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06 - Book Two, Sutras 28-55 - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali · Sacred Texts Archive

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Book two Sutras twenty eight to fifty five. Sutra twenty eight. From steadfastly
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following after the means of yoga until impurity is worn away, there comes the
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illumination of thought up to full discernment. Here we enter on the more detailed
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practical teaching of Patangili, with its sound and luminous good sense. And when
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we come to detail the means of yoga, we may well be astonished at
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their simplicity. There is little in them that is mysterious. They are very
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familiar. The essence of the matter lies in carrying them out. Sutra twenty
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nine. The eight means of yoga are the commandments, the rules, right
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poise, right control of the life force, withdrawal, attention, meditation,
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templation. These eight means are to be followed in their order, in the
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sense which will immediately be made clear. We can get a ready understanding of
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the first two by comparing them with the commandments which must be obeyed by all
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good citizens, and the rules which are laid on the members of religious orders.
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Until one has fulfilled the first, it is futile to concern oneself with
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the second, and so with all the means of yoga, they must be
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taken in their order. Sutra thirty The commandments are these non injury, truthfulness,
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abstaining from stealing, from impurity, from covetousness. These five precepts are
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almost exactly the same as the Buddhist commandments not to kill, not to steal,
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not to be guilty of incontinence, not to drink intoxicants, to speak
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the truth. Almost identical is Saint Paul's list. Thou shalt not commit adultery,
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Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet
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And in the same spirit is the answer made to the young man having great
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possessions who asked what shall I do to be saved? And receive the reply
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Keep the commandments. This broad general training, which forms and develops human character,
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must be accomplished to a very considerable degree before there can be much hope
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of success in the further stages of spiritual life, first the psychical and then
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the spiritual. First the man, then the angel. On this broad,
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humane and wise foundation is the system of potentially rest suit Tra thirty one.
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The commandments, not limited to any race, place, time, or occasion.
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Universal are the great obligation. The smandments form the broad general training of
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humanity. Each one of them rests on a universal spiritual law. Each one
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of them expresses an attribute or aspect of the self, the eternal. When
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we violate one of the commandments, we set ourselves against the law and being
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of the eternal, thereby bringing ourselves to inevitable confusion. So the first steps
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in spiritual life must be taken by bringing ourselves into voluntary obedience to these spiritual
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laws, and thus making ourselves partakers of the spiritual powers the being of the
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eternal, Like the law of gravity the need of air to breathe, these
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great laws know no exceptions. Therein force in all lands, throughout all times,
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for all mankinds Sutra thirty two. The rules are these purity, serenity,
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fervent aspiration, spiritual reading, and perfect obedience to the Master. Here
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we have a finer law, one which humanity as a whole is less ready
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for, less fit to obey. Yet we can see that these rules are
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the same in essence as the commandments, but on a higher, more spiritual
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plane. The commandments may be obeyed in outer acts and abstinences. The rules
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demand obedience of the heart and spirit, a far more awakened and more positive
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consciousness. The rules are the spiritual counterpart of the commandments, and they have
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finer degrees for more advanced spiritual growth. Suitra thirty three. When transgressions hinder
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the weight of the imagination should be thrown on the opposite side. Let us
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take a simple case that of a thief, a habitual criminal who has drifted
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into stealing in childhood before the moral consciousness has awakened. We may imprison to
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thief and deprive him of all possibility of further theft or of using the divine
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gift of will. Or we may recognize his disadvantages and help him gradually to
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build up possessions which express his will and draw forth his self respect. If
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we imagine that after he has built well and his possessions have become dear to
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him, he himself is robbed, then we can see how he would come
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vividly to realize the essence of theft and of honesty, and would cleave to
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honest dealings with firm conviction. In some such way, does the Great Law
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teach us our sorrows and losses teach us the pain of the sorrow and loss
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we inflict on others, and so we cease to inflict them. Now,
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as to the more direct application to conquer a sin, let heart and mind
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rest not on the sin, but on the contrary virtue. Let the sin
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be forced out by positive growth in the true direction, not by direct opposition.
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Turn away from the sin, and go forward, courageously, constructively,
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creatively, in well doing. In this way, the whole nature will gradually
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be drawn up to the higher level on which the sin does not even exist.
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The conquest of a sin is a matter of growth and evolution, rather
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than of opposition. Suitra thirty four. Transgressions are injury, falsehood, theft,
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incontinence, envy, whether committed or caused or assented to through greed,
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wrath or infatuation, whether faint or middling or excessive, bearing endless fruit of
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ignorance and pain. Therefore must the weight be cast on the other side.
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Here are the causes of sin, greed, wrath, infatuation, with their
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effects ignorance and pain. The us are to be cured by better wisdom,
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by a truer understanding of the self of life. For greed cannot endure before
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the realization that the whole world belongs to the Self, which self we are.
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Nor can we hold wrath against one who is one with the Self and
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therefore with ourselves. Nor can infatuation, which is the seeking for the happiness
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of the all in some limited part of it, survive the knowledge that we
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are heirs of the All. Therefore, let thought and imagination, mind and
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heart throw their weight on the other side, the side not of the world,
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but of the Self Suitra thirty five. Where non injury is perfected,
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all enmity ceases in the presence of him who possesses it. We come now
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to the spiritual powers which result from keeping the commandments, from the obedience to
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spiritual law, which is the keeping of the commandments. If the heart is
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full of kindness, which seeks no injury to another, either in act or
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thought or wish, this full love creates an atmosphere of harmony, whose benign
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power touches with healing all who come within its influence. Peace in the heart
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radiates peace to other hearts, even more surely than contention breeds contention Sutra thirty
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six. When he is perfected in truth, all acts and their fruits depend
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on him. The commentator thus explains, if he who has attained should say
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to a man, become righteous, the man becomes righteous. If he should
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say gain heaven, the man gains heaven. His word is not in vain.
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Exactly the same doctrine was taught by the Master, who said to his
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disciples, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are
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omitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Sutra
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thirty seven. Where cessation from theft is perfected, all treasures present themselves to
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him who possesses it. Here is a sentence which may warn us that beside
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the outer and apparent meaning, there is in many of these sentences a second
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and finer significance. The obvious meaning is that he who has wholly ceased from
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theft in act, thought, and wish finds buried treasures in his path,
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treasures of jewels and gold and pearls. The deeper truth is that he who,
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in every least thing is wholly honest with the spirit of life, finds
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life supporting him in all things, and gains admittance to the treasure house of
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life, the spiritual universe Sutra thirty eight. For him who is perfect in
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content. The reward is valor and virility. The creative power, strong and
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full of vigor, is no longer dissipated, but turned to spiritual uses.
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It upholds and endows the spiritual man, conferring on him the creative will the
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power to engender spiritual children instead of bodily progeny. An epoch of life,
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that of man the animal, has come to an end. A new epoch,
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that of the spiritual man, is opened. The old creative power is
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superseded and transcended. A new creative power, that of the spiritual man,
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takes its place, carrying with it the power to work creatively in others for
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righteousness and eternal life. One of the commentaries says that he who is attained
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is able to transfer to the minds of his disciples what he knows concerning divine
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union and the means of gaining it. This is one of the powers of
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purity Suture thirty nine. Where there is firm conquest of covetousness, he who
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has conquered it awakes to the how and why of life. So it is
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said that before we can understand the laws of karma, we must free ourselves
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from karma. The conquest of covetousness brings this rich fruit. Because the root
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of covetousness is the desire of the individual soul, the will towards manifested life,
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and where the desire of the individual soul is overcome by the superb still
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life of the universal soul welling up in the heart within, the great secret
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is discerned, the secret that the individual soul is not an isolated reality,
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but the ray, the manifest instrument of the life, which turns it this
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way, and that until the great work is accomplished, the age long lesson
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learned. Thus is the how and why of life disclosed by ceasing from covetousness.
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The commentator says that this includes a knowledge of one's former births Sutra forty
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through purity, a withdrawal from one's own bodily life, a ceasing from infatuation
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with the bodily life of others. As the spiritual light grows in the heart
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within, as the taste for pure life grows stronger, the consciousness opens towards
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the great secret places within where all life is one, where all lives are
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one. Thereafter this outer manifested fugitive life whether of ourselves or of others,
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loses something of its charm and glammer, and we seek rather the deep infinitudes
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instead of the outer form and surroundings of our lives. We long for their
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inner and everlasting essence. We desire not so much outer converse and closeness to
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our friends, but rather the quiet communion with them in the inner chamber of
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the soul, where spirit speaks to spirit, and spirit answers, where alienation
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and separation never enter, where sickness and sorrow and death cannot come. Suitra
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forty one, to the peer of heart comes also a quiet spirit. One
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pointed thought. The victory over sensuality and fitness to behold the soul. Blessed
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are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, who is the
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supreme Soul, the ultimate self of all beings. In the deepest sense.
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Purity means fitness for this vision, and also a heart cleansed from all disquiet,
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from all wandering and unbridled thought, from the torment of sensuous imaginings.
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And when the spirit is thus cleansed and pure, it becomes at one in
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essence with its source, the Great Spirit, the primal life, one consciousness,
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now thrills through both. For the psychic partition wall is broken down,
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then shall the pure in heart see God, because they become God Sutra forty
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two. From acceptance, the disciple gains happiness supreme. One of the wise
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has said, accept conditions, accept others, accept yourself. This is the
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true acceptance, for all these things are what they are through the will of
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the higher Self. Accept their deficiencies, which come through thwarting the will of
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the higher Self, and can be conquered only through compliance with that will.
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By the true acceptance, the disciple comes into oneness of spirit with the overruling
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soul. And since the own nature of the soul is being happiness bliss,
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he comes thereby into happiness supreme Suitra forty three. The perfection of the powers
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of the bodily vesture comes through the wearing a way of impurities and through fervent
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aspiration. This is true of the physical powers and of those which dwell in
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the higher vestures. There must be first purity, as the blood must be
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pure before one can attain to physical health. But the absence of impurity is
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not in itself enough, else would many nerveless ascetics of the cloisters rank as
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high saints. There is needed further, a positive fire of the will,
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a keen, vital vigor for the physical powers, and something finer, purer,
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stronger, but of kindredessence for the higher powers. The fire of genius
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is something more than a phrase, for there can be no genius without the
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celestial fire of the awakened spiritual will Sutra of forty four. Through spiritual reading,
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the disciple gains communion with the divine power on which his heart is set.
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Spiritual reading meant for ancient India something more than it does with us.
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It meant first the recital of sacred texts, which in their very sounds had
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mystical potencies. And it meant a recital of texts which were divinely emanated and
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held in themselves the living potent essence of the divine. For us, spiritual
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reading means a communing with the recorded teachings of the masters of wisdom, whereby
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we read ourselves into the Master's mind, just as through his music one can
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enter into the mind and soul of the master musician. It has been well
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said that all true art is contagion of feeling, so that through the true
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reading of true books. We do indeed read ourselves into the spirit of the
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masters, share in the atmosphere of their wisdom and power, and come at
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last into their very presence. Sutra forty five. Sole vision is perfected through
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perfect obedience to the Master. The sorrow and darkness of life come of the
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erring personal will, which sets itself against the will of the soul, the
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one great life. The error of the personal will is inevitable, since each
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will must be free to choose, to try and fail, and so to
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find the path. And sorrow and darkness are inevitable until the path be found
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and the personal will made once more one with the greater will, wherein it
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finds rest and power without losing freedom. In His will is our peace,
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and with that piece comes light. Soul vision is perfected through obedience Sutra forty
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six. Right poise must be firm and without strain. Here we approach section
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of the teaching which has manifestly a twofold meaning. The first is physical and
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concerns the bodily position of the student and the regulation of breathing. These things
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have their direct influence upon soul life, the life of the spiritual man,
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since it is always and everywhere true that our study demands a sound mind in
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a sound body. The present sentence declares that for work and for meditation,
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the position of the body must be steady and without strain, in order that
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the finer currents of life may run their course. It applies further to the
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poise of the soul, that fine balance and stability which nothing can shake,
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where the consciousness rests on the firm foundation of spiritual being. This is indeed
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the house set upon a rock which the winds and waves beat upon. In
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Vain Sutra forty seven, right poise is to be gained by steady and temperate
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effort, and by setting the heart upon the everlasting Here again there is the
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two folds meaning. For physical poise is to be gained by steady effort of
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the muscles, by gradual and wise training, linked with the right understanding of
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and relation with the universal force of gravity. Uprightness of body demands that both
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these conditions shall be fulfilled in like manner. The firm and upright poise of
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the spiritual man is to be gained by steady and continued effort, always guided
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by wisdom, and by setting the heart on the eternal filling the soul with
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the atmosphere of the spiritual world. Neither is effective without the other. Aspiration
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without effort brings weakness. Effort without aspiration brings a false strength, not resting
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on enduring things. The two together make for the right poise, which sets
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the spiritual man firmly and steadfastly on his feet. Sutra forty eight. The
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fruit of right poise is the strength to resis the shocks of infatuation or sorrow.
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In the simpler physical sense, which is also covered by the wording of
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the original, this sentence means that wise effort establishes such bodily poise that the
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accidents of life cannot disturb it, as the captain remains steady though disaster overtake
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his ship. But the deeper sense is far more important. The spiritual man,
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too must learn to withstand all shocks. Shoul remain steadfast through the perturbations
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of external things and the storms and whirlwinds of the psychical world. This is
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the power which is gained by wise, continuous effort and by filling the spirit
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with the atmosphere of the eternal Sutra forty nine. When this is gained,
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there follows the right guidance of the life currents, the control of the incoming
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and outgoing breath. It is well understood today that most of our maladies from
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impure conditions of the blood. It is coming to be understood that right breathing,
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right oxygenation will do very much to keep the blood clean and pure.
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Therefore, a right knowledge of breathing is a part of the science of life.
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But the deeper meaning is that the spiritual man, when he has gained
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poise through right effort and aspiration, can stand firm and guide the currents of
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his life, both the incoming current of events and the outgoing current of his
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acts. Exactly the same symbolism is used in the saying, not that which
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goeth into the mouth defileth the man, But that which cometh out of the
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mouth, this defileth the man. Those things which proceed out of the mouth
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come forth from the heart. Out of the heart procede evil thoughts, murders,
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uncleanness, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Therefore, the first step
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in purification is to keep the commandments Sutra fifty. The life current is either
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outward or inward, or balanced. It is regulated according to place, time,
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number. It is prolonged and subtle. The technical physical side of this
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has its value. In the breath. There should be right in breathing,
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followed by the period of pause when the air comes into contact with the blood,
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and this again followed by right out breathing even steady silence. Further,
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the lung should be evenly filled. Many maladies may arise from the neglect and
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consequent weakening of some region of the lungs, and the number of breaths is
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so important, so closely related to health, that every nurse's chart records it.
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But the deeper meaning is concerned with the currents of life, with that
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which goeth into and cometh out of the heart Sutra fifty one the fourth degree
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and sends external and internal objects. The inner meaning seems to be that,
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in addition to the three degrees of control already described, control that is over
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the incoming current of life, over the outgoing current, and over the condition
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of pause or quiescence, there is a fourth degree of control which holds in
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complete mastery both the outer passage of events and the inner current of thoughts and
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emotions, a condition of perfect poise and stability in the midst of the flux
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of things outward and inward Sutra fifty two. Thereby is worn away the veil
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which covers up the light. The veil is the psychic nature. The web
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of emotions desires argumentative trains of thought, which cover up and obscure the truth
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by absorbing the entire attention and keeping the consciousness in the psychic realm. When
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hopes and fears are reckoned at their true worth and comparison with lasting possessions of
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the soul, when the outer reflections of things have ceased to distract us from
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inner realities, when argumentative thought no longer entangles us, but yields its place
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to flashing intuition, the certainty which springs from within, then is the veil
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worn away. The consciousness is drawn from the psychical to the spiritual, from
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the temporal to the eternal. Then is the light unveiled Sutra fifty three.
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Thence comes the mind's power to hold itself in the light. It has been
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well said that what we most need is the faculty of spiritual attention. And
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in the same direction of thought, it has been eloquently declared that prayer does
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not consist in our catching God's attention, but rather in our allowing God to
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hold our attention. The vital matter is that we need to disentangle our consciousness
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from the noisy and perturbed thraldom of the psychical, and to come to consciousness
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as the spiritual man. This we must do first by purification through the commandments
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and the rules, and second through the faculty of spiritual attention, by steadily
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heeding endless fine intimations of the spiritual power within us, and by intending our
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consciousness there too. Thus, by degrees transferring the center of consciousness from the
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psychical to the spiritual. It is a question first of love and then of
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attention. Sutra fifty four. The right withdrawal is the disengaging of the powers
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from entanglement in outer things, as the psychic nature has been withdrawn and stilled.
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To understand this, let us reverse the process and think of the one
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consciousness centered in the soul, gradually expanding and taking on the form of the
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different perceptive powers. The one will, at the same time differentiating itself into
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the varied powers of action. Now, let us imagine this to be reversed,
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so that the spiritual force, which has gone into the differentiated powers,
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is once more gathered together into the inner power of intuition and spiritual will,
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taking on that unity which is the hall mark of spiritual things, as diversity
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is the seal of material things. It is all a matter of love,
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for the quality of spiritual consciousness as against psychical consciousness of love and attention.
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For where the heart is, there will the treasure be Also, where the
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consciousness is, there will the vesture, with its powers be developed Sutra fifty
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five. Thereupon follows perfect mastery over the powers. When the spiritual condition which
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we have described is reached with its purity, poise, and illuminated vision,
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the spiritual man is coming into his inheritance and gaining complete mastery of his powers.
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Indeed, much of the struggle to keep the commandments and the rules has
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been paving the way for this mastery. Through this very struggle and sacrifice,
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the mastery has become possible. Just as to use Saint Paul Simile, the
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athlete gains the mastery in the contest and the race through the sacrifice of his
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long and arduous training. Thus he gains the crown. End of Book two,