Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 02 - Book One, Sutras 1-29 - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

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02 - Book One, Sutras 1-29 - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Book one Sutras one to twenty nine Sutra one A.
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  Speaker 1: Here follows instruction in union. Union here, as always in
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures of India, means union of the individual soul
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  Speaker 1: with the over soul, of the personal consciousness with the
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  Speaker 1: divine consciousness, whereby the mortal becomes immortal and enters the eternal. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: salvation is first freedom from sin and the sorrow which
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  Speaker 1: comes from sin, and then a divine and eternal well being,
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  Speaker 1: wherein the soul partakes of the being, the wisdom and
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  Speaker 1: glory of God Sutratu Union. Spiritual consciousness is gained through
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  Speaker 1: control of the ver satile psychic nature. The goal is
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  Speaker 1: the full consciousness of the spiritual man, illumined by the
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  Speaker 1: divine light. Nothing except the objurate resistance of the psychic
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  Speaker 1: nature keeps us back from the goal. The psychical powers
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  Speaker 1: are spiritual powers run wild, perverted, drawn from their proper channel. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: our first task is to regain control of this perverted nature,
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  Speaker 1: to chasten, purify, and restore the misplaced powers Sutri three.
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  Speaker 1: Then the seer comes to consciousness in his proper nature.
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  Speaker 1: Egotism is but the perversion of spiritual being. Ambition is
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  Speaker 1: the inversion of spiritual power. Passion is the distortion of love.
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  Speaker 1: The mortal is the limitation of the immortal. When these
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  Speaker 1: false images give place to true then the spirit man
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  Speaker 1: stands forth luminous as the sun when the clouds disperse.
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  Speaker 1: Sutraphour Heretofore, the seer has been enmeshed in the activities
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  Speaker 1: of the psychic nature. The power and life, which are
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  Speaker 1: the heritage of the spiritual man, have been caught and
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  Speaker 1: enmeshed in psychical activities. Instead of pure being in the divine,
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  Speaker 1: there has been fretful combative egotism its hand against every man.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of the light of pure vision, there have been
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  Speaker 1: restless senses and imaginings. Instead of spiritual joy, the undivided
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  Speaker 1: joy of pure being, there has been self indulgence of
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  Speaker 1: body and mind. These are all real forces, but distorted
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  Speaker 1: from their true nature and goal. They must be extricated,
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  Speaker 1: like gems from the matrix, like the pith from the reed, steadily,
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  Speaker 1: without destructive violence. Spiritual powers are to be drawn forth
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  Speaker 1: from the psychic meshes Sutra five. The psychic activities are five.
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  Speaker 1: They are either subject or not subject to the five
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  Speaker 1: hindrances see Book two Sutra three. The psychic nature is
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  Speaker 1: built up through the image making power, the power which
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  Speaker 1: lies behind and dwells in mind pictures. These pictures do
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  Speaker 1: not remain quiescent in the mind. They are kinetic, restless,
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  Speaker 1: stimulating to new acts. Thus the mind image of an
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  Speaker 1: indulgence suggests and invites to a new indulgence. The picture
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  Speaker 1: of past joy is framed in regrets or hopes, and
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  Speaker 1: there is the ceaseless play of the desire to know,
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  Speaker 1: to penetrate to the essence of things. To classify, this, too,
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  Speaker 1: busies itself ceaselessly with the mind images, so that we
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  Speaker 1: may classify the activities of the psychic names. Thus Sutra six.
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  Speaker 1: These activities are sound intellection, unsound intellection, predication, sleep memory.
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  Speaker 1: We have here a list of mental and emotional powers,
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  Speaker 1: of powers that picture and observe, and of powers that
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  Speaker 1: picture and feel. But the power to know and feel
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  Speaker 1: is spiritual and immortal. What is needed is not to
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  Speaker 1: destroy it, but to raise it from the psychical to
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual realm. Sutra seven. The elements of sound intellection
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  Speaker 1: are direct observation, inductive reason, and trustworthy testimony. Each of
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  Speaker 1: these is a spiritual power. Thinly veiled. Direct observation is
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  Speaker 1: the outermost form of the soul's pure vision. Inductive reason
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  Speaker 1: rests on the great principles of continuity and correspondence, and
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  Speaker 1: these on the supreme truth that all life is of
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  Speaker 1: the one. Trustworthy testimony the sharing of one soul in
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  Speaker 1: the wisdom of another rests on the ultimate oneness of
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  Speaker 1: all souls. Sutra eight. Unsound Intellection is false understanding not
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  Speaker 1: resting on a perception of the true nature of things,
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  Speaker 1: when the object is not truly perceived, When the observation
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  Speaker 1: is inaccurate and faulty. Thought or reasoning based on that
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  Speaker 1: mistaken perception is of necessity false and unsounds. Sutrinine predication
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  Speaker 1: is carried on through words or thoughts, not resting on
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  Speaker 1: an object perceived. The purpose of this sutra is to
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  Speaker 1: distinguish between the mental process of predication and observation, induction
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  Speaker 1: or testimony. Predication is the attribution of a quality or
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  Speaker 1: action to a subject by adding to it a predicate.
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  Speaker 1: In the sentence, the man is wise, the man is,
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  Speaker 1: the subject is wise, is the predicate. This may be
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  Speaker 1: simply an interplay of thoughts without the presence of the
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  Speaker 1: object thought of or the things thought of may be
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  Speaker 1: imaginary or unreal, while observation, induction, and testimony always go
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  Speaker 1: back to an object. Suit ten. Sleep is the psychic
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  Speaker 1: condition which rests on mind states, all material things being absence.
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  Speaker 1: In waking life, we have two currents of perception, an
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  Speaker 1: outer current of physical things seen and heard and perceived,
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  Speaker 1: an inner current of mind images and thoughts. The outer
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  Speaker 1: current ceases in sleep, the inner current continues, and, watching
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  Speaker 1: the mind images float before the field of consciousness, we dream.
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  Speaker 1: Even when there are no dreams, there is still a
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  Speaker 1: certain consciousness in sleep, so that on waking one says
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  Speaker 1: I have slept well or I have slept badly. Sutra eleven.
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  Speaker 1: Memory is holding to mind images of things perceived without
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  Speaker 1: modifying them. Here, as before, the mental power is explained
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  Speaker 1: in terms of mind images, which are the material of
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  Speaker 1: which the psychic world is built. Therefore, the stages teach
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  Speaker 1: that the world of our perception, which is indeed a
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  Speaker 1: world of mind images, is but the wraith or shadow
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  Speaker 1: of the real and everlasting world. In this sense, memory
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  Speaker 1: is but the psychical inversion of the spiritual, ever present vision.
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  Speaker 1: That which is ever before the spiritual eye of the
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  Speaker 1: seer needs not to be remembered. Sutra twelve. The control
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  Speaker 1: of these psychic activities comes through the right use of
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  Speaker 1: the will, and through ceasing from self indulgence. If these
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  Speaker 1: psychical powers and energies, even such evil things as passion
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  Speaker 1: and hate and fear, are but spiritual powers, fallen and perverted,
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  Speaker 1: how are we to bring about their release and restoration?
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  Speaker 1: Two means are presented to us, the awakening of the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual will and the purification of mind and thought Sutra thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: The right use of the will is the steady effort
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  Speaker 1: to stand in spiritual being. We have thought of ourselves,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps as creatures moving upon this earth, rather helpless at
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  Speaker 1: the mercy of storm and hungers and our enemies, we
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  Speaker 1: are to think of ourselves as immortals, dwelling in the light,
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  Speaker 1: encompassed and sustained by spiritual powers. This steady effort to
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  Speaker 1: hold this thought will awaken dormant and unrealized powers, which
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  Speaker 1: will unveil to us the nearness of the eternal Sutra fourteen.
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  Speaker 1: This becomes a firm resting place when followed long persistently
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  Speaker 1: with earnestness. We must seek spiritual life in conformity with
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  Speaker 1: the laws of spiritual life with earnestness, humility, gentle charity,
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  Speaker 1: which is an acknowledgment of the one's soul within us.
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  Speaker 1: All only through obedience to that shared life, through perpetual
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  Speaker 1: remembrance of our oneness with all divine being. Are nothingness
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  Speaker 1: Apart from divine being? Can we enter our inheritance? Sutra fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: Ceasing from self indulgence is conscious mastery over the thirst
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  Speaker 1: for sensuous pleasure here or hereafter. Rightly understood, the desire
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  Speaker 1: for sensation is the desire of being, the distortion of
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  Speaker 1: the soul's eternal life. The lust of sensual stimulus and
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  Speaker 1: excitation rests on the longing to feel one's life keenly,
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  Speaker 1: to gain the sense of being really alive. The sense
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  Speaker 1: of true life comes only with the coming of the soul,
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  Speaker 1: and the soul comes only in silence, after self indulgence
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  Speaker 1: has been courageously and loyally stilled through reverence before the
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  Speaker 1: coming soul Sutra sixteen. The consummation of this is freedom
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  Speaker 1: from thirst for any mode of psychagal activity through the
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  Speaker 1: establishment of the spiritual man. In order to gain a
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  Speaker 1: true understanding of this, teaching, study must be supplemented by
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  Speaker 1: devoted practice faith by works. The reading of the words
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  Speaker 1: will not avail. There must be a real effort to
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  Speaker 1: stand as the soul, a real ceasing from self indulgence,
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  Speaker 1: with the awakening of the spiritual will and purification will
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  Speaker 1: come at once the growth of the spiritual man and
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  Speaker 1: our awakening consciousness as the spiritual man. And this attained
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  Speaker 1: in even a small degree, will help us, notably in
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  Speaker 1: our contest to Him that hath shall be given. Sutra seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: Meditation with an object follows these stages. First exterior examining,
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  Speaker 1: then interior judicial action, then joy, then realization of individual being.
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  Speaker 1: In the practice of meditation, a beginning may be made
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  Speaker 1: by fixing the attention upon some external object, such as
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  Speaker 1: a sacred image or picture, or a part of a
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  Speaker 1: book of devotion. In the second stage, one passes from
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  Speaker 1: the outer object to an inner pondering upon its lessons.
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  Speaker 1: The third stage is the inspiration the heightening of the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual will which results from this pondering. The fourth stage
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  Speaker 1: is the realization of one's spiritual being as enkindled by
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  Speaker 1: this meditation Sutra eighteen. After the exercise of the will
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  Speaker 1: has stilled the psychic activities meditation rests only on the
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  Speaker 1: fruit of former meditations. In virtue of continued practice and effort,
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  Speaker 1: the need of an external object on which to rest
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  Speaker 1: the meditation is outgrown, an interior state of spiritual consciousness
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  Speaker 1: is reached, which is called the cloud of things knowable
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  Speaker 1: see Book four Sutra twenty nine Sutra nineteen. Subjective consciousness,
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  Speaker 1: arising from a natural cause, is possessed by those who
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  Speaker 1: have laid aside their bodies and been absorbed into subjective nature.
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  Speaker 1: Those who have died entered the paradise between births are
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  Speaker 1: in a condition resembling meditation without an external object. But
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  Speaker 1: in the fullness of time, the seeds of desire in
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  Speaker 1: them will spring up, and they will be born again
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  Speaker 1: into this world suit or twenty. For the others. There
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  Speaker 1: is spiritual consciousness led up to by faith valor right mindfulness,
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  Speaker 1: one pointedness perception. It is well to keep in mind
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  Speaker 1: to these steps on the path to illumination faith valor
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  Speaker 1: right mindfulness, one pointedness perception. Not one can be dispensed with.
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  Speaker 1: All must be one first faith, and then from faith
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  Speaker 1: valor from valor right mindfulness, from right mindfulness, a one
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  Speaker 1: pointed aspiration towards the soul from this perception and finally
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  Speaker 1: full vision as the soul suit For twenty one. Spiritual
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  Speaker 1: consciousness is nearest to those of keen intense will. The
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  Speaker 1: image used is the swift impetus of the torrent. The
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  Speaker 1: kingdom must be taken by force. Firm will comes only
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  Speaker 1: through effort. Effort is inspired by faith. The great secret
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  Speaker 1: is this. It is not enough to have intuitions. We
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  Speaker 1: must act on them, We must live them Suitre twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: The will may be weak, or of middle strength, or intense.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore there is a spiritual consciousness higher than this. For
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  Speaker 1: those of weak will, there is this counsel to be
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  Speaker 1: faithful in obedience, to live the life, and thus to
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  Speaker 1: strengthen the will to more perfect obedience. The will is
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  Speaker 1: not ours but God's, and we come into it only
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  Speaker 1: through obedience. As we enter into the spirit of God,
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  Speaker 1: we are permitted to share the power of God. Higher
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  Speaker 1: than the three stages of the way is the goal,
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  Speaker 1: the end of the way Suitra twenty three. Or spiritual
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  Speaker 1: consciousness may be gained by ardent service of the Master.
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  Speaker 1: If we think of our lives as tasks laid upon
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  Speaker 1: us by the Master of life. If we look on
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  Speaker 1: all duties as parts of that Master's work entrusted to
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  Speaker 1: us in forming our life work, then if we obey promptly, loyally, sincerely,
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  Speaker 1: we shall enter by degrees into the Master's life and
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  Speaker 1: share the Master's power. Thus we shall be initiated into
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual will. Suit Rare twenty four. The Master is
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual man, who is free from hindrances, bondage to works,
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  Speaker 1: and the fruition and seed of works. The soul of
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  Speaker 1: the Master, the Lord is of the same nature as
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  Speaker 1: the soul in us. But we still bear the burden
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  Speaker 1: of many evils. We are in bondage through our former works.
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  Speaker 1: We are under the dominance of sorrow. The soul of
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  Speaker 1: the Master is free from sin and servitude and sorrow
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  Speaker 1: Suitra twenty five. In the Master is the perfect seed
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  Speaker 1: of omniscience. The soul of the Master is in essence
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  Speaker 1: one with the over soul, and therefore partaker of the
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  Speaker 1: over souls. All wisdom and all power. All spiritual attainment
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  Speaker 1: rests on this and is possible because the soul and
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  Speaker 1: the over soul are one. Suitra twenty six. He is
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  Speaker 1: the teacher of all who have gone before, since he
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  Speaker 1: is not limited by time. From the beginning, the over
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  Speaker 1: Soul has been the teacher of all souls, which, by
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  Speaker 1: their entrance into the over Soul, by realizing their oneness
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  Speaker 1: with the over Soul, have inherited the kingdom of the Light.
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  Speaker 1: For the over Soul is before time, and time father
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  Speaker 1: of all else is one of his children. Suitra twenty seven.
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  Speaker 1: His word is om Om, the symbol of the three
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  Speaker 1: and one, the three worlds in the soul, the three times, past, present, future,
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  Speaker 1: in eternity, the three divine powers, creation, preservation, transformation in
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  Speaker 1: the one being, the three essences, immortality, omniscience, joy, in
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  Speaker 1: the one's spirit. This is the word, the symbol of
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  Speaker 1: the Master and Lord, the perfected spiritual man Suitra twenty eight.
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  Speaker 1: Let there be soundless repetition of om and meditation thereon.
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  Speaker 1: This has many meanings in ascending degrees. There is first
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  Speaker 1: the potency of the word itself as of all words.
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  Speaker 1: Then there is the manifold significance of the symbol as
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  Speaker 1: suggested above. Lastly, there is the spiritual realization of the
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  Speaker 1: high essences thus symbolized. Thus we rise step by step
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  Speaker 1: to the eternal Sutra twenty nine. Thence come the awakening
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  Speaker 1: of interior consciousness and the removal of barriers. Here again,
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  Speaker 1: faith must be supplemented by works. The life must be
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  Speaker 1: led as well as studied, before the full meaning can
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  Speaker 1: be understood. The awakening of spiritual consciousness can only be
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  Speaker 1: understood in measure as it is entered. It can only
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  Speaker 1: be entered where the conditions are present, purity of heart
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  Speaker 1: and strong aspiration, and the resolute conquest of each sin. This, however,
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  Speaker 1: may easily be understood that the recognition of the three
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  Speaker 1: worlds as resting in the soul leads us to realize
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  Speaker 1: ourselves and all life as of the Soul. That as
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  Speaker 1: we dwell not in past, present, or future, but in
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  Speaker 1: the eternal, we become more at one with the Eternal.
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  Speaker 1: That as we view all organization, preservation, mutation as the
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  Speaker 1: work of the Divine One, we shall come more into
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  Speaker 1: harmony with the One, and thus remove the barrier in
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  Speaker 1: our path towards the light. In a second part of
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  Speaker 1: the first book, the problem of the emergence of the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual man is further dealtswith. We are led to the
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  Speaker 1: consideration of the barriers to his emergence, of the overcoming
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  Speaker 1: of the barriers, and of certain steps and stages in
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  Speaker 1: the ascent from the ordinary consciousness of practical life to
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  Speaker 1: the finer, deeper, radiant consciousness of the spiritual man. End
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  Speaker 1: of Book one, Sutras one to twenty nine