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by
Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL
No. 131
December : 2011
CHAPTER 131
PATANJALIYOGASUTRA YOGA – THE SURE WAY TO HAPPINESS
Based on lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty
Yoga is the craze of the world today. There was a time when most people understood the meaning and benefits of yoga and made yoga an integral part of living. As the pressures of the material world went on increasing, it started losing its appeal and attention. As a result, the level of discontent, misery and unhappiness increased.
Now it is the same pressures is pushing people back to yoga for solutions to the problems of life. That is the real appeal of yoga.
Thousands of years back our ancient sages of sanAtanphilosophy, through their personal practice and experience were convinced of the benefits of a yogic way of life. For the benefits of the common man, sages like Patanjali codified the yogasAdhanA for everyone to be able to practice it. HisastAnga yoga still stands out as the most authoritative scripture on yoga in practice.
As an assistance to our new found interest in Yoga we begin to understand his Yogasutras, their isoteric meaning and purpose as a sure way to regain happiness.
We shall begin discussions on Patanjali Yogasutras with the following Shantimantra:
Om ApyAantu mamAngAni vak prAnah chaksyuh sotram athah balam indriyAni ca sarvAni.
Sarvam brahma upanishadam
mAham Brahma nirAkuryAm
mA mA Brahma nirAkarot
anirAkaranam astu
anirAkaranam me astu
tat Atmani nirate ya upanishadsu dharmAste mayi santu
te mayi santu
Om Shantih shantih shantih.
Since we shall be repeating this mantra in all discussions on the yogasutra, it will be pertinent to understand what this mantra is saying.
The IsavAsya Upanishad which we finished discussions proclaimed the truth that sarvam idam Brahma. Everything around in this creation is verily Brahman. Other Upanishads in the Vedas also reassert this great truth. So our objective is to realize this Brahman. But to realizeBrahman the soul has to make preparations without whichBrahman cannot be reached. Yoga is nothing but this preparation to realize Brahman. That is the real objective and there exists no other alternative to liberation.
So the shantimantra says:
May my limbs and all other physical faculties like speech, breath, eyes, ears become perfectly strong. Since the Upanishads advise that Brahman is everything, I shall never reject Brahman. May Brahman also never ever reject me. I shall never vever reject Brahman. Remaining devoted to Atman who is Brahman may I excel in dharma.
There lies the peace.
Now, you are all welcome to our next series of discussions on Patanjali Yogasutras.
There is a good reason as to why we are taking a temporary break from our study of Upanishads to take up Yoga sutras. Sri Aurobindo once observed that “the Upanishads bring us close to the theoretical side of Jnanakanda of the Vedas. Its practical and more valuable side can only be mastered in the path of Yoga.” The real benefit lies when the jnAna (knowledge)from jnAnakanda is practiced through yoga. The proof of the pudding is in eating as they say.
In our Sanatan philosophy while analyzing the process ofJnanayoga, a view which has been strongly established is the difference between acquiring of knowledge and realization of knowledge through practice of that knowledge. As we all agree, mere knowledge gathering from our scriptures and our teachers has very little meaning unless the truth behind the knowledge is realized in our antahkarana. Only then it will go to purify our body, mind and the ego-self. With that process of purification the real spiritual development takes place towards our ultimate goal ofSatchidAnanda.
If the yoga of acquiring knowledge or swadhyayana is difficult, the process of its realization and self purification is still many times more difficult and requires greater efforts on the part of sAdhaka. That is the operative part of ofJnAnayoga. After all the first need for knowledge is to translate it into our very life, thereby regulating all our actions and thoughts. What good it is if we have one mindset while listening to satsangs like this and then behave so very differently once we move out? Our soul remains neither purified nor realized.
The process of Yoga or engagement with Brahman, has to be a holistic approach. Earlier if you remember, we have understood that all of us are multidimensional entities. And therefore the realization and purification to be effective, the process has to take place at all dimensions of our existence, i.e physical mental and psychical. That is sanAtanphilosophy’s holistic approach.
Knowing the profound objective of yoga and its multilevel benefits at all stages of its practice, it is but natural that many misconceptions about yoga have crept in. In the path of yoga there are benefits in every single step one takes. A childlike mind gets easily elated, thinking ‘Ah! This is it’. Some of these misconceptions are because of partial understanding and some of these are deliberate and mischievous by people dictated by their own interests. The cause behind the worldwide commercialization of yoga is this.
The first controversy is ‘which faith can legitimately claim as the originator of the science of yoga? Does Yoga runs counter to any faith?
This is a pointless controversy
Sanatan philosophy is the original comprehensive philosophy on spiritualism. When the world has not woken up to the level of consciousness of the creator and the creation, sanatan philosophy was there as the highest achievement of the human wisdom.
The central pivot of the philosophy of Sanatan dharma isBrahman or Satchidananda in all its gamut and ramifications. The Sanskrit word Yoga simply means linking or joining.
Linking with whom? The answer is, with Brahman. The true meaning of yoga is union with Brahman and the practice to achieve that.
The words Hindu or Hinduism were coined much later to identify regionally the group of people who practicedsanatan dharma. (They do not find mention in any of the original scriptures.) In that context Sanatan philosophy ,Hinduism and Yoga can not be spoken of unconnected with each other.
‘Sanatan’ implies ever-existing, universal, applicable to all. It is so universal that no matter what faith one may follow it lends its appeal.
Also although sanatan philosophy, Hinduism and yoga all originated and gifted out from this part of the globe(India, Bharat, Hindustan call as you like) they are the heritage of the entire mankind. Instead of being proud of this fact, one should speak of it with great humbleness. After all, the knowledge preached by sanatan philosophy is not claimed by any personality. It is called aparusheya. It directly flowed from Brahman for the benefit of the entire mankind- nay the entire creation as a whole. Sanatan philosophy believes that every soul is a yogi and all life is yoga.
Another mis-conception is that yoga is all about physical culture, removal of disease and physical discomforts through physical work outs. This idea is so appealing to general public that some yoga teachers concentrate only on this and have made it very commercial.
Yoga is a holistic approach towards the only objective of our existence which is realizing the absolute truth of things and the permanent bliss that results from this realization. In the process, every dimension of our existence physical mental and psychic is purified. Dwelling on only one aspect with a narrow view point, acts as a deterrent to the main objective.The only purpose of yoga is realization of Brahman. As we said earlier, the Sanskrit word Yoga simply means joining or linking with Brahman who is your ultimate goal. When yoga is used for physical or even mental exercise only, it is a narrow view point. It brings benefits but not its fulfillment. You eat dinner for the enrichment and support of your body. That is the purpose. But before dinner you clean your hands and body that may get rid of germs and harmful dirt, that is preparation for dinner but that is not dinner yet. You take appetizers that may stimulate stomach secretion for proper digestion and makes you feel good, but that is not dinner yet. The ultimate action has to be providing food for the body.Yama, dama, asana, pranayama etc.all bring benefits but are only preparations of body and mind for Brahman realization. Dhyana, dharana, Samadhi are the real achievements of Yoga. All yoga practices must necessarily move towards that end. This is easily achievable by practice.
The same thing can be said about people who practice yoga to attain some extraordinary powers to obtain dominance over other people for their own benefit. This is popularly known as siddhis.
A true sadhak does not aspire for the so called siddhi when the true meaning and purpose of sadhana is well understood.
When the sanatan philosophy gifted to the mankind the gift of yoga, its only purpose was to assist man in his total development in all aspects and dimensions of his existence. A mere prowess in any single dimension, whether physical, mental or even knowledge – often known as ‘siddhi’s, and dependence on this limited gain, is absolute foolishness.Siddhis are even harmful in the long run as they only boost one’s ego.
Siddhis are only side effects of meditation and tapasya. It is true that many of us remain happy in acquiring a certain degree of physical prowess and mental will. In our ignorance we mistake it to be great spiritual achievement and stay put there for long period of time. At this juncture we are under the influence of asuric or demoniacal qualities of strongrajasik nature. In a manner of speaking we live like asuras. Many of us waste away our entire life living like asurasbeing content with some achievements of physical yoga and mental discipline. We live as asuras and die as asuras.
If the tapasya is to achieve some intermediary prowess for any kind of desire ridden personal benefit, then the same fire eventually destroys the jiva.
After all Ravana, Hiranyakashipu, Bhasmasura etc. were also great tapasvis and acquired great prowess for themselves. But they were not Brahman conscious souls and therefore considered as inferior human beings until the true Brahmanconsciousness dawned on them.
Apart from the fact that these are impermanent, they also do not give peace of mind because when we lose them we feel miserable. They do not help greatly in our development process. They are also degrading and pull us down. They aretrishnAtmaka. The thirst never gets satiated.
Yoga is a serious exercise and requires clear headed discipline. That is why beginners find it so difficult. But those who submit themselves to a disciplined life style soon find out the benefits at every stage of life.
Thus the first sloka of Patanjali yoga sutra begins with:
Atha yoganusAsanam defining from the outset that yoga isanusAsana – a strict discipline.
The biggest obstacle for all beginners of yoga is a wandering mind. Like a child it cannot stay put on a single thought and keeps on hopping from one thing to another. To fix the mind back to yoga these wanderings have to be curbed. So the second sloka says:
Yogah chittavritti nirodhah. –discipline over the vrittis ofchitta.
What is chittavritti? When the mind receives any input from the sense organs that we have, i.e. the eyes get attracted to something, the ears hear something, nose smells something, like a child our undisciplined mind immediately desires to possess it without thinking of any consequences. It then proposes this desire to the viveka or intellect and theahamkAra or the ego-self. The job of viveka is to analyse whether to go after the object, will be beneficial or harmful, and accordingly advises the ego-self. But if the viveka is weak in its discerning power, it cannot give the right advice or resist the temptation to run after it. This is chittavritti. The ego-self acts, moves away from everything else and chases this new object. The result is not always desirable and beneficial. The yoga strengthens the power of vivekaand a strong viveka refrains the ego-self from running after everything and anything. But a yogi with a strengthenedviveka does not fall into this trap. Eventually this becomes a habit and filters the undesirable chittavrittis out of the system leaving the jiva a master of his own mind. Through yoga, one achieves this mastering. The yoga sutras then go deeper in anlysing the various chittavrittis which influence our mind.
Amongst the obstacles in the path of yoga, chittavritti or desires of the mind are the most difficult to overcome. Therefore Patanjali has analysed the origin and nature ofchittavritti to arrive at a solution. This he states in the next ten sutras (from sutra 6 to 15).
If one critically analyses, it will be seen that all our mental preoccupations fall into five distinct catagories.
pramAna- viparyaya- vikalpa- nidrA- smrtayah (sutra 6)
These being the:
The direct ones, indirect ones, imagined ones, the ones arising out of lethargy and inertia, and finally the unsatiated desires from the past. PramAna- viparyaya- vikalpa- nidrA- smrtayah (sutra 6)}
Firstly: pratyaksha anumAna AgamAh pramAnani (sutra 7)
Most desires crop up when our physical sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin- come in direct contact with the sense objects. Everybody is aware and prone to this kind of desires that straightway influence the mind. You get automatically drawn to those objects and move away from your yoga.
What the eyes see, ears listen, skin feels etc, mind dwells in that and the concentration is broken.
Secondly: viparyayah mithyajnAnam tat rupa pratistham. (sutra 8)
Some desires crop up which have no basis of truth, such as rumors, hearsay, soothsayers’ predictions about impending calamities etc. We hear so many disaster predictions of astrological and astronomical nature like crash of heavenly bodies, end of this world etc. and keep worrying which make meditation and yoga practice almost impossible.
Then there is the third kind which we simply imagine without any verification of facts:
sabdajnAna anupAti vastu sunyah vikalpa. (sutra 9)
We imagine that our child or a loved one might meet with an accident, or your spouse is being unfaithful, or someone is plotting to harm you etc. are examples of disturbing mental imaginations of this kind. When we are too much infatuated with something or someone, we keep imagining worst fears concerning that. Obviously the mind remains preoccupied with that and not in yoga.
Then we have the fourth kind, which are due to simply inertia and lethargy, when the mind shuns all actions similar to going to sleep. This is the state of incoherence without any relationship with the surroundings, a state of non- functioning of the brain. It is rightly said that a lazy and inactive mind is the devils workshop. Such a mind can hardly stay in yoga. Thus the sloka says:
abhAva- pratyayAlambanA vritti nidrA. (sutra 10)
We now come to the last and the fifth kind of thoughts arising out of unfulfilled desires from the past. Normally dormant but they crop up now and then especially when influenced by external circumstances or observing someone else’s conditions. All of us harbor unfulfilled desires from the past which for some reason could not be fulfilled or achieved. They often flash in our mind disturbing our mental conditions. Thus the sutra says:
Anubhuta visaya asampramosah smrtih (sutra 11)
These five kinds of mental conditions will never allow us to sit in meditation and do yoga. It is necessary to banish them from the mind so that mind can concentrate on Brahman.
The purpose of analyzing so elaborately the chittavrittis is to emphasize the fact that ordinarily the mind gets attached easily to these wasteful aberrations and therefore gets distracted from attachment to Brahman which is the real purpose of yoga. Since that is not desirable, these have to be blocked from the mind.
But the big question is how to do it! This we shall take up next.
