blog or whenever we use words our mind is in Savitarka Samadhi. So don’t think that samadhi is a state which you have to acquire, you are born with it. The only thing is many times we don’t use it. This classification of samadhi will help us to understand that Savitarka Samadhi is a state of mind which we use when we are utilizing words. So all the human beings are in Savitarka Samadhi state the Scientists, the Teachers, the Learned people are in a better Savitarka Samadhi state, the higher Savitarka Samadhi state than an unread man. Therefore the present stress is on the Education because everyone wants to reach the first step of samadhi, the Savitarka Samadhi and as you have already seen it is a mixed and a confused state of mind that is what Patanjali says.

Tatra Sabhda Artha Jnyana Vikalpaihi Sankirna Savitarka


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Vikalpaihi is alternative, Sankirna means mixed. So where the word, the real meaning and the knowledge which we acquired through these words may be alternative, may be mixed up. Such a state of mind where the other Vrittis –Pramana, Viparyaya, Vikalpa, Nidra, Smruthi is absent, only you are hearing my words and you are getting knowledge out of it. You are having a tarka, a rationalization with process of reasoning. By reading books or hearing to lectures, by use of these words you are able to acquire a tremendous knowledge which scientists have acquired in hundred years of group effort in different countries. So this Samadhi is a process of understanding knowledge, acquiring knowledge without any trouble, just you use the word, you get the knowledge. This state of Savitarka Samadhi should be understood very clearly by all of us, because every human being is in Savitarka Samadhi, whether it is the higher state or lower state.

The ten sutras hence can be linked up with the ten avataras because they give the different states of Samadhi.

Always remember that Samadhi is not used for any specific state of mind, it stands for a very wide range of super conscious states. Samadhi is the doorway through which a yogi can investigate and control his consciousness. So Samadhi is a methodology of interpreting and exploring the super conscious state, the higher levels, the astral, mental, intuitional. Each state of Samadhi helps one to investigate and gain mastery on a particular inner world. Later we will come to more appropriate word samyama.

These sutras should be treated as, a sketch map of particular place. In this case it is the inner worlds, the astral, mental worlds. Previously, we discussed about samprajnata Samadhi and asamprajnata Samadhi. Samprajnata Samadhi, as described in I – 17 ‘vitarka vichara ananda asmita anugamat samprajnataha.’ These four types of samprajnata samadhis, namely:

Vitarka samprajnata Samadhi Vichara samprajnata Samadhi Aananda samprajnata Samadhi Asmita samprajnata Samadhi, are comprised as sabeeja

Samadhi.

These are called sabija samadhis because we have to penetrate deep into the realms of the inner worlds.

One point which was stressed was that the entire yoga means understanding various samadhis. We go ahead, trying to understand the sabeeja Samadhi. Here there is a ‘pratyaya’, content in mind. At


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present the pratyaya, content in your minds is the words on this paper. If you were reading chemistry, the pratyaya would be chemistry; and if you were thinking about the various aspects of engineering, then the pratyaya would be engineering. The word ‘pratyaya’ will be used frequently, so remember that it is the content of the mind at that particular moment.

At this moment the pratyaya is Patanjali yoga sutras, more specifically understanding the states of Samadhi, and still more specifically trying to understand the states of various types of samprajnata Samadhi. For example:

Vitarka samprajnata Samadhi deals with lower mental body/manomaya kosa. Vichara samprajnata Samadhi deals with causal body/vijnyanamaya kosa.Aananda samprajnata Samadhi deals with buddhic vehicle/aanandamaya kosa.Asmita samprajnata Samadhi deals with atmic vehicle/aatma.

All the educated people in the world are in samadhi state but in the state of vitarka samprajnata samadhi. This vitarka is in the entire world of name and form, the lower mental body. Everything that has a name and a form belongs to this state. If you are in the vitarka state, you can know what a word means, as and when you utter it, without reading any book. Try to understand the substance that is being penetrated into your minds. These words are like ‘beeja’. I am sowing the seeds, it will grow into a tree. The seed which is sown here is that any name can lead to a form, and any form can lead to a name. ‘pada-artha’, the name with a meaning. If you can empty your pratyaya, the content in your mind, from the vrittis known as ‘pramana, vikalpa, viparyaya, nidra and smriti’.

Whatever may be the name that you are uttering will be revealed to you in it’s full glory. That is the real reason for asking to do mantra japa.

In this vitarka Samadhi state, when you go on repeating a name it’s artha, it’s glory, it’s meaning, it’s power will be revealed to you in course of time, but when you also practice the yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana and dhyana, only then can you enter the state of Samadhi, whether it is Savitarka samprajnata Samadhi or the highest and the last one which is known as ‘dharma megha’ Samadhi.


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The nirbija Samadhi leads the yogi to the center of Divine consciousness, where only pure consciousness remains. This particular vitarka sabeeja Samadhi deals with exploration of lower mental body. Which is also known as ‘sarupa level’ of mind, that is the concrete mind, where forms are to be formed.

According to vedantic classification, Vitarka samprajnata Samadhi deals with manomaya kosa. This is a sabeeja Samadhi which deals with manomaya kosa, where the knowledge is always based on Sabdha, words, artha, the real knowledge, real meaning you acquire from the word, jnana, ordinary knowledge based on sense perception and reasoning. But this knowledge which you acquire may be a Vikalpa, a fancy, means alteration. For ex:- when I say red, I mean a particular shade of red, and you may understand it as a different shade, until you have also seen the same shade of red. Or the knowledge you acquire may be sankeerna, means mixed up and all the present day knowledge, all our degrees, all our education is this type of Savitarka Samadhi, where you get knowledge not by direct experience but by hearing. This process can lead you to a very great extent if you understand this in mantra japa, where the Shabda – Word that is the Mantra, Artha – We have our own meaning, Vikalpa and Sankeerna but we try to understand the meaning used by the Rishi, Artha given by the Rishi to that particular mantra. For Example, we chant Gayatri Mantra:

Om Bhur Buvaha Swaha Tat Savitur varenyamBhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo yonaha Prachodayat

We can understand the Rishis’s meaning to this mantra if we can cleanse and purify our mind from the five Vrittis – Pramana, Viparyaya, Vikalpa, Nidra and Smrutayaha. If we can slowly remove these mental tendencies from our daily life by practicing Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana then the Vitarka Samprajnata Samadhi which results automatically will show you the Grandeour of the mantra. Here the word is used as the beeja so it is Sabeeja Samadhi, in the lower mental body – in the manomaya kosa, the Vitarka Samprajnata Samadhi is a type of Sabeeja Samadhi where the words are utilized as beeja, then we go to a higher samadhi that is Vichara Samprajnata Samadhi. This deals with the Causal Body or the Vignanamaya Kosha and then we go to the Ananda Samadhi or Ananda Samprajnata Samadhi or Ananda Samprajnata Sabeeja Samadhi deals with the Buddhic Level or Anandamaya Kosha then we have the Asmita Asmaprgnata Samadhi or Asmita Samadhi or Asmita Asmaprajnata Sabeeja Samadhi.


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In Vichara Samadhi the seed is from the Causal Plane – the Karana Shareera – Vignanamaya Kosa. So from today you start collecting matter on these various levels of consciousness. Ananda Samprajnata Samadhi deals with the Buddhic Vehicle or Anandamaya Kosha, Asmita Samprajnata Samadhi deals with Atmic Vehicle or Atma.

When we go from one plane to another you always remember that if you are in Samadhi then you can explore the entire world of ideas or planes. For example: Utilizing Savitarka Samprajnata samadhi means shabda, artha gyana. Conveying of words without experiencing it. The word has conveyed something. The gyana may be vikalpa or sankeerna. But in samadhi state there will not be any mixing up or confusing alternatives but directly the word will reveal its true meaning. You see a leaf and a yogi sees a leaf. For a yogi it reveals its nature completely. A botanist sees it in a different angle.

Thus, the entire sutra can now be read as ‘tatra sabhda artha jnana vikalpaihi sankirna savitarka’. Thus this Samadhi is based on words, real knowledge and ordinary knowledge, either mixed up or alternative. The Samadhi we are going to in the next sutra is nirvitarka. The difference is having a pratyaya or not having it.

Sutra 43.

Smriti Parisuddhou Swarupasunya Iva Artha Matra Nirbhasa

Nirvitarka.

Smriti = MemoryParisuddhou = On ClarificationSwarupasunya = Devoid Of Self AwarenessIva = As IfArtha = True KnowledgeMatra = OnlyNirbhasa = AppearingNirvitarka = Nirvitarka

On the clarification of memory, when the mind loses its essential nature (subjectivity), as it were, and the real knowledge of the object alone shines (through the mind) Nirvitarka Samadhi is attained.

This condition is the state of "meditation without seed," free from the rational use of the mind, and its faculty to concretize. The object


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(which is brought into the mind consciousness through recollection or memory) is no longer considered, and the word which designates it and expresses its power is no longer heard. Only the idea of which the other two are expressions is realized, and the perceiver enters into the realm of ideas and of causes. This is pure contemplation, free from forms and thought. In it the perceiver looks out upon the world of causes; he sees with clear vision the divine impulses; then having thus contemplated the inner workings of the kingdom of God, he reflects back into the quiescent mental body or mind that which he has seen, and that mental body throws down the knowledge gained into the physical brain.

If you forget the meaning of a particular word, because you do not have a smrithi nothing of it is conveyed. On the purification of memory of these shabda, artha and gyana when the mind looses its own form as it were, you understand and the mind is always there. With our repeated practices of yama niyama asana pranayama pratyahara dharana dhyana we reach a higher state of samadhi which we call it as nirvitarka. Here the shabda artha and gyana are gone from the smrithi. When you have removed the mind content from the smrithis it seems as if you are devoid of self awareness. When the mind loses it’s own form, as it were, the real knowledge of the object alone shines through the mind. At that particular time you will exactly know what I am trying to say. You need not worry about the meaning that is conveyed. That is how the masters even though they do not know the various languages they understand because they are in the nirvitarka samadhi. As they are in nirvitarka samadhi they do not have to base their knowledge on shabda, artha, gyana. It seems as if the mind seems to become blank, but then the true knowledge appears.

You can understand all the languages in all the worlds. That is what Ramakrishna Paramahansa means when he said that he could understand the language of the animals. But still it is in lower levels of the mind because the name and form is there but you are not depending on it. When this state is attained, it is called Nirvitarka Samadhi. This also deals with concrete mind, but at a higher level. Here ‘smriti parisuddhou’ means the complete reduction of self-awareness by the absence of the memories, smriti of Sabdha, artha and jnana. That state appears or shines like, the swarupa sthiti, which is the final goal of all these yogic practices. But actually, this is only an appearance and in the mind, the name Sabdha, the real consciousness that the name represents artha and what the individual sadhaka sees as an object, jnana completely fade out from memory and the real knowledge of the object alone shines through the mind. This is the state where discoveries are made by the scientists.


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When the sadhaka continues his Samadhi state in nirvitarka samprajnata Samadhi, and tries to penetrate deeper, suddenly he will find that he has entered a region where there is no object to concentrate and it is as if he is completely alone, surrounded by cloud, nothing is seen or felt. Such a blank state that intervenes is known as Asamprajnata Samadhi. That is in Asamprajnata Samadhi, there is no pratyaya in the mind.

Pratyaya means the content in the mind, he enters into the causal mind, where vichara samprajnata Samadhi begins where as in the vitarka samprajnata Samadhi, the Sabdha (words), artha (meaning) and jnana (knowledge) are all mixed up in different proportions in this higher state of vichara samprajnata Samadhi. He enters the world of ideas, vichara, and all abstract ideas, without Sabdha, artha and jnana. Only ideas. In the next sutra, Patanjali deals with the all other samprajnata samadhis namely vichara, aananda, asmita, by asking us to comprehend the state of Samadhi, by individual experiences.

Sutra 44.

Etaya Eva Savichara Nirvichara Cha Sukshma Vishaya Vyakhyata.

Etaya = By ThisEva = ItselfSavichara = Involving IdeasNirvichara = Not Involving IdeasCha = AndSukshma Vishaya = Involving Still More Subtle Objects / Higher

PlanesVyakhyata = Explained

By this (what has been said in the two previous Sutras) Samadhis of Savicara, Nirvicara and subtler stages (I-17) have also been explained.

The process of perceiving an external world requires the agency of sense-organs on the physical plane, there being a separate sense-organ for contacting each Bhuta. But on the higher spiritual planes perception takes place through a single faculty which is called Pratibha and which performs the functions of all the five sense-organs in an integrated manner.

A clear grasp of this fundamental principle will help the student in understanding the role of Samadhi in this process of unveiling the


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subtler and more profound aspects of objects in the manifested Universe. Samadhi does nothing more than reverse this involution of consciousness and this evolution or unfoldment of consciousness automatically reveals the subtler aspects of these objects. What the Yogi really does is to sink deeper and deeper into his own consciousness. This brings into action the more comprehensive faculties of the increasingly subtler planes which alone can reveal the subtler aspects of objects.

As in the vitarka case, the samadhis of savichara, nirvichara and other subtler states have also been explained. It should always be remembered just as in between vitarka samprajnata Samadhi and vichara samprajnata Samadhi, the sadhaka has to go to a state of asamprajnata Samadhi, we have to pass through asamprajnata Samadhi before entering aananda samprajnata Samadhi. In anand samprajnatha samadhi we have samadhi with ananda and samadhi without ananda.

Similarly from aananda samprajnata Samadhi through asamprajnata Samadhi of that level, we reach asmita samprajnata Samadhi. We also reach another samadhi which we just cannot name. Because in that high level of atmic level in the asmitha samprajnatha samdhi we cannot understand at present what level of deep and beautiful awareness are revealed to us. The asamprajnata Samadhi through which one passes to enter the higher realms of consciousness after the asmita samprajnata Samadhi is technically known as nirbija Samadhi. The nirbija samadhi is the last one after the asmitha Samadhi(vitarka, vichara, ananda, asmitha Samadhi). After passing though this Samadhi and beyond it, one finds the highest state of Samadhi known as ‘dharmamegha samadhi’. If it helps us to understand, we can say ‘dharmamegha’ Samadhi is the Nirbija Samadhi. Thus we have the 14 samadhis in a broad generalization.

Sutra 45.

Sukshma vishayatvam cha alinga paryavasanam.

Sukshma Vishayatvam = The state of Samadhi With Subtle bjects

Cha = AndAlinga = Last Stages Of GunasParyavasanam = Extending Upto

The province of Samadhi concerned with subtle objects extends upto the Alinga stage of the Gunas.


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Patanjali here gives further classification of Samadhis, in still higher realms or worlds, the province of Samadhi concerned with subtle objects extends upto the alinga [beyond the three gunas] state of the gunas, that is where the gunas (satva, rajas, tamo) are also dissolved.The characteristics of the four states of consciousness, the stages of the Gunas and the vehicles through which these states of consciousness find expression are shown in the following table:

Let us remember Master DK’s words here that the following degrees or stages through which the sadhaka or student must pass as he penetrates into the heart of the innermost are:

1. The gross - form, bhutas, rational tangible sheaths. 2. The subtle - the nature or qualities, the tanmatras, the indriyas,

or the senses, the sense organs and that which is sensed.

These can be applied to all the planes of the three worlds with which man is concerned, and have a close relation to the pairs of opposites which he has to balance on the emotional plane. Behind all these is found that balanced state, called Pradhana, which is the cause of what is contacted physically and sensed subtly. This balanced state can well be called unresolvable primary substance, matter united with spirit, undifferentiated yet without form or distinguishing mark. Behind these three again is found the Absolute Principle but these three are all that man can know whilst in manifestation.

Sutra 46.

Ta Eva Sabija Samadhihi.


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Ta = ThoseEva = OnlySabija = with seed; having an objectSamadhihi = Samadhi.

They (stages corresponding to subtle objects) constitute only Samadhi

with ‘seed’.

An object on which Samyama is performed is technically called a ‘seed’ whether it is gross or subtle. So Sabija Samadhi may also be called objective Samadhi as opposed to Nirbija Samadhi or subjective Samadhi in which there is no ‘object’ or ‘seed’ of meditation. The Seeker Himself is the object of His search. The Seer who has gained the capacity to see truly all objects within the realm of Prakrti now wants to see Himself as He really is.

What distinguishes Sabija Samadhi from Nirbija Samadhi is therefore the presence of an object associated with Prakrti whose relative reality has to be realized. In Nirbija Samadhi, Purusa who is beyond the realm of Prakrti is the ‘objectless’ objec-tive. He is the Seeker as well as the object of the search. In Sabija Samadhi also he is really seeking Himself but a veil, howsoever thin, still obscures his vision. In Nirbija Samadhi He attempts to tear off the last veil in order to obtain a completely unobstructed vision of Himself. This is what is meant by Self-Realization.

The last four sutras have dealt with those forms of concentration which have been built up around an object. That object may concern that which is subtle and intangible from the physical plane standpoint, nevertheless (from the stand point of the real or spiritual man) the fact of the not-self is involved. He is concerned with that which (in any of its aspects) may lead him into realms which are not primarily those of pure spirit. We need, however, to remember here that all these four stages are necessary and must precede any more spiritual realization. The mind of man is not in itself so constituted that it can apprehend the things of spirit. As he passes from one stage of "seeded" meditation to another, he ever approaches nearer to the seat of all knowledge, and will eventually contact that upon which he is meditating. Then the nature of the thinker himself, as pure spirit, will be apprehended, and the steps, stages, objects, seeds, organs, forms (subtle or gross) will all be lost sight of and only spirit be known. Both feeling and mind will then be transcended and only God Himself be seen; the lower vibrations will no longer be sensed; color will no longer be seen; only light will be known; vision will be lost sight of, and the sound or word will alone be heard. The "eye of Shiva" will be left and with that the seer will identify himself.


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In the above fourfold elimination, the stages of realization are hinted at - those stages which lead a man out of the world of form into the realm of the formless. Students will find it interesting to compare the four stages whereby "seeded meditation" progresses, with the four above. It might be pointed out also that in any meditation wherein consciousness is recognized, then an object is present; in any meditation wherein the perceiver is aware of that which is to be seen, then there is as yet a condition of form perception. Only when all forms and the field of knowledge itself are lost sight of, and the knower recognizes himself for what he essentially is (being lost in contemplation of his own pure spiritual nature), can ideal, formless, seedless, objectless meditation be arrived at. It is here that the language of the occultist and mystic both fail, for language deals with objectivity and its relation to spirit. Therefore this higher condition of meditation is likened to a sleep or trance condition, but is the antithesis of physical sleep or the trance of the medium, for in it the spiritual man is fully awake on those planes which

transcend definition. He is aware, in a full sense, of his direct Spiritual Identity.

Sutra 47.

Nirvichara vaisardhye aadhyatma prasadaha.

Nirvichara = Nirvichara SamadhiVaisardhye = Refinement, ExpertiseAadhyatma = SpiritualPrasadaha = Clarity

On attaining the utmost purity of the Nirvicara stage (of Samadhi) there is the dawning of the spiritual light.

We have seen already that Sabija Samadhi begins on the plane of the lower mind and its province extends upto the Atmic plane. At which point in these successive stages of Samadhi does the light of spirituality begin to dawn in consciousness? The intellect is the separative and constrictive principle in man which distorts his vision and is responsible for the common illusions of the lower life. As long as consciousness is functioning within the realms of the intellect alone it must remain bound by those illusions. Samadhi in the realm of the intellect, while it reveals the lower aspect of the reality which is hidden behind the objects on which Samyama is performed, does not necessarily bring with it perception of the higher truths of a spiritual nature, does not for instance give a vision of the fundamental unity of life. It is conceivable, for example, that a


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scientist may discover many of the truths underlying the physical world by means of Samadhi and yet remain absolutely unaware of the deeper spiritual truths which are associated with spirituality.

In fact the black magicians who are called Brothers of the Shadow, are all Yogis who are proficient in the technique of lower Yoga and undoubtedly possess many of the lower Siddhis. But their work is confined within the realm of the intellect and they remain ignorant of the higher truths of existence. Their selfish outlook and evil ways debar them from entering into the deeper and spiritual realms of consciousness and thus acquiring true wisdom and spiritual illumination.

This Sutra points out that spiritual illumination begins to flood the mind when the Yogi has reached the last stage of Nirvicara Samadhi and is in the borderland which separates the intellect from the next higher spiritual principle, Buddhi or Intuition. In this stage the light of Buddhi which is the source of wisdom and spirituality begins to shed its radiance on the intellect. Illuminated in this manner the intellect ceases to be a slave of the lower self and becomes a willing instrument of the Higher Self working through Atma-Buddhi-Manas. For, the distortions and illusions associated with the intellect are not really inherent in this principle. They are due to the absence of spiritual illumination.

Sutra 48.

Rutambhara Tatra Prajnaha

Rutambhara = Truth Bearing Tatra = TherePrajnaha = Higher state of Consciousness.

There, the consciousness is Truth-and Right-bearing.

In the previous Sutra the stage at which the purely intellectual consciousness is converted into spiritual consciousness in Samadhi was pointed out. The present Sutra gives an important attribute of the new type of consciousness which emerges as a result of this change. This is called Rutambhara.

Universe, both seen and unseen, is a manifestation of a Divine Reality or Spirit which abides within it and is the ultimate

cause and source of all that takes place in it in terms of time and space. That Reality is referred to as Sat and Its existence in the Universe manifests in two fundamental ways. In the first place, It constitutes the truth or the very essence of all things. This is called Satyam. In the second place, It determines the ordered course of things both in their material and moral aspect. This is called Rtam.


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Satyam is thus the relative truth underlying manifestation constituting the realities of all things. Rtam is the cosmic order including all laws—natural, moral or spiritual—in their totalitywhich are eternal and inviolable in their nature. Satyam and Rtam will therefore be seen to be two aspects of Sat in manifestation, one static the other dynamic. They are inseparable and together constitute the very foundation of the manifested Universe. Rtambhara Prajna is thus that kind of consciousness which gives an unerring perception of the Right and the True underlying manifestation. Whatever is perceived in the light of this Prajna must be Right and True.

In our search for knowledge we want the truth as a whole but the intellect allows us to see only a part of the truth at a time. So the knowledge derived through the intellect is never perfect, can by its very nature be never perfect. The manner in which our intellect brings about this fragmentation of truth and prevents us from seeing things as they are is realized only when we transcend the intellect in Samadhi and penetrate into the deeper realms of consciousness lying beyond the intellect. Not only is nothing seen as a whole by the intellect, but nothing is seen in its correct perspective in its relation to other things and other truths which exist at the same time. This results in exaggerating the importance of partial truths, misusing knowledge concerning natural forces, adopting wrong means to gain right ends and so many other evils of which the modern civilization based on intellect provides so many and such glaring instances. This lack of wholeness and lack of perspective must characterize all knowledge and action based on intellect divorced from wisdom.

The knowledge obtained in Samadhi when the light of Buddhi illuminates the mind is not only free from error and doubt but also related to the underlying Cosmic Law which governs manifestation. It is based not only on Truth but also on Right. That is why the Prajna or consciousness functioning in these higher stages of Samadhi is called Rtambhara. The knowledge which the Yogi gets is not only perfectly true but he is incapable of misusing that knowledge, as knowledge obtained through the intellect alone can be misused. Life and action based on such knowledge must be righteous, and in accordance with the Great Law which governs the whole Universe.

There, in the state of very refined nirvichara Samadhi, the consciousness of truth bearing is achieved. This in Sanskrit is known as Rutumbhara Prajna. Here the truth bearing or the right bearing consciousness is achieved. Whatever you hear is true, whatever you understand is right. This is how a yogi can solve all our problems because of the ruthumbara Pragna. At the summation of the evolutionary process every form of divine manifestation must respond


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exactly to its name, or to the word which set up the original impulse and so brought a life into being. Therefore the first translation emphasizes this idea and the three factors are hinted at.

1. The idea, 2. The word, 3. The resultant form.

They also inevitably bring with them another triplicity,

1. Time which connects the three, 2. Space which produces the three, 3. Evolution, the process of production.

Sutra 49.

Sruta Anumana Prajnabhyam Anyavishaya Visesharthatvat.

Sruta = HeardAnumana = InferencePrajnabhyam = Form These Two Levels Of Higher

ConsciousnessAnyavishaya = Having Another ObjectVisesharthatvat = Because Of Having A Particular Object

The knowledge based on inference or testimony is different from direct knowledge obtained in the higher states of consciousness (I-48) because it is confined to a particular object (or aspect).

The knowledge based on inference or testimony is different from, the direct knowledge obtained in the higher states of consciousness (Ritumbhara Prajna) because it is confined to a particular object. In sutra (I –7) we have three sources of right knowledge, pratyaksha, anumana, aagama; all these three sources of right knowledge are available in the realm of intellect.

We see the Sun rising in the East every morning, moving across the sky and sinking in the West but by inference we know that this is a mere illusion and the Sun appears to move on account of the rotation of the earth on its axis. In the same way the familiar world of forms, colours etc. which we cognize with our sense-organs has no real existence. It is all a play of electrons, atoms, molecules and various kinds of energies which Science has discovered. We hardly realize what an important part inference and testimony play in our life


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until we try to analyse our ordinary knowledge and the means of obtaining it.

Knowledge on the spiritual planes beyond the intellect is based neither on inference nor on testimony but only on direct cognition. But this direct cognition, unlike the direct cognition through the sense-organs, is not subject to error and does not require correction by means of inference and testimony. In the higher realms of consciousness each object is seen not in isolation but as part of a whole in which all truths, laws and principles have their due place. The intellect is like a telescope which can be directed only on a particular star and can see it in isolation from other stars. Intuitive consciousness is like the eye which can see the whole heavens simultaneously and in true perspective. The analogy is no doubt crude but it may help the student to grasp the difference between the two types of consciousness.

The field of knowledge, the instruments of knowledge and knowledge itself are transcended and the yogi comes to the great recognition that there is nothing except God; that His life is one and is to be found pulsating in the microscopic atom and in the macrocosmic atom also. With that life he identifies himself. He finds it at the heart of his own being and can there merge himself with the life of God as it is found in the ultimate primordial atom, or expand his realization until he knows himself as the life of the solar system.

Sutra 50.

Tatjja Samskara Anya Samskara Pratibimba

Tatjja = Born Of ItSamskara = ImpressionAnya = OtherSamskara = ImpressionsPratibimba = That which stands in the way of

The impression produced by it(Sabija Samadhi) stands in the way of other impressions.

In Sabija Samadhi the Citta is always moulded upon a particular pattern, this pattern being determined by the ‘seed’ which is the object of Samyama. The control of the will over the mind is so complete that it is impossible for any external distraction to produce the slightest alternation in the impression created by the object. The nature of the object will be different according to the stage of Samadhi but an object must always be there and this prevents other ideas from taking possession of the mind. Even in daily life we see that if the mind is busy thinking deeply along a particular line it is really


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difficult for any distracting idea to enter the mind. The deeper the concentration, the more difficult is it to distract. But when the mind ceases to function under the control of the will, all kinds of ideas enter the mind. As long as you cling to a particular idea or form or seed(beeja) you find it easy. Here Patanjali is talking about concrete mind. And he says that until and unless you cross the concrete mind and enter into the nirvichara samadhi and through the asampragyatha samadhi there into the ananda samadhi state you cannot understand the truth.

This sutra also helps us understand and remove the misconception common among a certain class of over-enthusiastic aspirants that it is possible to dive directly into the realms of Reality without going through long and tedious mental discipline and acquiring the capacity to perform Samyama on any object.

When he is in the super contemplative state, he is in possession of a faculty which safeguards him from error and of a sense which only reveals to him things as they are. The conditions govering this stage might be enumerated as follows:

1. The man is polarized in his spiritual nature, 2. He recognizes himself and functions as the soul, the Christ, 3. He has the chitta or mind stuff in a state of quiescence, 4. The sutratma or thread is functioning adequately and the lower

bodies are aligned upon it, producing a direct channel of communication with the physical brain,

5. The brain is trained to serve only as a delicate receiver of truth impressions,

6. The third eye is in process of unfoldment. Later, as the centers are awakened and brought into conscious control, they place the man en rapport with the various energy septenates in the seven planes of the system, and because the truth-perceiving faculty is developed, the man is thereby safeguarded from error and from danger.

Sutra 51.

Tasya Api Nirodhe Sarva Nirodha Nirbijaha Samadhihi

Tasya = Of ThatApi = AlsoNirodhe = SuppressionSarva = AllNirodhat = By SuppressionNirbijaha = SeedlessSamadhihi = Samadhi


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On suppression of even that owing to suppression of all (modifications of the mind) ‘Seedless’ Samadhi (is attained).

Having traversed through the different stages of Samadhi right from samprajnatha vitarka, vichara, ananda, asmita through successive stages of asamprajnatha samadhis the yogi reaches the nirbeeja Samadhi state. Patanjali uses the word bija(seed) because the seed has the characteristic of growing under favorable circumstances again when provided with sufficient vrittis. Hence these are all categorized under sabija Samadhi. In the earlier stages of Samprajnata Samadhi the dropping of the ‘seed’ leads to the emergence of consciousness into the next subtler plane but after the Asmita stage has been reached and the consciousness is centred on the Atmic plane the dropping of the ‘seed’ will lead the emergence of consciousness into the plane of Purusa himself. The Light which was upto this stage illuminating other objects now illuminates Itself, for it has withdrawn beyond the realm of these objects. The Seer is now established in his own Self.

When the vibrations of sound become too rapid they appear as silence. When the vibrations of light become too fine they appear as darkness. In the same way the extremely subtle nature of this transcendent consciousness of Reality appears as a void to the mind. Hence it will be seen that Nirbija Samadhi is nothing but the last stage of Asamprajnata Samadhi.


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Sri Aurobindo

A letter to his wife Mrinalini Devi

(1905, August 30)

Note of A.B. Purani: On 30 August 1905 Sri Aurobindo wrote a letter to Mrinalini Devi. The letter is one of those which were found and taken away by the police during the search of the Grey Street house in connection with the Alipore bomb trial and afterwards produced in court. It was in this way that these intimate documents unexpectedly saw the light of day and what was intended by Sri Aurobindo to be “secret” has become public property. The letters reveal a side of his nature which had to culminate in his great spiritual work. The letter of 30 August, translated from the Bengali, is reproduced below.]

30th Aug. 1905

Dearest Mrinalini

I have received your letter of the 24th August. I am sorry to learn that the same affliction has fallen once more upon your parents. You have not written which of the boys has passed away from here. But then what can be done if the affliction comes? This is a world in which when you seek happiness, you find grief in its heart, sorrow always clinging to joy. That rule touches not only the desire of children, but all worldly desires. To offer, with a quiet heart, all happiness and grief at the feet of God is the only remedy. […]Now I will write the other thing of which I spoke before. I think you have understood by now that the man with whose fate yours has been linked is a man of a very unusual character. Mine is not the same field of action, the same purpose in life, the same mental attitude as that of the people of today in this country. I am in every respect different from them and out of the ordinary. Perhaps you know what ordinary men say of an extraordinary view, an extraordinary endeavour, an extraordinary ambition. To them it is madness; only, if the madman is successful in his work then he is called no longer a madman, but a great genius. But how many are successful in their life's endeavour? Among a thousand men, there are five or six who are out of the ordinary and out of the five or six one perhaps successful. Not to speak of success, I have not yet even entirely entered my field of work. There is nothing then for you but to consider me mad. And it is an evil thing for a woman to fall into the hands of a mad fellow. For woman's expectations are all bound up in worldly happiness and sorrow. A madman will not make his wife happy, he can only make her miserable.The founders of the Hindu religion understood this very well. They loved extraordinary characters, extraordinary endeavours, extraordinary ambitions. Madman or genius, they respected the extraordinary man. But all this means a terrible plight for the wife, and how could the difficulty be solved? The sages fixed upon this solution; they told the woman, “Know that the only mantra for womankind is this: 'The husband is the supreme guru.'[Up to this point the translation follows an early version by Barindra Kumar Ghose which was seen and revised lightly by Sri Aurobindo. The rest of the translation is new.] The wife shares the dharma [law of conduct] of her husband. She must help him, counsel


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him, encourage him in whatever work he accepts as his dharma. She should regard him as her god, take joy in his joy, and feel sorrow in his unhappiness. It is for a man to choose his work; the woman's part is to give help and encouragement.”Now, the point is this. Are you going to choose the path of the Hindu religion or follow the ideal of the new culture? Your marriage to a madman is the result of bad karma in your previous lives. It is good to come to terms with one's fate, but what sort of terms will they be? Will you also dismiss your husband as a madman on the strength of what other people think? A madman is bound to run after his mad ways. You cannot hold him back; his nature is stronger than yours. Will you then do nothing but sit in a corner and weep? Or, will you run along with him; try to be the mad wife of this madman, like the queen of the blind king who played the part of a blind woman by putting a bandage across her eyes? For all your education in a Brahmo school, you are still a woman from a Hindu home. The blood of Hindu ancestors flows in your veins. I have no doubt you will choose the latter course.I have three madnesses. The first one is this. I firmly believe that the accomplishments, genius, higher education and learning and wealth that God has given me are His. I have a right to spend for my own purposes only what is needed for the maintenance of the family and is otherwise absolutely essential. The rest must be returned to God. If I spend everything for myself, for my pleasure and luxury, I am a thief. The Hindu scriptures say that one who receives wealth from God and does not give it back to Him is a thief. So far, I have given two annas to God and used the other fourteen annas for my own pleasure; this is the way I have settled the account, remaining engrossed in worldly pleasures. Half my life has been wasted - even the beast finds fulfilment in stuffing his own belly and his family's and catering to their happiness.I have realised that I have been acting all this time as an animal and a thief. Now I realise this and am filled with remorse and disgusted with myself. No more of all this. I renounce this sin once and for all. What does giving to God mean? It means to spend on good works. The money I gave to Usha or to Sarojini causes me no regret. To help others is a sacred duty; to give protection to those who seek refuge is a yet greater sacred duty. But the account is not settled by giving only to one's brothers and sisters. In these dark days the whole country is seeking refuge at my door. I have three hundred million brothers and sisters in this country. Many of them are dying of starvation and the majority just manage to live, racked by sorrow and suffering. They too must be helped.What do you say, will you come along with me and share my ideal in this respect? We will eat and dress like ordinary men, buying only what is truly needed and offering the rest to God:this is what I propose to do. My purpose can be fulfilled, once you give your approval, once you are able to accept the sacrifice. You have been saying, “I have made no progress.” Here I have shown you a path towards progress. Will you take this path?My second madness has only recently seized me. It is this: by whatever means I must have the direct vision of God. Religion these days means repeating the name of God at any odd hour, praying in public, showing off how pious one is. I want nothing of this. If God exists, there must be some way to experience His existence, to meet Him face to face. However arduous this path is, I have made up my mind to follow it. The Hindu religion declares that the way lies in one's own body, in one's own mind. It has laid down the rules for following the way, and I have begun to observe them. Within a month I have


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realised that what the Hindu religion says is not false. I am experiencing in myself the signs of which it speaks. Now I want to take you along this way. You will not be able to keep step with me, for you do not have the requisite knowledge. But there is nothing to prevent you from following behind me. All can attain perfection on this path, but to enter it depends on one's own will. Nobody can drag you onto it. If you consent to this, I shall write more about it.My third madness is that while others look upon their country as an inert piece of matter - a few meadows and fields, forests and hills and rivers - I look upon my country as the Mother. I adore Her, I worship Her as the Mother. What would a son do if a demon sat on his mother's breast and started sucking her blood? Would he quietly sit down to his dinner, amuse himself with his wife and children, or would he rush out to deliver his mother? I know I have the strength to deliver this fallen race. It is not physical strength, - I am not going to fight with sword or gun, - but the strength of knowledge. The power of the Kshatriya is not the only one; there is also the power of the Brahmin, the power that is founded on knowledge. This feeling is not new in me, it is not of today. I was born with it, it is in my very marrow. God sent me to earth to accomplish this great mission. The seed began to sprout when I was fourteen; by the time I was eighteen the roots of the resolution had grown firm and unshakable. After listening to what my aunt said, you formed the idea that some wicked people had dragged your simple and innocent husband onto the bad path. But it was this innocent husband of yours who brought those people and hundreds of others onto that path - be it bad or good - and will yet bring thousands and thousands of others onto that same path. I do not say that the work will be accomplished during my lifetime, but it certainly will be done.Now I ask you, what are you going to do in this connection? The wife is the shakti, the strength of her husband. Will you be Usha's disciple and go on repeating the mantras of Sahib-worship? Will you diminish the strength of your husband by indifference or redouble it by your sympathy. and encouragement? You will say, “What can an ordinary woman like me do in these great matters? I have no strength of mind, no intelligence, I am afraid to think about these things.” But there is an easy way out. Take refuge in God. Enter once the path of God-realisation; He will soon make good your deficiencies. Fear gradually leaves one who takes refuge in God. And if you can put your trust in me, if you can listen to me alone and not to all and sundry, I can give you my own strength; that will not diminish my strength but increase it. We say that the wife is the husband's shakti, his strength. This means that the husband's strength is redoubled when he sees his own image in his wife and hears an echo of his own high aspirations in her.Will you remain like this for ever: “I shall put on fine clothes, have nice things to eat, laugh and dance and enjoy all the pleasures”? Such an attitude cannot be called progress. At the present time the life of women in this country has taken this narrow and contemptible form. Give up all this and follow after me. We have come to this world to do God's work; let us begin it.You have one defect in your nature. You are much too simple. You listen to anything anyone might say. Thus your mind is for ever restless, your intelligence cannot develop, you cannot concentrate on any work. This has to be corrected. You must acquire knowledge by listening to one person only. You must have a single aim and accomplish your work with a resolute mind. You must ignore the calumny and the ridicule of others and hold fast to your devotion.


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There is another defect, not so much of your personal nature, as of the times. The times are such in Bengal that people are incapable of listening to serious things in a serious manner. Religion, philanthropy, noble aspirations, high endeavour, the deliverance of the country, all that is serious, all that is high and noble is turned to ridicule. People want to laugh everything away. At your Brahmo school, you picked up a little of this fault. Bari also had it; all of us are tainted by this defect to some extent. It has grown in surprising measure among the people of Deoghar. This attitude must be rejected with a firm mind. You will be able to do it easily. And once you get into the habit of thinking, your true nature will blossom forth. You have a natural turn towards doing good for others and towards self-sacrifice. The one thing you lack is strength of mind. You will get that through worship of God.This is the secret of mine I wanted to tell you. Do not divulge it to anybody. Ponder calmly over these matters. There is nothing to be frightened of, but there is much to think about. To start with, you need do nothing but meditate on the Divine each day for half an hour, expressing to Him an ardent desire in the form of a prayer. The mind will get prepared gradually. This is the prayer you are to make to Him: “May I not be an obstacle in the path of my husband's life, his aim, his endeavour to realise God. May I always be his helper and his instrument.” Will you do this?

Yours


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