Portion of Yoga-Sūtras
Sādhana Pāda
themes:
surrender, burn out impurities, accepting pain as purification
synopsis:
tells the student not to get frightened, rather to prepare oneself by laying proper foundation and gradually building the level of seedless contemplation is reached
aim of this portion -- explore different kinds of thought forms, the practices to control them, along with describing ways of superconscious experience
Portion on Practice
Tapaḥ svādhyāyeśvarapraṇi dhānāni kriyā yogaḥ.
Samādhi bhāvanārthaḥ kleśa tanūkaraṇārthaś ca.
Avidyāsmitā rāga dveṣābhiniveśāḥ kleśāḥ.
Avidyā kṣetram uttareṣām prasupta tanu vicchinnodārāṇām.
Vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭ ākliṣṭāḥ.
Anityāśuci duḥkhānātmasu nitya śuci sukhātmakhyātir avidyā.
Dṛg darśana śaktyor ekātmatevāsmitā.
Sukhānuśayī rāgaḥ.
Duḥkhānuśayī dveṣaḥ.
Svarasavāhī viduṣo’pi tathā rūḍho’bhiniveśaḥ.
Te pratiprasavaheyāḥ sūkṣmāḥ.
Dhyānaheyāstadvṛttayaḥ.
Kleśa mūlaḥ karmāśayodṛṣṭādṛṣṭa janma vedanīyaḥ.
Sati mūle tad vipākojātyāyur bhogāḥ.
Te hlāda paritāpa phalāḥ puṇyāpuṇya hetutvāt.
Pariṇāma tāpa saṃskāra duḥkhair guṇa vṛtti virodhāc ca duḥkham eva sarvaṃ vivekinaḥ.
Heyaṃ duḥkham anāgatam.
Draṣṭṛ dṛśyayoḥ saṃyogo heya hetuḥ.
Prakāśa kriyā sthitiśīlaṃ bhūtendriyātmakaṃ bhogāpavargārthaṃ dṛśyam.
Viśeṣāviśeṣa liṇgamātrāliṇgani guma parvāṇi.
Draṣṭā dṛśimātrḥ śuddho’pi pratyayānupaśyaḥ.
Tadartha eva dṛśyasyātmā.
Kṛtārtham prati naṣṭam apyanaṣṭam td anya sādhāraṇatvāt.
Sva Svāmi śaktyoḥ svarūpopalabdhihetuḥ saṃyogaḥ.
Tasya heturavidyā.
Tad abhāvāt saṃyogābhāvohānam tad dṛśeḥ kaivalyam.
Vivekakhyātiraviplavā hānopāyaḥ.
Tasya saptadhā prāntabhūmiḥ prajñā.
Yogāṇgānuṣṭhānād aśuddhi kṣaye jñānadīptir ā vivekakhyāteḥ.
Yama niyamāsana prāṇāyāma pratyāhāra dhāraṇā dhyāna samādhayo’ ṣṭāvaṇgāni.
Ahiṃsā satyāsteya brahmacaryāparigrahā yamāh.
Jāti deśa kāla samayānavacchinnāḥ sārvabhaumā mahāvratam.
Śauca saṃtoṣa tapaḥ svādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ.
Vitarka bādhane pratipakṣabhāvanam.
Vitarkā hiṃsādayaḥ kṛta kāritānumoditā loba krodha moha pūrvakā mṛdu madhyādhimātrā duḥkhājñānānanta phalā iti pratipakṣa bhāvanam.
Ahiṃsā pratiṣṭhāyām tat saṃnidhau vaira tyāgaḥ
Satya pratiṣṭhāyām kriyāphalāśrayatvam.
Asteyapratiṣṭhāyām sarvaratnopasthānam.
Brahmacarya pratiṣṭhāyām vīryalābhaḥ.
Aparigrahā sthairye janmakathaṃtā saṃbodhaḥ.
Saucāt svāṇgajugupsā parairasaṃsargaḥ.
Sattvaśuddhi saumanasyaikāgryendriyajayātmadarśana yogyatvāni ca.
Saṃtoṣādanuttamaḥ sukhalābhaḥ.
Kāyendriya siddhiraśuddhikṣayāt tapasaḥ.
Svādhyāyādiṣṭadevatāsaṃprayogaḥ.
Samādhisiddhir īśvarapraṇidhānāt.
Sthira sukhamāsanam.
Prayatna śaithilyānanta samāpattibhyām.
Tato dvandvānabhighātaḥ.
Tasmin sati śvāsapraśvāsayorgativicchedaḥ prānāyāmaḥ.
Bāhyābhyantara staṃbhavṛttirdeśakāla saṃkhyābhiḥ paridṛṣṭo dīrghasūkṣmaḥ.
Tataḥ kṣīyate prakāśāvaraṇam.
Dhāraṇāsu ca yogyatā manasaḥ.
Svaviṣayāsaṃprayoge cittasvarūpānukāra ivendriyāṇām pratyāhāraḥ.
Tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām.
Accepting pain as help for purification, study of spiritual books and surrender to the Supreme Being constitute Yoga in practice.
They help us minimize obstacles and attain samādhi.
Ignorance, egoism, attachment, hatred and clinging to bodily life are the five obstacles.
Ignorance is the field for the others mentioned after it, whether they be dormant, feeble, intercepted or sustained.
Ignorance is regarding the impermanent as permanent, the impure as pure, the painful as pleasant and the non-Self as the Self.
Egoism is the identification, as it were, of the power of the Seer (Puruṣa) with that of the instrument of seeking [body-mind].
Attachment is that which follows identification with pleasurable experiences.
Aversion is that which follows identification with painful experiences.
Clinging to life, flowing by it own potency [due to past experiences], exists even in the wise.
In subtle form, these obstacles can be destroyed by resolving them back into their primal cause [the ego].
In the active state, they can be destroyed by meditation.
The womb of karmas (actions and reactions) has its root in these obstacles, and the karmas bring experiences in the seen [present] or in the unseen [future] births.
With the existence of the root, there will be fruits also: namely, the births of different species of life, their life spans and experiences.
The karmas bear fruits of pleasure and pain caused by merit and demerit.
The one of discrimination, everything is painful indeed, due to its consequences: the anxiety and fear over losing what is gained, the resulting impressions left in the mind to create renewed cravings; and the constancy conflict among the three guṇas, which control the mind.
Pain that has not yet comes avoidable.
The cause of that avoidable pain is the union of the Seer (Puruṣa) and the Seen (Prakṛti or Nature).
The seen is of the nature of the guṇas: illumination, activity and inertia; consists of the elements and sense organs, whose purpose is to provide both experiences and liberation to the Puruṣa.
The stages of the guṇas are specific, non-specific, defined and undefinable.
The Seer is nothing but the power of seeing which, although pure, appears to see through the mind.
The seen exists only of the sake of the Seer.
Although destroyed for one who has attained liberation, it [the seen] still exists for others, being common to them.
The union of the Owner (Puruṣa) and Owned (Prakrit) causes the recognition of the nature and powers of them both.
The cause of this union is ignorance.
Without this ignorance, no such union occurs. This is the independence of the Seer.
Uninterrupted discriminative discernment is the method for its removal.
One’s wisdom in the final stage is sevenfold. [One experiences the end of 1) the desire to know anything more; 2) the desire to stay away from anything; 3) the desire to gain anything new; 4) the desire to do anything; 5) sorrow; 6) fear; 7) delusion.]
By the practice of the limbs of Yoga, the impurities dwindle away and there dawns the light of wisdom, leading to discriminative discernment.
The eight limbs of Yoga are:
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Yama (abstinence)
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Niyama (observance)
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Āsana (posture practice)
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Prāṇāyāma (breath control)
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Pratyāhāra (sense withdrawal)
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Dhāraṇā (concentration
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Dhyāna (meditation)
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Samādhi (contemplation, absorption, superconscious state).
Yama consists of nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-greed.
These great vows are universal, not limited by class, place, time or circumstance.
Niyama consists of purity, contentment, accepting but not causing pain, study of spiritual books and worship of God [self-surrender].
When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite [positive] ones should be thought of. This is pratipakṣa bhāvana.
When negative thoughts or acts such as violence, etc. are done, caused to be done or even approved of—whether incited by greed, anger or infatuation—whether indulged in with mild, medium or extreme intensity, they are based on ignorance and bring certain plain. Reflecting upon this is also pratipakṣa bhāvana.
In the presence of one firmly established in nonviolence, all hostilities cease.
To one established in truthfulness, actions and their results become subservient.
To one established in non-stealing, all wealth comes.
By one established in continence, vigor is gained.
When non-greed is confirmed, a thorough illumination of the how and why of one’s birth comes.
By purification arises disgust for one’s own body and for contact with other bodies.
Moreover, one gains purity of sattva, cheerfulness of mind, one-pointedness, mastery over the senses and fitness for Self-realization.
By contentment, supreme joy is gained.
By austerity, impurities of body and sense are destroyed and occult powers gained.
By study of spiritual books comes communion with one’s chosen deity.
By total surrender to God, samādhi is attained.
Āsana is a steady, comfortable posture.
By lessening the natural tendency for restlessness and by meditating on the infinite, posture is mastered.
Thereafter, one is not disturbed by the dualities.
That [firm posture] being acquired, the movements of inhalation and exhalation should be controlled. This is prānāyāma.
The modifications of the life-breath are either external, internal or stationary. They are to be regulated by space, time and number and are either long or short.
There is a further kind of prānāyāma that occurs during concentration on an internal or external object.
As its result, the veil over the inner Light is destroyed.
An the mind becomes fit for concentration.
When the senses withdraw themselves from the objects and imitate, as it were, the nature of the mind-stuff, this is pratyāhārah.
Then follows supreme mastery over the senses.