पातञ्जल योगसूत्र (स्वामी विवेकानन्द भाष्य एवं सूत्र व्याख्या)

Patanjali Yoga Sutras
Restraint does not come in one day, but by long continued
practice.
15. दृष्टानुश्रविकविषयवितृष्णस्य वशीकारसंज्ञा वैराग्यम् ॥ १५॥
drishtanushravikavishayavitrishnnasy vashikara
samjna vairagyam
That effort, which comes to those who have given up
their thirst after objects either seen or heard, and
which wills to control the objects, is non-attachment.
Two motives of our actions are (1) What we see ourselves; (2)
The experience of others. These two forces are throwing the
mind, the lake, into various waves. Renunciation is the power
of battling against these, and holding the mind in check.
Renunciation of these two motives is what we want. I am
passing through a street, and a man comes and takes my
watch. That is my own experience. I see it myself, and it
immediately throws my Chitta into a wave, taking the form of
anger. Allow that not to come. If you cannot prevent that, you
are nothing; if you can, you have Vairagyam. Similarly, the
experience of the worldly-minded teaches us that sense
enjoyments are the highest ideal. These are tremendous
temptations. To deny them, and not allow the mind to come
into a wave form with regard to them is renunciation; to
control the twofold motive powers arising from my own
experience, and from the experience of others, and thus
prevent the Chitta from being governed by them, is
Vairagyam. These should be controlled by me, and not I by
them. This sort of mental strength is called renunciation. This
Vairagyam is the only way to freedom.
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16. तत्परं पुरुषख्यातेर्गुणवैतृष्ण्यम् ॥ १६॥
tatparan purushakhyatergunnavaitrishnyam
That extreme non-attachment, giving up even the
qualities, shows (the real nature of) the PuruSa.
It is the highest manifestation of power when it takes away
even our attraction towards the qualities. We have first to
understand what the PuruSa, the Self, is, and what are the
qualities. According to Yoga philosophy the whole of nature
consists of three qualities; one is called Tamas, another Rajas
and the third Sattva. These three qualities manifest
themselves in the physical world as attraction, repulsion, and
control. Everything that is in nature, all these manifestations,
are combinations and recombinations of these three forces.
This nature has been divided into various categories by the
Sankhyas; the Self of man is beyond all these, beyond nature,
is effulgent by Its very nature. It is pure and perfect.
Whatever of intelligence we see in nature is but the reflection
from this Self upon nature. Nature itself is insentient. You
must remember that the word nature also includes the mind;
mind is in nature; thought is in nature; from thought, down to
the grossest form of matter, everything is in nature, the
manifestation of nature. This nature has covered the Self of
man, and when nature takes away the covering the Self
becomes unveiled, and appears in Its own glory. This
non-attachment, as it is described in Aphorism 15 (as being
control of nature) is the greatest help towards manifesting the
Self. The next aphorism defines Samadhi, perfect
concentration, which is the goal of the Yogi.
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17. वितर्कविचारानन्दास्मितारूपानुगमात् संप्रज्ञातः ॥ १७॥
vitarkavicharanandasmitaroopanugamat
sanprajnatah
The concentration called right know-ledge is that
which is followed by reasoning, discrimination, bliss,
unqualified ego.
This Samadhi is divided into two varieties. One is called the
Samprajnata, and the other the Asamprajnata. The
Samprajnata is of four varieites. In this Samadhi come all the
powers of controlling nature. The first variety is called the
Savitarka, when the mind meditates upon an object again and
again, by isolating it from other objects. There are two sorts of
objects for meditation, the categories of nature, and the
Purusa. Again, the categories are of two varieties; the
twenty-four categories are insentient, and the one sentient is
the Purusa. When the mind thinks of the elements of nature
by thinking of their beginning and their end, this is one sort of
Savitarka. The words require explanation. This part of Yoga is
based entirely on Sankhya Philosophy, about which I have
already told you. As you will remember, egoism and will, and
mind, have a common basis, and that common basis is called
the Chitta, the mind-stuff, out of which they are all
manufactured. This mind-stuff takes in the forces of nature,
and projects them as thought. There must be something,
again, where both force and matter are one. This is called
Avyaktam, the unmanifested state of nature, before creation,
and two which, after the end of a cycle, the whole of nature
returns, to again come out after another period. Beyond that is
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
the PuruSa, the essence of intelligence. There is no liberation
in getting powers. It is a worldly search after enjoyment in
this life; all search for enjoyment is vain; this is the old, old
lesson which man finds it so hard to learn. When he does learn
it, he gets out of the universe and becomes free. The
possession of what are called occult powers is only
intensifying the world, and in the end intensifying suffering.
Though, as a scientist, Patanjali is bound to point out the
possibilities of this science, he never misses an opportunity to
warn us against these powers. Knowledge is power, and as
soon as we begin to know a thing we get power over it; so
also, when the mind begins to meditate on the different
elements it gains power over them. That sort of meditation
where the external gross elements are the objects is called
Savitarka. Tarka means question, Savitarka with-question.
Questioning the elements, as it were, that they may give up
their truths and their powers to the man who meditates upon
them. Again, in the very same meditation, when one struggles
to take the elements out of time and space, and think of them
as they are, it is called Nirvitarka, without-question. When
the meditation goes a step higher, and takes the Tanmatras as
its object, and thinks of them as in time and space, it is called
Savichara, with-discrimination, and when the same
meditation gets beyond time and space, and thinks of the fine
elements as they are, it is called Nirvichara,
without-discrimination. The next step is when the elements
are given up, either as gross or as fine, and the object of
meditation is the interior organ, the thinking organ, and when
the thinking organ is thought of as bereft of the qualities of
activity, and of dullness, it is then called Sanandam, the
blissful Samadhi. In that Samadhi, when we are thinking of
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
the mind as the object of meditation, before we have reached
the state which takes us beyond the mind even, when it has
become very ripe and concentrated, when all ideas of the
gross materials, or fine materials, have been given up, and the
only object is the mind as it is, when the Sattva state only of
the Ego remains, but differentiated from all other objects, this
is called Asmita Samadhi, and the man who has attained to
this has attained to what is called in the Vedas “bereft of
body.” He can think of himself as without his gross body; but
he will have to think of himself as with a fine body. Those that
in this state get merged in nature without attaining the goal are
called Prakrtilayas, but those who do not even stop at any
enjoyments, reach the goal, which is freedom.
18. विरामप्रत्ययाभ्यासपूर्वः संस्कारशेषोऽन्यः ॥ १८॥
viramapratyayabhyasapoorvah sanskarashesho
anyah
There is another Samadhi which is attained by the
constant practice of cessation of all mental activity, in
which the Chitta retains only the unmanifested
impressions.
This is the perfect superconscious Asamprajnata Samadhi,
the state which gives us freedom. The first state does not
give us freedom, does not liberate the soul. A man may attain
to all powers, and yet fall again. There is no safeguard until
the soul goes beyond nature, and beyond conscious
concentration. It is very difficult to attain, although its method
seems very easy. Its method is to hold the mind as the object,
and whenever through comes, to strike it down, allowing no
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thought to come into the mind, thus making it an entire
vacuum. When we can really do this, in that moment we shall
attain liberation. When persons without training and
preparation try to make their minds vacant they are likely to
succeed only in covering themselves with Tamas, material of
ignorance, which makes the mind dull and stupid, and leads
them to think that they are making a vacuum of the mind. To
be able to really do that is a manifestation of the greatest
strength, of the highest control. When this state,
Asamprajnata, super-consciousness, is reached, the Samadhi
becomes seedless. What is meant by that? In that sort of
concentration when there is consciousness, where the mind
has succeeded only in quelling the waves in the Chitta and
holding them down, they are still there in the form of
tendencies, and these tendencies (or seeds) will become
waves again, when the time comes. But when you have
destroyed all these tendencies, almost destroyed the mind,
then it has become seedless, there are no more seeds in the
mind out of which to manufacture again and again this plant
of life, this ceaseless round of birth and death. You may ask,
what state would that be, in which we should have no
knowledge? What we call knowledge is a lower state than the
one beyond knowledge. You must always bear in mind that
the extremes look very much the same. The low vibration of
light is darkness, and the very high vibration of light is
darkness also, but one is real darkness, and the other is really
intense light; yet their appearance is the same. So, ignorance
is the lowest state, knowledge is the middle state, and beyond
knowledge is a still higher state. Knowledge itself is a
manufactured something, a combination; it is not reality.
What will be the result of constant practice of this higher
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
concentration? All old tendencies of restlessness, and
dullness, will be destroyed, as well as the tendencies of
goodness too. It is just the same as with the metals that are
used with gold to take off the dirt and alloy. When the ore is
smelted down, the dross is burnt along with the alloy. So this
constant controlling power will stop the previous bad
tendencies and, eventually, the good ones also. Those good
and evil tendencies will suppress each other, and there will
remain the Soul, in all its glorious splendour, untrammelled
by either good or bad, and that Soul is omnipresent,
omnipotent, and omniscient. By giving up all powers it has
become omnipotent, by giving up all life it is beyond
mortality; it has become life itself. Then the Soul will know It
neither had birth nor death, neither want of heaven nor of
earth. It will know that It neither came nor went; it was nature
which was moving, and that movement was reflected upon
the Soul. The form of the light is moving, it is reflected and
cast by the camera upon the wall, and the wall foolishly thinks
it is moving. So with all of us: it is the Chitta constantly
moving, manipulating itself into various forms, and we think
that we are these various forms. All these delusions will
vanish. When that free Soul will command—not pray or beg,
but command—then whatever It desires will be immediately
fulfilled; whatever It wants It will be able to do. According to
the Sankhya Philosophy there is no God. It says that there
cannot be any God of this universe, because if there were He
must be a Soul, and a Soul must be one of two things, either
bound or free. How can the soul that is bound by nature, or
controlled by nature, create? It is itself a slave. On the other
hand, what business has the soul that is free to create and
manipulate all these things? It has no desires, so cannot have
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
any need to create. Secondly, it says the theory of God is an
unnecessary one; nature explains all. What is the use of any
God? But Kapila teaches that there are many souls, who,
through nearly attaining perfection, fall short because they
cannot perfectly renounce all powers. Their minds for a time
merge in nature, to re-emerge as its masters. We shall all
become such gods, and, according to the Sankhyas, the God
spoken of in the Vedas really means one of these free souls.
Beyond them there is not an eternally free and blessed Creator
of the universe. On the other hand the Yogis say, “Not so,
there is a God; there is one Soul separate from all other souls,
and He is the eternal Master of all creation, the Ever Free, the
Teacher of all teachers.” The Yogis admit that those the
Sankhyas called “merged in nature” also exist. They are Yogis
who have fallen short of perfection, and though, for a time
debarred from attaining the goal, remain as rulers of parts of
the universe.
19. भवप्रत्ययो विदेहप्रकृतिलयानाम् ॥ १९॥
bhavapratyayo videhaprakritilayanam
(This Samadhi, when not followed by extreme
non-attachment) becomes the cause of the
re-manifestation of the gods and of those that become
merged in nature.
The gods in the Indian systems represent certain high offices
which are being filled successively by various souls. But
none of them is perfect.
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
20. श्रद्धावीर्यस्मृतिसमाधिप्रज्ञापूर्वक इतरेषाम् ॥ २०॥
shraddhaviryasmritisamadhiprajnapoorvaka
itaresham
To others (this Samadhi) comes through faith,
energy, memory, concentration, and discrimination
of the real.
These are they who do not want the position of gods, or even
that of rulers of cycles. They attain to liberation.
21. तीव्रसंवेगानाम् आसन्नः ॥ २१॥
tivrasanveganam aasannah
Success is speeded for the extremely energetic.
22. मृदुमध्याधिमात्रत्वात् ततोऽपि विशेषः ॥ २२॥
mridumadhyadhimatratvat tatopi visheshah
They again differ according as the means are mild,
medium or supreme.
23. ईश्वरप्रणिधानाद् वा ॥ २३॥
eeshvarapranidhanad va
Or by devotion to Isvara.
24. क्लेशकर्मविपाकाशयैरपरामृष्टः पुरुषविशेष ईश्वरः ॥ २४॥
kleshakarmavipakashayairaparamrishtah
purushavishesh eeshvarah
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
Isvara (the Supreme Ruler) is a special Purusa,
untouched by misery, the results of actions, or
desires.
We must again remember that this Patanjali Yoga Philosophy
is based upon that of the Sankhyas, only that in the latter there
is no place for God, while with the Yogis God has a place. The
Yogis, however, avoid many ideas about God, such as
creating. God as the Creator of the Universe is not meant by
the Isvara of the Yogis, although, according to the Vedas,
Isvara is the Creator of the universe. Seeing that the universe
is harmonious, it must be the manifestation of one will. The
Yogis and Sankhyas both avoid the question of creation. The
Yogis want to establish a God, but carefully avoid this
question; they do not raise it at all. Yet you will find that they
arrive at God in a peculiar fashion of their own. They say:
25. तत्र निरतिशयं सर्वज्ञत्वबीजम् ॥ २५॥
tatra niratishayan sarvajntvabijam
In Him becomes infinite that all-knowing-ness which
in others is (only) a germ.
The mind must always travel between two extremes. You can
think of limited space, but the very idea of that gives you also
unlimited space. Close your eyes and think of a little space,
and at the same time that you perceive the little circle, you
have a circle round it of unlimited dimensions. It is the same
with time. Try to think of a second, you will have, with the
same act of perception, to think of time which is unlimited.
So with knowledge. Knowledge is only a germ in man, but
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you will have to think of infinite knowledge around it, so that
the very nature of your constitution shows us that there is
unlimited knowledge, and the Yogis call that unlimited
knowledge God.
26. स पूर्वेषाम् अपि गुरुः कालेनानवच्छेदात् ॥ २६ ॥
sa poorvesham api guruh kalenanavachchhedat
He is the Teacher of even the ancient teachers, being
not limited by time.
It is true that all knowledge is within ourselves, but this has to
be called forth by another knowledge. Although the capacity
to know is inside us, it must be called out, and that calling out
of knowledge can only be got, a Yogi maintains, through
another knowledge. Dead, insentient matter, never calls out
knowledge. It is the action of knowledge that brings out
knowledge. Knowing beings must be with us to call forth
what is in us, so these teachers were always necessary. The
world was never without them, and no knowledge can come
without them. God is the Teacher of all teachers, because
these teachers, however great they may have been—gods or
angels—were all bound and limited by time, and God is not
limited by time. These are the two peculiar distinctions of the
Yogis. The first is that in thinking of the limited, the mind
must think of the unlimited, and that if one part of the
perception is true the other must be, for the reason that their
value as perceptions of the mind is equal. The very fact that
man has a little knowledge, shows that God has unlimited
knowledge. If I am to take one, why not the other? Reason
forces me to take both or reject both. It I believe that there is a
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
man with a little knowledge, I must also admit that there is
someone behind him with unlimited knowledge. The second
deduction is that no knowledge can come without a teacher. It
is true as the modern philosophers say, that there is something
in man which evolves out of him; all knowledge is in man, but
certain environments are necessary to call it out. We cannot
find any knowledge without teacher, if there are men teachers,
god teachers, or angel teachers, they are all limited; who was
the teacher before them? We are forced to admit, as a last
conclusion, One Teacher, Who is not limited by time, and that
One Teacher or infinite knowledge, without beginning or end,
is called God.
27. तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥ २७॥
tasya vachakah prannavah
His manifesting word is Om.
Every idea that you have in the mind has a counterpart in a
word; the word and the thought are inseparable. The external
part of the thought is what we call word, and the internal part
is what we call thought. No man can, by analysis, separate
thought from word. The idea that language was created by
men—certain men sitting together and deciding on words, has
been proved to be wrong. So long as things have existed there
have been words and language. What is the connection
between an idea and a word? Although we see that there must
always be a word with a thought, it is not necessary that the
same thought requires the same word. The thought may be the
same in twenty different countries, yet the language is
different. We must have a word to express each thought, but
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these words need not necessarily have the same sound.
Sounds will vary in different nations. Our commentator says
“Although the relation between thought and word is perfectly
natural, yet it does not mean a rigid connection between one
sound and one idea.” These sounds vary, yet the relation
between the sounds and the thoughts is a natural one. The
connection between thoughts and sounds is good only if there
be a real connection between the thing signified and the
symbol, and until then that symbol will never come into
general use. Symbol is the manifestor of the thing signified,
and if the thing signified has already existence, and if, by
experience, we know that the symbol has expressed that thing
many times, then we are sure that there is the real relation
between them. Even if the things are not present, there will be
thousands who will know them by their symbols. There must
be a natural connection between the symbol and the thing
signified; then, when that symbol is pronounced, it recalled
the thing signified. The commentator says the manifesting
word of God is Om. Why does he emphasise this? There are
hundreds of words for God. One thought is connected with a
thousand words; the idea, God, is connected with hundreds of
words, and each one stands as a symbol for God. Very good.
But there must be a generalisation among all these words,
some substratum, some common ground of all these symbols,
and that symbol which is the common symbol will be the best,
and will really be the symbol of all. In making a sound we use
the larynx, and the palate as a sounding board. Is there any
material sound of which all other sounds must be
manifestations, one which is the most natural sound? Om
(Aum) is such a sound, the basis of all sounds. The first letter,
A, is the root sound, the key, pronounced without touching
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
any part of the tongue or palate; M represents the last sound in
the series, being produced by the closed lip, and the U rolls
from the very root to the end of the sounding board of the
mouth. Thus, Om represents the whole phenomena of sound
producing. As such, it must be the natural symbol, the
matrix of all the variant sounds. It denotes the whole range
and possibility of all the words that can be made. Apart from
these speculations we see that around this word Om are
centred all the different religious ideas in India; all the various
religious ideas of the Vedas have gathered themselves round
this word Om. What has that to do with America and England,
or any other country? Simply that the word has been retained
at every stage of religious growth in India, and it has been
manipulated to mean all the various ideas about God.
Monists, Dualists, Mono-Dualists, Separatists, and even
Atheists, took up this Om. Om has become the one symbol for
the religious aspiration of the vast majority of human beings.
Take, for instance, the English word God. It conveys only a
limited function, and if you go beyond it, you have to add
adjectives, to make it Personal, or Impersonal, or Absolute
God. So with the words for God in every other language; their
signification is very small. This word Om, however, has
around it all the various significances. As such it should be
accepted by everyone.
28. तज्जपस्तदर्थभावनम् ॥ २८॥
tajjapastadarthabhavanam
The repetition of this (Om) and meditating on its
meaning (is the way).
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
Why should there be repetition? We have not forgotten that
theory of Samskaras, that the sum-total of impressions lives
in the mind. Impressions live in the mind, the sum-total of
impressions, and they become more and more latent, but
remain there, and as soon as they get the right stimulus they
come out. Molecular vibration will never cease. When this
universe is destroyed all the massive vibrations disappear, the
sun, moon, stars, and earth, will melt down, but the vibrations
must remain in the atoms. Each atom will perform the same
function as the big worlds do. So the vibrations of this Chitta
will subside, but will go on like molecular vibrations, and
when they get the impulse will come out again. We can now
understand what is meant by repetition. It is the greatest
stimulus that can be given to the spiritual Samskaras. “One
moment of company with the Holy makes a ship to cross this
ocean of life.” Such is the power of association. So this
repetition of Om, and thinking of its meaning, is keeping good
company in your own mind. Study, and then meditate and
meditate, when you have studied. The light will come to you,
the Self will become manifest.
But one must think of this Om, and of its meaning too. Avoid
evil company, because the scars of old wounds are in you, and
this evil company is just the heat that is necessary ot call them
out. In the same way we are told that good company will call
out the good impressions that are in us, but which have
become latent. There is nothing holier in this world than to
keep good company, because the good impressions will have
this same tendency to come to the surface.
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29. ततः प्रत्यक्चेतनाधिगमोऽप्यन्तरायाभावश्च ॥ २९॥
tatah pratyakchetanadhigamopyantarayabhavashch
From that is gain (the knowledge of) introspection,
and the destruction of obstacles.
The first manifestation of this repetition and thinking of Om
will be that the introspective power will be manifested more
and more, and all the mental and physical obstacles will begin
to vanish. What are the obstacles to the Yogi?
30. व्याधिस्त्यानसंशयप्रमादालस्याविरतिभ्रान्तिदर्शनालब्धभूमिक -
त्वानवस्थितत्वानि चित्तविक्षेपास्तेऽन्तरायाः ॥ ३०॥
vyadhistyanasanshayapramadalasyaviratibhrantidar
shanalabdhabhoomikatvanavasthitatvani
chittavikshepastentarayah
Disease, mental laziness, doubt, calmness, cessation,
false perception, non-attaining concentration, and
falling away from the state when obtained, are the
obstructing distractions.
Disease. This body is the boat which will carry us to the other
shore of the ocean of life. It must be taken care of. Unhealthy
persons cannot be Yogis. Mental laziness makes us lose all
lively interest in the subject, without which there will neither
be the will nor the energy to practice. Doubts will arise in the
mind about the truth of the science, however strong one’s
intellectual conviction may be, until certain peculiar psychic
experiences come, as hearing, or seeing, at a distance, etc.
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These glimpses strengthen the mind and make the student
persevere. Falling away when attained. Some says or weeks
when you are practising the mind will be calm and easily
concentrated, and you will find yourself progressing fast. All
of a sudden the progress will stop one day, and you will find
yourself, as it were, stranded. Persevere. All progress
proceeds by rise and fall.
31. दुःखदौर्मनस्याङ्गमेजयत्वश्वासप्रश्वासा विक्षेपसहभुवः ॥ ३१॥
duhkhadaurmanasyanggamejayatvashvasaprashvaa
vikshepasahabhuvah
Grief, mental distress, tremor of the body and
irregular breathing, accompany non-retention of
concentration.
Concentration will bring perfect repose to mind and body
every time it is practised. When the practice has been
misdirected, or not enough controlled, these disturbances
come. Repetition of Om and self-surrender to the Lord will
strengthen the mind, and bring fresh energy. The nervous
shakings will come to almost everyone. Do not mind them at
all, but keep on practising. Practice will cure them, and make
the seat firm.
32. तत्प्रतिषेधार्थम् एकतत्त्वाभ्यासः ॥ ३२॥
tatpratishedhartham ekatattvabhyasah
To remedy this practice of one subject (should be
made).
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
Making the mind take the form of one object for some time
will destroy these obstacles. This is general advice. In the
following aphorisms it will be expanded and particularised.
As one practice cannot suit everyone, various methods will be
advanced, and everyone by actual experience will find out
that which helps him most.
33. मैत्रीकरुणामुदितोपेक्षाणां सुखदुःखपुण्यापुण्यविषयाणां
भावनातश्चित्तप्रसादनम् ॥ ३३॥
maitreekarunamuditopekshanan
sukhadukhapunyapunyavishayanan
bhavanatashchittaprasadanam
Friendship, mercy, gladness, indifference, being
thought of in regard to subjects, happy, unhappy,
good and evil respectively, pacify the Chitta.
We must have these four sorts of ideas. We must have
friendship for all; we must be merciful towards those that are
in misery; when people are happy we ought to be happy, and
to the wicked we must be indifferent. So with all subjects that
come before us. If the subject is a good one, we shall feel
friendly towards it; if the subject of thought is one that is
miserable we must be merciful towards the subject. If it is
good we must be glad, if it is evil we must be indifferent.
These attitudes of the mind towards the different subjects that
come before it will make the mind peaceful. Most of our
difficulties in our daily lives come from being unable to hold
our minds in this way. For instance, if a man does evil to us,
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
instantly we want to react evil, and every reaction of evil
shows that we are not able to hold the Chitta down; it comes
out in waves towards the object, and we lose our power. Every
reaction in the form of hatred or evil is so much loss to the
mind, and every evil thought or deed of hatred, or any thought
of reaction, if it is controlled, will be laid in our favour. It is
not that we lose by thus restraining ourselves; we are gaining
infinitely more than we suspect. Each time we suppress
hatred, or a feeling of anger, it is so much good energy stored
up in our favour; that piece of energy will be converting into
the higher powers.
34. प्रच्छर्दनविधारणाभ्यां वा प्राणस्य ॥ ३४॥
prachchhardanavidharanabhyan va prannasya
By throwing out and restraining the Breath.
The word used in Prana. Prana is not exactly breath. It is the
name for the energy that is in the universe. Whatever you
see in the universe, whatever moves or works, or has life, is a
manifestation of this Prana. the sum-total of the energy
displayed in the universe is called Prana. This Prana, before
a cycle begins, remains in an almost motionless state, and
when the cycle begins this Prana begins to manifest itself. It
is this Prana that is manifested as motion, as the nervous
motion in human beings or animals, and the same Prana is
manifesting as thought, and so on. The whole universe is a
combination of Prana and Akasa; so is the human body. Out
of Akasa you get the different materials that you feel, and
see, and out of Prana all the various forces. Now this
throwing out and restraining the Prana is what is called
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Patanjali Yoga Sutras
Pranayama. Patanjali, the father of the Yoga Philosophy,
does not give many particular directions about Pranayama,
but later on other Yogis found out various things about this
Pranayama, and made of it a great science. With Patanjali ist
is one of the many ways, but he does not lay much stress on it.
He means that you simply throw the air out, and draw it in,
and hold it for some time, that is all, and by that, the mind will
become a little calmner. But, later on, you will find that out of
this is evolved a particular science called Pranayama. We
will hear a little of what thoese later Yogis have to say. Some
of this I have told you before, but a little repetition will serve
to fix it in your minds. First, you must remember that this
Prana is not the breath. But that which causes the motion of
the breath, that which is the vitality of the breath is the Prana.
Again, the word Prana is used of all the senses; they are all
called Prana, the mind is called Prana; and so we see that
Prana is the name of a certain force. And yet we cannot call
it force, because force is only the manifestation of it. It is that
which manifests itself as force and everything else in the way
of motion. The Chitta, the mind-stuff, is the engine which
draws in the Prana from the surroundings, and manufactures
out of this Prana the various vital forces. First of all the
forces that keep the body in preservation, and lastly thought,
will, and all other powers. By this process of breathing we can
control all the various motions in the body, and the various
nerve currents that are running through the body. First we
begin to recognise them, and then we slowly get control over
them. Now these later Yogis consider that there are three main
currents of this Prana in the human body. One they call Ida,
another Pingala, and the third Susumna. Pingala, according
to them, is on the right side of the spinal column, and the Ida
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