YOGA-SUTRA OF PATANJALI May He, who having abandoned his primal form, exercises his power

YOGA-SUTRA OF PATANJALI ******************************************************************************* May He, who having abandoned his primal form, exercises his power to show kindness to the world in many ways - He with his beautiful hood and many mouths, possessed of deadly poison and yet abolishing the mass of hindrances - He the source of all knowledge, whose girdle of attendant serpents produces continual pleasure, - may He, the divine Lord of Serpents, protect you, with his white stainless body - He, giver of concentration and himself concentrated in concentration. ******************************************************************************* I SAMADHI PADA (Book of Absorption) 1. And now, instruction in yoga. 2. Yoga is the elimination of unstable awareness. 3. Then the Seer attains to his true nature. 4. In other states, there is confusion with appearances. 5. Appearances are of five kinds, painful or pleasant. 6. Right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fantasy, sleep, and memory. 7. Right knowledge is from perception, inference, or testimony. 8. Wrong knowledge is from conceptions inappropriate to their objects. 9. Fantasy is that which is conjured by words or thoughts, and is without substance. 10. Sleep is an idea based on the conception of absence. 11. Memory is the non-distortion of what has been experienced. 12. Stabilization is accomplished by dispassion and persistent practice. 13. Of these, practice is sustained effort towards stabilization. 14. It succeeds through long perseverance and devotion. 15. Dispassion is the consciousness of mastery on the part of one freed from the thirst for the tangible or intangible. 16. This dispassionateness is highest when, through discernment of the Self, thirst even for qualities has ceased. 17. Cognitive concentration is accompanied by reasoning, reflection, bliss, and sense of pure being. 18. Noncognitive concentration is what remains after the objects of the preceding have disappeared through practice. 19. This may arise through natural gift in the cases of disembodiment and spontaneous trance. 20. For the others, it is preceded by faith, energy, memory, and insight. 21. For the intensely motivated, concentration is near. 22. Because even the keenest motivation varies, there is a concentration superior even to this near kind. 23. Or, by submission to God. 24. God is that special being untouched by hindrance, action, consequence, or unconsciousness. 25. In Him is the seed of unsurpassable wisdom. 26. He is the teacher of sages from time without beginning. 27. He is indicated by the syllable 'OM'. 28. Let there be repetition and contemplation of its meaning. 29. From this, there arise a nondissipative consciousness and the removal of hindrances. 30. Disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, lassitude, appetitiousness, delusion, failure to achieve a stage, instablility at a stage: these distractions are the hindrances. 31. Suffering, despair, nervousness, and disturbed breathing are the marks of the distracted state. 32. For the removal of these obstacles, let there be practice upon a single item. 33. From the cultivation of friendliness towards happiness, compassion towards suffering, gladness towards the good, and indifference to vice there arises purification of mind. 34. Or, (stability is acquired) by regulation of breath. 35. Or, by the cultivation of superior perception. 36. Or, through the experience of serene or luminous states. 37. Or, by contemplation the those already liberated. 38. Or, by the development of consciousness in the dreaming state. 39. Or by any agreeable method. 40. His mastery becomes extended from the smallest atom to the greatest magnitude. 41. In the case of one whose instablility is almost annihilated, each relation among the knower, the knowing, and the known is like a polished and transparent jewel upon a colored surface. 42. Deliberative concentration is that in which words, intentions, and objects, accompanied by perception and reasoning, are present in mixed and alternating state. 43. Upon the clarification of memory, when mind loses its self-reference and brightens into conscious knowledge as the intended object and nothing else, super-deliberative concentration is attained. 44. The reflective and super-reflective concentrations are analogously explained in terms of intangible (or subtle) objects. 45. The province of the concentrated state extends to the highest order of subtlety. 46. The foregoing states comprise seeded concentration. 47. From the utmost purity of the super-reflective concentrated state arises spiritual peace. 48. At that stage, consciousness is Truth-and-Right-bearing. 49. The direct knowledge of the higher states differs from that based on inference and testimony in that its intended object is a pure particular. 50. The impression produced by the super-reflective concentration acts to block other impressions. 51. When this impression is itself restricted, all impressions are restricted, and seedless concentration is achieved. =============================================================================== II SADHANA PADA (Book of Practice) 1. Austerity, self-examination, and resignation to God constitute preliminary yoga. 2. This is practiced for the attenuation of hindrances and the cultivation of concentration. 3. Ignorance, egoism, desire, aversion, and the passionate desire to live are the great afflictions and the cause of all misery. 4. Ignorance is the source of the rest, whether they are in the latent, attenuated, suppressed, or sustained condition. 5. Ignorance is taking the transitory for the eternal, the impure for the pure, the evil for the good, and the not-self for the self. 6. Egoism is the confusion of the Seer with the Seen. 7. Desire is the consequence of pleasure. 8. Aversion is the consequence of pain. 9. The will-to-live, sweeping on by its own relish, continues even in the wise. 10. These, when subtle, may be escaped by resolving them backward into their origin. 11. Their active forms may be escaped by meditation. 12. The hindrances are the root of karmas, known and unknown, and result in all experience, past and future. 13. As long as the root exists it gives rise to estate, span, and quality of life. 14. These (karmas) yield joy or sorrow according to their origin in meritorious or unmeritorious acts. 15. On account of mutability, anxiety, inveterate tendency, and conflict between aspects, to the discriminating, all is misery. 16. That which is to be escaped is pain yet to come. 17. The cause of that which is to be escaped is the confusion of the seer with the seen. 18. The Seen consists in elements and sensoria, has aspects of luminosity, energism, and inertia, and exists for the sake of experience and liberation. 19. The stages of the aspects are the particular, the universal, the differentiated, and the undifferentiated. 20. The Seer is pure consciouness, but though pure appears to see by means of the mind. 21. The Seen exists for his sake. 22. Although it disappears for him whose purpose is finished, it continues by virtue of the community of others. 23. The ultmate purpose of the correlation of the Seer and the Seen is the revelation of the Seer to himself. 24. The origin of it is ignorance. 25. Since ignorance has no positive being, there is no real correlation: this is the possibility of escape, the Isolation of the Seer. 26. The means of attaining liberation is unwavering discriminative awareness. 27. For him, the highest stage is reached in seven stages. * 28. From the practice of the components of yoga, then upon the destruction of impurity there arises a radiance of discernments culminating in knowledge of the real. 29. The Eight Limbs of yoga are Abstention, Observance, Posture, Breath control, Sense-withdrawal, Concentration, Contemplation, and Absorption. 30. The Abstentions are non-violence, non-falsehood, non-theft, non-incontinence, and non-possessiveness. 31. These five, unconditioned by estate, place, time, or occasion, and extending to all stages comprise the Great Vow. 32. The Observances are cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-examination, and resignation [to God]. 33. Unacceptable impulses may be remedied by pondering their opposites. 34. Since violence, etc., whether done, intended, or approved, whether out of greed, or anger, or delusion, whether present in mild, medium, or intense degree, result in endless suffering, it becomes necessary to ponder the opposite. 35. When there establishment in non-violence, hostility is abandoned in his presence. 36. When there is establishment in non-lying, actions and consequences depend only on him. 37. When there is establishment in non-theft, all jewels approach him. 38. When non-incontinence is established, vigor is acquired. 39. When non-possessiveness is established, knowledge of the how and the why of existence arises. 40. From cleanliness there arises disillusionment with the body and disinclination to contact with others. 41. From purity of mind there arise cheerfulness, impeccable intent, control of the senses, and fitness for the vision of the Self. 42. From contentment, superlative happiness. 43. From austerity, perfection of body and sense after destruction of impurity. 44. From self-examination, communion with the chosen deity. 45. From resignation to God, absorption. 46. Posture should be steady and comfortable. 47. To this end, let there be relaxation and meditation on the 'Endless'. 48. As a result he is unassailed by extremes. 49. This having been accomplished, breath-control follows. 50. This may be internal, external, or stopped, and is regulated according to direction, duration, and number, and becomes progressively prolonged and subtle. 51. There is a fourth variety beyond these which goes beyond the range of the internal and external. 52. From this the covering of the light is dissolved. 53. And the mind becomes fit for the stages of concentration. 54. Sense-withdrawal is, as it were, the imitation of the mind by the senses, withdrawing themselves from their objects. 55. From this, supreme mastery of sensation. =============================================================================== III VIBHUTI PADA (Book of Attainments) 1. Concentration is the binding of the mind to one place. 2. Contemplation is sustained effort there. 3. Absorption is the same, but where the object shines forth in its true form, as it were in the absence of any witness. 4. The three, taken as one, are constraint (meditation). 5. By mastering it, the light of Insight. 6. Its application is by stages. 7. These three are direct in relation to the preceding ones. 8. Even these are only indirect means to the seedless. 9. The constraint mutation is that which occurs when the transient state of restriction obtaining between approaching and receding impressions pervades the whole mind. 10. As a result of the repeated impressions of this, the flow of consciousness becomes tranquil . 11. The absorption mutation is the gradual subsidence of distraction and the appearance of singleness-of-intent. 12. The one-pointedness mutation (singleness-of-intent) is the condition in which that which emerges into awareness is identical to that which disappears from it. 13. Thus in regard to to elements and sensoria, mutations are enumerated as emergence, time-variance, and intensity. 14. Substances possess quiescent, active, and unmanifest aspects. 15. Variations of expression has its cause in variation in underlying process. 16. By constraint on the three [abovegiven] mutations, knowledge of past and future. 17. Constraint on word, intended object, and presented idea resolves them from natural confusion and results in understanding of the cries of all living things. 18. By direct perception of the latent impressions, intuitive knowledge of previous births. 19. By constraint upon the image at hand, knowledge of the minds of others. 20. But not of the supporting factors of what may be seen there, these not being accessible in this way. 21. By constraint upon its form, when its power to be known is stopped, as a result of the disjunction between the observer's eye and the light from the body, the body becomes invisible. 22. Karmas may be active or inactive: by constraint upon this, or upon portents, there arises knowledge of the time of death. 23. By constraint upon a sentiment, e.g. friendliness, the power of that sentiment. 24. By constraint upon strength, of an elephant for example, the strength of an elephant. 25. By directing the light of supraphysical sense, knowledge of the subtle (or small), hidden, and obscure. 26. Knowledge of the worlds by constraint upon the sun. 27. Upon the moon, knowledge concerning the arrangement of the stars. 28. Upon the polestar, knowledge of their movements. 29. Upon the wheel of the navel, knowledge of the body. 30. Upon the well of the throat, cessation of hunger and thirst. 31. Upon the kurmanadi, steadiness. ** 32. Upon the light at the crown of the head, vision of the Siddhas. 33. Or, from intuition, omniscience. 34. By constraint upon the lotus of the heart, knowledge of the nature of the mind. 35. Experience results from the failure to distinguish between the principle of luminosity and the Self, which are utterly distinct. Knowledge of the Self results from constraint upon that-which-exists-for-its-own-sake. 36. As a result of this, the intuitional senses appear. 37. In concentration, these are obstacles, but in the emergent state they are perfections. 38. Upon relaxation of the cause of bondage, entry of the mind into the body of another becomes possible, if the passage is known. 39. By mastery of the udana, levitation and non-contact with water, mire, thorns, etc. *** 40. By mastery over samana, control of metabolism. 41. By constraint on the relation between space and the ear, supraphysical hearing. 42. By constraint upon the relation between the body and space, while at the same time bringing about coalescence of the mind with light things like cotton-down, there arises flight through space. 43. By means of the inconceiveable externalization of mind called 'the Great Disembodiment', the covering of the light is destroyed. 44. Mastery over the five elements by constraint on their gross, constant, subtle, all-pervading, and functional states. 45. Thereupon, the attainment of animan, etc., perfection of the body, and invulnerability. **** 46. Beauty, fine complexion, strength and adamantine hardness comprise perfection of the body. 47. Mastery over sensoria by constraint on their processes, objects, egoism, all-pervasiveness, and functions. 48. Thence immediate instantaneous cognition and complete mastery over nature. 49. To possess only the full distinction between the principle of luminosity and the Self is to possess omnipotence and omniscience. 50. By dispassionateness to even that, the very seed of bondage being destroyed, there follows Isolation. 51. Derive no satisfaction from invitations from those-in-high-places, or there will be contact with that which is to be avoided. 52. By constraint upon the succession of moments, discriminating-awareness. 53. From this, the capacity to distinguish between similars not otherwise distinguished by category, characteristic, or position. 54. The intuitive knowledge proceeding from discriminative-awareness is a deliverer, has all things and all times as its object, and is an inclusive whole without moments or parts. 55. When the principle of luminosity and the Self are equally pure, there is Isolation. =============================================================================== IV 'KAIVALYA PADA (Book of Isolation) 1. Perfections arise from birth or drugs or incantations or self-examination or concentration. 2. Reincarnation is by the overflow of natural tendencies or potentialities. 3. The incidental cause does not move or stir up the natural tendencies into activity, but rather removes the obstacles, like a farmer irrigating a field. 4. Artificially created minds proceed from egoism alone. 5. The one natural mind is the director of the many artificial minds in their various activities. 6. Of the five kinds of perfections, only that arising from concentration leaves no latent impression. 7. Karmas are neither white nor black in the case of yogis, but are of three kinds in the case of others. 8. From these only those tendencies are manifested for which the conditions are favorable. 9. The relation of cause-and-effect obtains even though its occasions may be separated by class, locality, and time because of the correspondence between memory and subliminal impressions. 10. And there is no beginning of the impressions, desire being eternal. 11. Since latent impressions are associated with cause and motive and mental substrate and stimulus, if the one ceases, the others must cease. 12. Past and future as such exist; the differences in properties exist because of the differences in paths. 13. They (the properties or time-forms), manifest or unmanifest, are of the nature of the aspects. 14. The suchness of a thing is from a unique play of the aspects. 15. The object being the same, its different appearances are occasioned by the different paths of its perceivers. 16. Nor is anything dependent upon a single mind, for if it were, and it were ceased to be perceived thereby, what would it be? 17. In consequence of the mind's being colored or uncolored by it, a thing is either known or unknown. 18. The mind's fluctuations are always known to its unchanging master. 19. Being itself an object, it is not self-illuminating. 20. It is moreover impossible that the mind should perceive itself perceiving. 21. If one mind were to directly perceive another, there would be an infinite regress of cognitions from one to the other, and confusion of memories. 22. Intellect gains self-knowledge through its reflection in thought. 23. Mind colored by both the Knower and the Known is all-apprehending. 24. Alhough wealthy with countless impressions, mind acts for the sake of another. 25. For one who sees the distinction, pondering of his own states-of-being ceases. 26. Then indeed is the mind disposed to discrimination, and borne onwards toward Isolation. 27. Into gaps in discrimination, there intrude appearances from latent-impressions. 28. Their removal is like that of the hindrances already described. 29. For one able to sustain dispassionateness even toward the most exalted state, there follows in every case the concentration known as the Raincloud of Knowable Things. 30. Thereupon, the cessation of hindrances and karma. 31. Then, because of the endlessness of knowledge from which all obscuring defilements are passed away, what remains to be known is but little. 32. The aspects having then fulfilled their purpose, they arrive at the end of the sequence of transformations. 33. At that time, 'sequence' is known to be the positive correlate of 'moment'. 34. Isolation is the resorption of the aspects, no longer provided with a purpose by the Self: the state in which the Self abides in himself as pure consciousness. * FINIS * ******************************************************************************* * "1. That which is to be escaped has been thought out, nor need it be thought out again. 2. The causes of that which is to be escaped have dwindled away, nor need they dwindle away again. 3. The escape has become apparent in the concentrated state, and nothing beyond this need be discovered. 4. The means to escape has been cultivated, and nothing else remains to be cultivated. 5. The authority of the mind is ended. 6. The Aspects have therefore fallen away like rocks from a mountain peak, and dissolve of their own accord. 7. The Self, passing out of connection with them and self-enlightening, is stainless and alone. The Self which comes to know this seven-fold advancement is named Fortunate." ** kurmanadi: "Below the well (of the throat) there is, within the chest, a tube in the shape of a tortoise." *** udana: The vital-forces are five: prana(breathing), samana(equalizing), apana(downward flowing), udana(rising), vyana(penetrating). **** animan: the power to become minute. There are various enumerations of supernormal powers.