Patanjali Yoga Sutras- Sadhana Pada

Sadhana pada which deals with Practice

• 1st sutra. Tapahsvadhyayeshvarapranidhanani kriyayogah

The organs are the horses, the mind is the reins, the intellect is the charioteer, the soul is the rider, and this body is the chariot. The master of the household, the king, the self of man, is sitting in this chariot. If the horses(organs) are very strong, and do not obey the reins(mind), if the charioteer, the intellect, does not know how to control the horses, then this chariot(body) will come to grief. But if the organs, the horses, are well controlled, and if the reins, the mind, are well held in the hands of the charioteer, the intellect, the chariot, reaches the goal.

Holding the reins firmly while guiding this body and mind: not letting the body do anything it likes, but keeping them both in proper control. Study of those books which teach the liberation of the soul. Books are infinite in number, and time is short; therefore this is the secret of knowledge, to take that which is essential. Take that out, and then try to live up to it. There is an old simile in India that if you place a cup of milk before a Raja Hamsa (swan) with plenty of water in it, he will take all the milk and leave the water. In that way we should take what is of value in knowledge, and leave the dross. All these intellectual gymnastics are necessary at first. We must not go blindly into anything.

The Yogi has passed the argumentative stage, and has come to a conclusion, which is like the rocks, immovable. Do not argue, he says. If one forces arguments upon you, be silent. Do not answer any argument, but go away free, because arguments only disturb the mind. Every argument throws his mind out of balance, creates a disturbance in the chitta, and this disturbance is a drawback. These argumentations and searchings of the reason are only on the way. There are much higher things behind them. The whole of life is not for schoolboy fights and debating societies. By “surrendering the fruits of work to god” is to take to ourselves neither credit nor blame, but to give both up to the Lord, and be at peace.

Patanjali's Kriya Yoga consists of self-control, self-restraint, self-study and self-surrender. In Indian philosophy in general tapa is called ascetic practices, for example on certain occasions we will observe fasting. But Vyasa with a deep spiritual he insight very quick to emphasize one point and he says this ascetic practices should not be done in such a way that the serenity of the mind is disturbed. It should not disturb or affect or in any way reduce our inner tranquility and peace. The only purpose of asceticism is to keep our physical energy and mental energy in balance. If our physical energy exceeds the ability of the mind then it leads to physical restlessness. This ascetic practices, these disciplines help us to create new samskaras, new impressions, new vrittis, new attitudes so that we will be able to do good things, will be able to undertake noble activities without any internal conflict.

Kriya Yoga involves Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, selfless activity and also the art of transforming our physical energy into spiritual energy. The first sign that mind is changing is you feel a kind of tranquility, we feel less disturbance and less inner conflict. We'll be able to restrain our senses, we should be able to focus on something that is higher than the senses.

• 2nd Sutra. Samadhibhavanarthah kleshatanookaranarthashch

Most of us make our minds like spoiled children, allowing them to do whatever they want. Therefore, it is necessary that there should be constant practice of the previous mortifications, in order to gain control of the mind, and bring it into subjection. The obstructions to Yoga arise from lack of this control, and cause us pain. They can only be removed by denying the mind, and holding it in check, through these various means.

We all think that this physical body is only thing to be cared for, we should never imagine that this physical identity the only identity that we have got. Yoga sutra mentions that you should have attachment to a higher idea, we should identify ourselves with that higher idea and we should try to keep away things that could become problematic.

• 3rd Sutra. Avidyasmitaragadveshabhiniveshah kleshaah

The pain-bearing obstructions are – ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. These are the five pains, the fivefold tie that binds us down. Of course ignorance is the mother of all the rest. She is the only cause of all our misery. What else can make us miserable? The nature of the soul is eternal bliss. What can make it sorrowful except ignorance, hallucination, delusion; all this pain of the soul is simply delusion.

Clinging to life is constant fear of losing our life, fear of death. Even a worm that is just born shows a tendency to run away from a possible danger. In the same way a man is afraid of losing his money because losing money can eventually lead him to pain grief, sufferings which may eventually take him to further pains and eventually the greatest pain loss of life. There is a great story from Mahabharata where Yudhisthira was asked a question by Yaksha and the condition was if he could answer all the questions he'll be able to save his brothers. Question is what is the most mysterious wonderful thing in this world? So the answer is every day, every minute somebody or something leaves his body means somebody is dying. Every day, every minute either some worms, ants, cockroaches, insects, human beings just disappear- will die. But every living being thinks that he will not die anytime, he will live till eternity, this is the most wonderful mysterious thing in this whole universe. If a person feels that if I fall sick, I may die, if I become poor if I lose my money that may quickly shorten my lifespan. That's because that person has experienced death sometime in the past, unless he has experienced that in previous life he will not be afraid of death. Constant memory from previous life is haunting him that is the real reason, that is the mother of all anxieties worries and problems. Its like a river flowing endlessly, so actually this is carried forward from life to life.

• 4th Sutra. Avidya kshetram uttareshan prasuptatanuvichchhinnodaranam

• 5th Sutra. Anityashuchiduhkhanatmasu nityashuchisukhatmakhyatiravidya

Ignorance or avidya is breeding ground for all other klayshas. Avidya is our absence of true knowledge. We wrongly identify ourselves with our mind our body and intellect forgetting that behind and beyond all these there is one eternal immortal reality that is Atman. Avidya is mistaking the non-eternal for the eternal, impure for the pure, the painful for the joyful and non-self as self. Yoga philosophy looks upon human body as something filthy dirty. In fact Yoga and Vedanta both agree on certain points that is if you look upon physical body as the only and the most wonderful thing in this world you're wrong; you're equally wrong if you neglect the physical body. This physical body is the most important the most effective instrument in our hands for doing dharma, for going beyond the phenomenon beyond material, beyond the physical. If we look at life as a whole from a purely materialistic point of view it is always possible for us to make this mistake- we may mistake the right for the wrong and the wrong for the right. According to Patanjali system experience may be gone but it has shown a seed in our mental system and that means this system is the repository of all impressions, memories, and tendencies that tendency will remain later on it could be after several years and according to Yoga maybe after several life cycles. Many of us has strong likes and dislikes with their roots in previous life those tendencies are deposited in karma. If a person feels a strong inclination towards spirituality it is a proof that the person has prayed or meditated or read mystical books, spiritual books or and develop a real sincere earnest desire for spiritual life sometime in the past, it could be in any religious tradition and that person takes birth after several life cycles in another culture.

When a person is reborn again his mind, his chitta, his mental world is full of good samskaras, healthy samskaras and if he's walking in front of a place where meditation is taking place you may feel like stepping into that place and if samskaras are strong it may be the beginning of a new practice every day he will start coming to the same place to meditate. Suppose in a school if a student suddenly shows extreme interest and familiarity or is able to quickly grasp what you're teaching there are many ways of explaining that, Yoga sutra will tell you that person studied and become familiar with this subject in previous life cycles. If you move away from something that has given unpleasant experience sometime in the past, of course you will have the tendency to avoid those situations in this life cycle. If our mental system has a rich deposit of the negative tendencies when they express themselves strongly and even if you are intellectually convinced that what we are doing is not the right thing to do, it will bring only problems for us still we won't be able to do the right thing; that's because the previous samskaras are so strong, it has deeper layers in the mental world. Mind is compared to lake having different layers. At the deeper level there are many layers of dust and bacteria, you think of a lake with 100 feet 5 feet pure water on the surface but 95 feet it's no use, if you dig little deeper then you get an unpleasantness. Using Patanjali system we can change our destiny, we can change our character we can start a new psychological life new spiritual life any day any moment. The most important aspect of this kriya yoga is at the physical level. We have a lot of freedom at the physical level but we do not have the same amount of freedom in the intellectual level or mental level; mind doesn't always listen to us but at the physical level we have more freedom more autonomy. If you're going to read a book, you'll be able to read only when your mind is ready to read. Often we are not able to do what we want to do, mind will create a obstacle.

Even if you're a total non-believer, if you don't believe in anything other than body mind complex, if you are just a layman who is not at all interested in anything transcendental Yoga sutra will give you a correct understanding of what our true personality is, you don't have to be a spiritual aspirant to understand that. Yoga sutra tells us that what goes into flames when people die is only one tiny insignificant aspect. Yoga sutra reveals to you a different world of a true personality, something remains when the body comes to an end. Life doesn't begin with being born in a hospital bed and being burnt out or disappearing into a tube in the crematorium. That is only a very minor and very insignificant part of our existence, but death is only a comma or a semicolon it's not a full stop. Once Sri Ramkrishna was asked on how to deal with these disturbing thought currents that emerge in the mental system; how can they destroy them? his reply was you cannot destroy them but you can certainly handle them; you can turn them into something creative and constructive, then they become as good as completely subdued or as they become completely neutralized.

Those who are highly advanced spiritual persons in their minds this avidya and all the klashyas they're all in a dormant condition. Prasupta means these tendencies are sleeping, they're dormant, they are as good as ineffective, non-functional through long years of different life cycles or continued Yoga practice. All the avidhya extreme likes and dislikes and fear and anger and anxiety and worry and happiness all these are completely dormant they can never come to the surface of the mind again. When we are aware of the possibility of these tendencies in our mind then they will not express it. Yoga can be broadly defined as an effort to put ourselves in some kind of self-restraint or self-control.

The body has got nine openings and anything that comes out of the nine openings you have to wash your hands.

When we say in the mind I'm thinking I'm happy, I'm unhappy, I love this person, I hate this person, I don't like this or I like this all this these are examples of this false identification. When I see something I identify myself as I the seer of that and when I hear something I identify myself as the one who hears that. So this identification creates a lot of similar identifications and false understandings or false notions.

• 6th Sutra. Drigdarshanashaktyorekatmatevasmita

The seer is really the self, the pure one, the ever holy, the infinite, the immortal. That is the self of man. And what are the instruments? The chitta, or mind-stuff, the buddhi, determinative faculty, the manas, or mind, and the indriyan, or sense organs. These are the instruments for him to see the external world, and the identification of the self with the instruments is what is called the ignorance of egoism. We say, “I am the mind, I am thought; I am angry, or I am happy.” How can we be angry, and how can we hate? We should identify ourselves with the self; that cannot change. If it is unchangeable, how can it be one moment happy, and one moment unhappy? It is formless, infinite, omnipresent. What can change it? Beyond all law. What can affect it? Nothing in the universe can produce an effect on it, yet, through ignorance, we identify ourselves with the mind-stuff, and think we feel pleasure or pain.

When we really face a problem we lose our balance, we become mentally frustrated or devastated, become too anxious and worried and concerned. Then that's that's a real problem which is a much greater than original problem. We are identifying ourselves to be as the one single person going through this problem and not only that we look upon this problem as something eternal permanent and everlasting. When we identify ourselves as this body mind complex then that problem will be misconstructed or misunderstood to be as something permanent something everlasting and once we get stuck at this level thinking that this problem is going to be there all the time then we are lost. But if you can think of this unpleasant situation as something that comes and goes which is part of the empirical experience, which is not eternal and my losing balance is just the result of this false identification then we'll be able to detach ourselves from this problem.

• 7th Sutra. Sukhanushayi raagah

We find pleasure in certain things, and the mind, like a current, flows towards them, and that, following the pleasure center, as it were, is attachment. We are never attached to anyone in whom we do not find pleasure. We find pleasure in very queer things sometimes, but the definition is just the same; wherever we find pleasure, there we are attached.

• 8th Sutra. Duhkhanushayi dveshah

That, which gives us pain we immediately seek to get away from.

• 9th Sutra. Svarasavahi vidushopi tatharoodho bhiniveshah

Klashyas may be translated in some of the books as afflictions or sufferings. Whatever we do any kind of physical activity, any verbal activity a thought we think, all this will come to an end; when that activity is over apparently, but really speaking the activity doesn't end there it lives in our mental system, a residual effect which is technically called vritti. That memory of that activity continues to influence our actions our thoughts and deeds and words; so there is a connecting bridge between that memory that is left behind and also its consequence, not necessarily in this life even the succeeding life cycles. It could be in the form of suffering or it could be in the form of afflictions.

One may ask this question that we can just concentrate on on the present day life, if you concentrate too much on today and now then there will be no end to problems, if you can look behind and through some apparent experience then only we get an explanation.

Animals, birds, different creatures and also human beings they are born with certain tendencies; but they are not taught these tendencies they are not a result of any study that's what we call instinct. Instinct is according to Yoga nothing but recapitulation(summarising) of previous experience; the instinct doesn't fall from the sky it doesn't originate in a vacuum, instinct is nothing but practiced art that they have experienced in previous life. Extreme liking for certain things, extreme dislike for certain things and extreme fear of certain things, extreme infatuation of certain things and all are originating from our own wrong perception of our own true identity that is asmita. All these can be eradicated, can be undone through counter evolution that is the meaning of pratiprasava, prasava means taking birth.

• 10th sutra. Te pratiprasavaheyah sookshmah

Through meditation these tendencies that are creating problems for us can be neutralized can made non-functional at the higher stage of meditation not immediately, still they remain as tendencies and they become completely eradicated. A seed that is being burnt is not different from a piece of stone; a piece of stone cannot become a plant, it cannot sprout so also a seed that is burnt cannot sprout.

• 11th sutra. Dhyanaheyatatvrittayah

Swamiji says the every spiritual seeker who has started his journey in search of his highest spiritual goal will have to relive and re-experience all his previous life cycles not physically tendencies; impressions, vasanas, samskaras all will emerge in the mental system and by the practice of meditation.

When you try to meditate when you practice kriya yoga we become aware of our own emotions so those emotions actually get weakened. Because when we are aware of the fact that we are getting angry, then also we will think should I really get angry, can I avoid getting angry. Because you are not fully identified with anger, so anger doesn't possess you. We are able to detach ourselves from suffering anger.

What happens is a wiser personality begins to emerge in our mind and as we continue practicing spiritual disciplines this wiser personality the second personality becomes more powerful and eventually the lesser personality merges with the higher personality.

Normally when we do any kind of activity- physical activity, mental activity or verbal activities it creates a vritti and that vritti becomes a samskara and samskaras get deposited in the chitta. The more powerful samskaras are deposited in the karmasia, the other samskaras are the top layer of the mental lake.

Whenever we confront a similar situation these vrittis will re-emerge and we will have a tendency to repeated action. If the action is accompanied by a pleasant result we will try to do it raga, if it produces an unpleasant result it is dwesha or if it has produced a very a frightening experience abhinivesha. Raga, dwesha, abhinivesa they re-emerge in the form of klayshas and they remain deposited mentally. But at the beginning of a spiritual life through kriya yoga we can reduce the vrittis into the subtle form and then these subtle forms can be further weakened and eradicated by meditation.

• 12th Sutra. Kleshamoolah karmashayo drishtadrishtajanmavedaniyah

Karmasia is nothing but the repository of all the deep-rooted samskaras which are not necessarily experienced in this life which are kept in the deeper lower layers of the mental world.

If you have done something very noble or if you have done something extremely bad, I mean extreme kinds of samskaras will manifest immediately in this life, other samskaras may wait for the next life. If you have done some very good actions then the beneficial result will emerge in this life itself similarly if you had done some very bad action then also it's bad consequence will have to bear in this life. If our life is long enough the results of extremely good and bad actions we have to enjoy or suffer in this life itself otherwise it would be postponed next life. Karmasiya literally means a place where the karmas remain in latent or hidden conditions.

• 13th Sutra. Sati moole tadvipako jatyayurbhogah

When there is certain changes in our attitudes or behavior patterns like a sudden shift this happens because of the fruition, the manifestation of certain samskaras. As long as these samskaras are there in our system there will be reincarnation rebirth then there will be life there will be good experiences and bad experiences.

• 14th Sutra. Te hladaparitapafalah punyapunyahetutvat

They means new life cycles rebirth(jatya) then again life(Ayu) and again experiences(Bhoga) both good and bad experiences; these are all caused by punya and apunya means good actions and bad actions.

• 15th Sutra. Parinamatapasanskaraduhkhairgunnavrittivirodhaccha duhkham eva sarvam vivekinah

In the Gita there is a slok which says that whatever you think at the time of death that thought will influence your next life. We cannot go on doing undesirable things and then imagine we'd be able to think some noble thoughts at the time of death it doesn't happen, it cannot happen because at the time of death our natural tendencies is what we have already deposited in the mental system, they will express themselves. We will not be able to think a noble thought if you have not led a noble life, so the totality of all good and bad actions will express themselves at the last moment.

When everything is going on well for us suppose there is no problem, no worldly problems even then we feel very strong feeling of incompleteness that is what is called parinama dukkha. So it's not misery, though the word is translated in the English as sorrow. What dukkha means is it a feeling of incompleteness and that happens only to a person who is spiritually evolved.

A worldly person enjoys first and suffers later, when he has got something to enjoy then he enjoys, when he loses the object of his enjoyment then he suffers. But a spiritually evolved person suffers even now, even when everything in the worldly sense is going on well. If a person has a feeling of incompleteness in his mind I want something higher, I want something more transcendental that feeling of incompleteness is called dukkha and that feeling of incompleteness of inner imperfection helps that person to evolve in his or her spiritual life.

If you have a blazing fire you cannot put out the fire by pouring ghee on it because it will only further inflame the fire. Similarly by enjoying more you cannot get out of the entanglement of enjoyments, the desire for enjoyment will only increase. What is needed is one should be able to understand the limitation of enjoyments and then one becomes aware of the incompleteness, the imperfection. One becomes aware of the fact that worldly enjoyments cannot bring us lasting peace. So there are two factors one is a feeling of incompleteness secondly a quest for something higher so these two combined together is called parinama dukkha.

Kriya yoga is austerity, reading or listening to auspicious sounds and then resigning to god.

When a person completely surrenders himself to god what happens is- emotions and feelings and ideas his actions his thoughts all with these vasanas get a spiritual orientation so that's what is actually happening in what you call spiritual transformations. When everything is left to god what happens is immediately a heavy weight is lifted of our shoulders.

Parinama dukkha- I am getting all this but there is an end to all this so I don't need this even when it is available. The ability to say no, I don't need it that is parinama dukkha. This transformative feeling of incompleteness of worldly desires happens to spiritual seekers who are higher, who are evolved.

Tapa dukkha- Enjoyment of pleasure creates raga and obstruction to this enjoyment and pressure creates dwesha, kind of bitterness anger. When there is an obstruction from seeking this objective enjoyment what happens is people work along the path of adharma which leads to papa karma. These undesirable actions create a deposit of unhealthy samskaras, vasanas and it is called papa karma. And it is said that these extreme likes and dislikes, extreme hatred and extreme infatuation and consequent actions will create a store house of klaysha samskaras and they go on chasing our life, they may not manifest in this life but they will certainly manifest in another life. We see some people are not very good people apparently but they get a lot of wonderful things, their appearance and behavior they don't seem to be very good people but they accomplish a lot. Yoga psychology will tell you that person must have done something very good in his previous life, he has a huge storehouse of punya karma as a result this person is having a good time in this life. Buddha in each of his 543 previous life cycles did something auspicious, some good actions. Tapa dukkha is unavoidable for everyone.

Samskara dukkha is caused by vasana. Vasanas means some kind of impressions left behind by previous experiences of sukha or a thirst for enjoyment.

Sukha is something that satisfies our present thirst or desire and when that desire is available we feel a kind of satisfaction that is happiness or sukkah. According to Vyasa this sukkah this enjoyment cannot come to an end, it's just like by having more and more enjoyment, you cannot exhaust because the senses and mind always go in search of newer and newer kinds of happiness and enjoyment. That thirst, that desire never comes to an end. So happiness and desire is something that really cannot be exhausted it goes on moving forward and it drags our mind into various directions.

The 3 gunas-

Tama guna- A person who is relatively lazy inactive, given to easy way of life relaxation doesn't have any ambition because he's very lazy he's not willing to do anything that is an example tama guna. If a person has no ambition no sense of purpose in life not very active, not interested in study, intellectually dull, physically lazy without any purpose , slow it's an example of tama guna.

Raja guna is higher than tama guna. If you are ready to be active, you are ready to take risk and your flamboyant enthusiastic full of ambitions is an example of raja guna.

Sattva guna is very abstract. If you know a lot about many things or you are a very rich person but you don't make a show of it but if necessary you are ready to use it; you have a lot of resources, you don't make a show, if you make a show you become the raja guna you are measured balanced person that is called sattva guna, it is related to maturity wisdom.

Under the influence of these three gunas the mind is constantly changing and so apart from these three types of dukkha mentioned above what happens is ambitions, feelings, desires, different moods keep coming and going in the mental system. So sometimes a person may be in a very peaceful state of mind sometimes he may be totally restless or maybe dull. As a result what happens you know there is a conflict among these gunas it's called kind of change of mood or mood swings we may call it gunavritti virodha.

• 16th Sutra. Heyan duhkham anagatam

Heyan means something to be destroyed to be got rid of. It is to get rid of the suffering which is yet to come.

The chain of sufferings that already begun should be worked out through our own experiences. Yoga disciplines, Yoga techniques, Ashtanga Yoga all these are meant to help us to avoid problems which have not arrived so that we'll be able to live with wisdom and emotional maturity. According to Yoga these disciplines will help us to avoid creating new vrittis, new samskaras and at the same time of course through the practice we will be able to transcend the existing vrittis.

The four factors in Ayurveda we should remember disease, cause of the disease, freedom from disease that is getting rid of this disease and then the remedy that is medicine. Vyasa says there are four sections in Yoga. Samsara is nothing but the round of painful births and deaths. If you think about the meaning of life is suffering and enjoyment and again suffering and enjoyment this is an endless cycle of birth life death and rebirth. It's like an endless flow, it is full of pain means a feeling of inadequacy, a feeling of incompleteness, a feeling of imperfection.

• 17th Sutra. Drashtridrishyayoh sanyogo heyahetuh

What is to be avoided is the intersection between the seer and seen.

Who is the seer? The self of man, purusha. What is seen? Prakriti- The whole of nature, beginning with the mind down to gross matter. All pleasure and pain arises from the confluence between purusha and the mind. The purusha is pure, when it is joined to nature and by reflection it appears to feel either pleasure or pain.

Purusha is consciousness and prakriti on the other hand is consists of three gunas which is the diversity of our psychological temperaments.

Why we are sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy, sometimes confused, sometimes relaxed elevated all these feelings will come due to the interplay of these three gunas. Our intelligence, our senses of perception, senses of action, intellect all these are different evaluates of this prakriti. We have made this tremendous blunder of self-hypnotism and we should de-hypnotize ourselves means we should become aware of our true identity.

• 18th Sutra. Prakashakriyasthitishilam bhootendriyatmakan bhogapavargarthan drishyam

What is the purpose of the whole of nature? That the purusa may gain experience. The purusa has, as it were, forgotten its mighty, godly nature. There is a story that the king of gods, Indra once became a pig, he had a she pig and a lot of baby pigs and was very happy. Then other gods saw this and came to him and told him; You are the king of the gods, all the gods are at your command, why are you here? But Indra said Let me be, I am all right here, I do not care for the heavens while I have the wife and these little pigs. The poor gods were at their wits end on what to do. They decided to slowly come and slay the pigs one by one. When all were dead Indra began to weep and mourn. Then the gods ripped his pig body open and he came out of it, and began to laugh and realized what a unpleasant, ugly dream he had, to think that the pig life was the only life. Not only that, but he wanted the whole universe to come into the pig life. The purusa when it identifies itself with nature, forgets that it is pure and infinite. The purusa does not live, it is life itself. It does not exist, it is existence itself. The soul does not know, it is the knowledge itself. It is an entire mistake to say that the soul lives, or knows, or loves. Love and existence are not the qualities of the purusa, but its essence. When they get reflected upon something you may call them the qualities of that something. But they are not the qualities of the purusa, but the essence of this great atman, the infinite being, without birth and death, who is established in his own glory, but appears as if lost until you approach and tell him. Thus with us all in this maya, this dream world, where it is all misery, weeping and crying, where few golden balls are rolled and the world scrambles after them. You are never bound by laws, Nature never had a bond for you. This is what the yogi tells you have patience to learn it. And the yogi shows how, by bonding with this nature, and identifying itself with the mind and the world, the purusa thinks itself miserable. Then the yogi goes on to show that the way out is through experience. You have to get all this experience, but finish it quickly. We have placed ourselves in this net, and will have to get out. We have got ourselves caught in the trap, and we will have to work out our freedom. So get this experience of husbands and wives, and friends, and little loves, and you will get through them safely if you never forget what you really are. Never forget this is only a momentary state, and that we have to pass through it. Experience is the one great teacher - experiences of pleasure and pain - but know they are only experiences, and will all lead, step by step, to that state when all these things will become small, and the purusa will be so great that this whole universe will be as a drop in the ocean, and will fall off by its own nothingness. We have to go through these experiences, but let us never forget the ideal.

• 19th Sutra. Visheshavisheshalinggamatralinggani gunnaparvani

The system of Yoga is built entirely on the philosophy of the Sankhyas. According to Sankhyas, nature is both the material and efficient cause of this universe. In this nature there are 3 sorts of materials the Sattva, the Rajas and the Tamas. The tamas is all that is dark, all that is ignorant and heavy, and the rajas is activity. The sattva is calmness, light. When nature is in the state before creation, it is called avyaktam, undefined or indiscrete, that is in which there is no distinction of form or name, a state in which these materials are held in perfect balance. Then the balance is disturbed, these different materials begin to mingle and the result is this universe. In every man also these three materials exist. When the sattva material prevails, knowledge comes. When the rajas material prevails activity comes and when the tamas prevail darkness comes and laziness, idleness, ignorance. According to Sankhya theory, the highest manifestation of this nature consisting of these 3 materials is what is called mahat, or intelligence, universal intelligence and each human is part of that cosmic intelligence. Then out of that mahat comes the mind. There is a sharp distinction between manas, the mind function and the function of the buddhi intellect. The mind function is simply to collect and carry impressions and present them to the buddhi, the mahat and the buddhi determine upon it. So out of mahat comes mind and out of mind comes fine material and this fine material combines and becomes the gross material outside, the external universe. Beginning with the intellect and coming down to a block of stone all has come out of the same thing. The buddhi is the finest state of existence of the materials, and then comes ahamkara, egoism, and next to the mind comes fine material which they call tanmatras, which cannot be seen but which are inferred. These tanmatras combine and become grosser, and finally produce this universe. The finer is the cause the grosser the effect. It begins with the buddhi, which is the finest material and goes on becoming grosser and grosser until it becomes the universe. According to Sankhya, beyond the whole of this nature is the purusa, which is not material at all. Purusa is not at all similar to anything else, either buddhi, or mind or the tanmatras, it is entirely separate, entirely different in its nature, the purusa must be immortal, because it is not the result of combination. These purusas or souls cannot die.

Now we shall understand the general truth, that the states of the qualities are defined, undefined and sign less.

By the defined it means the gross elements, which we can sense.

By the undefined is meant the very fine materials, the tanmatras, which cannot be sensed by ordinary men. If you practice Yoga after a while your perception will become so fine that you will actually see the tanmatras. Every man has a certain light about him; every living being is emanating certain light and this can only be seen by a yogi. We all don't see it, but we are all throwing out tanmatras, just as a flower spreading fragrance. Every day of our lives we are throwing out a mass of good or evil, and everywhere we go the atmosphere is full of these materials. If any man who has not much sattva in him goes to a holy place, the place will influence him and arouse his sattva quality.

The difficulty with mankind is that they forget the original meaning and put the cart before the horse. It was men who made these places holy and then the effect became the cause and made men holy. It is not the building, but the people, that make temples, and that is what we always forget. That is why sages and holy persons who have so much sattva quality, are emanating so much of it around them and exerting a tremendous influence day and night on their surroundings. Whoever comes in contact with that man becomes pure.

Last is the sign less. There is great debate between religion and modern science. Religion has the idea that this universe comes out of intelligence. Intelligence is the first in the order of creation and out of intelligence comes the gross matter. Modern science and philosophers say that intelligence is last to come. They say the unintelligent things slowly evolve into animals and from animals slowly evolve as humans. Though both the statements are directly opposite to each other, are true. Take an infinite series of A-B-A-B. The question is which is first A or B. If you take the series as A- then A is first, but if you take it as B- then B is first. It depends on the way you are looking at it. The Sankhyas and all religionist put intelligence first and the series becomes intelligence then matter. The scientific man says matter then intelligence. But they both are indicating the same infinite chain. Indian philosophy however goes beyond intelligence and matter, and finds a purusa, or self, which is beyond all intelligence, and of which intelligence is but the borrowed light.

• 20th Sutra. Drashta drishimatrah shuddhopi pratyayanupashyah

Like a magnet attracts iron pieces similarly the mind attracts sense objects and helps purusa in enjoying them. Purusa connects with the objective world with magnetic power called mind.

So our mind attracts whatever it comes in contact with; when I see something we feel attracted, we may not get it but the attraction creates a tendency an impression and that will remain, the desire to get it is enough for the mind to be colored.

According to Sankhya philosophy from the lowest form up to intelligence all is nature, but beyond nature are purusas (souls), and these have no qualities. Then how does the soul appear to be happy or unhappy? By reflection. Just as if a piece of pure crystal be put on a table and a red flower be put near it, the crystal appears to be red, so all these appearances of happiness or unhappiness are but reflections; the soul itself has no sort of coloring. The soul is separate from nature; nature is one thing, soul another, eternally separate. The Sankhyas say that intelligence is a compound, that it grows and shrinks, that it changes, just as the body changes, and that its nature is nearly the same as that of the body. As a fingernail is to the body, so is body to intelligence. The nail is a part of the body, but it can be cut off hundreds of times, and the body will still last. Similarly, the intelligence lasts eons, while this body can be pared off, thrown off. Yet intelligence cannot be immortal, because it changes, growing and shrinking. Anything that changes cannot be immortal. Certainly intelligence is manufactured, and that very fact shows us that there must be something beyond that, because it cannot be free.

Who is free? That free one must certainly be beyond cause and effect. If you say that the idea of freedom is a delusion, I will say that the idea of bondage is also a delusion. Two facts come into our consciousness, and stand or fall by each other. If we want to go through a wall, and our head bumps against that wall, we are limited by that wall. At the same time we find will, and think we can direct our will everywhere. At every step these contradictory ideas are coming to us. We have to believe that we are free, yet at every moment we find we are not free. The yogi says both are true; that we are bound so far as intelligence goes, that we are free as far as the soul is concerned. It is the real nature of man, the soul, the purusa, which is beyond all law of causation. Its freedom is filtering through layers and layers of matter, in various forms of intelligence, and mind, and all these things. It is its light which is shining through all. Intelligence has no light of its own.

Each organ has a particular center in the brain; it is not that all the organs have one center; each organ is separate. Why do all these perceptions harmonies, and where do they get their unity? If it were in the brain there would be one centre only for the eyes, the nose, the ears, while we know for certain that there are different centres for each. But a man can see and hear at the same time, so a unity must be at the back of intelligence. Intelligence is eternally connected with the brain, but behind even intelligence stands the purusa, the unit, where all these different sensations and perceptions join and become one.

Soul itself is the centre where all the different organs converge and become unified, and that soul is free, and it is its freedom that tells you every moment that you are free. But you mistake, and mix that freedom every moment with intelligence and mind. You try to attribute that freedom to the intelligence, and immediately find that intelligence is not free; you attribute that freedom to the body, and immediately nature tells you that you are again mistaken. That is why there is this mixed sense of freedom and bondage at the same time.

The yogi analyses both what is free and what is bound, and his ignorance vanishes. He finds that the purusa is free, is the essence of that knowledge which, coming through the buddhi, becomes intelligence, and, as such, is bound.

• 21st Sutra. Tadarth eva drishyasyatma

Three unique gifts from god is-

Being born as a human being

Being born as a human being with a spiritual aspiration for liberation

Privilege or opportunity to connect with people who will remind you of this higher possibility. The whole world is for us not to enjoy nor to suffer but to transcend go beyond.

• 22nd Sutra. Kritartham prati nashtam apyanashtam tadanyasadharannatvat

Though destroyed for him whose goal has been gained, yet is not destroyed, being common to others.

The whole idea of this nature is to make the soul know that it is entirely separate from nature, and when the soul knows this, nature has no more attractions for it. But the whole of nature vanishes only for that man who has become free. There will always remain an infinite number of others, for whom nature will go on working.

• 23rd Sutra. Svasvamishaktyoh svaroopopalabdhihetuh samyogah

Junction is the cause of the realization of the nature of both the powers, the experienced and its lord.

According to this phrase, when this soul comes into conjunction with nature, both the power of the soul and the power of nature become manifest in this conjunction, and all these manifestations are thrown out. Ignorance is the cause of this conjunction. We see every day that the cause of our pain or pleasure is always our joining ourselves with the body. If I were perfectly certain that I am not this body, I should take no notice of heat and cold, or anything of the kind.

This body is a combination. It is only a fiction to say that I have one body, you another, and the sun another. The whole universe is one ocean of matter, and you are the name of a little particle, and I of another, and the sun of another. We know that this matter is continuously changing, what is forming the sun one day, the next day may form the matter of our bodies.

• 24th Sutra. Tasya heturavidya

Ignorance is its cause.

Through ignorance we have joined ourselves with a particular body, and thus opened ourselves to misery. This idea of body is a simple superstition.

It is superstition that makes us happy or unhappy. It is superstition caused by ignorance that makes us feel heat and cold, pain and pleasure. It is our business to rise above this superstition, and the yogi shows us how we can do this.

It has been demonstrated that, under certain mental conditions, a man may be burned, yet, while that condition lasts, he will feel no pain. The difficulty is that this sudden upheaval of the mind comes like a whirlwind one minute, and goes away the next. If, however, we attain it scientifically, through Yoga, we shall permanently attain to that separation of self from the body.

• 25th Sutra. Tadabhavat sanyogabhavo hanan taddrisheh kaivalyam

There being absence of that (ignorance) there is absence of linking, which is the thing-to-be-avoided; that is the independence of the seer.

According to this Yoga philosophy it is through ignorance that the soul has been joined with nature and the idea is to get rid of nature's control over us. That is the goal of all religions.

Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal.

Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or by philosophy, by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion.

Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details. The yogi tries to reach this goal through psychic control.

Until we can free ourselves from nature we are slaves; as she dictates so we must go. The yogi claims that he who controls mind controls matter also. The internal nature is much higher that the external, and much more difficult to grapple with, much more difficult to control; therefore, he who has conquered the internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his servant. Raja Yoga propounds the methods of gaining this control. Higher forces than we know in physical nature will have to be subdued. This body is just the external crust of the mind. They are not two different things; they are just as the oyster and its shell. They are but two aspects of one thing; the internal substance of the oyster is taking up matter from outside, and manufacturing the shell. In the same way these internal fine forces which are called mind take up gross matter from outside, and from that manufacture this external shell, or body. If then, we have control of the internal, it is very easy to have control of the external. Then again, these forces are not different. It is not that some forces are physical, and some mental; the physical forces are but the gross manifestations of the fine forces, just as the physical world is but the gross manifestation of the fine world.

• 26th Sutra. Vivekakhyatiraviplava hanopayah

The means of destruction of ignorance is unbroken practice of discrimination.

This is the real goal of practice - discrimination between the real and unreal, knowing that the purusa is not nature, that it is neither matter nor mind, and that because it is not nature, it cannot possibly change. It is only nature which changes, combining, and recombining, dissolving continually.

When through constant practice we begin to discriminate, ignorance will vanish, and the purusa will begin to shine in its real nature, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.

• 27th Sutra. Tasya saptadhaa prantabhoomih prajna

His knowledge is of the sevenfold highest ground.

When this knowledge comes, it will come, as it were, in seven grades, one after the other, and when one of these has begun we may know that we are getting knowledge. The first to appear will be that we have known what is to be known. The mind will cease to be dissatisfied. While we are aware of thirsting after knowledge we begin to seek here and there, wherever we think we can get some truth, and, failing to find it we become dissatisfied and seek in a fresh direction. All search is vain, until we begin to perceive that knowledge is within ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help ourselves. When we begin to practice the power of discrimination, the first sign that we are getting near truth will be that that dissatisfied state will vanish. We shall feel quite sure that we have found the truth, and that it cannot be anything else but the truth. Then we may know that the sun is rising, that the morning is breaking for us, and, taking courage, we must persevere until the goal is reached.

The second grade will be that all pains will be gone. It will be impossible for anything in the universe, physical, mental, or spiritual, to give us pain. The third will be that we shall get full knowledge, that omniscience will be ours. Next will come what is called freedom of the chitta. We shall realise that all these difficulties and struggles have fallen off from us. All these vacillations of the mind, when the mind cannot be controlled, have falled down, just as a stone falls from the mountain top into the valley and never comes up again. The next will be that this chitta itself will realise that it melts away into its causes whenever we so desire. Lastly we shall find that we are established in our self, that we have been alone throughout the universe, neither body nor mind was ever connected with us, much less joined to us. They were working their own way, and we, through ignorance, joined ourselves to them. But we have been alone, omnipotent, omnipresent, ever blessed; our own self was so pure and perfect that we required none else. We required none else to make us happy, for we are happiness itself. We shall find that this knowledge does not depend on anything else; throughout the universe there can be nothing that will not become effulgent before our knowledge. This will be the last state, and the yogi will become peaceful and calm, never to feel any more pain, never to be again deluded, never to touch misery. He knows he is ever blessed, ever perfect, almighty.

• 28th Sutra. Yogangganushthanad ashuddhikshaye jnanadiptira vivekakhyateh

By the practice of the different parts of Yoga the impurities being destroyed knowledge becomes effulgent, up to discrimination.

Now comes the practical knowledge.

What we have just been speaking about is much higher. It is way above our heads, but it is the ideal. It is first necessary to obtain physical and mental control. Then the realisation will become steady in that ideal. The ideal being known, what remains is to practise the method of reaching it.

• 29th Sutra. Yamaniyamasanapranayama pratyaharadharanadhy anasamadhayo-a-shtava anggani

Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratya hara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, are the 8 limbs of Yoga.

• 30th Sutra. Ahinsasatyasteyabrahmacharyaparigraha yamah

Non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving, are called Yama.

A man who wants to be a perfect yogi must give up the sex idea. The soul has no sex; why should it degrade itself with sex ideas? Later we shall understand better why these ideas must be given up. Receiving is just as bad as stealing; receiving gifts from others.

Whoever receives gifts, his mind is acted on by the mind of the giver, so that the man who receives gifts becomes degenerated. Receiving gifts destroys the independence of the mind, and makes us mere slaves. Therefore, receive nothing.

• 31st Sutra. Jatideshakalasamayanavachchhinnah sarvabhauma mahavratam

These practices, non-killing, non-stealing, chastity, and non-receiving, are to be practiced by every man, woman and child, by every soul, irrespective of nation, country or position.

• 32nd Sutra. Shauchasantoshatapahsvadhyayeshvarapranidhanani niyamah

Internal and external purification, contentment, mortification, study, and worship of god, are the Niyamas.

External purification is keeping the body pure; a dirty man will never become a yogi. There must be internal purification also. That is obtained by the first-named virtues. Of course internal purity is of greater value that external, but both are necessary, and external purity, without internal, is of no good.

• 33rd Sutra. Vitarkabadhane pratipakshabhavanam

A person who practices Yamas and Niyamas properly is accumulating the fuel with which he can continue his journey right up to the stage of samadhi. You become a man of better judgment, you get an uplifting of consciousness and you feel a kind of purification of our emotions and attitudes and more importantly a sense of freedom from negative tendencies.

Thoughts which are obstruction to Yoga, opposite thought needs to be brought.

First one is anger, bitterness once we can understand this is a negative tendency and become aware of the fact that we are becoming unnecessarily angry then with that realization the anger goes down.

The second one is egoism we should remember it is not self-confidence. Then there is maya, lobha, a tendency to depend upon others being a parasite, blindly following something or somebody without making use of our own judgement, moha being in a state of delusion, dukkha, grehna disgust towards something or somebody, depression. Actually it violates the basic principle of modern economy and commerce.

• 34th Sutra. Vitarkaa hinsadayah kritakaritanumodita lobhakrodhamohapoorvaka mridumadhyadhimatra duhkhajnananantafala iti pratipakshabhavanam

If I tell a lie, or cause another to tell a lie, or approve of another in doing so, it is equally sinful. If it is a small lie, its still a lie. Every vicious thought will rebound, every thought of hatred that you thought is stored up and will one day come back to you with tremendous power in the form of some misery. If you project all sorts of hatred and jealousy, they will rebound on you with compound interest. No power can stop them, when you put them in motion, you will have to bear them. Remember this and prevent self from doing wicked things.

• 35th Sutra. Ahimsapratishthayam tatsannidhau vairatyagah

If we get the idea of non injuring others , before him even animals which are by nature ferocious will become peaceful.

• 36th Sutra. Satyapratishthayam kriyafalashrayatvam

By the establishment of truthfulness, the yogi gets the power of attaining for himself and others the fruits of work, without the works. When the power of truth will be established within you then even in dream you will never tell untruth, in thought, word or deed; whatever you say will be truth. You may say a man Be blessed and Be cured and he will be blessed and cured immediately.

If you practice certain higher spiritual disciplines then things will be added to you, you will get things without going in search of them. You call it miracle but Patanjali's approach is he doesn't believe in miracles, he sees and observes and finds a cause effect link, all because of the pure life.

• 37th Sutra. Asteyapratishthayam sarvaratnopasthanam

By the establishment of non-stealing which means not having a desire, all wealth comes to the yogi, when a person is running away from power, power comes to him; when a person doesn't want reputation the reputation comes to him. The more you fly or run away from nature the more she follows you, and if you do not care for her at all she becomes your slave.

• 38th Sutra. Brahmacharyapratishthayam viryalabhah

By the establishment of sexual restraint energy is gained. A person who is not having intention or not having sexual nature has tremendous energy, gigantic will power, without that there can be no mental strength. It gives wonderful control over self. A yogi must be content.

• 39th Sutra. Aparigrahasthairye janmakathantasanbodhah

When the yogi does not receive presents or gifts from others he does not have the duty to someone in return of this, he becomes independent and free, and his mind becomes pure, because with every gift he receives all the evils of the giver, and they come and lay coating after coating on his mind, until it is hidden under all sorts of coverings of evil. If he does not receive the mind becomes pure, and the first thing he gets is memory of past life. Then alone the yogi becomes perfectly fixed in his ideal, because he sees that he has been coming and going so many times, and he becomes determined that this time he will be free, that he will no more come and go, and be the slave of Nature.

If you get respect, honor from everyone then your good karmas your good actions your good merits of your previous life cycles a fraction of it will be transferred to the account or the person who respects you and if somebody dishonors you then that person's good karma will be transferred to you this is a central principle. That's why people in ancient times are very eager to serve and help holy men.

If you hurt a person, do harm and if he suffers the sufferings will create a vibration and the vibration will have it's entity, it will follow you unless you neutralize it by doing something good to neutralize the bad effects of a bad action.

According to Patanjali system as there are so many layers on the surface of the lake so we are not able to see the bottom layer, when we are able to clean the upper layers then you will be able to see the solid rock bottom of the lake. Let us look upon our own mind as a lake having many layers of water, the surface the water is not very clean so we are not able to see far deep into the bottom of the lake.

• 40th Sutra. Shauchat svanggajugupsa parairasansargah

It is impossible for anyone to keep the body eternally clean with a single birth but there is another kind of purity purification that we should aspire for that is internal purification. It doesn't mean that we should not observe and follow the fundamental principles of cleanliness.

Let's consider a person practices Yamas and Niyamas at his best and then suddenly if his life comes to an end before he attains his highest spiritual goal does it mean that his whole effort will go waste? Yoga says and Vedanta says it doesn't go waste so you can find this frequently in many instances sometimes 4,5 year old children are suddenly manifesting extraordinary powers aesthetic powers.

If a person has a spiritual attitude but did not get enough recognition for his skills he may not be a big saint but he's certainly a great person no doubt then what happens in his next life he'll be born in a set of circumstances where things will automatically come to him instead of without his making in a lot of effort to acquire them.

• 41st Sutra. Sattvashuddhisaumanasyaikagryendriyajayatmadars hanayojnatvani cha

There also arises purification of the sattva, cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of the organs, and realization of the self.

By this practice the sattva material will prevail and the mind will become concentrated and cheerful. The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When a man is depressed or frightening that may be indigestion. A pleasurable feeling is the nature of the sattva. Everything is pleasurable to the sattvika man and when this comes know that you are progressing in yoga. All pain is caused by the tamas, you must get rid of that, ill temperament is one of the result of tamas. The strong, well knit, the young, the healthy, the daring alone are fit to be yogis. To the yogi everything is bliss. Misery is caused by sin, and by no other cause. If you have a clouded face do not go outside, shut yourself up in room. We have no right to carry the disease to the world. When your mind has become controlled, you will have control over the whole body, instead of being a slave to the machine, the machine will be your slave. Instead of this machine being able to bring the soul down, it will be a helpful companion.

Many people fall sick because they suppress all the emotions inside and they have to smile all the time so this contradiction actually creates a lot of tension; on the other hand if there is total transparency between what we feel within and what we express outside then there is letting go for tension and conflict and anxiety.

Ekagra actually means pointedness, an ability to concentrate on anything without effort. We all can concentrate with the great effort but a yogi will be able to concentrate without any effort, the effortless skill to concentrate on anything that's a result of internal purity, mental purity because there are no contradictory thoughts or conflicting ideas.

A sense of peace, a sense of contentment, an ability to remain even-minded without being shaken by a tragedy or by an unpleasant event or the tendency to get overjoyed when something pleasant happens the ability to keep in equilibrium, a sense of balance internal balance of the mind that is the idea behind.

• 42nd Sutra. Santoshad anuttamah sukhalabhah

When a person tries to practice Yamas and Niyamas he will naturally start feeling a kind of inner contentment and that contentment will create a tranquility and peace in his mind, so naturally his physical expressions become more even. So it is the physical aspect that normally will attract the attention of others but gradually such a person will start manifesting a deeper and more psychological aspects. A spiritual seeker cannot really hide his own goodness from others, this may not always be recognized by everyone or appreciated by everyone; Sattvik qualities may not always find appreciation or approval, this is an important thing to understand.

Because of this contentment naturally that person will start enjoying a sense of happiness, Greatest happiness is when you don't have any desire to fulfill.

Worldly happiness and pleasantness is only temporary, actually it is nothing but absence of unhappiness, it is only a temporary postponement of misery.

When a person is totally free from any desire his mind remains calm and quite like a lake or a pond, there is not a single bubble or a wave or current it is absolutely calm and quiet. So a desire means suddenly a wave a strong disorder ambition means like a tsunami and you know when the tsunami comes cities and towns and villages get flooded people die increase misery, so every desire creates misery. When you have your mind fixed on something sublime, something wonderful, something elevating then that is also a kind of desire but that desire gives you peace of mind, it's not wretchedness, it is not misery. When you give your desire a promotion the lower desire gets a back seat.

Sri Ramkrishna says ego is desire and ego is linked to desire, ego speaks the language of desire they are both twin brothers that are interlinked, this rascal ego has to be eradicated means an ego that gives us misery, makes us greedy and giving sleepless nights that ego should be given an a kind of spiritual orientation.

• 43rd Sutra. Kayendriyasiddhirashuddhikshayat tapasah

The result of mortification is bringing powers to the organs and the body, by destroying the impurity. The powers may be heightened powers of vision, hearing things at distance etc.

When our mind connects with something transcendental the mind naturally gets a promotion, it generates a lot of healthy spiritual energies. With powers you can become small, very big, heavy, light and then you can attain whatever you want and without any effort you can have everything you want and then you get control over others and you'll be able to get people's attention.

• 44th Sutra. Svadhyayad ishtadevatasanprayogah

By repetition of the mantras comes the realization of the intended deity or ishta devata.. The higher you want to get, the harder the practice.

These mantras are sacred verbal symbols which when repeated they will influence our mind, they will give us something in terms of spiritual fulfillment because those mantras are unique strong powerful word symbols which will be practiced and chanted recited and meditated upon by great devotees and saints and sages for thousands of years.

When you chant these mantras for long years with a sense of sanctity and sacredness and continuity

you will be able to see with your own eyes these divine celestial beings called different devatas, you'll be able to talk to them, you'll feel that they are actually real and you can physically feel their Presence.

• 45th Sutra. Samadhisiddhirishvarapranidhanat

By sacrificing all to Ishwara comes samadhi. By resignation to god, samadhi becomes perfect.

Complete surrender means you are emptying your own mind and when the mind is emptied it gets filled with some new energy.

• 46th Sutra. Sthirasukham aasanam

If you can sit in that posture for a long time in an effortless manner that state is called asana.

Until you get a firm seat you cannot practice breathing and other exercises. The seat being firm means you do not feel the body at all. In ordinary way if you sit for few minutes all sorts of disturbances comes into the body, but when you get beyond the idea of a concrete body you will lose all sense of the body. You will feel neither pleasure nor pain. And when you take your body up again, it will feel so rested; it is the only perfect rest that you can give to the body. While you are disturbed by the body, your nerves become disturbed, and you cannot concentrate the mind. We can make a seat firm by thinking of the infinite.

• 47th Sutra. Prayatnashaithilyanantasamapattibhyam

One is expected to sit straight with the body , spinal cord , neck and the head in straight line this is the external posture, this is part of the ashtanga yoga this is necessary at the beginning of one's spiritual journey especially when you practice pranayama, pratyahara, dharana. One question arises is it necessary that one should always sit like this? This posture is important only from the standpoint of the spiritual disciplines, when a spiritual seeker reaches the level of samadhi his mind automatically gets focused on higher ideals, then this physical posture is not so indispensable, you may sit in an easy chair, you may lie down, you may have any posture still you can concentrate mentally on a great spiritual idea.

If you practice pranayama especially it directly affects the flow of the air and also the consequent effects

of the body and nervous system. As part of the flow of air when you breathe in or breathe out this straight posture is important as normally mentioned in the in the yoga books.

When there is forced labored then it means that you are not really acquired mastery. The absence of labor or effort is a characteristic of mastery. In ancient Hindu mythology Ananta is a very powerful serpent, he holds the whole weight of the cosmos on his foot without any effort, he can bear that weight for a long time with perfect relaxation.

Similarly one should be able to sit without any feeling that you have a body because when you feel you have a body when you're sitting it means your mind is taken away from the focus of meditation and it flows towards the body which should not happen.

• 48th Sutra. Tato dvandvanabhighatah

Seat being conquered the dualities do not obstruct.

If you have ability to sit in a posture with steadiness without effort and for a long time from this what happens thirst, hunger, cold- heat, success- failure, good- bad, the desirable - the non-desirable your mind will not go towards these duels. Lord Krishna says in Geeta our mind should be like a flame of a lamp which is protected from strong winds around that means the winds don't impact the flame it remains steady.

At the beginning stage of meditation one should focus on the tip of the nose, and in an advanced stage one should focus on the middle of the two eyes above, middle of the forehead. If a beginner begins a practice that kind of meditation it can cause headache, it can cause some other problems as well. You can always meditate on the presence of the divine.

One should prepare the mind, bring the mind into state of total relaxation and then start practicing all these meditation it will be easy and will be healthier for the mind.

• 49th Sutra. Tasmin sati shvasaprashvasayorgativichchhedah pranayamah

Shvasa means Breathing in, Prashvasa means Breathing out and Gativichchedah means Retention of the breath or stopping the inhalation.

If one practices minimum pranayama breathing in and breathing out exhaling then there is no risk in that, if he practices retention that is kumbhaka which is of 2 type you inhale and you don't exhale keeping the breath and other is you breathe out and don't breathe in, any kind of retention can be risky and dangerous unless a person follows certain rules and regulations in food and also his associations his general discipline of life.

Retention of the breath actually generates heat, if you do it too much the danger is it can generate heat and energy and this energy will express itself in the form of extreme enthusiasm, you get energized, so I shall do more of this that can be risky that can lead to Problems. Without retention there is no risk, retention can be risky and problematic.

According to certain books it hyperactivates or over energizes certain nervous systems and you feel extreme energy and enthusiasm which sometimes can manifest and can take the form of extremes negative tendencies.

If anyone practices pranayama and pratyahara after acquiring some degree of some level of self-restraint and self-control then it will be beneficial otherwise it can be dangerous.

For those who have acquired some degree of self-control self-mastery for such people what happens you know your senses will follow the mind and for those who have no self-restrained what happens mind follows the senses.

When you don't have self-restraint or self-control yourself then if you focus on something your mind will acquire great potency so what happens the senses are uncontrolled the senses will become hyperactive, hyper energized.

Pranayama will lead to an increase in your mental power, a power to concentrate on a single object or a single work for a long time, but senses are not under your control what happens you know this increased power of mind will hyper activate this unrestrained senses. So such person who is prone to violence if he practices this pranayama, pratyahara he will become more violent; if he's greedy he become more greedy; if he's restless he'll become more restless.

If you are fully establishing Yamas and Niyamas your senses do not flow to undesirable negative channels, the tendency for violence is blocked by practicing non violence, the tendency to tell lies is blocked by practicing truthfulness, the tendency for greed is blocked by non receiving. If senses are within control, such senses will act like obedient servants of mind, your mind will become your friend otherwise mind become your enemy.

• 50th Sutra. Bahyabhyantarastambhavrittih deshakalasankhyabhih paridrishto dirghasookshmah

The result of this Pranayama is awakening the Kundalini.

• 51st Sutra. Bahyabhyantaravishayakshepi chaturthah

Prana can be directed to internal or external objects. This is the fourth sort of Pranayama

• 52nd Sutra. Tataḥ kṣīyate prakāśa-āvaraṇam

Our human mind can be compared to a lake, there are so many layers in that lake there is some pure water on the surface but below there are many layers dust bacteria and so on. When you practice pranayama especially kumbhaka you are taking a huge stick and you stir this lake; a lot of undesirable things will come to the surface now. Practice of Yamas and Niyamas blocks the door opening to negative channels.

The chitta is made of Sattva particles, but is covered by Rajas and Tamas particles, and by Pranayama this covering can be removed.

• 53rd Sutra. Dharanasu cha yogyata manasah

After the covering has been removed we are able to concentrate the mind

• 54th Sutra. Sva vishaya asamprayoge chittasya svarupe anukarah iva indriyanam pratyaharah

This sutra deals with Pratyahara meaning withdrawing from external and internal senses. When the yogi has succeeded in preventing the organs from taking forms of external objects, and in making them remain one with the mind stuff, then comes perfect control of the organs, and when the organs are perfectly under control , every muscle and nerve will be under control, because the organs are the centers of all sensations , and all actions. When the organs are controlled the yogi can control all feelings and doings; the whole body will be under his control. Then one begins to feel joy in being born. When that control of the organ is obtained, we feel how wonderful this body really is.